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Contents

Editor’s Note

Jonathan Leeman

FOR THE CHURCH GATHERED

How Biblical Theology Guards and Guides the Church

Right biblical theology offers a trustworthy guide to life in the church, and guards against wrong emphases, wrong expectations, and a wrong gospel.

By Jonathan Leeman

Biblical Theology and Gospel Proclamation

Four biblical strategies to get from any text to the gospel.

By Jeramie Rinne

Biblical Theology and Counseling

Where are we? Who are we? What’s wrong? What’s the remedy?

By Michael Emlet

Biblical Theology and Shepherding

How do you know what a pastor’s fundamental role is? Look to Scripture’s story of shepherding.

By Bobby Jamieson

Sample Sermon: A Pastor’s Job

Note: This sermon was preached at Greenbelt Baptist Church on June 29, 2014. We think it’s a commendable example of using biblical theology to instruct and edify a congregation.

By Mike Christ

Biblical Theology and Corporate Worship

Do Old Testament patterns of worship apply to new covenant church gatherings?

By Bobby Jamieson

FOR THE CHURCH SCATTERED

Biblical Theology and Identity

Here’s what happens when Scripture’s story of sonship tells us who we are.

By Michael Lawrence

Biblical Theology and the Sexuality Crisis

Is “transgender” in the concordance?

By R. Albert Mohler

Biblical Theology and Liberation

Whole-Bible answers to Liberation Theology’s approach to oppression, sin, the Exodus, and more.

By Steven Harris

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Review: The Crucified King, by Jeremy Treat

Reviewed by Bobby Jamieson

Book Review: Preaching? Simple Teaching on Simply Preaching, by Alec Motyer

Reviewed by Nik Lingle

Book Review: All Things for Good, by Thomas Watson

Reviewed by Joey Cochran

Book Review: Taking God at his Word, by Kevin DeYoung

Reviewed by Bobby Jamieson

Book Review: Does God Desire All to Be Saved?, by John Piper

Reviewed by Robbie Hopkins

Book Review: Effective Staffing for Vital Churches, by Bill Easum and Bill Tenny-Brittian

Reviewed by Isaac Adams

Book Review: Christ-Centered Preaching, by Bryan Chapell

Reviewed by Phil Newton

Book Review: Prepared by Grace, For Grace, by Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley

Reviewed by Kevin Wilkening

Audio

Raising Up Leaders with Mark Dever

Mark Dever answers Jonathan Leeman's questions about his strategies for raising up elders in the church.

Posted on July 1, 2014 *Listen Online Now »

Fellowship in the Church with John MacArthur

How do we help church members who prefer anonymity to love and open up to each other?

Posted on June 1, 2014 *Listen Online Now »

* This audio might not be supported by your particular device

Jonathan Leeman

Editor’s Note

In The Beautiful Struggle, Ta-Nehisi Coates tells his own story of growing up as the son of a former Black Panther in West Baltimore in the 1980s and 90s. It was the era in which crack cocaine swallowed whole neighborhoods of Black men, while Black boys got shot over sneakers. Coates looked everywhere for identity—from middle school gangs, to Public Enemy, to the djembe, to waving the red, black, and green of a transcendent African mythology. He writes, “We searched our history for any way out.”

This, in fact, is what biblical theology provides. It is a history that gives fallen humanity a way out. Our plight includes everything faced by West Baltimore, but add to it the wrath of God.

Churches, as much as ever, need to know who they are, where they come from, who their ancestors are. Are we not children of Abraham? Doesn’t our family tree include Moses and David, Rahab and Ruth? Are we not all adopted heirs and coheirs with Christ? Sons of the divine king?

Biblical theology is not just about reading the Bible rightly, though it begins there. It serves to guard and guide the local church. It maintains the right message, defines the task of the messenger, identifies imposters, tells us what we do when we gather, and sets the trajectory of our mission. It answers the question, Who are we, as the church in the world?

Those are some of the topics this issue of the Journal will explore. The goal here is not so much to trace out the Bible’s storyline, but to show how knowing that storyline locates the identity and work of the church in the grand sweep of history.

Jonathan Leeman

How Biblical Theology Guards and Guides the Church

Biblical theology is a way of reading the Bible. It is a hermeneutic. It assumes that Scripture’s many authors and many books are telling one story by one divine author—about Christ.

Sound slightly academic? It is, but…

The discipline of biblical theology is essential to guarding and guiding your church. It guards churches against false stories and wrong paths. It guides the church toward better preaching, better practices, better paths.

BIBLICAL THEOLOGY AS CHURCH GUARD

Think, for instance, of theological liberalism. It recasts the narrative of salvation as God’s work to overcome, say, economic injustice or the self-centered political conscience. Such redemptive storylines may not be all wrong, but they remind me of how one of my daughters will narrate a fight with her sister. She will speak truth, but she will also omit details, redistribute emphases, make tenuous interpretive connections. So it is with the narratives of liberalism and the Bible’s gospel storyline.

And so it is with Roman Catholicism, where the priests and sacraments play a mediatorial role that smacks heavily of the old covenant.

Or with the prosperity gospel, which also imports elements of the old covenant into the new, only it’s talk of blessing.

Other groups don’t bring the redemptive past into the present, they bring the redemptive future into the now. Once upon a time it was the perfectionist Anabaptists who thought they could bring heaven to earth right quick. The progressive liberals tried this a century ago. Now it is those who are hopped-up on transforming culture that offer subtle re-narrations.

The list is long, whether we are thinking of “Christian” cults like Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses, or movements within churches such as the social gospel, liberation theology, American messianism, or some forms of fundamentalist separatism. Some better, some worse.

The point is, imbalanced (or false) gospels and imbalanced (or false) churches are built either on narratively-mindless “proof texts” or on whole stories gone awry. Either they wrongly connect the Bible’s major covenants; or they have too much continuity or too much discontinuity; or they fail to distinguish type from antitype; or they under-realize or over-realize their eschatology. Maybe they promise heaven on earth now; maybe they disembody the spiritual life now.

In each case, bad or imbalanced biblical theologies proclaim a bad or imbalanced gospel, and such gospels build bad or imbalanced churches.

Meanwhile, good biblical theology guards the gospel and guards a church. “A robust biblical theology tends to safeguard Christians against the most egregious reductionisms,” says D. A. Carson.

That means it’s a pastors job (i) to know good biblical theology and (ii) have some sense of the bad biblical theologies that impact people walking into his church. Today, many of those folk have been weaned on some version of the prosperity gospel. Can you explain why that milk is bad? (For help, see here and especially here.)

BIBLICAL THEOLOGY AS CHURCH GUIDE

But biblical theology is not just a guard, it’s a guide—a guide to good preaching, good outreach and engagement, good corporate worship, good church structures, and the healthy Christian life.

A Guide to Good Preaching

When you sit down to study a text and prepare a sermon, biblical theology keeps you from proof texting or telling an imbalanced story of redemption.

It places each text in the right canonical context, and helps you to see what your text has to do with the person and work of Christ. It wards off moralism so that one preaches Christian sermons. It rightly relates indicative and imperative, and faith and works. It teaches evangelistic exposition. It ensures that every sermon is part of the big story.

In short, pastor, you need biblical theology to do the most important thing in your job: preach and teach God’s Word. For more on this, see Jeramie Rinne’s “Biblical Theology and Gospel Proclamation.”

A Guide to Good Outreach and Engagement

Turning to think about a church’s outreach and engagement with the world outside, biblical theology rightly balances our expectations between expecting too much (over-realized eschatology) or demanding too little (cheap grace, easy-believism, belonging-before-believing, not preaching the imperative).

Good biblical theology will not promise our best life now (whether that means health and wealth, transforming the city, winning the favor of the elite, or retaking America). But nor does it shy away from engaging culture and seeking the good of the city in deed ministry for the sake of love and justice.

It makes word outreach (evangelism and missions) primary, but it does not falsely separate word and deed. These are inseparable for the church’s witness and mission, as the storyline from Adam to Abraham to Israel to David to Christ to church makes clear.

A Guide to Good Corporate Worship

Is David’s naked ark-of-the-covenant dance normative for church gatherings? No? How about the incense used by Old Testament priests, or the use of instruments and choirs, or “making sacrifices” for various holidays, or the reading and explaining of the biblical text? A right biblical theology helps to answer what to bring into the new covenant era and what to leave in the old.

Much depends, again, on how one puts together the covenants, one’s approach to continuity and discontinuity, and one’s understanding of Christ’s work of fulfillment. It also depends on one’s understanding of what Christ’s gathered church has been authorized to do.

All this may sound academic, pastor, but your practices depend upon some biblical theology. The question is, have you thought through which?

For more on this, see Bobby Jamieson’s article “Biblical Theology and Corporate Worship.”

A Guide to Good Church Structures

By the same token, the storyline of Scripture requires us to pay attention to matters of continuity and discontinuity for how we organize our churches. In terms of continuity, God’s people have always and an inside and an outside, which means we need to practice membership and discipline. In terms of discontinuity, the leaders of God’s people change dramatically from the old covenant to new. First, all of God’s people become priests. Second, God’s elders are undershepherds who feed the flock through the Word.

No doubt, the question of who can be a church member depends on biblical theology. Is membership just for believers, or believers and their children? It depends on the amount of continuity and discontinuity you see between circumcision and baptism.

A Guide to the Healthy Christian Life

Finally, it’s worth considering the significance of biblical theology for the healthy Christian life, and how that life connects to the local church.

In the story of the exodus, redemption was corporate. But in the New Testament, redemption is individual, right?

Well, it depends on how one understands the relationship between the old covenant and new, and what Christ accomplishes in the new. Might one not argue that the existence of a covenantal head requires a covenantal people (see Jer. 31:33; 1 Peter 2:10)? What’s more, Paul seems to argue that the dividing wall of partition between Jew and Gentile fell and that “one new man” was created in precisely the same moment that sinners were reconciled to God (Eph. 2:11-22; for more on the corporate aspects of conversion, see here).

If it’s true that salvation in the New Testament is directed toward a people every bit as much as in the Old, even if every individual’s experience of that salvation occurs at different times and not together as in the exodus, then it would seem that the Christian life is fundamentally corporate. And growth is corporate. And life in the faith is corporate. It was dad who adopted me, but he adopted me into a family, so that being his son or daughter means being their brother or sister.

Well, this corporate reality has countless implications for everything in a church’s teaching, fellowship, and culture. A primary goal for the existence of a local church—if this biblical theological account is correct—is simply to be a church. It’s to be this new family, new people, new nation, new culture, new body. So much of spiritual growth is not about what I do in my quiet times; it’s how I learn to take on the new identity as a family member.

On the other hand, it’s easy to imagine a biblical theology that overemphasizes the individual at the expense of the body (as some conservative theologies can do) or overemphasizes corporate and societal structures at the expense of individual culpability (as some liberal theologies do).

Furthermore, your understanding of that storyline helps you to know what to expect of your fellow members: how much righteousness, how much victory over sin, how much spiritual healing for the victim of injustice, how much restoration in broken relationships. The shape of the biblical storyline—as you understand it—will shape your approach to tragedy and evil and righteousness as you encounter it in your life and others.

In other words, a right biblical theology leads to an already/not yet vision of the Christian life. It’s easy to err toward too much “already” or too much “not yet.”

Bottom line: a right biblical theology offers a trustworthy guide to the Christian life, particularly as that life relates to the local church. And it guards the church against wrong emphases, wrong expectations, and a wrong evangel.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jonathan Leeman, an elder of Capitol Hill Baptist Church and the editorial director of 9Marks, is the author of several books on the local church. You can follow him on Twitter.

By Jeramie Rinne

Biblical Theology and Gospel Proclamation

Can expository preaching be consistently evangelistic?

Preachers sometimes shy away from expositing books of the Bible because they suspect that approach is good for teaching theology to mature Christians, but bad for helping unbelievers understand the gospel.

This concern grows when pastors contemplate preaching an Old Testament book. How could a study of the life of Abraham or a series in Haggai make the gospel clear, Sunday after Sunday? Do we simply slap an evangelistic trailer onto the end of the sermon? “For our non-Christian friends here today, I’d like to end this message about Abraham’s circumcision by telling you about how you can receive the free gift of eternal life.” Cue the altar call.

There is another, more organic way to proclaim the gospel faithfully Sunday after Sunday, even from the Old Testament. It’s by employing biblical theology.

THE BIG STORY

What is biblical theology? We might define it as the study of the Bible’s overall storyline. Together, the 66 books of the Bible tell a single narrative of God’s mission to save a people and establish a kingdom for his glory through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament sets the stage for and leads us to Jesus. The Gospels reveal him and his work. The rest of the New Testament unfolds the implications of Jesus’ death and resurrection, all the way until God fully accomplishes his mission. The more we grasp this overarching plot, the more we can see how our preaching text relates to the gospel.

Preaching a passage of Scripture with an awareness of biblical theology is like having “court sense” in basketball. Good basketball players don’t just focus on dribbling the ball to the hoop. They are aware of the location of their teammates and defenders on the court as well as the flow of play. Similarly, good exposition doesn’t merely provide a running commentary on the verses at hand. It also has a court sense of what else is going on before and after the text, and how it all relates to overall progression of God’s big story

BIBLICAL THEOLOGY IN ACTION

Let’s look at a few biblical theology strategies we might use to relate our particular passage to the main story of the Bible, the gospel story. You might think of these strategies as possible paths that take us from our text to the gospel, like optional routes on a smart phone map app that guide you from your current location to the desired destination.

1. Promise and Fulfillment

We start with the most simple and direct route to the gospel. In promise and fulfillment, the text you’re studying contains a prophecy or promise that is explicitly fulfilled in some aspect of the gospel. Promise and fulfillment is the low-hanging fruit of biblical theology: easy to see and grasp.

So if you’re preaching Micah’s prophecy about a ruler coming out of Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2), you can easily invite the congregation to turn to Matthew 2:6 to see how it is fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. Or if you do decide to exposit the life of Abraham, you should at some point connect God’s promises to bless Abraham’s offspring or “seed” (Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 17:8; 24:7) to their fulfillment in Jesus (Gal. 3:16).

In addition to giving us obvious ways to get to the gospel, promise and fulfillment also shows us how the New Testament authors interpreted the Old Testament in light of the gospel. The more we learn to read the Bible through apostles’ interpretive lenses, the better we’ll get to the gospel from other texts, even those without an explicit fulfillment in Jesus.

2. Typology

Typology is like promise and fulfillment, except rather than a verbal prophecy being fulfilled in Jesus, we see events, institutions, or persons that foreshadow Jesus and the gospel. You might think of typology as a non-verbal prophecy.

Take the temple in Jerusalem for example. It played a central role in the Old Testament as the place of God’s saving and ruling presence among his people. But it ultimately pointed forward to Jesus. Jesus shocked the crowds when he stood in the temple and said, “Destroy this sanctuary, and I will raise it up in three days” (John 2:19). They thought he meant the literal building, but “he was speaking about the sanctuary of his body” (v. 21). Like the temple, Jesus was, and is, the physical presence of God among his people to save and reign. That’s also why the apostles repeatedly identified the church, those who are in Christ, as the temple of the Spirit (e.g., 1 Cor. 3:16-17; Eph. 2:19-22; 1 Pet. 2:5).

In light of this, let’s say you’re expositing Psalm 122, which communicates the joy of going up into God’s temple in Jerusalem: “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord’” (v. 1). You can employ the temple typology to help people, even unchurched people, see the greater joy of going to Jesus by faith.

The New Testament is full of such types of Jesus and his work. The apostles saw Jesus as the last Adam, the true Passover lamb, the new Moses, the once-for-all sacrifice of atonement, the great high priest, the anointed king (Messiah) from David’s lineage, true Israel, and more. These well-traveled routes can faithfully take you from many places in Scripture to Jesus and his saving work.

3. Themes

I’m using the word “themes” to describe recurring motifs or images in the biblical

storyline that don’t point directly to Jesus the way typology does. And yet these themes or motifs are integrally connected to the gospel and can help us locate our text in the unfolding biblical story.

A classic biblical theme is creation. The Bible begins with “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” God brought order out of chaos, made Adam and Eve in his image, and commanded them to rule over creation and fill it with their offspring, all for God’s glory. Tragically, Adam and Eve failed their calling and rebelled against God.

But God had a plan to redeem his creation. Throughout the Old Testament we see repeated creation “reboots,” events where God graciously begins again with his people, and the new beginning is described with creation imagery and language. These creation reboots include Noah and his family after the flood, Israel’s exodus from Egypt and entrance into the promised land, Solomon’s establishment of an Edenic kingdom, and even the Israelites returning from Babylonian captivity. Yet in each of these instances the reboot failed. Humanity rebelled. Adam choked again and again. Would any of these Adamic recasts ever get it right?

Yes. The last Adam, Jesus Christ, did the will of the Father perfectly. Jesus’ resurrection and the salvation of his people launched the true new creation. And it continues to grow today. Jesus sent his saved people out to subdue the earth and fill it with sons and daughters of God through the gospel message. And someday this work will culminate in a new heavens and earth, far greater and more glorious than the original.

Can you see how being able to trace the creation motif provides a framework for organically moving from many texts to the key turning point of the new creation, the death and resurrection of Jesus?

There are many other thematic threads that weave together in the biblical storyline, like the covenants, the Exodus, the day of the Lord, and the kingdom of God.

4. Ethical Teaching

But what if you’re trying to preach through Proverbs or the Ten Commandments? What if you were really crazy and tried do expository evangelism from Leviticus? It seems those kinds of passages are better for teaching the “do’s” and “don’ts” of mature Christian living rather than showing unsaved people what Jesus has done so that they could become Christians.

Again, biblical theology maps a way from law to gospel. We can read specific moral commandments within the flow of the Bible's storyline in at least three ways. First, the Bible’s laws and ethics lead us to Jesus by showing us our sin and need of a savior. As has often been said, God’s commandments act like a mirror to confront us with our moral deformity. As we read Israel’s history of chronic moral collapse, we see humanity’s story, and our own. “For no one will be justified in his sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law” (Rom. 3:20).

Second, the Bible’s moral commands point us to Jesus as the one who perfectly kept them. He didn’t come to destroy the law of God but to fulfill it in every way (Matt. 5:17). All of God’s other sons (Adam, Israel, Israel’s kings) were prodigals; Jesus alone pleased the Father. And so the ethical commandments of the Bible ultimately reveal the character of Jesus himself.

Third, through reliance on the power of Jesus’ resurrection and his Spirit in us, we can now keep God’s laws as obedient sons and daughters. Jesus rescued us from the power of sin “in order that the law’s requirement would be accomplished in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:4).

So imagine you’re preaching Proverbs 11:17: “A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings disaster on himself.” By following the contours of biblical theology you won’t merely give a 30 minute message on how to be more kind. You might also show how we fail at kindness and excel at cruelty in subtle ways. You will point people to Jesus’ embodiment of kindness, especially in giving his life for sinners. And finally, you will connect that kind grace of Jesus to ourselves as the fuel for our own transformation through the Holy Spirit.

5. Puzzle-Solution

When we begin to sense the flow of biblical theology, we will also see how the gospel often solves Old Testament puzzles. How would God fulfill his promises to David once Judah had gone into exile and there was no king in Jerusalem? If the temple sacrifices took away sin, then why did God judge Israel? The Old Testament often speaks of God's blessings on the righteous and judgment on the wicked. So why do we see the opposite?

We could say more here, but for now suffice to say that when you encounter a biblical conundrum, consider how the gospel of Jesus might resolve the mystery. Like a great novel, the Old Testaments sets up plot tensions that the hero, Jesus, resolves.

“YOU ARE HERE”

When we use biblical theology to practice this kind of gospel-conscious exposition, something exciting happens for unbelievers. Not only are they confronted by their sin, introduced to Jesus, and called to repentance and faith week after week. They also begin to locate themselves within the historical flow of God’s work. The gospel isn’t merely a metaphor or idea that they are free to use or discard if it “works for them.” Rather, the story of Jesus is a historical force rooted in the past, continuing in the present, and dominating eternity. The God who acted in the biblical world is acting in their world too, because it is the same world, the same history, the same story.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jeramie Rinne is the senior pastor of South Shore Baptist Church in Hingham, Massachusetts, and the author of Church Elders: How to Shepherd God’s People Like Jesus (Crossway, 2014).

By Michael Emlet

Biblical Theology and Counseling

What is the connection between biblical theology and counseling in the local church? Perhaps at first glance you might say, not much!

Why? When you hear “biblical theology,” you tend to think of overarching categories such as creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. You think in terms of major biblical themes such as sin, suffering, exodus, sacrifice, law, kingdom, and exile, and how they develop in Scripture over the course of redemptive history. When you hear “counseling,” what comes to mind are topics such as interpersonal ministry, conversation, discipleship, personal struggles, and crisis. You see specific names and faces.

Biblical theology, as edifying and important as it is, can seem a bit abstract compared to the concrete, flesh-and-blood realities of life on the street this side of glory. But I would argue the two are intimately related. Their interrelationship provides the foundation to carry out a truthful, wise, and contextually relevant counseling ministry in the church.

The great biblical theologian Geerhardus Vos said, “All that God disclosed of Himself has come in response to the practical religious needs of His people as these emerged in the course of history.”[1] This means the Scriptures come to us jam-packed with relevance for problems in living. The Bible not only gives us biblical theology, but is in fact, practical theology.[2] Scripture and life are intertwined!

What is the best way to highlight their interconnection in one-on-one ministry situations?

I find the concept of narrative or story particularly useful. This is true whether we are reading Scripture or “reading” (listening to and seeking to understand) people. We must read the Bible as one true story centering on the coming of Jesus Christ and his renewing rule. All bits and pieces of Scripture fit into that larger narrative.[3] But to apply Scripture to our contemporary lives we must also discern how the bits and pieces of the stories of people’s lives cohere, or don’t cohere, with the biblical drama.

A way to speak of the storied quality of human life is to affirm that all people ask and answer four foundational questions about the nature of life, whether consciously or not:

1.Where are we? What is the nature of the world in which we live?

2. Who are we? What is the essential nature of human beings?

3. What’s wrong? Why is the world—and my life—in such a mess?

4. What’s the remedy? How can these problems be solved?[4]

hese questions—and how we answer them—form the narrative backbone of our lives. They shape the way we interpret life events, from the mundane to the horrific. They shape our view of ourselves and others. They shape our vision of what constitutes a meaningful life, even a meaningful moment. They shape our beliefs, emotions, and decisions every day. Everybody has an overarching story he or she lives moment by moment. Everybody is a meaning maker with categories for making sense of life. The question is this: what story, what narrative, will we use to see our world and interpret our lives?

And this is where biblical theology hits the street! The unfolding biblical narrative given to us in Genesis to Revelation answers the preceding questions and orients us toward true reality if we have ears to hear.

Where are we? In God’s good world. (Gen. 1-2).

Who are we? God’s image-bearers, created to bear his likeness, bringing his good and wise rule to the ends of the earth (Gen. 1:26-27).

What’s wrong? We have chosen to live autonomously, by story lines of our own creation. We have exchanged the worship of the Creator for worship of created things (Gen. 3; Rom. 1:25).

What’s the remedy? Redemption, initiated in Israel’s history and completed by Jesus Christ, who “comes to make his blessings flow / far as the curse is found.”

Every time you yell at your kids, or assume the worst about someone, or cut someone off in traffic in your rush to the office, or escape to internet pornography you show what you’re living for in that moment. You show the self-absorbed story lines that have captured you.

Counseling ministry helps others recognize the aberrant plot lines by which they are living and seeks to reconnect them, by the Spirit’s enablement, to the life-giving story of Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus helped the discouraged disciples on the road to Emmaus understand how the details of the Old Testament pointed to him, we help others understand where the details of their lives point. We celebrate when they are in line with the gospel story. We gently correct and restore when they are out of line with the gospel story.

The Bible is not meant to be studied apart from its application to life, and counseling is not meant to be practiced apart from its foundation in the story of Scripture. In this way biblical theology and counseling are inexorably linked.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Michael Emlet is a faculty member and counselor at CCEF and a member of City Church (PCA) in Philadelphia. This article is adapted from CrossTalk: Where Life and Scripture Meet (New Growth Press, 2009) with the kind permission of the publisher.

1 Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1948; reprint, Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1975), 9.

2 David Powlison, “Counsel Ephesians,” The Journal of Biblical Counseling 17:2 (1999).

3 See how Jesus sums up the focus of the Hebrew Scriptures in Luke 24:44-47.

4 Brian Walsh and J. Richard Middleton, The Transforming Vision: Shaping a Christian World View (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1984), 35.

By Bobby Jamieson

Biblical Theology and Shepherding

How would you write a pastor’s job description? Where would you look for models? Maybe you’d ask a few other local churches for theirs and make a few tweaks to reflect your own church’s schedule and programs.

That assumes, of course, that everyone already knows what a pastor is supposed to be and do. But how do we know what a pastor’s fundamental role is?

Certainly we should look to Scripture to tell us what a pastor is. But where in Scripture? We could start with the work implied in elders’ qualifications (1 Tim. 3:1–7; Tit. 1:5–10), and carefully consider explicit commands given to church leaders. When we scratch beneath the surface of some of those commands, though, an interesting picture emerges. Consider Acts 20:28 and 1 Peter 5:1–3, both addressed to elders of local churches:

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for [Gk. poimainein] the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. (Acts 20:28)

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd [Gk. poimanate] the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. (1 Pet. 5:1–3)

In both of these passages, the main task of pastoring is summed up with the Greek verb poimaino, the basic meaning of which is “to shepherd,” as in, care for sheep (Luke 17:7; 1 Cor. 9:7). Both Paul in Acts and Peter in 1 Peter sum up the work of pastoring in one word: to shepherd.

In Ephesians 4:11, Paul refers to pastors as “shepherd-teachers,” again demonstrating that the idea of shepherding is basic to the pastoral office. In fact, the English word “pastor” itself comes from the Latin pastor, which means “shepherd.” So shepherding is basic to the word “pastor” and to biblical descriptions of pastoring.

But where do we learn what it means to shepherd? If you have a basic acquaintance with sheep and their needs, then you get the basic gist. Sheep need feeding and tending and guiding and protecting. Pastors do this for their people, transposed into a spiritual key.

SCRIPTURE’S STORY OF SHEPHERDING

But this metaphor takes on a whole new depth when we see how it unfolds throughout the story of Scripture. Ultimately, pastors learn what it means to be a pastor from how God himself shepherds his people.

The Divine Shepherd of the Exodus

Scripture’s story of shepherding begins in earnest when God brings his people up out of Egypt, guides them through the wilderness for forty years, and leads them safely into their own land.[1] Describing the whole period of the exodus and the wilderness, Psalm 77:20 declares, “You led your people like a flock / by the hand of Moses and Aaron.”

Like a shepherd, God was personally present with his people (Ex. 33:15–16). Like a shepherd, God protected his people (Num. 14:7–9; Deut. 23:14). Like a shepherd, God provided for his people. He fed them (Ps. 78:19, 105:40–41). He healed them (Ex. 15:26; Num. 21:8–9).

Like a shepherd, God guided his people to fertile pastures: “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode” (Ex. 15:13). Like a shepherd, God gently, tenderly drew his people along:

I led them with cords of kindness,

with the bands of love,

and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws,

and I bent down to them and fed them. (Hos. 11:4)

In all this, God shepherded his people through Moses, the human leader he appointed to shepherd them (Ps. 77:20). And Moses himself asked the Lord for a successor, in order that “the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd” (Num. 27:17).

So the Lord, the divine King of creation, is also the shepherd of his people. And he shepherded them through a human shepherd of his own appointing.

David the Shepherd-King

Hundreds of years later, this pattern continues in the reign of David and his dynasty. The Lord took David from shepherding sheep and made him shepherd of Israel (2 Sam. 5:1–3, 7:8). The psalmist declares,

He chose David his servant

and took him from the sheepfolds;

from following the nursing ewes he brought him

to shepherd Jacob his people,

Israel his inheritance.

With upright heart he shepherded them

and guided them with his skillful hand. (Ps. 78:70–72)

Just as David tenderly nurtured the sheep under his care, so, in the main, he led Israel responsibly and compassionately, shepherding them in integrity and wisdom.

Yet God himself remained the true shepherd of Israel. Israel confessed, “For he is our God, / and we are the people of his pasture, / and the sheep of his hand” (Ps. 95:7). And David, God’s appointed under-shepherd, proclaimed his trust in God’s provision, protection, and guidance in the sublime poetry of Psalm 23.

But not all of Israel’s shepherd-kings led Israel in the green pastures of obedience to the Lord’s Word. Instead, most of them led God’s people into the barren wastelands of idolatry and injustice. So God scattered his flock among the nations as a punishment for their sin (Lev. 26:33; Deut. 4:27, 28:64; 1 Kgs. 14:15).

New Shepherds in the New Exodus

But the same God who scattered his people promised to gather them again. In Jeremiah 23:1–2, the Lord pronounces judgment on Israel’s wicked kings, the shepherds who destroyed and scattered God’s sheep. These shepherds failed to attend to God’s people in care and protection, so God will attend to them in judgment. Not only that, in verses 3–4 God declares,

Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.

The Lord will restore the fortunes of his people, and they will have shepherds who care for them, provide for them, and protect them. How will these shepherds serve God’s people? The parallel passage in Jeremiah 3:15 tells us, “And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” The leaders of God’s re-gathered people will lead the people by feeding the people the knowledge and understanding of God’s ways and Word.

Not only that, but God will also raise up one supreme ruler, the heir of David, who will secure the salvation of all of God’s people:

Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness.” (Jer. 23:5–6)

This re-gathering of God’s people, this new exodus back into their land, will outshine even God’s mighty deliverance of his people from Egypt, and will be the deed by which God’s people name and remember him from this time on (vv. 7–8).

So God will gather his people as a faithful shepherd. And God will raise up many faithful shepherds to care for his people. Yet one shepherd-king in particular will save the people and ensure their secure flourishing in God’s place, under God’s rule.

Isaiah 40:11 provides another glimpse of God’s new-exodus act of gathering his sheep himself:

He will tend his flock like a shepherd;

he will gather the lambs in his arms;

he will carry them in his bosom,

and gently lead those that are with young.

Ezekiel 34 paints a more detailed portrait of God’s work as the shepherd who will save his people. The current shepherds of Israel have fed themselves rather than the sheep and failed to heal the sick and seek the straying, so now God’s sheep have been scattered (vv. 1–6). For all this God will judge these wicked shepherds, and will rescue his sheep himself (vv. 7–10). God himself will seek them out, rescue them, gather them into their own land, feed them, and lead them to lie down and rest (vv. 11–14). “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak…I will feed them in justice” (vv. 15–16).

Yet God also promises, “I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd” (v. 23). So God himself will be their shepherd, but so will his “servant David.” And when God again shepherds his people, they will have peace, blessing, security, abundance, freedom, honor, and the true knowledge of God (vv. 25–31).

Jesus the Good Shepherd

Who is this shepherd whom God sets over his people? Jesus, the good shepherd. Jesus had compassion on the crowds because they were harassed and helpless, sheep without a shepherd (Matt. 9:36). Jesus is the good shepherd who came to give abundant life to God’s sheep (John 10:10), who lays down his life for God’s sheep (v. 11, 15), who knows his own sheep (v. 14), who gathers all his sheep into one flock (v. 16).

The metaphor of God’s people as sheep first took shape to describe Israel in the wilderness: hungry, thirsty, scorched by the sun, not yet at their true home. Transposed into a spiritual key, all this is true of the church in the present age. Like Israel in the wilderness, we have not yet entered God’s rest (Heb. 4:11). We’re threatened not just by hunger and hardship, but opposition and persecution.

Now we are weak and wandering, pressed by hardship. But in Revelation, John catches a glimpse of our final destination:

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;

the sun shall not strike them,

nor any scorching heat.

For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,

and he will guide them to springs of living water,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (Rev. 7:16–17)

The Lord Jesus is our shepherd, and he is a good shepherd. One day soon, though, he will be our shepherd, and we will never again hunger or hurt.

SHEPHERDING LIKE THE CHIEF SHEPHERD

So what does this story say to the church’s shepherds? Jesus’ famous words to Peter point us in the right direction. Three times Jesus asked Peter if he loved him; three times Peter replied “yes”; three times Jesus charged Peter to care for his sheep (Jn. 21:15–17). John’s Gospel uses two different Greek words for “tend” or “feed” in this passage, but they mean the same thing. Both refer to the comprehensive care shepherds show sheep: feeding, tending, guiding, protecting. And that is exactly the kind of care pastors are to give their people.

Pastors are to feed their people with the Word, exhorting them in sound doctrine (Tit. 1:9–10), proclaiming to them the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27). Pastors are to guard their people against false doctrine and those who would lead them astray (Acts 20:29–31). Pastors are to lead their people by providing a godly example (Heb. 13:7), equipping them for ministry (Eph. 4:12), and wisely directing the affairs of the church (1 Tim. 5:17). Pastors are to care for their people by tenderly providing whatever counsel, help, and encouragement they need.

In a word, pastors care. They don’t just care about their people, they care for them. They know them. They seek them out. They give their people what their souls need, even when the people themselves don’t know or want what they most need.

In all this, pastors image God the Father. Paul exhorts church leaders, “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all” (1 Thess. 5:14). That kind of person-by-person care is exactly what God promises to do for his people when he pledges to seek the lost, bring back the strayed, bind up the injured, and feed them all in justice (Ezek. 34:16).

And pastors image our Lord Jesus Christ, who shepherd the people of God before any pastor, and shepherds them throughout the course of every pastor’s ministry, and will shepherd them after every pastor’s ministry ends. That’s why Peter calls Jesus the “chief Shepherd” (1 Pet. 5:4). Jesus is the heir God raised up for David; he is the one true Shepherd-King of God’s people. Yet Jesus’ shepherding ministry doesn’t rule out human shepherds—instead it equips and empowers them.

Pastor, have you ever considered that your own ministry to your local church participates in the fulfillment of prophecy? Remember that God promised to set many shepherds over his people when he set his supreme Shepherd over them (Jer. 23:4, 5). These shepherds would feed God’s people with knowledge and understanding (Jer. 3:15).

How well do your priorities in ministry match those of the divine shepherd? How well do you know your sheep’s spiritual needs? How much time and effort do you devote to meeting those needs one by one? Are you more concerned about how many new bodies enter the building or about how their souls are fainting or flourishing?

Are you vigilant against threats to your people’s soundness in the faith? Or do you leave your sheep easy prey for false teachers by failing to equip them with a deep grasp of biblical doctrine?

Do you know which of your sheep are flourishing and which are malnourished? Which are spiritually strong and which are sick? Which are safely in the fold and which are wandering into the wilderness?

If you want a refresher on your job description as a pastor, consider how God has shepherded his people throughout the story of Scripture. Marvel as his gentle care and powerful protection. Learn from his patient attention to his people’s diverse needs. Be amazed at the depths of God’s tender compassion, that the one who holds galaxies in his hand also stoops down and picks up those sheep who are too weak to walk. And pray that, by his grace and in the power of his Spirit, God would make you a shepherd after his own heart.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Bobby Jamieson is assistant editor for 9Marks, a member of Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and the author of Sound Doctrine: How a Church Grows in the Love and Holiness of God (Crossway, 2013). You can follow him on Twitter.

By Bobby Jamieson

Biblical Theology and Corporate Worship

What exactly are we doing when we gather as churches for worship? And how do we know what we should be doing in those weekly gatherings?

Naturally, evangelical Christians turn to Scripture for guidance on these questions, but where in Scripture do we look? There’s plenty about worship in the Old Testament—about prayers and sacrifices and choirs and cymbals and much else. But does all that material actually apply to new covenant gatherings of believers?

What we need in order to answer these questions is a biblical theology of worship.1 Biblical theology is the discipline that helps us trace both the unity and diversity, the continuity and discontinuity, within the sprawling storyline of Scripture.

In this article I’m going to sketch, all too briefly, a biblical theology of corporate worship. Four steps will take us there: (1) gathered worship in the Old Testament; (2) fulfillment in Christ; (3) gathered worship in the New Testament; (4) reading the whole Bible for corporate worship.

1. GATHERED WORSHIP IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Ever since God’s people were banished from his presence after the fall in Genesis 3, God has been at work gathering them back to himself.[2] So when Israel suffered in chains in Egypt, God rescued them not just so that they would be free from oppression, but so that they would worship him in his presence (Ex. 3:12, 18). God led his people out of Egypt and brought them to his own dwelling place (Ex. 15:13, 17).

Where is that dwelling place? At first, it’s the tabernacle, the elaborate tent in which the priests would offer sacrifices for the people’s sins and impurities. We read in Exodus 29:44–46,

I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.

The goal of the Exodus was that God would dwell among his people, and he does this by means of the holy place (tabernacle) and people (priesthood) he appointed for that purpose.

When God brought Israel out of Egypt, he took them to himself as his people. And the way he confirmed this new relationship with Israel is by cutting a covenant with them, often called the “Mosaic covenant.” In Exodus 19, the Lord reminds the people what he’s done for them in rescuing them from Egypt, and then promises that if they obey the terms of his covenant, they will be his treasured possession (Ex. 19:1–6).

The Lord confirmed this covenant with the people in Exodus 24, and all the laws of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy flesh out the terms of this covenant. All these details specify how God’s people are to live with God and each other within this specific covenant God has made with them.

So the detailed sacrifices and purification rituals described in Leviticus are a means of repairing breaches in covenant fellowship. The cult maintains the covenant.

A handful of times a year all Israelites were commanded to gather together before the Lord at his tabernacle, for the festivals of the Passover, firstfruits, and so on (Lev. 23). Apart from these festivals, the regular offering of sacrifices was carried out by the priests, and individual Israelites came to the tabernacle (and later the temple) only when they needed to offer a specific sacrifice for sin or impurity.

In other words, for Israel, corporate worship was a special, few-times-a-year occasion. Worship, understood as exclusive devotion to the Lord, was something that Israelites were called to practice around the clock (Deut. 6:13–15). But in the sense of having intimate access to God’s presence, worship was restricted to specific people, places, and times. God dwelled among his people, yes, but that presence was restricted to the tabernacle and guarded by the priests.

2. FULFILLMENT IN CHRIST

The turning point in the storyline of Scripture is the incarnation of God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. All God’s promises are fulfilled in him (2 Cor. 1:20). All the Old Testament types—the institutions of the priesthood, temple, and kingship, the events of the exodus, exile, and return—find their fulfillment in him. So in order to understand the whole Bible’s theology of worship, we have to understand how Jesus fulfills and transforms the worship of the Mosaic covenant.

Tabernacle, and later the temple, was where God manifested his presence among his people; Jesus fulfills and therefore replaces these old-covenant structures. John tells us that the Word became flesh and—literally—tabernacled among us (John 1:14). Jesus promised, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:20). In other words, Jesus’ body is now the temple, the place where God meets his people, manifests his presence, and deals with their sin (John 2:21–22). That’s why Jesus can say that an hour is coming when true worshipers will no longer need worship in Jerusalem, but will worship in spirit and truth (John 4:21–24).

Jesus fulfills and replaces the earthly temple of Jerusalem. He is now the “place” where true worshipers worship God.[3]

Jesus also fulfills and replaces the entire sacrificial system associated with the Mosaic covenant and its tabernacle and temple. Hebrews tells us that, unlike the priests who had to offer daily sacrifices, Jesus atoned for the people’s sins “once for all when he offered up himself’ (Heb. 7:27). Jesus’ single offering of himself doesn’t just purify the flesh like the old covenant sacrifices, but instead purifies our conscience, renewing us inwardly (Heb. 9:13–14). Because Jesus has perfected his people by a single offering, there is no longer a need or place for the offering of bulls and goats (Heb. 10:1–4, 10, 11–18).

Jesus fulfills and replaces the Levitical sacrifices. His blood now secures our eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12).

I could go on and on like this. The point is that Jesus’ saving work ushers in a radical shift in how God relates to his people. The new covenant Jesus inaugurates makes the old one—the covenant God made at Sinai, through Moses—obsolete (Heb. 8:6–7, 13). Now, God’s people have their sins forgiven through faith in Jesus’ sacrifice. Now, God’s people experience his gracious presence through faith in Christ and the indwelling of the Spirit. Now, all God’s people have intimate access to God (Heb. 4:16, 10:19–22), not just a small number of priests.

3. GATHERED WORSHIP IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

What does all this mean for gathered worship in the new covenant era? The first thing to note is that the Old Testament’s terms for worship have been applied to the whole lives of believers. In Romans 12:1 Paul writes, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Now we don’t offer animals as sacrifices but our very selves. The Christian’s whole life is an act of sacrificial service to God.

Or consider Hebrews 13:15: “Through him [that is, Jesus] then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.” Praise is our sacrifice, and we offer it continually—not just for an hour on Sunday morning. The fruit of lips that acknowledge God’s name includes songs of praise, but much more too: boldly confessing the gospel in public, speaking words of truth and love to others, bringing every word we say under Christ’s dominion.

This means that “worship” isn’t something we mainly do at church on Sunday. Instead, worship should suffuse our entire lives. For the Christian, worship isn’t confined to sacred times and places, because we are united by faith to Christ, the one who is God’s temple, and we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, making us both individually and collectively the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16–17, 6:19; cf. Eph. 2:22).

What then characterizes corporate worship in the new covenant? Reading and preaching Scripture (1 Tim. 4:14); singing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs together (Eph. 5:18–19; Col. 3:16); praying (1 Tim. 2:1–2, 8); celebrating the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Matt. 28:19, 1 Cor. 11:17–34); and stirring one another up to love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24–25).

One of the most striking things about corporate worship in the new covenant is the persistent focus on building up the whole body. Paul writes, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another with all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Col. 3:16). We teach and admonish one another as we sing to the Lord. As we praise God, we build each other up. Paul goes so far as to say that everything in the gathered assembly should be done with a view to building up the body in Christ (1 Cor. 14:26).

What’s unique about the church’s weekly gathering is not that it’s the time when we worship, but that it’s the time when we build each other up by worshiping God together.

Because of the new covenant Christ inaugurated, gathered worship in the new covenant era has a whole different fabric than gathered worship under the old covenant. Instead of a few times a year, gathered worship is now weekly. Instead of meeting at the temple in Jerusalem, believers gather in local churches wherever they live. Instead of God’s presence being restricted to the Holy of Holies and guarded by priests, God now dwells in all of his people by the Spirit, and Christ is present to his people wherever they gather (Matt. 18:20). Instead of performing an elaborate series of sacrifices and offerings, Christians gather to hear the Word, preach the Word, pray the Word, sing the Word, and see the Word in the ordinances. And all of this aims at building up the body in love so that we all attain to maturity in Christ (Eph. 4:11–16).

4. READING THE WHOLE BIBLE FOR CORPORATE WORSHIP

How then to do we look to Scripture to teach us what to do in corporate worship?

First, I think it’s important to affirm that Scripture does in fact teach us what we should do in the church’s regular assemblies. Remember that while all of life is worship, the church’s weekly gathering occupies a special place in the Christian life. All Christians are required to gather with the church (Heb. 10:24–25); church attendance is not optional for the Christian. This means that, effectively, everything a church does in worship becomes a required practice for its members. And Paul urges Christians not to allow any humanly devised regulations or worship practices to be imposed on their consciences (Col. 2:16–23).

I would suggest that these biblical principles add up to what has historically been called the “regulative principle” of worship.[4] That is, in their corporate gatherings, churches must carry out only those practices that are positively prescribed in Scripture, whether by explicit command or normative example. To do anything else would be to compromise Christian freedom. So churches should look to Scripture to tell us how to worship together, and should do only what Scripture tells us to do.

But that raises the question, what exactly does Scripture tell us to do? To put it more precisely, how do we tell what biblical material on worship is normative and binding? To answer this question in full would take a book; here I’ll offer the briefest of sketches.

Discerning what biblical teaching on worship takes some finesse, since Scripture nowhere presents us with, for example, a complete, confessedly normative “order of service.” But there are some commands in the New Testament which are pretty plainly binding on all churches. That the churches at Ephesus and Colossae were both commanded to sing (Eph 5:18–19, Col. 3:16), and the Corinthian church is referred to as singing (1 Cor. 14:26), suggests that all churches are supposed to sing. That Paul commanded Timothy to read and preach Scripture in a letter designed to instruct Timothy about how the church is to conduct itself (1 Tim. 3:15, 4:14) suggests that reading and preaching Scripture are God’s will not just for that one church, but for every church.

On the other hand, some commands, like “Greet one another with a holy kiss” (Rom. 16:16), seem to express a universal principle (“Welcome one another in Christian love”) in a form that may not be culturally universal.

Further, some contextual commands may have broader force, like Paul telling the Corinthians to lay aside money on the first day of the week. That was for a specific offering to the saints in Jerusalem, but all churches are commanded to support their teachers financially (Gal. 6:6), so giving may well have a place in corporate worship.

So far we’ve just dealt with the New Testament, though. What about the Old? After all, the Old Testament has plenty of commands about worship:

Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!

Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!

Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! (Ps. 150:3–5)

Does this mean that, in order to be biblical, our church services need to include trumpets, lutes, harps, tambourines, dancing, strings, pipes, and cymbals? I’d suggest not.

Remember that the Psalms are expressions of worship under the Mosaic covenant, what some New Testament writers refer to as the “old covenant” (Heb. 8:6). Now that the new covenant promised in Jeremiah 31 has come, the old covenant is obsolete. We are no longer under the Mosaic law (Rom. 7:1–6; Gal. 3:23–26). Therefore, forms of worship tied up with the Mosaic era are not binding on us either. The temple was served by priests, some of whom specialized in liturgical music (1 Chr. 9:33). In fact, these are the ones we see playing the very instruments named in Psalm 150 (2 Chr. 5:12, 13; 9:11). So Psalm 150 is not providing a template for Christian worship; instead, it is invoking a specific form of old covenant worship associated with the temple and the Levitical priesthood.

That doesn’t of itself settle the question of what kind of instrumentation may be appropriate accompaniment for the church’s congregational singing. But it does mean that a simple appeal to Old Testament precedent is out of order, just as much as an appeal to Old Testament precedent can’t legitimize animal sacrifice. This is where many Christian traditions fall short of a biblical theology of worship, by selectively appealing to Old Testament precedent as if certain features of the Levitical priesthood and temple worship carry over into the new covenant age.

Certainly much in the Old Testament informs the manner of our worship. The Psalms teach us to worship with reverence and awe, joy and wonder, gratitude and gladness. But the Old Testament prescribes neither the elements nor the forms of the worship of the new covenant church.

In this sense, the New Testament provides a new constitution for God’s new covenant people, just as much of the Old Testament served as the constitution for God’s people under the old covenant. God has one plan of salvation, and one people he saves, but the way God’s people relate to him radically changed after the coming of Christ and the establishing of the new covenant.

This is why we need to employ all the tools of biblical theology—putting together the covenants, tracing the links between type and antitype, observing promise and fulfillment, delineating continuities and discontinuities—in order to arrive at a theology of gathered worship. As Christ’s new covenant people, indwelt by promised the Holy Spirit, we worship in Spirit and truth, according to the terms God himself has specified in Scripture.

1 For a biblical theology of worship that has deeply influenced my approach here, see David Peterson, Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1992).

2 For a basic introduction to the storyline of Scripture that uses the theme of God gathering his people as a primary lens, see Christopher Ash, Remaking a Broken World: A Fresh Look at the Bible Storyline (Milton Keynes, UK: Authentic, 2010).

3 For more on the trajectory of the temple across the whole canon, see G. K. Beale, The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God, New Studies in Biblical Theology 17 (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004).

4 For brief defenses of the regulative principle, see Jonathan Leeman, “Regulative Like Jazz,” and the first three chapters of Give Praise to God: A Vision for Reforming Worship, ed. Philip Graham Ryken, Derek W. H. Thomas, and J. Ligon Duncan, III (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed, 2003).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Bobby Jamieson is assistant editor for 9Marks, a member of Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and the author of Sound Doctrine: How a Church Grows in the Love and Holiness of God (Crossway, 2013). You can follow him on Twitter.

By Michael Lawrence

Biblical Theology and Identity

Identity matters. It matters in our culture, which is awash in identity politics and the unimpeachable claims that identity provides. And it matters among Christians. We call people to live up to and live out the reality of who they are in Christ: an alien and stranger, salt and light, a member of the body of Christ or bride of Christ, a temple of the Spirit, a new creation, and so on. We encourage one another to put on the new self.

Yet too often, the New Testament identity markers are more informed by our own background and cultural assumptions than by the storyline of the Bible. The story of the alien and stranger can become the story of the cultural fundamentalist justifying his disengagement. The story of the bride can easily become the story of self-centered sentimentalism in which, like American brides every Saturday, we are the point and center of it all.

THE STORY OF SONSHIP

But if we’re going to know how to use the Bible’s identity markers in our counseling and discipling, then we need to understand the larger biblical story of our identity as sons and daughters of God. This story is a powerful tool for combatting the narcissistic discipleship that passes for so much of Christianity in America.

Beginnings

From Adam and Eve’s creation after God’s likeness, to their responsibility to represent God as vice-regents over creation (Gen. 1:26-28), to their privilege of intimacy with God (Gen 3:8) and unique ability to reflect back to him his glory, to their obligation to obey (Gen. 2:15), the imago Dei is cast in the form of sonship. Right from the start, the pattern is laid down: like father, like son. As God ruled over Creation, so the son was to represent that rule.

Of course the first son, Adam, was disobedient to his Father. The image of God was not lost, but it now came with a cursed inheritance from our earthly father, a nature corrupted and marred by sin. From this point on, inclusion in God’s family was not by birth, but by adoption.

A New Beginning?

In Genesis 12, Abram, the son of an idolater, is adopted by God to become the father of a new nation. He’s given a new name: Abraham. He’s given the promise of a son, and what’s more, an inheritance for that son.

Again and again, that promise is called into question: by barrenness, by treachery, by famine, by death itself. When God calls to Abraham to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering (Gen. 22:2), it appears that the promise and story of the son is over, because the son is still the son of Adam who deserves to die.

But God is not finished. He rescues Abraham’s son, and Isaac’s son, and Jacob’s sons, until the son has become the whole nation of Israel.

In Exodus 4, God tells Moses to tell Pharaoh, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” God then rescues his corporate son, Israel, from the serpent king and brings his son into his inheritance, the promised land, a second Garden of Eden.

God also raises up a king, a man after his own heart, named David, and promises that his son will rule over a kingdom that will never end. David’s son will be God’s son, and will represent both God and his people. He will rule in righteousness, and do the work the Father gives him, rescuing his people from their enemies.

But neither the corporate son nor the sons of David are faithful. They continue their rebellion. By the end of the Old Testament, David’s throne is vacant.

The Son Comes, and Makes us Sons

Then the true Son of God came. Jesus is the Divine Son incarnate, the true King, the Messiah who came to do the work his Father gave him (John 4:34, 5:19, 6:38). He declared that he represented God: that if you’d seen him, you’d seen the Father (John 14:9). Jesus is the true imago Dei, the second Adam, the true Israel. Finally, like Father, like Son.

Incredibly, the corporate son rejected him. Yet God raised the Son from the dead, and seated him on the throne of heaven itself, so that all the sons of disobedience who turn from their sins and are united to the true Son by faith are given the right to become children of God, adopted into God’s family.

Having been adopted, they are conformed to the image of the Son he loves. This process will not stop until the day we see him, and are finally like him. “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God” (1 John 3:2). And when we are finally like him, we will reign with him, as sons and daughters of God (2 Tim. 2:2; Rev. 20:4, 6).

DISCIPLING AND COUNSELING THE STORY OF SONSHIP

How does this story of sonship impact the way we use this biblical identity in our discipling and counseling? I want to highlight four things.

1. The Father Loves the Sons Because the Father Loves the Son

First, the Father loves the sons because the Father loves the Son. God’s love for us as sons does not begin with us. It begins with his love of the Son Jesus Christ. Why? Because the Son always has been and always will be obedient to the Father (John 10:17). And it is that love that spills over into love for us, the sons who are united to Christ by faith.

We need to get this into our heads as disciplers and counselors. We can say “God loves you” all day long and it won’t make a dent, because people know deep down that God’s love is not deserved. But when I’m told that God loves Christ, and that I’ve been adopted in Christ by faith, I now have something to put my confidence in, something that isn’t contradicted by my knowledge of myself.

Christian, you are loved, not because you’re lovely or obedient, but because Christ is lovely and obedience, and you are in Christ. You have been adopted.

2. A Son Glorifies his Father by Representing Him before the World

Second, the role of a son is to bring glory to his Father by representing him before the world. Jesus made this point about his own life repeatedly. John 5:19: the Son “can only do what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” And all of this is to bring glory to the Father. As Jesus prayed, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4).

But what is true of Christ is also true of the sons who are in Christ. Matthew 5:9: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:44: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” Ephesians 5:1: “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.” Heirs of God are to bear the Father’s name and to advance the Father’s reputation. That is a high calling and privilege.

3. The Privilege of the Son Is a Secure Inheritance

Third, the privilege of the Son is a secure inheritance. Jesus makes this point: “Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever” (John 8:35). Paul picks up the same idea: “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out Abba, Father. So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir” (Gal. 4:6). Far more than an emotional and psychological experience of love is promised in this verse, we are promised an inheritance and an enduring place in the family. That inheritance is certain and secure.

What is this inheritance? The main picture in the Old Testament is land. In the present age, we aren’t given a land, but the Spirit. And incredibly, the Spirit is just a down payment. Our full inheritance still awaits, for our full inheritance is the Triune God himself in a new creation that is perfectly designed for our flourishing and his glory.

4. The Goal of the Son Is Obedience

Fourth, the goal of the Son is obedience. That should have been Adam and Israel and David’s goal. But it was without doubt Jesus’ goal. He was obedient to the Father to the very end. It wasn’t a grudging obedience, wishing there was another way. It wasn’t a pitiful obedience, in the hope that perhaps the Father would love him if he obeyed. It wasn’t a prideful, “Hey, look at me!” obedience. It was a willing obedience—“I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:18). It was a confident obedience—“because you loved me before the Creation of the world” (John 17:24). It was a humble obedience—Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers (Heb. 2:11). And this obedience was his joy.

When we use the language of sonship in our discipleship and our counseling, if we merely convey the promise of intimacy and access, which Romans 8 teaches, then we are giving only part of the story. Sons are not merely the recipients of love, empty love cups that need to be filled. They are also those who actively love their Father. And as John tells us, “This is love for God: to obey his commands” (2 John 6)

I would go so far as to say that the dominant theme attached to sonship in the Old Testament and New isn’t intimacy, access, affection, or even security. It’s obedience.

It all comes together in Romans 8. God predestined us to be conformed to the likeness, the image, of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers (Rom. 8:29). And therefore, Paul says, “we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God” (Rom. 8:12-14) The goal of sons is obedience.

The next thing Paul says is that by the Spirit we cry, “Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15). And so we come full circle. Intimacy and obedience go hand in hand in the story of the Son.

A NEW STORY

We live in a therapeutic age, an age of broken relationships and fractured families, where fathers are jerks, or buffoons, or task masters, or just plain absent. Sons raise themselves into manhood through images on the internet and TV. Frankly, daughters fare even worse. So it shouldn’t surprise us that in the biblical language of sons and daughters, we find a powerful antidote to a deadly poison.

But in fact, in our identity as sons and daughters of God we’ve been given something far more powerful than an antidote to the failings of our time. We’ve been given an identity that calls us beyond ourselves and our emotional needs to the story of the glory of God.

One day our hope will be rewarded; our work will come to an end. “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed” (Rom. 8:21). And that expectation will not be disappointed. On that day, a new story will begin: the story of the glorious freedom of the sons and daughters of God.

And giving up our preferences for the good of the body is exactly what the gospel calls us to do. The gospel calls us to give up so others can gain, to count others more significant than ourselves, just as Christ did for us (Phil. 2:1–11). So imitate Christ as you sing to Christ in the body Christ. If glorifying God in song is a sacrifice of praise (Heb. 13:15), don’t be surprised if it costs you something.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Michael Lawrence is the senior pastor of Hinson Baptist Church in Portland, Oregon and the author of Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church: A Guide for Ministry.

By R. Albert Mohler

Biblical Theology and the Sexuality Crisis

Western society is currently experiencing what can only be described as a moral revolution. Our society’s moral code and collective ethical evaluation on a particular issue has undergone not small adjustments but a complete reversal. That which was once condemned is now celebrated, and the refusal to celebrate is now condemned.

What makes the current moral and sexual revolution so different from previous moral revolutions is that it is taking place at an utterly unprecedented velocity. Previous generations experienced moral revolutions over decades, even centuries. This current revolution is happening at warp speed.

As the church responds to this revolution, we must remember that current debates on sexuality present to the church a crisis that is irreducibly and inescapably theological. This crisis is tantamount to the type of theological crisis that Gnosticism presented to the early church or that Pelagianism presented to the church in the time of Augustine. In other words, the crisis of sexuality challenges the church’s understanding of the gospel, sin, salvation, and sanctification. Advocates of the new sexuality demand a complete rewriting of Scripture’s metanarrative, a complete reordering of theology, and a fundamental change to how we think about the church’s ministry.

IS “TRANSGENDER” IN THE CONCORDANCE?

Proof-texting is the first reflex of conservative Protestants seeking a strategy of theological retrieval and restatement. This hermeneutical reflex comes naturally to evangelical Christians because we believe the Bible to be the inerrant and infallible word of God. We understand that, as B.B. Warfield said, “When Scripture speaks, God speaks.” I should make clear that this reflex is not entirely wrong, but it’s not entirely right either. It’s not entirely wrong because certain Scriptures (that is, “proof texts”) speak to specific issues in a direct and identifiable way.

There are, however, obvious limitations to this type of theological method—what I like to call the “concordance reflex.” What happens when you are wrestling with a theological issue for which no corresponding word appears in the concordance? Many of the most important theological issues cannot be reduced to merely finding relevant words and their corresponding verses in a concordance. Try looking up “transgender” in your concordance. How about “lesbian”? Or “in vitro fertilization”? They’re certainly not in the back of my Bible.

It’s not that Scripture is insufficient. The problem is not a failure of Scripture but a failure of our approach to Scripture. The concordance approach to theology produces a flat Bible without context, covenant, or master-narrative—three hermeneutical foundations that are essential to understand Scripture rightly.

A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF THE BODY

Biblical theology is absolutely indispensable for the church to craft an appropriate response to the current sexual crisis. The church must learn to read Scripture according to its context, embedded in its master-narrative, and progressively revealed along covenantal lines. We must learn to interpret each theological issue through Scripture’s metanarrative of creation, fall, redemption, and new creation. Specifically, evangelicals need a theology of the body that is anchored in the Bible’s own unfolding drama of redemption.

Creation

Genesis 1:26–28 indicates that God made man—unlike the rest of creation—in his own image. This passage also demonstrates that God’s purpose for humanity was an embodied existence. Genesis 2:7 highlights this point as well. God makes man out of the dust and then breathes into him the breath of life. This indicates that we were a body before we were a person. The body, as it turns out, is not incidental to our personhood. Adam and Eve are given the commission to multiply and subdue the earth. Their bodies allow them, by God’s creation and his sovereign plan, to fulfill that task of image-bearing.

The Genesis narrative also suggests that the body comes with needs. Adam would be hungry, so God gave him the fruit of the garden. These needs are an expression embedded within the created order that Adam is finite, dependent, and derived.

Further, Adam would have a need for companionship, so God gave him a wife, Eve. Both Adam and Eve were to fulfill the mandate to multiply and fill the earth with God’s image-bearers by a proper use of the bodily reproductive ability with which they were created. Coupled with this is the bodily pleasure each would experience as the two became one flesh—that is, one body.

The Genesis narrative also demonstrates that gender is part of the goodness of God’s creation. Gender is not merely a sociological construct forced upon human beings who otherwise could negotiate any number of permutations.

But Genesis teaches us that gender is created by God for our good and his glory. Gender is intended for human flourishing and is assigned by the Creator’s determination—just as he determined when, where, and that we should exist.

In sum, God created his image as an embodied person. As embodied, we are given the gift and stewardship of sexuality from God himself. We are constructed in a way that testifies to God’s purposes in this.

Genesis also frames this entire discussion in a covenantal perspective. Human reproduction is not merely in order to propagate the race. Instead, reproduction highlights the fact that Adam and Eve were to multiply in order to fill the earth with the glory of God as reflected by his image bearers.

Fall

The fall, the second movement in redemptive history, corrupts God’s good gift of the body. The entrance of sin brings mortality to the body. In terms of sexuality, the Fall subverts God’s good plans for sexual complementarity. Eve’s desire is to rule over her husband (Gen. 3:16). Adam’s leadership will be harsh (3:17-19). Eve will experience pain in childbearing (3:16).

The narratives that follow demonstrate the development of aberrant sexual practices, from polygamy to rape, which Scripture addresses with remarkable candor. These Genesis accounts are followed by the giving of the Law which is intended to curb aberrant sexual behavior. It regulates sexuality and expressions of gender and makes clear pronouncements on sexual morals, cross-dressing, marriage, divorce, and host of other bodily and sexual matters.

The Old Testament also connects sexual sin to idolatry. Orgiastic worship, temple prostitution, and other horrible distortions of God’s good gift of the body are all seen as part and parcel of idolatrous worship. The same connection is made by Paul in Romans 1. Having “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles” (Rom 1:22), and having “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Rom 1:25), men and women exchange their natural relations with one another (Rom 1:26-27).

Redemption

With regard to redemption, we must note that one of the most important aspects of our redemption is that it came by way of a Savior with a body. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14; cf. Phil. 2:5-11). Human redemption is accomplished by the Son of God incarnate—who remains incarnate eternally.

Paul indicates that this salvation includes not merely our souls but also our bodies. Romans 6:12 speaks of sin that reigns in our “mortal bodies”—which implies the hope of future bodily redemption. Romans 8:23 indicates part of our eschatological hope is the “redemption of our bodies.” Even now, in our life of sanctification we are commanded to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God in worship (Rom. 12:2). Further, Paul describes the redeemed body as a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19) and clearly we must understand sanctification as having effects upon the body.

Sexual ethics in the New Testament, as in the Old Testament, regulate our expressions of gender and sexuality. Porneia, sexual immorality of any kind, is categorically condemned by Jesus and the apostles. Likewise, Paul clearly indicates to the church at Corinth that sexual sin—sins committed in the body (1 Cor. 6:18)—are what bring the church and the gospel into disrepute because they proclaim to a watching world that the gospel has been to no effect (1 Cor. 5-6).

New Creation

Finally, we reach the fourth and final act of the drama of redemption—new creation. In 1 Corinthians 15:42-57, Paul directs us not only to the resurrection of our own bodies in the new creation but to the fact that Christ’s bodily resurrection is the promise and power for that future hope. Our resurrection will be the experience of eternal glory in the body. This body will be a transformed, consummated continuation of our present embodied existence in the same way that Jesus’ body is the same body he had on earth, yet utterly glorified.

The new creation will not simply be a reset of the garden. It will be better than Eden. As Calvin noted, in the new creation we will know God not only as Creator but as Redeemer—and that redemption includes our bodies. We will reign with Christ in bodily form, as he also is the embodied and reigning cosmic Lord.

In terms of our sexuality, while gender will remain in the new creation, sexual activity will not. It is not that sex is nullified in the resurrection; rather, it is fulfilled. The eschatological marriage supper of the Lamb, to which marriage and sexuality point, will finally arrive. No longer will there be any need to fill the earth with image-bearers as was the case in Genesis 1. Instead, the earth will be filled with knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.

The sexuality crisis has demonstrated the failure of theological method on the part of many pastors. The “concordance reflex” simply cannot accomplish the type of rigorous theological thinking needed in pulpits today. Pastors and churches must learn the indispensability of biblical theology and must practice reading Scripture according to its own internal logic—the logic of a story that moves from creation to new creation. The hermeneutical task before us is great, but it is also indispensable for faithful evangelical engagement with the culture.

THE INDISPENSABILITY OF BIBLICAL THEOLOGY

The sexuality crisis has demonstrated the failure of theological method on the part of many pastors. The “concordance reflex” simply cannot accomplish the type of rigorous theological thinking needed in pulpits today. Pastors and churches must learn the indispensability of biblical theology and must practice reading Scripture according to its own internal logic—the logic of a story that moves from creation to new creation. The hermeneutical task before us is great, but it is also indispensable for faithful evangelical engagement with the culture.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

R. Albert Mohler is the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

By Steven Harris

Biblical Theology and Liberation

Liberation and justice are popular themes in the public square. And Christians should be interested in such themes. We have been set free, and we know that God is just.

But what does the Bible mean when it talks about being set free? Or pursuing justice?

Some voices in the church have built entire theological paradigms on these themes, applying them to society as a whole. Consider statements such as the following:

…[Christian theology’s] sole reason for existence is to put into ordered speech the meaning of God’s activity in the world, so that the community of the oppressed will recognize that its inner thrust for liberation is not only consistent with the gospel but is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The building of a just society has worth in terms of the Kingdom, or in more current phraseology, to participate in the process of liberation is already, in a certain sense, a salvific work.1

These assertions were made by James Cone and Gustavo Gutierrez, respectively. Both men played influential roles in developing what’s called Liberation Theology in North and South America in the mid-to-late twentieth century. From the social sites of race and class, Cone and Gutierrez constructed theological systems that would eventually be adopted by North American Protestant Christians in predominately African American churches and segments of the Catholic Church in Latin America.

To evaluate and respond to proposals like these, pastors need biblical theology.

After all, liberation theology has been broadened today to fit myriad other causes—from feminism to homosexuality to environmentalism. The aim of this article is not to discuss these contemporary offshoots, but to put an evangelical biblical theology into conversation with liberation theology as one case study for learning how biblical theology protects and strengthens churches in sound doctrine.

WHAT BIBLICAL THEOLOGY HAS TO SAY…

In a general sense, biblical theology is simply theology derived from the Bible. And while this commitment is certainly necessary to arrive at the truth about God, many theological frameworks—including liberation theology—claim biblical origin.

Yet the term “biblical theology” also refers to a way of interpreting the Bible, namely, a way that helps to make sense of the minor narratives that together make a whole-bible narrative. It is concerned with both the big picture and the pixels, particularly how the biblical authors understood the details of those pixels in light of the overall big picture.

So what does biblical theology have to say in response to the claims and aims of liberation theology? I can think of five topics that biblical theology would want to address:

On Systemic Oppression: The Contexts of Liberation Theology

First, biblical theology will express a sympathetic understanding of the social and political contexts in which liberation theology emerged in the Americas. Individuals like Cone and Gutierrez were desperately seeking to demonstrate the relevance of the Bible amidst horrid social and economic realities. Few evangelicals at the time were interested in addressing such things, and many hindered progress in these areas.

The vitriolic nature of Jim Crow racism in the southern United States and the devastating realities of chronic poverty in Latin America caused theological thinkers to forge a system that was both prophetic and public. Unfortunately, as certain issues moved to the center, essentials were forced to the margins.

Biblical theology not only calls us to acknowledge these contexts, but it also helps us rightly assess them. All of the injustices in the world point back to the fall and man’s utter rebellion against God. Racists are racist, for instance, because they are rebels against God. And by pointing to the true source of racism, biblical theology can then trace out the biblical storyline until we find the ultimate remedy is in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Christians alone have the sole message that is able to reconcile racists and other rebels to a holy and righteous God.

The mission of the local church, no doubt, is the delivery and spread of this gospel message.

On Sin: The Culprit of Liberation Theology

Liberation theology describes sin not in terms of an individual’s rebellion against a holy and righteous God, but in terms of structural and corporate injustice. And to neglect completely the sins of the individual is an error. On the other hand, one can turn a blind eye to the evidences of structural fallenness, while readily acknowledging the sinfulness of individuals who inhabit those structures.

Biblical theology would encourage balance. The storyline of Scripture locates the origin of sin in the individual human heart, such that Paul can conclude “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). But as soon as fallen people begin building civilizations their fallenness will instantiate itself in the institutions that govern society, from the oath of Lamech, to the group decision to build Babel, to imbalanced weights, to iniquitous decrees (Gen. 4:24; 11:4; Deut. 16:19-20; Prov. 16:11; Is. 10:1-2). An unjust law or practice, in other words, is an institutionalized or structural injustice.

The storyline of pre-exilic Israel, furthermore, presents not just a narrative of discrete sinful acts, but an infectious corruption of an entire nation, in part, due to the injustices of its kings and priests, whose sins manifested themselves not just individually but institutionally and structurally—in everything from their treaties with foreign powers, to the practice of bribery, to the exploitation of the orphan and the widow.

To speak then of Christ’s work of fulfilling the law and the prophets is to speak not just of an individual cleansing and rectification, but of an institutional and structural cleansing and rectification. He is not just the righteous individual; he is the true temple. He didn’t just keep the Sabbath; he is the Lord of the Sabbath. He is not just a new Adam, he is a new kingdom and nation and government.

Christians who submit themselves to the government of Christ should therefore be among the first to recognize not just the prevalence of individual sin, but institutional and corporate sin. By considering the governance of Christ, they are trained to discern the nature of a truly just government. Though major failures mark the historic record in this regard, individual Christians should strive to lead the way in opposing not only individual acts of injustice, but institutional injustices. We are to serve as salt and light in a dark world. Still, biblical theology understands that this world will continue to fall short of reflecting God’s glory, precisely because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Furthermore, in liberation theology, sin is described within the binary of oppressed/oppressor. There is no room for attending to universal norms of ethical behavior. Moreover, it seems that those who constitute the oppressed community are incapable of even committing sin.

Here, biblical theology would again stress the universality of sin (Rom. 3:23; Rom. 5:12). All of humanity—both the oppressed and the oppressor—is guilty of sin. This inherited guilt and corruption has its genesis in the Garden where both innocence and Eden are lost due to idolatrous disobedience (Gen. 3:7, 23).

What this means is that, within the storyline of the Bible, even those deemed victims are yet villains in desperate need of saving grace.

The Bible does not tell a story of good guys vs. bad guys. Instead, it tells the story of one who is good, suffering in the place of a people who are bad and purchasing good for them (2 Cor. 5:21). Human conflict stems from a broken fellowship with God, which all of humanity suffers. Any theological system that rejects this fact is only deceivingly termed “liberation,” since it confines its adherents to perpetual bondage and, perhaps, eternal damnation.

On Victimization as Interpretive Lens: The Hermeneutic of Liberation Theology

Liberation theology teaches that the Bible must be interpreted from the perspective of the oppressed and the poor. It does this in order to guard against further injustices and to bring to light the suffering of social victims. Indeed, it claims that the Bible exists to reveal God as the liberator of oppressed victims. This liberation is, in many ways, seen as the essence of the salvation message.

But should we utilize the oppressed community or the poor as the interpretive lens through which to read the Bible? A right biblical theology contests that the Bible is not about man, but the God-man, Jesus Christ. The person and work of Christ is the apex of redemptive history. He is the ultimate object and perfecter of justifying faith. Recall that Jesus placed himself at the center of the Old Testament narrative (Lk. 24:27). Thus, a Christ-centered hermeneutic is the key to unlocking the meaning of the Scriptures.

This conviction helps us to focus on the content of the Bible’s grand drama. It is the history of his story, moving from creation, to fall, to redemption, to the consummation. The Bible tells the story of a God who planned from eternity past to secure the salvation of a sinful people by sending and sacrificing his Son.

On the Exodus Narrative: The Overriding Theme of Liberation Theology

For liberation theology—especially black liberation theology—the Exodus account is the central theme around which theology orients. God’s act of liberating his people from Egyptian bondage sets the present-day expectations and agenda for liberation theology.

Applying Exodus’ story of deliverance to the temporal world of nations and politics did not begin in the mid-twentieth century. Black American slaves in the eighteenth and nineteenth century were drawn to the Exodus narrative since it mirrored their plight. The narrative served as proof positive that God was able and willing to deliver a new Israel (black slaves) from a new Egypt (America). Looking farther back, the seventeenth century Puritans who traversed the Atlantic regarded themselves as leaving an Egypt (England) on divine mission, embarking on what one historian called “an errand into the wilderness.” Nevertheless, modern liberation theology was the first to take this narrative and apply it as normative for oppressed communities.

Biblical theology presents several problems with this prescriptive assumption. First, it overlooks the fact that the plagues culminate in the death of the firstborn and the Passover, an act of judgment which fell upon Abraham’s descendants as much as the rest of Egypt. Abraham’s descendants, however, had a way of escape through a substitutionary sacrifice. The Gospels then characterize Christ as our Passover Lamb (e.g., John 1:29). Is the way of our exodus, therefore, not through the atoning sacrifice of this Passover Lamb, instead of, say, through the righting of wrong laws?

Second, liberation theology fails to acknowledge—or, at least, seems to downplay—the covenantal reality in which the Exodus is couched. The Exodus was not merely a political and socio-economic event. Rather, God was keeping a covenantal promise by gathering to himself a covenantal people: “I will take you [Israelites] to be my people, and I will be your God…” (Ex. 6:6). The Old Covenant, then, was fulfilled in the New. And nowhere does Jesus make a new covenant in his blood with the Puritans. Or with black slaves. Or with the disenfranchised of South America. Rather, he offers a new covenant for all who repent and believe in his covenant-accomplishing work.

Third, liberation theology fails to take into account the goal of the Exodus event. God tells Pharaoh, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness” (Ex. 7:16, emphasis added). The goal wasn’t finally political or economic liberation, but becoming a gathering of a God-ruled, obeying, and worshipping people. And yet, we know that the Israelites eventually failed to submit to God’s rule, fail to worship, and failed to obey. Though they are brought out of physical bondage, they remain spiritually bound. Liberation theology, therefore, places its hope in an Exodus that, literally, does not deliver and never did deliver.

Thankfully, the Exodus theme is not confined to the Pentateuch; it has a whole-Bible presence. Israel’s sinful disobedience culminates with Assyrian and Babylonian captivity in the eighth and sixth centuries BC, respectively. Before these captivities, the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah speak of a new Exodus, one that will overshadow the former. According to these prophets, this Exodus, when fully realized, would not only include the returning of exiles but an even greater, spiritual deliverance.

Thus, the greatest oversight of liberation theology regarding the Exodus narrative is that it fails to treat the Exodus event as a shadow of the deliverance that Christ brings. As the Bible unfolds, and the New Covenant is enacted, Christ is pictured as a greater Passover lamb (1 Cor. 5:7), a greater Moses (Heb. 3:1-6), and the true Israel (Hos. 11:1; Matt. 2:15). Simply put, the Exodus is, in its full expression, eternal salvation from sin and damnation, and it can only be found in Christ. A new people of God is being fashioned after his righteousness, not according to an ethnic identity or social status.

On the End of the Age: The Eschatological Error of Liberation Theology

It is difficult to discern what liberation theology teaches about the end times. Just how God will bring this world to its appropriate end is of no immediate concern to liberation theologians. Moreover, the reality of an afterlife is barely discussed. What is important is the here and now, and how oppression, poverty, and injustice can be eradicated today. It argues that theology preoccupied with a better world-to-come stagnates oppressed communities and justifies the status quo. Therefore, liberation theology seeks to disillusion people of their future expectations, and to encourage them to seek those future hopes now.

Though dangerously misguided, there is something of worth that needs to be acknowledged here. Liberation theology offers a fair critique of some in the evangelical community by exposing what can only be regarded as indifference toward injustice, albeit couched in orthodox doctrine.

Nevertheless, the corrective that biblical theology offers is an immensely important one: it affirms the final resurrection and the new creation to come. The biblical witness is filled with a constant refrain of the eternal hope. The biblical covenants culminate in the new covenant in Christ, marked by the indwelling guarantor of the Spirit—the literal down payment of the promised inheritance to be received (Eph. 1:14). And contrary to what liberation theology suggests, the hope of this inheritance encourages both Christ-reflecting endurance (2 Cor. 4:17-18; 1 Pet. 2:21-23) and Christ-exalting efforts (1 Cor. 15:58).

Biblical theology exposes the fact that liberation theology not only over-realizes its eschatology, it misunderstands the end times altogether. The ultimate goal of the Bible’s redemptive drama is not man dwelling amicably and equitably with man. The goal of the drama will be realized and expressed in the exclamation of a loud voice, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man” (Rev. 21:3). Sadly, the liberation that matters cannot be found in liberation theology.

1 The quotes at the beginning of this article – as well as the overall teachings of the theological system critiqued – were respectively taken from: James H. Cone, A Black Theology of Liberation, Fortieth Anniversary Edition (New York: Orbis Books, 2010) and Gustavo Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation, 15th Anniversary Edition (New York: Orbis Books, 1988).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Steven Harris is a graduate student at Yale University, focusing on black religion in the African diaspora. A Vanderbilt graduate, he received his master of divinity degree at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and has formerly served as assistant pastor for a Kentucky Baptist church.

Book Review:

The Crucified King

Reviewed by Bobby Jamieson

Jeremy Treat, The Crucified King: Atonement and Kingdom in Biblical and Systematic Theology. Zondervan, 2014. 320 pages. $26.99

There’s a special place in my heart for books that dismantle false dichotomies.

And as Michael Horton points out in his foreword, Jeremy Treat’s The Crucified King deftly dispatches several, including Old Testament vs. New, Jesus vs. Paul, and biblical vs. systematic theology. But Treat’s main target is one false dichotomy that is alive and well in evangelical circles: the kingdom vs. the cross, God’s restored rule vs. Christ’s atoning death.

At both scholarly and popular levels the kingdom and the cross are too often pitted against each other. In the introduction, Treat—a pastor at Reality LA in Hollywood and adjunct professor at Biola—offers a number of reasons why this is so, including the fallout from debates between those who emphasize one at the expense of the other and the post-Enlightenment splintering of biblical studies.

In response, Treat seeks to rightly relate kingdom and cross, describing their relationship through the lenses offered by both biblical and systematic theology. One of the key theses of the book emerges in the introduction: “The cross represents not only the great exchange (substitutionary atonement), but also the great transition (the eschatological turn of the ages)” (49). Chapter 1 traces the pattern of royal victory through atoning suffering that develops throughout the Old Testament, as seen, for example, in the protoevangelium (Gen. 3:15), covenant initiation, the Exodus, the life of David, and the prophecies of Isaiah and Zechariah.

Against this backdrop chapter 2 provides a detailed study of the work of Isaiah’s suffering servant (Isa. 52:13–53:12), arguing that “the servant is the Davidic king who will bring about a new exodus and thereby establish God’s kingdom by means of his sacrificial suffering” (69). Chapter 3 offers a close reading of the kingdom-cross interplay in Mark, which itself is rooted in Isaiah’s new exodus. Treat argues that “the messianic mission culminates at Golgotha, where the crucified king establishes his kingdom by way of the cross” (110). Chapter 4 examines two other representative New Testament passages, Colossians 1:15–20 and Revelation 5:5–10, which present Jesus’ sacrificial death as the basis for his universal reign. And chapter 5 draws together and clarifies these biblical-theological threads.

From chapter 6 through the end, the focus shifts to systematic theology, beginning with a reconsideration of Christ’s states of humiliation and exaltation and the threefold office of prophet, priest, and king. Regarding the former, Treat compellingly argues that these states are not strictly sequential. Instead, “the proper view is exaltation in humiliation within a broader progression of exaltation through humiliation” (156). Regarding Christ’s threefold office, Treat argues, again persuasively, that these three are not airtight categories that each correspond to different phases of Christ’s work. Drawing heavily on Calvin, Treat insists that the cross is as much a kingly and prophetic work as a priestly one (165–73).

Chapter 7 surveys the twin dangers of reductionism and relativism in atonement theology. Treat argues instead for an “expansive particularity” in which Christ’s saving work is viewed as multifaceted yet its various aspects have a certain integration, order, and rank. Building on this, chapter 8 seeks to integrate what are often presented as mutually exclusive views of the cross: Christus Victor and penal substitution. Drawing particularly on Henri Blocher and Sinclair Ferguson, Treat argues for “Christus Victor through penal substitution.” In one of the book’s most constructive contributions, Treat demonstrates how Christ’s ministry undoes the works of Satan point by point, showing that “penal substitution directly addresses the root problem between God and humanity (wrath/guilt), whereas Christus Victor addresses the derivative problem of human bondage to Satan.” In other words, “the victory of the cross is dependent on the vicarious suffering of the Christ” (224).

Chapter 9 unpacks the cruciform shape of the kingdom. In critical dialogue with Jurgen Moltmann, Treat argues that “between Christ’s resurrection and return, the kingdom of God is hidden beneath the cross,” and is “advanced by taking up the cross and hidden to fallen eyes beneath the weakness and foolishness of the cross” (230). Chapter 10 wraps up with a few comments on the story and logic of redemption.

This book is crucial because what many have wrongly separated, Treat biblically joins together. Christians who rightly cherish the cross should not neglect the kingdom; Christians who rightly promote the kingdom should have no aversion to the cross. Through careful exegesis and theological analysis, Treat repeatedly shows that, far from being in tension with each other, the kingdom and the cross actually interpret each other. The cross establishes the kingdom; the kingdom is the goal of the cross. And the kingdom is only good news because it is the reign of a King who died to save his enemies.

This is an especially important book for pastors. Internalizing this book’s arguments will help you discern how the cross truly is the hinge of the Bible’s storyline. It will help you preach Christ from all of Scripture because you see better how his work fulfills the kingdom pattern that develops throughout Scripture. Consider Treat’s twofold definition of the kingdom of God. First, “The design of God’s kingdom in creation: God’s reign through his servant-kings over creation.” Second, “The coming of God’s kingdom in redemption: God’s redemptive reign through Christ and his reconciled servant-kings over the new creation” (43). This is simply stated, but it elegantly weaves together a huge web of biblical teaching.

The same could be said for the whole book. This is the published version of Treat’s Wheaton PhD thesis, so there are plenty of footnotes and detailed arguments. Yet Treat’s prose is lean and lucid, punctuated with pithy summaries. Reading The Crucified King certainly takes work, but it’s just the kind of work those who preach God’s Word should love to do.

The heart of the book is summed up in Augustine’s saying, “He endured death as a lamb; he devoured it as a lion” (123). So take up and read—and rejoice in our crucified king.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Bobby Jamieson is assistant editor for 9Marks, a member of Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and the author of Sound Doctrine: How a Church Grows in the Love and Holiness of God (Crossway, 2013). You can follow him on Twitter.

Book Review:

Preaching? Simple Teaching on Simply Preaching

Reviewed by Nikolas Lingle

Alec Motyer, Preaching? Simple Teaching on Simply Preaching. Christian Focus, 2013. 192 pages. $14.99

Tim Keller’s commendation on this book’s cover reads, “Alec Motyer has had a profound, formative influence on my preaching.” It’s easy to see why. Motyer, well known for his magisterial work on Isaiah, gives us another work of immense value. Preaching? is an opportunity to eavesdrop on the wisdom of a man who has been preaching for a long time—so long, in fact, that he transparently admits to using one particular sermon nineteen times since it first saw the light of day in 1963! This book is packed with just the kind of profound insight and poignant reminders you would expect from a man who has been at it that long.

Chapters 1-5 are somewhat introductory, advancing the central role of proclamation in the life of the church, highlighting the primary need for clarity in teaching, and clarifying what is meant by exposition. Motyer says that exposition is “the restatement of a Scripture…so that its message emerges with clarity” (30).

Chapters 6-11 are the heart of the book, presenting the six aspects of Motyer’s method for sermon preparation: examination, analysis, orientation, harvesting, presentation, and application. These, he says, are not successive steps, but run parallel to one another, “like a sixfold track leading to our destination” (37). Chapters 12-14 conclude with counsel regarding the pastor’s personal holiness, attentiveness in prayer for the flock, and the necessity of making Christ central in all proclamation.

Motyer’s book is packed full of excellent examples that illustrate his counsel. The reader will walk away with countless model sermon outlines and memorable illustrations. These are sprinkled generously throughout the overall structure, which nicely sets out a trajectory for sermon preparation that is far from technical. In fact, the six aspects of Motyer’s method are a bit difficult to distinguish at times (“examination” and “analysis” don’t seem distinct enough to treat separately). But such technicalities matter little when the content is so insightful.

Motyer encourages the preacher that what is needed is clarity of explanation rather than sheer wit, charisma, or innate oratorical skill. He points to Jesus’ question to the disciples following his instruction to them in Matthew 13, “Have you understood all these things?” He says the difference between a converted person and an unconverted person is a matter of understanding. “The instructed mind is the foundation of the work of God in us” (28). The crucial matter for the preacher is to labor to understand the Word and to explain it clearly, nothing more.

Another idea that pops up throughout the book is that the preacher’s primary task is to expose the central thought of the passage. Motyer warns against importing ideas into the text that are not there. In this vein he commends the example of Campbell Morgan, who would read the concerned text forty or fifty times before preaching. And he argues that, having given careful attention to the Word , preachers should find that their sermons “emerge out of texts and passages. This, surely, is the very essence of exposition” (84).

Motyer also gives careful attention to the role of prayer in the life of the pastor. “The first duty of ministers is to pray for those to whom they are sent in ministry” (132). He encourages praying through the church’s membership directory every week. And just as the pastor should pray for his people, so he should pray for his preaching. The whole work of sermon preparation should be bathed in prayer. The conclusion of the preparation is “to pray our way through the forthcoming sermon, taking each section and each sentence in turn” (139). This exhortation to rely on the Holy Spirit permeates the pages of this book.

It may be worth noting that Motyer offers a wide variety of “tips,” so many that it would be impossible to list them. For example, he encourages the use of manuscripts (or detailed outlines) for the sake achieving clarity and discourages the frequent use of alliteration in sermon outlines. At any rate, Motyer argues that no preacher or would-be preacher should despair over their calling. “Not everyone can be what people call a ‘good preacher,’ but no one need be a ‘bad preacher’” (9). And the book is constantly reassuring on this point. Confidence is derived not from ability, but from the authority of the Word itself. No matter what the skill level of the preacher, the confidence comes from the Word.

Preaching? deserves a place on your bookshelf alongside Saving Eutychus, which features similar themes. It will take just a few hours to read, and will more than repay the investment.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Nik Lingle is associate pastor of Christ Covenant Church in Raleigh, North Carolina and is a student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Book Review:

All Things for Good

Reviewed by Joey Cochran

Thomas Watson, All Things for Good. Orig. pub. 1663. Reprint; Banner of Truth, 1986. 128 pp. $8.00

A mother thrust into single parenthood because of a tragic car accident. A father loses his job. A son or daughter diagnosed with cancer. A tornado eats a city. Yet another school shooting occurs.

All of these circumstances stir us to ask: Where is God in the midst of suffering? Why does he permit affliction? Why do I struggle with sin?

If you’re looking for help with these questions, I recommend Thomas Watson’s All Things for Good. Thomas Watson, a man acquainted with affliction, lost four children in their youth and wrote this book one year after the Act of Uniformity ejected 2,000 pastors from their pulpits, himself included.

All Things for Good is a rigorous exposition of Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (KJV). Watson treats this passage over a series of nine chapters.

Chapters 1-3 focus on the verse’s first part, covering how the best things work, how the worst things work, and why all things work for good. Chapters 4-6 explore the significance of “to them that love God,” examining love itself, the tests of love, and concluding with an exhortation to love. Chapters 7-8 attend to effectual calling, and chapter 9 concludes this discussion by looking at God’s purpose for all good things.

This book merits unhurried and attentive reading; I did not turn a page without stopping to reflect. Watson is rightly regarded as one of the most vivid and engaging Puritan writers, as you will discover. While the style of All Things For Good is impressive, the argument is sublime. Watson exhaustively examines each section of this verse.

CAN ALL THINGS REALLY WORK FOR GOOD?

But can all things really work for good? We can’t help but pose this question, and Watson is faithful to deliver a response. Whether it is the best things or the worst things, Watson demonstrates that all events are “cordials”—that is, medicine—for the godly. Some cordials are sweet, others bitter, but all serve to strengthen, heal, and preserve the godly.

God’s attributes, promises, mercies, and graces bring good to the godly. Angels, our fellow saints, Christ’s intercession, and our own prayers all are conduits of good for the godly. Likewise, the evils of affliction, temptation, desertion, and sin serve to work good, but only for the godly. I found Watson’s discourse on desertion opportune. He says:

God is just in all His withdrawings. We desert Him before He deserts us. We desert God when we leave off close communion with Him, when we desert His truths and dare not to appear for Him, when we leave the guidance and conduct of His Word and follow the deceitful light of our own corrupt affections and passions. We usually desert God first; therefore we have none to blame but ourselves. (39)

The question isn’t whether you have deserted God, but when last did you desert him? And when have you last felt his desertion? This section will surely guide you through the desertions of God.

WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?

“What’s love got to do with it?” is more than a clichéd line from the ‘80’s. As Watson puts it, “Love is an expansion of the soul, or the inflaming of the affections, by which a Christian breathes after God as the supreme and sovereign good” (66). The good that comes from God is only for those who love him. His good is bread for children and not for despisers and haters of God.

Thus, Watson intentionally outlines the grounds, kinds, properties, and degrees of love. Lovers of God must be familiar with love and study it well. We cannot know or express what has gone unstudied.

Moreover, All Things for Good presents the fruits of love. This may well be the crowning aspect of this work. Fourteen tests of love are listed. I cannot list or address them all, but here are five of my favorites: magnanimity, crucifixion, hatred of sin, entertaining good thoughts of God, and endeavoring to make him appear glorious in others’ eyes.

Finally, Watson explains love in light of effectual calling. We cannot contrive love from ourselves; love is a grace from God. “All the strength in men or angels cannot make the heart love God. Ordinances will not do it of themselves, nor judgments; it is only the almighty and invincible power of the Spirit of God that can infuse love into the soul” (88).

WHY IS CALLING SO SIGNIFICANT?

For all things to work for good, one must be godly; to be godly, one must possess a God-instilled love; to possess this love, one must be called. Calling is the quintessential prerequisite for all things to be good. I love how Watson puts this in his comment on the word order of Romans 8:28: “Love is first named, but not first wrought; we must be called of God, before we can love God” (104).

Watson presents calling as both outward and inward. When the gospel is preached people are outwardly called, but not all these are chosen. It is when God overpowers the hearer, the Holy Spirit regenerates the soul, and the will embraces Christ that an inward, effectual call takes place. All Things For Good presents our deplorable state prior to calling, the means, the method, the properties, and then the end to which God is honored by an effectual calling.

A HEALING PROMISE

When we face pain, suffering, God’s desertion, or rod of correction, we wonder, “Does God love me? Am I one of his?” All Things For Good was written nearly four centuries ago, but remains as relevant as if it were written yesterday. You will find in this book “a sovereign elixer of unspeakable comfort” (126). Drink deeply this elixer. Experience the healing promise that God causes all things to work for good for those who love him.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Joey Cochran, a graduate of Dallas Seminary, is a church planting intern at Redeemer Fellowship in St. Charles, Illinois under the supervision of Pastor Joe Thorn. Follow him at jtcochran.com or @joeycochran.

Book Review:

Taking God at His Word

Reviewed by Bobby Jamieson

Kevin DeYoung, Taking God at His Word: Why the Bible Is Knowable, Necessary, and Enough, and What that Means for You and Me. Crossway, 2014. 144 pages. $17.99

I try to consume a fairly steady diet of good books on the doctrine of Scripture, at least one or two a year. The evangelical doctrine of Scripture is constantly under attack from what can seem a bewildering array of angles. And confidence in Scripture is crucial for our confidence in the gospel Scripture preaches and the God Scripture reveals. So I’m grateful for a growing list of books on Scripture that have stirred and strengthened my faith.

For instance, Warfield’s The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture laid a bedrock foundation I return to constantly. Packer’s “Fundamentalism” and the Word of God crystallizes and condenses some of the same essential arguments. Bavinck’s Prolegomena is lucid, rock-solid, and pastorally perceptive. Timothy Ward’s Words of Life helpfully unpacks Scripture’s role in God’s plan of salvation, as does Scott Swain’s outstanding Trinity, Revelation, and Reading.

Kevin DeYoung’s new book Taking God at His Word now occupies a special place on this list. It’s the best book I’m aware of on the doctrine of Scripture that virtually any church member can read.

In eight short chapters, DeYoung traces the basic contours of what the Bible teaches about the Bible. He begins in chapter 1 with a brief exposition of Psalm 119, because “The goal of this book is to get us believing what we should believe about the Bible, feeling what we should about the Bible, and to get us doing what we ought to do with the Bible” (22). Chapter 2 unpacks 2 Peter 1:16–21’s teaching that Scripture is sure, steady, and unerring, laying theological groundwork for the rest of the book.

The next four chapters expound one of the classically affirmed attributes of Scripture: sufficiency, clarity, authority, and necessity. These might seem like heady, abstract terms, but DeYoung brings the cookies all the way to the bottom shelf by using simple, concrete language and showing how each of these features of Scripture is crucial for the Christian life.

Chapter 7 unpacks Jesus’ own beliefs about Scripture, focusing especially on his statement that “Scripture cannot be broken” in John 10:35. And chapter 8 concludes with an exposition of 2 Timothy 3:14–17 which cements the book’s doctrinal foundation and issues a call to continue in the Scriptures.

No one who’s read anything by Kevin DeYoung will be surprised to learn that the book is clear, concise, accessible, evenhanded, precise, and practical. This is what DeYoung has taught us to expect, and Taking God at His Word does not disappoint. Here’s a sampling to whet your appetite:

We go the Bible to learn about the Bible because to judge the Bible by any other standard would be to make the Bible less than what it claims to be. (24)

You can exaggerate your authority in handling the Scriptures, but you cannot exaggerate the Scriptures’ authority to handle you. (42)

If authority is the liberal problem, clarity the postmodern problem, and necessity the problem for atheists and agnostics, then sufficiency is the attribute most quickly doubted by rank-and-file churchgoing Christians. (45)

Jesus can illustrate with the lilies of the field (Matt. 6:28), but ‘it is written’ can conquer the Devil (4:1–11). (80)

The Bible is God’s book, a fact we are reminded of frequently in the book. Consequently, to trust completely in the Bible is to trust in the character and assurances of God more than we trust in our own ability to reason and explain. (82)

I may have one minor disagreement with one aspect of how DeYoung handles issues of continuity and discontinuity between the Old and New Testaments (99–100). But it’s so slight as to be not worth detailing here, and it’s wrapped up with broader debates between our ecclesiological camps. I mention it here only to satisfy readers who might be tempted to doubt the objectivity of my glowing endorsement. Yes, I read the book critically. Yes, it really is that good.

If you’re a pastor, you should read this book to deepen and refresh your own confidence in Scripture. You should also give it away liberally to your church members to equip them to think, feel, and act rightly in relation to God’s Word. From guidance to Christian growth to assessing the claims of science, DeYoung repeatedly demonstrates that Scripture’s own doctrine of Scripture is essential equipment for living as competent Christians. You could even use the book as an outline for a Sunday school class, building on the foundation of DeYoung’s pithy primers.

What DeYoung presents in this book is not just a string of arguments, though he does marshal many. What’s more, though, he portrays the posture we should bring to Scripture and gain from Scripture: humble submission, reverent trust, and eager expectation that the God who spoke these words will use these words to remake us in his image. DeYoung aims not just at the head, but through the head to the heart and hands.

My faith was nourished and deepened by reading this book. Yours will be too.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Bobby Jamieson is assistant editor for 9Marks, a member of Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and the author of Sound Doctrine: How a Church Grows in the Love and Holiness of God (Crossway, 2013). You can follow him on Twitter.

Book Review:

Does God Desire All to Be Saved?

Reviewed by Robbie Hopkins

John Piper, Does God Desire All to Be Saved? Crossway, 2013. 62 pages. $9.99

The Christian religion is riddled with difficult truths that defy human understanding. The Trinity: he is three; they are one. Jesus Christ: fully God, fully man. Compatibilism: divine sovereignty, human responsibility. God’s sovereign grace: he loves all, yet chooses some.

Consider that last one for a moment. How can one legitimately affirm that God desires that everyone be saved while upholding the biblical claim that God unconditionally elects only some? This is the question that John Piper addresses in his short new book Does God Desire All to Be Saved? In it, Piper takes the bull by the horns and argues persuasively from Scripture that God’s sincere desire for the salvation of all people is not at cross-purposes with his election of a select few.

SUMMARY

The book is essentially a succinct systematic theology on God’s will. The lynchpin of Piper’s thesis is that we need to describe God’s will from two distinct vantage points: his hidden will of decree and his revealed will of command. These “two wills” often diverge: God regularly wills (determines) events to come about which contravene the very things that he wills (commands).

The book is organized in four chapters. In chapter one, Piper introduces four of the go-to texts that are used to affirm God’s sincere desire that all be saved: 1 Timothy 2:4, 2 Peter 3:9, Ezekiel 18:23, and Matthew 23:27.

In chapter two, he provides a sampling of biblical illustrations of God’s two wills:

1. The death of Christ: God predestined the murder of his Son (Acts 4:27-28).

2. The war against the Lamb: God prophesied the rebellion of the ten kings against God (Rev. 17:17).

3. God hardens the hearts of both Jews and Gentiles (Exod. 9:12; Deut. 2:26-27; Josh. 11:18-20; Rom. 11:25-26).

4. God chooses from time to time not to restrain evil (e.g., Eli’s sons in 1 Sam. 2:22-25).

5. There is a sense in which God does not delight in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 18:23), and another sense in which he does (Deut. 28:63: God will “take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you”).

In chapter three, Piper takes a step back to consider the extent of God’s sovereignty. He argues from numerous Scripture passages that “God is sovereign in a way that makes him ruler of all actions” (31). In other words, it is God who ultimately calls the shots, and those shots sometimes contravene his commands.

In chapter four, Piper rounds off the discussion with a number of final considerations to help make sense of the matter. He asserts that God is not culpable for willing that sin would take place. Furthermore, he considers the problem text of 1 Timothy 2:4—God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”—and qualifies it with 2 Timothy 2:24-26 to show that it is God’s sovereign choice, not man’s free will, that accounts for the salvation of a select few. Finally, Piper affirms both the mind-bending complexity and unity of God’s emotions and thoughts, and concludes by echoing the Bible’s indiscriminate invitation to all who thirst for eternal life.

A HELPFUL GUIDE FOR THE INQUIRING MIND

Does God Desire All to Be Saved? is not a groundbreaking or exhaustive theological treatise, nor is it intended as such. The book nevertheless stands out as one of the clearest, and shortest, treatments of the subject. I heartily commend it as a reliable guide for how pastors—and all Christians, for that matter—ought to think and speak about salvation. God’s heart throbs for the lost. The fact that God calls and elects some and not all does not prohibit him from feeling viscerally for all people. The same should hold true for us.

Piper is not out in this book to pick a fight with Arminians. To be sure, Piper’s arguments are thoroughly Calvinistic, and the discussion necessarily touches upon some hot button issues in the Arminian-Calvinist debate, such as free will, the extent of God’s sovereignty, and secondary causes. Nevertheless, Piper is fair to Arminians and insightfully distills the fundamental difference between the two camps in terms of the higher cause which motivates God’s sovereign decrees: free will in the case of Arminians and “the manifestation of the full range of God’s glory in wrath and mercy” in the case of the Reformed (39).

That said, however, this book is not for everyone. For all its brevity, the book deals with challenging theological truths in the elusive arena of God’s will. As such, it will best serve those who feel intellectually compelled to wrestle with how the doctrine of unconditional election can peaceably coexist with God’s desire that all would be saved. Those who do not feel the urge to engage in this discussion may feel free to sit this one out.

A word or two might be said about Piper’s use of Robert L. Dabney’s analogy in chapter 4, particularly since roughly 10 percent of the book is dedicated to unpacking and defending it. The analogy focuses on George Washington’s dilemma as he faced the question of what to do with the treasonous Major John André (47-53). Despite his reluctance to pass sentence on André, Washington’s commitment to the law won the day and justice was finally served.

The analogy is useful in that it illustrates the complexity of God’s emotions: God, like Washington, genuinely pities the criminal he condemns. But we should be cautioned against milking the analogy for more than it’s worth. Washington’s dilemma is readily understandable because he is personally distanced from the letter of the law and the instrument of punishment: the president, the law, and the judiciary are separate entities. In the Bible, however, God is both the sole legislator of his law and the personal executor of the judgment that he renders. There is no “distance,” as it were, between God, his law, and his verdict. Without any appreciable distance between the Judge and his judgment, Dabney’s analogy runs the risk of obscuring the unity and simplicity of the divine mind that Piper argues for elsewhere. Given Piper’s willingness to address various challenges presented by the analogy, pointing out such a shortcoming that relativizes its utility wouldn’t have been out of place.

Finally, this book offers an important lesson in doing theology: the importance of responsibly grappling with biblical truths that may appear at first blush to be mutually incompatible. First Timothy 2:4, for example, must be understood in light of the entire scriptural witness. God’s indiscriminate desire that all be saved should be understood in light of the doctrine of unconditional election. With respect to Christian theology in general—and God’s desire that all be saved in particular—Christians do well to quench the urge to build a theology squarely on the basis of a single pet verse.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Robbie Hopkins is a member of Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and currently works as a freelance Chinese to English translator.

Book Review:

Effective Staffing for Vital Churches

Reviewed by Isaac Adams

Bill Easum and Bill Tenny-Brittian, Effective Staffing for Vital Churches: The Essential Guide to Finding and Keeping the Right People. Baker, 2012. 176 pages. $16.99

How would you describe your church and your church staff in a few words? Would you say that your church is “missional” and that your staff is “effective?”

That’s what veteran pastors and now church-growth consultants Bill Easum and Bill Tenny-Brittian want to help pastors say through their book, Effective Staffing for Vital Churches: The Essential Guide to Finding and Keeping the Right People.

I can’t with confidence say Effective Staffing is essential reading, though it is clear and instructive—depending on what you hope to gain from it.

WHAT I CAUGHT: A FEW CLEAR, INSTRUCTIVE PRINCIPLES

First, let me say that the principles of Effective Staffing jump off the page with easy-to-digest and refreshing clarity. In the introduction, the authors clearly state why your church needs a good staff:

“[Your church’s] money is tight and having the right staff is critical” (12).

“The Mission Field has changed” (13). In other words, the U.S. is more diverse than ever, and diverse communities change how churches operate.

“There’s a shortage of leaders…fewer men and women are entering…ministry than any time in recent memory” (13).

“The right staffing facilitates church growth” (13).

Easum and Tenny-Brittian serve readers well by concisely explaining what are often elusive buzzwords in church growth literature. For instance, they define that junk drawer term “missional” as referring to a church “more focused on transforming the world than on building up its own membership” (14). Now, I personally think that such an understanding of the church is problematic. Still, the clarity is helpful. And this definition acts as a foundation for the book, clearly shaping the other definitions. For instance, an “effective” staff is a staff whose “primary focus is…the mobilization and empowerment of the entire congregation for the purpose of transforming the surrounding community and the world…” (21).

And I’m thankful that the authors affirm with Scripture that the church, not just the staff, does the work of ministry (Eph. 4:12). How many churches have fallen into the trap of having a staff of all-stars that play the entire game, while hundreds if not thousands of fans sit around cheering them on, ultimately leaving the game to “the real players”?

So the staff is critical in stemming and turning this church-consumer tide. But how do you pick the right staff to do it? How do the staff become better coaches and scouts, the church members better players, and the church grow in the process?

To answer these questions, Easum and Tenny-Brittian lay out four core processes for fueling church growth and transformation (29):

1. Bring people to Christ and into the kingdom

2. Retain them

3. Disciple them

4. Send them back out into society.

After breaking down each of these processes (Chs. 4-7), the authors take the pastor reader on a journey through four major transition points that he will likely encounter as he hires staff to carry out these core processes (Chs. 11-15). Whether your church has less than 150 people or thousands, Effective Staffing attempts to outline staffing principles for you (Chs. 9-10).

And like the aforementioned Ephesians 4:12 principle, a few of these general principles are biblically rooted. For example, “the mission of the church is to make disciples” (72).

But these principles are slim in light of all the implications the authors pull out of them. Some of these implications aren’t necessarily bad, given that the Bible doesn’t explain what scent your church’s bathrooms should effuse (43) or the proper ratio of church attendees to parking spaces (138). Certainly a pastor has to deal with these things, and reading this book’s principles will probably educate you on how other pastors you know may be thinking about church growth.

But what about the other staffing principles?

WHY THE BOOK ISN’T ESSENTIAL

The problem with Effective Staffing is that, though it tries to push back on consumerism, it too closely associates a church staff’s effectiveness only with tangible—or numerical—results. This relentless focus on results may pressure staff to use unbiblical and ultimately unhelpful practices to pressure people to make a decision for Jesus.

Of course I believe the authors genuinely desire to see as many people as possible come to know Christ. They even establish the principle that the pastors’ goal should “never [be] to grow a large church; our goal is to enfold as many people as possible into the kingdom. The growth of the church is simply a by-product” (142).

While I appreciate that one-off statement, the tone of the book rings differently, considering that the final stage all pastors should work toward is having over 1,000 people in attendance and multiple church campuses (102, 133). It not necessarily wrong to want to grow a large church. But some of the practices that churches employ for fulfilling that desire certainly are unhelpful.

Consider the counsel offered on corporate worship in the “effective” church: “Today if [your church’s worship] doesn’t first entertain, stimulate, and touch all senses, then it won’t educate or be the kind of worship that connects to the Spirit” (141).

Worship, then, which is “just as important as the sermon,” is first about entertainment (47), as if worship is something we watch, not do.

Disappointingly, such statements are characteristic of the book. The pastor could read this and easily feel that he must have catchy worship—whatever the culture determines that to mean—or his people won’t enter God’s presence.

But thanks be to God that he connects his people to his Spirit through his Word, not by the solos of worship band guitarists. I’m sure Easum and Tenny-Brittain would say, “Amen!” to that, but the counsel like they give on worship at best blurs this distinction.

Regardless of your ecclesiological convictions on multi-site and corporate worship, Effective Staffing’s principles are geared to bringing more people into the church. As such they are driven more by man’s intuition and tactics than the principles described in God’s Word. The church’s numeric growth is said to be a by-product, but it seems to be the product that will come if you’re leading effectively. Sanctification, true conversion, love for one another, sermons rich in God’s Word, and other immeasurable yet indispensable marks of true disciples and sound churches are largely unaccounted for in this book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Isaac Adams, a member of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, works on staff helping support the efforts of CROSS, Together for the Gospel, and The Front Porch. You can follow him on twitter.

Book Review:

Christ-Centered Preaching

Reviewed by Phil Newton

Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon. Second Edition. Baker, 2005. 400 pages. $29.99

“Three points and a poem” may be a caricature of evangelical preaching, but for too many years and too many preachers it was the norm. Thankfully, a return to expository preaching that feeds the flock and proclaims the gospel has given a new hope for this generation.

Expository preaching does not take place without devoted effort. Bryan Chapell—former president of Covenant Theological Seminary, long-time homiletics professor, and current pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Peoria, Illinois—capably details the needed preparation process for expository preaching in Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon. Chapell brings his wealth of pastoral preaching and homiletical instruction into a well-crafted volume of eleven chapters and twelve helpful appendixes. He approaches his subject through three sections.

PRINCIPLES FOR EXPOSITORY PREACHING

Chapell’s first section puts the weight of expository preaching on three things. First, the power of God’s Word in preaching. “Good preaching,” he writes, “in one sense involves getting out of the way so that the Word can do its work” (34). Priority is given to the Word rather than the preacher’s ability. Second, the power of a holy life supports and confirms what the preacher asserts. “No truth calls louder for pastoral holiness than the link between a preacher’s character and a sermon’s reception” (38). Third, Chapell reinforces the power of gospel-focus in every sermon. “Without a redemptive focus, we may believe we have exegeted Scripture when in fact we have simply translated its parts and parsed its pieces without reference to the role they have in God’s eternal plan”(40).

Instead of random collections of various biblical truths, expository sermons need to be constructed with “unity, purpose, and application” (44). Every text contains a purpose or burden of human fallenness that points to the grace of God in Christ. Chapell calls this a “Fallen Condition Focus,” or FCF. He notes, “Ultimately, a sermon is about how a text says we are to respond biblically to the FCF as it is experienced in our lives” (51). Discerning the FCF shows us the Holy Spirit’s redemptive intent in the text. Once the hearers understand the text’s FCF, then they are ready for application, which “makes Jesus the source and objective of a sermon’s exhortation as well as the focus of its explanation” (54). From principles Chapell moves to preparation.

PREPARATION OF EXPOSITORY SERMONS

Welcome to Chapell’s laboratory! The second section of the book lays out a way to develop effective expository sermons. In the initial stages of preparation, the preacher must ask questions of the biblical text such as, “What does the text mean?” “What concerns caused the text to be written?” “How should people now respond to the truths of the text?” (104–5).

After these hermeneutical and homiletical questions, the preacher comes to terms with the text’s FCF and establishes the proposition set forth in the text. Chapell recommends that preachers develop of an exegetical outline that frames the fruit of their study of the text. Then the preacher works toward a homiletical outline that brings the truths of the text into the congregation’s needs. The latter outline should express the same theme found in the text and derive points and subpoints from the text that develop this theme.

Offering an exemplary form to structure sermons, Chapell rightly advises that as preachers mature, they should develop a form suitable to them and their audience, while remaining firmly rooted in the text.

In chapter seven, Chapell considers illustrations as a means to invite listeners into the experience of the text (176). Eschewing illustrations to entertain, he aims to use them to involve the congregation in the sermon and to motivate them toward embracing the message and application of the text. Illustrations remain tools for exposition, not substitutes for sound explanation (200).

The chapter on application (Ch. 8) may be the best in the book. “Application fulfills the obligations of exposition. Application is the present, personal consequence of scriptural truth,” Chapell asserts. “Without application, a preacher has no reason to preach, because truth without actual or potential application fulfills no redemptive purpose. . . . [At] its heart preaching is not merely the proclamation of truth but truth applied” (210). Application must always arise from the exposition of the text lest it lose its biblical authority.

A THEOLOGY OF CHRIST-CENTERED MESSAGES

I found Chapell’s last section immensely helpful, as he does not presume that readers seeking to understand the mechanics of exposition grasp its foundation in a solid, redemptive motif. He reiterates the necessity of discovering the FCF in each text in order “to supply the warrant for (and to define) the character of the redemptive elements in Scripture that we can, in turn, apply to our fallenness” (273). Otherwise, he warns, our preaching might “subvert the Christian message” (274).

While recognizing the frustration some may feel in maintaining a redemptive focus in preaching, Chapell counsels that the goal is not to find Jesus “in every text but to disclose where every text stands in relation to Christ” (279). Thus, when faithfully done, “Expository preaching is Christ-centered preaching” (280).

COMMENDATION

Those committed to proclaiming God’s Word will find Chapell’s volume accessible, resourceful, and useful. I’d recommend it for Bible colleges, seminaries, pastoral internships, or pastors’ studies. From my perspective, Chapell’s scant emphasis on discipling and training a congregation by preaching consecutively through books of the Bible appears to be the only weakness (65–69). Aside from that, I heartily commend Christ-Centered Preaching as a superb tool for preachers—experienced or inexperienced—for its guidance to faithfully preach Christ in all of Scripture. No more falling back on three points and a poem.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Phil Newton is the senior pastor of South Woods Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, and most recently the author, with Matt Schmucker, of Elders in the Life of the Church: Rediscovering the Biblical Model for Church Leadership (Kregel, 2014).

Book Review:

Prepared by Grace, For Grace

Reviewed by Ken Wilkening

Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley, Prepared by Grace, For Grace: The Puritans on God’s Ordinary Way of Leading Sinners to Christ. Reformation Heritage Books, 2013. 297 pages. $25.00

Joel Beeke, president and professor of systematic theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary and pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Paul Smalley, his teaching assistant, came together to write Prepared by Grace, For Grace: The Puritans on God’s Ordinary Way of Leading Sinners to Christ.

The primary question they seek to answer from the writings of the Puritans is: “What is the ordinary way in which God leads sinners to Christ?” The answer at which they arrive is the preparatory work of the Spirit of God. The Puritans used this word “preparation” in many contexts. For this book, Beeke and Smalley specifically refer to the Puritan’s understanding of preparation for saving faith in Christ (3).

The Puritans believed that without the work of the Spirit, no one can confess that Jesus is Lord (1 Cor. 12:3). And while “the Spirit could sweep aside such obstacles and bring the sinner immediately to faith…that is not the Spirit’s usual or ordinary way, for He created the mind and conscience of man and generally prefers to work through those faculties…So, the Spirit works to prepare the lost sinner’s soul for grace” (9). This is the essence of the Puritan doctrine of preparation.

This doctrine is not without its controversies. Some modern scholars have sought to argue that the Puritan doctrine of preparation is not a Reformed doctrine at all, and that this doctrine attempts to usurp the gospel of grace.

Thus, it is with great care that the authors evaluate this critique by rooting the discussion in historical theology. The reader is first introduced to the writings of Augustine and Calvin and their Scriptural understanding of the doctrine of preparation. Subsequently, we are introduced to the English Puritans and the New England Puritans, and the authors examine their Scriptural understanding of the work of God in the souls of men to prepare them for salvation by the power of the Spirit.

According to the Puritans, the Spirit of God ordinarily uses means to lead sinners to Christ; namely, the law. Many of the Puritans believed that before a person would rest peacefully on Christ, he would ordinarily be convicted of sin and guilt. And it was the law that assisted the gospel in awakening sinners to their terrible state. Therefore, the Puritans stressed the law of God in their sermons and in their writings. Yet it is precisely at this point where the Puritans are often misunderstood. The Puritans never intended the use of the law to deteriorate into legalism.

In the eleventh chapter of Prepared by Grace, For Grace, we are introduced to John Bunyan’s remarkably refined understanding of the doctrine of preparation in The Pilgrim’s Progress. Worldly-Wiseman convinces the pilgrim to go to the village of Morality, where Legality and his son, Civility, supposedly can remove men’s burdens. The pilgrim is convinced to go there, but he is stopped by a huge hill (margin: “Mount Sinai”), which threatens to fall upon him, makes his burden feel heavier, and flashes with fire. Evangelist meets the pilgrim there and explains that the wisdom of this world sends us to the law for justification, a justification which the law cannot give. As Evangelist speaks, Mount Sinai burst into flames and a voice says, “As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Gal. 3:10) (195). Christian quickly races away from the huge hill, and runs to the gate, and from there to the house of the Interpreter.

By way of explanation, Bunyan said this teaches us that on one hand, the world abuses the law by turning men away from seeking justification by faith alone, and thus to trust in their own works. This is legalism. On the other hand, the law assists the gospel preacher. The law’s fearful declarations of wrath against sinners should stop men from proceeding in legalism, and together with the gospel, drive them to faith in Christ. In this respect, the law is the tool of the Holy Spirit to convince sinners of sin and awaken them to flee damnation (195-96).

Far from being a betrayal of Reformed theology, the Puritan doctrine of preparation underscores the central truth of conversion, which is that God saves guilty sinners by Christ alone.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough to pastors and other church leaders. The Puritan doctrine of preparation will help them to seriously consider the content of their preaching, help them understand the role of the law and the gospel in Christian conversion, and help them evaluate the condition of the souls of those who sit under their care. This book will lead them to a greater sense of God’s grace, drive them deeper in humility, and call them to a heartfelt response of praise and worship for God’s immense kindness in revealing his Son to undeserving sinners.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kevin Wilkening is the senior pastor of Cedar Heights Baptist Church in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

© 2014 9Marks.

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