We have now before us in bare outline the main points of the Christian doctrine of God. Christianity offers the triune God, the absolute personality, containing all the attributes enumerated, as the God in whom we believe. This conception of God is the foundation of everything else that we hold dear. Unless we can believe in this sort of God, it does us no good to be told that we may believe in some other sort of God, or in anything else. For us everything depends for its meaning upon this sort of God. Accordingly we are not interested to have anyone prove to us the existence of any other sort of God but this God. Any other sort of God is no God at all, and to prove some other sort of God exists is, in effect, to prove that no God exists.

Defense of the Faith, 4th ed, 34.

The chapel messages I was able to hear this month were quite good. These are the ones that I heard. I especially commend the messages by Minnick, Berg (esp. the opening minutes), and McGonigal.

Stephen Jones – “Putting Feet to the Truth

Mark Minnick on the transformitive nature of God’s Word.

Bruce McAllister – “God’s Word, the Touchstone of Truth”

Mike Barrett on Colossians 3:1-4

Jim Berg – “Not by Bread Alone”

Kerry McGonigal on the relationship between truth and life in Titus

Greg Mazak – “How to Pray When Times Are Rough”

In the preface to Moo’s new commentary on Colossians and Philemon, D. A. Carson makes a comment well worth pondering:

The vision of “objective scholarship” (a vain chimera) may actually be profane. God stands over against us; we do not stand in judgment of him. When God speaks to us through his Word, those who profess to know him must respond in an appropriate way, and that is certainly different from a stance in which the scholar projects an image of autonomous distance.

p. viii

Some years ago I was in a company of teachers of the Bible in the colleges and other educational institutions of America One of the most eminent theological professors in the country made and address. In it he admitted that there are unfortunate controversies about doctrine in the Epistles of Paul; but, said he in effect, the real essence of Paul’s teaching is found in the hymn to Christian love in the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians; and we can avoid controversy today, if we will only devote the chief attention to that inspiring hymn.

In reply, I am bound to say that the example was singularly ill-chosen. That hymn to Christian love is in the midst of a great polemic passage; it would never have been written if Paul had been opposed to controversy with error in the Church. It was because his soul was stirred within him by a wrong use of the spiritual gifts that he was able to write that glorious hymn. So it is always in the Church. Every really great Christian utterance, it may almost be said, is born in controversy. It is when men have felt compelled to take a stand against error that they have risen to the really great heights in the celebration of the truth.

Machen, What is Christianity, 132-33 cited in Piper, Contending for Our All, 146.

Jim Hamilton has a helpful post on Jeff Niehaus’ Ancient Near Eastern Themes in Biblical Theology.

According to Hamilton, Niehaus is challenging evangelicals to use ANE background material from a seriously Christian and Biblical basis. In other words, the ANE background material should not dictate how one understands the Bible. The Bible should dictate how one understands the ANE material.

The works by Niehaus that I’ve read and consulted before have all been very good. See especially his commentaries on Amos and Obadiah in the McComiskey set on the minor prophets.

GetReligion.org noted today a must-read story in Monday’s Washington Post about the persecution of Christians in India.

The court of the Tabernacle was open to Jewish worshippers bringing their sacrifices. Again God’s presence with his people is highlighted. There is an area set aside where Israelites could gather before the dwelling place of God on earth to worship him.

The court also indicated the distance of God. The court was a fenced off area. Gentiles were not permitted. The wall of the courtyard thus symbolized a “dividing wall of hostility” made up of “the law of commandments expressed in ordinances” (Eph. 2:14-15).

Once again, the Tabernacle was blessed symbol of God’s presence, but it was also a reminder of the further progress that was needed to reconcile man to God.

The Zondervan catalog also says that they will release a revised ZPEB in 2009.

And another interesting offering from Zondervan [catalog, p. 48]

Three prominent scholars — Darrell L. Bock, Walter C. Kaiser, and Peter Enns — detail their positions on how the Old Testament relates to the New Testament, a topic of significant interest today. This includes substantial discussion of instances where the New Testament authors discern the fulfillment of a prophetic element in the Old Testament text. The book also incorporates questions about the nature of fulfillment and typology as aspects of this seminal issue.

Here’s another interesting offering from Zondervan [catalog, p. 40]

The Biblical Theology of the New Testament (BTNT) series aims at providing textbooks in the areas of New Testament theology, interpretation, and exegesis at the highest level of academic excellence. A multivolume work, its eight volumes will cover the entire New Testament and include Matthean, Markan, Lukan, Johannine, and Pauline theologies as well as works on the theology of Hebrews;
Peter, Jude, and James; and the Book of Revelation. Each volume is written by a recognized expert in the field who has written one or several major commentaries or monographs on the subject. This exciting new series is designed both for use in the classroom and seeks to make a significant contribution to the burgeoning field of biblical studies.

The theology of Matthew—Michael J. Wilkins
The theology of Mark—David E. Garland
The theology of Luke & Acts—Darrell L. Bock
The theology of John—Andreas J. Köstenberger
The theology of Paul—Douglas J. Moo
The theology of Hebrews—George H. Guthrie
The theology of Peter, James, and Jude—Thomas R. Schreiner
The theology of Revelation—Andreas J. Köstenberger and Alan S. Bandy