C. J. Mahaney, “Breaking the Rule of Legalism: How the Cross Rescues You from the Performance Trap,” chapter 11 in Living the Cross-Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing  (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2006), 111–21.

A legalist is anyone who behaves as if they can earn God’s forgiveness through personal performance. (p. 112)

[Legalism is] a danger that we’ll never outgrow in this lifetime. The tendency for legalism exists for each of us each and every day—because of the pride and self-righteousness of our indwelling sin. (p. 114)

Douglas J. Moo, “Legalism,” in New Living Translation Study Bible (ed. Sean A. Harrison; Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2008), note on Col 2:16–23 (formatting added):

Legalism ([Col] 2:16–23)

Matt 23:13–33
Mark 7:1–15
Gal 2:14–21

At the time of Christ and the early church, Jews made much of rules and laws in their understanding of religion. (more…)

Richard Bauckham, The Jewish World around the New Testament  (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2010), 211:

The NT student and scholar must use the Jewish literature in the first place to understand Judaism. Only someone who understands early Judaism for its own sake will be able to use Jewish texts appropriately and accurately in the interpretation of the NT. The famous warning issued by Samuel Sandmel against ‘parallelomania’ in NT studies has its most general application here. Someone who knows the Jewish literature only in the form of isolated texts selected for the sake of their apparent relationship to NT texts will not understand those texts in their own contexts (literary and otherwise) and so will not know whether they constitute real or only apparent parallels and, even supposing they are real parallels, will not be able to use them properly. A principle which NT students and even NT scholars rarely take to heart is that, for the sake of a balanced view of the relationship of Christianity to early Judaism, it is just as important to study Jewish texts which are least like anything in the NT as it is to study those with which the NT writings have most affinity.

• This book collects twenty-three of Bauckham’s essays that were published between 1976 and 2008. Sample PDF.
• It was originally published in 2008 by Mohr Siebeck (WUNT 233).
• The above quotation comes from “The Relevance of Extracanonical Jewish Texts to New Testament Study,” in Hearing the New Testament: Strategies for Interpretation (ed. by Joel B. Green; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 90–108 (2nd ed.; 2010).

Related:

1. Six helpful resources that explain the nature and significance of extracanonical Jewish literature
2. Tom Schreiner warns, “Too often in NT studies alleged background material is used to ‘prove’ various interpretations. Anyone who reads in NT studies knows how speculative such reconstructions can be. In reading such reconstructions I have often wondered why we complain about systematic theologians being speculative!”

The six-word money quote is bolded below:

In spite of persecution and poverty, they experienced an abundance of joy, which resulted in a wealth of generosity (the Greek uses cognates, “the abundance of their joy abounded . . .”). In the New Testament the Christian’s experience of joy has no correlation to his or her outward circumstances. Paradoxically, Christians can experience joy in the midst of great persecution and personal suffering. Poverty overflowing into wealth also may seem paradoxical, but it fits the crazy-quilt logic of the gospel: joy + severe affliction + poverty = wealth. Here, wealth relates to a wealth of generosity and joy multiplied. Material wealth, on the other hand, may cloak spiritual poverty, as Christ’s condemnation of the wealthy but tepid church at Laodicea reveals (Rev 3:14–22). That church considered itself rich and prospering, but the Lord considered it “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” By contrast, Christ praises the poverty stricken church at Smyrna, also beset by affliction, as rich (Rev 2:8–11).

—David E. Garland, 2 Corinthians (New American Commentary 29; Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1999), 367.

“If the sun is up, the brightness of the moon is no longer bright.”

—M. Zerwick, Analysis Philologica Novi Testamenti Graeci (3rd ed.; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1966), 396; translated by and quoted in Murray J. Harris, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text (New International Greek Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), 289, commenting on 2 Cor 3:10.

When I slept under the stars for a week last summer while rafting through the Grand Canyon, there were a few nights when the moon was so bright that it didn’t quite seem like nighttime. But you couldn’t mistake the contrast when the flaming sun was at full strength.

• For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. (2 Cor 3:10)
• Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant. (Heb 7:22)

(I know that Tim Tebow isn’t as trendy in the media this week after losing to the Patriots last Saturday, but I scheduled this post over a month ago for this week since January 22 is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday.)

Remember Tim Tebow’s controversial 2010 Super Bowl ad? He talks about it in his book, Through My Eyes (HarperCollins, 2011):

Even as we were thinking about what possibilities my next platform that God had in store might bring, another opportunity arose. In conjunction with Bill Heavener and Focus on the Family, we decided to create an advertisement to be played during the Super Bowl. We were very fortunate that Focus on the Family had donors set up to fund the ad.

Mom and I were the main actors in the ad and had a lot of fun shooting the commercial. But we didn’t let the subject matter of the script get out, and as soon as word got out that we were doing an ad with Focus on the Family, it instantly created a huge swirl of attention—with both supporters and detractors trying to figure out what the ad was all about. It was fun to see the speculation on every front as to the message the ad would convey. Because of the story surrounding the circumstances of my birth [see pp. 3–6], everybody on both sides of the issue immediately assumed that it was a pro-life message. So many columnists took me to task for something they assumed was going to be in the ad, but wasn’t. (more…)

Courageous becomes available on DVD on January 17.

The DVD includes several interesting bonus features such as a 22-minute behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film.

Cf. my review.

I’m grateful that The Atlantic gave my buddy Owen Strachan a platform to preach the gospel on the front page of their website yesterday (and it’s still on their front page today). They asked him earlier this week out of the blue to write this article: “Does God Care Whether Tim Tebow Wins on Saturday?”

It’s similar to one Owen wrote a month ago for TGC (“Tebow, Calvin, and the Hand of God in Sports”), but it’s more evangelistic since he wrote it for a different audience.

Related recent articles on Tim Tebow:

1. Randy Alcorn, “How Tim Tebow Messed Up My Plans and Forced Me to Preach This Coming Weekend”
2. Rick Holland, “If I Were Tim Tebow’s Pastor”
3. Nathan Busenitz, “Tebow Time: 10 Thoughts and a Cloud of Dust”
4. Michael Flaherty and Nathan Whitaker, “Tim Tebow’s Role Model”
5. Rick Reilly, “I Believe in Tim Tebow”

J. Daryl Charles and Timothy J. Demy, War, Peace, and Christianity: Questions and Answers from a Just-War Perspective (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 377–81 (numbering added):

[Question 99 of 104]

How did C. S. Lewis view war?

Lewis’s views on war sprang out of deep conviction and were tempered by personal experience. As an infantry officer wounded in the First World War, Lewis experienced firsthand the death and devastation wrought by war. [n. 77: For a fuller evaluation of Lewis’s experiences and reflections on war, see Timothy J. Demy, “Technology, Progress, and the Human Condition in the Life and Thought of C. S. Lewis” (PhD diss., Salve Regina University, 2004), 76–84, 250–67.] Yet he can be understood to stand firmly within the just-war tradition, as his writings indicate. As a matter of conviction, Lewis thought that most people would become confused if they tried to sort out just-war principles and apply them to each real or potential conflict. Therefore, he encouraged citizens and soldiers, especially those of religious faith, to be keenly aware of their responsibilities vis-à-vis unlawful orders. In so doing, not only would they serve the cause of justice, but they would also provide a unified witness of moral principle to the onlooking world. (more…)

If you’re interested in advancing the gospel in the world’s difficult places, then you may be interested in Frontline Experience:

Program facilitators include

• David Hosaflook (pioneer missionary in Albania), who has blogged about Frontline Experience: Cross-training for Cross-bearers
• J. D. Crowley (pioneer missionary-linguist in Cambodia)
• Tim Keesee (director of Frontline Missions)

Jim Bennett of Frontline Missions recently answered some questions about Frontline Experience:

1. When was the Frontline Experience program started? The Frontline Experience (FX) is a new training program developed by Frontline Missions International. It will be held May 14-23, 2012 on the grounds of the Bonclarken Conference center in Flat Rock, NC. (more…)

I’ve been following Tim Tebow pretty closely for the last two years, and the last three months have been a lot of fun!

I shared some thoughts about Tebow’s autobiography last August, and today I read two other critical and thoughtful reviews:

1. Ted Kluck
2. Daniel Threlfall

The reviews and authors differ:

• Ted’s review is old (September 20, 2011); Daniel’s is new (posted today). But rereading Ted’s review today in light of what has happened since September is especially interesting.
• Ted is a professional sports writer; Daniel doesn’t really follow sports. (Daniel is a good friend; we’re in the same small group in our church.)
• Ted almost got the job to help write Tebow’s book; Daniel just read the book recently out of curiosity.

But both reviews are critical and thoughtful.

While not necessarily disagreeing with them, (more…)

If you want to study Christology (and you should), then here’s a book to add to your reading list:

Robert A. Peterson. Salvation Accomplished by the Son: The Work of Christ. Wheaton: Crossway, 2012. 619 pp.

John Frame, professor of systematic theology and philosophy at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, says this of the book:

Dr. Peterson told me in correspondence, “my work is not [systematic theology] as much as laying biblical foundations for systematics.” Well, people can define terms as they like. But I think Salvation Accomplished by the Son is systematic theology at its very best. It deals with doctrines of systematic theology by bringing them into closest proximity with the biblical texts that justify them. That is the kind of systematics of which we need much more. This is the book to which, after Scripture itself, I would first turn to explore any question about Jesus’s incarnation, atonement, or resurrection.

This is probably the best all-around book to give to someone who is struggling with “assurance of salvation”:

Mike McKinley. Am I Really a Christian? The Most Important Question You’re Not Asking. Wheaton: Crossway, 2011.

(See Brian Hedges’s review and my previous blog post on Mike’s first book, Church Planting Is for Wimps.)

The book’s website has several videos. In this one Mike answers the question, “Can someone believe the gospel but not really be repentant?”

K. Scott Oliphint, God with Us: Divine Condescension and the Attributes of God  (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 225–26:

In Praise of Paradox

I mentioned in the introduction that we must get used to the idea that antinomy and paradox will inevitably surround discussions such as this one. But the appeal to antinomy, paradox, and mystery is oftentimes troubling to those sympathetic to a less-than-Reformed understanding of God’s character and decree. In an attempted refutation of Calvinism and the “problem” of divine sovereignty, Jack Cottrell complains: (more…)

“I was sixty years old when this story began—when I was forced to have friends,” admits introvert Noël Piper, wife of John Piper. She explains why and what happened in this Tabletalk article.

Related:

1. Accountability
2. Pitfalls and Benefits of Small Group Bible Study

Robert Letham, Union with Christ: In Scripture, History, and Theology (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed, 2011), 123–28:

Ten Theses on Union with Christ and Transformation

1. The union we enjoy with Christ is more real and more fundamental than the union we have with members of our own bodies. . . .
2. This is not a union of essence—we do not cease to be human and become God or get merged into God like ingredients in an ontological soup. This is not apotheōsis. . . .
3. We do not lose our personal individual identities in some universal, generic humanity. . . .
4. Union with Christ comes to expression in, and is cultivated by, the Word and sacraments. . . .
5. The body and blood of Christ are not materially, corporeally, or physically present in the Lord’s Supper. . . .
6. In the Lord’s Supper we are lifted up by the Holy Spirit to feed on Christ. . . .
7. We are not hypostatically united to the Son. . . .
8. We are united with Christ’s person. . . .
9. It is effected and developed by the Holy Spirit through faith, in and through the means of grace: the ministry of the Word, the sacraments, and prayer (WSC 88). . . .
10. It will eventually lead to our being “like [Christ]” (1 John 3:1–2; see also Rom. 8:29–30; 2 Cor. 3:18), for “it is the intention of the gospel to make us sooner or later like God” (Calvin).

Related: Phil Gons has collected a helpful list of resources on union with Christ.