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

Here is an interesting article on Intelligent Design. It is fairly short and not extremely in depth. So please don’ think this is some kind of refutation of Evolution but like Ben Stein, a plea for ID to be allowed in the discussion as to the question of the origin(s) of life. Enjoy.

The Intelligent Design Controversy by Ray Bohlin Ph.D.

Tolkien and Predestination

Original Sin and Infants

The Visitors Return

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.
Read more

Changing A Single Word…

Can a Person say that?

Two Unexpected Visitors

Here is the audio for the James White vs. Steve Gregg on Calvinism

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Follow up Dividing Line Phone Calls

James White on Steve Gregg

James White on John 3:16-17

Can a Person say that?

Steve Gregg’s use of Scripture in these exchanges is sophistry, plain and simple.

Click here and here.

No related posts

Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend T4G this year because the money just won’t be there. If you are like me and are unable to attend, here are some vids to whet your appetite for what will be missed (sad day I know!).

H/T: FIDE-O

A Slap In The Face

That’s a Good Question

Tim Keller Videos

On March 14, 2008, a couple–Jeremiah and Kenan Bradford–that used to go to my church and now pastors a Baptist church north of KC, became the proud parents of Miriam Bradford. This little girl was born at around 4:30 am on 3/14/08 via emergency C-section. Both mother and baby had an infection and the doctors didn’t know what it was initially. The bacteria was identified and treatment began. That following Monday (March 17, 2008), Kenan was released from the hospital and was finally able to see her baby for the first time as the baby was transferred to a children’s hospital. Miriam began to make progress towards a recovery but late Saturday morning on March 22, 2008, baby Miriam died in her parents arms. My pastor and music pastor performed the funeral for baby Miriam. The following sermon is based loosely around the message given at the funeral and deals with suffering and how to minister to those who suffer as well as what should our response be when God does not answer our prayers and in fact the exact opposite happens. It was very good.

Ben Witherington and Denominational Humor

Dr. Jerry Falwell

Paul and Original Sin

Here are a couple of videos that feature Tim Keller lecturing from his new book The Reason for God and then taking Q&A. Magnificent.

Google

H/T: Tim Challies

Berkeley

H/T: Denny Burk

Preaching is a Means not an End.

That’s a Good Question

Musical Roots

Isaiah 44:22 ESV says,

I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.

During the last few weeks, I have decided to write two texts down from the book of Isaiah on the print outs on the back of my four trucks every morning I come to work; each text is in Hebrew and Greek. For one reason, it helps me study both Greek and Hebrew. Another reason is that it helps me compare LXX with the BHS to see how the theology changed from the days of Malachi to the days of Alexander the Great and beyond. A third reason is that it makes people ask questions about what I am doing. So when I explain to them what I am doing, it gives me a brief moment to speak of Jesus through the prophet Isaiah. One example is that found above, Isaiah 44:22. What I want to do is compare one key word in the Hebrew and Greek and discuss some of its implications.

The Greek term is λυτρώσομαί and the Hebrew term is ga’al. The Hebrew root of ga’al speaks of a “kinsman redeemer.” The verb is a second gutteral, qal perfect verb in the perfect tense. The idea behind this verb tense is completed action. Thus the action of the kinsman redeemer is complete. So what God is saying is that he has performed the action of the redeemer. He became like Boaz to Ruth and Naomi. Boaz purchased Ruth and her inheritance that came to her by paying for the land and marrying Ruth.

The Greek term will be familiar to students of the Greek New Testament. It the verb form of the noun λύτρον from Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” It has with it the lexical idea of being the price paid to purchase back something. In the first century world, it usually meant slaves. Take this situation for example: John accumulates a debt so large that he cannot pay it back; thus he sells himself into slavery in order to pay his debts. His cousin in the neighboring village hears of the enslavement and wishes to free him. John’s cousin pays the local temple the price of the slave and a percentage and the slave belongs to the pagan god. The percentage goes to the temple while the price of the slave goes to the slave owner. By belonging to that pagan god, John is “free” in that the gods don’t really care what he does. Mark 10:45 says that Jesus is that price paid to God to free his people from their enslavement to sin as well as the price paid t God to absorb God’s wrath against sin.

So what Yahweh is saying to Israel in Isaiah 44:22 is that he has purchased Israel. He has taken possession of them. They belong to him. It is on that basis that Yahweh asks them to return to him. He has done what was necessary to take them to be his. Therefore they can come back to him. They can abandon their idolatrous ways and come to Yahweh without fear of being rejected.

The LXX translates this verse like this, “For see, I have blotted out your acts of lawlessness like a cloud and your sins like darkness; return to me, and I will redeem you” (ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἀπήλειψα ὡς νεφέλην τὰς ἀνομίας σου καὶ ὡς γνόφον τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου ἐπιστράφητι πρός με καὶ λυτρώσομαί σε; Isaiah 44:22 LXX) The idea of the LXX and the Hebrew is the same: God has forgiven them their sins and commands them to return to him. However there is a change in terminology here that I want to highlight. Where as the Hebrew communicates a completed action, the Greek highlights an action to be completed in the future.

Let me put the two ways of reading the crucial phrase side by side and you might see what I am getting at.

The relationship between the return and the redemption reverses by changing the verb ga’al in the Hebrew Perfect to λυτρόω in the Greek future. The idea of the Hebrew is that Israel returns on the basis of them being redeemed by God. Because God has redeemed them, then can come to God. The LXX says they will be redeemed by God if they return to him.

While on the surface, this may not seem that big of a deal, but in reality this is huge. The Hebrew text of Isaiah really demonstrates God’s free grace and mercy. God has already blotted out sins and transgressions. God has already redeemed idolatrous Israel. They can and now need to return. The LXX says God has forgiven Israel of the lawlessnesses and sins. Now they need to return so that God will redeem her. The Hebrew says all has been done so come. The Greek says that some has been done, so come in order that the rest may be finished.

Now, let us take this understanding of redemption in Isaiah 44:22 and apply it to Christ and his church. Mark 10:45 clearly states that Jesus is the ransom, the price paid to redeem for God a people (cf. Revelation 5:9). Now if we are to follow the LXX understanding of redemption, then this is how we are to apply it to Christ. Come to God so that Christ might be your ransom. If we follow the Hebrew, the application would be like this: come to God because Christ is your ransom. The Greek line of thought would say that Christ is not the ground upon which one approaches God where as the Hebrew understanding would. The LXX understanding would undercut our right and ability to approach God. The Hebrew understanding makes Christ the very ground by which the Christian draws near to God.

Just some food for thought.

The Nature of Prophecy

A Key Term

Son, Son, Or Servant and Mark 1:11 Part 3

Has past since my grandfather passed away. I spoke of it the day after he passed (click here to read it) here on the blog. It hit me the Sunday before last that it has been a whole year. He died on a Friday and we had the funeral on Tuesday. As I remember that sorrowful weekend, Friday to Tuesday, I am drawn back to the funeral. However, I can still see my grandpa’s face as he slipped out of life and into death. It isn’t so much burned into my memory in a painful way, rather it is stitched in my memory seeing him at peace for the first time in years.

But I remember the funeral. It will always be a special time for me. My grandfather always loved to hear me preach God’s Word, but due to his ailments, he could never come to hear me. So the only thing that I could think of to honor his memory was to speak at the funeral. When I pondered on what I could speak of, only one thing came to mind: the resurrection. What better time to speak of our blessed expectation than at a time where death is so prominent. So I took 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 as my text and probably made every dispensational, pre-trib, pre-mil Christian everywhere upset when I said that the resurrection and rapture are the same event. But that was the hope I wanted and still want my family to cling to: we will be raised to eternal life to enjoy Christ face to face.

Then I did something that connected me to my aunts and uncles in a way that has never happened before or since. For a moment, all thirteen of us connected on a very personal level that really opens up the soul and really grieve. My mother had this great idea. She is one of twelve siblings, eight girls and four boys. Sibling rivalry in among her brothers and sisters never really went away (but when does it ever?). So my mother wanted to help them see that their father loved them uniquely yet equally. Some of my aunts were really versed in the medical field and so were around him more during his last days than others. Other aunts lived or worked very close by to be there a lot in his last days. So we set out to remind to think of ways to show how unique and special and individual was grandpa’s love for each of this twelve kids.

But what really made that ten minute space of talking was not so much what was said, but how I said it. I personalized it to drive it home, and the Holy Spirit really honored that and moved mightily to help them grieve. I spoke to each of the twelve children (my aunts and uncles). It was difficult to get through, especially when speaking of my mother’s relationship with grandpa because…well it was my mother and I love her dearly. There are aunts or uncles that I don’t see hardly at all. But in that moment, I was more than a nephew or pastor. I don’t know how to describe it. But it was the sweetest of times for me. I thank God for that moment every day I think of my grandpa, which is most days.

I so miss my grandpa that I now have to eat bread with almost everything. From mashed potatoes and gravy to chicken or turkey cooked with noodles to chili. I just love to eat bread now. I really do miss my grandfather a lot. But more than that, I am envious for if he is in heaven, and I really do believe he is, he is experiencing raw, pure, perfect joy and beauty that can only be experienced in the presence of God, for he is that beauty and joy (Psalm 16:11). I remember doing so much with grandpa and wish there was more I could do with him, but oh well. The Lord did not will for me to and I embrace that will whole heartedly and joyfully. I hope my reminiscings bless you as much as they bless me.

This Time Next Year…

Fixing the BCS?

NFL Draft Talk