All posts by Christopher C. Schrock

About Christopher C. Schrock

I was born and educated in Indiana. I married my best-friend, Julie Lynn, in 2006. I worked for 10 years in IT & Network Operations before transitioning to Christian Ministry. Now I am a pastor in Billings, Montana.

Same Theology

Even though the Old and New Testaments differ with respect to some of the tools whereby the teachings are administered (and also their circumstances), yet they agree as far as the substance is concerned. And the same Theology is advanced in both Testaments: God’s single will to redeem the human race and the one basic promise that salvation must be obtained through Christ (Gen 3:15 and 22:18; Acts 15:11, and 10:43, etc.).

Synopsis of a Purer Theology, Vol. 1, 7.

Concerning the Most Sacred Theology

God is the chief efficient cause of Theology . . .

The instrumental cause of Theology is the Word of God, spoken through the mouth of men divinely inspired and called directly by God, and recorded in the holy books (1 Pet 1:12, 2 Pet 1:21, Acts 20:27, 1 Thess 2:13 and 4:8).

Synopsis of a Purer Theology, Vol. 1, 4-5.

Lord’s Supper

In 1 Cor. 10 Paul refers to Israel’s being saved, revived, and nourished by miracles corresponding to the NT sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Paul asserts that Christ’s presence in OT Israel was so real, and the spiritual blessing He bestowed to His people was so closely bound up with the miraculous physical help He gave them, that He could actually be identified with one of the objects He used in mediating His blessing to them — “that Rock was Christ”(v.4).

“Lord’s Supper (Eucharist)” by R. S. Wallace in ISBE, Vol. 3, 165.

Apostolic Preaching

That the apostolic preaching is nothing other than the various predictions made by the prophets, proclaimed as having been realized in Jesus Christ, means that, on the one hand, the apostolic preaching is both the key to understanding the Old Testament and the confirmation of its fulfillment, while, on the other hand, it is the Old Testament which shapes the whole of the Christian revelation itself.

ST IRENAEUS OF LYONS, ON THE APOSTOLIC PREACHING, TRANSLATED WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JOHN BEHR, 13.

Complete Revelation of God

Jesus Christ, His passion and resurrection is, for Ignatius, the only complete revelation of God; this alone is salvific. Hence it is only through this door, Jesus Christ, that the prophets, apostles, and the whole Church enter to the Father.

St Irenaeus of Lyons, On the Apostolic Preaching, translated with an Introduction by John Behr, 11.

Regarding James 2:14

No one whose profession of faith is merely a matter of words should deceive himself by thinking that such a faith is able to save.

CORNELIS P. VENEMA, THE GOSPEL OF FREE ACCEPTANCE IN CHRIST: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE REFORMATION AND NEW PERSPECTIVE ON PAUL, 68.

One of the best ways to interpret an argument is to discover the issue being addressed.

CORNELIS P. VENEMA, THE GOSPEL OF FREE ACCEPTANCE IN CHRIST: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE REFORMATION AND NEW PERSPECTIVE ON Paul, 67.

Justification and First Justification and the First Commandment

What undergirds the doctrine of justification is an emphasis upon God’s grace and mercy in Christ. Consequently, the doctrine of free justification is an instance of obedience to the first commandment, which requires that we let God be the God who freely justifies believers in Christ.

CORNELIS P. VENEMA, THE GOSPEL OF FREE ACCEPTANCE IN CHRIST: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE REFORMATION AND NEW PERSPECTIVE ON PAUL, 39.

Objective Reality

To say that justification is a free gift of God’s grace, which is granted to believers upon the basis of the work of Christ alone, is to refocus attention upon the objective reality of God’s work for his people.

CORNELIS P. VENEMA, THE GOSPEL OF FREE ACCEPTANCE IN CHRIST: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE REFORMATION AND NEW PERSPECTIVE ON PAUL, 38.