Many leading figures of Christian thought and faith who were born and raised on the African continent self-identified as African, despite the influence and privileges of the Roman empire, and contrary to the arguments set forth by some western academic scholars.
… The African Identity of Lactantius, Augustine, and Tertullian (Part One)
When I read Genesis 22, I am amazed at Abraham’s obedience. It seems like God just tells him to sacrifice Isaac in verse 2, and in verse 3 he is saddling his donkey with wood going! But is it as simple as it looks? I think we may have to scratch the surface and ask questions of the text.
When Paul writes in 2 Cor. 1:20 that ‘all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen to the glory of God through us,’ he is not referring to what we ask for.
Truth is freeing, but also frightening. In an age of political correctness, it is more appealing and deceptively rewarding to merely let truth slide under the rug, wear a smile on the street than invite conflict to your corner. The consequences of neglecting reality vary, from temporal to eternal.
The Greek word γλώσσα (glóssa) means tongue or language. A Tongue may refer to the physical organ (Mk 7:33, 1 Cor 14:9, James 1:26). It may also mean ‘the language used by a particular people in distinction from that of other nations.’[1] This is how it applies to Acts 2:11; Isa. 66:18; Dan. 3:4, 5:19. When used this way, it refers to a common language people speak, like English or Luganda or Chinese, or a language that is unintelligible to man.
One of the most formative theological books I ever read is Luther’s De Servo Arbitrio or merely The Bondage of the Will. You may accuse Luther of barbaric arrogance, to which he would humbly admit, but you cannot fail to concede to the forcefulness of the argument he makes in this masterpiece.
Ron Highfield in his rather great book Great Is the Lord mentions that ‘(God’s) uniqueness is personal and incommunicable.’ He also says that ‘the biblical declaration of God’s uniqueness does not speak merely of divine nature.’
Today, during the class break of Systematic Theology One, I had a short conversation with a fellow seminary student about the doctrine of Inseparable operations. The main idea this teaching conveys is that in every action God does in the world, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit act inseparably, and indivisibly.
As I do the required reading for my courses, I often encounter golden nuggets that force me to stop my reading, ponder, and at times dance inwardly. Then I rejoice and mutter a few words of wonder and doxology.
This last Sunday, while preaching on 1 John 2:3-14, Pastor Bobby (of North Shore Community Baptist Church in Beverly South Hamilton MA) hinted on how Christianity (and the gospel) does not offer us just another item to add to the list of activities we already have. He mentioned that for most people, the invitation to a personal relationship with God looks just like that, an additional item on their ‘to-do-list.’
