Author Archives: admin

A biblical critique of slavery

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It is often supposed that the Bible accepts without question the institution of slavery.  The implication is, of course, that the Bible is wrong, and that we now know better.

But does the Bible itself contain a critique of slavery?  Ian Paul thinks so, and offers the following texts for consideration:

Creation

Genesis 1:26f – God created human beings in his own image.  ‘In contrast to other ANE texts, there is a universality here to the image of God in humanity; it is not confined to one sector or class of humanity…This foundational text…offers a critique of any system which seeks to divide different groups of humanity into fundamentally distinct categories.’…

How important is the gospel?

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It may be that evangelicals suffer from (or think they suffer from) ‘gospel fatigue’.  When everything is claimed to be ‘gospel-centred’ and ‘gospel-driven’, there is a danger of thinking (if not actually saying), “Oh, not again!  Give us a break!!”  Indeed, I have heard people urge that Christian ministry must move beyond the gospel and deal more with its practical outworkings.

Sam Storms invites us to listen to Scripture.  What follows is based on this article.…

Does God hate the wicked?

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You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil;
with you the wicked cannot dwell.
the arrogant cannot stand in your presence;
you hate all who do wrong.

(Psalm 5:5)

The Lord examines the righteous,
but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates.

(Psalm 11:5)

Writing in Hard Sayings of the Bible, Old Testament scholar Walter Kaiser comments:

‘Our problem with any description of God’s displeasure with sin, unrighteousness or wickedness is that we define all anger as Aristotle defined it: “the desire for retaliation.”…

Introduction to the Wisdom books

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Here are the notes of a week-day evening session I was invited to do at my home church (Holy Trinity, Norwich).

We’re including under this heading: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon

Warm-up

The books of the Old Testament, set to a possibly recognisable tune!!

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges and Ruth,
Samuel, Samuel, Kings, Kings and Chronicles,
Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther.

Job, Psalms and Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, The Song of Solomon,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel,
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.…

Acts 9:32-43 – “Tabitha, get up!” (sermon notes)

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Text: Acts 9:32-43

How do you like your Christianity?  Spectacular, or ordinary?

1. Spectacular – the dead raised

The gospel has been moving out in ever increasing circles.

Peter and John have been sent from Jerusalem to Samaria, 8:14ff.  Now Peter is moving to the outer regions of Judea.  Visiting the ‘saints’ in Lydda.

First, the healing of Eeneas.

Then 10 miles away, in Joppa, Tabitha/Dorcas has died.

They send for Peter – what did they expect him to do? …

What is the Orthodox Faith?

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If, like me, you’ve heard of the ‘Eastern Orthodox Church’ but wanted to know a bit more about it, then I offer the following as a public service.

1. Eastern Orthodoxy is nearly one thousand years old

Until 1054 there was just one church and no denominations.  In that year of the Great Schism, various tensions reached breaking point and the church split into the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

2. There were various reasons for the split

These are complex, and have to do with language (Eastern churches used Greek and Roman churches used Latin), doctrine (the filioque clause of the Nicene Creed was affirmed by the Catholic church but rejected by the Eastern church), liturgy (the Western churches used unleavened bread in the Eucharist, while the Eastern churches did not), and ecclesiastical authority.…

What is the good news?

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Recently, a couple of Christian friends and I agreed to submit to one another a short statement on our respective understandings of ‘the gospel’, the ‘good news’ of Jesus Christ.

It feels as though it should be easy for a person who has been a Bible-believing, gospel-loving follower of Jesus Christ for nearly half a century to give a short, clear, answer to the question, “What is the good news of Jesus?”

But I didn’t find it quite so easy:

For one thing, there is no one place in Scripture where such an answer is given (although 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 perhaps comes closest).…

Jn 16:5-15 – When the Spirit comes (sermon notes)

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“When the Spirit comes” – John 16:5-15

It’s a horrible thought to try to imagine life without someone you dearly love.

The disciples were having to get used to the prospect of life without Jesus.

They are sharing one last meal with him.  He must leave them, they can expect to be treated with terrible hostility after his departure; but they’ve got to carry on without him and witness on his behalf before a hostile world. …

Penal substitution an Anglican doctrine

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As a Licensed Reader within the Church of England, it is of some interest and importance to me to know whether the doctrine of penal substitution is an Anglican doctrine.

Well, the doctrine is not clearly espoused in the Prayer Book of 1662, to which all clergy must assent.  The nearest it comes to it is this:

‘…who made there (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.’…

Demons: what they can, and cannot, do

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In Matthew 8:28-34 Jesus casts demons out of a pair of men and into a herd of pigs.

Verses 29-32 are particularly instructive regarding the character of demons:

‘”What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”  Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding.  The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” …