This past weekend was Hesston College's Anabaptist Vision & Discipleship Series (AVDS). Here are some of my thoughts as I review my notes:
Throughout the Bible, we see God's message of grace - yes, even in the Old Testament. Have you ever noticed that the beginning of the Ten Commandments (which are the core of the Old Covenant) starts with God's grace? "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt". The people didn't necessarily deserve this, but God heard their cry and delivered them.
Marion Bontrager said, "legalism is law without prior grace". Grace comes first. I guess I had not thought about that before.
The conference was a great review for me since I had taken Introduction to Biblical Literature while at Hesston. It was good to be reminded that the Bible is God's story of redemption - not just of ourselves, but the whole creation. Many times we define "sin" too narrowly, but if we recognize that its implications are much broader, then we will also see salvation as being much broader as well.
The Bible is still relevant 2,000 years later. We just need to continually tell the story!
No comments:
Post a Comment