Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Greg Beale's Interview and the Quote of the Day

There is a very worthwhile interview on The Gospel Coalition that John Starke conducted with Greg Beale on his A New Testament Biblical Theology. It appears to me at least, that this is a work that I will eventually have to pick up as I have always had a keen interest on how the NT authors utilize the OT.

Towards the interview Starke asks:
 You end your 1,047-page book with, "The upshot of this book is ultimately this: To God be the glory." For young scholars or pastors who are digging deep into the inter-canonical themes running through the Bible and trying to keep up with the latest scholarship on any given issue, how would you counsel them to maintain this God-glorifying posture?
 Beale's reply (and the 'quote of the day', I might add):

To maintain the posture of “To God be the glory” is to ask ourselves at every point (in preparing sermons, Bible studies, lectures, articles or books, etc.) why am I doing what I am doing? Am I doing the present task to bring attention to myself and to honor myself or to bring attention to God, Christ, the gospel, and to honor the Trinity? Am I doing what I am doing to make a reputation for myself or for God? These are very convicting questions for all of us. The entire process of sanctification is ridding ourselves of our idols, especially of worshiping ourselves. If we are authentic Christians, we will progress in doing this, perhaps slowly but nevertheless surely. Only at the end of our journey will the idol of self be completely destroyed, and we will all be caught up in the glory of Christ.

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