An International Journal for Students of Theological and Religious Studies Volume 45 Issue 3 December 2020 EDITORIAL: I’m so Grateful That I’m among the 483 American Prophets: Federalist Clergy’s 563 Elect by D. A. Carson Response to the Hamilton–Burr Duel of 1804 by Obbie Tyler Todd STRANGE TIMES: J. I. Packer—Fingerprints, 486 Footprints and Reprints by Daniel Strange “Love One Another When I Am Deceased”: 576 John Bunyan on Christian Behavior in the The Wisdom of the Song of Songs: A Pastoral 494 Family and Society Guide for Preaching and Teaching by Jenny-Lyn de Klerk by Eric Ortlund A Generous Reading of John Locke: 592 The King’s Fear of the Lord as a Theme in the 515 Reevaluating His Philosophical Legacy in Light Books of Samuel by David M. Cook of His Christian Confession by C. Ryan Fields Reconceiving a Biblical Theology of Mission: 528 Did the New Atheists Rationally Lack Belief? 610 Salvation to the Ends of the Earth Revisited by Michael Berhow by Andreas J. Köstenberger Deep Motivation in Theological Education 620 The Earthquakes of the Crucifixion and 537 by Jonathan D. Worthington Resurrection of Jesus Christ by Daryn Graham Book Reviews 638 Hermeneutics and Historicity in the Matthean 558 Crucifixion Narrative: A Response to Daryn Graham by Daniel M. Gurtner DESCRIPTION Themelios is an international, evangelical, peer-reviewed theological journal that expounds and defends the historic Christian faith. Its primary audience is theological students and pastors, though scholars read it as well. Themelios began in 1975 and was operated by RTSF/UCCF in the UK, and it became a digital journal operated by The Gospel Coalition in 2008. The editorial team draws participants from across the globe as editors, essayists, and reviewers. Themelios is published three times a year online at The Gospel Coalition website in PDF and HTML, and may be purchased in digital format with Logos Bible Software and in print with Wipf and Stock. Themelios is copyrighted by The Gospel Coalition. Readers are free to use it and circulate it in digital form without further permission, but they must acknowledge the source and may not change the content. EDITORS BOOK REVIEW EDITORS General Editor: Brian Tabb Old Testament Systematic Theology Bethlehem College & Seminary Peter Lau David Garner 720 13th Avenue South OMF International Westminster Theological Seminary Minneapolis, MN 55415, USA 18-20 Oxford St 2960 Church Road [email protected] Epping, NSW 1710, Australia Glenside, PA 19038, USA [email protected] [email protected] Contributing Editor: D. A. Carson Trinity Evangelical Divinity School New Testament Ethics and Pastoralia 2065 Half Day Road David Starling Rob Smith Deerfield, IL 60015, USA Morling College Sydney Missionary & Bible College [email protected] 120 Herring Road 43 Badminton Road Macquarie Park, NSW 2113, Australia Croydon, NSW 2132, Australia Contributing Editor: Daniel Strange [email protected] [email protected] Oak Hill Theological College Chase Side, Southgate History and Historical Theology Mission and Culture London, N14 4PS, UK Geoff Chang Jackson Wu [email protected] Midwestern Baptist Theological Mission ONE Seminary PO Box 5960 Administrator: Andy Naselli 5001 N Oak Trafficway Scottsdale, AZ 85261, USA Bethlehem College & Seminary Kansas City, MO 64118 [email protected] 720 13th Avenue South [email protected] Minneapolis, MN 55415, USA [email protected] EDITORIAL BOARD Gerald Bray, Beeson Divinity School; Hassell Bullock, Wheaton College; Benjamin Gladd, Reformed Theological Seminary; Paul Helseth, University of Northwestern, St. Paul; Paul House, Beeson Divinity School; Hans Madueme, Covenant College; Ken Magnuson, The Evangelical Theological Society; Gavin Ortlund, First Baptist Church, Ojai; Ken Stewart, Covenant College; Mark D. Thompson, Moore Theological College; Paul Williamson, Moore Theological College; Mary Willson, Second Presbyterian Church; Stephen Witmer, Pepperell Christian Fellowship; Robert Yarbrough, Covenant Seminary. ARTICLES Themeliostypically publishes articles that are 4,000 to 9,000 words (including footnotes). Prospective contributors should submit articles by email to the managing editor in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or Rich Text Format (.rtf). Submissions should not include the author’s name or institutional affiliation for blind peer-review. Articles should use clear, concise English and should consistently adopt either UK or USA spelling and punctuation conventions. Special characters (such as Greek and Hebrew) require a Unicode font. Abbreviations and bibliographic references should conform to The SBL Handbook of Style (2nd ed.), supplemented by The Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.). For examples of the the journal's style, consult the most recent Themelios issues and the contributor guidelines. REVIEWS The book review editors generally select individuals for book reviews, but potential reviewers may contact them about reviewing specific books. As part of arranging book reviews, the book review editors will supply book review guidelines to reviewers. Themelios 45.3 (2020): 483–85 EDITORIAL I’m so Grateful That I’m among the Elect — D. A. Carson — D. A. Carson is emeritus professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and founder and theologian-at-large of The Gospel Coalition. any of us, I suspect, have played the game where one person says a word, and everyone else, without a pause for reflection, responds with what immediately comes to mind. So, without thinking about it, what springs to your mind when I say: Election? I’m Mwriting this about forty days before November 3, so if you are an American I suspect the mental referent instantly conjured up by the word “election” is the consequential US election that takes place this year. Of course, if the people playing the game were a small group of theological students who had just heard an hour’s lecture on Romans 9, expectations might well have shifted such that what would spring to mind would lie in the theological arena, not the political. To guarantee the dominance of the theological arena in our little game, we could replace “election” with “predestination,” since the former appears to be a subset of the latter, and the latter does not normally call up the world of politics (though doubtless it should!). So what springs to mind when either “election” or “predestination” is introduced into our little game, with the game set in a theological arena? What word associations do these words conjure up: Reformed theology? Divine sovereignty? Theological disputation? Dort? Westminster Confession? Determinism? Mystery? Foreknowledge? Compatibilism? Barth’s distinctive view of election? Free will? Grace? The goodness of God? How about gratitude? Forget the game. Just think back to all the occasions when you have thought about or studied election, or discussed it with others: was gratitude the overwhelming response of your heart and mind? Not for a moment should we think that all the other associations are inappropriate. It is right and good to think long and hard about election and all the themes exegetically and theologically associated with it. But why is gratitude so rarely included among them? I was driven to meditate on this question recently when I was working on the great thanksgiving prayer of Ephesians 1:3–14. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul begins, “who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (1:3). In the following verses, the apostle fleshes out the kinds of things he has in mind when he declares that he praises God for “every spiritual blessing in Christ.” The very first thing he mentions is election: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will” (1:4–5). We could usefully reflect on the modifiers. For example, we were chosen “in him” (i.e., in Christ); we were predestined for adoption to sonship “through Jesus Christ.” What does it mean to be blessed “in the heavenly realms” in Christ? Surely it is right to reflect on the goal of election, namely, “to be holy 483 Themelios and blameless in his sight” (1:4). But what cannot be overlooked is that Paul offers thankful praise to God that he is among the elect. So important is this theme for Paul that he returns to it in vv. 11–12, using slightly different words: “In him we were also chosen [perhaps with the overtone ‘appointed as God’s inheritance’], having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.” In the flow of the prayer, Paul is almost bursting with gratitude. Those of us who understand that election is frequently presented in the Bible as unconditional understand that one of the proper functions of election is to instill gratitude. We love to sing: I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew He moved my heart to seek him, seeking me. It was not I that found, O Savior true; No, I was found by thee. And then, calling up the scene of Peter walking (or not!) on the water: Thou didst reach forth thy hand, and mine enfold. I walked, and sank not, on the storm-swept sea. ‘Twas not so much that I on thee took hold, As thou, dear Lord, on me. At some level or other, we know these things. Nevertheless, I suspect that not a few readers of this editorial, when they first saw the title, were initially taken aback. “Doubtless we ought to be thankful we are among the elect,” you muttered, “but to put it like that hovers very close to arrogance, and is in danger of all the ugliest caricatures of Calvinism.