Baptism and the Lord’s Supper The Bible clearly declares that salvation is by grace through faith alone (Rom 3:22-30; 4:5; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8-9; Phil 3:9). In other words, no act (ritualistic or otherwise) is necessary for salvation. In addition, no act aids salvation in any manner. In Peter’s sermon in Acts 3:12-26, never once does he mention the necessity of water baptism or the Lord’s Supper for salvation. In Paul’s concise summary of gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, he likewise fails to me...

This ordinance replaced the Passover. The Passover, the oldest of all Jewish festivals, commemorated God’s provision of a substitute for, His protection from His wrath against, and His deliverance of His people from their bondage to the Egyptians. From the Passover, Jews learned that judgment requires bloodshed that could come from a substitute. All of this foreshadowed God’s provision through Christ. Shortly before His death, Christ celebrated the Passover with His disciples, transformed it...

Being baptized (Rom 6:3) into Christ means being immersed into Christ (Note: The Greek word for baptism in the Apostolic era was associated with a person drowning or a ship sinking, so the idea of immersion is present). Paul puts this another way in 1 Corinthians 6:17 by stating that believers are united with Christ in spirit. In Galatians 2:20, Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the S...

Remember, the author of Hebrews defines true believers as those who hold firmly to the end the confidence they had at first (Heb 3:6, 14). He does not define true believers as those who have just “been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, shared in the Holy Spirit, [and] tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age” (Heb 6:4-5). These people would be like the seed that fell in the rock and thorns (Matt 13:20-22). Like these seeds, they will end up not growing to mat...

Dogen, a 13th century patriarch of the Soto Zen school (see Smith and Novak's Buddhism: A Concise Intro.) said, “In pursuit of the Way, the prime essential is [meditation]. Just to pass time in sitting straight, without any thought of acquisition, without any sense of achieving enlightenment—this is the way of the patriarchs. It is true that our predecessors recommended both the koan [a meaningless phrase] and sitting, but it was the sitting they particularly insisted upon. ...

“The point that is being made here is that Christianity, as a religion without religion, always resists being implicated in the dominant ideological systems within society by seeking to stand with those who dwell outside of them. As religion without religion Christianity's ir/religious expression cannot be reduced to a tightly held worldview without being effaced, for it is expressed fundamentally in the texture of one's life particularly in relation to the poor and oppressed. Is this not the d...

“We believe that God has created the entire cosmos; our work here is to say, 'This belongs to God,' and to help point out the beauty of creation to everyone we know, everyone we meet. And most of all, to live in it ourselves” (Chris Seay, The Gospel of John, 63). Seay acknowledges God as the Creator as do almost all Emerging Church proponents, but notice his next statement. Is our central task to tell everyone that this is God’s creation and to point out its beauty during the process? W...

“Postmodern churches are both Catholic and evangelical” (49). “[W]e welcome people from all faith backgrounds to come alongside us in Christ, whether their heritage is Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, or other” (Michael Slaughter and Warren Bird, Unlearning Church, 9). This type of church is very appealing to a postmodern culture. It holds theology, exclusive truth claims, and individual doctrine very loosely and prefers to emphasize community and good works. But how can community and go...

“We need to seriously get over Christendom’s theological cringe factor regarding the value of human goodness (dualism again?). We don’t have to denigrate genuine goodness in order to glorify God. James says that all good things come from God and have their source in God (1:17) and so it does not denigrate God when we say that some human acts are good. If someone sacrifices his or her life or possessions to help someone else, then we must affirm that it is in itself a good act. It has intrinsic ...