Many Christian churches avoid talking about biblical election - the teaching that those who are believers have come to faith because God chose them - because it seems exclusive and non-egalitarian. How can God love everyone but only choose some? But in the Bible, the historical foundation of this doctrine is God’s choice of Israel to be his chosen people - not so that they could have a special status but so that they could be his agents for bringing the blessing of his redemption to the rest of the world. And this is the meaning of election for God’s people today: God has chosen to save and rescue them so that they can be his agents to live and preach his love in Jesus to all the world. Far from being exclusive, the doctrine of election is a guarantee that God loves his world, wants to save it, and is actively sending his people out to that end.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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It might be easy when visiting a church to think that the pastor is in charge. But many times once you get involved in that church and see behind the curtain it becomes apparent that other groups hold the power. What all of these churches have in common, though, is the temptation to find in the world the template for their governance structure. But what the Bible teaches is that the power God gives individuals or groups in the church is to be used to support those who need that power and strength to do the ministry God has gifted and called them to do. So pastors should not be CEOs, and ministry teams at a church should not function as corporate boards.

Instead, everyone in Christ’s church should function as members of Christ’s body, loving and serving the whole body in its calling to be Jesus’ body in whatever context in which that church finds itself.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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Humans long for God, if he exists, to prove that existence, and many Christian philosophers have proposed arguments, or proofs, for that existence. Many arguments have been advanced toward that end; for instance, the cosmological argument which states that since everything has a cause there must be something which ultimately caused the universe to exist; the teleological argument which argues that the complexity of the universe suggest design; and the moral argument which suggests that the human belief in right and wrong can only come from the type of standard provided by God. But ultimately, there is no argument or bit of evidence that would prove that God exists. We humans believe what we want to believe, so the issue finally comes down to whether or not our hearts have been transformed to believe in God.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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The current day nation of Israel was established in 1948, a place for many of the Jews who survived the holocaust to call home. Many Christians in Europe and North America consider this to be a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies to Abraham and his offspring that they would inherit the land on which Israel and Palestine now exist. One result of the establishment of political Israel has been the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, a geopolitical move which has been the primary cause of decades of violence from both sides toward each other. At the heart of this passionate fight for this particular bit of property is the belief–by many Jews on one hand–that the promises God made to Abraham are for his son Isaac’s offspring, and the corresponding belief–by many Muslims on the other hand–that the promises God made to Abraham are for his son Ishmael’s descendants. Many Christians, believing that Old Testament Israel and current-day national Israel are organically related, support without question any decisions national Israel make.

But the New Testament teaches that the offspring of Abraham who inherits the promises made to Abraham, including the promise of the land, is Abraham’s true Offspring, Jesus, who inherits the whole world as the Son of God who is the one true Jew. And Paul also insists that all those who have been baptized into Jesus are–by virtue of union with him–also the offspring of Abraham and thus heirs of the promises made to him. As a result, Christians do not need to unquestionably support either Israel or Palestine, because in Christ all those who believe in him are the true owners and inheritors of the land.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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When the Athanasian Creed is read on Trinity Sunday every year, many Protestant Christians struggle with the last line, “Those who have done good will enter into eternal life, but those who have done evil will go into eternal fire.” This implication that salvation is by human works seems to conflict with the teaching that salvation is by grace through faith alone. But for a couple of reasons it’s safe to call this a misunderstanding.

First, this line from the Creed is almost a direct quote of Jesus’ own words in John 5:29: there is coming a day when the day will be raised, “those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” Unless we are prepared to say Jesus has bad theology, we’ll need to find a way to incorporate the Creed’s teaching into our theology. And this, as it turns out, is explained in many more places in Scripture. Paul teaches in Ephesians 2:8-9 that we are saved by grace through faith as a gift, but Ephesians 2:10 explains that this salvation is given to us because we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.

In other words, we are saved by grace through faith alone, but that salvation will result in good works, which–on the last day–will be the evidence of whether or not we have been saved by grace.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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In our cynical culture, doubting everything has become a default mode. For Christians who believe that being made right with God happens through trusting Jesus, these doubts can precipitate an existential crisis. Some Christians feel guilty for having doubts, but faith doesn’t negate the existence of doubts. In fact, the rhythm of trust and doubt is a regular part of any relationship, trust being the foundation of any good relationship, and doubts being the fuel for going back to the relationship to build up the trust in new and fresh ways. The same pattern holds for a human being’s relationship with God as well. No one - even the most devout religious person - completely believes in Jesus. Our prayer will always be, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” And just as in the case with any human relationship, these doubts in God should drive us back to God’s presence in his word and sacraments to learn in new and fresh ways all different kinds of levels of trust in him.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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We humans feel like we have the ability to make any choice, but the reality is that we can only make any choice we want to. In other words, humans are bound to their own wills - it’s not possible to choose to do something you ultimately do not want to do. Every choice to do something you don’t want to do is made because there is something you ultimately want more. We choose to go to the dentist–something we don’t want to do–because our desire to avoid the long-term pain of dental decay is greater than our desire to avoid the short-term pain of dental pain. A better way to talk about the way we make choices is to say we have freedom of agency: we can choose to do anything within the realm of our desires. For example, I am free to choose between wearing the green socks or the yellow socks, but I am not free to cut my feet off–it simply isn’t within the realm of my desires to do so.

The Bible insists that this is also true when it comes to one’s relationship with God. Our fallen human hearts do not desire God, or at least we do not desire God as he really is. And so we choose to reject him because it is our will to reject him, and we do not choose to accept him because our wills are opposed to him–and it is impossible to do something ultimately against your will. And so, if we are going to accept God, he must change our will so that we desire him. This work of the Holy Spirit, called prevenient grace, happens when God mercifully and lovingly draws us to himself, and changes our heart from the inside out so that we believe in him and long for a relationship with him.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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Different branches of the American church have different ideas about miracles - the more rationalistic branches of Christianity don’t place a high value on miracles, while more charismatic churches consider miracles to be a vital part of their Christian life. But all Christians believe that miracles are a part of scripture, and scripturally speaking, miracles happen all the time, as long as we understand that the line between “natural” and “supernatural” is a modern invention. Every part of creation is God’s, and he is intimately and sovereignly involved in every one of those parts. In other words, what we often think of as “natural” events are really miraculous, just so ordinary that we don’t notice their supernatural character.

In the Bible, miracles are a demonstration of God’s power. Jesus’ miracles are a demonstration that God’s power is upon him, and they lend credence to his prophetic claims. They do not prove he is God, anymore than Elijah’s miracles prove that he is God, but they are signs that God is at work in Jesus’ ministry, and his personal claims to be the one through whom the creator God is rescuing his world.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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