Category Archive: Theology – Pastoral
As Long As We’re Here
Andrew Kuyvenhoven on the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 16:
Most people are sooner inclined to say that Jesus took the fear out of dying than to confess that he puts us to death while we are living. We don’t mind “dying in the Lord,” when the time comes, but we would like to continue having our own life as long as we’re here (103).
Pastoral Office
One of the greatest tragedies in the church today is the depreciation of the pastoral office. From seminaries to denominational headquarters, the prevalent mood and theme is managerial, organizational, and psychological. And we think thereby to heighten our professional self-esteem! Hundreds of teachers and leaders put the mastery of the Word first with their lips but by their curriculums, conferences, seminars, and personal example, show that it is not foremost.
One glaring example is the nature of the doctor of ministry programs across the country.
The theory is good: continuing education makes for better ministers. But where can you do a D.Min. in Hebrew language and exegesis? Yet what is more important and more deeply practical for the pastoral office than advancing in Greek and Hebrew exegesis by which we mine God’s treasures?
Why then do hundreds of young and middle-aged pastors devote years of effort to everything but the languages when pursuing continuing education? And why do seminaries not offer incentives and degrees to help pastors maintain the most important pastoral skill — exegesis of the original meaning of Scripture?
No matter what we say about the inerrancy of the Bible, our actions reveal our true convictions about its centrality and power (John Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, pp. 84-85).
Calvin for Kids
Joel has just translated and published Calvin’s “Instruction in Christian Doctrine for Young Children,” which he wrote while in Strasbourg in 1538-1539. I especially like the way it begins:
Teacher: My child, are you a Christian in fact as well as in name?
Child: Yes, my father.
Teacher: How is this known to you?
Child: Because I am baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Thanks for making this catechism available, Joel!
Faithfulness
… faithfulness to the Word of God requires the humility to trust that what God says in his Scripture is more important for a congregation to hear than what the preacher thinks the congregation needs to hear.
Phillip D. Jensen, “Preaching That Changes the Church,” When God’s Voice Is Heard, p. 142.
Quest for Assurance
Joel Beeke’s The Quest for Full Assurance opens with this paragraph:
Theologians and pastors of post-Reformation churches struggled for theological precision in defining the relationship between personal assurance of faith and saving faith. Their labors produced a rich technical vocabulary that distinguished between assurance of faith and assurance of sense; direct (actus directus) and reflexive (actus reflectus) acts of faith; assurance of the uprightness of faith and of adoption; practical (syllogismus practicus) and mystical (syllogismus mysticus) syllogisms; the principle (habitus) and act (actus) of faith; objective and subjective assurance; assurance of faith, understanding, and hope; discursive and intuitive assurance; immediate and mediate witness in assurance; and the being and well-being of faith.
Steve Schlissel quoted that paragraph at the AAPC Pastors Conference and then put his head in his hands: “Ohhhhhhh….. There’s not enough Excedrin in the room!” Why do people have to make assurance so difficult? God speaks, and we believe Him. He promises us salvation and we believe His promise. How hard is that?