Update from Louisville: Stein Class and Spring Term

Hello again from Louisville. I wanted to update you on the last couple of weeks, and give you a preview of what I will be doing in the Spring semester. God willing, I plan to be home this coming Sunday before the Spring starts.

J-Term: Greek Exegesis of Mark's Gospel- Dr. Robert Stein

Having thoroughly enjoyed his books A Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible and Jesus the Messiah (a book I have often excerpted on this blog), getting to sit under Dr. Stein was an undeserved honor. Now retired, he taught New Testament at Bethel College in Minnesota before coming to Southern. He still resides in Minnesota with his wife. That book you see on the table in front of him is his commentary on Mark, which we used as a text. As he put it, "I can honestly say that of all the commentaries on Mark that are out there, it's the one I agree with the most." :-) The class consisted of two papers (one of which I am still writing), and translation of assigned passages of the Greek text of Mark. Dr. Stein himself made it very enjoyable. We began every class with prayer, even once all reciting the Lord's Prayer together. I didn't agree with him on everything, but his reverence for and knowledge of God's Word were humbling and exemplary. By now he is back home in Minnesota with his wife. He is 76 years old, so you may pray that God will make his remaining years fruitful.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Robert+H.+Stein&x=0&y=0

New Dorm
After my last day of class on Saturday, I spent several hours lugging my excessive amount of stuff from my J-term home in Williams Hall to Spring-term home in Manly Hall. The dorm is so-called because it was named after Basil Manly, one the founders of the school, but I like to think that the fuller meaning of the name includes a description of its occupants. This dorm room is designed for one person, and is about half the size of my other one. A photo is forthcoming, since I can't get my camera to work at the moment. Due to technical difficulties, I haven't been able to access internet in my room until today, when a man finally came and fixed it. This is a positive development. :-)

Also on the domestic front, my meal plan kicked in this week, enabling me to simply swipe my card and eat cafeteria food, which means a few less peanut butter sandwiches. Oh, and speaking of food, I received a package from the Bakers containing a huge bag of those chocolate chips we always snacked on at their house. Thanks, guys!!!! And speaking of chocolate chips, after five months of no exercise (when Tilly moved out, my motivation to exercise in Miss Beth's garage plummeted), I am finally back on the weights and the running track.

Spring Class Schedule
After seeking counsel and shuffling some things around, I have decided to take five classes this coming semester. Here they are.

1. Elementary Hebrew- Dr. James Hamilton

Of all my classes, this one will be the most difficult. Hebrew is Greek to me! (That pun was for Mr. Tad and Mr. Pinzur). I would definitely covet your prayers for a sharp memory on this one.

2. Islam and the Christian Mission- Dr. Zane Pratt

This is only Dr. Pratt's second semester here, as President Mohler talked him off the mission field last summer to come back to the states and serve as the head of the Billy Graham School of Missions here at SBTS. He is also a member of the church I am attending, which is nice. Based upon counsel I received from a faculty member, I appealed to the school to let me substitute this class for a certain required class. I am looking forward to it. For those of you who are interested, here is the assigned reading:
The Koran
The Gospel for Muslims- Thabiti Anyabwile
A Christian Guide to the Quran- Raouf and Carol Ghattas
Islam: Its Prophet, People, Politics, and Power- George W. Braswell
The Camel- Kevin Greeson

3. Greek Exegesis of 1 Peter- Dr. Brian Vickers

This one is an elective. Pastor Rod Wilton once encouraged me to get as much of the languages as I could while I was here. I figured I'd be wise to take his advice. We will be reading Thomas Schreiner's commentary on 1 Peter, a book which Chris and I both regularly consulted while we were preaching through 1 Peter, and practicing tracing the flow of Peter's argument through diagramming. This should be fun.

4. The Messiah in the Hebrew Bible- Dr. James Hamilton

This one is my last remaining elective, and my second class with Dr. Hamilton. I am taking it for at least four reasons: (1) Old Testament and biblical theology are Dr. Hamilton's area of expertise (2) Other than two semesters of OT Introduction, I haven't gotten to take a lot of OT while here. (3) I would like to be able to preach from the OT (something, as you know, I haven't done much of yet). (4) I would like to able to see Jesus more clearly in the OT.

Dr. Hamilton is also the pastor of Kenwood Baptist Church here in Louisville. Our reading list for this class is:

God's Glory in Salvation Through Judgment- James M. Hamilton (yes, professors assign their own books, :-) )
The Servant King- T. Desmond Alexander (a delightful and easy-to-read little book)
Dominion and Dynasty- Stephen Dempster
The Messiah in the Old and New Testaments- edited by Stanley Porter
Four chapters of the Old Testament per day.

5. Introduction to Christian Philosophy- Dr. James Parker

This class is required, and is one I decided to pick up at the last minute. I believe Tiffany had Dr. Parker as a professor while she was at Boyce. It'll be three hours on Thursday night, but from everything I've heard, if there's any instructor who can hold your attention for three hours, it's Dr. Parker. This is a blessing. Other than the fact that he is hilarious and has more degrees than Fahrenheit, I know hardly anything about Dr. Parker. But speaking of his humor--now that I think of it--Tilly and I met Dr. Parker in the cafeteria on the day we came up to visit the campus, and he told us this story about an incident where someone was excited to meet him and introduce him to their friends because they thought his name was James Packer (i.e. J. I. Packer). He said the guy was so excited that he almost didn't have the heart to disillusion him. :-)

The reading list is:

Life's Ultimate Questions- Ronald Nash
The Universe Next Door- James Sire
Faith and Reason-Ronald Nash

Well, that's my schedule. As you can see, it's a busy one. As Dr. Hamilton warned me, "You've can't do this and play video games all semester." Of course, as you all know, not playing video games won't be a problem for me. Instead, I will have to say goodbye to the Redbox for a few months. :-(

After this semester is over, I will have only eight classes left. One reason I mention this is that based upon a couple of comments I have heard, it seemed that some might have gotten the idea that this was my final semester. This is not true. The M.Div requires that 24 hours of coursework be done on the Louisville campus,  and now seemed like the best time start on those. This is one of the reasons I decided to add a fifth class. Between the J-term and Spring, I will have completed 21 of those 24 hours (that is, 7 of 8). This means that, barring some unfortunate turn of events, I should be able to do a couple or three classes this summer and then maybe three or four this Fall, finishing no later than next J-term. But while man proposes, God disposes. So let me add "If the Lord wills, I will live and finish my M.Div."

I have crafted these posts deliberately, because I want you to know the names and faces of these men so that you can pray for them. In serving me, they are serving all of you as well. So, Mr. Tad, if you could appoint someone to bring these four men's names up on Wednesday night, I would appreciate it: James Hamilton, Brian Vickers, Zane Pratt, and James Parker.

I am looking forward to seeing all of you this Sunday. It's been too long.

Justin

Update from Louisville: Dever Class and Campus

Brothers and sisters at Grace,

Good to talk to you again. Thank you for all of the kind emails and Facebook posts thus far. I miss all of you and am praying for you all by using my makeshift membership list.

I wanted to give you an update on my life here so far. I want to look at this under four headings: Taking Class, Auditing, Going to Church, and Touring the Campus

Taking Class
My first J-term class just ended: The Doctrine of the Church, with Dr. Mark Dever (picture below). Dr. Dever is pastor of Capital Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., where Josh and Abigail Abbotoy are members, and author of numerous books on the church. He's also a really pleasant guy.

Classes would run from 9:00-12:00, then from 1:30-3:30 every day. He began class every day by calling the roll, only instead of saying "Here," we had to tell what passage we read in our devotions that morning. We would then sing a hymn (e.g. "Doxology," "There is a Fountain" "Arise, My Soul, Arise"), and then he would pray. Next, we would read through and discuss what various Protestant Confessions had said about the Church: The Augsburg Confession (Lutheran), the Thirty-Nine Articles (Anglican), the Westminster Confession, the First London Baptist Confession (1644), the Second London Baptist Confession (1689), the New Hampshire Baptist Confession, the Abstract of Principles (Southern Seminary's statement), and the three versions of the Baptist Faith and Message (1925, 1963, and 2000).

Next he would lecture us on various aspects of the church. There was a lot of interaction, as well. The overall topics we learned about were:

I. Preaching (along with the proper administration of the ordinances, gospel preaching is one of the two marks of a true church)

II. Baptism (the meaning, the mode, baptism and infants, baptism and children, baptism and membership)

III. The Lord's Supper (the various historical views, how the ordinances make the church visible, whom to allow to take communion, how often should we take it, etc.)

IV. Membership and Discipline (the Bible's teaching, its purpose and  meaning, 12 steps to regaining meaningful membership in your church, should unbaptized people be allowed to join your church?, how church discipline was done in early 19th century Baptist churches in Georgia, 9 steps to restoring biblical discipline to your church, etc.)

V. Polity/Church Government (the different forms, biblical arguments for congregationalism, elders and deacons, plurality of elders, the authority of the congregation and the elders, biblical arguments for the regulative principle of worship, arguments against the practice of multi-service and multi-site, etc.)

In short, the class was wonderful. The required reading list consisted of the following, any of which I would recommend to any of you.
Edmund Clowney, The Church
John Hammett, Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches 

Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love
Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church
Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert, What Is the Mission of the Church?
Jonathan Leeman, Reverberation
Mark Dever and Paul Alexander, The Deliberate Church

As for the authors above, Dever was my professor, Gilbert pastors the church I will be attending, and Leeman conducted Jared and Maggie's wedding. What a small world! :-)

As for people, I got to meet and befriend many very dear brothers. Lunch time was good for fellowship, as I made it a point to seek at least one class mate out to eat with. The class contained Christians from China, South Korea, India, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. [addition to the original post: I am in class with Matthew Price, who was the interim pastor for the church that the Reformed Baptist Church of Nashville sent Jeremy Meeks to revitalize. Jeremy came up to visit Matt, and we had lunch together at a Cuban restaurant.]


Auditing
With my spare time (I did most of the reading before I got here), I sat in on a Christian philosophy class with Dr. Paul Helm (picture below). Why? you might ask? Well, the content didn't interest me too awful much, but Paul Helm is one of the most celebrated Reformed Christian philosophers in the world. And since he is also 71 years old, I thought it safe to assume he was a wealth of wisdom that I probably won't ever get the chance to sit under again. He is an Englishman (Yay, Miss Jane!), and a very witty, kind, and godly man. Pray for him, as he'll be flying back to England today to be with his wife.

Going to Church
I have been in Louisville now for two Wednesday nights and one Sunday. The church I plan to attend and pursue associate membership with is called Third Avenue Baptist Church, pastored by Greg Gilbert (http://www.thirdavenue.org/). Why Third Avenue? Well, there are several very good churches here, but I chose Third Avenue because of its association with both Capitol Hill Baptist (where Josh and Abby are members) and Gilford Baptist (where Rob and Caroline used to be members, and where Pastor Carroll, Miss Linda, and I have attended several times while visiting the Spinneys). Greg Gilbert, the pastor, was formerly a pastor at Capitol Hill, so I assumed that Third Avenue would be very similar in its worship and structure with CHBC and Gilford. I was right. :-)

Gilbert began a 7-part series on Ezekiel last Sunday morning. Their Sunday night service is a combination of prayer meeting, church family time, and a brief devotional. I plan to pursue associate membership with them, which will require me to go through the membership classes which are offered in the Sunday School track. Since they do not have a Wednesday night service (they do small groups during the week), I have attended Clifton Baptist Church both Wednesdays I have been here. Why? Because three of my former professors attend or are elders there: Thomas Schreiner, Bruce Ware, and Shawn Wright. So far, I've met Dr. Wright (who remembered the Davises and the Lakes) and Dr. Ware.

[Note for college students: moving away from home for an extended period of time means that you need to find a like-minded, evangelical church where the gospel is preached, the ordinances are properly administered, and church discipline is practiced (the most accurate embodiment of which will be Baptistic and Calvinistic, but if you can't find the Baptistic part, try Presbyterian or Anglican :-) ) and plug in as soon as possible. If you are a member at Grace, college is not meant to be a time when you float around churchless for four years like a severed body part. Such a practice will only cause you to dishonor God and dry up spiritually.]

Touring the Campus
Here are some photos I have taken. The descriptors will be listed above.

The inside of my current dorm room [It is not good for man to be alone]

 The outside of my current dorm room: Williams Hall.

The James P. Boyce Library (named after one of the seminary's founders).

Norton Hall, where pretty much all my classes will be.

It's been a long email, I know. In honor of Martin Luther King Day there will be no classes on Monday (note to Ezra Baker: I will miss being there to watch the "I Have a Dream" speech with you like last year). My other J-term class with run from next Tuesday through Saturday, 8:00-5:00 daily. I'll save that one for another update.

I love all of you, and look forward to being with you again soon. Thank you for your support, both spiritually and materially. Keep the emails and Facebook posts coming.

Justin Dillehay

Live from Louisville, It's Mark Dever

OK, well not exactly live, but here are some quotes from Dr. Mark Dever form the last few days in class:

"Joining a church is joining an assurance of salvation co-operative."

"The Lord's table is only for sinners, and it's only for repenting sinners."

"God is terrible outside of Christ."

"If your church becomes more healthy, it will become more attractive."

'Rather than hurting them, we serve non-Christians by making it clear to them that they don't belong [to our local church]."

"As the gospel drains away, religious ceremonies become more important." (referring to liberal churches that still stress baptism, etc.)

"Authority well exercised blesses those underneath it.' (referring to 2 Samuel 23:3-4)

 "I often tell young men who enjoy reading John Piper and Wayne Grudem, 'If you're not willing to get up an hour earlier to give a 90 year-old man a ride to church, I'm not sure you're saved.'"

"When it comes to how we admit new church members, hypocrisy can't be prevented, but it can be discouraged." 

"Terrible people can do wonderful things because they're made in the image of God. Wonderful people can do terrible things because they are fallen."