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We Must Not Discard the Old Testament

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In “Why We Can’t Unhitch from the Old Testament,” Michael Kruger reviews Andy Stanley’s latest book Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World. Stanley’s claims include the following:

  • “when it comes to stumbling blocks to faith, the Old Testament is right up there at the top of the list”
  • using the Old Testament has led to “prosperity gospel, the crusades, anti-Semitism, legalism, exclusivism, judgmentalism,” and more.
  • when people wrestle with trusting Christ, “the Old Testament is usually the culprit”
  • the church fathers “ignored [Paul’s] warning against mixing and matching”
  • when we look for Jesus in the Old Testament Scriptures, God’s Word is being “hijacked” by Christians who are “ignoring original context”

Kruger clearly and biblically addresses these and other claims in his helpful review. He’s happy to celebrate what Stanley gets right, but he’s also not afraid to show where Stanley’s thinking veers off course.

What I most appreciate about Kruger’s review is that he shows us how our thinking about the Bible must derive directly from the Bible. It’s worth checking out to see an example of how to do that well.

Check it out!

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How to Sabotage a Bible Study

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Following in the vein of The Screwtape Letters, Greg Morse posts a letter from a senior demon to his underling with instructions for undermining his patient’s Bible study. The demon first needs to have no fear of allowing his patient to attend a Bible study, as they are so easy to turn toward evil purposes.

Then the senior demon, Wormwood, proposes a course of action that ought to convict us all:

Keep the Bible study merely that: a study.

Bring the Enemy’s word out to be dissected, examined, and (if at all possible) critiqued — but make sure to divide the three strands. They must never read devotionally, theologically, and ethically all together. Keep them to one lane. If your man tends towards a theological bent, give him a heavy head, a shriveled heart, and uncalloused hands. Make him the first to debate, the last to worship, and the first to excuse himself from service.

If devotional, make him sentimental but shallow in his understanding and ignorant to any further application. Let him be deeply affected by his personal devotions but never enough to think too hard or to take the Enemy’s commands too seriously.

And finally, if ethically inclined, let him build his social-justice house without any real love for the Enemy. Let him imagine that he does wonders to advance great causes in the world, all while leaving behind the most significant command: love the Enemy with his all. And his highest mission: Make disciples of all nations. “Lord, Lord did we not . . . ” is one of the most satisfying refrains for our Father Below to overhear just before the patients are placed before us for good.

This is challenging stuff. The rest of Wormwood’s letter to his nephew Globdrop is worth your time.

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There Are No Bible Verses

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Stand to Reason has a concise and terrific article by Greg Koukl about the fact that the books of the Bible originally had no verse markings. Koukl states the unintended consequences of verse divisions, which were first introduced in 1551:

There’s good news and bad news about verse numbers. The good news is it’s easier to find stuff. The bad news is it’s easier to get stuff wrong. Verse numbers tempt readers to take a passage as a collection of discrete statements having meaning and application in isolation from the larger work (“How does this verse apply to my life?”).

Why is it a problem to do this?

God did not give us 66 books of short, pithy sayings to be applied piecemeal to our lives (with a few exceptions, e.g., much of Proverbs). Most of Scripture is narrative—story. Most of the rest—NT epistles, for example—is argument (making a case) or instruction. Each of these—narrative, argument, instruction—involves a flow of thought within the passage from the larger part to the smaller part.

And in conclusion:

So, beware. A really good idea almost five centuries ago had a bad consequence that can sabotage your understanding of Scripture. I suggest you ignore the artificial divisions (chapters, verses, headings) and focus on the larger narrative, argument, or instruction. Start big, then get small. Look at the larger flow of thought, then zoom in on the particulars.

Koukl makes his case with a few compelling examples. This is why we’ve taken time to review many readers Bibles on this site. Here’s another reason to invest in an ESV Reader’s Bible, 6 Volume Set,  which is 50% off at Westminster Bookstore until tomorrow.

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Listen to the Old Testament, Which Still Speaks

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I rarely link to book reviews, especially when I haven’t yet read the book being reviewed. But Josh Philpot’s review of 6 Ways the Old Testament Speaks Today by Alec Motyer sounded like something that might interest the readers of this blog.

The late Professor Motyer was a reputable scholar with a commitment to help ordinary people learn to study the Bible. This new book is a posthumous reprint of an earlier work, A Scenic Route Through the Old Testament.

Philpot states the need for Motyer’s book:

With the exception of a select number of psalms, a few passages in Isaiah, and a general outline of famous hero stories, our grasp of the Old Testament can be quite weak. Some have even said recently that the Old Testament is dying in certain churches. Why is this so?

According to Motyer, we’ve lost the “voice” of the Old Testament.

Philpot quotes Motyer:

Instead of Columbus “discovering America,” suppose the American Indians had journeyed east to tell us about themselves and about the marvelous land to the west where they lived. The Old Testament is like that: it is not the account of human voyage of discovery, searching for God, but of God coming to tell us about himself. (121)

And Philpot concludes:

We believers need a relationship with the Old Testament. We need to slay our tendency to read only the stories and psalms that are most familiar to us. We need to dwell in the Old Testament for an extended time, struggling to understand each book. We need to wrestle with God’s message like Jacob wrestled God, even if it means we come away with a limp. The pages of the Old Testament were never intended to be left untouched like dust on an old barn floor. The Old Testament was meant to ransacked. There are hidden treasures, after all (Prov. 2:4), and only by ransacking the Bible for all its worth does one understand the fear of the Lord, and “find the knowledge of God” (Prov. 2:5).

This indeed seems worth checking out. Here is Philpot’s inspiring review. And if you’d rather go directly to the source, here is Motyer’s book.

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Making Sense of Prophecy

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In his article “How to (Mis)Interpret Prophecy,” Michael Heiser illustrates one weakness with over-generalizing our interpretive principles. He mentions the principle: “When the plain sense makes sense, seek no other sense.” And then he examines the use of Amos 9 in Acts 15 to show one place where the principle needs more nuance.

He concludes:

Comparing these passages illustrates important lessons: Interpreting biblical prophecy cannot be distilled to a simple maxim, and not everything can be taken literally. The New Testament shows us otherwise.

His concise analysis is worth your time. Check it out!

We May Need to Stop Talking About the Bible

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This thoughtful article by Cole Brown challenges our small groups to stop talking about the Bible so the Bible might talk to us. He writes:

There can be a strong force in these groups that pulls the discussion away from what the text clearly and most centrally says in order to focus on various tangential parts that are much less clear.

I believe this strong pull stems from two things: first, our own fleshly desire to hide ourselves and protect our sin; and second, spiritual forces that desire to keep God’s people at a distance from the lasting transformation of God’s Word.

As group participants, we instinctively know that if we focus on what the text most clearly and most centrally says, then we will have to talk about how it confronts us personally. But if we can avoid talking about what is clearly stated in the text, then we’re able to talk about the Bible for hours—without ever actually being confronted personally by its content. This is false piety at its pinnacle.

It’s common for entire conversations to focus on questions the text does not even attempt to answer. Theory, theology, and hypothetical questions are debated and discussed. So are ways other Christians (or non-Christians) fail to honor the text.

All of this gives group members the impression of having interacted with the Bible, when in reality they’ve avoided its penetrating light. No wonder this approach is more likely to produce Pharisees than mature disciples.

As long as those who attend the groups in our churches are talking about the Bible, the Bible cannot talk to them. Intentionally or not, human nature will lull us into using Scripture to keep us from being seen for who we really are, and from being transformed into who we ought to be.

Brown goes on to suggest asking more response questions than discussion questions to help group members submit to the clear and central meaning of the text. This is well worth considering.

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How to Fight Boredom With the Bible

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Jon Bloom believes the Bible is anything but boring. And he wants to help you understand what a remarkable book it is that you can hold in your hands. This book is unequaled, audacious, and unrivaled.

Are we bored with it? Oh, boredom! That plague of our finite, fallen, self-oriented flesh that so easily loses appreciation for the most precious treasures simply when they become familiar! Forgive us, Father, and hasten the day when we lose our amazing capacity for boredom and gain an amazing capacity for sustained amazement!

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Let’s Develop Bible Reflexes to Hot-Button Topics

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Erik Raymond wants Christlike, Bible reflexes. Do you?

Jesus directs them to the authority on the matter. Amid the swirling debate about divorce in the community around them, Jesus cuts through the fog and points to the Word of God. Jesus pointed people to the Bible, not because the cultural voices did not exist but because they were inferior. Jesus understands the authority of the Scriptures to settle matters of debate. He doesn’t salute the wisdom of the age; he dusts off the wisdom of God.

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See Your Bible Reading Go from Chore to Delight

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Steve Midgley ask a great question at the blog for the Christian Counseling and Education Foundation: Is reading the Bible a chore or a delight?  The difference, he suggests, depends on how connected you feel with the characters. Or more specifically, the Character.

For the Bible is really a book about one person: God. He is the hero on every page. How much do we really care about him? So much of the time we read the Bible as if it were all about us. How can I find some comfort? How can I get a little guidance? How can I be spiritually strong? We come to the Bible as if it were a self-help manual, as if its prime purpose were to help us fix our problems. But it isn’t.

The Bible’s prime purpose is to bring glory to God. It does that by declaring his excellence and establishing his kingdom and, finally and wonderfully, by bringing all things together under one Head, even Christ (Eph 1:10). As long as we insist on reading the Bible as if it were all about us, we will not only miss the point, we will find it dull because we won’t be interested in the character that it is describing—God himself.

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Does Your Bible Study Need Some New Life?

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In her book Study the Word: 12 Christian Leaders on Bible Study, Nancy Leigh DeMoss shares practical wisdom for followers of Jesus brushing up on her skills. The Logos Talk blog summarizes 4 specific steps you can take if you start to feel in a rut:

  1. Change up old study habits.
  2. Study the Bible daily.
  3. Rely on the Holy Spirit for understanding and application.
  4. Read and apply each biblical book based on its genre.

Check it out!