F.F. Bruce – a ‘liberal evangelical’?

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Frederick Fyvie Bruce (1910-1990) was one of the most distinguished of the evangelical biblical scholars who flourished during the second half of the 20th century.

I have often thought of Bruce as a ‘liberal evangelical’ (whereas I would characterise his fellow-Scot William Barclay as an ‘evangelical liberal’).  Make of that what you will.

In Re-views by an Evangelical Biblical Scholar, Robert H. Gundry ponders Tim Grass’s biography: F.F. Bruce: A Life.

In the process of his review, Gundry summarises the (slightly uneasy?)…

2 Cor 12:7 – ‘A thorn in the flesh’

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12:7 So that I would not become arrogant, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to trouble me—so that I would not become arrogant. 12:8 I asked the Lord three times about this, that it would depart from me. 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Murray Harris (Navigating Tough Texts) identifies the following characteristics of Paul’s ‘thorn in the flesh’:

1.…

2 Cor 12:12 – ‘The signs of an apostle’

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12:11 I have become a fool. You yourselves forced me to do it, for I should have been commended by you. For I lack nothing in comparison to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing. 12:12 Indeed, the signs of an apostle were performed among you with great perseverance by signs and wonders and powerful deeds.

Two questions may be raised.  An exegetical question: do these ‘signs of an apostle’ to refer to miracle-working, or more broadly to a life and ministry consistent with that of an apostle? …

The biological basis for gender-specific behaviour

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Based on Gregg Johnson, in Recovering Biblical manhood and womanhood, ch. 16.  1997.  Available online.

1. Ethological observations

Among most higher social mammals males

  • are more aggressive
  • take dominant leadership roles
  • are more territorial and competitive
  • are more reactive and less cautious

Females:

  • are more involved in parenting
  • tend to socialise more horizontally and equally with other females
  • are cautious in mating, seeking out more dominant males
  • are more concerned with parenting, nurturing and maintaing pair bonds
  • are less confrontative and combative and more interested in building and maintaing social bonds
  • are peacemakers, seeking conformity to group expectations

From anthropological studies:

  • ‘Males are almost always the rule makers, hunters, builders, fashioners of weapons, workers in metal, wood, or stone.’
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Jn 20:29; 2 Cor 5:7; Heb 11:1 – Faith and sight

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Jn 20:29 – ‘Jesus said to [Thomas], “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are the people who have not seen and yet have believed.”’

2 Cor 5:7 – ‘We live by faith, not by sight.’

Heb 11:1 – ‘Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.‘

The danger for preachers (and others) is to appeal to these texts to support the idea that [Christian] faith does not rely on evidence; that it is a leap in the dark.…

Rev 13:18 – ‘His number is 666’

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Rev 13:18 This calls for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the beast’s number, for it is man’s number, and his number is 666.

There have been two main ways of explaining this number.

1. The number of Nero

This is been the identification traditionally and in much recent scholarship.

In Greek and Hebrew, numbers were written using letters of the alphabet in the 1st century, and in that language the letters making up ‘Nero Caesar’ add up to 666.…

The Ascension of Christ

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Lk 24:50 Then Jesus led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 24:51 Now during the blessing he departed and was taken up into heaven.

The ascension is described just three times in the NT (Mk 16:19; Acts 1:9).  But it is referred to in eleven other books.

It is intimated by our Lord in Jn 6:62; 7:33, and anticipated in Psa 68:18 (cited in Eph 4:8).

1. Its manner

It was not a mere disappearance, as at Emmaus.…

The cult of self-worship

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Self-worship is, arguably, the fastest-growing religion of our day.

According to David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons:

  • 84 percent of Americans believe that “enjoying yourself is the highest goal of life.”
  • 86 percent believe that to enjoy yourself you must “pursue the things you desire most.”
  • 91 percent affirm this statement: “To find yourself, look within yourself.”

And there is no reason to suppose that the picture is very different here in the UK.

The Westminster Catechism’s answer to the question about ‘chief end of man’ has been turned upside down: ‘the chief end of man is to glorify and enjoy himself forever.’…

The flowering of the cross

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Jim Gordon quotes Stanley Hauerwas:

‘If forgiveness were forgetting then God would have to suffer the most acute amnesia, but it is God’s unimaginable creativity, which takes what we have done and makes it fruitful. The medieval image of God’s forgiveness was the flpowering of the cross. The cross is the ugly sign of torture. It is the sign of humanity’s ability to refect love and to do what is utterly sterile. But the artists of the middle ages showed this cross flowering on Easter Sunday.

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1 Pet 3:1-2 – Silent witness?

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1 Peter 3:1-2 In the same way, wives, be subject to your own husbands. Then, even if some are disobedient to the word, they will be won over without a word by the way you live, 3:2 when they see your pure and reverent conduct.

It is fashionable these days for people to ‘big up’ this text in order to excuse themselves and others from the responsibility to witness verbally to the Lord Jesus Christ.

We say:

‘Actions speak louder than words’.

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