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The latest issue of Southeastern Theological Review just released (9.1), and it includes an article I wrote on 1 Corinthians 8–10:
“Was It Always Idolatrous for Corinthian Christians to Eat Εἰδωλόθυτα in an Idol’s Temple? (1 Cor 8–10).” Southeastern Theological Review 9 (2018): 23–45.
Here’s the abstract:
Does Paul teach in 1 Cor 8–10 that it was always idolatrous for Corinthian Christians to eat εἰδωλόθυτα [eidōlothuta] in an idol’s temple?
Gordon Fee and other exegetes present three interrelated arguments that the answer is yes:
(1) eating εἰδωλόθυτα in an idol’s temple was an inherently religious event;
(2) εἰδωλόθυτος means meat sacrificed to idols that one eats in an idol’s temple; and
(3) 1 Cor 8 parallels 10:14–22.
...
That’s the title of a 45-page essay I coauthored with Doug Moo:
Moo, Douglas J., and Andrew David Naselli. “The Problem of the New Testament’s Use of the Old Testament.” Pages 702–46 in The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures. Edited by D. A. Carson. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016.
Two years ago I shared the background to that chapter and the book in which it appears.
Now I may share a PDF of the chapter.
...
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It was more than 30 years ago. I was the young (and very green) pastor of a church in a small rural town in southern Iowa. I had just told the chairman of our deacons about my plans to attend the latest and greatest conference on church growth when he said these words to me:
Pastor, I already know how to farm better than I do.
It was, of course, his kind and gentle way of telling me we simply need to do the things we already knew to do rather than constantly seeking the next big thing to make our church grow.
I was reminded again of his words as I recently reviewed this short blog from Jay which we posted nine years ago:
Nevertheless, let us walk on the same level that we have attained.
Philippians 3:16
When you go to church; when you study your Bible; when you learn a biblical truth from a brother of sister, it should change your life.
This verse follows up one in which Paul says that God will help you learn what you don’t already know. But, nevertheless—even though you may not know many...
In 1 Corinthians 6, the phrase “Don’t you know” appears at the beginning of six sentences in verses 2, 3, 9, 15, 16, 19. Amazing! How forgetful and/or neglectful the members of the Corinthian church were. Paul spent about 18 months with them, teaching them everything that he repeats in these six verses, but here, he has to say it all over again.
But he doesn’t simply repeat himself. Rather, he puts each matter in the form of a stinging question which points out their failure to recall or obey what he had told them about God’s will for their lives. Surely, having to do so didn’t mean that their flawed behavior was because of that master teacher’s inability to teach them!
Certainly, today, there are preachers who would like to get into their pulpits and shoot forth a sally of similar questions about what he has been endeavoring to get into the heads—and lives—of his people. But most of them would be afraid to be as bold as Paul. Right? But, now wait a moment. Maybe you can, after all.
Perhaps a way to begin to do something like this is to preach a message on Six Questions that Shouldn’t Have Been...
Therefore, buckling the belts of your minds for action, keeping level-headed, set your hope entirely on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:13
The encouragement that comes in suffering is not mystical; it doesn’t just suddenly appear from nowhere. The Christian himself is responsible for it. If he doesn’t experience the joy, gladness, and hope mentioned in the previous verses, that is his own fault. He cannot complain against God, the church, or anyone else; this verse makes it perfectly plain that he is responsible for developing the hope that will sustain him in trial.
Encouragement in trial is not merely a matter of trusting in God’s promises in some purely intellectual manner. Surely that is important—indeed it is a theme that Peter never really leaves behind—but there is another side to the page; the suffering believer must do good. That doing of good begins with the matter of hope. Right here, at the outset, the believer’s trust in God’s promises is pictured as a matter of obedience: “set your hope on the grace . . .” That is a command, involving a duty. Consistent with...
Does God expect you to cast out demons? Have you wondered whether or not that ought to be an adjunct to your counseling? Some have; others have assured them that it is necessary to do so.
In counseling for 10 hours a day two days a week for many years, I have yet to encounter anyone demon-possessed. Oh, sure, I’ve had people claim that a counselee is; I’ve had counselees say so too. But in every instance, the problem turned out to be something else.
But, enough for my experience. What does God say about the matter? The answer? Nothing.
“Nothing?”
Precisely. He says nothing about it. And because nowhere in the entire New Testament does He command you or me to cast out demons there is no reason to expect that He wants us to do so. We ought never to do in His Name that which He doesn’t command. To do so is to misrepresent Him.
“Are you sure He doesn’t tell us to do it?”
Absolutely. Read your New Testament from beginning to the end and you’ll find no such command. That is an important fact because in Jesus’ parting words to the apostles (Matthew 28) He...
I received the following question today:
Would you comment on the practical ramifications of church discipline when it concerns a family member? Let’s say a woman is divorcing her husband for unbiblical reasons. She has been urged to repent by the elders, her family, and the church. But she refuses to repent. What would you say to the parents, or other family members concerning their relationship to her? Are they to not associate with her as well? For example, if your son or daughter would not repent, would you still have her over for holidays, etc.?
Good question. The several stages in the process are often confused. During church discipline every effort of the entire church, including family members, is turned toward urging the person to repent. This is the “tell it to the church” stage. After that, when he is put out of the church, he is to be treated “as a heathen man and a publican” i.e. as an unbeliever.
So, how do you treat an unbeliever? You evangelize him! You have him over for a barbecue, you go golfing with him, you love him and seek opportunities to talk to him about his need...
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The four Gospels provide infinite opportunities for the Christian to marvel. The words of Christ are captivating. The miracles of Christ are awe-inspiring. And we could go on, endlessly: the purity of Christ, the compassion of Christ, the humility of Christ, and so forth. I’m struck on this Good Friday by the passivity of Christ. […]
The post The Passivity of Christ appeared first on Church Works Media.
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Matthew Lee Anderson and Derek Rishmawy just spoke on their Mere Fidelity podcast to my favorite New York Times columnist, the conservative Catholic Ross Douthat, about his new book To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism, a work critiquing the current pope for his push toward liberalizing the body he leads.
Rishmawy went rather around the block and back again to say it, but I felt he made an excellent point (my transcript, which I spent my whole commute on the bus getting down for you as accurately as I could, removes some verbal clutter):
One thing that struck me is it’s—you’re kind of on the two horns of the ressourcement [the return to the sources that conservatives see in Vatican II] and the aggiornamento [the “getting-with-the-times” updating that liberals like to see in Vatican II]…. The papacy itself is what keeps the thing problematic, because…on a Protestant logic…you can go back to the original sources, whether it’s the text or the fathers and say...
I love Narnia—my whole family does—and my favorite little book on that wonderful land is a meditation on Narnia by an author who learned a few things there. It’s now $2.99 on Kindle—for a brief time. Get it!
There is a veritable ton of great ebooks for sale to celebrate T4G 2018. (Can there be a ton of ebooks? I mean, do two ebooks even weigh more than one ebook?)
Look out for these things in your comment spam (some apply to email spam, too), and you’re less likely to be fooled by it (click image to see full-size):
I don’t really mean that Australia is weird, though I may find out this summer that it is as I take my first trip to the land down under. Germans aren’t weird, either. But most of my legitimate commenters are Americans; that’s all I’m saying. Aussie bloggers might want to be aware of comments ostensibly from Americans!
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