One of the greatest dangers, it always seems to me, is to interpret the Scriptures in the light of our experience, instead of testing our experience by the teaching of Scripture. So often this happens at the present time. People lay down as the norm what they have and what they are familiar with, and test everything by that. – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans Vol. 12, p. 227
Author: Josh King
Tolle Lege: The Christ of the Covenants
Readability: 2
Length: 300 pgs
Author: O. Palmer Robertson
Too many Christians fail at understanding the Scriptures because they don’t understand the Scriptures. That is, they fail to understand a certain Biblical text, say Leviticus 4, because they don’t understand the larger context that Leviticus 4 finds itself in. That is to say not simply that they haven’t thoroughly digested Leviticus, or even the Pentateuch, but the Bible as a whole. Funny that we refer to the Bible as a book, fail to realize that it is composed of 66 books, and then further fail to recognize the great overarching, unifyingstoryline that binds it all together. The fancy word for this big story is metanarrative. We read all the mini-narratives forgetting to place them within the metanarrative.
To Johnny-pew-sitter I must say that preachers and teachers are primarily to blame for such ignorance. People in the pew don’t get the metanarrative because the sermons are too small to contain it.
Towards understanding is understanding the concept of covenant. Covenant frames all of Scripture. It is the bones of Scripture. Throughout Scripture God only relates to man within covenant, never outside of it. Everyone stands in relation to God either as a covenant breaker, or covenant keeper. You are either heir to the promises of the covenants, or under the curse for violating covenant.
In The Christ of the Covenants O. Palmer Robertson masterfully deals with the covenants of scripture. In part one he deals with the nature, extent, unity, and diversity of the divine covenants. In parts two and three he then goes on to treat each of the covenants we see in the Bible: the covenant of creation, the Adamic covenant, the Noahic covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, the Davidic covenant, and the New Covenant.
This book is not self-help, it is not immediately practical, it is not pragmatic, but it is epic. You will be left stunned by the wonder of God’s one plan of redemption as it unfolds progressively through the covenants. This ain’t no Little Golden Book, it is a book about the biggest story ever.
A covenant is a bond in blood sovereignly administered. When God enters into a covenantal relationship with men, he sovereignly institutes a life-and-death bond. A covenant is a bond in blood, or a bond of life and death sovereignly administered.
The Doctor: Unity Isn’t Built, It’s Maintained
The unity that the apostle speaks of is a unity that can never be produced by human beings – never! ‘So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members of one another.’ This, again, is something that follows of necessity from the illustration of the body. As we have seen, the human body starts with one cell, which becomes impregnated and grows and develops. The proliferations come out and form neck and arms and feet and trunk and so on. And it is exactly the same with the church. This is something supernatural; it is miraculous; it is the divine ‘something’. And so the illustration proves to us that men and women can never produce this unity, and, of course, the Bible never exhorts us to. What Paul does exhort us to do, is to maintain the unity – which is entirely different. – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans Vol. 12, pp. 188-189
Made For Greatness, But Not Our Own
Here is the ad I have referenced a few times and asked for people to hunt for in magizines. Now I at least have a digital copy thanks to Dane Ortlund for guest posting it on Justin Taylor’s blog. I would still like a paper copy if you happen to find one.
From page 5 of September 2007 issue of Backpacker; ad referenced by John Piper in a 2008 ETS talk in Providence, Rhode Island.
The Doctor: When Living the “Christian Life” is Heretical
The Christian gospel is unique. It tells us: Be what you are; realize what you are; and proceed to show that you are what you are. Nowhere else in the world do we find such a message. And as we have seen, that is why we must always realize that no one can live the Christian life without being regenerate. Indeed, to tell anybody who is not a Christian to life the Christian life in any part or form is to teach heresy. It is the Pelagian heresy. Pelagius thought that you simply had to teach people the principles of Christian living for them to carry them out. That is false teaching which has been condemned, and always should be condemned by the Christian church. – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans Vol. 12, p. 113
What’s Wrong with the World?
When The Times invited several famous authors to write an essay in response to the question, “What’s wrong with the world?” G.K. Chesterton responded with a simple letter.
Dear Sirs,
I am.
Sincerely Yours,
G.K. Chesterton
The Doctor: Christians are not Christmas Trees
In other words, in Christianity it is always the inward state that matters, the spirit of the mind, this transformation, this shining forth of the inner being. The conduct of Christian men and women is not something that they add on to their lives, it is not like putting on a suit. As we have seen it is the outward expression of something that is within. This can be illustrated by something which we see at Christmastime. Before Christmas, people buy their Christmas trees and on the branches they often hang silver and gold apples and pears. They tie this artificial fruit on to the tree with thin pieces of string or wire. The artificial is that which is put on the tree. When you go into an orchard you also see apples and pears, but they are real, and have grown from the inner life of the tree – now that is Christianity. – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans Vol. 12, pp. 109-110
[Review] Words from the Fire
Readability: 1
Length: 195 pgs
Author: Albert Mohler
Words from the Fire is an excellent little book for the Christian on the Ten Commandments. Each commandment is clearly taught, masterly illustrated, proper studied in its context, and then examined and applied in light of Christ. Here is a book for the whole of you, to inform your mind, convict your heart, and direct your will.
[W]e do not celebrate a lawless grace any more than looking to the Old Testament we should see a graceless law. There is grace in the law. Israel, in hearing the Word of the Lord and receiving these words received grace! And if we do not understand that, we slander both the Old Testament and the God who spoke to Israel at Horeb.
The prevailing secular mind-set says that law is simply a product of human experience codified in legislative form. It is just how we learned to live with each other. There is no absolute or transcendent ought. There is merely a phenomenological is.
Adultery begins a breakdown of order that threatens the entire society, for how can we trust each other if we cannot trust our most intimate commitments? …Marriage is the little universe upon which every other human relation depends.
The big lie is that we are what we own, or we can be what we want to own, what we wear, or what we drive. What do we do when we get a new car? We have got to show it to someone, almost like there is no fun to be had if nobody is around to covet it. We provide a drive-by opportunity to covet.
The Doctor: The Application of Sanctification
The doctrine of sanctification has nothing to say to those who are not Christians, but it is vital for those who are. It means the kind of life we are to live because we are Chrsitians. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans Vol. 12, p. 99
A Weighty Week(end)
As we begin our study in Matthew consider the following quotes.
If we figure that Jesus was about thirty-three years old when He died, He lived around 1,700 weeks. And His four biographers spend a third of their time on only one of those weeks. Have you ever read a three-hundred-page biography where one hundred pages dealt with the subject’s death? Not even for Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy, or Martin Luther King Jr. do we have such lopsided attention paid to the end of the story. But for Jesus, the ending of His life is the story. – Kevin DeYoung
Nothing is more central to the Bible than Jesus’ death and resurrection. The entire Bible pivots on one weekend in Jerusalem about two thousand years ago. – D.A. Carson
No Other Boast 