Join Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley as They Guide You Through Their Favorite Puritan Works and Where to Begin.

I refuse to watch the video, as I know beyond a shadow of a doubt it would cause me to immediately place yet another order with RHB! October book budget was shattered long ago!
 
I refuse to watch the video, as I know beyond a shadow of a doubt it would cause me to immediately place yet another order with RHB! October book budget was shattered long ago!
lol, Probably should have waited for the Reformation Sale coming Monday!
 
The only Puritan work I am interested in right now is the fourth and final volume of Reformed Systematic Theology. ;)
 
Ten minutes into it and wishing they'd done it acapella ... the 'musical (if you can call it that) background is annoying to me.
 
The only Puritan work I am interested in right now is the fourth and final volume of Reformed Systematic Theology. ;)

Seriously. I watched the entire video hoping they'd make an announcement about when Volume 4 will be published. Not this year, obviously. Sigh.
 
The only Puritan work I am interested in right now is the fourth and final volume of Reformed Systematic Theology. ;)

Seriously. I watched the entire video hoping they'd make an announcement about when Volume 4 will be published. Not this year, obviously. Sigh.
Beeke mentioned his book on Puritan Theology 'A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life'. Actually I found this book goes nicely with Dr Lloyd-Jones' 'Great Doctrines of the Bible.'
 

Cool. They sent in the final manuscript on August 1. I'll hope for publication in the first quarter of next year (that's just a wild guess).
 
Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley, the acclaimed authors of Reformed Systematic Theology, are among the world's leading Puritan scholars. Check out this new video featuring their top choices for those who want to start reading the Puritans.

Greetings,

I got as far as Dr. Beeke's very first suggested work – Heaven Taken by Storm, by Thomas Watson – the "master of the one-liner."

What a powerful effect this little (174 pages) controversial book had on me many years ago. As soon as Dr. Beeke said the title, I had to stop the movie for I began to tremble as I recalled the content. Tears ran down my eyes as the trembling continued, then I looked up. The work is based on the interpretation of Matthew 11:12 -- "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force."

Q. Why do I call Watson's book controversial?
A. Because of the interpretation of his text Matt 11:12
There seems to be a near-total disconnect between older and modern interpretations. The 'older' view (Watson et al.) interprets it as 'Holy' violence, whereas the modern view thinks Jesus meant 'Unholy' violence. Here are two examples. Lutheran Richard Lenski is a notable exception.

--Get Extra Credit for reading Lenski's Interpretation- the last thing on the page.​

The Older -- Matthew Poole on Matt 11:12
As John Baptist was a great man, so the Lord hath owned him as such, giving such a success to his ministry, that ever since he began the course of it, men have been carried on with a great ardour and heat, in hearing and receiving the gospel, which is the gospel of the kingdom, and bringeth men into the kingdom of Christ amongst men, and at last to the kingdom of glory. The hearts of men and women have been inflamed with a desire after the knowledge and obtaining of heaven, and heavenly things. They are great persons whom God thus owneth; and those whom the Lord thus owneth, are ordinarily such as have some measures of the spirit of this first gospel ministry, making the great things of God the matter of their discourse, and doing their work with a seriousness, zeal, and fervor fitted to it. The violent take it by force: they are not lazy wishes or cold endeavors that will bring men to heaven.​
Poole, M. (1853). Annotations upon the Holy Bible (Vol. 3, p. 49). Robert Carter and Brothers.​

The New -- ESV Study Bible on Matt 11:12 ESV
That the kingdom has suffered violence (Gk. biazō) probably indicates opposition from the religious establishment, and the violent take it by force probably refers to the actions of specific evil people like Herod Antipas, who had arrested John.​
Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 1842). Crossway Bibles.​

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

from Richard Lenski's, Interpretation of Matthew
With δέ Jesus adds a necessary statement, one which stresses the glorious time in which the hearers of Jesus were privileged to live. Now from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of the heavens presses forward forcefully, and forceful people snatch it. We consider it of little import whether βιάζεται is the passive (C.-K. 219 at length) or the middle used in an active sense (Zahn and others, giving examples). The passive, however, cannot mean “suffers violence,” but means, “is brought with force,” namely by John and by Jesus. “Suffers violence” assumes that the βιασταί are the agents, and that both clauses mean the same thing, which is scarcely probable. In substance it is quite the same whether we say, the kingdom itself “comes forward powerfully” or “is brought forward powerfully” by John and by Jesus. This statement obviously characterizes the years “from the days of John the Baptist until now,” from the day when John began to baptize until now when Jesus was in the full swing of his work. Of course, “until now” does not imply that this urging of the kingdom on men ceases at this moment; the matter goes on. We have no reason to make the enemies of the kingdom the agents of βιάζεται (when it is regarded as a passive) and to refer the verb to their violence against it, letting the second clause express the same thought. The trend of the entire discourse deals, not with violence against the kingdom, but with the indifference and the dissatisfaction that hinder men from entering it with zest.​
The absence of the article shows that βιασταί does not refer to a special class of men but only to the quality which those who appropriate the kingdom manifest. The translation “men of violence” might pass if hostility were referred to; the idea of violence is too strong an idea in the present connection. This word is not found in the secular Greek which uses βιατός in the sense of strong, courageous. The correspondence between βιάζεται and βιασταί is obvious, being a play on words. The energy and the force with which the kingdom comes (or is brought) instills a similar energy and force in those whom the kingdom wins for itself. They are not “forceful” by nature and thus better than others; but the kingdom itself with all its gifts, treasures, and blessings puts power and courage into them “to snatch,” let us say “to grab” it all. For the opposite action see v. 16–19; Rev. 3:15.​
Lenski, R. C. H. (1961). The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (pp. 47–438). Augsburg Publishing House.
 
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To Moderatos:

I am unable to edit the previous post. I cannot change even a single letter in post #13. What I posted became somewhat corrupt. The last two lines of the very last paragraph is messed up, and all the Scripture references now have a link to https://bible.faithlife.com/~

I also uploaded a PDF with a sample of the book I was speaking of, but I can't add a text telling whoever the content of the file.
Mainly I hope to know what I did wrong so I don't do it again.

Thanks so much,

Ed
 
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