Learning On The Way
Talk about what it was like to feel alienated from Jesus. Do you, even as a believer, feel alienated from Christ or the Church sometimes? What do you do in those times?
What is the theological, practical, and political significance in the fact that Paul says the individual Christian and the church corporately are the “temple” of God? See 1 Cor. 3:16–17; 6:19–20; 2 Cor. 6:16–18; 1 Peter 2:4–10; see also John 1:14; 2:19–22; Acts 7:48–50.
When Paul says, “has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace” meaning the mosaic covenant no longer carries immediate authority over believers. How then should we interpret and apply the OT law in view of what Christ has done in fulfilling the law and inaugurating a new covenant? How do we determine which laws still apply to Christians today?
Christ removed the barrier between us, and God allows us to have an intimate access to our Father. Do you struggle to have that kind of intimate relationship with God? How does Paul’s concept of us all (both Jew and gentile) having this access to God change the way you view our gatherings both large and small?