Caleb Batchelor > Recent Status Updates

Jim [one of the three Carson children] recalls barging into Dad's study unannounced, finding him on his knees praying, and quietly backing out. "But that image has always remained with me, especially during my later, rebellious teen years. While walking away from God, I could not get away from the image of my father on his knees, praying for me. It is one of the things that eventually brought me back." 72

A recent note from my sister Joyce comments, "As I look back on life with Mom and Dad, perhaps the one thing I recall most vividly is the memory that I don't have. Try as I might, I cannot recollect one time when either of them spoke negatively about another person. Although Mom was an extremely astute judge of character, her analyses were well seasoned with grace and the latent potential for redemption." 60

"A key purpose of genealogies in some contexts is to show a divine purpose that moves history to a specific goal." 47

"But literary unity is rarely considered, perhaps due to the loss of the concept of a Book, which is also due to the loss of the concept of an Author. Perhaps, if it can be shown through literary means that this material has not only an implicit literary cohesion but an explicit unity as well, biblical theology may get a fresh hearing." 37

"The larger literary context of the Tanakh has significant hermeneutical implications. For example, it begins with Genesis rather than with Exodus, signifying that Israel's national history is subordinated to that of world history. Hermeneutically, this means that the birth of Israel as a nation and its raison d'etre are set within God's larger purposes for the world and for creation."

"It is not a choice between the Lord Jesus and other mediators. It is a choice between the Lord Jesus and none at all." Tom Carson, father of D.A. Carson, page 38

...all the major notions of the NT are facets of the diamond of Christ's resurrection, which is the beginning of the "already--not yet, end-time, new-creational kingdom." 354

"'The fruit of the Spirit' in 5:22 is a general allusion to the OT promise that the Spirit will bring about abundant fertility in the coming new age. Specifically, uppermost in mind are Isaiah's repeated prophecies that in the new creation the Spirit will be the bearer of plentiful fruitfulness, which Isaiah often interprets to be godly attributes..." 305

The storyline of the New Testament: "Jesus's life, trials, death for sinners, and resurrection by the Spirit have launched the fulfillment of the eschatological already--not yet new-creational reign, bestowed by grace through faith and resulting in worldwide commission to the faithful to advance new-creational reign and resulting in judgment for the unbelieving, unto the triune God's glory."

"Since the resurrection and ascension are the climax of each of the four Gospels and the launching pad of Acts, I also propose that Christ's resurrection as the beginning of the new-creational kingdom is not only the goal of the Gospels and Acts but also the dominant theological framework within which the other major theological concepts of these NT books are to be understood."

"Adam and Eve did not remember God's word adequately, and they 'fell.'.... Jesus Christ, however, knew the word and, by obeying it, established himself as God's true last Adam.... Likewise, Jesus' followers 'follow the Lamb wherever He goes' (Rev. 14:4), including down the path of facing satanic temptations.... The heart of the matter is this: do Christians know God's word, do they believe it, and do they do it?"

"Adam and Eve did not remember God's word adequately, and they 'fell.'.... Jesus Christ, however, knew the word and, by obeying it, established himself as God's true last Adam.... Likewise, Jesus' followers 'follow the Lamb wherever He goes' (Rev. 14:4), including down the path of facing satanic temptations.... The heart of the matter is this: do Christians know God's word, do they believe it, and do they do it?"