Bonhoeffer on Political Idolatry

When a leader allows himself to succumb to the wishes of those he leads, of 
those who will always seek to turn him in to their idol, the image of the leader 
will gradually become the image of the "misleader"...this is the leader who 
makes an idol of himself and his office, and who thus mocks God! 

~Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in Radical Integrity: The Story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Steve Bishop's Wonderful Overview of the Doctrine of the Trinity

Dan Brown in his 2003 book The DaVinci Code claims that the Trinity was a fourth century invention. He wasn’t the first person to suggest this, but his book placed doubt regarding the historical origins of the Christian faith and the role of the Gnostic gospels.

All good errors are based on a partial truth. And Brown was partially right. There was a fourth-century council and there are gnostic gospels. There are many so-called gospels that didn’t make the cut and get into the canon of scripture. But not for the reasons that Brown maintains! I’ll leave aside discussions of the gnostic gospels – but let’s look at the Trinity, as it’s appropriately Trinity Sunday.

Despite writing a work of fiction Brown maintained that his book was based on fact. But what are the facts behind the Trinity? Is it really a fourth-century mash up?

It was in the fourth century that the council of Nicea affirmed the idea of God as Trinity. But they didn’t come up with the idea, they drew together and clarified Trinitarian beliefs. Beliefs that were held from the early days of Christianity.

The idea of a Trinity has always caused problems, the one time president of the United States Thomas Jefferson wrote of the “incomprehensible jargon of Trinitarian arithmetic”!

On one level it does sound ridiculous. How could three be one?

Please review Steve’s great primer/overview of this, our central doctrine, the holy Trinity.  What a fine way to move into Trinitytide.

The Promise of Catholic Calvinism, J. Tood Billings

In 1536, a 27 year old exile from France addressed Roman Catholic King Francis regarding a new religious movement that Francis opposed. This exile takes pains to deny that the teaching of the movement is, in fact "new" and "of recent birth." To the contrary, says the humanist scholar, the gospel preached in this movement is as "ancient" as Paul's gospel. Moreover, "if the contest were to be decided by patristic authority, the tide of victory would turn to our side."¹ For the young Jean Calvin, the reform of the church entailed a rediscovery of the scriptures--and a rediscovery of the scriptural theology of the patristic writings from the church's first five centuries. Continue reading at Perspectives.

Please Visit the New Sister Site, The Flight of the Doves!

Gehrig and Ronda Dove

Please hop over and visit our new site devoted to Gehrig and Ronda Dove's dedication to the missio Dei in Nigeria!  You'll find news, pictures, and any updates in their service to the beautiful widows and orphans across Africa, especially Nigeria.

The psalmist said, "Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation" (68:5).  The Dove's labors with the Rafiki Foundation is absolute evidence of this verse.  God in Christ through the Spirit is indeed present with his people in the holy habitation, his Church.  As you'll read in the Dove's most recent update, they have already been blessed to witness God growing his new creational temple, the Church, through the changed heart of a woman, committing herself to following the risen Lord Jesus this week!

So, please pay The Flight of the Doves a visit, as you prayerfully consider how you can join the missio Dei with them by your prayers and support!

Wisdom from Thomas Sowell

The Case for Reciting Creeds in Worship with Albert Aymer

[Albert] Aymer has a message for churches doing all they can to make worship relevant and contemporary. “Remember that worship transcends time and space,” he urges.

One of the best ways to do that is to use creeds in worship.  Continue reading at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.  

The Trinitarianism of Ephesians 4:4-6, a Chiastic Creed

A few daring theologians in our day are carefully teasing out some of the “Trinitarian metaphysics” from especially certain creedal and doxological New Testament passage, not least Tom Wright and Peter Leithart.  This is not new, though.

St. Irenaeus, in Demonstration of Apostolic Preaching, quotes in part Ephesians 4:4—6, which reads:

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

From this text, he concludes, “...because ‘above all’ is the Father, and ‘through all’ is the Word—since through Him everything was made by the Father—while ‘in us all’ is the Spirit, who cries ‘Abba, Father,’ and forms man to the likeness of God” (I:5). 

Granted, within this creedal remark of St. Paul, Irenaeus picks up on the unmistakable Trinitarian formula, “One Spirit...one Lord (Jesus)...one God and Father.”  What is interesting, and certainly out of sorts with much of the rationalistic exegesis common this side of the Enlightenment, is that Irenaeus continues his Trinitarian reasoning throughout the following three prepositional phrases of verse six.  Before we dismiss Irenaeus’ exegesis as a byproduct of the old quadriga, the four-folded methodology, or some other highly subjective approach, judged through our modernistic rationalism, we should revisit St. Paul.

When we return to the text, we find an interesting chiasmus, which would point to the same conclusion that Irenaeus so naturally draws.  Look at the structure of this creed.

4:4       A. One Spirit

4:5              B. One Lord (Jesus)

4:6a                   C. One...Father

4:6b                   C. Over all

                   B. Through all

            A. In all

Granting that this text is likely a creedal formula, and that it is naturally structured in terms of a chiasm, I for one tend to think that Irenaeus’ Trinitarian conclusion is spot one.  It is further supported by the patristics’ hermeneutical key, the regulae fidei, the creedal Rule of Faith, which Irenaeus stresses in the early sections of the same work. 

Our ancient fathers in the faith did not pretend or deceive themselves into believing that they came to the text without any pre-drawn conclusions, much less without having a deep, deep precommitment.  Neither did they strive to recognize their precommitments so as to avoid them during exegesis, which all our hermeneutical textbooks caution us to do.  Rather the singular precommitment that ruled exegesis—sometimes for better or worse—was the regulae fidei, which matured into what we know today as the Apostle’s Creed.  For them, a robust Trinitarianism was the presupposition of all exegesis (and all of life), not merely its conclusion.  Perhaps we should put our fathers’ landmark back where we found it (Prov. 22:28).  Thankfully, some are.