The authorship of the Pastoral Epistles

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Within the world of New Testament scholarship, the idea that the Pastoral Epistles (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus) were written by the Apostle Paul is generally rejected.

New Testament scholar I.H. Marshall has discussed this from an evangelical perspective, suggesting that these letters may contain, in substance, the work of someone writing after Paul’s death, but in a Pauline tradition, without any intention to deceive.  “These are the things that I think Paul would have written if he were still alive.” …

Pseudonymity

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The issue is of a writing seeming to bear a claim to have been written by a given author but commonly understood to have been written by someone else.  This practise was not uncommon in antiquity.  An apocalyptic writing, for example, might bear the name of some great individual from the past, such as Moses.  It is not known if the original readers of such a writing would have taken it as having come from the hand of the stated author. …

Theology of Prayer 7 – Objections to prayer (iii)

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B.M Palmer, Theology of Prayer, ch. 7

The 3rd objection is that prayer is unwarranted from answers witheld.

This objection might be stated thus: ‘In the very instances where we might have antecedently anticipated the divine interposition we are often disappointed; leaving the alternative, either that God was unrighteous in his denial, or that his providence did not cover the case, and the prayer was unwarranted and gratuitous.’

1.  We may err in assuming the request to be right, and that God was under obligation to hear and grant the request.…

Theology of Prayer 6 – Objections to prayer (ii)

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B.M. Palmer, Theology of Prayer, ch. 6

The 2nd objection is that prayer has no place in a government of law.

This objection may be thus stated: ‘As God governs the universe by determinate and fixed laws, there is no place in such a system for prayer; which is without significance, in that it demands continual intervention in the mechanism of nature.’

We are not obliged to show how or why prayer articulates itself in the government of God, but only to investigate the claim that prayer cannot have a place in that government.…

Reviews of a recent book discussing ‘inerrancy’

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I was interested to learn of the fairly recent publication of:-

The Divine Spiration of Scripture: Challenging Evangelical Perspectives
A.T.B. McGowan
Apollos (an imprint of Inter-Varsity Press), 2007, 229pp.
£14.99, ISBN: 978-1-84474-220-2

Apparently, in addition to advocating the notion of ‘spiration’ instead of ‘inspiration’, the author challenges the concept of biblical ‘inerrancy’, arguing instead for ‘infallibility’.  Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, it has attracted rather hefty criticism from those whose position it questions.

Some reviews (mainly critical of the author’s proposals) can be found here, here, here, here and here.…

Theology of Prayer 5 – Objections to prayer (i)

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B.M Palmer, Theology of Prayer, ch. 5

Once the duty of prayer has been established in its own right, no number of objections can militate decisively against it.  B.M. Palmer writes:-

Truth is not to be weighed in a pair of scales balancing duty against difficulty, as though the one can be cancelled by the other; for no positive duty can be dislodged, until the evidence on which it rests shall be itself swept away.

…

Craig Blomberg on ‘Inerrancy’

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Craig Blomberg is Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary.  He’s the author of a number of fine books, including one on the Historical Reliability of the Gospels and another on the The Historical Reliability of John’s Gospel.

I was interested to read this recent interview with Blomberg on Justin Taylor’s blog, Between Two Worlds.

Blomberg shows that the kind of approach to the inerrancy question that James Orr was advocating a century ago is still, thankfully, alive and kicking.…

Theology of Prayer 4 – Prayer a universal duty

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B.M Palmer, Theology of Prayer, ch 4

That prayer is a universal duty is seen in the following:-

1.  The express command of God

  • Mt 6:6 – “When you pray…”
  • Mt 7:7 – “Ask…seek…knock.”
  • Lk 18:1 – ‘…to show them that they should always pray and not give up.’
  • Eph 6:18 – ‘pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.’
  • Phil 4:6 – ‘…in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’
…

James Orr on ‘inerrancy’

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I noted in an earlier post that debate about the inerrancy of Scripture has been sharper in North America than in Britain.  This is due to a considerable extent to the contrasting views taken by the Princeton theologians in America and their British counterparts.  Now, I love the Princeton theologians – B.B. Warfield is a special favourite of mine – but I continue to have a few problems with the concept of inerrancy.

One of the leading scholars on the British side was the Scot, James Orr (1844-1913). …

Parts of Prayer (cont’d)

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Confession and supplication together form the language of guilt, with which we must all approach the Almighty.

If man’s first duty is obedience to God’s law, then, having transgressed the law, his first responsibility is to repent and confess.…