Death by Love

On Sunday the teaching was on Romans 3:21-31 and, as a consequence, on the death of Jesus. We looked at the three big word pictures Paul throws us to try and get our head around what was going on on the cross: Propitiation (the temple idea of atonement for sin), Justification (the law-court idea of a declaration of innocence), and Redemption (the market idea of paying a price in order to re-possess something).
It would have been great to spend a week on each of these ideas: to plumb something of the depth of the ideas they carry, and to push through to their life-changing effect. I could imagine whole sermons on “Justification and the end of anxiety”, “Propitiation and the end of injustice” and “Redemption and the value of persons” etc.
I note that Mark Driscoll has written a book that makes these sorts of connections. It’s called Death by Love: Letters from the Cross and takes the form of letters written to people in a variety of pastoral situations, applying aspects of the death of Jesus to their situation. I’ve only dipped into it (just got it on Saturday), but it looks good! Reviews suggest that, even for people who don’t usually warm to Driscoll’s style, this book is an exception. And it comes with what is by far the best promotion of a book I have ever seen. Take a look.