Themelios 50.1

Curated by It’s That Part™ — Originally published by Faith and Proverbs on April 29, 2025 4:02 am.

The new spring 2025 issue of Themelios has 227 pages of editorials, articles, and book reviews. It’s freely available in three formats: (1) PDF, (2) web version, and (3) Logos Bible Software (coming soon).

1. Brian J. Tabb | Editorial: A Case for the Seminary Today

In this inaugural address as president of Bethlehem College and Seminary, Tabb contends that the seminary’s essential task, in partnership with the local church, is to equip faithful pastors to teach God’s Word and to lead God’s people.

2. Daniel Strange | Strange Times: Glorifying Service in Self-Obsessed Times

Reflecting on 1 Peter 4:10–11, Strange urges those finishing formal theological study to serve in such a way that people see and glorify Christ rather than drawing attention to ourselves as his servants.

3. Mark Saucy | The Future of Difference: Evangelicals and Gender Essentialism

Against a wider cultural narrative that now pathologizes even biologically determined differences between men and women, evangelicals respond with a theological anthropology grounded in the biblical texts. Saucy briefly traces the intellectual history of those determined to erase gender difference and, in contrast, proposes a biblical paradigm of difference based on the theology of the body and the relationality of the soul. A final section offers an analysis of evangelical egalitarianism and complementarianism against the culture’s paradigm and the proposed biblical account. Both sides make important contributions to the issue, but only one, appropriately modified, offers a way into the fullness of Scripture’s message that the church needs in our cultural moment.

4. Meagan Stedman | “Ancient Gnosticism in New Garb?” Gnostic Anthropology, Transgenderism, and a Response from Tertullian

A number of Christian scholars, such as Oliver O’Donovan and Nancy Pearcey, have compared the modern transgender movement with the ancient heresy of Gnosticism. While this comparison is a common one, it’s worth evaluating its validity. Examining the early church’s dialogue with Gnostic thought provides valuable insights into the validity of a comparison of ancient Gnosticism with the ideas behind transgenderism. A survey of ancient Gnostic sources, Tertullian’s work, and queer theory’s claims shows such a comparison is viable when properly nuanced. Therefore, Tertullian’s refutation of Gnostic thought has much to offer the contemporary church as it attempts to engage with the transgender movement.

5. Jonathan Ginn | The Tree of Life in the Book of Proverbs

This study seeks to discern what connection—if any—there might be between the uses of “tree of life” in Proverbs and Genesis 1–3. Ginn attempts, first, to understand how Solomon’s worldview has been shaped by the Torah and the Davidic covenant. Next, he considers all four occurrences of “tree of life” in Proverbs (3:18; 11:30; 13:12; 15:4) within their respective literary and structural contexts. Ultimately, he concludes that Solomon has employed “tree of life” to teach his son—the future Davidic king—the proper pathway toward reentering the Edenic experience of covenant life with Yahweh.

6. Donnie L. DeBord | Granted Life in Himself: Is It Plausible to See Eternal Generation in John 5:26?

Eternal generation once stood as a cornerstone of Christian theology, shaping our understanding of the Trinity, Christ, and salvation. Yet it faces the charge of lacking scriptural support. DeBord hopes to provide an exegetical examination of John 5:26 to see if the text does provide a firm grounding for the doctrine of eternal generation and how it could shape our understanding of the doctrine.

7. Todd R. Chipman | Faith and the Future: The Role of the Believer in the Gospel of John

John’s lexical and grammatical choices portray his vision for how believers should respond to God’s revelation in his Son. John uses the articular substantival participle in a way that can best be described as a role John would have believers embrace or reject to demonstrate their allegiance to Jesus. Effectively, these articular substantival participles are like roles in the Jesus drama. Chipman concludes that John’s description of the believer’s role portrays the quality of eternal life available to Jesus’s followers before natural death and the quantity of life they’ll enjoy with God after natural death. He argues that John’s now-and-forever framework of eternal life emboldens believers to testify of Jesus before natural death since they’re sure of what they’ll enjoy with him in eternity.

8. Michael S. Yu | Not I, But Christ: An Exploration of Galatians 2:17–20

In Galatians 2:15–21, the apostle Paul addresses the core issue of the epistle and sets forth his central thesis concerning the “truth of the gospel.” While justification by faith figures prominently in the passage, to some interpreters Paul appears to shift his emphasis in verses 17–20 toward other theological matters. This article offers a reading of Galatians 2:17–20 that keeps forensic concerns at the forefront of Paul’s thinking and suggests justification is his consistent focus throughout Galatians 2:15–21. Such an interpretation also coheres with the priority of the forensic principle in the apostle’s soteriology.

9. Phil Thompson | A Taxonomy of Interpretations for Colossians 1:24

Interpreters need a systematic taxonomy for interpreting Colossians 1:24, a pivotal yet challenging passage in Colossians. One’s interpretation of this verse holds vast implications for Pauline studies and New Testament studies. Existing interpretive frameworks provide limited help, but a conceptual matrix that modifies the approach of Jacob Kremer provides a better approach for mapping existing and future interpretations of the verse. This taxonomy plots interpretations along two axes: literal/historical versus spiritual/ongoing lack, and internal/personal versus external/corporate goals. If successful, this taxonomy will help future interpreters speak with far greater clarity about their positions and the positions of others.

10. Isaac Tuttle | Slavery, Submission, and Separate Spheres: Robert Dabney and Charles Hodge on the Submission of Wives and Enslaved People

Robert Dabney and Charles Hodge were two of the most influential Presbyterian theologians of 19th-century America. Tuttle provides a comparative analysis of how they each thought about submission in the institutions of marriage and slavery. As a theologian, professor, and Confederate chaplain, Dabney developed stringent arguments for both slavery and patriarchy, wedding them in his defense of hierarchy and the social order. The Princeton theology professor Hodge represents a moderate approach to the questions of both slavery and marital relations, but his nuance didn’t prevent him from slipping into the cultural assumptions of his day.

11. Ryan Currie | Christ Existing as Church-Community: Bonhoeffer’s Ecclesiology and Religionless Christianity

Bonhoeffer’s theology is well known for generating many contradictory interpretations. This is especially the case for his concept of “religionless Christianity.” Currie argues that the religionless Christianity of Letters and Papers from Prison must be understood in light of Bonhoeffer’s theology of sin and ecclesiology. Bonhoeffer’s theology of the church presented in his earlier academic works provides the interpretive key to understanding what he wrote later in his life. Currie presents Bonhoeffer’s theological sociology of humanity in Adam (peccatorum communio) and the community of the church (sanctorum communio) to offer an interpretation of his religionless Christianity. Bonhoeffer’s ecclesiology is both theologically and practically rich and worthy of consideration, but evangelicals should be cautious of areas where Bonhoeffer was influenced by the liberalism of his day.

12. Greg Palys | Pastoral Pensées: Cut Off Your Hand, Save Your Soul: How the Outer Self Affects the Inner Self in the Fight Against Lust

Prayer, Scripture memory, and Scripture meditation are essential strategies for battling lust. Yet Christ’s stark commands to cut off a hand and tear out an eye reveal the role our outer selves play in the fight against lust. These commands identify that our outer selves aren’t merely a means by which we externalize lust but are also a means by which we can either inflame or dampen lust. Matthew 5:27–30 invites us to cut off touchpoints with temptation and to expect this will diminish lust, thereby aiding the paramount work of inward heart change.

Featured Book Reviews: