Theology for the Masses

In this post I wish to look at the impact of Isaiah 53:11 and Romans 5:18-19 and how they influence justification. Romans 4:25 has been shown that Paul (or someone from whom Paul adapts a traditional Christological formula) does in fact read Isaiah 53:11 into his doctrine of justification in that the resurrection of the [...]

Sometimes a person can read the Scripture and completely pass over a particular text that can have massive import on shaping one’s theology and understanding of a particular doctrine. I can remember my time as an Arminian (though not a full five-pointer as I was and am Southern Baptist) skipping over John 6 and Romans [...]

Moving along in my dabbling in the justification passages in Paul and their relationship to Isaiah 53:11. In Acts 13:38-39, the resurrection of the crucified Jesus in an unstated way effected justification for “everyone who believes.” This parallels what was seen in Isaiah 53:11 where the “Righteous One, my [Yahweh's] servant will justify the many.” [...]

Last time we looked at Isaiah 53:11 and saw that through the resurrection of the Suffering Servant he became the Righteous One. And through this one, who is now the Righteous One, the many are justified. Now how does this provide a background for the Pauline doctrine and formulation of justification? That is the question [...]

In reading Michael Bird’s The Saving Righteousness of God, I have come to realize just how important Isaiah 53:11 is to many of Paul’s passages that formulate and utilize his doctrine of justification when dealing with his audiences and troubles, for example the Jew-Gentile divide in Romans and Galatians. I want to briefly delve into [...]

I have just finished reading a pair of books engaging in the New Perspective on Paul debate and dealing with justification. The books presented a middle ground that I am still trying to put my mind around. I like what was said in the two books but I need to read them again to make [...]

Before moving on in the narrative of the Bible, I want to look at new creation, union with Christ, and how they play into Obtaining the shalom that was forfeited by Adam. Adam rebelled against the creator I AM in the garden of Eden. A curse was placed upon Adam and his posterity. I AM [...]

Paul once wrote to a church in a city in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) called Colosse. In that letter he said, about I AM and Jesus,
[God] delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins…For God was [...]

The King came…and died…and was raised from the grave.
Having died the most gruesome death and lying lifeless in the grave for days, Jesus rose to life and walked out of the tomb. He was indeed king, king over all life. But what had Jesus done, what was accomplished in dying and rising from the dead? [...]

A Davidic king was promised (by pre-exilic prophets such as Isaiah and Micah). It would seem that when I AM brought Israel back to her land that this king would come. But Judah came back to Judea and no king arose. Instead, the promise of a Davidic king was restated (by prophets like Zechariah). Yet [...]

It didn’t work. Shalom, “peace,” did not return to I AM’s creation through the community of Israel. The laws, the sacrificial system, the priesthood, and the kings all failed to bring Israel back to shalom. Yet here is an interesting fact, some people saw that shalom was gone. Psalm 72 is a prayer either by [...]

Humanity has rebelled against their maker and creator, I AM. I AM has therefore cursed his entire creation by taking away shalom, the universe in that state where everything is as it should be. The created order is thrown into chaos and misery. Sin and death reign supreme over I AM’s creation now that shalom [...]

Shalom, “peace,” has been rejected by humanity in the actions of Adam and Eve. Their choice was to seize the rewards of the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, to be like God, and crafty like the serpent (There is a pun running through the narrative of the fall, [...]

As we draw near to Easter and celebrate the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ and all that he accomplished for us, I was reminded this morning of one important theme that is present with the coming Messiah: peace. The Messiah was to create peace between Israel and her God, I AM, [...]

Student: ‘Professor, what happens at the Rapture?’
Liberal Professor: ‘Well, at the Rapture you walk up to your window, look outside, see people floating up into the sky, and then you should say to yourself, “Well, I’ll be damned!”‘
H/T: Euangelion