Hell is the ballast

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Kevin DeYoung, Greg Gilbert write:

‘The doctrine of hell, however unpopular it may be and however much we may wish to soften its hard edges, is essential for faithful Christian witness. The belief that there is something worse than death is, to recall John Piper’s imagery, ballast for our ministry boats.

‘Hell is not the North Star. That is, divine wrath is not our guiding light. It does not set the direction for everything in the Christian faith like, say, the glory of God in the face of Christ.

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Why we do good works

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If ‘doing good’ does not equate to ‘preaching the gospel without words’ (for the gospel cannot be preached without words!), why is it imperative that God’s people should be ‘eager to do good’ (Tit 2:14)?  Why must we ‘not grow weary in doing good’ (Gal 6:9)?

1. Because we love God, and want to be obedient to his command to do good

‘By this we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and obey his commandments.…

‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ (Lev 19:9-18)

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The importance of this command is underscored by our Lord himself (Mt 22:39; Mk 12:31), along with Paul (Rom 13:9; Gal 5:14) and James (Jas 2:8).

Love for neighbour is presented in Leviticus 19 as highly practical, and covers five areas of everyday life.

1. Loving others with our possessions, Lev 19:9-11.

The practice of gleaning requires not only generosity on the part of the landowner but industry on the part of the poor.  But,

‘The main lesson to be learned is that God’s people are to be generous.

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The Great Commission(s)

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Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert note that although there is consistency between the Evangelists when they record the ‘Great Commission(s)’ of Jesus, they also emphasise different things:

Matthew emphasizes discipleship, Luke-Acts stresses being witnesses, and John highlights the theological nature of our sending…And yet the Great Commission accounts show more similarity than dissimilarity. Together they paint a complementary and fairly comprehensive picture of the mission of the first disciples. We can summarize this mission by answering seven questions:

  1. Who?

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Luke 4:18 – “Good news to the poor”

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Luke 4:16 Now Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 4:17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.…

N.T. Wright on the Virgin Birth

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The New Testament accounts of the Virgin Birth (more properly, the virginal conception) of Christ make good historical sense, says N.T. Wright.  In an article entitled ‘God’s Way of Acting’ (The Christian Century, December 16th 1989) Wright sets out his argument.  What follows is a summary.

Of course, we make much of the birth narratives of Matthew and Luke, even though the New Testament itself places much more stress on events of Calvary, Easter and Pentecost.…

Virgin Birth – in search of a genetic mechanism

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Do we need to postulate a physiological mechanism for the Virgin Birth?  Is it not best to regard it as a miracle, pure and simple?  Possibly.  But the question then arises as to how this safeguards the doctrine of our Lord’s humanity.  Moreover, if it is the case that God loves natural processes (he created them!) and uses ‘pure’ miracles sparingly (often preferring ‘miracles of timing’) then we have further reasons to enquire if any account can be given of the genetics of the virgin birth.…

Virgin Birth – historicity

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Of course, the notion of Christ’s virgin birth (more correctly, ‘virginal conception’) is as commonly ridiculed outside the Christian church as it is disputed within it.  Many theologians insist that we cannot take it literally: that it is a mythical way of expressing who Jesus was.

It is pointed out by critics that the virgin birth is recognised only by Matthew and Luke, and is conspicuously absent from the other New Testament writings, including those of Paul. …

Virgin Birth – a sceptic’s view

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Daniel Florien lists five reasons why he no longer believes in the virgin birth of Jesus:-

1. “There is no reliable evidence”.  No DNA samples, for example, and no medical confirmation.  Well it is plain silly to suppose that there might be that kind of evidence.  Florien adds that there are ‘no eyewitness accounts’.  That’s a pretty silly complaint, too: I don’t think that, under the circumstances, it is reasonable to expect there to have been a human witness to Mary not having sexual relations with Joseph (or anyone else for that matter).…

Divine birth stories

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Those who are sceptical of the historicity of the biblical accounts of the virgin birth of Jesus largely base their objections on supposed parallels with other supernatural birth stories in the ancient world.

As long ago as 1796 Charles Dupuis suggested that the biblical account borrowed from the stories surrounding the birth of Krishna.  Early Christians ‘drew on’ such stories, it is claimed, in order to find ways of demonstrating the uniqueness of Jesus.  This idea was popularised by James Fraser, in The Golden Bough (1890, 1912).…