tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22640767110509006362024-02-19T00:08:39.881-06:00Crumbs from the Master's TableCrumbs fallen from the table of the King—from his Word, his workmen, and his world.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1266125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-65453250567236022172021-01-20T09:00:00.010-06:002021-01-20T09:02:41.931-06:00Trusting in God<p><span style="font-size: medium;">"Trusting in God is to rely on his power as a Creator, and on his love as a Father" (Thomas Watson, <i>The Ten Commandments</i>, 52). </span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-44735077961799417302020-11-02T15:55:00.001-06:002020-11-02T15:56:24.965-06:00Focus on the Family?<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Commenting on Nehemiah's reforms, J. I. Packer :</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Thoughtful pastoral leaders, like Nehemiah, always focus on families and family life, for the family is the first and most basic form of human community. Family nurture, for better or for worse, goes deeper into children than any form of nurture from elsewhere, and the biblical ideal is that families should be the composite units out of which each church is built. Godliness is to be modeled in the family, and faith passed on there. Everywhere in today's Western world, and to some extent in urban communities everywhere on the face of the globe, family life is being weakened and undermined by pressure of various sorts, and this is likely to get worse. So the need to work as Nehemiah worked to keep family life strong, godly, and wholesome is great, and all who strategize and minister to spread God's kingdom today and tomorrow must make families and home life a matter of prime concern.</span></blockquote><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">—J. I. Packer</span>, <i>A Passion for Faithfulness</i>: <i>Wisdom from the Book of Nehemiah </i>(Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 1995), 194.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-88144268282894134622020-10-04T07:47:00.009-05:002020-10-05T10:29:15.821-05:00James for the Twenty-First-Century Church<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> In the final chapter of <i>A Theology of James</i>: <i>Wisdom for God's People</i>, Christopher Morgan draws out "four broader aspects of James's message that are particularly timely for today's church." He is speaking with particular reference to the "evangelical" church and, as you will see, to the Reformed wing of things at one particular point. And it seems to me that he was seeing things aright when he wrote in 2010. His word has not become less timely ten years hence. The chapter from which these applications come is titled "James for the Twenty-First-Century Church." Here are, in summary, those four aspects, with my brief comments added.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">First, we need to align with how "James views truth holistically. His holistic approach can serve as a helpful corrective to our contemporary false dichotomies or polarizations. Many evangelicals today have a tendency to separate such things as love for God and love for others, faith and works, evangelism and social ministry, and theology and practice. In contrast, James sees that these things function together."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Next, from "James we also learn that Christianity brings a reversal of values. Reflective of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, James notes this reversal in a number of areas. . . . Churches and church leaders have a tendency to reflect the society around them, but James presses us to think and act differently. After all, we are a part of a new society, the community of Jesus."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Third, Morgan points out the right emphasis of the importance of covenant theology among the Reformed, but he likewise brings in a right word of correction: "I fear that we do not sufficiently stress the importance of covenant faithfulness. The covenant <i>is </i>a helpful paradigm for understanding biblical theology, <i>but it also makes demands on us</i>. James continually presses the importance of our faithfulness to God."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Lastly, he stresses James' view of the church. And, in my judgment, this is one of those areas where we need the greatest reform. Evangelicals have not done well with thinking through a healthy ecclesiology; instead, we've often adopted the world's models and methods for running the church. But what we need to do in repentance, according to Morgan, is take care to think about "what the church actually <i>is</i>" from the book of James. The church, according to James, is "an eschatological covenant community that exists in the already and the not yet and thus displays . . . the arrival of the kingdom through its relationships to God, among its members, and to society."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;">Now if there is one thing the evangelical church doesn't do very well</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;">—</span><span style="font-family: times;">it is being distinct, you know, salt and light. She's lost her saltiness. At least here in America, she blends right in with her environs and tastes like everything else. James calls this "friendship with the world" and "enmity with God" (4:4). She's specialized in being so much like the world for decades now, and her impotence is on full display for those with eyes to see. But if she is going to recover the full-orbed gospel and bring kingdom norms to bear for the sake of potent witness to the kingdom of God, she is going to need to display how the city of God differs from the city of man. James, Morgan stresses, helps us a great deal here.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">—</span>Christopher Morgan, <i>A Theology of James</i>: <i>Wisdom for God's People </i>(Phillipsburg, New Jersey: R&R Publishing, 2010), 187-189.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-58763829621609497392020-07-26T08:04:00.000-05:002020-07-26T08:04:00.406-05:00The Bible Heard, Sung, Spoken, and Taught "In [corporate] worship, the congregation should <i>listen </i>to the word read, receiving it by ear. We can read with our eyes at home. We should <i>sing </i>the Scripture in Psalms and <i>speak</i> the Scriptures to one another in liturgical<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> dialogue</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: cambria; font-size: 17.6px;">—</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">rolling the word on our tongues. The pastor should teach the Bible</span><span style="background-color: white;">—the <i>Bible</i>, not a review of the week's news or an anecdote from his personal life. The sermon isn't an occasion for a theological lecture. But it should be substantial, as solid as the congregation can handle. Pastors should aspire to offer solid food rather than skim milk, oatmeal stout rather than Bud Light </span></span>(Leithart, <i>The Theopolitan Vision</i>, 30).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-25750814493689565932020-07-19T07:59:00.000-05:002020-07-19T08:03:44.672-05:00The Church's Gathering Under the Whole Counsel of God"The church's liturgy should be Bible-saturated. There should be readings from Scripture, generous readings, not a few snippets from a lectionary or a few lines as a sermon text. The readings shouldn't skip the difficult or embarrassing parts<span style="background-color: white; font-family: cambria; font-size: 17.6px;">—</span>the tent pegs through the brains, the details about the impurity of menstruation, the severe things Jesus and Paul have to say about first-century Jews" (Leithart, <i>The Theopolitan Vision</i>, 29–30).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-51583237757898767502020-07-10T03:30:00.000-05:002020-07-10T03:30:03.987-05:00Disparities in Outcome and Getting at the Cause(s)"The cause of a given outcome is an empirical question, whose answer requires untangling many complex factors, rather than simply pointing dramatically and indignantly to statistical disparities in outcomes, as so often happens in politics and in the media" (Sowell, <i>Discrimination and Disparities</i>, 33).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-11361208117542883342020-07-07T10:34:00.000-05:002020-07-07T10:37:18.978-05:00Righteous and Unrighteous Anger<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 17.6px;">Baxter:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 17.6px;">Anger is the rising up of the heart in passionate displacency against an apprehended evil, which would cross or hinder us of some desired good. It is given us by God for good, to stir us up to a vigorous resistance of those things, which, within us or without us, do oppose his glory or our salvation, or our own or our neighbor's real good.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 17.6px;">Anger is good when it is thus used to its appointed end, in a right manner and measure; but it is sinful, 1. When it riseth up against God or any good, as if it were evil to us. . . . 2. When it disturbs reason, and hindereth our judging of things aright. 3. When it casteth us into any unseemly carriage, or causeth or disposeth to any sinful words or action: when it inclineth us to wrong another by word or deed, and to do as we would not be done by. 4. When it is mistaken, and without just cause. 5. When it is greater in measure than the cause alloweth. 6. When it unfitteth us for our duty to God or man. 7. When it tendeth to the abatement of love and brotherly kindness, and the hindering of any good which we should do for others: much more when it breedeth malice, and revenge, and contentions, and unpeaceableness in societies, oppression of inferiors, or dishonouring of superiors. 8. When it stayeth too long, and ceaseth not when its lawful work is done. 9. When it is selfish and carnal, stirred up upon the account of some carnal interest, and used but as a means to a selfish, carnal, sinful end: as to be angry with men only for crossing your pride, or profit, or sports, or any other fleshly will. In all these it is sinful.</span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 17.6px;">—Richard Baxter, <i>A Christian Directory </i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 17.6px;">(vol. 1 in <i>The Practical Works of Richard Baxter</i>; Morgan, PA: Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 200), 284.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-5577940869792523772020-07-05T08:04:00.001-05:002020-07-05T08:04:31.808-05:00Dying for a Worldly Church"Tragically, many sectors of the church have become so worldly that they too are hostile to the demands of Jesus. If you call the church to repentance, be prepared for the assaults. Don't take up the task unless you're prepared to die" (Leithart, <i>The Theopolitan Vision</i>, xvi).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-7964097358795645002020-07-04T09:52:00.000-05:002020-07-04T09:52:15.054-05:00The Scope of True Religion"It may even come about that a man's most genuinely Christian actions fall entirely outside that part of his life which he calls <i>religious</i>" (C. S. Lewis, <i>Letters to Malcolm</i>: <i>Chiefly on Prayer</i>, 25).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-46018157272398776992020-05-23T04:44:00.000-05:002020-05-23T04:44:10.983-05:00The Preciousness of the PsalterSpeaking of his beloved Psalter, Luther says:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Here we find not only what one or two saints have done, but what he has done who is the very head of all saints. We also find what all the saints still do, such as the attitude they take toward God, toward friends and enemies, and they way the conduct themselves amid all dangers and sufferings. Beyond that there are contained here all sorts of divine and wholesome teachings and commandments. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Psalter ought to be a precious and beloved book, if for no other reason than this: it promises Christ's death and resurrection so clearly—and pictures his kingdom and the condition and nature of all Christendom—that it might well be called a little Bible. In it is comprehended most beautifully and briefly everything that is in the entire Bible. It is really a fine enchiridion or handbook. In fact, I have a notion that the Holy Spirit wanted to take the trouble himself to compile a short Bible and book of examples of all Christendom or all saints, so that anyone who could not read the whole Bible would here have anyway almost an entire summary of it, comprised in one little book.</blockquote>
—Martin Luther, "Preface to the Psalter," in <i>Luther's Works</i>: <i>Word and Sacrament I</i> (vol. 35; Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1960), 254.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-44256483576455855422020-05-22T04:16:00.000-05:002020-05-22T04:16:05.212-05:00Pure and Real Religion"Here indeed is pure and real religion: faith so joined with an earnest fear of God that this fear also embraces willing reverence, and carries with it such legitimate worship as is prescribed in the law. And we ought to note this fact even more diligently: all men have a vague general veneration for God, but very few really reverence him; and wherever there is great ostentation in ceremonies, sincerity of heart is rare indeed" (Calvin, <i>Institutes</i>, 1.2.2).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-67664665995876420012020-05-20T04:38:00.000-05:002020-05-20T10:59:53.137-05:00ReligionIn these uncongenial days in which we find ourselves, "religion" is routinely tarred and feathered and set on fire. I understand why, at least in some instances. Nevertheless, I don't think it need be. It is still useful to be able to speak of religion rightly construed. Especially if religion is defined, as it has been in the past, in a fine way.<br />
<br />
Louis Berkhof does well in his<i> Introductory Volume to Systematic Theology </i>(pushlished as <i>Systematic Theology</i>: <i>New Combined Edition</i>, Kindle, Location 2197). The following definition of "religion" is taken from the chapter titled "Religion," which chapter comes within a larger section called "Principia of Dogmatics":<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Religion consists in a real, living and conscious relationship between a man and his God, determined by the self-revelation of God, and expressing itself in a life of worship, fellowship, and service.</blockquote>
As I said, Berkhof does well. If we mean this when we speak of "religion," we shall also do well. And there shall be no need of lambasting religion rightly construed.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-30103252788164056212020-05-19T09:26:00.001-05:002020-05-20T10:58:11.853-05:00How Christians Press Forward in the Faith<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A couple months back now I published a post titled: "The Application of Redemption." That title comes from the fifth chapter in Thomas Watson's magnificent and best-known book: <i>A Body of Divinity</i>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In that fifth chapter, expounding the Westminster shorter catechism, Watson works through key catechetical elements in our redemption, instructing the flock on matters faith, effectual calling, justification, adoption, sanctification, assurance, peace, joy, growth in grace, and perseverance. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For this post I want to focus faith on what God's word says about perseverance in grace. (And I do indeed believe this is what God's word teaches, as I believe both Watson and Westminster offer us a faithful exposition of the doctrine.) To do so I'll quote a sizable section of the chapter from the Banner of Truth edition (<i>A Body of Divinity</i>, 280-281):</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>By what means do Christians come to persevere</i>?</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[1] By the help of ordinances, as of prayer, the word, and the sacraments. Christians do not arrive at perseverance when they sit still and do nothing. It is not with us as with passengers in a ship, who are carried to the end of their voyage while they sit still in the ship . . . but we arrive at salvation in the use of means; as a man comes to the end of a race by running, to a victory by fighting. "Watch and pray" (Matt. 26:41). As Paul said, "Except ye abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved" (Acts 27:31). Believers shall come to shore at last, arrive at heaven; but "except they abide in the ship," namely, in the use of ordinances, "they cannot be saved." The ordinances cherish grace; as they beget grace, so they are the breast milk by which it is nourished and preserved to eternity.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[2] By the sacred influence and concurrence of the Spirit. The Spirit of God is continually at work in the heart of a believer, to carry on grace to perfection. It drops in fresh oil, to keep the lamp of grace burning. The Spirit excites, strengthens, increases grace, and makes a Christian go from one step of faith to another, till he comes to the end of his faith, which is salvation (1 Pet. 1:9). It is a fine expression of the apostle, "The Holy Spirit which dwells in us" (2 Tim. 1:14). He who dwells in a house, keeps the house in repair; so the Spirit dwelling in a believer, keeps grace in repair. Grace is compared to a river of the water of life (John 7:38). This river can never be dried up, because God's Spirit is the spring that continually feeds it. </span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[3] Grace is carried on to perfection by Christ's daily intercession. As the Spirit is at work in the heart, so is Christ at work in heaven. Christ is ever praying that the saint's grace may hold out. "Father, keep those whom thou has given me." Keep them as the stars in their orbs: keep them as jewels, that they may not be lost. "Father keep them" (John 17:11). That prayer which Christ made for Peter, was the copy of the prayer he now makes for believers. "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not," (Luke 22:32) that it be not totally eclipsed. How can the children of such prayers perish?</span></blockquote>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-49382539027534020232020-05-05T05:35:00.000-05:002020-05-05T05:35:22.711-05:00Sacraments Seal the Knowledge of God"The sacrament is a sealing ordinance. Christ made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread; so, in the holy supper, in the breaking of bread God makes himself known to us, to be our God and portion" (Watson, <i>Body of Divinity</i>, 258).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-14010805260123931792020-05-01T17:50:00.000-05:002020-05-01T17:50:06.622-05:00How to Think about Rivals to Learning<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"There are always plenty of rivals to our work. We are always falling in love or quarrelling, looking for jobs or fearing to lose them, getting ill and recovering, following public affairs. If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work. The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavourable" (C. S. Lewis, "Learning in Wartime" in <i>Weight of Glory,</i> Kindle, 60). </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-76630958215602536002020-04-29T09:32:00.000-05:002020-04-29T09:32:15.077-05:00History as Foil to the Present"We need intimate knowledge of the past. Not that the past has any magic about it, but because we cannot study the future, and yet need something to set against the present, to remind us that the basic assumptions have been quite different in different periods and that much which seems certain to the uneducated is merely temporary fashion" (C. S. Lewis, "Learning in Wartime" in <i>Weight of Glory,</i> Kindle, 58–59).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-79405960884104013432020-04-28T08:45:00.000-05:002020-04-28T08:45:37.666-05:00Seeking God's Face, Finding His Ear"A Christian perhaps may think, because he does not see God's smiling face, God will not hear him. This is a mistake. 'I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications' (Psa. 31:22). If we pour out sighs to heaven, God will hear every groan; and though he does not show us his face, he will lend us his ear" (Watson, <i>Body of Divinity</i>, 257).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-17422290332369388982020-04-26T15:20:00.001-05:002020-04-26T17:34:54.028-05:00SubmissionBut that thou art my wisdome, Lord,<br />
And both mine eyes are thine,<br />
My minde would be extreamly stirr'd<br />
For missing my designe.<br />
<br />
Were it not better to bestow<br />
Some place and power on me?<br />
Then should thy praises with me grow,<br />
And share in my degree.<br />
<br />
But when I thus dispute and grieve,<br />
I do resume my sight,<br />
And pilfring what I once did give,<br />
Disseize thee of thy right.<br />
<br />
How know I, if thou shouldst me raise,<br />
That I should then raise thee?<br />
Perhaps great places and thy praise<br />
Do not so well agree.<br />
<br />
Wherefore unto my gift I stand,<br />
I will no more advise:<br />
Only do thou lend me a hand,<br />
Since thou has both mine eyes.<br />
<br />
—George Herbert, <i>The English Poems of George Herbert </i>(ed. Helen Wilcox; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 47.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-9770346200114921162020-04-24T14:36:00.000-05:002020-04-24T14:36:11.602-05:00The Love of God and the Love of Our Neighbor in God"All God's commandments, one of which is, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery,' and all those precepts which are not commandments but special counsels, one of which is, 'It is good for a man not to touch a woman,' are rightly carried out only when the motive principle of action is the love of God, and the love of our neighbor in God" (Augustine, <i>Enchiridion</i>, 139–140).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-70094514148699957582020-04-12T20:18:00.000-05:002020-04-12T20:18:08.180-05:00The Hand That Rocks The Cradle Is The Hand That Rules The World<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">BLESSINGS on the hand of women! <br /> Angels guard its strength and grace. <br /> In the palace, cottage, hovel, <br /> Oh, no matter where the place; <br /> Would that never storms assailed it, <br /> Rainbows ever gently curled, <br /> For the hand that rocks the cradle <br /> Is the hand that rules the world.<br /><br /> Infancy's the tender fountain, <br /> Power may with beauty flow, <br /> Mothers first to guide the streamlets, <br /> From them souls unresting grow— <br /> Grow on for the good or evil, <br /> Sunshine streamed or evil hurled, <br /> For the hand that rocks the cradle <br /> Is the hand that rules the world.<br /><br /> Woman, how divine your mission, <br /> Here upon our natal sod; <br /> Keep—oh, keep the young heart open <br /> Always to the breath of God! <br /> All true trophies of the ages <br /> Are from mother-love impearled, <br /> For the hand that rocks the cradle <br /> Is the hand that rules the world.<br /><br /> Blessings on the hand of women! <br /> Fathers, sons, and daughters cry, <br /> And the sacred song is mingled <br /> With the worship in the sky— <br /> Mingles where no tempest darkens, <br /> Rainbows evermore are hurled; </span><div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> For the hand that rocks the cradle <br /> Is the hand that rules the world.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
—William Ross Wallace (1819–1891)</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-73806375297254041732020-04-12T18:07:00.000-05:002020-04-12T18:07:15.604-05:00Dangerous Business Going OutdoorsThese days of Covid-19 we are prohibited from leaving our homes without sufficient warrant. A couple of texts come to mind. I shall not comment on how I think they relate to our present state of affairs (or whether they do at all!). I shall leave that up to the reader. For now, I simply note them and find the associations (and differing contexts and meanings) stimulating.<br />
<br />
Here are two famous texts to ponder.<br />
<br />
Bilbo used to say: "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door" (J. R. Tolkien, <i>The Lord of the Rings</i>, 74).<br />
<br />
And then there's Proverbs 26:13 (ESV): "There's a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!"Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-10364763026314497002020-04-03T07:00:00.002-05:002020-04-03T11:15:31.455-05:00Solid Logic Amid TrialsOne of the great needs during trials of various sorts that God sends us is to keep one's head and remain cool and calm. To put it another way, we need to remain poised in the Spirit. This needs to be done, of course, according to wisdom.<br />
<br />
So I offer up a spiritual syllogism of sorts during our crises surrounding our condition face-to-face with COVID-19. This condition includes our country's response to the virus (which may actually be far more damaging to life than the virus itself).<br />
<br />
Premise 1: Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.<br />
<br />
Premise 2: A brother is born for adversity.<br />
<br />
Conclusion: Brothers are born for this moment of man's trouble.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-91440504543969213222020-04-01T10:37:00.000-05:002020-04-01T10:37:00.182-05:00Wild Creatures "Though St. John the Evangelist saw many strange monsters in his vision, he saw no creatures so wild as one of his own commentators" (G. K. Chesterton, <i>Orthodoxy</i>).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-55181129927252176772020-03-11T12:39:00.002-05:002020-03-11T12:46:07.264-05:00Baptism into Christ's BodyI just started to read Robert Letham's <i>Systematic Theology</i>, published by Crossway in 2019. And it just might become my go-to one-volume systematic theology along with Louis Berkhof's. So far, it is riveting. (Never thought I'd say this about a contemporary systematics text!) I will probably post a bit more on it as I get into its contents more deeply, but for now I simply want to cite a portion on baptism.<br />
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As I began to read the section on baptism (in preparation for our daughter Zoe's baptism this upcoming weekend), I thought to myself, and blurted out to my wife: "This is my view! This is what the New Testament actually teaches!" It's rooted in the Bible's fairly straightforward teaching instead of our modern systems on these things, where baptism tends to get detached from its biblical, ecclesial, and salvific contexts. Letham does well in holding things together that few Christians (North American, at least) seem to be able to hold together.<br />
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Note that the discussion of baptism in Letham's volume comes after justification, not in a detached section on ecclesiology, but in a chapter entitled "The Beginning of the Christian Life," which is itself part of a larger section on "The Spirit of God and the People of God." Here's a salutary sample, and a good simple word on baptism:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It is appropriate to bring baptism into the equation at this point [after a discussion on justification]. The New Testament presents baptism as one of the points of entry into salvation, together with repentance, faith, and the reception of the Holy Spirit; these all feature in the evangelistic sermons in Acts. Throughout the New Testament Epistles there are allusions to baptism in this connection. Moreover, Rome makes baptism the instrumental cause of justification; while this has had unfortunate consequences, it alerts us to the need to provide some coherent answer. We saw in the previous chapter the close connections between regeneration, union with Christ, and baptism, <i>connections often missed in evangelical and much recent Reformed thought </i>[italics mine]. The Western world has been prone to thinking in analytical categories, breaking realities down into component parts, with distinctions to the forefront rather than connections. There is need to repair this imbalance in our present context. . . . </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Baptism is essential to the church's ministry. Jesus instituted it and required it as primary (Matt. 28:18–20). The way the church is to make the nations disciples is first by baptizing them. This occurred at Pentecost only a few days later (Acts 2:37–41). There, Peter linked baptism to the gift of the Spirit and cleansing from sin (1 Pet. 3:21). Paul also connects baptism with cleansing from sin (Acts 22:16) and elsewhere mentions baptism in the same breath as membership of the body of Christ and the gift of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). It is the entry point into the church and so marks, in its way, the entrance into salvation. </blockquote>
—Robert Letham, <i>Systematic Theology </i>(Wheaton: Crossway, 2019), 705–706.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2264076711050900636.post-8574950262765604592020-03-10T22:20:00.003-05:002020-03-10T22:20:40.176-05:00Christian Education's Impotence"Christian education is no more capable of transforming men than is humanistic education" (Wilson, <i>Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning</i>, 76).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0