Jul 30, 2019
The last piece in the puzzle of the salvation of the world is answering the question of who constitutes "the saved."
For most of biblical history, the assumed answer was: Israel. But now, on the other side of the resurrection, a strange thing is happening: Gentiles are coming to faith (Paul's surest sign of salvation)...
Jul 25, 2019
So, has God rejected his covenant people (thereby calling his faithfulness into question)???
Today we begin to see that the answer is no. And to explain what is happening with Israel's seeming rejecting of Jesus, Paul turns to the Hebrew scripture's theme of a "saved remnant."
There is, says Paul, a subset of Israel set...
Jul 22, 2019
For those of us who’ve spent years in Christianity, the connection between the promises of God to Israel, the visions of the prophets, the ministry of Jesus and the mission of the church may seem (somewhat) clear. But that is only because Paul has made them clear!
In this episode we look at an example of biblical...
Jul 18, 2019
As Paul continues his discussion of salvation by election, it seems there has come a tremendous reversal: Gentiles (non-Jews) are coming to faith (the sign of election) in Christ, while most of ethnic Israel (heirs of the covenant promise of salvation) is not.
What explains this turn of events? What mistake (if any)...
Jul 15, 2019
Paul now turns to the seeming contradiction between justice and election. If one is saved only by God's sovereign choice, where is the justice in divine condemnation? It is a debate as old as theology and pivotal in the development of Western Christianity.
While reminding humans of the need for humility before...