Redemption Hill Church - Solid Food

By Tan Huai Tze

Introduction

1. “The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God” was written by D A Carson, Research Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. First published in 2000, the book was adapted from a series of four lectures, first delivered in 1998 at the Dallas Theological Seminary to seminary students. It takes on an informal tone, although the language can be somewhat technical due, perhaps, to the original intended audience.

2. Carson begins by explaining why the doctrine of God’s love is ‘difficult’. He observes that the prevailing culture (post-modernity) often considers the benevolence of God outside of the Biblical framework, and abstracted from complimentary truths about God such as His sovereignty, holiness, wrath, providence, and personhood. Even within Christian circles, God’s love is often portrayed as more obvious than it really is, failing to recognize real difficulties in integrating the Biblical data on God’s love with His sovereignty, impassibility, justice and wrath. Continue reading →