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Part of Grace: 1. Biblical 2. Theological 3. Structure of De Gratia 1. The Old Testament background. The prehistory of the theological concept of grace is to be attached to the terms תסד and תו in the ОТ. Both appear as χάρις in the LXX. They do not signify proprieties or entities, but, like the ОТ concept of justice, a social attitude, and its deployment in action rather than merely the mental disposition. Hence the concepts of תס¸צדקה and שד are closely connected with them, as is also שלום. Hence, in contrast to our notion of grace, תסד may be attributed to both partners in the relationsh…

The “Our Father” is found in the NT in two different traditions, in Mt 6:9—13 (with a commentary in vv. 14—15) and in Lk 11 :2— 4. The two versions reflect not merely two traditions but two different attitudes towards the expected end. On the whole, Mt seems to have preserved the prayer in its most original form. If so, the theological problem of the Our Father is really that it is meant to be the prayer of the community (or a model for such prayer; cf. οὔτως Mt 6:9) but that it contains no orig…

Part of Apostolic Church: 1. Primitive Community 2. Apostolic Church Concept and date. The terms “Apostolic Church”, “Primitive Community” and “Primitive Christianity” designate, not very precisely, the Palestinian Christianity of the first decades of the Church. The notion is based on the existence of the NT canon, seen as a mirror of the primitive community, on the important role which the apostles played for a definitely limited period in NT revelation, and also on romantic notions of the ideal and norma…

Part of Law: 1. Biblical 2. Theology and Moral Theology 3. Rule of Law 4. Philosophy of Law A. Old testament 1. The character of the Old Testament collections of laws. As used to designate certain sections of the ОТ the term “law” is derived from the rendering of תורה by νόμος in the LXX and NT. Originally torah means direction and instruction in general. Thus it is found in the Wisdom literature in the sense of instruction given by elders (Prov 1:8; 6:20) and sages. In the earlier strata of the Pentateuch the word occurs only in Exod 13:9; 16:4, passa…

Part of Bishop: 1. New Testament 2. Church History 3. Theology 4. Canon Law The Christian episcopate is a blend of two different systems: episcopal order and presbyterial order, these in turn being based on two different conceptions of apostleship, two different ways of being Jesus’ representative. In the synoptics the apostle is one of a college, not tied to one place, but working solely within Israel as a representative of the earthly Jesus. The Twelve preach as Jesus does. This Jewish-Christian, collegiate…

Part of Parousia: 1. Exegetical Findings 2. Theological Doctrine The Hellenistic term “parousia” means the arrival, visit and presence of armies, officials, rulers arid gods. There is no equivalent in the ОТ, and the Septuagint shows no contacts with the: NT usage. But the term is used in Jewish apocalyptic in Greek, in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs and the Testament of Abraham. In the NT too, ancient Greek elements: are linked with ОТ notions of the Day (of judgment) of Yahweh. In the NT, parousia; is to a great extent interchangeable with the; “…

Part of Justice: 1. Scripture 2. Moral Theology 1. The social sense of justice in the Old Testament. The ОТ idea of צרקּה (usually δικαιοσύνη in the LXX), unlike justice as conceived of in terms of objective theological principles, is not determined by permanent and immutable norms of human behaviour such that a man is accounted just when he acts in conformity with them. Throughout the whole of the ОТ in general, צרקּה is a style of action, in a relation of fellowship between partners, which is the permanent constituent of this relationship and hence has its norm in…

Part of Freedom: 1. Biblical 2. Philosophical 3. Theological It would be a mistake to take a philosophical notion of freedom as the starting-point for an investigation of the biblical texts, on the assumption that though there was no literal equivalent for it, the “thing itself” was there. For we find that a number of senses in which the word freedom is used are not to be found in Scripture. Thus LXX translates תפשה by έλευϑερία, while both תפש and חר (noble, freeborn) are rendered by ἐλεύϑερόω, there being no Hebrew equivalent for έλευϑερόω. The use of παρρησία is a…

Part of Salvation: 1. Universal Salvific Will 2. Biblical Concept 3. History of Salvation (“Salvation History”) 4. Theology A. Theological Analysis 1. Biblical approach: The genesis of “history of salvation” as a scriptural concept. a) An exegetical investigation of the concept of “history of salvation” must examine the relationship of a purely political interpretation of events to a theological one, in the various biblical traditions. No event is “chemically pure”, but presents itself with various meanings. Since this is so, in…

Part of Bible: 1. Introduction 2. Versions 3. Biblical Hermeneutics 4. Scripture Reading A. Exegesis 1. Old Testament a) Name and contents of the Old Testament. The collection of books which Jesus, the primitive community and the sub-apostolic generation regarded as sacred Scripture is known to Christians as the Old Testament, in the form later determined by the fixing of the canon. The term “Old Testament”, by which it is distinguished from the New and honoured as the attestation of the first divine plan of salvation, …