Michael Haykin’s Testimony

I’m eager to listen to Michael Haykin’s testimony (HT: Historia Ecclesiastica).

I trust it will bless your soul, too.

How Much Christ in the Old Testament?

That was the topic of discussion yesterday. It was my privilege to participate in a panel discussion here at SBTS, and the audio file is here (HT: Awilum). 

My views have been shaped by the preaching, teaching, and writings of Drs. Thomas R. Schreiner, John Sailhamer, T. Desmond Alexander, Stephen G. Dempster, E. Earle Ellis, and N. T. Wright, among others. 

Here are my attemps to articulate my views that have found their way into print: 

“The Virgin Will Conceive: Typological Fulfillment in Matthew 1:18-23,” in Built upon the Rock: Studies in the Gospel of Matthew, ed. John Nolland and Dan Gurtner, 228-47. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008 (for the presentation version, click the cover of the book on the right side of the page).

“The Seed of the Woman and the Blessing of Abraham,” Tyndale Bulletin 58.2 (2007), 253-73.

“The Messianic Music of the Song of Songs: A Non-Allegorical Interpretation,” Westminster Theological Journal 68 (2006) 331-45.

“The Skull Crushing Seed of the Woman: Inner-Biblical Interpretation of Genesis 3:15,” The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 10.2 (2006), 30-54.

Duriez and Guinnes on Francis Schaeffer

Anyone interested in Francis Schaeffer won’t want to miss Colin Duriez’s Francis Schaeffer: An Authentic Life. For a preview, you can check out the interview Crossway did with Duriez in the “Book Report.”

Nor will you want to miss Mark Dever’s interview with Os Guinness, where Guinness talks about Schaeffer and his impact.

Fascinating stuff.

Chesterton on Jesus

From G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, ch. 9, “Authority and the Adventurer”

Instead of looking at books and pictures about the New Testament I looked at the New Testament. There I found an account, not in the least of a person with his hair parted in the middle or his hands clasped in appeal, but of an extraordinary being with lips of thunder and acts of lurid decision, flinging down tables, casting out devils, passing with the wild secrecy of the wind from mountain isolation to a sort of dreadful demagogy; a being who often acted like an angry god—and always like a god. Christ had even a literary style of his own, not to be found, I think, elsewhere; it consists of an almost furious use of the A FORTIORI. His “how much more” is piled one upon another like castle upon castle in the clouds. The diction used ABOUT Christ has been, and perhaps wisely, sweet and submissive. But the diction used by Christ is quite curiously gigantesque; it is full of camels leaping through needles and mountains hurled into the sea. Morally it is equally terrific; he called himself a sword of slaughter, and told men to buy swords if they sold their coats for them. That he used other even wilder words on the side of non-resistance greatly increases the mystery; but it also, if anything, rather increases the violence. We cannot even explain it by calling such a being insane; for insanity is usually along one consistent channel. The maniac is generally a monomaniac. Here we must remember the difficult definition of Christianity already given; Christianity is a superhuman paradox whereby two opposite passions may blaze beside each other. The one explanation of the Gospel language that does explain it, is that it is the survey of one who from some supernatural height beholds some more startling synthesis.

How Big Was Nineveh? Part 3 of 4

I’m a few days behind on this one, but here it is:

Relevant Quote from G. K. Chesterton on Change

G. K. Chesterton’s 1908 book, Orthodoxy, is profoundly relevant to our day. The arguments that he explodes are still around, waiting for people to read this book and have the nonsense they think is rational thought made into smithereens. 

Here is a quote that seems appropriate for the current political scene:

It is true that a man (a silly man) might make change itself his object or ideal. But as an ideal, change itself becomes unchangeable. If the change-worshipper wishes to estimate his own progress, he must be sternly loyal to the ideal of change; he must not begin to flirt gaily with the ideal of monotony. Progress itself cannot progress. It is worth remark, in passing, that when Tennyson, in a wild and rather weak manner, welcomed the idea of infinite alteration in society, he instinctively took a metaphor which suggests an imprisoned tedium. He wrote—“Let the great world spin for ever down the ringing grooves of change.” He thought of change itself as an unchangeable groove; and so it is. Change is about the narrowest and hardest groove that a man can get into.

–G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, ch. 3, “The Suicide of Thought“

The audio version from ChristianAudio.com is here.

Charles Halton Speaking at Ohio Northern University

My colleague at SBTS, Charles Halton, will be speaking at Ohio Northern University on “The Laws of Hammurabi and Western Civilization.” 

He outlines his presentation here. 

Hopefully there will be an mp3 of this presentation posted, and if I hear of one I’ll be certain to link to it. 

If you’re in or near Ada, Ohio, you’ll want to check this out.

The Spirit of God in the Mission of God: Implications for Today, Part 3 – Avoiding What Does Not Result in the Spirit’s Presence and Power

Here’s the Final Installment of “The Power and Presence of the Holy Spirit“:

The conclusions of this essay, then, are simple. To experience the presence and power of the Spirit on mission today we should be born again ourselves, study and teach the Bible, proclaim the gospel, baptize new disciples in the triune name, and pursue the purity of the local church.

This is so simple that I am afraid many missionaries have moved on from this unbroken apostolic paradigm. Once again, across the New Testament, everywhere the Apostles do missions, they always plant churches by preaching the gospel and baptizing converts. Perhaps missionaries have not been taught the unbroken Apostolic pattern of mission (i.e., Spirit empowered, gospel proclaiming church planting[1]), or perhaps they have tried it, decided it didn’t work, and are now trying other ideas. The little or slow growth that might result from following the apostolic program of preaching the word should summon us to prayer, not propel us into reliance upon strategies taught at Harvard Business School. Moving away from relying on the Spirit moving through the proclamation of the gospel to rely instead on worldly strategies from the business world would seem to be the modern day equivalent of Israel’s reliance upon Assyria and Egypt rather than Yahweh.

The New Testament gives no indication that the presence and power of the Spirit will be enjoyed by means of a hurly burly of “ministry activity” that has little or nothing to do with studying and teaching the Bible, proclaiming the gospel, baptizing new disciples into church membership, and pursuing purity in the church. Nor is there any indication in the Bible that the presence and power of the Spirit will be accessed by an activity such as prayer walking. In fact, there is nothing in the Bible that indicates that the Apostles ever engaged in prayer walking, nor is there any indication that they thought it a useful activity on mission. The account of Joshua walking around Jericho is a description of something God did in the history of Israel. That narrative is not a prescription to prayer walk.[2]

Starting schools, hosting events, doing mailouts, advertising on billboards and websites, opening coffeehouses, and all the other stuff that keeps missionaries busy, are all good things if they are feeding into and not detracting from the ministry of a local church which is proclaiming the gospel, teaching the Bible, and beseeching the Spirit to move in power. My fear is that far too many missionaries do not experience the power and presence of the Holy Spirit because all their “ministry” is disconnected from a particular local church, which is, after all, the temple of the Holy Spirit. If the disconnect from the local church is combined with no teaching of the Scriptures and no proclamation of the gospel there will be no presence and no power from the Holy Spirit. Building relationships is a fine thing to do, but at some point the gospel must be proclaimed. The Spirit will not work apart from the word.

We must beseech the Spirit to empower our efforts. We set ourselves up for a genuine work of God by faithfully proclaiming the gospel and calling on God to awaken people to hear and believe by the power of the Spirit. If the “ministry” prospers for the same reasons that Coca-Cola or WalMart prospers, good business practice and forward thinking methodology get the glory. On the other hand, God is glorified when his people obey him by proclaiming the gospel and praying for the Spirit to give life. God is glorified when the Spirit strengthens hearts by the formative teaching of the word. And God is glorified when the Spirit purifies the church through corrective discipline. May God be glorified as Jesus builds his church by the power of the Spirit.

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[1] I am not talking here about planting churches using the same methodology that MacDonalds or Starbucks uses when they open a new international location. I am talking about planting churches on the preached word empowered by the Holy Spirit, so that God, who has empowered the growth, gets the glory, instead of the clever business strategy or cultural savvy being credited with the success.

[2] See Peter R. Schemm Jr.’s answer the question “Is prayer-walking a biblical strategy?” where he rejects “‘on site’ prayer as the required means for effecting powerful prayer” and asserts that “it is best described as an attempt to wage spiritual war ‘according to the flesh’ (2 Cor. 10:3)” in Daniel L. Akin, A Theology for the Church (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 2007), 330–31.

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To see all the posts in this series, go to the category “The Power and Presence of the Holy Spirit.”

Prof Peter Gentry Speaking at University of Wisconsin-Madison

Those of you who may be near the University of Wisconsin-Madison won’t want to miss Dr. Peter Gentry’s lecture on Monday night, “The Great Code: Greek Bible and the Humanities.”

Dr. Gentry is editing two volumes in the Goettingen Septuagint Series: Ecclesiastes and Proverbs. He translated Ecclesaistes and Lamentations for the New English Translation of the Septuagint, and he is giving leadership to the Hexapla Institute.

In his lecture Dr. Gentry will demonstrate the profound influence the Greek translation of the Old Testament has had on western culture.

Online Latin Course: Latinum

I have been wanting to learn Latin for a long time now, and I’ve made several runs at making my way through a Latin Grammar. I’ve recently been motivated anew to make yet another attempt, and a google search turned up what looks like a very helpful site.

Latinum has links to google book versions of an 1850’s Latin Grammar and its accompanying Key to the Exercises, and the Latinum site is full of recorded material for learning Latin. All it takes is $2 and enough discipline to pound through the material.

Enjoy!