Saturday's Old Photo

This is one of the Saturday’s Old Photo posts from the old blog. The old post lost its photo when my son closed his Smugmug account, so tonight I’m uploading the photo here and reposting the text that went with it. I chose this piece to repost because it gives background for the old photo I plan to post next week.

I’m sure I don’t need to tell you who this little person is, but I will anyway. This is me when I was around 18 months old. This photo was taken by a photographer for the yearbook at Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee. My dad was a student there and this picture was taken for use in the photo spread on Trailerville, where all the married students and their families lived. I don’t think this actually made it into the yearbook, but it did make it into my family’s collection of photographs.

You’ll notice I’m playing with a slinky, which I suppose was the latest thing back then. That I have a slinkly rather than a stuffed animal tells you a bit about what kind of toys I liked. I had a doll—one with outfits my grandma and mother made—but I didn’t play with her much. I tried to play with her, but after I’d changed her clothes, I couldn’t think of anything else to do. I preferred cars and trucks and building blocks—things you could use to do something or make something.

When I was school age I mentioned to my parents that I remembered how much I’d loved playing with my toy 7-Up truck—the one with the little crates of pop that could be loaded in the back.

“Seven-Up truck?” they said. “You didn’t have a 7-Up truck.” It turns out that my first toy memory is of a toy that wasn’t mine, but belonged to a boy who was my neighbor for six weeks when I was two.

This slinky isn’t mine either, but belongs to one of the other Trailerville kids.

Imputation for Kids—and Grownups, Too

From Big Truths for Young Hearts by Bruce Ware:

Like a play that moves the story forward through its series of Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3, the salvation story of the Bible moves the plan of salvation forward through three acts.

In Act 1, Adam sins in the garden, eating the forbidden fruit, so that his sin is charged not only to him but also to all who have come from Adam (Romans 5:12-19) Just like if you used your dad’s credit card to buy something, charging the expense to him, so God charges us with the sin of Adam. In so doing, this brings to Adam and to us both the stain and bondage of sin in our inner lives and the guilts of sin before a holy God.

Act 2 involves God the Father taking all of that sin—both the sin we received from Adam and all of our own sin—and charging that sin to Christ. As we’ve thought about earlier, when Jesus died on the cross, he bore our sin and took the punishment that we deserved. Even though he was sinless and innocent of any wrongdoing, yet for our salvation, God the Father put our sin on his Son and satisfied his own just wrath against our sin through his Son’s death. As Paul states, “For our sake he [God the Father] made him [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin” 2 Corinthians 5:21a).

Act 3 is crucial to the story of salvation, and it involves God the Father now crediting us with the righteousness of his own Son when we put our faith solely in Christ. To credit means to add something positive that increases the value from what was true before. When you deposit money into a savings account, you credit the account by the amount of that deposit, making the account more valuable than it was previously. God does this with sinners who turn to Christ in faith. At the moment that they trust Christ alone for the forgiveness of all of their sins and the only hope they have of receiving eternal life, he credits them with the righteousness of his own Son. The remainder of 2 Corinthians 5:21 makes this point. The whole verse reads, “For our sake he [God the Father] made him [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

What do you think? At what age would a child be able to understand this explanation?

Theological Term of the Week

wrath
God’s perfection of righteous anger against sin; his “eternal detestation of all unrighteousness.”1

• From scripture:
  

  …because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. (Romans 2:5-8 ESV)

• From The Attributes of God by A. W. Pink:

  Now the wrath of God is as much a Divine perfection as is His faithfulness, power, or mercy. It must be so, for there is no blemish whatever, not the slightest defect in the character of God; yet there would be if “wrath” were absent from Himl Indifference to sin is a moral blemish, and he who hates it not is a moral leper. How could He who is the Sum of all excellency look with equal satisfaction upon virtue and vice, wisdom and folly? How could He who is infinitely holy disregard sin and refuse to manifest His “severity” (Rom. 9:22) toward it? How could He, who delights only in that which is pure and lovely, not loathe and hate that which is impure and vile? The very nature of God makes Hell as real a necessity, as imperatively and eternally requisite, as Heaven is. Not only is there no imperfection in God, but there is no perfection in Him that is less perfect than another.

• From Knowing God by J. I. Packer:

  No doubt it is true that the subject of divine wrath has in the past been handled speculatively, irreverently, even malevolently. No doubt there have been some who have preached of wrath and damnation with tearless eyes and no pain in their hearts. No doubt the sight of small sects cheerfully consigning the whole world, apart from themselves, to hell has disgusted many. Yet if we would know God, it is vital that we face the truth concerning his wrath, however unfashionable it may be, and however strong our initial prejudices against it. Otherwise we shall not understand the gospel of salvation from wrath, nor the propitiatory achievement of the cross, nor the wonder of the redeeming love of God. Nor shall we understand the hand of God in history and God’s present dealings with our own people; nor shall we be able to make head or tail of the book of Revelation; nor will our evangelism have the urgency enjoined by Jude—“save some, by snatching them out of the fire” (Jude 23 RSV). Neither our knowledge of God nor our service to him will be in accord with his Word.

Learn more: 

1. Blue Letter Bible, Don Stewart: What Is the Wrath of God?
2. Bob Deffinbaugh: The Wrath of God
3. Sam Storms: Justice and Wrath
4. From my attributes of God posts: God As Judge

Do you have a a theological 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.

I’m also interested in any suggestions you have for tweaking my definitions or for additional (or better) articles or sermons/lectures for linking. I’ll give you credit and a link back to your blog if I use your suggestion.

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