It is often said that God always answers prayer, and when he does so it will be with one of three answers: ‘Yes’, ‘No’, or ‘Wait’.
That’s too simplistic. In particular, it leaves out the possibility that God may not answer prayer.
Psalm 66 teaches us to take a more realistic approach:
66:18 If I had harbored sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
66:19 However, God heard;
he listened to my prayer.…
Aside from textual difficulties (there are many differences between the most ancient texts on this matter) we are faced with the question of how to explain these exceptionally long life spans (all these individuals were at least 65 when their first child was born, and most lived for up to 1,000 years!). The problem is compounded by the fact that if we put the various data together, we come up with a date for the creation of Adam (about 4004 BC) which would be even more recent if we assumed normal life spans for his descendants!…
C.H. Spurgeon is often quoted as saying: “I take my text and make a beeline to the cross.”
Indeed, for Albert Mohler, this expression summarises Spurgeon’s entire preaching method.
For the record, I can find no evidence that Spurgeon ever said it (see here for corroboration).
But is it the sort of thing that the great preacher might have said? Well, kind of.
Perhaps the nearest thing we can find comes in a story told (with obvious approval) by the 24-year-old Spurgeon:
…A Welsh minister who was preaching last Sabbath at the chapel of my dear brother, Jonathan George, was saying, that Christ was the sum and substance of the gospel, and he broke out into this story:—
A young man had been preaching in the presence of a venerable divine, and after he had done he went to the old minister, and said, “What do you think of my sermon?”
What will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are they baptized for them?
As Thiselton (Shorter Commentary) says, Paul’s main point is clear enough:
…“baptism for the dead” (whatever this means in detail) would be pointless and senseless if there were no resurrection. But since, evidently, they have themselves baptized for the sake of the dead, either some people tacitly assume the truth of the resurrection or else their action is self-contradictory.
5:1 Now a man named Ananias, together with Sapphira his wife, sold a piece of property. 5:2 He kept back for himself part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge; he brought only part of it and placed it at the apostles’ feet. 5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the sale of the land? 5:4 Before it was sold, did it not belong to you?…
Is the book of Jonah historical narrative or fictional narrative? Are we really expected to believe that a man was swallowed by a large fish, survived for three days, and was then spewed out alive?
Does it matter?
For some, the historicity of Jonah is closely tied in to the doctrine of inspiration. Allen quotes F.A. Maloney:
…If the book of Jonah is history, it is part of the evidence for the most important truth imaginable, namely that the Almighty God seeks to bring men to repentance and will pardon those who truly repent.
Bart Ehrman (Jesus, Interrupted, p44) argues that the gospels become progressively anti-Jewish and pro-Roman from Mark through to John. This, of course, assumes, with mainstream scholarship, that Mark was the first, and John the last, of the Gospels to be written.
Ehrman writes,
…‘It is significant that in John’s Gospel, on three occasions Pilate expressly declares that Jesus is innocent, does not deserve to be punished, and ought to be released (Jn 18:38; 19:6; and by implication in Jn 19:12).
Edmund Clowney, Sidney Greidanus, Graeme Goldsworthy, Bryan Chappell, Christopher Wright, David Murray, Christopher Ash and others have done the church a great service by their advocacy, in various ways, of a Christ-centred approach to preaching from the Old Testament.
What’s not to like?
Amid all the enthusiasm, Daniel Block sounds a note or two of caution.
Block agrees that Christ-centred preaching
In The Hermeneutical Spiral, Grant Osborne discusses the issue of ‘distanciation’ (the cultural gap that exists between biblical times and today. Preachers have devised a number of erroneous approaches, including:
Chameleon-like, false teachers are able to adapt their colours to reflect the prevailing attitudes of their own day.
What particular types can be found in our churches today?
