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Tag Archives: Bible

Our desire to subvert the text

02 Thursday Apr 2020

Posted by memoirandremains in Bibliology, Scripture, Uncategorized

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Bible, Bibliology, Brunner, idolatry, Scripture, words

In his essay, “God and the Bible,” in the volume The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures Peter F. Jensen, responds to proposition that the Scripture is a word about God. Or, he quotes Brunner, “The spoken word is an indirect revelation when it bears witness to the real revelation: Jesus Christ, the personal self-manifestation of God, Emmanuel.” To respond to this challenge, states the issue as whether the “classical position” that the words of Scripture are the word of God; or, is there a way in which we can, by means of the Spirit, come to Christ effectively bypassing the words in the book?

There is a profound temptation here to want not some words but a person. Indeed, when phrased in that way, the “classical position” sounds foolish and misguided. I will not recount his argument here, which is well-structured and persuasive. He effectively demonstrates that there is no gospel without holding fast to the “classical position.” I cannot do that argument justice without simply repeating what he wrote.

What do wish to underscore here is the nature of the temptation to go-around the text. The desire to go around the text seems to have two roots as referenced by Jensen. First, there is the matter of idolatry; an argument which he traces to Tyndale. Second, he locates the movement in a desire for autonomy.

Jensen notes that our forebearers sought for “godliness” by means of obedience (see page 494), while we moderns speak of “spirituality”. But a desire for “spirituality” can easily become a guise for autonomy. We are dependent creatures who must have a clear rule to be obedient. “ A human life lived without the rule of God would be like a game of tennis without a net.” (495).

But I would like to venture an observation on idolatry and the textual nature of Christianity. Idolatry is a desire for a god whom we can control; an object of technology and desire. The god created is a god whom conforms to my desire.

I am in place one. My desire is place two; but reality is place three. I use the god of my idolatry to coerce reality to conform to my present desire.

When one claims a spirituality which supersedes the text and goes-around the text, and does not need the text; then my desires will become the “prompting of the Spirit.” Getting what I want will be the will of Christ. It is the strategy which underlies so much doctrinal change (as if a vote of some denominational leaders had the power to rewrite the Bible).

Words are a brake on hazy thinking and deceitful desires. I am well-aware of the strategies to subvert a text and to torture words into saying what I like. That is it’s own conversation.

And yes, there can be difficult questions. But so little of the trouble in life comes from the difficult questions about the Bible.  The “you can make it say whatever you want” dodge is written by people who have no idea what the text says. That is merely a dodge for one who wants to ignore the text.

The words of the text stand athwart our desire to create our own god.  We have to play deceitfully with the words to justify our own deceitful desires. A “modern” stance which simply seeks a make-believe Jesus on the basis of a “Spirit” which is remarkably consistently with my personal inclinations at the moment (sometimes this shows up when a Christian embarks on a path of disobedience and justifies it on the basis that he feels “peace about it.”)

The pattern laid out in Scripture, from Adam on, is God speaks and we obey. Our obedience is bound up with both our knowledge of God and our love of God. Paul, in Romans writes of the “obedience of faith.” But, “such a piety of obedience clashes deeply with our Western contemporaries to promote human autonomy as the highest aspiration.” (493). And hence, the desire to subvert the text.

As for the entire book, highly recommended. This is a remarkably comprehensive work on the authority of Scripture at over 1200 pages; Jensen providing one of the many essays. Please do not confuse any limitations in my writing with the very fine work done by Jensen in his essay.

The Scope of the Fall’s Effect

06 Friday Oct 2017

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Harmatiology, Uncategorized

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Bible, Fall, Sin

It is the human heart that is corrupt (Gen. 6:5; 8:21; Ps. 14:1; Jer. 17:9; Ezek. 36:26; Matt. 15:19); from it flow the springs of life (Prov. 4:23). It is from within the human heart that all iniquities and all sorts of incomprehension flow (Mark 7:21). The mind of humans is darkened (Job 21:14; Isa. 1:3; Jer. 4:22; John 1:5; Rom. 1:21–22; 1 Cor. 1:18–23; 2:14; Eph. 4:18; 5:8). The human soul is guilty and impure and needs atonement and repentance (Lev. 17:11; Pss. 19:7; 41:4; Prov. 19:3, 16; Matt. 16:26; 1 Pet. 1:22). The human spirit is proud, errant, and polluted and therefore has to be broken, illumined, and cleansed (Ps. 51:19; Prov. 16:18, 32; Eccles. 7:9; Isa. 57:15; 66:2; 1 Cor. 7:34; 2 Cor. 7:1; 1 Thess. 5:23). The human conscience is stained and needs cleansing (Titus 1:15; Heb. 9:9, 14; 10:22). The human desire, inclination, and will reach out to what is forbidden and is powerless to do good (Jer. 13:23; John 8:34, 36; Rom. 6:17; 8:7; 2 Cor. 3:5). And the body, with all its members—the eyes (Deut. 29:4; Ps. 18:27; Isa. 35:5; 42:7; 2 Pet. 2:14; 1 John 2:16), the ears (Deut. 29:4; Pss. 115:6; 135:17; Isa. 6:10; Jer. 5:21; Zech. 7:11), the feet (Ps. 38:16; Prov. 1:16; 4:27; 6:18; Isa. 59:7; Rom. 3:15), the mouth and the tongue (Job 27:4; Pss. 17:10; 12:3f.; 15:3; Jer. 9:3, 5; Rom. 3:14; James 3:5–8)—is in the service of unrighteousness. In a word: sin is not located on and around humans but within them and extends to the whole person and the whole of humankind.

Herman Bavinck, John Bolt, and John Vriend, Reformed Dogmatics: Sin and Salvation in Christ, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 80–81.

Advice from 1876 on how to preach to one’s contemporaries

05 Saturday Nov 2016

Posted by memoirandremains in Preaching, Uncategorized

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Bible, Contemporary, David Wells, God in the Whirlwind, Gospel, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Modern, Preaching, The Ministry of the Word, William M. Taylor

William M. Taylor’s The Ministry of the Word, 1876, has a useful discussion of preaching to the contemporary age. His insights are useful precisely because he is writing 140 years ago.  First, he mentions a point which is the thesis of David Wells’ God in the Whirlwind, namely that holiness and love must never be parted in our understanding and presentation of Christianity. As Taylor writes

Let us take care lest in our preaching we “put asunder” those two things which God has so thoroughly joined together. We must not exalt love without making mention of the righteousness..But neither, on the other hand, must we exalt the righteousness in such as as to obscure love. In the once case the Gospel will be made to wear an aspect of indifference to evil …. In the other it will be made to assume an appearance of terror ….But when we give each element its proper prominence, the love attracts to God, and the righteousness restrains from sin. [p. 90]

Next, he broaches the issue of what do our contemporaries need. As Martyn Lloyd-Jones was found of saying the Bible is the most up to date book:

The preaching most adapted to any age is the preaching of the Gospel ….That is the Gospel which every age needs, and its adaption to the human heart is made gloriously apparent wherever it is earnestly proclaimed. [91]

He then well quotes Maclaren:

“Perhaps the trust adaptation of a message to its wants, is to bring into prominence what it overlooks, and to emphasize the proclamation of what it does not believe.” [92]

Thomas Watsons 24 Helps to Reading Scripture.4

26 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Reading, Thomas Watson, Uncategorized

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Bible, Biblical Counseling, Reading, Scripture, Thomas Watson

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IV. Read the books of Scripture in order.

We often forget that the Scripture is a book and in many important ways it is book like any other book. There are long stories, like Genesis. There are letters, like 1 Peter. There are poems, like Psalm 23. While these stories and poems and letters deserve our most dedicated attention, those who intend to be serious in their reading often read so closely that they miss the over all flow. This is made worse by chapter and verse markers.

Such detached reading does serious damage to understanding. I have seen this very often with counselors who snatch a line they think useful to a matter at hand and then rob it of its value. There is a reason that Peter and Paul have long discussions before and after their marriage counsel. When a counselor (or a preacher) parachutes into the middle of Ephesians or 1 Peter and starts giving instruction to a family, they can easily miss the context in the instruction is to be given. They can distort the meaning and hurt the one they aim to help.

And thus, in reading, it is best as a general rule to just read the story or letter or whatnot:

Though occurrences may sometimes divert our method, yet, for a constant course, it is best to observe an order in reading. Order is a help to memory. We do not begin to read a friend’s letter in the middle.

Thomas Watson, “How We May Read the Scriptures with Most Spiritual Profit,” in The Bible and the Closet: Or How We May Read the Scriptures with the Most Spiritual Profit; and Secret Prayer Successfully Managed, ed. John Overton Choules (Boston: Gould, Kendall and Lincoln, 1842), 21.

Thomas Watson 24 Helps to Reading Scripture.3

07 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by memoirandremains in Reading, Thomas Watson, Uncategorized

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Bible, Reading, Scripture, Thomas Watson

III. Read the Scriptures with reverence; think every line you read, God is speaking to you.

I recall reading that Kierkegaard made a similar statement: the Scripture is written to you and about you. I know a man, an unbeliever coming to find out what of “cult” he son had joined. When he listened to the sermon which opened the Scripture and explained it was angry to find out that his son had told the preacher about him. Of course, nothing of the sort had happened — it was because the Scripture was written to him and about him (this story is not uncommon).

Our attitude towards a thing will greatly alter the way in which we hear and understand. There is a reason we wear special clothes at a wedding or an opera. There is a reason people wear school colors when going to a football game.
“The ark wherein the law was put, was overlaid with pure gold, and was carried on bars, that the Levites might not touch it. Ex. 25. Why was this but to breed in the people reverence to the law?”

If this is so, then is there something about how we treat the Scripture affects the way in which we respond. I heard a story of a great Christian scholar who grew up as a devout Jew. In his home, no one ate for an entire day if the Scripture touched the ground. When pastors use stunts to gain attention and preachers are more concerned with their own opinions than God’s Words, is it any wonder if many Christians hold a low view of the text?
“When Ehud told Eglon he had a message to him from God, he arose from his throne. Judges 3:20. The word written is a message from Jehovah; with what veneration should we receive it.”

This is a favorite image of the Puritans:

And, therefore, let us regard it as the word of God; hear it as the word of God; read it as the word of God. A company of profane wretches you shall have, the scums and basest of the people, that will discourse, and to grace their discourse, they must have Scripture phrases; but whose word is it? It is the word of the great God. Eglon was a heathen king, and yet when a message came from God, he arose up and made obeyance, Judges 3:20. We should never read the word but with reverence, considering whose book it is, and that we must be judged by it another day.

Richard Sibbes, The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 2 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet And Co.; W. Robertson, 1862), 495–496.

We should hear reverentially. God speaks by ministers’ mouths; and seeing God speaks at all, we must hear so, Psal. 89:7; forecited. See how Eglon behaved, when he was accosted by Ehud, Judg. 3:20, 21. ‘I have a message from God unto thee,’ said Ehud. It is added, ‘And he [Eglon] arose out of his seat;’ denoting the reverence with which he was to receive the message. And so should we.

Thomas Boston, The Whole Works of Thomas Boston: An Illustration of the Doctrines of the Christian Religion, Part 2, ed. Samuel M‘Millan, vol. 2 (Aberdeen: George and Robert King, 1848), 440.
Thomas Watson, “How We May Read the Scriptures with Most Spiritual Profit,” in The Bible and the Closet: Or How We May Read the Scriptures with the Most Spiritual Profit; and Secret Prayer Successfully Managed, ed. John Overton Choules (Boston: Gould, Kendall and Lincoln, 1842), 20–21.

An Up To Date Book

11 Friday Dec 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Scripture, Uncategorized

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Bible, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Modern, Scripture, Up to Date

But the Word of God is in an entirely different category. It is a very old book, one of the oldest books in the world. And the amazing thing is that it is as alive today as it ever has been. “[Moses] received the living oracles,” and this Word is as alive now as it was in the days of Moses. A part of this living quality that belongs to it is that it is always contemporary, it is always up-to-date.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Triumphant Christianity, vol. 5, Studies in the Book of Acts (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2006), 79.

The ideal ministry: Bibliocracy

12 Friday Jun 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in Bibliology, Ministry, Preaching

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Bible, P.T. Forsyth, Preaching

Forsyth

 

P.T. Forsyth, Positive Preaching and the Modern Mind, 37

A Short Film on William Tyndale and the English Bible

18 Saturday Oct 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Bibliology, Church History, William Tyndale

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Bible, Church History, English Bible, William Tyndale

Philo, On Creation.1-2

30 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Greek, New Testament Background, Philo

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Bible, Greek, Greek Translation, Moses, NT Background, On Creation, Philo

On the Creation 1-2

Now concerning the other lawgivers, some set out their code for virtue, unadorned and naked. Others tied-up their thoughts with heavy weights, mythic lies which hid the truth.

Moses refused both of those options. The first one is thoughtless, careless, and unphilosophical. The other is the work of liars full of witchcraft. Instead, he began the law with all beauty and dignity. He didn’t immediately set down “Do this” and “Don’t do that”; nor did he make up a myth (he didn’t even use existing myths).  It was necessary, first, to form their minds for the use of the law.

 

The Greek Text and Translation Notes:  Continue reading →

The Secret to Muller’s Success

13 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in 2 Corinthians, George Muller, Meditation, Ministry, Numbers, Prayer, Study, Uncategorized

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Arthur Pierson, Bible, Faith, George Muller, George Muller of Bristol, humility, Meditation, Meekness, Prayer, Study

By many measures, George Muller had extraordinary success in his ministry. Unlike many who crave attention, Muller craved The Lord. At each step, Muller’s method followed the lead of Psalm 121:

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

Such a complete dependence is the aim of any true believer of Christ — and yet we rarely show moments — much less a life of such dependence. Pierson reviews Muller’s life and notes 24 separate aspects of Muller’s development and education God used to make the man who could be used of God to run the orphanage. The education — and then work — of Muller illustrate Paul’s commendation in 2 Corinthians 12:

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

God, having saved Muller, then led Muller into a complete dependence upon him (which was the point of God permitting the messenger from Satan buffet Paul. (2 Corinthians 12:7) Muller’s faith did not come in flash but rather it grew over the course of years.

The basic element of Muller’s piety was a complete devotion to the Lord which consisted of study and meditation on the Bible:

8. His satisfaction in the Word. As knowledge of the Scriptures grew, love for the divine oracles increased, until all other books, even of a religious sort, lost their charms in comparison with God’s own text-book, as explained and illumined by the divine Interpreter.
9. His thorough Bible study. Few young men have ever been led to such a systematic search into the treasures of God’s truth. He read the Book of God through and through, fixing its teachings on his mind by meditation and translating them into practice.

Prayer:

20. His habit of secret prayer. He learned so to prize closet communion with God that he came to regard it as his highest duty and privilege. To him nothing could compensate for the lack or loss of that fellowship with God and meditation on His word which are the support of all spiritual life.

Muller’s piety was consciously personal — he relied not upon an abstraction but upon the Triune God. Therefore, communication — reading, meditation and prayer lay at the heart of his life. Such a personal reliance makes sense of Pierson’s observation as to Muller’s preaching:

15. His waiting on God for a message. For every new occasion he asked of Him a word in season; then a mode of treatment, and unction in delivery; and, in godly simplicity and sincerity, with the demonstration of the Spirit, he aimed to reach the hearers.

One does not wait on a word from an abstraction, but rather waits on a friend. Such intense and real friendship, led Muller to a complete dependence upon God:

18. His stress upon voluntary offerings. While he courageously gave up all fixed salary for himself, he taught that all the work of God should be maintained by the freewill gifts of believers, and that pew-rents promote invidious distinctions among saints.
19. His surrender of all earthly possessions. Both himself and his wife literally sold all they had and gave alms, henceforth to live by the day, hoarding no money even against a time of future need, sickness, old age, or any other possible crisis of want.

Which dependence even extended to occasion for service:

10. His freedom from human control. He felt the need of independence of man in order to complete dependence on God, and boldly broke all fetters that hindered his liberty in preaching, in teaching, or in following the heavenly Guide and serving the heavenly Master.
11. His use of opportunity. He felt the value of souls, and he formed habits of approaching others as to matters of salvation, even in public conveyances. By a word of witness, a tract, a humble example, he sought constantly to lead some one to Christ.

Pierson concludes the Muller’s ministry derived from Muller’s seeming weakness. Note the difference between Muller’s true humility — and a false humility which focuses on self. Moses was “very meek” (Numbers 12:3) and he led Israel. Neither humility nor being meek hinge upon self-deprecation but rather in selfless coupled to dependence upon God.

Muller demonstrates humility by seeking to be utterly transparent to the work of God:

To lose sight of this sovereign shaping Hand is to miss one of the main lessons God means to teach us by George Miilleris whole career. He himself saw and felt that he was only an earthen vessel; that God had both chosen and filled him for the work he was to do ; and, while this conviction made him happy in his work, it made him humble, and the older he grew the humbler he became. He felt more and more his own utter insufficiency. It grieved him that human eyes should ever turn away from the Master to the servant, and he perpetually sought to avert their gaze from himself to God alone. “For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things—to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Arthur Tappan Pierson. “George Müller of Bristol.”

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