Union with Christ

This summer, between chasing around my kiddos, going to numerous doctor's appointments, and continuing with regular faculty work, I've have the privilege to write on one of my favorite topics: theology of the Lord's Supper. I've published some articles and chapters on the subject in the past. And I'm working on a book on the Lord's Supper and the gospel for Eerdmans press: exploring the way in which a renewed theology and practice of the Lord's Supper can move congregations into a deeper embrace of the gospel of Jesus Christ. While working on the book, I agreed to write a chapter in a wonderful new book of essays: Christian Dogmatics: Reformed Theology for the Church Catholic, edited by Michael Allen and Scott Swain. It was recently released by Baker Academic press. I'm honored to join Kevin Vanhoozer, the late John Webster, and other stellar theologians in this volume. In my own chapter, I...

13 July, 2016

It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. –C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, and Other Addresses In my theology classes, I often assign works from 4th- and 5th-century theologians debating about Christ and the trinity. These theologians stand in awe before the reality of the Triune God – they stutter with words of poetry and praise as they worship Christ the Lord. They meditate on the astonishing scriptural truth that we have been made adopted sons and daughters of the Almighty King, through the power of the...

25 August, 2015

What if our mission is not to 'be Jesus' to other cultures, but to join with the Holy Spirit? By J. Todd Billings In recent decades, scores of books, manuals, and websites advocating "incarnational ministry" have encouraged Christians to move beyond ministry at a distance and to "incarnate" and immerse themselves into local cultures. Some give a step-by-step "incarnation process" for Christians crossing cultures. Some call us to become incarnate by "being Jesus" to those around us. Indeed, many of these resources display valuable insights into relational and cross-cultural ministry. But there are serious problems at the core of most approaches to "incarnational ministry"—problems with biblical, theological, and practical implications. I encountered these problems myself as a practitioner of "incarnational ministry." At a Christian college, I was told that just as God became flesh in a particular culture 2,000 years ago, my job was to become "incarnate" in another culture. Eight months later,...

14 December, 2012

In this interview by Matthew Barrett on Jan 17, 2012 J.Todd Billings addresses difficult questions related to the theology of salvation as adoption and total depravity using themes from his book Union with Christ. For a link to the article, click here....

17 January, 2012

In what way is "union with Christ" a sum of the gospel? For an exploration of that and related questions, check out this interview posted December 15, 2011 with Trevin Wax about Union with Christ: Reframing Theology and Ministry for the Church. For a link to the article click here....

15 December, 2011