Genesis-4

What I'm Reading

What Wendell Berry Gets Wrong

By Rod Dreher 12/28/2016

     Here’s a truth-telling essay from (the excellent magazine) Plough Quarterly by writer Tamara Hill Murphy — a fan of Wendell Berry, but one who is bothered by what Berry chooses to omit from his fiction. Excerpts:

     The dissonance with Berry occurs when I consider other family tales buried under the agrarian beauty. These are stories of shattered relationships, addiction, job loss, abandonment, mental illness, and unspoken violations that seem to separate my kinfolk from the clans in Port William. In Berry’s fictional village, readers occasionally witness felonies, infidelity, drunken brawls, and tragic deaths, but all of them seem to be told in a dusky, warming light.

     The pleasure I experience reading a novel set in idyllic Port William, before war, agribusiness, and corporate industrialism pillage the town, turns quickly from a nostalgic glow to an ugly flame. I agree with the author’s animosity toward institutional and human greed, but I’m troubled by the apparent evils he chooses to overlook. Berry seems to cast mercy on certain kinds of frailties and judgment on others. As a loyal reader, this double standard agitates me: I become a mad reader of the Mad Farmer.

     More:

     Berry’s body of work lauds an unadulterated ecosphere. How does he reconcile glossing over (or at least hiding from his reader’s view) the ugly dysfunctions that often prosper alongside the natural beauty of such villages and pasturelands? The stories I grew up hearing and observing provide an alternative cast of characters to the Port William community. I’ve seen firsthand not only the ornery nature of such characters but also the ingrown thinking that sometimes flourishes in out-of-sight locales. For example, there’s the good country farmer I watched with my own eyes fist-beat his son. They seemed to keep their farm by the mad farmer’s standards, but that did not make them good. I tiptoe around extended family members who fought their whole lives like Jayber Crow to avoid answering to “the man across the desk,” yet leave a trail of fractured relationships in their wake.

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Rod Dreher is an American writer and editor. He is a senior editor and blogger at The American Conservative and author of several books, including How Dante Can Save Your Life.

Rod Dreher Books:

Are we celebrating Jesus’ birth at the wrong time?

By Ian Paul 12/29/2016

     One of the problems about the development of traditions around Christmas is that people writing hymns or plays set Jesus’ birth in their own world rather than in what we know of the first century. In particular, many assume that Jesus was born in winter, since Christmas is celebrated in winter in the northern hemisphere. (It would be interesting to see some genuinely antipodeal hymns: ‘In the deep midwinter’ would become ‘In the height of summer’…)

     It is fairly widely recognised that the celebration of Christmas was not determined by the historical date of Jesus’ birth, but by the displacement of pagan winter celebrations by Christian evangelists. So can we know when in the year Jesus was born?

     The first clue comes in noting the relation between the birth of Jesus and John the Baptist.

(Lk 1:26–27) 26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. ESV

     If Mary conceived soon after this, and assuming that Mary and Elizabeth both went to term, then Jesus was born five to six months after John. (Notice that the visit of Gabriel was in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy.)

     The second clue comes in noting when John’s father, Zechariah, was serving his term as priest in the temple. Zechariah belonged to the priestly division of Abijah (Luke 1.5) and we know when this division served from 1 Chronicles 24.7–19

(1 Ch 24:7–19) 7 The first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, 8 the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim, 9 the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin, 10 the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah, 11 the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah, 12 the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim, 13 the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab, 14 the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer, 15 the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Happizzez, 16 the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezkel, 17 the twenty-first to Jachin, the twenty-second to Gamul, 18 the twenty-third to Delaiah, the twenty-fourth to Maaziah. 19 These had as their appointed duty in their service to come into the house of the LORD according to the procedure established for them by Aaron their father, as the LORD God of Israel had commanded him. ESV

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Ian Paul is a theologian, writer and speaker. Associate Minister at St Nic’s, Nottingham and Honorary Lecturer at the University of Nottingham. Mac user and chocoholic.

Silence is beautiful, unsettling, ...

Silence is beautiful, unsettling, and one of the finest religious movies ever made

By Alissa Wilkinson 1/14/2017

     Martin Scorsese’s film keenly understands Shūsaku Endō’s novel and challenges believer and nonbeliever alike.

     Shūsaku Endō’s novel Silence (first published in Japanese in 1966 as Chinmoku, then translated into English in 1969) is slippery and troubling, a book that refuses to behave. It flatters no reader; it refuses to comfort anyone. In telling the story of Portuguese priests and persecuted Christians in Japan, it navigates the tension between missionary and colonizer, East and West, Christianity and Buddhism and political ideology, but refuses to land on definitive answers.

     Martin Scorsese’s long-gestating film Silence is based on Endō’s novel, which he read shortly after his 1988 film Last Temptation of Christ was protested and condemned by the Catholic Church and other conservative Christians 28 years ago. It’s almost impossible to capture the nuances of a novel like Endō’s for the screen; Masahiro Shinoda tried in 1971, and Endō reportedly hated the ending. But Scorsese comes about as close as one can imagine, and the results are challenging for both the faithful and the skeptic.

     The struggle for faith in a world marked by suffering and God’s silence is present in every frame of Silence. The answers in Scorsese’s film, as in Endō’s novel, are found not in words, but in the spaces between them.

     Silence is a story of persecution in a Japan seeking to expel foreigners

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Alissa Wilkinson is Vox's film critic. She's been writing about film and culture since 2006, and her work has appeared at Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, Vulture, RogerEbert.com, The Atlantic, Christianity Today, Books and Culture, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Paste, Pacific Standard, and others. Alissa is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle and a 2017-18 Art of Nonfiction writing fellow with the Sundance Institute. She teaches criticism and cultural theory at The King's College.

4 Reasons Spurgeon Died Poor

By Christian George 5/11/16

     Charles Spurgeon could have been one of the richest millionaires in London.

     Instead, he died poor.

     Unlike his contemporary pastors in London, Spurgeon did not leave millions of pounds to his family after his death. Susannah told a Baptist newspaper her husband only left £2,000 (Nottingham Evening Post, March 31, 1892).

     This number is staggering compared to how much money Spurgeon actually earned. In fact, one of the most overlooked aspects of Spurgeon’s ministry is his personal finances.

     Let’s see where Spurgeon’s wallet takes us.

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Christian George | Associate Professor Of Historical Theology, Curator Of The Spurgeon Library | About

Read The Psalms In "1" Year

Psalm 2

The Reign of the LORD’s Anointed

2:1 Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”

4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”

ESV Reformation Study Bible

The Inspired Order of the Bible 2

By Dr. Judd W. Patton

     Now, while Jerome is the primary figure responsible for the Traditional arrangement of the books of the Bible, there is more to the historical story. Earnest Martin details other “players” besides Jerome. Briefly, sometime in the second or third centuries A.D., the Septuagint version of the Bible, a Greek translation of the Old Testament, was put into book form by Egyptian Christians, replacing the twenty-two separate and independent scrolls of the Hebrew Bible. Simultaneously they abandoned the Hebrew order of the books or scrolls as maintained at the Temple, and rearranged the books into a more subject-oriented or topical arrangement. 3

     That is, they grouped the historical books together (Genesis through Esther). Then the poetic books were placed together (Job, Psalms and Proverbs) followed by the poetic works of Solomon (Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon). Finally, the prophetic books were grouped together (Isaiah through Malachi).

     Check it out in your own Bibles. Perhaps some Bible students were unaware of this organizational three-part rationale for this Traditional Bible book order - historical, poetic and prophetic?

     Jerome was well aware of both the Hebrew Bible order and the relatively new Septuagint book order in his day. 4 He had a choice to make. What should he do for his own translation? Well, he decided to use the Septuagint order in his Latin Vulgate version of the Bible. The rest is history, as the saying goes!

Christ’s Comment on the Hebrew Scriptures

     The whole issue about the arrangement of Bible books in the Old Testament is easily resolved. Did Christ reveal His inspired order? Indeed He did!

     Turn to Luke 24:44-45. “Then He said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning me.’ And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the scriptures.”

     Christ identified the three great divisions of the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures in this New Testament passage. The Divisions consist of the Law (also called the Torah or Pentateuch), the Prophets, and the Writings. The latter section begins with the book of Psalms and has also been identified in Judaism as the Hagiographa, meaning inspired writings. It became known as the Royal Division since it was written by kings, under the inspiration of God, of course, for priestly rulers and leadership instruction.

     See Table 1 of this three-part order or divisions at the conclusion of this paper. Readers are encouraged to refer to the Inspired Order while studying the next section.

The Law, Prophets and the Writings

     Romans 3:2 states that, “Unto them (the Jews) were committed the oracles of God.” Yes, they were God’s instruments in preserving the Old Testament scriptures, and what they have preserved are twenty-two books, from the twenty-two original scrolls. Let’s review these books.

     The First Division is the Law consisting of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. As an interesting side-note, the original Hebrew titles of these books were taken from the first verse of each book. Thus the real God-inspired book titles are: “In the Beginning,” “These are the Names,” “The Lord Called,” “In the Wilderness,” and “These are the Words.” ( 5 )

     Read these book titles as a sentence. Interesting, isn’t it? The titles give a good sense of the content and God’s purpose for the Torah. The Traditional titles, by contrast, that we have become accustomed to are the Greek titles originating from the Septuagint version, translated into Latin and English thereafter.

Resolutions Are Not Enough / Habits of Grace for a New Year

By David Mathis 12/31/16

     New Year’s resolutions can be an important first step, but they are a far cry from real, lasting change.

     The ringing in of a new year brings with it the possibility of a fresh start, or at least a fresh reminder to turn the page on some (or many) ways we’d like to grow and mature in the next season of life. But haven’t we all tried this enough times by now to know how futile mere resolves are if not accompanied by more?

     Whether it’s eating and exercise, or Bible-reading and prayer, the God-created mechanism we call “habit” is vital for seeing our earnest resolutions through to enjoyable realities. If we really are resolved to see our hopes for 2017 become life-enriching habits, we will do well to keep several basic truths in mind at the outset of a new year.

     1. Focus on a Few, Not Many. | Better than big emotional, private resolves about the many things you want to “fix” about your life is dialing in just one or two realistic, and really important, resolves with a concrete plan and specific accountability. The excitement of a new year, and ease with which we can desire change, often leads us to bite off way more than we can chew for a new year.

     It’s much better to focus on just a couple new habits — even better, just one. And if you’re going to narrow it to just one (or maybe a couple or three), you might as well make it count. Identify something important that will give your new-habit-forming particular focus, even while this one resolve will reap benefits in other areas of your life. Soul-strengthening “habits of grace” are precisely this. Going deeper in God’s word, prayer, or your local church will produce an invaluable harvest.

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David Mathis (@davidcmathis) is executive editor for desiringGod.org, pastor at Cities Church in Minneapolis/Saint Paul, and adjunct professor for Bethlehem College and Seminary. He is a husband, father of four, and author of Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines.

Major Theological Interpretations of Prophecy

By John F. Walvoord

      Amillennial interpretations. Within orthodox interpretations of the Bible the most prominent theological interpretation of prophecy since the fourth century of the Christian era has been amillennial or nonmillennial. Beginning with Augustine, the amillennial interpretation held that there would be no literal future thousand-year reign of Christ on earth, but that the millennium referred to the present age or possibly the last thousand years of the present age. Because this did not provide a literal interpretation of millennial passages, it has been designated as amillennial since the nineteenth century.

     The amillennial interpretation within the limits of orthodox theology has had various explanations of fulfillment of the millennial prophecies. The most popular, the Augustinian interpretation, relates the millennium in the present age as a spiritual kingdom ruling in the hearts of Christians or embodied in the progress of the gospel in the church.

     Amillenarians of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have offered varied interpretations, some holding that the millennium is fulfilled in the time between the death and resurrection of a Christian. Some in the twentieth century hold that the millennium will be fulfilled in the new heaven and the new earth as described in Revelation 21–22. Some amillenarians have also suggested that the millennial passages are conditional and will not be fulfilled due to the departure of Israel from the faith. Still others suggest that the kingdom of earth was fulfilled in the reign of Solomon who controlled the land promised to Abraham ( Gen. 15:18 ).

     Within twentieth-century amillennialism the neoorthodox interpretation of Scripture may also be considered. This view considers the kingdom being fulfilled now in the experience of individual Christians. Generally speaking, neoorthodox scholars hold that God directly communicates to Christians supernaturally, but the Bible is not considered in itself an infallible record of revelation.

     Liberal theologians also are amillennial in the sense that they do not believe any future millennium will ever take place.

      Postmillennial Interpretation. Beginning with Daniel Whitby in the eighteenth century, an interpretation of prophecy became popular that held specifically that the millennium would be the last one thousand years of the present age. Adherents of this view believed the gospel would triumph to such an extent in the world that the whole world would be Christianized, lol, how's this working out??!! bringing in a golden age that would correspond to the millennial kingdom. Like amillennialism, it places the second coming of Christ at the end of the millennium. Postmillennialism in its original form attempted a more literal interpretation of the millennium than was followed by the later postmillenarians of the twentieth century.

     In the twentieth century, however, postmillennialism, influenced by evolution, became less biblical and adopted the concept of spiritual progress over a long period of time as in a general way bringing in a golden age. These postmillenarians, however, are not considered orthodox. As a theological movement, postmillennialism largely died in the first part of the twentieth century, but small groups have attempted to revive it in current theological discussion. Good luck with that.

      Premillennial Interpretation. From the first century, Bible scholars have held that the second coming of Christ will be premillennial, that is, the second coming will be followed by a thousand years of Christ’s literal reign on earth. This was a predominant view of the early church as witnessed by the early church fathers. By the third century, however, the Alexandria school of theology, bringing in sweeping allegorical interpretation of Scripture, succeeded in displacing the premillennial view.

     In the last few centuries, however, premillennialism has been revived by biblical scholars and now is held by many who are orthodox in other respects. Unlike amillennialism and postmillennialism, the premillennial interpretation has no liberal adherents as it builds on the concept that the Bible is the Word of God and that prophecies are to be interpreted in their normal literal sense.

     The premillennial view has much to commend it, as it has the same principles of interpretation regarding prophecy as is normal in other areas of theological interpretation. The premillennial view is generally adopted in the interpretation of prophecy in this work. The fact that so many prophecies have already been literally fulfilled lends support for the expectation that prophecies yet to be fulfilled will have the same literal fulfillment.

Every Prophecy of the Bible: Clear Explanations for Uncertain Times

Entertainment and Worship

By Joe Thorn 7/01/2017

     In every church and every generation of Christians, there is the potential to lose our focus on the things that are most important (Heb. 2:1). We must constantly remind ourselves and re-center our churches lest we find ourselves trusting in something other than the gospel of God and the Word of God.

     One of the more dangerous drifts happening in our local churches today is within our corporate worship. In many churches there is a de-emphasis on the means of grace (Scripture, prayer, and the sacraments or ordinances), and a reliance on entertainment. Some try to balance the two in the name of reaching more people with the gospel, but there is an inescapable danger in overvaluing entertainment and implementing it in corporate worship.

     This is not a new phenomenon. The nineteenth-century pastor Charles Spurgeon said, “The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them.” It may not be new, but it is increasingly popular, especially in light of our entertainment-driven culture. We see this in secular songs played by worship bands to wow the crowd. It’s hard to miss the value of amusement in the comedy-full but theology-empty preaching of many pulpits. Many of us have felt it in elaborate performances for the congregation to observe, but not to participate in. For some, Sunday morning more closely resembles a variety show than an offering made to God. The danger in bringing entertainment into gathered worship lies in the aim of entertainment and its work against the aim of worship.

     I am not suggesting that church should be boring or that every church should have identical worship services, as if there is only one appropriate form in which to worship the Lord. Corporate worship from church to church varies in many ways. The styles, music, and liturgies developed in particular contexts and traditions lead to different flavors in worship. The church of Jesus Christ is made up of people, and therefore congregations, from every tribe, tongue, and nation, and this means diversity from church to church. This is often a good thing, something we can celebrate, as long as the church’s worship is ordered according to the parameters of Scripture and offered by faith.

     The encroachment of entertainment into our worship is not a matter of style but of substance. Entertainment is a good thing, but its purpose is the refreshment of the mind and body, not the transformation of the mind or the edification of the spirit. The danger of entertainment in worship is not about which musical instruments are permitted or what era of hymns the church should sing. The danger is found in what the church is aiming at. Entertainment has a different aim than worship. Entertainment is something offered to people for their amusement. Yet worship has a different focus and produces a different result.

      The focus of worship is God, not man, which immediately pits it against entertainment. We offer ourselves to the Lord individually and collectively on Sunday morning. The church ascribes honor to God in the reading, preaching, singing, and praying of His Word. True worship is inherently God-centered and God-directed. What is done when the church is gathered is to be done according to God’s will and for His pleasure. This stands in opposition to entertainment, which is a spiritually powerless work directed at the people.

     While worship is to be directed at God, it simultaneously offers much more than entertainment can ever deliver. As the church draws near to God, the Lord draws near to us, and we receive grace. Grace — regenerating grace, renewing grace, reviving grace — is offered to the congregation through the means of grace. The result of worshiping God in spirit and truth is transformation. Entertainment cannot lead to edification. Entertainment can stir the emotions, but God uses the means of grace to change our affections. Entertainment might draw a crowd or captivate a congregation, but only the means of grace will draw people to Christ and conform them to His image.

     The beauty of worship is that it is infinitely more powerful than entertainment. Entertainment seeks to replicate drama and awe. But the grace of God in worship unveils the deepest drama in the world and produces authentic awe in the light of the revelation of God.

     True worship may be painful one moment and joyful the next, as we encounter God’s law and gospel, confessing our sins and resting in the pardon we have in Jesus Christ. What is more dramatic than condemned sinners being forgiven by a holy God? Than slaves’ being set free by the Savior? What is more thrilling than the Son of God’s standing in the place of the ungodly to save them from God’s wrath? The church doesn’t need a performance of any kind to aid us in worship. We need the Word of God read and preached, prayed and sung, for in this we exalt and experience our triune God.

     Entertainment has its place and serves a good, if earthly, purpose. Our local churches will do well to be careful of drifting toward it in an effort to draw or address the needs of sinful men and women. The Scripture is what God uses to penetrate the soul and change the heart. May we give ourselves to worship the Lord in spirit and truth, rather than mere emotion and amusement.

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Joe Thorn is the lead pastor of Redeemer Fellowship in Saint Charles, Illinois. He is author of Note to Self and Experiencing the Trinity: The Grace of God for the People of God.

Dealing with Disappointment

By Deepak Reju 7/01/2017

I sat across from a husband who expressed disillusionment about his spouse and his marriage. I’ll spare you the details, but essentially he said: “I need this. She’s not giving it to me. I’m unhappy. Why won’t she give it to me?” What you are missing, that I can’t give you in my writing, is the dejection in his voice.

You’ve been there, haven’t you? Something doesn’t go as expected. You’re frustrated. Your family, job, friendships, marriage, church — they’re not what you hoped for. How do you as a Christian deal with disappointment?

START WITH THE HEART

Disappointment often reveals what your heart is really worshiping (Matt. 6:21; Luke 6:43–47). It exposes you. If your son made a bad decision, are you sad because of his foolish decision, or because it shows he’s not living up to your expectations? If you desire more intimacy with your spouse, but he or she doesn’t reciprocate, are you dissatisfied because of your spouse’s “no,” or because you feel entitled to more intimacy? If your boss doesn’t give you the promotion, are you frustrated because you worked hard for the pay raise, or because you fear failure?

When you deal with disappointment, it’s too easy to focus on the circumstances around you and cast blame on others rather than looking at the battle in your own heart. Think for a moment about the last time you were disappointed (Prov. 13:12). Was the bulk of your thinking and energy focused on the wrong done, the unhelpful circumstances, or your own heart? The natural tendency of sin is to blame others and not to deal honestly with our own hearts (Matt. 7:3–5). Ask God to help you know the selfish tendencies of your own heart.

THINGS WON’T GO AS YOU EXPECT

Why do things not go as we expect? In one word — sin. Sin corrupts everything in our world and leaves us sad, confused, regretful, and disenchanted. Hollywood, best-selling books, television commercials, and Disney all work against us to feed our desires and give us unrealistic, idealistic expectations. If you naively expect things to go well and downplay the power of the sinful flesh, you’re not being realistic about sin. You are likely to be disappointed. But if you demonstrate “sober judgment” (Rom. 12:3) — a humble perspective on yourself, a realistic view of your sin — you’re less prone to be disappointed.

Our lives run into the real world, with real problems, real frustrations, and real heartache, and we acknowledge what we knew all along — sin ruins everything (3:23). The Spirit is working powerfully within you, but your flesh is doing everything it can to undermine your life (Gal. 5:16–18).

TURN TO CHRIST

     What do you do when you are disappointed? Hold a pity party? Mope about it? Complain? Get angry? Muddle through confusion? Turn in on yourself? Manipulate? Withdraw? Fix the problem? Make the problem go away? None of these are Christian responses.

     The smartest thing a Christian can do is turn to Christ and start with a few simple words: “Help.” “Jesus, I can’t deal with this on my own.” “I need You.” Where you turn with your disappointment is key. Do you turn to Christ, or do you sort through this on your own? Do you turn to Christ, or do you cast the blame on your circumstances? Do you turn to Christ or do you blame Him? Do you think that since He’s sovereign, everything that doesn’t work out for you is His fault? Dear Christian, don’t you see that your disappointment and brokenness could be clearing away the clutter of your life that’s keeping you from seeing Christ? Turn to Christ and give your disappointment to Him.

     I said to the husband who was disappointed in his wife and his marriage, “At the point where you are most disappointed, where you are most hurting, where you are most confused, you need to let Christ meet you right there.” Are you struggling because your hopes, dreams, and expectations have not worked out? Run to the cross (2 Cor. 5:15–21). Let Christ comfort you and offer a kind of satisfaction that can only be found in Him. In the shadow of the cross, your disappointment can be honestly dealt with.

LOOK TO HEAVEN

     A father’s son confessed he is gay, and all of the father’s dreams for his son have now vanished. A young couple has another knock-down, drag-out fight. Their conflict is akin to nuclear war, and in the aftermath, they are riddled with pain and confusion. A single woman is thirty-six. She longs for marriage and hates that she’s still single. In each of these cases, disappointment is daily knocking at the door.

     As long as we live on this side of glory, sin will make a mess of things. Unfortunately, when things go wrong, our vantage point can be narrowed to the tiny kingdom of ourselves, and we can’t see beyond our disappointment. We get fixated on the horizontal (anger, pain, confusion, disappointment) and lose sight of the vertical — our relationship with God.

     But God says: “Dear child, look up and see, it’s not always going to be this way. One day, sin and pain will be no more.” When you’re disappointed, you need to look up, beyond the confines of your circumstances, and remember heaven (Ps. 73:24–26). Don’t lose sight of eternity. In heaven, there will be no more disappointment because you’ll get to be with God. What a glorious place that will be.

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Dr. Deepak Reju is pastor of biblical counseling and family ministry at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. He’s author of The Pastor and Counseling and She’s Got the Wrong Guy.

The Continual Burnt Offering

By H.A. Ironside - 1941

January 2

Genesis 1:3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ESV

Plato said, “The radiant light is the shadow of God.” But David exclaims, “Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment” (Psalm 104:2), The declaration of the New Testament is, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). It was His own brightness that, at His own command, illumined the darkness of that primeval earth. And the miracle of that first day of earth’s recall from chaos and gloom pictures His present grace to the sin-darkened souls of men. For we are told that “It is…God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). He is the vessel to display that light throughout all the ages to come. Of the heavenly city it is written, “The glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is it’s light” (Revelation 21:23). It was from His face that the light shone of old, and He is still the light of the world.

Psalm 104:2 covering yourself with light as with a garment,
stretching out the heavens like a tent. ESV

1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.   ESV

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.   ESV

Revelation 21:23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.   ESV

God in mercy sent His Son
To a world by sin undone;
Jesus Christ was crucified—
‘Twas for sinners Jesus died.

Sin and death no more shall reign,
Jesus died and lives again!
In the glory’s highest height—
See Him, God’s supreme delight.

All who in His name believe,
Everlasting life receive;
Lord of all is Jesus now,
Ev’ry knee to Him must bow.

Oh, the glory of the grace
Shining in the Saviour’s face,
Telling sinners from above,
“God is light,” and “God is love.”
—H. K. Burlingham

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

Inerrancy of the Original Autographs

By Gleason Archer Jr.

     We must next ask ourselves the question, What kind of record is this Book going to be? One containing errors of various kinds, or one free from all error? If this written revelation contains mistakes, then it can hardly fulfill its intended purpose: to convey to man in a reliable way the will of God for his salvation. Why is this so? Because a demonstrated mistake in one part gives rise to the possibility that there may be mistakes in other parts of the Bible. If the Bible turns out to be a mixture of truth and error, then it becomes a book like any other.

     No doubt, there is truth in every other religious document known to man—the Koran, the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Analects, the Iliad, and the Odyssey—even though this truth may coexist with an abundance of error. What is to be done with books of this sort, books containing both truth and error? There is only one thing that can be done, and that is to subject them to the critical faculty of the human reason. Within proper limits, to be sure, the reasoning powers of man have a legitimate and necessary function in weighing the evidences presented by these documents, to see whether they are consistent with divine origin. Here it is a question of recognizing the identity of a purported revelation as to whether it is the Word of God. Human reason is competent to pass upon these evidences, applying the rule of self-contradiction and the other canons of logic, in order to determine whether the data of the texts themselves square with the claims of divine origin. (It has already been pointed out in footnote 3 that only the Bible, as opposed to other religious documents, contains decisive evidences of divine inspiration and authority.)

     But it is a very different thing for human reason to attempt to pass judgment upon divine revelation ( 2 Tim 3:16 ) as such, to determine its truth or falsity. For such judgments to be valid, they must proceed from a Judge who possesses a knowledge of metaphysical truth which is superior to that of the revelation itself. In other words, man must know more about God and the soul and spiritual values than the Bible itself knows, if he is to pass valid judgment on the truth of the Bible. But this is obviously not the case, as pointed out previously, and therefore man is totally dependent on divine revelation for this all-important knowledge. For this reason, if that revelation is to come in a usable and reliable form, not dependent on man’s fallible judgment, it must come in an inerrant form. Otherwise it would depend ultimately on the authority of man for its validation, and, therefore, could not serve its purpose as a trustworthy disclosure of divine truth.

2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV)
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Textual Transmission not Necessarily Infallible

     At this point we must make a distinction. Inerrancy (freedom from all error) is necessary only for the original manuscripts (autographs) of the biblical books. They must have been free from all mistakes, or else they could not have been truly inspired by the God of truth in whom is no darkness at all. ( 1 John 1:5 ) God could never have inspired a human author of Scripture to write anything erroneous or false. (5) To say that God could not use fallible man as an instrument of His infallible truth is as illogical as to insist that an artist can never produce a valid painting because his brush is capable of slipping.

     But what about the text of the Bible as we now possess it? Is that text necessarily free from all mistakes of every kind? Not when it comes to copyists’ errors, for we certainly do find discrepancies among the handwritten copies that have been preserved to us, even those which come from the earliest centuries. Some slips of the pen may have crept into the first copies made from the original manuscripts, and additional errors of a transmissional type could have found their way into the copies of copies. It is almost unavoidable that this should have been the case. No one alive can sit down and copy out the text of an entire book without a mistake of any kind. (Those who doubt this statement are invited to try it themselves!) It would take nothing short of a miracle to insure the inerrancy of a copy of an original manuscript.

     Granted, then, that errors have crept into our texts as we now have them, how can they serve as a reliable medium for disclosing God’s will? Are we not right back with the problem of books containing both truth and error? Not at all, for there is a great difference between a document which was wrong at the start and a document which was right at the start but was miscopied. One may read a letter from his friend or relative and find in it such common slips as of for or, or and for an, or led for lead and yet by a simple process of correction in the light of the context, he may easily arrive at the true sense intended by the writer. Only if the errors which have gotten into the copies are so serious as to pervert the sense altogether does the message fail in accurate communication. But if the letter came from a correspondent who was confused, mistaken, or deceitful, then the errors and misinformation it contains are beyond remedy and the reader is injured thereby.

(5) The question may be raised as to the infallibility of the sources from which the Scripture record (such as the genealogical tables in Genesis and Chronicles) may have been copied. If temple archives or palace records were consulted (as they probably were) and if these records were previously written down by uninspired men (as was probably the case), why can we not limit the inerrancy of Scripture to mere accuracy in copying out the human record, whether or not that record was free from mistake? In other words, could there not be inspired mistakes in the Scriptures?

We must answer this question with another: What essential difference is there between a fallible human record and a fallible human speaker? If the written words of men could be accepted into Scripture even though erroneous and mistaken, does it not follow that their spoken words could also be so accepted? Who can suppose that everything that Moses or Isaiah or Malachi spoke was free from all error? Was it not when they were uttering the Word of the Lord that their utterance was infallible? As God employed their oral communications to reveal His truth, safe-guarding them from error until they were recorded in written form, so also God could take erroneous human archives and guide the human author to avoid all their errors and record only what was in fact true. Whatever Scripture asserts to have been historically true, regardless of the intermediate source of the information, must be understood as trustworthy and reliable. It makes no essential difference whether the source was written or oral, whether it came from a fallible human hand or a fallible human mouth; in either case the Holy Spirit eliminated mistakes and insured the inscripturation only of truth. All the discrepancies which have come down to us in the Received Text of the Hebrew Scriptures are perfectly well accounted for by errors in later textual transmission. There is no need to resort to a theory of mistakes copied out in the original autographs, and to do so endangers the authoritativeness of Scripture as a whole.

1 John 1:5 (ESV)
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

A Survey of Old Testament Introduction

The Problem Of The Old Testament

By James Orr 1907

PREFACE

THE thanks of the author are due, in the first place, to the Trustees of Lake Forest College, and to the adjudicators acting on their behalf, who, in their generosity, have awarded to this book the munificent prize at their disposal from the Bross Fund. It is right, however, to say, that, although the present volume has been so fortunate as to obtain the Bross Prize, it was not for the Bross Prize, or with thought or knowledge of the same, that the book was written. But for a long-standing promise to the English publishers, it is doubtful if it ever would have been written at all. The book was sent to press in the beginning of this year, and the delay in its publication has been due principally to the afterthought of submitting it in proof to the judgment of the Bross Prize arbiters. The author is deeply sensible of the courtesy of the publishers in so readily meeting his wishes in this matter at inconvenience to themselves.

The book in one sense is not new, but represents, as will probably be evident from its perusal, the gathering up of thought, reading, and formation of opinion on its subject, going as far back as the days of the old Colenso and Samuel Davidson controversies, and of the appearance of Graf’s work in 1866, when the author’s interest in these questions was first thoroughly aroused—an interest which has never since flagged. Much water had flowed under the bridge in the interval, and the author entered on the task of putting his book into shape with many misgivings. Still, now that the work is done, and apart altogether from the material reward which has so unexpectedly come to him, he does not regret having undertaken it. The time is past when the discussion of Old Testament questions can be left wholly to professional experts, who represent one, but only one, of the many points of view necessary to be taken into account in considering this subject. The conclusions of the critics, of whom personally the author would speak only with respect, force themselves on everyone’s attention, and it is a matter, no longer of choice, but of necessity, to pay regard to their opinions. Especially for one engaged in the teaching of theology, in whatever department, it is absolutely indispensable to possess some acquaintance with the methods and results of Old Testament study, and to try to come to some understanding with himself in regard to the theories of Old Testament religion and literature which he finds prevailing around him. The judgment of such an one may not be of the highest value; but, if it is his own, and has been reached at the cost of prolonged thought and study, the expression of it, and the exhibition of the grounds on which it rests, may not be without help to others working their way through similar perplexities.

The standpoint of the present book can be readily understood from a survey of the Table of Contents, or from reading the sketch of its scope at the close of the first chapter. Those who expect to find in it a wholesale denunciation of critics and of everything that savours of criticism will be disappointed. The author is not of the opinion that much good is accomplished by the violent and indiscriminating assaults on the critics sometimes indulged in by very excellent men. The case which the critics present must be met in a calm, temperate, and scholarly way, if it is to be dealt with to the satisfaction of thoughtful Christian people. On the other hand, those who come to the book expecting to find in it agreement with the methods and results of the reigning critical schools will probably be not less disappointed. The author has here no option. With the best will in the world to accept whatever new light criticism may have to throw on the structure and meaning of the Old Testament, he has to confess that his study of the critical developments—now for over thirty years—has increasingly convinced him that, while Biblical students are indebted to the critics, and to Old Testament science generally, for valuable help, the Graf-Wellhausen hypothesis now in the ascendant is, neither in its methods nor in its results, entitled to the unqualified confidence often claimed for it. He is persuaded, on the contrary, that it rests on erroneous fundamental principles, is eaten through with subjectivity, and must, if carried out to its logical issues—to which, happily, very many do not carry it—prove subversive of our Christian faith, and of such belief in, and use of, the Bible as alone can meet the needs of the living Church. Only, if this is to be shown, it must, as far as one’s knowledge enables him to do it, be done thoroughly, and with due regard for all really critically-ascertained facts.

Being designed specially for an English-reading public, the book is purposely cast in a form as little technical as the nature of the subject permits. Hebrew words and minute philological discussions are, as a rule, avoided, and where English translations of foreign books exist, references are usually made to these. The customary form of the divine name, “Jehovah,” is retained; but in quotations authors have been allowed to use their own various spellings of the name. If, throughout, a seemingly disproportionate space is given to German writers, this is simply due to the fact that at least nine-tenths of the “Higher-Critical” theories now in vogue had their origin and elaboration in Germany, and in Britain and America are largely of the nature of importations. One early learns that, if these theories are to be dealt with satisfactorily, it can only be by going at first hand to the sources—tapping the stream, as it were, at the fountain-head. At the same time the Indexes will show that representative writers of English-speaking countries, of different schools, have by no means been overlooked.

In so immense a field, it is hardly necessary to say that no attempt whatever is made at a complete or exhaustive treatment of Old Testament questions. That would have been impossible in the space, even had the author possessed the knowledge or ability qualifying him to undertake it. Some aspects of the Old Testament—the Wisdom Literature, for example—have had to be left altogether untouched. The idea has been, as far as practicable, to concentrate attention on really crucial points, and to make these the pivots on which the discussion of other questions turns (see Appendix to first chapter). In handling so large a mass of material, and copying and re-copying so many references, it is inevitable that, with the utmost care, slips and mistakes should occur. The author can only hope that these will not prove in any case to be of such magnitude as seriously to affect the main argument.

Since the book went to press in the spring, no small amount of literature has appeared to which it would be interesting to refer. Allusion may here only be made to the appearance of a valuable work by Professor W. Lotz, of Erlangen, entitled Das Alte Testament und die Wissenschaft, with which, in parts, the treatment in these pages may be compared. It would be endless to specify articles and pamphlets. Professor James Robertson, of Glasgow, has contributed to the May and June numbers of the periodical Good Words two interesting papers on “The Beginnings of Hebrew History and Religion”; and Professor R. D. Wilson, of Princeton, has completed in July and October his valuable articles on “Royal Titles” in the Princeton Theological Review. The October article is specially devoted to the statements of Dr. Driver on the use of royal titles in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Three papers by Professors Driver and Kirkpatrick on The Higher Criticism have been published, aiming at the removal of misconceptions. In his Biblische Theologie des Alten Testaments Stade has re-stated his views on the religion of Israel in more systematic form.

With these remarks, the book must be left to its own mission. The author entertains no over-sanguine expectations as to its effect on general conviction, but he is not without hope that it may at least rouse to reflection some who have given too easy an assent to current theories, simply because they are the theories of the hour. He has no wish to be ultra-dogmatic on any point. Time may not justify all his conclusions; but he has the strong persuasion that, when the day for summing-up comes—if p xviii ever such arrives—the positions into which men’s minds will be disposed to settle will be found much nearer those advocated in these pages than they will be to those of the advanced Wellhausen school. The future will show.

The volume, it will be observed, has been amply fitted with Tables of Contents, Indexes, and cross-references in footnotes. These should make the task of consulting its pages comparatively easy, and should lighten somewhat the impression of abstruseness created by certain of its chapters. The author’s thanks are specially due to the Rev. J. M. Wilson, B.D., Highbury, London, and to George Hunter, Esq., Glasgow, for valuable aid in the correction of the proofs.

GLASGOW, October 1905.

The Problem of the Old Testament

John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion

The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Translated by Henry Beveridge

CHAPTER 3.

EVERY THING PROCEEDING FROM THE CORRUPT NATURE OF MAN DAMNABLE.

The principal matters in this chapter are--I. A recapitulation of the former chapter, proving, from passages of Scriptures that the intellect and will of man are so corrupted, that no integrity, no knowledge or fear of God, can now be found in him, sect. 1 and 2. II. Objections to this doctrine, from the virtues which shone in some of the heathen, refuted, sect. 3 and 4. III. What kind of will remains in man, the slave of sin, sect. 5. The remedy and cure, sect. 6. IV. The opinion of Neo-Pelagian sophists concerning the preparation and efficacy of the will, and also concerning perseverance and co-operating grace, refuted, both by reason and Scripture, sect. 7-12. V. Some passages from Augustine confirming the truth of this doctrine, sect. 13 and 14.

Sections.

1. The intellect and will of the whole man corrupt. The term flesh applies not only to the sensual, but also to the higher part of the soul. This demonstrated from Scripture.

2. The heart also involved in corruption, and hence in no part of man can integrity, or knowledge or the fear of God, be found.

3. Objection, that some of the heathen were possessed of admirable endowments, and, therefore, that the nature of man is not entirely corrupt. Answer, Corruption is not entirely removed, but only inwardly restrained. Explanation of this answer.

4. Objection still urged, that the virtuous and vicious among the heathen must be put upon the same level, or the virtuous prove that human nature, properly cultivated, is not devoid of virtue. Answer, That these are not ordinary properties of human nature, but special gifts of God. These gifts defiled by ambition, and hence the actions proceeding from them, however esteemed by man, have no merit with God.

5. Though man has still the faculty of willing there is no soundness in it. He falls under the bondage of sin necessarily, and yet voluntarily. Necessity must be distinguished from compulsion. The ancient Theologians acquainted with this necessity. Some passages condemning the vacillation of Lombard.

6. Conversion to God constitutes the remedy or soundness of the human will. This not only begun, but continued and completed; the beginning, continuance, and completion, being ascribed entirely to God. This proved by Ezekiel's description of the stony heart, and from other passages of Scripture.

7. Various Objections.--1. The will is converted by God, but, when once prepared, does its part in the work of conversion. Answer from Augustine. 2. Grace can do nothing without will, nor the will without grace. Answer. Grace itself produces will. God prevents the unwilling, making him willing, and follows up this preventing grace that he may not will in vain. Another answer gathered from various passages of Augustine.

8. Answer to the second Objection continued. No will inclining to good except in the elect. The cause of election out of man. Hence right will, as well as election, are from the good pleasure of God. The beginning of willing and doing well is of faith; faith again is the gift of God; and hence mere grace is the cause of our beginning to will well. This proved by Scripture.

9. Answer to second Objection continued. That good will is merely of grace proved by the prayers of saints. Three axioms 1. God does not prepare man's heart, so that he can afterwards do some good of himself, but every desire of rectitude, every inclination to study, and every effort to pursue it, is from Him. 2. This desire, study, and effort, do not stop short, but continue to effect. 3. This progress is constant. The believer perseveres to the end. A third Objection, and three answers to it.

10. A fourth Objection. Answer. Fifth Objection. Answer. Answer confirmed by many passages of Scripture, and supported by a passage from Augustine.

11. Perseverance not of ourselves, but of God. Objection. Two errors in the objection. Refutation of both.

12. An objection founded on the distinction of co-operating grace. Answer. Answer confirmed by the testimony of Augustine and Bernard.

13. Last part of the chapter, in which it is proved by many passages of Augustine, that he held the doctrine here taught.

14. An objection, representing Augustine at variance with himself and other Theologians, removed. A summary of Augustine's doctrine on free will.

Christian Classics Ethereal Library / Public Domain

Institutes of the Christian Religion

#1 Alistair Begg

Devotionals, notes, poetry and more

UCB The Word For Today
This year get out of your comfort zone (2)
1/2/2018 Bob Gass

‘Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid…[of] them!’

(Dt 31:6) 6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” ESV

Incredible though it may seem, when Israel encountered difficulties in the wilderness, they wanted to return to their old life of slavery in Egypt. The security of the known was less threatening to them than the challenges of the unknown. So the Lord said to them, not once, but twice, ‘Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid…[of] them…the LORD your God will…go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor [forsake] you.’ Why did He say that? Because it’s in taking action that you overcome your fear! When you challenge your fears, you master them. When you wrestle with your problems, they lose their grip on you. When you dare to confront the things that scare you, you open the door to the future. A wise man once said, ‘Take the bull by the horns until you have him screaming for mercy.’ Almost without exception every man and woman in the Bible whom God called to do great things felt inadequate, and told Him so. And how did God respond to them? ‘I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand’ (Isaiah 41:10 NLT). Author John Mason writes: ‘The desire for safety stands against every great and virtuous dream. Security, many times, is the first step towards stagnation. Boldness in vision is the first, second, and third most important thing. If you dare nothing, you should expect nothing.’ So whatever opportunity or obstacle you’re facing today, factor God in. With Him on your side, what you have is always greater than whatever you lack.

Gen 4-6
Matt 2

UCB The Word For Today

IMHO (Birthday)
January 2, 2016

     I try to walk as often as I can. A park is close at hand and walking through trees, by a river and around a duck pond where I see ducks, nutrias, squirrels, occasionally egrets, blue herons and geese makes for a nice walk. People are always walking dogs from the shelter across the street. . I consider myself blessed to have such a beautiful place to walk … and the health to walk.

     I like to walk and pray. I’ve noticed as I get older that thoughts can sometimes be lost as quickly as they come. Focusing on the Lord’s Prayer in a lectio divina style throughout the day helps me center.

     (01-02-2023) 2016 seems like a long time ago. We moved April 2018 to a different apartment, a few miles away, because it was a little less expensive, but the rent goes up every year. We have really learned what it means to depend on the Lord. We are waiting to hear how much it will go up this year, trying to keep focused on Isaiah 26:3, you keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you. I have been praying since 2005 that the Lord would give us a home of our own. Now, on my 74th birthday I am still confident He will, but it may be on the other side of the river. May God's will be done.

     ... a passion for justice, or at least a sense that things ought to be sorted out, is simply part of being human and living in the world.

Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense

American Minute
by Bill Federer

Today is Betsy Ross Day. She was born January 1, 1752 to a Quaker family in Philadelphia, the 8th of 17 children. She apprenticed as a seamstress, where she fell in love with an upholsterer named John Ross, son of an Episcopal rector and nephew of George Ross, who signed the Declaration of Independence. As Quakers forbade interdenominational marriage, John and Betsy eloped. They attended Christ’s Church and their pew was next to George Washington’s. During the Revolution, John died when a munitions depot he was guarding blew up. Shortly after General Washington asked Betsy Ross to sew the American Flag.

American Minute

Lean Into God
Compiled by Richard S. Adams

If every attribute of the Deity were a distinct member, holiness would be the soul to animate them. Without holiness His patience would be an indulgence to sin, His mercy a fondness, His wrath a madness, His power a tyranny, His wisdom an unworthy subtlety.Holiness gives decorum to them all.
--- Stephen Charnock

We must learn to regard people
less in the light of what they do or omit to do,
and more in the light of what they suffer.
--- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in.
Aim at earth and you get neither.
--- C.S. Lewis

Christians are like the several flowers in a garden that have each of them the dew of heaven, which, being shaken with the wind, they let fall at each other's roots, whereby they are jointly nourished, and become nourishers of each other.
--- John Bunyan

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.
--- Bertrand Russell

... from here, there and everywhere

Proverbs 1:7-9
by D.H. Stern

7     The fear of ADONAI is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

8     My son, heed the discipline of your father,
and do not abandon the teaching of your mother;
9     they will be a garland to grace your head,
a medal of honor for your neck.

Complete Jewish Bible : An English Version of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and B'Rit Hadashah (New Testament)

My Utmost For The Highest
A Daily Devotional by Oswald Chambers

                Will you go out without knowing?

     He went out, not knowing whither he went.
--- Hebrews 11:8.

     Have you been ‘out’ in this way? If so, there is no logical statement possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the difficulties in Christian work is this question—‘What do you expect to do?’ You do not know what you are going to do; the only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually revise your attitude towards God and see if it is a going out of everything, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in perpetual wonder—you do not know what God is going to do next. Each Morning you wake it is to be a ‘going out,’ building in confidence on God. “Take no thought for your life, … nor yet for your body”—take no thought for the things for which you did take thought before you ‘went out.’

     Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do; He reveals to you Who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you go out in surrender to him until you are not surprised an atom at anything He does?

     Suppose God is the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him, what an impertinence worry is! Let the attitude of the life be a continual ‘going out’ in dependence upon God, and your life will have an ineffable charm about it which is a satisfaction to Jesus. You have to learn to go out of convictions, out of creeds, out of experiences, until, so far as your faith is concerned, there is nothing between yourself and God.

My Utmost for His Highest

Flowers
the Poetry of R.S. Thomas

                Flowers

But behind the flower
is that other flower
which is ageless, the idea
of the flower, the one
we smell when we imagine
it, that as often
as it is picked blossoms
again, that has the perfection
of all flowers, the purity
without the fragility.
          Was it
a part of the plan
for humanity to have
flowers about it? They are many
and beautiful, with faces
that are a reminder of those
of our own children,
     though they come painlessly
from the bulb's womb. We trouble
them as we go by, so they hang
their heads at our unreal
progress.
          If flowers had minds,
would they not think they were the colour
eternity is, a window that gives
on a still view the hurrying
people must come to and stare at and pass by?

The Poems of R.S. Thomas

Be-reʾshit
The JPS Torah Commentary

     The story of Creation, or cosmology, that opens the Book of Genesis differs from all other such accounts that were current among the peoples of the ancient world. Its lack of interest in the realm of heaven and its economy of words in depicting primeval chaos are highly uncharacteristic of this genre of literature. The descriptions in Genesis deal solely with what lies beneath the celestial realm, and still the narration is marked by compactness, solemnity, and dignity.

     There is abundant evidence that other cosmologies once existed in Israel. Scattered allusions to be found in the prophetic, poetic, and wisdom literature of the Bible testify to a popular belief that prior to the onset of the creative process the powers of watery chaos had to be subdued by God. These mythical beings are variously designated Yam (Sea), Nahar (River), Leviathan (Coiled One), Rahab (Arrogant One), and Tannin (Dragon). There is no consensus in these fragments regarding the ultimate fate of these creatures. One version has them utterly destroyed by God; in another, the chaotic forces, personalized as monsters, are put under restraint by His power.

     These myths about a cosmic battle at the beginning of time appear in the Bible in fragmentary form, and the several allusions have to be pieced together to produce some kind of coherent unity. Still, the fact that these myths appear in literary compositions in ancient Israel indicates clearly that they had achieved wide currency over a long period of time. They have survived in the Bible solely as obscure, picturesque metaphors and exclusively in the language of poetry. Never are these creatures accorded divine attributes, nor is there anywhere a suggestion that their struggle against God could in any way have posed a challenge to His sovereign rule.

     There is abundant evidence that other cosmologies once existed in Israel. Scattered allusions to be found in the prophetic, poetic, and wisdom literature of the Bible testify to a popular belief that prior to the onset of the creative process the powers of watery chaos had to be subdued by God. These mythical beings are variously designated Yam (Sea), Nahar (River), Leviathan (Coiled One), Rahab (Arrogant One), and Tannin (Dragon). There is no consensus in these fragments regarding the ultimate fate of these creatures. One version has them utterly destroyed by God; in another, the chaotic forces, personalized as monsters, are put under restraint by His power.

     This is of particular significance in light of the fact that one of the inherent characteristics of all other ancient Near Eastern cosmologies is the internecine strife of the gods. Polytheistic accounts of creation always begin with the predominance of the divinized powers of nature and then describe in detail a titanic struggle between the opposing forces. They inevitably regard the achievement of world order as the outgrowth of an overwhelming exhibition of power on the part of one god who then manages to impose his will upon all other gods.

     The early Israelite creation myths, with all their color and drama, must have been particularly attractive to the masses. But none became the regnant version. It was the austere account set forth in the first chapter of Genesis that won unrivaled authority. At first it could only have been the intellectual elite in ancient Israel, most likely the priestly and scholarly circles, who could have been capable of realizing and appreciating the compact forms of symbolization found in Genesis. It is they who would have cherished and nurtured this version until its symbols finally exerted a decisive impact upon the religious consciousness of the entire people of Israel.

     The mystery of divine creativity is, of course, ultimately unknowable. The Genesis narrative does not seek to make intelligible what is beyond human ken. To draw upon human language to explain that which is outside any model of human experience is inevitably to confront the inescapable limitations of any attempt to give verbal expression to this subject. For this reason alone, the narrative in its external form must reflect the time and place of its composition. Thus it directs us to take account of the characteristic modes of literary expression current in ancient Israel. It forces us to realize that a literalistic approach to the text must inevitably confuse idiom with idea, symbol with reality. The result would be to obscure the enduring meaning of that text.

     The biblical Creation narrative is a document of faith. It is a quest for meaning and a statement of a religious position. It enunciates the fundamental postulates of the religion of Israel, the central ideas and concepts that animate the whole of biblical literature. Its quintessential teaching is that the universe is wholly the purposeful product of divine intelligence, that is, of the one self-sufficient, self-existing God, who is a transcendent Being outside of nature and who is sovereign over space and time.

     This credo finds reiterated expression in the narrative in a number of ways, the first of which is the literary framework. The opening and closing lines epitomize the central idea: “God created.” Then there is the literary structure, which presents the creative process with bilateral symmetry. The systematic progression from chaos to cosmos unfolds in an orderly and harmonious manner through a series of six successive and equal units of time. The series is divided into two parallel groups, each of which comprises four creative acts performed in three days. The third day in each group is distinguished by two productions. In each group the movement is from heaven to terrestrial water to dry land. Moreover, the arrangement is such that each creation in the first group furnishes the resource that is to be utilized by the corresponding creature in the second group. The chart below illustrates the schematization.

     The principle of order, deliberation, and direction is further inculcated by means of the progression from inorganic matter to the lowest forms of organic life to four categories of living creatures: fish and fowl, reptiles, the higher animals, and finally humankind. In addition, the entire narrative adheres to a uniform literary pattern. Each of the literary units begins with a declaration formula, “God said,” followed by a command, a statement recording its fulfillment, a notice of divine approbation, and a closing formula, “There was Evening and there was Morning,” with the accompanying numbered day.

     Finally, the Narrator employs the device of number symbolism, the heptad, to emphasize the basic idea of design, completion, and perfection. The opening proclamation contains seven words; the description of primal chaos is set forth in twice seven words; the narrative’s seven literary units feature seven times the formula for the effectuation of the divine will and the statement of divine approval; and the six days of creation culminate in the climactic seventh.

     This seven-day typology is widely attested in the ancient world. As early as the twenty-second century B.C.E., King Gudea of Lagash, in southern Mesopotamia, dedicated a temple with a seven-day feast. The literatures of Mesopotamia and Ugarit are replete with examples of seven-day units of time. Most common is a state of affairs that lasts for six days with a climactic change taking place on the seventh. While the Creation narrative conforms to this literary convention, it is unique in that a different action occurs each day, with no activity at all on the seventh.

JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis

Contents and Role of Genesis
The JPS Torah Commentary

Genesis is a book about origins: the origins of humankind, the origins of Israel, and the origins of the unique relationship between God and a particular people.

The fifty chapters of Genesis divide into three main subject units, presented chronologically: a description of Creation (1:1–2:3); the emergence, development, and degeneration of the human race (2:4–11:26); and (in the bulk of the book) the account of the lives of the founding fathers of the people of Israel (11:27–50:26). In its entirety the book claims to cover a time span of 2,309 years, a figure that is computed from the data found in the narratives and the genealogies in the traditional Hebrew text. It offers a rapid sketch of 1,948 years of universal human history, from Adam to the birth of Abraham, with the remaining 361 years to the death of Joseph comprising the bulk of the work. Put otherwise: Nearly 80 percent of the contents of Genesis is devoted to about 17 percent of the time span that is covered.

JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis

Take Heart
January 2

     You made both summer and winter. --- Psalm 74:17.

     It is easy to believe that God made the summertime. (Highways of the Heart (Morrison Classic Sermon Series, The) ) Beauty is everywhere. The singing of the birds, the warmth of the sun, the amazing prodigality of life—these draw our hearts to the Giver of them all and make it easy to say, “You made summer.” With winter it is different. It is not so easy to see the love of God there. There is a great deal of suffering in winter, for both the animals and for people. It may therefore aid the faith of some who are tempted to doubt the love of God in winter if I suggest some of winter’s spiritual services.

     One service of winter is to deepen our appreciation of the summer. We would be blind if summer were perpetual. We must feel the grip of winter, before we fully appreciate the summer. It is not the one who lives in bonnie Scotland who feels most deeply how beautiful Scotland is. It is the exile, yearning for the mountains and the glens. It is not the one with unbroken health who feels most deeply the value of health. That is realized when health is shattered.

     Another service of winter is the larger demands it makes on the will. In summer it is comparatively easy to get out of bed at the appointed hour, for the earth is warm, the birds are singing, the light streams through open windows. But in winter, to fling the covers off and get up when it is dark and cold—that calls for a certain resolution, an instant demand on the will. Winter—when life is difficult and it takes some doing even to get up—is God’s tonic for his children’s will. Summer is languid; winter makes us resolute. We have to do things when we don’t feel like doing them.

     Another service of winter is to intensify the thought of home. The thought of home is sweetest and richest and most beautiful in the dark and cold of winter. We talk in the same breath of hearth and home, and it is in winter that the hearth is glowing. Now think of everything we and the nation owe to home. Home is the basis of national morality.

     [A final] service of winter is how it stirs our hearts to charity. It unseals the springs of pity. It moves us with compassion for the destitute, and to be moved so is very Christlike.

     Such thoughts as these in icy days, when we are tempted to doubt the love of God, make it easier to say with David, “You made… winter.”
--- George H. Morrison

Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers

On This Day January 2
Famous or Faithful?

     “Not many of you came from important families,” Paul told the Corinthians. Not many, perhaps, but some—like the one born three centuries after Christ in a wealthy Christian home in Caesarea of Cappadocia (Turkey). His parents named him Basil, meaning Kingly. They sent him to the finest schools in Constantinople and Athens, and Basil graduated with honors. He thought highly of himself and returned home dreaming of becoming great in public life. But his sister, who led him to faith in Christ, counseled humility. “It’s better to be faithful before God,” she insisted, “than famous before men.”

     Basil craved a quiet life of study, prayer, and writing. He settled along the bank of the Iris River on the family estate, preaching to and helping the poor. But his stature was already so great that Emperor Julian the Apostate, though a fierce opponent of Christianity, tried to recruit him as advisor. Basil declined.

     But he couldn’t refuse the appeal of his own bishop, Eusebius, who warned that the church faced both imperial attacks from without and dangerous heresy from within. Basil left his quiet retreat to spend the rest of his life in public ministry. He championed orthodoxy, preaching and writing brilliant messages on the nature of Jesus Christ and the composition of the Trinity.

     In 370, Basil succeeded Eusebius and proved himself a gifted bishop who organized the ministries of the church. Using his own fortune, Basil founded a hospital, perhaps the first in Christian history, for the care of lepers. He was a kind man, often personally treating the diseased. Basil’s complex of churches, schools, hospitals, hostels, monasteries, and almshouses outside Caesarea became a town within itself called Basiliad. His rules for monks and monasteries are used to this day in the Greek church.

     Worn out before his fiftieth year, Basil died on January 1, 379. News spread like wildfire the next day, and he was mourned deeply. He is remembered every January 2, which is designated in Western tradition as the Feast Day of St. Basil the Great.

     Everyone should be humble toward everyone else. The Scriptures say, “God opposes proud people, but he helps everyone who is humble.” Be humble in the presence of God’s mighty power, and he will honor you when the time comes.
--- 1 Peter 5:5,6.

On This Day 365 Amazing And Inspiring Stories About Saints, Martyrs And Heroes

Morning and Evening
Daily Readings / CHARLES H. SPURGEON

          Morning - January 2

     “Continue in prayer.” --- Colossians 4:2.

     It is interesting to remark how large a portion of Sacred Writ is occupied with the subject of prayer, either in furnishing examples, enforcing precepts, or pronouncing promises. We scarcely open the Bible before we read, “Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord;” and just as we are about to close the volume, the “Amen” of an earnest supplication meets our ear. Instances are plentiful. Here we find a wrestling Jacob—there a Daniel who prayed three times a day—and a David who with all his heart called upon his God. On the mountain we see Elias; in the dungeon Paul and Silas. We have multitudes of commands, and myriads of promises. What does this teach us, but the sacred importance and necessity of prayer? We may be certain that whatever God has made prominent in his Word, he intended to be conspicuous in our lives. If he has said much about prayer, it is because he knows we have much need of it. So deep are our necessities, that until we are in heaven we must not cease to pray. Dost thou want nothing? Then, I fear thou dost not know thy poverty. Hast thou no mercy to ask of God? Then, may the Lord’s mercy show thee thy misery! A prayerless soul is a Christless soul. Prayer is the lisping of the believing infant, the shout of the fighting believer, the requiem of the dying saint falling asleep in Jesus. It is the breath, the watchword, the comfort, the strength, the honour of a Christian. If thou be a child of God, thou wilt seek thy Father’s face, and live in thy Father’s love. Pray that this year thou mayst be holy, humble, zealous, and patient; have closer communion with Christ, and enter oftener into the banqueting-house of his love. Pray that thou mayst be an example and a blessing unto others, and that thou mayst live more to the glory of thy Master. The motto for this year must be, “Continue in prayer.”

          Evening - January 2

     “Let the people renew their strength.” --- Isaiah 41:1.

     All things on earth need to be renewed. No created thing continueth by itself. “Thou renewest the face of the year,” was the Psalmist’s utterance. Even the trees, which wear not themselves with care, nor shorten their lives with labour, must drink of the rain of heaven and suck from the hidden treasures of the soil. The cedars of Lebanon, which God has planted, only live because day by day they are full of sap fresh drawn from the earth. Neither can man’s life be sustained without renewal from God. As it is necessary to repair the waste of the body by the frequent meal, so we must repair the waste of the soul by feeding upon the Book of God, or by listening to the preached Word, or by the soul-fattening table of the ordinances. How depressed are our graces when means are neglected! What poor starvelings some saints are who live without the diligent use of the Word of God and secret prayer! If our piety can live without God it is not of divine creating; it is but a dream; for if God had begotten it, it would wait upon him as the flowers wait upon the dew. Without constant restoration we are not ready for the perpetual assaults of hell, or the stern afflictions of heaven, or even for the strifes within. When the whirlwind shall be loosed, woe to the tree that hath not sucked up fresh sap, and grasped the rock with many intertwisted roots. When tempests arise, woe to the mariners that have not strengthened their mast, nor cast their anchor, nor sought the haven. If we suffer the good to grow weaker, the evil will surely gather strength and struggle desperately for the mastery over us; and so, perhaps, a painful desolation, and a lamentable disgrace may follow. Let us draw near to the footstool of divine mercy in humble entreaty, and we shall realize the fulfilment of the promise, “They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.”

Morning and Evening

Amazing Grace
January 2

          O JESUS, I HAVE PROMISED

     John E. Bode, 1816–1874

     God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them … show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. (Hebrews 6:10, 11)

     I asked the New Year for some motto sweet,
     Some rule of life by which to guide my feet.
     I asked and paused; it answered soft and low,
     “God’s will to know.”
--- Unknown

     The beginning of the new year is usually a time for reflecting on and evaluating the past as well as for setting serious goals for the future. Because it is so easy to get caught up in a blur of daily sameness, special days and events are important in life. We need these highlights for our growth and development.

     “O Jesus, I Have Promised” was written by an English clergyman on such a special day. It was penned especially for a confirmation service in which John Bode’s own daughter and two sons were making their life’s vows of commitment to God and His service. He told his three children: “I have written a hymn containing all the important truths I want you to remember when you are fully confirmed.”

     Without doubt, the three children of John Bode never forgot that confirmation service and their father’s concern for them as they sang these words throughout their lives:

     O Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end; be Thou forever near me, my Master and my Friend: I shall not fear the battle if Thou art by my side, nor wander from the pathway if Thou wilt be my guide.
     O let me feel Thee near me—the world is ever near; I see the sights that dazzle, the tempting sounds I hear: My foes are ever near me, around me and within; but Jesus, draw Thou nearer, and shield my soul from sin.O Jesus, Thou hast promised to all who follow Thee, that where Thou art in glory, there shall Thy servant be; and, Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end; O give me grace to follow, my Master and my Friend.

     Do you need to stop today and do some reflecting and evaluating?

     For Today: Ecclesiastes 5:5; John 12:26; Romans 12:11; Colossians 3:24; Revelation 14:13

     Think seriously about ways in which your spiritual life can be deepened and developed during this coming year. Why not begin even now?