The problem with the doctrine of inerrancy, as many hold to it, is that it is too weak. The question, as it is usually posed, is whether or not the Bible contains errors. The liberal says that it does and the conservative says that it does not. On one level, the conservative answer is of …
Foundations of Marriage VIII
Introduction: We have seen that the creation of man, male and female, is not unrelated to God’s pronouncement that the whole creation was “very good.” But the same thing is true of the new creation in Christ. In the new creation, the relation of husbands and wives plays an important part in the worship of …
Arrogance and Certainty
Andrew Sandlin asks why, if I do not believe my observations and pronouncements to be on a par with Scripture, I speak as confidently as I do. In this confidence, Andrew sees the hallmarks of religious arrogance. My answer to this (in brief) is that the Bible teaches that when the bugle blows indistinctly, no …
N. T. Wright at Auburn 2005
The bulk of my review of N.T. Wright’s presentations at Auburn 2005 will be occupied with concerned observations and/or criticisms, so I need to establish the context of all this in the first couple of paragraphs. In all my years of listening to Christian speakers, I have to say that I have never heard anyone …
Richard Gaffin at Auburn 2005
Richard Gaffin is a gracious Christian gentleman, who really knows his subject. I learned a great deal from his talks, and appreciated how careful he was being. Some of this was no doubt because of the setting, for, after all, he was speaking at the Auburn Avenue Pastors’ Conference. This means that his words are …
Auburn 2005
The Auburn Avenue Pastors’ Conference 2005 just concluded this last Wednesday, and I just got back from Louisiana last night. I’d like to briefly review the conference in three posts. Here in the first one I would like to thank the conference organizers and the participants for a very helpful conference, both in terms of …
An Applied Bible
Andrew’s Sandlin’s recent response to me helpfully pin-pointed the one area where I think we genuinely differ, which is in the area of scriptural applications. First, he began by thanking me for not employing satire, invective, and so on, in my response to him. He noted that such tactics in Scripture are to be employed …
Stage Directions
This morning you will notice a few alterations in our liturgy that we wanted to go over with you beforehand. First, we will no longer be announcing any of the hymns or psalms beforehand. We will try to give you a moment to locate where we are in the bulletin, but are trying to keep …
As It Is In Heaven
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Glorious Father, we assemble before You now in the kindness of Jesus Christ our Savior. We praise Your infinite wisdom and knowledge, for You alone were able to bring creatures like us into Your presence. We assemble before You now in the …
Partaking
As we have considered in the course of the message, there is no such thing as a nature/grace dichotomy. Nature is grace, and grace, rooted as it is in the very nature of God, is entirely natural. When we come to this table, we are certainly partaking of Christ. But we are not doing this …