Christ the Omnipotent Healer - by St. Augustine (part 2)

Here is the conclusion to Augustine's comments on Christ the Omnipotent Healer in Psalm 103:3-4a.

Image via Wikipedia

Why then hanker for temporal things when you are unwell? Concentrate first on getting better. Sometimes a person is ill in bed in his own house. His sickly state is quite obvious, though there is another sickness, just as unmistakable, which people are unwilling to recognize. However, in the case of the physical complaint, human doctors are called in. The patient is ill in his home, gasping with fever in his bed. Perhaps he tries to think about his financial affairs, or to give orders about his staff, or his farm, or to make some other arrangements. But he is immediately recalled from these anxieties by the solicitude of his relatives who fuss and murmur all round him. He is advised, "Forget about all that; just concentrate on getting better." The same advice is apposite for you. Whoever you are, think about other things if you are well; but if some malady proves to you how sick you really are, concentrate on your salvation. Christ is your salvation, so fix your mind on Christ. Accept his cup of salvation, for he heals all your diseases. If you truly want this salvation, you will get it. If you seek honors and riches you will not have them as soon as the desire arises, but what Christ gives you is more precious and is yours as soon as the desire it. He heals all your diseases; he will redeem your life from corruption. Every desire that plagues you will be healed when this corruptible nature is clothed in incorruptibility. Your life has been redeemed from corruption; there is no need to be afraid anymore. A contract has been signed in good faith; no one can deceive your redeemer, no one outwit him, no one bully him. He has struck this business deal, and he has paid the price already by shedding his blood. That is what I am saying, no less: that God's only Son has poured out his blood for us. Walk tall, human soul, for you are worth so high a price.

He will redeem your life from corruption. What he has promised us as a reward he has shown us in himself by way of example. He died for our offenses, and rose for our justification. Let the members hope for what has been demonstrated in their head. Will he not care for the members if he has raised their head to heaven? Surely; he will redeem your life from corruption.

Saint Augustine (Bishop of Hippo). Expositions of the Psalms, 99-120. III/19. The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century.  Translation and notes by Maria Boulding, O.S.B. Edited by Boniface Ramsey. Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2003, pp. 84-85.

Christ the Omnipotent Healer - by St. Augustine (part 2)

Zondervan Giveaway

From Zondervan (Koinonia Blog):

Giveaway: A Shorter Introduction to the New Testament:

We're giving away 5 copies of Introducing the New Testament: A Short Guide to Its History and Message. This new abridgement of the classic textbook by D.A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo is perfect for personal study, Bible studies, and small groups. (Enter the Giveaway and Learn more here)

How is this new abridgement different from the textbook?

This abridgement still contains great scholarship, but you won't feel like you're reading a textbook. This is a resource ideal for personal, Sunday school, or small group use; a helpful guide to keep in your backpack, so to speak, whenever you're journeying through the New Testament and seek a deeper understanding.

Each book of the NT receives its own chapter. You will explore each book's historical context, content, and contribution to the canon. You'll also find helpful introductory chapters on the Gospels, the NT letters, and the theology of Paul. Each chapter includes discussion question that will enhance your personal study or help you discuss the content with others. Read a sample.

This book is an excellent resource! The fuller version is fantastic and Naselli has done us a great service in trimming it down for a larger audience.  We recommend this book!

Zondervan Giveaway

Christ the Omnipotent Healer - by St. Augustine

The following is a beautiful and convicting modern translation of Augustine's comments on Psalm 103:3.

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Now listen to all the ways in which he has repaid you. He is ready to forgive your iniquities, and he heals all your diseases. He will redeem your life from corruption, he crowns you in his pity and mercy. He satisfies your longing with good things, your youth will be renewed like an eagle's. These are the forms his repayment takes. What was due to a sinner except torment? What was owed to a blasphemer except the fires of hell? Yet these were not the repayment he made to you; do not be afraid, do not shrink back appalled, do not give way to loveless terror. Do not forget all those good ways in which he has repaid you; allow yourself to be changed now, and so avoid experiencing his—what shall I say? His bad ways of repaying you? But they cannot be bad if they are just. They seem bad to you, but to God not even the bad things you suffer are bad; for if they are just, they are good, and only to you who endure them do they seem bad. Would you prefer not to experience your fate as bad, just though it is in God's sight? Then make sure there is no sinful badness on your part in his presence. He has never ceased to call you, nor has he neglected to instruct the one he has called; he has never ceased to perfect the one he has instructed, nor will he neglect to crown you when he has made you perfect. What have you to say? That you are a sinner? Be converted, then, and be open to receive the repayments he offers, for he is ready to forgive all your iniquities.

Even after your sins are forgiven you still carry with you a weak body. Inevitably there will be carnal desires that titillate you and tempt you to forbidden pleasures; these result from your sickness, for you still carry weak flesh. Death has not yet been swallowed up in victory, nor has this corruptible nature yet been clothed in incorruptibility (See 1 Cor. 15:54, 53). The soul itself is still shaken by manifold disturbances, even after the forgiveness of its sins. It is still battered by dangerous temptations, and all sorts of suggestions assail it. Some of these it finds pleasurable, others it does not; but from time to time it consents to some of those in which it takes pleasure, and then it is trapped. This is a disease, but the Lord heals all your diseases. All your maladies will be healed, never fear. "They are great," you say; but the physician is greater. An omnipotent doctor is never confronted with an incurable disease. All you need to do is to allow yourself to be cured. Do not thrust his hands away, for he knows what he is doing. You must not simply enjoy it when he pampers you; you must also bear it when he plies the knife. Hold out under the painful treatment by fixing your mind on the health it will bring you.

Just think, my brothers and sisters, how much people put up with in their bodily illnesses, and only to gain a few extra days of life before they die and uncertain days at that. Plenty of people have endured excruciating pain under surgery, and then died in the hands of the doctors, or else recovered only to succumb to some other illness that carried them off. If they had looked for such a speedy death, would they have consented to undergo that agonizing pain? But you are not suffering for the sake of a doubtful outcome; he who has promised you health cannot make a mistake. A doctor is sometimes mistaken in promising health where a human body is concerned. Why can he be mistaken. Because what he is trying to heal is not something he made himself. But God made your body, and God made your soul. He knows how to re-create what he created; he knows how to form anew what he once formed. Your job is simply to stay under the doctor's hands; anyone who pushes his hands away offends him. People do not behave so to human doctors. On the contrary, they let themselves be tied down and cut. For the sake of uncertain recovery they are willing to pay the high price of certain pain. God who made you cures you with absolute certainty, and he charges no fee. Yield to his hands, then, O soul, you who bless him, mindful of all the ways in which he repays you, for he heals all your diseases.

Saint Augustine (Bishop of Hippo). Expositions of the Psalms, 99-120. III/19. The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century.  Translation and notes by Maria Boulding, O.S.B. Edited by Boniface Ramsey. Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2003, pp. 82-83 (emphasis mine).

Christ the Omnipotent Healer - by St. Augustine

The Supremacy of God in Missions Through Worship

This is one of my all-time favorite excerpts.  I've read it many times and commend it to you for your consideration.

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.

Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal in missions. It's the goal of missions because in missions we simply aim to bring the nations into the white-hot enjoyment of God's glory. The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God. "The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!" (Psalm 97:1). "Let the peoples praise thee, O God; let all the peoples praise thee! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy!" (Psalm 67:3-4).

But worship is also the fuel of missions. Passion for God in worship precedes the offer of God in preaching. You can't commend what you don't cherish. Missionaries will never call out "Let the nations be glad!", who cannot say from the heart, "I rejoice in the Lord.... I will be glad and exult in thee, I will sing praise to thy name, O most High" (Psalm 104:34; 9:2). Missions begins and ends in worship.

If the pursuit of God's glory is not ordered above the pursuit of man's good in the affections of the heart and the priorities of the church, man will not be well served and God will not be duly honored. I am not pleading for a diminishing of missions but for a magnifying of God. When the flame of worship burns with the heat of God's true worth, the light of missions will shine to the most remote peoples on earth. And I long for that day to come!

John Piper. Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions. Baker Books, 1993, pp. 11-12.

Study Material Also Available
DVD Let the Nations Be Glad!	Study Guide Let the Nations Be Glad!

The Supremacy of God in Missions Through Worship

Sample Pages of the New EGGNT Volume Available

B&H Academic has made available an excerpt of the new EGGNT volume (see our previous post): Murray J. Harris. Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament: Colossians and Philemon. B&H Academic, 2010.

Click here to view the 68-page PDF.

Sample Pages of the New EGGNT Volume Available

Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament (EGGNT)

Today, I received the following book from B&H Academic:

Murray J. Harris. Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament: Colossians and Philemon. B&H Academic, 2010. [NOTE: The preview at Amazon is of the 1991 edition. This B&H Academic edition is an update of the 1991 edition.]

Now here's a book that I can really use!

The plan set forth in the General Introduction is clear and promises to be a guide for pastors and student who feel "stranded" from the Greek text.  Here's how Harris, who is also the General Editor of the series, explains the purpose of this series:

The [EEGNT] aims to close that gap between stranded student (or former student) and daunting text and to bridge that gulf between morphological analysis and exegesis.  Each volume of the Guide seeks to provide in a single volume all the necessary information for basic understanding of the Greek text and to afford suggestions for more detailed study.  The individual volumes are not full-scale commentaries.  But they should prove helpful to those who need some aid in understanding the Greek New Testament and in particular to several groups of persons: students preparing for examinations in New Testament studies, ministers and pastors who are hard-pressed for time yet eager to maintain the momentum in the study of Greek that they gained in their theological training and who wish to use the Greek text as the basis for their sermon preparation, and teachers seeking to help students gain confidence in reading the Greek New Testament. (xiii)

The EEGNT is a new series revived by B&H Academic.  This volume was originally published in 1991 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, however the series was discontinued (for reasons of which I am not aware).  Having had a chance to preview this initial volume, I am thrilled that B&H Academic has taken up this project.  I'm confident that this will be a highly useful series for students, teachers and pastors.  Please take a few minutes to look this over.

(From the publisher)

Exegetical Guide to the

Greek New Testament

Colossians and Philemon

by Murray J. Harris

ABOUT THE BOOK
The Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament: Colossians and Philemon is the first book in a projected series of twenty volumes that seeks to bring together classroom, study, and pulpit by providing the student or pastor with the information needed to understand and expound the Greek text of the New Testament. Author Murray J. Harris aims to close the gap between grammatical analysis and exegesis, leading the reader into an in-depth understanding of the New Testament Greek text by guiding him or her through the processes of thorough exegesis flowing into sermon construction.

Each volume provides the following for the biblical book or books on which it is written:

• Brief introduction on authorship, date, occasion, and purpose
• List of recommended commentaries
• Lists of recommended resources (i.e., monographs and articles) on various topics for further study
• Extensive exegetical notes
• Translation and expanded paraphrase of the whole book
• Comprehensive exegetical outline
• Glossary of grammatical and rhetorical terms

Murray J. Harris is professor emeritus of New Testament Exegesis and Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and former warden of Tyndale House in Cambridge, England.

I also recommend Harris's excellent volume in the NSBT series: Slave of Christ: A New Testament Metaphor for Total Devotion to Christ. Volume 8. NSBT. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP, 2001. 222 pages.

Final Note

The second book in the EGGNT series will be on James by Douglas J. Moo is slated for release in October of 2011.

Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament (EGGNT)

Baillie's A Diary of Private Prayer to be Updated

One of my favorite devotional resources is John Baillie's A Diary of Private Prayer (older HB edition).  Last week we received a notice that there are plans to modernize this little book and republish it in hardcover.  I think that this is an excellent idea.  Keep an eye out for new edition in the near future.  If I hear more about it, I'll update you.

Special thanks to John who left a note about this in the comments to this post.

Baillie's A Diary of Private Prayer to be Updated