Before you click through to hear his answer, it’d be worth pausing to offer your own answer. Here is Sproul’s:
Justin Taylor, PhD
Justin Taylor is executive vice president of book publishing and book publisher for Crossway and blogs at Between Two Worlds. You can follow him on Twitter.
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Between 2 Worlds:
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Evangelical History:
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Refreshing to hear a theologian talk about these issues. Now if only we could get our pastors to talk about them instead of politics maybe, just maybe, we’d have a more educated body of Christians in America.
Publius,
I’ll switch that around. :) Now if only we could get our congregations to receive without griping sermons more richly theological and less politics or moral-therapeutic deism, then our pastors could get somewhere!
I’ll second that one, too!
What are a few good passages of study to grow in my understanding of Christology? I can see Colossians 1, Heb. 4 in there – where are some other good places to broaden and deepen this understanding?
I was sure he’d say biblical authority. I’ll bet that comes in #2.
Wesley, that’s such a great question. Thanks for asking it. It encourages me to go to God’s word to know Christ.
It’s hard to single out any passages, as you probably know. Colossians 1 and really all of Hebrews are good starts. I also think about John 1, Galatians 3, Colossians 2, Ephesians 2, and all of Romans (specifically chapters 3-8).
But also, I’ve had the opportunity to do an extended amount of study of the Old Testament, specifically Genesis through Esther in the last 4 months. And seeing God’s grace in His entering into covenant (specifically the Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic covenants) with Israel, in Israel’s failure under all three administrations, and seeing how the fulfillment of those promises are all in Christ… well, that was very beneficial to me as I consider who Christ is and what He came to do. Hope it helps.
Thanks Mike –
i appreciate this very much and am grateful to be able to learn from what God has been teaching you about Christ. Many thanks and God’s peace.
To state the obvious, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John seem to say a lot about Christ as well.
This past week and following week I’m teaching through the kenosis passage in Philippians 2:5-11. Just an amazing, amazing passage that is so loaded with rich theology and a practical challenge to disregard your own priorities and humble yourself.
R.C. Sproul makes an excellent point. Historically, Christ has been the center of a lot of theological schisms in the church. I hadn’t thought of that….
But, my opinion is that a lot of the theological debate will center around homosexuality: how we respond to homosexuals; marriage; leadership in the church. Yet, I wonder if this isn’t more cultural than theological…not sure.
Without listening, I’m guessing it has to do with the definition of the true, saving gospel – how broad to be for the sake of unity, how narrow to be for the sake of fidelity, and the implications thereof…
I don’t know which of these will be the biggest theological battle ahead, but I would suspect it will be a continuation of one of them.
1. Attacks on traditional views of inerrancy and infallibility from inside the church (Peter Enns, Kenton Sparks).
2. Postmodernism and the emergent church.
3. Early church origins and its implications for Christology, especially attacks from critics like Bart Ehrman.
Sproul is spot on.
Dr. Sproul has great insight for sure. And it was nice to see his affection for Jesus his Savior and Lord, in whom he trusts.
Our sins are forgiven at the Cross, and righteousness is imputed to us as well, by faith (Romans 4:5-8). Some say it’s not necessarily Christ’s righteousness, but simply righteousness of our own. I have to disagree with that. I believe with all my heart that Christ not only died for me, but lived for me. His blood cleanses me from all sin (Rev. 1:5). And I am credited with His righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30).
Great answer by Sproul. Just peruse the halls of any state university and you’ll find probably thousands of theories on the person of Jesus. Of course, the only time you’ll hear a Biblical presentation is when some brave Christian student gets a word in edgewise.
Now, totally off-topic, but why does Sproul sit about 30 degrees off the vertical in this video? Does he have a problem with his back, or is it the way the camera was set up or what?
That’s the way Sproul always sits in videos. :)
jigawatt,
I don’t know particularly why, but I do know he suffers from pretty bad vertigo due to a stroke. He’s been limited physically over the last 5 or so years, but his mind is still as sharp as ever.
Is the entire video somewhere? bits & pieces are a tease
Yea where is this entire interview? How many installments are they going to put out?
The Resurgence is releasing it bit by bit. If I had the whole thing I’d post it all at once.