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‘The Sin of Certainty’ – 3

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In chapter 3 of his book, Peter Enns considers those parts of the Bible that give voice to doubt, rather than certainty.

He looks first at those psalms in which the writer complains that things have gone terribly wrong, and that God seems to have gone AWOL.  They express, in other words, a crisis of faith.  Psalm 88 is a notable example.  Enns feels that he and others have been shielded from such expressions of doubt, and even made to feel guilty for having such feelings themselves.…

“Aha” moments that challenged beliefs about the Bible

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In 2014, Old Testament scholar Peter Enns began a series of posts in which he invited biblical scholars to share key moments when their inherited conservative view of the Bible was challenged, and subsequently modified.

Here’s the (very) distilled essence of each entry in the series:-

  1. Peter Enns – realised that Paul accepted, apparently without demur, the extra-biblical legend about a ‘moveable rock’ (1 Corinthians 10:4).
  2. John Byron – found that Jesus (or Mark) was mistaken about what 1 Samuel 21:1-9 says about David and his men eating the consecrated bread from the tabernacle.
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How much did Jesus know?

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At times – according to the Gospel narratives – Jesus showed evidence of extraordinary knowledge.  This included knowledge of what others were thinking (e.g., Mark 2:6-8; Mark 11:2; John 1:48-49).  But such knowledge is not necessarily evidence of our Lord’s divinity, since at other times he displays ignorance.  And this combination of extraordinary knowledge about some things and ignorance about others also characterised the prophets of the Old Testament.

According to Raymond E. Brown, this limitation does nothing to diminish our admiration for Jesus Christ, for it shows ‘what depths divine condescension went in the incarnation–it would show just how human was the humanity of Jesus.’…

How to begin a sermon

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I’m afraid that many of our hearers would respond to the title of this post by pleading, “Please don’t!”

To be sure, if preachers are brave (or foolhardy) enough to think that they have something worthwhile to say, then they are going to have to work hard during the first 30 seconds of the message if they hope to take any of their hearers with them.

As usual, Bryan Chapell offers sound advice.

Purposes of introductions

To arouse interest in the message.  …

The incarnate Christ did not cease to be divine

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It is one thing to affirm that Christ was (and is) both human and divine.  It is another to seek to understand how these truths relate to one another.

Peter Lewis has some helpful comments on our belief that the incarnate Christ did not cease to be divine.

According to John 1:14, ‘the Word became flesh’.  ‘However,’ writes Lewis, ‘we are not to think of the Son as leaving a sort of gap in the Godhead, a vacancy in the Trinity, at his coming down to earth as a man.  …

‘The Sin of Certainty’ – 2

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Chapter 2 – How We Got Into This Mess

In the second chapter of The Sin of Certainty, Peter Enns sketches what he thinks are the historical roots of the evangelical pro-occupation with right thinking.

He begins by observing that we do not become Christians by working things out rationally, and then coming to a decision, but by other means.  This being the case, then the emphasis which many Christians place on ‘knowing what you believe’ is misplaced.  …

‘The Sin of Certainty’ – 1

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Peter Enns stands in a rather long line of scholars, teachers and leaders (including James Barr, Dave Tomlinson, Brian Maclaren, Robert M. Price, Bart Ehrman, and Steve Chalke) who have, to a lesser or greater extent, turned their backs on the evangelical faith which once nurtured them.  In some cases (Ehrman) it has finished up in agnosticism.  In others (Price) in doubting whether the Jesus of the Bible even existed.  In still others (Tomlinson, Maclaren, and Chalke) there remains a clear profession of Christian faith, while important theological and moral tenets have undergone drastic revision.  …

Make ’em laugh?

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Peter Mead has a short post on pulpit humour.  What follows is based on his thoughts.

Some congregations frown on all attempt by preacher to make them laugh.  For others, it would seem that laughter is next to godliness.  Most of us will take the middle line, avoiding the opposite extremes of laughing at nothing, and laughing at everything.  But even then we need to think carefully about its uses and abuses for the preacher.

  1. Be authentic.  
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Why did Christ become a human being?

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Grudem (Systematic Theology, p541f) outlines a number of reasons.  What follows is based on his discussion.

  1. To be our representative.  Jesus obeyed where Adam had failed to obey.  This is seen in the parallels between the time of testing in the garden, Gen 2:15-3:7, and Jesus’ time of temptation in the wilderness.  It is seen also in Paul’s comparison of Adam and Christ in Rom 5:18f; cf. 1 Cor 15:45,47.
  2. To be our substitute.  
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Docetism in the Qur’an

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Docetism – the belief that Christ did not assume a truly human body at his incarnation – was around in the days of the later New Testament writings, as the epistles of John testify.

It was clearly as rather stubborn heresy, for it is also found within the pages of the Qur’an (7th century).  According to Sura 4:157-158.

And [for] their saying, “Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah.”
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