By Edward Fudge “...[you] who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." --1 Pet. 1:5, KJV. ((Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New International version.)) Peter speaks here of the Christian's salvation and of his security. He mentions its certainty ("[you] who are kept by the power of God") and its conditionality or means ("through faith"). How do we put these two elements together? There are two traditional answers. The Calvinist reads the words, "kept by the power of God," and preaches security. The … [Read more...]
Divine revelation–Word to words to Word
A crowning diamond in the Christian treasury is the gracious ease with which God's self-revelation to humankind occurs, and the beauty of its flow from Word to words and back again to Word, until every rift between God and humans is removed and relationship is fully restored. The cycle of redemption is thus completed: the fullness of God becomes human and, through dying and being raised from death, brings the fullness of humanity into the glory of its intended destiny in sharing the divine nature (Heb. 2:5-9; 2 Pet. 1:3-4). The cycle of revelation begins in the eternal beauty of God's … [Read more...]
GOD HAS SPOKEN TO US
What a sense of awe and wonder Moses must have felt, there in the silence of the wilderness, when God spoke to him from the burning bush! Can we even imagine the awful terror with which the Israelites waited to hear God speak from Mount Sinai--the mountain quaking, its form hidden by smoke, the air charged with lightning on a day as black as night? What awesome joy surged through Peter, James, and John on the mount of the Transfiguration as God spoke from heaven and Jesus shone with the brilliance of his divine glory. Do we wish we could have been there when these encounters took place, or are … [Read more...]
WHAT MAKES A CHURCH OF GOD?
I had barely begun reading First Corinthians recently when a particular phrase caught my attention. Paul identifies his addressees as "the church of God which is at Corinth" (1 Cor. 1:2). The Greek text behind this phrase uses a participle and the phrase literally means "the church of God as it exists in Corinth." God's ekklesia or assembly is not composed of local churches or congregations but of individual men and women worldwide, and these Corinthians were part of it. What makes any group of people "the church of God" as it exists where they are? What are some things that do not? This … [Read more...]
NEW YORK TIMES FEATURES OUR WORK, TEACHING
If we needed any more confirmation of God's grace and hand on the subject, it surely came a few days ago in the form of an out-of-the-blue phone message and email. "My name is Mark Oppenheimer," the message said. "I am a religion writer for the New York Times. I am doing an article on the conditionalist view of hell. May I phone you for an interview?" I considered his question for about one-hundredth of a second and immediately responded in the affirmative. He also asked if he could send a photographer to my house to get some pictures. Turns out that Mr. Oppenheimer has been interested in … [Read more...]
How many miles in second coming?
It could scarcely be stated more simply. Our Lord Jesus Christ is "coming again" (2 Peter 1:16). He will "descend from heaven" (1 Thes. 4:16), and he "will come in the same way" his disciples "saw him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11). If asked whether we interpret these phrases literally, most of us would likely say that we do. However, on further consideration we might decide we wish to tweak our original answer. Better to say, I suggest, that we take the language seriously, receiving as unquestionable truth what we perceive it to affirm--namely that we expect to see Jesus again--and that he will … [Read more...]
DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
A caller phones Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky and asks to speak to Dr. Ben Witherington III. "I'm afraid he can't talk right now," the receptionist says. He's writing a new book." Nonplussed, the caller replies, "Never mind. I'll just hold." With more than forty books to his credit, including socio-rhetorical commentaries on every book of the New Testament, one is tempted to suspect that the prolific author (who calls himself "BW3" on his website at: www.BenWitherington.com ) really does crank out books that fast -- which suspicion, of course, would be a mistake. Witherington … [Read more...]
IF NOT ‘SECOND COMING’ THEN WHAT?
From Jesus' remarks to his apostles at the Last Supper and throughout the New Testament thereafter, believers are repeatedly assured that a day will come when Jesus will return from heaven. Moreover, they are both warned and urged to be ready for this glorious event, which could occur at any moment. This "one hope of our calling" is reiterated throughout the New Testament and it is enshrined in the liturgical core and Confessions of the church. However, the exact phrase "second coming" appears nowhere in the Bible with reference to Jesus' return. When commenting or teaching on that subject, … [Read more...]
JESUS’ THIRD APPEARANCE ENDS WAIT
The New Testament regularly presents Christians as a People waiting for Jesus to reappear. For 2,000 years, in countries throughout the earth and under circumstances of every kind, Christians have waited and continue to wait. Why is this waiting necessary? It is necessary because the work through which God is accomplishing his redemptive purpose does not happen immediately or all at once, but in three separate stages. Each stage begins with an appearance by Jesus Christ. One is present; one is past; one is future (Heb. 9:24-28). Let us consider each of the three in turn. Present ('now to … [Read more...]
A PEOPLE IN WAITING
What is a Christian? Just ask Peter, James, Paul, Luke, or the anonymous author of Hebrews. Christians, they will tell you, are people in waiting. But waiting for whom or for what? The most important question is "for whom do we wait?" To which the answer is that we wait for "a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil. 3:20). Like the Thessalonians, our conversion involved a full-body turn from every lesser allegiance, "to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven . . ." Jesus our Lord is our Savior as well, who will rescue us from the wrath to come (1 Thes. 1:10). But that … [Read more...]