EFS Redux: Aiming for Closure on the Trinity Debate
I’ve become convinced that there can be no eternal relations of authority and submission ad intra, within the life of the Trinity from eternity.
I was leaning in the non-EFS direction—which is to say, the direction of classic Trinitarian orthodoxy—but I was still ambivalent about it. In the months (and now two and a half years) that followed, though, I’ve landed firmly. And so I thought I’d write a post summarizing my position on the issue. It’s hard... Continue Reading
Hell to Pay
I want to explain what we lose if Jesus wasn't, in fact, forsaken by God when he stood in our place.
“The more we ascribe to Christ’s suffering, the less remains of ours; the more painfully that he suffered, the more fully are we redeemed; the greater his sorrow was, the greater our solace; his dissolution is our consolation, his cross our comfort; his annoy our endless joy; his distress in soul our release, his calamity... Continue Reading
Truly God, Truly Man: The Council of Chalcedon
Chalcedon was trying to settle the aftermath of the Arian controversy in the fourth century.
The council was condemned in the western, Latin-speaking half of the Roman Empire. Pope Leo the Great thundered against it as the “Robber Synod” (and the name stuck). After the death of emperor Theodosius, a new emperor, Marcian, called a new council at Chalcedon (in Asia Minor) in 451. This time, Eutyches and the extreme... Continue Reading
Eschatology Matters
Eschatology, or the doctrine of the last things, is not a mere add-on to our Christian walk.
Neo-Calvinism is especially defective about the nature of the saeculum, which is the age between the advents of Christ. Greenbaggins invoked Vos to explain the peculiar character of the period when the ministry of word and sacrament defines the church, in the words of the Confession of Faith, as “the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the... Continue Reading
Hell: They Have No Bowels
In the ancient world compassion was associated with the bowels.
Take a look at Colossians 3:12. It says, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts…” Now, a literal translation of compassionate hearts will read a bit differently. It will actually translate oiktirmou splanchna as “bowels of compassion.” And that’s not the only place we find this expression in Scripture. I’ll give one further... Continue Reading
“Love Your Bibles”
Here are ways Scripture motivates us to start reading.
Scripture is the words of God to you. Open the Bible anywhere and the words there could be introduced with “the Spirit says” (Heb 3:7). These words are bread for our soul (Deut 8:3). They bring life. Over the past year, I have watched how they bring this miracle of life. I have seen it in... Continue Reading
When Temptation Holds Out Pleasure
When Jesus triumphed over death and sin, he finally cleared the path for our feet to walk into joy.
What’s difficult for me, and perhaps for you, is that though I am a new creature, though I am no longer a slave to loving dead things, I am still tempted to believe at times that they, and not God, will provide the joy I want. That obedience to God would kill, and not increase,... Continue Reading
Refreshed In Chains
The gospel refreshes us even through the actions of others.
When Paul sent off Onesimus with this commendation and request, the gospel ensured that though Paul was left behind in chains, in a far more profound way, Paul himself was hand-delivering his own letter. This truth, that Paul’s identity was enveloped in and expressed through Onesimus’, is a profound fruit of the gospel truth best explained... Continue Reading
Here’s Why We Must Never Preach Legalism
The Bible is not law-centered, but it is Christ-centered and gospel-focused.
Some wrongly pit the Old Testament against the New Testament, asserting that the OT is law-focused and external while the NT is heart-focused and internal. Even a cursory reading of the OT makes clear that true righteousness always involved internal faith and a transformed heart. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart... Continue Reading
Judah’s Scepter
Jesus is that great Judean son.
Although peace was established by Judean kings such as David and Solomon, their reign could not establish it universally where “the obedience of the peoples” (v. 10) belonged to them, nor could they bring about a kingdom prosperity that provided eschatological abundance (vv. 11–12). They were a picture of a greater son of Judah, the... Continue Reading