The prayer of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke makes for a good series. It will be noticed that Luke who stressed the humanity of Jesus only recorded that Jesus prayed on many of the occasions that the other Gospel writers mentioned. For example, Matthew recorded the transfiguration of Jesus in Matthew 17, but only Luke mentioned that Jesus was praying when he was transfigured (Lk 9:29).
Read moreWhat is the eternal fate of those who never hear the Gospel?
“There are still 25% of the world’s population who have never heard of Christ,” writes William Lane Craig, Bible Scholar and Apologist at Talbot School of Theology (Reasonable Faith. Doctrine of General Revelation Part 2: (http://www.reasonablefaith.org/defenders). Can these be saved if they never receive the Gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Will they die in their sin if they never hear through no fault of their own? Is ignorance an excuse?
Read moreThe Apologetic Value of Natural Theology
Natural Theology was the reaction of William Paley (1743-1805) to Enlightenment’s skeptical David Hume (1711-1776) who denied all revelation, the teleological argument, and miracles. William Paley wrote Natural Theology and famously defended the teleological argument or the Design/Designer argument with the illustration of the watch found in the desert. Not all theologians believe Natural theology is valid. Michael Horton represents this group: “Our natural experience of God is itself an interpretation, and as the interpretation of our fallen hearts, it is corrupt. As soon as we see a glimmering ember of divine truth we smother it, and this is why there can be no true natural theology, even though we are swimming in general revelation.”[1] This is the strong presuppositional view that many great theologian like Dr. John Whitcomb held to. I will argue that Scripture presents God using both evidentialist and presuppositional approach. For example, Paul in Acts 14 at Lystra first preached the gospel in 14:7 and then employed the teleological argument in 14:15-17.
Read moreWhat is Progressive Revelation?
A. J. Jacobs gave what is now a well-known TED talk on My Year of Living the Bible in December 2007. He turned that speech into a book entitled: The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. This book was on the NYT bestseller’s list for three months.
A. J. Jacobs, who is an agnostic, did this experiment for one year. Here is the reason for his experiment: “I'm concerned about the rise of religious fundamentalism, and people who say they take the Bible literally, which is, according to some polls, as high as 45 or 50 percent of America. So, I decided, what if you really did take the Bible literally? I decided to take it to its logical conclusion and take everything in the Bible literally, without picking and choosing.”
Here is his first takeaway from one year of seeking to prove the Bible cannot be taken literally: “The first is, thou shalt not take the Bible literally. This became very, very clear, early on. Because if you do, then you end up acting like a crazy person and stoning adulterers.” God’s chosen people in the OT was the nation of Israel. When Jesus came and offered the kingdom and himself as king to the nation, Israel rejected him. In response, Jesus postponed the kingdom and set aside Israel temporarily. The church today is the people of God not the nation of Israel. While God commanded capital punishment for certain sins in the OT with the nation of Israel, God does not command the church to put to death its members for any sin. God takes sin just as seriously today as He did in the Old Testament. According to 1 Corinthians 5, the church does not stone adulterers in this age but rather the church disciplines them.
Read moreWhat is Biblical Theology?
1. Definition of Biblical Theology
D. A. Carson admits the difficulty of defining Biblical Theology because of the diversities of views of Biblical Theology: “To relate the nature and functions of systematic theology and biblical theology respectively proves distractingly difficult because various scholarly camps operate with highly divergent definitions of both disciplines and therefore also entertain assumptions and adopt methods that cannot be reconciled with those of other scholarly camps.”[2] Klink and Edwards discuss the Chicago School, Dallas School, and the Philadelphia School of Biblical theology. All three have different views of what constitutes Biblical Theology.
Read moreWhat is Historical Theology?
Gregg Allison discusses two approaches to historical theology. There are two basic approaches commonly found in historical theology: synchronic and diachronic.
Read moreNEW Review of Paul Scott Wilson's "Law-Gospel View" of Preaching
In Scott M. Gibson’s and Matthew D. Kim’s Homiletics and Hermeneutics (Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition, 2018) Paul Scott Wilson presents his view of interpreting and preaching called the Law-Gospel view. Wilson’s one text, one theme, one doctrine, one need, one image, and one mission is just another way of saying what many homileticians describe as one preaching unit or the text (one text), one MPS (one theme), Argumentation (one doctrine), Interest Step in the Introduction (one need), Illustration (one image), and Application (one mission).
Read moreWhat is the Historical/Grammatical Method of Interpretation?
Roy Zuck in Basic Bible Interpretation noted that “In the Middle Ages words, phrases, and sentences in the bible had taken on multiple meanings, losing all sense of objectivity.”[1] All of the multiple meanings could not be correct. In chapter three, Zuck asked, “Whose view is valid?” All of the views are not valid.
Read moreHow are Salvation history and the Redemptive-Historical Method of Interpretation connected?
Salvation history is a theological history of God saving fallen humanity that includes creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. The Redemptive-Historical Method converts that view of biblical theology into a method of interpretation, which requires each text be interpreted through the hermeneutic grid of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation.
Read moreNEW Review of Abraham Kuruvilla’s “Christiconic View” of Preaching
This is a review of Abraham Kuruvilla’s “Chisticonic View” in Hermeneutics and Homiletics: Four Views of Preaching. Kuruvilla brings some important corrections to the Christocentric view, but he agrees with the Christocentric on some points. This review will highlight these differences.
Read moreNEW Review of Bryan Chapell's "Redemptive-Historical View" of Preaching
This post is a review of “Redemptive-Historic View” by Bryan Chapell in Scott M. Gibson’s and Matthew D. Kim’s Homiletics and Hermeneutics: Four Views on Preaching Today.
I agree with Byran Chapell when he warns that the redemptive-historical view of forcing Christ into every text has “been abused, in ways that are now obvious to us, by ancient allegorism that sought to make Jesus ‘magically’ appear in every Bible passage through exegetical acrobatics that stretched logic, imagination, and credulity.”[1] This is a candid admission.
Read moreNEW Review of Kenneth Langley's "Theocentric View" of Preaching
Kenneth Langley’s Theocentric View of Preaching is found in Scott M. Gibson’s and Matthew D. Kim’s Homiletics and Hermeneutics: Four Views on Preaching Today. I agree with Bryan Chapell, Abraham Kuruvilla, and Paul Scott Wilson, who note that Langley makes many good points in his view. For example, Bryan Chapell states “The sound principles of biblical interpretation in Ken Langley’s work make it rich reading. For example, he begins with a statement that I would hope all believers would endorse: ‘Preaching should be God centered because God is God centered and wants us to be God centered in everything we do’ (81). That healthy summary of 1 Corinthians 10:31 should elicit a loud ‘Amen.’”[1]
Read moreContentment is a Choice (Philippians 4:10-13)
I read a story about a Jewish man in Hungary who went to his rabbi and complained, “Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I do?” The rabbi answered, “Take your goat into the room with you.” The man was incredulous, but the rabbi insisted, “Do as I say and come back in a week.” A week later the man returned looking more distraught than before. “We can’t stand it,” he told the rabbi. “The goat is filthy.” The rabbi said, “Go home and let the goat out, and come back in a week.” A week later the man returned, radiant, exclaiming, “Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there’s no goat--only the nine of us.”[1]
Read moreProsperity and Poverty (Both can be God’s will)
Joel Osteen famously said in a tweet, "It’s God’s will for you to live in prosperity instead of poverty.” God’s Word, however, teaches that it is not always God’s will for His people to experience prosperity. Jesus was born poor and he died poor (click to open). Surely, the servant is not greater than his master. God’s Word also teaches that sometimes poverty is God’s will for His people. The apostle Paul died in abject poverty in the cold and damp Mamertine Prison in Rome. He had to request Timothy to bring him warm clothing for the coming winter. The Prosperity Gospel teaches the opposite.
Read moreA Proverb for Mom and Dad
Last week, six-year-old Mason Stonehouse used his dad’s cell phone and the Grubhub app, to order over $1000.00 dollars of food. He ordered 5 plates of 20-piece jumbo shrimp, chicken sandwiches, chili cheese fries, over $400 of pepperoni pizza, ice cream, etc. After the home deliveries just kept coming, the dad, Keith Stonehouse, figured out what had happened. The dad had let his son use his cell phone to play games for thirty minutes before bedtime. Keith found his son hiding under the comforter on his bed. When his dad asked Mason why he did it, Mason replied, “I don’t know, I was hungry.” Well, Mason went to bed hungry that evening. Mason was not going to reap any of the benefits of his misdeeds. His parents also took the $115 in his piggy bank to help off the food debt. Obviously, Mason lost his cell phone privileges.
Parenting at times can be very challenging.
Read moreFactual Data Sheet for Hebrew Poetry (Proverbs) Part One
I got the idea for “The Factual Data” sheet from reading that Warren W. Wiersbe’s homiletic teacher, Lloyd Perry used a generic “Factual Data” sheet for all sermon preparation. I have adapted “The Factual Data” sheet to the different genres of Scripture instead of one size fits all. I have a "The Factual Data" Sheet also for Pauline Epistles and Narratives.
D. Brent Sandy and Roald L. Giese, Jr. in their book Cracking Old Testament Codes have a helpful chapter on interpreting Proverbs: “Proverbs” by Ted A. Hildebrandt. Roy B. Zuck is the editor of Learning from the Sages: Selected Studies on the Book of Proverbs. This is a thorough treatment of Proverbs. Jeffery D. Arthurs has a chapter on preaching from Hebrew poetry in his book Preaching with Variety: How to Re-create the Dynamics of Biblical Genres. In chapter seven, Short Sentences Long Remembered. The form of the genre, in this case, Proverb, should influence the form of the sermon.
Read moreHow to help the dying face death!
Kent R. Hughes related the following story about a pastor who helped a thirty-eight-old mother of four to die.
In the late 1970s, Margie, a thirty-eight-year-old mother of four, was hooked up to a ventilator. Unlike most other patients, she was not heavily sedated. She and her husband had just been told that she had only a few days to live because of the total respiratory failure she had experienced that very morning. Young Margie took a writing pad and asked her pastor, Dr. Darryl Bodie, the bare question “How do you die?”
Read moreFear God and Fear Nothing Else
What do you fear? Or, whom do you fear? A common fear we battle is the fear of failure. I was on a panel of pastors once. We were asked what we feared most as a pastor. My response was that I feared misinterpreting the Bible and wrongly teaching it to our church. Another pastor very honestly responded that he feared failing as a pastor. So many of us fear failure. We fear failure with their friends. We fear being avoided or being rejected by our friends, not getting many likes on Facebook. We obsess over getting a “B” in school. We fear failure in our marriage. We fear our children will go astray or not succeed in life. We fear as the honest pastor failing in our careers. We consternate over losing our job, not getting that raise or promotion or recognition for hard work.
Read moreHow to live in a culture of death!
Kent R. Hughes reminds us that we live in a culture of death: “We play violent video games, watch documentaries on serial killers, and murder our unborn.”[1] The culture of death got pushed back a few steps recently. Last week, the North Carolina legislature passed a 12-week abortion ban. There can be no abortions after 12 weeks, a bill that is more restrictive than the existing law. The governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, on Saturday, held a rally in order to publicly veto the bill that had been adopted by the legislature.
On Tuesday the General Assembly overrode the governor's veto of the bill and thus, this particular ban on abortions after 12 weeks in the state of North Carolina will become law. The result is as one senator said, the lives of “millions of unborn children” will be saved.
Read moreBeware of the Home Wrecker!
Some of you remember advice columnist, Ann Landers. Ottis of Wisconsin wrote Ann Landers: Eleven years ago, I walked out on a 12-year marriage. My wife was a good person, but for a long time, she was under a lot of stress. Instead of helping her, I began an affair with her best friend. This is what I gave up:
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