I believe that Jesus is the head of the church, which is His body (1 Cor. 12:27; Eph. 1:22-23). The church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone (Matt. 16:13-20; Eph. 2:19-20). In other words, Jesus is the ultimate authority over the church and He [...]
Last night I went to Dr. Bauckham’s lecture on campus about the selection of the canonical gospels. Bauckham has recently written an excellent book on this topic called Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. The lecture was fascinating. Here are some of my notes on it. Part of them comes from Bauckham’s handout.
The existence of other gospels leads us [...]
Dennis brought up a couple really good questions in the comment section of my previous post on the canon. He said, “In Scripture, there really is only one correct interpretation. Right? How do we know whose interpretation is correct?”
First, I agree with Dennis that the text only has one correct interpretation. If two different folks [...]
Here’s some more of my creed for Christian Theology.
I believe that the canon of Scripture includes all 37 39 books of the OT and all 27 books of the NT. The canonicity of these books rests primarily upon their authorship. We should only consider those books written or complied by God-appointed messengers such as prophets [...]
Here’s some more of my creed.
Because of our fallen nature, difficulties often arise when we seek to understand the Bible. Sin has corrupted human mind, will, and soul (Rom. 3:10-18). Therefore, in order for us to interpret Scripture correctly, the Holy Spirit must guide and illuminate us as readers in both the understanding and the [...]
Here’s more of my creed on revelation for Christian Theology.
Special revelation refers to God’s self-disclosure to certain people in particular times and places in history. As God in the flesh, Jesus Christ is the pinnacle and culmination of God’s revelation of Himself to man (John 1:18; Heb. 1:1-3; Rom. 10:4). And since the Bible is [...]
Today Dr. Litfin, the president of Wheaton, spoke in grad chapel on the importance of the Scriptures in education. Here are some of my notes.
The goal is Christ-centered learning (i.e. the integration of faith and learning).
Faith doesn’t make something true. Biblical faith is simply taking God at His Word.
You can’t have faith without revelation.
Why do [...]
One thing that I’ve started to notice is that everyone (Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant) approaches the Bible and church history with some sort of hermenuetic. That hermeneutic will affect the way that you understand communication. Even though Whiteford ridiculed a literal or normal hermeneutic, it seems to me that he even makes use of a literal or normal [...]
So I’m taking a Christian theology on Tuesday nights. This first section is on the doctrine of Scripture. In preparation for next week, we had to read “Sola Scriptura: In the Vanity of Their Minds” by John Whiteford. We also had to prepare an outline. Foolishly, I decided to post part of my outline so that [...]
Ben Witherington, a Bible prof at Asbury, has a good post on hermeneutics, the study of how to read the Bible. Check it out.
