Over at the Desiring God blog John Piper has posted this video. He’s not telling anyone how to vote, but he is saying what he thinks about the issues of gender, race, abortion, and how Christians must be advocates for the gospel. This is worth your time:
The Isaiah Scroll Online
Celebrating God’s Mercy in My Life
My life is a tale of God’s mercy.
If you’re in Louisville and would like to hear about the way that God has lavished his kindness on this particular unworthy sinner, I would invite you to this event this Thursday at 4pm.
Dempster: Exodus and Biblical Theology, and Thoughts on Sinai and Zion
Stephen Dempster has just put up an intriguing post over at the biblical theology site, reflecting on some comparisons Hartmut Gese makes between the Sinai Torah and the Zion Torah. Check it out.
Dempster also has an essay in the recently released issue of The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology: “Exodus and Biblical Theology: On Moving into the Neighborhood with a New Name,” SBJT 12.3 (2008) 4-23. A version in word is posted here.
On Politicians and Elected Officians
A simple question: do you spend more time worrying about who they are and what they will do than you spend praying for them?
All of us who love the gospel can no doubt agree that what we want most is for others to love the gospel of Jesus Christ, crucified for sinners, raised in triumph over death and the forces of evil.
And as we can agree that we need the Holy Spirit to break through in our own lives and apply the truths of the good news of Jesus Christ, so we can, and should (1 Tim 2:1-4) pray for the good news of the gospel to break through by the power of the Holy Spirit and transform the minds and hearts of those public servants who seek and occupy elected office.
ESV 1 Timothy 2:1-4 “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
If you’re interested in my political philosophy, here it is: “The Church Militant and Her Warfare: We Are Not Another Interest Group,” The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 11.4 (2008), 70-80.
PDF of Vaticanus (NT)
And here’s a PDF of the NT portion of Codex Vaticanus.
PDF of Codex Sinaiticus (NT)
The Wikipedia article on Codex Sinaiticus has a link to a PDF of the facsimile of the NT portion of Codex Sinaiticus.
The pictures of the actual manuscript are appearing on the Codex Sinaiticus site, but they don’t have everything up yet and a PDF might be faster than a website. There are also a number of nice photos of the manuscript on the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts page.
Enjoy!
New Book from T. Desmond Alexander
Over at the Biblical Theology blog I’ve just posted on T. Desmond Alexander’s book, From Eden to the New Jerusalem: Exploring God’s Plan for Life on Earth.
Having just read the preface, I was compelled to post on it here, just in case there are some who check this blog but not the other.
This is an important new book from which every Christian minister, student, and scholar is sure to profit. It has the virtue of being under 200 pages, and from Alexander’s previous writings I am confident that treasures old and new will be found herein.
Clarence Thomas on Interpreting the Constitution
This excerpt from a lecture Clarence Thomas gave is well worth reading. Here’s the conclusion:
“Let me put it this way; there are really only two ways to interpret the Constitution — try to discern as best we can what the framers intended or make it up. No matter how ingenious, imaginative or artfully put, unless interpretive methodologies are tied to the original intent of the framers, they have no more basis in the Constitution than the latest football scores. To be sure, even the most conscientious effort to adhere to the original intent of the framers of our Constitution is flawed, as all methodologies and human institutions are; but at least originalism has the advantage of being legitimate and, I might add, impartial.”
Read the whole piece.
Russell D. Moore: Joseph of Nazareth Is a Single Issue Evangelical
Courageous. Inspiring. Prophetic. On point. Go listen here.
Dr. Moore knocked it out of the park today for the glory of God.
The abortion thing is about much more than American politics, so if you don’t want to be confronted with the spiritual realities and worldview issues at stake, don’t bother with this sermon.
If you don’t want to see a beautiful example of how to interpret narrative and apply it to the contemporary mind and heart while showing how the narrative fits in the broader redemptive historical story line, don’t bother with this sermon.
If you don’t want to understand how Matthew is using the Old Testament in his early chapters, and if you don’t want to be taught these things with a passion that will move you to action, don’t bother with this sermon.
If you don’t want to be inspired to love your children and your wife, or, if you don’t have kids and don’t want to be inspired to be a parent, don’t bother with this sermon.
If you’re not interested in what the gospel has to say to those who have suffered from having had or performed or counseled others to have abortions, don’t bother with this sermon.
Otherwise, go listen.
May the Lord bring renewal in our day.
Sage Advice on Learning Hebrew
How to Learn Hebrew
How to Have a Successful First Semester
1. Have a good attitude.
a. Learning Hebrew can be hard at times, but it is rewarding—find joy in your
studies.
b. You are fluent in at least one language already. Therefore you have proven that
you have the ability to learn languages—no excuses.
2. Do not fall behind in your studies.
a. At the pace that first year Hebrew moves, if you fall behind it will be hard to
catch back up again.
b. Learn the vocabulary of each chapter well—it will bite you later if you don’t.
c. Learn everything thoroughly unless I specifically tell you otherwise.
3. Studying consistently is much better than studying in large blocs once or twice a week.
a. Pick a specific time and place each and every day (besides Sundays) that is
specifically designated as your Hebrew study time and place. Design your
schedule around this time, not the other way around.
Ideal Study Sequence While at Seminary
1. First Semester—Alphabet, nouns, strong verbs, preliminary syntax, vocab.
2. Second Semester—Weak verbs, intermediate syntax, simple readings, vocab.
3. Rapid Reading—Read Hebrew narrative, nail down vocab.
4. Hebrew Composition—English to Hebrew, accents, advanced syntax, vocab.
5. Narrative Exegesis
6. Poetry Exegesis
How to Prepare for a Lifetime of Studying the Old Testament in Hebrew
1. Learn Hebrew vocabulary well. It will be very frustrating and you will likely give up if
you don’t. Recommended resource: George M. Landes, Building Your Biblical Hebrew
Vocabulary, Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.
2. Get to the point while you are at Seminary where you do your daily devotional reading in
Hebrew.
3. Do not read the Bible out of BibleWorks. Only use it when you are stuck and don’t know
how to read a specific word or phrase or when you are doing searches.
4. Read a Hebrew grammar once every year.
5. Read Hebrew in a group. Get to know at least one person, possibly another pastor in the
area, who is willing to meet with you weekly or biweekly to read Hebrew together.
6. Preach half of your sermons and teach half of your lessons out of the Old Testament.
Prepare your sermons and lessons from the Hebrew text.
7. Complete your study of the text before you look at commentaries or helps.
8. Understand why a translation(s) rendered your passage of study the way it did.
9. Use solid commentaries that deal with the Hebrew text. Eschew preaching commentaries
for textual study.
10. Follow at least one high-level academic journal that includes Old Testament studies. Get
a subscription or find a local library that carries them. For examples see the links to
journals on awilum.com.
The ESV Study Bible
To my great delight and surprise, a copy of the ESV Study Bible arrived on my doorstep today.
At this point, all I have to say is: wow.
Okay, I’ll say two more things. (1) Beautiful. And (2) I’ve gotta go read this thing–it makes me want to study the Bible even more!
One week til it hits a store near you.
Oh, by the way, if you’re a member of my immediate family reading this, your Christmas present from me this year will be related to this post.
Hyde Park Baptist Church in Cincinnati This Saturday and Sunday
It will be my privilege to speak at Hyde Park Baptist Church of Cincinnati’s Second Annual Bible Conference this Saturday and Sunday. Lord willing, here is the schedule we will follow:
Saturday Afternoon
1. An Overview of the Seven Letters, Revelation 2:1-3:22
The Risen Christ to the Seven Churches
2. The First and Last Letter, Revelation 2:1-7; 3:14-22
Loss of First Love in Ephesus, Luke-warm in Laodicea
3. The Second and Second to Last Letter, Revelation 2:8-13; 3:7-13
Strength in Smyrna, Faithful in Philadelphia
4. The Middle Three Letters, Revelation 2:12-17; 2:18-29; 3:1-6
Sexual Immorality and Idolatry in Pergamum and Thyatira, Death in Sardis
Sunday Morning
5. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, Revelation 1-22
An Overview of the Book of Revelation
The details as to time and place can be found here.
If you’re in the Cincinnati area, it would be great to see you!
Seeing the Bible’s Inter-Textuality
Michael Haykin’s Testimony
I’m eager to listen to Michael Haykin’s testimony (HT: Historia Ecclesiastica).
I trust it will bless your soul, too.
How Much Christ in the Old Testament?
That was the topic of discussion yesterday. It was my privilege to participate in a panel discussion here at SBTS, and the audio file is here (HT: Awilum).
My views have been shaped by the preaching, teaching, and writings of Drs. Thomas R. Schreiner, John Sailhamer, T. Desmond Alexander, Stephen G. Dempster, E. Earle Ellis, and N. T. Wright, among others.
Here are my attemps to articulate my views that have found their way into print:
“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 (for the presentation version, click the cover of the book on the right side of the page).
“The Seed of the Woman and the Blessing of Abraham,” Tyndale Bulletin 58.2 (2007), 253-73.
“The Messianic Music of the Song of Songs: A Non-Allegorical Interpretation,” Westminster Theological Journal 68 (2006) 331-45.
“The Skull Crushing Seed of the Woman: Inner-Biblical Interpretation of Genesis 3:15,” The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 10.2 (2006), 30-54.
Duriez and Guinnes on Francis Schaeffer
Anyone interested in Francis Schaeffer won’t want to miss Colin Duriez’s Francis Schaeffer: An Authentic Life. For a preview, you can check out the interview Crossway did with Duriez in the “Book Report.”
Nor will you want to miss Mark Dever’s interview with Os Guinness, where Guinness talks about Schaeffer and his impact.
Fascinating stuff.
Chesterton on Jesus
From G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, ch. 9, “Authority and the Adventurer”
Instead of looking at books and pictures about the New Testament I looked at the New Testament. There I found an account, not in the least of a person with his hair parted in the middle or his hands clasped in appeal, but of an extraordinary being with lips of thunder and acts of lurid decision, flinging down tables, casting out devils, passing with the wild secrecy of the wind from mountain isolation to a sort of dreadful demagogy; a being who often acted like an angry god—and always like a god. Christ had even a literary style of his own, not to be found, I think, elsewhere; it consists of an almost furious use of the A FORTIORI. His “how much more” is piled one upon another like castle upon castle in the clouds. The diction used ABOUT Christ has been, and perhaps wisely, sweet and submissive. But the diction used by Christ is quite curiously gigantesque; it is full of camels leaping through needles and mountains hurled into the sea. Morally it is equally terrific; he called himself a sword of slaughter, and told men to buy swords if they sold their coats for them. That he used other even wilder words on the side of non-resistance greatly increases the mystery; but it also, if anything, rather increases the violence. We cannot even explain it by calling such a being insane; for insanity is usually along one consistent channel. The maniac is generally a monomaniac. Here we must remember the difficult definition of Christianity already given; Christianity is a superhuman paradox whereby two opposite passions may blaze beside each other. The one explanation of the Gospel language that does explain it, is that it is the survey of one who from some supernatural height beholds some more startling synthesis.
How Big Was Nineveh? Part 3 of 4
I’m a few days behind on this one, but here it is:
Relevant Quote from G. K. Chesterton on Change
G. K. Chesterton’s 1908 book, Orthodoxy, is profoundly relevant to our day. The arguments that he explodes are still around, waiting for people to read this book and have the nonsense they think is rational thought made into smithereens.
Here is a quote that seems appropriate for the current political scene:
It is true that a man (a silly man) might make change itself his object or ideal. But as an ideal, change itself becomes unchangeable. If the change-worshipper wishes to estimate his own progress, he must be sternly loyal to the ideal of change; he must not begin to flirt gaily with the ideal of monotony. Progress itself cannot progress. It is worth remark, in passing, that when Tennyson, in a wild and rather weak manner, welcomed the idea of infinite alteration in society, he instinctively took a metaphor which suggests an imprisoned tedium. He wrote—“Let the great world spin for ever down the ringing grooves of change.” He thought of change itself as an unchangeable groove; and so it is. Change is about the narrowest and hardest groove that a man can get into.
–G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, ch. 3, “The Suicide of Thought”
The audio version from ChristianAudio.com is here.