Category Archives: People

‘The Lost Message of Paul’ – ‘salvation’

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I have found much to disagree with in Steve Chalke’s book The Lost Message of Paul.

Is there anything I can applaud?  Actually, yes, there is.

I can see that he often attempts to support his arguments from Scripture.  I recognise that he gives a central place to Christ.  I think he’s correct to say that evangelicals have sometimes neglected the resurrection of Jesus in their presentation of the gospel.  He emphasises that the gospel has corporate, as well as individual, elements. …

Colossians 1:19f – Universal reconciliation?

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Colossians 1:19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son 1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross—through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Steve Chalke (The Lost Message of Paul, ch. 19) argues that, if Paul’s words in Colossians 1:19f mean anything, ‘all’ must mean ‘all’, and that the ‘reconciliation of all things’ must include all people, without exception.…

‘The Lost Message of Paul’ – Eternal punishment

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One of the problems with Steve Chalke’s book The Lost Message of Paul is that he bites off much more than he can chew.  As a result, influential Christian leaders and teachers such as Augustine, Luther and Calvin are dismissed with a wave of the hand, opponents are caricatured, and opinions are advanced without consideration of the reasons and evidence that might be adduced either for or against them.

No doubt the response to such criticisms would be, “But I simply didn’t have time or space in a book of this kind to dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’.” …

‘The Lost Message of Paul’ – ‘Total depravity’

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In chapter 13 of The Lost Message of Paul, Steve Chalke asks: Where does the Western church get all its ideas about guilt and unworthiness before God?  The Eastern half of the church has never accepted the doctrine of ‘original sin’.  That doctrine owes its origin to Augustine of Hippo and was developed much later by John Calvin.  It teaches that we all enter the world with Adam’s fallen nature.  The analogous doctrine of total depravity teaches that there is ‘no vestige of goodness left in us’. …

‘The Lost Message of Paul’ – ‘The wrath of God’

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In chapter 12 of The Lost Message of Paul, Steve Chalke deals with ‘the wrath of God’.

Chalke thinks that the idea that God is capable of wrath, or anger, is mistaken.  Three reasons are discernable.

Historical

According to Chalke, much of the responsibility for the doctrine of the wrath of God must be laid at the feet of John Calvin, who is described as brilliant but legalistic.

Calvin, it is said, ‘effectively replaced Jesus’ image of God as a loving parent with that of God as a stern, courtroom judge.’…

‘The Lost Message of Paul’ – synopsis

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Chalke, Steve. The Lost Message of Paul (2019).  SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Although I’ve already given a critique of some of the teaching of this book, I’m going to pause in order to give a chapter-by-chapter synopsis of the whole thing.

I want to make sure I’ve grasped Chalke’s teaching before saying any more about how convincing, or unconvincing, I find it.

1. The conversation

…

‘The Lost Message of Paul’ – ‘Faith’

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In chapter 9 of The Lost Message of Paul, Steve Chalke urges us to leave our Reformation-shaped prejudices and get back to the thought world of the apostle Paul.  If we do so, he insists, we will discover that the word pistis (usually translated ‘faith’) means something other than we thought it did.

‘I believe,’ says Chalke, ‘that it is far more accurately translated as “faithfulness” than “faith”.’

How does he know that?  Well, because Paul was steeped in Hebraic thinking. …

‘The Lost Message of Paul’ – ‘pistis Christou’

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Does the expression pistis Christou mean ‘faith in Christ’, or ‘the faith [or faithfulness] of Christ’?

This post is not an attempt to settle the question once and for all, but rather to respond to an argument mounted recently by Steve Chalke.

In chapter 10 of The Lost Message of Paul (2019) Chalke says that:

‘Martin Luther, John Calvin and countless others following them have chosen to translate pistis Christou as ‘faith in Christ’, and then to hang their whole doctrinal approach on it.

…

The Great Commandment and the Great Commission

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Is it possible so to emphasise Jesus’ Great Commission that we neglect his stress on the Great Commandment to love our neighbours (second only to loving God with our entire beings)?

John Stott thought so.  Here’s what he wrote about it:-

‘I venture to say that sometime, perhaps because it was the last instruction Jesus gave us before returning to the Father, we give the Great Commission too prominent a place in our Christian thinking.  Please do not misunderstand me.  …

The Holy Spirit in the New Testament

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In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is given as ‘”another (i.e. a second) Paraclete” (Jn. 14:16), taking over Jesus’ role as counsellor, helper, strengthener, supporter, adviser, advocate, ally (for the Gk. paraclētos means all of these).’

The personality of the Holy Spirit is clear: ‘Like the Father and the Son, he acts as only a person can do—he hears, speaks, convinces, testifies, shows, leads, guides, teaches, prompts speech, commands, forbids, desires, helps, intercedes with groans (Jn.…