Cream of blog: 12 May 2009
May 12, 2009
Here are a some blog entries worth your time:
- Fred Sanders (from The Scriptorium) on ten battles that church father Athanasius fought and won.
- Carl Trueman (from Ref21) on why it is good for a minister to be accountable to a presbytery for his life and doctrine.
- C.J. Mahaney’s 17-part series on Biblical Productivity are now available in pdf format from the Sovereign Grace Ministries blog.
- Al Mohler’s thoughts on the White House’s new practice of vetting prayers at public events attended by the President.
John ‘Rabbi’ Duncan
February 26, 2009
Today marks the anniversary of the death John “Rabbi” Duncan (1796-February 26, 1870), Scottish Presbyterian missionary to the Jews in Budapest and much-loved professor in New College, Edinburgh. He was known for his pithy sayings, as well as his knowledge of Hebrew and his Christian love for the Jews. His deep love for the Jewish people and his eminence as a Hebrew scholar earned the nickname ‘Rabbi’ among his students.
It’s hard to read any Reformed writer of the late 19th or 20th century without finding Duncan quoted. The Banner of Truth published a nice short paperback compendium of Duncan’s aphorisms about a decade or so ago called Just a Talker: Saying of John (“Rabbi”) Duncan. Among his sayings:
“I’m first a Christian, next a catholic, then a Calvinist, fourth an evangelical, and fifth a Presbyterian. I cannot reverse this order.”
“Christ either deceived mankind by conscious fraud, or He was Himself deluded and self-deceived, or He was Divine. There is no getting out of this trilemma. It is inexorable.”
Thanks to the excellent blog, Scriptorium Daily, here are more samples of Duncan’s skill:
On Thomas Carlyle: Sham is a word often in the mouth of one who is a keen detector of other people’s shams, and a very earnest maker of his own.”
On Wesley’s Hymns: “I have a great liking for many of Wesley’s Hymns; but when I read some of them, I ask, ‘What’s become of your Free-will now, friend?’”
On Genius: “Genius lies very much in that region where the profound is simple, and the simple profound. The great thoughts of such men as Chalmers are very simple when expressed; but only a man of genius could think them.”
On Mysteries: “All the great mysteries are simple as well as unfathomably deep; and they are common to all men. Every Christian feels them less or more.”
Hyper-Calvinism and Arminianism: “Hyper-Calvinism is all house and no door; Arminianism is all door and no house.”
Aesthetic Religion: “There is no entering into the kingdom of heaven by a mere sense of beauty.”
Terminology: “There is a curious connexion between the success of a teacher and his possession of a fine terminology –a good store of words to express shades of meaning. Much wisdom has been stored up in men, and never diffused for want of the gift of speech.”
Reason in God: “Transcendentally, it is true that God has reason, but He does not reason; He does not draw syllogisms.”
Love: “Individual love, per se, is a centrifugal force; universal, cosmopolitan love, per se, is centripetal: combine them, and the revolutions of love are orderly.”
How and What: “All questions as to the ‘How’ are best answered by a more extended knowledge of the ‘What.’”
Old and New Covenants: “We must not unsaint the Old Testament saints, but we must not make Pentecostal Christians of them.”
Trinity: “The Trinity is my highest Theologoumenon. I reach it, and find in it the supreme harmony of revealed things. But it is equally irrational and irreverent to speculate on the nexus between the distinct Persons. That is not revealed, and is not revealable.”
More on the Trinity: “I exceedingly dislike that expression of some divines, that Christ purchased for us the blessings of the Spirit. I cannot but believe that the three things –the Father’s love, the sacrifice of the Son, and the influence of the Spirit– are each and all the unpurchasable blessings of grace. And I am driven to this, to hold my ground against the Socinians.”
Fighting Theologians: “Now, every unrenewed Arminian is a Pelagian, and every unrenewed Calvinist is a fatalist.”
Old Brazey: “Hezekiah broke in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made, because the children of Israel had made an idol of it; and he called it ‘Nehushtan’ –literally ‘Old Brazey.’ … There was no harm in keeping the brazen serpent; bu when they began to turn it to idolatry, it was proper to break it in pieces. ‘What! will you break in pieces a relic connected with our history –a historic memorial?’ ‘Yes, I’ll break it in pieces,’ and he called it ‘Old Brazey.’””
On the communion of saints: “Does no news go between earth and heaven? and if news goes, must there not be knowledge of events? God has put there a veil; Popery tries to bring us within it, and Protestants will not look at it for Papistical abuse.”
Francis Schaeffer’s birthday
January 30, 2009
I first was introduced to Francis Schaeffer’s works when Contemporary Christian Music magazine honored Schaeffer on the cover when he died in 1984. I was in high school and recently converted. It was not until college that I read Schaeffer at the urging of my campus minister Hal Farnsworth (he also was the first to urge me to read John Owen!). I think A Christian Manifesto was my first read. By the end of my junior year I had purchased the 5-volume The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer and was well on my way to reading it all. I can’t resist noting that Crossway omitted Schaeffer’s short work explaining and defending infant baptism from the ‘complete’ set–but hey, they’re selling books, and I guess we can’t have credo-baptists stubbing their toes over Schaeffer’s covenantal theology.
I am deeply indebted to Schaeffer’s work for the framework and earliest assembly of a Christian world-and-life-view in my own life. I still think True Spirituality and No Little People are some of the finest Christian writings of the 20th century. His work exhibits a breadth of knowledge and wisdom, uncompromising commitment to biblical truth, and a practical, loving concern for people. Schaeffer was an early model in the Truth-Authority-Integrity-Love philosophy of ministry.
Today is the anniversary of Francis Schaeffer’s birth in 1912. Fred Sanders pays homage and gives an assessment not unlike my own at Scriptorium.
Remembrance day and advice from Luther
November 10, 2008
Tomorrow (November 11) is observed as Veterans’ Day in the U.S. Our friends in the U.K. and many other places refer to it as Remembrance Day or Armistice Day, as the day marks anniversary of the signing of the armistice argreement that ended World War I in 1918. The U.S. Congress officially changed “Armistice Day” to “Veterans Day” in 1954.
With thanksgiving to the Lord of Hosts we honor all who have served the country and pray for those who are currently serving. Rick Phillips offers some advice on how to pray for our military personnel at the Ref21 blog.
As a bonus, here is an excerpt from a letter written by Martin Luther. The threat of Islamic advance from southern Europe and Turkey was a concern to the German princes of the 16th century. Prince Joachim of Brandenburg, about to lead a Saxon military expedition against the Muslim Turks, sought spiritual advice from Luther before setting out. Luther’s letter of August 3, 1532, to Prince Joachim contains counsel that is extraordinarily relevant to us in the present crises.
…I beg that those on our side may not place their reliance on the Turk’s being altogether wrong and God’s enemy while we are innocent and righteous in comparison with the Turk, for such presumption is also vain. Rather is it necessary to fight with fear of God and reliance on his grace alone. We too are unrighteous in God’s sight. Some on our side have shed much innocent blood, have despised and persecuted God’s Word, and have been disobedient, and so we cannot take our stand on our merits, no matter how righteous or unrighteous the Turks and we may be. For the cursed devil is also God’s enemy and does us great injustice and wrong. In comparison with the devil we are innocent, and yet we must not boast of our innocence and the superiority of our right, but must fight against him in fear and humility and with God’s help alone. This is what David did in his fight against Goliath. He did not boast of his rights, but with God’s help he fought and said, “Thou hast blasphemed against God, in whom I put my trust.” In like manner we must pray to God, not that he may avenge our innocence against the Turk, but rather that he may glorify his holy name against those great blasphemers and meanwhile graciously forget our sins.
…I wish and pray that in such a war those on our side may not seek honor, glory, land, booty, etc., but only the glory of God and his name, together with the defense of poor Christians and subjects. For the glory should and will be God’s alone. As unworthy sinners we deserve nothing but shame, dishonor, and even death, and this Your Highness knows better than I can write. But since Your Highness has so earnestly requested spiritual counsel, I have wished to set down this brief opinion in Your Highness’s service. I have no doubt that if Your Highness inculcates such sentiments in others, with the result that the war is conducted on such a high plane, the devil and all his angels will be too weak for our soldiers, and the Turks will encounter men who are different from those whom they have fought before, when both sides were insolent and fought without God, which has always harmed God’s people more than their enemies…Our prayers shall go with you and follow after you.
Review: A Long Obedience in the Same Direction
August 28, 2008
Eugene Peterson’s books are either deeply loved or studiously avoided by Reformed folk. I’ve found him to be a thoughtful, literate writer who shares many of my concerns and passions about pastoral ministry. I read The Contemplative Pastor about three months after I finished seminary, and that book helped me avoid many snares and keep my wits about me. I don’t always agree with Peterson, but he is such a gracious and edifying author that I enjoy disagreeing with him more than I enjoy agreeing with many others. Someone once quipped, “I prefer Uriah drunk to David sober.”
I recently read one of Peterson’s first books, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society, first published in 1980 and the released in a revised and expanded version by IVP in 2000. The title is drawn from a surprising place: Friedrich Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil (‘The essential thing “in heaven and earth” is…that there should be a long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living.’) Peterson takes us to the “Psalms of Ascent” (Psalms 120-134) as a guide and metaphor for following Christ over the long haul. He writes in the introduction:
I knew that following Jesus could never develop into a “long obedience” without a deepening life of prayer and that the Psalms had always been the primary means by which Christians learned to pray everything they lived, and live everything they prayed over the long haul…But the people I was around didn’t pray the Psalms. That puzzled me; Christians have always prayed the Psalms; why didn’t my friends and neighbors?
God has used Peterson’s teaching on Psalms 120-134 to knead them into my imagination again and into my vocabulary of prayer and conversation to speak in practical ways about joy, repentance, service, work, humility, obedience, community and blessing. Here are some samples of Peterson’s work that will give you a sense of the deep, biblical wisdom of A Long Obedience:
On worship: ‘We live in what one writer has called the “age of sensation.” We think that if we don’t feel something there can be no authenticity in doing it. But the wisdom of God says something different: that we can act ourselves into a new way of feeling much quicker than we can feel ourselves into a new way of acting. Worship is an act that develops feelings for God, not a feeling that is expressed in an act of worship. When we obey the command to praise God in worship, our deep, essential need to be in relationship with God is nurtured.’ [54]
On the past: ‘The psalmist is not an antiquarian reveling in the past for its own sake but a traveler using what he knows of the past to get to where he is going–to God. For all its interest in history the Bible never refers to the past as “the good old times.” The past is not, for the person of faith, a restored historical site that we tour when we are on vacation; it is a field that we plow and harrow and plant and fertilize and work for a harvest.’ [168]
On joy: ‘A common but futile strategy for achieving joy is trying to eliminate things that hurt: get rid of pain by numbing the nerve ends, get rid of insecurity by eliminating risks, get rid of disappointment by depersonalizing your relationships. And then try to to lighten the boredom of such a life by buying joy in the form of vacations and entertainment. There isn’t a hint of that in Psalm 126.’ [100]
On security: ‘Discipleship is not a contract in which if we break our part of the agreement he is free to break his; it is a covenant in which he establishes the conditions and guarantees the results.’ [90]
On hope: ‘Hoping does not mean doing nothing…It means going about our assigned tasks, confident that God will provide the meaning and the conclusions…It is imagination put in the harness of faith. it is a willingness to let God to it his way and in his time. It is the opposite of making plans that we demand that God put into effect, telling him both how and when to do it.’ [144]
On repentance: ‘Repentance is not an emotion. It is not feeling sorry for your sins. It is a decision. It is deciding that you have been wrong in supposing that you could manage your own life and be your own god; it is deciding that you were wrong in thinking that you had, or could get, the strength, education and training to make it on your own; it is deciding that you have been told a pack of lies about yourself and your neighbors and your world. And it is deciding that God in Jesus Christ is telling you the truth. Repentance is a realization that what God wants from you and what you want from God are not going to be achieved by doing the same old things, thinking the same old thoughts. Repentance is a decision to follow Jesus Christ and become his pilgrim in the path of peace.’ [29-30]
Peterson includes in the revised edition the Psalms of Ascent in his translation/paraphrase, The Message. This is a plus in the eyes of author and publisher and many readers, but not in mine.
Nevertheless, if you are drawn toward instant, polished-smile, give-me-patience-now Christianity, be warned: there will be little in this book to soothe and cherish your desires. But Peterson’s aged wine is much better than the Zima of contemporary spirituality. Take, read, drink deeply.
Living grace: sermons of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
July 30, 2008
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, whose ministry touched thousands in the U.K. and helped revive publishing of Reformed literature and reprinting of the works of the English Puritans in the 1950s and 1960s, continues to influence thousands even nearly 30 years after his death. His recorded sermons are being re-edited into 25-minute broadcasts and podcasts. They are available in streaming audio, download or podcast subscription at oneplace.com.
Back in the late 80s and early 90s I used to borrow cassette recordings of Lloyd-Jones’ sermons from the old Mount Olive Tape Library in Mount Olive, Mississippi. I’ve been downloading the podcasts for two months now, and I continue to be impressed by the depth and simplicity of his preaching. I think you will also.
Martin Luther and Christmas
December 26, 2007
Dr. Philip Ryken, senior minister of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has written about Martin Luther’s contribution to Christmas hymnody on Reformation21.
To God who sent his only Son
Be glory, laud, and honor done.
Let all the choir of heaven rejoice,
The new ring in with heart and voice.
Cyber-sainthood
November 8, 2007
Just when you thought the Reformation was old, dusty, irrelevant history–here’s this: Last week marked the 490th anniversary of Martin Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses on the doors of the Wittenburg Church. He was calling for a debate on the Roman Church’s aggressive marketing and sales of indulgences, which, Luther argued, obscured the biblical doctrine of repentance and exploited the poor. Indulgences offered a way to have a sin’s penalty pardoned by the church and therefore to be released from paying for it in purgatory. The sinner’s sincerity was quantified through money–seen as a tangible expression of self-sacrifice. In Luther’s time the indulgences were sold as a fund-raiser for the construction of St. Peter’s in Rome under the leadership of Pope Leo X. But let’s call it what it is: the attempt to buy/do/feel one’s way into right standing with Almighty God.
Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the church door (like a public bulletin board) on 31 October, the eve of All Saints Day–the climax of popular Catholic piety regarding the veneration of saints and relics–much like airing a TV show on 24 December in which you calling Christmas into question!
Why bring this up? Well, in the spirit of ‘There is nothing new under the sun,’ a website exists for the purpose of drumming and up (and funding) popular support for the beatification and canonization of Pope John Paul II. Devotees are asked to share stories, seek the intercession of the late pontiff, request a piece of his priestly vestments and make a donation–all to hasten the efforts to have him declared a saint. The site strongly defends itself against the charge that it is selling relics.
Back in Luther’s day the hucksters who sold indulgences had a great jingle which translates easily from German to English: Once the coin in the coffer clings, a soul from purgatory heavenward springs! Maybe the 21st century version would be something like this: Once the mouse on the website clicks, John Paul one step closer to sainthood flicks/licks/kicks/tricks???
Book review: The Holy Trinity
July 31, 2007
The best and most challenging class I took in seminary was an elective class during my final semester under my favorite professor, Dr. Douglas F. Kelly. The class was ‘The Doctrine of the Trinity.’ The lectures and the reading were like hiking in high elevation–awe-inspiring, humbling views, but the oxygen was thin and I tired easily. Murray Garrott and I co-wrote a paper on ‘The Trinity and Personhood’ which was not all that great, but I managed to do well on the oral exam at the end. Those who want to catch the vistas these days have a great guide and companion along the mountain paths in Robert Letham’s The Holy Trinity: In Scripture, History, Theology, and Worship (P&R, 2004).
Letham is senior minister of Emmanuel Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware, and adjunct professor of systematic theology at Westminster Seminary and the Washington/Baltimore extension of Reformed Theological Seminary. His book is divided into four parts: 1) Biblical foundations, 2) historical development, 3) modern discussion, and 4) critical issues (the incarnation, worship and prayer, creation and missions, and persons). While writing from a Reformed perspective, Letham interacts with theologians from all periods of church history and from a wide variety of backgrounds, from East and West, from Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
Most Christians do not have a biblically solid and precise understanding of the Trinity, finding it all ‘a mathematical conundrum, full of imposing philosophical jargon, relegated to an obscure alcove, remote from daily life’ (1). Letham is not attempting to write a ‘Trinity made simple’ book, but one that is thoroughly biblical and wide-ranging in its survey of the doctrines development and implications. For example, Letham observes that in Eastern Christianity (e.g., the Greek and Russian orthodox churches) there has been a tendency to fall into the error of subordinationism, viewing the Son and the Holy Spirit as deriving from the Father and thus not quite as much ‘God’ as the Father. In Western Christianity (Roman Catholicism and the Protestant churches) the tendency has been toward modalism, blurring or eclipsing the personal distinctions so as to view God as a single person who simple manifests himself at different times as Father, Son and Spirit.
All of this has daily significance because Christian experience of God and communion with God is inescapably Trinitarian. The design, accomplishment, and application of our redemption is a work of all three persons of the one true God. The Father, Son and Spirit are vitally united to worship and prayer. Letham presents a deep and thrilling case that embracing a full Trinitarian theology equips us to engage Islam and post-modernism with the claims of the Gospel, to engage Darwinism and pagan environmentalism with the biblical vision of order, coherence, unity and diversity in the universe, and end manipulation and lovelessness in our relationships with others. The ‘critical issues’ section of the book are worth the effort of working through the thicker parts of the historical development sections.
A Prayer from Service Book of the Syrian-Antiochene Orthodox Church, the all-night vigil service, the third hour:
Glory to thee, our God; glory to thee,
O heavenly King, the Comforter, Spirit of Truth, who are in all places and fill all things;
Treasury of good things and Giver of life:
come and take up thy abode in us,
and cleanse us from every stain; and save our souls, O Good One.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
now and ever, and unto ages of ages.
O all-holy Trinity, have mercy on us.
O Lord, wash away our sins.
O Master, pardon our transgressions.
O Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
now and ever, unto ages of ages. Amen.
Tomb of Herod the Great found?
May 8, 2007
According to Haaretz.com, archaeologists from Hebrew University in Jerusalem have discovered the tomb site of Herod the Great–the Herod whom Rome allowed to ‘rule’ the province of Judaea from 74 BC to ~4 BC. This is the same Herod who appears in Matthew and Luke’s narratives of the birth of Jesus and instigator of the infant massacre at Bethlehem. Herod the Great is also famous for his ambitious expansion of the Temple in Jerusalem.
As for the tomb discovery, Professor Ehud Netzer has been digging since 1972 around a site known as Herodium, about 7 miles outside of Jerusalem and destroyed by the Romans in AD 71, acting on the belief that first-century Jewish historian Josephus was reliable in his detailed account of the funeral and burial of Herod. But it was not until this spring that his team found the ruins of a distinctively lavish (albeit empty) sarcophagus at Herodium.
Two additional interesting notes about Herod the Great:
- His ancestors were Edomites and not Jews. In his grandfather’s time, the Maccabeans conquered Idumea (home of the remnant of the Edomites) and compelled them to convert to Judaism. Although Herod surely would have seen himself as Jewish, conservative, observant Jews in his day would likely have viewed him as more Hellenistic than Jewish.
- You might scratch your head at the fact that Herod’s death is listed as ~4 BC. But wasn’t Jesus born in 1 AD? Not so fast, my friend. Our current numbering system for years was adopted in Western Europe in 8th century and was based on work by a 6th century monk named Dionysus Exiguus, who lived in Rome. Dionysus miscalculated a few things, and our best guesses are that Jesus was born between 6 BC and 4 BC.
