At baptisms, we repeat the words of Christ in the Great Commission “in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” without realizing that we are referring to the stragglingly in-depth doctrine of the Trinity. Jesus in the taught both the oneness of God’s essence and the threeness of the Persons in the Trinity in the baptismal formula: “Baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19). The one deity of the Trinity is seen in the singular “name” because God is one in substance or essence. But then Jesus followed up saying baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” or the three persons of the Trinity.
Read moreReview of Four Views on Moving Beyond the Bible to Theology (Chapter One: A Principlizing Model by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.)
Chapter One: A Principlizing Model by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. (Colman M. Mockler Emeritus Distinguished Professor of OT and Ethics and President Emeritus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts).
Kaiser advocates applying specifics principles from the ancient text to the contemporary culture. Kaiser provides lists and defines six principles that expose euthanasia as wrong. Kaiser draws principles from different text in his opinion to justify women praying and prophesying. The next issue Kaiser deals with is homosexuality. Kaiser states that no one needs to go beyond the Bible to see that homosexuality is condemned in seven passages. Kaiser believes there are principles in the Bible, such as found in the book of Philemon, that teach slaves should be freed. Kaiser teaches that there are adequate principles against abortion and embryonic stem cell research that no one needs to go beyond the Bible.
Read moreBook Review of First Theology: God, Scripture, and Hermeneutics by Kevin J. Vanhoozer
Kevin J. Vanhoozer is Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
Chapter One: First Theology: Meditations in a Postmodern Tool shed
Vanhoozer states that doing theology includes God, Scripture, and hermeneutics which he calls first theology or “theological hermeneutics” (9). This chapter introduces “the post-modern challenge to theology” which is deconstructing the Bible of authoritative meanings behind the text, such as, patriarchy. Chapter one seeks to answer which should come first in our study of theology, theology proper or bibliology. Vanhoozer state that both should begin our study. The first chapter introduces “the notion of Scripture as a diverse set of divine speech acts.” This chapter introduces “the importance of learning wisdom by indwelling the biblical texts.” Vanhoozer’s strong contention is that “wisdom is more than information.... It is lived knowledge” (39). Vanhoozer concludes “there is no more vital task facing Christians today than responding faithfully to Scripture as God’s authoritative speech acts---not because the book is holy but because the Lord is, and because the Bible is his Word, the chief means we have of coming to Jesus Christ” (41).
Read moreThe Original Creation and the New Creation
What was the raw material or the states of things when God began to create the original creation? The incomplete planet is described in Genesis 1:2 as useless or “without form” as a desert in Dt. 32:10 which is uninhabited. The earth was also lifeless. The planet at this stage was covered with darkness and water. So the planet in verse two was useless, lifeless, and covered in darkness. “Darkness” in Scripture does not always mean evil as here and in Psalm 104:19-24 where the darkness of night is seen as a blessing from God for which he is to be praised.
The planet at this stage is full of potential. How did God bring this raw material to its full potential? With this raw material, the great Potter formed the earth and then man out of the dust of the earth. First, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and then God spoke his first creative words in Gen. 1:3 and day by day for six days God removed the incompleteness and deficiencies of earth.
Paul draws an analogy between the incomplete earth and the sinner before salvation in 2 Cor.4:3-6. The sinner before salvation was also useless, lifeless (Eph. 2:1), and in darkness (Eph. 4:18). But then “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). How did God do this work in the sinner’s life? The same as He did with the useless, lifeless, and in darkness planet. The Spirit of God moved on the sinner’s life (John 16:8) when God’s Word was spoken or preached (Rom. 10:17).
Paul himself, as Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9, is an illustration. Saul, on the road to Damascus, in his spiritual uselessness, lifelessness, and darkness, was struck to the ground by a light that was brighter than the noon day sun. That light was Jesus Christ the Son of God who was and is the Light of the world. As you and I witness the Word of God to unregenerate sinners, God’s Spirit will work at opening satanically blinded eyes so the Creator of the universe can once again create a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).
Helen Keller was both blind and deaf. Her world was only darkness and touch. Anne Sullivan, who was partially blind most of her life, began to tutor Helen Keller when she was seven years old. Anne would spell words in the palm of Helen’s hand and let her touch that object. For example, Anne spelled d-o-l-l in Helen’s palm while Helen felt the doll Anne had given her. Anne spelled w-a-t-e-r in Helen’s palm while her other hand was under a water spicket. At that moment as Kevin J. Vanhoozer noted, “the mystery of language was revealed.” Helen Keller wrote in her autobiography: “I knew then that ‘w-a-t-e-r’ meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. The living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free’” (The Story of My Life. New York, 1988, 18). Vanhoozer observed, “Helen’s teacher, a miracle worker like the Holy Spirit, ministered the word and brought understanding” (First Theology: God, Scripture, and Hermeneutics. Downers Grove: IVP, 123).