Reflections on the loving kindness of the Triune God
We end our reflections on Affective Theology by embracing the hope of glory offered through God’s love. Glory, a word that intrigues and invites Bible readers, has a dimension still out of reach. It represents the far horizon of the end times. Paul, for instance, spoke of the “hope of glory” in both Romans and …
Read More God’s Love and Glory – 7 of 7We continue in our reflections on Affective Theology by turning to God’s expansive love. God’s triune self-giving was his ground for both creation and salvation—and why the seventeenth century Puritan Richard Sibbes spoke of God’s “spreading goodness.” God’s expansive aims are evident throughout the Bible. At our creation humans were told, “Be fruitful and multiply …
Read More God’s Expansive Love – 6 of 7This reflection on Affective Theology considers the Church. Christ’s love, through his Spirit, unites the many members of the Church into one body. In Ephesians 5:25-27 Paul used human marriages as his key analogy: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having …
Read More God’s Love for His People – 5 of 7In this, my fourth reflection on Affective Theology, we turn to the Bible. To call it a “love letter” may seem odd, given its broad content. Yet it fits God’s ambition. God is a lover, determined to share his heart with the world by two means—with his Spirit at work in each. First, by written …
Read More God’s Love Letter – 4 of 7This third discussion of Affective Theology features the Spirit’s heart-changing love. He offers God’s presence through Spirit-to-spirit companionship that begins with a “born again” encounter that restores the life Adam lost in Eden. It is “the Spirit who gives life” (John 3:6 & 6:63). This new birth is parallel to physical birth as a constituting …
Read More The Spirit as God’s Love – 3 of 7This is the second Spreading Goodness reflection on Affective, “heart-based” theology. It affirms Jesus as God’s ultimate expression of love as we read in John 3:16-17— “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son …
Read More Jesus, God’s Gift of Love – 2 of 7This is the first of seven Spreading Goodness reflections on Affective—“heart-based”—theology. We start with God’s heart—his relational disposition. The seventeenth century English Puritan Richard Sibbes took up this key theme as he wrote, “If God had not a communicative, spreading goodness, he would never have created the world. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were happy in …
Read More God’s Heart – 1 of 7“What do you mean by ‘affective theology?’ I’ve never heard of it before I met you.” This was the lead line of the Spreading Goodness entry for June 4, 2018. In that piece—and I invite readers to visit there—I explained why I adopted this uncommon phrasing. I also use the phrase “heart-based spirituality” to say the same …
Read More Affective Lives“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three,” Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “but the greatest of these is love.” Really? More than faith and hope? It’s a strong Bible claim on love’s behalf. But for many today it’s not strong enough! One major Bible scholar, Leon Morris, noted the low status of love …
Read More “Love” – really?Is your faith less than lively? Closer to what the Bible confronts than to what it affirms? Francis Chan is a rascal in his Letters to the Church as he asks hard questions! He’s especially tough in chapter four, “The Gang,” in asking if we Christians are known for our deep mutual love. A love so clear …
Read More “Faith working through love”