Fear and Trembling

It will not surprise my blog readers that my Easter post is late this year. I have found that I spend more and more time on Face Book when I have free time to be on the computer. I have also renewed my love for reading after graduate school at Union University (Some of the books I am reading are here , here , and here .) I did want to recount and link to several other posts that have caught my eye during the Easter Season. They are separated below under two topics. Did the resurrection occur? Debunking 3 Common Myths about the Resurrection Podcast: Glenn Peoples on the Minimal Facts Approach to the Resurrection Communicating the Claims of Easter Teaching Kids About the Reality and Historicity of the Resurrection Did the Apostles Hallucinate When They Saw the Risen Christ? Five Strand of Evidence for Jesus’ Resurrection Top Ten Myths of the Resurrection What does the resurrection mean to me? R. C. Sproul on the Meaning of the Cross Easter for Athe...

[This article was written for my local paper in a series on the Heidelberg Catechism .] We continue our series of articles on the Heidelberg Catechism . The catechism is a series of 129 questions and answers on the Christian faith. Theologians wrote the catechism in 1563 to teach people the Christian faith. The questions are divided into 52 Lord’s Days, one for each week of the year. Today’s article covers Lord’s Day 16, Questions 40-44, as we continue our discussion of the Apostle’s Creed. Q 40 Why did Christ have to suffer death? A. Because God’s justice and truth require it: (Gen. 2:17) nothing else could pay for our sins except the death of the Son of God. (Rom. 8:3-4; Phil. 2:8; Heb. 2:9) How does a holy and just God forgive sinful human beings without becoming unholy or unjust? Humanly speaking, this question presented God with a problem. On the one hand, God loved His people and did not want to punish them. On the other hand, since God is just, he must punish their ...

One problem in theology especially confuses me. This is not a big surprise. I am not a professional theologian and have no formal seminary training. Yet, theology is a passion for me because I know a little of what God is like, and I know how little of God’s character I reflect. In this post, I will set up the problem and suggest one possible solution. God is holy. This means He is separate and different from me, primarily in the fact that He is completely without sin or sinful desires. My understanding of God’s holiness comes mainly from reading and studying the life of Jesus. I can see out into the expanse of Christ’s life by looking through the window provided in the New Testament of the Bible. I have read this collection of 27 books many times. I have rarely questioned whether these records were true, at first because of the fact that the people I respected held the New Testament to be God’s Word and without error. Later I had the opportunity to explore the evidence for the ...

I wanted to put up a few links to resources on the meaning of the Good Friday and Easter holidays. Some good books on historical evidence for Christ’s resurrection can be found here , here , and here . William Lane Craig gives a tight argument for the resurrection on video here . Some good books on the meaning of the cross are here , here , and here . Some good books on the applications of the cross and the resurrection to our lives are here and here . A post on what to preach about on Easter Morning is here . Russell Moore laments the standard far of church pulpits and calls us back to preaching the cross. J. I. Packer comments on the Cross and Christ’s love here . Happy Easter everyone!

Thanks to Ed Stetzer for posting some of President Obama’s comments at the National Prayer Breakfast (There is a video posted at Ed's place too.)  Obama got this part right. Here is what the President said: We all live in the hustle and bustle of our work. And everybody in this room has weighty responsibilities, from leading churches and denominations, to helping to administer important government programs, to shaping our culture in various ways. And I admit that my plate has been full as well. (Laughter.) The inbox keeps on accumulating. (Laughter.) But then comes Holy Week. The triumph of Palm Sunday. The humility of Jesus washing the disciples' feet. His slow march up that hill, and the pain and the scorn and the shame of the cross. And we're reminded that in that moment, he took on the sins of the world -- past, present and future -- and he extended to us that unfathomable gift of grace and salvation through his death and resurrection. In the words of the b...

This post is inspired by anonymous comments made elsewhere on this blog. I am going to use the anonymous questions and statements in quotes as a foil for a presentation of questions and answers on the cross. I will use some comments directly, but others I will change slightly. “You make much of the notion that Christ had to die for our sins because we did not follow God’s law. Conveniently, the one that makes the law decides if you broke it and determines the punishment.” The law of God is not arbitrary, that God could choose to make the law be whatever He wanted it to be. Since God’s law is not arbitrary, this is not a valid objection. God could no more make the moral law in a different way than he could make the laws of mathematics a different way. All of these abstract laws are an expression of His nature and character. God’s character is the basis for good attitudes. God’s actions are the basis for good behavior. God’s character and morality cannot change because His bei...

Thanks to Truth Matters for this Easter Meditation .

“The cross is not simply a lovely example of sacrificial love. Throwing your life away needlessly is not admirable — it is wrong. Jesus’ death was only a good example if it was more than an example, if it was something absolutely necessary to rescue us. And it was. Why did Jesus have to die in order to forgive us? There was a debt to be paid — God himself paid it. There was a penalty to be born — God himself bore it. Forgiveness is always a form of costly suffering.” - The Reason For God Timothy Keller p.193 As Good Friday approaches tomorrow I would like to post on what Christ’s suffering on the cross means to us. Christ’s death is more than just a moral example. It is more than just an event on a hill outside Jerusalem. What would a bare moral example look like? I always think of a sacrilegious movie that I once viewed while in college: Monty Python’s The Life of Bryan. There’s a ridiculous scene at the end where Christ is hanging from the cross between two thieves. He and the c...

Today is the anniversary of the day when Martin Luther nailed the 95 Thesis to the church door at Wittenberg . That was arguably the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. There are some great give-aways and promotions on the web to celebrate: The Listener’s Bible is giving away a free mp3 download of Luther’s “Here I Stand” speech . (Offer ends Nov. 1.) Ligonier Minsitries advertizes a special price on case quanitities of "The Holiness of God" by R. C. Sproul. The chapter in this book called “The Insanity of Luther” is worth the price of a whole case, and you would have some left over for friends. And what better way to celebrate than with study of some current issues on justification by faith: Find Christianity Today’s “Not All Evangelicals and Catholics Together” here . Find links to a Michael Scott Horton review of N. T. Wright’s theories on justification here .

Much has been written about the philosophical problems the existence of evil poses for the Christian faith. The philosophical question is simple: how can God be both all-powerful and all-good while allowing evil and suffering? I have attempted an answer to this intellectual question here , but I wanted to explore the personal side of it in this post. In my own life, many things have not worked out the way I had hoped. I have been quite disappointed. I’ve had childhood illness, watched my grandmother die of colon cancer when I was about 13, been through a painful broken engagement, been through a divorce, remarried only to struggle with infertility for several years, endured a devastating car wreck that has injured me permanently, watched my mother die a long and painful death at the hands of congestive heart failure, and wrestled with personal illness in adulthood. Above all, I have faced my own sins and failures with the pain that comes from regret and remorse. But my suffering ...

I have been reading The Shack by Wm. Paul You ng over the last few weeks. Evidentially, I am not alone in this . While I do find much of the book to be somewhat helpful when read very carefully, I cannot help but express some concerns with its theological underpinnings. I am going to leave some of the issues it raises regarding the trinity, theology proper, the incarnation, Christ’s exclusivity, and special revelation to those more able. (See Norman Geisler here .) I want to focus on the way the book expresses the atonement (what Christ did in His life and death to secure salvation for us). On pages 95 and 96, we are told that God the Father has “scars in her wrists” just like Jesus does. The character that represents God the Father says that Christ did at the cross “…cost us dearly.” In this book’s scheme, the Father does not desert Jesus on the cross. The Father suffers with Christ. This has implications for other areas (see here and here ), but it also has very personal i...

Stand to Reason’s blog has some great quotes from early church fathers on justification here . I like these quotes enough to post all of them. For by grace you have been saved through faith," in this way: "All we bring to grace is our faith. But even in this faith, divine grace itself has become our enabler. For [Paul] adds, 'And this is not of yourselves but it is a gift from God; not of works, lest anyone should boast (Eph. 2:8-9).' It is not of our own accord that we have believed, but we have come to belief after having been called; and even when we had come to believe, He did not require of us purity of life, but approving mere faith, God bestowed on us forgiveness of sins. - Theoloret of Cyrrhus, in his fourth-century commentary on the Epistles of Paul, speaking of Ephesians 2:8 So that you may not be elated by the magnitude of these benefits, see how Paul puts you in your place. For 'by grace you have been saved,' he says 'through faith.'...

Keith Mathison over at Ligonier has written a helpful review of the book Pierced for Our Transgressions . Here’s a section: …If you are a believer, saved from the wrath of God, you are so only because of the atoning work of Christ. If you are a Christian, destined for eternal life, you are so only because Jesus died in your place bearing the penalty due to you. He was wounded for our transgressions, and He was crushed for our iniquities. It is by His stripes that we are healed. The doctrine of substitutionary atonement, then, is not another doctrinal football intended to be kicked around on the playground of ivory tower academics. It is a truly amazing and awe-inspiring thing to contemplate. Were we to grasp more fully everything that Jesus did for each of us on the cross, our prayer, our worship, our entire lives would be transformed forever. You can find Mathison’s full article here. For more on the book, and some great quotes from the early church, try here and here .

“Justification may be defined as that act by which unjust sinners are made right in the sight of a just and holy God. The supreme need of unjust persons is righteousness. It is this lack of righteousness that is supplied by Christ on behalf of the believing sinner. Justification by faith alone means justification by the righteousness or merit of Christ alone, not by our goodness or good deeds.” – R. C. Sproul in Essential Truths of the Christian Faith , p. 188. I am not feeling very well tonight. Not in the sense of illness, more in the sense of depression. I am less than pleased with my own recent performance. Just when I think I’m getting better, along comes another opportunity to indulge the flesh, and I give in to temptation. It’s not that it was a matter that would be considered particularly bad by most. I just became very angry, and I lashed out at some friends. I apologized, but that doesn’t seem to help me much. I just fell into an old, self-destructive habit. What does a Chris...

Thanks again to Between Two Worlds for a great link. A satellite map overlay to the approximate places of key events of Passion Week with a harmonization and sequence can be found here .

I had a difficult time getting into the Spirit of the Easter Holiday this year. I started a couple of posts, but I just find it difficult to add to the words of the Apostle Paul. The Passion "All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” - 2 Corinthians 5:18-21, ESV The Resurrection “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made aliv...

Thanks to Between Two Worlds for the link to a JAMA article here . I’ve heard about this article for years, and I’ve always wanted to read it. The conclusion, based on the testimony of the gospels, is that Christ did in fact die on the cross. Hardly seems startling news to me, but some people need more convincing than I do.

Keith Mathison in this month’s TableTalk magazine weighs in on the controversy surrounding N. T. Wright’s interpretation of the atonement: “…Wright argues that the church has misunderstood the doctrine of justification for centuries. Justification, he argues, does not deal with how one becomes a Christian. instead it is a declaration that one is already a Christian. Also, according to Wright, justification does not involve the imputation of Christ’s righteousness because such an idea is nonsensical. Furthermore, our future justification is based on our whole life, or as Wright says, on the basis of our “works.” This future verdict, based on works, is received in the present by faith. The reason for the controversy should be evident.” [“When Wright Is Wrong,” Keith A. Mathison, in Tabletalk, Ligonier Ministries, January 2008, p. 74-75.] He goes on to recommend a book by John Piper called The Future of Justification . I am working my way through it now, and I find it helpful. It applies ...

I sang “In Christ Alone” this morning at Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, TN. It captures so much of the true gospel message. It was powerful to sing it with the thousand or so others in attendance at this church. I’ll post the lyrics below as found here . The story behind the song is given here . “In Christ Alone” by Stuart Townend / Keith Getty IN CHRIST ALONE my hope is found, He is my light, my strength, my song; This Cornerstone, this solid Ground, Firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths of peace, When fears are stilled, when strivings cease! My Comforter, my All in All, Here in the love of Christ I stand. In Christ alone! - who took on flesh, Fullness of God in helpless babe! This gift of love and righteousness, Scorned by the ones He came to save: Till on that cross as Jesus died, The wrath of God was satisfied – For every sin on Him was laid; Here in the death of Christ I live. There in the ground His body lay, Light of the ...

I had the chance last night to attend a Christmas Eve Service at my brother-in-law’s church in Knoxville: Redeemer Presbyterian. Thankfully, they do not share the annoying Baptist tendency to sing only a few verses of the song. (We say, “The first and the last verse;” or “The first, third and forth verses.”) I was reminded of some wonderful truths buried in the verses we don’t usually sing. “Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.” - O Come All Ye Faithful , verse 3. An allusion to the first chapter of John. The wonderful truth that God has freely chosen to reveal Himself to us in the Person of Christ, very God and very man. “Nails, spear, shall pierce him through; the cross be borne for me, fo you.” – What Child is This , verse 2. That Christ came to die for us is often ignored by our culture. He came to die for us. He emptied Himself , voluntarily not exercising all of His power and attributes, to pay the ultimate penalty for all who have faith in Him. “To free all those who trus...