The terrible horrors of the papacy

As we finish off Reformation church history for second year, and bathe in the glory of our heritage, and wonder at the continuance of the Roman Catholic church, it's worth listening to what the current Pope has to say about his own office.

‘The pope cannot impose commandments on faithful Catholics because he wants to or finds it expedient. Such a modern, voluntaristic concept of authority can only distort the true theological meaning of the papacy. The true nature of the Petrine office has become so incomprehensible in the modern age no doubt because we think of authority only on terms that do not allow for bridges between subject and object, Accordingly, everything that does not come from the subject is thought to be externally imposed’. – Joseph Ratzinger, On Conscience: Two Essays (Philadelphia/San Francisco: The National Catholic Bioethics Center/Ignatius Press, 2007 [1984]), 34.

‘One can comprehend the primacy of the pope and its correlation to Christian conscience only in this connection. The true sense of the teaching authority of the pope consists in his being the advocate of Christian memory. The pope does not impose from without. Rather, he elucidates the Christian memory and defends it. For this reason the toast to conscience indeed must precede the toast to the pope, because without conscience there would not be a papacy. All power that the papacy has is power of conscience. It is service to the double memory on which the faith is based – and which again and again must be purified, expanded, and defended against the destruction of memory that is threatened by a subjectivity forgetful of its own foundation, as well as by the pressures of social and cultural conformity’. (p. 36)

I found this at the wonderful Per Crucem ad lucem, where Jason makes some interesting observations for protestants.

The Spirit of life

Paul’s teaching about the Spirit in Romans encourages the Roman believers faith and hope in the resurrected Jesus Christ. The Spirit is the Spirit of life (8:2). In Romans 1-8 death, entering the world through sin , reigns over Jew and Gentile, and subsequently over the entire creation. The Law, though intended to bring life, weakened by sin and the flesh, actually brought death.(7:10, cf Deut 30:11-20). Paul’s fresh reading of Deuteronomy 30 in 10:6-10 intimates a renewal of this promise of life, based on the Lordship of Jesus, and of faith in God’s action in raising him from the dead. This faith is the same faith as that of Abraham, who believed in the God who gives life to the dead(4:17), and is the faith for which righteousness will be credited.(4:23-25) The Roman believers however, seem to be going through some time of suffering . If Paul’s message of new covenant fulfilment and membership for Jew and Gentile is true, where then are the covenant blessings? It is at this point of the argument, in both chapter 5 and 8, that Paul introduces Spirit material. The presence of the Spirit in 5:5 confirms the hope of believers. This hope is based on the union with Christ by the Spirit in 8:9-10. This union initially brings life to the spirit of believers (9:10), but the end result repeats the outcome of union with Christ in 6:5.


I, II, III, IV

Remembering the past: Nothing New Under the Sun

The very title of Byron Smiths blog invites us to look back over his archive. There is nothing new!

In October 2006
Byron was almost drawing to the end of his 'Heaven: not the end of the world' series, that didn't end my world, but certainly rocked it. There are many posts in this series.. read them, yes all of them, every last one, fantastic for the soul (hehe and obviously body too)

Byron draws on Augustine's self-criticism . Augustine seemed to be the ultimate blogger, but gives some good tips for comments


And this monster quote from Moltmann, which has shaped my experience of hope the most over the past two years

The people of God

Paul’s teaching about the Spirit in the letter to the Romans opens the boundaries of who is included in the people of God, so that Jew and Gentile might glorify God together. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of unity (15:5) and adoption (8:15) , that marks out the new covenant people of God. From chapter 1 through to the end of 16 “the burden of this letter....has to do with the Gentiles as full and equal recipients in the covenant promises made to Israel- and that without excluding Israel”(Fee, GEP). Paul opposes, on the one hand, Jews who falsely rely on the observance of Law and circumcision (2:17) , and on the other, Gentiles who boast over the Jews rejection by God.(10:18) Paul’s argues for a united people of God, Jew and Gentile, with one God(3:27-30), one Lord(10:12) , one family faith (4:11-12, 10:12-13), who “with one heart and mouth may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (15:6). In Paul’s argument, the Spirit, along with faith, replaces Law observance and circumcision(2:28-29) as the boundary markers of the new covenant people of God. The Spirit is the one who circumcises hearts to make true Jews, and it is the Spirit who empowers Paul’s gospel to sanctify the Gentiles (15:15-19). The Spirit unites believers to Christ , and those without the Spirit do not belong to Christ. In 8:12-30 Paul transfers terms of covenant status, based in the narratives of Israel’s exodus, from Israel to Jesus, and subsequently to describe those with the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit makes us share in Jesus prayer of sonship to the Father and confirms us as co-heirs with Christ sharing in his glory(8:15). “Those led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” chosen to be freed from slavery, waiting to inherit the entire world, as promised to Abraham in 4:13. While the language is from Roman adoption practices, “the idea of divine sonship links back into Israel’s sense of election as God’s son” (Dunn) The use of these terms for those with the Spirit is strong enough to generate the questions about the continuing role of Israel in chapters 9-11, to whom belong the adoption as sons, the law and the promises and the divine glory. Thompson, Tobin (and Paul ) are quick to point out that Jews are not therefore excluded, but welcomed on the same basis
“confession of God as Father highlights God’s mercy to Israel as well as to the Gentiles in adopting them into one family who, as descendants of Abraham, inherit together in Jesus Christ ”(M.M. Thompson)
Recognition of this unity in the Spirit, along with the death of Christ for both Jew and Gentile forms the basis for Paul’s exhortation to both weak and strong in chapter 14, so that each may welcome the other, to the praise of God.(15:7-9) As part of Paul’s goal of seeing Jew and Gentile united in praise of God through Jesus Christ, the Spirit replaces the Law as a boundary marker of the people of God.



I, II, III, IV

Alister McGrath on Justification notes

Sorry to those of you who do RSS, this is the easiest way for me to get notes home from college

Alister Mc Grath, opening chapters on Justification

Distinguish between the concept and the doctrine of justification.

The term justification came to be the dominant metaphor for the entire soteriological action
1.Pauline scholarship in 12th Century
2.High Scholasticisms rationalisation of divine action to justice
3.Generally high regard for jurisprudence
4.Luthers wrestling with God is justification
5.The discussion at Trent of Soteriology under this heading

Not in the East though, they are more interested in theosis.

The problem boils down to
God is righteous
Man is a sinner
God justifies man The rest is working out how this can be the case

Sedeq
-rooted etymologically in 'conformity to a norm'
first used Judges 5 as 'victory', as the condition of continuance of covenant
acting in accordance to the claims of a relationship

dikaiosun- Aristotle, is part of the human contract polis for greater good
usually translated sdq, but sometimes the LXX traslated sdq with elemosuvn, mercy!

Iustitia- Cicero 'giving each one his due'
importantly, Jerome translated the Psalms from latin for the vulgate

hasdiq- to justify (not condemn but vindicate, aquit). Yet the greek can mean punish too, in fact, applied to an unjust person, it almost always means punish.
Not only this, but the Latin iustifacere and merit introduces the idea of merit,a quality of deserving, and the reward due because of this quality followed by Augustine and tertullian. If the greek had the sense of being estimated righteous, the latin had the sense of being righteous.

This results in an anthropocentricity to the argument. Ie What is the nature of righteousness in man, how did it get there, where did it come from?

The righteousness of God
Augustine- not God's personal righteousness, but the righteousness he bestows on sinners
Gabriel Biel- God's own moral righteousness.
Luther- objective genetive 'a righteousness which is valid before God
Bultmann- a relational term, a genitive of authorship
Kasemann-subjective genetive, attribute, God's saving action
Stendhal- Yes but God's saving action through History of his people
Cranfield- a genitive of origin, the status which comes from God
One thing is clear. NOT A MORAL CONCEPT

The whole tradition can be reduced to four questions: How is the concept of the justification of the ungodly to be understood? How is it possible? In what sense is it relevant? How may it be the legit and necessary interpretation of the history of Jesus?

Premodern was interested in the first two, 20th Century mostly interested in existential answers to the second two

Consumerism, Identity, Piety

It seems many of the churches (and my) attacks on consumerism focus on the pursuit of pleasure. We posit that the key problem with consumerism is selfishness, and so we urge ourselves and others to live more selfless lives. While this is true, I’m wondering whether there is another key problem of identity and story.

People don’t buy things simply for comfort or pleasure, but also to express, confirm or construct their identity. We want there to be some kind of meaning to the daily grind we go through, and with few other options, we find that meaning in stuff.

Personally I find the temptation to buying stuff (or being worried that I”m uable to) is strongest when my sense of identity is weakest, or when I forget the wider story that my life is involved in.
The times when stuff just isn’t an issue is when I have a stonger sense of identity and purpose within a wider story.

A christian response to consumerism then, should probably involve both a frontal attack on consumerist values, and a subtle reshaping of our identity. Hauerwas tells us we need to recapture the sense of Christianity being an adventure.
“The Good News tells of the adventure that humans have been made part of through God’s grace, through Christ, and through the church. God made each christian part of God’s sacrificial life so that the world might know it is not abandoned and that there is salvation”
Hauerwas Reader, 530
Not an adventure in the ‘Wild at heart’ kind of way, but the adventure of being shaped into the likeness of Jesus Christ, and the adventure of being part of his renewing of lives and the world.

The difficulty I have, is that I see this among the college students I am with, but not so much in the pews. My worry is that we have reduced the adventure of christian formation and living to a particular path into a particular type of paid ministry. We tell the people in our pews that that is the only real christian adventure. We have lost our doctrine of vocation (except for those in verbal ministry), and we have lost our sense of the incredible witnessing power of pious lives. This is due partly to historical battles with liberals, who want to deny the importance of verbal ministry, and partly through rejection of individualistic piety of evangelicals. While I’m no big fan of ‘simply read your bible ,say your prayers’ piety, we do need to recapture the sense of christian living as an adventure of character formation.

Or, to get back to the start of this rant, we need to show people the importance of their identity in Christ and their place in his story. Not simply in a textual, ‘lets go through Biblical theology’ way, but in a way that recognises and cultivates meaning in the various aspects of their lives.

Telling stories

Last year in Bile study, we were treated to an experience of Bible study for oral cultures. Two missionaries who worked in South Asia displayed a narrative technique, where a Bible story is told by a narrator, then retold. The tellings are followed by discussion, centred around a few simple questions 'Wht did you like about the story? , What did you dislike? What does this tell us about God, What does this tell us about people.. (and another one I can't remember). After the discussion, the participants would then take turns at retelling the story, with the other participants making corrections where necessary.

It was a refreshing and eye-opening experience, and quite enjoyable.

Last week I was chatting with a Bible College student who is looking to plant a church in a very low socio-ecenomic area. He had some very interesting statistics saying that in Australia at least 50% of the population is functionally illiterate. That is, even if they can read, for the most part, they wont. Reading to learn is foreign to them, let alone for pleasure.

Which makes me think there may be a massive niche for christian study and training based around a narrative, oral technique. If we taught just 1 story well evey two weeks, that would be 26 memorised stories a year. 100 in four years. That would have to help people both to live as christians and to pass those stories on to others.

What Bible stories would you include in a one year program.
Heres some ideas I have already.
Jesus' parables
The usual biblical theology suspects, maybe even a cycle of stories for each Genesis 1-2, Abraham, the exodus, judges/conquest, David, Split kingdom, Exile
Jesus' Healing/miracles stories
Maybe models of the cross and resurrection, that is, picking up different ways of exploring what was going on and telling it in narrative form.. PSA, Christus victor, exemplar, trinitarian.

Joseph, Jacob, the ark of God (that's the one we did in Bible study)
Maybe a few from Acts?

Admittedly it doesn't work so well fo Epistles, but then, knowing the stories is helpful for understanding the epistles.
Wisdom literature is a bit tricky too, although some of the psalms could work well.

Cmon now, more ideas from you, and maybe some ideas on tha balance/order

Bounded, Centered, Fuzzy, well formed

Which of these would be said of me? probably fuzzy and bounded, certainly not centered, or well formed.

What about your church?

Olivia Moffat lets us in . on some good reflection on new ministry in Melbourne. Though 7 years old, it is still a great read, especially for we Sydneysiders, that hardly ever talk about such things
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~efac/whatchurch.htm

Digging into the Fathers Saturday: Ben Myers

The grandaddy of them all (well probably not, but still, pretty early and pretty good), Ben Myers 'Faith and Theology' looms over the theoblogosphere. Looking back at his early posts (October 2005), I'm amazed at the consistency of quality this blog has from the very beginning.

This quote from J. Christian Beker is a doozy.

The theologian as believing unbeliever
“And the biblical theologian must recognize that unbelief is not just out there, but as contemporary man, it is within himself. Faith is too often a form of repressed unbelief. No longer, if ever, is the biblical theologian or preacher an ‘answer-box’; in many ways he is unbeliever—in hope.... Luther’s simul iustus ac peccator in our time must mean first of all the willingness to demonstrate in one’s own person, not the ready answer of the biblical or theological paraphrase, but the struggle of how to become a believer in the midst of one’s own unbelief.”

—J. Christiaan Beker, “Biblical Theology Today,” in New Theology No. 6 (London: Macmillan, 1969), p. 33.

(I must also admit that Jonathon H has been poking me to read Beker for quite some time too)
Barth, Bultmann, Beker, Jungel, and of course Dylan they are all there from the early days.
This whole month is worth checking out, especially Ben's critique of his own doctrine of Scripture.

The Bible guys are not the missional guys....

Darren Cronshaw,
in his thesis
(and, I can only assume, in the book derived from it) argues for some specifically Australian models for patoral ministry. Spiritual Companion, Chaplain for Convicts, Shepherds for settlers, Advocates for the marginalised, Servants for the needy, hosts for a multicultural community.

His methodology is to deliberately NOT start with biblical material. Rather he looks at historical images of Australian identity, sees how pastors have responded in those times, and only then find resonances to biblical material and current practice. The corresponding images of identity he explores are Aboriginal spirituality, Convicts,Bushmen, the Eureka stockade, ANZACs, and multicuturalism.

Darren kicks off by discussing Aboriginal spirituality's sense of the sacred in the land and in the everyday. There is no divide between sacred and secular, either in the plants and rocks, neither in the general activities of life, however momentous or trivial.

"Indigenous spirituality suggests a traditional image of ministry as spiritual companionship. After 200 years of white
people in the land, Australia is still on a journey and looking for its own dreaming. This is a context that invites pastoral ministers to serve as spiritual companions. " pg 23

Or, to put in a way more comfortable for my ears, Jesus really is Lord over Australia. We really do want to learn to live wisely for him in this land.

"Ministry as spiritual companionship resonates with indigenous beliefs that recognise that the journey of life has spiritual implications. The world is spiritually interconnected and part of a person’s task in life is to honour that interconnectedness.
Part of the task of those who are spiritual leaders is to help people make and maintain those connections. This is the role of a spiritual companion – to help people realise the spiritual dimension to living and relate spirituality to everyday life." pg 24

Darren isn't being dualist here. Nor, I think, is he being a washed out hippy. As ministers of the gospel, we preach that God really is working in people's lives. That their lives have a renewed meaning in following Christ. Yes, even when they aren't in full time paid ministry! Part of our role as christian ministers is to help people navigate this storied world. Part of our capitulation to western secularism is that we have stopped telling the story of Jesus in rocks and plants and working and resting, living and dying, and have only told his story in our private hearts and church buildings.

"Ministers functioning with this model, however, are not content to be general spiritual therapists exploring whatever
meaning and spiritual background people bring, but help people perceive where God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit wants to interact with them...........A spiritual companion is a friend who walks alongside a person to explore together
where God is working in that person’s spiritual life. It is a role of companionship in a
journey and exploration of spirituality. If spirituality is awareness of and response to
the sacred, then Christian spirituality more specifically is awareness of and response to
God in the context of biblical faith and community, centred in response to the Spirit of
God. Furthermore, Christian spirituality relies on friendships and mentors who nurture
awareness of and response to God. David Benner (2002: 15-16) defines these terms
and explains that sometimes spiritual companionship is offered among friends in a
mutual form of encouragement, and other times it is offered by a designated guide or
spiritual director in a one-on-one, one-way relationship. Spiritual companionship as
defined here – walking alongside someone to explore together where God is working –
broadly covers both aspects of spiritual friendship and spiritual direction.
" pg 25

Darren laments that while pastors talk among themselves, prophets from other spheres are addressing the issues that are shouting out for attention in Australia.
He highlights one such figure: Michael Leunig

"Though not explicitly Christian, Leunig is a popular ‘prophet’
who often surreptitiously addresses public issues and questions popular assumptions.
Furthermore, he functions as a fellow traveller and ‘spiritual companion’ in helping
many of his readers connect with a sense of meaning and spirituality."

Leunig's appeal is not just his personal 'spirituality but also his prophetic edge. He not only walks beside us, but gently and sadly exposes our weaknesses and foibles as a nation and culture. This prodding, that at once makes us sad , and smile, and think, is exactly what Darren desires to see in pastoral ministry.

"Biblical salvation is holistic and encompasses all aspects of life’s
journey: public and domestic issues, friendships and sexuality, leisure and business
ethics. The presentation of the gospel in Australia needs to address and build on these
everyday themes. Perhaps this is part of the role of Australian ministry as spiritual
companionship – not in a faddish or escapist style but in a down-to-earth manner that
is pastorally caring and prophetically challenging. "

Urban Neighbours of Hope

A few years back I was chatting to an Anglican minister who worked near Mt Druitt. We were at a conference that was presenting models of training and church growth. While the minister liked the models, he didn't think any of them would be appropriate to his context. The major difficulty, he said, was that Christianity made people move out of the area. A local would become a christian, and as their lives changed, they became more middle class. Education became important to them. They started caring more for their families, and the wellbeing of their families, and so just at the point where an Anglican minister may want to train them to serve in the church, they moved away to a nicer suburb. 'I can't blame them' he said. 'It isn't all that great a place to live'. A pipe dream that many have had, and some even spoken about, is trying to convince wealthier christians to move from the east and north into these areas. For the most part this hasn't happened, partly due to the distance people would have to travel back into the city to work there. Partly because it is difficult to convince churches that they should advise their parishoners to be downwardly mobile AND leave.

But praise God, there are beautiful people who are willing to be all things to all people (even the poor!).

One such group of people is Urban Neighbors of Hope.

While UNOH has a range of different activities and levels of commitment, at the heart of it are the workers. The workers of this missional group commit to living on the poverty line to reach those on the poverty line. They open their homes to their neighbors in areas where bars over the windows are a must have.

Pray for their gospel work in Thailand, Melbourne and Mt Druitt

Good Books- throw them away

That's right, especially as christians, we shouldn't tolerate good books in our houses.
Not because God hates them book learners.
But because someone else should read them.

My life is randomly peppered with anecdotal evidence for this claim.

When I was 17, my youth group leader left his job in order to be a missionary overseas. On his last night with us, he mentioned he had a stack of books he wasn't taking...would anyone like them. No one claimed them so I dived in. While it took me a few years to get through them all (still haven't), two standouts that changed my world early on were Jim Packer's ' Evangelism and the sovereignty of God' and Francis Scaeffer's 'Escape from Reason'.

Two years later my Mum let slip that her church library was getting rid of boxes of books that weren't seen to be suitable. Apart from the many spare Bibles I picked up (unsuitable?..) standouts were works by Calvin, McCheyne and Spurgeon.

And more recently I have been blessed by the faithful ministry of my mate Matt. Every birthday, he would arrive with a christian book. Not a sappy, 'might as well be a self help book' type book, but a meaty, lets make you think about your faith a bit book. Though there have been so many books from Matt that have dominated my life and thoughts, the two in front of me right now are Wright's ' Jesus and the Victory of God' and DRB Robinsons ' Faith's Framework'.

Without these three events/ influences, I really don't know who I would be today.

Books change things.
I'm sure good books have changed your life too.
Let them run free. Give them away.

Mining the rich tradition of the Ancient Fathers

Blogging is an incredibly immediate medium (if those two are allowed to go together). I love opening up my bookmarks or feed to see what pearls of wisdom and learning the blogging Fathers have dispensed for the day. Good blogs really do shape your thoughts. And yet I know that even if I recommend a blog to someone, it is highly unlikely that they will delve into the archives, to learn from the ancient blogging traditions. So in the spirit of church history, and preserving the memory of those who wrote and thought and wrestled so many weeks before us, Saturday will from henceforth be archive day. We will be mining the rich seam of thinking- pre 2008.


First up is the venerable Halden Doerge, with his mysterious work inhabitatio dei

Back in October 2006 Halden was musing on his relationship to evangelicalism


using Barth to reflect on the misery of starting theology and liturgy with man


and swimming joyfully in Von Balthasars exposition of divine love and judgement

A retraction..of sorts

Chatting to a couple of women at college today, I was pleasantly rebuked for the contents the previous post. One of them said that the talk on Friday had generated a great deal of discussion in her chaplaincy group, although the group had been discussing womens ministry for some time. Another commented that she was sick of the term womens ministry (what does it refer to anyway..women ministering or women being ministered to?),and had already e-mailed John about it. Together we have devised a cunning plan to satisfy all rigteousness. The said woman would speak in chapel...in tongues... (French, which she speaks fluently), a man would then interpret (from prepared notes to aid accuracy) and the whole thing would be kosher. Game over. Solved. We'll see how that goes down.

The success of the Spirit

For Paul, where the written code failed, the Spirit succeeds. In 8:9-13, a passage also related 6:1-14, it is the Spirit that enables the believers to put to death the misdeeds of the body , uniting believers to Jesus in his death and resurrection , in an act that echoes God’s own condemning of sin , to live a new life of obedience. Believers are transferred to a new realm of the Spirit, and not of the flesh. This is achieved by the Spirit’s effective control and shaping of the mind and desires of the believers . In 12:1-2 the minds transformed and renewed by the Spirit offer their bodies in holy worship, solving the problem of the false worship of Gentiles, given over to worthless minds and distorted use of their bodies in 1:18-32. The minds transformed by the Spirit will be able to correctly test and approve God’s will , fulfilling the false boast of the Jews who boasted of their knowledge of God’s will from the Law in 2:18.( Having had that good and pleasing will provided for their mouths by the very same Spirit in 8:26-27. There is also a connection here between Paul’s groaning for national Israel and the doxology at the end of chapter 11. While God’s plans are in some ways unsearchable regarding Israel, and require the groaning of the Spirit, those with the Spirit do have some grasp of God’s plan to restore for Israel, which results in the love and mutual acceptance of 12-15.

As opposed to the sinful mind, that cannot please God (8:7-8), those with the Spirit are praised by God(2:29) and are pleasing to God (14:17-18).



I, II, IIIIV

Why think about women....(why not?)

Last Friday, John Woodhouse, the principal of Moore College, encouraged the students in chapel to think seriously about the role of women in ministry. He rebuked us for not coming to firm conclusions on this issue, saying that we did the women of our congregations a great disservice by being unclear. John outlined his position that, while valuing the equal status of women, denied them a role in preaching and teaching, as this was chiefly one of pastoral oversight, and in his view the Bible prescribed this role only for men. John urged conversation on the matter, and repeatedly emphasised the need for graciousness in difference. However, there were three strategies in his presentation that mitigated against this graciousness. Firstly was the continual use of the ‘world’ and it’s perceptions of male and female relations as the main foil for his argument. While John may not have meant it, this strategy instantly places those who disagree firmly on the pagan side of the equation. While the secular world may very well have different concepts of male and female relations, the argument against christians from secular failure holds about as much weight as charicatures of the conservative position as wife beating mysoginists. None. Neither of these rhetorical strategies do justice to the fact that there are faithful christians on both (all) sides of this debate. It essentially is the argument ‘I’m right because I’m a christian, therefore you are not a christian’.
The second unhelpful strategy is related to the first. John set out ‘the biblical data’, without argument or much comment on each passage (admitting the limits on time). This, combined with the allusions to the ‘world’, gave the impression that those with a non-hierarchical view were motivated by capitulation to the current worldview rather than faithfulness to the Scriptures. Again, this may be true at the level of the pews. But these things were said in a theological college, where we were being encouraged to think. The proponents on a non-hierarchical complementarianism are no exegetical or text critical lightweights. They include the likes of Gordon Fee and I H Marshall. If we are genuine about thinking this issue through, then carefully engaging with a book like ‘Discovering Biblical Equality’ is a must. These guys love Jesus and really do know their stuff. Having read them, it is far harder to nonchalantly plant your flag in the ground and claim the biblical high ground.
The third unhelpful strategy was the timing of the talk. It came one day after the ACL recruitment meeting, with John as one of the ACL’s guest speakers), and only days before the opening of the Sydney Diocese Synod, where womens ministry will again be debated. The reason given for the talk was the integration of Mary Andrews College (Womens) with Moore College. However, the two colleges have been integrated for ten months.Thus in a fairly charged environment, John put forth as normative for the College a policy which is more restrictive than the current diocese position (Which has provision for females preaching). Hardly opening up the floor for debate.
What has the result been? I can only speak from a very limited position, but from my view the result has been lacklustre. Those who agree with John had their views confirmed with very little in the way of argument. Those who disagree have either viewed this as an attempt to polarise the college, and so kept their heads down; or alternatively have capitulated

‘It’s not worth losing the opportunity to do gospel ministry in Sydney over this issue’.’

But is this the case? If John, and those who follow him, are wrong on this, then not only are we depriving the church of the work of leaders gifted by God to build it up; we are placing an uneccessary (and huge) stumbling block for the gospel in the way of 50% of the worlds population.

Either way, someone is going to lose (or already is denied) the opportunity to have a preaching ministry in Sydney.

Politics and church politics

Thinking of the current state of church politics in Sydney, some of us are dissatisfied with the current order, others are bent on convincing us that there are big nasty threats to that order, and that they are our protectors. On the one side is dissatisfaction that appears to lead to an uncertain future. On the other there is a satisfied sense of security that wants to keep things exactly how they are.

Byron had a great post on hope and dissatisfaction in politics back in February.


I wonder whether his musings on Moltmann could be helpful for both sides in our church politics.
Our desire for change doesn't have to come from demonising the present, but comes from the sheer goodness of the promised future of Christ. The certainty of that promise is what should make us dissatisfied with all politics that justify their own pragmatic (and sometimes underhanded) policies. Let me make this as blunt as possible. The ACL does not secure the future kingdom of God. Nor are they THE threat to it for that matter. They are neither the messiah or the devil.

Are we Lutheran?

"The consequences of imprecision in pneumatology may lead to a type of Lutheran quietism. Both clergy and laity can easily come to the conclusion that, as long as the Word is preached, the Spirit will be present, and sanctification will follow. They believe that proclaiming the gospel is necessary and sufficient for sanctification to take place." [my bold] p114 Jeffrey Mann, 'Luther and the Holy Spirit', Currents in Theology and Mission 34:2 (Apr 2007)

Ouch, how much does this sound like us!

One Matt comes, and another Matt is back

In the most celbrated poaching of talent ever, Matt Bales has bowed before the awesome power of this blog. He'll be posting his thoughts here on a random basis, so if any of the posts are bad...blame him.

In other exciting news, Matt Moffit is posting again over at Hebel. He is still trying to convince us that the story of Israel is important for us today. Pfff. It's like he thinks Jesus and Paul were Jewish or something.

Love the Lord your God

All this activity of the Spirit fulfils the purpose of the Law in believers. This fulfilment should not be separated from Paul’s rereading of Deuteronomy 30 in 10:4-9, where Jesus and faith in him are the telos of the Law. But nor should the Law’s fulfilment be seen as somehow limited by this. It is those who have the Sprit dwelling in and interceding for them that are named ‘ lovers of God’ (8:28), fulfilling the shema of Deuteronomy 6:4. The clear parallels between 8:18-39 and 5:1-11 should then guide our understanding of 5:5 to recognise tou theou as an objective genitive( or at the very least plenary). The Spirit then, fills believers with hope as it enables believers to fulfil the shema even in suffering, rather than by providing some internal, subjective sensation of God’s love. It is believers, offering their bodies as spiritual sacrifices who are to fulfil the law and all the commandments by loving their fellowmen in 13:8-14. The central position Paul gives the commandment of Leviticus 19:18 here, echoes Jesus’ summing up of the Law( Matt 22:34-40). While the Spirit is not mentioned explicitly in Romans 13, the language of obligation and fulfilment, the eschatological context( 13:11-14) and the later references to “walking in love”(14:15) confirm that “what is said here about love “fulfilling” the Law is in Pauline understanding a direct outworking of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer”.(Fee, GEP) Paul’s use of opheilete returns the reader back to Paul's hanging half sentence of 8:12. The believers putting to death of the misdeeds of the body by the Spirit is to be done in the context of love of the other.(also 15:2) The exhortation to “clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh” in 13:14 , then refers backwards to the obvious debauchery of 13:13, but also forwards to the relationships between weak and strong in the Roman churches. Paul’s teaching about the Holy Spirit in the letter to the Romans forms a major part of his goal to bring about the obedience of faith in the new covenant people. He avoids the charge of anti-nomianism by showing how those with the Spirit, though not under the Law, fulfil the righteous requirements of the Law, love of God, and love of one another.


I, II, III

Holy Spirit

In Paul's letter to the Romans, the Spirit fulfils the purpose of the Law in the new covenant. The Spirit enables obedience and right worship, marks out the boundaries of the people of God, and brings the covenant blessing of eschatological life and inheritance. This purpose corresponds to Paul’s goals for his letter and ministry; to bring about the obedience of faith , that through his gospel both Jew and Gentile might glorify God through Jesus Christ ‘with one heart and mouth’ , and to encourage the Roman believers in their faith .
Paul’s teaching about the Holy Spirit in Romans defends, outlines and encourages the obedience of faith brought about through his preaching of the gospel. The Holy Spirit Spirit is the Spirit of holiness , that enables obedience and right worship, in fulfilment of the original purpose of the Law. After Paul has outlined the mutual culpability of both Gentiles and Law observers (1:18-3:20) , and the free gift of justification by faith in Jesus Christ apart from Law observance (3:21-5:21) , Paul raises four rhetorical accusations of anti-nomianism against himself . What role is there for obedience, if the Law is not the basis for justification? Paul answers these questions in two parallel passages, 6:1-23, in relation to Christ, and 8:1-17 primarily in relation to the Spirit. In 8:3-4 the righteous requirements of the Law are fulfilled, not by observance of the written code, but by the sacrificial death of God’s Son and by those ‘walking in the Spirit’. Already in 2:28-29, the Spirit is presented as the agent circumcising the heart, the very basis of fulfilling the Law in the Mosaic covenant.( Deut 10:16) The agency of the Spirit makes this a reference to the promises of a new covenant, the new eschatological age. (Deut 30:6, Jer 31:31-34, Ezek 36:26-27)
“They are now given as their guide, not indeed the law, which, although given by God, is unable to do more than condemn them for their sin, but the Spirit, so that the Mosaic covenant is replaced, as Jeremiah and Ezekiel said it would be, with the covenant written on the hearts of God’s people by God’s own Spirit”
Nicholas T. Wright , ‘ New Exodus, New Inheritance: The Narrative Structure of Romans 3-8’ . in Romans and the People of God: Essays in Honour of Gordon D. Fee on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday. 1999, 29
Dunn in his theology of Paul (643) however cautions us from seeing both 2:29 and the reference to the Spirit in 7:6 as a simple antithesis and replacement to Israel’s Torah ethic. The new covenant did not envisage a new law, but a more effective keeping of it. The problem of the Law is the weakness of the written code against sin and the flesh14 to circumcise the heart and bring about right living, rather than a defect in the Law itself. Paul's use of nomos touv pneumatos thvs zwhvs is “more than a clever turn of phrase” , but denotes continuity between the two ages. Paul’s antithesis is not between Law and Spirit, but the written code and the Spirit, or as Tobin notes (Paul's Rhetoric), flesh and the Spirit.




I, II, III

It's rehash essays Wednesday..... YAY!!

Is it inappropriate to post old essays on a blog? On the one hand, they are a bit dry. But on the other hand, they are a place where I've bothered doing some reading and thinking on a topic. Yet on my third hand, I usually don't leave enough time for writing those thoughts down, so they are a bit sloppy, but on the fourth hand.....
I'd better give up this deliberation before I become Ganesh.

So, in the spirit of poorly thought through decisions.... I will post old essays on Wednesdays.

You can always ignore the posts if they don't interest you.

First up is the Spirit in Romans