Bible and Mission

  Section IV of the Seoul Statement of the fourth Lausanne Congress (September, 2024) is titled, ‘The Human Person: The Image of God Created and Restored’.   It consists of paragraphs 48-70.   From paragraph 56, the section has to do with human sexuality.  My review of this section follows. A theological understanding of the 'image of God' underpins what is said in this section.  While what is meant by the 'image of God' has received a vast amount of attention from Biblical scholars and theologians, the statement does not engage with them.   (It would be difficult to do so in a statement such as this, but this difficulty should not allow us to pin theology or ethics that we derive from elsewhere onto this concept instead of arguing our case from the Biblical text.)  The statement  affirms that humanity created in God’s image makes us unique, ‘includes stewardship roles and responsibilities’, and involves ‘inherent dignity, equality, and worth’ (...

  Introduction In the final phase of the 2024 Presidential election in the United States of America, various Democrats in politics and media reporters have pressed the idea that the Republican candidate is a fascist.   People my age know what fascism is in particular in light of what it stood for and how it was implemented in Nazi Germany in 1920s-1945.   I'm not so sure people in their 20s know this very well.   Some may have a grasp of what it was in Italy as well.   A few of us will have lived during Apartheid under the Nationalist government in South Africa and recall how it was a milder but still very nasty version of German and Italian fascism.   All of us today withdraw in horror that fascism might be back in some form or another. This essay provides an answer to the question, ‘What is fascism?’, and one hopes that the reader will see that the charge of fascism against Republicans today is merely a political ruse to garner votes by today’s lef...

In this post, I will continue to review the Seoul Statement of the fourth Lausanne Congress that met in September, 2024.  Section three of the statement is on the Church.  It begins with an introductory paragraph outlining how our understanding of the ‘Church’ is in crisis and that little attention has been given to the matter.   Twenty-two paragraphs follow to address the issue.  I will present this material in my own, fourteen points and add comments on occasion.  [For Part Two of my review of this statement (on Scripture), click here .  For the Seoul Statement, click here .] First, ‘the church is not our doing; it is God’s gift’ (4.25).   Second, its unity is in Christ (4.26).   Third, it is a universal church and continuous through the centuries (4.27).   Related to all three of these points, 4.28 points out that the Church is the people of God the Father, one body of Christ, and one temple of the Holy Spirit.   Without pointing ou...

In this post, I will continue my commentary on the Seoul Lausanne Statement of September, 2024 by examining its section on Scripture. [1]   (See my first post on the Preamble and Section One.) [2]   This second section offers eight points on Scripture.  It intends to develop Lausanne’s high view of Scripture by focussing on issues of interpretation.  In the first paragraph (2.17), just what is meant by Scripture is stated.  Its inspiration is affirmed: it is ‘ God’s word written, a divinely inspired, God-breathed collection of writings’.  Its canonical extent is noted: 66 books.  Its diversity through human authorship and unity in its testimony are noted.  Second, the statement advocates reading Scripture with the hermeneutical lens of the Gospel (2.18).  The Gospel is defined as ‘ the gospel of the kingdom of God, the proclamation of Jesus’ incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, and return, which is the fulfilment of God’s promise ...