Christian Ethics- week 3

cheap grace

deadly enemy of our Church. fighting today for costly grace

what is the essence of grace?

is that the account has been paid in advance

what does cheap grace amount to?

denial living word of God, in fact, a denial of Incarnation of Word of God

what does cheap grace mean?

justification of sin w/o justification of the sinner

cheap grace is preaching...

of forgiveness w/o requiring repentance, baptism w/o church disciple. communion w/o confession. w/o discipleship. grace w/o cross. grace w/o Jesus. living and incarnate

costly grace

gospel which must be sought again and again and again the gift which must be asked for the door at which a man must know

what is costly grace?

sanctuary of God

what is christianity w/o discipleship?

always christianity w/o Christ

suffering/rejection are laid upon

Jesus as a divine necessity and every attempt to prevent it is the work of the devil

only man totally...

committed in discipleship can experience the meaning of the cross

the cross

is laid on every Christian

what does a call to discipleship mean?

means both life and death

what is suffering?

badge of true discipleship

what does discipleship mean?

means allegiance to suffering Christ

life discipleship can only

be maintained as long as nothing is allowed to come between Christ and ourselves. neither the law, nor personal piety, nor even the world

what does the son of God become?

man

what did Jesus come announcing?

kingdom of God was at hand

Gordon Fee

universal witness of Synoptic tradition is that the absolutely central theme of Jesus mission and message was good news of kingdom of God

not only synoptic writers

who make kingdom of God central; theme echoes throughout NT, even in varying formulations and emphases in writers as diverse as Paul and John

term kingdom of God

seldom used in literature that has survived from 1st century except for NT

kingdom coming is...

act in drama of salvation history in which God intervenes to rescue those who are being crushed by unjust power

return from exile

restoration of outcasts to community and the rebuilding of covenant people Israel in their land

7 marks of the kingdom were important to Jesus

deliverance/salvation. justice. peace. healing. restoration/rebuilding of community. joy. experience of God's presence

realized eschatology

in which reign of God has come in all of its fullness either in his coming or w/giving of the Holy Spirit

what does realized eschatology fail to account for?

for numerous NT passages about the kingdom that speaks of its future consummation

inaugurated eschatology

aspects of the end times that have already begun to be a present reality in the lives of believers

what really matters for Christian ethics?

what kingdom's characteristics are and thus its ethical implications and not the timing of the kingdom

what two things are the kingdom of God?

performative and participative

human story according to scripture

story of our mistrust of trustworthy God

message of coming reign of God

inevitably brings division in its audience and cost to its bearers

kingship of God

leads to cross for those who proclaim it and fight for it

divine command ethics

The ethical theory that something can be known to be right and good when it is in compliance with God's will and wrong or bad when God condemns it.

forensic justification

The Lutheran understanding, shared by many other denominations also, that God's declaration of forgiveness is a justification similar to a court. God declares the guilty to be innocent and places the just penalty for their sins upon his innocent Son, Jesus.

news

something is happening which results in everything being difficult. something happens that unveals a new future

nations will rage

but Israel's God will take charge and instill his rightful Son as the world's rightful Lord

modern western christians on being told...

that Jesus redefined Jewish expectations usually assume that this means hew was rejecting political or this worldly Jewish meanings and offering spiritual or heavenly ones

Jesus says to Pilot

this kingdom is not mine for my kingdom is not from this world

origin of the kingdom

kingdom has its origin elsewhere but its destination is precisely for this world

rulers of this world

get what they want by bullying and terrorizing them. Son of God didn't come to be served by to serve and give his life as a ransom