I have read a lot of John Calvin. I find him to be the most consistently edifying author I spend time with. However, even Calvin can at times surprise with his depth of theological understanding, his clarity in writing and his passion for Christ.  As I studied Matthew 9:7-13, the call of Matthew, I came across a wonderful section in Calvin’s commentary on what Christ came to do. Calvin was noting that Matthew was a very wicked man when Christ called him. He also noted that it surprised the Pharisees that Jesus called Matthew.  Then Calvin explains why Christ calling the most wicked of men should not shock us.

“He [Christ] came to quicken the dead, justify the guilty and condemned, to wash those who were polluted and full of uncleanness, to rescue the lost from hell, to clothe with his glory those who were covered with shame, to renew to a blessed immortality those who were debased with disgusting vices. If we consider that this was his office and the end of his coming-if we remember that this was the reason why he took upon him our flesh, why he shed his blood, why he offered the sacrifice of his death, why he descended even to hell, we will never think it strange that he should gather to salvation those who have been the worst of men, and who have been covered with a mass of crimes.” (Commentary on Harmony of the Gospels, p. 402)

Here are some links that I have found helpful so far this week.

We tend to make reading and applying the Scriptures more complicated than it needs to be. Justin Taylor quotes J.I. Packer and Gerald Bray on the three questions we should ask as we read the Bible.

Since I am a CRE pastor, I have enjoyed Doug Wilson’s series of posts on what to expect when you visit a CRE church. Here he gives a brief defense of using various postures in worship. Here he discusses covenant renewal worship, which is the way CRE churches structure their worship services. 

If you are interested in my denomination you can go to crechurches.org.

God alone may exercise the perogative to amend his Word. In other words, Christians may not arbitrarily declare any portion of God’s Word void, including any portion of the Old Testament.  Any claim of change between the old covenant and the new covenant must be validated by further revelation of God as found in the Scriptures themselves.  We have one Bible, not two.  Both the Old and New Testaments are to direct the belief and practice of the new covenant believer.  We might as well sever a tree from its roots and expect it to survive, as to sever the old covenant from the new.  The Old and New Testaments are tied together and interdependent.  The Old Testament needs the New Testament, and the New Testament needs teh Old Testament, to be properly interpreted and understood.  Pastor Randy Booth

To You and Your Children: Examining the Biblical Doctrine of Covenant Succession by Benjamin K. Wikner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Not all essays in here are 5 stars, but most of them are very good, especially if someone is trying to get a big picture view of covenant succession. The essays that had the most impact on me were Robert Rayburns’ on the Promise of Grace, Nelson Kloosterman’s on Proverbs 22:6, Tim Bayly’s on the Emasculation of the church, and Randy Booth’s on how to pick up the pieces when parenting has gone wrong. It is odd that a lot of times books like these are accused of producing parents who presume upon God. My response to this book was gratitude for God’s grace in covering my sin and gratitude for God’s Spirit to guide me as I parent my children.

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The Christian Imagination: The Practice of Faith in Literature and Writing by Leland Ryken
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. Not every essay was great, but a lot of them were. The best part was the variety. There were long articles, short articles and lists of quotes. There were older writers and newer ones. There were articles on reading, writing, poetry, movies, fantasy, realism and why reading is such fun. There were various types of Protestants, as well as Roman Catholics. Some of the authors included were Francis Schaeffer, George MacDonald, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Wendell Berry, Gene Veith, Leland Ryken, G.K. Chesterton and Madeleine L’Engle. In short, the book was a feast of a wonderful variety of essays by a variety of people on a variety of topics.

The articles I found most helpful were the ones on evil in Christian writing. There were two in particular that were helpful in sorting out this thorny issue. Susan Wise Bauer wrote an essay called “Three Faces of Moral Evil: Christian Writers and the Portrayal of Moral Evil.” She compares three different views of evil using Stephen King as foil for one type. Also,a professor from Doane College, Richard Terrell, wrote an essay entitled “Christian Fiction: Piety Is Not Enough.” Both of these laid some groundwork for how to include sin and evil in Christian writing. Brian Godawa’s essay on the movies also addressed this issue.

I also really enjoyed Frederick Buechner essay “The Gospel as Fairy Tale” and Peter Leithart’s essay on the reader humbling himself before writer.

A good book to help fire the imagination and to get the Christian to think through how to use the imagination in a way the glorifies God.

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