John A. Broadus on the Duty of Teaching Baptist Distinctives

The most recent issue of the Towers publication from SBTS reproduces a condensation of a pamphlet John Broadus wrote on “The Duty of Teaching Baptist Distinctives.” If the link doesn’t go straight to the article on the PDF, it’s on the lower third of page 5 (Towers, January 3, 2011). I’ve copied and pasted it below:

The Duty of Teaching Baptist Distinctives

by John A. Broadus

EDITOR’S NOTE: John A. Broadus (1827- 1895), founder and former professor at Southern Seminary, first published this material as a 35-page pamphlet with the American Baptist Publication Society. This article is a condensed version of excerpts from an issue of “The Baptist Vision.”

A duty we owe to ourselves
We must teach [Baptist] views in order to be consistent in holding them. Because of these we stand apart from other Christians. We have no right thus to stand apart unless the matters of difference have real importance; and if they are really important, we certainly ought to teach them.

This teaching is the only way of correct- ing excesses among ourselves. Do some of our Baptist brethren seem to you ultra in their denominationalism, violent, bitter? And do you expect to correct such a tendency by going to the opposite extreme? You are so pained, shocked, disgusted at what you consider an unlovely treatment of controverted matters that you shrink from treating them at all. Well, the persons you have in view would defend them-selves by pointing at you. Thus one extreme fosters another.

A duty we owe to our fellow Christians
It is urged that we ought to push all our differences into the background and stand shoulder to shoulder against Popery. It seems to us that the best way to meet and withstand Romanism is to take Baptist ground. Our brethren of the Protestant persuasions are all holding some “developed” form of Christian- ity, not so far developed as Popery, and some of them much less developed than others, but all having added something, in faith or govern- ment or ordinances, to the primitive simplicity. The Roman Catholics know this, and some- times say that the Baptists alone are consistent in opposing the [Roman Catholic] Church.

We may say that there are but two sorts of Christianity: church Christianity and Bible Christianity. If well-meaning Roman Catholics become dissatisfied with resting everything on the authority of the church and begin to look toward the Bible as authority, they are not likely to stop at any halfway house, but to go forward to the position of those who really build on the Bible alone.

It is not necessarily an arrogant and pre- sumptuous thing in us if we strive to bring our Protestant brethren to views that we honestly believe to be more scriptural, and therefore more wholesome.

A duty we owe to the unbelieving world
We want unbelievers to accept Christianity; and it seems to us they are more likely to accept it when presented in its primitive simplicity, as the apostles themselves offered it to the men of their time.

For meeting the assaults of infidels, we think our position is best. We can say to the skeptical inquirer, “Come and bring all the light that has been derived from studying the material world, the history of man or the highest philosophy, and we will gladly use it in helping to interpret this which we believe to be God’s Word.” There is in this freedom no small advantage for the truly rational inquirer.

But, while thus free to search the Scriptures, Baptists are eminently conservative in their whole tone and spirit; and for a reason. Their recognition of the Scriptures alone as author- ity, and the stress they lay on exact conformity to the requirements of the Scriptures foster an instinctive feeling that they must stand or fall with the real truth and the real authority of the Bible. The union of freedom and conservatism is something most healthy and hopeful.

A duty we owe to Christ
It is a matter of simple loyalty to Him. He met the eleven disciples by appointment on a mountain in Galilee; probably the more than 500 of whom Paul speaks were present also: “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have com- manded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”

The things of which we have been speak- ing are but a part of all the things which Jesus commanded; what shall hinder us, what could excuse us, from observing them ourselves and teaching them to others? Shall we neglect to teach as He required, and then claim the prom- ise of His presence and help and blessing?

The Lord’s Supper in Paul

Thomas R. Schreiner and Matthew R. Crawford have done us a great service in editing The Lord’s Supper: Remembering and Proclaiming Christ until He Comes, which has just appeared from Broadman and Holman.

I’m honored to have contributed to this project, and I’m grateful that Broadman and Holman has kindly granted me permission to post my essay here:

“The Lord’s Supper in Paul: An Identity Forming Proclamation of the Gospel,” pages 68–102 in The Lord’s Supper: Remembering and Proclaiming Christ Until He Comes, ed. Thomas R. Schreiner and Matthew R. Crawford, NACSBT (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 2010).

Patrick Schreiner has an interview with the editors.

Here’s the outline of my essay:

The Lord’s Supper in Paul: An Identity Forming Proclamation of the Gospel

1. Introduction

2. Problems in the Corinthian Church

2.1 First Corinthians 1–4, The Gospel Against Factionalism
2.2 First Corinthians 5–7, The Gospel Against Sexual Immorality
2.3 First Corinthians 8–10, The Gospel Against Idolatry

3. The Lord’s Supper: An Identity Shaping Proclamation of the Gospel

3.1 Anti-gospel Divisions
3.2 Proclaiming the Lord’s Death
3.3 Partaking in a Worthy Manner
3.4 Receiving One Another

4. Implications for the Contemporary Church

Here’s the Table of Contents for the volume:

David S. Dockery, “Foreword”

Thomas R. Schreiner and Matthew R. Crawford, “Introduction”

1. Andreas J. Koestenberger, “Was the Last Supper a Passover Meal?”

2. Jonathan T. Pennington, “The Lord’s Supper in the Fourfold Witness of the Gospels”

3. James M. Hamilton Jr., “The Lord’s Supper in Paul: An Identity-Forming Proclamation of the Gospel”

4. Michael A. G. Haykin, “‘A Glorious Inebriation’: Eucharistic Thought and Piety in the Patristic Era”

5. David S. Hogg, “Carolingian Conflict: Two Monks on the Mass”

6. Gregg R. Allison, “The Theology of the Eucharist according to the Catholic Church”

7. Matthew R. Crawford, “On Faith, Signs, and Fruits: Martin Luther’s Theology of the Lord’s Supper”

8. Bruce A. Ware, “The Meaning of the Lord’s Supper in the Theology of Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531)”

9. Shawn D. Wright, “The Reformed View of the Lord’s Supper”

10. Gregory A. Wills, “Sounds from Baptist History”

11. Brian J. Vickers, “Celebrating the Past and Future in the Present”

12. Gregory Alan Thornbury, “The Lord’s Supper and Works of Love”

13. Ray Van Neste, “The Lord’s Supper in the Context of the Local Church

Thomas R. Schreiner and Matthew R. Crawford, “Epilogue”

The Journal of Family Ministry (re) Launches at SBTS

Under the leadership of the prolific Timothy Paul Jones, the Gheens Center for Christian Family Ministry has re-launched The Journal of Family Ministry. The editorial introducing the new journal recounts in miniature the remarkable changes that have happened at SBTS since the late 1980s.

If you’re thinking about ministering to youth and families, you’ll want to avail yourself of this new resource. I’m honored to have an essay in the first issue. Here’s the table of contents:

2, The Editors, “Acknowledgment: The Gheens Family”

4, Timothy Paul Jones, “Editorial: The Long Journey Back Home”

Featured Articles

10, James M. Hamilton Jr., “That the Coming Generation Might Praise the Lord”

18, Robert L. Plummer, “Bring Them Up in the Discipline and Instruction of the Lord”

28, Andy Stirrup, “From Whom Every Family in Heaven and on Earth is Named”

36, Bryan Nelson with Timothy Paul Jones, “The Problem and the Promise of Family Ministry”

Regular Features

46, Andrew Parker and Brandon Shields, “Research Briefs” (summaries of their dissertations)

48, William Cutrer, “Medical Issues in Family Ministry: When Does Life End?”

52, Lauren Foster, “JFM Forum: Connecting Church and Home Conference 2010″

58, Book Reviews

66, Jay Strother, “Equipping the Generations: Learning to Listen”

This journal represents an important effort to address family issues with rigorous and careful study, submission to the truth of the Scriptures, and love for God and his people. I just got my copy yesterday, and I’m eager to read the whole thing. Here are a couple reasons why:

• Rob Plummer is an insightful interpreter, and glancing through I notice that he has collected a sampling of texts on family ministry issues from the Apostolic Fathers.
• Paging through Andy Stirrup’s essay I note a sketch of Artemis from the Ephesus museum, as well as pictures of coins from the reign of Claudius and Vespasian. What do such artifacts have to do with family ministry? You’ll want to read the essay to find out!

Thanks to the editors for graciously allowing me to post my essay here: James M. Hamilton Jr., “That the Coming Generation Might Praise the Lord,” Journal of Family Ministry 1.1 (2010): 10-17.

In this study I’m looking at the role of family discipleship in the OT. Here’s the outline:

God’s Purpose to Cover the Dry Lands with His Glory

Instructions for Fathers and Kings in Deuteronomy 6 and 17

Instructions for Fathers in Deuteronomy 6
Instructions for Kings in Deuteronomy 17

Solomon’s Example in Proverbs 3

Table: The Influence of Deuteronomy 6 and 17 on Proverbs 3

Conclusion

May we teach the Bible diligently to our children (Deut 6:4-9), that the coming generation might praise the Lord (Ps 102:18).

Praise God for True Religion at Kenwood (James 1:27)

I remember hearing John Hannah say at DTS: There are two things that you need to learn at seminary. First, the Bible is God’s word. Second, the Bible is the tool God uses to conform his people to the image of the Lord Jesus.

To see God’s word at work in the hearts and lives of his people is to see God do miracles. When we see people do what the Bible tells them to do, we should not take it for granted. We should not assume that’s just what people do. We should remember how selfish our own hearts are, contemplate how God by his Spirit has enabled these people to hear his Word, and worship God for the power he exercises in conforming people to the image of Christ, who laid down his life for us. It’s a miracle when a sinner acts like Jesus.

What a blessing and joy to see God’s mighty power at work: Jesus loved us by laying down his life, and I praise God to see the people of Kenwood Baptist Church living out true religion by caring for orphans and widows.

Here’s a beautiful picture of what you normally think of when you think of widows and orphans, and here’s another instance of a man caring for the “orphans” whose parents are alive but don’t protect them (in this instance I’m picking up on the way that Piper spoke of the women and babies affected by abortion as widows and orphans).

You want to see miracles today? Go read this post, and then go read this one, and praise God for his power at work in these lives.

A New Fragment of Athanasius’s Thirty-Ninth Festal Letter

David Brakke has published a signifcant essay with a fresh translation of Athanasius’s Thirty-Ninth Festal Letter:

“A New Fragment of Athanasius’s 39th Festal Letter: Heresy, Apocrypha, and the Canon.”  Harvard Theological Review 103 (2010): 47-66.

He points to some of the implications of a “new fragment of the Coptic text” of Athanasius’s Thirty-Ninth Festal Letter:

“When I read the letter in the mid 1990s, I argued that Athanasius’s promotion of a biblical canon supported a parish-based, episcopally-centered spirituality in opposition to other forms of Christian authority, namely, the teacher and the martyr. I still think that is the case, but the new fragment does suggest that I underestimated the specifically anti-heretical intent of the letter and of Athanasius’s canon. That is, Athanasius promoted a biblical canon not only—as I argued earlier—to support one form of Christian piety, social formation, and authority in opposition to others, but also to refute the specific teachings of persons and groups that he deemed ‘impious’ and ‘heretics.’”[1]

As for what’s new in the new fragment:

“ . . . . These other passages do not, however, include brief descriptions of each heresy’s distinct false teaching as the new fragment does.”[2]

“While the beginning and end of the fragment merely extend or supplement what we already knew of Athanasius’s argument, the brief catalogue of heresies with the biblical passages that refute them in its central section is genuinely new . . .”[3]

Brakke makes an observation that supports the notion that the early church rejected pseudepigraphy/pseudonymity, writing of Athanasius:

“. . . he devotes considerable attention to two particular themes. . . . The second theme is that no ‘apocryphal’ books really come from Isaiah, Moses, Enoch, or any other authoritative figure. They all published their teaching openly, and any ‘apocryphal’ books attributed to them must be recent inventions of heretics.”[4]

This comment adds to a lot of other evidence that when early figures in the church wrongly cited extra-canonical books as Scripture, they did so thinking that the attribution to some ancient inspired prophet was genuine. In other words, had they known the document was pseudepigraphical or pseudonymous, they would have rejected it. To my thinking this adds to the evidence that there were clear notions of authorship in the ancient world, that Jesus accepted the traditional claims about who wrote the books of the OT (e.g., Moses wrote the Pentateuch, Isaiah wrote Isaiah, Daniel wrote Daniel, etc.), and that the early church followed Jesus on this point.

Athanasius’s Thirty-Ninth Festal Letter is not saying something new about the canon. Rather, Athanasius sees himself re-stating ancient tradition. Brakke writes:

“As Athanasius and others like him present the matter, when legitimate officeholders of the church (bishops) teach, they are faithfully passing on what Christ told the disciples, who subsequently informed their Episcopal successors, and so they are not really teaching at all. Athanasius claims this about himself in our letter: ‘I have not written these things as if I were teaching, for I have not attained such a rank. . . . I thus have informed you of everything that I heard from my father,’ that is, Bishop Alexander of Alexandria.”[5]

Athanasius was a shepherd seeking to protect the flock from wolves:

“Although most scholars remain focused on the lists of books, the greater importance of the letter is that it reveals the role of canon formation in supporting one form of Christian piety and authority and undermining others. . . . The new fragment . . . makes clear that in establishing a defined canon Athanasius sought to undermine not only a general spirituality of free intellectual inquiry and its academic mode of authority, but also the specific false doctrines to which he believed such a spirituality gave rise.”[6]

A fresh translation of the entire letter, with a revised version of the new Coptic Fragment, follows on pages 57–66.

---

[1] David Brakke, “A New Fragment of Athanasius‘s Thirty-Ninth Festal Letter: Heresy, Apocrypha, and the Canon,” Harvard Theological Review 103 (2010): 48.

[2] Ibid., 50.

[3] Ibid., 51.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid., 53.

[6] Ibid., 56.

1 Peter 5:1-11, Shepherd, Submit, Stand

It was my privilege to preach at the installation of Ryan Bishop as the Pastor of Graham Bible Church in Graham, TX this past Sunday.

The apostle Peter, the rock, follows Christ by humbling himself to serve others, identifying himself as a fellow-elder as he exhorts elders to model Christ-like self-sacrificing shepherding (1 Pet 5:1-4).

Then he calls the congregations to Christ-like humble submission to authority (“I came not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me”) as he calls them to be subject to the elders in humility (1 Pet 5:5-7).

Peter then explains that Christ-like shepherding and Christ-like submission are enacted in Christ-like standing against Satan (1 Pet 5:8-9).

He concludes with a promise and a doxology (1 Pet 5:10-11).

Spurgeon, being dead, yet speaketh, and here are some of his eloquent statements that appeared in this sermon:

“It is not great talents God blesses so much as likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.” (Lectures to My Students, 2).

On the pastor’s job description:

“To face the enemies of truth, to defend the bulwarks of the faith, to rule well in the house of God, to comfort all that mourn, to edify the saints, to guide the perplexed, to bear with the froward, to win and nurse souls—all these and a thousand other works beside are not for a Feeble-mind or a Ready-to-halt, but are reserved for Great-heart whom the Lord has made strong for himself. Seek then strength from the Strong One, wisdom from the Wise One, in fact, all from the God of all” (Lectures to My Students, 12).

On seeing the saints safely home:

“I am occupied in my small way, as Mr. Great-heart was employed in Bunyan’s day.  I do not compare myself with that champion, but I am in the same line of business.  I am engaged in personally-conducted tours to Heaven; and I have with me, at the present time, dear Old Father Honest:  I am glad he is still alive and active.  And there is Christiana, and there are her children.  It is my business, as best I can, to kill dragons, and cut off giants’ heads, and lead on the timid and trembling.  I am often afraid of losing some of the weaklings.  I have the heart-ache for them; but, by God’s grace, and your kind and generous help in looking after one another, I hope we shall all travel safely to the river’s edge.  Oh, how many have I had to part with there!  I have stood on the brink, and I have heard them singing in the midst of the stream, and I have almost seen the shining ones lead them up the hill, and through the gates, into the Celestial City” (source).

Have a listen here: 1 Peter 5:1-11, Shepherd, Submit, Stand

What is the greatest honor you can imagine? Perhaps the medal of honor given to an American soldier? The honor that Christ the King will bestow on those who served him faithfully so far surpasses that as to make the comparison of the two seem inappropriate. The church is God’s cause in the world. She is Christ’s own bride. The work done in the church has eternal ramifications and it pertains to all nations.

There is no other gospel that saves, no institution more significant, no agenda more important, no task more urgent, no cause more noble, no message more true, no office more dependant on the character of those who discharge it, and no reward greater than what Peter describes here.

Sermons on Ezra

It has been my privilege to preach through the book of Ezra at Kenwood, and here are the sermons in one post:

June 27, 2010, Ezra 1-2, God Keeps His Promises

July 4, 2010,  Ezra 3, Disappointing Fulfillment

July 18, 2010, Ezra 4, In the World You Will Have Trouble

August 1, 2010, Ezra 5-6, The Second Temple

August 8, 2010, Ezra 7, Change the World: Study the Bible

August 22, 2010, Ezra 8, The Hand of Our God for Good

August 29, 2010, Ezra 9-10, Repentance Is the Only Remedy

May the Lord bless the reading and hearing of his word.

Qumran Scrolls and the Date of Daniel

Here are some highlights from Gerhard Hasel’s essay, “The Book of Daniel Confirmed by the Dead Sea Scrolls,” Journal of the Adventist Theological Society 1/2 (1990): 37-49.

“At this juncture we need to make the point that according to current historical-critical opinion with its ‘Maccabean hypothesis,’ the book of Daniel originated in its present form during the time of the Maccabees and the crisis brought about by Antiochus Epiphanes, that is between 168/7 and 165/4 B.C. It seems difficult to believe that such a significant number of Daniel manuscripts would have been preserved in a single desert community, if the book had really been produced at so late a date. The large number of manuscripts can be much better explained if we conclude that the book of Daniel had a much earlier origin.”[1]

“Scholars who theorize that the book of Daniel wasn’t written until the Maccabean crisis (around 165 B.C.) are being compelled to admit that 4QDan^e [ca. 125 B.C.] comes from ‘only a half century later than the composition of the book of Daniel.’ This means that these scholars will now have to demonstrate that a mere forty or fifty years was sufficient time for all the editorial and other processes needed—according to their traditio-historical and redaction-critical theories—for the book to be developed into its present form and become canonical!”[2]

“In 1969, based on the evidence available at that time regarding the Qumran Daniel texts, Roland K. Harrison concluded that the second-century B.C. dating of the book of Daniel is rendered absolutely impossible by the evidence from Qumran. There was, he said, insufficient time for Maccabean compositions to be circulated, venerated, and accepted as canonical Scripture by a Maccabean sect.”[3]

“There can no longer be any possible reason for considering the book [of Daniel] as a Maccabean product.”[4]

“Ulrich, ‘Daniel Manuscripts from Qumran. Part 1,’ observes that 4QDan^c, with its very early dating, ‘is thus, for the Hebrew Bible comparable to the Rylands manuscript of the Johannine Gospel for the New Testament.’ The papyrus fragment of the Gospel of John (published in 1935) known as Rylands 457 and as P⁵² and dated to the first half of the second century A.D., was made about as few years after John was actually written as 4QDan^c was made after Daniel was allegedly written—according to those scholars who insist that Daniel wasn’t written till around 168-165 B.C., during the Maccabean period.”[5]

This evidence inclines me to think that those who persist in dating Daniel to the Maccabean era do so for uncritical, dogmatic reasons. Namely, their religion (historical critical naturalism with its priesthood of archeologists and orthodoxy of unbelief) dictates that they must not believe in a God who inspires predictive prophecy.

At any rate, primary source testimony, manuscript evidence, and historical probabilities are not dictating their conclusions.

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[1] Gerhard F. Hasel, “The Book of Daniel Confirmed by the Dead Sea Scrolls,” Journal of the Adventist Society 1, no. 2 (1990): 40.

[2] Ibid., 41. Hasel here quotes Eugene Ulrich, “Daniel Manuscripts from Qumran. Part 1,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 268 (1987): 17.

[3] Hasel, “The Book of Daniel Confirmed by the Dead Sea Scrolls,” 44. Hasel here cites R. K. Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1969), 1127.

[4] R. K. Harrison, “Daniel, Book of,” ISBE 1:862. Cited in Hasel, “The Book of Daniel Confirmed by the Dead Sea Scrolls,” 44.

[5] Ibid., 47–48 n. 27.

Christians Don’t Believe What Mormons Believe

JT has a nice summary in Q&A form showing that Christians and Mormons don’t believe the same thing.

Because of the prominence of some Mormons in our culture, it is important for Christians to be clear on this.

Danny Akin: There’s a Hell Rushing at You

Nice profile here on SEBTS’s Dr. Danny Akin. Some gems:

“I don’t want to stand before God and say I did very little with what you gave us,” Akin said.

. . . .

Of the many sights he has seen on his travels, one keeps him up at night. On a trip to Thailand with wife Charlotte, he and a couple of missionaries were on their way to a restaurant when their car passed a half-mile-long strip of prostitutes, many who apparently were between the ages of 12 and 15.

“Buddhism isn’t going to do a thing to stop that,” he said. “Hinduism isn’t going to do a thing to stop that. What could change the hearts of the pimps and the men who exploit these girls is the gospel.”

But Akin knew that less than 3 cents of every dollar given to his denomination goes abroad. So he set about to change that. Although the Great Commission Resurgence has no financial mandates for change, its approval set the wheels in motion for more money collected in donations to the Southern Baptist Convention to flow to international missions.

. . . .

“It’s always easier to dig a well than to look someone in the face and say ‘Can I share the Gospel of Jesus Christ?'” Akin said.

. . . .

For Akin, it comes down to the exclusive message of the gospel: “If I believe there is a hell rushing at you, I do you no favor by saying, ‘In the end we’ll get to the same place,’ ” Akin said. “I don’t believe that. My assignment is to help you avoid that crisis in eternity.”

Read the whole thing.

HT: SchreinerPatrick and Nathan Finn

What Is the Gospel?

Looking to understand what Christians mean by the word “gospel”?

Check out this video:

Looking to share the gospel with an unbeliever? Why not invite them to watch this?

HT: JT

Trevin Wax on the GCR in a Nutshell

Curious about what’s happening in the Southern Baptist Convention, especially with the Great Commission Resurgence? I’m thinking especially of those of you who might be coming to SBTS from non-SBC backgrounds–and that includes those of you thinking about coming to SBTS but your hesitations about the SBC are in the way.

You really should read Trevin Wax’s great summary of the issues: GCR in a Nutshell. Here’s his conclusion:

At the fundamental level, the GCR Task Force recommendations are about how we can best cooperate in pushing back lostness. Some of the recommendations are missional; others are about SBC culture. Some are about ministry priorities; others are about stewardship and structure. Regardless of one’s point of view, it is our Christian duty to assume the best in our brothers and sisters, seeing in each another the sincere desire for Southern Baptists to be good stewards of God’s money.

Interview with Tom Nettles on His Biography of James P. Boyce

Professor Thomas J. Nettles is one of my favorite historians. It was a joy to audit a course he taught on Baptist history, and I profit much from his writings. Last summer he published a biography of James Petigru Boyce, founder of Southern Seminary, where it is our privilege to teach.

If you haven’t already read it, I would encourage you to get this book, which is one of three finalists for the 2010 John Pollock Award for Christian biography.

Dr. Nettles graciously agreed to answer a few questions on the book (see if you can guess which of his answers made me laugh out loud).

As you did the research for this book, what surprised you most about James Petigru Boyce?

I expected to find in Boyce a soul-mate in theological commitment. What surprised me was the degree to which he was committed to the entire spectrum of orthodoxy as well as those distinctive issues that make one a Baptist—philosophical foundations for belief in God and the unity of truth, Trinitarian construction, Christology, soteriology, Baptist ecclesiology. He was relentlessly theological in his vision of what SBTS should be and how preachers should preach to the end of his life. Also the importance of the incarnation and a vigorous application of the doctrine of Christ’s humanity to each segment of theological discussion as well as to Christian ethics stands out in Boyce’s work.

What do you find most compelling about Boyce’s life and legacy?

Consequent to all that I admire about his theology and his consistency and power in applying it, the idea of legacy points to his thoroughgoing confessional commitment. This was a constant theme of his from his earliest reflections on theological education and was perhaps the most important part of his pivotal address before the Trustees at Furman, Three Changes in Theological Institutions. This confessional commitment, reiterated frequently, built into the founding documents of SBTS, gave historical, and legal, rationale for the Renaissance of doctrine in this institution. The vision of the “Resurgence” trustees and the prodigious labors of Dr. Mohler in theological reformation would simply mark the triumph of the personal opinion of a dominant thinker rather than a testimony to the immutable character of the faith once delivered to the saints, had it not progressed along the lines of return to a commonly-shared confession. Boyce’s vision made that work.

What should people in ministry today learn from Boyce?

We should learn that truth, or lack of it, commitment to the clear statement of truth, or lack of confidence in the ability and legitimacy of giving clear statements determines the character of one’s ministry. To the degree that we embrace, know, and state the truth of divine revelation, so will our ministries glorify God. God has placed the declaration of his glory in this age in the clear and faithful handling of his word by his ministers. The truths of Scripture  were embodied ontologically in Christ as God and Man, two distinct natures in one person, and pragmatically (the only true pragmatism, the only thing in all of history that truly works) in the redemptive operation of the triune God in the incarnation, atoning death, and resurrection, ascension, and session of Christ. To glorify Christ in his person and work and thus glorify God we must know and preach the revealed word of God as contained in Holy Scripture. Lack of clarity in this stewardship means a veiling of the divine glory in our ministries. This was Boyce’s conviction, this is what he wanted The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary to teach and to model.

How would you respond to someone who said he would never read your book for the simple fact that James P. Boyce was from the South and owned slaves?

I would try to resist the production of a long list of insults to the intelligence of one so bigoted, narrow-minded, unthinking and hypocritical as even to think such a thing. Employment of such a principle would shut one off from the study of the Old Testament, virtually all of the ancient cultures, Greek dominance of the intertestamental period, the Roman Empire, the history of England until the first half of the nineteenth century, the history of colonial America, the lives of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, the entire ante-bellum South and so forth. If one believes that the union of church and state has brought untold suffering and evil to both church and state as well as society in general (which I do), and feels that avoiding the documents produced in that context is a moral necessity for a Christian and that awareness of their viewpoints on theology, politics, philosophy, and society are reprehensible and unworthy of the intellectual and spiritual life of a Christian (which I don’t), then avoid the study of the German Reformation, the English Reformation and all western medieval culture. Bring to void any benefit from the study of Augustine, Anselm and Aquinas. Know nothing of the City of God, the Proslogion, and the Summa. If one studies history and gains interest in persons and nations simply on the basis of personal moral approval of the subject or the era in which he lived, he probably can find justification for the study of nothing and spend his life congratulating himself that he is ignorant of everything. But if one wants to see the operations of the mind of a highly gifted, intellectually and morally driven person, whose flaws are obvious and will not hurt us and whose strengths are massive and will inspire and help us, then go for Boyce. If one wants to see the way in which theological and biblical commitments transcend the ability of any individual to facilitate the moral, intellectual, and spiritual loftiness engendered in the study of divine revelation, study Boyce. If one want to see how that same commitment, nevertheless, raises a common sinner such as we all are to uncommon heights of self-sacrifice inspired by a vision of the divine glory, study Boyce. If one wants to see how Christian character constantly nourished by increased knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus Christ can interrupt the natural tendency to bitterness and resentment and seething hostility fostered by the crushing destruction and snarling ridicule of deeply-held conviction and unfettered commitment to a cause and transform the soul to the sweetness of a reconciled and reconciling posture of mind, study Boyce.

Does reading a biography such as the one you have written on Boyce aid those who preach and teach the Bible? If so, how?

I believe knowledge of the life, works, and work of a man like Boyce holds great promise for positive instruction for preachers of the word. First, one can sense the intensity of Boyce’s commitment to theological education as foundational to and in service of gospel preaching. Two, one can trace in his theology the transparent assumption of the utter truthfulness, sufficiency, and clarity of Scripture. Three, one can interlace his sermons with his Systematic Theology and see that they are all of a piece and learn something about the power resident in the application of theology to ongoing Christian discipleship. Evangelism is doctrinal proclamation; the sanctifying influences of the word come through doctrinal proclamation; comfort for struggling souls comes by knowledge of the surety of the redemptive covenant, and thus through doctrinal proclamation; hope for a sinless God-saturated future invades the soul through doctrinal proclamation. Exegetical and expository preaching always must treat the chosen text as part of a larger doctrinal context. For Boyce, systematic theology was an aid to preacher in preaching as truly and clearly as each text demands. Boyce did that and a knowledge of the passion of his life and work engenders like passions in one that would spend some time being a student of his life.

What are your next projects?

Presently, I am working on a biography of Charles Spurgeon. The title will be something like “Living by Revealed Truth: the Life and Ministry of Charles Surgeon.” Spurgeon and Boyce were contemporaries. Boyce met Spurgeon a few weeks before Boyce died and felt overwhelmed at the unwasted intensity of Spurgeon’s multifaceted ministry, all built on clear obedience to biblical truth. I also have a desire accompanied by the production of a few chapters to write an analysis and advocacy of doctrinal preaching.
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Hearty thanks for answering these questions, Dr. Nettles!

May your books be widely read, and may the Lord prosper his word as you minister it.

Now Available: The Sacred Text

Newly released from Gorgias Press:

Michael F. Bird and Michael W. Pahl, eds. The Sacred Text: Excavating the Texts, Exploring the Interpretations, and Engaging the Theologies of the Christian Scriptures. Gorgias Précis Portfolios 7. Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias, 2010.

Contents

Introduction: From Manuscript to MP3 – Michael F. Bird

The History of the Texts

The Septuagint as Scripture in the Early Church – Karen H. Jobes

Scripture in the Second Century – Tomas Bokedal

Scripture and Tradition: Seeking a Middle Path – Michael W. Pahl

Scripture and Canon – John C. Poirier

The Interpretation of the Texts

Scripture and Biblical Criticism – Jamie A. Grant

Scripture and Theological Exegesis – Thorsten Moritz

Scripture and Postmodern Epistemology – Robert Shillaker

Scripture and New Interpretive Approaches: Feminist & Post-Colonial – Jennifer G. Bird

The Theological Status of the Texts as Scripture

Catholic Doctrine on Scripture: Inspiration, Inerrancy, and Interpretation – Brant Pitre

Scripture in Eastern Orthodoxy: Canon, Tradition, and Interpretation -George Kalantzis

Still Sola Scriptura: An Evangelical Perspective on Scripture – James M. Hamilton Jr.

The Word as Event: Barth and Bultmann on Scripture – David Congdon

Can be ordered here.

Chris Castaldo’s Holy Ground

There are loads of Roman Catholics here in Louisville. Our neighbors on both sides of us are Roman Catholic, so I’m thrilled to see the publication of Chris Castaldo’s Holy Ground: Walking with Jesus as a Former Roman Catholic. I would commend this book to anyone interested in seeing the gospel believed by Roman Catholics.

Chris was kind enough to stop by here for a blog tour for the new book, and I trust you’ll benefit from our exchange:

Jim, it has been a pleasure getting to know you over these past several weeks. Thanks for the privilege of this blog tour “visit.”

1.) Do you think Holy Ground would be a good book to hand to a Roman Catholic neighbor still active in the Catholic Church?

Yes, I wrote Holy Ground with Catholics in mind, with a commitment to representing them accurately and fairly. Catholic scholars and laypeople, including some author friends, read the manuscript throughout its composition and offered feedback to ensure that this was the case.

2.) Why did you write Holy Ground?

It’s mostly an outgrowth of my ministry at College Church. Several years ago I noticed some folks from our church were approaching Catholic friends in one of two ways: either attacking them like foaming-at-the-mouth pit bulls or with such open-mindedness that their brains seemed to have fallen out of their heads. Therefore, I taught a class entitled “Perspective on Catholicism” intended to bring more biblically informed balance. With the Lord Jesus as our model, the class sought to maintain the virtues of “grace and truth” in relation to Catholic friends and loved ones (John 1:14). The material eventually became a manuscript and, thanks to Zondervan, Holy Ground was born.

3.) Do you think evangelicals should actively seek to evangelize Catholics?

Yes indeed. And I also think that evangelicals must regularly evangelize evangelicals, and, for that matter, I must constantly evangelize myself. In other words, we need to reflect upon the gospel beyond the point of our personal conversion; every day I must remind myself of Jesus’ death and resurrection and who I am in light of that. Since man looks only on the outward appearance and the Lord looks at the human heart, I don’t presume to know the nature of my Catholic friend’s faith. Yet, precisely because I’m an evangelical—a person whose life is dedicated to embodying and proclaiming Jesus, the Evangel—I’m committed to evangelism, even among Catholic friends and family.

4.) What are the distinct features of Holy Ground that separate it from other such books?

Among evangelical books that address Catholicism, Holy Ground has a couple of features that make it unique. First, many such books convey an unkind attitude. The doctrinal emphasis of these works is commendable, but the irritable tone rings hollow and fails to exhibit the loving character of Jesus. It’s the tone that my seminary professor warned against when he said, “Don’t preach and write as though you have just swallowed embalming fluid. As Christ imparts redemptive life, so should his followers.” This life is communicated in the content of God’s message and also in its manner of presentation. Therefore, I seek to express genuine courtesy toward Catholics, even in disagreement.

Second, most books on Roman Catholicism and Evangelicalism emphasize doctrinal tenets without exploring the practical dimensions of personal faith. Important as it is to understand doctrine, the reality is there’s often a vast difference between the content of catechisms and the beliefs of folks who fill our pews. Holy Groundis concerned with understanding the common ideas and experiences of real-life people.

Hopefully, as a result of reading Holy Ground, people will have a deeper grasp of the gospel’s wondrous grace and more ardent commitment to the enterprise of embodying it as a vibrant witness among Catholic loved ones and friends.

Thanks again Jim for the privilege of this exchange. Blessings to you and yours!

Revelation 9-12, Four Recent Sermons

It has been my privilege to be preaching through the book of Revelation, and here are my four most recent sermons at Kenwood Baptist Church:

10-11-2009 – Revelation 12:1-17 The Seed of the Woman Versus the Seed of the Serpent

09-20-2009 – Revelation 11:1-19 Bearing Witness til Kingdom Come

09-13-2009 – Revelation 10:1-11 Eat This Scroll (and prophesy the history of the future)

09-06-2009 – Revelation 9:1-21 Trumpeting the End of the World

May the Lord bless his word!

Towers Article on Brian Croft’s Visit the Sick

Good article here.

No substitute for loving people this way.

Earlier post here.

The Orthodoxy of the Text of the New Testament Audio

The audio from the Pros Apologian lecture I gave yesterday is here: “The Orthodoxy of the Text of the New Testament: Reasserting the Obvious.”

Here’s an abstract of my presentation:

The first chapter of Bart Ehrman’s book The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture suggests that our understanding of early Christianity needs to be radically revised, but Ehrman himself acknowledges that the rest of the volume does not provide the kind of evidence that would warrant such a revision. This presentation argues against the revisionist view that the traditional story of early Christianity distorts what really happened because “the victors rewrote the history.” Instead, the geographically widespread, early, abundant, and orthodox manuscript evidence points to an original mainstream of orthodox Christianity from which the heretics deviated. The orthodoxy of the manuscripts can be seen in what can be deduced from the use of the codex form, in the nomina sacra abbreviations used to refer to both God and Christ, in the staurogram, and in the concern of the scribes themselves to make exact copies of their texts.

Do Government Handouts Breed Immorality?

The question in the title of this post is not based on a large sample of data. It is only based on two recent conversations I have had with people receiving government handouts. In both cases, I was speaking with unmarried people. In both cases these unmarried people were living with a person of the opposite sex—and they weren’t just roommates. In both cases I asked what kept them from getting married. In both cases I was told that if they got married they would disqualify themselves from receiving government money.

They didn’t buy my argument that it was better to do the right thing than depend on the government. I could see Jerry Maguire in their eyes shouting “show me the money.”

They’re selling their virtue for a few bucks from the government, and we the tax payers are funding it.

It gets worse.

In one of these interactions it became clear that this couple abuses prescription drugs, marijuana, and crack. Now where do they get the cash for that?

We the tax payers pay for part of it.

Government cannot help either of the two couples I am describing, unless you define “help” as creating a situation that makes people refuse marriage lest they lose government funding. Or maybe we’re defining “help” as feeding dependence on handouts so that we can rid people of whatever dignity and honor they might have left? And let’s not forget to define “help” as funding the habit.

What these two couples need is the gospel.

Jesus breaks the power of cancelled sin and sets the prisoner free.

May he do it in these lives. May churches everywhere put their arms around people like these I am describing.

And may the Lord grant wisdom to those who govern. I pray God will give those who are over us the kind of wisdom that causes peace and safety and happiness to flourish, rather than the kind of “wisdom” that increases immorality, servility, and substance abuse.

Justin Taylor Diavlogs with Russell Moore on Adopted for Life

I’m fans of both Justin Taylor and Russell D. Moore, and this is really cool. These guys must be on Macs or something. They have recorded a conversation on Dr. Moore’s new book Adopted for Life.

Aside from the coolness factor of this video, I can’t speak highly enough of this remarkable book.

Theological precision. A compelling story. Emotional impact. You don’t find all that in the same place very often, but it’s in this book.

Dr. Moore is a uniquely gifted communicator. His theology is as good as his ability to tell a story. It’s as fun to read him as it is to listen to him preach.

Some dear friends of mine said, “This is a great book to read once you’re too old to adopt children!” (paraphrase). In other words, this is a compelling and convicting book. It could change your life. Read at your own risk!