It is a power

Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

What is the gospel? Well, you remember the answer of the Apostle Paul, ‘It is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth’ (Rom. 1.16).

How easy it is to forget that. How easy to preach it as a system, to preach it as a collection of ideas, or just to preach it as a truth. Ah, but you can do that without power. There are people, say the Apostle Paul, who ‘have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof’ (2 Tim. 3.5).

Christianity is primarily a life. It is a power. It is a manifestation of energy.

–Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Revival (Crossway, 1987), 123

(HT: Dane Ortlund)

Rob Bell’s Universalism

When what is implied (lurking beneath the surface) becomes explicit (brought into the light) we can rejoice!

Check out these links provided by Todd Pruitt:

Denny Burk

Justin Taylor

Kevin Deyoung

Joshua Harris

Trevin Wax

Modern Judaizers?

J. Gresham Machen, in his Notes on Galatians, draws out a careful application of the principle argument of Galatians to the church today when he wrote:

The particular form of merit which they induced men to seek was the mertit of keeping the Law of Moses, particularly the cermonial law. At first sight, that fact might seem to destroy the usefulness of the epistle for the present day; for we of today are in no danger in desiring to keep Jewish fasts and feasts. But a little consideration will show that that is not at all the case. The really essential thing about the Judaizers’ contention was not found in those particular “works of the law” that they urged upon the Galatians as being one of the grounds of salvation, but in the fact that the urged any works at all. The really serious error into which they fell was not that they carried the ceremonial law over into the new dispensation, whither God did not intend it to be carried, but that they preached a religion of human merit as over against a religion of divine grace.

So the error of the Judaizers is a very modern error indeed, as well as a very ancient error. It is found in the modern church wherever men seek salvation by “surrender” instead of by faith, or by their own character instead of by the imputed righteousness of Christ, or by “making Christ master in the life” instead of by trusting in His redeeming blood. In particular, it is found wherever men say that “the real essentials” of Christianity are love, justice, mercy, and other virtues, as contrasted with the great doctrines of God’s word. These are all just different ways of exalting the merit of man over against the cross of Christ; they are all of them attacks upon the very heart and core of the Christian religion. And, against all of them the mighty polemic of this epistle to the Galatians is turned.

Read the entire post by Nicholas T. Batzig, HERE.

Where The New Creation Has Come To Light

From Herman Ridderbos’s classic book Paul: An Outline of His Theology, page 57:

Paul’s kerygma [message] of the great time of salvation that has dawned in Christ is above all determined by Christ’s death and resurrection. It is in them that the present aeon has lost its power and hold on the children of Adam and that the new things have come. For this reason, too, the entire unfolding of the salvation that has dawned with Christ again and again harks back to his death and resurrection, because all the facets in which this salvation appears and all the names by which it is described are ultimately nothing other than the unfolding of what this all-important breakthrough of life in death, of the kingdom of God in this present world, contains within itself. Here all lines come together, and from hence the whole Pauline proclamation of redemption can be described in its unity and coherence. Paul’s preaching, so we have seen, is “eschatology,” because it is preaching the fulfilling redemptive work of God in Christ. We might be able to delimit this further, to a certain extent schematically, by speaking of Paul’s “resurrection-eschatology.” For it is in Christ’s death and subsequent resurrection that the mystery of the redemptive plan of God has manifested itself in its true character and that the new creation has come to light.

(HT: Tony Reinke)

Resurrection-life in the Spirit

Legally pronounced just and claimed by God, engrafted into his Son, believers bear fruit that is not the result of their imitation of Christ’s life but of their being incorporated into Christ and his eschatological resurrection-life in the Spirit.

— Michael HortonThe Christian Faith(Grand Rapids, Mi.: Zondervan, 2011), 591

(HT: Of First Importance)

Piper: How Shall We Pray About the Upheavals in the Middle East?

John Piper:

In 1 Timothy 2:1–4, Paul connects prayer for “all who are in high positions” with a peaceful life for the followers of Jesus, and with his desire for all people to be saved.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

There are two goals in praying for kings and leaders—that is, for political structures that exist, or might exist, in the Middle East.

1. We pray for political leaders and structures . . . “that we [the followers of Jesus] may lead a peaceful and quiet life godly and dignified in every way.”

J. N. D. Kelly comments, “In other words, not being exposed to the suspicion of disloyalty, they will be allowed to practice their religion without fear of disturbance and to lead the morally serious lives appropriate to it.” (The Pastoral Epistles, p. 61). That is one important thing we should pray for.

2. We pray for this politically sustained freedom and peace so that more and more people would be saved.

This is found in verse 3: “This [politically protected peaceable life] is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved.” In other words, God approves of this kind of peaceable situation for believers (and the prayers that pursue it) because he wants more people to be saved.

The assumption is that a stable, peaceable situation in general makes for better long-term effective evangelism and missions. Very few persecuted churches that fear for their lives are mounting great global mission efforts to complete the Great Commission. As Philip Ryken writes in his commentary on 1 Timothy, “Peacetime mission is part of God’s plan for the salvation of the world, so pray for peace” (p. 63).

When we pray for the Middle East, we should be praying mainly for conditions to prevail that sustain freedom and peace for the followers of Jesus, so that the gospel would run and triumph, and millions would turn to Christ and be saved for his great glory.

Such conditions would include freedom for other religions too, since Christians do not spread their faith by the sword, but by proclamation and service (John 18:36).

Father in heaven, and Lord of all nations, rule over the Middle East in these tumultuous days so that political leaders and laws and practices are established that support peace and freedom for the followers of your Son. We praise you that you are not a tribal deity, and that you desire people of all ethnic groups to be saved through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. In ways we cannot imagine, O God, govern the minds and hearts and systems and regimes and authority structures and intrigues and revolutions and constitutions and localities and neighborhood networks so that your people have protection, provision, peace, and spiritual power to lead holy lives, filled with fruitful passion to reach millions with the gospel. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Beware Innovation

The soundest and safest Christian reflection consists in “what you have received, not what you have thought up; a matter not of ingenuity, but of doctrine; not of private acquisition, but of public Tradition; a matter brought to you, not put forth by you, in which you must not be the author but the guardian, not the founder but the sharer, not the leader, but the follower.”

– Vincent of Lerins, quoted in Christopher Hall, Learning Theology with the Church Fathers (Intervarsity, 2002), 27.

(HT: Jared Wilson)

One Design of God in the Gospel

One design of God in the gospel is to bring us to make God the object of our undivided respect, that he may engross our regard every way, that whatever natural inclination there is in our souls, he may be the centre of it; that God may be all in all.

–Jonathan Edwards, (The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 1)

(HT: Erik Raymond)

Pardon, full and free!

“The cross of Jesus displays the most awful exhibition of God’s hatred of sin and at the same time the most august manifestation of his readiness to pardon it.  Pardon, full and free, is written out in every drop of blood that is seen, is proclaimed in every groan that is heard, and shines in the very prodigy of mercy that closes the solemn scene upon the cross.  O blessed door of return, open and never shut, to the wanderer from God!  How glorious, how free, how accessible!  Here the sinful, the vile, the guilty, the unworthy, the poor, the penniless, may come.  Here too the weary spirit may bring its burden, the broken spirit its sorrow, the guilty spirit its sin, the backsliding spirit its wandering.  All are welcome here.

The death of Jesus was the opening and the emptying of the full heart of God; it was the outgushing of that ocean of infinite mercy that heaved and panted and longed for an outlet; it was God showing how he could love a poor, guilty sinner.”

Octavius Winslow, Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul (London, 1962), pages 183-184.

(HT: Ray Ortlund)

What is the Gospel? by Michael Horton

United with Christ

“What a wondrous thing it is that even though Jesus Christ has been exalted to the throne of God, absent from us in the flesh, we may nevertheless now be united to him in a manner far more intimate than the fellowship enjoyed by the disciples with Jesus during his earthly ministry. Having united himself to us in our flesh, in our sins, in our suffering and death, he now unites us to himself in his new-creation life by his Spirit.”

— Michael Horton
The Christian Faith
(Grand Rapids, Mi.: Zondervan, 2011), 587

(HT: Of First Importance)

Indicatives, Imperatives, and Personal Holiness

From Tony Reinke:

C. F. D. Moule, “’The New Life’ in Colossians 3:1-17,” Review and Expositor 70:4 (1973), page 479:

Christian existence is a strangely relaxed kind of strenuousness, precisely because the Christian gospel is what it is. Before ever any demand is made, the gift is offered: the announcement of good news precedes the challenge.

The indicative precedes the imperative as surely as the rope is made fast round a firm piece of rock for the climber’s security before he has to apply himself to the struggle. Moreover (if the parable may be extended one clause further), the climber must attach himself to the rope before starting his effort. So the gospel not only begins with the indicative statement of what God has done, before it goes on to the imperative: even the imperative is first a command to attach oneself (be baptized! become incorporate!), before it becomes a command to struggle.

The striving does come: strenuousness is indispensable for the Christian climber—but only in dependence on all that has first been given by God and then appropriated through the means of grace. And the attachment to Christ, which is what causes the tension and makes us “amphibian,” is also precisely what gives us our confidence and our grounds for hope, as it is also the source of forgiveness and renewed strength when we fail.

Godlier, Manlier

Anyone who knows anything at all about Puritan Christianity knows that at its best it had a vigor, a manliness, and a depth which modern evangelical piety largely lacks. This is because Puritanism was essentially an experimental faith, a religion of ‘heart-work’, a sustained practice of seeking the face of God, in a way that our own Christianity too often is not. The Puritans were manlier Christians just because they were godlier Christians.

–J. I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life, 215

(HT: Dane Ortlund)

Husbands: Headship means taking the lead in reconciliation

John Piper:

Leadership means we must take the lead in reconciliation.

I don’t mean that wives should never say they are sorry.

But in the relation between Christ and his church, who took the initiative to make all things new?

Who left the comfort and security of his throne of justice to put mercy to work at Calvary?

Who came back to Peter first after three denials?

Who has returned to you again and again forgiving you and offering his fellowship afresh?

So husbands, your headship means: Go ahead. Take the lead. It does not matter if it is her fault. That didn’t stop Christ.

Who will break the icy silence first?

Who will choke out the words, “I’m sorry, I want it to be better”?

Or: “Can we talk? I’d like things to be better.”

She might beat you to it. That’s okay. But woe to you if you think that, since it’s her fault, she’s obliged to say the first reconciling word.

Headship is not easy. It is the hardest, most humbling work in the world.

Protect your family. Strive, as much as it lies within you, to make peace before the sun goes down.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

D.A. Carson – The central message of the Bible

The Christomorphic Life

‘. . . always carrying in the body the death of Jesus . . .’ –2 Cor 4:10

[Christ's] death becomes metaphorically paradigmatic for the obedience of the community . . . the fundamental norm of Pauline ethics is the christomorphic life.

–Richard Hays, The Moral Vision of the New Testament (HarperOne, 1996), 46

(HT: Dane Ortlund)

Finding Forgiveness?

I’m re-posting this powerful scene from ER which shows the futility of postmodern/liberal theology:

This is a great clip from an old episode of “ER.” It shows the impotency of postmodern/liberal gobbledygook theology. Best line: “I want a real chaplain who believes in a real God and a real hell!… I need answers! And all your questions and uncertainty are making things worse!”

(HT: Denny Burk)

His arrival in our midst

The disease at the core of our humanity is beyond our skill to heal. God, however, did not leave us alone to wallow in the devices and desires of our own hearts. The LORD our God determined that he would bring salvation to a helpless race. He would do so by coming himself to his people …

His arrival in our midst was our salvation. The LORD himself came to save us. He came to usas a man in Jesus Christ, who took upon himself the sin and separation of humanity, made it his own in the terrible moment of dereliction on the cross, and then healed the breach …

Thus, in his union with us, Jesus healed us. By becoming what we are, the eternal Son of God could act from within our humanity for the sake of all humanity. The one who stands as creator in relationship to all human beings did a creative work within the humanity he took from us. In turn, joined to him by the Spirit, united to his new humanity, we may thus receive the benefits of all he accomplished in our flesh.

— Gerrit Scott Dawson, quoted by Dan Cruver in Reclaiming Adoption (Study Guide)

(HT: Of First Importance)

Desiring a good thing

Do you want to become a pastor? If so, you desire a good thing (1 Tim. 3:1)

CJ Mahaney interviews James MacDonald on pursuing pastoral ministry:

(HT: The Gospel Coalition)

Does the Kingdom Grow?

Excellence, again, from Kevin DeYoung:

When you look at the Gospels and examine the verbs associated with the kingdom, you discover something surprising. Much of our language about the kingdom is a bit off. We often speak of “building the kingdom,” “ushering in the kingdom,” “establishing the kingdom,” or “helping the kingdom grow.” But is this really the way the New Testament talks about the kingdom? George Eldon Ladd, the man who put kingdom back on the map for evangelicals, didn’t think so.

The Kingdom can draw near to men (Matt. 3:2; 4:17; Mark 1:15; etc.); it can come (Matt. 6:10; Luke 17:20; etc.), arrive (Matt. 12:28), appear (Luke 19:11), be active (Matt. 11:12). God can give the Kingdom to men (Matt. 21:43; Luke 12:32), but men do not give the Kingdom to one another.

Further, God can take the Kingdom away from men (Matt. 21:43), but men do not take it away from one another, although they can prevent others from entering it. Men can enter the Kingdom (Matt. 5:20; 7:21;Mark 9:47; 10:23; etc.), but they are never said to erect it or to build it. Men can receive the Kingdom (Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17), inherit it (Matt. 25:34), and possess it (Matt. 5:4), but they are never said to establish it. Men can reject the Kingdom, i.e., refuse to receive it (Luke 10:11) or enter it (Matt. 23:13), but they cannot destroy it.

They can look for it (Luke 23:51), pray for its coming (Matt. 6:10), and seek it (Matt. 6:33; Luke 12:31), but they cannot bring it. Men may be in the Kingdom (Matt. 5:19; 8:11; Luke 13:29; etc.), but we are not told that the Kingdom grows. Men can do things for the sake of the Kingdom (Matt. 19:12; Luke 18:29), but they are not said to act upon the Kingdom itself. Men can preach the Kingdom (Matt. 10:7; Luke 10:9), but only God can give it to men (Luke 12:32). (The Presence of the Future, 193)

I’ve quoted this section several times, probably on this blog before. But when I’ve used it in the past I’ve been uncomfortable with the line “we are not told that the kingdom grows.” It seemed to me that the parable of the sleepy farmer (Mark 4:26-29) and the parable of the mustard seed (Mark 4:30-32) clearly teaches that the kingdom grows. But as I’ve studied the passages more carefully I think you can make a good case that Jesus is not teaching about the growth of the kingdom as much as he is demonstrating that the kingdom of small beginnings will, at the close of the age, be the kingdom of cosmic significance. The kingdom may look unimpressive now, with nothing but a twelve-man band of fumbling disciples, but one day all will see its glorious end.

To borrow a tired cliché, the kingdom is what it is. It does not expand. It does not increase. It does not grow. But the kingdom can break in more and more. Think of it like the sun. When the clouds part on a cloudy day we don’t say, “the sun has grown.” We say, “the sun has broken through.” Our view of the sun has changed or obstacles to the sun have been removed, but we have no changed the sun. The sun does not depend on us. We do not bring the sun or act upon it. The sun can appear. Its warmth can be felt or stifled. But the sun does not grow (science guys, don’t get all technical, you know what I mean). This seems a good analogy for the kingdom.

God certainly uses means and employs us in his work. But we are not makers or bringers of the kingdom. The kingdom can be received by more and more people but this does entail growth of the kingdom. We herald the kingdom and live according to its rules. But we do not build it or cause it to grow because it already is and already has come. As Ladd put it, “The Kingdom is the outworking of the divine will; it is the act of God himself. It is related to human beings and can work in and through them; but it never becomes subject to them…The ground of the demand that they receive the Kingdom rests in the fact that in Jesus the Kingdom has come into history” (A Theology of the New Testament, 102).