Themelios is an international, evangelical, peer-reviewed theological journal that expounds and defends the historic Christian faith. Themelios is published three times a year online at The Gospel Coalition (http://thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/) and in print by Wipf and Stock. Its primary audience is theological students and pastors, though scholars read it as well. Themelios began in 1975 and was operated by RTSF/UCCF in the UK, and it became a digital journal operated by The Gospel Coalition in 2008. The editorial team draws participants from across the globe as editors, essayists, and reviewers. General Editor: D. A. Carson, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Managing Editor: Brian Tabb, Bethlehem College and Seminary Consulting Editor: Michael J. Ovey, Oak Hill Theological College Administrator: Andrew David Naselli, Bethlehem College and Seminary Book Review Editors: Jerry Hwang, Singapore Bible College; Alan Thompson, Sydney Missionary & Bible College; Nathan A. Finn, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; Hans Madueme, Covenant College; Dane Ortlund, Crossway; Jason Sexton, Golden Gate Baptist Seminary Editorial Board: Gerald Bray, Beeson Divinity School Lee Gatiss, Wales Evangelical School of Theology Paul Helseth, University of Northwestern, St. Paul Paul House, Beeson Divinity School Ken Magnuson, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Jonathan Pennington, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary James Robson, Wycliffe Hall Mark D. Thompson, Moore Theological College Paul Williamson, Moore Theological College Stephen Witmer, Pepperell Christian Fellowship Robert Yarbrough, Covenant Seminary
Paul’s use of Deuteronomy 30 in Romans 10 has puzzled interpreters and led to many divergent readings. In this book, Smothers argues that what Paul has found in Deuteronomy 30:11–14 is a prophetic promise of righteousness which he declares fulfilled in the gospel of the Lord Jesus, the message of the righteousness of faith. By quoting Deuteronomy 30:12–14 in Romans 10 as the content of the message of the righteousness of faith over against Leviticus 18:5 and the righteousness of the law in Romans 10:5–8, Paul proclaims a promise fulfilled in accord with the original meaning of the text written by Moses in Deuteronomy. More precisely, Paul reads Deuteronomy 30:11–14 as an extension of the reality foretold in Deuteronomy 30:1–10, which points forward to the new covenant experience of faith-empowered obedience, or heart circumcision, which includes the internalization of the word of God—the eschatological torah—by the Spirit of God.
Readers of Paul today are more than ever aware of the importance of interpreting Paul’s letters in their Jewish context. In Reading Romans in Context a team of Pauline scholars go beyond a general introduction that surveys historical events and theological themes and explore Paul’s letter to the Romans in light of Second Temple Jewish literature. In this non-technical collection of short essays, beginning and intermediate students are given a chance to see firsthand what makes Paul a distinctive thinker in relation to his Jewish contemporaries. Following the narrative progression of Romans, each chapter pairs a major unit of the letter with one or more thematically related Jewish text, introduces and explores the theological nuances of the comparative text, and shows how these ideas illuminate our understanding of the book of Romans.
Taking 2 Cor 3:6 as its starting point, the new and updated essays here assembled investigate the key passages in Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, and Philippians in which the covenant content and eschatological context of Paul's theology interpret one another. Developed over thirty years, Scott Hafemann's close reading of Paul's arguments, with an eye toward their OT/Jewish milieu, also advances the larger thesis that the various Israel/church, works/faith, and justification/judgment polarities in Paul's thinking do not represent a material contrast between a "law-way" and a "gospel-way" of relating to God. Rather, they epitomize an eschatological contrast between the character of God's people within the two eras of salvation history in which, by virtue of the Messiah and the Spirit, the Torah of the "old covenant" is now being kept in the "new."
This volume is the most extensive of its kind as a major set of collected essays from a wide range of scholars on the question of the promises of God to Israel. These essays put forward the position that unconditional promises were given to Israel, which have not been fulfilled in the church or any other entity. At the consummation, there will be a continuing role for the Jews, realized through their national and territorial hope of a restored-redeemed Israel. This volume contains an eclectic group of contributors who have reached this position from various approaches to interpretation. The essays exhibit both positive argumentation and engagement with supersessionist literature.
This book presents two new proposals regarding Paul’s Letter to the Romans. First, with regard to the structure of the letter, it demonstrates how each of the four main sections of the letter is comprised of a series of microchiastic units arranged in a macrochiastic pattern. The delineation of these structures facilitates the demonstration of the second new proposal, namely, that worship is a key theme of the letter. The theme of worship, both liturgical and ethical, streams through the letter from beginning to end. The letter’s theme of worship is closely associated with its themes of hope and glory. In and through the letter Paul calls on believers, made righteous with God from the faith that engenders an absolutely assured hope, to worship in hope of the glory of God, in hope of attaining the glory of the immortal God for which they were created, the glory of the divine life eternal of the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans has been described as the theological epistle par excellence. Paul emphasizes that salvation is by God's grace alone and that freedom, hope, and the gift of righteousness are secured through Christ's death and resurrection. In this Tyndale Commentary, David Garland offers clear guidance along the rewarding, though sometimes difficult, paths of this great letter.
The Letter to the Romans explains the way Paul thought Jewish covenantal identity continued now that the messianic era had begun. More particularly, Paul addresses the relevance of Abraham for Jews and gentiles, the role of Torah, and the way it is contextualized in Christ. All too often, however, these topics are read in supersessionist ways. This book argues that such readings are unpersuasive. It offers instead a post-supersessionist perspective in which Jewish covenantal identity continues in Paul’s gospel. Paul is no destroyer of worlds. The aim of this book is to offer a different view of the key interpretive points that lead to supersessionist understandings of Paul’s most important letter. It draws on the findings of those aligned with the Paul within Judaism paradigm and accents those findings with a light touch from social identity theory. When combined, these resources help the reader to hear Romans afresh, in a way that allows both Jewish and non-Jewish existing identities continued relevance.