Bible and Mission

  The Olympics celebrates the pinnacle of achievement for the human body.  We exult and are amazed by the speed, endurance, and strength that young people achieve through their natural capacities and strenuous training.  Anyone cheating through the use of drugs is disqualified.  At the Olympics, we only want to see those competing who are playing by the rules of nature. The Olympics also celebrates the good will of humanity as athletes from different nations compete in friendly competition with one another.  The games can rise above the conflicts of nations.  Even athletes from aggressive nations can compete, though perhaps not as representatives of those nations.  By competing in the games, they rise above the behaviour of their national identities. The French opening ceremony of the XXXIII Olympics in Paris managed to undermine both of these goals as drag queens parodied the Lord’s Supper, as depicted in Leonardo da Vinc...

Introduction At the academic level, scholars will be aware of numerous books and essays on Paul and the Law.   Many ministers and laity approach the question differently: ‘Is the Law still relevant for Christians?’   Much of this discussion focusses on exegesis of specific texts in Paul.   This brief essay takes a broader view in that it asks how Paul’s discussion of the Law might have fit into the discussion of politics in antiquity.   For this, I propose to use some distinctions from Aristotle’s Politics .   I also intend to keep the analysis brief as considerations easily become entangled in the plethora of literature on the subject and drown understanding in all the details.   The reader may ask whether this is simplistic and distorts the discussion of Paul and the Law.   My view is that this approach helps to provide a way into a complex subject that might be followed up with an engagement of all the discussion of Paul and the Law over the past ...

  Evangelicals are currently facing an ethical and clerical question framed in regard to the matter of ordaining same sex attracted but celibate ministers or priests.   I have written on this subject in earlier essays.   This is a matter of how we understand Christian ethics: Is it a matter of moral acts or also of the heart?   Underlying this question is a theological question of the relationship between justification and sanctification.   I would like to offer some dialogue with several Scriptures and what might also be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church .   It might seem strange to bring in the Catholic Catechism at all for a Protestant and Evangelical theological and ethical matter, but I would suggest that it is helpful.   It is helpful precisely because it understands grace in a way that is not ‘cheap grace’ and because it does capture key elements of historic Christian teaching about a conversion of the heart.   On these matters,...