Tag: Biblical theology

  • Album: Masterplan – Ben Pakula

    Album: Masterplan – Ben Pakula

    Ben Pakula’s new album – Masterplan – is available on iTunes and at the CEP Store. I love Ben’s work, and so do our kids. It’s a powerful rock style combined with words that teach profound truths about God, Jesus, humanity and the world. Often, when our kids ask us questions about Jesus or something…

  • Book: Paul and the Vocation of Israel

    Book: Paul and the Vocation of Israel

    Book – Lionel J. Windsor. Paul and the Vocation of Israel: How Paul’s Jewish Identity Informs his Apostolic Ministry, with Special Reference to Romans. BZNW 205. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2014.

  • Listening to the law without being under the law (a sermon on Exodus 20:22-23:19)

    Preached at Kurrajong Anglican Church on 26 August, 2012. Our problem with the law A few days after we got back to Australia from England, my wife had an experience that made us realize that we were well and truly back home. She was driving along Redbank Road in North Richmond, and a car coming…

  • Borrowing beasts & paying preachers: Why Paul’s use of the Old Testament makes sense

    This was a real “Oh yeah – aha!” moment in my understanding of the Bible, especially in my understanding of the way Paul uses the Old Testament. The Law of Moses says: You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain. (Deut 25:4) Paul says: For it is written in the…

  • PhD thesis: approved and now available online (Paul and the Vocation of Israel)

    This dissertation argues that Paul’s apostolic mission to the Gentiles was the definitive expression of his divine vocation as an Israelite, and thus of his Jewish identity. For many of Paul’s Jewish contemporaries, Israel’s divine vocation was to keep and to teach the precepts of the Law of Moses as an exemplary witness to God’s…

  • Not My People: Gentiles as Exiles in Pauline Hermeneutics

    David Starling‘s recently published dissertation has received quite a favourable review. Here are some choice excerpts from the review, which made me cheer: [T]he situation of the Israel under judgment in Gal 2:15–4:11 corresponds to the existence of the godless Gentile sinners, and the corollary is that believing and justified Gentiles obtain the same position…

  • Identity and reality in the modern Australian and ancient Jewish diasporas

    Our family has been away from Australia for almost 3 years now. One of the funny things we’ve noticed about ourselves is how much our Australian identity is wrapped up in symbols and dreams that have little to do with reality. For example, this 1-minute ad for Tourism Australia–based on Les Murray’s poem, “The Dream…

  • More on Moore College’s theological legacy: Graeme Goldsworthy

    To follow up on my previous post about Donald Robinson and Broughton Knox: “The evangelical Christian world owes a great debt to Graeme Goldsworthy”. These words were spoken by Peter Jensen at the book launch of Christ-centred biblical theology: What Goldsworthy shows is that although there were in the earlier years few books which emanated…

  • With gratitude for a rich (and ongoing) biblical and theological legacy – Moore College

    A short quiz: Which seminary lecturer described his course this way (and when)? the course quickly developed into an introduction to the theology of the Bible as a whole … ‘the church’ as such was subsumed under the wider theme of God’s creative purpose for Adam, his promise to Abraham and his seed, the elect…

  • God’s Word versus the Kingdom (1 Kings 21)

    This sermon is part 3 in a 3-part series on 1 Kings 17-22. Outline: The manic street preacher Who rules Israel? (vv. 1-16) God’s word versus the king (vv. 17-29) God’s word, God’s kingdom and us

  • Review of David J. Rudolph / A Jew to the Jews

    My review is now on Themelios. I’ve also included the full text below: David J. Rudolph. A Jew to the Jews: Jewish Contours of Pauline Flexibility in 1 Corinthians 9:19–23. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2.304. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011. xii + 290 pp. £69.00/$137.50. In 1 Cor 9:19-23, Paul seems to wear his Jewishness…

  • Luther On Law

    This is an astonishingly profound and helpful summary of Luther’s understanding of the significance of God’s “Law”. I commend it especially to preachers. A warning though: Don’t try to read it on the run. You need some time and space to digest it properly. Luther On Law – Jono Linebaugh. PS Jono is a former…

  • Scripture and the Authority of God – again

    I notice Tom Wright has re-released his book, Scripture and the Authority of God (first published in 2005). I guess that gives me an excuse to re-post my review of the book [PDF], originally published in The Briefing 330, March 2006. HT Scot McKnight.

  • Empires in the Middle-East

    Here’s a nice 90-second video showing the various empires which have controlled the middle-east down through the ages – including during the biblical period. Good for quickly introducing people to the historical and geographical context of biblical books (especially Isaiah!) HT Stephen Cook

  • 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…

  • A new beginning for Beginning with Moses

    After some years in the wilderness, Beginning with Moses is back in action, with a new generation of contributions and a promising future. The core of the site is its “biblical theology briefings”, which aim to “state as clearly as we can that the Bible has a storyline and that this big picture must by…

  • Lead us not into temptation (Matthew 6:13)

    This was originally published on the Biblical Theology Briefings website (beginningwithmoses.org) in 2006. The Biblical Theology Briefings aim to provide worked examples of sermons that apply the insights of evangelical biblical theology. As part of a series on the Lord’s Prayer, I was charged with preaching a sermon on this line: ‘Lead us not into…

  • Cross-shaped Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1)

    This was originally published on the Biblical Theology Briefings website (beginningwithmoses.org) in 2006. The Biblical Theology Briefings aim to provide worked examples of sermons that apply the insights of evangelical biblical theology. I recently preached at the commissioning of two dear friends of mine who have now gone as missionaries to work as ministers in…

  • Quick visual overview of the Bible

    I’ve used this quick, visual overview of the Bible to help students see how some of the key elements of the Bible’s overall story are related to one another. Click on the picture to download a PowerPoint presentation – it just takes a couple of minutes to scroll through the presentation.

  • Is Anyone Righteous?

    From the Sola Panel: This is a postscript to my biblical word power series, responding to an excellent question from a bloke at my previous church: Ecclesiastes 7:20 states that there is not a righteous man on earth. Psalm 14 states that there is no one righteous. So why does the Bible say that Noah,…

  • Is the wisdom literature of the Old Testament an exercise in natural theology?

    Introduction Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes have posed a puzzle for interpreters eager to account for their place in the canon. What, if any, connection there is between the Old Testament Law and Prophets, whose topic is the Israel’s history, and this ‘wisdom literature’, which, at best, seems only to allude to Israel’s history? One popular…

  • Desire: reconnected (Song of Songs 7-8)

    A Sermon on Song of Songs 7-8 Lionel Windsor, 18 July 2004 Desire … disconnected We seem to live in a world where sexual desire is everywhere, but means almost nothing. Turn on the TV, and you’ll soon find sexual desire in the ads, in the movies, on the sitcoms. Take a drive, and there…

  • Pictorial Bible Summary

    Here’s a dynamic pictorial summary of the Bible, using concentric circles to “zero in” on Jesus. (Requires Microsoft Power Point)