Queen of the Sciences?

For the love of God, I have a question for Christians. A serious one. It's not meant to be rhetorical. 

The question comes out of a context. It comes on account of an observation: in our modern-day way of doing things—that is, in a pluralistic, democratic, and egalitarian fashion—it appears to be very difficult, even for those who claim to think world-viewishly, for Christians to think from a center, from an integration point. 

It appears to me that often we only give lip-service to such an endeavor, while deep down, if we’re honest with the way we really carry out business, we don’t think there is an integrating center. The world is a fragmented place, and nothing really holds it all together. The theologians do their thing. And political scientists do theirs. And when we're in one field, we appeal to the specialists there; when in another, we appeal to the specialists there. But there's no fundamental reality that speaks to all of reality and holds together the parts of the whole. 

So here is the question: Is theology still the queen of the sciences? Or should we just give her a place at the table? And whether the first question gets answered yes or no, what is the upshot? Not least in institutions like churches, universities and colleges, the family, and in the public square?

I wonder if the question just seems passé as we press on with progress, leaving bygone days in the dust, along with the primitive folks who came before these days of enlightenment where we throw off—with shouts of liberation!—the shackles of the past. And  by "we," I mean us, professing Christians. 

The Art of Persuasion: Emotion

People "decide far more problems by hate or love, or lust or rage, or sorrow or joy, or hope or fear than by rational argument" (Cicero, De oratore 2.42). 

The Greatest Christian Paradox of All

Ross Douthat:

Indeed, this is perhaps the greatest Christian paradox of all—that the world's most paradoxical religion has cultivated rationalism and scientific rigor more diligently than any of its rivals, making the Christian world safe for philosophy as well as fervor, for the study of nature as well as the contemplation of divinity.

—Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics (New York: Free Press, 2012), 11.

Christianity vis–à–vis Secularism

"Though Christians often bemoan the separation of church and state and claim angrily that the separation of church and state is not in the Constitution, they are actually expressing their frustration with secularism as the preferred ideology of many elites in politics, media, and education.

Christians should absolutely bring their faith to bear in the public square. They should reject the influence of secularism urging them to keep their faith private and not to argue for a Christian perspective in areas like politics and education. What they must not do is to repeat the mistake of mingling the church's future with that of the state. Temporal kingoms have no eternal destiny. The church does."

—Hunter Baker, The End of Secularism (Wheaton: Crossway, 2009), 148.

Edwards on "Affectionate" Preaching

In Part 3 of Jonathan Edwards’ work Some Thoughts Concerning the Revival of Religion in New England,[1] he answers criticisms of the revival. This part is entitled “Shewing in Many Instances Wherein the Subjects or Zealous Promoters of This Work Have Been Injuriously Blamed.”[2]

The first criticism Edwards answers involves the accusation that ministers were addressing themselves to the affections of their hearers instead of their understandings.[3] I shall quote the criticism restated by Edwards and then at length much of Edwards’ response to this first of ten criticisms.

The criticism:

One thing that has been complained of, is ministers addressing themselves rather to the affections of their hearers than to their understandings, and striving to raise their passions to the utmost height, rather by a very affectionate manner of speaking and a great appearance of earnestness in voice and gesture, than by clear reasoning and informing their judgment. . . .

Edwards' answer:

To which I would say, I am far from thinking that it is not very profitable, for ministers in their preaching, to endeavor clearly and distinctly to explain the doctrines of religion, and unravel the difficulties that attend them, and to confirm them with strength of reason and argumentation, and also to observe some easy and clear method and order in their discourses, for the help of the understanding and memory; and ’tis very probably  that these things have been of late, too much neglected by many ministers; yet, I believe that the objection that is made, of affections raised without enlightening the understanding, is in a great measure built on a mistake, and confused notions that some have about the nature and cause of the affections, and the manner in which they depend on the understanding. All affections are raised either by light in the understanding, or by some error and delusion in the understanding; for all affections do certainly arise from some apprehension in the understanding. . . .

Therefore the thing to be inquired into is, whether the apprehensions or notions of divine and eternal things, that are raised in people’s minds by these affectionate preachers, whence their affections are excited, be apprehensions that are agreeable to truth, or whether they are mistakes. If the former, then the affections are raised the way they should be, viz. by informing the mind, or conveying light to the understanding. They go away with a wrong notion, that think that those preachers can’t affect their hearers by enlightening their understandings, that don’t do it by such a distinct, and learned handling of the doctrinal points of religion, as depends on human discipline, or the strength of natural reason, and tends to enlarge their hearers’ learning, and speculative knowledge of divinity. The manner of preaching without this, may be such as shall tend very much to set divine and eternal things in a right view, and to give the hearers such ideas and apprehensions of them as are agreeable to truth, and such impressions on their hearts, as are answerable to the real nature of things: and not only the words that are spoken, but the manner of speaking,[4] is one thing that has a great tendency to this.

The "Bottom" of All True Spiritual Mortification

"Hatred of sin as sin, not only as galling or disquieting, a sense of the love of Christ in the cross, lie at the bottom of all true spiritual mortification."

— John Owen, On the Mortification of Sin (vol. 6 in The Works of John Owen; ed. William H. Gould; Carlisle: Banner of Truth, 2000), 41.

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 Broken Sinai Covenant and Pleading the Promise

More on Sinai:

This [covenant at Sinai and its priestly purpose] is an ideal picture. One serious problem remains. It is not Pharaoh this time but Israel itself. Separating the planning and description of the sanctuary (Exod. 25-31) from its construction in the middle of the camp (Exod. 35-40) is Israel’s sin (Exod. 32-34). . . . Within forty days, Israel breaks its covenant with God, violating the first and second commands. Impatient with waiting for Moses on the mountain, Israel creates an image of a golden calf to represent its God, and engages in false worship. The sin forces God to threaten to destroy Israel in agreement with the covenant and to start again with Moses. But Moses pleads (certainly not on the basis of the recently broken Sinai covenant) on the basis of the descendants promised in the covenant with Abraham as grounds for saving Israel (Exod. 32:13). It is only this reason that decisively moves God to have mercy on Israel.

—Stephen G. Dempster, Dominion and Dynasty: A Theology of the Hebrew Bible (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2003), 104. Italics his. 

Man Well Drest

Prayer the Church's banquet, Angels' age,
             God's breath in man returning to his birth,
             The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav'n and earth;
Engine against th' Almighty, sinners' tower,
             Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
             The six-days-world transposing in an hour,
A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;
Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,
             Exalted Manna, gladness of the best,
             Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,
The milky way, the bird of Paradise,
             Church bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood,
             The land of spices; something understood.

—George  Herbert (1594-1633)

Slowing Down at Sinai

Dempster on the significance of Sinai:

After the exodus narrative the Israelites move to Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai stands in the way of Canaan, the land of their inheritance, but it is certainly no diversion, nor is it incidental. The centrality of this mountain is shown by a number of narrative signals. First and most obvious is the virtual suspension of narrative pace. Israel stays at Sinai for eleven months in real time (Exod. 19:1—Num. 10:11) and fifty-seven chapters in narrative time. This is important given the fact that sixty-eight chapters precede Sinai and fifty-nine chapters follow it. Sinai is central to the Torah.

—Stephen G. Dempster, Dominion and Dynasty: A Theology of the Hebrew Bible (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2003), 100.

The Task of Taking the Gospel to the Globe

Here is some perspective on the task of the gospel going global into all the nooks and crannies of unreached or unengaged people groups.

Let's be praying the Lord will send out some (more) from our midst to unreached and unengaged people groups!

Outstanding Sermon Series on Ecclesiastes

If you were looking for a good sermon series on Ecclesiastes, look no further. Pastor Doug O'Donnell, senior pastor of my local church, wrapped up today a 17-part sermon series that will find its way in due course into the Reformed Expository Commentary series published by P&R.

Pastor O'Donnell demonstrates care and sensitivity with this difficult to interpret book, and provides many good contemporary applications from the wise words of "Pastor Solomon." As a man of literature, one of O'Donnell's great strengths is his sensitivity to the literary dimensions and devices of the sacred text. So his handling of Ecclesiastes models rather well how to preach the genre of wisdom literature for those who want to hear how it might be done.

Have a listen!

Boy Meets Girl

Would you like to dance?

Lovely.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely . . ." (Phil. 4:8).

We Have Become the Offscouring of All Things. Or Have We?

Piper on professionalism and the pastorate:

We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus (professionally?) so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested (professionally?) in our bodies (2 Cor. 4:9-11). 

I think God has exhibited us preachers as last of all in the world. We are fools for Christ's sake, but professionals are wise. We are weak, but professionals are strong. Professionals are held in honor, we are in disrepute. We do not try to secure a professional lifestyle, but we are ready to hunger and thirst and be ill-clad and homeless. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things (1 Cor. 4:9-13). Or have we? 

Brothers, we are not professionals! We are outcasts. We are aliens and exiles in the world (1 Pet. 2:11). Our citizenship is in heaven, and we wait with eager expectation for the Lord (Phil. 3:20). You cannot professionalize the love for His appearing without killing it. And it is being killed.  

The aims of our ministry are eternal and spiritual. They are not shared by any of the professions. It is precisely by the failure to see this that we are dying. 

—John Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for a Radical Ministry (Nashville: B&H, 2013), 2.

Piper on Professionalization in the Pastorate

What does professionalization in the pastorate look like?

Professionalization carries the connotation of an education, a set of skills, and a set of guild-defined standards which are possible without faith in Jesus. Professionalism is not supernatural. The heart of ministry is. 

—John Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for a Radical Ministry (Nashville: B&H, 2013), x.

God's Father-Love in the School of Prayer

A good lesson in the school of prayer:

The knowledge of God's Father-love is the first and simplest, but also the last and highest lesson in the school of prayer. Prayer begins in a personal relationship with the living God as well as a personal, conscious fellowship of love with Him. In the knowledge of God's Fatherliness revealed by the Holy Spirit, the power of prayer will root and grow. The life of prayer has its joy in the infinite tenderness, care, and patience of an infinite Father who is read to hear and help.

—Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer (Springdale: Whitaker House, 1981), 31.

Gossip and Flattery Defined

Kent Hughes:

Gossip involves saying behind a person’s back what you would never say to his or her face.

Flattery means saying to a person’s face what you would never say behind his or her back.

HT: Justin Taylor

I recall hearing Pastor Hughes give these definitions when I sat under his preaching. And they were so convicting that I've never forgotten them.  

O Heavenly Father, I Know I Will Remain with You Forever

Luther:

O heavenly Father, God and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ and God of all comfort, I thank you for revealing to me your dear Son, Jesus Christ, whom I believe. Him I have known and preached. Him I have loved and praised. Him heretics and all godless people do blaspheme and persecute. I pray, Lord Jesus, let my soul please you. O heavenly Father, although I must be separated from this body, I know I will remain with you forever. No one can pluck me from your hands. Amen.

—Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 102.

A God-Besotted Ministry

Murray on Edwards' God-intoxicated ministry:

For Edwards, the reality of communion with God belongs to the very nature of redemptive Christianity. All Christians, therefore, are to be people of prayer. "Seeing we have such a prayer-hearing God as we have," he tells his hearers, "let us all be much employed in the duty of prayer, let us live prayerful lives, continuing instant in prayer." For ministers this is a yet greater privilege and obligation. To serve God aright the priorities of Christ's ministry must also be their own. 

— Iain H. Murray, Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1987), 144.

Debating as a Christian Duty

Here Doug Wilson ably, biblically, and persuasively argues that debating is a Christian duty. Well, if the man Jesus is to be the believer's model, of course he's right. And of course it can be done in the wrong spirit, too. Wilson also addresses that nicely.

I fear the main reason Christians and Christian leaders (who are called to it) shrink from this duty is cowardice, plain and simple. Cowardice is the biblical word for refusing ever "to get into it." But Jesus "got into it" all the time. Shouldn't we follow him? Or should we be the "Jesus, meek and mild flower child" of 21st century evangelicalism, rather than the real Jesus of the Bible? I mean, just read the gospels. As Wilson rightly points out.

This cowardice, this fear of man and fear of the loss of status and possessions can be cloaked under all sorts of good reasons to "just stay out of it, and be a gospel witness." But it's not really a gospel witness if doesn't imitate Jesus. And it's cowardice nonetheless, and we know where cowards go (Rev. 21:8).

Killing Sin Does Not Consist in the Improvement of One's Natural Temperament

In the fifth chapter of Owen's work On the Mortification of Sin, he discusses what does not pass for truly killing sin. He refers to five things that are not true mortification. I reproduce the third one here because of how often we go wrong here today:

The mortification of sin does not consist in the improvement of a quiet, sedate nature. Some men have an advantage by their natural constitution so far as they are not exposed to such violence of unruly passions and tumultuous affections as many others are. Let now these men cultivate and improve their natural frame and temper by discipline, consideration, and prudence, and they may seem to themselves and others very mortified men, when, perhaps, their hearts are a standing sink of all abominations. Some man is never so much troubled all his life, perhaps, with anger and passion, nor doth trouble others, as another is almost every day; and yet the latter hath done more to the mortification of the sin than the former. Let not such persons try their mortification by such things as their natural temper gives no life or vigour to. Let them bring themselves to self-denial, unbelief, envy, or some such spiritual sin, and they will have a better view of themselves.

 — John Owen, On the Mortification of Sin (vol. 6 in The Works of John Owen; ed. William H. Gould; Carlisle: Banner of Truth, 2000), 25.

O Lord, Grant a Strong and Firm Faith

Luther:

O my dear Lord Jesus Christ, you have said: Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you (Matt. 7:7). In keeping with this promise, give to me, Lord. I ask for neither gold nor silver, but for a strong and firm faith. While I search, let me find not lust and pleasure of the world, but comfort and refreshment through your blessed and healing Word. Open to me, while I knock. I desire nothing that the world cherishes, for by it I would not be uplifted even for so much as the breadth of a hair. Grant me your Holy Spirit, who enlightens my heart, and comforts and strengthens me in my cares and trials. He secures my right faith and trust in your grace to the very end. Amen. 

—Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 102.

New City Catechism

Here's a new catechism produced by Tim Keller and Sam Shammas— New City Catechism—adapted from Calvin's Geneva Catechism, the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms, and especially the Heidelberg catechism. May it receive wide use and be blessed greatly by God!

You may download the app to your iPad for free. It also includes helpful videos explaining the teaching from Gospel Coalition teachers.

Our church, New Covenant Church in Naperville, has commended its use. And in this I rejoice!

Preaching and the Priority of Personal Communion

"Edwards' whole ministry, as that of the Puritans, was based upon the conviction that the usefulness of a preacher's work is invariably related to the nature of his inner life. Personal communion with God must come first."

— Iain H. Murray, Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1987), 142.

Christian Political Witness

The upcoming theology conference at Wheaton College on "Christian Political Witness" will take place on Apr. 4-6.

Evangelical Christians are often superficial in their thinking about this matter, and about the relation between the church and state. It's an area where we desperately need to repent and need help from some frontline thinkers.

I'm especially eager to hear Peter Leithart's talk. 

Character in Leadership and Public Life

"Fairly regularly, we see debates over the meaning of character in leadership and public life. Most of it is nonsense. We know that character matters when we hire a baby-sitter. How can it not matter when we are calling a leader?"

—Albert Mohler, The Conviction to Lead: Twenty-five Principles for Leadership that Matters (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2012), 81. 

Heidelberg 450 Years Old and Going Strong

I'm convinced by these five reasons. So our family will be reading through the Heidelberg yet again, this year on the Lord's Day.

Happy birthday, Heidelberg! And, thanks, Kevin DeYoung!

The Cowardice of Concealing Convictions

Piper on cowardice in the pastorate:

We are surrounded in America by people like [the chief priests and elders in Matt. 21:23-27]. Instead of using their minds to come to strong convictions and let the chips fall where they will and suffer for what's true, they are repeatedly angling to get out of traps. Don't be like this, if for no other reason than because it is bad scholarship! If your mind, in studying the truth, leads you to a conviction that will get you into trouble, believe it! Speak it! There are so many pastors who conceal their convictions from their people because they are so afraid of conflict.

—John Piper & D. A. Carson, The Pastor as Scholar & the Scholar as Pastor: Reflections on Life and Ministry (Wheaton: Crossway, 2011), 58.

Deuteronomy, Romans, and Hammurabi

In an exegesis class on Deuteronomy at Wheaton College, Professor Dan Block was making the point that Deuteronomy is didactic material, not legal.

And in this regard, he said this today to the class: "Deuteronomy has more in common with Romans than with Hammurabi."

Choice.

Hypocrisy Defined

"If you try to do deeds 'for the glory of God' without treasuring the glory of God in your heart, it is a sham. The word hypocrisy was created precisely for the effort to say with deeds what we do not feel in our hearts."

—John Piper & D. A. Carson, The Pastor as Scholar & the Scholar as Pastor: Reflections on Life and Ministry (Wheaton: Crossway, 2011), 47.

The Formation of Believers' Identity

"Parents who constantly remind us that we belong to Christ, ministers who week by week pronounce absolution, fellow believers who communicate the love of God in word and deed—these are the means by which God's gracious Word comes to us and forms our identity as believers."

—Peter Leithart, The Baptized Body, 126.

Reflective Reading and Other Kinds of Reading

D. A. Carson:

For all that the web makes information gloriously accessible, it has two huge shortcomings. First, it is so democratized that it is more difficult than ever to distinguish between truth and error, between authoritative opinion and fatuous opinion, between speculation and learning. Second, it swamps us with brief information and opinion; it entices us into endless worthless discussion even on blogs that may themselves be valuable.  

One of the things that thoughtful scholar-pastors will do is preserve time for reflective reading of the best books. You can find out what those books are by having probing conversations with a variety of scholar-pastors who are more mature than you are—but be sure you seek out the opinions of several people, not just one. Through their books, get to know some epochal thinkers reasonably well. Slow down; read, take notes, think, evaluate.

Critical Interpretation of Scripture

D. A. Carson:

The essence of all critical thought, in the best sense of that abused expression, is the justification of opinions. A critical interpretation of Scripture is one that has adequate justification—lexical, grammatical, cultural, theological, historical, geographical, or other justification. In other words, critical exegesis in this sense is exegesis that provides sound reasons for the choices it makes and the positions it adopts. 

—Exegetical Fallacies (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 16.

Going After God's Heart in Prayer

In 2 Kings 20, Hezekiah falls ill and draws near to death. Isaiah the prophet tells him to set his house in order to prepare for his demise (v. 1). Hezekiah then prays, pleading his faithfulness and how he's done what is good in YHWH's sight (vv. 2-3). YHWH responds and sends a word to Hezekiah through Isaiah: "I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you" (vv. 4-5). YHWH says he'll add fifteen years to his life, and promises to deliver him and the city of Jerusalem out of the hand of Sennacherib, king of Assyria (v. 6).

Why does God hear Hezekiah's prayer? Look closely, listen carefully. Does God respond to Hezekiah's prayer in this way by acknowledging Hezekiah's fidelity and good deeds? He says he had heard his prayer and seen his tears, right? Yes, but he doesn't say, "I know you have been faithful; I have seen your good deeds." No, but he does go on to tell us that he has a regard for his name and covenant. Doesn't he?

Is this line of interpretation heading in the right direction? It seems so. Look at v. 6b. There YHWH tells us why he's going to heal Hezekiah and protect the city. He's repeatedly appealed to the same reasons throughout Kings and indeed throughout the whole of Scripture. What are the reasons that YHWH will act? He tells us unambiguously: "for my own sake and for my servant David's sake." Not for Hezekiah's sake does God do what he does, at least not as the deepest motivation for his acting. No, it's for his own sake: for his glory and fame. It's for his servant David's sake: recalling God's sure covenant promises to David, fulfilled in great David's greater son, the Son.

God hears our prayers for the sake of his name, and in line with what he's promised in his word. This ought to instruct our prayers. We ought not to plead our goodness as the basis for God to act on our behalf. But we should go right after God's heart, asking him to stand forth in mercy and might for his glory, for his honor—for his name's sake! If there's anything that resounds throughout Scripture loud and clear, it's that God does all that he does for his reputation and fame. This needs to get into our bloodstream and prayers. And God's name, since it's who he is, and betrays his character, includes his faithfulness to what he's spoken. He will keep his word! Let's depend on it. And let's pray prayers that highlight that unassailable word and God's unswerving covenant purposes and promises.

And not incidentally, this is why we pray in Jesus' name. All God's promises are "Yes!" in Christ (2 Cor. 1:20). Jesus' name holds sway in heaven. Jesus' name is the name above every name. He's the king par excellence. He's kept the covenant, he's lived well, he's never sinned, he's been obedient to death on the cross, and he's risen to that exalted place at the right hand of God, as King of kings and Lord of lords! Forever, and ever! Allelujah! Allelujah!

Leitharted Instruction for Writers

A witty word for writers from Peter Leithart.

Hermeneutical Myopia in Centuries of Scholarship

In an introductory chapter on "a literary approach to Old Testament theology" in his book Dominion and Dynasty, Stephen Dempster speaks of the "hermeneutical myopia of the last few centuries of biblical scholarship." This hermeneutical myopia has come about through "presuppositions that magnify the texts and minimize the Text. One of the philosophical assumptions that has produced this situation has been a diminution in the belief that the Bible is the Word of God. . . ."

Dempster continues, saying that there has been "an enchantment with the minute details of the biblical text rather than with its more global features, which ipso facto cannot exist. The concern for studying smaller and smaller sections of the biblical text and the increasing specialization of scholars studying the minutiae of philology and morphology have resulted in a loss of perspective." [1]

I've found this to be commonplace in my dealings with biblical scholarship. In an effort to take the human authors seriously (so they say), extremely bright PhD types forget the Author behind the authors and the whole larger work—the whole canon, the big Book of which the smaller books are but chapters. So the Text of which Dempster speaks is the whole Bible. And the texts (individual books) are not rightly understood, more strongly stated, are distorted and twisted if it is not considered how they are to be understood in the light of the larger narrative framework provided by Genesis through Revelation. 

---

[1] Stephen G. Dempster, Dominion and Dynasty: A Theology of the Hebrew Bible (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2003), 28.

How to Do Biblical Theology Evangelically and Doxologically

Regarding what biblical theology is, many have commented, even lamented, that the definitions on offer abound. Paul R. Williamson proffers one helpful and faithful way of thinking about biblical theology evangelically, to which I recently referred in another post. I reproduce it here again: 

Biblical theology is arguably best thought of as a holistic enterprise tracing unfolding theological trajectories throughout Scripture and exploring no biblical concept, theme, or book in isolation from the whole. Rather, each concept, theme, or book is considered ultimately in terms of how it contributes to and advances the Bible's meta-narrative . . . .[1]

Williamson’s definition comports well with a number of the emphases of other definitions given,[2] and it picks up a number of important elements that should be included in doing biblical theology. An evangelical biblical theology should be theological, holistic, whole-Bible, synthetic, follow Scripture’s storyline, and follow Scriptures own trajectories. After briefly discussing these key elements, I'll also go beyond Williams' definition and add two other essentials.

It should be theological because the Bible is primarily revelation about God, about his person, works, ways, and words. 

It should be holistic in that it takes into account the Bible’s historical and literary dimensions, that is, it considers genre, literary devices, linguistic features, historical methods, and the like. 

It should be whole-Bible since the Bible ultimately has one Author and one Mind behind it. In other words, the OT should not be sealed off from the NT, nor vice versa. The Bible is therefore understood as a unity—without sacrificing its diversity!—and neither the OT nor the NT is rightly fully understood apart from the other (even though each has its distinctive voice and distinctive contributions). 

Dovetailing with this whole-Bible emphasis, evangelical biblical theology should be synthetic. That is, it should seek to relate the distinctive and diverse parts of the Bible “to uncover all that holds them together,” all the while maintaining and not muting “the glorious diversity of the biblical documents.”[3] 

It should consider the Bible’s metanarrative as well.[4] Whatever else the Bible is, it is certainly a story with a definite beginning and ending. In between the beginning and ending comes progression or development or expansion of various sorts—embedded in a breathtaking array of literary variety. In this vein, evangelical biblical theology will take into account the Bible’s chronology in thinking about how the parts relate and develop theologically. In this regard, it ought to attempt “to uncover and understand how words and themes in earlier canonical texts are used in later canonical texts.”[5] 

Moreover, it will seek to follow trajectories warranted by Scripture itself, that is, by discerning aright what Scripture is and what it is doing, in its parts, and as a whole. This relates to the emphasis on following the Bible’s chronological storyline as words and concepts are traced across God’s covenant and redemptive revelation. These words and concepts or themes are traced when warrant is discerned in the text for doing so. 

So an interpreter trying to do sound biblical theology will want to provide canonical reasons for tracing out a text along a proposed trajectory. There are no infallible methods for doing this tracing, but warrant ought to be provided for one’s choice. A reasonable and reasoned warrant might include, for example, discerning key words or concepts deployed in similar contexts; or it might include, for example, discerning a later development of an earlier text that is part of the later text’s illocution.[6] 

Now not all of these elements in Williams’ definition and similar definitions need be emphasized equally when looking at a given chunk of text. As already stated, the text itself should set the agenda. But given that any given text is part of a larger Text, these elements will be likely emphases in doing biblical theology. 

Moreover, and I judge this to be all-important, what is not included explicitly in Williams’ definition, and what is often missing in treatments of biblical theology today, is that an evangelical biblical theology—because it is theological—ought to be not only descriptive, but also prescriptive and confessional.[7] I would even be prepared to argue that everything else that has been said about what biblical theology ought to be and do must aim at this prescribing and confessing. Otherwise, the biblical theology ceases to be biblical, and is worse than worthless.

[1] Paul R. Williamson, Sealed with an Oath: Covenant in God’s Unfolding Purpose (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2007), 17.
[2] See, for example, Carson, "Systematic and Biblical Theology," NDBT, 100-101; and B. S. Rosner, “Biblical Theology,” NDBT, 10.
[3] Carson, NDBT, 100-101.
[4] The OT is not the whole story, nor is the NT the whole story. The OT and NT together tell God’s whole story and together provide the full revelation of God.
[5] Carson, NDBT, 101.
[6] Richard Schultz sets forth a helpful way for working out the theological themes across the canon. See “Integrating Old Testament Theology and Exegesis: Literary, Thematic, and Canonical Issues,” in vol. 1 of New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis (ed. Willem A. VanGemeren; 5 vols.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), 185-205; see also Carson, NDBT, 97-98.
[7] For example, Carson notes this, NDBT, 101.

Then and Now

I'm toying with the idea here of regular posts of a then-versus-now variety. I'm not doing this because of the belief that the past—well, "them's were the good 'ol days." No, that's not my thinking at all. I do believe the past has many glories and lessons to instruct us, even guard us and warn us. But I also believe that scriptural eschatology teaches us that the best days lie still yet ahead.

Instead, I want to start a then-versus-now category of posts simply for the sake of gaining whatever illumination might come about from making comparisons, guarding against drawing the wrong conclusions, guarding against succumbing to the "them's-were-the-good-'ol-days" mentality. With the brief quotation that follows, perhaps you'll get a sense of what I'm after.

Speaking of some of the problems (like one church member in Northampton punching another) and the influence of Christianity in rural New England in the days of Jonathan Edwards, Iain Murray records:

Much that we take for granted today— such as the existence of a criminal class in society— was unknown in rural New England. One fight was the sensation of a generation. Everyone in Northampton knew that Joseph Hawley, the town lawyer, could never find enough work to live on in that occupation; he was also town merchant, besides, no doubt, [doing] his own measure of farming (Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography, 88). 

Lawyers couldn't find enough work? Interesting. One fight was the sensation of a generation? Incredible. Now, it's quite easy to think of the stark contrasts of today, isn't it? Is this illuminating? You must decide for yourself. I find it so.

O Lord, You Are the Lord of Life and Death

Containing echoes of Rom. 14:7-8, here's a Lutheran prayer when facing death:

My dear God, if you want this to be the hour of death, let your will be done. Lord God, you are most precious to me. You know how gladly I would have shed my blood for the sake of your Word, but I may not deserve this honor. Your will be done. If it is your will, I shall die gladly. Only let your holy name be praised and glorified by my sufferings and death. If it were possible, dear God, I would live longer for the cause of your blessed and chosen people. But if the hour has come, then have your way. You are the Lord of life and death. Amen. 

—Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 101.

The Glories of Christianity

Edwards in his diary dated Jan. 21, 1723:

"I do not spend time enough in endeavoring to affect myself with the glories of Christianity."

—Jonathan Edwards, Letters and Personal Writings (vol. 16 in the Works of Jonathan Edwards; ed. George S. Clanghorn; New Haven: Yale University, 1998), 766.

What Is Biblical Theology?

What is biblical theology? As many have pointed out, well, it depends on who's answering the question. There are a variety of ways biblical theology has been defined.

In his Sealed with an Oath: Covenant in God's Unfolding Purpose, Paul R. Williamson proffers a helpful and faithful way of thinking about biblical theology:

Biblical theology is arguably best thought of as a holistic enterprise tracing unfolding theological trajectories throughout Scripture and exploring no biblical concept, theme, or book in isolation from the whole. Rather, each concept, theme, or book is considered ultimately in terms of how it contributes to and advances the Bible's meta-narrative . . . (17).

But if one accepts this, one must move from the common tendency in academia toward atomistic handling of texts. Which many are unwilling to do. I suggest that not only should we be willing to move away from this tendency, but we must be willing. Indeed, faithfulness to the way Scripture intends itself to be understood requires this of us.

Musing Over the Word of God

John Piper on the practice of Christian meditation:

What does meditation involve? The word meditation in Hebrew means basically to speak or to mutter. When this is done in the heart, it is called musing or meditation. So meditating on the Word of God day and night [Ps. 1:2] means to speak to yourself the Word of God day and night and to speak to yourself about it—to mull it over, to ask questions about it and answer them from the Scripture itself, to ask yourself how this might apply to you and others, and to ponder its implications for life and church and culture and missions.

—John Piper, When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy (Wheaton: Crossway, 2004), 124-125.

Political Philosophy Resources

Resources galore on political philosophy. Rejoice!

Powlison on Christian Resolutions

Look here.

Resolved

It's that time when people are gearing up for the new year ahead with resolutions. In my judgment, this gearing up can be good, or it can be bad, depending. It depends on whether or not what we resolve (as we look back on the previous year, and ahead to the new one) is done in the strength that God supplies (1 Pet. 4:11), and is done evangelically, that is to say, by faith alone in the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us (Gal. 2:20). 

But if resolutions are undertaken in the right spirit (or, perhaps I should say, by the Spirit), in complete dependence upon the one who fulfills "every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified" (2 Thess. 1:11-12), then they are holy, good, and right-minded.  

So, it seems salutary, to me at least, to re-post what I posted some time ago: some of Jonathan Edwards' resolutions when he was a young man, since they never cease to stir me. I'll list some that have affected me most, and that give a good flavor of the whole (70 resolutions in total). Rereading them fills me with shame and self-loathing for how lukewarmly I've lived this past year! And makes me want to resolve to live differently in 2013!

Edwards (at age 19!):

4. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.
7. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.
9. Resolved, to think much on all occassions of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.
10. Resolved, when I feel pain, to think of the pains of martyrdom and of hell.
16. Resolved, never to speak evil of anyone, so that it shall tend to his dishonor, more or less, upon no account except for some real good.
17. Resolved, that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.
18. Resolved, to live so at all times, as I think is best in my devout frames, and when I have clearest notions of things of the gospel, and another world.
20. Resolved, to maintain the strictest temperance in eating and drinking.
28. Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.
30. Resolved, to strive to my utmost every week to be brought higher in religion, and to a higher exercise of grace, than I was the week before.

31. Resolved, never to say anything at all against anybody, but when it is perfectly agreeable to the highest degree of Christian honor, and of love to mankind, agreeable to the lowest humility, and sense of my own faults and failings, and agreeable to the Golden Rule; often, when I have said anything against anyone, to bring it to, and try it strictly by the test of this Resolution.
34. Resolved, in narrations never to speak anything but the pure and simple verity.
36. Resolved, never to speak evil of any, except I have some particular good call for it.
39. Resolved, never to do anything that I so much question the lawfulness of, as that I intend, at the same time, to consider and examine afterwards, whether it be lawful or no: except I as much question the lawfulness of the omission.
40. Resolved, to inquire every night, before I go to bed, whether I have acted in the best way I possibly could, with respect to eating and drinking.
43. Resolved, never henceforward, till I die, to act as if I were anyway my own, but entirely and altogether God's. . . .
44. Resolved, that no other end but religion, shall have any influence at all on any of my actions; and that no action shall be, in the least circumstance, any otherwise than the religious end will carry it.

46. Resolved, never to allow the least measure of any fretting uneasiness at my father or mother. Resolved to suffer no effects of it, so much as in the least alteration of speech, or motion of my eye: and to be especially careful of it, with respect to any of our family.
47. Resolved, to endeavor to my utmost to deny whatever is not most agreeable to a good, and universally sweet and benevolent, quiet, peaceable, contented, easy, compassionate, generous, humble, meek, modest, submissive, obliging, diligent and industrious, charitable, even, patient, moderate, forgiving, sincere temper; and to do at all times what such a temper would lead me to. Examine strictly every week, whether I have done so.
56. Resolved, never to give over, nor in the least to slacken my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be.
58. Resolved, not only to refrain from an air of dislike, fretfulness, and anger in conversation, but to exhibit an air of love, cheerfulness, and benignity.
59. Resolved, when I am most conscious of provocations to ill-nature and anger, that I will strive most to feel and act good-naturedly; yea, at such times, to manifest good nature, though I think that in other respects it would be disadvantageous, and so as would be imprudent at other times.
60. Resolved, whenever my feelings begin to appear in the least out of order, when I am conscious of the least uneasiness within, or the least irregularity without, I will then subject myself to the strictest examination.
61. Resolved, that I will not give way to that listlessness which I find unbends and relaxes my mind from being fully and fixedly set on religion, whatever excuse I may have for it—that what my listlessness inclines me to do, is best to be done, etc.
62. Resolved, never to do anything but duty; and then according to Eph. 6:6-8, do it willingly and cheerfully "as unto the Lord, and not to man; knowing that whatever good thing any man doth, the same shall he receive of the Lord."
67. Resolved, after afflictions, to inquire, what I am the better for them, what good I have got by them, and what I might have got by them.
70. Let there be something of benevolence, in all that I speak.

—Letters and Personal Writings (vol. 16 in the Works of Jonathan Edwards; ed. George S. Clanghorn; New Haven: Yale University, 1998), 753-759.

Setting the Consciences of Men on Fire

Solomon Stoddard on preaching: 

"We are not sent into the pulpit to shew our wit and eloquence but to set the consciences of men on fire."

— Iain H. Murray, Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1987), 8. 

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.

Building in Disciplined Bible Reading and Prayer

Piper on reading the Scriptures:

If your longing is to be spontaneous in the way you commune with God, then build discipline into your Bible reading and prayer. . . .  

. . . plan a place and a time when you will read the Bible and think about it each day. There can always be more times during the day. There should be. But let there be one sacred time and place. Put it on your calendar. Treat it the same way you would an appointment with a partner or friend. If someone asks you to do something during that time, say, "I'm sorry, I already have an appointment then."

—John Piper, When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy (Wheaton: Crossway, 2004), 116.

Free Audio on Romans Taught by Dr. Moo

Here's a free course on Romans taught by Professor Doug Moo of Wheaton College. I took a Greek exegesis course on Romans with him last spring. I was not disappointed. It helped to sharpen some of my thinking on the so-called New Perspective on Paul. N. T. Wright's commentary was assigned to be read alongside Moo's.

Professor Moo's commentary, published in 1996, is still tops. I recall D. A. Carson saying somewhere that Moo's commentary is the best one on Romans in the English language. And my understanding is that Dr. Moo may even be putting out a revision before too long.

Enjoy.

Thankful for Pastors Who Work Hard in the Word

"The pastor's job is to look at the Bible and work hard to understand what's in it, and then work hard to make it understandable and attractive and compelling to our people."

—John Piper & D. A. Carson, The Pastor as Scholar & the Scholar as Pastor: Reflections on Life and Ministry (Wheaton: Crossway, 2011), 61.

A Lutheran Prayer for Good Government

Martin Luther:

We pray especially for the government under whose care and protection you have called us. Bless it with success and prosperity. May the word of God, decency, and all honesty be advanced; may all of the offense of which there is much be prevented; and may the common welfare be properly and peaceably provided. Make us obedient and devout. Amen.

—Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 98.

A Brief Break from My Blog Break, To Give Thanks to God

On this Thanksgiving, there's so much for which to be thankful. Given recent happenings in the life of the Wencels, I'm especially thankful for my little girl, my wife, our families, our church, progressive sanctification, the Father's rod, modern medical mercies, my work, my opportunities, my creatureliness, the material universe, our daily bread, salt, coffee, beer, cheese, wine, and on and on it would be easy to go. 

But most of all, I'm thankful for God. With each passing, fleeting breath I take in this glorious theater of God, with all the new mercies I drink in each morning, I'm reminded that God is all and the fountain of all my happiness, pleasure, peace, satisfaction, and rest. With the psalmists, I confess: "I have no good apart from God." And, "There is nothing on earth that I desire besides God." And, "The Lord is my chosen portion."

So I'm deeply thankful for God as my portion and all. And I'm reminded of one of my favorite quotations from Jonathan Edwards. It's a good word to remind all that whatever you enjoy and rightfully thank God for this Thanksgiving, it's only a pointer and dim reflection of the glory from which that good emanates.

Edwards:

The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accomodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the ocean.

Indeed God is the sun and ocean. Amid the intense enjoyments and delights of this day, for which I will heartily bless and thank God, my soul will still feel that pang for so much more, so much more of God.

I open wide my mouth today, O Lord, and ask You to fill it, fill it with Your good things, eternal things, durable goods, all-satisfying things, infinite things, the things of the Spirit. And I rejoice that my cry and yearning will assuredly be heard and satisfied in your good time in a new heavens and new earth! Thank you, O Lord! For you I wait all the day, all my life!

Blog Break

It's time for a blog break. As some of you know, I'm a practicing physical therapist. That's my vocation. While practicing physical therapy, I've also been working on a biblical exegesis degree at Wheaton College. Well, it's time to wrap up the degree this year, and I've got to kick it in high gear as I gear up for my comprehensive exams and push through my final coursework. My wife and I are also expecting the public appearance of our first child, Ariana, in about six weeks.

So, I'll be occupied with caring for our little girl, and I'll be doing much more reading and studying that I have to do, instead of what I'd like to do. The upshot: there will be less material for the blog that I'd like to post. So I'm putting it on hold for a season. I hope to be back to blogging before too long, probably posting a lot of stuff from fresh communion with my first love—theology, especially the practical, experimental, doxological variety. The only kind, in my mind, that matters much!

Till then, press on to know the Lord! And please pray that I'll do the same.

Dear Father, Deliver Us From All Evil

A Lutheran prayer for God's protection from all evil:

Dear Father, give us our daily bread, good seasons, and health. Protect us from war, disease, and drought. If you would tempt me a bit by withholding your blessings for a while, then your will be done. If my time is up and my hour has come, deliver me from all evil. If not, give me strength and patience. Amen.

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 95.

Calvin's Faith Facing Death

From Calvin's will, made on his deathbead:

I give thanks to God who had mercy on me. . . . He delivered me out of the deep darkness of idolatry in which I was plunged, that he might bring me into the light of the gospel. . . . I have no other defense or refuge for salvation than his free adoption, on which alone my salvation depends. With all my soul I embrace the mercy that he has exercised towards me through Jesus Christ, atoning for my sins with the merits of his death and passion, that in this way he might satisfy for all my offences and faults and blot them out form his remembrance. I testify also and declare that I earnestly beg him to be pleased so to wash and purify me in the blood that my Sovereign Redeemer has shed for the sins of mankind, that under his shadow I may be able to stand at the judgment-seat. . . . 

I also testify and declare that in all the battles and disputations in which I have been engaged with the enemies of the gospel, I have used no falsehood, no wicked and sophistical devices, but have acted straightforwardly and sincerely in defending the truth.  

Yet, alas, my ardour and zeal (if indeed worthy of the name) have been so slack and languid that I confess I have failed countless times to execute my office properly, and had not he, of his boundless goodness, assisted me . . . those mental powers that the Lord gave me would at his judgment-seat prove me more and more guilty of sin and sloth. 

For these reasons I testify and declare that I trust to no other security for my salvation than this alone, that as God is the Father of mercy, so he will show himself such a Father to me, who acknowledge myself to be a miserable sinner.

—J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 16.

Is God Concerned about Oxen?

A helpful and insightful interpretation for Paul's use of Deut. 25:4 in 1 Cor. 9:9 may be found here. And the methodology modeled there is quite instructive and sound.

O God, Be Glorified at Home

A Lutheran prayer for the glory of God in the home:

Dear God, you have given to me my wife, children, house, and property. I receive these as you desire, and will care for them for your sake. Therefore I will do as much as possible that all may go well. If my plans do not all succeed, I will learn to be patient and let what cannot be changed take its course. If I do well I will give God the glory. I will say, O Lord, it is not my work or effort but your gift and providence. Take my place and be the head of the family. I will yield humbly and be obedient to you. Amen.  

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 94.

When God Pours Out His Spirit

Commenting on Gen. 4:26, Edwards speaks to what begins to happen when God's Spirit moves among men:

We see by experience that a remarkable pouring out of the Spirit of God is always attended with such an effect, namely, a great increase of the performance of the duty of prayer. When the Spirit of God begins or works on men's hearts, [he] immediately sets them to calling on the name of the Lord; as it was with Paul after the Spirit of God had laid hold on him, the the next news is behold he prayeth. So it has been in all remarkable pourings out of the Spirit of God that we have any particular account of in Scripture, and so it is foretold it will be at the great pouring out of the Spirit of God in the latter days. 

 —Jonathan Edwards, A History of the Work of Redemption (ed. John F. Wilson; vol. 21, Works; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), 142.

The Minister and His Greek Testament

From "The Minister and His Greek New Testament," originally published in The Presbyterian 88 (February 7, 1918), Machen speaks pretty straightforwardly about the decline of Greek among ministers:

The widening breach between the minister and his Greek Testament may be traced to two prinicipal causes. The modern minister objects to his Greek New Testament or is indifferent to it, first, because he is becoming less interested in his Greek, and second, because he is becoming less interested in his New Testament.

—J. Gresham Machen, Selected Shorter Writings (Phillipsburg: P&R, 2004), 210.

What is Typology?

Here are a few answers.

J. I. Packer succinctly gives us the standard stuff:

Typology . . . looks into Old Testament patterns of divine action, agency, and instruction that [find] final fulfillment in Christ. . . .[1]

Peter J. Leithart says it in his own way:

 “Typology” is a loaded word. . . . I use the word not only to highlight the principle that the Old Testament points ahead to Christ, but also to describe the structure of the Old Testament itself. The Old Testament is composed according to a rhythm of “repetition with difference” that is a microcosm of New Testament typology. David is a “type” of Jesus, but he is also an “antitype” of Adam. When I speak of a “typological” understanding of the Old Testament I am further calling attention to the literary devices that the Bible uses to communicate its message. These are “typological” in the sense that they are the means by which the Bible presents the rhythms of history, as well as the means by which the Old Testament in particular points to Christ. . . .[2]

And D. L. Baker perhaps puts it most helpfully:

The fundamental conviction that underlies typology is that God is consistently active in the history of this world (especially in the history of his chosen people) and that as a consequence the events in this history tend to follow a consistent pattern. One event may thus be chosen as typical of another or of many others. 

A type is a biblical event, person, or institution that serves as an example or pattern for other events, person, or institutions; typology is the study of types and the historical and theological correspondences between them; the basis of typology is God’s consistent activity in the history of his chosen people.[3]

---

[1] J. I. Packer, From the Forward of The Unfolding Mystery: Discovering Christ in the Old Testament (Phillipsburg: P&R, 1988), 8.

[2] Peter Leithart, A House for My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament (Moscow: Canon Press, 2000), 27-28.

[3] Quoted in Robin Routledge, Old Testament Theology: A Thematic Approach (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 45. 

No Fixed Rules of Interpretation

Luther on hermeneutics:

I acknowledge no fixed rules of interpretation of the Word of God, since the Word of God, which teaches freedom in all other matters, must not be bound.

—The Freedom of the Christian (Luther's Works, vol. 31; ed. Harold J. Grimm; Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1957), 341.

YHWH's Majestic Royal Voice

Here's trying my hand at translating Psalm 29. I've attempted to bring out something of the structure, flow, force, and poetics of the Hebrew, while maintaing an essentially literal translation.

A Psalm of David.

Give to YHWH, O sons of God,
     Give to YHWH glory and strength.
     Give to YHWH the glory of his name;
Worship YHWH in holy array.

YHWH's voice is over the waters,
     The God of glory thunders,
          YHWH, over vast waters;
YHWH's voice in power,
YHWH's voice in majesty;
YHWH's voice breaking cedars,
     YHWH shattering the cedars of Lebanon,
          making them skip like a calf,
               Lebanon and Sirion, like a young wild ox.
YHWH's voice hews flames of fire.
YHWH's voice cunvulses the wilderness,
     YHWH convulses the wilderness of Kadesh.
YHWH's voice brings birth pangs on does
          as it strips the forests bare,
               And all in his temple cry, "Glory!"

YHWH sat enthroned at the flood;
      YHWH sits enthroned, King forever.
YHWH grants strength to his people;
     YHWH blesses his people with peace.

Apprehending the Meaning and Power of the Word of God

From The Presbyterian Guardian, February 25, 1945, John Murray pleads for "concentrated, sustained, devoted study of the Bible, the kind of study that is not fulfilled by the perfunctory reading of some passages each day":

The set periods of family worship are not, of course, by any means to be disparaged. This is a highly necessary and most fruitful exercise. The influence for good exerted by honouring God's Word in this way is incalculable for all concerned. Indeed, the minimal use of the Bible in this way has often left an indelible impression for good. And furthermore, the set periods of family worship may become the occasions for very concentrated and systematic study of the Bible.

But what I am going to stress is the necessity for diligent and persevering searching of the Scriptures; study whereby we shall turn and turn again the pages of Scripture; the study of prolonged thought and meditation by which our hearts and minds may become soaked with the truth of the Bible and by which the deepest springs of thought, feeling and action may be stirred and directed; the study by which the Word of God will grip us, bind us, hold us, pull us, drive us, raise us up from the dunghill, bring us down from our high conceits and make us its bondservants in all of thought, life and conduct. 

The Word of God is a great deep; the commandment is exceeding broad; and so we cannot by merely occasional, hurried and perfunctory use of it understand its meaning and power.

—Collected Writings of John Murray (Carlisle: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1976), 3.

Edwards on Righteousness and Covenant Faithfulness

Here's a quotation from Edwards' A History of the Work of Redemption that might surprise you:

By God's righteousness here [Isa. 51:8] is meant his faithfulness in fulfilling his covenant promises to his church, or his faithfulness towards his church and people in bestowing the benefits of the covenant of grace upon them. . . .

 So the word righteousness is very often used in Scripture for his covenant faithfulness; so 'tis in Neh. 9:8, "Thou hast performed thy words for thou art righteous." And so we are to understand righteousness and covenant mercy to be the same thing, as in Ps. 24:5, "He shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of [his salvation]"; Ps. 36:10, "O continue thy lovingkindness to them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright"; and Ps. 51:14, "Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, though God of my salvation; and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness"; and Dan. 9:16, "O Lord, according to thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away"; and so in innumerable places.

—Jonathan Edwards, A History of the Work of Redemption (ed. John F. Wilson; vol. 21, Works; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), 114-115.

Secularism and Separation of Church and State

Hunter Baker on the difference between secularism and the notion of the separation of church and state:

Secularism is not and should not be synonymous with the separation of church and state. The separation of church and state, in the classical sense, simply means that the state does not collect fees to support the church; neither does it mandate membership in the church. . . . 

When Christians rail against the separation of church and state and heatedly charge that those words do not appear in the Constitution, they are really reacting to secularism. The problem is that the language of the separation of church and state is often used to push for more secularistic understandings. Given a right understanding of secularism as the separation of religion from public life and the separation of church and state as nothing more than formal institutional independence of church and state, citizens should value church-state separation as the healthier and more justifiable state of affairs. 

—Hunter Baker, The End of Secularism (Wheaton: Crossway, 2009), 19-20.

Parting with Your Isaac for God's Sake

From his Signs of Godliness notebook, Edwards commenting on Gen. 22:12:

God would teach us this by it: that that is a sign of the truth of grace, when men have a preparedness of mind to part with their Isaac, that is, that which is dearest to them of all things earthly, for God's sake.

—Jonathan Edwards, Writings on the Trinity, Grace, and Faith (ed. Sang Hyun Lee; vol. 21, Works; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 483.

The Fruits of Grace in the Life

From Edwards' Signs of Godliness notebook:

The fruits of grace in the life must needs be the proper evidences of it. What can be the proper evidence of a person's loving God above all but his actually preferring him, or preferring him indeed when it comes to a trial? What can be the proper evidences of the heart's forsaking all for Christ, or of his willingness to forsake all for him, than his actually doing of it, as there is occasion? What can be the proper evidence of trusting in the promises of God, than his actually running the venture of their truth when it comes to a trial? 

The act of the man must be the proper evidence of the act of the heart. The will must be shown by the voluntary actions. We find the promises of God sometimes made to conversion and sometimes to perseverance: 'tis because perseverance is but the actual fulfillment of that which is virtually done in conversion, and the accomplishment is the proper evidence of the virtual accomplishment. When two things are set before a man to see which he will choose, the proper evidence which he chooses, is which he takes. So is practice the evidence of sincerity, and the fruit that by which the tree is known. Surely the proper evidence of a man's heart's being prepared to cleave to Christ above all, is his actually doing it; the proper manifestation of choice is act. 

'Tis true it is the heart that God looks at; godliness lies in the disposition of the heart, but godliness consists not in an heart to purpose to fulfill God's commandments, but in an heart actually to do it.

—Jonathan Edwards, Writings on the Trinity, Grace, and Faith (ed. Sang Hyun Lee; vol. 21, Works; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 476.

Relativism Commits Cosmic Treason

Piper speaks to the cosmic treason of relativism:

Relativism is a pervasive rebellion against the very concept of divine law. Therefore, it is a profound rebellion against God. It is a treason that is worse than outright revolt, because it is devious. Instead of saying to God's face, "Your word is false," it says to man, "There is no such thing as a universally binding divine word." This is treason against the King of the universe.

 —John Piper, Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 106.

Authentic Biblical Interpretation

Packer on inauthentic interpretation versus the real deal:

Historical exegesis is only the preliminary part of interpretation; application is its essence. Exegesis without application should not be called interpretation at all (27).

And further on,

This is biblical interpretation: seeing first what the text meant and then what it means—that is, how what it says touches our lives (45).

And even further on,

Historical exegesis becomes interpretation only when the application is truly made (45).

—J. I. Packer, Honouring the Written Word of God: Collected Shorter Writings on the Authority and Interpretation of Scripture (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999).

Ten Words Amid Intolerance

D. A. Carson concludes his book The Intolerance of Tolerance with a chapter entitled "Ways Ahead: Ten Words." What follows are the headings of these ten words:

1. Expose the New Tolerance's Moral and Epistemological Bankruptcy
2. Preserve a Place for Truth
3. Expose the New Tolerance's Condescending Arrogance
4. Insist That the New Tolerance Is Not Progress
5. Distinguish Between Empirical Diversity and the Inherent Goodness of All Diversity
6. Challenge Secularism's Ostensible Neutrality and Superiority
7. Practice and Encourage Civility
8. Evangelize
9. Be Prepared to Suffer
10. Delight in and Trust God

Under the tenth heading, so important that I include it, Carson says this:

Delight in God, and trust him. God remains sovereign, wise, and good. Our ultimate confidence is not in any government or party, still less in our ability to mold the culture in which we live. God may bring about changes that reflect the more robust understanding of tolerance better known in earlier times, and that would be very helpful; alternatively, he may send "a powerful delusion so that [people] will believe the lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:11), and in consequence we may enter into more suffering for Jesus than the West has known for some time. That would have the effect of aligning us with brothers and sisters in Christ in other parts of the world, and enable us to share something of the apostle's joy (Acts 5:41). 

 —D. A. Carson, The Intolerance of Tolerance (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 161-176.

Dear Lord, Make Me a Devout Parent

A Lutheran prayer for parenting:

O Lord Jesus Christ, you have opened my eyes for me to see how through your death you have redeemed me from sin, and through your resurrection have made me an heir of heaven and eternal life. 

Now, dear Lord, I thank you for these great and unspeakable gifts. I will in turn gladly do what you require of me. You have commanded me to serve my wife (husband) faithfully, and to bear the responsibilities of family life diligently and submissively. I will gladly do this. You have made me father (mother) of a family. 

Dear Lord, make me a devout parent. Help me to discharge my parental duties with heart and soul. I would rather lose my life than disobey you by offending my children and members of my household or by failing to guide them faithfully. You will not permit this ordinance and blessing of yours to be disturbed or destroyed, but will graciously protect it through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1994), 94.

Shallow Reductionism and Homosexuality

D. A. Carson on popular discourse about homosexuality:

Not for a moment should anyone deny that the evidence as to what "makes" a homosexual is extraordinarily complex. Few have matched the care and objectivity of the study by Stanton L. Jones and Mark A. Yarhouse. In popular discourse, however, virtually none of that complexity is allowed to surface in the public square. It is everywhere assumed that people are simply born that way, and that's all there is to it. Even if that were the case—and the evidence simply will not allow such shallow reductionism—it would not in itself establish that the practice of homosexuality is a good thing, absent a number of other assumptions

 —D. A. Carson, The Intolerance of Tolerance (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 134.

The Destruction of Sennacherib

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay wither'd and strown.

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he pass'd;
and the eyes of the sleepers wax'd deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!

And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there roll'd not the breath of his pride:
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow and the rust on his mail;
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.

And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

—George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824)

On Controversy and a Little Math

A good word over at Ligonier from John Newton about engaging in controversy. If you are sixty years old or older, read it twice a year, or roughly every six months. Multiply this recommendation of twice a year by two for every ten years that you fall short of sixty. If you are over eighty, you don't need to read it anymore.

I can hear the sophomoric nineteen-year-old's voice crying out vehemently in objection and gathering up a steam of polemic against legalism: "But where does the Bible require that!? And, in any case, if I did that, do you know how little time I'd have for fighting the enemy who is threatening to overthrow Christendom if I don't act now." Exactly.

Jesus Hates the Fed

Doug Wilson posts on legalized governmental theft:

Christian preachers need to just cut to the chase. Obamacare is not just theft, and not just grand larceny, it is mega larceny. Life is simple. Taking money from one group of people in order to give it to another group of people is larceny.

And further on:

I would have no problem condemning our modern banking and finance system, from the Fed on down, and I would have no problem issuing this condemnation from the pulpit in the name of Jesus. Why? Thou shalt not steal, as someone once said. 

"But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the Lord thy God" (Deut. 25:15-16). 

"Divers weights, and divers measures, Both of them are alike abomination to the Lord" (Prov. 20:10). 

"Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water" (Isa. 1:22).

This is why we can say that Jesus Christ hates the Fed. He hates it because it is an abomination to Him, and we can say this for the same reason that we can say He hates it when a butcher has his thumb on the scales. 

Pumping unbacked currency into the economy is the same sin in principle as having different sets of weights and measures. It is the same sin as mixing low-grade wheat into the silo, and pretending you didn't. It is the same sin as cutting the wine with water, and selling it as though you hadn't. 

It is the sin of putting copper into your quarters. That's not a little thing—the Bible calls it an abomination.

The whole post, which is quite good, may be found here.

Atheism, Secularism, and Oceans of Spilled Blood

D. A. Carson on the legacy of secularism in the twentieth century:

The twentieth century, the bloodiest in human history, exhibited spectacular instances of intolerance—and the most violent exemplars had very little to do with religion. Of course, there was at least a religious component in the strife in the Balkans and again in the bloody violence between the Tutsis and Hutus. Yet most observers recognized that even here the more important factors were tribalism, racism, perceived economic injustice, very different interpretations of history, and "honor" and vengeance killings that escalated to the scale of genocide.  

Few religious factors played much part in the largest of the slaughters of the twentieth century, the violence espoused by Fascism and Communism. Perhaps fifty million Chinese died under Mao, about twenty million Ukrainians under Stalin, and then we come to World War II and the Holocaust. In both its Russian and its Chinese forms, Communism was overtly atheistic. In both its German and its Italian forms, Fascism was nominally Christian but only in the sense that it was happy to appeal to God and religion in pursuit of its own social and political agendas, never so as to be reformed by Scripture or Christian truth or morality, never in any sense to belong to the great tradition of historic creeds. . . . Atheism, whether theoretical (as in Communism) or practical (as in Fascism), far from being tolerant, spilled oceans of blood. 

 —D. A. Carson, The Intolerance of Tolerance (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 72-73.

Reformation and the Liberal Arts

Doug Wilson offers a helpful review of The Liberal Arts: A Student's Guide by Gene C. Fant Jr. What these educators point out about that state of education and the needs of the hour really should be taken to heart by every thinking man, woman, boy, and girl, but especially by every nonthinking man, woman, boy, and girl. Such would be part of moving the church and country in the direction of much-needed reformation. I doubt that cultural reform and church reform can happen without serious educational reform, starting with our own children in the church.