Posts from 2024
Merry Christmas
It has become something of a Christmas tradition for me to print this article, written by Reuel Lemmons and published in the Firm Foundation several decades ago, not quite every year, but more often than not since I have moved here. Not only are its sentiments highly appropriate, but I get comments every year from those who missed it before somehow about how much they appreciate it; so I make no apologies for running it again. This editorial powerfully addresses…
What Hast Thou Giv’n?
I confess that I am behind on my Christmas shopping this year. Normally, I have begun by Thanksgiving and often have it finished by the beginning of December; this year, I am still working on it as I type this. I think that the lateness of Thanksgiving in the calendar this year has thrown me off my usual routine. But it reminds me that this is the time of year when we are concerned with choosing just the right gift…
What’s in a Name?
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of…
We Ought to Be a Most Thankful People
It has become my own Thanksgiving tradition to print historical Thanksgiving Proclamations in this space. The American Presidency Project at the University of California-Santa Barbara has collected all of them for anyone to read; if this sort of thing interests you, I encourage you to check them out. I find historical Thanksgiving Proclamations to be interesting with the insights they provide into the times in which they were issued. While perusing that database, I cam across this lesser-known example from…
Justin Martyr and Early Christian Worship
From their emergence in this country in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the ethos of churches of Christ has been restoration. European nations had established churches: Roman Catholicism in many countries, Anglicanism in Great Britain, Lutheranism in Scandinavia. These were supported by taxes, given privileges by the government and, in some cases, compelled membership of all citizens. The New World offered an opportunity for religious freedom, as most of us learned in grade school. But that freedom came…
An Election Postscript
The election is now behind us. I know there are strong feelings on both sides about the result. But if you have been following this series of articles over the last several weeks, I encourage you to consider the fundamental Scriptural principles that we have laid out that should guide us politically: the sovereignty of God; the Lordship of Jesus; and the church as God’s kingdom. We followed that with articles on the mission and method of the church: to…
The Church’s Social Strategy
We have attempted to refine our thinking on the relationship between Christians and the government. After laying down some fundamental principles, we moved last week toward application, exploring the mission of the church: to call people out of the world and into the kingdom of God. That leads to a second, closely related observation: attempting to co-opt the government to promote a Christian vision of society is not only the wrong mission, it is the wrong method. Political Activism When…
The Church’s Mission
Over the last few weeks, we have studied three principles that run throughout all Scripture to help orient us in the political realm: the sovereignty of God, the Lordship of Christ, and God’s people as a holy nation. Now we want to turn our attention to application, not encompassing specific scenarios, but in terms of the overall attitude of the church and Christians toward the state. A number of points could be made, but we will limit ourselves to two:…
The Church as State
For several weeks, we have considered Biblical principles that help guide us politically. We examined the sovereignty of God and the Lordship of Christ. Now let’s turn our attention to the political status that accompanies being God’s people. The church is God’s holy nation (1 Pet 2:9-10), the place where the Lordship of Christ is recognized. Christians live in this world as strangers and aliens (1 Pet 2:11) – those who define their reality as rooted in God’s empire rather…
Jesus’ Lordship
We are in the midst of a series of articles considering Biblical principles that should orient us politically. Last week, we saw the Jewish conviction that God was king. But the great, prophetic hope of 1st -century Israel was that God would come and inaugurate a new age, liberate his people, and establish his kingdom. For Christians, that event transpired in Christ. We cannot comprehensively discuss the kingdom of God here, but we can observe a few points. First, note…
God’s Sovereignty
The sovereignty of God is the bedrock of Scripture and Christian faith. Specifically, his power as the source of all political authority is attested in both the OT and NT. This does not divinize any particular government or make their acts ipso facto the will of God—in fact, their acts are often explicitly contrary to his will in Scripture; rather, governmental authorities are created through the existence of human society, but God orders them so his purpose is finally accomplished.…
On Self-Control
We have all heard of the Great Wall of China. In reality, that’s a bit of a misnomer; there are actually several different fortifications on the northern frontier, constructed by multiple dynasties over centuries. But what we think of today as The Great Wall dates from the Ming Dynasty, in the 15th and 16th centuries. Brick and stone replaced the previous tamped earth, and the walls were augmented with fortresses, beacon towers, artillery, and other assorted defenses. It was a…