An Awful Weapon in the Hand of God

“It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.”—Robert Murray M’Cheyne

—Andrew Bonar, ed., Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M’Cheyne (Carlisle: Banner of Truth, 1995), 282.

A Minister’s Personal Holiness Paramount

“What my people need most is my personal holiness.—”Robert Murray M’Cheyne

—Andrew Bonar, ed., Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M’Cheyne (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1978), 258.

O Father, I Would Be Lost and Destroyed

 Luther offers a model prayer of contrition, confession, and childlike trust:

My dear Father, I always confess and you can see that as I walk or stand, every particle of my inner and out being, together with my body and soul, deserves hell and fire. When all is said and done, you, my Father, know that of my own accord there is not even a hair on my head, nor any other thing in me, that is good. Everything that belongs to me is hunted by the hated devil for the bottomless pit.

What can I say about it? In spite of who I am, I continue to pray to you, my dear Father. Do not stare and search me with your eyes, for I would be lost and destroyed, even if a hundred thousand worlds were mine! But I ask you to look at the face of your dear Son, Jesus Christ, your anointed one, my Mediator, High Priest, and Advocate; my Savior, Redeemer, and Benefactor. O my Father, be gracious and merciful for his sake, not mine. 

Grant me a happy end and a glad resurrection, for the sake of your dear Son, Jesus Christ. Help my body in this world, and my soul in the world to come, because of the crimson blood which he has shed on the cross for the forgiveness of my sins, and because of my many sins which cannot be named, which because of your righteousness you will not cover. I pray you now, my Father, because of your infinite mercy permit the blood of Jesus Christ your Son to accomplish its purpose in me. It was willed by you from eternity that the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross should pay for the forgiveness and remission of my sins.

So in whatever hour or moment by day or night you will come and knock to require my spirit which you have breathed into me, I pray you continually, dear Father, to permit this spirit, which is my soul, to be commended into your hands. I ask this because of the blood, sufferings, and death of your dear Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 70-71.

Blog Break

The blog is on hold. The internet has been down at our place for days. I'm also now in the hospital getting testing for my heart, which has been acting up again. If you're here reading this, please pray for sweet fellowship with the Lord and restoration of health to serve the Lord with vigor and zeal.

Meekness Is not Weakness

"Meekness is not weakness, but is what you get when a powerful wild horse has been tamed (all the same power, but now under control)."

—N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), 182.

Training Little Minds for Christ

Justin Taylor has labored in love to provide this reading list for children grades 1-8. Thanks, Justin!

Training Little Minds for Christ

Justin Taylor has now provided a reading list for sixth through eighth graders: follow this link. Follow this link for the list for fourth through fifth grade reading; and this one for first through third grade.

Some Did Count Him Mad

"A man there was, though some did count him mad,
The more he cast away, the more he had."

—John Buynan, Pilgrim's Progress (New York: Penguin, 2008), 265.

An Incomparable Treasure

Calvin tells us what he perceives to be the core of Colossians: "The principal object at which [Paul] aims to teach is that all things are in Christ, and that he alone ought to be sufficient and more than sufficient for the Colossians." I find this to be on the face of the instruction in Colossians, and pure and wholesome doctrine.

Then Calvin reasons why we should esteem this epistle as an "incomparable treasure":

All parts of our salvation are placed in Christ alone, that they [the Colossians] may not seek anything elsewhere; and he reminds them that it was in Christ that they had obtained all their blessings, in order that they might the more carefully make it their aim to retain him to the end. And, truly, even this one article is of itself perfectly sufficient to make us reckon this epistle, short as it is, an incomparable treasure; for what is greater in the whole of heavenly doctrine than to have Christ drawn to the life, that we may perceive his power, his office, and all the fruits that come to us from him?[1]

Let us then, with that great man of the Reformation, reckon this Pauline epistle according to its true worth as we perceive the wealth of Christ. I wouldn't trade it for all the estates and assets of both Bill Gates and Warren Buffett combined. Would you? More strongly, I wouldn't trade it for 10,000 worlds!

---

[1] John Calvin, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians (eds., Torrance, David W., and Torrance, Thomas F; trans. Parker, T. H. L.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 298.

Training Little Minds for Christ

Justin Taylor provides a helpful reading list for fourth through fifth graders: check it out here. Look here for the link for first through third graders.

"Holy Delight"

Now that our parents know the sex/gender of our baby (my wife is seventeen weeks along in her first pregnancy), we're happy to announce we're having a little girl. Her name is Ariana Dalissa Wencel. Ariana is Greek in origin, and means "holy." Dalissa is English, from the Latin deliciae, which means "delight," or "pleasure." So her name means "holy delight."

It has a twofold significance. First, her name reminds us that our daughter is a delight from the Lord, and so is one that is holy, not ultimate, not idolatrous. She is a delight, but not an ultimate one. We will delight in her "in God" (à la Augustinianism), God who alone is our supreme satisfaction. Second, her name will serve to remind her that God is her holy delight, her pleasure above every pleasure, her all-satisfying infinite Delight and Treasure, even as he is her parents' all-satisfying infinite Delight and Treasure.

Cleverness in the Pulpit?

"No man can give the impression that he himself is clever and that Christ is mighty to save."—James Denney

—Quoted in John Piper, The Supremacy of God in Preaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 59.

O Lord, Fill My Empty Cup

Luther on the empty needing filling:

Look, Lord, an empty vessel that needs to be filled. My Lord, fill it. I am weak in the faith; strengthen me. I am cold in love; warm me and make me fervent, that my love may go out to my neighbor. I do not have a strong and firm faith. At times I doubt and am unable to trust you completely. O Lord, help me. Strengthen my faith and trust in you. I have insured all my treasure in your name. I am poor; you are rich and you did come to be merciful to the poor. I am a sinner; you are upright. With me there is an abundance of sin; with you a fullness of righteousness. Therefore I will remain with you, from whom I can receive but to whom I may not give. Amen.

 —Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 67-68.

An Outcropping of Counter-Cultural Spirituality?

David Wells on the choice between love for God and love for the world:

The choice for God now has to become one in which the church begins to form itself, by his grace and truth, into an outcropping of counter-cultural spirituality. It must first recover the sense of antithesis between Christ and culture and then find ways to sustain that antithesis. It is, after all, only when we see what the church is willing to give up by developing this antithesis that we see what it is actually for. If it is for God, for this truth, for his people, for the alienated and trampled in life, then it must give up what the post-modern world holds most dear: it must give up the freedom to anything it happens to desire. It must give up self-cultivation for self-surrender, entertainment for worship, intuition for truth, slick marketing for authentic witness, success for faithfulness, power for humility, a God bought on cheap terms for the God who calls us to a costly obedience. It must, in short, be willing to do God's business on God's terms.

—David Wells, God in the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 223. 

Is this how you (or an outsider) would characterize the evangelical church today: an outcropping of counter-cultural spirituality? No such words would come to mind. God help us.

Training Little Minds for Christ

Justin Taylor provides a helpful reading list for first through third graders: check it out here.

Sooner Than Saying Anything Outright Barbarous

Since in recent months I've heard or read a number of people urging the reading of George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language," I recently read it. And I'll likely read it again. I can't say I agree with everything it says, but it would do much good no doubt if heeded. You can follow the link above to read the whole of it. Here I only want to reproduce the six rules that Orwell gives for one to decide whether or not to used a word or phrase.

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Convinced Sinners Seeking Comfort and Acceptance

In the quotations that follow, John Owen speaks wisely to how we approach the doctrine of justification. He's talking about our posture before God in this matter. And in this section from his book on justification, he's inquiring into the cause or reason a person may be acquitted of sin and accepted with God. It spans a few pages, and I pull out and place here pieces of a common theme cropping up again and again in this section, which theme I think is almost entirely missing today in our posture in relation to this doctrine. And this is not a good thing, in case you're wondering.

Whether it be any thing in ourselves, as our faith and repentance, the renovation of our natures, inherent habits of grace, and actual works of righteousness which we have done, or may do? or whether it be the obedience, righteousness, satisfaction, and merit of the Son of God our mediator, and surety of the covenant, imputed unto us? One of these it must be—namely, something that is our own which, whatever may be the influence of the grace of God unto it, or causality of it, because wrought in and by us, is inherently our own in a proper sense; or something which, being not our own, not inherent in us, nor wrought by us, is yet imputed unto us, for the pardon of our sins and the acceptation of our persons as righteous, or the making of us righteous in the sight of God. Which of these it is the duty, wisdom, and safety of a convinced sinner to rely upon and trust unto, in his appearance before God, is the sum of our present inquiry. . . . 

. . . Neither are we in this matter much to regard the senses or arguings of men who were never thoroughly convinced of sin, nor have ever in their own person "fled for refuge unto the hope set before them."  

. . . It is alone the relief of those who are in themselves . . . guilty before, or obnoxious and liable to, the judgment of God, that we inquire after. . . . 

. . . But, beyond what tends directly unto the guidance of the minds and satisfaction of the souls of men, who seek after a stable and abiding foundation of acceptance with God, we are not easily to be drawn . . . 

. . . That which alone we aim (or ought so to do) to learn in it and by it, is how we may get and maintain peace with God, and so to live unto him as to be accepted with him in what we do. To satisfy the minds and consciences of men in these things is this doctrine to be taught.

As I said, this feel is almost entirely missing in the present wranglings about justification. And it's a sign, if Scripture is to be the judge (and it is), that we're culpably overlooking what our posture must be as we approach God in this matter. Are we convinced sinners seeking relief? Or are we detached scientists studying a specimen?

—The Doctrine of Justification by Faith (vol. 5; Works, Banner of Truth), 8-10.

The Living Hope of New Testament Spirituality

In a chapter titled "Richard Baxter on Heaven, Hope, and Holiness," J. I. Packer expresses three convictions:

The first is that rejoicing in the "living hope" of "an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power"; and "set[ting] your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Pet. 1:4-5,13) are integral elements in New Testament spirituality. And I see New Testament spirituality as the norm for all subsequent Christian belief. 

My second conviction is that a good deal of what is involved in being "alive to God" in this or in any age depends directly on having this "living hope" vivid in one's heart. I think here of the qualities of zeal, enterprise, energy, and persistence in well-doing for God; of loving, adoring worship as a daily habit; of meekness, sweetness, and selflessness under pain and disappointment; of a sense of proportion, a due appreciation of pleasure, and a realism about death.  

My third conviction is that we Western Christians, by and large, . . . are to our shame a sluggish, earthbound lot compared with our Puritan predecessors, and that lack of long, strong thinking about our promised hope of glory is a major cause of our plodding, lacklustre lifestyle. 

—J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 263-264.

Our Future-Oriented Salvation

Commenting on the salvation language of Rom. 5:9 in particular and Paul's writings generally, Doug Moo says:

This future-oriented use of σῴζω is quite usual in Paul. For while he sometimes uses the verb to denote the deliverance from the penalty of sin that comes at conversion (e.g., Rom. 8:24; Eph. 2:5, 8), he more often used the word (and its cognates; cf. Rom. 13:11) to depict the final deliverance of the Christian from the power of sin, the evils of this life, and, especially, judgment (e.g., 1 Cor. 3:15; 5:5; Phil. 2:12). Paul pictures the Christian as having been saved, as looking forward to being saved, and even as in the process of being saved (cf. 2 Cor. 2:15; 2 Thess. 2:10).

 —The Epistle to the Romans, pp. 310-311.

Preaching as a Dying Man to Dying Men

From Baxter's Poetical Fragments:

               A life still near to Death, did me possess
               With a deep sense of Time's great preciousness;

so that

               I Preach'd, as never sure to Preach again,
               And as a dying man to dying men.

—Culled from J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 266.

O Lord, Give More Light and Joy in Your Spirit

A Lutheran prayer for a right understanding:

Lord God, dear Father, through your Holy Spirit you have taught and enlightened the hearts of your believers. Through the same Spirit give us a right understanding, to be glad at all times in his comfort and power, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 66.

The Best Doctrine

"That is the best doctrine and study which maketh men better and tendeth to make them happy."

—Richard Baxter, culled from J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 29.

Thanatopsis

To him who in the love of nature holds
Communion with here visible forms, she speaks
A various language; for his gayer hours
She has a voice of gladness, and a smile
And eloquence of beauty, and she glides
Into his darker musings, with a mild
And gentle sympathy, that steals away
Their sharpness, ere he is aware. When thoughts
Of the last bitter hour come like a blight
Over thy spirit, and sad images
Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall,
And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,
Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart,—
Go forth, under the open sky, and list
To Nature's teachings, while from all around—
Earth and her waters, and the depths of air,—
Comes a still voice—Yet a few days, and thee
The all-beholding sun shall see no more
In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground,
Where thy pale form was laid, with many tears,
Nor in the embrace of ocean shall exist
Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim
Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again;
And, lost each human trace, surrendering up
Thine individual being, shalt thou go
To mix forever with the elements,
To be a brother to the insensible rock
And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain
Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak 
Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould.
Yet not to thy eternal resting place
Shalt thou retire alone—nor couldst thou wish 
Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down
With patriarch of the infant world—with kings, 
The powerful of the earth—the wise, the good,
Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past,
All in one mighty sepulchre.—The hills
Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun,—the vales
Stretching in pensive quietness between;
The venerable woods—rivers that move
In majesty, and the complaining brooks
That make the meadows green; and poured round all,
Old ocean's gray and melancholy waste,—
Are but the solemn decorations all
Of the great tomb of man. The golden sun,
The planets, all the infinite host of heaven, 
Are shining on the sad abodes of death,
Through the still lapse of ages. All that tread 
The globe are but a handful to the tribes
That slumber in its bosom. — Take the wings
Of morning, and the Barcan desert pierce,
Or lose thyself in the continuous woods
Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound,
Save his own dashings —  yet — the dead are there,
And millions in those solitudes, since first
The flight of years began, have laid them down
In their last sleep — the dead reign there alone.
So shalt thou rest — and what if thou shalt fall
Unheeded by the living — and no friend
Take note of thy departure? All that breathe
Will share thy destiny. The gay will laugh
When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care
Plod on, and each one as before will chase
His favorite phantom; yet all these shall leave
Their mirth and their employments, and shall come,
And make their bed with thee. As the long train
Of ages glides away, the sons of men — 
The youth in life's green spring, and he who goes
In the full strength of years, matron, and maid,
And the sweet babe, and the gray-headed man, — 
Shall one by one be gathered to thy side,
By those, who in their turn, shall follow them.
So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan, that moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

—William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878)

Frequent and Ardent

"A good prayer should not be lengthy or drawn out, but frequent and ardent" (Luther, vol. 43, Works, 209).

A Total View of Christianity

Packer on the essence of Puritanism:

Puritanism . . . was a total view of Christianity, Bible-based, church-centered, God-honouring, literate, orthodox, pastoral, and Reformational, that saw personal, domestic, professional, political, churchly, and economic existence as aspects of a single whole, and that called on everybody to order every department and every relationship of their life according to the Word of God, so that all would be sanctified and become "holiness to the Lord."  

Puritanism's spearhead activity was pastoral evangelism and nurture through preaching, catechizing, and counselling (which Puritans themselves called casuistry), and Puritan teaching harped constantly on the themes of self-knowledge, self-humbling, and repentance; faith in, and love for, Jesus Christ the Saviour; the necessity of regeneration, and of sanctification (holy living, by God's power) as proof of it; the need for conscientious conformity to all God's law, and for a disciplined use of the means of grace; and the blessedness of the assurance and joy from the Holy Spirit that all faithful believers under ordinary circumstances may know. Puritans saw themselves as God's pilgrims, travelling home; God's warriors, battling against the world, the flesh, and the devil; and God's servants, under orders to do all the good they could as they went along.

—J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 24-25

Ask Whatever You Wish?

What Jesus holds out to his disciples in Jn.15:7 simply staggers the mind: "Ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." Whatever I wish? Really? Come on. How can that be?

Now I do not in the least desire to downplay the sweep of Jesus' promise here in John 15. However, if you have ever wondered how this texts works in real life, only to find yourself more than a little puzzled and perplexed, ponder first long and hard (before throwing up your hands in defeat because the Bible is too hard to get) the flow of thought that starts in v. 1.

The subject of vv. 1-7 is bearing fruit by abiding in Jesus, and Jesus' words abiding in us. "Bearing fruit" language occurs five times in the first five verses. And then following Jesus mind-bending word in v. 7, we read: " By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples" (v. 8). The "by this" of v. 8 shows us the topic and scope of "whatever you wish" and "it will be done for you." Jesus' wants fruit bearing in his disciples, fruit bearing that brings glory to the Father. And as the following verses reveal (vv. 9-17), the pre-eminent and all-embracing fruit is love (see also Jn. 13:34-35).

So abide in Jesus. Let his word abide in you. Ask for whatever fruit you want. Any fruit whatever. Let every request be one flowing from and aiming at love. It will be given to you and prove you are Jesus' disciples. By this God the Father is glorified—"the chief end of man"—showing no narrowly self-serving requests fit into the mind-bending sweep of Jn. 15:7.

Stolen Gain Goes Down the Drain

Luther's instruction to his barber on how think about the eighth commandment (Luther was instructing him how to pray through it):

I can learn here that I must not take property belonging to my neighbors from them or posses it against their will, either in secret or openly. I must not be false or dishonest in business, service, or work, nor profit by fraud, but must support myself by the sweat of my brow and eat my bread in honor. Furthermore, I must see to it that in any of the above-named ways my neighbors are not defrauded, just as I wish for myself. I also learn in this commandment that God, in his fatherly solicitude, sets a protective hedge around my goods and solemnly prohibits anyone to steal from me. Where that is ignored, he has imposed a penalty and those in authority are ordered to punish the disobedient. Where that cannot be done, God himself metes out punishment and they become beggars in the end. As the proverb says, "Those who steal in their youth go begging in old age," or, "Stolen gain goes down the drain."

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 58.

Seifrid on Pistis Iēsou Christou

How the term pistis Iēsou Christou (πίστις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ) in Rom. 3:22 (and elsewhere) should be interpreted has been a matter of intense scholarly dispute. For my part, I lean heavily toward the traditional interpretation, taking it as an objective genitive: "faith in Jesus Christ." But I don't want to give my reasons here. I want to post Mark Seifrid's view, which I find intriguing (though I'm not convinced yet). Most interpreters take pistis Iēsou Christou as either a subjective or objective genitive. Not so Seifrid. 

Providing examples from Josephus, Philo, Ignatius, and Acts, Seifrid argues that neither the objective nor subjective options should be embraced, because they both presuppose a purely verbal noun. Rather, Paul speaks of Christ as source and author of faith, so that “to believe in Jesus Christ is not first to act, but rather to be acted upon by God in his work in Jesus Christ.”

 —Seifrid, Mark A., “The Faith of Christ,” in The Faith of Jesus Christ: Exegetical, Biblical, and Theological Studies (eds. Michael F. Bird and Preston M. Sprinkle; Peabody: Hendrickson and Paternoster, 2009), 129-146.

Justification and Union with Christ

In thinking through Paul's articulation of justification in Romans (e.g., Rom. 3:21-22), it is vital to see that Paul sees "a righteousness from God" given as a gift for those who are united with him by faith coming in consequence of Jesus’ obedience, death, and resurrection (e.g., 3:24-25; 4:24-25; 5:9, 12-21). In union with Christ, Paul's most fundamental soteriological category, the sinner is seen as righteous.

It is also vital to see that although faith is stressed at length in 3:27ff, it is not seen as a work. It looks to God and his grace in the crucified and risen Christ (e.g., 3:22, 24; 4:5, 4:24). In fact, faith itself is seen as God’s doing (note the passive verb in the Greek in 4:20). Faith alone accords with grace (4:16), because its nature is to look away to what God, not man, has done and freely gives.

Justification and Church Membership

“Justification not only refers to the forgiveness of sins and acquittal of believers, but it also establishes the believer’s membership in the people of God" (Bird, The Saving Righteousness of God, 152).

More Special Helps Against Satan's Devices

In the last post, I gave the first five of "ten special helps and rules against Satan's devices,"  taken from Thomas Brooks' Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices (Banner of Truth, p. 243ff). Now here are the last five (again, the italics are the author's, followed by two or three sentences of my choosing from each point that seem to communicate well each help):

6. The sixth help. If you would not be taken in any of Satan's snares, then keep humble. Humility keeps the soul free from many darts of Satan's casting, and snares of his spreading. . . . The devil hath least power to fasten a temptation on him that is most humble.

7. The seventh help. If you would not be taken in any of Satan's snares, then keep a strong, close, and constant watch (1 Thess. 5:6; cf. Matt. 26:41; Col. 4:2: 1 Pet. 4:7). That soul that will not watch against temptations, will certainly fall before the power of temptations. . . .The best way to be safe and secure from all Satan's assaults is, with Nehemiah and the Jews, to watch and pray, and pray and watch. . . . Watchfulness includes a waking, a rousing up of the soul. It is a continual, careful observing of our hearts and ways, in all the turnings of our lives, that we still keep close to God and his Word.

8. The eighth help. If you would not be taken with any of Satan's snares and devices, then keep up your communion with God. Your strength to stand and withstand Satan's fiery darts is from your communion with God. A soul high in communion with God may be tempted, but will not easily be conquered. Such a soul will fight it out to the death.

9. The ninth help. If you would not be taken in any of Satan's snares, then engage not against Satan in your own strength, but be every day drawing new virtue and strength from the Lord Jesus. Ah, souls! when the snare is spread, look up to Jesus Christ, who is lifted up in the gospel, as the brazen serpent was in the wilderness [Jn. 3:14-15], and say to him, Dear Lord! here is a new snare laid to catch my soul, and grace formerly received, without fresh supplies from thy blessed bosom, will not deliver me from this snare. Oh! give me new strength , new power, new influences, new measures of grace, that so I may escape the snares.

10. The tenth help. If you would not be taken in any of Satan's snares, then be much in prayer. Prayer is a shelter to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge to the devil. . . . Prayer is the gate of heaven, a key to let us into paradise. There is nothing that renders plots fruitless like prayer; therefore saith Christ; "Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation" (Matt. 26:41). You must watch and pray, and pray and watch, if you would not enter into temptation.

Brooks has a footnote with this tenth help, which says: "It was said of Charles the Great that he spake more with God than with men. Ah! that I could say so of the Christians in our days." And my response: Oh that we could say so of ourselves in these days!

So I end now these two posts on "Special Helps Against Satan's Devices" with this longing and prayer:

O God in heaven, Lord and Lover of the Church's soul, keep us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Waken us to speak more with you than we speak with people. Forgive us for neglecting Jesus' instruction to "watch and pray." We've been so often so easily seduced by Satan's devices. But you've not left us ignorant without instruction. And you've not left us without a great Savior. So pardon our sins, empower our lives, and give us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ —all for your great honor and glory. Amen.

Special Helps Against Satan's Devices

In the conclusion of his book Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices, Thomas Brooks sets forth "ten special helps and rules against Satan's devices" (Banner of Truth, p. 243ff). In this post I'll give the first five, and in the next the last five (the italics are his, followed by two or threes sentences of my choosing from each point that seem to communicate well each help):

1. The first help. If you would not be taken by any of Satan's devices, then walk by rule. When men throw off the Word, then God throws off them, and then Satan takes them by the hand, and leads them into snares at his pleasure.

2. The second help. As you would not be taken with any of Satan's devices, take heed of vexing and grieving of the Holy Spirit of God. Whoever be grieved, be sure the Spirit be not grieved by your enormities, nor by refusing the cordials and comforts that he sets before you, nor by slighting and despising his gracious acting in others. . . . The Spirit of the Lord is your counsellor, your comforter, your upholder, your strengthener.

3. The third help. If you would not be taken with any of Satan's devices, then labour for more heavenly wisdom. There are many knowing souls, but there are but a few wise souls. . . . It is not the most knowing Christian, but the most wise Christian, that sees, avoids, and escapes Satan's snares.

4. The fourth help. If you would not be taken with any of Satan's devices, then make present resistance against Satan's first motions. It is safe to resist, it is dangerous to dispute. . . . He that will play with Satan's bait, will quickly be taken with Satan's hook. The promise of conquest made over to resisting, not to disputing: "Resist the devil, and he will fly from you" (Jas. 4:7).

5. The fifth help. If you would not be taken with any of Satan's devices, then labour to be filled with the Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord is a Spirit of light and power; and what can a soul do without light and power "against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph. 6:12). It is not enough that you have the Spirit, but you must be filled with the Spirit, or else Satan, that evil spirit will be too hard for you. . . . Therefore labor more to have your hearts filled with the Spirit than to have your heads filled with notions, your shops with wares, your chests with silver, or your bags with gold. . . .

If You Will Keep My Covenant

The way covenants function in the Scriptures is what I consider a problem area for interpretation and theologizing. I suppose it may have something to do with the noncovenantal thinking of the evangelicalism in which I've been reared. But I think it also has to do with the way the whole Bible hangs together, which is a very complex matter.

Exodus 19:5 is an example of this. Which covenant is in view? Here's what William Dumbrell says, which seems right-minded to me: 

The covenant in mind may be prospective and have Exodus 20 in view. In the OT, however, references to keeping a divine covenant are consistently to a covenant already in existence (Gen. 17:9-10; 1 Kgs. 11:11; Ps. 78:10; 103:18; 132:12; Ezek. 17:14). It is possible that Exodus 19:5 points back to 6:5 and 3:13-15 and that continuity with the patriarchal covenant is involved, especially in light of the patriarchal style of address with which Yahweh begins verse 3. Involved in the Sinai arrangement that follows is continuity within the Abrahamic covenant but, for Israel, a specialized responsibility within the covenant. 

 —The Faith of Israel: A Theological Survey of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002), 37.

Father Hunger

Doug Wilson began a series called "Father Hunger" about a month ago. You can find the first in this series here. The series is proving thus far to be very instructive, and I would encourage fathers to give it a listen. Wilson is surely right in seeing "father hunger" as one of the great problems of our times.

MLJ Trust Major Announcement

Here is some really good news: Lloyd-Jones' preaching is now free for the world. God is good. And I am glad, and deeply grateful.

Ambling Along Complacently, Acting Like Rogues

Luther's counsel for praying through the sixth commandment:

"You shall not kill." Here I learn, first of all, that God desires me to love my neighbors, so that I do them no bodily harm, either by word or action, neither injure nor take revenge upon them in anger, vexation, envy, hatred, or for any evil reason, but realize that I am obliged to assist and counsel them in every bodily need. In this commandment God commands me to protect my neighbor's body and in turn commands my neighbor to protect my own. 

Second, I give thanks for such ineffable love, providence, and faithfulness toward me by which he has placed this mighty shield and wall to protect my physical safety. All are obliged to care for me and protect me, and I, in turn, must behave likewise toward others. He upholds this command and, where it is not observed, he has established the sword as punishment for those who do not live up to it. Were it not for this excellent commandment and ordinance, the devil would instigate such a massacre among us that no one could live in safety for a single hour—as happens when God becomes angry and inflicts punishment upon a disobedient and ungrateful world. 

Third, I confess and lament my own wickedness and that of the world, not only that we are so terribly ungrateful for such fatherly love and solicitude toward us—but what is especially scandalous, that we do not acknowledge this commandment and teaching, are unwilling to learn it, and neglect it as though it did not concern us or we had no part in it. We amble along complacently, feel no remorse that in defiance of this commandment we neglect our neighbors, and, yes, we desert them, persecute, injure, or even kill them in our thoughts. We indulge in anger, rage, and villainy as though we were doing a fine and noble thing. Really, it is high time that we started to deplore and bewail how much we have acted like rogues and like unseeing, unruly, and unfeeling persons who kick, scratch, tear, and devour one another like furious beasts and pay no heed to this serious and divine command.

Fourth, I pray the dear Father to lead us to an understanding  of this his sacred commandment and to help us keep it and live in accordance with it. May he preserve us from the murderer who is the master of every form of murder and violence. May he grant us his grace that we and all others may treat each other in kindly, gentle, and charitable ways, forgiving one another from the heart, bearing each other's faults and shortcomings, and thus living together  in true peace and concord, as the commandment teaches and requires us to do. 

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 55-56.

Nothing but a Pigsty and School for Rascals

A bit of Lutheran instruction on prayer for parents:

If you are a father or mother, you should . . . remember your children and the workers in your household. Pray earnestly to the dear Father, who has set you in an office of honor in his name and intends that you be honored by the name "father." Ask that he grant you grace and blessing to look after and support your wife, children, and servants in a godly and Christian manner. May he give you wisdom and strength to guide and train them well in heart and will to follow your instruction with obedience. Both are God's gifts, your children and the way they flourish, that they turn out well and that they remain so. Otherwise the home is nothing but a pigsty and school for rascals, as one can see among the uncouth and godless. 

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 55.

Hosea 1:1-11 (LXX) and The Message of Hosea

Here is my rendering of the LXX of Hos. 1:1-11 from Septuaginta: Vetus Testamentum Graecum (vol. XIII, Joseph Ziegler, ed.; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1984) followed by my outline of Hos. 1:1-11 (LXX; 1:1-2:2, MT) and my summary of Hosea's message in the context of the book. The LXX here seems to be quite close the the Vorlage of the MT.

Translation

¹ The word of the Lord that came to Hosea the son of Beeri in the days of Uzziah and Jotham and Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

² The beginning of the word of the Lord in Hosea: And the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a promiscuous woman and children of promiscuity, for the land will commit flagrant whoredom from following the Lord.”

³ And so he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore to him a son.

⁴ And the Lord said to him, “Call his name 'Jezreel,' for yet a little while and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu and turn away the kingdom of the house of Israel.”

⁵ And it shall be in that day, I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

⁶ And she conceived again and bore a daughter. And she said to him, “Call her name ‘No Mercy,’ for I will by no means continue to have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will surely oppose them.

⁷ But I will have mercy on the sons of Judah and deliver them by the Lord their God, and I will not deliver them by bow or sword, nor by war or chariots, nor by horses or horsemen.

⁸ And she weaned No Mercy and conceived again and bore a son.

⁹ And he said, “Call his name ‘Not My People,’ for you are not my people, and I am not your ‘I AM.’”

¹⁰ And the number of the sons of Israel was as the sand of the sea, which shall not be measured or numbered. And yet it will be in the place where it was said to them “You are not my people,” they shall also be called—“sons of the living God!”

¹¹ And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together at the same place, and they shall appoint for themselves one ruler, and will go up from the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.

Outline
I. Superscription (1:1)
II. The Beginning of the word of the Lord in Hosea (1:2-9)
 A. Hosea ordered to take to himself a whore and children of whoredom (1:2-3)
 B. First child: Call his name “Jezreel” (1:4-5)

 C. Second child: Call her name “No Mercy” (1:6-7)
 D. Third child: Call his name “Not My People” (1:8-9)
III. “Not My People”: “Sons of the Living God” who appoint one ruler (1:10-11)

One of the Most Urgent Needs Today

"One of the most urgently needed things today is a careful treatment of how the gospel, biblically and richly understood, ought to shape everything we do in the local church, all of our ethics, all of our priorities."

— D. A. Carson, "What is the Gospel?—Revisited, " in For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper (ed. Sam Storms and Justin Taylor; Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 165.

Doing Theology Today

With great wisdom and insight, John Frame speaks to the state of affairs in doing theology today:

I think theology today has become preoccupied by these auxiliary disciplines to the extent of neglecting its primary responsibility: to apply Scripture itself. Theological literature today is focused, especially, on history of doctrine and contemporary thought. Often this literature deals with theological questions by comparing various thinkers from the past and from the present, with a very minimal interaction with Scripture itself.

Then, in a footnote, Frame speaks of his conviction:

This problem is partly the result of our present system for training theologians. To qualify for college or seminary positions, a theologian must earn a PhD, ideally from a prestigious liberal university. But at such schools, there is no training in the kind of systematic theology I describe here. Liberal university theologians do not view Scripture as God's Word, and so they cannot encourage theology as I have defined it, as the application of God's infallible Word. Students are welcome to study historical and contemporary theology, and to relate these to auxiliary disciplines such as philosophy and literary criticism. But they are not taught to seek ways of applying Scripture for the edification of God's people. Rather, professors encourage the student to be "up-to-date" with the current academic discussion and to make "original contributions" to that discussion, out of his autonomous reasoning. So when the theologian finishes his graduate work and moves to a teaching position, even if he is personally evangelical in his convictions, he often writes and teaches as he was encouraged to do in graduate school: academic comparisons and contrasts, minimal interaction with Scripture. In my judgment, this is entirely inadequate for the needs of the church. It is one source of the doctrinal declension of evangelical churches, colleges, and seminaries in our day. Evangelical denominations and schools need to seek new methods of training people to teach theology, educational models that will force  theologian candidates to mine Scripture for edifying content. To do this, they may need to cut themselves off, in some degree, from the present-day academic establishment. And to do that, they may have to cut themselves off from the present-day accreditation system. 

—The Doctrine of the Word of God (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2010), 278. 

The Goal of the Law is Christ for Righteousness

Here's my translation of Rom. 10:4: "For the goal of the law is Christ for righteousness to everyone who is believing."

And here's Calvin unpacking of this text (simply marvelous!):

. . . those who seek to be justified by their own works are false interpreters of the law, because the law has been given to lead us by the hand to another righteousness. Indeed, every doctrine of the law, every command, every promise, always points to Christ. We are, therefore, to apply all its parts to Him. . . .

Thus the righteousness of faith (as we saw in the first chapter) is witnessed to by the law. This remarkable passage declares that the law in all its parts has reference to Christ, and therefore no one will be able to understand it correctly who does not constantly strive to attain this mark.

 —The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Romans and Thessalonians (Grand Rapids: Paternoster, 1960), 221-222.

I confess that this is my life, my joy, my salvation, my all!

Saved, Being Saved, and Will Be Saved

Martyn Lloyd-Jones on God's salvation in Rom. 1:16:

Let us never use the term "salvation" glibly, or lightly, or loosely. Let us never stop at just saying, "I am saved," or "I have been saved"; let us put equal emphasis on the fact that we are being saved. . . .  

. . . let us, therefore, use the term carefully. Thank God, in Christ we can say we have been saved; but we say it as realizing what we mean. We also mean that we are still being saved. We also mean that we shall not be finally saved in this life, in this present world; that our glorification, which is an essential part of salvation, is beyond this world, and beyond this life. It is coming. It is certain. But not yet. We have been saved. We are being saved. We shall be fully and finally and entirely saved. Salvation—great salvation! God's salvation!

—Romans: An Exposition of Chapter 1, The Gospel of God (The Banner of Truth Trust: Edinburgh, 1985), 279-280.

Give Me the Book of God!

"O give me that book! At any price give me the book of God! I have it: here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be a man of one book."—John Wesley

The Halls of Higher Critical Doubt

Scholars often refuse to do theological synthesis or interpretive borrowing among different authors of the sacred text. So in the academic guild (I almost said guild of unbelief), Paul's thought world and vocabulary are so distinct from, say, John's (or Moses's, for that matter), it's regarded as hermeneutically unacceptable to ever use John to help understand Paul or to see John as saying similar things to Paul. (Lest I be misunderstood, I realize the benefit of using each author's corpus to try to understand each author's intention and thinking. After all, the Bible was written by humans. It is a very human book. I acknowledge that.)

However, when evangelicals give way to the academy's way of handling the Word, we betray that we don't really think there is one mind behind it all. We don't acknowledge that Author. We say we believe all Scripture is from God; but in practice we act otherwise. I want to see evangelical Bible scholars and pastors who are convinced that the Bible is every bit as much God's mind as it is the mind of human agents, who expect it to bear resemblances to human writing but also expect it to differ as well— since it is the mind of a supremely, infinitely wise God, whose mind thinks coherently and connectedly (and no doubt very creatively), who does not speak out of both sides of his mouth.

In other words, evangelicals shouldn't play by the rules of unbelieving academicians, and should do the hard brain work of theological synthesis. Anything else is laziness and unbelief. So evangelical preaching and teaching should not sound like a commentary coming out of the learned halls of higher critical doubt.

Think, for instance, of Calvin, who wrote full-scale commentaries on more books of the Bible than anyone today. And he didn't seal off the rest of Scripture when he was interpreting, say, Paul. And this Bible scholar, doing the hard brain work of theological synthesis, gave us the Institutes, perhaps the most brilliant piece of biblical scholarship ever penned.

Boundary Markers or Neither Good nor Bad Works?

How one should interpret the word "works" (Gk., ergon) when Paul speaks of our not being justified by works, or elected by works, depends on the context (as interpretation of any word always depends on context). And at least in some instances, the law of Moses is definitely not in view and so "works" cannot be restricted to, or mean anything like, "boundary markers," that is, sabbath, circumcision, and food laws; or faithfulness to the Mosaic law (as in the writings of James D. G. Dunn; see, for an example of the latter, his commentary on Rom. 9:11).

The reason for this, in some texts anyway, is that the "works" in view occur before the law was given. See, for example, Rom. 4:1-4; 9:11. Abraham did not have the Mosaic law, nor did Jacob and Esau (although Jacob and Esau would have had circumcision). So "works" in such contexts must have a broader meaning like "anything one does to try to earn or merit something" (as in Rom. 4:1-4) or "anything good or bad whatever, morally speaking" (as in Rom. 9:11).

The Human Heart: A Very Busy Place

Ed Welch on medication use vis-á-vis the whole person:

If your view of persons is that we are essentially bodies and nothing more, then medication is the foremost means of change. But if you believe that the human heart is a very busy place of allegiances, dashed hopes, exaggerated desires, profound hurts and all kinds of contradictory motivations, then your attention will be drawn to where the action is. You still have a keen interest in the body and in alleviating physical suffering whenever possible, but you also know that we can grow in contentment, hope and love even in the midst of physical ailments. Physical troubles rarely can keep us from growing in godliness. The more you are drawn to the complexities of human experience, the less you will be drawn to the importance of psychiatric medications.

You may find the post from which this slice came over here.

Good News: To Be Announced, Heralded, Proclaimed

D. A. Carson on the "gospel" and "preaching" vocabulary in the Scriptures:

Because the gospel is news, good news (even if some will hear it as bad news), it is to be announced: that's what one does with news. The essentially heraldic element in preaching is bound up with the fact that the core message is not a code of ethics to be debated, still less a list of aphorisms to be admired and pondered, and certainly not a systematic theology to be outlined and schematized. Though it properly grounds ethics, aphorisms, and systematics, it is none of these three: it is news, good news, and therefore must be publicly announced. . . . The gospel is primarily displayed in heraldic proclamation: the gospel is announced, proclaimed, preached, precisely because it is God's spectacular news.

—"What is the Gospel?—Revisited, " in For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper (ed. Sam Storms and Justin Taylor; Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 158.

Dependent, Desperate Preaching

John Piper on the preacher's dependence on the Holy Spirit in the work of preaching:

All genuine preaching is rooted in a feeling of desperation. You wake up on Sunday morning and you can smell the smoke of hell on one side and feel the crisp breezes of heaven on the other. You go to your study and look down at your pitiful manuscript, and you kneel down and cry, "O God, this is so weak! Who do I think I am? What audacity to think that in three hours my words will be the odor of death to death and the fragrance of life to life (2 Cor. 2:16). My God, who is sufficient for these things?"

—The Supremacy of God in Preaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990), 41-42.

O Lord, Forgive Lazy, Listless Listening on the Lord's Day

A Lutheran prayer of confession for laziness in listening to God's Word on the Lord's Day:

I confess and acknowledge great sin and wicked ingratitude on my part because all my life I have made disgraceful use of the sabbath and have thereby despised his precious and dear word in a wretched way. I have been too lazy, listless, and uninterested to listen to it, let alone to have desired it sincerely or to have been grateful for it. I have let my dear God proclaim his word to me in vain, have dismissed the noble treasure, and have trampled it underfoot. He has tolerated this in his great and divine mercy and has not ceased in his fatherly, divine love and faithfulness to keep on preaching to me and calling me to the salvation of my soul. For this I repent and ask for grace and forgiveness. 

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 53.

A Sinner Pressed and Perplexed with a Sense of Guilt for Sin

What does the doctrine of justification primarily or fundamentally address? This question is important. If we answer that it addresses first and foremost the horizontal question of human relationships, the doctrine derails, the gospel aborts. But if we answer that it first and foremost addresses the vertical dimension of our existence, that is, our relationship with a holy and righteous God, the doctrine holds, the center stays. Then, and only then, certain horizontal entailments follow and function as they ought.

In volume 4 of his collected shorter writings, J. I. Packer says this:

The Augsburg Confession of 1531 states: "this whole doctrine [of justification] must be related to the conflict of an alarmed conscience, and without that conflict it cannot be grasped. So persons lacking this experience, and profane men, are bad judges of the matter." Calvin makes the same point in Institutio III.xii, a chapter on the theme that justification must be studied in the solemnising light of God's judgment seat (Honoring the People of God, 223). 

Packer then points out that "John Owen preserves this perspective when at the start of his classic treatise The Doctrine of Justification by Faith (1677) he writes":

The first inquiry . . . is after the proper relief of the conscience of a sinner pressed and perplexed with a sense of the guilt of sin. For justification is the way and means whereby such a person doth obtain acceptance before God, with a right and title unto a heavenly inheritance. And nothing is pleadable in this cause but what a man would speak unto his own conscience in that state, or unto the conscience of another, when he is anxious under that inquiry (The Doctrine of Justification by Faith, 7). 

So if in our formulation of the doctrine of justification we move too quickly to discussions of what justification has to say about man's relationship with fellow man, we step in the wrong direction. And this is what has happened with the so-called New Perspective on Paul (which is now old, by the way), valuable as some of its insights may be. It has a hard time addressing the distressed sinner (for that is not what it's for, they say, lambasting Luther for being so psychologically sensitive); its gospel lacks the potency and effect of the biblical gospel. Without adequately addressing the distressed conscience before a holy and just God, the doctrine falls flat and fails to liberate for love. And I believe it also makes a man-centered age even more man-centered. However, it works the other way too. It's no coincidence, to my mind, that a fundamentally horizontal understanding of justification has arisen in a period of history marked by profound man-centeredness. Sure, Luther had a context. But so do we.