Extra Credit Podcast

To be united with Christ is not about some static identity that you and I now “have.” Being united to Christ touches you at the very level of your being so that your life is now being formed into the very life of Christ. Our union with Christ is not just about who we are but has everything to say about how we live —our ethics. As Irenaeus put it, “Christ became what we are in order to make us what...

“For only in Christ is there removed not the reading of the Old Testament, which keeps hidden the strength of grace, but the veil by which it is hidden.” - St. Augustine On the road to Damascus Saul finds a new center for all of life. This crucified and risen Jesus is not just another part of creation. He’s the very heart of all creation. The life of Jesus flows in and through all things that exis...

We often refer to Paul’s encounter with the risen Jesus on the Road to Damascus as a “conversion.” But it is an odd conversion. Paul does not leave behind his knowledge of the Law and the Prophets. He does not leave behind his devotion to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But he does have to reconfigure all that he knows around a new center—a new beating heart—Jesus of Nazareth. One thing that...

Over the past four years I’ve become increasingly convinced that the heart of Paul’s theology can be traced back to his encounter with the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus. “Saul, Saul, why do you you persecute me ?” After this encounter—and still blind—Paul sat in a house on the Street called Straight, he was surely meditating deeply on these words. He hadn’t harmed Jesus directly, had he? He...

“He who sustains the world lay in a manger, a wordless Child, yet the Word of God. Him whom the heavens do not contain, the bosom of one woman bore. She ruled our King; she carried Him in whom we exist; she fed our Bread.” -St. Augustine When Jesus calls us to receive the little children in his name and to become little children ourselves he is not speaking of some reality that he knows nothing of...

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven....

Angelology has nothing to say to us if it is separated from Trinitarian theology. The one God the angels face is triune. Their worship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is simultaneously their service to us (and vice versa). Just so, the angels consistently refuse to be worshiped. They won’t accept worship, because they were created to worship (see Col. 2:18 and Rev. 22:8—9). There is, however, one...

“In the resurrection, the wounds of Christ do not disappear; they are glorified. Only the devil appearing as Christ has no wounds, being too vain to bear them.” -Maggie Ross In his Church Dogmatics III.3 Karl Barth discusses the doctrine of angels for about 200 pages. It is only at the very end of this discussion that he briefly (approximately 25 pages) undertakes the topic of the “Devil and his a...

This week we move to the middle tier of the angelic hierarchy to discuss dominions, powers, authorities (and principalities). Here is Dionysius the Areopogite’s ordering of the hierarchy: Top : Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones Middle : Dominions, Powers, Authorities Bottom : Principalities, Archangels, Angels Two things come to mind with this middle tier of angelic choirs: first , all these words have...

Two questions have been on my mind in thinking through a theology of angels. First, why is it that in the story of Jacob’s Ladder (and again in John 1:51) that the angels ascend and then descend? We would imagine they would first descend from heaven to what is lower—the earth—and then ascend. So, why the reversal of the movement of angels? The second question is deeply connected to the first: why...

Hebrews 13:2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. This week we take up the hospitality of angels and the question of guardian angels. Here are some of the questions we tried to cover: * Why are angels and hospitality so often tied together? How do angels show hospitality? How are we to respond to the hospitality of angels? * One of the best (a...

When discussing a theology of angels we are met with a whole range of problems. Doesn’t the belief in angels belong to an older, more simple-minded time? What does it mean to believe in angels in a modern world of science and technology? C.S. Lewis said there are two equal but opposite errors we make when it comes to angels and demons: we either make too much of them or we make too little of them....

After a brief teaching on the power of sin Taylor Johnson led us through an incredibly meaningful time of prayer, interceding for all those affected by suicide. I hope you will listen and pray along with the class. The prayer guide he created is really beautiful. You can download it below to follow along with the class and pray on your own. If you haven’t already, you can subscribe to Taylor’s Sub...

The disciples approach Jesus with a request: “Lord, teach us to pray.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his wonderful little book on the Psalms, says that we find the disciples request odd. Why would anyone need to be taught how to pray? Don’t we all naturally know how to do that? It’s a common assumption, but it is also a dangerous one. Why? The reason, Bonhoeffer says, is that we so easily confuse our ow...

Last week we ended by saying that Jesus redeems his mother Mary (and all creation) by relying on her. Jesus grew in wisdom and stature. God learned. He learned from his mother. Perhaps the most important thing he learned from her was how to pray. Specifically to pray like this: “Not my will, but yours be done.” This is Mary’s prayer upon receiving the news that she will conceive and give birth to...

Jesus is the healing of David and David’s story. To see the depth of wisdom in the David story we have to see David in Christ and Christ in David. A deep union. A marriage. The way Jesus heals David’s life and the life of the whole world is precisely by becoming flesh, becoming David’s son. We need to think of David the way we should think of Mary: both carry Jesus in their bodies. Think not only...

Flat readings of the David story often turn him into a sort of John Wayne character. A gunslinger, a good-bad guy that has to do what no one is willing to do in order to get the job done so that everyone lives happily ever after. The western is sort of the quintessential American myth. These are the stories we tell ourselves to understand who we are. They are told to characterize something essenti...

The David of 1 & 2 Samuel is a divided character from the beginning. Is he a little boy or is a valiant warrior? Is he pure-hearted or self-serving and ambitious? Does he do battle with the harp or with the sword? But the key through-line in the dividedness of David is this: is he a shepherd or a king? The prophet Samuel warned the Israelites against having a king like all the other nations. Samue...

Chris Green argues that Scripture is written with “pitch” or “spin.” In baseball a pitcher puts spin on the ball he throws to the batter and depending on who the batter is—how they swing, whether they are left-handed or right-handed—the same pitch will come off their bats in two totally different direction. Scripture is written with “pitch” in much the same way. Depending on whose reading it, wher...

“W hose son is this ?” (1 Sam. 17:55) Saul’s question at the end of the David/Goliath story is perhaps the key theme of the whole story of David: Whose son is David? Who exactly is this man? Is he the son of Jesse the Bethlehemite? Will he turn out to be a son to Saul? Can he possibly be the son of God? But Saul’s question should strike us as strange. Saul has not only just spoken to David before...

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul addresses the fourth and final major issue in the Corinthian church: some of them are denying the resurrection of the body. (In Greek, literally “the rising of the corpses.”) What’s fascinating is that in all the issues he addresses in the letter this is the only time he does not directly correct their behavior. In chapter 15 he is correcting their theology. But can belief...

This week we tackle 1 Corinthians 14 which brings a couple of difficult textual problems. Foremost among them being 1 Cor. 14:34-35 Women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak but should be subordinate, as the law also says. 35  If there is something they want to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. Then we m...

In Acts 8 Stephen comes upon an Ethiopian eunuch seated in his chariot studying Isaiah 53. Stephen asks him, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The eunuch replies, “How can I unless someone guides me ?” The eunuch’s question about the passage in Isaiah is a good one: “ Who is this about?” Not “ What is this about?” but “Who?” Isaiah 53 is a well-beloved passage that most Christians are very...

From 1 Corinthians 11 onwards Paul turns to deal with issues in the Corinthians’ public worship gatherings. In chapters 12 to 14 Paul takes up the issue of orderliness and love of neighbor in public worship. His goal throughout is pastoral . He is trying to show the Corinthians that true worship cannot be disorderly and self-centered . Worship—and use of the gifts in worship—must always be for the...

Does God see gender as a barrier to women taking certain positions of leadership in the church or in the world? It’s a nagging question for many believers today. Some think that God does see gender as a barrier; others think that he doesn’t. But many are still a little nervous that he might. 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 brings all this to the surface in one of the most controversial and difficult passage...