Eyes on the cross

Brad Huston's recent post on the Apostle Paul and the church today hits the mark with the force of a .44 magnum. A sample:

Paul did not have time to consider if the 'Arminian' was among the elect. He did not have the luxury of debating eschatology and ... how it could play out in the next five, ten or twenty years according to current events. Paul concerned himself with preaching the revelation of the Lord Jesus through his death and by his resurrection. Paul clung to Christ and preached Christ. Paul’s message was simple and focused: "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." – 1 Corinthians 2:2

Paul kept everything completely tethered to Christ’s blood on the cross, and how Jesus had saved him. We see this even within the commands that he gave as to how we should live in Christ. He did this because Christ was his comfort, his refuge, his strength and his utter joy and his death he recognized and taught as the only means to God.

Paul is a lesson for the Eschatologist who is at war with his fellow brethren. He is instruction for the Theologian who thinks his views of election, predestination and atonement determines one's salvation. And Paul teaches us because the power of God by his Holy Spirit and the maturity of one in Christ comes only by the same means that the most 'basic' (what an inadequate word for such a great gift) rebirth in Christ comes about: the cross of Christ.

Amen and Amen.