Of angels and men

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How do angels differ from human beings?

1. Angels are not subject to redemption. Holy angels do not need to be redeemed, fallen angels cannot be redeemed.

2. Angels are not heirs of God. Jesus so identified himself with fallen men at the incarnation, Heb 2:9, that they become joint heirs with him through redemption, Rom 8:17.

3. Angels cannot testify to salvation. They do share in the joy of salvation, Lk 15:10, but they cannot personally testify to it, and more than a man who has never married can fully appreciate that relationship.…

Titus 2 – An ordinary Christian life – sermon notes

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When Shawn Tayler married Theresa Warr, the wedding took place in a stately home, and no doubt the whole thing was a splendid and memorable occasion: guests, music, rings, wedding cake, speeches. But what is it that Shawn had most set his heart on? To be able to walk down the aisle. What most bridegrooms would take for granted was for him a much-prized goal. Why? Because just a few weeks earlier an horrific motor cycle accident left him with a back broken in three places.…

Justification according to Tom Wright

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I summarise and comment on Tom Wright’s new book, Justification:  God’s plan and Paul’s Vision, which is itself a response to John Piper’s book, The Future of Justification: A Response to N.T. Wright.

Preface

In his preface, Wright begins by setting out some of the main ‘pressure points’ in the debate over justification:-

1.  The nature and scope of salvation.  Wright here repeats his complaint that Christians have for a long time tended to think of ‘salvation’ as meaning ‘going to heaven when I die’. …

Tom Wright’s new book on justification

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It didn’t take Bishop Tom Wright very long to get another book out.  But then, if you have a brain the size of a small planet and the ability to write faster than most of us can read, you can produce a book while the other person is still sharpening his pencil.

This one – Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision (SPCK) flopped through my letterbox yesterday and first impressons are that it’s going to be an interesting and entertaining read. …

Doug Moo on Justification

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I was interested to come across this audio download of Doug Moo speaking on ‘Fresh Thoughts on Justification in Paul and James’.

It will be of interest to anyone exploring recent debates relating to the ‘New Perspective on Paul’ and justification.

Moo’s main point is that we should be willing to apply the familiar ‘already/not yet’ to the doctrine of justification as well as to other facets of redemption.  In other words, we should not be so single-minded about Paul’s emphasis on salvation by faith alone as to miss his (and James’) stress on the necessity of works.…

Eph 3:1-13 – What has God done for the church? – sermon notes

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Paul has just been speaking, Eph 2, about the new society that God has established. It is an international and a multi-racial society. There is a place in God’s new society for people from every nation, tribe, language and culture under heaven. In the past, God’s work had been primarily focussed on the Jewish people. But now Jews and Gentiles are offered salvation on precisely the same terms, and with exactly the same benefits and blessings.…

The New Perspective on Paul

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Here we go again: the New Perspective on Paul.

In the words of one writer, ‘the potential significance of the [New Perspective] school for the whole Christian faith can hardly be exaggerated.’ (Seyoon Kim)

Michael B. Thompson, Vice-Principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge, has a useful short introduction (published by Grove Books).  What follows based on that.

The Old Perspective and its Problems

The NPP is an attempt to understand Paul in his own context, free from the categories and pre-occupations of the sixteenth century.…

Five rules of biblical hermeneutics

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According to E.J. Carnell, in The Case for Orthodox Theology, pp 53-65, the following five rules govern Biblical hermeneutics.

1.  The New Testament interprets the Old Testament.

The relationship between the two Testaments is that of preparation and fulfilment.  The old is a ‘shadow of things to come’, Heb 10:1.  Therefore, in no case does the Old Testament enjoy supremacy over the New Testament.  ‘Moses is a servant in the house, while Christ is the Son.’ …

What is Foundationalism?

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Emerging church people of a more philosophical bent often speak critically of ‘foundationalism’.

What’s that?

Nancey Murphy explains:-

Foundationalism is a theory about knowledge.  More specifically, it is a theory about how claims to know can be justified.  When we seek to justify a belief, we do so by relating it to (basing it on, deriving it from) other beliefs.  If these other beliefs are called into question, then they, too, must be justified.  Foundationalists insist that this chain of justification must stop somewhere; it must not be circular, nor must it constitute an infinite regress. 

…

The Emerging Church in its own words 3

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Chapter 4 of Gibbs’ and Bolger’s Emerging Churches: creating Christian community in postmodern culture is entitled, ‘Transforming secular space’.  Here are some extracts.

Breaking down the dualisms of modernity

‘A consequence of the creation of a secular realm was modernity’s penchant to break everything up into little parts for classification, organisation, and systematisation.  Thus, in the modern period, many dualisms were introduced to church life that had not been problematic before: the natural verses the supernatural; public facts versus private values; the body versus the mind and spirit; faith versus reason; power versus love; and the list goes on. …