What saith the Scripture Tradition must give way to the clear statements of the Scripture

  For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is God’s saving power for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith, as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.” Rom. 1:16–17. “The one who is righteous will live by faith.” Ro 1:16–17. If the supplementary words in the antecedent arise out of the spaces in the citation, then Paul is offering the following paraphrase of his text from Habakkuk:  ‘The one who is righteous (that is, with a righteousness of God, revealed in the gospel) by faith (since this righteousness is received by faith and is intended for faith) will live.’  Later in his letter, Paul himself will use just such a format to paraphrase a passage from Deuteronomy:   The righteousness of faith speaks thus: Do not say in your heart, Who will ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down), or, Who will descend into the abyss? (that is, to br...

       A word generally used to translate the generic Greek word ekklēsia, which variously means “gathering,” “assembly” or “congregation.” However, the NT tends to use the word to refer to all those who by faith in the person and work of Christ as the fullest revelation of God have entered into a new relationship with God and with one another (1 Cor 1:9–10),  who are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit on earth (1 Cor 3:16) and who have been given the task of proclaiming the present and future reign of God in the world, both by the verbal declaration of the word of God (Acts 20:25–27) and by the administration of the ordinances or sacraments (Mt 28:19; 1 Cor 10:16–17). The church is founded on the past work of Christ in his death, resurrection and ascension, points to the return of Christ in the future and seeks to live in love by the power of the Spirit in the present. (Stanley Grenz, David Guretzki, and Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological...