Christ and the Love of Neighbor
There is a great difference between love in dreams and love in action, between the ideal of love and the display of it.
To love our friends, families, and neighbors as Jesus loves us calls for the relinquishing of requirements we naturally put on the recipients of our love. Active, concrete love means that we keep loving even when that love is despised and unappreciated. Our love is to be cruciform, cross-shaped. In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers... Continue Reading
Squishy Christianity
Will the real Christianity please stand up?
Today’s squishy Christianity has trouble articulating the gospel, or explaining the necessity of the cross, or affirming a bodily resurrection, or even finding solid footing to take a stand. Surveys have shown that the person in the pew is biblically-illiterate and theologically-indifferent. As a result, the church finds itself ill prepared to be the salt... Continue Reading
A Churchly Faith
In defining the church, Luther stressed the priority of the Gospel
“So, is the Reformation over? My answer to that question is this: The Reformation is over only to the extent that, in some measure, it has succeeded. And, in some measure, of course, it has succeeded—and succeeded even more within the Catholic world than in certain sectors of mainline Protestantism.” Several years ago, Mark... Continue Reading
The Apostle’s Creed: God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth
The right to claim to have God as one's Father is dependent upon one's union with Jesus Christ
“When Christians think of the fatherhood of God, their minds most likely go at once to the Trinity, and from there to the many New Testament passages that refer to God as the Father, along with the connecting belief in God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.” When we speak of God as... Continue Reading
Evangelical Gnosticism
While they trust in an afterlife of eternal bliss with God, most of them assume this will be disembodied bliss, in which the soul is finally free of its “meat suit.”
Resistance to the idea of a physical resurrection struck them as perfectly logical. “It doesn’t feel right to say there’s a human body in heaven, when the body is tied so closely to sin,” said one student. In all, fewer than ten of my forty students affirmed the orthodox teaching that we will ultimately have... Continue Reading
5 Misconceptions about the Old Testament
Because the Bible ultimately claims God as its author, some assume it should reflect God’s own understanding of reality.
In contrast to faith in Jesus, the Son of God who died for his people, God required his people to obey his law. However, what we read in the Old Testament was God teaching Israel, and now us, about his holiness, the nature of sin, and our inability to be perfect as God is perfect.... Continue Reading
5 Reasons We Should Not Always Do What Feels Right
It is folly to trust in our own hearts or feelings.
From these verses and many others, we learn that it is folly to trust in our own hearts or feelings. If we’re honest, we don’t really know what is best for us. That’s why we need God’s Word to point us toward the right actions and attitudes that bring the most glory to God and... Continue Reading
That Your Joy May Be Full
A theology of happiness.
How does the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ bring these glad tidings to pass? “He made himself poor.” Without ceasing to be the eternally rich God by nature, the Son of God willingly assumed our poor humanity into personal union with himself in the virgin’s womb. Rich and happy in himself, he was happy... Continue Reading
What Is The Difference Between The “Active” And The “Passive” Obedience Of Christ?
Christ’s “passive obedience” and his “active obedience” both refer to the whole of Christ’s work.
Jesus’ so-called “passive” and “active” obedience were lifelong endeavors as he fulfilled the demands and suffered the penalties of God’s law, and both culminated in the cross. I would argue that the New Testament clearly teaches the lifelong passive obedience of Christ (his penalty-bearing work) and the lifelong active obedience of Christ (his will-of-God-obeying work), culminating in the... Continue Reading
Was Gnosticism Tolerant and Inclusive? Debunking Some Myths about “Alternative” Christianities
As F.F. Bruce famously quipped, “The Gnostic schools lost because they deserved to lose”
Popular perceptions are that the orthodox Christians oppressed women, but the Gnostics liberated them. But, again, the truth is not so simple. On the contrary, the historical evidence suggests that women flocked to traditional Christianity in droves. Indeed, they may have outnumbered the men almost two to one. Rodney Stark in his book The Triumph of... Continue Reading