Five Kinds of Fools

  

Richard Mayhue notes that Scripture identifies five kinds of fools.

1. The fool who rejects God (Pss 14:1; 53:1)

2. The fool who rejects the cross of Christ (1 Cor 1:18)

3. The fool who disobeys God’s Word with respect to salvation (Matt 7:26–27)

4. The fool who fails to believe all of God’s Word (Luke 24:25)

5. The “fool” who lives wholeheartedly for Christ’s sake (1 Cor 4:10).

What kind of fool are you?

Richard Mayhue, Practicing Proverbs: Wise Living for Foolish Times (Ross-Shire: Christian Focus, 2003), 62–64.

   

The Dead in 1 Thessalonians 4:13

  
Phillip Long has an interesting post on the identity of the dead in Christ in 1 Thessalonians 4:13. He suggests that the dead are not believers generally but martyrs particularly. I remain a bit skeptical in light of several factors. (1) don't see anything in the immediate context that suggests persecution or martyrdom. (2) The comparison to "the rest of men who have no hope" would suggest to me a broader audience than just martyrs. Furthermore, I wonder how the argument would work in light of the fact that Christians were not the only martyrs in the ancient world. (3) Explicit vindication language  is absent unless you take the going first as vindication language. This is possible, but if so, very subtle. In any case, I would encourage you to check out Phillip's post here.
 

Preaching Deuteronomy

   
"Deuteronomy stands as the theological heart-beat of the Old Testament. But preaching Deuteronomy today, reading the ancient manner of its rhetoric, the difficult and sometimes confusing laws, the antiquated agricultural or societal specifics, seems a great challenge. But whatever the complexities that arise, the importance of Deuteronomy as preserved and given "for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come" (1 Cor 10:11) ought to be recovered in Christian pulpits. We stand having seen the grace of God in ways more profound than that generation standing on the cusp of Canaan, or the first readers and then every generation who heard the sermons re-preached at the great and joyous feasts of Israel. No Christian preacher can ignore or should ignore that fact. Placed within the Christian liturgy, the fact cannot be ignored or missed. Yhwh, who saved his people from the hand of Og and Bashan, went even further and saved them from the power of sin and death. The one who held his people in his strong and tender hands as a father carrying a child Deut 1:31), out of grace and pity, stretched out the same hands upon a cross for his children's salvation."

Joshua Moon, "Preaching Deuteronomy as Christian Scripture," Southeastern Theological Review 2 (2011): 50-1.
 

Varner on Psalm 22

  
See this brief post by William Varner on Psalm 22.
 

Top Ten Preaching Mistakes

  
Another excellent post from David Murray here.
 

Studying the Hebrew Bible

  

See this post related to studying the Hebrew Bible.

HT: John Byron
 

Eisenbrauns' SBL in October Sale

  
Those who are not going to make it to this year's Society of Biblical Literature meeting or those who would rather not deal with the hassles of getting their purchases home might be interested in this sale.
  

Free Zondervan Bible Atlas Images

   
Carl Rasmussen, the author of the recently revised and excellent Zondervan Atlas of the Bible is uploading the images from the Atlas. You can read about it here and you can see the images from the chapter entitled "The Geography of Israel and Jordan" here.
 

The Destructiion of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

  
"In the year 1009, al-Hakim, the Caliph of Egypt, ordered the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem destroyed. Workmen obeyed; and Yahia ibn Sa`id, an Islamic historian, wrote: "...the holy deed commenced on Tuesday, the fifth day before the end of the month of Safar of the year 400 of the Egira." Converting from the Muslim calendar would place the destruction on or about this day, October 17, 1009." Read the rest here.
 

Preaching the David Story

  
Concerning preaching the David Story in the Old Testament, David Firth argues that,

“The best option for an expository series is one where the preacher works more or less systematically through the whole of I Samuel 16–1 Kings 2, though an 'edited highhghts' package might work for some. Many congregations could struggle to have a sustained treatment of such a lengthy text, and it might be appropriate to consider presenting David's story within four separate ‘chunks.’ These would more or less follow the source analysis many scholars offer for David's story, though many regard them simply as appropriate division points within the narrative rather than as discrete sources. In addition, the exact boundaries of these sections are open to some dispute, but the divisions offered here offer a coherent structure for a sermon series even if other divisions might also work” (p. 6).

Firth’s four suggested “chunks” include (pp. 6–8):

1. 1 Samuel 16:1–2—Samuel 2:4
2. 2 Samuel 2:5—8:17
3. 2 Samuel 9—20
4. 2 Samuel 21—24 and 1 Kings 1:1—2:11.

For details read David Firth’s article “Preaching the David Story,” Southeastern Theological Review 2 (2011): 1–10.
   

David Allen on Preaching

  
See David Allen's three part series on preaching here.
 

Tradition and Mark 7:1-23

  

I enjoyed reading this application comment concerning Mark 7:1-23 by David Garland in his NIVAC commentary (p. 277).

"Jesus recognized that we need wineskins—forms and traditions—to hold the wine; otherwise, we will be standing in a puddle of juice. He warned only about wineskins that become old and brittle and no longer serve their intended purpose. Traditions become evil when they run counter to God's purposes expressed in the ethical commands of how to relate to others. Traditions become dangerous when persons are blind to how they undermine God’s commands. Traditions become corrupt when people become more devoted to upholding them than obeying God's direct commands."

  

Latest Issue of Review of Biblical Literature

  

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews can be accessed by clicking the links below.

Roger S. Bagnall
Early Christian Books in Egypt
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7755
Reviewed by Allen Kerkeslager
 
Katharine Dell, ed.
Ethical and Unethical in the Old Testament: God and Humans in Dialogue
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7839
Reviewed by Walter C. Kaiser Jr.
 
Mark Dubis
1 Peter: A Handbook on the Greek Text
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7936
Reviewed by John H. Elliott
 
Bo Isaksson, ed.
Circumstantial Qualifiers in Semitic: The Case of Arabic and Hebrew
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7599
Reviewed by John Kaltner
 
Robin A. Parry
Lamentations
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7768
Reviewed by Timothy J. Stone
 
Daniel Patte, ed.
The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7779
Reviewed by James D. G. Dunn
 
Stanley E. Porter, Jeffrey T. Reed, and Matthew Brook O'Donnell
Fundamentals of New Testament Greek (+ Workbook)
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7893
Reviewed by Panayotis Coutsoumpos
Reviewed by Laurence M. Vance
 
James P. Ware
Synopsis of the Pauline Letters in Greek and English
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7780
Reviewed by Akio Ito
 
Géza G. Xeravits and József Zsengellér, eds.
Studies in the Book of Wisdom
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7786
Reviewed by Erik Eynikel

 

The Importance of Studying Church History

  
Mark Rogers provides "Eight Reasons to Study Church History" here.
  

New as a Return to the Old

  
I found this comment by James Thompson interesting. To be honest, I have never thought about the new is actually a return to the old. 

"Consistent with the view that the old is better, the NT provides examples of the appeal to the primordial as a norm for the community, arguing that the new is, in fact, a return to the beginning. In the Synoptic tradition, Jesus argues in a way that is the opposite of the argument in Hebrews. Placing the creation story alongside the divorce law of Deut 24:1–4, he argues that the primordial has precedence over the Torah (Mark 10:2–9). Similarly, he answers questions about the Sabbath by giving precedence to the creation story over the Sabbath law (cf. Mark 2:23–28). Paul also argues that "the new creation" (2 Cor 5: 17) has come, maintaining that this event is the restoration of the primordial. Only in the images of the new wine in old wineskins and the new cloth on the old garment does the Synoptic Jesus suggest that the new is better (Mark 2:19–22 par.)."

James W. Thompson, "The New is Better: A Neglected Aspect of the Hermeneutics of Hebrews," Catholic Bible Quarterly 72 (2011), 549.
 

Upcoming Expository Preaching Conference

  

The Criswell College of Dallas, Texas will be hosting an expository preaching conference on Thursday, November 3, 2011.

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Jim Shaddix. Dr. Shaddix is pastor of Riverside Baptist Church in Denver, Colorado. He has taught preaching at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, authored The Passion-Driven Sermon and co-authored Power in the Pulpit with Dr. Jerry Vines.

The conference schedule is as  follows
 

10:00 AM: Dr. Jim Shaddix
11:00 AM: “How I prepare a sermon” - Dr. Shaddix
12:00 PM: “Explaining and Interpreting the Text” - Dr. Leroy Metts
1:00 PM: “Illustrating the Text” - Dr. Barry Creamer
2:00 PM: “Applying the Text and Inviting Response” - Dr. Alan Streett

The Conference will be held in Horner Hall at Criswell College, 4010 Gaston Avenue, Dallas, Texas, 75246. The cost is $20 and includes chapel, session attendance, lunch and a conference workbook. Attendees must register by October 12 to reserve lunch, but registration will still be possible at the door on November 3. RSVP to Evie Cozart at ecozart@criswell.edu or 214-818-1353.

  

Advice for Pastors Who are Getting Married

  
Here is some good advice for pastors who are getting married. It is also good advice for pastors who are already married.
 

A Great Disconnect

I am always astonished to discover that there are some biblical academics who will admit that they have never actually read all of the Bible. Yet, it is often these very same academicians who harp on the absolute necessity of knowing the original languages. Don’t get me wrong. I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity to learn Hebrew and Greek. But for me and my house, if I had to choose between knowing the biblical languages or reading the whole counsel of Scripture in translation, the latter would be my choice hands down. Similarly, I am perplexed that there are some within the academy who have failed to read the entirety of the Scriptures and yet trumpet the importance of primary sources when it comes to biblical studies. Do they not realize that the Scriptures are the ultimate primary source? Can one really rightly claim to be a biblical scholar who has read all of the Gilgamesh Epic, Philo, or the Apostolic Fathers and yet have pages in their Bibles which have never passed in front of their eyes? I am stunned by those who can claim to keep up with their disciplines (e.g., NT, OT, the Prophets, Paul, etc.) because they read the most influential journals and the seminal monographs and yet cannot recall the last time that they have read some of the books of Scripture.  

Ad fontes—back to the Bible.

Free Audio for the Advanced Expository Preaching Workshop

  
You can access the audio of this year's Advanced Expository Preaching Workshop held on September 26 here. Or click on the individual messages below.

Dr. Matthew McKellar – Creation

Dr. Jason Lee – The Fall

Dr. Allen Ross ­– The Flood

Dr. David Allen – Tower of Babel

Latest Issue of the Bulletin for Biblical Research: Vol. 21 No. 3

Main articles:


Distinguishing the Angel of the Lord
Andrew S. Malone

The Seventy Sevens of Daniel: A Timetable for the Future?
Richard S. Hess

Otho: A Targeted Comparison of Seutonius’s Biography and Tacitus’s History, with Implications for the Gospel’s Historical Reliability
Craig S. Keener

The Temple and the Thorn: 2 Corinthians 12 and Paul’s Heavenly Ecclesiology
Jason B. Hood

Angels of the Churches in Revelation 1–3: Status Quaestionis and Another Proposal
Everett Ferguson 

  

The Verbs in Jonah

  
George Athas has a nice post on how knowing Hebrew helps in understanding the function of the verbs in Jonah. You can the post here.
 

The Word Visualized

  

Those who know me know that I am big proponent of the importance of biblical literacy. Nothing beats actually reading and remembering the text of Scripture. Thankfully, there are a variety of resources to help in this task. I came across one such resource recently entitled The Word Visualized. According to the website for this resource,

“SVR (See, Visualize, Remember) is the exciting new way for adults to grasp the Bible in it's entirety, chapter by chapter, and remember it. Unlike anything else, it uses contextual, patterned and linear graphics to help virtually anyone understand the Bible better.”

The graphics are well done and creative. I would encourage you to check it out. 

   

Latest Issue of Review of Biblical Literature

  

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews can be accessed by clicking the links below.

John Fitzgerald, Fika J. van Rensburg, and Herrie van Rooy, eds.
Animosity, the Bible, and Us: Some European, North American, and South African Perspectives
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7265
Reviewed by Roland Boer
 
John Gray
The Book of Job
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8013
Reviewed by Norman Habel
 
Robert J. V. Hiebert
"Translation Is Required": The Septuagint in Retrospect and Prospect
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7832
Reviewed by Karen Jobes
 
Harald Knobloch
Die nachexilische Prophetentheorie des Jeremiabuches
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7519
Reviewed by Christl M. Maier
 
Daniel Marguerat
Reception of Paulinism in Acts: Reception du paulinisme dans les Actes des apotres
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7727
Reviewed by David Lincicum
 
Hindy Najman
Past Renewals: Interpretative Authority, Renewed Revelation and the Quest for Perfection in Jewish Antiquity
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7909
Reviewed by Marius Nel
 
Laura Nasrallah, Charalambos Bakirtzis, and Steven J. Friesen, eds.
From Roman to Early Christian Thessalonikē: Studies in Religion and Archaeology
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7888
Reviewed by Karl P. Donfried
 
Alvaro Pereira Delgado
De apostol a esclavo: El exemplum de Pablo en 1 Corintios 9
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7622
Reviewed by Panayotis Coutsoumpos
 
Zuleika Rodgers
A Wandering Galilean: Essays in Honour of Seán Freyne
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7787
Reviewed by Joshua Schwartz
 
David F. Watson
Honor among Christians: The Cultural Key to the Messianic Secret
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7796
Reviewed by Jonathan A. Draper

 

One Take on the Recent Wallace and. Ehrman Debate

  

I was not able to attend the recent debate between Dan Wallace and Bart Ehrman. But I enjoyed Barry Creamer's thoughts on the debate here. 

  

A Resource for Christian Faculty

  

Those involved in education might be interested in InterVarsity's faculty ministry's new e-mail chronicle called "The Lamp Post." You can read about it here.