Selected Reading, January 30, 2021

 

A few interesting pieces for your weekend reading.

Canadiana

The Urban Foxes of Whitehorse
You might enjoy this local photographer’s photo essay in Macleans: “As the pandemic raged on, Whitehorse-based wildlife photographer Peter Mather found himself walking his dog for hours a day. On one of these walks he had a run-in with one of the city’s many foxes, whose den was in an abandoned building on the city’s busy Front Street. So began Mather’s pandemic project to capture foxes in their not-so-natural habitats, ‘just to show that this is their city, too.’”

“I Have No Doubt It’s Mine”
The story begins with this: “When the Royal BC Museum announced this week it had confirmed the authenticity of a large stone carving found in the waters off Vancouver Island as a genuine ‘Indigenous artifact,’ the announcement made national headlines.” Read on to find out how it ends.

Idolatry

High Places
You can either listen to or read this excellent short essay on idolatry.

Bible

Missing Bible Verses
A new textual criticism site done by Bill Mounce. This page, for instance, has a list of all the Bible verse from the King James version of the Bible that are missing in the NIV and other more recent translations, and includes an explanation of each. Hint: They are not really missing verses, but added ones.

Theological Term of the Week: Sufficiency of Scripture

sufficiency of Scripture
The teaching that scripture is the “complete and utterly sufficient revelation of God for the salvation of his church.”1 It contains everything we need to know from God about who he is, his work in creation, and how we should respond to him.

• From Scripture:

…from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. ( 2 Timothy 3:15-17 ESV)the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? (Romans 9:17, 19-21 ESV)

• From The London Baptist Confession of Faith, Chapter 1, Section 6:

The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture, to which nothing is to be added at any time, either by new revelation of the Spirit, or by the traditions of men.

• From  Systematic Theology by Robert Letham:

Beyond the sense of Scripture found in its explicit statements and by deduction, nothing is to be added. Scripture is the complete and utterly sufficient revelation of God for the salvation of his church (2 Tim. 3:16-17). There are two main potential sources for claiming additions to Scripture. First, mysticism proposes new revelations from the Holy Spirit. To suppose that such are needed is to regard Scripture as less than sufficient to disclose God’s glory and to unfold our salvation, faith, and life. Second, traditionalism is another threat, chiefly in the Church of Rome with its body of dogmatic accretions, reinforced by its stress on the supremacy of churchly authority. Instead, we are to look to Scripture as our only rule of faith and life (Isa. 8:19-20).

Learn more:

1. Compelling Truth: What is meant by the sufficiency of Scripture?
2. Sinclair Ferguson: The Authority, Sufficiency, Finality of Scripture
3. Matthew Barrett: The Sufficiency of Scripture
4. Carl Trueman: The Sufficiency of Scripture
5. Mark Dever: God told me” and the Sufficiency of Scripture 

Related terms:  

• authority of scripture
• canon of scripture
• inerrancy of scripture
• infallibility of scripture
• inspiration of scripture
• perspicuity of scripture
• sola scriptura

1From Systematic Theology by Robert Letham

Filed under Scripture

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Sunday's Hymn: Come, Thou Almighty King

Come, thou Almighty King,
Help us thy name to sing,
Help us to praise:
Father, all glorious,
O’er all victorious,
Come, and reign over us,
Ancient of days.

Come, thou Incarnate Word,
Gird on thy mighty sword,
Our prayer attend:
Come and thy people bless,
And give thy Word success;
Spirit of holiness,
On us descend.

Come, Holy Comforter,
Thy sacred witness bear
In this glad hour:
Thou who almighty art,
Now rule in every heart,
And ne’er from us depart,
Spirit of power.

To the great One in Three
Eternal praises be,
Hence evermore.
His sovereign majesty
May we in glory see,
And to eternity
Love and adore.

—Author unknown

Other hymns, worship songs, or quotes for this Sunday:

• Behold, He Comes, the Glorious King at The Happy Wonderer