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Sacramental Theology

The Gospel according to the Sacraments (Part 3): One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism

In the first post of this series, I proposed that the sacraments of baptism and communion are the nexus point for the evangelical and ecumenical movements. In the following post , I proposed a new orientation for ecumenism – a conciliarity of the cross – with the necessary confession of…

by Michael SpalioneJanuary 2, 2018
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Baptism

Christian Mission and Cultural Transformation

“Contextualization” is now, and has been for a long time, the buzzword for the day. 1 Missionary effort in non-Western countries is all about “contextualization” — making our communication of the Gospel, if not the Gospel itself, fit into the culture to whom we from the West speak. 2 There…

by Ralph Allan SmithDecember 28, 2017
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Sacramental Theology

The Gospel According to the Sacraments, Part 2

In my previous post , I highlighted the sacraments as the point of convergence between evangelicalism and ecumenism arguing that baptism and communion are presented in the New Testament as signs of the gospel that simultaneously enact and remember union with Christ and the unity of Christ’s body. I concluded…

by Michael SpalioneDecember 27, 2017
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Baptism

Baptism and Contextualization: Part 2

Click HERE for Part I of this series. What does baptism have to do with culture? As I said in the previous essay, the short answer is “everything!” To begin with, baptism is baptism into Jesus’ death (Romans 6:3). Paul explains this as the crucifixion of the “old man” (“old…

by Ralph Allan SmithDecember 21, 2017
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Advent

Twin Nativities

In the accounts of our Lord’s nativity and early childhood, so familiar to us from many years of Advent and Christmas services, we often fail to recognize in them the gentle intimations of a greater nativity that is yet to come. The attentive ear, however, can discover in these passages…

by Alastair RobertsDecember 19, 2017
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Advent

Daughters of Zion

Isaiah warns that Yahweh is coming to remove Judah’s leaders in every area of social, economic and political life so completely that there will be no one left to lead besides children (3:4) and women (v. 12). As Isaiah goes on, however, it becomes clear that the women of Judah…

by Peter LeithartDecember 14, 2017

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Stuhlmacher on Hilasterion (Rom. 3:25)

Peter Stuhlmacher interprets HILASTERION in Rom 3:25 as the KAPPORET of the ark of the covenant, the place where atonement is made. From the cross on, the place of atonement was no longer in the temple but in Jesus. He links this with the critique of the temple and temple…

January 25, 2004

Chiasm in Romans 3:27-30

There looks to be some chiastic action going on in Romans 3:27-30: A. Where is boasting? Excluded B. By law of works? C. No: Law of faith C. justification is by faith B. not by works of law (reversing word order of previous verse) A. God is God of Jews…

January 24, 2004

Romans 3:21-31

Most commentaries I’ve examined assume that Paul’s discussion of the work of Jesus in Romans 3:21-31 centers in the cross. The reference to blood and to propitiation (or propitiating sacrifice) in v 25 justifies this, but this doesn’t mean that Paul’s focus is exclusively on the cross. Several things support…

January 24, 2004

Paul on God’s Righteousness

Romans 3:21 begins a section where Paul expounds, for the first time in Romans, on the revelation of the righteousness of God. One of the ways to characterize current debates about this passage, and about the righteousness of God and justification in general, is to ask whether this is about…

January 22, 2004

Paul on God’s Righteousness

Romans 3:21 begins a section where Paul expounds, for the first time in Romans, on the revelation of the righteousness of God. One of the ways to characterize current debates about this passage, and about the righteousness of God and justification in general, is to ask whether this is about…

January 22, 2004
Literature

Kelly on Tragedy

Henry Ansgar Kelly’s Ideas and Forms of Tragedy from Aristotle to the Middle Ages (Cambridge, 1993) is a careful and useful study of the use of the word “tragedy” from the ancients through the 14th century. He narrowly focuses on the uses of the word-group itself, and shows that the…

January 22, 2004

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