Piper on Lists

I was reading today’s post at desiringGod, Pastor John posted a journal entry from 1987, where he was struggling with his new place at Bethlehem Baptist Church (BCC).

Of course, the comment section was chalk full of thank you’s from other discouraged ministers. That post is worth the read.

On an unrelated note, one commenter, Heneni, posted a link to a video of Pastor John addressing the issue of external morality.

For the conservative circles I walk in, the idea that lists are not good is totally alien (Pastor John mentions this in the video [1:55-2:30]). The single greatest question we can ask ourselves regarding this issue is, “What is the point of the lists in Scripture?”

Why are they there? Why does God, through His authors, cause these lists to be written? What is the divine, authorial intent of Scriptural lists?

And the answer to that question must, of course, be Biblically educated (we could start with 2 Corinthians 3:1-18 or the book of Galatians).