What Is Christ-like Patience | Cornelius Plantinga
Channel: Henry Center
Date: 2014-07-11

Sermon Title - The Patience of Atticus Finch: A Sermon on Colossians 3

Examining Paul's exhortation to "cloth yourselves with... patience," Plantinga develops an account of Christian patience as "part of the uniform for the family of Christ." Whereas Paul describes life outside of union with Christ as characterized by a pervasive anger and vengeance, Paul calls Christians to "put off" that way of life. The patience that fits those who have been raised with Christ has a long fuse, isn't necessarily naive or stoic, is compatible with righteous anger, and is willing to recognize that justice takes time. Drawing from Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird," Dr. Plantinga affirms "the patience of Atticus Finch:" a man who united a righteous anger against injustice with a patience that governed that anger and enabled him to fulfill the task set before him.

Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. (PhD Princeton Theological Seminary) is Senior Research Fellow at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and President Emeritus of Calvin Theological Seminary. He is author of Not the Way it’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin (Eerdmans, 1996), Engaging God's World: A Christian Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living (Eerdmans, 2002), and Reading for Preaching: The Preacher in Conversation with Storytellers, Biographers, Poets, and Journalists (Eerdmans, 2013).