Understanding the title "Son of God" has significant implications for the work of missions around the world. We should distinguish between his deity and the title “son of God.” A few examples show why it matters that we not minimize this fact. Read more
Thanks for EMQ (Evangelical Missions Quarterly) for reviewing Saving God’s Face in its April issue! It was reviewed by Glen Osborn, president, China Outreach Ministries. In his conclusion, he is kind enough to add: “This book helps westerners understand honor/shame and discover new personal depths of God’s great plan of grace and love. We benefit from multiple cultural perspectives of the truth of God’s word and his gospel for the entire world. We are also helped in developing contextualized applications... Read more
In what sense is Jesus the “son of God”? Previously, I claimed that the phrase “son of God” does not inherently imply deity. This suggestion, however, does not deny his deity. It simply says that deity is not a meaning “built into” the term “son of God.” In this post, I’ll review a collection of verses that all indicate that the title “son of God” refers to Jesus’ identity as Israel’s king. Other synonymous titles include “Christ” and “Messiah.” In... Read more
My friend over at HonorShame.com has posted an exceptional gospel video. He captures so many key themes that I talk about on this blog Due to his background, you will notice that he presents honor and shame from more of a Muslim (rather than Chinese) perspective. Nevertheless, the video is still helpful for anyone wanting to understand the biblical story through an honor-shame lens. I highly recommend people check out his blog. He has great posts every week. His post... Read more
What does it mean to say that Jesus is the “son of God”? If you are like most people I talk with, you will say it means, “Jesus is God.” This is where we run into a problem. Yes . . . Jesus is God manifested in the world. No . . . the phrase “son of God” itself does not inherently imply deity. Before explaining more of what I mean, I want to first explain why this conversation is... Read more
I want to get your thoughts on monotheism. How does this topic influence your ministry? If you read much theology, you will come across Richard Bauckham, one of the world’s leading biblical scholars. I want to get you thoughts on one of his books, which may have application for missions. It’s called Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Studies on the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity. I have two polar different contexts in mind. One... Read more
Living in another culture can make you cynical . . . or make you even more cynical. On those days, a person is tempted to turn on some Coldplay and check out from the world. Should we? I once heard a wise woman warn a group of foreigners of the frequent temptation they would soon face as they entered their new life in China. She said that whenever we as humans face a new circumstance that we don’t understand,... Read more
A reader asked a question about my previous post “Using the ‘Romans 23’ Principle to Explain Sin.” Here is the comment he left on the blog: “I definitely see two aspects of sin: against God’s person (the honor-shame motif) and against God’s law (the innocence-guilt motif). My ministry partners here in Cambodia have been discussing this particular post via email. I did want to raise a question about Romans 2:23. It seems that the dishonor comes from the breaking of... Read more
Do you “know righteousness”? Traditionally, when Protestants typically talk about righteousness, they talk about a person having a certain status before God or perhaps doing certain right actions. I think we need to go a bit deeper. Consider Isaiah 51:7 Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings. Notice there are two things that mark those who know righteousness. First, they... Read more
Over at Brainpickings, Maria Popova has put up a nice illustration (drawing from Josef Albers). In her post, she talks about the interaction between the brain, colors, and design. I’ve included it here because that I think it is also very applicable for grasping the importance of contextualization. I attached her caption below the picture to help you understand its point. THE RELATIVITY OF COLOR A color has many faces, and one color can be made to appear as two... Read more
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