Let’s be clear: we worship Christ, and not the Bible. But to slide from that position to one which says that ‘infallibility lies with Christ, and not the Bible’, or, ‘the word of God is to be identified with Christ, and not the Bible’, is to get stuck in a quagmire of confusion. It is to set aside the testimony of Christ himself to the Bible, and also to place in serious jeopardy the Bible’s witness to Christ.…
‘Original sin’, like some other terms (‘total depravity’, ‘unconditional election’, ‘limited atonement’, irresistible grace’ come immediately to mind) requires careful definition if it is to provide useful service in theological discussion.
For Calvin, original sin is
…a hereditary depravity and corruption of our nature, diffused into all parts of the soul, which first makes us liable to God’s wrath, then also brings forth in us those works which Scripture calls “works of the flesh” (Gal 5:19).
It seems quite fashionable these days for Christian people to insist that the expression ‘the word of God’ can only be applied to Jesus Christ, and not, say, to Scripture. Steve Chalke, for example, writes: ‘the Bible itself is unambiguous: “The word of God” is a person not a book.’
However, the phrase is used in Scripture itself in several ways:-
The Rev Steve Chalke, founder of the Oasis Trust and high-profile Christian leader, has been making waves in the evangelical world for some time now. First came his book (co-authored with Alan Mann), The Lost Message of Jesus, in which he rejected the doctrine of ‘penal substitution’. Then, in early 2013, he came out in favour of same-sex marriage.
Most recently, in a paper entitled Restoring Confidence in the Bible, he has attempted to articulate his views about the nature and authority of the Bible. …
Steve Chalke’s (and Alan Mann’s) book, The Lost Message of Jesus, is, I suppose, yesterday’s papers telling yesterday’s news. Published in 2003, it generated more heat than light, and polarised well-meaning people into opposing groups of fans and critics.
It’s all a bit late to be offering a review of the book. But I fear that its central point (that ‘God is love’ is all that we really need to know about God, and everything else must be forced through this one filter), is not going to go away.…
