Series so far: Christ at the Center: The Fulcrum of Biblical Covenantalism – Introduction: Parts 1a, 1b, 1c, Jesus and the New Covenant: Part 2a, 2b Christ is the New Covenant! (Isa. 49:8) Several passages in the Bible are crucial for studying the New Covenant. In the OT, along with Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36 there is in particular Ezekiel 11 and 37, as well as early notices of the need for inner renewal in Deuteronomy 30:5-6. The NT references …
Category: Christology
Series so far: Christ at the Center: The Fulcrum of Biblical Covenantalism – Introduction: Parts 1a, 1b, 1c, Jesus and the New Covenant: Part 2a When one examines the Old Testament’s unilateral covenants a picture emerges which shows how each covenant: the Noahic, the Abrahamic, the Priestly, and the Davidic, are bound together in their future fulfillment with the New Covenant in Jesus Christ. This feature of the covenants is plainly present in two important prophetic passages, Jeremiah 33 and …
Series: Christ at the Center: The Fulcrum of Biblical Covenantalism Introduction: Parts 1a, 1b, 1c Jesus Christ and the New Covenant In my Introduction I showed that Scripture places the Person of Christ in the middle of everything. Not only did God create through the Son (as the Word or Logos, of which more to come), but everything was made for Christ. We may, therefore, view creation as a gift of the Father to the Son. Seeing it this way …
Previous Post I have reduced my Introduction down to three shorter pieces for ease of reading and digestion. This brief piece finishes off the exposition of Colossians 1:13-20 and leads into a preamble on the New Covenant. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 …
Continued from last time on Colossians 1:15b There is a great deal which might be said about the term “firstborn.” Primarily of course it concerns right of inheritance and prominence among brethren. As the examples of Isaac and Jacob and Judah and Solomon show, the first to be born is not the main idea in “firstborn” (prototokos). The primary idea involves status, not physical birth. Notice how this is true in Psalm 89:27, ” I also shall make him My …
Introduction To The Series There are all sorts of places one can launch out from when writing about the grand scheme of things in the Bible. Certain passages are just packed with theology! This has been seen and utilized by many writers down through the ages. From John Calvin to John Stott men have built solid arguments from expounding a few verses and establishing connections with the Biblical worldview. For all his faults Karl Barth is often a master at …
Over at Team Pyro Dan Phillips has two superb talks on the theme Christ in the Old Testament. They are well worth your time. For one thing, Dan preserves the integrity of the Old Testament text by allowing it to speak in its own voice! Imagine that. …
D. Jesus as the Word Even though the teaching of the “Word” or “Logos” appears prominently and explicitly in the prologue to John’s Gospel, the theme runs through the whole of the Gospel.[1] John stresses the words of Jesus as having special significance as words: Rhemata is used nine times for His words (5:47; 6:63, 68; 8:20;10:21; 12:47, 48; 14:10; 15:7), and three times for the words of God spoken by Jesus (3:34; 8:47; 17:8). John employs logos three times …
C. The Roles of the Logos Although the wording is brilliantly simple, an examination of the Prologue furnishes for us a great deal of help concerning what might be called the “roles” of the Logos. To begin with, the prologue places in front of us these facts: The Logos is a Person (1:3, 4, 14). There are three relations of Christ the Logos recorded in these opening verses. First, there is His relation with the Father “In the …
It may sound somewhat unseemly for any theologian to refer to the Lord Jesus Christ as “the Logos of God,” but to conceive of Him (momentarily) in this abstract way opens up new lines of inquiry that are harder to see under His personal name. And, after all, the Apostle John was the first to do it. If one comes to the term “Logos” with the mindset of the ancient Greek philosophers, the best thing that could be extracted from …
