Theological Term of the Week

prophet (as an office of Christ)
The office by which Christ “reveals God to us and speaks to us the words of God.”1

• From scripture, the prediction2:

  I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. (Deuteronomy 18:18-19 ESV)
  

• From the Westminster Larger Catechism:

  Question 43: How does Christ execute the office of a prophet?

  Answer: Christ executes the office of a prophet, in his revealing to the church, in all ages, by his Spirit and Word, in divers ways of administration, the whole will of God, in all things concerning their edification and salvation.

• From In Understanding Be Men by T. C. Hammond:

  1. Our Lord is the consummation of the line of Hebrew prophets. For example, see Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 3:22, 26.
  
  2. He spoke with immediate prophetic authority, replacing ‘Thus says the Lord’ by ‘I say to you’. His ministry was characterized by direct authority, and also contained less of the predictive element than the messages of some of the earlier prophets. The other chief characteristics of His prophetic ministry were His incisive parabolic preaching to the common people, His eschatological pronouncements centering in the imminence of the kingdom of God, and His self-revelation as the Son of man through whose sufferings and exaltation the kingdom would come.
  
  3. He confirmed His prophetic ministry by performing miracles of healing, etc., such as had accompanied the beginnings of new epochs in the previous history of Israel.
  
  4. He continues His prophetic office, in a mediate sense, through the apostles and in the gifts of ministry in the church.

Learn more:

1. Matthew Henry: A Scripture Catechism in the Method of the Assembly’s, Question 24.
2. J. C. Philpot: Jesus the Great Prophet to His People
3. Thomas Watson: Body of Divinity Contained in Sermons upon the Assembly’s Catechism
4. Wayne Grudem: Chapter 29: The Offices of Christ: Prophet, Priest, and King, part 1 (mp3)

1From Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem, page 624.

2See threefold office(s) of Christ for a text that shows that Christ is the fulfillment of this promise to raise up a prophet like Moses.

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it. I’m also interested in any suggestions you have for tweaking my definitions or for additional (or better) articles or sermons/lectures for linking. I’ll give you credit and a link back to your blog if I use your suggestion.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms organized in alphabetical order or by topic.

Sunday's Hymn

Next Sunday, Pentecost Sunday, we’ll be worshiping in tongues in my church. We’ll be singing hymns in several of the native languages found in our congregation, including Mandarin, Japanese, Tagalog, French, German, Spanish, Dutch and Slovak.

Here’s one we’ll be singing. Can you tell which hymn it is and what language it’s in?

O Cristong kaibigibig,
Umaako ng sakit,
Sa dalangi’y ninanais
Lagi Kang makaniig.

Kay bigat ng kasalanan
Kung kami ang papasan;
Kung Ikaw ay kaagapay,
Hirap ay naiibsan.

Completely stumped? Here is is in English.

Other hymns, worship songs, sermons etc. posted today:

• Lord’s Day 21, 2009 at The Thirsty Theologian
• O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus at The Happy Wonderer
• O Christ, Thou Hast Ascended at Nova Scotia Scott
• Ah, Holy Jesus at Hiraeth
• Be Thou My Vision at Fieldstone Cottage
• Commit Whatever Grieves Thee at joythruChrist

Have you posted a hymn today and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by emailing me at the address in the sidebar and I’ll add your post to the list.

Saturday's Old Photo

I’ve been catching up on yardwork today, so I’m afraid you’re stuck with another rerun for the Saturday’s old photo.

A few months ago I got an email from the mother of Dawn Weinert. Sho had come across the post with this photo at the old blog, but by the time she found it, there was no photo, and she was hoping to be able to see the photo of Dawn. I promised her I’d upload the photo again as soon as I could. Then I forgot about my promise until today when I was thinking about which old photo post to repost. So this one’s for Blanche Weinert.

This photo gives a little glimpse into my childhood. In it are my sister and I and two of our friends. Can you guess what we’re doing?

We’re playing wedding with our dress up clothes. My sister and I didn’t have many toys, but we did have a collection of dress up clothes that was the envy of all our friends. My mother had access to a “missionary barrel” with a never ending supply of old clothes and a keen eye for seeing the play possibility in them.

The groom in the wedding is me. I’m wearing a cape made from half of a cast-off black quilted circular skirt. The bride is my sister, wearing a made-over white woman’s dress and a curtain panel veil. The bridesmaid is my friend Colleen Emery, who is dressed in a light blue woman’s dress remade to fit a young girl. The little girl peeking out from behind me is Dawn Weinert, who was a few years younger than the rest of us. She did not want to dress up that day—I think the whole idea made her uncomfortable—but she wanted to be in the picture.

See the sidewalk we’re standing on? That’s the sidewalk of Northern Bible Church, which is 4 miles north of Bemidji, Minnesota. We’re playing on the sidewalk because we lived next door in the parsonage. The church is still there, but the parsonage isn’t.

The circular skirt morphed into a cape is something that my mother repeated again and again. One Christmas she gave my oldest daughter a cape made from a very brightly coloured quilted circular skirt and gave my oldest son a cape made from a grey wool flannel circular skirt. My mother worried that he might be disappointed that his cape wasn’t as coulorful as his sister’s, but he didn’t seem to care. Oldest daughter put on her cape, stood on the coffee table, announced “I’m a butterfly!” and took a flying leap. Oldest son, not to be outdone, stood on the coffee table wearing his cape, and before his own jump, declared “I’m a moth!”