Having Two Legs: Theology

Showing posts with label Theology - Soteriology. Show all posts

Friday, February 04, 2011

Justification as Openness to God's Future

More from Jenson still on the theme of God's future:

"... it is in the situation attributed to the patriarchs that faith, 'the assurance of things hoped for ... and not seen,' emerges the decisive relation to God. Genesis' story of Abraham is the story of a man living by promises. He is called to go he knows not where, to become an unspecified blessing to unidentified future nations. In response to this dubious prospect, 'he believed the Lord,' and the Lord certified such drastic future-openness as 'righteousness,' that is, as the right relationship to himself and the human community. At the climax of Abraham's story, the Lord proposes to take from him even the historical possibility of the promise's fulfillment, so that he may live by faith and nothing else."

-Robert Jenson, Systematic Theology Vol. 1, 68.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Legalists & Antinomians

Douglas Wilson adds this bit to a recent flurry of blog posts and articles:

"For many among the contemporary Reformed, a legalist is someone who loves Jesus more than they do, and an antinomian is one who appears to enjoy loving Jesus like that. And if this ever happens on a large scale, it will be a great revival and reformation, recognized as such by the museum curators of the future."

There a couple of layers of cheerful irony there as you can see for yourself if you read the rest of the post here.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

The Grace of the Law

"By reclaiming Luther's grand discovery of justification by faith, Christians again embrace the law with David, Paul, and James. The law leads to Christ, plainly outlines the extent of Christ's payment, defines his righteousness, protects believers from sinning against God's love, and enables them to give concrete expression to their love for God by deeds of obedience."

Donald Van Dyken, Rediscovering Catechism, 6.

Monday, November 08, 2010

Birth and Rebirth

People are always born. People always have mothers. There is always blood and water.

Likewise, if people are to be re-born, they must have a new mother, and there must be blood and water.

Without a mother, without blood and water, there is no rebirth.

Or, outside the Church there is no salvation.