Category: Christian Doctrine
God's Vision for the Church (2)
Going about doing good
The first half of this article focused on the importance of putting the church on a missionary footing. It emphasised the Rules of Engagement given to us by Jesus, and in particular the urgent obligation to present the multitudes outside our churches with the incredible message of the love of God. Now we have to move on to remind ourselves of something equally momentous: we cannot be on a missionary footing unless we are going about doing good.
God's Vision for the Church (1)
What is God’s vision for the church?
As we ask that question we are faced with many imponderables. One thing we do know, of course. The church is in safe hands: very safe hands. But beyond that we know little. We don’t even know how much time is left to us. We’re living in the Last Days, but then we’ve been living in them since Christ came 2000 years ago, and they will last till He comes again. No one knows when that will be. The church may be still in her infancy and may last, on earth, for a million years. We simply do not know; and even if we did we have not the remotest idea what such a future might hold. We can see only a few steps ahead of ourselves; and even then only dimly.
Luther on Galatians
The Gospel for a Wounded Conscience
Last week I decided to re-visit Martin Luther’s Lectures on Galatians. Readers will remember, perhaps, that John Bunyan commends this book most warmly in Grace Abounding: " I do prefer this book of Martin Luther upon the Galatians , excepting the Holy Bible, before all books that ever I have seen, as most fit for a wounded conscience."
Hugh Martin
Hugh Martin (1822-1885) was one of a remarkable group of theologians produced by Scottish Presbyterianism in the mid-nineteenth century. Pre-eminent among them were Thomas Chalmers, William Cunningham and Robert Candlish, all of whom were household names in Victorian Scotland. The others were less prominent, but this bespeaks no inferiority in point of theological ability. Such men as Martin, James Buchanan and George Smeaton were not inspirational statesmen like Chalmers; nor formidable debaters like Cunningham; nor again brilliant administrators like Candlish. Nor have they had the same influence on subsequent theological developments as their American contemporaries, Charles Hodge, Robert Dabney, William Shedd, James Thornwell and Archibald Hodge. But as theologians they were in the very first rank.
Read more about 'Hugh Martin'...The Uniqueness of Christianity
Pluralism is no new thing. In the world that the Apostle Paul evangelised there were ‘gods many and lords many’. In post-Reformation Scotland we briefly grew accustomed to a different world, in which Protestantism enjoyed an unquestioned hegemony. That world has now gone. Not only have other Christian traditions grown in strength, but immigration has brought all the world faiths to our shores. Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists have become our neighbours, and their children sit beside ours in school.
Read more about 'The Uniqueness of Christianity'...On Miracles
If you’re not prepared to believe in miracles there’s little hope of your having much patience with the Bible. It’s full of them. If you pick up the gospels, for example, you meet the Virgin Birth at the very beginning and the Resurrection at the end. These set the tone for the whole life of Jesus. He went about "doing good"; and many of these "doings" were miracles.
Read more about 'On Miracles'...Christ's Active and Passive Obedience
John Murray, with good reason, argues that obedience is the most inclusive concept available to us for describing the redeeming work of Christ (Redemption Accomplished and Applied, p.19). Other categories such as sacrifice and satisfaction cover some of the data, but obedience is by far the most comprehensive.
It is also, of course, utterly biblical. Christ came pre-eminently as the Servant, in fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy (especially Is. 52:13- 53:12). In accordance with this, he saw himself as one who had come not to do his own will, but the will of the Father who had sent him; and at the end of his life his claim was simply that he had finished the work given him to do (John 17:4).
Thoughts on the Trinity
One of the fascinating things about theology is that questions of form and questions of substance are often intertwined. This is certainly true of the doctrine of the trinity. The moment we address it we face the question of order: Do we treat it before or after the doctrine of the attributes?
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