James Edwards: Serving... The Way It *Is*

Take a moment and slowly read James Edwards’ comment on Mark 10:43. Think about what Jesus is really saying about serving. The failure to serve is to “fall outside of an existing condition that corresponds to the kingdom of God.” Why? Because that is just “the way it is.”

“But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant”

— Mark 10:43

“...the best textual evidence suggests that it is the present of the verb “to be” (Gk. estin), not the future (Gk. estai), that is, “It is not the way among you,” as opposed to “It shall not be this way among you.” V.43a is thus not an admonition to behave in a certain way as much as a description of the way things actually are in the kingdom of God, and even among disciples of the kingdom. Thus, to fail in being a servant is not simply to fall short of an ideal condition but to stand outside of an existing condition that corresponds to the kingdom of God. ”

— James Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2002), 325.

Karl Barth: Giving the Holy Spirit to Us

“Barth says that “the Holy Spirit … is God himself, in as so far as he is able, in an inconceivably real way, without being less God, to be present to the creature, and in virtue of this presence, to vouchsafe life to the creature.” ”

— Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics: The Doctrine of the Word (Edinburgh, UK: T&T Clark, 2010), 515.

St. Melito: Who Will Contradict Me?

“The Lord clothed himself with humanity, and with suffering on behalf of the suffering one, and bound on behalf of the one constrained, and judged on behalf of the one convicted, and buried on behalf of the one entombed, rose from the dead and cried out aloud: “Who takes issue with me? Let him stand before me. I will set free the condemned. I gave life to the dead. I will raise up the entombed. Who will contradict me? ”

— Melito of Sardis and Alistair Stewart-Sykes, On Pascha: With the Fragments of Melito and Other Material Related to the Quatrodecimans (Yonkers, NY: St. Vladamir’s Seminary Press, 2001), 65.

Ronald Fung: Letting Yourself Be Led by the Spirit

“The active leading of the Holy Spirit does not signify the believer’s being, so to speak, led by the nose willy-nilly; on the contrary he must let himself be led by the Spirit–that is, actively choose to stand on the side of the Spirit over against the flesh.”

— Ronald Fung, The Epistle to the Galatians: NICNT (Downers Grove, IL: Eerdmans, 1988), 251.

Kevin Vanhoozer: The Moral for Systematic Theology Must Include the Global South and East

“The moral for systematic theology is clear. No one interpretative community can mine all the treasures of the Word of God by itself. If biblical interpretation is indeed the soul of theology, then theologians had better attend to the global conversation. Reading Scripture with Christians from different parts of the world is invigorating; to be exact, it reinvigorates our tired concepts and categories … the most important contribution of voices from the global South and East has been rehabilitating the importance of interpreting Scripture with the goal of achieving practical wisdom: performing the text in new contexts, staging new parables of the kingdom of God wherever two or three are gathered in Christ’s name. ”

— Kevin Vanhoozer, “‘One Rule to Rule Them All?’ Theological Method in an Era of World Christianity” in Globalizing Theology: Belief and Practice in an Era of World Christianity, ed. Craig Ott and Harold A. Netland (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 122.

Leslie Newbign: The Church in Public

“The community that confesses Jesus is Lord has been, from the beginning, a movement launched into the public life of mankind. The Greco-Roman world in which the New Testament was written was full of societies offering to those who wished to join a way of personal salvation. There were several commonly used Greek words for such societies. At no time did the church use any of these names for itself … it used with almost total consistency the name ecclesia – the ecclesia theou, the assembly called by God … The Church could have escaped persecution by the Roman Empire if it had been content to be treated as a cultus privatus.”

— Leslie Newbigin, The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission (Downers Grove, IL: Eerdmans, 1995), 16.

Craig Koester: The Spirit Discloses Jesus

“It is important to understand that the Spirit does not “replace” Jesus. “Rather, the Spirit discloses the presence of the risen Jesus and his Father to the community of faith.” ”

— Craig Koester, The Word of Life: A Theology of John’s Gospel (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008), 148.

Ralph Martin: God Did Precisely the Opposite

“it is nothing other than the gospel, indeed an exhaustive statement of the content of the gospel, namely that Christ must be crucified, that the Messiah had to die in order for sinners to be forgiven by God–was the very thing that scandalized the Jews and was treated as folly by the Greeks (1 Cor. 1:23). The gospel was an “offense” to them and “foolishness” because in the cross God did precisely the opposite of what they expected him to do. ”

— Ralph Martin, Philippians: Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2008), 223.

John Calvin: The Purpose of the Gospel

“The purpose of the gospel is the restoration in us of the image of God which had been canceled by sin and that this restoration is progressive and goes on during our whole life, because God makes his glory to shine in us little by little.”

— John Calvin, Commentary on II Corinthians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1974), 47.

David deSilva: Seeing One Another

“The exhortation pertains more to doing good works and showing love as the addressees look around at their fellow believers, observing their situations and persons attentively. The author may, moreover, seek to establish an emulative environment: “paying attention to one another” will not only lead to seeing and responding to need, but also will involve seeing one’s sisters’ and brothers’ noble deeds and becoming zealous to emulate them, such that doing good stimulates more well-doing. The author approaches the congregation first by urging them to look at each other, to see each other, to notice one another. He does not merely exhort them to preach well-doing, but to be engaged in it first, and then perchance to stimulate it and be stimulated to well-doing by mutual example. This connects with the author’s exhortations throughout Hebrews (3:12-14; 12:15-17; 13:1-3, 16) to create the sort of intragroup relationships and support structures that make it possible, even preferable, to put up with the snubbing hostility from without rather than give up on the love and mutual regard that exist within. ”

— David DeSilva, Perseverance in Gratitude: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on the Epistle “to the Hebrews” (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000), 341-42.

Scot McKnight: Participating in Atonement

“To be forgiven, to be atoned for, to be reconciled – synonymous expressions – is to be granted a mission to become a reciprocal performer of the same: to forgive, to work atonement, and to be an agent of reconciliation. Thus, atonement is not just something done to us and for us, it is something we participate in–in this world, in the here and now. It is not just something done, but something that is being done and something that we do as we join God in the missio Dei. ”

— Scot McKnight, A Community Called Atonement (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2007), 31-32.

Graham McFarlane: A Pneumatic Dimension

“This is the great power of the Christian gospel – an evangel in which God deals with God on our behalf. Yet to stop here is to do serious damage to the Gospel. Inheriting eternal life, according to Jesus, also demands engagement with our neighbor. And to do this demands a pneumatic dimension – where life through the Spirit is hypostatized and first informs wherein Neighbor is reconciled with Neighbor and togetherness maybe demonstrated en carne in the here and now as an anticipatory expression of what is to come in fullness. ”

— Graham McFarlane, “Towards a Theology of Togetherness,” in The Spirit and Christ in the New Testament and Christian Theology, ed. I. Howard Marshall, Volker Rabens, and Cornelis Bennema, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2012), 327.

John McIntyre: Comfort in a Dark Place

““‘Comforter’ carries over from the Old Testament its description of the Messiah as menachem, comforter. It represents a tenderness, a closeness, concern and caring … one who comforts us when for one reason or another life has become difficult, dark, meaningless, or just a very lonely place.” ”

— John McIntyre, The Shape of Pneumatology: Studies in the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, p.267.

David deSilva: The Urgency of 'Today'

“Furthermore, believers must consider the urgency of the “today” referenced by the Psalmist and repeated here in Hebrews. “The psalm allows for the author to heighten the urgency of how one will respond to the word ‘today’ by calling attention to the Christian cultural knowledge that there are a limited number of ‘todays’ left before God tears into the fabric of human history to execute judgment and bestow rewards” (cf. 10:25, 37-39; 12:26-28). ”

— David DeSilva, Perseverance in Gratitude: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on the Epistle “to the Hebrews” (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000), 149.

Andrew Walls: Most Christians are in a Non-Western Location

“The faith of the twenty-first century will require a devout, vigorous scholarship rooted in the soil of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, [for] the majority of Christians are now Africans, Asians, Latin Americans, and Pacific Islanders…. Christianity is now primarily a non-Western religion and on present indications will steadily become more so …. The most urgent reason for the study of religious traditions of Africa and Asia, of the Amerindian and the Pacific peoples, is their significance for Christian theology; they are the substratum of the Christian faith and life for the greater number of the Christians in the world. ”

— Andrew Walls, “Old Athens and New Jerusalem: Some Signposts for Christian Scholarship in the Early History of Mission Studies,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 21, no. 4 (October 1997): 153.

Chrysostom: Who Took the First Steps?

“Can you see how great God’s love is for us? Who was the offended party? He was. Who took the first steps toward reconciliation? He did. Some will say that he sent the Son in his place, but this is a misunderstanding. Christ did not come apart from the Father who sent him. They were both involved together in the work of reconciliation.”

— Thomas Oden, ed., “Chrysostom,” in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: 1-2 Corinthians (New York, NY: Routledge, 1999), 248, NPNF 1 12:333.

Where'd Atonement "Start"?

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

— Philippians 2:5-11

Joseph Hellerman offers an interesting insight into this passage that commentators identify as one of the “high Christological passages” of the New Testament (alongside John 1:1-4; Col. 1:15-20; Heb. 1:1-3). He demonstrates that though the hymn clearly has much to say about the subject of Christology, the hymn is first and foremost ecclesiological. He writes

“...perhaps, more accurately, what we have in Philippians 2:6-11 is Christology in the service of an overarching ecclesiological agenda.”

— Joseph Hellerman, Embracing Shared Ministry: Power and Status in the Early Church and Why It Matters Today, 11.

This is because of Paul’s opening appeal to the brothers and sisters in Philippi to “have this mind in you” (v.5). Jesus’ humility in his self-emptying (ἐκένωσεν) involved him stooping lower and lower until he reached the lowest rung of the social hierarchy in the first century. Paul begins his appeal to the church by first calling attention to the “equality” that Jesus relinquished. In his self-emptying, Jesus did something mentally – he did not “count” his “equality with God” something “to be grasped” (v.6). Thus, his first action in the redemption of humanity was not first in the incarnation, nor his humiliation on Good Friday. Rather, it was in his mind.  The Christ, in his estimating, concluded that he would temporarily release his rightful place of glory. In order for Paul to appeal to the “mind” of the church, he first appealed to the “mind” of Christ in his “counting” and “considering.” In a culture in which honor and status were prized above all, this would have struck the early readers as utterly unfathomable. The Divine Son of God of his own volition became a slave. Jesus’s entering as a person, in a specific place, assumed the position of the despised. 

The Calling by Mirabai Starr

“There is a secret place. A radiant sanctuary. As real as your own kitchen. More real than that. Constructed of the purest elements. Overflowing with the ten thousand beautiful things. Worlds within worlds. Forests, rivers. Velvet coverlets thrown over featherbeds, fountains bubbling beneath a canopy of stars. Bountiful forests, universal libraries. A wine cellar offering an intoxication so sweet you will never be sober again. A clarity so complete you will never again forget.

This magnificent refuge is inside you. Enter. Shatter the darkness that shrouds the doorway. Step around the poisonous vipers that slither at your feet, attempting to throw you off your course. Be bold. Be humble. Put away the incense and forget the incantations they taught you. Ask no permission from the authorities. Slip away. Close your eyes and follow your breath to the still place that leads to the invisible path that leads you home. 

Listen. Softly, the One you love is calling. Listen. At first, you will only hear traces of his voice. Love letters he drops for you in hiding places. In the sound of your baby laughing, in your boyfriend telling you a dream, in a book about lovingkindness, in the sun dipping down below the horizon and a peacock’s tail of purple and orange clouds unfolding behind it, in the nameless sorrow that fills your heart when you wake in the night and remember that the world has gone to war and you are powerless to break up the fight. Let the idle chatter between friends drop down to what matters. Listen. Later his voice will come closer. A whisper you’re almost sure is meant for you fading in and out of the cacophony of thoughts, clearer in the silent space between them. Listen. His call is flute music, far away. Coming closer. 

Be brave and walk through the country of your own wild heart. Be gentle and know that you know nothing. Be mindful and remember that every moment can be a prayer. Melting butter, scrambling eggs, lifting fork to mouth, praising God. Typing your daughter’s first short story, praising God. Losing your temper and your dignity with someone you love, praising God. Balancing ecstasy with clear thinking, self-control with self-abandon. Be still. Listen. Keep walking.

What a spectacular kingdom you have entered! Befriending the guards and taming the lions at the gates. Sliding through a crack in the doorway on your prayer rug. Crossing the moat between this world and that, walking on water if you have to because this is your rightful place. That is your Beloved reclining in the innermost chamber, waiting for you, offering wine from a bottle with your crest on the label. Explore. Rest if you have to, but don’t go to sleep. Head straight for his arms. 

And when you have dismissed the serpents of vanity and greed, conquered the lizards of self-importance, and lulled the monkey mind to sleep, your steps will be lighter. When you have given up everything to make a friend a cup of tea and tend her broken heart, stood up against the violation of innocent children and their fathers and mothers, made conscious choices to live simply and honor the earth, your steps will be lighter. When you have grown still on purpose while everything around you is asking for your chaos, you will find the doors between every room of this interior castle thrown open, the path home to your true love unobstructed after all.

No one else controls access to this perfect place. Give yourself your own unconditional permission to go there. Absolve yourself of missing the mark again and again. Believe the incredible truth that the Beloved has chosen for his dwelling place the core of your own being because that is the single most beautiful place in all of creation. Waste no time. Enter the center of your soul. ”

— Mirabai Starr, pp.1-3 in the Introduction to The Interior Castle, by St. Teresa of Avila

Brennan Manning on Evangelism

“
The Ministry of evangelization is an extraordinary opportunity of showing gratitude to Jesus by passing on His gospel of grace to others. However, the ʻconversion by concussionʼ method with one sledgehammer blow of the Bible after another betrays a basic disrespect for the dignity of the other and is utterly alien to the gospel imperative to bear witness. To evangelize a person is to say to him or her: you, too, are loved by God in the Lord Jesus. And not only to say it but to really think it and relate it to the man or woman so they can sense it. This is what it means to announce the Good News. But that becomes possible only by offering the person your friendship; a friendship that is real, unselfish, without condescension, full of confidence, and profound esteem.
”

— Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel, 120-21


Death Was Helpless

“This is the good news about the kingdom of God. How men need this gospel! Everywhere one goes he finds the gaping graves swallowing up the dying. Tears of loss, of separation, of final departure stain every face. Every table sooner or later has an empty chair, every fireside its vacant place. Death is the great leveller. Wealth or poverty, fame or oblivion, power or futility, success or failure, race, creed or culture — all our human distinctions mean nothing before the ultimate irresistible sweep of the scythe of death which cuts us all down. And whether the mausoleum is a fabulous Taj Mahal, a massive pyramid, an unmarked spot of ragged grass or the unplotted depths of the sea one fact stands: death reigns.

“Apart from the gospel of the kingdom, death is the mighty conqueror before whom we are all helpless. We can only beat our fists in utter futility against this unyielding and unresponding tomb. But the good news is this: death has been defeated; our conqueror has been conquered. In the face of the power of the kingdom of God in Christ, death was helpless. It could not hold him, death has been defeated; life and immortality have been brought to life. An empty tomb in Jerusalem is proof of it. This is the gospel of the kingdom.”

— George Eldon Ladd, The Gospel of the Kingdom: Scriptural Studies in the Kingdom, p. 128