Grace Works Philippians 2:12-13 Roger E. Olson   No two verses in the Bible have been discussed and debated more than these together. Throughout Christian history, these two verses, this passage, has provided comfort and affliction to numerous Bible readers. Among the many biblical scholars, theologians and church leaders who have struggled with the passage and commented on it are St. Augustine, Martin Luther, John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Scottish theologian Donald M. Baillie labeled the truth communicated... Read more

If you didn’t read my previous post about a sermon illustration and Arminianism, please go back and read that before reading this. I asked for feedback about the sermon illustration (Christopher Wren’s “deceptive pillars”) because I keep running into people who think that Arminianism includes good works as necessary for salvation. Here’s just one of many examples I could cite. In his massive book Beyond Calvinism and Arminianism: An Inductive Mediate Theology of Salvation (Global Gospel Publications, 2002) C. Gordon... Read more

A Great Sermon Illustration (and a Question) In 1689 the city of Windsor, England was in an uproar. The city fathers had commissioned famed architect Sir Christopher Wren, designer of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, to design a new town hall. The building was complete as desired with one exception. The city fathers wanted their meeting rooms above a “corn market”—an open space for farmers and others to display and sell their products. But when they inspected the new building... Read more

So, now there’s been another (what the media is calling a) massacre of Americans in a public place. This time not a school but a movie theater in a suburb of Denver. Many people are asking what these horrific events say about our society. I don’t have any final answers; mostly I have only questions and some thoughts about possible answers that at least, I think, bear further investigation. As I drive around my part of the country (and I’m... Read more

I don’t usually review books before I’ve finished them and I wouldn’t do that for publication. But a blog is not the same as a formal publication; these are my “musings,” not my final thoughts on anything. The ideas I pose here are for consideration and discussion. I retain the right to change my mind in light of comments or further consideration. Once I submit a book review article to a journal and it’s accepted for publication, I have to... Read more

A Plea for Christian Common Sense and Healthy Skepticism: An Antidote to Gullibility and Hysteria Some things just seem obvious to me. I know that in our postmodern age it’s no longer considered appropriate to appeal to common sense and what should be “obvious to all.” But I can’t help it. I’ve always thought some things should just be givens, beyond doubt or question. One fairly obvious one (to me, anyway) is that other minds exist. Philosophers like Alvin Plantinga... Read more

Some time ago someone here asked me to comment on the phenomenon of “spiritual abuse.” After a recent lengthy phone conversation with a young man who is in his first full time pastoral position at a large evangelical church, I’m ready to comment. It seems to me that the concept “spiritual abuse” can be over used. And because it has been stretched to cover too much (e.g., all strong religious leadership), many have abandoned it. I don’t think that’s justified.... Read more

New and Forthcoming Books on Evangelicalism (and My Thoughts about this Concept) Recently there have been some new books on the popular subject of “evangelical” and “evangelicalism.” It seems that in the past, perhaps as recently as the 1960s and 1970s, most people including most scholars knew what these terms meant. It was kind of like pornography according to the Supreme Court justice who said “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it.” We just kind... Read more

The other evening my wife and I were watching HGTV and saw part of a show about RVs–recreational vehicles. They were showing off the latest and best motor homes. One had a price tag of over $700,000. The inside looked to me like a fancy gambling casino on the Las Vegas strip (which I’ve only seen on TV). It was, to say the least, gaudy. But even those with price tags in the $200,000 range were over the top in... Read more

I’m not a Southern Baptist and never have been one. But you can’t be a Baptist in North America and especially in the South and not feel the tension emanating from that denomination. Even non-Baptists feel it. The “Baptist wars” (almost exclusively a reference to the thirty plus years battles among SBCers) get reported on even in the secular press. I’ve been an observer of the Baptist wars for years. For the past thirteen years most of my students and... Read more