Loving The Black Letters of the Bible Too

Matt Smethurst:

With the way some Christians talk, you might be forgiven for wondering why the canon includes more than four books. Sure, the Old Testament is useful in tracing the development of human reflection on the divine, and the New Testament in conveying the thoughts of some of Jesus' earliest followers. But if you really want to know what God thinks about something, you hear today, you'll need consult the recorded thoughts of Jesus. And if you want to do that, you'll need to stick to the "red letters." In other words, flip to Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John (or that less traversed terrain, Revelation 2-3) and stay put.

To be sure, I understand the impulse. It makes some sense in light of the differences between the sinless Son of God (on display in the Gospels) and the bona fide sinners who penned most of the rest of New Testament (unbelieving James and Jude, denying Peter, blaspheming Paul, and so on). Dubious résumés, to say the least.

Nevertheless, Christians have always recognized the God-breathed character of their words. The miracle of inspiration means the whole Bible is the voice of God. While central and foundational, the fourfold Gospel witness is no more true or reliable or relevant or binding than the black letters that precede and follow. Indeed, when we treat the red letters more seriously than the black ones, we muzzle the Son who speaks in all of them.

Read the rest.

You Are Here: Finding Your Story in God’s Story

Steve Childers:

The History Channel’s mini-series called The Bible has been a huge hit. The premiere telecast ranked as cable TV’s most-watched show this year. Producer Mark Burnett said one of the reasons he produced the mini-series was to help tackle biblical illiteracy globally—especially among younger people. In this ten-episode mini-series, the viewer is given a sweeping survey of the major Bible stories.

Just like any mini-series, if you watch only one of the episodes, you’ll learn a few Bible stories, but you’ll miss how those stories are meant to fit with all the other stories that happened before and after. In other words, you’ll miss the overall plot of the story, the one greater, unfolding story that begins in week one, ends in week ten, and encompasses all the other stories. But even if you faithfully watch all ten episodes and understand all the individual Bible stories, you can still miss the overarching plot.

Read the rest.

How To Read the Bible and How Not To

Ray Ortlund:

There are two ways to read the Bible. We can read it as law or as promise.

If we read the Bible as law, we will find on every page what God is telling us we should do. Even the promises will be conditioned by law. But if we read the Bible as promise, we will find on every page what God is telling us he will do. Even the commands are conditioned by promise.

In Galatians 3 Paul explains which hermeneutic is the correct one. “This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise” (Galatians 3:17-18).

So, if we want to know whether we should read the Bible through the lens of law or grace, demand or provision, threat or promise — if we want to know how to read the Bible in an apostolic rather than a rabbinic way — we can follow the plot-line of the Bible itself and see which comes first. And in fact, promise comes first, in God’s word to Abram in Genesis 12. Then the law is “added” — significant word, in Galatians 3:19 — the law is added as a sidebar later, in Exodus 20. The hermeneutical category “promise” establishes the larger, wraparound framework for everything else added in along the way.

The deepest message of the Bible is the promises of God to law-breakers through his grace in Jesus. This is not an arbitrary overlay forced onto the biblical text. The Bible presents itself to us this way. The laws and commands and examples and warnings are all there, fulfilled in Christ and revered by us. But they do not provide the hermeneutic with which we make sense of the whole. We can and should understand them as qualified by God’s gracious promise in Christ, for all who will bank their happiness on his promise of grace for the undeserving.

Books by Ray Ortlund:

• Proverbs:  Wisdom That Works
• Isaiah:  God Saves Sinners
• A Passion for God: Prayers and Meditations on the Book of Romans
• God's Unfaithful Wife: A Biblical Theology of Spiritual Adultery
• When God Comes to Church: A Biblical Model for Revival Today

This is The Good News

We should all memorize this.

D. A. Carson:

God is the sovereign, transcendent and personal God who has made the universe, including us, his image-bearers. Our misery lies in our rebellion, our alienation from God, which, despite his forbearance, attracts his implacable wrath.

But God, precisely because love is of the very essence of his character, takes the initiative and prepared for the coming of his own Son by raising up a people who, by covenantal stipulations, temple worship, systems of sacrifice and of priesthood, by kings and by prophets, are taught something of what God is planning and what he expects.

In the fullness of time his Son comes and takes on human nature. He comes not, in the first instance, to judge but to save: he dies the death of his people, rises from the grave and, in returning to his heavenly Father, bequeaths the Holy Spirit as the down payment and guarantee of the ultimate gift he has secured for them—an eternity of bliss in the presence of God himself, in a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

The only alternative is to be shut out from the presence of this God forever, in the torments of hell. What men and women must do, before it is too late, is repent and trust Christ; the alternative is to disobey the gospel (Romans 10:16;2 Thessalonians 1:8; 1 Peter 4:17).

- For Such a Time as This: Perspectives on Evangelicalism, Past, Present and Future, ed. Steve Brady and Harold Rowdon (London, UK: Evangelical Alliance, 1986), 80.

(HT:  DGM)

It's Not Your Party!

Guest post by Josh Montague

From the pen of Paul Tripp:

In 1978 I did one of the most courageous things in my life: I became a kindergarten teacher!

One Monday afternoon, the mother of one of my novice academics asked if she could have a birthday party for her daughter in the classroom on the following Friday. The day came, and after the mother's frenetic preparation, we all entered the room. She had turned our little classroom into a birthday kingdom! The walls and table were lavishly decorated, multi-colored streamers hung from the ceiling, and a balloon within a balloon was tied to the back of each chari. At each seat was a ribbon-tied cellophane bag of party favors. The only exception was the birthday girl, who was surrounded by a huge pile of beautifully-wrapped gifts.

At the far end of the table sat Johnny. Johnny kept doing the same thing over and over. He would look at his little bag of party favors, then at the birthday girl's mountain of gifts, fold his arms, stick out his lower lip, and let out an audible humph! Each time, the look on his face got more ugly and his humphing more audible. Before long he had become the center of attention and was well on his way to spoiling the party. Then one of the mothers walked over and knelt beside him. She turned his chair so that Johnny was looking directly into her face, and she spoke the profound words: 'Johnny, it's not your party!'

Johnny wasn't supposed to be the center of attention. He wasn't supposed to have a huge pile of gifts. It was Susie's birthday, and everything was rightly focused on her. Johnny would never enjoy his inclusion in the event if he demanded to be the center.

So it is with the grand story of the Bible. With all of it's locations and people, with all of the dramatic events of nature and history, at the center of the story is the Lord. It is his story. Paul summarizes the story this way, 'For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen!' (Romans 11:36)

– Paul Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands

A Sweep of the Whole Bible in Two Weeks

This would be an interesting exercise for anyone wanting to glean what the Bible is all about.  Dane Ortlund writes:

If a freshman in college or stay-at-home mom or aspiring deacon or friend from work or anyone else asked me how they might get a rough grasp of the macro-storyline of the Bible in a few weeks, I'd send them not to any secondary resource but to the Bible itself for a reading plan that might look something like this.

Week 1 Sunday - Genesis 1-3
Monday - Genesis 12-17
Tuesday - Exodus 1-3, 12
Wednesday - Exodus 14, 19-20
Thursday - Joshua 23-24; Judges 1-2
Friday - 1 Samuel 8, 16; 2 Samuel 7, 11; Psalm 105
Saturday - Isaiah 7, 9, 11, 35, 52-53, 65 

Week 2 Sunday - Jeremiah 30-33; Ezekiel 36-37, Zechariah 9; Malachi 3-4
Monday - Matt. 1:1; Mark 1:1-15; John 1:1-18; 5:39-46; Luke 24
Tuesday - Mark 14:1-16:8
Wednesday - Acts 1-2; 13:13-49
Thursday - Rom. 1:1-6; 16-17; 3:9-31; 5:12-21; 8:18-23; 1 Cor. 15:1-23
Friday - Heb. 1:1-4; 10:19-12:2
Saturday - Revelation 1; 20-22

The Gospel Coalition Panel: Getting to Know the Bible Personally as One Grand Narrative

This video from the BibleMesh blog will be a great service to many of you.  Check it out.

Books For Family Devotionals

As a family, we try to be intentional with providing great Bible content for our kids as they grow. Below are some of the resources that we have and have been greatly blessed by.  Add more in the comments if you have other ideas.

The Big Picture Story Bible

For learning the storyline of the Bible, I think this one is the best.  We HAVE to teach our kids the storyline of the Bible.  The illustrations are great and even us adults learn some things from it.  For kids 3-6, it is really good.   Jesus is the center of it all and it helps kids see how it all connects together.  

The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name

We have been reading this one for about three years now.   The illustrations are really strong and shows how all of the Bible points to Jesus.  In distinction from The Big Picture Story Bible, I think this one is less about the whole narrative and more about how each Bible story points us to Jesus.  Obviously, this is vital to see as well.  

Mighty Acts of God: A Family Bible Story Book

We just started this one with the kids this morning and already I am very impressed.  From the first page we learn that God is the main character of the Bible and the hero in all the stories of the Bible.  Again, this is a very big deal for our children to learn as they grow up in a narcissistic society.  I am greatly looking forward to diving into this one.

The Story for Kids, NIrV: Discover the Bible from Beginning to End

We have just finished up the OT reading through this one.  It is probably a bit more for older kids and is basically a rewording of main sections of the Bible so that kids can learn the overarching themes of it all.   It has been very helpful and our older kids really like it.  

Big Truths for Little Kids: Teaching Your Children to Live for God

This one is super Presbyterian but really good.  It walks through the main truths of the Bible in catechism form as we trace these truths through the lives of some small children and the different experiences they have.  It has some good discussion questions at the end to get our kids thinking, comprehending, and applying.  

The Children's Illustrated Bible

We have this one but have not gotten into it.  Looks good though!

Big Truths for Young Hearts: Teaching and Learning the Greatness of God

This one is a systematic theology for kids in the range of 7-14 I would guess.  Great content and probably a book most adults could learn things from as well.  Bruce Ware is a grade A theologian and this book will be essential for shaping the core beliefs of our young people.  

What's the Message of the Bible in One Sentence?

Dane Ortlund:

That's what I recently asked a handful of thoughtful scholars and pastors. Answers below.

Understand that I specifically asked these brothers to keep it to a single sentence (ahem . . . that's pushing it, Dr. Beale). There is inevitably much that is selectively omitted, so think twice before responding (or commenting) 'How could he not mention anything about ____?!' Little exercises like this are not a replacement of reading the Bible itself in all its contours or big books that trace out the Bible in detail, but a pointer to the Bible and to such books.

In fact, it really is impossible to answer my question. How could you ask, for instance, what the Lord of the Rings is about in a single sentence? It can't be done. You must simply enter in and get swept up in the story. We can all resonate, therefore, with Hugenberger's valid response. Yet while we can agree to eschew simplistic reductionisms, this need not include an eschewing of synthetic summaries. We find such summaries in the Bible itself--psalms summarizing Israel's history, Jesus in Matt 22:40 or Luke 24:25-26, several speeches in Acts, and Paul in Gal 5:14 or 1 Cor 15:3-4 all come to mind.

The point here is to refocus and recenter on the heart of the book that is the greatest earthly treasure to fallen human beings outside of God himself.

Here is my favorite of them all.

Doug Wilson:

Scripture tells us the story of how a Garden is transformed into a Garden City, but only after a dragon had turned that Garden into a howling wilderness, a haunt of owls and jackals, which lasted until an appointed warrior came to slay the dragon, giving up his life in the process, but with his blood effecting the transformation of the wilderness into the Garden City.

Click over to read the rest.  

The Central Point of Redemptive History

The cross and resurrection of Jesus bring us to the central point of the whole line of redemption in history. Here is God’s answer to every dimension of sin and evil in the cosmos and all their destructive effects. The gospel presents us with an accomplished victory that will ultimately be universally visible and vindicated. If we have been as radical as we ought in our analysis of the effects of the fall, then we must be equally radical and comprehensive here in our understanding of all the ways in which the cross and resurrection reverse and ultimately destroy those effects. The cross must be central to every dimension of the mission of God’s people–from personal evangelism among individual friends to ecological care for creation, and everything in between.

- Christopher Wright, The Mission of God's People: A Biblical Theology of the Church's Mission (Biblical Theology for Life), p. 43

Is God's Story Your Story?

Through believing the story, we are drawn in to the action and find ourselves caught up in the saving movement of God. We learn to “indwell” the story so looking out from within the biblical world with new eyes onto our postmodern lives and world: we stop trying to make the Bible relevant to our lives and instead begin to find ourselves being made relevant to the Bible. We give up the clumsy attempt to wrench the ancient text into our contemporary world and instead bring our world back into collision with, and cleansing by, the strange new world of the Bible. Through believing the story, we allow our minds to be continuously renewed by the normative narrative of God. . . . Jesus calls all his disciples away from a faith in which God is available to bless their business into a faith in which disciples are available to God to be part of his business. And God’s business is a multi­national company with branches everywhere!

- Philip Greenslade, A Passion for God's Story: Discovering Your Place in God's Strategic Plan, p. 42, 43

Quoted in Christopher Wright's, The Mission of God's People: A Biblical Theology of the Church's Mission

"The Story"

"The Story" Promotional Video from The Story (ViewTheStory.com) on Vimeo.

(HT:  Trevin Wax)

The Scriptures Testify To Him

While the temptation in preaching will be strong to proceed directly from, say, the godly Israelite to the contemporary believer, this method will inevitably produce distortions in the way we understand the text. There is no direct application apart from the mediation of Christ. That is the theological principle that I have wanted to emphasize in this study. While, no doubt, the direct approach will produce nice thoughts and, to a limited extent, even edifying ones, we simply cannot afford to ignore the words of Jesus that the Scriptures testify to him. I say again, if this be the case, then the Scriptures only testify to us insofar as we are in him.

- Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible As Christian Scripture, p. 116

The Church Needs To Emphasize Biblical Theology Much More

For those of you who might not know, "Biblical Theology" is just a technical term for describing the storyline of the Bible.  This understanding is crucial for understanding the Bible and how to interpret it.  I never learned how to articulate the storyline of the Bible until I got to seminary.

What does Isaiah have to do with Luke?  How does Genesis connect with Hebrews?  Once you understand a bit of Biblical Theology it makes your Bible reading completely come alive because you can put all your reading in context.  This is extremely helpful.  I wish I would have learned this as a child growing up in church.

Graeme Goldsworthy gives a rebuke/charge to church leaders in this regard.

...it is nothing short of astonishing, in fact appalling, that evangelical Biblical theology is so little appreciated by evangelical preachers. The front line of adult Christian education in churches ought be a comprehensive course in Biblical theology. This is not likely to happen while our theological seminaries do not make Biblical Theology a key required course in any diploma or degree curriculum. The idea that evangelical pastors can be sent to have ministerial oversight of congregations without first having a solid grounding in biblical theology is one of the scandals of our time. Show me a church without a good appreciation of the Old Testament and biblical theology and I'll show you a church with a weak understanding of the Gospel.

- Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture, p. 52

A Gospel Tonic for Discouraged Parents

Trinity Church Blog:

We've all been there - nearly ready to throw in the parenting towel due to a vicious combination of our childrens' collective sins and our sinful response to them. We brought our children into the world as we bathed them in prayer and armed ourselves with the biblical tools and confidence to be super-parents. But in the years since, chronic sin in the house has dashed our dreams and left us with a deep sense of failure and guilt. Can anyone relate?

It's a good thing that parenting, according to the Bible, has never been about 'success.' In his book Think Orange, Reggie Joiner encourages us away from the Christian 'parenting success syndrome' by reminding us of some important facts, including that ever since the Fall, the human race has been one, big dysfunctional family. Joiner writes,

Where do we find truly 'successful' families in the Bible?

* Noah had a drinking problem.

* Abraham offered his wife to another man.

* Rebekah schemed with her son to deceive her husband.

* Jacob's sons sold their brother into slavery.

* David had an affair and his son started a rebellion.

* Eli lost total control of how his boys acted in church.

Read the rest.

Don't Stop Reading in Exodus

Much of the theological framework needed to understand the significance of Jesus' coming, life and death was put in place by Moses in his writing, and perhaps above all in Deuteronomy. For it is here that the theology of blessing and curse which lies at the heart of Jesus' sin-bearing work is first articulated. It is here that the hopelessness of humanity trapped in sin, even when chosen by God, is exposed. It is here that the prospect of a divine intervention so radical that it changes people at the very core of their being first appears.  

- New Dictionary of Biblical Theology: Exploring the Unity & Diversity of Scripture, pp. 164-165

(HT:  DG Blog)

The Focus of the Bible

Erik Raymond:

I am enjoying Michael Horton’s latest book The Gospel Driven Life. It is the ‘answer’ to the problems exposed in Christless Christianity. I have just gotten started with it and found this quote to be clear through its contrasts.

The Bible is not a collection of timeless principles offering a gentle thought for the day. It is not a resource for our self-improvement. Rather, it is a dramatic story that unfolds from promise to fulfillment, with Christ at the center. Its focus is God and his action. God is not a supporting actor in our drama; it is the other way around. God does not exist to make sure that we are happy and fulfilled. Rather, we exist to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. God is not a facilitator of our ‘life transformation’ projects. He is not a life coach. Rather, he is our Creator, Lawgiver, Judge, and Covenant Lord. (Michael Horton, The Gospel Driven Life), p. 26

Why Knowing the Storyline of the Bible is a Huge Deal

This is the reason I wanted our home group to study this book and also why I think it is essential for every Christian to be able to articulate the storyline of the Bible.

"The church of the first century is almost two thousand year removed in time and (for most of us) half a world away in distance. Jesus lived in Palestine, died, and rose again there a little before most of the events recorded in the book of Acts. The ancient nation of Israel sought to walk with God while conquering and settling a homeland in Canaan more than a thousand years before that. The biblical accounts of how all these different people struggles to live faithfully in their distant times and places may seem to have little to do with you and me.

Yet it is not so. The world of the Bible is our world, and its story of redemption is also our story. This story is waiting for an ending-in part because we ourselves have a role to play before all is concluded. We must therefore pay attention to the continuing biblical story of redemption. We must resist the temptation to read the Scriptures as if they were a religious flee market, with a basket of history and old doctrines here, a shelf full of pious stories there, promises and commands scattered from one end to the other. Some readers of the bible turn it into little more than an anthology of proof texts assembled to support a system of theology. Others seek only ethical guidance, ransacking the Old Testament for stories of moral instruction. Still others look just for inspirational or devotional messages, for comforting promises and lessons for daily living. The result may be that we lose sight of the Bible's essential unity and instead find only those theological, moral, devotional, or historical fragments we are looking for.

But all human communities, including our own, live out of some comprehensive story that suggest the meaning and goal of history and that gives shape and direction to human life. We may neglect the biblical story, God's comprehensive account of the shape and direction of cosmic history and the meaning of all that he has done in our world. If we do so, the fragments of the Bible that we do preserve are in danger of being absorbed piecemeal into the dominant cultural story of our Modern European and North American democracies. And the dominant story of modern culture is rooted in idolatry: an ultimate confidence in humanity to achieve its own salvation. Thus, instead of allowing the Bible to shape us, we may in fact be allowing our culture to shape the Bible for us. Our view of the world and even our faith will be molded by one or the other: either the biblical story is our foundation, or the Bible itself becomes subsumed within the modern story of the secular Western world. If our lives are to be shaped and formed by Scripture, we need to know the biblical story well, to feel it in our bones."

-- Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen, The Drama of Scripture, p. 196,197