tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-239058942024-03-13T16:27:36.062-05:00Musings on ChristMusings on Christ – Glorifying Jesus through making disciples in a wonderful yet wounded worldMalcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.comBlogger146125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-7526699619209777562024-03-01T06:00:00.000-06:002024-03-01T06:00:00.144-06:00Yes, You Can Trust the Bible!<div style="text-align: left;">The Bible is God’s Word, and he speaks to us by it this very day. The Bible is perfect and trustworthy in every way. The Bible speaks with God’s own authority. The Bible is, therefore, sufficient to save you and to guide you to live well. The wise person will read the Bible, heed the Bible, and trust the Bible above everything, including our own speculations.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />How did God convey his Word to the prophets and the apostles, such that we can trust it today? Different theories of inspiration have been offered, but conservative evangelicals like David Dockery and I hold to the “verbal plenary” view of inspiration.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />This view grants the initiative in inspiration to the Holy Spirit as divine author. The human author, moreover, remains fully involved in the process of writing as a particular human being with distinct experiences shaped by a definite context using personal expression. Due to the supervising authority of the Holy Spirit, the writings retain the quality of inspiration. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Proponents of this theory ascribe inspiration to the original autographs as written in their entirety, or plenarily, and not just to portions. This theory also affirms that the Spirit led the writers in their choice of certain words. The verbal aspect of verbal plenary inspiration honors the distinctive context, thoughts, and style of the writers. It also recognizes meaning occurs not merely with the choice of particular words but at the levels of sentence, genre, and purpose.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Like many others, I have been driven to a high doctrine of biblical inspiration because this is the teaching of Scripture about itself (2 Tim. 3:15-17; John 10:34-36; 2 Pet. 1:19-21). In addition, Christians often testify how they hear God’s voice palpably through the biblical text. I can attest that, sometimes against my own preferences, God speaks transformative truth to me in his Word. God’s Holy Spirit convicts me, instructs me, and renews my heart with hope every time I read Scripture.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Therefore, I have come to read God’s Word as often as possible. I open the Bible every day on my own in prayer. I use it regularly in congregational worship. I use it to witness to others, hoping to bring them to salvation or to enhance their walk with the Lord. I study it deeply for my mind and for my heart. I cannot get enough of the Bible, because I meet God in it. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Would you join me in hearing God through his Spirit’s inspiration of his Word?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">(This essay is adapted from Malcolm’s most recent book, <i>God</i>, the first volume of the Theology for Every Person series. <a href="https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/god-P005841372" target="_blank">The book releases publicly next week.</a>)</div><div><br /></div>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-45422827523431617692023-10-09T07:15:00.006-05:002023-10-09T07:18:28.566-05:00A Trinity Prayer for Revelation<div style="text-align: left;">“I pray that the God </div><div style="text-align: left;"> *of our Lord Jesus Christ,<br /> *the glorious Father, <br /> *would give you the Spirit <br />of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know:<br /> *what is the hope of his calling,<br /> *what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and<br /> *what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, </div><div style="text-align: left;">according to the mighty working of his strength.”</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Ephesians 1:17-19</div>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-23198537945427137642023-07-05T02:08:00.038-05:002023-07-26T14:01:30.088-05:00 Are Only Pastors to Preach? The Biblical View and a Baptist Viewpoint<p>Is the function of preaching the same as the office of the overseer? Absolutely not. </p><p>Some now argue “the function is the office,” apparently confining all the acts of the office of the pastor exclusively within the office itself. But according to Scripture and the first major Baptist documents, the office and some of its acts must be distinguished.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Biblical View</h3><p>Scripture teaches us that the office of the pastor does not dominate all the acts that a pastor does:</p><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"></blockquote><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Yes, pastors pray and teach and preach. Pastors also voice the dogmatic and disciplinary conclusions of the congregation with the congregation’s authority. But only the last act of the pastoral office—authoritative dogmatic proclamation—is confined to that office (Acts 15:13-21; 1 Timothy 2:12).</li><li>According to Scripture, those qualified to be overseers or elders have several functions which are required of non-ordained Christians, that is all other Christians. These include, <i>inter alia</i>, being above reproach, a man being the husband of one wife, being self-controlled, etc. Surely, those theologians who now confine the functioning of an elder to the office of the elder would not dare to say the non-ordained Christian is released from being self-controlled or sensible or respectable (1 Timothy 3:1-4). It is similarly inappropriate to confine all acts of Christian proclamation to the elder.</li><li>All may pray and preach in an orderly manner for the upbuilding of the church, as Paul reminds us was the custom of the early church in 1 Corinthians 11 and 14. Moreover, all Christian disciples were given the Great Commission of making disciples, which occurs only through forms of proclamation. Christ did not anywhere in Scripture confine his commission merely to the apostles nor to the church’s overseers. He gave it to all of his disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). The Word of God has its own self-authenticating authority. To claim otherwise is to begin a theological march back to Rome, perhaps through Wittenberg, Geneva, or Canterbury, but not necessarily ending in one of those lesser forms of extra-biblical ecclesiology.</li></ol><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p></p></blockquote><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">A Baptist Viewpoint</h3><p>As for Baptist theology, we note one tradition, though we could name many others who have been careful up to this point to refuse to return to the stifling morass of clericalism. Article 44 of the First London Confession discusses the office of overseer; article 45, the activity of preachers. Against the new clericalism, note these truths from foundational Baptist theology:</p><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"></blockquote><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Early Baptists rejected both Romanist and Magisterial Protestant forms of clericalism, distinguishing preaching from oversight.</li><li>They also placed eldership within the congregation, refusing to countenance any type of elitism of one member over another. Mediation belongs exclusively to Jesus Christ, never to a mere man (1 Timothy 2:4). </li><li>Finally, the earliest Baptists followed the Reformers in defining “prophecy” as preaching, according to its simple description in 1 Corinthians 14:3. This preaching is, of course, focused on and empowered by the Word of God. They did not reduce prophecy to oblivion through innovations like cessationism or enthusiasm, as with some modernist commentators.</li></ol><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p></p></blockquote><p>The 1644/1646 Confession states:</p><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>XLIV. Christ for the keeping of this church in holy and orderly communion, placeth some special men over the church; who by their office, are to govern, oversee, visit, watch; so likewise for the better keeping thereof, in all places by the members, He hath given authority, and laid duty upon all to watch over one another.</p><p>XLV. Also such to whom God hath given gifts in the church, may and ought to prophecy according to the proportion of faith, and to teach publicly the word of God, for the edification, exhortation, and comfort of the church.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p> </p></blockquote>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-10788702363733658542023-06-22T00:35:00.007-05:002023-06-22T01:17:49.999-05:00A Southwesterner's Appreciation for Russell Dilday<p>The President of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1978 to 1994, Russell Hooper Dilday, died today, June 21, at the age of 92. Under his leadership, Southwestern reached heights of enrollment and impact seen neither before nor after by a Southern Baptist seminary. Dilday was preceded in death by his wife, Betty, and by his son, Robert. Please allow me to tell you a little about Russell Dilday from the perspective of one student, professor, and pastor.</p><p>In 1991, after I spent almost four years of preparing intellectually and spiritually for full-time vocational Christian ministry, Russell Dilday acknowledged my completion of the Master of Divinity with Biblical Languages. During my student years at Southwestern Seminary, I had arrived at a different political position than Dr. Dilday regarding the controversy disrupting the Southern Baptist Convention. However, that difference in outlook never kept the President who handed me the degree from displaying his exemplary civility in Christian conduct.</p><p>In 1994, I watched from afar as Dr. Dilday was locked out of his own office and shown the exit to his beloved seminary. Like other Southern Baptists, I was shocked by this rough treatment yet impressed by his graceful dignity. Over the next decade, while researching the experiential theology of Edgar Young Mullins, I also discovered his thorough research into the theology of that previous denominational statesman. Dr. Dilday not only wrote about the apologetic legacy of Mullins; he continued his legacy as a statesman. While I remain less individualistic than either Dilday or Mullins, I have come to appreciate the deep wisdom in their conservative religious personalism and their fervent advocacy of Baptist identity.</p><p>In 2005, I received a telephone call from the front desk of the Baptist college at Oxford University. It was Russell Dilday asking if I would mind being a host for him and several Texas Baptist dignitaries attending the centennial celebration of the Baptist World Alliance. Feeling quite honored, I rearranged my day then gave Dr. Dilday's group an overview of Baptist history in Great Britain. During our long conversation, I showed them several portraits of Baptist dignitaries and the death couch of William Carey, the founder of the Modern Missions Movement. It was unusually hot in England that summer, and we Texans were suffering slightly from the British lack of air conditioning, yet these true Baptists were elated to learn more about their own heritage.</p><p>The group sought to present me an honorarium. I refused, noting my pleasure at deepening my fellowship with Dr. Dilday and coming to know each of them. However, the former President of Southwestern gently forced the honorarium into my hand, winked at me, and said, "Malcolm, you forget that I know how little you faculty earn. Receive this as a gift from the Lord and from me as a token of our appreciation for your continuing service to all Southern Baptists." He then smiled, gripped my hand firmly, and walked away before I could raise an objection. Again, I was struck by his exemplary graciousness. </p><p>Through the following years, I came to realize the import of his parting words for me as one of the few theologians who continued the Southwestern tradition of theology at Southwestern Seminary. While we might have differed by degrees over anthropology and bibliology, we both swam in the same great tradition of Baptist life in Texas, in the Southern Baptist Convention, and in the Baptist World Alliance. Moreover, I came to lament with him certain "low points in the SBC odyssey." Dilday summarized these low points as "forced uniformity, political coercion, and egotistic self-interest."</p><p>In 2020, at the funeral service of James Leo Garrett Jr., I reflected publicly on my theological mentor's legacy with both former teachers and current colleagues. Before the proceedings, the visibly declining Dr. Dilday again addressed me personally, shook my hand, and thanked me for my faculty service. For those who are not quite aware of how significant that is, please understand that he engaged me graciously before and after momentous events in his life, in our seminary's life, and in our denomination's life. Through each encounter, he showed Christian civility: during a controversy, after he was summarily dismissed, and after many years of watching me actively advocate my own theology. Russell Dilday affirmed the calling of Baptist students, professors, and pastors, no matter which side of the aisle they occupied.</p><p>As a lifelong advocate of biblical inerrancy, as a current pastor in a Texas Baptist church, and as a current faculty member of his former seminary, I am convinced that the way forward for all Southern Baptists must be to heed Dr. Dilday's final challenge. In <i>Higher Ground: A Call for Christian Civility</i>, the sixth president of Southwestern Seminary wrote, "So the best way forward from this quarter century of strife is to let the past convict us and work to restore a gentler, kinder tone in our discourse and deliberations—in short—a return to Christian civility. That’s the road to higher ground." </p><p>Russell Dilday was in his personal character what he advocated in his public proclamations. Rest In Peace, dear brother in Christ and father in Christian ministry. You have reminded Southern Baptists and Baptists in Texas what it means to be like Jesus. May our Lord speak to you even now the words you longed to hear throughout your meaningful life of often painful service: "Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy!"</p><p><br /></p>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-61209986415993025262023-05-26T17:32:00.004-05:002023-05-26T17:32:33.990-05:00The Word of God Has Power<p>Why should we be concerned about doctrine? After all, some have noticed that doctrines divide Christians, while others have opined that an emphasis on the mission of the church could unite Christians. But is it true that “doctrine divides, but missions unite”? Well, the answer is both “yes” and “no.”</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">On the one hand, yes! </h3><p>Doctrines may and often do divide professed Christians. “Doctrine” derives from the Latin <i>doctrina</i>, which means “teaching” or “learning” or “instruction.” In spite of its ability to divide us, what we teach really does matter. Doctrine matters because our salvation depends upon the truth, in particular upon the preaching of the good news of the free offer of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The problem with doctrine arises not because of the existence of doctrine, for doctrine is necessary to our salvation. The problem with doctrine arises because of the existence of false doctrine as opposed to true doctrine. We shall return to this issue.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">On the other hand, no! </h3><p>A mission may unite us, but it may not necessarily unite us for good. If the churches are not engaging in the right mission with the right message, an appeal to unity is meaningless, even dangerous. Churches who proclaim the true doctrine, the gospel of Jesus Christ, will be used to bring people to salvation. People who proclaim false doctrine, which comes from human wisdom or philosophy, are not bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 2). Apart from his saving gospel, there is no salvation possible (John 14:1-7; Acts 4:12; Galatians 1:6-9). So, those who do not define their mission as teaching the gospel have the wrong mission. Again, doctrine is necessary.</p><p>But why is doctrine so necessary? Because God ordained that through the preaching and teaching of true doctrine, people may be saved. Concern for orthodox doctrine, as many biblical theologians have commented, motivated the two most prolific apostolic authors, Paul and John, to write many of their letters. Paul and John stressed the coming of God in Jesus, his death for our sins, and his resurrection for our justification—this is the gospel. However, Peter, the leading apostle in the early church, was also very concerned with proclaiming true doctrine and opposing false doctrine.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Peter’s Second Letter</h3><p>Positively, we know that Peter was granted the saving confession upon which Jesus Christ would build His church. Peter, inspired by the Father, proclaimed that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:13-20). His God-given teaching is the true doctrine. Negatively, Peter warned about the coming of “false teachers,” who will “introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them.” Many will sadly “follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned” (2 Peter 2:1-2). Their teaching is the false doctrine. According to Peter in his second letter, true doctrine must be proclaimed, and false doctrine must be opposed.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Peter’s First Letter</h3><p>In his first epistle, Peter explained why this is the case. Here, he describes how true faith—real life-changing Christianity—comes into existence. To do so, he employs a metaphor, equating the “word” with a “seed” (1 Peter 1:23-25). The way in which Peter identified God’s “word” as “seed” has profound implications for what Christian preachers, teachers, and evangelists are required to teach. This metaphor indicates that a person who teaches anything other than the God-given, Christ-revealing, and Spirit-inspired Holy Bible teaches without divine power. Let us explore the biblical correlation of “word” with “seed.”</p><p>Note that Peter was not the first to combine “word” and “seed.” His Lord, Jesus Christ, earlier used the identification between “word of God” and “seed” as the basis of one of his most extensive and well-known parables (Luke 8:4-15; parallels in Matthew 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-20). The metaphor was so fruitful in Jesus’ mind that it earned starring roles in at least three more parables: the parable of the growing seed (Mark 4:26-29); the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13:24-30); and the parable of the mustard seed (Mark 4:30- 32).</p><p>Moreover, Jesus was himself drawing upon two deep and highly significant Old Testament traditions with His use of “word” and “seed.” After Jesus, the apostles invested both terms with theological importance in their construction of the New Testament. A cursory review of each term must suffice for this short essay.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">“Seed” </h3><p>The Lord God himself introduced the idea of a “seed” (Hebrew <i>zerah</i>) through the promise that he would accomplish his saving will. In the <i>protoevangelium</i> of Genesis 3:15, the seed, or “descendant,” of Eve would crush the head of the serpent even, although the serpent would strike his heel. In Genesis 12:7 (and in 15:3, 5, 13, 18; 17:7-10, 12, 19; and 22:17-18), Abraham was granted a covenant promise that his seed, or “offspring,” would rule the land and bring God’s blessing to the nations. Paul drew upon the Abrahamic concept of “seed” (Greek <i>sperma</i> or <i>spora</i>) in order to demonstrate that Jesus Christ is the covenantal plan of God for saving both Israel and the nations (Romans 4:13, 16, 18; 9:7-8, 29; Galatians 3:16, 19, 29).</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">“Word”</h3><p>As for the “word” of God, we see from Genesis 1:3 onward that the speaking (Hebrew <i>dabar</i>) of God has power to implement God’s creative will (Genesis 1:6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26; cf. Psalm 33:6, 9; Romans 4:17). According to Isaiah, the Word of God is eternal, while human words fail (Isaiah 40:7-8). The Word of God is sent to accomplish, and will perfectly perform, God’s will (Isaiah 55:10-11). But the power of the Word of God is not limited to creating life.</p><p>In the New Testament, God’s Word (Greek <i>logos</i> or <i>rhema</i>) is powerful enough even to re-create life. According to John, not only is the Word God Himself, who has come in the flesh (John 1:1, 14), but the Spirit works through the Word to bring life to us (John 6:63). Anyone who believes these words of Jesus will be given life (John 5:24). In Hebrews, God’s Word is a living, active, judging agent (Hebrews 4:12). According to Jesus, His words come from eternity and “will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35). And in Paul, the Word of God brings us surety of perseverance in the faith (Philippians 2:16).</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Word of God</h3><p>Thus, Peter is continuing and contributing to a well-known canonical concept when he brings together, like Jesus, the “word” with the “seed.” For Peter, the Word of God functions in such a way as to regenerate life. Because it comes from divine eternity, the Word of God is “living and enduring” (1 Peter 1:23). Peter quotes Isaiah 40:6b-8 in order to prove its eternality (1 Peter 1:24-25a; cf. James 1:10-11). The Word of God, moreover, is “the gospel,” which has been “proclaimed to you” (1 Peter 1:25). The Word of God brings people to be born again.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Words of Men</h3><p>The Word of God, from a soteriological perspective, is entirely different from the words of men. While humanity is “like grass,” which “withers” and “fails,” the Word of God can bring one to be “born again” (1 Peter 1:23). Humanity’s “seed” is “perishable,” indicating that human words and deeds ultimately end in death, no matter how beautiful they may sound or what they promise to convey or even why man intends to utter them. But the “seed” of the Word of God, to the contrary, is “imperishable.” There is an insurmountable difference between human words, flawed by temporal imperfections, and the divine Word, fruitful with God’s eternal perfection.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">In Summary</h3><p>We conclude that the Word of God has power in itself to bring the new birth which fallen human beings require. There is no other way people may be saved other than through the Word of God. This is why I tell my students that our well-thought words to advance apologetics and our well-meaning works to improve society will ultimately fail—if that is all we give people. We should engage in both apologetics and social improvement, for Scripture commands such good work. However, the only way people will truly encounter God and receive new life occurs when we give them the Word of God, which we know is inextricably bound for us today with the Holy Bible.</p><p>If we do not teach the entirely sufficient doctrine of Scripture, our listeners have no hope at all. This is why doctrine, biblical doctrine, is singularly necessary, and every other human teaching pales into insignificance. This is why we must emphasize the knowledge of Scripture, in its historical and linguistic context and in its Trinitarian, Christological, and canonical shape, as the <i>sine qua non</i> of theological education. This is why we believe that evangelizing with true biblical doctrine is the mission of God, because it is the only way we can bring the saving gospel of Jesus Christ to the world, which so desperately needs to hear this life-giving Word.</p>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-1497725413205623892022-08-13T07:31:00.002-05:002022-08-13T08:01:29.300-05:00Transformation into the Image of God<p>The Spirit of God is transforming the people of God into the image of the Son of God:</p><p>“We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Cor 3:18)</p><p>Notes regarding Christian transformation from this passage:</p><p>1) Divine glory is the entire context</p><p>2) The Spirit is manifestly divine</p><p>3) God the Trinity is the agent</p><p>4) Human beings are brought into the presence of God</p><p>5) The end of humanity is Christlikeness</p><p>#BeLikeJesus</p>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-21682076906768616352022-08-09T07:00:00.002-05:002022-08-09T07:00:00.175-05:00Liberty of Conscience versus Slavery<p></p><blockquote>“Here is liberty of conscience, which is right and reasonable. Here ought to be likewise liberty of the body, except of evildoers, which is another case. But to bring men hither, or to rob and sell them against their will, we stand against.”</blockquote><p></p><p>This protest against slavery was submitted by free church Christians in 1688. The statement is fascinating for several reasons:</p><p>1) Note the early date. Some evangelicals knew very early that slavery was incompatible with Christianity, even preceding protests by Lay and Woolman.</p><p>2) Notice the direct correlation between “liberty of conscience” and “liberty of the body.” The core believers’ church principle of liberty of conscience requires incarnation in human bodies. There is no trace of gnosticism, no divorcing faith from life. True faith is necessary.</p><p>3) The authors also argued that white enslavement of blacks was as indefensible as any other form of slavery, that there is no moral difference between buying and selling and kidnapping human beings, and that masters often declined morally in other ways, for instance sexually.</p><p>The manuscript for this document is now located in Haverford College. While it has been labeled as Quaker and its transmission was affiliated with their meetings, the authors were German and likely Mennonites.</p><p><br /></p>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-25010649764899738362022-05-27T07:00:00.002-05:002022-05-27T07:00:59.599-05:00The Evangelical Reformation<p>Here are Three Trends Evangelicals will face due to new revelations of the longterm Abuse Crisis:</p><p>1) Evangelical culture, especially in the south, was bound with constructs of hierarchical authority. More Evangelicals will now begin extricating themselves from those cultural ideologies.</p><p>2) Evangelism will become more difficult. The willingness of persons to receive a message is affected by perceptions of a speaker’s credibility. Listeners’ presumptions going into evangelistic conversations will be increasingly negative. The Evangelical voice has lost integrity.</p><p>3) The widespread argument going into the strident culture wars dominating the later Twentieth Century was that Evangelicals had a claim to moral probity. Those claims were buttressed through working alliances with Roman Catholics. Both Catholics and Evangelicals lost probity.</p><p>Catholics and Evangelicals have been able to bring the nation to see the moral problem with abortion. Now they face headwinds on every front of the culture wars. The pugilist attitude of culture war will be increasingly challenged by desire for more peaceful forms of engagement.</p><p><br /></p><p>What are the Key Theological Emphases which will help Evangelicals build a better future? In my opinion, there are three recoveries that must be made:</p><p>1) Imago Dei — Humans treat other people according to their understanding of who they are. We must recover our sacred dignity.</p><p>2) Divine Perfections — Evangelical Christians must recover a high anthropology, but a high anthropology depends upon a high theology, for human beings are created “in” the Image of God. We must dwell upon both divine transcendence and immanence, divine holiness and love, etc.</p><p>3) Discipleship — Evangelicals have been busy about evangelism and cultural engagement, but these are mere pieces of a greater truth. Christ Jesus commissioned his church to “make disciples.” Filling his commission depends entirely upon Christ’s presence and power, and teachings.</p><p>These theological recoveries are, of course, bound tightly with divine revelation and Holy Scripture. But make no mistake about it: Until Evangelicals recognize our errors and return to a radical dependence upon God, which results in Christians who look like Jesus, we will die.</p>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-33273170556799316342022-04-15T22:09:00.001-05:002022-04-15T22:09:09.284-05:00If You Must Speak the Hard Words, Speak with a Humble Spirit<p>As with other pastors, against my preference for peace, the Lord sometimes called me to deliver a strong prophetic word to rebellion among his people. It always grieved me deeply to do so.</p><p>When I see controversial pastors revel with relish in the same task, I reevaluate myself. </p><p>If my voice relishes the opportunity to blast the deceived… If the one conveying God’s Word speaks hard truths without love… Then I am not filled with God’s Holy Spirit but with my own spirit, and that is very dangerous.</p><p>What brings this to mind this morning is my devotion. Ezekiel was told, “These are the men who plot evil and give wicked advice… Therefore, prophesy against them. Prophesy, son of man!” (11:2,4)</p><p>When he did, one man died in judgment. But Ezekiel did not laugh, as I saw one pastor do. No, Ezekiel “fell facedown and cried out” on behalf of the people of God (v 13).</p><p>If I as a pastor do not love the people whom God loves—I mean really love them, such that I rush to rejoice and weep with them in their triumphs and trials—then I do not really shepherd them in his name.</p><p>Yes, brothers, let us speak God’s truth with power, but always with love, always recognizing we are all sinners saved by grace alone, we are all guilty in ourselves, and we come to the throne only by grace through faith in the humbled man on the cross. </p><p>Only through his righteousness and resurrection do we have hope. </p><p>Remember Him, remember yourself.</p>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-80410750862124097292022-04-07T09:51:00.018-05:002022-04-15T22:19:07.310-05:00The Man with Jesus on His Chest<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Suppressing my emotions as our daughter was disappearing, we turned our minds to this man’s needs.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yesterday, as Karen and I sent our daughter from DFW airport to work with Afghan refugee children, a man came up </span>asking<span style="font-family: inherit;"> for bus fare from the airport to Cleburne to see his mother.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>We don’t really carry cash any more, so we were at a loss. He kindly walked away.<br /></span><span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>Another man walked up and gave us two waters as he couldn’t take them through security.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><br /></span><span>We watched our girl go.<br /></span><span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>Then I remembered someone recently gave me a $50 bill, which I stuck in my phone.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><br /></span><span>I chased the poor man down as he walked away. I gave him the bill. He started rejoicing, saying he could now see his mother and get a good meal, too.<br /></span><span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>I blessed him in the name of Jesus.<br /></span><span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>He stopped and said, “I believe in Jesus. I have Him with me, too.” Then he raised his shirt.<br /></span><span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>As several passersby stared in shock, the poor man revealed this large, intricate, and well-drawn tattoo of Jesus crowned and hanging on the cross emblazoned on his chest and side.<br /></span><span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>It was a light-hearted moment for me in the midst of a difficult time as I mourned my daughter.<br /></span><span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>I hope this poor man’s mother was glad to see her son. She is sick, and they had not seen each other for awhile. I know we will be glad to see our daughter again. In that, we were the same.<br /></span><span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I will never forget the poor man with Jesus emblazoned all over his chest.</span></div>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-66179313224512825522022-04-06T21:55:00.006-05:002022-04-06T21:55:51.923-05:00The Pharisaic Hermeneutic<p>A Short Essay on Pharisees in the Church Today:</p><p>There is nothing like a Pharisaic party to bind a church. They love, “The Law requires,” rather than “Jesus saves.”</p><p>“But some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.’” </p><p>Note the apostle’s enlightened response: “Now then, why are you testing God by putting a yoke on the disciples’ necks that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way they are.” Acts 15</p><p>Peter’s response was not a rejection of the Old Testament Word of God but a rejection of a legalistic hermeneutic. Legalism reduces Scripture to a static human law code, demotes Jesus to a supporting role, denies the priority of the gospel, and inhibits the saving proclamation.</p><p>The spirit who says, “You cannot do this,” in spite of the commandment of Jesus to all believers… in spite of the example of Jesus in everything He did… in spite of the call of Jesus upon each life—This is not the illumination of the Holy Spirit but the darkness of another spirit.</p>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-53719041029607119232022-04-06T17:56:00.005-05:002022-04-06T17:56:53.224-05:00Theology Is for God’s People<p>I am happy to announce that the good people at B&H Publishing Group and I have contracted for a major 3-volume popular-level systematic theology.</p><p>The Lord has long impressed me with the truth that theology is the responsibility of his people in the local churches.</p><p>This conviction began under the preaching of pastor Wayne DuBose, now of Minden, Louisiana.</p><p>It was then reinforced by the teaching of James Leo Garrett of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.</p><p>Research on the biblical and historical doctrine of the priesthood of all believers with the ThM at Duke Divinity (on the continental Reformation) and the DPhil at University of Oxford (on the English Reformation) cemented this conviction. (The latter was published by Oxford University Press).</p><p>Significant pastorates in Texas, Louisiana, and North Carolina showed in practice the truth that our people in our local churches want to know how to think properly about God, his work in the world, and his Word. These pastorates above all developed a deep love to teach God’s Word.</p><p>When Lakeside Baptist Church Granbury called me to be their Teaching Pastor, I was overwhelmed with joy to ground academic theology in church theology. The combination of the roles of Teaching Pastor and Research Professor have proved beneficial for both classroom and pulpit.</p><p>In important ways, the ongoing Baptist struggle with theological modernism has been exacerbated by a divorce between church and academy. The churches rightly claim theology is for their use in worship, mission, teaching. The academies serve best when we support the churches.</p><p>The theological construction undergirding this conviction was written up for academic theological audiences in “The Formation of Christian Doctrine,” a detailed methodology published by B&H Academic in 2007. Theologians in the academy may consult that work for more detail.</p><p>Now, in my writing ministry, I plan to turn in the direction that, as my wife Karen Searcy Yarnell recently reminded me, Leo Garrett long hoped I would do: popular theology.</p><p>The American Evangelical and Southern Baptist academy is maturing theologically by leaps. Let us now build on that.</p><p>Stay tuned for more details from B&H Publishers in the next few years. For now, however, you know where my focus will be dedicated.</p><p>Theology is for God’s People.</p>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-15414555307063530572022-03-05T01:00:00.001-06:002022-03-05T01:00:00.212-06:00The Ontology of Jesus Christ: A Lament for Modernity<p>The widespread effort in modern biblical scholarship to downplay the ontological and metaphysical claims of the New Testament terms, and thus their Trinitarian and Christological implications, is particularly frustrating and damaging to orthodoxy, in the academy and the church.</p><p>Take, for instance, Jesus’s self-referential uses of ἥκω (“I have come”) and of ἐγώ εἰμι (“I am”) in John’s Gospel. The first “denotes the coming of the deity to men” in the Greek world (Schneider), while the second explicates the Hebrew Tetragrammaton. Both invariably reveal Jesus is the eternal God.</p><p>However, because of the downgrade in modern commentary on John in particular, as seen for instance in the highly influential New Testament Theology of Rudolf Bultmann, scholars are checked in their full-throated affirmation and inhibited from a deep appreciation of Christ as God.</p><p>Instead, the modern commentaries focus upon the function of Jesus rather than the ontology and metaphysics of Jesus. Let us be clear: Jesus was pursued to death by the Israelite religious leaders precisely because of his ontological claims, his theological self-identification.</p><p>And if Jesus was willing to state his deity so clearly, then his followers must state his deity clearly, not merely as a datum but as a thoroughgoing identification.</p><p>Christ does not merely function as the means to our salvation. Christ is God, the theological end of salvation!</p>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-32360271618167281132022-03-04T04:26:00.007-06:002022-03-04T10:32:17.007-06:00On Christian Freedom: The Sausage Affair<p><span><span style="font-family: times;">The Affair of the Sausages is as historically significant among the Reformed churches as Luther’s Nailing of the 95 Theses is among the Lutherans. On Ash Wednesday in 1522, Christoph Froschauer and his publishing team were physically tired after printing a new edition of the Letters of Paul. So Froschauer served his famished crew what he had on hand: hard meat sausages.</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: times;">However, the medieval church’s laws regarding Lent required Christians to fast from eating meat, eggs, and cheese. When the Catholic authorities found out, Froschauer was arrested. Ulrich Zwingli, the preaching pastor at the Grossmünster in Zürich, had been at Froschauer’s place when this all happened. He had not himself participated but was ready to defend the freedom of others to participate.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span>Zwingli’s sermon,</span><span> </span><i>On Rejecting Lent and Protecting Christian Liberty from Man-Made Obligations</i><span>, addressed the crisis. For Zwingli, the eating of meat at Lent is a matter of Christian freedom, as is choosing not to eat meat. The gospel of Jesus Christ frees people from self-justification. This includes the tradition of fasting for 40 days prior to the celebration of Easter.</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: times;">For Zwingli, the choice to participate in Lent is a matter of “Christian Liberty.” The Good News sets the believer free from any effort to make himself or herself acceptable before God.</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: times;">Zwingli’s passionate defense of Christian liberty in the practice (or not) of the Lent tradition led to the First Disputation, which in turn sparked the Swiss Reformation. Switzerland long remained the center of Reformed Christianity. The Anabaptists and the Baptists emerged primarily from the Reformed and related churches, so the theological lessons learned in 1522 belong to those traditions, too.</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: times;">I agree with Zwingli in this matter: Observe Lent if you feel led to do so, but do not demand others observe Lent. Don’t observe Lent if you feel so led, but do not demand that others reject Lent to satisfy your own conscience. Celebrating Lent won’t help save you; neither will rejecting Lent save you. </span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: times;">Trusting in the Gospel of Jesus Christ alone saves you. Everything else in the Christian life is free gravy, including sausage gravy on your biscuits, if you like.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-50097645837442025602022-02-27T17:02:00.001-06:002022-02-27T17:02:37.936-06:00Prayer for Ukraine<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">Lord God, King of Kings, Ruler of Rulers, Governor of All Things, we pray for peace, justice, and hope.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">We pray for the peoples of Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. We pray for the area in Eastern Europe known by historians as the Borderlands and the Bloodlands, for Ukraine in particular. We pray for this nation of your precious image-bearers, comprised of Jews, Christians, and unbelievers, who suffered tens of millions of their own people dying due to Soviet starvation policies in the 1930s, under the genocidal armies of the anti-Semite Adolf Hitler in the 1940s, and the senseless purges of the anti-Christian Josef Stalin. We pray for these people, who are even now in the fourth day of a relentless assault on their very lives.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">We pray, King of Kings, that you will protect the grandmothers cowering in their homes as missiles strike all around them, that you will provide for the mothers and babies seeking shelter even being born underground, that you will protect the men and women who block the advancing tanks with nothing but their own bodies. And we pray for the men and women who have taken up arms to defend the defenseless in their cities, villages, and farms.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">We pray also you will empower the churches of your Son, Jesus Christ, to be bold in their witness to the only hope any human being has. We pray you will be with Yaroslav Pyzh and other Christian leaders as they convey both humanitarian relief and the gospel to the hundreds of thousands of women and children fleeing west toward safety. We pray you will be with Dasha and the many Christian missionaries from Ukraine who now find themselves classified as refugees in Africa and elsewhere with no way to check on their strife-torn families. We pray for the churches and synagogues who awake to find their places of worship were bombed.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">We know that ultimately this conflict is not about man versus man but about the heavenly war in which Satan has declared a world rebellion against you, Lord God of Hosts. We pray you will shatter the demonic princes who mislead the nations. We pray you will not allow evil human leaders to prevail in this mortal conflict but bring them to justice by their own people. Please give all three nations democracy, personal liberty, freedom of conscience, and real religious liberty. Topple the tyrants, deliver the oppressed, elevate the lovers of liberty.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">We pray for peace in our time. We pray for justice in our time. We pray for hope in eternity through faith in the Good News of Jesus Christ to be carried on every set of lips in Ukraine in our time. We pray for every ear in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine to hear and receive your forgiving love for all people through the Cross of Christ. We pray this horrific event will be the last of history’s brutalities visited upon these great nations and the beginning of worldwide revival even as we await your Second Coming, Lord Jesus.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">Father in heaven, our hearts are broken. Hear our prayers in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord. Send your Spirit to execute justice, to heal the hurting, to offer life in the place of death.</p><div style="text-align: left;">______</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Note: Today, Pastor Mark Forrest asked me to pray for Ukraine during our morning service at Lakeside Baptist Church. My prayer came immediately after we learned that the Russian Nuclear Forces had been put on alert. Many of the congregants have asked me for a copy of the prayer. Perhaps it will help you voice your own prayers for the Lord to intervene. As you pray, please remember the lessons of Daniel 10: There is a greater spiritual battle occurring above the visible events we see. God answers the prayers of his people. There is no need for his people to be afraid.</div>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-38004388366903956002021-09-21T16:55:00.031-05:002021-09-22T08:03:50.024-05:00The Future of Southern Baptists Hangs by a Thread<p>I first noticed William Lane Craig refashion divine eternity and then adopt a heterodox Christology. <a href="https://www.firstthings.com/article/2021/10/the-historical-adam" target="_blank">Now Craig argues Genesis 1-11</a> is “mytho-history, not to be taken literally,” denies Genesis 3 records the first sin, and says cherubim are “fantasy.” He admits the genealogies give the early text an historical aura, but dismisses them as “artificial symmetry.”</p><p>While there are certain denominations which allow for non-literal interpretations of Genesis 1-11, the Southern Baptist Convention has historically taken a strong stand against treating the Bible as “myth,” especially in the sense of “fantasy.” Craig explicitly affirms “myth” in the weaker sense of explanatory narrative, but he nonetheless also treats the Genesis accounts as “myth” in the stronger sense of historically unreal.</p><p>The major 20th-Century controversies within the SBC often began with major debate regarding the interpretation of Genesis. This was behind the 1925 adoption of the Baptist Faith and Message, the 1963 revision of the same, and concern over the 1969 Broadman Commentary on Genesis. The Baptist Faith and Message presumes literal interpretation of Genesis, as seen for instance in our beliefs about the serpent’s involvement in the Fall of Adam. Article III on Man states, “Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God.” Cf. Gen 3; Rev 20:2.</p><p>It is difficult to see how any Southern Baptist church or institution could assent to treating Genesis 1-11 as “myth,” “artificial,” and “fantasy” without compromising our confession in Article I (1925, 1963, 2000) that “The Holy Bible [has] truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter.” Last week, a <a href="https://wterryaustin.wordpress.com/2018/05/31/the-southern-baptist-convention-one-step-forward-and-two-steps-back/" target="_blank">former</a> Southern Baptist <a href="https://baptistnews.com/article/jesus-not-the-bible-is-the-word-of-god/#.YUpsJy1h3OQ" target="_blank">denied the Bible is the Word of God</a>. This week, a major apologist affiliated with a Southern Baptist church and a Southern Baptist state college affirmed the Bible contains myth and fantasy.</p><p>The future of Southern Baptists hangs by a thread, and the two blades which may cut it are our treatments of <a href="https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/first-person-the-bible-is-gods-word/" target="_blank">the Word of God</a> and <a href="http://www.malcolmyarnell.com/2018/06/on-reaffirming-full-dignity-of-every.html" target="_blank">the Image of God</a>.</p><p>(Note: The Executive Committee response to the directive of the Southern Baptist Convention regarding investigation of the treatment of sexual abuse victims has dominated <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/september/southern-baptist-sbc-executive-committee-investigation-priv.html" target="_blank">the news cycle</a>. I do not intend to detract from the critical importance of that problem. However, as a theologian with a long view in biblical, systematic, and historical studies, I am convinced we must address both the crises facing us.)</p>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-52217950865924164452021-09-20T06:00:00.216-05:002021-09-20T08:18:24.697-05:00The Immutable God<p>One difficult doctrine for Christians to understand is the Immutability of God—that the eternal God who creates, sustains, and directs all things in Himself does not change, even while his creatures are in flux.</p><p>As soon as we say God changes not, many picture Him as a cold machine or insensitive stone who micromanages the world with regard for nothing but Himself. In harsh reaction against such an impersonal God, some rush to the opposite picture of God as fluidic, co-dependent, turbulent. On the one side is the deterministic, static god of fatalism; on the other side is a determined, ever-changing god in process. These represent radically different and equally deficient doctrines of God.</p><p>The problem with either picture is not that it cannot find a biblical reference but that it does not account for the immediate context of those references nor for the whole Canon. These opposing pictures typically mutilate the immediate historical context and/or reduce the Canon by exalting one set of texts and downgrading others. Instead of a partial picture of God, we must gain the fuller picture through careful readings of equally representative texts. </p><p>On the one side consider Malachi 3:6 and James 1:17. “Because I, the Lord, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.” “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” These passages teach that God obviously does not change or shift (cf. Num 23:19; 1 Sam 15:29).</p><p>On the other side, Jeremiah 26:2-3 presents God as willing to change. “This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple and speak all the words I have commanded you to speak to all Judah’s cities that are coming to worship there. Do not hold back a word. Perhaps they will listen and turn—each from his evil way of life—so that I might relent concerning the disaster that I plan to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.” God obviously does “relent,” which indicates change (cf. Exo 32:14; 1 Chron 21:15; Amos 7:1-3; Jonah 4:2).</p><p>Does the Bible, therefore, contain “inconsistencies,” as one liberal Baptist recently opined? No, that approach does not honor Scripture as the written Word of God. The one God, who is Father, the incarnate Word, and the Holy Spirit, is perfect by nature. Therefore, the written Word he gives us is perfect by grace. Any inconsistency resides in the interpretation rather than in the inspiration. </p><p>The answer to this dilemma is to pay attention to the text itself. That the Lord does not change in Malachi 3:6 refers to his character as a righteous God. He is a God of מִשְׁפָּט, “justice,” according to Malachi 2:17. The problem developed in Malachi 3 concerns not the just God but unjust humanity. God remains just while both bringing judgment and showing mercy. The character of God is always the same, even while the character of humanity varies. The Lord does not change in his being, his perfections, his character.</p><p>That the Lord does change in Jeremiah 26 refers not to God’s character but to man’s repentance. If a human being will hear God’s Word of grace and שׁוּב, “turn back,” “return,” or “repent,” then God will נחם, “be moved to pity,” “have compassion,” or “relent.” The first term, <i>shub</i>, speaks of human repentance from sin and is never used of God in the Hebrew Bible. The second term, <i>nacham</i>, indicates a different type of change. The change with God is not intrinsic or internal to God, but extrinsic or external, in relation to his creatures. God promises not to change his character but his response to particular human persons. If you repent, He will relent.</p><p>God does not change in who He is in Himself but in how He relates to his changeable creatures. To speak of the immutability of God is not to speak of a cold, manipulative, insensitive God but to say you can trust God to be always just, always merciful, always loving, always gracious. God is always faithful, even when we are unfaithful. The onus is not upon the perfect God to prove Himself faithful but upon imperfect human beings to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. </p><p>The Book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus Christ, like his Father whose divine nature He fully shares, “is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb 13:8). Moreover, the human Christ presented his effective sacrifice to the Father through “the eternal Spirit” (Heb 9:14). This once-for-all event simultaneously demonstrated both the Holy Spirit’s participation in divine immutability and the permanence of the free offer of redemption to humanity. The immutable Trinity has permanently sealed our salvation. </p><p>When God’s grace by the Spirit moves the convicted human person to repent of sin and to turn in faith to Jesus Christ, the perfectly faithful and just character of God is revealed through his act of sanctifying the human character to enter a relationship with the blessed Trinity. That such an eternal, immutable God both can, does, and will faithfully keep his gracious promise of salvation provides our frail and variable humanity with the ultimate reason to rejoice in Him.</p><div><br /></div>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-80479976355397752912021-08-06T10:10:00.004-05:002021-08-06T10:10:49.382-05:00Is Nicene Trinitarianism Biblical and Necessary?The question of both the biblical basis and the necessity of affirming the theology affiliated with the Council of Nicaea has again become a matter of discussion.<div><br /></div><div>Having spent some time studying this issue, and having published my examinations in both monograph and essay form, I wish to go on record, again, of affirming Nicene Trinitarianism is both biblically grounded and necessary for Christian teachers who wish to be recognized as orthodox. (Michael A.G. Haykin, a longtime colleague of mine in historical theology, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/michael.haykin.96/posts/4475962125769184" target="_blank">today</a> corroborated my thoughts.)</div><div><br /></div><div>While I have interacted only somewhat formally with the modern theology known as Eternal Functional Subordination, it seems increasingly likely the churches and their responsible theologians will be required to address these teachings more formally. May the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ, who participates without any limit whatsoever in the divine nature, will, and authority equally with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, guide his people as they do so.</div><div><br /></div><div>The following works trace my understanding of the biblical doctrine of the Trinity and of various historic responses:</div><div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Malcolm B. Yarnell III, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/God-Trinity-Malcolm-Yarnell-III/dp/1433680742/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=malcolm+yarnell&qid=1628260885&sr=8-2&x=8&y=17" target="_blank">God the Trinity: Biblical Portraits</a></i>, especially the Epilogue</li><li>Malcolm Yarnell and Karen Yarnell, “Trinity and Authority” (5 part blog series), especially <a href="http://www.malcolmyarnell.com/2016/06/trinity-and-authority-part-five-of-five.html" target="_blank">Part 5</a></li><li>Keith S. Whitfield, ed., <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Trinitarian-Theology-Theological-Doctrinal-Application/dp/1535958065/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=trinitarian+theology&qid=1628260979&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Trinitarian Theology: Theological Models and Doctrinal Applications</a></i>, chapter 2 is my proposal, chapter 5 is my response to Ware on the one hand and to Emerson and Stamps on the other</li><li>Matthew Y. Emerson et al, ed., <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Baptists-Christian-Tradition-Evangelical-Catholicity/dp/1433650614/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=baptists+and+the+christian+tradition&qid=1628261042&sr=8-2" target="_blank">Baptists and the Christian Tradition: Toward an Evangelical Baptist Catholicity</a></i>, chapter 3, “Baptists, Classic Trinitarianism, and the Christian Tradition”</li><li>Stephen Copson, ed., <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Trinity-Creed-Confusion-Salters-Baptist/dp/B08LNBW9RH" target="_blank">Trinity, Creed and Confusion: The Salters’ Hall Debates of 1719</a></i>, chapter 6, “The Point in Question at Salters’ Hall: Baptists Contending for Trinity, Scripture and Freedom”</li></ul></div></div><div>If you wish to see my lectures on the matter, please feel free to sign up for the Master's elective and/or research doctoral seminar which I teach on “God the Trinity” at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The PhD seminar will next be offered in Spring 2022.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-16003225424586413722021-07-05T09:05:00.004-05:002021-07-05T09:16:08.194-05:00National Treasures<p></p><blockquote>We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,</blockquote><p></p><p>Read from the steps of the State House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by Timothy Matlack, Clerk of the Second Continental Congress, on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence still rings beautifully in our ears. Those words reflected Matlack’s own beliefs that God created every human being equal, giving each person rights which cannot be taken away, and that governments derive their powers from the governed, not vice versa. When Romans 13 says we must obey “the powers instituted of God,” Americans like Thomas Jefferson and Timothy Matlack understood constitutional government.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yhJ-TW4cIIo/YOMKLKCBgaI/AAAAAAAAATc/tK69EauYgMwZaSVYD1gJdaBXiTgZYWYFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/1%2BDeclaration%2Bof%2BIndependence.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1726" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yhJ-TW4cIIo/YOMKLKCBgaI/AAAAAAAAATc/tK69EauYgMwZaSVYD1gJdaBXiTgZYWYFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/1%2BDeclaration%2Bof%2BIndependence.jpg" /></a></div><p>Matlack was a microcosm of America. Nearly 20 years before the Bill of Rights, he led Pennsylvania to declare our rights include religious liberty, freedom of speech, trial by jury, and “a right to bear Arms.” On July 19, 1776, he engrossed the official copy of the Declaration of Independence now in the National Archives. He wrote the congressional instrument appointing George Washington Commander-in-Chief. Colonel Matlack led the Philadelphia militia as the Army of the Potomac fought for survival. He warned Washington about Benedict Arnold long before that traitor was caught selling the fortification plans for West Point. An enlightened thinker, he was appointed to the American Philosophical Society by Benjamin Franklin. In 1780, Matlack prompted Pennsylvania to adopt a bill abolishing slavery gradually, the first such act. He served in Congress and supported his old radical friend, Thomas Jefferson, in his hotly contested election as President. Jefferson and Matlack maintained a friendly correspondence late into their long lives. Matlack is a national treasure.</p><p>Personally, however, Matlack was an intemperate and hypocritical man. He loved his wife, Ellen Yarnall, and they had two sons and three girls together. But after her death, this radical advocate of human equality violated both his own ideals and a fellow human being. He bought an African American girl, Hester, ostensibly to keep his house. He sold Hester to another white man upon his second marriage. He had once felt a call to ministry, but he later caned two Quaker ministers in the street. Ejected from his church, he subsequently found peace and planted a church. (You can visit the meeting house which Matlack designed and built as you walk from Independence Hall past the Liberty Bell to the National Constitution Center. The Free Quaker house is across the street from Benjamin Franklin’s grave.)</p><p>Matlack’s brother-in-law was just as bad. Son of a famous preacher named Mordecai Yarnall, Peter had a reputation for memory and mimicry. Known in both the Army and the Navy as “a singular character and degenerate son,” Peter would walk into Quaker churches and preach just for the fun of it. One fooled congregation even extended him a call to ministry. After hearing a prophetic sermon at his mother’s funeral, Peter made his way to a pub, where he regaled his army buddies. He repeated the sermon point by point, applying each to his drinking friends. “Now Tim,” he told Matlack, “this is for you.” They laughed heartily! </p><p>But at the end of his mimicked message, Peter said, “Now this is for none of you, it is for myself.” The young surgeon’s demeanor changed immediately, and he left quietly. After traumatic dreams, he recalled the faith preached by his father, a faith which compelled his great grandfather to flee from England’s religious persecution in 1683. In this way, Peter converted to Christ, proclaiming to everyone who would listen that he had once “missed his way.” Dr. Yarnall ended his days as a widely regarded and true gospel preacher. The Word of God is so powerful that it can change even those who use it in mockery.</p><p>Our nation began with great ideals, but we have not always lived up to them. Our nation is full of hypocrites like Matlack and godless mockers like Yarnall. But God’s grace can extend even to hypocrites and mockers. The question is whether we will repent of our own hypocrisy and our own mockery. By all accounts, both Matlack and Yarnall ended their days in peace with God and reconciliation with their fellow human beings. Hester was also granted her freedom through Quaker intervention. These men repented of their hypocrisy and mockery, and they were made right through faith in Jesus Christ the God-Man. The question is whether we who dwell in a land which has religious freedom will be changed by the gospel we can so freely hear. You can be made right through the same faith these national treasures subsequently embraced.</p><div><br /></div>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-33389547751615305332021-06-10T08:58:00.005-05:002021-06-10T09:05:48.903-05:00By All Means Discuss the Southern Baptist Convention, But in the Right Spirit<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">But the question arises: Is the co-operative work of the churches a proper subject for discussion? Certainly it is a proper subject for discussion, of broad and unceasing discussion, if it be done in the right spirit. By all means, let all our co-operative work—missionary, educational, and benevolent—be fully and faithfully discussed by all the people. But let such discussion be candid and truthful and constructive and Christian. The more of such discussion, the better will it be for every good cause. But when such discussion is uncandid and untruthful and un-Christian, when it leads to sourness and bitterness and alienations and non-co-operation, then such discussion is to be reprobated by all who care for the honor of Christ’s name and the advancement of His cause. Paul points the way for Christ’s people in his ringing words to the Galatians: “Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty: only use not your liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love, serve one another.” Love is the supreme inspiration and dynamic for all Christly service. “Love never faileth.” God give our Baptist people to remember, now and always, that the last word in our Baptist vocabulary is not liberty but love!</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"></i></p><blockquote><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">Christian Education: An Address by George W. Truett, of Dallas, Texas, at the Southern Baptist Convention in Houston, Texas, Thursday morning, May 13, 1926 </i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">(Birmingham, AL: Education Board, Southern Baptist Convention, 1926), 11</span></blockquote><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"></span><p></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></div>
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Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-81095212002210460302021-06-09T16:35:00.003-05:002021-06-10T08:53:11.096-05:00Basic Theological Texts for Growing Systematic Theologians<blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Scripture is normative for our theology and must remain our everyday text, as one of my PhD students, the leading Dalit theologian, Binu C. Paul, recently noted <a href="https://www.facebook.com/swbts/posts/10159045007510661" target="_blank">here</a>. As embodied persons living in history, moreover, we would be wise to read the Bible with other saints from throughout the history of Christianity. Paul noted the Holy Spirit does not restrict himself to certain believers (1 Cor 7:40). Moreover, the same Holy Spirit who inspired the biblical text (2 Tim 3:16) illumines the perfect Word of God to believers in every age. The Apostle thus considered "private interpretations" theologically dubious (2 Pet 1:19-21).</p></div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Often, I am asked by young theologians who attend my lectures and wish to move further in their theological studies, "What should I read next?" In response, I refer them to texts which have shaped classical Christianity and the various Reformation traditions as well as the Baptist tradition. (On the treasures which Baptists have accessed in classical Christianity, see this helpful <a href="https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/baptists-and-the-christian-tradition-P005792725" target="_blank">text</a> edited by Matthew Emerson, Chris Morgan, and Luke Stamps.)</p></div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Recently asked by a student for such a list, I offered the following 15 writers with their basic texts. These are the leading writings from the history of the Church which I recommend every rising theologian read. It is becoming increasingly obvious with novel systematic theologians today that they could have avoided theological error, such as denying the eternal generation of the Son of God, if they had first immersed themselves in the basic theological treasures of the past.</p></div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">None of the following basic theological texts are sufficient; none are perfect, not even together; for only Scripture is sufficient and perfect. <span style="font-size: 11pt;">But in the midst of reading the tested exegesis of Scripture offered by those Christians who have preceded us, we learn a thing or two which keep us from the errors and heresies which may crop up among those who neglect to listen to the Spirit's witness through the ages. Enjoy!</span></p></div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1;"><ol start="1" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;" type="1"><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Athanasius, <i>On the Incarnation</i><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Gregory of Nazianzus, <i>Five Theological Orations</i><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Augustine of Hippo, <i>Confessions </i>and<i> On Christian Teaching</i><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Gregory, <i>On Pastoral Rule</i><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Anselm, <i>Monologion </i>and<i> Cur Deus Homo</i><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Martin Luther, <i>On Christian Freedom</i><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">John Calvin, <i>Institutes of the Christian Religion</i>, Book 1<o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><i>The Heidelberg Catechism<o:p></o:p></i></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Richard Baxter, <i>The Reformed Pastor</i><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Philip Jacob Spener, <i>Pia Desideria</i><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Dietrich Bonhoeffer, <i>Discipleship</i><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">J.I. Packer, <i>Knowing God</i><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">John Stott, <i>The Cross of Christ</i><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Paul Fiddes, <i>Tracks & Traces</i><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Scott Swain, <i>The Trinity: An Introduction</i></li></ol></div></div></blockquote>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-56823253402891206692021-02-05T06:38:00.002-06:002021-02-05T06:38:18.242-06:00James Leo Garrett Jr. (1925-2020): The Funeral Sermon<blockquote><p style="text-align: center;"><i>“Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:7).</i></p><div></div></blockquote><p>You need only rehearse James Leo Garrett Jr.’s educational attainments—bachelor’s degrees from both Baylor University and Southwestern Seminary, a master’s from Princeton Seminary, and research doctorates from both Southwestern Seminary and Harvard University—to realize that here was no mean scholar. You need only remember that he taught for lengthy periods at three great Baptist schools—Southwestern Seminary, Baylor University, and Southern Seminary—to realize he exercised a widespread influence. You need only read his two <i>magna opera</i> before realizing no other contemporary Baptist systematic theologian has yet risen to his level of authorial achievement. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">A.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Garrett as a Theologian </h3><p>Baptized into the church of Southwestern Seminary’s founder, Benajah Harvey Carroll, Garrett was also deeply influenced by Southwestern’s first great systematic theologian, Walter Thomas Conner. He once wrote, “The Lord and W.T. Conner called me to teach theology.” Through his long career, he taught masses of theological students. During the administration of Russell Dilday, Garrett’s classes in particular overflowed. </p><p>I still appreciate the student who allowed me to move from the very back to take his front row seat so I might capture every word. But only the hardy enrolled in his classes. Known affectionately as “Machine-Gun Garrett” for his rapid-fire lecture style, his students proudly wore t-shirts emblazoned, “I Survived Theo with Leo.” Thousands of pastors, missionaries, professors, and other ministers filed through his classrooms, and many found their way into his office and home for personal encounters.</p><p>Beyond his now silent classroom, he continues to teach through his writings. The method he followed in his two-volume <i>Systematic Theology</i> garnered widespread respect even as it gently but significantly reorients several classical debates. Garrett as a rule began with a review of the biblical literature, moved to a summary of historical responses, and only then considered systematics. </p><p>He was gentle before the Word of God. He always respected the Bible even as he subtly challenged those who undermined its teachings, theologically or morally. Except in the essentials, he avoided strong statements. As a gentleman, his own persuasions are discerned clearly in the indicative or implied through the interrogative but never through the pejorative nor the pugilistic. </p><p>Garrett’s special love for his own churches manifests itself in his second <i>magnum opus</i>, his comprehensive and unparalleled <i>Baptist Theology</i>, wherein he rehearsed the history of Baptist ruminations, respected the diverse breadth of that life, and honored our dependence upon Scripture and our ultimate concern for following the Lord Jesus.</p><p>While speaking of Baptist theology, Dr. Garrett asked me to convey to his own beloved churches two special messages: </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>First, submitting to Jesus’s desire for our unity revealed in John 17, which establishes a divine mandate for us, the Southern Baptist Convention should seek a restoration of fellowship with our Baptist brothers and sisters in Christ through rejoining the Baptist World Alliance.</li><li>Second, there is “no substantial theological reason whatsoever” to maintain separate Baptist conventions within the state of Texas. The Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention should restore the bonds of fellowship, and the Baptist Missionary Association should consider doing the same.</li></ul><p></p><p><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Garrett also initiated or expanded the academic disciplines of ecumenism, religious liberty, believers’ church identity, and the close relationship of Baptists with Evangelicals. A particular doctrine close to his heart was the priesthood of all believers.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">B.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Importance of Garrett</h3><p>In order to convey the academic impact of Leo Garrett, one might consult two festschrifts published in his honor, <i>The People of God</i>, edited by Paul Abbott Basden and David Samuel Dockery, and the 2006 issue of <i>Perspectives in Religious Studies</i> introduced by Canadian Baptist William Henry Brackney. Or, one might rehearse the long list of his students and their accomplishments. However, in honor of his passion for congregationalism, hear a selection of testimonies from his former students, all of whom provide their full names out of respect for his precise academic style. We wish, in respect for the words of the apostle, to “imitate his faith.”</p><p><b>Robert Stanton Norman</b>, President and Professor of Theology at Williams Baptist University, and author of <i>More Than Just a Name</i> and <i>The Baptist Way</i>, studied with and worked for Dr. Garrett from 1987 to 1997. He writes, “James Leo Garrett Jr. was one of the most prolific, prodigious writing theologians of the twentieth century. No other theologian was as thorough in breadth and scope of research, nor as fair in representation and assessment of diverse perspectives, nor as irenic and charitable in interactions. He instilled a deep love within me for the people known as Baptists, an appreciation for Baptist history and theology, and a belief in the promise of our distinctive convictions to engage and overcome present and future challenges.”</p><p><b>Steven Ray Harmon</b>, Associate Professor of Historical Theology at Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity and Co-Secretary of the Baptist-Catholic International Joint Dialogue Commission, and author of four books including <i>Baptist Identity and the Ecumenical Future</i>, was guided by Dr. Garrett through his PhD studies from 1993 to 1997. He writes, “Dr. Garrett’s theological scholarship has been especially influential ecumenically, for he rigorously sought to frame Baptist theological identity in terms of its relation to the larger Christian tradition in ways that helped both Baptists and their ecumenical dialogue partners to see more clearly both their commonalities and their differences that call for ongoing dialogue—an influence discernible especially in the second phase of the international dialogue between the Baptist World Alliance and the Catholic Church. I am working as a Baptist ecumenical theologian because of this influence, which in my own ecumenical work has helped me take differences seriously rather than as something to be minimized for the sake of easy agreement.”</p><p><b>Matthew Lee Sanders</b>, Senior Pastor of the Wai’alae Baptist Church in Honolulu, and Assistant Professor at The College at Southwestern from 2007 to 2015, writes, “When I was a master’s student working for the seminary, I remember running into Dr. Garrett in the hallways more than once and casually asking about some theological topic. I would go to my office, and he would go, I thought, wherever he was headed. But he would pop into my office 30 minutes later with several library references on the topic we discussed. He apparently stopped whatever he was doing to help me. He was the best and only research assistant I ever had. If I could have only two books in addition to the Bible, they would be Dr. Garrett’s two-volume systematic theology. The only rival to his brilliant mind was his humble servant heart.”</p><p><b>Stephen Martin Stookey</b>, Dean of the School of Christian Studies and Lester W. James Sr. Professor in Religion at Wayland Baptist University, was taught by Dr. Garrett during his PhD studies from 1991 to 1992. He writes, “James Leo Garrett Jr., through classroom, print, and pulpit, sharpened the global Baptist family’s theological perspectives and modeled the virtue of ecumenical engagement for kingdom service. His mentorship contributed to my academic focus in church-state studies, active participation with the Baptist World Alliance, and understanding of academic service as ministry. Like so many colleagues and friends who came under Dr. Garrett's influence, I am deeply indebted to him, as well as to his wife Myrta.”</p><p><b>Ronjour Melvin Locke</b>, Instructor of Preaching and Urban Ministry, and Director of the Center for Preaching and Pastoral Leadership at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, is an African-American mentored by Dr. Garrett between 2009 and 2011. He writes, “Dr. Garrett showed that a scholar can also be a gentleman, loving and respecting others—even those with whom we disagree—by treating them and their arguments fairly and by responding charitably, for they are truly loved by our Lord. Personally, Dr. Garrett showed Annie and me what it looks like to love the body of Christ in faithful service and generous kindness, and for his and Mrs. Myrta’s example during and after our years at Meadowridge we are eternally grateful.”</p><p><b>Gregory Dale Tomlin</b>, Carroll Fellow and Associate Professor of Christian Heritage at the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute, who studied with Dr. Garrett from 1997 to 2003, writes, “I owe to him and his lovely wife many things. He was the greatest of theologians and historians in my eyes, but most of all he was a good man and my friend. Kindness and gentleness permeated his character—I was able to complete my theological education because of Dr. Garrett’s generosity when he saw a need. I have learned recently that the students he provided for financially number in the dozens.”</p><p><b>Christopher Bart Barber</b>, Pastor of First Baptist Church of Farmersville and prominent Trustee at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, studied with our mentor between 1994 and 2006. Bart writes, “Amidst the dark stories of theologians who strayed from their faith, marriages, denominational affiliations, or academic callings, shines the bright story of James Leo Garrett, whose lifelong faithfulness to the work, to Southern Baptists, to Myrta Ann, and to the Lord Jesus Christ were never called into question. It is no accident but rather the fruit of his deliberate effort that I can say the most important things he taught me were about neither history nor theology. Instead, he taught me how to have unwavering convictions in a way that brought people together rather than driving them apart.”</p><p><b>Adam Lyndell Harwood</b>, McFarland Professor of Theology and Journal Editor at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, who studied under Garrett in 2002 and 2003 and is currently writing a systematic theology, says, “Dr. Garrett modeled peaceable interaction with the entire Christian tradition rather than merely his perspective. I was impressed by this accomplished scholar’s humility, demonstrated by his willingness to learn from anyone, including his students.”</p><p><b>Amy Karen Downey</b>, President of Tzedakah Ministries and author of <i>Maimonides’s Yahweh</i>, worked with Dr. Garrett in editing his Systematic Theology between 1994 and 1996 and in compiling his Baptist Theology after 2004. She says, “I reveled in his eidetic memory, and he taught me to love theology and appreciate even those with whom we disagreed. He was my advocate as I pursued graduate studies in both medieval Judaism and Holocaust studies, and he even allowed me recently to guide him in the process of leading an old Jewish friend of his to saving faith in Jesus Christ.”</p><p><b>Wyman Lewis Richardson</b>, Pastor of Central Baptist Church in North Little Rock and the Editor of the multi-volume <i>The Collected Works of James Leo Garrett Jr., 1950-2015</i>, writes, “Dr. Garrett’s scholarship was important insofar as it created a substantial bridge between the Baptist family and the wider Christian world. Personally, his academic influence on me consisted of modeling what warm-hearted, sincere churchmanship looks like when coupled with high standards of academic rigor.”</p><p><b>Robert Byron Stewart</b>, Professor of Philosophy and Theology and Greer-Heard Chair of Faith and Culture at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary studied with Dr. Garrett from 1990 to 1996. He says, “The atmosphere one breathed while studying with Leo Garrett was one of unrelenting precision and thoroughness coupled with Christlike character and graciousness. Those of us who were privileged to study with him owe him a debt that cannot be repaid directly to him, but we can endeavor to repay it indirectly as we teach those who study with us with the same precision and care. In fact, we should feel a moral obligation to do so.”</p><p>One last important word about the impact of James Leo Garrett Jr., this time regarding the future. Adam Wade Greenway, the ninth President of The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and David Samuel Dockery, Southwestern’s Distinguished Professor of Theology and Theologian-in-Residence [and now Interim Provost], both of whom were his students and have paid him tribute, have stated the conviction that Southwestern Seminary must maintain and sustain the highly laudable aspects of that which we recognize with honor to be “the Conner-Garrett tradition.”</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">C.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Garrett as an Educator</h3><p>Garrett amassed huge accomplishments in research, teaching, and churchmanship through his intentional method of incorporating detailed knowledge of Scripture and its interpretation with personal integrity of life. Soon after he retired and my career began, he shared an as yet unpublished piece about our calling. He defined the theological educator according to four roles: teacher, scholar, mentor, and practitioner. Listen to some of his ideas.</p><p>As teacher, he spoke, among other things, of cultivating the professorial decorum of respect and dialogue. Lifelong professors have had “that student”—you know, the one in a thousand who already knows everything. Through the years, I never knew Dr. Garrett to show a hint of indignation when “that student” violated his class’s decorum. He was always respectful. </p><p>That said, I remember he once stopped and responded carefully to a perceptive question with a brilliant quotation from memory. He opened his eyes, gazing into the distance as if in a different conversation, and said, “Put that in your pipe and smoke it!” He kindly smiled, recalled where he was, and returned to his lecture. The man was gentle, even in mental conversations with long dead authors.</p><p>As scholar, he argued that an educator must, <i>inter alia</i>, read widely and write wisely. Leo performed well these first two roles, of teacher and scholar, by all accounts. </p><p>He also fulfilled two other roles that concern the heart and manifest themselves primarily through personal encounter. But we saw much of his heart. The last two of the educator’s roles concern being a mentor and practitioner. </p><p>The student testimonies above show that many heard the apostle’s exhortation to “consider” our mentor’s “way of life.” James Leo Garrett Jr. believed that a personal life surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is as necessary for a theological mentor as for every believer. The theologian’s way of life must be characterized by love or be a failure.</p><p>In the role of practitioner, he emphasized the theologian must evince “the fruit of the spirit” as a Christian, a family member, a church member, a citizen, and a Southern Baptist. By all accounts, divine fruit was in that divine.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Conclusion</h3><p>In conclusion, some final personal words. I knew Dr. Garrett, firstly, as a theological father, who encouraged me to research different aspects of universal priesthood at both Duke University and Oxford University. Secondly, I knew him as a senior professor who graciously affirmed my calling to imitate him while I trembled like a child in the basement of Fleming Hall. I knew him, thirdly, as a paragon of virtue after whom I could name my second son, Matthew Garrett Yarnell (and I was not the only one to do so); and fourthly, as a colleague who gave me the blessing of his lectern and his own faculty office, over my tearful objections. Finally, while I hope the Lord allows me in the near term to complete the essay we were writing together, I hope in the long term to be at least as much like our Savior as James Leo Garrett Jr.</p><p></p><blockquote><p style="text-align: center;"><i>“Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:7).</i></p><div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-87555650269175268472020-12-10T11:18:00.003-06:002020-12-10T11:30:55.972-06:00The Holy Spirit is the Giver of Life<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"><b>III. The Giver of Life</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">The Holy Spirit of God gives life to us </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 48px;">in Christ</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 48px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">and puts to death the sin nature that is killing us.</span></div><div><br /></div><div>Jesus gave the Holy Spirit the name, “the Giver of Life” (John 6:63). This name was later brought into the <a href="http://www.malcolmyarnell.com/p/the-apostles-i-believe-in-god-father.html" target="_blank">Nicene Creed</a> to identify the third person of the Holy Trinity. In summary, the Holy Spirit gives everyone life in the first place. He then gives renewed life to all who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Christ’s Spirit will raise our bodies from the dead. God’s Spirit brings us into eternal communion with God the Trinity as well as with all the other saints who have ever been and ever will be.</div><div><br />The Apostle Paul tells us even more about how the Giver of Life gives life, and how we are personally involved in his work upon us. In Romans 8 and Galatians 5, he says the Spirit both gives life to us and kills sin within us.</div><div><br />The Church’s divines—Catholic and Reformed as well as Baptist—variously used the language of mortification and vivification to describe this process. “Mortification” speaks of the putting to death of the desire for sin within us. “Vivification” speaks of the way life works itself into us. The sin nature, which Paul calls “flesh,” must be mortified or “put to death” by the Spirit. Our new nature, which Paul says is characterized by the Spirit’s fruit, must be vivified or “come to life” by the Spirit.</div><div><br />And the Spirit does all this, as our Pastor has continually reminded us, by focusing our faith upon Jesus Christ. In Romans 8:1-13, Paul writes:<o:p><br /></o:p><blockquote>Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. </blockquote><blockquote>For those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit. Now the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace. The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. </blockquote><blockquote>You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you. </blockquote><blockquote>So then, brothers and sisters, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, because if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. </blockquote>In conclusion, we find that the Holy Spirit of God gives life in Christ to us and puts to death the sin nature that is killing us. Death is in the flesh. Life is in the Spirit. The Spirit offers you both life and the fruit which demonstrates there is life in the root.</div><div><br /></div><div>(Theological Note: Paul distinguishes between “flesh” [<i>sarx</i>] and “body” [<i>soma</i>] in this passage. While the flesh refers in this passage and in Galatians 5 to the sin nature, the body is itself raised by the Spirit into life. The ancient pagan and modern concept of the body as inherently evil does not agree with Paul. The material body is not inherently evil, although it may act in evil ways through the influence of the sin nature. Note also that Paul can use flesh without direct reference to the sin nature [Gal 2:20]. For Paul, the body is typically a reference to the physical person, while the flesh is typically a reference to the sin nature that leads us toward sin.)</div><div><br /></div><div>(This is the third in a four-part short series on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. For part one, concerning the Spirit as Love, <a href="http://www.malcolmyarnell.com/2020/11/the-holy-spirit-is-god-of-love.html" target="_blank">click here</a>. For part two, concerning the Spirit as Intimate, <a href="http://www.malcolmyarnell.com/2020/12/the-holy-spirit-is-god-intimate.html" target="_blank">click here</a>.)</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-32739920865643845282020-12-08T15:58:00.010-06:002020-12-10T11:24:21.132-06:00The Holy Spirit is God Intimate<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><b>II. Intimate</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">At the deepest place in every single human heart is the need for intimacy with a person totally safe, entirely powerful, incredibly close—A confidant, a protector, a hero. Alas, many of us carry indescribable wounds, because we trusted a friend, a relative, a lover—We gave somebody our heart, and we were betrayed. We need intimacy; we fear treachery.</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p><div style="text-align: left;">When men and women became friends with Jesus, they found one upon whom they could really rely. He was trustworthy in his intentions, and he had the power to meet their every need. John, the artistic apostle, knew Jesus as beauty itself. He self-identified as “the one whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23). He also leaned against his very breast. Mary Magdalene knew Jesus as the only man who ever spoke to her with purity. He also healed her soul with power. Lazarus was the friend for whom Jesus wept. And Jesus also raised Lazarus from death. Jesus healed people, fed people, gave them the all-fulfilling words of life.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />The powerful, faithful intimacy of Jesus is why his disciples, his friends, were distraught when he told them he must leave. He encouraged them in John 14, “Let not your heart be troubled” (v 1). Christ promised them that he was going to prepare a place for them in God the Father’s eternal mansion. And, at some point, he was coming back to get them. He also told them he would soon be with them in a way they never imagined.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />True friendship is deep intimacy, oneness with another which cannot let go. Sometimes, when Karen is out of my sight, even if only feet away in another room, I miss her terribly. Jesus frankly told them he was leaving the world, leaving their sight. He was leaving them in one way, but coming to them in another way. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Indeed, he promised that he would come in a way not unlike the relationship God the Father has with his Son. The Father and the Son are so intertwined that to see one is to see the other. “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (John 14:11). The words and the works of the Son are the words and works of the Father! “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father!” (John 14:9).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />And there is a third Person just as intimately bound with the Godhead as the Father and the Son. Jesus promised his distraught disciples, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:16-18).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />In Romans 8, Paul used the same language to describe the union of Christ with the believer and the union of the Spirit with the believer. If the Spirit of God is in you, then Christ also is in you. The indwelling of Christ and the indwelling of the Spirit are coterminous personal relationships. To have “Christ in you” (Rom 8:10) is to be “in the Spirit” (Rom 8:9) and to have the Spirit reside “in you” (Rom 8:11). The Holy Spirit who indwells us is “the Spirit of Christ” (Rom 8:9). </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Spirit is distinct from Christ; but the Spirit is also one with Christ. “The Lord is the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:17). Therefore, although Jesus departed in body, he came through the presence of his Spirit to be, in an even more intimate way, present to his followers: To John, the apostle whom he loved, Jesus came in the Spirit. To Mary, who could not let go of him when she saw he had risen from death itself, Jesus dwelt in the Spirit. To Peter, the one friend who had horribly betrayed him in his hour of greatest need, not once but three times, Jesus resided by the Spirit.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ came to live “in” and “with” John and Mary and Peter. But this promise of intimacy with the divine is not only for them then. For even now the all-powerful Spirit of God offers to live in us, to heal us of every affliction, to feed us forever, to ensure us of eternal life. The Spirit offers you intimacy with the eternal Christ himself. If Christ is “God incarnate,” then the Spirit is “God intimate.” Have you been born again by faith in Christ? If so, the Spirit desires to fill your life with his immediate, powerful, saving presence.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">(This is the second in a four-part short series on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. For part one, concerning the Spirit as Love, <a href="http://www.malcolmyarnell.com/2020/11/the-holy-spirit-is-god-of-love.html" target="_blank">click here</a>. For part three, concerning the Spirt as the Giver of Life, <a href="http://www.malcolmyarnell.com/2020/12/the-holy-spirit-is-giver-of-life.html" target="_blank">click here</a>.)</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905894.post-9107462321221068152020-11-22T18:23:00.013-06:002020-12-10T11:21:31.053-06:00The Holy Spirit is the God of Love<p><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;">In the Bible, three persons are revealed to be God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. There is no difference whatsoever in the divine attributes, in the divine will, and in the divine working, as well as in the divine worship due to each person, for the three are the one God. Each person is fully God, yet the three persons remain distinct from one another.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;">The Father is the person from whom the Son of God is eternally begotten, begotten not in a flat carnal way, but in an analogically beautiful way from the very being of the Father. The Son always has been “in the bosom of the Father” (John 1:18). The Son of God possesses all the Father possesses (John 16:14-15), does whatever the Father does (John 14:10), and speaks whatever the Father speaks (John 12:49-50). The persons of the Father and the Son are united not only in act but in being. The two may thus be described, according to Jesus, as “in” one another (John 14:11). The Son is one with God (John 10:30).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;">And both the Father and the Son in turn send the Holy Spirit from eternity into the world to work the will of God declared by the eternal Word. “Sending” speaks to the economy or work of the Spirit, while “proceeding” speaks to the ontology or essence of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit proceeds from God eternally. The language used to describe the eternal procession from the Father in John 15:26 is both fascinating and instructive. The Greek term is ἐκπορεύομαι, which the Bauer lexicon says can be used in two closely related ways. It can either mean “to be in motion from” or “to come forth from.” Bauer classifies John 15:26 under the first to mean the Spirit “proceeds from someone.” And this someone is God.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Did you catch that? The Holy Spirit does not proceed from a creature. He is not like you and me or any other creature. Nor is the Holy Spirit sent by any mere creature. The Holy Spirit proceeds, like the Son, directly from God. The Son and the Spirit are uniquely related to the Father in that both participate by nature in the Godhead. </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The Son is the eternally begotten God. The Holy Spirit is the eternally proceeding God.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;">The Spirit’s deity is why, throughout Scripture, we find the Holy Spirit described with divine attributes, working with the divine will, doing things only God can do. Over the next several weeks we must speak of the Holy Spirit in his person and his work. And the first thing we must consider about the Holy Spirit is that He is Love.</span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;"><b>I. Love</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">One of the divine perfections, alongside the attributes of sovereignty, knowledge, holiness, and so on, understood simply, is love. But be careful about your definition of love. When we run up against the Bible’s definition of love, we soon discover God the Trinity’s love is totally beyond our love. God’s love is perfect love.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;">John writes that “God is love,” not once but twice (1 John 4:8, 16). God the Father is ontologically love and practically love. From the internal perfection of the dynamic, eternal, and unitary love of the Three, the Father sends His Son into the world (1 John 4:9; John 3:16).</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;">And from the internal perfection of the dynamic, eternal, and unitary love of the Three, God the Son demonstrates perfect love in the supreme loving act of becoming the God-Man. He is the One who was crucified for his unworthy friends. “Greater love has no man than this, that He lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). The Son showed his love toward us by giving his life for us, even while we were yet sinners.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;">So, the Father is love, the Son is love, and the Holy Spirit, too, is love. Another apostle, Paul, wrote, “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Rom 5:5). The Spirit as God brings the love of the Trinity to us, working with the dynamic Word to encounter us from without (Romans 10:9-10, 17) and within, engaging our minds, convicting our hearts, and loosening our tongues (Romans 8:26-27). The Spirit wants to unite you with Himself and with the Son, so that you become indwelt by the Son and the Spirit (Romans 8:9-11).</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;">Did you catch that? The Father loves us by sending his Son as a propitiation for our sins. The Son loves us by dying so we might be reconciled to God and by arising from death so we will be justified before the eternal throne of judgment (Romans 4:25). The Triune God works from the perfection of his love so that we may be saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. And the Spirit presents to our hearts that perfect love, pulling us majestically and gently into the very heart of God.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;">And God’s love is perfect, pure, for: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends” (1 Cor 13:4-8a).</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;">Why is the Holy Spirit so humble, so focused upon glorifying the other persons of the Godhead, especially the Son? Why does the Holy Spirit appear at first to recede into the background in our mind as He makes sure we clearly see Jesus Christ, the Son of God who was crucified and died for our sin, and who arose for our justification?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;">The Holy Spirit is humble, because humility is the perfect expression of pure love. The Holy Spirit is love. He humbly loves both the Son and the Father, and He humbly loves you. He is gently knocking on the door of your heart. As your pastor preaches the Word, will you let the Holy Spirit into your heart and confess the truth of the Gospel with your tongue?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; text-indent: 0.5in;">(This is the first part in a four-part short series on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. For part two, concerning the Spirit as Intimate, <a href="http://www.malcolmyarnell.com/2020/12/the-holy-spirit-is-god-intimate.html" target="_blank">click here</a>. </span>For part three, concerning the Spirit as the Giver of Life, <a href="http://www.malcolmyarnell.com/2020/12/the-holy-spirit-is-giver-of-life.html" target="_blank">click here</a>.)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></p><style class="WebKit-mso-list-quirks-style">
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mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
/* List Definitions */
@list l0
{mso-list-id:1070888952;
mso-list-type:hybrid;
mso-list-template-ids:2111706198 -1937579274 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;}
@list l0:level1
{mso-level-number-format:roman-upper;
mso-level-style-link:"Heading 2";
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:right;
text-indent:-9.0pt;}
@list l0:level2
{mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;}
@list l0:level3
{mso-level-number-format:roman-lower;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:right;
text-indent:-9.0pt;}
@list l0:level4
{mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;}
@list l0:level5
{mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;}
@list l0:level6
{mso-level-number-format:roman-lower;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:right;
text-indent:-9.0pt;}
@list l0:level7
{mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;}
@list l0:level8
{mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;}
@list l0:level9
{mso-level-number-format:roman-lower;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:right;
text-indent:-9.0pt;}
-->
</style>Malcolm Yarnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05527418213499559637noreply@blogger.com0