Journal: Interdisciplinary Journal on Biblical Authority
Volume: IJOBA 01:2 (Fall 2020)
Article: Editorial Introduction Of The Fall Issue Of Interdisciplinary Journal On Biblical Authority
Author: Thomas D. Ice

IJOBA 1:2 (Fall 2020) p. 100

Editorial Introduction Of The Fall Issue Of Interdisciplinary Journal On Biblical Authority

Thomas D. Ice

Editor

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Our second issue the Interdisciplinary Journal On Biblical Authority continues our biblical goal of “bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5) with some excellent articles which do just that in relation to the issues in which they deal. God’s Word has the answers to all of the issues of life.

As believers dedicated to developing and applying a consistent biblical worldview, Michel Dodds applies Scripture to the issue of gender. He notes and explains that Scripture declares there are only two genders which God has created—male and female—and humanity was created to function within that design. The contemporary trend of claiming other genders is nothing more than rebellion against the Creator’s design for humanity. Scripture is clear, as Dodds notes, in spite of a multitude of attempts to claim otherwise.

My (Thomas Ice) article for this issue demonstrates that the modern approach to Scripture known as dispensationalism arose within the Reformed, Calvinist theological tradition. Not only did it arise within a Calvinist framework, it took a hundred years before anyone within an Arminian tradition began to adopt dispensationalism. This later development first appeared in the United States within the Pentecostal movement. It is important to know this historical fact about dispensationalism since so many within the Reformed community believe dispensationalism is organically foreign to Calvinism.

Hebrew scholar Douglas Smith provides an exhaustive study in the original langue of the phrase “all the earth” in the first five books of Moses. Smith notes the Hebrew term for “earth” can refer to the whole earth, the land of

IJOBA 1:2 (Fall 2020) p. 101

Israel, or the inhabitants of the earth depending on contexts. He provides an extensive breakdown of the various uses and their contexts. This is an important study since debate arises over some contexts as to whether it refers to the entire earth or the land or earth of Israel.

Calvary professor Gary Gromacki recently received an actual Jewish Torah Scroll recently given to the University. Dr. Gromacki has taken this opportunity to write on the Messiah in the Torah—the first five books of the Old Testament. He provides a survey of Messianic passages from the Pentateuch and notes Jesus’ fulfillment of many of these passage at His first coming as recorded in the New Testament. Gromacki also provides a history of the Torah scroll recently obtained by Calvary Un...