The Field's Musings

By Ed Clowney Luke 17 We see in this passage the return of praise, which is the glory of faith showing the glory of grace. The lepers call to Jesus from afar off: ‘Jesus, Master have mercy on us’. Faith hears the word of Jesus. Jesus came to gain the worship of the unclean- He wants the Lepers for Himself. He came to be the servant who would receive the punishment for our sin. He paid the price of our uncleanness so that we would become clean. The disciples ask about receiving faith and Jesus responds by speaking about the obedience of praise. The others lepers didn’t show hear-obedience to the master. They were doing exactly what they were told to do without praise in their hearts. If faith is to be increased it must show the fruit of praise. *** When preaching narratives make sure you weave doctrine around the story. The Wisdom Narratives The meekness of wisdom- ‘learn of me’, ‘let your gentleness be known to all men’. Prov 8- wisdom personified produces joy. The meditation for wisdo...

By Edmund Clowney Three divisions made in the OT: counsel, law, prophecy- Ezek 7:26, Jer 18:18 Wisdom: man through YHWH must use knowledge to solve lifes problems The wise man is the knowledgeable man Proverbs is the documentation of instruction against folly 1 Kings 4 helps us to understand the view of wisdom in Israel. Meditation on the law brings: 1) Praise Rejoicing in God’s revelation 2) Wisdom Reflection on how the teaching of scripture applies to life Wisdom is concerned firstly with knowing the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the knowledge of God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of understanding. Paul’s prayer is for a Spirit and revelation in the knowledge of Him (Eph 1:17). Wisdom is the key to understanding the wisdom of the Lord in Paul’s theology. The gift of wisdom enables us to analyse scripture and apply it properly to a situation. Most parallels in the Psalms and wisdom literature are not to be equated. Older men need to disciple younger men in wisdom. The theology...

By Edmund Clowney The Psalms are the praises of the redeemed centred on Christ. A song is a covenant witness. In Deut 31:19 God gives to His people the songs they are to sing. Songs are not simply a response to God but a God-given ordination. The people were to memorise them. Jesus is presented as the living Christ singing in the midst of the congregation (Hebrews 2 quoting Psalm 22:22). We sing with Jesus our singing saviour. Structure of Psalm 22 1-2 the cry of lamentation 3-5 the confession of trust 6-8 another lamentation 9-11 another confession of trust 12-18 another lamentation 19-21 cry for deliverance 22-24 confession of deliverance 25-31 praise for deliverance The suffering servant signs from the depths to the heights In Psalms 2 and 24 the royal King sings. The song of Christ is seen as the song among the Gentiles (Rom 15:9). Jesus signs a missionary song among the nations (Psalm 96). The NT authors gained their theology from the OT. They were people absorbed in OT doctrine. ...

By Edmund Clowney We want to preach the law in a gospel context. Galatians and Romans do this. We need to recognise: 1) The condemnation of the law-Gal 3:13-14 The promise has been fulfilled, it goes out to the Gentiles, and is achieved by faith. Why the law (v19)? It was added because of transgressions until the seed comes. The law bars the way of life because it condemns us because of our sin. The law is not the final revelation of God. 2) We can’t keep the law The law shoes us that we can’t do it and even increases our trespasses (Rom 5:20). The law stirs the rebellion of sin (Rom 7:7-8). Sin works through the commandment to produce sin. The law brings damnation and the knowledge of sin. 3) The law drives us to Christ- Gal 3:24 The law acts as a tutor to Christ so that we can be justified by faith. 4) The law is renewed in Christ Christ provides for us the righteousness of God, the complete fulfilment of the law. Christ fulfils the law and renews it by expanding it. Luke 20:20-26 Hi...

By Edmund Clowney How to develop a text using the Poythress method: 1) Static- the meaning of the text 2) Dynamic- the way in which the text describes a speaker, message and a recipient 3) Relations- how the elements of the text to other portions of scripture

By Ed Clowney Example of Narrative Preaching from Matthew 17:1-9 Christ is the one with greater authority than Moses and Elijah. God the Father affirms His authority by saying ‘hear Him’. The Father’s declaration proves the Father’s unity with Him. The Son declares the will of the Father. Moses brought to us what God said to him, Christ is the incarnate word, God’s word become flesh, He is God speaking. Christ speaks and the dead comes forth, His own sheep hear Him and they follow Him. The preacher’s task is to bring into remembrance the words that Jesus spoke. The congregation are to hear the message and hear Christ speaking through the preacher. The glory of God is made evident through Christ. Peter suggests building shelters for Jesus, Moses and Elijah thinking that this was the last feast of booths. The glory of the true tabernacle is shown at transfiguration. Christ comes to do his true work of conquest. Overcoming the Devil’s temptation whereby he offered Christ all kingdoms on t...

By Ed Clowney The individual obedience of Isaac and Jacob is portrayed through the seed of the promise leading us to Christ. There are concepts in structure that naturally flow to Christ. This is typology. The meaning is presented through its significance in symbolism. Christ speaks in parables to teach us spiritual truth through natural reality. Symbolism brings in the feel of the meaning. Symbolic language can be more effective than illustrations. A metaphor is found in a sentence and not in a word. A metaphor brings together two different worlds; two different images. Example: Amos 3:8- A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken! Who can but prophesy? The spoken word of the Lord is paralleled with the fierce roaring of a lion. We apply attributes of the familiar concept to the more abstract concept. The roaring of the lion is similar to the speaking of Yahweh. Metaphors act as a form of contextualisation. Metaphors should be used to tell Bible stories as real stor...

By Edmund Clowney In this lecture we will look at the structure of a sermon preached by Edmund called The Life of Joseph: From Pit to Palace the Lord’s Blessing through Testing based on Genesis 37. 1) God’s blessing on Joseph, the Lord was with Him Through the favour of the Father Through the dreams speaking of his future that God gave him God’s constant presence was with Joseph. This resulted in his success He was faithful in the service of all people. He was faithful to Potiphor’s officer. He was faithful to Pharaoh. Joseph gained favour in the eyes of Potiphor. Potiphor gave him authority over his state. God blessed Potiphor because Joseph was there. Wherever Joseph went blessing went. Potiphor’s wife took a liking to Joseph- this led to Joseph’s imprisonment. The officer in charge of the prison began to like Joseph. Joseph was given power to run the prison. Joseph interprets dreams successfully in the prison. There was constant success in everything he did. 2) Everything Joseph di...

By Edmund Clowney We must see scripture as a whole. When Christ met with His disciples leaving Jerusalem in Emmaus they were discouraged. Christ says that the disciples didn’t understand the whole of scripture. They didn’t understand that the concept of spiritual redemption came from the Jewish scriptures. Christ showed them that Old Testament is all about Him. The disciple’s hearts burned within them. In scripture we have one complete story with Christ being the completion of this story. We live in the time of climax. He said ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30). The Lord in His own redeeming act initiated redemptive history The Exodus was a move of liberation on God’s part. The Israelites were delivered by the power of God. God didn’t only bring them out of Egypt; He brought the people into covenant relationship and the promised land of Canaan on eagle’s wings (Exodus 19:4). In Leviticus 26 God promises to walk among His people and be their God. He promises His presence through the construc...