Letters to the Church

Jesus is the true Sanctuary of God that was foreshadowed in the ancient religious structures and worship rituals of the nation of Israel. He is the place where God’s presence and glory are found and the final High Priest who now mediates between Heaven and Earth for his people. The man from Nazareth is the real Tabernacle where Yahweh dwells and he was the Temple “ MADE-WITHOUT-HANDS ” destroyed by evil men but restored when God raised him from the dead.

Paul argued that adopting the rite of circumcision would constitute regression to something rudimentary, and an earlier stage in the redemptive history of God’s people. If Gentile believers did so, they would be obligated to keep the whole Law, and they could easily find themselves “ severed from Christ ” - (Galatians 5:1-4).

According to the Apostle John, “ life ” is found in the “ Word ” or ' Logos ', and this life is the “ Light of men .” It is “ shining in the darkness ,” and the darkness “ cannot seize ” or suppress it. This same “ Word” has become the Living Word in Jesus of Nazareth. In him, the glory and life of God are fully manifested - (John 1:1).

The third chapter of  Galatians  is pivotal to Paul’s larger argument, in which he stresses the oneness of God’s people. The old social divisions existing under the Mosaic Legislation are inappropriate in God’s one covenant community since the promised “ Seed of Abraham ” has arrived, namely, Jesus of Nazareth. In his Body, “ there can be NEITHER Jew nor Greek .”

The coming of Jesus is not a major topic in Paul's letters to the Corinthians though it is in his Thessalonian correspondence. However, he does touch on several aspects of the event, including its identification as the “ Day of the Lord ,” the consummation of God’s kingdom, the resurrection of the righteous, the judgment of the wicked, and the cessation of death.