Wild 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, Orthodoxy).

The Gospel of John and Resurrection Joy

I recently finished reading through yet again the Gospel according to John, for something like the thirtieth time since I came first to know the Lord. And what strikes me most this time is how the passion and resurrection narrative of John—if you enter into it and feel what the disciples must have first felt—obviously intends to produce gladness and freedom and relief and amazement.

The Gospel at its heart is full of joy and peace and liberty and wonder! So come on in. Take up and read. And enjoy the joy of the Lord! Freedom—at last! Peace—like no other! Happiness—guaranteed! Life indeed—forevermore! The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!

The Word Made Flesh: God's Self-Revelation

D. A. Carson:

The emphasis of the Prologue, then, is on the revelation of the Word as the ultimate disclosure of God himself. That theme is dramatically reinforced by the remarkable parallels between v. 1 and v. 18, constituting an inclusio, a kind of literary envelope that subtly clasps all of 1:1-18 in its embrace. Thus ‘in the bosom of the Father’ is parallel to ‘with God’; ‘the unique one, [himself] God’, is parallel to ‘was God’; and to say that this unique and beloved Person has made God known is to say that he is ‘the Word’, God’s Self-expression.

—The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids, MI: 1991), 135.

Healing and the Messiah

In John 9, we read of the healing of a man born blind. We also read of the opposition of the Jewish leadership to Jesus, and of the fear of some of this Jewish leadership.

After the man who was born blind was healed, his parents were asked by the Jews who it was who had healed him (Jn. 9:19). And they were afraid to name Jesus (9:20–22), because "if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue" (v. 22).

Confess Jesus to be Christ? By saying he had healed a man? Given him sight? Yes. Apparently confessing this healing would have been bound up with a confession of the coming of the Messiah. And likewise in Matthew’s account (chapters 8–10), the healing ministry of Jesus signals the coming of the King and the kingdom of God.

Now go and read Isa. 35:4–6. The King has come, and his kingdom has dawned. 

Usage in Context Determines Meaning

D. A. Carson:

The wealth of possible backgrounds to the term logos in John’s Prologue suggests that the determining factor is not this or that background but the church’s experience of Jesus Christ. This is not to say the background is irrelevant. It is to say, rather, that when Christians looked around for suitable categories to express what they had come to know of Jesus Christ, many that they applied to him necessarily enjoyed a plethora of antecedent associations. The terms had to be semantically related to what the Christians wanted to say, or they could not have communicated with their own age. 

Nevertheless, many of the terms they chose, including this one, had semantic ranges so broad that they could shape the term by their own usage to make it convey, in the context of their own work, what they knew to be true of Jesus Christ (cf. Boice, p. 163). In that sense, as helpful as the background study may be, it cannot by itself determine exactly what John means by logos. For that information, while thinking through the background uses, we must above all listen to the Evangelist himself.

—The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids, MI: 1991), 116.

A Unified Salvation History on Display in the Gospels

"Even a cursory survey indicates that each of the Gospels is firmly yet distinctively embedded in Israel's story through its respective selection and use of OT texts."

—Brian Rosner, "Salvation, History of," DTIB: 714–717.

Far Too Easily Pleased

C. S. Lewis:

The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

—C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (SanFrancisco: HarperCollines, 2001), 25–26.

Dating the Gospels and Spiritual Warfare

Peter Leithart:

As with the synoptic problem as a whole, the issue of dating is ultimately a spiritual battle. Consider: If the gospels are written shortly after Jesus dies and rises again, by eyewitnesses, are you inclined to believe them? What if they are written fifty years after Jesus, by people who never knew Jesus Himself? Are you as likely to believe the gospels then? The further away the gospels are from the events of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, the less reliable they seem.

—The Four: A Survey of the Gospels (Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2010), 104.

The Synoptic Problem, Questioning Q, and Satan

Peter Leithart:

If the view of the church fathers explains the gospels, and does so fairly simply, why do scholars have to invent a complicated "synoptic problem" and resolve it with a mythical document called "Q"? 

There are many answers to that question, but at base the answer is that much of modern New Testament scholarship is a Satanic attack on the truth and reliability of the gospel of Jesus. . . . This is not to say that New Testament scholars themselves are demonic. They aren't. But New Testament scholarship is an arena of spiritual battle, where we fight not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and rulers of wickedness. 

—The Four: A Survey of the Gospels (Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2010), 101.

A Changing Landscape

In John Piper's sermon this last Lord's Day, he spoke of how the moral landscape is different now from when he first became a pastor. Speaking of where we were in this land 33 years ago versus where we are now, he says:

It would have been unthinkable to suggest that anyone would seriously propose defining marriage as between two men or two women; and it would have been even more unthinkable that in a mere thirty years America would have lost its soul so profoundly that most Americans would approve of a definition of marriage that no society in the history of the world has ever embraced. And it would have been unthinkable that instead of rejecting the unreality of so-called same-sex marriage, the culture would begin to criminalize the naming of same-sex intercourse as sin — which it is.

And along with this tragic loss of our moral compass has come the increasing loss of freedoms and the increasing compulsion from government to conform to unbiblical views. Freedom of speech is disappearing as the secular consensus grows that our shame is our glory (Phil. 3:19), and that to use biblical language to describe sin is hateful and already in some places prosecuted as illegal. Freedom of worship is disappearing as metropolitan commissions and councils take the prerogative to prohibit worship spaces and activities. And along with the loss of freedoms to act in biblical ways, comes the governmental compulsion to act in unbiblical ways — to fund the killing of unborn children, to endorse the legitimacy of sinful behavior, and soon to participate in it (for example, if you are a military chaplain), and the compulsory normalizing of sin in public institutions that will probably force most biblical Christians out of the public schools.

How then shall we live? We must think soberly about our times and face the facts. We must not act like things are not all that bad, heads in the sand. And we must think about the way forward. Piper faces the facts and answers the how-then-shall-we-live question in this sermon.

The Athanasian Creed

Consider me odd, but I love creeds. A brother who filled the pulpit for our pastors this past weekend recited the Athanasian creed in his fine sermon on Jn. 1:1-18, which recitation lit a fire in my soul. If you want a good sermon to listen to on what Christmas is all about, or if you want a good message on the deity of Jesus to meditate upon, you could do much, much worse than this one. And if you do listen, you'll hear, amid much solid instruction, the profound and stirring stuff of an ancient creed proclaimed.

I reproduce the Athanasian creed now for the good of my soul and yours (just as it is printed in the edition I'm citing from). It's worth memorizing.

1. Whosoever will be saved: before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith:
2. Which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled; without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
3. And the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;
4. Neither confounding Persons: nor dividing Substance [Essense].
5. For there is one Person of the Father: another of the Son: and another of the Holy Ghost.
6. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one: the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal.
7. Such as the Father is: such is the Son: and such is the Holy Ghost.
8. The Father uncreate [uncreated]: the Son uncreate [uncreated]; and the Holy Ghost uncreate [uncreated].
9. The Father incomprehensible [unlimited]: the Son incomprehensible [unlimited]: and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible [unlimited, or infinite].
10. The Father eternal: the Son eternal: and the Holy Ghost eternal.
11. And yet they are not three eternals: but one eternal.
12. As also there are not three uncreated: nor three incomprehensibles [infinites], but one uncreated: and one incomprehensible [infinite].
13 So likewise the Father is Almighty: the Son Almighty: and the Holy Ghost Almighty.
14. And yet they are not three Almighties: but one Almighty.
15. So the Father is God: the Son is God: and the Holy Ghost is God.
16. And yet they are not three Gods: but one God.
17. So likewise the Father is Lord: the Son Lord: and the Holy Ghost Lord.
18. And yet not three Lords: but one Lord.
19. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity: to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord:
20. So are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion: to say, There be [are] three Gods, or three Lords.
21. The Father is made of none: neither created, nor begotten.
22. The Son is of the Father alone: not made, nor created: but begotten.
23.  The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son: neither made, nor created, nor begotten: but proceeding.
24.So there is one Father, not three Fathers: one Son, not three Sons: one Holy Ghost, and not three Holy Ghosts.
25. And in this Trinity none is afore, or after another: none is greater, or less than another [there is nothing before, or after: nothing greater or less].
26. But the whole three Persons are coeternal, and coequal.
27. So that in all things, as aforesaid: the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is to be worshipped.
28. He therefore that will be saved, must [let him] thus think of the Trinity.

29. Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation: that he also believe rightly [faithfully] the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
30. For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess: that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man;
31. God, of the Substance [Essence] of the Father; begotten before the worlds: and Man, of the Substance [Essence] of his Mother, born in the world.
32. Perfect God: and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.
33. Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead: and inferior to the Father as touching his Manhood.
34. Who although he be [is] God and Man; yet he is not two, but one Christ.
35. One; not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh: but by taking [assumption] of the Manhood into God.
36. One altogether; not by confusion of Substance [Essence]: but by unity of Person.
37. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man: so God and Man is one Christ;
38. Who suffered for our salvation: descended into hell [Hades, spirit-world]: rose again the third day from the dead.
39. He ascended into heaven, he sitteth on the right hand of the Father God [God the Father] Almighty.
40 From whence [thence] he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
41. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies;

42. And shall give account for their own works.
43. And they that have done good shall go into live everlasting: and they that have done evil, into everlasting fire.
44. This is the Catholic Faith: which except a man believe faithfully [truly and firmly], he can not be saved.

—Philip Schaff, ed., The Creeds of Christendom (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 66-70.

Carson Lectures on Revelation

Justin Taylor links to a recent lecture by D. A. Carson on Rev. 21-22—and also to 26 lectures on the whole book! If I'm not mistaken, I listened to these lectures years ago when they were only available for purchase on CD. And they are a great resource for the non-trained Christian. In fact, I think Carson first gave these talks for an evening class of non-seminary students. You don't need any Greek or technical training to follow the lectures.

We have an embarrassment of resources at our fingertips today. There is no reason we should be biblically ignorant. We should easily be the most biblically literate people in the history of the church. But, alas, the pleasures of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and desires for other things choke out that word!

How Senseless Hate Confirms Faith

One of the main reasons that I believe Christianity (not cultural Christianity, I'm talking about the real deal) is utter truth is that Jesus' words keep coming true.

For example, take John 15:18-20. Christians are easily the most hated and persecuted group in the world today, including in the post-Christian West. Every time someone or some group spews senseless hate toward me and brothers and sisters in Christ simply because we are following Christ, my faith is confirmed in his words all the more!

It is not a little ironic that the culture that prides itself on being tolerant has fast become highly intolerant of a group of people with a rich (though not perfect) history of and commitment to tolerance.

If you want to think more about tolerance, I commend D. A. Carson's The Intolerance of Tolerance. If you were to read it simply to appreciate how the word tolerance has been used historically and how it is used in diverse senses today, you'd have spent your time and money well. 

O Lord, I Am the Straying Sheep, You Are the Shepherd

A Lutheran prayer to the Good Shepherd:

O God, these are your words: There is greater joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine who do not repent. All the righteous and the angels will crush sin under their feet and will cover it. O my God, I feel my sins and am judged already. I am greatly in need of a shepherd to seek me. For this reason I rely completely on the gospel. O Lord, I know that I am a straying sheep and that you are the Shepherd and the One who seeks the lost. I want to hold to this assurance. In the mirror of your law I see that I am a scarred and lost sinner. Save me, O God, for the sake of your only begotten Son. Amen.

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 72.

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.

Dear Father, Grant Grace for the "Three Tempters"

A Lutheran prayer for the Father's assisting grace against the "three tempters":

We have the three tempters: the flesh, the world, and the devil. Therefore, dear Father, we ask you to give us the grace to expel the lusts of the flesh. Help us to avoid excessive eating, drinking, and sleeping, and to resist laziness.

Grant that by fasting, careful eating, and proper clothing and care for the body we may watch and toil to become useful and fitted for good works. Help us to kill and to crucify with Christ's help all evil inclinations and lusts of the flesh, with all its cravings and temptations, so that no one will concede to its temptations or follow them. 

Help that when we see a beautiful person or creature we may not be led to temptation but to admiration and to praising you through your creation. Grant that when we hear something pleasant and perceive something lovely we may not seek lust in it but rather praise and glory. Amen.

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 34.

Calvinism Everywhere, Part 34

A striking recounting of Saul's death is retold in 1 Chronicles 10. Striking, because we're told two truths side by side: that Saul killed himself (1 Chr. 10:4); and that YHWH took his life (1 Chr. 10:13-14). Saul's breach of faith with the LORD ultimately ends in suicide—a suicide wherein YHWH is said to have put Saul to death! That's what the text says! Read it carefully, and again I say, Behold your God! And again I say, Bow low in worship before him! He is Lord of all, or he's not Lord at all.

We read of the same sort of thing again in the case of Judas. He went out and hung himself after betraying the Son of God (Mt. 27:5). For the Scriptures had predicted this, and the Scriptures must be fulfilled (Jn. 13:18-19, 25-27; cf. Acts 1:16). This all happened that we might know that Jesus is YHWH (Jn. 13:19; see the Greek), and YHWH is the uncontested Lord who alone rules human history.

God is Love

Commenting on 1 Jn. 4:16, Jonathan Edwards says this of the Spirit:

The Apostle tells us that 'God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.' Which confirms not only that the divine nature subsists in love, but also that this love is the Spirit: for it is the Spirit of God by which God dwells in his saints, as the Apostle had observed in the thirteenth verse, and as we are abundantly taught in the New Testament. 

—Jonathan Edwards, "Discourse on the Trinity," Works, vol. 21, pp. 109-144.

Calvinism Everywhere, Part 21

First Kings 8 records Solomon's magnificent prayer at the dedication of the temple. The depths and heights of biblical theology and typology here reach far and climb high. And were I up to the daunting task, I'd do a whole series on this far-reaching sinew of Scripture that goes back to Genesis and forward through the cross and resurrection on into Revelation. Would that preachers took up this text in our churches for series of 10-12 weeks or more! There's so much here!

But, for now, we'll focus in on only a few elements to stay on topic: Calvinism Everywhere. The whole of 1 Kings 8:22-53 is a prayer. And so God's almighty ability to do what is asked for is assumed. Solomon was sure of God's ability to carry out what he purposed, for this God speaks with his mouth, and fulfills with his hand (1 Kgs. 8:24). I shall not highlight what is prayed for and then fulfilled, however, though that would be profitable. Rather I shall look at some portions where God has sent some providential dealing Israel's way (in line with the covenant curses of Deuteronomy).

On account of Israel's pervasive sinfulness and covenant-breaking—"for there is no one who does not sin" (1 Kgs. 8:46)—God fulfills what he threatened in Deuteronomy. Solomon knows these curses are coming; that's why he prays. And these are the coming covenant curses: defeat before the enemy (1 Kgs. 8:33); drought conditions (1 Kgs. 8:35); famine, pestilence, blight, mildew, locust, caterpillar, plague, sickness, siege conditions (1 Kgs. 8:37); exile into the land of their captors (1 Kgs. 8:46). These conditions, Solomon assumes, come about from the hand of the covenant Lord on account of covenant-breaking disobedience. When these curses fall, when Israel goes into exile, all will acknowledge the hand of YHWH (1 Kgs. 9:9). And the covenant Lord alone can deliver from the bitter fruit of faithlessness. He sends distress and destruction; he also sends salvation and deliverance. 


So behold your God, O man! And turn in trust and pray—toward the place where his name now dwells (Jn. 1:14; 2:18-22). For there is one mediator appointed between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5-6), the true temple, the ultimate meeting place with God, where God's holy presence fully and finally dwells (Col. 1:19; 2:9).

What is Necessary for a Good Prayer

Martin Luther was a man who knew how to pray. And so it is good to listen to his counsel on this matter. It is especially good for those of us who, with undoubtedly virtually every last modern American, scarcely know what it means to be devoted to prayer.

What follows is from the introduction to a sermon Luther preached in 1519 called "On Rogationtide Prayer and Procession":

Two things are necessary so that a prayer is good and so that it is heard. First, we must have a promise or a pledge from God. We must reflect on this promise and remind God of it, and in that way be emboldened to pray with confidence. . . . No one obtains anything from God by his own virtue or the worthiness of his prayer, but solely by reason of the boundless mercy of God. . . . Second, it is necessary that we never doubt the promise of the truthful and faithful God. . . .

Sounds like 1 John 5:14-15. Now meditate on Mk. 11:24; Lk. 11:9-13; Jas. 1:5-8. And pray.