Theological Journals, Part 5: 8/25/2022

“The Fundamentals—A Testimony to the Truth, Vol. 3: “The Biblical Conception of Sin,” the Rev. Dr. Thomas Whitelaw of Kilmarnock, Scotland gives this spectacular quote, to wit: “It scarcely requires stating that modern ideas about sin receive no countenance from Scripture, which never speaks about sin as “good in the making,” as “the shadow east by man’s immaturity,” as “a necessity determined by heredity and environment,” as “a stage in the upward development of a finite being,” as a “taint adhering to man’s corporeal frame,” as a “physical disease,” “a mental infirmity,” “a constitutional weakness,” and least of all “as a figment of the imperfectly enlightened, or theologically perverted, imagination,” but always as the free act of an intelligent, moral and responsible being asserting himself against the will of his Maker, the supreme Ruler of the universe. That will the Bible takes for granted every person may learn, either from the law written on his own heart (<450115>Romans 1:15); or from the revelation furnished by God to mankind, first to the Hebrew Church in the Old Testament Scriptures, and afterwards to the Christian Church and through it to the whole world in the New Testament Gospels and Epistles. Hence, sin is usually described in the Sacred Volume by terms that indicate with perfect clearness its relation to the Divine will or law, and leaves no uncertainty as to its essential character” (9).

“The Fundamentals—A Testimony to the Truth, Vol. 4:” in “Modern Philosophy,” Attorney-at-Law, Philip Mauro comments on Colossians 2.8-10, the warnings against “vain philosophy” and “vain deceits” of the world, the only place in the Bible speaking against philosophy, the esteemed field of study.

“Theologians You Should Know: Apostolic Fathers to the 21^st Century,” Dr. Michael Reeves discusses Irenaeus’s Trinitarianism.

Princeton Theological Review (Vol.22, No.1, Spring 2007): in “Atonement and Empire: Reworking Christus Victor for Roman Imperial Context,” Dr. Matthew Forrest Lowe is giving Aulen’s views. Kingship, but what of Priesthood? Caveat lector.

Reformed Faith and Practice (May 2022): in “Geerhardus Vos and the Interpretation of Romans 1:3-4,” Dr. J. V. Fesko, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, gives William Plummer’s history of exegesis which is full and complete.

Concordia Theological Journal (January 2022), in “Scaer and Preuss on Justification,” the reviewer comments on Preuss’s adherence to Lutheran orthodoxy (1580-1715).

Journal of Theological Studies (Vol. 9, 1908): “Cephas and Christ” the Editor meanders around on Peter’s confession at Caesarea-Philippi.

Protestant Reformed Theological Journal 55,1 (Fall, 2021): in “The Perfectly Triune God,” Rev. Marco Barone is still talking of the covenant ad intra and ab extra, revealing Trinitarian life and redemption to the elect.

Themelios (Dec 2021): in “Ben Sira’s Canon Conscious Interpretive Strategies: His Narrative History and Realization of the Jewish Scriptures,” Peter Beckman (PhD candidate, U. of Ottawa) underscores Ben Sira’s adherence to the OT canon as normative and regulative.

Reformed Presbyterian Theological Journal (1837): the Editor offers a glorious introduction to our Catechism on prayer. What is it? Q. 98. What is prayer?
A. Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.