In the three essays about the phrase “justification by grace through faith,” I explored the phenomenon of word meaning drift. Since language is a living thing, meanings drift, and sometimes flip, over time. For instance, in Jacobean English “awful” meant “worthy of awe,” but if today I told you that God was truly awful, you …
For the last two weeks I’ve been writing about what is arguably the core doctrine of Reformed theology: Justification by grace through faith. We have now arrived at faith. In Greek, faith (the noun), to believe (the verb), and faithful (the adjective) all have the same root, while in English, two unrelated words are used …
Last week I wrote about the Greek word variously translated as “just,” “justified,” “justification,” and “righteousness” [dikaion]. In its most generic meaning, the just is “one who conforms … who observes custom.” It was a very common word that had application in pagan religion, where it was used in the sense of the fulfillment of …
A new “Legend of Zelda” computer game has arrived. I don’t give credit to gaming companies for actually having a 40 year marketing plan, but the timing of the game is brilliant. Children who got Nintendo game consoles in the 90s are now parents, and the new Zelda game provides the opportunity for them to …
Karl Barth, in his 1921-1922 university lectures on the book of Ephesians spends the first several lectures on the opening few verses of the book. Last week I took a deep dive into his surprisingly non-Reformed understanding of “faithful” (v 1). This is a place where he aligns with the ancient church rather than the …
About fifteen years ago (although I just discovered it) Karl Barth’s lectures on Ephesians were published in English translation as part of a doctoral dissertation by Ross Wright (found here). In the third and fourth lecture he discusses the word “faithful” (“To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus” (1:1b). …
I went to a funeral of the parent of an acquaintance this week. My acquaintance is that flavor of Baptist that is very knowledgeable about the Bible, can slip his faith or God’s blessing into every conversation almost without fail (ie, “witnessing”), and has a very specific and narrow meaning of being a Christian and …
And so we come to my final big salvation word: Repentance. In case you haven’t figured it out, this little collection of essays are a Lenten meditation. It might seem odd to choose the word “repentance” on this day after Easter. “Shouldn’t you be talking about victory, or new life, or bunnies?” you ask. Ah, …
If you’ve been paying attention for the last month or so as I’ve considered a variety of “big salvation words,” you might realize that asking God for mercy implies much more than, “A little help, please?” At the root of mercy is the double edged sword of divine help through the process of God unmasking …
In the previous essay I explained why our “redemption” is a bit ironic (and therefore in quotes). In this essay I want to consider a second reason why we might want to keep those quotation marks around this Big Salvation Word. A cynic might look at the Christians all around and say that salvation is …
Just Another Jim 