Charles Haddon Spurgeon went home to be with the Lord on January 31, 1892. As he had done many times before, Spurgeon traveled to Mentone, France to recuperate from bad health. But this time the Lord had other plans for His faithful, but tired servant. One of his early biographers, W.Y. Fullerton, says that “Spurgeon was fifty-seven when he died, but he was not young, for he began early and he had labored long, and departed full of days and of grace.” Charles H. Spurgeon (Chicago: Moody Press, 1966) p. 270.

That quote gives us an idea of Spurgeon’s “prodigious energy” (Fullerton, p. 9). Saved at the age of 15, he soon began preaching, eventually becoming the pastor of the congregation at New Park Street Chapel, whose previous pastors had included John Gill and Benjamin Keach. Under Spurgeon’s leadership the church grew until a new building was needed. Though the building burned twice (the second time during the blitz in World War II) the Metropolitan Tabernacle still preaches the Gospel and the doctrines of grace.

Spurgeon seemed to live in several worlds at once. He pastored a large church in central London. He founded an orphanage, The Sword and Trowel magazine, and a Bible college. He gave lectures, wrote books, and published his sermons. And he still found time to read a couple of hefty tomes a week. Many of Spurgeon’s books are still in print and some are unmatched classics, like his Morning by Morning and Evening by Evening, probably the best daily devotional books ever written.

In addition to his pastoral ministry, writing, teaching, and frequent Gospel preaching, Spurgeon was also a defender of the faith, though not a proud, self-appointed one. It became necessary for him to engage in controversy when rampant liberalism was tolerated in his denomination. In 1887 Spurgeon published his first article in the Sword and Trowel about the down-grade in the Baptist Union. The ensuing Downgrade Controversy overshadowed the last several years of his life, leading to his withdrawal from the Baptist Union. The controversy probably hastened his failing health, but it never completely broke his spirit. Though he had well-known bouts with depression, he kept a right spirit and proper perspective during these times of trial. In fact “at the height of his controversies Spurgeon preached some of the most fragrant of all his sermons” (Iain Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1986. p. 205).

His health failing, Spurgeon’s last act was to send a thankoffering to his church along with an expression of his love. “Shortly afterwards he became totally unconscious, and remained so until five minutes past eleven on the Sabbath night—January 31, 1892—when, like his namesake, Mr. Valiant-for-truth, ‘he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side’” (C.H. Spurgeon: The Full Harvest. Carlisle PA: Banner of Truth, 1987. p. 504).

I say, “Amen,” to Fullerton’s tribute to his pastor: “I have neither known nor heard of any other, in my time, so many-sided, so commanding, so simple, so humble, so selfless, so entirely Christ’s man. Proudly I stand at the salute!” (Fullerton, p. 283)

My friend, AJ Gibson (a missionary serving in Monterrey, Mexico), offers two very helpful guides for praying for missionaries that I would like to recommend to you.

• How to pray for missionaries (from Colossians1:9-12)
• How to pray for missionaries (thoughts from Mark Dever's The Gospel and Personal Evangelism)
  

Bryan W. Smith (PhD, Bob Jones University) is Bible integration coordinator at Bob Jones University Press. I had the privilege of studying Greek for my first semester under the instruction of Dr Smith. I later had the privilege of getting to know Bryan better as we worshiped together at Mt Calvary Baptist Church in Greenville, SC. I now have the privilege of worshiping with his parents and sister and keeping tabs on him through them.

This past weekend I emailed a list of questions to Bryan regarding his interest and involvement in this project. I'm very thankful that he took the time to sit down and share some of his thoughts with us. Below, you will find our conversation reproduced in a Q&A format.

A Reader's Hebrew Bible. Edited by A. Philip Brown II & Bryan W. Smith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008. Italian Duo-Tone™, 1,680 pages.

Q&A with Dr Bryan Smith on A Reader's Hebrew Bible


QUESTION: What led you to pursue this project? What was your interest in it?

ANSWER: Initially the thing that led me into this project was Philip Brown. He contacted me about three years ago and asked if I'd be interested in making this idea a reality. He had already corresponded with Zondervan. They had not made any commitments, but they had indicated interest. When I considered Philip's suggestion the thing that pulled me in was the opportunity to provide seminarians (and those who had already completed seminary) with a way to maintain their Hebrew reading skill and even to advance in that skill. Of course, I was also interested in improving my own skill in Hebrew. This project has not disappointed me. My skill in reading Hebrew has increased, and I think that anyone who uses this tool consistently will find that his skill will increase too.

Q: Who do you envision getting the most use out of this tool? I remember being discouraged against using interlinears while studying Greek and Hebrew. Would this be more beneficial to the first or second year student? Or, would you consider this to be more beneficial to pastors or Bible teachers?

A: Anyone who has had a full year of Hebrew can benefit from A Reader's Hebrew Bible. We gloss words that occur 100 times or fewer. Most first year programs get students to that level in their vocabulary knowledge. I encourage those in seminary to use this tool. Their teachers may not allow them to use it for their translation assignments, but they can use it at church, for sermon preparation, and for personal reading and study. Unlike an interlinear (or computer programs like BibleWorks), A Reader's Hebrew Bible gives the student just enough information to keep him reading but not so much information that his reading skill is not developed. Pastors, teachers, seminary professors should use this tool. The best way to make responsible use of the original languages is to be very familiar with them. The best way to get familiar is to read them regularly. Some do this with Greek. Very few do it with Hebrew, and I think the main reason is that unknown Hebrew vocabulary makes regular reading too difficult.

Q: What are your thoughts on the finished product?

A: I'm very pleased with how the project has turned out. The volume is attractive, durable, and affordable. I think it's considerably nicer than the Greek volume. We've taken our glosses from the two standard lexicons: HALOT and BDB. All of our glosses are also context specific. The page layout is also, I think, cleaner and easier to read than the Reader's Greek Bible. We have noticed some errata and we're working toward correcting that for the next edition. I'm sure Philip will tell you more about that. He has a website that keeps track of these errata items (see this post). To this point, none of the errata is--in my opinion--a reason not to purchase the volume.

Q: One of the questions I asked Phil was "Is it necessary for preachers to know the biblical languages in order to be effective interpreters?" How would you address this? Should preachers be concerned with proficiency in the biblical languages or is a working knowledge adequate for most?

A: Should preachers be concerned to know the Bible in the original languages? Absolutely. One consequence of being committed to plenary, verbal inspiration is being committed to knowing as much as one can about the original languages. Of course, not everyone has the opportunities (or the gifts) to get comfortable with Greek and Hebrew. Those who have the opportunities, however, are obligated to take advantage of them. By the way, A Reader's Hebrew Bible is a great opportunity.

This concludes my interview with the editors of A Reader's Hebrew Bible. I would like to express my gratitude to both of these men for taking the time to talk a bit about this project. This has stirred me up to continue working on my language skills. I hope that this will do the same for you. Oh, and don't forget to order your copy right away!

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Related Sources:

HEBREW

A Reader's Hebrew Bible. Edited by A. Philip Brown II & Bryan W. Smith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008. [WTS | CBD | Amazon]

Armstrong, Terry et al. A Reader's Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testatment, 4 volumes in one. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989. [WTS | CBD | Amazon]

Koehler, Ludwig &Walter Baumgartner. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2002. [Amazon]

Holladay, William. A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972. [WTS | Amazon]

Brown, Francis et al. Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1996. [WTS | CBD | Amazon]

GREEK

Kubo, Sakae. Reader's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975. [WTS | CBD | Amazon]

Goodrich, J., Richard & Albert L. Lukaszewski. A Reader's Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003. [CBD | Amazon]

Bauer, Walter, Frederick Danker, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature.. Third Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. [WTS | CBD | Amazon]

____________________

Related Post:

• Forthcoming: A Reader's Hebrew Bible edited by Philip Brown & Bryan Smith
• Q&A with Dr Philip Brown on A Reader's Hebrew Bible | Part One
• Q&A with Dr Philip Brown on A Reader's Hebrew Bible | Part Two

The first series of questions dealt with some of the details of A Reader's Hebrew Bible. The following questions probe the usefulness of studying the Scriptures in the original languages. I wanted to hear Dr Brown's take on this subject in light of some of my previous posts beginning with the discussion of John Piper's chapter, "Brothers, Bitzer was a Banker."

A Reader's Hebrew Bible. Edited by A. Philip Brown II & Bryan W. Smith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008. Italian Duo-Tone™, 1,680 pages.

Q&A with Dr Philip Brown on A Reader's Hebrew Bible | Part Two

QUESTION: Would you be willing to share a lesson or two you learned from working through the Hebrew texts so closely, for so long? I'm wondering how this project has affected your estimation of the Hebrew text and/or how this project has affected your preaching and teaching.

ANSWER: As Dr. Michael Barrett said on more than one occasion, "The niftiness of an exegetical insight is often inversely proportional to its exegetical accuracy. " I can't think of any "brand new" lessons, but my work has reinforced and provided experiential backing to numerous principles I learned in grad school.

Much of language learning is the erecting of exegetical guardrails to keep the exegete out of ditches and on the straight and narrow. A person, who merely dips into selected Hebrew texts and fails to expose himself to large segments of Hebrew prose and poetry (books!), is much more prone to discover "new (invalid) insights never before seen" than the person who has expended the effort to read widely.

For example, I was reading a book on child rearing recently, and the author asserted that the Hebrew verb gadal "really" means "to twist into greatness." Really? I've certainly never seen that. Where is he getting this? I checked Holladay, HALOT, BDB, DCH, NIDOTTE … nobody supports his contention. Then I thought to check Strong's Hebrew lexicon. It reads,

"A primitive root; properly to twist (compare H1434), that is, to be (causatively make) large (in various senses, as in body, mind, estate or honor, also in pride): - advance, boast, bring up, exceed, excellent, be (-come, do, give, make, wax), great (-er, come to . . estate, + things), grow (up), increase, lift up, magnify (-ifical), be much set by, nourish (up), pass, promote, proudly [spoken], tower."

I'm sure the author was well-intentioned, but not only did he assert something that is flatly untrue about the Hebrew word, he also misread Strong's entry, which I would argue is incorrect as well. Strong does not say that the word means to "twist into greatness." His phrase "properly to twist" most likely is a statement about his view on the etymology of the word. Even if Strong were right about the etymology of the word, its etymological meaning has nothing to do with its usage as a verb in the Hebrew Bible. Much less is there an implicit theological message that in order to be great in God' s eyes one must be twisted against the sinful nature!

Having issued the above caveat, here's one discovery I've made that has been significant to me:

Deut. 6:7 reads in the NASB "You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up." The concept of "diligent teaching" in my way of processing English calls to mind images of classrooms or tutorial sessions, earnest voiced exhortation, careful analytical explanation. As a father of a 1 year old and a 3 year old, with attention spans of 15 seconds (slight exaggeration), I was frustrated most every time I tried to put into practice my understanding of this verse.

When I read this in Hebrew, I discovered that instead of the standard Hebrew verbs for "instruct, teach" like lamad or yarah, Moses used the verb shanan. This is the only place where this lemma occurs in the piel. HALOT regards it as the only occurrence of this lemma and glosses it "repeat." This verb in combination with the verb dabar "talk," HALOT suggests means "to speak, or to recite again and again." Without addressing the question of whether this is really homonym 2 (Cf. NIDOTTE's discussion), this completely changed my conception of what I was supposed to do.

I take Moses' primary point to be that we are to repeat the commands of God constantly to our children. This implies Scripture memorization for the parents and children. As parents constantly recite the Word of God, it is ingrained in the children. As the children get old enough to ask questions about the meaning of Scripture, teaching will be the natural consequence. In response my discovery, we have embarked on a Scripture memory program for our 3 year old. We quote the verse together in the morning, my wife works on them through the day with Allan, and I pick up the mantra at supper and bedtime. I've been making up bedtime stories to illustrate the verses we are learning: Proverbs 3:5-7.

As to how this has affected my preaching and teaching: I now require this as a textbook for my Hebrew I students! If I were not very proficient in Hebrew, I imagine this would encourage me to check the Hebrew more frequently and carefully as I prepared. As it is, the most significant change has been the ability to sit down in my easy chair and read Isaiah. Without RHB, reading Isaiah would be a task to be tackled and worked at. With RHB, it is much less of a chore and more a joy and delight.

Q: Is it necessary for preachers to know the biblical languages in order to be effective interpreters? If not, why? If so, what argument(s) would you use to persuade a preacher of this need?

A: Is it necessary for a doctor to know human anatomy and physiology to practice medicine? Yes, of course, but intimate knowledge of the human skeleton, muscle names, layout of the nervous system, etc. probably won't play a significant role in diagnosing the common cold, stomach flu, or many other common ailments. But when a doctor has to deal with accident victims, infectious diseases, or strange symptoms, all of his/her knowledge of the human body becomes vitally relevant. The more doctors know, the less likely they will misdiagnose an illness or prescribe irrelevant remedies. There are good reasons for specialists in medicine—the scope of knowledge is too vast for a comprehensive knowledge of all relevant information. But a good doctor knows his limitations and refers his patients to those who know more.

Much of God's truth lies open to the diligent reader of good vernacular translations (English in our case). But when the pastor has to deal with the wreckage of sin in the forms of divorce, remarriage, homosexuality, incest, and the many ravages of sin, the more he knows of the original languages the more likely he is to provide an accurate remedy to the spiritually needy. God has not gifted all his servants equally with ability to learn languages. The good pastor will know his limitations and make good use of those who know more. But surely we should want the spiritual equivalent of an MD as the primary care physician of our soul. We should not be satisfied to have LPNs or RNs in primary care positions. Those who disdain knowledge of the original languages and sanctify ignorance do God and His Kingdom a deep disservice.

I would like to thank Dr Philip Brown for sharing these responses with me and allowing me to share them with you. Tomorrow, I will be continuing this discussion with Dr Bryan Smith. He has also responded to some similar questions and I will post them here for your consideration, too.

If you have any further questions or comments you would like to share, we'd love to continue the interaction on this subject. Please leave a comment below.

____________________

Related Sources:

A Reader's Hebrew Bible. Edited by A. Philip Brown II & Bryan W. Smith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008. [WTS | CBD | Amazon]

Armstrong, Terry et. al. A Reader's Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testatment, 4 volumes in one. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989. [WTS | CBD | Amazon]

Kubo, Sakae. Reader's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975. [WTS | CBD | Amazon]

Goodrich, J., Richard & Albert L. Lukaszewski. A Reader's Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003. [CBD | Amazon]

____________________

Related Post:

• Forthcoming: A Reader's Hebrew Bible edited by Philip Brown & Bryan Smith
• Q&A with Dr Philip Brown on A Reader's Hebrew Bible | Part One

A few weeks ago I posted a notice (here) of the forthcoming A Reader's Hebrew Bible edited by A. Philip Brown II and Bryan W. Smith (due out this coming May). I've since had the opportunity to make contact with Dr Philip Brown to ask him a few questions about this project. He has graciously responded to me and has given me permission to share these Q&A's with you.

A. Philip Brown II (PhD, Bob Jones University) is associate professor of Bible and Theology at God’s Bible School and College in Cincinnati, Ohio. I had the privilege of studying two semesters of Greek with Dr Brown at BJU. That was more than ten years ago, now. He displayed not only a joy for teaching the language, but also ministering the Word to us. I remember that he maintained a practice of opening each class with devotional thoughts from the Greek New Testament. I later studied Hebrew from one of his Hebrew professors, Dr Michael Barrett, whom he mentions in one of his responses.

Bryan W. Smith (PhD, Bob Jones University) is Bible integration coordinator at Bob Jones University Press. I also had the privilege of studying Greek for my first semester under the instruction of Dr Smith. I later had the privilege of getting to know Bryan better as we worshiped together at Mt Calvary Baptist Church in Greenville, SC. I now have the privilege of worshiping with his parents and sister and keeping tabs on him through them.

I consider myself blessed to have had the opportunity to study the Greek language under the instruction of both of these men. I am now looking forward to benefiting from their labors in the Hebrew language. In my humble opinion, these men are first-rate students of the Scriptures and have proven themselves to be effective teachers and preachers. I have decided to post this Q&A in two parts.

A Reader's Hebrew Bible. Edited by A. Philip Brown II & Bryan W. Smith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008. Italian Duo-Tone™, 1,680 pages.

Q&A with Dr Philip Brown on A Reader's Hebrew Bible | Part One

QUESTION: What exactly is a reader's Bible?

ANSWER: A "reader's Bible" contains a Greek text of the NT or the Hebrew text of the OT like a regular Greek or Hebrew Bible. In addition, a footnote number is placed at the end of words that occur infrequently and at the bottom of the page a gloss or "definition" for that word is given after the appropriate number. If you are familiar with Armstrong, Busby, and Carr's A Reader's Hebrew-English Lexicon of the OT, then just imagine having the glosses they provide at the bottom of each page in the Hebrew OT, and you have the idea. A Reader' s Hebrew Bible (RHB) glosses all Hebrew words that occur less than 100x, and it has a glossary in the back that gives the most common meanings of all the lemmas that occur over 100x.

Q: What led you to pursue this project?

A: 1) I love Hebrew. 2) I want to be able to read the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew/Aramaic. 3) I especially wanted to read Psalms and Proverbs in Hebrew. I am in the young-child parenting stage of my life, and I'm convinced that Proverbs is the most extensive example of biblical wisdom-training for children in Scripture. I want to get all I can out of it, and that requires intimate acquaintance with the Hebrew text. 4) I want to read extensively in Hebrew, but my limited vocabulary (perhaps most words that occur down to 50x) requires me to make frequent reference to a lexicon, which slows me down sufficiently that it is easy to get discouraged. RHB eliminates all the lexicon-time, and frees me to use my Hebrew Bible anywhere I can carry it. 5) There is no way to gain a "feel" for Hebrew except by repeated exposure to the language across the length and breadth of the OT.

Q: Will this tool be useful to preachers who want to learn Hebrew, or is a working knowledge of the language required?

A: If a person has no Hebrew language training, this volume will not teach them Hebrew. Since it glosses all the words that occur less than 100x in Hebrew, a person needs a working vocabulary of at least the 500 most common words in Hebrew and he needs a minimum of a year of Hebrew grammar and syntax to be able to make sense of what he is reading.

I asked two more questions of Dr Brown which I will reserve for Part Two. If you have any further questions for either of the editors please leave a comment below or send me an email.

____________________

Related Sources:

A Reader's Hebrew Bible. Edited by A. Philip Brown II & Bryan W. Smith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008. [WTS | CBD | Amazon]

Armstrong, Terry et.al. A Reader's Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testatment, 4 volumes in one. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989. [WTS | CBD | Amazon]

Kubo, Sakae. Reader's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975. [WTS | CBD | Amazon]

Goodrich, J., Richard & Albert L. Lukaszewski. A Reader's Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003. [CBD | Amazon]

____________________

Related Post:

Forthcoming: A Reader's Hebrew Bible edited by Philip Brown & Bryan Smith

I found the following summary by Steven Ingino of a portion of G. Campbell Morgan's book entitled Preaching (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1937). Does anyone have a copy of this book who could share with us the exact quote regarding Morgan's preference toward exegetical commentaries rather than devotional commentaries?

The following quote is from "Learning from Preachers of the Past: Lessons from John Chrysostom, Martin Luther, Phillips Brooks, and G. Campbell Morgan." By The Rev. Canon David Roseberry and Steven Ingino.

"Choose appropriate chunks of texts, preach the central idea, do not preach your conviction/ideas, preach the text or you lose authority, craft the message carefully with exposition of the text, illustrations, quotes, etc., read commentaries that give exegesis and give them priority over devotional works, be creative, and use your imagination to think of ways to present the Bible, stay away from allegorizing, have a clear outline in your head and make your divisions clear to the people." (emphasis mine)

From Morgan, G. Campbell. Preaching. New York etc.: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1937.

I recently finished reading Jerry Bridges’ new book Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate. Bridges, of course, is not really referring to any sin as “respectable.” He simply means sins that believers don’t think are so bad and, as a result, tend to not deal with. The book is not about the openly gross sins of society, but about the subtle sins of believers.

I found this to be a challenging book, not because of the level of reading difficulty (it’s written on a popular level and very easy to read) but because the subject matter hits so close to home. It’s not easy to see yourself and not like what you see. The author urges the reader to take a close look at himself in the light of Scripture and realize what an offense even our subtle sins are to God. Bridges points out how the Bible exhorts believers to be what they really are—saints!

Near the beginning of the book Bridges addresses a problem he calls, “The Disappearance of Sin.” What he means is the disappearance of the idea of sin. Many people today have no concept that the wrong things they do are really wrong. Public apologies today (of which there seem to be many) typically include the prominent use of the word mistake. But the word that always seems missing is sin. This attitude affects Christians as well, and Bridges is calling on God’s people to recognize this in ourselves and forsake any self-righteousness that might blind us to our need.

Though dealing with such a dark subject, Bridges avoids a morose or caustic tone that might leave us depressed and tempted to throw the book down. Instead, he encourages us that “God has not forsaken us. For those who are true believers, God is still our heavenly Father, and He is at work among us to call us to repentance and renewal” (p. 22). How God works in us to produce this “repentance and renewal” is expounded in the book, and I hope to say more about that in future posts.

The men’s group at my church will begin reading Respectable Sins in February. I hope it will affect them as much as it has me. Preachers and lay people alike will be helped by reading this book and putting Bridges’ counsel into practice.

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

~Philippians 1:6

Doug Smith emailed me a link to an interview Timmy Brister conducted with Mark Dever on the subject of Richard Sibbes. Mark Dever's Richard Sibbes: Puritanism and Calvinism in Late Elizabethan and Early Stuart England (Mercer UP, 2000), is a published version of his doctoral dissertation completed at Cambridge University.

I read Sibbes’ The Bruised Reed last May with a few friends and was thoroughly blessed. I sought out biographical information and found Dever’s book and carefully read through it, too.
One of the things that came immediately to mind was the fact that Dever kept remarking on Sibbes’ interest in the “marks of a true church.” I couldn’t help but think of Dever’s many books on the same subject.

For months now, I’ve been wanting to hear Dever talk about what he took away from his study of Sibbes, and how it has affected his passion for healthy churches. This interview was fantastic. Especially helpful was Dever’s clarification of the differences between the Anglican church in Sibbes’ day and contemporary denominations. The questions posed to him about denominational apostasy and moderation are questions I’ve been pondering since I read the book. Dever’s remarks on this subject helped to clarify some things for me. This was great. I'm extremely grateful to Timmy Brister for conducting this interview. You can listen to it here.

Some Fine Posts by Timmy Brister on Richard Sibbes:
Who is Richard Sibbes
Richard Sibbes on the Web
What Others Have Said About Richard Sibbes
Interview With Mark Dever on Richard Sibbes
Mining the Works of Richard Sibbes

Reference my previous post:
Thinking About Dever, Sibbes and Healthy Churches

This evening I picked up my copy of John Owen: The Man and His Theology edited by Robert W. Oliver (Evangelical Press/P&R Publishing, 2002) in order to compare it to Carl Trueman's John Owen: Reformed Catholic, Renaissance Man (Ashgate, 2007). I had forgotten I had this little volume but was glad to find a chapter by Carl R. Trueman entitled "John Owen the Theologian".

In this chapter I found the following quote regarding Owen's attitude toward the biblical languages:

From its very inception at the hands of Martin Luther, Protestant education had placed knowledge of the biblical languages at the very heart of its theological and ministerial training. This was for the very simple reason that Protestantism, with its high view of the unique nature and authority of the biblical canon, inevitably demanded that its leaders be acquainted with the texts of that canon in their original languages. To have failed in this area would thus have made a practical nonsense of the theological commitment to the scriptural authority. Owen himself gives four reasons why knowledge of the languages is to be desired among those who seek to lead the church: divine inspiration refers to the original texts, not translations; every jot, tittle and subtlety of the original is therefore of great importance; the emphasis and texture of the originals are lost or obscured in translation; and the idiomatic nature of scriptural language requires broad familiarity with cognate literature in the original languages. In other words, the minister or theologian would ideally not have just grasped the rudiments o Hebrew and Greek but should also have a profound understanding of the languages and the cultures from which they arose. To put it bluntly, Protestant commitment to the notion of sola scriptura required nothing less than the training of ministers in the solid, classical traditions of linguistic excellence. (47-48)

Speaking of becoming acquainted with primary sources, I found the following passage by John Owen in Volume IV of his collected works:

This only I say, that it is of singular advantage, in the interpretation of the Scripture, that a man be well acquainted with the original languages, and be able to examine the use and signification of words, phrases, and expressions as they are applied and declared in other authors. And even to the understanding of the Greek of the New Testament it is necessary that a man have an acquaintance with the Hebrew of the Old...

By these things great advantage may be obtained unto the right understanding of the sense of the Scripture, or the mind of the Holy Ghost therein; for there is no other sense in it than what is contained in the words whereof materially it doth consist, though really that sense itself be such as our minds cannot receive without the especial divine assistance before pleaded. And in the interpretation of the mind of any one, it is necessary that the words he speaks or writes be rightly understood; and this we cannot do immediately unless we understand the language wherein he speaks, as also the idiotisms of that language, with the common use and intention of its phraseology and expressions. And if we do not hereby come unto a perfect comprehension of the sense intended, because many other things are required thereunto, yet a hinderance is removed, without which we cannot do so; occasions of manifold mistakes are taken away, and the cabinet is as it were unlocked wherein the jewel of truth lies hid, which with a lawful diligent search may be found. And what perplexities, mistakes, and errors, the ignorance of these original languages hath cast many expositors into, both of old and of late, especially among those who pertinaciously adhere unto one translation, and that none of the best, might be manifested by instances undeniable, and these without number. ... And those among ourselves who are less skilled in this knowledge are to be advised that they would be careful not to adventure on any singular exposition of the Scriptures, or any text in them, upon the credit of any one or all translations they can make use of, seeing persons of greater name and worth than to be mentioned unto their disreputation have miscarried upon the same account. A reverential subjection of mind, and diligent attendance unto the analogy of faith, are their best preservative in this matter; and I fear not to add, that a superficial knowledge in these tongues, which many aim at, is of little use unless it be to make men adventurous in betraying their own ignorance. But the sense and substance of the Scripture being contained entirely in every good translation (amongst which that in use among ourselves is excellent, though capable of great improvements), men may, by the use of the means before directed unto, and under the conduct of the teaching of the Spirit of God in them, usefully and rightly expound the Scripture in general unto the edification of others; whereof many instances may be given amongst ancient and modern expositors.

This skill and knowledge, therefore, is of great use unto them who are called unto the interpretation of the Scripture; and the church of God hath had no small advantage by the endeavors of men learned herein, who have exercised it in the exposition of the words and phraseology of the Scriptures, as compared with their use in other authors. But yet, as was before observed, this skill, and the exercise of it in the way mentioned, is no duty in itself, nor enjoined unto any for its own sake, but only hath a goodness in it with respect unto a certain end. Wherefore, it is in its own nature indifferent, and in its utmost improvement capable of abuse, and such in late days it hath fallen under unto a great extremity; for the study of the ordinal languages, and the exercise of skill in them in the interpretation of the Scripture, hath been of great reputation, and that deservedly. Hence multitudes of learned men have engaged themselves in that work and study, and the number of annotations and comments on the Scripture, consisting principally in critical observations, as they are called, have been greatly increased; and they are utter strangers unto these things who will not allow that many of them are of singular use. But withal this skill and faculty, where it hath been unaccompanied with that humility, sobriety, reverence of the Author of the Scripture, and respect unto the analogy of faith, which ought to bear sway in the minds of all men who undertake to expound the oracles of God, may be, and hath been, greatly abused, unto the hurt of its owners and disadvantage of the church.

(John Owen. The Works of John Owen, volume 4: The Reason of Faith. Edited by William H. Goold. Albany, OR: Books for the Ages, Version 1.o, 2000. pp. 270-72.)

I was glad to read Andy Efting's comments on my earlier post, "Brothers, Bitzer was a Banker". I hope that you will take a few minutes to read them, too. I've still been giving this more thought.

One thing I've been thinking about is the need some of us have to be challenged to do spade work. Not everyone is equally skillful in the languages. Accountability and encouragement along these lines goes a long way.

I was reminded of the Exegetical Society organized by a group of students at Edinburgh University on November 19, 1831. This was a student society which met together for the study of the Bible, exercise in the Septuagint Greek and Hebrew original, and for prayer. The original group included Horatius and Andrew Bonar, William Laughton, Thomas Brown, Henry Moncreiff, William Wilson, John Thomson, Walter Wood, John Millar, Robert Hamilton, John Burne, Patrick Borrowman, Alex. Somerville, and Robert Murray M'Cheyne. You can view a photo of an agreement drawn up by Robert Murray M'Cheyne in 1838 here. The agreement reads as follows:
Pastors and elders get together occasionally (some very often) for conferences and fellowships. These are great and meet an important need for pastors. What if pastors would band together for the sake of helping one another to become better exegete's of the Word; to encourage and challenge each other to excel in their understanding of the biblical languages. This would take some effort, but would continue to repay a preacher long after the hype of a "star-studded" conference would last. What do you think?

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Note: I found the picture over at the Logos blog. I can't take any credit for it but thought it fit well with the subject at hand. Please pay them a visit. If you don't have the Libronix software package you may want to give it some thought. They offer a lot of language tools, not to mention tons of commentaries, theological works, and reference works to add on.

You'll want to be sure to read these recommendations. If you enjoy the best of puritan and reformed literature, you'll quickly learn that Joel R. Beeke is an able guide.

Reformation Heritage "Book Talk":
Dr. Beeke’s Top 10 Reads of 2007: Part One
Part One offers Beeke's #10 - #6.

Dr. Beeke’s Top 10 Reads of 2007: Part Two
Part Two will offer Beeke's #5 - #1.

#1 is Herman Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics (4 volumes).

Today is the final stop for Tim Challies' blog tour and he has answered a short series of questions for the SharperIron audience. I hope that you have been able to follow some of this tour. I have found it to be very interesting and challenging.

Challies, Tim. The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment. Forward by John MacArthur. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Books, 2007. Softcover, 208 pages.

Purchase: [WTS ($11.04) | CBD ($12.99) | Amazon ($11.55)]

Read an excerpt: The Heart and Head (BOUNDLESS webzine)

Endorsements

Tim Challies, a self-employed web designer, is a pioneer in the Christian blogosphere, having one of the most widely read and recognized Christian blogs. He is also editor of Discerning Reader, a site dedicated to offering thoughtful reviews of books that are of interest to Christians.

Review: I have received a review copy of Tim's book and have made a quick skim of its contents. I found this book to be very readable and, in general, deliberately concerned with what the Scriptures teach as opposed to merely what Tim Challies thinks. Because of this, I believe that many Christians will find this to be a welcome addition to their reading lists. That said, I do not think, nor do I imagine that Tim would want us to think, that in this book the subject has been thoroughly exhausted. Rather, I hope that this little book will encourage others to pick up a Bible and pen to further the discussion of this vitally important spiritual discipline.

I hope that you will, at least, take the time to read up on today's Q&A with Tim at SharperIron.org and join the conversation.

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Tim's Blog Tour:

January 7	Evangelical Outpost
January 8	Tall Skinny Kiwi
January 9	A-Team
January 10	Adrian Warnock
January 11	Gender Blog
January 14	Jollyblogger
January 15	Between Two Worlds
January 16	TeamPyro
January 17	Michael Spencer
January 18	Church Matters
January 21	SharperIron

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Some Other Reviews of Tim's Book:

• R. Albert Mohler
• Frank Turk at Pyromaniacs
• Writing and Living
• Tim Irvin
  
• dsudfeld at onetwentynine
• Jake Hunt at Wiser Time
• Wayne Layton at lyndon avenue
• Mark Tubbs at Discerning Reader
• C. E. Moore at The Christian Manifesto
• Allen Mickle, Sr. at Working Out Salvation with Fear and Trembling
  

On Saturday afternoon John Piper posted a note on the Desiring God blog urging Christian pastors and leaders to make good use of this Martin Luther King, Jr weekend to speak on the issue of race and ethnicity. He wrote,

The point of this weekend is not to celebrate all that MLK was. You need not belabor [h]is sins. The point is to lift up some magnificent things he stood for and some necessary and amazing achievements of the civil rights era in which he was a key leader. We are Christians and can see these things in the light of providence and the gospel. Let everything point to Christ and him crucified. Consider Revelation 5:9 if you wonder whether ethnic diversity and ethnic harmony are Jesus-blood issues.

Well, I will not be preaching or teach a class today, but I do have this forum. And, I think I understand his argument. I've often avoided talk of Martin Luther King, Jr, not because of his race, but because of theological position and his known sins. What I think Piper is asking me to consider is not King's sin, but our society's sin, even my sin. That is the sin of racism.

Much of the discussions about racism and ethnic disharmony are very frustrating to me because 1) people tend to talk past each other, and 2) people tend to point a finger at everyone but themselves. As far as I see it, racism currently is a multi-sided problem. No one race is the owner of racist tendencies. I believe that people of every race have to deal with this sin. And further, I believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ has the only adequate answer for racism.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

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Martin Luther King, Jr. was called to pastor the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama in 1954. The church had recently asked their previous pastor to step down due to rising tensions over some of his heated sermons, and they were looking for a calmer, more peaceful leader in King. In his second year at the church King was drawn into the mix of the Montgomery bus boycott which had been sparked by the arrest of Rosa Parks. Being young and an able speaker, King was the leader of choice for the emerging civil rights movement.

King continued to lead the black community and quickly became a national figure. His leadership was marked by a plea for love and justice. He argued that the struggle for civil rights ought to remain "on the high plane of dignity and discipline."

The Supreme Court ruled against segregation in 1954 and 1955, and Congress passed civil rights acts in 1957, 1960, 1964 and 1965.

In a sermon preached on June 5, 1910, Francis J. Grimke asks,

The church ought to begin to do something. What can it do? In what way or ways may it help overthrow this giant evil? It can help to do it in the same way as Jesus sought to meet race antipathy and an adverse and unrighteous public sentiment in His day.... In the midst of the society in which Jesus lived and moved there was the strongest possible feeling of aversion to certain classes known as publicans and sinners.... [reference Luke 19:5 and 7:39]... In the midst of such conditions Jesus began his great life's work. Did He fall in with the prejudices of his time? Did he allow Himself to be controlled by the unrighteous public sentiment about Him? No. He did the very opposite of that. He showed clearly, unmistakably where He stood, what His principles were. And this He did in two ways--by what He taught and by the life He lived.

This sermon, in my opinion, is an awkward one because it is a message for white Christians addressed to black Christians. Hardly an edifying way to preach. However, he never would have had the opportunity to preach it to a white audience, but they needed to hear it. Many of his statements are still worth considering and we are grateful that it has been preserved for us. May we truly live the gospel in word and deed as did our Savior!

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Source Referenced:

• Larry Witham, A City Upon a Hill: How Sermons Changed the Course of American History. (HarperOne, 2007).
• Thabiti M. Anyabwile. The Faithful Preacher: Recapturing the Vision of Three Pioneering African-American Pastors. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2007).

Instead of posting in the comments to Tim's previous post, The Emptiness of Mere Success, I would like to share this quote here.

The Gospel teaches us that what truly satisfies is not what we can accomplish by our own strength but what Someone else has accomplished for us. This is contrary to the wisdom of men. Men (yes, and women), generally, want to accomplish and achieve things. Tom Brady says that he feels that "there's something out there greater for me". Whether or not the wording of this statement was intentional I can't say, but he got the last part correct. There is something out there greater for him. I appreciate those who have caught on to this and have been encouraging us to pray for the salvation of Tom Brady. This is a worthy cause.

• Tom Ascol - Tom Brady, your questions have answers
• Tom Ascol - Pray for Tom Brady (see especially the quote from S. Rutherford provided by Nathan White in the comments)
  
• Tony Reinke - Tom Brady, Super Bowl Rings, and Ecclesiastes
• Tim Challies - Tom Brady on Emptiness
  
• AJ Gibson - The Emptiness of Life Without God
• Tim Aschraft - The Emptiness of Mere Success
  

This morning I picked up my review copy of the Letters of Thomas Chalmers (BOT: 2007) and read a few more selections. The letters I read were an exchange between Dr Chalmers and a close friend named Thomas Smith. Smith had been seeking Chalmers' help with questions about his faith and, in one letter, had hinted toward his need form further spiritual reform. Chalmers responded with the following statement that I found to be very helpful, even to me. Maybe it will be a timely word of exhortation to you too.

...will you permit me further to say, that the effect of all your doings would be hurtful did the consciousness of them go to wean you from dependence on Christ, or turn your eye from Him as all your desire and all your salvation? Go joyfully to God in His name; follow closely in the path of His example; feel your need of His Spirit in every enterprise; have no doubt of your forgiveness through the merits of His blood, coupling with faith in this one testimony, the acceptance of every one saying about the necessity of holiness and self-denial, and the mortification of all that is sinful, and the adornment of the whole man with the graces of the Spirit, and the dedication of the whole life to the will of Him who poured out His soul unto death for you. (p.19)

Even Christians, as this young man confessed, can easily find themselves in a state of emptiness if they look to the works of their hands alone. Let us not forget the source of our fullness, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, we are weak, but He is strong. Abraham learned this ever so slowly as he followed God away from home and throughout his days of sojourning. David learned this as he sought to execute his royal responsibilities. Jesus' disciples learned this as they followed and learned from Him. One of the psalms from my reading this week captures this, too.

Psalm 16:8-11