Category Archives: Macleod, Donald

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.’…

Romans 6:14 – ‘You are not under law’

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Paul writes in Romans 6:14, ‘sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.’

What does this mean?

1.  Christians are not under law, in the first place, in the sense that they are no longer bound by the ceremonial law of the Old Testament.  This law dealt with the Temple and its ritual and, according to the Letter to the Hebrews and other New Testament writings, has been fulfilled in Christ.…

Donald Macleod on ‘total depravity’

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‘Total depravity (a notorious phrase that invariably raises people’s hackles) means that according to biblical teaching every single aspect of our human personality is affected by sin. This does not mean that all human beings are equally evil. It does not mean that any human being is as bad as he might be. And it certainly does not mean that all human beings are devils or demons. There are real gradations in sin, there is real progress in sin and there is a real distinction between the human and the demonic.…

Prophet, Priest and King

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J.I. Packer (Concise Theology) notes that one of Calvin’s great contributions to Christian theology was his recognition that in the New Testament the mediatorial work of Jesus is expounded in terms of the threefol office of prophet, priest, and king.

These three aspects are all found in the letter to the Hebrews.  Jesus is the exalted King, Heb 1:3, 13; 4:16; 2:9.  He is the great High Priest who offered himself to God as a sacrifice for our sins, Heb 2:17; 4:14–5:10; chs.…

Carson on ‘The Lost Message of Jesus’

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Plenty has been thought, said, and written about Steve Chalke and his comments on atonement in The Lost Message of Jesus.  Although N.T. Wright (who endorsed the book) has said that he doesn’t think that Chalke intended to deny penal substitution, Chalke has gone on record to confirm that he did.  (See here for Garry J. William’s reply to Chalke, and here for a penetrating review by Donald MacLeod).

As for The Lost Message of Jesus, D.A.…

Preaching and systematic theology

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Systematic theology seems in eclipse at the moment.  It is suspected not only of being detached and impractical, but also of using biblical texts in hopelessly non-historical and non-contextual ways.  It’s time, I think, to re-assert the value systematic theology for the preacher.  Here’s a summary of what Donald McLeod has to say on the subject:-

“Theology without proclamation is empty, proclamation without theology is blind.” (Gerhard Ebeling)  “I don’t care anything for a theology that doesn’t help a man to preach.”…