Decision Theology

Three things from Basic Christianity by John R. W. Stott

Levi Henkel on Feb 8, 2014

·      Stott’s discussion of graveclothes proving the ressurection is new to me. He suggests the translation “He saw, as they were lying (or ‘collapsed’), the strips of linen.” Rather than the picture of a bundled up head cloth separate from the body, the separation could refer to the gab between the body and the head, where the neck had been.

·      The parallel of I Peter 2 and Isaiah 53 is phenomenal.

o   “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth” AND “He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.”

o   “They hurled their insults at him.” AND “He was despised and rejected by others.”

o   “He himself bore our sins.” AND “He bore the sins of many.”

o   “By his wounds you have been healed.” AND “By his wounds we are healed.”

o   “You were like sheep going astray.” AND “We all, like sheep, have gone astray.”

·      “Reaching a decision” in chapter 10 gives a little different perspective to “decision theology” which I would reject in another context. “If anyone hears my voice and opens” is Stott’s primary passage of exegetion, and certainly a proof text for many decision theologies. The concept of choice is clear in Stott’s context. Maybe not all, but I think most, do reach a place in life where the gospel is clear and it is rejected or embraced. To embrace is certainly primarily an act of faith not works, but that faith is one that does something as Abraham proceeded to sacrifice Isaac. That doesn’t make it a salvation by weighing works, but rather a faith that embraces reality. “Take up your cross” Christ says. One cannot have faith without some measure of that movement, lifting the wooden beam of faithful obedience that displays a choice has been made. I have repented and now face a new direction. I now follow Christ.