Andrew Wilson, Unbreakable: What The Son of God Said About The Word of God

Some very brief study questions / notes / passages to discuss for our book group:

What’s the basic idea of the book? Where does it start?

Do you find that a convincing approach? Why?

Did anything strike you about the summary of the Bible’s story pp11-14?

How would you sum up Jesus’ attitude to the Bible?

Could you go into any detail or give any examples?

Temptation narrative – Jesus uses the bible as the final, authoritative court of appeal – Mt 4:4, 7, 10 p17

God’s word enough, coherent, authoritative

David speaking by the Holy Spirit – Mt 22:41-46 – v43; Mk 12:35-37 – inspiration

Human writers like different musical instruments

2 Pt 1:21

2 Tim 3:16

John 10:22-39 – you are gods – Scripture cannot be broken

Matthew 5:17-19

How should we react when the bible seems broken? p25

The coherence of Scripture - Marriage at the resurrection - Mk 12:18-27 quoting Ex 3

Prov 26:4-5 – answering a fool according to his folly

What is the central message of the Scriptures? Lk 24:13-35

Jesus the new Adam, Eve etc. p32ff – the deep coherent artistry of Scripture a strong case for its inspiration

Canon – how do we know what books ought to be in the Bible? Ch 6 – p35ff

See p37 and fn 21 p73, Jesus gave his own teaching an authority equal to Scripture

The New Testament as from the Apostolic circle

Is the Bible clear? Ch 8 p44ff

The sufficiency of scripture – Lk 16:19-31, parable of Lazarus and the rich man

2 Tim 3:16f

The point of the Scriptures – Jn 5:39-40

Do you find the 5 principles of interpretation given in the epilogue helpful? p63f

Psalm 10 - an outline

Psalm 10: A poem

Not rhyme but parallelism

And a broken acrostic with Psalm 9

A poetic description not a systematic theology text book

A Problem: why is God far off in times of trouble? (v1)

A Picture of a bad person getting away with it (vv2-11)

A Prayer that God would act (vv12-18)

Promises that God sees and will act, judging and saving (v14, vv16-17)

Samey Psalms

There has been much discussion in recent years over the grouping of the Psalms. Presumably the editors of the Psalter did not merely throw them up in the air and see where they landed. And they are not obviously grouped according to form (for example, its not shortest to longest). So it seems fair to assume that there might be some kind of thematic grouping. And indeed that often seems to be the case.

This presents both an opportunity and a challenge to the preacher:

It is helpful to read the Psalm in conjunction with the surrounding Psalms. They can amplify or balance what an individual Psalm has to say.

But the preacher has to work especially hard to see the distinctive contribution of this Psalm. If preaching through the Psalter (which may or may not be the best approach) he can't say, well, Psalm 9, I repeat the sermon I gave on Psalm 7 and then shut up. Or at least he shouldn't. And, of course, this is especially so if he thinks the situation or feeling of his people is not immediately similar to the particular psalms he has before him.