Themelios 1:3

by The Gospel Coalition

Publisher:

Gospel Coalition

, 1976

Overview

Themelios is an international evangelical theological journal that expounds and defends the historic Christian faith. Its primary audience is theological students and pastors, though scholars read it as well. It was formerly a print journal operated by RTSF/UCCF in the United Kingdom, and it became a digital journal operated by The Gospel Coalition in 2008. The new editorial team, led by D.A. Carson, seeks to preserve representation, in both essayists and reviewers, from both sides of the Atlantic. Each issue contains articles on important theological themes, as well as book reviews and discussion—from the most important evangelical voices of our time.

• Shalom: Content For a Slogan, by David Gillett
• Jesus Christ Frees, by Nairobi Baptist Church
• The Meaning of Man in the Debate Between Christianity and Marxism, Part 2, by Andrew Kirk
• Nairobi 1975: A Crisis of Faith for the WCC, by Bruce Nicholls

Contents

Top Highlights

“Etymologically, shalom is a multi-coloured word. The root meaning is ‘to be whole, uninjured, undivided’, and it is used in an enormous variety of ways from describing everyday things of domestic life to the most profound religious expectations. At its most basic it describes general well-being, a wholly satisfactory condition (Gn. 15:15; 26:29; Ex. 18:23; Jdg. 19:20; 1 Sa. 16:5; 2 Sa. 18:28; Is. 55:12; Je. 34:5; etc.). It is used of bodily health (Ps. 38:3; 73:3; Is. 57:18f.),⁸ as a greeting (Gn. 29:6; 43:27; 1 Sa. 6:14f.), and as a word of salvation (Is. 54:10; 60:17; Je. 29:11; Ezk. 34:25).” (Page 82)

“I believe that shalom has a valid and necessary place in any biblical understanding of salvation and mission; the urgent need, therefore, is to rescue it from further devaluation as an all-embracing slogan which is either misleading or almost contentless.” (Page 81)

“A very influential answer, that has gained wide acceptance during the last decade, is the idea that ‘the goal of mission is the establishment of shalom’.” (Page 80)

“Shalom is a future eschatological hope, not a practical political possibility for the present. As the eschatological goal of our mission, shalom in all its aspects must be the model of our activity. It is the direction in which God is going; it must also be the concept which inspires our evangelistic, political and social activity. But if we replace our future eschatological hope with some mere political programme of the present we shall be false prophets in our generation. It is true that the social and political are as much part of shalom (and hence salvation) as the spiritual, but all alike are part of an eschatological expectation and therefore realizable only imperfectly in the here and now.” (Page 84)

Product Details

• Title: Themelios 1:3
• General Editor: D. A. Carson
• Consulting Editor: Carl R. Trueman
• Managing Editor: Charles Anderson
• Administrator: Andrew David Naselli
• Publisher: The Gospel Coalition
• Publication Date: 1976
• Pages: 30

About The Gospel Coalition

Brian J. Tabb (PhD, London Theological Seminary) is academic dean at Bethlehem College & Seminary and an elder of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He also serves as managing editor for Themelios, published by the Gospel Coalition, and is the author of Suffering in Ancient Worldview.

D.A. Carson is a research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He has been at Trinity since 1978. Carson came to Trinity from the faculty of Northwest Baptist Theological Seminary in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he also served for two years as academic dean. He has served as an assistant pastor and pastor and has done itinerant ministry in Canada and the United Kingdom. Carson received a bachelor of science in chemistry from McGill University, the master of divinity from Central Baptist Seminary in Toronto, and the doctor of philosophy in New Testament from the University of Cambridge. Carson is an active guest lecturer in academic and church settings around the world. He holds membership on the Council for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. Carson has also written many books that have garnered international acclaim, including his award-winning title The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism.

Daniel Strange is academic vice president and lecturer in culture, religion, and public theology at Oak Hill College, London. He is the author or coauthor of several other books, including The Possibility of Salvation Among the Unevangelised: An Analysis of Inclusivism in Recent Evangelical Theology.