Category: Bible Backgrounds

Broken But Blessed

Derek Kidner on Jacob wrestling with God in Genesis 32:

The conflict brought to a head the battling and groping of a lifetime, and Jacob’s desperate embrace vividly expressed his ambivalent attitude to God, of love and enmity, defiance and dependence. It was against him, not Esau or Laban, that he had been pitting his strength, as he now discovered; yet the initiative had been God’s, as it was this night, to chasten his pride and challenge his tenacity. ‘With the cunning thou dost wrestle’ (Ps. 18:26; cf. AVmg). The crippling and the naming show that God’s ends were still the same: He would have all of Jacob’s will to win, to attain and obtain, yet purged of self-sufficiency and redirected to the proper object of man’s love, God himself. Continue reading Broken But Blessed

Nimrod and the Birth of Babylon

Derek Kidner on Genesis 10:9-10:

Nimrod looks out of antiquity as the first of ‘the great men that are in the earth’, remembered for two things the world admires, personal prowess and political power. The Bible does not underrate them: there is warmth in the reiterated ‘before the Lord,’ marking God’s estimate of his skill – it is more than a mere formula. At the same time there is tragic irony (that is, irony not yet apparent in the story) in the note of his further exploits: The beginning of his kingdom was Babel … The next chapter, and the further progress of Babel (Babylon) to the catastrophe of Revelation 18, add their comment to the tale of earthly success. Continue reading Nimrod and the Birth of Babylon

Misapplying Scripture

Over at The Cripplegate, Nathan Busenitz wrote about the misapplications of Philippians 4:13:

By taking this verse out of context, many people have actually turned it on its head—making it mean the opposite of what it actually means. They have turned it into a slogan of personal empowerment—a declaration of self-achievement, ambition, and accomplishment. For many, this verse has been trivialized into some sort of motivating motto for material prosperity, career advancement, or athletic success.

But in reality it is nothing of the sort.

You can read the whole post here.

The Superiority of Jesus

Kevin DeYoung:

The big idea in the first verses of Hebrews is the big idea for the whole book of Hebrews. God has spoken by his Son, and this Son is superior to all persons, heavenly beings, institutions, rituals, and previous means of revelation and redemption. Christ is superior to:

  • Angels (Hebrews 1-2)
  • Moses (Hebrews 3)
  • Joshua (Hebrews 3-4)
  • Aaron (Hebrews 5)
  • Abraham (Hebrews 6)
  • Melchizedek (Hebrews 7)
  • The old covenant (Hebrews 8)
  • The tabernacle (Hebrews 9)
  • The high priest (Hebrews 10)
  • The treasures of this world (Hebrews 11)
  • Mount Sinai (Hebrews 12)
  • The city we have here on earth (Hebrews 13)

The Son is our Great Superlative, surpassing all others because in him we have the fullness and finality of God’s redemption and revelation.

How Do You Explain the Bible’s Inconsistencies?

Very instructive post from Tim Keller on the inconsistencies of the Bible:

I find it frustrating when I read or hear columnists, pundits, or journalists dismiss Christians as inconsistent because “they pick and choose which of the rules in the Bible to obey.” Most often I hear, “Christians ignore lots of Old Testament texts—about not eating raw meat or pork or shellfish, not executing people for breaking the Sabbath, not wearing garments woven with two kinds of material and so on. Then they condemn homosexuality. Aren’t you just picking and choosing what you want to believe from the Bible?”

I don’t expect everyone to understand that the whole Bible is about Jesus and God’s plan to redeem his people, but I vainly hope that one day someone will access their common sense (or at least talk to an informed theological adviser) before leveling the charge of inconsistency.

Read the whole post here.

When to Stop Reading the Bible

Geoffrey Thomas, quoted in Donald Whitney’s Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life:

Do not expect to master the Bible in a day, or a month, or a year. Rather, expect often to be puzzled by its contents. It is not all equally clear. Great men of God often feel like absolute novices when they read the Word. The Apostle Peter said there were some things hard to understand in the epistles of Paul (2 Peter 3:16). I am glad he wrote those words because I have felt that often. So do not expect always to get an emotional charge or a feeling of quiet peace when you read the Bible. By the grace of God you may expect that to be a frequent experience, but often you will get no emotional response at all.

Let the Word break over your heart and mind again and again as the years go by, and imperceptibly there will come great changes in your attitude and outlook and conduct. You will probably be the last to recognize these. Often you will feel very, very small, because increasingly the God of the Bible will become to you wonderfully great. So go on reading it until you can read no longer, and then you will not need the Bible any more, because when your eyes close for the last time in death, and never again read the Word of God in Scripture you will open them to the Word of God in the flesh, that same Jesus of the Bible whom you have known for so long, standing before you to take you for ever to His eternal home.