Month: September 2017

Convocation Poem

On September 16, 2017

I was asked to publish the poem that I read at the Canadian Reformed Seminary’s convocation on September 8. I’ve posted it below.

“Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You’re off to Great Places!

Your off and away!

You have brains in your head

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself

Any direction proffs choose.

You’ve selected a way

To the senior’s room.

For 3 years you’ll stay

Till your brain starts to zoom.

And when things start to happen,

Don’t worry, don’t stew.

Just go right along.

You’ll start happening too.

Dr. Smith.

What’s this? It’s alephs and dalets,

Ugaritic towns and Aramaic sounds.

Who’s this? It’s Hebrew’s great valet,

Smith is in town, serving up rounds

Of yiqtols and tiqtols with hithpalels to spare.

Oh what wonderful acumen!

The wryest of jokesters!

Exegesis like bitumen.

Wit dry like a toaster.

Your heart is a patter, your feet are a pitter.

You’ve entered the ancient world of natty nazirites and nasty Nephilim.

John Smith is your leader, navigating letters

To archeology, geography: we can master these elephants.

Segue

But your adventures in Israel have not ended.

A new professor has this way wended.

His favourite word is delight (Doesn’t that rhyme with N.T Wright?).

Time to pull up your socks and let new worlds take flight.

Dr. Visscher

Verily, Visscher, the president of our tour bus.

With vigour he will demonstrate that Wright is wrong not right,

That textus receptus should be textus rejectus.

He waxes and wanes, filled right to the brim

With Romans and with Paul; with Josephus and Cephas; he has it all.

Speaking with vigour

He joins class dispute

Showing his valour,

Wisdom of repute.

Get off your Facebook, your twitter, your Pinterest

Off to the realms of Sabbath rest in Hebrews and righteousness in Paul.

Ponder Roman coins, Pharisees peak your interest,

Seek new understanding of Jesus’ words, wisdom, and call.

Segue

But you want to reflect on these old truths a little longer.

Welcome to Domus Dogmaticus, each room is a world of its own.

Standing on sola sciptura our house becomes stronger.

The rooms strengthened by age-old wisdom, come dwell in these fortified bones.

Dr. Van Vliet

Brother Jason is our guide, mapping dogma far and wide

He is the daring doctor, diagnosing Schleiermacher’s bad liver

And Barth’s fractured breastbone; a constructor on the side

He shores up failing arches with adverbial attributes. If ever

You wonder about the extra Calvinisticum or the principium unicum, then ask this magistrum.

Cobwebs swept away.

Mysteries de-mystified.

Come for a day.

Your brain will be amplified.

They’ll say you are enlightened, now truly woke.

Now that you’ve wandered these halls of ancient oak.

Berkhof, Bavinck, Velema, your new guides soak

You in knowledge, which new mysteries provokes.

Segue

Your head is swirling with all the knowledge you’ve learned.

Your heart is swelling because of the status you’ve earned.

You’re a bit premature; another proff has turned

To take his way down; No, class is not yet adjourned.

Dr. Van Raalte

Its time to go deep into story of the church.

It’s ethics, It’s polity, flagrant heretics and deep schisms

Van Raalte discourses on these from his perch

Dividing and distinguishing all the historical isms.

Halacious historians who hystericize about scholasticism are his specialty for

Terrible Ted will not brook

These illogical conclusions

From ill-educated books

So deeply steeped in delusions.

You’ve wandered into these halls; now sit in thrall

As canonical law and men of Geneva wildly dance

In the history of this terrestrial ball.

Now you’re part of that history; its time to find your dance stance.

Segue

But before you’ve joined the music of the spheres

And your course in the journey of life is plotted,

Sit down once again; another proff steers

Into this room. Now praxis will be unknotted.

Dr. de Visser.

From a country far off and truly exotic

De Visser comes bringing the elixir of wisdom

To counsel and preaching. His teaching hypnotic

Gives insight for mission and bright vision for kingdom.

Homiletics, Poimenics, Catechetics, from rhetorical strategies to careful aesthetics,

This doctor quietly discerns

Each question that burns

In the reason of each student

For answers prudent.

Concerns about pastoral care and the high affairs

Of the church. His teaching has the ready anecdote

To illustrate the foolish choice and the hidden flair

Of discernment; learning to reach the right antidote.

Finale

Now you’ve sat in this high hall of learning for three years.

You’ve tasted the white honey mead of knowledge

And learned the steps of wisdom before your call appears.

It’s time to leave that room, yes leave your college.

Finis

God has Hidden the Glory of His Creation Work from the Wise

By James

On September 16, 2017

In Genesis, Hermeneutics

Luke records these words of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke 10:21, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, because this was Your good pleasure.”

Christ applies this to the message of the gospel that the seventy have brought to Israel. The wise rejected the gospel. The simple believed it. But even among those simple persons who hear the gospel and believe, Christ’s words ring true. The simple, those who approach with a child-like faith have an easier time understanding the basic truths of scripture than the wise.

There are thousands of simple Christians who over the last two thousand years have opened their Bibles to Genesis 1 and have gloried over the work that God did there in that passage. Unless their leaders had taught them differently they had no reason to question the glory that is revealed in that passage. Right there, in the very first words of scripture, God proclaimed the mighty works that he had done. The simplest fool had access to the knowledge of these great works. We rejoice and praise God that he has given this faith to these infants.

But God hides this truth from the wise. Even the wisest Christians such as Augustine had a hard time simply accepting the propositions that Genesis 1 proclaims. Today, wise men such as N.T. Wright, Robert Godfrey, and Kevin Vanhoozer have the same difficulty. This is amazing since it is hidden in plain sight, in a very simple record. The words God gives are easily accessible. They are hard to understand relative to our ability to qualify and quantify what God is actually doing. It’s hard to understand what God is doing scientifically. They are not hard to understand in the sense that Genesis 1 is full of clear propositions that refer to specific works of God.

This is truly amazing. God gives simple Christians a better understanding of Genesis 1 than the wisest Christians of our age.

The 5th Act: Part 2

By James

On September 8, 2017

In education, Hermeneutics

I have argued for improvisation in the age of the church. This is an improvisation that is according to the rules. The natural follow-up is further explanation of what those rules are.

Of course the simple answer to that question is that the rules are the commandments of Jesus. Jesus says, “if you love me you will obey my commandments.” As Christians, we believe that the entire Bible is the word of Jesus. Therefore any command we find there is a command of Jesus. These words of Jesus should cause us to search the scriptures for instruction and wisdom on how to live before God.

For example, Jesus commands us to pray, and he gives us an example how to pray the Lord’s Prayer. We have to pray for mercy, for God’s providence, for one another. We have to pray on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice. However we have the ability to make choices what to pray for and how much to pray (Paul does command us to pray unceasingly, but this still does not tell us how many times we actually need to get on our knees per day. Rather, this command looks for a constantly prayerful attitude; an attitude that is ready to pray at any moment). This is part of the Spirit’s guidance in our lives. He leads us to pray for particular people and for particular situations. This is not controversial.

The real controversy is when theologians begin to undermine what at one time seemed to be clear instruction from God. I would argue that the problem here is not their theory or understanding of improvisation. They may be using that truth to support their choices, but in truth bad hermeneutics are the basis for their particular improvisations. Their bad hermeneutic is based on a desire to push against the rules that God has given for improvisation.

This bad hermeneutic doesn’t begin by undermining the authority of scripture as such. It begins by undermining the clarity of scripture. Think of the snake in Genesis saying 3, “Did God really say?” Ultimately, it goes on to undermine the authority of scripture.

Let’s think for a moment of two examples: one of positive improvisation, one of negative improvisation. Changing attitudes on the issue of slavery is one of positive improvisation. As people began to understand who man is in light of who God is and ultimately how he has revealed himself in Christ, they began to realize that the institution of slavery was highly flawed.

For example, in the book of Galatians Paul tells us that the Old Testament institutions were slave-like, while Christ brings a new freedom to both Jew and Gentile through the Spirit. Later, in the book of Philemon, Paul tells Philemon that in Christ his slave is his brother. This type of teaching is not merely spiritual, but applies to social life as well. Eventually, as a society, we were ready to get rid of the institution of slavery. It may have been permitted before, even permitted in the scriptures, but people began to fully realize how flawed it was. Slavery could not be compatible with the kingdom of God.

An example of negative improvisation is the extension of the office of pastor to women as well as men. There is a surprising clarity on this in 1st Timothy and 1st Corinthians. Yet, these passages troubled men, who thought they understood what had happened to mankind in Christ. Their explanation of these passages began to break down the former clarity of these passages. By making them unclear they were able to make room for their understanding of women in office. Society was learning to bring full functional equality between men and women. The problem; they undermine God’s teaching on women. By muddying God’s teaching they make God’s teaching less authoritative and the interpreter more authoritative.

The question comes down to, how do you improvise. N. T. Wright, however well he explains improvisation, is an example of bad improvisation. Good theologians accomplish good improvisation through a desire to submit themselves to Christ.

Christ warns those who wish to improvise, by calling them to pay attention to his commandments. In Matthew 5:19-20, Christ says, ” Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches people to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever practices and teaches thes commandments will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Now Christ’s work will fulfill these commandments, but that should make us no less eager to apply these commandments to ourselves through the cross of Christ. We do this by growing in our understanding of what Christ’s atonement accomplished.

The 5th Act.

By James

On September 7, 2017

In education, eschatology, Hermeneutics

The call to improvisation is among N.T. Wright’s many controversial beliefs. In the Old Testament, God laid out all the rules for his people. In general, men and women were closer culturally and historically to the instructions that God had given. Now that the Scripture is finished God calls on the church to improvise. It’s not that there is no improvisation in the Old Testament, but those who come after Christ have a unique relationship with the Spirit in bringing the reconciliation of all things through Christ, You can see him defend these beliefs here, here, and here. My introduction is a very simple summary of his belief.

False improvisation

Unfortunately, Wright’s own understanding of improvisation seems to lead him to embrace new understandings of Genesis and the role of the church. We can see how the logic goes. New understandings have come to light in science, in society, and in the scholarship of scripture and the church needs to improvise in response to that. Wright deserves respect because he attempts the Sisyphean task of defending it all exegetically. He gives a rather radical re-interpretation of the New Testament on the role of women and joining with many others in re-interpreting Genesis 1. (His work on re-interpreting the role of women has an unbelievable degree of subtlety. It’s hard to get away from the idea that he is twisting himself in circles in order to demonstrate his own enlightenment.)

(It may be that the problem here is not so much Wright’s understanding of improvisation but his hermeneutic of scripture. In Wright’s description of improvisation, he is on very solid ground. This quickly becomes quicksand when combined with liberal hermeneutics.)

Improvisation according to the rules.

Even if Wright’s improvising leads him to undermine the clarity of scripture on certain topics, I believe that his understanding of improvisation is laudable. The problem is that he is not following his own rules. He is not listening when Scripture is clear on the rules.

To demonstrate Wright’s point, I’d like to point out the following passages. All of these passages show how the coming of the Holy Spirit should give us confidence in using our God-given wisdom to apply scripture. God gives his church discernment.

In 1 John 2: 20, John says, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.” God has given us the Holy Spirit to guide us in our decisions. He is the one who gives us the ability to apply the scripture to our lives; to improvise from the scripture that he has given us.

The new status that we have in Christ confirms our call to improvise. Having proclaimed the salvation Christ gave, Paul also tells us what happened after we are brought into his kingdom in Ephesians 2:6. “He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens, in Christ Jesus.” In Christ, we are ruling in heaven. Paul confirms this in 1 Corinthians 6: 2: “Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world.” In 1 Corinthians Paul is calling the Corinthians to grow in the wisdom of Christ. The need to seek discernment in judging evildoers in their congregation. They need to learn how to make decisions for the church of Christ in Corinth. Paul wants them to grow in maturity. They will judge the world. They need to practice that judgment now.

There is an “already, but not yet” here. In Christ, we already reign, but we do not experience of the fullness of this reign. God calls us to suffer first. 1 Timothy 2:12, “If we endure, we will reign with him.”

Finally, we have James 3: 13-18. There James speaks of wisdom from below and wisdom from above. We have the Wisdom from above. It is accessible to us. With it we can discern what is “pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy.”

We have an assumption in the New Testament of a new degree of wisdom given to the saints. This gift is through the Holy Spirit, in order to apply the scripture that God has given to contemporary problems. Naturally, this should be carefully done. Further, it should be done with a desire for obedience to every breath of God. Contradicting historic teachings on Creation and gender roles does not give evidence of that type of desire.