I really enjoyed the sessions I was able to attend at “A Summer Intensive” in Houston with Dr. N.T. Wright, organized by Baylor’s Truett Seminary Online Program and Admirato, a fantastic website to help you understand and apply the Scriptures. Their byline is “Engage Theology.”
My notes from Dr. Wright:
Are you convinced that this section of Isaiah was written by Isaiah’s disciples rather than by the prophet himself?
I do not have a problem with this idea. I believe that God inspires editors and redactors and prophets. J. Alec Motyer holds to the single author theory although he does mention the possibility of a disappearing redactor. God is active in the process. I really enjoyed the sessions I was able to attend at “A Summer Intensive” in Houston with Dr. N.T. Wright, organized by Baylor’s Truett Seminary Online Program and Admirato, a fantastic website to help you understand and ap
As a New Testament scholar, I do not have to come to closure.
What do you think are the idols contemporary idols we need to avoid?
Money, sex, and power come back again and again.
Churches can become idolatrous about their building. An older man was asked: “You have been here so long, you must have seen a lot of changes?” He responded: “Yes, and I opposed every one of them!”
What does it mean to be a prophet? How can we live out Isaiah 40:1-11 even if we do not have any special insight into what God is doing?
According to Acts 2, we all have prophetic tendencies. We express this in different ways.
The prophet seems to be listening into the divine council? What does that look like today?
We don’t have these kind of passages in the New Testament except in Revelation. We should not expect a telescope up to see into heaven. Instead we should seek to be more aware of God is at work on the other side of the veil.
Is it possible “the servant” in Isaiah 42 “polyvariant”?
Yes! The Servant is Israel and the Servant is Jesus, and the Servant becomes the Church.
How do we read the Scriptures?
The Bible is telling a great story and we are invited into this story through Jesus. We do not try to reenact Acts 1-3 in a story with five acts. We are in Acts 4-5.
In Isaiah 41:8, how was Abraham God’s friend? How can we experience this as well?
Jesus says: “I have called you friends” because He is sharing with us what He is doing. This is an invitation to all of us! A good friend has responsibilities.
Does God really forsake His people?
God gives us what we want. We want idols then He will let us have our idols.
How do we wait on the Lord in the right way rather than standing by idly when God is wanting us to take action (see Is. 40:31)?
Wait to hear from God and then move as He guides. (Some of us have a tendency to wait and should be more active. Others of us have a tendency to charge ahead and need to learn to wait).
How do we find wisdom?
Wisdom is a gift from God to be genuinely human. See the Proverbs. The way of folly is very easy. Instead focus on learning to become an image-bearer. It’s not easy, but ask God for it and ask wise friends as well. Jesus is the embodiment of wisdom (see Colossians). Be willing to go around the tracks with Scriptures and prayers
What are the significance of the trees mentioned in “I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set junipers in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together” (Isaiah 41:19)
The prophet is reminding us that these trees were beautiful and a picture of new creation in the midst of a desert wilderness.
What are some of the similarities between Isaiah and Romans?
“Righteousness” = God’s faithfulness within His covenantal purposes. “Becoming the righteousness of God” means that we might embody God’s covenant faithfulness to the Gentiles.