In years past, my customary mode for reading through the Bible every year involved starting in Genesis and reading right through to Revelation. I estimated that about four chapters per day would get me through in under a year’s time. The method worked reasonably well, but it wasn’t without its problems. Sometimes I would miss a day (or days) and get behind, and I had no way to keep up with my progress. I needed a schedule so that I could keep myself accountable for finishing in a year. In 2009, therefore, I did something I had never done before. I followed a Bible reading plan. I adopted Robert Murray…
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Are counter-imperial readings of the Bible about to make a comeback?
Over the weekend, Mike Bird made a canny prediction on Twitter: I predict with a Trump presidency that empire criticism is about to get jacked, ripped, and buffed in the coming 4 years. — mbird (@mbird12) December 11, 2016 If you are not familiar with “empire criticism,” it is an approach to reading the Bible (especially the New Testament) that approaches Scripture as a “coded” critique of imperial regimes. According to this approach, those who are reading the biblical text carefully will notice parallels between gospel terminology and that of the first century Caesar cult. When read in that light, it is clear that the gospel is meant to oppose…
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Charles Ryrie’s rare Bible collection sells for $7.3 million dollars at Sotheby’s auction
When Dr. Charles Ryrie passed away earlier this year, I mentioned that he had owned a vast collection of rare Bibles, including an assortment of ancient Greek manuscripts. Dr. Ryrie had invested significant resources in amassing his private collection. For example, one of the Bibles that I once saw in person was a first edition King James Bible published in 1611. This particular edition is one of only nine copies in the world. Dr. Ryrie purchased this Bible at an auction where he outbid the University of Texas Library to obtain it. Like I said, significant resources. Dan Wallace has just written that Ryrie’s collection was sold at auction this…
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Does the congregation have a role in “appointing” elders?
There are many evangelical churches who view their elders as a self-appointing, self-perpetuating leadership body in the church. They do not view the congregation as having much of a role in the selection and ordination of pastors. For them, congregational votes and involvement in the process are American cultural artifacts read into the biblical text, not norms emerging from the witness of scripture. One of the texts often cited as evidence for this view is Titus 1:5, a text in which the apostle Paul gives some very specific instructions to the lead pastor in Crete—Titus. It says this: 5 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you…
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Deep in the Weeds on Monogenēs and Eternal Generation
Last summer, I did something that I had never taken the time to do before. I read the Nicene Creed in Greek. Of course I was very familiar with the English version of the Creed before then, but not so much the Greek. One thing that is clear in the Greek is that the Nicene fathers were interpreting scriptural terms in saying that Jesus is the “only begotten” (monogenēs) and “begotten not made” (gennaō). These terms derive from John’s writings, and the Creed clearly interprets monogenēs to denote “generation” or “begottenness.” That the Son is “begotten not made” and “begotten before all ages” means that the Son’s “only-begottenness” is eternal.…
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Why churches might need to excommunicate “affirming” members of the congregation
Andrew Wilson has a really good article this morning about non-affirming Christians who affirm the Christian bona fides of affirming Christians. Wilson is interacting with Steve Holmes and Alan Jacobs on this point. Both Holmes and Jacobs claim that affirming homosexual relationships is an error, but not one that should call into question the authenticity of someone’s Christian faith. Andrew makes a number of good points in response to this claim, and I would like to add some more here. The question before us is whether gay-affirming sexual ethics are a first order issue or a second order issue. Is it an issue that distinguishes Christian from Christian (like baptism)?…
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Lee Irons has posted a summary of his unpublished paper on MONOGENES
Just a quick follow-up on my last post. Lee Irons has posted a summary of his unpublished paper at The Gospel Coalition website. Obviously, there is much more to his argument than what is included in a single blog post. Still, you can see the broad outlines of his work there. I should also mention that the paper that convinced Grudem to change his view is nearly two years old. Lee has collected even more evidence and data since 2014, and the case for “only-begotten” has gotten even more compelling as a result. The results of that research will appear in a forthcoming volume edited by Fred Sanders and Scott…
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A Note on the Trinity Debate at ETS
I attended the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) last week in San Antonio. There was much that happened there, but of course the focus of much attention was the conference theme—the Trinity. For me, the most significant thing that happened was on day one in the session that featured Kevin Giles, Bruce Ware, Millard Erickson, and Wayne Grudem. While the plenary addresses tended not to address the EFS controversy, this particular session confronted it head-on. The debate was direct and even heated at times, especially in the panel discussion. But in my view the most important thing that happened was Ware’s and Grudem’s unambiguous affirmation of eternal…
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The Doctrine of the Trinity and Complementarianism in Recent Discussions
Reformed Theological Seminary held a conference last weekend on the Trinity. The speakers include my colleague from Southern Seminary Michael Haykin as well as Scott Swain, Ligon Duncan, and D. Blair Smith. The audio from the sessions is now online. I look forward to listening to all of them, but I can already recommend to you Ligon Duncan’s message, which I just finished this morning. It is really wide-ranging and addresses head-on recent controversies. It is titled “The Doctrine of the Trinity and Complementarianism in Recent Discussions.” Here are links to the other messages: Michael Haykin, “Biblical Exegesis in Fourth Century Trinitarian Debates” D. Blair Smith, “Trinitarian Relations in the…
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The Evangelical Theological Society and the Trinity
It is that time of year when all of us Bible nerds relocate ourselves to a non-undisclosed location in order to debate with each other about theology and stuff. This year, the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) will be held in San Antonio, Texas. And the theme is on the Trinity. One might think that this theme emerged in response to the trinity controversy over the summer, but that would be mistaken. This theme was decided long before that. Our topic for the week was entirely coordinated by a smiling Providence. Among the highlights from the program: Millard J. Erickson, “Language, Logic, and Trinity: An Analysis of…
