Debates rage over Paul's understanding of election in Romans 9–11. But is election really what Paul had in mind? Aaron Sherwood argues that this debate is foreign to Paul's purpose here. Paul primarily intended these passages to be a defense of God's covenantal faithfulness.In The Word of God Has Not Failed, Sherwood examines the first major passage of this section, Romans 9:6–20, giving special attention to the Old Testament Scriptures Paul used. It is vital to understand Paul's interpretation of these texts in order to understand the thrust of Paul's message. Sherwood shows how Paul viewed the rejection of the gospel by unbelieving Jews as idolatry, and the inclusion of believing Gentiles as a fulfillment of God's promises to Israel.

The Word of God Has Not Failed: Paul's Use of the Old Testament in Romans 9 (Studies in Scripture and Biblical Theology)

Religion & Spirituality

Aaron Sherwood

Christian Books & Bibles

Lexham Academic

The Psalms forced Martin Luther to change how he read the Bible. In Psalms of the Faithful Brian German shows us Luther's reappraisal of the plain sense of Scripture. By following the canonical shaping of the Psalter, Luther refined his interpretive principles into a more finely grained hermeneutic. Luther inspires us to read the Psalms empathetically with ancient Israelites and early church fathers. He stirs us up to join the “faithful synagogue” in praying to and praising the Lord our God. According to many scholars, Luther established his approach to biblical exegesis on the claim that Jesus Christ is Scripture's content and speaker. While Luther used this formulation in prefaces, how did he really read the Bible? German applies pressure not only to how Luther scholars understand Luther's interpretive method, but also to how modern biblical exegetes approach their task—and even to how we read the Bible.

Psalms of the Faithful: Luther's Early Reading of the Psalter in Canonical Context (Studies in Historical and Systematic Theology)

German, Brian T.

Jude calls believers to stand firm in their belief in Jesus' messiahship, even when various forms of rebellion occur around them. In this comprehensive volume, Herbert Bateman examines the historical, cultural, and literary context of Jude's letter, identifying the "godless" as Zealots and other Judaeans caught up in an insurgence against Rome. At the same time, the letter admonishes readers to extend mercy to those who inadvertently rebel against God, both inside and outside the church. The Evangelical Exegetical Commentary series incorporates the latest in critical biblical scholarship and is written from a distinctly evangelical perspective. Each comprehensive volume combines historical and literary explanations with insights for understanding the text within the Bible's larger story and applying it to everyday life.

Jude: Evangelical Exegetical Commentary (EEC)

Bateman IV, Herbert W.

The day of the Lord is not just a future event. Many people regard the day of the Lord as a future reality with little relevance for the earthly life of believers. But the apostle Paul understood the theological concept differently. For him the day of the Lord was a matter of present experience that influenced every aspect of his theology. In The Righteous and Merciful Judge, authors Matthew Aernie and Donald Hartley issue a corrective to scholarship that misconstrues the day of the Lord as only a distant event. Through engagement with scholarship and careful exegesis of relevant texts, they argue that the concept of the day of the Lord was so significant for Paul that every aspect of his theology was in some way affected by it. Aernie and Hartley show us that Paul's understanding of the day of the Lord relates to all of Paul's theology precisely because it was shaped by his encounter with Jesus, the Lord himself. The day of the Lord is coming, but it already shapes our lives and theology. The Righteous and Merciful Judge demonstrates that the day of the Lord is transformative and influential for believers today, just as it was for Paul.

The Righteous and Merciful Judge: The Day of the Lord in the Life and Theology of Paul (Studies in Scripture and Biblical Theology)

Aernie, Matthew D.

Hartley, Donald E.

How does God respond to trauma in a world full of horrors? Beyond their physical and emotional toll, the horrors of this world raise difficult theological and existential questions. Where is God in the darkest moments of the human experience? Is there any hope for recovery from the trauma generated by these horrors? There are no easy answers to these questions. In God of All Comfort, Scott Harrower addresses these questions head on. Using the Gospel of Matthew as a backdrop, he argues for a Trinitarian approach to horrors, showing how God―in his triune nature―reveals himself to those who have experienced trauma. He explores the many ways God relates restoratively with humanity, showing how God's light shines through the darkness of trauma.

God of All Comfort: A Trinitarian Response to the Horrors of This World (Studies in Historical and Systematic Theology)

Harrower, Scott

Isaiah's servant songs reveal a true and better Adam In Charged with the Glory of God, Caroline Batchelder provides a synchronic, theological, and canonical reading of the four Servant Songs in Isaiah (42:1-9; 49:1-13; 50:3-11; 52:13-53:12), showing how they relate to one another and the message of the prophetic book. Reading Isaiah as a compositional unity in conversation with other texts such as Genesis results in a coherent presentation of the mysterious servant. The polemic against idolatry reveals rebellious Israel to be false imagers of God. In contrast, Isaiah's servant is an ideal embodiment of Yahweh's image and likeness. Thus, the servant is a paradigm for those who wish to recapture and realize God's good creation purposes for all humanity. The servant poems are not only a call to reorient oneself as a servant towards God and his creation, but also a map and means for doing so. In this study, Batchelder offers fresh insights from Isaiah for understanding God's true image and its idolatrous counterfeits.

Charged with the Glory of God: Yahweh, the Servant, and the Earth in Isaiah 40–55 (Studies in Scripture and Biblical Theology)

Batchelder, Caroline

"Do not be anxious about anything." When it comes to stress and worry, that's all we really need to say, right? Just repent of your anxiety, and everything will be fine. But emotional life is more complex than this. In The Logic of the Body, Matthew LaPine argues that Protestants must retrieve theological psychology in order to properly understand the emotional life of the human person. With classical and modern resources in tow, LaPine argues that one must not choose between viewing emotions exclusively as either cognitive and volitional on the one hand, or simply a feeling of bodily change on the other. The two "stories" can be reconciled through a robustly theological analysis. In a culture filled with worry and anxiety, The Logic of the Body offers a fresh path within the Reformed tradition.

The Logic of the Body: Retrieving Theological Psychology (Studies in Historical and Systematic Theology)

Politics & Social Sciences

LaPine, Matthew A.

Philosophy

Must we be free to truly love? Evil is a theological problem for all Christians. When responding to objections that both evil and God can exist, many resort to a "free will defense," where God is not the creator of evil but of human freedom, by which evil is possible. This response is so pervasive that it is just as often assumed as it is defended. But is this answer biblically and philosophically defensible? In God Reforms Hearts, Thaddeus J. Williams offers a friendly challenge to the central claim of the free will defense--that love is possible only with true (or libertarian) free will. Williams argues that much thinking on free will fails to carve out the necessary distinction between an autonomous will and an unforced will. Scripture presents a God who desires relationship and places moral requirements on his often--rebellious creatures, but does absolute free will follow? Moreover, God's work of transforming the human heart is more thorough than libertarian freedom allows. With clarity, precision, and charity, Williams judges the merits and shortcomings of the relational free will defense while offering a philosophically and biblically robust alternative that draws from theologians of the past to point a way forward.

God Reforms Hearts: Rethinking Free Will and the Problem of Evil

Williams, Thaddeus

Christians should make disciples as disciples.\nChristians who are engaged in missions regularly face ethical challenges. But the approaches and standards of modern missions often further complicate, rather than alleviate, matters. Modern missiology debates what actions constitute mission work, how to measure growth, and the difference between persuasion and coercion. In Virtuous Persuasion, Michael Niebauer casts a holistic vision for Christian mission that is rooted in theological ethics and moral philosophy. Niebauer proposes a theology of mission grounded in virtue. Becoming a skilled missionary is more about following Christ than mastering techniques. Christian mission is best understood as specific activities that develop virtue in its practitioners and move them toward their ultimate goal of partaking in the glory of God. With Virtuous Persuasion, you can rethink the essence of Jesus's Great Commission and how we seek to fulfill it.

Virtuous Persuasion: A Theology of Christian Mission (Studies in Historical and Systematic Theology)

Niebauer, Michael

Ethics is freedom in Christ to pursue the good, true, and beautiful. Pastors regularly face concrete ethical questions. And they, too, pursue a moral life. In the busyness of ministry, it can be tempting to think pragmatically or derive one's ethics from the latest cultural concerns. But standard approaches to ethics, whether deontological, utilitarian, or virtue-ethical, all fall short of being distinctly Christian. Ethics ought to be grounded in the gospel and in our triune God. In Pastoral Ethics, W. Ross Hastings provides pastors an evangelical and trinitarian framework for moral formation and ethical discernment. For Hastings, ethics must be reclaimed as theological. Theology without ethics becomes gnosticism. Ethics without theology leads to legalism and death. Christian ethics participates in God's life and God's work. This communion with God leads to obedience to his commands as summed up in the Decalogue, and over several chapters Hastings provides a rich exposition for pastoral formation. Pastors find their identity in God, and this inspires right thinking and acting with regard to authority, life and death, sexuality, work and rest, speech, and desires. An approach to ethics that prompts faith, hope, and love, Pastoral Ethics is an essential guide for Christians in all ministry contexts.

Pastoral Ethics: Moral Formation as Life in the Trinity

Hastings, W. Ross

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