Constructio ad Sensum (or, A Collection of Unrelated Items)

     “I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls,” (Matt 11.29). The humility of our Lord exhibited here is likely one of the most appealing and challenging of his traits. That it is appealing is of course fairly evident; generally a person who expresses humility today is thought to be warm, friendly, and inviting. But the challenge persists, because we know that we have been called (not 10 words prior) to   follow   in this way, and the way of humility is invariably the way of the cross. What we need, then, is the grace of God in us “both to will and to work” (Phil 2.13) toward this way — which is indeed what we receive in Christ: “thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” (2 Cor 9.15).      What follows will attempt an exploration of the theme of grace and gift in Philippians and its application in ministry. As we investigate this theme biblically, historically, and theologically, we will see that in Philippians Pa...

My wife, Kim, and I recently celebrated our son Isaac's turning two months old, and I realized I spent very little time reflecting on the experience of being a new parent. In addition to reflecting on parenthood, I've begun to reflect a little bit on life, and how it is a gift. I've been wondering and thinking about life (both present and eschatological)  qua gift, particularly with respect to our understanding of salvation, and I wanted to process those thoughts through this blog. (This post is heavily influenced by John Barclay's work on the Gift.) In his book on justification, R. Michael Allen has a wonderful little concise definition of the gospel: the glorious news that the God who has life in himself freely shares that life with us and, when we refuse that life in sin, graciously gives us life yet again in Christ. What I appreciate about this definition is not only its concision but its emphasis on eschatological  life . Perhaps this is because of my backg...

The following is a short paper I wrote for a course on the four gospels at Covenant Theological Seminary; the assignment entailed meticulous recording of every direct statement of Jesus in the gospels and compiling a synthesis of the results in a single two-page paper (hence the abundance of citations). Here it is: What did Jesus set out to accomplish? His own words suggest several objectives. First, Jesus intended to inaugurate the kingdom of God, and to do so as its rightful Lord and promised Messiah (in fulfillment of Israel’s scriptures, cf. Mt. 5.17-18). The manner in which he preached (“as one with authority”, Mt. 7.29 pars.) already hints at this, but Jesus openly declares that he came to preach the gospel of the kingdom (e.g. Mk. 1.14-15, cf. Lk 4.43). Jesus’ message of repentance and the proximity of the kingdom echoes that of John the Baptist (Mt. 4.17, cf. 3.2), but is quickly distinguished by several statements which imply not only Jesus’ high status in the kingdo...

As a (temporary) going away gift, here's a reflection I wrote on Bonhoeffer's book, Life Together : The Christian community, the Church, is created by God in Christ, ordered by the Word of Christ in the gospel, and preserved by the Spirit of Christ against all that would seek its disruption. This is the fundamental point of Bonhoeffer’s  Life Together . Christ is the floor and the ceiling (to borrow Gordon Wenham’s metaphor) of Christian communion; he establishes it, and his life is the pattern to which it all conforms. In this way, Bonhoeffer’s understanding of community – indeed, of the Christian life as a whole – is deeply Protestant and properly evangelical (in its grounding in the  evangel ).  In essence,  Life Together  answers the question of what happens when sinful human beings are really confronted with and really changed by the Word of God in the gospel. The book could be accurately titled with language Bonhoeffer uses in the first paragraph: li...

"Six days shall you labor..." Having just finished studying Genesis through Leviticus, it felt apropos to reassess practices in my life which have generated an unhealthy rhythm of work with little rest. Many of us are guilty of doing a thing for much longer than we really should because we feel we must -- this describes me frighteningly accurately. Such (occasionally laudable) diligence must also be examined for traces of idolatry or straight up foolishness, and I've realized that this blog exhibits some of those traits. I do love writing, but with the sheer amount of writing projects on my plate for seminary alone, this blog has become a source of undue stress. So, rather than do what I have done most often in the past with previous blogs (quietly abandon it), I'm trying to be more consistent in my disposition toward this one. This has been a (not surprisingly) busy semester, and as a result I'm feeling very strongly that I need to pause the blog. I mig...

This is an exam essay I wrote for a class at Covenant Seminary, Christ and Salvation. It was written in about 2hrs and without sources, so please forgive any typos or other minor errors.  I. What is justification/sanctification? Justification One of the primary issues in Scripture is the asymmetry between the transcendence of God and the finitude of human beings – exacerbated by humans’ willful rebellion against and disobedience towards God with respect to not only his laws but also his covenantal relationship with us. God does not respond to this problem by utterly destroying humanity; in his grace he makes a way for salvation through Christ our Lord.              Justification is defined in the Westminster Shorter Catechism as an act of God’s free grace wherein he pardons our sin and accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, received by faith alone (W...

The other day I finished reading Shūsaku Endō’s Silence , a book which is haunting, beautiful, and difficult. Having seen Martin Scorsese’s film adaptation over a year ago, my initial excitement for reading the novel on which it was based dissipated as time passed, but was revived as I came across Karen Swallow Prior’s chapter on the virtue of faith in On Reading Well. Prior’s reflections reignited my interest in reading the book, and when I found a copy at our library I immediately picked it up (characteristically giving no thought to the impending spring semester). I devoured the book in two days—no doubt it would have been one if I had no other responsibilities—and I found it incredibly compelling, despite having prior (pun intended) knowledge of its plot. In fact, my reading was probably improved by having read Prior’s reflections, as it tuned me in to one of the more subtle themes in Silence. Father Rodrigues, though often giving the appearance of piety, harbors within hims...