Category Archives: Theology

The Conversion Expectancy

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 In letter #3 of C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, we find our chief tempter Screwtape contrasting his view of what is expected of someone who has converted to Christianity with the patient assigned to his nephew Wormwood.

The patient is presented as someone who ‘thinks his conversion is something inside him’, resulting in a life of self-examination and a focus that is directed inward. Wormwood is told to encourage this.

Keep his mind off the most elementary duties by directing it to the most advanced and spiritual ones. Aggravate that most useful human characteristic, the horror and neglect of the obvious.

What are the ‘elementary duties’ that should be obvious to us? It is our living out the Christian faith. The demons have a view of Christianity that is the antithesis of the patient. They expect a conversion to result in external and outward changes. Their goal is to thwart ‘God’s inner working in us’ that is intended to bring ‘more and more of [our] conduct’ in alignment with His standards.

CSLewis

The goal of the demons then is to use whatever they can to distract us away from actually living out our faith. Continue reading →

A Faith that Stays on Target

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he has reconciled you by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him – if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, without shifting from the hope of the gospel

The letter to the Colossians is written by Paul to a community that he has not met. This community, addressed as the “the saints, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ”, is being pulled toward adopting false philosophies through persuasive arguments (2:4,8), so Paul is writing to encourage them. In this letter, Paul is urging everyone to remain steadfast in Christ, who is first in all things (1:15-20), and endure in the faith (1:21-23).

But what is at stake for those who do not endure in their faith?

That is the question that is tackled in Grace, Salvation, & Discipleship (GSD). Continue reading →

The Discipleship Observation

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In Grace, Salvation & Discipleship, Charles C. Bing asserts that the distinction between Christian and disciple is clearly taught in the passage John 8:30-31.

While he was saying these things, many people believed in him. Then Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, you are really my disciples”

In the last post (link) we looked at the assumptions Bing held regarding apostasy and how they influenced his interpretation of John 8:30-31. In this post we will examine his interpretation in light of two more assumptions:

  • The Jews described as believers in John 8:30-31 are genuine Christians who receive eternal life.
  • Jesus’ dialogue that follows is directed to another group of Jews in the crowd and not the same people in verses 30 and 31.

The first question we must ask is what did the Jews, described as having believed in Jesus in verses 30 and 31, actually believe about Jesus? Did they believe that Jesus was their Savior who would save them from their sins?  Did they believe in Jesus for eternal life as Bing claims?

Probably not.

As Jesus is teaching them that He is the Light of the world, the Jews in the crowd are  asking “who are you” (v 25). Jesus replies to this question that it is not until after He has been lifted up, referring to the cross and resurrection, that they would know who He was (v 28). At the point in time that Jesus is dialoguing with these Jews, it is more likely that Bingthe crowd believed/accepted Jesus as a miracle working teacher that has come from God claiming to be the Messiah (John 2:23; 3:1-2). And this belief was probably nominal, as they quickly reject Jesus’ teaching that they must be set free, instead relying on their ancestry to Abraham (v 32-33).  Continue reading →