Intended Allegory in the Song of Solomon?

Good article by James Hamilton dealing with the issue of whether Solomon intended his Song to describe both human married love and divine married love.

http://jimhamilton.info/2013/04/01/intended-allegory-in-the-song-of-songs/

Seminary is Not a Church

This is a good article from my prof James Hamilton about what seminary can and can't do, as well as perhaps should and shouldn't try to do. Here are the opening paragraphs. 

In my humble opinion, seminary students should seek from the seminary what the seminary exists to give them, and the seminary exists to give them the Bible. Let me be quick to add that the seminary’s main purposes include systematic theology and church history, but God has revealed himself in the Bible. Let me say that again, because it’s that important: God has revealed himself in the Bible.

Seminaries exist to teach people the Bible, which means seminaries exist to teach people Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic, introduce them to the Bible’s big story, and teach them how to read that story parts and whole.

This means that there are many jobs the seminary does not exist to do: the seminary is not a church. The seminary is not an evangelistic crusade. The seminary is not your small group, your missions and evangelism coordinator, or even your pastoral internship.

I have often heard preachers comment on some pastoral difficulty then say, “They don’t teach you that in seminary!” I usually think to myself, “nor did they intend to; nor were they supposed to.”

Cars don’t sprout wings and fly, and they don’t teach you to pilot a plane in Driver’s Ed. Evaluate a car, or a Driver’s Ed. class, according to what it is intended to do. The seminary is built to prepare people for ministry, yes, but it’s a school. That bears repeating: a seminary is a school. This means, by definition, that a seminary is not a church. So the seminary is preparing people for ministry, but it can’t do everything necessary to prepare people for ministry. It’s not built to do everything necessary to prepare people for ministry. It’s built to be a school.

-James M. Hamilton,  http://jimhamilton.info/2012/03/26/use-the-right-tool-for-the-right-job-gospel-maturity-for-seminary/#comments

As the Waters Cover the Sea

"The heavens and the earth are the stage on which Yahweh will display beauty, truth, and goodness, and that beauty, truth, and goodness are his glory. Adam was charged to rule over the earth and subdue it, which seems to mean that he was to expand the borders of Eden until the place where Yahweh’s glory was known by his image bearers covered the dry land as the waters cover the sea. Adam rebelled, sought to be like God himself, and was expelled from the garden. The Lord then chose Abraham, and he promised land to him and his seed. Then the Lord brought the seed of Abraham into the Land, and it was as though a new Adam, the people of Israel, were given a new Eden, whose boundaries they were to extend. As Israel subdued the nations round about, the land in which Yahweh’s word was law, the land where Yahweh dwelled among his people, would grow. Here again, Yahweh’s purpose was to cover the dry lands with his glory, and so he invited the messiah, king of Israel, to ask of him, and he would make the nations his inheritance (Ps. 2:8). Like Adam, Israel sinned. Like Adam, Israel was expelled from the land. As with Adam, Yahweh means to save through judgment. The exile displays Yahweh’s justice, and the return is lavish mercy."

--James Hamilton, God's Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology (2010 A.D.)

All the World's a Stage--For God!

I'm taking two classes this Spring with Dr. James Hamilton. This excerpt is taken from one of his books which he has assigned.

"The created realm (creation) is a spectacular theater that serves as the cosmic matrix in which God’s saving and judging glory can be revealed. God’s glory is so grand that no less a stage than the universe—all that is or was and will be, across space and through time—is necessary for the unfolding of this all-encompassing drama. The psalmist sings, “The heavens are recounting the glory of God, and the skies are proclaiming the work of his hands” (Ps. 19:1). Similarly, Paul exclaims, “From him and through him and to him are all things; to him be the glory forever! Amen” (Rom. 11:36). Creation is for the glory of God."

--James Hamilton, God's Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology