*Given at Midtown Christian Community, one year ago today* What in the world are we doing here as Midtown?  We’re a group of friends committed to one another and committed to loving one another in the name of Jesus.  And we’ve committed ourselves to one another because God committed himself to us.  We’re a community […]

In Rom. 1:13-15 Paul tells the Roman Christians of his long-held desire to visit them.  He uses two expressions to speak of his ministry that are often misunderstood because of narrowed conceptions of the Christian gospel.  I’ll quote here the NIV and CEB translations of these verses and highlight these expressions. I do not want […]

Scot McKnight cites lessons that can be learned from John Stott’s exemplary life and ministry. See also the piece in Christianity Today, this tribute from The Bible Society (UK), and the obituary in The Guardian, which, according to Steve Walton, was the paper Stott read.

That’s the name of a great song from The Smiths and it’s the theme of Russell Jacoby’s second chapter in his book Bloodlust: On the Roots of Violence From Cain and Abel to the Present.  I found it strikingly instructive, or at least illustrative, of fundamentalist and evangelical in-fighting. Jacoby notes that throughout history civil […]

Paul frames his letter to the Romans with his apostolic mission—to bring about the obedience of faith among the nations, acting as an agent of God’s restoration of the nations (Rom. 1:5; 16:26). One of the most damaging aspects of an evangelical vision of the Christian gospel is the bifurcation between faith and obedience.  Paul […]

As I mentioned the other day, readers of Romans may be tempted to race through the letter introduction in an effort to get to the really good stuff.  After all, it’s just a bunch of preliminary material to get out of the way before diving into the deep theology, right?  Resist that temptation!  The introduction […]

Romans contains quite a long letter opening.  Though it’s a bit artificial, we can say that the opening consists of 1:1-15, since Paul transitions abruptly into what appears to be the first major section of his letter in 1:16.  It’s tempting to regard a letter opening as relatively less important than the letter itself, and […]

Contemporary evangelicalism has a strong divisive and contentious streak and some evangelicals feel no compunction over employing violent rhetoric against fellow evangelicals.  In an effort to get something of a handle on these dynamics I picked up Russell Jacoby’s very interesting book Bloodlust.  It’s a highly readable essay on the fratricidal roots of violence.  He notes that […]

Mickey Maudlin, Rob Bell’s editor for his book, Love Wins, wrote about his experience with Bell and his thoughts on the responses to its publication. He states that: As a young evangelical, I was socialized to see the biggest threat to the church as theological liberalism. But now I think the biggest threat is Christian […]

Next to Jude’s plea to “contend for the faith” (Jude 3), contemporary doctrinal watchdogs appeal to Paul’s confrontation of Peter in Antioch (Gal. 2:11-14) to endorse their confrontational style, caustic manner, and pugilistic rhetoric.  I’ve heard this question many times: How can it be that the same Paul who urges his communities to be unified […]