Towers Article on David Hamilton’s Gospel Dunk

My brother is the Assistant Coach of the Boyce Bulldogs basketball team, and he played with the team when they recently visited a prison to play an exhibition game and share the gospel.

This story in the Towers relates how a nasty dunk opened the door for him to proclaim the gospel.

In Siloam Springs, AR on Wednesday, April 29

Tomorrow night I’ll be speaking at the Activate Conference at Harvard Avenue Baptist Church on “Missional Living in the Home and Beyond.”

If you’re in the northwest part of the natural state, it would be great to see you there!

Seven Reasons You Should Read Tom Schreiner’s New Testament Theology

1) More than any other reason, you should read this book because it will help you understand the Bible, which will help you know God as he is revealed in Jesus by the power of the Spirit.

2) Schreiner’s massive knowledge of texts in context will inspire you to know your Bible better.

3) The way that Schreiner situates texts in both near and broad context will help you understand both the New and Old Testaments as you continually study your Bible.

4) Schreiner’s impressive command of scholarly literature will spur you to pay better and closer attention to the things that other scholars say about the Bible.

5) Schreiner’s incisive comments on a myriad of scholarly debates, places where he describes some scholarly dispute then carefully navigates what can be known and/or takes a decisive stand will inspire you to pursue the balance of recognizing the limits of knowledge while having the backbone to take a position.

6) Schreiner’s willingness to criticize arguments that would support conservative positions will encourage you to evaluate arguments on the basis of their strength and merit rather than on the basis of whether or not you prefer the conclusion the argument supports.

7) This may sound like #2, but it is actually slightly different: reading this book will make you want to go back to your Bible to read and re-read it with more care and attention.

Was Joseph a Type of Christ?

I think so, and I try to prove it in this essay: “Was Joseph a Type of the Messiah? Tracing the Typological Identification between Joseph, David, and Jesus,” The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 12.4 (2008), 52-77.

The gist of my article is this: From the reuse of key words and phrases (linguistic connections) and from parallels in significant event sequences (historical correspondence) we can see that the author(s) of the narratives concerning David in Samuel deliberately sought to point their readers to the narratives concerning Joseph in Genesis. Thus, the author(s) of Samuel saw Joseph as a type of David, and the two play similar roles in the outworking of salvation history. We find the same kinds of linguistic connections and parallels in event sequences between the narratives about Joseph and the narratives about Jesus, and Jesus fulfilled everything to which both David and Joseph pointed (escalation). Thus, Joseph was first a type of David, and then both Joseph and David were types of Jesus. In my judgment, this provides the necessary textual warrant to demonstrate both historical correspondence and escalation from Joseph through David to Jesus.

For the details, check out the essay: “Was Joseph a Type of the Messiah? Tracing the Typological Identification between Joseph, David, and Jesus.”

Here are my other attempts to exposit the typological interpretation practiced by the biblical authors in the Old and New Testaments:

“The Typology of David’s Rise to Power: Messianic Patterns in the Book of Samuel,” a Julius Brown Gay Lecture presented at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary,” March 13, 2008.

“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.

Toward a Great Commission Resurgence

May the Lord pour out his Spirit and bring this about in our day.

Check out the new site, where I just signed the statement.

I would also encourage you to have a listen to Dr. Akin’s message.

HT: Between the Times

Good New Stuff on the Bible

I’m glad to see the appearance of Ancient Word, Changing Worlds: The Doctrine of Scripture in a Modern Age by Stephen Nichols and Eric Brandt. Anyone who wants to understand the disputes in North America over Inspiration, Inerrancy, and Interpretation in the last 125 years should praise God for this handy book!

The latest issue of Themelios came out today. I’ve been waiting for it to appear because I had the opportunity to read a pre-publication draft of Robert Yarbrough’s courageous and hard hitting essay, The Embattled Bible: Four More Books. Highly recommended.

There are several other articles I’m eager to get to in this issue. Check it out.

Revelation 2:1-7, First Love

Sermon audio from this morning here: Revelation 2:1–7, First Love

And if you go to this page or this page you can RSS the sermon audio updates.

May the Lord add his blessing to the preaching of his word.

SBC Messianic Fellowship

For those coming in early for the SBC this summer, it would be great to have you join me on Saturday, June 20 from 1:25pm to 4:30 for two sessions at the SBC Messianic Fellowship Meeting. Come ready to study the Twelve Prophets! (some of them, anyway).

Samson Crushed the Philistines, and They Wanted Entertainment

My colleague, Charles Halton, has a fascinating study of a pun in Judges 16:25-27 in the most recent issue of the Journal of Biblical Literature.

The play on words involves two verbs that sound virtually the same except that one begins with “s” (sin) and the other begins with “sh” (shin). The verb in the text is related to Isaac’s name, which has to do with laughter, so the translations relate how Samson was summoned to “entertain” the Philistines. The related verb, the one that starts with the “sh” sound, means “crush,” which is exactly what Samson did to the Philistines when he brought down the house.

You can get the teaser video here, and his post has the link to his article in JBL.

I think this fits with the wider theme of the Skull Crushing Seed of the Woman.

Bruce Ware’s Big Truth for Young Hearts

I’m so glad Dr. Ware got this book written just in time for my sons to be old enough to have it read to them!

If you’re in the Louisville area, you’ll want to check out that reading that Dr. Ware is doing TODAY at 10am at the Lifeway Campus Store on the SBTS Campus.

Otherwise, I commend to you Justin Taylor’s interview with Dr. Ware on his new book, Big Truths for Young Hearts.

“We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments” (Psalm 78:4-8).