Recent content by Teofrastus

Try to understand what "living according to the flesh" means. It means worldliness. It means living according to power and meaning and to strive for "the good," however we understand that word. To live by faith means to jump off that train. In Christ we have died from that body of sin. Jesus...

You are in pursuit of an illusion. You cannot be good and accomplish "obedience/righteousness/doing God's will." For example, foreign aid only leads to more mouths to feed, and it promotes corruption and dependence. It's because "the law of sin and death" governs this world. According to the...

Yes, Christian goodness is defined by love. Why do Christians say this? It's because we cannot expect that a set of rules can guide us. Nevertheless, "cultural Christians" still think so, after 2000 years. What is "good"? Would it be good to murder Hitler if one got the chance? Dietrich...

But what is this righteous Christian life in self-giving love supposed to look like? I pay my taxes and so forth. I pull my straw to the anthill. I can't do much more. The Christian person has given up the myth of the ideal society. Instead, his life is hidden in Christ. That's why Jesus...

In Luke 7:50, Jesus says to the woman that her faith has saved her. Without faith one cannot have Christian love. Faith comes before love, which is not of our own making but of the Holy Spirit. "Acts of self-giving" are fine, but they do not justify us. To think that "I" am justified by good...

Arguably, a life in faith must be "perfect," because it implies the negation of 'meaning' and 'innocence,' and this cannot be half-hearted. No theologian has managed to come up with a believable explanation of why Jesus had to die. It's because it cannot be explained according to our moral and...

God does indeed demand perfection in faith. It means that we shall die to the world and have our life in Christ. If so, we are no longer under the law. But we live in the world and must continue to make pretense of being good citizens, like Paul does. The problem is that being righteous and...

True. Paul says that "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law..." (Gal. 3:13). Why don't people take it seriously? Although the law is still relevant to Christians, it has been relegated to a secondary role.

Oh yes, today churches have swallowed legalism hook, line and sinker. You must conduct yourself according the rules of culture, which are now wokeism, UN's human rights, LGBTQI rights, women's rights, anti-racism, racial equity, etc. There is an immense number of rules to follow, and you're...

There were different kinds of Pharisees, and Jesus appears to have been confronted by the more radical among them. On the other hand, Nicodemus was a Pharisee, and he evidently believed that Jesus was sent from God. So, it is not so clear-cut that Pharisaism means staunch legalism. However...

True. Furthermore, when Jesus talks about sin, he doesn't mean what people mean nowadays and what the Pharisees meant, which are transgressions against the cultural code. Rather, he means hardness of heart, unbelief, covetousness and idolatry. Not to heal the man with the withered hand on the...

Indeed, the law must remain for people to continue on the path of innocence and guilt, so that they eventually bottom out and come to faith. When there's no point anymore to continue our cultural lie about divine 'meaning' behind the good and bad that happens, then it is time to lift up the...

What Jesus means is that there will be no revision of the law, that is, we will not continue along the legalistic path (Matt. 5:18). Instead, there will be a radical break that only faith can achieve. Paul tries to explain this. Only in faith is the fulfilment of the law, and that's why the law...

On Amazon I have written reviews of three controversial theology books that are suitable for discussion: All Things Come into Being Through Him: A Christology of Creation (2023) by David O. Brown (Advocates a return to deism in much improved form.) A Brief Systematic Theology of the Symbol...

There are two aspects of earthly existence, a higher and a lower. The former is culture and religion, art and music, all kinds of creativity, and the sustained work of upholding society. The latter is seeking satisfaction in sex, power, riches, status, food and drink, etc. Although the latter is...