生命之道

Category: 书评

  • Response Paper for Plowshares & Pruning Hooks: Rethinking Prophecy & Apocalyptic by Brent Sandy

    Response Paper for Plowshares & Pruning Hooks: Rethinking Prophecy & Apocalyptic by Brent Sandy

    Introduction

    Plowshares and Pruning Hooks: Rethinking the Language of Biblical Prophecy and Apocalyptic was written by Brent Sandy, a professor and chair of the department of religious studies at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana when the book was published by InterVarsity Press in 2002. The book aims to examine how biblical prophecy and apocalyptic genre work. In this paper, I will summarize the book’s content, give its overall thesis, strengths, weaknesses, and most thought-provoking points, and share how this book has impacted my thinking about the apocalyptic genre in the Old Testament.

    Summary Content and Overall Thesis of the Book

    The book is organized into seven chapters with the intent to answer seven questions about biblical prophecy. First, what makes prophecy powerful? The answer is that prophecy uses metaphors to let the readers experience God, heaven, and the future in full colors. Second, what makes prophecy problematic? The answer is that 21st-century readers do not understand how metaphors work in biblical literature. Third, how does the language of prophecy work? The answer is that metaphor is the language of prophecy and functions to create memorable images in the readers’ minds and to speak to their hearts. Fourth, how does the language of destruction and blessing work? The answer is that it uses metaphors and hyperboles to convey God’s holiness and, therefore, cannot be understood if we look only at the surface meaning of the words. Fifth, how does the language of apocalyptic work? The answer is apocalyptic is not primarily prediction but prosecution. In other words, the function of prophecy is more important than the content of the prophecy. Sixth, how have prophecies been fulfilled? The answer is that prophecies fulfillments have been generally translucent, not transparent. In other words, knowing the details of a prophecy before it is fulfilled is impossible. And finally, how will prophecies be fulfilled? The answer is that God only wants us to see the big picture, not to understand every detail of future events.

    The overall thesis of this book is that biblical prophecy and apocalyptic passages are not meant to give microscopic details of future events but intend to give a telescopic picture of future events.[1] Therefore, the intent of biblical prophecy and apocalyptic passages is not primarily prediction but prosecution and persuasion.[2] Sandy’s thesis challenged the traditional hermeneutic of many commentators, especially those from the dispensation camp, who believe prophecy should be interpreted literary based on the surface meaning of the Scriptures unless that is clear evidence not to do so.[3]

    Strengths

    This is a very well-written book. First, Sandy extensively researched how prophesy works and presented compelling arguments with lots of supporting materials. For example, in chapter five, he provided clear historical background on Alexander’s victory over the Persian empire; explained the distinction between prophecy and apocalyptic; provided the functions of apocalyptic; gave ten reasons that the original readers of Daniel 8 could not have gotten the details of the conquest; gave six questions to help readers understand how apocalyptic work; and ended with another extensive research on Revelation 12-13 to support his point.

    Second, Sandy did a fine job of demonstrating how prophecy works and making it accessible to non-seminary trained readers. His presentation is clear, logical, and easy to follow. He provided lots of concrete examples in each chapter to illustrate his points. The 26 figures (diagrams) that are spread throughout the book are beneficial for his readers. He did not use Hebrew in the book, making it accessible to those without biblical language training.

    Weaknesses

    The book has a few weaknesses. First, the emphasis that prophecies are mainly metaphorical languages and thus the surface meaning of the Scripture is not its actual meaning could lead to misinterpretation of Scripture. This is a real danger, especially since it is not always easy to identify whether a passage is a metaphor. Although Sandy did include twelve criteria to identify metaphors, it is not still an easy task.[4] For example, is Isa 65:25 a metaphor? I think the book would be stronger if Sandy had spent some pages discussing the danger of interpreting Scriptures as metaphors when they are not.

    Second, the author emphasized the importance of prophecy’s function at the expense of the importance of the content of the prophecy. Sandy is influenced by the speech act theory that communication often is performative.[5] He wrote that prophetic language is emotionally charged and designed to influence our beliefs. He believes the function of the prophecy does not always correspond with the dictionary definition of the words. [6] Again, this book would be stronger if Sandy would spend time discussing the danger of overemphasizing the function of a prophecy when the authorial intent is for readers to know the passage’s content.

    Finally, the genre of apocalyptic, if abused, could cause us to misinterpret the Scripture. For example, Sandy interpreted the 144,000 in Revelation 7 as saints, meaning Christians, I presumed, while the Scripture says they are from every tribe of the sons of Israel (Rev 7:4).[7] Readers need to have discernment not to let the genre of apocalyptic become the dominant interpretative lens for an entire book in the Bible to a point where the clear surface meaning of a passage is misinterpreted.

    Most Thought-Provoking Points

    The most thought-provoking points are first, Sandy claimed biblical prophecies are intended to reveal big pictures, meaning to give panorama views of the future; therefore, it is not suitable to be studied for details of future events. Second, Sandy urged that if his conclusions on the language of prophecy and apocalyptic are correct, “all systems of eschatology are subject to reconsideration.”[8] This big claim particularly impacts those who believe in dispensationalism because dispensationalism is built on a literal interpretation of the Scripture, including the prophetic books and passages.

    How This Book Has Impacted My Thinking about the Apocalyptic Genre in the Old Testament

    This book expanded my tool set on interpreting the apocalyptic genre in the Old Testament. This book has convinced me of the need to think about the function of an apocalyptic passage in addition to the content of the passage. It helps me consider the possibility that God did not intend me to understand every detail of an apocalyptic passage. It is a very liberating idea because I have been shying away from preaching apocalyptic passages or books in the Old Testament. With a better understanding of how metaphor works after reading this book, I will pay more attention to the emotion conveyed by the passage and spend more energy looking for the overarching theme of a passage instead of spending all my energy on the details of the content. This book has made me a better student and teacher of the apocalyptic genre in the Old Testament.

    Conclusion

    In this paper, I have summarized the book’s content and thesis. I mentioned that the book’s strengths are its extensive research with convincing arguments and accessible presentation. Its weaknesses are missing warnings on the miscategorization of passages as metaphors, emphasizing the function of a prophecy could lead to the danger of neglecting its content and potential abuse of the apocalyptic genre. Its most thought-provoking points are that biblical prophecy is not suitable for details analysis; it is only meant to give a big-picture view, and if he is correct, all systems of eschatology are subject to reconsideration. Finally, I shared that this book has given me valuable tools to understand and teach apocalyptic passages.

    Bibliography

    Johnson, Elliott. “Book Review on Plowshares and Pruninghooks: Rethinking the Language of Biblical Prophecy and Apocalyptic Literature by Brent Sandy.” Bibliotheca Sacra 162 (2005).

    Sandy, D. Brent. Plowshares & Pruning Hooks: Rethinking the Language of Biblical Prophecy and Apocalyptic. Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 2002.

    [1] Sandy, Plowshares & Pruning Hooks, 188–89.

    [2] Sandy, 154.

    [3] Johnson, “Book Review on Plowshares and Pruninghooks: Rethinking the Language of Biblical Prophecy and Apocalyptic Literature by Brent Sandy,” 119.

    [4] Sandy, Plowshares & Pruning Hooks, 189–94.

    [5] Sandy, 81.

    [6] Sandy, 82.

    [7] See note 1 for the Conclusion chapter. Sandy, 249.

    [8] Sandy, 206.

  • Respond to Grenz & Olson’s Who Needs Theology

    Respond to Grenz & Olson’s Who Needs Theology

    ___________________

    A Paper

    Presented to

    Dr. Glenn R. Kreider

    Dallas Theological Seminary

    ___________________

    In Partial Fulfillment

    of the Requirements for the Course

    ST101 Theological Method And Bibliology

    ___________________

    by

    Ken Suanjong Yeo

    February 2020

    Respond to grenz & olson’s who needs theology

    Definitions of Theological Terms

    I will define the following theological terms with my own words based on my understanding after watching professor Kreider’s lectures, as well as reading Who Needs Theology by Grenz and Olson, and Exploring Christian Theology by Holsteen and Svigel. Biblical theology, historical theology, and systematic theology all are branches within Christian theology, they share the same ultimate goal with Christian theology, which is so that Christians may know the God that save us and that God may be glorified in our life.

    Theology

    Generally, theology is a human discipline that studies the divine being. Specifically, Christian theology is a discipline carried out by the followers of Jesus Christ that studies the characters, the creation and the redemption work of the triune God based on God’s revelations in order that God may be glorified in the life of Christians.

    Biblical Theology

    Biblical theology is a type of Christian theology that focuses on using inductive method to study and then to explain a book, or a set of books with commonalities in the bible, with emphasis on progressive revelation in the history of the bible.

    Historical Theology

    Historical theology is a type of Christian Theology that studies the doctrinal development of the church throughout history.

    Systematic Theology

    Systematic theology is a type of Christian theology that systematically studies all God’s revelations (especially the bible) as well as the historical development of the understanding of these revelations and organize them into various topics in the context of the culture of the world, with the ultimate goal that God be glorified in the life of the followers of Jesus Christ.

    Interaction with the content of the book

    In my church’s subculture, the words theologian and theology often carry negative connotation, it is not uncommon for bible teachers in my church circle[1] to imply or sometimes to explicitly state that most if not all theologians are liberal. It is a common believe that those who venture into theology studies will often times become confused with his faith and ended up as an unbeliever. Therefore, I took a fairly big step of faith when I enrolled myself into the “Theology” of Master (Th.M.) program at Dallas “Theological” Seminary (DTS).

    I have great expectations to embark into this journey of discovery and learning of the discipline of theology, I am excited to begin my journey in ST101. I feel that “Who Needs Theology?” is an excellence introduction book into the discipline. For this paper, I will interact with the book on a chapter by chapter basis.

    Everyone Is a Theologian

    My impression of a theologian is someone who has a PhD in Theology, who writes theological books and lectures at seminaries. The idea that everyone is a theologian has never occurred to me. When theology is defined as “any reflection on the ultimate questions of life that point toward God”[2], it makes sense to think that everyone is a theologian. The key point of this chapter is every Christian is lay theologian, because every Christian reflects on God, especially how God relates to mankind. This concept makes theology less intimating and more approachable, even for a seminary student.

    The concept of “faith seeking understanding”[3] is very profound and helpful to me as a principle to study theology. Christian theology is seeking to understand what the heart already believes instead of seeking to understand in order to believe. To a certain degree, I understand and practice this in my study and teaching of the bible, however I have not come across such a concise and clear articulation of what theology is.

    However, I like to attempt to add to the concept of “faith seeking understanding”. I think the more we understand who God is, the more our faith toward God will grow, which will drive us to have greater desire to seek to understand God. It is like a circle, the circle starts with faith, faith drives us to want to understand more about the God we believe, and in turn the understanding will increase our knowledge on God and His will on our life, which will change our behavior as followers of Jesus Christ in this fallen world. The more we understand and experience God in our life, the more our faith in Him will grow. The life of Abraham is a good example of what faith is. The faith of Abraham at Genesis chapter 22, when he was in obedience to God in sacrificing his beloved son Isaac, is a greater faith compares to his faith at Genesis chapter 12, when he responded to God’s calling to go to the promised land.

    Not All Theologies Are Equal

    Before I read this book, I did not have a clear picture of the various kind of theologies. While I was aware of the existence of liberal and conservative theologians, I did not distinguish the professional from the academic theology. I found that the five categories of theology give me the vocabularies to articulate different kind of theologies to others, and hopefully will help in clearing some misunderstandings. As I am reading this chapter, I thought of putting myself into one of these categories. I consider myself stands somewhere between the layman and the ministerial theology categories and like to be equipped at DTS to do ministerial theology well.

    Defending Theology

    I used to think that objections to theology were not a common phenomenon within the church, so I am surprised after reading this chapter, that objections are more widespread than I thought. The major objective in my church culture is the killjoy objection. Most Christians just accept the negative teaching on theology from the influential teachers, without examining theological books themselves. I hope God will open up doors for me to change some of that misunderstandings, so that the church community that I serve will grow more in their understanding of God and be more effectively in their ministry.

    Theology’s Tasks & Traditions

    I found that this chapter gives a very strong argument for the critical task of theology by using the New Testament epistles that were written to dispute and correct the false teachings in the 1st century churches.

    The three main categories of Christians beliefs: dogma, doctrine and opinion are a very helpful tool to categorize Christians’ beliefs. The challenge though, is for two disagreeing groups to agree on what kind of beliefs are considered in each category.

    The Theologian’s Tools

    The idea that theology is a never-ending enterprise[4] because theology is done by men within their context in culture is completely new to me. I used to think theology equals to truth, which never change. It makes sense to me to distinguish the two, the truth of God, and the interpretation of the truth from men. This distinction is missing in many Christians groups, as a result, many Christians think their theology is the truth, and all other interpretations that deviate from his theology is false.

    Professor Kreider’s lectures and this book put great emphasis on culture influences on theology, culture as a source for theology is a new concept to me. Because 1 John 3:15 teaches us not to love the world, my church teaching to believers is to separate from the world culture as far as possible. We emphasize the bible as the only source of theology[5], and have never considered the culture of this world as a source of theology. I think this is one of the reasons why many of the churches in my church circle are facing the challenge of losing younger generations of believers, who grow up in a different culture than their parents, because the way we convey the truth is not relevant to them.

    Therefore, it is eye opening for me to listen to professor Kreider and the book to talk about having multiple sources for theology. The book talks about three sources: the bible, church history and the culture, with the bible being the primary source. I think it is a healthy way to do theology. In my culture, we do not study much about the history of the church. We mainly talk about a branch within the church, and study very little on the history of the rest of the church. The most influential theologian in my church circle is Watchman Nee[6]. His books have great influences in my church circle. His teaching is considered the gold standard, any interpretation that is different than his normally faces great resistance from Christians within this community. Brother Watchman Nee is a giant of faith, he was imprisoned for over 20 years in China and die in the prison, all because he refused to compromise church’s matter to the communist government.

    My point is, my church circle talks about the bible as the only source of theology, however in practice, our history and the culture do affect our theology, without us acknowledging it. This book and this course, together with my own experience, has convinced me that there is great value for Christians to learn the history of the church, and to observe our cultures, when we do theology, in order that our theology is “truly scriptural, completely Christian and totally relevant”[7].

    Constructing Theology in Context

     This chapter again emphasized that, our theology must be contextualized to our time. Before I read this book, I could not articular why churches have different ways in ministering to people. After reading this book and listening to professor Kreider’s lecture, I think the reason has to do with the church’s leaders view on how God, the bible, and the church should relate to the culture. Take Chinese speaking churches in American as an example. Many of these churches cannot keep the young adults in the church, because the church’s theology does not consider the culture of the second generation Chinese believers who grow up in United States, as a result, the church’s culture, language, sermons, illustrations, and fellowships are not speaking to the second generation Chinese believers. This generation frequently leave the church of their parents and choose to have fellowship in a church that can speak into their culture.

    Many leaders of Chinese churches in my church circle think that being cultural relevant is a sign of compromise of our Christian’s belief. I believe one of the reasons why they think this way is due to a reaction to the growth of liberalism in churches in America in the last century.

    As with many seminary students, I am seeking the Lord’s will for me in ministry. After reading this book and hearing professor Kreider’s lectures, I have the thought of my potential contribution to the church, which could be to bridge the gaps of Chinese speaking churches in American and the Chinese people who grow up and live in America. I am walking in faith, praying that the Lord will mold and shape my theology for His service.

    Bringing Theology into Life

    After reading all the chapters on culture as a source of theology, I am happy to read that “the ultimate goal of theology is not an exercise in intellectual acumen designed to expand our minds, but its final goal is life.”[8]. My worried that I may be walking a step toward liberalism is vanished when I read this: “We don’t merely want to peer at the world with Christians eyes; we desire to be in the world and to conduct ourselves in a manner that arises from, is consistent with and even lives out the Christian worldview.”[9]

    An Invitation to Engage in Theology

    The chapter talks about reward and risk. I want to acknowledge that “the potential loss of your current church affiliation” is very true for me. As mentioned earlier in this paper, virtually no teachers and preachers in my church circle used the world “theology” in a positive manner. Despite the risk, I decided to enroll into DTS to further pursue God. ST101 is one of my first courses, this book gives me a good reason why I want to learn more about Theology. Maybe God’s plan for me is to bring some of the richness of theology into my church circle, so that these churches can be more effectively in ministering to the people God has put into our community.

    More importantly, my primary motivation to pursue theology is a more enriched and enhanced Christian life, as a follower of my Lord Jesus Christ in this generation, so that God is glorified in my life.

    Bibliography

    Grenz, Stanley. Olson, Roger. Who Needs Theology? Downers Grow: InterVarsity Press, 1996.

    Holsteen, Nathan. Svigel, Michael. Exploring Christian Theology. Bloomington: Bethany House Publishers, 2014.

    Kreider, Glenn. “ST101 Video Lectures”. Dallas Theological Seminary. Spring Semester, 2020.

    [1] I use the word church circle because we do not consider ourselves as a denomination. Denomination carries negative connotation in my church circle.

    [2] Stanley Grenz, Roger Olson. Who Needs Theology? (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 13.

    [3] Stanley Grenz, Roger Olson. Who Needs Theology? (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 16.

    [4] Stanley Grenz, Roger Olson. Who Needs Theology? (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 91.

    [5] although in practice we use many commentaries as a source of theology

    [6] Although he and others do not call himself a theologian, his role is in effective one of the most influential theologians in my church cycle, and in Chinese churches as a whole.

    [7] Stanley Grenz, Roger Olson. Who Needs Theology? (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 102.

    [8] Stanley Grenz, Roger Olson. Who Needs Theology? (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 118.

    [9] Stanley Grenz, Roger Olson. Who Needs Theology? (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 125.

  • Book Review for Care of Souls: Revisioning Christian Nurture and Counsel by David Benner

    Book Review for Care of Souls: Revisioning Christian Nurture and Counsel by David Benner

    CHAPTER #

     

     

     

    RESPONSE PAPER TO CARE OF SOULS

     

    ___________________

     

    A Paper

    Presented to

    Dr. Erik Salwen

    Dallas Theological Seminary

     

    ___________________

     

    In Partial Fulfillment

    of the Requirements for the Course

    BC5101 Pastoral Counseling

     

    ___________________

     

    by

    Ken Suanjong Yeo

    October 2020

     

    response paper to care of souls

    The Thesis of the Author

    The thesis of the author is that the church must recover its historical understanding and role in caring for people’s souls as well as integrating modern therapeutic psychology to have a fuller ministry to people’s life.

    My Personal Top Take Away

    1.     Definition of Soul Care

    Benner defined soul care as “The support and restoration of the well-being of persons in their depth and totality, with particular concern for their inner life”[1]. Although historically the majority of the theologians have the dichotomy view (spirit or soul and body) of humans with some minority have the trichotomy (spirit, soul, body) view, the majority of the contemporary biblical scholars view a human being as one whole person. Spirit, soul, and body are not different separable faculties of man, but they are different ways of seeing the whole person. This book focuses on the care of the whole person with the focus on his or her inner being, which is normally described as spirit or soul in the bible.

    2.     The Purpose of Soul Care

    The purpose of soul care is spiritual formation, that is to help the believers being cared for to grow into the image of their savior Jesus Christ.

    3.     History of Soul Care in the Church

    Throughout the church history, all major streams of Christianity, including but not limited to the Desert Fathers, the Romans Catholic, the Eastern Orthodox, the Reformers, the Puritans, and the Anglican all practiced soul care in some shapes or forms. The church was the dominant soul caregiver in western culture from the beginning of the church to the 18th century. However, the enlightenment in the 17-18th century led to the decline of the church’s influent in society including the soul care of the people. The therapeutic culture slowly became the dominant soul caregiver in the society, replacing the church. Many churches in the western world even adopted therapeutic culture, replacing the rich historical soul care practices of the church.

    4.     Psychology and Spirituality

    Many leading psychologists believe that spirituality is an important aspect of the health of the soul of a person. However only some psychologists think it has to be the God of the Christians bible that can meet the needs, others believe that other religions can also meet the spiritual needs of a person. Some psychologists even think spirituality does not have to be religious at all.

    5.     Christians Spirituality

    Different Christian traditions tend to emphasize different aspects of the Christian faith, however, most of them agree on certain beliefs, eight of them are listed in the book, these are the distinctions of Christian Spirituality over the other religions.

    6.     The Psychospiritual Focus of Soul Care

    All psychological quests are spiritual quests in the core. Humans are made in the image of the triune God and long to quest for what we do not have, and these quests can only ultimately be satisfied by a relationship with the triune God.

    7.     Dialogue in Soul Care

    Dialogue is an intimate relational conversion between two persons who respect, care, and love each other. Its primary purpose is not for the transfer of information but is for building trust and relationships.

    8.     Dreams

    Dreams are gifts from God, we ought to carefully analyze our dreams to discern what God is trying to tell us about ourselves. Dreams are primarily not to tell us future events or what decision to make. Its primary purpose is to help us to ask the right questions about our life.

    9.     Forms of Christian Soul Care

    There are many different forms of Christian soul care, each form has its own limitations and advantages. They do not compete but complement each other.

    10.  Challenges

    Christian soul care has great demands on the counselor, he or she must first view this as a calling to serve God in His kingdom, rather than a job. They must take good care of their relationship with God before taking care of others.

    11.  Receiving Soul Care

    By giving and receiving soul care, we could become more whole and are blessed by being able to participate in the growth of others.

    How The Author Will Impact Change in My Personal Ministry

    The view of a person as a whole

    This book advocates for the view of looking at persons as a whole, instead of dichotomy or trichotomy. I am from the tradition of trichotomy, I was aware of the dichotomy view, but before I study at DTS, I have never heard about looking at persons as a whole person. This is the second time I heard about it at DTS. This book once again brought up the benefits of looking at a person as a whole. Although I am not completely convinced of the whole view of a person, this book will certainly make me think about this topic harder as I continue to pursue to know God and to know myself.

    Allocate the appropriate resources (time, energy) for soul care

    I am a preacher and thus focus most of my time in preaching and teaching the word of God. The book gives me a good overview of the soul care or counseling world as it relates to the church. It alerted me to think and pay attention to the soul care of God’s people and the role a pastor can play in it. The book has helped me to think about the need to allocate some of my resources to the task of soul care.

    How I will Communicate with People

    This book put a lot of emphasis on the importance of dialogue in soul care. I particularly like the differences between debate, discussion, conversation, and dialogue. The author emphasized that dialogue is not primarily for information transferred, it is for building trust and relationship. It is a simple concept, I think I can use it in many situations. For example, I can see that I will need to have a dialogue with my wife, my son (family soul care), with my mentor, and with people who I provide soul care to. I see the needs of the church’s small groups to have dialogues to build trust and relationships in a safe environment.

    Interpreting Dreams

    I am not a believer is dream interpretation, because I think dream interpretation is a very unreliable way to know about ourselves or to know about God. This book has informed me about the possibility of using dreams to ask questions to ourselves. Although my view on dreams has not been changed by this book, I will probably pay more attention to dreams as a result of reading this book.

     

    Bibliography

     

    Benner, David G. Care of Souls: Revisioning Christian Nurture and Counsel. Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Books, 1998.

     


    [1] David G. Benner, Care of Souls: Revisioning Christian Nurture and Counsel (Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Books, 1998), 23.

     

  • Review of The Basic of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek by Constantine R. Campbell

    Review of The Basic of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek by Constantine R. Campbell

    CHAPTER #

     

     

     

    REVIEW OF THE BASIC OF VERBAL ASPECT IN BIBLICAL GREEK BY CONSTANTINE R. CAMPBELL

     

    ___________________

     

    A Paper

    Presented to

    Dr. Benjamin Simpson

    Dallas Theological Seminary

     

    ___________________

     

    In Partial Fulfillment

    of the Requirements for the Course

    NT5102OL Elements of Greek Grammar

     

    ___________________

     

    by

    Ken Suanjong Yeo

    August 2020

     

    REVIEW OF THE BASIC OF VERBAL ASPECT IN BIBLICAL GREEK BY CONSTANTINE R. CAMPBELL

    What is Verbal Aspect?

    Semantics refers to the encoded values of a verb form, it is always there and un-cancelable. The verbal aspect is a semantics value. It refers to the viewpoint of an action presented by the author. There are two viewpoints, either from an outside viewpoint, which is called the perfective aspect or from an inside viewpoint, which is called the imperfective aspect.

    A popular illustration is a reporter who reports a street parade. When he reports the street parade from a helicopter far away in the sky, it is the perfective aspect. It expresses an outside viewpoint of an action in summary, from a distance and does not view the details of how the action took place. When he reports the street parade from the street, it is the imperfective aspect. It expresses an inside viewpoint of an action as it unfolds before his eyes.

    Spatial value is another semantics value. There are two types of spatial values, namely proximity and remoteness. Proximity means not only he is viewing the street parade as it unfolds before his eyes but is viewing that part of the parade that is directly in front of him. Remoteness means although the reporter is viewing the street parade as it unfolds before his eyes, he is not looking to the parade directly in front of him, instead, he is looking at the parade at some distance away. Remoteness is metaphorical and could be temporal, spatial, or logical.

    Pragmatics refers to what a verb is doing in context and is therefore cancelable. Aktionsarten are pragmatic values, three main elements determine a particular verb’s Aktionsart: semantics, lexeme, and context.

    Lexemes are basic units of words that can be divided into two categories, namely transitive and intransitive. A lexeme is transitive if the action is performed upon an object, else it is intransitive. Transitive lexemes can further be divided into punctiliar or not punctiliar. If the action is a once occurring, immediate type of action, it is punctiliar, else it is not punctiliar. Intransitive lexemes can also be further divided into stative or not stative. If the action describes a state of being, it is stative, else it is not.

    Present and Imperfect Tense-Forms

    The present tense-form is semantically imperfective in aspect with the spatial value of proximity. The imperfect tense-form is also semantically imperfective in aspect but with the spatial value of remoteness.

    In narrative texts, the present indicative is most often found in discourse, Jesus used present indicative when He spoke to the Jews in John 5:20.

     John 5:20 ὁ γὰρ πατὴρ φιλεῖ τὸν υἱὸν καὶ πάντα δείκνυσιν αὐτῷ ἃ αὐτὸς ποιεῖ…

    John 5:20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing…

    The imperfect indicative is most often found in narrative proper rather than discourse to provide supplementary information, John 5:18 is a good example.

    John 5:18 διὰ τοῦτο οὖν μᾶλλον ἐζήτουν αὐτὸν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι ἀποκτεῖναι ὅτι οὐ μόνον ἔλυε τὸ σάββατον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πατέρα ἴδιον ἔλεγε τὸν θεόν, ἴσον ἑαυτὸν ποιῶν τῷ θεῷ.

    John 5:18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

    The imperfective aspect combines with any non-punctiliar or non-stative lexeme create a progressive Aktionsart as long as the context does not overrule it.

    Luke 8:45 καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς Τίς ὁ ἁψάμενός μου; ἀρνουμένων δὲ πάντων εἶπεν ὁ Πέτρος∑ Ἐπιστάτα, οἱ ὄχλοι συνέχουσίν σε καὶ ἀποθλίβουσιν.

    Luke 8:45 Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!”

    Outside of the indicative mood, the present subjunctive, the present imperative, the present participle and the present infinitives are all imperfective in aspect.

    Luke 11:33 is a good example of present subjunctives. The imperfective aspect portrays those who enter would see the light unfolding before their eyes.

    Luke 11:33 Οὐδεὶς λύχνον ἅψας εἰς κρύπτην τίθησιν οὐδὲ ὑπὸ τὸν μόδιον ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ τὴν λυχνίαν, ἵνα οἱ εἰσπορευόμενοι τὸ φέγγος βλέπωσιν.

    Luke 11:33 “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.

    In the present imperative, the imperfective aspect normally implicates commands that express some kind of general instruction because the imperfective aspect is open-ended, without the beginning and the end in view. Luke 6:27 is a good example.

    Luke 6:27 … ἀγαπᾶτε τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ὑμῶν, καλῶς ποιεῖτε τοῖς μισοῦσιν ὑμᾶς

    Luke 6:27 … love your enemies, do good to those who hate you

    In the present participle, the imperfective aspect nearly always expresses an action that is contemporaneous with its leading verb (excluding substantial and periphrastic usages). In John 6:24 the crowd went into Capernaum and seeking Jesus at the same time.

    John 6:24 … καὶ ἦλθον εἰς Καφαρναοὺμ ζητοῦντες τὸν Ἰησοῦν.

    John 6:24 … went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

    In the present infinitive, the imperfective aspect explains the unfolding of the action. In Luke 5:21, the present infinitive διαλογίζομαι gives an inside view that the scribe and Pharisees were beginning to question Jesus.

    Luke 5:21 καὶ ἤρξαντο διαλογίζεσθαι οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι λέγοντες∑ Τίς ἐστιν οὗτος ὃς λαλεῖ βλασφημίας; τίς δύναται ἁμαρτίας ἀφεῖναι εἰ μὴ μόνος ὁ θεός;

    Luke 5:21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

    The imperfect tense-form has the same imperfective aspect as the present tense-form, thus it behaves like the present tense-form. Its imperfective aspect combines with any non-punctiliar or non-stative lexeme to create a progressive Aktionsart as long as the context does not overrule it. Matthew 14:36 is a good example.

    Matthew 14:36 καὶ παρεκάλουν αὐτὸν ἵνα μόνον ἅψωνται τοῦ κρασπέδου τοῦ ἱματίου αὐτοῦ· καὶ ὅσοι ἥψαντο διεσώθησαν

    Matthew 14:36 They were begging him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.

    Aorist and Future Tense-Forms

    The aorist tense-form is semantically perfective in aspect with the spatial value of remoteness. The future tense-form is also perfective in aspect, however, because all future tense-forms refer to actions in the future, its future temporal is considered a semantics value.

     The aorist indicative is most often found to give the skeleton of a narrative. It is used to tell the summary of a narrative in quick succession without giving the details. Luke 1:39-40 is a good example.

    Luke 1:39-40 Ἀναστᾶσα δὲ Μαριὰμ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ταύταις ἐπορεύθη εἰς τὴν ὀρεινὴν μετὰ σπουδῆς εἰς πόλιν Ἰούδα, καὶ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον Ζαχαρίου καὶ ἠσπάσατο τὴν Ἐλισάβετ.

    Luke 1:39-40 In those days Mary set out and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah, where she entered Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth.

    The future indicative is most often found in discourse rather than narrative proper. It is used to describe future actions. John 16:14 is a good example.

    John 16:14 ἐκεῖνος ἐμὲ δοξάσει, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ἐμοῦ λήμψεται καὶ ἀναγγελεῖ ὑμῖν.

    John 16:14 He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.

    The perfective aspect combines with any non-punctiliar or non-stative lexeme create a summary Aktionsart as long as the context does not overrule it. John 1:17 illustrates this well.

    John 1:17 ὅτι ὁ νόμος διὰ Μωϋσέως ἐδόθη, ἡ χάρις καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐγένετο.

    John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

    Outside of the indicative mood, the aorist subjunctive, the aorist imperative, the aorist participle, and the aorist infinitives are all perfective in aspect.

    In aorist subjunctive, its perfective aspect conveys an external summarized viewpoint of an action. It is in contrast with the present subjunctive, which is used to portray an action that is unfolding before our eyes. For example, in John 12:49 Jesus used aorist subjunctive to express he should say what the Father has given to Him without the details.

    John 12:49 ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐξ ἐμαυτοῦ οὐκ ἐλάλησα, ἀλλʼ ὁ πέμψας με πατὴρ αὐτός μοι ἐντολὴν δέδωκεν τί εἴπω καὶ τί λαλήσω.

    John 12:49 For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.

    In aorist imperative, its perfective aspect has a pragmatic function to convey specific commands, it involves a specific agent acting within a specific situation. It is in contrast to the present imperative, which is to convey a generic command. In Luke 5:4 Jesus told Simon specifically what to do, that is to put out into the deep and let down his nets for a catch.

    Luke 5:4 ὡς δὲ ἐπαύσατο λαλῶν, εἶπεν πρὸς τὸν Σίμωνα∑ Ἐπανάγαγε εἰς τὸ βάθος καὶ χαλάσατε τὰ δίκτυα ὑμῶν εἰς ἄγραν.

    Luke 5:4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

    In aorist participle, its perfective aspect caused it to have the main pragmatic function which is the antecedent to its leading verb. That is, the action of the leading verb occurs after the action of the aorist participle. That is in contrast to the present participle, which expresses an action that is contemporaneous with its leading verb. Romans 5:1 used aorist participle to tell us that peace comes after we have been declared righteous by faith.

    Romans 5:1 Δικαιωθέντες οὖν ἐκ πίστεως εἰρήνην ἔχομεν…

    Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace…

    In aorist infinitive, its imperfective aspect, together with infinitival construction, could express antecedent time or subsequent time. In Luke 22:15, Jesus used the imperfective aspect to show he would eat the Passover meal with his disciples before he suffers.

    Luke 22:15 καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτούς· Ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἐπεθύμησα τοῦτο τὸ πάσχα φαγεῖν μεθʼ ὑμῶν πρὸ τοῦ με παθεῖν· 

    Luke 22:15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

    The Aktionsart for future tense-form is parallel to the aorist usage except for its future reference, thus it will not be discussed here.

    Perfect and Pluperfect Tense-Forms

    The perfect tense-form is semantically perfective in aspect with the spatial value of heightened proximity. The pluperfect tense-form is semantically perfective in aspect with the spatial value of heightened remoteness.

    In narrative texts, parallels to the present tense-form, the perfect indicative is most often found in discourse. Jesus used perfect indicative when he was teaching in John 7:28.

    John 7:28 ἔκραξεν οὖν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ διδάσκων ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ λέγων· Κἀμὲ οἴδατε καὶ οἴδατε πόθεν εἰμί· καὶ ἀπʼ ἐμαυτοῦ οὐκ ἐλήλυθα, ἀλλʼ ἔστιν ἀληθινὸς ὁ πέμψας με, ὃν ὑμεῖς οὐκ οἴδατε· 

    John 7:28 So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know.

    In narrative texts, parallels to the imperfect tense-form, the pluperfect is often used to provide supplementary information. John used pluperfect in John 7:30 to tell the details.

    John 7:30 … καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐπέβαλεν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν τὴν χεῖρα, ὅτι οὔπω ἐληλύθει ἡ ὥρα αὐτοῦ.

    John 7:30 … but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.

    The perfect participle is semantically imperfective in aspect. Parallels to the present participle, it nearly always expresses an action that is contemporaneous with its leading verb. While spatial values are not generally encoded in nonindicative verbs, the perfect participle encodes the spatial value of proximity, which distinguishes it from the present participle. However, it is not normally possible to reflect this in English translation. Paul used perfect participle in Romans 5:3 to express that knowing and rejoicing were happening at the same time.

    Roman 5:3 … καυχώμεθα ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσιν, εἰδότες ὅτι …

    Roman 5:3 … we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that …

    A common pluperfect Actionsart is Past-Past, it is parallels to past perfect tense in English. This use of the pluperfect can involve any type of lexeme and is decided by the context. Luke 22:13 is a good example.

    Luke 22:13 ἀπελθόντες δὲ εὗρον καθὼς εἰρήκει αὐτοῖς…

    Luke 22:13 And they went and found it just as he had told them…


    Bibliography

     

    Campbell, Constantine R. Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2008.

     

    Danker, Frederick W., Walter Bauer, and William Arndt. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

     

    Mounce, William D. Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar. 4th ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2019.

     

     

  • Book Review of Surprised by The Voice of God by Jack Deere

    Book Review of Surprised by The Voice of God by Jack Deere

    CHAPTER #

     

     

     

    response to deere’ surprised by the voice of god

     

    ___________________

     

    A Paper

    Presented to

    Dr. Glenn Kreider

    Dallas Theological Seminary

     

    ___________________

     

    In Partial Fulfillment

    of the Requirements for the Course

    ST101 Theological Method and Bibliology

     

    ___________________

     

    by

    Ken Suanjong Yeo

    May 2020

     

    response to deere’ surprised by the voice of god

    Introduction

    The purpose of this paper is to evaluate Jack Deere’s views against the scriptures on the revelation of God in the church age[1].

    Deere asserted at the beginning of the book that “Many Christians have wandered into a spiritual wilderness devoid of passion and power. Those who hear and obey the voice of God will escape that wilderness or see it changed into a garden.”[2] Deere’s goal is to show ordinary Christians what the voice of God is, and how to hear it.[3]

    Deere’s assertion of this book is fairly simple and clear, that is God spoke in multiple ways in the New Testament especially in the Book of Acts, the same God is speaking in the same ways today, every Christians should strive to hear the voice of God through these various ways, or else the Christians are living an unfulfilled Christian life.

    Deere observed that God “spoke through an audible voice, through dreams, visions, circumstances, fleeces, inner impressions, prophets, angels, and other ways, as well as through Scripture”[4]. God did not only speak in many ways, but He also did that frequently, it was the common Christian experience in the early church as portrayed in the Book of Acts. It was Deere’s common experience[5], it should be the experience for every Christian in today’s church as well. Does God still speak in the same ways commonly to every Christians today? I will try to answer this question in this paper based on the Scripture, the historical records of the church, and writings from theologians on this subject.

    Deere’s View of Revelation and Scriptures

    We are like Elijah

    Deere used James’ reference of Elijah, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours” to support his view that “Elijah was a man just like us” [6], in other words, Elijah is not special, every Christians should commonly experience miracle similar to Elijah.

    While I agree with Deere’s observation that Elijah was self-pity and self-centered, Elijah was like all of us, a sinner. We can and should learn from Elijah about his faith as shown in his prayers to God. However, I believe James’ main point is to encourage Christians to have faith like Elijah to pray for those who are sick or in sins.[7] I don’t believe that James’ purpose of referencing Elijah was to tell the readers they should expect miracles commonly in their life similar to what Elijah had experienced, namely raising people from dead (1 Ki 17:22), calling fire from heaven (1 Ki 18:38; 2 Ki 10), hearing God’s audible voice (1 Ki 19:9), parting water with his cloak into two sides (2 Ki 2:8) or going up to heaven with a chariot in a whirlwind(2 Ki 2:11)![8]

    Old Testament Miracles in Church Age

    Deere used 1 Corinthians 10:11 to support his views that the New Testament teaches Christians should expect miracles experienced by the Israelites. He taught that Christians should not discount the examples in the bible are special people living in special times, doing so is a very unbiblical way of reading the Bible.[9]

    In context, I believe Paul’s main point in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 was to warn the Corinthian Christians not to follow the same moral and spiritual mistakes as the Israelites in the wilderness. Paul wrote “that we might not desire evil as they did”, “we must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did”, “we must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did…”, and “nor grumble…”. His point was not to tell the Corinthians Christians to expect supernatural phenomena just like the Israelites did in the wilderness.[10] Instead, Paul used the history of Israelites a metaphor of the spiritual experience between believers and Christ. The Israelites drank from the rock is a metaphor of Christians drinking water from Christ, for the Rock was Christ.[11]

    Deere wrote that if Christians believed in the miracles in the Bible, but do not expect miracles in their life, they are just like the Pharisees. He interpreted Jesus’ words that the Pharisees have never heard the voice of His Father because they did not expect the Old Testament examples of supernatural phenomena to be repeated in their lifetime.[12] In other words, if a Christian does not expect or experience supernatural phenomena in his lifetime, he behaves just like a Pharisee. When we read the verse in context, Jesus told us the reason why He said the Pharisees have never heard from God, it was because they did not believe the one whom God has sent, referring to Jesus Himself. The scriptures bear witness of Christ[13], the miracles are not the end, they are means to the end, miracles in the Old Testament point to Jesus Christ, which is in line with how Paul interprets the Israelites’ experience of miracles in the wilderness in 1 Corinthians 10:1-3.

    Book of Acts – Normal or Abnormal Christianity

    Deere posted a very reasonable and serious question in chapter 4: is the church’s experience recorded in Acts normal or abnormal Christianity?[14] By posting this question, and presenting the miracles experienced by the apostles in Acts as normal Christian experience, Deere is leading the readers to think that without experiencing these miracles their Christian life is abnormal. The message is unless Christians are constantly experiencing miracles similar to the miracles[15] in the book of Acts in their life, they are living an unfulfilled, dissatisfying Christian life.

    I disagree with Deere’s proposition and will support my view based on two points. The first point is based on the observation of the Book of Acts and the second point is based on observation of the New Testament Epistles.

    Observation of the Book of Acts

    First, on observation of the Book of Acts. The revelatory activities[16] of God happened mostly to and through the apostles[17], specifically Peter and Paul. And with lesser frequency to a few other disciples, there are Stephen[18], Philip[19], Ananias[20] , and Cornelius[21]. The main exception is speaking in tongue, which happened at first on Pentecost to the 120 disciples and for the last time to about twelve disciples at Ephesus[22]. Since Deere did not specifically deal with speaking in tongue, this topic will not be discussed in this paper.

    On the surface, God did indeed speak to people supernaturally throughout the book of Acts. Although God did reveal to people supernaturally in the Book of Acts, the number of people He has revealed Himself is a relatively small number. There was no record of God commonly revealing Himself supernaturally to all disciples in dreams, visions, through angels or prophecy in the book of Acts. Deere was trying to use the Book of Acts to establish the argument that God is commonly revealing Himself to many believers in the present church age. He argued that the issue is not God does not reveal Himself, the issue is Christians do not believe and expect God frequently speaks to them supernaturally through visions, dreams, angels, and prophecies. I do not think this is a strong argument as mentioned above. It will be a better argument if Deere argued that God sometimes speaks to selected individuals supernaturally to accomplish His plan.

    Observation on the New Testament Epistles

    Second, on the observation of the entire New Testament. Deere put a lot of emphasis on the book of Acts as the model of normal Christianity and put less emphasis on the epistles. It is understandable because it is much harder to support the proposition that God commonly revealed Himself supernaturally frequently to many Christians using the epistles. It is because all the 21 epistles do not mention supernatural revelation much, except prophecy, which will be discussed in the prophecy section later on. When supernatural revelation like dreams or visions was mentioned, it was to a few selected individuals. Thus, it is crucial not to only look at the book of Acts as a model of normal Christianity, but to look at the entire New Testament.

    Deere did try to use the epistles to support his view, but he only managed to find a few scriptures, and the passages he used is fairly weak. He chose the example of Paul received a revelation from God to visit Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus.[23] He mentioned that Paul “does not tell how the revelation came. Apparently, that wasn’t important for his readers to know. What was important was that they understood it was the Lord himself who had directed him”.[24] Just a few verses earlier, Paul also mentioned that the gospel that he preached he did not receive from any man, but he received it through a direct revelation from God.[25] Paul was the God-chosen apostle to write at least 13 books in the New Testament, he received direct supernatural revelation from God to write down the scriptures, and in context, Paul was trying to argue for his apostleship,[26] thus I do not think we can apply God’s revelation to Paul as a common way for God to communicate to all Christians. [27]

    The other scripture Deere quoted to support his view in Philippians 3:15. This is a stronger argument than Galatians 2:2 because this time Paul wrote that the readers, not just him, would receive revelation from God. However similar to Gelation 2:2, Paul did not explain the method of revelation. Furthermore, in context, Paul wrote if any of the readers think that he does not need to press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, God will eventually reveal this truth to them. So, the point of this passage is that God will reveal to Christians they need to grow in maturity in Christ, instead of telling the Christians they will hear God revelation supernaturally.[28]

    Here is Deere’s conclusion on Paul’s experience in Acts and his letters: “Both Paul’s letters and the book of Acts demonstrate that Christians never outgrow their need for God’s revelatory ministry.”[29] And then He included an endnote with a reference to Gerald Hawthorne’s Philippians commentary to support his view. I think it is helpful to quote the section on Paul’s view on visions in the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, whom Hawthorne was one of the editors on this subject:

    “Paul’s own attitude toward visions can be contrasted with that of Luke. Luke emphasized the visions as part of his apologetic for the Gentile missions: this can only be the work of God and so visions corroborate the Pauline ministry in his call and fulfillment. Paul defends the Gentile mission and his role within it on the groups that the Word has been proclaimed and the church established (2 Cor 3:2-3; 12:12; Rom 15:18-20). Ecstatic experiences are of value only to the extent that they carry forward that work (1 Cor 14:26, 30-33). For this reason, they assume a secondary role in Paul’s understanding of ministry.”[30]

    In summary, Deere did not have strong support in the New Testament text to support his view. To have a balanced understanding of the normality of Christianity regarding how God reveals to Christians in the Church age, we cannot rely on the Book of Acts by itself, we must consider all the New Testament scriptures and have a balanced view on this subject. The book of Acts recorded God’s supernatural revelations to the main characters in the book but did not paint the pictures that the supernatural revelations were a common experience to all believers. It is confirmed by the New Testament epistles, where visions or dreams were hardly mentioned. Thus I believe that the ways that God revealed Himself supernaturally to the major characters in the book of Acts are not the common ways God reveals to all Christian in the New Testament age, as well as in the church age. Does it mean that God does not longer reveals himself in supernaturally? No, I believe God still reveals Himself supernaturally through dreams and vision, however, I do not believe those are the common ways for God to reveal Himself. When and how God reveals Himself through dreams and visions? We will discuss that next.

    Dreams and Visions

    For this paper, dreams and visions are synonymous.[31] Deere devoted a chapter to discussing the purposes of dreams and how to interpret them.[32] Although I do not believe dreams are the common method for God to communicate with people, I do believe that sometimes God does choose to use dreams communicate to with some people.

    In the last few decades, there are many reports of Muslims converted to Christian because they had dreams about Jesus. Dr. Dudley Woodbury, Sr. Professor of Islamic Studies did some research between 1991 and 2007, and the result is staggering:    

    “in that research, he interacted with 750 Muslim-background believers. As he interacted with them, he began to ask them about what role dreams played in them coming to Christ. He noted that 27 percent [said they had] experienced Jesus-related dreams before their conversion to Christ. So, about one-fourth of those 750 Muslim-background believers had had some kind of dream experience that impacted them, that provoked them to come to Christ. Forty percent of them said it was at the time of their conversion, right around their conversion. Forty-five percent of them said it was after their conversion, after they believed; it was some kind of affirmation that they’d received in a dream.”[33]

    I do not think Christian should actively seek God’s revelation through dreams because the New Testament does not teach that. However, I do think that Christian ought to open to the possibility for God to communicate to us through dreams.[34] Conversely, we need to be aware that most dreams are not from God, but a result of our brain own activity while sleeping. We also need to be aware that men’s heart is sinful, the dream could be misused by men to claim authority and fall into sin.[35]

    Are There Prophets in The Church Age?

    A large portion of the book is devoted to defending the validity of prophetic ministry in the church age. In chapters 5 and 6, Deere presented a list of prophetic gifted ministers between the sixteenth century to the nineteenth century, ended with Charles Spurgeon. To me, this is quite a convincing argument that some form of prophetic ministry exited in the church age.

    Since the Book of Acts recorded the activities of a few prophets,[36] and the apostle Paul also taught about the ministry of the prophets in Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthian 12-14. Furthermore, Paul encourages the readers of 1 Corinthians to earnestly desire to prophesy (1 Cor 14:39), thus I believe the New Testament does teach about prophetic ministry in the church age.

    Deere listed five questions to be asked about the ministry of prophetic persons:

    “1. Are they honoring Christ and bringing glory to him, or are they bringing attention to themselves? 2. Are they walking in humility, and does their ministry produce humility? 3. Does their ministry produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit? 4. Are their words accurate and do their predictions come true? 5. Does their teaching fall in line with the Scripture?”[37]

    I agree that these are good questions to evaluate the prophet ministry of a person because 1) Jesus teaches us to recognize false prophets by their fruits (Matt 7:15), 2) Jesus teaches us he will recognize the one who does the will of His father, not just prophesize in His name (Matt 7:21-22), 3) Paul teaches that let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said (1 Cor 14:29). He also teaches do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophecies, but test everything, hold fast what is good, abstains from every form of evil (1 Thess 5:22).

    Deere put a lot of emphasis on supernatural revelation such as predicting the future or telling the background of a stranger in prophecy. He teaches that learning the language of the Holy Spirit is like learning a human language, a person needs to go through a trial and error learning stage to be good at discerning the voice of God. [38] Although he will make errors, if he is gifted, he will eventually get better in interpreting dreams and prophesying future events. I think he is putting too much emphasis on the supernatural phenomena than what the New Testament teaches. For example, Paul teaches prophecy is about learning and be encouraged (1 Cor 14:31), and upbuilding and encouragement and consolation (1 Cor 14:3).

    Prophesy in the New Testament seems to be quite different than in the Old Testament. The reformers like Luther and Calvin, limited the spontaneous character of prophecy by defining this gift as the proper exposition of the Scriptures, hence, they popularized the idea of prophecy as preaching[39]. Paul’s teaching of prophecy in 1 Corinthians 12-14 seems to suggest that prophesy in the New Testament is a spiritual gift that lays somewhere between Deere’s definition and the reformers’ definition. Interestingly, C. M. Robeck observed that the twentieth century Pentecostalism and charismatic renewal movement share a similar understanding of New Testament prophecy with the contemporary evangelical:

    “On the whole, they value the place of the spontaneous oracle alongside preaching as a genuine manifestation of prophecy which continues to appear within the contemporary church (cf. Yocum, Grudem, Cullmann). Such utterances are believed to play a role that may be both revelatory and authoritative, but these believers take their cue from Paul by emphasizing the need for discernment by the community of faith ( 1 Cor 14:29-33; 1 Thess 5:19-22)”.[40]

    Conclusion

    In conclusion, while I agree with Deere’s view that God continues to supernaturally speak to people outside of the Scripture through dreams or visions, I do not agree with his proposition that these are supposed to be normal ways for God to reveal Himself to people. Deere’s choice in using the words normal and abnormal to ask these questions: “Does The Book Of Acts Represent Normal Christianity?”, “If Acts represents abnormal Christianity when compared with the present state of the church, wouldn’t we be better off to choose the abnormal experience of Acts?”[41], is leading the readers to think that without hearing from God supernaturally, we are living an abnormal, unfulfilled, Christian life.

    I believe that the primary way for God to speak to people is through Scripture. The Holy Spirit’s role is to lead and reveal the truth in the scriptures to God’s people. Any other supernatural revelations are God’s extra grace to us. Christians do not need to have supernatural encounters with God to live a fulfilled Christian life. However God is sovereign, He supernaturally reveals to people if He chooses to. Supernatural revelations of God through dreams seem to be more common among Christians who used to be Muslims, often God would send Christians into their life before or after the encounter to witness the gospel to them.[42]

    I believe the New Testament teaches (Ephesians 4:10; 1 Cor 12-14; Rom 12:6; 1 Thess 5:19) that prophetic ministry exists in the church age. It is supported by the experience of some of the ministers in the history of the church as mentioned in Deere’s book. The New Testament prophetic ministry is not the same as Old Testament prophetic ministry. Its focus is not on prophesying future events or proclaims judgment to Israel or the nations. These prophetic gifted ministers do not have authority over the church, as taught by some of the new Apostolic Reformation prophets.[43] New Testament prophetic ministry’s primary purpose is to build up the spiritual maturity of the church of Christ by preaching the Scriptures with illumination from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit could speak through them while preparing for a sermon or spontaneously while delivering the sermon.


     

    NOTES


    [1] This is the period between the Pentecost in Act 2 and the return of Christ.

    [2] Jack Deere, Surprised by The Voice of God. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 20

    [3] Ibid., 20

    [4] Ibid., 19

    [5] Ibid., 17

    [6] Ibid., 25; James 5:17-18

    [7] A consultation of few commentaries agrees with my interpretation. See Moo, Douglas J. James: An Introduction and Commentary. Vol. 16. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985. Chap. 6, sec., “Prayer and healing (5:13-18)”, Logos Bible Software.

    [8] 1 Thessalonians 4:17, Unless the Lord return without our lifetime, in that case, we will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air

    [9] Jack Deere, Surprised by The Voice of God. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 29

    [10] Warren Wiersbe agrees that this verse is about avoiding moral failure, instead of encouraging Christians to expect miracles like the Israelites. “The Jews experienced God’s miracles, and yet they failed when they were tested in the wilderness. Experience must always be balanced with caution, for we never come to the place in our Christian walk where we are free from temptation and potential failure.” Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary. (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), Chap. 7, sec., “Experience Must be Balance with caution”, Logos Bible Software.

    [11] 1 Corinthians 10:4.

    [12] Jack Deere, Surprised by The Voice of God. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 28. See John 5:37

    [13] John 5:39

    [14] Jack Deere, Surprised by The Voice of God. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 62.

    [15] Bock observed 13 miracles in the book of Acts, so do Witherington. “They are healing of the crippled, miraculous knowledge, a healing shadow, restoration of sight, healing of a paralytic, raising of the dead, exorcism, healing handkerchiefs, healing from fever, miraculous release, miraculous protection on the sea, protection from a snake bit, and miraculous speech (tongues). See Darrell Bock, “Acts”, in The Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. (Grand Rapid: Baker Academic, 2007), 230.

    [16] I am using Deere’s term, which he used to describe various ways how God spoke to the people, the ways include dreams, vision, audible voice, through angels, prophecies and through the Holy Spirit. Deere also seems to include healing in this term, as suggested in the list of revelation activities he outlined in the book. See Jack Deere, Surprised by The Voice of God. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 54-56.

    [17] “Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles”. Acts 5:12.

    [18] Acts 5:8.

    [19] Acts 8:26.

    [20] Acts 9:12.

    [21] Acts 10:3. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but the main characters who God has spoken to directly.

    [22] Acts 19:6. Bock explained that this is to confirm that the Spirit has come and shows how John’s disciples are completed in their faith, pointing to the fact that John did point to Jesus. See Darrell Bock, “Acts”, in The Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. (Grand Rapid: Baker Academic, 2007), 600.

     

    [23] Galatians 2:2.

    [24] Jack Deere, Surprised by The Voice of God. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 57.

    [25] Galatians 1:12.

    [26] Galatians 1:1

    [27] “Paul’s point in Galatians is not that he was opposed to or ignorant of this developing Christian tradition, but simply that he was not dependent upon it for his knowledge of Christ”. See Timothy George, Galatians. Vol. 30. The New American Commentary. (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994). Chap. 1, sec., “Call from Above(1:11-12)”, Logos Bible Software.

    [28] Timothy George mentioned that the Greek is particularly difficult on Philippians 3:15–16, but the thrust is abundantly clear: “Paul was in the process of achieving. In case he was misunderstood in 3:4–11, he clarified that he had not yet arrived. One of the key words of the passage is “pursue” (“press on,” NIV; diōkō, 3:12, 14). It stresses an active commitment to the call of Christ. See Timothy George, Galatians. Vol. 30. The New American Commentary. (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994). Chap. 3, sec., “Paul’s Desire to Fulfill His (3:12-14)”, Logos Bible Software.

    [29] Jack Deere, Surprised by The Voice of God. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 57.

    [30] J. Camery-Hoggatt, “Visions, Ecstatic”, Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, ed. Gerald Hawthorne, Ralph Martin, Daniel Reid, (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press 1993), 963.

    [31] “In biblical usage, dreams (חֲלוֹם, chalom) seem to be slightly distinguished from visions (חָזוֹן, chazon). Visions seem to occur while people are awake, while dreams occur in sleep. However, the information passed to a person through a dream or vision may be functionally equivalent.” See Barry, John D. “Vision.” Edited by John D. Barry, David Bomar, Derek R. Brown, Rachel Klippenstein, Douglas Mangum, Carrie Sinclair Wolcott, Lazarus Wentz, Elliot Ritzema, and Wendy Widder. The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016.

    [32] Jack Deere, Surprised by The Voice of God. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), Chapter 15.

    [33] Timothy Sisk, MI102 Current Issues in Missions, Logos Mobile Education (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014), “Current Research on Dreams Leading to Conversion”

    [34] “dreams were and are, according to the NT, a legitimate form of divine revelation, but all prophetic revelation needs testing on the basis of the whole teaching of Scripture so that the true may be separated from the false. This prevents the two equally dangerous extremes: (1) accepting all dreams and prophetic words uncritically, and (2) rejecting all dreams and prophetic words out of fear of deception.” See Peter Davids, The Letters of 2 Peter and Jude. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.), 2006. Jude, Chap 2, “Body Proper: Proof for the Thematic Statement”, Logos Bible Software.

    [35] Yet in like manner these people also, replying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.” Jude 8.

    [36] There are thirty occurrences of the word προφητης (prophet) in Acts, the prophets and teachers at Antioch (Acts 13:1), Agabus (Acts 11:28;21:10), Judas and Silas (15:32), prophetess daughters of Philip (21:9). See Darrell Bock, “Acts”, in The Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. (Grand Rapid: Baker Academic, 2007), 439.

    [37] Jack Deere, Surprised by The Voice of God. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 181.

    [38] Jack Deere, Surprised by The Voice of God. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 170.

    [39] C. M. Robeck, Jr., “Prophecy, Prophesying”, Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, ed. Gerald Hawthorne, Ralph Martin, Daniel Reid, (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press 1993), 761.

    [40] C. M. Robeck, Jr., “Prophecy, Prophesying”, Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, ed. Gerald Hawthorne, Ralph Martin, Daniel Reid, (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press 1993), 762.

     

    [41] Jack Deere, Surprised by The Voice of God. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 60, 62.

    [42] Sisk, Timothy. MI102 Current Issues in Missions. Logos Mobile Education. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014, “How Dreams and Visions are Used by God”.

    [43] For an indepth discussion of NAR and its claims of present day church governing office, see Douglas Geivett, and Holly Pivec. A New Apostolic Reformation?: A Biblical Response to a Worldwide Movement. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press), 2014, Chap. 13, “Present Day Office of Prophet”, Logos Bible Software.

     



     

     

     

    BIBIOGRAPHY

     

    Barry, John D. “Vision.”,  The Lexham Bible Dictionary, edited by John D. Barry, David Bomar, Derek R. Brown, Rachel Klippenstein, Douglas Mangum, Carrie Sinclair Wolcott, Lazarus Wentz, Elliot Ritzema, and Wendy Widder. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016.

     

    Bock, Darrell. Acts. The Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapid: Baker Academic, 2007.

     

    Camery-Hoggatt, Jerry, “Visions, Ecstatic”, Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, ed. Gerald Hawthorne, Ralph Martin, Daniel Reid, Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1993.

     

    Deere, Jack. Surprised by The Voice of God. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996.

     

    Davids, Peter. The Letters of 2 Peter and Jude. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. 2006.

     

    Geivett, Douglas and Pivec, Holly. A New Apostolic Reformation?: A Biblical Response to a Worldwide Movement. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014.

     

    George, Timothy. Galatians. Vol. 30. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994.

     

    Moo, Douglas J. James: An Introduction and Commentary. Vol. 16. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985.

     

    Robeck, C. M. Jr., “Prophecy, Prophesying”, Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, edited by Gerald Hawthorne, Ralph Martin, Daniel Reid. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1993.

     

    Sick, Timothy. MI102 Current Issues in Missions, Logos Mobile Education. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014.

     

    Wiersbe, Warren. The Bible Exposition Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996.