As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
From Maranatha Baptist Theological Journal, Vol 3, No. 2, Fall 2013. Reproduced with permission. This installment competes the survey of biblical evdence and concludes the study. Read the full series.
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.
A friend asked me this question, and I have no knowledge of this work. Your opinions appreciated.
Thanks,
Ed
In this excerpt from his book, Preaching and Teaching from the Old Testament, Walter Kaiser explains why the Old Testament should be emphasized more in local churches:1
Let it be affirmed right away that the central theme of both the Old and New Testaments is Christ. Did not our Lord rebuke the two disciples on the road to Emmaus on that first Easter Sunday afternoon for their failure to understand that he was the one to whom all the Law, Prophets, and Writings pointed (Luke 24:25–27)?
Read the series.
The NT seems to say that the unsaved person does not know God. We see this in several places. Let us begin with Galatians 4:
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? (Galatians 4:8-9)
In this book preview from Eerdmans, we see an example of what happens when you impose external categories to redefine the Christian faith: “Although those who claim adherence to the Gospel message of love can be a soothing balm to a nation broken by hatred, white Christianity instead embraces its satanic history of death and oppression.”
The Septuagint (“LXX”) is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, dating to sometime in the mid to early 2nd century B.C. It came about because many Jews living abroad, particularly in Egypt, had lost much of their ability to read and speak Hebrew. They need a translation of the Tanakh (the Hebrew Scriptures) in their own language. The Mediterranean culture was heavily influenced by Hellenism at this time; a legacy of Alexander the Great’s conquests. So, the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek.
In a recent article posted by Tyler, the subject of “Prevenient Grace” came up.
But this raises a broader question.
In your understanding of how far to take the concept “dead in trespassed and sins” and your understanding of regeneration, is it, in theory, possible that anyone can believe?
In this excerpt from his classic Lectures in Systematic Theology, Henry Thiessen explains the concept of prevenient grace:1
This is a draft chapter from the forthcoming book The Words of the Covenant.
Discussion