In the first part of the book, Gibson entertains nine objections to his thesis that all Old Testament laws are cancelled. These include the notion that the Ten Commandments are the eternal “moral law” of God, that Christ did not come to abolish the law, that there is only one covenant of grace, and that all scripture is God-breathed and useful. The second part of the book provides eight reasons why Gibson believes all Old Testament laws have been cancelled. They include the claim that the Decalogue is the foundational document of the Old Covenant, that the law cannot be divided, that the Jerusalem Council did not require obedience to the law from gentiles, and that the Decalogue had an historical beginning and end.

Part three moves on to the second part of Gibson’s thesis; that all New Testament laws are for our obedience. He responds to antinomian arguments that we’re not under law, but under grace and that the only law is love. He then provides four reasons why Christians must obey the New Testament laws. He cites the mere presence of hundreds of commands given after the cross, points out the sin is lawlessness, and focuses on the praise the Bible has for the law of Christ.

The book’s conclusion centers on the issue of sanctification. Gibson argues that sanctification must by Christ-centered instead of law-centered. At the end of the book are two appendices. One considered that objection that New Covenant Theology allows for beastiallity and incest and the other offers thirteen ways we should still use the Old Testament.

All Old Testament Laws Cancelled makes many good arguments based on the Bible, and these good arguments make the book a worthwhile read for those familiar with the debate. However, I believe there are at least two significant problems with the book, and these are reflected in the title. It really should be “All Old Covenant Laws Fulfilled.”

 The first problem is that Gibson is not persuasive that all Old Testament laws are cancelled. In Genesis 9:6 God gives a law against murder to Noah. This law is clearly pre-Sinai and therefore not part of the Mosaic Covenant. Jesus is the priest of a “better covenant” according to Hebrews, not a better testament. Hebrews tells us that with a new priest there is a change in the law and the old covenant is obsolete. Gibson fails to show how a law (such as Gen 9:6) in the same testament as a particular covenant (such as the old covenant) is subject to the same conditions as laws actually given within that covenant. His logic would lead us to expect God to flood the earth again since His promise to Noah is in the Old Testament and must have been cancelled by Christ.

The second problem has to do with “cancelled.” We journey into dangerous territory when we replace biblical terminology. The Bible never refers to the Old Covenant (or Testament) laws as cancelled. Instead, Christ is described as having fulfilled the law and prophets. Christ being born in Bethlehem did not cancel the prophecy that He would be born there- His birth fulfilled it. Changing the terminology in this way does something to Christ’s vicarious death on our behalf. Christ’s fulfilling the law for us is far more valuable and precious than if He were to simply cancel the law. Cancellation often implies incompleteness, and there is nothing incomplete about Christ’s work on the cross.

The authors estimate that in 2005 Christians (who are church members) in the United States had a collective total income over $2 trillion, but they only donated less than 4% of their income. “If American Christians were to give from their income generously—not lavishly, mind you, only generously—they could transform the world, starting right away.” (11) If these same Christians gave 10% of their income, another $46 billion would be available to help people around the world. The authors provide many pages of examples of how this money could be spent effectively.

In the second chapter a number of facts are offered in an effort to reach explanations for the lack of generosity. The first is that 20% of all American Christians do not give a single penny to any church or charity. Next, of those who do give, they give very little, between 2-4%. Another fact presented is that despite the massive growth of average income, American Christians give proportionally less today than they did 80 years ago.

Given these facts, as well as several others, the authors propose nine hypothesizes to explain why American Christians don’t give more. These explanations include high living costs, unperceived needs, distrust, ignorance about what their traditions teach, and failure to make giving a routine practice. They “test” each hypothesis against the evidence they’ve gathered for this study.

The fourth chapter provides anecdotes from interviews with pastors and church goers on the subject of financial giving. Many of the responses they gathered corresponded with the statistical information they provided earlier. These interviews help the reader understand the information from a more personal perspective. In the fifth chapter, the authors provide the results of an “experiment” they conducted during the interviews- they generated responses to a hypothetical situation where 10% giving became a requirement for church membership. Only 7% said they would begin tithing, while 76% they would not tithe at all.

The book conclude with six explanations for the lack of generous giving by American Christians: 1) America’s culture of mass consumption 2) Pastors’ fear of discussing money 3) Ignorance of Christian teaching about financial giving 4) Mistrust for leadership or organizations 5) Lack of conversations about money among Christians 6) Failure to adopt routine methods for giving. The authors provide more than a dozen ideas for how leaders can lead Christians to lead more generously. Appendices provide summaries of various denominational teachings on giving, data sources, and statistical charts.

Overall Passing the Plate is a convicting and interesting book. It’s disappointing to see how little American Christians actually give out of their income, and it’s challenging to see what could be done if we gave only 10%. While I think the conclusions are accurate and helpful, the authors repeatedly explained that more research needed to be done on particular points. Given how often they excused themselves from providing a conclusion for this reason, one might expect them to do more research before writing this book. However, most of these points were not central to their case. Passing the Plate is a very worthwhile read, and I would recommend it to church leaders who feel inadequate when dealing with financial issues.

I’ve been a fan of the English Standard Version for many years. I currently own 7 print editions for various purposes, one of them being the Study Bible. Our regular readers know that I’m not typically a fan of doing innovative things with the Bible, such as producing “green” or “emerging” versions. However, taking the best study Bible ever produced and making it available on my cell phone- I’m all for that!

OliveTree Bible Software has done this. “The ESV Study Bible on your mobile device includes all text, features, notes, images, and supplemental materials of the print version, plus the easy interface of BibleReader and and the convenience and portability of handheld use.” I should make it clear that I’m reviewing the software for my Blackberry Curve. Every brand of phone is different and users will encounter different experiences depending on their phone. There are even some navigation features I don’t have because I’m on Blackberry.

Installation:

The process for installation isn’t simple, but it’s also not too challenging. First, the user is required to download the free BibleReader software that is phone-type specific. This software is essentially the browser through which the user can view the ESV Study Bible as well as other OliveTree products (some are free!). Then, the user must purchase and download three ESV files to the computer and transfer them to their Blackberry via USB. Once everything is in place, BibleReader should recognize the Study Bible as part of the library and make it available for use.

Functionality:

The three files are the ESV, ESV notes, and ESV Study Bible. When the user clicks on “Library,” each of the files or volumes appears. This can be a bit confusing, since in print form it’s all one book. By clicking on the ESV, the user is directed to the Bible. Annotations are present throughout the text and when clicked take the user to the notes volume. However, I haven’t found a way to access the Study Bible from within the basic ESV volume. The user must go back to the “Library” option and find the volume there. This lack of integration is a bit frustrating, but may be a limitation of the Blackberry OS. Maps and charts are available from the Study Bible’s Table of Contents, but they too are not integrated with the text. So if the user is reading about the Ark of the Covenant, they may have no idea that there is an illustration available.

The software has a thorough search feature that can be defined to the whole Bible or just one testament, and can search exact phrases or partial variations. There is an “Advanced search” option, but when I’ve clicked it a message tells me the option is not supported with this book. I don’t really mind, since the basic search options are more than satisfactory for a cell phone. There are also preference options available to change the fonts, colors, scrolling methods and QWERTY shortcuts.

Support:

Like most new software, there are bugs to be worked out. When I first installed the software, the search feature would not work. I had a couple different error messages that I reported on the OliveTree message boards. The staff there is quick to respond and very helpful- looking through a few of the posted issues will attest to this. I also noticed that after this problem occurred, all of my Blackberry actions slowed down. I uninstalled BibleReader and my Blackberry went back to normal. It took about a week for the problem to be resolved. An updated version of BibleReader was released. After I downloaded it, everything worked as it seems it should.

Overall, the ESV Study Bible software by OliveTree is very worthwhile. For those who have held the Study Bible, it’s a lot of weight to carry. To have all of that information in my pocket is extremely valuable. I expect that other cell phone platforms are better, such as the iPhone, but there really isn’t much more I could ask for on my Blackberry.