Author Archives: The Briefing

The atonement

Review

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The Atonement: Its Meaning and Significance

Leon Morris

Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, 1984. 219pp.

It’s likely you already know if you’re ever going to pick up The Atonement: Its Meaning and Significance, just from reading the title. When you come across a word you don’t completely understand, such as atonement, you’re either intrigued or asking “Why on earth would I read an entire book about a word which I don’t know?” If the title put you off, a brief scan down the contents page probably won’t help. There’s no getting past it, The Atonement is a book about difficult words. The “great words” which author Leon Morris covers are: covenant, sacrifice, the Day of Atonement, the Passover, redemption, reconciliation, propitiation, and justification. The unifying concept behind these words—apart from having at least three syllables—is the significance of Jesus’ atoning work on the cross. (more…)

The unconverted Christian

Life

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“Since you have taken off your old self…” can be a troubling verse for those who have always been Christian. Tim St Quintin goes searching for the old self in the believer from birth. (more…)

Union with Christ

Thought

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Paul describes Christians as being ‘in Christ’, but what does that mean? Rory Shiner explores where we are, who we are, and why it matters where we are with now that we’re in Christ. (more…)

WordWatch: Skin of our teeth

Word Watch

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It’s a cliché that turns up in bad journalism and badly written TV and movie melodramas: “It was a very close shave, and they only escaped by the skin of their teeth”. (more…)

Plastic language, plastic marriage

Life

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I guess it is no surprise that the gay community are pressing for a change to the definition of marriage in the Commonwealth Marriage Act. I have been rather more surprised at the number of ‘ordinary Australians’ who apparently (at least according to the media) support the change. I have been absolutely amazed at the buzz amongst some quarters of the Christian community that we should lay down and die on this one.

But perhaps I shouldn’t be so surprised and amazed.

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Genesis 1:1-2:3 is not poetry and it is historical

Thought

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I suspect the title has already polarized you—or if not that, it has at least evoked something of a gut response for you. The issues of creation and science tend to do that for people! But please let me set the context of this discussion: this is not a discussion about science and creation.

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Who is Jesus now?

Thought

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Jesus is God, who came to earth as a man, left as a man… and has now set aside his humanity to return to being wholly God? Peter Orr explains why Jesus is still God and man today, and will be for eternity. (more…)

Suffering servant, suffering servants

Life

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I used to think that interest in the persecuted church was a specialty within a specialty. There are social justice issues, like poverty, homelessness, amnesty, and displaced people groups, and in my head the persecuted church was a subset of these. I probably wasn’t alone in thinking that it’s a highly specialized, and therefore a peripheral, issue. Christian persecution is off-radar for many churches and a blind spot for many individual Christians.

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Maximizing the kids’ spot at church

Everyday Ministry

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Are the kids’ talks at your church varied and involving, or rushed and repetitive? Annabel Catto looks at the purpose of having a kids’ spot during a church service, and shares ideas for what it could include. (more…)