September 29, 2007
God is love. God is everything good and desirable. God causes and preserves all things. Nothing can happen apart from God’s providence. So why does evil exist? Does God cause the evil that happens as a part of everyday life? Is the death of a young child who was molested by a pedophile somehow God responsibility? These are all loaded questions and statements. Scripture never shows God as directly involved in doing anything evil but it does show God allowing evil/pagan nations to bring about evil through their actions. Can a person rightly blame God for those evil actions? The Bible is pregnant with examples of men and women who suffered because of evil in the world. In Job’s case, evil was brought about by the devil himself (evidence for the existence of evil that space will not permit in this discussion)! However, Scripture is clear that God never does nor is to be blamed for evil in the world. To blame God for the evil caused by secondary sources would be sinful. It is beyond human comprehension why God would allow bad things to happen to his children. Despite that, bad things still happen. Simply put, we live in a sin stricken world that is subject to the effects of sin. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. Death is a strong word. However, sin and death have been defeated though Jesus’ sacrificial death and miraculous resurrection! Mankind is responsible for the evil in this world and the effect it has on the ones we love. That is an unfortunate statement. However, to say that God is not in control of the evil in the world would suggest that evil is more powerful than God. This is a conclusion seldom reached by those who argue that God has nothing to with evil. Sadly, that conclusion is inevitable. To say that God uses evil for his purposes, but never does or should be blamed for evil, is an uncomfortable premise. But the conclusion gives God the glory he deserves. His sovereignty remains intact, his holiness unblemished, and his redemption essential.
September 21, 2007
Resurrection - A theology brief.
The implications of the resurrection of Jesus are significant to every believer. Jesus’ defeat over death and the grave ensures our justification and regeneration as believers. When we are in Christ we share in his victory over sin. We now have a living hope because we worship a living Savior who mediates for us as the right hand of God. Jesus did not simply raise himself from the grave as a cool magic trick. It was much more profound than any other miracle he had ever done. He redeemed his Church and finished the work he was sent to do by the Father. The resurrection is not only historically significant to this world but also to the eternal places: heaven and hell. The resurrection serves as a climatic point in history where the world was changed in its relationship with God the father. It offers the hope of resurrected bodies; both for believers now and for loved ones who have gone to be with the Lord. It gives us power to live out the Christian life with assurance that our righteousness is firmly rooted in Jesus and that someday we will be raised with Christ in his resurrection just as, in baptism, we were buried with him in his death (Romans 6:5). Christ has ascended to heaven and has received the glory that he is rightfully due. He has authority over all power and dominion and is above every name that is named (Ephesians 1:20-21). He is alive and serves as the King of Kings and Lord or Lords. The resurrection is proof that Jesus is both our Savior and our God. The resurrection power provides all Christians the ability to act out their faith and live righteous and holy lives because they serve a righteous and holy God. We can now call God our Abba Father because we are co-heirs with the resurrected Christ.
Jesus as the Son of God
Is Jesus the son of God? Yes. Was he the son of Mary? Yes. Was he the son of Joseph? Yes. Can a person have three parents? I suppose if your mother and father were divorced you could technically have more than two parents. However, Mary was not married to God (at least not in the literal sense). One might say that God was Jesus’ father just as He is our heavenly Father, but there one key difference. Jesus was fully God in addition to being fully man. This distinguishes his relationship with God as unique and different than any other person’s relationship with God. So what does it mean to be the son of God? The reading suggested that sonship ascribed deity to Jesus and deliberated about how valid, and to what extent, the manifestation of that deity played out. Interesting questions were asked and answered in relation to the claims of Jesus by others and his own personal claims of deity in the Gospel of John as well as the Synoptic Gospels. There are many “I AM” statements by Jesus in the Gospel of John which show Jesus demonstrating his deity by verbal affirmation. In contrast, Jesus refers to himself as “son of man” in the Synoptic Gospels. As said in the reading, the term “son of man” is a reference to Daniel seven and was used by Jesus to clarify who he was and gave a glimpse into what his purpose was on this earth. In addition, the Synoptic Gospels show Jesus claiming deity as the son of God and proving those claims by performing miracles. The nature, and extent, of his claims and miracles give solid evidence that Jesus is who he claimed to be: the son of God. If he’s not the son of God, Jesus is just a good teacher who got a raw deal in life. That is not all there is to Jesus. He is the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world, a suffering servant who died as a ransom for many, and the sole mediator between God and man.
September 20, 2007
A theological brief on the Record of Jesus’ life. - Written while taking a theology course.
Reading the text, I came across several authors that have been in books I have read throughout the years. I had just recently read Blomberg’s “Preaching the Parables” and was especially interested in his remarks regarding eyewitness testimony in authenticating the Gospels. Through taking hermeneutic and New Testament survey classes I have learned the criteria for what it takes for a book to be canonized. Despite that, I have never actually asked the hard questions that Strobel asked in his interviews. I have always used the Gospels as my primary source of information when studying the historical account of Jesus’ life. I knew of things such as the Jesus Seminar and other attempts to demystify the Gospels but I never paid much attention to them. I take the Gospels at face value and believe that they are true and accurate in all that they say. Just because the content of the Gospels are more literary than biographical and less chronological than the expectations of modern culture never really mattered to me. Does this make me simple minded? Has faith exceeded reason to the point of irresponsibility? I do not believe that to be true. My faith has, and will continue to, extend past my ability to reason. That is what makes faith genuine! I am glad that there are dedicated scholars who investigate and answer hard questions such as those asked by Stobel. I strongly believe that every Christian should have an answer for the faith. However, my presupposition has always been that the Bible is true. I have never read scripture or studied history with any other lens. The record of Jesus’ life, as presented in the Bible, is amazing. It is powerful and invigorating: even more so for the eyewitnesses who wrote it all down. Given the historical evidences and the logical arguments in favor of the historicity of the Gospels does not increase my faith. However, it does give me one more answer for the reasons why I believe what I do.
