Biblicism. Is this good or bad?

Don Carson explains that there are at least two kinds, one that should be cautioned, and another commended.

Selective proof texting — pulling single verses out of context to prove a doctrine — are often used to support conclusions that need to be challenged on a more comprehensive level. Case in point: propitiation. Commenting that this word occurs rarely in the New Testament, Carson makes the case that it's priority in the gospel must be preserved because it is a repeated conceptual theme in the whole Bible. Just because the specific word is not often used, the biblical storyline shows it to be a major idea — even a "coordinating theme for other …

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The word for preaching in the New Testament (kērussō) means "to herald." Heralding is different from teaching, as John Piper explains, though it has teaching in it. Expounding 2 Timothy 4:2, he demonstrates what it means:

This excerpt begins at the 44:50 mark of this week's sermon.

Imagine your life completely conformed to the image of Christ.

Sanctification has ceased. Glorification has arrived. There's perfect joy in Jesus at every moment. Your entire character — every thought and feeling and word and action — completely saturated with Jesus and the good news of what he has done. Imagine that.

And now remember that it won't happen in this life. It is not a reality we will attain in this world. Yet it is a reality that we should desire and strive toward. In other words, we earnestly aim at a target we will not hit, at least not now, not here. Not yet. That's how John Calvin explains it in Book III of The Institutes.

Watered-Down Standards?

Conceding that Chr…

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The English word "catechize" simply means to teach biblical truth in an orderly way. In his introduction to The Baptist Catechism, John Piper explains the biblical support for a pattern of doctrine: there is a "pattern of teaching" (Romans 6:17), a "pattern of sound words" (2 Timothy 1:13).

But not only is there a precedent, such authoritative instruction is absolutely vital. Pastor John gives five reasons why:

1. We are required to “continue in the faith, stable and steadfast” (Colossians 1:23).
2. We are urged to “attain to the unity of the... knowledge of the Son of God...so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:1…

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Written in 1677, "The Baptist Catechism" was patterned after the Heidelberg and Westminster catechisms to teach Reformed doctrine from a Baptist perspective.

John Piper added commentary to the catechism during his early years at Bethlehem in hopes of "building a 'stable and firm' generation who hopes in God" [Colossians 1:23]. He explains the purpose is to lay an ordered foundation from which the church may “keep growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:17)

The full catechism, including Pastor John's commentary, has been redesigned in a new PDF available for free. Whether for yourself or your family (or both!), this fresh resource is a tonic…

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We believe that the Bible, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, is the infallible Word of God, verbally inspired by God, and without error in the original manuscripts.

So begins the Bethlehem Elder Affirmation of Faith — a document ascribed to by John Piper and the elders at Bethlehem Baptist Church.

Lingering on the fact that we have the Bible, Pastor John revels in the wonder that God has spoken to us in a book:

This excerpt begins at the 26:36 mark of this week's sermon, "All Scripture Is Breathed Out by God, Continue in It."

Jonathan Edwards wasn't always "Jonathan Edwards," Sean Lucas reminds us.

In the closing appendix of his book, God's Grand Design, Lucas explains that in many ways Edwards was "a man just like us." Sinner as he was, Edwards struggled and grew and learned, all desperate for God's grace (like you and me). Much of this process is seen in his early years as he prepared for ministry. And we can find some deep lessons to glean in this season of his life, especially for those of us with ministry ambitions.

Lucas writes,

I would suggest that this period of Edwards's preparation provides a fruitful ground to gain insight into the whole process of spiritual formation for ministerial can…

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It wasn't until 1606 that Spanish explorer Fernandez de Quiros discovered a chain of eighty islands stretched across 450 miles in the South Pacific. Later named the New Hebrides, the islands were inhabited by peoples whose existence had been unknown to the rest of the world for centuries.

It would be another 230 years before two London missionaries made the first earnest attempt to bring the gospel to these unengaged and unreached peoples in 1839. But they were killed and eaten by cannibals only minutes after going ashore.

John G. Paton and his wife set sail to the islands in 1858. But this decision didn't come without criticism. On one account before leaving, a respected elder chided t…

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"It is predominantly bleak and ugly," says John Piper on 2 Timothy 3:1–13. The apostle Paul tells us we need to know evil and then lays out nineteen descriptions of it.

How we approach the Bible is vital to how we understand this text. These are not mere descriptions. They are descriptions given to the church for our holiness and maturity. They describe the last days in which we live and remind us that the ugliness of evil is real — and that we dare not be ignorant of it.

Stream or download this week's sermon.

How shall we as American Christians think and act with regard to freedom of religion in a pluralistic context?

It was ten years ago when John Piper and the elders at Bethlehem first presented this question. The aim was to guide the church — both locally and on a wider scale — in how to live faithfully in an increasingly complex society. They drafted a single document of 20 guidelines that are perhaps more relevant now than ever.

All 20 guidelines are helpful, but in light of recent days #9 adds an extra jolt:

9. We should make clear that we are Christians first and Americans second. We are aliens and exiles in the world and our deepest and truest citizenship is in heaven. Our decisiv…

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