Tag Archives: Jesus

What Jeremiah Says to Conservative Christians in America

Many politically conservative Christians in America are tempted to resist, even to the point of armed rebellion, the results of the what they believe to be an illegitimate election. But Jeremiah’s letter to the exiled Jews in Babylon would point them in a different direction.

Past, Present, and Future in John 1:15

In John 1:15 John the Baptist identifies Jesus in a way that is usually translated “The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.” I propose that all three clauses should be translated temporally something like, “The one coming after me has existed since before me, because was first before me.”

The Enduring Relevance of the Church

The relevance of the Church is not dependent on its ability to strategically adjust its message to pertain to what the world is concerned about. Rather, the Church only needs to concern itself with being relevant to ground of all reality, God himself in Christ. Inasmuch as it does this, what the Church has to say is by definition the most relevant thing that can be said.

The Blessedness of Poverty – Matthew 5:3

Being “poor in spirit”, as Jesus talks about in Matthew 5:3, is about realizing that we are bankrupt without God. When we deny the illusion that we are the masters of our own fates and confess our brokenness to God, the good news is that God is near to the brokenhearted, and where God is, there is the kingdom of heaven.

The Scars of the Resurrected Jesus

In John 20:24-28, the resurrected Jesus shows the scars of his crucifixion to his disciple Thomas, meaning the resurrected body of Jesus has scars. What does this tell us about scars, about what it means to follow Jesus, about the identity of Jesus, and about the nature of God?

Does the Church Need to be Held Accountable for its Past?

In denying the accountability of the cross and pretending to sit in judgment over the Church, the claim that “The Church needs to be held accountable for its past” empties the cross of its power and brings Jesus down from the throne of judgment.