Comments on Mockingbird: Theologians of Glory vs. Theologians of the Cross:...

Forde's work is terrific. I recently went gave an ...

2009-06-21T11:28:17.680-04:00

Forde's work is terrific. I recently went gave an adult Sunday School class on Luther's Heidelberg Disputation--and was immensely blessed myself by the study. Can I also recommend some talks that Carl Trueman gave on the subject? You can find a summary here: www.theologian.org.uk/churchhistory/lutherstheologyofthecross.html

Christ has set us free, free to no longer live a b...

2009-06-20T14:17:02.510-04:00

Christ has set us free, free to no longer live a better life or a good life or an uplifted life, or just so that we could have some hope. No Christ came to die, so that we in turn could die. Because in order for us to see the kingdom of God we must be born again and we cannot do this on our own, we must die and he must raise us from death to life. If we try to pick ourselves up by the bootstraps then all we are is seeking Glory. I myself am realizing what a friend I am of glory and I must repent and just give up and die. Why? Because in the scriptures the early bird does not get the worm (in fact the thief on the cross is the one that will be with him in paradise), and you cannot pull yourself up by the bootstraps( ask Lazarus about that); I just have to give up, because all the trying in the world is not gonna save me from my sin. ONLY Christ ONLY the Cross-can do that.

Keith Pozzuto

dwcasey, you're right! People always want rules. A...

2009-06-18T17:40:20.399-04:00

dwcasey, you're right! People always want rules. And as a pastor, I can tell you it is flattering for people to come to you and ask you to give them rules. It makes one feel so wise. The hard thing for pastor and person-in-the-pews is to trust in the cross, the whole cross, and nothing but the cross. (And by cross I have in mind the whole shebang: the passion, death and resurrection of Christ.)

Sean, I love it! This is very, very, helpful.

2009-06-18T16:03:22.962-04:00

Sean,

I love it! This is very, very, helpful.

I think what's hard for pastor and church-goer is ...

2009-06-18T13:36:02.560-04:00

I think what's hard for pastor and church-goer is that preachers are tempted to teach TOG because their members *want* to hear TOG. Versus preaching what needs to be said/heard, TOC

Thanks so much to Sean for starting this thread! ...

2009-06-18T13:35:43.271-04:00

Thanks so much to Sean for starting this thread!

One thing I remember is how counterintuitive the distinction between the kinds of theologians was for me at first.

So if anyone else has that experience, just dealing with these as definitions, I can't urge you enough to read Forde's whole book ("On Being a Theologian..."). It's really quite short. And it's hard to get at this distinction without allowing all the theses of the Heidelberg Disputation to slowly play themselves out in your mind and heart. Forde's book is in that sense just as much a devotional book as it is a book of propostional theology -- more so in fact.

Great question, Greg. I'd distinguish the issue o...

2009-06-18T13:28:30.791-04:00

Great question, Greg. I'd distinguish the issue of being made in God's image from our acquired sonship (by adoption).

So everyone bears the image of God -- Christians, Hindus, atheists, Muslims, and so on -- since we are made in the image of God.

We become sons of God, on the other hand, by being found "in Christ" and only by that.

...and never to stop saying it... until Christ’s ...

2009-06-18T11:53:11.733-04:00

...and never to stop saying it... until Christ’s return makes it no longer true..
-- -- -- -- --
Doesn't being a "new creation" mean that at least in some small measure we are actually children of God and thus bear His image... where previously we were not his children...