Part One Carl Henry proposes the following view of God’s relationship to time: The biblical view it seems to me, implies that God is not in time, that there is no succession of ideas in the divine mind, that time is a divine creation concomitant with the origin of the universe, that God internally knows all things including all space-time contingencies, and that this knowledge includes knowledge of the temporal succession prevalent in the created universe. Although God’s nature, including …
Category: Biblical Studies
Part One As we contemplate God’s perfections, we need to pay attention to what God has disclosed about Himself, linking these qualities together as they are linked together in His person. The perspectival aspect that is so important to grasp when we are dealing with the attributes should be remembered. Millard Erickson actually criticizes the great Puritan Stephen Charnock for seeming to compartmentalize the attributes of God. When we are dealing with the perfections; whether it be the power of …
Calvin on God’s Powers John Calvin’s treatment of Psalm 145 offers some great ruminations about the attributes of God. The psalm can be broken down into three parts: Verses 1-3 are David on his own speaking of the greatness of God celebrating God’s praise. Verses 4-9 speak of David bringing in the people of whom he is king and bringing them to praise and prompting them to consider God’s greatness and goodness. Verses 10-21 he brings in the whole of creation; …
Part Three Block’s Challenge Recently the Old Testament scholar Daniel Block has vigorously challenged the whole Cosmic Temple thesis.[1] Even if his counter-arguments are somewhat provisional[2], and he retains certain questionable positions on some matters (e.g. the presence of a covenant in Eden[3]; violence beyond Eden[4]; Jesus replacing the Jerusalem temple[5]), I think he has banged more than a couple of nails into the coffin. Allow me to set out several of his major criticisms[6]: The depiction of Eden in …
Part Two Objections to the Cosmic Temple Motif in Scripture In Beale’s book The Temple and the Church’s Mission, both the garden of Eden and the Jerusalem temple are types of the Church, which is confusingly called the literal non-physical temple.[1] Beale’s thesis, which is fed by many ingeniously interpreted though vague allusions – mainly reliant upon reinterpreting OT texts by privileged interpretations of the NT – is that the OT stories of Adam, Abraham, and Israel recapitulate the same …
Part One Firmer Ground Following the biblical narrative it appears that the design and furnishings of the tabernacle/temple have some correspondence with the Paradise which Adam forfeited. This “remembrance” would only increase the sense of what was lost and what the Promised One (Gen. 3:15) would restore. It would act as an encouragement to faith. And the expectation would only be heightened once it was also revealed that the sanctuary was modeled after one in heaven (Exod. 25:9; Heb. 8:1-5).[1] …
“Israel’s temple was a symbolic shadow pointing to the eschatological “greater and more perfect tabernacle” (Heb. 9:11) in which Christ and the church would dwell and would form a part. If so, it would seem to be the wrong approach for Christians to look in hope to the building of another temple in Jerusalem composed of earthly “bricks and mortar” as a fulfillment of the OT temple prophecies.” – G. K. Beale, A New Testament Biblical Theology, 634 The above quotation …
This was written as an Excursus for a chapter in the book ‘The Words of the Covenant’ I am well aware of the view held by many respected scholars who believe that “the Kingdom of God” is the main theme of the Bible.[1] But it must be admitted that it has not been an overarching theme of Genesis, and therefore of the first several thousand years of history. Though it may be rightly intimated from the image of God of …
The Bible depicts man as specially equipped by God for the express purposes of knowing God’s rational verbal revelation, of communicating with God in praise and prayer, and of discoursing with fellow men about God and his will. – Carl F. H. Henry, God, Revelation, and Authority, Volume 3, 389 Because of the theistic view of language described above we ought not to be surprised when we turn to Scripture and look upon it as information that has been given to …
Part Four The Function of Apocalyptic Brent Sandy says that understanding the function of apocalyptic literature is probably the most important thing about it.[1] He says that the main thing is to bring hope in adversity. As he puts it, “The lofty heights of the [rollercoaster] ride – so unlike anything known on this earth – help the persecuted put their misfortunes in perspective.”[2] Sandy describes the six effects of apocalyptic upon the hearers[3]: It creates worshipful awe of the …
