Justin Taylor's Blog, page 337

The Date of Jesus' Crucifixion

In the comments to the Holy Week passages/chronology I've posted, some have questioned the day of the week Jesus was crucified.

For those who have an ESV Study Bible and/or online access, here is Andreas Köstenberger's helpful essay on "The Date of Jesus' Crucifixion."

Köstenberger shows that Jesus was crucified on Friday, Nisan 14 (the Day of Preparation), in A.D. 30 or 33.

He also argues that the evidence strongly favors the year of 33.

A Response to Ricky Gervais

Mike Cosper has a thoughtful response to "An (Atheist) Easter Message from Ricky Gervais."

Here's the conclusion:

In his abundant mercy, God looks upon the broken, the downtrodden, those crushed by the burdens of Satan, sin, and death, and provides scandalous mercy in Jesus Christ. That's the starting place of the gospel, and the starting place of any conversation about what it means to be a Christian. Ricky Gervais looks at the Scriptures and sees only law, not grace, and responds with appeals to legal obedience.

There are millions like him, both inside and outside the church. They believe that the essential message of the Bible is, "If you behave, then you belong." We have a better message and a much richer story, one drenched in grace and mercy. Remember, as many Christians before us have understood, the gospel tells us that we're far worse off than we ever imagined . . . and far more loved than we ever dared to dream.

What I Have Learned after Years of Preaching Christ in the OT

At the BibleMesh blog, Owen Strachan has posted video of the first of three panel discussions sponsored by BibleMesh and conducted at the Gospel Coalition. This one is on what Alistair Begg, Mark Dever, and Philip Ryken have learned from preaching Christ in the Old Testament. It also includes links to resources they mentioned.

If you want to see an example of Ryken "in action" on this issue, check out his expository commentaries:

Exodus: Saved for God's Glory
Ecclesiastes: Why Everything Matters
Jeremiah and Lamentations: From Sorrow to Hope

And for a recent example of Begg preaching on an Old Testament book, you can listen to his Old Testament sermon on Ruth delivered at TGC'11.

Culturally Incarnating the Gospel

The manuscript for Ray Ortlund's TGC workshop is available online: Justification versus Self-Justification.

The opening line explains the purpose of the paper: "to clarify the social dynamics of grace-justification as opposed to the social dynamics of self-justification, so that we can enlarge our understanding of what it means to be faithful to the gospel."

He elaborates:

What I am saying today, on the basis of Galatians, is that the gospel, and justification in particular, calls for more than doctrinal subscription; it also calls for cultural incarnation.

I am not saying it is easy to follow through at both levels. It is impossible without Christ himself, as I will assert in my conclusion. But I am saying we would be unfaithful to settle for doctrinal correctness without also establishing a culture of grace in our churches and denominations and movements.

In other words, if justification by faith alone is the doctrine on which the church stands or falls, what does it look like to stand rather than fall? Is it possible to fall, while we think we are standing?

The book of Galatians shows it is possible. A believer or a church can trumpet the doctrine of grace-justification while, at the same time, be crippled with the dysfunctions of self-justification. In Galatians, Paul is pressing the gospel forward at both levels—the doctrine and the culture. He could not be satisfied if the Galatians' only response to his letter would be to reassert justification by faith alone as a doctrine; it is clear from this letter that he also expects them to establish a culture consistent with that doctrine. That, in Paul's view, is faithfulness to Christ.

Ortlund assumes three things in this talk:

The classical Protestant doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, apart from all our works, is the truth.
Self-justification is the deepest impulse in the fallen human heart.
Gospel doctrine creates a gospel culture.

He then goes to some passages in the book of Galatians, showing how Paul guides us away from self-justification and toward grace-justification.

Galatians 1:10
Galatians 2:11-14:
Galatians 4:17;  Galatians 5:15

Holy Week: What Happened on Wednesday?

With help from the ESV Study Bible, here's an attempted harmony/chronology of the words and actions of Jesus in the final week of his pre-resurrection life.

Jesus continues his daily teaching in the Temple

Luke 21:37-38

And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet.

And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.

With Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread approaching, the chief priests, elders, and scribes plot to kill Jesus

Matthew 26:3-5

Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said,

"Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people."

Mark 14:1-2

It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, for they said,

"Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people."

Luke 22:1-2

Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover.

And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people.

Satan enters Judas, who seeks out the Jewish authorities in order to betray Jesus for a price

Matthew 26:14-16

Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said,

"What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?"

And they paid him thirty pieces of silver.

And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.

Mark 14:10-11

Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them.

And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money.

And he sought an opportunity to betray him.

Luke 22:3-6

Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.

He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them.

And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.

So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.

Fanboys and Cynics: Evangelical Pastors and the Celebrity Culture

Eric McKiddie has a helpful post here on thinking about pastors who are popular:

I was reminded of the polarizing effect famous Christian leaders have on the masses at The Gospel Coalition National Conference last week. It seems to me that people can potentially fall into two extremes.

First there is the cynical camp. At best, the cynic derides everyone who attends conferences as wide-eyed fan-boys. At worst, he assumes that hubris got the Pipers of the world where they are today, treating them like moths who can't resist the spotlight.

Then there is the infatuated camp. As he scrolls through his Twitter feed, the infatuated resembles a soccer mom poring over the latest edition of Us Weekly searching for nuggets from the personal lives of their favorite celebrity-slash-pastor (and not the other way around).

Neither of these responses honors Jesus.

Part of walking the path of wisdom is discerning which direction is more tempting for you. But it's important to remember that both sides—the adoring fanboy and the mocking, cynical critic—both see some things rightly but apply their perspective in a spiritually unhealthy way.

Eric goes on to outline four bad ways (for pastors in particular) to respond to this situation—three for the infatuated and one for the exasperated:

Copying the form rather than the substance.
Wanting a big church like those guys.
Thinking that you can do what they do.
Throwing the baby out with the bath water.

You can read the whole thing here.

Freeze Tag, Wiffle Ball Deemed Dangerous in New Summer Camp Regs

I am so glad to see this report. Who of us doesn't know a family where a child suffered lifelong injuries from the dangerous game of Freeze Tag? You might as well let the kids juggle sharp knives!

On a more serious note, this underscores the importance of Anthony Esolen's book Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child. Yes, some of the book is a bit over the top. But reports like this remind us that not all of it is.

(Thomas Kidd has a nice overview of the book here.)

Making Your Garage a Front Porch

Here's a simple idea from Steve McCoy on how to have better connections with your neighborhood so as to demonstrate and tell of the love of Christ.

TGC Southwest Regional Conference: Beale and Trueman

For those in the Southwest, this will be a great conference on Scripture, featuring Greg Beale and Carl Trueman. Go here for more info.

Moo on Justification in Galatians

Crossway has made available Doug Moo's essay, "Justification in Galatians" (PDF) from

Understanding the Times: New Testament Studies in the 21st Century: Essays in Honor of D. A. Carson on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, ed. Köstenberger and Yarbrough.

An excerpt:

Paul's teaching on justification in Galatians strongly endorses the traditional Reformation emphasis on justification by faith alone.

In contrast to some recent reconfigurations of this doctrine, the Reformers did not mean by this teaching that a person gains only initial entrance into the state of salvation by faith alone—the ultimate verdict being based on faith plus works.

They intended to assert that the eschatological gift of justification, at whatever "time" or in however many stages it might be manifested, came by faith alone.

Paul seems to be saying just this in Galatians. Faith is the means not only of entering into relationship with God but also of maintaining that relationship and of confirming that relationship on the day of judgment.

Of course, it is not faith in itself that has this power; it is because faith connects the believer to Christ, in whose vindication (see 1 Tim. 3:16) the believer shares.

My brief overview confirms those who find a monergism in Paul's teaching about salvation that stands in contrast to the synergism of covenant nomism. Justification, not only in its initial phase, but in its totality, is sola fide—and, though it has not been a focus of this study, in light of Galatians 2:21 and 5:4, sola gratia also.