Chris's Courses @ Westlink

Handout available here
Grace vs. works
God's judgment will be perfectly just and perfectly loving
Saved by grace - Romans 8:1; Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 2:4-9
Works still matter - Ephesians 2:10; James 2:12-17
Why work for good on earth? NT Wright, Surprised by Hope
Build for the kingdom
Saved and judged
Revelation 20:11-15 - Two sets of books
1 Corinthians 3:8-15 - Buildings tested by fire
Heavenly rewards? What is our crown?
Unloving Christians won't feel very much at home in heaven
Love endures from this life to the next - 1 Cor 13

Handout available here
Common views of what we do in heaven
Clip from The Good Place "Patty" - The problem of infinite pleasure
The Biblical Story of God, Creation, and Humanity
Inferior versions of the story (gospel of sin management)
Human dominion/responsibility for creation
Sin's effect on creation
Jesus restores our vocation
Scriptures about human rule
All good comes from God, sin is not fun
Eating and drinking in the afterlife?
Restful work
Participating in the divine nature (2 Pet 1:4)
Living our purpose now

Handout available here
Relationships in the afterlife are unclear, so start with the nature of God
The big picture - community
Social Trinity - God is Love
Not good to be alone (Gen 2:18)
Communal focus of Scripture vs. individual focus of American culture
Resurrection = you will still be you
1 Thessalonians 4:18 - we will be reunited with Christ and one another
Luke 20:27-38 - Marriage and the Resurrection

• Sadducee's beliefs about death and Scripture
• No marriage, no more marriage, or something else?
• Like angels, don't become angels
• Purpose of 1st century marriage - children to carry on your name
• Purpose of 21st century marriage?

Watching over us? 
Finding God in all relationships now

Handout available here
Philippians 1:20-26

• Common struggle between going to be with Christ or being like Christ here
• Self-centered salvation

2 Corinthians 5:6-8

• Recap on Paul's metaphors for the current and resurrection bodies
• Away from the Lord now, with the Lord then

Acts 23:8-9 & 12:15

• Sadducees = no resurrection
• Angel = spirit = intermediate state of bodiless existence

Luke 16:19-31

• The Rich Man & Lazarus is a parable
• Focus of parable is wealth (not the afterlife)
• Problems with literal reading
• Abraham's side and Hades

Living the kingdom now - inflicting hell or bringing heaven to earth

Handout available here
Recap on our hopes and how they involve heaven
Two views of the intermediate state: soul sleep or soul in heaven
Resurrection as life after life after death
Luke 23:39-43 - Today in Paradise

• Paradise = Eden = heaven?
• Jesus between death and resurrection
• When Jesus comes into his kingdom

Two notes on reading Revelation responsibly
Revelation 6:9-11 - Martyrs before God's Throne

• Lamenting but resting

Revelation 7:9-10, 13-17 - The Great Multitude
Revelation 20:1-6

• Millennial reign as Jesus' ministry to now
• Christ's reign (1 Cor 15; Heb 2)
• Satan bound (Mark 3)
• First & second resurrection, first & second death

How we live in this intermediate state

Handout available here
Heaven as home concept more from songs than Scripture
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 - Coming and Meeting

• Traditional reading: Jesus comes back and takes us to heaven
• Not 'The Rapture'
• Paul's pastoral purpose
• Left hanging in the air
• Parousia (royal visit) & apantesis (meeting and escorting the king)

Philippians 3:20-21 - Citizenship in Heaven

• Traditional reading: Citizens of heaven = heaven is home
• Citizenship in the Roman Empire & Philippi
• Jesus comes here from there (not vice versa)

John 14:1-3 - Jesus Prepares a Place

• What's not said
• Translations of 'dwelling places' (monai)
• Where/what is 'my Father's house'? (Answer is less clear than we assume)
• The place is prepared in heaven now to be revealed here later

The pastoral point: We are not abandoned (and neither is any of God's good creation)

Handout here
What we say about the end is what we say about God - destroyer or redeemer?
2 Peter 3:8-13 - Found through Fire
Differing translations of v. 10
Textual criticism and New Testament manuscripts
"Revealed" better reading than "burned up"
Fire as instrument of purifying and revealing
"The elements" - powers not periodic table
A new heavens and earth was justice happens
Romans 8:18-23 - The Redemption of Creation
What problem does Jesus’ death and resurrection deal with?
Creation subjected to death (by humanity)
The curse of Genesis 3:17-19
Creation in childbirth, new born from old
Implications for creation care
All things reconciled in Colossians 1:19-20 & Ephesians 1:10
NEXT WEEK: How the 'go to heaven' passages fit in

Handout available here
Implications of resurrection for creation
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In the end God will… 
Isa 65:17; 66:22; 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1; Acts 3:21
Where, and what, is heaven?
Two concepts of God
The Marriage of Heaven and Earth (Revelation 21:1-5)
Who is going which direction?
The Incarnation and God's consistent movement
Definitions of 'new' (neos & kainos)
Biblical concepts with 're-'
New Heavens and New Earth (Isaiah 65:17-25)
Prophets are poetic (not literal)
The Lord's Prayer and our unchanging hope

This class was filmed ahead of time, so if you want to see my lovely face, watch me say all this on YouTube
Handout available here
How 2 Corinthians sound like Greek Platonism (but isn't)
Paul changed perspective because of suffering
Resurrection means reunion
Outer and inner, seen and unseen

Buildings and clothing metaphors

Textual variant - take off vs. put on
"In the heavens" and champagne analogy
Paul being pastoral and discussing preferences (see Phil 1:21-26)
Jesus' resurrection body has ghostly attributes and normal bodily attributes
The meaning of Jesus' ascension
The imperishable, perfected, resurrection body of Christ still has scars