Now for Something Different: Seeker Sensitive

HT: Out of Ur Blog

Article on Balaam

My article "Canonical and Extracanonical Portraits of Balaam" is now out in the Oct-Dec 2009 edition of Bibliotheca Sacra. Other articles in this issue are:

“Elihu's Categories of Suffering from Job 32-37” by Larry J. Waters
“The Literary and Theological Significance of the Johannine Prologue” by Stephen S. Kim
“The New Testament Church as a Mystery” by Gary W. Derickson
“The Temple of God in the Book of Revelation” by R. Larry Overstreet
“The Future of National Israel” by H. Wayne House

You can access a free download of House's article here.

Sons of God in Genesis 6

William Varner has a post on the identity of the sons of God in Genesis 6 as angels. For what its worth, I agree with his view. Read the post here.

Decker on The Law, the New Covenant, and the Christian: Hebrews 7-10

Rodney Decker has posted has recently delivered paper entitled "The Law, the New Covenant, and the Christian: Hebrews 7-10." You can download it here.

The Ending of Mark

Stephen Carlson has a couple of interesting posts on the ending of Mark here and here.

Scripture Unlocked Newsletter

Rene Lopez has posted the Fall edition of his Scripture Unlocked Ministries newsletter. The newsletter has articles on whether prayer is essential for salvation and the identity of the overcomers in Revelation 2-3. You can access the newsletter at the Scripture Unlocked Ministries website here.

Genesis, Adam, Longman, Oh My

There has been a fair amount of discussion in the Bible blogging world about this recent video with Tremper Longman III on whether the Adam of Genesis was a literal and historical human being or a literary construct.



One of the best refutations of Longman that I have read can be found here.

Sermon Preparation and Problems Associated with Some Commentaries

Guy Davies has a helpful discussion on sermon preparation in general and the use of commentaries in particular. In the post, Guy notes nine "dangers of commentaries." I have reproduced an edited form of his comments below.

1) Redundant material Wordy commentaries waste time.
Commentators sometimes go to great lengths on "easy bits" of the Bible, while passing over more difficult passages where most help is needed.

2) Vain discussion
Some commentaries pay too much attention to scholarly fads. Biblical scholars should write with pastors in mind and pay attention to 1 Timothy 1:4 & 1 Timothy 6:20.

3) Weak exegesis
Even the best commentators may be wrong.

4) Weak in biblical integration Little feel for redemptive-historical issues.
No suggestions as to how OT texts speak to NT believers. Preachers are especially in need this kind of help.

5) Failure to point to Christ A sad failing in some modern evangelical OT commentaries. Symptomatic of the influence of unbelieving scholarship. The Old Testament is about Christ (John 5:46). Evangelical commentators above all should attempt to show how the OT is fulfilled in Jesus (Luke 24:44).

6) Often weak in application
As John Frame says, "meaning = application." A commentary that fails to apply the text has not made the meaning clear. Another area where pastors look for help.

7) Concessions to unbelieving theology
Historicity of OT events questioned. Pauline authorship denied.

8) Dull
Scholarly commentaries can sometimes be a little dull. Preachers must not be. Avoid the danger of "the bland leading the bland."

9) Turn the handle mentality
Commentaries are no substitute for a prayerful and reflective engagement with Holy Scripture.

Read the entire post here.

Theological Writing Handout

David Stark has revised his downloadable theological writing handout. Check it out here.

Themes in Luke

Tim Chester has a nice discussion of themes in Luke. In the post he highlights three themes that he believes highlights the radical nature of Luke's Gospel. The three themes are:

1. Inclusion and reversals
2. The importance of God’s Word
3. The dangers of wealth

You can read Tim's explanation here. Readers might also want to check out this older post from my blog.

Varner on James 2:1-4

William Varner has an interesting post which argues that the context for James 2:1-4 is not a worship service but rather a church court. This view is also advocated by Blomberg and Kamell's recent commentary (pp. 110-11). In any case you can read Dr. Varner's post here.

The Meaning of “Preaching Christ”

“On the basis of this New Testament testimony, we can sketch the contours of what ‘preaching Christ’ means. To clear the deck, it may be well to state first what it is not. Preaching Christ is not, of course, merely mentioning the name of Jesus or Christ in the sermon. It is not identifying Christ with Yahweh in the Old Testament, or the Angel of Yahweh, or the Commander of the Lord’s army, or the Wisdom of God. It is not simply pointing to Christ from a distance or ‘drawing lines to Christ’ by way of typology.

“Positively, preaching Christ is as broad as preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. One has only to look at a concordance to see how often the New Testament speaks of ‘the gospel of the kingdom,’ ‘the gospel of Christ,’ ‘the gospel of Jesus Christ,’ ‘the gospel of the grace of God,’ and ‘the gospel of peace.’ In these terms two characteristics stand out. Preaching Christ is good news for people, and preaching Christ is as broad as preaching the gospel of the kingdom—as long as this kingdom is related to its King, Jesus.

“More specifically, to preach Christ is to proclaim some facet of the person, work, or teaching of Jesus of Nazareth so that people may believe him, trust him, love him, and obey him. We shall take a closer look at each of these aspects.”

Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 8.

Latest Issue of Review of Biblical Literature

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews that may be of interest from a Bible Exposition perspective include:

L. Stephanie Cobb
Dying to Be Men: Gender and Language in Early Christian Martyr Texts
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6862
Reviewed by Jan Willem van Henten

J. Edward Crowley and Paul L. Danove
The Rhetoric of Characterization of God, Jesus, and Jesus' Disciples in the Gospel of Mark
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=4991
Reviewed by Seán P. Kealy

Ellen F. Davis
Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6922
Reviewed by Philip F. Esler

F. Gerald Downing
God with Everything: The Divine in the Discourse of the First Christian Century
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6676
Reviewed by Michael Lakey

Lori Anne Ferrell
The Bible and the People
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6947
Reviewed by Seán P. Kealy

Joseph A. Fitzmyer
A Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6885
Reviewed by Shayna Sheinfeld

William H. Jennings
Storms over Genesis: Biblical Battleground in America's Wars of Religion
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6155
Reviewed by Michael D. Matlock

Julie Kelso
O Mother, Where Art Thou? An Irigarayan Reading of the Book of Chronicles
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6854
Reviewed by Susanne Scholz

Matthew J. Marohl
Faithfulness and the Purpose of Hebrews: A Social Identity Approach
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6586
Reviewed by Renate Viveen Hood

Alexander I. Negrov
Biblical Interpretation in the Russian Orthodox Church: A Historical and Hermeneutical Perspective
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6866
Reviewed by Peter Penner

Etienne Nodet
The Historical Jesus? Necessity and Limits of an Inquiry
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6670
Reviewed by James West

Julia M. O'Brien
Challenging Prophetic Metaphor: Theology and Ideology in the Prophets
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6847
Reviewed by Bo H. Lim

Mikeal C. Parsons
Acts
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6963
Reviewed by I. Howard Marshall

Ilaria Ramelli and David Konstan
Terms for Eternity: Aiônios and Aïdios in Classical and Christian Texts
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6984
Reviewed by Jan G. van der Watt

Kevin J. Vanhoozer, ed.
Theological Interpretation of the New Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6967
Reviewed by Erik Heen

Quote of the Day

“Do not look for big opportunities, “worthy” of your abilities. Those will come in due time. The great saints of the Bible started as servants, not rulers: and they were faithful over a few things before God made them kings. Moses tended sheep; Joseph was a steward; David was a shepherd; even Jesus was a carpenter. Live with the eye of God upon you, and forger the praise of men. Serve faithfully in the hidden place, and in due time, God will life you up. Every opportunity for service is an opportunity to exercise sovereignty in Christ. We reign in life by living to serve, to the glory of God.”

Warren Wiersbe, Live Like Kings: Living the Beatitudes Today (Chicago: Moody, 1976), 42.

DeYoung on Social Justice and Leviticus 25

Kevin DeYoung has a fine set of posts on "Social Justice and the Poor." Today's post interacts with Leviticus 25, in particular with the year of jubilee and how some have advocated a government sponsored redistribution of land as a way of assisting the poor today. But Kevin highlights five problems with this approach which can be summarized as follows.

1. We are not an ancient, agrarian society.
2. Most importantly, our property was not assigned directly by God.
3. Our economy is not based on a fixed piece of land.
4. Our nation is not under the Mosaic covenant.
5. Most of us are not Jews.

Rather, Kevin suggests that Leviticus should remind us that:

1. We should find ways to give opportunities for the poor to succeed.
2. The Bible supports the existence of private property.
3. The Bible relativizes private property.
4. Our God is the God of second chances.
5. Jesus is Jubilee.

Read the entire post here, complete with a link to a sermon on the topic.

The Family of Abraham and the Jerusalem Council

“Paul’s definition of kinship with Abraham and belonging to the line of promise eventually wins in this debate. Looking back on this argument, Luke presents the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 as a decisive turning point in the construction of the ‘family of God’ and ‘family of Abraham.’ In Acts 15:23, a clear note is sounded as the Jewish brothers send greetings to the believers of Gentile origin with the report of the Jerusalem Council about circumcision. This is an incredibly significant step in the Christian movement since it has at least been decided that a believer does not have to join the ‘house of Israel’ through circumcision and proselytization in order to join the “household of God” these two houses being one and the same for the not-Christian Jew.”

David A. deSilva, Honor Patronage, Kinship & Purity: Unlocking New Testament Culture (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2000), 283.

Some Mid-Week Markdowns from CBD

Readers might be interested in two items Christianbook.com's mid-week mark down sale (good for today only). Just click on the links below. Price does not include postage.

Two Volume Bible Knowledge Commentary, ed. Walvoord & Zuck for $34.99
Canon and Biblical Interpretation, ed. Craig Bartolomew and Anthony Thiselton for $12.99

See these and other books on sale here.

New Blog by William Varner

You will want to check out William Varner's blog. There are interesting posts on James, Hebrews, Acts, and more. You can access it here.

HT: Todd Bolen

Household Idolatry in the Greco-Roman World

See Josh Mann's short but interesting post on household idolatry in the Greco-Roman world.

Varner on the New Perspective on James

William Varner has a very helpful post on the Epistle of James in general and the new perspective on James in particular here.

How to Benefit from Less Interesting Passages

Tyler Kenney has a good post on how to benefit from "boring passages" (Sorry, I couldn't bring myself to call parts of Scripture boring in my title above). The three benefits are:

1. “Boring” passages are the evidence of God's faithfulness.
2. “Boring” passages equip us to understand greater spiritual realities.
3. “Boring” passages help us experience what they talk about.

Blomberg on Contemporary Preaching

Blomberg, writing on the contemporary significance of 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5 states:

“One wonders how much contemporary preaching is in fact cross-centered. Ours is an age of user-friendly, seeker-sensitive techniques for church growth. Some of these techniques affect only the form and not the substance of the gospel, but others are more suspect. Many people have rejected human sin and personal accountability for evil actions in favor of passing the blame onto corrupting societal influences. Such people have an acute need to hear the true meaning of the crucifixion of Christ. Positive thinking and possibility thinking perhaps have a limited place for people with an overly poor self-image, but they do not adequately substitute for repentance and trust in Jesus.”

Craig Blomberg, 1 Corinthians, NIVAC (Grand Rapids: Zondervan), 39.

Form Criticism and Preaching

Duane A. Garrett, “Preaching from the Psalms and Proverbs,” in Preaching the Old Testament, ed. Scott M. Gibson (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006), 113, writes:

“Every seminary student has some familiarity with form criticism and the psalms. Some psalms are described as ‘hymns’ (community songs of praise), others as ‘communal laments’ (community prayers for help), and others as ‘individual songs of thanksgiving’ (sung by one person rather than a whole community), or ‘individual laments,’ ‘royal songs,’ ‘Torah psalms,’ and so forth. It is important to know these categories insofar as they force us to ask ourselves, ‘Was this psalm for one person or a whole congregation?’ ‘Is this psalm a prayer to God, or is it addressed to the reader?’ ‘Is this reflecting a celebration or a calamity?’ Although form criticism has its value, and in some instances is extremely helpful, on the whole I am not persuaded that it is of great use to the preacher. It is a tool, but no more.”

I tend to think that Garrett is right. What do you think? If you disagree, I would be interested to hear how you incorporate this material into your preaching.

Lecterns and Pupits

Peter Mead provides some good common sense advice about lecterns and pulpits here.

Reflections on 9/11

It is not likely that many in America will not let this day pass without at least a minimal thought given to the events on this day eight years ago. For many, the thoughts and feelings will seem more like eight seconds fresh rather than eight years old. There will be questions asked and answered concerning “Where were you . . . .” Americans will observe, reflect, and respond in a variety of ways this day. For me, I offer the following three reflections.

1. While every act like 9/11 is a tragedy and travesty, I am thankful that there are not more 9/11’s given our fallen state and the depravity of which we are all capable of. Surely, this is an evidence of God’s common grace.

2. While I truly wish that the perpetrators of this heinous crime could and would be brought to justice, I suspect that even if this were to occur it would only bring a measure of comfort and closure. True comfort and closure does not come from making things right (thought that surely helps) but by knowing the Righteous One by faith. Do you know Him today?

3. While this day is an important day, a day worth remembering, it is not the most important day. The most important day is when the King of Kings and Lord of Lords returns to establish his dominion, a time in which there will be no more 9/11’s, no more tears, and no more looking in the mirror dimly as faith gives way to sight. Hallelujah!

Surely more could be said, and surely more will be said, but these are my thoughts on this ninth day of September 2009.