‘Suffered Under Pontius Pilate’

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The role of the Roman procurator who ordered the crucifixion of Jesus has been written into our Christian creed.

Pilate was appointed procurator (governor) of the province of Judea by Emperor Tiberius in AD 26.  He served for 10 years.  His reputation was that of an efficient administrator, but he could also be bad-tempered and cruel.  He was, moreover, contemptuous of the Jews, and was therefore despised by them in turn.  It was he who mixed the blood of some Galileans with their sacrifices, Lk 13:1. …

2 Pet 3 – A sure and certain hope – sermon notes

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“If only we’d known how that holiday would turn out,” muttered the Jones family as they returned yesterday wet and muddy from a week of camping in the West Midlands.

“If only we’d known how that marriage would turn out,” reflected Jenny and Brian as they signed their divorce papers.

“If only we’d known how that evening would turn out,” lamented the family of James Oyebola, who was shot in the back after asking some bar customers to stop smoking.…

‘The First-Born Seraph’

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Charles Wesley’s famous hymn ‘And can it be?‘ is still sung from time to time today, even though many of the other hymns that were still popular when I was a Methodist teenager have fallen into neglect.  It is a shame, although I think that the vigorous tune Sagina prompts us to sing it more lustily than the awe-struck words suggest.  At any rate, we would reflect the words better if we didn’t crank the volume up until we reached the bit about ‘my chains fell off’.…

How should we refer to the Saviour?

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Don Carson writes of an awkward correspondence he had with an individual who criticised him for repeatedly referring to “Jesus” (rather than “the Lord Jesus Christ”) in an address.

The criticism was based on Romans 10:9 (‘if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord”…you will be saved.’)

As Carson points out, there is no reason to suppose that Romans 10:9 provides a necessary and unvarying formula for how we refer to our Lord.  By such reasoning, Matthew 1:21 (“you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins”) could equally be insisted upon as a formula.…

“Your God is my devil”

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At about 3pm on 1st August 2007 a interstate bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed.  Workmen had, just a few days previously, been conducting extensive repair work to the 40-year-old bridge.  There were tons of building materials piled up on the bridge at the time of its collapse.

Bethlehem Baptist Church is within sight of that bridge, and John Piper is its Senior Pastor.  Just a few hours after the disaster Piper, not yet knowing the scale of human injury and loss, or whether any of his own friends and colleagues had been directly affected, wrote of his immediate thoughts and feelings about what had just happened.…

Atheisms

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Mike Ovey, Principal of Oak Hall College, gave a talk a little while back on the history, convictions and impact of atheism, also offering some hints on how Christians might interact with atheists today.

Understanding Atheism

Of particular interest was his division of atheism into four types:-

1. Protest Atheism.  Someone might say, in the face of personal tragedy or global disaster, “An all-powerful and all-loving God would never allow that to happen, and therefore such a God cannot exist.”…

To whom are our hymns addressed?

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It’s interesting to note the different persons who are addressed in the various hymns that we sing.  For example:-

1. To oneself: ‘Be still, my soul’; ‘Praise, my soul, the King of heaven’; ‘Tell out, my soul’, the greatness of the Lord’;

2. To others (3rd person plural): ‘Stand up and bless the Lord’; ‘O praise ye the Lord’;

3.  To ourselves (2nd person plural): ‘Come, let us join our cheerful songs’; ‘Let us with a gladsome mind’;

4.…

Theology of Prayer 10 – Its place in moral government

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B.M. Palmer, Theology of Prayer, ch. 10

All the objections to the necessity of prayer are based on a misunderstanding of its nature and purpose.  If prayer were intended to inform God of what he did not already know, or to stir up his reluctant generosity, or to persuade him to change his plans by appeals to his reason, then it would be an affront to God’s nature and a denial of his divine attributes. …

Christian meditation

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Communication with God is immensely important, but also difficult.  It is real for the Christian, who experiences God in forgiveness and mercy, in love, joy and peace, and in prayer.  However, it fluctuates, hence the need for nurture through meditation and similar means.

Christian meditation

1. Elevates, because of God’s immensity.

This is true in the material realm, as in contemplation of the vastness of the heavens.

But it is even more true in the spiritual realm. …

Doctrine

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J. Gresham Machen, in his classic 1923 book, Christianity and Liberalism (ch 11), notes a commonly-held objection to doctrine: creeds (it is often said) are merely the changing expressions of a unitary Christian experience, and insofar as they express that experience they are equally good.

But, replies Machen, this objection will not stand.  After all, liberalism itself has its doctrines, as tenaciously held as those embraced by orthodox believers.  Such, for example, are the liberal doctrines of the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man. …