Tag: Paul

  • Brian Rosner on Paul and the Law

    If you’re anywhere in or around Sydney in August, don’t miss Brian Rosner’s lecture series. This is a very important topic. I’m guessing the lecture series will touch on issues like: What does the Old Testament law have to do with Jesus? Will God judge me based on whether I keep the law? What does…

  • It ain’t over till it’s over

    “The debate is over” – this is an argumentative gambit I’ve noticed quite a few people using recently around the web. It’s a subtle rhetorical device, designed to make people who disagree with you sound petty and ill-informed. The three debates that I’ve noticed it being used in are as follows: The debate concerning the…

  • What did the apostle Paul really care about? At a glance…

    Thanks Wordle:

  • The olive tree is not about Gentiles joining Israel (Romans 11:17-24)

    A short while ago I wrote a post claiming that Paul doesn’t ever teach that the Gentiles are included in Israel. I said: Gentiles don’t need to be included in Israel. In fact, the opposite is true; we Gentiles are saved by faith in Christ without being included in Israel. That’s one of the apostle…

  • Are the Gentiles included in Israel?

    Μὴ γένοιτο! No way! Gentiles don’t need to be included in Israel. In fact, the opposite is true; we Gentiles are saved by faith in Christ without being included in Israel. That’s one of the apostle Paul’s big points in Romans and Galatians. We are, of course, included in the promises given to Abraham (Rom…

  • Rereading Doug Campbell to help us preach the gospel

    In chapter 1 of his megabook, The Deliverance of God: an Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), Douglas Campbell outlines what he calls “the justification theory of salvation”, which he seems to regard as a summary of the conventional understanding of the gospel amongst the majority of Western Christians (7). If…

  • The Individual and the Community in Paul

    It’s been a concern of mine for some time that a number of New Testament scholars such as Tom Wright take an approach to justification in Paul which subordinates individual issues (such as personal sin, guilt and salvation) to communal concerns. The same is true in some scholarly approaches to Paul’s use of the word…

  • Re-reading Doug Campbell

    Here’s something I’d like to say: I’ve just picked up a copy of Douglas A. Campbell’s The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul (Grand Rapids / Cambridge: Eerdmans, 2009). Initially, I was a bit daunted. It’s a very big and scary book, running to 1218 pages. But I’ve just realised that…

  • Postscript: Why the New Perspective claims that “righteousness” means “covenant faithfulness” – and why it’s wrong

    Here’s a very insightful post from Lee Irons critiquing the theory that “righteousness” means “covenant faithfulness”. I’ll quote a sizeable chunk of Irons’ conclusions because they’re highly relevant to both of my series on righteousness and covenant: As you can see, the New Perspective claim that “the righteousness of God” is a cipher denoting “God’s…

  • The ratification of the covenant in Galatians 3:17

    We have seen that the “seed” of Galatians 3:16 is referring to Genesis 17:8. In Galatians 3:16, Paul is explaining to the gentile Galatians that the “seed” of Genesis 17:8 is the “one” nation Israel, not the “multitude” of nations who will also have Abraham as their father (Genesis 17:5). In Galatians 3:17, Paul goes…

  • So you think you can serve?

    From the Sola Panel: I’ve just read through the Apostle Paul’s letters and noted all the words he uses to describe his ministry. It’s a fascinating and humbling list. Paul calls himself: apostle, servant, minister, preacher, master builder, from the tribe of Benjamin, prisoner, teacher, Hebrew, aroma, Jew, Israelite, temple servant, from the circumcision, manager,…

  • The arrogance of a theological liberal

    Sometimes I’ve heard evangelicals (like myself) accused of being narrow-minded, sectarian, intolerant; acting as if they, and they alone, understand what the Bible is all about. But whatever accusation anyone could possibly throw at us along these lines has nothing on William Wrede, whom I’m reading to get a bit more acquainted with late 19th-century…

  • A key point at which N.T. Wright is just plain wrong

    I’m currently reading through Tom Wright’s Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision. He writes lucidly and engagingly, with a grand vision and a ready wit. However, it’s been frustrating going. Not only does he appear to be consistently misrepresenting his opponents (which is frustrating enough), he also misrepresents the Bible at a key point. On…

  • Sermon series: Get With The Program

    Sydneyanglicans.net is podcasting the first half of the sermon series on Ephesians preached recently by Al Stewart and myself at St Michael’s Wollongong. The series is on this site too, of course, but the Sydneyanglicans.net version has some extras: a cute cover photo, a title for the series, and a short blurb. That’s because they’re…

  • The worst role model in history?

    My post on the Sola Panel yesterday: The [incident] involving rugby league personality Matthew Johns was predatory, degrading and offensive, federal Sports Minister Kate Ellis says … “I think that’s offensive and inappropriate for our sporting role models.” But where does that leave the Apostle Paul? The comment quoted above is typical of the huge…

  • The End of the World as We Know It

    My post on the Sola Panel today: Today, millions of Christians across the globe will join together to celebrate the end of the world as we know it. I’m talking, of course, about Good Friday—the celebration of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This is an event of cosmic significance—an event in which the world as…

  • The wisdom of the minister

    Part 3 in the series “Being Ministers of God: Reflections on the Servant concept in Isaiah.” Moore College 2nd Year 2008 Houseparty, Wollongong Surf Leisure Resort, Fairy Meadow, 23-24 February 2008. Power point file with visual aids also available.

  • The Suffering and Joy of the Minister

    Part 2 in the series “Being Ministers of God: Reflections on the Servant concept in Isaiah.” Moore College 2nd Year 2008 Houseparty, Wollongong Surf Leisure Resort, Fairy Meadow, 23-24 February 2008. Power point file with visual aids also available.

  • The Minister and the Ministers

    Part 1 in the series “Being Ministers of God: Reflections on the Servant concept in Isaiah.” Moore College 2nd Year 2008 Houseparty, Wollongong Surf Leisure Resort, Fairy Meadow, 23-24 February 2008. Power point file with visual aids also available.

  • The New Perspective on Paul: Summary and Reflections

    The weird and wonderful world of biblical scholarship may seem a thousand miles removed from the day to day life of ordinary Christians. To the outsider, biblical scholarship looks like a strange little enclave where papers get written, learned journals get printed, books get published and theories get advanced and refuted, all with seemingly negligible…

  • The Fulfilment of the Covenants: an Acovenantal Perspective on Paul

    This was my thesis for my Moore College B.D. The Fulfilment of the Covenants: an Acovenantal Perspective on Paul. Summary: The New Perspective on Paul and the ancient Qumran sectarians have this in common: they use the term ‘covenant’ as a sociological catch-all term to describe the relationship between God and a specific community. But…

  • Indicative and Imperative in the Letters of Paul

    Lionel Windsor (2004) Introduction It is undeniable that Paul’s letters contain both declarations and commands, theology and ethics, indicatives and imperatives. Yet Paul himself never explicitly lays out the logical connection between these two elements of his thought. Certainly, indicatives generally precede and are connected to imperatives, sometimes broadly (e.g. Eph 1-3 then 4-6; Rom…

  • Paul’s Apostolic Ministry as Presented in the Book of Acts

    Lionel Windsor (2002) ‘In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach’, writes Luke, at the beginning of his second volume (Acts 1:1, emphasis mine). The implication is that Jesus continued to act and to teach after his ascension (So Köstenberger and O’Brien 2001, 128). So Paul,…