Biblical Studies

We Partake of a Better Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Kirk E. Miller

The following is a sermon delivered at Lake Drive Baptist Church on Sunday morning August 2nd, 2015. You will find both the audio and sermon notes below.

Podcast link.

Sermon Text: Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NASB)

31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.

33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord,

“I will put My law within them
and on their heart I will write it;
and I will be their God,
and they shall be My people.
34 “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor
and each man his brother, saying,
‘Know the Lord,’
for they will all know Me,
from the least of them to the greatest of them,”
declares the Lord,
“for I will forgive their iniquity,
and their sin I will remember no more.”

Background:

Our salvation comes to us in the form of a covenant. [Pause] This may an be odd notion.

God’s purposes to save and restore his people and his creation are promised, planned, worked out, and achieved in human history beginning in the OT. And the covenants throughout the Bible structure, drive, and advance that salvation plan.

Covenant – a binding agreement involving promises and obligations. 

The Biblical covenants aim at and pursue what God’s original intention was in creation. Think about the Garden of Eden – to have a people, in a land, under God’s rule, and amidst God’s presence.Covenant with Noah – After the flood, God expresses his commitment to creation despite human sin. He will not scratch this creation project, but he will redeem it and restore it to his original design.

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What Does a Church Consumed for the Gospel Look Like? (Philippians 4:1-3)

Kirk E. Miller

The following is a sermon delivered at Lake Drive Baptist Church on Sunday morning June 14th, 2015. You will find both the audio and sermon notes below.

Podcast link.

Introduction/broader context:

Series theme/theme of Philippians – To live a life consumed by the Gospel, i.e., the message of God’s saving activity in the person of Jesus.

  • Theme verse: 1:27 – “Live worthy the Gospel,” i.e., live a life consumed by and in keeping with the nature of the Gospel.
  • 2:1-11 (esp. v.5) – To be so consumed by Christ that we reflect the very humility of Christ.
  • Paul’s motto in 1:21 – “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Corollary theme – To be consumed by the Gospel for the Gospel, i.e., for the cause of advancing the Gospel.

  • In 1:12-26, because Paul’s motto is, “to live is Christ” (i.e., his life is consumed with Christ), he views his imprisonment as an opportunity to advance the name of Christ. –Consumed for the Gospel.
  • In his opening prayer (1:3-11), Paul speaks of the Philippians as partners with Paul in advancing the Gospel (1:5-7). –Consumed for the Gospel.
  • And through the book, Paul identifies various ways in which the Philippians are to be consumed for the Gospel. E.g., …
    • 1:27 – “Striving together for the faith of the gospel.” How? “Standing firm [i.e., steadfastness, persistence, perseverance] in one spirit, with one mind [i.e., unity, harmony].”
    • 2:14ff – They are to be “lights in the world” [i.e., a people consumed for the Gospel” by (2:14) “doing all things without grumbling or disputing [i.e., in unity]” and (2:16) “holding fast to” the Gospel [perseverance, steadfastness].

This text (Phil 4:1-3):
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RECOMMENDED: “Mystery and Fulfillment: Toward a More Comprehensive Paradigm of Paul’s Understanding of the Old and the New” by D.A. Carson

Kirk E. Miller

I just finished reading D.A. Carson’s chapter “Mystery and Fulfillment: Toward a More Comprehensive Paradigm of Paul’s Understanding of the Old and the New” in Justification and Variegated Nomism, volume 2 subtitled “The Paradoxes of Paul.” These two volumes, the first of which deals with the variegated nature of 1st century/Second Temple Judaism while the second addresses the interpretation of Paul himself, are a collection of essays which seek to respond to the claims made by what has been called the New Perspective on Paul (or better: New Perspectives [plural] on Paul).

The following is my attempt to summarize the main argument of the chapter:

Carson presents the “coherent tension” between mystery (which entails some degree of discontinuity) and fulfillment (which entails some element of preceding anticipation and thus continuity) in Paul’s thought and applies to a response to the proposals of the New Perspective.

He argues that the New Perspective on Paul, which in many ways views Paul as not diverting from Judaism but, rather, in essence advancing what could be understood as a sect of Judaism in continuity with Judaism and as fitting the criteria of “covenantal nomism,” fails to grapple with the way in which Paul’s thought, although containing a strong sense of continuity with the Old Testament and its religion, which is evidenced by Paul’s pervasive “fulfillment”-framework, nonetheless has strong currents of discontinuity, which are evidenced by his inclusion of mystery concepts alongside his “fulfillment”-framework.

In other words, he argues that the New Perspective on Paul, which stresses significant continuity between Paul and  Judaism and/or “covenantal nomism,” fails to handle with integrity the continuity and discontinuity framework in Paul, a framework evidenced by the existence of “mystery” and “fulfillment” concepts in Paul.

Although I have significant interest in the conversations and debates inspired by the proposals of New Perspective, I actually set out to read this chapter because of its interaction with matters pertaining to redemptive history, issues continuity and discontinuity, typology, the role of the law, the relationship between the Testaments, the concept of mystery in Paul and the NT, etc. Carson provides some helpful insights into these matters as he “utilizes” them in his interaction with the New Perspective.

In other words, if either the New Perspective or any of the other topics interests you, I’d add this essay to your reading list.

Goodreads Review of Bible, Gender, Sexuality: Reframing the Church’s Debate on Same-Sex Relationships by James Brownson

Kirk E. Miller

Bible, Gender, Sexuality: Reframing the Church's Debate on Same-Sex RelationshipsBible, Gender, Sexuality: Reframing the Church’s Debate on Same-Sex Relationships by James V. Brownson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If you hold to the traditional, historic Christian position on same-sex relationship (like myself), this is a fantastic book to read in order to engage with the best of the revisionist position. It is well written, structured, and formatted. And his position, although one with which I disagree, is one with which to wrestle. In other words, this is not a “pop” apologetic of the revisionist position. This is a rather scholarly defense. (Don’t read this if you merely want to be able to “straw man” the revisionist view.) I find its position unconvincing and unacceptable; but this position that I hold to be dangerously wrong is nonetheless well presented and argued here. It serves as a fantastic representation of the revisionist position. And it would greatly serve as a catalyst for strengthening and forming a well thought out traditional position on marriage and sexuality. With that said, even though I disagreed with Brownson’s final proposals, I nonetheless learned from him and agreed with much he had to say leading up to those conclusions.

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Jeremiah 31:31-34 and the New Covenant Promise

Kirk E. Miller

The following is an exegetical analysis of Jeremiah 31:31-34 submitted to Dr. Eric J. Tully in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the course OT 6217 Poetic and Prophetic Books at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL in April, 2015. The components/sections of the following paper were determined by the paper requirements.

Macro-Structure

The phrase הִנֵּה יָמִים בָּאִים נְאֻם־יְהוָה only occurs four times within Jer 30-31 (30:3; 31:27, 31, and 38).[1] In 30:3 it occurs in what appears to be something like a superscription or introduction (30:1-4) to the following collection of oracles (30:5-31:25), which ends with Jeremiah’s waking from the sleep in which he presumably received these oracles (31:26). This use of this phrase to head off this section seems to indicate that the phrase functions as a structural marker. Interestingly, the three other occurrences of this phrase in Jer 30-31 appear in much higher concentration, all within the short span of 31:27-40. This suggests (1) that 31:27-40 is a distinct literary unit from that of 30:1-26 and (2) that the occurrences ofהִנֵּה יָמִים בָּאִים נְאֻם־יְהוָה within 31:27-40 mark off subsections.

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