The New Testament in Its World
A scholarly exploration of the New Testament's historical, cultural, and theological context to provide deeper understanding of early Christian texts.
Paul says in Colossians 3.10 that the gospel of Jesus will renew us in knowledge according to the creator's image. When we worship the true God, with that worship shaped by the story of Jesus seen as the fulfilment of Israel's scriptures, we find that we are being made into imagebearers, called to reflect God's love and purposes into the world. The first letter of Peter speaks of us being rescued from sin and death so that we can become 'a royal priesthood' (2.9), an ancient biblical way tion. We are to reflect the praises of creation back to the creator in worship; that's the 'priestly' bit. We are thereby becoming polished mirrors, set at an angle so as to reflect the powerful and healing love of the creator back into the world. That's the royal' bit.
New Testament theology plots the story that answers, as only stories can, the great worldview questions: who we are, where we are, what time it is, what's wrong, what the solution might be, and what we should be doing about it. The church then lives under the 'authority' of the extant story, being required to offer an improvisatory performance of the final act of that story as it leads up to and anticipates the intended conclusion.