April 2018 New Horizons

Why Be Good?

by Dennis E. Johnson

Five centuries ago, the Protestant Reformers confronted a pastoral challenge that is still with us today. Actually, the same challenge confronted the Apostle Paul in the first century. As the Preacher said, “There is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl. 1:9). The challenge, in a nutshell, is this: “If Jesus did it all, why should I try to be good?” In Reformation terms, we could put it this way: If we preach the good news of sola gratia , sola fidei , and solus Christus —that we are justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone—and if, believing this gospel, troubled hearts are assured of God’s favor on the basis of Jesus’s flawless obedience and substitutionary death, how can pastors motivate them to pursue holiness , “without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14)? In Pauline terms, the dilemma sounds like this: Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more , so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to ... Read more

Resurrection-Birth in First Peter

by Peter Y. Lee

The resurrection of our blessed Savior gives us extraordinary hope of eternal life and a “joy unspeakable” as we suffer through the trials of this fallen world and face the final enemy of death. However, what we may not realize is that his resurrection also helps us to understand the nature of our salvation. The purpose of this article is to show that, according to 1 Peter, our salvation—our new birth in Christ—is in fact a resurrection from the dead. A New Term In 1 Peter 1:3, Peter declares that “according to [God’s] great mercy, he has caused us to be born again.” The phrase “he has caused us to be born again” is a wordy translation of the Greek word anagennēsas from the verb anagennaō . It occurs here in 1:3 and once again in verse 23. This verb does not occur in any other book in the New Testament, nor does it occur in any Greek translations of the Old Testament. In fact, as far as scholars can tell there is no attested use of this verb in extrabiblical texts. Peter ... Read more

The Resurrection Touch

by D. Patrick Ramsey

In Greek mythology, a king named Midas was given by the gods a gift of much wealth: whatever he touched turned to gold. His gift came to be called the Midas touch, or the golden touch. In a similar way, we could say that Jesus has the “resurrection touch.” Jesus has come and has conquered sin and death by his own death and resurrection, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Whatever Jesus touches is given life—and not just life, but resurrection life, because he has power over death. Universal, Cruel, and Deserved To understand and appreciate resurrection, however, we must first understand and confront death. There wouldn’t be a need for, let alone a possibility of, resurrection without the prior reality of death. Death is the necessary and inevitable counterpart to resurrection. Indeed, our Lord’s resurrection shines brilliantly against the dark background of death. The seventeenth-century English poet John Donne famously wrote, “Never send to know ... Read more