Clarity of Scripture

I seemed to get in a mild reading groove in August and got through a few books I wanted to share some quick reviews of. I don’t know how I managed it, but I picked good books, the kind that are helpful and not intellectual puke validated by a little bit of ink and binding.

Book #1 – Adopted for Life by Russel D. Moore
This book was simply phenominal. I don’t stay up late or get up early to read through books, but this one hooked me. Dr. Moore approaches the issue of adoption on the board scope: the Doctrine of Adoption and our practice of adoption. The book, largely, isn’t split in a Pauline way – doctrine first, practice second. He does start the book out by spending more time on the doctrine of adoption: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). He presses the point at the beginning defending Paul’s language of sonship – that in the ancient world, sons were the secure heirs while daughters could be married out of the family. This is important to note, not because men are better than women (which Peter does a good job of showing this clearly in 1 Peter 3:7), but that this is functional language about how positions in families work. One of Dr. Moore’s major emphasis in the book is to stress that adopted children are actual children in equal standing as “natural children” in a family. Throughout the book he fluctuates between “Look at the Gospel and our adoption into God’s family” and “This is how we do adoption of children into our families” almost always within the same paragraph. He helpfully draws how the Gospel really does bring us into God’ family with full freedom of love and promises by our elder brother Jesus and how that effects even how we talk about our families. He does give helpful wisdom on how to move through the difficult/tricky aspects of life that come along with adopting children (i.e. How and when to tell them they were adopted and didn’t come from mommy’s belly, awkward questions of “Did he get that behavior from his actual parents?” or the idea that “I just really want children of my own, and then we’ll adopt” – as though adopted children are semi-your-own). Honestly, for us, we do plan to adopt in the future, who knows when (I’m leaving that to the Spirit’s leading). That said, the book, for me and my family, is important reading to clarify how we are going to think about our children (“natural” or adopted) and our family life in light of what the Gospel says about us: we once were rebels and aliens to God, and he brought us near by the life and work of his only Son so that we might be adopted and made heirs of the very one we once hated but now joyfully love. I highly recommend the book.

Book #2 – Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl by N.D. Wilson
I read this book mostly because it’s gotten a lot of hype lately. If you’re not up on the hype, then you’re out of the loop, and you should probably start thinking about changing the lunch-room table you sit at… I really enjoyed this book. Nate’s aim is to look at the world under the pretext of the doctrine ex nihilo creation, and see God’s grand story that’s clearly presented before us in the world. I really found the book quite helpful and was deeply struck mainly by how he drew me to see in a clearer way than I had before, the depths of profundity bound up in Jesus upholding “the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3). He approaches the book, not with a straight line, but crooked like, weaving and climbing like a painter over his canvas. Nate’s intent is to paint a picture, not write a dissertation. For that I am deeply thankful. It is the sort of writing I have desired to read for a while – the type of reading that engages one existentially, as a whole being, sight, senses, intellect, heart. He takes on the philosophers in this book (calling them a few names here and there) and engages the atheist head on. The book itself is intended in many ways to be an apologetic to our age, and in my opinion, follows after the tradition of C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity. He addresses the problem of evil (which he states is an emotional problem, not an intellectual problem). He helps us see God’s grand story in creation and ultimately in Jesus. I appreciate this because many times talk of God’s grand story miss the central figure: Jesus. If you want a taste of the book, check out these few posts from Justin Taylor’s blog here, here, and here, and read Tony Reinke’s review of the book here. Really, the book is just that good to just read it. It’s engaging, and helpful, provocative and clear, doctrinal and entertaining. I’ve given the book to a guy at work who’s not a Christian because I feel that as much as the book is helpful to Christian, like Keller’s The Prodigal God, it’s all the more helpful in making the glory of God in the Gospel clear and engaging to non-Christians.

Book #3 – When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself By: Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett
I really liked this book. I was asked to read this book by a friend in my church who’s thinking through mercy ministry because he wanted me (for whatever reason) to help him in thinking through the subject. My tag line for my thoughts on the Gospel is that it deals with the Bible’s call for engaging the needs and issues of poverty while upholding the centrality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ’s substitutionary, reconciling death without falling into limp wristed, quasi-Utopian, liberal theology, and in that way believes in a bigger, stronger God than the pagan idol of the Liberals. This authors are deeply committed to the clear orthodox teaching of the Gospel, and from that seek to see poverty addressed from helpful angels. The book starts by showing how we were created to be in relationship with God, self, others, and creation, and show the effects of sin as causing rebellion and poverty in each of these areas. From here the go about showing that truly helpful mercy ministry, particularly that focused on poverty alleviation should be aimed in grace to help people restore these four areas, not just the money part. Moreover, because of the doctrine of common grace and the Gospel reality that God is working ahead of us in all situations, when we engage those in need (poverty in one of those four areas), we meet with people in whom God has already been working, and thus in whom there are already good things happening. Much of the work at this point is coming along side people to mutually help each other, potentially more focused on a particular need (i.e. X group’s poverty). This relationship fosters healing and growth in our intended relationship with others (one can’t help but think of race relations in America) and helps direct through conversations about what is already happening in a community ways to go about helping that will truly help people become self-sustained and prosperous (in the good way). For example, it ultimately hurts both parties when middle-class whites go through a poverty stricken poor neighborhood (often black) and distribute Christmas gifts. It shames the men who cannot provide for their families and perpetuates the sense that whites have it all (when the whites might not have the flick of faith that those that they are “helping” have). One of my “Amen brothers” parts of the book is where they take this view of helping the poor and aim it at the modern trend of “short term mission trips” – which ultimately hurt both the community in need and those being sent. However, the doesn’t completely destroy them, he just helps us see why they really are based on false models of how to help. I highly recommend the book. Along the lines of what is talked about in it, you can get a taste of it from a recent interview on NPR’s Speaking of Faith here (which is unrelated to the book, but related to the thrust of it). From that interview, one of the helpful points made there is that our ability to help those in need is our ability to colonize the “third world” today. Think about that for a moment. I really think before we continue in our attempts to follow Christ’s example and model in helping the poor (a legitimate and serious call of the Gospel), we really need to listen to what Fikkert and Corbet have to say to us on the matter so that we engage wisely and bring more honer and glory to Jesus Christ.

(As a side note, this book helped solidify my appreciation for and agreement with Sovereign Grace Ministries’ teaching and application of apostolic ministry. You can download and read through the booklet they’ve released on polity here, and their booklet on missiology here. In my view, the aim of applying this material to the advancement of the Gospel is pioneered by men with an apostolic calling to go into new areas, form relationships with the existing church there, to create healthy, open relationships so that appropriate means of help can be filter into an area without causing more damage with a view towards seeing the Gospel advance and heal, and not western notions of achievement and productivity.)

Book #4 – A Clear and Present Word: The Clarity of Scripture in a Confused World by Mark D. Thompson
So here we are the last book. In our present context, the cultural voice of the day says that we cannot have any certain, objective meaning in a text and that any interpretation of what something means is really just a projection of what we want to see. That is, we only read what we want to see, there is no authority on a text. With that said, Thompson does an outstanding job in answering the question: Can we know what God’s Word says? The clarity of Scripture has deeper roots than responding to the attacks of postmodern scholarship on simple-minded believers. Think Luther and Rome here on the necessity of Tradition, and the Ancient Fathers against the Gnostics. Anyhow, the book is great. How can we be confident that God’s Word is clear? Because God goes with his word. More basically, how do we know language is reliable in communicating meaning? Because it’s apart of God’s triniarian nature, and thus communication is fundamentally a gift of God, not a human tool that God co-opted. Thompson teaches us that “[t]there is never any suggestion that the incarnation makes a genuine revelation of God’s mind and character more difficult, that flesh and blood, human mobility or human means of communication are somehow obstacles to overcome” (58). That is, when God spoke to us through his incarnate Son, Jesus word’s were clear, precise in revealing God to us, and were entirely human. God’s Word to us is clear because God goes with it, it is God’s nature to speak (John 1:1), and it is his nature to be merciful and gracious. There really is not enough room here to do justice to the whole book, so if you’re interested in a more thorough, chapter by chapter over view, check out Kevin DeYoung’s review’s here. This book was just so good, another one of those books I stayed up late reading. He really taught me deep truths and realities about God and his Word, which insights more affections and love for Jesus Christ. Personally, I find this sort of reading devotional in a way – engaging the mind, and infusing fire into my affections. He addresses issues of the Bible’s view of itself and its clarity across the sweep of the Scriptures, and engages modern issues in hermeneutics and interpretation. If you’re wanting a good book that engages many issues facing the orthodox doctrine of Scripture in our present age, I would highly recommend putting this on your short list.

So there you go, my four books of August. As I said, they just all happened to be good books so I thought I’d share. As we seek to think God’s thoughts after him, let us continue to seek good books that will give us sure steps in following him.

In many ways I feel I’ve done each of these books a disservice in the brevity of each review, so if you’d like to hear more on any of them, please ask!