The Surprising God

Here, with the author's permission, is an excerpt from a forthcoming book by Dr. John McKenna, faculty member at GCI's Grace Communion Seminary . John, a student of T.F. Torrance, has served as doctrinal advisor for GCI. John McKenna In general, we may say that freedom without truth is mere anarchy; truth without freedom is sheer tyranny. The integration of freedom and truth is necessary if we are to grasp the reality of the nature of the Word in all of its depths with us. The freedom of truth and the truth of freedom fundamentally provide the ground on which we may stand and understand the reality of the space and time where we have been given our freedom to live and breathe. The integration of freedom and truth is essential in the depth of the order we discover here. When this integration exists, we have the formation of the fundamental ground on which we may seek to know the nature of the Cosmos that is the Universe where we have been given our freedom to be who ...

Note: this is a re-post of a Surprising God post that appeared first in April, 2011. Because I have received questions about this issue, I'm repeating that post here, with a few updates. For much greater detail on what this post summarizes, I commend to you the essay by Gary Deddo, titled " Clarifying our Theological Vision ." Also see the "GCI Weekly Update" article titled " Living the Redeemed Life ." A blog reader asked if the understanding that all humanity is included in God's love and life, means that all people are already spiritually alive (i.e. "born again"). My answer is this: to be included in God's life and to be born again are related, but not the same. Let me explain. Time and again, Scripture proclaims that what God has done (through the incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension of his Son, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost) transforms all humanity . Here are some of the verses of Scrip...