FOOLS FOR CHRIST

It's Not Your Party Back in my early days of ministry, I was a kindergarten teacher at a Christian school. Those were the four longest years of my life...actually, that's not true. They were four great years, because I was finally with an age group that I could relate to! During that period of time, one of the mothers came to me and asked if she could have a birthday party for her daughter. As long as you invite everyone in the class, I said, that's not a problem. The next day, Suzie's mom turned my room into birthday kingdom. There was a long table going down the middle of the classroom, and at the end of the table was Suzie - birthday girl. She had an amazing pile of presents in front of her, stacked so high you could barely see her face. All her classmates sat around the table, admiring Suzie's stack of presents while looking at their own little sandwich bag of party favors. One of the boys in the class wasn't pleased. He began to harrumph. As Jo...

Theological Dictionary: Passive and Active Righteousness  BY  JONO LINEBAUGH “This is our theology, by which we teach a precise distinction between these two kinds of righteousness, the active and the passive” (Martin Luther,  Lectures on Galatians  1535). There are “two kinds of righteousness” because human beings live in two kinds of relationships: 1) creature with Creator and 2) creature with creature. Before God ( coram Deo) , people are  passive , receiving righteousness by grace through faith on account of Christ (Rom 3:21-24; 5:17; 10:6; Phil 3:9; cf. Rom 3:28; Gal 2:16). Before the world ( coram mundo ), people are  active , serving their neighbor in love (Rom 13:8-19; Gal 5:13-14). This distinction is essential because, as Luther put it, it ensures that “morality and faith, works and grace … are not confused. Both are necessary, but both must be kept within their limits” ( Lectures on Galatians  1535). To be human is to be two-dimen...