The Surprising God

[Updated 8/2019] A few years ago I came in contact with Dr. Timothy Gombis , St. Andrews PhD trinitarian theologian who now is Professor of New Testament at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary.  Several years ago, Dr. Gombis delivered two lectures at a chapel service at Cedarville' University. With his kind permission, I've posted his two presentations, contained in one PDF document . I think you'll find what he has to say of great interest. I'm particularly grateful for his insights about our sharing in the trinitarian life of God in daily living: shopping, marriage and even Facebook.  Enjoy.

I'm reading " The Crucifixion of Ministry " by Andrew Purves (trinitarian theologian at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary; pictured at left). He urges us to reframe our view of ministry in light of the gospel of our inclusion in Christ. Rather than seeing ministry as "our ministry" we need to view it for what it truly is: a "sharing in the continuing ministry of Jesus Christ" (p. 11). This ministry is the work of the Father, in the Spirit, through Jesus for the sake of the church and all the world.   This view of ministry as participation in the ongoing ministry of Jesus flows from "the classical Christian doctrines of our participation through union with Christ in his vicarious humanity and ministry.... Because ministry is what Jesus does, ministry is properly understood as gospel rather than law and as grace rather then obligation.... The first and central question in thinking about ministry [in this way] is Who is Jesus Christ and what is he ...

I highly recommend the book  Experiencing the Trinity , by Darrell W. Johnson (associate professor of pastoral theology at Regent College in Vancouver, B.C.). Here is an excerpt from a review posted by the publisher: To many people the Trinity is a puzzle that is difficult, if not impossible, to assemble. We are challenged to comprehend the “one is three and three is one”-ness of it. By exploring the relationships within the Trinity, we learn that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit are truly one God and yet are, at the same time, three distinct Persons. It is through the relationship of the three that the distinctions are revealed. It is by this Triune-relationship God that we are created; it is for this Triune-relationship God that we were created. Johnson writes of our inclusion in this Triune-relationship: The moment we say "yes" to Jesus, we are welcomed into the eternal inner circl...

Scripture tells us that Jesus remains fully human, now glorified ( 1Tim. 2:5 ). In his continuing incarnation, he is now  present  bodily with the Father in the "heavenly realms" ( Eph. 1:20 ). He has gone there to "prepare" for us a "place" ( John 14:2 ) in a "new heaven and new earth" ( Rev. 21:1 ), which he will unveil in its full glory at his parousia at the end of the age. Jesus' presence in heaven in glorified, human/bodily form continues. That presence necessarily points to a corresponding absence : In his glorified humanity, Jesus is absent bodily from earth ( Acts 1:9-11 ). This truth informs our understanding of at least five issues: The nature of Jesus' bodily ascension (which points forward to our own) The nature of Jesus' continuing heavenly ministry (session) as the one mediator, who, in himself, reconciles God and man The nature of Jesus' promised bodily parousia (revealing) at the end of the age T...

At left is Antonio Ciseri's painting, Ecce Homo (Behold the Man). That exclamation from the mouth of Pilate (see John 19:5, NAS) has (through Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection, ascension , and sending of his Spirit) been transformed into the church's pronouncement of the gospel of grace to all people in all times (including times of trauma like our current financial crisis). This gospel is the truth that God has included all humanity in his triune love and life: In union with God, in Jesus, through the Spirit, our lives (including our sin and suffering), are redeemed.  Behold the Man!  The redemptive, healing presence of Jesus at work through the Spirit in our world is making all things new. As noted by Douglas Farrow in "Ascension & Ecclesia " (T & T Clark, 1999), Jesus is the "priest-king of creation, re-ordering the fundamental structures of created life around himself, making it presentable to God in and with himself" (p. 280). ...

The gospel of grace proclaims that all people everywhere are included in Christ. What then is the difference between a Christian (believer) and a non-Christian (non-believer)? Answering this question begins by noting what is common to all people: All are "in Christ."  The eternal Son of God, our Creator and Sustainer, became through his incarnation the vicarious (representative - substitutionary) human being .  Paul refers to Jesus as the second (last) Adam,  who stands in for all people (Romans 5:12-21) and is the fountainhead of a new (re-created) humanity (2Cor 5:17). Because of what Jesus has done in union with all humanity, all people are now reconciled to God (Col 1:20, 2Cor 5:19a).  Jesus became human for us all; taking on our nature and thus becoming sin for us (2Cor 5:21). When he died it was thus all of sinful humanity that died with him, and all sin was atoned for through him and in him (Romans 6:10; 2Cor 5:14-15).  Then when Jesus ros...

The painting to the left is the Icon of the Holy Trinity , painted in 1425 by Adrei Rublev (click on the painting for a larger image). According to Stephen Seamands in Ministry in the Image of God , this painting powerfully conveys the trinitarian circle of God's love and life which is an open, not a closed, circle. Note the three persons of the Trinity (from left to right: Father, Son and Holy Spirit).  They bear the same face, emphasizing their oneness. Their heads are inclined toward each other, indicating humble, self-effacing love. The Son and Spirit gaze upon the Father and the Father upon the table where a gold chalice holds the symbol of the lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world. Each person holds a staff, indicating equal authority. Each wears a blue robe, the color of heaven, again indicating oneness. Yet each wears additional clothing of differing colors indicating distinction and complementarity in their roles in creation and redemption. Though none ...

My friend Larry Hinkle recently recommended to me the book "Ministry in the Image of God, The Trinitarian Shape of Christian Service" by Stephen Seamands ( IVP , 2005). I'm indebted to Larry for this recommendation - I am finding the book to be of great value in defining a Trinitarian view of mission that is grounded in a Trinitarian view of theology. Indeed, when it comes to the triune love and life of God, theology and missiology (as well as ecclesiology ) are inseparable. As Seamands notes, the doctrine of the Trinity, though accepted by Christians, is often not the defining framework of our Christian ministries. He sees this as a mistake (and I agree!). For Seamands , authentic Christian ministry is (necessarily) trinitarian - it is our participation in "the ministry of Jesus Christ, the Son, to the Father, through the Holy Spirit, for the sake of the church and the world" (pp. 9-10). Seamands says that "I am convinced that no doctrine is...

[Updated on 3/29/2017] On a recent edition of Janet  Parshall's radio show,  Dr. Michael Youssef denounced the popular book ,  The Shack , and its author  Paul Young (shown left), for teaching a false view of God and salvation. Though I appreciate Youssef's desire to protect believers from false teaching, I respectfully disagree with many of his assertions. Youssef claims that The Shack teaches universalism, a charge that Young denies. Though The Shack vividly illustrates that God has indeed included all humanity in his love and life through Jesus, this universal inclusion and reconciliation   should not be confused with universal salvation (the idea of universalism ). Universalism asserts that all people are now saved (or will, in the future, be saved) with no exceptions. In this definition, "saved" means to be the recipient of salvation in its ultimate-final sense (and Scripture talks about salvation in several senses or tenses...

An objection sometimes lodged against the idea of the present inclusion of all humanity in Christ, has to do with the presence of evil in the world. This objection tends to run along one of two lines: 1. Because God will not coexist with evil, and because there are so many evil people in the world, it follows that God has NOT already adopted all humans. 2. If God has actually adopted all humans already, we should see in the world a corresponding and significant abating of evil since the time God first accomplished this adoption. However, we don't see such abatement having happened - evil is clearly still present with us. First let me say that Trinitarian Theology does not bury its head in the sand concerning evil. One need only note the courageous response from Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and other Trinitarian theologians to the evil of Hitler and the Nazis. It is clear that there remains in our world a great deal of evil. In fact, one might argue that the ravage of e...

In a recent post on the Out of Ur blog ( click here to read it in full) Scott McKnight makes the following interesting observation about Trinitarian Theology: Recently I was asked where theology was headed. I assured my reader that I wasn ’t “in the know” but that I would hazard a guess or two. First I thought we were likely to see a more robust Trinitarian theology, one deeply anchored in the great Cappadocian theologians like Gregory of Nyssa. But in some ways all the main lines of Trinitarian thought have already been sketched by great theologians like Karl Barth, James B. Torrance and others. He goes on to discuss the fine work of theologians Tom (N. T.) Wright and Chris Wright. But the point I want to make here - a point McKnight mentions only in passing - is that there appears to be an ongoing theological reformation occurring across the board in the Christian church. The emergence of a Trinitarian , Christ-centered theology within the WCG is, therefore, part of a muc...

What is the place of personal repentance and obedience in a Trinitarian, Christ-centered Theology? If all are included already in God's love and life, why repent or behave? In his epistles we see Paul address this through a very carefully crafted Christ-centered logic that has to do with our union with Jesus. His "Christ-o-logic" as it pertains to the individual, unfolds in three progressive steps: First Paul declares that in Jesus, we belong. This is the gospel declaration : we are included, through Jesus, in God’s love and life. God has done this for us (and, indeed for all humanity), quite apart from any work or merit of our own. It’s a gift of God’s grace. Second Paul invites us to believe. This is the gospel invitation to repentance and belief (trust). This too is God’s gifts to us. We believe in Jesus, because we belong to Jesus (and notice that belonging precedes belief). Third Paul exhorts us to become. This is the gospel respons...

I just finished reading "Evangelical Theology, an Introduction" by Karl Barth ( Eerdmans 1963, reprinted 1996). Barth appropriately refers to his Trinitarian , Christ-centered Theology as "a theology of freedom" - for this theology speaks of the God of the Gospel - and this Gospel declares God's freedom to grant to us our true freedom in union with Jesus Christ. This Gospel is the declaration of the history of God's deeds, in Christ, to secure our freedom. In this history, God makes himself known to us. We learn through the deeds of Jesus just who God truly is. There is no God who is not like Jesus Christ. Barth writes: The God of the Gospel is no lonely God, self-sufficient and self-contained...He is [not] detached from everything that is not himself...he is not imprisoned by his own majesty...He is free..to be the God of man. He exists neither next to man nor merely above him, but rather with him, by him and, most important of all, for him. He ...

Some people misunderstand Trinitarian theology and assign to it the label of “universalism.” But this is not accurate, for this theology upholds what Scripture says, namely, that though God, in Christ, has reconciled all humans to himself, he will never force any person to embrace that reconciliation. To do so would remove from them an important God-given gift, namely their freedom to choose (and thus to say “no” to God’s “YES” to them in Jesus). God wants sons and daughters, not zombies who lack the freedom to think and to choose without coercion to love their heavenly Father. Trinitarian theologian T. F. Torrance is on record for rejecting universalism because he sees in Scripture that, in the end, some people will believe while others will not. We can’t fully explain why this is; but neither can we fully explain the presence of evil in a world under God’s sovereign control (see An Introduction to Torrance Theology, by Elmer Colyer, p.54).

I am reading "Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace" by James B. Torrance (Intervarsity Press, 1996). I was struck immediately by J.B.'s words in the preface: When we see that the worship and mission of the church are the gift of participating through the Holy Spirit in the incarnate Son's communion with the Father and the Son's mission from the father to the world, that the unique center of the Bible is Jesus Christ...then the doctrines of the Trinity, the incarnation, the atonement, the ministry of the Spirit, Church and sacraments, our understanding of the kingdom, our anthropology and eschatology, all unfold from that center.

A newly posted You're Included  video program from GCI features an interview with Jeff McSwain of Reality Ministries . View it by clicking here . Jeff addresses Trinitarian theology and how it forms the basis for gospel-centered ministry with teens.

In this post I quote from Capon's book, The Mystery of Christ...And Why We Don't Get It, where Capon says his reason for writing is...  ...to protest against...a [theological] model I choose to call transactionalism , and to witness to a better model based on the Mystery of Christ" p. 23). For Capon, this "mystery" is the real presence of God in his reconciling grace throughout every particle of the cosmos (including every human life) made evident now in Jesus Christ. This Jesus - the fullness of Grace and Truth - is the Eternal Son of God: the Word, Creator, Sustainer, Judge and Savior of all the cosmos - now manifested to us and for us through his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, ascension and parousia. It is this mystery - the real and redeeming presence of God, in Christ in all the cosmos - that forms the basis for Capon's view of the Gospel (and thus his theology) as being not about transactions that are causitive of God's grace, b...

If all people are already reconciled to God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:18), then why a final judgment when Jesus returns? And why, as a result of that judgment, will God cast out some if all are already included ? We note Scripture's use of "casting into outer darkness," "separating sheep from goats" and similar phrases to speak of circumstances related to the final judgment. We acknowledge that such phrases are symbolic. But symbolic of what? In answering this and related questions, I've found help from Episcopal priest-theologian Robert Farrar Capon in  Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus . In this book, Capon analyzes Jesus' parables, which speak frequently of judgment and hell. Following are illustrative quotes. I recommend a careful reading of the whole book for the details, including Capon's careful scriptural argumentation. For a related article from theologian Baxter Kruger,  click here ...

In his presentation at the 2008 WCG -USA Regional Conferences, Dan Rogers addresses an important question: How and when does one realize that he/she is united with Christ? This is a vital question related to a Christ-centered/ Trinitarian theology. Indeed, all humanity is united with ("in") Christ through his incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension. All people experience this union, but not all know of it. How and when do they come to know? And what difference does this knowledge make? Dan notes that the answer to this how and when question is this: They come to know by the Holy Spirit according to his sovereign working. Through faith, Jesus Christ (through the Holy Spirit), lays claim to our lives. The objective union which we have with Christ through the incarnational assumption of our humanity into himself is subjectively actualized (realized) in us through his indwelling Spirit. Indeed, the ministry of the Spirit in our world today is to work in human mi...

Karl Barth writes concerning the Descent and Ascension of Jesus: The earth rejoices at the Son of God having descended from heaven, but heaven is glad no less at the Son of Man having ascended from the earth. "He sits," it says, "at the right hand of the Father." This was necessary, beloved, in order that the flesh of man, which, when sin was in authority, had been captivated for a long time, might receive the freedom of living there whither sin could not penetrate ( Church Dogmatics IV, ii, 143). Gerrit Dawson, continues in the stream of Barth's thought: As he [Jesus] ascends, creation is healed. The gulf between heaven and earth caused by human sin is bridged; the rift of our ancient wound is closed. The 'flesh of man' is able to go where it was always intended but had ever been prevented since the Fall - into the courts of heaven and the immediate presence of God. This is the foretaste of 'the glorious freedom of the children of God' in...

C. S. Lewis wrote concerning the ascension of Jesus: We...tend to slur over the risen manhood of Jesus, to conceive Him, after death, simply returning into Deity, so that the Resurrection would be no more than the reversal or undoing of the Incarnation" ( Miracles , p. 151, quoted on p. 5 in Jesus Ascended by Gerrit Scott Dawson, T&T Clark, 2004). Following on Lewis' thought, Gerrit Scott Dawson warns of... ...enormous theological problems raised by disembodying Christ's ascension. For instance, if Jesus slipped out of his human body, who is sitting at God's right hand? Is it Jesus, whose voice the disciples heard, whose touch they felt...or is it the eternal Son of God, who once knew what it was like to be a man but is no longer bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh? If the latter, what effect would a bodiless Christ have on the future work affirmed in the [Nicene] Creed, his coming again and his judgement of the living and dead? To put it bluntly, i...

In  Jesus Ascended, the Meaning of Christ's Continuing Incarnation  (T&T Clark, 2004)  Gerrit Scott Dawson (pictured at left) shows how vital it is to understand Jesus' ascension as God still in human (though now glorified) flesh.  As the ascended God-man, Jesus is our High Priest. He now resides bodily and intercedes continuously for us from heaven. And through his Spirit he lives in us and with us here on earth. In these ways he shares with us the eternal life that is his in communion with the Father and the Spirit. The ascended Jesus is our life - our "place" - with God (see John 14:2). Dawson quotes Andrew Murray: As Son, Christ alone was heir of all that God had. All the life of the Father was in Him. God could have no union or fellowship with any creature but through His beloved Son, or as far as the life and spirit and image of the Son was seen in it. If our salvation was not to be a merely legal one - external and, I may say, artificial - but an entranc...

John 17:3 (New International Version) Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. This is SO profound! The primary hallmark of eternal life, the thing that the Spirit-inspired writer tells us, is that the concept of "eternal life" can only be understood in RELATIONAL terms (THIS is eternal life: that they may KNOW You!). Yes - by knowing God the Father and the Son He sent, anointed by the Spirit. Eternal life is ALL about knowing God the Father and His Son, in the Spirit, in Truth! Comprehending the heart of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in their pure, from-all-time, beautiful, other-centered love relationship (they are ONE!) is posited by John as THE DEFINITION of eternal life! Any notion of eternal life we may have that is APART from seeing THIS God is a poor, distorted caricature at best. How do we "know" God? Understanding that God is Trinity and understanding the AWESOME implications of THAT ...