Justin Taylor's Blog, page 111

Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full

An introduction to Gloria Furman’s new book, Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full: Gospel Meditations for Busy Moms (Crossway 2014):

Here’s a free study guide.

And you can preview the book below:

Inerrancy, Adam, and the Gospel

Richard B. Gaffin Jr., emeritus professor of biblical and systematic theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, recently delivered a Boice Lecture at the Tenth Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia on “Inerrancy, Adam, and the Gospel: The Bible on Human Origins: Some Observations.”

Dr. Gaffin starts talking around the 4:30 mark. At the 1:04:30 mark he begins taking questions:

Here’s an outline of what he covers:

1. The Issue

2. Objections: Scientific and Exegetical

3. Scripture and Science

Hebrews 1:1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,  2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, …

4. Adam and Christ

Romans 5:12-19  12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned,  14 … Adam, who was the type of the one who was to come.  15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.  16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.  17 If, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.  18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.  19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

1 Corinthians 15:21-22  For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.  22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

1 Corinthians 15:44-49  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.  45 Thus it is written, “The firstman Adam became a living being”; the lastAdam became the life-giving Spirit.  46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.  47 The firstman was of the earth, earthly; the secondman is from heaven.  48 As was the one who is earthly, so also are those who are earthly, and as is the one who is heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.  49 And just as we have borne the image of the one who is earthly, we shall also bear the image of the one who is heavenly.

Acts 17:26  And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, …  30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, …

5. Inadequate Interpretations

6. Implications and Conclusion

For those wanting to read more on this topic, this forthcoming book edited by Hans Madueme and Michael Reeves looks excellent: Adam, the Fall, and Original Sin: Theological, Biblical, and Scientific Perspectives (Baker, coming in August 2014).

Here is the publisher’s description:

The Christian doctrines of original sin and the historical fall of Adam have been in retreat since the rise of modernity. Here leading scholars present a theological, biblical, and scientific case for the necessity of belief in original sin and the historicity of Adam and Eve in response to contemporary challenges. Representing various Christian traditions, the contributors shed light on recent debates as they present the traditional doctrine of original sin as orthodox, evangelical, and the most theologically mature and cogent synthesis of the biblical witness. This fresh look at a heated topic in evangelical circles will appeal to professors, students, and readers interested in the creation-evolution debate.

Contents

Introduction Hans Madueme and Michael Reeves

Part 1: Adam in the Bible and Science

1. Adam and Eve in the Old Testament C. John Collins

2. Adam in the New Testament Robert Yarbrough

3. Adam and Modern Science William Stone

Part 2: Original Sin in History

4. Original Sin in Patristic Theology Peter Sanlon

5. The Lutheran Doctrine of Original Sin Robert Kolb

6. Original Sin in Reformed Theology Donald Macleod

7. “But a Heathen Still”: The Doctrine of Original Sin in Wesleyan Theology Tom McCall

8. Original Sin in Modern Theology Carl Trueman

Part 3: Original Sin in Theology

9. Original Sin in Biblical Theology James M. Hamilton

10. Threads in a Seamless Garment: Original Sin in Systematic Theology Michael Reeves and Hans Madueme

11. “The Most Vulnerable Part of the Whole Christian Account”: Original Sin and Modern Science Hans Madueme

12. Original Sin in Pastoral Theology Dan Doriani

Part 4: Adam and the Fall in Dispute

13. Original Sin and Original Death: Romans 5:12-19 Tom Schreiner

14. The Fall and Genesis 3 Noel Weeks

15. Adam, History, and Theodicy William Edgar

Postscript Michael Reeves and Hans Madueme

“This is a long-overdue book on a crucial flash point in evangelical faith and theology: the sin that dare not speak its name (‘original’). The structure is clearly laid out, making it an appealing choice in various kinds of Bible college and seminary classes. Indeed, I suspect it will become a popular textbook in a number of evangelical institutions.”

—Kevin J. Vanhoozer, research professor of systematic theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Gaffin, Beale, Frame, Reeves, and others have also commended the book, Adam in the New Testament: Mere Teaching Model or First Historical Man? 2nd ed (P&R 2012), written by J.P. Versteeg with a foreword from Gaffin.

“This is the basic thread of [Versteeg's] argumentation: if it is not true that all human beings descend from Adam as the first human being, then the entire history of redemption documented in Scripture unravels. The result is no redemptive history in any credible or coherent sense and so the loss of redemptive history in any meaningful sense. Versteeg’s work is as timely today as when it was first written. The publisher is to be commended for making its translation available again.”

—Richard B. Gaffin Jr., Emeritus Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology, Westminster Theological Seminary

“This book is the best that I know of in demonstrating exegetically that the parallels drawn by Paul between Adam and Christ (as the Last Adam) necessitate viewing not only Christ as a historical figure but also the first Adam as an actual historical figure. The argument is made persuasively and convincingly that, if one concludes that the first Adam was not historical, then one should be driven to the conclusion that Jesus as the Last Adam was not historical—the latter conclusion even very few unbelieving scholars would be willing to hold. Other references to Adam outside of Paul in the New Testament are also discussed, and the same conclusion is convincingly reached about the historicity of the first Adam. One might not agree with everything said about other issues outside of the Adam-Christ topic, but the conclusions reached about Adam and Christ are sane, sober, and reliable.”

—Gregory K. Beale, Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology, Westminster Theiological Seminary

“Denying the historicity of Adam or his significance for our own original sin is not just an issue of science versus the Old Testament. For the New Testament, as in Romans 5, deals with Adam as well, in an important theological context. For the apostle Paul, our sin begins in Adam, as our redemption begins in Christ. Theologians cannot escape this teaching merely by saying that Adam is a myth or legend; they must also account for his role in Paul’s doctrine of salvation. So a number of theologians, such as H. M. Kuitert, have postulated that Adam is a ‘teaching model’ in the New Testament. Versteeg’s remarkably cogent and concise book tells us why this view is impossible. It was a great help to us when it was first published in 1979. But it is even more helpful now. Recently, some have claimed that analysis of the human genome forbids us to believe that the human race began with a single couple. In the face of such arguments, it is important to remind ourselves why the church has maintained that Adam is the first man and the source of human sin. I do hope this book gets a wide readership.”

—John M. Frame, Professor of Systematic Theology and Philosophy, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando

“What an important book this is for today! Sane, clear and thorough, it offers a stout answer for those questioning the historicity of Adam, and lucidly shows why it remains non-negotiable. All thinking Christians need to read this.”

—Michael Reeves, Head of Theology, University and Colleges Christian Fellowsh

1,981 Years Ago Today: Why We Believe We Can Know the Exact Date Jesus Died

The First Things blog is running a new piece I co-authored with Andreas Köstenberger arguing that Jesus was crucified on Nisan 14 (that is, Friday, April 3) of A.D. 33. We argue that it is almost impossible that this took place in A.D. 30.

Here is an excerpt:

In our new book, The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived, we assume but do not argue for a precise date of Jesus’s crucifixion. Virtually all scholars believe, for various reasons, that Jesus was crucified in the spring of either A.D. 30 or A.D. 33, with the majority opting for the former. (The evidence from astronomy narrows the possibilities to A.D. 27, 30, 33, or 34). However, we want to set forth our case for the date of Friday, April 3, A.D. 33 as the exact day that Christ died for our sins.

To be clear, the Bible does not explicitly specify the precise date of Jesus’s crucifixion and it is not an essential salvation truth. But that does not make it unknowable or unimportant. Because Christianity is a historical religion and the events of Christ’s life did take place in human history alongside other known events, it is helpful to locate Jesus’s death—as precisely as the available evidence allows—within the larger context of human history.

Among the Gospel writers, no one makes this point more strongly than Luke, the Gentile physician turned historian and inspired chronicler of early Christianity.

Luke implies that John the Baptist began his public ministry shortly before Jesus did, and he gives us a historical reference point for when the Baptist’s ministry began: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar . . .” (Luke 3:1).

Continue reading…

Learning the Psalms with Dale Ralph Davis

Richard Pratt has written, “There is no more gifted expositor of the Old Testament in our day than Ralph Davis.”

Derek Thomas says, “Dale Ralph Davis is among the finest expositors of the Old Testament alive today. His style is unique and his content infectious. A pastor at heart, his insights are always governed by an absolute loyalty to the text, a belief that the Bible was written for today as much as yesterday, and a desire to encourage his readers to fall in love with Scripture and to trust it.”

He has a new book out: Slogging Along in the Paths of Righteousness: Psalms 13-24 (Christian Focus, 2014), picking up where he left off in The Way of the Righteous in the Muck of Life: Psalms 1-12 (Christian Focus, 2010).

You can watch him preach on Psalm 13 Bethany Baptist Church in Bangor, Northern Ireland. He begins around the 2:09 mark.

Here are his commentaries, including a book on how to preach from OT narrative texts:

Joshua: No Falling Words
Judges: Such a Great Salvation
1 Samuel: Looking at the Heart
2 Samuel: Looking on the Heart
1 Kings: The Wisdom and the Folly
2 Kings: The Power and the Fury
Micah
The Word Became Fresh: How to Preach from Old Testament Narrative Texts

One Year Later: Help Continue to Tell the Kermit Gosnell Story

If you care about justice and life, and if you believe in the power of documentary films to make a difference, this is a project worth supporting:

Philly.com:

A followup to his 3801 Lancaster: Part I short film from January of last year, [David] Altrogge’s latest continuance in the series will see a web release on May 13—the one-year anniversary of the Gosnell conviction. Where the initial short film looked at the case’s more shocking elements, Part II reportedly will examine the why’s and how’s of Gosnell’s operation itself.

“Our goal has been since day one to not make a political [documentary],” Altrogge said in a recent interview with The Blaze. “To tell the story of what happened to Gosnell’s clinic…and kind of let people here these facts.”

Funded primarily by private donors, Part II is reportedly $35,000 short on what they’d need to complete the film, which has prompted Altrogge to start up a donation page. But even if the funding isn’t supplied, the director says his documentary will be out May 13 “no matter what.”

You can watch 3801 Lancaster: Part I below:

And again, you can donate here.

Early Church Growth

Robert Louis Wilken, emeritus professor of history at the University of Virginia:

At the end of the first century there were fewer than ten thousand Christians in the Roman Empire. The population at the time numbered some sixty million, which meant that Christians made up one hundredth of one percent or 0.0017 percent according to the figures of a contemporary sociologist.

By the year 200, the number may have increased to a little more than two hundred thousand, still a tiny minority, under one percent (0.36).

By the year 250, however, the number had risen to more than a million, almost two percent of the population.

The most striking figure, however, comes two generations later. By the year 300 Christians made up 10 percent of the population, approximately 6 million.

All of these figures are estimates. Because there are no hard demographic data, they can be used only with other evidence. The show that in absolute numbers, Christianity grew slowly at first, but the pace picked up in the third century, and if one were to draw a graph for the fourth century the line would mount in a steep upward curve. Christians could be found in all the major cities of the empire and in many smaller cities, and it was becoming apparent that Christian was not a passing phenomenon. What is more, the Church attracted people from all walks of life and from all social classes, and its leaders were well educated, culture, resourceful, and articulate.

—Robert Louis Wilken, The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity (New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 2012), 65-66.

The Top 5 Commentaries on Every Book of the Bible

Keith Mathison, associate editor of Tabletalk magazine and academic dean & professor of systematic theology at Reformation Bible College, offers his top 5 recommendations (with explanation) for every book of the Bible.

OLD TESTAMENT

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra &Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Isaiah,Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah,Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

NEW TESTAMENT

The Gospel of Matthew, The Gospel of Mark, The Gospel of Luke, The Gospel of John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians,Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians & Philemon, 1 & 2 Thessalonians,The Pastoral Epistles, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter & Jude, The Epistles of John, Revelation

For aggregated reviews of Bible commentaries, see the website Best Commentaries.

10 Lessons I Learned From My Mistakes in Preaching

Kevin DeYoung offers ten things he has learned:

1. Beware of preaching all your battles from seminary.

2. Be careful with offhanded comments.

3. Be yourself.

4. Remember there are different kinds of people listening.

5. Don’t let personal conflict creep into your message.

6. Make sure your best stuff is from the text.

7. Be a pastor for the whole church, not just part of it.

8. Don’t give them the whole elephant.

9. Root for others and don’t compare.

10. Tell your congregation you love them and are glad to be their pastor.

Here is his talk on this at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, though he doesn’t follow all the order of the above.

Clarifying the Bible: DVD + Workbook

What is Clarifying The Bible?

Clarifying The Bible is a DVD presentation with an accompanying workbook. In less time than it takes to watch the average movie you will be introduced to the Bible like never before. The DVD presentation takes viewers on an exciting journey from Genesis all the way to Revelation.

The workbook is divided into two major sections, Section I: DVD Notes and Section II: Notes for Further Study. Use Section I for your first viewing of the DVD presentation. Pop in the DVD, watch at our own pace, and use this section to take your initial set of notes. Then use Section II for further study. This section contains much more information related to each portion of the presentation. You can work through this section of the book either with or without the DVD presentation.

More information here.

Books at a Glance

I like the new service being offered by Books at a Glance.

Subscribers can use it to be informed on what’s being published and make wiser purchasing choice.

They offer “executive summaries,” as it were, for Christian books, summarizing the main argument and the chapters in 7-10 pages. So you get a good sense of what’s out there and whether a book is really worth picking up and reading straight through. They also provide book reviews, author interviews, and a blog. It’s worth checking out!

Here’s a little blur I wrote about the service:

Of making many books there is no end” (Eccles. 12:12). If that was true in Solomon’s day, how much more true is it today in the 21st century! Even the best of us can only read a tiny fraction of what is written. If we want to “make the best use of our time” (Eph. 5:16), we could use some help so that we don’t waste our reading. I thank God, therefore, for ministries like “Books At a Glance,” designed to guide us to choose our reading wisely. From summaries to reviews to interviews, I expect this to be a key resource to help me know what is out there and what to read next.