T. F. Torrance on the meaning of the cross
“As many of us await the endlessly delayed second volume of T. F. Torrance’s lectures on the person and work of Christ, I thought I would share a purple passage from the end of volume one, Incarnation: The Person and Life of Christ …”
– Read it at ACL President Mark Thompson’s blog.
Barry Newman on the Soul
Barry Newman, having written about the sacraments and Christ-centred communion at his blog, now turns to the soul.
Lots of insights and worth following.
(h/t Gordon Cheng at The Sola Panel.)
Don Carson on Spiritual gifts
The Gospel Coalition has posted online the audio files of Don Carson’s exceedingly helpful talks given at the 1985 Moore Theological College Annual Lectures.
This series formed the basis of his book, Showing the Spirit: A Theological Exposition of 1 Corinthians 12–14. They are –
The Unity of the Body and the Diversity of Gifts (1 Cor. 12)
The Most Excellent Way: When Does Perfection Come? (1 Cor. 13)
Prophecy and Tongues: Pursuing What Is Best (1 Cor. 14:1-15)
Order and Authority: Restraining Spiritual Gifts (1 Cor. 14:26-40)
Unleashed Power and the Constraints of Discipline: Toward a Theology of Spiritual Gifts.
Well worth downloading and hearing – again. The second file – on 1 Corinthians 13 – is incomplete (but you can always get the book!). h/t Justin Taylor.
The Gospel Old and New
“Have you heard the New Gospel? It’s not been codified. It’s not owned by any one person or movement. But it is increasingly common.
The New Gospel generally has four parts to it.
It usually starts with an apology: ‘I’m sorry for my fellow Christians. I understand why you hate Christianity. It’s like that thing Ghandi said, ‘why can’t the Christians be more like their Christ?’ Christians are hypocritical, judgmental, and self-righteous. I know we screwed up with the Crusades, slavery, and the Witch Trials. All I can say is: I apologize. We’ve not give you a reason to believe…’
Then there is an appeal to God as love …
The third part of the New Gospel is an invitation to join God on his mission in the world…
And finally, there is a studied ambivalence about eternity…”
– Kevin DeYoung at the Gospel Coalition on why the ‘new gospel’ is so wrong.
Who cares about heresy?
Martin Downs at Against Heresies writes,
“Guy Davies draws my attention to the soon to be released Heresy: a history of defending the truth by Alister McGrath and published by SPCK (with a foreword by Rick Warren). I will look forward to reading it.
But here’s a curious line from the Amazonian blurb:
‘McGrath’s provocative thesis is that the categories of heresy and orthodoxy must be preserved by the church today.’
Go on, read it again, only this time slowly. Provocative? Would that not have received a blank stare, or a furrowed brow, from the apostles, early church fathers, medieval schoolmen, reformers, and the puritans?…”
– Read the article here.
Article XVIII
They also are to be had accursed that presume to say, That every man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth, so that he be diligent to frame his life according to that Law, and the light of Nature. For holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the Name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved.
“The sequence of articles on the subject of individual salvation that began with Article XI ends here with this very strong statement against the view that it is sincerity and diligence that matter most in the religious life.…”
– Michael Jensen is up to Article XVIII at Thirty Nine.
What does it mean to be Anglican?
Mark Thompson, ACL President, has been writing about this question at his blog –
“To many, perhaps too many, the answer to this question is probably ‘Who cares?’ In a post-denominational age, Anglican identity might be an interesting historical question but it hardly has relevance for contemporary Christian living. What is more, fearing denominationalism, some would prefer to abandon all talk of Anglicanism. Denominations can become idols, can’t they?…”
What does it mean to be Anglican? I
What does it mean to be Anglican? II
See also Mark’s recent talk on The 39 Articles and Global Anglicanism from the Confess or Die Conference.
David Peterson on Acts, the Spirit and more
David Höhne and Michael Jensen recently interviewed David Peterson for the The Common Room.
David is now back at Moore College after his term as Principal of Oak Hill College in London. Listen and be encouraged to re-read Acts.
The interview runs to 16.7MB and goes for 24 minutes.
Related: Carson on David Peterson on Acts.
No laughing matter
“A friend sent me a link yesterday to one of the most bizarre things I have ever heard. On September 16, John Piper spoke to a large conference of the American Association of Christian Counselors.
He decided to start the message by confessing a list of sins he had struggled with all his life. Here’s the result.”
Greg Gilbert makes some perceptive comments at Church Matters. What might we learn from this episode?
Freedom, Biblical Baptism and Christ Centred Communion
Barry Newman, well known to many in Sydney Diocese, and one of the ACL’s vice-presidents, has recently started his own blog. He begins by looking at the sacraments.
(h/t David Ould.)
God the Peacemaker: Graham Cole on the Atonement
Graham Cole’s most recent book is a biblical theology of the Atonement – God the Peacemaker: How Atonement Brings Shalom.
It gets a mention at Between Two Worlds – and there’s an interview with Graham.
What does inerrancy mean? Is it essential to Christian belief?
In this video clip from The Gospel Coalition, Don Carson speaks about what Christians believe about the reliability of the Bible. (h/t Andy Naselli.)
Do not rejoice in this
John Piper writes:
“On vacation I was meditating on Luke 10:17-20 where Jesus tells us not to be overly excited about our ability to do feats of triumph in defeating the devil. Rather he says, fix the root of your joy in this: Your names are written in heaven. Amazing.
Most of us are moved more by the fireworks of miracles than by the mere assurance of salvation. Something is amiss. So I lingered long enough here to put my heart right. And in the process wrote a poem…”
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory
“Jesus Christ calls his ministers from the ranks of the incompetent, so that He will show his singular competence through them. He uses earthen vessels to demonstrate his own life in us. He confounds the wisdom of the wise by using the unworthy to demonstrate his worth.”
– Albert Mohler at today’s commencement address at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Biblical Authority in Evangelicalism
After reading this week’s piece by Charles Raven on ‘Rowan Williams and Revelation wrapped up’, readers may find this article on Biblical Authority helpful –
Written by Lee Gatiss and published in Churchman in 2006, it’s entitled “Biblical Authority in Recent Evangelical Books” and has just been made available online in PDF format (direct link) by Church Society.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…