In the introduction to Ford Lewis Battles' translation of John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, the role of piety in Calvin's thinking is briefly described. One who takes up Calvin’s masterpiece with the preconception that its author’s mind is a kind of efficient factory turning out and assembling the parts of a neatly jointed …
https://youtu.be/i4i2AV9mVhE Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox. Proverbs 14:4 ESV DEFINING THE PRINCIPLE ON CLEANLINESS AND ORDERLINESS EMBRACING THE MANGER The wisdom literature of the Bible (that is, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon) holds a special place in my heart. …
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1VQNZtJJkV6FhlCiBHXfYU?si=iE1UymdURS6L_VOMJRS1Eg Saying that you have a favorite book of the Bible kind of feels as wrong as saying that you have a favorite child. It is all God's inspired Word, so we should love all of it equally, right? Well, maybe favoritism is the wrong way to think of it; nevertheless, I do think that …
Continue reading Rethinking the Relationship Between Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, & Song of Songs
You have dealt well with your servant,O LORD, according to your word. Psalm 119:65 ESV With this verse, we now move into the ninth stanza of Psalm 119, wherein each verse begins with the ninth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, teth. This first verse very fittingly summarizes the overall theme of the stanza, namely, God’s …
Continue reading You Have Dealt Well with Your Servant | Psalm 119:65
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdIraCkfVjk With seventy-two verses, we certainly will not be able to mine even a fraction of the depths within this psalm; thus, let us be content to make this sermon a survey of the overall message of this psalm. From the first verse of this psalm, we learn that it is instructive: "Give ear, o …
Continue reading A Parable for the Coming Generation | Psalm 78
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ovbQi9imqJudNgeJT4vj3?si=idFHH_wHQeWyjmVziedRyg My reading goal for 2023 is to go deeper rather than merely wider. From 2017 onward, I have aimed to read fifty-two books each year, and there are great benefits to be gained from reading widely. Yet my plan for this year is less about variety and more about meditative chewing. For example, I …
If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 1 Corinthians 8:2 ESV Paul is writing here to Corinthian believers who are still "infants in Christ" (3:1) yet confidently trust in their knowledge. They apparently think that Paul had no reason to write to them about eating …
Continue reading If Anyone Imagines That He Knows Something | 1 Corinthians 8:2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DyDesV2XL4 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and …
Continue reading The Story of the World in the Family of Jesus | Matthew 1:1-17
Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel. Luke 2:29-32 ESV After being visited by the shepherds, Luke …
Continue reading Depart in Peace: The Song of Simeon | Luke 2:29-32
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away …
B. C. Newton 