Category Archives: Jesus Christ

Some theses on the Father and the Son

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Fred Sanders, a systematic theologian with a special interest in the Trinity, has jotted down 18 Theses on the Father and the Son.

I found the following extracts helpful, particularly in relation to discussions about the ‘eternal subordination of the Son’.

The reason we know the Father-Son-Holy Spirit distinction is because the Father sent the Son and the Holy Spirit. The distinctions among the three persons were revealed in the act of the Son and Spirit coming to be among us for our salvation.

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9 things you didn’t know about the Star of Bethlehem

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Well, actually, you know all this stuff already if you’ve read my various notes and articles.

But here’s a convenient summary from Colin Nicholl, whose book The Great Christ Comet explores the topic in much more detail.

I here reproduce Nicholl’s article from The Washington Post in its entirety.

1. The Star was historical

Some have claimed that the Bethlehem Star is nothing more than a myth invented by the early Christians. But the latest scholarship suggests that Matthew’s Gospel is a biography that strives for historical accuracy.

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Luke 2:14 – ‘On earth peace, Good will toward men’

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Christmas, as everyone knows, is ‘the season of goodwill’.

It’s a lovely thought, and captures so much of what we all long for.  What’s not to like about ‘peace on earth’ and ‘good will toward men’?  It’s ‘the true meaning of Christmas’, isn’t it?  If only we could do ‘peace’ and ‘good will’ all year round, the world would be a much better place.

But, attractive as the sentiment is, it is not quite what the angels said.…

Mark 3:29; Luke 12:10 – The unpardonable sin

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Mt 12:31f “People will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 12:32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”

Mk 3:29 “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, but is guilty of an eternal sin”

Lk 12:10 “The person who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”…

Luke 2 – Was Joseph from Nazareth, or Bethlehem (or both)?

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It is generally supposed that Joseph, like Mary, came from Nazareth.  At the time of the census, he travelled, with his wife-to-be, to Bethlehem, his ancestral home.  After Jesus’ birth he took his little family to Egypt, in order to escape the threat of Herod.  And then, after that threat subsided, they returned to their hometown of Nazareth.

Stephen Carlson argues that Bethlehem was Joseph’s actual family home, and not just his ancestral home.  Two reasons: (a) the is no record of a census requiring a man to return to his ancestral home; (b) Lk 2:39 (‘…to a town of their own’) implies that Joseph and Mary made Nazareth their home after the birth. …

Philippians 2:10 – ‘The name that is above every name’

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2:9 God exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
2:10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow.

At first glance, this passage seems to teach that ‘the name that is above every name’, which God has given to his exalted Son, is ‘the name of Jesus’.

But there are at least two reasons why this cannot be so.  Firstly, the name ‘Jesus’ was given to our Lord at the time of his incarnation, not at the time of his exaltation. …

Is the Son eternally subject to the Father?

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(These notes by no means attempt a definitive solution to this question, which has become controversial in evangelical circles in recent years.)

The question of whether the Son is eternally subject to the Father is of some significance to debates between complementarians and egalitarians.  (This question is, of course, closely related to that concerning the relationship of the Spirit to the Father and the Son, but I will set that aside for now).

It is important to note that neither ‘side’ in the debate is monolithic. …

Perspectives on union with Christ

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The term ‘union with Christ’ sums up the relationship between Christ and his people.

The church has understood this in various ways.

1. Incarnational union.  This view, which was held my many of the early Fathers and continues to be held in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, is that in incarnation God in Christ became one with us in order to make us one with him.  He took on our human nature in so that we might partake in his divine nature. …

Doubting the virginal conception

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In her book The Historical Jesus: a Guide for the Perplexed Helen Bond sets out what might be regarded as a ‘main-stream’ critical view of the virginal conception of Jesus.

Bond notes, first, that ‘large parts of the New Testament appear to know nothing about the virginal conception.’  That, of course, is an argument from silence, and therefore rather flimsy.

She then turns to what she regards as ‘three competing alternatives’ emerging from what the NT texts do say on this matter.…

Why are there fewer miracles today?

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The second part of Tim Chester’s little book Do Miracles Happen Today? that I would like to summarise and reflect on comes in chapter 3.

While insisting that God can and does do miracles today, Chester says that, in fact, they are fewer and lesser in scope than those that happened at the time of the Gospels and Acts.

Some Christians put this down simply to a lack of faith on our part.  If our expectations were greater, then so would the provision of miracles.…