Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Archives for January 2012

Two Critical and Thoughtful Reviews of Tim Tebow’s Book

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I’ve been following Tim Tebow pretty closely for the last two years, and the last three months have been a lot of fun!

I shared some thoughts about Tebow’s autobiography last August, and today I read two other critical and thoughtful reviews:

  1. Ted Kluck
  2. Daniel Threlfall

The reviews and authors differ:

  • Ted’s review is old (September 20, 2011); Daniel’s is new (posted today). But rereading Ted’s review today in light of what has happened since September is especially interesting.
  • Ted is a professional sports writer; Daniel doesn’t really follow sports. (Daniel is a good friend; we’re in the same small group in our church.)
  • Ted almost got the job to help write Tebow’s book; Daniel just read the book recently out of curiosity.

But both reviews are critical and thoughtful.

While not necessarily disagreeing with them, [Read more…] about Two Critical and Thoughtful Reviews of Tim Tebow’s Book

A New Book on Christology

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If you want to study Christology (and you should), then here’s a book to add to your reading list:

Robert A. Peterson. Salvation Accomplished by the Son: The Work of Christ. Wheaton: Crossway, 2012. 619 pp.

John Frame, professor of systematic theology and philosophy at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, says this of the book:

Dr. Peterson told me in correspondence, “my work is not [systematic theology] as much as laying biblical foundations for systematics.” Well, people can define terms as they like. But I think Salvation Accomplished by the Son is systematic theology at its very best. It deals with doctrines of systematic theology by bringing them into closest proximity with the biblical texts that justify them. That is the kind of systematics of which we need much more. This is the book to which, after Scripture itself, I would first turn to explore any question about Jesus’s incarnation, atonement, or resurrection.

Am I Really a Christian?

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This is probably the best all-around book to give to someone who is struggling with “assurance of salvation”:

Mike McKinley. Am I Really a Christian? The Most Important Question You’re Not Asking. Wheaton: Crossway, 2011.

(See Brian Hedges’s review and my previous blog post on Mike’s first book, Church Planting Is for Wimps.)

The book’s website has several videos. In this one Mike answers the question, “Can someone believe the gospel but not really be repentant?”

 

 

In Praise of Paradox

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K. Scott Oliphint, God with Us: Divine Condescension and the Attributes of God  (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 225–26:

In Praise of Paradox

I mentioned in the introduction that we must get used to the idea that antinomy and paradox will inevitably surround discussions such as this one. But the appeal to antinomy, paradox, and mystery is oftentimes troubling to those sympathetic to a less-than-Reformed understanding of God’s character and decree. In an attempted refutation of Calvinism and the “problem” of divine sovereignty, Jack Cottrell complains: [Read more…] about In Praise of Paradox

Ten Theses on Union with Christ and Transformation

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Robert Letham, Union with Christ: In Scripture, History, and Theology (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed, 2011), 123–28:

Ten Theses on Union with Christ and Transformation

  1. The union we enjoy with Christ is more real and more fundamental than the union we have with members of our own bodies. . . .
  2. This is not a union of essence—we do not cease to be human and become God or get merged into God like ingredients in an ontological soup. This is not apotheōsis. . . .
  3. We do not lose our personal individual identities in some universal, generic humanity. . . .
  4. Union with Christ comes to expression in, and is cultivated by, the Word and sacraments. . . .
  5. The body and blood of Christ are not materially, corporeally, or physically present in the Lord’s Supper. . . .
  6. In the Lord’s Supper we are lifted up by the Holy Spirit to feed on Christ. . . .
  7. We are not hypostatically united to the Son. . . .
  8. We are united with Christ’s person. . . .
  9. It is effected and developed by the Holy Spirit through faith, in and through the means of grace: the ministry of the Word, the sacraments, and prayer (WSC 88). . . .
  10. It will eventually lead to our being “like [Christ]” (1 John 3:1–2; see also Rom. 8:29–30; 2 Cor. 3:18), for “it is the intention of the gospel to make us sooner or later like God” (Calvin).

Related: Phil Gons has collected a helpful list of resources on union with Christ.