The true purpose of the historical study of the New Testament…is not to reveal what isn’t there in the text, but rather to focus our eyes properly to see what is there.
John Dickson, Hearing Her Voice
Friday 28 December 2012
Seeing what is there
Friday 21 December 2012
Lack of Regret is Not Repentance
Lack of Regret is Not Repentance
“[A major] theme in emerging adult culture [18-23 year olds] is that they very much want to profess to have no regrets about their lives.”
Wednesday 19 December 2012
Shared space: useful in church life?
Shared space: useful in church life?
The ideas of ‘shared space’ and ‘loose reins’ have ramifications for church life, too.
Healthy or Sound - 1 Tim 1:10
Healthy” or “Sound” - 1 Tim 1:10
Bill Mounce on the helpfulness of ‘healthy’ as a translation and the use of medical metaphors in the Pastorals.
Tuesday 18 December 2012
What Good Shepherds Don't Do | Leadership Journal
What Good Shepherds Don't Do | Leadership Journal
Skye Jethani making the point that “Christ’s sheep need a shepherd. They already have a Lord.” No doubt it needs nuancing but lots to think about here.
Sunday 16 December 2012
Consider Not Setting Goals in 2013
Consider Not Setting Goals in 2013
This is a thought-provoking article - not church-oriented but still applicable. Also of interest to school governors.
Friday 7 December 2012
looking into the mirror
What does James have in mind when he speaks about looking in the mirror (James 1:23)? Is he wanting us to see our sins and come away from the mirror humbled and deflated?
The person who doesn’t do what the word says is equated to the person who forgets what he saw in the mirror (v.24). What that person saw in the mirror is not repeated and worked-out in obedience to the word.
It seems to follow, then, that looking into the perfect law of liberty (v.25) is seeing something other than their own sinfulness. I suggest they’re seeing Jesus and they’re seeing who and what they are in union with him.
No doubt they also, therefore, see their imperfections but they see them atoned for, they see them as antithetical to who they now are in Christ. And, so, in that liberty, they’re to go into the world not forgetting who they are and, thus, be equipped for keeping the word.
The person who doesn’t do what the word says is equated to the person who forgets what he saw in the mirror (v.24). What that person saw in the mirror is not repeated and worked-out in obedience to the word.
It seems to follow, then, that looking into the perfect law of liberty (v.25) is seeing something other than their own sinfulness. I suggest they’re seeing Jesus and they’re seeing who and what they are in union with him.
No doubt they also, therefore, see their imperfections but they see them atoned for, they see them as antithetical to who they now are in Christ. And, so, in that liberty, they’re to go into the world not forgetting who they are and, thus, be equipped for keeping the word.
eyes to see
Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God’s majesty.
John Calvin, Institutes 1.1.3
Thursday 6 December 2012
Why the church?
The Holy Spirit formed it to be a colony of heaven in the country of death…Church is the core element in the strategy of the Holy Spirit for providing human witness and physical presence to the Jesus-inaugurated kingdom of God in this world. It is not that kingdom complete, but it is a witness to that kingdom.
Eugene H. Peterson, Practise Resurrection, p.11f
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