Doriani at Westminster

New Testament scholar and Bible teacher Dan Doriani was here in Philadelphia this week for Westminster Seminary's annual preaching conference.  Dr. Doriani, who serves as Senior Minister at Central Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, makes a major contribution to the Reformed Expository Commentary as New Testament Editor.

I was able to make it over for only of his lectures, but it was well worth it.  His thesis was that a quest for godliness will make someone a better interpreter of Scripture, that exegesis is a matter of the heart as well as the mind.

The talk included several memorable lines.  Dr. Doriani quoted R. L. Dabney to the effect that "Eloquence may dazzle and please, but holiness convinces."  He also observed that a preacher is like "a cardiologist with a heart murmur."  That is to say, the fallen condition that he helps to diagnose and treat in his ministry of the word also describes his own spiritual conditin.