Semănătorul

Semănătorul (The Sower)

The Journal of Ministry and Biblical Research

Emanuel University of Oradea, Romania

Volume 5, Number 1.

Articles published by the Faculty of Theology in Emanuel University of Oradea, and International Contributors,

September 2024.

THE BIBLICAL MILIEU AND THE SHAPING OF THE DEMOCRATIC CONSCIOUSNESS OF WESTERN CULTURE

AURELIAN BOTICĂ

ABSRTACT
This paper will examine the relationship between religion and democracy in the traditions of the Old Testament. Historically, scholars have argued that „democratic” thinking appeared after 800 B.C.E., in the Greek colonies of Asia Minor and also within the semi-independent cities of the Greek league. Scholars have argued that the fragmented geographical environment of ancient Greece seems to have shaped the independent mindset of its inhabitants. It has been shown that the geographical separation from mother Greece and the economic prosperity that merchants brought to the colonies influenced the attitude of their inhabitants toward philosophy and politics.
Our study will focus mainly on the religion, culture and history of the Hebrew nation, as it is depicted in the Old Testament, or the Hebrew Bible. Our purpose is to show that the unique religious vision of the ancient Hebrews had a significant impact upon the development of the „democratic” consciousness of what later became the civilization of the Western world. To achieve this goal we will trace and analyze the role that biblical religion played as a catalyst in the movement for improving the rights of the disposed and the socially marginal classes of ancient Israel. We will argue that biblical religion shaped the attitude of the worshippers toward authority (political or ecclesial) in such a way that tyranny – though present at all stages of history– was always sanctioned. In the later part of the study we’ll show how this ideology impacted the thinking of Christian authors who had a crucial role in shaping the foundations of Democratic thinking. 
KEY WORDS: God, Bible, religion, democracy, politics, ethics.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.58892/TS.swr5110

SERMON DESIGN AND SERMON STRUCTURE IN THE EFFECTIVE DEVELOPMENT OF EXPOSITORY PREACHING

KENNETH R. LEWIS

ABSTRACT
This paper will provide an explanation of sermon design and sermon structure which are considered critical for the preacher in the effective development and delivery of expository sermons. It will further discuss sermon structure in the history of preaching. It will identify goals that the preacher seeks in designing the sermon and sets out guidelines, involving the Preposition, Main Points, Transitions, Functional elements, particularly the Introductory and Concluding elements of sermons. Guiding principles are discussed, including the guidance of the Holy Spirit. There is a focus upon inductive and deductive approaches, also the narrative and single idea sermon. The whole aim in any sermon must be to glorify God in making Him known and to transform lives.
KEY WORDS: Sermon design, sermon structure, expository preaching, sermon from, rhetoric, proclamation, Biblical exposition.

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.58892/TS.swr5120

METANOIA IN HEBREWS: EXEGETICAL INSIGHTS

OVIDIU HANC

ABSTRACT
The term metanoia appears three times in Hebrews (6:1; 6:6 and 12:17), interestingly with a negative approach in each instance, as a warning against turning away from the Redeemer, not as an exhortation of turning to the Redeemer (cf. Heb 12:25). In Heb 6:1, the author exhorts the audience to continue to grow in faith, otherwise the continual preoccupation with fundamental beliefs will turn vital elements into trivial ones. If a Christian is constantly preoccupied with foundational aspects of the faith (e.g. metanoia), that becomes a sign not of his desire to be firm in faith, but a sign of immaturity. Following this exhortation, in Heb 6.6, the repentance is a kind of repentance that does not reflect salvation, but a religious non-salvific experience of God’s working power. Similar to those at Kadesh Barnea and similar to thorns and thistles that experience rain from heaven, those described in Heb 6 were informed by God’s Spirit, but not transformed by him. Regarding Heb 12:17, the text describes the concept of changing the mind with reference to Isaac not Esau. Thus, the passage does not describe the impossibility of repentance of an apostate believer, but warns about God’s immutable decision regarding those that live in willful ignorance of divine grace. The author of Hebrews is very emphatic when it comes to the notion of repentance and attaches it to the notion of perseverance. Perseverance becomes a sine qua non feature of repentance. The people at Kadesh Barnea, like the ones described in Heb 6, and like Esau’s experience in Heb 12, are the type of people that have experienced God’s power, but have ignored his redemptive power, and because of this ignorance, repentance becomes an impossible experience.
KEY WORDS:  metanoia, repentance, spiritual maturity, regret.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.58892/TS.swr5130

PREACHING THE SEVEN SIGNS IN JOHN’S GOSPEL

Hamilton Moore

ABSTRACT
Caring for God’s flock involves different ministries; but preaching and teaching will play a major part. This call to be a teacher in a local church, is a glorious calling, defined as “a noble task” (1 Timothy 3v1). Yet such preaching, while always biblical, has to be made interesting. One approach will be to seek to exegete different books of the Bible or to deliver a series of sermons on a particular theme. This article focuses upon the second approach and relates particularly on a main theme from the Gospel of John, namely how John has highlighted the seven signs which can be identified in the first half of his Gospel. The author is seeking to bring his readers to the conviction or to deepen a conviction already held that Jesus really was the Christ who was to come, the Son of God sent by the Father, revealing Him, dying for us as a substitute
KEY WORDS: preaching, authorship, the signs of John’s Gospel, the readership, coming to faith.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.58892/TS.swr5140

THE ROMANIAN CHURCH MUSICIAN: BIBLICALECCLESIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR TRAINING CHURCH MUSICIANS

GARY M. MATHENA

ABSTRACT

In the fall of 2016, Dr. Lois Vaduva and Simona Popoviciu, music faculty and staff at Emanuel University of Oradea (EUO), surveyed fifty-seven Romanian Baptist pastors from small, medium, and large churches ranging in membership size from less than twenty to more than one hundred. Another survey was done of ten Emanuel University music school alumni who had graduated within the last twelve years and currently work in a European Baptist church. The goal of the EUO case study was to ascertain the musical leadership needs of Romanian Baptist churches and to determine what pastors felt were the most important qualities and skills a church musician needed to be successful in local church ministry. The ten music alumni were asked the same questions in their survey asked of the pastors. This provided opportunity for the faculty to comparatively analyze the expectations of the pastors with the expectations of the church music leaders. This article will use the results of those two surveys along with other relevant resources to identify the specific biblical-ecclesiological needs of the Romanian Evangelical church in support of a rationale for the training of church musicians to meet those specific needs.
KEY WORDS: Church leadership, church music, Biblical worship, Pastoral calling, the Great Commision.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.58892/TS.swr5150

“COME, THOU FOUNT OF EVERY BLESSING”: ROBERT ROBINSON AND HIS HYMNIC CELEBRATION OF SOVEREIGN GRACE

MICHAEL HAYKIN

ABSTRACT
One of the most remarkable servants of God has to have been the eighteenth-century evangelist George Whitefield (1714−1770). He was an evangelist who in the thirty-five years between his 1735 conversion in Oxford and his death in 1770 in Newburyport, Massachusetts, preached throughout the length and breadth of England, also Wales, visited Ireland twice and journeyed fourteen times to Scotland, plus made seven trips to America. Many individuals listened to him, with his preaching bringing about the conversion of thousands. This article considers the story of one such individual—Robert Robinson (1735−1790) — and particularly his hymn entitled “Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,” a celebration of God’s amazing grace.
KEY WORDS: Whitefield’s sermon and “the wrath to come,” the Stone Yard, Robinson’s rural ministry, the hymn praising the facets of God’s grace, the Trinit

DOI: https://doi.org/10.58892/TS.swr5160