Author Archives: admin

Preaching: Christ-centred, God-focused, or Trinitarian?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

I have sometimes wondered if enthusiasm for Christ-centred preaching can lead to a neglect of God-centred, or, indeed, a fully-rounded Trinitarian approach.

This is touched on by Sidney Greidanus, in chapter 5 of Preaching Christ From the Old Testament.

Greidanus agrees that ‘christological preaching’ can indeed sometimes slide into ‘Christomonism’, the preaching of Christ isolated from God.  Some, such as Wilhelm Vischer, held that

‘the theological exposition of the [Old Testament] writings within the church can be nothing other than Christology.’

…

What was God doing when John was beheaded (Mk 6)?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Ian Paul remarks that, in preaching from the account of John the Baptist’s beheading, it is tempting to take an anthropocentric approach, in which:

‘It is…a game of consequences, [with] each stage of the drama unfolding tragically but with some inevitability into the next. What happens if you are born into a family whose patriarch is a ruthless but insecure tyrant (Herod the Great) who forged a regime from nothing and was a monumental builder, but achieved this by having his own wife and two sons executed?

…

What language(s) did Jesus speak?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

According to Peter G. Bour:

‘Given his environment, it is certainly possible that Jesus had some ability in Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew, and was able to use each in the appropriate setting.’

Pate cites Stanley Porter:

‘Jesus would probably be best described as productively multilingual in Greek and Aramaic, and possibly Hebrew, though only Aramaic would have been his first language, and Greek and Hebrew being second or acquired languages.’

Taking each of these three languages in turn:

1.…

“Follow me”

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Jesus’ command: “Follow me” might at first sound like: “Come with me.”

Scot McKnight writes:

‘The most important words Jesus said to his disciples were “Follow me.” To Levi Jesus said, “Follow me” (Mark 2:14). To a less-than-certain-about-following-Jesus-person Jesus said, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead” (Matthew 8:22), and to the crowd and his disciples, Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34).

…

Masters and slaves in Christ

Walking With Giants Posted on by

In the course of a discussion about Jonathan Edwards and slavery, John Piper notes:

I believe that the New Testament ordered human relationships in Christ in such a way as to transform the master-slave relationship into something so different from “owner” and “property” that what remained was no longer recognizable as slavery in the traditional sense. To say it another way, when the New Testament instructions to masters and slaves were obeyed, what was left of the master-slave relationship was not a relationship of owner and property.…

John Calvin on errors in Scripture

Walking With Giants Posted on by

I appreciate the work that Wyatt Houtz has done in demonstrating John Calvin’s approach to various apparent discrepancies in the Bible.

Here’s briefest of summaries.  In most cases, I have elaborated in my Bible Commentary on the various passages.

Gen 1:14:16 – Calvin knows that the Moon is not larger than Saturn, and that the Moon is a dark opaque body and not a luminary.  Calvin concludes that the author of Genesis is justified in using unscientific language, in order for God’s revelation to be understood by ordinary people.…

Mt 26:39/Mk 14:36/Lk 22:42 – “Let this cup pass from me!”

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Mt 26:39 Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Mk 14:36 He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Lk 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me.…

1 Jn 5:20 – ‘The true God’

Walking With Giants Posted on by

5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us insight to know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This one is the true God and eternal life.

Is John referring to the Father or to the Son as ‘the true God’?

(a) Some commentators understand John to mean that ‘the true God’ refers to the Father (so Westcott, Dodd, Grayston, Smalley, Stott).  …

‘A more Christlike God’ – 7

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Summarising chapter 7 – ‘The Cross as Divine Consent’

The relationship between God and his people is not that of a ‘forced marriage’:

‘God has given us free will and we can freely accept or reject his proposal.’

But what if we decline?  “Please accept my gracious offer…or else!”

We have seen that God is Christlike – and his nature is therefore cruciform (Cross-shaped) and kenotic (self-giving).

But how can such a God be said to reign?…

Lk 17:21 – “The kingdom of God is in your midst”

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Lk 17:20 Now at one point the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was coming, so he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, 17:21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

Various interpretations have been proposed:

(a) Some think that this is a later addition to the Gospel, attempting to deal with the so-called ‘delay of the Parousia’ and seeking to ‘spiritualise’ the notion of the kingdom of God.…