I am ashamed to say it, but I haven't read many books on Christian missions. But here are two challenging ones:
1. John Piper's Let the Nations Be Glad, which has helped lots of people come to understand God's purpose in creating and saving and using us. This exciting book explains what it really means to follow Jesus and is an outstanding exposition of the theology of Christian missions. It gives an overview of God's plan for the world, and our part in it.
2. While K P Yohannan's Revolution in World Missions is not as well written or edited, it explains clearly how we can be a part of God's plan to bring his saving message to every tribe and language and person. After reading Piper's book, you may be all fired up to go overseas and be a missionary, but this second book will show you a far better way to fulfil Jesus' words to us to take the good news to all the world.
A few of us may be able to go where Christ's message has never been heard, but most of us will have to go vicariously through our prayers and support of indigenous missionaries.
There are many organisations which are working in the 10/40 window but there is no better one than Gospel For Asia, which has 14,000 locals spreading the word of Jesus throughout the hundreds of thousands of villages where Jesus' message has never been heard.
I hope these 2 books will change your life as they have mine.
Saturday, August 14, 2004
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
The Law and the Christian
What is the relationship between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant?
How does Christ's Church relate to Israel? Is it the New Israel? Do Christians have to keep the law, and if so, what law?
What does Paul mean by "the law of Christ?"
Questions like these have led me on an interesting journey through these stimulating books:
From Sabbath to Lord's Day, edited by Don Carson, has thought-provoking contributions from Max Turner, Andrew Lincoln, Richard Bauckham and others. It is expensive whether you buy it second-hand or in a limited-run reprint, but it is well worth your time.
In The Law and the New Testament: the question of continuity, Frank Thielman discusses key passages in the New Testament which bear on whether Christians are to keep the Old Testament law.
Tom Schreiner's The Law and Its Fulfilment is mainly concerned with Paul's theology of law, as its subtitle reveals. I always find reading his books to be well worth it.
Reading Continuity and Discontinuity makes you realise how Covenant Theologians and Dispensationalists and everyone in between all believe in degrees of both continuity and discontinuity between the Church and Israel and between the Old and New Testaments.
Tom Wells and Fred Zaspel's New Covenant Theology is a book every Christian should read. It aims to be a middle ground between the Covenant Theology of Christians of Reformed persuasion and the Dispensational Theology which is subscribed to by Christians of both Reformed and Arminian points of view.
The views expressed are quite close to those espoused by Douglas Moo in his article in Continuity and Discontinuity and also those of Carson in his terrific Commentary on Matthew in the Expositors Bible Commentary. I have linked it here to the CD ROM, because it is a cost-effective way of getting several superb commentaries by Longenecker, vanGemeren and others for the same price as the 2 volume book version of Carson's Commentary.
From studying this topic, I have found valuable insights in the Continuity/ Covenant Theology writings, but as you can see from the ones I have recommended, I favour the Discontinuity and New Covenant Theology writings as best expressing the bible's message on these issues.
How does Christ's Church relate to Israel? Is it the New Israel? Do Christians have to keep the law, and if so, what law?
What does Paul mean by "the law of Christ?"
Questions like these have led me on an interesting journey through these stimulating books:
From Sabbath to Lord's Day, edited by Don Carson, has thought-provoking contributions from Max Turner, Andrew Lincoln, Richard Bauckham and others. It is expensive whether you buy it second-hand or in a limited-run reprint, but it is well worth your time.
In The Law and the New Testament: the question of continuity, Frank Thielman discusses key passages in the New Testament which bear on whether Christians are to keep the Old Testament law.
Tom Schreiner's The Law and Its Fulfilment is mainly concerned with Paul's theology of law, as its subtitle reveals. I always find reading his books to be well worth it.
Reading Continuity and Discontinuity makes you realise how Covenant Theologians and Dispensationalists and everyone in between all believe in degrees of both continuity and discontinuity between the Church and Israel and between the Old and New Testaments.
Tom Wells and Fred Zaspel's New Covenant Theology is a book every Christian should read. It aims to be a middle ground between the Covenant Theology of Christians of Reformed persuasion and the Dispensational Theology which is subscribed to by Christians of both Reformed and Arminian points of view.
The views expressed are quite close to those espoused by Douglas Moo in his article in Continuity and Discontinuity and also those of Carson in his terrific Commentary on Matthew in the Expositors Bible Commentary. I have linked it here to the CD ROM, because it is a cost-effective way of getting several superb commentaries by Longenecker, vanGemeren and others for the same price as the 2 volume book version of Carson's Commentary.
From studying this topic, I have found valuable insights in the Continuity/ Covenant Theology writings, but as you can see from the ones I have recommended, I favour the Discontinuity and New Covenant Theology writings as best expressing the bible's message on these issues.
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