“See the book as profoundly God-centered, reading the whole in light of the book’s beginning (where God interacts with Satan) and the end (where God interacts with Job). At the end of the day, Job never gets answers, he just gets God, and, as it turns out, God is all he needed from the beginning. As you read Job, allow the book to lead you to God.”

Guidelines for Reading/Listening to the Book of Job — George H. Guthrie

“Almost every doctrinal error starts with the desire to affirm or to protect some important doctrine. But without careful thinking and delicate nuances, working hard to avoid one mistake will simply lead us to another. Maybe even worse.”

Nuance Is Necessary – Kevin DeYoung

“And he who created all things in the beginning with this goal in mind will consummate his work of re-creation on the final day when he brings all things together in unity in his Son, the Lord Jesus (1:10).”

Peter Thomas O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, The Pillar New Testament commentary, 244 (Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999).

Sad Irony

arkansas 1

Yesterday: I began reading John Piper’s Bloodlines which is now available for free in pdf format.2 While there are many areas of theology and practice where I would disagree with Pastor Piper, I have been encouraged by the first four chapters. Racism is absolutely and unequivocally incompatible with the Gospel.

Today: One of the occupational hazards of being on deputation is discovering disturbing information on church websites. This evening I happened upon the worst type of racism on a Independent Baptist church website–contorting Scripture to attempt to legitimize racism.

We Baptists still have a long way to go on the issue of race, but I thank God that many are moving in the right direction. I thank God that there are some old paths that were not good paths that we are finally moving away from. (Just so you know, Jeremiah 6:16 does not say that all old paths are good paths.) May we by God’s grace continue to move closer to Him.

  1. Photo courtesy of Creative Commons, the National Archives, and the US Army. Click the photo for a link to the source. ↩

  2. Where you can find the pdf. ↩