As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“I want to define antithesis and common grace in their historical context to show that these concepts, when held together, help us to maintain a Scriptural balance. They help us remember that the devil is our enemy (not humanity) ” - Wyatt Graham
“…everybody separates, has lines of demarcation around a set of acceptable views, lines that keep out unacceptable ones. Everybody, I think, stratifies doctrine, from the irascible discernment blogger who seems to treat every doctrine as of first importance to the liberal who makes it all negotiable.” - Mark Ward
I want to talk about what “the church” is. This will be a high-level discussion, not a defense of a particular kind of church (Baptists v. Methodists, etc.). I want to talk about this because I fear we forget just how important it is to get this right. As sectarian battles light up social media and the news (with no end in sight), this deceptively simple issue deserves some consideration.
There are different ways we use the word “church:”
“In many cases, sin does express itself in shocking debauchery—but most often it expresses itself in more invisible or easily justifiable ways of ‘walking in the flesh.’” - Russel Moore
“Conservatives quickly memed Jackson, portraying her refusal to answer the question as clear indication of progressive nonsense. After all, anyone should be able to define what a woman is. The only problem with this, of course, is that we’ve struggled to define what a woman is for thousands of years.” - Hannah Anderson
Nanci died Monday after battling cancer since 2018. - C.Leaders
Paul the Apostle was from the tribe of Benjamin. In Luke 2:36a, we read about a widow named Anna who prophesied about the infant Jesus. “There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher.” The priests were from the tribe of Levi. The largest of all the tribes, however, was the tribe of Judah. We see these particular tribes mentioned in the New Testament (obviously excluding Revelation 7, where all the tribes are mentioned except Dan).
“I gladly admit that I am simply bewildered whenever I meet someone who claims to be an evangelical Christianity but rejects substitutionary atonement as the latter is so intrinsically tied in with the former—historically and theologically.” - Roger Olson
Discussion