We, as a group, are a community of sinners who have mercy and grace in His blood. We are new creatures in Christ, but sin still lives on in us as a kind of living dead zombie presence. We should be very very clear that the heart of the gospel is not that we are personally transformed. It is that we are justified. We are redeemed. We are reconciled.
We will be continuing to do all we can to expand the reach of Therefore Now Ministries as well; we see these two ministries as being very closely tied. All new study and speculation and out-loud thinking over theological issues will continue to happen on thereforenow.com, which is my main personal blog.
In the end the important transformation is that we enter the community of the beloved and redeemed. Anyone can be personally holy if they section themselves off from all society and influence. We are not called to the darkness and isolation of theoretical holiness, we are called to the light of relationship with real imperfect people.
I’m starting a new study of the Gospel of John, so I thought I may as well post some of my work here as I go. This is just an outline and some other stuff like that. Nothing earth-shattering — yet! I hope this is helpful to someone out there, though. Outline of the Gospel […]
The world says that you are not worthy of love unless you prove it — through morals, through money, through power, through fame. These are all relational currency. The cross says you don’t need currency to maintain relationship, because He paid everything. So the love of the world and the love of the Father are completely antithetical. They are opposite views of love.
The message of so-called “radical grace” or “hyper-grace” is the simple belief that Jesus has died for all of our sins, and that we have an assurance of eternal life. It is the belief that Jesus actually saves us through His blood. It is the belief that He conquers our sin and condemnation, not that we conquer our sin for Him.
The Father is going to listen to Jesus! Jesus is saying, yes, all those accusations are true, and I died for them. Are you going to say that my death was to no account, Dad? And the Father will say, of course not!
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 1 John 2:16 I have been thinking about this phrase “the boastful pride of life” and why he uses it in […]
I hope this isn’t just linkbait. I do want to take a minute and throw out some thoughts about recent events involving grace preacher Tullian Tchividjian being asked to remove his blog from The Gospel Coalition’s web site. There has been a lot of heated rhetoric on all sides in the blogosphere about this. I […]
I’ve been ruminating on this one for a long time. I think I’ve come to a bit of an epiphany on the issue, and I’ve been chomping at the bit to get to my computer and share this. I think it is a very powerful insight from the Holy Spirit, and I have been weeping […]