Ben McBride

Jollyblogger recently had his results from a theological quiz. Here are my results:

You scored as Reformed Evangelical. You are a Reformed Evangelical. You take the Bible very seriously because it is God's Word. You most likely hold to TULIP and are sceptical about the possibilities of universal atonement or resistible grace. The most important thing the Church can do is make sure people hear how they can go to heaven when they die. </td> Reformed Evangelical 79% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 75% Fundamentalist 75% Neo orthodox 64% Charismatic/Pentecostal 43% Emergent/Postmodern 43% Classical Liberal 36% Modern Liberal 14% Roman Catholic 0% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

Update: The HTML isn't quite right, but I don't have time to fix it now.

Ben

I've recently been reintroduced to the work of the Puritan's by a blog that I frequent.  While many of the Puritan resources are online at CCEL, I was disappointed by those that were not, such as work by Boston, Manton, and others.  So I checked my university library and found that they had the works of Thomas Boston.  The last few afternoons I have spend in the library reading various sermons and discourses that have caught my eye.  The following from Boston's "The Necessity of Self-Examination" really convicted my heart:

    "Self-judging would call men home to their own case, so that they would not be at so much leisure to ramble abroad. It would  let them see so much evil in themselves, and so much they have need to be forgiven of God, that they would not dare be so severe on their brethren, and rigorous on their behaviour, lest the measure they mete to others should be measured to them again ... and preserve you from many miscarriages to and misconstructions of others."

Through God's grace and mercy may this truth grow in my heart so that I can share the love and grace of our Lord.

I briefly touched on the idea of sufficiency in a previous post (http://bdm7935.livejournal.com/928.html), but I wanted to dwell on it a little bit more today. In Colossians 1:12, we see that God "has made us meet [sufficient] to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints." There are days where I am painfully aware of the sinfulness of my flesh, the weakness of my body, and my total inadequacy. I am but dust. Apart from God I am nothing. But through faith in the death and resurrection of Christ, God has made me adequate. It is nothing that I did, nor anything I could do. It is solely by his grace and his mercy. God truly is my sufficiency (2 Corinthians 3:5). In Him alone I live.

God Bless America,

Ben

In the salutation, we find that the epistle is written to "all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints". Paul continues by praising the church at Rome for their faith (verse 8) and explains that desires to see them in person, Romans 1:11-12:

For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; that is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

Paul longs to see the saints in Rome so that he can "impart unto you some spiritual gift." What does this mean? What is this spiritual gift mentioned? Let's approach the latter question first. There are many different spiritual gifts mentioned in the bible. Indeed in Romans 12:3-8, we find that each of us is a member of the body of Christ and each one of us has a different function. God has given us "gifts that differ according to the grace given to us." Paul then enumerates several of the different gifts: prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading, and showing mercy. Paul also mentions apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers as working for the "perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" in Ephesians 4:11-12. Not everyone will be a leader, or pastor, but all have a purpose, all have good works that God has set before them (Ephesians 2:10). The word "impart", in verse 11, means "to share in association with anyone, to impart, to communicate." Paul is going to communicate unto the saints by some gift, or office, that has been given to him by God, for the purpose of establishing, or fixing firmly, the believers in Rome.

In verse 12, Paul further illuminates his meaning. This establishing, or fixing firmly, involves the believers to be "comforted together" with Paul. This "comforted together" phrase means "to call for or invite with at the same time". This "comforting together" is by "mutual faith" of both Paul and the saints at Rome. How does this work? Well, Paul must have faith in the gift of God and the grace that he has been given. If Paul is not walking in the faith of his ministry, he will not be doing the will of God. Likewise, the saints in Rome must have faith that God is working in Paul in his ministry. Both are required for the establishing and comforting together to work. This principle of mutual faith is also in operation in Matthew 13:57-58. In this passage, Jesus is in his own country. Unfortunately, the people did not believe that Jesus was a prophet, or spokesman, for God. They doubted saying, "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brethren, James, Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us?" The people are saying, "Hey, we know who you are, you aren't anything special." Oops...bad idea. Their unbelief hindered the ministry of Jesus. That's right, Jesus could not do much because of their unbelief! Verse 57 says, "And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief."

I hope this helps explain the idea of "mutual faith" that Paul is talking about in respect to his specific spiritual gift.

Ben

Several of the general themes of Romans are sin, and consequently, the wrath of God as a result of sin, faith, righteousness, and justification. The word "sin" occurs 41 times in Romans, according to Young's Concordance, while only 12 times in the rest of the Pauline church epistles. "Faith" occurs only twice in the Old Testament, while occurring 243 times in the New Testament! "Righteousness" occurs 35 times in Romans, yet only 19 times in the other church epistles. More than half of the church epistle occurrences of "justified" are found in Romans.

( Definitions )
( Quotations )
( Conclusions )

Romans 1:5-6 --
By whom [Jesus Christ our Lord] we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
Among whom [all nations] are ye also the called of Jesus Christ

In these verses, Paul resumes his thoughts from verse 1 where he states that he is "called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God". He has received this apostleship and grace [free gift, or unmerited favor] by Jesus Christ. I discussed Paul's apostleship previously. Note that Paul does not use "I", but rather uses "we". Paul is saying that it is not just he who has received grace and apostleship but rather it is all that are called of Jesus Christ who have received grace and apostleship. This apostleship is not necessarily the ministry of an apostle as mentioned in I Corinthians 12:28-19. However, we are all charged to be "ambassadors for Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:18-20) and have been given the ministry and word of reconciliation. According to Young's Concordance, an apostle is "one sent forth." We are sent forth to preach the good news of God's plan to reconcile the world to himself through Jesus Christ. See also Ephesians 5:8, I Peter 3:15, 2 Corinthians 3, and 2 Corinthians 4:1-7.

The word "called" in verse 5 means to be invited, welcomed, or chosen. We are all invited to partake of the promises of God. In Acts 2:38-39, Peter says, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, as many as the Lord our God shall call."
But God can only welcome you into his grace and kingdom through Jesus Christ. The gulf between God's just and righteous nature, which requires that sin be punished by death, and our sin and unrighteousness is wide. There is nothing I can do to span the divide. No matter how much good I do I cannot cross the chasm. I am not good enough. I don't measure up to God's standard of righteousness. However, Jesus, who was without sin, was made sin for us, that we could be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus took away our sins so that we could be reconcilled to and welcomed by God.

We are often times reminded that God no longer requires sin and blood offerings as described in the Old Testament. This is not entirely true. God still requires atonement for sins. But Jesus was made an offering (probitiation, or sacrifice) for our sins. His blood was and is an atonement for our sins. Everyday we are called to bring our thoughts and actions back to the altar of Christ. We are to "cast down imaginations [reasonings], and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). We are to "present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God" (Romans 12:1). This is our "reasonable service." For we are all "partakers of the altar" of Christ (I Corinthians 10:16-18).

This is a very informative blog/discussion on the doctrine of the Trinity. I encourage any one interested to read it from the beginning post.

http://trinities.org/blog/

God Bless,

Ben

I just created the title of my livejournal, "Running Against Horses." While this title seems a little strange at first, I think a brief explanation will make the title clear.

When I was in high school I was a long distance runner. I ran both cross country and track. Unlike most high school runners, I ran year round, everyday, regardless of the weather. If you know anything about the weather in Kansas, you know this is quite a feat! By my senior year I was running between 70 and 80 miles a week. I was clearly committed.

However, my primary aim in life is not to run (or get my Ph.D since I'm currently in graduate school), but to follow God and my Lord Jesus Christ completely and whole heartedly. A good friend of mine in the church, Lorraine Niboro, wrote me a letter towards the end of high school that is close to my heart. She expounded on Jeremiah 12:5, "If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses?"

Lorraine exhorted me to guard against contending with the footmen, the lightweights, the vain attacks. If I chase all the challengers, then I will be wearied when my real opponents come, those that God has purposed for me to fight. She encouraged me to put my trust and strength in the Lord rather than in myself, because he is faithful to deliver those who put there trust in him. Lorraine concludes, "Forget the footmen. Dismiss them. Do not let them weary you. You are a runner against horses. You are a winner against horses."

Romans 1:1b-4--
Paul ... separated unto the Gospel of God,
(which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)
concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness,
by the resurrection from the dead

These verses give a view from 50,000 feet of Romans. Romans is about the gospel of God. Romans gives us the nuts and bolts about why we needed a savior and how Jesus fulfilled the requirements needed by God's law and word to redeem us. Romans lays forth the doctrine that are salvation is only through the grace of God and faith of Jesus Christ. There is nothing one can do to be righteous before God. All have sinned and fallen short. We don't measure up to the standard. Praise the Lord that we are redeemed and covered by the blood and faith of Jesus Christ! Let's get into the details:

( the Gospel of God )
( promised afore )
( concerning His Son )
( seed of David )
( declared with power )

The last two entries were current thoughts on some verses that God has placed on my heart from Colossians. I will now continue with a more systematic rummage through my notes on the first eight chapters of Romans.

( A slave, Romans 1:1a )

Not only has God made us sufficient, he saved us from the dominion of darkness.

Colossians 1:13 --
Who [God] hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath
translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.

We were captive to sin, sold into slavery. We were strangers, aliens
from the covenants and promises, without hope, and without God in the
world. Sin ruled in our lives. We walked according to the path of
this world. Blinded from the truth. Fulfilling the desires of the
flesh, enemies of God. It could not get worse.

But, in our darkest hour, God send a deliverer. God send his only
begotten Son so that we might have life. We did not deserve it.
Nothing we did merited it. It was only by God's grace, his
unmerited favor. God delivered us, he snatched us out of danger, he
rescued us. Furthermore, he transferred us into the kingdom of Christ.
We are now longer a servant to the enemy. We are under the rule of
our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ben

Colossians 1:12 --
Giving thanks unto the Father, which [who] hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light...

The greek for "hath made us meet" is hikanoo (2427). Thayer's defines
as "to make sufficient, render fit, to equip one with adequate power
to perform the duties of one". Also occurs in 2 Corinthians 3:6 (that
is, "hath made us able ministers of the new testament").

What an amazing verse! God has equipped us, as in past tense, already
has equipped, prepared, made us sufficient to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints! While we were dead in our sins, while we
took pleasure in our wickedness, God, who is rich in mercy and love,
bound us together with Christ. He made us alive together with Christ.
He raised us up together. He made us sit together in heavenly
places.

We are complete in Christ. ("complete" in Colossians 2:10 is better
rendered as "completely complete"). He has blessed us with all
spiritual blessings. We have an inheritance.
We have life everlasting with the only true God, our
Father. He made us sufficient to be his children. He made us
adequate to be called the sons of God. I am a new creation in Christ
Jesus. The old man is dead. I am free from the bondage of sin and
alive to God.

Thanks be to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

Ben

I have a mound of bible study notes that I am trying to organize electronically. I've been putting it off for quite some time because it is really a BIG task. I'd like to gather my notes together in a coherent, cogent fashion. While that may not happen quite yet, I thought I'd share some of my notes. So, for the next few days, weeks, months, or how ever long it takes I'm going to share my notes and thoughts, one at a time.

Ben