Blog - Page 186 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Understanding the Mystery of Christian Marriage, Part Four

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:11-05:00July 16th, 2009|Categories: Marriage & Family|

Paul makes a case in Ephesians 5:21–33 that what is essential in conjugal love is rooted in a “man leaving his father and mother to be united with his wife” (5:31). This takes the reader back to Genesis and the created order. But what makes this unique is not the appeal to origins and the pre-fallen state but rather the application of this principle to the union of God with humanity in Christ, the true Beloved (Mark 2:19).

Here we encounter the central core of what is going on in this text: divine mystery. This means that what Paul is saying here could not be understood before Christ came. If this teaching is not “new” then the point is lost. Marriage is not without a divine and historical foundation, thus it is rooted in Genesis. But it is new here in the sense that no one before Christ could have understood marriage in the fullness of what is being taught by Paul. This is why […]

Understanding the Mystery of Christian Marriage, Part Three

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:11-05:00July 15th, 2009|Categories: Marriage & Family|

If we are to understand the true mystery of marriage in Christ we must understand that marriage takes on a sacred nature when it is between two Christians. It is a covenant, not a contract. And in Christ it becomes a great mystery that becomes a beautiful and mysterious icon of the love of Christ for his bride.

Married couples are to live in Christ in a way that is enthusiastic about their love for each other as husband and wife. (Enthusiasm has its root meaning in two words en theos, which means to be "in God.") In the day-to-day love that a married couple shares they must learn to love one another as well as their children and the larger community. By so loving they become a living sign (this is where the idea of a sacrament comes from in Catholic theology) of how much Jesus loves us and wishes to embrace us as his brothers and sisters. […]

Understanding the Mystery of Christian Marriage, Part Two

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:11-05:00July 14th, 2009|Categories: Marriage & Family|

Yesterday I made the simple point that we must understand Paul’s teaching about husbands and wives, in both Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3, in a way that keeps Christ at the center. He is the head over all. He has redeemed the human race and he is now calling his bride, the church, to a marriage and a wedding feast in the age to come. He cleanses his bride and cherishes her. He loves her with an eternal love. This is the biblical basis for a true understanding of this often controversial text about husbands and wives.

I believe Paul’s view of marriage is totally unexpected if you know the social and cultural background of his words. These words would have shocked ancient people. They should shock us but generally we read them through our own cultural lens. They do not shock us precisely because we have settled for ideology rather than true theology.

Paul clearly says […]

Understanding the Mystery of Christian Marriage, Part One

By John Armstrong|2009-07-13T05:00:00-05:00July 13th, 2009|Categories: Marriage & Family|

Perhaps no passage in all of Holy Scripture is misused, and abused, more than St. Paul’s instruction in the Epistle to the Ephesians found at the end of chapter five. In 5:21–33 Paul gives the church ethical instruction about marriage. He addresses both husbands and wives. The text has prompted raging debates and divided more than a few Christians. The troubling verse is really 5:22, which says: “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.” The ways in which this text has been understood and applied are almost as various as are the commentators and teachers of the Bible. I do not have a definitive interpretation but I do believe that I understand it in terms of great Christian consensus, at least as regarding the essential points Paul wants us to grasp.

One of my favorite Bible translations is not known among evangelicals, at least from what I have been able to tell. It is called the Christian […]

Did Jesus Forbid Repetitive Prayers?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:11-05:00July 12th, 2009|Categories: Prayer|

Jesus taught us to pray. He even gave us a model to guide us in Matthew 6:9-13. The church has historically believed that this prayer can and should be followed, thus it occurs in the earliest Christian teaching on how to pray and what to specifically pray about. It seems very apparent that very early in the church's historical development this prayer was recited both publicly and privately. But many evangelical Christians stumble over this idea sometimes. The reason is often found in the words of Jesus in the same prayer context when he said, "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words" (Matthew 6:7).

Is Jesus forbidding the repetition of his own words? Is he instructing us that all prayer must be spontaneous and extemporaneous, not prescribed and read? Is the repetition of words already spoken or written by someone else simply "vain repetition" (cf. the […]

Les Choristes: A Tender French Film

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:11-05:00July 11th, 2009|Categories: Film|

Foreign films are generally produced on small budgets. They also succeed in frequently telling great stories. Every year I watch for the five nominees for best foreign films from the Golden Globe Awards and Academy Awards. Most of these five films prove to be rich in texture and character acting. This is the case with a lovely little 2004 French film called Les Choristes (The Chorus). Les Choristes is a post-World War II film of nostalgia, optimism and authenticity. This gentle drama, nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, is from first-time French director Christophe Barratier. It features a music teacher named Clement Mathieu (Gerard Jugnot) who lands a job at a boys' boarding school populated by delinquents and orphans. The performance by leading actor Barratier is nuanced and very properly low-key. The school, run by a martinet headmaster (Francois Berleand), is a place for misfits and losers. Sensing potential in these rambunctious ruffians Mathieu forms a choir to rein […]

The Cultural Legacy of Abraham Kuyper

By John Armstrong|2009-07-10T05:00:00-05:00July 10th, 2009|Categories: Culture|

No single theologian has more influenced my view of culture than the Dutch minister and statesmen Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920). Kuyper was an unconverted minister until he went to his first church and a woman had the audacity to tell him he needed to know Christ. Thank God she did because this was used by the Spirit to bring Kuyper to saving faith. Kuyper went on to be the pastor of other congregations and became the editor of a leading church newspaper of the time. He is remembered as well for his role in politics. He became the prime minister of the Netherlands (1901-05) and had considerable influence in many areas of life in his nation and beyond. It is worth noting that what we read today are not his political speeches but his sermons and theological reflections.

Perhaps no quotation of Kuyper's is more often cited by Christians than words he first gave at the founding of the Free University of Amsterdam. […]

Some Thoughts on the Michael Jackson Funeral

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:11-05:00July 9th, 2009|Categories: Culture|

Michael Jackson was clearly a pop culture icon. I make it a practice to neither bash nor praise such icons. They are what they are. Their legacy seems ephemeral, at least to me. Their importance is huge, at least to those who follow their art, music or writing. The whole idea that high culture, which is the product of certain mores and beliefs, trumps low culture, or pop culture, seems artificial so much of the time. What is apparent is that some culture will endure and some will not. The reasons may not be altogether clear sometimes. Who can account for taste in the end?

Since I was forced to think a bit about Michael Jackson (as little as possible I confess) this past week I thought back over my sixty years and the rise and decline of pop stars of all sorts. I thought about Elvis and Graceland and my first remembrance of […]

Medical Debt

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:11-05:00July 8th, 2009|Categories: Economy/Economics|

I am quite suspicious of a federal system that solves our medical and health care crisis. I am not suspicious that there is a real crisis but I am very suspicious of the solutions that I hear being offered by the president and the congress. It is not that there are not solutions that we need to pursue. The question is whether or not the federal government can establish a program that works and then can be paid for in an efficient and prudent way. The history of what the government has done with Social Security is all the proof I need. The system will be bankrupt in a few decades and hardly anyone seems determined to fix the problem. So Bush had a bad solution. Did the opponents have any at all? During the Clinton era the Democrats argued for fixing the problem and then when they opposed Bush they said everything was just fine thank you. In general both parties, […]

My Ideas Have a Shelf Life

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:11-05:00July 7th, 2009|Categories: The Christian Minister/Ministry|

A friend passed along a great quote from an Assembly of God leader, Earl G. Creps, formerly the director of the doctor of ministry program at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary and now a church planter in Berkeley, California. Here is the quote: “The ability to admit that my ideas have a shelf life cultivates a humility that will make following Christ attractive to those walking through this epochal change.”

That is a gem. I wish more leaders had this wonderful ability. I plead for it, seek it with all my heart and encourage everyone I know to embrace the fact that their ideas have a “shelf life.” In some sense, there is a “use by” date on everything we do in this world. At best we should admit that how we understand what we confess really does change, unless we want to say that what we believed twenty or thirty years ago is precisely what we believe today in the same exact way that we believed it then.

CHS […]