Book Review Worship in Spirit and Truth Payton
Reading the Bible Supernaturally: Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God in Scripture
The day I completed John Piper's newest volume, Reading the Bible Supernaturally, I was alerted to a shocking and sobering statistic, namely, simply forty-five percent of those who regularly attend church read the Bible more than than once a calendar week. Such a statistic should prompt Christians to radically shift their priorities and brand Bible reading a normal role of their lives. If less than one-half of Christian people are reading the Bible on a regular basis, we are not only short-circuiting our joy; we are failing to showcase the celebrity of God and detect satisfaction in his all-sufficient grace. Part One: The Ultimate Goal of Reading the Bible Reading the Bible Supernaturally, past John Piper is directed at people who regularly feast on the Word of God. My supposition is that if people neglect Bible reading, they will accept no interest in reading a book about the Bible. Piper offers a modest proposal in Reading the Bible Supernaturally: Our ultimate goal in reading the Bible is that God'southward space worth and beauty would be exalted in the everlasting, white-hot worship of the blood-bought bride of Christ from every people, language, tribe, and nation. 6 implications flow along from this proposal: 2. that the supremely accurate and intense worship of God's worth and beauty is the ultimate aim of all his work and discussion; 3. that we should always read his word in order to meet this supreme worth and beauty; 4. that we should aim in all our seeing to savour his excellence higher up all things; 5. that nosotros should aim to be transformed past this seeing and savoring into the likeness of his beauty, 6. so that more than and more people would be fatigued into the worshipping family of God until the helpmate of Christ - across all centuries and cultures - is complete in number and beauty. The proposal and the six implications make up the first role of the book help set the stage for the remaining sections. Part Two: The Supernatural Human activity of Reading the Bible In Part Two, the writer argues that reading the Bible in a way that glorifies God is a supernatural act. God expects that his Give-and-take is read supernaturally a feat that Piper expounds with skill and persuasiveness. Part 3: The Natural Human action of Reading the Bible Supernaturally Role three may surprise some readers equally Piper makes a case for joining the natural efforts of Bible reading with supernatural aid from God. The aim of the writer in this section is to "encourage a deep dependence on God and the fullest employ of natural powers in the supernatural deed of reading the Bible." In passage after passage, Piper demonstrates how this view matches the biblical tape. Summary John Piper succeeds in defending his proposal. In the process, he encourages Christians to read "actively" with "aggressive attentiveness." His plea is for readers to be rooted in a "deep understanding of the glorious calling to pursue the natural human activity of reading the Bible supernaturally." Clearly, we are in the midst of a crunch if less than half of Christians are reading their Bibles on a regular basis. Something must change in the days ahead. The best identify to begin is past reading the Bible supernaturally.1. that the infinite worth and beauty of God are the ultimate value and excellence of the universe;
Excellent. One of Piper'south best. This volume will stir your beloved for Scripture, and your desire to read actively and attentively the inspired word of God. Have and read!
I think this is excellent in so many means. In that location are things I'd quibble with: as with almost every Piper book I've read, in that location are times when 'Christian hedonism' is a bit of a grid that means he doesn't quite read bits of the Bible directly - merely it'south not very wonky! His word of meaning would exist amend if he had a robust agreement of purpose. His discussion of the relationship between divine and human authorship leaves a couple of hostages to fortune. Whilst I agree with his suspicion of rules of interpretation - especially as they go attached to genre as a kind of librarian'due south tool, I thought at that place was probably a fleck more to say about genre. And it felt like nosotros would have benefited from a more robust conclusion. But those are gnats. Because actually, I loved this book. I idea all 3 parts were supremely helpful. In particular, I thought it was a great example of how a business concern for ultimate ends (the glory of God, transformation, mission, a people of the promise) and a concern for what Piper calls the 'supernatural' means (prayer, the Spirit, a new heart and mind) can exist held together with an equal concern for what the homo authors of scripture meant to say. From a PT perspective, it was refreshing to read a book that says so many of the things we unremarkably want to say, and too says some of the things we occasionally forget to say. V stars from me.
In His book; "Reading the Bible Supernaturally," Piper encourages his readers to wait beyond simply but words and phrases. Rather that reading the bible supernaturally would lead us into searching, asking, and applying the Word to our lives so that we might experience the celebrity of God through His written Word, and through Christ. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who desires to know God'southward Give-and-take and to the study of Scripture. This book has challenged me in my ain Bible Report to wait beyond, and to encounter the meaning of what the authors intended.
Maybe this is due to my longstanding dislike of sound books only I didn't enjoy this very much. There was some benign material in here simply overall it felt like it should have been a pamphlet rather than a book and seemed to drag on and on covering the same material. Too, clearly Piper's pet phrase is "white-hot worship of the claret-bought bride of Christ" and it was far overused.
Let me first by saying I know this is the second book of this trilogy, and it was an accident that I read this one offset. However, I am then glad I did. Piper takes the task of reading the Bible and turns it into art. The first portion of this book illustrates why we read the Bible (to glorify God, to know God better, to be transformed, as a form of worship). The second part illustrates how to read the Bible and be transformed by information technology. The tertiary part focuses on understanding the Bible. This book exemplifies why I love Piper. He is passionate and rooted in the Word. He doesn't go on long tangents with examples, but gives the necessary examples but. He exhorts, convicts, and teaches; and for this I am grateful. I'd recommend this book to whatever Christian wanting to become deeper in reading, savoring, and understanding the Word of God.
The subtitle of this book aptly describes what it is all about. Piper argues that God gave usa the Scriptures ultimately so that God'south "infinite worth and beauty" would be praised by the "everlasting, white-hot worship" of the worldwide redeemed. Piper makes the case that such praise volition come up about simply through "seeing, savoring, and being transformed" past God'due south celebrity in Scripture. And THAT will merely happen supernaturally (hence the title) through the work of God. This doesn't hateful we don't take great responsibilities ourselves when reading the Word--we do. Piper commends "aggressive attentiveness" in reading the text, never reading lazily but e'er questioning Scripture relentlessly and and then seeking answers to those questions from the text itself. Piper handles all iii parts of these thesis quite well. Part 1 of the work defends the argument Piper has for why God gave us the Bible in the first place. Part two defends the demand to have God open up our eyes and hearts when reading (the Pharisees are a great negative instance of this). Part 3 deals with what we are to bring to the table when nosotros read. I really liked this function considering Piper lets us under the hood to get a glimpse of how he himself reads the Scriptures. He is non a "just me and Bible guy," thankfully, just he even so drives home the bespeak that we should always exist asking almost the logical connections and conclusions the text is making, seeking to understand how they flow. If we exercise non know why a "for" or "therefore" is there, for instance, so we haven't understood the text. Everything Piper writes is worth perusing, simply this is worth a serious read. I hope it has a great affect on how modern evangelicals tackle the very words of God.
This is truly one of the best books that I have read. It is very Biblical using then much Scripture to discuss the topics that the author is covering. Information technology is very practical. Information technology is not light reading, however. It is over 400 pages and requires serious study if it is to be useful to the person who wants to seriously study the Bible. Also if it is to exist truly useful, it has to exist followed up by putting into practice the lessons taught. I strongly recommend it to anyone who truly wants to deepen his or her study of God'due south word.
This volume starts out proficient and grows improve as you go along. As it is a hefty tome of some 400 pages this ways that by the end it has grown quite exceptional. If you've read a fair amount of Dr. Piper, though beholden, y'all may feel bogged down by the familiar every bit he lays downward the groundwork. I found myself wondering if this volume would offer much in the vein of originality, or simply be a prolonged awarding of past ideas to the specific topic at hand, equally valuable equally that might be. Of form, the standard Piper paradigms are there (i.e. Christian Hedonism), simply this book is more than dried bread doubly toasted. The cook uses the same ingredients, but something fresh yet faithful is served up. For those tempted to abort volume in the outset quarter, I encourage you, printing on. The best reading lies ahead, not simply in this volume, but of the Book.
Really outstanding book. I concur with Dr. Carson that any Christian who thoughtfully engages with this book volition benefit from it. I've learned a lot and have been immensely edified in the process. It covers a lot of ground, and the terminal section about the natural part of reading the Bible supernaturally was filled with golden. Nosotros must not read similar the Pharisees, but pray that we will read with the eyes of our middle enlightened to the glorious truths that are right there for usa in the text. We "act the miracle" with a trusting, prayerful dependence on God as nosotros requite relentless attention to the text and its meaning.
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