R. L. Dabney on those who delight in criticizing and amending "the received English version"

 

From X post:

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.

WM 329: Scrivener Series.Part 3 of 3: Did Scrivener "Back Translate" his Greek NT from the KJV?

 

JTR

The Vision (5.23.25): Unto him be glory in the church

 

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

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

 

Image: Red Hot Poker (Torch Lily), North Garden, Virginia, May 2025.

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

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