Lessons from a man named Obadiah

Mike Leake

With an awesome name like Obadiah Sedgwick its surprising that few people have heard of him.  One particular work of his that I have found beneficial is Anatomy of Secret Sins .  This book is a 382 page exposition of Psalm 19:12-13.  Yes, 382 pages on these two verses. 

12 Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.

One particular gem is his explanation of “persons who are truly holy desire still further measure of holiness.”  I’ll let Obadiah explain:

David was cleansed before, and yet he desires to be cleansed.  Why?  Because though he had a radical purity, he did not have a gradual purity.  The whole man was cleansed, but it was not cleansed wholly.  He had some grace, but he wanted more.  He was pretty well rid of some sins, but others he felt stirring and working.  Though no man saw them, yet he felt them.  No combat serves the Christian, but that which looks to victory, and he thinks the day is not yet won if he does not yet have the conquest of every sin as well as any one particular sin.   (p.14, emphasis mine)

In other words, if you desire holiness you won’t just desire a little bit of it.  You will want to be “cleansed completely”. 

Lessons from Augustine’s Mother

Mike Leake

“But you sent down your help from above and rescued my soul from the depths of this darkness because my mother, your faithful servant, wept to you for me, shedding more tears for my spiritual death than other mothers shed for the bodily death of a son.  For in her faith and in the spirit which she had from you she looked on me as dead.  You heard her and did not despise the tears which streamed down and watered the earth in every place where she bowed her head in prayer…”

–From Augustine’s Confessions. 

This is an encouragement to not give up for those the Lord has set upon your heart.  May we weep for our beloved unbelievers in the way that Augustine’s mother wept for him. 

Have You Stumbled Upon StumbledUpon Yet?

Mike Leake

I am curious, do any of my readers use StumbledUpon?  I’ve been having a blast with this today.  You can download it for free and it’s a fun way to find new pages.  A few of the pages that I tweeted today came from StumbledUpon.  If you get a chance go sign up.  If you sign up (or already use it) be sure to add me as a friend, or follow me, or however you say that in stumbleupon language.  My profile name is really simple…read for it?!?…mikeleake 

I’m still not 100% sure how to use this effectively but I thought perhaps a few of my friends might add this and give it a try.  Click here to sign up and maybe here for my profile.

Review of Let the Reader Understand by McCartney and Clayton

Mike Leake

Author: Dan McCartney and Charles Clayton

Pages: 378pgs

Publisher: P & R Publishing

Price: 11.55

Genre: Biblical Interpretation/Hermeneutics

Quick Summary:

This book looks like it may be written as an introduction to hermeneutics, but I am not certain that it actually is written as such. The first chunk of the book is dedicated to the foundation of hermeneutics: presuppositions. Then the history of interpretation and the grammatical historical method is explored. Finally on page 180 the actual practice of interpreting the Bible is explained.

This is the second edition and it has been updated to “address postmodern approaches”.

What I Liked:

This book is a somewhat difficult read, especially for an introduction. However, it is also a very helpful read. I would not suggest it for those new to hermeneutics but it’s a pretty solid resource for those already familiar with the discipline. The section on presuppositions is worth the price of the book. This book was required reading for my Hermeneutics course in seminary and it was one of the more enjoyable books that I read for that class—but it is a pretty difficult read.

God really used this book to open up my eyes to the importance of reading each Scripture in light of its literary genre. It also helped me to understand certain presuppositions that I take into reading a text and how to not allow those to dictate the meaning of the text. This was a really helpful resource for me.

What I Disliked:

It’s plugged on the back as a “readable introduction to biblical interpretation”. It is readable but I’m not so sure it is easily understandable. There are some pretty serious technical discussions as well as sections that require heavy thinking. I’m just not sure this is really a good introductory book.

Should You Buy It?

If you have to look up the term “hermeneutics” then probably not; at least not now. If you are familiar with that term and certain nuances of language, and you are familiar with some of the technical aspects to hermeneutics then this book is definitely for you. It really is a solid resource for the serious student of biblical interpretation. I really want to encourage everyone to eventually read this book, but maybe not to start here. If you are new to the discussion of Hermeneutics then perhaps start with Goldworthy’s According to Plan, Fee’s New Testament Exegesis , or even Virkler’s Hermeneutics . Get yourself familiar with the topic and then tackle this book—it will be well worth the effort.  Buy it for 11.55.

Rating: 3.2 out of 5 stars