That the glory of the Lord might cover the dry land as the waters cover the sea
Stick with one, for one main reason: it facilitates the memorization of Scripture. If you are always reading, always studying, and always consulting the same version, you will be constantly reinforcing what you have memorized. It is so frustrating to have a text memorized, or almost memorized, then to hear it read or quoted in …
Continue reading “Should I consider using multiple translations or stick with one?”
I love literature, and when I read Albert Camus’ The Stranger and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot they shook me to the core. I read literature looking for truth, and these books challenged the truths I believed. By God’s grace he caused a faith that could not be shaken to remain in me, and as …
Steve Moyise, Paul and Scripture: Studying the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2010. 151 pp. $21.99, paper. Published in The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 15.4 (2011): 79–81. The best thing about this book is its interaction with modern scholarship. The best thing about the book’s interaction with modern scholarship …
I happened to be in Dr. Gentry’s office yesterday afternoon, and I was delighted to see the page proofs of this forthcoming book. In the course of our conversation, Gentry said something like this: “I’ve been developing these lectures over the course of my 30 years of teaching, and students have urged me to put …
Continue reading “Kingdom through Covenant by Gentry and Wellum”
I’m glad to see Eckhard Schnabel’s 40 Questions about The End Times appear, not least because it puts me in good company! His book appeared in 2011, my book Revelation: The Spirit Speaks to the Churches appeared in 2012. I had turned my manuscript into Crossway before Schnabel’s work appeared, and I didn’t know he …
Continue reading “Congratulations to Eckhard Schnabel on his 40 Questions about the End Times”
The standard Hebrew reference grammars (GKC and JM) are not for the light of heart, so I’m always glad to see new efforts to bridge the gap between the elementary textbooks and the reference grammars. Enter Andrew Steinmann with his Intermediate Biblical Hebrew. Reading books like this one is like eating your broccoli. Other things …
I have commented before on how much I appreciate having a Hebrew–English diglot of the Old Testament. I’ve heard someone say that there are over 3,000 forms in the Hebrew Bible that only occur once. I haven’t gone through and counted, and I’m not about to try to memorize all those nonces. So if I’m …
Continue reading “The Hebrew–English Old Testament (BHS/ESV) and Crossway’s Commitment to the Bible”
In my humble opinion, seminary students should seek from the seminary what the seminary exists to give them, and the seminary exists to give them the Bible. Let me be quick to add that the seminary’s main purposes include systematic theology and church history, but God has revealed himself in the Bible. Let me say …
Continue reading “Use the Right Tool for the Right Job: Gospel Maturity for Seminary”
Have you ever wondered how Proverbs might be preached? When I work my way through a book of the Bible, I like to get a robust exegetical commentary along with a more pastoral one and work through them as I prepare to preach. The exegetical commentary helps me with historical and background details, gives me …
Continue reading “Congrats to Ray Ortlund on Preaching the Word Vol. on Proverbs”
To Zion the streaming nations come, To sing the praise of what he’s done, Ransomed souls from every tribe, Clothed in white, the bloodbought bride. Come join the throng Come sing the song Come see the Lord Come hear his Word Wine, milk, richest fare, Fine white linen you will wear, Living water, come and …
HT to Rod Decker for drawing attention to this comparison of the grammars of Smyth and Robertson from The Biblical Greek Forum: Robertson’s work is focused fundamentally on the Greek of the New Testament, but each chapter begins with a careful survey of the history of the form and/or usage dealt with, setting forth the …
This past weekend it was my privilege to be in Fayetteville, AR, at University Baptist Church. I spoke on the theme of God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology. These talks seek to summarize the Bible’s big story, highlighting the promises that generate the typological patterns. The talks are now available on UBC’s …
How does one’s stance on baptism affect membership decisions? If a person is a convinced paedobaptist (i.e., one who holds to infant baptism) and declines to be baptized (i.e., immersed) as a believer, should that prohibit him or her from being a member of the church? My attempt to answer these questions is on The …
Continue reading “Can A Presbyterian Join a Baptist Church?”
Andy Naselli has posted the PDF. Go get it. Read and ponder. Here’s the essay.
The Bible is the most important book in the world. Nothing else comes close. No other book in the world reveals God. No other book in the world is inspired by the Holy Spirit. No other book in the world is able to make people wise unto salvation. No other book in the world is …
A trailer for my book, Revelation: The Spirit Speaks to the Churches didn’t come together, but this video for RevelationApp basically does the job:
We’ll be singing along with John Denver as we drive to West Virginia on Friday: I’ll be teaching Genesis through Esther at Randolph Street Baptist Church in Charleston, WV, on Friday and Saturday, preaching there Sunday morning. You can find more info on this page. Would love to see you there.
My dear friend and fellow pastor Denny Burk blessed me with a blog interview on Revelation: The Spirit Speaks to the Churches. Here are the questions: What is the main point of Revelation? What is the genre? If much of the prophecy in Revelation symbolizes early Christian conflict with Rome, then why not …
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So I’m sitting in church on New Year’s Day and my friend C. T. Eldridge gets up to do the New Testament reading. The reading is Revelation 15, and these words jumped out at me: “Then I saw another sign in heaven . . . And I saw what appeared to be a sea of …
Since the questions are somewhat controversial, and since my answers are not necessarily textbook, I’d be interested in your reaction to what I say in this interview on the Crossway blog. Here are the questions: Why should pastors preach on Revelation? What’s the best way to prepare to interpret apocalyptic literature in general and …
Continue reading “@CrosswayBooks Interview on Revelation: The Spirit Speaks to the Churches”