Available in pdf format: FOUR GOSPEL SLOGANS Four hundred years ago God used some humble men to point to his grace in Jesus Christ, and medieval "Christianity" was shaken to its roots. Those reformers summed up their gospel message with four Latin slogans. A sinner's justification before God, they said, is solely by grace (sola gratia), solely by Christ (solo Christo), solely by faith (sola fide) -- and these truths rest solely on the authority of Scripture (sola Scriptura). All these mottoes actually said the same thing in different ways: Salvation is "of the Lord." God, not man, is … [Read more...]
HEBREWS: ANCIENT ENCOURAGEMENT FOR BELIEVERS TODAY
We know little about the original setting of the Book of Hebrews. We do not know its author, audience or the location of either. We cannot say when it was written or exactly why. We do know that it was written to professing believers who were experiencing a crisis of faith. Their crisis had several possible causes, including persecution, weariness, temptation, boredom and lack of knowledge (10:32-34; 3:12-13; 5:12-14; 6:11-12; 10:32-34; 12:3). With second thoughts about their commitment to Jesus, they were thinking longingly about a comfortable and familiar past. We do not know if the first … [Read more...]
“Propitiation/atonement”: LXX background to a NT verb
In Hebrews 2:17, the unknown author says that Jesus identified with his people as their high priest, “to make propitiation” for their sins. The Greek verb here (hilaskomai), which many English versions translate as “to make propitiation,” brings to the New Testament an interesting biblical background. That background comes from the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament that was the first “Bible” of the early church. Propitiation = atonement The verb hilaskomai, which is translated “to make propitiation” in Hebrews 2:17, appears 12 times in the Septuagint (Hatch-Redpath, 684). Three of … [Read more...]
THE PLAGUE OF PATTERNISM
Part 1 -- Background All Christians agree that Jesus is our pattern, and that healthy teaching consistent with trusting and loving him provides a secondary pattern for living as well (2 Tim. 1:13). This short gracEmail series is not about that. It is about an oddity and aberration that has marked the Christian tribe into which I was born and raised, and from which home base I now serve the body of Christ at large. That particular tribe is the Churches of Christ. The peculiarity is at once a doctrine, a way of reading the Bible and an approach to "doing church." We can call it patternism. … [Read more...]
