INTRODUCTION “Rejoice in the Lord always,” Paul says (Philippians 4:4). How? Scripture teaches that the Lord’s presence is our joy. We rejoice because the Lord has come, and is coming. THE TEXTS “I will leave in your midst a meek and humble people, and . . . . Continue Reading »
In one of his posthumously published series of lectures ( Atonement: The Person and Work of Christ ), TF Torrance writes of the incarnation as God coming from behind the veil of the law. The law is a barrier, a form of bondage, since it is “a form of self-imprisonment because it is the result . . . . Continue Reading »
Did Christ have a human soul? Athanasius asks in his two treatises against Apollinaris. He answers Yes, of course, but the way he answers is intriguing. One argument focuses on the death of Jesus: The body of Jesus died, as everyone acknowledges; but death is separation of the . . . . Continue Reading »
INTRODUCTION During Advent, Pastor Sumpter and I will be alternating preaching, and we will be preaching on the lectionary, that is, the passages that make up our Scripture readings for Advent. All these passages are about the Lord’s “coming,” and thus all shed light on the . . . . Continue Reading »
We live in an age when many of our relationships are mediated through a screen. We email family members in the next room, and often know more about the lives of Facebook friends than we do about the people who live next door or who sit next to us at church. This is not an attack on . . . . Continue Reading »
Athanasius argues: The Son assumed flesh, and its terrors, especially the terror of death. The goal was to overcome death and terror, but the Son did this by suffering those terrors Himself. We will be delivered from death, and not just in the future. Athanasius points to martyrs to . . . . Continue Reading »
The eternal Word, being proper to the Father’s being, cannot advance. Yet, Scripture says that Jesus advances in wisdom and stature. Athanasius appeals to the incarnation: He is advancing humanly. But, as always, what the Word does in the flesh is done for us: “Neither . . . . Continue Reading »
Athanasius notes that before the incarnation humanity was under the dominion of false gods, enslaved to corruption and idolatry. The Word took flesh to deliver us from that slavery, and the form of that deliverance was an act of worship: “in this body offering Himself for all, . . . . Continue Reading »
Why the incarnation? The eternal Son enters humanity to stretch it to its limits, and beyond. By becoming flesh and living and dying and rising in flesh, the Son makes it big enough for God to dwell in. More precisely, the Spirit: The Son stretches out the flesh He assumes, so that it . . . . Continue Reading »
All history, Hegel says, is the death and resurrection of Jesus, the God’s embrace of negativity and death and their sublation in the resurrection. This movement of incarnation, death, and death-nestled-in-resurrection is, moreover, the pattern of thought. As Hegel says, . . . . Continue Reading »
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