In my school days, there was no such thing as a licence for operating a Bunsen burner in the science lab. From many misspent years of smoking and many mischievous deeds performed at cracker night, my pyromaniac friends and I knew how to strike a match and understood all the wicked things that flames can do. And so in an exam, locating that part of the flame where it burns the hottest was a no-brainer.

But in theology, what is the hottest part of the flame? The answer is obvious once you know it, but not so obvious before you do. People tend to get heated and over-heated about all manner of things in church and in the Bible, and so there are myriad choices as to what part of the theological flame is the one that delivers the most heat and does the most good.

Old Scottish theologian Dr James Denney had no doubts. In speaking of what happened on the Cross at Calvary, he had this to say: “It is the focus in which the reconciling love of God burns with the purest and intensest flame; it is the fountain light of all day, the master light of all seeing, in the Christian revelation.” I agree. And a Christian doesn’t need a theological licence to know that, nor to be able to strike a Bible verse on request, but simply to reflect on what it was that melted their hearts and ignited the fire within.