Monthly Archives: September 2010

Holy Spirit Reading List

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My friend Mark Mould and I have been plotting the next Saturday Morning Theology course to run at our church. This time we want to cover what is known as “pneumatology”, or the doctrine of the Holy Spirit (the last two were on ecclesiology and soteriology).

We’re putting together a reading list of good books that we have read on doctrine of the Holy Spirit, along with some others that we want to read as part of our preparation. It is not a list of books we completely agree with, as we want to take in a variety of perspectives. I would be interested in any further recommendations you have. I’ve linked to the ones I have reviewed on this blog.

My talks include one on the Baptism in the Spirit (maybe I will revisit some ideas I blogged about a while back), one on Word and Spirit (which I have tonnes of notes on, and might turn into a blog series at some point), one on Jesus and the Spirit (I’m hoping Hawthorne’s book will be particularly helpful for this one), and one on the Spirit in church history from the Puritans through to the present day (I’m particularly looking for book suggestions for what the Puritans said on the Spirit, and I also want to read a bit on the theology of the holiness movement).

John Stott on Unity and Credibility

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John Stott on Eph 2:11-22 in The Message of Ephesians, p111

It is simply impossible, with any shred of Christian integrity, to go on proclaiming that Jesus by his cross has abolished the old divisions and created a new single humanity of love, while at the same time we are contradicting our message by tolerating racial or social or other barriers within our church fellowship. 

…

We need to get the failures of the church on our conscience, to feel the offence to Christ and the world which these failures are, to weep over the credibility gap between the church’s talk and the church’s walk, to repent of our readiness to excuse and even condone our failures and to determine to do something about it. I wonder if anything is more urgent today, for the honour of Christ and for the spread of the gospel, than that the church should be, and should be seen to be, what by God’s purpose and Christ’s achievement it already is – a single new humanity, a model of human community, a family of reconciled brothers and sisters who love their Father and love each other, the evident dwelling place of God by his Spirit. Only then will the world believe in Christ as Peacemaker. Only then will God receive the glory due to his name.

Book Review – The Message of Judges (Michael Wilcock)

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This volume in the Bible Speaks Today series contains a brief introduction and the full text of Judges from the RSV. As with many commentators on Judges, Wilcock highlights the recurring pattern of rebellion, retribution, repentance and rescue. However, he is also eager to point out that there are many things in the book that don’t fit neatly into that pattern. In fact, he argues that rather than having a cyclic structure, the book of Judges portrays a downward spiral.

His comments on Ehud are interesting. Ehud is the story of the unexpected. Wilcock considers it more likely that he was disabled in his right hand rather than left-handed per se. Ehud is in fact the first of a whole series of unlikely heroes that characterise the book of Judges. The rescuers God sends so often come from the places we least expect (as was true of Jesus).

God repeatedly allows his people to get their fingers burned in order that they come to see that ‘Canaan’ is in fact the great enemy. With each rotation of the cycle (or spiral), we see how shallow Israel’s repentance is.

Another interesting section is on Jephthah – another unlikely hero, “despised and rejected by men”. He discusses how come Jephthah comes to get a mention in Heb 11:32 for being a man of faith, despite doing what seems a shockingly immoral act. Jephthah had not “heard” many of God’s commands, but he had at least heard the command to keep your word.

The final judge, Samson, was a man who had the Spirit, but not wisdom, or a “clean heart and a right spirit”. But even in the story of Samson, Wilcock points out parallels with the story of Jesus – handed over to death by his own people, and winning a great victory in his death.

Judges ends with a shocking account of just how far Israelite society had fallen morally, with God virtually absent in the closing chapters. But yet he declares that the book of Judges is ultimately a story of grace. God doesn’t abandon his people, though they richly deserve it, but ensures they don’t completely destroy themselves by their own wilful folly.

Although the commentaries of Dale Ralph Davies on the Old Testament Historical books remain firm favourites of mine, I have to say that I enjoyed Wilcock’s approach to Judges, particularly his attention to how each judge’s story contributes to the overall message of the book.

The Eutychus Song

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Liam Thatcher recently posted a poem on his blog entitled “Ode to Eutychus”. I liked it so much that I began experimenting to see if I could put a tune to it. Inspiration struck and before long I found myself writing a chorus for it, which is almost a song in its own right.

Liam’s original poem contains some long words, so a dictionary may be needed (see his post for the glossary):

Through the night St Paul orated.
Eutychus, he hibernated.
Thus he got defenestrated,
Hit the ground; absquatulated!

All the crowd vociferated.
Paul felt quite incriminated.
Earnestly he supplicated,
’til he was reanimated

And here’s the extended chorus I have added:

Oh Eutychus, how could you do this to us?
While Paul was preaching through the night
You gave us such a fright

Oh Eutychus, were you seeking for attention,
were you trying to get a mention
in the book of Acts

Oh Eutychus, why did you interrupt our training
Just as Paul began explaining
Why women should wear hats

Oh Eutychus, it was anything but boring
but still you started snoring
And then we heard a splat

Oh Eutychus, that was such a nasty fall
And I’m so grateful to St Paul
That you lived to tell the tale

Oh Eutychus, I’m so glad that you’re not dead,
I really am so sorry,
I only meant to wake you
I didn’t mean to push you
I hope that you’ll forgive me
Eutychus, O Eutychus

Sadly I don’t have the time to make a proper recording of it, but here’s a quick and somewhat ropey rendition in front of my webcam for your entertainment:

Book Review – Crazy Love (Francis Chan)

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I’m a little late to get in on the action reviewing this book (loads of bloggers, including Phil Whitall, and Tim Challies have reviewed it already), but since I heard such good reports about it, and bought a copy for my wife earlier this year (she loved it), I decided to read it for myself.

Essentially it is a call to radical living – God is not content to simply be a small part of our lives. Chan starts off by inviting us to get some much-needed perspective by looking at who God is, and by contemplating our own smallness and mortality.

He really gets going as he challenges us about our lukewarmness. The chapter entitled “profile of the lukewarm” is not comfortable reading as it describes the “lukewarm” Christian in a way that questions how deep our commitment to God truly is. Our churches may be full of “Christians”, but how many are truly “disciples”? While he recongnises that we won’t attain sinless perfection, but that does not mean that it is OK not to be in a position of obedience and surrender.

Chan is careful not to obscure the gospel of grace – he is not trying to persuade us to earn or deserve our salvation by radical acts. Nor does he ever adopt a judgmental or superior tone – he is earnest and humble throughout. In fact, he lets the Bible do much of the work for him, simply quoting some of the challenging statements made by Jesus and other Biblical writers and allowing the weight of their message to sink in.

The chapter title “your best life … later” is obviously a play on Joel Osteen’s “your best life now”. Chan’s take on Christianity is one that is characterised by extreme generosity and risk-taking, rather than the desire for comfort and safety. The chapter entitled “Profile of the Obsessed” is the strongest, describing what a life fully devoted to God would look like. Phil Whittall has helpfully provided a series of quotes from that chapter on his blog which are well worth reading and pondering.

He includes a chapter that attempts to ground what he is saying in real-life examples with brief biographies of people he knows or has heard of who have put a radical sacrificial life into practice. He finishes by challenging us to imagine and pray about what changes we need to make in order to live a radical life.

In conclusion, I have to agree that this is a superb little book with a unsettlingly powerful message. It is written in such a way as to be accessible to a broad audience and if you get hold of a copy, be sure to lend it to many in your church. It is a tragedy that we have churches full of “lukewarm” Christians, who are often relying on what Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace” – the assumption that we can trust Christ for salvation but live more or less in the same way as those who do not know him. Francis Chan is a voice crying out in the wilderness, calling us to repent, and return to loving the Lord with our whole hearts, with a love that may make us look crazy. Will we respond, or will we dismiss him as an angst-ridden nutter?

Moo on Wholehearted Commitment to Christ

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From the preface of the Pillar New Testament Commentary on the Letter of James by Douglas Moo:

I remain convinced that the heart of the letter is a call to wholehearted commitment to Christ. James’s call for consistent and uncompromising Christian living is much needed. Our churches are filled with believers who are only halfhearted in their faith and, as a result, leave large areas of their lives virtually untouched by Christian values.

Forthcoming Commentaries 2010

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There haven’t been many commentaries published so far this year that have really got me excited (Peter O’Brien on Hebrews being the notable exception). But all that is set to change with a bumper crop of commentaries set to come out just in time for Christmas. Here’s my pick of the bunch.

New Testament Bonanza

One of the newest series, the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary (which covers the New Testament) has three new volumes scheduled for later this year. Matthew by Grant Osbourne, Galatians by Thomas Schreiner and Ephesians by Clinton Arnold. All three are exciting, although Galatians is probably the one I will prioritise getting as I am looking forward to Schreiner’s take on the New Perspective. I have the ZEC commentary on James and it looks to be a very nice format.

We’re treated to another significant Ephesians commentary this year as Frank Thielman’s Ephesians in the Baker Exegetical Commentary series is due out in November. The BEC volumes I have read have all been excellent and are usually very competitively priced.

There is also a major new commentary on the gospel of John by Ramsey-Michaels in the NICNT series. At 1122 pages, this one will should prove an excellent companion to my current favourite on John by Don Carson in the Pillar Series.

Speaking of Don Carson, the revision of his commentary on Matthew in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary series is finally due out. The first edition published in 1984 was simply outstanding, and I look forward to reading his interaction with more recent commentators. The volume also includes a revision of Mark by Wessell and Strauss.

Carson is also the editor of the Pillar series, which has a new volume on 1 Corinthians coming out by Roy Ciampa and Brian Rosner. I don’t know a lot about the authors, but it will be nice to get something else to complement my current favourite on 1 Corinthians in the NICNT series by Gordon Fee.

Which nicely links me to the rumour that Fee’s commentary on Revelation in the NCCS series is due out soon. Fee’s commentaries never disappoint, so I am sure it will be worth getting hold of.

Old Testament

On the Old Testament side of things I tend to focus on the more intermediate level commentaries and there is a good helping of those coming out soon.

The Bible Speaks Today series seems to have awoken from its slumber and is filling in some of the remaining gaps in its Old Testament coverage. Gordon Bridger has the task of bringing the somewhat gloomy books of Obadiah, Nahum and Zephaniah to life, while Robert Fyall tackles Ezra and Haggai.

The revision of the Expositor’s Bible Commentary takes another step towards completion with the release of a volume on 1 Chronicles – Job featuring several contributors including Tremper Longman III on Job. And the Cornerstone series, also nearing completion, has two new volumes. Ezekiel and Daniel by Thompson and Carpenter and Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther by Gary Smith.

On the slightly more technical side, the Apollos OT commentary series has a new volume on Joshua by Pekka Pitkanen. And there is an interesting looking commentary on the Psalms by Waltke and Houston, which is not part of any series.

As always, the definitive guide to what’s coming up is the forthcoming commentaries blog post by Jeremy Pierce (Parableman).

Esther and the Gospel

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Over this summer I have been teaching my way through the book of Esther as a part of a summer school that my church has been running. I’ve also been blogging my way through the subjects we touched on during that series. I wanted to finish my seminar series with a look at the question, “Is the Gospel to be found in Esther”?

At first glance, the answer might be no. Not only is God not mentioned in the book, but given the distinct lack of mercy to be found in Esther, we might despair of finding Jesus in there at all. Even the great Martin Luther apparently felt that there was a distinct lack of gospel to be found in the book of Esther. However, armed with the confidence we get from Luke 24:44-47 that Jesus, the mission of God and the gospel of forgiveness are to be found throughout the Old Testament, I want to briefly summarise various ways in which I, and others, have detected echoes of the gospel story in the book of Esther.

There is in fact no need to immediately resort to allegorical interpretations of the book. At a very basic level, the book of Esther is testimony to the unthwartable purposes of God. Satan has on many occasions attempted to destroy God’s salvation plan by killing off the Jews, and Jesus himself. Satan was behind Haman’s plot to annihilate the Jews in Esther’s time, just as much as he was behind Herod’s plan to destroy the baby boys in Bethlehem. But God is always one step ahead of Satan, and just as Haman’s plan to impale Mordecai on a giant spike backfired horribly, so Satan’s attempt to destroy Jesus at the cross turned out to be a comprehensive defeat. As Jared Wilson tweeted this earlier this week:

Seeing the cross in Esther 7:10. Blows me away. The gallows Satan meant for our defeat is his own defeat.

Some of the echoes of the gospel various people have detected require a somewhat vivid imagination, particularly when the unpleasant king Xerxes gets to represent God. For example, Dave Bish argues that we can see Christ and the church in the way that Esther 1 depicts a powerful, generous and wealthy king longing to gaze upon the beauty of his bride.

Others pick up on Esther 5:1, where Esther has to enter the presence of the king. She first puts on her “royal robes” before entering, and finds that her life is spared and the king is open to her request. This parallels the “robe of righteousness” that the believer has been given, enabling her to walk into the presence of God and be accepted, with no fear of death, and boldly present requests to him.

Sinclair Ferguson’s quote often cited by Tim Keller describes Jesus as “the true and better Esther who didn’t just risk leaving an earthly palace but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people.” Jesus didn’t just say “if I perish, I perish”, but “when I perish, I perish for them”.

Let me add a few more ideas of my own (although I am sure they are not unique to me).

One thing that stood out for me is the fact that Esther is doubly chosen. She is chosen for adoption and chosen for royalty. These truth sum up our glorious change of status by virtue of our being chosen by God. We are now his dearly loved children, and we are also a royal priesthood, destined to reign with him (2 Tim 2:12).

Another echo of the gospel story is the way that Haman’s death marked a decisive victory without being the end of the story. The entire Jewish community needed to get involved in the fight against the remainder of their enemies. In some ways this reflects the way that the cross was a decisive and climactic victory against Satan, but now the church, God’s people, must see out the victory as we wage war in the spiritual battle that will be consummated at the return of Christ.

And finally, I think that Mordecai’s counter-edict is a picture of the gospel. Haman’s law which threatened the Jews with death could not be revoked, but Mordecai’s law was more powerful and provided an escape. God’s law that “the soul who sins shall die” (Ez 18:20), restated by Paul as “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23), has effectively sentenced all of humanity to destruction. And God is not going to revoke that law, which is perfectly good and just. Instead, he issues the counter-edict of the gospel. This edict states that “everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life” (John 6:40). By bearing the penalty of our sin in his own body, Jesus took the full force of the first edict upon himself, in order that we may benefit from the provision of forgiveness and deliverance in the counter-edict.