Mark Sweetnam: Imagine trying to live the Christian life without access to Paul's epistles

From X post:

Imagine trying to live the Christian life without access to Paul's epistles.

Interesting thought from Mark Sweetnam in his commentary on 2 Timothy 2:10 on the significance of the apostle Paul:

2 Timothy 2:10 “Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”

Commentary:

“The goal of [Paul’s] service was our eternal glory. Today, we are the beneficiaries of that service largely through what he wrote. They have a crucial role in ensuring our eternal glory. If you doubt this, just imagine trying to live a Christian life without having access to Paul’s epistles. How would you understand the gospel, the believer’s relationship to the law, or how a local church should operate and be ordered? So much of what we know about living for and faithfully serving God, we know because of the patient endurance of the Apostle Paul” (p. 88).

JTR

WM 328: Scrivener Series.Part 2 of 3: Scrivener's Greek New Testament

 

JTR

The Vision (5.9.25): The Chief Corner Stone

 

Note: Devotion based on last Sunday's sermon on Ephesians 2:17-22.

“And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone” (Ephesians 2:20).

Paul is saying here that the church is like a building. How is it like a building? It is built or constructed upon a sure foundation. Get the foundation wrong and the building is structurally unsound and will not pass code and may collapse and injure many.

Paul says first that assemblies of authentic believers are “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.” In 3:5 he speaks of revelations of mysteries concerning Christ having been revealed to apostles and prophets.

By “apostles” Paul is speaking of those who held the extra-ordinary office of leadership, having been chosen to be among the twelve. Beyond the twelve, Matthias took the place of Judas (Acts 1) and Paul was added to this group by direct commission by the risen Lord himself (Acts 9). All were eyewitnesses of the risen Lord.

By “prophets” Paul might have been speaking of the OT prophets, like Moses and Isaiah, who spoke of Christ in prophecy, but also of NT prophets like Agabus.

Believers have their faith established by resting on the authoritative teaching of the apostles and prophets. In Acts 2:42 Luke says the church at Jerusalem continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine, and in fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. See Jude 1:17, “But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

To be built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets is to be grounded in the inspired writings and teachings of the apostles and prophets.

But notice Paul does not stop there. This foundation is not laid upon mere men alone, but, “Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.” This comes from the prophecy of Psalm 118:22-23.

R. C. Sproul observed that the stone described here “has its roots in ancient masonry. It was the brick by which the builder lined up the whole building. Often it was the first brick to be laid. It was the keystone for the whole building—pull this brick out and everything falls. So the foundation was laid in and upon the chief cornerstone” (Ephesians, 71-72).

This is a timely passage today, as our Roman Catholic friends will soon recognize a new Pope as head of their church. They claim that the church is built upon Peter, as the rock. We say that the church is built upon Peter’s confession that the Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:15-28). The Pope is not the head of the church; that role is already taken by Christ himself, and he will suffer no pretenders to this position.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

A very short book review: Dear Preacher, Letters on Preaching (2025)

 

From my X:

A very short book review: Dear Preacher, Letters on Preaching (2025).

I got this book in the mail over the weekend written by my friend Bryant Rueda.

The book is a series of 50 short, pithy, devotional essays (1-2 pages each in large font) presented as letters from an older preacher (PulpitTape) to his younger self, covering various topics (e.g., “Preaching as a Means of Grace,” “Preaching as Leadership,” “Preaching as Prayer,” etc.), liberally sprinkled with quotations from various preachers on the task of preaching (from Edmund Clowney to Al Martin to Fred Craddock, et al.).

Preachers might find it a helpful devotional read. One thing: When I read in the preface that the author was following the epistolary format of Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, I at first thought the voice of PreachTape was going to be a demon giving “anti-advice” for preaching, rather than a more angelic older self. That first thought might be a good idea for a sequel.

JTR

WM 327: Scrivener Series.Part 1 of 3: Life of F. H. A. Scrivener (1813-1891)

 

JTR

The Vision (5.2.25): Before and After

 

Image: Rhododendron, North Garden, Virginia, May 2025.

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Ephesians 2:11-16.

Ephesians 2:12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

In Ephesians 2, Paul continues to draw a contrast for the Ephesians between their unregenerate and regenerate states. It is a before and after contrast. Think of a fitness channel on social media. This was the before (fat and flabby), and here is the after (lean and fit).

In v. 12 Paul offers three descriptions of the Ephesians in their unregenerate state:

First, there were “without Christ.” How sad it is to live a Christ-less existence, yet so many do. He ties this to their apartness from “the commonwealth of Israel” and “the covenants of promise.” They had not known all the shadowy covenants that had pointed to the New Covenant through the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter will say that such were “in time past not a people, but are now the people of God” (1 Peter 2:10).

Second, they were hopeless: “having no hope.” Many people live in this world without hope. I recently read an online story about a 10 year-old girl who took her own life. I saw the scars of hopelessness firsthand while living in a post-communist nation.

Take God away and what hope is there? Hope in yourself? In sport or entertainment? In money or power? In science or knowledge? Of course, Paul is also saying here that they were without the ultimate blessed hope of Christ’s second coming.

Third, they were “without God (atheoi) in this world.” This is the spirit of atheism (cf. Psalm 14:1 and Psalm 53:1). One of the worst and most deceptive songs ever written was John Lennon’s “Imagine,” and it is sung over and over again, even recently at former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral. It has a diabolical message. Take away belief in God and create an earthly paradise! Have they never seen what happened in communist Soviet Union or on the killing fields of Cambodia when nations tried to live without God?

The contrast comes in v. 13: “But now in Christ Jesus….” This parallels the “But God…” in v. 4. Those who were far off have been brought nigh (close) by the blood of Christ. Paul takes the Ephesians back to the foundational work of the cross, and especially to the blood of Christ. Already in Ephesians 1:7 Paul had affirmed, “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Later in this chapter he will say, believers have been reconciled “in one body by the cross” (2:16).

The key to the transformation from the unregenerate to the regenerate state is the cross of Christ. Now, we have Christ; we have hope; and we are not without God in this world.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (4.25.25): Resurrection Appearances (Luke 24)

 

Image: Azaleas, North Garden, Virginia, April 2025.

Note: Devotion taken from morning and afternoon sermons last Sunday on Luke 24.

“And they said one to another, Did not out heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:32).

“And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you” (Luke 24:36).

In 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 Paul summarized the key four historical facts that were essential to his preaching of the gospel or good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those four basic facts: (1) Christ’s atoning death; (2) his burial; (3) his resurrection on the third day; and (4) his resurrection appearances.

The second and fourth of those points affirm or prove the first and third point points. We know that Christ truly died on the cross, because his lifeless body was placed in the tomb. We know that Christ was truly raised again from the dead, because he appeared to his disciples in his resurrection body.

All four of the canonical gospels reach their climax with these four points. One German scholar from years ago said that the Gospels were “passion narratives with extended introductions.”

Luke 24 presents an inspired narrative of Christ’s resurrection appearances on the first Lord’s Day,  to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (24:13-32) and then to the twelve in Jerusalem (24:36-48).

Aside from providing the true historical details on what transpired that day, Luke, driven along by the Holy Spirit, also provides a template for what will continue to happen when the saints gather on the Lord’s Day. The risen Lord Jesus Christ will make himself present and known to us. This happens now by the Spirit since Christ has ascended and is seated at God’s right hand till he comes again with power and glory.

When meeting with him we will say, as the disciples of old did, “Did not our heart burn within us… while he opened to us the scriptures?” (24:32). The risen Lord Jesus himself will stand “in the midst” and say to us, “Peace be unto you” (24:36). He will extend his pastoral care to us, asking, “Why are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts?” (24:38).

Let us continue to gather each Lord’s Day to meet with the one who died on the cross for our sins, was buried, rose again the third day, and appeared to his disciples.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Old English Riddle: Holy Book

 From Burton Raffel, Poems from the Old English (University of Nebraska Press, 1964), a riddle on a Biblical or sacred writing manuscript:

JTR

Duffy on "creeping to the cross"

Historian Eamon Duffy describes the late Medieval Good Friday tradition of “creeping to the cross” in English churches and how the Protestant Reformers sought to discourage it:

“Good Friday in the late Middle Ages was a day of deepest mourning. No mass was celebrated, and the main liturgical celebration of the day was a solemn and penitential commemoration of the Passion. The whole of the narrative of St. John’s Gospel was read, with a small dramatic embellishment: at the words ‘They parted my garments among them’ the clerks parted and removed two linen cloths which had been specially placed for the purpose on the otherwise bare altar….”

Later, “The cross was unveiled in three stages….”

“Clergy and people then crept barefoot and on their knees to kiss the foot of the cross, held by two ministers.”

“Creeping to the cross was one of the most frequent targets of Protestant reformers from the 1530s onwards, and there can be no doubt of the place it held in lay piety: well into the Elizabethan period Bishop Grindal would complain on Good Friday ‘some certeyn persons go barefooted and barelegged to the churche, to creepe to the crosse.’”

-The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England 1400-1580, p. 29.

The Vision (4.18.25): Stewards of the Mysteries of God

 

Image: Laying on of hands and prayer during Elder ordination at CRBC (4.13.25)

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, which included an Elder ordination and installation.

Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Corinthians 4:1).

What did Paul mean when he declared that ministers of Christ (referring both to extraordinary ministers, like apostles, and ordinary ministers, like elders) are “stewards of the mysteries of God”? What are these mysteries?

There is no doubt as to what our Particular Baptist forefathers thought. They cite this passage as a key prooftext in Confession 28:2 “Of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper,” where it teaches who should administer these ordinances: “These holy appointments are to be administered by those only who are qualified and thereunto called, according to the commission of Christ.”

Stewardship of the mysteries of Christ means stewardship of the ordinances (sacraments) of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. But when the old men spoke of ordinance they also spoke first of the ordinance of preaching and teaching the Word.

Paul ordered Timothy, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2).

The old Puritan exegete Matthew Poole (1624-1679) explains in his commentary:

“The apostle here gives us the right notion of the preachers of the gospel; they are but ministers, that is servants, so as the honour that is proper to the Master… belongeth not to them.” Their “primary obligation [is] to preach Christ and his gospel unto the people.”

“They are also stewards of the mysteries of God, such to whom God has committed his word and sacraments to dispense to his church.” The term mystery signifies that which is secret, “represented by signs and figures.”

Poole’s commentary concludes, “Ministers are the stewards of the mysterious doctrines and institutions of Christ, which are usually comprehended under the terms word and sacrament.”

Paul told Timothy that he was to be “a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

And in 1 Corinthians 14:40 he told the church (especially her officers), “Let all things be done decently and in order.”

The first thing our church should expect from its Elders is that we rightly preach Christ and the gospel to you and that we rightly administer baptism and the Lord’s Supper so that the things that are secret or hidden in them are made known.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Audio and Video Resources: 2025 Presbyterion (Reformed Baptist Fellowship of Virginia Spring Pastors' Fraternal)

 

Session 1 (X post version): On The Civil Magistrate:

Session 2 (X post version): The Case for Christian Nationalism: A 1689 Reaction:

Session 3 (X post version): "Communion" Among Churches:

JTR

Benjamin Beddome (1717-1795) Hymn: Father of Mercies, Bow Thine Ear

Note: From X post:

Make old hymns great again! We enjoyed singing this hymn by Particular Baptist Pastor Benjamin Beddome (1717-1795) in our Elder ordination service last Sunday (to the HAMBURG tune, "When I Survey"):

Father of mercies, bow Thine ear, Attentive to our earnest prayer; We plead for those who plead for Thee; Successful pleaders may they be. Clothe Thou with energy divine Their words, and let those words be Thine; To them Thy sacred truth reveal, Suppress their fear, inflame their zeal. Teach them aright to sow the seed: Teach them thy chosen flock to feed; Teach them immortal souls to gain, Nor let them labor, Lord, in vain. Let thronging multitudes around Hear from their lips the joyful sound, In humble strains Thy grace adore, And feel Thy new-creating power.

The Vision (4.11.25): Created in Christ Jesus Unto Good Works

 

Image: Climbers ascending Mount Everest.

Note: Devotion based on last Sunday's sermon on Ephesians 2:8-10.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).

Ephesians 2:8-9 might rightly be called the Mount Everest of the Biblical doctrine of salvation. It teaches that salvation is the gift of God.

Paul, however, does not stop there. He proceeds in v. 10 to describe the life that should flow from the person who has been saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and the conduct that should characterize him.

In his commentary on this letter R. C. Sproul notes: “There is another formula of the Reformation: justification is by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone. What does this mean: not by a faith that is alone? It means that true faith will inevitably manifest itself in the performance of works of obedience” (Ephesians, 58).

Paul explains this in v. 10, “For we [notice again that he includes himself as an apostle, alongside the Ephesian believers] are his workmanship [the noun here poiēma means something made, piece of handiwork, a creation] created in Christ Jesus unto good works….”

We are not saved by works, lest any man should boast, but once we are saved, one of the evidences of that is that good works (service to God and man that is pleasing to God) should flow out of our lives.

Good works are stressed over and over again in Scripture as a vital part of the Christian life. See Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (compare also 2 Timothy 3:17; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 2:12).

“Good works” is not a dirty term for Bible-believing Christian. As we often say, “It is not the root of our faith, but it is the fruit of our faith.” We have an entire chapter in our 1689 Baptist confession dedicated to the topic, “Of Good Works” (chapter 16).

Notice also the last phrase in v. 10, “which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Not only are we chosen for salvation in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), but also our good works have been foreordained. The all-sovereign, all-wise, all-knowing God has set each one of his saints apart for particular and peculiar good works to be done to his glory and honor.

It might be there in the godly raising of your children, in the prayers you offer up to the Lord, in the care you extend to the orphans and widows, in the generous giving you offer to support the church and its mission across the world,  in the visiting and comforting the sick and the aged, the infirmed and the weak, and a thousand other things that the Lord has set out for you do to bless his name and to bless your fellow men.

We have indeed been created in Christ Jesus for good works.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (4.4.25): The Problem with the Life-Preserver Analogy

 

Note: Vision devotional article taken from last Sunday's sermon on Ephesians 2:1-7.

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1).

In Ephesians 2:1 Paul offers an inspired description of man’s spiritual state apart from God in Christ as one of spiritual deadness. It captures man’s spiritual inability apart from God’s grace.

We must be clear, Paul is not talking about a biological state, but a spiritual state. One can be physically alive but spiritually dead. In fact, apart from faith in Christ we might well say that men are all dead men walking.

In R. C. Sproul’s brief commentary on Ephesians, he debunks a misguided analogy of salvation that fails to consider fallen man’s state of spiritual deadness (inability):

Another analogy goes like this: a man is cast into the sea who doesn’t know how to swim. He is clearly about to drown; he has already gone under the water twice, and is sinking for the third time. His head is beneath the surface of the water. All that is left above the water is his outstretched hand, and the only way he can possibly be saved is if God would throw him a life-preserver. God is so accurate in throwing this life-preserver that he throws it right up against the palm of this man’s hand. But for that man to be saved, he must close his hand upon the life-preserver in order to be pulled to safety (Ephesians, 48-49).

Sproul then observes that this view reflects an ancient error known as Semi-Pelagiansim, in that it teaches, “man must cooperate with God in order to be saved.” He then adds:

The Reformed [Biblical] view is that man is not going under the water for the third time, but is already drowned, spiritually. He is at the bottom of the sea, he is dead. The only way he can be saved is if God dives into the water and pulls the corpse up out of the water and brings him back to life (Ephesians, 49).

The problem with the life-preserver analogy is that it is not miraculous enough. Conversion is a sovereign and miraculous life-giving act of God alone.

As it says in Psalm 3:8a, “Salvation belongeth unto the LORD.”

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

WM 326: Confessional Subscription & the Septuagint

 

Read the article reviewed here.

JTR

The Vision (3.28.25): The Gospel of Your Salvation

 

Image: Ruins of ancient Ephesus, Turkey.

Note: Devotion taken from Sunday AM sermon on March 23, 2025.

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13).

Paul founded the church at Ephesus (see Acts 19), so in Ephesians he is a spiritual father speaking to his spiritual children.

I’ve noted that D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones called Ephesians the most “mystical” of Paul’s writings.

To this we can add R. C. Sproul’s observation that “the tone of Ephesians is so contemplative at points, that it sounds more like a prayer than a letter, more like a doxology [praise of God] than a sermon” (Ephesians, 15).

In Ephesians 1:13-14, Paul reminds the Ephesians of the gospel they had received. The word gospel means “good news.” Paul summarized the gospel he preached at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5: the death, burial, resurrection, and risen appearances of Christ.

In Ephesians 1:13 Paul places the phrases “the word of truth” and “the gospel of your salvation” in apposition. They are the same thing.

Notice also Paul’s emphasis upon the fact that the Ephesians had heard this gospel as it was preached to them. In Romans 10:17 Paul notes that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). In 1 Corinthians 1:21 he says it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

Paul also stresses here the necessary response of faith: “in whom also after that ye believed.” Explicit belief and confession of faith is essential (cf. Acts 8:37; Romans 10:9). There is no salvation outside of faith in Christ.

Finally, Paul reminds the Ephesians, “ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise.” A seal was set to ensure that something was left undisturbed or secure. The soldiers went to the tomb where Christ’s lifeless body was laid, in vain, “sealing the stone” (Matthew 27:66), but it would be rolled away. Letters were often sealed with wax and marked with a signet ring to ensure it had not been opened and its content changed.

This is Paul’s inspired analogy. Believers have the seal of the Holy Spirit. The indwelling Spirit of God ensures that they will not be disturbed or corrupted or dislodged, but they shall be preserved, kept, by God’s grace, in the faith.

This is the gospel that Paul preached, that the saints in Ephesus heard; and believing, they were sealed.

It is the same gospel of salvation that has saved and preserved every believer across the ages.

The gospel comes with the heat of spiritual power. An old adage says heat can both melt butter and harden clay. When we hear the preaching of the good news, is our heart melted (the experience of the elect) or is it hardened (the experience of the reprobate)? Are we butter or clay?

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Preview Video: 2025 Reformation Bible Society Meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Saturday, August 2, 2025

JTR

Theology in Particular: The Administration and Administrator of Baptism

 

JTR

The Vision (3.21.25): Ephesus: Yet Here God Has His Church

 

Image: The Library of Celsus, ruins of ancient Ephesus, Turkey.

Note: Devotion based on sermon on Ephesians 1:7-12.

The Puritan minister Paul Baynes (1573-1617) said this about the ancient city of Ephesus to which Paul addressed the epistle of Ephesians: “This was the mother city, famous for idolatry and conjuring, as the Acts of the Apostles testify… This people were so wicked, that heathens themselves did deem them from their mother worthy to be strangled; yet here God had his church.”

Indeed, no place in this sinful world deserves to have a church planted within its borders. Yet God would have his church in all such places, so that the gospel might be faithfully proclaimed.

The apostle Paul was used by God to plant this church (see Acts 19). He then wrote this letter to the church from prison to encourage them in the faith. He twice refers to himself as a prisoner (3:1; 4:1), and in 6:20 he calls himself “an ambassador in bonds.”

The genre of Ephesians is quite different from what we encountered in Genesis, the last book we were expositing.  Genesis Is a historical narrative. Ephesians, however, is propositional, didactic teaching. Our minds and our faith need both kinds of teaching. We need to learn holy history, and we need to learn holy truths.

The apostle continued to catechize the believers, and through the inspiration and preservation of this book, that mission persists. The apostle is teaching and catechizing all of us, and every believer who reads and listens to it.

There are at least four great truths placed before us in Ephesians 1:7-12:

·        In Christ “we have redemption through his blood” (v. 7).

·        In our salvation the Lord makes known to us “the mystery of God’s will” (v. 9).

·        God is working out “the dispensation of the fullness of times” to gather all things together in Christ (v. 10).

·        As believers “we have obtained an inheritance” (v. 11).

Finally, Paul says, “That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ” (v. 12). We have a reason for living. To give praise and glory to God.

Yes, the gospel continues to go out and in every dark place, the Lord continues to have and establish his church.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

"Makebate"

Note: From X post:

Prepping to teach midweek Bible study yesterday on the 18 items in Paul's vice list in 2 Timothy 3:2-4, which, he says, will be prevalent among men in these "perilous times" of the "last days" (v. 1), and was struck by the alternate translation suggested in the KJV margin for "false accusers [διαβολοι]" in v. 3.

The suggestion is "makebates." An online dictionary defines a "makebate" as "one that excites contention and quarrels." It describes the term as "archaic" and notes its first known use as 1529.

It is pronounced as one one might expect a compound word to go: "make" plus "bate," long "a"s and silent "e"s. This is another word we need to make great again and not let slip out of usage. I pledge to start using it in sentences like this:

"The internet troll made himself a makebate in the comments section."

JTR

WM 325: Review of Seven Significant & Curious Problems with Mark Ward's "Scholarly" Article on Psalm 12:6-7

Here are notes from my review of MW's "scholarly" article:

First: The article, beginning with its title, attacks a straw man.

Mark Ward suggests he is opposing those who hold that there are (or were in 1611) extant “Perfect Manuscript Copies of the Bible” and conflates this with those who hold to the perfect preservation of the Scriptures (as in WCF 1:8: “kept pure in all age”). He never demonstrates (through credentialed citations), beyond his own assertions, that those whom he lists as his opponents advocate for the existence of “Perfect Manuscript Copies of the Bible.”

Second: MW falsely blames the KJV’s use of the adjective “pure” (Psalm 12:6) and the verb “preserve” (Psalm 12:7), for causing confusion regarding the proper interpretation of Psalm 12 (see p. 30).

These terms in English were not invented by the KJV translators but are part of the classic Protestant English translation tradition. See the use of the same terms at Psalm 12 in Coverdale’s Psalter (1553).

Third, MW falsely suggests that interpretations of Psalm 12:6-7 as related to the preservation of Scripture are the result of “English-only exegesis” which “can give rise to falsehoods and unnecessary divisions within the body of Christ” (p. 30).

Those he lists as suggesting Psalm 12:6-7 as relating to the preservation of Scripture, however, clearly do not do so simply on the basis of English translations, but on the reading/interpretation of the Hebrew original (cf. Thomas Strouse and PVK2 on “gender discordance” as a stylistic feature of Hebrew) (p. 32).

Fourth, MW misrepresents my position in this article.

He lists myself, “Jeffrey Riddle,” as a “leading” proponent of the interpretation of Psalm 12:6-7 which he opposes, but he does not accurately present my position. The best documentation he can provide for my views are two quotations (one not properly enclosed in quotation marks) taken out of context from a 2022 podcast [see pp. 32-33]).

I have done no formal, published writing on this passage. Oddly enough, MW makes no reference even to the only informal writing I have done on this text in the only blog post.

Fifth, in his “interpretive plebiscite” MW perpetuates his straw man presentation of his opponents, who supposedly read Psalm 12:6-7 as promising “perfect manuscript copies of the Bible” (p. 39).

Of course, the straw man view will not be found in the survey, because, as far as I know, no one hold it. The real question is whether there are interpreters of Psalm 12:6-7 which connect this passage to the preservation of the “pure words” of Scripture, prior to the rise of KJVO in the mid-20^th century.

Even MW’s survey is suspect as he overlooks historical figures who interpret Psalm 12:6-7 counter to his thesis (e.g., John Wesley, Ebenezer Ritchie, etc.).

MW’s false pretext, leads to false conclusions: “This writer could not find a single interpreter before the advent of KJV-Onlysim who interpreted Psalm 12:6-7 to promise perfect manuscript copies of the Bible” (p. 49).

Sixth, MW insists that the “purity” and “preservation” of Scripture in Psalm 12:7 can only apply to the content of Scripture and not to the words of Scripture (see p. 50).

He here denies the classic Protestant construal of the authoritas divina duplex.

He also completely rejects the classic Protestant approach which acknowledges the existence of textual variants in the transmission of manuscripts while also affirming the providential preservation and reception of Holy Scripture.

See Thomas Watson’s comments on the preservation of both the matter and form of Holy Scripture.

Seventh, MW thus wrongly concludes that Psalm 12:6-7 is completely irrelevant as an apologetic prooftext for both the purity of Scripture (in content and words) (v. 6) and the preservation of Scripture (v. 7), as well as the preservation of God’s people (v. 7), and suggests that anyone who holds such a view in like Athanasius standing along against the world.

He does not acknowledge that one might well hold a “both-and” perspective on Psalm 12:7. It refers both to God’s preservation of his needy people and the preservation of everyone of his promises (words) to them. This indeed is a distinct theme we see elsewhere in Scripture (see Isaiah 59:20-21).

Counter to MW’s conclusion, the view that Psalm 12:6-7 applies to the preservation of the purity of Scripture is hardly an “Athanasius” that must stand “against the world.” Even MW’s own article lists more than 20 historical figures who held such a position.

JTR

The Vision (3.14.25): Introductory Thoughts on Ephesians

 

Note: We began a new Sunday morning exposition last Lord’s Day at CRBC through the book of Ephesians. Listen to sermon here.

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:1).

Today, we begin an exposition of this first of three “churchly” prison epistles (Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians), Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus. This letter is filled with some of the most profound and most practical teaching in all of Holy Scripture.

The great Welsh minister David Martyn Lloyd-Jones who preached through this book over the course of eight years from his pulpit in London, from 1954-1962, and whose sermons were later published in eight volumes, states in the introduction to the first volume: “The epistle to the Ephesians is the most ‘mystical’ of Paul’s epistles, and nowhere does his inspired mind soar to greater heights” (Ephesians Vol. 1:6).

Let me sample a bit of the content to whet our appetite:

It contains the “magna charta” of the Biblical doctrines of grace and the Biblical view of good works in Ephesians 2:8-10: “For by grace are ye saved through faith….”

It contains the great household code, including the teaching on the relationship between Christian wives and husbands in Ephesians 5:21-33 (esp. vv. 22, 25).

It contains a great metaphor for militancy in the Christian life in Ephesians 6:11-17, exhorting Christians to “put on the whole armour of God” (v. 11).

There is indeed some of the most foundational teaching in the whole NT, the whole Bible, in Ephesians, and we will get to study it together, God willing, in the coming months.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle