The Christ Light: On the Meaning and Purpose of Life

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The centuries-old English word Χmas (or, in earlier form, XPmas) is an English form of χ-mas, [45] itself an abbreviation for Christ-mas. The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED) and the OED Supplement have cited usages of "X-" or "Xp-" for "Christ-" as early as 1485. The terms "Xpian" and "Xren" have been used for "Christian", "Xst" for "Christ's" "Xρofer" for Christopher and Xmas, Xstmas, and Xtmas for Christmas. The OED further cites usage of "Xtianity" for "Christianity" from 1634. [note 2] According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, most of the evidence for these words comes from "educated Englishmen who knew their Greek". [47] [48] Christ-Light® is based on a number of premises that guide and control the entire curriculum. These premises are revealed to us by God in his Word. We accept them as essential to Christian nurture only because God the Holy Spirit has led us to this conviction by working faith in our hearts. The spelling Christ in English became standardized in the 18th century, when, in the spirit of the Enlightenment, the spelling of certain words changed to fit their Greek or Latin origins. Prior to this, scribes writing in Old and Middle English usually used the spelling Crist—the i being pronounced either as / iː/, preserved in the names of churches such as St Katherine Cree, or as a short / ɪ/, preserved in the modern pronunciation of " Christmas". The spelling "Christ" in English is attested from the 14th century. [17] Greek Septuagint and Wiki English Translation, Second Book of Maccabees, chapter 1". katabiblon.com (in English and Greek). Archived from the original on October 4, 2018. These premises make it evident that a curriculum which is designed to carry out God-pleasing Christian nurture will be based on God’s Word and will aim at carrying out the purposes for which God gave us his Word.

There is another progression that is vital to the nurture of young Christians. This progression is the development of God’s plan of salvation though the Old Testament into the New Testament. Scripture’s focus is Christocentric; that is, the focus through the whole Old Testament is on the promised Messiah, and in the New Testament the focus is on Jesus, the Son of God, who came to redeem us and whose second coming we eagerly await. This progression needs to be reflected in the chronological arrangement of biblical material at every level. The phrase we are studying today is part of Jesus’ long debate with the Pharisees ( John 2:19 ; John 3:3). This string of preaching, miracles, and conversion resulted in increased persecution from the Jewish leaders. Before Jesus’ testimonial declaration as the Light of the World, John recorded Jesus writing on the ground to scatter a woman’s accusers, further fueling the debate. Jesus then heals a blind man, which in turn is investigated by the Pharisees, striking a conversation not just about physical blindness, but spiritual. Who is Jesus Talking To?Steffler, Alva William (2002). Symbols of the Christian faith. Wm. B. Eerdmans. p.66. ISBN 0-8028-4676-9. Fuller, Reginald H. (1965). The Foundations of New Testament Christology. New York: Scribners. ISBN 0-684-15532-X.

Cullmann, Oscar (1959). The Christology of the New Testament. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-24351-7. The word Christ (and similar spellings) appears in English and in most European languages. English-speakers now often use "Christ" as if it were a name, one part of the name "Jesus Christ", though it was originally a title ("the Messiah"). Its usage in "Christ Jesus" emphasizes its nature as a title. [8] [15] Compare the usage "the Christ". [16] heaven, for the inheritance just referred to includes the world above in which "the Lamb is the light thereof"At the time of Jesus, there was no single form of Second Temple Judaism, and there were significant political, social, and religious differences among the various Jewish groups. [24] However, for centuries the Jews had used the term moshiach ("anointed") to refer to their expected deliverer. [18] Opening lines of Mark and Matthew [ edit ] Espin, Orlando (2007). n Introductory Dictionary of Theology and Religious Studies. Liturgical Press. p.231. ISBN 978-0-8146-5856-7. Bird, Michael F.; Evans, Craig A.; Gathercole, Simon (2014), "Endnotes– Chapter 1", How God Became Jesus: The Real Origins of Belief in Jesus' Divine Nature– A Response to Bart Ehrman, Zondervan, ISBN 978-0-310-51961-4 Light of the glorious gospel of Christ "; "light of the knowledge of the glory of God" ( 2Corinthians 4:4,6 the King James Version). Christ, [note 1] used by Christians as both a name and a title, unambiguously refers to Jesus. [5] [6] [7] It is also used as a title, in the reciprocal use "Christ Jesus", meaning "the Messiah Jesus" or "Jesus the Anointed", and independently as "the Christ". [8] The Pauline epistles, the earliest texts of the New Testament, [9] often refer to Jesus as "Christ Jesus" or just "Christ". [10]