Extra Credit Podcast

Throughout the Apostles’ Creed we are shown the value the Christian faith places on physical creation. God is the Creator of heaven and earth. Jesus is conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, suffers in the body, and is resurrected bodily. The Spirit is at work in the church, made up of bodies, and is the power of the resurrection of the body. The logic of Christ’s incarnation is at work at ever...

We’ve been looking at different models of the atonement over the last couple weeks. This week we finish our discussion by turning our attention to one of the most prominent ways the New Testament describes Christ’s work in reconciling the world to himself: Christus Victor . The lens of Christus Victor —Latin for Christ the victorious king—emphasizes Christ’s work in overcoming the Powers of Sin, D...

This week we take a look at the primary way the New Testament and the earliest church understood the atonement: recapitulation. The word recapitulation sounds archaic, but we often use the shortened version: “recap.” The entirety of Jesus’ life “recaps” the whole story of humanity. In solidarity with us, Jesus takes on our human nature, with all its corruptibility (sin and death), and heals it fro...

On first reading the ending of the Apostles’ Creed it can seem like the last few clauses have almost nothing to do with one another. We all have that one kitchen drawer where all the random, loose odds and ends wind up. Is that what we have at the end of the Creed? Is this the Creed’s “junk drawer?” What does “the holy catholic church” and “the forgiveness of sins” and “the resurrection of the bod...

“No other God has a church. None other would want one.” -Robert Jenson The third article of the Apostles’ Creed opens with “Holy, Holy, Holy.” We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, and the communion of the saints ( sanctorum communio ). The word “catholic” in the Creed has been a stumbling block for some because of it’s association with the Roman Catholic Church. But the word “c...

We’ve centered our study of the Apostles’ Creed (and our theology) on the Second Article: Jesus Christ. To know the Father (and the Spirit) we must look to the crucified Lord. But while Jesus central to our understanding of God, the Spirit is primary. In a way, the Spirit always comes first. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:3 “…no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” In othe...

John 20:16-17 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).   Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” According to the New Testament the ascension is an essential part of the gospel pr...

In his lectures on the Apostles’ Creed Karl Barth asks the question: How in the world did Pontius Pilate end up in the Creed? “The answer might first of all be: like a dog into a nice room!” Why is it significant that Pilate is named in the Creed? What does it mean to say that God suffered? Or that God died? And why is it good news that Jesus’ life came to an end? A poem by Hans Urs von Balthasar:...

Is the virgin birth an essential part of the Christian faith? What do we mean when we say that Jesus is both fully God and fully human? Jesus is conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit but is also born to Mary. Is Mary the Mother of God? This week I try to show that if Mary is not the Mother of God, then our salvation is lost. If God did not truly pass through Mary’s womb, then He is not truly E...

Unfortunately, the microphone did not record the class last night. The audio in this post is from a theology class I taught a few months ago. It covers a few of the same themes we discussed last night; especially Jesus as the starting point for all our theology. In class we took the second article of the Creed word by word: “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.” Jesus What is our sta...

This week we begin looking at the content of the Apostles’ Creed starting with “God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” We take each of the key words in turn. What does the Creed mean when it uses the very vague three-letter word “G-O-D”? What does it mean to call God “Father”? Is there gender in God? Is God more masculine than feminine? What does God’s “almightiness” mean? How does...

The Apostles’ Creed is the one text of the three within the ancient catechism that is not in Scripture. This brings up all kinds of questions for many modern Christians: What do we do with it? Should we give it the authority that Scripture has? Is it really necessary for the Christian life? Thank you for reading Extra Credit. This post is public so feel free to share it. In this introduction to th...

This week we turn our attention to the second table of the Ten Commandments which are about love of neighbor. The perennial temptation of the church is to split the two tables of the Ten Commandments apart. This causes us to imagine that we occupy two different realms or spheres: God on the one side and the world on the other. The split filters into every area of life: religion and politics, churc...

The Ten Commandments, or the Ten Words, are typically divided into two tables (#1-3 and #4-10). The first table is about loving God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind; the second table is about loving our neighbors as ourselves. This week we look at the first table which is, as Luther said, about faith. Faith has to do with the future ( Heb. 11:1 ). How do we deal with the onrush of the...

The title of this series, “Ancient-Future Discipleship,” is an homage to the work of Robert Webber . Webber argued that the future of the church is ancient. We need to recover our ancient foundation not to reproduce the past, but to resource ourselves for current and future challenges. The church is an odd institution in that it began in the past, but has its roots in the future. In Ephesians 2:20...

Last week we discussed the fraught history of the church and sports. This week we turn to a more positive theology of sports grounded in the doctrine of creation. Is sport a consequence of the fall (Genesis 3) or can it be grounded in God’s good creation (Genesis 1)? In this two part teaching I’ve been closely following the argument of a wonderful book by Lincoln Harvey entitled “ A Brief Theology...

In A Brief Theology of Sport Lincoln Harvey argues that throughout its history the church has often failed to think theologically about sports. That isn’t to say it hasn’t thought about sports, though. Over the centuries the church has oscillated between a complete rejection of sports to a blind/naive acceptance. Harvey identifies a (clashing) “chord with three notes” that has been consistently st...

Genesis 4 is dense and deep and yet it is sparse with its language. It’s like a riddle. The narrator gives us very few words, but those few words suggest and evoke interpretation. Novelist Ernest Hemingway famously made a wager that he could write a short story using less than ten words. He only needed six: “For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.” That is brief but suggestive. It sets your imagination...

The last ten verses of Genesis 3 are typically referred to as “the curses.” Adam and Eve have taken and eaten the fruit of the tree that God commanded them not to eat. God finds them hiding in the Garden of Eden, questions them, and then lays out the consequences of their actions. But, unlike us, God’s curses always carry within them his promises. There is a hidden secret in all the threats of God...

This week we discuss God’s conversation with Adam and Eve after they have taken and eaten the fruit ( Genesis 3:8-13 ). We look particularly at the problem of Adam’s and Eve’s blame shifting (which is our problem), and the way Christ overcomes the problem. Christ is the one who takes responsibility for the world. He is the one who bears the guilt of the world—yet without sin. And as the body of Ch...

This week we turn our attention to Genesis 3:1—7 where we meet “the pious Snake” ( Bonhoeffer ). He’s pious because he seems to be interested in God and God’s word. In fact, he even knows something behind God’s word. I asked everyone to unhook our usual identification of the Snake with Satan just for the class because Genesis makes no such identification. It is true that the prophets/Revelation la...

Just a few notes: * If you have any thoughts or questions, please use the comment section here ! I’d love for the conversation to continue. * I had a few people ask me about the resources I’m using to teach and a few others who have asked about further resources I would recommend. If you’re interested in finding resources about anything in particular, leave a comment and we can discuss it. * You c...

Hi everyone! A couple of notes: My goal will be to post the recording from each week’s class the following Thursday or Friday. Please use the comment section to ask questions or make a comment! I’d love for this to become an additional space for us to interact and to keep the discussion going. You can also share the audio of the teaching with friends/family and invite them into the conversation he...