Book Review - The Good God: Enjoying Father, Son and Holy Spirit by Mike Reeves

I must admit to being a little indifferent to reading about the Trinity. Many standard systematic theologies make it sound like the dullest and most difficult Christian teaching. The readers of such tomes is often left wondering what the practical benefit of the Trinity is. Also, I may be like many people and like my doctrine to be easily grasped by the mind and simply dismiss something that is too difficult (at least for me.)

The Good God is not like some of the previous books and sections in books that I have read on the subject of the Trinity. Reeves frequently has a great turn of phrase that makes the book an entertaining read - "Far, far from theological clutter, God's being Father, Son and Spirit is just what makes the Christian life beautiful." (p. 82)

The point of the book, according to the author, is to help the reader see the real difference the Trinity makes:

"For all that we may give an orthodox nod of the head to belief in the Trinity, it simply seems too arcane to make any practical difference to our lives." (p. ix)

And what is the practical difference? Reeves summarizes:

"...but if God were just one person, then love of the other would not be central to his being. There would have been nobody in eternity for him to love. Thus the only God inherently inclined to show mercy is the Father who has eternally loved his Son by the Spirit. Only with this God do such winning qualities as love and mercy rank highly." (p. 91)

The book is structured very simply in to four chapters dealing with the Trinity as presented in the Bible and church history and a fifth chapter acting as a capstone focusing on the glory of the Trinity. These chapters are:

1. What was God Doing before Creation?
   • "Before creation, before all things, we saw, the Father was loving and begetting his Son. For eternity, that was what the Father was doing. He did not become Father at some point; rather, his very identity is to be the one who begets the Son. That is who he is. Thus it is not as if the Father and the Son bumped into each other at some point and found to their surprise how remarkably well they got on." (p. 15)
2. Creation: the Father's Love Overflows
   • "Single-person gods, having spent eternity alone, are inevitably self-centred beings, and so it becomes hard to see why they would ever cause anything else to exist ... [c]reating just looks like a deeply unnatural thing for such a god to do. And if such gods do create, they usually seem to do so out of an essential neediness or desire to use what they created merely for their own self-gratification. Everything changes when it comes to the Father, Son and Spirit. Here is a God who is not essentially lonely, but who has been loving for all eternity as the Father has loved the Son in the Spirit. Loving others is not a strange or novel thing for this God at all; it is at the root of who he is." (p. 23)
3. Salvation: the Son Shares what is His
   • "It means that this God makes no third party suffer to achieve atonement. The one who dies is the lamb of God, the Son. And it means that nobody but God contributes to the work of salvation: the Father, Son and Spirit accomplish it all. Now if God were not triune, if there was no Son, no lamb of God to die in our place, then we would have to atone for our sin ourselves. We would have to provide, for God could not. But - hallelujah! - God has a Son, and in his infinite kindness he dies, paying the wages of sin, for us. It is because God is triune that the cross is such good news." (p. 55)
4. The Christian Life: the Spirit Beautifies
   • "But the Spirit's first work is to set our desires in order, to open our eyes and give us the Father's own relish for the Son, and the Son's own enjoyment of the Father." (p. 80)
5. 'Who among the god is like you, O LORD?'
   • "Love for the Lord, love for neighbour - that is the heart of holiness and how the triune God's people get to be like him." (p. 95)

This book has given me a hunger to study more about the Trinity, in the Bible and in church history, but even more importantly, it has given me a great hunger for the triune God I claim to worship. I recommend it to all Christians as well worth a slow, contemplative read. It would be great for book clubs to read and discuss. Maybe it could result in healthier Christians who just want to overflow with love.

Men, porn and computer games.

Dr Russell Moore has written an excellent article on why many young men are addicted to pornography and video games.It is called Fake Love, Fake War: Why So Many Men Are Addicted to Internet Porn and Video Games.

Dr Moore says:

There's a key difference between porn and gaming. Pornography can't be consumed in moderation because it is, by definition, immoral. A video game can be a harmless diversion along the lines of a low-stakes athletic competition. But the compulsive form of gaming shares a key element with porn: both are meant to simulate something, something for which men long. Pornography promises orgasm without intimacy. Video warfare promises adrenaline without danger. The arousal that makes these so attractive is ultimately spiritual to the core.

...these addictions foster the seemingly opposite vices of passivity and hyper-aggression. The porn addict becomes a lecherous loser, with one-flesh union supplanted by masturbatory isolation. The video game addict becomes a pugilistic coward, with other-protecting courage supplanted by aggression with no chance of losing one's life. In both cases, one seeks the sensation of being a real lover or a real fighter, but venting one's reproductive or adrenal glands over pixilated images, not flesh and blood for which one is responsible.

I think this is perceptive and worth integrating in to our thinking, particularly if we minister in some way to young men.

CIS Lecture - The Theology of the Fall

This should be a stimulating lecture especially given the recent discussions around the historical reality of Adam, the purpose of Genesis 1-2, Paul's use of Adam in the New Testament, and so forth.

The Theology of the Fall.

Book Review - Relationships: A Mess Worth Making by Tim Lane and Paul Tripp

Reading any book, I have found, authored or co-authored by Paul Tripp is an enlightening experience. 'How People Change', 'Instruments in the Redeemers Hands', 'War of Words', 'Age of Opportunity', and so forth. Tripp frequently describes scenarios from his counseling experience that could be about me. Spooky. Relationships: A Mess Worth Making is no different. As with every book coming from the CCEF group, the authors will take a very practical approach that highlights the sinful heart at the root of our relationships. But they never leave it there. They always show the resources available to us in Jesus. They say, "And even while we are basking in God's forgiveness, we find it incredibly difficult to bear with the sin and weakness of others. That's why, in the mirror of mercy, all of us look the same." (p. 135)

The authors start by locating our relationships in the nature of God and explain that we were made for relationships. They move on to discuss how sin impacts our relationships:

• Self-centeredness
• Self-rule
• Self-sufficiency
• Self-righteousness
• Self-satisfaction
• Self-taught

So we are made for relationships but our relationships are frequently screwed up to one degree or another. To help us see through this fog and make real progress the authors move on to discuss a number of topics important to relationships. For example, when discussing hope, they state:

The problem with relationships is that they all take place right smack dab in the middle of something, and that something is the story of redemption, God's plan to turn everything in our lives into instruments of Christlike change and growth. You and I never get to be married to a fully sanctified spouse. We will never be in a relationship with a completely mature friend. We will never live next to a neighbor utterly free of the need to grow and change. We will never have self-parenting children. We will never be near people who always think, desire, say, or do the right things. And the reason for all this is that our relationships are lived between the already and the not yet (p. 108).

I particularly found the chapters on Hope and Mercy to be massively important. The authors have a way with crafting a sentence that strikes me deep down. For example, they describe Psalm 57 as pain-stained worship (p. 169). With regard to mercy they say:

Mercy is my commitment to live along side you in this broken world even though I will suffer with you, for you, and because of you. I will do everything I can to relieve your distress. (p. 137)

I could continue to provide quotes but that may breach some copyright. I would highly recommend this book to all Christians. It is causing me to seriously address some issues in my life.

New Commentary on Revelation by Douglas F Kelly

I want to alert people to a new commentary on Revelation by Professor Douglas F Kelly. Prof Kelly is pastor at Reedy Creek Presbyterian Church, Minturn, South Carolina and the Richard Jordan Professor of Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, North Carolina.

You can find the Introduction here.

You can find the endorsements, ToC, series preface and author preface here.

It is published by Christian Focus Publications and is available now in the UK (July for the USA). Some of you will know Willie MacKenzie and his passion for publishing books that are helpful for Christians. He is to be congratulated (along with his team) for the output of CFP up until now and, no doubt, for what is coming in the future.

Colin Adams is blogging again

Colin Adams, Pastor at Ballymoney Baptist Church in Northern Ireland, is blogging again at Unashamed Workman. He is now a local guy (via Glasgow and Edinburgh) and always writes thoughtful stuff.

Same-Sex Marriage Makes a lot of Sense

This is an excellent article by Michael Horton. To give you a flavour here is an excerpt:

Same-sex marriage makes sense if you assume that the individual is the center of the universe, that God—if he exists—is there to make us happy, and that our choices are not grounded in a nature created by God but in arbitrary self-construction. To the extent that this sort of “moralistic-therapeutic-deism” prevails in our churches, can we expect the world to think any differently? If we treat God as a product we sell to consumers for their self-improvement programs and make personal choice the trigger of salvation itself, then it may come as a big surprise (even contradiction) to the world when we tell them that truth (the way things are) trumps feelings and personal choice (what we want to make things to be).

You will notice that the article refers to moralistic therapeutic deism (MTD). Here is an article that explains MTD.

Religion for Atheists

The Center for Public Christianity has a fascinating interview with Alain de Botton regarding his book Religion for Atheists. Here is a flavour of the interview.

Brian Rosner: Thanks Alain for your willingness to answer some questions about your new book, Religion for Atheists: A non-believer’s guide to the uses of religion. As a Christian it’s a nice change to be seen as having something positive to contribute as opposed to being accused of “poisoning everything” (to allude to another atheist author’s book title)! You write that “the most boring question one can ask of any religion is whether or not it’s true.” Clearly it is a valuable exercise to set it to one side and consider the existential value of religion. To kick off, and at the risk of being “boring,” have you engaged with some of the Christian responses to the so-called new atheists, such as John Lennox or Alistair McGrath, or your fellow philosopher, David Bentley Hart? What settled you in your position as a non-believer?

Alain de Botton: I declared this issue boring simply because it is so hard to make any progress on it. Most of us come to our position with our mind well made up for us, by forces that are out of our control. The religious would say, because of the Grace of God. Atheists might say, by our nurture, by our psychological upbringing. I cannot be sure why I am a non-believer exactly. Surely much does have to do with the way I was raised in a family of non-believers, and a rational outlook very much at the fore. So the key question for me isn’t whether one should believe or not, but where one goes to - as an atheist - once the non-existence of God is clear. At this point many atheists simply dismiss all talk of religion, whereas I am attempting to engage with the subject selectively.

Book Review - Marks of the Messenger by Mack Stiles

Marks of the Messenger: Knowing, Living and Speaking the Gospel is an excellent shot in the arm for Christians like me who struggle with sharing the good news deliberately and intentionally. This is a short book that can be easily read in two or three hours, which is what I did but found myself underlining and re-reading numerous sections.

Stiles is essentially trying to lay out the marks of a healthy evangelist. In the first chapter he starts by identifying the unhealthy trend of pragmatic evangelism - doing evangelism before taking the short time to think who we are meant to be as evangelists. In chapter 2 Stiles begins to explain what a healthy evangelist is - someone who does not add to or subtract from the Gospel. Chapter 3 is very challenging - don't assume the Gospel. He notes a generational pattern - the Gospel is accepted -> the Gospel is assumed -> the Gospel is confused -> the Gospel is lost. Sobering indeed.

In subsequent chapters Stiles discusses: Living the implications of the Gospel; The Gospel and social change; Understanding true biblical conversion (pages 77-79 are contain profound lessons for pastors, Sunday school teachers, youth club leaders etc.); Handling fear when sharing the Gospel; Understanding what true love for the world is; The Gospel and the local church; A manifesto for healthy evangelism. This last chapter is really encouraging and should really be made available to every church congregation.

All in all, this is an excellent book that has given me more confidence. It is easily worthy of your time.

Book Review - Bible Study: Following the Ways of the Word by Kathleen Buswell Nielson

Bible Study by Kathleen Buswell Nielson is aimed at non-specialist Bible readers i.e. me. The main content of the book focuses on five main questions/claims:

• If the Bible is God speaking ... Then how should we listen?
• Nielson clearly presents that the Bible is God's very word. In light of this she outlines some implications (this is the pattern for each of the five questions - statement of truth followed by implications). For example, an implication is "Bible study is not primarily a matter of learning propositions or getting facts straight; it is a matter of hearing God speak to us" (p. 7). The author also laces some challenges as a result of the truth claim and implication e.g. "Has the focus of many Bible studies become ingrown? How often do we Christians actually view ourselves as being in training to make other disciples, even through our Bible study?" (p. 9).
• If the Bible is powerful ... Then how should we approach it?
• If the Bible is understandable ... Then how should we get it?
• If the Bible is a literary work ... Then what should we expect?
• If the Bible is one whole story ... Then how should we read it?

Most of this material is good and the author provides a few examples of applying the implications to biblical passages. I think the last point, If the Bible is one whole story, is excellent as it is something so few Christians seem to grasp. However, the material is perhaps a little to surface level. I think the target audience would need a lot more worked examples to really drive the lessons home. Also, the section on Bible translations (pp. 17-20) also seemed a little brief and may create some false perceptions in the general reader about certain Bible translations.

I think the last two chapters are the best in the book:

• So ... What is Bible study?
• Looking ahead ... The promise.

Crucially, the author discusses the different baggage each generation can bring to Bible studies. At the risk of simplifying, younger generations like to discuss their way around the passage and older generations are happier being told the meaning and implications of a passage. Nielson is careful though. She claims, accurately I think, that a true understanding of what the Bible is will help minimise the power of the baggage to nullify the helpfulness of any style of Bible study.

Speaking of Dan Wallace

Dan Wallace has a new blog. It is meaty stuff. But I like this guy. Here is Dan's bio.

Dan is professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary (has taught there for more than 25 years) and Executive Director of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts. He earned a B.A. at Biola University (1975) with a major in biblical studies and minor in Greek; graduated magna cum laude from Dallas Seminary with a ThM degree (1979), with the equivalent of a major in Old Testament studies and a double major in New Testament Studies; graduated summa cum laude from Dallas Seminary with a PhD in New Testament studies (1995). He has done postdoctoral study at Tyndale House, Christ’s College, Clare College, and Westminster College, Cambridge; the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung (Institute for New Testament Textual Research), Münster, Germany, Tübingen University; Glasgow University; Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library), Munich; as well as various libraries and monasteries in Europe, Australia, America, and Africa.

He is a member of several scholarly societies including Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, Institute for Biblical Research, Society of Biblical Literature, and Evangelical Theological Society, and has held several offices in the ETS. He has received numerous honors and awards, including the Henry C. Thiessen Award for best work in New Testament at Dallas Seminary (1979); the William M. Anderson Scholarship Award for best work in the Doctor of Philosophy program at Dallas Seminary; multiple Who’s Who lists; finalist in the Gold Medallion Award for two books in different categories; and an award for the best article in New Testament in Christianity Today’s fourth annual volume of Best in Theology (1990), as well as a second article that was a finalist. Wallace has published in more journals than any faculty member in Dallas Seminary’s history—including New Testament Studies (the premier international journal for New Testament; Cambridge, England); Novum Testamentum (Leiden, Holland); Biblica (The Vatican); Bulletin for Biblical Research (Cambridge, England); Christianity Today; Westminster Theological Journal (Philadelphia); Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society; Bibliotheca Sacra (Dallas); Criswell Theological Review (Dallas); Grace Theological Journal (Winona Lake, IN); Conservative Theological Journal; Themelios; Notes on Translation; Bible Translator; Critical Review of Books; Review of Biblical Literature; Wittenburg Door; and International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences.

Wallace has written chapters in three Festschriften (Homer Kent, Harold Hoehner, and Bruce Metzger), and is currently working on chapters for two other Festschriften. Wallace has also been interviewed (often multiple times) by Christianity Today, the Wall Street Journal, Dallas Morning News, National Post (Canada), US News and World Report, Boston Globe, Kindred Spirit, and many others. His television/film interviews/appearances include The John Ankerberg Show; Day of Discovery; The DayStar’s Celebration!; WFAA News (Dallas area ABC affiliate); Jesus Film; Coral Ridge Program; CBN News; the CNN closed-circuit channels at American Airlines hubs; as well as scores of radio shows and websites including Moody Broadcasting Network, and an Arabic Christian website in Alexandria, Egypt (where he discussed the textual transmission of the Qur’an in comparison to the New Testament).

Wallace wrote the official eulogies for Harold Hoehner (Society of Biblical Literature) and Bruce Metzger (Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society).

He has written, co-authored, edited, or contributed to more than two dozen books.

As an internationally known Greek New Testament scholar, Wallace has been a consultant for four Bible translations—ESV, TNIV, New King James Bible, and New English Translation. He has also contributed articles to the ESV Study Bible and the Holman Christian Standard Study Bible.

To see/hear latest interviews (CNN one-minute video, airing in May 2010 at American Airlines hubs at all major North American airports, and three-minute audio interview on all American and Delta flights in May and June 2010), and information about the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM), please visit www.csntm.org and www.friendsofcsntm.com. Recently, CSNTM has also joined iTunes U. The video clips they have uploaded have been extremely well received, with over 60,000 downloads in the first few days. The videos are intended for a lay audience.

Dan is a fourth-generation Californian, who grew up in Newport Beach. He has been transplanted against his will to Texas. He always welcomes an opportunity to come home. Dan and his wife, Pati, have been married 37 years. They met at Biola University and within minutes stole a car together! They have four adult sons—Noah, Ben, Andrew, and Zack. They also have two dogs and one cat. They like the dogs.

The bible says it, I believe it, that settles it.

I found this video very humbling and encouraging. I am humbled because of how little I know and I am encouraged that evangelicals like Prof Wallace are not afraid to face hard questions. Dan Wallace is essentially giving some answers to the likes of Bart Ehrman.

Biblical Theology of the New Testament Series

Andy Naselli is a great blogger who seems to have the inside track on many cool books. Here is another regarding Darrell Bock's new book on the theology of Luke-Acts. This series is going to be excellent and A Theology of John's Gospel and Letters by Andreas Kostenberger is great. I have not read it all but what I have read was very helpful. It is probably more suited to pastors than dummies like me but I still gleaned from it.