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How our view of the gospel affects our reading of Scripture

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Chris Tilling puts it well, I think: our understanding of what Scripture means is very much influenced by our understanding of what the gospel is.

If, for example, we think that the gospel is primarily about how individuals get saved from their sin, enter into a personal relationship with Jesus and go to heaven when they die, then this becomes the lens through which everything else is seen.  So,

If Paul speaks about ‘new creation’ in 2 Cor 5, this must be another way of speaking about something that happens to me in my relationship with Christ.

…

The importance of expository preaching

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I like Walter Liefeld’s explanation of why expository preaching is so important:-

  1. it conveys the biblical revelation of God and his will, protecting the sermon (and its hearers) from the preacher’s subjectivism.
  2. it teaches God’s word in the setting chosen by the Holy Spirit.  It anchors the preacher’s message in its contextual intention.
  3. it meets human needs.  It allows God’s word (rather than merely my own thoughts) to reach hearts.
  4. it directs the attention of the hearer to the Bible. 
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It’s all modernism’s fault

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Chapter 7 of Why we’re not emergent (by two guys who should be) explores the ways in which emerging church people have tended to make a bogeyman out of modernism.

Kevin DeYoung summarises the emergent approach:-

Once upon a time the church was a brighter, fairer place.  And then the Enlightenment happened, and the scourge of modernism – systematic theologies, propositions, foundationalism, certainty, creeds, monological preaching, individualism, inerrancy, logic, indoctrination, deductive reasoning – began to crack down on the church.…

When is the sermon the low point in the service?

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Much of the time, unfortunately.  We have been uplifted by hymns and songs that celebrate the mighty works of God with clarity, joy and biblical faithfulness.  Then we settled down to a mumbled Bible reading and a muddled sermon and breathe a sigh of relief when the final ‘Amen’ is uttered.

Well, perhaps that’s a bit unfair.  But it too often feels like that.  David Day asks the question, ‘When is the sermon the ‘low point’ in the service?’…

The Word made flesh

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This is based on an article by Prof Donald MacLeod in The Monthly Record, Jan 1981.

Christmas is ‘that curious amalgam of paganism, commercialism and Christianity which Western civilisation has invented to tide it over the darkest days of winter.’

‘The church…appears content to leave the supreme mystery of its faith only vaguely hinted at in the glitter and gaity of what it calls its greatest festival.  Christmas is a lost opportunity, a time when the world invites the Church to speak and she blushes, smiles and mutters a few banalities with which the world is already familiar from its own stock of cliches and nursery rhymes.’…

Biblical foundations of penal substitution 1 – Exodus 12

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“The doctrine of penal substitution states that God gave himself in the person of his Son to suffer instead of us the death, punishment and curse due to fallen humanity as the penalty for sin.”  (Jeffrey, Ovey & Sach, Pierced for our Transgressions, p21).

A while ago, I summarised objections to the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement as set out and responded to by Jeffrey et al.

I’d now like to examine the biblical basis for this doctrine, using the same authors as guides.…

Theology of Prayer 9 – Objections to Prayer (v)

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B.M Palmer, Theology of Prayer, ch 9

The fifth objection is that prayer leads to fanaticism and mysticism.

This objection states, ‘that the claim to such personal and intimate communion with the Divine #Being open the door to the dreamiest mysticism or the wildest fanaticism.’

The objection is shallow, in that it overlooks the important checks thrown around prayer, guarding against such a result.

1.  ‘All true prayer is bounded within the limits of God’s sovereign will.’ …

Suffering and the existence of a God of love

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John Blanchard discusses this in his book Does God Believe in Atheists?  The argument against the existence of an all-loving, all-powerful God may be summarised as follows:-

1. Evil and suffering exist
2. If God were all-loving, he would wish to prevent evil and suffering
3. If God were omnipotent, he would be able to prevent evil and suffering
4. Evil and suffering are not prevented. Therefore, there is no such thing as an all-loving, all-powerful God

It is not incumbent on the apologist to demonstrate why or how such a God allows evil and suffering to exist.…

Isa 7 – Immanuel, God with us – sermon notes

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The time is 735 BC or thereabouts.  The southern kingdom of Judah is under threat from its northern neighbours, Israel and Syria.  King Ahaz and his people are beside themselves with fear.  The prophet Isaiah steps forward and announces, “Though your enemies have been plotting your downfall, it is they themselves who will be ruined.  Stand firm in your faith (v9).”  Then, v10f, the Lord makes Ahaz an offer: “Ask the Lord for a sign that this is true – anything you like.” …