Theology

How the 10th Commandment Makes Sense of the Prior 9 Commandments

January 28, 2020 by wagraham Leave a Comment

As my pastor recently emphasized, the Ten Commandments come from the mouth of God. He speaks them into existence. They are the Word of God. So they represent his character. And yet interestingly, when Jesus gives the New Law in Matthew 5–7, he internalizes the commandments.

Instead of murder alone, Jesus cites anger as equally a sin (Matt 5:22). Rather than adultery alone, the Lord calls lust itself adultery in our heart (Matt 5:28). Jesus as the original divine Law Giver can of course modify his requirements. But I do not think that is the case.

I think Jesus deepens the logic already implicit in God’s Ten Commandments. He certainly gets to the heart of the matter. But what he gets at was already present in Exodus 20, albeit without the same level of specificity. [Read more…] about How the 10th Commandment Makes Sense of the Prior 9 Commandments

What Will Our Resurrection Body Be Like?

January 24, 2020 by wagraham Leave a Comment

After we die, our bodies will (likely) be buried and then slowly decay. After many years, no distinguishable feature of our corpse will be left in the ground. Then we will resurrect from the dead. How? Will the biological material, dispersed through the ground, adapted into the flora and fauna, and consumed by animal life now be torn from these sources?

And then what will our body be like? Will it be like we have now but with what we might call super powers? Will a disabled body from birth have an abled body that, in many ways, will look and act quite different in the resurrection (as in the case with cerebral palsy)? And if someone has a disability of cognition in this life but not in the next, then in what sense will this person’s consciousness remain between the first life and the next?

We can ask a great deal many more questions. Suffice it to say, our resurrection bodies and the experience of our resurrection life lies under a cloud of mystery. Yet Scripture does provide certain key rails for our train of thought on the resurrection. They are: [Read more…] about What Will Our Resurrection Body Be Like?

Is Christianity Feminine?

January 21, 2020 by wagraham 1 Comment

A primary metaphor for our union with God in Christ is marriage. God is the groom, and we are the bride. Actually, this union does not merely use marriage a metaphor—it’s the reality that human marriage mysteriously imitates (Eph 5:32). Before all ages, our bridegroom planned to marry us so that we might become the bride of Christ.

But this is different than saying that Christianity as such is distinctively feminine! The Christian faith also has many masculine characteristics as we are all often called sons of God regardless of sex. God primarily reveals himself as Father and Son, not Mother and Daughter. Still, at other times, God reveals himself in secondary ways with distinctly feminine characteristics: as a mother eagle (Deut 32:11) or even as a mother comforting her child (Isa 66:13)

Therefore, along with masculine characteristics, there is a feminine characteristic to Christianity that often (at least in contemporary writings) lies forgotten. We are the bride of Christ. Consider how the Bible develops this spiritual mystery from Genesis to Revelation. [Read more…] about Is Christianity Feminine?

Review of Sergii Bulgakov’s The Apocalypse of John

January 19, 2020 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Sergii Bulgakov (1871–1944) wrote The Apocalypse of John during the German occupation of France in World War II. And so having fled Russia during the Bolshevik persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1922, Bulgakov once again experienced the fires of persecution. As his colleagues entered into concentration camps, he taught the book of Revelation to students who recount his intense focus in these latter years of his life. He would not emerge from the war alive, dying in July 1944 of a stroke. [Read more…] about Review of Sergii Bulgakov’s The Apocalypse of John

Review of God in Himself by Steven Duby

January 18, 2020 by wagraham 1 Comment

Steven Duby has written a brilliant work that presents “a rational for the pursuit of theologia in the strict sense of the word: knowledge of God in himself without primary reference to the economy” (293). In other words, against those who think we can only know God in the incarnation (as an example), Duby responds that we can know God in ways that include incarnation but also includes natural revelation, the Old Testament, and so on. [Read more…] about Review of God in Himself by Steven Duby

How Christ Is the Centre of Scripture

January 17, 2020 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Christians often practice a Christ-centred reading of Scripture. Yet this approach can sound like a pop-a-mole game where Christ just springs up everywhere in Scripture. I do not think that is the case here, but I can understand the concern.

One way to understand the Christ-centered nature of Scripture is to use two key metaphors. That is what I do here before making some conclusions on Christ in the Old Testament. [Read more…] about How Christ Is the Centre of Scripture