Category Archives: Salvation

Punishment in the NT

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‘Admittedly,’ (writes I.H. Marshall in Aspects of the Atonement) ‘the vocabulary of punishment does not figure all that prominently in the New Testament and those who would downplay the term “penal” understood in terms of punishment can point to this fact. A half-dozen is the sum total of references to divine punishment, and they are associated particularly with the day of judgment.  In the parabolic teaching of Jesus, wicked servants will be punished when the master returns (Matt.…

Questions about penal substitution

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I. Howard Marshall, in his book Aspects of the Atonement, helpfully sets out some of the questions that need to be asked about the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement:-

1. What is the place of penal substitution in the teaching of Scripture? There are four distinguishable views:

• The principle of penal substitution does not figure in the New Testament at all.
• It is there, but it is only one of the pictures/metaphors/analogies used in the New Testament to express the significance of the death of Jesus Christ.…

How does the cross affect me?

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This is one of the questions posed and answered by Richard Bewes in his little book The Top 100 Questions.

Put slightly differently, the question is: What does it mean to say that Jesus Christ died ‘for’ me?

The most fundamental answer to this question, says Bewes, lies in the idea of ‘penal substitution’.  Christ was the only person qualified to take upon himself the penalty of separation from God (Romans 6:23), and he himself declared that he had come to give his life in the place of many (Mark 10:45).…

Questions about salvation

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1. The inquisitive question

Luke 13:23 – “Are only a few people going to be saved?”

Answer: it matters not if they are few or many, if you are not one of them.

2. The incredulous question

Matthew 19:25 – Who then can be saved?

Answer: God is able to save all, whoever they are.  Wealth is no aid, poverty no barrier.

3. The imperative question

Acts 16:30 – “What must I do to be saved?”…

‘If the church were Christian’ – 2

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Philip Gulley puts it like this:- If the church were more Christian, ‘affirming our potential would be more important than condemning our brokenness.’  (If the Church Were Christian. HarperOne)

The church’s teaching about the sinfulness of human nature, it appears, has done great harm.  It has brought the church into disrepute, and caused individuals to feel damaged and guilt-ridden.  Gulley supports this with anecdotes of horror stories from which every reasonable person would recoil with horror.…

Election

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Hendriksen (New Testament Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 1:4) summarises the teaching of the NT on the doctrine of election:-

  1. It is from eternity (Eph. 1:4, 5).
  2. It becomes evident in life (1 Thess. 1:4)…
  3. It is sovereign and unconditional; that is, it is not conditioned on foreseen works or foreseen faith (1 Cor. 1:27, 28; 4:7; Eph. 1:4; 2:8)…
  4. It is just (Rom. 9:14, 15).
  5. It is not limited to Gentiles; in every age a remnant of the Jews is also included (Rom.
…

To what are we called?

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We are called to

  1. fellowship with Jesus Christ, Mk 3:14; Jn 17:3; 1 Cor 1:9;
  2. freedom, Gal 5:13;
  3. peace, Col 3:15;
  4. holiness, 1 Cor 1:2; Rom 1:7; 1 Pet 1:5; 1 Thess 4:7; 2 Tim 1:9;
  5. witness, 1 Pet 2:9;
  6. suffering, 1 Pet 2:20f; Jn 15:18,20;
  7. glory, Heb 3:1; 1 Pet 5:10; Rom 8:17.

(Stott, The Contemporary Christian, 133f)…

Justification in Luke’s Gospel

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A foundational assumption of those who adopt some version of the ‘New Perspective on Paul’ is that Second-Temple Judaism was a not a religion of works-righteousness, but of grace.  ‘Works’ were not seen as the way of meriting salvation, as has often been thought, but rather were the ‘boundary-markers’ of God’s people; the things that marked them out as belonging to him.

I have long viewed this with some suspicion.  There seem to be too many instances in the Gospels when people did seek to justify themselves before God.  …

Eph 2:1-10 – Before and after – sermon notes (v2)

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Ephesians 2:1-10

Transformations.  DIY SOS, Restorations, Homes Under The Hammer, House Doctors, Grand Designs, Tattoo Fixers, Embarrassing Bodies.

But none of them attempts: the transformation from death to life.

V5 ‘God made us alive even when we were dead.’

1. Before, 1-3

A threefold tyranny: –

The tyranny of the world: v2 ‘You followed the ways of this world’.  ‘Those places, persons, pleasures and pursuits where God is left out.’  Those without Christ are slaves to secularism, materialism, peer pressure, religious fads, and the dubious role models of celebrities.…

“This man receives sinners!”

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Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came
to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and
teachers of religious law murmur, saying, “This man
receives sinners, and eats with them!”  Luke 15:1-2

The beings whom Jesus sought out,
and drew around Him, were . . . .
  the burdened,
  the bowed down,
  the disconsolate,
  the poor,
  the friendless,
  the helpless,
  the ignorant,
  the weary.

He loved to lavish upon such the fullness of His
benevolent heart, and to exert upon such the skill
of His wonder working power.…