Advent Reflections 2024 - December 24

Messy Christmas

Scripture focus: Matthew 1-2; Luke 1-2

Messy Faith

I was reading the book of Romans and had some questions. So I asked Terry Smith for help.

He recommended a book to me: “Into the Heart of Romans” by N.T. Wright (2023). I was shocked to realize that some of the ideas I have formed in my mind about my faith were wrong, not biblically based at all!

How would you summarize your faith in least number of words possible?

Before November 2024, I would probably say, “believe in Jesus and go to heaven”. That seemed to be what I was taught and trained using the Romans Road method.

N.T. Wright and many other authors have pointed out:

Typical Romans Road:  I’m a sinner, deserving God’s wrath;  Jesus died for my sins I believe in Jesus I will go to heaven.

The story actually goes like this:  God made the world (Genesis 1:1; Romans 1:20); God loves me and has a plan for my life. (Jeremiah 31:3) Humans sinned. The Wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23a) God sent Jesus (John 3:16). The way of Adam leads to death; the way of Jesus leads to life. By believing in Jesus, we are no longer slaves to sin, we become children of God (Romans 8: 15); Immanuel, God with us. And we can be transformed by the renewal of our mind and offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. (Romans 12: 1-2)

And prophet Daniel  in the Old Testament gives us supporting evidence in Daniel 12: 2, saying, “ Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.”

So now I would summarize my faith in least words possible this way: Believe in Jesus and God with us.

The Hebrew word for Immanuel is עִמָּנוּאֵל, which is romanized as ʿĪmmānūʾēl. It is a combination of the Hebrew words 'immānû- (עִמָּנוּ), which means "with us", and -'ēl (אֵל), which means "God". 

עִמָּנוּאֵל

 God                        us                   with

Emmanuel  (God with us)

What does this have to do with Christmas? Celebrate the gift of God, eternal life through Christ Jesus! Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Tianhong Shi