March 31, 2023 Show with Andreas Köstenberger on “Biblical Theology: A Canonical, Thematic, & Ethical Approach”

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Live from historic downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, home of founding father James Wilson, 19th century hymn writer

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George Duffield, 19th century gospel minister George Norcross, and sports legend

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Jim Thorpe, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,

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Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

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Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us, Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

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Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

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It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours, and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions.

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And now, here's your host, Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon,

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Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet Earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.

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This is Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Friday on this 31st day of March, 2023.

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I'm thrilled to have back a returning guest who I absolutely love interviewing, and he is also one of the favorite authors of one of my pastors at Grace Baptist Church of Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

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His name is Dr. Andreas Kostenberger. He is the co -founder of Biblical Foundations, a ministry devoted to helping restore the biblical foundations in the home, church, and society.

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He is also theologian -in -residence at Fellowship Raleigh, an internationally known leading evangelical author of over 60 books, including

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God, Marriage, and the Family, The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown, and Invitation to Biblical Invitation.

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And today we are going to be addressing his latest book, Biblical Theology, A Canonical, Thematic, and Ethical Approach.

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And it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Dr. Andreas Kostenberger.

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Chris, I'm thrilled to be with you. Thanks so much for having me on. Well, tell our listeners about Biblical Foundations. Well, it's a ministry that my wife and I started about 16 years ago, and we just relaunched our website, biblicalfoundations .org,

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and people can write in with questions, with requests for us to come and speak. We occasionally do marriage and family conferences, retreats, speak in churches, and so we have a special heart for parenting, especially in this culturally confused world, and also for God building solid marriages.

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And the website for people who want to find out more about this very important ministry is biblicalfoundations .org,

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biblicalfoundations .org. You can't get easier than that. Well, we are going to be discussing today your latest book,

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Biblical Theology, A Canonical, Thematic, and Ethical Approach that you co -authored with Gregory Goswell.

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Why don't you tell our listeners something about Gregory as well? Yes, Greg has been a wonderful congenial collaborator on this project.

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He is a well -known Old Testament scholar who teaches at Christ College in Sydney, Australia.

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Great. Well, there are obviously, as you have in the subtitle of your book, three different elements of an approach to biblical theology.

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The first is canonical, the second is thematic, and the third is an ethical approach. Why don't you tell your listeners exactly what you mean by a canonical approach to biblical theology?

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Yes. Of course, we do have a library of 66 books in the canon, 39 in the old, 27 in the new, and so we do think it is very important to balance, on the one hand, that each book has its own message and its own unique emphases and its own context, but at the same time, we have been given an entire library of 66 books, and so biblical theology, we believe, is all about drawing connections between those various books, and I think that's very important not just for people in the academy, but also for pastors and teachers of Scripture.

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Well, let's move on to a summary of what the book, or how the book handles thematic, a thematic approach to biblical theology.

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Yes. So, we do think it's important to start with just each book in its own context, and so we identify major themes, you know, starting with Genesis and going all the way through to Revelation, and we occasionally have summary sections where we would talk about the major themes in the

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Pentateuch or the major themes in the Gospels, and then at the very end, we have a grand synthesis in our final chapter where we talk about what are some of the major themes in all of Scripture.

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And finally, the ethical approach. Yes, I think that is probably the most unique element in our book, because, you know, the

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Scripture was not just given for information. As you know, it was also importantly given for us to live out its teachings, and yet,

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I think we're the first biblical theology that has embedded in its pages an entire biblical ethic.

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So, again, for every book of Scripture, all 66 books, we discuss the ethical teachings of that book, first individually, and then again, we synthesize the ethical teachings, so our readers, especially those who are pastors who are teaching the

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Bible, are able to tell their students in the congregations not just what the

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Bible says, but, you know, the so what question, what does it mean, and how should we then live?

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Now, the book is promoted as being ideal for pastors and academics, but is this something that your average

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Christian who loves the Scriptures, who wants to learn more deeply about the

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Scriptures, wants to study the book, take it to his elders, sit down with them, go over things that he's not clear on when he's reading or she is reading the book?

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Can the average Christian handle this book? Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Now, the book is substantive, as you might expect, you know, for us to cover those three areas that you mentioned for all 66 books of the

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Bible, so it's about 750 pages long, so I think what

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I would recommend, I've already heard from a lot of people, they use it as sort of a handbook or as a resource, and we have a very detailed table of contents, so if somebody wants to, for instance, they're studying the book of Isaiah, and they want to know what are the major themes in Isaiah, they can very quickly find out the page on which we, or pages on which we deal with that in the book, and they can look it up.

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So this is not even just for people who, you know, want to read the book cover to cover, which obviously would take quite some time, but over time, they can access all the relevant information for the book that they happen to be studying at the time, and it's actually our hope that biblical theology will, that people will fall in love with biblical theology because we feel it is such a practical and useful approach to get to know

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Scripture better, to get to know what are the major themes, what are the ethical teachings, and also how a given book fits within the storyline of Scripture as a whole.

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Great, and before I continue on this theme of the book, which is our primary topic today, biblical theology, a canonical thematic and ethical approach,

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I want to whet the appetite of our listeners for our interview next Wednesday.

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We are going to be discussing the final days of Jesus, the most important week of the most important person who ever lived, a great way to enter into the celebration of the resurrection of Christ.

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Tell our listeners something about that book before we continue on our primary theme today. Yes, and the subtitle,

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I think, says it all. You know, there's really no more important week, really, in human history, the week leading up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday, and so in that book,

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The Final Days of Jesus, we walk people through the gospel accounts of that last week, starting with Palm Sunday and concluding with Easter Sunday.

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It's an ideal resource for families and for anyone who wants to, you know, you might say walk with Jesus that final week of his earthly life and ministry.

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So mark your calendars, folks, for Wednesday, April 5th, 4 to 6 p .m. Eastern Time, when

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Andreas Kostenberger returns to Iron Troupe and Zion Radio to discuss that very important book that he has written, and at a very timely time of year that we will be addressing that book,

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The Final Days of Jesus. And now returning to our primary theme on biblical theology, in your opinion, and from your experience of having the opportunity to counsel folks, whether they are average

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Christians, seminary students, colleagues, what do you think can be the most common errors amongst

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Christians, whether they are laymen—and I hate that term, laymen, by the way—but even some scholars.

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Obviously, theologians do not all agree with each other, and there must be some reason for that, and some are considered by we who are

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Reformed as being in serious error when it comes to their theology, no matter how brilliant they are.

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What are some of the errors that you have seen in a Christian's approach to biblical theology?

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Dr. Ken Jones Well, you know, one would simply be one of application, and, of course,

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Jesus and James and other writers of Scripture talked about the failure to live out the biblical teaching.

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So this is not so much a matter of interpretation but of application, and so I think

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I apply that standard to myself. You know, I want to be a man of God, a man of prayer, a man of love, and also a man of obedience, and so, you know, it's not just about head knowledge.

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It's also a matter of being a man after God's own heart. So I would definitely encourage all of us, you know, if we want to fall short, let's fall short on our

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Bible knowledge, but let's not fall short on loving God and loving others and obeying, you know,

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Him. I think the second thing that comes to mind is simply to fail to search the

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Scriptures on a given topic, you know, the whole Bible, and the

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Reformation principle, I think, serves us well there, that Scripture is its own best interpreter,

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Scripture interpreting Scripture, and as you know, Chris, there's a lot of cults or other, maybe even fringe denominations that have focused on one particular teaching in Scripture without adequately balancing it with something

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Scripture says elsewhere, and that's, I think, why the canon is so important and why drawing canonical connections is so important.

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So I think that is where balance comes in, and I think where biblical theology can help us to avoid that fallacy of studying one given passage and then presuming that that is the only passage on that topic in Scripture when, in fact, it is not.

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Well, the book is broken in two major parts.

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We have part one being the book of Genesis and part two being the Old Testament, which is comprised of the law, the prophets, and the writings, and as you may have heard, a very popular, unfortunately, and well -known

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TV evangelist, son of an even more well -known and popular pastor, author, and TV evangelist, recently got a lot of controversy brewing and back and forth between those in the media, whether it's the internet or on podcasts or other forms of communication, who were either defending or radically opposing what this man said, but he emphatically stated that the

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Christian church needs to unhitch itself from the Old Testament.

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Obviously, the new covenant is a new and better covenant, but some draw a very dangerous and deadly meaning behind that and respond to it in a horrible way in thinking that the

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Old Testament is nothing more than a history book that we can learn some fascinating things about the people of God before the

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Christian era and all that kind of thing, but they don't really think that it is necessary to plumb to the depths of the

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Old Testament to really thoroughly understand it and study it and research it and meditate upon it and apply it, when appropriate, to a new covenant life.

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So tell us about how that is a real deadly error to dismiss the importance of the

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Old Testament even today. Yes, I think, Chris, you set up the issue very well, and of course, you know, in our book,

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We Don't Believe It At All, we have over 300 pages coverage of all 39 books of the

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Old Testament. We think it's just a vital foundation, even though I think, as you write he said, there's a

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New Testament, and of course, there's a sense in which the Old Testament, as Jesus himself said, sets the stage for the new and how the law, the prophets, the

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Psalms, the writings all point to him. So, you know, what do you do with a building that doesn't have a foundation, right?

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It's, the Old Testament is absolutely vital. It calls for hermeneutics.

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It calls for nuance, you know, to understand the progression between the

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Testaments. So, yes, I think that's why we want to assist believers in interpreting

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Scripture properly with where you do have a genuine love for and appreciation for the

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Old Testament, but then you also understand how the New Testament, in many ways, completes and fulfills what the

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Old Testament builds up to. So, there's this wonderful complementary relationship, almost like a marriage between the old and the new, where you really need both for us to appreciate

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God's plan of salvation, His plan of redemption, His plan of salvation and my wife is a writer and scholar as well.

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She has a forthcoming book on sanctification in the Short Studies in Biblical Theology series with Crossway and, you know, she has a beautiful chapter on the

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Old Testament, on the holiness of God and on the holiness code in Leviticus and the temple and the tabernacle and then she moves into the

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New Testament and talks about Jesus teaching on abiding in Him and Paul's teaching on the work of the

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Holy Spirit in sanctification and it's never been clear to me that we could really not understand sanctification very well at all if we didn't first have the

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Old Testament witnessed to the holiness of God, the holiness code and the temple and so forth.

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And even believing that Jesus Christ is who

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He says He is, to believe that He is our Lord, God, Savior and King, that He is the promised

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Messiah who would emerge from the Jewish people, to believe any of that, one needs to have some kind of an idea of the prophecies that foretold that and the entire legacy of the

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Old Covenant people of God that is bared open for us in the

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Hebrew Scriptures. Am I not right? Yes, you're exactly right and I think, you know, when you think about it, writing a biblical theology gave us the opportunity to talk about all those things.

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We have an entire chapter on the New Testament use of the Old Testament and where we talk about some of those things.

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So you can imagine just how massive an undertaking it is to write a biblical theology, a whole

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Bible biblical theology where you cover and want to do justice to the message of all 66 books, both individually and then in relation to each other within the biblical library of 66 books.

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And we have, going back to the contents of the

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Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament, the law, the prophets and the writings, as I said earlier, tell us something about the book biblical theology's approach to the law to start with.

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Yes, thank you very much. So I think my collaborator, Greg Goswell, is in very good company.

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Many Old Testament scholars point to the Hebrew order of the Old Testament books, the law, of course, the five books of Moses from Genesis to Deuteronomy, then the prophets, which interestingly in the

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Hebrew canon are divided into the former prophets and the latter prophets and the former prophets include

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Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings. We might not typically think of that as prophetic books, but in the

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Hebrew mindset, you have those leaders essentially serve as precursors to what we would consider the major Old Testament prophets.

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And so then the latter prophets would be Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel and the book of the 12, which we think of as 12 books, but in the

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Hebrew canon, that was just one book, the book of the 12. And then of course, the writings that contain in the

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Hebrew canon, what we would call the wisdom books, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations.

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And then also some books that we would think of more as historical writings, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles.

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So the important thing is that the book of Chronicles in most forms of the

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Hebrew order in the Hebrew canon, actually it's the final book in the Old Testament. And some see in our

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Gospels indication that perhaps even in the Bible that Jesus used, the order of the

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Old Testament books, the book of Chronicles may have been lost. Now it seems to me that the law in the

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Old Covenant is an area where those who profess to be

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Christians very often find themselves, and even throughout history have found themselves, in very serious and heretical danger when they misapply the law of the

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Old Covenant. There are Christians that totally divorce the

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New Covenant church from any of the laws of the

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Old Testament, unless we have some clear repetition of them by Jesus Christ and the disciples and the new.

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And then you have some that could rightly be labeled as modern day

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Judaizers who import in wrong ways Old Covenant laws and practices and commands into the

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New Covenant. How can the Christian studying his scriptures and seeking to be obedient make sure that he is free from making either of those opposite errors?

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Yes, again, a very excellent question related to biblical theology. I've learned much from Greg Goswell here, from my collaborator.

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He points out in the book that the word law, you know, the Hebrew Torah, is actually much broader than merely what we might think of, you know, legal.

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It really means instruction. And so the Old Testament contains instructions for living that in many ways are reflections of the holy character of God.

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It is also, as Paul writes in the New Testament, a tutor, you know, that teaches us about how to live a holy life.

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And like Paul says, the law is good, but it is limited in its ability to save.

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And so that is why, in the end, Jesus came to die on the cross for our sins and then to send the

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Spirit of God in fulfillment of the New Covenant promise in Jeremiah, put

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His Spirit in our hearts to give us the actual ability to live out and to obey

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God's commandments. So yes, we need to understand the preparatory function of the

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Old Testament, the educational function, and even the prophetic function, that the law is not an end in itself.

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That's where the Jews in, you know, the first century went wrong. It actually pointed forward to, as you mentioned earlier, to the

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Messiah who died to, you know, first to receive the

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Spirit so we could actually live out obediently what

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God expects of us from the heart. And we have to go to our first commercial break right now.

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Well, if you just tuned us in, we are having a conversation today with Andreas Kostenberger about his new book,

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Biblical Theology, a Canonical Thematic and Ethical Approach, and we do have a listener in Hoshton, Georgia, and I hope

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I'm pronouncing that city correctly. I've gotten emails from that city before, and nobody's ever corrected me, so I'm assuming

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I'm pronouncing it right. We have Anthony from Hoshton, Georgia, who actually asks four questions, and I usually don't allow listeners to ask that many, but I'm making an exception because they're good questions, and I can combine two of them, so there will actually be three questions.

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What have you found is the best way to translate the biblical theology once digested into making a more grounded and fluid presentation of the gospel of the kingdom?

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Do we suggest a timeline of redemptive history, looking at how the prophets looked into the coming of the servant of the

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Lord as a new exodus? That would be the first question for you.

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Yes, so I'm thinking of 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4, where Paul says that the gospel that he received and that he himself preached was that Jesus died according to the

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Scriptures and that he was buried and rose on the third day according to the Scriptures, and so this is a perfect example,

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I think, of biblical theology, where Paul says the gospel that he himself preached, and the saving events of the gospel,

39:55

Jesus Christ crucified, buried and risen, happened in accordance with the

40:02

Scriptures, and you could go to Romans 1, where again,

40:10

Paul says that the gospel was already promised beforehand. He mentions elsewhere that the gospel was preached already through Abraham, and Abraham was already justified by faith, and so there's many ways.

40:25

I would say there's not just one way. There's many ways in which we can show that,

40:31

Chris, as you and I were talking before the break, that there's an organic connection between the

40:37

Old and the New Testament in terms of prediction and fulfillment, in terms of typology, and Jesus being the anti -type and so forth.

40:47

So in our book, we advocate what we call a multiplex approach, saying, you know, there's not just one way to present the gospel.

40:56

It may to some extent depend also on the person that we're talking to, to present it in the best way possible, and I think we see that also in Paul's ministry.

41:07

You think about the way he presented the gospel, say, in Athens in chapter 17 of the book of Acts, for example, and how that was somewhat different.

41:15

You might have presented it in another context. And his second question, that's

41:22

Anthony's second question, can we suggest such things in conversation with friends and family, suggesting and urging them to look toward Jesus found in the types and shadows?

41:35

Well, yeah, I think we could educate them and teach them biblical theology.

41:43

And you know, when we talk about biblical theology, this is not just an academic, modern discipline.

41:49

You see biblical theology, as I mentioned a minute ago, already in Scripture. The biblical writers, you know, when they quote the

41:58

Old Testament, they engage in biblical theology. And so, you know, to Anthony's second question here, yes, we can talk to our friends and you know, about typology, the idea that, you know, you think of Jesus saying just as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness, so the

42:19

Son of Man must be lifted up that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

42:25

The idea that he's using a previous event in Israel's history, in this case,

42:31

Moses lifting up the bronze serpent in the wilderness, and he's using that as a pattern to show that anyone who looks on a raised up object, and of course in Jesus' case, the crucified

42:47

Jesus in faith will, through faith and by grace, have eternal life in him.

42:57

So it will take a little bit of education and a little bit of, you know, willingness to learn something new in some cases, but I think typology is a wonderful biblical way to understand the relationship between the

43:11

Old and the New Testaments. And his final question, Anthony's that is, is, is there a caution that you would offer to keep us from going a bit overboard in using such teaching?

43:24

I'm assuming he is talking about showing Christ in the types and shadows, and I'm also assuming what he means by that is that there have been people, very guilty, of eisegesis, who are seeing things that were never intended to be seen in a text.

43:43

The late Harold Camping, who sadly ended his life as a heretic, after years of running one of the most biblically faithful radio networks that existed on the planet, he was very guilty of eisegesis and seeing things in the

44:01

Old Testament and in the New Testament that were not meant to be there through the

44:07

God -breathed words that were written by God's chosen authors.

44:14

But, so, is there a word of caution that you would offer, and how do you know if you're seeing something or you think you're seeing something that was never intended to picture something that you think it is?

44:26

Yes, I think that is very important. I totally agree with the, you know, the underlying tenor and premise of that question, that there's balance.

44:38

On the one hand, clearly, Jesus, in Luke chapter 24, for example, mentions not once but twice that people ought to believe that everything that's written about Him in the

44:50

Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. But, as my collaborator,

44:57

Greg Goswell, says so well, and he's very judicious in that area, that doesn't mean that every single verse in the

45:05

Old Testament is about Jesus. And so, that is the caution. I completely agree.

45:12

We ought not to engage in this eisegesis where we would read, maybe it's well -intentioned, but it's still misinformed, that we read

45:22

Jesus into passages that are simply not about Him. Well, thank you,

45:29

Anthony, for writing such insightful questions and sending them in, and your reward for doing that is that you have won a free copy of the book we are addressing,

45:41

Biblical Theology, a Canonical, Thematic, and Ethical Approach by Andreas Kostenberger and Gregory Goswell.

45:49

And thanks to our friends at Crossway, and also thanks to our friends at Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, CVBBS .com,

45:58

who will actually be the ones shipping the book out to you at no cost to us or to you.

46:05

We have another listener, and we always love hearing from this listener,

46:12

Grady, in Asheboro, North Carolina, a very regular listener and monthly supporter of Iron Sherpins Iron Radio.

46:21

And I am looking for Grady's question. There it is. Greetings, brothers.

46:27

Could your book be used by a man doing family devotions with his wife and children?

46:34

Well, I think probably the best way to do that would be—the answer is yes, but I think the best way to do that would be for you, yourself, to read through a given section.

46:46

Say you're looking at the book of Romans. Well, we have maybe a few pages on the main major themes in Romans.

46:56

And so I think what I would recommend is just for you to use it as a bit of a teacher's resource that you're equipped to lead a study on the book of Romans by reading that section in the biblical theology.

47:13

Well, thanks, Grady. And guess what? You've also won a free copy of this book, Biblical Theology, generously donated by Crossway and generously shipped out to you by our friends at Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, cbbbs .com.

47:32

And before we go to the break, this kind of thoroughly detailed work, some people, when they see a book of this size, are intimidated to even pick it up and start delving into it.

47:55

But Christians really need to learn that it's a good and healthy thing to reach above your current level of biblical literacy and understanding, that they shouldn't let things like this scare them away, because you always have the ability to ask your own pastors and elders and ask other

48:22

Christians and so on to explain things if they are still left with a lack of clarity when they're reading something.

48:32

Isn't this true with this work as well? Absolutely, Chris. You know,

48:38

I've been so heartened by the early responses to a book which has only been out now for about a week or a week and a half.

48:48

And, you know, when I look at, there's about a dozen or so Amazon reviews, and they're all from, you might say, ordinary people who really love the clarity and also the depth of the book.

49:04

And I think many of them say, as you mentioned, that they were initially a little bit apprehensive to pick it up, but they find actually the opposite to be the case, that they are really drawn into the depth of biblical wisdom and of the knowledge of God that they can find in those pages.

49:33

I should say that for both Greg and I, this is the culmination of 30 years of teaching and writing and research.

49:45

And so this has been a wonderful opportunity for us to pass on to others that blessing that we've received from studying

49:58

Scripture for all those years. And so if you're listening and you're not sure this book is for you, don't feel like, you know, you have to read the entire book in one weekend.

50:10

It is a wonderful resource. I've seen that it's actually presented on Amazon as a

50:18

Bible handbook. And that's actually a good way to think about it, that it is kind of a companion that you can have alongside your

50:27

Bible, maybe even alongside your study Bible, and that helps you make canonical connections, you know, between the different books within the 66 books of Scripture.

50:39

And would this not be a wonderful way for a church or group of Christians who desire to either start a

50:52

Bible study or they want to start a new theme? They maybe have run

50:58

Bible studies for many, many years, but they have a new theme that they want to start. This book could probably take them through several years of study that could really transform their thinking, couldn't it?

51:11

Yeah, I agree. I think it should definitely be in your church library, and I think certainly all the leaders of the church,

51:19

I think, be almost indispensable as a resource. And, you know,

51:25

I've seen reviews that say that this is almost like a whole seminary curriculum in one book.

51:34

And so I think it is just a great value, you know, for anyone to basically to have available.

51:45

Whenever a question arises, there's 250 pages of indices of study resources, and so use those indices as well.

51:58

You know, if you study a given passage of Scripture, just go to the back, flip to the back, and look and see.

52:04

And there's probably, you know, several pages where we deal with your passage, and then hopefully those comments will be helpful.

52:12

Well, we are going to our midway break right now. Please remember, folks, that the midway break is a little longer than the other breaks because Grace Life Radio, 90 .1

52:21

FM in Lake City, Florida, requires of us a longer break in the middle of the show because the

52:27

FCC requires of them to localize geographically this program to Lake City, Florida, with their own public service announcements and other local things that they air in the middle of the show.

52:39

We, on the other hand, simultaneously air our globally heard commercials. Please use this time wisely.

52:45

Write down as much of the information provided by—or the contact information that is provided by our advertisers as you can, and use that information to contact them, either to purchase their products, use their services, support their parachurch organizations, or visit their churches.

53:03

But when you can't do any of those, if you love this show, there's one thing that any listener can do.

53:09

You can contact our advertisers and simply say, thank you so much for sponsoring

53:14

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, and then add any personal reason why you love this program to that note.

53:22

That should go a long way in convincing our advertisers that they should keep renewing their advertising contracts with us so that they will continue to help us remain on the air.

53:33

Remember, folks, we absolutely, positively require the financial support of our advertisers to exist.

53:40

So, do that, and also send in your questions to Andreas Kostenberger or to chrisarnsen at gmail .com.

53:46

Give us your first name at least, city and state, and country of residence. We'll be right back after these messages. Don't go away.

54:07

I'm delighted to announce that my longtime friend Chris Arnson of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio and I are heading down to Atlanta, Georgia again for the

54:15

G3 National Conference. That's Thursday, September 21st through Saturday the 23rd, on a theme that I have been preaching, teaching, writing about, and defending in live public debates for most of my life, the sovereignty of God.

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I'll be joined on the speaking roster by Steve Lawson, Voti Baucum, Paul Washer, Virgil Walker, Scott Anuel, and Josh Bice, founder of G3 Ministries.

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And there's more great news. Chris Arnson of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio can get you a 30 % discount off the registration fee.

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Chris Arnson and I look forward to seeing you all Thursday, September 21st through Saturday the 23rd at the

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G3 National Conference in Atlanta, Georgia on the sovereignty of God. Make sure you stop by the

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Iron Sharpens Iron Radio exhibitor booth and say hi to Chris Arnson while you're there.

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Go to g3min .org and enter promo code G3ISIR for your 30 % discount off the registration fee.

55:42

I'm Dr. Joseph Piper, President Emeritus and Professor of Systematic and Applied Theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

55:54

Every Christian who's serious about the Deformed Faith and the Westminster Standards should have and use the eight -volume commentary on the theology and ethics of the

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It is much more than an exposition of the Larger Catechism. It is a thoroughly researched work that utilizes biblical exegesis as well as historical and systematic theology.

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Dr. Morecraft is pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, and I urge everyone looking for a biblically faithful church in that area to visit that fine congregation.

56:33

For details on the eight -volume commentary, go to westminstercommentary .com, westminstercommentary .com.

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For details on Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, visit heritagepresbyterianchurch .com,

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heritagepresbyterianchurch .com. Please tell Dr. Morecraft and the

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Saints at Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, that Dr. Joseph Piper of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary sent you.

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If you love Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, one of the best ways you can help keep the show on the air is by supporting our advertisers.

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One such faithful advertiser who really believes in what Chris Hansen is doing is

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Dan is the president and founder of the Historical Bible Society. Their mission?

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To foster belief in the credibility of Scripture as the written Word of God. They go to various churches, schools, and institutions to publicly display a rare collection of biblical texts, along with a fascinating presentation by Mr.

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You can have your own copy of this 44 -page genealogy book for a donation of $35 or more.

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Thanks for helping to keep Iron Sharpen's Iron Radio on the air. Hi, I'm Buzz Taylor.

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Chris Armisen of Iron Sharpen's Iron Radio has had a long -time partnership with our friends at CVBBS, which stands for Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service.

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Oh, hail the power of Jesus' name.

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If you live near Franklin, Tennessee, and Franklin is just south of Nashville, maybe 10 minutes, or you are visiting this area, or you have friends and loved ones nearby, we hope you will join us some

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This is Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign

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Before I return to my guest, Andreas Kostenberger, and the continuation of our discussion on biblical theology, a canonical, thematic, and ethical approach,

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I just have a couple of very important announcements to make. Folks, if you really love this show and you don't want it to disappear from the airwaves, please go to ironsharpensironradio .com,

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So send me an email to chrisarnzen at gmail .com and put advertising in the subject line. When it comes to those who donate to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, please remember these two things.

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I was going to say, I got a little distracted there from the noise, then what

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I was going to say is that men in leadership, whether you're a pastor, an elder, a deacon, or a parachurch ministry leader, please remember that we are having the

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Iron Sharpens Iron Radio free pastor's luncheon on Thursday, April 13th, 11 a .m.

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to 2 p .m. at Church of the Living Christ in Loisville, Pennsylvania. The speakers at this event are going to be

01:10:29

Dr. William Webster, who is a pastor in Battleground Washington and also an author with Banner of Truth, and Rev.

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David T. King, who is a pastor in Katy, Texas, and one of Dr. Webster's co -authors.

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And this is absolutely free. Not only will you be fed physically and spiritually for free, you will also leave that place with a heavy sack of brand new books selected personally by me and donated by very generous

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And that bag of free books should be the deal breaker to make you travel as long as it's possible to Loisville, Pennsylvania, to be a guest at my luncheon.

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This was the brainchild of my precious late wife in the 1990s, and I continue to conduct these luncheons in tribute to her and in loving memory of her after she has gone home to be with the

01:11:34

Lord for eternity. So we hope to see you Thursday, April 13th, 11 a .m. to 2 p .m. at Church of the

01:11:39

Living Christ in Loisville, Pennsylvania, for the free pastor's luncheon of Iron Sherpa's Iron Radio.

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And then the three days following that luncheon, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 14th through the 16th, those same two men,

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Dr. Webster and Reverend King, will be speaking at a three -day Bible conference, also free, at a different church,

01:12:00

Grace Bible Fellowship Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The theme of that conference is

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The Gospel Removed by Rome, Rescued by the Reformers, and Rejected by Modern Evangelicals.

01:12:12

If you'd like to register for that conference, send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com and put conference in the subject line.

01:12:20

If you're also attending the luncheon, put luncheon and conference in the subject line, and let me know how many people are attending either or both of those events.

01:12:30

Lastly, if you are not a member of a Christ -honoring, biblically faithful, theologically sound, doctrinally solid church, no matter where you live on the planet

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Earth, I have extensive lists spanning the globe of biblically faithful churches, and I've helped many people in our audience find churches, sometimes even within just a couple of minutes from where they live.

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So if you are in that condition of being homeless when it comes to having no biblically faithful church where you are a member, send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com

01:13:00

and put I Need a Church in the subject line. That's also the email address where you can send in a question to Dr.

01:13:06

Andreas Kostenberger, chrisarnson at gmail .com, chrisarnson at gmail .com.

01:13:14

And we do have an anonymous listener in the audience who says,

01:13:24

I have a difference of opinion with the church where I am a member over the

01:13:30

Sabbath day. I believe that Christians in the New Covenant have the freedom and liberty to eat at restaurants and other things, whereas members of the elder board at my church frown upon such things, and so do probably most of the members.

01:13:49

What is your opinion on that? Yes, well, I think the book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus fulfilled the promise of rest in the

01:14:04

Old Testament. There's at least five or six stages in the biblical theology of rest, if you will.

01:14:13

You have, of course, the original rest of God on the final day of creation.

01:14:23

Later on you have God wanting to give Israel rest in the promised land.

01:14:30

But then in the Psalms, I think it's Psalm 95, it mentions that people fail to enter

01:14:38

God's rest because of unbelief. And so there remains still a future rest for the people of God.

01:14:44

And that's where the author of Hebrews then picks it up, and he quotes that Psalm, and he points out that Jesus was the latter

01:14:52

Joshua, if you will, because in the Septuagint, the word

01:15:00

Joshua and Jesus are the same. So the author capitalizes on that and says, so Jesus is really the one who is going to help us to enter that final rest, which ultimately is, well, immediately it's salvation, right?

01:15:20

Jesus said, come to me, I will give you rest for your souls in Matthew 11.

01:15:25

But then finally, the ultimate rest, of course, is heaven, where there will be no more pain or crying or tears.

01:15:33

And so I've just given you a very quick thumbnail sketch of a biblical theology of rest in five or six stages.

01:15:44

And so you could see that there's considerable development in Scripture. And what that means when it comes to Sabbath observance is that that command is not repeated in the

01:15:57

New Testament as a command. So I think it is reasonable to believe that Jesus fulfilled that.

01:16:06

And so that I think Paul says in Romans, I think it's chapter 13 or 14, that one man observes one day and one another.

01:16:16

And so I think it really is probably a matter of conscience, but I don't think churches today ought to compel people to observe the

01:16:26

Sabbath the way Israel observed it in Old Testament comments. And even if a church or an individual

01:16:35

Christian may have a very serious belief, acceptance, and devotion to a

01:16:44

New Testament Sabbath, wouldn't you say that it would be wise counsel for them not to act as if they are the

01:16:53

Sabbath police and begin judging other Christians about how they observed that day with one obviously critical exception?

01:17:06

I think that if somebody is routinely not showing up for the gathering of the

01:17:12

Lord's people on Sunday, and for trivial reasons, oh,

01:17:18

I'm not going to worship with my brothers and sisters today because I have softball practice, or I have to go to my children's softball practice, or soccer practice, or soccer game, or it could be a whole host of things that are really trivial where you have people avoiding the gathering of the saints.

01:17:43

As long as they're not doing that, we have to make sure that we are not becoming the

01:17:49

Sabbath police. Am I right? Yeah, you're exactly right, Chris, and I think that's exactly what Paul is talking about there in Romans 13 and 14, the idea that you should not have this idea of stronger brothers and weaker brothers to erroneously compel other people's conscience.

01:18:10

That would be legalism, and it would be unduly controlling, if you will.

01:18:17

I might want to add one more thing, which I think is really important, which is that we see in the

01:18:23

New Testament that there was a shift from the Sabbath to the Lord's Day, okay, which is our

01:18:30

Sunday as the day on which Jesus rose from the dead, and you see that mentioned both in the book of Acts and even in the book of Revelation.

01:18:41

Remember, John says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day when he received those revelations, and so I think you see that shift that we need to understand that the

01:18:55

New Testament Christians met, and we still do today as New Testament Christians on the

01:19:02

Lord's Day. And of course, going back to the forsaking of the assembling of the brethren, that's an act worthy of discipline if that's a habitual thing that somebody is doing that doesn't involve serious illness or something like that.

01:19:19

Wouldn't you agree that we can't go to the other extreme either? Yeah, so again, attending church on Sunday is not a work as such, but it is clearly what is the expectation, and we know passages in the

01:19:39

New Testament that warn against forsaking the assembling for a variety of reasons. Amen.

01:19:45

Well, guess what, Anonymous, if you provide me with your full name and your mailing address, you have won the final copy that we have been given by Crossway of Biblical Theology.

01:19:58

They gave us less copies this time around. I think it may be because of the size of the book,

01:20:03

I'm not sure, but you have won the final copy that we have received from them, and so please make sure you give us your full mailing address and obviously your full name as well.

01:20:15

Obviously, no one in our audience is going to hear that information. You've remained anonymous, and we're not going to repeat any of that information on the air.

01:20:24

Also, if you're a first -time questioner, you have also won a free New American Standard Bible, compliments of the publishers of the

01:20:32

NASB, and also compliments of Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, cbbbs .com,

01:20:40

who will be shipping these books out to you, the Biblical Theology and the

01:20:45

New American Standard Bible. Well, if you could, now that we are in the second half of the broadcast, tell us what is involved in your book with the order of the books in the

01:21:00

New Testament canon. Is that an important issue, the order of the books and so on?

01:21:07

Yes, you know, that's actually little known, but very interesting. There's actually an alternative

01:21:13

New Testament order of books other than the one we're used to in our

01:21:20

English Bibles, which is essentially Gospels, Acts, Pauline Epistles, then this grouping of General Epistles, which is essentially the non -Pauline

01:21:32

Epistles, and then the Book of Revelation. The order that we have is actually the

01:21:40

Latin order that the books are grouped in in the Latin Vulgate in the fourth century and thereafter.

01:21:49

But there's an earlier order, a Greek order, which flips the

01:21:56

Pauline Epistles and the General Epistles so that, in fact, the order in the

01:22:03

Greek order is Gospels, Acts, and then the

01:22:08

General Epistles, you know, the letters of James, Peter, Jude, and so forth, then the

01:22:17

Pauline letters, then Hebrews, and then Revelation. And there's actually a recent crossway publication that the

01:22:31

Greek New Testament produced at Tyndall House that follows that alternative earlier order.

01:22:38

Now, what does it matter? Well, in some ways, you know, we still have the same books, but it makes for a slightly different reading in that you read the letters of the

01:22:55

General Epistles by James, Peter, and so forth immediately after Acts, and then only later come to Paul's letters.

01:23:04

So, for example, you know, you read James before Romans, and so it can make a difference in the way we understand, for instance,

01:23:15

James' and Paul's teaching on justification by faith. And so in our book, we talk about, you know, the difference it makes if you read the books in the

01:23:26

New Testament in a different order, and that's something that is not as widely known. So I think if you're interested in that, that would be yet another reason for you to get the book.

01:23:36

Great, and we have a listener from St. Kitts in the

01:23:42

West Indies, Gregory, who asks, in my country, there is a gentleman who was married in a church.

01:23:50

Later, he became the pastor and elder of another church, but his wife does not go to his church except on very special occasions, which are not too often.

01:24:00

She continues to go to her church before her husband left to pastor another church. Is he biblically qualified to be the pastor and elder of the church that he now pastors?

01:24:11

And I'm assuming that, Gregory, means, is he qualified because he's allowing his wife to continue going to another church?

01:24:20

Well, clearly, we don't cover that in our book, and in some ways,

01:24:26

Chris, you, with your pedigree and your experience, are probably more qualified than I am to address this issue.

01:24:34

But, you know, I guess it probably depends a little bit on the circumstances.

01:24:41

I can't necessarily discern anything in the gentleman's, you know, the scenario that he presents that would automatically disqualify that person.

01:24:55

You know, if it doesn't necessarily mean that there's any disunity in the marriage, if it's by mutual consent, if there's a good reason, you know, why that couple has chosen to do that, it's clearly, you know, unconventional.

01:25:13

But then again, I'm not a, you know, a biblical counselor, so that is probably more in the realm of application.

01:25:23

I don't know, Chris, if you have anything to add on in that particular unique scenario.

01:25:29

Yeah, first of all, I don't believe I deserve the accolades that you gave to me, but I think that one of the major problems with such a scenario is that you have a very vital person in the life of the pastor who is not under the oversight of the elders in that pastor's church.

01:25:57

She may be under the oversight of the pastor in their home, but it would seem to me bizarre that you would have a pastor's wife who is not accountable in the church and in the life of the corporate body of a congregation, that woman not to be under the oversight of those elders where her pastor is one of the elders.

01:26:26

That just seems very bizarre, and it sends a really horrible message to the congregation.

01:26:35

It may reveal that he is not fulfilling his responsibility of the head of his own home, and it may reflect that he does not have his household in order.

01:26:51

Now, I don't even know who this person is. I don't know anything about the situation, so I don't want to go too far, but it's definitely a bizarre situation, and I don't know anyone who

01:27:04

I think highly of in the realm of scholarship and theology who would think that there's nothing wrong with that.

01:27:11

There might be some extremely rare and pressing reason why that is the case, or perhaps it's a temporary thing for some reason, but I just can't imagine that being a normal thing to occur in the body of the faithful.

01:27:32

But thank you, Gregory, for listening, and keep spreading the word about Iron Troupe and Zion Radio in St.

01:27:38

Kitts in the West Indies. I want you to perhaps continue in the thread of letting our listeners know, no matter what realm in life they find themselves, whether they're a seminary professor, seminary president, pastor, elder, deacon, or the janitor of a church, some reasons why this book would be very helpful for them to get a hold of it.

01:28:12

Yeah, thank you. I mean, the obvious reason is that clearly, Chris, despite our best efforts, we can't do justice to that, you know, comprehensive of a volume in a short program, so all we can hope is to whet people's appetite and to introduce them in some cases to the whole, you know, field of biblical theology.

01:28:36

I would say if maybe you've never heard of biblical theology, or you're fairly new to this, biblical theology is an incredible way to penetrate more deeply into the heart of the biblical message, because what you do in biblical theology is you look at the biblical message inductively, meaning without any preconceived notions or rigid theological system, and you look at it historically and on its own terms, you know, so you study the historical setting of a given book, such as Malachi or the letter of James, and you try to understand it, you know, the intent with which that book was written by the original author to the original recipients, and only after that you ask questions of application, and so in many ways, this is the proper place to start studying

01:29:45

Scripture, and yeah, I mean, in our book, as we mentioned repeatedly, you know, we cover all 66 books because we believe that every one of those books has a right to have a place at the table, so to speak.

01:30:05

Chris, in the book, we use the illustration of biblical theology as a family conversation around the dinner table, and you can think of us writing the book kind of like the parents or, you know, the dad who basically moderates the conversation, and there's several children around the table, and you make sure that everybody, even the little one or the one that maybe, you know, is a hard time for their voice to be heard, even they have a right to speak, and they have a voice, and that's what we're trying to do with different voices of Scripture, that we want to look at Obadiah, we want to look at Jude, we want to look at the so -called minor voices because there's a reason why they're in the canon, and so in the end, we basically try to facilitate what you might call a canonical conversation between the different authors of Scripture.

01:31:03

And we have another anonymous listener who says that he or she is remaining anonymous, so as not to offend close friends that disagree with him or her, and it is about the divide amongst

01:31:23

Christians, even who are Reformed, about the discontinuity and continuity of the old and new covenants.

01:31:33

The listener says, it seems that half or more of the Reformed faith is promoting an idea that there is one covenant with two administrations, while the others, most oftenly found amongst

01:31:47

Reformed Baptists, it seems have a more healthy and more biblical understanding of the continuity and yet having discontinuity between the two covenants.

01:31:58

I was wondering if your guest has any insight into this. Yeah, that is a great, great question that biblical theology must address, the relationship between the covenants, the relationship between the

01:32:15

Testaments, and I think part of what's important there is proper balance.

01:32:21

You know, on the one hand, you definitely see continuity. You see continuity between the covenants in the sense that you have the old covenant, you have the new covenant.

01:32:30

When it comes to the Exodus, you have the original Exodus, and then Isaiah and others talk about a new

01:32:37

Exodus, that Jesus will, a spiritual Exodus, people will leave people and will deliver people from their bondage to sin.

01:32:47

You see creation, and then you have in the New Testament a theme of new creation, which climaxes in the book of Revelation, so there's continuity, but there's also some genuine development, or you might even say discontinuity.

01:33:04

You know, you think of the Great Commission, for example, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.

01:33:09

Well, in the Old Testament, Israel was meant to attract people by the way they lived, but with the exception of Jonah, you don't see

01:33:18

Israel as a nation to be called to go to the nations. The nations were rather to come to them.

01:33:25

You think of the Holy Spirit. I believe that the Holy Spirit came in Acts 2 at Pentecost, and that's when the church was born, and so in the

01:33:37

Old Testament, believers were not indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and maybe not everyone will agree, but I think there's some very strong evidence for that.

01:33:45

I actually had the privilege of co -authoring another book with my friend and colleague, Greg Allison, called

01:33:51

The Holy Spirit in the Theology for the People of God series, so if you're interested, that might be on the specific topic of the

01:34:00

Holy Spirit in the Old and New Testament. You might want to check that out. Great, and we have to go to our final break.

01:34:07

It is a shorter break than the other breaks, but we are rapidly running out of time, so if you do have a question, please try to send it in as quickly as possible so that we don't run out of time before we have the opportunity to ask your question of Andreas and have him answer it.

01:34:27

The email address again is chrisarnson at gmail .com, chrisarnson at gmail .com, and as always, give us your first name at least, your city and state, and your country of residence.

01:34:35

Don't go away, we'll be right back. James White of Alpha Omega Ministries here.

01:34:52

I'm very excited to announce that my long -time friend Chris Arnson of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio and I are heading down to Atlanta, Georgia again for the

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It's such a blessing to hear from Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listeners from all over the world.

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Here's Joe Riley, a listener in Ireland who wants you to know about a guest on the show he really loves hearing interviewed,

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Dr. Joe Moorcraft. I'm Joe Riley, a faithful Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listener here in Atai, in County Kildare, Ireland, going back to 2005.

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One of my very favorite guests on Iron Sharpens Iron is Dr. Joe Moorcraft. If you've been blessed by Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Dr.

01:42:21

Moorcraft and Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, are largely to thank, since they are one of the program's largest financial supporters.

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For more details on Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, visit HeritagePresbyterianChurch .com,

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Anthony Uvino, and I'm one of the pastors at Hope Reform Baptist Church in Quorum, New York, and also the host of the reformrookie .com

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website. I want you to know that if you enjoy listening to the Iron Sharpens Iron radio show like I do, you can now find it on the

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Again, I'm Pastor Anthony Avino, and thanks for listening. As host of Iron Sharpens Iron radio,

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Daniel P. Patafuco, serious injury lawyer and Christian apologist.

01:51:51

Dan is the president and founder of the Historical Bible Society. Their mission?

01:51:57

To foster belief in the credibility of scripture as the written word of God. They go to various churches, schools, and institutions to publicly display a rare collection of biblical texts, along with a fascinating presentation by Mr.

01:52:12

Patafuco demonstrating the reliability of scripture. To advance the cause of the gospel, they created a beautiful perfect facsimile of the genealogy of Jesus Christ from the original engravings contained in a first edition 1611

01:52:29

King James Bible. This 17th century hand engraved chart shows the family tree of Jesus Christ going back to Adam and Eve.

01:52:40

This book is complete with gorgeous full -size illustrations of Noah's Ark and the

01:52:46

Tower of Babel and an explanation of why the genealogy of Jesus is so important for his claims to the throne of the universe.

01:52:55

Originals of this work are in museums and nobody has ever made it accessible to the public in a large book form before.

01:53:03

You can have your own copy of this 44 -page genealogy book for a donation of $35 or more.

01:53:11

Visit historicalbiblesociety .org. That's historicalbiblesociety .org.

01:53:18

Thanks for helping to keep Iron Sharpen's Iron Radio on the air. And don't forget folks that Daniel P.

01:53:26

Patafuco, the founder and president of the Historical Bible Society, is also a serious personal injury and medical malpractice attorney.

01:53:37

So if you yourself or anyone that you know and love is the victim of a serious injury or a medical malpractice case, wherever you live in the

01:53:48

United States, he can help you in all 50 states. That's Daniel P. Patafuco, attorney at law at Patafuco and Associates.

01:53:56

Call 1 -800 -NOW -HURT, 1 -800 -NOW -HURT, or visit www .1800nowhurt .com.

01:54:03

That's 1 -800 -NOW -HURT .com. We're now back with our guest today, Andreas Kostenberger.

01:54:09

We are discussing his book, Biblical Theology, a Canonical Thematic and Ethical Approach. We do have another email of clarification from Gregory in St.

01:54:20

Kitts, the West Indies. He says, actually she, and this is the wife of the pastor who does not attend the worship services at the same church where her husband is the pastor, actually she has been spoken to by her husband and others about it, and yet she refuses to go to his church for regular worship.

01:54:46

Not all the members of the church that he pastors are okay or fine with it. Well, that to me would be a clear violation of 1

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Timothy 3, verse 4, when it comes to a qualification of overseers, because they must be one who manages his own household well, and there's no way that a man whose wife is refusing to obey him on even a simple and common thing as to accompany him to the same church where he is the pastor, if she is not even obeying him on that, then there's definitely chaos in that household that they don't even know about, and in my personal opinion, that man should step down at least temporarily until his marriage is worked out and they go through some counseling and she returns to his church, but I don't know if you have anything to add to that.

01:55:44

Yeah, I totally agree with you there. I mean, that is a very clear -cut case, so thank you for that added piece of information.

01:55:52

Now, if you could just summarize in about three minutes what you most want etched in the hearts and minds of our listeners in regard to biblical theology, your latest 700 -page book here.

01:56:04

Yeah, so, you know, biblical theology is really for everyone. It's for the church, and it's a great way to read

01:56:14

Scripture. Remember, like Paul told the

01:56:20

Ephesian elders, for three years I've not ceased preaching to you the full counsel, the whole counsel of God, and so as Christians, we have the privilege and the responsibility not just to read our favorite books in Scripture or, you know, to just kind of pick and choose, but we're accountable to be whole

01:56:50

Bible Christians, to read all of Scripture and to learn how to read

01:56:57

Scripture in relation to each other, and that's what biblical theology is all about, to draw connections between different books within a given testament, between an

01:57:06

Old Testament and New Testament book, and so forth, and so I would say if you're preaching God's Word, biblical theology is just an incredible tool because what you want to do is you want to go beyond exposition of the

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Word to actually helping your congregation to make inter -biblical connections, and of course, ultimately, they will point to Christ.

01:57:30

They will culminate in the gospel of salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ, so I commend the book to you.

01:57:40

In the end, we say that there's multiple themes, but probably there's no greater theme than John 3, 16,

01:57:48

God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, and Jesus repeats the

01:57:55

Old Testament commandment, we shall love you, God, with all your heart, soul, and mind, and says this is the great and first commandment, and of course,

01:58:04

I've already quoted John 3, 16, and Paul, of course, talks about love as the greatest of these.

01:58:10

He says love never ends, and that above all these, we should put on love, so I think I couldn't think of a better way to end with a call for us to love

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God and to love others. Amen. If you want to find out more about this book, go to crossway .org,

01:58:25

crossway .org, type in the search engine Andreas, the first name of my guest today,

01:58:31

A -N -D -R -E -A -S, and that book as well as his other books published by Crossway will come up.

01:58:38

Also, please don't forget about Andreas's ministry, Biblical Foundations, go to biblicalfoundations .org,

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biblicalfoundations .org. When you're purchasing the book, by the way, please purchase it from our sponsors,

01:58:53

Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, cvbbs .com. Tell them it's Biblical Theology by Andreas Kastenberger, published by Crossway.

01:59:01

If they don't have it in stock, they will order it for you. I want to thank you so much,

01:59:07

Dr. Kastenberger, for again doing such an exquisite job as my guest. I want to thank everybody who listened, especially those who took the time to write.

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I want you all to always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater Savior than you are a sinner.