N.T. Wright's View of the Atonement

Lee Irons looks at the issue. The bottom line, according to Lee, is that Wright uses traditional terms with untraditional definitions.

Here's his conclusion after looking at the evidence from Wright's own writings:

• sin is an impersonal evil force, not personal rebellion against God;
  
• sin has bad consequences, but does not elicit God's punitive wrath against the sinner; and
  
• the cross is to be understood as some version of the Christus Victor theory in which Christ defeats evil by letting it do its worst to him, not as a penal satisfaction of divine justice.

HT: JT

Unquote of the Day

"Just because it's in the Bible doesn't mean you should preach it"

(Robert Schuller in an interview with Michael Horton on the Whitehorse Inn).

For a transcript of the interview go here.

HT: JT

Quote of the Day: Suffering for the Gospel

In his newest book Filling up the Afflictions of Christ, John Piper reprints this remarkable letter from John Calvin to five young Frenchman about to be martyred in 1553 for carrying the gospel into France:

We who are here shall do our duty in praying that He would glorify Himself more and more by your constancy, and that He may, by the comfort of His Spirit, sweeten and endear all that is bitter to the flesh, and so absorb your spirits in Himself, that in contemplating that heavenly crown, you may be ready without regret to leave all that belongs to this world.
Now, at this present hour, necessity itself exhorts you more than ever to turn your whole mind heavenward. As yet, we know not what will be the event. But, since it appears as though God would use your blood to seal His truth, there is nothing better for you than to prepare yourselves for that end, beseeching Him so to subdue you to His good pleasure, that nothing may hinder you from following whithersoever He shall call…Since it pleases Him to employ your death in maintaining His quarrel, He will strengthen your hands in the fight and will not suffer a single drop of your blood to be shed in vain.

Your humble brother,
John Calvin

HT: Tullian

Quote of the Day: Missions and Calling

Missionary martyr Jim Elliot:

"Our young men are going into the professional fields because they don't 'feel called' to the mission field. We don't need a call; we need a kick in the pants. We must begin thinking in terms of 'going out,' and stop our weeping because 'they won't come in.' Who wants to step into an igloo? The tombs themselves are not colder than the churches. May God send us forth."

Elisabeth Elliot, Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot (New York: Harper, 1958), 54.

HT: Robert Sagers at Between Two Worlds