Kris and I leave South Africa today and ask for your prayers for our trip home — a long one through Paris. But, the blog goes on! We are working our way through Tom Wright’s new book, Justification: God’s Plan & Paul’s Vision and are now at the point of getting into Wright’s understanding of justification. Wright opens up part 3 of chp 4 with a little sketch of bell ringing and how very few know what is going on... Read more
Ah, Second Corinthians. One of the most formative classes I had in seminary was Murray Harris’ class on 2 Corinthians, and I’ve paid attention to the commentaries ever since. I begin with C.K. Barrett because I learned so much from him in our class: The Second Epistle to Corinthians . Then I go to my teacher’s, Murray Harris’, newest and full-length commentary: Second Epistle To The Corinthians (New International Greek Testament Commentary) . Following Harris, I move along the shelf... Read more
James now brings his teachings about the impact of the tongue to a close in chapter three: With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither... Read more
Over the last several posts we have been considering approaches to interpret scripture that take seriously the nature of the text we have, the information from historical and scientific research, and the inspiration of scripture. This is, in my opinion, one of the most significant challenges facing evangelical Christianity today. Kent Sparks in God’s Word in Human Words (GWHW) suggests that the concept of accommodation – that is God’s accommodation to human finite understanding and perspective – can help us... Read more
Luke wrote two books and so he asks Jesus, who is approvingly nodding his head at the table, for an extended time to go overtime. After describing for us that this Messiah did create a new kind of Passover meal called the Lord’s supper, Luke tells us that Jesus was crucified by the evil empire and that he was gloriously raised from the dead. Then Luke opens up a new book by reporting to us that God’s Spirit descended on... Read more
I learned as a child this little ditty: “Sticks and stones may break my bones,but names will never hurt me.” The intent was good — to deflect unkind words. The truthfulness of the ditty, however, questionable. What is said can have potent, life-altering impact. And James knows that. Notice these words from James 3: 3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example.... Read more
We are working our way through Tom Wright’s new book, Justification: God’s Plan & Paul’s Vision. The book purports to be a response to John Piper’s The Future of Justification, but it is far more than that: it is a brilliant sketch of Wright’s own views. Chp 4 opens with a question that is second to none in this debate: “What is the question to which the ‘doctrine of justification’ is the answer?” He then moves to Alister McGrath’s famous... Read more
Kent Sparks’s book God’s Word in Human Words (GWHW) was the subject of a session organized by Peter Enns at the Society of Biblical Literature meeting last November. Dr. Enns has made some of this session available to a broader audience on his blog, starting with his review of GWHW, and continuing with his response and Bill Arnold’s response. We also discussed these posts here in parts one and two of this series. Late last week Stephen Chapman’s response to... Read more
So far so good: kingdom means community formation through commitment to Jesus. That community brings justice and it ends every form of oppression. Jesus’ kingdom vision will mean a total spiritual and social make-over for Israel. With everything now in place, Jesus takes an about turn, faces his disciples, tells them they’ve got a blurred vision of what God is actually doing, and creates an entirely new vision for what kingdom means. Kingdom, formerly connected with triumph, will now be... Read more
So important is the tongue to teaching that James can say this in James 3:2: We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. For James, proper speech indicates mastery of one’s entire self. James said something similar back in chapter one and it surprises that the suddenly brings it up. At 1:26 he said: If anyone considers himself religious... Read more
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