Jesus is Alive - Shai Linne

Tim Chester Review of Horton

Tim Chester posted a short review of Horton's new systematic theology, The Christian Faith. I have thought about plowing through it, but haven't committed myself just that. I resonated with Chester's comment concerning the difference between Grudem and Horton:

"Grudem's book is a good reference book, but it tends to involve 'doing theology by making lists' with proof texts. Horton is 'doing theology by telling a story' - the story of the Bible and the story of the church wrestling with the biblical record. This makes it a far more engaging read."

Looking backward, forward, and outward.

"The lives of the people of Israel look backward to creation; they embody God's original creational design for the whole of human life. Their lives look forward to the consummation; they are a sign of the goal to which God is taking redemptive history: the restoration of all human life to its original blessing in the context of a restored creation. Their lives are to face outward to the nations; they are to be a contrast community, leading lives that differ from those of the peoples around them."

Goheen, A Light to the Nations, 193.

Dikaiosune Theou

Patrick Schreiner has a helpful summary of a series of blogs by Nick Nowalk on the phrase "righteousness of God" in Paul. Check it our here.

Until That Day Arrives

"The confidence of the early Christians rests on their certain knowledge that Jesus is alive and has risen from the dead. Alive again from the dead, Jesus has become the firstborn into the resurrection life to come, and the future of cosmic history is settled. But before he ascends to take his rightful place of authority as Lord of all creation and history, he meets his little group of followers, those whom he has gathered, and commissions them as the renewed Israel, the new humankind charged to continue his mission of making known the good news of the kingdom and gathering in the nations until he returns. He then takes his place at the right hand of God the Father to reign in love, justice, and power over all creation and history. He pours out his Spirit on this little community of restored Israel to make known his healing and comprehensive rule in and through his people, as they embody and proclaim the good news to the ends of the earth. He leaves them with a promise: one day he will return as judge of all to finish his work of restoration. Every knee will bow to him and every tongue will acknowledge that Jesus is Creator, Redeemer, and Lord. But until that climactic day arrives, the members of his church are taken up into the Spirit's work of making known in their lives, deeds, and words the good news of what God has done for the world in Jesus."

Goheen, A Light to the Nations, 18.

Classic Cash

Spiritual Productivity

"The last thing you and I want to do is waste our lives on religious activity that is devoid of spiritual productivity - being active in the church but not advancing the kingdom of God. We don't want to come to the end of our days on earth only to realize that we have had little impact on more people going to heaven. Yet if we are not careful, we will spend our lives doing good things in the church while we ultimately miss out on the great purpose for which we were created."

-Platt, Radical Together, 8.

Cheap Grace

"The Bible therefore warns us about those who teach 'cheap grace,' which downplays our need for faithful obedience, turns God's forgiveness into a license to sin, and pits the life of the Spirit against God's Law. Instead of calling for moral transformation (2 Cor. 3:18), cheap grace says, 'Don't be so hard on yourself; after all, you're only human! Relax! The Cross and Spirit mean that judgment is over for you!' Cheap grace despises God's authority to judge, winks at sin among God's people, and offers false comfort to those living in sin, rather than summoning them to repentance in the fear of God . . . . The Cross and the Spirit do not free us from judgment, bur provide for us the ground (i.e., God's forgiveness) and means (i.e., God's power) to live lives pleasing to God in preparation for judgment (2 Cor. 5:9-10; Phil. 1:10-11; 2 Pet. 1:3-11)."

--Scott Hafemann, The God of Promise and the Life of Faith, 182.

Trying in a New Way

“To trust Him [Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you."

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Lewis, Mere Christianity, 121.