Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 63:1 (Mar 2020)
Article: From Alpha To Omega: A Biblical-Theological Approach To God The Son Incarnate
Author: Stephen J. Wellum

JETS 63:1 (March 2020) p. 71

From Alpha To Omega: A Biblical-Theological Approach To God The Son Incarnate

Stephen Wellum

Stephen J. Wellum is Professor of Christian Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2825 Lexington Road, Louisville, KY 40280. He delivered this plenary address at the 71^st annual meeting of the ETS in San Diego, CA on November 22, 2019.

Abstract: Is Christ legitimately revealed in all of Scripture? The answer to this question is central to and at the heart of the biblical disciplines and the doing of systematic theology. Yet, there is wide disagreement on exactly how Christ is in all of Scripture and how to read Scripture theologically. In this paper, I argue that Scripture rightly read, from beginning to end, is Christocentric and Christotelic, and that Scripture presents our Lord Jesus Christ as God the Son incarnate. My argument proceeds in three steps. First, I discuss how a right reading of Scripture is dependent on a theology of Scripture. Before we can ask how Christ is revealed in all of Scripture, we must first think through how to approach and read Scripture on its own terms. Second, I argue that Christ is not revealed in all of Scripture in hidden verses or hidden codes, but by tracing out God's redemptive plan, rooted in eternity, enacted in time, and unveiled for us by the progression of the biblical covenants. In fact, it is the Bible's covenantal storyline that serves as the background, framework, and theology to the New Testament's presentation of Jesus, and how all Scripture reveals Christ's identity as the eternal Word/Son made flesh (John 1:1, 14). Third, I contend that the Church's later confessions, namely the Nicene Creed and the Chalcedonian definition, are not a distortion of Scripture but a faithful confession of the biblical teaching regarding the person and work of Christ. No doubt the later Creeds utilize theological language that is not directly found in Scripture. However, the language the Creeds employ and the theological judgments they make correctly grasp and put together the biblical data in a way that faithfully renders who Jesus is from the entirety of what Scripture teaches.

Key words: God the Son incarnate, biblical theology, systematic theology, Chalcedonian Christology, reading Scripture theologically, Christ in the Old Testament, hermeneutics, progressive revelation, covenants, Christocentric, Christotelic, Messiah, typology, promise-fulfillment, covenantal storyline of Scripture

How is “Christ in all Scripture?” The answer to this question is central to and at the heart of the biblical disciplines and the doing of systematic theol...