QUESTION: What sin was repented of to obey the Acts 2:38 command?
ANSWER: The text of Acts 2.38 reads: “Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’†The call for repentance was a common call for the Jews to heed. The word “repent†meant to turn around form what you were doing and move back toward God. It meant to give up the way you though you could get to God and follow a different way. It was not a specific “sin†that Peter or Luke, the writer of Acts had in mind.
QUESTION: I was wondering what you thought the value that apocalyptic literature holds in today’s society and how it has been used in church history. Also, do you think that there are any dangers associated with engaging in these texts?
ANSWER: I began a online Bible study entitled “Decoding the Apocalypse. Here is a like to the section that deals with Apocalyptic Literature which is called “Apocalyptic What?. I would encourage you to signup for the whole study at: Decoding the Apocalypse.
Any Dangers? No, I think the genre of the text needs to be understood and interpreted within the boundaries of the kind of literature it is. Like all literature, if you don’t know what kind it is, poetry, narrative, etc., you might discover that when reading it you might come to a different conclusion that the author’s intent because you do not know what kind of literature he/she is using to convey the message to the reader/listener.
QUESTION: I would like to know what the Torah Jews, do in place of sacrifices, to atone for there sins, in this day and age? And I would like to know the chronological order of the OT, and the NT?
ANSWER: I know that Modern Jews still worship in their synagogues on the Day of Atonement which is Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur starts at sunset on Sunday, October 1, and ends at nightfall on Monday, October 2. But, beyond that I am not sure. You might want to ask a Jew that question and you can at Ask A Rabbi.
You can find a chronology of the story of the Old Testament (still under revision) on my SBL site here and the New Testament here.
QUESTION: Was Jesus in Human Form in the OT?
ANSWER: No, Jesus was not in a human form in the Old Testament. Some interpret the story of in Genesis 18 that one of the three visitors to Abraham was Jesus. Others see the phrase “son of man” in the story of Daniel in the lion’s den as a reference to Jesus. A rule of thumb when interpreting Scripture is that a story cannot mean what it could not have meant to the first hearers/readers. The Old Testament folks did not have a concept of Jesus. They would not have recognized him as a character in a story presented to them to tell them of the journey of God with Israel.
John recounts the birth of Jesus and “he became flesh and tabernacled among us” as the point in time of the incarnation or the “human form” of Jesus.
