Beating importunately on Scripture

A friend preached a wonderful sermon on the bible last Sunday.  He spoke, among other things, of Luther’s attitude to the bible:
The whole reformation was birthed by a tenacious asking, seeking and knocking at the door of Scripture:
I beat importunately upon Paul at that place (Rom 1:17), most ardently desiring to know what St. Paul [...]

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Six Thoughts on the Sermon of Creation

Here’s a thawed out Thursday repost with the addition of a sixth point.  If you’ve read it before, scroll on down to number 6.
1) The sermon of creation is not a minimal thing – it’s maximal.  Romans 1:19 ‘what may be known about God… God has made plain.’  Colossians 1:23 ‘the gospel… has been proclaimed to [...]

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Happy Friday

You’ve probably seen this before?  Even so, it’s great fun…

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Reading Scripture trinitarianly

. . . There is no such thing as a non-dogmatic or non-theological engagement of the biblical text, or of any text or language for that matter. Moreover, anti-Trinitarian frames of reference lead to fundamental problems for approaching the Bible and revelation. To illustrate by way of a historical parallel, the early Socinians, whose orientation [...]

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A theology of preaching – part 5

Christ must be proclaimed biblically
Hopefully it is not a new thought that Christ is the Word of God.  Perhaps, though, it is a new thought to consider preaching as the word of God.  Therefore some may wonder whether we have lost the vital importance of Scripture as the word of God.
Absolutely not.  Without Scripture we [...]

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“Because we’re supposed to”

I just finished a preaching group where a fine preacher gave a fine talk on Judges 14.  At the end he included a sentence about ‘another Saviour who came to deliver His people eternally’.  That sort of thing.   He didn’t make anything of the point and he didn’t mention the name ‘Jesus’, but he included [...]

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Are you a bible nut??

Take the Christ the Truth patented quiz:
What is your response to the following Scriptures?
 
Scripture 1: Josh 10:12-15 - the sun stays up for a whole extra day
A) What a rich and enigmatic text! The main thing we glean is that the LORD can be trusted in difficult circumstances.
B) [Muffled] I suppose something quite strange happened here.  [...]

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The Bible and God

Ok, so the bible is not God.  But then, what is the relationship between God and the written word?
I’ll devote quite a big proportion of next week to that question as I blog about preaching.  But for now let me explore an analogy with the sacraments.  Marc can shoot me down – he’s doing a [...]

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The bible is God, apparently

There are many problems with saying that the pre-flesh Word of John 1 = the Scriptures.  Here’s one of them…

h/t Bobby.

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My new favourite word…

…Are you ready?  It’s really particularly awesome.  Here it is:
exeJesus
How cool is that?
What do we want from our exegesis?  ExeJesus that’s what!
Nice one Dave Ingland.
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Read the Bible in 90 days

It works out at 12 pages a day. About 16 chapters.  That’s do-able right?
Week 1: Genesis 1:1 - Exodus 40:38 :
Week 2: Leviticus 1:1 - Deuteronomy 22:30 :
Week 3: Deuteronomy 23:1 - 1 Samuel 28:25 :
Week 4: 1 Samuel 29:1 - 2 Kings 25:30 :
Week 5: 1 Chronicles 1:1 - Nehemiah 13:31 :
Week 6: Esther 1:1 - Psalm 89:52 :
Week 7: Psalm 90:1 - Isaiah 13:22 :
Week 8: Isaiah 14:1 - Jeremiah 33:26 :
Week 9: Jeremiah 34:1 - Daniel 8:27 :
Week 10: Daniel 9:1 - Matthew 26:75 :
Week 11: Matthew 27:1 - Acts 6:15 :
Week 12: Acts 7:1 - Colossians 4:18 :
Week 13: 1 Thess. 1:1 - Revelation 22:21 :
Go here to subscribe to the RSS feed.  Day one begins here.
Biblegateway proposes you do it over the summer: 1 June – 29 August.  But me and a mate are starting tomorrow.  If anyone wants to join us, let me know.
It might mean my blogging [...]

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Why you don’t read your bible

Dan Hames tells us why here. 
He covers:
‘You don’t have time’,
‘You think the bible’s all about you,’ and
‘You think your bible reading is for God’s benefit.’
 
In this context the Bible is given to us as a gift to feast on, rather than a project to complete before judgment day.  We will find we go to it [...]

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Application – the evangelical cure-all

 
Like coathangers, we own a hundred bibles but have no idea how they came to be ours.  One of them is called a “Life Application Bible.” 
As far as I can tell, it exists in order to footnote every biblical indicative so that a moral imperative may be added.  This is, we are assured, the cure [...]

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How not to read the bible

A semi-imagined conversation
– Right.  Bible reading.  Here we go – Speak Lord, your servant is listening.  Ok, Matthew 11:28.  Jesus said “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.”  Ok, good verse.  Thank You Lord.  But now let me think.  What is this verse really saying to [...]

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The literal IS the christocentric

I recently re-read Nathan Pitchford’s excellent short article on the reformers’ hermeneutic.
His basic point is that Sola Scriptura always leads to Solus Christus.  The literal reading simply is the christocentric reading.
For Luther, the grammatical-historical hermeneutic was simply the interpretation of scripture that “drives home Christ.” As he once expressed it, “He who would read the [...]

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All interpretation is theological

This is a repost of Theology – the end of the process??
Is “systematic theology… the end process of exegesis and biblical theology”??  Ben Myers writes brilliantly against such a conception.  To imagine that a pure biblical scholar can dispassionately read off the meaning of the Bible through the use of objective interpretive tools is ludicrous.  To [...]

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Bible reading and meditation but no resolutions here

Some yearly reading plans from ESV.
So go to it.
Now there’s much to be said for just reading decent chunks of the word.  After all that’s how you get to really know an author – read lots.  But if you also want some pointers on biblical meditation here are some helpful tips.
from Justin Taylor
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And if you want [...]

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Thirty, Sixty or a Hundred times

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Do you believe these words from Jesus:

Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, welcome it, and produce a crop–thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.  (Mark 4:20)

Christ’s promise for Christian fruitfulness is out of this world.  3000%, 6000% or 10 000% is an incredible yield.
Do I dare believe in [...]

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Amen Amen

If you ever say Amen it’s usually a response to what someone else has said or prayed, right?
And it’s usually after what they’ve said, right?
And only if it’s really good do you repeat it: ’Amen, Amen!’, right?
So it’s an affirmation that someone else has just spoken truth (Amen is straight from the Hebrew for truth).
But when [...]

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Who is the first horseman of the Apocalypse?

“I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!”  I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a [...]

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Five thoughts on the sermon of creation

1) The sermon of creation is not a minimal thing – it’s maximal.  Romans 1:19 ‘what may be known about God… God has made plain.’  Colossians 1:23 ‘the gospel… has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven.’  Psalm 19:2 ‘Day after day they pour forth speech.’
2) Our blindness/deafness to this sermon is not minimal either – it [...]

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Barth on Preaching Christ from all the Scriptures

For Barth the three-fold Word – Christ, Scripture and Proclamation – means that preaching should always be Scriptural and always witness to Christ.   Here he makes it clear that christo-centrism is not something the preacher (or the biblical theologian) bestows on the Bible.  Rather, the Bible is already and inherently witness to Christ:
“The Bible says all sorts [...]

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Theology – the end of the process??

Is “systematic theology… the end process of exegesis and biblical theology”??  Ben Myers writes brilliantly against such a conception.  To imagine that a pure biblical scholar can dispassionately read off the meaning of the Bible through the use of objective interpretive tools is ludicrous.  To imagine that then the systematic theologian comes to co-ordinate these propositions [...]

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