A Love for Truth...A Truth that Loves

The Hidden Life of Prayer

2012-02-01T22:31:00.002-06:00

The Hidden Life of Prayer: The Lifeblood of the Christian by David McIntyre

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book will help you to pray. It strings together what some of the great prayer warriors of the past have had to say about prayer (p.20). You’ll hear from hall-of-famers like Andrew Bonar, Robert Murray McCheynne, and Richard Baxter. Unfortunately, this wisdom from the ages also comes with the original packing, and some readers will struggle a little with the older styles of writing.

Our equipment for prayer is a quiet place, a quiet hour, and a quiet heart. Of course, in our noisy world, it’s hard to find anything that’s quiet. Yet, as George Bowen says, “it will never be altogether well with us till we convert the universe into a prayer room, and continue in the Spirit as we go from place to place” (36).

Of the three tools, the most important is a quiet heart. We can quiet our hearts for prayer by directing our hearts to

    - our acceptance with God through Christ’s offering
    - the Spirit’s grace
    - the Holy Scriptures.

What about our posture in prayer? Kneel? Sit? Lie down—surely not! When it comes to prayer, it’s not so much the posture of our bodies that counts, but the posture of our minds. Our minds need to open to God’s presence, honest before him, and full of faith in him who as God is all-powerful and as Father is all-gracious. Here is the posture the author extols:

Lord, here I hold within my trembling hand,

This will of mine—a thing which seemeth small;

And only thou, O Christ, canst understand

How, when I yield thee this, I yield mine all.

It hath been wet with tears, and stained with sighs,

Clenched in my grasp till beauty hath it none;

Now, from thy footstool where it prostrate lies

Thy prayer ascendeth, Let thy will be done. (p.58)

After devoting a chapter to each of the forms of prayer (worship, confession, and request), the book concludes with two chapters on the rewards of prayer. Prayer’s rewards are both “hidden” (changing you) and “open” (blessing others).

Prayer changes you! One of its “hidden” riches is the knowledge of God’s will:

In prayer we present ourselves to God, holding our motives in his clear light, and estimating them after the counsel of his will. Thus our thoughts and feelings stratify themselves: those that rise towards the honour of God taking precedence of those that drift downward towards the gratification of self. And so the great decisions of life are prepared.

In prayer, Jacob became Israel; in prayer, Daniel saw Christ’s day, and was glad; in prayer, Saul of Tarsus received his commission to go ‘far hence’ among the Gentiles; in prayer, the Son of Man accomplished his obedience, and embraced the cross. (107)

Prayer changes others! One of its “open” rewards is the spread of the kingdom by prayer:

By prayer, the tentmaker of Tarsus won the dissolute Corinthians to purity and faith, laid the enduring foundations of Western Christianity, and raised the name of Jesus high in the very palace of Nero. (121-2)

Robert Roberts preached a sermon that led to an awakening in Wales. A friend asked the preacher a few days later where he got “that wonderful sermon.” Roberts led him to a small parlour and said “It was here I found that sermon you speak of—on the floor here, all night long, turning backward and forward, with my face sometimes on the earth” (122).

“In a word, every gracious work which has been accomplished within the kingdom of God has been begun, fostered and consummated by prayer” (123). There is no secret to revival; it is only “ask and receive.”

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Humilitas

2011-12-31T15:55:00.002-06:00

Humilitas by John Dickson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is not an Andrew Murray type book on humility. This is a book on leadership, business leadership. However, it’s not a Stephen Covey type leadership book either. The author comes to the topic as a historian. Dickson’s basis thesis is that “the most influential and inspiring people are often marked by humility” (19) and that if you want success, humility is a virtue to be cultivated. The book’s aim, therefore, is to convince the reader of the logic, beauty, and benefits of humility (29).

Dickson anticipates that many of us do not instinctively associate humility with leadership, and so he shows us some of the “strange places” it shows up in. Jim Collins, in his hunt for the components of great leadership, determined them to be “steely determination and an attitude of humility” (20).

Then there’s this quote from General Stanley McChrystal:

I have found in my experience that the best answers and approaches may be counter-intuitive. The opposite of what it seems you ought to do is what ought to be done. So, when I’m asked the question, What approach should we take in Afghanistan? I say, humility. (21)

The author defines humility as

the noble choice to forgo your status, deploy your resources or use your influence for the good of others before yourself. More simply, you could say the humble person is marked by a willingness to hold power in service of others. (24)

Humility presupposes dignity, is willing, and is social (for the sake of others, unlike modesty, which is more a private condition of mind) (24-5).

Next follows a chapter on leadership, which Dickson discusses in such a way that we can immediately see the contribution humility can make to it. Because leadership is fundamentally relational—it’s all about leading and influencing others, after all—the leader’s most central tools are persuasion and example (43). By example, Dickson means the leader’s character. In order to be respected and followed, leaders must display honourable character, of which humility is key. Character is also a vital factor in a leader’s persuasiveness: “The perceived character of the persuader is central to his powers of persuasion” (140).

Humility’s other benefits are its abilities to inspire others (chapter 9), outdo “tolerance” at promoting harmony (chp 10), and promote growth in abilities (chp 7). Dickson provides a great example of the latter when he talks about humility’s contribution to science (118-20). Professor Raymond Tallis tells the story of the invention of the clinical trial and of how an 18th century ship physician named James Lind found that a diet of citrus fruits was effective in warding off scurvy. Tallis concludes:

So, let’s hear it for James Lind. The humility built into the very idea of the clinical trial: I don’t know whether this treatment based on anecdotal observation and consistent with my theories really works is the opposite of the argument from authority. (119-120)

In this case humility fostered knowledge.

Also, following Chesterton, Dickson writes: “Humility, by contrast, [Chesterton] said, reminds us that we are small and incomplete and so urges us on toward the heights of artistic, scientific and societal endeavour:

Even the haughty visions, the tall cities, and the toppling pinnacles are the creations of humility…For towers are not tall unless we look up at them; and giants are not giants unless they are larger than we. All this gigantesque imagination, which is, perhaps, the mightiest of the pleasures of man, is at bottom entirely humble. It is impossible without humility to enjoy anything. (120)

In chapter 3, the author shows that it makes sense for us to be humble quite apart from any discussion of humility’s benefits. When we look out horizontally at each other, and vertically at the universe (and its Origin), humility becomes us.

In chapters 5 and 6, the historian in Dickson kicks in especially. Humility hasn’t always been a virtue. The ancient world was an honour and shame culture, and thus humility didn’t rank very high. You would be humble before a god or emperor because they could kill you, “but humility before an equal or a lesser was morally suspect. It upset the assumed equation: merit demanded honour, thus honour was the proof of merit. Avoiding honour implied a diminishment of merit. It was shameful” (89).

He persuasively shows the starkness of change from the ancient world to the modern one by a section on boasting (90-95). The only thing that can account for so vast a change is a “humility revolution” (95).

Which leads to chapter 6 (“Cruciform: How a Jew from Nazareth Redefined Greatness”). Even more than Jesus’ revolutionary teachings, it was his execution that put humility on the map. So much so that humility, and the accompanying virtue love, become the central virtues that the Apostle Paul exhorts the Christians in Philippi to adopt 20 plus years later, and he bases his appeal in Jesus’ crucifixion and subsequent exaltation.

The final chapter discusses steps that we can take to grow in our humility.

This is a great little book. The author is a Christian writing about a subject that historically revolves around Jesus of Nazareth. But Dickson’s audience is a business one, not a Christian one, and he takes many precautions to keep his secular audience from being turned away. Too many precautions, would be my only complaint.

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Now, discover your strengths

2011-12-30T15:20:00.002-06:00

Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book builds on the previously written, First, Break All the Rules. Its main assertion is that a “strengths revolution” is required in order for businesses to achieve excellence. Organizations must switch their focus from fixing weaknesses to maximizing strengths (3-4). It is not true that each person can become good at anything. It is not true that the greatest potential for personal growth is the areas we are weak in. The greatest potential for growth is in the areas of our greatest strength (7-8).

This book contributes three tools to the furthering of the strengths revolution. First, it brings clarity to what a strength is and what it’s composed of. A strength is composed of knowledge, skill, and talent, and the greatest of these is talent. A talent is something innate, whereas skill and knowledge are things that can be picked up. This means that one’s potential strengths are limited by one’s makeup. Endless effort to develop skill and gain knowledge will not a strength make unless one possesses the needed talent integral to that strength.

Thus, the key to building a bona fide strength is to identify your dominant talents and then refine them with knowledge and skills (30).

The second tool, following from the first, is a system for identifying one’s dominant talents. Here the book offers two forms of help. To assist in self-identifying them, we are instructed to monitor our spontaneous reactions to situations, our yearnings, the things in which we learn rapidly, and our satisfactions.

The main tool that is provided for discovering your talents, however, is the StrengthsFinder Profile, which is explained in the book, and conducted online.

The third revolutionary tool they provide is a common language describing the main kinds of talents. Chapter 4 labels and describes 34 themes or talents.

Beyond these three tools, the authors also include a chapter on managing the various strengths. One page is devoted to each of the 34 themes, and helpful advice is given if you are managing an employee who strong in analysis, for instance.

The final chapter lays out the big picture of how to build a strengths-based organization.

*************

I found the book, and the StrengthsFinder Profile in particular, to be a great help. The five talents the StrengthsFinder identified in me were accurate in identifying my major talents, although I might quibble with the way there were ranked.

*************

How this book intersects with a Christian worldview

One thing to consider is how a focus on one’s innate talents rubs shoulders with the Christian concept of one’s calling (pp. 144-7 are very interesting in this regard). For instance, if we should focus our energy and time on what we’re innately good at, does that mean that a Christian can explore his or her talents, and see in them God’s calling on their life?

The logic would be like this:

If God has a calling for our lives

then he would shape us for that calling by gifting us with the necessary talents

Therefore, an important process in discerning one’s calling in life is to explore what he has fitted us for. A Christian considering becoming a nurse because the pay is attractive might realize this is not God’s calling for her when she discovers that she is not naturally blessed with the talent of empathy.

I think this is a legitimate approach to choosing a station in life. It is submissive to God’s authority. However, some caveats need to be mentioned. First, when God calls us to do something, he does equip us for it, but not always by supplying one individual the needed talent in every case. I’m thinking of Moses here. Buckingham would call that “managing around your weakness” (148-59). Secondly, the authors make an important distinction between your field and your role within that field (160). To return to our nursing example, the gal lacking in empathy may still be called to the field of nursing, but perhaps she would serve better in a research role, particularly if one of her talents is intellection.

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Are we neo-monastic?

2011-11-27T21:30:00.000-06:00

Gene Veith quotes John Pless in an article entitled Our Calling and God's Glory:

Medieval Roman Catholicism presupposed a dichotomy between life in the religious orders and life in ordinary callings. It was assumed that the monastic life guided by the evangelical counsels (i.e., the Sermon on the Mount) provided a more certain path to salvation than secular life regulated by the decalog. American Evangelicalism has spawned what may be referred to as "neo-monasticism." Like its medieval counterpart, neo-monasticism gives the impression that religious work is more God-pleasing than other tasks and duties associated with life in the world. According to this mindset, the believer who makes an evangelism call, serves on a congregational committee, or reads a lesson in the church service is performing more spiritually significant work than the Christian mother who tends to her children or the Christian who works with integrity in a factory. For the believer, all work is holy because he or she is holy and righteous through faith in Christ.

What do you think? Does God view all legitimate callings as equal? Or does he hold "spiritual" callings such as that of the evangelist in higher significance?

I am of Fee

2011-11-20T16:33:00.000-06:00

Gordon Fee on 1 Corinthians 3:

The Corinthian error is an easy one to repeat. Not only do we all have normal tendencies to turn natural preferences into exclusive ones, but in our fallenness we also tend to consider ourselves “wise” enough to inform God through whom he may minister to his people. Our slogans take the form of “I am of the Presbyterians,” or “of the Pentecostals,” or “of the Roman Catholics.” Or they might take ideological forms: “I am of the liberals,” or “of the evangelicals,” or “of the fundamentalists.” And these are also used as weapons: “Oh, he’s a fundamentalist, you know.” Which means that we no longer need to listen to him, since his ideology has determined his overall value as a spokesman for God. It is hardly possible in a day like ours that one will not have denominational, theological, or ideological preferences. The difficulty lies in allowing that it might really be true that “all things are ours,” including those whom we think God would do better to be without. But God is full of surprises; and he may choose to minister to us from the “strangest” of sources, if we were but more truly “in Christ” and therefore free in him to learn and to love.

This does not mean that one should not be discriminating; after all, Paul has no patience for that teaching in Corinth which had abandoned the pure gospel of Christ. But to be “of Christ” is also to be free from the tyrannies of one’s own narrowness, free to learn even from those with whom one may disagree.

Fee, G. D. (1987). The First Epistle to the Corinthians. The New International Commentary on the New Testament (155–156). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Discernment in church

2011-11-11T15:16:00.000-06:00

Hokey dinah it's been a long time since I blogged.

Anyways, Alan Knox writes:

But, let’s be honest. For the majority of Christians who gather together (at least in the Western world), discernment is not and cannot be part of their gatherings. Usually, only one person speaks. If someone else speaks, that person must first be given permission to speak. Then, if someone has a question about what is said, or if someone disagrees, there are few avenues of asking questions, much less discernment. (Yes, I understand that some “preachers” or teachers allow for questions and disagreements. But, for most Christians in America and the west, this is not allowed or encouraged.)

I agree with Alan. How can this be remedied? Should someone teaching invite comments and questions during or after he teaches?

Read the rest of Alan's post.

It's like this for Greek, too

2011-10-08T13:47:00.000-05:00

George Athas on God, Jonah, and the Benefit of Hebrew.

B-Greek

2011-05-30T21:47:00.000-05:00

The B-Greek forum has now moved to a much more suitable venue!

Book review: The Veil is Torn

2011-05-29T20:39:00.000-05:00

The Veil Is Torn: AD 30 to 70 Pentecost to the Destruction of Jerusalem by Ted Byfield

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My knowledge of church history (and all history, for that matter), is embarrassingly sketchy, so I’ve been devoting my Sunday afternoons to remedying the situation. The Veil is Torn is the first volume of the Christian History Project’s series, The Christians: Their First Two Thousand Years. Series editor Ted Byfield introduces the series in his Foreword, in which, following Chesterton, he writes that “the most dangerous people…are those who have been cut off from their cultural roots” (vii). Byfield believes that the whole western world is in that dangerous situation. In our world Christianity is unfashionable, and yet “our founding educational institutions, our medical system, our commitment to the care of the aged and infirm, our concept of individual rights and responsibilities, all came to us through Christianity.”

So this series is all about getting us back to our foundations, and this first volume starts where it all begins: with Jesus, his crucifixion, resurrection, and creation of the Church in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. From there it progresses to other historical happenings that are familiar to readers of the Bible. We follow Peter in and out of the Temple (and prison!). The majority of the rest of the book is then devoted to Paul. The title of chapter 4 is far from an overstatement when it describes Paul’s conversion to Christ as “the conversion that changed history.” Here we encounter a man whose zeal against Christ is transformed into zeal for Christ. The attractiveness and reality of Jesus were so great to Paul that he was willing to endure anything for the sake of his Lord. Sometimes the opposition to him was such that only the Lord was left standing with him:

With Barnabas now, for the moment at least, aligned with the Jerusalem faction, Paul found himself almost alone and surrounded by opponents: by hard-line Temple Jews who saw him as a danger; by the Christian legalists, both Gentiles and Jews, ostensibly backed by the Church authorities in Jerusalem, who considered him reckless and misguided; by pagans, who regarded him as an unpleasant rival and annoying threat; by Greek intellectuals, who viewed him as unbalanced, if not deranged; and, increasingly, by Roman authorities, who viewed him as a disruptive nuisance. (116)

And like his Lord, people have been opposed to him ever since (184-185). Yet he accomplished so much! The Taurus Mountains were a formidable wall discouraging travel from Tarsus to the north east. One single crack, the Cilician Gates, allowed admittance. Through these gates Alexander the Great led his army onward to conquer the world. “Now, through the same pass, the greatest conquest Europe would ever know was about to begin, and the force that would accomplish it was an army of two—Paul and, beside him, his companion Silas” (118).

Paul not only took criticism; he could also give it. Nero’s shenanigans were revolting to many of the Romans themselves; “they were un-Roman!” (218). But the Roman who most stridently denounced Imperial Rome was Paul himself in his letter to the Christian church at Rome. His letter “disclosed a distinct irony. For the Christians, who would be despised and persecuted by Roman officialdom for most of the next three hundred years, in fact stood for nearly all the virtues and principles which Rome had once enshrined” (219).

The last chapter, chapter 9, covers the fall of Jerusalem. It is a horrific tale. The citizens of that city had as much reason to be afraid of their own people as of the Roman army outside the city’s walls. Josephus says they ran out of both wood and room for crosses. Evil reached its lowest when an odour of fresh meat cooking came from the home of a woman named Mary. When a band of rebels demanded that she show her hidden store of food, she produced her roasted, half-eaten baby. The incident was so repulsive that “some Romans simply refused to believe such a thing could happen” (265)

I plan to continue reading through the rest of the volumes in this series. From what I have seen, each volume is well-written, interspersed with many attractive side bars, excurses, and pictures. I would highly encourage families to invest in this series. If Byfield is right, it will be an investment not only in history, but also in the future.

For more information see www.thechristians.ca

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Romance novels and pornography

2011-05-23T21:10:00.000-05:00

See this article by Russell Moore.

An excerpt:

Both are based on an illusion. Pornography is based on the illusion of a perfectly willing, always aroused partner without the “work” of relational intimacy. Often romance novels or their film equivalents do the same thing for the emotional needs of women that pornography offers for the erotic urges of men.

And in both cases, what the “market” wants is sameness. Men want the illusion of women who look just like women but are, in terms of sexual response, just like men. Women want the illusion of men who are “real” men, but, in terms of a concept of romance, are just like women. In both artificial eros and artificial romance, there is the love of the self, not the mystery of the other.

Bible-sanctioned bad manners for Christians

2011-05-07T22:15:00.001-05:00

Provoke one another...to love and good works (Hebrews 10.24, see KJV)
Outdo one another...in showing honor (Romans 12.10)

Leave a comment if you can think of some others. Please!

A dandy article on preaching the gospels and Acts

2011-05-04T21:34:00.000-05:00

Here.

An excerpt or two:

Pharisees were not sanctimonious prigs but progressive reformers who sought to dedicate every aspect of life to God’s glory. They were the devout, seriously religious people who now attend Christian Sunday schools and InterVarsity Bible studies. Likewise, “the elders and chief priests and scribes,” so threatened by Jesus that they collude in his destruction, live on in today’s seminarians, tall-steeple pastors, and biblical scholars.

***
Blessed are you whom the Spirit keeps open to mystery. Like the Gospels themselves, theology and preaching are attempts to articulate God’s intervention in the created world. Because such incursions are inherently enigmatic, they may be interpreted but cannot be solved. Few things from the pulpit are drearier than rationalizations of the extraordinary in the Gospels, apologies for biblical embarrassments, dressed in the lingo of scholastic evangelicalism or liberalized Protestantism. A hundred “proofs” of the virginal conception will never replace a single whisper of holy wonder on Christmas Eve. Shrinking the Five Thousand Fed into an advertisement for UNICEF will leave most Christians famished when they approach the Lord’s Table for nourishment this world cannot provide (John 4:31-34). Learning to preach a comprehensible word without trivializing it spells the difference between a sermon borne on the Spirit’s wings and one that flops to the floor like a dead duck.

In this respect the Gospels and Acts are our best guides. Notice how consistently the literalists miss Jesus’ point (Mark 7:1-23; 8:11-21; John 6:25-71), how rarely—then delicately, in terms of divine grace and human trust—the Evangelists interpret Jesus’ riddles (the parables) or enacted parables (his mighty works). A miracle “explained” is good news gutted: to shift metaphors, a skittish preacher’s attempt to squeeze Awe into a box that cannot contain it (Matt 9:16-17). God does not need our excuses. Can you trust your listeners as much as Mark trusted his—to conclude a Gospel at 16:7-8, announcing that the risen Christ awaits disciples who, for all their devotion, flee in terrified silence?

Read the whole thing.

HT: Michael Bird

Book notes: Love & Respect

2011-04-28T06:00:00.000-05:00

Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The main contribution of this book is to recognize that the Bible doesn’t only have Ephesians 5.25; it also has Eph. 5.33 and 1 Peter 3.1-2. The ideal marriage is one in which all these verses are known and practiced. Men need respect; women need love. When a man enjoys the respect of his wife, she will enjoy the love of her husband. And vice versa. I believe that much of the happiness of our marriage is due to my wife reading and putting into practice the truths in this book early in our marriage; as I read through it, I was checking off all the things she is doing right!

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Book notes: Understanding Variation

2011-04-27T06:00:00.000-05:00

Understanding Variation: The Key to Managing Chaos by Donald J. Wheeler

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I never thought a book on statistics would be exciting, but this one was! It helps that it’s full of stories, stories of the misuse of statistics in management, highlighting the “numerical naiveté” surrounding us (vi). Businesses are managed today off the typical monthly management report; Wheeler shows the irrelevance of such reports for making sound managerial decisions. Graphing the data in control charts present much more meaningful information, and allow one to distinguish between the variation inherent within the process and data that legitimately signal that the process has changed.

The author’s principles are simple and his examples from real life are convincing. He shares more than one horror story of managers being rewarded for the changes they implemented when sound data analysis later revealed that their “improvements” were nothing of the sort.

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Book notes: What is Lean Six Sigma?

2011-04-25T06:00:00.000-05:00

What is Lean Six Sigma by Michael L. George

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is a simple introduction to Lean Six Sigma, an improvement method or engine for eliminating waste in business processes and improving quality (iv).

Lean Six Sigma starts with focusing on the customer and delighting them via speed and quality. The way to achieve this is by improving processes, the environment for doing it in is one of teamwork, and the foundation for it all is data and fact based (as opposed to experience and opinion).

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Book notes: A Place of Healing

2011-04-23T13:50:00.000-05:00

A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain, and God's Sovereignty by Joni Eareckson Tada

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Joni wrote this book out of excruciating pain. It will be especially valuable to those who are also suffering. I won't say more except to mention an wonderful illustration (pp. 96-8) of God’s sovereignty, and wondrous grace in times of trouble.

A while ago Joni and hubby Ken observed 38th anniversary of the day she broke her neck in diving accident. They had crab cakes, because, were it not for a “feisty Chesapeake Bay blue crab” that bit Joni’s sister’s toe, her sister Kathy would not have found Joni lying helpless face-down in water, praying that Kathy would see her and rescue her.

God gave Joni a gift after that anniversary dinner. They were reading from John 5.2-6 when she discovered that Jesus thought that 38 years of paralysis was a long time! She especially appreciated that in light of the fact that 1 Peter 5.10 makes it sound like a “little while.”

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Memorizing Scripture

2011-04-10T21:52:00.000-05:00

Two posts recently from DesiringGod:

Memorizing Scripture: Why and How

Memorizing Scripture for Praying Scripture

I have found the approach that Piper links to very effective.

Free book from Logos

2011-01-15T16:55:00.000-06:00

Logos and Desiring God are offering Memoir and Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne for free! I remember reading this book when I was a boy, and I think it's time for me to read it again.

2011 Denver Journal

2011-01-04T17:30:00.001-06:00

Denver Seminary has their online journal up for 2011, including their updated bibliographies for NT exegesis and OT exegesis.

Review: The future of justification

2011-01-03T06:00:00.005-06:00

The Future of Justification: A Response to N.T. Wright by John Piper

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book a long time ago (early summer maybe?) and I won’t be taking time to review it. Except to say that John Piper has gone to great pains to hear Wright out and understand him. This book is a model for how to disagree with someone.

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Review: Counterfeit Gods

2011-01-02T06:00:00.001-06:00

Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters by Timothy Keller

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As usual, Keller has read both the trendy and the traditional on the subject, and makes the best use of both. Idols are usually good things that have become ultimate things. Because our hearts are idol factories, we can turn anything into an idol. We can identify the idols in our lives by looking at our daydreams, our nightmares (what do we fear the most?), and our emotions.

Keller takes up several biblical narratives in the book to swing our hearts away from our false gods and back to the real God. In each narrative he brings out God’s grace in Jesus, and everything is done in a way that makes this book highly suitable for both Christians and non-Christians.

As a personal example of how our hearts can make an idol out of anything, I realized as I was holding this book in my hands, that this is my idol. How ironic that reading and learning are my idols and then I read a book about it! But the answer is not to throw away all my books. No, it is to throw myself at my Lord Jesus, and to do whatever little learning I am capable of in loving devotion to him and to his people.

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Bible reading plans

2011-01-01T07:00:00.000-06:00

Head over to this post by Justin Taylor for an array of options.

Review: Jane Austen

2010-12-31T13:45:00.000-06:00

Jane Austen by Peter J. Leithart

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I bought this book as a present for my wife. Of course, I also (secretly) wanted to learn more about the genius who created the lovable Mr. Bennett! Leithart is an excellent writer himself.

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Review: Original Sin

2010-12-31T06:00:00.002-06:00

Original Sin: A Cultural History by Alan Jacobs

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In the introduction, Jacob notes that of all religious beliefs, none provokes more criticism and repulsion than the doctrine of original sin. Original sin is irreparable, irreversible, and unpredictable (x-xi). It is the belief that every human being is born with sin already in them. That we all inherit sin, and are culpable. The history of original sin is a history of resistance to it. So why, over the centuries, have so many stubbornly believed it? Well, as Chesterton noted, original sin has enormous empirical evidence (“it is the only doctrine of the Christian faith that is empirically provable” [x])! But the main reason it has been adopted by some of the greatest thinkers in the history of the world is its vast explanatory power. All other explanations for human evil and selfishness fall short.

Original Sin is, in Jacob’s words, “an exemplary history” (as opposed to an exhaustive one), and “a specifically cultural history” (as opposed to a theological history). Thus Jacobs mines the literature of centuries and turns up story after story of people who either fought or defended the doctrine of original sin. The stories range from the ancient past (King David and Bathsheba) to the more recent dawn of eugenics and genetics. Those who are resistant to belief in “a divided self” will need to overcome a barrage of fire to maintain their skepticism by the final page.

One thing that stands out in Jacob’s brilliant treatment is the theme of original sin’s positive contributions to history and life. He introduces us to Pascal, who realized that only the fear of God that comes from being corrupt sinners in the sight of God enables us to have proper wonder at God’s love (116). The power of original sin to bind humans together in a “confraternity” is seen throughout the book, but especially in the chapter on American slavery. Original sin is a brake that can slow and restrain the course of evil (209-10).

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a Soviet prisoner who was brought to faith by being persuaded of the truthfulness of original sin. How he was persuaded of original sin is most interesting. As he watched a habitually-brutal prison guard, he realized over time that

given the same power in the same circumstances, he himself would surely have behaved with equal cruelty. “In the intoxication of youthful successes” he had believed himself “infallible”; it was the Gulag that taught him that he was “a murderer, and an oppressor.” It was the Gulag that taught him that everyone has the capacity to become a Stalin and that therefore “the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but through every human heart.” (224)

Jacobs mines Rebecca West’s work, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (which he believes to be “the greatest book of the twentieth century” [283]), to provide us a vivid illustration of the human heart. West visited a biological museum and sees a two-headed calf. One head was lovely, the other hideous. The owners had fed the beautiful head milk, but the ugly head would spit the milk out, preventing the food from reaching the calf’s stomach. According to the custodian, the calf would have been “alive today had it not been for its nature” (223).

I found the stories where original sin intersected with science to be very interesting. The final chapter features this intersection the most because it deals with genetics. But it also appears in the chapter on American slavery. Interestingly, it is science, not the religious belief of original sin, which gets the bad rap. Swiss naturalist Louis Agassiz was

a progenitor of “scientific racism”—the view that, setting aside any biblical narratives or doctrines that support the unity and common origin of human beings, there is no such thing as the human race; rather, there are several races that, carelessly and unscientifically, have been lumped in a single category. It was the task of science to disentangle the confused strands, to establish clear distinctions among races, to rank them according to intellectual capacity, and to insist that those rankings be reflected in law and public policy. And so the superstitions of biblical literalism would be set aside in the name of scientific progress, which is also, of course, social progress. (203)

Few questions can be more important than what is wrong with us. An incredible journey awaits anyone willing to pick up this book. I highly recommend it.

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ESV Study Bible articles

2010-12-30T13:19:00.000-06:00

My Bible reading plan this year is to read through the entire ESV Study Bible. It's a big project so I've been getting a jump on it and reading some of the articles, which are top-notch.

This morning I read the article Jewish Groups at the Time of the New Testament and found this interesting paragraph about Gamaliel:

Gamaliel, the son (or grandson) of Hillel, was a renowned teacher of the law in Jerusalem. The apostle Paul had been a disciple of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). Gamaliel is remembered for his wisdom (Acts 5:34) and careful management of the Jewish calendar. Most Jews followed a lunisolar calendar, which consisted of 12 lunar months, totaling 354 days. Every three years or so a thirteenth month had to be added, in order to bring the average total days of the year up to the 365.25 days of the solar year. Otherwise, the seasons would not have matched the festivals and sacrifices in the temple. Gamaliel determined when to add the thirteenth month (Mishnah, Rosh Hashshanah 2:8; Sanhedrin 2:6). Ironically, if the Galatian Christians had adopted the calendar of Jewish religious holidays advocated by Paul's opponents (Gal. 4:10), they would have found themselves under the authority of his old teacher!

Changing church in love

2010-12-30T13:07:00.000-06:00

Dave Black's advice is applicable to more than just how to go about encouraging participation in church:

My suggestion? Here it is, for what it's worth. If you'd like to see more participation during or after the sermon time in your church, get to know your pastor. Pray for him regularly. Develop a close, personal friendship with him. Let him know how greatly you respect him, as you are commanded to do in 1 Thess. 5:12-13 (CEV):

My friends, we ask you to be thoughtful of your leaders who work hard and tell you how to live for the Lord. Show them great respect and love because of their work. Try to get along with each other.
Then, within the "safe zone" established by that relationship, you will, I believe, discover opportunity after opportunity to talk with him about church life. I enjoy such a strong and healthy relationship with my pastor at Bethel Hill that I feel free to ask him for the privilege of "saying a word" during the teaching time, and he is glad to grant me that privilege. And not only me. I've seen him gladly accommodate requests from moms and teens and just about anybody who has something the Lord has put on their heart. You see, the context is one of undeniable mutual love, and love makes all the difference.
Friends, if we rush into matters in a confrontational manner, we may soon regret what that does to our testimony. This makes for shallow and inadequate renewal because we have not touched the heart of the matter. It's easy to say to our pastor, "I believe I have the right to speak up this morning during the sermon time, and I'd like to know on what biblical basis you think I'm wrong." And, in some contexts, that may be the right thing to say. But -- and this is just my opinion -- unless it is spoken within the context of a healthy personal relationship, it will fail to accomplish its purpose.

Broken from the start - Jon Foreman

2010-12-29T06:00:00.002-06:00

Learning how to die by John Foreman

2010-12-28T20:58:00.000-06:00

My Grandpa's death a week ago has been bringing some of John Foreman's songs to my head.

What I should have got for Christmas

2010-12-28T17:48:00.000-06:00

This is the alarm clock I need! Clocky, the alarm clock on wheels.

From the Amazon product description:

Never over-sleep again! Clocky is the alarm clock on wheels that runs away beeping! You can snooze one time, but if you don't get up, Clocky will jump off of your nightstand up to 3 feet high, and run around your room as if looking for a place to hide. You'll have to get out of bed to silence Clocky's alarm. Clocky beeps in an R2D2-like robotic pattern so that you are sure to hear him. He's kind of like a pet, only he will get you up at the right time! You can set Clocky to run away right when the alarm sounds, or set to snooze one time before he runs away. Clocky features a customizable snooze time up to 9 minutes long. You can also turn off Clockies wheels if you don't want Clocky to run away one morning. A backlight helps you see Clocky at night. Clocky is perfect for those of us who have trouble waking up in the morning! He is compact, clever, and playful. He will never cease to amuse you as you wake up in the morning.

HT: Matt Perman

Review: The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission

2010-12-21T06:00:00.002-06:00

The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission: Promoting the Gospel with More Than Our Lips by John Dickson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Dickson begins with four confessions. I’ll repeat the two that I find most significant. First, when he was a budding evangelist, he was guilty of reducing the gospel to a couple of theological truths, ignoring the fact that the gospel is a story. Second, he “came to assume that the only important means of promoting Christ was talking about him” (22).

Before tackling either of these early mistakes, Dickson grounds mission in the Bible’s most basic doctrine, which is that there is one God (26). And what does this monotheism have to do with mission? “If there is just one God in the universe, everyone everywhere has a duty to worship that Lord” (27). What follows is an exploration of Psalm 96 and Matthew 28.16-20. The following quote pretty much sums up the significance of tying missions to monotheism:

We promote God’s glory to the ends of the earth not principally because of any human need but fundamentally because of God’s/Christ’s unique worthiness as the Lord of heaven and earth. Promoting the gospel is more than a rescue mission…it is a reality mission (35, emphasis added).

Now Dickson is ready to tackle his second mistake, which was to think that the only activity that promoted the gospel was talking. He makes an important distinction between proclaiming the gospel and promoting the gospel (23).

Then he focuses on the example of Jesus. Jesus’ mission is captured perfectly in his words: “to seek and to save what was lost”. Note the emphasized verbs: “Through his preaching Jesus declared that salvation, through his death and resurrection…he would accomplish that salvation, and through the generosity of his social life he embodied that salvation” (51, emphasis added). Dickson calls us to a “‘salvific mind-set’, that is, an outlook on life that cares deeply for the salvation of others” (60).

What other activities promote the gospel besides talking? We can promote the gospel with our praying (chp 4), our giving (chp 5), through the good works of the church (chp 6), Christian behaviour (chp 7), public praise (chp 10), and in daily conversation (chp 11).

In the chapter on Christian behaviour, Dickson has this to say after mentioning the atheists Hitchens, Harris, and Dawkings:

In the end, the only way to dispel the story that Christianity has been imperialistic, arrogant and harmful is to offer a powerful counternarrative in our lives, day by day committing ourselves to Jesus’ vision of a kingdom marked by meekness, peace-making and love. (105)

Dickson handles his first mistake in chapter 8, What is the Gospel?

“The modern media term ‘newsflash’ probably comes closest in meaning to the ancient word gospel” (112). The theme of the gospel is the kingdom of God, that God reigns through Jesus Christ.

To put it in simple and practical terms, the goal of gospel preaching-–and of gospel promoting—-is to help our neighbours realise and submit to God’s kingship or lordship over their lives. (115)

The content of the gospel is the deeds of the Messiah, as shown by a quick analysis of 1 Corinthians 15.3-5. In this passage, there are five parts to Paul’s summary of the gospel (117):
•    Jesus’ identity as the Christ
•    Jesus’ saving death
•    Jesus’ burial
•    Jesus’ resurrection
•    Jesus’ appearance to witnesses

The third part, Jesus’ burial, is especially helpful in showing that the gospel “is not only a theology—a message about atonement and lordship—it is news of events (121).

The Christian gospel was a news report:

The earliest Christians never said simply, “Here’s the message: see if this rings true for you,” or “Try our doctrines and see if they improve your life.” Believers always said, “Look, these things happened in Palestine recently and a whole bunch of witnesses saw them with their own eyes.(122)

Recently, much has been made of the difference in Jesus’ gospel and Paul’s gospel. I like Dickson’s solution:

The connection between Paul’s gospel and the books we call the Gospels is obvious. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all demonstrate Jesus’ messianic credentials before emphasizing his atoning death and glorious resurrection. (123)

The rest of the chapter keeps getting better and better. It is worth the price of the book. But to avoid copyright infringements, I will skip to the author’s summary of the “core content” of the gospel (139):
•    Jesus’ royal birth secured his claim to the eternal throne promised to King David
•    Jesus’ miracles pointed to the presence of God’s kingdom in the person of the Messiah
•    Jesus’ teaching sounded the invitation of the kingdom and laid down its demands
•    Jesus’ sacrificial death atoned for the sins of those who would otherwise be condemned at the consummation of the kingdom
•    Jesus’ resurrection establishes him as the Son whom God has appointed Judge of the world and Lord of the coming kingdom.

To return to the question asked by the chapter’s title, here is the author’s definition from the introduction:

The gospel is the announcement that God has revealed his kingdom and opened it up to sinners through the birth, teaching, miracles, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will one day return to overthrow evil and consummate the kingdom for eternity. (22)

Chapter 12 (A Year in the Life of the Gospel) is an innovative chapter in which Dickson weaves the principles he’s been writing about with some stories he’s combined and tweaked to show us what can happen when Christians live according to a salvific mind-set. Appendix 1 provides gospel sound bites—short responses to different topics that come up in conversation. In Appendix 2 Dickson attempts a modern retelling of the gospel.

This book is undoubtedly the best book on evangelism and promotion of the gospel that I have ever read. I highly recommend it.

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David Gooding article on Daniel

2010-12-20T08:00:00.001-06:00

David Gooding is one of my heroes, so I'm always delighted to come across another article he's written. In the The Word Became Fresh, Davis references the following article in a footnote:

David W. Gooding, “The Literary Structure of the Book of Daniel and its Implications,” Tyndale Bulletin 32 (1981) (n.d.): 43-80, http://98.131.162.170//tynbul/library/TynBull_1981_32_02_Gooding_LiteraryDaniel.pdf.

Reivew: The Word Became Fresh

2010-12-20T06:00:00.001-06:00

The Word Became Fresh: How to Preach from Old Testament Narrative Texts by Dale Ralph Davis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is another of my favourite reads in 2010. Davis is a breath of fresh air. “I simply want to stir up the biblical juices of preachers and students, to help people walk away from the text muttering about what a delightful book God has given us” (3). With his down-to-earth approach, breezy style, and innovative illustrations and applications, Davis is a joy to read. And for the preacher, there’s a potential sermon hiding on every page.

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Review: Paul

2010-12-19T06:00:00.001-06:00

Introducing Paul: The Man, His Mission and His Message by Michael F. Bird

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a short and delightful introduction to Paul. I wish American publishers had followed the British publishers in naming it A Bird’s Eye View of Paul!

Bird’s objective “is to get people excited about reading Paul’s letters, preaching Paul’s gospel and living the Christian life the way Paul thought it should be lived” (6).

In studying Paul, the goal is not Paul; we study Paul because of what he can do for us in our pursuit of Christ. “To venerate Paul is to denigrate the Saviour whom he so passionately serves” (11)

“A fresh encounter with Paul will leave your assumptions shaken to their foundations, your theological world turned upside down, your spirituality revitalized, your faith quickened, your love for God and Christ renewed, and your labour in the kingdom refocused. This is Paul for the people of God.” (15)

Paul is not just an apostle to the Gentiles, “but among them as well” (19).

His theological centre is somewhere close to “the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ” (22).

I love the chapter on Paul’s conversion on the Damascus road. “That grace event killed Saul the Pharisee and birthed Paul the apostle” (37).

“The invitation to believe in Jesus and join the church was ultimately an invitation to identify with a certain story and to order one’s life according to the story, symbols and praxis of Jesus the Messiah.” (39)

In chapter 4 (Reading someone else’s mail) Bird provides a brief tour through Paul’s letters (which Bird calls “pastoral postcards”! [12]).

Chapter 5 looks at what the gospel is. The gospel is not a formula or a syllogism, but a story (77).

The gospel is about both the person and work of Christ. God promised in the Scriptures that he would renew creation and restore Israel. The gospel is the good news that God has made these promises good in Jesus, the Messiah and Lord. Jesus died and rose for the purpose of atoning for sins and through faith in him and his work believers are reconciled to God. The new age has been launched and God has revealed his saving righteousness in the gospel so that he justifies and delivers persons from the penalty and power of sin and death. (83)

Bird explores some of the concepts used by Paul in his thinking and teaching about salvation in chapter 6. Here is where justification is discussed by someone who appreciates both Piper and Wright, but follows neither: “In sum, justification is the act whereby God creates a new people, with a new status, in a new covenant, as a foretaste of the new age” (96).

Additional chapters discuss Paul’s teaching on eschatology, Christology, ethics, and spirituality.

Throughout the book Bird is unable to keep his humour and wit in suppression. He discovers a new position on the millennium (“‘pan-millenial’, the belief that it will all out pan out at the end” [116]!), and he composes the following ‘hymn’ in order to illustrate how strange the gospel would have sounded to those who first heard Paul preach it (please read the context before calling Bird or me disrespectful):

Carlos was there on that horrible chair
They tied him down with bolts and then zapped him with 40 000 volts
It was for you that our saviour fried and died
Despite the fact that his hair caught on fire, this one is God’s true Messiah.
The wisdom of the world has been refuted because Carlos was electrocuted
He is my saviour and my lamp, because he absorbed every deadly amp
Now I know that God does care, ‘cause he sent Carlos Hernandez to the electric chair. (163)

This book is one of my favourite reads for 2010, and I know I’ll be picking it up frequently in the future.

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Apocalyptic Christmas Story

2010-12-18T20:58:00.000-06:00

Michael Bird's intro to his Christmas sermon from Revelation 12 leaves me wanting some more.

Why Paul got 39 lashes

2010-12-18T15:53:00.000-06:00

Paul is not given the thirty-nine lashes by his fellow Jews because he asks them to ‘try’ Jesus in the same way one might try a kebab (2 Cor. 11.24). He is not executed for suggesting that Roman citizens may wish to invite Jesus into their hearts. No, Paul has the courage and conviction to proclaim that the one who is to come again, the Messiah, is Jesus, who has fulfilled Israel’s hopes by being cursed on a cross and raised from the dead.

Michael F. Bird, Introducing Paul : The Man, His Mission, and His Message (Downers Grove IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008), pp. 28-9.

Review: The Letters of John

2010-12-18T14:34:00.003-06:00

The Letters of John by Colin G. Kruse

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A responsible and helpful commentary on John’s letters. Our church has been studying through these letters this past year, and this was the main commentary I turned to. Kruse succeeds in tying everything back to the main occasioning incident: the defection of certain teachers whose “advanced progress” was actually proof that they had never grasped the ABC’s. And the Christians still hanging on to the ABC’s are constantly encouraged and assured.

Two strengths of this commentary are its careful inclusion of background texts, and its treatment of the aspect of Greek verbs. For an example of the latter, see Kruse’s remarks on the traditional way of resolving the tension between 1 John 1.5 – 2.2 and 1 John 3.4-10 on page 129. Many have argued that the present tense verbs in chapter 3 denote habitual sinning, which, unlike occasional sinning, is impossible for the true Christian. Kruse writes: “However, the use of the present tense says nothing about the habitual or nonhabitual character of the sinning, but only shows that the author has chosen to depict the sinning as something in progress, rather than as a complete action” (emphasis added).

Another good feature is the many Notes that interrupt the commentary. One of the best is the note on the role of the Holy Spirit in John’s letters. Here’s the final paragraph:

In conclusion, we may say that this survey of the Spirit texts of 1 John indicates that the author has portrayed the role of the Spirit primarily as testimony to the tradition, not as a source of new revelation. In all probability he did this because the secessionists were claiming the Spirit as the source of their new and heretical doctrines concerning Christ. The author, therefore, felt that it was necessary to hold together the word and the Spirit, or, put in other words, he felt that it was necessary to stress the Spirit’s role as witness to the truth of the gospel concerning Jesus as it was proclaimed from the beginning. (155)

The only thing I was left wishing for from this commentary was more insight on applying John’s letters to the church today.

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Review: Marks of the Messenger

2010-12-06T06:00:00.006-06:00

Marks of the Messenger: Knowing, Living and Speaking the Gospel by J. Mack Stiles

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This little book puts being evangelists before doing evangelism.
The process of losing the gospel (40):
    * The gospel is accepted

    * The gospel is assumed

    * The gospel is confused

    * The gospel is lost
I give this book five stars out of five. The fifth is for having a chapter on the church in a book on evangelism. The final chapter (A Manifesto for Healthy Evangelism) is also excellent. It is chalk-full of practical suggestions.

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Amazing testimony from North Korea

2010-12-05T15:05:00.000-06:00

Check it out here. Boy, does this ever fire me up for missions!

Review: The Holiness of God

2010-11-20T14:55:00.000-06:00

The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

(Note: the following page numbers reference an older edition of this book.)

The holiness of God has a history of deeply affecting people. I remember being a young teen and watching a video of Sproul teaching on this subject with my youth group. I will never forget the sense of God’s greatness I experienced that night.

In chapter 1, Sproul recounts how Augustine’s teaching on creation led him (Sproul) to an experience of the holiness of God of his own. In chapter 2, he goes back and discusses one of the greatest encounters with a holy God a human has ever had: Isaiah’s vision of the God of the Universe sitting on his majestic throne (chapter 2). Many other encounters are discussed throughout the book, including Jesus’ stilling of the storm, and Jacob’s wrestling with the angel

Sprinkled throughout the book are some helpful illustrations. When a class bombs an exam the students hope to be graded on the curve and have their marks boosted. Woe to the one student who managed to ace the exam and thus break the curve! Jesus Christ “was the supreme curve buster” (85).

Sproul digs out another illustration from the book Of Mice and Men, in which Sproul sees Lennie as a Christ figure. Slim tells George after George shot Lennie, “A guy got to sometimes.” Sproul writes:

“Sometimes people have to be executed…He knew Lennie could not survive in this world. Lennie had to die. Lennie traumatized everyone and everything he touched. So it was with Christ. The world could not tolerate Jesus; they could love Him, but only at a distance…a present Christ could not survive in a world of hostile men. It was the judgment of Caiaphas that for the good of the nation Jesus must die. Sometimes ya just got to” (p.97).

I highly recommend this book to anyone with a hunger for God. It will help you understand what God’s holiness is. Sproul takes the whole of chapter 3 to define it. And he does so rightly. Holiness is not just God’s separateness from sin, but his separateness from everything and everyone. It is his being God, and God alone.

You will not only understand the concept of God’s holiness, but you will also better appreciate it. For instance, who hasn’t read the passage about Uzzah being killed because he tried to steady the ark and thought God’s punishment a little harsh! But Sproul writes:

“Uzzah assumed that his hand was less polluted than the earth. But it wasn’t the ground or the mud that would desecrate the ark; it was the touch of man. The earth is an obedient creature…the ground doesn’t commit cosmic treason…Uzzah was not an innocent man” (141).

On our own transformation to holiness, Romans 12.1-2 is clear that our transformation comes from the renewing of our minds. “This means nothing more and nothing less than education” (p.210). And Sproul’s The Holiness of God is a good start in that education.

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Review: The Cross and Christian Ministry

2010-11-13T17:04:00.000-06:00

The Cross and Christian Ministry: Leadership Lessons from 1 Corinthians by D.A. Carson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book's five chapters are based on a series of talks. Each one is an exposition of a passage from 1 Corinthians that discusses a topic in relation to the cross. Thus there are chapters on the cross and preaching, the cross and factionalism, the cross and leadership, and so on.

The undercurrent through all five chapters is that Jesus’ cross is the standard, and nothing else. This has radical, radical, radical implications for leadership—and that’s an understatement.

As always, Carson’s expositions mix solid exegesis with devotional warmth and deep pastoral and cultural insight.

I close with a few of my favourite quotes from this book:

On the Corinthians who should have been on a solids diet, not a milk one: “They want nothing more than another round of choruses and a ‘simple message’—something that won’t challenge them to think, to examine their lives, to make choices, and to grow in their knowledge and adoration of the living God” (p.72).

“But part of the reason why Paul’s stance seems alien to many of us is that we have unwittingly become more like Corinthian Christians than like Pauline (that is, biblical!) Christians. Many of are well-to-do and comfortable, with little incentive to live in vibrant anticipation of Christ’s return. Our desire for the approval of the world often outstrips our desire for Jesus’ ‘Well done!’ on the last day. The proper place to begin to change this deep betrayal of the gospel is at the cross—in repentance, contrition, and renewed passion not only to make the gospel of the crucified Messiah central in all our preaching and teaching, but in our lives and the lives of our leaders as well” (p.108).

“How can Christians stand beside the cross and insist on their rights?” (p.125)

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Review: Operation Mincemeat

2010-11-11T14:55:00.001-06:00

Operation Mincemeat by Ben MacIntyre

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A thrilling book about how British espionage and deception in World War II fooled Hitler and enabled the Allies to make a decisive takeover of the island of Sicily.

The author, being an author, cannot help himself from noting the influence of writers in this complicated scheme. The story begins with a top secret memo entitled “The Trout Fisher,” issued under the name of Admiral John Godfrey, who was helped along by the future James Bond novelist Ian Flemming. The memo contained 51 suggestions on how to deceive the Germans. Suggestion #28, the one followed in this story, came from another author, Basil Thomson (pp.11-2). Towards the end, Macintyre writes:

“Wars are won by …planners…tacticians…generals…politicians…But they are also won by feats of imagination. Amateur, unpublished novelists, the framers of Operation Mincemeat, dreamed up the most unlikely concatenation of events, rendered them believable, and sent them off to war, changing reality through lateral thinking and proving that it is possible to win a battle fought in the mind, from behind a desk, and from beyond the grave. Operation Mincemeat was pure make-believe; and it made Hitler believe something that changed the course of history.

“This strange story was conceived in the mind of a writer and put into action by a fisherman, who cast his fly on the water with no certainty of success but an angler’s innate optimism and guile. The most fitting, and aptly fishy, tribute to the operation was contained in a telegram sent to Winston Churchill on the day the Germans took the bait: ‘Mincemeat swallowed rod, line and sinker'” (pp.295-6).

An interesting theme that runs through the book is that deception only deceives those who want to be deceived. Hitler was made to believe what he already wanted to believe.

This story is nothing short of amazing, and I am grateful that there are writers around like Ben Macintyre know how to tell it well.

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Review: 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible

2010-11-11T14:22:00.001-06:00

40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible by Robert Plummer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m always a sucker for a new book introducing the Bible. So much hinges on how we approach and interpret it. This book is an excellent starting point for someone with lots of questions about the Bible. Plummer answers foundational questions such as “What is the Bible” and “How is the Bible organized?” to more advanced ones, like “Can a text have more than one meaning?” If you have a question about the Bible, chances are you’ll find an answer here.

The book has been written such that the reader can start with any chapter, an approach entailing some repetition for the reader ripping straight through (p.11).

Early questions deal with who determined what books to include in the Bible, and what is the best English translation. On canonization, Plummer writes:

“For Protestant Christians, the canon is not an authorized collection of writings…rather, the canon is a collection of authoritative writings…Canonization is the process of recognizing that inherent authority, not bestowing it from an outside source” (p.57).

In the chapter on translations, the author explains how all translations fall somewhere along a spectrum delineated by functional equivalence on one end, and formal equivalence on the other. Functional equivalent translations are most suitable for reading large portions, while formal equivalent are superior for detailed study. But reading from multiple translations is best (pp.71-2)!

What are some general principles for interpreting the Bible? Well, one of them is to read the Bible as a book that points to Jesus:

“If we study or teach any part of the Bible without reference to Jesus the Savior, we are not faithful interpreters” (p.97).

It is also vital to pay attention to context:

“One of the most painful exhibits of such hermeneutical failure [not respecting the context] is a preacher who bullies and blusters about the authority and inerrancy of Scripture while practically denying its authority through his sloppy preaching” (p.104).

Another important general principle he lays out for interpreting the Bible is to read it in community (pp.105-6).

Want to become a better interpreter? Then “read and listen to faithful preaching and teaching” (p.110). Quoting Spurgeon

“Some, under the pretense of being taught of the Spirit of God refuse to be instructed by books or by living men. This is no honouring of the Spirit of God; it is a disrespect to him, for if he gives to some of his servants more light than to others--and it is clear he does--then they are bound to give that light to others, and to use it for the good of the church. But if the other part of the church refuse to receive that light, to what end did the Spirit of God give it? This would imply that there is a mistake somewhere in the economy of gifts and graces, which is managed by the Holy Spirit” (p.111).

Warns against the two common dangers of word studies: the illegitimate totality transfer and the etymological fallacy (pp.119-20). No one ought to make public comment about what a Greek word “really” means until understanding these two dangers.

A highlight of the book is when Plummer goes back in time and interviews Isaiah on Isaiah 7.14, discovering that Isaiah is totally OK with Matthew’s citation of him in Matthew 1.23 (pp.137-40)!

In interpreting historical narratives, it is very important to remember that not every detail is normative. Plummer once heard some audio messages on parenting in which the speaker exhorted parents to place their babies in cribs because, after all, didn’t Mary put Jesus in a manger (Luke 2.7)?! Says Plummer: “The key interpretive question of course is: why does Luke tell us that Jesus was placed in a manger? Was it to teach us how to put our children to bed, or was it to emphasize the Savior’s humble origins?” (p.193).

The book includes a helpful discussion of various figures of speech employed in the Bible (metaphor, simile, merism, hendiadys, synecdoche, metonymy, personification, anthropomorphism, litotes, and idioms) (pp.227-32).

The above is just a sampling. Apart from a few minor quibbles (on page 80 Plummer equates “word of truth” in 2 Timothy 2.15 with the Scriptures, when really it is the gospel message), I heartily recommend this book to those with questions on the Bible. And hopefully that’s everyone!

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Hip Hop and the Gospel

2010-11-10T18:09:00.000-06:00

Colin Hansen blogs about it here.

Review: P.G. Wodehouse : Five Complete Novels

2010-11-08T06:00:00.000-06:00

P.G. Wodehouse : Five Complete Novels by P.G. Wodehouse

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Why am I reading Wodehouse? Doug Wilson mentioned him one too many times, and I’m glad he did! Of this volume I’ve read The Return of Jeeves and Bertie Wooster Sees It Through. Both afforded plenty of laughs and delightful turns of phrase. I look forward to picking it up again to read the other three novels included.

View all my reviews

Review: Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method

2010-11-07T06:00:00.001-06:00

Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method by Sidney Greidanus

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Note: this is not much of a book review, but more a collection of notes.

Who should read this book: Anyone who wants to see / share Christ in / from the OT without resorting to allegory (Rahab’s scarlet cord speaks of Christ’s blood) and irresponsible typology (on which see below). This book gives seven ways of moving from OT text to Christ responsibly and dare I say, exegetically.

Greidanus insists on two things: We must preach Christ, and we must preach from the OT. He gives some great reasons to defend the latter (e.g., the OT proclaims truths not found in the NT, p.27). A couple quotes will have to suffice:

Quoting Michael Duduit: “For us to neglect these books in our preaching is to abandon our congregations to theological shallowness and mediocrity” (p.28).

Quoting Bright: “The Old Testament holds the gospel to history. It is the surest bulwark against the assimilation with alien philosophies and ideologies, against a flight into a sentimental and purely otherworldly piety, and against that disintegrating individualism that so easily besets us” (p.32).

Willimon: “Unable to preach Christ and him crucified, we preach humanity and it improved” (p.34).

But there are difficulties in preaching Christ from the OT—a history of them. And so Greidanus surveys approaches from as early as the church fathers: allegorical (Justin Martyr and many others), typological (Chrysostom and others), Christological (Luther), theocentric (Calvin), and some modern Christological approaches (Spurgeon and Visher).

The literary context of the OT is the NT; therefore “every message from the Old Testament must be seen in the light of Jesus Christ” (p.51). And the reverse is true (p.53).

The most valuable contribution of the book is the seven ways of moving from an OT text to Christ:

* The way of redemptive-historical progression
* The way of promise-fulfillment
* The way of typology
* The way of analogy
* The way of longitudinal themes
* The way of contrast

Definition of typology: “New Testament typology is thus essentially the tracing of the constant principles of God’s working in history, revealing ‘a recurrent rhythm in past history which is taken up more fully and perfectly in Gospel events’” (quoting France, who quotes Lampe, pp.212-3).

Eichrodt: “Types are persons, institutions, and events of the Old Testament which are regarded as divinely established models or prerepresentations of corresponding realities in the New Testament salvation history” (pp. 254-5).

Three criterion must be met in order for a type to be recognized: correspondence, escalation, and theocentricity.

View all my reviews

Resources for young children

2010-11-06T11:41:00.003-05:00

A little while ago I listed some resources for a young Christian wanting to get into the Bible.

Today I'll link to some resources for parents to use with their young children.

Books we've used so far with our 2 year old:

The Big Picture Story Bible by David Helm. This Bible's focus is on the big picture, an emphasis that is just as helpful for parents as it is for kids (I have learned a lot from this children's Bible!). The illustrations (by Gail Schoonmaker) are simple but highly imaginative.

The Jesus Story Book Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name by Sally-Lloyd Jones. This Bible's focus is on Jesus. While I am occasionally uncomfortable with a point or two, most of the stories are done very well. Often I am moved as I read it to Aimee by the way the grace of God and the presence of the Lord Jesus is brought out, even (especially!) in the OT stories. This should not surprise me as the author confesses the pervasive influence Tim Keller's preaching has had on her and on this book.

Fool Moon Rising. Just buy it!

Books we plan to use in the next 4 or 5 years:

Long Story Short: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God. Justin Taylor just plugged this book and, having checked out the pdf sample at Westminster, I can't wait to use it!

Mighty Acts of God: A Family Bible Story Book. Go here for a pdf sample.

Maybe later I'll post some more resources we plan to use. In the meantime, do you have any recommendations?

Bluemind

2010-11-05T13:03:00.001-05:00

Lifehacker links to a nifty little mind mapping application. The mind mapping software I've previously used is FreeMind.

New Paul Synopsis

2010-11-02T11:00:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty excited to see that Baker is publishing a Synopsis of the Pauline Letters in Greek and English. Go to the link to see a generous excerpt.

A chip off the old stump

2010-11-01T20:51:00.002-05:00

Night time for my little theologian.

My wife: "Aimee, what should we thank God for?"

Aimee: "Books!"

More on the SBL Greek NT

2010-11-01T20:47:00.001-05:00

More resources for the SBL Greek NT are on the way for Logos users.

Colossians 2.16 and Halloween

2010-10-31T17:35:00.003-05:00

I had to chuckle at Alan Knox's Scripture...As We Live It today:

Therefore ~~let no one~~ pass judgment on ~~you~~ each other in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath… and especially pass judgment in regards to Halloween, unless it’s a Fall Festival instead of a Halloween Carnival. (Colossians 2:16 re-mix)

(Click here for an explanation of this weekly feature of his blog.)

New Greek NT

2010-10-30T12:49:00.002-05:00

Rick Brannan announces the release of The Greek NT: SBL Edition. This is a new Greek NT with critical apparatus edited by Michael Holmes, and sponsored by Logos and SBL. It is available for download for everyone (and not just Logos users) here.

Beginner Bible study resources

2010-10-26T21:08:00.003-05:00

I just emailed the following to a young friend of mine, who is developing quite a hunger for God's Word. What would you add to the list?

******

Here is a list of solid resources to get you started. The list is not meant to intimidate you; these are resources you can work at accumulating. Books that I think you should purchase and use without a moment's delay are marked by a double-asterisk. I've marked 2nd priority resources with one asterisk. The rest are books you can work at over the years to come (Lord willing).

Please know that just because I recommend these resources, that doesn't mean that I think everything in them is right. Use discernment with everything you read.

Bibles (use a few translations)

English Standard Version
KJV
New International Version
New American Standard Bible
New English Translation - available online, with very useful notes
New Living Translation

Study Bible

ESV Study Bible **

Books on reading / studying Bible

Knowing Scripture by R.C. Sproul **
How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon Fee **
How to Read the Bible Book By Book by Gordon Fee **
40 Questions about Interpreting the Bible by Robert Plummer

Bible Atlas

ESV Bible Atlas

Bible Software

Free: The Word **
Expensive, but awesome: Logos

Bible Dictionary

New Bible Dictionary by Intervarsity **

Greek (and Hebrew)

Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words, by William Mounce (I recommend this over Vine's dictionary, which is too out-of-date)
New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology by Verbrugge
Greek for the Rest of Us by William Mounce
Hebrew for the Rest of Us by Fields

Theology

Evangelical Dictionary of Theology by Elwell *
Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem

Surveys

Introducing the New Testament by Carson, Moo, and Naselli *
Encountering the Old Testament: A Christian Survey by Arnold

One-volume commentary

New Bible Commentary by Intervarsity **

Commentaries on individual books of the Bible

go to Denver Seminary's NT bibliography and choose from the last three commentaries they list for each book of the Bible (the other commentaries they list will be too technical)
The NIV Application, Tyndale, Bible Speaks Today, and IVP commentary series are for the most part excellent. Unfortunately, the What the Bible Teaches series rarely provides what a commentary should provide, but there are some exceptions.
for the BEST commentary series of all, go here.

Great Books you should read

For the Love of God, volume 1 and volume 2, by Carson. An excellent devotional.
The Pursuit of God by Tozer
Knowing God by Packer
Desiring God by Piper
What Jesus Demands from the World by Piper
Mere Christianity by C.S Lewis
any and all books by David Gooding

Great Preachers to listen to

You will learn a ton by always having some good expositional sermons on your ipod.

John Piper
D.A. Carson
Tim Keller (and here)
Sinclair Ferguson
you can all get mp3's of Jack Hunter and Albert Leckie

Zotero

2010-10-19T21:52:00.002-05:00

I've been using Zotero for a couple of years now. To learn more about the payback of using this Firefox add-on, read Andy Naselli's excellent article entitled Why You Should Organize Your Personal Theological Library and a Way How.

HT: Justin Taylor

How to Read Exodus

2010-10-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

How to Read Exodus, by Tremper Longman III.

The author clarifies that this book is not a commentary on Exodus, but a guide to an interpretive strategy (p.8). It features literary, historical, and theological approaches to this book.

A literary approach reveals that the main theme of Exodus is the presence of God, out of which two sub-themes emerge: the covenant, and bondage (p.39). A historical approach reads Exodus against the background of ancient Near Eastern literature (the Sargon Birth Legend and the Code of Hammurabi). It also examines the historicity of the events recorded in Exodus. Yes, it does matter that the Red Sea did in fact part (Chp. 6). However, some efforts to prove the Exodus events are not helpful: “Purported discoveries of the wheels of Pharaoh’s chariots beside the Red Sea are misleading if not fraudulent” (p.69, cf. p.80).

Longman provides helpful comments on the Law. The Ten Commandments begin the Book of the Law. They are more general principles of which the ensuing case laws are specific applications (p.60). “Israel’s obligation to keep the law is not to form a relationship with God, but rather to show gratitude to and maintain the relationship that it already enjoys with him” (p.121).

On the revelation of Yahweh’s name when he says “I Am Who I Am,” Longman writes: “God claims that he is self-defining. He is unable to be narrowed down. He is the ground of existence.” (p.104)

Longman has a very interesting section on the gods of Egypt (pp.107-9). Do they truly exist? “The answer to that question is much more complex than one might think” (p.107). Of course, there is only one God, the Creator of all that is. But Longman reaches for an emended text of Deuteronomy 32.8, the supernatural feats of the Egyptian magicians, and the testimony throughout Scripture to claim that these Egyptian gods were real spiritual powers, although created and “assigned their place by God” (pp.107-8).

The best section of the book is Part 5: ”Reading Exodus as a Christian." This section features the theological/canonical approach. The theme of the Exodus event, the law, and the tabernacle are masterfully traced from the OT to their NT fulfillment in Christ.

Reading fiction

2010-10-16T13:48:00.004-05:00

For those of my friends who look down on reading fiction (you know who you are!), Justin Taylor links to two brief articles by Peter Leithart.

Greek & Hebrew flashcards

2010-10-16T13:00:00.001-05:00

Introducing Babel flashcards. This looks like a very good program at a reasonable price.

HT: Justin Taylor

The Faith of God's Elect

2010-10-12T19:43:00.003-05:00

I'll be watching this blog closely for the next while as Joel Barnes has promised a multi-post critique of John Parkinson's The Faith of God's Elect. I'm glad to see that Joel can give and take; he's welcoming interaction in the comment sections:

I hope Christians who have been influenced by this book will take the time to read my review in its several parts and even interact with it using my blog’s comment feature should they be inclined.

For those interested in these issues, here are some other recent blog posts that have turned up in my reader:

Shawn McGrath with the first of many posts on Romans 9.

Dan Wallace writes about corporate election.

Michael Patton gives 12 reasons why Romans 9 is about individual election, not corporate election.

A Thousand Miles of Miracle in China by A. E. Glover

2010-10-09T22:37:00.000-05:00

An incredible story of suffering for the cause of Christ, and of God’s intervention. Glover, his pregnant wife, and his two children go through a two month journey of “daily dying” as they try to escape during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. Reading this book was like reading the definitive commentary on Philippians 3.10.

A recollection: A tramp had followed them on one leg of the journey; Glover was later stripped naked, and the tramp later offered him some awful clothes. Glover then realized that they had switched clothes and switched positions. Now Glover was the tramp, or, worse than a tramp. Then their guide boy came and donated a pair of pants of his own. They only came to half way up Glover's leg, but met his need, “and more than that, they were the embodiment of the love of Christ, offered me in His Name and for His sake; and as I thanked the dear lad in the Name of the Lord Jesus, I thought with joy of the King’s recognition awaiting him: ‘I was naked, and ye clothed Me. Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it unto Me. Come, ye blessed of My Father.’”

A big thank you to the sister who loaned me this book!

To Hell on a Fast Horse

2010-09-07T06:00:00.000-05:00

To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West by Mark L. Gardner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The recounting of Pat Garrett’s two captures of Billy the Kid (Henry McCarty) was interesting, but not as interesting as the recounting of “the Kid’s” capture of America’s fascination.

View all my reviews

The Lusitania

2010-09-06T06:00:00.001-05:00

The Lusitania by Colin Simpson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book opened my eyes to the fact that the Germans weren’t the only bad guys in WWI.

View all my reviews

Keller and Clowney Syllabus

2010-09-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

A long time ago I recommended the lectures given in a course on preaching by Tim Keller and Ed Clowney. Keller frequently references his handouts throughout the course, and I can remember wishing I had access to them. Well, now I do, and you can access them too right here.

HT: Andy Naselli

Greek, Hebrew, and Latin resources

2010-09-05T06:00:00.001-05:00

Justin Taylor points out some language resources:

Learning the Greek alphabet

Heb Hop: the Hebrew alphabet

And some good intro Latin lessons, which look great for homeschooling. Justin has additional links here.

Which one is worship?

2010-09-05T06:00:00.000-05:00

My answer to Alan Knox's question: all of them, IF they are done as a response to the mercy of God shown us by his Son and by his Spirit (Romans 12.1-2).

Give to Pakistan

2010-09-04T11:43:00.002-05:00

The truth of justification by faith leads not only to overcoming racial boundaries, but also to giving (see Galatians 2.10). Frontiers is a reliable mission to give to if your heart goes out to the people of flooded Pakistan.

To donate, click here.

The horizontal dimension of justification by faith

2010-09-04T11:29:00.004-05:00

Here's a very important essay by Michael Bird on Justification by Faith and Racism.

A key quote:

To practice any form of ethnic or racial exclusion means that one either does not understand or does not believe in justification by faith.

The horizontal aspect of justification finds surprising emphasis in the NT.

How to welcome neighbours

2010-05-28T12:44:00.001-05:00

Lifehacker has a helpful post on the subject.

One of the more valuable things you can do for a new neighbor is to put together a cheat sheet for the neighborhood. Write down all the important stuff that a new person wouldn't immediately know about like what day the bulk trash pickup is, special events in the neighborhood (block-wide garage sales, social events, etc.), and other information specific to the neighborhood that a new person might find out about after the fact.

World War One

2010-05-26T06:00:00.000-05:00

World War One: A Short History by Norman Stone

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Chapter 1 (Outbreak) weaves together the various factors that made Europe a place where war was waiting to happen. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was ‘the inevitable accident’. Years later the murderer said that if he had not done it, “the Germans would have found another excuse” (23). "The generation that emerged into maturity around 1890 has much to answer for…the greatest mistake of the twentieth century was made when Germany built a navy designed to attack [Great Britain:]” (10-11).

“No war has ever begun with such a fundamental misunderstanding of its nature” (36).

“The noise of German movements was concealed by, of all things, the croaking of frogs in the Aisne, and the surprise was almost complete” (168-9). 

“The real disaster, in all of this, was that Germans did not think that they had been defeated” (189).

Prophetic words of Lloyd George: “if peace were made now, in twenty years’ time the Germans would say what Carthage had said about the First Punic War, namely that they had made this mistake and that mistake, and by better preparation and organization they would be able to bring about victory next time” (189).

“The way was open for a Second World War even more terrible than the First” (190).

View all my reviews >>

Apple's posture on pornography

2010-05-25T06:00:00.001-05:00

Steve Jobs recent comments on wanting Apple to steer clear of pornography have made me even more tempted to go with an Apple for our next laptop.

Al Mohler picks up on how parenthood matters in all this.

I love how Jobs describes freedom:

Steve Jobs threw Ryan Tate’s definition of freedom right back at him. Is Apple about freedom? “Yep,” said Jobs, “freedom from programs that steal your private data. Freedom from programs that trash your battery. Freedom from porn. Yep, freedom. The times they are a changin’.”

Bible study software & online resources

2010-05-24T13:56:00.002-05:00

The Tyndale Tech has a helpful post on New Ways to Study the Bible, with lots of links to different Bible study software programs and web pages.

One of the programs that caught my eye is BibleCrawler.

My little theologian

2010-05-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

Aimee: you are always welcome to use Daddy's books. Hope you're still interested in them when you turn 16!

A drunken sailor on comparisons with Obama

2010-05-14T06:00:00.000-05:00

You've got to read this hilarious post by Abraham Piper.

The Treasure Principle

2010-05-13T06:00:00.000-05:00

The Treasure Principle: Discovering the Secret of Joyful Giving by Randy Alcorn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A short but excellent book on money and giving. The Bible is clear: we should invest our money where it will give us maximum returns. Only we mustn’t ask how our investments will pay off in thirty years, but thirty million years (p.18). Yes, here is a book on giving that doesn’t guilt us into giving, but entices us to do so. This is a book about the joy of giving (p.5). We are God’s money managers, and he leaves it to us to set our own salaries (p.26).

Treasure Principle Keys
• God owns everything. I’m his money manager (p.23)
• My heart always goes where I put God’s money (p.41)
• Heaven, not earth, is my home (p.45)
• I should live not for the dot but for the line (p.49)
• Giving is the only antidote for materialism (p.56)
• God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving (p.73)

Here is proof that a life-changing book does not need to be a big one. I plan to distribute The Treasure Principle widely.

View all my reviews >>

Manhunt

2010-05-12T06:00:00.000-05:00

Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The exciting story, told in real time, of (to quote the sub-title) “the 12-day chase for Lincoln’s killer.” Well-sourced. Moves quickly. My advice is to order it now in time for Father’s day! Speaking of which, the fact that I am now a father of two, and a husband of one, means that these reviews are going to have to get shorter. So that’s all for this one!

View all my reviews >>

Calvin on worship

2010-05-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

Recently I reviewed Bruce Gordon's biography of John Calvin. This post is the last of nine parts of a short series of snippets from the book.

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Gordon summarizes:

“God has spoken to humanity in scripture, opened a relationship in which women and men should know and worship God—a worship not confined to religious services, but which embraces every aspect of human existence” (p.61, my emphasis).

References:

Bruce Gordon, Calvin (New Haven [Conn.] and London: Yale University Press, 2009).

Calvin on the value of studying classical authors

2010-05-10T06:00:00.000-05:00

Recently I reviewed Bruce Gordon's biography of John Calvin. This post is part eight of a short series of snippets from the book.

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Gordon summarizes an address given by Beza, which “was an elegant exposition of the Christian humanism he shared with John Calvin…Classical authors are an essential part of the pursuit of wisdom, and much is to be learned from them in fields of language, history, literature and philosophy. But they were pagans, not Christians, living without the light of Christ’s revelation. Education serves the purpose of preparing young men for the study of Scripture and service in the Church” (pp.299-300).

References:

Bruce Gordon, Calvin (New Haven [Conn.] and London: Yale University Press, 2009).

Calvin on the world as God's theatre

2010-05-09T06:00:00.000-05:00

Recently I reviewed Bruce Gordon's biography of John Calvin. This post is part seven of a short series of snippets from the book.

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Gordon summarizes:

“The world is the theatre of God’s glory most brilliantly seen in the Church, which lives in the certainty that it is grounded in God’s covenantal promise and has God’s protection. It will never perish” (p.286).

References:

Bruce Gordon, Calvin (New Haven [Conn.] and London: Yale University Press, 2009).

Calvin on unity

2010-05-08T06:00:00.001-05:00

Recently I reviewed Bruce Gordon's biography of John Calvin. This post is part six of a short series of snippets from the book.

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His great goal was to establish unity amongst the reforming church. To the Frankfurt community he wrote:

"Thus, my brethren, I beseech you in the name of God, increasingly to put in practice this lesson of Paul’s, ‘Let nothing be done from contention, nor from lust of victory’ as the word which he employs indicates. The moment each person backs his own quarrel people must of necessity come to a battle. Rather let each man admit his faults, and those who have been put to blame submit of their own accord…” (242-243).

Calvin’s minimalistic approach to requirements for unity and fellowship: “There was no one form of Christian community” (p.276).

References:

Bruce Gordon, Calvin (New Haven [Conn.] and London: Yale University Press, 2009).

Calvin on preaching

2010-05-07T06:00:00.002-05:00

Recently I reviewed Bruce Gordon's biography of John Calvin. This post is part five of a short series of snippets from the book.

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Gordon summarizes:

“In preaching the minister was to teach the people the Word of God, but they were not merely learning; the Word had to embrace their heart and move them. Through the spoken word Christ is present in the community. As Thomas J. Davis has put it: ‘Preaching spans the gap between the “then” nature of the events of the Gospels and the “now” nature of redemption.’” (p.139).

The preacher must keep an eye open on the events of his day (293).

References:

Bruce Gordon, Calvin (New Haven [Conn.] and London: Yale University Press, 2009).

Calvin on interpreting the Bible

2010-05-06T06:00:00.001-05:00

Recently I reviewed Bruce Gordon's biography of John Calvin. This post is part four of a short series of snippets from the book.

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Calvin used all the means available to him to interpret the Bible, including the methods he learned as a humanist. And yet he encountered the living, Triune God in the scriptures. He placed great emphasis on seeing how the church fathers had interpreted the Bible, and his knowledge of their writings was incredible. “He saw himself engaged in a sustained conversation with ancient and contemporary interpreters, none of whom was infallible. It was a conversation in the service of the Church, guided by the Spirit and grounded in the Word of God” (p.108).

“Calvin, like the other reformers, understood that scripture could not stand without a framework of interpretation” (p.108).

References:

Bruce Gordon, Calvin (New Haven [Conn.] and London: Yale University Press, 2009).

Calvin on the distinction between the Bible and the Word of God

2010-05-05T06:00:00.000-05:00

Recently I reviewed Bruce Gordon's biography of John Calvin. This post is part three of a short series of snippets from the book.

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“All the reformers distinguished between the Bible and the Word of God, or Gospel. Scripture contains ‘perfect doctrine,’ which is God’s revelation, but it is not itself the Gospel” (p.104).

References:

Bruce Gordon, Calvin (New Haven [Conn.] and London: Yale University Press, 2009).

Calvin and N.T. Wright

2010-05-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

Recently I reviewed Bruce Gordon's biography of John Calvin. This post is part two of a short series of snippets from the book.

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Some of Gordon's summaries of Calvin's teachings would surely coax an Amen from N.T. Wright!

“Christianity…is not about individual salvation but about the glory of God” (p.98).

“Salvation is not about individuals, but about the community of the Church” (118).

References:

Bruce Gordon, Calvin (New Haven [Conn.] and London: Yale University Press, 2009).

Calvin on Bible Translation

2010-05-03T06:00:00.002-05:00

Recently I reviewed Bruce Gordon's biography of John Calvin. This post is part of a short series of snippets from the book.

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“Citing the example of the church fathers Augustine, Jerome and Chrysotom, Calvin held that there was a long and honourable tradition of making scripture available to the ‘simple people’ (p.55).

Bruce Gordon, Calvin (New Haven [Conn.] and London: Yale University Press, 2009).

Calvin

2010-05-02T15:29:00.001-05:00

Calvin by Bruce Gordon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Gordon reveals a Calvin who loved and hated; who believed in God’s sovereignty and sometimes manipulated; whose powerful intellect contrasted his weak body. His ability to interpret the Bible is what stands him out from all other 16th century writers (p.vii). If Luther’s discovery was justification by faith, Calvin’s was the Church (p.vii). He sensed that his was a special calling and often identified himself with the great characters of the Bible—especially the Apostle Paul. He invested heavily in relationships: “Much of the attention of this book will be focused upon the ebb and flow of his contacts” (p.ix).

Gordon’s biography is intended for those who are interested in Calvin but know little about him and his 16th century background (p.xi). I fit that audience perfectly, and am thus qualified to say that Gordon delivers.

In reading this book I learned about the prevailing political and religious tensions which form the background to Calvin’s life. I also learned about his privileged education in law and humanism, his conversion, and his life of exile in Switzerland. His primary allies were Farel, Viret, Bullinger, and Bucer. His most hated enemies were Servetus, Castellio, and Westphal. Brutal opposition makes Calvin’s achievements all the more noteworthy. His establishing the Reformation in Geneva, writing of The Institutes and many commentaries, were all accomplished despite the great pressure against him.

The matter of Michael Servetus is handled in chapter 13 (pp. 217-232). While not convincing me (nor trying to) that Calvin was entirely innocent, the context and detail Gordon provides go a long way to helping me understand the (limited) role Calvin played in the affair.

Biographies I’ve read of great men of God like Robert M’Cheyne and Robert Chapman challenged me to groCw in the life of holiness and conformity to Christ. This biography of Calvin leaves me wanting to grow in discipline in the life of the mind.

View all my reviews >>

What Jesus demands from the world

2010-05-01T14:29:00.001-05:00

What Jesus Demands from the World by John Piper

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is one of my favourite Piper books. In it he catalogues 50 of the radical demands Jesus makes of the world. His aim is to investigate “the meaning and motivation of Jesus’ commands in connection with his person and work” (p.19). The demands Jesus makes of us are impossible for us to meet. For this reason Piper starts with the “gentler” commands (p.25). Obedience to these foundational commands enables and empowers obedience to the harder ones. As always with Piper, obedience to Christ is not to be driven by duty but by delight. If we understand Jesus aright, “his demands will not feel severe but sweet” (p.24).

Some things I found helpful:
• Piper offers a definition of the gospel that works for both Jesus and Paul: “The gospel—the good news—is that the rule of God has arrived in Jesus to save sinners before the kingdom arrives at his second coming in judgment” (p.43).
• In the context of John’s gospel, to abide in Jesus is to trust in Jesus’ love and to trust in his word. And if we don’t abide in his word, we are not his disciples.

At times Piper seems to exegete so independently that he doesn’t consult the secondary literature. This can have refreshing and tiring results. An example of the latter is a lengthy discussion on what Jesus means by the good eye and the bad eye in Matthew 6.22-23. The explanation we are eventually brought to seems long and dubious. It would have been better to explain that a “good” (literally, “single”) eye meant a generous eye while a “bad” eye could mean either a diseased or stingy eye (see The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament by Keener).

View all my reviews >>

2010-04-24T11:00:00.001-05:00

Constantine Cambell reviews Daniel Wallace's recent book, Granville Sharp's Canon and Its Kin: Semantics and Significance:

Rarely is a book on Greek syntax enthralling, let alone immensely significant. Daniel Wallace’s new book on the Greek article is both.

And...

It is rare to be invited to review a book that is both a landmark and robust to the point of seeming virtually irrefutable. It is a landmark book because it has in my opinion put to rest the debate about Sharp’s rule, and it is enormously important both to Greek syntax and theological exegesis of the NT. Truly, the humble Greek article reaches the heights of the deity of Christ! The book is robust in that it is difficult to imagine its key conclusions being overturned any time soon, if ever. If such claims appear grandiose, the following is more so: this book will stand the test of time as one of the best contributions to Greek syntax of the twenty-first century. Dr Wallace is to be congratulated, and all serious students of the Greek NT should read his book and will do so to great profit.

Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross, by Guthrie

2010-04-24T06:00:00.000-05:00

Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter by Nancy Guthrie

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Meditations drawn from “the writings and sermons of classic and contemporary writers and teachers” to prepare the reader’s heart for Easter. For me, the selections from Ray Ortlund and Tim Keller stood out from the rest. Other contributors include Luther, Spurgeon, Owen, Calvin, Piper, and Sproul.

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Exegetical Fallacies

2010-04-23T06:00:00.000-05:00

Exegetical Fallacies by D.A. Carson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“In short, this is an amateur’s collection of exegetical fallacies” (p.26). Carson examines word-study fallacies (chp 1), grammatical fallacies (chp 2), logical fallacies (chp 3), presuppositional and historical fallacies (chp 4), before offering some concluding reflections (chp 5). This is a work I will return to frequently.

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Toil and Treasure in Alaska

2010-04-22T17:05:00.001-05:00

Toil and Treasure in Alaska: The Memoirs of Thomas J. Thompson by Thomas J. Thompson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The interesting memoirs of a man God used to spread the Gospel to many in Alaska. The accounts reveal Thompson to have been a man who was resourceful and humorous. I get the feel that he wouldn’t have taken himself too seriously, even if his wife had let him!

This is the very best of my tradition. I’m proud of this man and proud of his book. I honour him because, like Epaphroditus, he was willing to lay down his life for the Gospel (Philippians 2.29-30).

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Salvation is eternal AND transformational

2010-04-22T16:48:00.000-05:00

A quality of salvation is that it's eternal. Another quality is that it's transformational. Just as genuine salvation is something so powerful that it can never be lost, it is also so powerful that it can never be hid. In this way the assurance of eternal security and the necessity of perseverance are maintained.

The Walk

2010-04-22T14:25:00.000-05:00

The Walk: Steps for New and Renewed Followers of Jesus by Stephen Smallman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is an excellent book to use with new disciples of Christ. Smallman’s approach is grounded in the belief that the gospel isn’t just for becoming a Christian, but for living as a Christian as well. He assumes no knowledge on the reader’s part, calling this book “Discipleship for Dummies!”

The book takes its flow from the nature of Christian discipleship as a walk (often called “the Way” in Acts). So Part 1 covers the basics (what a disciple is, the necessity of the church, how to read and pray), and Part 2 moves on to the gospel itself, pacing discipleship to four ‘steps’: (1) Know what the gospel is; (2) know how you came to believe it; (3) know the benefits of believing it; and (4) live a life that flows from the gospel. Finally, Part 3 focuses on following Jesus in his mission, which is to disciple disciples.

Several features combine to make this a suitable handbook for discipleship. Most importantly, it gets the new Christian reading his or her Bible. At key junctures Smallman has the reader put down the book and read a passage of Scripture that is central to the discussion. By the end of the book, the reader has gone through the Gospel of Mark (“the beginning of the gospel”) and Paul’s Letter to the Romans (which presents “the meaning of the gospel”), as well as many other important passages.

Interesting “Time Outs” are also interspersed throughout the book, and each chapter concludes with a tight summary and a list of assignments. A further reading and resource list, and a fifteen-week Scripture reading plan, are included as appendices. A third appendix provides guidance on how to use this book in making disciples.

The author writes from a Reformed perspective, which will limit the books usefulness for some.

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More from Wrestling with an Angel

2010-04-15T06:05:00.000-05:00

A birthday letter to a man's disabled son.

KJVO debate - what the translators would have thought of it

2010-04-15T06:00:00.001-05:00

See The King James Version Only Debate in Light of “The Translators to the Reader” by Doug Smith.

Police officer & a disabled boy - a divinely appointed encounter

2010-04-14T06:05:00.000-05:00

Read the touching story here.

Why so many abortion workers have turned pro-life

2010-04-14T06:00:00.001-05:00

See Mugged by Ultrasound at The Weekly Standard.

HT: Kevin DeYoung

Sermon Prep Outline

2010-04-13T12:36:00.001-05:00

Justin Buzzard has written a good sermon prep outline.

Big Truths for Young Hearts

2010-04-04T06:00:00.001-05:00

Big Truths for Young Hearts: Teaching and Learning the Greatness of God by Bruce A. Ware

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Bruce Ware is a teacher of theology in the seminary and in his home. At bedtime Ware would take what he was teaching his seminarians and break it down into bites small enough for his children. In Big Truths for Young Hearts Ware provides a rich resource for children and their parents to learn the great truths of the Christian faith.

The book contains several excellent illustrations of complex truths. For instance, on the issue of how Jesus could experience temptation even though his divine holiness meant he could never sin, Ware suggests that we need to answer two different questions with two different answers. The two questions are: 1) why it is that something could not happen, and 2) why it is that something did not happen?

Then comes his illustration of the distinction he has made. A swimmer trains to break a world record and swim over 70 miles continuously. He is accompanied by a boat in case his muscles cramp and he drown. However, he accomplishes the feat without any assistance from the boat.

Why is it that the swimmer could not have drowned? Because the boat was always there to pick him up if needed. Why is it that the swimmer did not drown? Because he kept swimming!

In relation to Christ, then, the reason he couldn’t sin is that he was fully God (he possessed the divine nature). The reason he didn’t sin is that “as a man, empowered with the Spirit and filled with God’s word, he used everything that was given him by the Father to remain obedient” (p.119). In this way we can maintain that Christ could never have sinned, and yet he understands better than we do the power of temptation.

Other truths that Ware did an especially good job of explaining are
• How Jesus emptied himself without compromising anything of his divine nature (p.112)
• How Jesus’ death at the cross defeated Satan (p.134)
• Why the resurrection was necessary (pp.137-138)
• How baptism is better illustrated as a movie than a picture (p.203).

The book also includes a rich section on the Holy Spirit. This book made me even more passionate about teaching these wonderful things to my own children, and to the children and teens in my community.

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This Momentary Marriage (for free)

2010-04-03T14:19:00.001-05:00

I should have mentioned that this book is available online for free here.

This Momentary Marriage

2010-04-03T14:14:00.001-05:00

This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence by John Piper

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
What drives this book from beginning to end is the truth that marriage is a model of Christ’s relationship to the Church. According to Piper (p.42), this truth has the effect of (1) elevating the value of marriage; (2) providing a foundation of grace for our marriages; and (3) defining roles within marriage. By making this truth the backbone of his book, Piper has had the same three-fold effect on me.

Early in the book Piper shows that marriage is the doing of God and the display of God (21 – 26). It is a covenant that reflects the covenant God makes with his people. For that reason, “marriage is not mainly about being or staying in love” but about “portraying something true about Jesus Christ and the way he relates to his people” (26).

Rather than rehearsing all the ground this book covers, I will focus instead on its unique contributions for books of this type (unique for me, at least).

On nakedness and clothing

Commenting on Genesis 2.25 (“And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed”), Piper points out that the reason they experienced nakedness without shame was not that they had perfect bodies, but because they knew perfect covenant love (pp. 32-36). They were shame-free not because they had flawless bodies (which they likely did have), but because they loved each other with a love that covered over a multitude of flaws. The reason they tried to clothe themselves in Genesis 3 was not because their bodies had suddenly become ugly, but because their sin had broken their covenant with God, and thus upset the foundation for their own covenant love to each other. Now Adam was to Eve one who could not be trusted—he had tried to displace God, after all. And they both knew within themselves that they were no longer what they ought to be. Their self-clothing was an effort to cover their vulnerability to each other and cover the huge gap between what they were and they ought to be.

God graciously provides clothing for them, and this carries a negative and a positive message.

Negatively, God’s action of clothing them affirms that there is a huge chasm between what they are and what they should be. In this sense human clothing functions not to conceal our shame but to confess it. Thus “public nudity is not a return to innocence” but a further loss of it. “And for those who rebel in the other direction and make clothes themselves a means of power and prestige and attention-getting, God’s answer is not a return to nudity but a return to simplicity” (p.37).

Positively, God’s clothing Adam and Eve in animal skins points forward to a time when God would provide a sacrifice that would bridge the gap between man and God and deal with that sin that plunged us into shame (pp. 37-38).

On singleness

The two chapters on singleness are the best in the book. It seems to me that so many sermons and conversations (amongst Christians) about marriage portray the single life as an inferior walk through life. The fact that Piper includes two chapters on singleness alone speaks volumes to those of us in the church who are married. In chapter 9 Piper’s central aim “is that God promises those who remain single in Christ blessings that are better than the blessings of marriage and children, and he calls you to display, by the Christ-exalting devotion of your singleness, the truths about Christ and his kingdom that shine more clearly through singleness than through marriage and child-rearing” (p.106). Drawing heavily from Barry Danylak’s A Biblical Theology of Singleness, Piper persuasively accomplishes this aim.

Chapter 10 is more about how married and single people ought to relate in the church. Piper longs “to see Christ magnified through married people folding single people into their lives and single people folding married people into their lives for the sake of Christ and the gospel” (p.117). Married couples are counseled to plan their hospitality to include singles, and vice versa. As odd as it might be for singles to include couples, “would [this:] not be a mark of unusual maturity and stability? Would it not be a mark of God’s grace in your life?” (p.123). At this point I couldn’t help thinking of one of my heroes, Robert Chapman, who, though a single, showed hospitality to countless people.

On having children

Not only will those who can’t marry (or choose not to) find themselves included in this book, but so will married couples who cannot (or choose not to) have children. Piper’s emphasis is struck by the first half of the chapter title: “Marriage is Meant For Making Children…Disciples of Jesus”. Marriage’s primary meaning is to display Christ’s covenant with the church. Marriage’s secondary meaning is actually a means of accomplishing its first meaning: to make children yes, but more importantly, to make children disciples of Christ.

With this way of putting it, Piper emphasizes that a Christian couple’s mandate isn’t so much to fill the earth with more bodies, but to bring more people into Christ’s kingdom. For most Christian couples that will mean giving birth to children and leading them to Christ. But for many other couples it may mean fostering children, adopting children, or having a fun backyard Bible program for the neighborhood children. The last example is also an example of what singles can do to make children into disciples of Christ.

Further, with this way of putting it, Piper provides a deep motivation test for those couples who simply do not want to have children. Why does a couple not want to have children? Is it that children would threaten the fruitfulness of their unique mission to make disciples of Christ? Or, is it that children would complicate their pursuit of comfort, ease, and freedom?

Prying at a couple’s motivation in this way is far better than automatically writing off a couple as selfish simply because they choose not to have children, and exalting a couple as godly because they do.

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When principles become rules

2010-03-02T16:42:00.002-06:00

Steve Runge is wading into the Synoptic Problem and is wary of some of the claims made by those who have gone before him. Is it possible that principles are being used woodenly as rules? Runge thinks that it's important to maintain a distinction between the two, and here's hoping that, by linking to his post, I will remember to make it too.

He finishes with a great quote from Howard Hendricks:

Rules are many, principles are few, rules will change, principles never do.