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I want to argue a simple point. Since we don’t have a theological anthropology, our current Christology has little theological foundation; and, therefore, Christology will be the next theological battle that we have (and it already is).
How do we prevent this? [Read more…] about The Coming Crises over Christology (Our Anthropology Contradicts Our Christology)
The two witnesses in Revelation had invited much speculation over the years. Some have identified them as Moses and Elijah, some as the church and Israel, and many more views besides.
While some ambiguity may exist in the best of interepretations, I think the book of Revelation itself provides solid evidence for taking the witnesses as representative of the whole church. [Read more…] about Who Are the Two Witnesses in Revelation 11?
Christians are supposed to be new creations whose lives exhibit the power of God (2 Pet 1:3ff). As new creations, we walk and live by the Spirit. Even knowing this, many of us struggle to understand what it looks like to change by the Spirit. We attend regular churches full of regular people who don’t appear very much like Spirit-indwelled new creations. What are we missing?
The answer to these questions involves understanding how we change, what the power of God means, and why sin still exists even among Christians. [Read more…] about What does it look like to change by the Spirit?
The development of dogma idea doesn’t make sense when it comes to the central motifs of Trinity and Christology. The linguistic precision certainly grew, but such language flowered from the seed of revelation about who God was and who Christ is in the NT writings.
You cannot read 1 Cor 8:6-7 in which Christ the Lord is inserted into the Shema and think, “Gee, this is just some human that Paul and his churches worship.” Being baptized into the singular name of the three (Matt 28) meant that early Christians already worshipped God via their baptism and confession. [Read more…] about From Christ to Creed: Did Theology Grow?
Greg Gilbert recently preached a sermon on the Gospel in which he contrasted his approach with that of Scot McKnight and Matthew Bates. 9Marks released the edited sermon notes shotly thereafter. In response, Bates said on April 17th that he was misrepresented and later wrote an article for Christianity Today. Scot McKnight also wrote a response article on the same day.
So what is the conflict, and at the end of the day, what is the Gospel? Here are some thoughts. [Read more…] about Is the Gospel about Kingship or Salvation (Or both)?
Jesus bore divine wrath at the cross for our sake (Isa 53:5), and so protected us from it. This act implies that God hates humans since he would have poured wrath upon humans if not for the work of Christ’s cross. Yet John says that God loved the world (John 3:16). So how can Scripture speak both of God’s wrath and his love for us? Does God hate us or love us?
Of all people, it may be of some interest to see how John Calvin (1509–1564) answered this question because he, in the minds of many, was a theologian of God’s wrath. While he certainly emphasized divine wrath, he (against some modern expectations) prioritized God’s love for humanity before wrath—indeed, for Calvin, passages about God’s wrath aim to underscore divine love and mercy. [Read more…] about Does God Hate People?
