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 …
Category Archives: Biblical Theology
@CrosswayBooks Interview on Revelation: The Spirit Speaks to the Churches
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”
The First Copy of Revelation: The Spirit Speaks to the Churches
Hearty thanks to Crossway for over-nighting a copy of my book, Revelation: The Spirit Speaks to the Churches! This one is dedicated to my sons (baby girl came along after it was completed), and the inscription goes like this: For Jake, Jed, and Luke May the High King on the white horse capture your imagination …
Continue reading “The First Copy of Revelation: The Spirit Speaks to the Churches”
A Biblical Theology of Gender in Chicago
If you’re in the Chicago-land area I’d love to see you on February 25, 2012 at the Iron Sharpens Iron conference. Kenny Luck and Voddie Baucham are the keynote speakers, and I’ll be doing a seminar on “A Biblical Theology of Gender.” Details on this page. May God help us to man-up and be Christlike.
My Thoughts on Beale’s NT Biblical Theology
I’ve been asked several times now what I think of G. K. Beale’s massive New Testament Biblical Theology. I’ve mentioned repeatedly how much I’ve learned from Beale. It was a comment Tom Schreiner made in a seminar that first drove me to a Beale article that set me trying to understand how the NT authors …
Continue reading “My Thoughts on Beale’s NT Biblical Theology”
Jeremiah 8:4–9:26, Understand and Know the Lord
“Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, …
Continue reading “Jeremiah 8:4–9:26, Understand and Know the Lord”
Beautiful Words about the Baby in the Basket
Eric Schumacher has a good biblical-theological piece of fiction here: Centuries after Moses died, after Joshua brought the people into the land, after the rise of King David and King Solomon, after the divide of the kingdom into Israel and Judah—the people of Israel have been carried off into exile, where they are worked as …
Continue reading “Beautiful Words about the Baby in the Basket”
An Introduction to Biblical Theology
Saturday night, November 19, I had the privilege of doing an introduction and overview of biblical theology at Providence Baptist Church in Pasadena, TX (Houston area). It was an honor to be at the church pastored by Tommy Dahn, who with Bruce Stoney ordained me to gospel ministry back in January of 2004. You can …
The Two Exiles: From Eden and Land
Reviewing Martien A. Halvorson-Taylor’s Enduring Exile: The Metaphorization of Exile in the Hebrew Bible, Daniel C. Timmer writes: The Judean exile to Babylon was an event of the highest importance for nearly every biblical book that touches upon it. But the biblical witness is not monochromatic: Jeremiah and Chronicles see the exile as having a …
Jeremiah 7: Indictment of Unrepentant Israel (with some temple typology)
As I indicated in a previous post, it seems that Jeremiah 1:18–19 and Jeremiah 6:27–30 are bracketing Jeremiah 2–6 as a unit in which there is a progression from Israel’s sin to Israel’s rejection for their refusal to repent. This would place Jeremiah 7 at a strategic juncture introducing the next section of the book …
Continue reading “Jeremiah 7: Indictment of Unrepentant Israel (with some temple typology)”
Jeremiah 6: Refined in Vain and Rejected
Adolph Schlatter said of Friedrich Nietzsche: The chief impression that I internalized from his lectures arose from his offensive haughtiness. He treated his listeners like despicable peons. He convinced me of the principle that to throw out love is to despoil the business of teaching—only genuine love can really educate.[1] Nietzsche believed in the superman, …
Panel Discussion from @SBTS Chapel Today: Is a Historical Adam Necessary?
Jeremiah 5: The Refusal to Repent
In an earlier post I suggested some ways to determine how Jeremiah has structured his message: repeated words and phrases, changes in content or theme, and changes in point of view (for instance, from first person to second or third) are all indicators of turning points in Jeremiah’s presentation. In Jeremiah 5 it seems to …
Peter Enns on Paul, Adam, and Evolution
February 9, 2011 was a great day for the Hamiltons, as my sweet wife gave birth to our fourth child. Praise God. Meanwhile, over on the left coast Peter Enns was giving a lecture at Westmont College, and in the lecture he refers to Westmont as a left-wing California-style evangelical school. In preparation for a …
The Best Essay I’ve Ever Read on the Book of Ruth
Peter Leithart, “When Gentile Meets Jew: A Christian Reading of Ruth and the Hebrew Scriptures,” Touchstone, May 2009, 20–24. Some highlights: Christological reading that integrates the detailed studies of Jewish scholars has the potential to address some of the complaints against the historical practice of typology. Taking cues from Luke 24, typological interpretation has traditionally …
Continue reading “The Best Essay I’ve Ever Read on the Book of Ruth”
Hans Frei’s Central Idea
Thanks to Patrick Schreiner for pointing to this essay, in which William C. Placher describes Hans Frei’s central idea: Frei certainly never thought of himself as a “great theologian, ” but he did have a central passion, a central idea. That idea emerged through long study, in the 1950s and ’60s, of l8th- and 19th-century …
Jeremiah: A Type of Christ Who Speaks for God
I’ve argued that Jeremiah was a prophet like Moses, and Jesus is the typological fulfillment of this pattern that began with Moses. Luke presents both Peter and Stephen asserting that Jesus is the prophet like Moses announced in Deuteronomy 18:15–18 (Acts 3:22–23; 7:37), and Matthew, Mark, and Luke are pointing to this in their transfiguration …
Continue reading “Jeremiah: A Type of Christ Who Speaks for God”
Jeremiah 3:6–4:4, Repent and Be Restored
In 1988, Jimmy Swaggart was caught with a prostitute. He was famous. On television. Known worldwide as an evangelist and preacher. He was initially suspended for three months, then the Assemblies of God suspended him for two years. When he resumed preaching after three months, the Assemblies of God defrocked him. In 1991 he was …
Congrats to Stinson and Jones on “Trained in the Fear of God”
Do you have questions about Family Ministry? You’ll want to thank Randy Stinson and Timothy Paul Jones for editing Trained in the Fear of God: Family Ministry in Theological, Historical, and Practical Perspective. Don’t miss this book. Here’s the Table of Contents: Foreword by Richard Ross Introduction: The Problem with Family Ministry, Bryan Nelson with …
Continue reading “Congrats to Stinson and Jones on “Trained in the Fear of God””
Jeremiah 2:1–3:5, Will You Drink Sludge or Living Water?
Imagine a wedding, with the bride standing at the doors in the back about to enter the worship hall for the ceremony. She’s dressed in her gown, and her friend Jerry is standing by one of the doors, ready to fling it open when the moment comes. Just at that moment a well dressed older …
Continue reading “Jeremiah 2:1–3:5, Will You Drink Sludge or Living Water?”