I wonder how far back you can trace your family tree? Not many of us can rival the claim of Canadian furniture-maker Michael Ibsen, who is the nearest known relative of Richard III, who died at the battle of Bosworth in 1483.
But did you know that, in fact, each of us is a member of one or other of two very ancient families? These families are discussed by Paul in Romans 5.
At the head of each of these two families stands a representative. …
I wanted to check a few details about Philip Pullman’s book, ‘The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ’. In that book, Pullman imagines ‘Jesus’ and ‘Christ’ were brothers: ‘Jesus’ was godly and moral, but ‘Christ’ was something of a Judas-character, whose physical likeness to ‘Jesus’ led, after the death of his brother, to a belief in the resurrection and the founding of the Christian Church.
I was intrigued to read this transcript of a sermon by the Reverend Robert Reiss, who at the time was Canon in Residence at Westminster Abbey. …
[Asked to preach twice on the same day from James 4:4-17, I developed two sermons, the first focussing on what this passage teaches about pride in relation to talking (verses 11-12), and the second on pride in relation to planning (verses 13-17).]
Overall theme of this section: arrogance.
Specific danger areas: talking (v11-12), planning (vv13-17), spending (5:1-6).
Let’s focus on the first of these. James has yet more to say about the tongue, and so must we.…
We ensure that our cars, our central heating boilers, and our teeth are in a healthy condition.
But what about your faith? Is your faith in good working order?
What do we mean by ‘faith’?
Text: Romans 4
There is much concern about ‘radical’ religion these days. But what does radical Christianity look like?
Previously (3:21-31): humanity’s perilous plight – ‘all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’, v23; God’s drastic solution, v24f – ‘God presented Christ Jesus as sacrifice of atonement’; and the means by which we experience this: v28 – ’a person is justified by faith apart from observing the law.’
Justification by faith is
Last night, the BBC screened its 90-minute drama ‘The Ark’.
It was a re-telling, by Tony Jordan, of the celebrated biblical story of Noah (variations of which circulated in other ancient cultures).
Those who confuse the ‘traditional’ children’s version of this story with the biblical version complain that we don’t get to see the animals go into the ark. I was surprised to see Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali being (mis?)quoted as seemingly objecting to the animals being ‘banned’ from the ark in this film.…
In relation to the church, the glory of God in Christ,
To talk of a ‘New Perspective on Paul’ (NPP) is to imply that there is an ‘Old Perspective’ that has now come under scrutiny.
It might be tempting to respond by saying, “A curse on both your houses! I shall ignore them both and simply read and preach the text itself.”
An understandable aim, no doubt, but one that would be unwise to attempt, and impossible to achieve.
Unwise to attempt, because we would then be elevating what we think the Holy Spirit is telling us about what God’s word means, above what others, possibly more insightful than us, think he has told them.…
According to Paul’s letter to the Romans, God’s law
See James Edwards: Romans (UBCS)…
‘When we pray for things pertaining to this life, we must desire temporal things for spiritual ends; we must desire these things to be as helps in our journey to heaven. If we pray for health, it must be that we may improve this talent of health for God’s glory, and may be fitter for his service; if we pray for a competency of estate, it must be for a holy end, that we may be kept from the temptations which poverty usually exposes to, and that we may be in a better capacity to sow the golden seeds of charity, and relieve such as are in want.…
