Author Archives: Mark Heath

Commentary Recommendations

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Updated September 2007 to fix broken links

There are a number of websites with lists of recommended commentaries, but not all are that helpful. Here I will post a list of what I believe to be the most useful sets of commentary recommendations on the internet. The recommendations come from an evangelical perspective.

Denver Seminary have recommendations for the Old Testament and New Testament. There are plenty of choices for each book, with some marked out as being specially appropriate.

Parableman – Commentary Recommendations – This is fairly similar to the Denver list, recommending three different “levels” for each book. It is extremely helpful in providing links to thorough reviews of many of the commentaries recommended.

Desiring God also provide a recommendations list on their website. This is great news, as John Piper knows what he is talking about in the area of Biblical exegesis.

For my own recommendations, see here. Brian Le Stourgeon also has a good list available here.

New Blog Software

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I am trying out the Serendipity blogging software, which should make life a bit easier for me in terms of managing my webpage. If all goes well, I will move all the old entries from my existing blog accross to here.

Apologies if you had some problems recently accessing this site. I have been making a number of changes, but all should be finished before too long.

More 2005 Commentaries

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Some more good news about forthcoming commentaries. The NIGTC series is continuing to progress rapidly with 2 Corinthians (Harris) due out soon. John Nolland has finished his manuscript for the volume on Matthew so hopefully that will be appearing before too long.

The NAC series will also take a few more steps towards completion this year with commentaries on Genesis vol 2(Matthews), Psalms vol 2 (Shepherd), Isaiah vol 1 (Walker) and 1 Corinthians (Guthrie) due out this year.

Tom Wright is also preparing commentaries on Philippians and Galatians, although I don’t know what series these will be for.

The Jerry Springer Opera goes ahead

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We’ve all no doubt heard a lot in the media recently about the Jerry Springer Opera that the BBC will be showing this evening despite a deluge of complaints from Christians. I thought I would add a few thoughts of my own to the the debate:

1. Everyone has standards of taste and decency

Many people have been angered that Christians should attempt to stop them watching something that they would genuinely enjoy and not feel at all offended by. But all of us surely have some standards that we would expect the BBC (or in fact any broadcaster) to adhere to. For example, which of the following things would you be happy to see broadcast on BBC2? The list includes some topics that I have heard debated recently on BBC radio.

  • The video of the beheading of Kenneth Bigley
  • A performance of a homophobic hate rap
  • An evangelistic sermon warning that all who don’t accept Jesus will face Hell
  • An anti-Semitic comedy
  • A Creation-Science documentary rejecting evolution as fraudulent and bad science.
  • A hard-core pornographic film

It should also be apparent as you consider this list that the idea that you have to first see something to have an opinion on whether it is suitable for public broadcast is ridiculous. As long as you have reliable information on the contents, then that is enough to allow an informed decision.

2. This program is merely one example of a broadcast that causes offence to Christians.

There are a number of different things that can cause offence to Christians:

  • Blasphemy – particularly the use of the names of God or Jesus as curses, or representing them in degrading or mocking ways.
  • Foul and obscene language, gratuitous violence and explicit sexual content.
  • Misrepresentation or mockery of Christian belief and Christians themselves. (Often by the means of vilifying or belittling those characters who represent them in dramas or comedies)
  • Promotion of ethics and philosophies that are in direct opposition to those of Christianity. (This can include all sorts of things from the encouraging sex outside of marriage to denying the existence of God).

This list is no secret – the BBC schedulers and the Opera’s script writers will have easily deduced that this program would be particularly liable to offend Christians. The BBC’s claim that “the target of the opera’s critique is not Christianity or religious belief” seems either extraordinarily naïve or wilfully ignorant. But let us not pretend that if this one program is not shown that all is now well. It is clear that a large amount of existing broadcast material will offend Christians in some way, even if it is not as repugnant to watch as this particular program.

And let us also readily admit that the church is not, and should not be above criticism. It is one thing to want to avoid hearing blasphemy (which is directed at God), but we should be willing to hear the complaints and accusations of an unbelieving world. The trouble is, it is extremely rare that the opportunity is given for Christians to respond with advocacy of Christian beliefs and ethics. If the BBC could be seen to be giving evangelical Christians a genuine opportunity to speak out, then perhaps the level of complaints would not have been so high for the Jerry Springer Opera.

3. Television shapes thinking and attitudes

In many ways, television is the ultimate propaganda tool. Watching a comedy or drama is not like going to church and hearing a sermon, or hearing a government minister set out his vision of a better society. In the latter cases, we know we are hearing an advocacy of a point of view and we critically evaluate it, but when we are being “entertained” by the television we are often also being educated without necessarily realising it. We are being taught what types of people to laugh at and despise, and what types of people to admire and emulate simply by the way they are portrayed in these programs.

So when people ask “Why don’t you simply not watch it?” they are missing the point. Of course those who complained were not planning to watch it. What they were more concerned about was the type of attitudes it encouraged in its viewers, in particular to derive entertainment from the mocking of God. It is certain that a good number of school children will be watching this (its on at 10 o’clock on a Saturday night), and its humour and language will be repeated round school playgrounds and workplaces around the country in weeks to come.

An analogy may prove helpful here. Imagine an astoundingly insensitive television channel broadcasting a comedy this evening which made a joke of people dying in a tsunami. There would be outrage. The relatives of the dead would consider it insulting and disrespectful. It would hardly matter that they were not going to watch it, or that the target audience were people who weren’t affected by the tragedy.

4. Paying customers have a right to complain

The BBC claims that “We are sensitive to matters of faith and religion in broadcasting”. If this is indeed true then they have no right to criticise license payers for informing them that their broadcasts have caused offence. Upsetting a large portion of your customers is a bad move for every business, but one that monopolies often feel they can get away with. In the UK you choose to pay your license fee to the BBC or you choose to watch no television whatsoever. The BBC apparently feels free to show what it wants because its position is so secure.

But of course, the BBC’s customers include not only Christians but people of many other world views. They have a right to be heard too. But if in this case the BBC is catering to those who enjoy a bit of anti-religious sentiment in their comedy, where is the corresponding programming for Christian viewers which allows Christians in their own (and hopefully more dignified) way to issue challenges of their own to the prevailing attitudes and beliefs of society?

5. “Freedom of expression is both a right and a responsibility”

This point is one made by the BBC themselves in their stock email response to complaints and it is a good one. If people are to be free to say what they want, then they must also be willing to accept their responsibility to be respectful of the feelings and opinions others.

As it happens, this particular program is hardly an issue of freedom of expression as the BBC is not obligated to broadcast any and every item that is made available on film. People can watch this at theatres and I presume that DVDs are available (or will be soon).

The email goes on to say that BBC2 “is there to present challenging work of all sorts”. I wonder if that would include the challenge of the gospel, or would they consider that to be taking “freedom of expression” too far.

I did email the BBC to inform them that I am disappointed with their decision to broadcast the program, but I did not tell them I wanted them to cancel it. Rather, I hope that the result of this controversy will be a more respectful attitude from the BBC towards Christian feelings, not just in deciding what not to show, but actively seeking to find more programs that Christians can enjoy watching. Maybe we can look forward to some evangelistic preaching on BBC2 later this year. Or then again, maybe the BBC will pay a meagre fine to OFCOM and then comission some comedies about Christians who complain about broadcast standards.

2005 Commentary News

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There are lots of exciting new commentaries to look forward to in 2005. Check my commentaries web page for all the details. Here’s the highlights:

  • The Baker Exegetical Commentary series is progressing nicely with Philippians (Silva) and 1 Peter (Jobes) out soon.
  • There will be some more additions to the New Cambridge Bible Commentary series, notably 1 & 2 Corinthians by Craig Keener.
  • The IVPNTC series nears completion with volumes on Mark (Kernaghan) and 2 Peter & Jude (Harvey and Towner). IVP are also rapidly progressing the ACC series, and some of the exisiting volumes will be made available on CD-ROM this year.
  • Bruce Waltke’s second NICOT volume on Proverbs will be published soon
  • Focus on the Bible add a commentary on Matthew by Price, and Tom Wright’s “For Everyone Series” will get Romans.

Sadly no news yet of anything for this year from the NICNT, Pillar or NIGTC series.
It’s also worth pointing out that Wesley Owen have an excellent sale on the WBC and NIVAC series running at the moment.

November Book Reviews

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This has been a busy month for me, not least because I have changed jobs. I now work for NICE (www.nice.com). So I haven’t read as much as I normally would (at least on theology – I have read a lot of programming books).

The Science of God (Alister E. McGrath) 3/5

Alister McGrath is undoubtedly one of the most brilliant minds of modern evangelicalism. His three volume “Scientific Theology” is highly acclaimed as a groundbreaking work bringing together theology with other disciplines (especially the natural sciences). “The Science of God” is the introductory work for those who do not have the time to read all three volumes, but don’t expect a simplified approach. McGrath expects his readers to be familiar with a number of philosophical terms and concepts which can make parts of this book inaccessible to non-specialists. What this book needed was a good editor / co-author to make this volume a bit more approachable. In places it appears that the condensation process has been rushed, with repeated phrases or whole sentences in close proximity apparently missed by the proof-readers. This is a shame, because the book itself offers some profound insights.

The book follows the exact same structure as the full work, with sections on “Nature”, “Reality” and “Theory”. In “Nature”, McGrath shows that it is far from universally agreed what “Nature” actually is. He argues that we not only can, but should approach nature from the Christian perspective of it as “creation”, seeing the Triune God as Creator. If indeed God is Creator, then an atheistic approach to nature will of necessity fall short of achieving an accurate picture of reality. Not that we should refuse to enter into meaningful debate with the wider scientific community – quite the opposite – but not to be afraid to offer a coherent system that rests on different presuppositions. Science has a track record of proposing theories that are later rejected (take the theory of light for example) – we just have no way of predicting what current understandings we have will be shortly proved wrong. So a scientific theology does not and should not expect to always exactly correlate with current theories.

In “Reality”, McGrath reviews various failed attempts to come up with one method of determining truth that can be applied across all disciplines. Sometimes mathematicians or natural scientists have claimed that they have a method of inquiry that is self-evidently correct. But this is not so easily translated to ethics, theology, history and so forth as we might have hoped, and recent mathematical discoveries have found that multiple coherent systems can be found completely independent to one another (for example non-Cartesian geometry). In other words, we have failed to agree on which, if any, propositions can be agreed upon by all rational persons.

He defends his own approach of critical realism, affirming that we can discover reality through scientific and theological methods while acknowledging our own participation in gaining that knowledge. Hence “social constructs” are to be considered “real” and valid terms for describing reality. What’s more he argues that different fields of study require differing but equally valid methods of discovering truth, without the need for a reductionist approach that boils all epistemology down to one technique. This is because of the differing ontological nature of different strands of knowledge, and he argues that this is so within theology as much as (for example) medicine.

Finally, in “Theory”, McGrath explains why theory (or in theology, ‘doctrine’) is necessary, as an attempt to explain reality. We cannot and should not attempt an “undogmatic” Christianity. He discusses the roles of analogies and their suitability for describing doctrines. He defends the category of revelation, arguing that “the central ideas of the Christian faith owe their origins directly or indirectly to God, rather than to unaided human reason”.
This book is by no means a systematic theology, but it proposes the basis for one that interacts with the natural sciences, and the historical developments of doctrines in a meaningful way. McGrath closes by indicating the projects he will be working on next, and while these are still a long way off, they will make fascinating reading.

The Message of 1 Timothy & Titus (John Stott) 4/5

Although this commentary does not cover all three pastoral epistles, Stott uses the introduction to discuss the arguments for and against Pauline authorship for the pastorals as a whole. He does not go into exhaustive detail, but the discussion is fuller than normal for the BST series. As he works through the book, Stott makes his usual comments on apostleship, emphasising the differences between Paul’s unique situation with the church of today. His discussion of gender issues is sensitively handled, and he argues for a creation principle of male “headship” which has varying cultural expressions. He then categorises women teaching alongside men raising their hands and women plaiting their hair – practises that will be appropriate or not in different cultures as expressions of this principle.

As he moves through the letter, Stott draws out the principles for Christian leadership Paul gives both for Timothy specifically and for all leaders in church life. The treatment of the subject of money in chapter six is particularly insightful, discussing simplicity and destitution. The book of Titus brings up many of the same themes again, and Stott describes the book as being about “doctrine and duty” – in the church, the home and the world. He brings out lots of practical application without simply repeating what he said in the commentary on 1 Timothy.

October Book Reviews

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Hebrews: The Radiance of His Glory (John Piper) 5/5

OK, this isn’t a book, but there is more than enough material in these 52 sermons on the book of Hebrews to put together a commentary. Whilst not going through the book as slowly as he is currently going through Romans (170 sermons and counting!), he does not rush through, usually tackling 3-4 verses in each 30-45 minute sermon. And as anyone who has heard Piper before will tell you, this is not dry and academic expository material – Piper is passionate about getting his message across.

The book of Hebrews may seem a surprising book to choose for someone as vocally Calvinist as Piper because of its passages that seem to teach that you can lose your salvation. He deals with this, in my view, brilliantly, demonstrating that the author of Hebrews himself teaches the “perseverance of the saints” elsewhere in the very same book. So believing that the author was not confused, and did not contradict himself, he shows that endurance is the only true sign of a genuine faith (bringing him, not surprisingly, into line with the standard teaching of the Puritans).

The call to persevere in faith flows through the book, with John Piper repeatedly warning about the dangers of drifting in the Christian life. In fact, it would seem that much of the material for his recent (and excellent) book “Don’t waste your life” came from this sermon series.

Also prominent throughout the series is John Piper’s characteristicly honest treatment of the subject of suffering. Everyone experiences suffering in their life, and everyone will one day die. Add to that the fact that many great saints of Bible times and throughout church history have had do endure tremendous suffering and it is a wonder that preachers do not address this subject more often. John Piper doesn’t believe in the “I’ll worry about that when it happens” approach. His heart is for people who are ready and willing to suffer and die for the cause of the gospel, and who know how to make sense of it when it comes in whatever form (whether for the gospel or not).

You will need quite a lot of spare time to work your way through this series, but it will be time well spent. It would be ideal material for listening to on a daily commute. Prepare to be challenged to a seriously radical discipleship.

Power Through Prayer (E M Bounds) 4/5

This is just one of seven books E M Bounds has written on prayer. It is broken up into 20 chapters, each of which are fairly short making it easy to work your way through slowly. The book is directed at preachers and uncompromisingly calls them to put prayer as their top priority. Bounds argues that without prayer, a preaching ministry is useless, even if on the surface of things it seems to have some good qualities or results. The early chapters urge the preacher to spend more time in prayer, drawing repeatedly on the examples of great preachers from church history, demonstrating their own reliance on prayer. He is critical of those who are willing to put much time into studying theology or developing their rhetorical technique while neglecting prayer.

He sees prayer as the key to a successful and Holy Spirit anointed preaching ministry, almost to the point of saying that prayer is the only thing you need to get right – the rest will just follow. You could perhaps criticise him for coming across as legalistic in some places, and anti-intellectual in others but that would be to miss his main point. A preaching ministry is dead without prayer as surely as a human being is dead without oxygen. Don’t think you need to be a preacher to appreciate this book though, its call to prayer is a vital message for all Christians.

Paul For Everyone – Galatians & Thessalonians (N T Wright) 3/5

I had been looking forward to reading this book for quite some time, as the books of Galatians and Thessalonians contain subjects on which Wright has some unique things to say. Galatians of course brings up the issue of the “New Perspective on Paul”. As expected Wright does not see the book as an attack on teaching that the way for an individual to be saved is by works. Instead, he explains that faith, rather than circumcision is the “badge of membership” of God’s people, and that the issue at stake was God wanting to create a people from all nations rather than by Gentiles having to conform to Jewish law. While rejecting the Lutheran view of the law, Wright describes the law as a “babysitter”, performing a useful function, but no longer required when maturity is reached.

Thessalonians brings up the controversial issues of the rapture and the antichrist. Wright has argued strongly in other publications that the “coming” passages in the gospels are not to be read as prophecies of Christ’s “second coming”. Rather, they are seen as mirroring the Daniel 7 “coming” of the Son of Man to heaven (as opposed to from), or the long awaited return of YHWH and the end of the exile. The passage on the rapture is seen as symbolic language rather than literal. Wright provides good insight into the situation at the church in Thessalonica, linking up with the Acts accounts and demonstrating the relevance of Paul’s comments to them. In 2 Thessalonians, he avoids getting into debate on the identity of a future antichrist, favouring a partial preterist approach (he sees it as being fulfilled in AD70).

The Message of Daniel (Ronald Wallace) 4/5

Any commentary on the book of Daniel is in danger of getting bogged down in argument about dating and authorship and an overwhelming amount of background historical information. Wallace does well to provide a basic overview of the main arguments and necessary history as well as making his own case for Daniel as author without letting the introduction become unmanageably long.

The commentary itself is never far from practical application, particularly due to the parallels with Daniel’s situation for modern Western Christians. Like him, we are trying to live for God in a pagan culture, wondering what aspects of our culture we may accept, and what we ought to stand against. Wallace also draws out lessons from the contrasting attitudes of kings Nebuchadnezzar and Belteshazzar, both received judgement and mercy from God but responded very differently.

Whilst the first part of the book of Daniel is well known and loved, the second part is taken up with some vivid apocalyptic imagery which Christians either tend to skip over quickly or else come up with very fanciful interpretations of which 21st century characters and organisations it is refering to. Wallace takes a balanced approach, briefly explaining the options and drawing out relevant encouragements for us without feeling the need to explicitly determine who the 6th horn on the 4th beast is. He helpfully distinguishes between those prophecies clearly already fulfilled, and those that speak of the “end times”.

The Message of Hosea (Derek Kidner) 4/5

Of all the symbolic actions the Old Testament prophets were required by God to perform, Hosea’s is surely the most emotionally taxing. He married a prostitute, who bore three children, only one of whom was his, and then left him. Hosea then graphically modelled God’s grace and love by buying her back at great cost to be his wife again. Kidner has been careful to help the reader get a good overview of the flow of the book and its historical setting by providing some useful appendices (in fact, it would be nice if some of the other BST volumes could follow suit in this regard).

He breaks the book into two sections – the first being Hosea’s acted out parable of God’s love and then the prophetic message. In both parts, a vision of both the love and holiness of God shine through as the people are confronted for their sin and unfaithfulness yet the deserved judgement to come is not without hope because of God’s amazing grace. In the second part Kidner shows how Hosea consistently reveals their self-sufficiency, half-hearted religion and shallow repentance. The book ends with the amazing grace of God as he offers healing, refreshing and fruitfulness to those who will genuinely repent.

How to Run a Cell Group – Part 4

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The much anticipated fourth meeting in the internationally acclaimed “How to run a Cell Group” series took place earlier this evening. It started in rather dramatic fashion as Wendy entered carrying armfuls of Bibles which she proceeded to throw around the room. Presumably this was meant as some kind of parable or symbolic prophetic action.

The “ice maker” question was posed by Rebekah, asking us what we liked about our jobs and what positive feedback we had received. Catherine was shocked to hear that Neil’s colleagues describe him as “reliable and easy to get on with”. Steve declared that he liked to work with groups of difficult people. I guess that explains why I was invited (come to think of it, why any of us were invited).

Daryl then led us in a time of worship, which was excellent even though we didn’t have the words for the song. We managed admirably although I’m not sure that “Great in batter” is supposed to be in the song. The discussion was on “Gifts”. Heinz helped us to understand how we can encourage others to use their gifts. This not only includes encouraging quiet people to talk but helping those who dominate to be quiet. Graham seemed to know a surprising number of techniques for shutting this type of person up. Steve was able to use one of his suggestions to prevent him from giving any more.

We discussed what we might do for a group social event. Jane and Maresah were very taken with the idea of organising an event for drunken aunties. Jane even went so far as to claim that “everyone is someone’s aunt”. Thankfully, again drawing from his arsenal of techniques for dealing with problem people, Steve got us back on track by with a recap of our 5 core values. In fact, we now have 6 – A,B,C,D,E, and the new one – F. F is for “Finishing on Time”, which we didn’t manage, but seeing as we had done C (claiming to be bus drivers), D (drunken aunties) and E (eating drizzle cake), we concluded that the meeting had been a success.

Recommended Books

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Here are some of my all time favourite books reviewed for you. If you haven’t read them you should. If you can’t afford them, I’ll lend them to you. If you don’t have time to read them then stop eating and read these instead during mealtimes.

The Cross of Christ (John Stott) 5/5

At a conference organised by John Piper, a panel of speakers was asked what their book recommendations were. One of the recommended titles was The Cross of Christ, so I dutifully went and bought it along with some other recommendations the next day. It was advice well taken and money well spent, because this book is truly inspirational. It has opened my eyes to the glories and theology of the cross at a much deeper level than I had before.

John Stott’s style of writing is easy to follow, and while he doesn’t avoid academic discussions he seeks to make them plain to understand. The book starts off by dealing with the story of the cross, starting with some very helpful insights into the Last Supper. Stott then goes on to deal with the questions of “Who killed Jesus?” and “Why did Jesus die?”.

The book then goes on to develop a solid theological understanding of the cross. This is most helpful as it is easy to grasp only part of the picture without taking in the full meaning. Stott shows brilliantly the need to understand the cross both as satisfaction for sin, and as substitutionary. He deals masterfully with the many varied pictures of the cross in providing justification, redemption, reconciliation and atonement. He provides some great insights into the difficult subject of propitiation and its crucial role in a right understanding of the cross.

Throughout the book, John Stott explains the range of alternative viewpoints held amongst different theologians, and even those held by other religions and non-believers. In each case, he clearly and consisely explains their viewpoint along with their reasons for it and then goes on to systematically show where these views are inconsistent with Scripture.

After reading this book, you will undoubtedly be led to worship God for such a great salvation that demonstrates his power, love, wisdom and justice. Many hymns and choruses will come alive as their words take on a new richness of meaning for you.

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the prince of glory died
My richest gain I count as loss
And pour contempt on all my pride (Isaac Watts)

An on the cross, as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live (Stuart Townend)

Let the Nations be Glad (John Piper) 5/5

The overall theme of this book is missions, but John Piper approaches the subject in a unique way. The book has only 5 (fairly lengthy) chapters and is gripping reading right from the opening paragraph. In fact if you simply read the first page in a bookshop I am quite sure that you will want to buy the book.

The first chapter deals with worship. Those who have read other books by John Piper will know that he has a great emphasis in all his writings that our chief purpose in life is to glorify God by enjoying Him. It is this perspective that enables Piper to show that worship is the ultimate goal of mission. “Mission exists because worship doesn’t”. He challenges us that we must be worshippers ourselves before we can call others to worship. “You can’t commend what you don’t cherish”. In this chapter he brilliantly shows by an overwhelming list of proof texts that God’s great passion is for his own glory. The chapter concludes by urging us to both commit ourselves and call others to the “white-hot worship of God”.

The second chapter deals with the subject of prayer. Piper uses the picture of a war-time walkie-talkie to explain that prayer is not for us to request refreshments but a strategic weapon in spiritual warfare. He gives an extensive list of things that people prayed for in the Bible and challenges us to consider the subject and goal of our praying.

The third chapter is even more inspiring and provocative. It touches on the difficult subject of suffering. He proves, again with a long list of scriptures, that we are called to suffer. He presents many moving testimonies from church history. This is perhaps the most challenging of the chapters in this book.

The remaining 2 chapters of this book are given over to proving 3 points of doctrine. Again, in his typical style, Piper attempts to put these questions beyond all reasonable doubt by quoting numerous Scripture references. The first two of these points, though controversial in some circles, are broadly accepted by evangelicals. These are, firstly, the eternal conscious punishment of hell and secondly, the impossibility of being saved apart from through faith in Jesus Christ. When put together these two sobering truths provide us with a theological basis for the urgency of mission.

The final point of doctrine Piper seeks to establish is a somewhat surprising one. This is that the goal of mission is not to save as many people as possible, but rather to reach as many peoples as possible. I must admit that this initially seemed a rather novel idea to me at first, but Piper argues very persuasively. After all, why send missionaries to evangelise in foreign countries and cultures when there is so much work to be done here, that doesn’t require learning languages and coping with difficult climates? It is because God will be most glorified by a redeemed community made up of every tribe, nation, language and people.

Communion with God (John Owen) 5/5

The writings of the Puritans have been somewhat neglected over recent years for two main reasons. Firstly, the stereotyped image many people have of them as being self-righteous legalistic kill-joys. Secondly, their writings are difficult to read due their use of old English and their long-winded arguments. If these two reasons are all that has kept you from reading Puritan writings then this little book is for you.

The book has been modernised and abridged, but vocabulary has only been updated where absolutely necessary so the book retains an authentic John Owen feel. Shining through the pages is John Owen’s vibrant personal faith and in places he breaks out into beautifully phrased praise to his Beloved. You can’t help but be inspired and humbled as you read these devotional and honest writings.

The book focuses on our personal ‘communion’ with God. Owen deals with our communion with each of the three persons of the Trinity but the main focus is on our fellowship with Christ. He defines our communion with God as “Our communion with God lies in his giving himself to us and our giving ourselves and all that he requires to him”.

John Owen draws heavily on the imagery from the Song of Songs to demonstrate the beauty of the character of Christ. Many of the chapters are simply devoted to focusing on Jesus. This approach is extremely helpful for personal devotion as you can simply work through the book in private worship. Most of the paragraphs are short and to the point, making it easy to read this book in short chunks.

There are also some very challenging passages on the need to examine ourselves and to live righteous and pure lives. Yet the grace of God is never out of sight and Owen is quick to condemn the legalistic spirit.

In conclusion, I can wholeheartedly recommend this book to you. If you have never read any Puritan writings before, I am sure you will be delighted to have found these treasures.

Showing the Spirit (D A Carson) 5/5

This book is an exposition of 1 Corinthians 12-14. As you may know, chapters 12 and 14 of 1 Conrinthians deal mainly with the gifts of the Spirit, tongues and prophecy in particular. Chapter 13 deals mainly with love and so rarely do you hear anyone speak on all three chapters at once. However, Don Carson clearly brings out a continuity in these chapters and a progression of argument running through them.

The book will be of great interest to those Evangelicals who are from the “open but cautious” when it comes to charismatic issues. Don Carson probably cannot be described as a charismatic but he does not take a hard-line cessasionist stance. Those who have been careful to avoid the use of these gifts in church life will find gentle encouragement not to be so antagonistic towards them. Those who attend charismatic fellowships will find the teaching on how these gifts are to be used in love and humility most practical.

One of the things that stuck in my mind was the suggestion that Paul is, in these chapters, responding to some questions that the Corinthians had sent him. In particular, they possibly asked the question “What are the signs of a spiritual (pneumatic) person?”. Was it speaking in tongues, or performing miracles? Perhaps it was great generosity or an act of martyrdom. Paul responds to this question by speaking rather of a “charismatic” person – someone who has been given gifts by the grace of God. The most important thing for a spiritual person is to live a life of love and so any gifts that God gives them should be exercised in love.

Don Carson is an expert in New Testament Greek and sometimes you may find his arguments hard to follow if your knowledge in this area is limited. Whether you’re cessasionist, charismatic or even “open but cautious” you will find things in this book to disagree with, but more importantly many things to think about and I certainly think you will have a much better overview of the unity of the three chapters this book covers.

Paul’s Letter to the Philippians (Gordon Fee) 4/5

This is a commentary in the NICNT series published by Eerdmans. It is aimed primarily at ministers and students of theology who are interested in carefully examining the Greek text and drawing out not only the meaning of each verse, but the flow of thought throughout the book. The footnotes are extensive and assume that the reader has the ability to read Greek text without transliteration. The main text however, doesn’t require this.

The book starts off with an introduction to Philippians as a letter along with a fairly extended discussion on exactly what genre of letter the book should be placed in. Don’t be put off by this section if you find it boring because things get a lot better later on!

The book of Phillipians has been boken up into 6 sections by Fee. With each section he provides a brief introduction to that section and then breaks it up again into smaller chunks. With each of these groups of verses he first carefully examines the translations (and possible alternatives). The NIV text is discussed in particular. These analysis of the Greek text can sometimes seem tedious but I found them particularly helpful for understanding the context and progression of thought throughout the book. After examining the text and explaining what Paul meant by each phrase and sentence, Fee provides some excellent insights into application for church life, our individual Christian walk and the more broad theological implications.

After reading this book, I found myself appreciating passages in Philippians much more than I had before. It took a long time to read but it was certainly worth it. I highly recommend this commentry to anyone who wants to seriously study Philippians. Gordon Fee obviously has an outstanding grasp of Greek and great knowledge of Pauline theology, but also his passion for that knowledge to be worked out in godly living shines through.

Revival Book Reviews

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I’m moving some of the old book reviews I have written into this blog so they are all in one place. These are from a time about 5 years ago when I decided to read a load of books on revival. I would encourage you also to do this if you get the chance. It will change the way you think about prayer.

In the Day of Thy Power (Arthur Wallis) 5/5

This has to go down as one of the best Christian books I have ever read. It is full of Biblical teaching and covers far more than simply the subject of revival.

He begins by examining the nature of revival, and then goes on to consider its purpose and distinctive features. He looks at why revivals will invariably be opposed and spoken against. A strong challenge to prepare our hearts is then given, followed by four excellent chapters of teaching on prayer. Towards the close we are warned to count the cost involved in revival and also to consider the solemn alternative of judgement if God’s church forsake their first love.

To best give a feel of the book, I have selected a number of quotations.

A sign spoken against: “If we find a revival that is not spoken against, we had better look again to ensure that it is a revival. … Let all beware of an attitude which presumes to dictate to the Almighty how He shall conduct His work.”

This is the purpose: “The quickening of the saints is the root, the saving of the sinners is the fruit. … The church asleep is out of touch with spiritual reality, and needs to be awakened. … The church dormant becomes the church militant. … If we have a jealous desire for the glory of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, should we not all be thirsting for revival?”

Distinctive Features: “… the two foundation stones of every revival – the sovereignty of God and the preparedness of man. … At Pentecost, it was the ‘windows of heaven’, not the windows of the upper room, that were opened. The source of blessing was the heart of God, not the heart of man. … There is no mightier corrective to worldly methods in Christian service than a heaven sent revival.”

The Prepared Heart: “To ‘break up the fallow ground’ of our hearts means to bring them to a humble and contrite state before God, for this is the only state of heart that God can revive, the only state that is ready for the rain of revival.”

Chapters on Prayer: “While our prayer is cold and formal and tearless we need not expect God to work for us as He did for Nehemiah. … Nehemiah was able to prevail in prayer because he held God to be faithful and pleaded His promises. … Many who pray never obtain because they do not persevere. … Make no pretense of praying until that sin has been confessed and repented of … Such prayers are not only ineffective, they are an insult to the throne of God’s holiness. … God will resolutely turn his face from the prayers of all who cherish idols in their hearts. … When the motive in prayer is satisfying our own desires and pleasures, or when we desire the Almighty to pander to our own pride and love of reputation, or to act for our own convenience, the motive is clearly unholy, and God cannot and will not fulfil our petitions. … Our praying should be definite, … daring, … intense, … importunate, … vigilant, … thankful, … patient.”

I urge you to read this book and let God use it stir you to pray more earnestly.

Why Revival Tarries (Leonard Ravenhill) 5/5

To give you a feel for the author of this book, I will quote what A W Tozer says about him in the introduction.

“Toward Leonard Ravenhill it is impossible to be neutral. His acquantances are divided pretty neatly into two classes, those who love and admire him out of all proportion and those who hate him with perfect hatred.”

With an introduction like that, we can be sure that we are in for some pretty fiery preaching, and we are not disappointed. Leonard Ravenhill is totally unafraid to point out all the faults he sees in the modern evangelical church and he absolutely will not allow us to excuse ourselves for them. He aims his book particularly at preachers. He wishes that they would shut up unless God gave them unction. He is appalled at their lack of prayer and their tendency to judge their success on anything other than seeing souls saved. He urges them to be prophets, and not just preachers. For an example of his strong langauge, consider the following quote.

“Yet ministers who do not spend two hours a day in prayer are not worth a dime a dozen, degrees or no degrees.”

As with so many of the books on revival, prayer shines through as the vital lesson that needs to be learned. It is on the subject of prayer that the author is at his most eloquent and his in powerful way he comes out with delightful yet challenging quotes such as:

“Poverty-stricken as the Church is today in many things, she is most stricken here, in the place of prayer. We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few pray-ers; many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere.”

This book is different from the others on revival in that it does not seek to explain or enthuse us about revival. It takes it for granted that we believe we need it. What it seeks to show us, is that it is us to blame, not God if revival does not come. We are urged to battle in prayer and agonize before God for the souls of the lost until, like Paul, we are known in Hell.

Revival – Times of Refreshing (Selwyn Hughes) 2/5

This is one of the shortest books on revival, and yet it attempts to cover a lot of ground. It is not a deep theological book, rather a summary of the whole subject of revival, with the aim of causing us to desire it and seek after it. It is written in an easy to read style and is fairly practical. Compared with the other books I have read, it might be described as light-weight but it may suit someone who just wants a quick introduction to the subject. Due the the brevity of the book, I was often left wishing that the author would spend a bit more time backing up some of his points with Scripture. Although I agreed with most of the book, when a slightly controversial viewpoint was put forward, no real effort to back it up was made. Those looking for a more in depth theological analysis of the subject of revival should look elsewhere.

Despite that, the book did make some very good and challenging points. The most useful chapter was on the subject of God’s sovereignty, explaining how this is not contradicted by the assertion that revival comes as God’s people earnestly pray for it.

Finney on Revival (Charles Finney) 3/5

Charles Finney is a very interesting character. He is widely acknowledged by all the other writers on the subject of revival as being somewhat controversial, yet all consider his contribution to the subject matter very significant. This is probably due to the huge numbers of converts under his ministry as he experienced some remarkable revivals first hand. He was known for his powerful logic and persuasive arguments, and his life’s ministry undoubtably saw the blessing of God in abundant measure.

So why is he considered controversial, and what can we learn from his sermons? Well, rejecting climate of hyper-Calvinistic doctrine that he found in so many of the evangelical churches of his time which so often led to passivity with regards to evangelism, he took a more Arminian approach. In simple terms, his emphasis was strongly on the responsibility of man to pray for revival and meet the conditions to bring it. In terms of salvation, his emphasis was on man’s responsibility. Obviously, a Calvinist would not deny that we have a responsibility both in the areas of salvation and prayer but an overriding acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty in choosing those to save and choosing when and how to bring revival must also be noted.

Having said all that, the sermons in this little book are challenging, thought-provoking and inspiring. The language may be slightly out of date but most readers will not struggle too hard to follow. For example, a chapter entitled ‘How to promote a revival’ may cause you to imagine a chapter on advertising technique. In fact this sermon is totally devoted to causing Christians to look at the state of their own hearts and realise what wretched sinners they are. Another example would be the many references to ‘professors of religion’ – these are not people with Doctrates in Theology, but simply all who profess to be Christians.

In many ways, his style is similar to JC Ryle, who uncompromisingly challenges his readers to examine themselves in the light of God’s word. ‘Sins’ such as novel reading and drinking tea or coffee might cause us to dismiss these writings as legalistic, but I think that as those who emphasise grace we still must be open to the Spirit’s prompting and convicting in all areas of our lives.

Jonathan Edwards on Revival (Jonathan Edwards) 3/5

Jonathan Edwards’ writings on revival recently gained much attention due to the Toronto Blessing. He had experienced similar manifestations in some of his meetings and both proponents and opponents of the Toronto Blessing presented this book of his to indicate that Jonathan Edwards would have taken their opinion on this matter. I personally feel that it is unfair to claim saints of the past as supporting our view on modern issues as we simply do not know what stance they would have taken were they living in our times. In any case, we need to pay much more attention to what the Word of God has to say about these issues than trying to find support from other Christians, well respected as they may be.

One of the points that Edwards labours is that manifestations are not to be used as evidences either for or against the presence of the Spirit. If you have read “Religious Affections” by the same author you will know that Edwards places a great emphasis on a godly life as evidence of salvation rather than any experience or profession. Similarly he wants us to judge a revival on the fruit of transformed lives rather than on whether meetings are spectacular or not.

It is an interesting read, but as anyone who has already read some Edwards will know, the language is not too modern so you will need to concentrate if you are to follow the flow of thought.