When the City of Man Creaks
The systems around us are showing their weakness.
When the city of man begins to creak and groan we may naturally feel a good deal of fear or disorientation. I don’t think there’s any way around this. But this creaking is also an opportunity for humility, for renewed faith in the New Jerusalem, and for identification with the historical and global Church. In... Continue Reading
The Darkness Over the Son
On the cross, all the iniquity of all God’s people throughout all history, past, present, and future, was laid upon his Son, and God’s wrath was poured out on him.
Psalm 22 starts with lament, but it ends in praise for God’s deliverance. Jesus cried verse 1 to give us the rest of the Psalm. He asked for our deliverance through him, and we received it! Satan can’t condemn us. The world can’t destroy us. We can’t even ruin ourselves anymore. Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice conquered... Continue Reading
Death and the Intermediate State—What Happens After We Die?
Because of Christ, our sorrow has an end, and we say to death, "Where is your sting?"
Life after death is not one that begins only after the great resurrection of the dead or with the second coming of Christ. Even after the body and soul have been separated in death, there is an ongoing existence of the soul even after the body has decayed. One of the more common questions... Continue Reading
Number Your Days
Accept that life will often be difficult. And acknowledge that it’s fleeting.
What if we don’t think about our limitations? What if we don’t consider the reality of our coming death and what comes afterwards? We’re probably going to be busy living for ourselves, plunging into pleasure and pursuing everything we can accomplish. We won’t think about God’s judgment or the consequences of what we do. ... Continue Reading
What is Orthodox Protestantism? A Brief Response to Rod Dreher
As there is no single orthodox Protestant church, the question is inevitably more challenging.
Institutional unity is important as a witness to the truth. I for one do think it ridiculous that in the USA alone there are numerous presbyterian denominations who hold substantially the same doctrinal position but exist as separate institutional bodies. Yet even so, the problem of defining Protestant orthodoxy is not simply a Protestant problem.... Continue Reading
Earthly Categories for Spiritual Things
General revelation includes all the ways that God reveals himself in creation—in the ordinary course of nature and the general course of history.
We move horizontally between the images, among the things of earth, understanding how they relate to each other, so that the whole picture and experience of the world can then lead us to God. God draws us into this web of creation so that we might know him through it. It’s how he reveals himself... Continue Reading
The Counterintuitive Christ
Consider the juxtaposition of the base humiliation and exalted glory of Christ throughout His life.
If Jesus came after the expectations and desires of sinful men and women, He would have come in a display of pomp and power that leant itself to human wisdom and pride. Instead, He came in weakness, poverty, obscurity, and ignominy. When, by faith, we receive Him as the eternal Son of God, though veiled... Continue Reading
The Theological World of the Nicene Controversy
Why do we have a second, revised creed from Constantinople?
The Creed of Constantinople was, on the one hand, a necessary rearticulation of disputed points. On the other hand, it also expanded the section on the Holy Spirit and the church, making a more clearly Trinitarian creed than that of Nicaea. Growing up in an Anglican church, we recited the Nicene Creed every Sunday—you... Continue Reading
Does Objective Truth Exist, and How Can It Be Defined?
If no one particular idea or reality is true to the exclusion of others that are NOT true, then we have to admit that every idea, notion, or reality is equally valid and "true."
Let’s accept the reality that there IS a singular truth about the nature of God, so we can truly begin to search for it. Then, let’s earnestly begin the search. If we are unwilling to even accept the premise that there IS an objective truth, we will never begin the search that will eventually lead... Continue Reading
Jesus Understands: How the Sympathy of Christ Sustains the Church
A primary way in which God keeps us from falling away is by communicating to us his profound and personal understanding of the very temptations and troubles that might otherwise lead us to leave him.
Jesus is our qualified and compelling great high priest. The Son became human not only to identify with us and represent us, but to intercede for us as one who can personally relate with us. Gethsemane is not only a moment of consecration for Jesus but of connection with us. He understands. He sympathizes. He has... Continue Reading
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