Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Some questions, pt. 2

3. Romans 11 confuses me. Specifically, the words "all Israel" and "fullness."

4. The nature of the covenant made at Sinai is also something I wonder about. It certainly seems like a conditional covenant to me, with, in part, Canaan as the covenant blessing, exile as the curse. Of course, it's not that simple, and, in places, the covenant seems to be cut in terms of life and death, not just land or no land. Is this law covenant, which, though Piper doesn't seem to agree, seems to me to be very much conditional, an administration of the overarching construct of God's relationship to his chosen people known as the covenant of grace? If so, how can it be conditional if it deals with more than just Israel's inheritance of the Promised Land?

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Some questions pt. 1

As I've been reading others' blogs lately, I've realized a few things, mainly my gross underqualification to have anyone seriously reading my reflections, theological or otherwise. There's nothing right now that I can say about theology that would contribute anything original to the conversation, so I've resigned myself mostly to shut up and read for a while. That said, I'll just be posting lots of questions for the next bit of time. I've got my opinions about the answers to these questions, but they are comparitively uneducated ones. Please feel free to answer if you are so inclined.
1. Into what covenant (or covenant administration, if you prefer) are we baptizing people? Is baptism an initiation into the covenant of grace in general or into a specific administration of that covenant? Both?
2. Who holds the majority view as it concerns the landscape and nature of bibical covenants, M.G. Kline or O.P. Robertson? They seem to diverge at important points, though they are both quoted approvingly in some of the same books.
More on the way... get excited!