Editorial -- By: Richard C. Barcellos
Journal: Reformed Baptist Theological Review
Volume: RBTR 01:2 (Jul 2004)
Article: Editorial
Author: Richard C. Barcellos
Editorial
RBTR Managing Editor
This is our second issue and we have been very pleased with the response thus far. Much hard work went into our first issue (not without mistakes) and the response has been an indication that the work was worth the effort.
In this issue various matters are discussed. In the first article, Robert P. Martin offers a discussion of Heb. 4:9, 10 entitled “A Sabbath Remains.” This is a crucial text in establishing a biblical theology of the Sabbath, and especially instructive concerning the change of the day to the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week. We believe Dr. Martin’s discussion will contribute to the literature on this text and the issue of an abiding Sabbath under the New Covenant.
The second article is my critique of the use of John Owen by John G. Reisinger and Tom Wells in his booklet Is John G. Reisinger an Antinomian? Specific focus is brought to their understanding of Owen on the nature of the Old Covenant and the function of the Decalogue as these relate to New Covenant Theology. The claims of Reisinger and Wells are stated and then compared to Owen and others within the stream of historic Reformed orthodoxy in the 16th through the 18th centuries. Ample evidence is marshaled from primary sources to display that Owen stands within the pale of orthodoxy on these matters and should not be considered as a forerunner to New Covenant Theology.
Our third article, written by Michael T. Renihan, uncovers an obscure figure from 17th century England. Dr. Renihan did his doctoral thesis on Tombes and has brought to light a gold mine of information on the baptismal controversies of 17th century Puritan England. This is the first of two articles on this crucial figure in church history and historical theology. Part two, to be published in RBTR II:1, January 2005, will lay open some of Tombes’ antipaedobaptist arguments.
James M. Renihan offers a timely study of the Confession and the means of grace. Too many in our day are giving way to “King Pragmatism” and “Lord Expedient” instead of being faithful to the God-ordained means of growth for Christians. Dr. Renihan’s article is aimed at keeping us on tract in this crucial area facing many churches in our day. Pressure is mounting to tempt us to cave in to contemporary models of Christian growth and worship. Our Confession, however, stands upon the Bible and calls us to commit ourselves to the means of grace as ordained by God and revealed in the Scripture. May this study remind us of what we hold dear and keep us from the new methods of postmodernism.
Next, Gregory G. Nichols presents a ...
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