engaging christian scriptures between the testaments

READ: Tackling the Hard Questions: What the Bible Says-and Doesn't Say-About LGBTQ People and the Church 3) Acts 8:26-40: “What is to prevent me from being baptized?” This passage reminds us that God’s promise and beloved community are not defined by our own rules or boundaries, or even our own understanding of God’s law.

This dream serves as a crucial instructive for Peter later in the passage, when he encounters Gentiles, which Jewish law would normally reject. When Peter protests, God reminds him that God’s declaration of what is clean is above - and may even contradict - any command of the law. In Acts 10, Peter has a dream in which he is commanded by God to consume food that is deemed “unclean” according to Jewish law. 2) Acts 10:15: “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” Someone may look - or love - differently than you do, and still, simply by being a human, reflect the image of God. The assurance that all human beings are created in God’s image reminds us from the get-go that everyone is a sacred creation, and that God’s image is broader than our own experience and understanding. That God is referred to in the plural in this passage could even suggest the idea of God containing a diversity of identities within God’s own mysterious and infinite self.

In the Bible’s creation story, God makes clear that, out of all of creation, human beings are created in God’s image. 1) Genesis 1:26: “Let us create humankind in our image.” Here are 10 Bible verses that emphasize the value of love over the law, the God-belovedness of all people, and the special affirmation of those who have been historically rejected as unclean or unholy.

Engaging christian scriptures between the testaments