Linked Together: Three Theological Statements

God
“God is without … passions,” teaches the confession. Can that be true? Doesn’t he love us? In The Problem with Passion, Tom Chantry explains what “without passions” means, and tells us why it’s good news that God is without them.

Christ
The author of Hebrews says that Christ is “the radiance of the glory of God.” In other words,

All that God is — the measureless sum of his eternal and eternally rich attributes — shines forth in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son. Jesus is supremely radiant.

For more explanation, read all of Christ As Radiance by Jared Wilson. It just might make your heart sing.

People
How do we square Paul’s statement, “no one does good,” with the acts of kindness done by those around us who are unbelievers? How is Paul defining good?

The “goodness” in view in Romans 3:12 (citing Ps. 14:3) is goodness as God sees it. The Bible is asserting that even acts of civic kindness done by an unbeliever fail to meet the requirement of God’s law—namely, that all our actions must be done with a view to glorifying God. In that sense, even the unbeliever’s good acts are evil. 

Read all of Is It True That Natural Man Cannot Do Any Good? by Derek Thomas.

Linked Together: The Thankful Thursday Edition

For the Small Things
Erik Raymond reminds us to “consider the little things,” like David did when he wrote Psalm 3:

I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me (Psalm 3:5).

When We Suffer
Mark Altrogge: 

One of the most important things we must do when we suffer is to give thanks.  I don’t say this lightly and I know many believers who have endured unimaginable pain and tragedy.  Giving thanks in the midst of agony and affliction is certainly not easy to do. 

To help us out, he’s listed 12 things we can give thanks for when we suffer.

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Here are a few things I’m thankful for this week:

• Health. I haven’t been sick (yet) this winter. Everyone around me has been sick, and some have been really sick, but I haven’t.
• Safety—safety as I drive, safety as I walk (It’s very icy out there!). For safety for my whole family this week. 
• Two ladies in my church who have taken on a really difficult job this week—one I don’t think I could do—out of Christian love. 
• My oldest son, who just had a birthday.
• That God has sustained me through the past 11 years.
• That God is in control of everything, including my life. 

Linked Together: Teaching Your Children

Justification by Faith
Fred Zaspel has a helpful article on teaching the doctrine of justification by faith to our children in January’s Credo Magazine.

For many Christian parents it is not that they don’t want to teach doctrine — it’s just that they feel they don’t know how. So let’s think for a bit on that level: how can we teach our children this most important doctrine. What are the essentials that we need to get across?

Click below to read it. 

The Trinity
I’ve mentioned previously that I don’t recommend using analogies for the Trinity because the ones I know do a better job illustrating a trinitarian heresy than illustrating the Trinity. This one is better than most, but I’m still not sure about it.

What do you think? Does it help?