I don't know much about this Anglican preacher from Australia, but I know I was deeply stirred by his teaching on the cross in this old video which has only received a few hundred views on YouTube. Bingham speaks with great insight about human depravity, and thus also with great insight into the grace of Christ. His side comments about the winds of doctrine that were floating around when this was filmed in 1985 are timeless.
He is the second preacher I've heard propose the unique (but, I believe, correct) theory that Christ's prayer in Gethsemane was a plea that He might survive the sufferings of the garden in order to go on to the cross - and not in any way a plea to avoid the cross as most commentators assume (note Bingham's comments around the 43 minute mark). The textual evidence for this position is striking if you take the time to study the passages closely.
More information on Bingham and a long list of his books can be found by clicking here. Many of his books are available as PDF scans for FREE.
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
2 comments:
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Mgmt.
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Interesting. What would lead you to think he was in danger of not surviving?
ReplyDeletePhil,
ReplyDeleteThere are several things. I realize there are other possible ways of interpreting the text, but this makes the most sense to me.
Our Lord says that he is deeply sorrowful, to the point of death. It might be hyperbole, but perhaps not.
His sweat is like great drops of blood. If this means blood was emerging through His pores, it is physical evidence of His earlier statement about being near death.
Where it says He fell to the ground and prayed, the verb tense means he kept on falling to the ground.
In one Gospel, it mentions that He prayed that the hour might pass Him by. The hour of His death on the cross? Maybe, but why not the immediate hour in which He is praying, and sweating like blood, and falling to the ground?
I don't have my study tools available right now to document all of this and provide verse references. But I'd like to know what you find if you look into it further.
Finally, there is the big question: why would Jesus want to avoid the cross when He has repeatedly said it is His purpose?