Which Gospel? The Gospel of Grace

Posted on July 14, 2008 by Jay F Guin

It’s hardly surprising that our study of “gospel” begins with grace. Where else? I’m not going to attempt to lay out the rudiments of God’s grace, as I’ve already done that in the Amazing Grace series. Rather, I think it might be more profitable to point out how baptism, communion, and the gospel passages exclude some false gospels and teach some doctrines we often overlook.

Gospel of law

Of course, in the Churches of Christ, the biggest problem we face is the heresy of legalism. We are so steeped in legalism that we find it quite sufficient to be less legalistic than another church down the road — except for the zealots among us who seek to be the most legalistic church down the road! I mean, we actually have preachers who take pride in their works-religion. Continue reading →

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On Bad Elders: Removing Lousy Elders, a Story

Posted on July 13, 2008 by Jay F Guin

A long time ago, in a land far, far away (not that far, actually), the men of a church gathered in a classroom. Two men had organized the meeting, and one acted as chair.

“Most of you know why we’re here. For the rest of you, let me just say that we believe it’s time to appoint new elders. But our present elders are refusing to allow it, because our preacher won’t let them. They think they work for him, rather than Jesus and his church, and they won’t do anything without the preacher’s permission.

“Worse yet, we have sin in the camp, and it’s destroying the church. Continue reading →

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Pagan Christianity and Congregational Autonomy, Part 2

Posted on July 12, 2008 by Jay F Guin

The post on Pagan Christianity attracted several questions about what autonomy really means in the modern church world. Here are a few thoughts to add to the mix.

* I dont’ really know how the monarchic episcopy evolved so quickly from what we read in the New Testament to what we read in Ignatius, just a few decades later.

I would assume that people naturally organized themselves as their culture suggested, and they lived in a monarchic culture. Democracy and even autonomy would have been very foreign to First Century Greeks. Continue reading →

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Which Gospel? Summarizing the Results

Posted on July 12, 2008 by Jay F Guin

I started by saying I’ve been struggling with figuring out which of the many good ideas about the nature of Christianity is where the church should be focused. As kind of an experiment, I thought I’d look for a path that would remove most of my own prejudices and the prejudices of current evangelical fashion.

The idea is to look at the baptism, Lord’s Supper, and gospel passages to see what lessons they emphasize, figuring that they were instituted to teach us what’s most important about our Christianity.

Now, I really can’t pretend that this is 100% objective. It’s not. But, to me, it’s been helpful — indeed, helpful enough to draw some interesting conclusions, which we’ll consider in future posts.

There’s so much material that it’s hard to see the patterns through the detail. And so, I’ve taken the conclusions from the previous posts and built a table of sorts tabulating the outcome: Continue reading →

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Surprised by Hope: An Interpretation of Matthew 24, Part 3 (The Eschaton)

Posted on July 12, 2008 by Jay F Guin

Now, at this point it seems probable that Jesus begins to answer the second question — what will be the signs of the end? Some argue that he is still speaking of the fall of Jerusalem, but Jesus seems pretty clear on when that will happen, whereas he insists that no one knows when “that day” will be —

36 “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Continue reading →

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Surprised by Hope: An Interpretation of Matthew 24, Part 2 (The Fall of Jerusalem)

Posted on July 12, 2008 by Jay F Guin

Now that we’ve considered some of the history and significance of the Fall of Jerusalem, let’s turn to the text of the chapter —

(Mat 24:1-2) Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” Continue reading →

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Surprised by Hope: An Interpretation of Matthew 24, Part 1 (Background)

Posted on July 12, 2008 by Jay F Guin

In last week’s class, a question came up as to how Matthew 24 should be interpreted. In fact, some in the class were astonished at my suggestion that the New Testament speaks of two “comings” of Jesus — one at the destruction of Jerusalem and one at the Eschaton.

Now, this view solves a lot of problems. After all, in Matt 24 Jesus says his coming will happen while many in his audience are still alive. If he was speaking of the Eschaton, he badly missed his guess.

Some, seeking to have but one coming (Greek: parousia), have actually argued that Jesus has already come in AD 70 and this is the only parousia there is. Others (such as Albert Schweitzer) argue that Jesus was simply wrong. Continue reading →

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Surprised by Hope: Hell, Part 1

Posted on July 12, 2008 by Jay F Guin

Wright notes that the idea of a new heaven and new earth argues against the traditional understanding of hell. After all, no longer do we imagine going to heaven when we die. Rather, heaven comes down to earth and we stay here — but “here” is transformed, as are we, into something glorious beyond description.

We receive new bodies. The old world is burned with consuming fire.

(2 Pet 3:7) By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

And this same fire that purges the old heavens and earth destroys ungodly men. Where then is hell? Continue reading →

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Which Gospel? A Musical Interlude

Posted on July 12, 2008 by Jay F Guin

This isn’t really my style of music. But even if you hate the style, you’ve got to hear this.

‘Send Me’ – Live at MHC | Ballard from Mars Hill Church on Vimeo.

These guys have a better theology than a lot of D.Min.’s I know!

God’s mission on earth expressed in rap. Very good stuff.

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Which Gospel? Deepening Our Understanding of “Gospel”

Posted on July 11, 2008 by Jay F Guin

The last post triggered several very thoughtful comments and questions on just what “gospel” is. I typed a few comments to set out my own views — profoundly influenced by N. T. Wright — but decided it makes better sense to make a post of it, as the question is, of course, hugely important.

I’ve often wondered at the fact that “gospel” predates much of the work of Jesus, although it always anticipated Jesus. Consider –

(Mat 4:23) Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. Continue reading →

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