Son of God Son of Man

"That which is from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we beheld and touched with our hands concerning the word of life." 1 John 1:1 JPSV

Son of God

You can feel the thrust of his argument in the heart of those who would deny that Jesus was God's Son who came in the flesh and that his death was sufficient for the salvation of men. He captures the essence of Christ's deity calling him the "Word of Life," just has he does in the prologue of his gospel (John 1:1-14). In this text, "life" speaks of a condition that transcends physical life (cf Matt 7:14; Matt 18:8; Mark 10:30). It could be possibly rendered the "word of eternal life. Again, looking over to John's prologue in his gospel, we see that Jesus is the word who was with God and was God and became flesh-word of eternal life. "That which is from the beginning" is also an indicator of Jesus' deity. This phrase is used many times in the Septuagint connoting the idea of what extends back before time exists ( Wis 6:22; 9:8; Sir 16:26; Isaiah 43:13).

Son of Man

John validates Jesus' humanness by verifying that his eyes beheld Jesus and his hands touched him. This use of sensory language almost tastes of when Jesus invites Thomas to see his hands and touch his side after he was resurrected (Luke 24:39). Jesus came in the flesh and lived as a man. When the sun beat on his brow he grew thirsty and drank. When walking on the dirt roads covered with rocks and pebbles, his feet were worn with calluses. His stomach growled when he was hungry and his eyes grew weary when he was tired. In essence, he was a man.

Jesus was the Son of God and the Son of Man. He was both God and man at the same time. Those whom John was opposing in this epistle was denying this truth. They could not fathom how God, who is holy and righteous, come down as flesh, sinful and death ridden. In fact, they could not grasp the incarnation. To some degree, I can relate to them.

Why is the incarnation important?

Why is the doctrine of the incarnation so important? There is a long answer to this that I cannot really explain. So, I will not try to go that route. However, off the cuff I would say that the incarnation is important because without it we would not have the Atonement nor the Resurrection. And without the both of these we do not have the Christian faith.

Another reason the incarnation is important is that Christ had to do what Adam and Israel did not do, overcome the wilderness. When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they were kicked out of the garden and into the world (a wilderness if you will). Israel wondered 40 years in the wilderness for their rebellion against God at Mt Sinai. Christ came in the flesh (wilderness) lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and conquered death in the Resurrection. We see a foreshadow of this when Christ, at the beginning of his ministry, was drawn into the desert to be tempted. He overcame the temptation in the wilderness and crossed the Jordan back into Jerusalem to bring in the kingdom of God (Mark 1:1-15). Christ could not do this unless he came and lived and died and rose as a man.

These are my thoughts. So much for being concise :). I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Hello Again!

I know, it has been over three months since I have last written. It has been a crazy three months. Aside from having my fourth child, the demands of seminary and two jobs have taken their toll. Nevertheless, I am back and hope to write more over the summer.

This last semester I had the privilege of translating 1 John from Greek to English. I also had to write an expositional paper on 1 John 5:16-17: "The Sin That Leads To Death." Both of these have taught me a great deal, not to mention two important truths. First, translation takes a lot of work and practice. There are so many questions that must be answered and thought through for each verse. Add to that, every time you translate, you loose something from the original. Therefore, a good translator will try keep his losses at a minimal. Needless to say, translating is an art.

The second thing I have learned is that my writing needs to become more clear and concise. I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head. And sometimes I like to put them all down in one setting, regardless if they fit or not. This makes things lengthy and meandering. I need to work on laying hold of one idea and sticking with it all the way through, in as short of space as possible.

Therefore, at least over the summer, I am going to practice translating my Greek one verse at a time and writing my reflections on it. This will be more on the spot thinking and writing. I do not plan to consult my resources for information or ideas. I am going to try to organize my thoughts and put them down in a paragraph or two. I hope by doing so that I will become a better translator and writer.

As always, you thoughts and comments are welcome. I may write something that you agree or disagree with. You are free to say what you like. Moreover, you may see something that I missed in my thought process and correct it or present a case for it. Feel free. I am open to the dialogue.

I hope all is well.

All Is Well

It has been a while since I have last written. Time seems to be a bit relative to me since the beginning of the year (Kind of ironic considering I'm not a "Post Modernist" if you will.) Between work, school starting up again, and anticipating a new born, life has been seemingly hectic.

However, things have been very well, all things considering. In this entry, I'm going to highlight two things that have encouraged me and offered me an opportunity to hope.

Many Prayers Equal a Mini Van

No, I am not a health wealth and prosperity gospel guy. Those who know me know that I abhor it. But all praise and glory go to God who graciously provided a van for our family. As a family, we prayed during our meals and family worship time for God to provide for us a vehicle that would be able to hold all of our family. A few weeks ago, God answered our prayer.

Stacy's dad had been looking around for us in Iowa and found a red Chrysler 2000 Town & Country Limited Edition; with only 94,000 miles on it. They fellow who owned the car was a friend of Paul's and sold the van to us $2,000 under its value. We were able to get rid of the 98 Oldsmobile which helped in acquiring the van.

Through it all God has shown himself magnificent. Our children were able to tangibly see God working for his people. He has given them another memorial, a pillar if you will, to lean on when they pray to him. In 1 John 5:14-15 it says, "And this is the confidence we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request asked of him." My family and I have tasted the fruit of these verses many times. The mini van is just another testimony of our confidence in God that he hears us and answers our prayers according to His great wisdom.

I would encourage you all to pray with your children. I have learned the more that I involve them in our everyday worship, the more their faith is validated, wherever it me be. It seems that faith is built on blocks at times. Every prayer offered together is an opportunity to strengthen their resolve for their Creator.

Seminary is Sanctification

My seminary experience has been interesting to say the least. There is an unexplainable tension waring in my heart between who I am and the man God has in mind. It is as if I am going through an identity crisis of some sorts. It is almost as if I have been taken back to the time of my conversion. The time after the bliss has worn off and my sin is as real as the chair I'm sitting in and the fight to turn from it is hostile. Everyday is a struggle. Everyday is a step.

I'm learning that this experience is not uncommon to those attending seminary. As a matter of fact, if you are not experiencing this to some degree, some would say you have not really been attending seminary. There are a few facts about seminary that hurt, yet, give me hope. Let me share them with you.

1. God uses seminary to discipline you.

Everything we are experiencing, ultimately, is from the hand of God. Just as he tells the water to come this far and no further, He also tells the bank accounts to empty this much and no more, the crazy circumstance to come at this time and not that time, and the sickness to run its course and be finished. He also allows others to work for you and against you at the same time. The workings of our God are so incomprehensible that pondering them for to long forces me to cry out with Paul, "who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Who has given to Him as if He should repay him? For from him, and through, him, and to him are all things." (Romans 11:33-36) And the crazy thing about all of this is it is done out of love.

Hebrews 12:1-3 tells us that God only disciplines us out of love. If we put this verse in the context of the promise of Romans 8:28, we see that because all things work together for our good, that be default God himself must be good. A "bad" god or "evil" god would not work anything out for good. Jesus himself questioned the Pharisees by asking them, "how can you speak good when you are evil? (Matt 12: 34) He answers them in a way that exposes the heart. "The good person, out his good treasure brings forth good and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil." (Matt 12:35) Keeping in line with this thought, if God promises that all things work for our good in Romans 8:28, then that promise is given and motivated by his goodness. And if he is good and works all things out for our good, then the chastening he brings is good and must be welcomed as a gracious gift. And as Hebrews 12 explains, God does this out of love, just as father disciplines his son.

Keep in mind too, that discipline shows itself in a myriad of ways. It is not always through pain and suffering. Overall, my family and I love Louisville and the Village Manor (our housing complex). We love the people we meet and the experiences we have had. However, we are constantly walking through knee high water. We strive day by day with enough faith to believe that manna is enough and God's grace is sufficient.

2. God uses seminary to make us more pliable.

To be in seminary is to be broke. There is no way around it. I have seen engineers, school teachers, businessmen, and many others come to seminary and barley make it. Add in a few kids and a minimum wage job, and you really have broke. I have come to except this as part of God's working. Stacy and I enjoyed a very comfortable lifestyle in Texas. I was a school teacher and a youth pastor. I made good money for our household. We had savings and the freedom to buy what we wanted within reason. We were comfortable.

Sometimes being comfortable makes you rigid, even taut. I don't think you realize it until you are forced to bend. God takes your comfort away and works through the spiritual rigamortis to prepare you to lead his people. He applies pressure in some areas, like security, that has calcified over time into self-dependency, and he works it out like a masseuse or chiropractor, until your faith is pliant; elastic enough to be stretched, yet durable enough not to break. And this only happens when we come to realize Christ as LORD. LORD over health, wealth, faith, family, and all that is in between...you name it....he claims it! God uses seminary, the entire facet of seminary, to ensure you are equipped to do his will. Pastors must be pliable in a lot of areas of ministering. I will probably speak more on this later.

All of this being said, we have hope. We know we are called to be here in Louisville at Southern Seminary. We know that God is at work in us to work out his perfect will. We are seeing prayers answered, like the one above, and we are seeing our faith being chastened. God has been very gracious to us in providing support from our home church in Bristol, TX and our neighbors. We are loved and cared for. We have a lot of reasons to rejoice.

No matter how difficult this journey is going to get, we know that we have a Father who works in us and a mediator who advocates for us. Please continue to pray for us that God will provide as he sees fit and feel free to share your request with us. We love to pray as a family and would love to pray for you. Be good and God bless.