Journal of Ministry & Theology Published Semiannually by Baptist Bible Seminary, South Abington Township, Pennsylvania
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OURNAL Jof Ministry& Theology Fall 2018 | Volume 22 | Number 2 CONTENTS Reflections on “Baptism Now Saves Us” in 1 Peter 3:21 ..........................................5 Mike Stallard Jesus Stills the Storm (Mark 4:35-41) ................................................................. 18 Wayne Slusser A New Year Prayer: When the New Year May Not be Any Better than the Old Year ...46 Mark McGinniss The Forest and Trees: A Method of Discourse Analysis and Application to the Epistle of Jude .........................................................................................56 Fall 2018 | Volume 22 | Number 2 Volume Fall 2018 | Todd T. Bolton Enter: The Dragon Exegesis of Revelation 12:1-6 .................................................90 Michael Dellaperute How Prophetic is Biblical Prophecy? An Evaluation of Sandy’s View of Prophecy as Described in Plowshares & Pruning Hooks ................................................ 109 Joseph Parle Repent and Believe the Gospel ........................................................................ 155 A. Moises Zumaeta Sports, the Word & Dr. Arp ............................................................................ 168 Paul Golden Book Reviews .............................................................................................. 178 Dissertations in Progress ............................................................................... 241 Journal of Ministry & Theology Published semiannually by Baptist Bible Seminary, South Abington Township, Pennsylvania Jim Lytle Wayne Slusser President Seminary Dean Mark McGinniss Jared August Lead Editor Book Review Editor Alair August Teresa Ingalls Editorial Assistant Editorial Assistant Editorial Content Team: Bill Higley, Wayne Slusser, Jared August, Ken Gardoski, Ken Davis, Ken Pyne, Mike Dellaperute, and Mark McGinniss. The Journal of Ministry & Theology (ISSN: 1092-9525) is published bi- annually by Clarks Summit University, 538 Venard Road, Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania 18411. Address changes may be sent to Journal of Ministry & Theology at [email protected]. Subscription Rates: Individual subscriptions for one year $20.00 ($25.00 outside of the United States). Institutional subscriptions for one year $30.00. Single issues available at $10.00 each. You can subscribe at this link: https://www.clarkssummitu.edu/seminary/resources/. All subscriptions are in US currency, with credit card or a check payable to Baptist Bible Seminary: Journal of Ministry & Theology. Submission guidelines for potential manuscripts may be requested from [email protected]. Manuscripts to be considered for publication may be submitted to [email protected]. The JMAT is indexed in the EBSCO Academic Search Premier database and appears in full text in the Theological Journal Library. The opinions represented herein are endorsed by the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Baptist Bible Seminary, Clarks Summit University, its administration, or its faculty. Copyright ©2018 by Baptist Bible Seminary. Journal of Ministry & Theology hereby grants permission for articles to be made available in print or electronic form for a church ministry or classroom provided no more than 100 copies are distributed (in print or electronically) and no fee is charged and if the distributed or posted article or review includes “Copyright (year). Reprinted by permission. Journal of Ministry & Theology.” Permission for any other use, including posting on the Internet, must be sought in advance from Journal of Ministry & Theology and the individual author. From the Editor’s Desk This issue of JMAT is dedicated to the memory of our dear friend, colleague, and NT professor, Dr. Bill Arp. Bill entered into his Savior’s presence on July 2, 2017. Bill served faithfully and with distinction at Clarks Summit University for over 45 years. Since 1988 he taught Greek and NT courses at Baptist Bible Seminary (BBS). There has not been a week that has gone by since his passing that something has not triggered a remembrance of him. Everything from baseball season, to beach vacations, to not wearing socks in the summer and rarely a coat in winter, to alliterated sermons, all these things and more reminds us so fondly of Bill (1 Tim 1:12). Instead of the introductory abstracts that summarize JMAT articles, I have asked each contributor to share a remembrance of Bill. I pray these memorials and articles provide a glimpse of the man who counted it a privilege and an honor to serve his Savior at BBS. I had the privilege to minister alongside Bill for the past 11 school years. Never in that time did I ever hear him utter a complaint about life, church, or working at Baptist Bible Seminary. He was the humblest of men who counted it a joy and privilege to be put in this ministry by his Lord and Savior. Bill had an open door policy on his office library. Any book needed we were free to come in and borrow at any time even without him being there and without asking. Bill rarely locked his office, so many of us took advantage of his kind offer since he held a number of quality commentary sets. He counted those he ministered with as friends, mentioning it numerous times. Every Christmas he had the BBS team and their wives over to his house to meditate on the Christmas story, eat, fellowship, and play silly games such as “what can I bring to grandma’s house?” The grand finale of the night was playing Christmas carols on kazoos! Christmas will never be the same. Bill cared about each one of us. When I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease soon after I joined the faculty, he expressed his care and concern for me when I shared it at a faculty meeting. Two weeks later with a straight face, he gave me a coupon he found for gluten-free beer! He always expressed care for my unsaved dad and my dad’s love for the NY Giants and Yankees, always asking me how my dad faired after a certain football or baseball loss. Bill and I shared a love for the beach—especially North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Almost any time off would have Bill asking me if I were going to the beach for vacation. I will miss Bill. I mentioned to him that he was my job security because he was so technologically challenged and often needed computer help. He typed in one font, could do email and find the audio for Major League Baseball. Making files, passwords, and school-required matrices always brought him down to my office, which was always a joy since he was so appreciative and concerned about my time. In life there are not many people who truly care about you on the job, and we at BBS have lost one of the few. Mark McGinniss, Ph.D. Lead Editor The Journal of Ministry & Theology 5 Reflections on “Baptism Now Saves Us” in 1 Peter 3:21 Mike Stallard My remembrance of Dr. Bill Arp: Dr. William (Bill) Arp was one of my closest friends at Baptist Bible Seminary where I taught for 22 years. I remember when I interviewed for the theology position in the spring of 1994, the first home where I had a meal was Bill’s. I learned immediately of his love for family, and his home became a place of peaceful repose whenever I had the occasion. Bill’s teaching specialty was Greek and New Testament. He was considered our “go-to guy” for many of the epistles. There was clarity as he used discourse analysis to highlight serious observation of the text for his students as he followed grammatical-historical interpretation. The last eight years of my time at the seminary, I served as Dean and had the opportunity to call upon Bill to help out in various academic capacities in addition to his teaching of students. Bill was known for his love for working through difficult passages in the Bible. In light of this, I asked him from time to time to lead the faculty in a discussion of selected New Testament “problem” verses. On one occasion I asked him to lead the faculty through a discussion of the knotty problems in 1 Peter 3:18-22. We never finished our discussion – we ended up mired in the discussion of the spirits in prison! But Bill’s leadership on the issues at hand was always helpful. I have chosen in this article to explore briefly one phrase in 1 Peter 3:21 -- “baptism now saves us.” By this discussion I hope to honor my good friend. ***** hile the gospel mentioned in 1 Peter 3:18 is itself controversial, there are several other details in verses 18-21 that have made the interpretation of these W 2 verses among the most difficult in the New Testament. First, Mike Stallard, Ph.D., is Director of International Ministries at The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. Mike can be reached at [email protected]. 6 The Journal of Ministry & Theology in verse 18 the text says that Jesus was “made alive in the spirit.” Is this referring to the agency of the Holy Spirit, or is it a reference to Jesus’ being made alive in his human spirit. A more thorny issue is the identification of the “spirits now in prison” (v. 19) to whom Jesus went to make proclamation. What is the content of his proclamation? Is it the gospel or is it a statement of victory? Where is the location of the prison? Is it Hades or some other place? When did this take place? Between the time of his death and resurrection, after his resurrection, or some other time? Moreover, what is the connection between the spirits’ disobedience and the time of Noah (v. 20)? Significantly, one has to decide if these spirits are human or angelic. So few verses and so much exhausting study! It is in this context that Peter draws a somewhat complex comparison between the eight souls on Noah’s ark being delivered through the waters of the flood and the relationship of believers being delivered in a way that somehow involves water baptism during the Christian era. I’ve chosen five views but many more could be given.