Themelios 49.3

The new December 2024 issue of Themelios has 234 pages of editorials, articles, and book reviews. It is freely available in three formats: (1) PDF, (2) web version, and (3) Logos Bible Software (coming soon).

1. J. V. Fesko | Editorial: The Goal of Theological Scholarship: Academy or the Church?

Why do we write articles, books, and sermons? Fesko argues that there should be a twofold aim for our theological labors: to glorify God and to edify the church.

2. Daniel Strange | Strange Times: Selfish Preachers?

Whom are you preaching for? Strange ponders this probing question for preachers by considering the legacy of Richard “Gussie” Garnett, who modeled generous communication and challenged pastors to preach sermons that connect with and feed their people.

3. Robert A. J. Gagnon | The Deepening of God’s Mercy Through Repentance: A Critical Review Essay of The Widening of God’s Mercy: Sexuality Within the Biblical Story

Richard B. Hays and Christopher B. Hays’s recent book has generated significant interest but suffers from critical hermeneutical, exegetical, and scholarly deficiencies. According to Gagnon, the authors claim that “a deeper logic” in the Bible reveals God changing his mind to expand the scope of his mercy. This overrides the biblical texts that establish the male-female foundation of Christian sexual ethics and speak against homosexual practice.

4. Colin J. Smothers | The Image of God and the Plight of Man

The doctrine of the image of God is fundamental to Christian theology and ethics, and it forms the foundation for justice and human flourishing in society. Yet this doctrine is under assault today by anti-Christian forces. Smothers explores the biblical meaning and implications of the imago Dei, including God’s design for sexuality, marriage, and the family, to reassert this doctrine’s prominence in the unfolding debates about anthropology, what it means to be human, and the identification and promotion of what’s good.

5. M. Jeff Brannon | Resurrection and Reign: The Inseparable Bond Between Resurrection Life and the Kingdom of God in All of Scripture

Although much attention has been given to the biblical themes of the kingdom of God and the hope of resurrection, the striking links between them in all of Scripture have often been overlooked or neglected. Therefore, Brannon demonstrates how and why they’re inseparably linked and reflects on why this relationship matters and what difference it makes in Christians’ lives.

6. Joshua Pittman | Misunderstanding the Gaps: A Critique of Bryan Bibb’s Interpretation of the Nadab and Abihu Episode

This article critiques Bryan Bibb’s proposal that Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu committed no sin in Leviticus 10, exposing the “gaps in the ritual legislation” of YHWH’s sacrificial system. Conversely, Pittman argues that Nadab and Abihu committed an act of disobedience because (1) Moses describes the brothers’ offering as profane, (2) the brothers most likely presumed the role of the high priest by transgressing the bi-daily incense offering outlined in Exodus 30:7–9 that wasn’t their responsibility, (3) YHWH consumed the brothers with fire, and (4) YHWH cites his own character to explain his act of judgment.

7. David M. Howard Jr. | Destruction and Dispossession of the Canaanites in the Book of Joshua

The supposed “genocide” of the Canaanites is one of the most vexing questions in the entire Old Testament and a leading reason that many people dismiss the Old Testament as hopelessly barbaric. Howard discusses this in five discrete sections and concludes there’s no genocide in the book of Joshua, despite arguments to the contrary.

8. S. D. Ellison | Reading the Psalter as a Book

The canonical shape of the Psalter has enjoyed concentrated attention in academia for more than four decades. While scholars have agreed on the effort, they haven’t always agreed on the results. Ellison distills some key pieces of evidence that the Psalter bears traces of editorial activity—thus suggesting it’s a purposefully ordered collection—and then proposes a reading of the Psalter that fits this evidence.

9. Joel White | Who Was Philemon, What Did Paul Want from Him, and Why?

Scholars are divided on whether Paul wrote the letter to Philemon with the aim of securing Onesimus’s manumission or not. Often, discussion centers on Paul’s rhetoric or on the nature of slavery in the ancient world and his attitude toward it. White first situates Philemon within the two social networks in which he enjoyed status and esteem—the Christ association on the one hand and the wealthier landowners/slaveowners in Colossae on the other—and posits what their expectations would have been regarding Philemon’s response to Onesimus’s return. Second, he examines the theological presuppositions that inform Paul’s rhetoric. He concludes that Paul did, in fact, want Philemon to free Onesimus to strengthen the bonds between the three of them and the church in Colossae.

10. Jared Compton | “Made Lower than Angels”: A Fresh Look at Hebrews 2:5–9

How does the author of Hebrews understand Psalm 8? A lot of the discussion turns on whether Hebrews thinks Psalm 8 applies to Jesus alone or to Jesus and other humans. An equally important question, however, is often overlooked. If Hebrews applies the psalm to Jesus and other humans, does Hebrews think the psalm describes humanity before or after the fall? Compton argues that Hebrews reads Psalm 8 as a description of what humanity lost in the fall—an original superiority to angels, glory, and dominion. Only by reading Hebrews in this way can we do justice to Hebrews’s argument and, at the same time, fully appreciate the book’s extraordinary Christology.

11. Christopher Green | Baptist Catholicity in the Ecclesiology of John Gill (1697–1771)

Throughout his writings, but especially in the presentation of his ecclesiology, John Gill exhibits a steadfast commitment to a theological sensibility today referred to as Baptist catholicity. Gill’s ecclesiological writings are thoroughly catholic in their method and content, as evidenced by a robust engagement with patristic sources, creative and positive use of Reformation and post-Reformation era paedobaptist theologians, and a refusal to resort to Baptist authors even in support of Baptist distinctives. As such, Gill provides a model for contemporary proponents of Evangelical Baptist catholicity and ought to be retrieved to strengthen a distinctively Baptist theology in the 21st century.

12. T. Michael Christ | Why a Purely Natural Theology Could Lead Us Astray: Karl Barth’s Response to the Theology of Gender and Marriage Sponsored by the Nazi Party

In response to the erosion of the biblical paradigm of gender and marriage in modern Western society, some believers are inclined to support any promotion of heterosexual monogamous marriage as a positive moral force. However, certain conservative ideologies are fundamentally incompatible with Christian teachings. For example, despite superficial similarities with Christian values on gender and marriage, Nazi ideology rooted these values in nationalism and racial purity, distorting them for nefarious purposes. Theologian Karl Barth opposed the Nazi regime’s redefinition of marriage and gender, warning that any version of marriage not rooted in Christology leads to destruction. Michael Christ examines Barth’s critique and explores its relevance in guarding contemporary Christian ethics from similar distortions.

13. Scott D. MacDonald | Making the Lion Lie Down Hungry: Forgiveness as Preventative Spiritual Warfare in 2 Corinthians 2:5–11

While Christians should understand and practice forgiveness, many haven’t experienced forgiveness from others within the church, which leaves the church vulnerable to Satan’s schemes. MacDonald considers forgiveness to be an essential action of spiritual warfare that limits Satan’s work. He analyzes 2 Corinthians 2:5–11, outlining the occasion that required the Corinthians’ forgiveness and revealing how forgiveness countered Satan’s scheme in the Corinthian church. Thus, the present church must avoid a mere facade of forgiveness and publicly exercise the forgiveness she has received in Christ, thereby preventing demonic schemes against God’s people.

14. Robert Golding | The Devil Is Not a Christian: Critiquing Christian Universalism as Presented by David Bentley Hart

David Bentley Hart’s book titled That All Shall Be Saved is a powerful argument at first glance for the doctrine of Christian universalism, which is the view that those in hell all eventually enter heaven. However, on a closer examination, this is untenable. Golding seeks to refute Hart’s thesis by appealing to Scripture, critiquing the inner logic of Hart’s argument, and proffering an understanding of sin that willfully rejects God. Golding opposes Hart’s hamartiology, which has no category for the willful refusal of God, since, according to him, humans must always desire God.

Featured Book Reviews:

• Stephen G. Dempster, The Return of the Kingdom: A Biblical Theology of God’s Reign. Reviewed by Drew Grumbles.
• Crawford Gribben, J. N. Darby and the Roots of Dispensationalism. Reviewed by Kenneth J. Stewart.
• Gavin Ortlund, What It Means to Be Protestant. Reviewed by Samuel Parkison.
• Douglas A. Sweeney, The Substance of Our Faith: Foundations for the History of Christian Doctrine. Reviewed by Nathan A. Finn.
• J. V. Fesko, Adam and the Covenant of Works. Reviewed by Andrew J. Martin.
• Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. Reviewed by David Robertson.
• Andrew David Naselli, How to Read a Book: Advice for Christian Readers. Reviewed by Luke Johnson.