Shepherds/Pastors are Christ's Gift to the Church

I am still studying Ephesians 4. One thing that struck me about the following passage is our pastors are a gift to the church.

Therefore it says,
“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”

(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, (Ephesians 4:8-12, ESV)

Here's a couple of observations. O'Brien in his commentary writes about the phrase he might fill all things.

He [Christ] fills the universe through the exercise of his lordship over everything. This entails his functioning as the powerful ruler over the principalities (Ephesians 1:21), and giving grace and strength to his people (4:13, 15-16), through whom he fulfils his purposes.

Christ manifests his wisdom and authority to all the principalities in heaven and on earth through helping the church grow into maturity. Christ does this by giving us the gift of gifted ministers: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor and teachers. Christ specifically chose and gifted men to minister to us so that we as a body can grow into maturity in Him. These ministers are ministers of the Word. They are not here to make us feel better or entertain us, but to explain "the faith" to us. They are to help us to understand the gospel in its entirety and help us to apply it to our lives. Have you thanked your elders/pastors/shepherds today? Have you prayed for your leaders to today? Have you thanked Christ for his gift of your leaders today?

Ephesians 4:15 "Speaking the Truth in Love"

John Piper in a sermon on October 25, 1992 comments on the phrase in Ephesians 4:15: speaking the truth in love.

Let me clear up a wrong idea here that I had for years about this phrase because I ignored the context. I used to think that the phrase, "speak the truth in love," meant, "Tell it like it is, but gently." Like: if a student bombed a test or if a man loses his job, you may have to do the tough work of telling them the truth, but you do it in love to soften the blow. So the truth which is in view here, I thought, was just the hard facts of life that a person might need to hear about in love. Well, that is no doubt part of the meaning here (especially in view of Ephesians 4:25) but the context points in a different direction, that is very crucial to see for the good of the church. The context is all about doctrinal truth—truth about God and about his Son. Notice three evidences of this.
The Context is all about Doctrinal Truth

First, the equippers of the saints in verse 11 are all truth agents: apostles (the authoritative, foundational witnesses to the truth), the prophets (the charismatic speakers of truth that apply it with supernaturally guided pointedness), the evangelists (who do the work of evangelism with the truth of the gospel in regions where apostles have planted the church), the pastors and teachers (who take the truth and use it to feed and protect the flock of God). Every one of these offices centers on the truth of God and Christ and the gospel. These people are truth agents.

Second, verse 13 says that the goal of building up the body of Christ is to attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. So the building begins with equippers who are all agents of truth, and the aim of the building is unified knowledge, that is, unified grasp of truth.

Third, we have seen that verse 14 shows Paul's great concern is that as we grow into corporate Christlikeness, we are not to be babes who are blown around by every wind of doctrine. So again the issue is stability in true doctrine so that we will not be deceived by false doctrine.

O'Brien's commentary points out the same idea.

... the apostle is not exhorting his readers to truthfulness in general or speaking honestly with one another, however appropriate or important this may be. Rather, he wants all of them to be members of a 'confessing ' church, with the content of their testimony to be 'the word of truth', the gospel of their salvation (1:13). This truth, which is guaranteed by God and is depicted as part of his own armour, is the belt which believers are to buckle around their waist as they resist the onslaughts of the evil one (6:14).

As Christians witness to the truth of the gospel they cannot use the same methods as the false teachers or the tempter whose activity lies behind them. (O'Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians" p. 311)

I have posted this quote before from Mike Cosper about "speaking the truth in love."

Speaking the truth in love” is often understood as saying hard things or dealing with conflict: we “speak the truth in love” when we confront sin or say unpopular things lovingly. According to Peterson, though, “speaking the truth in love” is not so much about interpersonal boldness as it is about a community that shares a confession, a unified expression of faith in the God who saved them. The gathered body teaches the Word and proclaims it together; we speak the truth I love as we sing, read the Scriptures, and remember the gospel together. (Rhythms of Grace, Mike Cosper, p. 80).

Although exhortation is a key tool for building up the church, Paul is concentrating in Ephesians about doctrinal truth. We are to celebrate the truth of the gospel through our preaching, worship, and love. The path to maturity that Paul is describing is in steadfastness to the truth and love. It is not emotional maturity, although that is important, it is not what Paul is stressing in Ephesians.

Ephesians 4:6 -- God's Sovereignty and The Church's Unity

I have been studying Ephesians 4. Paul is stressing the unity of the Church since the death of Christ unified the Gentiles and the Jews into one body. Paul describes God the Father in Ephesians 4:6 --

one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:6, ESV)

Peter O'Brien in his commentary on Ephesians makes the following observations:

God’s universal sovereignty and presence are set forth as the climactic ground for the unity of the Spirit that believers are to maintain. His universal rule is being exercised to fulfill his ultimate purpose on unifying all things in Christ. The unity of the church is the means by which the manifold wisdom of God is being displayed to the universe. The church is the eschatological outpost, the pilot project of God’s purposes, and his people are the expression of this unity that displays to the universe his final goal. (O’Brien, p. 285-286)

God the Father is using the unity of the Church, made possible by the death and resurrection of His Son and is enabled by the indwelling Holy Spirit, to display His manifold wisdom to the universe. We all have a vital role in the church to pursue unity.

What the Bible says we should do when we worship together.

I have been reading Mike Cosper's book Rhythms of Grace.. Cosper writes about what we should do when we worship both singly and in community. He has good insight on how should we should understand Ephesians 4:15:

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ

Cosper notes that "Speaking the truth in love" ia commonly misunderstood.

“Speaking the truth in love” is often understood as saying hard things or dealing with conflict: we “speak the truth in love” when we confront sin or say unpopular things lovingly. According to Peterson, though, “speaking the truth in love” is not so much about interpersonal boldness as it is about a community that shares a confession, a unified expression of faith in the God who saved them. The gathered body teaches the Word and proclaims it together; we speak the truth in love as we sing, read the Scriptures, and remember the gospel together.” (Rhythms of Grace, Mike Cosper, p. 80).

Mike Cosper writes about the Greek word for Church: "Ekklesia."

We gather because we have work to do—to remember the gospel and hold fast to our confession. The Greek word for the gathered church offers some insight into how the apostles saw their gatherings. Though the language offered a variety of options for words to describe the gathering church, the authors of the new Testament chose ἐκκλησία. According the scholar Larry Hurtado, it was an odd choice. “In its historic Greek usage, ekklesia designated the gathering of citizens of a city to conduct civic business. Such events always had a religious character and would be commenced with offerings to the gods, but the ekklesia was not precisely a gathering to conduct worship.” We gather because we have work to do. ἐκκλησία emphasizes the work of the people. We gather to do our work, which is to say, we gather to remember, to encourage, and to spur one another on.

The Work of the Holy Spirit in Regeneration

This is from John Owen's book called, The Holy Spirit. Owen starts this paragraph by explaining how the Arminian's or Semi-Pelagians outline the work of the Holy Spirit in an individual's salvation. Owen then explains how this does not fit scripture or traditional theology. In the second paragraph, Owen points out that Arminians pray for conversion for themselves and others like a Calvinist. It would be ludicrous to pray for a person' conversion, if God is helpless to change that person's heart.

It is indeed pretended by some, that grace, in the dispensation of the word, does work really and efficiently, especially by illumination and excitation of the mind and affections; and if, upon this, the will exerts itself in the choice of that which is good, then the grace thus administered concurs with it, and assists it to perfect its act, and so, that the whole work is of grace. So pleaded the Semi-Pelagians, and so do others still. Now this is, in effect, to overthrow the whole grace of Jesus Christ, and to render it useless; for it ascribes to man the honour of his conversion, his own will being the principal cause of it. It makes a man to beget himself anew, or to be born again of himself; to make himself differ from others, by that which, in a special manner, he has not received.

This is not all that we pray for, when we beg effectual grace for ourselves or others. Surely he must be very indifferent in this matter, who only prays that God would persuade him or others to believe and to obey, to be converted, or to convert themselves. The Church of God has always prayed that God would work these things in us; and those who have a real concern in them, do pray continually that God would effectually work them in their hearts; that he would convert them; that he would create a clean heart, and renew a right Spirit in them; that he would give them faith, and increase it in them; and that in all these things he would work in them by the exceeding greatness of his power, both to will and to do, according to his good pleasure. This argument was much pressed on the Pelagians by the fathers; and there is not a Pelagian in the world who ever sincerely prayed for grace and divine assistance, with a sense of his want of it, but his prayers contradicted his profession. Indeed, for any person to continue praying with importunity and fervency for what is in his own power, and can never be effected but by his own own power, is absurd and ridiculous: and they do but mock God, who pray to him to do that for them which they can do for themselves, and which God cannot do for them, but only as they choose to do it for themselves. This, some men of late, as it seems, wisely observing, begin to reproach and mock at the prayers of Christians. (The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power, John Owen, p. 209)

How God Uses Suffering in Building His Church

Jonathan Edwards comments on 1 Kings 6:7. He notices how the Old Testament temple is a type of the Church, which is the holy temple of the Lord (Ephesians 2:19-22). He points out that God uses affliction to smooth and shape the individual blocks (the people of God) to fit together. We are being grown together into the temple of the Lord by God.

1 Kings vi. 7. “And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house while it was in building.” This temple represents the church of God, who are called God’s temple, or spiritual house; Jesus Christ being the chief corner-stone, and all the saints as so many stones. Particularly, by Solomon’s temple is meant the church triumphant, as by the tabernacle, the church militant, by the exact finishing, squaring, and smoothing of these stones before they were brought thither, represents the perfection of the saints in glory; heaven is not a place to prepare them, they are all prepared before they come there; they come perfectly sinless and holy into heaven; this world is the place where God hews them, and squares them, by his prophets and ministers, by the reproofs and warnings of his word, which God compares to a hammer, and by persecutions and afflictions. There shall be no noise of those tools heard in heaven, but all the lively strains of this spiritual and glorious building are exactly fitted, framed, and polished before they come there.(The Works of Jonathan Edwards, 15, 16

The Church is more than a "mere" instrument.

I read the following quote by Pastor Herschel Martindale in the Great Commission Leadership Institute materials.

"And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all things" (Ephesians 1:22-23, ESV). The Church is the body (instrument) of Jesus. Local churches are merely a representation of this universal body or Church. A body is merely an instrument or means by which the purpose of the head is accomplished."

Actually, the article on the whole is good. However, I disagree with the phrase "merely an instrument." I think what Pastor Martincale is saying is the Church is only a means or tool to accomplish the Great Commission and nothing more. It is hard to believe Pastor Martindale used Ephesians 1:22-23 as a defense for his assertion. Ephesians 1:22-23 is one of the passages in the New Testament which magnifies most what Christ has done for the Church and how Christ plans to use the Church not only here on earth but also in the whole of creation. Paul argues in Ephesians that the Church is not only the means, but it is also one of the main goals of His redemptive work. Here is Peter T. O'Brien commentary on Ephesians 1:22-23.

This still leaves the difficulty of how to interpret 'head' in relation to the body. Perhaps if the Old "Testament notions of 'head' are combined with Greek medical ideas regarding the function of the head in relation to the body and its members, then the head is to be understood as 'inspiring, ruling, guiding, combining, sustaining power, the mainspring of its activity, the centre of its unit, and the seat of its life'. Instead of separating Christ from his body, the head is shown to be 'the cohesive and enabling factor for the body'. Accordingly, "Ephesians (and Colossians) highlights the personal presence of a powerful one who strengthens the individual through the concept of Christ as "head"". This interpretation provides the best explanation for Ephesians 4:16 and Colossians 2:19) ('from it [the head] the whole body grows') and it consistent with the thought of the head 'nourishing' the body. (The Letter to the Ephesians, p. 148)

Again O'Brein on Ephesians 1:23,

The conclusions of our exegesis of v. 23, albeit tentative, may be rendered as follows: '[the church, which is Christ's body], the fulness of him [i.e., Christ] who fills all things in every way'. God has given Christ as head over all things for the church. His supremacy over the cosmos is seen to be for the benefit of his people. (ibid, pp. 151-152)

John Piper in a sermon on Ephesians 1 puts it this way:

"Christ fills the universe with his glory by showing the universe his body--how he chose her, how he destined her, how he came for her and taught her and suffered for her and died for her and rose for her and reigns for her, how he called her and justified her and cleansed her and kept her and will raise her and glorify her and satisfy her forever and ever with himself."

The Church glorifies Christ not through what the Church can do for Christ in fulfilling the Great Commission, but by what God does for the Church through Christ's work and the Holy Spirit's ministry. This interpretation does not alter the fact that we are God's instrument in progressing the Gospel, but the Church is so much more. Paul is using "the body" as analogy to communicate a specific message. Paul did not mean for the analogy to say the Church is "merely" an instrument. Another analogy that scripture uses is the Church is the "Bride of Christ." See the following passages:

For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:2 ESV)

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25-27 ESV)

Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.(Revelation 19:7-9 ESV)

What difference does it make to assert that the Church is merely an instrument? First, it is just a bad interpretation of Ephesians 1. We lose sight of the glory what Christ has done, is doing, and will do for the Church by calling the Church just an instrument. Second, it is bad ecclesiology. If leaders of a local church view their church as just a mere instrument, wouldn't this eventually cause leaders to view the members of their congregation as mere instruments instead of being fellow heirs of the promises? Heirs who need to be loved, nurtured and trained up to be godly men and women in the house of God.

John Owen: How the Holy Spirit and Duty work together

John Owen addresses the age-old question is sanctification a work of the Holy Spirit or an effort of will. Owen would say both. Read it slowly and read it carefully. Owen wrote in the 17th century and his prose is prolix even for a Puritan; however, it is also very scriptural.

It is brutish ignorance in any to argue, from the effectual operations of the Spirit, that we may be slothful and negligent in our own duty. He who knows not God has promised to work in us, in a way of grace, what he requires from us in a way of duty, has either never read his Bible, or does not believe it; or never prayed, or never took notice of what he prayed for. He is a heathen, he has nothing of the Christian in him, who does not pray that God would work in him what he requires of him. This we know, that what God prescribes, we ought with all diligence and earnestness, as we value our souls and their eternal welfare, to comply with. And we know too, that whatever God has promised, that he himself will perform in us. It is our duty to believe that he will do so, and to fancy an inconsistency between these things, is to charge God foolishly.

If there be an opposition between these things, it is either because the nature of man is not meet to be commanded, or because it need not be assisted; both which suppositions are vain and false. The Holy Spirit so worketh in us, as that he worketh by us; and what he does in us, is done by us. Our duty is to apply ourselves to his commands; and it is his work to enable us to perform them.

He who can indulge sloth and negligence in himself, on account of the promised assistance of the Spirit, may look upon it as a certain evidence that he has no interest or concern it it. For where he affords his aids, he, in general, prepares the soul by diligence in duty. And as he works only in and by the faculties of our own minds, it is ridiculous, and implies a contradiction, for a man to say he will do nothing because the Spirit does all; for where he does nothing, the Spirit does nothing, except by the infusion of the first habit or principle of grace... (pp. 142-143), The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power by John Owen.

John Owen's Warning to Those Who Profess the Gospel

Owen was fighting a Deistic theology in his day that was creeping into the churches, so he issues a "woe" to the ministers who preach a gospel that minimizes the role of the Holy Spirit.

Woe to professors of the gospel, who are seduced to believe that all they have to do with God, consists in their attention to moral virtue. It is sottish ignorance and infidelity to suppose that under the gospel there is no communication between God and us but by laws, commands and promises on his part, and by obedience performed in our own strength on part.(p.139, The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power

John Owen: The Ministry of the Holy Spirit and the Church

John Owen argues for the essential ministry of the Holy Spirit in the building of Christ's Church from Acts 1:4-8.

And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:4-8, ESV)

On this promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit, John Owen argues that without the ministrations of the Holy Spirit there would be no church:

In this promise then the Lord Christ founded the church itself, and by it he builded it up. And this is the hinge whereon the whole weight of it doth turn and depend unto this day. Take it away, suppose it to cease as to actual accomplishment, and there will be an absolute end of the Church of Christ in this world. No dispensation of the Spirit, no Church. He that would utterly separate the Spirit from the word had as good burn his Bible. The bare letter of the New Testament will no more ingenerate faith and obedience in the souls of men, than the letter of the Old Testament does among the Jews (2 Cor. 3:6, 8). But blessed be God, who hath knit these things together towards his elect in the bond of an everlasting covenant (Isa 59:21). The kingdom of Christ is spiritual, and in the animating principles of it, invisible. If we fix our minds only on outward order, we lose the rise and power of the whole. It is not an outward visible ordination by men (though that be necessary by rule and precept), but Christ’s communication of his Spirit, that gives being, life, usefulness, and success to the ministry; and if any are so foolish as to expect strength and assistance in the work without him, or such success in their labours as shall find acceptance with God, they do but deceive their own souls and others. Let men therefore cast themselves into what order they please; institute what forms of government and religious worship they think proper; if the work of the Spirit be disowned or disclaimed, there is no church-state among them.(p. 135, The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power) by John Owen

John von Neumann and Play

In his book Prisoner's Dilemma, William Poundstone writes about the formation of Game Theory and the genius who gave Game Theory its most formal mathematical basis: John von Neumann. In the book Poundstone describes why von Neumann plays.

Many have noted von Neumann's fascination with play, his collection of children's toys, his sometimes childish humor. In this he was not atypical among scientists. Jacob Bronowski wrote (1973), "You must see that in a sense all science, all human thought, is a form of play. Abstract thought is the neoteny of the intellect, by which man is able to carry out activities which have no immediate goal (other animals play only while young) in order to prepare himself for long-term strategies and plans." (Poundstone, p. 39)

John Owen on the Works of the Holy Spirit.

John Owen comments on the Holy Spirit's work being distinct from the other two persons of the Godhead: Father and Son. In creation, John Owen points that it is the God the Father who creates ex nihilo. The Spirit hovered over the water. The Holy Spirit works with existing materials so to speak. John Owen goes on and writes:

The work of the Spirit being not an original but a perfecting work, it supposes the love, grace, counsel and eternal purpose of the Father, and the whole mediation of Jesus Christ: for it is his peculiar work to make these effectual to the souls of the elect, to the praise of the glory of the grace of God. (Owen, p. 134, The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power

Packer on Friesen's Book "Decision Making and the Will of God."

J. I. Packer and Carol Nystrum critiques Garry Friesen's model for decision making in their God's Will: Finding Guidance for Everyday Decisions.

In Decision Making and the Will of God (Portland: Multnoma, 1980), Garry Friesen put forward, in place of the idea of guidance by immediate "impressions" or by arresting circumstances, a Bible-based "wisdom" model for determining the will of God with regard to school, marriage, career and all other significant choices, much in line with what we have been affirming in this book so far. But it has been reported that "many...came away from his presentation with a great disquiet, a disquiet that arises from a tone that implicitly denies that existential dynamic of the Spirit in the life of the believer and substitutes instead a formula (albeit a thoroughly biblical formula) for determining legitimate options in any situation." And Friesen's book was once roundly critiqued in J. I.'s hearing as a fine statement of the "Deist doctrine of guidance"--a doctrine that is, that denies, ignores, or otherwise leaves out of account all direct action of God the Holy Spirit in the deep Christian heart and consciousness. It has to be admitted that Friesen's book, however salutary in other ways, does appear overall as an example of the subspiritual mindset in action.

Packer and Nystrum go on to explain what the subspiritual believer does wrong: he overvalues reason, and he undervalues the grace of faithful waiting.

God will dwell in the tents of Shem. (Genesis 9:27)

Walter Kaiser Jr., in his book Toward an Old Testament Theology, traces what he calls the "Canonical Theological Center," which is the revelation of the promised seed throughout the Old Testament. He shows how Noah's cursing and blessing of his descendants in Genesis 9, provides further revelation about the promised seed.

The structure of Genesis 9:25-27 is a heptastich which is divided into three parts by the repeated refrain of Canaan's servitude, a son of guilty Ham:

And he said
Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants will he be to his brothers
--verse 25

And he said,
Blessed be the Lord God of Shem;
Let Canaan be a slave to him.
--verse 26

God will enlarge Japhet,
But He will dwell in the tents of Shem;
Let Canaan be a slave to him.
--verse 27

Now the key issue is this: Who is the subject of the verb "he will dwell" in Genesis 9:27? We concur with the judgment of the Targum of of Onkelos, Philo, Maimonides, Rashi, Aben Ezra, Theodoret, Barumgarten, and Delitzsch that the subject is God. Our reasons are these: (1) the subject of the previous clause is presumed to continue into the next clause where the subject is unexpressed; (2) the use of the indirect object of the previous line as subject ("Japhet") would require strong contextual reason for doing so; (3) the context of the next several chapters designates Shem as the first in honor of blessings; and (4) the Hebrew phrase weyiskonbe'ohole sem, "and he will dwell in the tents of Shem," hardly makes sense if attributed to Japhet, for Japhet had already been granted the blessing of expansion.

The plan of the whole prophecy appears to devote the first strophe only to Canaan, the second to Shem and Canaan, and the third to all three brothers. On balance, then, the best option is to regard God as promising to Shem a special blessing. He would dwell with the Semitic peoples. The word for "dwell" is related to the later concept of Mosaic theology of the Shekinah glory of God wherein the presence of God over the tabernacle was evidenced by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. Hence, the man Shem would be the one through whom the "seed" promised earlier would now come. Had not God said, "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem" (Gen. 9:26)? And why did He use this distinctive form of address? Could it be that the blessing and indwelling were linked? And could it be that they were God's next provision to earths's latest crisis? (pp. 81-82, Toward an Old Testament Theology, Kaiser)

The promised seed of Eve can be traced through the line of Adam's and Eve's son, Seth. The seed then can be traced through Noah and then through Shem (father of the Semitic tribes). Abraham is from this tribe. This line of descendants can be tracked through David and thus to Christ. God gives us hope through his meticulous planning and care of the line of David. This gives us hope and comfort because we, through the Church, are adopted into this holy family.
The concept of dwelling with man is central here. God promises to dwell with Israel (Exodus 29:45). God through His Spirit promises to dwell within the Church (1 Corinthians 3:16), and individual believers as well (1 Corinthians 6:19). In Revelation, God the Father promises that the dwelling place of God is with man.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. (Revelation 21:3, ESV)

We have God in Revelation restoring the relationship with Man that Man lost in Genesis 3.

The Ruler of Promise: Genesis 49:10.

The following is from the ESV Bible. Genesis 49:10

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him;1 and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
Footnotes
[1] 49:10 By a slight revocalization; a slight emendation yields (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Targum) until he comes to whom it belongs; Hebrew until Shiloh comes, or until he comes to Shiloh

Notice from the footnote and from older translations of the Bible (KJV, ASV) "until tribute comes to him" is translated "until Shiloh comes." In his book, "The Promise-Plan of God," Walter Kaiser argues that Genesis 49:10 adds further revelation about the Man of promise (the promised Seed of Genesis 3:15) by quoting von Orelli. Von Orelli comments on the phrase "until Shiloh comes."

The context on one hand, the oldest authorities in respect of reading on the other, conduct us to our translation. Selloh was the reading handed down from antiquity, and the LXX [Septuagint] rendered this neutrally: heos ean elthe ta apokeimena auto [until there come the things stored up for him]. Instead of this abstract neuter subject we take the personal subject dominating everywhere here and render: until he comes into that which belongs to him, therefore into his own, his possession described on the sequel. Cf. especially the blessing of Moses on Judah, Deut. xxxiii.7: we'el ammo te bi 'ennu ["to his people bring him"]. As champion of the other tribes, he will display untiring energy until he has won his territory without curtailment; and then not merely will the tribes of Israel do homage to him but other nations also will bow to his rule.

Kaiser summarizes his argument that from Judah's descendants would come the prophesied Man of promise.

For Ezekiel, or later Jewish and Christian interpreters, to regard this as another addition to the doctrine of the seed to come is therefore not unwarranted. Neither was Ezekiel's allusion in 21:27, "until he to whom it rightfully belongs shall come, to him I will give it," out of bonds either. The Man of promise would be overwhelmingly successful; he would reign over all the peoples of the earth because it was his right and destiny so to do. Furthermore, he would originate from the tribe of Judah in Israel.

Walter Kaiser on Genesis 3:15 and 4:1 -- Eve's expectation of her first born.

Walter Kaiser Jr. traces the path of the Promise through both the Old Testament and the New Testament. He makes some observations about Genesis 3:15 and 4:1.

But in the midst of the dirge of gloom and rebuke came God's surprising word of prophetic hope (Ge 3:15). A divinely instigated hostility--"I will put enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman, and between your offspring [or seed] and hers--is climaxed with the triumphant appearance of a "he"-- no doubt a representative person of the woman's seed. He would deliver a lethal blow to the head of Satan, while the best the serpent would be able or even permitted to do would be to nip the heel of this male descendant.

Who this male descendant was, was not immediately revealed. Perhaps Eve thought Cain was the one. She named her son Cain (Heb., qayin), saying she had "gotten (Heb.,qaniti) a man, even the Lord" (4:1); at least, that is a fair way of rendering the enigmatic phrase. Regardless of whether one agrees with this rendering, she was mistaken, and the biblical text only records her longings and perhaps gives us an insight into how an clear an understanding she had of Genesis 3:15 -- she expected that God would supply a person who would care for their sin that had occasioned the fall. (The Promise Plan of God by Walter Kaiser Jr., p. 43)

There is a footnote by Kaiser that Luther interpreted the passage this way in the German bible.

Other references that indicate that Old Testament believers were looking forward to the Promised Seed:

To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord. (Genesis 4:26, ESV)

When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.” (Genesis 5:28-29, ESV)

When Abraham puts his faith in God's promise that Abraham's seed will be from his own body, then that belief was counted as righteousness.

And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:4-6)

Israel prophesies that from Judah the kingly line will come in Genesis 49:10.

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. (Genesis 49:10, ESV)

Genesis 29: Who is God using to discipline you?

I found a humorous and valid application of Genesis in a commentary(Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of the Book of Genesis by Allen P. Ross). My faith family studied the life of Jacob this week. In Genesis chapter 29, Jacob, because of the deception of Laban, married both of Laban's daughters. Jacob loved the younger, Rachel, but was not in love with Leah. God used Laban's family to discipline the not so righteous Jacob. Here's what Kidner wrote in how God used Laban, Leah, and Rachel to discipline Jacob.

In Laban Jacob met his match and his means of discipline. Twenty years (31:41) of drudgery and friction were to weather his character; and the reader can reflect that presumably Jacob is not the only person to have needed a Laban is his life.

Through this man he also drank deeply of his own medicine of duplicity; yet even as the loser he displayed qualities that were lacking in Esau. The tenacity that showed at his birth and supremely, at Peniel, enabled him to regard the defeat over Rachel as only a setback.

The lesson that Ross gives from the passage is the following:

The lesson is that, even though God's people may experience God's blessing on their endeavors, God will effectively discipline them by making them painfully aware of their unresolved sins.

Ross had to be smiling when he wrote this observation.

If we use the story of Jacob as a sample, we may say that, when we are thrown together with people who are crafty, arrogant, deceitful, contentious, gossipy, or a host of other human frailties, before we lament that we have to be around such people, we perhaps should take a long look at ourselves. It may be that some of those traits characterize us and that other people may be part of God's means of disciplining us.

I let the readers of this post sort out whom God is using to discipline whom in their own lives.

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

John Owen writes about the ministry of the Holy Spirit within us.

And if we consider this promise of the Spirit as to the ends of it, we shall find that he is promised and given as the sole cause and author of all the good that we can enjoy in this world. For there is no good communicated to us, no gift, grace, mercy, privilege, or consolation bestowed upon us, but through the Holy ghost; nor is there any good in us towards God, any faith, love, duty, or obedience, but what is effectually wrought in us by him, and by him alone. (The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power by John Owen, pp. 112-113)

According to Ephesians 1, the Holy Spirit is the gift of God that opens the eyes of our hearts so that we understand the riches that God has bestowed upon us through salvation.

Jonathan Edward's View on Beauty in Creation

Jonathan Edwards comments on divine beauty in creation. God uses nature to communicate his beauty to His creatures.

Now we have shown that the Son of God created the world for this very end, to communicate himself in an image of his own excellency.

He communicates himself, properly, only to spirits, and they only are capable of being proper images of his excellency, for they only are properly beings, as we have shown. Yet he communicates a sort of a shadow, or glimpse, of his excellencies to bodies, which, as we have shown, are but the shadows of beings, and not real beings. He who by his immediate influence, gives being every moment, and by his Spirit, actuates the world, because he inclines to communicate himself and his excellencies, does doubtless communicate his excellency to bodies, as far as there is any consent or analogy. And the beauty of face and sweet airs in men are not always the effect of the corresponding excellencies of mind, yet the beauties of nature are really emanations or shadows of the excellencies of the Son of God. So that when we are delighted with flowery meadows, and gentle breezes of wind, we may consider that we see only the emanations of the sweet benevolence of Jesus Christ. When we behold the fragrant rose and lily, we see his love and purity. So the green trees, and fields, and singing of birds are the emanations of his infinite joy and benignity. The easiness and naturalness of trees and vines are shadows of his beauty and loveliness. The crystal rivers and murmuring streams are the footsteps of his favor, grace, and beauty. When we behold the light and brightness of the sun, the golden edges of an evening cloud or the beauteous bow, we behold the adumbrations of his glory and goodness, and in the blue sky, of his mildness and gentleness. There are also many things wherein we may behold his awful majesty, in the sun in his strength, in comets, in thunder, in the hovering thunderclouds, in ragged rocks, and the brows of mountains. That beauteous light with which the world is filled in a clear day, is a lively shadow of his spotless holiness, and happiness and delight in communicating himself; and doubtless this is a reason that Christ is compared so often to those things, and called by their names, as the Sun of Righteousness, the morning star, the rose of Sharon, and lily of the valley, the apple tree amongst the trees of the wood, a bundle of myrrh, a roe, or a young hart. By this we may discover the beauty of many of those metaphors and similes, which to an unphilosophical person do seem so uncouth.

Michael A. G. Haykin comments on Jonathan's Edwards view of divine Beauty and its enjoyment of it by us is necessary in our walk with God.

Edwards' approach could also be helpful in that it explains why aesthetic experience is for many people also a religious experience. Moreover, by emphasizing that the beauty we perceive in the created realm is a mode of God's presence, he avoids the seeming nebulousness of much of the discussion about divine beauty.

If follows, of course, for Edwards, that those who ignore the beauty of God in creation are committing a religious fault. For Edwards, 'the beatific was basic' to God and the universe. Moreover, Edwards is convinced that men and women uniformly fail in this regard, for the have lost the faculty to see the visible beauty of God in his creation. They perceive the secondary beauty, but fail to see the divine beauty that saturates nature. This faculty can only be restored through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the 'agent of conversion and of all our good'.

What the Apostle Paul Prayed for.

Ephesians 1:17-18

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints

Peter O'Brien in his commentary on Ephesians notes the subject of Paul's prayer.

Unlike many contemporary Christians, the apostle does not pray for fresh spiritual blessings, as though he is unaware of the fact that God has graciously given them every spiritual privilege in Christ. On the other hand, Paul does not want his readers to become complacent. He does not assume that because everything is theirs in Christ they do not need to grow in their understanding or experience of these Christian blessings. (O’Brien, pp. 129-130)

Notice Paul did not pray for additional blessings for the Ephesians. He prayed that the Ephesians may understand the blessings and promises that God through Christ abundantly given us already. Paul wants us to pray for everyday needs, but we should also pray fervently that God would give us wisdom and understanding in knowing Him and His salvation for us.

The Puritan High View of Women.

I'm reading Jonathan Edwards: The Holy Spirit in Revival by Michael A. G. Haykin. The author points out that Jonathan Edwards, deeply loved his wife, Sarah. As a matter of fact, Haykin quotes Amanda Porterfield about an interesting trademark about the American Puritans.

One of the most striking phenomena about the New England Puritans is that their greatest ministers and governors -- Thomas Shepard, John Winthrop, Simon Bradstreet, Edward Taylor, Jonathan Edwards, for example -- loved their wives beyond measure. These men found their wives to be earthly representatives of God's beauty. For these men a loving wife was not only a model Christian but also an expression of the beauty of the world that pointed beyond itself to divine beauty. And the enjoyment of God's beauty was the essence of Puritan spirituality. (Haykin, p. 111)

This generation has seen a revival of the proclamation of the same doctrines to which the Puritans held. These Reformed or Calvinistic doctrines are claimed by an increasing number in our generation. Men, we can only pray that our generation of believers not only be characterized by doctrinal purity, but that we love our wives in the same manner of Edwards: our love should be beyond measure to the glory of God.

Francis Chan on Church Growth

Francis Chan, in his book Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit comments on the role of the Holy Spirit on church growth

Even our church growth can happen without Him. Let’s be honest: If you combine a charismatic speaker, a talented worship band, and some hip, creative events, people will attend your church. Yet this does not mean that the Holy Spirit of God is actively working and moving in the lives of the people who are coming. It simply means that you have created a space that is appealing enough to draw people in for an hour or two on Sunday.

It certainly does not mean that people walk out the doors moved to worship and in awe of God. People are more likely to describe the quality of the music or the appeal of the sermon than the One who is the reason people gather for “church” in the first place.

I share this not because the Holy Spirit is not working among us, but we should not let mere growth in the numbers who attend our church convince us that we are on the right path. The Reformers had a phrase ecclesia semper reformanda. It means the church is always reforming in accordance to the Word of God. We always need to examine our practices and programs to see if they in accordance to the Word of God. Chan is emphasizing we need to check if we are depending on the Holy Spirit for guidance and growth. The mark of a growing church in not numbers, but "Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ." (Ephesians 4:15).

The Second Great Article of Gospel Truth

John Owen reflects on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in his book, The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power

We may observe that the doctrine of the Spirit of God, is the second great article of those gospel truths, in which the glory of God and the good of souls, are most eminently concerned; without the knowledge of which in its truth, and the improvement of it in its power, the first will be altogether useless. For when God designed the great and glorious work of recovering fallen man, and of saving sinners to the praise of the glory of his grace, he appointed in this infinite wisdom two great means thereof: the one was the giving of His Son for them; and the other was, the giving of his Spirit to them. (Owen, p. 43)

Spiritual Blessing in Ephesians 1:3

Ephesians 1:3-14 is called an eulogy because it is a prayer of praise to God the Father for all the spiritual blessings He gives his saints (faithful members of the Church). The following is a snippet of the commentary from Peter T. O'Brien's commentary: The Letter to the Ephesians. I thought it laid out the spiritual blessing in Ephesians 1:3 rather well. I put the blessings in a list format to highlight them.

Here the adjective spiritual means ‘pertaining to or belonging to the Spirit’, and thus ‘spiritual blessings’ signify those which ‘properly pertain to the life of the Spirit’. The adjective does not primarily point to a contrast with what is material (e.g., Deut. 28:1-14), secular or worldly. Nor do Paul’s words suggest simply the spiritual gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12:3-11. The nature of these gracious gifts is made plain in the following words of the eulogy (vv. 4-14), and include

• election to holiness,
• adoption as God’s sons and daughters,
• redemption and forgiveness,
• a knowledge of God’s gracious plan to sum up all things in Christ,
• the gift of the Spirit,
• and the hope of glory. (O’Brien, p. 97)

How can we not with Paul bless the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in prayer for giving us this blessing.

Inspiration and the Holy Spirit

R. A. Torrey addresses the heresy that inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the Bible is just the same as an architect being inspired to design a building or a poet composing a poem.

A very scholarly and brilliant preacher seeking to minimize the difference between the work of the Holy Spirit in apostles and prophets and His work in other men calls attention to the fact that the Bible says that Bezaleel was to be "filled with the Spirit of God" to devise the work of the tabernacle (Ex. xxxi. 1-11). He gives this as a proof that the inspiration of the prophet does not differ from the inspiration of the artist or architect, but in doing this, he loses sight of the fact that the tabernacle was to be built after the “pattern shown to Moses in the Mount” (Ex. xxv. 9, 40) and that therefore it was itself a prophecy and an exposition of the truth of God. It was not mere architecture. It was the Word of God done into wood, gold, silver, brass, cloth, skin, etc. And Bezaleel needed as much special inspiration to reveal the truth in wood, gold, silver, brass, etc., as the apostle or prophet needs it to reveal the Word of God with pen and ink on parchment. [R. A. Torrey, pp. 248-249]

I would go one step further. The Christian is to honor God through the Christians's work. We can not honor God without Holy Spirit's help. The Spirit will empower us to glorify the Son through our every day work. God will provide us through our work the means and power to glorify Him.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10, ESV)

The Author's Intention of Ephesians

I'm preparing to lead a study on Ephesians 1. Here are some good quotes from Peter O'Brien's commentary on Ephesians, "The Letter to the Ephesians."

“He [Paul] writes Ephesians to his mainly Gentile Christian readers, for whom he has apostolic responsibilities, with the intention of informing, strengthening, and encouraging them by assuring them of their place within the gracious, saving purpose of God, and urging them to bring their lives into conformity with this divine plan of summing up all things in Christ (1:10). Paul wants to ‘ground, shape and challenge’ his readers in their faith. In other words, the main purpose of his letter is ‘identity formation’. (O’Brien, p. 57) brackets mine

Cosmic reconciliation and unity in Christ are the central message of Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. (O’Brien, p. 58)

The aorist infinitive ‘to bring all things together’ does not point to the past, but signifies purpose: the summing up of all things is the goal to be achieved. Yet the implementation of the divine plan is already under way. The letter makes it quite plain that significant steps have already been taken to set in motion the achievement of this goal: in particular, it is through Jesus’ saving work that the revelation of the mystery’s content has come about (1:7-9), while God’s placing all things under his feet and appointing him to be head over everything for the church (1:22) is an important step towards the fulfillment of this goal. But the summing up awaits the consummation, which will occur at the end. (O’Brien, p. 60).

O'Brien has a quote by Cargounis about "the summing up of all things." or anakephaloaiosis.

In his stimulating monograph dealing with the mystery in Ephesians, Chrys Caragounis claims that as Paul proceeds to amplify and explain the meaning of the anakephaloaiosis throughout the letter, he concentrates on two main representatives of these spheres, namely, the powers representing ‘the things in heaven’, and the church (particularly in relation to Jews and Gentiles in the body of Christ) representing ‘the things on earth’. Caragounis further suggests that the two obstacles which need to be overcome before the divine purposes of bringing everything back into unity in Christ can be fulfilled are (a) the rebellion of the powers, and (b) the alienation of the Jews from the Gentiles (2:11-22, as well as the estrangement of both from God, 2:16). Much of the rest of Ephesians is given over to explicating, with reference to each of these two spheres, the steps in the process that God has taken in order to ‘bring all things into unity in Christ’.

The Great Dividing Line between Rome and the Reformation

Sinclair Ferguson in his introduction to John Owen's book, The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power, comments on the role the doctrine of the Holy Spirit has in church history.

Indeed the famous counter-reformation Jesuit missionary to England, Edmund Campion, once said that the great dividing line between Rome and Geneva lay along the axis of the doctrine of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. In effect, in the place of the Holy Spirit the Roman Catholic Church had substituted the role of the church--its teaching authority, its priesthood, and its seven sacraments. In this respect, Owen stood on the shoulders of the Genevan reformer John Calvin whom B.B. Warfield insightfully called 'The theologian of the Holy Spirit.'

Like Calvin before him, however, Owen's exposition of the Spirit's ministry is not only set over against Roman Catholic sacramentalism but also against contemporary teaching that tended to separate the Spirit from the word of God and focus attention on individual revelation by the Spirit rather than on the Spirit's illumination of the revelation in Scripture. (p. 24)

The Joy of God's Love

R. A. Torrey writes in his book The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit about a father's love for his child. The example he gives is quite moving.

Some years ago there was a father in the state of Illinois, who had a child who had been deaf and dumb from her birth. It was a sad day in that home when they came to realize that that little child was deaf and would never hear and, as they thought, would never speak. The father heard of an institution in Jacksonville, Ill., where deaf children were taught to talk. He took this little child to the institution and put her in charge of the superintendent. After the child had been there some time, the superintendent wrote telling the father that he would better come and visit his child. A day was appointed and the child was told that her father was coming. As the hour approached, she sat up in the window, watching the gate for her father to pass through. The moment he entered the gate she saw him, ran down the stairs and ran out on the lawn, met him, looked up into his face and lifted up her hands and said, “Papa.” When that father heard the dumb lips of his child speak for the first time and frame that sweet word “Papa,” such a throb of joy passed through his heart that he literally fell to the ground and rolled upon the grass in ecstasy. But there is a Father who loves as no earthly father, who longs to have His children realize that they are children, and when we [pg 140] look up into His face and from a heart which the Holy Spirit has filled with a sense of sonship call Him “Abba” (papa), “Father,” no language can describe the joy of God.

It may be said, I think, the measure of joy in a relationship is the measure of love in the relationship especially in the parent's love for their children. Our greatest joy should be that God joys over us.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1 John 3:1

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you (Zephaniah 3:17)

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8, ESV)

God's meaningful universe

John Frame in his book, The Doctrine of God, explains the significance of decrees and the job of humanity in understanding them.

God's decrees display his lordship attributes. In an obvious way, they display his control, for they are efficacious and universal. God's intentions will certainly be fulfilled, and they will be fulfilled for everything in the created world.

They also display his authority, for they are meaningful thoughts--wise plans or counsels for the world. As such, they interpret the world; they determine the meaning and significance of everything God makes. God's interpretations, of course, are always supremely authoritative. When he declares the significance of something for his purpose, that is the significance it has. So the doctrine of the decrees implies that God has authoritatively preinterpreted everything and every event. As Van Til emphasized, the interpretation of the facts precedes the facts. Our world is a world that is exhaustively meaningful, because it is the expression of God's wisdom. Among human beings, interpretation is not the work of trying to assess for the first time the significance of uninterpreted facts. Rather, ours is a work of secondary interpretation, interpreting God's interpretation. (pp. 316-317)

In theology, the universe is not random. The events and created objects are purposely created by God to declare His glory (Psalm 19:1-2) and His wrath (Romans 1:18) to anyone who will listen, and we all will listen one day. For those who love God, these facts express God's omnipresence and omnipotence and thus bring comfort and joy.

Genesis 17:1 -- "Walk before me and be perfect."

In his commentary on Genesis, Allen P. Ross quotes Benno Jacob (First Book of the Bible, pp. 109-110) who has some excellent insights into "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless."

If you want to become whole, which is my request for you, you must walk before me; you place yourself under my exclusive supervision, guidance, and protection. The image is taken from the shepherd who walks behind his herd directing it by his calls, or from the father under whose eyes the child walks. It is more than the walking "with" God of Enoch and Noah who were practically lead [sic] by the hand.

When questions arise you shall take directions only from God and be devoted to him without reservation. This word does not refer to moral conduct, for that would be too insignificant in this situation and is self-understood. The high demand corresponds to God's, "Be you mine, and I will be yours." (Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis, p.331)

Ross goes on writes that the Hebrew word "perfect" (tamin includes meanings of "without fault" and "complete" or "whole.") In other words, holiness and separateness is part of the meaning of the word.

C. S. Lewis and Hebrews 1:3

A friend of mine posted on Facebook from the "Science is Awesome" website. ***********************************************************************************************************

You are currently on a 4.5 billion year old spaceship

A self sufficient, organic, complex spaceship.

You are orbiting a power source that is a million times larger than your ship.

There are 200 billion more power sources, possibly with ships like your, in your group.

There are 40 more groups in your particular neighborhood.

Your neighborhood is moving at 2 million miles per hour to an object that is 150 million light years away.

Welcome to life. It's more exciting when you think on a larger scale.

**********************************************************************************************************
My friend attributed this quote to Carl Sagan, but the web site does not say. I must agree that it is in the spirit of Sagan. This quote raises many questions. Why does astronomical sizes and millions of years make life more exciting? If that is the case, should not contemplating the end of the universe be our most exciting meditation? The most popular theory of the end of the universe is "The Big Freeze." The universe will keep expanding until it approaches absolute zero. No life, no light, nor even matter as we know it will exist. It will be the big zero. The end of the universe is a big whimper. It is indeed an exciting end to contemplate.

The author of the quote introduces meaning or purpose through the words spaceship and direction; However,  in Carl Sagan's universe, the earth is not a spaceship, but the result of random events. In Sagan's view, we are just the product of time and chance. There is no design. In Sagan's universe we do not have a direction. We are on top of a spinning globe, which is spinning around a star, which is spinning around a galaxy, which is spinning around a local group of galaxies. There is no one driving. We are literally spinning out of control. The biblical world view offers an alternative. Life has meaning; the earth has meaning; and the universe shouts meaning. Read these two quotes.

When Hebrews 1:3 speaks of Christ "sustaining all things by his powerful word," sustain is the Greek verb phero, meaning "bear, carry." This not a picture of Christ as a kind of Atlas, holding up the world on his shoulders ("upholding," KJV), but a dynamic image of him carrying the world from one point to another through time. There is a destination, and Christ's purpose is to bring the world process to that goal, that conclusion. John Frame, A Theology of Worship Volume 2: The Doctrine of God, p. 276 by John Frame.

But already in the New Testament this "Son" is identified with the Discourse or reason or Word which was eternally "with God" and yet also was God. He is the all-pervasive principle of concretion or cohesion whereby the universe holds together. All things and specially Life, arose within Him, and within Him all things will reach their conclusion--the final statement of what they have been trying to express. (C. S. Lewis, Miracles. p.76)

Christ has an ultimate end in mind for the universe, it is for his glory; and He will bring it about.

Abraham the Evangelist

I was preparing for my faith family's bible study and I came across a couple of interesting insights about Abraham in a commentary on Genesis. The first point involved Genesis 12:4-5

So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, (Genesis 12:4-5 ESV)[bolding mine]

When I first read the passage about "people that they had acquired," I thought Moses meant slaves. However Allen P. Ross in his commentary pointed out translating that phrase as "slaves" would probably be incorrect. Ross wrote the following observation about Genesis 12:5.

Tucked away in this verse, easily overlooked, is the expression "and the people [nepes] whom they had acquired [`asa] in Haran." This expression probably does not refer to the acquisition of slaves, for the Hebrew word nepes would not likely be used for that. And it certainly does not refer to their children, because Sarai was barren until Isaac's birth (21:1-7). Cassuto argues that this expression probably refers to proselytes (ibid., p.310). If he is correct, then the narrative implies that, already in Haran, Abram had been sharing his faith in the Lord. (p. 265, Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis , Allen P. Ross)

I thought, "Cool, Abraham shared his faith in the friendly environs of Haran with his family around him." However, another observation in the commentary gave me an insight into Abraham's boldness. I read next in Genesis 12:7-9:

Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb. (Genesis 12:7-9 ESV)

Abraham's responded to God's further revelation about the land going to his descendants was worship and calling upon the name of the Lord. In Ross's commentary the verb "called upon" can mean more than just prayer.

The response to God's confirming appearance was worship. The idea of sacrifice, presumed here with the building of an altar, continues the ancient form of expressing gratitude and devotion. But at the second mention of his building an altar to worship the Lord is the report that he "made proclamation of the Lord by name..." The expression, first used in Genesis 4:26 refers to the public proclamation of faith in the Lord. The expression is used in the Bible for prayer or for praise, but in Mosaic material it seems to be broader (although a public proclamation of the faith could include prayer and praise) Martin Luther translated it "preached" (predigte), a good rendering in this context.(p. 267, ibid)

So in summary, Abraham built an altar and preached about the one true God in the country of the pantheistic and antagonistic Canaanites. Abraham was bold in his faith even at this early stage. He messed up a few times, but Abram displayed a rare quality of faith that is praised in Hebrews 11.

The Holy Spirit's Role in Creation

The following quote by Michael Reeves is on the role of the Holy Spirit in creation. I never thought about the connection between the Holy Spirit's ministry and beauty before.

So, some Scriptures speak of creation as the work of the Father (it is conceived in his love); others speak of creation as the work of the Son (he brings about his Father’s will); but still others speak of it as the work of the Spirit. “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath [or Spirit] of his mouth” (Ps 33:6). How? What is the Spirit’s role? We have already seen that the Spirit empowers the Word, but he does even more: while the Son establishes and upholds all things (Heb 1:3), the Spirit perfects or completes the work of creation. Job 26:13 puts it delightfully: "By his breath [or Spirit] the skies became fair. In other words, the Spirit garnishes and beautifies the heavens and the earth. Our first vision of the Spirit, hovering dovelike in Genesis 1, captures something essential. It is that, like a mothering dove settling on her eggs, the Spirit vivifies, bringing what has been created to life. And so, while the Nicene Creed speaks of the Father as "Maker of heaven and earth," it speaks of the Spirit as the Lord and giver of life.

Life is something that God has always had, and in creation is it something he now shares with us. By his Spirit he breathes out life on us. And not just in the beginning: that is always the Spirit's work, to bring life. In the book of Job, Elihu says, "The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gave me life" (Job 33:4). Ongoingly in his creation, the Spirit vitalizes and refreshes. He delights to make his creation--and his creatures--fruitful. Isaiah writes of the time when "the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest" (Is 32:15). The psalmist sings: "When you send your Spirit, they [the creatures] are created, and you renew the face of the earth" (Ps 104:30). Small wonder, then, that creativity, the ability to craft, adorn and make beautiful, is a gift of the Spirit:

Then the Lord said to Moses, "See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts--to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship." ((Ex 31:1-5).

The Spirit makes his creation alive with beauty. (Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith by Michael Reeves)

The Rainbow in Genesis

I am reading a chapter in Sacred Bond about the Noahic covenant. The Noahic covenant is a covenant of common grace. God's makes promises to all men and all flesh. The rainbow is the sign God gives us that he remembers those promises. The authors spent some time on rainbows what it symbolizes to the ancient world and what it should symbolize to us today.

So what does the rainbow symbolize? There are two scholarly interpretations of the rainbow, both of which are worthy of mention. First, the Hebrew word for rainbow can mean either rainbow or bow, as in bow and arrow. God calls it "my bow" in verse 13. In ancient iconography, victorious kings and gods are pictured coming back from war with their bows in a horizontal position (like a rainbow). Going into battle, the king/god has the bow vertical in hand, ready to shoot; but after battle it is horizontal, symbolizing the peace after war. The rainbow, then, could be symbolic of God's war bow that hangs in the sky, symbolic of peace. God will not destroy the world again; he is no longer hostile.

Second, the ancients understood the sky or firmament as a dome-shaped barrier that held back the waters above, as in Genesis 1:6-7. Hence, when God judged the world in the flood, he opened the windows of heaven, releasing the waters above (7:11). In fact, the Hebrew word for flood refers more specifically to these celestial waters. Thus, God's promise is that he will never wipe out all flesh by the waters of the flood. The rainbow then visually represents the dome-shaped firmament as shut. The rainbow appears when it rains to show that the celestial waters will not be released.

The symbolic value of the rainbow could be either of these, or perhaps both. Either way, the effect of the symbol is clear. The rainbow reminds us that the floods will never come again. The beautiful arch points to God's promise that he will never judge the world by the waters of the flood. The firmament is shut; there is peace after the storm. (pp. 76-77, Sacred Bond: Covenant Theology Explored by Michael G. Brown and Zach Keele)

The Importance of Genesis 1-3

I'm trying to understand covenant theology. I'm reading Sacred Bond: Covenant Theology Explored by Michael G. Brown and Zach Keele. So far it is the best introduction I have seen written in this century on Covenant Theology. The book has a nice quote about the necessity of the Christian to understand the first three chapters of Genesis.

The apostolic preaching of the gospel is the bridge that brings us to God as Savior: it is paved and clearly marked. But the pillars on this bridge, which are rooted deep into the riverbed below, belong to Genesis 1-3. The streaming water may hide the pillars from our eyes at times; yet without the Genesis pillars, the gospel viaduct would begin crumbling beneath our feet, hurling us headfirst into the water.

Genesis 1-3 forms the essential foundation for the gospel, especially because it reveals the covenant of works. The doctrine of the covenant of works teaches us more about the perfect work of Christ and, in so doing, bolsters up our assurance salvation.(p. 42)

I'm not sure what the water(sin?) is in the metaphor and the metaphor seems strained, but the quote does stress that understanding Genesis 1-3 is key in understanding the full extent of the gospel.

Holiness and the The Flood

In his commentary on p. 198 of Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the exposition of Genesis, Allen P. Ross quotes Marcus Dods on why God chose to blot out completely life upon the earth in the Genesis flood.

This event [The Flood] then gives us some measure by which we can know how much God will do to maintain holiness upon the earth. In this catastrophe every one who strives after godliness may find encouragement, seeing in it the Divine earnestness of God for good and against evil. There is only one other event in history that so conspicuously shows that holiness among men is the object for which God will sacrifice everything else. There is no need now of any further demonstration of God's purpose in this world and His zeal for carrying it out.... The Flood has not been forgotten by almost any people under heaven, but its moral result is nil. But he whose memory is haunted by a dying Redeemer, by the thought of One Whose love found its most appropriate and practical result in dying for him, is prevented from much sin, and finds in that love the spring of eternal hope. [Book of Genesis, pp. 66-67.

We must not think Noah escaped this judgment because of his righteousness. Noah received grace "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD."(Genesis 6:8 ESV). Allen comments earlier in his commentary about Genesis 6:8.

A close study of the word for grace will support that it signifies unmerited favor. If the word is given its proper meaning, it means that the recipients of grace actually deserved the judgment too. The discussion of Noah's righteousness comes in the next section. Here, Noah received sovereign grace and escaped the catastrophe. No one escapes divine judgment apart from grace.(Ross, p. 185)

John Quincy Adams's Life Purpose

I read a biography of John Quincy Adams. The man was groomed to be president by his parents almost from birth. JQA was intelligent and charming. His parents realized his uniqueness and pushed him to serve his country with every fiber of his being. This drive was passed down to his descendants and it was intentional. I am not sure what is the best way to encourage public service, but John Adams and his descendants for several generations served their country with all their ability and strength. Here is a couple quotes about passing down a legacy of public service to future generations.

Author of the renowned autobiography The Education of Henry Adams, Henry Adams passed summers with his grandparents at Quincy until he was twelve years old and would remember throughout his life "the effect of the back of the Presidents's [John Quincy Adams] head as he sat in his pew on Sundays."

It was unusual for boy to sit behind a President grandfather and to read over his head the tablet in memory of a President great-grandfather who had pledged "his life, his forture, and his sacred honor" to secure the independence of his country and so forth... The Irish gardener once said, "you'll be thinkin' you'll be President too."

p. 286 John Quincy Adams by Harlow Giles Unger

This is a quote by JQA to his children.

You must have one great purpose of existence...to make your talents and your knowledge most beneficial to your country and most useful to mankind. -- JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, "TO MY CHILDREN"

as quoted in p.313, John Quincy Adams by Harlow Giles Unger.

And Enoch walked with God...

The following quote by Dods is about the genealogy in Genesis 5. Each generation follows a depressing pattern: "Thus all the days of "x" lived were "y" years and he died." The author of Genesis emphasizes through this pattern that even in the godly descendants of Seth, the Adamic curse is fulfilled and each one dies. However, there is one break in the pattern, one glimmer of hope, in Genesis 5:24, "Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." Marcus Dods reflects on Enoch's walk with God.

Only once is the monotony broken; but this in so striking a manner as to rescue us from the idea that the historian is mechanically copying a barren list of names. For in the seventh generation, contemporaneous with the culmination of Cain's line in the family of Lamech, we come upon the simple, but anything but mechanical statement: "Enoch walked with God and he was not; for God took him." The phrase is full of meaning. Enoch walked with God because he was His friend and liked His company, because he was going in the same direction as God, and had no desire for anything but what lay in God's path. We walk with God when He is in all our thoughts; not because we consciously think of Him at all times, but because He is naturally suggested to us by all we think of; as when any person or plan or idea has become important to us, no matter what we think of, our thought is always found recurring to this favorite object, so with the godly man everything has a connection with God and must be ruled by that connection. When some change in his circumstances is thought of, he has first of all to determine how the proposed change will affect his connection with God--will his conscience be equally clear, will he be able to live on the same friendly term with God and so forth. When he falls into sin he cannot rest till he has resumed his place at God's side and walks again with Him. This is the general nature of walking with God; it is a persistent endeavour to hold all our life open to God's inspection and in conformity to His will; a readiness to give up what we find does cause any misunderstanding between us and God; a feeling of loneliness if we have not some satisfaction in our efforts at holding fellowship with God, a cold and desolate feeling when we are conscious of doing something that displeases Him. This walking with God necessarily tells on the whole life and character. As you instinctively avoid subjects which you know will jar upon the feeling of your friend, as you naturally endeavour to suit yourself to your company, so when the consciousness of God's presence begins to have some weight with you, you are found instinctively endeavouring to please Him, repressing the thought you know He disapproves, and endeavouring to educate such dispositions as reflect His own nature.

It is easy then to understand how we may practically walk with God--it is to open to Him all our purposes and hopes, to seek his judgment on our scheme of life and idea of happiness--it is to be on thoroughly friendly terms with God... Things were not made easy to Enoch. In evil days, with much to mislead him, with everything to oppose him, he had by faith and diligent seeking, as the Epistle to the Hebrews says, to cleave to the path on which God walked, often left in darkness, often thrown off the track, often listening but unable to hear the footfall of God or to hear his own name called upon, receiving no sign, but still diligently seeking the God he knew would lead him only to good. [Book of Genesis, pp. 51-53]

As quoted by Allen P. Ross, Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis, pp. 175-176.

Cain's Legacy and Christ's Cure

Allen P. Ross, on page 162 in his commentary Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis, explains Genesis chapter 4:1-16 by quoting Gerhard von Rad concerning Genesis 4:10. Gerhard von Rad points that Cain's rebellion continues to this day.

At the beginning of Passiontide it is fitting to say a word about the extent of the damage done by man. Man approaching the cross is a brother-murderer from the very beginning. The interpreter may also properly sketch out the lines of cultural history--the division of humanity into various states of life, the existence of two altars. And Cain continues to travel the road he has taken--founding cities and the musical arts, developing the art of forging so that the sword comes to be regarded as an approved implement--and the song of Lamech madly celebrates the native force and the boundlessness of revenge (Gen. 4:17-24).

But the sermon should center on verse 10; as far as human understanding is concerned, inconceivable and inexpiable is the accusing cry of the blood of our brother Abel, a cry that ascends to God day and night. This should be the starting point for the dispelling of manifold and familiar misunderstandings: Abel's blood, even the best and dearest, never brings salvation in the presence of God; instead it increases the burden of the curse. But Christ's blood "speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel" (Heb. 12:24). Thus the Bible speaks of two kinds of blood and their voices before God: one of these is millionfold, and its message is accusation, while the other is the blood of the One, and it brings healing. [Biblical Interpretations in Preaching, p. 22]

Grace Covers the Sinners' shame

Allen P. Ross, on p. 149 in his commentary Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis, quotes Marcus Dods about why God chose to cover Adam and Eve with animal skins.

It is also to be remarked that the clothing which God provided was in itself different from what man had thought of. Adam took leaves from an inanimate, unfeeling tree; God deprived an animal of life, that the shame of His creature might be relieved. This was the last thing Adam would have thought of doing. To us life is cheap and death familiar, but Adam recognized death as the punishment of sin. Death was to early man a sign of God's anger. And he had to learn that sin could be covered not by a bunch of leaves snatched from a bush as he passed by and that would grow again next year, but only by pain and blood. Sin cannot be atoned for by any mechanical action nor without expenditure of feeling. Suffering must ever follow wrongdoing. From the first sin to the last, the track of the sinner is marked with blood. Once we have sinned we cannot regain permanent peace of conscience save through pain, and this not only pain of our own. The first hint of this was given as soon as conscience was aroused in man. It was made apparent that sin was a real and deep evil, and that by no easy and cheap process could the sinner be restored. The same lesson has been written on millions of consciences since. Men have found that their sin reaches beyond their own life and person, that it inflicts injury and involves disturbance and distress, that it changes utterly our relation to life and to God, and that we cannot rise above its consequences save by the intervention of God Himself, by an intervention which tells us of the sorrow He suffers on our account. For the chief point that it is God who relieves man's shame.[The Book of Genesis , pp. 25-26]

Jonathan Edwards on the Saints in Heaven

Here is another great quote on heaven by Jonathan Edwards.

Every saint is as a flower in the garden of God, and holy love is the fragrancy and sweet odor which they all send forth, and with which they fill that paradise. Every saint there is as a note in concert of music which sweetly harmonizes with every other note, and all together employed wholly in praising God and the Lamb; and so all helping one another to their utmost to express their love of the whole society to the glorious Father and Head of it, and to pour back love into the fountain of love, whence they are supplied and filled with love and glory. And thus they will live and thus they will reign in love, and in that godlike joy which is the blessed fruit of it, such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath ever entered into the heart of any in this world to conceive (cf. 1 Cor. 2:90). And thus they will live and reign forever and ever. (p. 296, Charity and its Fruits)

John Frame on the biblical world view

I am reading John Frame's The Doctrine God. The book is written in this century, so it is a rare read for me. It has won awards and comes highly recommended so I have high expectations. On page 25, I have already found a good quote about the biblical world view.

Thus we learn something very important about the biblical worldview. In Scripture, the personal is greater than the impersonal. The impersonal things and forces in this world are created and directed by a personal God. According to naturalistic thought, all persons in the world are the product of impersonal forces, and they can best be understood by reducing them to impersonal bits of matter and energy, or by making them aspects of an impersonal oneness. In these views, persons are reducible to the impersonal. But in the biblical view, the impersonal reduces to the personal. Matter, energy, motion, time, and space are under the rule of a personal Lord. All the wonderful things that we find in personality--intelligence, compassion, creativity, love, justice--are not ephemeral data, doomed to be snuffed out in cosmic calamity; rather, they are aspects of what is most permanent, most ultimate. They are what the universe is really all about.

Edwards on the Citizens of Heaven

This is just a short snippet of Jonathan Edwards's description of heaven in his sermon on 1 Corinthians 13:8-10, named Heaven is a World of Love

That God who so fully manifests himself there [heaven]is perfect with an absolute and infinite perfection. That Son of God who is the brightness of his Father's glory appears there in his glory, without that veil of outward meanness in which he appeared in this world, as a root out of dry ground destitute of an outward glory. There the Holy Spirit shall be poured forth with perfect sweetness, as a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal(Revelation 22 at the beginning); a river whose waters are without any manner of pollution. And every member of that glorious society shall be without blemish of sin or imprudence or any kind of failure. The whole church shall then be presented to Christ as a bride clothed in fine linen, clean and white, without spot or wrinkle. "Christ ... loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:25-27). In that world, wherever the inhabitants turn their eyes they shall see nothing but beauty and glory. In the most stately cities on earth, however magnificent the buildings are, yet the streets are filthy and defiled, being made to be trodden under foot. But the street of his heavenly city is represented as being as pure gold, like unto transparent glass (Rev. 21:21). That it should be like pure gold only does not sufficiently represent the purity of them; but they are also like the transparent glass or crystal. (pp. 282-283, Charity and Its Fruits)

Genesis 2:7 -- We are God's art work.

Allen P. Ross in his commentary on Genesis expands on the word "formed" in Genesis 2:7.

The Lord God’s creative act is here portrayed with the word yāşar, “formed.” The term signifies that this act creation was by design, an idea demonstrated by the use of a related noun later in the book: “Every intent [yēşer] of the thoughts of his heart was evil” (6:5). The idea of intent or design in forming the man can also be illustrated by the participial use of this verb, which means “potter” (yôşer; Jeremiah 18:2-4). Besides stressing that humankind is a work of art according to the design of the Creator, the passage also explains that humankind is earthly. The whole act is clarified by the notice that the Lord God used dust from the ground to form man. The paronomasia in the line underscores this fact: “The Lord God formed the man [hā’ādām] from the dust of the ground [hā’ādāmâ].” “Man” [ādām] in this section thus refers to the first human, but then also to humankind. Since the first man came from the ground, he and all human beings are inseparably bound to it (see Job 4:19; 10:9, Isa. 29:16) Moreover, the allusion to this passage after the fall retains the proper perspective: “dust you are” (Gen. 3:19). (Allen P. Ross, Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis, p. 122.)

Wayne Grudem on What We Will do in Heaven

Dr. Grudem comments on why we have resurrected bodies in heaven. He asserts that we will continue to work in heaven. Music, art and technology will exist in heaven. We will have stuff that we enjoy doing in heaven because it will glorify God. This is from his Systematic Theology

While we may have some uncertainty about the understanding of certain details, it does not seem inconsistent with this picture to say that we will eat and drink in the new heavens and new earth, and carry on other physical activities as well. Music certainly is prominent in the descriptions of heaven in Revelation, and we might imagine that both musical and artistic activities would be done to the glory of God. Perhaps people will work at the whole range of investigation and development of the creation by technological, creative, and inventive means, thus exhibiting the full extent of their excellent creation in the image of God. Moreover, since God is infinite and we can never exhaust his greatness (Ps. 145:3), and since we are finite creatures who will never equal God’s knowledge or be omniscient, we may expect that for all eternity we will be able to go on learning more about God and about his relationship to his creation. In this way we will continue the process of learning that was begun in this life, in which a life “fully pleasing to him” is one that includes continually “increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:10). (Systematic Theology, p. 1162).

Jonathan Edwards on Spiritual Warfare

This portion of a Jonathan Edwards's sermon is taken from the book Charity and Its Fruits

There are many things which do greatly oppose the grace which is in the heart of a Christian. This holy principle has innumerable enemies, as it were, constantly watching and warring against it. The Christian is encompassed around with enemies on every side. Being a pilgrim and a stranger in the earth he is, as it were, in an enemy's country. There are thousands of devils that are bitter enemies to the grace which is in the heart of a Christian, and do all in their power against it. And the world is an enemy to it. It abounds with persons and things that make opposition to it. And the Christian not only has many enemies without, but multitudes within his own breast which he carries about with him, and of which he cannot divest himself; many corruptions which have footing in his heart, which are the worst enemies of grace, and are under the greatest advantages of any in their warfare against it. Those enemies are not only many but exceedingly strong and powerful, and bitter in their enmity, implacable, irreconcilable, mortal enemies, seeking nothing but the utter ruin and overthrow of grace. And they are unwearied in their opposition. So that the Christian, while he remains in this world, is represented as being in a state of war; his business is the business of a soldier. Many are the powerful and violent assaults which the enemies of grace make upon it; they are not only constantly besieging it, but sometimes they assault it as a city which they would take by storm. They are always lurking and watching advantages against it, but sometimes they rise up in a dreadful rage against it. Sometimes one enemy, and sometimes another, and sometimes all together with one consent besetting it on every side, covering it like a flood, ready to overwhelm it and as though they would swallow it at once. Sometimes grace in the midst of the violent opposition of its enemies, besetting it with united strength, is like a spark of fire encompassed with swelling billows, or raging waves, which appear as if they would swallow it up and extinguish it in a moment. Or like a jewel of gold in the midst of a furnace of raging heat, enough to consume anything but pure gold, which is of that nature that it will not consume in the fire.

Jonathan Edwards on Grace at Conversion

Jonathan Edwards is preaching in this sermon about how all the spiritual gifts are interrelated.

A convert at the same moment that he is become such is possessed of all holy principles, all gracious dispositions. There is a seed of every kind of holy behavior towards God, and towards men. There are as many graces in a true Christian as there are in Jesus Christ himself; which is what the evangelist John means in John 1:14-16, "And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us....and of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace." And it cannot be otherwise; for they are renewed after Christ's image, as Colossians 3:10, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him who created them. But that is no true image or picture of another which has some parts wanting. An exact image has part answerable to part; the copy answers the original throughout in all parts, though it may be an obscure image, and not represent any part perfectly, as grace answers to grace. Grace in the soul is a reflection of Christ's glory. It is a reflection of his glory, as the image of a man is reflected from a glass which exhibits part for part (2 Cor. 3:18)

(pp. 245-246, Charity and its Gifts)
Edwards is talking about how the Christian is fully equipped at his conversion with all the spiritual gifts and character to live as a Christian for God. Edwards later on in the sermon compares a Christian conversion to a birth. A healthy baby has all the basic parts of a full grown adult. It just needs to grow and be nourished. Since we have the Holy Spirit within us, God is fully in us. We have all the grace we'll ever need at birth, we just have to grow into it.

Piper quoted Jonathan Edwards on the Beauty of Holiness

The Desiring God National Conference was very good. However, I underestimated the richness of John Piper's quote of Jonathan Edwards on sanctification. Piper did preface the long quotation by talking about how amazing it was, but I needed to read it to get the full effect. Read and drink deeply.

We drink in strange notions of holiness from our childhood, as if it were a melancholy, morose, sour, and unpleasant thing; but there is nothing in it but what is sweet and ravishingly lovely. ‘Tis the highest beauty and amiableness, vastly above all other beauties. ‘Tis a divine beauty, makes the soul heavenly and far purer than anything here on earth. . . . ‘Tis of a sweet, pleasant, charming, lovely, amiable, delightful, serene, calm, and still nature. ‘Tis almost too high a beauty for any creatures to be adorned with; it makes the soul a little, sweet, and delightful image of the blessed Jehovah.
Oh, how may angels stand, with pleased, delighted, and charmed eyes, and look and look, with smiles of pleasure upon their lips, upon that soul that is holy; how may they hover over such a soul, to delight to behold such loveliness! . . . What a sweet calmness, what a calm ecstasy, doth it bring to the soul! How doth it make the soul love itself; how doth it make the pure invisible world love it; yea, how doth God love it and delight in it; how do even the whole creation, the sun, the fields, and trees love a humble holiness; how doth all the world congratulate, embrace, and sing to a sanctified soul! . . .
It makes the soul like a delightful field or garden planted by God . . . where the sun is Jesus Christ; the blessed beams and calm breeze, the Holy Spirit; the sweet and delightful flowers, and the pleasant shrill music of the little birds, are the Christian graces.
Or like the little white flower: pure, unspotted, and undefiled, low and humble, pleasing and harmless; receiving the beams, the pleasant beams of the serene sun, gently moved and a little shaken by a sweet breeze, rejoicing as it were in a calm rapture, diffusing around [a] most delightful fragrancy, standing most peacefully and lovingly in the midst of the other like flowers round about.

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/act-the-miracle-future-grace-the-word-of-the-cross-and-the-purifying-power-of-god-s-promises

Jonathan Edwards on Hope and Holy Practice

Jonathan Edwards preaching on 1 Corinthians 13:6.

It is so also with a true and gracious hope. This also tends to holy practice. A false hope has a tendency which is the reverse. It tends to licentiousness, to encourage men's lusts, and flatter and embolden them in sin. But a true hope not only does not tend to harden men in sin, and make them more careless of their duty, but it tends to stir them up to holiness of life, to quicken them to duty, to make them more careful to avoid sin, and more diligent and strict in serving God. "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (1 John 3:3). A gracious hope has this tendency from the nature of the happiness hoped for. The happiness which a gracious person wishes is that which consists in holiness. But the more a man seeks and the more he hopes for such a happiness, which consists in holiness, the more does it quicken and enliven a disposition to holiness. And it also has this tendency from the respect it has to the Author of the happiness hoped for; it hopes for it from God, as the fruit of his undeserved and infinite mercy; and therefore it stirs up thankfulness, and engages the heart to seek what to render for such a wonderful benefit promised. It has also this tendency by its regard to the means by which it hopes to obtain it. A true hope hopes to obtain happiness in no way but the way of the gospel, which is by a holy Savior and in a way of cleaving to and following him. It has also this tendency by the influence of that which is the immediate source of a gracious hope, which is faith in Jesus Christ; for a true Christian hope is the immediate fruit of faith. But faith tends to practice and works by love, as has been already shown.

Charity and Its Fruits, p. 219

Marilyn and I are attending the Desiring God Conference.

We are having a great time at the conference. The speakers are great. We had a humorous interaction. We sat down during a break to drink coffee at the Conference bookstore. Marilyn said, "Bibles are cheap here. I bought a lighter bible for $6 to carry around."
I replied, "Cool, I did too, an ESV for $5! Can I see your new bible?" Marilyn handed me her new bible. I said, "Oh, I didn't know you wanted an HCBS version."
Marilyn replied, "I thought that was a publisher."
I said encouragingly, "It is both. It is a really good translation. I just talked to the guy at their booth."
Marilyn said, "I wanted an ESV." After few minutes she got up quietly, and walked away without saying anything.
After I finished my coffee, I looked for her and then decided to go into the next session. We agreed where to meet earlier. Marilyn came in a few minutes later. She said smiling, "I got a nice ESV for $8."
I queried, "Did you exchange the HCBS?"
She said, "No. Happy Birthday!" She smiled and handed me the HCBS bible.
I just said cool and eagerly opened my new HCBS bible.