Seminary Publications
In the July 10, 2009, issue of Sword of the Lord, Dr. Shelton Smith, the paper’s editor, reviews The Christian and Drinking: A Biblical Perspective on Moderation and Abstinence, written by Dr. Randy Jaeggli of the Bob Jones University Seminary faculty. View BJU’s response
Biblical Discernment for Difficult Issues
Bob Jones University Seminary has initiated a multi-year program for writing a series of 75-100-page monographs to help Bible-believing Christians apply biblical principles and discernment to difficult issues they face daily as they seek to demonstrate both God’s compassion and His holiness.
Authored by the faculty of Bob Jones University Seminary, these monographs are intended to guide believers in finding the right, discerning balance in spiritual life without sacrificing one crucial emphasis in Scripture for another.
While written in an easy-to-read style, the monographs attempt to combine mature, penetrating theological thought with thorough research. They provide both a fact-intensive exposition of Scripture and a piercing application of it to real human experience.
All books are available from BJU Press or the BJU Campus Store.
About the Books
Choose a book below to learn more about it.
The Law and the Christian: God’s Light within God’s Limits
Dr. Ken Casillas
Professor of Old Testament at Bob Jones University Seminary
Copyright 2007
Is the Christian under the law? Paul asserts that Christians “are not under the law, but under grace” but also that “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” Given such seemingly contradictory statements, how can Christians answer the question?
One’s view of the law colors his overall perspective of the Christian life and shapes his approach to the entire Old Testament. By focusing too much on the law, one will miss the blessings of living under the New Covenant. Yet a failure to appreciate God’s law encourages reckless self-indulgence.
Ken Casillas proposes that the biblical answer is both yes and no. No, the law has no covenantal authority over Christians. But God’s laws are all based on timeless truths about Himself, and Christians must apply those truths if they are to imitate Him. Casillas incorporates the strengths of each viewpoint and summarizes the best of conservative scholarship in an understandable format. But his ultimate goal is to clarify the proper—and improper—roles of God’s law in the Christian’s quest for holiness.
Upright Downtime: Making Wise Choices about Entertainment
Dr. Brian Hand
Professor of New Testament at Bob Jones University Seminary
Copyright 2008
How should Christians have fun? When God created human beings, He gave them the capacity and desire for pleasure. Human entertainment can glorify the Lord by expressing joy and creativity. But when unrestrained, it often degenerates into self-gratification.
Living in a society that pursues and worships pleasure, believers today often struggle with a right view of entertainment. How much time should entertainment consume? What types of entertainment may a Christian enjoy? Some in the world simply withdraw from all forms of entertainment, while others refuse to admit any need for moral restraint. Ecclesiastes shows that both philosophies have existed at least since Solomon’s day. How should a believer react to these extremes?
Throughout Scripture, God provides principles by which we can weigh the value of entertainment in every form. Upright Downtime distills these truths for practical understanding and application, offering a biblical, balanced response to the pleasure-loving world we live in.
Love, Liberty and Christian Conscience
Dr. Randy Jaeggli
Professor of Old Testament at Bob Jones University Seminary
Copyright 2007
Does God care about your lifestyle or does He look on the heart? Randy Jaeggli holds that putting these two questions in opposition creates a false dichotomy. Every believer has full positional righteousness in Christ, and nothing he does can make God accept him any more than that. But God also intends to transform Christians’ lives by the Gospel. Only when Christians train their consciences by biblical truth does this transformation happen.
Branding as legalists those who attempt to set biblical standards for conduct does nothing to solve the problem. Prohibiting things not specifically prohibited in Scripture does not equal seeking God’s favor through one’s own merit. Paul was the great proponent of freedom in Christ. But he shunned any action that would cause anyone spiritual injury, and he commanded others to follow his example.
True Christian liberty, Jaeggli proposes, is not a license to live as one pleases, but the freedom to live as one should. The exercise of that liberty will both edify fellow believers and draw unbelievers to the Gospel.
