The early church father, Irenaeus, was certainly not afraid to critique error. I was browsing through his Against Heresies the other day (as one does, in the Greek, without a dictionary, shortly before dictating my latest article for The Ivory Tower Review), and I came across the following passage that I felt bound to share. Irenaeus was arguing against the heresy of the Gnostics, who had an incredibly elaborate, and elaborately incredible, account of how the world came to exist. One of Irenaeus’ chief polemical methods was simply to describe in detail what the Gnostics were actually teaching, with only a few minor comments being required to point out how absurd it all is.
Author Archives: Tony Payne
How close are we to the Bible?
Thought, Sola Panel
The arrival of the new English Standard Version of the Bible (ESV) has brought to the surface many underlying issues about our English language Bibles, and what we should expect from them. A mass of questions arise.
FAQs on the ESV
Thought, Sola Panel
As word spreads about the new ESV, my email inbox is increasingly clogged with interested people wanting to know more. Here’s a sample of some of the most common questions, with some brief answers.
Is this the English Bible we’ve been waiting for?
Thought, Sola Panel
The English Standard Version (ESV) is about to hit Australia. Among the multitude of English translations, is this just one more attempt by publishers to cash in? Or might this one be different?
The ESV and NIV compared
Thought, Sola Panel
To give some specific examples of the differences between the ESV and NIV, let’s take a careful look at John 17.
Time for reformation?
Thought, Sola Panel
The worldwide edifice of Anglicanism is on the verge of collapse. Should we move out, renovate or demolish and start again? In this article we look at recent extraordinary events.
On the trail of the Spirits in prison
Thought, Sola Panel
No part of the New Testament is more puzzling to modern readers than Peter’s enigmatic reference to the ‘spirits in prison’. Tony Payne is the latest in a long line of interpreters claiming to have the answer. Read on and see if you agree …
Doing what works (part 2): The Bible’s marching orders
Thought, Sola Panel
In the first part of this article (in our last Briefing), we looked at the pluses and minuses of pragmatism. We saw that ‘doing what works’ is a quite legitimate path to follow in one sense, because God has created an orderly world. Yet pragmatism has its limitations, as a result of the complex and flawed nature both of the world and of ourselves. We ultimately need a revelation, a word from outside, to guide us.
But how does the Word guide us? In our last article, we looked at one approach, the so-called ‘Hooker Principle’. Let us begin Part II, by looking at a related but much more recent way of using the Bible.
(more…)
Being biblical or doing what works (part 1): Do we have to choose?
Thought, Sola Panel
In this first part of a two part article, we ask how you can know whether your life and ministry are genuinely biblical. Is it method? Is it results? Is it some kind of warm feeling of assurance? Do we in fact need to look to the Bible to work out how to conduct ministry, or is it an area where pragmatic thinking is our best tool?
The Ethics of Ezzo
Review, Sola Panel
Increasingly for many Christian parents, THE question is: to Ezzo or not to Ezzo. The parenting material written by Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo is causing passionate discussion in many churches. What are we to make of it?
To whom shall we go?
Life, Sola Panel
Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Can we say the same? Or do our evangelical heroes carry more authority than we care to admit?
Have evangelicals lost their way?
Thought, Sola Panel
Originally published in Briefing #1 (April 1988).
We live in an age of change. Evangelicalism, as much as anything else, is going through transformation, but are the changes for better or worse? For some, Evangelicalism is maturing and evolving into a responsible contribution to Christianity. Others see the changes as a sell-out of principles, and a denial of the faith of our fathers. Whither Evangelicalism?
He’s out there
Thought, Sola Panel
As Hank neared the main business district he paused on a corner to look up and down the street, watching old cars, new cars, vans and fourby-fours, shoppers, walkers and bicyclers stream in all directions …
The rags of time
Life, Sola Panel
No, there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do…
Jim Croce must have had me in mind when he wrote Time in a Bottle. It’s the story of my life—ideas to chase through, books to read, people to see, and letters to reply to. And some day, I promise myself, I’ll learn how to chip and putt. I even have an ‘ideas’ book in which I jot down all the things that I want to do. Reading back through it is a depressing experience. It is a catalogue of unfinished schemes and dreams.
Work: the big picture unfolds
Life, Sola Panel
The story so far
At the end our last article (Briefing #180), the picture regarding work was still fairly grim. Adam’s sin had lead to mankind’s loss of dominion in the world, with the result that work—which was an expression of his dominion—had become painful, difficult and frustrated. It was toil. (more…)