An Alcoholic meets the Trinity

Methuselah was one of the people we met a few weeks back.  He had a drink problem. Now we know what The Bible has to say about alcohol. Whilst wine gladdens the heart (Psalm 104:15; Ecclesiastes 10:19) and is useful for sickness (1 Timothy 5:23), drunkenness damages and is associated with folly (Proverbs 20:1; 21:17). … Continue reading An Alcoholic meets the Trinity

Applying the Trinity

We’ve already seen something of how important the Doctrine of the Trinity is. It points us clearly to God’s character as the God who is love and it is essential to our understanding of salvation. We now want to pick up on one or two other practical applications. Unity and Diversity What type of Universe… Continue reading Applying the Trinity

What more do we need?

This is a bit of a follow up to my article regarding the abolition of slavery and “a better ethic than the Bible” earlier this week.  A lot of the argument concerning the redemptive-movement-hermeneutic boils down to two questions which Michael Bird helpfully crystalised in a twitter discussion. Is it better for something to be… Continue reading What more do we need?

My big concern about the Trinity Debate

In the debate and conversations about The Trinity one thing has particularly concerned me. To be clear, it’s not that I’m unbothered about the risk of theological error. I hope that comes through in my own articles. However, I’ve been struck by our struggle to disagree well and how much of that arises out of… Continue reading My big concern about the Trinity Debate

Submission revisited – why the Trinity debate matters

What we believe affects how we live. This means that you can’t really just have academic debates about Theology. Recent debates about the Trinity matter for two reasons.  First because the most crucial aspect of how we live is our desire to know, love, worship, glorify and enjoy God. If we get our doctrine wrong… Continue reading Submission revisited – why the Trinity debate matters

Eternal Generation revisited

One of the key elements of the recent debate about the Trinity is the place of Eternal Generation in our understanding of who The Son is.  For many years some of those who held to the so called Eternal Functional Subordination position expressed scepticism about this, notably Wayne Grudem and Bruce Ware.  Grudem has commented:… Continue reading Eternal Generation revisited

Knowing God … knowing Jesus

This is a kind of footnote to my article that looked at what we can say about The Trinity and what we can learn from the Trinity. In response to that article, Daniel Blanche made these provocative remarks. Was his comment fair? Well, yes, I think there is a fair challenge to be answered here. … Continue reading Knowing God … knowing Jesus

How not to be a heretic – be teachable

One of the people who has been right at the centre of the EFS controversy has been Wayne Grudem. When the charge of heresy is made it is primarily targeted against Grudem and Bruce Ware. This is understandable because I have to admit that out of the “EFS” proponents, it has been their language that… Continue reading How not to be a heretic – be teachable

EFS/ESS – revisiting a recent Trinitarian controversy

Every so often, a little debate about the Trinity and specifically about the relationship of the Father to the Son rears its head again. You may have heard it referred to as either The Eternal Subordination of the Son” (ESS)  or “Eternal Functional Subordination” (EFS). The debate got particularly heated back in 2016, people started… Continue reading EFS/ESS – revisiting a recent Trinitarian controversy

Kiss The Son (Psalm 2)

“I’ve learnt that it’s okay to be angry at God” “I have discovered that I need to forgive God first.” Have you heard statements like that?  They sound radical and edgy and I’ve heard these sorts of ideas put forward to help believers that are struggling with grief or emotional heartache. If they believe that… Continue reading Kiss The Son (Psalm 2)