How to Preach the Old Testament at Christmas

Justin Taylor has an interesting post on how to preach Christ at Advent. He lists three examples from Ralph Davis.

Walt Kaiser on Authorial Intention

See this post on some remarks by Walt Kaiser on the hermeneutical issue of authorial intention.

A Slide Presentation on Khirbet Qeiyafa

Claude Mariottini has posted this link to a slide presentation produced by Yosef Garfinkel of Hebrew University and Saar Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority on Khirbet Qeiyafa.

Decker on Three Views on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament

Rod Decker has a nice summary of, and observations about, the recent sessions at ETS concerning the recent book Three Views on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. You can read the post here.

Köstenberger’s Top Ten Biblical and Theology Books for 2008

Andreas Köstenberger has posted his top ten biblical and theology Books for 2008. Here is his list.

1. The ESV Study Bible (Crossway): While people may debate the merits of the ESV as a translation, the qualities of the ESV Study Bible are indisputable. An exquisitely produced, high-quality product that sets a new standard for study Bibles.

2. Eckhard Schnabel, Paul the Missionary (InterVarsity Press): A worthy sequel to Schnabel’s landmark 2-volume work Early Christian Mission. The new “Ronald Allan” on Paul’s missionary practice. Both thorough and practical.

3. D. A. Carson, Christ & Culture Revisited (Eerdmans): A timely book on an all-important subject, the relationship between Christianity and contemporary culture. Carson properly takes his starting point from Niebuhr’s classic work Christ and Culture. A very important book.

4. Robert Stein, Mark (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament; Baker): I haven’t read Stein’s work in toto yet, but from what I’ve seen so far, this commentary is first rate, as one would expect from this senior Markan scholar.

5. David Chapman, Ancient Jewish and Christian Perceptions of Crucifixion (Mohr-Siebeck): The revised version of a dissertation at Cambridge University under William Horbury, this will be the standard work on crucifixion for a long time to come.

6. Margaret Elizabeth Köstenberger, Jesus and the Feminists (Crossway): This book should have been written a long time ago. A judicious survey of various feminist approaches to Jesus. J. I. Packer calls it “scrupulously fair.” In the interest of full disclosure: I am married to the author.

7. Cosmology of New Testament Theology (ed. Jonathan Pennington and Sean McDonough; T & T Clark): Finally, a monograph on this very important but widely neglect aspect of New Testament theology. Worldview matters, then and now.

8. Craig Blomberg and Mariam Kamell, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: James (Zondervan): A great start to an important new series from Zondervan. Blomberg here teams up with Mariam Kamell, a doctoral student at St. Andrews University.

9. Suffering and the Goodness of God (ed. Christopher Morgan and Robert Peterson; Theology in Community series; Crossway): Another promising start to a new series, with contributions by, among others, Robert Yarbrough, Walter Kaiser, Dan McCartney, and John Frame.

10. Clyde Fant and Mitchell Reddish, Lost Treasures of the Bible: Understanding the Bible through Archaeological Artifacts in World Museums (Eerdmans): A great publishing idea, and well executed. As a teacher and student of Scripture, this is a resource I will value highly.

Helpful Sermon Tool from Logos

[Update: Please see the concerns in the comments below regarding this post. I contacted Logos directly, and to be quite frank, the response from Logos was less than satisfactory.]

From the Logos blog:

As a hat-tip to all our loyal Logos blog readers, we wanted to let you know about our latest online project, Sermons.Logos.com (beta). While we aren’t ready for a full-out release announcement, we thought it would be fun to let you guys and gals get the first chance to visit the site and “kick the tires.”

Sermons.Logos.com is an online community built around user created sermons and illustrations and already hosts over 56,000 sermons and illustrations.

Along with the ability to search Sermons.Logos.com using the same powerful search engine that runs Bible.Logos.com, you can also rate sermons, subscribe to sermon RSS feeds, create links to sermons and illustrations you want to share with people, and even create your own user account to upload your sermons and illustrations to the site.

If you already have a Logos.com account, there is no need to create a new account to use the site. Your Logos.com username and password work on Sermons.Logos.com. Not only that, but you can also promote your church and your sermons by enhancing your profile with a picture, a link to your church, your title, organization, personal blog or website, denomination, and much more. To enhance your profile, just visit: https://www.logos.com/user/MyProfile.

If you’re a Logos user and have the Sermon File Addin, contributing to Sermons.Logos.com is as easy as checking the “add my sermons to the Logos database” checkbox. Your sermons will automatically be added and, even more, when you edit them within Logos, your edits will appear on the site as well.

So, there you go. Remember, the site is in beta, so go check it out and let us know what you think.

Jackman on Ten Exhortations for Preachers

Colin Adams has posted David Jackman's ten exhortations for preachers. The ten exhortations are:

1. Get rid of the idea that we have to make the text relevant.

2. Go back and work hard on the text, to find out what it meant to its first hearers or readers.

3. Make sure the original context determines your contemporary application.

4. Set the passage also in its wider Biblical theological context.

5. Focus your understanding and purpose in key sentences.

6. Develop a clear programme.

7. Study your congregation.

8. Apply the truth to the whole person.

9. Make your language count.

10. Pray for the Holy Spirit to blow his life-giving breath through it all and to do the gracious and powerful work of which only he is capable.

Jackman's entire article can be accessed here.

Mounce on the Definitite Article in 1 Timothy 4:13

Bill Mounce has a nice discussion on the definite article in 1 Timothy 4:13 and its potential applications. Read the post here.

Free Spurgeon Audio Download

Christianaudio.com is offering a free download of the first ninety days of Spurgeon's classic devotional Mornings and Evenings. Go here and enter the coupon code DEC2008 when prompted.

The Provenance of Philippians

Michael Bird has a nice discussion on the provenance of Philippians. He argues for an Ephesian provenance. The post is worth reading although I hold to the traditional Roman provenance for Philippians.

Bivin on Hebrew as a Spoken Language in First-century Israel

David Bivin has an interesting post affirming that Hebrew was a spoken language in First-century Israel (contra much current scholarship). I found the following comment most interesting.

Randall Buth has pointed out to me a fascinating indication that Hebrew was the spoken language in the first century. The Jewish historian Josephus describes an incident that took place during the siege of Jerusalem (War 5:269-272). Josephus relates that watchmen were posted on the towers of the city walls to warn residents of incoming stones fired from Roman ballistae. Whenever a stone was on its way, the spotters would shout “in their native tongue, ‘The son is coming!’” (War 5:272). The meaning the watchmen communicated to the people was: Ha-even ba’ah (the stone is coming). However, because of the urgency of the situation, these words were clipped, being abbreviated to ben ba (son comes). (This well-known Hebrew wordplay is attested in the New Testament: “God is able from these avanim [stones] to raise up banim [sons] to Abraham” [Matt 3:9 = Luke 3:8].)

You can read the entire post here.

Wealth and Poverty

Much of the Bible is concerned about the topics of wealth and poverty. One of the great challenges of dealing with this topic in the West in general and the United States in particular is that our general relative affluence makes it difficult to gain a perspective from which we can better appreciate such texts. To this end there is a helpful tool that you can access here in which you can plug in your annual income and see how rich you are in relation to the world.

A Review of Simpson's Assaulted by Joy

Simpson, Stephen W. Assaulted by Joy: The Redemption of a Cynic. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008.

Normally, I review books that are directly related to biblical studies. But Robin Geelhoed at Zondervan contacted me about the book in question. Wanting to stretch a bit I decided to take it on. I am glad I did. Assaulted by Joy is a series of personal vignettes describing the author’s journey from cynicism to joy. The approach is generally effective since joy is more easily illustrated than defined. Using both personal tragedy and triumph, Simpson demonstrates that joy is more of a journey than a destination and that cynicism is a constant and attractive detour along the way. And that joy, contrary to popular understanding, is not best produced individually but rather cultivated in community and in relationship with others. Overall, the book is personable and easy to read and I could not help but identify with the author’s struggle with cynicism. That being said, I wonder whether the cynics that could benefit most from this book, will conclude that Simpson’s book is too simplistic, shallow, and saccharine. Or is that simply me being cynical?

Expository Preaching: The Minimum

Colin Adams suggests that at minimum expository preaching includes . . .

1. Reading or quoting from the biblical passage to be expounded.
2. Giving the basic thrust of that passage’s message.
3. Positively demonstrating the meaning of the text by supplying relevant supporting evidence to your interpretation (historical background, literary context, grammatical support, word studies, wider Scriptural cross-reference, etc)
4. Negatively clarifying what the passage does not mean; ruling out possible faulty interpretations.
5. Drawing out the lessons of the passage for believer and non-believer.
6. Relating the passage to Christ and his gospel (setting the text within the wider framework of biblical theology).

(Note: non essentials to exposition include catchy introductions or conclusions, illustrations, numbered points, alliteration. No doubt some of these can be helpful on ocassion, but you could do exposition without them).

The post can be found here.

Reformed Theology Literature Website

There is a nice Reformed theology literature website accessible here.

Dissatisfied Churchgoers Cite Three Main Complaints

According to the latest issue of the Church Leaders Intelligence Report,

People who are dissatisfied with how their church is helping them develop spiritually (about 17% overall) are most concerned about three elements of the weekend worship service. 68% say the service does not incorporate Bible teaching that helps them with everyday life. 70% say the service is not challenging or thought-provoking enough, and 81% say it does not provide enough in-depth study of the Bible. Those generally satisfied with their churches also list these three elements, but with a much higher rate of satisfaction.

Sounds like some solid Bible exposition would help!

Zane Hodges (1933-2008)

I learned today that Zane Hodges has gone on to be with the Lord. Although I did not know the man personally, men that have taught me were influenced by him. Dan Wallace has a nice reflection on Zane here.

Considerations for Choosing a New Sermon Series

Colin Adams has offered the following list of helpful points to consider in selecting a new sermon series.

1. How long do we have for this batch of sermons (one year; three months; four weeks)?

2. What Testament did we preach from last?

3. What biblical genre have we not preached from lately?

4. What is the one greatest spiritual need in the church currently? (and what book/section of a book would best address that need?)

5. What portion of Scripture excites me at the moment personally?

6. What Scripture books/sections have I not preached on with this congregation?

7. If we’ve just preached through a relatively lighter book, what would stretch the congregation? If we’ve just waded through Leviticus, what might make for some lighter lifting?

8. Are there any clear and present theological dangers that need to be urgently addressed?

9. Is there a contemporary circumstance (9/11, credit crunch) that might call for or pave the way for a series of sermons?

You can read the entire post here.

Ortlund on Preaching

The Faith by Hearing blog has noted the availability of three messages by Ray Ortlund on preaching. Here are the links to Ortlund's message.

Power in Preaching: Decide (1 Cor 2:1-5)

Power in Preaching: Desire (1 Thess 1:2-5)

Power in Preaching: Delight (2 Cor 12:1-10)

Why Professors Blog

Fred Sanders has an interesting post on why professors blog. The post has remarks from Michael Bird, Scot McKnight, Andreas Köstenberger, and Peter Leithart. You can read it here.

Thanks to Justin Taylor for pointing this out.

Blomberg Takes on National Geographic

Craig Blomberg takes National Geographic magazine to task for denying that Herod the Great actually slaughtered the infants as recorded in Matthew 2:16-19. You can view the National Geographic article here and Craig Blomberg's response here.

Preaching a Funeral For An Unbeliever

See this helpful post on preaching an unbeliever's funeral.

Stackhouse on Qualifications for Teaching at a Small Christian College

Some readers might be interested in this post by John Stackhouse on "Qualifications for Teaching at a Small Christian College." The post can be accessed here.

Review of Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek

Constantine R. Campbell, Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 159 pps.

Thank Jesse Hillman for the review copy.

Constantine Campbell has written a short, interesting, and informative book on verbal aspect in biblical Greek. The strength of this work is its clarity (terms are defined, examples provided, etc.). The reader is also aided by the exercises (with answers), a glossary, and an index. To be quite honest, I am not sure that I am qualified to evaluate the strengths of some of some of the more technical linguistic arguments, but it appears that Campbell was fair and balanced in his discussions. Every now and then, one reads a book that stretches and informs the reader. For this reader, Basics of Verbal Aspects is such a book.

Table of Contents:

Preface

Introduction: Verbal Aspect and Exegesis

Verbal Aspect Theory

1. What is Verbal Aspect?

2. The History of Verbal Aspect

3. Perfective Aspect

4. Imperfective Aspect

5. The Problem of the Perfect

Verbal Aspect and New Testament Text

6. Verbal Lexeme Basics

7. Present and Imperfect Tense-forms

8. Aorist and Future Tense-Forms

9. Perfect and Pluperfect Tense-Forms

10. More Participles

A Concluding Postscript: Space and Time

Verbal Glossary

Answers to Exercises

Indexes

Prophecy of the Eucharist in Malachi?

Jake Belder has an interesting post in which he notes that some of the early Church Fathers viewed Malachi 1:10 as a prophecy of the Eucharist. Read the post here.