Former editor of Christianity Today, Mark Galli, wrote a jaw-dropping column last week. Galli’s essay discusses where the next generation of evangelical leadership is going to emerge from. Will it be from among “elite evangelicalism” (e.g., Fuller Seminary, CT, Intervarsity Press, World Vision, etc.), or will it be from among the constellation of “reactionary Reformed conservatives” (e.g., Doug Wilson)? Galli then goes on to talk about his tenure at Christianity Today and what it revealed to him about the priorities of “elite evangelicalism.” He writes, Elite evangelicalism (represented by CT, IVPress, World Vision, Fuller Seminary, and a host of other establishment organizations) is too often “a form of cultural accommodation…
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Summary Judgments on Social Media Contradict Scripture
John Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian Life (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2008), 843: Many theological controversialists today set themselves up as Internet gurus, declaring brothers and sisters to be excommunicate on their say-so alone, showing contempt for the authority of the church, which alone has been authorized by God to make such judgments, and violating God’s standards requiring protection of the accused. Many of these have no scruples about spreading lies to anybody who will listen. It never occurs to them that they have a responsibility to protect the reputations of fellow Christians, even those with whom they disagree.
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John Murray on Truth and Bearing False Witness
John Murray, Principles of Conduct (Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 1957), 134-35: No warning or plea is more germane to the question of truth than that we cultivate the reserve and exercise the caution whereby we shall be preserved from rash and precipitate judgments and from the vice of peddling reports that are not authenticated by the proper evidence. And we must also strive to be blinded by no prejudice, nor impeded by the remissness of sloth and indifference, which render us impervious to the force of compelling evidence with which we are confronted. Jealously for truth and for the conviction that is correspondent will make us alert to evidence when it…
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Do seminaries really need to require biblical languages?
Last Wednesday, Dr. Rob Plummer delivered a really important faculty address titled “The Necessity of Biblical Languages in Ministerial Training.” In his lecture, Dr. Plummer takes dead aim at the recent push in some seminaries to do away with biblical language requirements. He shows that this is a horrible idea driven not by concern for the best way to train pastors but by educators who wish to make it easier to get through seminary. It’s a pragmatic carelessness about the core competencies of a pastor. Dr. Plummer masterfully explains why this reasoning fails and why we need to retain the languages in seminary curricula. He says, “Reading the Bible in…
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Biblical Justice vs. Mob Justice
One of the most vicious characters in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities is a woman name Madame Defarge. In the beginning, she appears as a diminutive woman who passively spends her time knitting as French nobility commit great injustices against commoners. The reader comes to find out that this woman is storing up bitter resentments and bloody plans for vengeance against her aristocratic persecutors. Through years of oppression, she is quietly knitting a “hit list” of aristocrats whose blood must be spilled in the coming revolution. Her bloodlust becomes so intense that she begins to sew names on her list that don’t deserve her condemnation. At one crucial…
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An Important Challenge to Egalitarian Claims about Ephesians 5:22
Peter Gurry has an important article titled “The Text of Eph 5.22 and the Start of the Ephesian Household Code” in the most recent issue of New Testament Studies. This article is significant for two reasons. One, this article presents a significant challenge to a common egalitarian reading of Ephesians 5:21-22. Two, the argument appears in the premier academic journal for New Testament scholarship. What does the article say? Here is a literal translation of the Greek text of Ephesians 5:18-22. I’ve laid it out so that you can see the structure of the argument: 18 …be filled with the Spirit 19a by speaking to one another in psalms…
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Martyn Lloyd-Jones on “Preaching Other People’s Sermons”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones: “I hesitated about making any reference at all to the next point–preaching other people’s sermons. I feel that I must mention it because I am assured that it is a not uncommon practice. I have but one comment to make about this–it is utterly dishonest unless you acknowledge what you are doing. I never have understood how a man can live with himself, who preaches other men’s sermons without acknowledgment. He receives the praise and the thanks of people, and yet knows that it is not due to him. He is a thief and a robber; he is a great sinner. But, as I say, the amazing thing…
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Can Calvinists Sing “Softly and Tenderly, Jesus Is Calling”?
John Piper’s message at T4G 2014 was one of the most memorable sermons I have ever heard. His assignment was to preach Romans 9, to explain the doctrine of election, and to show how that doctrine is NOT at odds with the free offer of the gospel to all sinners. At the end of the message, he tells a story about his father, who was a Southern Baptist evangelist. Many “cage-stage” Calvinists would not put Romans 9 together with an old school tent revival, but Piper does. And it’s beautiful. Here’s the description of the message from the T4G website: Why is Romans 9 in the Bible? More specifically, why…
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Should Christians Cuss?
For some time now, I have had a growing pastoral concern about Christians using foul language. This concern has been driven in no small part by well-known pastors who commend the use of foul language and who do so based on foul language that they perceive to be in scripture. They acknowledge that the Bible says that we should not be using certain kinds of language: “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving” (Eph. 5:4). But they also allege that the Bible itself elsewhere uses the very language that it prohibits in Ephesians 5:4. While…
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Looking ahead to the SBC in Nashville
Today Ronnie Floyd — the President of the SBC Executive Committee — announced that over 16,000 messengers have pre-registered for the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. Over 16,000 pre-registered messengers for #SBC21 https://t.co/TVniU8bLrB — Ronnie Floyd (@ronniefloyd) June 9, 2021 To put this number in perspective, you have to keep in mind that 16,000 is about twice the attendance that we had at our last meeting. In fact, we haven’t had this many people show up for an annual meeting since 1995 in Atlanta (see stats at bottom). From the looks of things, this is shaping up to be a watershed convention. From the presidential election to debates…
