Justin Taylor's Blog, page 249

Privacy, Politicians, and Moral Consensus

Ross Douthat's latest column reflects on commentary and controversy around the decisions of the Santorum family and the Palin family regarding infant death and special needs. An excerpt:

In a sense, one could say that these kinds of invasive debates become inevitable once the traditional zone of privacy around public figures collapses. But it would be more accurate to say that the zone of privacy has collapsed precisely because of the deep moral divisions that these kinds of controversies reveal.

Privacy is a luxury of moral consensus. Nobody would have thought to politicize the premature birth and death of John F. Kennedy's son Patrick, because abortion wasn't a polarizing issue in the America of 1963. But if a white politician in the Jim Crow South had married a black woman, the relationship would inevitably have been seen as a political gesture as well a personal decision.

Today, we are less divided over race, but more divided over sex and reproduction. In a country that cannot agree whether fetuses are human beings, even questions like how to mourn and bury a miscarried child are inevitably freighted with ideological significance. Likewise, in a country where the majority of Down syndrome fetuses are aborted, the mere act of carrying a child with a genetic disorder to term — as both the Palins and the Santorums, whose daughter Bella has Trisomy 18, have done — feels like a political statement.

The same pattern holds with respect to politicians and their marriage vows. In an era that had a clear and stable understanding of marriage, it was easier to treat politicians' adulteries as a private matter between a husband and a wife. But hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue, and a society that can't agree on the definition of sexual virtue inevitably takes a stronger interest in whether a politician actually lives up to the definition of marriage he defends.

A Free Theological Magazine Everyone Should Know About

Credo Magazine is quickly becoming a wonderful go-to resource for up-to-date interviews, book reviews, and articles. It's really an embarrassment of riches. And best of all, the whole thing is online for free.

Here's a description of the latest issue:

"In Christ Alone," the January issue of Credo Magazine, is now here! The January issue argues for the exclusivity of the gospel, especially in light of the movement known as inclusivism. This issue will seek to answer questions like: Can those who have never heard the gospel of Christ be saved? Will everyone be saved in the end or will some spend an eternity in hell? Must someone have explicit faith in Christ to be saved? Contributors include David Wells, Robert Peterson, Michael Horton, Gerald Bray, Todd Miles, Todd Borger, Ardel Caneday, Nathan Finn, Trevin Wax, Michael Reeves, and many others.

Open publication – Free publishing – More christianity

Should We Interpret Prophecies Literally Whenever Possible?

Eckhard Schnabel, in his introduction to 40 Questions about the End Times, writes:

Some interpreters work with the principle that the language of prophecies should be interpreted literally as long as this can be reasonably followed.

This is an illegitimate demand because it leaves the decision when to interpret literally and when to interpret symbolically up to the modern interpreter. It is the original author and his cultural and linguistic context that determine whether an expression or a statement should be interpreted literally or not.

For example, in the statement "those who are victorious I will make pillars in the temple of my God" (Rev. 3:12 NIV), even so-called literalists would want to take the phrase "pillars in the temple of my God" symbolically—although one could argue that as God turned Lot's wife into a pillar of salt (Gen. 19:26), he can turn the believers from Philadelphia (who are addressed in Rev. 3:7-13) into literal pillars in a literal temple.

While this may sound strange, we need to remind ourselves that there are end-time "specialists" committed to a "literal" interpretation who argue that the two witnesses of Revelation 11, interpreted as two literal evangelists who are thought to appear in the second half of the last seven years of history, will literally destroy the people who oppose them with fire coming from their mouth (Rev. 11:5).

For those preaching on or studying the book of Revelation, here's a new book you may want to consider: Jim Hamilton's Revelation: The Spirit Speaks to the Church, in the Preaching the Word series edited by Kent Hughes.

If you want a little preview of Dr. Hamilton's approach, here's an interview he did with Crossway, where he answered these questions:

Why should pastors preach on Revelation?
What's the best way to prepare to interpret apocalyptic literature in general and Revelation in particular?
If a pastor knows that his congregation takes a very different view of Revelation than he does, how should he go about preaching the book? Should he be trying to convert them to or away from a dispensationalist perspective and why?
What is the relationship between the judgments that accompany the seals, trumpets, and bowls? Are these sequential or recapitulatory?
What's with the exodus imagery in Revelation? Didn't Jesus fulfill the new exodus and return from exile in his death and resurrection? Why are we getting that imagery again in Revelation?

And here are a couple of endorsements for the book:

"Hamilton has done his homework—and numerous footnotes reveal his scholarship—but he keeps the plot moving as he focuses on the pastoral duty of preaching the book. When exegeting difficult texts he presents the best case for differing viewpoints and then argues persuasively for his, all with an eye on preaching. Pastors will find here an inspiring foundation to craft their own sermons (and check their work), and laypeople will discover a pastoral guide through the minefield that is Revelation. Do you have a question about a passage in Revelation? Look here first."

—Michael Wittmer, Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, Cornerstone University

"In a day when most preachers appear to be terrified by the prospects of preaching any text beyond the third chapter of the Apocalypse, I find Dr. James Hamilton's Revelation: The Spirit Speaks to the Churches to be an oasis in the wilderness. Though my own interpretation of the book is light years removed from that of Professor Hamilton, the purity of his love for Christ, for his church, and for the Word of God makes every page a delight to read regardless of his eschatological position."

—Paige Patterson, President, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

The Gift of Warfield to the Church Today

Sinclair Ferguson writes:

If the only thing Dr Fred Zaspel accomplished in these pages was to point us to B.B. Warfield's masterpiece sermons in his too-little-known Faith and Life, he would have done the church yeoman service.

But he has done much, much more! In Warfield on the Christian Life we are given the privilege of sitting at the feet of a Christ-centered, Bible-saturated, gospel-loving theologian of the first rank and learning how to say "To me to live is Christ."

A very welcome addition to what promises to be a valuable series.

You can get Warfield's "masterpiece sermons" here.

Here are some of the other books lined up for the "Theologians on the Christian Life" series:

William Edgar on Francis Schaeffer
Fred Sanders on John Wesley
Stephen J. Nichols on Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Derek Thomas on John Bunyan
Carl Trueman on Martin Luther
Dane Ortlund on Jonathan Edwards

What Should You Be Thinking about During the Lord's Supper

J. I. Packer:

I don't think we can ever say too much about the importance of an active exercise of mind and heart at the communion service. . . .

Holy Communion demands us of private preparation of heart before the Lord before we come to the table. We need to prepare ourselves for fellowship with Jesus Christ the Lord, who meets us in this ceremony. We should think of him both as the host of the communion table and as enthroned on the true Mount Zion referred to in Hebrews 12, the city of the living God where the glorified saints and the angels are.

The Lord from his throne catches us up by his Spirit and brings us into fellowship with himself there in glory. He certainly comes down to meet us here, but he then catches us up into fellowship with him and the great host of others who are eternally worshipping him there.

We are also to learn the divinely intended discipline of drawing assurance from the sacrament. We should be saying in our hearts, 'as sure as I see and touch and taste this bread and this wine, so sure it is that Jesus Christ is not a fancy but a fact, that he is for real, and that he offers himself to be my Saviour, my Bread of Life, and my Guide to glory. He has left me this rite, this gesture, this token, this ritual action as a guarantee of this grace; He instituted it, and it is a sign of life-giving union with him, and I'm taking part in it, and thus I know that I am his and he is mine forever.' That is the assurance that we should be drawing from our sharing in the Lord's Supper every time we come to the table.

And then we must realize something of our togetherness in Christ with the rest of the congregation. . . . [We should reject the] strange perverse idea . . . that the Lord's Supper is a flight of the alone to the Alone: it is my communion I come to make, not our communion in which I come to share. You can't imagine a more radical denial of the Gospel than that.

The communion table must bring to us a deeper realization of our fellowship together. If I go into a church for a communion service where not too many folk are present, to me it is a matter of conscience to sit beside someone. This togetherness is part of what is involved in sharing in eucharistic worship in a way that edifies.

—J. I. Packer, "The Gospel and the Lord's Supper," in Serving the People of God, vol. 2 of Collected Shorter Writings of J. I. Packer (Carlisle: Paternoster, 1998), 49-50.

The Story of the Bible in One Sentence

Greg Beale:

The OT storyline appears best to be summarized as: the historical story of God who progressively reestablishes his new creational kingdom out of chaos over a sinful people by his word and Spirit through promise, covenant, and redemption, resulting in worldwide commission to the faithful to extend that new creation rule and resulting in judgment for the unfaithful (defeat and exile), all of which issues into his glory;

the NT storyline can be summarized as: Jesus' life of covenantal obedience, trials, judgmental death for sinners, and especially resurrection by the Spirit has launched the fulfillment of the eschatological already-and-not-yet promised new creation reign, bestowed by grace through faith and resulting in worldwide commission to the faithful to extend this new creation rule and resulting in judgment for the unfaithful, unto God's glory.

That sentence is expanded to over 1,000 pages here.

40 Questions about the End Times

Eckhard Schnabel, professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, is an enormously learned and careful scholar. And I'm a fan of Kregel's 40 Questions series. So I'm excited to see Professor Schnabel writing the soon-to-be-released 40 Questions about the End Times.

Here are the 40 questions:

Part 1: General Questions about the Future

A. The Future of the World

1. When Do the End Times Begin?

2. What Is the Fullness of Time?

3. What Are the Signs of the End (Matt. 24)?

4. When Will the Signs of the End Take Place?

5. What Are the Seal, Trumpet, and Bowl Judgments (Rev. 6-16)?

6. Should We Understand John's Visions Literally or Symbolically?

7. When Will the Seal, Trumpet, and Bowl Judgments Take Place?

B. The Future of the Church

8. Will Christians Live during the Tribulation?

9. Who Are the 144,000 in Revelation 7?

10. Will the Church Disappear in a Rapture to Heaven?

11. Will the Work of the Church Bring about a Period of Faith, Righteousness, Peace,

and Prosperity on Earth?

C. The Future of Israel

12. What Are Israel's Old Testament Promises?

13. Does National Israel Have a Special Destiny?

14. Does the Modern State of Israel Represent Fulfillment of Prophecy?

15. What Is Christian Zionism?

16. Will a Third Temple Be Built in Jerusalem?

Part 2: The Return of Jesus Christ

A. Events before the Return of Jesus

17. What Is the "Abomination of Desolation" in Jesus' Prophecy?

18. Who Is the "Lawless One" in Paul's Prophecy?

19. Who Is the Beast in John's Prophecy?

20. Who Is the Antichrist?

21. What Is the Meaning of the Number 666?

22. Who Is the False Prophet?

23. What Is the Mark of the Beast?

24. Who Is the Great Harlot of Babylon?

25. Who Are the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11?

26. Who Are Gog and Magog in Ezekiel?

27. Who Are Gog and Magog in Revelation?

28. What Is the Battle of Armageddon?

29. What Is the Great Earthquake?

B. The Return of Jesus

30. Why Will Jesus Return?

31. How and Where Will Jesus Return?

32. Will Jesus Return Soon?

Part 3: The Millennium and the Last Judgment

A. The Millennium and the New Jerusalem

33. What Is the Millennium?

34. When Will the Millennium Take Place?

35. What Is the New Jerusalem?

B. The Day of Judgment

36. When Will the Day of Judgment Take Place?

37. What Will Happen to Believers on the Day of Judgment?

38. What Will Happen to Unbelievers on the Day of Judgment?

Part 4: Interpreting the End Times

39. How Should We View the Prophecies of Prophecy Writers?

40. Why Should I Care about the End Times?

What Does God Have to Do with Work?

I always enjoy hearing Matt Perman talk on the importance of the doctrine of vocation:

Some further resources for those who want to go further on vocation:

Stephen J. Nichols, What Is Vocation? (P&R [booklet])
Tom Nelson, Work Matters: Connecting Sunday Worship to Monday Work (Crossway)
Gene Edward Veith Jr., God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life (Crossway)
Os Guinness, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life (Thomas Nelson)
Gene Edward Veith Jr. and Mary Moerbe, Family Vocation: God's Calling in Marriage, Parenting, and Childhood (Crossway, coming next month)
Gustaf Wingren, Luther on Vocation (Wipf & Stock)
Matt Perman, What's Best Next: How the Gospel Changes the Way You Get Things Done (Zondervan, forthcoming)

When You—Or Your Pastor—Are Not John Piper

Two independent articles, both worth your time—one if you're a parishioner who has a pastor who doesn't preach as well as your favorite podcast pastor, the other if you're a pastor who wants to preach with passion and exegetical rigor without sounding like an impersonator.

WTS Books: 50% Off Their 2011 Bestsellers Until January 12

A new sale: