Ecclesia Reformanda 1, 2 (2009)

I received my copy of the second issue of Ecclesia Reformanda, ‘a new print journal for pastors, theological students, and scholars, that seeks to serve the Church in its ongoing reformation according to God’s Word’.

The contents are as follows:

Neil G.T. Jeffers
‘And Their Children After Them’: A Response to Reformed Baptist Readings of Jeremiah’s New Covenant Promises
The promise of the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34 is a key text in the infant baptism debate. For Baptists, it describes the discontinuity between Old and New Covenants, highlighting in particular the individual, unbreakable, more subjective nature of the new. While paedobaptists often respond defensively, Jeremiah 32:37-41, where this promise is echoed with the important addition ‘for their own good and the good of their children after them’, suggests the Old Covenant principle of family solidarity may remain in place. This article re-examines the Baptist argument, and suggests closer exegesis shows that even Jeremiah 31 still includes children in the New Covenant.

Paul White
An Intertextual Analysis of Romans 2:1-16
We contend that Paul consciously alludes to Deuteronomy 9-10; 29-30 and to Jeremiah 31:30-34 in Romans 2:1-16. These allusions shape and inform Paul’s discourse and, therefore, provide a new approach to old exegetical questions, such as, the rhetorical nature of vv. 6-11 and whether vv. 13-16 refer to ‘Gentile Christians’. On the basis of our intertextual approach we assert that: (1) Romans 2 is essentially covenantal in concern, (2) vv. 6-11 are not hypothetical, and (3) vv. 13-16 refer to ‘Gentile Christians’.

Marc Lloyd
What the Bible Says, God Says: B.B. Warfield’s Doctrine of Scripture
B.B. Warfield’s writings continue to provide a highly influential Reformed Evangelical doctrine of Scripture that is faithful to the historic Christian view of the Bible. Warfield seeks to present the Bible’s own doctrine of Scripture. His conviction that what the Bible says, God says is grounded on the plenary verbal inspiration of Scripture which guarantees its inerrancy. Particular consideration is given to the mode of inspiration and the humanity of the Bible. Following the Westminster divines, Warfield argues for the necessity, clarity, sufficiency, preservation and translation of Scripture. The Bible mediates relationship with Christ and is God speaking to the believer.

David Batchelor
Trinitarian Telos: Tracing Some Theological Links from God’s Triunity to Christian Eschatology
Drawing on the work of Peter Leithart and Robert Jenson, this article demonstrates that Christian eschatology is inescapably founded on the doctrine of God’s triunity. The basis for many of the ‘systems’ used by Christian eschatology is found antecedently within the triunity of God’s being. The divine activity within the economy by which creation is being directed towards its glorious climax is trinitarian at every turn, as is the shape of God’s ultimate end-goal for creation – permanently differentiated (triune and human) persons united in love within the Totus Christus, by which the saints participate in the triune Life.

Book Reviews