stylos
Stylos is the blog of Jeff Riddle, a Reformed Baptist Pastor in North Garden, Virginia. The title "Stylos" is the Greek word for pillar. In 1 Timothy 3:15 Paul urges his readers to consider "how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar (stylos) and ground of the truth." Image (left side): Decorative urn with title for the book of Acts in Codex Alexandrinus.
Monday, June 09, 2025
Tuesday, June 03, 2025
Book Note: Archaic or Accurate? The translation of scripture and how we address God in praise and prayer--Thou or You?
Monday, June 02, 2025
Note: On the translation/interpretation of Ephesians 4:12
There
is a major question about how to translate Ephesians 4:12, and a big part of
that involves a single comma.
The
older Protestant translations, like the AV, generally list three things that
the pastor-teachers are supposed to do:
“For
the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of
the body of Christ.”
First,
they are to labor at the “perfecting [maturing] of the saints.” Christ said, “Be
ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect”
(Matthew 5:48). In Colossians 1:28 Paul said the goal of his ministry was, “that
we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”
Second,
they are to do the work of ministry. What is the work of ministry? We get an
idea of this from Acts 6:4 when the apostles said they wanted to give themselves
to prayer and the ministry of the Word.
Third,
they labor “for the edifying of the body of Christ.” They want to see the
spiritual health, safety, and spiritual growth of God’s people.
In
the 20th century some translations removed the first comma and said
Paul was saying the task of ministers was to equip all the saints for
the work of ministry. Compare:
NIV: “to
equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built
up”
ESV: “to
equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,”
It
probably won’t surprise you to learn that I think the older translation is
best. I think so for two reasons:
First,
it reflects the grammar of the original Greek construction better. There are three
distinct prepositional phrases (προς… εις… εις…).
Second,
theologically and functionally it fits better the description elsewhere given
of the special roles given to ministers.
The new
translations reflect a modern egalitarian view. I remember growing up in SBC
churches where the theme in many of those churches was “every member a
minister.” To a certain degree that is true. All Christians are called to ministry.
But not all are called to be pastors and teachers. See James 3:1: “My brethren,
be not many master [teachers]….” And it is this special role that Paul is
describing here.
JTR
Friday, May 30, 2025
The Vision (5.30.25): One Lord, one faith, one baptism
Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Ephesians 4:1-6.
One
Lord, one faith, one baptism (Ephesians 4:5).
In
Ephesians 4:1-3 the apostle Paul describes several marks of those who are “walking
worthy of the vocation” to which they were called. In other words, these are marks
of those who profess to be Christians and who then conduct themselves as
Christians. One of those marks is “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace” (4:3).
In
Ephesians 4:4-6 Paul stresses the importance of unity among believers. He then
uses the term “one” no less than seven times to emphasize the ground for Christian
unity. We have one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all.
Let
me focus on three of those “one”s which are listed in quick order in v. 5:
As
Christians we have one Lord. That
is the Lord Jesus Christ. There are not many Saviors and many Lords but one
Lord. As Peter preached in Jerusalem, “Neither is there salvation in any other:
for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved” (Acts 4:12).
We
have one faith. Here faith means
not merely the personal trust in Christ, but one orthodox (right-believing) confession
of faith. In Titus 1:4 Paul called Titus his own son, “after the common faith.”
In Jude 3, that servant of Jesus Christ exhorted believers, “that ye
should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the
saints.” Orthodox doctrine does not divide. It unites faithful Christians.
And
there is one baptism. Not only was Paul
saying that baptism, when rightly ordered, should happen just once in the
believer’s life, but also that true baptism (by the Spirit and then by water)
comes to those who hear the preaching of the gospel, repent of their sins and
believe in Christ. The one baptism is that experienced by those who have been
born again.
May
the Lord grant us unity, upon the basis of these marks, within our particular
local church and with believers around the world.
Grace
and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
R. L. Dabney on those who delight in criticizing and amending "the received English version"
R. L. Dabney warns against those who delight in criticizing and amending “the received English version” “this precious work of our ancestors”:
"The most reprehensible pedantry of all is that which delights in criticizing and amending the received English version. Instead of seeking for opportunities to point out errors in this precious work of our ancestors, its credit should be carefully sustained before the people, whenever this can be done without an actual sacrifice of our integrity and of the truth of the text. The general excellence of the translation merits this treatment. Such were the learning and labour of its authors, that he who is most deeply acquainted with sacred criticism will be found most modest in assailing their accuracy in any point. But it is far more important to remark, that this version is practically the Bible of the common people—the only one to which they can have familiar access. If their confidence in its fidelity is overthrown, they are virtually robbed of the written word of God…. Thus let the confidence of your hearers in their English Bibles be preserved and fortified."
-Evangelical Eloquence, 162-163.
Saturday, May 24, 2025
Friday, May 23, 2025
The Vision (5.23.25): Unto him be glory in the church
Note: Devotion based on last Sunday's sermon on Ephesians 3:14-21.
Unto him be glory in
the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen
(Ephesians 3:21).
The third chapter of
Ephesians ends with a prayer by the apostle Paul. It begins in v. 14, “For this
cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Kneeling is not
the only Biblically sanctioned posture for prayer. The reference to Paul‘s kneeling
reflects his humility before the Lord in worship.
Paul was a man of
prayer. He urged believers to engage in constant prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
We talk about something bursting into flames. Paul would sometimes burst into
spontaneous prayer! Here it is in writing. If he did this in writing one can
only imagine how he must have done so in normal conversation.
We can notice a prayer
pattern. Paul first worships the Lord (vv. 14-15), bending the knee before him.
He then petitions the Lord (vv. 16-19). He asks the Lord, according to his
riches in glory, to strengthen the believers in the inner man (v. 16). We tend
to think first of needs of the outer man, the external condition. But Paul
teaches in this prayer another priority. He pleads for the strengthening of the
inward condition of believers.
He further asks that
Christ “may dwell in your hearts by faith” (v. 17a). R. C. Sproul points out, despite
the popularity among evangelicals of this image of Christ dwelling in the
believer’s heart, that this is “the only place in the whole Bible that mentions
Christ dwelling in our hearts” (Ephesians, p. 87).
In v. 17b Paul mixes
metaphors of agriculture and masonry, asking that believers might be rooted (an
organic, agricultural image) and grounded (a structural image, cf. 2:20-21) in
love.
To what end? That we
might be able to comprehend the vast greatness of God in Christ (v. 18). That we
might know “with all saints” the breadth (the wideness, the thickness) and the
length, and depth, and height of God. The theologians remind us that the finite
cannot comprehend the infinite. We cannot know all of God, or we would be God.
But to some limited degree he allows us to comprehend his magnitude and his
vast greatness.
Paul petitions, in
particular, that the Ephesian believers might know “the love of Christ” and
fill them “with all the fullness of God” (v. 19).
Finally, Paul concludes
with doxology and adoration (vv. 20-21). He ascribes glory to the one who is
able to do more than we could ever ask or imagine (v. 20).
His final petition is
that God might be given glory “in the church” (v. 21). In answer to the
question as to man’s chief end, the Catechism teaches, “To glorify God and to
enjoy him forever.”
God gets glory in his
creation and through the lives of individual believers, but here Paul reminds
us that God also gets glory in the church. This includes the invisible (mystical)
church of all times and places, and the concrete, visible, and local church.
Why does our particular
church, or any other church, exist? To give glory to God.
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
The Vision (5.16.25): The Mystery of Christ
Note: Devotion based on sermon on May 11, 2025 on Ephesians 3:1-13.
In Ephesians 3:4 Paul speak of “the mystery of Christ,”
and in v. 5 he notes the unprecedented revelation of the knowledge of this
mystery that was being made known to believers in their own day, “Which in
other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto
his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.”
This conveys the privileges that are given to all
believers who live in the gospel age. Peter said something similar in 1 Peter
1:12 when he noted that the gospel now revealed includes things which “the
angels desire to look into.” The humblest believer in this age knows things the
angels desired to know and that Moses and Isaiah did not yet see clearly.
And what is this mystery now revealed? See Ephesians
3:6: “That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and
partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.”
Notice the three descriptions:
First, the Gentiles are “fellowheirs.” In Romans 8:17
Paul calls believers “joint heirs with Christ.” But Paul’s point here is that
we Gentile believers are fellowheirs with Jewish believers like Peter and Paul.
We have received an inheritance that was not ours. We were “written into the
will” as it were, even though we are outsiders!
Second, they are “of the same body.” See Ephesians
2:16: We were reconciled unto God “in one body by the cross.”
Third, they are partakers of his promise in Christ. All
the promises given to the Old Testament saints are now given to us: That God
would be our God, and we would be his people. That he would redeem us and dwell
with us. That he would give to us the heavenly country.
We are co-heirs, co-bodied, and co-partakers. All this
is “by the gospel.” By the good news of what God has accomplished in the death,
burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Jeff Riddle