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Are we God’s children by nature or adoption?

Greg addresses a reader question about our status as God’s children. Do we come by that by nature or by adoption? Scripture seems to give something of a mixed answer. What’s up with that?

Related Reading

Violent Parables?

Some try to argue that Jesus did not make loving enemies and refraining from violence an absolute mandate. They make their case on the basis of several passages from the Gospels. The first concerns the cleansing of the temple which we addressed here, while the second is about how Jesus spoke harsh words to the…

Jesus: Our Vision of God

At the beginning of his Gospel John taught that “no one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” (Jn 1:18). He is claiming that, outside of Christ, no one has ever truly known God. In the…

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On Suffering and God’s Goodness

Hani Amir via Compfight Seth Haines wrote a guest post on Tanya Marlow’s blog called The Overcoming Kingdom.  He reflects on his young son’s illness and the questions it provoked in him, and the hope he came to in the process. Real suffering challenges our easy answers and drives us to Jesus in a way that…

A Calvinist and an Arminian walk into a bar…

Toby Bradbury via Compfight Roger Olson posted A Conversation between a Calvinist and an Arminian about God’s Sovereignty that we thought was dead on. In fact, we kind of wonder if Roger is bugging some of the conversations we’ve had. Déjà vu much? And since Roger has argued that Open Theism should be included under the broader umbrella of…

How Much Does the Cross Really Matter?

The cross is as foolishness and weakness to nonbelievers, but Paul wrote that to those who are being saved it is both “the power” and “wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:18, 24). In sharp contrast to the controlling power and wisdom that has been ascribed to God or the gods throughout history—including in much of…

Cross-Shaped Transcendence

Hellenistic philosophers traditionally embrace a conception of God as the simple, necessary, and immutable One. They do this in order to try to explain the “unmoved mover” who is absolutely distinct from the ever-changing, composite, contingent world. However, we must be clear that it is misguided for Christian theology to follow this path. If we…