I was extremely encouraged to read this news story, which tells of a 4,300 member church that “has 480 people who participate in weekly theological reading groups that study through Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology.” Wow! May the Lord bless us all with so many people willing to engage in serious theological study!
Category Archives: Bible and Theology
Are Big Churches Bad?
I get the definite impression that many people who are careful about theology and earnest to obey the commands and examples of the Bible think that bigger churches are bad churches. Several observations are relevant here: First and foremost, let’s remember that the Jerusalem Church had over 3,000 after the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41). …
Baptist History, Multiple Services, and Multiple Campuses
Tom Nettles, The Baptists: Key People Involved in Forming a Baptist Identity (Beginnings in Britain), recounts a debate between the early Baptist Hanserd Knollys and one of his Presbyterian contemporaries, John Bastwick: Bastwick argued that the Jerusalem church had only one body of elders over several assemblies or congregations. Believers meeting at the Temple in …
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The Power of God’s Word and Spirit
From Tom Nettles, The Baptists: Key People Involved in Forming a Baptist Identity (Beginnings in Britain), on the distribution of the New Testament by William Carey, William Ward, and Joshua Marshman in India: When the New Testament was printed, the missionaries began to distribute it carefully. William Ward and Krishna Pal, the first convert of …
Don’t get taken in by fads
I’m reading Andreas Köstenberger’s commentary on John, and I found the statement I’ll quote in a moment fascinating. Before I quote Köstenberger, let me set the stage. Throughout the latter half of the 20th century it was fashionable for scholars to view the Gospel of John as the product of a community, circle, or Johannine …
Salvation through Judgment for the Glory of God
This post is mainly in response to Damion’s question in a comment on my previous post. Damion asked about how judgment fits in the equation. Brett commented that this is a no-brainer, and all I can say is that when you look at typical surveys of Biblical Theology in resources such as the Anchor Bible …
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The Center of Biblical Thoelogy
When I was doing my Ph.D. at SBTS I took a seminar on New Testament Theology with Mark Seifrid. As we read surveys of the issues and discussions, I was surprised by what I thought was missing from one aspect of the scholarly dialogue. One of the things that gets bantered about in these discussions …
Promises Made . . . Promises Kept
What if there was a strong church right in the middle of the nation’s capitol? What if it was pastored by a humble man of God of profound spiritual insight, impeccable academic credentials, and a dynamic personal presence? What if this pastor was absolutely convinced that his own abilities and giftings were not the point, …
Why I Think Romans 7 Is Describing Indwelling Sin in Believers
The main argument employed by those who don’t think that Romans 7 is describing the experience of believers is simply that in Romans 6 Paul has described believers as dead to sin (6:2), crucified with Christ and no longer enslaved to sin (6:6), and thus, having died, believers are set free from sin (6:7). These …
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Dan Fuller and Inerrancy
From the following quotations it would appear that Daniel P. Fuller holds to inerrancy (quotations from The Unity of the Bible, 1992): “. . . rather than simply stating at the outset that the Bible is indeed the verbally inspired, inerrant Word of God, I arrive at this conclusion by beginning with facts and axioms …
Is God Worthy of This?
I just watched the second installment of ABC’s “The Ten Commandments,” and I’m grateful that the movie prompted me to think about some things the Bible says. For instance, there was a scene in which the faithful Israelites killed the idolatrous Israelites who refused to worship Yahweh after the golden calf incident (see Exod 32:26–29). …
The Ten Commandments and the Justice of God
My sweet wife and I just watched the first installment of ABC’s production of The Ten Commandments. I think that the fact that we are now the parents of one especially precious 2 year old boy (our first born) made the death of the first born of Egypt especially poignant to us. The Bible is …
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Gospel of Judas Radio Interview
I am very grateful to the many of you who communicated to me that you prayed for me during the interview last Friday. My friend Denny Burk has posted the show. I'm on with Denny for about the last ten minutes or so discussing the Gospel of Judas.
Creed of Athanasius with Subtitles
A few days ago I mentioned in a post that I often read the Creed of Athanasius to my 2 year old before I put him down for a nap. I had occasion to type it up for something else, and I decided to add subtitles. So I'm posting the Creed below with my subtitles. …
Michael Haykin on Francis Wayland
We Baptists would do well to know more of our heritage, and Michael Haykin, principal of Toronto Baptist Seminary, is one from whom we have much to learn. Read his post on Francis Wayland, president of Brown University (which was a Baptist school) here. Students of history will also want to check out Dr. Haykin’s …
Gospel of Judas Radio Interview
I just got off the phone with tonight's guest host of the Jerry Johnson Live radio program, Dr. Denny Burk. It looks like Dr. Burk will interview me live about the Gospel of Judas on the radio program, which airs from 5 to 6pm on KCBI, FM 90.9 in the Dallas area. You can also …
The Gospel of Judas
How would historians of the American Revolution respond if a new document were found? Let's say the document was written by someone loyal to Great Britain, and let's say that it suggested that George Washington asked Benedict Arnold to betray the American cause. Given that the facts are well established, and given that the sympathies …
Free Will?
Some time back I linked to this interview with Bruce Ware on the nature of human freedom. Another excellent treatment of the tension between divine sovereignty and human responsibility was brought to my attention today by Justin Taylor, and this one is by Douglas Wilson. If you're interested in wrestling with the Bible, I commend …
Augustine on Suffering
Arguing that Christianity is not to be blamed for the sack of Rome by the Goths, Augustine explains in The City of God that both good and bad men suffer. He writes: But as for the good things of this life, and its ills, God has willed that these should be common to both [good …
Dever on the Apparent Piety of Numerical Goals
Please read Mark Dever's post on the Together for the Gospel blog. HT JT