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Is ministry incarnational?
The Incarnation is a singular, unique event that can never be repeated and yet ubiquitously explains every relation between God and humans:
With that said, do Christians engage in incarnational ministry? not exactly. [Read more…] about Is Ministry Incarnational?
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?
The Bible contains salutary themes like atonement, temple, and promise. But throughout history, unsavoury or mistaken people have misread the Bible. For example, Paul had to correct the Galatians who began to follow false teaching when it came to the relationship between the Torah and the Gospel.
During the course of his argument, Paul had to specify the identity of the seed in Genesis 22 as well as the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham. According to the apostle, the seed is Christ and the Spirit fulfills the promise.
Like Paul, we sometimes too have to specify the Bible’s meaning with crisp definitions. For centuries, the church has done just that. Christians have developed a number of words to specify the Bible’s teaching about Jesus.
And I think it is good and wholesome to know these words so that we can have a better understanding of who Jesus is. For that reason, consider this short dictionary of Jesus words to help you avoid error and to know Jesus better.
Have you ever asked yourself why the Father sent Jesus to earth? I mean, he could have just left us to our own devices. He could have ended his creation. God could have done a lot of things. But what did he do? He sent his Son into the world to die on a cross and rise from the dead? Why? Well, there really could be a lot of ways to answer this question, but I’d like to share one answer with you from the fourth century theologian Athanasius. [Read more…] about Athanasius on Why Jesus Became a Man
