MailBag: Trinity, the Law, Demonic Warfare, and Divine
Impassibility | Focused on Christ Ep. 143
Welcome to Focused on Christ, where we are passionate about exalting Christ and equipping the church!
Join your host, Mike Crump, and Nathan Smith for a special Q&A episode—we're opening the mailbag to tackle some deep theological and practical questions.
In this episode, we cover:
The Trinity and the Son's Knowledge: We start by expounding on how Jesus, the Son of Man, could say he did not know the time of the end (Matthew 24), reconciling this with the Trinitarian framework and Christ's shared divine omniscience with the Father and Holy Spirit. We discuss the unity of the divine essence and the different roles/operations of the three eternal persons of the Godhead.
Divine Impassibility: What is the doctrine of divine impassibility (that God cannot suffer or feel pain)?. We explore how this is true of God in His base, original state, and how He was willing to step down in human flesh through the Son to suffer and feel genuine grief and pain for us.
Upholding the Law (Romans 3:31): Logan asks what Paul means when he tells us to "uphold the law". The simple answer is that Christians uphold the law by pointing to Christ as the completion of the Law. We fulfill the law through faith and obedience to Christ.
Wrestling with Demonic Influence: Elisa asks why the devil and demons can repeatedly oppress Christians even after being rebuked with the name or blood of Christ. We clarify that the concept of "claiming the blood" is not rooted in Scripture. Instead, Christians must understand that we still wrestle with principalities and authorities in this sinful world. We deal with this ongoing warfare by putting on the armor of God (faith, the Word, and knowledge of who you are in Christ) and confronting lies with truth.
Defining Good Works: Cyre asks how a Christian should define good works and know if their life is pleasing to God. Good works are always an outflow of the Gospel and new heart affections to obey the Lord. We discuss how Christian maturity is marked by a growing awareness of our disobedience, which points us back to Christ's mercy, rather than a feeling of "being done" or fully pleasing to God.
Next Week: We will be visiting Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and discussing his prayer to the Father.
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