This weeks giveaway is sponsored by B&H Publishing. They are giving away 3 sets of the Holman Handbook Series. Each set will include the Old Testament Handbook, New Testament Handbook, and the forthcoming Church History Handbook.

Why is history important? Most people rarely pause to consider this. Perhaps without realizing it, some have been conditioned to esteem the study of history as legitimate for reasons they cannot identify. Maybe it’s for the sake of preserving the human legacy for posterity. Maybe it’s because of a sense of patriotism and heritage for a given country or culture. Or maybe it’s mainly for the sake of meeting societal standards of what it means to be an educated and well-rounded individual. Many, however, will cite the famous George Santayana quote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  

While there is some validity to these reasons, we as Christians should approach the study of the past with an even more reverent mindset. If God is the Creator and Sustainer of the world, then he is also Lord of history, the one who declares “the end from the beginning and from long ago what is not yet done” and who says, “My plan will take place, and I will do all my will” (Isa 46:10). In short, history is coherent and meaningful because of God.  

The history of the church is both the history of God’s faithfulness and the history of our waywardness, much like the history of Israel that we find in the OT. Though beyond the book of Acts we do not possess a supernaturally inspired record of the church’s “warts and all” experiences and contributions, we nonetheless can learn from the records we have by measuring them according to Scripture. We will make mistakes like those who came before us, but the same God who preserved His people in the past will continue to preserve His people into the future.  

Accordingly, the contents of the Church History Handbook are intended to serve as a means to the end that is the Great Commission, namely, the preservation and empowerment of God’s people for their God-given mission of proclaiming the truth of the gospel to the world. By equipping the church in the present to learn from her past, we set her up to remain faithful into the future. As we study church history, may God be glorified in the church throughout all generations.  

“Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us—to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Eph 3:20–21).  

To celebrate the release of the Church History Handbook, we would like to give away three sets of the Holman Handbook Series. Enter for your chance to win a 3-volume set of the Holman Handbook Series including the Old Testament, New Testament, and Church History Handbooks. The three winners will receive their copies once the Church History Handbook becomes available for shipping (after 4/15/25). Entries are limited to North America. 

This week the blog is sponsored by Zondervan Academic. Their excellent ZECOT commentary series has just expanded to include a volume on Proverbs written by Reformed scholar Chris Ansberry. You can buy it now!

Let’s be honest: we’re pragmatic people. Things are valuable insofar as they are useful. And knowledge is valuable insofar as it is useful. As Scripture, the book of Proverbs is useful (2 Tim 3:16). Its diverse materials are designed to cultivate wisdom and virtue, specifically intellectual virtue (Prov 1:2, 4), moral virtue (Prov 1:3b), and practical virtue (Prov 1:3a). In fact, the arrangement of the book mirrors the arrangement of our educational curricula. Off the back of its syllabus (Prov 1:2–7) and an extended introduction intended to move readers to embrace wisdom (Prov 1:8–9:18), the book eases us into a course on elementary wisdom (Prov 10:1–15:33) before ushering us into courses on intermediate wisdom (Prov 16:1–22:16), vocational wisdom (Prov 22:17–24:34), advanced wisdom (Prov 25:1–29:27), and applied wisdom (Prov 30–31). To state the obvious, Proverbs seeks to cultivate wisdom and virtue in its readers. That’s useful. We’re left with a pragmatic question: how? How does Proverbs cultivate wisdom and virtue in its readers?

Put simply, Proverbs forms readers through its poetic forms. These poetic forms are diverse; and they form us in diverse ways. The poetic forms of Proverbs traffic in distinct pedagogical strategies, such as rebuke (Prov 1:20–33), fearmongering (Prov 6:20–35), seduction (Prov 7:1–27), wooing (Prov 8:1–36), and carrot-and-stick (Prov 22:17–24:22). Among the poetic forms in the book, the pedagogical potency and formational potential of the sayings in chapters 10:1–22:16 and 25:1–29:27 are often overlooked. The value of these sayings tends to be limited to the promises or principles that they offer. More specifically, their usefulness tends to be restricted to the advice that they offer on various matters, ranging from parenting and speech to business ethics and interpersonal relationships. But the pithy sayings in Proverbs are more useful than this. On one level, these sayings may be read as propositional statements, describing the way the world is or the way the world ought to be. On a more fundamental level, these sayings are purveyors of perspectival wisdom. They do not describe the way world is or the way that world ought to be per se. They operate under moral judgments and ethical evaluations (e.g., wise and foolish, righteous and wicked). Each saying offers a way of seeing people, actions, or situations. That is, each saying provides a way of seeing-as.

Proverbs seeks to cultivate wisdom and virtue in its readers. That’s useful. We’re left with a pragmatic question: how? How does Proverbs cultivate wisdom and virtue in its readers?Share

If the sayings in Proverbs provide perspectival wisdom, then they offer ways of seeing that train our vision. They train our vision in at least two ways. First, the sayings and character types of Proverbs create habits of sight. By focusing on common characters, the sayings not only train us to see certain attitudes and actions, but also how to evaluate these attitudes and actions. In basic terms, they teach us to see and evaluate people and actions as wise/righteous or foolish/wicked. They provide a perspectival lens, shaping our sight. 

Second, the sayings and character types of Proverbs afford practice in forming our sight. Consistent attention to specific character types, attitudes, and actions not only molds our vision; it also produces the conditions for practice. Generic sayings are the primary means by which Proverbs gives us practice. Generic sayings do not name a specific character type. Instead, they focus on an undefined person or an ambiguous phenomenon. In so doing, they invite us to use the qualitative reflections of the book to name that person or define that phenomenon. And they provide us with certain clues for this task. Proverbs 14:12 is a representative example.

There is this: a way that is straight before a person;but its end, ways to death.

The initial line foregrounds an apparent reality for reflection: “a way that is straight before a person.” Elsewhere in Proverbs, straight ways are good ways. They are established by the Lord (Prov 3:6), paved by righteousness (Prov 11:5), and embodied by a person of understanding (Prov 15:21). The sayings of Proverbs have trained our vision to perceive a way that is straight as a way that is good, as a way that stands in opposition to the crooked paths of the wicked. But the second line of Proverbs 14:12 bursts the bubble of this reading: the end of this straight way is “ways to death.” This end alerts us to the “false lead” of the initial line invites us to circle back and re-read the saying. The straight way before a person is not so straight after all; rather it is a way that seems straight to a person. The person is the aphorism is not named; its generic subject and generic situation afford the reader practice and correction, shaping their sight and perception.

Together with generic sayings, some well-known sayings in Proverbs are designed to train the reader’s sight. Take, for example, Proverbs 22:6:

Train a youth according to his way,even when he becomes old he will not depart from it.

The initial line may be read in at least three ways. First, it may be interpreted as an ironic warning against teaching a child in accord with their juvenile taste: “Train a youth in the way that he wants.” Second, the line may be rendered as a directive to teach a child in a manner appropriate to their aptitude or age, that is, “Train a youth in a way that is suitable for him.” Alternatively, third, the line may be read as a command to instruct a child in a moral way of life, that is, “Train a youth in the right way – the way he ought to go.” The terse line is patient with each of these readings. If Proverbs’ sayings are read as purveyors of perspectival wisdom rather than as propositions, then we need not pick one of the three options. Each provides us with a different way of seeing. That is, each forms our moral vision, nurturing the imagination and sharpening the powers of discernment.   

The same is true of the well-known saying in Proverbs 27:17:

Iron sharpens iron,and a person sharpens the face of his neighbor.

Is the image of iron sharpening iron positive or negative? It depends how you see things. Many interpret the image positively. It captures the way in which a person sharpens the character or wits of another. But others interpret the image negatively. The negative construal emerges from the process of iron smithing in the ancient world. This process required a hammer, which was used to pound a soft, heated piece of iron into a weapon or vessel. This violent act of smithing is applied to interpersonal relations in the second line through the expression “sharpens the face.” Although the expression is not found elsewhere in the Old Testament, it is comparable to descriptions of sharp eyes, a sharp lip, or a sharp tongue – parts of the face that attack others. When the smithing process in the initial line is applied to interpersonal relations in the second, it appears that just as a smith pounds soft iron into a sharp instrument for battle, so also a person may pound one’s neighbor, causing him to attack. The pregnant image in Proverbs 27:17 is patient with different readings. These readings operate under different perspectives. They offer different ways of seeing. 

How we see things is significant in the life of Christian discipleship. Scripture does not merely provide Christians with propositional truths. It provides Christians with perspective, with a way of seeing life and the world. This is the case with the pithy sayings in Proverbs. They train our sight. They hone our evaluations. They rearrange our mental furniture. They renew our minds. And in so doing, they cultivate wisdom and virtue.

Buy your copy of this new commentary on Proverbs at Amazon, Logos, or wherever else good books are sold.

It has been a long time since I shared an “Ask Me Anything” article—which is to say, since I publicly answered a selection of the questions that have come my way in the past while. But here, at long last, is my attempt to remedy this.

Can a believer take communion at another Bible-believing church besides his own.
Generally, yes. But there are two important matters to consider: your convictions and the church’s convictions.
Before I explain what I mean, though, I’m glad that the question assumes two factors that I regard as important. The first is that this communion is being celebrated in the context of a local church rather than a camp, conference, or other kind of gathering that is something less than the local church. The second is that this is a Bible-believing church, which I take to mean a true rather than a false church. These are both important because Christians have long held that the Lord’s Supper is properly celebrated in the local church and that the right administration of the sacraments (or ordinances) is a mark of a true and healthy church.
As for participating as a guest in a church that is not your own, different Christians will have different convictions. Before visiting another another church it would be good to sharpen your own convictions on the matter. The majority of Christians regard it as acceptable, though there are some who do not. Personally, I will participate at a church I am visiting but would not at a camp, conference, small group, or other context that is not the gathering of the local church.
The second consideration is the practice of the church you are visiting. Most churches are glad to welcome guests, though there are some who will not and others who will only do so if you have first spoken to the elders to give them confidence that you are a believer (e.g. some churches in the Dutch Reformed tradition). Hopefully the church you are visiting “fences” the table by clearly explaining who is invited to participate and who is not. They may say “all believers are invited” or “all baptized believers are invited” or “all baptized believers who are members of a gospel-preaching church are invited.” Listen carefully and you will probably hear whether you can participate or why, out of respect for their position you should not.
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I hold to the egalitarian position on gender roles. Could you please recommend a irenic complementarian book I could read?
Certainly. I am glad that you are willing to consider the alternative position and that you’d like to hear the strongest possible case for it. There’s really no better way to sharpen (or modify) your beliefs.
I might turn first to Kevin DeYoung’s Men and Women in the Church: A Short, Biblical, Practical Introduction. This is how he explains his goal for it: “Our church has a book nook in the corner of our main lobby. I have often wished for a book there that explained the Bible’s teaching about men and women in the church in a way that the interested layperson could understand and in a size that he or she could read in a few hours. I have wished for a book that would argue its case without being argumentative; a book I could give to other pastors wrestling with this issue; and a book pastors could give to their elders, deacons, and trustees that they would actually read; a book that displays exegetical integrity with minimal technical jargon; a book weightier than a pamphlet but lighter than a doorstop.”
As a follow-up I would encourage you to read Embracing Complementarianism by Graham Beynon and Jane Tooher which focuses on how to work out complementarianism in the life and worship of the local church. They do a great job of showing how the doctrine can and should be worked out in practice.
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I am just getting acquainted with you and your writing, and noticed you said that Jesus is your Savior. I stumbled on that, because, I don’t understand why you didn’t say he is your Lord and Savior. It seems to me this is an extremely crucial point.
I would respond that there is a difference between denying the Lordship of Jesus and simply not stating it each time. If you look over the way the New Testament uses “Lord” and “Savior” you will find that it sometimes uses one, sometimes uses the other, and sometimes uses both. Here’s the evidence from the epistles and Revelation:

You’ll need to scroll a bit to read them all, but you’ll see the writers affirming Christ as Savior and Lord, but only sometimes (rarely, actually) joining the two. So my assumption when it comes to other believers would be that they affirm that Jesus is Lord even when they don’t explicitly state it. And, indeed, I very much affirm that Jesus is my Savior and my Lord.
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Can you suggest a book on eschatology for a study group for men?
I was recently struck by Paul’s words to the church in Thessalonica. At the end of chapter 4 he briefly describes the last days and the resurrection of the dead, then says, “Therefore encourage one another with these words.” It is more than a little sad that eschatology tends to discourage more than encourage. And so perhaps the place to begin in order to be encouraged by these matters is with a book like Dayton Hartman’s Jesus Wins. His burden is to understand eschatology as a doctrine meant to help us live for the Lord right now. He also wants to foster unity among believers by focusing on what the various positions hold in common. It is just a short book and no more than an introduction to a vast topic, but it is useful in shaping the purpose and direction of our studies of the end times.
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What is your perspective on Lent?
I have written about this at some length so will direct you to that article. But in summary:

Nowhere in the Bible are we commanded to observe Ash Wednesday, Lent, Good Friday, Easter, or any other holy day. And nowhere are we forbidden. So Lent (and even Easter) is a matter of Christian freedom.
Those who do mark it and those who do not should both be cautious against disparaging others or afflicting their conscience.
There is no blessing conferred by Lent that is not available through the ordinary means of grace God has established. (This may well be the most important point to understand so you can be sure you aren’t unintentionally communicating the opposite.)
Those who mark Lent are reaching outside the Reformed tradition and borrowing elements of other Christian traditions.
To quote R. Scott Clark, “The history of the church tells us that the road to spiritual bondage is paved with good intentions.” Hence we should be aware of potential negative consequences of marking what the Bible does not instruct us to.

I concluded this way: “To those who plan to observe Lent, I wish you well and trust you’ll benefit from a time you’ve chosen to make special between you and the Lord. To those who plan not to observe Lent, I wish you well also and trust you’ll benefit equally from the so-ordinary, so-wonderful means of grace that are available to all of us all the time.”
I’d encourage you to read and consider it all.