Playing With The Big Boys

On Thursday, I woke up at 3:30am and Doc Halstead and left at 4:30am for San Diego to attend the [Evangelical Theological Society](http://www.etsjets.org/) Annual Conference. This conference brings people from all around the country together to discuss hundreds of theological and biblical issues among hundreds of scholars.

If nothing else, I realized ,once again, how much I do *not* know. These guys have spent years in their respective fields of study and thus the papers that they write are extremely insightful and thought-provoking. Here are three of the seminars that had the most impact on me.

###The Grammar of Matthew 28:19-20a
**by Stanley Porter**

He discussed the participles in these verses and how they affect the meaning verse. He made an argument from his analysis of the Greek that contradicted Dan Wallace. His purpose was to bring a fresh perspective to this text. As you can probably tell from my description, I barely understood what he was talking about. I will be getting his paper and plan on reading it carefully to understand it better.

###Why it is Never Right to Lie: Making a case from the Bible and not from hard cases
**by Wayne Grudem**

Grudem did a phenomenal job at provoking the minds those who attended his seminar. His definition of lying was: in speech or writing, affirming X when X is false. He discussed issues such as misleading actions, silence, and lies for surprise birthday parties.

His thesis was this: The Bible forbids and commands against lying and thus we must obey God and then trust Him for the results. He applied this principle to Scriptural and modern day examples, such as hiding Jews in Nazi Germany. This topic is a great discussion starter. Try it - just ask someone if it is ever right to lie, but be prepared for a sticky subject.

###Fully God, Fully Man: Impeccability and Temptation
**by Bruce Ware**

I was most impressed with Ware. He presented a new approach to discussing the subject of whether Jesus could sin or not. But what impressed me wasn’t just the material, but also how he presented it. He loved Jesus Christ and wanted above all else, to see Him glorified and magnified through his presentation.

His premise was this: The answers to the questions “*Could* Jesus sin?” and “*Did* Jesus sin?” differ. They are typically both answered with - “because Jesus is God.” But he argued that the first question is answered that way, but the second one is not answered with His deity, but with His humanity. Ware says that Jesus did not sin because He resisted temptation with all that was available to Him within His flesh, as He depended on the Father and lived through the Spirit. Again, this subject makes for some great discussion.

I’m thankful for a great day full of learning and discussion. A whole day with Doc listening to experts on the Bible - can life get any better? I submit that it cannot.