Linked Together: Three Theological Statements

God
“God is without … passions,” teaches the confession. Can that be true? Doesn’t he love us? In The Problem with Passion, Tom Chantry explains what “without passions” means, and tells us why it’s good news that God is without them.

Christ
The author of Hebrews says that Christ is “the radiance of the glory of God.” In other words,

All that God is — the measureless sum of his eternal and eternally rich attributes — shines forth in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son. Jesus is supremely radiant.

For more explanation, read all of Christ As Radiance by Jared Wilson. It just might make your heart sing.

People
How do we square Paul’s statement, “no one does good,” with the acts of kindness done by those around us who are unbelievers? How is Paul defining good?

The “goodness” in view in Romans 3:12 (citing Ps. 14:3) is goodness as God sees it. The Bible is asserting that even acts of civic kindness done by an unbeliever fail to meet the requirement of God’s law—namely, that all our actions must be done with a view to glorifying God. In that sense, even the unbeliever’s good acts are evil. 

Read all of Is It True That Natural Man Cannot Do Any Good? by Derek Thomas.