Selected Reading, March 27, 2021

 

I’ve collected a few good links over the past couple of weeks. 

Bible Study

Difficult Texts: Colossians 1:24
What does Paul mean when he says he is filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions? Is there “some deficiency in Christ’s atoning work”? 

Biblical Truth

Is God Fair to Judge Us?
This piece by Rebecca McLaughlin is meant for teens, and answers one common question about the Christianity worldview.

Confessions and Catechisms

9 Things You Should Know About the Westminster Confession of Faith
I’ll be linking this one on the Theological Term for the Westminster Confession of Faith: “After nearly 400 years of service, the Westminster Confession of Faith continues to provide Reformed and Presbyterian churches worldwide a vibrant summary of Scripture’s principal teachings. But how has this document, drawn from a strikingly different age, remained equally relevant to today’s church?” 

The Good Name of Our Neighbor
A reflection on what the Westminster Larger Catechism says about the duties of the ninth commandment.

State of Affairs

Losing Forgiveness
“We slam those who are too arrogant to apologise and those who offer weak conditional apologies. But since we give no forgiveness what point is there in apologising? We live in a time where there seems to be no redemption … .”

Theological Term of the Week: Origen

Origen
An early Christian scholar and theologian, who “was a controverial figure in his own time and has continued to be so.”1 He lived from 185-254.

• From 2000 Years of Christ’s Power by N. H. Needham:

On the one hand, few Christian leaders from the patristic age can compare with Origen for his noble, humble, gentle character, or for his sheer depth and breadth of knowledge, both of Christian theology and pagan philosophy. On the other hand, Origen’s own theology gave rise to the most fierce disputes. He claimed that the Bible alone, not Plato or any pagan philosopher was inspired and that the Bible must be the basis of all Christian thinking. But in fact, Platonism greatly shaped and coloured Origen’s whole outlook. When he interpreted the Bible, he said it had three levels of meaning, which he called the body (the literal meaning), the soul (the moral or ethical meaning) and the spirit (the spiritual meaning). This scheme of interpretation sprang out of Origen’s threefold view of human nature, a view which may itself be rooted in Platonic philosophy. Origen regarded the literal meaning of the Bible as less important than its moral and spiritual meaning. This enabled him to build up his own theology in a way that did not tie it too closely to a literal understanding of the text.

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: Who was Origen of Alexandria?
2. Theopedia: Origen
3. Christian History Magazine: Origen: Friend or Foe? and Origen: Model or Heretic?
4. Christianity Today: Origen

Related terms:  

• Ambrose of Milan
• Apollinarius
• Athanasius
• Augustine of Hippo
• Basil of Caesarea
• Cappadocian fathers
• Columba
• Cyril of Alexandria
• Gregory of Nanzianzus
• Gregory of Nyssa
• Gregory the Great
• Hilary of Poitiers
• Irenaeus of Lyons
• Jerome
• John Chrysostom
• Justin Martyr
• Maximus the Confessor
• Monica
• Nestorius
• Patrick
• Pelagius
• Sabellius
• Tertullian
• Venerable Bede, The

Filed under Christian History

1From 2000 Years of Christ’s Power by N. R. Needham.

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Sunday's Hymn: I Greet Thee, Who My Great Redeemer Art

I greet thee, who my sure Redeemer art,
My only trust and Saviour of my heart,
Who pain didst undergo for my poor sake;
I pray thee from our hearts all cares to take.

Thou art the King of mercy and of grace,
Reigning omnipotent in every place:
So come, O King, and our whole being sway;
Shine on us with the light of thy pure day.

Thou art the life, by which alone we live,
And all our substance and our strength receive;
O comfort us in death’s approaching hour,
Strong-hearted then to face it by thy pow’r.

Thou hast the true and perfect gentleness,
No harshness hast thou and no bitterness:
Make us to taste the sweet grace found in thee
And ever stay in thy sweet unity.

Our hope is in no other save in thee;
Our faith is built upon thy promise free;
O grant to us such stronger hope and sure
That we can boldly conquer and endure.

—Attributed to John Calvin, but he probably didn’t write it.

Other hymns, worship songs, or quotes for this Sunday:

• Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Weary at The Happy Wonderer