God is Love, Right?

I enjoyed reading through D. A. Carson's little book The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God. Originally a lecture series at Dallas Theological Seminary 13 years ago, the book has been tightly focused and provocative in thinking about the love of God in the Bible. Carson did a great job in translating his mostly serious, sometimes witty style of speaking into the text of the book.

I especially appreciated Carson’s refusal to capitulate to easy, casual explanations of God’s love. It is right that Carson ends the book by encouraging the reader to engage the abstract thought world of God’s love, but not without connecting it to the living, breathing world around us where so many are unloved.

I found the following quotes very helpful:

"Strange to tell, not once is Jesus or God ever described in the Bible as our friend. Abraham is God's friend; the reverse is never stated." p. 41

". . . the love of God in our culture has been purged of anything the culture finds uncomfortable. The love of God has been sanitized, democratized, and above all sentimentalized." p. 11

“God in his perfections must be wrathful against his rebel image-bearers, for they have offended him; God in his perfections must be loving toward his rebel image-bearers, for he is that kind of God.” p. 69

1 & 2 Timothy

I have the privilege of teaching through 1 and 2 Timothy for the next several months on Tuesday nights at our church's youth service called Reality Check. As I continue to learn and develop as a teacher/preacher, I refine my style and habit of study. Of course, my study habits and times are also governed by my school schedule. I still have almost four weeks until school starts, though, so my schedule is much more flexible and open. I am hoping to utilize my knowledge of Greek in a more extensive way than I've been able to previously in teaching. To aid in my teaching, here are the resources I'm using:

Entrusted With the Gospel, edited by Andreas J. Kostenberger and Terry L. Wilder.
The Pastoral Epistles, by Donald Guthrie.
1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, by Gordon D. Fee.
Pastoral Epistles, by William D. Mounce.
1-2 Timothy & Titus, by Philip H. Towner.

I've yet to come up with a title for the series, but I love the intimacy of the letters from Paul to his "true child," Timothy. I also was attracted to the amount of topics that Paul touches on in the 10 chapters of 1 and 2 Timothy: stewardship, the gospel, money, widows in the church, biblical inspiration, church structure, elders, deacons, dealing with false teachers, just to name a few!

I look forward to laboring through these books over the next few months.