Believe The Unbelievable A Study In Habakkuk

What do we do when God's actions or words contradict our understanding, contradict what we have believed? The book of Habakkuk answers this question in the face of the Babylonian invasion of Judah. Habakkuk is a book of discipleship, a book written to bring its reader to a deeper faith in Yahweh in the presence of His unthinkable deeds.

It is all to common to find commentaries that miss the forest for the trees, commentaries that get so caught up in the minutiae of scholarly controversies that they miss what God is saying for His church today. This is especially evident when it comes to the book of Habakkuk. The Teleioteti Old Testament Commentaries series is an attempt to attain theological depth, to pay attention to the forest, without neglecting the details of the text, without missing the trees. To do this, a Teleioteti Old Testament Commentary seeks to bring scholarly rigour and thoughfulness together with faithful attention to the purpose and significance of each book for God's people today. It strikes a balance between technicality, working through the Hebrew text and its difficulties, and practicality, applying each major section of the text to contemporary needs. Habakkuk is a book that especially needs such an approach. After an extensive introduction discussing the significant issues and laying the groundwork for interpreting Habakkuk, this commentary walks through the text stanza by stanza and line by line. With a balance of theological reflection and exegetical depth, a wide variety of readers will find something to take away. Habakkuk is a book of discipleship, a book written to bring its reader to a deeper faith in Yahweh in the presence of His unthinkable deeds. In the midst of oppressive evil at the hands of their Judahite brothers, the righteous of Judah cry out to God for salvation. His response is the invasion of fearsome Chaldea. What appears to be horrid judgment is actually His plan to save those who trust in Him. All His people are called to extraordinary faith, to believe HIm when HIs deeds are unbelievable. In this way, and only this way, will they be delivered from their oppressors and enjoy God's blessings: only by faith can they have life.

If the Word of God is our anchor in the chaos of this world, if it is our assurance that we can know the world and God its creator, we need confidence that we can understand this Word. Reading and applying the Bible is essential to every facet of Christian life and ministry, yet our ability to do so is under attack from a myriad of directions. In Postmodern philosophy, the possibility of communication is dismissed, let alone communication from God. In Biblical studies, the amount of knowledge required to come to firm conclusions concerning the meaning and application of the Bible grows every day. However, the BIble is not so pessimistic about its accesibility. Instead, it presents itself as a clear word, sufficient to guide and encourage Christians in every area of life.Beginning with the Bible's own claims to clarity and sufficiency, The Gift of Reading Part 1 outlines the practice of reading the Bible in order to understand and apply it. The Gift of Reading Part 2 will go further into the theory that lies beneath the methodology unpacked in Part 1.

How are Christians to think about the intellectual tasks that make up everyday life in the modern world? It is clear we are not to do so as the "world" does, but what does it look like to engage Christianly in our thinking? In the first part of the series, God's Gifts for the Christian Life, J. Alexander Rutherford shows how the Bible equips us to confidently engage in the interpretation of and engagement with the Word of God and the world he has created. In God's rich mercy, he has enabled us to know him, his word, and his world. In a world where it is preposterous and arrogant to claim to know anything certainly, we are in desperate need of renewed foundations. In God's Gifts for the Christian Life, see some of the ways that God through his limitless power has made available to us everything necessary for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).

Many writers and commentators are convinced that Western culture and society are unravelling. Who can blame them! As I write this, violent protests rage across the USA in response to senseless murders. The political sphere has never seemed to virulent, and a deadly epidemic has affected all our lives. Many are agreed that there are serious problems working themselves out in Western society, yet among Christians, there is little agreement over the approach we should take to the West and its problems. This issue, how Christians should approach engagement with culture, is not a new one, nor is it a uniquely Western issue. Christians in every age and in every culture are confronted with this question. In response to many today who see it as the Christian responsibility to save the West, to preserve its unique cultural heritage and achievements, this author argues that our lives in this world need to be governed by three theological themes, ecclesiology, soteriology, and eschatology. That is, we must prioritize the local church, engage with society with the understanding that earthly kingdoms are manifestations of Satan’s kingdom, and live in light of Christ’s imminent return.

No doctrine appears more horrid to Christians and non-Christians alike as the doctrine of Hell, the belief in eternal, conscious punishment against sin. However, despite the efforts of many to dismiss the doctrine, the Biblical testimony is clear. Why is Hell so common in the Bible? Why does Jesus talk about Hell so often? In this short book, we will take a stark look at what the Bible says about Hell as retribution--punishment against sin. More importantly, we will see why this doctrine matters. It matters because only in light of Hell do we understand the Cross of Christ. Hell is a revelation of God--of His mercy, love, and justice. Finally, Hell reminds us that we are surrounded by many who will die and face Hell if they do not believe in Jesus Christ and receive the mercy of God offered through Him.

Throughout the history of the Church, Christian theology has been waged on the battlefield of ontology. Ontology touches on nearly every aspect of intellectual engagement, and so our conclusions in this area are far-reaching. Ontology, is usually considered the study of "being" or "reality." Yet even this definition presupposes a non-Christian view of reality. Rather, ontology investigates the connection between our thoughts and reality, between what we believe and truth, and between language and the things to which it refers. The Bible has much to say on these topics; retrieving a Biblical perspective on these matters is essential if we are going to rightly understand theology, the Bible, and the world we live in. We will see that only the Bible can offer a coherent vision of reality and a way of appropriately understanding God, history, and the world around us.

If the Word of God is our anchor in the chaos of this world, if it is our assurance that we can know the world and God its Creator, we need confidence that we can understand this Word. Reading and applying the Bible is essential to every facet of Christian life and ministry, yet our ability to do so is under attack from a myriad of directions. In Postmodern philosophy, the possibility of communication is dismissed, let alone communication from God. In Biblical studies, the amount of knowledge required to come to firm conclusions concerning the meaning and application of the Bible grows every day. However, the Bible is not so pessimistic about its accessibility. Instead, it presents itself as a clear word, sufficient to guide and encourage Christians in every area of life. Having outlined in Part 1 a method for reading the Bible in order to understand it, The Gift of Reading Part 2 addresses the issues of hermeneutics or the theory of reading. After briefly surveying the major approaches to reading the Bible throughout the history of the Church, The Gift of Reading Part 2 argues for an understanding of the role of the text, read, and author based on a Biblical epistemology and theology.