Monthly Archives: July 2009

New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ

Review

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New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ

Thomas R Schreiner

Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, 2008, 976pp.

 

It seems obvious what we mean when we say “Paul teaches” or “Jesus says”, but what do we mean when we say “the New Testament teaches”? The New Testament is a small library of books by several authors—authors who, it is popularly argued, apparently did not share each other’s manuscripts or they would be more in agreement with one another! While they share a common subject and a common context, is there really a coherence to this group of texts to the point at which we might say “This here is the teaching of the New Testament”? For example, influential Durham scholar James Dunn has argued that the New Testament is more diverse than unified—more a cacophony than a harmony. Many scholars remain persuaded of his case. (more…)

A practical guide to fending off non-Christian men

Interchange

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Thank you for the excellent article in Briefing #368 on fending off non-Christian men. The anonymous author left out one important heading from the 10 she listed: tell him. Unless you tell him the real reason, he will assume all sorts of incorrect ones. (more…)

The Bible doesn’t say

Up front, Sola Panel

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A few weeks ago, Bobby died. It happened quite quickly. On Thursday, he was sitting merrily on his perch. On Friday, he was shivering and looking pretty unimpressed with life. On Saturday morning, he was standing on the floor of the cage with his eyes half open, rocking back and forth. At lunchtime, when the kids and I took him to the vet, he had decided it would be best to have a little lie down. The vet was kind, but decisive. (more…)

Reading the Bible with your eyes open

Up front

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You knock on the door of the dingy inner city terrace. You probably did see a whole lot of Harley Davidsons outside on the footpath, but obviously you weren’t thinking. The door opens, and now you see a room full of leather-clad, patch-emblazoned, hairy types of the bike-riding persuasion. You were supposed to invite the happy householder to a gospel thingy at the local church. If you go along with that plan, you suddenly see a different future stretching out before you—and it doesn’t seem to stretch that far. (more…)

A truly reformed pastor

Interchange

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After reading Simon Flinder’s response to Gavin Parkin’s article (‘A truly reformed pastor’, Briefing #365), it occurred to me that Gavin has misunderstood Baxter’s approach to ministry in Kidderminster. Baxter didn’t leave his flock to evangelize; he evangelized his flock. Baxter understood his flock to be the whole town of Kidderminster. This is foundationally different to the way we see church today. Baxter even says he was blessed not to have any dissenters in his town, therefore his ministry responsibilities were clear. (more…)

Women and the Bible

Up front

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We read the Bible as a family each night after dinner. On this particular night, the story is the feeding of the 5000. Well, more specifically, the feeding of the 5000 men. (more…)

Just Start Talking

Review

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Just Start Talking: Introducing Jesus into
your Conversation

Evangelism Ministries, Sydney, 2008.

Available from Moore Books

E info@moorebooks.com.au
W www.moorebooks.com.au

  (more…)

Making singleness better

Interchange

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Thank you for the many helpful articles in the May issue of The Briefing (#368). As a single Christian, I’ve found that getting stuck into a small local church has really helped to make singleness better. While I know that this might seem counter-productive (as it means the chances of meeting a future spouse are reduced), I would heartily commend it to others for the following reasons: (more…)

Engraved on God’s hands

Up front

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The Lord asks his people in Isaiah 49:15, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?” How would we, his people today, answer that question, I wonder? (more…)

A practical guide to fending off non-Christian men

Interchange

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Thank you for the articles in the May Briefing on singleness and fending off non-Christian men. Both were incredibly encouraging for me. I am one whose singleness has been chosen for me, and it gets harder as I get older. One of the hardest things is the feeling of not being pretty enough or godly enough to be chosen by a Christian man. Yes, there are more Christian women than Christian men. But there are still some Christian men, and none of them want to marry me. I know this is under God’s sovereign control, but I still feel ugly and, well, not chosen. It is a battle in my head and, as I get older and remain unchosen for longer, the wrong voices are the ones that shout the loudest. (more…)

Smart planting, right planting

Pastoral Ministry

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Tony and I spent Thursday and Friday last week at the Church Planting conference held at Moore College. (Tony did Thursday and I did Friday.) It was a brilliant couple of days, and I couldn’t help but be thankful to God for so many people who are working hard at making Jesus known in so many places. What an amazing gift to sit in the room with so many godly and gifted people whose great goal in life is to make Jesus known. Awesome.

I thought I’d post a couple of reflections on the day I attended. Here are three key things I have been thinking about since:

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