The Surprising God

In the Christianity Today  article " Learning to Love Leviticus ," Christopher J.H. Wright notes that to properly understand the nature and purpose of God's law, we must account for several contextual issues: God's purpose for Israel in the world as the people of God the nature of the ancient near-Eastern cultures in which Israel existed how the nature of law and, most particularly, the nature of Torah (which means "instruction") helps us understand its application the nature of our Triune God as a relational being--helping us understand why he would have a law in the first place and how he would apply and uphold it in relationship with his covenant people Wright then explains the application of the Torah (OT law) to Israel and then to Christians. Here are some illustrative quotes: God gave Israel his law in order to shape them into a society that would reflect God's character and values in the midst of the nations—what we might call a mission...

Trinitarian theologian Paul Metzger (pictured at left) recently gave a sermon entitled "Love God and Do What You Want." The context of his sermon was a conference discussing the calling that Christians have to engage the culture. Paul addresses the motivation for cultural engagement. To listen to an audio recording of Paul's helpful sermon,  click here .

An axiom of our Trinitarian, incarnational faith is that God does what God is.  Said another way, Scripture teaches us that there is no disjunction between God's doing and God's being. For example, God loves (does loving things) precisely because God is love (his being is that of a triune communion of love). As we live into our union with Christ (our journey from union to communion with God), any disjunction between who we are in Christ and what we do in Christ is progressively healed. I say "progressively healed" because it is a journey on which we continue to bear the marks (the "stain of sin") of residual disjunction between being and doing that results from our fallen nature. Like Paul in Romans 7, we decry the reality that though we desire to do good, our actual doing often reflects more our old nature (in Adam) than our new nature, which is our true being in Christ. Because we want to do good, we often look for strategies and programs to assist...

In the short video below, trinitarian theologian Dr. Marty Folsom talks about twin realities that are the basis of his understanding of trinitarian theology: that the triune God exists in relationship  that we as humans live within God's relating life   For additional videos from Dr. Folsom,  click here .

Elmer Colyer In How to Read T.F. Torrance, Elmer Colyer addresses what theologian Tom Torrance says about two forms of dualism that, unfortunately, shape the theology of many Christians: Torrance believes that the church has had to struggle repeatedly with the problem of dualism.... Dualism connotes the division of reality into two incompatible or independent domains. Torrance's repudiation of cosmological and epistemological dualism is decisive for grasping his understanding of the mediation of Christ...(pp57-8). Cosmological dualism This form of dualism asserts a disconnection between God and the world (cosmos) - an idea that arose in the early church out of Greco-Roman philosophy. It then emerged in the middle ages based on a Newtonian cosmology, yielding a deistic view of God. Sadly, this dualism remains common in our time (think of Bette Midler singing about the God who is "watching us from a distance"). Those holding this viewpoint tend to dismiss as merely...

Jesus' disciplemaking pathway [Updated on 1/20/2018] When viewed through the lens of an incarnational Trinitarian theology, Scripture shows us that, by God's grace, all humanity is  on  journey with Jesus . Those who follow the Spirit as disciples of Jesus journey from non-believer, to believer, to worker (and some to leader) who actively participate with Jesus in what he is doing to fulfill the Father's mission to the world. This journey with Jesus, which originated in the Father's heart before creation, was acted out in Israel's experience under the Old Covenant. It then came to fullness under the New Covenant in the union  forged between God and humanity through Jesus' life, death, resurrection and ascension, and the sending of the Holy Spirit. As a result of who Jesus is (the union of God and humanity), and what he accomplished as our representative, all humanity has been included in God's love and life---God, in Christ, has reconciled himsel...

A core conviction of our Trinitarian, incarnational faith is that the Father, through his Son, by the power of the Spirit is present and at work in our world. This work is God's mission, which embraces and includes all people everywhere. Scripture then tells us that the Spirit forms, gifts and sends the church to participate with Jesus in God's mission to the world and refers to this participation as "ministry" (meaning "service"). And as noted by Andrew Purves in  The Crucifixion of Ministry , we must put to death any wrong-headed ideas that this service is our own (as in "what we do for Christ"). The truth (which sets us free) is that it is Jesus' ministry--his service to the world, in the power of the Spirit. And how wonderful that the Holy Spirit calls and equips us to take part! Speaking of taking part, Dietrich Bonhoeffer often referred to the ministry of Jesus as "place sharing." He understood that Jesus, through th...

The video below contains a fascinating 42-minute-long lecture from Myk Habets (pictured at right). Myk teaches in the Carey Graduate School at Carey Baptist College in New Zealand. His lecture is titled, "You Have Never Met a Mere Mortal (what evangelicals can learn from C.S. Lewis's vision of salvation)." Its focus is Lewis' emphasis, following Athanasius and other church fathers, on the sometimes misunderstood (and often overlooked) doctrine of  Theosis,  which views salvation as human participation in the divine life of the Trinity. Enjoy (and rejoice!).    http://youtu.be/Je-4Zga61BE

It saddens me, and I find it ironic, that Christians sometimes get nasty toward one another when disagreeing about theology. After all, Christian theology is the study of the Triune God who declares himself to be love! Of course, many people are passionate about theology (it takes one to know one!). However, the nature of theology is that it is "faith seeking understanding"--not faith that has arrived at perfect understanding. God alone is perfect, and good theology (even if imperfect) accurately points to him, and thus away from itself. Because our theological formulations are inherently imperfect, there have arisen within the historic, orthodox Christian faith multiple theological streams that diverge on certain points. This is so even though the proponents of these streams embrace the same orthodox Christian doctrines (as summarized in the ancient creeds). So what are we to do? Well, I don't think we need to lay aside our theological distinctives and the disagree...

This Sunday (May 26, 2013), many Christians will celebrate Trinity Sunday. This celebration reminds us of God's triune nature as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It also helps us keep in clear focus the bedrock of Christian doctrine and theology. In celebration of Trinity Sunday, GCI has posted this Speaking of Life video with Dr. Joseph Tkach:

Scripture declares the gospel to be "the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16). The following points briefly summarize the gospel viewed through the lens of the person and work of Jesus, which is the lens of an Incarnational, Trinitarian theology. These points are distilled (with admiration) from a KerrysLoft blog post ( click here to read the original). 1. The gospel is the Incarnation Jesus is Immanuel, God with us, not a God who is remote from us. 2. The gospel means God is love Through Christ we discover that God is Triune, a communion of three Persons. What the doctrine of the Trinity means is that God is love. We were made for this Trinitarian communion and our love for one another is the expression of the image of God on the human plane. 3. The gospel means that Jesus is Lord He is the Victor; he has triumphed over every power in heaven and earth. Because Jesus is Lord, all things will work together for our good (Romans 8...

GCI president, Dr. Joseph Tkach Trinitarian theologians use various terms to distinguish between the universal/objective scope of what God has done in Christ and the personal/subjective realization of that work in the lives of those who have come to faith. For example, some speak of all humanity as reconciled already to God in Christ, while only believers are redeemed. GCI president Dr. Joseph Tkach makes this distinction in one of his Speaking of Life videos ( click here to watch it). Here is an excerpt from the program script: [The words reconciliation and redemption] can be used to describe aspects of God’s work of salvation for the world through Jesus Christ. To reconcile means to patch up a quarrel, or to make a relationship that has become strained right again. To redeem means to buy back, or to claim ownership. Christ has accomplished both for us since there is but one whole and single work of his. But what he inaugurates is a healed, restored relationship making u...

John McLeod Campbell To understand Incarnational, Trinitarian theology it is helpful to know something of its history. Toward that end, a recent post at  KerrysLoft  helpfully summarizes the work of Scottish theologian John McLeod Campbell and others. Here is an excerpt ( click here for the original). Along with Edward Irving (1792-1834), Thomas Erskine of Linlathen   (1788-1870) and a number of other 19th-century Scottish theologians,  Campbell (1800-1872) critiqued the Calvinism of the day by arguing that God in Christ assumed our fallen human nature, yet without sin through the Holy Spirit; that the Father loves all humanity and that Christ died for all humanity, not just for those who believe; and that we are somehow joined with Christ in his re-creation of our human nature. In this way, they helped inspire the more lively evangelical tradition exemplified by figures as diverse as   George MacDonald   (1824-1905),   F.D. Maurice   (18...

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The antithesis of the gospel of the grace of the tri-personal God extended to us in the person and work of Jesus, is a widely believed, though false gospel that some refer to as  moralistic therapeutic deism.  This misconception of the gospel posits a distant God whose relationship with humanity is grounded in a system of moral religion. According to this viewpoint, Jesus is the Savior in an historic sense, but now, in heaven, relates to us as a great moral teacher whose perfect moral example he calls upon us to emulate. The Holy Spirit is then sent to help us do so. To learn more, watch these videos:

This post features lengthy excerpts from an article by Gerrit Dawson in the March/April 2001 issue of "Theology Matters." The article addresses Jesus' ascension and continuing incarnation---a timely topic with Ascension Day drawing near. To read more by Dawson on this topic, I recommend Jesus Ascended: The Meaning of Christ's Continuing Incarnation . Gerrit Scott Dawson In a time when the church is fiercely debating the uniqueness of Jesus...the ascension is an absolutely crucial part of the gospel story to recover. Through the ascension we discover that the incarnation continues. Jesus remains united to our human nature. Thus, he cannot be spiritualized into a principle of life, or collapsed into one manifestation of a God who is known many ways. Moreover, the presence of our brother Jesus in heaven dramatically affects how we see our lives and place in the world today. The Story The second article of the Apostles’ Creed is actually a narrative. In a ...

Some time ago,  Preaching magazine ran a four-part series by Michael Quicke that advocates an approach to preaching grounded in and expressive of Trinitarian worship. In the series, Quicke references the writings of various Trinitarian theologians, including brothers T.F. and J.B. Torrance. Here are links to the articles in the series: Part one: Beware Tuneless Preaching Part two: Thinking as Trinitarians Part three: Preaching and Trinitarian Worship 1    Part four: Preaching and Trinitarian Worship 2 For additional information on Trinitarian worship, I recommend Mike Hale's posts at GCI's  Trinitarian Worship  blog (inactive, but still accessible).

Due to its emphasis on Incarnational, Trinitarian Theology , Grace Communion International (the sponsor of this blog) sometimes is asked if it teaches universalism. Below is a You're Included video in which GCI president, Dr. Joseph Tkach, answers that question. Also see the   related Christian Odyssey article by clicking here .

A Surprising God reader recently commented that this blog's emphasis on the Incarnation of Christ undermines the centrality of the Cross as that which accomplishes our Atonement with God. I appreciate the reader's concern that the importance of Jesus' substitutionary death not be diminished. Indeed, the Cross stands at the center of the biblical doctrine of the Atonement. However, I think the reader's concern is based on a a common misunderstanding. Unfortunately, it is common to think about the Atonement in ways that separate Jesus' act (dying on the Cross) from his being (as fully God and fully human). It appears that more and more theologians and Bible teachers from all sorts of denominations are recognizing that this line of thinking is biblically unsound and are working to correct it. Such corrections typically spring from a renewed interest in the historic doctrine of the Trinity, which focuses attention on Christ's dual nature (Christology), leading ...

Easter Sunday celebrations rightly note that Jesus rose from death nearly 2,000 years ago. But what is sometimes overlooked in those celebrations (and year round), is the reality of Jesus' continuing, incarnate life. Jesus, the God-man, is still alive! Some expressions of Christian teaching tend to minimize this stunning, vital truth. Jesus is not a mere historical personage. Jesus is not a concept. Jesus is alive--still! Discussions about Christian living often emphasize that we should model our lives after Jesus--"live like Jesus lived" or "walk as Jesus walked," we say. But in making such statements are we overlooking the reality that Jesus still lives? Christian teaching often memorializes Jesus rather than focusing on the reality of his ongoing incarnate life, which includes his ongoing presence with us through the Holy Spirit. A theologian friend once challenged me on this point by asking, "Does Jesus still have new thoughts?" Think abo...

As we near our annual celebration of Easter, it's good to remember that Jesus' resurrection is not only a past event, but a continuing reality. On Easter Sunday morning, nearly 2,000 years ago, the God-man Jesus rose from death to newness of life. He was not merely revived (as, for example, was his friend Lazarus), but through resurrection became something entirely new--glorified humanity, not subject to death. Lazarus' grieving sisters asked Jesus to revive their dead brother. He replied, "Your brother will rise again" (John 11:23). They thought he was referring to the promised resurrection of the dead at the end of the age. But Jesus' enigmatic, rather shocking statement was this: "I am the resurrection and the life" (v25a). Jesus' own resurrection to permanent, enduring, glorified human life, created a new reality for all humanity. He is the resurrection and the life (the resurrection life) for all people. And Jesus said to the sisters t...

On this blog we often assert that God includes all people in his love and life. By that we mean that God, in Christ, is of one mind, heart and purpose toward all people. Some object to this assertion, saying that it insufficiently distinguishes between believers and non-believers. I understand the concern, but respond by noting that such objections tend to confuse statements about God with those about his creatures. Theologian Gary Deddo pointed out to me recently that such objections are, in effect, asserting that if God regards all people the same way, then all people must be regarding God in the same way. But this reasoning amounts to mythological projection--concluding something about God from the experience of individual people or classes of people. In contrast, Biblically sound theological statements are grounded in God--in who he is, what he thinks and what he does. Instead of starting with human response/feelings, sound theology starts with God's own self-revelation, fo...

From time to time, we are asked, "Are you guys Barthians"? (or "Torrancians," or devotees of certain other theologians who embrace a theology similar to what is explored on this blog). The short answer is "no." Trinitarian theology is not a uniform "school" of theology and we are not slavishly beholden to any particular so-called "Trinitarian" theologians. Of course, the question is understandable. We humans love to categorize things and theology is no exception. Thus, there is "Calvinism," "Arminianism," "Universalism" and other theological -isms. However, "Incarnational Trinitarian Theology" (the label we use for the theology explored here) rather than being prescriptive  of a uniform set of beliefs, is  descriptive of a theological perspective.   It addresses the heart of a theological vision and method rather than establishing rigid limits of a uniform school of theology. Karl Barth, T...

In Karl Barth's Theology of Relations , Dr. Gary Deddo notes that human being is fundamentally "being-in-relationship" - both "with God" and "for God." Based on this insight, Gary suggests a "six-fold grammar of family relations." In a previous post I applied this grammar to Christian counseling. Here I apply it to Christian ministry in general - our Spirit-led participation in Jesus' incarnational, " place-sharing " ministry with all humanity. The God whom we worship in Jesus Christ is the Triune God who exists in loving covenantal communion and who has created, reconciled and redeemed all humanity for participation in that very communion of Father and Son in the Holy Spirit. Human relationships are the context in which this communion may be communicated and reflected. As human beings, we have our personhood only as a gift of being in covenantal communion with God, which calls for our personal participation. This life o...

This blog occasionally receives comments objecting to our statement that, "all people are included in God's love and life." Some objectors claim that this statement is tantamount to teaching universalism. Though that is not what we mean by the statement, it is understandable that some misconstrue it that way, given differing viewpoints concerning the doctrine of salvation. As Trinitarian theologian  Gary Deddo commented to me recently, those who object to a trinitarian, incarnational understanding of salvation tend to view salvation as a steady state of individuals that is effective in a mechanical (instrumental) way, whereby individuals either are in the “on” (saved) position or in the “off” (unsaved) position. This mechanistic view of salvation comes from thinking that God operates upon individuals as a causal force, either in a deterministic way (as in Calvinistic double predestination), or (as in Arminianism) by creating a universal potential that becom...