A Review of 40 Questions About Arminianism by J. Matthew Pinson, Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2022, 395 pages, paperback. Kregel’s “40 Questions About…” series has produced a number of notable books. I myself have reviewed 40 Questions About Biblical Theology and 40 Questions About Heaven and Hell. This book on Arminianism, or more accurately, Classical Arminianism, is written by the President of Welch College, a Freewill Baptist college in Tennessee. J. Matthew Pinson has degrees from Yale and Vanderbilt and is thoroughly …
Category: Articles
Part Seven The Return of Christ in Paul The earliest letters of Paul are the Epistle to the Galatians and the two Epistles to the Thessalonians (c. A.D. 48-50). Every attentive reader knows that the theme of the second coming is found in every chapter but one of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. The teaching also features strongly in 1 Corinthians 3 and 15; Philippians 3:20; the letter to Titus, and 1 and 2 Timothy. Different verbs are used for …
Part Thirteen The Eschatology of Covenant Theology (2) The millennial options available to those who filter their Bible interpretation through the Covenant of Grace are, Amillennialism; Postmillennialism; and, what is sometimes referred to as Covenant (or Historic) Premillennialism. These options will now be reviewed below. Option One: Amillennialism: Amillennialism is the eschatological viewpoint which, among other things, insists that there will be no literal thousand-year Messianic kingdom upon earth. Louis Berkhof admitted that the Amillennial point of view was, “as …
When it comes to the Pastoral Epistles there is a wealth of good choices. The top four in the following list are all excellent high-level works. I would personally go for Knight and Marshall if money were no object (although Mounce and Towner would be just fine). Some of these scholars dance around Paul’s clear statement preventing women from being preachers and teachers of men. I have marked such with a (w’) 1. George W. Knight III – Good at …
Part Twelve This and the next installment uses material from my article “The Eschatology of Covenant Theology,” originally published in the Journal of Dispensational Theology, 10:30 (Sep 2006). The Eschatology of Covenant Theology (1) As well as encompassing the explicit scriptural covenants like the Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, and New Covenants, due to its extensive character, the “Covenant of Grace” basically flattens out these more easily identifiable covenants and merges them into one. This can be seen in the following excerpt, …
Part Six When Christ Delivers Up the Kingdom to the Father There is a strategic passage in 1 Corinthians which bears upon both the eschatology and teleology of the Bible. That text is found in 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 and requires a little time to think through, although I will confess at the outset that the passage may act as an exemplar of the influence of theological predispositions in hermeneutics.[1] Because the thought is condensed it is easy to …
Part Eleven The Genius of Covenant Theology Now that I have given sufficient coverage of the main tenets of Covenant Theology and have inserted some critiques, I want to pause to appreciate the comprehensiveness of this approach. This comprehensiveness adds substantially to its appeal. Here then are my thoughts on what makes Covenant Theology so formidable and attractive. I divide my observations into four braid categories which consider its coherence, its teleology, its Christ-centeredness, and finally, its ability to address …
Part Ten The Scholars Versus the Theological Covenants So far I have tried to set out what Covenant Theology teaches in regards to its three major theological covenants. I have shown that variance exists, and have demonstrated how the covenant of grace is the grand operative in the system. We also saw that there are of necessity paedo-baptist and credo-baptist opinions about who is in the covenant of grace and about “Federalism” as well as about whether it is a …
Review of Herbert W. Bateman & William C. Varner, James: An Exegetical Guide for Preaching and Teaching, Big Greek Idea Series, Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2022, hdbk, 320 pages. I received this book only recently. It got lost in the post. Because I am required to write the review now I am unable to give a full review. This attractive book, with its large pages and many tables and charts, is perhaps above the level of the average pastor who has …
Over the approximately thirty-five years I have been a Christian I have amassed a personal library of around four thousand volumes, most of which have been carefully selected works on particular topics. I have several older books from the early 19th Century such as an 1838 edition of Thomas Boston’s Human Nature in It’s Fourfold State, and a volume called The Beauties’ of Ebenezer Erskine from the same year. I have one or two noteworthy volumes like the the copy …
