A Minister’s Farewell

Today, Sunday, December 27, 2009 was my last Sunday in the pulpit of Trinity Baptist Church. After more than twenty years’ association with this wonderful church, it was difficult to find words to express my gratitude to all the members and friends of Trinity for the love and support I received from them throughout these many years.

As I recollect the past years’ preaching and teaching at Trinity, I am proud to say that during my tenure as pastor of the church, I preached from all the sixty-six books of the Bible. Very few pastors can say that, but I believe that the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, has a message for the church of today. In my preaching and teaching at Trinity, my goal was to make the message of the Bible relevant to the needs of the people under my care. Like the Apostle Paul, I can honestly say that I have not hesitated to proclaim to the members and friends of Trinity the whole will of God (Act 20:27).

During my first year as pastor of the church, I spent the year on Sunday nights studying the book of Genesis, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Then, at the request of the people, I also spent one year studying the book of Revelation on Wednesday nights.

Over the years, I preached through several books of the Bible, including Jonah, Habakkuk, 1 Peter, and Ephesians, just to name a few. I also preached series of sermons on Moses, Abraham, David, Solomon, Jeremiah, the Ten Commandments, the Twelve Apostles, the Beatitudes, the Apostle’s Creed, the Travel of the Ark, and many others. Recently, I began telling the story of the Bible, from creation (Genesis) to consummation (Revelation). We began with Genesis 1:1 and went as far as the exile. Time did not allow me to finish telling the beautiful story of redemption.

During my time at Trinity, I worked with a godly, committed, and loving group of people. Some of these wonderful folks have already gone to meet the Lord, others have moved away to other communities, and many others still remain at Trinity, serving God and ministering to the community where the church is located.

Today, in my last sermon at Trinity, I said my good bye to the church by paraphrasing Paul’s farewell speech to the Ephesians (Acts 20:18-35). Before Paul left Ephesus to go to Jerusalem, he brought in the members of the church and spoke to them. His words summarized what he had done for the church there.

I modified and paraphrased Paul’s words to the leaders of the Ephesian church in order to say my farewell to the members and friends of Trinity Baptist Church:

I have done the Lord’s work humbly and with many tears. I have endured the trials that came to me from teaching at the seminary and pastoring this church. I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear, either publicly or in your homes. I have had one message for people-- the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus.

And now I have come to the end of my work here because of retirement. I don't know what awaits me, except that the Holy Spirit tells me a lot of work still lies ahead. But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus-- the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.

And now I know that none of you to whom I have preached the Kingdom will ever have me again as your pastor. I declare today that I have been faithful. If anyone suffers eternal death, it’s not my fault, for I didn’t shrink from declaring all that God wants you to know.

So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock-- his church, purchased with his own blood-- over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as faithful leaders and workers of this church. I know that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock. Even some men from your own group may rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following. Watch out! Remember the many years I was with you-- my constant watch and care over you night and day, and my many tears for you.

And now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself. I have never coveted anyone’s silver or gold or fine clothes. You know that these hands of mine have worked to supply my own needs and the needs of my family. And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

And now, I commend you to the care of the Holy Spirit. May the LORD bless you and keep you, may the LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you, may the LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

With these words, I said good bye to a wonderful church and to a wonderful group of believers who supported my ministry with their love and prayers. I left the church, but the work of God continues. The people who remain in the church will continue proclaiming the good news of Christ as faithful as ever. One minister goes and another comes, but the work of God marches forward.

And now that I have retired from the church, I will focus on my work as a teacher at Northern Seminary. I hope in the next two or three years to finish writing two books and continue blogging. The truth is: I just retired from the church, but my work in the ministry is not finished yet.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary


Tags: Ministry, Preaching

Spurgeon on Preaching

The Southern Baptist Magazine has dedicated its Spring 2009 issue to preaching. The theme for the Spring issue is: “Preach the Word.” There are several articles on preaching in this issue of the Southern Baptist Magazine. One of the articles is a collection of quotes from Charles Spurgeon on preaching.

Spurgeon on Preaching

“The kind of sermon which is likely to break the hearer’s heart is that which first has broken the preacher’s heart, and the sermon which is likely to reach the heart of the hearer is the one which has come straight from the heart of the preacher.”

“Surely if men’s heart were right, short sermons would be enough.”

“If you always enjoy sermons, the minister is not a good steward. He is not acting wisely who deals out nothing but sweets.”

“You are listening to a man who professes to speak by God, and for God, and to speak for your good and his heart yearns over you. Oh, it is solemn work to preach, and it should be solemn work to hear.”

“It is not the bigness of' the words you utter, but the force with which you deliver them.”

“The preacher’s work is to throw sinners down into utter helplessness that they may be compelled to look up to Him who alone can help them.”

“The power that is in the gospel does not lie in the eloquence of the preacher; otherwise men would be the conveners of souls. Nor does it lie in the preacher’s learning; otherwise it would consist in the wisdom of men. We might preach until our tongues rotted, till we would exhaust our lungs and die, but never a soul would be converted unless the Holy Spirit be with the Word of God to give it the power to convert the soul.”

“We hear complaints that the minister speaks too harshly and talk too much of judgment. Saved sinners never make that complaint.”

"If some men were sentenced to hear their own sermons, it would be a righteous judgment upon them; but they would soon cry out with Cain, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.”

These are great and good advice for preachers. Here is another good advice for preachers I heard from my professor of homiletics: “Let the sun go down upon your sermon.”

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Preaching, Sermons, Spurgeon,

Preaching on the Messianic Prophecies

In understanding Old Testament passages related to the birth and ministry of Jesus Christ, it is important to grasp two very important factors. First, each passage must be understood in its proper historical and theological context.

The prophets, who proclaimed the divine promises related to the coming of the Anointed One of God, spoke and ministered to a specific group of people who lived in a precise moment in history. That moment in history gave meaning to and provided the background for the proclamation of the divine message. That same moment in history also provided the means by which the people could understand the message of the prophets. Thus, to separate the message from its historical and theological moorings is to neglect the primary intent of the prophets and of their message.

Second, each Messianic oracle must be understood within the parameters of the dialectic between promise and fulfillment. The divine promises made by the prophets were given first and primarily to Israel and were fulfilled within the history of the people of God in the Old Testament. However, the fulfillment of a divine promise brings in itself such an enrichment of the promise and transforms it so thoroughly that the fulfillment becomes a promise for a greater fulfillment in the future.

A good example is the promise of the land in the Old Testament. When the children of Abraham inherited the promised land, the Old Testament indicates that that alone would not mean the full realization of the promise. Thus, beyond the account of the fulfillment of God’s promise, there remains open the expectation of a promise yet unredeemed, waiting for another fulfillment. The gift of the land, then, is only an assurance of a greater promise yet to be fulfilled.

The whole history of Israel in the Old Testament is presented in terms of fulfillment of a prophetic word which always recurs anew. The words which came to the prophets by divine revelation were words of promise. These words were promises of judgment and salvation, to be sure, but they were divine promises mediated to the people by the prophets.

As a messenger of Yahweh, the prophet proclaimed the word of God as the divine will for Israel, and sometimes, for the nations. Between the time of the announcement of the divine word and the time of its fulfillment, there was an interval filled with tension.

This tension-laden interval was the time for the listener to react to the proclaimed word, a time to accept it or to reject it. When Yahweh sent Jonah to preach in Nineveh, Jonah’s message was simple: “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4). This interval of forty days was a time for the people of Nineveh to exercise their freedom and choose. They chose repentance and the judgment was averted.

Thus, the language of promise does not only carry divine condemnation but also the possibility of salvation. The message of hope and salvation proclaimed by the prophets, when interpreted correctly, proclaims the work and the will of God for the salvation of his people. The proclamation of the divine word is the proclamation of the divine will and only God himself can interpret all the ramifications of his promise when it is fulfilled. Divine interpretations can be full of surprises, even for the prophet who proclaimed the promise.

It is in this light that the true Messianic passages of the Old Testament should be interpreted. The promise of God to David in 2 Samuel 7 establishes the proper background to interpret Micah 5:1-4; Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9; Isaiah 11, and many other messianic passages. The king in Jerusalem is God’s anointed one (Hebrew: “Messiah”). He represents the continuation of God’s promise to David: “Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever” (2 Sam. 7:16).

Thus, when the time came after the monarchy had disappeared in Israel, many people questioned Yahweh’s power to fulfill the promise made to David. If God is faithful to his promise, and if God promised that the throne and the kingdom of David would last for ever, has God then failed to fulfill his promise? The answer to this question is found in the oracles of salvation in which the prophets announced the coming of a descendant of David who would continue the promise God had given to David. Thus, for instance, the promise of the stump of David, producing a new shoot (Isaiah 11:1) demonstrates how judgment and salvation, promise and fulfillment stand along side each other, giving meaning to the long ago past and the future that is not yet. Because of their certainty that God would act in the future, the prophets proclaimed to the people that if not now, then some day God would raise another son of David who would restore the kingdom of David, his father. In time this hope was transferred to the future and the coming son of David became the Messiah.

Even when a contemporary king is spoken of (such as Hezekiah), the prophetic language used to describe the king transcends in the direction of the superlative. However, this description of the king in ideal terms is never fulfilled in the contemporary king. This language of exaltation should not be dismissed as an exaggeration of the scribe or prophet. Rather, because the king as the anointed one of God (the king as God’s Messiah) has a significant role in the fulfillment of the divine promises to David, the superlative words used by the prophets become words to describe the present king’s righteousness, his power, and his special relationship to Yahweh as “the son of God.” But, because no contemporary king was ever able to meet popular and divine expectations, the language then promoted the expectation of a greater king, another son of David, who is yet to come.

In conclusion, events in the Old Testament find fulfillment within the history of Israel, but this fulfillment also raises the question of a deeper fulfillment. It is for this reason that the promises given by God find fulfillment in the history of God’s people, Israel, but the fulfillment of a promise of God becomes a promise for a greater fulfillment in the life and history of God’s other people, the church.

Previous post:

Preaching from the Old Testament



Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Preaching, Messianic Prophecies, Prophets

Preaching from the Old Testament

Preaching from the Old Testament is no easy task. It requires hours of study and a special effort at discovering the great truths found beyond the surface of the text. It requires the preacher to know the theology of the text and the theology in the text. But above all, good preaching from the Old Testament demands that the preacher be familiar with the history of Israel and the events that molded the preaching of the prophets and the circumstances that gave rise to the writing of the texts of the Old Testament.

The Old Testament as has been transmitted to us is a record of what the God of Israel has said and done in the history of his people. The study and interpretation of the Old Testament does not deal with a system of ideas or a collection of doctrines. Rather, the Old Testament is a collection of stories detailing what God has done in history, within the realm of time and space.

Since the Old Testament deals with God’s work in history, it follows then that, unless we know that history and communicate it to our people effectively, the history of God’s dealing with his people will be forgotten in time and the people who listen to us every week will be ignorant of the mighty work of God in the past and will be unable to understand the mighty work of God in the present.

Most sermons preached from our pulpits today do not present a sustained exposition of the texts found in Scriptures. Today’s sermons generally are exhortations to help our people live a better life or feel good. Elizabeth Achtemeier, in her book Preaching from the Old Testament (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1989) said:

Most of the preaching that takes place in the United States is thematic preaching, preaching in which a theme or topic or moral lesson is distilled out of the text. The task of the sermon then becomes to prove that some thesis is true, or the task becomes one of convincing and exhorting our people to be good. We use all sorts of authorities to prove the truth of our statements, employing quotes of authorities to prove the truth of our statements, employing quotes from great thinkers or scientists or writers to back up our theses, appealing to reason and experience in all sorts of illustrations to support our theme. Sometimes we even appeal to fear, to greed for reward, or to self righteous Pharisaism to talk our people into trying to live up to some legalistic moral code. Yet all the while it is the sacred history of God’s word and acts that bear with them the gift and power of new life. And our people never know the truth and never become new creatures until they enter into that sacred history (p. 15).

This is the reason the Old Testament is neglected in our pulpits today. The proper understanding and proclamation of the Old Testament requires a knowledge of what God has done in the history of his people and an interpretation that is consistent with the historical event and divine relation.

We are preachers of the Word of God and as such we have been given a story to proclaim.

In the next few weeks I will provide some examples of texts that can be used effectively as the basis for good sermons from the Old Testament. These texts are all related to Advent. These passages, traditionally called “Messianic Prophecies,” will be studied in their proper historical context. I hope these studies will help all preachers to become better stewards of the stories God has given us.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Read more about preaching from the Old Testament:

Preaching from Nehemiah
The Inconsistencies of the NIV - Part 1
The Inconsistencies of the NIV - Part 2

Tags: Messianic Prophecies, Preaching

A Good Advice for Preachers

If you are a preacher, here is a good advice for you:

Read Jeremiah 23:30 first, then read this story.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Preaching, Sermon

“Him That Pisseth Against the Wall”

One of the most colorful verses in the Bible is found in 1 Kings 14:10 (KJV):

Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone.

In the context of the verse, the expression “him that pisseth against the wall” means “a male.” However, the origin of the expression in ancient Israel is a matter of discussion.

How should preachers preach from this text? How to use the words of this text in proclaiming the gospel? I have to confess that I have never preached from this text and probably never will.

Here is how a preacher explains the expression “him that pisseth against the wall.”






Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tag: Preaching

Preaching from Nehemiah

The book of Nehemiah is a good biblical book from which pastors can preach on leadership. Nehemiah was a dynamic leader who was able to motivate the people of Israel to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Under his leadership, the people of the restored community were able to rebuilt the shattered walls in fifty-two days.

Albert F. Bean, Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri has prepared a series of preaching points from Nehemiah. The article containing the preaching points was published in the Midwestern Journal of Theology 4.1 (Fall 2005): 34-46 and is available for download by clicking here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Nehemiah, Preaching, Sermons

The Inconsistencies of the NIV - Part 2

In my post yesterday, I pointed out the inconsistency of the NIV in translating the word da‘at elohim in the book of the prophet Hosea. In that post I mentioned the problems preachers have when using the NIV in trying to arrive at a proper understanding of the biblical text.

Today I want to study another inconsistency found in the NIV that, to me at least, obfuscates the original meaning of the biblical text and sends a confusing message to a reader who cannot read the biblical text in its original language.

Again, in my comparison, I will use three other translations. I will compare the NIV with the NRSV, the ESV, and the TNIV. I could have used other translations, but my focus is on the NIV.

I use the NIV as the model for comparison since many people in my congregation have chosen to use the NIV because of the simplified language it uses to convey the biblical message. To readers whose first language is not English, the NIV is easy to understand. However, because of the inconsistency of the NIV, at times, the message the NIV presents is not as clear as it should be.

Another example of inconsistency in the NIV’s translation of Hosea is found in the use of the word hesed. The following is a translation of hesed in Hosea 4:1:

Hosea 4:1 (NIV): “Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: ‘There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.’”

In this verse, the NIV translates the word hesed as love. The word hesed is difficult to translate in English because the word has a wealth of meanings in Hebrew. The correct understanding of hesed is attained only in a study of the context of where the word is used. However, as H. J. Zobel has shown in the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, 5:47, “the one who receives an act of hesed responds with a similar act of hesed, or at least that the one who demonstrates hesed is justified in expecting an equivalent act in return.”

In a study of the word hesed in Isaiah, “Rereading Isaiah 40:6,” I wrote:

The word hesed is related to the covenant God established with Israel at Sinai. The word hesed refers to the commitment that binds two parties to a relationship.

In his book, The Word Hesed in the Hebrew Bible (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993), Gordon Clark says that hesed is an "action performed, in the context of a deep and enduring commitment between two persons or parties" (p. 267). Since faithfulness to a relationship is a character of God, God also expects his people to be as committed to the relationship as he is.

When the word is applied to God, it refers to his faithfulness to the relationship. Thus, the word is best translated "faithfulness," "unfailing love," "loyalty." When the word is applied to human beings, it refers to the loyalty and commitment that people should bring to that relationship. In this case, a good translation of hesed should be "commitment," "loyalty." A strong relationship is built on commitment. Israel should be as loyal and committed to the covenant as God was.

In Hosea 4:1, the NRSV translates hesed as “loyalty;” the ESV as “steadfast love,” and the TNIV as “love.” Love or steadfast love is a good translation, but “loyalty” is a better translation.

On the other hand, the NIV translates the same word, hesed, as “mercy” in Hosea 6:6:

Hosea 6:6 (NIV): “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”

In this verse the translations differ:

NRSV: “For I desire steadfast love.”
ESV: “For I desire steadfast love.”
TNIV: “For I desire mercy.”

In my opinion, the HCSB has a better translation: “For I desire loyalty.”

The word “mercy” does not convey in English what the biblical author was trying to communicate to his audience. In English, the word “mercy” means a compassionate treatment of a person, to be kind or forgiving to someone.

This is not what the biblical writer was trying to convey to his readers. If the NIV had been consistent and used “love” here as it used it in 4:1, the message would be the same. However, the inconsistency of the NIV leaves the reader at a loss because they will believe that what the Lord requires from his people is that they be compassionate to fellow Israelites when in reality God was requiring the people’s loyalty to the relationship established by the covenant.

In Hosea 12:6 the NIV translates hesed as “love” and in Hosea 10:12, the NIV translates hesed as “unfailing love.” At least “unfailing love” in the NIV is better than “kindness” in the ASV, “piety” in the NAB, and “goodness” in the TNK.

There are several lessons to be learned here for pastors who do not know Hebrew. The first lesson is: consult more than one translation when studying the biblical text. Check several translations and compare how the biblical text is translated. Second, consult good exegetical commentaries. Since translations differ, commentaries will also differ. A good exegetical commentary will provide a brief study to the meaning of important theological words in the text.

The third and final lesson is that it is never too late to study biblical languages. No one needs to be a scholar in Hebrew or Greek, but a basic knowledge of the language will help pastors know how to consult an interlinear translation of the biblical text or check the meaning of specific words in a Hebrew or Greek lexicon.

When it comes to biblical translations, the saying remains true: “trust, but verify.”

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Hesed, Hosea, NIV, Preaching, Translation

The Inconsistencies of the NIV - Part 1

Preaching is not easy. Preaching from the Old Testament is very difficult. The reason many pastors do not preach often from the Old Testament is because they are not familiar with the society and culture of the people who populate the pages of the Bible. Many pastors also are not familiar with the original languages of the biblical text. The art of preaching requires from the preacher a meticulous study of the biblical text.

Since many pastors do not know Hebrew, they depend on an English translation to provide in their language what the original writers were trying to communicate in theirs. And here is where the problems begin. At times, an idea in the biblical text cannot be easily transferred into English. Thus, the reader may not understand all the nuances of a text as the original writer intended.

The worse case scenario is when translators of the biblical text mistranslate the text or fail to convey the correct meaning of the biblical text in their translations. In this case, the pastor who depends on one English translation may fail to understand the real message the original writer was trying to convey to his audience.

I was confronted with this problem again when I was preparing a sermon on Hosea to preach to my congregation a few Sundays ago. Most people in my congregation use the NIV. Since we have many people whose first language is not English, the NIV was chosen to be used in church because the language used in the translation is easy to understand.

The problem with the NIV is that it is not consistent in translating words from Hebrew to English. Most people in the pew will never notice the problems in the NIV because they use only one translation. Most pastors will not notice the problem either unless they read the biblical text in several different translations and compare them or if they use an interlinear Hebrew-English to look at how Hebrew words are used in the translation of the text.

The following is one example taken from the book of Hosea. I will use the NIV first, and then compare the NIV translation with three other translations.

Hosea 4:1 (NIV): “Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: ‘There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.’”

Here the NIV translates the Hebrew words da‘at elohim as “acknowledgment of God.” The Hebrew word da‘at means “knowledge.” The expression da‘at elohim is an expression used to describe the special relationship between God and Israel that comes out of the covenant relationship. When Hosea said that Israel did not have knowledge of God, the prophet was declaring that Israel had failed to abide by the demands of their covenantal relationship with God.

In English, the word use by the NIV, “acknowledgment,” means “to admit the truth or fact of,” and “a formal declaration of an act.” The NIV translation seems to imply that Israel was declaring that there was no God in the land. The NIV translation is confusing because it does not clearly convey the intent of the original writer.

Both the NRSV and the ESV have “knowledge of God.” Only the NIV and TNIV have “acknowledgment.”

In Hosea 4:6, the NIV reads: “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests.” Here the NIV translates the same word, da‘at, as “knowledge.” This translation is correct, because what the people lacked and what the people rejected was “knowledge,” not “acknowledgment.”

The NRSV and the ESV translate the word da‘at here as “knowledge” and so does the TNIV. However, both the NIV and the TNIV translated da‘at as “acknowledge” in Hosea 6:6 and as “approval” in Hosea 8:4.

This inconsistency of the NIV is troublesome because the average reader may not understand the usage of the same Hebrew words with different meanings in English. The average reader is certain to miss the emphasis the prophet was trying to convey by his use of da‘at and thus, they fail to grasp the magnitude of the sins of Israel.

Tomorrow I will show another example from Hosea of the inconsistency of the NIV in translating the biblical text.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Hosea, NIV, Preaching, Translation