Think Wink.

is Richard Bauckham’s 2006 book Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony. I read chapter 9 and why Papias was right to say that the primary source of the Gospel according to Mark is the apostle Peter. It was really good and the arguments are very persuasive. Based upon that chapter alone, I really recommend this book to defend the historical reliability of the four Gospels (not necessarily inerrancy).

A Hard Decision for Me

Free Book for November

The Future of Justificaiton

This is an amazing video that concludes a debate on Calvinism. Enjoy.

James White on Steve Gregg

James White on John 3:16-17

James White–Steve Gregg Debate

H/T: Justin Taylor

Why Did I Take That Class?

Luther on Ingratitude and Thanksgiving.

Everyone Loses It At Some Point

Here is an amazing treatment by James White on John 3:16-17: Common Attacks Against Reformed Theology II. This uses Real Audio so click here for the link to the Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church page to download the software (it’s in the small print near the top of the page).

James White on Steve Gregg

The Importance of “The”

Can a Person say that?

Tomorrow I will again meet with some missionaries from the LDS church. This makes my fourth pair since I have relocated here to KC-MO. I have since done some more research into Mormonism and specifically the Book of Mormon (here on out referred to as BoM). I noticed a massive inconsistency with what I heard from last week’s missionaries and what I read in BoM. I will briefly summarize what the missionaries stated about Heavenly Father, Jesus, and Holy Ghost and compare it to the BoM.
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Changing A Single Word…

Can a Person say that?

Two Unexpected Visitors

Listen to John Piper’s T4G message and let the weight of his message slap you awake from the slumber the church has in this world. Oh man I feel terrible.

How The Supremacy of Christ Creates Radical Christian Sacrifice.

My Theological Worldview

A Wonderful Non-Shocker.

If I Were a General in the US Civil War…

This is the third post on Mark 1:11 and its three sources of Genesis 22LXX; Psalm 2:7 LXX; and Isaiah 42:1 LXX. This post will conclude our examination of how Jesus is God’s Son (Genesis 22), Son (Psalm 2:7) and Servant (Isaiah 42:1). Let us get the scene of Mark 1:9-11 in front of us from the NET,

9 Now in those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan River. 10 And just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my one dear Son; in you I take great delight.”

Again let us see the Greek text of Mark 1:11 and Isaiah 42:1 before us so that we can see the parallels.

Mark 1:11 — καὶ φωνὴ ἐγένετο ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν σὺ εἶ ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός ἐν σοὶ εὐδόκησα
Isaiah 42:1 LXX — Ιακωβ ὁ παῖς μου ἀντιλήμψομαι αὐτοῦ Ισραηλ ὁ ἐκλεκτός μου προσεδέξατο αὐτὸν ἡ ψυχή μου ἔδωκα τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐπ αὐτόν κρίσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἐξοίσει
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Son, Son, or Servant and Mark 1:11 Part 1

Son, Son, Or Servant and Mark 1:11 Part 2

“Son of Man” and Jesus

We come to the second possible source text of Mark 1:11 and looking at how Jesus fills the image of that source, or why that text is applied to Jesus in this pronouncement. Let us get Mark 1:11 NET and also the Greek before us,

And a voice came from heaven: “You are my one dear Son; in you I take great delight.”–NET

καὶ φωνὴ ἐγένετο ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν σὺ εἶ ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός ἐν σοὶ εὐδόκησα–Zhubert.com/

The second text is Psalm 2:7 LXX which reads, διαγγέλλων τὸ πρόσταγμα κυρίου κύριος εἶπεν πρός με υἱός μου εἶ σύ ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε. (Psalm 2:7 NETS (New English Translation Septuagint; see pg. 7) translates this passage as, “By proclaiming the Lord’s ordinance: The Lord said to me, ‘My son you are; today I have begotten you.’”). It is easy to see the parallel between Psalm 2:7 and Mark 1:11. Yahweh tells the king–most likely David–that he is Yahweh’s son and that day Yahweh became his father. In Mark, the voice from heaven declares Jesus to be his beloved Son. Thus I want us to see how Jesus is the Son that Yahweh pronounces the Davidic king to be. To do so, we must look at Psalm 2 and then come back to the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
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Son, Son, Or Servant and Mark 1:11 Part 3

Son, Son, or Servant and Mark 1:11 Part 1

“Son of Man” and Jesus

I want to spend my next few posts examining the divine utterance or pronouncement at Jesus’ baptism in Mark 1:11. There are three likely or probable sources behind this text: Genesis 22; Psalm 2:7; Isaiah 42:1. My purpose here is not to argue for or against any particular text as the background to Mark 1:11. Rather I just want to show how each text is a candidate and how each text finds its fulfillment in Jesus, how Jesus is the substance to the shadow that these texts form. Mark 1:11 reads,

And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

The order that I will take the three probable candidate texts are from least likely to most likely. The first background text is Genesis 22. In the divine pronouncment, the Greek reads, σὺ εἶ ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός ἐν σοὶ εὐδόκησα. In Genesis 22:2, 12, 16 we see the following: τὸν υἱόν σου τὸν ἀγαπητόν (Gen. 22:2 LXX), τοῦ υἱοῦ σου τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ (Genesis 22:12 LXX), τοῦ υἱοῦ σου τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ (Gen. 22:16 LXX). There is an obvious grammatical link between Mark 1:11 and Genesis 22 LXX. As I said, my purpose here is not to argue for or against these three texts being the background to Mark 1:11. Rather I am going to assume that there is some idea of Genesis 22 in the background and see how this text finds its fulfillment in Jesus.
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Son, Son, Or Servant and Mark 1:11 Part 3

Son, Son, Or Servant and Mark 1:11 Part 2

“Son of Man” and Jesus

This is an amazing sermon preached at FCC two Sundays ago. I love it. Enjoy and be richly blessed by it.

What can I say?

Reviewing Spider-Man 3

This Is So Unreal.