The More Science, the More Reasonable the Pro-Life Position

By J. Warner Wallace 2/11/2018

     When I was a new homicide detective, much of the science and technology we now take for granted was unavailable. While fingerprint analysis was common, forensic DNA technology was still in its infancy. In addition, few locations around the country were monitored by surveillance cameras, and even fewer victims or witnesses had access to high definition video technology. Times have certainly changed. I seldom review a case today that doesn’t benefit from DNA evidence, and more cases involve smart phone videos than ever before. As a result, it’s far easier to identify suspects than it has been in the past.

     Crime scenes aren’t the only locations that have benefited from scientific advances. Technology is also making it easier to identify fetal humans in the womb. In a recent article in The Atlantic, journalist Emma Green reported that pro-life advocates “are tracking new developments in neonatal research and technology – and transforming one of America’s most contentious debates.” She’s right. When trying to answer the critical question, “What is a fetus, and when (if ever) is it human?” science can now help provide us with an answer, using many of the same categories of forensic technology I’ve used at crime scenes:

     DNA Evidence | We now know that from the moment of conception, the resulting fetal human has a unique DNA, distinct from the mother and father. This DNA will not change as the fetal human continues to age over the course of his or her life, and the unique nature of the DNA identifies the baby as a member of the human species immediately.

     Fingerprint Evidence | Fingerprints begin to develop relatively early in the life of fetal humans. Pads (bumps) form on the baby’s fingertips and palms within 6 to 13 weeks of conception, and as early as 10 weeks, these pads begin to develop the epidermal ridges destined to become fingerprints. From the very beginning they are unique to each fetal human, and by 21 to 24 weeks they will possess their final, mature form.

     Video Imaging Evidence | 4D ultrasound technology now allows us to reproduce a moving image of fetal humans in the womb. Using sound waves, it creates a series of three-dimensional images resulting in what looks like a livevideo. The clarity of these video images is remarkable, showing every movement and feature of the baby – in real time. When jurors watch a video taken at a crime scene, it’s far easier for them to identify the suspect. When watching 4D ultrasound videos, it’s far easier to identify fetal humans as… humans.

James "Jim" Warner Wallace (born June 16, 1961) is an American homicide detective and Christian apologist. Wallace is a Senior Fellow at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview and an Adjunct Professor of Apologetics at Biola University in La Mirada, California. He has authored several books, including Cold-Case Christianity, God’s Crime Scene, and Forensic Faith, in which he applies principles of cold case homicide investigation to apologetic concerns such as the existence of God and the reliability of the Gospels.

• Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels

• God's Crime Scene: A Cold-Case Detective Examines the Evidence for a Divinely Created Universe

• Alive: A Cold-Case Approach to the Resurrection

• Cold-Case Christianity for Kids: Investigate Jesus with a Real Detective

• Keeping Your Kids on God's Side: 40 Conversations to Help Them Build a Lasting Faith

• Forensic Faith: A Homicide Detective Makes the Case for a More Reasonable, Evidential Christian Faith

The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Translated by Henry Beveridge

     3. I come to the Kingly office, of which it were in vain to speak, without previously reminding the reader that its nature is spiritual; because it is from thence we learn its efficacy, the benefits it confers, its whole power and eternity. Eternity, moreover, which in Daniel an angel attributes to the office of Christ (Dan. 2:44), in Luke an angel justly applies to the salvation of his people (Luke 1:33). But this is also twofold, and must be viewed in two ways; the one pertains to the whole body of the Church the other is proper to each member. To the former is to be referred what is said in the Psalms, "Once have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever, as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven," (Ps. 89:35, 37). There can be no doubt that God here promises that he will be, by the hand of his Son, the eternal governor and defender of the Church. In none but Christ will the fulfilment of this prophecy be found; since immediately after Solomon's death the kingdom in n great measure lost its dignity, and, with ignominy to the family of David, was transferred to a private individual. Afterwards decaying by degrees, it at length came to a sad and dishonourable end. In the same sense are we to understand the exclamation of Isaiah, "Who shall declare his generation?" (Isaiah 53:8). For he asserts that Christ will so survive death as to be connected with his members. Therefore, as often as we hear that Christ is armed with eternal power, let us learn that the perpetuity of the Church is thus effectually secured; that amid the turbulent agitations by which it is constantly harassed, and the grievous and fearful commotions which threaten innumerable disasters, it still remains safe. Thus, when David derides the audacity of the enemy who attempt to throw off the yoke of God and his anointed, and says, that kings and nations rage "in vain," (Ps. 2:2-4), because he who sitteth in the heaven is strong enough to repel their assaults, assuring believers of the perpetual preservation of the Church, he animates them to have good hope whenever it is occasionally oppressed. So, in another place, when speaking in the person of God, he says, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool," (Ps. 110:1), he reminds us, that however numerous and powerful the enemies who conspire to assault the Church, they are not possessed of strength sufficient to prevail against the immortal decree by which he appointed his Son eternal King. Whence it follows that the devil, with the whole power of the world, can never possibly destroy the Church, which is founded on the eternal throne of Christ. Then in regard to the special use to be made by each believer, this same eternity ought to elevate us to the hope of a blessed immortality. For we see that every thing which is earthly, and of the world, is temporary, and soon fades away. Christ, therefore, to raise our hope to the heavens, declares that his kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). In fine, let each of us, when he hears that the kingdom of Christ is spiritual, be roused by the thought to entertain the hope of a better life, and to expect that as it is now protected by the hand of Christ, so it will be fully realised in a future life.

4. That the strength and utility of the kingdom of Christ cannot, as we have said, be fully perceived without recognising it as spiritual, is sufficiently apparent, even from this, that having during the whole course of our lives to war under the cross, our condition here is bitter and wretched. What then would it avail us to be ranged under the government of a heavenly King, if its benefits were not realised beyond the present earthly life? We must, therefore, know that the happiness which is promised to us in Christ does not consist in external advantages--such as leading a joyful and tranquil life, abounding in wealth, being secure against all injury, and having an affluence of delights, such as the flesh is wont to long for--but properly belongs to the heavenly life. As in the world the prosperous and desirable condition of a people consists partly in the abundance of temporal good and domestic peace, and partly in the strong protection which gives security against external violence; so Christ also enriches his people with all things necessary to the eternal salvation of their souls and fortifies them with courage to stand unassailable by all the attacks of spiritual foes. Whence we infer, that he reigns more for us than for himself, and that both within us and without us; that being replenished, in so far as God knows to be expedient, with the gifts of the Spirit, of which we are naturally destitute, we may feel from their first fruits, that we are truly united to God for perfect blessedness; and then trusting to the power of the same Spirit, may not doubt that we shall always be victorious against the devil, the world, and every thing that can do us harm. To this effect was our Saviour's reply to the Pharisees, "The kingdom of God is within you." "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation," (Luke 17:21, 22). It is probable that on his declaring himself to be that King under whom the highest blessing of God was to be expected, they had in derision asked him to produce his insignia. But to prevent those who were already more than enough inclined to the earth from dwelling on its pomp, he bids them enter into their consciences, for "the kingdom of God" is "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost," (Rom. 14:17). These words briefly teach what the kingdom of Christ bestows upon us. Not being earthly or carnal, and so subject to corruption, but spiritual, it raises us even to eternal life, so that we can patiently live at present under toil, hunger, cold, contempt, disgrace, and other annoyances; contented with this, that our King will never abandon us, but will supply our necessities until our warfare is ended, and we are called to triumph: such being the nature of his kingdom, that he communicates to us whatever he received of his Father. Since then he arms and equips us by his power, adorns us with splendour and magnificence, enriches us with wealth, we here find most abundant cause of glorying, and also are inspired with boldness, so that we can contend intrepidly with the devil, sin, and death. In fine, clothed with his righteousness, we can bravely surmount all the insults of the world: and as he replenishes us liberally with his gifts, so we can in our turn bring forth fruit unto his glory.

5. Accordingly, his royal unction is not set before us as composed of oil or aromatic perfumes; but he is called the Christ of God, because "the Spirit of the Lord" rested upon him; "the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord," (Isaiah 11:2). This is the oil of joy with which the Psalmist declares that he was anointed above his fellows (Ps. 45:7). For, as has been said, he was not enriched privately for himself, but that he might refresh the parched and hungry with his abundance. For as the Father is said to have given the Spirit to the Son without measure (John 3:34), so the reason is expressed, that we might all receive of his fulness, and grace for grace (John 1:16). From this fountain flows the copious supply (of which Paul makes mention, Eph. 4:7) by which grace is variously distributed to believers according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Here we have ample confirmation of what I said, that the kingdom of Christ consists in the Spirit, and not in earthly delights or pomp, and that hence, in order to be partakers with him, we must renounce the world. A visible symbol of this grace was exhibited at the baptism of Christ, when the Spirit rested upon him in the form of a dove. To designate the Spirit and his gifts by the term "unction" is not new, and ought not to seem absurd (see 1 John 2:20, 27), because this is the only quarter from which we derive life; but especially in what regards the heavenly life, there is not a drop of vigour in us save what the Holy Spirit instils, who has chosen his seat in Christ, that thence the heavenly riches, of which we are destitute, might flow to us in copious abundance. But because believers stand invincible in the strength of their King, and his spiritual riches abound towards them, they are not improperly called Christians. Moreover, from this eternity of which we have spoken, there is nothing derogatory in the expression of Paul, "Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father," (1 Cor. 15:24); and also, "Then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in and" (1 Cor. 15:28); for the meaning merely is, that, in that perfect glory, the administration of the kingdom will not be such as it now is. For the Father has given all power to the Son, that by his hand he may govern, cherish, sustain us, keep us under his guardianship, and give assistance to us. Thus, while we wander far as pilgrims from God, Christ interposes, that he may gradually bring us to full communion with God. And, indeed, his sitting at the right hand of the Father has the same meaning as if he was called the vicegerent of the Father, entrusted with the whole power of government. For God is pleased, mediately (so to speak) in his person to rule and defend the Church. Thus also his being seated at the right hand of the Father is explained by Paul, in the Epistle to the Ephesians, to mean, that "he is the head over all things to the Church, which is his body," (Eph. 1:20, 22). Nor is this different in purport from what he elsewhere teaches, that God has "given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father," (Phil. 2:9-11). For in these words, also, he commends an arrangement in the kingdom of Christ, which is necessary for our present infirmity. Thus Paul rightly infers that God will then be the only Head of the Church, because the office of Christ, in defending the Church, shall then have been completed. For the same reason, Scripture throughout calls him Lord, the Father having appointed him over us for the express purpose of exercising his government through him. For though many lordships are celebrated in the world, yet Paul says, "To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him," (1 Cor. 8:6). Whence it is justly inferred that he is the same God, who, by the mouth of Isaiah, declared, "The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King: he will save us," (Isaiah 33:22). For though he every where describes all the power which he possesses as the benefit and gift of the Father, the meaning simply is, that he reigns by divine authority, because his reason for assuming the office of Mediator was, that descending from the bosom and incomprehensible glory of the Father, he might draw near to us. Wherefore there is the greater reason that we all should with one consent prepare to obey, and with the greatest alacrity yield implicit obedience to his will. For as he unites the offices of King and Pastor towards believers, who voluntarily submit to him, so, on the other hand, we are told that he wields an iron sceptre to break and bruise all the rebellious like a potter's vessel (Ps. 2:9). We are also told that he will be the Judge of the Gentiles, that he will cover the earth with dead bodies, and level down every opposing height (Ps. 110:6). Of this examples are seen at present, but full proof will be given at the final judgment, which may be properly regarded as the last act of his reign.

6. With regard to his Priesthood, we must briefly hold its end and use to be, that as a Mediator, free from all taint, he may by his own holiness procure the favour of God for us. But because a deserved curse obstructs the entrance, and God in his character of Judge is hostile to us, expiation must necessarily intervene, that as a priest employed to appease the wrath of God, he may reinstate us in his favour. Wherefore, in order that Christ might fulfil this office, it behoved him to appear with a sacrifice. For even under the law of the priesthood it was forbidden to enter the sanctuary without blood, to teach the worshipper that however the priest might interpose to deprecate, God could not be propitiated without the expiation of sin. On this subject the Apostle discourses at length in the Epistle to the Hebrews, from the seventh almost to the end of the tenth chapter. The sum comes to this, that the honour of the priesthood was competent to none but Christ, because, by the sacrifice of his death, he wiped away our guilt, and made satisfaction for sin. Of the great importance of this matter, we are reminded by that solemn oath which God uttered, and of which he declared he would not repent, "Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek," (Ps. 110:4). For, doubtless, his purpose was to ratify that point on which he knew that our salvation chiefly hinged. For, as has been said, there is no access to God for us or for our prayers until the priest, purging away our defilements, sanctify us, and obtain for us that favour of which the impurity of our lives and hearts deprives us. Thus we see, that if the benefit and efficacy of Christ's priesthood is to reach us, the commencement must be with his death. Whence it follows, that he by whose aid we obtain favour, must be a perpetual intercessor. From this again arises not only confidence in prayer, but also the tranquillity of pious minds, while they recline in safety on the paternal indulgence of God, and feel assured, that whatever has been consecrated by the Mediator is pleasing to him. But since God under the Law ordered sacrifices of beasts to be offered to him, there was a different and new arrangement in regard to Christ--viz. that he should be at once victim and priest, because no other fit satisfaction for sin could be found, nor was any one worthy of the honour of offering an only begotten son to God. Christ now bears the office of priest, not only that by the eternal law of reconciliation he may render the Father favourable and propitious to us, but also admit us into this most honourable alliance. For we though in ourselves polluted, in him being priests (Rev. 1:6), offer ourselves and our all to God, and freely enter the heavenly sanctuary, so that the sacrifices of prayer and praise which we present are grateful and of sweet odour before him. To this effect are the words of Christ, "For their sakes I sanctify myself," (John 17:19); for being clothed with his holiness, inasmuch as he has devoted us to the Father with himself (otherwise we were an abomination before him), we please him as if we were pure and clean, nay, even sacred. Hence that unction of the sanctuary of which mention is made in Daniel (Dan. 9:24). For we must attend to the contrast between this unction and the shadowy one which was then in use; as if the angel had said, that when the shadows were dispersed, there would be a clear priesthood in the person of Christ. The more detestable, therefore, is the fiction of those who, not content with the priesthood of Christ, have dared to take it upon themselves to sacrifice him, a thing daily attempted in the Papacy, where the mass is represented as an immolation of Christ.

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[253] Calvin translates, "Angelum vel Interpretem magni consilii;"--"the Angel or interpreter of the great counsel."

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     Christian Classics Ethereal Library / Public Domain

     Institutes of the Christian Religion

Resolved: To Read the Bible Why and How to Journey in the Word

By David Mathis 12/31/2014

     Whether you feel like a beginner, or the grizzled old veteran, one of the most important things you can do is regularly read the Bible for yourself.

     It is a remarkable thing that we have Bibles we can read personally, whenever we want. For most of church history, and still today in many places in the world, Christians have not had their own personal copies of the Bible. They had to gather to hear someone read it to them. “Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture” (1 Timothy 4:13) was all they had for Bible time.

     But now, with printed Bibles and electronic options galore, we have priceless access to God’s very words to us, words that we are so tragically tempted to take lightly. Reading your own copy of the Bible daily is not a law that every believer must abide; most Christians have not had this option. But daily Bible reading is an extraordinary means of God’s grace. Why miss this bounty and blessing?

     The Whole Thing? | “All Scripture,” says 2 Timothy 3:16, “is breathed out by God and profitable.” It is the whole Bible, says Sinclair Ferguson, which was given to make whole Christians. Everything in Scripture, from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, is for the good of the church. “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). “Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4).

     But not every text functions to build our faith in the same way, and has the same effect for every one of God’s children in the new covenant. It is a wonderful thing to read all the way through the Bible. It is something that pastors and teachers in the church should strongly consider doing on an annual basis, to let all the Scriptural data pass before their eyes for continually informing their public theological claims. But this is not a yoke to be set on every Christian every year. Though it would be a good thing for every Christian to try at some point, or at least to have some multi-year plan in place to eventually get you through the whole Bible in some cycle.

• 1     Habits of Grace Study Guide: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines
• 2     Acting the Miracle: God's Work and Ours in the Mystery of Sanctification
• 3     Finish the Mission: Bringing the Gospel to the Unreached and Unengaged
• 4     How to Stay Christian in Seminary
• 5     The Romantic Rationalist: God, Life, and Imagination in the Work of C. S. Lewis
• 6     Thinking. Loving. Doing.: A Call to Glorify God with Heart and Mind
• 7     Cross: Unrivaled Christ, Unstoppable Gospel, Unreached Peoples, Unending Joy
• 8     With Calvin in the Theater of God: The Glory of Christ and Everyday Life
• 9     By David Mathis - Finish the Mission (First) (9/19/12)

A Dozen Book Favorites, Part 1

By Kenneth Richard Samples 1/2/2018

     Only human beings read. The great Greek philosopher Aristotle thought the distinguishing feature of people is their ability to use language. And humans use their unique language ability to think, speak, write, and read.

     From a historic Christian perspective, the idea of human exceptionalism is grounded in the biblical truth that people are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26–27). This imago Dei endowment makes people capable of hunting and gathering truth. And since Christians affirm a propositional (words, statements) revelation from God in the Bible, they join with the Jewish tradition as People of the Book. Thus, reading is a great gift and privilege, but one may also argue that it is a responsibility according to our profound created nature.

     12 Book Favorites | This is part one of a three-part series on some of my favorite books. The topics cover theology, philosophy, apologetics, and education. I also note how the books have been helpful to me. The books are listed in alphabetical order, not order of preference:

     1. Confessions by St. Augustine

     This is St. Augustine’s most famous book and one of the most important Christian books in history. Augustine’s autobiography actually created the genre of biographical writings in Western civilization. Thus, this book is both a Christian and literary classic and it appears in all the great books reading programs. The title, Confessions, is understood in a triple sense: confession of sin, confession of a newfound faith, and confession of the glory of God. When I read this book, I benefit from Augustine’s great wisdom as a Christian philosopher and theologian. But personally, I feel I’m reading the words of an empathetic Christian friend and counselor.

Philosopher and theologian Kenneth Richard Samples has a great passion to help people understand the reasonableness and relevance of Christianity's truth claims. Through his writing and speaking as senior research scholar at Reasons to Believe (RTB), he encourages believers to develop a logically defensible faith and challenges skeptics to engage Christianity at a philosophical worldview level.

     An intellectual even at a young age, Kenneth's journey to faith in Christ began in earnest during his teenage years as he wrestled with a deep sense of longing and restlessness. His older brother's suicide spurred his efforts to seek answers to life's "big questions." Eventually, he began reading the Bible and attending church, but it was his sister's gift of Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis that helped Kenneth to truly understand the Christian Gospel and to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. From then on, he pursued an intellectually satisfying and deeply personal faith.

     Today, Kenneth focuses on demonstrating the unique compatibility of Christianity's great doctrinal truths with reason and logic. He is the author of several books, including God Among Sages, Christian Endgame, 7 Truths That Changed the World, A World of Difference, and Without a Doubt. He leads RTB's Straight Thinking podcast and also writes Reflections, a weekly blog dedicated to exploring the Christian worldview. Kenneth has spoken at universities and churches around the world on such topics as religion and worldview, the identity of Jesus, and Christian apologetics. He also makes frequent guest appearances on radio programs such as The Frank Sontag Show, Issues Etc., and Stand to Reason, lectures as an adjunct professor at Biola University, and teaches adult classes at Christ Reformed Church in Southern California.

     An avid student of American history, Kenneth earned a BA in social science with an emphasis in history and philosophy from Concordia University and an MA in theological studies from Talbot School of Theology. Prior to joining RTB in 1997, Kenneth worked for seven years as senior research consultant and correspondence editor at Christian Research Institute, where he regularly cohosted The Bible Answer Man, a popular call-in radio program founded by renowned apologist Dr. Walter Martin. In addition, Kenneth's articles have been published in Christianity Today, Christian Research Journal, and Facts for Faith, and he holds memberships in the Evangelical Philosophical Society, the Evangelical Theological Society, and the International Society of Christian Apologetics.

     Kenneth lives in Southern California with his wife, Joan. They have three children.

• 1     God among Sages: Why Jesus Is Not Just Another Religious Leader
• 2     A World of Difference: Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the Worldview Test (Reasons to Believe)
• 3     God among Sages: Why Jesus Is Not Just Another Religious Leader
• 4     Christian Endgame: Careful Thinking about the End Times
• 5     Christianity's Most Dangerous Idea (Ebook Shorts)

Read The Psalms In "1" Year

Psalm 21

1 O LORD, in your strength the king rejoices,
and in your salvation how greatly he exults!
2 You have given him his heart’s desire
and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
3 For you meet him with rich blessings;
you set a crown of fine gold upon his head.
4 He asked life of you; you gave it to him,
length of days forever and ever.
5 His glory is great through your salvation;
splendor and majesty you bestow on him.
6 For you make him most blessed forever;
you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
7 For the king trusts in the LORD,
and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.

Luke 2

By Don Carson 2/16/2018

     JESUS GREW UP A THOROUGHLY Jewish boy. Not only was his lineage Jewish, it was Davidic: legally, he belonged to the suppressed royal house (Luke 2:4). Imperial politics were divinely manipulated to ensure that Jesus would be born in the ancient town of David (2:1-4, 11). On the eighth day of his life, he was circumcised (2:21). At the appropriate time, Mary and Joseph offered a sacrifice in keeping with the Law’s prescription of what was required of every firstborn male (2:22-24). “Joseph and Mary,” we are told, did “everything required by the Law of the Lord” (2:39). In the first days of Jesus’ life, Simeon prophetically addressed God in prayer, declaring that the coming of Jesus was “for glory to your people Israel” (2:32); aged Anna “gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem” (2:38). Every year, Joseph and Mary traveled the long miles from Nazareth to Jerusalem to participate in the Feast of Passover, “according to the custom” (2:41-42), joining tens of thousands of other pilgrims; and of course, Jesus went along, witnessed the slaughter of thousands of Passover lambs, heard the temple choirs, and recited the ancient Scriptures. At the age of twelve, Jesus’ constant exposure to the heritage of his people and the content of their Scriptures led to the extraordinary exchanges he enjoyed with the temple teachers (2:41-52).

     We cannot begin to grasp the categories in which Jesus spoke and acted, the categories in which his life and ministry, his death and resurrection, have significance, unless we find them in the ancient Hebrew Bible.

     Yet that is not all there is to say. That same Bible does not begin with Abraham and the origins of the Israelites. It begins with God, the origin of the universe, the creation of human beings bearing God’s image, the wretched rebellion of the Fall, the first cycles of judgment and forgiveness, the first promises of redemption to come. Certainly Paul understood that the Bible’s long story of the Jews must be set within the still longer story of the human race, and that even the first calling of the man who is the ancestor of all Jews specifies that through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed (Gal. 3; cf. Gen. 12). Here at the beginning of Jesus’ life, the same framework peeps through. Simeon praises the Sovereign Lord for allowing him to live to see this baby: “For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” (2:31-32).

Don Carson is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and co-founder (with Tim Keller) of The Gospel Coalition. He has authored numerous books, and recently edited The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures (Eerdmans, 2016).

Apocryphal Writings are All Written in the Second Century or Later

By Michael J. Kruger 2/13/2017

     In the prior post, we discussed the first basic fact about the New Testament canon, namely that the New Testament writings are the earliest Christian texts we possess. We were careful to make clear that the early date of these books does not make them canonical, but the early date does show that these books were written during a time period when eyewitnesses of Jesus were still alive.

     In this current post, we address the issue of “apocryphal” New Testament writings. These are writings that were not included in the New Testament, but have a similar genre (gospels, acts, letters, apocalypses, etc.). And these writings are often attributed to famous individuals; e.g., the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Thomas, the Acts of John.

     While we cannot go into extensive detail about these various apocryphal writings, we can at least note one basic fact that is often overlooked: all of these apocryphal writings are dated to the second century or later. Thus, this post is the corollary of the prior one. Not only are all New Testament writings from the first century, but all apocryphal writings (at least the ones that are extant) are from the second century or later. And many are from the third or fourth century.

     What is particularly noteworthy about this fact is that even critical scholars agree. While there is dispute over the dating of some New Testament books (e.g., 2 Peter, the Pastoral Epistles), there is virtual unanimity over the late date of apocryphal books. There are, of course, fringe attempts to place some apocryphal writings into the first century—e.g., Crossan argues that a “cross gospel” embedded in the Gospel of Peter is from the first century—but these suggestions have not been widely received.

     The observation of this simple fact quickly calls into question sensationalistic claims about how these “lost” books contain the “real” version of Christianity.

A Survey Of Old Testament Introduction

By Gleason Archer Jr.

Late Words and Aramaisms as Criteria for Source Division | Introduction: Late Words and Aramaisms

     ONE OF THE MOST IMPOSING CRITERIA resorted to by divisive criticism, in demonstrating the lateness of certain portions of the Pentateuch, consists in listing words occurring in the text which are seldom used otherwise in extant Hebrew literature, except in the post-Christian writings of the Talmud and Midrash. This method gives a most plausible impression of scientific objectivity and carries great weight with those who have heard only one side of the story. There is another side, however, which must also be considered by the thoughtful observer, and which robs this argument of much of its force. Briefly stated, the argument runs as follows: If a word occurring less than three or four times in the Old Testament recurs only in later Hebrew literature (the Talmud and Midrash), then the word is of late origin, and the Old Testament passage must be of late composition. Employing this criterion it has been possible for critics to bolster their contention that the Priestly Code (P) is of exilic or post-exilic origin, and also to separate large portions of Isaiah and other post-Mosaic books as later insertions from the Persian period or even from the Greek.

     During the second decade of the twentieth century, Robert Dick Wilson of Princeton took the trouble to make an exhaustive tabulation of all the so-called rare words in the Hebrew Scriptures, and he later published the resultant statistics. Surprisingly enough, it turned out that such rare words occur in every book of the Old Testament and in almost every chapter. If this criterion is trustworthy, then all the books of the Old Testament are late and none are early. Compare the following figures, bearing in mind that the higher the percentage of “rare words” which recur in the same sense in the Talmud, the later in composition the Old Testament book must be — if this criterion is valid. The number of rare words (i.e., words occurring five times or less) is given in one column and the percentage of these appearing in the Talmud in the next column. 

RARE WORDS

     From these statistics it is apparent that the latest of all, the book of  Daniel  (according to higher critical dating), has the third lowest percentage of the nine cited (i.e., 29.8 percent), and that J (the earliest of them all) has a far higher percentage of rare words recurring in the Talmud, i.e., 44.4 percent. Document E, allegedly earlier by two or three centuries than P, scores less than 5 percent below P; whereas D (supposedly more than a century earlier than P) totals up to just about the same percentage as P. From these figures it becomes apparent that the whole approach is unsound and the argument invalid. Post-exilic  Ezra 1–6  comes up with only 16.7 percent, even though it is dated 450–370 B.C. by critics;  Malachi  (430 B.C.) also ranks low, with 23.1 percent—as over against the 850 B.C. “Jehovist” with its 44.4 percent. We must therefore abandon this type of investigation altogether, for it leads only to absurd results.

     Why are these “rare words” so inconclusive as a time indicator? Principally because of the insufficiency of the data. We today possess in the Bible only a tiny fraction of all the literary output of the ancient Hebrews. There are a good three thousand words in the Old Testament which occur less than six times; fifteen hundred of them occur but once (hapax legomena). But this by no means indicates that they were uncommon in all other levels of Hebrew communication apart from the Bible itself. Mere fortuity may account for their infrequency in the Scriptures, just as some very common English words happen to occur only once in the English Bible, such as “invasion” (  1 Sam. 30:14 ), “jumping” (  Nah. 3:2 ) and “lance” (  Jer. 50:42 ). Every new discovery of ancient Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions brings to light words which had hitherto been known only from documents centuries later in origin. D. W. Thomas of Cambridge refers “to the re-emergence in late literature of words which themselves are very ancient, and which may or may not be, through pure accident, attested in earlier documents.” Hebrew itself offers many interesting examples of this. If, for example, we had only Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus), should we not be tempted to argue that the word ʾswḥ (“reservoir”) in  50:3 , not occurring elsewhere in Hebrew, is a late word? Yet it is to be found on the Moabite Stone (  11:9, 23 )! Since the ninth century B.C. this old Semitic word lay hid until it turned up again seven hundred years later in Ben Sira.” Here we may add that it occurs no less than four times in the copper scroll of Qumran Cave 3 dated the first century A.D.

A Survey of Old Testament Introduction

Are You Looking For The Perfect Scenario

By Alistair Begg from The Hand of God: Finding His Care in All Circumstances

     “Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought [Joseph] from the Ishmaelites” (Genesis 39:1). This suggests a slave auction, an event that could not have been anything but ugly, distasteful, humiliating, and cruel for Joseph. Paraded on the slave block in full view of a leering crowd, perhaps stripped bare, he was offered for sale. There he stood, a teenager subjected to the proddings of his potential master.

     Exposure to this kind of humiliation would have ripped into the core of Joseph’s being. Try to get a sense of the pain and confusion he felt as he sought to understand what was happening to him. He was a captive in a foreign country, unable to understand the words spoken to him. He could only try to read their eyes and so figure out what they were thinking and planning.

     Joseph didn’t have to wait long to learn his fate. When the ordeal of the slave auction was over, he was taken—probably in chains and under guard—into the palatial home of Potiphar, a prominent Egyptian official.

     To put this man’s position in a modern context, we could say that Potiphar was the chief of Pharaoh’s secret police. He was in charge of dealing with political insurrectionists. People who plotted against the Pharaoh were taken into custody by Potiphar and his men, never to be heard from again.

     Potiphar’s job was to remove threats to his boss. He was a powerful man and probably had the potential for cruelty. So it is an understatement to say that the circumstances into which Joseph was thrust were less than ideal.

     Years later, reflecting upon Joseph’s life, his father, Jacob, said, “With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility” (Genesis 49:23). This was a graphic picture of Joseph’s vulnerability as hostile forces took potshots at him. He was exposed, alone, fearful, and wondering—and, yet, in the center of God’s will.

     Here we discover an essential and simple truth, which is this: There is no ideal place to serve God except the place in which He has set you down. There is no ideal job for you to hold, no ideal neighborhood in which to live, and no ideal church you can join.

     There are good jobs, good neighborhoods, and good churches, but no ideal ones. People who search for ideal circumstances forget that all that is ideal and perfect is saved for heaven. They launch forth on a journey destined to end in disappointment. One of my goals in this book is to spare you from making such a journey.

     Joseph’s life at this point was far from ideal. He may have been tempted to run away, give up, or become angry. But here we discover him making the most of his situation.

     Responding to similar circumstances in his life, the psalmist said, “In the Lord I take refuge. How then can you say to me: ‘Flee like a bird to your mountain’?” (Psalm 11:1).

     Sometimes circumstances make us want to run. We say to ourselves, If I could only get away for a while—maybe a weekend at the cabin or a few days at the beach.

     Refreshments and a vacation may be of temporary help, but we can’t flee from ourselves. I don’t know about you, but my biggest problem is not my circumstances, my colleagues, or my boss. My biggest problem is me.

     We may think, I never bargained for this. I never imagined being trapped in this mess. No, we probably didn’t. But God has chosen to set us down in this environment. Even in circumstances like those that surrounded Joseph, we can trace God’s hand.

The Pilgrim's Progress From This World To That Which Is To Come;
Delivered Under The Similitude Of A Dream

By John Bunyan 1678

THE TENTH STAGE

Then Christian addressed himself thus to his fellow:

     CHR. Well, come, my good Hopeful, I perceive that thou and I must walk by ourselves again.

     So I saw in my dream, that they went on apace before, and Ignorance he came hobbling after. Then said Christian to his companion, I much pity this poor man: it will certainly go ill with him at last.

     HOPE. Alas! there are abundance in our town in his condition, whole families, yea, whole streets, and that of pilgrims too; and if there be so many in our parts, how many, think you, must there be in the place where he was born?

     CHR. Indeed, the word saith, “He hath blinded their eyes, lest they should see,” etc.

John 12:40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart,
lest they see with their eyes,
and understand with their heart, and turn,
and I would heal them.”   ESV

Isaiah 6:10 Make the heart of this people dull,
and their ears heavy,
and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”   ESV

2 Corinthians 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.   ESV

     But, now we are by ourselves, what do you think of such men? Have they at no time, think you, convictions of sin, and so, consequently, fears that their state is dangerous?

     HOPE. Nay, do you answer that question yourself, for you are the elder man.

     CHR. Then I say, sometimes (as I think) they may; but they being naturally ignorant, understand not that such convictions tend to their good; and therefore they do desperately seek to stifle them, and presumptuously continue to flatter themselves in the way of their own hearts.

     HOPE. I do believe, as you say, that fear tends much to men’s good, and to make them right at their beginning to go on pilgrimage.

     CHR. Without all doubt it doth, if it be right; for so says the word, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

Job 28:28 And he said to man,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.’ ”   ESV

Psalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!   ESV

Prov. 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.   ESV

Prov. 9:10  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.   ESV

     HOPE. How will you describe right fear?

     CHR. True or right fear is discovered by three things:

1. By its rise; it is caused by saving convictions for sin.

2. It driveth the soul to lay fast hold of Christ for salvation.

3. It begetteth and continueth in the soul a great reverence of God, his word, and ways; keeping it tender, and making it afraid to turn from them, to the right hand or to the left, to any thing that may dishonor God, break its peace, grieve the Spirit, or cause the enemy to speak reproachfully.

     HOPE. Well said; I believe you have said the truth. Are we now almost got past the Enchanted Ground?

     CHR. Why? are you weary of this discourse?

     HOPE. No, verily, but that I would know where we are.

     CHR. We have not now above two miles further to go thereon. But let us return to our matter.

     Now, the ignorant know not that such conviction as tend to put them in fear, are for their good, and therefore they seek to stifle them.

     HOPE. How do they seek to stifle them?

     CHR. 1. They think that those fears are wrought by the devil, (though indeed they are wrought of God,) and thinking so, they resist them, as things that directly tend to their overthrow.

2. They also think that these fears tend to the spoiling of their faith; when, alas for them, poor men that they are, they have none at all; and therefore they harden their hearts against them.

3. They presume they ought not to fear, and therefore, in despite of them, wax presumptuously confident.

4. They see that those fears tend to take away from them their pitiful old self-holiness, and therefore they resist them with all their might.

     HOPE. I know something of this myself; for before I knew myself it was so with me.

     CHR. Well, we will leave, at this time, our neighbor Ignorance by himself, and fall upon another profitable question.

     HOPE. With all my heart; but you shall still begin.

     CHR. Well then, did you not know, about ten years ago, one Temporary in your parts, who was a forward man in religion then?

     HOPE. Know him! yes; he dwelt in Graceless, a town about two miles off of Honesty, and he dwelt next door to one Turnback.

     CHR. Right; he dwelt under the same roof with him. Well, that man was much awakened once: I believe that then he had some sight of his sins, and of the wages that were due thereto.

     HOPE. I am of your mind, for (my house not being above three miles from him) he would oft-times come to me, and that with many tears. Truly I pitied the man, and was not altogether without hope of him; but one may see, it is not every one that cries, “Lord, Lord!”

Matthew 7:21-23 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’   ESV

     CHR. He told me once that he was resolved to go on pilgrimage, as we go now; but all of a sudden he grew acquainted with one Save-self, and then he became a stranger to me.

     HOPE. Now, since we are talking about him, let us a little inquire into the reason of the sudden backsliding of him and such others.

     CHR. It may be very profitable; but do you begin.

     HOPE. Well, then, there are, in my judgment, four reasons for it:

     1. Though the consciences of such men are awakened, yet their minds are not changed: therefore, when the power of guilt weareth away, that which provoked them to be religious ceaseth; wherefore they naturally turn to their own course again; even as we see the dog that is sick of what he hath eaten, so long as his sickness prevails, he vomits and casts up all; not that he doth this of a free mind, (if we may say a dog has a mind,) but because it troubleth his stomach: but now, when his sickness is over, and so his stomach eased, his desires being not at all alienated from his vomit, he turns him about, and licks up all; and so it is true which is written, “The dog is turned to his own vomit again.”

2 Pet. 2:22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”   ESV

Thus, I say, being hot for heaven, by virtue only of the sense and fear of the torments of hell, as their sense and fear of damnation chills and cools, so their desires for heaven and salvation cool also. So then it comes to pass, that when their guilt and fear is gone, their desires for heaven and happiness die, and they return to their course again.

     2. Another reason is, they have slavish fears that do overmaster them: I speak now of the fears that they have of men; “For the fear of man bringeth a snare.”

Prov. 29:25  The fear of man lays a snare,
but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.   ESV

So then, though they seem to be hot for heaven so long as the flames of hell are about their ears, yet, when that terror is a little over, they betake themselves to second thoughts, namely, that it is good to be wise and not to run (for they know not what) the hazard of losing all, or at least of bringing themselves into unavoidable and unnecessary troubles; and so they fall in with the world again.

     3. The shame that attends religion lies also as a block in their way: they are proud and haughty, and religion in their eye is low and contemptible: therefore when they have lost their sense of hell and the wrath to come, they return again to their former course.

     4. Guilt, and to meditate terror, are grievous to them; they like not to see their misery before they come into it; though perhaps the sight of it at first, if they loved that sight, might make them fly whither the righteous fly and are safe; but because they do, as I hinted before, even shun the thoughts of guilt and terror, therefore, when once they are rid of their awakenings about the terrors and wrath of God, they harden their hearts gladly, and choose such ways as will harden them more and more.

     CHR. You are pretty near the business, for the bottom of all is for want of a change in their mind and will. And therefore they are but like the felon that standeth before the judge: he quakes and trembles, and seems to repent most heartily, but the bottom of all is the fear of the halter: not that he hath any detestation of the offence, as it is evident; because, let but this man have his liberty, and he will be a thief, and so a rogue still; whereas, if his mind was changed, he would be otherwise.

     HOPE. Now I have showed you the reason of their going back, do you show me the manner thereof.

     CHR. So I will willingly.

1. They draw off their thoughts, all that they may, from the remembrance of God, death, and judgment to come.

2. Then they cast off by degrees private duties, as closet prayer, curbing their lusts, watching, sorrow for sin, and the like.

3. Then they shun the company of lively and warm Christians.

4. After that, they grow cold to public duty, as hearing, reading, godly conference, and the like.

5. They then begin to pick holes, as we say, in the coats of some of the godly, and that devilishly, that they may have a seeming color to throw religion (for the sake of some infirmities they have espied in them) behind their backs.

6. Then they begin to adhere to, and associate themselves with, carnal, loose, and wanton men.

7. Then they give way to carnal and wanton discourses in secret; and glad are they if they can see such things in any that are counted honest, that they may the more boldly do it through their example.

8. After this they begin to play with little sins openly.

9. And then, being hardened, they show themselves as they are. Thus, being launched again into the gulf of misery, unless a miracle of grace prevent it, they everlastingly perish in their own deceivings.

     Pilgrim's Progress (Illustrated): Updated, Modern English. More than 100 Illustrations.

The Continual Burnt Offering

By H.A. Ironside - 1941

February 16

“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
23  For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
he has also rejected you from being king.”  ESV

Saul’s life, or at least his official history, began well and gave promise of a most successful and brilliant career, but it ended in bitter disappointment. He has been rightly called “The man after the flesh.” As such, he possessed many admirable traits and at the start he seemed to be an ideal king. But his goodness was like the morning cloud that soon passes away. It was only the attractiveness of nature. We would like to believe that when “God gave him another heart” (1 Samuel 10:9), it means he was born again. But it seems rather to imply that he was given a new outlook on life, with new courage and new ambitions to fit him for the high office to which he was appointed. Apparently he never knew God in the true sense, as Samuel did before him, and as David did, who succeeded him. His life should be a solemn warning to those who would make a fair show in the flesh, emphasizing the importance of true repentance and genuine faith.

1 Samuel 10:9 When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day.

Psalm 50:8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9  I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds.

Psalm 51:16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Proverbs 21:3 To do righteousness and justice
is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

Isaiah 1:11 “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the LORD;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.

12  “When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
13  Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
14  Your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15  When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
16  Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
17  learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.

Jeremiah 7:22 For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’

Hosea 6:6  For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Amos 5:21 “I hate, I despise your feasts,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22  Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,
I will not look upon them.
23  Take away from me the noise of your songs;
to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
24  But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Micah 6:6 “With what shall I come before the LORD,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7  Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
8  He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

Matthew 9:13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matthew 12:7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

Hebrews 10:4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,

“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
6  in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
7  Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”

8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Be this the purpose of my soul,
My solemn, my determined choice,
To yield to Thy supreme control,
And in Thy kind commands rejoice.
Oh, may I never faint or tire,
Nor wandering leave Thy holy ways;
Father, accept my souls desire,
And give me strength to live Thy praise.

The Continual Burnt Offering: Daily Meditations on the Word of God

The Problem Of The Old Testament

By James Orr 1907

II. UNITY AND STYLE OF DEUTERONOMY

As clearing the way for the discussion of date, a few words may be said, first, on the subject of unity and style.

1. No book in the Bible, it may be safely affirmed, bears on its face a stronger impress of unity than the Book of  Deuteronomy . It is not disputed that, in the form in which we have it, the book shows traces of editorial redaction. The discourses are put together with introductory and connecting notes, and the last part of the work, with its account of Moses’ death, and in one or two places what seem unmistakable indications of JE and P hands, points clearly to such redaction. This suggests the possibility that such archæological notices as occur in chap.  2:10–12, 20–22 , and perhaps slight annotations elsewhere, may come from the same revisional hand. But these minor, and in general readily distinguishable, traces of editorial labour only throw into more commanding relief the general unity of the book in thought and style. The most ordinary reader cannot peruse its chapters without perceiving that, as one has said, “the same vein of thought, the same tone and tenor of feeling, the same peculiarities of thought and expression,” characterise it throughout. Accordingly, up to a comparatively recent period — till Graf’s time — the unity of  Deuteronomy , as respects the discourses, was recognised on nearly every hand as one of the surest results of criticism. It was not doubted that the book found in the temple and read to Josiah was substantially the  Deuteronomy  we possess.

This can no longer be affirmed. The fine art of distinction acquired in the dissection of the other Pentateuchal “sources” soon led, as it could not but do — as it would do with any book in existence — to the discovery of abundant reasons for dividing up  Deuteronomy  also, first, into a number of larger sections of different ages, then into a variety of smaller pieces, till, latterly, as indicated above, the unity tends entirely to disappear in the flux of the labours of a “school.” Kuenen, who, in this point, is relatively conservative, extends the length of what he calls “the Deuteronomic period, which began in the year 621 B.C., and which called the additions to D1 into existence, beyond the beginning of the Babylonian captivity. Broadly, however, two main opinions on division may be distinguished, in regard to which we are happy in being able to leave it with the critics to answer each other. (1) There is the view of Wellhausen, Cornill, and others, who would limit the original Book of  Deuteronomy  (its “kernel”) to chaps.  12–24;  but this, as Dr. Driver justly says, “upon grounds which cannot be deemed cogent.” Even Kuenen contests the reasons of Wellhausen on this point, and upholds the unity of chaps.  5–26  He gives also chap.  28  to the author of these chapters, as against Wellhausen. (2) Kuenen, however, following Graf, here draws a new line, and, “with the majority of recent critics,” says Dr. Driver, “declares chaps.  1–4  to be the work of a different hand.” The resemblance of style cannot be denied, but, says Kuenen, “the great similarity of language must be explained as the result of imitation.” To Dr. Driver himself there seems “no conclusive reason” for questioning the unity of chaps.  1–3  with the body of the work, and he doubts whether “the only reason of any weight” for questioning chap.  4:1–40  is conclusive either. Oettli, another witness, says on chaps.  1–4 : “The usage of speech is the same as in chaps.  5–11 ”

For ourselves, the broad argument from unity of thought, language, and style throughout the book seems overwhelming against all these attempts at disintegration. Dr. Driver is mainly with us here. He points out how “particular words, and phrases, consisting sometimes of entire clauses, recur with extraordinary frequency, giving a distinctive colouring to every part of the work.” Almost more important is his statement that “the majority of the expressions noted occur seldom or never besides; others occur only in passages modelled upon the style of  Deuteronomy , and representing the same point of view.” As respects the opinions of other critics, Dillmann, Westphal, Kittel, Oettli, Delitzsch and others, defend, like Dr. Driver, the general unity of  Deuteronomy.  Dillmann and Westphal, however, have hypotheses of transpositions, etc., which Dr. Driver, with good reason, rejects as “intrinsically improbable.” The unity of  Deuteronomy , it may be concluded, is likely to survive the attacks made upon it.

2. An interesting question arises here, with considerable bearings on later discussions — How does the style of  Deuteronomy  stand related to that of the other Pentateuchal books, and to those passages said to be “modelled” on it in other Old Testament writings? There are marked differences between the Deuteronomic and the JE and P styles, but it is important that these should not be exaggerated, and that affinities also should be noted. Delitzsch, in his  Genesis , made an interesting attempt, from comparison of the Decalogue and Book of the Covenant with  Deuteronomy  (which he took to be Mosaic in kernel), to arrive at an idea of the mode of thought and language of Moses. He found many Deuteronomic assonances in the above writings, and concluded that there was “an original Mosaic type,” which he termed “Jehovistic-Deuteronomic.” It is at any rate certain that comparison with the other Pentateuchal books reveals some curious relations. Of all styles, that of the so-called P is furthest removed from  Deuteronomy ; yet in  Lev. 26 , which is of the P type, the language rises to a quite Deuteronomic strain of hortatory and admonitory eloquence. The resemblance is in fact so remarkable that it is commonly allowed that a close relation of some kind subsists between  Lev. 26  and  Deuteronomy , whether of priority or dependence on the part of  Leviticus  remains yet to be considered. The affinities of  Deuteronomy  with JE are much closer. Such are clearly traceable in the Decalogue and Book of the Covenant, whether we ascribe the latter, with some critics, to J, or, with others, to E. More generally, “there are,” says Dr. Driver, “certain sections of JE (in particular,  Gen. 26:5; Ex. 13:3–16; 15:26; 19:3–6;  parts of  20:2–17; 23:20–23; 34:10–26 ), in which the author (or compiler) adopts a parenetic tone, and where his style displays what may be termed an approximation to the style of  Deuteronomy ; and these sections appear to have been the source from which the author of  Deuteronomy  adopted some of the expressions currently used by him.” Not, it will be observed, borrowed from  Deuteronomy , — a proof, surely, of an early Deuteronomic type.

Still more interesting in this connection are certain passages in  Joshua, Judges,  and  Samuel , described by Dr. Driver as “pre-Deuteronomic” (i.e., pre-Josianic), and “allied to E,” yet which have affinities in thought and expression to  Deuteronomy . And a last interesting and curious fact, as bearing on the alleged “modelling” on  Deuteronomy , is that, if Dr. Driver is correct, the purity of the Deuteronomic revisers’ style seems to diminish as we recede further in the history from the Mosaic age. It is, he tells us, most “strongly-marked” in  Joshua  and  Judges , hardly appears in  Samuel  at all, is mingled with other forms of expression in  Kings . “It is interesting to note,” he observes, “what is on the whole an interesting accumulation of deviations from the original Deuteronomic type, till in, e.g.,  2 Kings 17  it is mingled with phrases derived from the Book of  Kings  itself,  Judges , and  Jeremiah .” The inference we are disposed to draw from these facts is not quite that of the learned author. They appear to us to point to a much earlier dating and influence of  Deuteronomy  than he would allow.

The Problem of the Old Testament