Themelios Is an International Evangelical Theological Journal That Expounds and Defends the Historic Christian Faith
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
An International Journal for Students of Theological and Religious Studies Volume 34 Issue 3 November 2009 Editorial 283 D. A. Carson Minority Report: lest We Forget 285 Carl Trueman the perspicuity of Scripture 288 Wayne Grudem Christocentrism: an asymmetrical Trinitarianism? 309 Dane C. Ortlund Bearing Sword in the State, Turning Cheek in the 322 Church: a reformed Two-Kingdoms interpretation of Matthew 5:38–42 David VanDrunen “deliver Us from the Evil one”: 335 Martin luther on prayer Mark Rogers paStoral PenSées: 348 power in preaching: delight (2 Corinthians 12:1-10), part 3 of 3 Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. Book reviews 354 DesCriPtioN Themelios is an international evangelical theological journal that expounds and defends the historic Christian faith. its primary audience is theological students and pastors, though scholars read it as well. it was formerly a print journal operated by RTSF/UCCF in the Uk, and it became a digital journal operated by The Gospel Coalition in 2008. The new editorial team seeks to preserve representation, in both essayists and reviewers, from both sides of the Atlantic. Themelios is published three times a year exclusively online at www.theGospelCoalition.org. it is presented in two formats: PdF (for citing pagination) and HtML (for greater accessibility, usability, and infiltration in search engines). Themelios is copyrighted by The Gospel Coalition. readers are free to use it and circulate it in digital form without further permission (any print use requires further written permission), but they must acknowledge the source and, of course, not change the content. Editors Book ReviEw Editors General Editor: d. A. Carson Old Testament Systematic Theology and Bioethics Trinity Evangelical Divinity School daniel santos Hans Madueme 2065 Half Day Road Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie— Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Deerfield, IL, 60015, USA CPAJ 2065 Half Day Road; D-632 [email protected] Rua Maria Borba, 15 Deerfield, IL 60015, USA Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil 01221-040 [email protected] Consulting Editor: Carl r. trueman [email protected] Westminster Theological Seminary Ethics (but not Bioethics) and Pastoralia Chestnut Hill, P.O. Box 27009 New Testament Peter Comont Philadelphia, PA 19118, USA Alan Thompson Magdalen Road Church Sydney Missionary & Bible College 41a Magdalen Road Charles Anderson Managing Editor: PO Box 83 Oxford, OX4 1RB, UK Oak Hill Theological College Croydon, NSW 2132, Australia [email protected] Chase Side, Southgate [email protected] London, N14 4PS, UK Mission and Culture [email protected] History and Historical Theology daniel strange shawn wright Oak Hill College Administrator: Andrew david Naselli Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Chase Side, Southgate 2825 Lexington Road 2065 Half Day Road London N14 4PS Louisville, KY 40299, USA Deerfield, IL, 60015, USA [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Editorial BoArd Gerald Bray, Beeson Divinity School; Beth Currier, University of Wisconsin-Madison; william kynes, Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church; ken Magnuson, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Jonathan Pennington, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Michael Thate, Durham University; Mark d. Thompson, Moore Theological College; Garry williams, The John Owen Centre, London Theological Seminary; Paul williamson, Moore Theological College; stephen witmer, Pepperell Christian Fellowship. Articles Articles should generally be about 4,000 to 7,000 words (including footnotes) and should be submitted to the Managing Editor of Themelios, which is peer-reviewed. Articles should use clear, concise English, following The SBL Handbook of Style (esp. for abbreviations), supplemented by The Chicago Manual of Style. They should consistently use either Uk or UsA spelling and punctuation, and they should be submitted electronically as an email attachment using Microsoft word (.doc or .docx extensions) or rich text Format (.rtf extension). special characters should use a Unicode font. 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 34.3 (2009): 283-284 Editorial — D. A. Carson — D. A. Carson is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. ost of us have had the experience of drifting, half awake and half asleep, in a gray mist of semi-consciousness, only to be jerked fully awake by some sudden and vivid memory of a shameful thing we have done or said in the past. The action or words are terribly vivid, and Mwe break out in a cold sweat of shame. An inner writhing makes us wish we could relive those moments and behave differently. But in the immortal words of omar khayyam, The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your tears wash out a word of it. what is striking about these experiences is that the acute shame we suddenly feel is almost invariably with reference to a horizontal relationship—that is, we feel shame for what we have said or done that has wounded a friend or diminished us in the eyes of a family member or colleague. Almost never do we feel such acute shame before God. why is this? i suspect that at least one of the reasons is that many of us care rather more for what fellow human beings think of us than for what God thinks of us. to put this in theological language, we do not fall under adequate conviction of sin—conviction that simultaneously makes us feel guilty because we are guilty, and makes us ashamed because we have been so profoundly disloyal to our Maker and sovereign. what he thinks of us when we act or speak despicably ought to be far more important to us than what anyone else thinks of us. That it is not usually so is itself a measure of our estrangement from the living God. This common experience of God’s fallen image-bearers, people like you and me, takes on particular hues in specific disciplines. That is why it is worth asking readers of this digital journal what it is that is most likely to induce a sense of shame or embarrassment among theologians young and old, among pastors and teachers. would it be unduly cynical of me to suggest that most of us are more likely to feel troubled by something we have said or done that has upset a colleague or parishioner than by something that has dishonored God? some do not want to be too closely associated with anything the scholarly guild judges old-fashioned or fundamentalist: that, surely, would be shameful. on the other hand, Jesus says some blunt things about those who are ashamed of him and his words (Mark 8:38). The question resolves into something pretty straightforward: whose approval do we most earnestly desire? whose approval do we want when we prepare for a lecture (whether to deliver it or to learn from it)? whose approval do we seek when we preach a sermon? whose approval matters most when we write a paper or slog away at a dissertation? whose approval do we hunger for when we choose a vocation, decide how to use our 283 Editorial time, take pains to build links of affection and accountability in the local church, exercise, bring up our children, nurture our families, read, lead a Bible study, help a neighbor? if we do not want God’s approval the most, where does idolatry begin? Mind you, the really wonderful thing about occasional midnight writhings when the person we have most offended is God is that this God also provides everything that is necessary to cleanse our conscience so that we may once again look boldly into his face. He is “faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). so we return to the cross, and rest once again. 284 Themelios 34.3 (2009): 285-287 M i N o r i t y r E P o r t Lest we Forget — Carl Trueman — Carl Trueman is Academic Dean, Vice President of Academic Affairs, and Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. emory is singularly important. At the personal level, it is a large part of what makes us who we are. Pardon the cheesy wordplay, but who can forget the closing scenes of Bladerunner when Harrison Ford discovers that his memories have all been manufactured and that he M himself, a bladerunner, is actually a replicant, a robot? it is what makes the film so disturbing: if even our memories are false, then we cannot even know who we are. Memory is also a significant biblical category.i am at the moment preaching a series on the Book of Judges for the church where my family worships and whose pulpit is currently vacant. what is striking is how the children of israel forgot the Lord and all of the acts that he had performed for them in Egypt, in the wilderness years, and in the initial invasion of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua and the elders who served under him. This forgetfulness served as the context for their depravity, for their worship of other gods and for a cultural assimilation to the ways of Canaan which involved at points both human sacrifice and gang rape. in this context—and, again, forgive the turn of phrase—it is all too easy for us to forget that the act of forgetting is not an act of will. There was an old joke i heard years ago that people used to run away to join the French Foreign Legion in order to forget, but that, after six months, they had forgotten why they had joined and wanted out.