Words of Life

Timothy Ward writes in the introduction what his thesis is “I want to articulate, explain and defend what we are really saying when we proclaim, as we must, that the Bible is God’s Word. In particular, this is how I want to go about this: I am attempting to describe the nature of the relationship between God and Scripture.” (p. 11)  Ward is going to argue his thesis by starting first with a biblical outline, “we shall find that the words of the Bible are a significant aspect of God’s action in the world.” (p. 12) He will also answer the question, “What, according to the Bible, is in fact going on when God speaks?” (p. 20) Ward makes it clear we can’t separate God’s actions from his person and his words.

In the next section of the book, Ward will then move to write about “a theological outline of Scripture in its relationship with God, focusing on Scripture’s role in the relationship with each of the persons of the Trinity.” (p. 13) In this section, he is going to make the argument for what he calls “speech-act theory” (pp. 57-60) we as Christians can use this as a powerful tool when we are talking about the doctrine of Scripture. 

Ward is going to move from biblical, theological and lastly, he will write about God’s Word from “a doctrinal outline of Scripture.” (p. 17) In this section, Ward will cover “Scripture’s necessity, sufficiency, clarity and authority (including inerrancy and infallibility).” (p. 17)  Ward writes with clarity and illustrates just how important it is for us to keep these attributes of God’s Word.

The final section of the book is seen as practical theology as Ward will end with a call for us as the readers to apply what he has written to preaching and our private reading of Scripture. He will deal with the misunderstanding of sola scriptura. Ward wants us to be encouraged to preach the Bible and we can be confident that we are not just speaking empty words by human authors but that we are ambassadors speaking the very words of God when we open up the Bible to preach. 

 

Ward is able to make his argument clear. He does persuade me on the way that I need to see that all three persons of God are an activity in the words of God. The Father speaks the Words, the Son is the Word of God in the flesh and the Spirit continues to have a role to play in both the authoring and the preservation of Scripture. I had never read how all three are involved in the Words of Scripture. I knew that all three were involved and Ward was able to persuade to see how God and the Scriptures are in a relationship. 

The strength of the book is that Ward is able to remind the reader of the conservative Reformed view of Scripture by pointing us to Calvin, Turretin, Warfield and Bavinck with quotes. He reminds us that this is not a new idea but has been something that has been held as a view of Scripture for years. Another strength is how Ward builds from the biblical outline to the theological outline, to the doctrinal outline as Ward buildings from one to the next that is one of his strengths. 

The first quote comes from the summary where Ward is showing us how he has made the arguments in the book, “The central biblical, theological and doctrinal arguments of this book can be summarized briefly. 

Scripture, by which we mean the speech acts performed by means of the words of Scripture, is the primary means by which God presents himself to us, in such a way that we can know him and remain in a faithful relationship with him. Once we are clear on this definition of the nature of Scripture, we can say something important and true, even though at first sight it seems perhaps dangerously close to making an idol of the Bible: Scripture is God in communicative action.

Theologically Scripture is the means by which the Father presents his covenant to us, and therefore the means by which he presents himself to us as the faithful God of the covenant. It is also in the words of Scripture that the Word of God, Jesus Christ, comes to us so that we may know him and remain in him. And it is through the Scripture, which he authored, preserved and now illumines, that the Holy Spirt speaks to us most reliably. All this is what we are saying when we confess, simply that, ‘The Bible is the Word of God.’

Doctrinally Scripture is necessary, because of the character of God, and because of the covenantal form in which he chooses to relate to us. It is sufficient as the form in which God’s covenant promise is made to us. It is clear, in that God’s voice speaking through Scripture gives us sufficiently solid grounds to base on Scripture alone our knowledge of God, our trust in him, our hope and our actions. All of this amounts to an exposition of what it means to say that Scripture is authoritative, since to speak of Scripture’s authority is really shorthand for speaking of the way in which the sovereign God chooses to speak authoritatively to use in and through Scripture.” (pp. 177-178)

The second argument is, “For the great revealed truth we must trust, explain and defend is that the one who is the Word of life (I John I:I) speaks to us words of life (John 6:68). He gives us Scripture as our word of life: the trustworthy, clear and sufficient means of knowing him and remaining in covenant relationship with him, in the power of the Holy Spirit, right up until the day we no longer need it, because then we shall see face to face.” (p. 179) Ward made the arguments that we need to see that Scripture is trustworthy, that it is clear and sufficient for us to be in a covenant relationship with God.

The first insight from this book that I need to apply is the section The Son and Scripture: the words of the Word - Jesus and the Bible as both ‘Word of God’. Ward writes “A book is not a person and a person is not a book; the necessary safeguards to ordering ‘Christ as Word’ and ‘Bible as Word’ appropriately in relation to each other are already there in this rather obvious fact.” (pp. 71-72) “Paying full and wise attention to Scripture as the written Word of God is crucial if we wish to worship and follow the Word-made-flesh, the Son of God, rightly.” (p. 74) I need to watch when I am talking about Jesus as the Word of God and the Bible as the Word of God. It could be confusing to people. 

The second insight is found in The Holy Spirit and Scripture: the God-breathed Word - The inspiration of Scripture - The Spirit as the author of Scripture. The insight was when Ward is writing about the inspiration of Scripture. Ward writes “Consequently it is arguable that we should drop the term ‘the inspiration of Scripture’, as the phrase so easily leads to confusion.” (p. 83) This was the first time I had read about dropping the term the inspiration of Scripture. I thought why would we do that and then Ward went on to write about people wanting to drop the word but then he gives a good reason to keep using the word to help us understand why we should this word. Ward writes
“Scripture is then said to be ‘inspired’ in the sense that Christians find it spiritually inspiring.” (p. 84) I want to always see the Scripture as God’s Word that is inspired and inspiring me. 

Finding God in the Margins

Finding God in the Margins by Carolyn Custis James

James brings the readers right into the story of Ruth. This is the story of a widow (Ruth - a Moabite) and her widowed mother-in-law (Naomi- a Israelite). She helps you understand that the mercy (hesed) of God is still there even when Naomi thinks He has left her because of what is going on in the world around them. If you wanted to understand the theology more of this story this is a good resource to have. James brings in the social and culture times. Ultimately she reminds us the whole story of Ruth, Boaz and Naomi is pointing to a One that is coming - that is Jesus. I would recommend reading this book to someone that wants to know about the story of Ruth.

(I have review this book for SpeakEasy)  

I have written a few book reviews for school the last few months. This part of one of the reviews. The book was Adventures in Missing the Point. I had owned this book for a few years and have never read it.

Overview of the main points the authors are trying to make

When Brian McLaren was working on writing the book Adventures in Missing the Point, he went to EmergentYS to see if they would publish the book. Instead, “they suggested Tony Campolo as a coauthor.”(1) The authors then “divvied up the chapters”(2) and each chapter ends with the response written by the other author. Campolo disagrees with McLaren “on several points, which is part of what makes the book interesting and fun” says McLaren. The authors have heard “really positive response on this book, especially from people in “the Christian subculture” (3) who feel it kicks some doors down and opens some windows for needed fresh air.” The Christian subculture is the audience most likely to read this book since the authors are making the argument that most Christians have missed and keep missing the point of the Gospel that they have been called to proclaim. 

The authors have written their book in three sections: God, world, and soul. The first section they believe Christians have missed the point on are those of salvation, theology, kingdom of God, end times, and the Bible. The second section deals with the topic of the world. The authors think the church has missed the mark on: evangelism, social action, culture, women in ministry, leadership, seminary, environmentalism, and homosexuality. The third section is going to deal with the soul where they cover sin, worship, doubt, truth and being postmodern.

Footnotes from  https://brianmclaren.net/adventures-in-missing-the-point/ (accessed November 22, 2018)

This was part of a book review written for CSBS and my Christian Apologetics course online

10 MINUTES IN THE WORD: PROVERBS

I have had the chance to review 10 minutes in the word: Proverbs. I appreciated that I was able to read whatever translate of the Bible I wanted to use that day for the Proverbs reading. It was great that they make connects to Jesus and the New Testament. The prayers and questions at the end of each devotional were so helpful. I would recommend this book for people looking to read the Proverbs.     

How the Nations Rage review

How the Nations Rage review

Jonathan Leeman in the book "How the Nations Rage" challenges people to rethink politics. Leeman takes the time to define what politics is and what God has called political leaders to do. He also helps us understand what the church is by defining what the church is to do. And how the church is different than government. Leeman shows the way the local church needs to be a mix of the right and left. In the end, the church needs to be about the gospel and government needs to work for justice.

Strange Fire review

In the book Strange Fire, the author John MacArthur lays the groundwork for challenging the Charismatic church. He has seen the negative impacts the charismatic movement has had on the church. MacArthur argues that the charismatic movement has misrepresented the Holy Spirit. He calls the people to "test the spirits" (1 John 4:1). He focuses on pointing out false teachers.  MacArthur maintains that the supernatural gifts have ceased. The charismatic movement is painted with too broad of a brush in the book. There are some good things that have occurred in the charismatic movement. This is a good book for people to read but like all books the time to process what is said by John MacArthur.

Let Hope In

Let hope in

I have just had the chance to review Let Hope In by Pete Wilson. Wilson has a great way of taking us into our past and how we are shaped. He challenges us to let Christ bring us hope from our past. Out of this hope we can have a Christ-centred future. Pete has four challenges in the book to help us understand our past. Wilson does a great job at bring us into the book though the questions he asks in each chapter. I would encourage you to check out Let Hope In!

An Amish Kitchen

An Amish Kitchen is a collection of three short stories, or novellas of faith, family and love.

“A Taste of Faith”, by Kelly Long is a story of the young local healer in the community, Fern Zook. She lives with her grandmother, because her parents both died from influenza at a young age. She spends her days tending to minor ailments of those in her community. Her world changes when she meets Abram Fisher, a determined bachelor who vows he will never marry. After his grandfather falls ill, his parents leave town, leaving him to care for his brothers and sister. His ideas of marriage change the more time he spends with Fern.

“A Spoonful of Love”, by Amy Clipston, is a story of a young woman, Hannah King, who tends to her family’s bed-and-breakfast. After her father suffers from a stroke, she struggles to keep up with the maintenance, cooking, cleaning, and book-keeping involved in running a successful bed-and-breakfast. Stephen Esh, a broken man haunted by his past, becomes an answer to her prayers. He is hired as the maintenance man for the bed-and-breakfast against Hannah’s mother’s wishes and quickly befriends Hannah.

“A Recipe for Hope”, by Beth Wiseman is a story of the importance of family. Eve Bender and her family must move back to her parent’s house after their house gets destroyed by a fallen tree. Eve and her mother have always had a strained relationship, and both are uneasy about the forced living conditions. Throughout the time spent together secrets are revealed and betrayal within the family comes to light. 

Pete Wilson - Empty Promises

 

I just had the chance to read Pete Wilson's book empty promises. I got this book from the web site book sneeze. I enjoyed reading this book. This book talked about the idols we all face in life. Pete did a great job with bring each one to for front of the reading by adding in questions in different areas of the book questions to make the read think deep about their own life. Pete as did a great job adding in real life stories (some times I wish I got here more about the stories but as he said at one point in the book it is not a tell all book). The whole book can be summed up on page 191 "This book has never been about guilt. It was never my goal to simply point out the fact that we all struggle with idolatry. Quite the opposite. I long for you to find the freedom that comes from living your life wholly seeking God. I long for you to become increasingly aware of empty promises so you won't be distracted from the Source of real power. You need that, because the danger you face is real enough." Pete gives us a message of hope in world of idolatry. Hope that comes from Christ alone!

HMH

God loves broken people

God loves broken people and we need to enter into a personal relationship with Him to be healed from this brokenness. We are all broken people. This book you will hear about people's brokenness and the writers story also.

Not having read or heard of this author before. I did not know how her writing style would. This book will be useful to use in a small group.

If you would like to hear the author speak. You can attend the Women of Faith conferences. Please get the book and read it!