The Surprising God

This post begins a series exploring the book  Forsaken (The Trinity and the Cross, and Why it Matters)  by  Thomas McCall . For other posts in the series, click a number:  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8 . For a related post that looks at this topic through the eyes of multiple theologians, click here . Several years ago, I took Dr. McCall's class on the doctrine of God at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. The primary focus was the doctrine of the Trinity, and a primary text was   The Christian Doctrine of God (One Being, Three Persons)   by Thomas F. Torrance. The class included thought-provoking discussions concerning various (and sometimes competing) theological perspectives on the Trinity. These discussions reinforced in my mind the importance of understanding the historic (Nicaean) roots of the Trinity doctrine - roots reflected in the aforementioned book and unpacked by Torrance in  The Trinitarian Faith  ...

Some see theology as an unnecessary, "high brow" distraction. They ask, Why do I need to study theology? The video embedded below (titled Theology Matters ) offers a helpful answer (you can also view the video at  http://youtu.be/A2DUKPUKgAI ).

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify thy Son that the Son may glorify thee, since thou has given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all who thou has given him. And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus who thou has sent.” (John 17:1-3) Glorified how? What came next was betrayal, arrest, suffering, crucifixion and death. There would be no resurrection, ascension or Pentecost without the cross. But we see in confidence that what Jesus began he completed, and He is the Author of our Salvation, and the Captain and Perfecter of faith. Wise teachers remind us that Jesus is the reason humanity exists—not the other way around—and that we only find out who we ourselves are after first discovering who Jesus is, and how he glorified (and continues to glorify) the Father. His suffering and death is tied to ours, and his joy and new life becomes ours, as we too learn to glo...

Holy Week and Easter Sunday are powerful reminders that our humanity is healed in the person of Christ who, through the Incarnation, is fully God and fully human. Note James B. (J.B.) Torrance's comment in Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace:  We are not just healed through Christ, because of the work of Christ, but in and through Christ. Person and work must not be separated. That is why [the church] Fathers did not hesitate to say, as Edward Irving, the Scottish theologian in the early nineteenth century and Karl Barth in our own times have said, that Christ assumed "fallen humanity" (i.e., our humanity) that it might be turned back to God, in him by his sinless life in the Spirit, and through him in us. (p. 53)  What is at work in all of Jesus' life (including his death and resurrection) is a two-fold movement (relationship):  God-humanward and human-Godward, which constitutes the atonement (the "at-one-ment", or reconciliation) of God and hum...

Dietrich Bonhoeffer I'm reading Eric Metaxas' biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer ( Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: A Righteous Gentile Vs. The Third Reich ). It's a moving, thought-provoking story of a young man who came to view Holy Scripture, Christianity and his own life and calling to ministry through the lens of a Trinitarian, incarnational theology. This perspective was formed by encounters through many people (both theologians and pastors), including Trinitarian (dialectical) theologian Karl Barth. One of Bonhoeffer's principal contributions was working out the application of Trinitarian theology to the challenges of real life. The challenges he faced were those encountered in Germany leading up to and through World War II. His beloved country, including his beloved German Lutheran Church came under the evil influence of Hitler and his Nazi regime. Bonhoeffer was challenged to live out his theology in the midst of this terrible evil. Thus his theol...

In 1955, Thomas F. Torrance wrote Royal Priesthood, a theology of ordained ministry . His purpose was to help bring about reconciliation between the Church of England and the Church of Scotland that hold differing views on the doctrine of the priesthood (ordained clergy). T.F. sought to contribute... "the Biblical and Patristic approach to the understanding of the evangelical and catholic ministry of the Church as a Royal Priesthood, participating by way of service in the Priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the one Mediator between God and mankind (1 Tim 2.5) (p ix). T.F. notes that, contrary to some doctrines of the priesthood, ordained clergy do not stand at the center of Christian worship - that role is reserved for Christ, "the real Celebrant - so that like John the Baptist the priest must retreat before the presence of Christ" 'He must increase, but I must decrease' (John 3.30)" (p xi). T.F. laments what he refers to as the "sacerd...

Unfortunately, some theories of the Atonement focus almost exclusively on the cross. These theories see the Atonement as being about Jesus dying on our behalf to provide complete satisfaction for the dishonor done to God the Father by our sin. Viewed from this perspective, the Atonement is about justice, and it principal gift is forgiveness .  However, such theories fall far short of the biblical revelation. Note the Apostle Paul's words:  If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. (1Cor 15:17)  Commenting on this verse in The Soul of Ministry , Ray Anderson says this:  It is the resurrection of Jesus, not just his death on the cross, that completed the Atonement... It is not just sin that needs to be forgiven, but death that needs to be overcome.... The great human dilemma is death, not merely sin" (p98).  Viewed from the perspective of the full testimony of Scripture, the Aton...

What does it mean to be human? There is but one complete and final answer, and it is found in the humanity Jesus. Trinitarian theologian Karl Barth put it this way: "As the man Jesus is himself the revealing Word of God, he is the source of our knowledge of the nature of man as created by God." In Jesus, who is fully divine yet fully human, we find our true human identity and nature. Barth put it succinctly: "All study and knowledge of human beings is grounded in the fact that one man among all others is the man Jesus." Jesus is the only human who faithfully and perfectly represents what God, the Creator, wishes for the human person, created in his image, to be. And, by grace, through his Spirit poured out on all flesh, Jesus is sharing with us his true humanity, re-creating us in his image as he does so. And so it is vital that we understand and embrace the humanity of Jesus. This is not a humanity that Jesus once  possessed, then shed. His ...

I'm writing this on Ash Wednesday - the first day of Lent. I'm reminded today of Job's words to God: "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42: 5-6, NRSV). Job's experience is typical - when God reveals himself to a person, a crisis inevitably results. Why? Because to be shown God in the fullness of his goodness and grace is to come to the crisis of decision - will we embrace the revelation and be transformed (as was Job), or will we turn away in self-imposed ignorance? In this season of Lent - a time of reflection leading up to Easter Sunday - may we receive with open and tender hearts God's revelation to us of himself. Of course, that revelation comes not merely as a book, a set of doctrines, or a theological treatise. Rather it comes to us as a living person - the incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ. Indeed, in the person of Jesus, God is revealed to be ...

Unfortunately, the Gospel is often presented as though God keeps himself separate from us, waiting for our expressions of faith and repentance before he will move to forgive, accept and thus make us his children. However, the stunning truth of the Gospel is that God, through Jesus' continuing vicarious humanity,  already has reconciled himself to all humanity. Because of who Jesus is and what he has done (and does), God accepts, loves and forgives everyone. Therefore the Gospel is the truly good news of an accomplished fact. This being so, Trinitarian, Christ-centered presentations of the Gospel urge people to believe and then live into what is already true, rather than offering them a transaction by which God will act to forgive them if, first, they offer God their faith and repentance. In The Mediation of Christ , Thomas F. Torrance notes that the Gospel, when preached and taught in this truly evangelical way, will be presented something like this: God lo...

This blog often discusses theological theory . In doing so, there is the risk of succumbing to "ivory tower" thinking that is disconnected from real life. However, for me, Trinitarian, incarnational theology rings true precisely because of its inseparable connection to real life and ministry . This connection is often noted and explored in the discussions that are a key part of the online course I teach at Grace Communion Seminary  in Trinitarian Youth Ministry . My students wrestle together with the teachings of Trinitarian theologians Andrew Root, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Thomas F. Torrance and others. What they find is not "ivory tower" stuff that makes no difference in real life, but stunning truth that speaks directly to real life and ministry. Finding this connection is not forced, for the very basis of Trinitarian, incarnational theology is the reality of the presence and ministry of the incarnate Son of God in our world through the Holy Spirit. This ...

This post concludes our series examining the  Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed   (commonly referred to as the Nicene Creed). For other posts in the series, click a number: 1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 5 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  11   12 . Also click here to read this series condensed into one article. We are examining the Creed's final clause: We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.  We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.  Amen. Last time we addressed  one baptism for the forgiveness of sins . Now we'll address  the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come . We begin by noting how the Creed links  the resurrection  with the  forgiveness of sins. As noted by   Thomas F. (T.F.) Torrance (in  The Trinitarian Faith ), this linkage was of particular importance to the Creed's framers, "for it meant that forgiv...

In this post we continue looking at the marks (identifying characteristics) of the Church as defined by the Nicene Creed . For other posts in this series, click a number: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ,  5 ,  6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ,  13 . We come now to the final clause of the Creed: We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.  We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.  Amen. In this post, we'll address the first part, one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. One baptism The framers of the Creed apparently took the phrase  one baptism from Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus ( Eph 4:4-5 ). Paul exhorts that congregation to a unity grounded firmly in the fact that there is but "one body and one Spirit...one Lord, one faith [and], one baptism." Why do Paul and the Creed highlight baptism but not the Eucharist? According to Thomas F. Torrance (in  The Trinitarian Faith ), it is because of the importa...

As Steve Sabol, president of NFL Films, is fond of saying, "Tell me a fact and I'll learn; tell me the truth and I'll believe; but tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever." How true (as every good teacher knows). Jesus, the Master Teacher, often made his point with a story. His stories pointed people to the greatest story of all:  The Story of God . At the center of this story is Jesus who, as Andrew Purves notes,"is the mediating center of revelation, whereby all of our knowledge of God is controlled" ("The Shape of Torrance Theology,"  Theology in Scotland,  vol XVI, p26). Because Jesus, who reveals God as God, has united himself to all humans through the Incarnation, his story is the story of all humankind. Our history is his-story. The story of Jesus as our representative and substitute, is the gospel. This story encompasses creation, fall, re-creation (redemption), leading to humanity glorified and dwelling with God in...

This post continues our examination of the marks (identifying characteristics) of the Church as defined by the Nicene Creed . For other posts in this series, click a number: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ,  5 ,  6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ,  12 ,  13 . We come now to the church's apostolicity, which Thomas F. Torrance (in  The Trinitarian Faith ) defines as follows: In its simplest sense the apostolicity of the Church refers back to the original foundation of the Church once for all laid by Christ upon the apostles, but it also refers to the interpenetration of the existence and mission of the Church in its unswerving fidelity to that apostolic foundation (p285). The Apostles were chosen and sent by Christ as a link between himself and the church. They would be this link by both teaching and embodying the truth of the Gospel (the deposit of faith), which is "the unrepeatable foundation on which the Church was built" (p286). This deposit includes the content of the Gospe...

In The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative  (IVP 2006), Christopher Wright leads us on a journey through the Bible using a "missiological hermeneutic." Concerning this journey, he asks... Is it possible, is it legitimate, is it helpful for Christians to read the whole Bible from the angle of mission?  The immediate challenge that bounced back was: it all depends on whose mission you mean. If by "mission" we are thinking of "missions," and the great and laudable efforts of cross cultural missionaries, then we would be struggling to defend an affirmative answer to the first question. While our human missionary endeavor can find ample justification and explicit textual imperative in the Bible, it would be a distorted and exaggerated hermeneutic, in my view, that tried to argue that the whole Bible was "about" mission in the narrowly defined sense of human missionary activities. He continues: The Bible renders and reveals to u...

Sunday, January 8, 2012 will be celebrated in many churches as Epiphany Sunday. This post about Epiphany repeats one that appeared here in  2008 . January 6 (the 12 th day of Christmas) is designated by church tradition as "Epiphany." It is celebrated by many churches on the following Sunday, known as "Epiphany Sunday."  The term epiphany means "to show," "make known" or "reveal." In some Western churches, it remembers the coming of the Magi (wise men) bringing gifts to the Christ child, who by so doing "reveal" Jesus as the Lord and King of all humanity (Jews and Gentiles included).  In some Eastern Churches, Epiphany also commemorates Jesus’ baptism by which he was consecrated in his mission as the God-man, sent from the Father, anointed by the Spirit, for the benefit of all humanity - indeed, for the benefit of all creation.  Epiphany powerfully presents the Gospel of the inclusion of all people (and all c...

To all Surprising God readers: Happy New Year! Here is a brief word for 2012: Jesus is alive! By this I mean that Jesus is not merely... A concept to be studied An historical personage to be emulated We are well advised, of course, to study and emulate Jesus. However, my prayer is that in 2012 we will experience and express even more fully the all-encompassing love and life of Jesus, our living Savior who is... The incarnate Son of God - fully God, and fully human. When Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, he did not shed his humanity. He remains human (now glorified) forever. Our Mediator . As both divine and human, Jesus continues to be the "go between" - the one who, in his own Person, unites humanity with God. Jesus is the Atonement.  Our High Priest . Jesus the God-man lives forever to make intercession for humanity. The One who sends the Holy Spirit to educate all humanity concerning who Jesus is, and thus who we are because of who he is....

This post continues our look at the marks (identifying characteristics) of the Church as defined by the Nicene Creed . For other posts in this series, click a number: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ,  5 ,  6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 11 , 12 ,  13 . We come now to the church's holiness and catholicity. Holiness As noted by Thomas F. Torrance in The Trinitarian Faith , though holiness is God's will for the church... ...[it] does not derive from any moral goodness or purity of its members, but from the holiness of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The holiness of the Church is thus objectively grounded in the utterly transcendent holiness, glory and purity of God's being (pp280-281). God comes among his people, the church, and in doing so sanctifies them - or as T.F. says, "implicates them" in God's own holiness. Coming among them as a holy God would annihilate his people, except that he comes with grace and mercy, and, ultimately, he comes through the incarnation of ...

Each Christmas reminds us anew of the glorious truth concerning the birth of Jesus Christ - God in the flesh come to rescue us through his life, death, resurrection and ascension. The video embedded below presents Christmas in this whole-gospel context. May your Christmas celebrations be similarly focused, leading to an even deeper appreciation of God's love for you and all humanity.

This post was contributed by worship leader Mike Hale. In The Lord and His Prayer , N.T. Wright says the word ‘Father’ in the prayer Jesus taught his followers (the Lord's Prayer) calls our attention to the revolutionary message and mission of Jesus that is the real Exodus message -- the message of the defeat of tyrants, oppressors and evil. It is the Father’s revolution that comes through the suffering and death of none other than the Messiah who is the Father’s Son.  Wright says our Lord taught us this prayer because the Advent message is that the Father’s revolution comes through the Messiah and his followers “sharing and hearing the pain of the world, that the world may be healed” (p 19). In John’s Gospel, Jesus uses the image of father and son to explain what he was himself doing. In that culture, the son is apprenticed to the father. He learns his trade by watching what the father is doing. When he runs into a problem, he checks back to see how his father tackles it. T...

One of the readers of this blog sent this question: Ephesians 1:13 says, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.”  How then can we say that the whole world is already included in Christ, when not everyone has yet heard the gospel? To answer, we need to note the larger passage in Ephesians chapter one (vv3-14, with v13 bold-faced): 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8 that he lavished on us wi...