Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Andy Naselli

When Believers Stop Believing: The MacArthur Center’s New Podcast Episode on Apostasy

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The MacArthur Center’s new podcast episode is on apostasy: “When Believers Stop Believing.”

(See my post on episode 1—on theological triage.)

It was my pleasure to contribute to this episode on the sobering topic of apostasy.

Related: Here are five short articles I contributed in 2020 to TGC’s 250 concise theology essays:

  1. “What Is Apostasy? Can a Christian Become Apostate?”
  2. “The Unpardonable Sin”
  3. “The Sin unto Death”
  4. “Must Jesus Be Lord?”
  5. “Models of Sanctification”

Related: On 11/16/2022, I recorded some short videos for Crossway on Romans. Here’s one of them:

I’ve Heard It Said, “Once Saved, Always Saved” (2:54 min. | transcript)

Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament

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This 964-page (and 900,000-word) book has been in the works for six years:

Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament

G. K. Beale, D. A. Carson, Benjamin L. Gladd, and Andrew David Naselli, eds. Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2023. [Available from Logos, Amazon, and Westminster Bookstore.]

For a list of all the articles and contributors along with some sample essays, check out the 99-page PDF sample at Westminster Bookstore (click “Read Sample” under the book cover).

The book supplements Beale and Carson’s Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament.

The book includes …

  • 35 surveys of the use of the OT in the OT (e.g., the use of the OT in Jeremiah)
  • 19 surveys of the use of the OT in the NT (e.g. the use of the OT in Matthew)
  • 53 biblical-theological essays (e.g., covenant, image of God)
  • 22 essays related to inner-biblical exegesis (e.g., typology, letter couriers)
  • 7 essays on Jewish exegesis (e.g., the use of the OT in the Pseudepigrapha)
  • 5 theology essays (e.g., theological interpretation)

In addition to serving as one of the editors, I contributed two essays:

  • “History of Interpretation: 1800 to Present” (pp. 319–27)
  • “Serpent and Antichrist” (pp. 775–79)

Students can use this resource to learn the field. Pastors can use it for sermon prep. And scholars can use it for its bibliographies and breadth of topics.

Update on 11/7/2023: In this 50-minute podcast episode, Matt Harmon interviews Ben Gladd: “Introducing the Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament.”

Update on 11/15/2023: Ben Gladd and me at our book display at ETS:

Home Fires Podcast with Abigail Dodds and Jenni Naselli

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My wife is joining Abigail Dodds for the next season of the “Home Fires” podcast.

The first episode is “Introducing Jenni Naselli.” Here’s the podcast description:

With Tilly away caring for a new baby, homeschooling littles, working behind the scenes for a new coffee shop endeavor, and generally tending her actual home fires, Jenni Naselli graciously joins Abigail and agrees to be put in the hot seat for an interview. Jenni shares how she came to trust Christ as well as the story of how she met and married her husband, Andy. Get ready to absorb some helpful wisdom as you hear how Jenni’s parents carefully and tenderly shepherded her through her young adult years. We don’t have to do exactly as Jenni’s parents did, but we can learn so much from the godly principles they exhibit.

I hope it encourages you.

D. A. Carson’s Theological Method (Updated Article)

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In 2011, the Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology published my article “D. A. Carson’s Theological Method.”

In 2023, Crossway has published a book of essays by D. A. Carson in which I update my 2011 article, and Crossway has graciously granted me permission to upload a PDF of my updated essay on my website:

Andrew David Naselli. “D. A. Carson’s Theological Method.” Pages 11–50 in The Gospel and the Modern World: A Theological Vision for the Church. Edited by Brian J. Tabb. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2023.

Related: In 2017, P&R published a book in which I unpack the theological method I learned from Don Carson. It’s about how to interpret and apply the Bible.

 

 

Videos of Israel’s Tabernacle, First Temple, and Temple at the Time of Jesus

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1. Israel’s Tabernacle

“Illustrated Tabernacle (Exodus 26-27)” (6:24 min.): This video illustrates the dimensions and instructions God gives in Exodus 26–27.

“3D Tabernacle of Moses” (1:52 min.)

“Tabernacle of Moses” (3:49 min.)

“The Tabernacle and What It Reveals to Us” (5:17 min.)

2. Israel’s First Temple (Solomon’s Temple)

“Solomon’s Temple 3D” (3:42 min.)

“Solomon’s Temple Explained” (10:20 min.)

3. Israel’s Temple at the Time of Jesus (Herod’s Temple)

Second Temple Judaism refers to Jewish history and literature from the time that Zerubbabel completed the second temple (c. 516 B.C.) to when the Romans destroyed Herod’s temple in A.D. 70.

“Jerusalem Temple at the Time of Jesus” (1:51 min.)

“3D Model of Herod’s Temple” (4:02 min.): Leen Ritmeyer comments, “This is the best 3D rendition of the Temple Mount I have seen so far” (“Herod’s Temple Mount in Jerusalem in 3D).” (Ritmeyer is an archaeological architect who has been involved in all of Jerusalem’s major excavations.)

“Herod’s Temple Mount – 3D Information Videos” (23:57 min.)

“Jerusalem’s Temple: Building the Most Detailed Depiction of Herod’s Temple” (14:50 min.): Leen Ritmeyer comments, “This is truly a masterful video that aims to bring together the extensive research that began at the Temple Mount Excavations in Jerusalem in 1968, directed by the late Professor Benjamin Mazar. Many scholars have analysed the result of this and other excavations in Jerusalem to get a full picture of what Herod’s Magnum opus may have looked like. We understand that this 3D video is the first of a series designed to help people better understand this sacred structure.”

Compare images of the temple in the ESV Study Bible.

(Feel free to contact me to alert me to similar videos.)

Related sermon: “The Temple and Light in the Bible’s Storyline” (11/27/2022):

The Drivetrain: The MacArthur Center’s New Podcast Episode on Theological Triage

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The MacArthur Center’s new podcast episode is on theological triage: “The Drivetrain.”

Austin Duncan and his team produce this podcast with excellence. They obviously put a lot of work into their podcast episodes because they are clear, engaging, and high-quality in both content and form. They piece together various interviews and add sound effects and music. It’s high-caliber audio journalism—like NPR but with good content. It’s the best quality podcast I know of in confessional evangelical circles.

It was my pleasure to contribute to “The Drivetrain” episode on theological triage. Al Mohler popularized this terminology for distinguishing the importance of Bible teachings in his 2005 article “A Call for Theological Triage and Christian Maturity.”

Here’s how I like to present three levels of importance (a version of this table appears in my forthcoming book Predestination: An Introduction, p. 18):

It’s easy to misunderstand and misapply that taxonomy. That’s what “The Drivetrain” is about.

Don’t Believe Culture’s Lies about Men and Women: A Review of Rosaria Butterfield’s “Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age”

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Here’s my review of a new book on human sexuality:

Naselli, Andrew David. “Don’t Believe Culture’s Lies about Men and Women: A Review of Rosaria Butterfield’s Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age.” American Reformer, 1 September 2023.

From the introduction:

Rosaria Butterfield used to be a lesbian activist who lived with a woman partner while serving as a tenured professor of English and women’s studies at Syracuse University in New York. Now she is a Christian who is married to a Presbyterian pastor and who invests her time as a homeschool mom and grandmother and as a hospitable neighbor in North Carolina. (When she wrote this book, her four adopted children spanned ages sixteen to thirty-four.) The title of her new book specifies what she is warning against: Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2023).

In the book review, I …

  • summarize the five lies
  • suggest three small ways I think Butterfield’s book could be even better
  • conclude with ten features I appreciate about Butterfield’s book

Related:

  1. God’s Good Design for Sex: A Review of Michael Clary’s God’s Good Design
  2. Winsomeness Can Be a Virtue or a Vice: Winning Some vs. Pleasing Some
  3. What If Your Neighbor Asks You to Call Her a Him? An Interview with a Suburban Christian Dad

What If Your Neighbor Asks You to Call Her a Him? An Interview with a Suburban Christian Dad

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New article:

Naselli, Andrew David. “What If Your Neighbor Asks You to Call Her a Him? An Interview with a Suburban Christian Dad.” American Reformer, 28 August 2023.

From the introduction:

LGBT is a reigning ideology in America right now, and its tentacles are spreading and thickening as they squeeze soul after soul. You might expect this in the bluest parts of the country, but it is also happening in red suburbs and counties. It is happening everywhere.

This is a true story about it happening this summer in a middle-class Minneapolis suburb to some dear friends in my church. To respect the privacy of the people in this story, I’ll use fictitious names and be vague about some details. I’ll tell the story in an interview format with my friend Jonathan.

I end the interview by recommending some helpful resources on transgenderism:

  1. Riccardi, Mike. Male and Female He Created Them: Part 1 and Part 2. Grace Community Church, April 23 and 30, 2023. This is sound teaching on the transgender delusion. Riccardi explains five truths about gender: (1) granted by our Creator, (2) grounded in biology, (3) a gift of God’s loving care, (4) the goodness of the body, and (5) the glory of our distinctiveness.
  2. Butterfield, Rosaria. Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2023. Butterfield, a former lesbian activist, shows why LGBTQ+ ideology is incompatible with Christianity. She gives wise and practical advice about how to love family and friends who are captured by this ideology. See also Rosaria Butterfield, “Why I No Longer Use Transgender Pronouns—and Why You Shouldn’t, Either,” Reformation21, 3 April 2023.
  3. Walker, Andrew T. God and the Transgender Debate: What Does the Bible Actually Say about Gender Identity. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: The Good Book, 2022. This helpful overview is by the managing editor of WORLD Opinions and a professor of Christian ethics and public theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. See also Andrew T. Walker, “Christians Volunteering Pronouns? Capitulation to Falsehood Is Not Christian Kindness,” American Reformer, 19 August 2022.
  4. Burk, Denny, David Closson, and Colin Smothers. Male and Female He Created Them: A Study on Gender and Sexuality. Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2023. This 125-page book is an eight-week study for small groups.