Episode 239: The Great De-Churching

By / Nov 29

We are currently experiencing the largest and fastest religious shift in US history. It is greater than the First and Second Great Awakening and every revival in our country combined…but in the opposite direction. On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared Wilson chats with Jim Davis and Michael Graham, co-authors of the new book The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back?, about the eye-opening and challenging findings of the first-ever large-scale sociological research study of the American de-churching phenomenon. Maybe your assumptions about why people are leaving the church in massive numbers will be subverted, as well. Davis and Graham provide key insights to the challenge and applicational takeaways for evangelicals and church leaders in rising to the challenge. Find out more info at dechurching.com

 

 



09: How to Hope in Old Testament Promises through Christ

By / Nov 22

“The Promises … Yes in Him” (2 Cor 1:20)

Yahweh’s promises (old and new) are vital for Christians. If we fail to trustingly embrace OT promises, we will lose three-fourths of the life-giving words of truth that our trustworthy God has given us. Yet we must appropriate them through Christ.

“This Will Turn Out for My Deliverance”

Consider how Paul lived in hope by claiming promises that encouraged Job. The apostle opens his Philippian letter noting that he was in prison for Christ (Phil 1:7) and that his imprisonment had itself advanced the gospel’s spread (1:12–13). He then asserts: “Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance” (1:18–19, italics added).

With the italicized words in verse 19, Paul alludes to the Greek translation of Job 13:16, the only other place in Scripture where the clause occurs (see the NIV). Thus, just as Job anticipated that even death would not keep him from being saved, so Paul declared that his imprisonment would “turn out for [his] deliverance, … whether by life or by death” (Phil 1:19–20). Like Job, Paul was convinced that he would be delivered, but this salvation could even come “by death.”

Paul’s sole hope for attaining Job’s resurrection hope (3:11) was that he be found in Christ (3:9). The apostle, therefore, claims Job’s promise through Jesus, whose own resurrection power (3:10) made both Job and Paul’s hope possible. The very promises that kept Job fearing God were Paul’s in Christ. And today they belong to all who are in Jesus.

Four Ways Jesus Makes Every Promise “Yes”

Truly, every promise in Scripture is “yes” in Christ (2 Cor 1:20). Yet Jesus fulfills the OT’s promises in more than one way, and this means Christians cannot approach all OT promises in the same manner. Believers must claim Scripture’s promises using a salvation-historical framework that has Jesus at the center. Christ is the lens that clarifies and focuses the lasting significance of all God’s promises for us (see fig. 1).

Figure 1. The Fulfillment of OT Promises through the Lens of Christ

1. Christ Maintains Some OT Promises with No Extension

Christ maintains certain promises without adding any further beneficiaries. For example, Daniel 12:2 envisioned a resurrection of some to everlasting life and of others to eternal contempt. Alluding to this passage, Jesus associated this same resurrection with his second coming: “An hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of Man’s] voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28–29).

Christians should claim Daniel 12:2’s promise of resurrection as our own. We do so, however, recognizing that we will only rise because Christ was first raised. “Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep…. Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ” (1 Cor 15:20, 23). This resurrection has an “already and not yet” dimension, as the redeemed saints from both the OT and NT epochs benefit from it. Jesus maintains the OT promise without altering those profiting from it.

2. Christ Maintains Some OT Promises with Extension

When Christ fulfills some OT promises, he extends the parties related to the promise. For instance, consider how Moses and Yahweh’s promises to Joshua extend to Christians. Speaking to Joshua, Moses declared: “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you” (Deut 31:8). Later, Yahweh said to Joshua, “Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you” (Josh 1:5). And it is on this basis that the author of Hebrews writes: “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Heb 13:5, italics added).

In Hebrews, the OT’s wilderness and conquest narratives play an important role in magnifying Christ and the new covenant. Moses was faithful to God “as a servant,” whereas Christ was faithful “as a son” (3:5). Some, like Joshua, believed that God was able to secure rest, but all others died because of unbelief (4:2). Later, Joshua led Israel into the promised land, but the rest he secured was only predictive of the greater rest that the more supreme Joshua (i.e., Jesus) would secure for all in him (4:8).

So, if the Lord was with the first Joshua and all who followed him, how much more can we be assured that he will be with those identify with the greater Joshua! The original promise God gave to one man bore implications for the whole community (Deut 31:6), and now in the new covenant the same promise expands to all who are in Christ. We already share in Christ Jesus (Heb 3:14) but do not yet fully enjoy all that God promised (6:12). But because God has pledged, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (13:5), Christians can rest secure knowing that we will one day fully enjoy the inheritance.

God promises to be with Joshua as he leads God’s people into the promised land.
All those following Joshua would also enjoy God’s presence.
Joshua’s name and role points ahead to Jesus, the greater Joshua.
Jesus is “God with us” and is leading God’s people into a greater promised land.
All those following Jesus also enjoy God’s presence.

Figure 2. God Maintains the Promise of His Presence While Extending It to All in Christ

3. Christ Himself Completes or Uniquely Realizes Some OT Promises

Some OT promises Christ has already completed or realized. For example, the prophet Micah predicted that a ruler in Israel would arise from Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2), and Christ exclusively fulfilled that promise at his birth (Matt 2:6). Nevertheless, his birth was to spark a global return of “his brothers,” and as king he would “shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,” thus establishing lasting peace and enjoying a great name (Mic. 5:3–5). All these added promises continue to give Christians comfort and hope, and Christ’s birth in Bethlehem validates for us the certainty of his permanent and global exaltation.

Another example is Yahweh’s promise to Solomon that, because he asked for wisdom rather than long life, riches, or punishment on his enemies, God would give him wisdom, riches, and honor (1 Kgs 3:11–13). This promise is “yes” in Christ in that on the cross Jesus purchased every divine bestowal of kindness, forbearance, and patience experienced in the realm of common grace (Gen 8:20–21; Rom 2:4; 3:25–26). Nevertheless, because the promise was contingent on one man’s request and was related to his specific reign, the promise’s specificity indicates that this is not a promise that every believer always enjoys. Instead, it was unique to Solomon himself, with others benefiting only from the wisdom, riches, and honor he himself enjoyed.

4. Christ Transforms Some OT Promises

At times, Jesus develops an OT promise’s makeup and audience. The land that Yahweh promised to Abraham and his offspring is of this kind (Gen 13:15; 17:8; 48:4; Exod 32:13). The patriarch would serve as a father of a single nation who would dwell in the land of Canaan (Gen 17:8) and oversee an even broader geopolitical sphere (15:18). These realities are initially fulfilled in the Mosaic covenant (Exod 2:24; 6:8; Deut 1:8; 6:10; 9:5; 30:20; 34:4) and realized in the days of Joshua (Josh 11:23; 21:43) and Solomon (1 Kgs 4:20–21). Nevertheless, Genesis already foresees Abraham becoming the father of not just one nation but nations (Gen 17:4–6) and anticipates his influence reaching beyond the land (singular) to lands (plural) (26:3–4). This would happen when the royal offspring possesses the gate of his enemies and all nations count themselves blessed in him (22:17b–18; 24:60).

In the new covenant, Christ transforms the type into the antitype by fulfilling the original land promise in himself and by extending it to the whole world through his people. In Paul’s words, God promised “Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world” (Rom 4:13); at the consummation, the new earth will fully realize the antitype. While Christ maintains (without extension) Genesis’s promises of the antitypical lands (plural), he does this by transforming the promises to Israel of the land (singular) as an “everlasting possession” (Gen 17:8; 48:4). The nature of his fulfillment indicates that the land (singular) was but a type, which he transforms into the antitype, just as God had already foretold to the patriarchs.

Conclusion

God’s promises are often associated with life or death and conditioned on whether his covenant partner obeys. Whereas the old Mosaic covenant was conditional and revocable (and thus temporary considering Israel’s disobedience), the Abrahamic covenant was conditional and irrevocable. This means that God would indeed realize all the promises but would do so only through an obedient Son. Representing Abraham and Israel, Jesus actively obeys and secures OT promises for all who are in him. Christ maintains some promises without extension, maintains others with extension, completes some, and transforms others.

 ¹William L. Lane, Hebrews 9–13, WBC 47B (Dallas: Word, 1991), 520.

 

This blog series summarizes Jason S. DeRouchie’s forthcoming book, Delighting in the Old Testament: Through Christ and for Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2024). You can pre-order your copy here.



Episode 238: An Attitude of Thanksgiving

By / Nov 22

On this special Thanksgiving week episode of the For The Church Podcast, Jared Wilson and Ross Ferguson talk about cultivating a spirit of thanksgiving in the Christian life year-round.



Am I A Good Mom?

By / Nov 20

I feel like such a failure.

Growing up, I became accustomed to objective standards of success defining whether or not I had succeeded. An ‘A+’ signifies a job well done. A winning record in my collegiate sport proves my hard work. Even in marriage, a “Great job!” from my husband means I am accomplishing my goal of loving him well. Until recently, I didn’t realize how much I had begun to rely on these exterior praises to determine whether I had accomplished a job well done.

Every day, I am faced with opportunities to fail or succeed but there is no one other than my three kids under three to see. For the last three years, I have constantly strived to be the best and most God-honoring mother I can be. In my striving, I have never, ever felt more like a failure. Even the encouragement from my husband hasn’t been good enough for me. My kids aren’t old enough to understand what a good mom does and is, so I’m left pursuing an elusive affirmation that won’t come. In my struggle to understand why I often feel dissatisfied and discouraged in my homemaking and parenting, I turned to Scripture. By God’s grace, I found five truths regarding the unseen work of motherhood.

First, the work of caring for my home and for my children is good and godly work. In Titus 2, the call for older women to teach younger women includes the phrase “to be workers at home.” This section of text spells out for us what it looks like to be godly women. It is good for us to be working in our homes, loving our husbands and children. Whether it is wiping tables or wiping buns, God has given us the job of raising the blessing of children for his glory.1 It is good for you and I to pursue God’s glory in our most mundane and boring tasks.2

Second, the pursuit of the approval of man regarding my performance can be sinful idolatry. Galatians 1:10 says “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” If my work is dedicated merely to serving man, then I am missing the point and the proper motivation of why my work matters. If I rely constantly on the approval of my husband to affirm my value and worth as a mother, then I am seeking to serve man and not God. Colossians 3:23-24 directly commands us to serve God and not man. Now this is not to say that in serving God, I don’t also serve man. A clean home and fed children obviously serves them as well, but the main motivating factor in our work should be God’s glory. To pursue a clean home and obedient children for reasons other than honoring Christ can quickly become idolatry of man’s approval.

Third, the goodness of my work is determined by God, not by how I feel about it. What if I go to bed and the dishes aren’t done? What if I feel worn out from disciplining my children all day? What if I am completely discouraged by the insurmountable task of faithfully mothering? The goodness of my job as a mother is not determined by how ecstatic I am to be doing it. We all know that not every day feels like Disneyland, and often, even Disneyland isn’t all that great. This is why we must be reminded that God judges the heart.3 When your home is a wreck and your children are sick and it seems like everything is falling apart, God sees your heart, Mama. He knows your desire to honor him and he is not disappointed in the laundry that is undone. When you are patient and long-suffering yet your children still disobey, be encouraged that God has called your job of parenting good.

Fourth, when I inevitably fail, God’s grace is sufficient for me. Raise your hand if you’ve ever been angry with your kids. The fight against the temptation to respond in sinful anger toward my children is one I fight every single day. Often, that fight happens minute to minute. I am keenly aware of my failure in motherhood, but that failure is not found in an imperfect house or undone laundry. It is in a heart of grumbling, in a posture of discontentment, in impatience and anger, in envy and gossip. Part of my problem is that I displace what failure actually is. I am less concerned with the sin of anger if my kids obey. Yet, God says my sin is the true problem I face, not teenagers with attitudes. We are creatures of disordered values. We measure success in the final product, not in the heart of the process. Despite our many failures, God remembers that we are but dust.4 He promises to shower us with grace upon grace as we continually return to him in our failure.5 We serve a God that is acquainted with the hardship of living in a sin cursed world and he sympathizes with our striving and he is honored in our pursuit of faithful mothering.6

Finally, my value is found in Christ’s sacrifice on my behalf, not my striving in this life. When I don’t receive that A+ for the day or even if I do, my value as a mother is not measured in my wins and losses or my grade on the imaginary parenting report card. My life is hidden with Christ and it is no longer I who live but him who lives in me.7 I am called to be faithful and I will inevitably fail, but the truth is that because of Christ’s death and resurrection on my behalf, there is no failure, no sin too big, no utter parenting loss that can strip me from God’s right hand.8 This is the gospel! Through Christ’s sacrifice, we are secure and we do not have to strive for God’s love or seek the approval of our husbands to be considered good. God has declared us righteous in his sight and there is no better place to be.

So be encouraged sweet Mama, we are not striving in vain. The Lord has given us the good work of motherhood and no matter how we feel about it at this moment, this is a good work for us to do. We don’t need the approval of man. We don’t need a winning record. We need God’s grace in our failure and we need to be reminded over and over of the precious good news of the gospel.


1. Psalm 127:3-5, Ephesians 6:4
2. 1 Corinthians 10:31
3. 1 Samuel 16:7
4. Psalm 103:14
5. John 1:16
6. Hebrews 4:15
7. Galatians 2:20
8. John 10:28



On Vice and Virtue

By / Nov 16

In volume two of his trilogy, Ethics as Theology, Oliver O’Donovan attempts to “follow moral thought from self-awareness to decision through the sequence of virtues from faith to hope.”1 Here, O’Donovan begins with a sort of reorientation related to the ‘Spirit and Self.’ This reorientation is attempting to respond rightly to the divine summons in Psalm 95:7 to not harden one’s heart.

However, following Augustine, O’Donovan notes the disordered nature of our love(s). In relation to ourselves, love is disordered because it “clings to a self that is self-conceived.”2 This self-enclosure, as Luther described it, is a vicious circularity.3 Not only does this disordered love long to be the object of admiration, but in this self-enclosure there is a failed agency where shame and doubt block any further view of God’s wisdom rescuing us from indifference, folly, excuse, and despair.

As O’Donovan’s second volume addresses, I want to briefly reflect on a few vices of self-enclosure and a few virtues of our renewed agency as united to Christ Jesus.

On Vices of Folly & Anger

From the book of Proverbs, folly is a basic vice. Its contrast to wisdom is a major theme in the book. “The proud person” says Basil, “lacks the capacity to recognize God’s gifts in his or her life.”4 Folly blinds a man from the sight of beauty and good. Folly cripples a man from walking the path of godliness and wisdom. Folly hardens the heart of a man as he looks too long in the mirror.

The vice of anger has many faces because we are self-enclosed either in terms of deficiency or excess. Anger might rend the face of irritability as a deficiency of patience. Anger might rend the face of quarrelsomeness as the excess of courage. Anger might rend the face of resentment or grudge-holding as the deficiency of forgiveness. Anger might rend the face of self-righteousness as the excess of truthfulness. In other words, those who are easily provoked are “led by their rage and do not know what they do on account of their anger, nor do they know what they suffer in themselves. What’s even worse, they sometimes think that the stimulus of their anger is the zeal of righteousness. As we know, when vice is believed to be virtue, sin accumulates without fear.”5

On Virtues of Humility & Forbearance

However, the Psalmist is clear: “The humble will hear and be glad.” Likewise, Solomon says, “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.” Humility is the substance of our imitation of Him, for in doing so, we become who we were made to be. Indeed, this is what virtue is; imitating Christ Jesus “so that out of our humility there may arise for us everlasting glory, the perfect and true gift of Christ…the soul grows like what it pursues, and is molded and shaped according to what it does.”6 Thus, as arrogance is a deficiency of humility and self-deprecation is an excess of humility, humility is boasting in the Lord of glory alone for we “have not embraced Christ through virtue, but Christ has embraced you through his advent.”7

The virtue of forbearance (Eph. 4:2; Col. 3:13), closely linked with the virtue of fortitude, lays out the moral responsibility of those predestined and loved in Christ to “bear with” or exhibit “long-suffering” with those brothers and sisters who may irritate, frustrate, annoy, hurt our feelings, or make this world more difficult than it already is. Whereas forbearance is a command by Christ, it is also a virtue that we cultivate and practice as we endure and live with those around us under the rule of Christ’s peace. Thus, the virtue of forbearance is the long-suffering practice of bearing with those who we may want to quarrel with in anger or disregard in strife.

On Vices of Strife & Discord

Augustine notes: “whoever follows after what is inferior to himself, becomes himself inferior…For if happiness consists in the enjoyment of a good than which there is nothing better, which we call the chief good, how can a man be properly called happy who has not yet attained to his chief good?”8 Strife, then, can be conceived as a deficiency of the loving Peace, or it may be conceived of as an excess of justice. Those caught in the vicious circularity of strife have disregarded the chief good, God himself, and are trapped in their own self-enclosure.

The vice of discord is the deficiency of peace wherein charity is destroyed, and self-regard is perpetrated. Gregory says: “let those who sow strife consider the extent to which they sin. For when they perpetrate this particular sin, they also eradicate every virtue that they may have in their heart…whoever destroys the charity of his neighbor by sowing strife acts as though he were in the service of God’s enemy.”9

On Virtues of Forgiveness & Peace-making

Forgiveness is the flip side of forbearance or “bearing with one another.” (Col. 3:13; Prov. 10:12) Keller notes in his recent book: “Forgiveness…is a promise to not exact the price of sin from the person who hurt you…It is possible to inwardly forgive without being able to reconcile with the offending party. Yet anyone who truly forgives from the heart will be open to and willing to reconcile.”10 In those times of personal conflict or hurt or pain, we are faced with a critical dilemma: remain self-enclosed or live in the participation of the life of God. Of course, there are nuanced times when forgiveness may occur and the relationship will take time to be reconciled. Nevertheless, the principle remains: the life of the Christian who shares in the life of God is one of forgiveness in the little & big things.

The virtue of peace-making is first grounded in the heavenly peace of Christ’s reign such that an earthly peace lends no path for sin. Further, as Thomas explains, the virtue of peace is more than an absence of conflict; rather, true peace requires charity between two persons who share the same desire for the chief good in each other.11

On Virtue of Love

In summary, Augustine describes the four cardinal virtues as four forms of love: “Temperance is love giving itself entirely to that which is loved; fortitude is love readily bearing all things for the sake of the loved object; justice is love serving only the loved object, and therefore rightly ruling; prudence is love distinguishing with sagacity between what hinders it and what helps it. The object of this love is not anything, but only God, the chief good, the highest wisdom, the perfect harmony.”12

Living well is a way of being with God as our highest and chief good. Therefore, in seeking that chief good (Col. 3:1-4), we live a happy life (Ps. 34:8-10). As the apostle Paul says, without love we are nothing, but with love we experience the fullness of our participation in the life of God. Furthermore, we experience this happy life through friendship. As one dear friend recently reminded me, the discord, estrangement, and relational strife we experience in this pilgrim land will heighten our beatific vision in our homeland. And we’ll do this together as we look back and see all the great things He has done, even through our vices.


1. Oliver O’Donovan, Ethics as Theology, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014), ix.
2. Ibid., 21.
3. Ibid.
4. Basil the Great, On Christian Doctrine and Practice (Crestwood: St. Vladimir’s Press, 2012), 103.
5. Gregory the Great, Book of Pastoral Rule, (Crestwood: St. Vladimir’s Press, 2007), 127-128.
6. Basil, On Christian Doctrine and Practice, 117.
7. Ibid., 113.
8. Augustine, On the Morals of the Catholic Church, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, volume 4. (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2012), 47-48.
9. Gregory the Great, Book of Pastoral Rule, 155.
10. Tim Keller, Forgive, (Viking, 2022), 185.
11. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II.IIQ29
12. Augustine, On the Morals of the Catholic Church, 58.



What is the Doctrine of Adoption?

By / Nov 15

Editor’s Note: The Theology in the Everyday series seeks to introduce and explain theological concepts in 500 words or less, with a 200-word section helping explain the doctrine to kids. At For The Church, we believe that theology should not be designated to the academy alone but lived out by faith in everyday life. We hope this series will present theology in such a way as to make it enjoyable, connecting theological ideas to everyday experience and encouraging believers to study theology for the glory of God and the good of the Church. This week, adoption.

There are hundreds of thousands of orphans in the United States alone and millions around the world. A distinctive feature of Christianity has been caring for these orphans (Ja. 1:27), but this was always expected of God’s people (Isa. 1:17). In the Old Testament, the ethical imperative to care for orphans was grounded in God’s character. He is a Father to the fatherless (Ps. 68:5). However, in the New Testament, we receive a fuller revelation, teaching us that Father is a proper name. God is eternally Father, Son, and Holy Spirit apart from the created order.

The apostle Paul prays to “the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named” (Eph. 3:14). In other words, creaturely fatherhood derives from the eternal Father, who eternally begets His beloved Son. Similarly, all sonship is derivative of the Son. We might be tempted to think that when the Bible speaks of believers being adopted, it is merely a metaphor based on the context of adoption in the ancient Greco-Roman world. But to the contrary, earthly adoption is a metaphor, a shadow, a sign to the reality of salvific adoption, whereby a spiritual orphan becomes a son of God. Fatherhood and Sonship precede all creation, and adoption is nothing less than participation in the life of the Trinity through union with the natural Son of God. In love, the Father predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:4-5). In Him we have obtained an inheritance—a fitting thing for a son to receive—and the Holy Spirit is our downpayment (Eph. 1:11-14). The distinct missions of the Son and the Spirit are achieved in order for us to become sons and heirs (Gal. 4:4-7). As Fred Sanders has written, “Salvation by adoption is the salvation than which nothing more fitting can be imagined by a triune God.”[1]

Adoption is a much “bigger” doctrine than most recognize. Our predestination, effectual calling, justification, and glorification are centered around adoption (Rom. 8:12-30), containing legal, transformational, and eschatological elements. The doctrine of new birth (or regeneration) is distinct but intertwined with adoption, given that both testify to our soteriological sonship through the Son. Adoption is admittedly a more Pauline way of speaking, while becoming children of God by being “born of God” or “born from above” is Johannine language (John 1:12-13, 3:3), but both of these distinct emphases testify to a salvation that participates in the eternal Father-Son relation. We are granted a filial status because we enter into that union as the Spirit of the Father and the Son fills us with His presence.

The entire New Testament also assumes this doctrine through two marvelous notions we haven’t yet mentioned: the family of God and prayer. Every apostolic writer presupposes that Christians have become a family, which consists of brothers and sisters, even fathers and mothers. How can Jews and Gentiles, Pharisees and tax collectors, bondservants and masters—people of every tribe, tongue, and nation—be considered a family? Jews may cry, “Abba,” and Greeks, “Father (patēr),” but it is by the same Spirit of adoption to the one Father of all (Gal. 4:6). Sonship is the underlying framework for our basic ecclesiology. Furthermore, our communion with God depends on this reality. We approach the throne of God in prayer, not as orphans but as children, and we beseech Him with the pattern of prayer handed down to us, “Our Father in Heaven” (Matt. 6:9). We pray to our Father through His Son in the Holy Spirit!

For the Kids:

Can you imagine not having a mom or a dad? As sad as it is to think about, some children grow up without parents. They don’t have anybody to take care of them—to feed them, clothe them, play with them, discipline them, or teach them about Jesus. But God cares about every orphan. That’s why he commands Christians like us to care for them (Ja. 1:27). There are different ways to care for kids without parents, but one of the most obvious and beautiful ways is by adopting them into your own family. If your parents adopted a child, they would become your new brother or sister, and they would have a new mother and father. If you’ve been adopted or know anybody who’s been adopted (or even if you can imagine it), then you’ve seen a picture of how the gospel works.

God is a Trinity. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that is who He’s always been. God never changes. So before there were any families with fathers and sons—before anything was created at all—God the Father had a Son, the Son had the Father, and they both had the Holy Spirit. And before the world even existed yet, God the Father chose us to be adopted into His family through His Son. But why did we need adopted?

We’re born as sinners, which means that we’ve been separated from God and have become spiritual orphans without God as our Father. But the Father sent His own Son to save us by His life, death, and resurrection, so that we could be brought into His family forever. When we believe in Jesus the Son, we become adopted by God the Father, receive the Holy Spirit, and get lots of new brothers and sisters too!

[1] Fred Sanders, Fountain of Salvation: Trinity and Soteriology (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing), 102.



Episode 237: The Trajectory of Apostasy

By / Nov 15

On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared Wilson and Ross Ferguson discuss the peculiar tragedy of those who evidently “fall away.” Are there warning signs before apostasy? What should we look out for and how can we address the red flags in biblical and gracious ways?



The Purpose of Theology in Times of Uncertainty

By / Nov 10

For the first time in centuries, England had no King.

What started with saber rattling led to a fractious civil war. After years of conflict during the 1640s, the anti-royalists terminated the war with a celebratory sabrage of the monarchy. Many declared the end of the world had come.

For students at Oxford University, this political instability brought anxiety. Where would they serve after graduation? In what state would they find the country? Could one find a job with any kind of financial security or projected path of safety and success?

These were uncertain times.

To address the concerns of the students, one theologian brought help and comfort by, believe it or not, teaching theology.

John Owen was an intellectual giant in the seventeenth century. As a Puritan who advocated reform within the Church of England, Owen saw his influence grow during the time when there was no King. When Oxford University needed leadership, the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, appointed Owen to serve as dean.

Owen’s role at Oxford also meant he had significant influence over the teaching of undergraduate students—and the students loved him.

Owen’s propensity to challenge formality in dress, no doubt, contributed to his large following among the students. He wore unconventional ribbons around his knees with Spanish leather boots. On top of his powdered hair, he wore a hat tilted, for effect, to one side.

Yet, it was Owen’s homiletical approach that had a lasting effect. Anthony Wood recounted that Owen’s “graceful behaviour in the pulpit” could move “the affections of his admiring auditory almost as he pleased.”1 As a regular practice during those years of country-wide instability, Owen and his fellow Puritan, Thomas Goodwin, each preached in the local university colleges on Sunday morning. Then they preached a schedule of Sunday afternoon sermons for undergraduate students in the University Church “St. Mary’s.”

These sermons were orthodox and precise, true and clear, but were more than a right ordering of facts—they were meant to ground and encourage the students to grow in their relationship with God, especially in uncertain times. Crawford Gribben notes that these university sermons “combined the theological mode with the devotional.”2 That is, in an era of tumult, Owen chose to give students theology with a fixed aim: to edify and point them to God.

This focus on edification is remarkable given the pressures Owen felt “to govern a restless and uneasy university community and to manage its affairs under a government in political turmoil.”3 As Gribben explains, Owen saw that “the scholastic bent of much mid-seventeenth century preaching and writing was not producing the godliness that [he] believed it should.”4 So, he designed his sermons to meet that need.

We know this was the case because Owen’s St. Mary’s sermons, while not extant, served as the basis for Owen’s later works including Of the Mortification of Sin (1656), Of Communion with God (1657), and Of Temptation (1658).5

Indeed, Owen’s sermons on communion with God serve as a prime example as they emphasized the believer’s relationship with the Triune God.6 As Beeke and Jones explain, in his sermons “Owen embraced the idea of enjoying the Trinity and amplified it through the concept of distinct communion with each divine person.”7 This is seen right at the start of Of Communion with God where Owen cited 1 John 1:3 to show his student audience that fellowship is with God himself.8

Owen continued to explain how “this distinct communion, then, of the saints with the Father, Son, and Spirit, is very plain in the Scripture.”9 The idea that man could have fellowship with God is remarkable given that “since the entrance of sin, no man hath any communion with God.” Yet, through the “manifestation of grace and pardoning mercy … in Christ we have boldness and access with confidence to God.”10

Naturally, two thirds of Owen’s sermons focused on communion with the Son given that communion with God is not possible without the sacrifice of the Son. Owen explained that “[b]ecause Christ was God and man in one person, he was able to suffer and to bear whatever punishment was due to us…. There was room enough in Christ’s breast to receive the points of all the swords that were sharpened by the law against us. And there was strength enough in Christ’s shoulders to bear the burden of that curse that was due us.”11

Given the work of Christ on our behalf, Owen exhorted the students to, “receive Christ in all his excellences and glories as he gives himself to us. Frequently think of him by faith, comparing him with other beloveds, such as sin, the world and legal righteousness. Then you will more and more prefer him above them all, and you will count them as all rubbish in comparison to him.”12

In tumultuous times, communion with God, then, is both “perfect and complete” and “initial and incomplete.” It is perfect and complete, Owen explained, “in the full fruition of his glory,” and initial and incomplete “in the first fruits and dawnings of that perfection which we have here in grace.”13 Thus, contemplation on fellowship with God strengthens those anxious about the earthly world seemingly turned upside down all around them.

Indeed, Owen’s sermons edified during an era of confusion and distraction for students living in Oxford. His emphasis on the relationship a believer can have with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is just one example of how he showed how one should live, with and for God.

John Owen knew that the purpose of theology in times of uncertainty is to edify and promote communion with the living God. Jesus Christ is, after all, the light of the world, and in dark days whoever walks with him, “will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Jn 12:12). It is good and right to ensure one’s theology is good and right, but failing to edify and point people to fellowship with God, does not produce godliness and fails to give hope.14

*This article is adapted from the forthcoming essay “Beacons from the Spire: Evangelical Theology and History in Oxford’s University Church” scheduled to appear in the December 2023 issue of Themelios.


1. Anthony Wood, Athenae Oxonienses (London: F. C. and J. Rivington, 1820), 4:741.
2. Crawford Gribben, John Owen and English Puritanism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 130.
3. Gribben, John Owen, 172.
4. Gribben, John Owen, 173.
5. Peter Toon, ed. The Correspondence of John Owen (1616-1683): With an Account of His Life and Work (Cambridge: James Clarke, 1970), 47.
6. Philip Henry (1631–1696), father of the Presbyterian leader, Matthew Henry, was a student at this time and reflected on the helps he had “not only for learning, but for religion and piety.” Of the latter, he mentioned the sermons by Owen and Goodwin “on the Lord’s day, in the afternoon.” See Matthew Henry, Life and Times of Rev. Philip Henry, M.A. (London: Thomas Nelson Paternoster Row, 1848), 60.
7. Joel Beeke and Mark Jones, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage, 2012), 103, 105, 111.
8. John Owen, The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold, reprint ed. (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1965), 2:5.
9. Owen, Works, 2:11.
10. Owen, Works, 2:6–7.
11. This text taken from John Owen, Communion with God, abridged by J. K. Law (London: Banner of Truth, 1991), 66. See original in Owen, Works, 2:67.
12. This text taken from Owen, Communion with God, 60. See original in Owen, Works, 2:59.
13. Owen, Works, 2:9.
14. A wonderful example of theology preached and written for edification can be found in Jared C. Wilson’s recent book, Friendship with the Friend of Sinners: The Remarkable Possibility of Closeness with Christ (Baker Books, 2023).



08: The Christian’s Connection to Old Testament Promises

By / Nov 8

“Heirs according to Promise” (Gal 3:29)

Paul claims, “All the promises of God find their Yes in [Jesus]” (2 Cor 1:20), but is he referring only to NT promises or OT promises as well? After citing a list of OT promises later in the epistle (6:16–18), he urges the Corinthians to pursue holiness “since we have these promises” (7:1). For Paul, both OT and NT promises belong to Christians, but only in Jesus. What follows are five principles that shape how the NT authors relate OT promises to Christians.

1. Christians Benefit from OT Promises Only through Christ

In Galatians 3, Paul confronts claims that for Gentiles to become full inheritors of God’s OT promises, they need to submit to circumcision and the Mosaic law. In contrast, the apostle asserts that, while the old-covenant law served as a “guardian until Christ came … , now that [the age of] faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian” (3:24–25). Furthermore, he stresses that only identifying with Christ Jesus by faith secures inheritance rights for Jew and Greek alike. All must receive “adoption as sons” (4:5).

Apparently with the promise of “lands” (plural) in Genesis 26:3 in mind, along with an allusion to 22:17–18, Paul says, “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ” (Gal 3:16). Paul recognizes that Genesis places the hope of the world not on a people but on a person––not on a corporate Israel but on a representative, royal, messianic Deliverer. And now that this offspring has come, “if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (3:29). For Paul, only in Christ Jesus can anyone inherit the OT’s promised blessings. This is what Paul means when he declares that in Christ all of God’s promises find their “yes” (2 Cor 1:20).

God makes promises to Abraham and his seed.
Christ is the seed
Faith unites us to Christ.
Union with Christ makes us seed with him.
We become heirs of the promises.

Figure 1. OT Promises Reach Believers Only through Christ

2. All Old-Covenant Curses Become New-Covenant Curses

With a heart full of hope, Moses wrote: “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring…. And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you” (Deut 30:6–7). Notice here that in the age of new-covenant heart circumcision, Yahweh will take Deuteronomy’s curses (see table 1) and pour them out on the enemies of God’s restored community. This suggests that the old-covenant curses become new-covenant curses, which Yahweh brings not on the members of the new covenant but on their enemies. As in the Abrahamic covenant, where Yahweh promised to curse anyone who dishonored the patriarch and those he represented (Gen 12:3), so will Yahweh confront those who spurn his new-covenant community.

Blessings
1. Yahweh’s presence / favor / loyalty (Lev 26:11-12)
2. Confirmation of the covenant (Lev 26:9)
3. Be a holy people to Yahweh (Deut 28:9)
4. Rains in season (Lev 26:4; Deut 28:12)
5. Abounding prosperity and productivity:
a. General (Deut 28:12);
b. Fruit of the womb (Lev 26:9; Deut 28:4,11)
c. Fruit of the livestock (Deut 28:4,11);
d. Fruid of the ground (Lev 26:4-5,10; Deut 28:4,8,11) 		6. General and unspecified (Deut 28:2, 6, 8, 12-13)
7. Peace and security in the land with no fear:
a. General (Lev 26:5-6)
b. From harmful animals (Lev 26:6);
c. From enemies (Lev 26:6)
8. Vicotry over enemies (Lev 26:7-8; Deut 28:7)
9. Freedom from slavery (Lev 26:13)
10. Global influence and witness (Deut 28:1,10,12)
Curses
1. Anger and rejection from Yahweh (Lev 26:17,24,28,41; Deut 4:24-25; 29:20,24,27-28; 31:17-18,29; 32:16,19-22,30)
2. Rejection and destruction of the cult (Lev 26:31)
3. War and its ravages:
a. General (Lev 26:17,25,33,37; 28:25,49,52; 32:23-24,30,41-42);
b. Siege (Lev 26:25-26,29; Deut 28:52-53,55,57);
4. Fear, terror, and horror (Lev 26:16-17,36-37; Deut 28:66-67; 32:25);
5. Occupation and oppression by enemies and aliens (Lev 26:16-17,32; Deut 28:31,33,43-44,48,68; 32:21);
6. Agricultural disaster and non-productivity:
a. General (Lev 26:20; Deut 28:17-18,22,40; 29:23);
b. Drought (Lev 26:19; Deut 28:22-24);
c. Crop Pests (Deut 28:38-42)
7. Starvation / famine (Lev 26:26,29,45; Deut 28:53-56; 32:24)
8. Illness, Pestilence, and contamination (Lev 26:16; Deut 28:21-22,27-28,35,59-61; 29:22; 32:24,39)
9. Desolation:
a. Of holy places (Lev 26:31);
b. Of cities and towns (Lev 26:31,33);
c. Of the land (Lev 26:32-35,43; Deut 28:51; 29:23)
10. Destruction by fire (Deut Deut 28:24; 32:22)
11. Harm from wild animals (Lev 26:22; Deut 32:24) 		12. Decimation and infertility:
a. Of family (Lev 26:22; Deut 28:18,59);
b. Of cattle (Lev 26:22; Deut 28:18,51);
c. Of population generally (Lev 26:22,36; Deut 4:27; 28:62; 32:36)
13. Exile and captivity:
a. Of the people (Lev 26:33-34,36,38-39,41; Deut 4:27; 28:36-37,41,63-64,68; 29:28; 30:4; 32:26);
b. Of the king (Deut 28:36)
14. Forced idolatry in exile (Deut 4:28; 28:36,64)
15. Futility (Lev 26:16,20; Deut 28:20,29-31,33,38-41)
16. Dishonor and degradation (Lev 26:19; Deut 28:20,25,37,43-44,68)
17. Loss of possessions and impoverishment (Deut 28:31)
18. Loss of family (Deut 28:30,32,41; 32:25)
19. Helplessness and stumbling (Lev 26:36-37; Deut 28:29,32; 32:35-36,38-39)
20. Psychological afflictions (Deut 28:20,28,34,65-67)
21. Lack of peace and rest (Deut 28:65)
22. Denial of burial (Deut 28:26)
23. Becoming like the cities of the plain (Deut 29:23)
24. Death and destruction (Lev 26:36,39; Deut 4:26; 28:20-22,44,48,51,61; 29:20; 30:15,18-19; 31:17; 32:25-26,35,39,42)
25. General and unspecified (Deut 4:30; 28:20,24,45,59,61,63; 29:19,21-22; 31:17,21,29; 32:23,35)
26. General punishment, curse, and vengeance (Lev 26:41,43; Deut 28:16,20-21,27; 30:19; 32:35,41,43)
27. Multiple punishments (Lev 26:18,21,24,28)
Restoration Blessings
1. Renewal of Yahweh’s presence, favor, and loyalty (Lev 26:42,45; Deut 4:29,31; 30:3,9)
2. Renewal of the covenant (Lev 26:42,44-45; Deut 4:31)
3. Restoration of true worship and ability to be faithful (Deut 4:30; 30:6,8)
4. Population increase (Deut 30:5,9)
5. Agricultural bounty (Lev 26:42; Deut 30:9) 		6. Restoration of general prosperity, well-being, and wealth (Deut 30:3,5,9; 32:39)
7. Return from exile and repossession of the land (Deut 30:3-5)
8. Reunification (Deut 30:3-4)
9. Power over enemies and aliens (Deut 30:7)
10. Freedom and restoration from death and destruction (Lev 26:44; Deut 30:6; 32:39)

Table 1. Mosaic-Covenant Blessings, Curses, and Restoration Blessings

The NT displays new-covenant curses as warnings against permanently falling away from Christ and against all who oppose God and his people (see Matt 25:31–46; Luke 6:20–26; 2 Tim 2:12; Heb 10:26–27). Those in Christ will not experience curse in a punitive way, for Christ bears upon himself God’s curse against all believers (Gal 3:13). While Christians still experience the Lord’s fatherly discipline, no level of earthly discipline or consequence calls into question the eternal security of any believer (Rom 5:9). Instead, new-covenant curses serve as a means of grace to those in Christ to generate within them reverent fear of God leading to greater holiness (cf. Lev 26:18, 21, 23, 27; Rom 2:4; Heb 12:11).

3. In the New Covenant, Christians Inherit the Old Covenant’s Original and Restoration Blessings

As already noted, Paul uses a string of OT promises to motivate Christians to “not be unequally yoked with unbelievers” (2 Cor 6:14). Significant here is the first citation: “What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people’” (6:16). Paul here combines citations from an original old-covenant blessing (Lev 26:11–12) and a restoration blessing (Ezek 37:27). Table 2 compares the texts.

2 Corinthians 6:16 (ESV)
What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
Leviticus 26:11-12 Ezekiel 37:27
NETS(translation from the Greek Old Testament) NETS(Translation from the Greek Old Testament)
If you walk by my ordinances and observe my commandments and do them …I will place my tent [Lit., “covenant”] among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk about among you and will be your God, and you shall be for me a nation. And my encamping shall be among them, and I will be a god for them, and they shall be my people.
ESV(translation from the Hebrew Old Testament) ESV(Translation from the Hebrew Old Testament)
If you walk in my statues and observe my commandments and do them, …I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall no abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Table 2. Paul’s Use of the OT in 2 Corinthians 6:16

Note that whereas the Greek of Ezekiel 37:27 reads “my dwelling shall be with them,” Paul’s wording is “I will make my dwelling among them.” This difference suggests that the apostle is either quoting from memory or supplying his own rendering directly from the Hebrew. Regardless, the second half of the promise parallels closely the Greek translation. What is missing in Ezekiel, however, is any mention of God’s “walking” among his people, and this suggests that, along with Ezekiel 37:27, Paul also has in mind the original Mosaic-covenant blessing of Leviticus 26:11–12.

Two conclusions follow from how Paul applies OT promises in 2 Corinthians 6:16: (1) The restoration blessings of the old covenant include all the original blessings but in escalation and without the chance of loss. (2) Through Christ, the original old-covenant blessings and the restoration blessings have direct bearing on Christians. Paul draws together both texts, suggesting not only their close tie in the OT but also that, along with the new-covenant restoration blessings, the original old-covenant blessings do indeed relate to believers.

4. Christians Already Possess All Blessings of Their Inheritance but Will Enjoy Them Fully Only at Christ’s Final Coming

Paul once prayed, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing …. In him you also … were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Eph 1:3, 13–14). Most scholars believe that “every spiritual blessing” here refers to all the blessings that Christ’s Spirit secures for the saints, including election, adoption, redemption, forgiveness, sealing, and all that we will enjoy when we gain our full inheritance (cf. 2 Cor 1:20, 22; 1 Pet 1:3–4).

All these blessings fulfill the OT’s end-time hopes associated with the promises of new-covenant restoration (e.g., Deut 30:6; Isa 53:11; Jer 31:33–34; 32:40; Ezek 36:27; Dan 9:24). Yet while all God’s promises already find their “yes” for those in Christ (2 Cor 1:20), a Christian’s full enjoyment awaits the coming inheritance—truly now, fully later. As Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 1:22, “[God] has put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”

5. All True Christians Will Persevere and Enjoy Their Full Inheritance

Like other NT teachers (e.g., Matt 5:8; 2 Cor 7:1; Rev 21:27), the author of Hebrews emphasizes that “without [holiness] no one will see the Lord” (Heb 12:14). Persevering fruitfulness is a necessary condition to enjoy the future inheritance, for future judgment will be in accord with (though not based on) deeds we do in this life (Matt 16:27; Rom 2:6; 2 Cor 5:10; 1 Pet 1:17; Rev 2:23; 20:12). Thus, Paul can stress, “If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Rom 8:13).

These things stated, Paul clarifies that this new-covenant call to persevere is not like the old covenant’s call to obey (Lev 18:5). Speaking predominantly to the unregenerate, the old covenant charged Israel to pursue righteousness (Deut 16:20), and it declared that they would only secure life and be counted righteous if they met all the covenant’s demands (6:25; 8:1). Yet for Paul, “the very commandment that promised life proved to be death” (Rom 7:10). Paul can thus declare that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (10:4), because by Christ’s perfect obedience, God frees believers from sin’s power (5:18–19; 8:1; Col 2:14), declares us righteous (Rom 5:9–10; 2 Cor 5:21), and enables us to walk in newness of life (Rom 6:4, 17, 22). In doing so, God generates persevering faith, hope, and love and thus makes certain the endurance of all new-covenant members.

Summary

The NT authors were guided by at least five principles when they related OT promises to Christians: (1) Believers benefit from OT promises only through Christ. (2) Old-covenant curses become new-covenant curses. (3) As part of the new covenant, Christians inherit the old covenant’s original and restoration blessings. (4) Christians already possess all blessings of their inheritance but will enjoy them fully only at Christ’s final coming. (5) All true Christians will persevere and enjoy their full inheritance. The next post will overview four ways Christ serves as a lens for claiming OT promises as Christians.

 

¹John Piper, “Isaiah 41:10: Are the Old Testament Promises Made to Us?,” Desiring God, accessed 21 February 2017, http://www.desiringgod.org/labs/are-the-old-testament-promises-made-to-us.

²“Curses” and “Restoration Blessings” are adapted from Douglas Stuart, “Malachi,” in The Minor Prophets: An Exegetical and Expository Commentary, ed. Thomas Edward McComiskey (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 1259–60.

This blog series summarizes Jason S. DeRouchie’s forthcoming book, Delighting in the Old Testament: Through Christ and for Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2024). You can pre-order your copy here.



Episode 236: When It’s Hard to Forgive

By / Nov 8

What’s the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation? Why is it so hard to forgive? Do we have to forgive everybody? On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared and Ross tackle these difficult questions and discuss why we have such trouble with forgiveness, repentance, and reconciliation.