Tag: Christianity

G.K. Beale’s “Three Angles of Assurance”

~ Bob Hayton

I’m almost finished making my way through G.K. Beale’s A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New (Baker Academic, 2011). It has truly been a rewarding experience in so many ways. Some may question the sanity of reading through a 1,000 page theology book. I have found Beale’s work, however, to be not only intellectually stimulating but also spiritually moving. He unpacks the soul-thrilling message of both testaments of Scripture and like a master jeweler, brings out the innate beauty of the Gem of the Bible in all its brilliance and power. Reading Beale is reading the big picture of Scripture.

Beale also repeatedly brings application and pastoral concerns to bear. He is a theologian with a pastor’s heart, and he never fails to provide the takeaways and connect the dots from theology to Christian living. A perfect example of this is his treatment of assurance. The graphic pictured below is my attempt to reproduce a drawing on pg. 867, in an excursus on assurance, which I found incredibly helpful. I hope my readers will as well.

Beale's 'Three Angles of Assurance'

[Since] Christians do not reach perfection and they sin to varying degrees and in varying ways, and even the most righteous saints become increasingly aware of how sinful they are, how can they be assured that they have a true saving relationship with God? There is no simple answer to this, but there is what may be understood as a cumulative answer that comes from different angles of consideration. We may view the believer’s assurance from three angles, with each angle contributing to an aspect of assurance.

Each point of the [above] triangle represents a truth about how a Christian receives assurance.

Trust in God’s Promise of Salvation through Christ

First, God promises throughout the NT that those who place their faith in Christ and his redemptive work will receive an inner assurance that they have truly benefited from Christ’s work (the top of the triangle). [Beale goes on to discuss 1 John 5:9-15 in support of this point and continues] in this passage from 1 John assurance of true faith comes from (1) the internal witness of the Spirit; (2) the reliability of God’s word that he will give life in the Son to those who believe; (3) the confidence that God hears and answers the faithful prayers of those who ask for salvation in the Son. In fact, the purpose of the entire epistle of 1 John is to give this assurance (v. 13).

Good Works

The role of “good works” is a second angle from which to view the nature of assurance (the bottom left part of the triangle). As we have seen, one who has truly been resurrected (Eph. 2:4-6) and thus becomes a part of the new creation will inevitably and increasingly be characterized by good works (Eph. 2:10) instead of behaving like “dead people” in bondage to “trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1-3). Likewise 2 Pet. 1:3-4 explains that Christians possess God’s “divine power” and reflect God’s image (the “divine nature”), and on this basis they are to grow in the fruits of godliness (vv. 5-8). [Beale goes on to discuss verses 10-11 and concludes that] assurance of one’s “calling and choosing” and final “entrance into the eternal kingdom” increases with growth in doing godly things.

Accordingly, believers’ assurance of truly being part of the new creation comes as they look back at their former life and see the changes that have come about since they became Christian. Those who may have grown up from an early age as a Christian may not have such radical differences between their past and present. Nevertheless, they should not be characterized by the kinds of sins that Paul lists in 1 Cor. 6:9-10. Such people also gain a degree of assurance from this recognition. All Christians, to one degree or another, ought to be able to look back and see that they have progressed in godliness during the course of their Christian lives (recalling also that as such growth occurs, ironically so does increasing awareness of remaining sin). This observation ought to bolster Christians’ confidence that they are genuine.

Given time, if confessing believers have not changed the ungodly lifestyles of their former believing lives, then such people should not be given assurance that they have truly believed. Perhaps they are true Christians, but they should not have affirmation that they are…. Possibly, such a lack of assurance might shock them either into the reality of their faith, so that they change, or shock them into truly believing for the first time.

Conviction by the Spirit

The presence of the conviction of sin within professing Christians is a third angle from which to understand assurance… When Christians think or do unholy things, there should be immediate conflict and dissonance with the indwelling Holy Spirit, who is in the process of causing the believer to reach the goal of complete end-time righteousness. Those who are accordingly convicted about their sin will express repentance and change their sinful ways. Those who have no conviction about indwelling sin should have no conviction that they are genuine saints.

Therefore, faithful, growing Christians should receive multiple assurances from these three angles, which have a cumulative force, enhancing the overall sense of confidence about the reality of their Christian experience. What if a Christian is inconsistent in progressing in good works, and an area of life is not under submission to the Lord of the new creation? Such a person should be under great conviction about this sin, and if so, it is a good sign that the Spirit is really in the person, bringing about conviction. Such a person should not doubt knowing God, unless as time goes on the conviction over sin does not issue into repentance, a turning away from the sin being committed.

However, no confidence should exist in those who profess to believe in Jesus but who reflect no discernible change for the good in their lifestyles and who have no conviction about changing their sinful ways.

Generally, the closer people get to God as faith grows, the more such people will desire to please God by what they do, and the more they will be convicted by the remaining sin in them. As a result, they will have even greater assurance as they progress in their Christian lives. [excerpted from pp. 867-870]

I find Beale’s advice to be both important and encouraging. Even our awareness of failure can encourage us, and the very fight against sin is an evidence of being a legitimate child of God (see my post on Heb. 12 on that point). For more on the Biblical teaching on perseverance see any of the following articles:

You can purchase Beale’s book at any of the following retailers: Westminster Bookstore, Monergism Books, Christianbook.com, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or direct from Baker.

Reformation Book Giveaway

~ Bob Hayton ~ 6 Comments

The Glory of Grace: the Story of the Canons of Dort by William Boekestein     Inside the Reformation compiled by Mark Sengele

It has been a while since I hosted a book giveaway! This week I’d like to offer two books to my readers as a special Reformation Book Giveaway. Each of these books is suited for children, but would make a good addition to the reading list of many parents I know, too. I enjoyed reading through each book, especially after my recent “Survey of the Reformation” series I taught for our adult SS class.

The books to be won are: The Glory of Grace: the Story of the Canons of Dort by William Boekestein and Inside the Reformation compiled by Mark Sengele. You can read my reviews of each of these books by clicking on their titles (or pictures) above.

To enter the contest, simply fill out the Google Form below. Be sure to note the ways to earn additional entries to this contest. The contest runs through Monday night, Feb. 4.

Contest is now closed.

Congratulations to Chad S for winning the contest!

Reformation Gems 5: Wolfgang Musculus on Questioning God

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

Reformation Gems are excerpts from selections contained in the Reformation Commentary on Scripture, a new commentary series from IVP which gathers the best Reformation-era comments on the text together all in one set. The volumes in this commentary series resurrect long-forgotten voices from the Reformation age and in so doing they recover the piety and vivacity of that era. I hope that by sharing some excerpts from this series, I will edify my readers and promote this important commentary series.
 _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _ 

Today’s selection comes from the Reformation Commentary on Scripture: Volume X (Galatians, Ephesians). Wolfgang Musculus, whom I’ve quoted before, made some observations about questioning God’s wisdom and God’s plan. Believers in every era grapple with questions about God’s fairness when it comes to the fate of those who never hear the gospel. People in today’s skeptical age are all the more eager, it seems, to question God’s actions and judgments or even doubt his very existence. Musculus displays a confident trust in the goodness of God and I think his comments are worth repeating for people in every age.

Here is the excerpt from Musculus’s work originally published in 1561 (with key sentences bolded for emphasis):

God Chose to Save People by the Preaching of the Gospel.

Wolfgang Musculus: Some people ask whether God could not call his elect by a secret and hidden breath of his Spirit, without uttering a word. My answer is that nobody doubts that he can. So in that case, why did he choose to use preaching? Because that is what he wanted to do. Because the world in its wisdom did not know God, he wanted to save believers by the foolishness of preaching. If you ask why he chose to give the law of the letter to his people at Mount Sinai, inscribed on tablets of stone, rather than put the law of the Spirit in their hearts, what better answer could be given to you than to say that that is what he wanted to do? If you want to call the will of God into question and think that he ought to explain it to you, ask the devil to be your judge, because he will side with you against God and you will appear to be wise and righteous with him while God is condemned for being stupid and unjust. This is my answer to those who ask what becomes of people who have not heard or who lived before the preaching of the gospel was spread throughout the world and think that it should not have been deliberately delayed until the last days. A godly and faithful person adores what God has said and done and does not get upset or call him into question. He gives glory to God’s wisdom and righteousness even when he does not understand why God has done things one way and not another…. (pg. 259-260)

About the Reformation-era author: Wolfgang Musculus (1497-1563). Viennese pastor, reformer and theologian. Musculus was an advocate and writer for the cause of reform, producing translations, biblical commentaries and an influential theological text, Loci communes sacrae theologiae (Commonplaces of Sacred Theology), outlining a Zwinglian theology. Musculus began to study theology while at a Benedictine monastery; he departed in 1527 and became secretary to Martin Bucer in Strausbourg. He was later installed as a pastor in Augsburg, eventually performing the first evangelical liturgy in the city’s cathedral. Though Musculus was active in the pursuit of the reform agenda, he was also concerned for ecumenism, participating in both the Wittenburg Concord (1536) and discussions between Lutherans and Catholics. (pg. 429-430)

Learn more about this commentary series at the Reformation Commentary page at IVPress.com, or check out this sampler (PDF). You can pick up a copy of Reformation Commentary on Scripture: Volume X (Galatians, Ephesians) at any of the following online retailers: Christianbook.com, Amazon, or direct from IVP. You may want to consider becoming a member with IVP and getting the entire series on a subscription discount of more than 40% per volume.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by IVP. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.

On the Eve of Roe v. Wade’s 40th Anniversary: Black Genocide

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

BlackGenocide.orgThis is one of the rare times that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day comes so close to the anniversary of Roe v. Wade (Jan. 22). The Desiring God Blog shares a post today entitled “MLK’s Dream and the Nightmare of Black Genocide.” In that post the following points are raised:

One in four African Americans conceived in the last forty years have been cut down by the “black genocide” of legal abortion.

A decade ago [Clenard] Childress founded a website by and for African Americans (blackgenocide.org) “to expose the disproportionate amount of Black babies destroyed by the abortion industry. For every two African American women that get pregnant, one will choose to abort.”

The site laments that “a Black baby is 5 times more likely to be killed in the womb than a White Baby.” Childress says, “The most dangerous place for an African American to be is in the womb of their African American mother.”

For Childress and a growing number, the point is clear: Abortion in America is a race issue….

Again, roughly one in four African Americans, who otherwise might be alive today, have been consumed in the holocaust of legal abortion. Because of the disproportionate number of Blacks who have been aborted, it’s difficult not to make the connection between King’s dream and the nightmare of abortion, and ask, Have not the last 40 years of Roe significantly undermined the cause that King so tirelessly gave himself to until 1968?

…As one Black man says in the 3801 Lancaster documentary, “Everything that was ever gained during the Civil Rights Movement is worth nothing to a dead Black child,” and as one Black woman proclaims, “Make no mistake, abortion is a civil rights issue.”

The article goes on to quote Dr. King’s niece on the severity of this problem, I encourage you to read the whole post by David Mathis on this MLK Day.

Let me be clear, I believe as Christians we should be concerned for both the rights of the black man and the unborn child. I am ashamed of how white America, and specifically white Christian America treated the blacks for so long. I uphold Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a true hero – standing up for the rights of his people and advocating non-violent tactics. He is a gift to our country and we should be proud to celebrate today in his honor. But I also believe we cannot be silent when it comes to abortion. Innocent lives are lost every day and all of us grow calloused by the frequency of the slaughter and blinded by the sanitary-ness of it all. Out of sight, out of mind, I guess.

But when you see abortion as a civil rights issue, that the very structures which encourage and support abortion are heavily stacked in the favor of doing away with a 25% or more of unborn black children – then abortion should be come even more sinister. Add to this the fact that in other cultures around the world, girls are systematically aborted through fetal selection and the travesty becomes even more alarming.

May we pray today for our country to stop its schizophrenic attitude toward abortion. America is at the forefront of a revolution to protect life and extend it through a variety of avenues: social, scientific, medical, economic, political and militarily. America sacrifices and moves mountains just to save one trapped miner or rescue a displaced people group. Shouldn’t we be equally concerned with the rights of the unborn who are falling so quickly all around us?

Bob’s Best Books of 2012

~ Bob Hayton ~ 1 Comment

I’m quite late this year in compiling my list of the top books I read or reviewed this past year. Better late than never! There were many great books that came across my desk, and I couldn’t begin to read all of them, although I wanted to. The following titles represent the very best of the books I did read or review in 2012, and I’m happy to recommend each of them for your consideration.

Bob’s 10 Best:

A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New by G.K. BealeBest “Theology” book — A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New by G.K. Beale (Baker). This book technically doesn’t qualify for my list. I’m only 2/3 of the way done with its 1,000 pages! But it has been so rewarding that I just couldn’t fail to include Beale’s masterpiece in my list. The last couple years I’ve been grabbing everything I can find by Beale, having finished his Temple and the Church’s Mission. This book is the fruit of his years of careful study and reflection on the biblical text. It is biblical theology par excellence. For more on this book, see this book excerpt or listen to Mark Dever’s interview with him. My review is forthcoming available here.

Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and Principles by Graeme GoldsworthyHonorable Mention — Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and Principles by Graeme Goldsworthy (IVP). Another biblical theology gem is this work by Graeme Goldsworthy. This book focuses on the method Goldsworthy developed and used over the last several decades. It is the reflection on a lifetime of work by a faithful Bible teacher. Everyone won’t agree with all of Goldsworthy’s particular emphases, but his recovery of the Old Testament for Christian preaching is his greatest gift to the church. This book fleshes out where his inspiration comes from and makes for a great read. Read my review for more on this book.

Invitation to Biblical Interpretation: Exploring the Hermeneutical Triad of History, Literature, and Theology by Andreas Kostenberger and Richard PattersonBest “Commentary & Reference” book — Invitation to Biblical Interpretation: Exploring the Hermeneutical Triad of History, Literature, and Theology by Andreas Kostenberger and Richard Patterson (Kregel). I still joke about the beginning of this volume. 13 pages of endorsements – 39 in all. I think the publishers got carried away a bit in their excitement about the title. But just picking up this volume and leafing through it is all it takes to agree with them. It is the most useful work on hermeneutics I’ve ever seen, arranged beautifully, indexed and then full of applications and practical exercises. I’m sure it will soon find a wide use in college and seminary classrooms and a warm welcome in Bible institutes and Sunday Schools everywhere. Read my review for more on this book.

Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian by John PiperBest “General Christian Interest” book — Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian by John Piper (Crossway). John Piper shares his own experiences with racism in the deep south, in this moving book. He challenges the conservative church to wake up to its nascent racism and do some serious soul searching. Particularly intriguing is Piper’s explanation of the five points of Calvinism and how they should make us more loving and accepting of minorities, rather than proud and condemnatory. His characteristic passion bleeds through every page of this well named title. Read my review for more on this book.

Accidental Pharisees: Avoiding Pride, Exclusivity, and the Other Dangers of Overzealous Faith by Larry OsborneBest “Christian Living” book — Accidental Pharisees: Avoiding Pride, Exclusivity, and the Other Dangers of Overzealous Faith by Larry Osborne (Zondervan). It takes a certain personality and special gift to be able to tell people that they are really a self-righteous Pharisee at heart, and do so with a smile on one’s face. Larry Osborne disarms the reader even as he performs delicate heart surgery. So many of us have a tendency toward exclusivity, legalism and better-than-thou-ism. Osborne helps us to see what lies at the root of this tendency and simultaneously encourages and challenges us to pursue the radical freedom that Christ extends to us. Read my review for more on this book.

The Astonishing Adventures of Missionary Max by Andrew ComingsBest “Missions & Church Life” book — The Astonishing Adventures of Missionary Max by Andrew Comings (Engage Faith Press). This title would have won my fiction category, but I needed a missions or church title. This is the best book that most of my readers haven’t heard about. It’s a first novel, and published in a serial format. It does have a certain comic book character, but the writing is top-notch. Edge of your seat stuff, seriously, with a real Christian message. I think I described the story as Indiana Jones meets David Livingstone, and that about sums up this exciting title. Read my review for more on this book.

Matthew Henry: His Life and Influence by Allan HarmanBest “Church History & Biography — Matthew Henry: His Life and Influence by Allan Harman (Christian Focus). For a true story of a godly man, this book is hard to beat. Almost everyone has heard of Matthew Henry, or at least used his commentary, which is easily the most widely printed and accessible Bible Commentary ever. But few of us know much about Matthew Henry the man. This book is a very readable account of Henry that will educate and inspire the reader. Read my review for more on this book.

 

The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God by Tim KellerBest “Childrens & Family” book — The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God by Tim Keller (Dutton). I listened to the Audible.com audio version of this book, and I enjoyed it so much I bought the hardback copy too. Anything by Keller is worth reading but his thoughts on marriage are priceless. He brings a unique blend of Biblical wisdom and realistic reflection sprinkled with insights from popular culture and research. I’ve read scores of books on marriage but this stands alone. It’s counter-cultural for both the world and its secularism, and the Church and its baptized romanticism. For more on this book, see this book excerpt. My review is forthcoming.

Lady Jane Grey by Simonetta CarrHonorable Mention — Lady Jane Grey by Simonetta Carr (Reformation Heritage). This is a beautifully produced book on a true Christian heroine. I don’t remember hearing the story of Lady Jane Grey before, or at least realizing that she viewed her suffering as a persecution for her faith. This book includes a touching letter written by Jane to her sister exhorting her to continue in the faith despite what trials may await her. This is a truly inspirational title that I’m thrilled to be able to have my girls read. Read my review for more on this book.

The Last Temple by Hank Hanegraaf and Sigmund BrouwerBest “Fiction” book — The Last Temple by Hank Hanegraaf and Sigmund Brouwer (Tyndale House). With this title, I had to go back and read the first two books in the series first. I wasn’t sure what to expect with Hanegraaf’s series and was pleased to find it wasn’t a polemic against other end times positions so much as it was a very well conceived story in its own right that does follow a partial preterist interpretation of the Book of Revelation. The attention to detail bring the years before A.D. 70 to life as we follow the characters around the Roman world, from Rome to Alexandria, on sea and over land, to dungeons, arenas, and even to the cross itself on a hillside in Judea. We are inside and outside Jerusalem in the years leading up to its devastation, and the story is believable yet mysterious and keeps you guessing until the end. It’s a rewarding tale in its own right and also serves to show how the Book of Revelation may have been understood in its own day. For more on this book, view the book trailer. My review is forthcoming available here.

All the Rest:

In 2012, I reviewed 24 books — bringing the total of my book and media reviews to 139 from more than 35 different publishers. I slowed down my pace of reviews this year, probably due to the pace of life speeding up (we had our sixth child last year). You can see all my reviews listed here. I did read 47 books, and you can see that list at Goodreads.

For my previous “Bob’s Best Books” lists, see below.

Additionally, if you are an avid reader, you may want to follow my reviews or friend me on Goodreads or LibraryThing.