Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Life According to B.B.


The Authority and Inspiration of the Scriptures by Benjamin B. Warfield (1851-1921)

The following is a portion of a short essay originally published in the Westminster Teacher, September 1889. The electronic edition of this article was scanned and edited by Shane Rosenthal for Reformation Ink. It is in the public domain and may be freely copied and distributed.

"Now it goes, of course, without saying, that the apostles were not given this supreme authority as legislators to the Church without preparation for their high functions, without previous instruction in the mind of Christ, without safeguards thrown about them in the prosecution of their task, without the accompanying guidance of the Holy Spirit. And nothing is more noticeable in the writings which they have given the Church than the claim which they pervasively make that in giving them they are acting only as the agents of Christ, and that those who wrote them wrote in the Spirit of Christ. What Paul writes he represents to be “the commandments of the Lord” (1 Cor 14:37), which he therefore transmits in the name of the Lord (2 Thess 3:6); and the gospel that Peter preached was proclaimed in the Holy Ghost (1 Pet 1:12). Every Scripture of the Old Testament is inspired by God (2 Tim 3:16), and the New Testament is equally Scripture with the Old (1 Tim 5:18); all prophecy of Scripture came from men who spake from God, being moved by the Holy Ghost ( 2 Pet 1:20) and Paul’s Epistles differ from these older writings only in being “other”; that is, newer Scriptures of like kind (2 Pet 3:16). When we consider the promises of supernatural guidance which Christ made to his apostles (Matt. 10:19, 20; Mark 13:11; Luke 21:14; John 14 and 16), in connection with their claim to speak with divine authority even when writing (1 Cor 14:37; 2 Thess 3:6), and their conjunction of their writings with the Old Testament Scriptures as equally divine with them, we cannot fail to perceive that the apostles claim to be attended in their work of giving law to God’s Church by prevailing superintending grace from the Holy Spirit. This is what is called inspiration. It does not set aside the human authorship of the books. But it puts behind the human also a divine authorship. It ascribes to the authors such an attending influence of the Spirit in the process of writing, that the words they set down become also the words of God; and the resultant writing is made not merely the expression of Paul’s or John’s or Peter’s will for the churches, but the expression of God’s will. In receiving these books from the apostles as law, therefore, the Church has always received them not only as books given by God’s agents, but as books so given by God through those agents that every word of them is God’s word."

The last installment is forthcoming...

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Speak the Truth in Love


Sometimes you can say something right and true but still be wrong.

Monday, May 29, 2006

Life According to B.B.


The Authority and Inspiration of the Scriptures by Benjamin B. Warfield (1851-1921)

The following is a portion of a short essay originally published in the Westminster Teacher, September 1889. The electronic edition of this article was scanned and edited by Shane Rosenthal for Reformation Ink. It is in the public domain and may be freely copied and distributed.

"Apostolicity thus determines the authority of Scripture; and any book or body of books which were given to the Church by the apostles as law must always remain of divine authority in the Church. That the apostles thus gave the Church the whole Old Testament, which they had themselves received from their fathers as God’s word written, admits of no doubt, and is not doubted. That they gradually added to this body of old law an additional body of new law is equally patent. In part this is determined directly by their own extant testimony. Thus Peter places Paul’s Epistles beside the Scriptures of the Old Testament as equally with them law to Christians (2 Pet 3:16); and thus Paul places Luke’s Gospel alongside of Deuteronomy (1 Tim 5:18). Thus, too, all write with authority (1 Cor 14:37; 2 Cor 10:8; 2 Thess 2:15; 3:6-14)—with an authority which is above that of angels (Gal 1:7, 8), and the immediate recognition of which is the test of the possession of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor 14:37; 2 Thess 3:6-14). In part it is left to be determined indirectly from the testimony of the early Church; it being no far cry from the undoubting universal acceptance of a book as authoritative by the Church of the apostolic age, to the apostolic gift of it as authoritative to that Church. But by one way or another it is easily shown that all the books which now constitute our Bible, and which Christians, from that day to this, have loyally treated as their divinely prescribed book of law, no more and no fewer, were thus imposed on the Church as its divinely authoritative rule of faith and practice."

There is more where that came from...

Friday, May 26, 2006

Life According to B.B.


The Authority and Inspiration of the Scriptures by Benjamin B. Warfield (1851-1921)

The following is a portion of a short essay originally published in the Westminster Teacher, September 1889. The electronic edition of this article was scanned and edited by Shane Rosenthal for Reformation Ink. It is in the public domain and may be freely copied and distributed.

"If, then, the apostles were appointed by Christ to act for him and in his name and authority in founding the Church—and this no-one can doubt; and if the apostles gave the Scriptures to the Church in prosecution of this commission—and this admits of as little doubt; the whole question of the authority of the Scriptures is determined. It will be observed that their authority does not rest exactly on apostolic authorship. The point is not that the apostles wrote these books (though most of the New Testament books were written by apostles), but that they imposed them on the Church as authoritative expositions of its divinely appointed faith and practice. Still less does the authority of the Scriptures rest on the authority of the Church. The Church may bear witness to what she received from the apostles as law, but this is not giving authority to that law but humbly recognizing the authority which rightfully belongs to it whether the Church recognizes it or not. The puzzle which some people fall into here is something like mistaking the relative “authority” of the guide-post and the road; the guide-post may point us to the right road but it does not give its rightness to the road. It has not “determined” the road—it is the road that has “determined” the guide-post; and unless the road goes of itself to its destination the guide-post has no power to determine its direction. So the Church does not “determine” the Scriptures, but the Scriptures the Church. Nor does it avail to say in opposition that the Church existed before the Scriptures and therefore cannot depend on them. The point is, whether the Scriptures are a product of the Church, or rather of the authority which founded the Church. The Church certainly did not exist before the authority which Christ gave the apostles to found it, in virtue of which they have imposed the Scriptures on it as law."

To be continued...

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Too Much To Handle



Do you ever feel like you have bitten off more than you can chew? Tell me about it in the comment section.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Life According to B.B.


The Authority and Inspiration of the Scriptures by Benjamin B. Warfield (1851-1921)

The following is a portion of a short essay originally published in the Westminster Teacher, September 1889. The electronic edition of this article was scanned and edited by Shane Rosenthal for Reformation Ink. It is in the public domain and may be freely copied and distributed.

"Christianity is often called a book-religion. It would be more exact to say that it is a religion which has a book. Its foundations are laid in apostles and prophets, upon which its courses are built up in the sanctified lives of men; but Christ Jesus alone is its chief cornerstone. He is its only basis; he, its only head; and he alone has authority in his Church. But he has chosen to found his Church not directly by his own hands, speaking the word of God, say for instance, in thunder-tones from heaven; but through the instrumentality of a body of apostles, chosen and trained by himself, endowed with gifts and graces from the Holy Ghost, and sent forth into the world as his authoritative agents for proclaiming a gospel which he placed within their lips and which is none the less his authoritative word, that it is through them that he speaks it. It is because the apostles were Christ’s representatives, that what they did and said and wrote as such, comes to us with divine authority. The authority of the Scriptures thus rests on the simple fact that God’s authoritative agents in founding the Church gave them as authoritative to the Church which they founded. All the authority of the apostles stands behind the Scriptures, and all the authority of Christ behind the apostles. The Scriptures are simply the law-code which the law-givers of the Church gave it."

More to come...

An Article from the BRIEFING

Not so huggable (23 May 2006) by Guan at the BRIEFING

I honestly can’t decide which of these quotes from the website of Holy Huggables, a website which sells Jesus and Moses children’s dolls, is more ironic. This:

Currently we offer:

Jesus Huggables with Blue Eyes;
Jesus Huggables with Brown Eyes (limited supply)
Moses Huggables.
or:

We aimed to develop a cuddly doll that could provide children — as well as the rest of us — with a reminder of the 10 Commandments Moses brought down from the mountain.

Um, and what was that third commandment again?
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I can't bring myself to comment on this!

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Is This Really Practical?


Some of you may still doubt that the doctrine of the Trinity is practical. Therefore, I am going to let you speak with A. Craig Troxel. This is my final quote from his article titled, Communion with the Triune God.

"God is one God in three "persons." He is not three entities or forces. We need to take seriously God’s threefold personage, and learn to relate to him appropriately and practically with this in mind. We may be tempted to ask, “Is this really important?” Is this just a theological detail that makes no real practical difference?” Will this actually change the way I walk as a Christian or how I pray or how I think about God?” These are important questions. And the answer is that thinking about communion with our triune God is important, and that it can and should make a real difference in how we relate to God.

More specifically, it ought to make a profound and practical difference in our ability to enter into a closer walk with God. First of all, anything that is biblical should be practical, because the Word of God is useful for teaching us, rebuking us, correcting us, and training us in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16). If this teaching on communion with the triune God is faithful to Scripture, then it ought to help us to obey and to enjoy more fully the fruit of God’s command: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (Jas. 4:8).

Secondly, we must be careful not to fall into error when we seek to relate to God. On the one hand, we must not focus too narrowly on one person of the Trinity at the expense of the others. One group of Christians–the “Jesus Only” or “Oneness” movement–so stresses Jesus, as the summation and apex of the revelation of God, that he is to be adored above the other members of the Trinity. Some liberal braches of the church ignore the Son of God and focus on the loving Father of humankind. And some churches so severely understate the divinity and personality of the Holy Spirit that he ends up being characterized as nothing more than a force. These are three examples of anti-Trinitarian thought or practice. Yet there are orthodox Christians who avoid God the Gather out of fear, or bypass the mediating role of Christ in prayer, or avoid speaking of the Holy Spirit for fear of sounding like a charismatic. Christians can so neglect the so neglect the distinct members of the Trinity that they become Unitarians in practice, even though such an idea would utterly repulse them in principle.

On the other hand, we must not think about our communion with God too abstractly or broadly. It is possible to consider our communion with God so theoretically, so abstracted from life, that it becomes merely an exercise in mystical contemplation. Our practice should conform to our preaching, and our life must reflect our faith in the triune God.

Perhaps it is helpful to think practically of communion with God in terms of how we as parents relate to our children. My children look to my wife and me as their parents, but they often look to her specifically as their mother or to me specifically as their father. In most matters, my wife and I present a “unified front.” But there are those moments when my children need their mother or their father for what we uniquely represent, or for what we individually can give by way of affection, instruction, or emotional support, or for how we in particular can listen and talk to them. Summer camps exist for these special relationships, recognizing what every parent knows: some conversations are more ideally suited to the father as a father or to the mother as a mother.

The same is true for our relationship with God. We relate to the living and true God, who is one and who is also in three persons. We are right to look uniquely to the Gather as his children in some matters, even as we look particularly to Christ for sympathy as the one who partook of our nature, and just as we look to the Spirit especially as the agent of comfort.

Understanding our relationship to God in this manner should bear the fruit of a closer walk with God. It should be a relationship in which we share in the sufferings and risks of knowing Christ. It should be a communion in which we grew in our desire for God. A friendship that is marked by mutual listening and speaking, loving and longing, and striving and drawing closer together. A fellowship that is typified by deepening solidarity–our sanding for Christ and his standing with us. A walk that know the sorrows, joys, and rewards of an intimate bond with God and proves faithful and strong enough to endure every trial, battle, or illness. A bond of such goodness that it endures every challenge and overcomes every evil, against all human hope. A communion in which we enjoy “the unbreakable ties of friendship and sacrifice,” inseparably joined to God in love for all eternity."

Monday, May 22, 2006

The Jester


Seems I've imagined Him all of my life
As the wisest of all of mankind
But if God's Holy wisdom is foolish to men
He must have seemed out of His mind

For even His family said He was mad
And the priests said a demon's to blame
But God in the form of this angry young man
Could not have seemed perfectly sane

When we in our foolishness thought we were wise
He played the fool and He opened our eyes
When we in our weakness believed we were strong
He became helpless to show we were wrong
And so we follow God's own fool
For only the foolish can tell-
Believe the unbelievable
And come be a fool as well


So come lose your life for a carpenter's son
For a madman who died for a dream
And you'll have the faith His first followers had
And you'll feel the weight of the beam
So surrender the hunger to say you must know
Have the courage to say I believe
For the power of paradox opens your eyes
And blinds those who say they can see

When we in our foolishness thought we were wise
He played the fool and He opened our eyes
When we in our weakness believed we were strong
He became helpless to show we were wrong
And so we follow God's own fool
For only the foolish can tell-
Believe the unbelievable
And come be a fool as well


So we follow God's own Fool
For only the foolish can tell
Believe the unbelievable,
And come be a fool as well

Lyrics of Michael Card's song, God's Own Fool, from the album - Joy in the Journey

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Something Practical...


As we continue our discussion of the practical nature of the Trinity. I will quote a section of A. Craig Troxel's article about communion with the Triune God:

"All areas of our covenant relationship to God are triune. Our justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification are triunely planned, purchased, and applied. Our access to God is through Christ, by the Spirit, and to the Father (Eph. 2:18). The gifts of the Spirit are won by Christ and offered to the Father (1 Cor. 12:4-6). Our worship is through the mediation of Christ, by the Spirit, and presented to the Father. Our prayers are in the name of Christ, by the Spirit, and addressed to the Father. All that we have from God and enjoy with him is triune.

Our communion with God is uniquely related to each distinct person of the Godhead. Nevertheless, it is never exclusive to the individual persons or separate from the other persons in the triune counsel. In other words, even though we have unique expectations with respect to each member of the Godhead, we can never isolate our relationship with one member of the Trinity from our relationship with the other persons.

For example, our adoption into the family of God particularly describes our relationship with our heavenly Father and the love that he has lavished on us (1 John 3:1). Yet it is the Holy Spirit – “the Spirit of adoption” – who testifies to our sonship (Rom. 8:15-16). And it is Christ, our “elder brother,” who won this grace for his “brothers” who will become his fellow heirs (Heb. 2:11-12; Rom. 8:17).

The same could be said of the work of creation, our redemption, our effectual calling, and so on. Scripture may attribute that word first or more particularly to one member of the Trinity, but it will never exclude the other members of the Trinity from that work. Every communication of grace from God is given to us triunely – distinctly but jointly, uniquely but unitedly. Our communion with God is communion with the entirety of the Trinity, and there is no communion with God that is not. We relate, then, to one divine counsel of three. And yet we relate intimately and uniquely with each person of the Trinity.

In the months ahead, we will look at how to understand our intimate and mutual covenantal bond with each person of the Godhead. We will consider how our communion with God the Father is distinguished by love, how our communion with God the Son is typified by grace, and how our communion with the Spirit is characterized by comfort. That is, we relate to the Father, from whom the gospel of love originates (1 John 4:9), to the Son, from whose fullness of merited grace we receive grace upon grace (John 1:16), and to the Spirit, who is the chief agent of our comfort (John 14:26). Again, although our communion with each member of the Trinity is unique, that does not mean that the other members of the Trinity do not share in the communications of love, grace, and comfort. It simply means that we look to each member of the Trinity for certain things.”

To be continued…

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

"King of the Hill" offers a cutting critique of the church!

Something Practical...


Unfortunately, most people don't think that the doctrine of the Trinity is practical. That couldn't be further from the truth. Enjoy this excerpt from A. Craig Troxel's article "Communion with the Triune God."

"Communion with God is an intimate, mutual, covenantal bond between God and his people. The biblical word for "communion" (koinonia) refers to participation in a fellowship or association in which one shares or enjoys things in common with others. It conjures up such ideas as intimacy, familiarity, or closely walking with someone else in a close and trusted alliance. So, with respect to God, communion or fellowship suggests that we walk with God as friends, truly knowing him. This is not merely knowing things about God or knowing what the Bible teaches concerning him, but knowing God as a person. And, as in any friendship, this means listening and speaking, loving and longing, and striving and drawing closer together.

Of course, such communion is impossible between God and sinful humankind. Our race has fallen from the original innocent state in which we were created and is now marked by sin and misery. How can a sinful people commune with a holy God? "What fellowship has light with darkness?" (2 Cor. 6:14). The Bible teaches that in this state people cannot worship God aright, have no regard for what God says, and do not seek after God or his intimate friendship. Rather, fallen creatures seek to distance themselves from God in a relationship of enmity and conflict (Rom. 8:7; Eph. 2:3). The breach between humankind and its Creator is so wide that it cannot be bridged–at least not by us.

But, by God's grace, what is impossible for man is possible with God. God has powerfully summoned us by the Holy Spirit, regenerated us, and enabled us to embrace Jesus Christ by faith as our Savior. Through our union with Christ in his death and resurrection, we stand before God in peace and in right relationship. Every barrier that once stood between God and us is now cast down by Christ. He has taken those who were covenant enemies and made them covenant friends. He has taken those who were far away and brought them near.

More than this, God invites us to draw ever nearer to him through Christ by the Holy Spirit and the means of grace (prayer, the Word of God, and the sacraments). And as we draw closer to him we are increasingly molded and renewed after the image of God in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, so that we mirror our God more and more, love what God loves, hate what God hates, and pursue what he commends.

Yet now that we see how this communion has been make possible, how is it lived out in actuality? What does it mean to have communion with God in three persons?"

More to come...

Monday, May 15, 2006

Calgon Take Me Away!


My last final today...job search...presbytery requirements...estranged family members visiting for graduation...and UHHHHHHH!

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Reality Check

I am sure that you have seen those cheesy optimistic motivational posters. Yep, those are the ones. Well someone was finally brave enough to make some posters that reflect reality. Lets be honest...

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

All Mixed Up


fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too
Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Thought for the Day




It is with fire that blacksmiths iron subdue
Unto fair form, the image of their thought:
Nor without fire hath any artist wrought
Gold to its utmost purity of hue.
Nay, nor the unmatched phoenix lives anew,
Unless she burn.

--Michelangelo Buonarotti
Sonnet 59

Michelangelo is well known as a sculptor, artist
and architect; less well so as a poet. However, he
wrote a large number of sonnets, including many
(and madrigals as well) to his long-time friend Vittoria
Colonna. His poetry often had a theme related to sculpture
or painting.

One of the strongest characteristics of genius is the power of lighting its own fire. --John Foster