Theology Central

Recently, I wrote about a pivotal moment that changed my Christian journey. One of the responses that I received asked this question: “I was just wondering if you’d call your ‘change’ a surrendering to Christ’s Lordship over your whole life and letting Him live through you?” This question implies more than it overtly asks, and I’d like to respond to it.

Let me preface my remarks with an admission. I have no coherent theory of the Christian life. I’ve studied several, including the Reformed, Wesleyan, Keswick, Free-Grace, and Old Dallas views. Each has strengths, but none of them satisfies the biblical requirements. Each gets something right, but each also gets something wrong.

Let’s start with this question: what does it mean to trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? I reject the suggestion that we can trust Jesus as Savior without trusting Him as Lord (Rom 10:10–13). We have no right to trust a Jesus who is not Lord. He has no right to save us unless He has earned that authority. And He does have authority to save us. He earned it through His obedient life, substitutionary death, and bodily resurrection. So when I trusted Christ to save me, I was relying upon His authority to save.

If Christ has authority to save, then what other authority does He hold? Part of the answer is that our bodies no longer belong to us. We have been bought with a price, and we belong to Christ (1 Cor 6:19–20). Implicit in every act of saving faith is the reality that Christ now owns us.

Yet what is implicit may not always be explicitly recognized. Had the Corinthians recognized their change of ownership, then Paul would not have explained it to them. They were not acting like people whom Christ owned. They were not behaving like temples of the Holy Spirit. In fact, they were carnal—dominated by the flesh (1 Cor 3:1–4). They needed to recognize and act upon the reality of Christ’s ownership.

That does not happen all at once. It is not done by a simple decision, though some decisions certainly move it forward. I trusted Christ as Savior when I was seven years old. I consciously placed my whole life at His disposal when I was eleven. That was my point of conscious yieldedness, of deliberate submission to the will of God in every area of my life. That is when I let go and let God.

Except I didn’t. Nobody does. Ever. We can, so to speak, sign over the title to our lives. We can consciously recognize that Christ has a right to us and to dispose our lives. Whether we do that at our conversion or at some later point, though, it is never complete in practice. We keep our hands on the steering wheel—and we ought to. Christ’s purpose (again, so to speak) is not to drive our car for us. His purpose is for us to become skilled drivers who steer our lives where He wants them to go.

This is the paradox of the Christian life. We are the ones who must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Yet we can do that only because God is the one who works in us both the willing and the doing of His good pleasure. We dare not detract from either side of that paradox.

In practice, our submission to Christ is always less than complete. We meet new challenges, or we meet old ones again, in which His ownership must be worked out. That is a constant struggle, and it is one in which we often fail. Because of our failures, we need to keep on confessing our sins. When we do, we receive relational forgiveness and cleansing. If we claim that we have not sinned in ways that need ongoing confession, then we call Christ a liar and His word is not in us. (1 John 1:9–10).

This is the process that leads to increasing sanctification. Through it all, Christ is living out His life in us. The Christ-life does not begin with deliberate yieldedness. The Christ-life begins when we trust Him as Savior. It begins when His Spirit baptizes us and comes to live in us (Rom 8:9; 1 Cor 12:13). The indwelling Spirit mediates the indwelling life of Christ from the moment of our conversion (Rom 8:10). The baptizing Spirit joins us to Christ so that our members become His (1 Cor 6:15–16). The indwelling life of Christ is not a separate or special experience or enablement. If we are believers, then Christ is living out His life through us all the time.

Some theories of the Christian life make me suspicious. One is the theory that God has to scare His children into perseverance. He frightens them by threatening them with loss of salvation. Of course, He can’t actually deny them salvation if they have trusted Christ. He doesn’t really mean it. He just wants to shake their confidence enough that they shape up.

Another is the Keswick theory that leads people to profess sinlessness in this life. No version of Keswick erects adequate safeguards against this danger. The theory scares me because I’ve seen how it leads people to deceive themselves. I’ll give an example.

A few years ago I was cycling with a Keswick friend who claimed that, because he was resting in Christ, he no longer sinned. As we pedaled down the trail, a cyclist was veering from side to side toward us. Since I was riding in front, I crowded as far to the right as the trail would allow. Then the approaching cyclist veered to our left and passed. I pulled over and stopped. I commented, “I never know what to do when I see something like that coming at me.”

“Oh,” he pronounced in other-worldly tones, “I don’t even notice when women dress that way anymore.”

I had to back up mentally and replay the episode in my own mind. I eventually recalled two things. First, the approaching cyclist had been female. Second, she was wearing a revealing jersey. That made sense of my friend’s remarks. Then I realized the implications.

First, my friend assumed that I was commenting on the woman’s clothing. Second, by denying that he noticed her revealing clothing, he was admitting that he had noticed it. Third, he was implying that if my sanctification were as advanced as his, then I wouldn’t have noticed, either. So his reply tacitly admitted that he had looked, then lied about it, then accused me of having done what he had actually done. That’s an interesting way to live the deeper life.

I do not claim that my understanding of the Christian life is fully coherent. But it is at least as coherent as the other views I’ve encountered. I don’t know of a systematic theory of the Christian life that doesn’t give up something the Bible teaches. I’m just glad that God sanctifies us in spite of our theories.

This essay is by Kevin T. Bauder, Research Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at Central Baptist Theological Seminary. Not every one of the professors, students, or alumni of Central Seminary necessarily agrees with every opinion that it expresses.

O for a Closer Walk with God

William Cowper (1730–1800)

O for a closer walk with God,
a calm and heav’nly frame,
a light to shine upon the road
that leads me to the Lamb!

Where is the blessedness I knew
when first I sought the Lord?
Where is the soul refreshing view
of Jesus and His Word?

What peaceful hours I then enjoyed!
How sweet their mem’ry still!
But they have left an aching void
the world can never fill.

Return, O holy Dove, return,
sweet messenger of rest;
I hate the sins that made Thee mourn,
and drove Thee from my breast.

The dearest idol I have known,
whate’er that idol be,
help me to tear it from Thy throne
and worship only Thee.

So shall my walk be close with God,
calm and serene my frame;
so purer light shall mark the road
that leads me to the Lamb.

Last week I gave you the first part of my listing of the “most interesting books” that I read during 2024. Again, I emphasize that my selection is subjective: what was interesting to me may not be interesting to you. Nevertheless, here is the rest of my list.

Heller, Anne C. Hannah Arendt: A Life in Dark Times. New York: Open Road, 2015. 148pp.

Hannah Arendt was a German Jew who fled to France and then America during the Second World War. She had been a student and mistress of Nazi philosopher Martin Heidegger. After the war, she and Heidegger renewed a friendship, and Arendt went on to become an important philosophical critic of totalitarianism. Heller’s book not only tells Arendt’s story but also focuses on the interplay of philosophical ideas between the two thinkers.

Kilpatrick, James J. The Writer’s Art. Kansas City: Andrews McNeel, 1984. 262pp.

Every year I try to read at least one book on the craft of writing. This year I chose Kilpatrick, since his work came with a recommendation from William F. Buckley. It turned out to be more than just a book. It was as if Kilpatrick put his arm around my shoulders and said, “Son, let me show you how to do this.” I only wish that I could learn the lesson as well as he taught it.

Kim, Swee Hong and Lester Ruth. Lovin’ on Jesus: A Concise History of Contemporary Worship. Nashville: Abingdon, 2017. 192pp.

What is contemporary worship and where does it come from? The authors of this book try to answer that question, defining contemporary worship much more broadly than the current “worship wars.” They trace its beginnings to the effort to update worship language, including updating the translation of Scripture. They identify various strands within contemporary worship and outline the philosophy and theology of each. I found the work illuminating.

McGrath, Alistair. Christian Theology: An Introduction. 6th ed. Hoboken: Wiley Blackwell, 2017. 528pp.

This volume presents itself as an introduction to theology, but it might better be described as a survey. While it does deal with introductory matters (the prolegomena of theology), it devotes most of its space to surveying the various approaches to the main questions within each discipline of systematic theology. It seems to be written more as a textbook for university students than as a study for seminarians or pastors. The discussion is not advanced, but the survey is useful.

Morgan, Christopher and Robert A. Peterson. Christian Theology: The Biblical Story and Our Faith. Nashville: B&H, 2020. 620pp.

This theology is written from a conservative, more-or-less Baptistic approach, but it aims to present a range of options for many theological questions. It is less detailed than I would prefer in a seminary textbook, but it is charitable in tone and fairly comprehensive. It would make a useful refresher for pastors.

Nickson, Elizabeth. Eco-Fascists: How Radical Conservationists Are Destroying Our Natural Heritage. New York: Broadside, 2012. 384pp.

Broadside Books is supposed to be a conservative imprint under Harper Publishing, but Nickson is not noticeably conservative. She is a liberal environmentalist and journalist who is upset at the way the environmental movement has been highjacked. Some of her claims are difficult to verify (e.g., that the government is importing “cadaver wolves”). Overall, however, she makes a convincing case that contemporary environmentalism and governments are using each other as vehicles for radical social engineering.

Sacco, Jack. Where the Birds Never Sing: The True Story of the 92nd Signal Battalion and the Liberation of Dachau. New York: ReganBooks, 2003. 336pp.

Warning: this volume is written about military service from the perspective of a soldier. It contains offensive language. And it isn’t quite a first-person narrative. While written in the soldier’s voice, it was authored by his son. Qualifications aside, the book is a gripping story of one GI who served under Patton and who participated in the liberation of Dachau. Given the increasing penchant for Holocaust denial, direct accounts such as this one are needed.

Shenvi, Neil and Pat Sawyer. Critical Dilemma: The Rise of Critical Theories and Social Justice Ideology—Implications for the Church and Society. Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2023. 528pp.

This work does a better job of describing the origins and ideas of critical theory than any other book I’ve read. It deals with difficult ideas in an understandable way. If you are a pastor who wants to understand critical theory and social justice, I can’t think of a better work to recommend.

Shippey, Tom. J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. 384pp.

Too much is being published about the Inklings for a non-specialist like me to keep up with it all. Still, I try to read a few books each year about Lewis, Tolkien, Barfield, or Williams. This book by Shippey is just a nice rehearsal of Tolkien’s importance. It includes responses to many of Tolkien’s critics.

Sowell, Thomas. Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality? New York: William Morrow, 1984. 168pp.

Thomas Sowell is another author who deserves his own shelf in your library. I’ve never read anything by him that wasn’t worthwhile. This is one of his earlier works. He argues that many of the putative successes of the Civil Rights Movement would have happened anyway, while the movement itself has hindered civil rights in important ways. He also responds to the accusation that his personal rise is due to the very things that he critiques.

Spink, Kenneth, ed. First Timothy: Church Charter. Cleveland: Hebron Association, 2024. 200pp.

The pastors of the Hebron Baptist Association near Cleveland have produced this little commentary. Of course, some chapters are more detailed, and others are more devotional, but I love the idea of pastors cooperating to study, understand, and comment on a book of Scripture. May they produce more in years to come.

Van Drunen, David. Natural Law: A Short Companion. Essentials in Christian Ethics. Brentwood, TN: B&H, 2024. 160pp.

According to this author, Reformed theology and some version of natural law are compatible perspectives. The book is a brief introduction to the kind of natural law that just might work in a Reformed context. The author is not unmindful of the noetic effects of the fall, and his discussion includes several important qualifications. This is a helpful book.

Witherington, Ben III. What Have They Done with Jesus? Beyond Strange Theories and Bad History—Why We Can Trust the Bible. New York: HarperCollins, 2006. 352pp.

Bad theorizing abounds about the Jesus of History, the composition of the Gospels, and the early development of Christianity. In this book, Witherington attempts to distill and simplify the arguments for popular consumption. He defends a responsible, understandable, conservative defense of the biblical record.

So those are the books that I enjoyed most in 2024. Lord willing, I’ll be back in a twelvemonth with a list of the books I enjoyed most during 2025. Until then, happy reading.

This essay is by Kevin T. Bauder, Research Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at Central Baptist Theological Seminary. Not every one of the professors, students, or alumni of Central Seminary necessarily agrees with every opinion that it expresses.

from Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice

Martin Luther (1483–1546); tr. Richard Massie (1800–1887)

My good works could avail me naught,
For they with sin were stained;
Free-will against God’s judgment fought,
And dead to good remained;
Grief drove me to despair, and I
Had nothing left me but to die,
To hell I fast was sinking.

Then God beheld my wretched state
With deep commiseration;
He thought upon His mercy great,
And willed my soul’s salvation;
He turned to me a Father’s heart—
Not small the cost!—to heal my smart,
He gave His best and dearest.

The Son His Father did obey,
And, born of virgin-mother,
He came a while on earth to stay,
That He might be my brother.
His mighty power He hidden bore,
A servant’s form like mine He wore,
To lead the Devil captive.

He spake to me: “Hold fast by me,
I am thy Rock and Castle;
I wholly give myself for thee,
For thee I strive and wrestle;
For I am thine, and thou art mine,
Henceforth my place is also thine;
The Foe shall never part us.

“The Foe shall shed my precious blood,
Me of my life bereaving;
All this I suffer for thy good;
Be steadfast and believing.
Life shall from death the victory win,
Mine innocence shall bear thy sin,
So art thou blest forever.”

It’s that time of year again. Other authors issue bibliographies of “best books” they’ve read. I put out a listing of reading that I personally found most interesting. This year, it happens that “interesting” also broadly corresponds to “good,” though in some years, books can be interesting exactly because they are bad. But I promise, all the following are good, though in different ways. You may or may not find them interesting, but I did, and that’s why they’re here.

Adler, Mortimer J. Six Great Ideas. New York: Touchstone, 1981. 256pp.

The six ideas are divided into two sets. Truth, goodness, and beauty are ideas we judge by. Liberty, equality, and justice are ideas we act on. Adler compares and contrasts approaches to these ideas, helping his readers understand the issues surrounding them. Adler invariably stimulates his readers’ thinking. He is one of those authors who deserves his own shelf in your library.

Anderson, Ryan T. Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom. Washington: Regnery, 2015. 256pp.

Famous for authoring a conservative work that was banned by Amazon, Anderson is one of the most articulate conservative voices addressing gender issues today. In Truth Overruled he argues from natural law that the definition of marriage cannot be stretched to include two people of the same sex. The argument is both sound and accessible to readers with, say, a high-school education.

Blomberg, Craig L. Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey. 3rd ed. Nashville: B&H, 2022. 720pp.

As Blomberg’s subtitle implies, this work has two goals. One is to survey the contents of the four gospels, but the more important is to deal with introductory issues. These include the various issues related to the Jesus of History and the Christ of Faith. Blomberg provides a good, accessible overview of the questions, combined with a competent, conservative response. Parts of the work are idiosyncratic, but this is overall a very helpful book.

Butterfield, Rosaria. The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World. Wheaton: Crossway, 2018. 240pp.

Any book by Butterfield is worth reading. Her early books present a biblical perspective on homosexuality and lesbianism. This book deals more specifically with hospitality as a Christian duty. Butterfield talks about the what, the how, and the why. The result is that she sets a standard for hospitality that many readers will despair of ever being able to meet. Even so, the challenge is good and necessary.

Dubal, David. The Essential Canon of Classical Music. New York: North Point, 2003. 800pp.

I loved classical music from the first time I heard Tchaikovsky’s Overture Solonnelle, but only during seminary did I become a serious listener. I found that the field is so large as to bewilder an outsider. Eventually you start to find out what you like, and you look for more of it. Dubal’s work is useful for middle-level listeners who have got their feet on the ground but who wonder where to go next. Dubal surveys the entire field by period and composer. He also includes a recommended discography.

Flew, Antony. There Is A God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind. New York: HarperOne, 2009. 258pp.

When I was being educated, the New Atheists had not yet captured public interest. During those years, Antony Flew was recognized as the ablest academic proponent of atheism. In this book, Flew tells how he became an atheist and why he eventually abandoned atheism for theism. The book includes Flew’s criticism of the New Atheism. It also includes a dialogue about Jesus with N. T. Wright. One could wish that it included a clear profession of faith in Christ.

Frahm, Eckhart. Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World’s First Empire. New York: Basic, 2023. 528pp.

The Assyrian Empire intersects the history of divided Israel and Judah in dramatic ways. Ultimately, the Assyrians were responsible for the dismantling and captivity of the northern kingdom. Frahm, an Assyriologist who teaches at Yale, offers in this work an overview of Assyrian history. While he is sometimes critical of the biblical chronology, Frahm does much to explain the pressures that the kings of Israel and Judah (not to mention other nations) faced from Assyrian expansionism. He has good theories about how Assyria rose to power and why it fell.

Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas. Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Naziism, and the Politics of Identity. New York: NYU, 2003. 271pp.

One of my study projects involves a version of white supremacy known as Identity Christianity. Eventually, I hope to do some writing on the subject. Identity Christianity is a quasi-Christian movement, generally cultish (though some versions of it are Trinitarian), with its own theology. Not many people will find this kind of reading interesting, but it helped me fit together some of the players and ideas in the Identity Christian movement.

Grossman, Miriam. Lost in Trans Nation: A Child Psychiatrist’s Guide Out of the Madness. New York: Skyhorse, 2018. 360pp.

This book is a deep dive into the influence that the Trans movement has exerted over the mental health profession. Grossman writes as an insider, a child psychiatrist who has dealt with gender issues for years. She is clearly outraged, however, by the current Trans ideology, which she believes is deeply harmful to children. She includes an account of how that movement uses professional and legal pressures to get doctors and parents to conform, and she also provides helpful strategies for dealing with authorities and children when those children announce that they are Trans. The discussion is long, and sometimes it is tedious, but every pastor should read this book.

This list is only the beginning. I’m working alphabetically and we are only through the letter G. Yes, there’s more to come! Next week I’ll be back with more of my “most interesting reading” of 2024.

This essay is by Kevin T. Bauder, Research Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at Central Baptist Theological Seminary. Not every one of the professors, students, or alumni of Central Seminary necessarily agrees with every opinion that it expresses.

Let Those Who Doubt the Heavenly Source

John Bowring (1792–1872)*

Let those who doubt the heavenly source
Of revelation’s page divine,
Use as their weapons fraud and force—
No such unhallowed arms are mine.
I only wield its holy word—
Reason its shield, and truth its sword.

I doubt not—my religion stands
A beacon on the eternal rock—
Let malice throw her fiery brands;
Its sacred fane has stood the shock
Of ages—and shall tower sublime
Above the waves and winds of time.

Infinite wisdom formed the plan;
Infinite power supports the pile;
Infinite goodness poured on man
Its radiant light—its cheering smile.
Need they thy aid? Poor worm! Thy aid?
O mad presumption—vain parade!

Thou wilt not trust th’Almighty One
With His own thunders—thou wouldst throw
The bolts of Heaven! O senseless son
Of dust and darkness! Spider! Go,
And with thy cobweb bind the tide,
And the swift, dazzling comet guide.

Yes! Force has conquering reasons given,
And chains and tortures argue well—
And thou hast proved thy faith from Heaven,
By weapons thou hast brought from hell.
Yes! Thou hast made thy title good,
For thou hast signed the deed with blood.

Daring impostor! Sure that God
Whose advocate thou feign’st to be,
Will smite thee with that awful rod
Which thou wouldst seize—and pour on thee
The vial of that wrath, which thou
Wouldst empty on thy brother’s brow.

* [Editor’s note: This poem is a striking condemnation of the use of force as a means of spiritual persuasion, which Baptists also disdain. The author, though, is a Unitarian. His best-known text, still sung in many Trinitarian churches, is In the Cross of Christ I Glory.]

[This essay was originally published on January 3, 2013. The editor has taken the liberty of updating the year; the essay is otherwise unaltered.]

Many periodicals make a New Year’s tradition of summarizing the most important stories of the past year. That tradition has never been followed by In the Nick of Time, but I thought this year might be a good time to begin. Since I’d never done this before, I perused several lists that others had put together. What struck me is that they universally missed the most important stories. So, in no particular order, here are my picks for the top stories of 2024.

Jesus Did Not Return

Few if any news outlets have reported that the Rapture did not occur during 2024. We believers are still on earth. We were unexpectedly granted an entire extra year to prepare ourselves. We were given a whole twelve months for devotion to our Lord. We had fifty-two whole weeks to apportion our time, energy, and money in such a way that as many people as possible (including ourselves) would be ready for His coming. The non-Rapture of the church during 2024 is clear evidence that the Lord is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Eager as we are to be with Him in heaven, we can rejoice that He intends to show mercy to yet more sinners.

Few Were Disappointed

Almost as remarkable as the non-Rapture is the non-disappointment of the saints. Those who obeyed Scripture were looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. For such people, every year in which they have not yet glimpsed His face leaves them both heartsick for Him and homesick for a better country, that is: an heavenly. They yearn for the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. They exhort one another, and so much the more, as they see the day approaching. The absence of this eagerness for the coming and presence of Jesus is certainly news.

Many Were At Ease

People who seek a better country are willing to dwell in tabernacles. They confess that they are strangers and pilgrims on the earth. On the other hand, those who are mindful of that country from whence they came out might have opportunity to return. For the former, God is not ashamed to be called their God. For the latter—well, they are newsworthy. It is as if, when they look up the word world in their thesaurus, they find the synonym friend. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. That is news.

The Government Martyred No One

Nowhere in the United States did any level of government—local, state, or federal—kill any Christian believers because of their testimonies. We have not yet resisted unto blood. On the contrary, we have been granted an opportunity to lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and to make straight paths for our feet. We have been given another chance to follow that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. If that’s not news, what is?

Christians Stood Up for Their Rights

It is no great thing that Christians, like Paul and Silas in Philippi, would challenge governments that fail to keep within their proper boundaries. What is newsworthy is that Christians should decide that the life of faith requires them to insist upon their rights instead of approving what is excellent. Only through the latter may a believer be sincere and without offense until the day of Jesus Christ. Here is the news: Christians have forgotten that one who strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. They are unaware that we become all things to all men, not by imitating them and seeking their approval, but by denying ourselves whatever rights and privileges would block us from serving them. That Christians should spend their efforts defending their rights would certainly be news to Paul: “But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void.”

God Was Denied Glory

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of those who bear God’s image spent the year exchanging the glory of the incorruptible God for an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. They also spent the year bearing the consequences of uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. Here is some news: God will not give His glory unto another. People are condemned first and foremost, not because they have broken God’s law, but because they have dishonored Him by preferring idols.

God Unleashed His Power

The gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. The gospel is not like a yapping Chihuahua that needs to be kept on a leash to protect it from the big dogs. The gospel is like a lion that pulls down its prey and subdues it. The gospel has the power to penetrate the hardest heart, humble the most arrogant mind, and bring the vilest sinner to repentance. News flash: the gospel never needs to be protected. It needs to be set loose. It did its work during 2024. The salvation of a single soul (and many were saved, all over the world) is a magnificent display of the infinite power of God.

Billions Are Still Lost

As 2024 closed, billions and billions of human beings, made in God’s image, were still lost and on their way to hell. Of these, the majority had never even heard the good news of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in the substitutionary death and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. Billions had never even heard the name of Jesus or seen a Bible. After two millennia, Christians have still not completed the task of going into all the world and preaching the gospel to every creature. They see a world wholly given to idolatry, and the news is that their spirit is not stirred in them. They do not dispute in the market daily with them that meet them. From these billions of unrepentant sinners, God is not receiving the glory and worship that He deserves—and He commands all men every where to repent. He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He has ordained. The news is that we still have a job to do.

* * *

The biggest news of 2024, and the biggest news of every year, is the gospel itself. The gospel is not a religious philosophy. It is not a collection of moral precepts. It is not a guide to self-improvement. It is not a stimulus for spiritual inspiration. It is news—news about events that occurred when God entered space and time, assumed a human nature, died to bear the penalty of human sin, and arose bodily from the dead. Not only is the gospel news, it is good news. It is the best news that sinful humans could ever hear.

Spread the news.

This essay is by Kevin T. Bauder, Research Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at Central Baptist Theological Seminary. Not every one of the professors, students, or alumni of Central Seminary necessarily agrees with every opinion that it expresses.

The Day Is Past and Gone

John Leland (1754–1841)

The day is past and gone,
The evening shades appear.
O may we all remember well
The night of death draws near.

We lay our garments by,
Upon our beds to rest;
So death will soon disrobe us all
Of what we here possess.

Lord, keep us safe this night,
Secure from all our fears;
May angels guard us while we sleep,
Till morning light appears.

And when we early rise,
And view th’unwearied sun,
May we set out to win the prize,
And after glory run.

And when our days are past,
And we from time remove,
O may we in Thy bosom rest,
The bosom of Thy love.

During the Christmas season, two figures stand rightfully in the spotlight. One is Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem. The other is Mary His mother. A third figure generally remains somewhere in the shadows: he is known to have been present but hardly seems to matter. That man is Joseph.

Many Christians treat Joseph as a placeholder. Since they know that Jesus was conceived and born of a virgin, they assume that Joseph was present only as Mary’s husband. They take it as incidental and almost accidental that he was in the story at all. After all, what did Joseph contribute? He was a husband to Mary. He provided a male parental figure for Jesus. Perhaps he trained Jesus in the trade of construction. The story, however, would be substantially the same had Joseph never lived. Another man—or no man at all—might have done as well.

The Gospels challenge these assumptions about Joseph. They provide reasons for saying that he played a unique role in the nativity of our Lord. Without Joseph, the mission of Jesus Christ could never have succeeded. He was a remarkable man for several reasons.

At the least, Joseph is important because of his character. Matthew calls him a just or righteous man (Luke 1:19). Only about ten individuals in the Bible get called just or righteous. This designation already places Joseph among the elite.

His righteousness, however, was not of the priggish sort. It clearly included an element of compassion or mercy. Joseph was unwilling to subject Mary to shame, even before he knew that her pregnancy was caused by the Holy Spirit. Instead, he settled on a private divorce to end their marriage.

Joseph was more than Mary’s fiancé. He was legally her husband and she was legally his wife. Even though they had not yet consummated their marriage, and even though they were not yet living together, a divorce was necessary to dissolve their relationship. This was what Joseph planned to do, but he did not rush into it. Joseph must have been a temperate and deliberate man, because he was still pondering the situation when he dozed off and was confronted in a dream by an angel.

The angel assured Joseph that Mary was faithful to him. Her pregnancy was miraculous, something that was wrought by the Holy Spirit. The angel told Joseph to complete the marriage with Mary and to bring her into his home. This was a significant act, one that would be widely understood to mean that Joseph acknowledged the child. When Joseph took the final steps to complete his marriage with Mary, he was extending public acceptance to Jesus as his own offspring.

The angel gave further instructions about the child. He told Joseph, “You shall call his name Jesus,” a name that means savior or deliverer. The point is that Joseph was told to do the naming. Of course, this does not exclude Mary from being involved in the naming, but a child’s father had naming rights that could override the mother’s wishes (see the example of Zacharias, Elisabeth, and John in Luke 1:59–63). By exercising this right, Joseph was underlining his acceptance of the child Jesus as his own.

This point is critical: even though Jesus was not the biological descendant of Joseph, he was more than a stranger who was fostered in Joseph’s home. He was even more than adopted. From a legal point of view, Jesus was the son of Joseph, with all the rights, honors, and privileges pertaining thereto. And being the son of Joseph did come with rights, honors, and privileges.

Joseph stood in the direct line of descent from King David through King Solomon. By right of primogeniture, under the terms of the Davidic Covenant (2 Sam 7:12–16) Joseph held the title to the throne of David. He could not claim that title because of the curse placed on King Coniah (Jer 22:24, 30). By affirming Jesus as his legal son, however, Joseph passed the right of succession on to Jesus.

As the legal son of Joseph, Jesus headed the dynasty of Solomon. He held the title to occupy the throne of David. Because He was not Joseph’s biological son, however, He was not under the curse of Coniah. Since Mary was also a descendant of David through David’s son Nathan (Luke 3:23–31; 2 Sam 5:13–14), Jesus’ virgin birth fulfilled God’s promise that a descendant of David would rule Israel.

Was Joseph’s fatherhood of Jesus recognized? Luke indicates that Jesus was believed or thought to be the son of Joseph (Luke 3:23). Years later, he was still referred to as “the carpenter’s son” (Matt 13:55–57). He was called “the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know (John 6:42). Indeed, Mary, talking to Jesus, could refer to Joseph as “your father” (Luke 2:48). The suggestion that the circumstances of Jesus’ birth might have temporarily slipped from Mary’s mind is simply ludicrous. More than once, Luke’s gospel names both Mary and Joseph together as Jesus’ parents (Luke 2:27, 41).

Joseph fulfilled the role of human father to Jesus. When Herod’s paranoia threatened the child, the angel warned Joseph to move the family to Egypt. When the threat had passed, the angel again appeared to Joseph, permitting him to take Mary and Jesus home to Nazareth. Then every year Joseph would take his family to Jerusalem for Passover (Luke 2:41). Since Jesus was increasing in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52), Joseph must have played a significant role in His spiritual upbringing.

The last glimpse we get of Joseph is when the twelve-year-old Jesus was disputing with the doctors in the temple. Probably Joseph was older than Mary, and he may have died shortly after that event. He was certainly gone before Jesus began His public ministry. The years during which Joseph parented Jesus were brief but crucial.

Much of Joseph’s life is hidden from us, but the little that we do know is vital. He was a just man, a good man, a devout man. His royal fathers can rightly be proud of him. He opened their dynasty to Mary’s son, the Savior. He gave the Savior a name, a title, a throne, and a home. Joseph is truly a hero of Christmas.

This essay is by Kevin T. Bauder, Research Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at Central Baptist Theological Seminary. Not every one of the professors, students, or alumni of Central Seminary necessarily agrees with every opinion that it expresses.

Beside Thy Manger Here I Stand

Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676); tr. William Martin Czamanske (1873–1964)

Beside Thy manger here I stand,
Dear Jesus, Lord and Savior,
A gift of love within my hand
To thank Thee for Thy favor.
O take my humble offering;
My heart, my soul, yea, everything
Is Thine to keep forever.

With joy I gaze upon Thy face;
Thy glory and Thy splendor
Are greater than my heart can praise,
And songs can fitly render.
O that my mind might truly be
As boundless as the deepest sea—
’Twould still be lost in wonder.

O grant me this abundant grace,
And let it be Thy pleasure
That I may be Thy dwelling place,
Dear Savior, sweetest treasure!
O let me be Thy manger bed,
Then shall I lift my lowly head
With joy beyond all measure.