Mohler on Worldviews

President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, one Dr. Albert Mohler, has written an excellent book on leadership entitled The Conviction to Lead. One of the many leadership related topics that Dr. Mohler deals with is that of worldviews. For Mohler, our convictions shape our worldviews, and then the worldview that we have embraced shapes us. The Conviction to Lead defines worldviews in the following paragraph:

Worldviews work by organizing ideas. At the most basic level of our thinking, every single one of us operates out of one unified understanding of the world. As Sowell says, these worldviews are the "silent shapers of our thoughts." You might even say that they are sets of ideas that make the world operational for us. If we did not believe these ideas, we would have no idea how to make sense of the world. We cannot rethink our basic understanding of reality every morning. (45)

As a Christian, our "basic understanding of reality," and the "framework for our thoughts, decisions making, and way of analyzing issues" (45) should be purposefully developed and enriched. We cannot be lackadaisical about something of such incredible import. Mohler continues,

A robust and rich model of Christian thinking-the quality of thinking that culminates in a God-centered worldview-requires that we see all truth as interconnected. Ultimately, the wholeness of truth can be traced to the fact that God is himself the author of all truth. Christianity's doctrines are not like separate tools in a mechanic's belt to be used only when needed. Instead, Christianity is a comprehensive worldview and way of life that grows out of Christian reflection on the bible and the unfolding plan of God revealed in the unity of the Scriptures. (45)

A Christian worldview is a powerful thing. But you do not receive this in the genetic material from your parents. You have to work at it, intentionally, and grow and develop it. Mohler adds,

A God-centered worldview brings every issue, question, and cultural concern into submission to all the Bible reveals, and frames all understanding within the ultimate purpose of bringing greater glory to God. This task of bringing every thought captive to Christ requires more than haphazard Christian thinking, and is to be understood as the task of the church and not merely the concern of individual believers. The recovery of the Christian mind and the development of a comprehensive Christian worldview will require the deepest theological reflection, the most consecrated application of scholarship, the most sensitive commitment to compassion, and the courage to face all questions without fear. (45-6)

El Shaddai

From Kingdon Through Covenant:

First, Yahweh reveals himself as El Shaddai (God Almighty). This is the first occurrence of this divine name in the Scriptures. In an attempt to determine the meaning of the Hebrew term “Shaddai,” scholars have argued over the origin of the word and have come to a stalemate. Its meaning, however, can be determined quite well from the usage of the word. This name for God is associated especially and particularly in the Old Testament with the lives of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It seems that this name was given to encourage faith because of the disparity between the covenant promises and the reality of the situation in which they found themselves at that time. Thus, in this context, Yahweh is the God who intervenes powerfully. It is customary in the Greek Old Testament to translate El Shaddai by “almighty” (παντοκράτωρ),13 and this expresses the meaning very well. (259)

I am encouraged by this brief discussion of the meaning of El Shaddai. I am strengthened by the very thought of the "God who intervenes powerfully." There are many things in my life that need a powerfully intervening God. And He exists. And just as He kept His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He keeps His covenant with people of the new covenant. He has already decisively intervened powerfully for us in sending His Son who lived, died, and rose again for us. He will continue to intervene. I am encouraged.

Book Review - Saving Eutychus

Who hasn't nodded off during a sermon? At some point, if we spend enough time in church services, we are going to find ourselves fighting off sleep. If our drowsiness is due to some unforeseen circumstance in our life-an emergency, over-time at work, a delayed flight-then I think this is understandable and even acceptable. But if the Sandman comes for a visit because the sermon is dull and dreary, then there is a problem, a problem that authors Gary Millar and Phil Campbell would like to remedy. That is, the authors of Saving Eutychus would like to do just that, save Eutychus, and every other sermon-listener, from sermon induced slumber.

As someone who has had the opportunity to preach on several occasions, and who will be preaching quite a bit more in the coming months, I was very interested in reading this book on preaching particularly since it had been endorsed by the likes of D. A. Carson, Alistair Begg, and Bryan Chapell. This book was also appealing to me because it was short. I am always intrigued by reading a book that is both concise and competent.

Millar and Campbell have written a very helpful, instructive, and encouraging book on writing, delivering, and improving on sermons. In short order they cover a wide variety of topics related to preaching and do so in a manner that is humourous and serious.

The book begins with an appeal to the preacher, or would-be-preacher, to avail themselves and their listeners, and anyone else they can cajole, to pray for the preaching of God’s Word. This is a great reminder that ultimately we rely on God for an effective preaching ministry.

The book then introduces what effective preaching is, and we learn that for these authors expository preaching is the surest and most faithful means of preaching in a manner that changes people’s hearts.

Both authors preach from manuscripts and argue for their use in the pulpit. They deliver ten tips for clarity in preaching; these are very powerful and simple ideas that can be implemented to great effect.

The authors continue to provide helpful, practical insight on the importance of finding and focusing on a sermon’s big idea. They elaborate on the importance of preaching a passage of Scripture’s big idea or controlling theme, and then provide instruction on how one can determine the big idea. Again, these concepts are very useful and their ability to demonstrate how these ideas are applied makes this book extremely practical. And the big idea leads the authors to discuss the application part of a sermon, offering techniques for making this section of the sermon effective.

The book addresses how one preaches from the Old Testament in a very instructive and edifying chapter. Focusing on how to get the gospel out of an Old Testament passage, the authors begin with proper understanding of the passage, move to locating the passage in the context of the whole Bible, and finish by  a call to preach the gospel in a fresh and invigorating fashion. Their succinct explanations of these various steps tackle a tough topic briefly and thoroughly.

The book moves on by informing on delivery techniques as well as the importance of receiving and implementing constructive, critical feedback on your sermons. This book remains in the realm of the practical by delivering tips and functional ideas. I found the chapter on the necessity of critique very motivating; a solid reminder to seek growth and improvement in our preaching.

The final chapter walks the reader through the process of writing an actual sermon. This play-by-play building of a sermon, with commentary, gives the reader insight into a very dynamic process. I found this very intriguing and I think it will aid the preacher to see how the author processes and adjusts his sermon as he works through it.

The book ends with two appendices offering very practical tools for preachers. The first appendix is several real-life examples of sermon critique with actual sermons. The authors clearly value this aspect of reflection, and witnessing it demonstrates the value of feedback. The second appendix offers various resources from the book. The sermon feedback form is one I definitely plan to incorporate into my preaching.

Overall I found this a very helpful book. Its strengths include clarity, conciseness, practicality, humour, and the encouragement that these two authors offer by presenting their life and experiences with the reader. Anyone who preaches or will be preaching, or perhaps those interested in the process of sermon writing and delivery, will benefit from reading this book. And the benefits will multiply to the listeners of the sermons, and maybe even prevent a Eutychusian tragedy resulting from a snoozing audience.

Here is a brief trailer for the book:

Loose grip and purposeful valuing

This is solid instruction by J. C Ryle that we can use to admonish ourselves with as well as gauge our spiritual temperature with. I think that this insight is particularly applicable to us North American consumerist Christians. In Holiness, we found written:

Last, but not least, a holy man will follow after spiritual mindedness. He will endeavour to set his affections entirely on things above, and to hold things on earth with a very loose hand. He will not neglect the business of the life that now is; but the first place in his mind and thoughts will be given to the life to come. He will aim to live like one whose treasure is in heaven, and to pass through this world like a stranger and pilgrim travelling to his home. To commune with God in prayer, in the Bible, and in the assembly of His people - these things will be the holy man’s chiefest enjoyments. He will value every thing and place and company, just in proportion as it draws him nearer to God.

Two things from this quote I find particularly helpful are the concepts represented by the image of holding things with a loose hand and the idea of valuing things in proportion to their drawing-near-to-God power.

A holy man is not a monk or an ascetic who has cloistered himself or herself in a monastery and given up all earthly goods. A holy person is not a hermit who has forsaken society. A holy person has not dropped all the good gifts of God that are profuse in our culture. Rather, they hold them loosely, neither tossing them aside nor tightening their grips on them.

Furthermore, the value one should put on earthy goods and things of this world is proportionate to their ability to help you draw near to God or hinder your pursuit of communion. For me, that means I should put less value on entertainment than I do; TV does not affect me positively when it comes to my affections for God. Conversations with godly friends should increase in value in my estimation because these discussions result in raised affections for Christ.

What are you holding on to a little too tightly? What do value a little too highly?

The interconnected graces

In Charity and Its Fruit, Edwards argues that all the graces of Christianity-whether they be the big three of faith, hope, and love or other graces such as patience, contentment, gentleness, and the like-are connected. They are not individually packaged; that is, for reasons Edwards produces, they are affiliated and connected with each other.

Of the many reasons Edwards puts forward showing the connected-ness of the graces, I will draw you attention to just two of them.

The third reason given explaining the inseparability of the graces is that "they all have the same root and foundation, namely, the knowledge of God’s excellence." For Edwards, a knowledge of God's excellence, a real vision of who God is and what he is like, will beget the graces in the Christian's life. Thus, at conversion, an individual sees God as glorious and this spiritual vision will naturally produce the graces mentioned above as well as many others. In his words, "The same sight or sense of God’s excellency begets faith, and love, and repentance, and all the other graces. One sight of this excellence will beget all these graces, because it shows the ground and reason of all holy dispositions, and of all holy behavior toward God. They that truly know God’s nature will love him, and trust in him, and have a spirit to submit to him, and serve, and obey him."

Hence, the graces are interconnected because they all spring forth from the same apprehension of God in all his excellence. Furthermore, Edwards also suggests that the graces not only have the same source, but they also have the same end; the glory of God.

Edwards writes, "He is their end, for they all tend to him. As they are all from the same source, rising from the same fountain; and all stand on the same foundation, growing from the same root; and are all directed by the same rule, the law of God; — so they are all directed to the same end, namely, God, and his glory, and our happiness in him." Of interest is Edwards connecting the glory of God and our happiness in him, two congruent ends that the graces in the Christian life arrive at.

There are several other reasons Edwards feels that all of the graces are connected, but certainly he sees their joining together as resulting from their similar beginning and end.

What could the Spirit contribute to Christ?

Now one must ask this question: why did Jesus need the Spirit of God to indwell and empower his life? After all, he was fully God, and being fully God, certainly nothing could be added to him, for as God, certainly nothing could be added to him, for as God, he possessed already, infinitely and eternally, every quality or perfection that there is. Yet, Jesus was indwelt with the Spirit and ministered in the power of the Spirit. So we ask: what could the Spirit of God contribute to the deity of Christ? (34)

Here are two of several questions Bruce Ware asks, and answers, in his chapter in The Man Christ Jesus that deals with Jesus' empowering by the Holy Spirit. Ware presents his query as he discusses and explains Christ's relationship, on earth, to the Spirit of God. And his answer? "Nothing. As God he possesses every quality infinitely, and nothing can be added to him" (34). This succinct answer does not exhaust Ware's line of questioning. He continues, "So then we ask instead this question: what could the Spirit of God contribute to the humanity of Christ?" (34). Ware, again, answers his own question:

The answer is: everything of supernatural power and enablement that he, in his human nature, would lack. The only way to make sense, then, of the fact that Jesus came in the power of the Spirit is to understand that he lived his life fundamentally as a man, and as such, he relied on the Spirit to provide the power, grace, knowledge, wisdom, direction, and enablement he needed, moment by moment and day by day, to fulfill the mission the Father sent him t accomplish. (34)

In answering his own question Ware touches upon the main point he makes in The Man Christ Jesus; Jesus lived his life on earth primarily as a human being. This answer, and the other proofs he provides through out the book not only resolve many difficulties we have surrounding Jesus' life and ministry but also magnify the glory of the Son of God. This book is informative in a way that makes Jesus look glorious. Ware concludes the chapter:

Yes, Jesus, the Spirit-anointed Messiah, lived his life as a man, accepting the limitations of his human existence, and relied on the Spirit to do in and through him what he could not do in his human nature. His identity, then, as the Spirit-anointed Messiah is fundamentally that of a man empowered by the Spirit to carry out what he was called upon to do. (43)

Poythress' high regard for the Word

For my last post on Vern Poythress' significant book on harmonizing the Gospels, entitled Inerrancy and the Gospels, I will share three quotes that, among other things, emphasize the high regard that the author has for Scripture in general and the Gospels in particular. I have mentioned Poythress' deep respect and reverence for God's Word in other posts about this book, and these last three quotes emphasize this quality. This high view of Scripture espoused by Poythress is obviously integral to how he approaches the Bible as well as how he deals with problematic passages in the Gospels. This viewpoint of the Word, and his submitting to it, is something that I desire to emulate. A book such as Inerrancy and the Gospels helps me to do that.

First, let's consider how Poythress perceives the words of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels:

Jesus is God. So Jesus' speeches are divine speech. The four Gospel writers are human beings, but they were inspired by the Holy Spirit so that what they wrote is also divine speech. Whenever the Gospel writers report things from Jesus' speeches, we are seeing God's report of what God himself said. (163)

This next quote makes an interesting point,a point that underlines Poythress' willingness to accept God's Word as it has been delivered. Even though we may want more information, we may want more thorough answers, what we have been given is sufficient for all we need:

The main point here is that the Gospels give us information about speeches but not exhaustive information. Human curiosity is normal. We are curious to know more. It would be interesting to hear a full verbatim transcript of everything the disciples said to Jesus and to one another. But we do not have it, nor do we really need it. (186, emphasis mine)

Finally, Poythress touches upon what it may mean if we are not satisfied with the Scriptural account we have been given. It looks like a lack of trust, or worse, it looks like questioning God's wisdom. A high view of Scripture means reverencing what we have, not pining for what is not there:

The Gospels themselves are "summaries," in a sense, when we compare them to what it would be like to have records of everything that Jesus said and did. They are sparse. God planned it that way. We have to trust God's wisdom. He knew what would be best for us to have. He gave it to us in the four Gospels. An insistence on having more easily represents a lack of trust and a lack of contentment with God's choice. (187)

These three brief quotes expose Poythress as a man who admires, submits to, and reverences the Bible. I want to be that kind of man.

I worship enough already

In his excellent book on worship called Rhythms of Grace, author and worship pastor Mike Cosper discusses the innate and incurable insistence to worship that all human beings possess. In the garden of Eden, the continual and natural inclination to worship seems obvious. However, when sin enters the picture the predisposition to worship does not depart from mankind.

People are still made to bear God's image, still made to give and receive in the exchange of blessing and outpouring from God to creation and back again. As Harold Best describes it, we're continuously outpouring, perpetually worshiping something: "At this very moment, and for as long as this world endures, everybody inhabiting it is bowing down and serving something or someone-an artifact, a person, an institution, an idea, a spirit, or God through Christ." 

It is part of our hardwired, image-bearing heritage... 

Just as Adam ceaselessly worshiped God in Eden, in the wild his worship continues unabated, but disconnected from the God who made him. Praise still pours forth, though missing its proper home. (35-6, emphasis mine)

The issue isn't that we need to worship more. We are always worshiping. Worship is our default position and there is no way to switch it off. The real issue is the object of our worship. Is our worshiping, our relishing, our affections, our admiration directed towards the one and only rightful object, God, or is it indiscriminately poured out on a myriad of lesser gods? Or worse still, do we intentionally displace the God of the universe with a god of our choosing?

I don't need to worship more. I need to worship God more.

Wellum and Gentry on blessing

In Kingdom Through Covenant, authors Wellum and Gentry discuss what the term blessing, particularly in the life of Abraham:

What is actually meant by “blessing”? Blessing is connected with life, just as cursing brings death. So what would blessing mean in the ancient Near East in Abraham’s time? Does “blessing” mean a full, long life, the good life in the sense of having good health, having a big family to look after one as a senior, business success (i.e., having big flocks and herds or crops that are abundant and successful), acquiring land, having power and victory over your enemies? If we convert these ideas into our modern society, what would blessing mean? Does blessing mean health, business success, being surrounded by a circle of friends (on Facebook?), having influence and power, having a big house and car, having better sex? 

Bruce Waltke explains that “the term ‘to bless’ (brk) with God as subject denotes procreative largesse and victory, accompanied with a sense of loyalty to the future generations (Gen. 1:28; 26:24; 27:27–29).”29 Significantly, however, he adds that “it also connotes redemption, a relationship with God that transforms the beneficiary and provides security.” Dumbrell noted this important aspect too. As Abraham’s life unfolds, we begin to see what blessing means. Blessing operates in the context of a covenant relationship with God. Blessings are the manifestation of a faithfulness, fidelity, and solidarity in relationships whereby one’s natural and personal capacity to fulfill God’s intention and purpose is advanced and furthered.31 God’s word to Abram is powerful, enabling the calling to be fulfilled. (241-2)

I love this definition for blessing: "one’s natural and personal capacity to fulfill God’s intention and purpose is advanced and furthered." It is powerful because it takes the emphasis off of me-my needs, my wants, my desires-and focuses on God; we are blessed when we can fulfill God's purpose.

Book Review - Echoes of Eden

I have been very impressed with books published by Crossway that pertain to literature and its study. I have reviewed several Crossway books on related topics and Echoes of Eden: A Reflection on Christianity, Literature, and the Arts is another impressive literature-related book. Authored by Covenant Theological Seminary professor Jerram Barrs, Echoes of Eden is an intriguing and instructive reflection on literature and the arts, and the Christian’s interaction with them.

The book is comprised of ten chapters, five of which deal with theoretical and doctrinal issues that pertain to literature and the arts. The last five chapters apply the ideas of the earlier chapters by analyzing world-renowned authors; Lewis, Tolkien, Rowling, Shakespeare, and Austen. My review will focus on the theoretical chapters and the consideration of the great authors I will leave to the reader. The chapters dealing with the great literature of the aforementioned authors are informative and convincing and will be gratifying to those who love these authors and enlightening to the unfamiliar or unimpressed.

The title of the first chapter is a good indication of what is covered: God and Humans as Creative Artists. However, before discussing God as creator and humans as sub-creators, Barrs indicates an overarching goal that he intends to pursue. He desires to help the reader answer the question, “How are Christians to think about the arts?” (11). To begin to answer that question, Barrs develops ideas about creation and creativity. He delineates four aspects of God’s creative genius and five foundational doctrines on the richness of life on this planet. He discusses how humans are God’s image bearers and therefore sub-creators and then introduces five callings humans have in being creative. This chapter sets a solid foundation on which Barrs builds his ideas around the appreciation of art.

The second chapter instructs Christians on how they should approach creativity, focusing on humility and the imitative nature of our creative process. Barrs encourages Christians to remember that we are dependent creatures and our creativity reflects that. The author endorses human creativity as both a means to enter into God’s creation as well as a way to recognize and reinforce one’s own individuality without getting lost in it. He finishes this section discussing Christian and Non-Christian art, the relationship between arts and crafts, and why we should pursue creativity.

The next chapter begins to narrow in its focus looking primarily at Christianity, Christians, and art. He purports a Christian understanding of the calling of the Christian artist and identifies what we often mean when we discus Christian art; art designed for worship, art with Christian content, art that teaches Christian principles, and art produced by Christians. Barrs significantly expands these popular notions of Christian art by declaring “there are no secular topics” (43) because all “creation is God’s creation and therefore is proper material for artistic expression” (43).  He concludes chapter three by examining the Biblical stance on representational art as well as his ideas on abstract art. This chapter would be particularly helpful for those who, as Christians, have reservation about art.

The fourth chapter instructs the reader on how one goes about judging art, discerning the good in art and holding fast to it. He presents eleven criteria by which we can judge art, whether it is literature, music, sculptures, paintings, or any other genre. Barrs never suggests that all art is awesome and edifying. Rather, he insists our appreciation of the arts is in need of “direction, encouragement, training, and practice” (54). This section identifies how we ought to approach art and what we should be looking for. His eleven criteria include thoughts such as the presence of giftedness from God, respect for tradition of a discipline, the presence of truth and goodness, and integrity of the artist to name but a few.

The final chapter I will discuss is the fifth chapter, the section in which Barrs discusses the namesake of the book; echoes of Eden. Barrs explains that literature and art appeal to us ultimately because in them we encounter the echoes of Eden. Barrs delays that conversation by initially presenting other ways in which God reveals himself to all people in general revelation. These means God uses to testify to himself and his truth include creation, humanity, providence, and his rule over nations. The final way God communicates to all humans is through the echoes of Eden. These echoes, “memories within the human race of the truth about our condition” (74), are to be found in religion, myths, legends, and in literature. Apprehending, appreciating, and applying these echoes is of utmost importance, and Barrs declares that “Christians today need to be prepared to utilize these echoes of Eden wherever they are found” (84). With this chapter Barrs has given us a good start to that end.

The following chapters that look into the writings and lives of some literary giants are inspiring. I found myself wanting to reread works that Barrs mentions as well as read for the first time others that receive his commendation. Despite not covering those chapters in this review, I can say they were very enjoyable to read and they are excellent examples of applying the information presented earlier in the book.

Echoes of Eden is a book for those who love literature and other forms of art. It will aid those who want to love and understand these wonderfully creative means of communication that god has given to humans. And for those who look disparagingly or doubtfully on art, this book will challenge your presuppositions and misconceptions alike. I highly recommend it.

Gospeltygoop

Is there too much gospel-talk these days? too much cross-talk? I have seen and read some discussion about current Christianity's use, or perhaps overuse, of terms that involve gospel and cross and the like.

My first thought when I read these articles, blog posts, and various other forms of communication is: what is the alternative? Should we not be talking about the cross and the gospel? Should these things not be the focus of our conversations and communications? Unlikely.

What I think concerned Christians are getting at is the idea that it seems easy these days to talk about the gospel, to fit gospel into a catchy title for a conference, or liberally season our writing with related phrases and vocabulary. And when it is easy and hip and cool to speak/write/think a certain way, it can often be done so in a less than genuine way.

And I think the more important issue in this case is the integrity with which we use the words as opposed to the frequency with which we use them.

J. C Ryle wrote on this many years ago in his classic book on sanctification called simply Holiness:

True sanctification then does not consist in talk about religion. This is a point which ought never to be forgotten. The vast increase of education and preaching in these latter days makes it absolutely necessary to raise a warning voice. People hear so much of Gospel truth that they contract an unholy familiarity with its words and phrases, and sometimes talk so fluently about its doctrines that you might think them true Christians. In fact it is sickening and disgusting to hear the cool and flippant language which many pour out about “conversion - the Saviour - the Gospel - finding peace - free grace,” and the like, while they are notoriously serving sin or living for the world. Can we doubt that such talk is abominable in God’s sight, and is little better than cursing, swearing, and taking God’s name in vain? The tongue is not the only member that Christ bids us give to His service. God does not want His people to be mere empty tubs, sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. We must be sanctified, not only “in word and in tongue, but in deed and truth.” (1 John iii. 18.)

As is evident, Ryle played hardball. But again, he is not condemning the accurate and honest use of the words. What he contends against is the "cool and flippant" employing of phraseology that sounds Christian when there is a lack of Christian sanctification evidenced in the life.

So, I say keep using the words. Let our speech be seasoned with talk of the cross and let our writing be permeated with gospel this and gospel that. But let our words, whether in our mouths or on our screens, be spoken with authenticity.

Christian criticism of artists

In Echoes of Eden, a very helpful and engaging book by Jerram Barrs, the author suggests two criticisms or challenges that Christians who desire to become artists often face. The first is the simple fact that "art is considered by many in our churches to be unnecessary and unspiritual, even wordly" (37). The second criticism is not leveled at art itself, but rather the artist; "the Christian who perseveres and enters the arts has to face all sorts of criticisms: the charge of hedonism, of worldliness, of being sinful or carnal" (37).

Barrs, with those Christians who feel called to the arts in view, suggests a response on behalf of those gifted individuals:

• Art needs no justification. It is simply a gift of God, part of his created reality, to be received like any other gift-with gratitude.
• We must not say that "art for art's sake," for this is the Romantic heresy. Art is to be tied to the reality of God's creation and to our human calling to live as his image bearers.
• The Christian artist will regard himself or herself as a craftsperson. Artists will see themselves not as self-serving visionaries, but as ordinary humans (that is glorious enough!) with a particular calling from God to serve him and their fellow humans by working with words, music, color, stone, metal, and so on.
• Most importantly, the Christian in the arts will be committed to humility. The true artist does not say, "I will be an artist, an inspired voice of the gods" (this is too religious a claim), or the "revealer of truth," as if a prophet, or a "self-revealing genius" (these suggest only the artist can truly see reality). Rather, the true artist sees his or her work within the context of and as a subset of God's larger and infinitely more creative work. The true artist values something more than self. The true artist holds up a mirror to what God has made. (37-8)

The breaking of a covenant

As their exposition of the Biblical covenants progresses, Wellum and Gentry discuss, in the noteworthy book Kingdom Through Covenant, the collapse of the first covenant that God had made with Adam

There was a real and vital element of condition in the covenant relationship in the garden. Eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was prohibited. We know that the conditions for maintaining love, loyalty, and trust in the covenant relationship were not met. When the fruit of the forbidden tree was eaten, we were all involved somehow, as Romans 5:12–21 makes plain. 

A brief comment is necessary to discuss the breaking of the covenant. Just what was involved in this initial transgression? Was the prohibition against eating the fruit of the forbidden tree an arbitrarily imposed means for testing loyalty and obedience? This is surely true, but it does not do justice to what was offered by the snake and confirmed by God after the Fall, that they would be “like gods, knowing good and evil” (see Gen. 3:5, 22). 

Some have explained knowing good and evil as reflecting sexual understanding of each other. This is inadequate because it does not make plain how the acquisition of such knowledge would make one like God. 

Others have explained good and evil as a way of expressing the totality of knowledge by describing opposite poles. But certainly neither Adam and Eve nor any subsequent humans can claim the totality of knowledge. 

The best explanation to date is that of W. M. Clark,93 who carefully analysed all the occurrences of the phrase in the Hebrew Bible and showed that the “knowledge of good and evil” has to do with the exercise of absolute moral autonomy. That is to say, knowing good and evil means choosing or determining for oneself what is right and wrong independently of God. The decision of Adam to be self-legislating did make him like God in one sense, but also unlike God in that he would not be able to foresee the consequences of his choices long term or always be certain of the issues before him. (216-7)

I found this excerpt very enlightening. The independent determination of dependent creatures of what is right and wrong is a step on which we "must fall down, or else o’er-leap." In attempting to over leap God in a brazen act of autonomy, the human race fell. With absolute moral authority came absolute moral depravity. This was a breaking of a covenant with dire consequences. It causes us to look forward to that time when a covenant between God and us would not depend on our faithfulness, but his.

Echoes of Eden in Cormac McCarthy's The Road

In my previous two posts, I discussed what author and professor Jerram Barrs means by echoes of Eden and how he describes the apostle John's use of an echo of Eden in the twelfth chapter of Revelation. Today we will consider an example of an echo of Eden in the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

First here is a synopsis of the book fromWikipedia:

An unnamed father and his young son journey across a grim post-apocalyptic landscape, some years after a major unexplained cataclysm has destroyed civilization and most life on Earth. The land is filled with ash and devoid of living animals and vegetation. Many of the remaining human survivors have resorted to cannibalism, scavenging the detritus of city and country alike for flesh. The boy's mother, pregnant with him at the time of the disaster, gave up hope and committed suicide some time before the story began, despite the father's pleas. 

Realizing that they cannot survive the oncoming winter where they are, the father takes the boy south, along empty roads towards the sea, carrying their meager possessions in their knapsacks and in a supermarket cart. The man coughs blood from time to time and eventually realizes he is dying, yet still struggles to protect his son from the constant threats of attack, exposure, and starvation. 

In the face of these obstacles, the man repeatedly reassures the boy that they are "the good guys" who are "carrying the fire." On their journey, the duo scrounge for food, evade roving bands, and contend with horrors such as a newborn infant roasted on a spit, and captives being gradually harvested as food. 

Although the man and the boy eventually reach the sea, their situation does not improve. They head back inland, but the man succumbs to an illness. Before he dies, the father tells the boy that he can continue to speak with him in his imagination after he is gone. The boy holds wake over the corpse for days, with no idea of what to do next. 

On the third day, the grieving boy encounters a man who says he has been tracking the pair. The man, who has a woman and two children of his own, a boy and a girl, convinces the boy that he is one of the "good guys" and takes him under his protection.

Now, let me remind you of an echo of Eden as described in Echoes of Eden. Jerram Barrs writes,

One of the striking elements of much pagan religion is the following story, here presented in summary. There is the hope of the birth of a divine son, a hero, or warrior. There is a declaration of enmity against this divine son and the threat of his destruction at birth. There is heavenly protection provided for the newborn infant. Then the heavenly child defeats his enemy (80).

Even in the synopsis of The Road above, we can see vestiges of the divine child echo that is present in Revelation 12 as well as the Greek myth of Apollos' birth. Let's consider the main ideas of this echo of Eden.

1. The hopeful birth of a divine child. The father in The Road clearly perceives his son as a special gift from God. He indicates this declaring "He knew only that the child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke." The father recognizes the boy as a type of divine child whose birth would bring hope.
2. The threat of destruction at his birth. His enemy was despair, and it was embodied in his mother. Of his birth she says, "My heart was ripped out of me the night he was born so dont ask for sorrow now." Presumably, when he was born his mother did not want him. She certainly did not want his life to continue as a young boy; she speaks of killing herself and her child swearing, "I'd take him with me if it werent for you. You know I would. It's the right thing to do." It seems that the very day he was born she screamed for his death; the father ignored her: "A few nights later she gave birth in their bed by the light of a drycell lamp ... Her cries meant nothing to him ... He held aloft the scrawny red body so raw and naked and cut the cord with kitchen shears and wrapped his son in a towel."
3. A heavenly protector. The father also believes he is ordained by God to be the boy's heavenly protector: "My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God. I will kill anyone who touches you." He would not succumb to despair and he would not let his charge, his son, despair either: "This is what the good guys do. They keep trying. They dont give up."
4. The defeat of his enemy. Finally, the boy, a divine child of sorts, defeats his enemy, despair, and continues his journey on the road. Interestingly when his father dies, he remains with his dead corpse in mourning, but does not sink into despair. Three days later he returns to the road and finds a new family. The boy is with the dead for three days, rises, and returns to life on the road; divine child indeed! "He stayed three days and then he walked out to the road and he looked down the road and he looked back the way they had come. Someone was coming ... Are you one of the good guys? The man pulled back the hood from his face. His hair was long and matted. He looked at the sky. As if there were anything there to be seen. He looked at the boy. Yeah, he said. I'm one of the good guys."

We see in The Road clear evidence of an echo of Eden. In this post-apocalyptic story we see a hint, a shadow. of the true story of the divine child who overcomes a threat at his birth and eventually defeats his enemy. The great truths of our faith are seen even in secular literature. I find this uplifting and edifying. This adds immense value to a book that I already found enjoyably entertaining. I'm thankful for Jerram Barrs' wonderful book Echoes of Eden for opening my eyes to this.

The woman, the dragon, and the child

In yesterday's post I attempted to explain what Jerram Barrs means by "echoes of Eden" as he describes them in his book of the same name. Today I'll attempt to share how he explains the apostle John's use of echoes of Eden in the apocalyptic book Revelation. Tomorrow, I'll follow that up by showing a similar echo of Eden in Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Road.

Barrs contends  there is a significant echo of Eden used by John. The apostle, claims Barrs, makes "dramatic use of a legend" (79) in the "highly pictorial and symbolic account of the birth of Jesus and his victory over the Serpent" (79). The vision which Barrs repeats in detail is from Revelation 12:

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. (Revelation 12:1-6 ESV)

Barr indicates that there are "several aspects of this story that would have been familiar to John's readers from the pagan mythology widely known in their part of the world" (80). Barrs introduces a myth from Greece that was strikingly similar. Zeus and Leto conceive a son and before the child is born the great dragon, Python, threatens to destroy the child when it is born. The sea god, Poseidon, offers the fleeing Leto refuge and Apollo is safely born. Apollo then pursues the dragon Python and slays him. Barrs insists that this "Greco-Roman version of this common myth is the one with which all the people of the churches of Asia Minor would have been familiar" (80). Interestingly, Barrs also notes that the reigning emperor, Domitian, claimed to be the incarnation of Apollos. Barrs is convinced that John's readers would know of this myth and  furthermore, that John intended to use it.

We are left wondering why John, and for that matter God, would use the framework of a pagan myth in Revelation. Barrs answers, "In his recounting of the war in heaven and the hostility of the great dragon to Christ, John is showing that Christ is indeed the fulfillment of any vestige of truth found in the myths of the pagans" (81). He continues, "There is a double element in what John is doing here...On the one hand, he is declaring that Christ is the fulfillment of all the best hopes and longings of paganism...John is also giving them a very serious challenge: Don't turn back again to the myths and stories and idols of paganism. They are not the truth and they have no power to save" (81).

This echo is described earlier by Barrs in very general terms. It is this echo that I will demonstrate, in tomorrow's post, that can be seen in the The Road by Cormac McCarthy. This is how Barrs describes it:

One of the striking elements of much pagan religion is the following story, here presented in summary. There is the hope of the birth of a divine son, a hero, or warrior. There is a declaration of enmity against this divine son and the threat of his destruction at birth. There is heavenly protection provided for the newborn infant. Then the heavenly child defeats his enemy (80).

It is readily apparent how the aforementioned myth of Zeus, Leto, Python, Poseidon, and Apollo matches the pattern Barrs has described. It remains to be seen if The Road contains a similar narrative echo of Eden.

What are the echoes of Eden?

I recently finished reading Echoes of Eden by Jerram Barrs and have found it to be book full of helpful instruction and useful information. As a high school English teacher, this past week I used a couple ideas from the book in an assignment for my grade 12 class. I thought I might share one of the very beneficial and informative concepts from the book.

One of the principal ideas, if not the principal idea, of Barrs' book is expressed in the following quotes:

We turn now from our reflections about the nature of the arts to consider an issue that I think will help us understand the universal appeal of art: its echoes of the truth about the human condition (67). 

All over the world there is a sense that our present life in this world is one of having lost our way from our original dwelling place, a place that was better and more beautiful than the place in which we now live.
All over the world there is the knowledge that our present condition is one of alienation and rebellion, that we are not all we should be, that there is brokenness and tragedy in all of human life.
All over the world there is a longing for this brokenness to be set right, and there is the hope for a redeemer. Some of these elements of the biblical story are present in almost every nation's story about the past (75) 

We might even say that all great literature addresses these issues of creation, fall, and redemption because this is the human condition, and there appears to be a racial memory of these things, or perhaps what Jung called "a collective unconsciousness" that recalls these deep longings and shady recollections of the true story of the origin, dilemma, and hope for our race (79).

What Barrs is suggesting here is that literature, specifically great literature, will contain shadowy, and sometime solid, elements of the true revelation that God has given us. God's gracious outpouring of general revelation as seen by all peoples in can be found in creation, humanity, providence, and God's sovereignty. But Barrs suggests that this general revelation can also be discerned in religion, myths, and legends; and its these in particular that he calls Echoes of Eden. He writes,

This fifth means of God's revelation of himself is the pool of memories within the human race of the truth about our condition: what I am calling here "echoes of Eden." It seems among every people on the face of the earth there is a recollection of the original good creation; there is awareness that the world we now live in is broken and fallen, and there is a recall of the promise and hope of the restoration of what is good. This true knowledge exists sometimes in stronger form, sometimes in weaker, but is always present (74)

Barrs finishes the chapter with an imperative:

Christians today need to be prepared to utilize these echoes of Eden wherever they are found, just as did the apostles Paul and John and the Old Testament prophets. The biblical authors used these echoes because pagan religions did indeed contain memories of the true story of our fall into sin and sorrow, our present plight under the powers of darkness, and the hope for a redeemer (84).

In my next post, I'll indicate how Barrs demonstrates that John the apostle used an echo of Eden in the book of Revelation. Then, I'll attempt to explain one of these echoes as it appears in a wonderful novel by Cormac McCarthy; The Road.

Epic Battle: Dad vs. Cookies

In case you were wondering what was better, chocolate chip cookies or me.

Bavinck on the foundations of theology

"Holy Scripture is the external instrumental efficient cause of theology, and divine revelation also requires the internal illumination of the Holy Spirit. We thus identify three fundamental principles for theology: God is the essential foundation (principium essendi); Scripture is the external cognitive foundation (principium cognoscendi); and the Holy Spirit is the internal principle of knowing (principium cognoscendi internum). The foundations of theology are thus trinitarian: The Father, through the Son as Logos, imparts himself to his creatures in the Spirit." Harman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics

5 aspects of creativity

I have recently finished reading Echoes of Eden: Reflections on Christianity, Literature, and the Arts by Jerram Barrs. It is a wonderfully helpful book discussing issues revolving around literature but also touching upon all the arts. I think it would be very helpful to students, as well as parents who are wary of the arts. Barrs does a masterful job in providing sound reasons for enjoying literature and ways to look at literature to appreciate its value.

Early in the book Barrs considers creativity and how it is interconnected with Christianity. I appreciated the 5  aspects of creativity he puts forward for us to consider as we image God in the creative process:

1. We are to seek to glorify God in all we do.
2. We are designed to find fulfillment for ourselves in using, developing, and expressing the gifts God has so richly given to us.
3. We are to seek to be of benefit to others, so that they may be able to look at what we create and say of it, "It is good." The Christian artist always lives in a community and is called to serve others in the development and expression of the gifts God has given to each one for the blessing of all.
4. In being creative, we fulfill our human design by exercising dominion over the earth.
5. We are called, in all we do, including in our creative work, to set back the boundaries of the fall, to restrain the abnormality of our present human life in its brokenness and sorrow and of our resent world that is under the curse and therefore resists our dominion. (22)

For fear of snickers!

Vern Poythress, in his helpful and heart-strengthening book on harmonization of the Gospels called Inerrancy and the Gospels, develops an interesting discussion on intellectual suffering. Poythress draws attention to these oft-overlooked types of trial and encourages readers to face and overcome them. That being said, he also gives the following well-balanced reminder lest we develop a martyr-syndrome:

I said that I do not depreciate the agonies of intellectual suffering that some people may have gone through. Only God knows the story of each of us. But for the sake of balance I should also note that sometimes we give in to temptation under less violent circumstances. Most of us have not come to the point of being screaming martyrs stretched on the rack or whipped until unconscious (Heb. 12:4). Instead, we give in for fear of snickers! We swallow the propaganda that the Bible is outmoded for fear of being thought foolish or uncool. Or maybe we yield when we face the threat of losing a grade or a diploma (111).

Sonship and Kingship

One of the many interesting discussions in Kingdom Through Covenant deals with man being made in the image of God. This topic gets a lengthy discussion in the book. The authors, of course, interact with the Bible in this regard, but they also deal with the societal context of image during the biblical times. The authors eventually produce a succinct and two-fold concept for what the image of God means:

Genesis 1:26 defines a divine-human relationship with two dimensions, one vertical and one horizontal. First, it defines human ontology in terms of a covenant relationship between God and man, and second, it defines a covenant relationship between man and the earth. The relationship between humans and God is best captured by the term sonship. The relationship between humans and the creation may be expressed by the terms kingship and servanthood, or better, servant kingship.(200)

Thus, imaging God can be described as sonship and servant kingship. And this imaging results in two relationships of significance, our relationship to God and our relationship to creation.

Man is the divine image. As servant king and son of God mankind will mediate God’s rule to the creation in the context of a covenant relationship with God on the one hand and the earth on the other. (201)

The cross and the crown

There is a declaration that Jesus made about our lives which we are hesitant to claim. Jesus, speaking to his disciples said, "In the world you will have tribulation." Trials, difficulties, and tribulations are part and parcel of the Christian life. Despite what the prosperity gospel promises and the word of faith movement wishes for, we should expect that our journey of faith will have rough patches.

Jonathan Edwards was no stranger to suffering, and in his book Charity and Its Fruit he writes candidly about the difficulties in Christianity:

The sufferings that are in the way of our duty, are among the difficulties that attend religion. They are part of the cost of being religious. He, therefore, that is not willing to meet this cost, never complies with the terms of religion. He is like the man that wishes his house was built, but is not willing to meet the cost of building it; and so, in effect, refuses to build it. He that does not receive the gospel with all its difficulties, does not receive it as it is proposed to him. He that does not receive Christ with his cross as well as his crown, does not truly receive him at all. It is true that Christ invites us to come to him to find rest, and to buy wine and milk: but then he also invites us to come and take up the cross, and that daily, that we may follow him; and if we come only to accept the former, we do not in truth accept the offer of the gospel, for both go together, the rest and the yoke, the cross and the crown: and it will signify nothing, that, in accepting only the one, we accept what God never offered. to us. They that receive only the easy part of Christianity, and not the difficult, at best are but almost Christians; while they that are wholly Christians receive the whole of Christianity, and thus shall be accepted and honored, and not cast out with shame, at the last day.

From where I stand, as I survey the landscape around me, I see many Christians going through hard places and tough times. I am encouraged by their resolve to serve their God through thick and thin. My prayer is that, when I have finished my time here on earth, it will not be said of me that refused to carry my cross.

Book Review – Rhythms of Grace

J. I. Packer, in the introduction to David Wells’ book God the Evangelist, declared that believers “need to discover all over again that worship is natural to the Christian.” Now, the word worship is certainly a deep and multi-faceted idea that stretches far beyond the music played at a church service. But it is exactly this, the music one hears and participates in on Sunday, which is most often meant by those using the word. And though I’d like to think that I am a worshipper, I must admit that the singing and music that occurs when we gather as Christians is not something that comes natural to me.

That is why a book like Rhythms of Grace by Mike Cosper is so valuable to me. It takes me into a realm that I am a little uneasy in, and makes me feel comfortable and even conversant in its concepts. I found Cosper’s book to be both poetical and practical. At one moment the pages would flow in a symphony of words conveying the wonder of worship. The next page would discuss helpful applications in a straightforward and simple manner. For someone like me, this presented worship in a way that was accessible and inspirational.

In my reading and analyzing of the book, I noticed three distinct sections: chapters 1-4 presents worship in a Biblical-historical framework; chapter 5 dealt with Cosper’s perspective on corporate worship; and chapters 6-10 focus on matters of application.

History

The first two sentences of chapter one delineates the approach the author will take in the first four chapters as he firmly anchors worship in history: “The gospel is a story about worship. It begins with promise and serenity, spins wildly and terribly off course, and is rescued in the most unexpected and surprising way possible” (25). With this course directing start, Cosper tells the story of worship in the Biblical narrative.

In chapter one Cosper presents the intra-Trinitarian worship of the Godhead as they ascribe worth to each other. He introduces us to humans in Eden who experience harmonious and blissful worship in the Garden before the Fall where sin makes worship a newly unnatural activity. Chapter two looks at worship in a context where separation from God has taken place and demonstrates that we humans are worshippers and our worship can mistakenly be directed towards idols or properly directed to God. Chapter three paints a picture of worship in Israel through the time of the patriarchs, the Exodus, and the development of the cultic rituals of the Jews. Cosper looks at how we relate to God in a fallen world. Chapter four proclaims the reordering of worship in the redemption wrought by Christ. He becomes our worship leader and priest and reconciles us to God.

This section of the book was very enjoyable to read as worship was eloquently weaved through the ages of redemptive history. These chapters were some of the most poetical, and I found them informative and inspiring.

Cosper’s Perspective

In chapter 5, a very helpful chapter for me, the author presents his perspective on worship in the here and now. He introduces a memorable construct he employs for understanding worship and church life. This framework can “answer a lot of the questions, confusion, and challenges” (75) that are part of church worship. For Cosper, Worship One, Two, Three is a paradigm that teaches the following: worship has one object and author, two contexts, and three audiences. The author and object of worship is God. The contexts are Worship Scattered (for the believer everything is worship) and Worship Gathered (worship occurs when the Church gathers). The three audiences are God, the Church, and the World. I found this chapter profoundly profitable. I will return to some of these ideas regularly.

Application

Chapters six through ten delve into practical applications of the material the author has presented thus far. Chapter six looks at how worship is spiritual formation and how we work in and at worship. Worship is also war towards the world and the lies that we face every day. Chapter seven explains in practical terms how we arrived at our current state of worship in North American Christianity. Chapter eight entails insight into parts of the worship service and how they come together. The ninth chapter considers singing and music whereas chapter ten presents the pastoral aspects of leading worship. These chapters were very informative and interesting. They would be of particular importance to those directly involved in worship ministries.

Appendices

The practicality of this book is enhanced by several appendices which include information on service orders, worship resources, and technical aspects.

I found this to be a book that was informative and inspiring, poetical and practical. I plan on lending it to friends who serve in worship ministries and recommend it to anyone who aspires to understand and appreciate worship in the church and in our lives.

Image and likeness

There has been much study and discussion about what it means to be made in God's image. Surely this is a concept that we will continue to study, develop, and grasp until the current world is no more. Wellum and Gentry, in their masterful book Kingdom Through Covenant, add some helpful points to the concept of image and likeness to God:

Given the normal meanings of “image” and “likeness” in the cultural and linguistic setting of the Old Testament and the ancient Near East, “likeness” specifies a relationship between God and humans such that ’ādām can be described as the son of God, and “image” describes a relationship between God and humans such that ’ādām can be described as a servant king. Although both terms specify the divine-human relationship, the first focuses on the human in relation to God and the second focuses on the human in relation to the world. These would be understood to be relationships characterised by faithfulness and loyal love, obedience and trust—exactly the character of relationships specified by covenants after the Fall. In this sense the divine image entails a covenant relationship between God and humans on the one hand, and between humans and the world on the other.

He will not be shut out of His world

Along with a few other books of substance, I am currently working through John Frame's The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God. Can we know God? Really and truly? These are legitimate questions in this day of subjective truth and post-modern sensibilities. Frame responds in the affirmative:

Scripture, at any rate, is clear: God is both knowable and known. He is known truly, known as He really is. Some people have argued that because our knowledge of God comes through revelation and then through our senses, reason, and imagination, it cannot be a knowledge of God as He really is but only of how He appears to us . . . In Scripture, reality (God in particular) is known, and our sense, reason, and imagination are themselves revelations of God-means that God uses to drive His truth home to us. God is Lord; He will not be shut out of His world. (33, emphasis mine)

A totally self-sufficient community of love and glory

Shortly I will be posting a book review for the book written by Mike Cosper called Rhythms of Grace: How the Church's Worship Tells the Story of the Gospel. For now, consider this excerpt from the book which discusses the existence of worship in eternity-past before the creation of the universe:

So before the world began, there was love. It flowed-perfect, complete, and constant-between the three persons of the Trinity. This love was an unending appreciation, a perpetual beholding and rejoicing in the goodness and perfection of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The scene was what theologian Fred Sanders calls the "happy land of the Trinity." It was, and is, a totally self-sufficient community of love and glory. 

At its heart, worship is rooted in this love. The Trinitarian community is, in a sense, perpetually beholding one another with love and amazement . . . The word worship comes from the Old English weorthscipe, which combines two words meaning "ascribe worth." The Trinity can be said to be always at worship because the three persons of the Godhead perfectly behold the worth and wonder of one another. (26-7)

Their practice will be according to their convictions

This is great stuff by Edwards. In the 11th lecture of Charity and Its Fruit, Edwards convincingly declares that men's practice will be according to their convictions. That is, if a man truly believes something, he will act on it and if he does not act on it, it seems that he is not really and entirely convinced of that truth.

Nowhere is this more true than in man's dealings with the gospel. Gospel-truth is efficacious truth; if you believe it sincerely, your life is changed and this results in a change in the manner in which you live your life.

If a man hears important news that concerns himself, and we do not see that he alters at all for it in his practice, we at once conclude that he does not give heed to it as true; for we know the nature of man is such, that he will govern his actions by what he believes and is convinced of. And so if men are really convinced of the truth of the things they are told in the gospel, about an eternal world, and the everlasting salvation that Christ has purchased for all that will accept it, it will influence their practice. They will regulate their behavior according to such a belief, and will act in such a manner as will tend to their obtaining this eternal salvation. If men are convinced of the certain truth of the promises of the gospel, which promise eternal riches, and honors, and pleasures, and if they really believe that those are immensely more valuable than all the riches, and honors, and pleasures of the world, they will, for these, forsake the things of the world, and, if need be, sell all and follow Christ. If they are fully convinced of the truth of the promise, that Christ will indeed bestow all these things upon his people, and if all this appears real to them, it will have influence on their practice, and it will induce them to live accordingly. Their practice will be according to their convictions.

Similarities between covenants

Hello all!

Sorry for the slim pickings at the blog this past while. Lots of things going on around here keeping me busy and somewhat distracted. Hopefully I'll be back on track now.

I continue to find Kingdom Through Covenant intriguing and enriching. It is full of helpful commentary on sundry topics concerning the covenants in the Bible. The following excerpt touches upon the connection between the various covenants and how they should be approached.

ISAIAH 54:9–10

[9] “To me this is like the days of Noah,
when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.
So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,
never to rebuke you again.
[10] Though the mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed,”
says the LORD, who has compassion on you. (NIV)

This passage is extremely important for letting the biblical text define in its own terms the relationships between the various covenants; it will be considered at length later. Nonetheless, Isaiah compares here the new covenant with the covenant with Noah. What is precisely similar between both covenants is the undeterred, unswerving commitment of Yahweh to carry out the promises enshrined in them. Just as he promised never again to cover the entire earth with floodwaters as a judgement, so he will never be angry with his people and so withdraw his loyal love in the covenant of peace.

I love the suggestion above that the similarity between an older covenant, like the Noahic, and the new covenant is "the undeterred, unswerving commitment of Yahweh to carry out the promises enshrined in them." We serve an awesome God!

Trust in intellectual matters

Some helpful thoughts from Dr. Vern S. Poythress on trusting God in the midst of uncertainty about the Bible from his book Inerrancy and the Gospels:

In a fundamental way, trust in the matter of intellectual questions or historical difficulties or apparent discrepancies or biblical paradoxes remains part of the general obligation to trust God in every area of life. We have good grounds for trust, because of God's character and the faithfulness of his Word. He is infinitely good. We have grounds also in the demonstration of his goodness and faithfulness throughout history. Supremely, we have grounds in the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. God shows there his supreme commitment to righteousness. Christ was vindicated and sin received its due payment in Christ as substitute. God showed there his supreme commitment to truth: his promise of redemption proved true, at supreme cost to himself. He showed his supreme commitment to us in the love that he manifested in the cross. (109)

Thus, we look to the cross and Christ's work at Calvary for assurance and reassurance of his commitment to truth and his commitment to us. We have good grounds, infinitely good grounds, to trust God in all things and particularly to trust him in regards to his Word.

Fools! Simpletons! Dullards!

From a sermon preached by D. M. Lloyd-Jones called The Church Today: The Road to Emmaus as it is found in Crossway's book entitled Setting Our Affections Upon Glory:

I say again that I have an awful feeling that is what our Lord is saying about us and to us today. "You fools!" What he means is that we are dullards, that we are simpletons, that we do not know how to think, that we allow ourselves to be governed by circumstances and accidents and change and the things that happen to us and the conditions in which we find ourselves. And instead of using our minds and reason and our understanding and applying the truth we have received, we allow ourselves to be in this state of misery and dejection and discouragement. "What a terrible world this is!" Is that not true of us? Fools! Simpletons! Dullards! 

This is said frequently in the New Testament. Writing in his first epistle to certain churches, to unknown people whose names we do not know, strangers scattered abroad in various countries who were having a horrible time and were enduring terrible persecution, the apostle Peter says-and its one of the first things he tells them, "Gird up the loins of your mind" (1 Pet. 1:13). 

The church must think. She must use her mind and her reason. The tragedy is that we constantly tend to fall back on other things in order somehow or another to relieve ourselves and to keep thing going. We are sentimental. Sentimentality is very largely the trouble with present church. We are very nice people, we members of the Christian church, but we are very foolish. And the first thing we must do is wake up and gird the loins of our minds and think and understand the truth and begin to apply it to the situation in which we find ourselves, instead of giving way, instead of giving in, instead of just commiserating with one another. I am sometimes afraid that the church is dying of niceness. We are really good at praising one another, are we not, and saying that we are doing well. We have become a mutual admiration society, sympathisizing and communing with one another, and thus being sentimental with one another. And the whole time the condition of the church degenerates from bad to worse. Fools! We must apply our understanding to the situation with which we are confronted (76-7).

Cultivating fresh faith

I am almost finished blogging through the book Gospel Centered Discipleship. I continue to be encouraged and edified as I re-read and reflect on some of the ideas and insights of its author Jonathan K. Dodson.

Towards the end of the book Dodson works through some practical steps believers can take in regards to gospel-centered discipleship and I am reminded of how solid and helpful some of these suggestions are. For instance, Dodson begins an sub-section of his chapter entitled Practical Discipleship: Putting the Gospel into Practice with the title Cultivating Fresh Faith in the Gospel. Sounds good, right? Well, it is.

Consider the questions he leads this section off with:

How do we cultivate Bible reading that brings us fresh faith in the gospel? To be honest, there are times that old, memorized promises don't always work for me. Is this because "trusting your savior" doesn't work? No, it's because my heart becomes indifferent to them. How do we revive our hearts to take interest in God's promises? (132-3)

Dodson relies on the Puritan heavyweight John Owen to respond to the above questions and to indicate how we might cultivate fresh faith in the Gospel.

John Owen recommends we return to prayer, but perhaps not as you usually pray. He notes that if we wisely consider the Spirit's working in our hearts by prayer, we may understand much of his working upon our hearts by grace. In order to have fresh faith in the gospel, we ought to pray to the Spirit for three things: 1) insight into his promises, 2) experience of our need, 3) creation of desire. All too often we assume the insight, neglect to experience our need, and are too proud to ask for desire. (133)

I think that though all three of these practical insights are helpful, #2 impacts me the most. In our society and the culture that permeates it, it can actually be difficult to understand our ever-present and enormous need. We are seduced and satiated by the world to the detriment of our inner life. I think a prayer for cognizance and experience of our need is vital.

Dodson expounds on these ideas in the ensuing sections and it is all very helpful. Consider getting your hands on this gem and benefiting from it first hand.

Was there a covenant before Noah?

One recurring argument in the discussion of Biblical covenants revolves around creation. Did God initiate a covenant with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? Wellum and Gentry, in their immense Kingdom Through Covenant, suggest that there was indeed a covenant entered pre-fall. One of their arguments in favour of a covenant with Adam is the wording surrounding the covenant God made with Noah, a covenant which is largely accepted.

The proof they find for an earlier covenant in the recorded narrative of God's covenant with Noah has to do with the wording of the passage about said covenant. The question boils down to this: With Noah, did God initiate a covenant or did he uphold a covenant?

Consider these excerpts from Kingdom Through Covenant:

The first occurrence(s) of the term covenant (bĕrît) in the Hebrew Scriptures is significant. The word appears first in the flood narrative (Gen. 6:18; 9:9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17). In four instances God speaks of “confirming” or “establishing” a covenant with Noah (Gen. 6:18; 9:9, 11, 17). The construction in Hebrew is hēqîm bĕrît. The remaining four occurrences have to do with the sign of the covenant and remembering the covenant. Thus, when we consider the covenant God made with Noah and his descendants, we notice right away that the standard expression or language for covenant initiation is lacking. Nowhere do we read of God cutting a covenant (kārat bĕrît). Why is the language different here and what does it signify? An exhaustive study of all instances of bĕrît in the Hebrew Bible and classification of all constructions and expressions in which this noun occurs reveals a completely consistent usage: the construction “to cut a covenant” (kārat bĕrît) refers to covenant initiation while the expression “to establish a covenant” (hēqîm bĕrît) refers to a covenant partner fulfilling an obligation or upholding a promise in a covenant initiated previously so that the other partner experiences in historical reality the fulfilling of this promise, i.e., one makes good on one’s commitment, obligation, or promise. (155)

In summary, based on the expression hēqîm bĕrît, linguistic usage alone demonstrates that when God says that he is confirming or establishing his covenant with Noah, he is saying that his commitment initiated previously at creation to care for and preserve, provide for and rule over all that he has made, including the blessings and ordinances that he gave to Adam and Eve and their family, are now to be with Noah and his descendants. This can be substantiated and further supported by noting the parallels between Noah and Adam, and between the covenant terms given to Noah and the ordinances given to Adam and his family. (161)

The appeal to Noah's covenant being an upheld covenant versus an initiated covenant is not their only argument in favour of an earlier covenant that God made with men. However, I found this defense both compelling and convincing.

We ought to love our own happiness

In Charity and Its Fruit, famed theologian Jonathan Edwards writes about a very interesting idea concerning happiness. In the chapter entitled 'The Spirit of Charity the Opposite of a Selfish Spirit' he argues that though there are many instances of self-love that are inappropriate, the love of our own happiness is not one of them. That is, love of our own happiness cannot be too great. This is a facet of Christian Hedonism which requires and deserves serious contemplation. Consider,

First, that the inordinateness of self-love does not consist in our love of our own happiness being, absolutely considered, too great in degree. — I do not suppose it can be said of any, that their love to their own happiness, if we consider that love absolutely and not comparatively, can be in too high a degree, or that it is a thing that is liable either to increase or diminution. For I apprehend that self-love, in this sense, is not a result of the fall, but is necessary, and what belongs to the nature of all intelligent beings, and that God has made it alike in all; and that saints, and sinners, and all alike, love happiness, and have the same unalterable and instinctive inclination to desire and seek it. The change that takes place in a man, when he is converted and sanctified, is not that his love for happiness is diminished, but only that it is regulated with respect to its exercises and influence, and the courses and objects it leads to. Who will say that the happy souls in heaven do not love happiness as truly as the miserable spirits in hell? If their love of happiness is diminished by their being made holy, then that will diminish their happiness itself; for the less anyone loves happiness, the less he relishes it, and, consequently, is the less happy.

Let me draw out a few ideas from this excerpt that Edwards suggests:

1. We cannot love our own happiness too much.
2. Love of happiness is not a result of the fall but is God-given and necessary.
3. Our love of happiness results in us desiring and seeking it.
4. A regenerated man loves happiness appropriately and with balance.
5. The less we love happiness, the less we relish it, and the less happy we are.

Ultimately, what Edwards would indicate is that we can love happiness because we are most happy when we are in relationship with God as He intended. Thus, loving our happiness is loving our God.

It is clear to me that Edwards thought on an entirely different level than me.

[ḥesed] and [’ĕmet]

As I work my way through the colossal Kingdom Through Covenant by Wellum and Gentry, I am enjoying reviewing, and learning anew, information about covenants. One particularly encouraging section deals with the words [ḥesed] and [’ĕmet] and their connection to covenants. This word pair is somewhat ineffable; a precise definition does not present itself. However, the authors give a helpful, though incomplete, summary definition by relating this word pair as "faithful loyal love." That alone is breath-taking when we consider these words are regularly used to describe the supremely sovereign God's posture towards all of us sinners.

Wellum and Gentry give us an example of how these two words are used in the bible by presenting Psalm 117 to us. They reveal the use of [ḥesed] and [’ĕmet], but also demark the psalm in question as a summary of the entire Psalter. This is very interesting and uplifting. Consider the following which appears at the end of chapter four of Kingdom Through Covenant:

Psalm 117Praise the LORD, all you nations;
extol him, all you peoples.
For great is his love [ḥesed] toward us,
and the faithfulness [’ĕmet] of the LORD endures forever.
Praise the LORD. (NIV)

This is the briefest and shortest hymn in the whole of Israel’s Songbook (Psalms). According to the format standard for a hymn, there is a call to praise Yahweh, followed by the reason for praise. In Psalm 117, verse 1 is the Call to Praise and verse 2 is the Reason for Praise. In the section giving the reason for praise the word pair ḥesed and ’ĕmet is split over parallel lines. Thus the reason for boasting about the Lord is his faithful loyal love in his covenant with his people Israel. In fact, the celebration of this quality summarises the entire Psalter. When a budding scholar completes a doctoral dissertation, the dissertation must be summarised in three hundred words. This is called a dissertation abstract. And Psalm 117 is the dissertation abstract for the entire book of Psalms. It summarises in just a very few words all of the Laments, Hymns, and Songs of Thanksgiving in Israel’s hymnal, including the enormously long Psalm 119. The Lord is worthy of the worship of his people Israel because he demonstrates faithful loyal love in the covenant relationship. (145)

But he did

I dont recall that I ever give the good Lord all that much cause to smile on me. But he did.

(McCarthy, Cormac. No Country for Old Men. New York: Vintage International/Vintage, 2007. Print. 91)

Zephaniah 3:17: 

The Lord your God is in your midst,

a mighty one who will save;

he will rejoice over you with gladness;

he will quiet you by his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing.

Intellectual suffering

I  really like this excerpt on intellectual suffering by Dr. Poythress from his book Inerrancy and the Gospels:

God and man have been reconciled, and so there will be fruit in the progressive reconciliation taking place in our hearts. Our hearts become reconciled to God not only in the sense that God forgives our sins, but in the sense that our hearts come more and more into submission and conformity to the mind of God and of Christ, who is the Logos, expressing himself in Scripture. Christ calls us as his disciples to bear our cross daily that we may "know him [Christ] and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death" (Phil. 3:10). We may therefore expect to have our minds and our hermeneutical principles and all that is intellectually dear to us suffer and be crucified and raised, in the process of having our minds  conformed to the rationality of the Logos (Rom. 12:1-2). Intellectual anguish among God's people is for our good (Rom. 12:5-11).

We may conclude that intellectual difficulties with the Bible are not, in the end, alien to the mystery of the suffering of Christ. In knowing God's Word we know truly, but not transparently, and not without being beset by mental anguish at times. (99, emphasis mine)