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On October 18, 2024 By In Family and Children, History, Theology

Marriage is like Purgatory

“Marriage is a lot like purgatory, not many protestants seem to believe in it.” 

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“Marriage is a lot like purgatory, everyone seems eager to end their suffering.”

This is how I facetiously began a recent sermon on Questions 108 and 109 of the Heidelberg Catechism, which address the commandment against adultery. The catechism emphasizes the call for every believer, married or single, “to keep ourselves pure and holy.”

In the context of the 16th-century Reformation, marriage and purgatory were hot-button issues. Christian marriage was central to Reformation theology—can we tell the story of Martin Luther without Katharina von Bora or Henry VIII without his six wives? In this post I’d like to explore how these two are related in some surprising ways.

On Purgatory and Reformation 

The medieval doctrine of purgatory sought to address an important dilemma: How can we reconcile the extrinsic grace of God with the ongoing imperfection and sinfulness of individual Christians? In the medieval Roman system, God’s divine justice could purge or cleanse the souls of those who trusted in Jesus, removing their individual shortcomings in an intermediate state. However, Protestants like Luther insisted that our righteousness before God is already perfected—simul justus et peccator (“simultaneously justified and sinner”).

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On October 16, 2024 By In Church, Discipleship, Prayer, Theology, Worship

Praying in the Spirit: Our Words in the Word

In the beginning, the Speaker spoke the Word. The Word went out from the Speaker, carried along by the Breath, and the world was created, formed, and filled. Speaker, Word, and Breath working in loving, powerful union with one another to create from nothing everything that is.

The height of this creative activity was the creation of man himself, the image of God. He is a creaturely word, a revelation of God within the creation. This form fashioned from the dust of the ground was himself filled with the Spirit-Breath of God. This Spirit empowered him to take the creation given to him and, by word and deed, follow in the image of God to create, arrange, form, and fill this creation so that it will one day reflect God’s own heavenly throne room. This is his dominion task.

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On October 10, 2024 By In Prayer, Theology, Wisdom

Praying In The Spirit: Praying In Faith

What the world needs now is a crazed Muslim leader in the Middle East who has nuclear capabilities to launch a nuclear weapon at the USA. The world needs Christians to suffer and die at the hands of atheistic Communists and rabid Muslims. America needs abortion to continue to be legal for decades to come. Aunt Lucy needs to be diagnosed with stage four cancer. Uncle Joe needs to be in an accident, so he loses a leg. Henrietta needs to lose her child to leukemia. We and the rest of creation need these horrible things.

Who would ever think such things? Who would ever pray for such things? No one that I know.

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On September 26, 2024 By In Church, Men, Theology, Worship

Ordination

Ordination changes a man, not in a way that changes his liver into a lung, nor in a way that gives him magical powers to do sacramental tricks, but he is changed nevertheless. The change is more like when a degree is conferred upon a graduate or when a man marries a woman. In neither case is the man physically transformed, nor does he receive special powers. However, he is a changed man. No longer is the man a student. He is a graduate, possibly with a title attached to his name and all the clout that comes with his new status. No longer is the man a bachelor, but he is a husband who now has the privileges and duties of marriage. The molecular structure in his body may be the same pre- and post-ceremony; however, in many ways, he is not the same person. He stands in new relationships, and those new relationships, with all of their attendant responsibilities, make him a new man.

So it is with a man who is ordained to the gospel ministry. He is put into a new relationship before God and to the church. This new relationship with all of its attendant responsibilities makes him a new man.

The changes are an addition rather than a physical or even mystical metamorphosis. Ordination gives a new “weight” to the person. In biblical terms, this weight is “glory.” (The word “glory” in Hebrew literally means “heavy.”) Ordination glorifies a man in a unique way.

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On September 25, 2024 By In Theology, Wisdom, Work

Vocational Harmony

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called….” ~Ephesians 4:1

We have a calling. Within that calling, we have callings or vocations. (“Vocation” is derived from the Latin, voco, “I call,” so “calling” and “vocation” are the same thing.) Paul has a focus for what he says in Ephesians 4:1: he is aiming for the unity of the church, especially with regards to the Jew and Gentile being united into the one body of Christ. Consequently, he aims at character qualities that promote unity: humility, gentleness, longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, and eagerness to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. He then focuses on the seven ones (“one Lord, one faith, one baptism,” etc.). The calling of which he speaks is God’s call upon us as Christians.

What is “a call” or “a calling?” Marcus Barth describes Paul’s use of calling as “an act of creation and election; through this act non-being becomes being, not-beloved becomes beloved (Ephesians, ABC, 1:151) … further, it is “an appointment to a position of honor” describing the honorary place and function with which God has entrusted the saints. (Ibid., 2:427). God’s callings are what he has appointed you to do.

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On September 19, 2024 By In Discipleship, Prayer, Theology, Worship

Praying In The Spirit: What is Prayer?

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to God. ~Romans 8:26-27

At this time, in the created order, a hauntingly bright symphony is being performed. The creation is groaning and travailing in the pains of childbirth like the deep, resonating, sad tones of a cello. The groans of the cello are joined in the same melodic progression by the violins of Christians’ groaning. As Christians, we find ourselves in harmony with the creation, giving it further voice because we share in the same pain, waiting with the rest of creation for the redemption of our bodies. But there is a third voice, a voice deeper and more fundamental in this symphony that controls it and moves it toward its conclusion. It is the double bass of the Spirit, groaning out wordless music to the Father. We and the rest of creation with us have joined with him so that we are taking up his groans, and he is taking up our groans in this symphony of prayer.

This is praying in the Spirit.

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On September 13, 2024 By In Church, Culture, Theology

What Does Baptism Accomplish? Part Four: An Ordination Ceremony

In the previous installments, we’ve been examining the question: What Does Baptism Accomplish? Those who have been following will know the answer to that question is multifaceted and can be described from several angles.

At the most basic level, we saw that Baptism initiates a covenant relationship with the Triune God and with each of the three Persons in particular. In relation to the Father, baptism is adoptive: we become members of the Family of God. In relation to the Son, it is marital: we become members of the Bride of Christ. In relation to the Holy Spirit, it is ministerial: we become members of the Universal Priesthood of the Church. Therefore, baptism simultaneously functions as an adoption, marriage, and ordination ceremony. 

Having established the first two propositions, we turn now to the third. The argument to follow is structured around three points: first, the baptism of Jesus was His ordination ceremony; second, our baptism was our ordination ceremony; third, in keeping with the pattern, we will consider the objective and subjective dimensions involved.

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On September 12, 2024 By In Church, Discipleship, Theology

The Church’s People

Tychicus. Onesimus. Aristarchus. Mark. Justus. Epaphras. Luke. Demas. Nymphas. Archippus. If you know your Scriptures really well, several of these names are familiar to you. Mark and Luke wrote two of the Gospels. Onesimus is a focus of Paul’s brief letter to Philemon. The others are not so well known. Tychicus is mentioned several times in the New Testament as Paul’s companion. Epaphras is highlighted in the opening of the letter to the Colossians. If you know Demas at all, it is probably because he is infamous for abandoning Paul “having loved this present world” (2 Tim 4:10). What they all hold in common is that they are all mentioned at the end of Colossians either sending greetings, being exhorted, or receiving praise.

It’s often tempting to skim over Paul’s greetings at the end of his letters. The main body of the letter is complete, so we tend to tune out as we continue reading or listening just to check off our daily Bible reading. However, if God has included these greetings in the letter, there must be a significant reason why the church needs them. These greetings are not mere formalities, but they carry a deeper message that we should not overlook.

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On August 31, 2024 By In History, Theology

The Reformed Doctrine of the Necessity of Good Works

When the average Evangelical Christian talks about being “saved” he usually refers to the first moment of conversion, or justification by faith in Christ. He tends to reduce salvation to a past event in the believer’s life: “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8). From this perspective, salvation is something that has already been accomplished.

But this perspective is myopic. The Bible paints a far richer picture, presenting salvation as an ongoing journey that culminates in the future. Believers have been saved, are being saved, and will be saved on the Last Day: “And the Lord added to the church daily those who are being saved” (Acts 2:47); “But he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Mt. 24:13).

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On August 20, 2024 By In Church, Culture, Family and Children, Theology

What Does Baptism Accomplish? Part Three: A Marriage Ceremony

In this series, I am seeking to answer the question: What Does Baptism Accomplish? To begin with, I said: Baptism initiates a real covenant relationship with the Triune God and with each of the Persons in particular. This means that there are three different aspects to this relationship and each one corresponds to one of the Three Persons of the Trinity. As it pertains to the Father, the relationship is adoptive. As it pertains to the Son, the relationship is marital. And as it pertains to the Holy Spirit, the relationship is ministerial. 

I covered the adoptive aspect and now I’ll be covering the marital aspect. First, I want to show that, in the Bible, the relationship we have with God in Christ is of a marital nature. Second, I’ll show the connection between marriage and baptism. Finally, I’ll provide some guidelines on how to think of this relationship in terms of objective and subjective realities. 

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