Entries Tagged 'Theology' ↓

>”Love in Christ requireth no taking beauteousness in the object to be beloved, as not being able to put forth itself without such attracting allurements (Ezekiel 16:6-8). It can act of and from itself, without all such dependencies. This is manifest to all who have the least true knowledge of what that object is in itself, on which the Lord Jesus has set his heart to love him.

>Love in Christ decays not, nor can be tempted so to do by anything that happens, or that shall happen hereafter, in the object so beloved. But as this love at first act by, and from itself, so it continueth to do until all things that are imperfections, are completely and everlastingly subdued. *The reason is, because Christ loves to make us comely, not because we are so* (Ezekiel 16:9-14).” (*All Loves Excelling*, 49-50)

-John Bunyan

>”To embrace our Lord Jesus, to dwell in his love, and be fully assured of union with him-this is all in all. Dear reader, you need not try other forms of life in order to see whether they are better than the Christian’s: if you roam the world around, you will see no sights like a sight of the Savior’s face; if you could have all the comforts of life, if you lost your Savior, you would be wretched; but if you win Christ, then should you rot in a dungeon, you would find it a paradise; should you live in obscurity, or die with famine, you will yet be satisfied with favor and full of the goodness of the Lord.”

Charles Spurgeon

On Thursday, I woke up at 3:30am and Doc Halstead and left at 4:30am for San Diego to attend the [Evangelical Theological Society](http://www.etsjets.org/) Annual Conference. This conference brings people from all around the country together to discuss hundreds of theological and biblical issues among hundreds of scholars.

If nothing else, I realized ,once again, how much I do *not* know. These guys have spent years in their respective fields of study and thus the papers that they write are extremely insightful and thought-provoking. Here are three of the seminars that had the most impact on me.

###The Grammar of Matthew 28:19-20a
**by Stanley Porter**

He discussed the participles in these verses and how they affect the meaning verse. He made an argument from his analysis of the Greek that contradicted Dan Wallace. His purpose was to bring a fresh perspective to this text. As you can probably tell from my description, I barely understood what he was talking about. I will be getting his paper and plan on reading it carefully to understand it better.

###Why it is Never Right to Lie: Making a case from the Bible and not from hard cases
**by Wayne Grudem**

Grudem did a phenomenal job at provoking the minds those who attended his seminar. His definition of lying was: in speech or writing, affirming X when X is false. He discussed issues such as misleading actions, silence, and lies for surprise birthday parties.

His thesis was this: The Bible forbids and commands against lying and thus we must obey God and then trust Him for the results. He applied this principle to Scriptural and modern day examples, such as hiding Jews in Nazi Germany. This topic is a great discussion starter. Try it - just ask someone if it is ever right to lie, but be prepared for a sticky subject.

###Fully God, Fully Man: Impeccability and Temptation
**by Bruce Ware**

I was most impressed with Ware. He presented a new approach to discussing the subject of whether Jesus could sin or not. But what impressed me wasn’t just the material, but also how he presented it. He loved Jesus Christ and wanted above all else, to see Him glorified and magnified through his presentation.

His premise was this: The answers to the questions “*Could* Jesus sin?” and “*Did* Jesus sin?” differ. They are typically both answered with - “because Jesus is God.” But he argued that the first question is answered that way, but the second one is not answered with His deity, but with His humanity. Ware says that Jesus did not sin because He resisted temptation with all that was available to Him within His flesh, as He depended on the Father and lived through the Spirit. Again, this subject makes for some great discussion.

I’m thankful for a great day full of learning and discussion. A whole day with Doc listening to experts on the Bible - can life get any better? I submit that it cannot.

I have been thinking lately on what the difference is between discernment and discretion. It seems that in most conversations the two words are interchangeable and even in Proverbial language both have similar meanings, but are they the same? The best place to start is the dictionary.

[*discretion*] - the trait of judging wisely and objectively
[*discernment*] - the act or process of exhibiting keen insight and good judgment.

Okay, I don’t know about you, but for me, those definitions don’t seem to offer any help. The best way that I can think of it is in these terms:

With in the broad scope of evaluation that we are called to regarding situations and things, we must first decide between what is right over what is wrong. Somethings are good and somethings are evil. We have to decide which side of the line a situation falls and choose the right. This act of deciding between wrong and right seems to be what **discernment** is all about. Even specifically within the Christian life, we are always discerning if an action is right for us to do as followers of Jesus Christ.

Now that we have evaluated this situation and have narrowed it down into the realm of what is right, we must decide if it is appropriate at that time in that place for those people; and I think that is where **discretion** comes in.

With all that said, I don’t think that really captures the difference accurately, but that’s what I’ve landed on at the moment. Can any of you shed some light on this?

My friend, [Ben Blakey](http://steponliquid.wordpress.com), posted an idea that I think is really cool. His small group invented an exercise call ['Gospel Me'](http://stepontoliquid.wordpress.com/2007/10/02/gospel-me/). The premise of it is this:

>When you see another small group member in the hallway, in their room, in the bathroom, or around campus and you say, “Gospel Me,” they have ten seconds to give you the good news of Jesus Christ.

I really like the idea of quizzing other Christians on the basics of the gospel. We say that we know the gospel or that we know that we are saved, but when it comes to explaining it and declaring it, it comes out of minds in broken sentences and thoughts over the course of a half hour. We need to be ready “to make a defense to anyone who asks [us] for a reason for the hope that is in [us]” (1 Peter 3:15). I think this exercise does a great job at reminding us of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The church needs that. The world needs that. I need that.