What hope is there for a world that is filled with so much tyranny and oppression if there is not an ultimate judge?
What hope is there for a world that is filled with so much tyranny and oppression if there is an ultimate judge?
Our hope is found in the Righteous Judge who was judged in our place (Romans 3:23-26; Galatians 3:10-14; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
Below is a very thought-provoking section from T.F. Torrance’s The Mediation of Christ. It led me to marvel at the great wisdom and love of God. Enjoy! It’s well worth the necessary time it takes to read it.
“The covenant between God and Israel was not a covenant between God and a holy people, but precisely the reverse. It was a covenant established out of pure grace between God and Israel in its sinful, rebellious and estranged existence. Hence, no matter how rebellious or sinful Israel was, it could not escape from the covenant love and faithfulness of God… Read the rest of this entry »
“It is…of the greatest importance to see the significance of Christ’s death and resurrection, which
are the center of Paul’s proclamation, as an inseparable unity; and particularly to keep in view
how the significance of Christ’s resurrection is determined by that of his death and vice versa. On
the one hand the eschatological significance Paul ascribes to Christ’s resurrection is not that of a
general belief in redemption or immortality that may be said to have found its firm basis in
Christ’s resurrection. The eschatological significance of Christ’s resurrection is determined by the
special character of his death… Read the rest of this entry »
“Preaching predestination, or creation, or the new birth, or the baptism of the Spirit is not preaching the gospel. All these things are related to the gospel and are necessary for the working of the gospel, but they are not the essential message to be believed for salvation. Furthermore, unlike the gospel message, they do not directly address the matter of our justification and assurance of salvation. Only the message that another true and obedient human being has come on our behalf, that he has lived for us the kind of life we should live but can’t, that he has paid fully the penalty we deserve for the life we do live but shouldn’t—only this message can give assurance that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture, pp. 83-84).
Over the next two weeks I will be posting parts of a section from Herman Ridderbos’ Paul: An Outline of His Theology. I’ve been reading him of late and have found him to be very edifying. The section I will begin posting is section 28 (pp. 166ff) entitled, “The Righteousness of God in Christ.” Ridderbos writes:
“Just as it is true of the entire revelation of the mystery that it has Christ for its content, so also the revelation of the righteousness of God, as the ground for acquittal in the divine judgment, takes place in Christ. And just as the entire Pauline gospel has its center in the death and resurrection of Christ, so also the gospel of justification by faith.
This revelation of the righteousness of God is related to the death and resurrection of Christ in all sorts of ways. Romans 3:21-31, where once again the basic eschatological-christological structure of Paul’s gospel comes clearly to the fore, is very central and very pointed in the further exposition of this theme. Verses 24ff. are especially important here:
‘ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, [25] whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. [26] It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. ‘
“What is of particular importance for us in this context is Read the rest of this entry »
I thank God for the ministry that Dr. Clowney has had in my life through his teaching and writing ministry. “The great theme of his life, namely Christ’s presence in the whole of Scripture and his present work in the church” has had a profound influence on my life and ministry. The following is from the web magazine of the PCA.
Edmund P. Clowney, 87, (July 30, 1917 – March 20, 2005) met his Lord face to face on Sunday, March 20. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Jean Wright Clowney; by his five children: David Clowney, Deborah Weininger, Paul Clowney, Rebecca Jones, and Anne Foreman; by twenty-one grandchildren; and by eleven great grandchildren.
Born in Philadelphia, Ed received his B.A. from Wheaton College in 1939, a Th. B. from Westminster Theological Seminary in 1942, a S.T.M from Yale University Divinity School in 1944, and a D.D. from Wheaton College in 1966. Ordained in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, he served as pastor of several churches from 1942 to 1946 and was then invited to become assistant professor of practical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in 1952. He became that institution’s first president in 1966, and remained there until 1984, when he took a post as theologian-in-residence at Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Charlottesville, Virginia.
In 1990 Ed and Jean Read the rest of this entry »
“By referring to the gospel as the hermeneutical key I mean that proper interpretation of any part of the Bible requires us to relate it to the person and work of Jesus. This was recognized in Article III of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics, which says, ‘We affirm that the Person and work of Jesus Christ are the central focus of the entire Bible.’ We have already considered some of the ramifications of Jesus’ post-resurrection claims that all the Scriptures are about him. This is another way of saying that Jesus is the sole mediator of the truth of God. This mediatorial role has great significance for how we understand the Bible.
For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human who gave himself a ransom for all (1 Timothy 2:5-6).
The Jesus who mediates the word of God to us is the Jesus who is defined in terms of his historic saving act. The meaning of the Bible, in that case, is tied to the saving work of Jesus (Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture, p. 84).
What is a Gospel-centered church? Is it a church that believes that God has made Christ to be its wisdom, even its righteousness, sanctification, and glorification (1 Corinthians 1:30)? In other words, is what constitutes a Gospel-centered church the cherished belief and conviction that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, that no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6)? Or is there more to a Gospel-centered church than just what it believes and preaches concerning Jesus? On what criteria can we consider our churches to be or not to be Gospel-centered? That is the question. Read the rest of this entry »
One of the classes that I teach each semester is Principles of Bible Study. My first lecture in this class each semester is entitled, “Jesus as a Bible Student.” The lecture is an exposition of Luke 24. It is the one text that I repeatedly take my students to throughout the semester. Verse 27 is the key verse: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” There is hardly a class hour that goes by when I do not stress that the Bible student has not really understood any particular text unless we have discerned how it testifies to or finds its ultimate reference point in the Person and Work of Christ. When my students walk out of my class at the end of the semester I want them to be convinced of the fact that the overall structure of biblical revelation finds its cohesiveness only in Christ’s Person and Work. Read the rest of this entry »
We have said that you must preach the gospel every week–to edify and grow Christians and to convert non-Christians. But if that is the case, you cannot simply ‘instruct in Biblical principles.’ You have to ‘get to Jesus’ every week.
For example, look at the story of David and Goliath. What is the meaning of that narrative for us? Without reference to Christ, the story may be (usually is!) preached as: “The bigger they come, the harder they’ll fall, if you just go into your battles with faith in the Lord. You may not be real big and powerful in yourself, but with God on your side, you can overcome giants.” But as soon as we ask: “how is David foreshadowing the work of his greater Son”? We begin to see the same features of the story in a different light. Read the rest of this entry »
The following is a short article I was asked to write for The Summit Magazine (a magazine for alumni and friends of Baptist Bible College & Seminary). I plan on expanding on it quite a lot since it is impossible to do justice to this topic in 800 words (at least it’s impossible for me). Here it is:
What would you say is the difference between morals-driven and Gospel-driven leadership in the home? We ask this question because we believe its answer is vital to the spiritual health of the home. Both morals-driven and Gospel-driven homes are concerned with the morality of their children. They both desire children who love God and others as themselves. They both value truth-telling, faithfulness, patience, servanthood, etc. However, they represent two radically different perspectives on these important concerns, desires, and values. So what does it mean for leadership in the Christian home to be Gospel-driven? Read the rest of this entry »
The gospel is “I am accepted through Christ, therefore I obey” while every other religion operates on the principle of “I obey, therefore I am accepted.” Martin Luther’s fundamental insight was that this latter principle, the principle of ‘religion’ is the deep default mode of the human heart. The heart continues to work in that way even after conversion to Christ. Though we recognize and embrace the principle of the gospel, our hearts will always be trying to return to the mode of self-salvation, which leads to spiritual deadness, pride and strife and ministry ineffectiveness.
For example, ministers derive more of their joy and a sense of personal significance from the success of their ministries than from the fact they are loved by God in Christ. Why? Their hearts are still operating on the principle–”if I do and accomplish all these things–then I will be accepted.” (cf. Harold Abrahams in Chariots of Fire- “I have 10 seconds to justify my existence.”) In other words, on one level, we believe the gospel but on another level we don’t believe.
So why do we over-work in ministry and burn out? Yes, we are not practicing the Sabbath principle, but the deeper cause is unbelief in the gospel! Why are we so devastated by criticism? The person whose self-worth is mainly in his or her ministry performance will be devastated by criticism of the ministry record because that record is our very self and identity. The fundamental problem is unbelief in the gospel.
At the root, then, of all Christian failures to live right–i.e. not give their money generously, not tell the truth, not care for the poor, not handle worry and anxiety–is the sin under all sins, the sin of unbelief, of not rejoicing deeply in God’s grace in Christ, not living out of our new identity in Christ.
“The remedy against this [guilt, discouragement over personal sin] is to look upon all your sins as charged upon the account of Christ. All your sins were made to meet upon Christ, as that evangelical prophet put it: ‘He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.’ Saith the wife to the bill collector, ‘If I ower you anything, go to my husband’, so may a believer say to justice, ‘If I owe you anything, go to my Christ, who has underwritten me fully.’ I must not sit down discouraged, under the fear of those debts which Christ, to the utmost farthing, has full satisfied.
“The remedy against this…is, to solemnly consider, that believers must repent for their being discouraged by their sins…it springs from their refusal of the richness, freeness, fullness, and everlastingness of God’s love, and from their refusal of the power, glory, sufficiency and efficacy of the death and sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ; and from their refusal of the worth, glory, fullness, largeness, and completeness of the righteousness of Jesus Christ…God did not give a believer a new heart for it to be rent and torn in pieces by discouragements” (Thomas Brooks).
Winter Wardrobe
HOLLYWOOD: With promises to be faithful to C.S. Lewis, and a marketing campaign reminiscent of The Passion, Disney and Walden Media move ahead with plans to bring The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to movie theaters | by Andrew Coffin
You can read this article at: http://www.worldmag.com/displayarticle.cfm?id=10307
Another article about Narnia coming to the big screen: Disney’s Next Hero: A Lion King of Kings (Brannon of Portland Studios made me aware of this one). It was featured in the New York Times.