From The Editors -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Puritan Reformed Journal
Volume: PRJ 01:1 (Jan 2009)
Article: From The Editors
Author: Anonymous


From The Editors

In his little-known historical study of the important contributions made by the Puritans, Donald A. Carson concluded that it is “impossible to read them without feeling the fire burn within, without being humbled by their almost fantastic grasp of Scripture and of theology” and prayed that God would again give us “such abundant fruit of superior quality.”1 Without claiming to be that fruit for which Dr. Carson prayed, the papers in this inaugural issue of The Puritan Reformed Journal do seek to undertake theological reflection along the very lines laid down by the Puritans: submitting to the Word of God as the final and all-sufficient source of truth about God and His salvation, and seeking to understand the many-splendored contours of the biblical witness about the Triune God in Scripture and history. as the Puritans well knew, this entails various realms of theological reflection: biblical, historical, and pastoral theology, and that jewel in the crown, systematic theology. It is the editors’ hope that, in issues to come, all of these realms of theology will be represented and help the church of Christ to increase in the knowledge of her God.

An essay by Joel Beeke provides an appropriate doorway into this inaugural issue by emphasizing our great need for a God-centered ministry. Through an exegetical analysis of 1 Corinthians 1:1-2:5, Dr. Beeke highlights the fact that such a ministry is inevitably Christological, for the great goal of all of God’s works is the glory of His Son. In a bibliotheological study on preaching Christ from the Old Testament, David Murray continues this theme of the exaltation of Christ. He rightly shows that far too much gospel preaching bypasses the Old Testament altogether, despite Christ’s own declaration that all of the Scriptures of the Old Covenant spoke of Him.

Among the most neglected Old Testament books is Leviticus—though the writer of the letter to the Hebrews uses this book extensively. Johnny Serafini, a Brazilian student at Puritan reformed Theological Seminary, seeks to rectify this lacuna by examining the Levitical prohibition on consuming blood, its new Testament fulfillment, and the godly reverence that should permeate our lives because of this command. The usefulness of the Old Testament for New Testament believers also informs the article of Gerald Bilkes on Ezra’s pattern for church reformation today. We delight in being reformed believers, but we have

not arrived, and must ever search the Scriptures to know the paths God would have us take. Dr. Bilkes’s article is a great help to this end.

In the first ...

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