The Gospel Coalition now has dozens of short video interview clips available. Four men, at least in the interviews posted so far, answer various questions: D. A. Carson, Tim Keller, John Piper, and Mark Driscoll. I reserved a few hours today to watch these, and it was well worth the time—regardless of whether one completely agrees with every viewpoint expressed. Some of the clips are especially thoughtful and moving, especially those by Carson and Piper. (Cf. TGC’s articles, audio & video, foundational documents, and stakeholders.)
D. A. Carson
Carson on the implications of 1 Cor 2:15
ὁ δὲ πνευματικὸς ἀνακρίνει [τὰ] πάντα, αὐτὸς δὲ ὑπ᾽ οὐδενὸς ἀνακρίνεται.
But the one who is spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is understood by no one.
-1 Cor 2:15 NET
Unfortunately, this verse has been ripped out of its context to justify the most appalling arrogance. Some people think of themselves as especially spiritual and discerning Christians and judge that this verse authorizes them, the elite of the elect, to make well-nigh infallible judgments across a broad range of matters. Moreover, they insist, they are so spiritual that others do not have the right to judge them. After all, does not the apostle say that the “spiritual man” is “not subject to any man’s judgment”?This simply will not do. In the context, the “spiritual man” is the person with the Holy Spirit, over against “the man without the Spirit.” The “spiritual man,” in short, is the Christian, not a member of an elite coterie of Christians. . . . “[A]ll things” covers the range of moral and spiritual experience from the rawest paganism to what it means to be a Christian. The Christian has lived in both worlds and can speak of both from experience, from observation, and from a genuine grasp of the Word of God. But the person without the Spirit cannot properly assess what goes on in the spiritual realm–any more than a person who is color-blind is qualified to make nice distinctions in the dramatic hues of a sunset or a rainbow, any more than a person born deaf is qualified to comment on the harmony of Beethoven’s Fifth or on the voice and technique of Pavarotti.
It is important to think through the implications of this verse. Christians in contemporary Western society are constantly being told that they are ignorant, narrow, and incapable of understanding the real world. Paul says the opposite: Christians are as capable as other sinners of understanding the complex and interwoven nature of sin, of grasping the ways in which “wannabe” autonomous human beings reason, and of explaining what the world looks like to modern pagans in our post-modern world. But because they have received the Spirit of God, they are also capable of saying something wise and true about the way the world appears to God. . . . And all this makes them much more comprehensive in outlook than their pagan peers. The really narrow perspective is maintained by the sinner who has never tasted grace, by the fallen human being who has never enjoyed transforming insight, afforded by the Holy Spirit, into God’s wise purposes.
From this perspective, it is idiotic–that is not too strong a word–to extol the world’s perspective and secretly lust after its limited vision. That is what the Corinthians were apparently doing; that is what we are in danger of doing every time we adopt our world’s shibboleths, dote on its heroes, admire its transient stars, seek its admiration, and play to its applause.
–D. A. Carson, “The Cross and the Holy Spirit: 1 Corinthians 2:6-16,” in The Cross and Christian Ministry: Leadership Lessons from 1 Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993), 58-60.
Carson at College Church in Wheaton
D. A. Carson recently preached at College Church in Wheaton, Illinois, three Sundays in row: May 20, May 27, and June 3.
- May 20: “How to Think About Pastors” (1 Timothy 3:1-7)
- May 27: “How to Think About Money” (1 Timothy 6:3-19). In this sermon Carson highly recommends Craig Blomberg‘s Neither Poverty Nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Possessions.
- June 3: “How to Think About the Last Days” (2 Timothy 3:1-17)
College Church is still looking for a pastor. R. Kent Hughes “retired from his pulpit ministry at College Church and was given the title Senior Pastor Emeritus in December 2006.“
D. A. Carson on “Hidden” Elements in Current Discussions over Science and Origins
The Spring 2007 edition of The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology just came out (SBTS press release). The editorial and forum are available as PDFs.
D. A. Carson leads the forum by answering this question:
In any complex debate, it is not long before there are “hidden” elements in the discussion, i.e., elements that are gumming up the integrity of debate because one side or the other fails to recognize their existence and significance. What “hidden” elements are there in current discussions over science and origins? (p. 78)
Carson’s 7.5-column answer (pp. 78-81) includes three major points:
“(1) Considerable confusion exists over what a biblically faithful understanding of the relationship between God and the created order ought to be. Consider three possibilities.”
- “(a) In an open universe (not to be confused with “open theism”), God interacts openly with the created order.”
- “(b) The direct opposite of the first option is the closed universe. By this I mean that everything that happens in the universe is caused by other things in the universe. There is no outsider, and certainly no God who reaches in and controls things. Cause and effect take place within the closed order of creation.”
- “(c) An alternative to both is the ordered and controlled universe. Here everything that happens takes place within God’s control: not a bird falls from the heavens, Jesus reminds us, apart from God’s sanction.”
- “My point, in any case, is simple: all sides often bring certain assumptions about this relationship to the table, and rule certain arguments out of order simply because they cannot see beyond their assumptions.”
“(2) Two views of what science is are battling to prevail in the public square.”
- “Although the two overlap, the first is more narrowly methodological than the second. The first asserts that science is tasked with understanding as much as possible of the physical order, using the time-tested tools of careful observation, measurement, controlled experiments that can be replicated, deploying testable hypotheses that win consensus or are modified or overturned by subsequent advances, and so forth.”
- “The second view of what science is adopts all the methodological commitments of the first, but adds a philosophical commitment: science in this second view steadfastly refuses to allow into the discussion, at any level, any appeal whatsoever to anything supernatural.”
- “But my point is at the moment a simpler one: Very often conflicting definitions of ‘science’ lurk behind the intensity of our debates.”
“(3) Hermeneutical discussions regarding the opening chapters of Genesis often hide another set of assumptions. . . . [M]y point is the simpler one: on all sides of this discussion, very often hidden elements gum up the quality of the discussion.”
“Expository lecturing”?
“Expository lecturing is not the same thing as expository preaching; the Word must not only inform but also wound and heal, sing and sting.”
On the other hand,
“[P]ractical concerns can so control the text that no one hears the Word of God. Worse, the search for relevance frequently degenerates into the trite or the trivial.”
–D. A. Carson, New Testament Commentary Survey (6th ed.; Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 17.
Carson’s Review of N. T. Wright’s “Evil and the Justice of God”
Today the Review of Biblical Literature published D. A. Carson‘s review of N. T. Wright‘s Evil and the Justice of God. Carson’s penetrating review is available as a 10-page PDF.
“Although” or “Because”?
What is the use of the adverbial participle ὑπάρχων in Philippians 2:6?
1. concessive: “although”?
2. causal: “because”?
3. something else?
- GNT ὃς ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχων οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα θεῷ,
- NASB who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, [cf. ESV, NET, NRS, NLT, NAB]
- NIV Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, [cf. Tyndale, Geneva Bible, KJV, NKJV, HCSB]
It appears that all of the major English translations render ὑπάρχων either (1) concessively or (2) nebulously or generically (e.g., “being” or “existing”). I haven’t found a single translation that renders it causally. Cf. D. A. Carson, Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996], 44-45):
- [T]he opening expression, both in Greek and in English, is slightly ambiguous. The phrase “being in very nature God” could be understood in one of two ways. It could be understood concessively: although he was in very nature God, he took the form of a servant. Or it could be understood causally: because he was in very nature God, he took the form of a servant. On the whole, the latter better suits the context. The eternal Son did not think of his status as God as something that gave him the opportunity to get and get and get. Instead, his very status as God meant he had nothing to prove, nothing to achieve. And precisely because he is one with God, one with this kind of God, he “made himself nothing” and gave and gave and gave.
The Gospel Coalition
This week Dr. Carson gave permission to Justin Taylor to post on his blog an announcement that has not been public knowledge up to this point. More details are forthcoming, but at least this much can be released now: Dr. Carson and his good friend Pastor Tim Keller are teaming up with some forty-five other pastors to rally around the gospel, hence their name: The Gospel Coalition. The first conference is a little over two months away: May 23-24, 2007. Their website, www.TheGospelCoalition.org, is in the process of being built; it currently contains information only for this upcoming conference. Registration is limited; the cutoff is at about 550 people. See Justin Taylor’s post for more details.