I was recently teaching on Jesus' triumphal entry from Luke 19:28-44. In Luke 19:29 reference is made to Bethphage and Bethany. Since most Bible readers do not have a working knowledge of the geography of Israel, I thought this would be a good time to show a picture. To this end, Todd Bolen's Pictorial Library of Bible Lands had exactly what I needed. Here is the picture that I used (slide #52 from the Mount of Olives PowerPoint presentation in the Jerusalem collection). You can click on the picture for a bigger image.
If pictures like this might be helpful to you, I suggest that you visit Bibleplaces.com and check it out.
Alan Bandy recently posted on the authorship of Revelation, namely that the author was John the apostle and son of Zebedeee (see here). He has now posted a more in depth discussion of the external evidence supporting this identification (see here).
I have been informed that Oxford’s Biblical Studies Online has been launched. The site is “Oxford’s latest comprehensive online resource for the study of the Bible and biblical history.” Interested readers can have free access until the end of May. Go to www.oxfordbiblicalstudies.com and type in the following authentication:
I appreciated this post on penal substitution and the atonement, especially the identification and discussion of six signs supporting the idea that Jesus died under God's judgment.
Claude Mariottini has an interesting post on the recent brouhaha over whether or not President Obama bowed to the king of Saudi Arabia and the practice of bowing in the ancient Near East.
Peter Mead asks the question, "What font do you preach in?" Some of us have a gift for making complicated things simple and some (like me) have a propensity for making simple things complicated. So this is a good word for me to continue to work at being clear and specific.
Perhaps you have seen the video making the Bible blog rounds of Stephen Colbert, a comedian and Bart Ehrman (see here for example). The context of the “interview” is Ehrman’s recent book Jesus Interrupted, a book which according to the books description suggests that, “the authors of the New Testament have diverging views about who Jesus was and how salvation works, the New Testament contains books that were forged in the names of the apostles by Christian writers who lived decades later , Jesus, Paul, Matthew, and John all represented fundamentally different religions, [and] established Christian doctrines—such as the suffering messiah, the divinity of Jesus, and the trinity—were the inventions of still later theologians.”
Colbert after taking Ehrman to task concludes his questioning with, “I tell you what. Why don’t we both die and let God settle it. To which Ehrman replies, “That would be fine with me.”
This final exchange is a helpful reminder that at the end of the day, the right view on an issue is not your view or my view, but it is God’s view. Pastor, teacher, or professor, are you willing to give an account to God for your interpretations and theology?
It seemed much too trivial to mention yesterday, and maybe too trivial to mention even today, but yesterday was the first anniversary of theis blog, 724 posts and all. Thanks to Patrick Pettibon, who provided the impetus to get it started.
Tim Chester has posted on 1 Corinthians 15:20–28: a Christian approach to history. Tim notes that Garry Williams suggests that 1 Cor 15:20–28 tells us six things about history.
1. There is a centre to human history - the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The resurrection is the beginning of the new age in history. 2. There is a order in human history. History is ordered according to God’s purposes. 3. There is an inevitability to human history. The first resurrection leads inexorably to the final resurrection. 4. There is a goal to human history - the total rule of God over creation. 5. There is a conflict in human history. 1 Corinthians speaks of enemies. 6. There are uncertainties in human history from our perspective. Paul twice speaks of ‘whenever’. This means there is a provisionality to our history telling. We cannot exhaustively know what God was doing in historical and personal events. We must attempt this, but we must do so provisionally.
I was blessed by reading the following excerpt here from article 21 of the sixteenth century Belgic Confession.
We believe that Jesus Christ is that consummate High Priest, established in eternity with an oath according to the Melchizedekian order, and that He presented His very self in our name in the presence of the Father for the placation of His wrath with full satisfaction, placing His very self upon the altar of the cross and pouring out His blood for the purgation of our sins, just as the Prophets had predicted it would happen.
For it is written, “the castigation of our peace was placed on the Son of God,” and “we are healed by his wounds.” Again, “He Himself was led to death as a lamb,” and He was “numbered among sinners” and condemned as a criminal by Pontius Pilate, even though he had previously declared Him innocent.
Therefore, He paid, “for what He had not stolen,” and the just suffered for the unjust, both in His soul and body, so while sensing the awe-striking debt for our sins, He sweated blood and water and He even finally cried out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” And He endured all these things for the remission of our sins.
For this reason, we rightly say with blessed Paul “we know nothing whatsoever, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified,” in fact, “we consider all things as excrement on account of the excellence of the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, ” so that he who is in His wounds finds every kind of consolation.
And so nothing is necessary lest we would hope for or think up for ourselves any other reckonings with which we can be reconciled to God besides this one and only complete oblation, by which all believers, who are sanctified, are consecrated and perfected unto eternity. And moreover this is the reason why He Himself was called by the Angel, “Jesus,” that is, “Savior, because He is going to save His people from their sins.”
Free audio of the 2009 Expository Preaching Workshop sponsored by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is available here. Here are the titles of the sessions.
David Platt – For the Glory of God: Theological Foundations for Text-Driven Preaching Calvin Pearson – The Day that Preaching Died Steven Smith – Expository Preaching and the Nature of the Church George Harris – Tips for Effective Sermon Preparation Jerry Vines – Text-Driven Preaching - Preaching Jonah David Platt – For the Sake of the Nations Jerry Vines – Jonah David Allen – Preaching the Difficult Passages of Scripture - Heb 6:1-6 Paige Patterson – The Gospel in Prepositional Phrases
In particular, I would commend David Allen's talk on Hebrews 6. His view of this warning passage is also my view.
Alan Bandy has posted on the authorship of Revelation. He concludes that the author is John the son of Zebedee/John the Apostle. This is my view as well. Check it out.
Todd Bolin has posted an announcement that Expedition Bible has just released The Jesus Tomb Unmasked. The movie deals with many of the falsehoods and distortions that were part of the recent “discovery” of the so-called "Jesus tomb." I have not watched it, but I have been told that it is well done. Todd also notes that the DVD can be purchased from Amazon for $7 (free shipping) and/or watched for free online.
Ben Blackwell has posted a list of top ten books on Paul written in the last ten years.
Blackwell's list (chronologically): Dunn, J. D. G., The Theology of Paul the Apostle. 1998. Engberg-Pedersen, Troels, Paul and the Stoics. 2000. Gorman, M. J., Cruciformity: Paul’s Narrative Spirituality of the Cross. 2001. Schreiner, T. R., Paul, Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ: A Pauline Theology. 2001. Carson, D. A., P. T. O’Brien, and M. A. Seifrid, Justification and Variegated Nomism. 2001, 2004. Longenecker, Bruce W. ed. Narrative Dynamics in Paul: A Critical Assessment. 2002. Hurtado, L. W., Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. 2003. Sampley, J. P., Paul in the Greco-Roman World: A Handbook. 2003. Watson, Francis, Paul and the Hermeneutics of Faith. 2004. Campbell, D. A., The Quest for Paul’s Gospel: A Suggested Strategy. 2005. Schnelle, Udo, Apostle Paul: His Life and Theology. 2005. Jewett, Robert, Romans: A Commentary. 2007. Childs, Brevard, The Church’s Guide to Reading Paul: The Canonical Shaping of the Pauline Corpus. 2008.
Recommended by others: Justin Meggitt, Paul, Poverty, and Survival Todd Still and David Horrell, eds, After the First Urban Christians (Forthcoming late 2009) Gordon Fee, Pauline Christology Barclay and Gathercole, Divine and Human Agency Ross Wagner, Heralds of the Good News Terrance Donaldson, Paul and the Gentiles: Remapping Francis Watson, Paul, Judaism and the Geniles: Beyond the New Perspectative Simon Gathercole, Where is Boasting Peter Stuhlmacher, Revisiting Paul’s Doctrine of Justification Todd Still, Jesus and Paul Reconnected Alain Badiou, St. Paul: The Foundations of Universalism
Black, David Alan et al. Perspectives on the Ending of Mark. Edited by David Alan Black. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2008.
(Thanks to Jim Baird at Broadman & Holman for the review copy.)
Perspectives consists of five essays, three which reject the authenticity of the longer ending of Mark (Wallace, Elliott), two that affirm its authenticity (Black, Robinson), and a summary essay from Bock, who also sides with the non-authentic position. The essays are the fruit of a conference held April 13–14, 2007 at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Wake Forest, NC) entitled “The Last Twelve Verses of Mark: Original or Not.”
The essays in general are informative and well-written. Even when the authors are dogmatic in their assertions, and they often are, the tone remains irenic. This book is a good example of how equally competent scholars can draw from the same pool of evidence and come to diametrically opposite conclusions in a way which is both rigorous and Christian. The essays provide a helpful way for those interested in the issue of the ending of Mark to learn more than briefer treatments in introductions/surveys, commentaries, and study Bibles. For such readers I would suggest beginning by scanning Bock’s summary chapter (although it is at the end of the book), before undertaking the rest of the essays. Bock does an excellent job of pointing out areas of agreement, differences in method, and the like.
For anyone interested in the book, you can access a sample chapter of the book here.
