Introduction Understanding the cross of Jesus Christ as a demonstration of God’s love for mankind is a central theme of both the New Testament and the early fathers (McGrath, 2012). What we commonly refer to as the moral influence theory of atonement has come to mean different things to different people over the course of church […]
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No Place For Arrogance
Romans 12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. Today I was out working on some school work and encountered […]
Atonement: Satisfaction Theory
Introduction This week, in our continuing series of blogs on the atonement, we move into the medieval period. In the late 11th century, Anselm of Canterbury, a Doctor of the Church, was one of the most influential philosophers and theologians of the time. He was one of a new breed of scholars that approached topics […]
How's Your Prayer Life?
“Continue steadfastly in prayer…” -Colossians 4:2 Let’s pretend you are a stalker. And you, as a stalker, want to find out what kind of things I really like in life. One of the best ways you will find this out is by seeing what I do throughout the day. For example, you will notice that […]
Atonement: Recapitulation
Over the past two weeks we have discussed the views of the early fathers on the atonement. The Christus Victor and ransom themes are both prominent during the patristic era. Before moving on to views popularized during the medieval period, there is one more important theme from the early fathers – recapitulation. Discussions of the […]
Free Audiobook About God Transforming Drug Addicts!
Do you want to listen to a true story about how God transforms the lives of drug addicts and gangs? For the rest of this month, you can download the book, The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson for FREE! The book tells the amazing story about how God worked through the life of a […]
God of the Impossible
God loves to work in seemingly impossible situations. If you are a Christian, you probably agree with that statement. But do you live out that belief? Tonight during our family devotions I read the kids the story of Abraham being called to a new land. He was told he would be the father of many […]
The vacuum that is our heart
When I was a young boy I drew lots of pictures of people with gaping holes in either their eye sockets or chest or both. This was to communicate a feeling I had and realized all people have. It is a feeling, a longing, a need for more. A need for meaning. This need or […]
The Atonement: Christus Victor
Christus Victor Theory of Atonement Christus Victor (Latin for “Christ is Victorious”) is a view of the atonement closely related to and often lumped together with the ransom view that was discussed in last week’s blog post. However, the Christus Victor motif avoids some of the problems that the ransom theory falls into. It may […]
Q & A: "Paul, why are you preaching through the Old Testament?"
Here are eight quick reasons: All Scripture is inspired by God (2 Tim. 3:16), not just the ones we like to read. All the promises of God find their answer in Jesus so it is important that we understand what the promises are (2 Cor. 1:20). When Paul preached to the Ephesian church he preached […]