Category Archives: Keller, Tim

Guidelines on male headship in marriage

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In their book The Meaning of Marriage Tim and Kathy Keller suggest what obeying the pattern of male headship set out in Ephesians 5:21-33 might look like:

The husband’s authority (like the Son’s over us) is never used to please himself but only to serve the interests of his wife. Headship does not mean that the husband simply ‘makes all the decisions,’ nor does it mean he gets his way in every disagreement. Why? Jesus never did anything to please himself (Romans 15:2-3). …

Is religious belief culturally determined?

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If you were born in the UK, then your religion (if any) would probably be Christian.  If, however, you were born in Morocco, you would probably be a Muslim.  This shows (so the argument goes) that religious belief is not something that determined by a calm consideration of the evidence, but rather by where, and by whom, you were raised.

There is, however, a rather glaring problem with this argument, in that it applies to the pluralist who thinks that all religions are equally valid (or equally invalid).  …

The blind men and the elephant

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A famous Indian fable tells of a number of a blind men who try to describe an elephant.  One, touching its side, declares that it is ‘like a wall’.  Another, feeling the tusk, think that it is ‘like a spear’.  Yet another, encountering its trunk, says that it is ‘like a snake’.  Other contenders are ‘like a fan’ (the ear), ‘like a rope’ (the tail) and so on.

The intended moral of the story is clear: no-one has a monopoly on the truth.  …

The Bible and same-sex relationships

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When advocates of same-sex relationships seek to build a biblical case for their point of view, what are the main arguments they advance, and how might we respond to these?

1. ‘It’s different when you get to know gay people personally’

Some people change their views about homosexual behaviour when they get to know gay people personally.  Now it’s very important to us to get to know fellow-sinners of all stripes.  And we are much less likely to demonise people once we find that they too are human beings and not just ‘objects’.  …

Preaching Christ from every theme of the Bible

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How can we preach Christ from all the Scriptures?  Tim Keller outlines how each of the major themes of the Bible gives an opportunity for pointing to our Lord and Saviour:-

  1. Kingdom.  Jesus is the true King and he claims the whole world as his rightful domain.  In serving him we find perfect freedom.
  2. Covenant.  We were made for relationships that are intimate yet binding.  God claims us for his own, so that he can be our God, and we his people.  
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Jesus, the true and better

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‘All the major figures and leaders of the Scriptures point us to Christ’, writes Tim Keller.  Consider the following:-

Jesus is the true and better Adam, who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us (1 Corinthians 15).

Jesus is the true and better Abel, who, though innocently slain, has blood that cries out for our acquittal, not our condemnation (Hebrews 12: 24).

Jesus is the true and better Abraham, who answered the call of God to leave the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void “not knowing whither he went” to create a new people of God.

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Preach love, as well as truth

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Whatever captures the heart’s trust and love also controls the feelings and behavior.  What the heart most wants, the mind finds reasonable, the emotions find valuable, and the will finds doable.  It is all-important, then, that preaching move the heart to stop trusting and loving other things more than God.  What makes people into what they are is the order of their loves – what they love most, more, less, and least.  That is more fundamental to who you are than even the beliefs to which you mentally subscribe. 
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Preach reality, as well as truth

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To engage the heart is also to engage the imagination, and the imagination is more affected by images than by propositions.  Here, we are talking about what are usually termed “sermon illustrations.”  Over the past generation, preachers have recaptured the importance of story.  Common sense tells us that stories capture interest and stick in the mind, and so preachers are often advised to lace their sermons liberally with narratives.  However, we should think a bit more deeply about why they are so effective. 
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Unlocking the mind of the unbeliever

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In a recent article in Evangelicals Now, Andrew Baughen reports on a gathering of UK evangelists with Tim Keller.  The Clerkenwell Sympsium, as the gathering was called, explored an approach to evangelism that seeks to uncover the various barriers to belief and to suggest ways of overcoming these, so as to lead a person, using a conversational approach, towards an understanding of God’s point of view.

A.  RELATIONSHIP BUILDING – Go to people as Christ’s ambassador

Lock 1: Truth suppressed by wickedness (Romans 1.18)

  • Unbelievers avoid Christians when they know they will be challenged about their lifestyle.
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