Specialization & D.A. Carson

I was reading a recent interview by Christianity Today with Greg Beale and Don Carson about their new "Commentary on the NT Use of the OT," and was caught by a comment by Beale on knowing Hebrew and Greek. He said, "There's such specialization in all fields today." It struck me because in seminary life I see it to be true as well. I am not sure what the solution is but I think pastors and scholars need to be well-read and well-rounded. An OT scholar ought to speak with ease about systematics and church history, and with a firm handle on the NT as well. I have not come across this too much at Southern thankfully, but it is here.

Don Carson is an exception though. He has a handle on many domains of discourse, which is why I profit from his work so much. You will read with profit from Carson on a range of topics such as prayer, evangelism, exegesis, biblical theology, pastoral ministry, worship, culture, pluralism, and much else. His faculty page at Trinity says, "Dr. Carson's areas of expertise include biblical theology, the historical Jesus, postmodernism, pluralism, Greek grammar, Johannine theology, Pauline theology, and questions of suffering and evil." Andreas Kostenberger writes, "D. A. Carson may one day be remembered as one of the last great Renaissance men in evangelical biblical scholarship. In an age of increasing specialization and fragmentation, Carson, to the admiring disbelief of many of his colleagues, persistently refuses to limit his interests. His publications cover a vast range of subjects: New Testament Greek, Bible translation, hermeneutics, contextualization, the use of the Old Testament in the New, preaching, various aspects of New Testament and biblical theology, major commentaries on Matthew and John, and even poetry."

One reason I have much respect for Carson is that he is such a churchman. He is a servant to the church, as most biblical scholarship should be. So read widely, know your subjects of interests well, and read Carson.

(Image taken from Monergism.com)

Mohler on the New Atheism

It is becoming more and more evident that the walls of "Christendom" are coming down. Indeed, they are already gone in Western Europe, and we are following suit. In many ways, this is good and the Lord can use the cultural changes to purify his church.

Recently, Dr. Mohler gave some very enlightening lectures on "the new atheism" mainly focusing on the work of Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, and Sam Harris, whose books have sold like mad in the last few years. Here they are:

Lecture One: The New Atheism and the Endgame of Secularism
Lecture Two: The New Atheism and the Assault on Theism
Lecture Three: The New Atheism and the Defense of Theism
Lecture Four: The New Atheism and the Future of Christianity

They can be accessed here. One (of many) notes of interest is the fact that both Hitchens and Dawkins turned from their Christian upbringing early on. I think this is often the case. Kids grow up watching their "Christian" parents deny the gospel by their lives on a daily basis, and walk away from the faith as soon as they leave home. Moral of the story: Parents (and all believers) must model genuine Christian lives.

Justification in Paul

I have struggled with the so-called "new perspective on Paul" for a little over two years now. One of the paper options for Dr. Schreiner's New Testament theology class is "Justification in Paul." This academic debate has caused me to lose sleep, because it is not like we're debating millennial options here. This gets down to the heart of the gospel. I must remain teachable, and have much more to learn but I no longer stay up late wrestling with Paul. I have come to some conclusions on most of the difficult issues involved. Richard Gaffin and Tom Schreiner have been the most helpful resources for me on this issue.

"Beliefs worth calling beliefs must be purchased by the sweat of the brow. The easy conclusions which are accepted on borrowed grounds in evasion of the labour and responsibility of thought may or may not be coincident with truth; in either case they have little or no share in its power."

--J. A. Hort

Here is the outline:
I. Introduction
II. Current Debate
A. New Perspective on Paul
B. Imputation
III. Justification
A. OT Background
B. Righteousness of God
1. Transformative or Forensic
C. Justification in Paul
D. The Ground of Justification
1. Death and Resurrection of Christ
E. Imputation
1. Union with Christ
2. Justification & Sanctification
F. The Instrument of Justification
1. Faith in Christ
2. Faith and its relation to Obedience
G. Final Judgment
1. Justification According to Works
2. Justification Already but Not Yet (Eschatology)
IV. Conclusion

Friends of God

A couple of nights ago, Alicia and I watched "Friends of God: A Road Trip with Alexandra Pelosi." You can watch the trailer here. This is a one hour documentary, where Pelosi tours the Bible belt observing and interviewing "militant" evangelical Christians. She was curious who this group was, who has become such a cultural and political force. Of course, the groups she chose were not random. She interviews a whole range of evangelicals including Joel Osteen, Ted Haggard, Brad Stine, Jerry Falwell, and many others.

Sadly, but conveniently, no very informed and balanced leaders were observed or interviewed. One wonders how the documentary would have looked if she would have stopped by the churches of John MacArthur, Matt Chandler, John Piper, Tim Keller, or Albert Mohler. Along the way, she is sure to poke fun at the evangelical subculture by taking note of many, many, cliches on billboards, and groups like Car clubs for Christ, biblical putt-putt golf, king of kings skateboarding groups, Christian wrestling foundation, the drive-through church in VA, cowboy churches, patriot pastors, evangelical rappers, the Holy Land experience in Orlando, and of course the evangelical Elvis impersonator. Topics such as homosexuality, abortion, marriage, and evolution are focused on.

Just as with the documentary "Jesus Camp" there is way too much talk by evangelicals of "reclaiming America for Christ," and "bringing America back to one nation under God."
Many of the Christians interviewed sounded more concerned with the U.S.A than with the kingdom of Christ, but the gospel could have been edited out of the film as well. The documentary made me wish that someone would do the same sort of documentary with extreme left-wing secular progressives to see what kind of caricature is produced. It also made me think the Lord could purify his church by ordaining Hillary for president. This would make it clearer than ever, as D Webb sings, that we'll "never have a savior on Capitol Hill."

For a very helpful resource on how Christians are to engage in politics, see the latest Southern Baptist Journal of Theology. So far, I have found the articles by Russell Moore, K.T. Magnuson, and Jim Hamilton particularly helpful. Hamilton writes,

"If we are Christians, we believe that influence in America does not come from gaining the ear of the White House but through the transforming power of the one who swill sit on the White Throne. The legislation of our worldview must not be our ultimate goal. We need a demonstration of the Spirit and power; we need to return to God's wisdom, which is the world's folly, God's power, which the world counts as weakness; and we look for the Lord to grant that the faith of astonishing numbers of people will not rest on the wisdom of men but on the power of God. We need a great awakening. Our field of labor is neither the public policies being debated on the Senate floor nor the legal matters before the Supreme Court. Our field of labor is the place we have been assigned to plough, sow, and reap with a local body of believers with whom we have entered into solemn covenant before the Lord of heaven and earth."

Matt Chandler's advice to young preachers.

Good Lookin' Out: La Rosita's Mexican Grill

This post is for all the Texans who now live in the Ville. One of the main purposes of this blog is to point serious-minded Christians, and especially seminarians and pastors to good resources, not limited to theology. We love Louisville, but one of the biggest disappointments has been the lack of good Mexican food. Sure, there is Qdoba, but let's be honest; it doesnt touch FreeBirds. And there's the occasional trip to Lexington for Abuelo's. Alicia and I have heard a lot about La Rosita's in New Albany. We finally made it, and it lived up to the hype. I would compare it to Henry's (only the San Angelo folks will appreciate that). It's also pretty cheap, and there was enough leftovers for lunch the next day. So go, and eat at La Rosita's and thank God for the gift of taste buds! Here is their site.

Dwight Howard is nice.

I really enjoy watching dunk contests, and used to look forward to the NBA dunk contest. The last several years have been pretty disappointing for various reasons. Not this year. Dwight Howard put on a show with 4 sick dunks in a row. It was probably the best dunk contest performance I've seen (yes, better than Vince). Two of his four (his 1st & 3rd) may be in my top 5 nicest dunks of NBA dunk contest history. You can watch the contest in three parts here, here, and here.

Keller's "The Reason for God"

Tim Keller's new book is out. There is also a website devoted to the book, where, among other resources, you can download sermons corresponding to chapters in the book. Here are they are:

-Exclusivity: How can there be just one true religion?
-Suffering: If God is good, why is there so much evil in the world?
-Absolutism: Don't we all have to find truth for ourselves?
-Injustice: Hasn't Christianity been an instrument for oppression?
-Hell: Isn't the God of Christianity an angry Judge?
-Doubt: What should I do with my doubts? (by David Bisgrove)
-Literalism: Isn't the Bible historically unreliable and regressive?

I have listened to a couple of the sermons, but have yet to buy the book. I probably won't get to it for a while but I am sure it will be great. I have read that he endorses some sort of theistic evolution, and the sermon on hell was pretty disappointing, but Tim Keller has been a huge source of insight and encouragement to me. For any pastor wanting to better understand the gospel, its implications, and how to communicate sin to postmodern people, Tim Keller should be on your IPod.

Greg Gilbert on Music in Worship

Greg Gilbert has written a couple of excellent posts concerning music in worship. This particularly hits home as our church takes biblical fidelity and excellence in music very seriously. Here are some excerpts from the first post:

"There’s a whole generation of young people [I would only add that this post does not only apply to young people!] out there now, though, who aren’t emotionally affected by words, whose fires are only stoked when those words are accompanied by great rhythms, skilled instrumentation, and a certain well-recognizable mood that typically accompanies Christian “praise-and-worship.” And the result is that you have young [or old] people church-hopping around town, and one of the main criteria of their shopping is “the worship,” by which more often than not they mean “the music.” You have young [and old] Christians feeling discouraged because—despite the fact that they sit under faithful preaching of the word Sunday after Sunday—they say they haven’t “felt close to God” in so long. Maybe there’s something important going on there. But there’s also a good chance, I’d argue, that they just haven’t had a good endorphin rush since the last conference they attended."

"The bottom line, I suppose, is that it would do every Christian well to do some honest heart-searching about what makes them feel “close to God.” Can you feel close to God just by reading or saying the words, “In Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”? Would you be able to function in a church that’s great in every way except the music? If not, you probably need to give some thought to whether your spiritual life is dependent on something it should not be dependent on."

Here are a list of questions he asks in his second post:

- Do you get bored when someone reads a longish passage of Scripture in your church? Do you start wishing they’d get on with the music?
- Do you need music playing in the background for the reading of Scripture to affect your emotions?
- Does a prayer seem too “plain” or “stark” to you if it doesn’t have music playing behind it?
- Do you feel depressed a few weeks after a worship conference because you haven’t felt close to God in a long time?
- Do you desperately look forward to the next conference you’re going to attend because you know that, finally, you’ll be able to feel close to God again?
- If you’re in a big church with great music, are you able to worship when you visit your parents’ small rural church?
- Do you ever feel worshipful in the middle of the week, at work, at school, etc. just because of thinking about God and his grace? Or does that only happen when the music’s playing?
- Do you tend to feel closer to God when you’re alone with your iPOD than you do when you’re gathered with God’s people in your church?
- Do you feel like you just can’t connect with other believers who haven’t had the same “worship experiences” that you have? Can you only connect with other believers who “know what it feels like to really worship?”
- Is your sense of spiritual well-being based more on feeling close to God, or knowing that you are close to God because of Jesus Christ?

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

When Sin Becomes Trivial

More and more, our culture views serious sin as trivial. Killing babies is now just getting rid of the "product of conception." Fornication is just "hooking up to see if she will be a good lover." Pornography is fine because "boys will be boys." Drunkenness is a "disease." Homosexuality is "determined by birth, and therefore perfectly natural." Divorce in particular is now "just another aspect of life." This week's Time magazine has an article called, "Bye Bye, Love," where it covers people who are now getting rich off of the divorce culture (though they primarily use the term "break-up," even when referring to marriage break-ups). 40-50% of first marriages will end in divorce. Sadly, the numbers aren't drastically different among Christians (broadly defined). This being the case, that makes up a large marketing audience. Angie Schmidt developed the online business "smashingkatie.com," so divorcees would have an outlet to laugh at themselves and their divorces. She sells all kinds of "break-up" spoofs, ranging from gift cards to voodoo dolls to a knife holder resembling the 'ex.' A woman in New Orleans rents out a Limo for friends to drive around to celebrate over-the-hill birthdays. She has been surprised recently to find that divorcees are now wanting to rent it to ride around with friends celebrating the death of their marriages.


You can also buy a wedding ring coffin, or have a divorce cake made to celebrate the event. The Time article has a picture of a wedding cake where the bride has kicked the groom off of the top. The man is falling down the cake surrounded by cash, golf clubs, television, briefcase, PDA, and sports apparel. This paints a sad, but too often true picture, even within the church. God has ordained men to be the heads of their homes and many men abdicate this responsibility. Many men are idolaters, consumed with their own money, sport, promotion, and hobbies. Men who seek to love their wives like Christ loved the church are few and far between. Ultimately, men are the ones responsible for these broken marriages. The need of the day is serious-minded, selfless, Godly men who will lead, love, provide, and protect their wives.


Even so, divorce is not the solution, and is certainly not something to be laughed about. Schmidt asks, "Why take life so seriously?" The answer is because you will be held accountable and judged for how 'seriously' you take life. Divorce is an offense to God. This is particularly so within Christian marriages. The divorce preaches a false gospel to the surrounding world because marriage was instituted to be a picture of Christ and the church, and divorce preaches to the world that Christ is not faithful and committed to his people. This is a false gospel. Men, lead your homes toward Christ-likeness. Christians, take divorce very, very seriously. It should produce tears, not jokes. Having said that it is also important to keep in mind that divorce is not the unpardonable sin. In Christ we find forgiveness and righteousness. In Christ there is no condemnation.