Marginal Christianity

“When the Protestant doctrine of justification is formulated only in terms of forensic imputation of righteousness or the non-imputation of sins in such a way as to avoid saying that to justify is to “make righteous”, it is the resurrection that is being by-passed. …justification is empty and unreal, merely a judicial transaction, unless the doctrine of justification bears in its heart a relation of real union with Christ. Apart from such a union with Him through the power of His Spirit, Christ would remain, as it were, inert or idle. We require an active relation to Christ as our righteousness, an active and an actual sharing in His righteousness. This is possible only through the resurrection; – when we approach justification in this light we see that it is a creative event in which our regeneration or renewal is already included within it.” (Torrance, Thomas F. – Space, Time and Resurrection ) “It is the resurrection that is being by-passed.” Bingo! Give TFT a prize! I...

For those with ears to hear! Saul (aka Paul) was a culture warrior before he met the risen Christ on the Damacus Rd. He believed it his religious duty to persecute those Jews who were doing it wrong (those pesky Jews who believed in Jesus). Michael Gorman tells us how and how the Christian Paul was transformed. “He was most likely attempting to secure his justification before God through imitating, at least to some degree, the violent priestly hero Phinehas, who purified Israel and stayed God’s wrath by killing an Israelite and his Midianite consort (Num. 25: 6-13). According to Psalm 106:31 (LXX 105:31), Phinehas was justified by his violent zeal: his act was “reckoned to him as righteousness” (elogisthē autō eis dikaiosynēn); the Greek phrase is exactly the same as the parallel text in Genesis 15:6 and in Romans 4:3, 5, 9, 22-24. When Paul was justified, reconciled to God, his oppressive, violent public behavior changed dramatically, and so did his spirituality, his relatio...

10. The Music of Formation Secular 3 tells us there is no living person as faith’s content. So we focus on the process of faith formation designed to secure greater commitment to our institutions. Faith formation seeks commitment with faith itself the goal. Separating faith from its content is ultimately untenable. The Music of Ministry “To have faith is to be in Christ; it is to have the faith of Christ because Christ lives in you. The way into Christ is not through a program, a principle, or even a doctrine. The only way “in” to this union, as Michael Gorman says, is through a death experience (the cross, negation).” (3738) Substantiation of our death experience as union in the person of Jesus is that divine action enters as ministry. “Ministry is more than just a generic (natural) relationality; rather, ministry is a form of action that draws spirit into Spirit.” (3753) “Ministry is the deepest form of relationality because in ministry your person is shared in so ...

by Andrew Perriman | Sep 19, 2015 | Hermeneutics , Theology | 0 Comments People who take the trouble to think of themselves as “Protestant”—as heirs of the Reformation—are likely to be of the view that the doctrine of justification by faith sits right at the heart of their religious identity. But what sort of thing is “justification by faith”? What does it look like? What does it do? In an interview on the Gospel Coalition website Tom Schreiner provides a standard definition: Justification by faith alone means that we stand in the right before God by faith instead of on the basis of our works. In the classical Protestant formulation of the doctrine, justification doesn’t mean make righteous , but rather declare righteous …. The righteousness of Christ is imputed to us by faith so that our forgiveness of sins and righteousness are gifts of God. The doctrine explains how a person is saved. It has no real application outside of this basic existenti...

1.     What are we going to do through all eternity?  (Theological term:  glorification) Play harps?  Sing Hallelujah?  I hope not.  I’m not musical and I don’t think a one word praise chorus would sustain me forever!  I’m being facetious, of course, but my question is a serious one.  Do we have any idea from scripture what you and I will do throughout the ages of the ages? We do indeed!  In the last verse of the visions of the book of Revelation and the first two chapters of Genesis.  In these chapters, the only ones untouched by sin, we see God’s eternal planned fulfilled (Rev.21-22) and in their light that plan in embryo in the creation stories (Gen.1-2).  In Rev.22:5, the last verse of Revelation’s visions, the people of God are said to “reign” throughout the eternal ages.  When we look back to the creation stories in Genesis we can see that being made in God’s image to have dominion over creation as Go...