I was very blessed to have grown up around such men as Cornelius Van Til, John H. Skilton, Theophilus Herter and Milton Fisher. The Lord shaped my thinking on what Scripture is, and how God preserved it, from my earliest days. After I was converted, I began to diligently study the doctrine of inerrancy, the canon, and the apocryphal books. I had many questions, and was determined to learn everything I could about the original autographa, the transmission of Scripture, the canonicity of Scripture, the internal witness of Scripture and the philosophy of history as it related to the preservation of the word of God. In God’s providence I was led to the following articles and books that served to solidify and further shape by beliefs on this subject. Many of the great questions that the student of Scripture must wrestle with rest on the doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture. But there are many questions that arise with regard to inerrancy itself.  Such questions as, “Where are the inerrant texts to be found?” “Are our English translations inerrant?” “Did God preserve His word to be free from error in the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts that we have today?” “Or, was B.B. Warfield correct when he said that the only inerrant documents were the autographa (i.e. those books/letters that were directly penned by the authors of Scripture)?” These, and other questions have been taken up in the following works:

Theodore Letis B.B. Warfield and the Reformation Doctrine of the Preservation of the Original Text (Letis has some extreme views elsewhere, but this is a very helpful article. B.B. Warfield had argued that errancy only existed in the original autographa. Letis suggests that our Puritan forefathers believed inerrancy was to be found in the preserved Greek and Hebrew texts. While I do not believe that the Textus Receptus is inerrant, I do follow some of Letis’ argumentation that God preserved the inerrant word in the original languages. While this is not relegated to one particular text, I do believe that it is to be found in the Greek and Hebrew. At the very least, Letis’ article is thought provoking.)

William Henry Green,  General Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon (This is one of the most helpful books written on the canon. It radically shaped the way I viewed the attestation of Scripture.)

John H. Skilton, “The Transmission of the Hebrew Text” (Perhaps the single most helpful article written on the transmission of Scripture, and the variants present in the Masoretic text)

John Murray, “The Attestation of Scripture” (From the same volume as the previous article. Murray shows how the recognition of Scripture depends on its own internal witness and authority. A very helpful article.)

Laird Harris Inspiration and Canonicity of the Scriptures (As comprehensive as William Henry Green’s work, with more recent developments in critical studies.)

The Infallible Word (A Westminster Seminary Symposium that includes the Skilton and Murray articles mentioned above. There are many other helpful chapters in this compilation volume.)

Jon Nielson has an excellent post, over at the Gospel Coalition Blog, about the benefits of modeling an expository ministry to the youth in the church. You can read it here. I could not agree more.

The audio and video from the Sunday Morning Worship Service at New Covenant Presbyterian Church is now online. The text was Acts 12:25-13:12, and the title, “The Mission of God is the God of Missions.” You can listen to the audio here. You can watch the video below:

There is a disastrous discontentment that permeates the very fabric of our being. This can be seen throughout the many and varied experiences of our lives. Solomon spoke of it in Ecclesiastes 1:8, “The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. ” Paul learned how to be content in all things, but he had to learn it. Contentment is not a natural inclination in our hearts. Jeremiah Burroughs, in his masterpiece The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, explained the nature of learning contentment when he wrote, “Contentment in every condition is a great art, a spiritual mystery; it is to be learned, and so to be learned as a mystery.” It is especially necessary for the minister of the Gospel. I have seen how easily and quickly I can become discontent with circumstances. I, on a weekly basis, find myself becoming discontent concerning the numbers of people coming to worship on Sunday, the lack of resources we have for the church plant, the difficulties with which I am regularly confronted, and the physical and spiritual weaknesses with which I am beset everyday. Temptations are frequently entered into almost imperceptibly by the allurement of the “success” model of mega-churches, the “intellectualism” found in Reformed churches, and the drive for “power” in the Charismatic and Pentecostal churches. The success syndrome, intellectual pride and an inappropriate hunger for power are all perversions of things we see exemplified in Scripture. We should long to see Christ’s Kingdom manifesting itself in a growing multitude of believers; we should be growing in our biblical and theological knowledge so that we might be better equipped to minister; and we certainly ought to be seeking a greater manifestation of the power of God in our souls.

Because these three unbiblical models of ministry are counterfeit perversions of a biblical model of ministry they are all the more powerful temptations for ministers of the Gospel. In the book of Acts we see the growing and thriving church. Multitudes were being added to the Lord as the apostles preached the word. One cannot read of Paul’s missionary journeys without seeing that conversion growth is a fundamental aspect of the New Covenant church. In the epistles we find Paul exhorting Timothy to “give heed to reading, exhortation and doctrine, so that your progress might be evident to all.” On his death bed Paul asked that Timothy bring him the “books, especially the parchments.”  Paul wanted to grow more in His knowledge of the mystery of Christ before he died. There is a fundamental need for the minister of the Gospel to be knowledgeable in the things of Christ for the well being of the flock. Jesus himself said that “every scribe instructed in the things of the Kingdom of God is like a householder who brings out of his treasury things old and new.” The minister must continue in reading, exhortation and doctrine so that he will be able to bring out the old truths of the faith, as well as new and fresh insights into the truth of Christ. Finally, the Scriptures explain that the power of the Holy Spirit must always accompany the ministry of the word if the saints are to be built up and established in the faith. Paul prayed for the Ephesians (for those who already knew Christ and were in Him) that they would know “what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory.” Jesus told the apostles, prior to His ascension, “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me…” (Acts 1:8). The power is a Spirit filled unction for the minister of the Gospel to preach Christ with all boldness, and a Spirit wrought power in the souls of believers unto godliness. In  2 Timothy 3:2-4, Paul explains the nature of false teachers. They are “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.”

To make matters worse, multitudes of professing Christians place their stamp of approval upon these counterfeit models of biblical ministry. There is a tendency for men to approve sinful practices for the sake of pacifying their own consciences with regard to their sin. They, wrote Paul, “knowing they righteous judgment of God…not only do the same, but approve of those who so do them” (Rom. 1). The minister must guard himself against the powerful temptations that stem from the faulty models of ministry and tfrom he multitudes of people who sing the praises of these faulty models. Being called to minister the pure milk of the word of God means knowing what model of ministry is most pleasing unto the Lord. We must search the Scriptures carefully and diligently to see what He would have us to do.

The apostle Paul is the supreme example of how a servant of Christ is to conduct himself in ministry. It was Paul who said, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11-13). Paul did not enter into the temptations that were set before him by false models of ministry. He did not complain about not having as much influence as other men; he did not compare himself, or contrast himself, with those who commended themselves for their knowledge and eloquence; he did not seek after personal power over the minds of the people the Lord had placed him over as an apostle. In fact, when certain ministers started preaching Christ out of a motivation to add affliction to Paul’s chains, he rejoiced and said, “just so long as Christ is preached!” Paul understood the nature of Gospel ministry. He was content with food and clothing. He did not do these things out of self-righteousness or pride. They stemmed from a wholehearted commitment to Christ and to the stewardship that was entrusted to him. He learned in all situations to be content. The source of this power of contentment was Christ. The secret to being content is to know and believe that we can “do all things through Christ who strengthens us.”

When the man of God depends on Christ for strength and contentment his model of ministry will be biblical–he will, like Paul, learn to be content with the ministry of the word.  He will be more outreaching and evangelistic than the market driven, mega church leaders; he will have a better grasp on, and be saturated with, the Scriptures (think John Bunyan) than the ivory tower minister. He will be more dependent on the power of Christ for witness bearing and godly living than the men who seek power over the minds and lives of people in their churches. He will learn that “one man plants, another waters, but God gives the increase.” He will constantly cry, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” He will be content with the ministry of the word and prayer, and will rest content that the Lord has said:

“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

Well, that is only partly true. The Bible actually has a lot to say about you, to you and for you; but, the Bible is fundamentally about “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” How then can we understand the substance of the Scriptures as God understands it? Tim Keller does a good job of briefly explaining what the Bible is about in the video below:

Tullian Tchividjian has a helpful post over at his blog, On Earth As It Is In Heaven titled “We are One.” In it, Tullian takes an opportunity to teach a valuable lesson based on the recent development in his church.  Coral Ridge has recently combined two worship services separated by distinctive, generational music styles. I was most impacted by Tullian’s warning against “toxic tribalism.” While I realize that this can be use to relativize what kind of musical style is used as accompaniment in worship, it is nevertheless very insightful when seen against the background of a solidly Reformed and Gospel-centered commitment.

I have been extremely blessed to have studied theology under some outstanding theologians. One of those professors was Dr. Nick Willborn. Now serving as minister of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Oak Ridge, TN. you listen to his sermons here. You can find several of his lectures here.

There is tendency to think we can only learn from the smartest, most gifted, most successful, and most popular Christians. We must be ready to learn from all kinds of people, from a variety of backgrounds (young and old, weak and strong, well known and obscure), because they fear the Lord. Consider a few of the people the Lord uses to teach us:

Mary the Mother of Jesus (a poor peasant virgin) (Luke 1)
Rehab (a harlot who acted in faith)
Widow with two mites (who put in more than all who put in out of their abundance)
The father of a demon possessed son (came to Christ and said, “I believe, help my unbelief”) (Mark 9:24)
Simeon and Anna (elderly saints in the Temple waiting for Christ) (Luke 2)
Mary of Bethany (who washed the Lord’s feet with her hair, and anointed Him with costly, fragrant oil)
Mary Magdalene (out of whom Jesus cast seven demons)
Matthew (a tax collector who followed Christ and threw a dinner for Him at his house)
Blind Bartimaeus (who cried out for mercy against all odds) (Mark 10)
The Syro-Phonecian woman (Who overcame all obstacles, including Christ’s silence and harsh response, by faith) (Matthew 15)
The Woman who dropped a rock on the head of the Abimelech, the man who killed Gideon’s 70 sons (Judges 9:53)
Phoebe (who was remembered as a served the church) (Romans 16)
Lydia (a worshiper of God who ministered to her family) (Acts 16)
Chloe (who opened her home to house a church) (1 Cor. 1)
Phineas (who believed the Lord’s word and acted in faith) (Numbers 25 and Psalm 106)
Mordecai (who saved the King’s life and counseled his niece, Esther)

The audio and video from the Sunday morning service at New Covenant Presbyterian Church is now available online. The text was Acts 12:1-24 and the title, “He Sets the Prisoner Free.” You can listen to the audio here. You can watch the video below:

While there have been endless volumes written on the book of Revelation–and, it seems as many interpretations as there are books–the following are some of the ones I have profited from most.  I would especially recommend the sermon series by Sinclair Ferguson, Eric Alexander and Brian Vos. B.B. Warfield’s short article below is probably the most helpful three page piece on the structure of the book ever written. Henriksen’s More Than Conquerors and Poythress’ The Returning King are indispensable. But, Beale’s The Book of Revelation is the Pièce de résistance.

Books

Introductory Volumes

William Hendriksen More Than Conquerors

Vern Poythress The Returning King

Vern Poythress A Guide for Understanding Revelation

Dennis Johnson Triumph of the Lamb

Jay Adams The Time is at Hand

B.B. Warfield The Apocalypse

Advanced Volumes

Greek Commentaries

G.K. Beale The Book of Revelation

H.B. Swete The Apocalypse of St. John

Biblical Theological Treatments

William Dunbrell The End of the Beginning

Sermon Series

Sinclair Ferguson Sermon Series (mp3)

Eric Alexander Sermon Series (mp3)

Derek Thomas Sermon Series on Revelation (text only)

Peter Naylor Sermon Series (mp3)

Charles Alexander Sermon Series (mp3)

Sermon Series by Rev. Brian Vos

Revelation 1 thru 3

The Revelation of Jesus Christ – 1:1-3
The New Exodus – 1:4-8
John to the Seven Churches – 1:9-20
In the Spirit on the LD – 1:9-20
Christ In the Midst of the Lampstands – 1:9-20
The Church in the World – 1:9-20
To the Church of Ephesus – 2:1-7
The Church in Smyrna – 2:8-11
Where Satan Dwells – 2:12-17
To The Church in Thyatira – 2:18-29
To the Church in Sardis – 3:1-6
Kept by Christ – 3:7-13
Called Back to Christ – 3:14-22

Revelation 4 thru 7

A Door and a Throne – 4:1-2
A Rainbow Around The Throne – 4:3
The Twenty-four Elders – 4:4
The Throne, Fire, and Water – 4:5-6a
The Four Living Creatures Pt. 1 – 4:6b-8
The Four Living Creatures Pt. 2 – 4:6-8
A Glorious Theater – 4
The Lion of the Tribe of Judah – 5:1-7
Elders: Able to Teach  - 5:5
Elders and Prayer – 5:8
The Song of Heaven – 5:8-14
The Four Horsemen – 6:1-8
The Souls Under the Altar – 6:9-11
Who is Able to Stand? – 6:12-17
‘Til We Have Sealed the Servants of God – 7:1-13
The 144,000 – 7:1-8
The Great Multitude – 7:9-17
His Tabernacle Over Them – 7:9-17 (15-17)

Revelation 8 thru 11

A Half Hour of Silence – 8:1-6
Prayers and Trumpets – 8:1-6
The First Four Trumpets – 8:7-13
The Fifth Trumpet – 9:1-12
The Sixth Trumpet – 9:13-21
The Mighty Angel and the Little Book – 10
The Measuring of the Temple – 11:1-2
The Two Witnesses – 11:1-4
That Word Above All Earthly Powers – 11:1-6
The Death and Life of the Church – 11:1-14
The Last Trumpet – 11:15-19

Revelation 12 thru 14

A Great Sign in Heaven – 12:1-6, 14:14-20
A Woman Clothed with the Sun – 12:1-6
A Great, Fiery Red Dragon – 12:3-4
With a Rod of Iron – 12:1-6
The Church in the Wilderness – 12:1-6
War in Heaven – 12:7-12
The Woman Persecuted – 12:13-17
The Beast from the Sea – 13:1-10
The Beast from the Earth – 13:11-18
The Lamb Standing on the Mountain – 14:1-5
The Everlasting Gospel – 14:6-13
The Great Winepress of the Wrath of God – 14:14-20

Revelation 15 thru 16

Another Sign in Heaven – 15:1
On the Sea of Crystal – 15:2-4
The Song of Triumph – 15:1-4
The Temple Opened, But Not Entered – 15:5-8
The Bowls and Prayer – 15:6-7 
The First Bowl – 16:1-2
The Second Bowl – 16:3
The Third Bowl – 16:4-7
The Fourth Bowl – 15:8-9
The Fifth Bowl – 16:10-11
Armagedon (Sixth Bowl) – 16:12-16
The Seventh Bowl – 16:17-21

Revelation 17 thru 19

The Judgement of the Great Harlot- 17:1-2
Babylon the Great- 17:1-8
The Beast- 17:7-14
The Nations in Tumult- 17:15-18
The Fall of Babylon – Revelation 18:1-8
Lamentations – Revelation 18:9-20
Fallen to Rise No More – Revelation 18:21-24
The Hallelujah Chorus – Revelation 19:1-5
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb – Revelation 19:6-10
The Rider on the White Horse – Revelation 19:11-16
The Final Battle – Revelation 19:17-21

Revelation 20 thru 22

Come! – 22:12-17
The Sufficiency of The Word – 22:18-19

I, for one, am thankful to be a part of a denomination that has many godly and knowledgeable men who care deeply about important theological and social issues. Many times when an issue is raised in the evangelical world, one or another theologian is appealed to for conclusive answers.  This can be helpful, but it lacks the collective wisdom of a unified body of biblical pastors and theologians. While we certainly hold men like Calvin, Turretin, Edwards, Owen, Warfield, etc. in the highest esteem for their theological contributions, we have the collective wisdom of the men who wrote the seventeenth Century Confessions and Catechisms to help us understand the uniformity of Protestant doctrine.  While they may differ on baptism or some other secondary issue, they agree on the Reformed Faith in its biblical and systematic coherence. In a similar  (though  not binding) way,  we have the collective wisdom of the men in the PCA, OPC, URC, ARP, etc. who have come together to consider issues, or challenges, that are not spoken to directly in those Reformed Confessions and Catechisms. Over its 38 year history, the PCA has dealth with several important issues, which include: Marriage and Remarriage, Re-Baptism, Spiritual Gifts (Cessationism vs. Continuationsim), Use of Alcoholic Beverages, Inter Church Relations, Paedo-communion,Views of Creation, Church & State Relations, Theonomy, Freemasonry, etc. The PCA Historical Archive Center has posted them all here. You can find a copy of each report below.

The most recent sermon audio and video from New Covenant Presbyterian Church is now available online. The text was Acts 11:19-12:2, and the title, “What’s in a Name?” You can listen to the audio here. You can watch the video below:

Acts 11:26 is one of those verses that can easily be read over without giving due consideration to its significance. There we find Luke making the point, almost in passing,  that it was “at Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.” This is the first time the title is used in the Scriptures, and it establishes for us the historical setting in which the nickname was given to Christ’s disciples. This occurred some 6-9 years after Christ’s ascension. Prior to to the name “Christian” being applied to the disciples of Jesus, a variety of terms were used to denote how the New Covenant people of God were to be viewed. According to F. F. Bruce:

The followers of Jesus seemed to describe themselves by a various names in the early days. Many of these names were redolent of Old Testament phraseology. ‘The saints”or “holy people” was a common name, implying that they regarded themselves as the pious remnant or true Israel. ‘The poor” another name was not only economically apt (for the Jerusalem church appears to have been afflicted with chronic poverty in the first century) but was reminiscent of the adjectives “poor and needy” applied to the “saints” in the book of Psalms–”the poor in spirit” of the Beatitudes. “Disciples,” “brothers,” “friends,” “believers” were other names in common use within their community. Their movement they referred to as “the Way.”1

But, the adaptation of the nickname “Christians” could not have been more fitting. It was probably first used as a derogatory term, invented by the people of Antioch to put down the disciples of a man who was crucified. If this were the case, it is similar to the invention of the title “Puritan,” given to the seventeenth century movement in England and America. The term “Puritan” was a pejorative title, meant to deride those who were also called “precisionists.” Leornard Trinterud explained the derogatory nature of the term “Puritan” when he wrote: “Throughout the sixteenth century it was used more often as a scornful adjective than a substantive noun, and was rejected as slanderous in whatever quarter it was applied.” Whether the term “Christian” was first derogatory or not, the Holy Spirit intended its use for theological significance.

The term “Christian” is only found three times in the New Testament. The first mention is made here in Acts 11:24. The second is found in Acts 26:28, where Agrippa tells Paul, “You almost persuade me to be a Christian.” The final reference is found in 1 Peter 4:14-16, where we read “If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.” In this last example Peter draws thew connection between the “name of Christ” and the term “Christian.” Christians are, very simply, those who are identified exclusively with Christ. With regard to Acts 11:26, William Still noted that “everything of crucial importance in the word is unfolded for us in the passage.”

In the unfolding of the book of Acts, Acts 11:26 comes strategically at the point of the transition, where the Gospel goes out from the Jews to the Gentiles. It is important because it is used in the redefining of the covenant community. How are Jew and Gentile believers in Jesus to be identified? David Gooding, in his marvelous commentary True to the Faith, notes:

This is truly remarkable; and the more one thinks about it, the more remarkable it becomes. What this paragraph is going to describe is something altogether new: not the planting in Antioch of a Christian Jewish synagogue to which Gentiles might be admitted on becoming Jews, but the planting of a community in which Jewish believers and Gentile believers met on equal terms so new that a new name, “Christians,” was invented to apply to the members of this community (11:26). Whether such a church had already been planted elsewhere Luke does not tell us. As far as Acts is concerned, this is the first church to be planted outside of Jerusalem and Judea (Luke does not say what happened in Samaria, or in Rome as a result of Pentecost, 2:10).2

It is beautiful to think of the new “Israel of God” being denominated by the name of the One who is the center of all of Israel’s prophetic revelation. Throughout all the ages, men and women waited for the promised Messiah. Now that He had come, it the fullness of time, the covenant people are identified exclusively by His name. John Calvin made a similar observation when he wrote:

This was no small honor that the holy name of Christians began there for all the whole world. Though the apostles had been long time at Jerusalem, yet God had not vouchsafed to bestow upon his Church, which was there, this excellent title of his Son. Whether it were because at Antioch much people was grown together into one body, as well of Jews as of Gentiles, or whether it were because the Church might be better ordered in time of peace; or because they were more bold to confess their faith, there were in very deed Christians both at Jerusalem and also in Samaria before that time; and we know that Jerusalem was the first fountain from which Christianity did flow. And what is it else to be a disciple of Christ but to be a Christian? But when they began plainly to be called that which they were the use of the name served greatly to set forth the glory of Christ, because by this means they referred all their religion unto Christ alone. This was, therefore, a most excellent worship for the city of Antioch. that Christ brought forth his name thence like a standard, whereby it might be made known to all the world that there was some people whose captain was Christ, and which did glory in his name.3

The simplicity, and yet the profundity, of the meaning of the title Christian ought never to be over looked. Peter, in his first epistle, explains that it is a legitimate and God-glorifying reason to suffer. Paul, in 1 Timothy 2:19 writes: “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”  The implications are enormous. When people think of you do they first and foremost think of you as a disciples of Christ. Do they see you as a follower of Jesus? Do you gladly carry that name, that is above every name? Does your speech and conduct reflect the honor of the One whose name you carry?

1. F.F. Bruce The Spreading Flame (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1958) pp. 70-71

2. David Gooding, True to the Faith pp. 173-174

3. John Calvin, Commentary on Acts (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom36.xviii.iii.html)

Back in February I recommended several volumes the deal with the theology of the Acts of the Apostles. That was at the beginning of a sermon series I started at New Covenant Presbyterian Church. Now that I am just about half way through I would like to expand that list and offer some further suggestions. I have provided links for each title, many of which link to Google Books where you can download a free copy.

1. Dennis Johnson The Message of Acts in the History of Redemption (In this volume Johnson systematizes the themes of the book as they relate to redemptive history. It is outstanding! I only wish it were longer)

2. Dennis Johnson Let’s Study Acts (If you are wondering, this is altogether different material than that which Johnson offers in The Message of Acts in the History of Redemption.  It is, however, also very redemptive historical in its approach. Sometimes Johnson draws Old Testament parallels that seem a bit fanciful. Still, all in all, it is an immensely helpful work).

3. David G. Peterson The Acts of the Apostles (Probably the best m0dern commentary on the book. It is full of biblical-theological content).

4. Richard Gaffin Perspectives on Pentecost (Lays the foundation for the Historia Salutis reading of the Acts. This is a fundamentally necessary read)

5. F.F. Bruce The Book of Acts

6. F.F. Bruce The Spreading Flame (An Outstanding Introduction to the historical Background of the New Testament)

7. J. Gresham Machen New Testament Introduction

8. I. Howard Marshall and David Peterson ed. Witness to the Gospel: The Theology of Acts (A series of contributions that look at various themes and facets of the book of Acts. It is one of the most helpful books written by evangelicals. It must be read with care as not all the contributors are as conservative with regard to their hermeneutical approaches. But, again, a very helpful book)

9. John Calvin Commentary on Acts (vol. 1) and Commentary on Acts (vol. 2)

10. Michael Baumgarten The Acts of the Apostles: or the History of the Church in the Apostolic Age

11. Thomas Peck Miscellanies of Rev. Thomas Peck (Includes a series of sermon and notes on various portions of the book of Acts)

12. Horatio B. Hackett A Commentary on the Original Text of the Acts of the Apostles (An outstanding exegetical commentary on the book. Interestingly, my father went to Horatio B. Hackett Middle School in Philadelphia, PA. I wonder how many know that it is named after an orthodox exegete?)

13. Paton J. Gloag A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of Apostles

14. Charles J. Vaughan The Church of the First Days

15. John Dick Lectures on Some Passages of the Acts of the Apostles

16. Horatius Bonar Light and Truth: The Acts and Larger Epistles

17. J.A. Alexander The Acts of the Apostles

18. O. Palmer Robertson The Final Word

19. Jay Adams Signs and Wonders in the Last Days

20. Roger Wagner Tongues Aflame

Over at Christ the Center, we recently talked with Dr. Steve Lawson, senior pastor of Christ Fellowship Baptist Church in Mobile, Alabama, about his book The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards. You can listen to the interview here. Dr. Lawson is the author of several books including Famine in the Land, Foundations of Grace, and The Expository Genius of John Calvin. Several of these works are published in Reformation Trust’s  Long Line Profiles series. In The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards, Dr. Lawson gives consideration to the way in which Edwards’ zeal for the glory of God guided his intellectual attainments. The greatness of Edwards did not ultimately lie in his intellectual genius, rather it was the spiritual and eternal mindedness with which he viewed his own life and ministry.

Related Books

• Steve Lawson Foundations of Grace: a Long Line of Glody Men
• Steve Lawson The Expository Genius of John Calvin
• John Calvin Institutes of the Christian Religion
• John Piper A God Entranced Vision of All Things

The sermon video from the Sunday morning worship service at New Covenant is now available online. The text was Acts 10:24-11:18, and the title, “Pentecost 2: No Partiality.”  You can watch the video below:

Pentecost 2: No Partiality (Acts 10:24-11:18)

The thorny question of whether or not Cornelius–the Italian centurion officer to whom God appeared in a vision–was a regenerate believer prior to Peter’s preaching Jesus to him has proven to be quite challenging for me as I prepare to preach the second part of the narrative (Acts 10:23-11:19). In the opening verses of chapter 10 we are told that Cornelius was “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.” We are then told that his “prayers and alms came up for a memorial before God.” Some have mistakenly taught that Cornelius was a Heathen who was saved without Christ. Others suggest that Cornelius was given some kind of prevenient (preperatory) grace. Still others say that he was unconverted, but that God simply takes account of good works as acceptable.  When we come to consider this question, we enter into the Pelagian, Semi-Pelagian and Reformed soteriology debate.

John Calvin, first concluding that Cornelius must have already been regenerate because “he could obtain nothing by prayer unless faith went before, which only opens the gate for us to pray,” explained that Cornelius must have trusted Christ for salvation prior to Peter’s preaching (although he still needed to receive the fuller light of the New Covenant revelation about Jesus). He tied what the text said about his prayers being remembered with the role of faith in prayer and the nature of faith and regeneration. He wrote:

Yet here may a question be asked, Whether faith require the knowledge of Christ, or it be content with the simple persuasion of the mercy of God? For Cornelius seems to have known nothing at all concerning Christ. But it may be proved by sound proofs that faith cannot be separated from Christ; for if we lay hold upon the bare majesty of God, we are rather confounded with his glory, than that we feel any taste of his goodness. Therefore, Christ must come between, that the mind of man may conceive that God is merciful. And it is not without cause that he is called the image of the invisible God, (Colossians 1:15) because the Father offers Himself to be holden in his face alone. Moreover, seeing that he is the way, the truth, and the life, (John 14:6) wherever you go without him, you will be surrounded on every side by errors, and death shall meet you on every side. We may easily answer concerning Cornelius. All spiritual gifts are offered unto us in Christ; and especially from Him comes regeneration, save only because we are ingrafted into the death of Christ, our old man is crucified? (Romans, 6:5, 6.) And if Cornelius were made partaker of the Spirit of Christ, there is no cause why we should think that he was altogether void of his faith; neither had he so embraced the worship of the true God, (whom the Jews alone did worship,) but that he had also heard, without having at the same time heard, somewhat of the promised Mediator; though the knowledge of him were obscure and entangled, yet was it some. Whosoever came at that time into Judea he was enforced to hear somewhat of the Messiah, yea, there was some fame of him spread through countries which were far off. Wherefore, Cornelius must be put in the catalogue of the old fathers, who hoped for salvation of the Redeemer before he was revealed.

This, it seems to me, is the right way to understand how it can be said that Cornelius’ prayers and alms came up as a memorial before God, and yet Cornelius needed Peter to come and preach Christ to him and his household. Note also that Cornelius stands at the head of the transition from the Jewish church to the Gentile church. He, and the church in his house, experience a Pentecost. It is (if I can put it this way) the Gentile Pentecost. This is the age of the outpouring of the Spirit. The things that happened during this inter-testamental, foundational period were temporary and exceptional. The disciples were certainly true believers before they experienced the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. Cornelius, like Simeon and Anna before him, was a regenerate man who experiences the extraordinary outpouring of the Spirit at the Gentile Pentecost.

The audio and video from last week’s Sunday morning worship service at New Covenant is now online. The text was Acts 10:1-23, and the title, “Bringing Home the Bacon.” You can listen to it here. You can watch the video here.

We recently had the opportunity to interview Chad Van Dixhoorn, on Christ the Center, with regard to his work on The Westminster Assembly Project. Anyone interested in the development of Reformed and Confessional Theology will certainly want to listen to this interview. You can find it  here.

Most in the Reformed world acknowledge the typological role that Boaz played in redemptive History. He descended from the tribe of Judah, coming out of Bethlehem to bless His people, grandfather of David, the one to whom the promise of Messiah was given, and was therefore in the genealogical line of the Christ. He owned a field into which he sent His laborers. He receives a Gentile, Ruth, when she came to the fields to glean. He ultimately became the kinsman Redeemer of both Jew and Gentile, buying the lost inheritance of Naomi and Ruth  (Ruth 4:4 and 4:8), thus gaining the right to make Ruth his bride. In all these ways Boaz is a type of Christ. Christ is the lion of the tribe of Judah, who comes out of Bethlehem to bless His people, He is the Son of David, the Redeemer of God’s elect. He sends His laborers into His fields to work. He treats His own people well. He receives and welcomes Gentiles. He pays our debt, and therefore, has the right to make us His bride.

But, there is one significant element of the work of Boaz, the typical redeemer, that must be recognized. When Ruth comes and lays at Boaz’s feet (perhaps a picture of the church sitting at the feet of Jesus [see Luke 10:31-42]) Boaz does not immediately receive her. He tells her that there is a relative closer than Himself who has a right to redeemer her. Boaz is acting in accord with the Law of God as revealed in Numbers 27:8-11 and Leviticus 25:25:

‘If a man dies and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter. ⁹ If he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers. ¹⁰ If he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. ¹¹ And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the relative closest to him in his family, and he shall possess it.’” And it shall be to the children of Israel a statute of judgment, just as the LORD commanded Moses. (Num. 27:8-11)

‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold. (Lev. 25:25)

In this way, he was acting in accord with the Law of God. He was honoring the demands of the Law and obeying the Lord in his dealings with Ruth. He does not  (and in a very real sense, cannot) redeem Ruth by disobeying the Lord. In order for him to be Ruth’s redeemer he must first obey the demands of the law, and then pay the price to redeem her. It is a beautiful picture of the dual nature of the work of Christ. He first fulfills the righteous requirements of the Law of God, then He pays the price in His death on the cross. Our redemption was accomplished in the active and passive obedience of the Savior. He was, in the words of the Apostle Paul, “obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Together, these two aspects of the obedience of Christ form the grounds of our justification. We are forgiven by His death, but we are counted righteous by His perfect life. His sacrifice is accepted because of His sinless conformity to the Law. By His obedience and death Christ has merited righteousness for His people. His is our Redeemer, not in a partial or self-determined sense. He is Redeemer according to the prescriptions of His Father, as typified in the laws of the kinsman redeemer.

One cannot help but admire the biblical lyricism of Michael Card. He redefined biblical compositions at a time when the Christian music world was suffering from creative and theological anemia. Card’s Things We Leave Behind and God’s Own Fool are two of the best examples of his creativity and theological substance.

I am grateful when I am reminded of the urgent need to preach Christ for pardon and power–for justification and sanctification–and to continually look to Him for grace and mercy. It is far too easy to be moved away from Him into some sphere of self-reliance or self-renovation. When we do we inevitable fall into the trap of failure and condemnation or pride and self-righteousness.

The goal of the Christian life is not mere head knowledge. The apostle Paul explained that “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him” (Col. 2:3.) Because He is the Creator and Redeemer we are not to be “deceived through philosophy or empty deceit, according to the traditions of men, according to the course of the world and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8).

Nor is the Christian life to be found in mere moral reform. We are not to make for ourselves rules and regulations, saying “‘Do not taste! Do not touch! Do not handle!’ “which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh” (Col. 2:21-23). We have “died with Christ from the basic principles of the world” (Col. 2:20) and are therefore free from the enslaving bondage of self-renovation.

No, the heart cry of the apostle Paul was, “I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified!” We are to be “rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith” (Col. 2:7).

Edward Donnelly’s sermon on John 12: 12-26,”We Wish to See Jesus,” is a sweet reminder of the need for Jesus Christ to be the source of our life and the central focus of our endeavors. I have listened to this message many times in the past, and plan to do so many times in the future. May God give us grace to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the originator and perfecter of our faith.

This Sunday I plan on preaching a sermon on Acts 10:1-23–with a specific focus on Peter’s vision which leads to the conversion of the Roman Centurion Cornelius. While Peter is praying he suddenly gets hungry. The Lord causes him to fall into a trance, in which Peter sees a sheet with four corners full of clean and unclean animals. The four corners of the sheet probably refer to the same thing as the “four corners of the earth,” representing all the nations from the north, south, east and west. The Lord then commands Peter to rise, kill and eat. Peter refuses to do so until the Lord shows him the vision for a third time. It’s interesting to note Peter’s opposition to the Gospel, which is clearly seen in the fact that he argues with the Lord in the face of his own desire for food. Peter was hungry when the Lord showed him the vision. Satan’s first temptation of Christ was subtle and  powerful because He was hungry. Peter’s opposition to the Lord’s new revelation is seen in that it is done in the face of his own desire for food. While it is certainly instructive, Peter’s negative example is not the main point of the passage. This text has several Redemptive-Historical lessons and application. First, it serves as the redemptive-historical key to understanding the distinction of the clean and unclean animal laws in the Pentateuch. The distinction between clean and unclean animals served as a picture of Israel’s realtionship to the Lord, and, by implication, to the surrounding nations. It was never meant to be a practical help for a healthy dietary lifestyle, as some have suggested. Jesus made this clear when he said, “It is not what enters the mouth that defiles a man…(Mark 7:19). ” Rather, it showed the covenantal holiness of Old Covenant, national Israel.

It was not that the nation was better than their Gentile neighbors. Rather, it was because they were chosen by the holy God to be a holy people. That distinction was only to remain until Christ came and fulfilled all things in His own person. The dietary laws–as is clear from the text–were eliminated after the death and resurrection of Christ. In Ephesians 2:14-17 the apostle Paul wrote, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one [i.e. Jew and Gentile], and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.” Nevertheless, prior to the Gospel age, the Jews were commanded to strictly observe the dietary laws to remind them of their covenantal separateness. In a very real sense, the particular dietary laws were a kindness from God to keep Israel from mingling with the nations. David Gooding notes:

These ceremonial and ritual laws would have both a positive and a negative effect. Positively, they reinforced in Israel’s thinking that as a nation they were separated to the Lord; specially set apart for Him. However morally and spiritually clean the members of another nation might have been, they did not have the role that Israel as a nation had. Israel’s role, as a kingdom of priests, was special, indeed unique. The ceremonial separation from certain kinds of food which other nations ate reinforced and underlined the fact that they were in a special sense separated to the Lord, especially “holy” in a ritualistic way.

Negatively, these food laws had an immediate practical effect: they made social mixing with Gentile nations difficult, since Israelites could not eat Gentile food. This would not only reinforce the fact that Israel was a special nation, but also act as a constant reminder that Israel was to avoid the moral and spiritual uncleanness of the Gentiles.

The redemptive-historical nature of the clean and unclean animals is most clearly understood from Peter’s vision, however, it is also symbolized at the beginning of the Bible. Interestingly, clean and unclean animals are first mentioned in the flood account in Genesis. There we find the Lord commanding Noah to gather seven clean and two unclean of every kind of animal into the Ark. The animals, clean and unclean alike, are saved in the same way. This was, of course, both preparation for the distinction to be made in redemptive history, as well as the  abolition of that distinction in the death of Jesus at the cross. 1) In order for there to be a sacrificial system in Israel’s history, the Lord spared clean animals in the Ark. 2) In order for there to be a distinction made between Israel and the Gentiles, prior to Christ’s coming, clean and unclean animals were brought into the Ark. 3) The final reason why clean and unclean animals were gathered in was to show that Jew and Gentile would be saved in the same manner. The Ark was a type of Christ. Everyone, and everything, in the Ark was saved. Everyone united to Christ will be saved.  The apostle Paul writes in Colossians 3, “Your life is hidden with Christ in God.” There is now no distinction, for the same Lord is good to all who call upon Him in truth.

It seems altogether probable that the apostle John refers to himself as “the disciples whom Jesus loved” and “another disciple” for two reasons. In the first place, the fourth Gospel is focused on love as the motivation of Christ in the work of redemption. In other words, John is insistent on centering on the theme of the love of Christ for His people. This is why he says such things as: “Now Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus,” and “Having loved His own who were in the world He loved them to the end.” But there is, it seems to me, another reason for the intentional anonymity with which John refers to himself. The saying of John the Baptizer, “He must increase, but I must decrease,” (John 3:30) is only recorded in this Gospel. The apostle John finds in these words something of the goal of all Christians (i.e. to be lost in the wonder, praise and glory of Jesus Christ to such an extent that we would forget about ourselves and our own reputations). This, it seems to me, is the reason why he speaks of himself by the simple designation, “another disciple,” at the climax of Christ’s sufferings (see John 18:15-16), rather than actually drawing attention to himself. In this manner, John wants to direct our attention to the One to whom all glory is to be given–namely, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is, in the most intentional way, saying with John the Baptizer, “He must increase, and I must decrease.” Here is another related post.

B.B. Wafield, the great Princeton theologian of the late 19th and early 20th Century, wrote and published a small pamphlet titled A Brief and Untechnical Statement of the Reformed Faith, in which he set down–in 13 points–the central truths of the system of doctrine known as “Reformed Theology.” Perhaps this pamphlet will again be a helpful guide, as the nomenclature is bandied about in the 21st Century. It is clear that Warfield is relying on the language of Scripture and the doctrinal formulations of the Westminster Standards in the articulation of these points. They are as follows:

1. I believe that my one aim in life and death should be to glorify God and enjoy Him forever; and that God teaches me how to glorify and enjoy Him in His holy Word, that is, the Bible, which He has given by the infallible inspiration of His Holy Spirit in order that I may certainly know what I am to believe concerning Him and what duty He requires of me.

2. I believe that God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal and incomparable in all that He is; one God, but three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, my Creator, my Redeemer, and my Sanctifier; in whose power and wisdom, righteousness, goodness and truth I may safely put my trust.

3. I believe that the heavens and the earth, and all that in them is, are the work of God’s hands; and that all that He has made He directs and governs in all their actions; so that they fulfill the end for which they were created, and I who trust in Him shall not be put to shame, but may rest securely in the protection of His almighty love.

4. I believe that God created man after His own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, and entered into a covenant of life with him upon the sole condition of the obedience that was his due: so that it was by willfully sinning against God that man fell into the sin and misery in which I have been born.

5. I believe, that, being fallen in Adam, my first father, I am by nature a child of wrath, under the condemnation of God and corrupted in body and soul, prone to evil and liable to eternal death; from which dreadful state I cannot be delivered save through the unmerited grace of God my Savior.

6. I believe that God has not left the world to perish in its sin, but out of the great love wherewith He has loved it, has from all eternity graciously chosen unto Himself a multitude which no man can number, to deliver them out of their sin and misery, and, of them, to build up again in the world His kingdom of righteousness; in which kingdom I may be assured I have my part, if I hold fast to Christ the Lord.

7. I believe that God has redeemed His people unto Himself through Jesus Christ our Lord; who, though He was, and ever continues to be the eternal Son of God, yet was born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who are under the law: I believe that He bore the penalty due to my sins in His own body on the tree, and fulfilled in His own Person the obedience that I owe to the righteousness of God, and now presents me to His Father as His purchased possession, to the praise of the glory of His grace forever: wherefore renouncing all merit of my own, I put all my trust only in the blood and righteousness of Christ my Redeemer.

8. I believe that Jesus Christ my Redeemer, who died for my offenses was raised again for my justification, and ascended into the heavens, where He sits at the right hand of the Father Almighty, continually making intercession for His people, and governing the whole world as head over all things for His Church: so that I need fear no evil and may surely know that nothing can snatch me out of His hands and nothing can separate me from His love.

9. I believe that the redemption wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ is effectually applied to all His people by the Holy Spirit, who works faith in me and thereby unites me to Christ, renews me in the whole man after the image of God, and enables me more and more to die to sin and to live unto righteousness; until, this gracious work, having been completed in me, I shall be received into glory: in which great hope abiding, I must ever strive to perfect holiness in the fear of God.

10. I believe that God requires of me, under the Gospel, first of all, that, out of a true sense of my sin and misery and apprehension of his mercy in Christ, I should turn with grief and hatred away from sin and receive and rest upon Jesus Christ alone for salvation; that, so being united to Him, I may receive pardon for my sins and be accepted as righteous in God’s sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to me and received by faith alone: and thus, and thus only, do I believe I may be received into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God.

11. I believe that, having been pardoned and accepted for Christ’s sake, it is further required of me that I walk in the Spirit whom He has purchased for me, and by whom, love is shed abroad in my heart; fulfilling the obedience I owe to Christ my King; faithfully performing all the duties laid upon me by the holy law of God my heavenly Father; and ever reflecting in my life and conduct, the perfect example that has been set me by Christ Jesus my Leader, who has died for me and granted to me His Holy Spirit, just that I may do the good works which God has afore prepared that I should walk in them.

12. I believe that God has established His church in the world and endowed it with the ministry of the Word and the holy ordinances of Baptism, the Lord’s Supper and prayer; in order that, through these as means, the riches of His grace in the Gospel may be made known to the world, and, by the blessing of Christ and the working of His Spirit in them that by faith receive them, the benefits of redemption may be communicated to His people: wherefore also it is required of me that I attend on these means of grace with diligence, preparation and prayer, so that through them I may be instructed and strengthened in faith, and in holiness of life and in love; and that I use my best endeavors to carry this Gospel and convey these means of grace to the whole world.

13. I believe that Jesus Christ has once come in grace, so also is He to come a second time in Glory, to judge the world in righeousness and assign to each His eternal award: and I believe that if I die in Christ, my soul shall be at death made perfect in holiness and go home to the Lord; and when he shall return in his majesty I shall be raised in glory and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoyment of God to all eternity: encouraged by which blessed hope it is required of me willingly to take my part in suffering hardship here as a good soldier of Christ Jesus, being assured that if I die with Him I shall also live with Him, if I endure, I shall also reign with Him.

And to Him, my Redeemer,

with the Father,

and the Holy Spirit,

Three Persons, one God,

by glory forever, world without end,

Amen, and Amen.

The most recent audio and video from New Covenant Presbyterian’s Sunday service  is now online. You can listen to and download the audio here. You can watch the video here.

Jesus Lives, and So Shall I (Acts 9:32-43)

Jason Helopoulas has an outstanding post on reasons why people should and should not leave a church. I would only add to his list one more reason people have a legitimate reason to leave: “If the minister is unwilling to work hard to feed the sheep with the pure milk and the meat of the word. If the sheep are not being fed through solid, textual, Gospel-centered preaching–and the issue has been addressed to the pastor who is, in turn, unwilling to change–that individual/family should leave. If the leadership fails, the church will suffer greatly. The church is, in many senses, only as healthy as the leadership. You can read Jason’s post here.

My good friend Gabe Fluhrer is leaving Second Presbyterian Church in Greenville, SC to head to WTS in Philadelphia to begin his Ph.D. studies. Gabe is an outstanding example of a Reformed, Gospel-centered, expositional preacher. You can listen to his farewell sermon here. You can listen to other messages he has preached at Second Pres. here. We wish him the richest blessings during this transition.

Matthew Blair has set up a daily email devotional from Octavius Winslow’s Morning Thoughts and Evening Thoughts. If you have not read any Winslow you will be greatly blessed by his Christ-centered, rich, devotional meditations. You can learn more about this project and sign up for these free email devotionals here.

Last week marked the beginning of a 6 part series on “Defending the Faith” for the midweek study at New Covenant Presbyterian Church. While it is somewhat unconventional to deal with the issue of jihad and the Christian in a series on apologetics, I wanted to tie the reality of the herem warfare of the Old Testament to the Holy War in which the Christian is continually engaged. You can listen to my attempt to do so here.  A robust Biblical Theology enables us to make sense of the herem warfare of Israel in the OT, while avoiding the danger of dissecting the Bible into two books. The cross is the epicenter of all the revelation of God in both the Old and New dispensations. The shadows and types are realized in the full light of the Person and work of Jesus. The death and resurrection of Christ are far more significant than we often realize. Vern Poythress’ chapter on Holy War, in The Shadow of Christ in the Law of Moses, includes some of the most outstanding biblical theological material on this subject. Poythress explains that herem warfare involved a judgment that can only be understood in light of the judgment of the cross. In the death of Jesus God judges His people. In the resurrection of Jesus, He brings them back to life. The cross is holy war. God was declaring holy war on His people by declaring holy war on Christ. The Father was destroying His people who were “crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20). It is not that God does not now command holy war, rather the war is being fought against the principalities and powers that were always the source of the wickedness of the nations God commanded Israel to conquer in he land.

The idea of purification in the eradication of the Canaanite inhabitants must be understood in the context of the biblical theology of the land. The Land was the dwelling place of God–a stepping stone to the restoration of Eden, and a prototype of the Temple. God dwelt with His people in the land. The temple needed to be cleansed before the Holy God could dwell there. Bill Wilder, in his thought-provoking lectures on Holy War and Israel’s Conquest of Canaan (part 1 and part 2), skillfully draws out the biblical theological principles of the cleansing of the land. The New Covenant church engages in herem warfare no less than the Old Covenant church did, but the applications are certainly different. God the Father made war against the Son on the cross, and, in doing so, Christ won the holy war against the world, the flesh and the devil at Calvary. Jesus disarmed principalities and powers, so that now, we are not called to conquer the land of Israel with a sword–rather we are called to “Go into all the world and make disciples.” When Jesus ascended on high He took captivity captive. We now share in His victory by plundering the evil one through evangelistic outreach.

We recently interviewed Anthony Selvaggio on Christ the Center with regard to Redemptive-historical and Applicatory Preaching. The interview contains many helpful thoughts with regard to hermeneutical principles, preparation and plagiarism. You can listen to the episode here. The interview began with a discussion of Anthony’s Reformation 21 article Preaching to People?

My friend Andrew Cherry is planning on being an RUF intern at Georgia Southern University. He will be working along side of Rev. Sammy Rhodes. Andrew is an exceptionally gifted artist who is leaving a substantial job in Los Angeles to serve the Lord in Statesboro, GA. If you can give him any financial support, I assure you that it will be used for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. You can watch Andrew’s support video here.

Phil Ryken preached his farewell sermon at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia this past Sunday. You can watch the video of the entire service below. You can listen to his final sermon at Tenth here.

Dr. Ryken’s last Sunday Worship Service as Sr. Minister of Tenth from Tenth Presbyterian Church on Vimeo.

Jesus told his disciples that the sons of this world are more shrewd than the sons of light (Luke 16:8). I don’t know whether this guy is a son of this world or a son of light, but he certainly exemplifies ingenuity.

HT: Nan Whitney (my ingenious sister)

B.B. Warfield, in his “The Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity,” made a striking observation regarding the scriptural nature of an accurate formulation and articulation of biblical doctrines. The locus classicus is the doctrine of the Trinity. Warfield explained the scriptural nature of the doctrine of the Trinity when he wrote:

The term “Trinity” is not a Biblical term, and we are not using Biblical language when we define what is expressed by it as the doctrine that there is one only and true God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three coeternal and coequal Persons, the same in substance but distinct in subsistence. A doctrine so defined can be spoken of as a Biblical doctrine only on the principle that the sense of Scripture is Scripture. And the definition of a Biblical doctrine in such unbiblical language can be justified only on the principle that it is better to preserve the truth of Scripture than the words of Scripture. The doctrine of the Trinity lies in Scripture in solution; when it is crystallized from its solvent it does not cease to be Scriptural, but only comes into clearer view. Or, to speak without figure, the doctrine of the Trinity is given to us in Scripture, not in formulated definition, but in fragmentary allusions; when we assembled the disjecta membra into their organic unity, we are not passing from Scripture, but entering more thoroughly into the meaning of Scripture. We may state the doctrine in technical terms, supplied by philosophical reflection; but the doctrine stated is a genuinely Scriptural doctrine.1

B.B. Warfield, “The Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity” in The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield, vol. 2 (Biblical Doctrines).

Tim Keller has a very useful post, over at the Redeemer City to City Blog, in which he pulls a number of Lloyd-Jones quotes expressing the necessity and danger of being intentionally doctrinal. You can read it here.

When I began the arduous work of church planting 16 months ago I had absolutely no idea what to expect. We had no core group, and I only knew one person in the town to which we were called. It’s all too common to read church planting blogs, manuals and articles, in which the authors speak of the pressing need to reach the “un-churched” in your community with the Gospel. This is something we see the Apostles doing in the book of Acts; but it is something that the American church has failed to do to a large extent. However, when it is mentioned today, it is frequently set in opposition to the idea of shuffling Christians around from one church to another. On the surface this sounds uber spiritual, but what I’ve learned over the past 16 months is that it is impractical and unbalanced. The conversation is not that simple. In the first place a church planter needs a core group. He needs people who have some kind of spiritual foundation. When the Apostle Paul began the evangelistic ministry to the Gentiles, he did not immediately go to the Athenians. He went to God-fearing Jewish converts and preached Christ to them. He strategically formed core groups with individuals who had some knowledge of Scripture. It would not suffice to go out and gather a group of biblically ignorant unbelievers to start a church. The church is the gathered assembly of believers. This does not mean that they have to be mature Christians–those who have years of walking closely with Christ. But, if you don’t have any mature Christians you will bear the burden all alone, and will have to spend all your time and energy trying to disciple a group of people who may never grow into spiritually mature believers. There is a better way.

(more…)

Jonathan Edwards, in one of his most interesting entries in his Notes on Scripture, drew a typological connection between the actions and words of Jacob and Joseph, in their deaths, and the promise of Jesus immediately prior to His death. He wrote:

Genesis 48:21 “And Israel said to Joseph, ‘Behold, I die, but God shall be with you.” So Joseph, when he was near his death, said to his brethren after the like manner. Gen. 50:24, “And Joseph said unto his brethren, ‘I die, and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.’” Thus the blessing of the presence of God with the children of Israel, and His favor and salvation, is by the death of Christ. He, when near death, said to His disciples, John 16:7, “It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart I will send Him unto you;” and promised elsewhere that the Father and the Son will come to them [John 14:23]. Isaac’s and Jacob’s blessing their children before their death, and, as it were, making over to them their future inheritance, may probably be typical of our receiving the blessings of the Covenant of Grace from Christ, as by His last will and testament, the final [administration of the] Covenant of Grace represented as His testament.  Christ in the 14^th, 15^th and 16^th chapters of John, does as it were make His will, and conveys to His people their inheritance before His death, [in] particular the Comforter, or the Holy Spirit, which is the sum of the purchased inheritance.1

1. Jonathan Edwards, Notes on the Bible in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 2 (London: William Ball, 1839). p. 714

The videos from the 2010 Ligonier National Conference are now available online for streaming. The title of this year’s conference was “Tough Questions Christians Ask.” You can find the index of all the videos here. I would especially recommend the following talks:

Derek Thomas If God is Good, How Could He Command Holy War?

Derek Thomas How Do We Know Which Interpretation is Right?

Burk Parsons Is Calvinism Good for the Church?

R.C. Sproul Can We Enjoy Heaven Knowing of Loved Ones in Hell?

Over at Bring the Books, Adam Parker has a series of posts in which he reviews Craig Koester’s Revelation and the End of All Things. Koetser is Professor of New Testament at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN. You can find a list of the books that Dr. Koester has written, together with audio resources here. What makes Revelation and the End of All Things unique is the fact that it Koester’s hermenuetic is guided by an Amillennial/Preterist approach, something rarely seen in eschatological works. You can read the first part of Adam’s review here, and the second part here.

This year’s pre-conference for Ligonier Ministries’ National Conference centered on the biblical approach to social media. Overall it was a very beneficial conference. Ed Stetzer, Al Mohler, Burk Parsons, and Tim Challies did a good job of helping people think through how the church can best use technology for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom. You can watch the videos here. The videos from the main sessions of the National Conference will be online shortly.

One important questions in theology is whether or not Adam was in a state of sonship prior to the fall. The answer to this question has direct implications on our understanding of God, the covenant of works, and the nature of soteriological blessings. Sinclair Ferguson has an exceedingly helpful article titled, “The Reformed Doctrine of Sonship” in Pulpit & People: Essays in Honor of William Still in which he takes up this discussion. Ferguson takes the position that Adam was a son of God prior to the fall. However, he mentions a book that has been relatively difficult to find in years past: Robert Candlish’s The Fatherhood of God. In this work Candlish sets out the opposite position, namely, (more…)

I sometimes wish I had a better grasp on the right use of humor for the purpose of grabbing people’s attention. A minister can certainly go too far in this; but there is an effective and, I believe, beneficial use of humor in the pulpit that often gets dismissed out of hand. Having listened to Mark Driscoll’s sermons on the life of Jacob and Joseph, I have found them to be exceedingly beneficial–especially for the humorous way in which he brings exposition and application. As I come to the end of our study through the book of Genesis at New Covenant Presbyterian Church’s mid-week Bible Study, I want to encourage our readers to listen to Driscoll’s series of sermons on Genesis. You might think that Driscoll goes too far at times, but you must remember what Charles Spurgeon (another Gospel minister with a great sense of humor) once said about keeping the listener engaged with humor:

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The audio and video from the June 20, 2010 worship service at New Covenant Presbyterian Church is now online. The text was Acts 9:1-22 and the title, “The Glorious Conquest.” You can download and listen to the audio here. You can watch the video below:

The Glorious Conquest

The book of Job gives us a glimpse of the majesty of God and His works in a manner unsurpassed among the patriarchal revelation. Reformed theologians, throughout the history of the church, have drawn the conclusion that the revelation of God, recorded in the book of Job, comes from an era immediately prior to the days of Abraham. C. C. Jones, in his magnificent biblical theological work The History of the Church of God, systematized the theology of Job, showing the revelation that Job had in his possession and received from God. This section of the book is worth reading solely for the study of progressive revelation. Jones set out to prove the continuity of redemptive revelation that exists between this earliest book in the canon and the further NT revelation. Notice the way in which he carefully analyzed and categorized the theology in the speeches of Job:

In this period, between the flood and Abraham, lived a patriarch, not registered in the line of spiritual descent in Gen. 11: 10-26— the patriarch Job. His book lives in the sacred canon, and is of inestimable value in the history of the Church. It is considered, perhaps, the oldest of the inspired writings, and seems to have been composed and preserved with the express design of unfolding to all succeeding ages what was the amount of religious knowledge — what was the perfection of religious character — and what was the private and public walk of the sons of God — what was the association which they held with each other, and with the people of the world, in these early times, covered with the mists of far-distant ages.
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It was said of Thomas Halyburton, the great Scottish theologian of the late seventeenth century, that “he abhorred that unedifying converse that is spent in frequent and unseasonable jesting…so common with many, though he was abundantly facetious [humorous] in company, when and where he saw it expedient; and this way sometimes he has dropped what tended to edify. Those who conversed most with him will own, they seldom enjoyed his company without some profit by it. He oft was uneasy after much converse with other, if he was not edified himself, or thought he did not edify others.”1 So, how are your conversations benefiting those around you?

1. Memoirs of the Life of the Rev. Thomas Halyburton Edinburgh: Printed for Sterling and Slade, 1821. p. xiii.

There seems to be a connection between Jonah and Saul of Tarsus. Both were nationalistic zealots. Both thought they deserved the grace of God. Both were called to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles; and both had to be dealt with in an extraordinary manner. Jonah was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth prior to being sent to the Gentiles. Saul of Tarsus was three days in the depths of darkness prior to being sent to the Gentiles. Thomas Peck put it this way:

During these three days Saul was in the belly of hell as Jonah was in the fish’s belly. In the agony occasioned  by conviction of sin, in preparation to become the apostle to the Gentiles. Compare the history of Jonah, who before the three days, could not be induced to preach to the Gentile Ninevites. A Jew, under any circumstances needed an extraordinary providence to make him a missionary to the Gentiles.

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The most recent sermon audio and video from New Covenant Presbyterian Church is now online. The text was Acts 8:26-40 and the title was “Tolle Tege: Take Up and Read.” You can listen to the audio here. You can watch the video below:

Tolle Lege: Take Up and Read (Acts 8:26-40)

As the 2010 Ligonier National Conference approaches you might be interested in knowing that they will again be live streaming the conference. You can watch it here. This year’s conference title is, “Tough Questions Christians Face.” You can see the schedule of (including the line up for the pre-conference, “Bits, Bytes, Blogs and Bibles”) here.

Apart from the writings of Jonathan Edwards, no other theological writings have had such an impact on the development of my own thinking as much as those of Augustine. If you have never read The Confessions–Augustine’s autobiography–you are missing out on an intellectual and devotional masterpiece. There is certainly much to be criticized in the early writings of Augustine (he must be read as a theologian in progress), but there is equally as much theological depth there. B.B. Warfield once said that the Reformation was Augustine verse Augustine. This becomes clear from a systematizing of his doctrinal statements, no less than a study of his early and later writings.

W. G. T. Shedd wrote, in the 1860 Andover ed. of The Confessions, what may rightly be considered the best introduction to the work. Shedd opened with an analysis of what made Augustine such a unique theologian. There is much to be learned from Shedd’s assessment:

The first characteristic that strikes the reader is, the singular mingling of the metaphysical and devotional elements in the work. The writer passes, with a freedom that often amounts to abruptness, from the intensely practical to the intensely speculative. In the very midst of his confession of sin, or rejoicing over deliverance from it, his subtle and inquisitive understanding raises a query, the answer to which, if answer were possible, would involve the solution to all the problems that have baffled the metaphysical mind from Thales to Hegel. In the very opening of the work, for example, when the surcharged and brimming soul is swelling with its think-coming emotions, and it is seeking vent for its sense of the Divine mercy which has saved it from everlasting perdition, it slides, by an unconscious transition, to the question: “How shall I call upon my God, my God and Lord, since when I call for Him I shall be calling Him into myself? And what room is there within me, whither my God can come into me? Whither can God come into me, God, who made heaven and earth?” At the very instant when Augustine is enjoying the most heartfelt and positive communion with God, his intellect feels the pressures of the problem respecting the possibility of such an intercourse. Such transitions are perpetually occurring throughout the work, until, in the eleventh book, the author leaves his autobiography altogether, and devotes the remainder of the work to an interpretation of the opening chapters of Genesis, in which he discusses the most recondite problems respecting Time and Eternity, the Creator and Creation, and the Triunity of the Divine Essence.