Koinonia

Living God's Word—a new Bible survey coming May 2012

2012-02-07T08:17:26-05:00

Living God's Word (releasing May 2012) is the newest release from New Testament scholar J. Scott Duvall and Old Testament expert J. Daniel Hays, authors of the popular hermeneutics primer Grasping God's Word, which also releases this spring in a new edition. Living God's Word represents a new Bible survey that invites lay and college-level Bible students to see how their faith journey relates to the big picture of the Bible. It presents a broad narrative framework that encompasses every book of the Bible and demonstrates how believers make this story their own.

Download an excerpt of Living God's Word (PDF)

Extra-Curricular Activities 02/04/12

2012-02-04T06:28:48-05:00

Et Stetzer interviewed Sally Lloyd-Jones about The Power of Story.

Eric O. Jacobsen with We Can't Go Back to the Garden: Critiquing Evangelicals' Over-Ruralized Eschatology.

Carl Trueman discusses Gnosticism, Nicea and Celebrity Pastors.

Kevin DeYoung suggests “success” as a church is not about the numbers.

Trevin Wax and Justin Wise on The State of Social Media.

Tim Gombis argues Piper’s comments about Christianity’s masculine feel are a type of Imperialism.

Skye Jethani insists we must talk about Vocation not just Mission.

Tall Skinny Kiwi on What Dorothy Day might Teach Bloggers.

The Neff Review discusses the pros and cons of self-publishing.

Why the Komen Foundation is in a no win scenario.

Engaging Church shared a series of prayers about the crisis of human-trafficking connected to the Super Bowl.

Darrell L. Bock on the Unity of Luke and Acts

2012-02-03T09:37:50-05:00

Late last year, Mark L. Strauss and Darrell L. Bock sat down to discuss several key topics related to Luke-Acts—in anticipation for Darrell's forthcoming A Biblical Theology of Luke and Acts (May 2012). Here's clip one on the unity of Luke and Acts.

What Are You Reading in 2012?

2012-02-03T07:36:11-05:00

Winter – the perfect time to curl up with a good book and watch the snowfall. Or in Michigan this year, to watch the brown grass in my yard and remind myself Spring is still a ways off.

We talk quite a bit about books here on Koinonia, for obvious reasons, but today I wanted to turn that conversation over to you.

- What are you reading right now?

- What books are you planning to pick up in 2012?

- What is that one novel, memoir, or commentary that you are excitedly recommending to your friends?

Personally, I’ve recently been enjoying Wendell Berry’s Bringing it to the Table, which is a collection of essays on farming and food.

I look forward to hearing your responses!

Announcing the Jesus Lens Blog Tour

2012-02-01T08:25:51-05:00

You asked about a blog tour for How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens, and today we are pleased to announce the sign up for the tour!

Here are the details: sign up will run through Thursday, and the reviews for the tour will need to be posted between February 27 and March 2.

The hope is to differentiate the reviews by having bloggers focus their interaction with Jesus Lens on a particular section of the Bible – Genesis, the Minor Prophets, the Gospels, John’s Letters, etc. – depending on their personal interests. So please note the area you would be interested in on the sign up sheet.

To sign up for the Jesus Lens tour, please fill out this form. [Sign up is now closed, thank you all for your interest!]

Bloggers already signed up for the tour include Brian LePort, Kevin Fiske, Aaron Armstrong, Louis McBride, and Tim Gombis.

Hope to see your blog added to that list soon!

Mason with Z Academic

The Humility of Joe Louis

2012-01-31T07:00:00-05:00

Yesterday fellow Z blogger Adam Forrest posted some thoughts on Humilitas and a famous boxer in Joe Louis's Punching Power + 8 More Surprising Ideas about Humility. I quite enjoyed his post, and I thought I would share it with all of you.

What people come to mind when you think about humility?

How about former Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World, Joe Louis?

No? This true story from John Dickson's book Humilitas: A Lost Key to Life, Love, and Leadership will change your mind:

Three young men hopped on a bus in Detroit in the 1930s and tried to pick a fight with a lone man sitting at the back of the vehicle. They insulted him. He didn't respond. They turned up the heat of the insults. He said nothing. Eventually, the stranger stood up.

He was bigger than they had estimated from his seated position — much bigger. He reached into his pocket, handed them his business card and walked off the bus and then on his way. As the bus drove on the young men gathered around the card to read the words: Joe Louis. Boxer. They had just tried to pick a fight with the man who would be Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World from 1937 to 1949, the number one boxer of all time, according to the International Boxing Research Organization (second on the list is Muhammad Ali).

Here is a man of immense power and skill, capable of defending his honour with a single, devastating blow. Yet, he chooses to forgo his status and hold his power for others — in this case, for some very fortunate young men...

Now, I'll admit I was surprised by some of Dickson's ideas in Humilitas. But the more I read, the more Dickson demonstrated that his case makes good logical & biblical sense.

[You can the rest of Adam's post here]

Hell, Hades, Gehenna, and the Realm of the Dead - Acts 2:27 (Monday with Mounce 130)

2012-01-30T20:02:34-05:00

Hell is a slippery concept; and no, I’m not talking about recent debates. I am talking about what the word ᾅδης means.

I was reminded of this in reading the NIV of Acts 2:27. Peter cites Ps 16:10 as fulfilled in Christ. “You will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay.” Why did the NIV switch from “grave” (1984) to “realm of the dead”? (I was not on the CBT when this change was made, so I was not part of the discussion.)

ᾅδης occurs ten times in the New Testament. In eight the NIV translates ᾅδης as “Hades.” In Acts 2:27 and in Peter’s following comment (v 31), it translates ᾅδης as the “realm of the dead.” In our passage, most translations simply write ”Hades” (NASB, NRSV, HCSB, NET) or “Hell” (ESV, KJV).

Sheol, the Old Testament word, is the place where all dead go, whether righteous or unrighteous. It is a place of shadowy existence. (Can we use this phrase, “shadowy,” any more without hearing the voice of Gandalf?) This is why the rich man could see Lazarus in the parable (Luke 16:23). This is the context of Ps 16:10, and reflects David’s conviction that God will not abandon him to the realm of the dead, the place of decay, and prophetically sees that God will likewise not abandon the Davidic Messiah.

Hades, on the other hand, is a transliteration of a Greek concept (obviously), referring first to the god of the underworld, and then eventually his domain, the realm of the dead, the grave, and death. ᾅδης was chosen as the primary translation of the Hebrew Sheol.

Verbrugge explains ᾅδης in the LXX as “a land of darkness, in which God is not remembered (Job 26:5–6; cf. 10:21–22; Ps. 6:5; 30:3, 9; 115:17; Prov. 1:12; 27:20; Isa. 5:14) … [where] there is no proclamation or praise (Isa. 38:18; cf. Ps. 88:11).” (NIDNTT-A, 16). In the New Testament we see it has become an underground prison (Matt 16:18; Rev 1:18), a place of torment that will eventually be thrown into the lake of fire and destroyed (Rev 20:14).

The other word connected with the topic of hell is Gehenna. The word is the Greek form of the Aramaic name of the valley to the south of Jerusalem, “the valley of the son[s] of Hinnom.” It is a place of child sacrifices (2 Kings 16:3; 21:6), a desecration that easily lent itself as the name and picture of God’s judgment (Jer 7:32), a fiery abyss (Matt 25:41; 13:42, 50). It is a temporary place (or state) that will give up its dead in final punishment and judgment. In 1 Pet 3:19 it clearly is a place for only the ungodly.

When you hear the word “hell,” what do you see? My guess is that most see pictures of Dante’s inferno, and biblically you see Gehenna, the valley used for child sacrifice and a garbage dump, whose fires and stench were a constant reminder of the punishment for sin.

This is not what David sees. He sees Sheol as a place of shadowy existence, a place of “decay” (Ps 16:10b). By changing from “Hades” to “realm of the dead,” the NIV is helping us not be anachronistic in our images. The NLT is agreeing with the NIV when it translates, “For you will not leave my soul among the dead.” That is certainly the point of the Psalmist and of Peter.

William D. [Bill] Mounce posts about the Greek language, exegesis, and related topics at Koinonia. He is the author of numerous books, including the bestselling Basics of Biblical Greek, and is the general editor for Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of the Old and New Testament Words. He served as the New Testament chair of the English Standard Version Bible translation, and is currently on the Committee for Bible Translation for the NIV. Learn more and visit Bill's other blog on spiritual growth, Life is a Journey, at www.billmounce.com

Extra-Curricular Activities 01/28/12

2012-01-28T07:50:37-05:00

Marc Cortez on 5 Ways Blogger Has Made Me A Better Writer.

Nijay Gupta and Nick Norelli weigh in on the ethics of reviewing books.

D.A. Carson gives his definition of worship.

Tim Challies shares a Visual Theology of God’s Attributes.

Matt Jeffreys writes about The Ethics of Seminary Debt.

Brian LePort wrestles with challenges to the way we understand the concept of “history”

Tim Gombis discusses Neo-Fundamentalism.

Ed Stetzer with On Heretics and Helpfulness: Relating to Those Outside of Orthodoxy.

Trevin Wax moved his blog to the Gospel Coalition, and writes on Grace and Truth Beyond the Elephant Room.

Joel Willits reflects on The Conversion of Paul.

C.S. Lewis and The Power of Story.

As the year-long barrage of political ads begins, Justin Taylor shares this video Election of 1800 Attack Ads.

And the winners are...?

2012-01-27T09:33:28-05:00

Congrats to Jacob Sweeney and Ronaldo Ghenov, who were smiled upon by either chance or God’s sovereignly predetermined plan, and both won a copy of Four Views on Divine Providence.

You can learn more about this Counterpoints book in these reviews by Denver Seminary, Evidence for God, Jeff K. Clarke, and Tom Farr.

Four Views on Divine Providence can be ordered here, or through your favorite bookseller.

Wednesday Giveaway - Four Views on Divine Providence

2012-01-25T07:37:56-05:00

“in Ronald Maxwell’s film adaptation of Jeffrey Shaara’s historical novel Gods and Generals, a shell- shocked captain in the Confederate army asks Lieutenant General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson how he could remain so tranquil in battle when the fight was raging all around him. “General,” the young captain asks in an almost reverential tone, “how is it that you can keep so serene and stay so utterly insensible, with a storm of shells and bullets raining about your head?”

Jackson’s response reveals his unshakable confidence in the absolute sovereignty of God over all things, including the seemingly random events that take place on the battlefield. “Captain Smith,” Jackson thoughtfully responds, “my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death; I do not concern myself with that, but to be always ready, whenever it may overtake me. That is the way all men should live; then all men would be equally brave.”

Our understanding of God’s sovereignty can have massive implications for the way we live our lives, even if or most of us that won’t look quite like it did for Stonewall Jackson.

But what does it mean for God to be sovereign?

Does everything, from my salvation to the path of a bullet on a Civil War battlefield, happen according to his preordained will? Does God experience time and choices unfolding along with us? Or does the answer lie somewhere in-between?

Questions like these have preoccupied Christians for generations, and in this week’s giveaway, F our Views on Divine Providence, leading theologians wrestle with those difficult theological and philosophical issues.

The four positions are represented by Paul Helseth (God causes every creaturely event that occurs); William Lane Craig (through his “middle knowledge,” God controls the course of worldly affairs without predetermining any creatures’ free decisions); Ron Highfield (God controls creatures by liberating their decision-making); and Gregory Boyd (human decisions can be free only if God neither determines nor knows what they will be).

To enter the giveaway, simply comment below with your answer to this question: What are the practical implications of our view of God's sovereignty?

Also, a bonus entry is a available if you comment a second time letting us know that you shared a link to this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, or your blog.

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*If you are reading this via Facebook, email, or RSS, please visit the blog to enter. Two winners will be determined by Random Integer Generator. Giveaway ends Thursday at midnight*