Round the Sphere Again: Scripture

Ten Facts
Michael Kruger (Canon Fodder) has begun a new blog series on ten basic facts about the New Testament canon every Christian should memorize so that they will be able to respond to some of the frequent “sensational claims, made by either scholars or laymen, that something definitively “new” has been discovered about the historical Jesus.”

The first fact is this: The New Testament books are the earliest Christian writings we possess. Why is this important? It means

that the books included in the New Testament are not as arbitrary as some would have us believe.  On the contrary, it seems that these are precisely the books we would include if we wanted to have access to authentic Christianity.

Eight Ways
to read scripture, suggested by Richard Greenham (The Thirsty Theologian, quoting from Meet the Puritans).

(Serendipitously, a few days ago I downloaded Michael Haykin’s lecture on Richard Greenham, who was unfamiliar to me.)

One Sufficient Source
For knowledge of God (Blogging Theologically).

For all the divine words you need (Pyromaniacs).

Purposes of Christ's Death: Galatians 1:3-5

This is another updated and reposted piece from an old series of posts examining the purpose statement that scripture gives us regarding the death of Christ. 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, [4] who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, [5] to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (Galatians 1:3-5 ESV)

These verses tell us that the purpose for Christ’s giving of Himself for us is “to deliver us from the present evil age.” It seems like a straightforward statement, one that should be easy to understand — except for that little phrase “present evil age.” Obviously, Paul is not using age to refer to simply “a period of time,” but is getting at something else. But what, exactly?

I went to Herman Ridderbos and Paul: An Outline of His Theology for help. If you’ve read Ridderbos, you know he can be difficult to understand, but I think I got enough to be at least a bit closer to grasping what “age” means in this statement from Galatians. I am borrowing liberally from Ridderbos in the next paragraphs. 

Paul uses the word age to speak of a whole way of life, and in the case of “the present evil age,” it’s the way of life outside of Christ. This would make it roughly equivalent to the way Paul uses the word “world,” too. In Ephesians 2, he uses the two words, aeon (age) and kosmos (world) together:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—(Ephesians 2:1-2 ESV)

The word translated “course” is aeon, just like the word “age” in the verses from Galatians we are looking at. Paul is, in effect, saying that we once walked according to the age of this world. And you can see from the context that he is refering to the former life of believers, the life they once lived, a life characterized by the rule of Satan. He uses the the word flesh this way also, to mean not simply the physical body, but the whole realm of the life of sin.

In Paul’s writings, the present age, the world, and flesh, are used to refer to the way of life of those who are not in Christ, who are ruled by sin. These contrast with a new age, a new creation, and new life in the Spirit — or the way of life that comes by union with Christ. 

One of the purposes of Christ’s death is to rescue us from this present evil age—or the rule of Satan and sin. Elsewhere, Paul writes that Christ’s redemption transfers us from Satan’s kingdom to Christ’s kingdom:

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son … (Colossians 1:13 ESV)

Through Christ’s death for us, we are freed from bondage to our old way of life and brought into the new creation that is life governed by the Spirit. This deliverance from the present evil age (or the rule of sin) is one of the purposes of Christ’s death.

Theological Term of the Week

evangelism
Sharing with non-Christians the message of what Jesus has done to save sinners, and calling them to repent and believe;1 the faithful delivery of the message of the gospel.2

• From scripture:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20 ESV)

And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? [13] The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. [14] But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, [15] and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. [16] And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

[17] “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. [18] But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. [19] Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, [20] that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, [21] whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. [22] Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. [23] And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ [24] And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. [25] You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ [26] God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.” (Acts 3:12-26 ESV)

• From Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J. I. Packer:

Evangelism … is a task appointed to all God’s people everywhere. It is the task of communicating a message from the Creator to rebel mankind. The message begins with information and ends with an invitation. The information concerns God’s work of making His Son a perfect Saviour for sinners. The invitation is God’s summons to mankind generally to come to the Saviour and find life. God commands all men everywhere to repent, and promises forgiveness and restoration to all who do. The Christian is sent into the world as God’s herald and Christ’s ambassador, to broadcast this message as widely as he can. This is both his duty (because God commands it, and love to our neighbour requires it) and his privilege (because it is a great thing to speak for God, and to take our neighbour the remedy—the only remedy—that can save him from the terrors of spiritual death). Our job, then, is to go to our fellow-men and tell them the gospel of Christ, and try by every means to make it clear to them; to remove as best we can any difficulties that they may find in it, to impress them with its seriousness, and to urge them to respond to it. This is our abiding responsibility; it is a basic part of our Christian calling.

Learn more:

1. 9 Marks: Evangelism
2. Truth for Today: What Evangelism Really Is
3. George R. Jaffray Jr.: Explosive Evangelism
4. Mark Dever: What Evangelism Isn’t
5. Kim Riddlebarger: Some Dos and Don’ts of Evangelism
6. Ken Murphy: Equipping the Saints for Evangelism (mp3)

Related terms:

• conversion
• gospel
• gospel call

Filed under Salvation

1Rephrased from Evangelism (9 Marks). 

2From Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J. I. Packer.

Do you have a term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.