Communion on the Moon: Total Eclipse of the Point
When I read of Aldrin’s roguish Eucharistic exploits, I found myself thinking, that it’s a pretty neat thing, except for this—it’s not communion.
“I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup. It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements.”... Continue Reading
Review of God in Himself by Steven Duby
Duby retrieves and restates the commonsense and Reformed teaching that God reveals himself in nature and in Scripture.
The major success of Duby’s work is his theological exegesis, which not only engages directly with Scripture but also pulls from a whole host of earlier Christian writers—whether Greek or Latin. This adds a sense of historical awareness and catholicity that commends the book. Steven Duby has written a brilliant work that presents “a... Continue Reading
Why Is Prayer So Vitally Important for Christians?
Prayer is as basic to the Christian life as eating is to bodily life.
Just as we need to be taught what food is good for us (and what is not), so too we need to learn what prayer is and is not. Prayer is an essential element of our sanctification (the Spirit’s gradual, gracious work of conforming believers to the image of Christ). Just as we are learning daily... Continue Reading
Lack of Goats Made Me Do It
Often we blame others for our actions, and we can even blame the absence of others for our sin—"If you had been here...".
Every day on the news we hear the same goat trick—the circumstances made him do it—if they had more jobs there would be peace and harmony in the community, if he had a different upbringing… etc. It is something that comes quite naturally to all of us, Adam did it way back in Eden. Yet... Continue Reading
Context Mattered to Jesus
Will Jesus keep the commandments of the Lord?
Jesus has been led by God the Spirit into the wilderness for 40 days (Matt 4:1–2). He voluntarily went hungry for these 40 days (Matt 4:2). Jesus knows he is the Son of God, because he just heard his father say these exact words (Matt 3:17). The temptation of Jesus is a fascinating exchange.... Continue Reading
Does The Scripture Have a Centre, Or Is It a Collection of Writings without a Centre?
In my view, the discipline of biblical theology can grasp the centre only through first considering key apostolic comments on the relationship between Christ and Scripture.
The hidden mystery has now been made manifest by Jesus and made known through the Old Testament. Something therefore has changed. The hidden is now manifest. The mystery is now revealed. Christ lies at the centre of this mystery since he manifests the mystery and makes known the hidden mystery in the Old Testament. ... Continue Reading
Dangerous Compassion
How to Make Any Love a Demon
Lewis is concerned that human loves, at times, tend to claim for themselves a divine authority that overrides all other claims and obligations. They demand unconditional allegiance and thereby become gods (and thereby become demons which destroy both us and themselves). In his book The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis begins his discussion of the natural... Continue Reading
One People of God: Christ Has Broken Down the Dividing Wall
There is essentially one people of God.
When I encountered Reformed theology and the Reformed Church, one of the first questions I asked my first Reformed teacher, Warren Embree, was, “What about Israel?” To which he replied, “the dividing wall has been broken down.” Again I asked, “But what about Israel?” Again he replied, “The dividing wall has been broken down.” A... Continue Reading
God Will Be Good Again Tomorrow
Taste and see that he really is good — and trust him for that grace to come again tomorrow.
God’s new mercy meets us each morning (Lamentations 3:22–23), and yet we’re often too consumed by tomorrow’s trouble to even notice. David models stopping, even in the midst of ongoing uncertainty and distress, to see daily grace, and he calls us to join him in the peace and confidence that seeing brings. I will... Continue Reading
The Time is Near: A Look at Revelation 1:1-3
We should read Revelation much like we read other books of prophesy. Such as Isaiah.
One thing v. 1 teaches us is that since Revelation is a revelation from God to His Son who then gave it to His servants, we know that every word in it is true. But that doesn’t mean that we are to take every word literally. As we will shortly see, that is impossible. If... Continue Reading