Are you still pursuing the woman who said “I do” at the altar? Justin Buzzard, author of the forthcoming book Date Your Wife, recognizes that many married men have forgotten how to date their wife. “The mission wasn’t over when you got married,” Buzzard explains. Listen in as he casts a vision for what it looks like for men to continue dating their wife even after the kids arrive, financial responsibilities ratchet up, and life is just plain busy:
Yesterday we posted an urgent request from Crossway’s president, Dr. Lane Dennis, concerning an extraordinary opportunity to meet a matching grant for $270,000. In the above video, Dr. Dennis provides some perspective on why this opportunity is so important to the ministry work of Crossway.
Learn more about this opportunity, or give now to help us meet our goal.
I am writing, first, in grateful appreciation for your support of Crossway. As a not-for-profit ministry, the Crossway passion is to provide the Bible and gospel-centered literature as widely as possible, on a global basis. So I am deeply grateful to you for your help in doing this.
Secondly, I am writing because we have a significant opportunity and a corresponding need. We have been offered a matching grant in the amount of $270,000, if we are able to raise an additional $270,000 to match the grant.
The purpose of the grant is to help provide the Bible and Bible learning resources free to 1 million people globally—free via the Internet, and free globally, anywhere and everywhere, on every major tablet and smart phone device—particularly to people in great need in China, India, and Africa.
The need is urgent: First, because the all-or-nothing goal needs to be reached by May 31, 2012—but more importantly because of the massive need worldwide for the Bible, and for essential tools to teach and understand the Bible.
The good news is that, as of this date, we have already received commitments for $37,498—though this means that we still need to raise $232,502.
I would be deeply grateful if the Lord might lead you to help reach the goal before the deadline of May 31, 2012.
With my great appreciation for your support, and for your help now with the matching grant, to provide the Bible and Bible learning resources to 1 million people.
Grateful for your partnership in the gospel,
Lane T. Dennis, Ph.D.
You can give now or view the progress toward our goal.
TGC’s first ever National Women’s Conference, Here is Our God, will be taking place in Orlando from June 22-24. If you haven’t heard about it yet, be sure to visit the conference website for more information.
We’re really excited about it and think you will be, too. This will be a time to dig into and be refreshed by Scripture, to learn from men and women who know and love the Word, and to be encouraged and spurred on by sisters in the faith. Some of our authors who will be speaking at the conference include Lydia Brownback, Nancy Leigh DeMoss, Elyse Fitzpatrick, Nancy Guthrie, Susan Hunt, Mary Kassian, Carolyn Mahaney, Jani Ortlund, Noel Piper, Jessica Thompson, Gloria Furman, Don Carson, and John Piper.
To enter the drawing, we want to know…
Post your answer by Tuesday May 22nd at noon either as:
That’s it! We’ll choose 1 winner who will receive both registrations so they can bring a friend (this is a conference for women only, so no husbands). Hope to see you there!
*The giveaway is for two registrations only and does not include airfare, lodging, or food.
by Jim Hamilton, author of God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment and Revelation: The Spirit Speaks to the Churches.
Solid exegesis, biblical theology, and systematic theology are necessary for preaching and teaching. We don’t exercise these skills merely for our own excellence in sermon delivery, but because the people in the pews have the ability to think, analyze arguments, read the Bible for themselves, and formulate answers to questions that we may never even address from the pulpit.
Exegesis is the careful analysis of the meaning of a particular passage. Good exegesis depends on having a text that accurately presents what the author actually wrote and facility with the language the author used to compose the text. Exegetes use the whole context of the book in which the passage is found, combined with comparison of other texts the author wrote, in the attempt to arrive at what the author intended to communicate in the text.
Biblical theology is canonical exegesis. That is, biblical theology seeks to correlate the meaning of relevant texts from across the pages of Scripture. Comparing the results of the exegesis of one passage with the results of the exegesis of another passage, biblical theologians seek to understand how later biblical authors understood and interacted with earlier biblical texts that they quote, allude to, or are informed by. The goal is to understand and embrace the interpretive perspective modeled by the biblical authors, tracing connections between themes and developments across the salvation historical storyline.
Systematic theology then seeks to bring everything together for a full statement of what the whole Bible teaches on particular topics. Systematic theology combines the results of exegesis, canonical reflection and correlation of those results, and an awareness of trends in the history of philosophy and interpretation. This historical and philosophical aspect of systematic theology is necessary for understanding the extra-biblical factors that have influenced both the history of interpretation and the spirit of our own age. Awareness of the history of interpretation and the temper of our times will produce humility and keep us from being conformed to the world. Done in the church and for the church, systematic theology joins with exegesis and biblical theology in the task of discipleship for the formation of a biblical worldview as the Scripture is read, prayed, preached, sung, and seen enacted.
We should not think of this is a one, two, three step process, however, as though we “finish” our exegesis before we “start” our biblical or systematic theology. We never arrive, and the more we learn in one area influences how we think about the others. Re-reading particular passages refines our biblical and systematic theology, and it goes the other way, too, as understanding biblical theological development across the canon clarifies our reading of particular passages. So there is a constant dynamic interaction between exegesis, biblical theology, and systematic theology. And all three are necessary for preaching and teaching.
There are points, too, when we will make interpretive or applicational moves that are based on sound exegetical method or on broader biblical or systematic considerations. If we are trying to convince thinking people, trying to sharpen and spur them along, we won’t feel the need to hide our work behind the finished conclusion but will want to show the rationale for our conclusions. We can’t always say everything, but we want to help people read the Bible well, not merely train them to parrot our conclusions.
J
ames M. Hamilton Jr. (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is associate professor of biblical theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is author of God’s Indwelling Presence and numerous articles and essays.
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