Christ the Center revisited with Dr. Richard B. Gaffin, professor of biblical and systematic theology, emeritus, at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, about the significance of Pentecost for redemptive history and the life of the church. Drawing from his book Perspectives on Pentecost and his “Acts and Paul” lecture notes, Dr. Gaffin explained the place of Pentecost as the culmination of that complex of events surrounding the person and work of Jesus Christ which includes his incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension. Pentecost, then, occurs as part of the accomplishment of redemption and is therefore unrepeatable although its significance and effects reverberate throughout the Christian life. This is a rich biblical theological discussion that will repay frequent rehearsals.
episode photo by knowhimonline
Books by Richard B. Gaffin, Jr.
- Perspectives on Pentecost
- Resurrection and Redemption
- By Faith, Not by Sight
- Redemptive History and Biblical Interpretation: The Shorter Writings of Geerhardus Vos (editor)
- God’s Word in Servant Form: Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck and the Doctrine of Scripture
- Calvin and the Sabbath
Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy, Nick Batzig, Richard B. Gaffin Jr.
Browse more episodes from this program and learn how to subscribe.
…always extremely grateful for and humbled by Dr. Gaffin’s consistent and continued scripture-centric exposition. Thank you for doing this.
I wonder if many people have heard Dr. Gaffin’s case before. I’ve heard material from Wayne Grudem, John Piper, C.J. Mahaney and Mark Driscoll on the subject of spiritual gifts, but haven’t found many (any?) cessationist materials online. That was part of our motivation for having Dr. Gaffin speak about this on CTC.
I have just begun listening and mention is made of NT Wright’s view that the church is currently in an Acts 5 / 6 ‘stage’ – would you be able to tell me where this is found in his writings ? Is it in his commentary on Acts or one of his larger books ?
Thanks
Colin
Colin
Good to hear from you. As Dr. Gaffin pointed out, Bishop Wright does not talk this way with direct reference to Acts as far as I am aware. The idea is found in his article “How Can the Bible Be Authoritative?” which can be found online here: http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Bible_Authoritative.htm. This was originally two lectures, the Laing and Griffith Thomas Lectures of 1989 and appeared in Vox Evangelica 21 (1991): 7-32. Toward the end of the article Wright brings up the idea of our being in act 5 of a Shakespearean type play. As I say I have not run across this in his other works, although it is likely also in his books on biblical authority.
Jeff,
Thanks for that .. to be honest when you said Acts – I missed the play analogy and thought you meant Acts (the book)
Nonetheless I shall look that up…
Can I thank you all for your efforts – every Friday morning I look forward to downloading the mp3. Its very much appreciated – here in the UK, we are not exactly going wild for reformed theology, with one or two exceptions.
God bless
Colin
Colin
I brought up the N. T. Wright connection because Dr. Gaffin was addressing the foundational nature of Acts and so there are aspects of its narrative which are not repeatable and it made me think of Wright’s ongoing play analogy which seemed to contradict the insights of Gaffin. He was correct to note that Wright was not commenting on Acts as such when he talked about the 5th act. However I still believe that Acts contains significant unrepeatable elements (ie, the foundational nature of the apostles and prophets whereas we are building the superstructure) that make Wright’s analogy less attractive.
For whatever it is worth…
Jeff
Colin,
Don’t let Jeff fool you. We are all N.T. Wright lovers here. In fact, I changed my name so that my first two initials reflect my appreciation for the bishop. I have actually started calling myself the Bishop of Richmond Hill. It is not easy preaching a Gospel of free table fellowship. I am thinking about writing “The New Perspective on the Guy Who Wrote Hebrews!” I think Jeff is working on the New Perspective on Peter.
Note: I trust everyone understands the sarcasm with which this comment is replete.
Colin and Jeff,
The book, Drama of Scripture, by Craig Bartholomew and Michael Goheen, develop the idea of Acts stage 5/stage 6. Thus, the notion is still quite vogue and I do recall that they give NT Wright the credit for it.
When one is regenerated then concurrent with regeneration, one receives the Holy Spirit. My question then is before Pentecost, what was one’s status with regard to regeneration. In other words, could one be regenerated and not Holy Spirit baptized prior to Pentecost? A case in point, before Peter visited Cornelius’s house, it was stated that Cornelius was a God-fearer and did many charitable deeds and always prayed to God. Now was Cornelius a regenerate man before Peter’s visit?
Thanks
Harold
Harold,
Again, Dr, Gaffin is helpful here in an article he wrote entitled, “Pentecost: Before and After”, which you can find at the http://www.kerux.com website. Though he does not deal with the specific nature of conversion and the Spirit in OT salvation in the old covenant period, he does say that the application of redemption is essentially the same in the OT and NT, whereas the accomplishment of redemption is radically different.
Nick
Actually I am working on the New Perspective on Jude. Since Mary was a perpetual virgin, Jude could not be the Lord’s brother. A cousin maybe, but not his brother.
Seriously, I have been reading N. T. Wright since 1993 (where have those 17 years gone?!) and appreciate what he gets right. It just seems that Wright is only minimally right theologically.
Jeff
I am beginning to recognize that there is a lot of ‘traditional’ baggage being carried by well meaning exegetes who are complicating the Gospel. Case in point, arguing over the exact point that regeneration begins is a moot point.
Regerneration precedes faith. That is the the glory of the Gospel!
Hi clever points.. now why didn’t i think of them? Off issue a little, is this page pattern only from a regular installment or else do you employ a customized pattern. I have a internet site i am trying to perk up and clearly the visuals is without doubt one of the fundamental things to try and do on my list.