Appreciating Grant Osborne

Grant Osborne is one of those people who have forgotten more things about the Bible and theology than I will ever know.

I had him as a professor at TEDS back in the day, and I learned an awful lot.  (He might dispute that. I didn't garner great grades in his very difficult classes.)

I learned how New Testament Greek really works (especially how fluid it is and how it preserves ambiguity and nuance. Greek is often a both/and language).

I learned what the New Testament actually says. We spent time in those classes down deep in Colossians, 1 Peter, John, 1-3 John, and Revelation.

I learned how to disagree agreeably and be humble about important but secondary issues. (Grant is an classic Arminian with a high degree of respect for and from his Calvinist colleagues.)

There was a lot to learn those days, and I didn't realize how much I had taken away until I was out of school and in the pastorate, working on sermons, thinking through issues, and plying the tools of the trade that Dr. Osborne had given me.

When I saw this post by Andy Naselli about a new festschrift (isn't that a great word?!) that colleagues had surprised Dr. Osborne with at the latest ETS conference, I knew that I need to post something about appreciating him.  He is all of the things that Andy says (especially humble), and I'm glad to see this book come out honoring him.

It's especially appropriate, in my mind, that it is a book on writing commentaries because Dr. Osborne probably taught me more about how to read a commentary than any other single person.  He did it by making me read them carefully, testing my understanding of them, telling me what was really important in a commentary, and recommending the best of them.

I am thankful for Grant Osborne.

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Whence Matt: Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr.

How clearly I remember the first day of Hebrew Exegesis with Ray Ortlund (RCO).

Together, we opened our copies of the Hebrew Scriptures (what we Christians lovingly call the Old Testament), and Dr. Ortlund solemnly and joyfully (yes, those two things go together) said something like this:

"Men, we have such a great privilege today. For a thousand years, almost no one read the Bible in the original languages. From Jerome until the Reformation, the treasures of this book were not explored by Christians.

Today, we all have our own copies in front of us and can read it in Hebrew, building our theology from the pointing up. What a gift of God to us, men. Let's treat this precious gift as it--a great treasure and privilege."

And then for months on end, one class at a time, we would be caught up in worship of the living God in the pages of the sacred text. My favorite was Isaiah 40--the awesome picture of our Sovereign Creator God was breathtaking and formed the basis for my first 2 and several more sermons here at LEFC.

Dr. Ortlund's passion for God is contagious and his books continued to feed my soul over the last decade (especially A Passion for God and When God Comes to Church). Now, he's begun blogging on Fridays, and his posts are each worthy of meditation.

Today's post was characteristic of what I've really learned from him and sparked my desire to write about him:

Codex Sinaiticus, the magnificent fourth-century manuscript of the Greek Bible, is now available on-line at codexsinaiticus.org. Along with every other manuscript of the Scriptures, it is the most precious thing in all the world. If the volumes in the British Museum, the art of the Louvre and all the treasures of all the libraries and museums throughout all the world were somehow burned to a crisp in a terrible fire, we would be diminished. But we would live on. If however we lost our Bibles and the manuscripts on which they are based, we would die. Our souls would die. It would take a few years for the full impact to be felt. But we would start to unravel at every level. Goofy ideas would somehow capture our foolish imaginations. The rich truths of the gospel would fade from view, we would embrace plastic substitutes, and we would congratulate ourselves on our progress. If we think we have troubles now, they are nothing, less than nothing, compared to what we would be without the Bible to stabilize us, refresh us, warn us, lift us, inspire us, shock us, correct us, fill us, empower us and keep us moving toward Christ.

Thank God for the Bible! It is the most precious thing in all the world.

Amen, and thanks, Dr. Ortlund for holding it out to us with solemn joy.

[UPDATE: I added more good stuff about RCO on August 30th.]

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Whence Matt: D.A. Carson

Andreas Kostenberger has posted a biographical sketch of D.A. Carson a former professor of mine at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. It seems very accurate to me (including some of the less flattering items). I am currently reading Carson's tribute to his father: Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor.

Reading it this morning was a good reminder of the mentoring effect Carson's example and writings have had on me, personally.

Kostenberger's description could be, in many ways, a description of what I've tried to be and do in my "patch" (as Carson would say). No one can or should be "another Carson," but a lot of the principles that drive him (unswerving gospel-centeredness, biblical scholarship driven by a belief in Scripture's inspiration, inerrancy and authority, lucidity and clarity in interpretation and exposition, pastoral passion for the church, etc) are a wonderful example for others. He is one of a select group of Christian leaders who forge a workable (though messy at times) middle-way between fundamentalism and liberalism--those leaders are one of the biggest reason that I carry the label "evangelical."

I remember Carson speaking on Psalm 1 in chapel at Moody Bible Institute, long before I knew who he was. That day, I wrote in my Bible, "Lord, make me a Psalm 1 man." And that's still my prayer.

For those of us who need heroes in the gospel (flawed as all of us may be), I think that Carson is a worthy choice, and I am extremely thankful for him.

[HT: JT]

Note: One of the best one-stop places for listening to lectures and sermons from Carson is this page maintained by Andy Naselli.

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Whence Matt? - EFCA

Today, we're off to the Allegheny District of the EFCA for our annual conference of churches.

I've been around the EFCA now for about 15 years. When I went off to Moody Bible Institute in 1991, I began attending First Evangelical Free Church of Chicago and loved it! The expressive but God-centered worship, biblical preaching, and emphasis on relationships was wonderful. Even though I was a student and couldn't be too involved in church during the week, First Free was the first church I felt was "home" for me as an adult.

Four years later, when it was time to pick a seminary, Heather and I looked high and low and decided upon Trinity Evangelical Divinity School which is owned and operated by the EFCA. One of these days, I'll blog on my experience there.

During my seminary experience, I was a youth pastor at an independent Bible church in Zion, Illinois, half and hour north of Trinity. Beach Bible Church was then pastored by an EFCA ordained man, Randy Christie. Randy has since moved to New Mexico, but Beach Bible has been adopted into the EFCA. Someday, I'll blog on some of my experiences there, too.

When graduation from TEDS came around, Heather and I met with the district superintendents of the EFCA at a week long conference on campus. We were introduced to LeRoy Glover, the DS for the Allegheny District. He mentioned that he had 7 churches looking for pastors (out of 30!) in my old stomping grounds--Eastern Ohio and Western Pennyslvania (even my beloved Cook Forest is in the Awesome Allegheny District!). Heather and I said, "Sign us up!" And (another blog story sometime), we were called to Lanse EFC in 1998.

I really enjoy the EFCA. We have a real committment to sound doctrine, especially the inerrancy of the Bible and the centrality of the Gospel, but there is also a freedom to disagree on secondary things. And there is a lot of life and passion for Christ!

In the last year, the EFCA has begun a process of potentially revising our 12 point Statement of Faith. It's an attempt to continue to be faithful to the Scriptures, improving some perceived weaknesses in the document, strengthening our stands on evangelical doctrine, and possibly broadening our stances on a few secondary doctrines. It's been interesting to see it play out as the changes have been proposed and now discussed.

I'm generally in favor of the changes and think that they will be healthy for our movement. I'm sure that all involved would appreciate your prayers for this process. It's pretty important that we do it well. Today, during the conference, we're going to hear a presentation from our EFCA president, Bill Hamel, and our director of biblical theology, Greg Strand. I'm very interested to hear what they have to say.

Our district is now led by Superintendent Jeff Powell. He's my pastor and my kids call him, "Super Jeff!" I'm looking forward to being with him and all of our district friends today.

Part of an ongoing series about major influences on my life, thought, and ministry. "Whence" is an old English word that means, "From Where?"

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Whence Matt? - Joe H. Shultz

The first real entry in this series is a bittersweet one. One of my earliest mentors, Joe H. Shultz, died last Wednesday.

Joe was a gospel ventriloquist and illusionist who worked with young people when my Dad was a teen in Canton, Ohio. I met him when I was a teen, and he was still leading youth to Christ and discipling them--and going strong. Joe was irrepressibly funny (I learned lots of things about humor from him, including spoonerisms and other funny ways of talking), engaging to listen to, and full of Scripture. He was a definite influence on my life and ministry.

Joe took me to my first Fellowship of Christian Magicians Conference when I was only a teen. It was at FCM that I first began to feel the tug towards a proclamation ministry (initially using my juggling skills!).

Then, when I was at Moody, Joe led me through an evangelism internship in Wichita, Kansas. He lined up several opportunities for me to speak about Christ, counsel spiritual seekers, and watch him in action. It really gave me a feel for the life of an itinerant evangelist and the privileges and difficulties of gospel ministry. We also had a lot of one-on-one time during that two-week internship. Up until that time, I had not had many close mentoring relationships. Joe was a first. I still do many of the things Joe taught me and remember a lot of the wisdom that he shared with me those two weeks in Wichita.

One of my regrets in ministry has been (and now I'll have to live with it forever) is that I never had Joe out to preach in our church here in Pennsylvania. I'm sure that it would have been a rich, fun, and Christ-honoring experience.

But I'm happy for Joe that he is now in the presence of the Savior. There is no better place to be.

[This is a little of what Joe meant to me. But he meant a lot more to a lot of people. Joe H. Shultz's full obituary posted was in the Canton Repository on Saturday.]

Part of an ongoing series about major influences on my life, thought, and ministry. "Whence" is an old English word that means, "From Where?"

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Whence Matt?

In this ongoing series of posts, I’d like to write about major influences on me through the years. What people, schools, institutions, denominations, and other influences helped shaped me to be what I am? I won’t write about all of them (who could really come up with all of them, and who would really care?), but I do want to honor those that really helped to form me in significant ways.

("Whence" is an old English word that means, "From Where?")

This is a self-portrait in my favorite place in the world: Cook Forest State Park.

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