The Coherence of Atonement

The cross of Jesus Christ is a central focal point of Christian faith. Christians believe that Jesus’s death on the cross and subsequent resurrection was a fundamentally important event that somehow or other has provided a way for the salvation for humankind. In Christian theology, this is known as the doctrine of the Atonement. Different … Read more

The Coherence of the Doctrine of the Incarnation

Jesus: Human and Divine Christians believe that Jesus Christ is God Incarnate. In Jesus, God became one of us, a human being. Jesus is a Divine Person who has taken upon Himself our human nature, such that His Divine nature and His human nature are united in one Person. As classically expressed by the ancient … Read more

How Does Jesus Bring About Atonement?

Because God is Holy, nothing sinful can bear to be in His presence.  So, when God’s holy covenant people sin, this creates a serious problem, threatening their relationship with Him.  In the Old Testament, God provided a sacrificial system to His people by which they could make “atonement” for their sins, rectifying the threat to … Read more

The New Testament, the Old Testament, and the Trinity

In my last post, I examined how paying close attention to some key Old Testament citations in the Gospel of Mark can help us better understand the theological teachings of Mark’s Gospel.  In this post, I will examine how paying close attention to how the New Testament uses the Old Testament to talk about Jesus … Read more

Understanding the Gospel of Mark Through the Old Testament

Most Christians understand the point of the Gospel of Mark to be this: Jesus is God, and He came to die on a cross as a sacrifice for our sins so we could be forgiven (while giving us some good moral teachings along the way).  All of this may be true as far as it … Read more