Father, Son, & Holy Spirit by Bruce Ware

/ davidsschrock

trinity_wareIn six biblically-saturated, clearly-articulated chapters, Southern Seminary professor Bruce Ware develops an historical, biblical, and practical look at one of the church’ most mystifying doctrines–the doctrine of the Trinity.  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is densely packed with biblical data, but clearly outlined to help provided an accessible grip on the uniqueness of each member of the Godhead.

Written at a popular level, Ware argues for unity and diversity, harmony and distinction, authority and submission between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  He follows the Western understanding of the relationship; God is one substance, in three persons; the Father sends the Son, and the Father and the Son (i.e. filioque) send the Spirit.  Ware uncovers the biblical data for these doctrines, but the strength of the book is its attention to application and the direct relationship that the Trinity must have in the church, the home, and in gender relations–hence, the subtitle, Relationships, Roles, & Relevance.

Consider the applications of each chapter:

On the Father: Marvel at the wisdom, goodness, care, and thoroughness of God’s authority; marvel at the perfection of his fatherhood; marvel at the wisdom of his divine delegation; marvel at his unsurpassing supremacy and glory; and look for ways to emulate and incorporate these fatherly traits.  In a world that despises and undermines authority, show gracious servant leadership that sacrifices yourself for those you are responsible to lead or oversee.

On the Son: Marvel at the submission of the Son to the Father for all eternity; marvel at the submission to the Spirit while on the earth; marvel at the relational love between Father and Son.  Personally, I sense this last application whenever I watch, hold, and care for my son.  What a gift that God would let us know the kind of Father-Son intimacy in our own families.

On the Holy Spirit: Be instructed by the Spirit’s humble willingness to participate in the Trinity virtually unnoticed without recognition or overt honor; ponder the willingness of the Spirit to assume authority over the son for a season and then to gladly relinquish that authority when Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father.  Most Christians will never be known, their names never documented by a biography or publicized for their great achievements.  They will be simple people who live lives depending on Jesus life, death, and resurrection.  In this, they are leading exemplary Spirit-filled lives.  I look forward to meeting those men and women. I want to be one of them.

On the Trinitarian Community:  Human relationships model the Triune relationship; the relationality of the Trinity calls for the creation of genuine Spirit-wrought community; the Trinity demonstrate equality in essence and eternal authority-submission that neither demeans nor devalues.  In this, America’s egalitarian church needs to be corrected.  It is wrong thinking to assert leadership and authority equals value.  Children are under their parents authority, but they have the same worth before God.  The authority-submission structure of the Trinity must overrule our culturally-determined proclivities.  Resultantly, husbands and wives must learn from the Trinity how to lead with love and submit with gladhearted respect, and churches must take God at his Word that men are to lead in the church and women are not to teach or have authority over men (cf. 1 Cor 11:4-6; 2 Tim. 2:12-15).  This is not a social construct.  This is a Trinitarian directive. 

In short, Bruce Ware’s book is a great introduction to the Trinity, especially for those who want to see how “Theology Proper” and “speculative” theology impacts our daily lives.  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit shows how the doctrine of the Trinity has everyday relevance and import. 

May we marvel at God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and may our minds and lives be transformed accordingly.

Sola Deo Gloria, dss

Brothers & Sisters: Play Your Position!

/ davidsschrock

Today on the CBMW  Gender Blog, Jeff Robinson provides part one of a review of the new book by Mark Chanski, Womanly Dominion: More Than A Gentle and Quiet Spirit.  Here is powerful word picture that Robinson includes from Chanski:

Due to high-powered feminist social pressures, they’ve got to keep telling themselves, ‘Play your position!'” Chanski writes. “On the field of life, women hear constant shouts from unprincipled sideline voices telling them to leave their God-assigned posts. These voices are much like the voices of misguided parents telling their goalie daughter to ‘Get the ball, honey, and try to dribble down field and score!’ But the coach has charged her to ‘Play your position’….she’s been assigned a glorious and important position in this world. But the sideline voices attempt to drown out her Lord’s words of instruction.”

Brothers and sisters, in a world of gender confusion and sexual anarchy, may we learn how to play our positions well.   May the church be filled with strong men (1 Cor. 16:13-14) and godly, gentle women (1 Peter 3:4).

Complementing this book for women, pastor Chanski’s first book, Manly Dominion, challenges men– married and single, young and old– to reject passivity and lead courageously. Check it out.

Sola Deo Gloria, dss

Oscar Cullman on Irenaeus and Redemptive History

/ davidsschrock

Here is a great quote from Oscar Cullmann that shows the centrality and importance that redemptive history had for Irenaeus and should have for us.  He rightly understood that Christian preaching divorced from the fullness of redemptive history, had no vitality.  May our preaching be filled with biblical theology and its Christ-centered, gospel witness.  Here is the quote found in Aloys Grillmeier’s Christ in Christian Tradition:

Down to the theologians of the ‘redemptive history’ school in the nineteenth century…there has scarcely been another theologian who had recognized so clearly as did Irenaeus that the Christian proclamation stands or falls with the redemptive history, that this historical work of Jesus Christ as Redeemer forms the mid-point of a line which leads from the Old Testament to the return of Christ (Cullmann, Christ and Time, London 1962, 56-7).

May we exhaust ourselves defending and declaring, exegeting and extolling the glories of Christ unveiled in the history of redemption.  The power and the purity of the gospel depends on it.

Sola Deo Gloria, dss

How do you order the books of the Old Testament?

/ davidsschrock

Last week, on Moore to the Point, Jim Hamilton presented a compact and compelling case for reading the Old Testament according to the earliest Hebrew organization: Torah, Prophets (Naviim), Writings (Ketuvim).  Citing Roger Beckwith and David Noel Freedman, Hamilton argued that we should consider the interpretive ramifications canonical arrangement has on our biblical theology, and make adjustments according to the oldest arrangements.  He makes three arguments for such a change, which he summarizes here:

We should accept the tripartite division of the OT into Law, Prophets, and Writings, and we should order English translations of the books of the OT accordingly because (1) the order in use by English translations now does not match the orders of the books in lists drawn up by early church fathers; (2) Protestants have agreed with Hebrew tradition rather than Septuagint tradition on which books should be included between the covers of the Bible, so Protestants should also agree with Hebrew tradition on how those books should be arranged; and (3) this is the order that Jesus endorsed and that Matthew and Luke apparently expected their audiences to recognize.

The most compelling reason for considering this original, Hebrew reading is that it may help us read the Bible as Jesus did and in turn, it may help us see the Hebrew Bible as unified redemptive story that founds its fulfillment in our Messiah.  Both of those seem like very strong reasons to read the Scriptures this way.

Stephen Dempster, in his outstanding work on the Hebrew Bible, Dominion and Dynasty, appeals to this arrangement and constructs his OT theology accordingly.  His excellent book supports Hamilton’s case, and would be a good read for anyone who wants to think about this issue more.  It also shows how this re-arrangement could (and should) impact theology and biblical understanding.  Read Hamilton’s blog, “Stirring the Pot: How Should the Books of the Old Testamen Be Ordered?” and decide for yourself.

One final thought, how would you teach this in the local church? 

Dr. Hamilton answered that question in his class, “Messiah in the Old Testament,” and said he would do so humbly, patiently, over time, advocating the veracity of God’s Word and teaching his congregation about the history of its reception and transmission.  Maybe he will offer a follow up post that gives practical steps to introducing this sort of thing in the local assembly. 

If you accept this older reading, how would you teach it to your English Bible congregation?

Sola Deo Gloria, dss

Take This Book and Read :: 2009 Bible Reading Plans

/ davidsschrock / 2 Comments

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; 

the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; 

the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;

the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;

the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. 

More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; 

sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned; 

in keeping them there is great reward. (Psalm 19:7-11)

 

Psalm 19, and in fact the whole Bible, is clear about Scripture’s perfection, wisdom, necessity, purity, veracity, and value, not to mention the benefit and pleasure of its Words.  It is all of these things because it is God’s perfect revelation to his covenant people.  And his people cannot live without it.  For those who have our hope set on heaven, God’s Word is not a trifling thing, it is our life (cf. Deuteronomy 32:41).  It is essential because its words reveal to us our Triune God and God’s gracious plan for salvation–Jesus Christ.  Nothing else compares.

But too often we neglect this book.  Sometimes for lack of desire.  Sometimes for lack of discipline.  If the former, pray!  But if the latter, pray and plan!  And in your planning, it might be helpful to use a reading guide for 2009.  Let me commend a few.

Crossway Publishers has compiled a list of 10 Reading Plans that will help you get through the Bible in 2009.  Included in this list is Mc’Cheyne’s One Year Reading Plan . This is the reading plan used in D.A. Carson’s For the Love of God (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2).  Another helpful reading plan is the one commended by John Piper, Discipleship Journal Reading Plan . Both of these plans are excellent, as well as, the  Daily Reading Plan and the Chronological Reading Plan.

Personally, I will continue to use my own reading plan which includes 1 chapter from the gospels and 1 from the wisdom literature  in the morning; 4 OT history chapters at night (during the week), Psalms at dinner time and Sunday mornings, and 8-10 chapters of NT epistles or Minor Prophets on the Weekends.  I use this plan because of its relative flexibility and the fact that it includes material from every genre of the Bible each week, though not every day.  By God’s grace, this plan will take me through the Bible in 2009, with a little extra in the NT.

So in 2009, what is your plan? 

It matters less which one you choose, and more that you have one. It is already January 3, and time to get going.  I pray that God will bless the time you spend in his Word. He has promised to us that he will meet with us in His living Word (cf. Heb. 4:12).  So, take this book and read, and may the Lord open your eyes to the wonders of his Word.

Sola Deo Gloria, dss

P.S. Eric Schumacher has given us an ESV Study Bible reading schedule for the articles and outlines to complement our Bible reading.  I commend to you this guide, but admit with other reading this year, I will have to utilize this plan at a later date.

(HT: Justin Taylor who has a more expansive explanation of these Bible Reading Plans; Jim Hamilton at Moore to the Point who referenced Eric’s blog)

Top Ten Books of 2009 (D.V.) :: A Call for Prayer

/ davidsschrock / 6 Comments

Lord willing (Deo volente), the next year or two will have a host of books that will benefit and uplift Christ’s church.  Many of these books are from SBTS professors, others from some of the choicest biblical theologians today.  Below is a list of ten books that, Lord willing, will be appearing soon:

1. The Cradle, The Cross, and The Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament by Andreas Kostenberger.

2. Adopted for Life by Russell Moore.

3. The Center of Biblical Theology by Jim Hamilton. 

4. History of Southern Seminary by Southern Professor Greg Wills.

5. Doctrine of the Church book in the Crossway series by Gregg Allison.

6. Doctrine of Christ book in the Crossway series by Stephen Wellum.

7. Commentary on 2 Corinthians in the Pillar series by Mark Seifrid.

8. Hebrews commentary in the Pillar series by P.T. O’Brien. 

9. Colossians commentary in the BECNT series by G.K. Beale. 

10. Commentary on Galatians by Tom Schreiner.

As we look forward to these resources, may we be faithful to pray for the men who writes these labor-intensive tomes.  Studying under, working with, learning from, and worshiping alongside the professors at Southern, I have grown in my thankfulness for their ministries and more aware of the need to pray for them.  (See Pray for a Professor).  They sacrifice much and labor strenuously to provide us with such excellent scholarship. 

May we thank the Lord for the gifts he gives to his church in these men (cf. Eph. 4:11ff; Gal. 6:6:6ff), and let us pray for them.  May the Lord support his servants of the Word and give them wisdom, biblical clarity, and Christ-honoring fidelity as they write the books we will read.  May Christ receive all the glory as these books edify the church.

Sola Deo Gloria, dss

Doctoral Reading List: The Mountain and the Molehill

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

The Mountain: A Systematic Reading List

Standing in his study, talking about doctoral studies, Southern Seminary professor Dr. Mark Seifrid commented that the doctoral degree is much like climbing a mountain.  In every discipline, there is a mountain of scholarly literature that must be traversed.  It is the academic responsibility of every student to summit that mountain.  Standing at the base of that mountain with sparse climbing gear in hand, I am daunted by the task. 

So walking by faith, and not by sight, I have uploaded a new page on Via Emmaus that lists the systematic reading list at Southern.  I include this page in order to record comments about these resources as I study and to share with others who are interested in theological studies.  Its intent is to help me catalog thoughts about the material as I go through, and I hope it may help others who love God and enjoy theology.

A little explanation of the list:  First of all, I cannot take credit for its compilation, that goes to the systematic professors at Southern Seminary.  It is the comprehensive examination list of books for which every doctoral student is responsible.  It is sub-divided according to theological loci, and it contains some of the best reading material in each area of systematic theology.  It is not a beginners list, but if you are looking for detailed works in an area of theology, this is a good starting place.   I hope to update these lists over time and to include more basic works.  Stay tuned.

The Molehill: A Selection of Evaluative Comments and Summaries on Selected Resources

The Molehill is simply my attempt at climbing the mountain.  In the months to come, I hope to add notes and comments evaluating these various resources and others.  More extended interaction will take place in blog posts; while links to the books will be found on the doctoral reading page, as well as, links to reviews of the materials.  But, I hope that, this is not a individual endeavor…

I would love to hear your comments about any of these works (and/or others) and their benefits or dangers to the church and the study of the Bible.  Maybe you are thinking about doctoral studies.  If so, I would encourage you to read John Stackhouse’s blog, “Thinking about a PhD?”  which has some great evaluative questions and to pray.  Even as I begin, I am reminded that knowledge puffs up, but love builds up (1 Cor. 8:1).  I pray that your theology and mine will fuel our love for Jesus, for the church, for one another, and for the lost.

To see the reading list check out “The Mountain and the Molehill.”

Sola Deo Gloria, dss

Top Ten Books of 2008

/ davidsschrock

Studying at Southern Seminary has afforded me the gracious opportunity to read some of the choicest books on the Bible, theology, and Christian ministry.  This is a list of my Top Ten Books of 2008, books that I had the opportunity to read this year that I would commend to you for your perusal in 2009.  The list is eclectic, and intentionally so, but my hope is that each book would whet your appetite for more of Christ.  (The list is in chronological order, but I will say the best is last).

1. Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age by Bill McKibben.  The most fascinating book I read all year; not one I would have picked up by myself.  Assigned for my Ethics class with Dr. Russell Moore, Enough, written by an unbelieving environmentalist, is a fascinating look at the technologically-advacning world we live in.  The book deals with nanotechnology, articificial intelligence, and gene therapy, just to name a few.  McKibben goes into painstaking detail to show what science is researching and hoping to create, and from a secular point of view he asks the question, “When will it be enough?”  It is a great read, and it will challenge your thinking about what it means to be human. 

2. God and Marriage by Geoffrey Bromiley.  Before Christian Bookstores were flooded with marriage books, historical theologian, Geoffrey Bromiley, produced a short book that traces marriage through the Bible, shows the Trinitarian-marriage connections, and shows why a good theology of marriage is so important for a healthy marriage.  For less than five dollars used, you cannot pass this up.

3. Marriage: Sex in the Service of God by Christopher Ash.  Most thorough and rigorously biblical book on marriage today.  A must read for any pastor or biblical counselor.

4. Married for God by Christopher Ash.  The follow up to Ash’s first book on marriage, this popular level book grounds marriage in biblical theology and then proceeds to practically apply the Bible to today’s marriages.  Very readable, and worthwhile for any and all married couples, or those getting ready for marriage.

5. Against Heresies by Irenaeus of Lyons.  One of the earliest “biblical theologies” you can find.  Irenaeus was a second-century church apologist who read the Bible very well.  Challenging, but worthwhile.

6. Last Thing First by J.V. Fesko.  An edifying and stimulating look at eschatology (the study of last things) and  protology (the study of first things) in Genesis 1-3.  It ultimately is a book about Christ, as the alpha and omega.  In the spirit of Meredith Kline and William Dumbrell, it shows how God’s plan of redemption begins in the first 3 chapters of Genesis.  Very good!

7. The Letter to the Colossians and to Philemon (Pillar Commentary) by Douglas Moo.  Moo’s commentary was the most current and most biblical-theological commentary that I found on Colossians.  As I preached through the book in September – December, it served me well to see the OT-NT connections that Paul employed in his Christ-centered letter to the church at Colossae.

8. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament edited by D.A. Carson and G.K. Beale.  Tremendous resource for preachers who want to pay special attention to inter-canonical connections.

9. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit by Andreas Kostenberger and Scott Swain.  The latest volume in the D.A. Carson edited New Studies in Biblical Theology.  Even though this book will be finished in 2009, it is too good to leave off the list.  The attention to biblical content and the faithful Trinitarian synthesis is excellent.  This is a must have for anyone preaching or teaching in or through the Gospel of John.

10. The ESV Study Bible.  The Bible is surely the best and most important book I read all year; and this year the ESV Study Bible is simply the most edition published in 2008, maybe the century–not a hyperbole.  Speaking of the notes and articles, I have not read it en toto, but in scanning its contents and contributors, it is clear that this marks the finest evangelical study Bible to date.  ( Tim Challies provides a full review; Albert Mohler gives a helpful guide to using study Bibbles).  The biggest selling point though in our tech-savvy age, however, is the unbelievable online capabilities that accompany every copy.  At The ESV Study Bible website you can listen to the Bible, record your own notes, and hyperlink to every cross-reference.  Simply amazing!  This a great feature that sets the ESV SB light years ahead of the rest.  I pray that this volume will gain a large readership as it will tremedously benefit students of the Bible to read the Scriptures better…

…Which is the hope and prayer of 2009.  Of making manny books there is no end, and much study wearies the flesh (Ecc. 12:12), but the Word of God is life-giving and enriching.  It points us to Christ and shows our wickedness and desperate need for salvation (cf. John 5:39; 2 Tim. 3:15).  So then, let us endeavor to read the Bible more in 2009, and to find books that will help us understand the Scriptures with greater clarity and commitment.  

Tomorrow, I will post the 10 books I am most looking forward to in 2009…that I pray will enhance our understanding of and passion for the Bible.

Sola Deo Gloria, dss 

Worship Tests Truth :: Doctrine Determines Doxology

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

In Richard Bauckham’s book Jesus and the God of Israel (2008), the British NT scholar quotes John MacIntrye to make his final appeal that the worship of Jesus in the early church signifies a first-century consensus that Jesus was God, and that the notion of Jewish monotheism included Jesus.  Though Bauckham’s presentation deals with the history of theology, his point bears personal inquiry and application for those in the church today.  Here is the illuminating quote:

[We] shall not be satisfied with any christological analysis which eliminates from its conception of who he [Jesus Christ] is all valid basis for an attitude of worship to him.  It is on this very score that humanistic interpretations [read: the Jesus Seminar, Protestant liberalism, and strands of the emergent church] of the person of Jesus Christ fail, that they present to us someone who cannot sustain human worship; admiration, perhaps, even a sense of wonder at the courage he had in the face of danger and death, but never worship.  That is given only to God.

Theology that does not purify and empower doxology is false!  For worship is a telling litmus test for doctrine; and the veracity of any truth-claim must always generate worship.  Remember, believers worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24), and if our worship is weak, the cause may be the truths we believe.

Sadly, this worship-doctrine connection is often overlooked.  Many Christians have substandard beliefs about God and wonder why they struggle to have a quiet time.  They assume that their failing worship requires a newer and more sensational experience, but in truth, their hunger for God lags, because they have tasted vaporous imitations and turn again to empty substitutes.  Moreover, they, we, buy into the latest fads in evangelicalism, without considering how these new spiritualities of theological notions might impact their worship.  But as we are created to worship, surely, true truth must convince the mind and move the heart. 

So, the next time you encounter something about Jesus the Christ, ask yourself, is this a vision of God that will fuel my worship.  If the answer cannot be quickly affirmed, reconsidered the matter, and take pause before buying into the speaker, the system, or the soundbite.  Instead, return to the Scriptures to see the inspired revelation of God, Jesus Christ, who is the glorious Son of God, the eternal lamb, the desire of the nations, and the only one who can sustain a lifetime of white-hot worship.  Fill your heart with truths about Jesus, for nothing else will satisfy (cf. John 10:10).

May our worship purify our theology, and may all of our theology fuel worship.

Sola Deo Gloria, dss

Carl Trueman on Academics and the Local Church

/ davidsschrock

Lately, I have been thinking about my entrance into the PhD program and the impact such heavy-duty training has on the edification of the local church.  Such academic equipping is certainly not required.  Most biblical prophets and apostles were “regular joe’s.”  Amos was  a shepherd.  Peter and John were fisherman, “uneducated, common men” who had been with Jesus (cf. Acts 4:13).  Jesus himself was an unschooled carpenter, while his cousin, John the Baptist, was a self-taught wilderness prophet.  According to the Bible, theological education is no panacea for heresy (cf. John 5:39ff); nor is it the golden key that unlocks the mysteries of God’s word.  All true understanding is Spiritually given (1 Cor. 2:1-16). 

Nevertheless, assiduous study has its place and the church has benefitted greatly from the likes of its church doctors.  Augustine, Luther, Machen, and Mohler have each benefitted the church in God-honoring ways because the Sovereign Lord of all wisdom (Col. 2:3) has been pleased to use their scholarly gifting and theological training for purification and expansion of his church.

In a recent edition of Themelios, Carl Trueman in hi article, “Minority Report: The way of the Christian academic,” reflects on the relationship between theological academic(ian)s and the church.  He concludes with an exhortation to wannabe theologians:

The calling of a Christian academic is a high one, for anyone charged with the teaching of God’s truth will, as the Bible tells us, be held to a higher level of accountability than others. The path is marked with difficulties and challenges; but none are insurmountable, and the basic disciplines of the Christian life are in fact more, not less, important and useful. You want to be a Christian academic? Work hard, pray, read your Bible, and go to church.

Personally, I am still working out how my own theological training serves the local church.  However, the question is not own of principle, but of specification.  The church is central, not theological education.  This is an absolute: all investments in biblical and theological studies must be for the church (cf. Eph. 4:11-16).  Why?  Because I, along with all those pursuing doctorates in theology, will be judged accordingly (cf. James 3:1). To those who have been given much, much will be required (cf. Luke 12:48), and those of us who have had the privilege of studying the Bible for years are accountable for sharing the riches. 

When we stand before our Lord and beneficient giver of all Truth, may we be found faithful.  Until then, may we labor to tell the Good News to the lost and build up the church with the nourishment of God’s Holy Word.  Theological training and biblical institutions of higher learning must be committed to the local church.  Until that end, may we pray and labor.

Sola Deo Gloria, dss

(HT:JT)