The Surprising God

This post exegetes Romans 6:15-23, providing context for the RCL Epistles reading for 7/2/23. It draws on John Stott’s "The Message of Romans," and "The Expositor’s Bible Commentary." "The Slave Market" by Boulanger (public domain via Wikimedia Commons) Introduction In Romans Chapter 6 Paul addresses the accusation that his teaching concerning grace promotes sin.  His response in the first half of the chapter is to discuss  the logic of baptism , showing that grace both justifies and sanctifies—leading believers to both die to sin in Christ and to live to righteousness in Christ. In the second half of the chapter Paul makes the same point by discussing the logic of conversion , using the metaphor of slavery to show that grace delivers believers from ‘slavery to sin’ (leading to death) and makes them willingly  ‘slaves of God’ (leading to righteousness and life). Romans 6:15 . Paul begins this discussion of slavery by asking, *Shall we sin because we are no...

In this post,  Paul Molnar  overviews the concept of perichoresis as presented by Thomas F. Torrance in "Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity," Chapter 7 of " The Christian Doctrine of God: One Being Three Persons " (1996). This post was written originally for a session of the  T.F. Torrance Reading Group . Though the concept of perichoresis  appears throughout The Christian Doctrine of God , it is emphasized and clarified in Chapter 7 in reference to the immanent (ontological) Trinity  as Torrance understands our knowledge of God as that is shaped soteriologically .  That in itself is an extremely important point because many people are confused about perichoresis, thinking it applies to God’s relations with us when it does not. Any such idea would make God dependent on us or confuse God with us. As Torrance notes, perichoresis originates from the combination of the Greek words  chora (χώρα, meaning “space” or “room”) and chorein (χώρειν...

This post exegetes Romans 6:1-14, providing context for the RCL Epistles reading for 6/25/23. It draws on John Stott’s "The Message of Romans," and "The Expositor’s Bible Commentary."  Introduction The overall theme of Romans 5:1-6:23 is the unity believers have through their common union with Christ. In Chapter 5, Paul asserts that this unity results from our justification in Christ, which is of grace, not law-keeping. But some Corinthian (and other) Christians object: If justification truly is by grace apart from law as Paul teaches, what about Christian living and discipleship? Can believers do anything they want and still be in right standing (justified) with God? Is Paul advocating that believers continue in sin? Paul anticipates these objections—noting that some already have 'slanderously' misquoted him as saying, ' Let us do evil that good may result ' (Romans 3:8).  Though up to chapter 6, Paul waived aside these accusations, he now addresses...

This post exegetes Romans 5:1-11 , providing context for the RCL Epistles reading for 6/18/23. It draws on John Stott’s "The Message of Romans" and "The Expositor’s Bible Commentary." "Apostle Paul" by Rembrandt (public domain via Wikimedia Commons) Introduction In Romans chapters 1-4, Paul addresses the doctrine of justification , which proclaims the stunning reality that, in and through Jesus Christ God has forgiven and reconciled all humanity  to himself, opening the door for all to receive by faith what Christ has done for them, and thus to  share in Jesus’ right relationship with God.  As this free gift is received, we personally experience the truth that because humanity has been justified by God in Christ, we are made one with God. We also experience the truth that we have been made one with all people who in faith embrace the justication they have before God in Christ, whether those people be Jews or Gentiles, circumcised or not, law-observing or ...

This post overviews "Three Persons, One Being," -- Chapter 6 of Thomas F. Torrance's book " The Christian Doctrine of God: One Being Three Persons ." This post was written by TFT scholar  Myk Habets  for a session of the  T.F. Torrance Reading Group . Introduction The Christian Doctrine of God (CDG) is perhaps my favourite book of Torrance’s and it is, in my opinion, his magnum opus . I am a constructive theologian, and here Torrance is working in the mode of constructive theology. In CDG I think we find his most developed trinitarian theology, something he calls a “dynamic trinitarianism,” and he makes a number of bold claims that are faithful to the tradition, yet develop it as well. Following the lead of Torrance, we affirm that “we apprehend the self-revelation of God to us in his indivisible wholeness as one Being, three Persons, three Persons, one Being.” 1 Torrance was following a long line of thinkers from the early church through to today. The claim be...

This post exegetes Romans 4:1-25, providing context for the RCL Epistles reading for 6/11/23. It draws on various sources including John Stott’s "The Message of Romans." "Abraham Receiving the Three Angels" by Murillo (public domain via Wikimedia Commons) Introduction In Romans Chapter 3, Paul proclaims the good news that in and through Christ the righteous one, God has reconciled humanity to himself, restoring humanity to a right relationship with God (Romans 3:21-26). Paul grounds this gift fully in Christ's cross and addresses objections to this astonishing, liberating truth, which is the heart and core of the gospel of grace (Romans 3:27-31).   In Romans Chapter 4, Paul uses the Old Testament accounts about Abraham and David to demonstrate how this justification by faith is God's one and only way of salvation—both in the Old Testament and the New.  Paul uses Abraham as his primary example for two reasons. First because Abraham was the founding father of ...