I’m also reminded of the spiritual bankruptcy of Matthew 5. The sanctifying power of the Spirit compels us to act in faith to help the hurting. We cannot shout to people that they need to meet a standard or help themselves, then provide no help. Conversely, if there is no presence of the Spirit, then there is no justification from the Son.
With no justification from the Son, there is no sanctification from the Spirit. Paul goes to great lengths in the book of Galatians to explain that the Son has justified us, and now the Spirit is actively and continually sanctifying us.
It is the very definition of fire-insurance, which in case you haven’t realized, is quite unbiblical. At the most basic of levels it is the belief that faith has saved us, so we need to change nothing in the continuing process of salvation. We say we love people, we say we are praying for people, and we say we want people to follow Christ, but what is our love or prayer or desire with no action? James wrote in chapter two, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” James is probably writing against Antinomianism, which is an issue that developed in the early church. I’m first reminded of the book of James where James commands that we have a faith of action. Can you think of the theological connotations of this statement? His lyric reminds me of a few passages of Scripture. Coolio recognizes that there is a standard that is demanded, but there is no one there to help him. Second, he is saying that people have set a high standard, but no one is willing to help him meet that standard. First, he sees the hopelessness of his position if there is no outside help. Coolio the Rapper recognizes two things here. That’s why I know my life is out of luck, fool If they can’t understand it, how can they reach me They say I’ve got to learn, but nobody’s here to teach me Coolio the Rapper writes in his song Gangsta’s Paradise: Now I’m not using Coolio in the contemporary typology sense Coolio is not an echo of Jesus, ha! Instead, I’m using contemporary typology as an analogy for the echoes of truth we can find when we exegete the culture. The sacrifice, the quest to overcome evil and set the captives free, and the recognition of good and evil are present in all of those films and can help to communicate the Gospel. Each of those stories contains echoes of a Christ figure, some more intentional than others. So I took my cue from Paul at the Areopogas and appealed to something he did know: Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Star Wars. Perhaps you’re thinking, “User error, duh,” and there’s probably some truth to that but if you’ve ever found someone who does not know the first thing about Christianity, then you know that speaking in the most basic Christian lingo can still make communication difficult. The more I tried to talk to him about Christ, the more confused he became.
I was recently witnessing to a friend who had not the first idea about the Gospel. Jon’s attempt to find Christ in the book of Proverbs is an example of typology.Ĭontemporary typology is the attempt to locate echoes of Christ among contemporary stories and using that as a tool to point to Christ. Jon Akin recently wrote a book called Preaching Christ from the Proverbs. Typology is what we do when we find shades or shadows of Christ in the Old Testament. We find these sorts of things all the time in contemporary typology. I do not mean to say that Coolio intends for his music to be theologically profound however, many times completely secular sources (including Coolio) accidentally provide echoes of truths we find in Scripture. I could spend multiple posts examining the numerous lines in the song that compel us to think past the surface and do a little self-examination. Coolio the Rapper provides many provocative thoughts.