New Testament Class

Saturday, January 16

7:22 AM New Testament 2 begins next Thursday. It’s all about becoming New Covenant Christians, about following the downward path of Jesus, about towel and basin ministries that attract not-yet Christians to the Good News.

Information leads to internalization and finally to implementation.

The famous painter Henri Matisse once said, “Artists should have their tongues cut out.” An artist’s message should come through on the canvas, not through the chatter of words. I can hear the apostle saying to Timothy and Titus, “If you need to, cut out your tongue and do your ministry, not only talk about it. Let the sheer demonstration of your kingdom lifestyle be what impacts the lives of others.”

The first book my students will read this semester is this one:

A few quotes if I may:

  • Orthodoxy is incomplete — a disastrous aberration even — without orthopraxy.
  • God is calling out a people who are committed to living lives of genuine obedience to Christ.
  • Anyone who tries to make Jesus into a conservative or a liberal must be reading a different Bible than the one I know and love.
  • It is my conviction that only when the church keeps its involvement nonpartisan can it go about its legitimate business of serving humanity.
  • Power has ruined America. Not only on the liberal left. Now it seems to have done the same for the religious right.
  • By “followers of Jesus” I do not mean mere admirers of Jesus, but people radically committed to following his example and teachings– a minority group, if you will, within a culture created by Christian majority groups.
  • Neither passive withdrawal nor pro-establishment politicking will do.
  • The American church has forgotten this servant role of Christianity. We attempt to exploit the powers rather than persuade them to conform to the way of Christ.
  • It is relatively easy to follow Jesus to the cross, but it is considerably more difficult to follow him on the cross.

As I stand before my students and listen to them talk about their churches and ministries, I see these questions in their hearts and hear them in their voices. What is keeping us from obedience? Selfishness, comfort, expediency, church tradition, fear of rejection, control. These have kept me bound for years, but they cannot accompany the downward path of Jesus. Unless you leave all behind you can’t be a real disciple.

So that’s what our class will be all about. Will we study the theme and date of Romans or the discourse structure of Hebrews? Absolutely. Will we accept Jesus’ invitation to be a disciple worthy of him? Stay tuned.

(From Dave Black Online. Used by permission. David Alan Black is author of a number of Energion titles, include The Jesus Paradigm and Why Four Gospels.)

On Christian Freedom

Sunday, January 3, 2020

8:38 AM Hey folks! Are you a teacher? I am. And it’s “Back to School Day” tomorrow. What should be our basic attitude as teachers toward our students? A famous quote from Martin Luther comes to mind. He said:

Ein Christenmensch ist ein freier Herr über alle Dinge und niemand untertan. Ein Christenmensch ist ein dienstbarer Knecht aller Dinge und jedermann untertan.

This is from his great booklet Von der Freiheit eines Christenmenschen

Druck mit einem Text Martin Luthers “Von der Freyheyt eynisz Christen menschen. Martinus Luther. Vuittembergae. Anno Domini 1520.” Erstellt wurde die Schrift im Jahr 1520 von dem Drucker Johann Rhau-Grunenberg.

I supposed we could render the German as:

A Christian is the most free lord of all and subject to no one; a Christian is a dutiful servant of all and subject to everyone.

Christian freedom is no more freedom to do what I please in reference to my old sinful nature as it is to do what I please in reference to my neighbor. Freedom does not allow us to ignore or neglect the needs of our fellow human beings. We are commanded to both love them and serve them. I have often told my students, “You’re not here to serve me; I’m here to serve you. You don’t exist to make my life easier; I exist to make your life easier.” What I’m trying to get across is that, even though they are my students, I see them first and foremost as persons for whose good I must be willing to sacrifice my time, energy, and convenience. I had teachers in college and seminary who loved their students that way. After I had completed my second year of Greek during summer school at Biola, my elderly Greek teacher, who used a cane, knowing that I was leaving for Hawaii the next day, hobbled all the way across campus to my dorm room and up a flight of stairs just to hand me my graded final exam and to congratulate me on a job well done. That memory is seared into my brain. The popular image today of a teacher as a cold and cruel taskmaster is completely foreign to the teaching of the New Testament. We are through love to become each others’ slaves (Gal. 5:13).

Fellow teachers and fellow students, if we love one another we will serve one another. The marks of love — please note, Dave! — include patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, and faithfulness. To truly love our students is not to exploit them for ourselves but to serve them sacrificially for their good. Of course, some will try and take advantage of you, but I’m not talking about them.

So there you have it. My secret sauce for successful schooling. 

(From Dave Black Online. Used by permission. David Alan Black is author of Energion titles The Jesus Paradigm and Why Four Gospels, among many others.)

Books Read in 2020 – David Alan Black

Thursday, December 31

12:50 PM I’m an avid reader, as many of you are. So I thought I’d collect and photograph some of the books I read in 2020 that I enjoyed the most. 

Mind you, these are 13 out of hundreds of books I read this past year. Each has helped me get perspective on some topic or issue I was working through/thinking about. I’m pretty much a huge fan of these authors, even when I disagree with them (Scot McKnight and I do not agree on a whole lot). 

One of them even had the audacity to call for an end to church buildings (hmm, maybe like Bonhoeffer did?). Two of these authors are Greek grammarians, and we all know how much people love them

The book by James McWhorter merits a nod because it’s about language and how language works, and because he discusses these subjects with both aplomb and humor. 

And what can I say about Malcolm Muggeridge? You’ve never heard of him, right? 

Reading Muggeridge is dangerous. He might actually change the way you think about Christianity. 

Muggeridge was always talking about the bankruptcy of politics and how materialistic societies are prone to hero-worship. Having by and large ceased to believe in God, we pay increasing obeisance to the king or the president, creating a kind of ersatz religion. Little wonder he was banned from the BBC. 

Behind the Ranges is about missionary J. O. Fraser. 

It’s a must read. It was a required textbook back in the day at Biola. It was Fraser who famously said: “I used to think that prayer should have the first place and teaching the second. I now feel that it would be truer to give prayer the first, second, and third place, and teaching the fourth.” 

Finally, where would an educator be if he or she didn’t work on their craft? That’s why I was delighted to have picked up at a library sale somewhere Suskie’s Assessing Student Learning.

So there you have it. I am never happier than when I am reading a good book. How about you? What titles did you read in 2020 that you’d recommend? Let us know on your blog or Facebook page.

From Dave Black Online, December 31, 2020. Used by permission. Dave Black is the author of a number of Energion titles, including They Will Run and Not Grow Weary.