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This blog (christocentry.blogspot.com) was created in 2009 to serve as an outlet for the expression of my own theological thoughts, opinions and questions.  The target audience was a few friends and the general Christian public, but it was not directed toward my own church or members of it.  I hoped for feedback to the posts and did get some in the early years of the blog.

Many thanks to the friends and "unknowns" who have posted comments to this blog. I'm sorry I didn't respond to many of you in a timely manner, but please accept my thanks at this time.

The peak of writing occurred in 2010 and slowly diminished after that year.  Now that 10 years have passed, things have changed.  I no longer contribute to this blog, but do want to preserve what is valuable, correct errors, at some point to organize the material into chapters and finalize it for "posterity," perhaps as a small booklet that I can hand out to friends or Christians in need.

The blog is still open to the general public.  My desire is to avail myself of the commentary of friends as I labor to finish this job.  You can leave replies to any post with suggestions and corrections.

Notes

The most recent posts in Dec 2021 come from previously unpublished drafts that I found in the blog archives.  Some of those have now been brought out and published.  They are much older than the publication date on the posts.  Some of them may be fragmentary or unfinished, but the existing substance has been published.

Also, because of the way the blogger program works, the publication date at the top of a post is the date of the original publication of the post.  Many posts will have updates.  Those with substantial updates may have this noted in their title lines, but the blogger-generated publication date will not change.

The label list of topics down the left side of the blog window are my attempt to tie together topics that are within the posts.  You can select a topic and see all posts that have that label attached to them.  I can't guarantee that all labeling is appropriate or that all posts which have a common topic are properly tied together this way.  Hopefully, this situation will improve over time.

There are many "genres" of posts in this blog, some critical, some teaching, some questioning, some speculating and some devotional.  I most prefer the latter.

Best wishes to you in your reading, and I hope to hear from some of you in the responses to the posts, whether it is in the form of correction, debate or of approval.  

Note:  The blog system does not always present a text box to allow a response to a post.  If you want to leave a response to any post, and a response box is not present at the bottom of the post, click on the Title of the post that you wish to respond to, and that post will appear with a response box at the bottom.

Thank you,

Boyd

Why there is Suffering

 

Long ago, Hannah and Saul [not their real names] had a son who was blind -- even from birth.  This sad dilemma was confusing to them, and they often wondered why the Lord has visited this trial upon them.  In any case, the boy had to pull his own weight around the house, so he sat and begged for over 40 years. Though they themselves were not especially religious, they knew and understood the Lord's demand for righteousness.  They knew that the penalty of sin had fallen upon mankind, and that it was the Israelite's duty to keep the Law, as the righteous Pharisees taught.  There was a lot that was confusing about this, since the Pharisees didn't always seem to have a very straight conception of what was righteous, but in any case they quoted Moses a lot.  It wasn't encouraging to Hannah or Saul to know the demands of the Law, and they were not especially zealous to approach the Lord about this.  None of their prayers, when they made any, seemed to be answered.  In any case, this situation was something to fear -- and they did.

One year, however, a new prophet came through town.  He had the reputation of curing people, and some thought he was a prophet sent from God.  He did seem to be on the outs with the Pharisees, however, and there seemed to be "bad blood" between them.  The fact that Jesus seemed to have such a cavalier attitude toward the Pharisaical interpretation of the Law seemed irreligious to them.  In any case, one didn't know what it all meant.  Neither did it seem likely to them, from a distance, that Jesus would do anything more than add new and different burdens from those laid on by the Pharisees.

Then, this man healed their son.

 

Keeping Covenant

 

It's not evident in the Scripture that the apostolic approach to dealing with serious error or the threat of apostasy is always to question conversion.  The more typical New Testament approach is to exhort such persons to faith.  This is seen in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and in 1 Corinthians.  To the Galatians, Paul complains that he must give birth to Christ anew within them (even though they are church members).  It's the more typical case that the threat of heresy or apostasy is handled not by questioning hearers' conversions, but by exhorting them to faith and perseverance.  

 

This is more in keeping with the doctrine of the visible church, which is the Mother of believers, and the Household and Family of God, where "children" are born and raised spiritually (as well as literally).  The visible church is not the exclusive fellowship of persons who become converted outside and were allowed in afterward.

Christianity and Morality

 

It's not enough to say that Christianity is the right religion because it gives expression to proper morality (human ethical behavior).  Many religions, to one degree or another, may do this.  Nor is it correct to say that among the religions which preach ethical behavior, that only Christianity provides a valid basis for it, and the power to express it.  This is true, but this is a dangerous misconception of our religious life.  

 

No, the central facts of the Christian Religion are that our ethics are not the issue.  Our lack of ethics is the issue.  Jesus Christ's sacrifice for our sins made once on the Cross forgives our lack of ethics -- every day.

 

Tests of Faith

 

Tests, temptations, distresses, and tribulations are ordained, permitted, bounded and limited by God, in order to strengthen the faith of believers, as well as for other reasons.  A test of faith should, in the end, strengthen our faith, though during the testing we may have many questions.

Beware, therefore, if the tests of faith actually serve to weaken your faith.  Beware if the fear of God leads you away from God.  These are all signs of Satan's getting a grip on your life.

Confess your sins always, let the fear of God drive you to your Father, let the tests of faith make you rely utterly on the Word of His Promise of a free salvation and ultimate victory.

The Inward and Outward Face of the Church

There is much talk in the blogs in our time about the disease of the "inward-facing church," and the health of the "outward-facing church."  The "inward-facing church" is perhaps described as living in the "complacency of the club."  The "outward-facing church" is perhaps defined as "friendly," or "attractive," or perhaps "evangelistic."  The purpose of church leadership is then to convert the church from being complacently self-satisfied into a church that is actively interested in outsiders who might be attracted into the church and to Christ via the ministry of the church.  The terms "inward-" and "outward-" are almost exclusvely used in negative and positive senses, respectively.

But, there is another view to be taken.

It is clear from many sources in the Scripture that the inward health of a church -- that is, only "health" in Scriptural terms -- is the key to the outward ministry of a church.  Our Lord speaks to this issue repeatedly in the Upper Room Discourse and Prayer in the Gospel according to John, Chapters 13-17:

John 13 New King James Version (NKJV) 

[my comments are in square brackets]

13 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. ...  ⁵ After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.  ...  ¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  ...   ³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

³⁵ By this all will know [inside and outside the church] that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another [inside the church].” ...

 The first thing to notice is that the love of those inside the church for one-another -- the kind of love that knows one another, loves one another fervently, prays for one another, and serves one another inside the church -- is the kind of love that impresses the world that Christ has come and saved a people.  To those who are being called by the Spirit (and by the preaching of the gospel) this love is attractive, and they will approach the church.  This kind of inward relationship in the church is by no means the complacency and self-satisfaction that is often called "inward-facing" by those who point it out and complain about it.  Also, the replacement of the complacency and self-satisfaction by programs which attract visitors will not reform the church, if she is not reforming inwardly in spirit all along.

We continue with the text:

14 ²⁸ You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.  ²⁹ “And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. ³⁰ I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. ³¹ But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. .  ...

15 ¹¹ “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. ¹² This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. ... ¹⁶ You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, that you love one another. ¹⁸ “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ... ²⁶ “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. ²⁷ And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

17 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, ² as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. ³ And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. ⁴ I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. ⁵ And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

⁶ “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. ⁷ Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. ⁸ For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.  ⁹ “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. ¹⁰ And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. ¹¹ Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. ¹² While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³ But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. ¹⁴ I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵ I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷ Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. ¹⁸ As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.  ²⁰ “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; ²¹ that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. ²² And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: ²³ I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

²⁴ “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.  ²⁵ O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. ²⁶ And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

Israel

 

The Church of Christ is the New Covenant Israel.  The nations are not Israel.  Elements of the nations enter Israel, the Church, but do not "politicize" the Body of Christ.  

 

The Law of Nations is not the Law of the Church.

Eschatology: Immanent or Transcendant

One of the most difficult tasks for postmillennial thought is to reconcile itself with everything that is taught about the Second Coming in the New Testament, particularly the conflict, and the "wrath to come." (e.g., Rom 2:5; 1 Thess 1:10) Furthermore, one of the most difficult tasks of heavily preterist versions of postmillennial thought is to reconcile itself with what is taught about the resurrection in the New Testament. The eschatological focus shifts toward an immanent vision of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God substantially comes to pass within the current aeon, before the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That Coming arrives at a world already brought into subjection to Christ.

As a result of this immanent vision of the Kingdom of God, the focus of church ministry shifts.  The central focus of ministry shifts from hope and preparation for the age to come (at the Second Coming) to hope and preparation for the Kingdom of God to be manifest in this age.

This has the tendency to eclipse our call to witness to the transcendent kingdom with a calling to social and political amelioration.
 

Being and Function

The church needs to learn that Being precedes Function.

Example:  We all know the reasons for the Incarnation.  Jesus Christ must be a man in order to make the sacrifice for man's sin.  Jesus Christ must be God to sustain that manhood, and lead it in perfection.  But, then, is that all?  What about the glory of the Being of the God-Man?  Is the glory only his Function?  The Scripture not only describes his sacrificial work, but also forcefully points out that it is the radiance of his glory (Being) perceived spiritually by us in the Word of the Gospel (the Bible), which transforms us into his image!  We worship him for his works, but we must also worship him for his being!

Use:  What about each other in the church?  We major on "function" in our busy lives, perhaps even glorying in it.  But Function is meaningless without a doctrine of Being.  Who are the Beings which we serve, and why?  I think this is greatly underplayed.

Being is superior to Function.  It was the Being of dead sinners, souls lost and gone, which moved our Father in Heaven to Function on our behalf by sending His Son to save us.  Being grounds Function. 

Respect for the Being (Personhood) of your spouse is the ground of your love.

Ultimate Function is the expression of self-sacrificing, divinely motivated Love.  But, Love is a meek and lowly Attitude and Function, done by me to you, that is motivated only by my appreciation of your Being (Personhood), regardless of your qualities.

This applies to us all.

Justification: Mediate and Immediate Grace

One could define "mediate grace" as that power of the Holy Spirit that changes our inner man, and thus, also changes our working relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One would then orthodoxly say that mediate grace made us new men, and our relationship with our God and Father is placed on a basis which may be thought of as "covenant keeping," or "being and acting like Christians."  Our relationship with our Father in Heaven is relationship with a Person, and we may therefore expect that that relationship of fellowship is moved forward, through thick and thin, based on the spiritual quality of our our personal relationship with one another.  Innumerable Scripture passages may be quoted to support this.

Likewise, one could define "immediate grace" as that grant of the status of sonship to us regardless of our merits, for the sake of Christ, which is communicated to our souls as a gift, through faith only, and not based on our works.  Definitive passages of Scripture from many places can be quoted to support this.  Happy is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin (David).

It's clear then, that total free grace operates at the same time as the give and take of personal relationship with God in the ethical and religious sphere which is produced by grace-in-us, mediate grace.  God is sovereign and good to his people.  Yet, men are responsible before God, in the give and take of ethical personal relationship.  There is such a thing as discipline for sin.  There are apostates.  There is forgiveness.  There is reward.  Yet there is also superabounding unearned and unearnable grace enveloping our whole life, because of the work of our Savior.

The argument over justification in Reformation time was about this.  Which grace is supreme?  For Romanism, it is grace operative in me, that is, mediate grace, which will determine my destiny at the judgment.  For the Reformers, it is immediate grace.  Mediate and immediate grace are both operative in us or for us, but immediate grace, free grace, is always sovereign.

Does this mean that mediate and immediate grace can conflict?  Can a man under the influence of immediate and free grace fail to show the evidence of mediate grace?  No.  There is no conflict here.  The manifestation of a Christian life, and the presence of free grace always comport properly with one another, whether it looks that way to us or not.  Free grace is not a license to sin, nor is mediate grace in us the ground of our acceptance with God.

Does this mean that a spiritually poor Christian life ought to make us doubt whether free grace is given on our behalf?  Does a sleazy and sinful Christian life mean that mediate grace is absent, and therefore free grace is absent, too?  Not if repentance toward God and faith in the free grace of our Savior is present.  We remember Luther's first Reformation thesis:  Our entire lives should be lives of repentance -- every day!