Thomas Jefferson: A Biography of Spirit and Flesh: An Interview with Thomas S. Kidd

By / Jul 4

Thomas S. Kidd serves as research professor of Church History at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. His latest book, Thomas Jefferson: A Biography of Spirit and Flesh (Yale University Press, 2022), is a revelatory new biography of Thomas Jefferson, focusing on his ethical and spiritual life.

Timothy Larsen said of the book, “Set aside everything you think you know about Thomas Jefferson and religion, and read this book.”

Russell Moore said, “In this long-awaited book, Thomas Kidd, one of the world’s most respected historians, portrays for us a compellingly complicated human being- who through both genius and will, and despite grave flaws, gave us a country we could not recognize apart from him.”

Karen Swallow Prior also commented, “I don’t know a scholar more able than Thomas Kidd to bring breadth, depth, and moral clarity to a treatment of a figure as significant and complicated as Thomas Jefferson- and to do so with vivid, compelling prose that will engage a broad audience of readers.”

James Byrd said that this book “will make an outstanding contribution to scholarship on Jefferson.”

Kevin R.C. Gutzman also stated, “Thomas Kidd gives us the Thomas Jefferson we need right now.”

Recently, Dr. Kidd joined us to answer a few questions about his latest book.

BF: As you state, your latest book is a “narrative of Jefferson’s moral universe more than a traditional biography.” What prompted you to take on Thomas Jefferson as your latest subject and to discuss him from this angle?

TK: There has been increasing controversy in recent years about the Founding Fathers generally, and Jefferson specifically, much of which has to do with moral questions. Many wonder how to reconcile the Jefferson who said that slavery was wrong, and who wrote that “all men are created equal,” with the Jefferson who owned hundreds of people as slaves. “Hypocrisy” is an easy and somewhat deserved reaction to Jefferson’s inconsistency, but I don’t think hypocrisy is a very helpful answer historically when trying to understand the enigma of Jefferson’s beliefs and contradictory life. In this book, I hope I offer a genuinely new approach by trying to understand how Jefferson’s religious and ethical views synced with how he actually lived.

In the book, you describe several tensions in Jefferson’s life. What are some of these tensions, and how do you hope readers will respond to hearing the story of Jefferson’s ethical life?

The most familiar tension is between Jefferson’s belief in God-given equality, and his deep investment in the enslavement of African Americans. A related tension is Jefferson’s constant touting of the virtue of frugality, or living within one’s means, and the disastrous state of his personal finances. Finally – and the one that may be of most interest to the Midwestern Seminary community – is Jefferson’s virtual obsession with the Bible, and his brazen deletion of the miraculous content from the Gospels in the “Jefferson Bible.”

I hope that when confronting as perplexing a character as Jefferson, readers will steer clear both of patriotic apologetics, and of today’s temptation to cancel those in our national past who have manifest failings and sins. It’s much better, I think, to ponder (in Jefferson’s case) how someone who did terrible things could also be used for great good in American history, most notably his articulation of our God-given rights and equality, and his championing of religious liberty.

Jefferson’s religious beliefs often did not help him politically. His convictions even led him to cut out sections from the New Testament to form the “Jefferson Bible.” Can you tell us more about the origins of the Jefferson Bible, and how Jefferson’s contradictory spiritual convictions can serve as a warning for Christians today?

 A lot of Bible readers implicitly cut out parts of Scripture they don’t like. But Jefferson literally did so, with scissors. He was an early example of what became “higher criticism” of Scripture, or the assumption that some parts of the Bible are erroneous, unreliable, or are later additions. Jefferson’s Jesus became a great teacher of ethics, but not the resurrected Son of God. The warning here is that as soon as we place our own standards of reason above any part of the Word of God, we are on a slippery slope.

As you’ve mentioned, Thomas Jefferson can serve as a needed example for us today. What are some of the other ways, possibly missed in a traditional biography, that Jefferson’s ethical life can give us lessons for our current cultural moment?

One of our biggest cultural challenges is knowing what to do with historical figures who were once widely revered, such as Jefferson, but who engaged in behavior we see as appalling and immoral, such as enslaving people. Somehow we have to be able to clearly repudiate these actions, while also not casually assuming that we are morally superior because we denounce (or cancel) such people. A proper Christian reaction to the terrible failings of people in history is sober humility, not pride or “virtue signaling.”

 

Editor’s Note: Thomas Jefferson: A Biography of Spirit and Flesh is now available for purchase.



The Holy Spirit and Human Flourishing

By / Jun 16

As human beings, we are most fully embodied and in our proper place when we are in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit. Thus, there is no path toward true and lasting human flourishing apart from God’s indwelling Spirit.

The Bad News: Let’s Rehearse!
Our sin, being the beast that it is (Gen 4:7), has corrupted our bodies and left deep wounds on our souls. “Claiming to be wise, [we] became fools” and severed the relationship between ourselves and the true Source of human flourishing – God (Rom 1:22). Moreover, just as Israel wandered aimlessly throughout the wilderness for forty years, so we wander through the desert of our lives and foolishly attempt to fill our hearts with all that is not God.

In Jeremiah 2:13, God describes our tragedy: “My people have committed a double evil: they have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves – cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.” Unless our thirst for God is filled, we are destined to die both physically and spiritually, with mouths full of sand.

At this point, someone might think, When will you stop being so negative? Why can’t you see the good in people? To which I joyfully respond, Oh, friend, have you never tasted the goodness of God? Have you never truly lived? Let me explain: it is only because I have tasted the bitterness of sin and felt the weight of sin’s consequences that I have been able to give myself over to an eternal binge on the never-ending, all-satisfying feast that is God himself.

Such is the joy of every Christian, a joy which becomes all the more sweeter when we set our minds on the fact that God has decided to take up his residence in our weak, dust-fashioned bodies.

The Good News: The Spirit as Signal of New Creation
In Galatians 4:6, the Apostle Paul says that “God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts.” So, not only is God with us—He is in us! More specifically, He is in “our hearts.” Here are a few other texts which demonstrate this awesome reality:

  • “On that day you will know that I am in the Father, you are in me, and I am in you.” (John 14:20)
  • “You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.” (Rom 8:9)
  • “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Col 3:4)

You see, we humans were designed to be in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit, which is to say that we were designed to be God-in-dwelt creatures. This is what God intended from the very beginning when he breathed his “breath” – the same Hebrew word for ‘Spirit’ – into Adam, causing Adam to become “a living being” (1 Cor 15:45; cf Gen 2:7). Moreover, through Christ’s sin-atoning death, sinful humanity has been re-positioned to receive God’s life-giving breath, “the promised Spirit through faith” (Gal 3:13-14). In Christ, rebellious sinners are transformed into holy saints and thereby crafted into a fit dwelling place for God’s Spirit (Eph 2:22).

This is why Jesus, after his resurrection, breathed on the disciples. This is strange, is it not? To be breathed on by the Son of God? With the biblical narrative in mind, particularly the opening chapters of Genesis, this was a perfectly fitting thing for Christ to enact upon the disciples. As God breathed his Spirit into Adam at the beginning of the old creation, so Christ, the Word made flesh, breathed his Spirit into the new humanity at the beginning of God’s new creation. Thus, Paul explains, “If anyone is in Christ–new creation! The old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” (2 Cor 5:17).

The Holy Spirit: Our Proper Place
Consider how one ancient theologian and church father, St. Basil the Great, describes God’s indwelling Spirit: “The Spirit is truly the place of the saints, and the saint is the proper place for the Holy Spirit, as he offers himself for indwelling with God and is called a temple of God” (On the Holy Spirit, 101). In other words, to be truly human, to inhabit our true and “proper place,” we must be indwelt by God’s Spirit.

Apart from the indwelling of the Spirit, we humans are like empty tombs, wandering to and fro. We are, in the words of Augustine, “restless until we find our rest in Him.” On the other hand, when we receive the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ, we are brought from death to life and set back in our proper place — the place of God’s dwelling! By the Spirit, therefore, Christians are able to enter the fullness of God’s design for humanity. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control,” wrote Paul (Gal 5:22-23). And if that’s not true human flourishing, then I don’t know what is!

There’s a lot of talk of human “place” and “embodiment” these days. As I hope to have made clear, Christians would be gravely remiss to leave God’s indwelling Spirit out of that conversation. After all, God himself, by the Spirit, is our true and proper place and therefore the only place wherein human beings truly flourish.



Seminary: An Unexpected Detour that Changed My Life

By / Jun 8

In the fall of 1996, I was a senior at the University of Alabama, and I was set to graduate the following May. I had a solid idea of what I was going to do after I graduated—that was, until two months before graduation. In March of 1997, I was making plans to attend law school and I had no idea what seminary was, much less any plans of going there. Then a weekend away at a college retreat spending time in the Word and submitting my next steps to the Lord changed everything! 

Even though I had grown up in Southern Baptist churches my entire life, I had no idea what seminary was or anything about where they were located. I really did not know what being in ministry would even look like, but thankfully the Lord did.

My journey that began in the woods in north Alabama ended with me graduating from college and going to seminary. God had plans for life, and He put people in my life over the next year after graduation to confirm what I was thinking and feeling. 

Fast forward to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in the fall of 1998 where I began my seminary education. This was definitely an adventure for me. In a year’s time since graduating from the University of Alabama, I had served as a Children’s Ministry intern, participated in an international mission trip—which was the first time I had left the United States, and I packed everything I owned into a small U-Haul and drove to Texas. I left everything I was familiar with and knew no one in Fort Worth. I was starting my life over—new town, new church, new friends, and the start of a new journey studying counseling and religious education. 

Seminary was both incredibly encouraging and challenging. God used my time in seminary to open my eyes to the many opportunities to serve Him but also to the beauty of the body of Christ in action. I met so many incredible people, some of whom I still keep in touch with today. When I graduated in 2001, there were many ways I had changed, as a believer, as a woman, as a counselor, and as an educator. Reflecting on my time in seminary, there are five things from the unexpected journey of seminary that changed my life. 

1. I developed a deeper understanding and love for teaching and discipleship

I was blessed with God-gifted instructors during my time at seminary. They modeled a Christlikeness in their teaching and actions that I wanted to emulate. I learned how to teach and counsel with a biblical worldview. God used my time in seminary to show me my gifts where teaching is concerned and my love for all things education and learning. It has been over twenty years since I was at Southwestern, but I find the excitement of teaching that was spurred so many years ago is still present. In 2009, I rejoined the seminary community as a student in doctoral studies at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary earning a Doctorate in Education and now have joined the instructional faculty as an Assistant Professor of Christian Education. 

2. I developed a love for the people of God and the story He tells through them

I met so many people from all walks of life while at seminary. There were women and men of all ages that had come to this one place to train for ministry and learn about serving God. I met deeply devoted followers who took time to pour into the people around them and share their experiences for the expressed purpose of bringing God glory. I grew up in a Christian home and in solid Baptist churches my entire life, but seeing God weave together this beautiful community of believers from all walks of life was an experience that taught me just how intricate and detailed God is in His design. Looking back, it was experiences like these that prepared me to be a pastor’s wife in the local church and to value the story that God tells through each one of us as we serve Him.

3. God created in me a deeper understanding of my calling as an individual and a sister in Christ

Seminary provided me an opportunity to explore what it means to be a counselor and a teacher. I had opportunities to serve as a counselor to women in crisis who had traumatic pasts. I had opportunities to absorb learning and teaching theory but also apply it and practice it. Through my classes and interactions with classmates and professors, I began to grasp a true sense of what it means to be in ministry serving the Lord whether it be as a volunteer, a women’s Bible study leader, or on staff at a church.

4. I understood the true meaning of bearing each other’s burdens

This was one of the greatest gifts that the Lord blessed me with during this time. Walking through life with fellow believers–the good, the bad, and the ugly. In my own time of need during my seminary studies, I had a close family member die. Within hours of his death, I was surrounded by prayer and support. It did not just come from my friends, but from my professors too. Taking exams early, being gone for an extended time during the week of the funeral was something I was worried about, and my mind was put at ease with words like “Don’t worry about that now,” “Take care of your family,” “Know that we are praying for you,” and “Take as much time as you need.” Those were words of comfort and a true exemplification of bearing one another’s burdens. 

5. Lastly, there were numerous opportunities for authentic discipleship

Up to that point, I had not fully surrendered all my life to the Lord. This was the first time I was confronted with my own heart issues, and I felt utterly alone and desperate before the Lord, but in a good way. Through my course of study, my professors, my local church, and my community with other seminary students, the Lord honed my heart and mind to serve Him and to be more like Him. 

I walked away from seminary a different person than when I entered. It was a time of brokenness, a time of encouragement, a time of discipleship, and some of my highest highs and lowest lows, but more than anything, each time I found myself sitting in a seminary classroom, it was an unexpected God detour that changed my life for the better. 



I’m a Stay-at-Home Mom and I Decided to Go to Seminary

By / Jun 1

In the Fall of 2019, I started discussing with my new husband the prospect of attending seminary. I had been in pursuit of theological education since the time I came to Christ but I was eager for something more. I wanted the intensity and academic rigor of a Masters of Divinity program. At the time, I was not pregnant. In the Lord’s providence, just a few months later, I was pregnant with our first child and accepted into the online Master of Divinity program at Midwestern Seminary. 

When pursuing any higher education, the question most people ask is, “What are you going to do with your degree?” Although I do have dreams and goals for continued education, writing, and teaching, my primary reason for going to seminary was not rooted in a career path. In fact, just before the birth of our baby, I quit my full time job to be a stay-at-home mom.

What good is a seminary degree for a mom? In answering that question, I have five reasons why I decided to go to seminary. 

1. So that God’s Word would be at work in me (Isaiah 55:11)

Now let’s be clear, you do not need a seminary degree for God’s Word to be at work in you. But for me, God’s work in my life looked like a trajectory headed straight for formal theological training.

When my husband and I prayed over and discussed this decision, we came to the conclusion that even if I never made a dollar from this education, the goodness that it should produce in me would be enough for us. In earnest pursuit of understanding and loving God’s Word, what I learned would not return void. We knew that a deeper knowledge of Scripture, through the power of the Spirit, would cultivate in me a Christlikeness that made me a better wife, mother, church member, and Christian.

Our hope was that through the labor of schooling, I would become a more equipped discipler of my children and a more gracious and godly woman. Seminary was worth it for our family because my husband trusted that studying God’s Word would help me grow in maturity and wisdom that was rooted in Christ. 

2. Because the calling was affirmed by church leadership

When I started seminary, I had been faithful to attend and volunteer at every theological training option available in my local church. I was committed to our body (still am!) and our leadership knew me well. They were capable of making a wise judgment about my desire to attend seminary because they had taught me themselves. They had also seen me serve our body through teaching and volunteering. Your pastors may not always be well acquainted with your academic abilities, but they should be acquainted with your character and service. Thankfully, my leadership was well aware of all three. When I came to them with the desire, they were able to counsel me in the right direction. Their encouragement helped me know that the pursuit of continued education would prove beneficial and edifying. 

3. For the purpose of serving my church body (1 Corinthians 14:12)

I love to teach. Specifically, I love to teach Scripture. I remember when I first came to know Christ, I would do a study with my pastor’s wife on Wednesday and teach it to a Bible study group with my volleyball team on Thursday. That may not be the best method for well equipped teachers, but it does attest to my love for learning and teaching God’s Word.

As I’ve grown in my faith, that gifting has been affirmed and I’ve had the privilege of teaching in more formal capacities within our church body. My love for and desire to teach was quickly followed by feelings of biblical responsibility. I understand the need to teach the Word correctly (2 Timothy 2:15). Because of my desire to honor Christ through rightly handling the word of truth, seminary seemed like the most logical and fruitful next step in my education. Although my role in our church may never be lucrative financially, it is a privilege to serve our church body and to be fully equipped to teach and disciple those God has entrusted to me. This is not to say we cannot serve our church without a seminary degree — that’s definitely not true! Scripture calls us to serve no matter our gifting (1 Corinthians 14:12). For me, pursuing seminary was a choice made to bolster my ability to teach and disciple in the respective roles God has given me. 

4. To pave the way for other women in my sphere of influence

At the time I was considering applying for seminary, I knew one other woman who was pursuing a Master of Divinity degree. She lives a thousand miles from me. She is a champion of women’s formal theological education and she helped show me that it was possible and fruitful for a woman to pursue a seminary degree. I recognized that there may be women for whom I could be that way-maker.

I want those around me to have a theology of women in the church that is robust, while operating within God’s given standards. That may look like a seminary education for some of the women around me. I wanted to go before the women God has placed in my life and show them that there is a place for women to be formally theologically educated and that they too can properly exposit God’s Word. Since starting the program, this ideal has proven to be true! Someone has to go first. In my church, that person is me. 

5. Because I love to learn about Scripture

Seminary was the next step for me because I love to learn. Biblical theology has been a point of excitement, rejuvenation, and joy in my life since very early in my Christian walk. We would finish classes at my church and I would be desperate for more. I loved the idea of being challenged to handle difficult passages and learn about church history.

For me, seminary just made sense. This point has proven to be so true. I love seminary. I miss it when we have breaks. I am energized and excited by what I’m learning every week. I love the flexibility provided by the online program which allows me to take time off when I give birth or for other familial needs. I love it! I am a stay at home. I am also a full-time seminary student. It has been a special gift and privilege for me.

These five reasons for applying for seminary are not the only things to consider when making that decision (finances, time constraints, other responsibilities), but these five reasons are why we said yes. The fruit speaks for itself. It has been exponentially worth it for us! If you’re considering applying for seminary, I am the first to say that women should be formally theologically educated. Maybe seminary is a pursuit for you, too.                                                                                             

For more information about Midwestern Seminary’s Master of Divinity program and other masters studies (online or on campus), visit www.mbts.edu/degrees/masters-studies. 



The Christian’s Confidence in Christ’s Compassion

By / May 31

Throughout the four Gospels, readers are flooded with examples of the compassion of Christ. In His miracles, Christ shows His compassion by giving sight to the blind, making the lame walk, and curing people with extreme sickness. In His parables, He consistently shows that God’s heart is geared toward compassion and His desire is for His followers to be similarly compassionate.

However, the greatest example of the compassion of the Messiah came at the end of His earthly ministry. Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross for sinners is the culmination of His compassion, an action that allows Christians to be confident in their standing before God.

Contributing to Christ’s Death

Isaiah 53 provides a picture of the greatness of Christ’s compassion. The first half of verse 3 says, “He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” God came to the earth as man, and men rejected Him.

At first reading, this verse appears to speak of the men that were physically present during the crucifixion, or possibly more broadly this verse appears to apply to the Jews of the day. However, Isaiah, writing at least 600 years before the life of Christ, says at the end of the verse, “He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” Why would Isaiah include himself with those who offended Christ?

Isaiah included himself as an offender of Christ because he, just like the rest of mankind, had sinned against God throughout his life. In chapter 6, he makes this claim: “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5)

We cannot read Isaiah 53:3 and claim that the context exempts us from including ourselves. While Isaiah was not present during the crucifixion, he included himself as an offender of the Holy God. Similarly, when we read Isaiah 53 ought to include ourselves as offenders. We participated in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Compassion in the Atonement

But then verse 5 of Isaiah 53 describes the compassion of the One whom we offended. “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.”

Isaiah not only says that we are included with those who offended Christ, but he also tells us that through His death, we are healed. Not only do we sing “It was my sin that held Him there, Until it was accomplished”. We can also sing immediately afterward “His dying breath has brought me life, I know that it is finished.”

Penal Substitutionary Atonement is not simply a weighty theological concept, it is a phrase that describes the beautiful compassion of God. Moved with compassion, God took on flesh to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). He died a sacrificial death in the place of man so that we could be saved. To die for someone who never wronged you is considered a great sign of compassion. But Christ’s sacrificial death for those that sinned against Him is the ultimate display of compassion.

Confidence in Compassion

Understanding this compassion ought to change our lives! Unlike Adam and Eve in the Garden, Christians do not need to hide from God. Despite their sin, they can boldly approach God because they trust in His compassion.

In Psalm 51 a repentant David cries out to God for forgiveness. Throughout this Psalm, it is clear that David understood that God is One who freely offers compassion. In the opening verse he says:

“Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.” (Psalm 51:1).

After committing adultery and murder, David did not ask God to consider blotting out his transgressions. Instead, David confidently approaches God and tells Him to remove his sin. David was not attempting to control God and demand that He do something. No, David had spent countless hours with God, he knew the Scriptures, and he understood that God was great in compassion. He was confident that God was compassionate to those who turn to Him in faith.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

We are not told to ask God for forgiveness. There is no time for deliberation where God ponders over whether or not to forgive us. Scripture is clear, true confession will always result in God’s gracious compassion.

Through Christ’s substitutionary death, Christians have “the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21) and can approach Him with confidence as a result. Since, as the Westminster Confession of Faith summarizes, “there is no sin so great that it can bring damnation upon those who truly repent” (WCF 15.4), no matter the sin, Christians can always approach God with confidence in His compassion.

When we confess our transgressions, we can trust that in God’s compassion He will forgive us.



Why Every Local Church Needs Spiritual Mothers

By / May 11

“Where are they? Where are the godly women who are making disciples in the church?” I remember asking myself this question when I became a Christian a decade ago. With a dark past and a hollow, cold heart, I had not the slightest clue as to what a God-fearing, steadfast, devoted, hope-filled, and enduring woman looked like, let alone how to live a life of ordinary faithfulness in a Romans 2 world. “Where are they?” was a question I continually asked in those early years, and even more so as I stepped into local church ministry. Those women were not to be found, or if they were, they weren’t making disciples. There are a multitude of reasons as to why this was so, but that is not the purpose for which this article has been written. There are three purposes of this article. One, to argue that there is biblical evidence that spiritual mothers (and spiritual fathers!) are crucial to the health of a local church. Second, to show that there are a lack of spiritual mothers in the church. And third, to identify who Paul (and through divine inspiration, God) and the New Testament churches qualify as a spiritual mother in the church.

Household Codes

The New Testament does not have a category for a Christ follower that is outside the bounds of familial language. In 1 Timothy 3:14, Paul expresses that the church and its members are to relate to one another as a family: “I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God.” Beginning with the qualifications for elders in Titus 1, pastors teach sound doctrine to men and women in the church. In Titus 2, under the authority of the church older women are to “teach what is good” (Titus 2:3). Paul is assuming that the women who are teaching other women are under the authority of a local church. It is not merely the role of an elder to teach what is good – it is the role of older and wiser women in discipleship relationships with younger women. Women are to teach younger women in the faith in the context of a covenant community. As wonderful and fruitful as many parachurch ministries are, on the Last Day it will be Christ’s universal church that remains standing. For this reason, it is appropriate that local churches be the primary home of women’s formation and discipleship.

There are many parts of the body and they do not all have the same function (Rom. 12:4), but each has a key role in the health of the body. The body is in pain when one or several parts are not functioning in accordance with how the body is intended to work, and nowhere is this more apparent in a local church when there is a lack of biblically literate, wise, and godly women, or a lack of them investing in less mature, younger women in the faith.

Older women are to teach what is right and pure; that which accords with sound doctrine that leads to good works. They are to adorn themselves . . . with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works” (2 Tim. 2:9-10). The “older woman” language in Titus 2:3 means that she is someone older in maturity, wisdom, and godliness, in whose speech and conduct evidences that she is full of the fruit of the Spirit rather than the spirit of the age. If a woman has been a believer for even a short number of years, there is likely a younger girl or woman in the faith for her to invest in and train to be and make fruitful disciples.

God’s Word alone is sufficient to grow us in godliness. but the glorious thing about our great God is that he has given us the Church as an additional instrument in growing us up into spiritual maturity. Men and women purchased by Christ pursue holiness and godliness together and in so doing the Spirit binds their hearts together. Paul uses the binding and personal language of church members being “knit together in love” that they might be encouraged by one another and together “reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding” and “firmness of your faith in Christ.”1

The Life of the Mind in the Life of the Woman

To think rightly about God and to develop the skill of articulating doctrine to other women is a gift that should not only be allowed of women, it should be encouraged and championed by their brothers. How, exactly, are women to teach other women in the way of sound doctrine in discipling relationships and biblical appropriate teaching environments if they themselves have not developed the skill of articulating doctrine and applying it to their own lives? Theological precision matters not only from the pulpit; women do not need less theology, they need more theology worked out in the context of discipling relationships.

The path to being and making disciples is through sound “knowledge of the glory of the Lord” (Hab. 2:14). To be a disciple is be a learner, and because women are called to make disciples, it follows that they are called to be thinkers and contemplators of God. As a fiercely devoted complementarian, I actually don’t believe my desire to study at the PhD level and my desire to be a faithful complementarian to be at odds with one another. Because Jesus Christ has made me his own, he commands me to fulfill the Great Commission and make disciples who make disciples, women who will articulate the sound doctrine that accords with sound living.If women are going to make disciples of women then it is appropriate that there will be women to train them. I would put forth the suggestion that perhaps there is a correlation between 1) the lack of disciple-making women (composed of all life seasons) in local churches and 2) the lack of theological robust and ministerially-prepared women. Women are to be contemplators of the deep things of God that lead to righteous living when applied to their life, and I see the call to train and equip women for their future ministries as an urgent task.

Studying theology and the deep things of God is not a merely a scholarly pursuit, but a Christian one. This is why the trope phrase, “We don’t need all that theology stuff, just give me discipleship,” is an indictment on the goal of forming a whole person into spiritual maturity. Paul is saying that theology and discipleship need one another to develop holistically faithful and fruitful disciples who will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, slowly but surely, after they “come to the knowledge of truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). To be clear, having head knowledge of sound doctrine is not the same as sound doctrine transforming a person holistically. Knowledge of God that is not worked out in real life puffs up “with conceit and understands nothing” (1 Tim. 6:3). Fearing the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and “those who fear God come to know him in such a way that they actually become holy, faithful, loving, and merciful, like him.” A right view of theology is not one that wields it as a weapon against our theological enemies, but one that deepens our understanding of the triune God, “for the living God is so tremendously glorious in all his ways that he cannot be known without being adored.”2

In the words of Calvin, “Can the mind be aroused to taste the divine goodness without at the same time being wholly kindled to love God in return?”3 The goal of theology in and for the church is to raise the bride’s every deepening, adorning gaze to her bridegroom, and she may find life with him as she drinks deep from the theological well of life. Why should theological instruction find its home in the local church? Sound doctrine that accords with godliness will lead to rightly fearing God and so worshiping accordingly.

To be a growing disciple is to grow in a knowledge of God and his works, to have the mind stretched, the heart affected and the life devoted. Who will be the ones teaching women how the sound doctrine exposited in the corporate gathering is to work itself out in their own lives?  It is other women. A few months ago I heard a pastor and professor in a SBC seminary say, “The highest place you can be in the SBC is the local church.” In my early years as a Christian, women such as Elisabeth Elliot mothered me from afar, but she did not know me and my sin. She never wiped the tears from my eyes, radiated the tenderness of Jesus in the form of a hug, rebuked me in gentle love or embodied the loveliness of Jesus in her selfless conduct before me.

Paul is at pains to show that missiology is central to a Christian adorning their life with the gospel: teach and live in accordance with these truths, so that you will model to a world how you are unlike the world as you do good works. “Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech” (Titus 2:7). Lady Wisdom in Proverbs 2 is not quarrelsome, slanderous, self-seeking, or foolish but fears the Lord, patiently endures trials, corrects in gentle love, and pursues the holy living purchased for her in Christ. There is a great need for older women in the faith to be equipped to articulate doctrine who will declare the gospel to other women with their lips and display and adorn the gospel with their conduct, ready to defend the faith to a godless age.

Single Women And Maternal Instincts

Titus 2:4-5 raises a question. Is being a spiritual mother reserved for married women with children? In verse 4 Paul writes that the young women are to “love their husbands and children” and to be “working at home . . . submissive to their own husbands.” Being a biological mother and a homemaker is a glorious and often thankless task, and one to be stewarded and lived out with great care and diligence. But let’s think about which human author is penning these words about women being homemakers. It is written by a single Apostle. Clearly the apostle Paul is aware that there are single women. Single women may have been a minority as Paul was penning these words, but Scripture does provide a category for them.

A woman is not only a woman in biological makeup, but also in sociological categories: a woman is born with maternal instincts, whether she ever physically bears children or not. Just as our physical bodies are the same yet different, so are we sociologically similar but different, in ways that complement one another. 4

“Now consider a woman who is biologically unable to have children, but who, with her husband, welcomes foster children into her home, pouring love and nurture into their lives? Is such a woman a mother? In the biological sense, no; but because the meaning of motherhood is nurture and sacrificial, self-giving love she is more truly a mother than someone who bears a child before neglecting it until it leaves home. Thus, a woman who never bears a child does not cease to be a woman. Nor is her womanhood diminished, even if she never cares for children, for she maintains the capacity and freedom to live in a maternal way toward others in need of maternal nurture. In this larger sense, ‘all women are called to motherhood’ and all men are called to fatherhood.”5

Reaching mature womanhood is not attained when one gains an earthly husband or bears a child; child-bearing and homemaking are not requirements to qualify as a godly woman. Marriage and child-bearing are roles in which the Lord grows women in godliness, displays the gospel, and in which maternal instincts are deepened, but because all women have been created by God with the same physical and sociological traits, all women, whether single or married, have innate, distinct maternal traits. The foil to biblical womanhood, feminism, shouts that a single woman is free to do as she pleases; she is responsible to no one and owes no one anything. Yet the single Christian woman, committed to a local church body, knows that her life is not her own. Her singleness allows her to be wholly devoted to the Lord in body, mind, soul, and time and she longs to please him by utilizing this stewardship he has given to her. The ministry of a single woman’s household is a unique privilege to be received with gladness, not begrudging slothfulness as it it often is. Being a single woman does not mean a woman has no “household” by which to provide a welcoming and nurturing environment, nor does it mean that she lacks the opportunity to make disciples.  The covenant-Creator has wired women to have distinctly maternal traits including both biological and sociological.

The purpose of emphasizing this is to say that both single women and married women are called to being spiritual mothers just as the single apostle was made a spiritual father through the gospel. “I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15). Paul loved young men in the church, using deeply personally terms of endearment such as “my beloved child” and “my true child” to refer to Titus and Timothy. He yearned and burned with affection for actual people in actual churches whom he wanted to invest in, not simply the idea of them. Not only did Paul see this as his call, but his words in Romans 16:13 reflect that he had a spiritual mother, the mother of Rufus, “who has been a mother to me.”

Conclusion

Paul swelled with gratitude for Timothy’s theological astute maternal heritage in Lois and Eunice, along with the faithful and fruitful ministries of Phoebe, Junia, and Lydia, of whom Paul considered partners in the gospel. The call to ministry is “demanded of us all, lived by not a few; not, indeed complete in any one; complete only in Him Who is the Head and Life of all, and in His Body, which is the Church.”6

Married and single women, divorced and widowed women, homemakers, students, missionaries, evangelists and women in the workplace: when these unique and crucial ministries of women are considered, “we’ll find that the ministries available to women are part of the lifeblood of a local church’s witness to the world.”7  The Bible and over two thousand years of church history are full of both single and married men and women who have been used by the Lord and of whom the world is not worthy. Amidst blazing complementarian debates in our current moment, perhaps a question that should be emphasized more is, “What are we doing to raise up spiritual mothers in the church who will teach younger women the Scriptures, of which ‘will teach you to live, and learn you to die’?8

1 c.f. Col. 2:2-5

2 Reeves, Rejoice and Tremble, (Wheaton: Crossway, 2021), 137.

3 Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. By Henry Beveridge (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2008), 1.1.3.

4 Schreiner, “Man and Woman: Toward an Ontology,” in CBMW Journal (Eikon 1.2, Nov 2019), 72.

5 Budziszewski, On the Meaning of Sex (Wilmington, DE: Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2014), 55-56

6 Charles, Sketches of the Women of Christendom, (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co), 1880, 333-34.

7 McCoy, “Why Women are Critical to the Mission of the Church,” (Biblical Woman), 2018.

8 Actes and Monuments of these latter and perilous dayes, touching matters of the Church, Vol. 6 Book X, “Beginning with the Reign of Queen Mary,” (London: R,B, Seeley and W. Burnside), 1838, 422.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published at Credo. 



The Nod and the Pause: Where the War Begins

By / May 4

Temptation is an opportunist as it passes by. Looking for the slightest nod, it hopes only for our invitation to pause a moment on the porch for our consideration of its merit versus cost and risk. Surely merely thinking about the merits versus risk cannot be too dangerous.

By overestimating our moral strength as supposedly detached evaluators we are soon to fail, however, since our resistance is already compromised severely in the nod and pause itself. We did not assume we laid down our weapons at that point. Temptation now bonds with our awakened lust on the porch of judgment to contend with our spiritual reason as we weigh the options. With such strong desires stirring us in the wrong direction standing beside an available and luring temptation, though we are a king, it will, far more often than not, give in like a fool. The great conquerors can be brought down easier with a second look than a warring tribe.

When this awakened lust contends with weakened biblical reason to talk it over on the porch, the battle for the mind is raging full bore. We have invited a lion to the porch, an old master at deception, though looking like something else which is deceivingly inviting to the senses — part of us is conniving and urging the temptation on against our own best reason. How will we send temptation away now? Before we know it, faster than we should think we could, we will open the door of our minds completely and give ourselves over to our lust for the enjoyment of this temptation. We may rehearse any of a whole range of regular excuses so as to make some appeasement to our conscience. We do this like the weakest of fools, which soon after will be discomforting or, and if often repeated, sadly and dangerously numbing.

The power we give temptation is mainly in the first welcome, not the second. The first woman and first man should have said, like the last Adam, “Get behind me, Satan!” rather than pausing for even a moment’s consideration of the forbidden fruit which seemed good for food and delightful to the eyes. The serpent wanted them to think about it for awhile. There is a reason we are told, “Flee immorality” and “Reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to God” and “Do not turn to the right nor to the life: turn your foot from evil.”

A temptation is in fact a temptation because there is desire latent within you. When lust awakens in the easy chair, with one eye open he peeks over the window ledge on to the street where temptation sends its knowing glance. At this moment and not any later, declare in your mind, “I am dead to this in Christ. I do not serve it.” He gives his power to his own to do this. Then go on to the next good thing and don’t even give it another thought. That is the war.



Seek the Shade

By / Apr 26

I still remember the feeling of confusion as we zig-zagged across the golf course near our home in Florida. To me, the pattern made no sense at all. We’d go to what seemed like a random place on each hole, irrespective to the location of our golf balls, and my father and I would sit and wait for his friends to hit.

We’d just…wait. In what seemed to be a random spot, often far away from where our next shot was. Sometimes in these moments, he would comment on the sky, or the landscaping, or something else in life. Then, after a while, he’d take us over to where I thought we should have been the whole time – our next shot.

I had to ask why we were doing this. Even as a kid, I had a very process-driven mind – hit ball, find ball, hit ball again, repeat until finished. Boom. Golf. This random pattern of pausing and indiscriminate waiting made little sense to me. I had to know.

He looked at me and said these words that I’ve never forgotten – “Rudy, I’m always trying to keep us in the shade.”

As a kid, it didn’t make sense. Who cared about the shade? Let’s get to the next shot! I actually think I saw many things that way – in fact, until a few years ago, I think it’s how I saw ministry. Process-driven – just “get to the next shot.” The next event. The next meeting, The next _______. I’d forgotten the lesson my father taught me on that course – to always seek out the shade. To find moments to break, to rest, to slow, to stop, to pause, to recover, to wait. The shade as a place to just be with Jesus, in the middle of responsibilities that are as constant as the Florida sun.

Perhaps I didn’t forget my father’s lesson – maybe I just never learned it. Much to my own detriment, I didn’t practice seeking out the shade until several years ago when I’d worn myself out to the point of despair. As has been said before, the pain of staying the same had outweighed the pain of change – which turned out to exist only in my mind. It was one of the most necessary and life-giving changes, to have structured and spontaneous moments of just being in the shade. This last year, in the midst of everything that 2020 carried, I along with countless others again felt a deep need to be disciplined to continue to have moments to fight to keep myself and others in the shade, with the Lord.

I wonder if you have practices of staying in the shade? I think of these words in Psalms surrounding this:

Psalm 91:1-2 – “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

Psalm 121:5-6 – “The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.”

Three practical points regarding the shade:

  1. Structured and Spontaneous – We absolutely need structured rhythms of time with Jesus. Planned points on the calendar where we step away from the work of the Gospel to make room for the Gospel to do the work in us. There are also spontaneous moments when we just need to seek the shade – often when the sun is hottest, and the responsibilities are heaviest. It is here, in giving ourselves and others room to spontaneously seek shade during a busy season, that we are actually making a claim of trust in His ability above our own.
  2. Explain along the way – My father brought me into the shade, and then explained what was going on. I was benefiting from his practice without even knowing I was. You, Your family, and the people you lead with can benefit from what – in your mind – may seem like you are stepping away from the work at hand. Not so. In fact, it is here that you can be a blessing by explaining along the way what it means to seek the shade. It may be confusing to those around you – they may be like I was on the course, just wanting to move on to the next shot. Explain along the way, as you teach them how to seek out the shade.
  3. Relax into the Shade – I still struggle to seek out the shade in moments when my list of tasks seem unending. You’re likely like me – you actually don’t dislike that. In fact, you love it. It’s a joy, an honor, a privilege to get to do what we do. How could we pause? However, it is often in structured and spontaneous pausing in the shade that we who minister are ministered to. This is a practice – one which still feels difficult. Learning to relax into the shade, and not sit there with your mind fixated on the next shot, the next thing you have to do, is a practice of relaxing into the shade and shelter of God. It’s not easy, but for you, your family, those you lead with, and those you shepherd – it’s worth it.

Perhaps you’re reading this and you feel outright exhausted. I won’t pretend to fully understand your situation, but I’ll certainly sympathize with you and give a brief word of exhortation – I hope you give yourself permission this summer to find the shade, even and especially on your busiest days. To bring the people you lead into the shade with you. You’re not abandoning the mission.

You’re not compromising the call. You’re being like Jesus, who retreated often to desolate places to pray and be with His Father.

Let’s seek out the shade.



Psalms are Prophecies

By / Apr 21

I remember the first Bible the church gave me. At the start of each school year, the 1st-graders would be called up on stage and given a Bible to celebrate going to ‘big church.’ It was a blue KJV Bible that had silver-glossed pages and red letters for the words of Jesus. I don’t remember how often I read that Bible, but I do remember thinking the words in red were very important!

As I’ve grown older, I’ve become less enamored by red-letter Bibles. To me, they can give off the impression that some words of the Bible are really Jesus’ words, while the rest aren’t as important. The red letters, those are the real words of Jesus!

I don’t want to be too harsh to them. The men and women who made red-letter Bibles had a worthy goal, to highlight the actual speech of Jesus, the very words he spoke while on earth. It was an important aim, but the apostles and the early church would argue there is a big part of the Bible they missed! A whole book needs to be red-lettered that isn’t: the Psalms. The apostles and the early church went to the Psalms to hear the voice of Christ.

Listen to the words of Hebrews 10:5-7: “Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

The author of Hebrews is quoting from Psalm 40. Notice Hebrews doesn’t say merely that Jesus fulfilled the words of Psalm 40 (though he did), but that he spoke the words of Psalm 40. The author of Hebrews understands Jesus to be the speaker of the Psalm, not David. Hebrews is arguing that Jesus is speaking in Psalm 40 before his incarnation about how God the Father has prepared a body for him in the incarnation and how he has come to do God’s will in that body during the incarnation.

Hebrews isn’t the only place in the New Testament that says this. Both Peter and Paul, in Acts 2 and 13, quote from Psalm 16 in their sermons, where David says that God “will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption” (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:27). They both say that David could not have been talking about himself, because he did die, and his flesh did see corruption. Peter tells his audience they can go look at his tomb for proof!

So if David wasn’t talking about himself, who was he talking about? Peter says David was a prophet who foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of Jesus. God did not abandon Jesus’ soul to the grave, or let his flesh see corruption, because he raised him from the dead. And notice the personal pronoun in the Psalm that Peter quotes. The Psalmist says, “you will not abandon my soul.” It’s as if Jesus himself was speaking through David, giving us a prophecy about how God would raise him from the dead.

When you begin looking for this, you’ll find it everywhere in the New Testament. Because of how often the apostles put the words of the Psalms on Jesus’ lips in the New Testament, the early church began to read the Psalms as the voice of Christ, prophecies given by Jesus himself to tell us about what he will do to save us. Following the apostles, they believed that God tells us the entire gospel story in the Psalms, from Jesus pre-existing with the Father and the Holy Spirit, to his becoming a man, his saving death, his resurrection, his ascension to God’s right hand, his pouring out of the Spirit, the mission of his church, and his return to judge the living and the dead. Because they saw this modeled in the New Testament, they went back to the Psalms with fresh eyes to learn more about the person and work of Jesus.

Listen to Augustine, preaching on Psalm 31 and talking about verse 5. He says:

Let us listen now to something our Lord said on the cross: Into your hands I commit my spirit (Lk 23:46). When we hear those words of his in the gospel, and recognize them as part of this psalm, we should not doubt that here in this psalm it is Christ himself who is speaking. The gospel makes it clear. He said, Into your hands I commit my spirit; and bowing his head he breathed forth his spirit (Lk 23:46; Jn 19:30). He had good reason for making the words of the psalm his own, for he wanted to teach you that in the psalm he is speaking. Look for him in it.

Because Christ is the head of the church–his body (1 Cor 12)–Jesus can speak in our voice in the Psalms as well. If the Psalmist confesses sin, Jesus is speaking of bearing our sin on the cross to do away with it, because what happens to the head happens to the body. If the Psalmist speaks of his own weakness, Jesus is speaking of the weakness he took on in the incarnation, so that we through his poverty might become rich (2 Cor 8:9). Both give an opportunity to be refreshed by the news of the great exchange, Jesus taking our sin so that we can be given his righteousness.

The Psalms are a book spoken by Jesus, about Jesus. We should read the Psalms to press more deeply into the gospel, the good news about Jesus. The more we do, the more we will say with Augustine:

Christ meets and refreshes me everywhere in those books, everywhere in those scriptures, whether openly or in a hidden manner. He sets afire for me the desire to find him as a result of some difficulty in discovering him, so that I may eagerly absorb what I find and hold it for my salvation, hidden within the marrow of my bones.

Psalms are prophecies of Jesus, allowing you to press deeper into the gospel. Jesus is speaking to you in the Psalms. Look for him in them.



Wildfires and Bear Attacks

By / Apr 13

Have you ever said something from a position of pastoral authority that you immediately wished that you had not said? Maybe you had one of the classic slips of the tongue in the middle of a sermon, or it could be that you said something inaccurate that you wish you could correct. Perhaps you have even said something that, after some time has passed, you do not even believe to be true anymore.

Words are finicky things like that.

For the pastor, the goal of preaching and teaching is to communicate the Word of God in such a way that the hearer would open their heart and mind to the Lord in order that they would be transformed by the power of the Gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit. Most pastors understand the weight of this responsibility as well as the prodigious honor that comes with the gifting and the call of their office. It is an honor because there are so many people that lean heavily on the words that their pastor speaks. Lives are regenerated and transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, but day-to-day actions are heavily influenced by words that are spoken on Sunday. That lays a heavy burden on the backs of pastors in order to communicate effectively, truthfully and responsibly. Pair the Sunday message with the daily influx of media messages that all but demand a ministerial response, and the pastor becomes someone with a profusion of words floating around in public space. The prayer of every pastor is that these words are heard and read in a manner that is true to the author’s intent, and helpful within the context of which they were expressed. 

Even the right words, when said the wrong way, are the wrong words.

Hear the words of James when he says “the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!” (James 3:5) Many times this message is taught in regards to foul language, gossip and coarse joking, but the real intent of this passage is meant as a warning those who preach and teach. Communicators of God’s Word must be careful and intentional in the language, the tone and the expressions with with they communicate either verbally or in writing. In today’s culture, the words of religious authorities are being subjugated to dissection, inspection and deconstruction. Couple this deconstruction with a culture of outrage, and there is a tendency to receive words as harmful, even when there was no harm intended in the original context. 

For those ordained to preach God’s Word, there has been great power given to your words. When a pastor uses words in a flippant or irresponsible manner, real people get hurt. It seems that the world is filling up with the stories of de-churched people who are telling their stories of spiritual abuse. There are differing levels of these types of stories, but one prominent theme is that a pastor has said something that was powerfully wounding to a hearer, and as a result this person was driven from the church.

I refuse to believe that (most) pastors and teachers of God’s Word do so with the intention of harming others. In fact many pastors, even those who have done harm, say the things that they say for a couple of reasons. First, they believe that what they are saying comes from the illumination of the Holy Spirit, and the accurate interpretation of the Scriptures. Also, they believe that what they are saying is loving to those who hear it. This love can be seen as “tough love” during times when the message is uncomfortable for hearers. Every rule has an exception, but I believe that the great majority of pastors have these two things in mind as they preach and teach. Sometimes, harm just happens. 

Something similar happened with the prophet Elisha as he came into Bethel to sort out the Canaanite worship that was prevalent there. A familiar passage, 2 Kings 2:23-25 paints a picture of the power behind the words of someone ordained by God to speak the Word of God. You probably know the story, but after encountering a significant amount of jeering in Bethel, Elisha curses the ones who are disparaging him and two bears come out of the woods and maul (the actual word means tear apart) 42 of the youths there. FORTY-TWO! Most of the time that I read or hear this passage, it is in jest. If we take a moment and really process this short passage, the devastation that occurred that day finally sinks in, and I have always wondered if the prophet Elisha truly meant to have this happen when he cursed those young men. Besides the larger interpretation of the passage, and ultimately the typological reading that foreshadows Israel’s mocking of the Lord, this was a real event that had a magnitude of death that is not seen often. 

I am not saying that Elisha’s words were accidental in any way, but I do wonder if the outcome was what he expected when he uttered the words that brought down the curse. We get no more context to the story. The next sentence simply tells us that he went on to Mount Carmel and Samaria. I have to think that he had a very heavy heart as he went along. 

Reading 2 Kings 2:23-25 with James 3 in mind should at least make us more aware of the words that we use from a position of pastoral authority. Pray for discernment and wisdom. May your words be used to build the Church, and not to harm anyone.