Tag: conversion

Sermon Download – Baptism: Why Wait? (Acts 22:6-16)

~ Bob Hayton ~ Leave a comment

This past Sunday I was again privileged to fill in for our pastor by delivering the Sunday morning message. My theme this time was baptism, and I took as part of my title, the question that Ananias asked the future Apostle Paul before his baptism in Acts 22:16. He asked “why do you wait?” I enjoyed tracing the pattern of baptism as seen in the book of Acts and spent time talking about what baptism symbolizes and what it does (and doesn’t) do. I also looked at when it is appropriate to wait.

I trust this message will be a blessing to my readers. If you don’t have time to listen to the entire sermon (42 minutes), please do look over my notes.

Place: The Heights Church, St. Paul
Date: June 30, 2019
Title: Baptism: Why Wait?
Text: Acts 22:6-16
Notes: Download PDF
Audio Link: Click to visit the sermon audio download link

Book Briefs: “Leaving Mormonism: Why Four Scholars Changed Their Minds”

~ Bob Hayton ~ 3 Comments

What is the biggest threat to biblical Christianity in America today? Many different answers could be given to that question. Some would say secular humanism or the new atheism. Others worry about the encroachment of Islam, or the modern rebirth of paganism or alternate spirituality. For many decades a strong case could be made that the truest answer is the growth of Mormonism, and its aggressive recruitment of evangelicals.

Mormonism from the outside looks benign from an evangelical perspective. Today’s “culture-warrior” atheists see it as a threat, but the wholesome family image and moralism that Mormonism projects is attractive to evangelicals. In fact, some evangelical scholars are dialoguing with Mormonism and taking the approach that Mormons are simply misunderstood and really share too many similarities with evangelicals to be shunned (as they have been by the evangelical Church for almost 200 years now).

The scholars who contributed to Leaving Mormonism: Why Four Scholars Changed Their Minds (Kregel, 2017) beg to differ. Each tells a personal tale of their time spent within Mormonism (some as converts, one as a descendant of an honored Mormon family line) and how they came to understand Mormonism as antithetical to the Gospel that evangelical Christianity offers.

The book is unique in that it is not a sanitized, detached treatment of Mormonism. Neither is it a dialogue between Christians and Mormons: it is part-personal testimony, and part-scholarly critique. And since four different authors share their stories, it gives a unique perspective on the whole “Mormon question.”

The authors heavily tout their work by stressing the fact that all four authors have earned doctorates. And while I’m sure that is a good thing, the result can be hard for the not-so-learned reader! The book at times is heady and scholarly to a fault. It also comes across as uneven. One of the authors is much less dogmatic about Christian faith than his peers, and I almost felt that his inclusion was merely because he has a doctorate! (Although I suspect his perspective is shared in an effort to show that even those with questions can still keep on believing in God and also not be Mormon. Sadly, many who leave Mormonism abandon theism altogether.) Another author lets out that she is a member at a Church of Christ church, which led me to wonder what her view of baptism and its role in conversion really is (some Church of Christ denominations emphasize baptismal regeneration which is rejected by most evangelicals).

These quibbles aside, the book makes for riveting reading, and provides an immersion into the eerie world of Mormonism, for the uninitiated. Anyone who has left one denomination for another, or who might still be healing from time spent in a spiritually abusive church, will particularly benefit from this book. Mormons and those exploring Mormonism are encouraged to read it.

The book is packed full of Mormon history and doctrinal oddities. It also stresses the important role of an accepting and welcoming evangelical Church body for those leaving Mormonism. Those who have Mormon family members, or anyone who attempts to reach out to Mormons will greatly benefit from this work and the discussion of what steps led to the conversions of these former Mormons.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in (or troubled by) Mormonism.

Book Blurbs:

“This is truly a great book. In fact, I have never seen anything like it. Miller and Wilder have brought together a team of very knowledgeable ex-Mormon scholars to share from various perspectives why they could no longer stay Mormons. And while many who leave Mormonism simply fall off the grid, the good news presented by author after author is that there is an intellectually and spiritually vibrant alternative: moving from Mormonism to historical Evangelical Christianity. The book is fair, irenic, and inviting. This is now the first place to go for anyone who wants an honest, serious critique of Mormonism, along with an alternative to consider. I give it my top recommendation.” ~ J. P. Moreland, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University

“This unique volume is not only written by former ‘insiders,’ who were all in their respective ways committed, but also by a group of deep thinkers who have taken the time to investigate and compare truth claims. Their histories, experiences, and education are all brought to bear on whether or not Mormon teaching is true, accurate, and reliable. As a resource to individuals, churches, or study groups, who will have to read carefully and thoroughly, this is a great tool…. I believe it deserves to be widely read, especially by those impacted or influenced by LDS teachings. It makes the Gospel clear by its amazing contrast. May that grace touch many as a result of this work.” ~ Stuart McAllister, D. D., Ravi Zacharias International Ministries

“‘Leaving Mormonism’ today all too often means rejecting Christianity entirely in the mistaken belief that if Mormonism isn’t true then no form of Christian faith is true. In Leaving Mormonism, four Christian scholars, each of whom also happens to be a former Mormon, show that faith in Jesus Christ as he is revealed in the Bible is intellectually and spiritually viable for disillusioned Latter-day Saints. The authors combine their authentic personal stories with scholarly analysis of critical issues and are not afraid to point out how evangelicals have sometimes failed to engage Mormons in a constructive manner. There is much for everyone to learn from this book.” ~ Robert M. Bowman Jr., Ph.D., Executive Director, Institute for Religious Research

“Written with compassion, charity, and courage, this will be the go-to book for those interested in Christian-Mormon dialogue for years to come.” ~ Paul M. Gould, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Philosophy and Christian Apologetics, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Where to Buy:
Pick up a copy of this book at any of the following online retailers: Amazon, ChristianBook.com, or direct from Kregel Publications.

Disclaimer:
This book was provided by Kregel Publications. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a positive review.

About Book Briefs: Book Briefs are book notes, or short-form book reviews. They are my informed evaluation of a book, but stop short of being a full-length book review.

Book Briefs: “Reformation Readings of Paul” edited by Michael Allen and Jonathan A. Linebaugh

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

Reformation Readings of Paul edited by Michael Allen and Jonathan LinebaughToday is Reformation Day. 498 years ago today, October 31, Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses on the church door in Wittenburg. And the rest is history!

Luther’s theology was born out of a careful interaction with the text of Scripture. Indeed the reading of Scripture played a prominent role in Luther’s conversion and that of many other reformers. Luther’s revelation from his reading of Romans 1:16 is commonly known. Another reformer in England, shares a similar account of his own conversion from reading a passage also written by the Apostle Paul.

Thomas Bilney, who in 1519 obtained an edition of Desiderius Erasmus’s translation of the Bible in order to savor the eloquence of the Latin only to

chance upon this sentence of St. Paul… in 1 Tim 1:15 “It is a true saying and worthy of all men to be embraced, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief and principal.” This one sentence, through God’s instruction… working inwardly in my heart, did so gladden it–which before was wounded by the awareness of my sins almost to the point of desperation–that immediately I felt a marvelous inner peace, so much so that my bruised bones leapt for joy.”

[quote from John Fox’s Actes and Monuments, in Reformation Readings of Paul, p. 15]

This refreshing reminder of the power of Scripture is included in the introduction to a new book exploring the Reformer’s interpretive readings of Paul. Pauline scholarship today is largely skeptical of Luther’s interpretation of Paul. Protestantism in general does not follow all of Luther’s doctrines. We do credit him with the recovery of the gospel of grace, however. Luther’s exact definition of justification, however, is under criticism today by Pauline scholars. Yet more often than not, it is the legacy of Luther rather than Luther’s own interpretations that is disputed. The same can be said of other Reformers as well.

Did Luther really reimagine Paul and make Galatians speak to 16th century problems? Did Calvin read his Reformation era realities back into the Pauline texts he unpacked? Some Pauline scholars would make us think so.

In Reformation Readings of Paul: Explorations in History and Exegesis (IVP, 2015), editors Michael Allen and Jonathan A. Linebaugh take the time to bring the Reformers to life as readers of Paul. The book brings a fresh look at the exegetical readings of Luther and other Reformers, showcases the historical and theological background of their era, and then seeks to bring these insights into conversation with current Pauline studies. This approach “invite(s) the reformers back into the discussion about Paul’s texts and the theology they articulated as a reading of those texts” and is especially helpful given the relative “absence of detailed engagement with the exegesis and theology of the reformers” in contemporary circles (p. 13).

This book may not present a view that all Protestants will agree with, but it will bring us back to engagement with the Reformers. We will learn how Luther read Galatians, and how Romans shaped Philipp Melanchthon’s theology. Martin Bucer and Ephesians, the Corinthian Epistles and John Calvin and finally the Letters of Paul and Thomas Cranmer more generally. In addition to the editors, the following authors contribute to the book: David C. Fink, John M. G. Barclay, Robert Kolb, Mark Seifrid, Brian Lugioyo, Wesley Hill, Dane C. Ortlund, Ashley Null and Gerald Bray.

This volume promises to be an intriguing read and may be worth checking out this Reformation Day. I want to share the takeaway from the introduction:

For the reformers, Scripture is the “living and active” Word… and is therefore less an object for us to interpret than it is the sound of the speaking God who interprets us. Understood this way, Scripture is God speaking, reading is listening, and helpful commentary is simply that which helps us hear. That, in the end, is the criterion the reformers would asked to be judged by: having heard them read Paul, are our ears more open to the gospel he proclaimed–the gospel the reformers, like Paul, were “unashamed” of because they, like Paul, confessed it to be “the power of God unto salvation” (Rom 1:16 KJV)? (p. 19)

Purchase a copy of this book at Amazon.com, Christianbook.com, or direct from IVP.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by the publisher. I was under no obligation to offer a positive review.

Reformation Gems 7: Konrad Pellikan on the Gift of Faith

~ Bob Hayton

Reformation Commentary on Scriptures: Volume 6: ActsReformation 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.
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Today’s selection comes from the latest volume in the Reformation Commentary on Scripture series: Volume VI (Acts). I turned to Acts 16:14, and the story of Lydia’s conversion, looking for Reformation-era comments on that classic text on God’s opening Lydia’s heart to pay attention to the message. I was not disappointed and found a gem in the words of Konrad Pellikan, a German scholar who worked closely with Ulrich Zwingli in the Swiss reformation. I appreciated both his observations on the nature of faith, as well as his practical application to “pray to the Lord to open our heart.”

Here is the excerpt from Pellikan’s commentary on Acts, originally published sometime between 1532-1539 (with key sentences bolded for emphasis):

Lydia’s Faith a Gift of the Holy Spirit.

Konrad Pellikan: The gospel usually bears the greatest amount of fruit where it is least expected…. With Lydia we can compare how Paul was cast out of Antioch by religious women who were overly zealous for God but lacking in understanding. This excellent mother and merchant, however, understood the gospel and repented of her sins. And she became repentant not by nature but by grace. the Lord, it says, opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying. For no one can have faith in the gospel by his own strength, but only by the gift of the Holy Spirit, and not because he has faith beforehand. Therefore, on hearing the promises of the gospel, let us despair concerning the power of the flesh, but let us pray to the Lord to open our heart, to give us the gift of the Spirit, to put relief in our heart and to fill us with the work of righteousness. (pg. 228)

About the Reformation-era author: Konrad Pellikan (1478-1556). German Reformed Hebraist and theologian. Pellikan attended the University of Heidelberg, where he mastered Hebrew under Johannes Reuchlin. In 1504 Pellikan published one of the first Hebrew grammars that was not merely a translation of the work of mediaeval rabbis. While living in Basel, Pellikan assisted the printer Johannes Amerbach, with whom he published some of Luther’s early writings. He also worked with Sebastian Munster and Wolfgang Capito on a Hebrew Psalter (1516). In 1526, after teaching theology for three years at the University of Basel, Huldrych Zwingli brought Pellikan to Zurich to chair the faculty of Old Testament. Pellikan’s magnum opus is a seven-volume commentary on the entire Bible (except Revelation) and the Apocrypha: it is often heavily dependent upon the work of others (esp. Desiderius Erasmus and Johannes Oecolampadius). (pg. 399)

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 XI (Galatians, Ephesians) at any of the following online retailers: Westminster Bookstore, Amazon.com, Christianbook.com, 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.