Courage In Christian Ministry

The English word ‘courage’ and the derivative ‘courageous’ are used 25 times in the Bible. There are four different Hebrew words and one Greek word that translated as such in the English Bible. Each give insight into what God requires of those who have positions of leadership in the Church. The words are:

• Chazaq: This word means to strengthen, prevail, harden, be strong, be firm, or be resolute. This is the most common in our courageous lexicon. It is mostly used to describe Joshua and his boldness in conquering God’s enemies.
• Lebab: This is inner-mind or will. It shows us that courage is something that that is internal and something that is to be ‘willed’. Courage does not come naturally, but is a discipline that the minister must practice in the midst of conflict.
• Ruwach: Interestingly, this word is most often translated as spirit, will, or wind. It is a widely used Hebrew word in the Old Testament. This derivative teaches us that courage is not just a ‘willful’ attitude, but one that is spiritual. True courage will never be without the held and aide of the Ruwach of God.
• Amats: This word is closely related with chazaq. It means be strong, alert, courageous, brave, bold, solid, or hard. It teaches those who lead that there is a discipline which is not only reactive, but proactive. The minister is to be alert for practicing this discipline, not only performing courageously after conflict has arisen.
• Tharasos is the only Greek word that we have translated as courage. It means courageous or confidence. It is important to note, that this confidence is not within ourselves, but confident that God is using conflict to further his glory and conform us to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Reformed Dogmatics

When Dr. Louis Berkhof published his Systematic Theology in 1932 it was for a number of reasons. One of the reasons that Dr. Berkhof gave was that the students at Calvin Seminary could not read Dutch like they used to 'in his day'.

The shame of Berkhof writing a Systematic Theology was two fold (of course, there were some good reasons as well):

1. Students did not feel the need to learn Dutch any more, hence the CRC lost a lot of her Dutch experiential history and writings.
2. The need for Dr. Herman Bavinck's Gereformeerde dogmatiek to be translated into English was lost.

Fourteen years ago, The Dutch Reformed Translation Society began a project. They saw the need for this massive Reformed Dogmatics to be translated into English and to be made available at a reasonable price.

Well, last month marked the release of volume 4, thus bringing to a close this massive project.

Personally, reading Bavinck has been an incredible experience in systematics reading. Watching the books come out, over my seminary experience, has been like kids waiting for the newest baseball cards to be released (do kids still do this? Or all they all sitting and playing Wii all day?)! I am sure that any student/pastor/teacher/elder that reads systematic theology will tell you that Bavinck is a great boon to what is available in Reformed readings.

To celebrate this massive feat, Reformation Heritage Books is offering all 4 volumes for $100. This is $80 off the retail price. (This is a great price for a 14 year project, and 1000s of pages of writing!).