What I'm Reading

Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament

2008-02-21T14:09:00.002+11:00

Jeff, the Scripture Zealot, has a great page extolling this terrific new resource co-edited by Don Carson and Greg Beale. I'm still reading Beale's wonderful book The Temple and the Church's Mission, and have read many of Carson's output over the years, particularly appreciating his Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God.

I've only been surveying this commentary so far, and have noticed that the contributors have each used different methods of giving us their information, but that all have been asked to address these issues:

(1) attention to the NT context of the citation or allusion; (2) attention to the OT context of the citation or allusion; (3) attention to the use of the OT passage in the literature of Second Temple Judaism; (4) attention to textual factors—is the NT passage citing the Hebrew, the Greek translation of the Hebrew, or the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew or could the author be citing from memory?; (5) attention to the way in which the OT quotation or allusion is intended to function; and (6) attention to the theological contribution the NT author uses the OT text to make. To this point, all this may sound rather bookish, but the utility of this volume is not limited to the groves of academe.

(This summary is from James Hamilton's review at 9marks.orgJames Hamilton's review

I particularly appreciate the way Andreas Kostenberger has set out his contribution on John. (My wife would probably be amused by that, because she tells me that I love lists and books of lists.) I do like the way he has given us some tables of the Old Testament quotes and allusions.

Evangelism and Conversion

2008-01-01T14:47:00.000+11:00

I've just read two helpful articles from Christianity Today, Mark Dever's What Evangelism Isn't which is excerpted and adapted from his The Gospel and Personal Evangelism and an older, longer article by John Stackhouse,What Conversion is and is not.

Both are well worth your time. You will notice Stackhouse translates METANOIA as "conversion." It means "repentance." Related, but distinct, I think.
Happy New Year, folks.

David McKay

Bible reading project progress

2007-12-31T00:10:00.000+11:00

Over the past few years, I have enjoyed reading through several different versions of the Bible, including
Today's New International Version [TNIV]
The NIV Archaeological Study Bible
The ESV Reformation Study Bible
The New Living Translation, 2nd edition
I am currently about 60% of the way through the Good News Translation, Australian Edition.

It has been a great joy to read each of these. I've found all of them helpful, and often wonder why some people can say such amazingly unhelpful and uninformed things about various versions of the Bible.
But I am looking forward to completing the Good News Translation [which is not a misnomer; I think Zondervan has recently changed its title from Good News Bible to Good News Translation], and reading through The Books of the Bible: a presentation of Todays New International Version.

This Bible removes verses, chapters and headings, places the footnotes at the end of each book as endnotes, and even rearranges the order of the books, partly chronologically and partly by author.
You will find that the first books of The First Testament are in the order you are used to, but that the books of Samuel and Kings have been restored to the original form of one book, not four.
But then The First Testament begins to follow the format of the Hebrew Bible to some degree, by having a section devoted to the prophets [but ordered mainly chronologically, not by book size]and finally a section of poetry, plus Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah [restored to a single book] and ending with Daniel, an apocalyptic work.
The New Testament begins with Luke-Acts as one book in two volumes, then has Paul's letters in chronological order, three books written to Jews, Matthew, Hebrews and James, Mark grouped with Peter's letters, and then John's gospel and letters and finally ending, like the First Testament, with Revelation, an apocalyptic book.
I'm finding it easier to read from this Bible when it is my turn to read in church [once I've found my place, as it only has verse locations at the bottom of each page].
The paragraphing is very well done, and I especially like the way it has been arranged in Ephesians 5:21-33. Despite the accusations about the TNIV, this arrangement is so obviously complementarian, I think.
The arrangement of this Bible is greatly superior to our current setup, but I wonder if it will catch on? I'm hopeful that it will, or else that it will encourage others to experiment with the order of the presentation of the books.

Through the Bible, Through the Year

2007-12-30T23:59:00.000+11:00

Firstly, I must point out that the title is a misnomer, because the book will give you an overview of the Bible, but there is about one verse per day at the head of each page, with interesting comments by Stott and a Bible passage for further reading cited at the bottom of the page.
Even if you were to read all of the verses cited at the page end, you would have read only a tiny snippet of the Bible's 1189 chapters. But you would have a fair overview of its contents, nonetheless.
Stott's comments are very helpful and nearly always interesting. My wife and I are using the book for daily reading, having read through a good proportion of the New Testament and Psalms over the past few years.
If you follow the author's advice, you will be reading about Christmas and the significiance of the incarnation of Jesus around Christmas time and reading about Christ's trial, suffering, death, burial and resurrection around Easter, and getting an overview of the rest of the Bible at other times.
I think the book will only be worthwhile if you do read the suggested additional reading as the main Bible reading and then read Dr Stott's comments. With this caveat, I am happy to recommend the book as a good daily devotional over the course of a year.
The link reveals that there are shops accessed via Amazon that can sell you this book for $USD4.99 plus postage! My copy was $AUD25!

1001 Classical Recordings You Must Hear Before You Die

2007-12-30T23:48:00.000+11:00

This was my Christmas present from my darling wife. I admit, I did drop hints! It is arranged chronologically from Carmina Burana in the Twelfth Century to Julian Anderson's 2004 Book of Hours.
I notice that I have a lot to learn about the early and late stuff: haven't heard of half of these works!
The book gives articles about specific works, information on the composers and recommended recordings.
It is interesting to see where a particular work fits in history and in a composer's output and what others were writing at the same time.
And I've always liked a nice book of lists: ask Joan!

I was amused by an advertisement for this book and the companion CD set being followed by a recording of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. Maybe that work should now be renamed A Thousand and One Stories To Hear Before I Die!

Tom Schreiner

2007-08-07T20:33:00.000+10:00

I think Tom Schreiner is a great blessing to the church. We are fortunate that God has gifted him and that he is using these gifts for God's glory.

I have enjoyed his Commentary on Romans, his Pauline Theology, his book on Paul and the Law and especially the book he co-wrote with Ardel Caneday, The Race Set Before Us.

I have also enjoyed his Commentary on Peter's Epistles and Jude.

Music for Relationship Strain?

2007-07-05T23:50:00.000+10:00

In reading through Remarriage After Divorce In Today's Church, I was taken by Gordon Wenham's interesting comment about action churches should engage in to help people understand the bible's teaching about divorce and remarriage:

In my experience, evangelical worship tends to be almost entirely praise oriented. But if one looks at the Psalms, the most common category is laments, psalms in which the worshipper pours out his complaint to God and prays for help and healing.
In our congregations there are many who come to worship bearing great pain in their souls, and they need the opportunity to express their woes to God. If the way is not clear for them to do so, they will feel even more excluded and cut off from their fellow worshippers and from God.

I'm enjoying this book, and so far have especially enjoyed Mark Strauss' excellent pastoral introduction and concluding comments, and Gordon Wenham's interesting suggestions for churches which believe they have been too permissive on this issue in the past.

Highly recommended.

The Letter to the Hebrews

2007-06-19T13:42:00.001+10:00

I have been busy reading and re-reading Hebrews, because I love it, because I'm trying to memorise it, and because I will be preaching on it at our church for two weeks while our minister takes a well-earned holiday.

I'm now in Hebrews 7 in my memorisation, and am listening to Don Carson's Hebrews talks from the 2002 John Bunyan Conference. If I can squeeze it in, I would also like to listen to Professor Carson's talks on The Use of the Old Testament in Hebrews. You can find these talks and download them for a very cheap price at Christwaymedia.

I hope to speak on The Superiority of Jesus in Hebrews 1:1-2:4 and on Becoming a Mature Christian from Hebrews 5:7-6:20. After choosing these topics and passages, I was interested to see what Raymond Brown says in his introduction to Hebrews in his Bible Speaks Today exposition, Christ Above All. [Raymond Brown, the former principal of Spurgeon College, not Raymond Brown, the eminent Roman Catholic commentator.]

The letter appeals to severely tested believers, some of whom have been physically assaulted, had their homes plundered, been cast into prison and been exposed to fierce persecution, to keep their faith firmly anchored to the moorings of truth, to maintain their steady confidence in Christ and to press on to mature Christian stability.

The author encourages these folk to persevere, to keep going, to take hold of the hope set before them, but before he does this, he firstly tells them to look, not to themselves for inward strength, not to their contemporaries, but to Christ. No believer can cope with adversity unless Christ fills his horizons, sharpens his priorities and dominates his experience.

Please note that the above is a slight rearrangement of Brown's words and not a direct quote.
Brown shows that the writer begins with an exposition of Christ as prophet [1:1-2], priest [1:3] and king [1:8-14]. He sees the book's message as gathered around two themes:

Revelation: the word of God
Redemption: the work of Christ.
The word of God dominates chapters 1-6 and 11-13, whereas the work of Christ has priority of place in the central section, chapters 7-10.

Brown has another way of putting this, which is

a. What God has said to us through human channels, and different historical contexts, and in Christ, God's greatest and final message to us

b. What Christ has done for us, by fulfilling and transcending and making obsolete the priesthood and sacrifices of the Old Testament.

Meeting with the author

2007-06-04T07:59:00.000+10:00

Partly in view of my ever-closer meeting with the author, I'm continuing to pursue reading the bible quickly and slowly. Reading the New Living Translation, 2nd edition is continuing to be enjoyable, and I have now read
Genesis
Exeodus
Leviticus
Esther
Job
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Lamentations
Joel
Obadiah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
and
Malachi
from the Old Testament
and Mark
Romans
Galatians
Philippians
1 and 2 Thessalonians
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
2 and 3 John
and Jude
from the New Testament.

I'm working on Jeremiah, reading through Psalms a few psalms at a time and have nearly completed Matthew.

Reading Jeremiah is being done in conjunction with listening to Philip Ryken's 66 sermons, which I downloaded via Itunes, via Preaching the Bible. I wish Mr Ryken's sermons were preceded by the bible reading each one is based on, but I don't think our minister's are, either!

And, I am now working on the last verses of Hebrews 6, which takes me to only one third of the way through Hebrews, as chapters, 7,9-12 have so many verses. What a huge emphasis on the greatness of Christ and on keeping going as a Christian!

I used to recite the chapters I had been working on when I went for a walk, but now it is colder, I'm using a treadmill for exercise, and find it hard to concentrate on the memorising and using the treadmill.

Reviewing three books

2007-05-23T23:59:00.000+10:00

I'm nearly finished writing a review of Dan Korocz's WORSHIP: the revolution is here and today received copies of a new Australian novel by Jo-anne Berthelsen called Helena based on a real life story, and Daniel Mendelsohn's very well regarded The Lost, which is about his search for details on six relatives who died during the holocaust.

I won't say much about these until my reviews are published. The Lost looks great, but it is over 500 pages! I think my review is going to be some time in being completed. I'm good at buying books, starting them, but not so good at finishing. But I do look forward to reading these last two I've mentioned. The Aussie novel is published by the same folk who published the Worship book, but they couldn't be more different.

Books on the Atonement

2007-05-12T12:20:00.000+10:00

Reading Pierced for our Transgressions [which I have not yet finished], has inspired me to look at some other books on this subject. Last weekend, we were in Penrith celebrating our grandson Jerome's second birthday and I read a substantial portion of The Nature of the Atonement: four views, which includes an excellent article by Tom Schreiner on penal substitutionary atonement, as well as an article by Greg Boyd on the Christus Victor model and two other articles on the atonement as primarily healing, or kaleidoscopic.

The argument that the central teaching of the bible on this subject is that the death of Jesus was to take our place in suffering God's wrath for our sin still convinces me. I bought John Stott's The Cross of Christ yesterday and have dipped into it a little, having read bits of a library copy before. Stott argues, with Schreiner, that some of the other views are valuable [including the Christus Victor view] and should not be forgotten, but that penal substitutionary atonement is clearly primary.

Atonement debate heats up

2007-04-28T14:15:00.000+10:00

I was interested to read Peter Kirk's comment about Steve Chalke's marathon running:

Rev Steve Chalke has reclaimed the world record for the most money raised by running in a marathon, nearly £2 million (or US $4 million)...
Yes, this is the same Steve Chalke who is still being vilified by many Christians for calling a distorted view of the atonement “cosmic child abuse”. The money he raised shows how many people still support him and his ministries. Chalke completed the London marathon in less than four hours, but his atonement marathon has been running for nearly four years, and still looks set to run and run.

Those who love our Lord Jesus Christ and love the bible's message about him dying in our place are understandable upset when this teaching is misrepresented and even ridiculed. Sometimes our own efforts to articulate this teaching have been the cause of its being maligned, because at times evangelicals have used silly illustrations in support of it (as the authors of Pierced for our Transgressions have pointed out at the conclusion of their book).

It is terrific to see Mr Chalke's enthusiasm and success in raising money for his work with the poor and disadvantaged. He is not being called to account for this.

But from what Steve himself has said, he is not arguing against a caricature of the atonement, but against penal substitutionary atonement itself. It seems to me that the bible has more than one image of the atonement, but that the model of Christ dying and taking the punishment for our sins is definitely a key one.

Talk of God as a divine psychopath (Jeffrey John) or a cosmic child-abuser (Steve Chalke) reveals uneasiness over the bible's teaching about the holiness and wrath of God, and a misunderstanding of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit in perfect harmony and agreement (which later theologians felt constrained to develop into the doctrine of the trinity). I also think that many problems people have with biblical teachings (which penal substitutionary atonement clearly is) can be traced to an unwillingness to accept God's right to be God and to order things in the ways he sees fit.

Pierced for our transgressions

2007-04-27T18:32:00.000+10:00

is a well-written book and a skilfully designed website. You can get a good feel for the book from the site, where you can read relevant articles and extracts from the book, download music and talks, and also read news about reactions to the book.

Pierced for our transgressions is a restatement of the bible's message about Jesus' death for our sins. Some people in our world are revolted by the idea of Jesus taking the punishment due to us and are calling it cosmic child abuse. The book's authors deal with objections to this key Christian teaching, and show that it is not a Johnny-come-lately, but has been believed and taught throughout the history of the Christian church.

This may be one of the most important books of the decade. It is comprehensive without being complicated; profound but not pretentious. The authors honestly deal with the issue of Christ's death for us and all that it means.

This is a book for everyone who loves Jesus Christ, and loves the message of his death for us to read and re-read. It is also an excellent starting-point for getting an overview of the main ideas of the Christian message.

Highly recommended.

Genuinely funny and challenging

2007-04-24T10:18:00.000+10:00

I enjoy reading the stuff at Tom in the Box news network. Lark news is also very amusing, but sometimes I find it is funny, but not necessarily helpful. [I am still reading it, though with caution.]

The Tom in the Box article about the man who feels called to minister to the extremely wealthy will tickle your funny bone, and I hope make you ponder your own capacity to indulge yourself. It certainly had that effect on me.

And the big bloke who feels called to give up exercise in the light of Paul's words about "bodily exercise profiting little" is also a great story.

Memorising passages

2007-04-24T09:43:00.000+10:00

A few of my Christian friends have memorised verses of Scripture, but very few of those I have talked with have worked on passages of Scripture, rather than isolated verses.

It seems to me that the isolated verses do not often mean exactly what we have been told they mean: sometimes they may properly be used to support something more than their original intent, but it could be useful to firstly let them say what they originally said!

For example, as a child I was told that Revelation 3:20, which I learnt in the King James Version as

Behold I stand at the door and knock:
if anyone hears my voice and opens the door,
I will come in to him, and sup with him and he with me.

means that we must ask Jesus into our hearts. In fact that is the way a person becomes a Christian. Because of this, this was the method I used when my mother shared the gospel with me on Christmas Day, 1957.

We were also told that Acts 16:30-31

What must I do to be saved?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

tells us that to become a Christian all that is required is a simple belief in Christ.

But the Revelation passage is of course speaking about the Laodicean Christians being urged to invite Christ back into their midst, because at the moment, he's on the outside. And Paul seems to require more than a simple belief from the Philippian gaoler, because he then baptises him and his whole family, who had all come to believe in God.

Maybe some of our misapplications might be avoided if we were to learn passages, rather than a verse here and there. During my attempt to memorise Hebrews, I'm discovering that some verses have quite a different flavour in their original surroundings.

One example of this is Hebrews 4:12, which is part of a discussion about Christians entering into the rest promised to Israel in Joshua and other places in the Old Testament:

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for those who enter God's rest also rest from their own work, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.[TNIV]

It is both fearsome and encouraging, when we read the rest of the passage.

What are you currently memorising? Hebrews may seem overwhelming, but a short psalm such as Psalm 23 or Psalm 1, or a passage such as Romans 8:28-39 is quite approachable to begin with, I think.

Reading quickly and slowly

2007-04-16T11:17:00.000+10:00

I'm continuing to enjoy reading the bible through as rapidly as I can, and also at a much slower pace. Since September, 2005, I have read through the whole bible 3 times, using the TNIV, the ESV Reformation Study Bible, and most recently, the Zondervan NIV Archaeological Study Bible.

The study notes do slow you down, but they are also very helpful in both of the books I've mentioned.

My read-through of the 2 study bibles took about 5 months each time, but this time I'm reading the New Living Translation, 2nd edition and am whooshing through and it is really enjoyable so far. I've been musing about why it is going so quickly, and I think it is a combination of:
1. Having the time to read for an hour or so a day, as it is a school holiday period, in which I don't have to go to work.
2. Not using Michael Coley's excellent genre bible reading plan this time, but reading through whole sections, such as reading the first 11 chapters of Genesis, which is like a single unit, reading through Job and not stopping till the end of Job's answers to the first of his friends' comments! Having become somewhat familiar with Hebrews, I read chapters 1 through 6 yesterday, and the rest this morning.
3. It is definitely quicker when you don't use a study bible, valuable as they can be.
4. The NLT invites you to keep going, as it is written in such conversational, contemporary English.

My read-through of the TNIV, NIV and ESV revealed that they are in the same ball-park: the ESV is a little more formal, uses more awkward language at times, but is still within striking distance of the NIV/TNIV, I think. All of these versions use some "functional equivalence" [which used to be called "dynamic equivalence"], thoguh there is a little more in the NIV/TNIV bibles.

But the NLT is really another world. It is quite a bit freer, and is often more interpretive. It is a great bible for helping you to understand the meaning of the bible, but often choices have been taken away from you, due to the translators letting you know not only what the bible says, but also what they think it means. This is a great aid for the reader, but if you are serious about understanding the bible, you will want to use other versions as well, so that you can see there are choices to make in the interptretation of many passages in the bible.

The NLT is so easy to read that my current project may end a month earlier, I think. In the first 4 days, I've been able to knock over 5% of the 1189 chapters.

Reading the bible slowly is also important, and I'm doing this by trying to memorise Hebrews, having been inspired by Ryan Ferguson, who has memorised Ecclesiastes and Hebrews. This project began on 6th December, 2006 and so far I have learnt up to Hebrews 6:11 in the TNIV translation. It is very enjoyable going through what I've been working on currently, and then attempting the whole shebang on my walks to work or around the area where I live. I rarely encounter anybody on my walks, but wonder what people who do pass me by make of this muttering man! It is much easier to rehearse verbally, than silently, I find.

In July I will be preaching at our church for 2 weeks, while our minister takes a break. I'm hoping to use some of what I'm learning in Hebrews in those sermons.

We are greatly blessed to have so many terrific bible versions in English which enable us to get different facets of the eternal truths of God's Word. I'm sorry to see Christians polarised as KJV Only, or ESV Only or contemporary only. Each one of these versions is valauble, though the ones written in the past 50 years are certainly more beneficial than the historic ones for us today.

This weekend I visited my mother and read some of Hebrews to her. Mum has gone to church all of her life until going into an aged care place 3 or 4 years ago. She has read the bible for herself, until no longer able to do so. She always read the KJV, so I read from it to her when I visit. I often read a psalm or part of a gospel. It was a shock reading Hebrews: it is very awkward in the KJV. You would need a week's rehearsal to read it effectively in church to the congregation, I would think.

Reading the Apostolic Fathers

2007-04-12T23:19:00.000+10:00

We have begun a group for folk who would like to join in reading through The Apostolic Fathers. I'm very much a beginner, but maybe some other beginners out there would like to join us.

We are commencing with The Didache, and then group members might like to suggest what we read next.

I'm excited by this new venture and hope some folk reading this might like to join us. We will be reading in Greek, but you are very welcome to read in English, if you don't read Greek [yet!]

But I can only read one book!

2007-04-12T11:02:00.000+10:00

You would think someone was pretty strange if he claimed to be able to read English, but had only ever read one book. If this sounds silly, is it any sillier than a person who claims to be able to read Greek, but has only ever read bits of the New Testament? And some of these folk, according to J I Packer, are translating the bible for us!

F F Bruce also commented that you can't say you are proficient in Greek if you only read the New Testament [and, I might add, with an analytical lexicon, or program such as BibleWorks, guiding your every step].

So I'm having a crack at reading the Didache, as a way into the Apostolic Fathers. This is a fascinating little book, that may have been written about the time of the last New Testament books, or maybe a little later. You can read the Apostolic Fathers in English from The Christian Classics Ethereal Library, but I'm using Michael Holmes' The Apostolic Fathers: greek texts and english translations.

So far, I can make some sense of it, but occasionally, I wander over to the right-hand page for a translation.

Progress report

2007-04-10T09:42:00.000+10:00

This morning I have completed reading through the Old Testament in the Zondervan Archaeological Study Bible. I began this project on 17th October, 2006 which was the day after my birthday, but more importantly, my Aunty Trixie's birthday. Trixie was the first Australian to be sent out as a Leprosy Mission nurse, and served in South India for over 40 years, returning to do more work in her 70s. She died in January, 2006 at the age of 92.

My last chapters were Psalmsc 149 and 150 and the puzzling last 9 chapters of Ezekiel. I find reading through the bible rapidly is very helpful, as it gives an overview of the whole bible. But, passages like Ezekiel 40-48 scream out for a closer look, which I hope to do later.

I now have to read Revelation to be finished the 1189 chapters of the Old and New Testaments.

The Archaeological Study Bible is deservedly the best-selling study bible, I think. Over 250,000 copies were sold in its first year of release, according to The Association for Christian Retail, whose acronym is CBA!

It is a great resource for helping us to understand the background to the bible, and is complemented well by the ESV Reformation Study Bible, which gives important theological information.

I'm also continuing to read the bible slowly, which is enforced by attempting to memorise portions of it. This project, which I began on 6th December, 2006, is slow and I am now half way through Hebrews 6. Every time I go for a walk I attempt to rehearse what I have thought I've memorised so far!

Memorising enables me to meditate on God's Word.At the moment I'm thinking through Hebrews 6:4-6, asking myself why the writer makes such strong threats to those he believes are going to persevere: could it be that the warnings and threats are part of God's means for keeping them on the path?

Moron Memorising Scripture

2007-03-26T14:22:00.000+10:00

Whoops! I mean More on Memorising Scripture! [Except I think plenty of people think us memorisers are morons.]

It is popular to learn isolated verses, but I think they often do not say exactly what we were told they say, when you consider their contexts.

For example, in memorising Hebrews, after a couple of months I got to Hebrews 4:12. It is a lot more powerful in its context than only as a verse to motivate you to read the Scripture, as it is often used.

This verse is scary! It comes between powerful warnings about the awesomeness of God and his Word:

11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Then straight after this sobering warning, the writer goes on to urge us to trust in Christ, in the light of God's omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience:

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Learning a verse here or there makes you miss out on so much! But I don't think I'm ready to take on the whole New Testament, yet Vaughan! [Though some more key passages would be handy!]

Hebrews

2007-03-09T06:14:00.000+11:00

I'm continuing to read and re-read Hebrews, in an attempt to follow in Ryan Ferguson's footsteps and memorise the whole book.

He did it in 10 months, but I think it might take me 10 years!

I began on 6th December, and have so far memorised Hebrews 1:1-5:10, which is 77 verses. But there are still more than 200 to go!

I looked at Leon Morris' commentary in the Expositor's Bible Commentary this morning and found this useful chart showing Jesus' superiority to everything in the Jewish religion and way of life. [It isn't formatted as nicely as in the original: sorry!]

Jesus is greater than the prophets 1:1-3
Jesus is greater than the angels 1:4-14; 2:5
Jesus is greater than Moses 3:1-6
Jesus is greater than Joshua 4:6-11
Jesus is greater than the high priest 5:1-10; 7:26-8:2
Jesus is greater than the Levitical priests 6:20-7:25
Jesus as the high priest after Melchizedek is greater than Abraham 7:1-10
Jesus' ministry is greater than the tabernacle ministry 8:3-6; 9:1-28
Jesus' new covenant is greater than the old covenant 8:7-13
Jesus' sacrifice is greater than OT sacrifices 10:1-14
Experiencing Jesus is greater than the experience on Mount Sinai 12:18-24

Which bibles have the best translators?

2007-02-20T23:36:00.000+11:00

In the promotional material for the ESV, we are given the impression that its translators were more reliable than those who translated other bible versions. We are told that they used a different method than was used for versions such as the New Living Translation and TNIV.

It is interesting to compare the names of the translators of the ESV with those who translated the NASB, the NIV, the New King James Version, the TNIV, the New English Translation [the NET bible] and the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

Several of those who worked on the ESV also translated versions such as the New Living Translation. According to my calculations, 18 people worked on both the NLT and the ESV. How are we to make sense of this? According to the ESV publicity, the NLT was translated in a less than satisfactory way, as its translators were aiming to help us find out what the bible means. A better translational method, they say, is to tell the reader what the bible says.

Does this mean that translators such as Greg Beale, Daniel Block, Craig Blomberg, Darrell Bock, George Guthrie, Harold Hoehner, Gordon McConville, Robert Mounce, Ray Ortlund, John Oswalt, Moises Silva and Gordon Wenham were less reliable when translating the NLT? Or did they bring some of their dodgy methods with them when they translated the ESV, thus making it an untrustworthy translation?

Which Bibles are the Best?

2007-02-20T22:52:00.000+11:00

There is a concerted campaign in the evangelical community to promote so-called literal bible versions over so-called dynamically equivalent versions.

For example, some folk say that the English Standard Version or ESV is more accurate than Today's New International Version or TNIV.

Some say that the ESV is more accurate because it tells us what the bible says, whereas the TNIV tries to tell us what it means. The ESV translates, they say, whereas the TNIV interprets.

Now I have read the whole bible in both versions. All 260 chapters of the New Testament and all 929 chapters of the Old Testament. And what I have discovered is that both versions interpret, and the ESV does it much more than its promoters would like you to believe. I'm not criticising their translation technique, but I am warning that what is said about it is not completely accurate.

I think it may be true to say that the ESV is less interpretive than the TNIV.

We are also led to believe that the TNIV uses gender-inclusive language, whereas the ESV retains the masculine language of the bible. But this is not really exact either. If you compare the RSV [on which the ESV is based] and the NIV [on which the TNIV is based] with their later incarnations, you will see immediately that the main differences between both old versions and their new editions is the use of gender-inclusive language.

For the most part, both new editions have removed the masculine language of the RSV and NIV where there was none in the original. Both versions also have used gender-inclusive language to clarify what the original authors meant.

However the ESV translation is fairly squeamish about translating a Hebrew or Greek masculine word by an inclusive word [or words] in English, even where it is clear that the word was used in an inclusive way.

So in Romans 1:13 where the TNIV has

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you

the ESV says

Romans 1:13 want you to know, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you

but has a rather lengthy, clarifying footnote link from the word brothers which says

Or brothers and sisters. The plural Greek word adelphoi (translated "brothers") refers to siblings in a family. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, adelphoi may refer either to men or to both men and women who are siblings (brothers and sisters) in God's family, the church.

Now if the TNIV occasionally uses gender-inclusive language where it is not necessary, it is also true that the ESV's retention of masculine language sometimes obscures the writer's meaning.

I think that if we are to understand a collection of writings that is over 1900 years old, we need all the help we can get. We need to know what the original says, but we also need to know what this means. We are fortunate that excellent translations like the ESV and TNIV have been produced, but it does not help us when one version is promoted in a misleading way which hints that it is the only really reliable version. it is also not honest to say that a version which aims to use less interpretion in its text is essentially literal when it has interpretation on every page.

Which is the best version? I think we need both. We use the TNIV for daily reading, but I often check the ESV rendering for added clarity.

George Whitefield by Arnold Dallimore

2007-02-08T14:27:00.000+11:00

I got my copy of Arnold Dallimore's 300 page condensation of his own 2 volume, 1200 page work today from http://www.graceandtruthbooks.com/ and have just completed the first chapter. If the rest is as good as everyone says, it is going to be a great read.

I'll keep you posted.

Did God kill Jesus?

2007-01-21T23:47:00.000+11:00

I was interested in Peter Kirk's comment on the article Punished in our place and have been pondering the objection to the blatant assertion that God killed Jesus.

I'm wondering if an understanding of the bible's teaching about the trinity and the sovereignty of God might be helpful on this one. I agree that the bible usually says that God planned for Jesus to die in our place, and does not blatantly use the exact words "God killed Jesus."

But if Father, Son and Holy Spirit planned the atonement in eternity, if Jesus offered his life willingly and if God is in control of everything, it would seem to me to somewhat neutralise objections to this concept.

Sitting in church this morning, the story of Joseph popped into my head and I was reminded that Joseph blatantly says to his brothers who had sold him as a slave

... do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you ... So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. Genesis 45 And in Genesis 50 Joseph says: 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

While the bible may not use the ipsissima verba, the concept would seem to be found there. I think this needs to be nuanced in such a way that we understand that God is using the actions of evil men for his own purposes, it was his grand plan,and I think it would be proper to say to the chief priests and scribes and Herod and the others "It was not you who took Christ and crucified him, but God. You intended to kill the prince of glory, but God intended it for good to accomplish the saving of many lives."

Joseph's statement did not absolve his brothers from being responsible for their evil activity and such a statement to those who took Christ and put him to death would also not free them from being held accountable for killing the Son of God.

I appreciate the comments that have been made on this topic concerning exercising the same restraint which the bible uses, but think that if you consider all of the biblical material on the atonement, some pretty strong statements are made there. We should not go beyond Scripture, but I think the analogy with the story of Joseph is a useful one to ponder.

By Faith Alone

2007-01-19T11:22:00.000+11:00

When I downloaded the My Bible program for my new Palm Z22 handheld this morning, I also downloaded three bible translations which I frequently use and By Faith Alone, which is James Galvin's compilation of 365 devotional thoughts by Martin Luther. I've enjoyed the first entry: the program is clever enough to make Day One 19th January, the day I first opened the program.

But I don't think I can copy from the text and download it into a memo and then plonk it in my computer next time I do a hotsync, which is a bummer.

The first reading is called Faith Comes First and is a good representation of Luther's teaching about faith and works. I liked this comment:

Some people value good works so much that they overlook faith in Christ. They preach about and praise their own works instead of God's works.
Faith should be first. After faith is preached, then we should teach about good works. It is faith - without good works and prior to good works - that takes us to heaven. We come to God through faith alone.

What bible versions did I download? The demo version of the program, which I used to try it out included the venerable,but increasingly archaic King James Version. I added the TNIV, the ESV and the NLT. I'm using the TNIV for memorisation, and am pelased to have the other versions available on my organiser [can't bring myself to call it a pda as it sounds too American, if I may say so.

Fast or Slow?

2007-01-15T11:06:00.000+11:00

I have been reading the bible through quickly, and have found it to be a great way of seeing the big picture, and also reading it slowly, by memorising a verse or two per day, and then meditating on those verses, as I struggle to remember them!

In my fast read-through, I try to finish a bible book in a few days [except for Psalms and Proverbs, which lend themselves to a slower approach, I think]. This time round I've read:

Old Testament
the first 5 books [known as the Torah, or Pentateuch or Law, whatever you prefer] Chronicles
Job
Proverbs
Isaiah, Jeremiah and several minor prophets

New Testament
Matthew, Mark and Luke [known as the Synoptic Gospels, because you can put them side by side in a parallel setup to observe similarities and differences]
Romans
1 Corinthians
Galatians
1 and 2 Timothy and Titus [known as the Pastoral Epistles]
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 and 2 Peter
1, 2 and 3 John
and
Jude

So I still have about 30% to do, which I hope to complete by the end of March; maybe earlier

But I'm also memorising Hebrews, following in Ryan Ferguson's footsteps. So far, I'm up to chapter 3, verse 3, having begun on 6th December. I don't know if I'm up to doing the whole shebang, but it has been an exciting adventure, thus far.

It helps to make me concentrate on the details, and also to see little motifs in the first few verses that are developed later in this exhortation. I previously memorised Philemon, 2 John and 1 Peter, chapters 1 and 2, but am sorry to say I have now lost them. But I learnt a lot while I was doing this, and came to appreciate them in a new way. Maybe one day I could review them.

Is there an intermediate state?

2007-01-14T19:37:00.000+11:00

What happens when a Christian dies? Do we sleep in the ground until the general resurrection, or do we go to be with Christ immediately? Steve Lehrer has written a thought-provoking article on this topic that is well worth reading. I'm looking forward to the follow-up one, which is already online at In-Depth Studies.

Punished in our Place

2007-01-14T19:24:00.000+11:00

In this article, Gary Williams interacts with Steve Chalke's negative view of Penal Substitution. Chalke had expressed the view that the idea of Christ suffering in our place smacks of cosmic child abuse.

Williams clearly shows that Chalke has misunderstood this teaching, has not realised that it was the view of many in the Early Church and that is not a creation of the Reformers. He also points out that the doctrine of the trinity safeguards the bible's teaching on the atonement, because it shows us that Christ's suffering and death were planned by all 3 members of the trinity: it was not imposed on an unwilling victim.

The Zondervan Archaeological Study Bible

2007-01-07T15:20:00.000+11:00

A friend got me started on reading through the New Testament, which whetted my appetite for reading through the Old Testament and then the whole bible, which I did first time round using the ESV Reformation Study Bible, a terrific theological resource.

I'm now reading through again using this Zondervan Archaeological Study Bible, and finding it a great help to understanding the world of the bible, the cultures, history and to a lesser extent, geography. [I find it hard to make sense of all those unfamiliar place names, despite the quality maps in the back of this bible.]

Like other reviewers, I'm sorry the editors did not use the TNIV, but the NIV is still an excellent translation, merely needing a little tinkering with here and there, as was done by the TNIV translators.

The only text I find too small is the small font used for identifying verse numbers and footnotes, but the rest of the text is fine, for these eyes.

I think every bible reader would benefit from using this study bible for learning more about the background of the times and places where the biblical books were written, but a theological resource such as the ESV Reformation Study Bible is also a great help for understanding the unifying message of the bible.

New Covenant Theology: questions answered

2006-10-28T14:06:00.000+10:00

Steve Lehrer's book is a helpful guide to a way of looking at the bible that has come to be called New Covenant Theology. He gives us some directions on how to interpret the bible and answers objections to this understanding of the relationship between the biblical covenants, between the Old and New Testaments and between Israel and the Church.

Lehrer's approach is to interpret the Old Testament in the light of the New. The aphorisms

The New is in the Old contained
The Old is in the New explained

and

The New is in the Old concealed
The Old is in the New revealed

are not quoted in the book, but they are good summaries of the way that the author makes sense of the Scriptures.

Lehrer's way of looking at the bible is in harmony with much of Reformed theology and the Amillennial understanding of how we are to interpret the Old Testament prophecies. This understanding takes seriously the way the New Testament authors have interpreted the Old Testament. Where the NT authors say that a certain prophecy has been fulfilled [such as in the way Peter's sermon in Acts 2 cites the prophecy in Joel chapter 2], Lehrer does not look for another fulfilment.

He goes to considerable trouble to show the distinctive way Israel is viewed in NCT. While Covenant Theologians think of Israel as the Church in the Old Testament, and Dispensationalists think of that nation as a people of God, separate from the Church, Lehrer points out that the Scriptures present Israel as the unbelieving physical symbol of the Church. The counterpart to the church in the Old Testament is the remnant, which is uniformly presented as a small group within Israel, who believe and obey from the heart.

Consistent with this view, is Lehrer's explanation of the meaning of the passage in Romans 11 which speaks of all Israel being saved. He shows convincingly, that the New Testament does not present a future mass salvation of Israel, but tells us that the true Israelite is the one who is a Jew inwardly, as well as physically and ethnically. Thus the passage "and so all Israel will be saved" speaks of all elect Israelites certainly coming to salvation through faith in Christ, and not automatically because they are Jews.

He patiently explains that we cannot divide the Old Testament law neatly into Moral, Civil and Ceremonial divisions, and takes seriously the New Testament's words that the law of Moses has been abolished through the death of Christ, the new divine lawgiver, who has modified and amplified this law and has made it possible for us to obey it, through the Holy Spirit whom he has given to us.

He shows that living by the law of Christ is in no sense antinomian, and shows that this is not a wishy-washy anything-goes way of living, but is rigorous and is guided by the many commands Jesus gives to us both in his own words and in the words of his apostles and writers of the New Testament.

Lehrer does not say much about the fact that most of the Old Covenant's ten commandments are reflected in this new law, but he does clearly show us that Christian living involves much more than "loving God and doing what you will," to quote Augustine.

Lehrer has clearly shown that the Old Testament is intended to give us physical, earthy pictures of what God was going to fulfil spiritually in Jesus and the Church.

While there is a lot of thought-provoking material in this book, I would have liked more development of the place of the Old Testament for the Christian today, but maybe this is the subject for another book.

I heartily recommend reading Lehrer's short account of this satisfying way of synthesising and integrating the bible's message, and hope that the few NCT writings so far written [such as Wells and Zaspel's New Covenant Theology,] will soon be supplemented by whole systematic theologies and commentaries.

Wikipedia

2006-10-03T22:59:00.000+10:00

I enjoy using the user-created Wikipedia. It is usually up-to-date and I often find it to be reliable, realising that I am only sampling a tiny proportion of the articles.

Today I read some statistics on Gun deaths in the United States, compared with other countries. The situation has not changed appreciably since I first saw comparative figures about 25 years ago.

So I was surprised to read in the Wikipedia article on Gun Politics in the United States that

Homicide rates as a whole, especially homicides as a result of firearms use, are not always significantly lower in many other developed countries. This is apparent in the UK and Japan, which have very strict gun control.

But these figures for homicides from 1998 show that the article is wrong:

373 people in Germany, 82 million
151 people in Canada, 32 million
57 people in Australia, 20 million
19 people in Japan, 127 million
54 people in England and Wales, 60 million
and
11,789 people in the United States, 300 million

This means that in Japan only .15 people were killed by a gun per million people
while in the UK, nearly 1 person per million died by gun death.
Australia had nearly 3 people per million
Canada and Germany lost nearly 5 people per million
but the United States lost 39 people per million.

These figures do not take into account the thousands who ended their own lives using the guns which are so freely available.

It would be wonderful if someone were to write a more balanced, more factual article for the Wikipedia, but I would guess that such an article would not last long.

Reading the ESV Reformation Study Bible

2006-09-26T08:26:00.000+10:00

After my fellow elder, Ron, came home from Blackheath in September 2005, armed with Greg Oliffe's plan for reading through the New Testament in 91 days, a few of us in our church had a crack at this project and enjoyed it. I was using the TNIV and after completing the NT, decided I'd better read the Old Testament as well, and read it through from February through to the end of May.

This whetted my appetite for reading the whole bible, and I am following Michael Coley's 52 week bible reading plan, which divides the bible into 7 genres. I prefer reading whole books, and am not following the plan exactly, but find the chart handing for seeing where I'm up to! And what's left.

I began this at the beginning of June and am now 3/4 of the way through. I am using my ESV Reformation Study Bible, edited by R C Sproul, and am reading the book outlines and articles as well, and some of the notes. The ESV is not as easy to read as the TNIV, and is not written in the language people speak, though I'm familiar with the language, having attended church for over 50 years and having read the bible in the KJV, the RSV and the NIV versions during those 50 years.

The translators of the ESV claim that versions such as the TNIV are not using proper English when they use the singular they, seemingly unaware that using a generic plural instead of masculine pronouns has been part of English for hundreds of years.

But it is also used by the article writers in the ESV itself. Here is an extract from the helpful page on The Unpardonable Sin on page 1421 in the edition I'm using:

A person who wants to repent, that is, to reverse the sins they may be guilty of, has not suffered this hardening and has not committed this profound act of hatred that God has determined he will not forgive.

Note the mixing of plural and singular in the one sentence here! We were taught it was wrong in our grammar classes, but it is the way people speak, and it seems, also write.

The Whole Word for the Whole World

2006-09-17T07:39:00.000+10:00

Fewer than 10% of the world's languages have the Old Testament, says this article from Christianity Today. Doming Lucasi, a native Balangao translator from the rice-terraced slopes of the northern Philippines, has just launched an Old Testament translation project and says that Having the New Testament without the Old is like having a sword without the handle.

Of the 2,400 language groups with portions of the Bible, roughly 1,115 have the New Testament. Only 426 have a complete Bible.

About a year ago, Ron, one of my fellow elders serving
Bathurst Evangelical Church brought a plan for reading through the New Testament back from a weekend trip to the Blue Mountains. A few of us used the plan to read through the New Testament in 91 days. After completing the project, this inspired me to tackle the Old Testament, which I completed in May, and am now working through the whole bible.

I've read about 65%, and hope to finish this latest read-through some time in November. I think every Christian would benefit greatly from doing this, no matter how long it takes to get finished. I like reading in large chunks, because it helps to give an overview of the whole book you are engaged in.

New Studies in Biblical Theology

2006-09-15T17:27:00.000+10:00

Don Carson has not only written about 30 excellent books: he has also performed a great service in the many books he has edited, not the least of which are the 21 books in the New Studies in Biblical Theology series.

Especially stimulating was From Every People and Nation which was my introduction to J Daniel Hays.

This book will make you think. It may make some people angry, but when reading it, it is worth asking yourself if it is disturbing because the author is challenging the message of the bible, or challenging the way you have always understood what the bible says about race.

Some people may not like it because they want the bible to be racist.

Hays writes from personal expeirence of race issues, and has carefully researched the biblical corpus on this topic.

The New Studies in Biblical Theology series, edited by Don Carson, contains many equally terrific books, and I eagerly await the opportunity to delve into more of them.

At the time of writing there are 21 in the series, including several beauties from fair dinkum Aussie authors.

Another book that complements this one is Yamauchi's Africa and the Bible.

Finding God at Harvard

2006-09-15T17:17:00.000+10:00

A terrific collection of spiritual journeys.
It was exciting for me to find this book on my brief visit to Harvard University Co-op Bookshop. We had only half an hour there, so it was great to find such an interesting book in the short time available, and then read it on the train back to my niece's home.
If you like reading other people's stories about their lives and beliefs, you will enjoy this book. The Christian people included come from a variety of denominations and countries.

I enjoyed reading the sermon by Phillips Brooks, the clergyman who penned O Little Town of Bethlehem. The introduction tells us that he rekindled interest in Christ by making chapel attendance voluntary, instead of compulsory, as it had always been.

There are many other fascinating glimpses into people's journeys of faith, but the highlight for me was reading about Harvard's spiritual roots and the efforts to reclaim them.

Warmly recommended

Showing the Spirit

2006-09-15T17:10:00.000+10:00

Great insights into New Testament spiritual gifts teaching
One of the many great qualities of this book is Carson's sharing pastoral insights about preserving church unity in the face of controversy over such things as charismatic teaching and practice.
It is a most helpful exegesis of a controversial part of the New Testament. Everyone will find something to disagree with here, but will also find much sane guidance.

Highly recommended

From Sabbath to Lord's Day

2006-09-15T17:05:00.000+10:00

This book is pricey, but invaluable. It will make you think about the relationship between
the New Testament and the Old Testament
the law of Moses and the law of Christ
the Jewish sabbath and Christian worship
and many other important issues.

The various authors, who were Cambridge post-graduate students, worked together on their book, and have come to quite a close agreement on the issues involved.

Table of Contents
Introduction by D A Carson
The Sabbath in the Old Testament by Harold Dressler
A Summary of Sabbath Observance in Judaism at the beginning of the Christian Era by C Rowland
Jesus and the Sabbath in the Four Gospels
The Sabbath, Sunday, and the Law in Luke/Acts by Max Turner
The Sabbath/Sunday Question and the Law in the Pauline Corpus by D R de Lacey
Sabbath, Rest, and Eschatology in the New Testament by A T Lincoln
The Lord's Day by R J Bauckham
Sabbath and Sunday in the Post-Apostolic Church by R J Bauckham
Sabbath and Sunday in the Medieval Church in the West by R J Bauckham
Sabbath and Sunday in the Protestant Tradition by R J Bauckham
From Sabbath to Lord's Day: a Biblical and Theological Perspective by A T Lincoln

The stance of the book is close to New Covenant Theology. The authors do not regard the sabbath as a creation ordinance or as binding for Christians, either as the seventh or first day of the week.

Highly recommended

ESV Reformation Study Bible

2006-08-07T09:36:00.000+10:00

The ESV Reformation Study Bible has been a great help on my second read-through of the bible. I firstly read through the NT and then the Old using the new TNIV bible. That version is easier to read than the ESV, and is a usually reliable update to the venerable NIV. The translators have attempted to show where original masculine language was intended to be inclusive, such as in the use of the Greek word ADELFOI which sometimes means "brothers" but often means "Christian brothers and sisters." Occasionally this use of gender inclusive language smacks of political correctness and spoils an otherwise helpful translation.

The ESV also often uses inclusive language where this was intended in the original, but shrinks from doing this with certain words such as ADELFOI and HUIOI [which normally means "sons" but is often intended to include women as well].

At times the language in the ESV is awkward, which I noticed particularly in my read-through of Hebrews. It would be difficult to read to others some verses of the ESV and convey the sense correctly.

The Reformation Study Bible is an extremely helpful guide to the Scriptures, with excellent introductions to each body of literature in the bible, such as the Pentateuch, the Prophets, the Poetic Literature, the Gospels, etc. It includes helpful introductions to every bible book and also has usually helpful notes on specific chapters and verses.

There are also 96 articles on key theological topics which present a Reformed point of view, as would be expected. The editors have shown an awareness of some differences between Reformed Christians and have written the article on baptism, for example, with at least a passing acknowledgment of Baptists who are otherwise Reformed but do not believe that infant baptism is an acceptable application of the bible's instruction on this Christian initiation rite.

The authors of articles and notes include R C Sproul, Keith Mathison, Bruce Waltke, Moises Silva, James Boice, Edmund Clowney, J I Packer, Raymond Dillard, Tremper Longman, Gordon McConville, Ray Ortlund, Willem vanGemeren, Gordon Wenham, Wayne Grudem, Simon Kistemaker and Frank Thielman.

This Australian reviewer would like to mention that there are also several excellent Aussie contributors, including Leon Morris, Bill Dumbrell, Graeme Goldsworthy, Barry Webb and John Woodhouse.

I am disappointed that my hardcover edition has cracked binding: I'm guessing it came this way. But I hope that this is not an indication of poor workmanship in other copies.

I highly recommend this bible as a wonderful help in coming to understand the Word of God more fully.

The King James Only Controversy

2006-07-04T23:07:00.000+10:00

I think that the King James Only theory is bizarre and I know this opening won't win me any friends in that camp! I grew up with the venerable King James Version of the bible, for which I have great admiration. The verses in my head are mostly in that version and when I'm trying to track down a verse, I often have to set my BibleWorks program to KJV to find a particular verse. There is much to admire in this version, but it is not the bible, but a good translation of it.

I recently bought James White's book The King James Only Controversy and have enjoyed what I read of it. Don Carson's The King James Version Debate: a plea for realism is 25 years old, but still helpful.

I especially enjoyed One Bible Only? , which is edited by Roy Beacham. This book is written by fundamentalists to fundamentalists. It is well-written and gives an excellent defence of the eclectic approach to textual criticism. It shows clearly that the idea that the King James Version is the only inspired one is unbiblical and illogical.

The authors of the various articles show that all of the arguments for KJV-Onlyism are based on false information.

But the book also contains insights into bible translation and lots of useful information about the manuscripts from which we got our bible, both Old and New Testaments.

The writers write respectfully, with due praise for the King James Version and with courtesy to those who hold different points of view to them.

The three books mentioned are all useful and all should help anyone who is puzzling over this issue.

One Salient Oversight: Moments in Reformed Theology (lots of pics)

2006-06-11T20:46:00.000+10:00

One Salient Oversight: Moments in Reformed Theology (lots of pics)

These Moments in Reformed Theology are fun. But I wonder if I'm really understanding the author's humour, or missing his point on some of them?

A little bit pregnant?

2006-06-10T22:37:00.000+10:00

Having just completed reading the bible through in the TNIV translation, I'm now reading it through using my Reformation Study Bible. I find the articles, study notes and references helpful, but am finding that the ESV in some places is harder to read.

But what I'm also finding is that the ESV seems to use a lot of the translation methods which its champions deplore in translations such as the TNIV. For example, in Hosea [which I read through yesterday and today], the translators change the person and number in the original Hebrew to make the meaning clearer.

Hosea 2 verse 6 is rendered
I will hedge up her way with thorns,
but the footnote says that the Hebrew text says your way.
In chapter 4 verse 19 the Hebrew original
A wind has wrapped her in its wings
is changed to
A wind has wrapped them in its wings.

Now this is not a problem to me, but the apologists for the ESV say that when the TNIV changes 3rd person to 2nd or from singular to plural, they are changing the Word of God. When the RSV revisers [which is a more accurate description of the ESV translation team] alter the original are they not also changing the Word of God?

Reading the Bible by Genre

2006-06-08T12:54:00.000+10:00

I am continuing to read through my ESV Reformation Study Bible, using Michael Coley's 52 week bible reading plan, which divides the bible up into an epistle reading for Sunday, Law for Monday, History for Tuesday, Psalms on Wednesday, other Poetry on Thursday, Prophecy on Friday and Gospels and Acts on Saturday.

I'm doing it eclectically, and now on the second week I've read, 1 John, Hebrews, Galatians in the Epistles column, Genesis 1-7 from Law, Psalms 1-8, Proverbs 1-4, Matthew 1-4, but so far, no History or Prophecy.

The ESV Reformation Study Bible is nicely produced, has a clear typeface, larger than many bibles I've used, and usually has helpful notes. Having just read through the bible using the TNIV bible, it is interesting to compare the two.

At times the language in the TNIV is unnecessarily politically correct: the translators tried to avoid the use of masculine language, and where this language has been imposed on the bible, or where it obscures the meaning, I welcome the use of inclusive language. But, at times, the change to the plural or the rewording of the traditional English rendering is not needed.

I appreciate the way the RSV revisers [which is what you may more properly call the ESV translators] have reworded its masculine language where there is inclusive language in the original Hebrew, Aramiac and Greek. This is a common feature of the ESV and TNIV.

But certain words, such as ADELFOI, are consistently rendered as masculine, despite the revisers inserting footnotes to the effect that the word is intended to be inclusive. This should have come out in the text, perhaps with a footnote that the original word is masculine, but is intended to have an inclusive meaning.

At times the ESV sounds like biblish [biblical English, a throwback to the King James Version and even the versions which preceded it]. A few days ago I read through Hebrews and found some renderings quite awkward. So far I've found the Old Testament passages read more smoothly. But I admit that in looking up a couple of passages, they are difficult to read in many English versions. Hebrews 2:10 is one of those.

Calvin on Sola Scriptura

2006-06-06T22:55:00.000+10:00

“Let us not take it into our heads . . . to seek out God anywhere else than in his Sacred Word, or to think anything about him that is not prompted by his Word, or to speak anything that is not taken from that Word.” Cited by Brian Hedges at his terrific Mere Theology blog.

After Darkness, Light

2006-06-06T14:54:00.000+10:00

After Darkness, Light is a Reformation motto (originally Post Tenebras, Lux), but it is also the title of a great book of essays on the Five Points of Calvinism and the Five Solas of the Reformation.

The whole book is worth reading, but I particularly appreciated the discussion on Sola Scriptura (the bible alone). Keith Mathison points out that this teaching does not imply that there is no role for tradition and the Church, but that the bible is our supreme authority. It is the only ongoing source of God's revelation (which he did by speaking to humankind through the ages in many and various ways such as by sending prophets and especially through our Lord Jesus Christ and finally inspiring holy men of God to set down this revelation in writing). The bible is perfect (in its original autographs) and thus completely reliable.

The Church submits to the bible's authority, and does not pronounce it to be God's Word, as if the Church were above the bible, but simply recognises it as from God.

But, sitting under this divine Word, the Church has a role to play in teaching us to understand it, as the Scriptures themselves declare. Her historic creeds help us to understand what the Scriptures say. These creeds are helpful and trustworthy, but not infallible. In this limited sense, there is a role for tradition, but it is inferior to the one supreme authority of Scripture.

I found this articulation challenging, thought-provoking and helpful.

Mathison shows that if we say that there is no role for Christian tradition or for the Church, Sola Scriptura degenerates into my interpretation of the bible alone is authoritative, which leads to chaos.

But Don't All Religions Lead to God?

2006-06-05T23:00:00.000+10:00

Michael Green's But Don't all Religions Lead To God? is a great book if you are interested in thinking about the differences between the various religions on offer today [well ... at least the most popular ones], and the unique claims of Christ.

In this book he helps us to think through these popular misconceptions:
1. All religions are much the same.
2. All religions lead to God.
3. It doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere.
4. Jesus Christ is only one of many great religious teachers.

Having helped us to see that each of these views is not logical, Green then shows us the greatness of Jesus who:
*was the only great religious leader who claimed to be able to bring us to God.
*was the only great teacher who claimed to be able to deal radically with human wickedness.
*came back to life, showing us that what he said is true.
*promises to live within us, empowering us to live fulfilled lives which please God.

Keep in Step With the Spirit

2006-06-04T08:19:00.000+10:00

Keep in Step with the Spirit is a terrific book. If you are puzzled by the Holy Spirit, or by all the different slants in various Christian circles on his ministry, you will find this book enlightening. Packer writes in a forthright, yet fair way. He does not seek to knock other views for the sake of it, but often shows how they have valuable insights, though they may be emphasising some things too greatly, or omitting other essentials.

His book is not only about the Holy Spirit, and also features important teaching on the trinity, holiness, Christian living and bible reading. I think this book is every bit as good as Knowing God. I'm sorry that I have only recently discovered this book, originally published in 1984.

The new edition includes a 2005 "Preface to the Preface" and a short chapter on assurance, entitled "Heaven on Earth -a Pentecost Exposition." They are worth reading, but maybe not worth the cost of a new book if your copy is still in good nick.

The Race Set Before Us

2006-06-03T10:27:00.000+10:00

The Race Set Before Us is one of the most helpful Christian books I've read, and it is terrific that Ardel Caneday has set up a blog to discuss it with his readers. There have been some great posts at this blog so far: if you haven't read the book yet, it is well worth your time to read and re-read.

Helpful guide to all those Christian books

2006-06-02T18:49:00.000+10:00

I have just completed reading a book that has been helping me to make sense of the many Christian books I read. I began in September, and completed about 15% of it by Christmas, then plowed through the rest from February to the end of May.

The book is the TNIV translation of the Bible. I read the NT using Greg Oliffe's handy guide to reading through the New Testament in 91 days, then simply used the reading plan in the back of my bible for the Old Testament.

I must admit, though, that reading the bible answers some questions, while raising lots of others. But I bore in mind Moses' words in Deuteronomy 29 verse 29:

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

I enjoyed this read-through so much, I'm doing it again, but it may take longer this time, as I am attempting to read through my ESV Reformation Study Bible, and this time I'm using Michael Coley's 52 week bible reading plan. This innovative plan divides the bible up into 7 genres: one for each day of the week. You have an epistle reading for Sunday, Law for Monday, History for Tuesday, Psalms on Wednesday, other Poetry on Thursday, Prophecy on Friday and Gospels and Acts on Saturday.

I can't promise I'll keep to Michael's exact order, but I hope to use his chart to tick off what I've read somewhat eclectically.

Reading theology

2005-04-02T14:49:00.000+10:00

Every so often, I get stuck into reading some systematic theology. The best books I've found include Wayne Grudem's
Systematic Theology in which he discusses most issues an evangelical would be interested in, and he fairly presents the views of those he disagrees with.

I like his questions and hymns at the end of each chapter. It is also helpful that he tells you explicitly where he is coming from in his introduction.

This book is a terrific start if you want to explore Christian theology. There is also a shorter version of the book, but I think you would be cheating yourself if you didn't buy the whole shebang. [You don't have to read it all!]

Grudem's theology is Reformed and Baptist, but also lightly Pentecostal and Premillennial.

His views on bible translation, with which I have some concerns, do not get a hearing in this book. I find his views on women's ministry to be scriptural, though he can be a little too enthusiastic to press the point on this issue, at times.

But I have also been finding Robert Reymond's
A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith very helpful. Both Reymond and Grudem write clearly and simply. The section on the cross and all its implications is worth the cost of Reymond's book.

Comparing English bible versions

2005-02-21T08:13:00.000+11:00

This is a copy of my response to a question about the English language bible versions, included in BibeWorks.

The venerable King James Version, actually an 1800s edition of the original 1611 bible. This one has had the widest influence, both on the English language and its spread, and on Christian thinking.

It is based entirely on versions of the Hebrew-Aramaic Old Testament from around 1000 AD, and on a few late manuscripts of the New Testament available in the 1500s.

The New King James Version is easier to read, but is mainly based on these same manuscripts.

The New American Standard Bible is based on the same OT manuscripts, but the New Testament is based on a wider and older range of manuscripts. This version aims to bring out the form of the original, as much as possible. It is not easy to read in big chunks.

The English Standard Version is an update of the RSV, which you are familiar with. These versions use the same variety of NT manuscripts as the NASB, but also look at ancient versions of the OT in other languages, such as the Septuagint, the first Greek translation of the OT.

The ESV changes a few renderings in the RSV which some folk saw as unorthodox, in passages such as Isaiah 7:14 and 1 John 2:2, but it also sometimes modernises the English by using more contemporary language, and by using generic language where the original does not contain masculine language.

If you compare the New Revised Standard Version with the ESV, you will see that the translators have more frequently updated the language to be inclusive of both sexes. But some people feel that the NRSV has at times done this inappropriately, and possibly with a feminist agenda. But it does not go bananas like the few feminist versions which are squeamish about calling God "Father" and Jesus "Son" for fear of being sexist!

The New Jerusalem Bible was originally French and is interesting to compare, because it is independent from the KJV/RSV/NASB/ESV tradition. One example of this is its use of "Yahweh" where these versions have "the LORD."

The New Living Translation began as an attempt to make the rather loose Living Bible more accurate. It is based on the same variety of texts as the NRSV/ESV [and most modern translations], but the language is more conversational and contemporary. If you have downloaded the update to the NLT, known as the NLT2, you will have a version which has distanced itself even further from the Living Bible. It is a substantial revision of the NLT and is much more different from the NLT than the TNIV, the upgrade to the NIV, is different from its predecessor.

I don't suppose you need me to say much about the NIV. It stands between the RSV and NLT in its effort to be accurate, but also understandable, I think. You can download the update to the NIV, the TNIV from www.tniv.info . This version is only a little different from the NIV, but updates that 25 year old version with contemporary language, use of gender inclusive language [standing between the ESV and NRSV in its willingness to do this] and in the light of contemporary scholarship.

Going beyond BibleWorks, you can also access the Good News Bible and the Message in the free and terrific e-sword program, which you can download from http://www.e-sword.net .

Keeping Safe on the Net

2005-01-05T11:25:00.000+11:00

Keep Your Kids Safe is not only a great site for parents: it has information that will help everybody enjoy the benefits of the internet, while being alert to the problems it poses. This website also tells you about Simon Johnson, its developer's brand new and up-to-date book, which will almost certainly give you some information and tips you had not previously been aware of, and he has generously given one of the book's most important chapters as a free download at the site.

Christian Book Summaries

2005-01-04T09:09:00.000+11:00

If you would like to get the gist of some well-known, mostly current Christian books, check out Christian Book Summaries, which has maybe 30 summaries of books such as The Purpose-Driven Life, Boundaries in Marriage and What's So Amazing About Grace?

The summaries can be downloaded in very attractively laid-out pdf files, or you can read them online.

In view of Jim Beale's T-shirt
So many books,
so litle time
this site is a boon.

It is also helpful that you can read books that everyone's talking about, but about which you have reservations, without further increasing the author's bank balance.

Each summary is very well written, easy to follow and about 8 pages long.

But ... I'll still buy stuff!

The most valuable one I've read so far is the summary of

The Doctrines of Grace, by Boice and Ryken.

Interpretation article follow-up

2005-01-04T09:04:00.000+11:00

Ahem [clears throat]. In the following issue of Interpretation Journal, Edgar Goodspeed, veteran bible translator, criticised the view of the writer in the previous issue, and also ticked him off for his intemperate language about hard-working bible translators. He argues that translating John 2:4 is not easy, and there is a reason for the variety in the translations.

Interpretation journal

2004-12-28T18:43:00.000+11:00

I've taken up the offer from Interpretation journal to read it online for free for 7 days, and am enjoying ploughing through the more than 50 years of issues. It's a good thing I'm on holidays!

The very first issue has a great article by H H Rowley on The Relevance of Biblical Interpretation, and in another 1947 issue there is an intriguing article by R B Woodworth on Jesus' words to Mary at the wedding at Cana.

Most of us know that the way Jesus addresses Mary is not rude, though it sounds that way when woodenly translated into English.
But what about the puzzling words that he says to her?

It is translated various ways and here are a few:
King James Version: Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee?
English Standard Version: And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does this have to do with
me? ..."
New American Bible: (And) Jesus said to her, "Woman, how does your
concern affect me?..."
NET Bible: Jesus replied, "Woman, why are you saying this to me?..."
New International Version: "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied.
New Jerusalem Bible: Jesus said, 'Woman, what do you want from me?..."
Contemporary English Version and Good News Bible: "You must not tell
me what to do..."

But R B Woodworth, in the very first Reader's Forum, has some interesting things to say. While commentators say that Jesus' words do not imply a rebuke, many of the translations above come out like one.

But the expression is common in the Septuagint [the first Greek translation of the Old Testament] and is found in Judges
11:12; 1 Kings 17:18; 2 Kings 3:13 and 2 Chron 35:21 and something
like it occurs 6 times in the New Testament in Matt 8:29; 27:4; Mark 1:24; Luke 8:28 and John 21:22.

Woodworth says that in every case the expression is used of the
relation of the speakers not to each other, but to some third person or thing. He says it should be translated "It's not our concern." In John 2:4 he thinks it should be understood as "What have you and I to do with the wine?"

A few translations seem to agree with Woodworth, but it is
interesting that these include the allegedly literal New American Standard Bible, and others which are reputed to be looser versions that are concerned with bringing out the meaning:
NASB Woman, what does that have to do with us?
New Living Translation: How does that concern you and me?
International Standard Version: How does that concern us, Woman?
The Message: Jesus said, "Is that any of our business, Mother--yours or mine? ..."

Comparing Religions

2004-12-09T22:35:00.000+11:00

It is always interesting to compare religions, even if you are already convinced about one of them. I have been reading A Spectator's Guide To World Religions, by John Dickson. It is written in an engaging style that makes you want to keep reading. He seems to have done his homework, and I found I knew more about each of the 5 major religions, after reading the book.

His If I Were God, I'd End All The Pain is a great book to read and give away on the problems of evil and suffering. It is short, easy to read and not unbearably dogmatic. Dickson confesses that he also struggles, but he clearly shows how faith in Christ is the best way to deal with these issues. He looks briefly at Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic and Atheist explanations for suffering, and does this in a fair, dispassionate way. A later book, If I Were God, I'd Make Myself Clearer, is another short, thought-provoking look at several influential world religions, including Mormonism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism and Sikhism, through the eyes of a convinced Christian. In this book, Dickson attempts to give some ways in which the claims which Judaism, Mormonism and Christianity make may be tested.

You can purchase these last 2 books from Matthias Media

Holiness by John Charles Ryle

2004-12-03T22:08:00.000+11:00

A group of Christians in Australia, the UK and the US [and maybe other places] have begun reading through Bishop J C Ryle's Holiness. You can download the chapters from Mount Zion Bible Institute and join us, if you are interested.

We are discussing the book at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/charisList/

Articles on Guidance

2004-09-12T22:03:00.000+10:00

I have been thinking about how God guides his people, and have found several helpful articles at Stand To Reason. Greg Koukl, Christian radio broadcaster, has an interesting article which shows how divine intervention was even unusual in the Book of Acts. In Divine Direction and Decision-Making in the Book of Acts, he shows that God is said to give personalised direction only 16 times over the 30 year period of the Book of Acts, but people made up their own minds without special signs 71 times!

I also found his article on Hearing God's Voice stimulating. In this article he points out that you can't prove that God speaks to people directly today by sharing an experience in which you believe he did, because this is assuming what you are trying to prove! He also shows that God does speak today through his Word and through the inner voice of the Holy Spirit, but does not give us tips on future events.

Michael Spencer's The Internet Monk terrific site for interesting Christian articles. His friend, Bill McKinnon's No Voices in My Head is a humorous look at the way various Christians claim they obtain supernatural guidance. I love his subtitle, which is "God may or may not have told me to write this."

I hope you find these articles as helpful as I have.

Milk or Solids?

2004-09-02T07:51:00.000+10:00

We are going through 1 Corinthians in our church, and last week we were in chapter 3, where Paul says:

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly— mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly?

I have been pondering over what Paul means by
milk and solid food. Some commentaries were not very helpful on this issue, but I found Anthony Thiselton's NIGTC commentary and Calvin's to be the most helpful.

The question I was musing over is whether 1 Corinthians only contains "the milk of the Word," which must be supplemented by the solid food in other New Testament books. But what teachings are not found in 1 Corinthians? I suppose you could argue that Ephesians and Colossians have some exalted teaching, not found there, but when Paul says throughout all his writings that the message is Christ, there seems to be a danger that you could think that we can leave behind the simple teaching about Jesus for something deeper, suitable only for spiritual Christians.

But Calvin says

Here it is asked, whether Paul transformed
Christ to suit the diversity of his hearers. I answer, that this refers to the manner and form of his instructions, rather than to the substance of the doctrine. For Christ is at once milk to babes, and strong meat to those that are of full age,the same truth of the gospel is administered to both, but so as to suit their capacity.

Fee, Thiselton and Garland seem to agree with this interpretation, and it satisfies this little black duck!

Christian Missions

2004-08-14T08:45:00.000+10:00

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.

The Law and the Christian

2004-08-10T04:50:00.000+10:00

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.