Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

soteriology

The Priest with Dirty Clothes

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Michael P. V. Barrett, Complete in Him: A Guide to Understanding and Enjoying the Gospel (Greenville, SC: Ambassador-Emerald International, 2000), 141–42 (formatting added):

A vivid, divinely given illustration of this [i.e., God’s positively imputing Christ’s righteousness to us] occurs in Zechariah 3.

  • The passage begins with a judicial scene in which Joshua, the high priest, is standing before the Angel of the Lord and is being accused by Satan.
  • As the high priest he is serving as man’s representative, an accurate picture of how every man on his own stands before God.
  • He stands silently, dressed in detestably filthy garments with no self-defense before the Judge. This scene graphically pictures how man appears before God in all the filthy rags of his own righteousness.
  • Seemingly out of the blue God rebukes Satan and rescues Joshua as a brand plucked from the burning. Joshua is accepted before the Lord and allowed to stand in His presence.

The text highlights two essential elements of that acceptance. [Read more…] about The Priest with Dirty Clothes

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.

Six Videos and Related Resources

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When Alex Crain asked me some questions about Four Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism back in April, he also asked six other questions:

1. What is the gospel? How can God save me?

Related:

  1. “The Definition of the Gospel” (a talk I gave at a conference on April 8, 2011). Outline (3-page PDF).
  2. D. A. Carson. “The Biblical Gospel.” Pages 75–85 in For Such a Time as This: Perspectives on Evangelicalism, Past, Present and Future. Edited by Steve Brady and Harold Rowdon. London: Evangelical Alliance, 1996.
  3. ———. “The Gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Cor 15:1–19).” May 23, 2007. Text, audio, and video available. (A lightly edited manuscript of a sermon preached at The Gospel Coalition’s conference in Deerfield, IL.)
  4. ———.  “What Is the Gospel?—Revisited.” Pages 147–70 in For the Fame of God’s Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper. Edited by Sam Storms and Justin Taylor. Wheaton: Crossway, 2010.
  5. Greg Gilbert. What Is the Gospel? IX Marks. Wheaton: Crossway, 2010.  (Foreword by D. A. Carson. Small, short (127 pp.), clear.)
  6. Milton Vincent. A Gospel Primer for Christians: Learning to See the Glories of God’s Love. Bemidji, MN: Focus, 2008.  (Cf. my review.)

2. Are Mormons Christian?

Related:

  1. Ron Rhodes, “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormonism),” in The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2631–32.
  2. The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 9:2 (Summer 2005) [Read more…] about Six Videos and Related Resources

Five Exegetical Flash Points in the Justification Debate

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An introductory essay to IVP’s latest debate-book elaborates on five exegetical flash points in the justification debate:

  1. Paul’s attitude toward Judaism
  2. The role of works in final justification/judgment
  3. Justification/righteousness in the Old Testament
  4. Justifying righteousness: imputation, transformation or incorporation?
  5. The meaning of pistis

—Paul Rhodes Eddy, James K. Beilby, and Steven E. Enderlein, “Justification in Contemporary Debate,” in Justification: Five Views (ed. James K. Beilby and Paul R. Eddy; Spectrum Multiview Books; Downers Grove: IVP, 2011), pp. 67–81:

Here are the book’s five views:

  1. Michael S. Horton, traditional Reformed
  2. Michael F. Bird, progressive Reformed
  3. James D. G. Dunn, new perspective view
  4. Veli-Matti Käkkäinen, deification
  5. Gerald O’Collins, S.J. and Oliver P. Rafferty, Roman Catholic

Cf. Tom Schreiner’s review.