Re: New creation and the kingdom of God

Andrew,

 You have made repeated references similar to the following:

"if we are going to read the Bible narratively"

However, it seems to me that you and the others that frequent this site have consistently ignored one of the most fundamental "narratives" in the Bible.  The "narrative" to which I refer is Israel’s marriage to God which begins in Exodus 6:3-8 and from there proceeds to unfold throughout the Bible.  While it may be useful to read the Bible "narratively, it is nearly impossible to properly understand the Bible without taking this narrative into account as one seeks to understand the Bible.  It is fundamentally important to a proper understanding of "the Bride/wife of Christ" motiff in the NT.

The users of this site desperately need to read a couple of books.

The first of these is:  Jesus, the Tribulation, and the end of the Exile  —  Restoration Eschatology and the Origin of the Atonement, by Dr. Brant Pitre, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA / Mohr Siebeck, Tubingen.  This book should be available in any good book store.  It is available on Amazon.com.

The second is:  The Olive Tree Mystery: A detailed analysis of the Old Testament presentation of the Olive tree - Israel - and its relationship to Romans Chapter 9-11 and other New Covenant Scriptures.  This book is available only by contacting the author at barldranch@sdplains.com.

 Without the very accurate Biblical information contained in these books, it is extremely unlikely that you will ever fully and correctly understand the New Testament.

Lloyd