Edward Taylor against the heretics

I'm trying to read a poem a day by Edward Taylor, the New England Puritan. I don't always get what he's trying to say as the language is sometimes quite obscure. What's 'inckt' supposed to mean? And I thought that a mall is a shopping centre, but Taylor envisages a 'mall of steel' splitting heretics' brains away. The mind boggles. 

However, this morning's poem was full of interest. It is a meditation on Colossians 1:15, entitled, 'The First Born of Every Creature'. The text is often cited by Arians, Socinians and Jehovah's Witnesses to prove that as the 'firstborn over all creation', Christ was not the eternal Son of God. Edward Taylor is having none of it. In his poem he asserts the full deity of Christ and threatens heretics with a grisly fate.

First Born of e'ry Being: hence a Son
      Begot o'th'First: Gods onely Son begot.
Hence Deity all ore. Gods nature run
      Into a Filiall Mould: Eternal knot.
      A Father then, and a Son: persons distinct.
      Though them Sabellians contrar'ly inckt.

This mall of Steel falls hard upon thy foes
      Of truth, who make the Holy Trinity
Into One Person: Arians too and those
      Socinians calld, who do Christs Deity
      Bark out against, But Will they, nill they, they
      Shall finde this Mall to split their brains away.

Nice.

As Taylor recognises, using Colossians 1:15 to deny the full deity of Christ is to misinterpret the text. That Jesus is the “firstborn of creation” does not mean the Son was the first creature that God made. Arians and their theological heirs and successors deny the eternal pre-existence of Jesus, saying that there was a time when the Son was not. Over and against Arian error the church confessed that the Son was “begotten not created” at the Council of Nicea in 325AD. Arians have badly misunderstood what Paul is saying here. They make him contradict what he says later on in the passage. If the Son was created, then how does Colossians 1:16 make sense, let alone Colossians 1:17?

So, the apostle was no Arian. For Paul Jesus was very much included in the divine identity, Romans 9:5. But what does he mean when he calls Jesus the “firstborn over all creation”. In the immediately previous verses Paul has described salvation as a new exodus, Colossians 1:12-14. And the exodus event also provides the key to Paul’s meaning here. In Exodus 4:22 God describes Israel as 'my son, my firstborn'. Firstborn sons had special inheritance rights. Pharaoh was to let Israel go so that God's firstborn could claim his inheritance,  Exodus 4:23, 6:8 The firstborn in Egypt were killed at Passover, but the Passover lamb was substituted for the firstborn children of Israel. They were redeemed by blood, Exodus 12:12-13. Israel's firstborn therefore belonged to the Lord, Exodus 13:2 & 15. The firstborn had a special prominence and importance, Psalm 89:27. To conclude, in Old Testament revelation the 'firstborn' were associated with a cluster of ideas: preeminence, ownership, inheritance and redemption.

So, when Paul describes Jesus as the 'firstborn over all creation' he is not suggesting that Jesus was the first thing God made. As Taylor said, the Son is fully God, 'Deity all ore'. Paul's point is that as the 'firstborn' Jesus belongs to God. He is God's “own Son” Romans 8:32, “the Son of his love” Colossians 1:13, John 3:16. Also as the firstborn son, Jesus has the right of inheritance, Romans 8:17. But although God spared the firstborn children of Israel by substituting the Passover lamb, he did not spare his own Son, Colossians Colossians 1:14, 1 Corinthians 5:7. As the 'firstborn over all creation', Christ is creation's 'kinsman redeemer' who liberates the world from the tyrannical grip of sin. This is a thought that Paul will take up at greater length in Colossians 1:20.

There is more to redemption than personal salvation. Christ's work has cosmic dimensions, Romans 8:21. This is how big our Jesus is. He has acted to redeem creation from all the terrible effects of the fall. This is the Jesus we must preach. This is the Jesus we worship. He is the 'firstborn over all creation'. He’s got the whole world in his nail pierced hands.

Taylor concludes his poem with a prayer,

Make mee thy Babe, and him my Elder Brother

     A Right Lord grant me in his Birth Right high.

His Grace, my Treasure make above all other:

      His Life my Sampler: My Life his joy.

      I'le hang my love then on his heart, and sing

      New Psalms of Davids Harpe to thee and him.

(The Poems of Edward Taylor, University of North Carolina Press, 1989, p. 84-85) 

Scarlet is like the sound of a trumpet

My current 'waiting room book' is The Letters of John Newton. I have an old 1965 edition Banner reprint, priced 4s6d. The other day I took a family member to the Doctors and while waiting I got stuck in to Newton's letter on Spiritual Blindness, p. 35-40. In it he draws on a fascinating illustration from the writings of John Locke, the famous English philosopher. That Newton was familiar with Locke's works was interesting enough in itself. Jonathan Edwards, yes, but  the Old Sea Captain? You never can tell.

Newton refers to Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. In the essay, (Chapter IV:11 here) Locke reflects on the relationship between objects as encountered by the senses and words used to name or describe those objects. He argues that words alone cannot create an accurate idea of an object in the mind. Only when an object has been seen, heard or handled as the case may be can words be meaningfully used to define the object encountered. We can only say that an object is "red" because our eyes are able to distinguish colours that exist in the real world. The word "red" on its own would signify nothing apart from our being able to see objects of that colour.

This is where Newton's Lockean illustration comes in. Locke is out to demonstrate that the word "scarlet" has no meaning for a blind man, who is unable to perceive objects of that colour with his darkened eyes,

A studious blind man, who had mightily beat his head about visible objects, and made use of the explication of his books and friends, to understand those names of light and colours which often came in his way, bragged one day, That he now understood what scarlet signified. Upon which, his friend demanding what scarlet was? The blind man answered, It was like the sound of a trumpet. Just such an understanding of the name of any other simple idea will he have, who hopes to get it only from a definition, or other words made use of to explain it

Now, the blind man was very close. Brilliantly perceptive in fact. We often speak of red as a "loud" or "blaring" colour, using sound to describe what the eye alone can see. If scarlet had a sound, it would be the sound of a trumpet. But Locke was right, the redness of red, its bold, postbox brightness cannot in fact be perceived or understood by a blind man.

Newton's intention, however is not to discuss the finer points of empirical philosophy. His point is this, "Nor can all the learning and study in the world enable any person to form a suitable judgement of divine truth, till the eyes of the mind are opened". One may have a knowledge of the Bible, but without the spiritual enlightenment that comes with the new birth there is no true perception of the power, grace and beauty of Jesus Christ. John Newton knew what he was talking about,

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

Get thee to a nunnery

Sarah and I headed to the lovely old Wiltshire village of Lacock today. It isn't too far away, about 20 minutes drive. But that's far enough for us to feel that we had a nice day out. Lacock is famous as the setting for various films and costume dramas, including the Harry Potter movies and BBC adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and Cranford.  

The village is full of character and olde-worlde charm. Original Tudor-style houses abound, some small and cottagey and others more grand and imposing. Quirky shops nestle on narrow streets. Lacock features a large tithe barn and part of the village is only accessible by car by traversing a ford. With all the recent rain, the stream was flowing rather fast today. You'd need a decent 4x4 to get across. 

We had a good pub lunch in the Carpenters Arms, wandered around the village a little more before heading for Lacock Abbey, a National Trust property. As the name suggests, the stately old pile was originally an Abbey of the Augustinian order. It became a manor house when Henry VIII abolished such institutions. 

William Henry Fox Talbot, who once owned the house, was a pioneer of photography, inventing the photographic negative. The Fox Talbot museum, located at the entrance to the Abbey grounds, is entirely devoted to photography. A fine exhibition of some of the photographs of Basil Pao, Michael Palin's travelling companion was worth a look. 

We've been round the Abbey itself many times, but since we last visited more of the property has been opened up to visitors. What used to be the entrance to the Abbey is now the exit, which confused us a bit. Trying to get in we made for the courtyard, which hosts a second hand bookshop. I snapped up The Lion Christian Poetry Collection, a 500-page hardback, containing over 700 poems, for only £3. 

The entrance to the house is now via the old Abbey cloisters, featured above. Once inside it was nice to have a nose around some of the rooms that were formerly off limits to the public. One of the rooms boasts a mini-grand piano, on top of which is a note inviting guests to ask a guide if they wish to play. A young lad of about 13-14 years of age stepped up to the piano and started playing what I think was one of the movements from Beethoven's Hammerklavier suite. The solemn and complex sound filled the large room. Amazing. 

Wandering around the old Augustinian Abbey made me think about the Reformation and its impact on our nation's life. According to B. B. Warfield, the Reformation was nothing less than the triumph of Augustine's doctrine of grace, 

But even so, it is Augustine who gave us the Reformation. For the Reformation, inwardly considered, was just the ultimate triumph of Augustine's doctrine of grace over Augustine's doctrine of the Church. (Warfield, Calvin and Augustine, P&R, p. 321-22).

A good day out.

The Intolerance of Tolerance by D. A. Carson

The Intolerance of Tolerance, 

D. A. Carson, Paperback 186p, IVP

Don Carson has been reflecting on the issue of tolerance for a number of years. He touched on the subject in The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism, Zondervan, 1996 and returned to it in Christ and Culture Revisited (reviewed here), Apollos/IVP, 2008. In fact, Carson sees this volume as a supplement to Christ and Culture Revisited. In this book-length treatment he has the space to develop thoughts that could only be hinted at in his earlier works. As promised, here is my review. 

Carson’s basic thesis is that the meaning of tolerance has changed in the last few decades. Tolerance used to mean putting up with views with which we might strongly disagree. More recently tolerance has taken on a new aspect, involving the acceptance of all views as equally valid.

The old tolerance involved a commitment to truth as well as a willingness to allow people with whom we disagree to say what they think. The new tolerance barely acknowledges that there is any such thing as truth.   Accordingly, it is regarded as the height of intolerance to suggest that one’s views are right and others are wrong. Such “intolerance” simply should not be tolerated.  

As a con-coercive faith, Christianity sits comfortably with the older understanding of tolerance. The new tolerance, however his highly problematic because we believe in truth, the truth of God’s word, revealed supremely in Jesus Christ.

Carson details the intolerance of the “new tolerance” when it comes to the worlds of government, education, the law, the media, “gay rights”, and the Christian faith. His examples are drawn from incidents in the USA and the UK. In an increasingly secular age faith-based values are being squeezed out of public life.

In a final chapter the writer suggests some ways ahead when it comes to responding to the “new tolerance” from a Christian standpoint. His “Ten Words” call for a robust confession of the truth and civility in public discourse.

This timely book is highly recommended.

* Reviewed for Protestant Truth

Confessions of an ageing mod

It was an early start for a Saturday morning. Up at 6.30am for an 8.00am meeting. That's right 8.00am on a Saturday. But with the promise of tasty bacon butties, washed down with a mug of two of steaming hot coffee, off I went to a men's breakfast at Clink Evangelical Church, Frome. Well, it was the food and the fact that I'd agreed to speak at the meeting that got me out of bed so early on a Saturday. I'm happy to say that the breakfast was great and I enjoyed the fellowship. Whether my talk was any good I'm  not so sure, but here's more or less what I had to say.

From mod to God

The 1980's witnessed something of a mod revival. Sharp three button suits and crisp button-down shirts replaced the wilful ugliness of punk. A generation of teenagers rediscovered Motown soul classics and reconnected with The Who, The Kinks and The Small Faces. All of this was inspired by a slew of mod revival bands; Secret Affair, The Merton Parkas, and above all, The Jam. In March 1980 Going Underground topped the charts for three weeks in a row. The mods were back. 'Bliss was it to be alive in that dawn. But to be young was very heaven!' (With apologies to William Wordsworth). At least that's what I thought at the time.

Being a mod was both a help and a hindrance in my journey towards the Christian faith. 

Man in the corner shop

In my mid-teens I became disillusioned with atheism and became more and more attracted to belief in God. It was all a little vague and hazy at the time, but I remember looking at the beauty of nature and thinking, "Wow. God, not the Big Bang must have made this world." That realisation didn't really change my lifestyle much, but it was a step in the right direction. Going to a local church youth group also helped to concentrate my mind on matters of faith.

Some of the music that I listened to at the time also made me think. There is a song on The Jam's album, Sound Affects called, Man in the Corner Shop. It's all about thwarted aspiration and inter-class rivalry. The shop customer is jealous of the shop owner, and the shop owner in turn is jealous of the boss from the factory. Unexpectedly, this social disharmony is resolved not by a Marxist revolution, but by the people of the area going to church,

Go to church do the people from the area,

All shapes and classes sit and pray together.

For here they are all one,

For God created all men equal.

But what is it that causes people to envy and hate one another? Paul Weller reflects on this in Carnation,  a song from the The Jam's last studio album, The Gift.

It begins,

If you gave me a fresh carnation

I would only crush its tender petals

With me you'll have no escape

And at the same time there'll be nowhere to settle -

The song continues,

I am out of season all year 'round

Hear machinery roar to my empty sound

Touch my heart and feel winter

Hold my hand and be doomed forever -

But what is this incarnation of cruelty and heartlessness? In the last verse Weller hold up a mirror to his listeners,

And if you're wondering by now who I am

Look no further than the mirror -

Because I am the Greed and Fear

And every ounce of Hate in you.

Like Nathan the prophet to king David, Weller is saying, "You are the man" (2 Samuel 12:7). You are the problem. You are the sinner. He offers no way of salvation, but Carnation confronts us with the reality of own own personal sinfulness. The song haunted my imagination and wouldn't go away. It was one of the means by which the Lord pursued me.

The enemy

In mod mythology the greatest battle of world history was not Thermopylae, where the three hundred Spartan 'Immortals' held a million Persian invaders at bay. Neither was it Trafalgar, Waterloo, World War I, or World War II. Rather it was the clash of parka wearing mods and leather clad rockers on Brighton beach in 1964. Churchill's words at the height of the Second Word War were appropriated in commemoration of the affray, "We'll fight them on the beaches". This exposes something of the ugly heart of the mod movement and its association with mindless violence and tribalism. In the 1980's the enemy was not rockers, but punks and skinheads. But the old hatred of other tribes that sometimes erupted into violence was just the same.

However, I came to realise that my biggest enemy was not a punk with spiked-up hair or a skinhead with Doctor Martin boots, but the enemy within. How was I going to win the battle against myself, against the 'greed and fear and every ounce of hate in me'? The mod movement provided no answers to that question. That is why I needed Christ.

The Son of God became man in order to destroy the works of the evil one. By his perfect life, atoning death and mighty resurrection Jesus has defeated our true enemy; the dark alliance of Satan, sin and death. Jesus offers all who believe in him forgiveness of sin, the power of his Spirit within and the hope of everlasting life. This now is my song, 

In Eden - sad indeed that day -

My countless blessings fled away,

  My crown fell in disgrace.

But on victorious Calvary

That crown was won again for me -

  My life shall all be praise

Faith! See the place, and see the tree

Where heaven's Prince, instead of me,

  Was nailed to bear my shame.

Bruised was the serpent by the Son,

Though two had wounds, there conquered One -

  And Jesus was His Name.

(William Williams, 1717-91) 

Porcelain gods

My mod hero was The Jam's frontman, Paul Weller. I doggedly collected all The Jam's singles on vinyl and tried to copy Weller's style. The standard rig-out was Sta-Prest trousers, bowling shoes, worn with white socks and a Fred Perry polo shirt. My outlook on life was deeply influenced by the message of Weller's songs. For me he was a real pop idol. But that idol had to be broken. Weller couldn't save me from sin, or give my life meaning and purpose. The sorry trail of broken relationships that has marked his life, together with the musician's well-documented problems with drink and drugs testify to his own need of God’s life-transforming power.  As Weller said himself on his solo album, Stanley Road, he was 'just a porcelain god that shatters when it falls'.

On his return to form album, 22 Dreams, Weller has a track entitled, God. The song makes some good points about people only calling on the Almighty when they need him. But Weller's attempt to bargain with God (“save the lives of those I love/And take me instead”) belies the fact that his "God" is not the gracious and loving God of the Gospel who freely offers us grace and mercy in Christ. 

I still like Paul Weller's his music, at least some of it. I was glad to see his new album, Sonik Kicks reach number one. But he is no longer my idol. Now I worship another, the one true and living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is my Creator, my Redeemer, my Lord, my hope, my life. “The gods of the nations are idols, but our God made the heavens.” (Psalm 96:5).

Looking Good isn't important, it's everything

Being a mod meant looking the part. The mod's favourite fashion label is Ben Sherman, whose motto is,

"Looking Good isn't important, it's everything."

While I still may be partial to a nice Ben Sherman shirt or pair of jeans, I don't agree that looking good is everything. After all, being overly concerned with looks and style is vain and superficial. That said, as befits an ageing mod, all my suits have three button jackets, and my ties tend to be on the skinny side. Once a mod always a mod.

The Christian vision of looking good involves more than clothing. Living the Christian life involves putting off the old life of sin and putting on a new life of holiness and love, Ephesians 4:22-24. That's looking good by being good, Matthew 5:16. 

Mods aspired to be 'The Face', the trendsetting cool dude with all the right threads. But for the believer nothing matters more than seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and being made like him, 2  Corinthians 4:18.*

This week

An unusual week, this one. Due to preach away on Sunday and using a couple of "golden oldies", so no fresh sermon prep. One of our people spoke on Barnabas Fund at the Prayer Meeting/Bible Study, so no prep for that either. Not having to do any prep seems weird. School governor duties Monday morning. Spoke at the Bible Study of a neighbouring church on Tuesday. Pastoral visits. Admin. Crematorium committal this afternoon. Reviewed Gleason on Bavinck and Carson on Tolerance. I say no prep this week, but I'm due to give the talk at Friday's Kids' Club, so I'll need to do something for that. Also speaking at a Men's Breakfast Saturday morning, so I made some notes for my talk, Confessions of an ageing mod. Getting in the mood by listening to Weller's Wild Wood. Reading-wise, so far got through a good chunk of Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics Vol 3 and read a couple of chapters of Iain Murray on Archibald Brown. Great stuff. Murray should learn Dutch and write the definitive Bavinck biography. Oh, and just for fun I managed to get through a chapter or two of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cites. A Dickensian dual biog, Bavinck & Kuyper: A Tale of Two Theologians would be an interesting prospect. 

Herman Bavinck: Pastor, Churchman, Statesman and Theologian by Ron Gleason

Herman Bavinck: Pastor, Churchman, Statesman, and Theologian,

Ron Gleason, New Jersey: P&R Publishing Company, 2010, xvi + 511pp.

Readers of Herman Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics, recently published in English translation will understandably want to acquaint themselves with the man behind those four majestic volumes of theology. However, apart from the biographical sketch that forms part of the introduction to each volume of Reformed Dogmatics, little information on Bavinck’s life has been available in English. Ron Gleason has made good on that lacuna with this full-length biographical study.

Gleason delves into Herman Bavinck’s family background in an attempt to discover the factors that shaped his life and thought. His father, Jan Bavinck was a Separatist pastor, serving various Christian Reformed Church congregations over the course of his ministerial career. When the time came for Herman to undertake theological study it was expected that he would enrol at the Separatist Theological Seminary in Kampen. But he caused something of a stir in Separatist circles by electing instead to study at Leiden University, a bastion of theological liberalism.

How did Bavinck manage to leave Leiden with his Reformed faith intact? Gleason suggests that his upbringing among the Separatists gave him a thorough grounding in the Scriptures and Reformed theology. This is no doubt true, but the situation was a little more complicated than that. Gleason makes no mention of the crisis of faith that Bavinck experienced while at Leiden. It would have been interesting to learn how Bavinck recovered from this so that he emerged from his theological studies capable of exposing the failings of liberalism in the light of historic the Reformed faith. His ability in this area is amply displayed in Reformed Dogmatics.

After graduating from Leiden with a theology doctorate, Bavinck became pastor of a Separatist congregation in Franeker. He was only in pastoral ministry for a year, but his time as pastor had a formative influence on his work as a theology professor. Bavinck served at the Separatist seminary in Kampen from 1882-1902 and then at the Free University Amsterdam from 1902 until his untimely death in 1921.  

Much of the biography is taken up with Bavinck’s role in the ecclesiastical politics of his day. 1892 saw the union of the Christian Reformed Church and the Doleantie Churches. The Doleanite Churches were a reformist grouping in the Dutch Reformed State Church. Under the leadership of Abraham Kuyper they took a strong line against the liberalising tendencies of their denomination. But the union was not a happy one.  There were differences of emphasis in the two bodies that formed the united Church. Strong characters on both sides vied for supremacy in the newly formed body. A particularly intractable issue was the proposed merger of the theological seminary at Kampen and the Free University in Amsterdam. Bavinck was heavily involved in the tortuous and ultimately futile negotiations.

The undisputed hero of this book is Herman Bavinck. This is his biography after all. But Abraham Kuyper is cast as something approaching the villain of the piece. Apart from an occasional lapse, Bavinck is presented as a man of patient integrity and godly wisdom. Kuyper is not without his virtues, but he comes over as a slightly sinister figure. An unflattering picture emerges of Kuyper as a man who was capable of high handed imperiousness and low political cunning. Although Bavinck and Kuyper often worked closely together, they became increasingly uneasy allies and eventually fell out over Bavinck’s scheme for the merger of the Theological Seminary and Free University. While Kuyper undoubtedly had his faults, Gleason’s account seems a little one sided at times.

Gleason concentrates on Bavinck the ecclesiastical politician and gives few glimpses of his interior life. Little is said about Bavinck as a husband and father, or his personal walk with God. Readers of Reformed Dogmatics might have liked to know how the theologian went about writing his magnum opus. While this is not a theological biography, it is a biography of a theologian. More discussion of Bavinck’s special contribution to Reformed theology and an account of his key theological ideas would not have gone amiss. A good biography will give readers the feeling that they have come as near as possible to getting know the subject personally. A compelling psychological portrait will bring the subject to life as the pages turn. Gleason gets close, but he doesn't quite get under Bavinck’s skin.

In places the work suffers from an inelegant style and poor editing. Gleason’s attempts at humour are sometimes ill-judged, such as the “joke” about the discovery of gin bottles belonging Bavinck’s alcoholic predecessor as pastor at Franeker. The occasional Americanism may grate, such as “slam dunk” (p. 92) and “However, this was a huge however…” (p. 246). Gleason intimates that he will say something about the death of Herman’s brother, Johan Gerrit in chapter 7 (p. 152). But an account of Johan’s passing is held off until chapter 8, (p. 203) The exact words used by Gleason to describe Bavinck’s mindset on page 172 are repeated in the context of Kuyper’s advice to Bavinck on the following page. The writer sometimes lapses into cliché, “Both sides had thrown down the gauntlet; a line had been drawn in the sand.” (P. 253). Such blemishes detract from the reader’s enjoyment of the book.  

Gleason’s effort is currently the only one on offer when it comes to a full-length Bavinck biography in English. His carefully researched work provides a wealth of detailed biographical information. But perhaps one could have wished for a slightly more insightful and better written account of the life of the great Dutch Reformed dogmatician. 

* Reviewed for the European Journal of Theology. 

Banner Ministers' Conference: Some Impressions

Iain Murray

As I said before I went away, I wasn't intending on taking notes at this year's Banner. I just wanted to tune in to the ministry of the Word without the distraction of fiddling around with my phone's tiny qwerty keyboard. I'll have to invest in a tablet PC of some kind. Maybe if I'm a good boy I'll get one for my birthday in August (if that doesn't sound too Pelagian in the context of a report on the Banner Conference). Handwritten notes are next to useless as my handwriting is pretty illegible.

My 'no notes' policy seemed like a good idea at the time, but on returning home I found that I haven't got much detailed recollection of what was said in the various addresses. Maybe I've got a bad case of that well documented syndrome called 'conference head'. Maybe I'm just loosing it. Only time will tell. But one thing's for sure, the near total recall I enjoyed before I hit 40 is now a thing of the past. Hazy impressions of stuff that happened in the recent past rather than HD-sharp memories now seems to be the way of things. With that in mind, you may wish to take what I write here with a pinch of salt. My impressions are arranged by speaker rather than being a day by day, session by session account. 

Ted Donnelley

I was really looking forward to hearing Ted as I have benefited immensely from his preaching in the past. At the height of his powers his ministry had a rare combination of exegetical insight, theological acumen, homiletical skill and penetrating applicatory power. But in recent years Ted had been very unwell and was unable to preach for some time. The Lord has granted him a measure of recovery and he is now able to preach once more. Ted was scheduled to speak at the first and last sessions of the conference. He made a good start preaching on, 'Let us exalt his name together', from Psalm 34:3, but sadly became disorientated and had to stop. Nevertheless, what we heard of his message, 'Let us exalt his name...' set a fitting tone for the conference. 

Maurice Roberts

Roberts was a regular Banner speaker when I first attended the conference in the late 1980's and early 90's. And despite his pot-shots at contemporary issues (new covenant theology and the new perspective on Paul) there was something decidedly old-school about his two messages at this year's event. He spoke on 'The Justice of God' (Monday evening) and 'God's Way of Holiness' (Wednesday morning). In both cases his addresses were more like lectures in systematic theology rather than an attempt to expound and apply a passage of Scripture. What he said only had a tangential relationship with the Scriptures that were read before he spoke (1 John 1 and Colossians 3 respectively). This was a shame. The conceptual clarity of systematics is of great value when it comes to distinguishing between retributive and remunerative justice and justification and sanctification, but Roberts' material was not sufficiently grounded in and shaped by biblical exegesis. The lecture on holiness made no reference to 'definitive sanctification'. His treatment of mortification and vivification was not directly related (as it is in Colossians 3) to the fact that in Christ the believer has died to the old life of sin and has been raised to a new life of holiness. There were some good points on the role of the law in the life of holiness, but the imperatives of the Christian life must be clearly rooted in the believer's union with Christ crucified and risen. 

Matthew Brennan

More exposition from Brennan, who spoke on John the Baptist - what John thought about Jesus (from John 1 & 3 - Tuesday morning) and what Jesus thought about John (from Matthew 11 - Wednesday morning). The Baptist points us to Jesus as the Lamb of God. He was willing to decrease that Christ might increase. Good stuff.

Jonathan Watson

Watson spoke on 'The Ministry We Need - Lessons from Old Princeton (Tuesday morning). I really am a bit hazy on this one, but basically Watson's affecting talk commended the Old (pre 1929) Princeton emphasis on the importance of piety and experiential godliness for the Christian Ministry. Two Banner new Banner titles are devoted to this theme (see new releases here). 

Iain Murray 

The schedule had to be re-jigged to relieve Ted Donnelley of the responsibility of preaching the closing sermon. Iain Murray stepped in and spoke on 'The Benefits and Dangers of Controversy' (Thursday morning - first session). The benefits include the defence and clarification of the truth over and against error. This must be done. The dangers include succumbing to a sectarian spirit and combative, hypercritical attitude.  Controversy must be undertaken with care. 

Alistair Begg

Begg's three exposition of Paul's letter to Titus  were probably the conference highlight for me. (Titus 1 - Tuesday evening, Titus 2 - Wednesday evening, and Titus 3 - Thursday final session). The messages were engagingly delivered and insightful, with plenty of application to the contemporary scene. While dealing with a chapter per session meant that some details of the text had to be skipped over, there was enough substance not to leave us feeing short-changed. Good points on living for Christ in an ungodly world, the vital importance of a holy and biblically sound church leadership, God's word to old and young in our congregations, dealing with error, the glory of the gospel, good works in the community etc.

And finally 

There is, of course, more to conferences than listening to the various addresses. It was good to renew fellowship with old friends, some of whom I only get to see at Banner. It is also great to make some new acquaintances at the meal table. One day you find yourself talking about the situation in Indonesia with brothers from that country, another talking Bavinck and Kyper with black-clad Dutch Reformed men. Wednesday evening's 'Taffia', an informal gathering of (mostly, but not exclusively) Welsh ministers was a great time of fellowship. The pop flowed, Pringles were crunched and Fruit Pastilles were chewed as Geoff Thomas interviewed Matthew Brennan and Alistair Begg.

Oh, and our side won Tuesday afternoon's football match with a 'golden goal' in the dying minutes. No home goals from me this year. I managed one or two tackles and  disrupted a few attack moves. I even headed the ball. A Banner first, that. And my glasses didn't fall off. Good eh?

Dates for Banner 2013: 15-18 April.
Speakers include: Sinclair Ferguson, Jonathan Watson, Michel Reeves and Jeremy Walker.  

Off to Banner

Soon I'll be heading north up the Fosse Way for the Banner Ministers' Conference in Leicester. I'm looking forward to four days of fellowship and ministry. 

I first went to Banner in the late 1980's, when I was a student at the London Theological Seminary. Back then I was young enough to attend the Youth as well as Ministers' conferences. Wouldn't get away with that now. 

Highlights include Sinclair Ferguson on Sanctification and Genesis 3:15, Ted Donelley on the Temptation of Christ and Jeremiah, Al Martin on 1 Timothy 4:16, and Geoff Thomas' biographical sketches - Howell Harris was one and  another on a chap nicknamed 'Rip Van Winckle', whose real name escapes me. 

This year I don't plan on making notes on the messages for blog reports. I simply  want to listen to the ministry and take it all in without the distraction of typing stuff on my mobile, which is a bit fiddly anyway. I'll either do a rather impressionistic report when I get home, or maybe try posting something at the end of each day, using my phone's blogger app. We'll have to see how it goes.

I was toying with taking Bavinck's RD Vol 3 with me for some conference reading, but looking up   lots of proof texts with a paper Bible is a chore compared with using Bible Gateway on my PC. Not to worry. The other day Evangelical Times kindly sent me a review copy of Iain Murray's latest, Archibald Brown: Spurgeon's Successor, published by the Banner. I enjoyed Murray's talk on Brown at last year's Banner, so the book is packed and ready to go. 

I may grace the football field on Tuesday afternoon, but certainly not Wednesday as well. There is only so much hanging back in defence a man in his mid-40's can do. Especially one who can't really play the game in the first place. There might be a reason why I was usually last to be picked at school. No home goals this year would be nice. 

A slice of Wednesday on Thursday

Yesterday we headed for Salisbury as a family member had a routine appointment at the hospital. Well, there were two appointments actually, one at 10.30am and the other at 3.40pm. With all that time to spare we headed for the city centre to grab some lunch. Also, predictably, Sarah and Rebecca wanted to do a bit of shopping. Jonathan opted to stay at home so I didn't even have anyone to talk to as the girls disappeared in the depths of New Look for an hour and a half. 

But all was not lost as I brought Don Carson's The Intolerance of Tolerance along with me. I read a few pages at the hospital and settled down to read some more in the city centre while Sarah and Rebecca hit the shops. No sooner had I parked myself on a bench, it started to rain. So, I wandered in and out of a few shops. More to stop getting wet than in the hope of buying anything. The shower quickly stopped and I was able to find a place on another bench where I could resume reading Carson. Good stuff on how the very meaning of tolerance has changed from putting up with stuff with which we don't agree to the view that honestly disagreeing with anyone is itself intolerant. Something like that anyway. I'll post a review when I'm done.

After reading a good chunk I went for a wander and ended up in Waterstones. Had a good browse, mainly in the classics, poetry and history sections before going off in search of wife and daughter so we could have lunch together. I rang Sarah's mobile only to hear her calling to me from behind. We headed for Cafe Nero, a favourite lunchtime eaterie in Salisbury. Good coffee and tasty paninis. After lunch the girls headed off to the shops and I walked aimlessly through the city centre. Found another bookshop. I can't remember what it was called, but it was a cheapo remainder job. Decent classics section, though. I'd been meaning to read some Dickens, with this year being the bicentenary of his birth. So, I snapped up A Tale of Two Cities, the Wordsworth Classics edition, for only £2. 

It was the best of times. I'd just bought a book. And the worst of times. Next I was required to give my opinion on the seemingly endless stream of outfits that Sarah and Rebecca were trying on in New Look. What's a man to do? You speak your mind, "I don't like it, its rubbish." and suddenly you are Mr. Grumpy. You tell them what you think they want to hear to get it over and done with quickly, and invite a crisis of conscience for being economical with the truth. Eventually clothes were bought  and we returned to Salisbury Hospital. 

More waiting, more reading of Carson. Started final chapter. Appointment over. Stopped reading at number 2 of Carson's ten words on tolerance. 

Drove home. 

Quick evening meal. 

Bible Study/Prayer Meeting. We discussed Zechariah 13:7-9. 

Watched The Apprentice on V+. 

And that's about it.