Selected Reading, December 11, 2021

 

A few good things I read recently.

Prayer

Should we pray imprecatory prayers?
Aaron Armstrong says yes. 

You can understand why some Christians would reject praying in this way altogether. It seems in conflict with Jesus’ call for us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. But I don’t believe the full counsel of Scripture supports that. Imprecatory prayers modeled in both the Old and New Testaments (Matthew 23; Galatians 1:8-9; Revelation 6:10). Jesus and the apostles alike prayed in this way. We probably shouldn’t dismiss these sorts of prayers and petitions, then.

I may have mentioned this here previously, but I once heard a sermon in which the preacher chalked an imprecatory bit in one of the psalms to the immaturity of the psalm’s author, so I know from experience that some people do reject all imprecatory prayers. But everytime we pray for God to bring justice for someone who has been harmed, we are praying an imprecatory prayer.

Words 

Big Bible Words: Atonement
A great little essay on the biblical word atonement. And it starts with a double nightmare.

A Mystery

Who wrote Hebrews?
We discussed this pretty thoroughly at the beginning of the Hebrews Bible study I attend. This is an excellent examination of this New Testament mystery.

Romans and Hebrews, of similar length, may be the two great pillar epistles of Christian theology, and yet far more is known, and certain, about Romans. With Romans, we get the systematically reasoned heart of Paul. With Hebrews, we get another learned, powerful, complementary voice — but whose? 

Birds

Bathing is crucial for a bird’s longevity
All the reasons birds need baths. 

Sunday's Hymn: To Us a Child of Hope is Born

To us a child of hope is born,
To us a son is giv’n,
Him shall the tribes of earth obey,
Him all the hosts of heaven

His name shall be the Prince of Peace,
For evermore adored,
The Wonderful, the Counsellor,
The great and mighty Lord;

His power, increasing, still shall spread,
His reign no end shall know;
Justice shall guard his throne above,
And peace abound below.

To us a Child of hope is born,
To us a Son is giv’n,
The Wonderful, the Counsellor,
The mighty Lord of heaven.

—John Mor­ris­on

Other hymns of worship songs for this Sunday:

• Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus at The Happy Wonderer 

Theological Term of the Week: Arianism

Arianism
A heresy which holds that the Son is a created being through whom the world was made, but who is not co-eternal or of the same being as the Father.

• Scripture (and Jesus) refuting Arianism:
  

  I and the Father are one. (John 10:30 ESV)

• From the Nicene Creed, refuting Arianism:
  

  We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
  the only son of God,
  eternally begotten of the Father,
  God from God, Light from Light,
  true God from true God,
  begotten, not made,
  of one being with the Father.

• From T. C. Hammond in In Understanding Be Men, pages 55-56::
  

  Although holding that God was one, [Arius] placed so much emphasis on his teaching concerning the Persons of the Trinity that in effect he divided the Substance of the Godhead. This resulted chiefly from his definition of the Son and the Holy Spirit as being lesser, subordinate Beings whom the Father willed into existence for the Purpose of acting as His Agents in His dealings with the world and man. In effect, Arius reduced our Lord (and the Spirit) below the level of strict deity. He would admit his deity in a secondary sense, but denied His eternal Sonship, allowing that His being preceded the foundation of the world, but was not co-eternal with the Father. The disciples of Arius, by teaching that the Spirit was brought into existence by the Son, reduced Him to a relative form of deity (in a tertiary sense).
  
  In recent centuries there have been movements such as Unitarianism…and certain modern cults which, although varying in other respects, possess one opinion which is common to them all, that the Godhead consists in one single person, which necessitates assigning to our Lord and the Holy Spirit some nature and position less than that of true deity. This is one of the most important battle-grounds in the history of the church, and no true Christian should for one moment tolerate any description of our Master other than that which assigns to Hm the fullest deity, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father. While, at first sight, it may not seem so obvious, the Christian must equally contend for the full deity of the Holy Spirit.

Learn more:

1. GotQuestions: What is Arianism?
2. Justin Holcomb: Arianism: It’s Teaching and Rebuttal
3. Ligonier Ministries: Arianism
4. Banner of Truth: Arianism
5. Rev. Ronald Hanko: The Arian Controversy, Part 1, The Arian Controversy, Part 2

Related terms:

• adoptionism
• docetism 
• modalism

Filed under Defective Theology and Trinity

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