I have recently begun preaching through the Gospel of John at our church. The first three messages have been on John’s prologue. (Sorry, Peter Williams, but I still think John 1:1-18 is a prologue!) As many of you already know, John’s prologue is thick with the grist of Nicene Trinitarianism and Chalcedonian Christology. I do not claim that these messages are the best there has ever been on these verses. Far from it. But I do want to acknowledge that I couldn’t have preached these messages seven years ago. For all the unpleasantness of the so-called “Trinity Debate” of 2016, the Lord has used it for good in my life.…
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A Word about Spurgeon and Female Pastors
Earlier this week, it was announced that Rick Warren had been installed as the honorary Chancellor of Spurgeon’s College in London. After his installation, Warren took the opportunity to double-down on his support for female pastors and to claim that “my views on ordination are identical to Spurgeon’s.” I am no expert on Spurgeon, but I am reasonably certain that Warren’s views on ordination are not identical to Spurgeon’s—at least insofar as it relates to the ordination of female pastors. In his book Lectures to My Students, Spurgeon devotes an entire chapter to “The Call to the Ministry.”* In that chapter, I can see at least three differences between Spurgeon’s…
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An Interview about Saddleback and the SBC
The guys at the radio program “Issues, etc.” wanted to know about what is happening in the SBC with respect to female pastors, Saddleback Church, and Rick Warren. So I spent about 40 minutes laying it all out for them. You can listen at the links below.
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What does “modesty” refer to in 1 Timothy 2:9?
I have seen some debate recently about what “modest” means in 1 Timothy 2:9. Some say it addresses extravagantly expensive clothing while others claim that it addresses sexually provocative clothing. Here’s the text: “Women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire…” –1 Timothy 2:9 I just did a round-up of major commentaries on the question. By and large, they don’t treat the term as an either/or but as a both/and. In general, they argue that in the ancient world ostentatious dress was often for the purpose of appearing “enticing.” So to dress in a “modest” way…
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On Women Pastors, Let’s Pray for Renewal Not Inquisition
When I was a Ph.D. candidate, I had a private conversation over lunch with one of our Theology professors about what it means to be a Baptist. I was green and more naïve than I should have been as a first year doctoral student. During the conversation, I tried to make the point that while believer’s Baptism is essential to being a Baptist, congregationalism isn’t. His response to me was simple, direct, and unperturbed. Congregationalism is just as central to being a Baptist as believer’s baptism. I left that conversation a little put off by what he told me, but I also left with a renewed zeal to find out…
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So calling God “Mother” is no big deal after all?
This week has seen the appearance of two new reviews of Amy Peeler’s controversial book Women and the Gender of God. Both reviews are written by theology professors from Moody Bible Institute—the first by Marcus Johnson in Themelios and the second by John Clark in Touchstone. I reviewed Peeler’s book myself last January, so I read both of these new reviews with a keen interest to see if they saw what I did—that Peeler’s book contains some significant Trinitarian and Christological problems. It turns out that both of them did. That is why I was surprised to see a bit of a meltdown online concerning Johnson’s review in Themelios. No…
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The Innermost Meaning of the Cross
“But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.” -Isaiah 53:10 “God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation in His blood through faith, in order to demonstrate His righteousness.” -Romans 3:25 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us– for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’” -Galatians 3:13 “It is those who cannot come to terms with any concept of the wrath of God…
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An Open Letter Supporting Women as Pastors
Earlier today, I saw that Scot McKnight posted an invitation to sign a statement affirming women as pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The group hosting the letter is called Baptist Women in Ministry (BWIM). Although I’m not aware of this group having any meaningful ties to the SBC any longer, this group has a history that was forged during the crucible of the SBC’s conservative resurgence. One early member of the group was Molly Marshall, former professor at Southern Seminary a well-known advocate for female pastors, and an advocate for “theological hospitality” toward those who affirm homosexuality. BWIM tweeted about the letter before its release and gave a…
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A Stimulating Address on the Trinity and EFS
At the recent Shepherd’s Conference , Pastor Mike Riccardi delivered an excellent address about the Trinity and EFS. It’s an accessible primer on the issue and gets to the theological heart of the debate. You can listen to the audio below or read his manuscript here. Highly recommended. Riccardi’s remarkis are all good and helpful. Really clarifying. My one bit of feedback concerns the pactum salutis. Does Riccardi’s presentation leave room for there to be a pre-temporal eternal covenant between the Father and Son? There is a lot at stake in this question because The Baptist Confession of 1689 is even more explicit about the covenant of redemption than Westminister.…
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Beware of Those Who Make a Virtue of Doubt
Christianity Today has published an article about doubt that, if true, would make Jesus into a sinner. The article is a couple years old, but it just came to my attention a few days ago [but see update #2 below]. In the article, two biblical scholars, A. J. Swoboda and Nijay K. Gupta, argue that “Jesus Was the God-Man, Not the God-Superman.” As such, they argue, Jesus sometimes experienced doubt. By becoming the God-Man, Jesus took on our human nature, “warts and all.” The authors argue that “part of what he received from us in his humanness was our ability to doubt—and doubt he did.” They contend, “Doubt is a…
