ESV Study Bible

ESV Study Bible (ESVSB) on the 'best way to use a study Bible':

“The best way to use a study Bible, therefore, is always to begin and end with the words of the Bible. We should always begin by reading the Bible’s actual words, seeking with our hearts and our minds to understand these words and apply them to our lives. Then, after starting with the words of the Bible itself, we can turn to the study notes and many other study Bible resources for information about the background to the text, for the meaning of puzzling words or phrases, and for connections to other parts of the Bible. Finally, we should return again to the Bible itself, reading it with a new and deeper understanding, asking God to speak through his Word to the situation of our life and to draw us near to himself.”

Discerning Reader on Theological Perspectives & the ESVSB

"The ESV Study Bible, on the other hand, offers a wider or less-defined perspective. Where the doctrine is clear and undisputed among Evangelicals, so too are the notes. But where doctrines are controversial and within the area of Christian freedom or disputable matters, the notes tend not to take a firm position, even when the author or editor is firmly in one camp or the other.... In many cases a person from one perspective wrote the notes while a person from the other perspective screened them. This ensures the notes maintain both charity and some degree of objectivity in those areas of dispute".

I'm going to try to get a discounted ESV Study Bible at the CBD Warehouse Sale. That is if the BBC crowd doesn't snag them all before me for their book store. : )

HT: Discerning Reader

DG Conference 'Job: When the Righteous Suffer'

Desiring God is holding a conference this weekend called "Job: When the Righteous Suffer". I have been enjoying the blogging going on during the conference at the Desiring God Blog. If you have time you should definitely check them out.

Here's some of the blog postings available:

• Why a Conference on Job? Dealing with Absurd Suffering
• 10 Reasons to Ponder Job's Story
• 7 Implications of the Book of Job
  
• Lessons to Learn From Job's Friends
• 5 Reasons to Accept Elihu's Speech

Here's a few quotes from the blog that I liked:

From 7 Implications of the Book of Job:

Let your tears flow freely when your calamity comes.

"Job arose, rent his robe, and shaved his head, and fell upon his face" (1:20).

The sobs of grief and pain are not the sign of unbelief. Job knows nothing of a flippant, insensitive, superficial "Praise God anyhow" response to suffering. The magnificence of his worship is because it was in grief, not because it replaced grief.

And let the rest of us weep with those who weep.

From Lessons We Can Learn From Job's Friends (probably my favorite post):

True theological statements can be false.

If you take many of the statements of Job's friends separately, they sound like good theology. But their application is shallow and insensitive....(Proverbs 26:9)...We put a high premium on good theology. But let us be warned: it can be made false by the way it is applied, and can even be destructive in the mouth of fools. Drink deep at the fountain of God's truth. And let love stand as a watchman at the gate of your mouth. (my emphasis)

Suffering and prosperity are not distributed in proportion to the evil or good that a person does.

Job is right: the wicked are spared in the day of calamity (21:30). But the just and blameless man is a laughing stock (12:4). Therefore let us not judge one another too quickly, or at all. Those who suffer most may be the best. And those who prosper most may be the worst among us.

(...)

There is wisdom behind the apparent arbitrariness of the world, but it is hidden from man.

Where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
Man does not know the way to it,
and it is not found in the land of the living . . .
God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place. (28:12–13, 23)

We see through a glass darkly, even from our New Testament perspective (1 Corinthians 13:12). But faith always affirms that no matter how chaotic and absurd things may seem to our limited view they are in fact the tactics of infinite wisdom.

The complete sermon notes, audio, and video from the conference can be found here as they become available.

Hope you get a chance to look over some of the conference materials. And can I just say that I love live blogging!

John Owen: Part Two

So, all two of the people that read my blog will be glad to know that Steven Altrogge has posted part two of his 'interview' with John Owen. (You can read part one here).

I liked this part. So true!

SA: What’s the second reason I should fight my sin?

JO: So you can be happy! Your spiritual happiness is directly related to your holiness. You want spiritual strength, comfort, power, and peace, right?

SA: That would be a “yes”.

JO: Sin and Satan are in the business of stealing these things from you. Sin will entangle your affections and cloud your communion with God. It will drive out your love for God and suck the life out of your spirit. If you want to be happy you need to be holy.

Read the whole post here.

Perfection (Maturity): A Joyful, Hopeful Pursuit

For many years, I never realized that becoming more like Christ could be a joyful pursuit. I guess I never understood biblical sanctification, but over the past year or so, I have come to a greater understanding of freedom in Christ. Not the freedom to do what I want, but rather the freedom to obey God joyfully and without fear or condemnation!

I just read the first chapter of How Can I Change? by C.J. Mahaney & Robin Boisvert and I understand more that perfection and maturity is our goal (Matthew 5:48). We cannot attain it in this life, but nonetheless it MUST be our pursuit--a joyful, hopeful pursuit (1 John 3:2-3)!

Help me Lord to make perfection and maturity a joyful and hopeful pursuit!

Spirit-Filled Cartographers

I couldn't agree more with the post, Why "Just Me and My Bible" Is Insufficient, from Between Two Worlds:

Michael Horton: "The best way to guard a true interpretation of Scripture, the Reformers insisted, was neither to naively embrace the infallibility of tradition, or the infallibility of the individual, but to recognize the communal interpretation of Scripture. The best way to ensure faithfulness to the text is to read it together, not only with the churches of our own time and place, but with the wider 'communion of saints' down through the age."

Larry Woiwode: "There is rugged terrain ahead for those who are constitutionally incapable of referring to the paths marked out by wise and spirit-filled cartographers over the centuries."

While I do think it's important to read and meditate on the word and try to figure out what it's trying to say on my own (as in not depending on my Bible study notes to tell me what the Bible is saying), I also find it so important for me to 'read it together' with Sproul or Calvin or Luther or Spurgeon. Otherwise I find myself interpreting Scripture in a way that is incorrect or incomplete. I'm so grateful for the work and diligence of these 'saints down through the age' that guide me and keep me on the right path. I want to follow 'the paths marked out by wise and spirit-filled cartographers over the centuries'.

If you aren't subscribed to Between Two Worlds I definitely recommend doing so. The blog cranks out some serious 'theological linkage'. : )

All Does Not Yet Gleam

This life, therefore, is
not righteousness but growth in righteousness,
not health but healing,
not being but becoming,
not rest but exercise.

We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it;
the process is not yet finished but it is going on;
this is not the end but it is the road.
all does not yet gleam in glory but all is being purified.

-Martin Luther

HT: How Can I Change? CJ Mahaney & Robin Boisvert

An Interview With John Owen

In case you didn't know, John Owen has been dead since 1683 so he isn't really 'interviewable' (as my title might suggest). But Stephen Altrogge, "thanks to modern technology (books), ...recently had the privilege of hanging in Starbuck’s with that great puritan, John Owen.... (Note: All of this was paraphrased from the John Owen book Temptation and Sin)". Read the full 'interview' here--it's part one so there's more to follow.

Also, I recently subscribed to the RSS Feed at The Blazing Center (the blog where this article is found) and would definitely recommend doing so!

Gospel Driven Sanctification

I would recommend the article Gospel-Driven Sanctification by Jerry Bridges to anyone who has struggled with performance-based Christian living. I'm posting a very brief overview. Hope you read the whole article!

"Early in my Christian life I heard someone say, "The Bible was not given to increase your knowledge but to guide your conduct." Later I came to realize that this statement was simplistic at best and erroneous at worst....

There is an element of truth in this statement.... It is, indeed, to be obeyed and practically applied in our daily lives. As James says, "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1:22).

With my new insight... I began diligently to seek to obey [the Bible]. "[T]he pursuit of holiness"... became my primary goal in life. Unfortunately, I made two mistakes. First, I assumed the Bible was something of a rulebook and that all I needed to do was to learn what it says and go do it. I knew nothing of the necessity of depending on the Holy Spirit for his guidance and enablement...

...Evangelicals commonly think today that the gospel is only for unbelievers.... ...[A]s believers, we need to hear the message of discipleship. We need to learn how to live the Christian life and be challenged to go do it. That's what I believed and practiced in my life and ministry for some time. It is what most Christians seem to believe.

As I see it, the Christian community is largely a performance-based culture today. And the more deeply committed we are to following Jesus, the more deeply ingrained the performance mindset is. We think we earn God's blessing or forfeit it by how well we live the Christian life.

Gradually over time.... I learned that Christians need to hear the gospel all of their lives because it is the gospel that continues to remind us that our day-to-day acceptance with the Father is not based on what we do for God but upon what Christ did for us in his sinless life and sin-bearing death. I began to see that we stand before God today as righteous as we ever will be, even in heaven, because he has clothed us with the righteousness of his Son. Therefore, I don't have to perform to be accepted by God. Now I am free to obey him and serve him because I am already accepted in Christ (see Rom. 8:1). My driving motivation now is not guilt but gratitude.

Yet even when we understand that our acceptance with God is based on Christ's work, we still naturally tend to drift back into a performance mindset. Consequently, we must continually return to the gospel. To use an expression of the late Jack Miller, we must "preach the gospel to ourselves every day." For me that means I keep going back to Scriptures such as Isaiah 53:6, Galatians 2:20, and Romans 8:1. It means I frequently repeat the words from an old hymn, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.""

I was referenced to this article by Carolyn McCulley's blog Radical Womanhood. She is doing a single women's discipleship group at her church and posting an overview of each session with related articles. This article was listed in Session Four.

And Therefore I Have Hope

21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”

25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
26 It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man that he bear
the yoke in his youth.

28 Let him sit alone in silence
when it is laid on him;
29 let him put his mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope;
30 let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.

31 For the Lord will not
cast off forever,
32 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
33 for he does not willingly afflict
or grieve the children of men.

Lamentations 3:21-33 (ESV)

Dependent Responsibility

"We are responsible before God to obey His Word, to put to death the sins in our lives.... At the same time, we do not have the ability within ourselves to carry out this responsibility. We are in fact totally dependent upon the enabling power of the Holy Spirit... we are both responsible and dependent." ~Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate