Chapter 2: The Gospel I Thought I Knew
1. Scot McKnight, “Jesus vs. Paul,” Christianity Today, December 3, 2010, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/december/9.25.html.
Chapter 4: The True Gospel
1. Edwin H. Friedman, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix (New York: Seabury Books, 2007), 36.
Chapter 6: A Tale of Two Natures
1. In context, “flesh and blood” in this passage refers to the relationships we have with people around us. One might argue Paul is referring to something different with his use of the term “flesh” here, but I would suggest he is using the term the same way he uses it every other time: to describe the natural world in which we live.
2. The word Paul chooses here is the Greek word (metamorphoo), meaning “transfigured.” It is the same word used in two accounts of the Transfiguration. The final use of the word in Scripture is found in 2 Corinthians 3:18, where Paul discusses similar ideas from a slightly different angle.
Chapter 7: What about Forgiveness?
1. In Romans 4, we learn God counted Abraham’s faith as righteousness—in other words, that God saw Abraham’s faith and treated him as if he were righteous, even though he was not. We are in a different situation than Abraham was because we have been made righteous by faith. That being the case, we ought to have much more confidence in our access to relationship with the Father.
2. This was sound teaching at the time. Jesus did not create the New Covenant until His death at the cross, so John the Baptist was teaching the truth that applied at the time.
3. Another Scripture we could insert here is Luke 24:47. There is apparently some disagreement as to how exactly this should be translated, though, so this Scripture is less clear on this point.
4. We can, however, still need to receive forgiveness in areas of our lives that go awry because of the effects of sin. Sin is not without consequence, but God is not the one sending consequences into our lives. The consequences come from reaping the sin that we (or others) sow. Even in this, the Lord has provided the means to receive His grace and be restored to wholeness.
Chapter 8: The Gospel of the Kingdom
1. Demonized is a term many scholars believe more accurately depicts the experience of those described in Scripture than the term demon possession. The idea conveyed in the original language is more along the lines of “someone afflicted by demons” than “someone owned by demons.”
2. I believe a further implication is that, as the Church continues in its work, the Spirit will be poured out more and more until He is poured out on “all flesh” (Acts 2:17), in complete fulfillment of the Joel 2 prophecy that started to be fulfilled in Acts 2.
3. We often label a quick or intuitive learner as someone who is gifted.
Chapter 9: Christ in Us
1. Jocelin, The Life and Acts of St. Patrick, trans. Edmund L. Swift, 1809, as quoted by Our Lady of the Rosary Library, “Resurrection Miracles Performed by Saint Patrick, Apostle of Ireland,” https://www.olrl.org/lives/patrick.shtml.
2. As quoted by EWTN, “Lorica of Saint Patrick,” https://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/patrick.htm.
3. Blue Letter Bible, “H1823—dĕmuwth,” https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=H1823&t=KJV.
4. If you want to explore this idea further, 1 Corinthians 2 has much more to say on this subject.
5. From what I have read, some of the language is lost in translation, and these Church fathers are making the same point I am in the language that was used in their day. They are not asserting we are independent deities but rather that we are joined with and partake of Christ in such a way that we can experience God’s deity and live from that place.