Matthew for Everyone!

Matthew for Everyone

by N.T. Wright

I have blogged before that I have joined a group in church to read the New Testament in one year. 

We are currently still in the Gospel of Matthew. 

And in the reading, there are many times when we asked questions and when we come across some complicated verses. This is where after referring to the few commentaries I have on Matthew, namely:

- Donald A. Hagner, Matthew, Word Biblical Commentary

- Ulrich Luz, A Commentary on Matthew, Hermeneia

- R.T. France, Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentary

- R.T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, New International Commentary on the New Testament

- N.T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone

...I find that I like N.T. Wright's version the most. 

It is not as technical as the rest, it's more readable and insightful in its exegesis.

With that I went and check to see if I have all the volumes in the series and found that indeed I do, except for the 2 volumes on Romans. I actually spent about RM400 buying the series, not including the ones on Romans.

When I went and looked for it in Logos.com, the series is on sale! 

It's now only RM94.37 for 20 volumes instead of a whopping RM904.56.

But I wonder if I can get it even cheaper for the 2 volumes on Romans. I doubt it and I think I will have to pay RM94.37 not for 20 volumes but for only 2.

What a bummer!

Here's the link if you are interested. And of course the link may or may not work with it being time sensitive.

pearlie

Two books by NT Wright for only $1.99

I was looking forward for the month's free book and special offer from Logos.com  But I already bought them last year, and have not read them yet. Wish I've waited but obviously I wouldn't have known.

Following Jesus, Biblical Reflection on Christian Discipleship
by NT Wright


Who Was Jesus?
by NT Wright

pearlie 

The Kingdom New Testament, A Contemporary Translation by NT Wright

I have recently bought many books by NT Wright including his 18-volume For Everyone series. I am currently reading his New Testament Wisdom for Everyone and found out that he has published a contemporary translation of the New Testament, which is called The Kingdom New Testament. 

  

New Testament Wisdom for Everyone

by NT Wright 

The Kingdom New Testament, A Contemporary Translation 

by NT Wright

If you look at this passage from 2 Peter 1:3-11, you will not sense its familiarity until you read further on, after which you will appreciate how it really brings out the understanding of the passage in a more regular use of the English language. 

3 God has bestowed upon us, through his divine power, everything that we need for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue. 4 The result is that he has given us, through these things, his precious and wonderful promises; and the purpose of all this is so that you may run away from the corruption of lust that is in the world, and may become partakers of the divine nature. 5 So, because of this, you should strain every nerve to supplement your faith with virtue, and your virtue with knowledge, 6 and your knowledge with self-control, and your self-control with patience, and your patience with piety, 7 and your piety with family affection, and your family affection with love. 8 If you have these things in plentiful supply, you see, you will not be wasting your time, or failing to bear fruit, in relation to your knowledge of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. 9 Someone who doesn’t have these things, in fact, is so short-sighted as to be actually blind, and has forgotten what it means to be cleansed from earlier sins. 10 So, my dear family, you must make the effort all the more to confirm that God has called you and chosen you. If you do this, you will never trip up. 11 That is how you will have, richly laid out before you, an entrance into the kingdom of God’s coming age, the kingdom of our Lord and saviour Jesus the Messiah.

Compare it with the ESV and NIV translations here and you will see for yourself what a useful translation the KNT is. I've also included The Message in the link above to show you that KNT is not a "paraphrased" version either. 

Scot McKnight gave a very good review of it here, saying that, "Better than any translation I know today, other than the most literal of translations (which have an entirely different problem), I hear the author’s Greek behind Tom’s translation. Still, Tom Wright is much more in tune with rendering the Greek NT into contemporary English, and that’s the subtitle of the KNT: A Contemporary Translation. He does so with elan at times. The translation is brisk and energetic, it’s gender neutral, and it has some real surprises that will make you smile — and provide insight at the same time."

I could not find any electronic copy in print at this point of time, and so I might have to make a visit to the bookstore real soon and get myself a copy. 

pearlie 

My NT Wright Book Madness

I am so very happy NT Wright is the 2016 Logos March Madness Champion! Logos is offering quite a number of his book at 70% off including his For Everyone series.

I have not been buying any books in a really long time, by my standard anyway, and so I thought it's time I did. I ended up with a selection of 33 books, costing me USD144/RM560!

I know I have not read a single book in 2016. I hope this will change it.

If you are interested, here's the book list link but I'm not sure how long the deal will last. 

pearlie

The new heaven and new earth

I am still reading NT Wright's Surprised by Hope and learning a lot from it and I'm especially glad that it somewhat conforms to what I thought about heaven and what we bring to heaven, or rather the new heaven and new earth. With it, I'm now able to be more firm about my thoughts on the subject.

For one, Wright's gist of the book is about life after life after death, and on one of his favorite subject, the kingdom of God, which he interprets quite differently from the other writers and scholars.

One of the important things that he brought up is how wrong our regular thought of heaven is. After we die, we do not get transferred to a distant and disembodied heaven. But rather, we come back to this very earth, but renewed, like it was supposed to be, good and perfect as created by God.

I blogged before about my nagging thoughts on the existence of God. I made a general reference to the Star Trek series where the beliefs of gods in alien civilisations are seen to be stupid and childish. What I did not refer to was this episode where there is this civilisation of people, or humanoids as they call them, where the dead are sent to "heaven" where they will start a new phase of life with the departed, but it was found that they instead remained as corpses in a cavern in another planet.

That episode stayed with me because I find it a parody of what I believed in. And for that, I'm being denigrated to a childish sort person who believes that I go to a place when I die but actually I still remain dead.

But with what Wright has proposed, that is we finally come back to this earth, fresh and renewed, it certainly makes more sense and I feel more comfortable now that I no longer felt belittled by such parodies.

I highly recommend you to read Surprised by Hope and let your understanding of what heaven and what life after death is be challenged by Wright's proposition.

pearlie

It's all because of love

I am reading NT Wright and in two of his books, he used this saying by Ludwig Wittgenstein, "It is love that believes the resurrection" - a deep and profound statement I am still unpacking.

And I'm still figuring out what Wright means by "Love is the deepest mode of knowing because it is love that, while completely engaging with reality other than itself, affirms and celebrates that other-than-self reality."

But I love it when he said that, "All knowing is a gift from God, historical and scientific knowing no less than that of faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love."

I am here beginning to see love very, very differently. As a thinking person, I'm always for logic and truth. Love I have placed it under emotions and feeling, though in a much deeper and substantial worth.

I remember when I read the conclusion of the Harry Potter series, I felt disappointed that the reason for it all was love. Really? I remember remarking to myself. I couldn't see it or understand it. I dared not speak up about it because love is what my faith is all about, in that for God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son. I had realized then that I need to know love from its very basic.

I have read DA Carson's The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God two if not three times but it is only until now reading NT Wright that I am finding myself beginning at the lowest rung in knowing it.

I see now that love should be the very basic in all that we do. From work perspective, I am in charge of employee engagement at work. An employee is only engaged at work if he love his job and as a result commits himself to contribute. Forget KPIs. If he loves what he does, he will perform.

Why is there peace in the family? Why is there joy? Because there is love. Why are you so committed to them? It's because you love them.

Just think about it, in everything that you do, it is all because of love.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. - 1 Corinthians 13:13

I have so much to learn about love.

pearlie
Source: 'Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church' by N. T. Wright

Citizens of two worlds

The sermon this morning was on 1 Cor 6:1-8 about lawsuits against believers. The preacher did not much talk about lawsuits per se, but about how Paul admonished them as being too caught up in silly lawsuits when there are more important things around them.

One point which I found interesting was when he gave a brief introduction on the Corinthian context. He said the Corinthian church was a church that was reflecting the world in many ways.

This is also true he says, in any churches at any place at any time. Churches reflect the world and context they are in and at the times they are in.

This reminds me of what NT Wright has been writing about, the kingdom of God which is already now with us. We are both the citizens of the country we are in and citizens of the kingdom of God. We behave like most citizens of the country and we must also behave like children of God.

How do we do that? How do we be loyal to both and yet not betray either?

Interestingly, in the recent blog post by Roger Olson, he was against putting up flags of the country in the church. I never thought of that, since I have never seen that done here before. At first, I wondered what was wrong with that.

But he says there are two reasons why it is not right, one for the sake of our allegiance to God, in that the flag may symbolise one's highest loyalty even above Jesus Christ and two for the sake of the flag, one would be flying it in submission to God, and apparently a flag cannot be flown in submission.

I know Matt 6:24 or Luke 16:13 is about choosing between God or money as master but the first portion sounds relevant here, does it?

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

Can it be applied in terms of our citizenship? One to our country and one to the kingdom of God?

pearlie

Into the deeper end

After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters
by NT Wright

I decided to get this book after all, and started on it this morning.

In comparison, One Way Love is like being in the children's wading pool. No wonder I can finish it in a day.

After You Believe is right there in the deep end of the pool (whilst NT Wright's thicker tomes are all like swimming the triathlon in the open sea).

Tough but full of good substance.

One full day and I've just read 17% of it. This will take time, but it's good. It's excellent.

pearlie

Book Review: One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World

I must admit I have been drifting over the past few weeks, evidenced by the lack of substance in my blogposts recently. I found it so hard to pinpoint what matters most to me for the day, thoughts or happenings that meant at least something. There were none.

Yesterday's renewal was so needed. As I pushed myself back into reading Carson's A Call to Spiritual Reformation, I was drawn to Colossians 1:9-14. I finished reading the book (or rather, I finished skimming it, as I found it quite repetitive the second round I'm reading it this time). I began to hunt for something that can help further uplift me in the presence of my Heavenly Father.

I decided to check out Tullian Tchividjian. I remember reading Glorious Ruin back in November 2013 and loved it. In checking the available volumes in Kobobooks.com, I decided on this one, which proved to be an excellent pick.


One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World
by Tullian Tchividjian

What attracted me to it was the fact that I have been feeling very exhausted lately. And on top of that, it has been years of observation that I have come to the conclusion that a performance-based organisation, how logical and necessary it is, it is not the answer to success. Which is why the trend is now moving to employee engagement but that is another discussion.

I finished the 200 plus page book in just one day. It was an excellent read. I learnt a lot about law and grace, I can now finally see the difference between the two especially to understand Paul's treatment of them in Romans.

For me to understand grace as it is, an undeserved love, a one way love, it helps me divert the attention I give myself, the act of constant inward looking that I always catch myself in, to the grace giver, God himself.

I found what Tchividjian said here helpful:

An identity based in the one-way love of God does not take into account public opinion or, thankfully, even personal opinion. It is a gift from Someone who is not you. As my friend Justin Buzzard wrote recently, “The gospel doesn’t just free you from what other people think about you, it frees you from what you think about yourself.” In other words, you are not who others see you to be, and you are not who you see yourself to be; you are who God sees you to be—His beloved child, with whom He is well pleased.

One-way love frees us from the burden of having to establish our own worth, which means we can actually enjoy and appreciate the gifts God has given us on their own terms rather than as means to an end, condemning ourselves for not being good enough stewards.

...it is the gift of self-forgetfulness

The Gospel, in other words, liberates us to be okay with not being okay. We can stop pretending that we are anyone but who we actually are. Which means we can admit our weaknesses to ourselves without feeling as if the flesh is being ripped off our bones. We can take off our masks and explore our self-justifying compulsions from a safe distance.

...you don’t have to win—you’re free to lose. And nothing in this broken world can beat a person who isn’t afraid to lose! You may even find you’re free enough to say crazy, risky, counterintuitive stuff like, “To live is Christ and to die is gain”!

But it raises a lot of questions for me as well, particularly about what then must we do? Just relax since we are all saved by grace, there is nothing we can do, nothing we should do anyway? He said:

...both God’s Law and God’s Gospel are good and necessary, but both do very different things. Serious confusion—in both theology and daily life—happens when we fail to understand their distinct job descriptions. We’ll wrongly depend on the law to do what only the Gospel can do, and vice versa.

The Law reveals sin but cannot remove it. It prescribes righteousness but is powerless to produce it. The Law is impotent—it has no creative power, it cannot inspire. It offers us nothing but condemnation and death. The Law apart from the Gospel can only crush; it can’t cure.

That satisfies me but only enough. I needed to understand it better. What do I do then? I desire to live a life that is solely dependant on God's grace. I will look to him for my identity and not to myself. And then what?

I believe this quest for me is Spirit-led. As I was updating my book list, I noticed this other book in my recommended list - After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters by NT Wright.

It was already way into the night when I finished reading One Way Love, but I was so intrigued, I started reading the preface and part of the first chapter in the preview copy. I find that it should be an excellent follow up to One Way Love, but thought I'd leave it till the next morning.

It's time for bed.

pearlie

Book madness, again

I took part in the recent Logos.com March Madness and D.A. Carson won, again. I could not find the annual winner list but he won consecutively three years in a row, 2013 to 2015. The champion for 2012 was N.T. Wright, and the few years before that, March Madness were on volumes rather than persons.

Anyway, I always look forward to Logos.com March Madness because books at 75% deals are a big deal. However, I didn't think I would get any of Carson's since I already have many of them, both printed and electronic.

But I just noticed a "just-a-few-days-left-deal" email in my inbox and thought I'd check it out anyway. And know what? I ended up buying three books! Sigh...

And the thing is I have all the three in printed copies!

Well, the reason why I got them was because I have been trying to read A Call to Spiritual Reformation since 4th Jan but right now the book is still less than half read sitting on the table in my living room. It's now more than three months since I've started on it and I have not picked it up for the last two.

So I thought I should get the electronic copy with the 75% deal. And I thought since I'm at it, I might as well get a couple more. Sigh...


A Call to Spiritual Reformation, Priorities from Paul and His Prayers
by D.A. Carson


A Model of Christian Maturity, An Exposition of 2 Corinthians 10 - 13
by D.A. Carson


Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and His Confrontation with the World
by D.A. Carson

pearlie

Our quest for spirituality

Today I'm brought back to a chapter I read a few weeks ago in NT Wright's Simply Christian, Chapter 2 - "The Hidden Spring".

Wright was referring to one of the four echoes of a voice. i.e. the quest for spirituality.

He told a story of a powerful dictator who ruled his country with an iron will, who noticed that the water-sources around the country were erratic and in some cases dangerous, and there were thousands of springs of water. He wanted to control it and so he paved over the springs with concrete so thick that no water could penetrate it. The water that people needed would be brought to them by a system of pipes. He controlled the supply deciding how much was needed. For many years the plan worked just fine. People got used to their water coming from the new system.

Wright continued, "A generation passed. All seemed to be well. Then, without warning, the springs that had gone on bubbling and sparkling beneath the solid concrete could be contained no longer. In a sudden explosion, a cross between a volcano and an earthquake, they burst through the floor that people had come to take for granted. Muddy, dirty water shot into the air and rushed through the streets and into houses, shops and factories. Roads were torn up, whole cities in chaos. Some people were delighted: at last they could get water again without depending on The System. The people who ran the official water pipes were at a loss. Suddenly everyone had more than enough water, but it wasn’t pure and couldn’t be controlled."

Wright likened that to the Western world, where spirituality was so suppressed that when it broke out, most people were clamoring for any kind of spirituality they could get their hands on. Any kind, good or bad.

That did not happen in the Eastern world where spirituality in its various forms in various religions were openly practiced throughout the centuries. I remember when I encountered the mention of the "new age movement" twenty over years ago, it did not sound anything unusual to me.

But Wright's story was enlightening for me. It helped me understand the difference in the perspectives of spirituality between the two worlds.

However, this brand of Western spirituality has reached us here. I've just sat through a session where the participants were brought through a series of contemplative meditation and visualization to discover themselves and their spirit beings. The materials came from the US but the feel is definitely Eastern. It has gone a circle and returned to its own shores.

I do not know what to make out of it yet but this I know, we all have a quest for the spiritual. You may even be an atheist and still have this yearning sometimes for something more meaningful than what you are and what you are doing.

Like Wright, I'd like to point you to Jesus. If you think you already know who he is, you don't.

He is like no one you've ever encountered before. You may not believe it and don't take my word for it. Find out yourself but read from sources that are fair.

Find out about him in the one primary source, the Christian Bible. Or read authors who will give you a fair account of who he is without the hard sell. NT Wright's Simply Jesus will be a good choice.

pearlie

Book Review: Simply Christian, Why Christianity Makes Sense

Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense
by N.T. Wright

I bought this book immediately after I read Simply Jesus, and I like it a lot. It begins by introducing us to the four echoes of a voice we hear often in our everyday living: (1) the longing for justice, (2) the quest for spirituality, (3) the hunger for relationships, and (4) the delight in beauty.

He then brings us to stare at the sun, at God - who he is, his chosen people Israel, Jesus, life in him and the Holy Spirit.

He then concludes with the thitd section in actively living out the faith in worship, prayer, reading Scripture, in the church community and living life as a new creation.

It brings me back to the foundation of who I am as a Christian through a fresh new perspective. What Wright has done here is no common fare. What he wrote about being a Christian is quite unlike the usual things that you would expect or even, what you have been doing or living as a Christian. He draws into the depth and challenges me on the understanding of who God is, the fact that I'm literally staring at the sun when I want to see and know him. He challenges me in my practice and life as a Christian. He taught me to recognize the echoes of that one voice, who is Jesus Christ in all I encounter everyday.

This is a must-read book and I will definitely read it again soon. NT Wright is said to be the CS Lewis of our time and I couldn't agree more. They are both now my most favourite and admired authors.

I have just bought another one of his book a moment ago. This is a serious author-shopping spree I'm having.

pearlie

Author Shopping

I mentioned about my tendency to go author shopping sometimes. It happens when I like an author and I would buy several of their books all at one go.

Which authors have I done such book shopping on? These are based on my ebooks purchases. Print books not included.

N.T. Wright - I just bought his Simply Christian, right after I finished reading Simply Jesus. Ok, this does not count since I only bought one, but I have bought his other books all at one go before.

Anchee Min - Chinese historical fiction.

Kent Hughes - Preaching the Word Series, I think I've purchased all of his OT commentaries. I stop short at completing my NT set because I calculated that at the rate of my reading, I will not have enough time in my lifetime to finish reading them all.

Dallas Willard - books on Christian living and spirituality.

Francine Rivers - biblical historical fiction.

Randy Alcorn - eschatological fiction.

I don't remember for sure which authors I did mass shopping on their print books but these two without a doubt: DA Carson and CS Lewis.

pearlie

Book Review: Simply Jesus, A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters

Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters
by N.T. Wright

N.T. Wright writes for both the scholars and general readers. I have his now published four books out of the planned six in his Christian Origins and the Question of God series, which I found quite tough to read. This book, Simply Jesus, is I suppose, a summarised version of those books.

The book dwells on who Jesus was, what he did and why he matters. I like it when he gave a good portion of the book to stress the importance of understanding how different first century Jews thought and lived in comparison to our time, in the way they interpreted space and time and worldview. We need to know that in order to better understand Scripture and who Jesus is and how he is being viewed at that time, which would have influenced how he was treated and how he presented himself to mankind.

But what I gained most in reading Simply Jesus is a fuller and deeper understanding of the realization of the kingdom of God right here, right now. The kingdom of God is already established here on earth, right from the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.

The kingdom of God is real. It is not to be taken with a "spiritual" understanding, i.e. from a "meaning" perspective. It is present now and we as believers as real citizens of this kingdom.

But I still have lots to think about it to further instill it in my mind and to learn to live a kingdom-of-God living.

(Anyway, I don't think I did any good in this review here. The book is much better than how I am able to explain it.)

pearlie

Post-script (17/3/2015): My sister-in-law asked me this question out of the blue today, "What is the kingdom of God?" Seriously, how many (non-)coincidences am I experiencing lately? I told her that is exactly what I have been reading and learning so much from NT Wright and the fact that I have not seen the kingdom of God this way before.

She was confused between the kingdom of God and the Gospel if Christ. The kingdom of God was mainly what Jesus spoke about in the Gospels, but after Jesus's ascension, the disciples and Paul spoke and preached the Gospel of Christ. She felt Jesus' and the disciples' messages were two different messages.

I assured that it is not so, that they are the same message. It is in fact when Jesus came down to earth, the kingdom of God has arrived, and Jesus is the king. The kingdom of God is the kingdom of the whole world, it is here but not yet.

Right now, our world is still prevalent with multiple kingdoms, both material and immaterial, with multiple kings. But in spite of that, with the birth of Jesus, the kingdom of God has arrived.

For us to be citizens of this kingdom, the only way is King Jesus and the only way is his sacrifice, his death. We can only enter into this new world through God's appointed way, the death and resurrection of His Son.

Isn't that an amazing way to look at the kingdom of God of whom we are all citizens, we who receive the Lord Jesus as the king of our lives and we who strive to live by the precepts of this kingdom, who deny ourselves and take up the cross and follow him, who grows in the fruit of the Spirit with character that this kingdom requires its citizens?

I am so amazed with this fresh understanding of the kingdom of God and I'm in it! And only because of the grace of God.

The brilliant mind of NT Wright

I was introduced to the debate on the New Perspectives on Paul (NPP) back in 2008 (my previous post on the subject here). Since then I had this view that NT Wright together with EP Sanders and James Dunn are on the "wrong" side, and the likes of John Piper on the "right" side.

But I was already aware at the same time that I need to be careful not to fully subscribe myself to anything wholesale without deeper study, thought and prayer but to keep an open mind with Scripture as my foundation and guide. And later in that period as well, I remember my lecturer Kar Yong saying we should not dismiss Wright altogether. Moreover, my seminary's principal was and still is Rev Ezra Kok, who studied under James Dunn.

So, I shelved the subject along with NT Wright to be tackled later at an opportune time. I have yet to return to the topic of NPP but time has come for me to discover the brilliance of NT Wright.

I have posted on my current line of thought back in December last year about Genesis and its theology when I spotted a very interesting title in the bookshop - Evil and the Justice of God. The book's author is NT Wright.

I purchased a copy and I was utterly impressed by his mind, his thought and line of argument. He does not answer the most pertinent question on the origin of evil, a question I have already put to rest as something that may not have an answer, at least until we meet God, but he tackles evil from our current perspective as well as from the OT and NT perspective.


Evil and the Justice of God
by NT Wright (SPCK, 2006)

I like his first chapter - "Evil is still a four-letter word: The new problem of evil". He summarized how we see evil these days into these three points:
1. We ignore evil except when it hits us in the face
2. We are surprised by evil when it hits us in the face
3. As a result, we react in immature and dangerous ways

One of the dangerous ways in which we react is to really delineate ourselves as good and the party who did wrong, evil. This has been so clearly portrayed in our society today. When things go wrong, we labelled the other party as evil and we become, albeit subconsciously, as good, true, right and pure. But that is certainly not what God said.

There is no one righteous, not even one.
~ Romans 3:10

After finishing the book, I have new respect for NT Wright. I ended up buying his published 3 volumes out of 6, of the Christian Origins and the Question of God series. These are huge tomes, it will be a huge challenge for me to finish reading them but I have started on the first volume. It is my prayer to complete them within 2013, God willing.

I may find myself not agreeing fully with him in these volumes, but it will be a delight to get into his mind and discover his thoughts on God.

pearlie