Theology Thursday - The Covenant of Grace
The following is the full text of Chapter 7, from the 1647 Westminster Confession of Faith.
Chapter VII: Of God’s Covenant with Man
I. The distance between God and the creature is so great that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of him as their blessedness and reward but by some voluntary condescension on God’s part, which he hath been pleased to express by way of covenant.1
Discussion
Essential Elements of Young Earth Creationism and Their Importance to Christian Theology, Part 4
From DBSJ. This installment continues consideration of the first of 9 Essentials of YEC: the literal hermeneutic, then takes up Essential 2 and Essenetial 3. Read the series.
Discussion
Theology Thursday - Forgiveness from Sins? No!
If a Christian commits sin after his conversion, can he be forgiven for these sins? Many today assume he can and will. Doesn’t the Apostle John, for example, say that very thing (1 John 1:8-9)? However, John also wrote, “No one born of God commits sin; for God’s nature abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God,” (1 John 3:9). In fact, a curious reader will find long discussions of this issue, and the implications of sinless perfectionism, in any responsible commentary on 1 John.
Discussion
What is your opinion about Jesus being born around December 25?
Let me preclude the most obvious comment we might hear: “It doesn’t really matter what day of the year Jesus was born.” Okay, that is a given, at least theologically.
Yet the idea that Jesus’ birth is celebrated on December 25 to replace Saturnalia does, in some regards, cast dispersion on the church of that era. We certainly know paganism had its inroads, but we want to be fair in our assessments. So it has some bearing historically.
Discussion
Essential Elements of Young Earth Creationism and Their Importance to Christian Theology, Part 3
By Matthew A. Postiff, from DBSJ. Read the series.
Non-Essentials of Young Earth Theology
Although various authors over the past decades have expressed strong beliefs in one or the other details of young earth theology, many such details are extraneous to the system, mainly because of limited biblical revelation. In this section, I briefly list a few such details that are not essential to young earth creationism.
For instance, it is not necessary to believe in an exact age of the earth, such as 6,000 years, or to adhere to Ussher’s Chronology. Dogmatism on the precise age is not necessary as long as the age is “young.”13 It is not required that one be dogmatic on an absolute absence of gaps or missing names in the Genesis genealogies.
Discussion
Theology Thursday – Anselm on the Incarnation
Anselm published the final version of Why God Became Man in 1094. It’s a stunning achievement, structured around a fictional dialogue between himself and a curious student, named Boso. It’s popular among many Christians to assume the medieval period was a “dark age” for the church; a time of intellectual bankruptcy and stagnation. Anselm’s work proves that theory wrong.
Discussion