Contend without being contentious

Guest post by Aaron Armstrong

We have been called by, purchased by, and kept for Jesus Christ. Whatever insights we may have into Scripture are not due to our superior intellectual or moral attainments—they are gifts from God meant to bring him glory and honor. (cf. 2 Peter 1:3–8) This is why, in all our contending, we must reject “an unhealthy craving for controversy,” (1 Timothy 6:4) and instead “be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.” (Titus 3:1–2)

The contentious person is simply looking for a fight. He “ stirs up division … is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.” (Titus 3:10–11) When Paul says in those same verses that we should have nothing to do with such a person, it follows that we must not be like him. Instead, we must count others as better and more important than ourselves. (Philippians 2:3–4) While this is clearly a struggle for many Christians, to contend biblically is nevertheless to illuminate where unbiblical perspectives fall short without condemning, demonizing, or pretending to be superior to those who hold such views.

—adapted from Contend: Defending the Faith in a Fallen World, pp. 89-90

Avaiable at: Amazon | Westminster Books | Cruciform Press

“Quit it!” doesn’t cut it

 

Guest post by Aaron Armstrong

Paul writes that “all Scripture is … profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” The package of “reproof plus correction” is critical to our understanding of how the pastor contends for God’s people. To offer reproof means to confront error, declaring in no uncertain terms that some particular idea, attitude, or action is wrong. But reproof is insufficient in itself. Reproof identifies the problem but doesn’t clarify the solution. The “Don’t do that” must be followed by, “Instead, do this, and here’s why.”

Indeed, when Paul addressed the Corinthians in the face of their rampant failures to practice self-control, he didn’t stop at “Quit it!” or even merely “Now try this” and so promote mere morality. He began with reproof but then moved on to Christ-centered correction, calling them back to a holy and self-controlled life and pleading with them to recall the grace of Christ. Paul emphatically reminded the Corinthians that they were a people purchased by Christ, that God was at work among them, and that they were to live in light of that truth. He reproved them for their error, but then he also corrected it for the sake of Christ. Faithful pastoring and preaching must do likewise.

—adapted from Contend: Defending the Faith in a Fallen World, pp. 59-60 (Available now at:  Westminster Books | Amazon | Cruciform Press)

The Gospel's Astonishing Good News

From Reclaiming Adoption: Missional Living Through the Rediscovery of Abba Father:

"This is the astonishing reality with which the gospel’s good news begins. As Scottish theologian T.F. Torrance has written, “In his outgoing Love God the Father wills us to coexist appropriately with him as his dear children, and through the presence of his Spirit to share in the Communion of his own eternal Life and Love.” What Torrance is saying here can seem too good to be true. But, according to the gospel, it is truer than the air we breathe, truer than gravity, truer than time.

"The good news of the gospel is that God’s gracious provision of adoption, irrespective of our grievous demerit, is the activity by which he enlarges the circle of communion that has eternally existed between the three Persons of the Trinity! The joyful news of the gospel is that God the Father brings us to share in the loving communion that he forever enjoys with his eternal and natural Son through the work of his eternal and natural Son in our place and in our stead. Through adoption God graciously brings us to participate in the reciprocal love that ever flows between the Father and his Son. Not only is this the very heart of adoption; it is also the very heart of the gospel" (Reclaiming Adoption: Missional Living Through the Rediscovering of Abba Father, pp 26-27)