Sunday Hymn: Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder

Let us love and sing and won­der,
Let us praise the Sav­ior’s name!
He has hushed the law’s loud thun­der,
He has quenched Mount Si­nai’s flame.
He has washed us with His blood,
He has brought us nigh to God.

Let us love the Lord who bought us,
Pitied us when ene­mies,
Called us by His grace, and taught us,
Gave us ears and gave us eyes:
He has washed us with His blood,
He pre­sents our souls to God.

Let us sing, though fierce temp­ta­tion
Threaten hard to bear us down!
For the Lord, our strong sal­va­tion,
Holds in view the con­quer­or’s crown:
He who washed us with His blood
Soon will bring us home to God.

Let us won­der, grace and jus­tice
Join and point to mer­cy’s store;
When through grace in Christ our trust is,
Justice smiles and asks no more:
He who washed us with His blood
Has se­cured our way to God.

Let us praise, and join the chor­us
Of the saints en­throned on high;
Here they trust­ed Him be­fore us,
Now their prais­es fill the sky:
Thou hast washed us with Your blood;
Thou art wor­thy, Lamb of God!

Hark! the name of Je­sus, sound­ed
Loud, from gold­en harps ab­ove!
Lord, we blush, and are con­found­ed,
Faint our prais­es, cold our love!
Wash our souls and songs with blood,
For by Thee we come to God.

—John Newton

Theological Term of the Week: Biblical Theology

biblical theology
The theological discipline that “seeks to discover what the biblical writers, under divine guidance, believed, described, and taught in the context of their own times”1 in order to discover how the different books of the Bible contribute to its overall theological message.2

• From Biblical Theology by T. D. Alexander:

The study of biblical theology is not an end in itself. It is rather a tool for understanding better the Bible as the inspired Word of God. Biblical theology helps us see the big picture, appreciate the themes that hold the Bible together, understand how the story develops, see how the promises of the Old Testament, sometimes expressed through covenants, are fulfilled in Jesus Christ, as witnessed in the New Testament, and appreciate how the Old Testament provides patterns or types that explain later developments in the story.

The study of biblical theology is about understanding how each part of the Bible contributes in a distinctive way to the overarching story of the Bible and how an awareness of this story informs our understanding of each part of the Bible. When this is achieved, biblical theology is strongly Christ-centered.

Learn more:

1. GotQuestions.org: What is biblical theology?
2. Monergism.com: What is the difference between Biblical Theology and Systematic Theology?
3. T. D. Alexander: Biblical Theology
4. Dr. Andreas J. Kostenberger: What Is Biblical Theology?
5. Michael Lawrence: 3 Ways to Define Biblical Theology
6. Dr Thomas Schreiner: Introduction to Biblical Theology (video)

Related terms:

• systematic theology
• redemptive history

Filed under Theological Categories

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Sunday Hymn: I Asked the Lord That I Might Grow

I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith, and love, and ev­ery grace;
Might more of His sal­va­tion know,
And seek, more ear­nest­ly, His face.

’Twas He who taught me thus to pray,
And He, I trust, has an­swered pray­er!
But it has been in such a way,
As al­most drove me to des­pair.

I hoped that in some fa­vored hour,
At once He’d an­swer my re­quest;
And by His love’s con­strain­ing pow’r,
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel
The hid­den ev­ils of my heart;
And let the an­gry pow­ers of hell
Assault my soul in ev­ery part.

Yea more, with His own hand He seemed
Intent to ag­gra­vate my woe;
Crossed all the fair de­signs I schemed,
Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

Lord, why is this, I trem­bling cried,
Wilt thou pur­sue Thy worm to death?
’Tis in this way, the Lord re­plied,
I ans­wer pray­er for grace and faith.

These in­ward tri­als I em­ploy,
From self, and pride, to set thee free;
And break thy schemes of earth­ly joy,
That thou may’st find thy all in Me.

—John Newton