A Word about Women

In Galatians 4, Paul uses two women to talk about two covenants, and he qualifies it by saying “This is allegorically speaking” (Galatians 4:24). This passage is sometimes used to show how the NT uses the OT non-literally.* It is therefore used to give license to the modern interpreter to also use the NT non-literally.

Have you ever thought about why Paul said, “This is allegorically speaking”?

Might it be because had he not qualified it, no one would have caught it?

Had Paul’s method been as standard as some would have us believe, there would be no need to say it. But because Paul was doing something out of the ordinary, he said it in order to keep the readers from treating the text literally, just like they were accustomed to doing.

So far from a license to use the OT non-literally, it is actually a reminder not to use it non-literally.

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*“Literal” means normal, as opposed to literalistic. Literal recognizes the use of figures of speech, but recognizes them as figures of speech.

Watch Your Head

Two “when pigs fly” news stories today:

BJU Board Approves Pursuit of Application Process for Regional Accreditation

BJU to Participate in Intercollegiate Athletics

IMO, these are good things.

Except for the added air traffic.

It could get messy so watch your head … and your step.

Around the Horn - Football Edition

A list of the fifty worst NFL coaches highlighted Josh McDaniels, a name that Bronco fans will recognize (though no one else will because he was coaching Denver). As an interesting side note, the list revealed that somehow there are four coaches worse than Rod Marinelli, something even Rod Marinelli was probably surprised by.

But most notably, this writer says that “Tebow could easily wind up the biggest bust of the 2010 draft.”

Oops.

Cuz’ Tebow did it again yesterday. Pretty amazing. The Broncos are now 6-1 under Tebow, having been beaten only by the Detroit Lions.

Speaking being beaten by the Detroit Lions, the Lions managed to even beat themselves last night. What a joke. They were flags flying like it was July 4th, and there were a few fireworks. I kept looking for the barbeque grill. And the flags were (almost) all well deserved. The only thing missing from that game was a “running into the punter” foul.

But fortunately for the University of Michigan, that call got made on Saturday night when MSU got the short end of the stick. Typically, when a player is blocked into the punter that call isn’t made, and that player was clearly blocked into the punter, who might get an Oscar nomination this year for that dive. But other than that, it was a great game.

While I have no love lost (or gained) for anything in Big 10 football, simply because I just don’t care, I think MSU was robbed there. But if Kirk Cousins had made a throw or two on the previous possession, that call is no issue, which is usually the case. If you take care of business for 59 minutes, one minute won’t hurt you.

And since MSU lost, the BCS has done its magic once again. Typically, I think the top of the BCS usually does a pretty good job at getting the two best teams. I don’t know if they did this year. I think Oklahoma State has a good case, especially after the hurtin’ they laid on Oklahoma Saturday.

The egregious part of the BCS was the selection of Michigan for a BCS bowl. What a joke. Michigan did not even win their division. They are at least the third best team in their own conference, and have two losses only because they didn’t play Wisconsin and they didn’t play well enough to get into the conference championship.

In fact, Michigan only beat one ranked team all year (#17 Nebraska). Michigan barely beat ND, scoring 28 in the fourth quarter, and scoring with two seconds left to win 35-31. MIchigan also barely beat a very bad Ohio State team, giving up 34 points. How they ended up in the BCS is almost criminal, except it doesn’t really matter. The Sugar Bowl passed over four higher ranked BCS teams to get to Michigan.

Did MSU deserve that spot? Perhaps not, but hardly anyone thinks Michigan deserved it, probably not even Michigan fans who are not typically known for clear thinking anyway. They are among the biggest homer whiners in the country. I think even the die hard Michigan fans would find it hard to keep a straight face while arguing that Michigan deserved that bowl bid.  Certainly no one around them would keep a straight face listening to them try.

No, Michigan got the bid based on the old bowl rules, namely, “Which team will bring a lot of fans and a lot of money?”

Hey folks, you can’t have it both ways. If you want the BCS to have meaning, then stand against this kind of stuff. The presidents aren’t listening, but hey, talk anyway. If you want this kind of stuff, then go back to the old way.

Michigan fans were all upset when they didn’t get a rematch against OSU in 2006, even though they lost what amounted to a tournament game the week before when they knew what was at stake. They hated the BCS then. I doubt we will hear that kind of whining from them this though.

It’s hard for one football team to get robbed twice in the same weekend, but MSU did. They got punished for for being blocked into the kicker, and then they got punished for making, and barely losing, their conference championship game.

Should we have a tournament in college football? I still say no. Let’s go back to the old way. Let bowls do what they want.

And end college football on January 1.

All for now … And keep those Doritos close by during bowl season, because we all need some exercise while watching football.

Books on Proverbs

I just finished a short series of messages on the book of Proverbs entitled “Solomon Says.” It was a topical series designed around exploring the wisdom that Solomon gives. It included titles like “Solomon Says Listen to Me,” or “Solomon Says Get Busy” (work), or “Solomon Says Drink Your Own Water” (marriage and sexuality), or “Solomon Says Watch Your Mouth” (the tongue), or “Solomon Says Get a Grip” (emotions), or “Solomon Says Be Careful” (money).

In this series, I came across a couple of new books, and reviewed some old ones.

Anthony Selvaggio’s A Proverbs Driven Life is an excellent book I ordered on a whim because it was on sale. It is good not just for preaching or teaching, but also for general reading. Anyone would profit from this book. I recommend it.

John Crotts’  Craftsmen: Christ-Centered Proverbs for Men also had some helpful sections in it. This, like Selvaggio, is organized topically, though a few less topics than Selvaggio.

H. Wayne House and Kenneth Durham’s Living Wisely in a Foolish World is a good resource, though it is a bit more dense than these other two, and IMO, not as easy to read.

I continue to think that Peter Steveson’s A Commentary on Proverbs is one of the best verse-by-verse treatments of Proverbs. The downside is that it uses the KJV as its primary text cited at the top of each page, but the upside is that it seems that it actually closely tracks the NASB in its explanation. Unlike some other commentaries (e.g., Hubbard, Communicator’s Commentary), it deals with each verse sequentially, so if you want to know what Proverbs 18:13 means, you can find it easily.  It is more helpful than Kidner (TNTC), IMO.

A final book for this list is Donald Orthner’s Wellsprings of Life. It is essentially a topical outline of Proverbs, assembling various proverbs under their topics. It is not sequential, but topical. It is helpful in that it helps to find verses on a topic that might not be found by a concordance search.

Around the Horn

At first base, the Gospel Coalition has a good article today about Calvinism and the gospel. I warn you, however, don’t read it. It was ruin all your arguments against Calvinism.

I am convinced that most people reject Calvinism, not because of overwhelming biblical arguments, but because (1) they listen to what the opponents of Calvinism say about Calvinism (they are usually wrong), and (2) they watch how Calvinists live (which isn’t all that different than how Arminians non-Calvinists live. We both tend towards disobedience.). Neither is a particularly good way to learn about Calvinism. If someone asks me how they should learn about Calvinism and the gospel, I say just read the Bible. It has all you need to know.

 

At second base, speaking of Calvinism vs. Arminianism, one of the common refrains from people is “I am neither.” A couple of interesting articles by admitted Arminian Roger Olson dispels that notion. He says,

I wish the Baptist Arminians would quit running from the word.  Frank Page claims he’s neither a Calvinist nor an Arminian.  I heard that all the time among Baptists in the South especially.  And the only reason for it is a wrong impression of what it means to be Arminian.  As I have demonstrated in Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities, one can be fully and authentically Arminian and believe in inamissable grace (so-called “eternal security”).

Here’s an self-professed Arminian saying, “You believe what I do.” So quit running from the label. It won’t change what you are.

 

Rounding third base, Todd Rhoades posts this letter on church discipline. He calls it a nightmare and says it is a tad bit off edge, though he doesn’t say why. Perhaps it is because, as the first commenter says, this church is saying that the man is not a Christian. I wouldn’t say a person isn’t a Christian. I would say, and have said, that a person has no reason to have assurance that he or she is one so long as they continue in this pattern of unrepentant sin. After all, isn’t that what church discipline is? Church discipline is saying that a person is not acting like a Christian and in fact, those whom he covenanted with have no valid reason to consider him as a Christian. Men with more heft than me, like Mark Dever and Dave Doran, have said essentially the same thing. Perhaps it is a wording thing. The church is for people who carry the marks of Christianity to at least some degree in their lives. No one expects you to be perfect. As I often say, I have no problem with people who struggle. It’s the people who don’t struggle that I worry about.

 

The home run today is the new 9 Marks E Journal on Church Revitalization. I am interested in this since I have lived this life for about thirteen years. As I told someone recently, thirteen years ago I had no real direction or idea about what I was getting into. I didn’t know people who had done it. I wasn’t familiar with books or e-journals on it. I am not even sure I recognized how great the problem was. I sure didn’t know what to do. I had the “Field of Dreams” approach to church. If you preach it, they will come. They didn’t. So I have learned a lot on the fly, and perhaps some day I will write my own thoughts about it here at Stuff Out Loud. But for now I will read this with interest.

 

And today, a curtain call for John Acuff at Stuff Christians Like who reminds us that “you don’t need a plane ticket to be distant from your family.”