For Instruction, Doctrine, and Morals: The Analogy of Scripture
The speaker had a mind to study the Bible using what has been historically described as the analogia scripturae or the analogy of Scripture.
What is the analogy of Scripture? It is a hermeneutical principle or a basic principle of Biblical interpretation which re-emerged within the Protestant Reformation. The principle is founded upon the belief that the Scriptures have one primary author, the Holy Spirit, who inspired Scripture. Identifying the Holy Spirit as the primary author does not reduce... Continue Reading
Advent: The Gentle Powerful Savior
It’s easy to forget that baby Jesus in Luke 2 is the same Jesus in Revelation 19, riding on his white horse with a sword ready to fight and destroy His enemies.
In Jesus we find an overwhelming reality. We find a person who deserves our worship for eternity but yet who would humble Himself and spend time in the womb of a woman He created for the sake of saving those who would put their faith in Him. He is both just and justifier; He is... Continue Reading
God, Creation Ex Nihilo, and Immutability
Does God Change By Virtue of Creation?
What does creation ex nihilo mean? Does creation change God in any sense? These are important questions, but an even more important question is this: Who is this God who created? Since creation assumes God exists, then his existence is fundamental to creation and necessary to it. Without God there is no creation. Theology proper, therefore, is... Continue Reading
The Real Christmas Nightmare – Joy from the World!
Some pagan rationalists, cynical about Christianity, prefer the Interfaith choir’s version of the old carol: “Joy from the World!”
At this time of the year, an unmistakable expectancy hangs in the air: there is surely more to life than meets the eye! Life cannot be a nightmare. One day, for those who trust in Jesus the Creator/Savior/Consummator, all our best dreams will become reality. The entire creation will be transformed, and our created flesh... Continue Reading
The Changing Face of Words
Words often change their meaning with time and context; here are some examples.
What should be clear by now from all four of these examples is that the dramatic differences in meaning is a correlative of the loss of God, or at least the loss of an external standard. Guilt becomes guilty feelings with special ease when there is no God or law before whom or which we... Continue Reading
Why It’s Dangerous To Have A New Testament God
How we are shown God in the Old Testament is difficult to reconcile with his actions in the New.
How do we hold these two pictures of God in balance? And do we have to? Can we just focus on the ‘nice’ God? We already know the answer, I think. Intellectually, we know that they are the same God. But do we feel it in our heart? Do we appreciate, amongst the mess of... Continue Reading
God Will Answer in Your Crisis
Over and over again, the Scriptures describe the faithful not as those who never saw trouble, but as those who cried out to God in their crises.
The men and women we remember as models faced the greatest times of trouble and days of distress. And God heard their cries for help. He was not deaf then — nor is he today — to the voices of his people, however great or humble, especially in crisis. Your crisis is coming. If... Continue Reading
Education in a Fallen World
While scripture is clear on many things, it actually doesn’t speak clearly on any of the educational choices before us.
Over the last six months, I have been exploring a theology of the fall and how it relates to a variety of things we experience in this world—from rodents invading our house to how we birth our children. I truly believe that a failure to acknowledge this reality (that this is not Eden and that... Continue Reading
How to Care for Those Who Are Suffering and Grieving at Christmastime
The weight of tragedies can all feel heavier at the holidays, as the festivities acutely remind us of what we have lost.
As I walked into church that first Sunday after mom’s death, I felt as though my presence parted the Red Sea. Instead of greeting me warmly in their usual way, people stepped aside. I knew they did it because they just didn’t know what to say, yet it magnified my loneliness. My mother died... Continue Reading
Does God Experience Emotional Change?
Immutability and Impassibility
If we answer this question based on popular Christian music, and even popular Christian literature, we would reply that God does experience emotional change. But the Christian creeds, the Christian tradition of theology proper (the doctrine of God), and the Protestant and Reformed confessions of faith disagree. You may have seen a popular commercial... Continue Reading