Theology

Humble Orthodoxy by Joshua Harris

Kirk E. Miller

It seems incredibly inappropriate to criticize a book that focuses so heavily on humility… which is why I’m glad Humble Orthodoxy has basically nothing to criticize.

I consider myself a pretty well-abled critic. So, I don’t say this lightly; the book is fantastic.

The title of Joshua Harris‘ book, Humble Orthodoxy: Holding the Truth Without Putting People Down, does a fine job explaining what the book is about (based largely on 2 Tim 1:13-14 and 2 Tim 2:23-25). The following statement sums up the book quite well:

Here’s what I believe: truth matters…but so does our attitude. This is what I mean by humble orthodoxy: we must cared deeply about truth, and we must also defend and share this truth with compassion and humility. [pg.5]

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Submitting Your Beliefs to Scripture or Submitting Scripture to Your Beliefs?

Kirk E. Miller

The following is a fantastic excerpt from Daniel Doriani’s Putting the Truth to Work: The Theory and Practice of Biblical Application.

The submissive interpreter bows to the God who reveals himself in Scripture and accepts, in principle, whatever it says. If the Bible upsets a cherished conviction, we say, “I stand corrected,” not “I wonder.” Facing a difficult teaching, we may suspect that it has been misconstrued or otherwise hesitate. But if we confirm that it means what it seems to mean, then we bow–not to the text, but to the God who gave it. So conservatives claim the highest willingness to submit to Scripture.

The difficulty with this view [as presented above] is that confessing, “I submit to Scripture,” is one thing, while actually submitting is another. Further, this . . . view can be perverted by illogical thinking:

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Having Taken Off the Old Man and Put on the New (Colossians 3:1-11)

Kirk E. Miller

The following is an exegetical paper on Colossians 3:1-11 entitled “Having Taken Off the Old Man and Put on the New: An Exegetical Analysis of Colossians 3:1-11.” I wrote this paper in partial fulfillment for a Greek Exegesis course at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.[1] Fair warning–This paper is a bit more technical than our typical blog posts. If you are not acquainted with New Testament Greek you may find some parts unintelligible although the occasional summary statements should clarify things. But either way, whether you are a Greek scholar or not, I trust the theological discussions in this paper will prove to be beneficial for you.

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Theology v. Unity: Some Thoughts on Unity

Kirk E. Miller

Some recent events in the “world of Christianity” have provoked some thoughts in my mind. I will get to those thoughts in a moment, but first allow me to give some background.

Growing up I always felt that there was way too much division in the church. Now by “division” I mean both in local churches and the universal Church. I grew up with a very interesting “religious” background. Growing up I was shifted through vatrious denominations as I had parents who were really trying to figure things out for themselves. Experiencing so many “flavors” of Christianity (besides making me very discerning) made me very anti-denominationalistic. Further, my senior year of high school the church I was attended, a church my family was heavily involved in, had a split, a breakup, or whatever else you’d like to call it. This was a devastating time for me but also a time that God used for extreme spiritual growth in my life. I was very upset at the adults of that church for acting so unbiblical and immature (especially since the split wasn’t even over some doctrinal issue). But this frustration sparked in me a desire to search the scriptures to discover for myself what the church was really all about and what the church should look like biblically. I’ll stop there, because this is not intended to be a biography in anyway; but those two factors, my encounters with various denominations and beliefs growing up as well as the church split, had an extreme effect on my view of unity.

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Application Ain’t Got Nothing Without Theology

Kirk E. Miller

There are many Christians who tend to believe that theology isn’t that important because, they will say, application and right living is all that really matters. But is this really the case? Is theology unimportant? Should theology take a back seat to application or is theology application’s back seat driver? Is right living and application the only thing that really matters?

When speaking about application, the question always remains, what is being applied? The application of what? Of course the answer, although many may not realize it, is theology. This is why when individuals make statements such as, “Oh, theology’s not that important. It’s the application that really matters. You’ve just got to live right,” they are revealing their ignorance and intellectual and logical short sightedness. Continue reading →