download the trinity how not to be a heretic

We must not deny the oneness of God, the distinction of the persons or the equality of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I’ve talked before about how discussion about the Trinity is framed by three things we must not deny (three negatives if you like).

This is not a sermon to put pressure on you to empty your pockets and fill the collection plate.”īut preaching/teaching the negatives has an important part to play in keeping us within orthodoxy too and protecting us from heading off at tangents. “I know some of you are giving sacrificially already, you have nothing spare, it has been costly. So it is important in your sermon to say: For example, if you are preaching on sacrificial giving, then you know there will be people in the congregation who are already giving so much but who may feel an extra weight of guilt dropped onto their shoulders. So, how do we avoid the danger of going off balance or even into error and heresy in our preaching and teaching? A few years back I remember Neil Powell talking about “preaching the negatives.” It was in a slightly different context. If you’ve preached on the seriousness of sin you may well have been accused of being too judgemental whilst calls for holy living may be confused with legalism.

Of course, this can work the other way too. He responds of course with a robust “Surely not!”

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? “ This risk was certainly one that the apostle Paul courted so that in Romans 6, he had to respond firmly to the suggestion that his logic prompted the question: An anti-nomian (against law) is someone who believes and teaches that the law only applied before Christ, we are now under grace and so it doesn’t matter how we live because we are forgiven. One well known preacher allegedly once said that if we are to preach the Gospel properly, so that it’s full force is heard, then we are likely to be accused of being anti-nominans.

Download the trinity how not to be a heretic