The ‘comments’ in these volumes (as Dr Carson calls them) have been tremendously helpful to me because they direct me toward thoughtful reading & reflection of Scripture. Many have been blessed by these writings and I’m sure you would be too. Here is an extract from the Preface:

“More seriously yet, the rising biblical illiteracy in Western culture means that the Bible is increasingly a closed book, even to many Christians. As the culture drifts away from its former rootedness in a Judeo-Christian understanding of God, history, truth, right and wrong, purpose, judgment, forgiveness, and community, so the Bible seems stranger and stranger. For precisely the same reason, it becomes all the more urgent to read it and reread it, so that at least confessing Christians preserve the heritage and outlook of a mind shaped and informed by Holy Scripture”.

For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God’s Word

This is a book to encourage that end. Devotional guides tend to offer short, personal readings from the Bible, sometimes only a verse or two, followed by several paragraphs of edifying exposition. Doubtless, they provide personal help for believers with private needs and fears, and hopes. But they do not provide the framework of what the Bible says—the “plotline” or “storyline”—the big picture that makes sense of all the little bits of the Bible. Wrongly used, such devotional guides may ultimately engender the profoundly wrong-headed view that God exists to sort out my problems; they may foster profoundly mistaken interpretations of some Scriptures, simply because the handful of passages they treat are no longer placed within the framework of the big picture, which is gradually fading from view. Only systematic and repeated reading of the whole Bible can meet these challenges.

That is what this book encourages.

So, I heartily commend these 2 volumes to you and trust that you will indeed benefit deeply through them. The last time I spoke with Dr Carson (about 2 years ago) he said he was working on volumes 3 & 4. I’m looking forward to that! Praise God for using this wonderful servant and teacher, and I thank God for Colin Kee too who first introduced these volumes to me.

Soli Deo Gloria

This message is prepared on 18 May 2021 by Mok Kok Hoong, a former pastor of Georgetown Baptist Church, 2011-2021.

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In Hermeneutics – An Introduction by Anthony C. Thiselton (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. , 2009), he provides a historical setting that throws light on this passage. I’d like to quote what he wrote below and trust that it will help us to better understand what Paul meant.

“…I used another example from 1 Corinthians 6:1-8. Here Paul declares, “If one of you has a dispute with another, how dare he go to law before a pagan court” (6:1). “Must Christian go to law with Christian? … You suffer defeat if you go to law” (vv. 6-7). A widespread assumption is that these verses condemn any resort to the law on the part of Christians. But is this the point at issue, not least for twenty-first-century readers? Historical and archaeological research demonstrates that although Corinth was a Greek city in the geographical sense, the constitution, politics, law, and government of Corinth were modeled on the institutions of Rome, not Greece, in Paul’s day. … This bears on our passage, for while Roman criminal law was relatively impartial, civil lawsuits operated differently. It was expected that both parties to a dispute would offer incentives to the judge (and when applicable, to the jury) to grant a favorable verdict. This might be an unashamed financial bribe, or offering the benefit of business contacts,…gifts of property or slaves, or whatever.

In such a situation, only rich and influential Christians would consider taking a fellow Christian to the civil courts. Paul attacks not a responsible use of law; indeed, he himself appeals to Roman law. Here he attacks the inappropriate manipulation of a fellow Christian through the use of superior wealth, power, patronage, social influence, or business networks. This amounts to using indirect force to gain what the wealthier party covets. Prohibition of resort to law as such, is not what these verses mean. … Careful inquiry into Paul’s purpose, the responsible use of reason, and respect for contextual constraints discern the meaning of the passage in relation to its rootedness in time and place.”

In bringing this up, I do not intend to encourage more lawsuits among Christians! Neither am I saying that this is the only aspect which Paul raised in this passage. But I thought it would be helpful to highlight again how historical setting and context, among other devices, help us to arrive at the authorial intent behind a Bible passage, and thereby, its meaning and relevance today. After all, the Bible cannot mean just whatever we want it to mean.

Blessings!

Mok Kok Hoong

Now watch a 9-minute interview video with Prof Anthony C Thiselton where he explains the importance of studying Hermeneutics.

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