i've never made a secret of the idea that one of my favorite authors is james m. boice. his commentaries are a staple of my Bible study diet, and his Foundations of the Christian Faith is my systematic theology of choice.so this week, i've been reading his writings on the church and as always, the highlighter is going crazy. but a couple things he said, worked in with the justice and mercy thoughts that are marinating on my back burner. so i thought i'd share those here:
The church must actually develop brotherhood, a sense of family oneness, among those to whom the gospel spreads. Many barriers to such a union existed in the early church. There were barriers of race - the Greek despising the Roman, the Roman contemptuous of the Greek. There were barriers of nationhood - most captive people chafing under the yoke of Rome. There were barriers of sex, language, and culture - the same barriers that exist among people today. But they were broken down as those who were called to faith in Christ increasingly came to see their oneness in him. "For he is our peace, who has made us both [Jews and Gentiles] one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility" (Eph.2:14) To the Corinthians, Paul wrote, "God...through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation." (2Cor.5:18)
He quotes Martin Lloyd-Jones:
"We are all equally sinners...we are all equally helpless...we have all come to the same Savior...we have the same salvation...we have the same Holy Spirit...we have the same Father...we even have the same trials...And finally, we are all marching and going together to the same eternal home."
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