Selected Reading, January 29, 2022

 

A few covid and politics free reading suggestions for you.

Bible Interpretation

Context Matters: Moses’ Shining Face
Why did Moses veil his face after he came down from the mountain with a shining face? What was going on? What can we learn from a careful reading of the text? I’d never heard this explanation, but it makes a lot of sense of the story as told to us in scripture. What do you think? (This isn’t a new piece, but I just recently found it.)

Christian History

Medieval Christian Brides
From Simonetta Carr, a look at the lives of three medieval Christian wives married off to unbelievers.

The biblical rule of not marrying unbelievers wasn’t always binding in the first centuries of Christianity, especially when it came to the nobility. Priority was given to political concerns and family alliances. And, at a time when rulers determined the religion of their people, church leaders encouraged the Christian wives who found themselves in high places to work toward the conversion of their husbands.

Marriage to an unbelieving husband was frequently viewed as a mission—missionary marriage, I guess.

Classic Fiction

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
I read a novel from each of the three Bronte sister authors in 2021. I’ve already linked to the first two—Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I finished the Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Emily Bronte in December. I’d say it’s way better than Wuthering Heights, which was much too weird for me, and almost as good as Jane Eyre, which I highly recommended. It has some interesting themes—heavy drinking and domestic abuse, to name two. It also seems to promote universal salvation, which might annoy some of you, I suppose. I mostly ignored those parts.

Theological Term of the Week: Eternal Sonship of Christ

eternal sonship 
The teaching that the second person of the Trinity has existed eternally as the Son, so that the relationship between God the Father and God the Son has always been a Father-Son relationship. 

• From scripture:

  … but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world … . (Hebrews 1:2, ESV)

  But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law … . (Galatians 4:4 ESV)  

• From the Belgic Confession:
  

  Article 10: That Jesus Christ is true and eternal God.

  We believe that Jesus Christ, according to his divine nature, is the only begotten Son of God, begotten from eternity, not made nor created (for then he should be a creature), but co-essential and co-eternal with the Father, the express image of his person, and the brightness of his glory, equal unto him in all things. He is the Son of God, not only from the time that he assumed our nature, but from all eternity, as these testimonies, when compared together, teach us. Moses saith, that God created the world; and John saith, that all things were made by that Word, which he calleth God. And the apostle saith, that God make the worlds by his Son; likewise, that God created all things by Jesus Christ. Therefore it must needs follow, that he, who is called God, the Word, the Son, and Jesus Christ, did exist at that time, when all things were created by him. Therefore the prophet Micah saith, His goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. And the apostle: He hath neither beginning of days, nor end of life. He therefore is that true, eternal, and almighty God, whom we invoke, worship and serve.And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. 

• From In Understanding Be Men by T.C. Hammond, page 96:

  A modern opinion, which has received a certain amount of credence among some Christians, contends that the term ‘Son’ is applicable only to our Lord’s human nature, and therefore it is incorrect to say that He was eternally the only begotten Son of God. It is contended that the Logos was eternal, but that the Logos became a Son only when He was incarnate of the blessed virgin Mary. There is one passage of Scripture that seems to directly contradict this opinion. Hebrews 1:8 reads: ‘But of the Son he says, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.”’ And indeed the language in the first chapter of St. John’s Gospel points in the same direction. Speaking of the Logos, John says ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father’, where the term ‘Logos’ and the term ‘the only Son’ are applied to the same person without any suggestion that there is a period of time in which one term would not be applicable.

  Opinions of this sort need to be strenuously resisted because, however unintentionally, they disparage the authority which attaches to the Person of the Son of God.

Learn more:

1. Got Questions.org: What is the doctrine of eternal Sonship and is it biblical?
2. Theopedia: Eternal Sonship of Jesus
3. Kevin DeYoung: Primer: Eternal Sonship
4. Sam Waldron: A Defence of the Doctrine of the Eternal Sonship

Related terms:

• adoptionism
• Arianism
• deity of Christ
• eternal generation of the Son
• Trinity

Filed under Trinity

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Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.

Sunday's Hymn: Come, Ye Souls by Sin Afflicted

Come, ye souls by sin afflicted,
Bowed with fruitless sorrow down;
By the broken law convicted,
Through the cross behold the crown;
Look to Jesus;
Mercy flows through him alone.

Take his easy yoke and wear it;
Love will make obedience sweet;
Christ will give you strength to bear it,
While his wisdom guides your feet
Safe to glory,
Where his ransomed captives meet.

Blessed are the eyes that see him,
Blest the ears that hear his voice;
Blessed are the souls that trust him,
And in him alone rejoice:
His commandments
Then become their happy choice.

Sweet as home to pilgrim’s weary,
Light to newly opened eyes,
Or full springs in deserts dreary,
Is the rest the cross supplies:
All who taste it
Shall to rest immortal rise.

 —Jo­seph Swain

Other hymns of worship songs for this Sunday:

• Mine Eyes Shall Behold Him at The Happy Wonderer