The Surprising God

In Christ we died and rose to new life (2 Corinthians 5:14-17). This is the gospel, and the gospel-shaped invitation that flows from it is this: Come Awake! -- live into the reality of who you truly are in Christ. The video below powerfully offers this simple, yet profound invitation using the song "Christ is Risen" by Matt Maher and Mia Fieldes. Here is part of the lyrics: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling over death by death, come awake, come awake, come and rise up from the grave! O death, where is your sting? O hell, where is your victory? O church, come stand in the light The glory of God has defeated the night! If you'd like to show this video in worship, you can purchase it at  Worship House Media   or  Igniter Media .  Free lyrics and chord sheets and information about purchasing the song are found at  WorshipTogether .

This post continues an exploration of the book Deep Church Rising  by Andrew G. Walker and Robin A. Parry. To read other posts in the series, click a number: 1 , 3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8 ,  9 .   Walker and Parry assert that a move toward "deep church" is essential if the church's "third great schism" is to be healed. That schism resulted from a centuries-long movement in Christendom away from the historic, orthodox Christian faith. In this post we'll see how the schism arose and what it entails. Modernity and secularization The authors largely attribute the third great schism to the  secularization of western-Christian cultures.   They define secularization as "the complex of social processes by which religious thinking, practices, and institutions become socially marginalized" (p. 32). The rise of secularization in the West has stretched from the 1500s until now, with the net effect being that God was effectively banished f...

This post begins a series exploring  Deep Church Rising  by Andrew G. Walker and Robin A. Parry. To read a review, click  here ; for an author's summary, click  here ; to download a sample chapter, click here . For additional posts in this series, click a number: 2 , 3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8 ,  9 .   Subtitled The Third Schism and the Recovery of Christian Orthodoxy, the book  Deep Church Rising seeks to counter an ongoing movement that takes some churches away from key tenets of Christian orthodoxy toward a faith its proponents deemed more in step with modernity/post-modernity. Walker and Parry speak out against this movement (which they refer to as the church's "third schism"), calling for a return to "deep church"--the recovery of the historic, orthodox Christian faith (what they refer to as "the tradition"). For the authors of Deep Church Rising , the way forward in this return includes both looking  back...

This post concludes a series that reviews  Communion with the Triune God , in which Dick Eugenio examines Thomas F (TF) Torrance's trinitarian soteriology (doctrine of salvation). For other posts in the series, click a number: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 . TF was careful to approach the doctrine of salvation in accordance with the incarnational, Trinitarian understanding of the Christian faith set out in the ancient Christian creeds. As Eugenio notes, rather then seeing salvation as transactional (in accord with the reductionist formula of "accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior,"), TF viewed it as "union with Christ and being adopted as sons and daughters of the Father in the incorporating communion of the Holy Spirit," by which humanity is enabled to "share in the inner relations of God's own life and love" (Kindle ed, loc 4925). God, in Christ, by the Spirit, makes this union and communion subjectively (personally) possible bec...

We now continue our review of  Communion with the Triune God  where Dick Eugenio examines TF Torrance's trinitarian understanding of soteriology (the doctrine of salvation). Last time we looked at TF's understanding of the role of the Spirit in salvation. Now we'll look at his view of the Spirit's work related to the church and its mission. F or the other posts in this series, click on a number:  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8 ,  9 ,  11 . TF often noted that the goal of salvation is participation in the life and love of the Trinity. The Spirit's distinctive role is to facilitate this participation (Gk. koinonia, also meaning sharing, fellowship and communion). The Spirit does this work by coming into us, then opening us out to God, thus enabling us to commune with the triune God. TF elaborates: As the Father, Son and Holy Spirit dwell in one another, so God is in us by the indwelling of the Spirit and by participat...

This post continues our look at  Communion with the Triune God  in which Dick Eugenio examines Thomas F (TF) Torrance's trinitarian understanding of soteriology (the doctrine of salvation). In previous posts we looked at TF's understanding of the role of Jesus and of the Father. Now we'll look at what TF says about the role of God the Holy Spirit.  For the other posts in this series, click on a number:  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8 ,  10 ,  11 . Dove of the Holy Spirit by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, ca. 1660 St. Peters Basilica, Rome (Wikimedia Commons, public domain) Though TF rarely addressed the Holy Spirit in a systematic (stand-alone) way, he often touched on the person and work of the Spirit while discussing that of the Father and the Son. This approach was consistent with his Trinitarian, Christocentric emphasis as illustrated in this statement from TF: There is no separate activity of the H...

In the traditional Christian worship calendar, February 15, 2015 is celebrated as  Transfiguration Sunday .  Following is a sermon written for that day. It addresses the stunning reality of Jesus and our life in him. The Transfiguration of Jesus (12th century icon from a monastery at Sinai, Egypt) From Wikimedia Commons (public domain) Introduction There come times when we peer through the fog of unreality into the stunning light of reality, and as a result, everything changes. So it was for Peter, James and John—three young disciples of Jesus: Mark 9:2-9   2  After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here....

This post continues our look at the book  Communion with the Triune God  in which Dick Eugenio examines Thomas F (TF) Torrance's trinitarian understanding of soteriology. In previous posts we looked at TF's understanding of Jesus' role in our salvation. Now we'll look at the Father's role. F or the other posts in this series, click on a number:  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 ,  9 ,  10 ,  11 . It's sad, but true: God the Father often is viewed as an angry judge whose principal concern is legal justice. From that perspective, salvation is about being rescued from the Father's "just wrath" against sinners. This idea, or something akin to it, underlies many forms of the Christian doctrine of salvation (soteriology), particularly ones grounded in what is referred to as the penal-substutionary theory of the Atonement (see, for example, the cartoon on the Patheos blog ). This perspective on salvation "paints" o...

This post continues our look at what  Dick Eugenio (in  Communion with the Triune God ) says concerning Thomas F (TF) Torrance's view of the "how" of salvation . Last time we looked at participation in Christ . This time we'll look at justification in Christ.  This is the second of 11 posts, for the other posts in this series, click on a number:  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  11 . According to Eugenio, TF was "adamant that justification should be expounded in the light of the vicarious person and work of Jesus Christ" ( Communion with the Triune God, Kindle ed, loc 1987). For TF, justification is what Jesus Christ accomplished for us, emphasizing "Jesus Christ" above "for us" so as not to lose in our thinking the priority of who Jesus is and what he has done in an objective sense for all of humankind. In upholding that Christ-centered perspective, TF is critical of those who give priority to subject...

This post continues our look at Thomas F. (TF) Torrance's trinitarian doctrine of salvation as summarized by Dick Eugenio in  Communion with the Triune God . This time we'll look at TF's rejection of universalism and his teaching concerning participation in Christ. F or the other posts in this series, click on a number:  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  7 ,  8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  11 . Last time  we looked at TF's teaching that salvation involves an "atoning exchange"--the stunning truth that the Son of God, through the Incarnation, united our humanity with his divinity, and through his vicarious human life, death, resurrection and ascension, healed us from the inside, giving us a share in his relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Given this teaching, TF has been accused of being a universalist. But as Eugenio notes, TF rejected that accusation: Torrance considers both universalism and [the Calvinist doctrine of a] limited...

In this post, we'll continue looking at what  Dick Eugenio (in  Communion with the Triune God ) says concerning Thomas F. (TF) Torrance's view of the  "how" of salvation , now considering the role of the resurrection and the ascension of Christ. F or the other posts in this series, click on a number:  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  11 . As noted last time , though TF emphasized the centrality of the cross in our salvation, he understood that its significance "does not entail supremacy or priority" ( Communion with the Triune God,  Kindle edition, loc 1754). Eugenio comments: [For TF] the cross definitely fulfills a unique and distinct significance that other redemptive experiences of Christ do not convey, but it is only a part of the whole, not an aspect that can stand on its own apart from the virgin birth, resurrection and ascension. This is why Torrance argues that the resurrection and asce...

In this post, we'll continue looking at what Dick Eugenio (in Communion with the Triune God ) says concerning Thomas F. (TF) Torrance's view of the "how" of salvation . Our focus this time is the Cross of Christ. F or the other posts in this series, click on a number:  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  11 . Why did Jesus have to die? Various theologies answer in differing ways. According to Eugenio, TF's answer is that though the Cross of Christ is essential to our salvation, it is part of a larger story. TF embraced what Eugenio refers to as an incarnational, holistic  view of salvation (soteriology). This Trinitarian, incarnational theological perspective seeks to account for the full biblical and patristic witness concerning a stunning reality: The incarnate God-man Jesus saved us (and continues to save us) by assuming all  our human experience, including our death. On the cross, Jesus did not merely ...