JEMblog

I’ve recently begun a series of posts on ‘Expository Preaching and its Alternatives’.  So far, I’ve glanced at Calvin and Spurgeon.  I have a number of others in mind to look at, including Charles Simeon.  In the meantime, I was interested to read this post over at Soulah Gratia.  The post summarises and recommends J.I. Packer’s early (1960) essay on Simeon which happens to be reprinted in Volume 3 of Packer’s Collected Shorter Writings - ‘Honouring the Written Word of God’.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) is widely regarded as the ‘Prince of Preachers’. Converted at the age of 15, he began preaching soon afterwards. In 1854, at the age of just 19, he was called to the pastorate at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, London. Throughout his life - and well beyond - he published a weekly sermon. These were bound up in annual volumes - The New Park Street Pulpit, and then (following the move to purpose-built premises) the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit.

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Ever since I came to a living faith in Christ at the age of 19, I have been persuaded of the truthfulness and trustworthiness of the Bible.

I also acquired at that time a real desire to study the Christian faith in general, and the Bible in particular.  This led me to my local library where a book that caught my eye was the Bible Handbook by G.W. Foote and W.P. Ball (don’t you just love that pair of names?).  On looking at the book more carefully when I reached home, I realised that it was not at all the kind of thing I was expecting.  Far from being an informative guide to the Bible it turned out to be a compilation of supposed errors and contradictions as uncovered by two ‘freethinkers’.  Well, I thought I would have a good look at these alleged problems and inaccuracies.  I examined carefully any number of bible passages that were supposed to be problemmatic but came to the settled conclusion that the difficulties were apparent, rather than real.  That doesn’t mean, of course, that I found answers to all the questions or solutions to all the problems.  But I did find that the whole exercise confirmed my belief in the inspiration and authority of the Bible.

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Text: Mt 6:11

The Lord’s Prayer is a wonderful prayer: wonderful in its simplicity, and wonderful in its comprehensiveness.  Its several petitions have been likened to the colours of the rainbow.  And, like the colours of the rainbow, there is a definite order here: we are taught to pray first about God’s things (his honour, kingdom, and will), and only then about our things (daily provision, pardon, protection).

Just six words, but full of meaning:-

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Text: Exodus 17:8-16

We stand, as it were, at a mid-point between two vast continents.  Behind us lies the immense unalterable past, with its pleasures and regrets.  In front of us looms the equally vast future, with all its hopes and fears.  The question for the people of God as they move forward into this unexplored and largely unknown new territory is this: Can God be trusted?  All we have is his promise, and sometimes that promise seems to hang by the slenderest of threads.

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‘Off with our shoes, please, for the Holy Trinity is holy ground. Away with figured syllogisms and ordinary arithmetic: here, logic and mathematics do not suffice. The need is rather for a listening ear, an obedient heart (Jn 7:17), rapt adoration, a careful engagement with the Holy Scriptures.’ (Prof Kenneth Grider, Christianity Today).

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I’ve been blogging, over the past day or so, in response to various questions about the Holy Spirit that I’ve been asked to discuss with a small group from my church.

Here I want to put it all together in some kind of order.

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Well, let it be said that ‘The New Perspective on Paul’ is no longer very new.  It has been around for perhaps 30 years, and was first labelled as such by Prof J.D.G. Dunn in the early 1980s.  Nor is it a single perspective, but several, although it has to be said that they have a certain amount in common.

The leading concepts are:-

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It has long been assumed that the chief emphasis in Romans is on justification by faith.This was challenged in 1963 by Stendahl, who argued that pre-occupation with justification by faith was due to the church’s morbid conscience, based on the moral struggles of Augustine and Luther, which the church has read back into Paul. Justification, according to Stendahl, ‘is not the pervasive, organising doctrinal principle or insight of Paul,’ but ‘was hammered out by Paul for the very specific and limited purpose of defending the rights of Gentile converts to be full and genuine heirs to the promises of God to Israel.’ Paul concern is not for his own salvation, for he experienced no qualms about his, but rather the salvation of the Gentiles, that they could come to Christ directly and not through the law. Consequently, the climax of Romans is chapters 9-11, with Paul’s reflections on the relation between the church and the Jews, and chapters 1-8 are just a preface to this. Romans is about God’s plan for the world and about how Paul’s mission to the Gentiles fits into that plan.’

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According to the Network Participant’s Guide, the traits of a prophet are that s/he is discerning, compelling, uncompromising, outspoken, authoritative, convicting, and confronting. Phew! no wonder the gift of prophecy can sometimes seem too hot to handle! Such a set of traits raises important questions about the authority of the prophet, and how this relates to other kinds of authority within the church.I’m going to argue that that the authority (and therefore the accountability) of the prophet is similar to the authority (and accountability) of the teacher.

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I wrote the following to some Christian friends, a number of whom wished their church to move in a more ‘charismatic’ direction.  It is a plea to listen carefully and patiently to those who are more cautious. Keep reading →

I should like to offer a few bits of historical evidence regarding the prophetic gift. One point about this particular evidence is that it comes from the centre, not the fringe, of the evangelical tradition. I would also point out that these examples all relate to times of spiritual awakening (revival).

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