I was recently asked a great question that made me go away and think awhile.
The question is a simple one: Jesus tells us to love our enemies. The devil is our enemy. So does this mean we should love the devil?
Here's the answer I gave:
That’s a great question. Certainly the devil is called “our enemy” in 1 Peter 5:8.
Let me give several answers, starting with the simplest, getting progressively more involved.
Last week, I wrote a post quoting Calvin's interpretation of Peter walking on the water in Matthew 14:22-33. I was looking again at this passage, as the lectionary brought it round again, having last preached on it in 2018.
I most recently preached on Matthew 14:24-33 (the story of Jesus walking on the water) in January 2018. There is a debate with this story as to whether Peter's request to join Jesus on the water reflected his great faith and is something we should emulate (we too need to "get out of the boat"), or whether Peter was being foolish and reckless.
"Of making many books there is no end" (Ecclesiastes 12:12)
If that was true when Ecclesiastes was written, how much more true is it in the days of social media. Surely the writer of Ecclesiastes would comment: "Of the writing of opinions on social media, there is no end"!
This fifth talk draws the threads together, and asks how an orthodox understanding of the Trinity is good news for us. We look at how God's power, God's love, and God being knowable all hinge on God being Triune.
This fourth talk focuses on the work of the Holy Spirit, as he draws us into the fellowship enjoyed by Father and Son, so that God's greatest gift is himself as he shares his inner life with us.
This third talk continues to answer the question how there can be 3 distinct persons within the Trinity, and yet one God (rather than three). This week, I explain how the Trinity is a Trinity of 3 equal persons, each fully God, and yet in important ways the Father comes first. It may seem that this diminishes the Son (and the Spirit); in fact, this safeguards the full divinity of God the Son, and ensures that there is one God and not several.
The second of 5 Sunday sermons on the doctrine of the Trinity, delivered at St Mary's Kemsing during June and July 2020.
This second talk starts to answer the question how there can be 3 distinct persons within the Trinity, and yet one God (rather than three). The answer in this talk is that the 3 persons always work together, with the consequence that their names of Father, Son and Spirit are absolutely essential. (A second answer to that question will come in next week's talk).
The first of 5 Sunday sermons on the doctrine of the Trinity, delivered at St Mary's Kemsing during June and July 2020.
This first talk shows how the doctrine of the Trinity is not something obscure and best avoided; rather, even if you only met Jesus from one of the 4 gospels you would inevitably meet a Jesus who is part of the Trinity. Indeed, the doctrine of the Trinity unfolded by the gospels is accessible and not at all hard to understand.
All of our church services are currently online-only, due to Covid-19.
This morning, rather than preaching on a single passage, I did a topical sermon, unpacking a biblical theology of hand washing.
