Thoughts on Seminary Training

Q.: What do you think about the statement, "Seminaries exist because the church has lost its ability to disciple?"
A.: A whole lot has been written on this already, but here are some thoughts:

At the heart of the question is the thought, "Do seminaries exist for discipleship, and if so, is this because the church has failed?"

The answer: Churches exist for discipleship, seminaries exist to train pastors/church leaders by ensuring they actually are discipled, as well to ensure they also meet the more specific qualifications and posses the necessary skill sets given in 1 Tim. 3, Titus 1, etc.
Seminary faculties are staffed by high-level pastor/elder tested and qualified faculties who help to ensure that church leaders obtain the spiritual character and ministry tools necessary for faithful ministry beyond what a typical church would be capable of doing. Note: the faculty is a group of specialized/expert teaching elders who concentrate their teaching/discipling energies on select future leaders. A key benefit of seminary is receiving the concentrated training efforts/investment of these men.
Questions for Thought: What skill sets/tools did the biblical figures possess that made them qualified for their specific ministries/roles? How did these skills/tools allow them to be successful? What is the relationship between training and effective spiritual leadership as seen in Scripture? What links can you identify between training & productivity in Christian leaders, both in the Bible, the early church, and in the present?
Consider the below schema of relationship between fields of theological study. These make up the traditional divisions of a seminary curriculum. Would a church be able to sufficiently train a pastor in these respective categories? If so, who would do the training and how long would it take?

Notice each phase is predicated upon the previous phase(s). The phases are as follows:

Level 1: Biblical Introduction (establishing the original reading), Hermeneutics, and Biblical Languages.
Level 2: Exegesis.
Level 3: Systematic Theology & Biblical Theology; Church History; Philosophy of Religion & Apologetics; Homiletics, Counseling, Christian Ed., Administration, Missions, Evangelism and Contemporary Society.
Level 4: Bible Exposition/Application

Chart developed by Robert L. Thomas (Introduction to Exegesis, p. 12), ed. by R. Brian Rickett showing relationship of theological study to fundamental precommitments/presuppositions, used in my exegesis courses.

America’s Arab Spring

An Observation on the Rapidity of America’s Postmodern Renaissance

Here in America, we are in the midst of an Arab Spring.  We are not Arabs, and we are not violent.  Yet, America’s stunningly rapid, hateful rejection of her Judeo-Christian heritage is a full-on revolution—in thought. Postmodernism does not accept the possibility of truth—it re-purposes, recreates, falsifies, it is revisionist in character.  It treats truth like a cheap, discarded yard sale item.  Like the Sophists of Syracuse in 5th cent. BC Greece, truth is exchanged for persuasive oratory and individual success. 

Revolutions are never un-violent, and so we are in the middle of a violent conflict of ideas, an exchange of worldviews.  A wave of postmodern thought is sweeping over our country and drowning all not attached to a life-boat.  To re-purpose the words of the 19 century British Prime Minister/philosopher, Benjamin Disraeli, we are becoming “the slaves of false knowledge; that our memories are filled with ideas that have no origin in truth; … and, like the nations of the East, pay divine honours to the maniac and the fool."


 *After a few moments more of thought, I added the line in bold.  The previous line kept conjuring up ideas of some HGTV show that turns trash into treasure by re-purposing unwanted items.  But in this case, the situation is in reverse--treasure is put on the refuse heap, or sold to the neighbor with the most change in hand.  So, this is an edit from my FB note.

The Culpability of the Minister in an Age of Technological Advancement

A couple of days ago at our school’s Spring lectures, I was relating to the guest lecturer some of the work that my Greek Ex. students were doing thanks to the new phenomenon of easily accessible ancient textual witnesses in high def.  It is impossible to overstate what this means to textual/biblical studies.  His response—“With greater opportunity comes greater responsibility.”—Tom Nettles

As an expert in church history, particularly Baptist history, his words were weighty, and I felt this weight—he has spent thousands of hours evaluating this issue.  I then paraphrased as best I could the following quote from Luther, which is in the introduction section of the Hebrew grammar book I use.  Luther states,

“Though the faith and the Gospel may be proclaimed by simple preachers  without the languages, such preaching is flat and tame, men grow at last wearied and disgusted and it falls to the ground. But when the preacher is versed in the languages, his discourse has freshness and force, the whole of Scripture is treated, and faith finds itself constantly renewed by a continual variety of words and works.

It is a sin and shame not to know our own book or to understand the speech and words of our God; it is a still greater sin and loss that we do not study languages, especially in these days when God is offering and giving us men and books and every facility and inducement to this study, and desires his Bible to be an open book” (_A Grammar for Biblical Hebrew_, p. 12).

Brothers, how great must be the urgency for us—His Gospel witnesses—not to be content with the novelty of what God has given us.  We must employ these new tools, in these last days, to press home the truth of God’s Word in the expansion of His Kingdom.  Let me implore you, do not be content with idle talk about God’s Word; and whatever you do, do not use it as a means of self-promotion.  Rather—preach it!

6 Reasons why the 2013 Darby-Beal Lectureship Series at BMATS was a Success

Yesterday concluded the 2013 BMATS DB Lectureship Series with Dr. Tom Nettles. We were blessed not only by being able to attend the lectures, but with multiple conversations and lunches with the speaker. Here are 6 reasons why the series this year was a success and for that matter, why I usually prefer this type of thing to conferences:

1. You have an established scholar who brings a series of lectures/messages out of a sustained focus in his preferred area of concentration
2. You gain access to an individual’s life’s work through rare personal encounter
3. You have the advantage of continuity of presentation through repeated, focused seminars on the selected subject
4. You are able to benefit from the best thinking produced by other academic institutions and their educational/research models
5. You gain access to material that is rarely available to the public, and typically not geared toward self/brand marketing; lecture material is not calculated to be mass marketed or quickly accessible; it is more likely to shape a movement than react to a market
6. Lectureship series generally challenge you to think multi-perspectivally; that is, you are usually exposed to a subject and a way of thinking about that subject that broadens your own perspectives and equips you with new intellectual tools

The series this year accomplished these outcomes for me and I’m grateful that Janet and I were able to take part.

I wish I had never been born!

[Excerpt from sermon 4/07/13 from John 17:1-5]

“I wish I had never been born!”  When these words are spoken, they are most always shocking—most shocking to the parents of children speaking them.

But why?—Some of the greatest, most significant biblical characters have felt, or stated this outright.  The reason—they suggest ingratitude. But why is this surprising, ingratitude is a sin we all commit and with relative frequency.

Consider the words of Jeremiah in Jer. 20:14-18:

"Cursed be the day when I was born; Let the day not be blessed when my mother bore me! 15 Cursed be the man who brought the news To my father, saying, "A baby boy has been born to you!" And made him very happy. 16 But let that man be like the cities Which the LORD overthrew without relenting, And let him hear an outcry in the morning And a shout of alarm at noon; 17 Because he did not kill me before birth, So that my mother would have been my grave, And her womb ever pregnant. 18 Why did I ever come forth from the womb To look on trouble and sorrow, So that my days have been spent in shame?"

This is the most poetic expression I know of the “I wish I had never been born” concept. It should be noted that such expressions are typically expressed from someone experiencing great emotional distress, and are perhaps depressed.

Also, Scripture sometimes describes scenarios where it would have been better for some or another person to have never been born.  Judas, for example, fits this category (Matt 26:24; cf. Solomon’s references in Ecc.).

Train Wreck Conversion

I am currently reading through Rosaria Butterfield's, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert.  I will list key thoughts here, which I will update regularly until I am finished, and at which point I will present a brief review of the book.  I am 40% of the way through--reading during my leisure.  Thus far, for me the book is raw, real, refreshing and reminds me of why I am in minstry, both church and academic.  Unless something changes, I will likely view this as the most compelling autobiography I have read, or at least the best of the last 50 books I have read.

Thoughts:

The Christian must transcend the twin values of our culture: to acquire and to achieve, in order to live fixedly on the one enduring pursuit--glorifying God.  Ironically, however, the feelings, the experiential change in values tends to follow obedience rather than precede it, i.e. it is not until actual obedience that that the Christian accomplishes this exchange.  Cf. 1 John 2:16

Quotes:

[Added 4/15/13]

 "Indeed, adoption is not only a powerful mission, but is also a central Christian doctrine. I think about this everyday. Russell D. Moore penned a book entitled Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches. This is a book that I would buy by the case and send to every Christian pastor I know, if I could afford to do this. I especially love how he deals head-on with the accusation that adoptive parents are not “real” parents. Borrowing from J. Gresham Machen’s book, The Virgin Birth of Christ, Moore says this: “if Joseph is not “really” the father of Jesus, you and I are going to hell” (p. 67). He goes on to explain: Jesus’ identity as the Christ… is tied to his identity as the descendent of David, the legitimate heir to David’s throne. Jesus saves us as David’s son, the offspring of Abraham, the Christ. That human identity came to Jesus through adoption, Matthew and Luke trace Jesus’ roots in Abraham and David through the line of Joseph (Moore, 67)."

     Butterfield, Rosaria (2012-09-06). The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Kindle Locations 2642-2647). Crown & Covenant Publications. Kindle Edition.

 Note: Another way of putting it, if it wasn't for adoption we would all be going to Hell.  Why? If Christ had a biological father, He would not be the Son of God.  If he had not had an adoptive father, He would not have been paternally in the line of the Messiah.

Carpe Diem

Carpe diem may perhaps be the best known of all Latin clichés. The phrase has been featured in movies, has had wide use in literature and so forth. Its popularity is probably due to the way in which it conveys the urgency of the moment. All of us have probably missed opportunities at some point in our lives, perhaps opportunities we later regretted having let pass us by. Carpe diem is a nice, pithy expression that reminds us we can never relive any moment.

The phrase means, "enjoy the moment," or "enjoy the present," or "seize today’s opportunities." Most literally, however, it means, "seize the day." The "carpe" part of the term comes from "carpo" meaning "to pluck" or "to pluck off." It’s related to the Greek "karpos," which means fruit (Karpos is the New Testament word used for fruit, particularly for spiritual fruit when combined with "tou pneumatos," that is "karpos tou pneumatos" = "fruit of the spirit" (cf. Galatians 5:5). It’s also the NT equivalent of the OT Hebrew "peri").  "Carpo" conveys the idea of plucking, as one would pluck off a piece of fruit from a fruit tree or pluck a flower, etc. That is, the phrase tells us that we are to take hold of the moment as one would take hold of a piece of fruit and pluck it.

The diem part of the phrase means "day." Perhaps when you’ve gone a business trip you were concerned with per diem, which referred to the allowance granted to you per day for your daily expenditures. Diem is related to the Latin "deus" meaning "god," from which came Zeus, who in Greek mythology was the supreme deity and ruler of the celestial realm. Therefore, the god who controlled the cycle of days became known as Zeus, a name that probably ultimately derived from the Latin word for "day."

The idea of being concerned with time and living every moment to the fullest is a biblical concept as well. The Scriptures teach us to "number our days" (Psalm 90:12). Of course, the biblical admonition refers to living in a wise, godly fashion, not to seizing the day for selfish purposes. We all need a reminder that life is fleeting and passes us by like vapor (James 4:14). If we fail to carpe diem, we may live to regret not having lived each moment to the fullest, particularly for God’s honor and glory. One day we’ll all give an accounting for how we lived our lives, so let’s be sure that we never fail to carpe diem.

Note: As an aside, a similar expression to carpe diem is in diem vivere, or "to live for the day." The latter phrase can be found used in the Latin works of Cicero.