As Christians we keep hearing from the pulpits that the redemptive-historical (christocentric) hermeneutic is the proper way to interpret the scriptures (hermeneutics -> homiletics), and that this is the method that Jesus and the Apostles used. We are told that we need to interpret the bible in light of the New Testament and this method then becomes the lens by which we read the Scriptures, particularly the Old Testament. Not only that, our preaching should be subject to a “christocentric” approach where Christ is read into the Old Testament and every text is subject to Christ. Every pericope then must be seen in light of Christ or the gospel to be functionally relevant to the audience being preached to.
Luke 24:13-27 LSB And behold, two of them were going that same day to a village named Emmaus, which was sixty stadia from Jerusalem. 14 And they were conversing with each other about all these things which had happened. 15 And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus Himself approached and was going with them. 16 But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. 17 And He said to them, “What are these words that you are discussing with one another as you are walking?” And they stood still, looking sad. 18 And one of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, “Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?” 19 And He said to them, “What things?” And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a mighty prophet in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. 21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. 22 But also some women among us astounded us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, 23 and not finding His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also said, but Him they did not see.” 25 And He said to them, “O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He interpreted to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
I was reading through J.V. Fesko’s work Death in Adam, Life in Christ and came across some interesting connections between the Covenant of Works/Adamic Covenant and its origins.
Fesko notes on pg. 72 that “…it appears that Roman Catholic theologians were some of the first to place Adam in covenant with God.”1 He attempts to tie the concept of an Adamic covenant back to Jerome through the Latin Vulgate translation of Hosea 6:7, which I find unconvincing2, and then through Augustine (though not exactly on comparable grounds), but it really finds its grounds in Ambrogio Catharinus who is a Roman Catholic priest.3
As I am becoming more and more aware of resources available responding to the preteristic understanding of Matthew 24:34 [ἡ γενεὰ αὕτη], I want to make them accessible here for those who are interested in knowing what resources exist.
I affirm that genea [γενεὰ] is used qualitatively in Matthew 24:34 to speak of a class/type of evil and wicked people which have existed from Abel to the time of Jesus [Matthew 23:35-36] and will continue until the Lord comes back (2nd Coming) and destroys “this” evil and wicked generation.
I spent a little bit of time over the summer working through a personal study on the spiritual gifts and I made a chart that I hope will be helpful to you as you work through this very important and controversial topic!
Fresh off the press, I have written a critique of congregationalism, or congregational polity, and local church membership. Before you assume the worst, please try to wrestle with my ideas and my contentions.
I am in no way implying that we should have no church polity, and I am in no way implying that I reject the local church and the importance of it in the life of the believer. Please don’t start with that assumption.
What I want to do is to show why (a) I don’t think congregationalism is the polity we should follow, whereas I adopt an Elder-Led/Rule model (think John MacArthur), (b) I don’t think we need to implement “local” church membership, since we are already members of the “universal” body of Christ. I believe this has created hurdles and problems in the local church that ultimately hurts non-members.
I expect some push-back and disagreement, but I think it is important for people to voice their thoughts about these two subjects, and since I am very much in-line with Reformed Baptist theology, I certainly want to share my thoughts in a respectful but critical way.
I hope that it will be a challenge to those of you affirm these two beliefs. I hope for those on the fence that you will consider my arguments and my reasoning and land somewhere perhaps where I have, and for those who are fresh to the subject, maybe it will give you something to think about when you enter into discussions with your leaders.
Lastly, a shout-out to my wife who is always supportive and who has been my talking partner for years around these subjects, may it make you proud.
In this blog post I hope to highlight some recommended dispensational resources. I have found over the years that it was difficult to bring together a list of this magnitude due in part to the scattering of various resources. It isn’t always easy to know where to look or what resources are of any value, there is so much literature to wade through that it can be tedious. Please share this around and I hope it will be used as a guide to know what books and resources I recommend for those who want to seriously study dispensational theology in more depth.
