Interpreting New Testament Letters

In reading “Preaching God’s Word” I found some helpful principles in interpreting New Testament letters. The authors Carter, Duvall, and Hays provide some clear and simple clues for observing important characteristics.

1.    Letters were considered to be substitutes for the personal presence of the author.

For an Apostle of Christ a letter functioned as an extension of their authoritative presence. With the limitations of travel and technology in the New Testament times a handwritten letter was the most efficient way of communicating beyond physical reach.

2.    New Testament letters were occasional or situational.

We always hear- ‘interpret a text in its context’; this is the reason. New Testament letters were written to address specific situations faced by real churches. Knowing the situation or occasion of the New Testament church will allow you to identify the theological principles within the letter as was intended. (This would clear up any discussion of the Paul vs. James on works; knowing that Paul was addressing a church dealing with legalism, and James was dealing with people who had become lazy and needed a reminder that real faith produces works).

3.    New Testament letters were meant to be read aloud over an over to specific congregations.

In our day we read letters silently and privately. This was not the case in New Testament times. Letters were read aloud, therefore they lend themselves to oral presentation. Plus, they were not composed quickly as we compose emails. A letter was written with careful thought- they designed each letter for maximum impact on those particular listeners in particular situations.

4.    The Letter’s opening often included clues for interpreting the whole letter.

If you notice, some letters begin with an affectionate tone ‘beloved’, or ‘saints’; while others don’t (Galatians). There is a reason for this. Also, watch for commands in the opening of a letter. A New Testament letter usually follows the opening- body- and conclusion outline. Watch for strong signals as to their purposes in writing the letter.

Defining Expository Preaching

For one of my seminary classes I had to consider how Brian Chapell’s Christ-Centered Preaching compares with other homiletic books, in his definition of ‘expository preaching’. Chapell argues that an expository message is “a message whose structure and thought are derived from a biblical text, that covers the scope of the text, and that explains the features and context of the text in order to disclose the enduring principles for faithful thinking, living, and worship intended by the Spirit, who inspired the text.”

Many definitions for expository preaching have been offered in the last century. One of the main concerns of homiletic studies deals with question; ‘what are the essential components of an expository message?’ Some writers break from Chapell and align with the simplicity of J.I. Packer’s definition in arguing that Bible exposition is to ‘open’ the Bible and ‘bring out of the text what is there’.  While this is true, Packer provides no description beyond the overall nature of an expository message like Chapell. In the same way John Broadus once wrote that “an expository discourse may be defined as one which is occupied mainly, or at any rate largely, with the exposition of Scripture.”  Like Packer, Broadus definition provides little explanation beyond the overarching nature of an expository sermon, not providing a description of its components.

Steven Matthewson adds the necessary component of application to his definition; for him it is “preaching that exposes the meaning of a text of scripture and applies that meaning to the lives of the hearers.”  Yet unlike Matthewson, Chapell defines application with more clarity as “the enduring principles for faithful thinking, living, and worship.”  In some cases, too much clarity can be harmful and regulate too far in defining the essentials of expository preaching.

Charles Koller’s three part definition illustrates these dangers; arguing that “an expository sermon consists of exposition plus application and persuasion”…it “derives its main points…from the particular paragraph or chapter or book of the Bible with which it deals”…and “makes use of a thesis in which the sermon has its unity and around which it is organized.”  While this definition is clear and explanatory, Koller is too precise in limiting an expository message to dealing with a ‘particular paragraph or chapter’ of the Bible. In his classic definition of expository preaching Haddon Robinson defined it as “the communication of a biblical concept. Derived from and transmitted through a historical, grammatical, literary study of a passage in its context, which the Holy Spirit first applies to the personality of the preacher, then through him to his hearers.”  Where Koller was too specific, Robinson was too elusive with the terminology ‘biblical concept’. A ‘biblical concept’ could be any idea that is true and/or has a biblical foundation, Chapell argues that these justifications do not mean that any biblical concept “has a place in an expository message.”  Chapell is more specific than Robinson when he writes that an expository sermon is “derived from a biblical text”  Like Chapell, Albert Mohler Jr. identifies the ‘biblical text’ as the source of an expository sermon, he wrote that an expository message “sets forth the meaning and message of the biblical text and makes clear how the Word of God establishes the identity and worldview of the church as the people of God.”

With all that is discussed above, there is one possible weakness to each of these definitions. In his definition Chapell limits the role of the Holy Spirit to the application of the text, and the inspiration of the text itself. He writes that the preacher’s message should expose the “principles for faithful thinking, living, and worship intended by the Spirit, who inspired the text.”  While there is nothing technically wrong Chapell’s definition at this point, it lacks a description of the Holy Spirit’s role in the proclamation of a textual unit. Part of Greg Heisler’s definition will prove the point; he argues that “expository preaching is the Spirit-empowered proclamation of biblical truth derived from the illuminating guidance of the Holy Spirit by means of verse by verse exposition of the Spirit inspired text…”  Not only is the Spirit the author and applier of the text, the preacher is Spirit empowered in preparation and delivery.

While different components of the definitions mentioned above seem fitting to constructing a concise yet explanatory definition of expository preaching, not all are completely satisfactory. With that in mind, combining the definitions listed above, it is this author’s opinion that an expository sermon is when a preacher ‘through the power of the Holy Spirit (Heisler) proclaims a message from a textual unit of the Bible (Chapell) while faithfully representing the historical, contextual, grammatical, and literary nature of that unit (Robinson), for the purpose of establishing the identity and worldview of the church as the people of God as its application (Mohler).

I am still sorting this out. Any thoughts?

Rethinking Retirement: John Piper

John Piper’s new book “Rethinking Retirement” is a call for older saints to not waste their lives. This is a message that Piper repeats often, it’s something the American church needs to hear. Piper always provides a sobering call on issues often overlooked. Here’s a section from Piper’s book “Don’t Waste Your Life” which illustrates his concern;

Consider a story from the February 1998 edition of Reader’s Digest, which tells about a couple who “took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells.” At first, when I read it I thought it might be a joke. A spoof on the American Dream. But it wasn’t. Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life—your one and only precious, God-given life—and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: “Look, Lord. See my shells.” That is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. Over against that, I put my protest: Don’t buy it. Don’t waste your life. (Don’t Waste Your Life, 45-46)

Get the point? In his new book, Piper challenges Christians who are finishing their formal careers; He writes…

I am sixty-two years old—just about the oldest baby boomer. Behind me come 78 million boomers, ages forty-three to sixty-one. Over 10,000 turn sixty every day. What will it mean to live those final years for the glory of Christ? How will we live them in such a way as to show that Christ is our highest Treasure?

John Piper argues that it will mean a radical break with the mindset of our unbelieving peers. Especially a break with the typical dream of retirement. Too see the book click here.

Piper also wrote an article where he discusses the question “Should I Invest for Retirement?”

The Megachurch and Emerging Generations

In a recent survey titled “What Americans Really Believe” by Dr. Rodney Stark (Baylor University Press, 2008) he concluded that ‘Megachurches are more than a mile wide and an inch deep’.

The survey found that “Even with congregations of more than 1,000 members, the Baylor Religion Survey found that megachurches surprisingly are more intimate communities than small congregations of less than 100 members. Megachurch growth is mostly due to their members, who tend to witness to their friends, bringing them into the group, and witness to strangers, much more often than members of small churches”

“When compared to small congregations, the survey found that megachurch members display a higher level of personal commitment by attending services and a Bible study group and tithing. These people are as interested in evil and sin as anybody in any of the churches. Their levels of satisfaction are high, their volunteerism in community service is very high and their outreach efforts are absolutely phenomenal.”

“I’ve heard stories when you go to some of the megachurches that you have to get tickets and parking like it’s a football game,” said Dr. Carson Mencken, professor of sociology at Baylor. “You go to a football game, you sit next to people you don’t know very well, and so I figured that’s exactly what megachurches are going to be like. The survey reveals the megachurches are not like that at all. These people do know each other, and they’re networked into the church through their friends and friends of friends.”

This survey is interesting in light of the predictions that Mark Driscoll argued about the emerging generations in his book “Confessions of a Reformission Rev.”;

“Emerging and missional churches will include more mega-churches than ever, and they will be both attractional and missional in the philosophy of ministry. If a church is truly missional, it may become a mega-church for three reasons: (1) the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is powerful and effective, (2) a truly outward-focused missional church will experience conversion growth, and (3) a truly missional church has such a burning desire for cultural transformation that it must grow large enough to serve a whole city.”

“Emerging generations indeed feel more comfortable in larger churches. This information runs contrary to much of the popular teaching today, which asserts that the future of the church will be house churches and smaller church communities. I believe that the megachurch phenomenon is not over but just beginning, that the ‘experts’ are simply wrong, and that the future trend will be toward the extremes of very small and very large churches.” (Pages 30-31)

With all that said, I have one question…where do these finding’s fit in the overall discussion of Biblical Ecclesiology? I think Dr. John Hammett has made some good suggestions in his book “Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches” on his concerns with the ‘changing landscape’ of the church.

Any thoughts?

Communicating Sin in a Postmodern World

I am currently reading a collection of articles on evangelizing postmoderns called “Telling The Truth“, edited by D.A. Carson. In a section called ‘critical topics’ Mark Dever writes a chapter called ‘Communicating Sin in a Postmodern World’. He starts by making some clear observations of our current social situation.

In our day it is quite evident that there is an overall spirit of evasion when it comes to responsibility, an academic atmosphere of relativism, and with science holding the monopoly on ‘truth’ there is much supernatural skepticism. John Milton painted a wonderful picture of the ‘postmodern mantra’ in Paradise Lost;

“The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heaven hell, a hell of heaven”

This is what Dever called ‘refined relativism’ at its finest, the idea that “offhand affirmations of self expression” have been set “over and against a standard outside ourselves”. (140) We live in a world where taste triumphs over truth. In postmodernity there is no ‘metanarrative’ (overall meaning), moreover the postmodern mentality asserts that there is not a ‘metanarrator’- or God (141-142). After establishing a context for our current barriers to the Gospel, Dever offers four basic ideas as a solution of communicating the vanishing idea of sin to a postmodern generation. Here are some thoughts and notes on what Dever had to say;

1. Communicate God’s Truth Carefully

In our culture it would be advantageous to assume that everyone means something different when using the term ‘God’. “This is a time of special opportunity for Christians to lean more about being careful with the gospel, to weed out some of the cultural assumptions that have wedded themselves in our minds to the gospel, and learn to listen more carefully to those who talk with us. (143)

Therefore, we need to communicate the truth about God that has been revealed. As Calvin wrote, “nearly all wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But, while joined by many bonds, which one precedes and brings forth the other is not easy to discern.” (1.1.1)

2. Pure Christian Community should be Guarded with Accountability

The Christian life is to be lived, in part, by folding yourself into a series of committed relationships united around faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the local church and the nexus of committed relationships there, the boundaries of our identity are set by the interactions with others. (146-147)

In recovery of the importance of community, don’t ever think that it replaces the vertical relationship with God. The role of community is to supplement and reflect this relationship. (148)

3. Show that Our Conscience Exposes Sin

“We think of community as providing the external boundaries of the self, as that which helps to make ourselves obvious to ourselves. The community is the circumference of the self” but we also must consider the ‘center’. (148)

People not only need to grasp the “theoretical concept of evil and wrong, but the fact that they are evil and wrong.” People need to consider their own consciences, this is difficult since postmodernism encourages “the evacuation of the responsible self”. More than that, it is not in their self interest to do so. People do not like to hear that they are accountable to their actions. Often people will dismiss us as Christians because they equate our beliefs with our biases.

4. Point to God as the Active Agent in Conversion

More than anything, the truths explained above illustrate that man cannot ’save’ himself. Therefore, all conversation should “highlight the truth that conversion is only by God’s Spirit.” (149) We cannot bring that which is dead to life, it must be God who brings forth salvation.

Concerning our role, “we simply need to be faithful messengers. We don’t have to understand everything.” (150) While the Bible does not explain things exhaustively, it is sufficient for saving faith through Christ Jesus.

ESV Releases Articles on Reading the Bible

I am excited about the ESV Study Bible! On their web site they have just released a few articles…

“The ESV Study Bible has about 50 essays in the back of the Bible, addressing a number of issues that people inside and outside the church have questions about (e.g., the reliability of the Scriptures and their manuscripts, the canon of Scripture, world religions, how questions of ethics and theology relate to God’s Word, etc.) In addition there are a number of articles throughout the Bible, introducing major sections (e.g., the Pentateuch, the Gospels, etc.).”

Here are a few on ‘Reading the Bible’

Reading the Bible Theologically (J.I. Packer)

Reading the Bible as Literature (Leland Ryken)

Reading the Bible in Prayer and Communion with God (John Piper)

Reading the Bible for Application (David Powlison)

Reading the Bible for Preaching and Public Worship (R. Kent Hughes)

I am also excited about a few of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary professors being asked to contribute…Daniel R. Heimbach, David Alan Black, Andreas J. Kostenberger.

David Horner on ‘The Fallibility of Ministers’

Today our staff heard from David Horner, the pastor of Providence Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C. He recently published a book titled “A Practical Guide for Life and Ministry“, a book devoted to those seeking to find balance in ministry.

Horner began with 1 Peter 4:12-16, bringing to surface that troubles will come our way. In ministry you are always facing ‘trouble’. Sometimes these troubles come from mistakes (which we all make), sometimes troubles come from false accusations or ‘hear say’.

The one thing that really struck me (which was very similar to J.D. Greear’s talk to our staff yesterday) was the idea that ‘we as pastors need to acknowledge our fallibility’. This was so refreshing. Some people in ministry would disagree and argue that we should ‘never let down our guard’…’keep your people from really getting to know the true you’…’be very careful to reveal your struggles’…’carefully protect your reputation’…see, there is this idea that acknowledging your fallibility= your people not being able to trust and follow you. I do not know where we got this notion in ministry?

Horner said it well, “while confessing your mistakes/sin may be bad for your reputation, its great for your character” (It’s sometimes important to distinguish mistakes from sin). Yes, you will have to take the initial blow for your mistake or sin. But in the long run we need to understand that there are benefits to failure. “Mistakes are not fatal as long as we see them as stepping stones”. In fact, “once you have needed grace, you’re less likely to withhold it”.

J.D. Greear on a ‘Motive Check for Ministers”

Today our church staff spent a few hours with J.D. Greear (not to be confused with T.D. Jakes…long story) at a retreat. J.D. is the pastor of The Summit Church in the Raleigh-Durham area of N.C. It was a really encouraging-challenging time for us as a staff, and me personally. J.D. shared God’s story as it pertained to his life and ministry. He also shared about the innovative ways that The Summit has been able to reach their community for the glory of God. But the most lingering thing that I walked away with came from one simple exercise he led us through.

J.D. gave us a list of questions that was intended to be a guide through a ‘motive purification process’. In ministry it is often easy to justify different things by using ‘God talk’. It is easy, as J.D. said, “for people with the idol of success to hide in ministry”. Often we wrongly base our success and failures on the opinions of others, and other standards that are far from our primary purpose as ministers; which is (in my opinion) to show/tell others of God’s mercy and grace in the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. Ministry is about nothing else but the glory of God. It is good to check yourself often, so here are the questions,

1. When are you most depressed?

2. What makes you really angry?

3. At what point in your life are you the happiest?

4. What makes you worry the most?

5. What do you look down on others about?

6. What has made you bitter in life?

7. Whose approval do you seek?

8. If you could change one thing about your life right now, what would it be?

9. Where do you turn for comfort?

10. What do you really sacrifice for?

I don’t think I need to apply these for you, they are pretty clear. These questions are very revealing of our sinful motives, yes…even in ministry.

Note: This reminds me of a poem that C.S. Lewis once wrote (Click Here).

The Books that ‘Shaped’ C.S. Lewis

More than just an author (which is how most of us know him today), C.S. Lewis was an avid reader. More than that, he was an avid reader of books on Christian doctrine. He always pointed to books of doctrine over ‘devotion’. In Lewis’ introduction to a particular translation of Athanasius work ‘On the Incarnation’ he wrote,

“for my own part I tend to find the doctrinal books often more helpful in devotion than the devotional books, and I rather suspect that the same experience may await many others. I believe that many who find that ‘nothing happens’ when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand.”

I think this points us to an important idea pertaining to good writing, it requires hard thinking.

I agree with Lewis, my own experience attests to this. Even when it comes to subjects other than Christian theology, I would rather be challenged than spoon fed. But…I have always been curious to what books made Lewis’ heart sing?

Well, we might have one source. In 1962, The Christian Century magazine published C.S. Lewis’s answer to the question, “What books did most to shape your vocational attitude and your philosophy of life?” While some of the books listed are not solely focused on the subject of Christian theology, we can gleam something about the life and mind of Lewis.

Here is C.S. Lewis’s list.

1. Phantastes by George MacDonald.
2. The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton.
3. The Aeneid by Virgil.
4. The Temple by George Herbert.
5. The Prelude by William Wordsworth.
6. The Idea of the Holy by Rudolf Otto.
7. The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius.
8. Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell.
9. Descent into Hell by Charles Williams.
10. Theism and Humanism by Arthur James Balfour.

Nate Saint: The Life of a Missionary Martyr

I just finished the book Jungle Pilot, it is the story of Nate Saint, pilot, mechanic, and infamous missionary martyr. The most intriguing thing about this book is that the majority of the text is composed of Saint’s personal letters to loved ones. In every page it is extremely evident that Saint loved pioneering missions; he once wrote of this work as the “call of God to the regions beyond the ends of civilization’s roads- where there is no other form of transportation…(probing) the frontiers to the limit of physical capacity” with prayer “for a means of reaching the regions beyond.” The grounding for such a passion in reaching the lost was formed at a young age. The Saint family was devout when it came to the Christian disciplines; one of Nate’s siblings described their parents as ruling the house with a good mix of Old Testament law and New Testament grace. Lawrence and Katherine Saint carefully taught their children the ways of the Lord, in the end three became missionaries and one a preacher. His brother Dan vividly recalls memories of a young Nate during family devotions continually praying that the Lord would ‘show the right way’. This prayer seemed to mark his life and mission.

Nate always had a strong urge to fly. This began when his older brother Sam took him up in an airplane at a young age. Nate’s love for flying lead him to join the armed services and pursued Air Corps training, but Saint never lost his spiritual grounding. He once wrote to his mother “pray that the Lord will have his way in this flying business. Seems as though his stamp of approval is 100 percent ‘go ahead’, but I’m not calling personal interest the Lord’s will.” The road of military service took Saint all over the United States and globe often leaving him longing for something more. At times he became impatient writing, “I know the Lord is still running things, but sometimes I am shortsighted, I am the Army’s lock, stock, and barrel-but I’m the Lord’s own-heart, soul, and spirit.” While in the service Saint was dismissed from his dreams of being a military pilot because of an incessant battle with an infection in one leg. It was during these hard moments of his life that God started to reveal his plans for Saint, to be a full-time missionary. Nate wrote, “I’ve always believed that if the Lord wants a guy in full-time service on the mission field, he would make him unbearably miserable in the pursuit of any other end.” This God did, through different affairs that Saint pursued God continued to clarify this vision. It was in a short stint of plane repair in Mexico that Saint demonstrated to others ‘his unique mechanical ability in making repairs to planes in difficult to impossible circumstances’. Hard flying circumstances were not far off.

Eventually God had pressed Ecuador on the heart of Saint and his wife Marj, he later wrote of Marj that “the Lord surely knew that in this kind of work I would need a partner with a brain like a filing cabinet and one incapable of saying ‘can’t’.” As they began their lives in Ecuador, the purpose of the mission became clear, and was twofold: to provide adequate supply line for the present work and make possible deeper penetration into the jungle for further work. Saint quickly realized that there were only two types of landing areas in these areas, at the top of a jungle, or in the raging waters of a river. In fact one of Nate’s associates reflected that whoever decided to take up the work of missions in that area could not be short in flying or mechanics, if it be flying “he must be an absolute expert in mechanics.” But this is what God had been preparing for Nate Saint, in a letter to his mother he wrote “Mine is a one track mine…It’s airplane-Indian-Christ”. The Indian is the motive. The airplane is my job; unless the airplane fly’s the Indian does not hear the good news of Christ. Unless the Indian gets Christ, he’s eternally lost.

In December of 1948 Saint was pressed through his first test, a plane crash in Quito, Ecuador after visiting Marji in the capital city, who was awaiting the birth of their first child. After the crash, in which no one was killed, Saint gathered his thoughts in a letter to his parents. “This I believe, is the result of the deep assurance we have in our hearts that Satan himself cannot stop us, nor sign our death certificate, without the permission of Almighty God.” These powerful words were a deep reminder of Nate Saint’s resolve that his life would be expendable, “The Lord tells us He that Loveth his life- we might say that he that is selfish with his life- shall loose it.”

Nate’s ‘inventor spirit’ pioneered missions in this hard to reach area. He was able to invent the famous ‘bucket dropping system’ that allowed transport of medicines, staple foods, and gifts from airplanes hundreds of feet in the air. But all these gadgets had one purpose, Saint was sold out, “everytime I take off, I am ready to deliver up the life I owe to God.” The tool of an airplane was uniquely important to missions in this area. The ground Nate was able to cover by plane would have required forty days of land travel. Frank Drown, a missionary to the Jivaro head shrinkers of Ecuador, said of Nate, “He was always conscientious and serious. He was more than just a pilot; he was an inspiration to us. We were impressed with his fervency, honesty, and dependability, and complete devotion to Christ.” Drown eventually became the connection that brought Roger Youderian to the ‘Operation Auca’ team. Three Plymouth Brethren missionaries by the names of Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, and Ed McCully joined soon after. All knowing the dangers involved.

This particular tribe of Indians had refused contact with outsiders for hundreds of years, they were known for their killing patterns in that area. Auca hunters would slip quietly from the jungle and attack their unsuspecting victims in ambush, but this did not stop the five. Operation Auca was well underway, in prayer and preparation. Over the next period of weeks these men lowered thirteen gifts to these un-reached people as an attempt at friendly contact. Despite their worries, these five men were consumed with a passion to reach the Auca killers with the Gospel. Nate wrote “more important than any precaution we might take we are anxious to operate within the will and providence of God.” Their mission was set, to get the Gospel of Jesus Christ to these ‘stone-age’ pagans known as Auca.

Well aware that attempting contact with this primitive group of Indians could cost them their lives, they felt confident that the Lord was blessing their efforts and they moved forward one step at a time. On the morning of January 3rd the mission began, and three days later they made their initial contact with three Auca Indians. During this time Nate would fly back and forth from ‘Palm Beach’ (in Auca territory) to the home base for supplies and fear of rain water destabilizing the planes landing area. On Saturday morning, January 8th, Nate left for ‘Palm Beach’ one final time leaving behind the last prayer request for the missionary wives, “Pray for us…today is the day things will happen.” Later that day, in a moment of confusion, all five missionaries were speared to death. Beyond making initial contacts that would eventually lead to the evangelization of an ‘unknown’ people group, these men’s lives brought to surface the need of frontier missions to the international stage. Saint’s story is a powerful depiction of God’s providence in the small details and interests of ordinary men to accomplish extraordinary tasks. Saint’s life is marked as one sold out for Christ, doing only what God can do.

You can obtain a free copy of this book from the Mission Aviation Fellowship