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Bible Bible - NT - Timothy: God-breathed

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Craig Allert’s A High View of Scripture? The Authority of the Bible and the Formation of the New Testament Canon (Evangelical Ressourcement: Ancient Sources for the Church’s Future) is mostly about the implications of the history of canon-formation for our understanding of what the Bible is, our understanding of canon and inspiration. Much of the book is a historical review of the process of the formation of the NT, but toward the end he addresses the question of inspiration directly. He focuses attention on 2 Timothy 3 in an effort to discover what the Bible itself says about inspiration.

He spends several pages, for instance, discussing the meaning of the hapax theopneustos. It is not a strong performance.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 10:13 am

Bible - NT - Timothy: Pursuing Riches

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Paul ends 1 Timothy with some quite striking warnings about the dangers of wealth. Godliness involves contentment, contentment with food and clothing; Paul reminds Timothy that wealth neither came with us nor goes with us when we die (6:6-8). Ungodliness is discontent with God’s provision.

And Paul immediately fills out the character of discontent with a warning about the danger of wealth. More specifically, he warns about the dangers of wanting (boulomai) wealth (v. 9). Paul knows that there are rich believers (vv. 17-19), and he urges them to be generous so as to store up more lasting future riches. But those who are poor and want to be rich, or those who are rich and desire to protect their riches are in great danger. Paul’s language is sharp: “those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction” (v. 9). This is the context of his warning that the love of money is the root of many sorts of evils, including the evil of apostasy: In pursuing wealth, some have “wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang” (v. 10).

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Monday, August 9, 2010 at 4:45 pm

Bible - NT - Timothy: Fall of Adam?

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Did Adam “fall” into sin? If we follow the strict language of Scripture, it would seem not. So far as I can find, Adam is never said to have “fallen.” Adam sinners, transgressed, committed an act of transgression, and by his action sin and death entered the world (Romans 5:12-21). But the only reference to a Genesis 3 “fall” is to the “fall” of Eve: “it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Timothy 2:15).

Perhaps this is because the image of a “fall” suggests a sin of inadvertency as opposed to a high-handed sin. Adam didn’t fall because he knew full well that he was disobeying God by not intervening to stop Eve from eating and by eating the fruit himself. Eve was the one who “fell” into sin, misled by the serpent and stumbling because of her husband’s neglect and selfishness.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Monday, August 9, 2010 at 4:20 pm

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