As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“In the biblical account of reality, humans exist to glorify and love God, and to serve as His special representatives and co-rulers in creation. Human inventions should help towards achieving those ends, extending our abilities, and mitigating the effects of the Fall.” - Breakpoint
“An early papyrus containing texts from Matthew, Luke, and the Gospel of Thomas has now been published as one of the oldest fragments containing canonical material to survive the past two millennia.” - RNS
“Whereas the Romans stuck their chest out and talked up their gloria, the early Christians sought to follow the lowly way of the Savior. That’s where, ultimately, the distinctiveness of Christian virtue is evident.” - Word by Word
This article (part 6 in the series) posted at Sharper Iron in 2019.
Read the series.
(John 3:1-11 with Ezekiel 36:25-27)
The concept of the New Birth—aka, “regeneration” (Titus 3:5) or “circumcision of the heart” (Deuteronomy 30:6, 5:28-29 and 10:16)—is found throughout Scripture, but Jesus’ words to Nicodemus are perhaps the Bible’s definitive text on this subject.
The (ESV) text of John 3:1-11 is a good place to start our investigation:
“The theory of deontology says that humans are morally obligated to act in accordance with a certain set of principles and rules regardless of outcome.” - Word by Word
“It was my pleasure to contribute to ‘The Drivetrain’ episode on theological triage. Al Mohler popularized this terminology for distinguishing the importance of Bible teachings in his 2005 article ‘A Call for Theological Triage and Christian Maturity.’” - Andy Naselli
“In God’s economy, men are neither disposable accessories nor bronze-age perverts. Instead, it calls me up from foolishness into a rich life of hard work, faithfulness, and self-sacrifice.” - Dan Darling
A never ending gladness in God: Part of the title of this post is taken from chapter forty-five in John Piper’s book, Providence. The title of the chapter is “New Bodies, New World, Never-Ending Gladness in God.”
John Piper has received criticism over the years. I think rightly so on some counts. So I get it. But there are those who write him off completely and warn others to not read him altogether. We must practice discernment.
This article (part 5 in the series) posted at Sharper Iron in 2019.
Discussion