Bully's Blog

Jesus’ words in John 14:23 follow the blueprint for His work in God’s people in the 40 years between AD30 and AD70.

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or Gentiles Trouble Me

In our weekly Bible study, we’re working our way through John, with the help of the Gospel of John DVD. It’s really very good. Watching the presention, one realises the impact of many of Jesus’ words upon His hearers moreso than when we read them and their familiarity washes over us.

One thing that jumped out in John 12 was the fact that it was the appearance of Gentile seekers that led to Jesus’ talking about His approaching death. Israel’s ministry was to be a living sacrifice for the life of the world. And Israel’s sacrifice was imminent.

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or Holy Smoke

Doug Wilson writes:

“The debate in the early church was not whether the Jews should stop circumcising their sons; it was whether the Gentiles had to start. The decision of the Jerusalem council was not that individual Gentiles did not have to be circumcised. If circumcision had been required of them, it would have obligated them to live as Jews under the Mosaic law — which included the circumcision of all subsequent generations. Circumcision was not being waived for individual Gentiles; circumcision was being waived for Gentiles and their seed. So the Christian church did not insist that Gentiles circumcise their infants — not because they were infants, but because they were Gentile infants” (To a Thousand Generations, pp. 68-69).

Since there is no ex-plicit proof of infant baptism, Pastor Wilson’s self-stated, continuing goal here is to find im-plicit proof. My goal in the following is to show that not only do circumcision and baptism not correspond, but also that the solution to the dispute in this passage he refers to is given in the passage, leaving no room for an im-plicit reference to infant baptism.

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or The Disunited State of Samaria

“…and they are seven kings;
five have fallen,
one is,
the other has not yet come;
and when he comes,
he must remain a little while.” (Revelation 17:10)

Time for another weird one. Although it’s probably only weird to the conservative evangelical Bible scholars among us. [1]

Albert’s post on marriage the other day allows us to see the context of the sin of the Samaritan woman. James Jordan observes that this woman was most likely a victim of this unjust system, hence the other Samaritans’ readiness to believe her testimony.

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Kellen Carroll, a friend of commenter Greg Fields, has had a look at John 17 with the Bible Matrix.

“My pastor has been going through the book of John for the past six years or so. We just recently finished chapter 17, at the same time I came to the section in Totus Christus where you mentioned the Covenantal Treaty.

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A. T. Ross’ review of Peter Leithart’s recent book, The Four: A Survey of the Gospels. From www.goodreads.com

A wonderful follow-up book to Leithart’s A House For My Name, this one focusing on the gospels. I hope he plans to do a third to complete the set, focusing on a survey of the entire the New Testament as the completion of God’s house.

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“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up…” John 3:14

Peter Leithart recently noticed a chiasm in John 3:

A. Lifted up
…B. Serpent
……C. Wilderness
…B’. Son of Man
A’. lifted up.

Bible Matrix readers should notice immediately the wilderness at the centre. This means there is a lot more to this single phrase of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus. In fact, there is all of heaven and earth.

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Covenant Structure in 1 John 2:27

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The Word of God is architectural. Like Solomon, the apostles understood that there is a time to build up and a time to tear down. Here is one of John’s blueprints: Continue reading

During the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the LORD said to me, “Jeremiah, since the time Josiah was king, I have been speaking to you about Israel, Judah, and the other nations. Now, get a scroll and write down everything I have told you, then read it to the people of Judah. Maybe they will stop sinning when they hear what terrible things I plan for them. And if they turn to me, I will forgive them”… (CEV) Jeremiah 36:1-3

God’s Covenants are always temporary. Every Covenant is a to and fro. It reflects the Word sent to the Son by the Spirit and the “bridal abundance” received in return by the Father. The Word is often pictured as a scroll, for obvious reasons. Scrolls were written and sealed with wax. The seal was temporary, something to protect the confidentiality of the contents, but something to be broken once the document reached its intended destination. The Bible Matrix makes plain the symbols used by God to illustrate this step in the Covenantal order of all He has made. Continue reading