Koinonia

John Calvin's Commentary: Psalm 1:1

1. Blessed are they who are upright in their way, waliking in the law of Jehovah. Psalm 1:1

1. Blessed are they who are upright. In these words the prophet sets forth the same paradox which we met with at the commencement of the Book of Psalms. All men naturally aspire after happiness, but instead of searching for it in the right path, they designedly prefer wandering up and down through endless by-paths, to their ruin and destruction. The Holy Spirit deservedly condemns this apathy and blindness. And but for man's cupidity, which, with brutish impetuosity, hurries him in the opposite direction, the meaning of the words would appear quite plain to him. And the farther a man wanders from God, the happier does he imagine himself to be; and hence all treat, as a fable, what the Holy Spirit declares about true piety and the service of God. This is a doctrine which scarcely one among a hundred receives.

Excerpt from Calvin's Commentaries Volume VI, Psalms 93-150, Baker Books, 2009, p.399, 402-403

July 2009 in John Calvin Month on Koinonia in celebration of his 500th birthday! As part of the celebration we'll be posting small excerpts of writing as well as posts from Zondervan Academic authors.

John Calvin: His legacy in commentaries, not just the institutes by Mark L. Strauss

As the 500th birthday of John Calvin approaches (July 10th), theologians around the world will be reflecting on and celebrating this man’s remarkable legacy. Calvin is perhaps best known for his Institutes of the Christian Religion, his magnum opus on Reformed Theology. Yet Calvin also wrote commentaries on almost every book in the Bible. For me, at least, these may be his most lasting legacy. Calvin embodied through his life, ministry and scholarship the spirit of sola scriptura.

Latayne Scott Blog Tour Today! Author of The Mormon Mirage, Latter-Day Cipher

Latayne C. Scott, author of The Mormon Mirage: A Former Member Looks at the Mormon Church Today and Latter-Day Cipher is touring the blogosphere today!

Latayne, a former Mormon, is passionate about reaching out to Latter-day Saints with love and compassion. If you're affected by Mormonism in any way we encourage you to join the conversations around her two new books. She'll be online answering questions and sharing her insight.

If you twitter, use the hashtag #latayne for a chance to win free copies of Latayne's books!

The Mormon Mirage - Participating Blogs:

http://reviewtime365.blogspot.com/

http://minormutterings.blogspot.com/

http://livetardy.com/

http://eisdoxan.wordpress.com

http://www.peter-ould.net

http://www.rossanderson.us

http://www.podbean.blacksprings.com

http://epistlesofthomas.wordpress.com/

http://davidould.net

http://fergusonfour.blogspot.com

http://bbhchurchconnection.blogspot.com

http://thirstingforgod.blogspot.com

http://www.biblegeekgonewild.com

http://www.musingsonmormonism.blogspot.com

http://homepage.mac.com/silasshotwell/blog/MyBlog.html

http://www.janetperezeckles.com

http://footprintsfromthebible.blogspot.com

http://justinandleslie.blogspot.com

http://bookwormmama.blogspot.com

http://sissygirlsplace.blogspot.com

http://www.yourdailystrength.com/wordpress

http://spudwoman.blogspot.com/ 

Latter-Day Cipher Participating Blogs:

http://www.garymoyers.blogspot.com/

http://tommystestimony.wordpress.com

http://tommyonmormonism.wordpress.com

http://www.kylesclassnotes.net

http://www.maxgrace.com

http://www.igneousquill.net/

New Testament Manuscripts: The Beat Goes On by Daniel B. Wallace

For the past twelve months, I’ve been on sabbatical from my teaching duties at Dallas Seminary. The sabbatical officially comes to an end on June 30, but the work goes on. We photographed about 80,000 pages of text, went to ten different countries, and discovered almost forty manuscripts. We have been granted permission to post several of these manuscripts on line. Some recent postings at the CSNTM website (www.csntm.org) are as follows:

36 MSS from Athens have been uploaded to the web site in the past several weeks. The uploads include 30 MSS from the Benaki Museum and six from the National Historical Museum; 17 are continuous-text manuscripts and 19 are lectionaries for a total of nearly 14,000 images. They cover a range in date from the 8th century to the 18th and include five palimpsests. More will be uploaded in the next few weeks from other sites as well. Stay tuned!

How Rude was Jesus? (Monday with Mounce 40)

Jesus is at the wedding at Cana, his mom sees a need, and asks Jesus (well, actually tells him) to help. Jesus’ response is,τι εμοι και σοι, γυναι; (Jn 2:4). Word for word, Jesus says, “What to me and to you, woman.”

The translations really dance around with this one:

“Woman, what does this have to do with me?” (ESV).

“Woman, why do you involve me?” (TNIV).

“Woman, why are you saying this to me?” (NET, with the footnote, “The term Woman is Jesus’ normal, polite way of addressing women [Matt 15:28, Luke 13:12; John 4:21; 8:10; 19:26; 20:15]”).

“Dear woman, that’s not our problem” (NLT).

Influential Books and Authors: Christopher J.H. Wright on Chambers, Hercus and more

Each week in Influential Books and Authors we hear from a noted scholar on the author(s) and book(s) that have been most important to them for spiritual and intellectual growth. This week we feature Old Testament scholar, Christopher J.H. Wright.

Dr. Chris Wright is International Director of the Langham Partnership International. He also serves as chair of the Lausanne Committee’s Theology Working Group and chair of the Theological Resource Panel of TEAR Fund, a leading Christian relief and development charity. He has written several books, including Living as the People of God (An Eye for an Eye in the US), God’s People in God’s Land, Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament, Walking in the Ways of the Lord, Deuteronomy in the New International Biblical Commentary, The Message of Ezekiel in the Bible Speaks Today series, The God I Don't Understand, and The Mission of God. Chris and his wife, Liz, have four adult children and three grandchildren. Learn more about Chris by visiting http://toughquestionsoffaith.com .

Now, About all that Killing...by Robert L. Hubbard Jr.

Joshua part 3

Bam! That’s the mental sound I imagine readers hear when they read the book of Joshua for the first time. Let’s be honest: reading it can be, quite frankly, a jarring experience—ethnic cleansing on a grand scale, all in God’s name. Questions abound …

*How can a God of love do that to people he created?

*Why didn’t he first give them at least one chance to repent?

*Does the book teach that it’s OK to use violence in God’s name?

These (and many other related questions) have no easy answer. But in this blog, let me try to cast some light on them.

Joshua: The Movie by Robert L. Hubbard Jr.

Joshua part 2

Actually, there’s no "Joshua" movie …. I just wrote that to get your attention! ;-)

But if there were, its hero would be Joshua—played by someone like Tom Hanks or Russell Crowe. My last blog explained how we got the book of Joshua. Here I introduce the person who gave the book its name and sketch out a few scenes that would, indeed, make a good movie.

"Joshua," Scene 1. Surprise! Joshua makes his biblical debut, not in Joshua 1, but in Exodus 17. There—and out of the blue—Moses tasks him with leading Israel’s defense against some Amalekite raiders. Joshua’s victory—the first in Israel’s short history—early confirms the leadership abilities later on display in Canaan.

Another surprise: after the victory, Yahweh orders Moses to make sure that Joshua hears God’s promise to wipe out Amalek (v. 14). Implicitly, this hints that Joshua would eventually succeed Moses. Of course, Joshua will have to wait forty years to take over!

Everybody Needs a Little Love (Monday with Mounce 39)

Everybody needs a little love.

I am a bit surprised I haven’t been asked this question earlier, but I did just receive one about the different words for love in Greek. How many youth talks have been given on the different types of love, based on the different Greek words? More than I can count, for sure.

There are four basic nouns meaning “love,” and many derivations from these. I am going to rely on my Dictionary for the basic presentation of the data. φιλεω was the general verb for “love.” It has a wide range of meanings, stretching from hospitality to affection to love, even “to kiss.” It is not necessarily a softened form of love, and is used of God’s love for his Son and our love for God. For example, “the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does” (John 5:20). Paul warns the Corinthians, “If anyone does not love the Lord — a curse be on him” (1 Cor 16:22). Jesus loved Lazarus (John 11:3). εραω (ερως) was basically sexual love between a man and a woman. BDAG lists it’s gloss as, “to feel passionately about, have a longing for, feel fervently about.“ It does not occur in the New Testament.

Put Together by a Committee! by Robert L. Hubbard Jr.

Joshua part 1

Surprise! I’ll bet that you didn’t know this: a committee, not Joshua himself, wrote the book of Joshua. In fact, that committee is probably responsible for everything from Joshua to 2 Kings in our Bibles. At least, that’s the opinion of most recent scholars. Thus, behind Joshua’s "story" in the Bible (Story A) lies another "story" (Story B) of how we got it.

About Story B. Sometime around 630 B. C. a group of religious leaders met quietly, out-of-sight, in Jerusalem. We don’t know how many were there, but they probably convened at or near the Temple, perhaps in one of its rooms or residences. All attendees had access to the Temple complex since they all worked there.

Their agenda was simple: to launch a unique literary project—a major history of Israel from the conquest of Canaan under Joshua to the current king, Josiah. Frankly, deep concerns drove their proposed project. They were bummed big-time about their country’s chances of survival. There was too much idolatry in Judah, and they feared that, if nothing changed, God would severely punish the country for it.