Dispensationalism: Same Old, Same Old

Louis McBride of Baker Books reviews Christ’s Prophetic Plans, which is a compilation of essays intended to defend dispensationalism. His conclusion?

Christ’s Prophetic Plans is a good introduction to those curious about dispensational premillennialism but for those looking for advances in the field this will prove to be a disappointment.

Sex Change and Bible Translation

What’s in a name? Well, everything to do with gender. Junia is Not Alone is Scot McKnight’s new e-book (I prefer to call it an e-Essay, since the length was hardly bookish). It’s a good read and piques interest in the business of Bible translation suggesting that God’s Word was actually changed to favor men over women. The controversy? In a word (or letter!), Junia in Romans 16:7 received a sex change and became “Junias.” Only the 1995 NASB retains the masculine rendering of what otherwise is undoubtedly a feminine name. The NASB does retain her in a footnote, however, despite N. T. Wright’s comments (and in concert with practically every other NT scholar in their right textual mind) that “not a single historical or exegetical argument was available to those who kept insisting, for obvious reasons, that she was Junias, a man.”

Check it out for yourself! (Requires the free Kindle reader.)

 

Kenneth E. Bailey notes (citing Dunn’s commentary, which McKnight echoes)

The first noticeable shift from Junia to Junias was apparently made by Faber Stapulensis, writing in Paris in 1512. His work subsequently influenced Luther’s commentary on Romans. Luther then incorporated the masculine Junias into his German translation of the Bible which in time influenced other versions. However, the theoretical masculine name Junias has never been found in any Latin or Greek text. The name Junia, however, has appeared over two hundred and fifty times. Thus to insist on this being a masculine name is like finding a text with the name Mary in it and arguing that it refers to a man! Such an argument is theoretically possible but would surely hinge on the finding of at least one text where Mary is clearly a male name.

God’s Word says

Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.
(Rom 16:7, NIV)

What’s in a name? Everything.

On Not Confusing Means with Ends

Doing Philosophy as a Christian by Garrett J. DeWeese concludes with some insights regarding the spiritual disciplines that I believe are valuable on many fronts. He writes:

…the disciplines are means, not ends. Focus on the disciplines themselves, and they will lead to a dry legalism. Ignore them, and spiritual progress will be more meander than march. In the end, a spiritual discipline is simply a method, a technique, for facilitating the process of reflectively reordering desires, reexamining beliefs, readjusting emotions and reforming intentions. The point isn’t to practice a discipline but to be transformed by renewing the mind.

Through the years it has seemed to me that some advocates of spiritual formation forget that point. There’s always a tendency to draw principles out of one’s own experience and to advocate for everyone else what one has found helpful for one’s own self. Such tendencies should be avoided. In Romans 14, Paul notes that among believers in Rome, a variety of different practices are observed. But he forbids those who observe one practice from condemning those who don’t, “for God has accepted him” (Rom 14:3). “Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another….for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:13, 17).
(pp. 330-331)

May means be means and ends be ends.
May judging cease and grace abound.
May righteousness, peace, and joy rule.

In the name of the Way, the Truth, and the Life,
Amen!

Erasing Hell

Keep in mind that we’re not simply trying to settle a doctrinal issue. We’re talking about people’s destinies. The thought that someone may end up banking on a second chance after they die even though the biblical authors never explicitly said this is … well …
Terrifying.

These are eternal destinies we’re talking about. We can’t be wrong on this one.
(p. 36)

These are perhaps the most sobering words in the new release from Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle, Erasing Hell. This book is an impassioned plea to deal squarely and honestly with the Bible’s teaching on hell. In a style Chan has come to be known for, it is conversational in tone and you can’t help but feel as if he’s sitting across a table at Starbucks sharing from his heart.

While reading, I recalled some emotions I experienced many years ago when preparing for a sermon on hell. Without question those weeks in preparation were difficult as I pondered many biblical texts that speak about life after death for the unbeliever (see my Is Hell Going out of Business?). Passages such as Rev. 14:11; 20:10 and Is. 66:24; Dan. 12:2; Matt. 25:46; 2 Thess. 1:8-9 are not easy to ponder and brought me to my knees on not a few occasions.

One of the unique contributions of Erasing Hell is Chapter 6, “What if God … ?” and the discussion around Rom 9:22-23. Anyone thoughtful about this passage knows it’s not easy to understand (the Greek is not entirely clear). The question here is: Are the vessels prepared for destruction participating in their own preparation (middle voice) or

Jesus as Temple

A few days ago a car wash attendant saw the book Jesus the Temple in my hand and enthusiastically queried, “Hey, is that a book about Jesus?” I said, “Well, yes. It’s about the Jewish temple showing Jesus as a kind of new temple. It also highlights the historical, cultural, religious, and political background around the first century.” His response was filled with irony: “Oh! That’s too deep for me. I just read the Bible.” I said “Good! Of course, you know the Bible’s pretty deep, too.” End of discussion. He confirmed my car wash order and off we went; he to vacuuming and me to reading.

Speaking of vacuums, Jesus the Temple by Nicholas Perrin proves an important principle that I learned throughout my seminary days, namely, the Bible was not written in a historical vacuum. With fresh insights and careful analyses, Jesus the Temple creatively opens up the historical milieu behind the ministry of Jesus. Perrin’s book was not only intriguing for me but ground-breaking. Some of the biblical texts Perrin unpacks will never be read the same, since I now have a deeper appreciation for what temple worship had become (or I should say, “reduced to”) in Jesus’ day.

A taste of Perrin’s careful scholarship can be seen by what he does with the Gergesene demoniac (Mark 5:1-20). After arguing for “Jesus’ exorcistic activity within the context of Zechariah 13, that is, as a symbolic expression of Yahweh’s imminent intention to purify the land of idolatry and dark spiritual forces” (p. 163), he notes that sending the “Legion” (note the allusion to Roman military) of evil spirit(s) into the swine was a symbolic means of purifying the land. Perrin submits:

This encounter with the demoniac is a prophetic speech act, in effect declaring that the ‘unclean spirit’ of pagan Rome was due to be dislodged…Jesus’ exorcism then would have not only effected a substantial loss of animal property, but also, given that the Roman soldiers garrisoned at nearby Hippos would have likely depended on the swine as a food source, served to the legionnaires of a staple delicacy. In this respect, Jesus’ measures amounted, albeit in an indirect way, to an act of political sabotage. The symbolic irony could hardly have been lost on those present: the destruction of the pigs would have been a subtle but nonetheless telling indication that Rome was perhaps more vulnerable than it would have otherwise liked to believe…[Moreover] the wild boar was as much symbolic of Torah-based impurity as it was of Roman power [since it was] the mascot of the Tenth Legion….You don’t have to be a sports expert to realize that when an over-zealous fan throws a snowball at the opposing team’s mascot, it is not really the mascot he is attacking but what the mascot represents. By driving two thousand living Roman mascots into the sea, Jesus was, as it were, throwing his own snowball. He was also of course capitalizing on one very well known dramatic moment to portray another. Mindful of the narratives of creation and Exodus, both containing stories of God’s overcoming his opposition in the sea in order to establish sacred space, Jesus saw circumstances on the far shore as an opportunity—and planned accordingly. It was the perfect convergence of factors which Jesus manipulates in order to dramatize a cosmic-level storm, a storm which was now ready to burst in his own time and through his own movement. And at the end of the driving rains, Jesus seemed to reason, a renewed and purified space would emerge. In ridding the promised land of the unclean spirit and the quintessential symbol of its human minions, Jesus is clearing sacred space and in effect purifying the land. (pp. 167-168)

There is much in this volume to commend it. In addition, it has immense apologetic value showing even-handedness in dealing with redaction critics and cynics of historical methodologies. If you’re looking for a deep dive into the historical Jesus that is thoroughly informed and profoundly insightful, I highly recommend Jesus the Temple. By the way, you may download an excerpt here.