One More with the Grands

Mamaw with her grands at our annual Christmas Eve get together in Kennett. From left to right, Susan, Rob, Mamaw, Steve, John, and Dave. This is the only night of the year the Patton kids are together in one place.

We miss Mom and Dad still but they're forever with us in memory.

Great-Grands and Great-Great-Grands

Here is "Mamaw" Hogue with her great and great-great grand children. When you're 91, the family gets pretty big!!

Christmas 2008

Happy New Year from the Pattons!!

"Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us" [Phil 3:13-14 NLT].

Christmas Devotionals

I've written a week's worth of Christmas devotional thoughts for the folks at Fairview. This is probably the last entry before Christmas so from my family to yours--May the Christ of Christmas be real in your hearts!!

Joseph the Carpenter

Joseph figures prominently only in a couple chapters of Matthew's Gospel, but he obviously left a legacy in Jesus' life. Part of his legacy was his occupation. But what did Joseph do for a living? Matthew 13:55 [NASB] says that he was a carpenter. In Mark 6:3, Jesus is called a "carpenter." Most English translations agree with the NASB and use the word carpenter as well.

The Greek word is transliterated tekton [pronounced with a long 'o' sound]. What does it mean? It likely means more than just the idea that most folks have in their minds when they think 'carpenter.' In an excellent article a few years ago in JETS, Ken M. Campbell surveyed the use of the word in a variety of sources and concluded that a tekton was a general craftsman who worked with materials such as stone, wood, and sometimes metal in large and small building projects. A tekton would be involved in a variety of building projects including but not limited to houses, wine-presses, millstones, olive press stones, tombstones, cisterns, farm terraces, vineyards, watch towers, house extensions, etc. He rejects using the term "carpenter," and prefers "builder." That is more of a catch-all term and likely more descriptive of Joseph's and later Jesus' occupation.

My Dad would often say he was a "Jack-of-all-trades". Perhaps that colloquialism describes both what Joseph and later Jesus did for a living.

[Ken M. Campbell, "What Was Jesus' Occupation?" JETS 48 (September 2005): 501-19.]

Matthew 2:15 and Hosea 11:1

As I mentioned earlier, I'm spending a lot of time these days on Matthew's birth narrative. Several things in Matthew make these passages interesting study, not the least are the OT quotations.

After Joseph is told to leave Bethlehem, he takes Jesus and Mary to Egypt. Matthew writes that this is in fulfillment of Hosea 11:1: "Out of Egypt I called my son." Some scholars see that Matthew saw in this passage a prediction of Jesus' journey to Egypt, however, the original context is clearly a reference to the exodus. As Turner points out in his commentary, those who think Matthew saw a prediction of Jesus in Hos 11:1 usually state that Matthew has insight into the sensus plenior of Hosea.

A better approach is taking Hos 11:1 typologically [following Turner, Blomberg, and others]. Hos 11:1 alludes to a theological motif that Matthew cherishes: divine sonship. The exodus shows Israel's status as God's firstborn. What was true of Israel is even more true of Jesus. Quoting Turner: "In Hos 11:1 the exodus provides a historical pattern of God's loving preservation of his son Israel from Pharaoh's wrath. From a Christian perspective, this past event is recapitulated by God's loving preservation of his Son, Jesus, from Herod's wrath" [91].

Blomberg is surely correct when he writes: "Just as God brought the nation of Israel out of Egypt to inaugurate his original covenant with them, so again God is bringing the Messiah, who fulfills the hopes of Israel, out of Egypt as he is about to inaugurate his new covenant--Jesus recapitulates the role of Israel as a whole" [67].

The typological approach to Matthew's use of the OT in chapters 1-2 is surely the correct one. Matthew sees in Hos 11:1 and other OT passages with respect to Jesus parallels in the way God worked in the past that cannot be contributed to coincidence. Again quoting Turner, "Matthew looks at biblical history with the conviction that it is organically related to Jesus the Messiah as the seed is to the harvest." Well said.

Preaching and Authority

Al Mohler has an excellent post today on the preacher's authority.

I believe the preacher's authority comes from three places. First and foremost is the Bible. The Word of God is the authoritative book of the preacher. We have no authority outside it. Second is the call of God. God's call gives the preacher authority to proclaim, "Thus says the Lord." One who preaches must be one who is called. Third is the preacher's character. The preacher loses all credibility with a congregation once his character is proven to be suspect. Thus a preacher must protect his integrity.

I agree with Mohler. God's people are crying for a word from the Lord. The preacher must give it to them and with all the authority God has given! Preachers must throw thunderbolts on Sunday not give nice religious platitudes that mean nothing and change no one.

"For since, in God's wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of preaching" [1 Cor 1:21]. Let's be fools for Christ's sake. Let's preach the Word!

Deaton

Our friend and member of Fairview, Todd Deaton, has been named the editor of The Western Recorder, the second oldest Baptist paper in the country. Todd, Michelle, Laura, and Caleb will move to Kentucky after the first of the year. Our loss is Kentucky's gain.

Congrats to Todd; he'll do a great job.

http://www.baptistcourier.com/2997.article

Scrooge Lives

It seems that Scrooge is alive and well and sitting in the pews of our churches. In an excellent commentary in The Baptist Courier, Don Kirkland reports on a recent article in Christianity Today entitled, "Scrooge Lives." In it, researchers discovered that more than one in four American Protestants give away no money at all, "not even a token $5 per year." Only about 27% of evangelicals tithe.

Kirkland also reports that the CT article confirms what I've known throughout my ministry--only a small percentage of church members cover the bills for everyone else. As Kirkland aptly puts it, "Small groups of Christians who are generous are 'covering' for the vast majority of Christians who give away nothing or very little of their earnings."

This is not new information but it is still alarming. The Bible is clear. God's people are to give. The NT is clear that the giving should be sacrificial. Paul, for example, commends the church of Macedonia as one that gave sacrificially in spite of their poverty [2 Cor 8:2]. Christians are to give no matter the economic times.

Again quoting Kirkland, "All church members must carry their own weight. It is wrong to continue to allow a small percentage of generous Christians to shoulder the load of the Lord's work with little or no help from their fellow believers." Amen!

I wonder if all of us would give, how much more could be done for the Kingdom?

Read Kirkland's commentary; it is worth the time.

http://www.baptistcourier.com/2962.article

Matthew 1:16

I've been studying Matthew 1 the last couple of weeks in preparation for some Christmas messages. Interesting text variants are found in 1:16: "And Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary, who gave birth to Jesus who is called the Messiah" [HCSB]. Commentaries always discuss this verse because it is theologically crucial.

Nearly all the Greek manuscripts as well as early versions reflect the reading that is tranlated above. In effect the translation shows Joseph as Mary's husband and that Jesus was born "through" her. Jesus then is not the natural child of Joseph.

There are two other principle variants. Some manuscripts, primarily Caesarean, read: "Jacob was the father of Joseph, to whom being engaged, the virgin Mary bore Jesus, who is called Messiah." This reading seems to read-back information from 1:18-25 into this passage, making it secondary. Also if this reading is orginal it is hard to explain the first reading. Why would a scribe change such a clear expression of Mary's virginity?

The most controversial reading comes from the Sinaitic Syriac: "Joseph to whom was betrothed Mary the virgin, begot Jesus who is called the Christ." This reading allows for a denial of the virgin birth, although Mary is still described as a virgin. It seems to me that the reading shows Joseph as the legal not physical father of Jesus. Be that as it may, the text is not found in any Greek manuscripts of the NT.

A full discussion of the readings can be found in Metzger's commentary [2-6]. In a nutshell, the external evidence for the third reading is weak. The two variants likely arose from the more well-attested reading. Obviously, as Turner points out in his commentary [62], Matthew certainly did not mean to communicate in 1:16 that Joseph was the biological father of Jesus.

DollyWood

A group from Fairview went last week to DollyWood. This was our first time there. If you can't get in the Christmas spirit there you're one big Scrooge! Lesa and I are in the pic somewhere.