1) What are the three problems the early church thought Messiah's ascension and Spirit sending was meant to confront? Is the mission to carry the Messianic message to every ethne or to overthrow governments and establish different theocracies?
2) Do we despise prophesy? Is God the only one who can and does send messages and exercise influence? Who closed the canon?
3) Do clergy receive special status or does a functional priesthood of all believers exist? Who identifies believer's spiritual charisms and commissions ministries?
In chapter 9, the second to last chapter, of my book I discuss the priesthood of all believers. However, I will say that in many churches today the focus is on individual believers and the question of whether priests are just those identified as "clergy" or all believers. While I believe that every believer is a priest, the focus in scripture isn't so much on individuals but on the church as a whole. In other words, the church takes up the very priestly function that Israel was to take up. My point is that local churches need to recover an understanding of seeing themselves as taking up a priestly service within their local communities.
1) What are the three problems the early church thought Messiah's ascension and Spirit sending was meant to confront? Is the mission to carry the Messianic message to every ethne or to overthrow governments and establish different theocracies?
2) Do we despise prophesy? Is God the only one who can and does send messages and exercise influence? Who closed the canon?
3) Do clergy receive special status or does a functional priesthood of all believers exist? Who identifies believer's spiritual charisms and commissions ministries?
In chapter 9, the second to last chapter, of my book I discuss the priesthood of all believers. However, I will say that in many churches today the focus is on individual believers and the question of whether priests are just those identified as "clergy" or all believers. While I believe that every believer is a priest, the focus in scripture isn't so much on individuals but on the church as a whole. In other words, the church takes up the very priestly function that Israel was to take up. My point is that local churches need to recover an understanding of seeing themselves as taking up a priestly service within their local communities.