In my own walk of faith, God led me on a ten-year journey before I became a convinced credo Baptist. Ultimately, it was biblical theology that finally pushed me over the fence, and in the following presentation I expound some of the biblical-theological arguments that led me in this direction. The presentation is titled “Father of a Multitude: New Covenant Ecclesiology in Old Testament Perspective,” and a version of the study will show up under the same title in a forthcoming collection edited by Stephen J. Wellum and Brent A. Parker titled Progressive Covenantalism: Charting a Mediating Position Between Dispensational and Covenant Theologies (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2015). An expanded version will also appear in JETS 58.3 (2015) under the title “Counting Stars with Abraham and the Prophets: New Covenant Ecclesiology in Old Testament Perspective.”
My thesis: The NT’s application of “seed” language to both Jews and Gentiles in Christ fulfills OT hopes for the fulfillment of Abraham’s fatherhood of a multitude of nations through the messianic king and supports a progressive covenantal flavor of baptistic new covenant ecclesiology. I gave this presentation on March 26, 2015, at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary as part of their PhD Colloquium Series. I am grateful to all who were present and offered helpful feedback.
Audio Messages and Print Material (Jason S. DeRouchie Ⓒ 2015)
(Audio/Video/Handout) “Father of a Multitude: New Covenant Ecclesiology in Old Testament Perspective”
Related biblical-theological essays:
- 2004-Circumcision in the Hebrew Bible and Targums: Theology, Rhetoric, and the Handling of Metaphor-BBR 14.2-DeRouchie
- 2010-Christ or Family as the ‘Seed’ of Promise? An Evaluation of N. T. Wright on Galatians 3:16-SBJT 14.3-DeRouchie-Meyer
- 2013-The Blessing-Commission, the Promised Offspring, and the Toledot Structure of Genesis-JETS 56.2-DeRouchie
