Alan and Greg wrote about the "Insider Movement," a missions movement that, in some circles, has gone beyond contextualizing the Gospel to compromising key elements of doctrine. In attempts to remove the stumbling block that Jesus is the Son of God - a particularly offensive concept to Muslims - some Bible translations were actually changing the meaning of Bible passages with divine familial references. Mission groups have begun to look into this and one, the Summer Institute of Linguistics, has issued new guidelines for their translators.
Scott, who is now with Life Training Institute but was with STR for several years, made this video greeting
that was played at the Biola Apologetics anniversary conference. We really appreciated his comments and reflection. In truth,
what he says is due in large part to his time at STR.
Biola Apologetics @biolapologetics
Thanks for joining us for the #STR20 conference this weekend! If you missed it, all sessions will be online. watch.biola.edu/str20-on-demand
In this month’s Solid Ground, Greg weaves two themes together with a third: Death was the goal of the incarnation, but it wasn’t the end of the story. A miracle followed. Further, the death itself was no ordinary death, but rather a miracle all on its own.
Two miracles. The first one left a corpse. The second one brought life. It’s an appropriate topic for our 20th anniversary edition of Solid Ground since verything we’ve done at STR for 20 years has been predicated on these two miracles.
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us, Selah, that Your way may be known on earth, Your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You!
STR was founded today in 1993. You can read a bit about the history here.
God
has kept us and allowed us to play a part in His Kingdom. We're very
grateful. Our prayer is we bring Him glory and fulfill our mission to
equip Christian ambassadors with knowledge, wisdom, and character.
On the cross, Jesus fulfilled the Law of Moses by satisfying the demands
of it. By doing that He paid our certificates of debt we each earned.
The
certificate of debt is a concept that lies behind Paul's comments about
the certificate of debt in Colossians 2:13-14: And when you were dead
in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you
alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,
having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees
against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the
way, having nailed it to the cross.
In Roman times, this
certificate was a list of crimes committed against the state that
required "payment," much like an indictment in our legal system today.
The Romans gave Jesus a certificate of debt when He was sentenced to
die; it was nailed to the cross: "Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the
Jews" (John 19:19). When the crimes were paid for, the certificate was
canceled and was stamped with the word tetelestai, meaning "paid in
full."
Paul says that Jesus "canceled out" (paid) our certificate of debt (v14).
Jesus'
last words, His victory cry on the cross was, "It is finished!",
literally in Greek was "tetelestai!" "He said, 'It is finished!' And He
bowed His head and gave up His spirit." (John 19:30). "Paid in full."
What was finished? His work of redemption paying for our certificates
of debt against God.
Clear-thinking Christianity is live on the air Sunday 2-5 p.m. P.T. Greg is live with commentary and your calls. Give him a piece of your mind on ethics, values, or religion.
Listen live on the air or stream it on the STR app or online. Follow STRtweets during the program and use #STRtalk to engage other listeners.
