Exegesis and Theology

The Blog of Brian Collins

Three Post-Reformation Revelation Commentaries

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Perkins, William. “A Godly and Learned Exposition or Commentary upon the Three First Chapters of the Revelation.” In The Works of William Perkins. Volume 4. Edited by J. Stephen Yuille. Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage, 2017.

This is an excellent exposition of the first three chapters of Revelation in the Puritan style. That is, it is doctrinal and devotional in its emphases. I highly commend Perkins’s work on Revelation.

Goodwin, Thomas. “An Exposition of Revelation.” In The Works of Thomas Goodwin. Volume 3. Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1861.

Perkins ended his exposition of Revelation with chapter 3. Goodwin begins his with chapter 4 (though he mentions that chapters 1-3 relate to the church in John’s day). In distinction from chapters 2-3, which refer to seven historical churches, Goodwin held that chapters 4-5 relate to the universal church of all time. Goodwin thought that the prophetical portion of the book began in chapter 6 and that it came in two parts. Part one begins with the seals in chapter 6 and continues with the seven trumpets, which are the seventh seal. Part two relates the unsealed book, beginning at chapter 12 and running to chapter 16. Both parts cover the events from Christ’s ascension to his return, though with different emphases. The first focuses on the outward state of the empire and the second focuses on the church. Between these two parts come chapter 11, which Goodwin spends a great deal of time on. He holds that this chapter is delivered by Christ’s direct speech and serves as a hinge between these two parts. Following chapters 6-16 are several chapters that expand on certain aspects of this prophecy. Chapter 17 is an expansion of chapter 13’s description of the beast. Chapters 18 and 19 (up to v. 11) expand on the destruction of the great city. Goodwin was a premillennialist, but this exposition does not cover chapters 20-22.

Gerhard, Johann. Annotations on the Revelation of St. John the Theologian. Translated by Paul A. Rydecki. Malone, TX: Repristination Press, 2016.

This 1643 commentary by the renowned Lutheran theologian Johann Gerhard is historicist in its approach. Interestingly, however, his historicist approach was general enough at points that it at times reminded me of an idealist approach. Gerhard was familiar with Patristic and Medieval commentators who preceded him, and he at times would evaluate their interpretations or provide a survey of interpretations.

His view of the Millennium is also interesting. He held that it began with the conversion of Constantine, which he places around A.D. 308 and ended in A.D. 1308 with the rise of the Ottoman Turks. He saw the Millennial period as a time in which the church was spared persecution.

Michael Horton on Soteriology

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Horton, Michael S. Covenant and Salvation: Union with Christ. Louisville: WJK, 2007.

In part 1 of this book Horton provides the best theological critique of the New Perspective on Paul that I’ve read. In sum, he grants E. P. Sanders’s characterization of covenantal nomism as being active in Second Temple Judaism. But he then argues that such a view is precisely what Paul was opposing (and was also akin to what the Reformers were opposing in Roman Catholicism). As part of this argument, Horton makes the case for distinguishing between the Sinai Covenant and the New Covenant. I think his case is exegetically compelling, though he does seem to have trouble integrating his exegetical insights into traditional Covenant Theology (sometimes he seems to indicate that the Sinai Covenant is a covenant of works and at other times he seems to include it as part of the covenant of grace).

The second part of the book, while containing an excellent critique of Radical Orthodoxy and the Finnish interpretation of Luther, seemed a bit muddled in its discussions of union with Christ. On the one hand, Horton wanted to see justification as the forensic basis for every other aspect of the ordo. In this way he sought to hold together the forensic and transformative elements of soteriology. The latter are grounded in the former. Thus union with Christ is founded on justification. On the other hand, he seemed to also acknowledge that union precedes justification. In one paragraph he identified both justification and Christ as the engine that pulls the train cars that make up the ordo.

I understand why Horton wants to keep the forensic and transformative elements of salvation united, but I’m not convinced that he has the right formulation.

Wellum, God the Son Incarnate

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Wellum, Stephen J. God the Son Incarnate: The Doctrine of Christ. Foundations of Evangelical Theology. Wheaton: Crossway, 2016.

Wellum structures his Christology in four parts. In the first part he deals with epistemology and philosophy. The first chapter of part two deals with the storyline of Scripture and the biblical covenants. This introductory material means that the reader doesn’t get to strictly Christological material until 150 pages into the book. While that felt like too long, Wellum does make important points in these opening chapters, and he rightly justifies his approach to doctrinal formulation in them. Part 2 is focused on the biblical data that testifies to the deity and humanity of Christ. It also addresses issues such as the virgin conception, sinlessness, and the purpose of the incarnation. Part 3 traces the doctrinal development of Christology throughout church history. Part 4 opens with a summary of modernist and evangelical kenotic Christologies. Following this comes a critique, a positive summary of historic, orthodox Christology, and a defense of orthodox Christology against criticisms.

Bauckham, “Creation’s Praise of God in the Book of Revelation”

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Bauckham, Richard. “Creation’s Praise of God in the Book of Revelation. ” In Living with Other Creatures: Green Exegesis and Theology. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2011.

Bauckham’s essay contains numerous interesting exegetical observations regarding Revelation 4-5, but the thesis of the article fails. Bauckham misses the importance of the Lamb’s enthronment when he argues for a non-anthropocentric reading of creation’s praise. The Lamb’s enthronment is the enthronment of the Second Adam. The Second Adam will fulfill the creation blessing that the first Adam failed to fulfill. It is only when Man is enthroned in submission to God that all the creation rejoices and gives glory to God. Thus, this Revelation 4-5 reinforces an anthropocentric reading of Genesis 1:28.

Books Read in 2019

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Top 10 Books Read in 2019

Bavinck, Herman. Reformed Dogmatics: Prolegomena. Vol. 1. Edited by John Bolt. Translated by John Vriend. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003.

Bavinck, Herman. Reformed Dogmatics: God and Creation. Vol. 2. Edited by John Bolt. Translated by John Vriend. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2004.

The best systematic theology written. Bavinck’s method is wonderful: he gathers all of the biblical data, traces the doctrine’s development through history (always with an eye to philosophy as well as theology), and draws together a dogmatic conclusion. He is writing late enough for the historical survey to capture most of church history. And even if one disagrees with a given conclusion, the biblical material he draws together is invaluable.

Leeman, Jonathan. The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline. Wheaton: Crossway, 2010).

This is not a book about the nuts and bolts of church discipline (Leeman has authored one of those as well). This is a profound study of the love of God, ecclesiology, and how the two relate. This really is one of the best books I’ve read.

Adams, Edward. The Stars Will Fall from Heaven: Cosmic Catastrophe in the New Testament and its World. Library of New Testament Studies. New York: T&T Clark, 2007.

This book is a study of whether or not the New Testament presents an eschatology in which the cosmos is destroyed and recreated. Adams argues, primarily against N.T. Wright, that the cosmos is destroyed (though not annihilated) and then re-created. He further argues that this does not entail a gnostic rejection of material creation. I think that Adams establishes this final point, but he fails to establish his thesis.

The most compelling part of this monograph is Adams’s argument that the cosmic catastrophe language of the Old Testament, which is picked up by the New Testament is not the language of socio-political changes, as Wright maintains. An examination of the language in its Old Testament context and in light of parallels in Jewish apocalyptic literature clearly demonstrates that this language is used to describe actual cosmic catastrophes at the end of the age. He clarifies (here speaking of this imagery as it appears in Mark 13), “”This is not, of course, to say that the language … is mean ‘literally.’ My claim is that like the writers of 1 Enoch 1, etc., the evangelist very probably expects the stereotypical images of catastrophe to translate into actual cosmological events of a calamitous nature” (160).

However, Adams was less successful in maintaining his thesis. He failed to recognize how many of his texts referred to the day of the Lord period that precedes the return of Christ to earth. No premillennialist can accept that those passages are talking about the dissolution of the world. Adams only recognizes that this is a problem when he discusses Revelation 6:12-27, and he does not wish to take a millennial position. He simply notes that if one is a premillennialist this passage anticipates the final dissolution of the world while if one is an amillennialists it refers to the actual dissolution. However, if he were to be consistent with this logic, then all of the other passages he looked at would similarly only be anticipations of a final dissolution. This leaves him with Revelation 21:1. However, he gives no extended treatment to this passage. While acknowledging that many interpreters do not understand this passage to refer to the dissolution of the material world, he simply asserts his position with regard to this passage.

Adams also does not interact with texts which would contradict his thesis (Romans 8:1-25 being the most notable). Rather, Adams notes in his conclusion that the New Testament, like intertestamental Judaism, presents two different views of the cosmos at the end of the age. This is, of course, not a position that can be adopted by those who hold to the inspiration and theological unity of Scripture.

While disagreeing with the book’s thesis, I found many of the exegetical discussion illuminating and worthy of detailed note-taking. 

Sanders, Fred. The Triune God. New Studies in Dogmatics. Edited by Michael Allen and Scott Swain. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016.

See here.

Compton, Jared and Andrew David Naselli, eds. Three Views on Israel and the Church: Perspectives on Romans 9-11. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2018.

Vlach contributed a decent essay arguing for the future, national conversion of Israel and against the claim that Israel was a type. This is the position I began the book holding. Vlach makes many good points, but he mars his argument by making claims that are tangential to the main issues under discussion (e.g., arguing for sacrifices in a millennial temple).

Hamilton and Zaspel contributed an excellent essay arguing for the future national conversion of Israel and for the claim that Israel was a type. Hamilton and Zaspel convinced me of the latter point. However, this left them with a problem. They had demonstrated exegetically both of their points, and they granted the position that in most cases the anti-type replaces the type. However, all three of these assertions cannot be true. They suggest, “It may be that covenantally constrained institutions, such as the levitical system, fall away after the sacrifice of Christ, but we are not sure the same holds for people or events.” This may be the case, but a better approach is to recognize a time element. It is not Israel in the abstract that is a type of the church. It is Israel under the Mosaic covenant and at a given period of history.

Merkle contributed a well-written essay arguing against the future national conversion of Israel and for the claim that Israel was a type. Merkle may have been the best writer, and this may give his essay more plausibility than his arguments warranted. In fact, the greatest weakness of this essay is that Merkle did not so much argue as assert his position. I think Hamilton and Zaspel were correct to counter, “In our judgment this position depends on too many improbable interpretations of critical points of Paul’s discussion, and so, in the end, fails.”

Horton, Michael S. Lord & Servant: A Covenant Christology. Louisville: WJK, 2005.

Despite the subtitle, this book is more than a Christology. The first part deals with the first term of the title: “Lord.” Horton begins by contrasting Tillich’s hyper-immanent approach to God and Kant and Derrida’s hyper-transcendent view of God with God’s covenantal revelation of himself. Horton argues that theology should not be a study of God’s being, and that salvation is not a matter of ontological union with God. Rather, theology is a study of God’s self-revelation. From this starting point, Horton provides a brief doctrine of God (covering issues such as aseity, impassibility, immutability, the omni’s, goodness, grace, holiness, glory, righteousness, wrath, and more). This is followed by a brief study of creation (in which Horton affirms the Creator-creature distinction and denies dualism).

Part two focuses on the second term in the title: “Servant.” In this part, Horton provides a theological anthropology that covers issues such as the imago dei, personhood, and human nature and a harmartiology that deals with original sin, Adamic headship, the historical Adam, and more.

Part three makes the case that Christ is both Lord and Servant (hence the title). Here Horton deals with the person of Christ in two natures. He critiques Barth, Robert Jenson, and Kenotic Christologies. He defends the extra calvinisticum and the importance of Christ’s humanity as the Second Adam. He also defends the threefold office of Christ and penal, substitutionary atonement.

Hixon, Elijah and Peter J. Gurry. Myths and Mistakes in New Testament Textual Criticism. InterVarsity, 2019.

Excellent set of essays on textual criticism. I found most helpful Mitchell’s chapter on how long the autographs may have lasted, Peterson’s chapter about how many NT manuscripts exist (and why it is so hard to come to a definitive number), Prothro’s chapter on how to more accurately compare the number of NT and Classical manuscripts, Lanier on why later manuscripts can be better, Cole about how the scribes who copied the NT were not mere amateurs, Gurry about the significance of variants (some are doctrinally significant of themselves, but Scripture is redundnat; no doctrine hangs on a variant).

White, Ronald C. American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant. Random House, 2016.

A superb biography that gives a sense of the importance of Grant to the nation. He also probes Grant’s religious views and his moral sense in facing issues such as the Mexican-American War, slavery, civil rights for black Americans, treatment of the American Indian, and more. While not in any way falling into hagiography, White dismantles myths such as the idea that Grant was a drunkard or the claim that his military victories were simply due to numerical superiority. He also deals well with Grant’s presidency, noting both his achievements and recognizing how his shortcomings allowed for some of his subordinates to taint his administration with scandal. A must-read biography.

Caro, Robert A. Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing. New York: Knopf, 2019.

Caro is a fascinating writer, and this book about how he came to write his biographies is filled with fascinating anecdotes.

Other Books Read in 2019

Victorinus of Petovium, Apringius of Beja, Caesarius of Arles, and Bede the Venerable. Latin Commentaries on Revelation. Edited by Thomas C. Oden, and Gerald L. Bray. Translated by William C. Weinrich. Ancient Christian Texts. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2011.

This is a fascinating collection of patristic commentaries. The first is the earliest extant commentary on Revelation. Notably, it is both premillennial and futurist. The other commentaries were amillennial and used a fourfold sense approach to interpretation (see below). Of the other commentaries after Victorinus, I found Caesarius of Arles most insightful.

Oecumenius and Andrew of Caesarea. Greek Commentaries on Revelation. Edited by Thomas C. Oden and Gerald L. Bray. Translated by William C. Weinrich. Ancient Christian Texts. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2011.

Both of these early Greek commentaries were very interesting. They adopted a fourfold sense approach. Interestingly, Oecumenius seemed to be futurist in the literal sense and akin to modern idealism in the allegorical sense. Though not adopting their approach, I found both commentators regularly insightful.

Burr, David, trans. and ed. The Book of Revelation. The Bible in Medieval Tradition. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2019.

This volume summarized medieval commentaries on Revelation and provided selected excerpts. It covered the time from Richard of Saint Victor to Nicholas of Lyra. The medieval commentators here were all decidedly historicist in their approach. The main difference between them was whether the history of the world was repeatedly recapitulated or whether it ran through the entire book sequentially. Commentators also differed in their assessment of how close the end they viewed their own day.

Edwards, Jonathan. Apocalyptic Writings: “Notes on the Apocalypse” An Humble Attempt. Edited by John E. Smith and Stephen J. Stein. Vol. 5. The Works of Jonathan Edwards. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1977.

This was a fascinating read, even though I did not find Edwards’s historicist interpretation of Revelation compelling.

Vlach, Michael J. Premillennialism: Why There Must Be a Future Earthly Kingdom of Jesus. Los Angeles: Theological Studies Press, 2015.

In addition to standard readings of Revelation 20 and the argument that certain OT texts fit neither the present age nor the eternal state, Vlach makes several compelling theological arguments for a Millennium. First, he argues that the Creation Blessing requires the Messiah and his people to successfully subdue the earth as God originally intended. This arguement is exegetically grounded and compelling. Second, Vlach argues that premillennialism in the early church was better at guarding the goodness of creation. Third, Vlach detects a pattern in which the Day of the Lord judgment is followed by the establishment of Christ’s kingdom on earth.

Joel R. White, “The 144,000 in Revelation 7 and 14: Old Testament and Intratextual Clues to Their Identity,” in From Creation to New Creation: Biblical Theology and Exegesis, ed. Daniel M. Gurtner and Benjamin L. Gladd. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2013.

A compelling argument for the Israelite identity of the 144,000 in Revelation.

Carson, D. A. “The Tripartite Division of the Law: A Review of Philip Ross, The Finger of God.” In From Creation to New Creation. Edited by Daniel M. Gurtner and Benjamin L. Gladd. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2013.

In this essay Carson reviews Ross’s defense of the tripartite division of the law into the categories of moral, ceremonial, and civil. Carson credits Ross with a careful historical survey of the issue, but he concludes that this survey actually undermines Ross’s case. A tripartite division of the law cannot be traced earlier than Aquinas. The bulk of the book seeks to demonstrate the tripartite division of the law from Scripture, and Carson finds that Ross struggles to make his case. For instance, Ross argues that within the Pentateuch, distinctions are made between the Decalogue, cultic laws, laws with punishments, and so forth. Carson observes,

Ross mounts a fine defense against the proposition that the laws of Moses are “one indivisible whole.” In fairness to his opponents, however, most who make such an affirmation are not saying that no distinctions can be made among the Mosaic laws. Rather, they are saying something slightly different: for those who are under the Mosaic covenant, the obligation to obey the entire array of stipulations under that covenant is sweeping and comprehensive. (226-27)

Carson is not opposed to finding distinctions among the laws, but he finds biblical evidence for a tripartite division lacking. He concludes that it is incorrect to claim the tripartite division of the law was something found in Scripture which should then serve as an a priori in discussions of the law. However, he grants that the division can serve as a “heuristic device if we grant it a posteriori status.” Casron explains:

In other words, we do not begin with a definition of moral law, civil law, and ceremonial law but observe (for example) what laws change least, across redemptive history, in the nature and details of their demands, and happily apply the category “moral” to them. (236)

Then, in light of our understanding of what laws are moral laws, we can discern which may fall into the categories of civil and ceremonial.

Carson’s approach commends itself. It allows the Mosaic covenant to stand as a unified covenant in distinction from the new covenant. The categories of moral, civil, and ceremonial are handy tags for identifying those laws which remain valid in both Old and New Covenants while identifying others as having passed away when the covenant to which they were attached passed away.

Jacobs, Alan. Wayfaring: Essays Pleasant and Unpleasant. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010.

Jacobs, Alan. How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds. New York: Currency, 2017.

Alan Jacobs is like C. S. Lewis, an Anglican layman who provides probing insights on the Christian life. As with Lewis there are points of theological disagreement (though I suspect Jacobs is closer to me theologically than Lewis was), but with both I find reading almost everything they write worth reading and thinking about. Highlights of among the essays in Wayfaring were the ones about commonplace books, Samuel Johnson, gardening and human dominion over the earth, and friendship.

Olinger, Danny E. Geerhardus Vos: Reformed Biblical Theologian, Confessional Presbyterian. Philadelphia: Reformed Forum, 2018.

An excellent biography of an outstanding theologian.

Vos, Geerhardus. Reformed Dogmatics. Edited by Richard B. Gaffin. Translated by Annemie Godbehere, et al. Vol. 1–5. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012–2016.

A helpful resource that is what the title says. It is great to have this alonside Vos’s Biblical Theology.

Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works. Volume 34. Edited by Helmut T. Lehmann and Lewis W. Spitz. Philadelphia: Fotress, 1960.

This volume contains writings from later in Luther’s life, including writings that are related to the Diet of Augsburg.

Barker, William S. Puritan Profiles: 54 Influential Puritans at the Time When the Westminster Confession of Faith Was Written. Fearn, Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus Publications, 1996.

This was a good collection of accessible Puritan biographies.

Moore, Jonathan D. English Hypothetical Universalism: John Preston and the Softening of Reformed Theology. Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007.

An excellent historical study of English Hypothetical Universalism. I found the exposition of the views of Ussher, Davenant, and Preston fascinating. I also think Moore demonstrates that English Hypoethical Universalism is distinct from Amyraldianism and that it is within the bounds of historic Reformed theology.

Manton, Thomas. “Sermon V: Mark 9:49.” In The Complete Works of Thomas Manton. Vol. 2. London: Nisbet, 1871.

Though there are textual variants in this verse that Manton did not know about, he interprets this verse in light of its context. Thus, though he may not have every exegetical detail right, everything he draws from this verse can be drawn from the passage.

The focus of the sermon is on mortification, and it is an excellent sermon on that topic.

Hays, J. Daniel. From Every People and Nation: A Biblical Theology of Race. New Studies in Biblical Theology. Edited by D. A. Carson. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003.

This is a helpful volume for drawing together biblical material concerning nations and people groups. Hays also gives good coverage to the Cushites and deals well with common mis-interpreations regarding them.

Candice Millard, Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President. New York: Doubleday, 2011.

This is an engaging history that intertwines the lives of James Garfield and Charles Guiteau with the development of medical technology. Readers come away with a high view of Garfield and the promise of his administration, and a sense of loss in the reality that he need not have died had he received proper medical attention.

Burrow, Rufus, Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. for Armchair Theologians. Armchair Theologians Series. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009.

This is a very helpful volume for understanding Martin Luther King, Jr.’s theology by an author who is sympathetic to it.

Reeves, Michael. Enjoy Your Prayer Life. 10Publishing, 2014.

This is a helpful, brief book on prayer. Its brevity makes it ideal for repeated reading and meditation.

Crouch, Andy. The Tech-Wise Family. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2017.

This book contains a good bit of practical advice, but I was expecting it to be more theologically grounded than it was.

Rosner, Brian S. Known by God: A Biblical Theology of Personal Identity. Biblical Theology for Life. Edited by Jonathan Lunde. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2017.

Though not at the level of Rosner’s superb book on Paul and the law, I did gain insight from several chapters. I especially found helpful this insight:

As it turns out, the Bible confirms the legitimacy of the standard personal identity markers, but denies their ultimacy. Many of them are indispensable, but they are an insufficient foundation upon which to build your identity. (42)

Rosner concludes that if any of the following standard personal identity markers become the “foundations of personal identity,” one becomes an idolater. The Bible critiques idols by noting that they “are gods that fail” (Hab. 2:18-19; Jer. 16:19; Rom. 1:21-23; 1 Cor. 12:2) and they are “gods that degrade their worshippers” (Ps. 135:18; Rev. 9:20-21) (pp. 61-62).

I see connections here with Koyzis’s treatment of political ideologies Personal identity makers can also take something good in the created order and make it ultimate in a way that is idolatrous. Similarly, certain identity markers can become demonized as the ultimate evil or cause of the world’s problems.

Warfield, B. B. “Justification by Faith, Out of Date.” SSW 1:283-84.

Warfield, Benjamin B. “On Faith in Its Psychological Aspects.” The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield: Studies in Theology, vol. 9. 1932; Reprinted, Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003.

Warfield, B. B. Inability and the Demand of Faith. SSW.

Warfield on faith.

Murray, Iain. Revival and Revivalism. Banner of Truth.

A compelling historical study that demonstrates the significant distinction between revival and revivalism. Without this distinction, the church is at risk of embracing counterfeits to the Spirit’s work or to adopting an overly rationalist approach to Christianity.

Karnow, Stanley. In Our Image: America’s Empire in the Philippines.

An engaging history of the Philippines that especially emphasizes its complex relationship with the United States.

Ortlund, Dane C. Edwards on the Christian Life: Alive to the Beauty of God. Wheaton: Crossway, 2014.

Like the other books in this serious, Ortlund seeks to mine Edwards for guidance for contemporary Christian living. He is largely appreciative of Edwards, but he does include a chapter of critique as well.

Williamson, H.G.M. Ezra and Nehemiah. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996.

This book is overall too given to critical methodologies to be useful other than for getting a feel of the state of scholarship for those given to those methodologies. The chapter on the book’s theology and his defense of the authenticity of the letters in the book were useful.

Notes on Fred Sanders, The Triune God

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Sanders, Fred. The Triune God. New Studies in Dogmatics. Zondervan, 2016.

1. Attunement: Gloria Patri

Sanders’s point in this chapter is that Trinitarian theology should be all about praise to God. That is the end of this doctrine. By opening the book this way Sanders signals that this book is not merely about logic-chopping. This book, though serious theology, is meant to bring us to worship God.

2. Revelation of the Triune God

The doctrine of the Trinity must be revealed. On how it is revealed in act and word. Pp. 39-40

Sanders argues that the doctrine of the Trinity is a mystery in the biblical sense of something formerly concealed, now revealed. Pp. 42ff.

The remainder of the chapter argues that denial of propositional revelation has deformed Trinitarian theology, including that of Rahner and his famous dictum. Sanders argues, following Machen and Packer (and, Vos, though he is not mentioned) that act and interpreting word must be kept together.

3. Communicative Missions

Sanders argues that the Trinity is revealed in the missions of the Son and the Spirit. Further, these missions are self-interpreting—literally—the Son has a “teaching ministry” and the Spirit speaks through the prophets and apostles. 69-70

Sanders grants the danger of reducing the Trinity to mere propositions that people must know, thus abstracting it from soteriology and the Christian life. But while the doctrine is more than verbal, propositional revelation, it is “not less.”

Sanders argues that the doctrine of the Trinity cannot be argued from experience. Schleiermacher’s deficient trinitarianism is evidence of this. However, the doctrine of the Trinity should be part of our experience.

He also has an excellent section arguing that the doctrine cannot be based on tradition. Tradition plays an important role, but its role ought to be that of pointing us back to Scripture and explaining how Scripture teaches the doctrine of the Trinity.

He then circles back around to the claim that the Trinity is fundamentally revealed in the missions of the Trinity and that Scripture testifies to the historical revelation of the Trinity. Against the concern that this is a Barthian approach, Sanders notes that it is found in Warfield with safeguards not found in the Barthian tradition. See especially the Warfield quotation on p. 89.

4. Incarnation and Pentecost

Sanders discusses the approach to the Trinity. Should one follow Augustine and “begin the exposition with the temporal missions and reason back from them to the eternal processions”? Or should one follow Aquinas and begin with the processions and work “out and down to the temporal missions.” Augustine’s approach has the benefit of following the biblical text’s way of revealing the Trinity. “The main pedagogical disadvantage of this approach is the mental effort it requires, as those who lean in this order must submit to the difficulty of revising their initial idea of the structure of divine unity in light of subsequent revelation. It may also run the risk of aligning with the modern historicist tendency to think that all meaningful action takes place in the economy and only in the economy” (94).

Sanders, while recognizing the legitimacy of either approach, take the Augustinian path in this book. This leads him to argue that the Bible must be read as a unity with attention to its storyline. He points out that Ephesians 1 provides a biblical example of this, and its telling of the biblical story has a decidedly Trinitarian bent (98-106).

Sanders claims that the working of the Trinity in the storyline of Scripture is not only a revelation of the economy of salvatio0n, but is a self-revelation of the Trinity (106-8).

Sanders notes that at the extremes Unitarians claim that the missions of Son and Spirit reveal nothing about God while Hegelians hold that they reveal everything. Others would argue that they reveal nothing other than three-in-oneness. Others hold that they reveal an order of authority. And still others would hold that it is not just the sendings that are revelatory of God but every aspect of the Son and Spirit’s work is revelatory. Thus the suffering of Christ on the cross would reveal the suffering of God. Sanders rejects all of these approaches.

He holds instead that the missions of Son and Spirit reveal the eternal begetting of the Son and the eternal procession of the Spirit. Sanders sees this as foundational to rightly seeing the Trinity in the biblical text.

I found this chapter a little lacking. I want more argumentation as to why eternal begetting and procession are the right deduction to make from the missions of Son and Spirit. The closest he came was the observation that the incarnation was proper because Christ is “Son of, Word of, image of, offspring of, wisdom of, or radiance of” the Father (115).

5. God Who Sends God

Sanders argues that the missions and processions are vital “for distinguishing the persons of the Trinity” (122). In fact, the names given to the persons are given because of their connection with the missions. The missions reveal the distinctions between the persons, but these distinctions must be eternal, so the missions must reveal the processions. It is for this reason that the concepts of eternal generation and eternal spiration are helpful. Sanders draws on Shedd to argue that these concepts are not extra-biblical speculation but are, in fact, derived from the names, Father, Son, and Spirit. For the Father to be the Father, he must have eternally begetted the son; for the Son to be the Son, he must be eternally begotten; for the Spirit to be the Spirit, he must have been eternally spiriated. Sanders said that Shedd’s observations are not purely grammatical, but recognize also the way the missions reveal the eternal processions.

Sanders also finds the concept of eternal processions helpful because it means that God is eternally active internally and not merely externally. This protects God’s aseity. If God were only active externally, he would need creation in order to be active.

Sanders further argues that this approach is necessary: “Our argument began in chapter 4 with the claim that the canon of Scripture is a unified story centered on the definitive self-disclosure of God as Trinity when the Father sends the Son and the Holy Spirit. We then traced, here in chapter 5, the argument that those missions reveal processions, which are internal actions of God that constitute the divine life in itself, in distinction from God’s free outward actions toward creation. Because this is the actual basis of the doctrine of the Trinity, we must clarify its character as an ultimate claim. It does not // constitute merely an angle of approach, perhaps one among others, to a doctrine that can be viewed from many angles. God sends God for our salvation, making known to us that God is the kind of God who can do so. Trinitarian theology has other kinds of arguments and analyses to correlate with this central claim, but unless this central claim is true, there is no good reason for believing that God has revealed himself as he truly is through the missions of the Son and Holy Spirit” (133-34).

Sanders then moves to a discussion of the term person. Sanders notes, “We cannot safely start any phase of Trinitarian theology by subjecting the term person to analysis and deriving information from that analysis. We must always return to the generative dynamics that resulted in our talking of persons in God” (142). He leads readers to James Ussher’s definition: “A person of the Trinity, Ussher says, ‘is whole God, not simply or absolutely considered, but by way of some personal Properties. It is a manner of being in the Godhead, or a distinct subsistence (not a Quality, as some have wickedly imagined: // For no Quality can cleave to the Godhead) having the whole Godhead in it.’ They are called ‘persons’ because they have ‘proper things to distinguish them,’ and these distinctions are made ‘not in nature, but in relation and order.'” (143-44).

Sanders closes the chapter with a critique of the terminology of economic and immanent trinity. He notes that the terminology came from an unorthodox source, that Rahner’s Rule sought to guard the terminology from being pressed in an unorthodox direction, but that it has not been entirely successful. Sanders would not ban the use of the terminology, but he seems to argue that it should be used sparingly and carefully.

6. Trinitarian Exegesis

Sanders begins this chapter by making the case that the Trinity is a biblical doctrine even though it is not articulated explicitly in Scripture. This part of the chapter is a pretty standard Christian argument that has been made, and continues to be made, since the time of the early church.

In the next part of the chapter Sanders deals with the difficult reality that the exegetical arguments of the church fathers are not always considered valid by the standards of modern exegesis. Some of the problem, as Sanders indicates, is with modernist exegetical assumptions. But some of the problem also lies with illegitimate exegetical moves made by the fathers. Sanders appreciates what the Fathers were trying to do, and he approaches their exegesis with generosity. But he does not think that that exegesis should be replicated. With this in view, Sanders rebuts the charge that Trinitarians have a preconceived doctrine that they will find Scriptural proof for in whatever way they can.

Sanders also addresses different ways that theologians can demonstrate the doctrine of the Trinity. One approach is the piecemeal proof, which is exemplified by Augustus Strong:

1. In Scripture there are three who are recognized as God.

2. These three are so described in Scripture that we are compelled to conceive of them as distinct persons.

3. This tripersonality of the divine nature is not merely economic and temporal, but is immanent and eternal.

4. This tripersonality is not tritheism, for while there are three persons, there is but one essence.

5. The three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—are equal.

6. Inscrutable yet not self-contradictory, this doctrine furnishes the key to all other doctrines. (173)

Sanders recognizes the legitimacy of this approach, but he argues that it is in danger of minimizing or obscuring the eternal processions of Son and Spirit. In fact, he notes that Warfield, who adopted this approach ended up denying the eternal processions.

7. New Covenant Attestation

Sanders points out that the Apostles’ Creed is actually a Trinitarian account of the life of Christ. He uses this as a starting point for tracing the Trinitarian shape of Christ’s earthly ministry as presented in the Gospels. He emphasizes that the Gospel of John is especially important for beginning to give shape to the doctrine of the Trinity. Though Trinitarinism is latent in the Synoptics, John “formulated the story of Jesus in ways most obviously congenial to dogmatic exposition” (193, n. 4). Sanders then turns to the importance of Jesus’s baptism and the threefold name in the Great Commission for Trinitarian theology before concluding the chapter by demonstrating that Trinitarian theology is presupposed everywhere by Paul in his letters even if it is not the topic of his teaching.

8. Old Covenant Adumbration

Sanders, in the penultimate chapter, comes to the Old Testament shadows of the Trinity. This order is deliberate. Sanders is concerned that when theologians begin their treatment of the Trinity with the Old Testament with the Old Testament evidence, they end up presenting their weakest evidence first.

Key to seeing the Trinity in the Old Testament is rereading the book through New Testament eyes. Just as when the best novels are be reread and earlier scenes have greater because of the reader’s knowledge of what will come, so also the Old Testament, read in the knowledge of the New has greater depths with regard to the Trinity. Sanders argues that one of the best ways to see the Trinity in the Old Testament is to look at how the New Testament uses the Old. Another approach is to layer up Old Testament predictions regarding the Son and the Spirit. For instance, the Old Testament creates an expectation for “a messianic son, a suffering servant, a prophet greater than Moses, and the Lord himself.” The New Testament reveals these expectations are all met in Jesus. By carefully attending to these Old Testament passages read together, evidence for the Trinity emerges from the Old Testament. Finally, Sanders commends what he calls prosoponic exegesis. That is, from the perspective of the New Testament identifying who is speaking/being spoken to in Old Testament texts (e.g., The LORD said to my Lord). One strategy that Sanders is skeptical of is Christophanies. He is hesitant to tie these appearances to only one person of the Trinity.

Steinmann on Genesis in Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries

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Andrew Steinmann’s commentary on Genesis just released today, replacing Derek Kidner’s contribution in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. While Kidner is a classic, Steinmann is one of my favorite current Old Testament commentators. Based on the Look Inside the Book feature, I can see that he clearly defends the Mosaic authorship of Genesis, operates with an early date for the exodus, and defends the days of creation as actual days (in distinction from a framework/analogical day approach).