So said my homiletics (preaching) prof, Derke Bergsma. I don’t know if that aphorism was original to Derke (he often quoted R. B. Kuiper to us in class, e.g., “Men, there are three points to every sermon, the text, the text, the . . . Continue reading →
Hermeneutics
When the Good News Becomes Bad-In Korean
It’s here. Thanks to Chris Won for the translation and to Inwoo Lee for posting it. Here’s the (English language) original.
Dare to Be on the Daniel Plan?
‘Dare to Be a Daniel” is one reason to adopt Mr Murray’s view that, in public worship, we should sing only God’s Word (I reached the same conclusion in RRC). Not only is the song itself tacky but its way of interpreting . . . Continue reading →
The Two Witnesses and Lampstands in Revelation 11
Bill asks, [C]ould you give me a quick answer to who the two witnesses are in Rev 11:3, and the identity of the two olive trees and two lamp stands in verse 4? Dear Bill, I understand the Revelation to have been . . . Continue reading →
What Hebrews Means to Me
Just finished recording another session with Steve Baugh on Hebrews. This episode covered Hebrews 7:18–28. This is the fourth season and we’re approaching our 100th episode. In that time we’ve discussed many things, including a lot of Scripture, but this is the . . . Continue reading →
Straining at Hermeneutical Gnats and Swallowing Exegetical Camels
Kathy Keller has reviewed the new book by Rachel Held Evans, A Year of Biblical Womanhood. Held Evans is frustrated with evangelical “complementarianism” so she set out to live as if there were no New Testament and as if Jesus’ hadn’t fulfilled . . . Continue reading →
S-T-O-P Means Stop (or Does it?)
In 25 years of ministry one of the most profound changes I’ve seen is the growing inability and/or unwillingness of Americans to read texts according to the intent of the author. One of the major reasons for this change was the mutation . . . Continue reading →
Do You See How He Makes This Distinction Between Law And Gospel?
Do you see how he makes this the distinction between law and gospel: that the former attributes righteousness to works, the latter bestows free righteousness apart from the help of works? This is an important passage, and one that can extricate us . . . Continue reading →
Text Criticism and Good Hermeneutics is Practical
Walter Slonopas seems to read the Bible the way lots of American evangelicals and others do so. They read the most symbolic book in Scripture as if it belonged to some other genre, as if it may be read correctly, the first . . . Continue reading →
Augustine On Signs And Things Signified
2. All instruction is either about things or about signs; but things are learnt by means of signs. I now use the word “thing” in a strict sense, to signify that which is never employed as a sign of anything else: for . . . Continue reading →
Why Hebrews 9 Is Referring To A Covenant Not To A Testament
Most modern translations and commentators take diatheke as “will” or “testament” in vv. 16–17, but understand it as “covenant” in vv 15 and 18. As we have seen, the context of v. 15 seems to demand the sense of “covenant” because only . . . Continue reading →
Selective Skepticism
HB correspondent Dave writes with this quotation from someone else: “my parents taught me that the bible is up for interpretation, and it is not the spoken truth.” This is widely held as a truism and it is widely used as a . . . Continue reading →
Why the Reformation Cannot Be Avoided
Joel writes in response to the post, “Is the Gospel Preached or Lived?” to ask for a response to his post responding to criticisms of the expression “living the gospel.” The substance of the post is to observe that the NT uses . . . Continue reading →
Preaching Genesis 1
We’ve been blessed by the ministry of pastor Chris Gordon at Escondido URC. He’s also the proprietor of the Gordian Knot and the host of the Abounding Grace Radio program, currently broadcast in the Pacific Northwest, Phoenix, and San Diego. Recently, he . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: Steve Baugh on Hebrews 11
You know that Hebrews 11 is the “faith” chapter of Hebrews. Perhaps you’ve been told that you should have faith like Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David. Well, you should perhaps but not in the way that you may have been told. WSC . . . Continue reading →
How to Understand and Preach Romans 7
My impression is that, over the last few decades, the historic Reformed reading of Romans 7 has taken one on the chin, as it were. Perhaps that’s not so. I’ve not done a survey to see how pastors are reading and preaching . . . Continue reading →
Reading Scripture As The Apostles Did Or Some Other Way?
Darrel, writes, “After reading your paper, The Israel of God, it struck me that you did not mention any of the as yet to be fulfilled prophesies concerning the Nation of Israel. Why? Also, it seems that you cast things in a . . . Continue reading →
Bavinck On Gospel In The Narrow Sense
And indeed, strictly speaking, there are no demands and conditions in the gospel but only promises and gifts. Faith and repentance are as much benefits of the covenant of grace as justification (and so forth). Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 4.454 (HT: James . . . Continue reading →
Prediction: Harold Won’t Miss This Deadline
Zeke Piestrup has made a documentary following Harold Camping (and see this post) and company in the days leading up to and just after May 21, 2011, the day Camping had said Jesus would return—Apocalypse Later: Harold Camping vs. The End Of The . . . Continue reading →
Calvin’s Law-Gospel Hermeneutic In Hebrews 6
He calls it a tasting of the good word of God; by which he means, that the will of God is therein revealed, not in any sort of way, but in such a way as sweetly to delight us; in short, by . . . Continue reading →