The Surprising God

This post reproduces an essay written by Dr. Dan Rogers former director of U.S. Church Administration and Development for  Grace Communion International . For a previous post on this topic click here . Some have asked about the meaning of repentance in the framework of Trinitarian theology. If all humanity is included already in Jesus’ love and life—what place is there for repentance? I give a brief answer here. In English, “to repent” is sometimes understood as meaning, “to turn.” The English term actually is derived from a Latin root that means “to feel regret” or “to be penitent.” However, the New Testament is written in Greek. The Greek word in the New Testament that is translated into English as “repent” is metanoia (μετάνοια). Literally, the prefix meta means “after” or “again,” and the root noia means “think.” So, a literal translation from the Greek would be “after-think” or “think-again.” The idea is that of a “change of mind.”  The New Testament passages w...

Sometimes we're asked this question: Given that God has forgiven and accepted all people in Christ, isn't it inappropriate to call people to repentance? Here is a helpful answer from Dr. Gary Deddo. For another post on this topic, click here . _____________________________ It's appropriate to invite people to repent, so long as we call them to evangelical repentance  rather than to legal repentance.  John Calvin used these terms to speak of two different approaches on repentance that tend to lead in opposite directions. He noted that legal repentance undermines the foundation of the Protestant Reformation, which is the truth that salvation is by grace alone. More recently, J. B. Torrance , seeing that legal repentance had become predominant in both Reformed and Arminian traditions, urged his students to embrace and teach evangelical repentance. A call to legal repentance says this: If and only if you repent will God forgive you . This "if we...then God" ap...

Are theology and biblical studies incompatible? The answer might be "yes" or it might be "no"--it depends on one's understanding and practice of both disciplines. To me, they go together--"hand in glove"--helping us rightly apprehend the ultimate reality to which, when used with care and in faith, both disciplines point. In an earlier post , I shared an essay related to this topic from Michael Morrison, Grace Communion Seminary  dean of faculty. This time I share relevant points (slightly edited for use here) provided by Gary Deddo who teaches at Grace Communion Seminary and serves as a writer and editor for  Grace Communion International . The role of faith. Reading and understanding Scripture rightly (in a way that leads to living by it) requires faith--trust in God who we know and have met in Jesus Christ. By faith, we understand that God is present, active and speaking as we read his Word--he is not mute. Thus faith, rather than being a bias th...

Former first lady Barbara Bush, in her book  Heart Trouble   (Zondervan, 1985), makes this insightful and challenging comment (Scriptures added): Christians are sometimes accused of being so heavenly-minded that they are no earthly good. We get caught up in choir rehearsals, studies of the end times or other church activities, and ignore needs around us. When problems are brought to our attention, we content ourselves with feeling sorry about them while doing nothing. But sympathetic thoughts or kindly musings are not true compassion. With the divine power he possessed, Jesus could have met the multitude's needs merely by forming a thought or speaking a command. He could even have done it from heaven without coming to earth. But his compassion [Mark 6:34] caused him not only to come and live and die among us, but also to touch lepers and blind men, and to take little children in his arms. True compassion is personal, active involvement that expresses God's merciful hea...

Are theology and biblical studies the same thing? If not, how do they relate? How are they different? Are they in conflict? This article by Michael Morrison of Grace Communion Seminary addresses these and related questions. For another post on this topic, click here . In most seminaries and Bible schools, theology and biblical studies are in separate categories. Yet most lay Christians assume they are the same. In this article we will explain why there is a difference, problems that can arise because of the difference, and how biblical studies and theology can both be better if they work together. A brief history of biblical studies The early church taught the gospel, and educated pagans said, “Oh really? How does that work?” Some of the pagans wanted to ridicule people who believed the gospel about a crucified hero; others were genuinely interested. So the early church leaders began to answer some of the philosophical and logical questions about salvation through Christ ...

This post is adapted, with permission, from material written by Dr. Gary Deddo .  For a related earlier post,  click here . In proclaiming that "God loves, forgives and includes all people in Christ," is Trinitarian, Incarnational theology ignoring the difference between believers and non-believers? Some who disagree with the theology advanced here think so. Though I respect their concerns, in framing their objections they may be using a form of  mythological projection. This is   the error of projecting back onto God what is observed about humans. Here's an example: "Since some people believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and some do not, it follows that God must regard believers and non-believers differently." It is then a short hop to concluding that God loves, forgives and includes only believers. Trinitarian, Incarnational theology seeks to avoid mythological projections, using instead a theo-logic  that is grounded in the truth that only God revea...

In this season of Christmas, I thought it fitting to reproduce below the text of a "Speaking of Life" program with GCI President Joseph Tkach ( click here to watch it on YouTube). Merry Christmas to the readers of this blog.  --Ted Johnston The Meaning of Incarnation   by Joseph Tkach As we celebrate our Savior’s birth, I wonder if we ever stop to consider what a great sacrifice Jesus made by becoming one of us? Here is how Paul describes it in his letter to the church at Ephesus: Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became  human ! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died ...

This post concludes a ten part series looking at Adam Neder's excellent  book, " Participation in Christ (An Entry into Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics) ." To read other posts in the series, click on a number:  1 ,  2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ,  8 ,  9 . We come now to the last post in this series. We'll look at Neder's analysis of Barth's understanding that, through participation in Christ, we experience the new humanity that is ours in the resurrected, glorified humanity of Jesus Christ. In that regard, what is true for all people already in Christ in a de jure  (objective/universal) sense, is experienced by individuals progressively in a de facto (subjective/personal) sense through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Thus Barth embraced a "Christocentric pneumatology " (a Christ-centered doctrine of the Holy Spirit), alongside his " theology of the resurrection of Christ" (p83, emphasis added). For Barth, this personal experience of ou...

Unfortunately, disciple-making in our culture often is equated with conveying information: insert information, out pops Christian maturity . But for Jesus and his early followers, making disciples was a highly relational, life-on-life process that led to growth in maturity. When Jesus called his followers "disciples" ( mathētēs  is the Greek word used in the Gospels and in Acts), he was using the word as it was understood in his first century Jewish cultural setting (for a helpful discussion about this, click here ). In that setting, disciple-making involved a relationship between a mentor (typically a Rabbi), the disciple-maker; and a protege, known as the "disciple." This relationship was not about mere information transfer. Rather the Rabbi shared his whole life with his disciple and in so doing, imparted his character ( who he was ), his knowledge ( what he knew ) and his skills ( what he could do ). You might say that the Rabbi gave his disciple his  hear...

This post continues a series looking at "Participation in Christ (An Entry into Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics)" by Adam Neder. To read other posts in this series, click on a number:  1 ,  2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ,  8 , 10 . Last time we looked at Neder's summary of Barth's dynamic Christology, noting that because Jesus is alive, all humanity (in an objective sense) is alive in him. In this post, we'll examine what Barth says about what this reality means (in a subjective sense) for Christians---those who hear and, in obedient faith, say "yes" to Jesus' call to be one of his disciples within the community of the church. Barth believed that the call of Jesus "creates a confessing community that witnesses to him as Lord" (p75). Thus the church, formed by this call to discipleship, has its "being in action" (p76). Of course, all people, in an objective sense, have their being in Christ. Through the vicarious humanity of Jesus...

This post continues a series looking at "Participation in Christ (An Entry into Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics)" by Adam Neder. To read other posts in this series, click on a number:  1 ,  2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 9 , 10 . According to Neder, "the dynamic, active, historical, and covenantal character of Barths' Christology... sets it apart from all others and is its most distinguishing feature" (p58). Rather than seeing the union of God and humanity in the person of Jesus as a "static state," Barth sees it as a dynamic, continuing "event" or "act," which defines Jesus' very being. Indeed, Jesus "became" in the continuing act/event of the Incarnation (p60). Barth's point is that Jesus is alive and through his continuing divine-human life, we are alive in him . It's important to grab hold of this vital and central truth of Barth's Christology, for it forms the core of his Trinitarian theology and so...

This post continues a series looking at "Participation in Christ (An Entry into Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics)" by Adam Neder. To read other posts in this series, click on a number:  1 ,  2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 8 , 9 ,  10 . Neder highlights Barth's conviction that the triune God's work to convert our humanity into the likeness of Jesus has three aspects: justification, sanctification and vocation (calling). Believers respond to this grace of God by sharing in Jesus' own faith, love and hope ( 1Thes 1:3; 5:8 ). Through this response, motivated by gratefulness, believers actualize (experience/receive) their new humanity, which though now "hidden in Christ" ( Col 3:24 ) is nevertheless a present reality. Here is how Neder unpacks the details: 1. JUSTIFICATION → faith According to Neder, Barth defines justification as the verdict of God by which he... ...repudiates, displaces, removes, and pardons the being of sinful humanity and in its place e...