Utumishi Blog

We’ve said before that doctrine is not dusty, dreary and irrelevant – we all have a theology and it matters massively to our living, preaching and ministry what that theology is. Steven Musa-Kormayea, in ‘The Challenges of Biblical Preaching in Today’s Africa’ (NIFES EBTC, Abuja, 2009), lists a number of “important aspects of New Testament theology we must emphasize.” Have a look below. I think they’re brilliant but are there any you would add? Which are particularly crucial/neglected?

• Christ crucified: The conqueror had to become the sacrificial lamb. Our real problem is the wrath of God. This wrath was overcome only at the cross. The final sacrifice of Christ nailed all our sins – past, present and future – to the cross.  We are not saved (or kept in salvation) by works or confession or sacraments but by the finished work of Christ (John 19:30; Rom. 8:1).This doctrine also deals with the triumphant Christianity which we often aim for. In accepting our own cross (rather than the triumphant Christian who does not know any sickness, pain or suffering), we will find peace in the fellowship of Christ’s suffering.
• Christ the conqueror: he is the answer to the African who is haunted by the fear the indignation of the ancestral spirit, the fear of witchcraft and of evil spirits. We do not need to ‘bind the devil’ every prayer meeting – he was bound at the Cross (Mk. 3:27; Col 2:15; Rom 8:31-39; Eph. 1:19-23).         
• Christ our ever-present great high priest: he is with us everywhere and he is the one who brings us into the presence of the Father. We need no other ‘priest’ or ‘mighty man of God’ to be our mediator (1 Tim 2:5; Hebrews 4-10).
• Christ the bridegroom of one bride: Paul’s teaching on the singular corporate personality of Christ’s body need to be re-echoed more often from our pulpits in order to arrest the spreading social-political disintegration across the continent. Those with teaching and preaching responsibilities must use the pulpit to develop the KOINONIA function of the church beyond the ethnic, tribal, national and racial boundaries to which our allegiances seem to be far stronger as revealed during times of crisis and hard decision-making moments. Christ is the head of a universal body, the church. In him there is neither Jew or Greek, neither free man or slave (Gal 3:28).
• Christ the returning one: We are so plagued with suffering of all sorts that most African Christians will go for a salvation that is here and now in all its fullness – complete freedom from sickness and disease, hunger, wars, injustice, oppression, exploitation, and freedom even from death (there is a church that does not do a funeral if a member dies below age 70/80. To die at an early age means the member had backslidden). We can be free from anxiety, even rejoice (Rom. 5:3) in the midst of our suffering if we understand and focus on Christ’s coming kingdom which will be completely free of these troubles (Rev. 21:4).