Jesus - Only A Man - Fully God - or Both

Jesus – Only a Man – Fully God – Or Both
OK all you Davidson disciples let’s examine the issue of the divinity of
Christ versus the humanity of Jesus.
Recently Doyle has been ranting against anyone who refuses to agree
with his teaching that Jesus, while walking in the earth, was only a man.
Traditional Christian doctrine has always held that Jesus was fully God
and fully man but Davidson claims this teaching is error.
It would behoove all of you to examine this topic from scripture rather
than depend on Davidson for your understanding because there is
much more to this issue than Doyle is telling you. A proper
understanding of the nature of Christ is essential to understanding and
manifesting the true power of the gospel in your life.
The question is not did Jesus come into the earth as a man. The
question is this; was Jesus only a man or was He more than that. While
it is true that Christ humbled himself to take on the form of a man, it is a
serious error to imply that he somehow lost or relinquished his divine
nature in the process. I am aware of the many scriptures that refer to
Jesus as a man but we must also consider the many scriptures that
reference his Divinity even during his earthly walk.
Luke 1:68
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and
redeemed his people,
Were you saved by a man or was your salvation accomplished by God

himself? This scripture says plainly that it was God Himself that came to
earth and redeemed His people. To imply that Jesus was only a man
suggests that God did not redeem His people by His own power but
rather that He made a way of salvation through sinful flesh.
This idea is very appealing to the flesh as it brings Jesus down to the
level of man and elevates man to the level of God. This goes to the very
heart of the gospel. Did God save you or did you somehow save
yourself by your own actions?
Phl 2:5-8
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who,
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the
form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross
Paul tells the Philippians that Christ thought it not dishonest to be equal
with God, yet in obedience to His father’s plan he took on the form of a
servant. The word form here is the Greek word morphe which means
‘external appearance’. The word likeness is the Greek word
homoiōma which means ‘a representation or an image’.
Is a form or an image of a thing the same as the true substance of that

thing? An image or picture of a house is not the same thing as a real
house is it?. The fact that Jesus took on the appearance of a man
should never be used to diminish His true substance which is, was, and
ever shall be divine.
John 1:1 & 14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God……… And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
When the Word was made flesh He did not cease to be God. What He
did was he took on the form of a man. He put on a flesh suit as it were,
so that he could experience all that we experience.
Heb 4:15
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the
feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we
are, yet without sin.
Jesus had to take on the form of a man in order to be touched with the
feelings of our weaknesses and to be tempted in all ways as we are, yet
He was without sin.
Is it possible for a man to live without sin?
Rom 3:23
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Rom 5:12
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by
sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
How was it then possible that Jesus was in the form of a man yet
without sin? It was possible for Him to walk in this life without sin
because he was not only a man but was actually God in the flesh.
1Cor 15:45 & 47

And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul;
the last Adam was made a quickening spirit…
The first man (Adam) is of the earth, earthy: the second man
(Jesus) is the Lord from heaven.
Jesus was, is, and ever will be God. That is why he was without sin. He
did not have the sin nature that afflicts all men through Adam. He
manifested the nature of His father and thus was without sin.
Jesus himself never denied his own divinity
John 10:30
I and my Father are one
Doyle Davidson may not understand this passage but the people to
whom Jesus was speaking understood it perfectly
John 10:31
Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him
Why did they seek to stone him?
John 10:33
The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee
not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man,
makest thyself God.
And in another place we see this exchange
John 8:56-59
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and
was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years
old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they
up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of
the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
Again Jesus claimed that He was God by using the very name of God –
I AM, and the Jews sought to stone Him for it.
How about one more.
John 14:8-9
Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet
hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen
the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
How is it possible that Jesus was a man and yet was God? Paul says it
is a great mystery meaning a secret or hidden thing. Deuteronomy
29:29 tells us the secret things belong to the Lord. I don’t fully
comprehend how God can be a man and at the same time still be God
but the Lord does not ask me to understand it intellectually. He only
asks that I believe it by faith.
The False Gospel of Doyle Davidson
Although he doesn’t state this directly, Davidson’s assertion that Jesus

was only a man leaves the hearer with the idea that we can accomplish
in the flesh what Jesus did. Therefore, if you are not walking in the
victory and power that Jesus displayed it is because you are not trying
hard enough, you don’t have enough faith, or because you are not
believing the gospel. This turns the grace of God into a doctrine of
works and results in condemnation for those who listen to him.
The people of Water of Life are forever striving to believe the gospel.
They are beat up and worn out because they are trying to do in the flesh
what can only be accomplished by the work of the Spirit. They are
actually manifesting the fruit that Doyle has planted in them. He is
forever telling them that they do not believe and that they are a bunch of
wicked unbelievers, hence that is what they have become.
Luke 11:52
Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of
knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were
entering in ye hindered.
This is the fruit of Doyle Davidson’s partial gospel. Doyle is forever

defining the gospel as the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ but that is as far as he goes. He refuses to allow his
listeners to enter in.
It is not enough to simply know the definition of the gospel. Satan
himself knows the definition of the gospel. He even believes that Jesus
died, was buried and rose again. Sure he does, he saw it, he knows it is
a fact but will that belief get him delivered from his rebellion. No it won’t
because in order to experience the power of the gospel one must not
only believe it, one must also humble himself and enter into the gospel
by faith
Gal 2:20
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
We enter into the gospel when we understand that it is not of our own
works or ability but solely by the power of God working in us. Christ
does not delegate power or authority to us. It is His power and authority
working in us and through us as we die to self by faith.
Rom 6:3-4
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus
Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from
the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in
newness of life.
The only way the life of Christ will ever be manifest in you is by dying to
self and by faith believing that it is no longer you that live but Christ that
lives in you!
Col 2:12
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him
through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him
from the dead.
We must enter into the gospel by faith. Romans 10:17 says faith cometh
by hearing and hearing by the word (rhema) of God. When you spend
hour after hour listening to Doyle tell you that you are a wicked
unbeliever are you hearing the word of the Lord? Are those words he
speaks bringing faith to your heart. By listening to Doyle tell you that you
don’t believe the gospel, are you taking heed to what you hear?
Luke 8:18
Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall
be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even
that which he seemeth to have.
Do the words you are listening to edify and build you up or do they tear
you down and bring condemnation to your heart? Jesus is saying that
what you hear will be manifested in your life. Is it possible that your
unbelief is due to what you are listening to?
Do you want more of the power of God in your life? If you do, there is
only one way to get it.
John 3:30
He must increase, but I must decrease.
More of Him means less of you, less of your ability and more of His.
Davidson has convinced almost all of you that you do not believe the
gospel. Stop striving to “believe” with your fleshly mind. Even the faith to
believe is a gift from God. Ask the Lord to help you believe.
Mar 9:24
And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with
tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
Did Jesus castigate this man and call him a wicked unbeliever? No –
Jesus simply answered the man’s prayer. He healed his son. This is a
picture of God’s grace in action. Grace is God ability to do for you what
you cannot do for yourself.
Stop trusting in your own ability to believe. Die to self. Admit that you
are unable in yourself to walk in the power of God. Ask the Lord to help
your unbelief. Trust in His grace, His ability rather than your own.
God’s grace is greater than your unbelief. He is greater even than your
wicked heart.
1John 3:20
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and
knoweth all things.
Yes, in the flesh you are wicked and in your flesh dwells no good thing
but God’s grace is greater than your flesh. If you are Christ’s then you
are no longer to walk in the flesh but in the spirit. You are to crucify your
flesh and all its wicked and worthless thoughts and allow Christ to live in
you and through you. We do this by faith, by simply trusting in what the
Lord has told us in His word. That faith comes when we purpose to hear
the word of the Lord and esteem that word above the words of men.
Rom 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in
Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Stop listening to condemnation disguised as correction. Don’t allow any

man to prevent you from entering into the gospel by faith. Crucify your
flesh. Put to death your doubts and your unbelief and expect the Lord to
accomplish His plans and purposes through you by his grace.
Col 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching
and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
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Steve Lumbley 2007 www.apostasywatch.com

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REACH THE LOST WITH HEALING - AS JESUS TAUGHT IT

1. ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH YOUR EFFORTS TO EVANGELISE
OTHERS?
So often our sharing of the gospel seems relatively fruitless in terms of

results and we sometimes get dejected at how few conversions we see.
One fundamental question we need to ask ourselves is: "am I doing
evangelism amongst the lost according to what Jesus taught". If in fact
we are deviating from the method that Jesus taught, and from the
resources he purposed, is it any wonder we see little fruit from our
efforts?
Jesus ministry was evangelism, much of which was done in the context
of healing. In Luke 19 verse 10 Jesus tells Zacchaeus: "For the Son of
Man came to seek and to save what was lost". 1 Timothy 1 verse 15
reminds us:"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners".
Jesus did not rely on words alone to convince people as to who he was.
Many times he said that if they did not believe His words then they
should believe because of His miracles, for example:
John 10:25: "Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The
miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me""
John 10:37-38: "Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does.

But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles,
that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the
Father."
John 14:11: "Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the
Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles
themselves."
The miracles of Jesus, nearly all of which involved healing of one kind
or another, attested in a powerful way to the love of the Father for those
he had created.
2. HOW DID JESUS TEACH HIS DISCIPLES TO REACH THE LOST?
Let's look at what he told the 12 and the 72, all of whom he sent out in
twos.
3. THE TWELVE
In Luke Chapter 9 verse 1 we read: "When Jesus had the 12 together,

he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure
diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to
heal the sick." We know from Matthew Chapter 4 verse 17 that the
message of the kingdom included a call to repentance from sin: "From
that time on Jesus began to preach "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is near.""
4. THE SEVENTY-TWO
Later, in Luke Chapter 10 verse 1 Jesus sends out the 72: "After this the
Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of
him to every town and place where he was about to go." In verses 8 and
9 he adds: "When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set
before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, "The kingdom of
God is near you."" On their return, the 72 reported (verse 17): "Lord,
even the demons submit to us in your name."
5. THE MODEL FOR US
While we would not dare to compare ourselves with the 12 - the

Apostles - we can reasonably equate ourselves to the 72 who were un-
named followers, normal believers of no special mention or exalted
position either then or thereafter. In the Great Commission set out in
Matthew Chapter 28 verses 16 to 20, Jesus says: "All authority in
heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I
have commanded you (my italics). And surely I am with you always, to
the very end of the age."
Some words Of Jesus from John's gospel:
John 14:15: "If you love me, you will obey what I command."
John 14:21: "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the

one who loves me."
John 14:23: "Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my
teaching.""
John 14:24: "He who does not love me will not obey my teaching."
6. POINTS OF SIGNIFICANCE
Disciples of Jesus are required, via the Apostles and believers down the
ages, to "obey everything that I have commanded you". Note also John
Chapter 14 and verse 12 where Jesus says: "I tell you the truth, anyone
who has faith in me will do what I have been doing". The relevant
commands in relation to evangelism, based on his commands to the 12
and 72 seem clearly to be threefold, namely:
(a) Preach the Kingdom of God
(b) Heal the sick and cast out demons, and
(c) Preach repentance from sin and the nearness of the Kingdom of
God in the personhood of Jesus.
As always with Jesus, he never asks us to do anything in our own

strength. Consequently, we need to take note of his opening words in
verse 18: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."
As believers, that authority to do Jesus' works now rests on us, his
agents for the Kingdom.
7. HOW DID JESUS HEAL THE SICK AND CAST OUT DEMONS?
The Gospels are full of examples of Jesus' work in healing the sick and
casting out demons. Frequently we find him speaking to the infirmity
with a command, for example Matthew 12: 9-13, Mark 7: 31-37, Luke 4:
38-39, Luke 13: 10-17. Many times he would also place his hands on
the person on the afflicted part, e.g. deaf ears and blind eyes. In the
case of demons, he normally commanded them to go, in the same way
as he commanded infirmities.
It is clearly evident that Jesus never prayed for the sick in evangelism,
nor did the 12 and 72 whom he trained. We find not one example of
Jesus or anyone else ever healing a person by asking God to do the
healing. In each case the healing was done by the power of the Holy
Spirit working through a human agent.
8. PUTTING IT TOGETHER
Evangelism amongst the lost, done the Jesus way, flows from the "all
power and authority" that the resurrected Jesus has received from the
Father. Consequently, when we proclaim the gospel of the kingdom,
make clear the need for repentance from sin, and exercise Jesus' power
and authority over sickness and demons, we are truly doing the work of
evangelism according to the "Jesus model". It is because all authority in
heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus, that infirmities and
demons have to go. His authority has been invested in us, so they are
required to obey our commands. All we need to do is GO AND BE
OBEDIENT .
9. GIFT(S) OF HEALING versus EXERCISE OF POWER AND

AUTHORITY?
We differentiate here between the "Gift(s) of Healing" given to the Body

of Christ and the exercise of authority over sickness and demons used
to reach the lost. Paul makes it clear that spiritual gifts are given by the
Holy Spirit to build up the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12 verses 7 to
31). On the other hand, in the exercise of power and authority by Jesus,
12 and 72, and thereafter by both Peter and Paul in Acts, we see in
evangelism (and in other situations too) the use of verbal commands
given in Jesus' name, normally accompanied by the laying on of hands.
Some post-Pentecost examples include:
Acts 3 - Peter heals the beggar
Acts 9 - Peter heals Aeneas and raises Tabitha from the dead
Acts 14 - Paul heals the man lame from birth
Acts 16 - Paul casts out the demon from the fortune-telling slave girl
Acts 22 - Paul relates how Ananias restored his sight
We notice in the book of Acts that the apostles continually declared that
people were healed in the Name of Jesus.
10. DOING IT JESUS' WAY BRINGS UNITY AMONGST BELIEVERS
When we evangelise the Jesus way we find the body of Christ united,
since both Charismatics and non-Charismatics are able to work on a
common ground that is biblical. Doing evangelism the Jesus way avoids
any theological conflicts in relation to spiritual giftings, since healing and
deliverance done the Jesus way relies on ordinary believers exercising
His power and authority, in humility and obedience, and not on a
"spiritual gift of healing".
11. WHY DON'T WE TRY TO REACH THE LOST THE JESUS WAY?
We fail to do it the Jesus way because we are afraid of failure and

embarrassment. What if nothing happens when we lay hands on an
unbeliever - perhaps even a Muslim - and command an infirmity to go in
Jesus name? How will we look then? What will unbelievers think if
Jesus doesn't show up and the person doesn't get healed/delivered?
Satan uses fear and unbelief to paralyse us and make us fruitless.
Sadly, we are inclined to forget that Satan was defeated at the cross. Th
author of this page is both delighted and humbled to report from
personal experence that the power and authority of Jesus to heal
through nameless believers is the same today in the 21st Century as it
was when He walked on the Earth 2,000 years ago.
12. GOOD NEWS - A TRAINING COURSE ON EVANGELISM THE

JESUS WAY YOU CAN OBTAIN ONLINE FOR FREE!
The Elijah Challenge have kindly made their training course available
online at no cost, with a view to equipping believers to evangelise the
lost according to the Jesus model. Please visit their website where you
can :
a. download a pdf file of their basic training course - go
b. download the four .flv Flash video files comprising the basic training
course. Please note you need a broadband connection for this as the 4
file downloads total almost 2 gigabytes - go
(NB: At www.whatisthegospel.org.uk we already have obtained the 4

Flash video downloads and can provide these on 4 CDs at no charge if
you live in the UK)
c. request a free DVD (pay postage only) of the basic training course -
go
d. read many reports and testimonies of the effectiveness of this

biblically based training - go
contact us by e-mail
This article © www.whatisthegospel.org.uk 2009-2010
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The Godly Man Walks with God

by Thomas Watson
‘Noah walked with God’ (Gen. 6:9). The age in which Noah lived was
very corrupt: ‘the wickedness of man was great in the earth’ (v. 5). But
the iniquity of the times could not put Noah off his walk: ‘Noah walked
with God’. Noah is called a ‘preacher of righteousness’ (2 Peter 2:5):
I. Noah preached by doctrine
His preaching (say some of the rabbis) was in this vein: ‘Turn from your
evil was, so that the waters of the flood will not come upon you and cut
off the whole of Adam’s race.’
2. Noah preached by his life
He preached by his humility, patience, sanctity: ‘Noah walked with God’.
Question: What is it to walk with God?
Answer: Walking with God imports five things:
I. Walking as under God’s eye. Noah reverenced a deity. A godly man

sets himself as in God’s presence, knowing that his judge is looking on:
‘I have set the Lord always before me’ (Psa. 16:8). David’s eyes were
here.
2. The familiarity and intimacy that the soul has with God. Friends walk
together and console themselves one with another. The godly make
known their requests to God and he makes known his love to them.
There is a sweet intercourse between God and his people: ‘Our
communion (koinonia) is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ’
(1 John 1:3).
3. Walking above the earth. A godly man is elevated above all sublunary
objects. The person who walks with God must ascend very high. A
dwarf cannot walk among the stars, nor can a dwarfish, earthly soul
walk with God.
4. Visible piety. Walking is a visible posture. Grace must be

conspicuous to the onlookers. He who reveals something of God in his
behavior walks with God. He shines forth in biblical conduct.
5. Continued progress in grace. It is not only a step but a walk. There is

a going on towards perfection. A godly man does not sit down in the
middle of his way but goes on till he comes to the ‘end of his faith’ (1
Pet. 1:9). Though a good man may be out of the path, he is not out of
the way. He may through infirmity step aside (as Peter did), but he
recovers by repentance and goes on in progressive holiness: ‘The
righteous also shall hold on his way’ (Job 17:9)
Use 1: See from this how improper it is to describe as godly those who
do not walk with God. They want to have Noah’s crown, but they do not
love Noah’s walk. Most are found in the devil’s black walk: ‘Many walk,
of whom I tell you weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of
Christ’ (Phil. 3:18).
1. Some will commend walking with God, and say it is the rarest life in
the world, but will not set one foot on the way. All who commend wine
do not pay the price. Many a father commends virtue to his child but
does not set him a pattern.
2. Others walk a few steps in the good old ways, but they retreat back
again (Jer. 6:16). If the ways of God were not good, why did they enter
them? If they were good, why did they forsake them? ‘For it had been
better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after
they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment’ (2 Pet. 2:21).
3. Others slander walking with God as a melancholy walk, and describe
such as are less zealous as more prosperous. This God accounts
blasphemy: ‘the way of truth shall be evil spoken of’ (2 Pet. 2:2). In the
Greek it is ‘it shall be blasphemed’.
4. Others deride walking with God as if it were a way of foolish

scrupulosity: ‘What? Do you want to join the “holy tribe”? Do you want to
be wiser than others?’ There are some people who, if it were in their
power, would jeer holiness out of the world. The chair of the scornful
stands at the mouth of hell (Prov. 19:29).
5. Others, instead of walking with God, walk according to the flesh (2

Pet. 2:10).
i. They walk by fleshly opinions

ii. They walk according to fleshly lusts
i. They walk by fleshly opinions. There are six of these:
(a) That it is best to do what most do, to steer after the course of the
world – to be in the mode, not to get a new heart, but to get into a new
fashion.
(b) That reason is the highest judge and umpire in matters of religion.
We must believe no further than we can see. For a man to become a
fool that he may be wise, to be saved purely by the righteousness of
another, to keep all by losing all – this the natural man will by no means
put in his creed.
(c) That a little religion will serve the turn. The lifeless form may in policy
be kept up, but zeal is madness. The world thinks that religion to be
best which, like gold-leaf, is spread very thin.
(d) That the way which is exposed to affliction is not good. A stick,
though it is straight, seems crooked under water. So religion, if it is
under affliction, appears crooked to a carnal eye.
(e) That all a man’s concern should be for the present. As that profane
cardinal said, he would leave his part in paradise to keep his
cardinalship in Paris.
(f) That sinning is better than suffering. It is greater discretion to keep

the skin whole than the conscience pure. These are such rules as the
crooked serpent has found out – and whoever wlaks by them ‘shall not
know peace’.
ii. They walk according to fleshly lusts. They make provision (turn
caterers) for the flesh (Rom. 13:14). Such a person was the Emperor
Heliogabalus. He so indulged the flesh that he never sat except among
sweet flowers, mixed with amber and musk. He attired himself in purple,
set with precious stones. He did not burn oil in his lamps, but a costly
balsam brought from Arabia, very odoriferous. He bathed himself in
perfumed water; he put his body to not other use, but to be a strainer for
meat and drink to run through.
Thus sinners walk according to the flesh. If a drunken or
unclean lust calls, they gratify it. They brand as cowards all who dare
not sin at the same rate as they do. These, instead of walking with God,
walk contrary to him. Lust is the compass they sail by. Satan is their
pilot and hell is the port they are bound for.
Use 2: Let us test whether we have this characteristic of the godly: Do

we walk with God? That may be known:
1. By the way we walk in. It is a private, secluded way, in which only
some few holy ones walk. Therefore it is called a ‘pathway’ to
distinguish it from the common road: ‘in the pathway thereof is no death’
(Prov. 12:28)
2. By a walk in the fear of God: ‘Enoch walked with God’ (Gen 5:22).
The Chaldean version renders it, ‘he walked in the fear of the Lord’. The
godly are fearful of that which may displease God: ‘how then can I do
this great wickedness and sin against God?’ (Gen 39:9). This is not a
base, servile fear, but:
(i) A fear springing from affection (Hos. 3:5). A child fears to offend his
father out of the tender affection he has for him. This made holy Anselm
say, ‘If sin were on one side and hell on the other, I would rather leap
into hell than willingly offend my God.’
(ii) A fear joined with faith: ‘By faith Noah, moved with fear’ (Heb 11:7).
Faith and fear go hand in hand. When the soul looks at God’s holiness,
he fears. When he looks at God’s promises, he believes. A godly man
trembles, yet trusts. Fear preserves reverence, faith preserves
cheerfulness; fear keeps the soul from lightness, faith keeps it from
overmuch sadness. By this we may know whether we walk with God, if
we walk ‘in the fear of God’. We are fearful of infringing his laws, and
forfeiting his love. It is a brand set upon sinners: ‘There is no fear of God
before their eyes’ (Rom. 3:18). The godly fear and do not offend (Psa.
4:4). The wicked offend and do not fear (Jer. 5:23,24). Careless and
dissolute walking will soon estrange God from us and make him weary
of our company: ‘what communion hath light with darkness?’ (2 Cor.
6:14).
Use 3: Let me persuade all who wish to be accounted godly to get into
Noah’s walk. Though the truth of grace is in the heart, yet its beauty is
seen in the walk:
1. Walking with God is very pleasing to God. He who walks with God
declares to the world which company he loves most: ‘His fellowship is
with the Father’ (1 John 1:3). He counts those the sweetest hours which
are spent with God. This is very pleasing and acceptable to God: ‘Enoch
walked with God’ (Gen. 5:24). And see how kindly God took this at
Enoch’s hand: ‘he had this testimony, that he pleased God’ (Heb. 11:5).
2. Close walking with God will be a good means to entice and allure
others to walk with him. The apostle exhorts wives so to walk that the
husbands might be won by their conduct (1 Pet. 3:1). Justin Martyr
confessed that he became a Christian by observing the holy and
innocent lives of the early saints.
3. Close walking with God would put to silence the adversaries of the
truth (1 Pet. 2:15). Careless behavior puts a sword into wicked men’s
hands to wound religion. What a sad thing it is when it is said of
professing Christians that they are as proud, as covetous and as unjust
as others. Will this not expose the ways of God to contempt? But holy
and close walking would stop the mouths of sinners, so that they should
not be able to speak against God’s people without giving themselves
the life. Satan came to Christ and ‘found nothing in him’ (John 14:30).
What a confounding thing it will be to the wicked when holiness is the
only thing they have to fasten on the godly as a crime. ‘We shall not find
any occasion against Daniel, unless we find it against him concerning
the law of his God’ (Dan. 6:5).
4. Walking with God is a pleasant walk. The ways of wisdom are called
pleasantness (Prov. 3:17). Is the light not pleasant? ‘They shall walk, O
Lord, in the light of thy countenance’ (Psa. 89:15). Walking with God is
like walking among beds of spices which send forth a fragrant perfume.
This is what brings peace: ‘walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the
comfort of the Holy Ghost’ (Acts (9:31). While we walk with God, what
sweet music the birds of conscience makes in our breast! ‘They shall
sing in the ways of the Lord’ (Psa. 138:5).
5. Walking with God is honourable. It is a credit for one of an inferior

rank to walk with a king. What greater dignity can be put upon a mortal
man than to converse with his Maker and to walk with God every day?
6. Walking with God leads to rest: ‘There remaineth therefore a rest to

the people of God’ (Heb. 4:9). The philosopher Aristotle says, ‘Motion
tends to rest.’ Indeed, there is a motion which does not tend to rest.
They who walk with their sins shall never have rest: ‘they rest not day
and night’ (Rev. 4:8). But they that walk with God shall sit down in the
kingdom of God (Luke 13:29); just as a weary traveler, when he comes
home, sits down and rests. ‘To him that overcometh will I grant to sit
with me in my throne’ (Rev. 3:21). A throne denotes honour and sitting
denotes rest.
7. Walking with God is the safest walking. Walking in the ways of sin is
like walking on the banks of a river. The sinner treads on the banks of a
bottomless pit, and if death gives him a jog, he tumbles in. But it is safe
going in God’s way: ‘Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely’ (Prov.
3:23). He who walks with a guard walks safely. He who walks with God
shall have God’s Spirit to guard him from sin and God’s angels to guard
him from danger (Psa. 91:11).
8. Walking with God will make death sweet. It was Augustus’ wish that
he might have a euthanasia, a quiet, easy death without much pain. If
anything makes our pillow easy at death it will be this, that we have
walked with God in our generation. Do we think walking with God can
do us any hurt? Did we ever hear any cry out on their deathbed that
they have been too holy, that they have prayed too much, or walked
with God too much? No, that which has cut them to the heart has been
this, that they have not walked more closely with God; they have wrung
their hands and torn their hair to think that they have been so bewitched
with the pleasures of the world. Close walking with God will make our
enemy (death) be at peace with us. When King Ahasuerus could not
sleep, he called for the book of records, and read it (Esther 6:1). So
when the violence of sickness causes sleep to depart from our eyes and
we can call for conscience (that book of records) and find written in it,
‘On such a day we humbled our souls by fasting; on such a day our
hearts melted in prayer; on such a day we had sweet communion with
God’ – what a reviving this will be! How we may look death in the face
with comfort and say, ‘Lord, now take us up to thee in heaven. Where
we have so often been by affection let us now be by fruition.’
9. Walking with God is the best way to know the mind of God. Friends
who walk together impart their secrets one to another: ‘The secret of the
Lord is with them that fear him’ (Psa. 25:14). Noah walked with God and
the Lord revealed a great secret to him – destroying the old world and
saving him in the ark. Abraham walked with God, and God made him
one of his privy council (Gen. 24:40): ‘Shall I hide from Abraham that
thing which I do?’ (Gen. 18:17). God sometimes sweetly unbosoms
himself to the soul in prayer and in the holy supper, as Christ made
himself known to the disciples in the breaking of bread (Luke 24:35).
10. They who walk with God shall never be wholly left by God. The Lord
may withdraw for a time, to make his people cry after him the more, but
he will not leave them altogether: ‘I hid my face from thee for a moment;
but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee’ (Isa. 54:8). God
will not cast off any of his old acquaintance; he will not part with one that
has kept him company. ‘Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for
God took him’ (Gen. 5:24). He took him up to heaven. As the Arabic
renders it, ‘Enoch was lodged in the bosom of divine love.’
Question: What may we do to walk with God?
Answer 1: Get off the old road of sin. He that would walk in a pleasant
meadow must turn off the road. The way of sin is full of travelers. There
are so many travelers on this road that hell, though it is of a great
circumference, would gladly enlarge itself and make room for them (Isa.
5:14). This way of sin seems pleasant but the end is damnable. ‘I have’,
says the harlot, ‘perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon’
(Prov. 7:17). See how with one sweet (the cinnamon) there were two
bitters (myrrh and aloes). For that little sweet in sin at present there will
be a far greater proportion of bitterness afterwards. There get out of
these briars. You cannot walk with God and sin: ‘what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness?’ (2 Cor. 6:14).
Answer 2: If you wish to walk with God, get acquainted with him:
‘Acquaint now thyself with him’ (Job 22:21). Know God in his attributes
and promises. Strangers do not walk together.
Answer 3: Get all differences removed. ‘Can two walk together, except
they are agreed?’ (Amos 3:3). This agreement and reconciliation is
made by faith: ‘Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood’ (Rom. 3:25). When once we are friends, then we shall
be called up the mount like Moses, and have this dignity conferred upon
us, to be the favourites of heaven and to walk with God.
Answer 4: If you desire to walk with God, get a liking for the ways of
God. They are adorned with beauty (Prov. 4:18); they are sweetened
with pleasure (Prov. 3:17); they are fenced with truth (Rev. 15:3); they
are accompanied with life (Acts 2:28); they are lengthened with eternity
(Hab. 3:6). Be enamoured with the way of religion and you will soon
walk in it.
Answer 5: If you desire to walk with God, take hold of his arm. Those
who walk in their own strength will soon grow weary and tire. ‘I will go in
the strength of the Lord God’ (Psa. 71:16). We cannot walk with God
without God. Let us press him with his promise: ‘I will cause you to walk
in my statutes’ (Ezek. 36:27). If God takes us by the hand, then we shall
‘walk, and not faint’ (Isa. 40:31).
[A special thanks to Taylor Otwell for supplying this text. The whole
book is from The Godly Man's Picture by Thomas Watson, a Puritan
Paperback edition published by the Banner of Truth.]
Exegetical Thoughts and Biblical Theology
Welcome! This is where I share the exegetical thoughts that have been growing in my
mind. I trust they will be a blessing to you. ~Philip Brown
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Name: Philip Brown
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* Proverbs 10:29 and the Way of Yahweh

* Vows: foolish, sacred, forgivable?
* Secular Work in Biblical Perspective
* Why should we count it all joy? Second Reason
* Why should we count it all joy? First Reason
* The kind of trials James has in mind (Jam. 1:2-4)
* When you fall into various trials ... (Jam. 1:2-4)...
* Baptism with the Holy Spirit = Filling with the Ho...
* The LORD is a God of Justice (Isa. 30:18)
* Capital Punishment within a Christian Worldview
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Sunday, December 19, 2010
Proverbs 10:29 and the Way of Yahweh
In the New American Standard Bible (1995), Proverbs 10:29 reads:
The way of the LORD is a stronghold to the upright, But ruin to the workers of
iniquity.
This verse struck me as odd. Why would Yahweh's way be ruin to anybody? So I decided
to investigate.
The phrase "way of Yahweh" occurs seven times in the OT, five of which are
conceptually parallel Proverbs 10:29 (Gen. 18:19; Jdg. 2:22; 1 Kgs 2:22, Jer. 5:4, 5). God
“knows” Abraham so that he will command his children to “keep the way of Yahweh” by
doing righteousness and justice (Gen. 18:19). This set of collocations—the way of
Yahweh is kept by doing righteousness—shows up in Judges 2:22, where the Lord tells
Israel he will leave Canaanites in the land in order to test them to see whether they will
keep the way of Yahweh as their father’s did. The clear implication is that keeping the
way of Yahweh involves doing what is right and good in His eyes.
Amon, son of Manasseh, unmoved by his Father’s late-in-life repentance, “forsook

Yahweh, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of Yahweh” (1 Kings
21:22). Here failure to walk in the way of Yahweh is the consequence of forsaking
Yahweh. One cannot cleave to Yahweh and not walk in His way. The previous two
verses fill out the “way” Amon walked: he did evil in Yahweh’s sight, walked in all the
way Manasseh had walked, and served the idols his father had served.
In Jeremiah 5:4, 5, the prophet seeks for those who “know the way of Yahweh, the
mishpat of God.” The way of Yahweh appears to be appositionally modified by the
phrase mishpat of God. Keil & Delitzsch comment on Jeremiah 5:4-5, “They know not
the way of Jahveh, i.e., the way, the manner of life, prescribed to men by God in His
word; (cf. 2 Kgs 21:22; Psa 25:9). The judgment of their God, i.e., that which God
demanded as right and lawful (2 Kgs 17:26)."
This background illumines Proverbs 10:29 and helped me know how to interpret its
cryptic lines. A paraphrase of the passage would read, “The upright—those who do what
is right and good in Yahweh’s sight—find that Yahweh provides them protection because
they know, keep, and walk in His way; the wicked—those who do what is wrong and evil
in Yahweh’s sight—find that their way leads them to destruction; they have no protection
from Yahweh."
I think the NASB mistranslates the second half of this verse by not supplying a linking
verb. It should read, “but destruction [is / shall be] to the workers of iniquity.” As it
stands, the NASB’s rendering implies that the way of Yahweh is destruction to the
workers of iniquity. This rendering depends on understanding Yahweh as a subjective
genitive, and ignores the phrase’s predominant usage throughout the OT--as a shorthand
for the lifestyle Yahweh desires and requires from His followers.
Those who choose not to walk in His ways (the wicked) will be destroyed. On the other
hand, those who live the way Yahweh prescribes find Yahweh is indeed their stronghold.
posted by Philip Brown | 9:29 PM | 0 comments

Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Vows: foolish, sacred, forgivable?
Recently, someone asked me:
Are there foolish vows and sacred vows? Are there vows God will forgive, or does
God hold one accountable for all vows until death?
My short answer is all vows are sacred; some are also foolish (Pro. 20:25; Eccl. 5:2 4).
Breaking any vow is sin (Deut. 23:21; Eccl. 5:5-6; Num. 30:15). God will forgive vow-
breakers (Num. 30:6, 9, 13); though He warns there may be dire consequences for failing
to keep a vow (Eccl. 5:6).
My best understanding of Scripture is that God does not continue to hold a person
responsible to fulfill a vow that has been broken, repented of, and forgiven. God did,
however, require those who vowed to give Him a non-cash asset (a field, house, etc.) and
then changed their minds to give instead the monetary equivalent plus 20% to the Lord
(Lev. 27).
The key texts where God reveals His perspective on vows are Leviticus 27, Numbers 30,
Deuteronomy 23:21-23, and Ecclesiastes 5:1-7. Interestingly, the two New Testament
texts (Acts 18:18; 21:23-24) that mention vows give no indication that God’s perspective
on vows has changed.
A vow is a voluntary promise to God to do or not do something (cf. Deut. 23:23). Vows
are not limited to “If-you-do-this-for-me, I’ll-do-that-for-You” bargains with God (cf.
Psa. 56:12-13). You don’t have to use the words “vow” or “promise” to make a vow.
Anytime you voluntarily tell God you are going to do or not do something for Him, it is a
vow.
In Ecclesiastes 5, Solomon warns us that vows should not be made lightly: “Do not be
rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is
in heaven, and you are on earth; Therefore let your words be few” (5:2). In verse 4, he
cautions us not to be late in paying our vows, for God takes no delight in fools who fail to
pay their vows. It is better, the wise man counsels, not to vow at all, than to vow and fail
to pay (Eccl. 5:5). This echoes Deut. 23:22 where Moses informs Israel it is not sin to
abstain from vowing: “if you abstain from vowing, it is not sin.”
On the other hand, if you vow and fail to pay, it is sin (Deut. 23:22; Eccl. 5:5). Not only
is it sin, but Solomon warns, “Do not let your speech cause you to sin and do not say in
the presence of the messenger, “It was a mistake.” Why should God be angry on account
of your voice and destroy the work of your hands?” (Eccl. 5:6). In other words, God
punishes those who break their vows. Claiming that you made a mistake and shouldn’t
have vowed or didn’t really mean what you vowed arouses God’s anger against you.
Thus, Solomon concludes, “Fear God” (Eccl. 5:7).
The seriousness of vows is further underscored in Numbers 30 where God identifies

which vows are automatically binding and which may be nullified. God distinguishes the
vows made by adult males, widows, and divorced women from those made by female
children and wives. In the case of adult males (Num. 30:2), widows, and divorced women
(Num. 30:9), they must fulfill any vow they make. In the case of female children (Num.
30:3-5) and wives (Num. 30:6-8; 10-15), if their father or husband nullifies their vow on
the day that he hears it, then they are absolved of their vow (Num. 30:5, 8, 12). However,
if the father or husband does not nullify their vow, then their vow stands. They are
responsible to fulfill it. If the father or husband does not say anything the first time he
hears it but chooses to nullify it at a later time, then he will “bear the iniquity” of the
broken vow (Num. 30:15).
Because Numbers 30:2 includes “swearing an oath” as an equivalent of taking a vow, the
guilt offering prescribed for breaking an oath (Lev. 5:4) would likely apply to a broken
vow. Since God provides a sacrifice for atoning for a broken vow, we can infer that
forgiveness for breaking a vow is available through Christ, who is our guilt offering (Isa.
53:10).
Labels: vows

Monday, November 01, 2010
Secular Work in Biblical Perspective
I was recently asked something like the following:
I work a secular job that I don’t enjoy. I’d much rather be involved in a ministry-
related job. How can I be in the center of God’s will in this kind of a job? How can I be
contented and fulfilled when I’m not happy in my job?
I think 1 Corinthians 7:17-24 provides a good starting point to answer these questions.
In this passage Paul addresses Christian slaves who had zero control over their lives, let
alone their work. He encourages them to take advantage of any opportunity to become
free (7:21). At the same time, he emphasizes (7:17, 24) that they do not have to change
their life-situation in order to live in service to Christ (7:22).
We can infer two principles from this passage. First, it is biblically acceptable to take
opportunities that God brings our way to change from a less favorable situation to a more
favorable situation (i.e., from slave to free). Second, any kind of legitimate occupation,
including being a slave, can be done as service to Christ. (Paul would not regard as a
“legitimate occupation” forced prostitution or other sins the OT penalized as capital
crimes.)
In Colossians 3:23-25, Paul addresses the situation of slaves in Colosse. In verse 23 he

tells them, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.”
The phrase “as for the Lord” is the key. They were to view themselves as serving Jesus in
their slavery rather than serving their human master. Whether it was taking out the
chamber pot, plowing the field, or cleaning the stable, they were to do their work in the
same way they would do it for Jesus: heartily. Heartily means willing diligence. It is the
opposite of foot-dragging reluctance. Someone who does work heartily does their best
with a positive attitude.
In verses 24-25 Paul gives three reasons they should serve their human masters heartily.
First, “knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance.” In
other words, when you serve a human master as you would serve Christ, you will be
rewarded by Christ. This conclusion is supported by the parallel passage in Eph. 6:8,
“knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the
Lord, whether slave or free.” Even taking out the chamber pot receives its reward!
Second, “It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” Since we are actually Christ’s slaves
(Rom. 622), everything we do is service to Him. In other words, this is not just a matter
of acting as if Jesus were our master or boss. He is our master!
Third, if you do wrong, you will “receive the consequences of the wrong which [you]
have done, and that without partiality.” Jesus has no tolerance for slip-shod work. If we
wrong our human master, Jesus will see to it that we receive the appropriate
consequences.
What does all this mean for Christians who work in “secular” jobs? It means that there is
no such thing as a non-ministry job for a Christian. You are serving God just as much as
the person who works in a “ministry” job. God calls Christians to jobs in the secular work
place precisely so that they can be salt and light as they work for Him in those capacities.
Since God is fully sovereign over our lives, if we’re walking in the light, we can assume
that the job opportunities He does or does not open for us are reflections of His will for
us.
Regarding contentment, remember what Solomon taught us: meaning and satisfaction are
not found in any of life’s components but only in life’s Creator (Eccl. 2:24; 5:18; 12:1,
13-14).When we know that we are going to be rewarded for our work and that we are
doing what God wants us to do, how can we not be fulfilled? Whether or not we enjoy
our work, we can choose to be thankful and joyful in doing it (Col. 3:17). Such an
excellent spirit will glorify God (Dan. 6:3; 1 Cor. 10:31).
Here are a set of numbered commitments that I think reflect the Bible's perspective on
"secular" work:
1. I will do it for Jesus (“as to the Lord”; Col. 3:23).

2. I will perform my work at the quality level I would produce if Jesus’ were my boss
(Col. 3:23-25).
3. I will commit to do all I do “in the name of Jesus,” i.e., as a representative of Jesus,
with thankfulness (Col. 3:17).
4. I will consciously seek his help to do the best that I can do (John 15:5).
5. I will remind myself regularly that God is going to reward me for how I perform my
job (Col. 3:24-25).
6. I will ask God to help me be salt (Matt. 5:13), light (Matt. 5:14-16, a discipler (Matt.
28:18-20), and a reprover of evil (Eph. 5:11-12) through my life and my words as I work.
7. I will choose to believe that God has me here for eternal purposes: both my good and
the good of others (Rom. 8:28-29), that God is sovereign over my boss(es), that God can
open or close any door of opportunity He desires (Psa. 75:6-7).
8. I will choose to be content by
a. remembering that meaning and satisfaction are not found in any of life’s components
but only in life’s Creator (Eccl. 2:24; 5:18).
b. choosing to be thankful each morning that I have this job and this opportunity to serve
Christ (Col. 3:17)
c. Rejecting any temptation to compare myself with others (2 Cor. 10:12). This leads to
envy and discontent.
9. I will ask God to open any doors of opportunities He wants me to walk through (2 Cor.
2:12).
10. I will ask God to help me have a cheerful, excellent spirit as I stay where He has
placed me (Deut. 28:47; Dan. 6:3).
11. I will view my earnings as God-given to provide for my family (1 Thess. 4:11; 2
Thess. 3:12; 1 Tim. 5:8) and to enable me to give to those who have need (Eph. 4:28).
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Why should we count it all joy? Second Reason
The first reason we should "count it all joy" is that trials build our faith's capacity to
endure (James 1:3).
James gives the second reason in verse four: "... that you may be perfect, complete,
lacking nothing." (ἵνα ἦτε τέλειοι καὶ ὁλόκληροι ἐν μηδενὶ λειπόμενοι.)
But before he gives the second reason, he gives a second command:

"Let endurance have its perfect work." (ἡ δὲ ὑπομονὴ ἔργον τέλειον
ἐχέτω)
What does it means to "let endurance have its perfect work?" Think of
the 10k marathon. If a runner gives out after 9k, his endurance did not
complete or finish the job. Endurance "has" its perfect work, when it
makes it all the way to the finish line. That's what endurance is
supposed to do: take you the distance.
Here's James' point. When you're still in pain, or you're out of a job, or
you're still not sleeping well, or your situation is getting worse not
better, or all of the above are true simultaneously ... don't quit trusting
God! Don't jump off the Potter's wheel! Continue affirming and trusting
in God's goodness, wisdom, faithfulness, and sovereignty.
Easy to say!! Sure it's easy to say, and Yes, it's teeth-clenchingly
difficult. But that is what James is saying.
But HOW do you "let endurance have its perfect work?" Just mindlessly
mantra Romans 8:28?!! No ... but to answer the how question will
require a separate post ...
So ... A key reason not to give up and the second reason we should
could it all joy when we fall into various trials is God is using them to
make us perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
I think it is a mistake to try to distinguish between "perfect,"

"complete," and "lacking nothing" here. James is piling on the
synonyms for effect -- like we do when we say it is a wonderful,
fabulous, glorious day.
What does perfect mean? It doesn't mean God is fixing our minds, so
they think without logical error. It doesn't mean God is fixing our
bodies, so that they are always hale and hearty.
"Perfect" in James describes the kind of gifts that come down from the
Father of Lights (James 1:17), the law of liberty (James 1:25), and the
man who is able to bridle his whole body (James 3:2). The variety of
items James describes as "perfect" makes it a bit difficult to determine
precisely what he has in mind.
Perhaps it is best to allow the other two synonyms he uses to focus his
idea for us: complete and lacking nothing. The perfection God is
working in our lives is a completeness where nothing that should be
present is lacking. That sounds like what Paul describes as "the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13). In other
words, full Christlikeness of character.
Now, unless you are really enthused about gaining spiritual maturity or
full Christlikeness, learning that your trials are helping you become
fully like Jesus won't incline you to "all joy." And, frankly, that is a
major part of our problem. We have forgotten that being a disciple of
Jesus means making being like him the ultimate and focal object of our
life (Mat. 10:24-25).
When we do long to be like Jesus more than we long to be like anyone

or anything else, then knowing that God is perfecting us into the image
of His Son will be a grounds for great joy.
Labels: James 1:2-4, perfect, trials

Monday, June 21, 2010
Why should we count it all joy? First Reason
In my previous post, I argued that James has in mind trials that

challenge our confidence in God's goodness, wisdom, faithfulness, or
power. Why are we supposed to count falling into such trials all joy?
James gives a two part answer. The first part is in Jam. 1:3 -- "knowing
this that the trying of your faith works patience."
The word "knowing" is a participle both in English and in Greek. In both

languages, participles are usually subordinate to (dependent upon) the
main verb in a sentence. That means that participles give additional
information about the main verb.
In this case, the main verb is "count" (ἡγήσασθε) in Jam. 1:2. The
participle in v. 3 gives the reason why James is telling his readers to
count faith-testing trials all joy: because we know that such trials of our
faith produce patience.
As noted previously, the word translated patience (ὑπομονήν) is not the
ability to stand in a long checkout line at a Walmart without losing your
cool. It is the ability to keep on running the 10k marathon when you hit
hills in the 7th kilometer.
But James isn't talking about endurance in general. He certainly isn't

talking about physical endurance. He is talking about faith's
endurance. Our faith is like a set of muscles that require practice and
exercise to build the stamina necessary to endure the rigors of spiritual
battle.
God is much like the drill instructor who wisely and appropriately
pushes his soldiers to their limits to build their endurance. An officer
knows that his soldiers will be worthless in battle without stamina. We
too are soldiers (2 Tim. 2:3-4), but we are of no value in Kingdom
warfare without enduring faith (Eph. 6:16; Heb. 11:6).
He whose faith in God's wisdom, power, goodness, or faithfulness

wavers in the battle is unsteady, unstable, and displeasing to God. "Let
not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord" (Jam.
1:6-7).
So God intentionally puts us through tests, not primarily to see IF we

will believe Him, but rather to strengthen our faith, our confidence in
Him. As we come through faith-tests, by His grace, our confidence in
God grows firmer and firmer.
Steadfast and immovable faith greatly glorifies God. It magnifies Him

as the All-Sufficient, Fully Trustworthy One. His goodness, wisdom,
power, and faithfulness shine brightest when His children continue to
trust Him in trials that appear to belie His character.
This is the first reason we should rejoice: God is strengthening our faith
and glorifying Himself through our trial(s).
Labels: faith, James 1:2-4, patience, trials

Sunday, June 20, 2010
The kind of trials James has in mind (Jam. 1:2-4)
Most commentaries will note that the word translated "trials" in James
1:2 means a "test." BDAG offers "a test to learn the nature or character
of something."
That suggests synonyms like problems, difficulties, issues,
inconveniences, or perhaps examinations. If we work only with verse 2,
then James seems to be talking about counting it all joy when you
encounter life's difficulties, regardless of their nature.
However, verse 3 narrows the focus of this passage and further defines
the specific kind of trials that James has in mind. Specifically, James is
addressing trials that test a person's faith.
What is a "trying of faith?" A trying of faith is a test that challenges

what you believe about God. If the trial you are facing doesn't raise
questions about God's goodness, power, wisdom, faithfulness, or love,
then it isn't the kind of trial that James is thinking about.
I have my share of problems, difficulties, issues, inconveniences, etc.

But the vast majority of them never raise any questions about God's
character in my mind, let alone serious questions.
But when I'm standing by the bedside of my wife who's starting to be

out of her head with pain, and she's pleading with God for mercy and
relief, which does not rapidly materialize, that's an opportunity for
questions to arise about God's goodness.
Or, I'm sitting on the chapel platform and hear prayer requested for a
young father who accidentally ran over and killed his four year old son
who was running to greet him as he returned from work -- questions
about God's wisdom, love, and goodness easily enter the mind.
* How can God be good an allow this?

* Why doesn't God answer my prayer ... Does He care?
* Things sure don't look to me like God's in control ... is He really
sovereign over all of life's circumstances?
When these or similar thoughts enter your mind, welcome to a James

1:2-4 kind of trial.
But don't quit with verse 3. Verse 4 adds an additional dimension to

the kind of trials James has in mind.
But let patience have her perfect work

that you may be perfect, complete, lacking nothing.
The first half of the verse is fairly obscure until you understand that
"patience" (hupomone) is "endurance, staying power, fortitude." It is
the ability to keep on keeping on when the road is rough and the
journey long.
In other words, verse 4 indicates that at least some of these faith tests
may be long. It is one thing to affirm God's wisdom, love, power,
faithfulness, and goodness 24 hours after the enemy rolls up his faith-
toppling battering ram. It is quite another thing to continue
unwaveringly in that affirmation as days stretch into weeks and weeks
into months, even as Grond continues its unrelenting blows.
At least two places in the rest of this epistle touch on examples of

faith-tests: legal abuse of poor Christians by the rich (Jam. 5:4-6), and
extended bed-fast sickness (Jam. 5:14-16).
It is in the midst of such faith-testing trials that James directs us to

count it all joy!

When you fall into various trials ... (Jam. 1:2-4)
I have fallen into various trials over the past month:
* Three weeks ago my wife's post-op pain got out of control and she
was hospitalized for 2 days..
* Five days later all five members of my immediate family, myself
included, plus my father-in-law, got food poisoning and we were
vomiting in turns and simultaneously over a period of 12 hours.
* Four days later my wife reacts horribly to a medicine prescribed by
her gynecologist--burning in the chest, then overwhelming nausea,
then overwhelming irrational fear, then return to normal, to be
repeated every 30-40 minutes for the next 24-36 hours.
* Another four days and another medicine is prescribed to which she
reacts even more violently and that puts her in the hospital for three
days. (She does not tolerate SSRI or SNRI meds!)
The results of all the above plus the stress of the surgery and a long
list of other stressors preceding the surgery: her adrenal glands appear
to have gone haywire, messing with her ability to sleep, putting her out
of commission for a while as she attempts to rest enough to recover.
That placed her care and the care of our three boys on my plate: all
summer projects out the window!
I think that qualifies for James' "various trials." And regarding all such
trials he commands, "Count it all joy!"
James' command raises a host of questions: What is joy? What is "all

joy?" What does it mean to "count" it all joy? Why should we count
falling into various trials all joy? And how do you do that?
In this and the (hopefully) following posts I'm going to try to answer
these questions. But a little background first. I first worked on this
passage back in 1992 for second year Greek exegesis project. I've
preached this passage probably more than I've preached any other
passage in Scripture. And, since 2002 I've been requiring my Advanced
Homiletics students to preach this passage. So I've heard it preached,
both well and poorly, quite a bit!
All that to say, I've been mulling this one over for a long time. As the
Lord takes me through deeper waters, I have found this passage to be
unshakable bedrock. My appreciation for its profundity only grows as I
face more difficult trials.

Saturday, October 24, 2009
Baptism with the Holy Spirit = Filling with the Holy Spirit
1. All four gospels record John’s statement that Christ will baptize with
the Holy Spirit (and fire, except Mark and John).
Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but
he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not
worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Mark 1:8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize
you with the Holy Ghost.
Luke 3:16 John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you
with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes
I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost
and with fire:
John 1:33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with
water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit
descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth
with the Holy Ghost.
2. Prior to His ascension Jesus prophecied that the disciples would be

baptized with the Holy Spirit after a few days.
Acts 1:5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized
with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
3. On Pentecost, all the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to
speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
4. A few days later they were filled again.
Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where
they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
5. The apostles specify being “full of the Spirit” as a criterion for being
a servant in the church. Fullness of the Spirit is, therefore, a
characteristic discernible by fellow-believers.
Act 6:3 "Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of
good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in
charge of this task. (cf. 7:55)
Acts 6:5 The statement found approval with the whole congregation;
and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and
Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte
from Antioch.
6. The Holy Spirit had not fallen upon any of the Samaritan believers
prior to Peter and John praying for them. They prayed for them that
they might received the Holy Spirit, and then when they laid hands on
them, they received the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:15 who came down and prayed for them that they might
receive the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:16 For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had
simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Acts 8:17 Then they began laying their hands on them, and they
were receiving the Holy Spirit.
7. Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit through the ministry of Ananias.
Acts 9:17 So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after
laying his hands on him said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who
appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me
so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
8. At Cornelius’ house, the Holy Spirit falls upon those listening. The
narrator describes Peter’s amazement at the Holy Spirit being poured
out on the Gentiles. Peter speaks of the reception of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 10:44 ¶ While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon
all those who were listening to the message. 10:45 All the circumcised believers who
came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on
the Gentiles also. 10:46 For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting
God. Then Peter answered, 10:47 "Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be
baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?"
9. Peter describes the event at Cornelius’ house in terms of the Holy Spirit “falling upon
them as He did upon us at the beginning,” and specifically identifies this as an example
of Jesus’ prophesy that “you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 11:15 "And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did
upon us at the beginning.
11:16 "And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, 'John baptized
with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'
10. Barnabas is described as a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. Again, fullness
of the Spirit is discernible.
Acts 11:24 for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And
considerable numbers were brought to the Lord.
11. The disciples in Antioch of Pisidia were being filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.
Note the imperfect tense. The ongoing nature of being filled with the Spirit could be
interpreted iteratively, as in Acts 2 and then 4, or progressively as Ephesians 5:18 seems
to imply.
Acts 13:52 And the disciples were continually filled (ἐπληροῦντο) with joy and
with the Holy Spirit.
12. God gave the Holy Spirit to Cornelius and those assembled with
him. The issue here is how δοὺς should relate to ἐμαρτύρησεν:
antecedent time or means. It fits the contours of means quite well.
Acts 15:8 καὶ ὁ καρδιογνώστης θεὸς ἐμαρτύρησεν αὐτοῖς δοὺς τὸ

πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον καθὼς καὶ ἡμῖν
Acts 15:8 "And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving
them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us;
13. After Paul laid his hands on the Ephesians the Holy Spirit came
upon them. The variety in terminology suggests that the language
itself is non-technical and descriptive: filled, came upon, fell upon,
baptized with, received.
Acts 19:6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy
Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and
prophesying.
14. Texts not included above which use the language of “full of/with
the Holy Spirit” are Acts 4:8; 7:55 and 13:9.
Acts 4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers
and elders of the people,
Acts 7:55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, [Stephen] gazed intently
into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right
hand of God;
Acts 13:9 But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy
Spirit, fixed his gaze on him,
At first glance, these texts seem more like OT texts where the Spirit
comes upon a person for a specific purpose and for a limited time. On
the other hand, in each of these cases, these people were previously
said to have been filled with the Spirit, and in Stephen’s case
especially, he was picked as a deacon on the basis of the fact he was
full of the Holy Spirit. That data seems to weigh on the side of
understanding Luke’s choice to include this characterization as a
theological note to avoid the appearance that the special deeds done
by these men were self-originating, but were rather Spirit-empowered.
The point of this epithet is not to denote a new or renewed “filling,” but
the fact of the Spirit’s fullness (i.e., controlling, empowering presence)
out of which their actions flowed.
Conclusion: There is no difference between Christ’s baptism of

believers with the Holy Spirit promised in the Gospels and Acts 1:5 and
the Filling with the Spirit received throughout Acts. This is a
Christological baptism with the Spirit (instrumental dative) and is to be
distinguished from the Pneumatological baptism by the Spirit (dative of
agency) of 1 Corinthians 12:13.
Labels: Baptism with the Holy Spirit, Filled with the Holy Spirit
posted by Philip Brown | 7:12 AM | 8 comments

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The LORD is a God of Justice (Isa. 30:18)
Isa. 30:18 caught my attention this morning. The nature and necessity
of divine justice has been on my mind because I've been lecturing on
the biblical teaching regarding election and predestination.
What stirs debate in theological circles generates only praise from

inspired writers of Scripture: "Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the
heavenlies in Christ, e.g., He chose us in him before the foundation of
the world to be holy and blameless before Him, having predestined us
in love to adoption as children through Christ to himself" (Eph. 1:3-5).
In Isaiah 30:18 Isaiah describes Yahweh to rebellious Israel: "Therefore

the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts
himself/rises to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him."
That sent me looking for other OT texts connecting justice (mishpat) to

Yahweh. Three texts stood out to me: "the Lord loves justice" (Psa.
37:28), "I, Yahweh, love justice and hate robbery" (Isa. 61:8), and "I am
the LORD who practices lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness in
the earth. For in these things I delight" (Jer. 9:24[H 23]).
All the while I'm looking at these texts, Romans 9:14 is sounding in the
back of my mind: "Is there injustice with God? God forbid!" Paul could
have responded, "God is sovereign. He can do anything He wants," or
even, "God is sovereign. He could choose to do anything, and it would
by definition be just." And some, it seems, think that is what he says in
Romans 9:15-21. But that cannot be what 9:15-21 mean if Romans
9:14 is understood.
There is such a thing as injustice, and it is unthinkable that injustice

could be found in God. Thus there are things that God in His infinite
sovereignty could not do, for they would be unjust. Yahweh's love for
and delight in justice ensure that all his dealings with His creation will
fully comport with His revelation of justice.
What does God say justice is? and what is the relationship between
divine justice and human culpability?
More on those questions, hopefully sooner rather than later, but for
now ...
I rejoice that Yahweh's love for justice and His love for me intersected
in His self-propitiation on my behalf (Rom. 3:25)!
Labels: divine justice

Friday, April 24, 2009
Capital Punishment within a Christian Worldview
God entrusted to fallible, fallen, unsaved humans the responsibility of

exercising justice (Deut. 1:16-17). He established the principles by
which humans were to judge justly:
1. No favoritism or partiality (Lev. 19:15).

2. No allegation may be accepted without a minimum of two witnesses
(Deut. 17:6).
3. When the appropriate number of witnesses are present, and the
allegations are found to be true, the judges must pass an equitable
sentence upon the criminal, i.e., the punishment is to be equal to the
crime (Exod. 21:24-25; Lev. 24:19-21; Deut. 19:21).
4. The judges are to be present when the punishment is meted out so
that they are fully aware of the effects of the punishment (Deut. 25:1-
3).
5. The witnesses, in the case of capital punishment by stoning, are to
be involved in carrying out the punishment (Deut. 17:3-6). This means
that if witnesses have colluded and falsely accused someone, they
become guilty of murder and, when discovered, will receive the same
death penalty that they wrongly had inflicted upon another (Deut.
19:15-19).
6. Execution by stoning was to be done publically with the participation
of the public (Deut. 17:7). This reinforced the seriousness of the crime
and served as a deterrent to future criminal activity.
7. Prior to the establishment of the Mosaic Covenant and the creation
of the nation of Israel, God established capital punishment as the
appropriate sentence for intentional manslaughter in time of peace
(Gen. 9:6)
8. Within the context of the Israelite nation, God established that the
following crimes were to be punished with the death penalty
+ Intentional manslaughter in time of peace (Lev. 24:21; Num.

35:30-33). The Numbers passage is important because God says no
amount of money may be accepted as reparation for murder. Only by
the blood of the murderer being shed can a land be purged from the
guilt of murder.
+ The owner of an animal that kills another man, if the owner knew
the animal was likely to kill and did not take precaution to keep the
animal away from people (Exod. 21:29). In this case, the owner may
ransom his life with money if it is demanded of him (Exod. 21:30).
+ Kidnappers (Exod. 21:16)
+ Those involved in witchcraft (Exod. 22:18)
+ Those who are involved in homosexual behavior (Lev. 20:13) or
beastiality (Exod. 22:19; Lev. 20:15-16)
+ If a man marries a woman and her mother, they are all to be
burned with fire (Lev. 20:14)
+ Whoever blasphemes God’s name (Lev. 24:16).
+ Whoever curses his father or mother (Lev. 20:9) or strikes his
father of mother (Exod. 21:15).
+ Those who commit adultery (Lev. 20:10), including the rape of or
consensual sex with an engaged woman.
+ Those who commit incest (non-rape) are both killed (Lev. 20:11-
12)
+ A non-Levite who gets near the tabernacle during its setup (Num.
1:51).
+ A prophet or dreamer of dreams who entices God’s people to
serve other Gods (Deut. 13:3), as well as any person or group of
persons who depart from God and serve other gods (Deut. 13:5ff)
+ A stubborn, rebellious son who is a glutton and a drunkard (Deut
21:18-21). It appears that after a person was stoned to death, they
were hung on a tree as a warning against committing such crime. They
were allowed to hang only until sundown (Deut. 21:22).
Since God is always just, God’s establishment of capital punishment for

the above crimes means that it is an appropriate (equitable)
punishment for the seriousness of these crimes. If the death penalty
seems too severe for these crimes, that tells us that we do not view
these crimes the way God does. Since God specifies that certain crimes
are to be punished by stoning, others by burning, and others by
hanging, none of these forms of capital punishment should be
regarded as inhumane or failing to reflect a godly compassion.
The fact that God imparted responsibility to exercise capital

punishment to fallible, fallen, unsaved humans tells us that the
possibility, even likelihood, of injustice being done, was not a sufficient
cause from God’s perspective to forbid capital punishment. It should
not, therefore, be a sufficient grounds for us to oppose it.
When we value human life more than God values it, we are idolaters
because we are essentially saying we know the real value of things
better than God does.
Since we are not part of the nation of Israel, we as individuals do not

have the freedom to enact capital punishment. However, to the extent
that we can influence the laws of our land, we should seek to influence
our laws to punish as capital crimes those sins that God deems worthy
of capital punishment.
NT Issues:
Woman taken in adultery. Assuming that this story is actually part of
the text (and there are serious questions about its authenticity), Jesus
told the witnesses to stone her. He passed judgment that she was
worthy of death. However, he also added a condition that exposed the
hypocrisy of her accusers: “Let him that is without sin cast the first
stone.” Jesus is not establishing a requirement that only those without
sin can be involved in the judgment of others. If so, that would
invalidate all forms of civil courts by non-Christians, but God said that
those in authority in civil government are appointed by God
(regardless of their personal spiritual status) and they do not “bear the
sword in vain,” implying that they legitimately wield the sword (a tool
of death) in the punishment of evil doers (Rom. 13:1-6).
1 Cor. 6:9-11 some of the Corinthians were formerly adulterers and

homosexuals, but God washed, justified, and sanctified them. Does this
show that God no longer considers these capital crimes? No. Rather it
shows that these sins are not unforgiveable. Capital punishment in the
OT did not preclude the possibility of repentance and forgiveness prior
to being killed. Repentance, however, is not a reason to commute a
death penalty for those who, according to God, deserve it. The reason
the Corinthians weren’t killed for their adultery and homosexuality is
because they were not living in Israel under God’s government. They
were living under Roman law which did not reflect God’s perspective
on these issues. We too live under laws which do not reflect God’s
perspective on these issues, but as followers of Jesus, the one who
gave the Mosaic Law to Israel, we must view all of life from His
perspective.
Labels: capital punishment, death penalty

Glorying in the Cross (Gal. 6:14)
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
(Galatians 6:14 KJV)
Ἐμοὶ δὲ μὴ γένοιτο καυχᾶσθαι εἰ μὴ ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν

Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, δι᾽ οὗ ἐμοὶ κόσμος ἐσταύρωται κἀγὼ κόσμῳ
What does it mean to "glory in the cross?"
The first rule of interpretation is context, and the previous two verses
provide the setting.
Galatians 6:12 Those who desire to make a good showing in the

flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they will not
be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For those who are circumcised
do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you
circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh. (NASB)
As Paul makes clear throughout this letter, Judaizers were pressuring
the Galatian Gentile Christians to be circumcised. Their purpose in this
campaign was to avoid persecution themselves and to be able to boast
about making "converts," which appears to be what Paul means by "so
that they may boast in your flesh."
The word translated "boast" in v. 13 (NASB) is the same word

translated "glory" in v. 14 (KJV). To "glory" in something is to view it as
a basis for bragging, boasting, or being proud. BDAG offers the sense
"to take pride in someth.," and the glosses "boast, glory, pride oneself,
brag" for Gal. 6:13, 14.
In contrast to the Judaizers who wanted to brag or boast about a

"righteousness" achieved through external conformity to the Law,
specifically through circumcision, Paul asserts that he will only glory,
boast, brag about the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I remember singing songs about "glorying in the cross," and being

uncertain what precisely it mean to glory in the cross. It is difficult to
glory in the cross if I do not see the cross as more than the place Jesus
died for my sins.
As I have matured in my understanding of the significance of the cross

in God's plan of redemption, my appreciation for the cross (metonymy
for all that was accomplished by Jesus in his atonement on the cross)
has grown.
The cross should be the grounds for our boasting for at least the
following reasons:
• The cross reveals the monstrous nature of my sin – the Son of God
had to suffer and die to ransom me. Yet, He did!
• The cross trumpets the necessity of justice, the inevitability of
punishment for sin, and an irrevocably moral universe.
• The cross testifies to the value God places upon humanity, made
in His image (Col. 3:10).
• The cross unveils the vastness of God’s desire for our restoration
to relationship with Himself, the unsearchable limits of His love (John
3:16; Rom. 5:8).
• The cross is a token of God's purpose to give me all that it takes to
live in relationship with Him, for if God spared not His son, how shall He
not also with him give me all things freely (Rom. 8:32).
• The cross was the place where Christ provided a propitiation for
righteous wrath of God for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2).
• The cross frees me from the law's claim upon me – for the law
views me as dead through my union with Christ – and frees me to be
married to Christ and bring forth fruit to God (Rom. 7:4-6).
• On the cross Jesus bore in his body the punishment my sins rightly
deserved so that I need never experience that punishment (1 Peter
2:24)
• The cross is the basis of my justification (Gal. 2:16-20).
• The cross provides me with a righteousness I could never acquire
on my own (Phil. 3:9; 1 Peter 2:24)
• The cross frees me from sin’s control (Romans 6:1-7:6)
• The cross is the means by which the world has been crucified to
me and I have been crucified to the world (Gal. 6:14).
• The cross leads to resurrection and new life.
• The cross is the basis for the believer's entire sanctification
(actualizing my union with Christ’s death to sin) and all ongoing growth
in Christlikeness (Rom. 6).
• The cross points to the sacrificial blood which now cleanses those
who walk in the light from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7).
• The cross removed the barrier to the holy of holies – the temple
veil was torn from top to bottom when Jesus cried it is finished.
Hallelujah for the cross!

Wednesday, April 08, 2009
A Valuable Resource for Child Rearing
Several years ago, some of my friends highly recommended Ted

Tripp's book Shepherding a Child's Heart. I purchased it and read it. I
didn't find it significantly helpful. Probably that's a commentary on me,
though Tripp's style tends to be repetitious, and I don't do repetitious
well.
Recently, Lizzy Stetler posted a link to a series of five lectures by Tripp

on Child Rearing. Marianne viewed the lectures and encouraged me to.
The lectures are fabulous. I particularly resonated with his second
lecture "Giving Kids a Vision for God's Glory." Powerful stuff!
I heartily recommend any dad (and mom) who is serious about

inculcating a Christian worldview (modern term for Scripture's
"wisdom") into their children to absorb all you can from these lectures.
Here are the links to the five lectures:

Session 1: The Call to Formative Instruction
Session 2: Giving Kids a Vision for God's Glory
Session 3: Helping Kids Understand Authority
Session 4: Helping Kids Understand the Heart
Session 5: Overview of Corrective Discipline
As usual, my recommendation does not constitute an endorsement of
everything Tripp says. We are always responsible to search the
Scriptures to verify the accuracy of any teaching.
Labels: child rearing, Ted Tripp

Sunday, March 08, 2009
He is able ...
• to guard what I’ve deposited with Him δι᾽ ἣν αἰτίαν καὶ ταῦτα
πάσχω• ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἐπαισχύνομαι, οἶδα γὰρ ᾧ πεπίστευκα καὶ πέπεισμαι
ὅτι δυνατός ἐστιν τὴν παραθήκην μου φυλάξαι εἰς ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν.
(2 Tim. 1:12)
• to do exceedingly abundantly above what we are asking or thinking

Τῷ δὲ δυναμένῳ ὑπὲρ πάντα ποιῆσαι ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ ὧν αἰτούμεθα ἢ
νοοῦμεν κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν τὴν ἐνεργουμένην ἐν ἡμῖν (Eph. 3:20)
• to cause all grace to abound unto me. δυνατεῖ δὲ ὁ θεὸς πᾶσαν χάριν
περισσεῦσαι εἰς ὑμᾶς, ἵνα ἐν παντὶ πάντοτε πᾶσαν αὐτάρκειαν ἔχοντες
περισσεύητε εἰς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθόν, (2 Cor. 9:8)
• to help those who are being tested ἐν ᾧ γὰρ πέπονθεν αὐτὸς

πειρασθείς, δύναται τοῖς πειραζομένοις βοηθῆσαι. (Heb. 2:18)
• to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him. ὅθεν
καὶ σῴζειν εἰς τὸ παντελὲς δύναται τοὺς προσερχομένους δι᾽ αὐτοῦ
τῷ θεῷ, πάντοτε ζῶν εἰς τὸ ἐντυγχάνειν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν. (Heb. 7:25)
• to guard us from stumbling and present us blameless before his glory

with great joy. Τῷ δὲ δυναμένῳ φυλάξαι ὑμᾶς ἀπταίστους καὶ στῆσαι
κατενώπιον τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ ἀμώμους ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει (Jude 1:24)
• to subdue all things to himself. ὃς μετασχηματίσει τὸ σῶμα τῆς

ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν σύμμορφον τῷ σώματι τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν
ἐνέργειαν τοῦ δύνασθαι αὐτὸν καὶ ὑποτάξαι αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα. (Phil.
3:21)
• to heal blind eyes. ἐλθόντι δὲ εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν προσῆλθον αὐτῷ οἱ

τυφλοί, καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς• πιστεύετε ὅτι δύναμαι τοῦτο
ποιῆσαι; λέγουσιν αὐτῷ• ναὶ κύριε. τότε ἥψατο τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν
λέγων• κατὰ τὴν πίστιν ὑμῶν γενηθήτω ὑμῖν. (Matt. 9:28-29)
Lord Jesus, I rejoice that you are able! You are more than able to
enable me with overcoming power, more than able to give victory
again! I rejoice in your ability!
I'm really enjoying using Bagster's Daily Light in BibleWorks 8. This

resource offers thematically selected Scripture readings for morning
and evening. In BW 8, they can be read in Greek and Hebrew as well
(see below).
Labels: BibleWorks, Divine ability

Saturday, March 07, 2009
God sanctifies Himself (Ezek. 38:23)
Last Sunday I shared a SS lesson with the combined Adult and Young
Adult classes at Burlington Bible Methodist Church. I attempted to
answer three questions:
1. What does it mean for God to sanctify Himself (Ezek. 38:23)?

2. What does it mean for us to sanctify God?
3. How do the answers to the first two questions relate to the first
petition of the Lord's pattern prayer, "Hallowed by thy name?"
In this post I share my answer to the first question. As I journeyed

through all the OT texts on holiness, I was struck by the following
verses.
Isaiah 5:16 But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment, And
the holy God will be sanctified in righteousness.
Ezekiel 20:41 "As a soothing aroma I will accept you when I bring
you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are
scattered; and I will be sanctified among you in the sight of the
nations.
Ezekiel 28:22 and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am
against you, O Sidon, And I will be glorified in your midst. Then they
will know that I am the LORD when I execute judgments in her, And I
will be sanctified in her.
Ezekiel 28:25 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "When I gather the house of
Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and will be
sanctified in them in the sight of the nations, then they will live in their
land which I gave to My servant Jacob.
Ezekiel 36:23 "I will sanctify My great name which has been
profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst.
Then the nations will know that I am the LORD," declares the Lord
GOD, "when I am sanctified among you in their sight.
Ezekiel 38:23 "I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make
Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I
am the LORD."'
Ezekiel 39:27 "When I bring them back from the peoples and gather
them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified through
them in the sight of the many nations.
"Sanctified" appears to have the same basic information component in

reference to God that it does in reference to things or human persons:
separateness or set apartness. God is sanctified when He acts in a way
that clearly separates Him, i.e., distinguishes Him, from the pantheon
of ANE gods.
His name had been profaned ("made common, ordinary") by the exile
of Israel. From the standpoint of the watching world, Yahweh turned
out to be no more powerful than any of the other gods that
Nebuchadnezzar's military juggernaut had toppled. Yahweh was, in
fact, less power than the Babylonian gods, because the Babylonian
gods had empowered Nebuchadnezzar to capture His city and destroy
His temple.
This is what Yahweh will not tolerate: being made to look ordinary.
Thus he promises that He will sanctify Himself (distinguish Himself
from all others), magnify Himself (demonstrate His greatness to the
world), and make Himself known in the sight of many nations (Ezek.
38:23) by bringing Israel back from exile and reestablishing her in her
land.
The statement that he "is sanctified in righteousness" (Isa. 5:16)

deserves special attention. Righteousness in Hebrew, contrary to what
many theological word books say, is "conformity to a standard." I am
convinced that Lev. 19:35-36 and Deut. 25:13-15 provide the key texts
for understanding what it means for something to be righteous: it
measures up to the standard under consideration. A righteous scale is
one that weighs a pound as a pound and not as a 1.5 lbs or .75 lbs.
Righteousness in persons is their conformity to whatever standard is
under consideration.
Righteousness in God is God's conformity to His own standards, i.e.,

His self-consistency. Since God's character sets the standard for
righteous behavior in human morals, since character is the standard to
which He always adhere. And this is one of the things that sanctifies
Him, i.e., sets Him apart and establishes His incomparableness. If the
ANE gods were anything, they were fickle and perfidious. This is
precisely the opposite of the character of Yahweh. He is righteous in all
His ways.
When we pray the first petition of the Lord's prayer, one of the things
we are asking God to do is act in the world in a way that clearly
manifests the unique excellence of His character and being thereby
distinguishing Himself, setting Himself apart, from all others "gods."
Labels: God sanctifies Himself, holiness, righteousness

Discovery: 1 Peter 1:16 quotes Leviticus 19
I was sitting in chapel a month ago and Dad was doing a great job
preaching 1 Peter 1:13-16. This is a great text that demonstrates that
NT apostles understood the Pentateuch to provide immediately
applicable commands for NT believers.
Verse 16 is Peter's quotation from Leviticus that buttresses his

apostolic injunction to be holy in all your conduct: because it is written,
"YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."
I was sitting there with my copy of Biblia Sacra (combined Hebrew &
Greek Bible), and I noticed the Greek syntax of the quotation placed
"holy" in an emphatic position: ἅγιοι ἔσεσθε, ὅτι ἐγὼ ἅγιός.
Just out of curiosity, I decided to look at the syntax of the Hebrew text
in the places in Leviticus where this statement is made (Lev. 11:44, 45;
19:2; cf. Lev. 20:7). What struck me as I looked is that Leviticus 19:2 is
the only place where the Hebrew syntax exactly matches the Greek
syntax of 1 Peter 1:16.
‫שָ֑אִני‬ׁ ‫שיםִּ֑כי ָק֑דֹו‬ ִׁ֑‫( ִוְהִייֶ֑תם ְקֹד‬Lev. 11:44)

‫ש ָֽאִני׃‬
ׁ ‫שיםִּ֑כי קָ֑דֹו‬ ִׁ֑‫( ִוְהִייֶ֑תם ְקֹד‬Lev. 11:45)
‫ָ֑וה ֱאֹלֵהיֶֽכם׃‬ ‫ש ֲאִ֑ני ְיה‬ ׁ ‫֑יּוִּ֑כי ָק֑דֹו‬
‫שים ִּתְה‬
ִׁ֑‫( ְקֹד‬Lev. 19:2)
What further piqued my interest was that Peter's "in all your conduct" fits Lev. 19 much
better than it fits Lev. 11. Leviticus 11:44 is part of the conclusion of a section on clean
and unclean foods and is followed by a chapter on purification of women after childbirth.
I have been slowly memorizing and meditating on Leviticus 19 for about 6 months. I had
come to the conclusion that God's "be holy for I am holy" in v. 2 is not merely one
command in a list of commands, but is the key command that controls the entire chapter.
Specifically, fearing one's parents (v. 3), keeping His sabbaths (v. 3), rejecting idolatry
(v. 4), worshiping God according to His specifications (vv. 5-8), caring for foreigners and
the needy (9-10), not stealing or lying (v. 11), not swearing falsely (v. 12), loving your
neighbor (v. 18) ... in fact the entire chapter is an explication of what it means to be holy
"in all conduct."
I couldn't wait for chapel to be over so I could go check the LXX to see if, in fact, the
variations in Hebrew syntax had been maintained in Lev. 11 and 19. I was a bit
disappointed to find that it wasn't.
Lev 11:44 ἅγιοι ἔσεσθε ὅτι ἅγιός εἰμι ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν
Lev 11:45 ἔσεσθε ἅγιοι ὅτι ἅγιός εἰμι ἐγὼ κύριος
Lev 19:2 ἅγιοι ἔσεσθε ὅτι ἐγὼ ἅγιος κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν
1 Pe 1:16 ἅγιοι ἔσεσθε, ὅτι ἐγὼ ἅγιός
In Leviticus 11:44, the LXX doesn't reflect the Hebrew syntax and
places "holy" before "you shall be." So ... the syntax really doesn't
decide the question of what text Peter was quoting. I suspect that
those identifying cross-references just picked Lev. 11:44 because it
was the first place this command occurs. However, I did notice that the
syntax of 1 Peter 1:16 does perfectly match Lev. 19:2 as far as it goes.
Bottom line: Both the syntax and the context of Leviticus 19 make it a
much better fit as a proof text for Peter's command to "be holy in all
your conduct."
Application: In AL this week, I preached a two part message on 1 Peter

1:14-16 and Leviticus 19:1-18. Lev. 19:15-18 was a message all of its
own, and, wow, what a powerful text on holy living! In fact, even
though conduct is on front stage of this chapter, vv. 17-18 powerfully
demonstrate that the holiness God wants from His people has always
been a heart holiness that manifests itself in one's life.
To be holy as God is holy is to have the same excellence of character

and conduct distinguishing us from the world that distinguishes God
from all others gods.

Sunday, February 08, 2009
Deut. 6:6-7 -- Train them when you sit, walk, lie down, get up ... what
am I supposed to say?
In Deuteronomy 6:6-7, God says,

6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. 7
Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your
house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when
you get up. (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
The KJV of v. 7 reads, "thou shalt teach them diligently." When I think
of teaching, I think primarily of a setting where one person imparts
information to others who do not have that information.
That needs to happen, but it isn't what God is talking about in this the
classic passage on child training. The word translated "teach" in the
KJV means "repeat." By using the word repeat God focuses on the
method of instruction, not on the instruction itself.
Every teacher knows repetition aids learning. The Master Teacher

commands parents to repeat His words (contextually, the Ten Words
which are the Ten Commandments) to their children, not just daily, but
all throughout the day.
I'm trying to take this to heart. So, my kids have learned the Ten
Commandments Song, and Allan can accurately quote them and
identify them by number. At almost five, he's showing a fairly decent
understanding of what they mean.
But does Deut. 6:6-7 mean I'm supposed to quote the Ten
Commandments at least four times each day to my kids? Three
considerations suggest a negative answer to that question.
1. If there is any repetitive distillation of biblical wisdom that

expounds the implications of God's Ten Words, it is the Book of
Proverbs. Yet, Proverbs is far from being dull, monotonous, or inartistic.
Its literary variety in vocabulary, syntax, and structure make its
repetitions interesting and lively. Proverbs is, in fact, an explicit biblical
model for parental obedience to Deut. 6:6-7. Say it over and over, but
beware unvaried pattern.
2. The Ten Words themselves are actually applications of the two
greatest words God has given us: Love God wholeheartedly, and love
your neighbor as yourself. In and on these two commands hangs all
God desires from us. Therefore, our daily repetitions must include
them, flow from them, and point to them.
3. Although the Ten Words are the immediate context of Deut. 6:6-7,
the entire book is a restatement of God's Torah (instructions) for His
people. God promises success and blessing to those to memorize and
meditate upon, not merely the Ten Words, but the totality of His Torah
(Josh. 1:8; Psalm 1:1-3, etc.)
That means that the totality of God's word is to be the repeated object
of conversation with our children when they rise, walk with us, sit with
us, and when they go to bed. ... The problem is where to start.
Here's a few of the things I've been doing to implement God's method
of child training. I welcome your ideas as well.
* I started quoting Psalm 23 (with appropriate hand motions) when I

put the boys to bed. Thanks to Mark Cravens for this idea. Psalm 23
lead to Psalm 1 which has lead to Psalm 19--what I'm currently working
on.
* When we eat breakfast together, Marianne or I play Scripture off
biblegateway.com. Allan's favorite is the entire book of Jonah. But we
vary the texts.
* Sunday we have nearly 2 hours of driving time in the car. So I am
putting together a family radio program that is a mix of Scripture,
children's songs (1, 2), familiar hymns (1, 2), and children's stories.
This is also a part of my attempt to make the Sabbath a special day for
the boys.
* We memorize verses during family worship.
I was reading William Law's A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life
this afternoon. Chapter 18 is well-worth a parent's time reading,
especially dads. Starting on p. 147 of the pdf version, William Law
introduces "Paternus," a father who talks to his 10 year old son about
God. I was struck by the solid, Scriptural advice Paternus gives his son.
In fact, I intend to incorporate some of it (in modernized English) into
my repertoire of key truths I want to inculcate in my sons. Here are a
couple samples:
Aspire after nothing but your own purity and perfection, and have no
ambition, but to do everything in so reasonable and religious a
manner, that you may be glad that God is everywhere present, and
sees and observes all your actions.
I can bring you food and medicines, but have no power to turn them
into your relief and nourishment. It is God alone that can do this for
you. Therefore, my child, fear, and worship, and love God. Your eyes,
indeed, cannot yet see Him. But all things that you see are so many
marks of His power and presence, and He is nearer to you than
anything that you can see. Take Him for your Lord, and Father, and
Friend, look up unto Him as the fountain and cause of all the good that
you have received through my hands; and reverence me only as the
bearer and minister of God's good things unto you. And He that
blessed my father before I was born, will bless you when I am dead.
Labels: child rearing

Monday, January 05, 2009
A Reader's Hebrew Bible: Appendix A Available For Download
Zondervan has given me permission to make Appendix A--the glossary

containing all words occurring over 100x-- available as a free
download. I have formatted the document so that it can be printed
double-sided as a booklet. For the booklet version click here:
http://apbrown2.net/rhbappendixa.pdf
If the booklet format is too hard to figure out how to print (it can be
difficult), you can download a full-pageversion which you can then print
in whatever way you prefer. For the full-page version click here:
http://apbrown2.net/rhbappendixa_full.pdf
Tole, Lege!
Philip Brown
Labels: Appendix A, Glossary, Reader's Hebrew Bible

Saturday, December 13, 2008
What does it mean to believe in Jesus?
Since I require my Advanced Homiletics students to preach either John

3:1-13 or John 3:14-21 as their third sermon, I’ve heard 7 messages on
both passages within the last 2 weeks.
The frequent occurrence of the verb πιστεύω in John 3:1-21 has caused
the issue of what it means to believe in Jesus to resurface in my
thinking. The key phrases are
• Everyone who believes in him [the Son of Man] (John 13:5)
• Everyone who believes in him [the Son] (John 3:16)
• The one who believes in him [the Son] (John 3:18a)
• The one who does not believe has been condemned (John 3:18b)
• Because he has not believed on the name of the only Son of God
(John 3:18c)
Theologically, I know that for faith to be saving faith it must bear the
fruit of obedience to Christ (James 2:22-26). There is no Lordless
salvation (Matt. 7:21). But “believe on Jesus” seems so cognitive, so
cerebral, so non-heartish … it almost seems to lend itself to a religion
of the head apart from the heart.
A common answer to my question—you must mentally affirm that
Jesus is God’s Son, that he died for your sins, and rose again for your
justification, and that He will save you from your sins if you ask him to
—has in many parts of Christendom yielded a harvest of orthodox
heads and adulterous hearts and lives.
Today I had a breakthrough. Baptism helps explain what it means to

believe in Jesus.
Many Christians don’t realize that baptism is not a uniquely Christian

rite. In the first century, baptism was a common practice among both
Jews and Pagans. It was an initiatory ritual by which one signified one’s
commitment to become an adherent to a religious sect. John the
Baptist is the prime NT example of this (John 4:1). However, we find
descriptions of similar rites from Qumran, in Josephus, and in Greek
literature.
When one was baptized in the name of X, the one baptized was
announcing his intention to be with and learn from X. In other words, it
was common knowledge that getting baptized was a public declaration
that you were becoming a disciple of someone or something.
Immediately following the calls to belief in John 3:1-21, John states that
“After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea,
and there He was spending time with them and baptizing” (John 3:22).
In other words, people who “believe” in Jesus get baptized in his name,
thereby signifying that they are becoming His disciples, apprentices,
followers—people who were going to pattern their whole lives after
Him and His teaching.
“Believing” is a mental affirmation, but it more than mental

affirmation. It means staking my whole life on Jesus’ claim that He is
the way to God and there is no other way. It means willingly yoking
myself to him so that I can learn how to do life His way (Matt. 11:29). It
means decisively abandoning my old way of life and being baptized
into apprenticeship to a new way of life—His way.
It means being willing to forsake father, mother, sister, brother, wife,

houses, lands, and even my own life, in order to pattern the totality of
my existence after Him (Mark 10:28-30). It means believing that Jesus
is the Master of every facet of life, so I must be his disciple in every
facet of mine.
That’s what it meant to the Philippian jailer when Paul said, “Believe in
the Lord Jesus and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). He recognized that
belief required baptism in Jesus’ name, and baptism in Jesus' name
symbolized his entrance into a brand new life of learning to think and
act and react like Jesus.
That is what it means to believe in Jesus.
Labels: baptism, believe in Jesus

Friday, November 14, 2008
A Reader's Hebrew Bible: WLC-BHS Differences Clarification
I recently received a question about the Qere readings in 1 Sam 18:14,

22 that appear in BHS but do not appear in the Westminister Leningrad
Codex (WLC) and therefore do not appear in A Reader's Hebrew Bible
(RHB). The questioner wondered why the black dot that normally
marks WLC-BHS differences in RHB did not appear there.
A fair question, and here, I hope, is a fair answer. According to the WLC
4.10 morphology, there are 56 instances where BHS adds a Qere that
is not present in L. The Qere readings in 1 Sam. 18:14 and 22 are two
such instances. Although I have not checked all 56 instances in BHS,
the few I did check showed that BHS was following a note in the
masorah in adding the Qere reading.
On page xvi of RHB's introduction, we said that RHB will mark with a
supra-linear solid black dot all known instances where the editors of
WLC read the text of L differently than the editors of BHS. Additions of
Qere readings to L do not constitute a different reading of L's text as it
stands. Therefore, such instances are not marked in RHB.
I suspect that many, if not most, users of BHS do not pay attention to
whether Qere readings are marked as added to L by BHS, and thus
would (wrongly) assume that RHB should reflect BHS at all points. Such
is not the case.
Labels: Qere readings, Reader's Hebrew Bible

Sunday, August 10, 2008
Giving Thanks for God's Holiness (Psa. 97:12), Part 1
Jonathan Edward's The Religious Affections, John Piper's lecture on

Preaching as Worship (TrinJ 16) and my study of holiness in the OT
converged in a sermon this morning on Psalm 97.
I've been listening to The Religious Affections in spare moments for

nearly a year. At times it is brilliant. At others monotonously stuporific.
His thesis is that true religion, in great part, consists in holy affections.
His biblical-theological support for his thesis is unassailable. (Pdf copy
of Religious Affections here.)
Edwards defines the affections as "the more vigorous and sensible

exercises of the inclinations and the will." He clarifies this by noting
that the inclinations and the will are actually the same thing, just
viewed from two different perspectives. It is called "inclination" when
viewed from the angle of desire; it is called "will" when viewed from
the angle of decision and action.
Edwards asserts, rightly I believe, that "there never was any thing
considerable brought to pass in the heart or life of any man, by the
things of religion, until the mind was deeply affected by those things."
Therefore, one of the chief aims of preaching is to stir up the affections
so that the will is vigorously and sensibly active in responding to God's
truth.
In Piper's language, preaching should "bring into sharp focus God as

the all-satisfying Treasure of our lives." Our aim should be "that God
would become so gloriously all-satisfying in our lives that nothing can
lure us away from him."
What holy affections should God's holiness stir in me? How does God's
holiness contribute to His being the "all-satisfying Treasure" of my life?
In the Psalms alone I found the following:
Inspired responses to God's holiness
* give thanks for it (Psa 30:4; 97:12)

* worship Him for it (Psa. 29:2; 96:9; 99:5, 9)
* praise Him because of it (Psa. 99:3)
* exalt Him for it (Psa. 99:5, 9)
Inspired responses to God’s holy name
* it is the object of our trust (Psa 33:21)

* bless it (Psa. 103:1; 145:21)
* glory or boast in it (Psa. 105:3)
* give thanks to it (Psa. 106:47)
Most of these responses made immediate sense to me. However,

giving thanks at the remembrance of God's holiness did not. Why is
thankfulness or gratitude the response to God's holiness? I can't
honestly say that my previous understanding of God's holiness has
ever moved me to be thankful. What is it about God's holiness that
should move me to thankfulness?
The answer to that question depends upon my understanding of what

God's holiness is. Based on my study so far, here's my best
understanding.
Holiness, when used in reference to God, normally denotes God's

separateness from all things due to the unique excellence of His being
and character. In this sense, God's holiness is not one moral attribute
among His many. His holiness is not equal to His moral excellence. His
holiness is a consequence of His moral excellence. He is separate from
all things because He is superior in both His being and His character.
I conclude that separateness is the essential component of holiness,

whether in reference to things, human persons, or God, for the
following reasons:
1. With reference to things and human persons, all examples from

Scripture involve the person or thing being separated from ordinary
use, service, or purpose unto God for His possession, use, service, or
purpose. For a fairly comprehensive list of the referents of holy and
holiness, click here.
* Things: 7th day (Gen. 2:3); ground (Exod. 3:5), assemblies (Exod.
13:2), war (Jer. 6:4), a fast (Joel 2:5).
* Persons: 1st born (Exod. 13:2), Israelites (Exod. 19:10), Jesse and
sons (1 Sam. 16:5), Jeremiah (Jer. 1:5).
2. Since God teaches us about His holiness by first acquainting us with

holiness applied to things and persons, His holiness must be essentially
analogous to the holiness of things and persons. Since separateness is
the essential component of holiness with person and things, I assume
it is the essential component with God.
3. My assumption that separateness is the essential component of

divine holiness appears to be substantiated by texts that connect
God's holiness with his incomparableness (Exod. 15:11; Isa. 40:25) and
his transcendence (Psa. 97:9, 12; Isa. 57:15).
If God's holiness is His separateness from all things , what is it that

makes Him separate? As I read the OT data, it is the unique excellence
of God's being and character that separates him from all things.
The unique excellence of His being involves His attributes of

omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, eternality, immutability,
self-existence, self-sufficiency, infinity, and sovereignty. The unique
excellence of His character involves His love, righteousness, justice,
mercy, wisdom, goodness, wrathfulness, truthfulness, and jealousy.
In my next post, I'll develop the support for concluding that it is the
unique excellence of God's being and character that separates him
from all other things.
Labels: definition, Edwards, holiness, Piper

Saturday, August 09, 2008
John Piper: Preaching as Worship
I found this address by John Piper this morning. It resonates with me

and challenges me.
"Let me point to three biblical reasons for believing that preaching is

meant to be and to kindle God-exalting worship.
First, I believe it because the Word of God says that everything is to be

done in a worshipful, God-centered way: "Whether, then, you eat or
drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor 10:31);
"Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord
Jesus" (Col 3:17). If everything is to be radically oriented on magnifying
the glory of God and exalting the name of Jesus, how much more
preaching. Whatever preaching deals with-and it is to deal with
everything-it must be done with a view to begetting and sustaining
worship-the valuing and cherishing and displaying of the glory of God.
Second, I believe that preaching is meant to exalt the centrality of God

because the Word says that God himself exalts his own centrality in all
that he does. And preaching is one of the great things that God does.
God's Word in Isa 48:11 is like a great banner flying over all his acts
from creation to consummation: "For My own sake, for My own sake, I
will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give
to another." He chose us and predestined us for his glory (Eph 1:6), he
created us [believers] for his glory (Isa 43:7), he saved us for his glory
(Eph 1:14); he sanctifies us for his glory (2 Thess 1:12). All God does he
does to magnify his glory in the earth. Preaching is one of the great
things that God does. It is God's work. And therefore the mission of
preaching is the mission of God: "I will be exalted among the nations, I
will be exalted in the earth" (Ps 46:10). Our aim is worship-the valuing
and cherishing and displaying of the greatness and the glory of God.
Finally, I believe that preaching is meant to exalt the centrality of God

because the NT teaches that the appointed end of preaching is faith,
and faith is the primary covenant requirement of God, precisely
because it humbles us and amplifies the trustworthiness and all-
sufficiency of God. Repeatedly Paul lines up preaching with faith as its
goal: "How shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher? . . . So faith comes from
hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" (Rom 10:14, 17). "Since in
the wisdom of God the world did not know God through its wisdom,
God was pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save those
who believe" (1 Cor 1:21). "My message and my preaching were not in
persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of
power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on
the power of God" (1 Cor 2:4-5; cf. also Rom 16:25f; 1 Cor 15:11, 14.)
The aim of preaching is to beget and sustain faith. Why? Because faith
magnifies the power and trustworthiness of God. This is why Paul loves
the model of Abraham: Abraham "grew strong in his faith, giving glory
to God, fully convinced that God was able to what he had promised"
(Rom 4:20). The heart of saving faith is a spiritual apprehension of the
glorious trustworthiness of God in Christ and an earnest embracing of
all that God is for us in Christ to satisfy the hunger of the soul.
That is the way Jesus described faith in John 6:35: "I am the bread of
life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me
shall never thirst." Believing in Jesus means coming to him for the
quenching of our souls' thirst. Faith in Christ is being satisfied with all
that God is for us in Jesus. When we experience that, we magnify the
preciousness and worth of God, because God is most glorified in us
when we are most satisfied in him-which means we worship.
The aim of preaching, whatever the topic, whatever the text, is this
kind of faith-to quicken in the soul a satisfaction with all that God is for
us in Jesus, because this satisfaction magnifies God's all-sufficient
glory; and that is worship. Therefore the mission of all preaching is
soul-satisfying, God-exalting worship."
Labels: Preaching

Saturday, July 26, 2008
Rudolph Otto’s The Idea of the Holy: Overrated
Rudolph Otto was a German Protestant theologian and historian of

religion. In 1923 the first English translation of his German work The
Idea of the Holy appeared. It has become, as Victor P. Hamilton’s says,
“one of the books most frequently referred to in this area [holiness].” I
was reading Hamilton's Handbook on the Pentateuch today, and he
referenced Otto. In fact, Otto was the only author he referenced in his
discussion of holiness in Genesis 1-2 (short paragraph).
Frankly, I’m weary of references to this book in contexts where the

biblical meaning of holiness is discussed. Scholars regularly pay lip
service to it as though it constitutes a signal contribution to our
knowledge of God's holiness. Admittedly, Hamilton notes that “Otto
does not address … the fact that God’s holiness gives the basis to his
moral demands.” But the fact that his is the only work referenced by
Hamilton suggests he is significant and worth reading. Today I looked
up on the book on Google books and read around in it, particularly his
chapter, “The Numenous in the Old Testament.”
The first thing I noticed is that the focus on the book is not on what
holiness is in Scripture, but rather on the experience men have when
encountering what they regard as holy. The subtitle of the book is
significant: “An Inquiry into the Non-Rational Factor in the Idea of the
Divine and its Relation to the Rational.”
John C. Durham accurately capture’s Otto’s understanding of holiness:

“Otto characterizes the numinous as the holy (i.e. God) minus its moral
and rational aspects. A little more positively, it is the ineffable core of
religion: the experience of it cannot to be described in terms of other
experiences. [Note that the German heilig can be rendered as either
holy or sacred. The translator had to make a choice and chose holy. So
in the context of Otto, for holy it is possible to read sacred: the
religious experience he discusses is the experience of the sacred.]”
(www.bytrent.demon.co.uk/otto1.html).
Second, Otto’s work assumes an evolutionary, Hegelian view of

religious development from the primitive to the advanced. This
perspective is completely unbiblical and at odds with the current
movements in Western religion. We’re heading polytheistic again.
Otto's treatment of the OT is shot through with rationalistic, history of

religions assumptions: Again, Durham captures it well: “In the chapter
on the numinous in the Old Testament, Otto discusses the transition of
the Old Testament God from an early Yahweh, still bearing traces of
the 'daemonic dread' of the pre-god stage of the numinous , to an
Elohim in whom 'the rational aspect outweighs the numinous' [p 75],
though the latter continues to be very much present.”
Third, as Durham's site points out, Otto never uses the Latin phrase
most commonly attributed to him (Hamilton cites it): mysterium
tremendum et fascinosum [sic]. According to Durham, the et fascinans
was added to Otto's mysterium tremendum by Ninian Smart. This
observation suggests what I have long suspected: that few of those
who cite Otto have read Otto, and that he is cited because he "must
be."
My conclusion: The Idea of the Holy book offers the bible-believing

scholar nothing of value for understanding the nature of biblical
holiness. Biblical scholars should stop citing it, except perhaps in
discussions of what it is like to experience the "holy."
Edited 12/2010:
Thanks to my various commenters. You have helped me see that
"worthless" as a description of Otto's work is too strong. Its worth lies
in its narrow compass: analysis of the religious experience of what is
heilig. Its worth does NOT lie in helping the believing reader of
Scripture to understand God's holiness or the holiness He requires of
us. Hence it should be referenced not in discussions on the definition of
divine or human holiness, but in discussions on the psychology of
human experiences of the "holy."
Labels: holiness, Rudolph Otto
Exegetical Thoughts and Biblical Theology
Welcome! This is where I share the exegetical thoughts that have been growing in my
mind. I trust they will be a blessing to you. ~Philip Brown
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Name: Philip Brown
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
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Recent Posts
* Proverbs 10:29 and the Way of Yahweh

* Vows: foolish, sacred, forgivable?
* Secular Work in Biblical Perspective
* Why should we count it all joy? Second Reason
* Why should we count it all joy? First Reason
* The kind of trials James has in mind (Jam. 1:2-4)
* When you fall into various trials ... (Jam. 1:2-4)...
* Baptism with the Holy Spirit = Filling with the Ho...
* The LORD is a God of Justice (Isa. 30:18)
* Capital Punishment within a Christian Worldview
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Sunday, December 19, 2010
Proverbs 10:29 and the Way of Yahweh
In the New American Standard Bible (1995), Proverbs 10:29 reads:
The way of the LORD is a stronghold to the upright, But ruin to the workers of
iniquity.
This verse struck me as odd. Why would Yahweh's way be ruin to anybody? So I decided
to investigate.
The phrase "way of Yahweh" occurs seven times in the OT, five of which are
conceptually parallel Proverbs 10:29 (Gen. 18:19; Jdg. 2:22; 1 Kgs 2:22, Jer. 5:4, 5). God
“knows” Abraham so that he will command his children to “keep the way of Yahweh” by
doing righteousness and justice (Gen. 18:19). This set of collocations—the way of
Yahweh is kept by doing righteousness—shows up in Judges 2:22, where the Lord tells
Israel he will leave Canaanites in the land in order to test them to see whether they will
keep the way of Yahweh as their father’s did. The clear implication is that keeping the
way of Yahweh involves doing what is right and good in His eyes.
Amon, son of Manasseh, unmoved by his Father’s late-in-life repentance, “forsook

Yahweh, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of Yahweh” (1 Kings
21:22). Here failure to walk in the way of Yahweh is the consequence of forsaking
Yahweh. One cannot cleave to Yahweh and not walk in His way. The previous two
verses fill out the “way” Amon walked: he did evil in Yahweh’s sight, walked in all the
way Manasseh had walked, and served the idols his father had served.
In Jeremiah 5:4, 5, the prophet seeks for those who “know the way of Yahweh, the
mishpat of God.” The way of Yahweh appears to be appositionally modified by the
phrase mishpat of God. Keil & Delitzsch comment on Jeremiah 5:4-5, “They know not
the way of Jahveh, i.e., the way, the manner of life, prescribed to men by God in His
word; (cf. 2 Kgs 21:22; Psa 25:9). The judgment of their God, i.e., that which God
demanded as right and lawful (2 Kgs 17:26)."
This background illumines Proverbs 10:29 and helped me know how to interpret its
cryptic lines. A paraphrase of the passage would read, “The upright—those who do what
is right and good in Yahweh’s sight—find that Yahweh provides them protection because
they know, keep, and walk in His way; the wicked—those who do what is wrong and evil
in Yahweh’s sight—find that their way leads them to destruction; they have no protection
from Yahweh."
I think the NASB mistranslates the second half of this verse by not supplying a linking
verb. It should read, “but destruction [is / shall be] to the workers of iniquity.” As it
stands, the NASB’s rendering implies that the way of Yahweh is destruction to the
workers of iniquity. This rendering depends on understanding Yahweh as a subjective
genitive, and ignores the phrase’s predominant usage throughout the OT--as a shorthand
for the lifestyle Yahweh desires and requires from His followers.
Those who choose not to walk in His ways (the wicked) will be destroyed. On the other
hand, those who live the way Yahweh prescribes find Yahweh is indeed their stronghold.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Vows: foolish, sacred, forgivable?
Recently, someone asked me:
Are there foolish vows and sacred vows? Are there vows God will forgive, or does
God hold one accountable for all vows until death?
My short answer is all vows are sacred; some are also foolish (Pro. 20:25; Eccl. 5:2 4).
Breaking any vow is sin (Deut. 23:21; Eccl. 5:5-6; Num. 30:15). God will forgive vow-
breakers (Num. 30:6, 9, 13); though He warns there may be dire consequences for failing
to keep a vow (Eccl. 5:6).
My best understanding of Scripture is that God does not continue to hold a person
responsible to fulfill a vow that has been broken, repented of, and forgiven. God did,
however, require those who vowed to give Him a non-cash asset (a field, house, etc.) and
then changed their minds to give instead the monetary equivalent plus 20% to the Lord
(Lev. 27).
The key texts where God reveals His perspective on vows are Leviticus 27, Numbers 30,
Deuteronomy 23:21-23, and Ecclesiastes 5:1-7. Interestingly, the two New Testament
texts (Acts 18:18; 21:23-24) that mention vows give no indication that God’s perspective
on vows has changed.
A vow is a voluntary promise to God to do or not do something (cf. Deut. 23:23). Vows
are not limited to “If-you-do-this-for-me, I’ll-do-that-for-You” bargains with God (cf.
Psa. 56:12-13). You don’t have to use the words “vow” or “promise” to make a vow.
Anytime you voluntarily tell God you are going to do or not do something for Him, it is a
vow.
In Ecclesiastes 5, Solomon warns us that vows should not be made lightly: “Do not be
rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is
in heaven, and you are on earth; Therefore let your words be few” (5:2). In verse 4, he
cautions us not to be late in paying our vows, for God takes no delight in fools who fail to
pay their vows. It is better, the wise man counsels, not to vow at all, than to vow and fail
to pay (Eccl. 5:5). This echoes Deut. 23:22 where Moses informs Israel it is not sin to
abstain from vowing: “if you abstain from vowing, it is not sin.”
On the other hand, if you vow and fail to pay, it is sin (Deut. 23:22; Eccl. 5:5). Not only
is it sin, but Solomon warns, “Do not let your speech cause you to sin and do not say in
the presence of the messenger, “It was a mistake.” Why should God be angry on account
of your voice and destroy the work of your hands?” (Eccl. 5:6). In other words, God
punishes those who break their vows. Claiming that you made a mistake and shouldn’t
have vowed or didn’t really mean what you vowed arouses God’s anger against you.
Thus, Solomon concludes, “Fear God” (Eccl. 5:7).
The seriousness of vows is further underscored in Numbers 30 where God identifies

which vows are automatically binding and which may be nullified. God distinguishes the
vows made by adult males, widows, and divorced women from those made by female
children and wives. In the case of adult males (Num. 30:2), widows, and divorced women
(Num. 30:9), they must fulfill any vow they make. In the case of female children (Num.
30:3-5) and wives (Num. 30:6-8; 10-15), if their father or husband nullifies their vow on
the day that he hears it, then they are absolved of their vow (Num. 30:5, 8, 12). However,
if the father or husband does not nullify their vow, then their vow stands. They are
responsible to fulfill it. If the father or husband does not say anything the first time he
hears it but chooses to nullify it at a later time, then he will “bear the iniquity” of the
broken vow (Num. 30:15).
Because Numbers 30:2 includes “swearing an oath” as an equivalent of taking a vow, the
guilt offering prescribed for breaking an oath (Lev. 5:4) would likely apply to a broken
vow. Since God provides a sacrifice for atoning for a broken vow, we can infer that
forgiveness for breaking a vow is available through Christ, who is our guilt offering (Isa.
53:10).
Labels: vows

Monday, November 01, 2010
Secular Work in Biblical Perspective
I was recently asked something like the following:
I work a secular job that I don’t enjoy. I’d much rather be involved in a ministry-
related job. How can I be in the center of God’s will in this kind of a job? How can I be
contented and fulfilled when I’m not happy in my job?
I think 1 Corinthians 7:17-24 provides a good starting point to answer these questions.
In this passage Paul addresses Christian slaves who had zero control over their lives, let
alone their work. He encourages them to take advantage of any opportunity to become
free (7:21). At the same time, he emphasizes (7:17, 24) that they do not have to change
their life-situation in order to live in service to Christ (7:22).
We can infer two principles from this passage. First, it is biblically acceptable to take
opportunities that God brings our way to change from a less favorable situation to a more
favorable situation (i.e., from slave to free). Second, any kind of legitimate occupation,
including being a slave, can be done as service to Christ. (Paul would not regard as a
“legitimate occupation” forced prostitution or other sins the OT penalized as capital
crimes.)
In Colossians 3:23-25, Paul addresses the situation of slaves in Colosse. In verse 23 he

tells them, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.”
The phrase “as for the Lord” is the key. They were to view themselves as serving Jesus in
their slavery rather than serving their human master. Whether it was taking out the
chamber pot, plowing the field, or cleaning the stable, they were to do their work in the
same way they would do it for Jesus: heartily. Heartily means willing diligence. It is the
opposite of foot-dragging reluctance. Someone who does work heartily does their best
with a positive attitude.
In verses 24-25 Paul gives three reasons they should serve their human masters heartily.
First, “knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance.” In
other words, when you serve a human master as you would serve Christ, you will be
rewarded by Christ. This conclusion is supported by the parallel passage in Eph. 6:8,
“knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the
Lord, whether slave or free.” Even taking out the chamber pot receives its reward!
Second, “It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” Since we are actually Christ’s slaves
(Rom. 622), everything we do is service to Him. In other words, this is not just a matter
of acting as if Jesus were our master or boss. He is our master!
Third, if you do wrong, you will “receive the consequences of the wrong which [you]
have done, and that without partiality.” Jesus has no tolerance for slip-shod work. If we
wrong our human master, Jesus will see to it that we receive the appropriate
consequences.
What does all this mean for Christians who work in “secular” jobs? It means that there is
no such thing as a non-ministry job for a Christian. You are serving God just as much as
the person who works in a “ministry” job. God calls Christians to jobs in the secular work
place precisely so that they can be salt and light as they work for Him in those capacities.
Since God is fully sovereign over our lives, if we’re walking in the light, we can assume
that the job opportunities He does or does not open for us are reflections of His will for
us.
Regarding contentment, remember what Solomon taught us: meaning and satisfaction are
not found in any of life’s components but only in life’s Creator (Eccl. 2:24; 5:18; 12:1,
13-14).When we know that we are going to be rewarded for our work and that we are
doing what God wants us to do, how can we not be fulfilled? Whether or not we enjoy
our work, we can choose to be thankful and joyful in doing it (Col. 3:17). Such an
excellent spirit will glorify God (Dan. 6:3; 1 Cor. 10:31).
Here are a set of numbered commitments that I think reflect the Bible's perspective on
"secular" work:
1. I will do it for Jesus (“as to the Lord”; Col. 3:23).
2. I will perform my work at the quality level I would produce if Jesus’ were my boss
(Col. 3:23-25).
3. I will commit to do all I do “in the name of Jesus,” i.e., as a representative of Jesus,
with thankfulness (Col. 3:17).
4. I will consciously seek his help to do the best that I can do (John 15:5).
5. I will remind myself regularly that God is going to reward me for how I perform my
job (Col. 3:24-25).
6. I will ask God to help me be salt (Matt. 5:13), light (Matt. 5:14-16, a discipler (Matt.
28:18-20), and a reprover of evil (Eph. 5:11-12) through my life and my words as I work.
7. I will choose to believe that God has me here for eternal purposes: both my good and
the good of others (Rom. 8:28-29), that God is sovereign over my boss(es), that God can
open or close any door of opportunity He desires (Psa. 75:6-7).
8. I will choose to be content by
a. remembering that meaning and satisfaction are not found in any of life’s components
but only in life’s Creator (Eccl. 2:24; 5:18).
b. choosing to be thankful each morning that I have this job and this opportunity to serve
Christ (Col. 3:17)
c. Rejecting any temptation to compare myself with others (2 Cor. 10:12). This leads to
envy and discontent.
9. I will ask God to open any doors of opportunities He wants me to walk through (2 Cor.
2:12).
10. I will ask God to help me have a cheerful, excellent spirit as I stay where He has
placed me (Deut. 28:47; Dan. 6:3).
11. I will view my earnings as God-given to provide for my family (1 Thess. 4:11; 2
Thess. 3:12; 1 Tim. 5:8) and to enable me to give to those who have need (Eph. 4:28).

Why should we count it all joy? Second Reason
The first reason we should "count it all joy" is that trials build our faith's capacity to
endure (James 1:3).
James gives the second reason in verse four: "... that you may be perfect, complete,
lacking nothing." (ἵνα ἦτε τέλειοι καὶ ὁλόκληροι ἐν μηδενὶ λειπόμενοι.)
But before he gives the second reason, he gives a second command:

"Let endurance have its perfect work." (ἡ δὲ ὑπομονὴ ἔργον τέλειον
ἐχέτω)
What does it means to "let endurance have its perfect work?" Think of
the 10k marathon. If a runner gives out after 9k, his endurance did not
complete or finish the job. Endurance "has" its perfect work, when it
makes it all the way to the finish line. That's what endurance is
supposed to do: take you the distance.
Here's James' point. When you're still in pain, or you're out of a job, or
you're still not sleeping well, or your situation is getting worse not
better, or all of the above are true simultaneously ... don't quit trusting
God! Don't jump off the Potter's wheel! Continue affirming and trusting
in God's goodness, wisdom, faithfulness, and sovereignty.
Easy to say!! Sure it's easy to say, and Yes, it's teeth-clenchingly
difficult. But that is what James is saying.
But HOW do you "let endurance have its perfect work?" Just mindlessly
mantra Romans 8:28?!! No ... but to answer the how question will
require a separate post ...
So ... A key reason not to give up and the second reason we should
could it all joy when we fall into various trials is God is using them to
make us perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
I think it is a mistake to try to distinguish between "perfect,"

"complete," and "lacking nothing" here. James is piling on the
synonyms for effect -- like we do when we say it is a wonderful,
fabulous, glorious day.
What does perfect mean? It doesn't mean God is fixing our minds, so
they think without logical error. It doesn't mean God is fixing our
bodies, so that they are always hale and hearty.
"Perfect" in James describes the kind of gifts that come down from the
Father of Lights (James 1:17), the law of liberty (James 1:25), and the
man who is able to bridle his whole body (James 3:2). The variety of
items James describes as "perfect" makes it a bit difficult to determine
precisely what he has in mind.
Perhaps it is best to allow the other two synonyms he uses to focus his
idea for us: complete and lacking nothing. The perfection God is
working in our lives is a completeness where nothing that should be
present is lacking. That sounds like what Paul describes as "the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13). In other
words, full Christlikeness of character.
Now, unless you are really enthused about gaining spiritual maturity or
full Christlikeness, learning that your trials are helping you become
fully like Jesus won't incline you to "all joy." And, frankly, that is a
major part of our problem. We have forgotten that being a disciple of
Jesus means making being like him the ultimate and focal object of our
life (Mat. 10:24-25).
When we do long to be like Jesus more than we long to be like anyone

or anything else, then knowing that God is perfecting us into the image
of His Son will be a grounds for great joy.
Labels: James 1:2-4, perfect, trials

Monday, June 21, 2010
Why should we count it all joy? First Reason
In my previous post, I argued that James has in mind trials that

challenge our confidence in God's goodness, wisdom, faithfulness, or
power. Why are we supposed to count falling into such trials all joy?
James gives a two part answer. The first part is in Jam. 1:3 -- "knowing
this that the trying of your faith works patience."
The word "knowing" is a participle both in English and in Greek. In both

languages, participles are usually subordinate to (dependent upon) the
main verb in a sentence. That means that participles give additional
information about the main verb.
In this case, the main verb is "count" (ἡγήσασθε) in Jam. 1:2. The
participle in v. 3 gives the reason why James is telling his readers to
count faith-testing trials all joy: because we know that such trials of our
faith produce patience.
As noted previously, the word translated patience (ὑπομονήν) is not the

ability to stand in a long checkout line at a Walmart without losing your
cool. It is the ability to keep on running the 10k marathon when you hit
hills in the 7th kilometer.
But James isn't talking about endurance in general. He certainly isn't

talking about physical endurance. He is talking about faith's
endurance. Our faith is like a set of muscles that require practice and
exercise to build the stamina necessary to endure the rigors of spiritual
battle.
God is much like the drill instructor who wisely and appropriately
pushes his soldiers to their limits to build their endurance. An officer
knows that his soldiers will be worthless in battle without stamina. We
too are soldiers (2 Tim. 2:3-4), but we are of no value in Kingdom
warfare without enduring faith (Eph. 6:16; Heb. 11:6).
He whose faith in God's wisdom, power, goodness, or faithfulness
wavers in the battle is unsteady, unstable, and displeasing to God. "Let
not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord" (Jam.
1:6-7).
So God intentionally puts us through tests, not primarily to see IF we

will believe Him, but rather to strengthen our faith, our confidence in
Him. As we come through faith-tests, by His grace, our confidence in
God grows firmer and firmer.
Steadfast and immovable faith greatly glorifies God. It magnifies Him

as the All-Sufficient, Fully Trustworthy One. His goodness, wisdom,
power, and faithfulness shine brightest when His children continue to
trust Him in trials that appear to belie His character.
This is the first reason we should rejoice: God is strengthening our faith
and glorifying Himself through our trial(s).
Labels: faith, James 1:2-4, patience, trials

Sunday, June 20, 2010
The kind of trials James has in mind (Jam. 1:2-4)
Most commentaries will note that the word translated "trials" in James
1:2 means a "test." BDAG offers "a test to learn the nature or character
of something."
That suggests synonyms like problems, difficulties, issues,

inconveniences, or perhaps examinations. If we work only with verse 2,
then James seems to be talking about counting it all joy when you
encounter life's difficulties, regardless of their nature.
However, verse 3 narrows the focus of this passage and further defines
the specific kind of trials that James has in mind. Specifically, James is
addressing trials that test a person's faith.
What is a "trying of faith?" A trying of faith is a test that challenges

what you believe about God. If the trial you are facing doesn't raise
questions about God's goodness, power, wisdom, faithfulness, or love,
then it isn't the kind of trial that James is thinking about.
I have my share of problems, difficulties, issues, inconveniences, etc.

But the vast majority of them never raise any questions about God's
character in my mind, let alone serious questions.
But when I'm standing by the bedside of my wife who's starting to be
out of her head with pain, and she's pleading with God for mercy and
relief, which does not rapidly materialize, that's an opportunity for
questions to arise about God's goodness.
Or, I'm sitting on the chapel platform and hear prayer requested for a
young father who accidentally ran over and killed his four year old son
who was running to greet him as he returned from work -- questions
about God's wisdom, love, and goodness easily enter the mind.
* How can God be good an allow this?

* Why doesn't God answer my prayer ... Does He care?
* Things sure don't look to me like God's in control ... is He really
sovereign over all of life's circumstances?
When these or similar thoughts enter your mind, welcome to a James

1:2-4 kind of trial.
But don't quit with verse 3. Verse 4 adds an additional dimension to

the kind of trials James has in mind.
But let patience have her perfect work

that you may be perfect, complete, lacking nothing.
The first half of the verse is fairly obscure until you understand that
"patience" (hupomone) is "endurance, staying power, fortitude." It is
the ability to keep on keeping on when the road is rough and the
journey long.
In other words, verse 4 indicates that at least some of these faith tests
may be long. It is one thing to affirm God's wisdom, love, power,
faithfulness, and goodness 24 hours after the enemy rolls up his faith-
toppling battering ram. It is quite another thing to continue
unwaveringly in that affirmation as days stretch into weeks and weeks
into months, even as Grond continues its unrelenting blows.
At least two places in the rest of this epistle touch on examples of

faith-tests: legal abuse of poor Christians by the rich (Jam. 5:4-6), and
extended bed-fast sickness (Jam. 5:14-16).
It is in the midst of such faith-testing trials that James directs us to

count it all joy!

When you fall into various trials ... (Jam. 1:2-4)
I have fallen into various trials over the past month:
* Three weeks ago my wife's post-op pain got out of control and she
was hospitalized for 2 days..
* Five days later all five members of my immediate family, myself
included, plus my father-in-law, got food poisoning and we were
vomiting in turns and simultaneously over a period of 12 hours.
* Four days later my wife reacts horribly to a medicine prescribed by
her gynecologist--burning in the chest, then overwhelming nausea,
then overwhelming irrational fear, then return to normal, to be
repeated every 30-40 minutes for the next 24-36 hours.
* Another four days and another medicine is prescribed to which she
reacts even more violently and that puts her in the hospital for three
days. (She does not tolerate SSRI or SNRI meds!)
The results of all the above plus the stress of the surgery and a long
list of other stressors preceding the surgery: her adrenal glands appear
to have gone haywire, messing with her ability to sleep, putting her out
of commission for a while as she attempts to rest enough to recover.
That placed her care and the care of our three boys on my plate: all
summer projects out the window!
I think that qualifies for James' "various trials." And regarding all such
trials he commands, "Count it all joy!"
James' command raises a host of questions: What is joy? What is "all

joy?" What does it mean to "count" it all joy? Why should we count
falling into various trials all joy? And how do you do that?
In this and the (hopefully) following posts I'm going to try to answer
these questions. But a little background first. I first worked on this
passage back in 1992 for second year Greek exegesis project. I've
preached this passage probably more than I've preached any other
passage in Scripture. And, since 2002 I've been requiring my Advanced
Homiletics students to preach this passage. So I've heard it preached,
both well and poorly, quite a bit!
All that to say, I've been mulling this one over for a long time. As the
Lord takes me through deeper waters, I have found this passage to be
unshakable bedrock. My appreciation for its profundity only grows as I
face more difficult trials.

Saturday, October 24, 2009
Baptism with the Holy Spirit = Filling with the Holy Spirit
1. All four gospels record John’s statement that Christ will baptize with
the Holy Spirit (and fire, except Mark and John).
Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but
he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not
worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Mark 1:8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize
you with the Holy Ghost.
Luke 3:16 John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you
with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes
I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost
and with fire:
John 1:33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with
water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit
descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth
with the Holy Ghost.
2. Prior to His ascension Jesus prophecied that the disciples would be

baptized with the Holy Spirit after a few days.
Acts 1:5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized
with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
3. On Pentecost, all the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to
speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
4. A few days later they were filled again.
Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where
they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
5. The apostles specify being “full of the Spirit” as a criterion for being
a servant in the church. Fullness of the Spirit is, therefore, a
characteristic discernible by fellow-believers.
Act 6:3 "Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of
good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in
charge of this task. (cf. 7:55)
Acts 6:5 The statement found approval with the whole congregation;
and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and
Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte
from Antioch.
6. The Holy Spirit had not fallen upon any of the Samaritan believers
prior to Peter and John praying for them. They prayed for them that
they might received the Holy Spirit, and then when they laid hands on
them, they received the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:15 who came down and prayed for them that they might
receive the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:16 For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had
simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Acts 8:17 Then they began laying their hands on them, and they
were receiving the Holy Spirit.
7. Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit through the ministry of Ananias.
Acts 9:17 So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after
laying his hands on him said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who
appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me
so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
8. At Cornelius’ house, the Holy Spirit falls upon those listening. The
narrator describes Peter’s amazement at the Holy Spirit being poured
out on the Gentiles. Peter speaks of the reception of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 10:44 ¶ While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon
all those who were listening to the message. 10:45 All the circumcised believers who
came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on
the Gentiles also. 10:46 For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting
God. Then Peter answered, 10:47 "Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be
baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?"
9. Peter describes the event at Cornelius’ house in terms of the Holy Spirit “falling upon
them as He did upon us at the beginning,” and specifically identifies this as an example
of Jesus’ prophesy that “you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 11:15 "And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did
upon us at the beginning.
11:16 "And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, 'John baptized
with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'
10. Barnabas is described as a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. Again, fullness
of the Spirit is discernible.
Acts 11:24 for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And
considerable numbers were brought to the Lord.
11. The disciples in Antioch of Pisidia were being filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.
Note the imperfect tense. The ongoing nature of being filled with the Spirit could be
interpreted iteratively, as in Acts 2 and then 4, or progressively as Ephesians 5:18 seems
to imply.
Acts 13:52 And the disciples were continually filled (ἐπληροῦντο) with joy and
with the Holy Spirit.
12. God gave the Holy Spirit to Cornelius and those assembled with
him. The issue here is how δοὺς should relate to ἐμαρτύρησεν:
antecedent time or means. It fits the contours of means quite well.
Acts 15:8 καὶ ὁ καρδιογνώστης θεὸς ἐμαρτύρησεν αὐτοῖς δοὺς τὸ

πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον καθὼς καὶ ἡμῖν
Acts 15:8 "And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving
them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us;
13. After Paul laid his hands on the Ephesians the Holy Spirit came
upon them. The variety in terminology suggests that the language
itself is non-technical and descriptive: filled, came upon, fell upon,
baptized with, received.
Acts 19:6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy
Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and
prophesying.
14. Texts not included above which use the language of “full of/with
the Holy Spirit” are Acts 4:8; 7:55 and 13:9.
Acts 4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers
and elders of the people,
Acts 7:55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, [Stephen] gazed intently
into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right
hand of God;
Acts 13:9 But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy
Spirit, fixed his gaze on him,
At first glance, these texts seem more like OT texts where the Spirit
comes upon a person for a specific purpose and for a limited time. On
the other hand, in each of these cases, these people were previously
said to have been filled with the Spirit, and in Stephen’s case
especially, he was picked as a deacon on the basis of the fact he was
full of the Holy Spirit. That data seems to weigh on the side of
understanding Luke’s choice to include this characterization as a
theological note to avoid the appearance that the special deeds done
by these men were self-originating, but were rather Spirit-empowered.
The point of this epithet is not to denote a new or renewed “filling,” but
the fact of the Spirit’s fullness (i.e., controlling, empowering presence)
out of which their actions flowed.
Conclusion: There is no difference between Christ’s baptism of

believers with the Holy Spirit promised in the Gospels and Acts 1:5 and
the Filling with the Spirit received throughout Acts. This is a
Christological baptism with the Spirit (instrumental dative) and is to be
distinguished from the Pneumatological baptism by the Spirit (dative of
agency) of 1 Corinthians 12:13.
Labels: Baptism with the Holy Spirit, Filled with the Holy Spirit

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The LORD is a God of Justice (Isa. 30:18)
Isa. 30:18 caught my attention this morning. The nature and necessity
of divine justice has been on my mind because I've been lecturing on
the biblical teaching regarding election and predestination.
What stirs debate in theological circles generates only praise from

inspired writers of Scripture: "Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the
heavenlies in Christ, e.g., He chose us in him before the foundation of
the world to be holy and blameless before Him, having predestined us
in love to adoption as children through Christ to himself" (Eph. 1:3-5).
In Isaiah 30:18 Isaiah describes Yahweh to rebellious Israel: "Therefore

the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts
himself/rises to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him."
That sent me looking for other OT texts connecting justice (mishpat) to

Yahweh. Three texts stood out to me: "the Lord loves justice" (Psa.
37:28), "I, Yahweh, love justice and hate robbery" (Isa. 61:8), and "I am
the LORD who practices lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness in
the earth. For in these things I delight" (Jer. 9:24[H 23]).
All the while I'm looking at these texts, Romans 9:14 is sounding in the
back of my mind: "Is there injustice with God? God forbid!" Paul could
have responded, "God is sovereign. He can do anything He wants," or
even, "God is sovereign. He could choose to do anything, and it would
by definition be just." And some, it seems, think that is what he says in
Romans 9:15-21. But that cannot be what 9:15-21 mean if Romans
9:14 is understood.
There is such a thing as injustice, and it is unthinkable that injustice

could be found in God. Thus there are things that God in His infinite
sovereignty could not do, for they would be unjust. Yahweh's love for
and delight in justice ensure that all his dealings with His creation will
fully comport with His revelation of justice.
What does God say justice is? and what is the relationship between
divine justice and human culpability?
More on those questions, hopefully sooner rather than later, but for
now ...
I rejoice that Yahweh's love for justice and His love for me intersected
in His self-propitiation on my behalf (Rom. 3:25)!
Labels: divine justice

Capital Punishment within a Christian Worldview
God entrusted to fallible, fallen, unsaved humans the responsibility of

exercising justice (Deut. 1:16-17). He established the principles by
which humans were to judge justly:
1. No favoritism or partiality (Lev. 19:15).

2. No allegation may be accepted without a minimum of two witnesses
(Deut. 17:6).
3. When the appropriate number of witnesses are present, and the
allegations are found to be true, the judges must pass an equitable
sentence upon the criminal, i.e., the punishment is to be equal to the
crime (Exod. 21:24-25; Lev. 24:19-21; Deut. 19:21).
4. The judges are to be present when the punishment is meted out so
that they are fully aware of the effects of the punishment (Deut. 25:1-
3).
5. The witnesses, in the case of capital punishment by stoning, are to
be involved in carrying out the punishment (Deut. 17:3-6). This means
that if witnesses have colluded and falsely accused someone, they
become guilty of murder and, when discovered, will receive the same
death penalty that they wrongly had inflicted upon another (Deut.
19:15-19).
6. Execution by stoning was to be done publically with the participation
of the public (Deut. 17:7). This reinforced the seriousness of the crime
and served as a deterrent to future criminal activity.
7. Prior to the establishment of the Mosaic Covenant and the creation
of the nation of Israel, God established capital punishment as the
appropriate sentence for intentional manslaughter in time of peace
(Gen. 9:6)
8. Within the context of the Israelite nation, God established that the
following crimes were to be punished with the death penalty
+ Intentional manslaughter in time of peace (Lev. 24:21; Num.

35:30-33). The Numbers passage is important because God says no
amount of money may be accepted as reparation for murder. Only by
the blood of the murderer being shed can a land be purged from the
guilt of murder.
+ The owner of an animal that kills another man, if the owner knew
the animal was likely to kill and did not take precaution to keep the
animal away from people (Exod. 21:29). In this case, the owner may
ransom his life with money if it is demanded of him (Exod. 21:30).
+ Kidnappers (Exod. 21:16)
+ Those involved in witchcraft (Exod. 22:18)
+ Those who are involved in homosexual behavior (Lev. 20:13) or
beastiality (Exod. 22:19; Lev. 20:15-16)
+ If a man marries a woman and her mother, they are all to be
burned with fire (Lev. 20:14)
+ Whoever blasphemes God’s name (Lev. 24:16).
+ Whoever curses his father or mother (Lev. 20:9) or strikes his
father of mother (Exod. 21:15).
+ Those who commit adultery (Lev. 20:10), including the rape of or
consensual sex with an engaged woman.
+ Those who commit incest (non-rape) are both killed (Lev. 20:11-
12)
+ A non-Levite who gets near the tabernacle during its setup (Num.
1:51).
+ A prophet or dreamer of dreams who entices God’s people to
serve other Gods (Deut. 13:3), as well as any person or group of
persons who depart from God and serve other gods (Deut. 13:5ff)
+ A stubborn, rebellious son who is a glutton and a drunkard (Deut
21:18-21). It appears that after a person was stoned to death, they
were hung on a tree as a warning against committing such crime. They
were allowed to hang only until sundown (Deut. 21:22).
Since God is always just, God’s establishment of capital punishment for

the above crimes means that it is an appropriate (equitable)
punishment for the seriousness of these crimes. If the death penalty
seems too severe for these crimes, that tells us that we do not view
these crimes the way God does. Since God specifies that certain crimes
are to be punished by stoning, others by burning, and others by
hanging, none of these forms of capital punishment should be
regarded as inhumane or failing to reflect a godly compassion.
The fact that God imparted responsibility to exercise capital

punishment to fallible, fallen, unsaved humans tells us that the
possibility, even likelihood, of injustice being done, was not a sufficient
cause from God’s perspective to forbid capital punishment. It should
not, therefore, be a sufficient grounds for us to oppose it.
When we value human life more than God values it, we are idolaters
because we are essentially saying we know the real value of things
better than God does.
Since we are not part of the nation of Israel, we as individuals do not

have the freedom to enact capital punishment. However, to the extent
that we can influence the laws of our land, we should seek to influence
our laws to punish as capital crimes those sins that God deems worthy
of capital punishment.
NT Issues:
Woman taken in adultery. Assuming that this story is actually part of
the text (and there are serious questions about its authenticity), Jesus
told the witnesses to stone her. He passed judgment that she was
worthy of death. However, he also added a condition that exposed the
hypocrisy of her accusers: “Let him that is without sin cast the first
stone.” Jesus is not establishing a requirement that only those without
sin can be involved in the judgment of others. If so, that would
invalidate all forms of civil courts by non-Christians, but God said that
those in authority in civil government are appointed by God
(regardless of their personal spiritual status) and they do not “bear the
sword in vain,” implying that they legitimately wield the sword (a tool
of death) in the punishment of evil doers (Rom. 13:1-6).
1 Cor. 6:9-11 some of the Corinthians were formerly adulterers and

homosexuals, but God washed, justified, and sanctified them. Does this
show that God no longer considers these capital crimes? No. Rather it
shows that these sins are not unforgiveable. Capital punishment in the
OT did not preclude the possibility of repentance and forgiveness prior
to being killed. Repentance, however, is not a reason to commute a
death penalty for those who, according to God, deserve it. The reason
the Corinthians weren’t killed for their adultery and homosexuality is
because they were not living in Israel under God’s government. They
were living under Roman law which did not reflect God’s perspective
on these issues. We too live under laws which do not reflect God’s
perspective on these issues, but as followers of Jesus, the one who
gave the Mosaic Law to Israel, we must view all of life from His
perspective.
Labels: capital punishment, death penalty

Glorying in the Cross (Gal. 6:14)
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
(Galatians 6:14 KJV)
Ἐμοὶ δὲ μὴ γένοιτο καυχᾶσθαι εἰ μὴ ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν

Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, δι᾽ οὗ ἐμοὶ κόσμος ἐσταύρωται κἀγὼ κόσμῳ
What does it mean to "glory in the cross?"
The first rule of interpretation is context, and the previous two verses
provide the setting.
Galatians 6:12 Those who desire to make a good showing in the

flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they will not
be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For those who are circumcised
do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you
circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh. (NASB)
As Paul makes clear throughout this letter, Judaizers were pressuring

the Galatian Gentile Christians to be circumcised. Their purpose in this
campaign was to avoid persecution themselves and to be able to boast
about making "converts," which appears to be what Paul means by "so
that they may boast in your flesh."
The word translated "boast" in v. 13 (NASB) is the same word

translated "glory" in v. 14 (KJV). To "glory" in something is to view it as
a basis for bragging, boasting, or being proud. BDAG offers the sense
"to take pride in someth.," and the glosses "boast, glory, pride oneself,
brag" for Gal. 6:13, 14.
In contrast to the Judaizers who wanted to brag or boast about a

"righteousness" achieved through external conformity to the Law,
specifically through circumcision, Paul asserts that he will only glory,
boast, brag about the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I remember singing songs about "glorying in the cross," and being

uncertain what precisely it mean to glory in the cross. It is difficult to
glory in the cross if I do not see the cross as more than the place Jesus
died for my sins.
As I have matured in my understanding of the significance of the cross

in God's plan of redemption, my appreciation for the cross (metonymy
for all that was accomplished by Jesus in his atonement on the cross)
has grown.
The cross should be the grounds for our boasting for at least the
following reasons:
• The cross reveals the monstrous nature of my sin – the Son of God
had to suffer and die to ransom me. Yet, He did!
• The cross trumpets the necessity of justice, the inevitability of
punishment for sin, and an irrevocably moral universe.
• The cross testifies to the value God places upon humanity, made
in His image (Col. 3:10).
• The cross unveils the vastness of God’s desire for our restoration
to relationship with Himself, the unsearchable limits of His love (John
3:16; Rom. 5:8).
• The cross is a token of God's purpose to give me all that it takes to
live in relationship with Him, for if God spared not His son, how shall He
not also with him give me all things freely (Rom. 8:32).
• The cross was the place where Christ provided a propitiation for
righteous wrath of God for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2).
• The cross frees me from the law's claim upon me – for the law
views me as dead through my union with Christ – and frees me to be
married to Christ and bring forth fruit to God (Rom. 7:4-6).
• On the cross Jesus bore in his body the punishment my sins rightly
deserved so that I need never experience that punishment (1 Peter
2:24)
• The cross is the basis of my justification (Gal. 2:16-20).
• The cross provides me with a righteousness I could never acquire
on my own (Phil. 3:9; 1 Peter 2:24)
• The cross frees me from sin’s control (Romans 6:1-7:6)
• The cross is the means by which the world has been crucified to
me and I have been crucified to the world (Gal. 6:14).
• The cross leads to resurrection and new life.
• The cross is the basis for the believer's entire sanctification
(actualizing my union with Christ’s death to sin) and all ongoing growth
in Christlikeness (Rom. 6).
• The cross points to the sacrificial blood which now cleanses those
who walk in the light from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7).
• The cross removed the barrier to the holy of holies – the temple
veil was torn from top to bottom when Jesus cried it is finished.
Hallelujah for the cross!

Wednesday, April 08, 2009
A Valuable Resource for Child Rearing
Several years ago, some of my friends highly recommended Ted

Tripp's book Shepherding a Child's Heart. I purchased it and read it. I
didn't find it significantly helpful. Probably that's a commentary on me,
though Tripp's style tends to be repetitious, and I don't do repetitious
well.
Recently, Lizzy Stetler posted a link to a series of five lectures by Tripp

on Child Rearing. Marianne viewed the lectures and encouraged me to.
The lectures are fabulous. I particularly resonated with his second
lecture "Giving Kids a Vision for God's Glory." Powerful stuff!
I heartily recommend any dad (and mom) who is serious about

inculcating a Christian worldview (modern term for Scripture's
"wisdom") into their children to absorb all you can from these lectures.
Here are the links to the five lectures:

Session 1: The Call to Formative Instruction
Session 2: Giving Kids a Vision for God's Glory
Session 3: Helping Kids Understand Authority
Session 4: Helping Kids Understand the Heart
Session 5: Overview of Corrective Discipline
As usual, my recommendation does not constitute an endorsement of

everything Tripp says. We are always responsible to search the
Scriptures to verify the accuracy of any teaching.
Labels: child rearing, Ted Tripp

He is able ...
• to guard what I’ve deposited with Him δι᾽ ἣν αἰτίαν καὶ ταῦτα
πάσχω• ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἐπαισχύνομαι, οἶδα γὰρ ᾧ πεπίστευκα καὶ πέπεισμαι
ὅτι δυνατός ἐστιν τὴν παραθήκην μου φυλάξαι εἰς ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν.
(2 Tim. 1:12)
• to do exceedingly abundantly above what we are asking or thinking

Τῷ δὲ δυναμένῳ ὑπὲρ πάντα ποιῆσαι ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ ὧν αἰτούμεθα ἢ
νοοῦμεν κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν τὴν ἐνεργουμένην ἐν ἡμῖν (Eph. 3:20)
• to cause all grace to abound unto me. δυνατεῖ δὲ ὁ θεὸς πᾶσαν χάριν
περισσεῦσαι εἰς ὑμᾶς, ἵνα ἐν παντὶ πάντοτε πᾶσαν αὐτάρκειαν ἔχοντες
περισσεύητε εἰς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθόν, (2 Cor. 9:8)
• to help those who are being tested ἐν ᾧ γὰρ πέπονθεν αὐτὸς

πειρασθείς, δύναται τοῖς πειραζομένοις βοηθῆσαι. (Heb. 2:18)
• to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him. ὅθεν
καὶ σῴζειν εἰς τὸ παντελὲς δύναται τοὺς προσερχομένους δι᾽ αὐτοῦ
τῷ θεῷ, πάντοτε ζῶν εἰς τὸ ἐντυγχάνειν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν. (Heb. 7:25)
• to guard us from stumbling and present us blameless before his glory

with great joy. Τῷ δὲ δυναμένῳ φυλάξαι ὑμᾶς ἀπταίστους καὶ στῆσαι
κατενώπιον τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ ἀμώμους ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει (Jude 1:24)
• to subdue all things to himself. ὃς μετασχηματίσει τὸ σῶμα τῆς

ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν σύμμορφον τῷ σώματι τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν
ἐνέργειαν τοῦ δύνασθαι αὐτὸν καὶ ὑποτάξαι αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα. (Phil.
3:21)
• to heal blind eyes. ἐλθόντι δὲ εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν προσῆλθον αὐτῷ οἱ

τυφλοί, καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς• πιστεύετε ὅτι δύναμαι τοῦτο
ποιῆσαι; λέγουσιν αὐτῷ• ναὶ κύριε. τότε ἥψατο τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν
λέγων• κατὰ τὴν πίστιν ὑμῶν γενηθήτω ὑμῖν. (Matt. 9:28-29)
Lord Jesus, I rejoice that you are able! You are more than able to
enable me with overcoming power, more than able to give victory
again! I rejoice in your ability!
I'm really enjoying using Bagster's Daily Light in BibleWorks 8. This

resource offers thematically selected Scripture readings for morning
and evening. In BW 8, they can be read in Greek and Hebrew as well
(see below).
Labels: BibleWorks, Divine ability

Saturday, March 07, 2009
God sanctifies Himself (Ezek. 38:23)
Last Sunday I shared a SS lesson with the combined Adult and Young
Adult classes at Burlington Bible Methodist Church. I attempted to
answer three questions:
1. What does it mean for God to sanctify Himself (Ezek. 38:23)?
2. What does it mean for us to sanctify God?
3. How do the answers to the first two questions relate to the first
petition of the Lord's pattern prayer, "Hallowed by thy name?"
In this post I share my answer to the first question. As I journeyed

through all the OT texts on holiness, I was struck by the following
verses.
Isaiah 5:16 But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment, And
the holy God will be sanctified in righteousness.
Ezekiel 20:41 "As a soothing aroma I will accept you when I bring
you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are
scattered; and I will be sanctified among you in the sight of the
nations.
Ezekiel 28:22 and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am
against you, O Sidon, And I will be glorified in your midst. Then they
will know that I am the LORD when I execute judgments in her, And I
will be sanctified in her.
Ezekiel 28:25 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "When I gather the house of
Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and will be
sanctified in them in the sight of the nations, then they will live in their
land which I gave to My servant Jacob.
Ezekiel 36:23 "I will sanctify My great name which has been
profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst.
Then the nations will know that I am the LORD," declares the Lord
GOD, "when I am sanctified among you in their sight.
Ezekiel 38:23 "I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make
Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I
am the LORD."'
Ezekiel 39:27 "When I bring them back from the peoples and gather
them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified through
them in the sight of the many nations.
"Sanctified" appears to have the same basic information component in

reference to God that it does in reference to things or human persons:
separateness or set apartness. God is sanctified when He acts in a way
that clearly separates Him, i.e., distinguishes Him, from the pantheon
of ANE gods.
His name had been profaned ("made common, ordinary") by the exile
of Israel. From the standpoint of the watching world, Yahweh turned
out to be no more powerful than any of the other gods that
Nebuchadnezzar's military juggernaut had toppled. Yahweh was, in
fact, less power than the Babylonian gods, because the Babylonian
gods had empowered Nebuchadnezzar to capture His city and destroy
His temple.
This is what Yahweh will not tolerate: being made to look ordinary.
Thus he promises that He will sanctify Himself (distinguish Himself
from all others), magnify Himself (demonstrate His greatness to the
world), and make Himself known in the sight of many nations (Ezek.
38:23) by bringing Israel back from exile and reestablishing her in her
land.
The statement that he "is sanctified in righteousness" (Isa. 5:16)

deserves special attention. Righteousness in Hebrew, contrary to what
many theological word books say, is "conformity to a standard." I am
convinced that Lev. 19:35-36 and Deut. 25:13-15 provide the key texts
for understanding what it means for something to be righteous: it
measures up to the standard under consideration. A righteous scale is
one that weighs a pound as a pound and not as a 1.5 lbs or .75 lbs.
Righteousness in persons is their conformity to whatever standard is
under consideration.
Righteousness in God is God's conformity to His own standards, i.e.,

His self-consistency. Since God's character sets the standard for
righteous behavior in human morals, since character is the standard to
which He always adhere. And this is one of the things that sanctifies
Him, i.e., sets Him apart and establishes His incomparableness. If the
ANE gods were anything, they were fickle and perfidious. This is
precisely the opposite of the character of Yahweh. He is righteous in all
His ways.
When we pray the first petition of the Lord's prayer, one of the things
we are asking God to do is act in the world in a way that clearly
manifests the unique excellence of His character and being thereby
distinguishing Himself, setting Himself apart, from all others "gods."
Labels: God sanctifies Himself, holiness, righteousness

Discovery: 1 Peter 1:16 quotes Leviticus 19
I was sitting in chapel a month ago and Dad was doing a great job
preaching 1 Peter 1:13-16. This is a great text that demonstrates that
NT apostles understood the Pentateuch to provide immediately
applicable commands for NT believers.
Verse 16 is Peter's quotation from Leviticus that buttresses his

apostolic injunction to be holy in all your conduct: because it is written,
"YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."
I was sitting there with my copy of Biblia Sacra (combined Hebrew &
Greek Bible), and I noticed the Greek syntax of the quotation placed
"holy" in an emphatic position: ἅγιοι ἔσεσθε, ὅτι ἐγὼ ἅγιός.
Just out of curiosity, I decided to look at the syntax of the Hebrew text
in the places in Leviticus where this statement is made (Lev. 11:44, 45;
19:2; cf. Lev. 20:7). What struck me as I looked is that Leviticus 19:2 is
the only place where the Hebrew syntax exactly matches the Greek
syntax of 1 Peter 1:16.
‫שָ֑אִני‬ׁ ‫שיםִּ֑כי ָק֑דֹו‬ ִׁ֑‫( ִוְהִייֶ֑תם ְקֹד‬Lev. 11:44)

‫ש ָֽאִני׃‬
ׁ ‫שיםִּ֑כי קָ֑דֹו‬ ִׁ֑‫( ִוְהִייֶ֑תם ְקֹד‬Lev. 11:45)
‫ָ֑וה ֱאֹלֵהיֶֽכם׃‬ ‫ש ֲאִ֑ני ְיה‬ ׁ ‫֑יּוִּ֑כי ָק֑דֹו‬
‫שים ִּתְה‬
ִׁ֑‫( ְקֹד‬Lev. 19:2)
What further piqued my interest was that Peter's "in all your conduct" fits Lev. 19 much
better than it fits Lev. 11. Leviticus 11:44 is part of the conclusion of a section on clean
and unclean foods and is followed by a chapter on purification of women after childbirth.
I have been slowly memorizing and meditating on Leviticus 19 for about 6 months. I had
come to the conclusion that God's "be holy for I am holy" in v. 2 is not merely one
command in a list of commands, but is the key command that controls the entire chapter.
Specifically, fearing one's parents (v. 3), keeping His sabbaths (v. 3), rejecting idolatry
(v. 4), worshiping God according to His specifications (vv. 5-8), caring for foreigners and
the needy (9-10), not stealing or lying (v. 11), not swearing falsely (v. 12), loving your
neighbor (v. 18) ... in fact the entire chapter is an explication of what it means to be holy
"in all conduct."
I couldn't wait for chapel to be over so I could go check the LXX to see if, in fact, the
variations in Hebrew syntax had been maintained in Lev. 11 and 19. I was a bit
disappointed to find that it wasn't.
Lev 11:44 ἅγιοι ἔσεσθε ὅτι ἅγιός εἰμι ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν
Lev 11:45 ἔσεσθε ἅγιοι ὅτι ἅγιός εἰμι ἐγὼ κύριος
Lev 19:2 ἅγιοι ἔσεσθε ὅτι ἐγὼ ἅγιος κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν
1 Pe 1:16 ἅγιοι ἔσεσθε, ὅτι ἐγὼ ἅγιός
In Leviticus 11:44, the LXX doesn't reflect the Hebrew syntax and
places "holy" before "you shall be." So ... the syntax really doesn't
decide the question of what text Peter was quoting. I suspect that
those identifying cross-references just picked Lev. 11:44 because it
was the first place this command occurs. However, I did notice that the
syntax of 1 Peter 1:16 does perfectly match Lev. 19:2 as far as it goes.
Bottom line: Both the syntax and the context of Leviticus 19 make it a
much better fit as a proof text for Peter's command to "be holy in all
your conduct."
Application: In AL this week, I preached a two part message on 1 Peter

1:14-16 and Leviticus 19:1-18. Lev. 19:15-18 was a message all of its
own, and, wow, what a powerful text on holy living! In fact, even
though conduct is on front stage of this chapter, vv. 17-18 powerfully
demonstrate that the holiness God wants from His people has always
been a heart holiness that manifests itself in one's life.
To be holy as God is holy is to have the same excellence of character

and conduct distinguishing us from the world that distinguishes God
from all others gods.

Sunday, February 08, 2009
Deut. 6:6-7 -- Train them when you sit, walk, lie down, get up ... what
am I supposed to say?
In Deuteronomy 6:6-7, God says,
6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. 7

Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your
house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when
you get up. (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
The KJV of v. 7 reads, "thou shalt teach them diligently." When I think
of teaching, I think primarily of a setting where one person imparts
information to others who do not have that information.
That needs to happen, but it isn't what God is talking about in this the
classic passage on child training. The word translated "teach" in the
KJV means "repeat." By using the word repeat God focuses on the
method of instruction, not on the instruction itself.
Every teacher knows repetition aids learning. The Master Teacher

commands parents to repeat His words (contextually, the Ten Words
which are the Ten Commandments) to their children, not just daily, but
all throughout the day.
I'm trying to take this to heart. So, my kids have learned the Ten
Commandments Song, and Allan can accurately quote them and
identify them by number. At almost five, he's showing a fairly decent
understanding of what they mean.
But does Deut. 6:6-7 mean I'm supposed to quote the Ten
Commandments at least four times each day to my kids? Three
considerations suggest a negative answer to that question.
1. If there is any repetitive distillation of biblical wisdom that

expounds the implications of God's Ten Words, it is the Book of
Proverbs. Yet, Proverbs is far from being dull, monotonous, or inartistic.
Its literary variety in vocabulary, syntax, and structure make its
repetitions interesting and lively. Proverbs is, in fact, an explicit biblical
model for parental obedience to Deut. 6:6-7. Say it over and over, but
beware unvaried pattern.
2. The Ten Words themselves are actually applications of the two
greatest words God has given us: Love God wholeheartedly, and love
your neighbor as yourself. In and on these two commands hangs all
God desires from us. Therefore, our daily repetitions must include
them, flow from them, and point to them.
3. Although the Ten Words are the immediate context of Deut. 6:6-7,
the entire book is a restatement of God's Torah (instructions) for His
people. God promises success and blessing to those to memorize and
meditate upon, not merely the Ten Words, but the totality of His Torah
(Josh. 1:8; Psalm 1:1-3, etc.)
That means that the totality of God's word is to be the repeated object
of conversation with our children when they rise, walk with us, sit with
us, and when they go to bed. ... The problem is where to start.
Here's a few of the things I've been doing to implement God's method
of child training. I welcome your ideas as well.
* I started quoting Psalm 23 (with appropriate hand motions) when I

put the boys to bed. Thanks to Mark Cravens for this idea. Psalm 23
lead to Psalm 1 which has lead to Psalm 19--what I'm currently working
on.
* When we eat breakfast together, Marianne or I play Scripture off
biblegateway.com. Allan's favorite is the entire book of Jonah. But we
vary the texts.
* Sunday we have nearly 2 hours of driving time in the car. So I am
putting together a family radio program that is a mix of Scripture,
children's songs (1, 2), familiar hymns (1, 2), and children's stories.
This is also a part of my attempt to make the Sabbath a special day for
the boys.
* We memorize verses during family worship.
I was reading William Law's A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life
this afternoon. Chapter 18 is well-worth a parent's time reading,
especially dads. Starting on p. 147 of the pdf version, William Law
introduces "Paternus," a father who talks to his 10 year old son about
God. I was struck by the solid, Scriptural advice Paternus gives his son.
In fact, I intend to incorporate some of it (in modernized English) into
my repertoire of key truths I want to inculcate in my sons. Here are a
couple samples:
Aspire after nothing but your own purity and perfection, and have no
ambition, but to do everything in so reasonable and religious a
manner, that you may be glad that God is everywhere present, and
sees and observes all your actions.
I can bring you food and medicines, but have no power to turn them
into your relief and nourishment. It is God alone that can do this for
you. Therefore, my child, fear, and worship, and love God. Your eyes,
indeed, cannot yet see Him. But all things that you see are so many
marks of His power and presence, and He is nearer to you than
anything that you can see. Take Him for your Lord, and Father, and
Friend, look up unto Him as the fountain and cause of all the good that
you have received through my hands; and reverence me only as the
bearer and minister of God's good things unto you. And He that
blessed my father before I was born, will bless you when I am dead.
Labels: child rearing

Monday, January 05, 2009
A Reader's Hebrew Bible: Appendix A Available For Download
Zondervan has given me permission to make Appendix A--the glossary

containing all words occurring over 100x-- available as a free
download. I have formatted the document so that it can be printed
double-sided as a booklet. For the booklet version click here:
http://apbrown2.net/rhbappendixa.pdf
If the booklet format is too hard to figure out how to print (it can be
difficult), you can download a full-pageversion which you can then print
in whatever way you prefer. For the full-page version click here:
http://apbrown2.net/rhbappendixa_full.pdf
Tole, Lege!
Philip Brown
Labels: Appendix A, Glossary, Reader's Hebrew Bible

Saturday, December 13, 2008
What does it mean to believe in Jesus?
Since I require my Advanced Homiletics students to preach either John

3:1-13 or John 3:14-21 as their third sermon, I’ve heard 7 messages on
both passages within the last 2 weeks.
The frequent occurrence of the verb πιστεύω in John 3:1-21 has caused
the issue of what it means to believe in Jesus to resurface in my
thinking. The key phrases are
• Everyone who believes in him [the Son of Man] (John 13:5)
• Everyone who believes in him [the Son] (John 3:16)
• The one who believes in him [the Son] (John 3:18a)
• The one who does not believe has been condemned (John 3:18b)
• Because he has not believed on the name of the only Son of God
(John 3:18c)
Theologically, I know that for faith to be saving faith it must bear the
fruit of obedience to Christ (James 2:22-26). There is no Lordless
salvation (Matt. 7:21). But “believe on Jesus” seems so cognitive, so
cerebral, so non-heartish … it almost seems to lend itself to a religion
of the head apart from the heart.
A common answer to my question—you must mentally affirm that

Jesus is God’s Son, that he died for your sins, and rose again for your
justification, and that He will save you from your sins if you ask him to
—has in many parts of Christendom yielded a harvest of orthodox
heads and adulterous hearts and lives.
Today I had a breakthrough. Baptism helps explain what it means to

believe in Jesus.
Many Christians don’t realize that baptism is not a uniquely Christian

rite. In the first century, baptism was a common practice among both
Jews and Pagans. It was an initiatory ritual by which one signified one’s
commitment to become an adherent to a religious sect. John the
Baptist is the prime NT example of this (John 4:1). However, we find
descriptions of similar rites from Qumran, in Josephus, and in Greek
literature.
When one was baptized in the name of X, the one baptized was
announcing his intention to be with and learn from X. In other words, it
was common knowledge that getting baptized was a public declaration
that you were becoming a disciple of someone or something.
Immediately following the calls to belief in John 3:1-21, John states that
“After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea,
and there He was spending time with them and baptizing” (John 3:22).
In other words, people who “believe” in Jesus get baptized in his name,
thereby signifying that they are becoming His disciples, apprentices,
followers—people who were going to pattern their whole lives after
Him and His teaching.
“Believing” is a mental affirmation, but it more than mental

affirmation. It means staking my whole life on Jesus’ claim that He is
the way to God and there is no other way. It means willingly yoking
myself to him so that I can learn how to do life His way (Matt. 11:29). It
means decisively abandoning my old way of life and being baptized
into apprenticeship to a new way of life—His way.
It means being willing to forsake father, mother, sister, brother, wife,

houses, lands, and even my own life, in order to pattern the totality of
my existence after Him (Mark 10:28-30). It means believing that Jesus
is the Master of every facet of life, so I must be his disciple in every
facet of mine.
That’s what it meant to the Philippian jailer when Paul said, “Believe in
the Lord Jesus and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). He recognized that
belief required baptism in Jesus’ name, and baptism in Jesus' name
symbolized his entrance into a brand new life of learning to think and
act and react like Jesus.
That is what it means to believe in Jesus.
Labels: baptism, believe in Jesus

Friday, November 14, 2008
A Reader's Hebrew Bible: WLC-BHS Differences Clarification
I recently received a question about the Qere readings in 1 Sam 18:14,

22 that appear in BHS but do not appear in the Westminister Leningrad
Codex (WLC) and therefore do not appear in A Reader's Hebrew Bible
(RHB). The questioner wondered why the black dot that normally
marks WLC-BHS differences in RHB did not appear there.
A fair question, and here, I hope, is a fair answer. According to the WLC
4.10 morphology, there are 56 instances where BHS adds a Qere that
is not present in L. The Qere readings in 1 Sam. 18:14 and 22 are two
such instances. Although I have not checked all 56 instances in BHS,
the few I did check showed that BHS was following a note in the
masorah in adding the Qere reading.
On page xvi of RHB's introduction, we said that RHB will mark with a
supra-linear solid black dot all known instances where the editors of
WLC read the text of L differently than the editors of BHS. Additions of
Qere readings to L do not constitute a different reading of L's text as it
stands. Therefore, such instances are not marked in RHB.
I suspect that many, if not most, users of BHS do not pay attention to
whether Qere readings are marked as added to L by BHS, and thus
would (wrongly) assume that RHB should reflect BHS at all points. Such
is not the case.
Labels: Qere readings, Reader's Hebrew Bible

Sunday, August 10, 2008
Giving Thanks for God's Holiness (Psa. 97:12), Part 1
Jonathan Edward's The Religious Affections, John Piper's lecture on

Preaching as Worship (TrinJ 16) and my study of holiness in the OT
converged in a sermon this morning on Psalm 97.
I've been listening to The Religious Affections in spare moments for

nearly a year. At times it is brilliant. At others monotonously stuporific.
His thesis is that true religion, in great part, consists in holy affections.
His biblical-theological support for his thesis is unassailable. (Pdf copy
of Religious Affections here.)
Edwards defines the affections as "the more vigorous and sensible

exercises of the inclinations and the will." He clarifies this by noting
that the inclinations and the will are actually the same thing, just
viewed from two different perspectives. It is called "inclination" when
viewed from the angle of desire; it is called "will" when viewed from
the angle of decision and action.
Edwards asserts, rightly I believe, that "there never was any thing
considerable brought to pass in the heart or life of any man, by the
things of religion, until the mind was deeply affected by those things."
Therefore, one of the chief aims of preaching is to stir up the affections
so that the will is vigorously and sensibly active in responding to God's
truth.
In Piper's language, preaching should "bring into sharp focus God as
the all-satisfying Treasure of our lives." Our aim should be "that God
would become so gloriously all-satisfying in our lives that nothing can
lure us away from him."
What holy affections should God's holiness stir in me? How does God's
holiness contribute to His being the "all-satisfying Treasure" of my life?
In the Psalms alone I found the following:
Inspired responses to God's holiness
* give thanks for it (Psa 30:4; 97:12)

* worship Him for it (Psa. 29:2; 96:9; 99:5, 9)
* praise Him because of it (Psa. 99:3)
* exalt Him for it (Psa. 99:5, 9)
Inspired responses to God’s holy name
* it is the object of our trust (Psa 33:21)

* bless it (Psa. 103:1; 145:21)
* glory or boast in it (Psa. 105:3)
* give thanks to it (Psa. 106:47)
Most of these responses made immediate sense to me. However,

giving thanks at the remembrance of God's holiness did not. Why is
thankfulness or gratitude the response to God's holiness? I can't
honestly say that my previous understanding of God's holiness has
ever moved me to be thankful. What is it about God's holiness that
should move me to thankfulness?
The answer to that question depends upon my understanding of what

God's holiness is. Based on my study so far, here's my best
understanding.
Holiness, when used in reference to God, normally denotes God's

separateness from all things due to the unique excellence of His being
and character. In this sense, God's holiness is not one moral attribute
among His many. His holiness is not equal to His moral excellence. His
holiness is a consequence of His moral excellence. He is separate from
all things because He is superior in both His being and His character.
I conclude that separateness is the essential component of holiness,

whether in reference to things, human persons, or God, for the
following reasons:
1. With reference to things and human persons, all examples from
Scripture involve the person or thing being separated from ordinary
use, service, or purpose unto God for His possession, use, service, or
purpose. For a fairly comprehensive list of the referents of holy and
holiness, click here.
* Things: 7th day (Gen. 2:3); ground (Exod. 3:5), assemblies (Exod.
13:2), war (Jer. 6:4), a fast (Joel 2:5).
* Persons: 1st born (Exod. 13:2), Israelites (Exod. 19:10), Jesse and
sons (1 Sam. 16:5), Jeremiah (Jer. 1:5).
2. Since God teaches us about His holiness by first acquainting us with

holiness applied to things and persons, His holiness must be essentially
analogous to the holiness of things and persons. Since separateness is
the essential component of holiness with person and things, I assume
it is the essential component with God.
3. My assumption that separateness is the essential component of

divine holiness appears to be substantiated by texts that connect
God's holiness with his incomparableness (Exod. 15:11; Isa. 40:25) and
his transcendence (Psa. 97:9, 12; Isa. 57:15).
If God's holiness is His separateness from all things , what is it that

makes Him separate? As I read the OT data, it is the unique excellence
of God's being and character that separates him from all things.
The unique excellence of His being involves His attributes of

omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, eternality, immutability,
self-existence, self-sufficiency, infinity, and sovereignty. The unique
excellence of His character involves His love, righteousness, justice,
mercy, wisdom, goodness, wrathfulness, truthfulness, and jealousy.
In my next post, I'll develop the support for concluding that it is the
unique excellence of God's being and character that separates him
from all other things.
Labels: definition, Edwards, holiness, Piper

Saturday, August 09, 2008
John Piper: Preaching as Worship
I found this address by John Piper this morning. It resonates with me

and challenges me.
"Let me point to three biblical reasons for believing that preaching is

meant to be and to kindle God-exalting worship.
First, I believe it because the Word of God says that everything is to be

done in a worshipful, God-centered way: "Whether, then, you eat or
drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor 10:31);
"Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord
Jesus" (Col 3:17). If everything is to be radically oriented on magnifying
the glory of God and exalting the name of Jesus, how much more
preaching. Whatever preaching deals with-and it is to deal with
everything-it must be done with a view to begetting and sustaining
worship-the valuing and cherishing and displaying of the glory of God.
Second, I believe that preaching is meant to exalt the centrality of God

because the Word says that God himself exalts his own centrality in all
that he does. And preaching is one of the great things that God does.
God's Word in Isa 48:11 is like a great banner flying over all his acts
from creation to consummation: "For My own sake, for My own sake, I
will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give
to another." He chose us and predestined us for his glory (Eph 1:6), he
created us [believers] for his glory (Isa 43:7), he saved us for his glory
(Eph 1:14); he sanctifies us for his glory (2 Thess 1:12). All God does he
does to magnify his glory in the earth. Preaching is one of the great
things that God does. It is God's work. And therefore the mission of
preaching is the mission of God: "I will be exalted among the nations, I
will be exalted in the earth" (Ps 46:10). Our aim is worship-the valuing
and cherishing and displaying of the greatness and the glory of God.
Finally, I believe that preaching is meant to exalt the centrality of God

because the NT teaches that the appointed end of preaching is faith,
and faith is the primary covenant requirement of God, precisely
because it humbles us and amplifies the trustworthiness and all-
sufficiency of God. Repeatedly Paul lines up preaching with faith as its
goal: "How shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher? . . . So faith comes from
hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" (Rom 10:14, 17). "Since in
the wisdom of God the world did not know God through its wisdom,
God was pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save those
who believe" (1 Cor 1:21). "My message and my preaching were not in
persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of
power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on
the power of God" (1 Cor 2:4-5; cf. also Rom 16:25f; 1 Cor 15:11, 14.)
The aim of preaching is to beget and sustain faith. Why? Because faith
magnifies the power and trustworthiness of God. This is why Paul loves
the model of Abraham: Abraham "grew strong in his faith, giving glory
to God, fully convinced that God was able to what he had promised"
(Rom 4:20). The heart of saving faith is a spiritual apprehension of the
glorious trustworthiness of God in Christ and an earnest embracing of
all that God is for us in Christ to satisfy the hunger of the soul.
That is the way Jesus described faith in John 6:35: "I am the bread of
life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me
shall never thirst." Believing in Jesus means coming to him for the
quenching of our souls' thirst. Faith in Christ is being satisfied with all
that God is for us in Jesus. When we experience that, we magnify the
preciousness and worth of God, because God is most glorified in us
when we are most satisfied in him-which means we worship.
The aim of preaching, whatever the topic, whatever the text, is this
kind of faith-to quicken in the soul a satisfaction with all that God is for
us in Jesus, because this satisfaction magnifies God's all-sufficient
glory; and that is worship. Therefore the mission of all preaching is
soul-satisfying, God-exalting worship."
Labels: Preaching

Saturday, July 26, 2008
Rudolph Otto’s The Idea of the Holy: Overrated
Rudolph Otto was a German Protestant theologian and historian of

religion. In 1923 the first English translation of his German work The
Idea of the Holy appeared. It has become, as Victor P. Hamilton’s says,
“one of the books most frequently referred to in this area [holiness].” I
was reading Hamilton's Handbook on the Pentateuch today, and he
referenced Otto. In fact, Otto was the only author he referenced in his
discussion of holiness in Genesis 1-2 (short paragraph).
Frankly, I’m weary of references to this book in contexts where the

biblical meaning of holiness is discussed. Scholars regularly pay lip
service to it as though it constitutes a signal contribution to our
knowledge of God's holiness. Admittedly, Hamilton notes that “Otto
does not address … the fact that God’s holiness gives the basis to his
moral demands.” But the fact that his is the only work referenced by
Hamilton suggests he is significant and worth reading. Today I looked
up on the book on Google books and read around in it, particularly his
chapter, “The Numenous in the Old Testament.”
The first thing I noticed is that the focus on the book is not on what
holiness is in Scripture, but rather on the experience men have when
encountering what they regard as holy. The subtitle of the book is
significant: “An Inquiry into the Non-Rational Factor in the Idea of the
Divine and its Relation to the Rational.”
John C. Durham accurately capture’s Otto’s understanding of holiness:
“Otto characterizes the numinous as the holy (i.e. God) minus its moral
and rational aspects. A little more positively, it is the ineffable core of
religion: the experience of it cannot to be described in terms of other
experiences. [Note that the German heilig can be rendered as either
holy or sacred. The translator had to make a choice and chose holy. So
in the context of Otto, for holy it is possible to read sacred: the
religious experience he discusses is the experience of the sacred.]”
(www.bytrent.demon.co.uk/otto1.html).
Second, Otto’s work assumes an evolutionary, Hegelian view of

religious development from the primitive to the advanced. This
perspective is completely unbiblical and at odds with the current
movements in Western religion. We’re heading polytheistic again.
Otto's treatment of the OT is shot through with rationalistic, history of

religions assumptions: Again, Durham captures it well: “In the chapter
on the numinous in the Old Testament, Otto discusses the transition of
the Old Testament God from an early Yahweh, still bearing traces of
the 'daemonic dread' of the pre-god stage of the numinous , to an
Elohim in whom 'the rational aspect outweighs the numinous' [p 75],
though the latter continues to be very much present.”
Third, as Durham's site points out, Otto never uses the Latin phrase
most commonly attributed to him (Hamilton cites it): mysterium
tremendum et fascinosum [sic]. According to Durham, the et fascinans
was added to Otto's mysterium tremendum by Ninian Smart. This
observation suggests what I have long suspected: that few of those
who cite Otto have read Otto, and that he is cited because he "must
be."
My conclusion: The Idea of the Holy book offers the bible-believing

scholar nothing of value for understanding the nature of biblical
holiness. Biblical scholars should stop citing it, except perhaps in
discussions of what it is like to experience the "holy."
Edited 12/2010:
Thanks to my various commenters. You have helped me see that
"worthless" as a description of Otto's work is too strong. Its worth lies
in its narrow compass: analysis of the religious experience of what is
heilig. Its worth does NOT lie in helping the believing reader of
Scripture to understand God's holiness or the holiness He requires of
us. Hence it should be referenced not in discussions on the definition of
divine or human holiness, but in discussions on the psychology of
human experiences of the "holy."
Labels: holiness, Rudolph Otto
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Catechism
II. GOD REVEALS HIS NAME
203 God revealed himself to his people Israel by making his name
known to them. A name expresses a person's essence and identity and
the meaning of this person's life. God has a name; he is not an
anonymous force. To disclose one's name is to make oneself known to
others; in a way it is to hand oneself over by becoming accessible,
capable of being known more intimately and addressed personally.
204 God revealed himself progressively and under different names to

his people, but the revelation that proved to be the fundamental one
for both the Old and the New Covenants was the revelation of the
divine name to Moses in the theophany of the burning bush, on the
threshold of the Exodus and of the covenant on Sinai.
The living God
205 God calls Moses from the midst of a bush that burns without being
consumed: "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." 9 God is the God of the fathers, the
One who had called and guided the patriarchs in their wanderings. He
is the faithful and compassionate God who remembers them and his
promises; he comes to free their descendants from slavery. He is the
God who, from beyond space and time, can do this and wills to do it,
the God who will put his almighty power to work for this plan.
"I Am who I Am"
Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them,
'The God of your fathers has sent me to you', and they ask me, 'What
is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO
I AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me
to you'. . . this is my name for ever, and thus I am to be remembered
throughout all generations." 10
206 In revealing his mysterious name, YHWH ("I AM HE WHO IS", "I AM
WHO AM" or "I AM WHO I AM"), God says who he is and by what name
he is to be called. This divine name is mysterious just as God is
mystery. It is at once a name revealed and something like the refusal
of a name, and hence it better expresses God as what he is - infinitely
above everything that we can understand or say: he is the "hidden
God", his name is ineffable, and he is the God who makes himself close
to men. 11
207 By revealing his name God at the same time reveals his
faithfulness which is from everlasting to everlasting, valid for the past
("I am the God of your father"), as for the future ("I will be with you").
12 God, who reveals his name as "I AM", reveals himself as the God
who is always there, present to his people in order to save them.
208 Faced with God's fascinating and mysterious presence, man

discovers his own insignificance. Before the burning bush, Moses takes
off his sandals and veils his face in the presence of God's holiness. 13
Before the glory of the thrice-holy God, Isaiah cries out: "Woe is me! I
am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips." 14 Before the divine signs
wrought by Jesus, Peter exclaims: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful
man, O Lord." 15 But because God is holy, he can forgive the man who
realizes that he is a sinner before him: "I will not execute my fierce
anger. . . for I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst." 16
The apostle John says likewise: "We shall. . . reassure our hearts before
him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our
hearts, and he knows everything." 17
209 Out of respect for the holiness of God, the people of Israel do not
pronounce his name. In the reading of Sacred Scripture, the revealed
name (YHWH) is replaced by the divine title "LORD" (in Hebrew Adonai,
in Greek Kyrios). It is under this title that the divinity of Jesus will be
acclaimed: "Jesus is LORD."
"A God merciful and gracious"
210 After Israel's sin, when the people had turned away from God to
worship the golden calf, God hears Moses' prayer of intercession and
agrees to walk in the midst of an unfaithful people, thus demonstrating
his love. 18 When Moses asks to see his glory, God responds "I will
make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you
my name "the LORD" [YHWH]." 19 Then the LORD passes before Moses
and proclaims, "YHWH, YHWH, a God merciful and gracious, slow to
anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness"; Moses then
confesses that the LORD is a forgiving God. 20
211 The divine name, "I Am" or "He Is", expresses God's faithfulness:
despite the faithlessness of men's sin and the punishment it deserves,
he keeps "steadfast love for thousands". 21 By going so far as to give
up his own Son for us, God reveals that he is "rich in mercy". 22 By
giving his life to free us from sin, Jesus reveals that he himself bears
the divine name: "When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you
will realize that "I AM"." 23
God alone IS
212 Over the centuries, Israel's faith was able to manifest and deepen
realization of the riches contained in the revelation of the divine name.
God is unique; there are no other gods besides him. 24
He transcends the world and history. He made heaven and earth:

"They will perish, but you endure; they will all wear out like a
garment....but you are the same, and your years have no end." 25
In God "there is no variation or shadow due to change." 26 God is "HE

WHO IS", from everlasting to everlasting, and as such remains ever
faithful to himself and to his promises.
213 The revelation of the ineffable name "I AM WHO AM" contains then
the truth that God alone IS. The Greek Septuagint translation of the
Hebrew Scriptures, and following it the Church's Tradition, understood
the divine name in this sense: God is the fullness of Being and of every
perfection, without origin and without end. All creatures receive all that
they are and have from him; but he alone is his very being, and he is of
himself everything that he is.

Jesus - Only A Man - Fully God - or Both

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Jesus – Only a Man – Fully God – Or Both

Were you saved by a man or was your salvation accomplished by God

Is a form or an image of a thing the same as the true substance of that

John 1:1 & 14

Is it possible for a man to live without sin?

1Cor 15:45 & 47

Jesus himself never denied his own divinity

Why did they seek to stone him?

And in another place we see this exchange

How about one more.

The False Gospel of Doyle Davidson

Although he doesn’t state this directly, Davidson’s assertion that Jesus

This is the fruit of Doyle Davidson’s partial gospel. Doyle is forever

Stop listening to condemnation disguised as correction. Don’t allow any

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Steve Lumbley 2007 www.apostasywatch.com

Home Gospel Basics Applying It Dangers Man Centred

REACH THE LOST WITH HEALING - AS JESUS TAUGHT IT

So often our sharing of the gospel seems relatively fruitless in terms of

John 10:37-38: "Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does.

2. HOW DID JESUS TEACH HIS DISCIPLES TO REACH THE LOST?

In Luke Chapter 9 verse 1 we read: "When Jesus had the 12 together,

5. THE MODEL FOR US

While we would not dare to compare ourselves with the 12 - the

Some words Of Jesus from John's gospel:

John 14:21: "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the

(a) Preach the Kingdom of God

(b) Heal the sick and cast out demons, and

As always with Jesus, he never asks us to do anything in our own

9. GIFT(S) OF HEALING versus EXERCISE OF POWER AND

We differentiate here between the "Gift(s) of Healing" given to the Body

Acts 14 - Paul heals the man lame from birth

Acts 22 - Paul relates how Ananias restored his sight

10. DOING IT JESUS' WAY BRINGS UNITY AMONGST BELIEVERS

We fail to do it the Jesus way because we are afraid of failure and

12. GOOD NEWS - A TRAINING COURSE ON EVANGELISM THE

a. download a pdf file of their basic training course - go

(NB: At www.whatisthegospel.org.uk we already have obtained the 4

d. read many reports and testimonies of the effectiveness of this

This article © www.whatisthegospel.org.uk 2009-2010

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Home Gospel Basics Applying It Dangers Man Centred

Apply the Gospel in accordance with the Bible

man reading the Bible

The Godly Man Walks with God

I. Noah preached by doctrine

2. Noah preached by his life

He preached by his humility, patience, sanctity: ‘Noah walked with God’.

Question: What is it to walk with God?

Answer: Walking with God imports five things:

I. Walking as under God’s eye. Noah reverenced a deity. A godly man

4. Visible piety. Walking is a visible posture. Grace must be

5. Continued progress in grace. It is not only a step but a walk. There is

4. Others deride walking with God as if it were a way of foolish

5. Others, instead of walking with God, walk according to the flesh (2

i. They walk by fleshly opinions

i. They walk by fleshly opinions. There are six of these:

(f) That sinning is better than suffering. It is greater discretion to keep

Use 2: Let us test whether we have this characteristic of the godly: Do

5. Walking with God is honourable. It is a credit for one of an inferior

6. Walking with God leads to rest: ‘There remaineth therefore a rest to

Question: What may we do to walk with God?