The Kindnesses of My Lord Jesus

Twenty-five years ago, I walked into an examination room at the Theology Faculty of University of Oxford to defend my dissertation. I shook, fearing Oxford’s Professor of Reformation History and the Archbishop of Wales would return this boy from the swamps of Louisiana to his home without honor.

They stood in their full regalia. As I visibly trembled, Rowan Williams nodded to Sir Diarmaid MacCulloch and broke the news to me: “Please sit, and do not be anxious. If this viva goes as we expect, we will propose this be one of the few dissertations published by Oxford University Press.”

That was one of the kindest things that had ever been done to me in an academic setting, exceeded only by the call I received earlier from Bill Tolar of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, announcing that my beloved alma mater elected me to return and teach theology with my own mentor, James Leo Garrett Jr.

On that day in 2000, I learned how to pastor younger theologians in an academic context from the future Archbishop of Canterbury. Yes, he helped ensure my work was of the highest academic quality, but he also helped ensure I was treated with dignity as one made in God’s image.

Yesterday, it was a joy to reunite with Rowan Williams for a moment as we stood on the stage by the pulpit of B. H. Carroll at the First Baptist Church of Waco, Texas. I presented him a copy of my latest book, God, the first volume of “Theology for Every Person”.

I also presented Todd Still, the Dean of George W. Truett Theological Seminary, with a copy of Special Revelation and Scripture. Dr. Still and Baylor University kindly granted me the use of their rooms at Regent’s Park College in 2022 so I could write my portion of that book co-authored with David Dockery.

I was also delighted to renew friendships with Steve Bezner and Preben Vang, professors at the university which spawned my Seminary 120 years ago. Dr. Vang once prompted Baylor to award Garrett a rare third doctorate before he passed. Dr. Bezner and I have often encouraged each other.

While I missed the celebration of David Dockery’s birthday, I was elated to renew some important relationships in my own life. It was also good to hear the first two of Rowan’s three Parchman lectures on the Trinity. The second lecture in particular will help orthodox Christians.

I also want to thank Matt Snowden, the Pastor of First Waco, for his kindnesses to my Teaching Assistant and me. Finally, Derrick Bledsoe, who plans to write on the Trinity, traveled with me to hear these lectures on Nicaea. Derrick was, as always, a personal blessing to me.

Our God has been so good to me. I feel as if every moment of my life has been one act of divine kindness stacked upon another. While I sometimes worried I might not make the grade or wondered how I would provide food for my children, Jesus my Lord has guided my life every moment.

"Identifying the Crisis in Evangelical Theology" and "Baptists Who Confess the Nicene Faith"

Concluding a good week of reports from the Administration and the Trustees of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, we held a successful Preview Day. To help with Preview Day, the Dean of our School of Theology asked me to provide an "exciting, engaging" lecture to our prospective students. I am happy to report there were more prospective students than we have seen in quite some time.

For the subject matter, I could think of nothing more important than to identify the most critical problem facing contemporary evangelical theology. I then proceeded to explain how our Seminary has long embraced the creeds as both necessary and beneficial. The lecture garnered a great deal of interest and affirmation as seen in the extended and positive Q&A period that concluded the lecture and the number of private consultations I fielded after the lecture. 

The first and more popular essay, "Identifying the Crisis in Evangelical Theology," will be published by another institution in a few weeks. I will post the link when that publication appears.

The second and longer essay used in the lecture was just published in The Southwestern Journal of Theology. You may read "Baptists Who Confess the Nicene Faith" on our Seminary's ETC website at this link. 

The PowerPoint for the entire presentation is available at this link. 

A Southwesterner's Appreciation for Russell Dilday

The President of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1978 to 1994, Russell Hooper Dilday, died today, June 21, at the age of 92. Under his leadership, Southwestern reached heights of enrollment and impact seen neither before nor after by a Southern Baptist seminary. Dilday was preceded in death by his wife, Betty, and by his son, Robert. Please allow me to tell you a little about Russell Dilday from the perspective of one student, professor, and pastor.

In 1991, after I spent almost four years of preparing intellectually and spiritually for full-time vocational Christian ministry, Russell Dilday acknowledged my completion of the Master of Divinity with Biblical Languages. During my student years at Southwestern Seminary, I had arrived at a different political position than Dr. Dilday regarding the controversy disrupting the Southern Baptist Convention. However, that difference in outlook never kept the President who handed me the degree from displaying his exemplary civility in Christian conduct.

In 1994, I watched from afar as Dr. Dilday was locked out of his own office and shown the exit to his beloved seminary. Like other Southern Baptists, I was shocked by this rough treatment yet impressed by his graceful dignity. Over the next decade, while researching the experiential theology of Edgar Young Mullins, I also discovered his thorough research into the theology of that previous denominational statesman. Dr. Dilday not only wrote about the apologetic legacy of Mullins; he continued his legacy as a statesman. While I remain less individualistic than either Dilday or Mullins, I have come to appreciate the deep wisdom in their conservative religious personalism and their fervent advocacy of Baptist identity.

In 2005, I received a telephone call from the front desk of the Baptist college at Oxford University. It was Russell Dilday asking if I would mind being a host for him and several Texas Baptist dignitaries attending the centennial celebration of the Baptist World Alliance. Feeling quite honored, I rearranged my day then gave Dr. Dilday's group an overview of Baptist history in Great Britain. During our long conversation, I showed them several portraits of Baptist dignitaries and the death couch of William Carey, the founder of the Modern Missions Movement. It was unusually hot in England that summer, and we Texans were suffering slightly from the British lack of air conditioning, yet these true Baptists were elated to learn more about their own heritage.

The group sought to present me an honorarium. I refused, noting my pleasure at deepening my fellowship with Dr. Dilday and coming to know each of them. However, the former President of Southwestern gently forced the honorarium into my hand, winked at me, and said, "Malcolm, you forget that I know how little you faculty earn. Receive this as a gift from the Lord and from me as a token of our appreciation for your continuing service to all Southern Baptists." He then smiled, gripped my hand firmly, and walked away before I could raise an objection. Again, I was struck by his exemplary graciousness. 

Through the following years, I came to realize the import of his parting words for me as one of the few theologians who continued the Southwestern tradition of theology at Southwestern Seminary. While we might have differed by degrees over anthropology and bibliology, we both swam in the same great tradition of Baptist life in Texas, in the Southern Baptist Convention, and in the Baptist World Alliance. Moreover, I came to lament with him certain "low points in the SBC odyssey." Dilday summarized these low points as "forced uniformity, political coercion, and egotistic self-interest."

In 2020, at the funeral service of James Leo Garrett Jr., I reflected publicly on my theological mentor's legacy with both former teachers and current colleagues. Before the proceedings, the visibly declining Dr. Dilday again addressed me personally, shook my hand, and thanked me for my faculty service. For those who are not quite aware of how significant that is, please understand that he engaged me graciously before and after momentous events in his life, in our seminary's life, and in our denomination's life. Through each encounter, he showed Christian civility: during a controversy, after he was summarily dismissed, and after many years of watching me actively advocate my own theology. Russell Dilday affirmed the calling of Baptist students, professors, and pastors, no matter which side of the aisle they occupied.

As a lifelong advocate of biblical inerrancy, as a current pastor in a Texas Baptist church, and as a current faculty member of his former seminary, I am convinced that the way forward for all Southern Baptists must be to heed Dr. Dilday's final challenge. In Higher Ground: A Call for Christian Civility, the sixth president of Southwestern Seminary wrote, "So the best way forward from this quarter century of strife is to let the past convict us and work to restore a gentler, kinder tone in our discourse and deliberations—in short—a return to Christian civility. That’s the road to higher ground." 

Russell Dilday was in his personal character what he advocated in his public proclamations. Rest In Peace, dear brother in Christ and father in Christian ministry. You have reminded Southern Baptists and Baptists in Texas what it means to be like Jesus. May our Lord speak to you even now the words you longed to hear throughout your meaningful life of often painful service: "Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy!"

Theology Is for God’s People

I am happy to announce that the good people at B&H Publishing Group and I have contracted for a major 3-volume popular-level systematic theology.

The Lord has long impressed me with the truth that theology is the responsibility of his people in the local churches.

This conviction began under the preaching of pastor Wayne DuBose, now of Minden, Louisiana.

It was then reinforced by the teaching of James Leo Garrett of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Research on the biblical and historical doctrine of the priesthood of all believers with the ThM at Duke Divinity (on the continental Reformation) and the DPhil at University of Oxford (on the English Reformation) cemented this conviction. (The latter was published by Oxford University Press).

Significant pastorates in Texas, Louisiana, and North Carolina showed in practice the truth that our people in our local churches want to know how to think properly about God, his work in the world, and his Word. These pastorates above all developed a deep love to teach God’s Word.

When Lakeside Baptist Church Granbury called me to be their Teaching Pastor, I was overwhelmed with joy to ground academic theology in church theology. The combination of the roles of Teaching Pastor and Research Professor have proved beneficial for both classroom and pulpit.

In important ways, the ongoing Baptist struggle with theological modernism has been exacerbated by a divorce between church and academy. The churches rightly claim theology is for their use in worship, mission, teaching. The academies serve best when we support the churches.

The theological construction undergirding this conviction was written up for academic theological audiences in “The Formation of Christian Doctrine,” a detailed methodology published by B&H Academic in 2007. Theologians in the academy may consult that work for more detail.

Now, in my writing ministry, I plan to turn in the direction that, as my wife Karen Searcy Yarnell recently reminded me, Leo Garrett long hoped I would do: popular theology.

The American Evangelical and Southern Baptist academy is maturing theologically by leaps. Let us now build on that.

Stay tuned for more details from B&H Publishers in the next few years. For now, however, you know where my focus will be dedicated.

Theology is for God’s People.

James Leo Garrett Jr. (1925-2020): The Funeral Sermon

“Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:7).

You need only rehearse James Leo Garrett Jr.’s educational attainments—bachelor’s degrees from both Baylor University and Southwestern Seminary, a master’s from Princeton Seminary, and research doctorates from both Southwestern Seminary and Harvard University—to realize that here was no mean scholar. You need only remember that he taught for lengthy periods at three great Baptist schools—Southwestern Seminary, Baylor University, and Southern Seminary—to realize he exercised a widespread influence. You need only read his two magna opera before realizing no other contemporary Baptist systematic theologian has yet risen to his level of authorial achievement. 

A. Garrett as a Theologian 

Baptized into the church of Southwestern Seminary’s founder, Benajah Harvey Carroll, Garrett was also deeply influenced by Southwestern’s first great systematic theologian, Walter Thomas Conner. He once wrote, “The Lord and W.T. Conner called me to teach theology.” Through his long career, he taught masses of theological students. During the administration of Russell Dilday, Garrett’s classes in particular overflowed. 

I still appreciate the student who allowed me to move from the very back to take his front row seat so I might capture every word. But only the hardy enrolled in his classes. Known affectionately as “Machine-Gun Garrett” for his rapid-fire lecture style, his students proudly wore t-shirts emblazoned, “I Survived Theo with Leo.” Thousands of pastors, missionaries, professors, and other ministers filed through his classrooms, and many found their way into his office and home for personal encounters.

Beyond his now silent classroom, he continues to teach through his writings. The method he followed in his two-volume Systematic Theology garnered widespread respect even as it gently but significantly reorients several classical debates. Garrett as a rule began with a review of the biblical literature, moved to a summary of historical responses, and only then considered systematics. 

He was gentle before the Word of God. He always respected the Bible even as he subtly challenged those who undermined its teachings, theologically or morally. Except in the essentials, he avoided strong statements. As a gentleman, his own persuasions are discerned clearly in the indicative or implied through the interrogative but never through the pejorative nor the pugilistic. 

Garrett’s special love for his own churches manifests itself in his second magnum opus, his comprehensive and unparalleled Baptist Theology, wherein he rehearsed the history of Baptist ruminations, respected the diverse breadth of that life, and honored our dependence upon Scripture and our ultimate concern for following the Lord Jesus.

While speaking of Baptist theology, Dr. Garrett asked me to convey to his own beloved churches two special messages: 

• First, submitting to Jesus’s desire for our unity revealed in John 17, which establishes a divine mandate for us, the Southern Baptist Convention should seek a restoration of fellowship with our Baptist brothers and sisters in Christ through rejoining the Baptist World Alliance.
• Second, there is “no substantial theological reason whatsoever” to maintain separate Baptist conventions within the state of Texas. The Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention should restore the bonds of fellowship, and the Baptist Missionary Association should consider doing the same.

Garrett also initiated or expanded the academic disciplines of ecumenism, religious liberty, believers’ church identity, and the close relationship of Baptists with Evangelicals. A particular doctrine close to his heart was the priesthood of all believers.

B. The Importance of Garrett

In order to convey the academic impact of Leo Garrett, one might consult two festschrifts published in his honor, The People of God, edited by Paul Abbott Basden and David Samuel Dockery, and the 2006 issue of Perspectives in Religious Studies introduced by Canadian Baptist William Henry Brackney. Or, one might rehearse the long list of his students and their accomplishments. However, in honor of his passion for congregationalism, hear a selection of testimonies from his former students, all of whom provide their full names out of respect for his precise academic style. We wish, in respect for the words of the apostle, to “imitate his faith.”

Robert Stanton Norman, President and Professor of Theology at Williams Baptist University, and author of More Than Just a Name and The Baptist Way, studied with and worked for Dr. Garrett from 1987 to 1997. He writes, “James Leo Garrett Jr. was one of the most prolific, prodigious writing theologians of the twentieth century. No other theologian was as thorough in breadth and scope of research, nor as fair in representation and assessment of diverse perspectives, nor as irenic and charitable in interactions. He instilled a deep love within me for the people known as Baptists, an appreciation for Baptist history and theology, and a belief in the promise of our distinctive convictions to engage and overcome present and future challenges.”

Steven Ray Harmon, Associate Professor of Historical Theology at Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity and Co-Secretary of the Baptist-Catholic International Joint Dialogue Commission, and author of four books including Baptist Identity and the Ecumenical Future, was guided by Dr. Garrett through his PhD studies from 1993 to 1997. He writes, “Dr. Garrett’s theological scholarship has been especially influential ecumenically, for he rigorously sought to frame Baptist theological identity in terms of its relation to the larger Christian tradition in ways that helped both Baptists and their ecumenical dialogue partners to see more clearly both their commonalities and their differences that call for ongoing dialogue—an influence discernible especially in the second phase of the international dialogue between the Baptist World Alliance and the Catholic Church. I am working as a Baptist ecumenical theologian because of this influence, which in my own ecumenical work has helped me take differences seriously rather than as something to be minimized for the sake of easy agreement.”

Matthew Lee Sanders, Senior Pastor of the Wai’alae Baptist Church in Honolulu, and Assistant Professor at The College at Southwestern from 2007 to 2015, writes, “When I was a master’s student working for the seminary, I remember running into Dr. Garrett in the hallways more than once and casually asking about some theological topic. I would go to my office, and he would go, I thought, wherever he was headed. But he would pop into my office 30 minutes later with several library references on the topic we discussed. He apparently stopped whatever he was doing to help me. He was the best and only research assistant I ever had. If I could have only two books in addition to the Bible, they would be Dr. Garrett’s two-volume systematic theology. The only rival to his brilliant mind was his humble servant heart.”

Stephen Martin Stookey, Dean of the School of Christian Studies and Lester W. James Sr. Professor in Religion at Wayland Baptist University, was taught by Dr. Garrett during his PhD studies from 1991 to 1992. He writes, “James Leo Garrett Jr., through classroom, print, and pulpit, sharpened the global Baptist family’s theological perspectives and modeled the virtue of ecumenical engagement for kingdom service. His mentorship contributed to my academic focus in church-state studies, active participation with the Baptist World Alliance, and understanding of academic service as ministry. Like so many colleagues and friends who came under Dr. Garrett's influence, I am deeply indebted to him, as well as to his wife Myrta.”

Ronjour Melvin Locke, Instructor of Preaching and Urban Ministry, and Director of the Center for Preaching and Pastoral Leadership at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, is an African-American mentored by Dr. Garrett between 2009 and 2011. He writes, “Dr. Garrett showed that a scholar can also be a gentleman, loving and respecting others—even those with whom we disagree—by treating them and their arguments fairly and by responding charitably, for they are truly loved by our Lord. Personally, Dr. Garrett showed Annie and me what it looks like to love the body of Christ in faithful service and generous kindness, and for his and Mrs. Myrta’s example during and after our years at Meadowridge we are eternally grateful.”

Gregory Dale Tomlin, Carroll Fellow and Associate Professor of Christian Heritage at the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute, who studied with Dr. Garrett from 1997 to 2003, writes, “I owe to him and his lovely wife many things. He was the greatest of theologians and historians in my eyes, but most of all he was a good man and my friend. Kindness and gentleness permeated his character—I was able to complete my theological education because of Dr. Garrett’s generosity when he saw a need. I have learned recently that the students he provided for financially number in the dozens.”

Christopher Bart Barber, Pastor of First Baptist Church of Farmersville and prominent Trustee at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, studied with our mentor between 1994 and 2006. Bart writes, “Amidst the dark stories of theologians who strayed from their faith, marriages, denominational affiliations, or academic callings, shines the bright story of James Leo Garrett, whose lifelong faithfulness to the work, to Southern Baptists, to Myrta Ann, and to the Lord Jesus Christ were never called into question. It is no accident but rather the fruit of his deliberate effort that I can say the most important things he taught me were about neither history nor theology. Instead, he taught me how to have unwavering convictions in a way that brought people together rather than driving them apart.”

Adam Lyndell Harwood, McFarland Professor of Theology and Journal Editor at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, who studied under Garrett in 2002 and 2003 and is currently writing a systematic theology, says, “Dr. Garrett modeled peaceable interaction with the entire Christian tradition rather than merely his perspective. I was impressed by this accomplished scholar’s humility, demonstrated by his willingness to learn from anyone, including his students.”

Amy Karen Downey, President of Tzedakah Ministries and author of Maimonides’s Yahweh, worked with Dr. Garrett in editing his Systematic Theology between 1994 and 1996 and in compiling his Baptist Theology after 2004. She says, “I reveled in his eidetic memory, and he taught me to love theology and appreciate even those with whom we disagreed. He was my advocate as I pursued graduate studies in both medieval Judaism and Holocaust studies, and he even allowed me recently to guide him in the process of leading an old Jewish friend of his to saving faith in Jesus Christ.”

Wyman Lewis Richardson, Pastor of Central Baptist Church in North Little Rock and the Editor of the multi-volume The Collected Works of James Leo Garrett Jr., 1950-2015, writes, “Dr. Garrett’s scholarship was important insofar as it created a substantial bridge between the Baptist family and the wider Christian world. Personally, his academic influence on me consisted of modeling what warm-hearted, sincere churchmanship looks like when coupled with high standards of academic rigor.”

Robert Byron Stewart, Professor of Philosophy and Theology and Greer-Heard Chair of Faith and Culture at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary studied with Dr. Garrett from 1990 to 1996. He says, “The atmosphere one breathed while studying with Leo Garrett was one of unrelenting precision and thoroughness coupled with Christlike character and graciousness.  Those of us who were privileged to study with him owe him a debt that cannot be repaid directly to him, but we can endeavor to repay it indirectly as we teach those who study with us with the same precision and care.  In fact, we should feel a moral obligation to do so.”

One last important word about the impact of James Leo Garrett Jr., this time regarding the future. Adam Wade Greenway, the ninth President of The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and David Samuel Dockery, Southwestern’s Distinguished Professor of Theology and Theologian-in-Residence [and now Interim Provost], both of whom were his students and have paid him tribute, have stated the conviction that Southwestern Seminary must maintain and sustain the highly laudable aspects of that which we recognize with honor to be “the Conner-Garrett tradition.”

C. Garrett as an Educator

Garrett amassed huge accomplishments in research, teaching, and churchmanship through his intentional method of incorporating detailed knowledge of Scripture and its interpretation with personal integrity of life. Soon after he retired and my career began, he shared an as yet unpublished piece about our calling. He defined the theological educator according to four roles: teacher, scholar, mentor, and practitioner. Listen to some of his ideas.

As teacher, he spoke, among other things, of cultivating the professorial decorum of respect and dialogue. Lifelong professors have had “that student”—you know, the one in a thousand who already knows everything. Through the years, I never knew Dr. Garrett to show a hint of indignation when “that student” violated his class’s decorum. He was always respectful. 

That said, I remember he once stopped and responded carefully to a perceptive question with a brilliant quotation from memory. He opened his eyes, gazing into the distance as if in a different conversation, and said, “Put that in your pipe and smoke it!” He kindly smiled, recalled where he was, and returned to his lecture. The man was gentle, even in mental conversations with long dead authors.

As scholar, he argued that an educator must, inter alia, read widely and write wisely. Leo performed well these first two roles, of teacher and scholar, by all accounts. 

He also fulfilled two other roles that concern the heart and manifest themselves primarily through personal encounter. But we saw much of his heart. The last two of the educator’s roles concern being a mentor and practitioner. 

The student testimonies above show that many heard the apostle’s exhortation to “consider” our mentor’s “way of life.” James Leo Garrett Jr. believed that a personal life surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is as necessary for a theological mentor as for every believer. The theologian’s way of life must be characterized by love or be a failure.

In the role of practitioner, he emphasized the theologian must evince “the fruit of the spirit” as a Christian, a family member, a church member, a citizen, and a Southern Baptist. By all accounts, divine fruit was in that divine.

Conclusion

In conclusion, some final personal words. I knew Dr. Garrett, firstly, as a theological father, who encouraged me to research different aspects of universal priesthood at both Duke University and Oxford University. Secondly, I knew him as a senior professor who graciously affirmed my calling to imitate him while I trembled like a child in the basement of Fleming Hall. I knew him, thirdly, as a paragon of virtue after whom I could name my second son, Matthew Garrett Yarnell (and I was not the only one to do so); and fourthly, as a colleague who gave me the blessing of his lectern and his own faculty office, over my tearful objections. Finally, while I hope the Lord allows me in the near term to complete the essay we were writing together, I hope in the long term to be at least as much like our Savior as James Leo Garrett Jr.

“Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:7).

Theology Serves Ministry: A Word for Seminarians

“Nothing can take the place of the Christian ministry. The progress of civilization, the making of many books, the increase of schools and learning, the marvelous triumphs of the press—mighty as are all of these agencies—they can never supersede the divinely sent preacher. ‘It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.’” (George W. Truett, “The Subject and Object of the Gospel,” Convention Sermon, 1899)

I am often asked how I see my role as an academic theologian. Many are shocked when I tell them the work of academic theology pales in comparison to the importance of proclamation in sermons, evangelism, missions, music, teaching, and so on.

Theology serves ministers. Theology is second.

I have more than once considered resigning my professorship. Not out of dissatisfaction with Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. But out of passion—Passion to see the Word of God proclaimed through my lips to transform human lives. There is no greater joy than being the instrument of divine proclamation.

But God always calls me back. He reminds me through good and bad of this truth: I am His alone. I have refused offers elsewhere, declined nominations, turned down an election as a president. Why? Because God called me to teach at my seminary. I must teach ministers. They are more important than me.

It was a joy when the Interim President, Dr. Jeffrey Bingham, and the Trustees approved my request to be allowed to serve as a Pastor at the same time I serve as a Professor. The synergies between church service and seminary are necessary for both. 

Then, Lakeside Baptist Church Granbury and Mark Forrest called me, and my life has been overwhelmed with joy inexpressible. Now, I get to see lives transformed through my service as an elder in my own flock and then teach the truths learned at church to my students. (The idea of barring professors from serving churches is short-sighted and can be the seed of liberalism.)

My life is a demonstration of a truth held by the Founders of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The seminaries exist to serve the churches of Jesus Christ. We do not exist for ourselves. We are not the churches. We were constituted by the churches to serve them. We must serve or cease existence.

Over the years, I have had academics get very nervous when I speak in this way. It seems to threaten their very existence. However, it is necessary for us to remember: The Christian academy serves the churches and their ministries, not vice versa. 

We are second. Be humble. Serve.

An Exhortation to My Fellow Pastors

The dark depravity of the evil shepherds in Ezekiel 34 comes into especially sharp relief against the brilliant and beautiful light provided in the revelation of Jesus Christ as the good Shepherd. 

The Dark Depravity of the Evil Shepherds

A look into the behavior of the evil shepherds will reinforce this reality. F.B. Huey argues that ancient shepherds had three primary responsibilities, all of which may be seen negatively in the early verses of Ezekiel 34. 

First, the shepherd must "provide food, water, and a resting place for the sheep." But the shepherds of Israel were under judgment precisely because they were concerned about providing these things for themselves rather than for the sheep (v. 3). 

Second, shepherds "took care of the sick sheep, dressed their wounds, and hunted for sheep that strayed from the flock." However, the shepherds of Israel were doing the exact opposite; they were abusive toward the flock (v. 4). 

The third responsibility that the ancient shepherd had "was to protect the sheep from danger." The shepherd held a staff that could either be used to ward off a dangerous animal or that could be used to retrieve a sheep that had fallen into a crevice or otherwise become trapped in the underbrush. 

It is in our focal passage, Ezekiel 34:5-8, that we witness the Lord's verdict regarding the neglect of the shepherds to protect the sheep:

So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: "As I live," says the Lord God, "surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did my shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock."

The Problem of Hired Hands

Jesus Christ's description of the hired shepherds, who neglected their office at the first sign of a dangerous wolf, similarly applies to these faithless shepherds of ancient Israel. Jesus identified the "hireling" as one who does not really deserve the name of shepherd. The hireling does not care for the sheep, for he has no sense of ownership (John 10:12-13). 

The comparison is appropriate for the situation of Ezekiel. The last kings of Judah, who succeeded one another in rapid succession in the final years of the kingdom, did not really care about the flock of the Lord. They did not even search for the sheep that had been deported from the land into Babylon, much less risk their lives to redeem the flock (as Jesus would one day do). The neglect of the shepherds meant that the sheep were scattered and had become prey for the beasts of the field. 

The word פוץ (puwts), which is translated as "scattered," is used thrice in this passage. Sheep are at their most vulnerable when they are separated from one another and from their shepherd. One of the ancient shepherd's primary responsibilities was to keep the sheep together in his presence. 

When the shepherd does not tend to the sheep and gather them regularly into the fold, they will naturally "wander" (שׁגה or shagah). It is in such a state of dispersion that a flock becomes a series of individuals, who then make easy "prey" (בז or baz). In a horrifying figure of speech evocative of cannibalism, Ezekiel said that the people as sheep thereby become "food" or "meat" (אכלה or 'oklah) for the conqueror as "beast" or "wild animal" (חי or chay).

The Evil Shepherds Focus on Themselves

The issue is then raised, "Why did the shepherds allow the sheep to be scattered?" Ezekiel also provides the answer to that important question.

A shepherd's constant task in his role of protecting the flock was to "seek" (בקשׁ or baqash) and "search" (דרשׁ or darash) for the sheep, monitoring them so as to keep them from endangering themselves or to remove them from the peril of predators. When a shepherd is not monitoring the sheep in this fashion, they will easily become scattered and endangered.

Rather than being focused on tending to the flock, however, Israel's shepherds were focused on tending to themselves. "But the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed the sheep" (Ezek 34:8).

The One Shepherd

These verses from Ezekiel 34 present a very dark picture, but the passage is not without indications of hope. Repeatedly, the Lord refers in this passage to the people as "My sheep" or "My flock" (vv. 6 and 8). The kings as shepherds may act as hirelings, but there is a Shepherd who owns this flock, who has a vested and intimate interest in the welfare of his sheep. 

Israel and Judah may have had various kings who were to function as shepherds, but they also have their covenant Lord God, who is ultimately the King that they must worship (cf. Ps 98:6) and ultimately the Shepherd that will rescue them (Eek 34:11-16, 20-31). And in a rich allusion to the Messiah who would be their only shepherd, the Lord also promises through Ezekiel that, "I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them" (vv. 23-24a). 

Israel's motley crew of faithless and vanquished shepherd-kings would be replaced with a singularly faithful and victorious shepherd-king, the Christ. Note that the Lord's promise regarding the Davidic "one shepherd" (v. 23) within the overarching context of the Lord's promise to act decisively as Israel's shepherd (vv. 20-31) brings the human Messiah and the Lord God into a profound unity redolent of the New Testament's high Christology.

The New Testament Shepherd

In light of such darkness in human leaders and the truth of the One Shepherd, New Testament church leaders must be extremely careful that their hearts are focused on Christ and their actions on their flock. Church pastors should not be like the wicked Israelite king-shepherds, who were focused on ἐαυτούςποιμαίνοντες, "feeding themselves" (Jude 12). 

Sadly, there are too many cases where contemporary pastors neglect the flocks that the Lord placed in their care and pursue their own self-interests instead. The shepherd who has descended into ministry for money and not for love has become a despicable hireling. However, if a pastor discovers his heart's intentions toward God and his outward actions toward the flock have been engrossed with evil, he need not utterly despair. For the errant shepherd who has neglected his flock and heedlessly allowed them to wander morally and doctrinally, there is yet hope for repentance and restoration. [For the abusing wolf, who pretends to belong in the pastorate, although the Lord did not call him thence, know that your judgment is coming.]

The first pastor to be instituted was Peter, and in spite of his claims that he loved Christ more than any of the other disciples (Mark 14:29), he had failed. Not once nor twice but thrice Peter denied Jesus in his greatest hour of human need (Mark 14:66-72; John 18:15-18, 25-27). But in a moving redemptive moment for Peter and potentially for every shepherd since Peter, the Lord re-commissioned his fallen under-shepherd (John 21:15-17). 

It is noteworthy that the risen Christ thrice correlated Peter's love for the Lord with Peter's fulfillment of his appointed office to shepherd the flock. It is when Peter fully embraced the cross of the shepherding office Christ had given him that Peter would find his heart was truly following his Lord (John 21:18-19).

An Exhortation to My Fellow Pastors

The only way a Christian under-shepherd may avoid becoming an evil shepherd like those in judgment under Ezekiel is through a heart continually transformed by the Word of God and the Spirit of God to take the shape of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is primarily concerned for his flock's welfare and seeks them out to save them. May we, Christ's shepherds, have self-sacrificial ministries that follow the good Shepherd of the New Testament rather than the self-centered actions of the evil shepherds of Ezekiel.

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(Note: This pastoral commentary on Ezekiel 34 was originally part of a longer essay. It reflects my own dismay and disgust with certain models of ministry becoming increasingly evident and is published here with a sense of hope for a better future. May the culture change for which J.D. Greear and Keith Whitfield have expressed a longing come about sooner than later. I am thankful that Russell Moore and Philip Bethancourt of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission have sponsored the recent Caring Well Conference, which is helping to start the process toward a culture change. Finally, I am thankful that Southwestern Seminary's retired Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, F.B Huey, a man of gravity and grace mentioned above, was my professor. [The bracketed sentence above was added in 2019 to the original 2015 essay after the horrific revelations of widespread sexual abuse in the churches became known.])

“God will call us to judgment”: A Warning to Theological Institutions

What is the source of problems in Southern Baptist theological education?

“The chief cause is to be found in our departure from the way which God has marked out for us, and our failure to make provision for the education of such a Ministry as He designs to send forth and honor.”

According to J.P. Boyce, the pioneer of Southern Baptist seminary education, and the founder of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, this was the chief cause in 1856. It is still the chief cause in 2018.

1. According to Boyce, a seminary must be oriented toward preparing ministers to preach the gospel clearly in and through their local churches. The seminary exists first and foremost to assist the churches. The seminary does not exist to please the academic. This truth has not changed.

“Who is the Minister here—the man of the schools, or the man of the Scriptures? Who bears the insignia of an ambassador for Christ? Whom does God own? Whom would the Church hear? In whose power would she put forth her strength?”

These questions still ring out the answer that we in the seminaries exist “for the church.” (Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary wisely chose this appropriate phrase as their motto, while Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary includes the Latin equivalent, “pro ecclesia,” on our academic seal.)

“The qualification God lays down is the only one He permits us to demand, and the instruction of our Theological schools must be based upon such a plan as shall afford this amount of education to those who actually constitute the mass of our Ministry, and who cannot obtain more.”

Our task in the seminaries is not to create credentialed scholars who will impress the world, though that will occur. Our task in the seminaries is to assist the churches in preparing those who have been called by God and recognized by the churches for preaching Bible doctrine.

Boyce distinguished between things of primary importance and secondary importance. There is a difference between the classical and the theological. One may excel in the classical and butcher the theological. While I myself love both the classical and the theological dimensions of education, only one of them is absolutely necessary—Christ, Bible, gospel.

“[W]e are so far from saying that education is unnecessary, [instead] we proclaim its absolute necessity. We undertake, however, to point out what education it is that is thus essential, and what that which is only valuable; and while we urge upon all useful knowledge as an aid to that work, we point out the knowledge of the word of God as that which is first in importance.”

The unique necessity of the Word of God and of our necessary submission to it and constant immersion in it has always been the case. This is still the case. This will always be the case.

2. Boyce’s second vision for the Southern Baptist seminaries was that they preserve and promote the Baptist witness. There must be an additional course of studies for our best and brightest students so as to prepare them to teach and write for the health of our churches.

Boyce argued that some students must be led beyond basic Biblical studies, theology, and rhetoric, and given expertise in the study of the Biblical Languages, a Biblical exegesis not distorted by Liberalism, and the conduct of the Missionary enterprise, as well as a thorough advocacy of Baptist principles.

The goal for offering advanced studies is to create “a band of scholars” from “every one of whom we might expect valuable contributions to our Theological literature.” The seminaries must develop students who will, in turn, teach personally and write literature for the churches.

3. The third issue that Southern Baptists must take into account is one that Boyce believed endangered not only the schools but, ultimately, the churches. With a prescience based upon historical precedent, Boyce opined that Baptists must be clearly confessional in their theology.

Southern Baptist educational institutions must embrace “the adoption of a declaration of doctrine to be required of those who assume the various professorships.” For his day, Boyce advocated the Charleston Confession, which is an historic, clear, and detailed Baptist standard of theology.

While Southern Baptists have continually developed our theological confessions historically in submission to Scripture and in response to cultural queries, Boyce’s basic point stands. Unless our schools require our professors to declare themselves to be of our faith, we will suffer.

Boyce’s third point requires our attention more than ever. For instance, Baptists have historically understood only one religious institution to be established by our Lord Jesus Christ. The only biblically-founded theological institution is the church of Jesus Christ.

While recognizing the wisdom of creating a seminary or divinity school, we should never define a seminary as a church. The seminary does not ordain elders or pastors, nor may it administer baptism or the Lord’s Supper. While the churches expect their theological institutions to be pastoral and ecclesial in their ethos and actions, our theological institutions must never adopt the enthusiastic position that they are established by God to be churches or that their leaders are pastors by fiat. The Bible doesn’t reveal seminaries. The churches created the seminaries and other theological institutions for their use.

This truth—that the seminaries are creatures and servants of the churches—is helpful to remember. It reminds administrators and professors that while we each remain personally responsible to God, we are, as institutions, dependent upon the churches for our existence. It calls those of us who are theological educators to humility and responsibility.

One final word from the first President of a Southern Baptist seminary, a word of warning:

“A crisis in Baptist doctrine is evidently approaching, and those of us who still cling to the doctrines which formerly distinguished us, have the important duty to perform of earnestly contending for the faith once delivered to the saints. Gentlemen, God will call us to judgment...”

We would do well to heed Boyce's warning.

(If you wish to read James Petigru Boyce's inaugural address regarding theological education in full, in an original transcription, you may consult a pdf published through Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary here.)

The Harmony of the Southern Baptist Seminaries

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!

The 133rd psalm expresses so well what I experienced recently with my colleagues at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. Indeed, that same sense of blessing, though for different reasons, has arisen during interaction with colleagues at all six of our Southern Baptist seminaries. The benefits from each seminary include influences both subtle and significant, of which more below.

Dr. Jason Duesing has twice invited me to co-teach a PhD seminar in Ecclesiology at Midwestern Seminary. This time 24 students were led by three professors: Dr. John Mark Yeats, Dr. Duesing, and me. The PhD students at Midwestern impressively demonstrated, on the one hand, a rootedness in the life and needs of the local churches and, on the other hand, a desire and a capability to pursue intellectual excellence for the purpose of assisting their churches. But let us here focus on the Southern Baptist professors and administrators.

I am a professor called to, and happily ensconced in, my beloved Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. But Southwestern has never been, is not now, and hopefully never will be the extent of my moral and intellectual milieu. The melody of my own seminary is both real and beneficial, but the harmony between the seminaries is also real and beneficial. The blessings of inter-seminary harmony for Southern Baptists and for the other Christians who choose to attend one of our denomination's six institutions are important. (Interactions with universities and other seminaries are also very important, but those are different essays.)

Please allow me a moment to reflect on specific harmonious influences between the Southern Baptist seminaries. These harmonies come about through direct intellectual exchange and through indirect personal exchange. What I have noticed with regard to my colleagues at these other institutions is that they profoundly shape my soul as well as my mind by what they say as well as by who they are.

Midwestern Seminary

Some recent intellectual and moral influences from Midwestern Seminary are greatly appreciated: The Provost there, Jason Duesing, encourages others to pursue excellence in their professional work and in their personal interactions. He has an academic appreciation for all things Baptist, and for all things evangelical and universal. Dr. Duesing is unusual--he is simultaneously a great teacher, an organizational genius, and a humble man. He is an asset in the Southern Baptist academy.

Also an administrator at Midwestern, John Mark Yeats has long been one to keep the life of the churches before the academy. He reminds his colleagues of the needs of people as people, especially the needs of minorities and of the younger generation. He also knows how to help his hapless elders. (For instance, he once patiently explained to me what "LOL" meant. Don't laugh. It was necessary.) John Mark is a champion for authentic Christianity.

There were other Midwestern professors who blessed me during this recent sojourn. Dr. Rustin Umstattd, formerly a Southwestern PhD supervisee, exemplifies how one may be concurrently a teaching theologian and a great pastor. Dr. Thorvald Madsen, a long-time friend and a sharp apologist and philosopher, regaled with me over my foibles from decades ago. Drs. Matthew Barrett and Owen Strachan are two rising writers within the evangelical academy whom Midwestern in particular and Southern Baptists in general are blessed to count among them. There are other Midwesterners worthy of mention, but these were the professors with whom I interacted during this last week.

Before moving on, a personal reflection regarding the President of Midwestern Seminary: Dr. Jason Allen has built a highly successful institution through his unrelenting focus upon the seminary existing "for the church." As seen above, he has excelled at gathering and retaining a quality faculty. Moreover, his studied attention to detail is evident in the attractive architecture and pristine fabric of Midwestern. Most importantly, years ago on a flight from Kansas City, I was moved to tears through prayer that Midwestern would reach toward the future with tremendous growth and expanding influence for God's glory. Providentially, Dr. Allen is actually fulfilling a vision I merely glimpsed. Southern Baptists should appreciate the lush theological garden Jason Allen has been tending in Kansas City.

The Other Southern Baptist Seminaries

We would be remiss not to mention the other four seminaries, each of whom played a supportive role this last week. For instance, while Southwestern Seminary has long emphasized the doctrine of the church, the students benefitted from the ecclesiological contributions of Gregg Allison and Thomas Schreiner at the first of our SBC seminaries, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Allison kindly agreed to join us through video for an hour of discussion regarding his extensive treatment of a most neglected topic, the nature of the church. And Dr. Schreiner's three co-edited works on baptism, the Lord's Supper, and church leadership continue to prove their ecclesiological value.

In order to prepare for that important hour with Dr. Allison, we summarily reviewed two lectures I previously delivered elsewhere. The first lecture, published last year by the journal of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, demonstrates how Baptists sadly exchanged a healthy Christological cornerstone for the church in favor of an anemic anthropological anchor. The second lecture, delivered earlier this year at a conference at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana, argues for a creative rediscovery of the theological foundation of the church as a congregation.

To round off the involvement of all six Southern Baptist seminaries, it should be noted that it was the innovative work of Dr. Rodrick Durst at Gateway Seminary in San Francisco, California that first encouraged me to think of piping Dr. Allison into the Midwestern conference room by video. Dr. Durst similarly invited me to address and interact with his own doctoral students a few years ago. Gateway's exemplary model of pedagogical cooperation is spreading.

The churches of the Southern Baptist Convention have both quality and diversity in the theological institutions that we sponsor. While we properly recognize the leadership of such gifted and committed ministers as R. Albert Mohler, Jr. and Daniel L. Akin, they are but the tip of the iceberg of talent in the SBC. For example, recognizing the importance of her professors, Southwestern Seminary recently began highlighting the faculty in its magazine.

Melodies and Harmony

The SBC seminaries should not be appreciated only for their individual faculties. The seminaries should be appreciated for the synergies created through the interaction of their diversities. To put it in terms taught by our music faculties, we should recognize the powerful diverse melodies being sung from our seminaries. We have Calvinists and we have Non-Calvinists; we have Preachers and we have Teachers; Evangelists and Writers; Academic Theologians and Practical Theologians; and we have some of us who want to know and teach everything.

But the beauty of theological education should not only be heard in the strength of its melodies, but in the richness of its harmony. I have recently learned from colleagues at Midwestern Seminary, just as I previously learned from colleagues when invited to address audiences at Southern Seminary, Southeastern Seminary, New Orleans Seminary, and Gateway Seminary. I have learned from their minds, and I have learned from their spirits. These other seminaries encourage me to be a better academic, and they encourage me to be a better Christian.

Southern Baptists really should be thankful for what is going on at each of our sponsored seminaries and for what is going on between them. Let us be thankful to God the Father for our six seminaries. Let us honor the seminaries for their individual melodies and let us honor them for their common harmony, a harmony rooted in a spiritual communion enabled by the Holy Spirit's gift of faith in Jesus Christ.

Defendere Propitiationis

In the life of the church, it is often necessary for those who are called to be pastors and theologians to rise up in defense of a central truth of the Christian faith. This is one of those times. A quick review of recent Christian history may set the background for an action that Owen Strachan and I recently took together for the sake of defending the atonement.

A Recent History of Violence: The horrific decades of the early twentieth century with its two world wars resulted in millions of deaths among combatants and noncombatants alike. These were followed by several decades of constant fear that a scenario of mutually assured destruction might be played out in the Cold War between the East led by the Soviet Union and the West led by the United States, wiping out human civilization altogether. These historical factors played upon the Western psyche, among Europeans in particular, stoking great regret about the past and great concern for the future.

A Theological Shift: As a result, many Christians began to question the violence that so characterizes the human race. They displayed a proper revulsion against wanton violence done by humans against humans. After all, all human beings are made in the image of God and are, therefore, precious. However, the revulsion went so far that many began to see violence itself as ipso facto sin. A proper revulsion against flippant human violence now became an improper revulsion, for some Christian theologians revolted against the idea that God may bring about death through violence. European history was now shaping Christian theology, even in contradiction to the apparent advocacy of certain acts of violence in Scripture itself.

This improper revulsion against violence, which began in a proper revulsion against violence, has extended to the point that many are now calling into question the central act of God in the redemption of humanity, the cross of Jesus Christ. Some have even rejected the idea that the cross involves removing the wrath of God, which is summarized in the biblical word, "propitiation," and codified in the theological language of "penal substitution." For these theologians and preachers, the ideas of penal substitution and propitiation are themselves anathema. They cannot see how a God who is love could possibly place his Son on the cross in order to satisfy the wrath of the Father.

Defending the Atonement: Owen Strachan, a leading Southern Baptist systematic theologian affiliated with Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, exercises a powerful voice for truth in the midst of today's culture. Recently, we discussed with a common friend the difficulty that orthodox Christians face in such an environment. A liberal Christian culture is crying out against wanton human violence (while largely and perversely ignoring the mass murder of the unborn), but it is also endangering the central act of Christian redemption and compromising the perfections of God. As a result of these and related challenges, we co-authored a resolution on the atonement and submitted it to the Resolutions Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Our hopes and prayers are that this demonstration of inter-seminary unity, which is also a demonstration of unity across Calvinist and Non-Calvinist lines, will prompt Southern Baptists to rally once again around the cross as the central doctrine of Christian redemption. We truly believe that a loving God has put his Son on the cross in order to satisfy his just demand for holiness. Without the cross of Jesus Christ, there is no hope for sinful humanity. This is why we believe it is time to defend the atonement (defendere propitiationis).

The Day-Higginbotham Lectures of 2017, Now Available Online

During the first few days of March, I was granted the privilege of delivering the prestigious Day-Higginbotham Lectures for 2017. Previous lecturers have included R. Albert Mohler and Abraham Friesen as well as the late Thomas C. Oden and the late John Webster, each of whom I have counted as honored teachers and friends. It was a surprise and a pleasure when Craig Blaising and Paige Patterson offered me not only a new role at Southwestern Seminary as Research Professor of Systematic Theology but also the delivery of these messages. Thanks are extended to Drs. Patterson and Blaising for the invitation and to Dr. Jeff Bingham, our fine new Dean of the School of Theology, for organizing the lectures.

The series title was "The Image of the Trinity: Biblical Soundings toward a Doctrine of Humanity." Distinct lectures over three one-hour periods were offered on "The Image of the Trinity," "The Analogy in Male and Female," "Human Life Under Heaven," and "Before God." The respective Latin terms chosen were Imago Trinitatis, Analogia, Sub Sole, and Coram Deo. One may notice that these lectures will form the basis for one of my next major theological monographs, on Trinitarian Anthropology. (The second major monograph will be a co-authored piece with David S. Dockery on Scripture and Special Revelation, of which more will be announced soon.)

It was truly a pleasant surprise to see how well the lectures were attended by faculty and students. Indeed, the subject matter of the lectures has generated numerous requests among the faculty for further collaboration across the theological disciplines, both within the classical disciplines in the School of Theology, but also with the Schools of Music and of Family and Church Ministries. I especially appreciate the interest of Drs. Aaron Son, David Toledo, Richard Ross, Waylan Owens, Madison Grace, Josh Williams, and Ryan Stokes in furthering this work with thoughtful exchanges and the promise of more!

The lectures may be accessed here in video format:

• First Lecture, Imago Trinitatis
• Second Lecture, Analogia
• Third and Fourth Lectures, Sub Sole and Coram Deo

Enjoy!

Another Discovery: Martin Luther's "Enflamed Dialogue" in French

Several years ago, through the providence of library research in Oxford, I discovered a piece that could only be described as "the first evangelical 'Sinner's Prayer' published in English." It was striking that such a prayer could have been published by William Tyndale, yet it was not included in the various authoritative collections of his works. Tyndale, of course, was the famous translator of the English Bible, a commentator upon Scripture, an early English Reformation controversialist, and a martyr for evangelical Christianity.

The Southwestern Journal of Theology, at the time edited by Doug Blount, kindly allowed space in its pages to discuss the background of the prayer and to bring a transcription of Tyndale's prayer back into print after a nearly 500-year hiatus. (See Southwestern Journal of Theology, volume 47, number 1, pp. 27-44.)

More recently, Thomas P. Johnston, Professor of Evangelism at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a gentleman who I helped hire for the faculty when I was their Academic Dean, has made another interesting discovery. The most recent issue of the Midwestern Journal of Theology, an academic journal that Terry Wilder and I started, has an article by Johnston regarding his find.

Johnston discovered that Luther's conclusion of his Exposition on the Lord's Prayer, which Tyndale revised and published in English, had also been translated into French. The French translation, which precedes Tyndale's revision, was attached to Luther's 1519 L'Oraison Dominicale and was known as the Enflamed Dialogue. Johnston has provided an English translation of the French alongside my transcription of Tyndale's revision.

Moreover, Johnston argues that the French translation was given "both elegance and cultural prominence" in the Kingdom of France because it was put in verse form by Marguerite, the Duchesse of Angouleme and sister of the French monarch. Johnston believes this prayer was influential in the spread of evangelicalism in 16th-century France. French evangelicalism eventually swept up the leading second-generation Reformer, John Calvin, but was persecuted harshly during the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre and was finally dispersed after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

A native Francophone, Johnston's passionate evangelistic heart for God and for people to know God comes through his comments upon Luther's Enflamed Dialogue in its French and English versions. Johnston's article, along with articles by Midwestern's new president, Jason Allen, and other members of that fine Southern Baptist faculty, including Jared Wilson, Michael McMullen, and Radu Gheorghita, may be found in pdf format here.

Mea Culpa: The Heart Confession of a Systematic Theologian

Norm Miller, the highly capable and effective editor of SBC Today, asked me to share with you the process by which I came to write the piece entitled, “The Evangelistic Seminary” (published here, here, here, and here; mentioned at the Southern Baptist Convention and in Baptist Press here) and some subsequent reflections. Perhaps a rehearsal of my own past, a confession of this particular systematic theologian's heart, will be helpful in delineating the logic behind that essay.

A Responsible Faith

            First, the distant past. I was led to salvation in Christ Jesus through the evangelistic preaching and teaching of a traditional Southern Baptist church in Louisiana. After being born again through faith in Jesus, and a short time in financial services as an adult, the Lord called me into full-time Christian service as a teacher and preacher. I have always understood that the calling to be a preacher of the Word of God was the greater privilege, while that of the teacher was to serve the task of preaching.

            Providentially, God gave me preachers like Wayne L. DuBose to shepherd me. Brother Wayne had and still retains a passion for God's Word and the application of that Word to the human soul. His desire to see the lost won to Christ and the saved grow deeper in commitment to the Lord is matched only by the incredible integrity with which Brother Wayne has always conducted his ministry. Next, God led me, providentially, to attend Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where such teachers as James Leo Garrett, Jr., and Roy J. Fish also filled my heart and mind with God’s Word and a passion for lost souls.

            Part of the faith I received was that God freely gives salvation to sinners through faith in His Son. Another part of the faith I received was that this gift entails a responsibility for a surrendered life to God in Christ as led by the Spirit through His Word. Through the careful reading and preaching of the Bible, it continues to be my conviction that while salvation is a work of divine grace, it compels a human response. And this is what we must expect and encourage of ourselves and others as we preach the gospel.

            Part of our faith response is found in the immediate reception of salvation, but the Spirit also opens our minds to the lifelong vocation that God has placed upon each of our lives. We are called to respond in faith to the preaching of the divine writ, and we are called to respond in faithful living to the particular application of His will to our lives. I have taken the exemplary lives of my mentors and followed them therein to the best of my ability. One of the things I learned through these preachers and teachers is that while the movement of the Spirit through the biblical text is palpable in the instrumental work of biblical proclamation, there are also times when that proclamation may be written, so as to remind future generations of the Spirit's movement in the past and the hope of perhaps similar movements of grace in the future.

A Seminary's Legacy

            Second, the intermediate past. Over the past several years, I have watched and been amazed at the work that God has done and is doing in and through Southwestern Seminary. To join the faculty of my alma mater has been the career highlight of my Christian life. This has afforded opportunity to reflect upon the direction of our beloved seminary both historically and contemporaneously. The parallels that I have sensed between Southwestern past and Southwestern present began to coalesce around the time of our centennial celebrations. Those parallels have been subsequently reinforced in so many ways.

            Conversations with retired faculty such as James Leo Garrett, Jr., Roy J. Fish, Malcolm McDow, and Jack Terry, who retained their love for the seminary; collaborations with scholars such as Thomas White, Jason Duesing, and Madison Grace in researching the history of our fine institution; observations of fellow faculty members such as David Allen, Keith Eitel, and Matt Queen, who have embodied and exemplified the proclamatory, evangelistic, and missionary ethos of our school; and most importantly, the uncanny resemblances between the biblical, evangelistic, and Baptist passions of the first two presidents when placed alongside our current leader, Paige Patterson—these have fed into a growing sense that while the names had changed on the doors at Southwestern Seminary, the nature of the institution remains the same.

A Heresy of the Heart

            Third, our denomination's immediate past. Because of the necessary refocusing of our Southern Baptist seminaries on doctrinal orthodoxy during and after the Conservative Resurgence, we have become a convention concerned with doctrines. This is a good thing, and one that I began to advocate even back when I was a pastor active in local, state, and national Southern Baptist meetings. It is also a focus that I have personally benefitted from as a systematic theologian at one of our leading seminaries. In light of my role as a systematic theologian—a thinker who lives and breathes to engage with Scripture, historical exegesis, and contemporary concerns—what I will say next may seem counterintuitive. However, it must be said, and I hope it is well received.

            Our focus on doctrinal orthodoxy becomes unhealthy the moment it begins to detract from the primary task of actually proclaiming the gospel. While theology is important, even fundamental to the Christian task, it is, nevertheless, a third-order activity. The tertiary activity of theological reflection follows upon the primary Christian activities of worship and witness. Theology functions as a servant to worship and witness, providing a necessary critique of those activities according to the standard of Scripture. And when theology leaves its service role behind to demand primary attention, it has risen above its station and grasped for a glory that it may not possess.

            When Southwestern Seminary was recently queried regarding its overarching concern for evangelizing the lost, I really wanted to ignore it. I was and am very tired after years without a break, capped off with an especially grueling teaching year; the semester was ending and the grades were due; Masters-level students required last minute details and Doctoral-level students required guidance into the summer; preparations for the Oxford program demanded my administrative attention; and, personally, I just wanted to finish all of that and go home and sleep for a few days, then begin to write what I had long delayed. However, the approach of a beloved mentor on a different matter reminded me of the need to wait upon the Lord, submitting my every moment to Him, and so I did.

            But that mentor's request actually needed to be put on the back burner, because something more critical had arisen. The critical issue that came to my mind was not about the presence of one PhD student in our archaeology program, nor was it about the policies of the seminary. The critical issue that came to my mind, and stays there, is that we Southern Baptists have allowed ourselves to be subtly side-tracked from remembering what the main thing is regarding our theological institutions. The main thing for the churches is worship and witness, and the seminaries were founded to serve the churches in fulfilling their Christ-given commission.

            The seminaries' primary mission is not the teaching of archaeology, nor is it philosophy, history, languages, commentary, nor theology, music, educational theory. And yet, each of those things may be and often are helpful in meeting the primary mission. The Southern Baptist seminaries' primary mission is not the formation of academic teachers, nor is it the production of cultural commentators and book editors. And yet, each of those people may be helpful in fulfilling what is primary. Our primary mission is the formation of Christian ministers to serve the churches so that the churches may faithfully proclaim the saving gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world.

            Our primary mission, moreover, must be driven through our primary passion. When our passion becomes cultural commentary, political activism, or academic excellence, we seminarians have made a major mistake. When the subsidiary, the secondary, the tertiary replace the primary in the place where it really matters, in our hearts, we have a problem. When the cravings for doctrinal definition and cultural conflict supplant the passion for biblical proclamation through preaching, evangelism, and missions, then we have embraced a heresy of the heart.

            Do not misread me—remember, this is a systematic theologian writing this. I am not arguing for the acceptance of heresy or error. I despise heresy and lament error. Remember who this is—Malcolm Yarnell has been, and hopefully will remain throughout his life, a fervent advocate of a Christian orthodoxy that is evangelical and Baptist to the core. Rather, I am arguing about subtle and sometimes deceptive relations between the head and the heart. I am arguing that human doctrine must serve the proclamation of the Word of God and not rule over it. Dogmatics has a necessary role in reflecting upon our proclamation, with Scripture as the norm, in order to aid preachers, evangelists, and missionaries in their primary task of proclamation. But dogmatics is not what preachers, evangelists, and missionaries should be preaching. The gospel of Jesus Christ—the incarnate Son of God who became a man, died on the cross, and arose from the dead, so that whosoever will believe may be saved, and the heartfelt desire for all to hear and believe—yes, that gospel! That is what we should be preaching!

            When preachers, evangelists, and missionaries lose the imagination of the people and systematic theologians, philosophers, and culture warriors rise up to become their exemplars instead, we may have a heart problem. When a seminary president is questioned, even attacked, regarding his overarching passion to win people to Christ, we have a heart problem. And when a systematic theologian like this author, who knows better and whose entire life has been providentially guided to remind him that the ministry of the Word is primary—when that systematic theologian has allowed secondary reflection on proclamation to replace the primacy of proclamation through public sermon and private counsel, we have a heart problem. Southern Baptists, we have a heart problem.

            As a result of this concern for our mission and our passion about it, one evening I brought some essays by Southwestern’s heroes home and read them carefully. As I read their powerful thoughts, my heart was lifted up to remember who we are as teachers of preachers, and my heart was brought low by the realization that too many of us, including me, have been forgetting who we are. The next morning, I was led in conscience to the office very early, and I stayed incommunicado therein for eight hours without even the basics of life. The flesh cried out for sustenance, but there was a palpable sense of God-given direction that this cannot be delayed—here are the books you need and there is the idea that needs to be elucidated. By 3:00 that afternoon, the work was done. I daresay that I have never written anything that required so few self-corrections.

            What I rediscovered for myself that evening and day was that most of us theologians, especially among the academics but also among the pastoral theologians, have walked away from the older Southern Baptist view of the seminary's purpose. We have forgotten how our fathers treated and even spoke of the seminary as a military bunker for training soldiers to engage in spiritual warfare through biblical proclamation. We have forgotten our fathers' purpose for the seminaries and have convinced ourselves that the seminary is an ivory tower intended primarily to defend orthodox Christianity against the encroachment of a depraved culture.

            We have traded a view of the seminary as an offensive organization for a defensive view of the purpose of the seminary. In our hearts, we have made our educational institutions, both colleges and seminaries, an increasingly remote fortified tower on a hill rather than a light set on a hill that is constantly finding ways to help the churches shine light into the culture. We have transitioned the seminaries, in our attitudes regarding their purpose, from being exemplars of evangelistic outreach to being havens from the harrowing of heresy. Yes, the exposure of heresy and error in home, church, and culture is part of our role, but it is not the purpose of our existence.

            Again, theology serves proclamation. There is a reason that W.T. Conner, the systematic theologian, receives third place in any proper historiography of Southwestern Seminary. The systematic theologian rightly has a place of honor alongside the preacher and the evangelist, but problems arise when the philosophical commentator upon God and culture overtakes and supplants the place of the pastor and the missionary. The theologian Conner is third; the preacher Carroll and the evangelist Scarborough are first.

            It apparently takes the example of a president like Paige Patterson, who is as adept as any sophisticated systematic theologian yet who has the heart of a country evangelist and the legacy of a preaching pastor, to remind us that the Great Commission ought to remain our passion. Why are Patterson's moves in this regard controversial? Not because he is wrong in wanting the seminary to be a shining city set on a hill, but because most of the rest of us have forgotten what Patterson has, by divine grace, remembered.

A Confession

            Fourth, the present. When I was a pastor responsible to proclaim the divine writ, there were moments in the life of a church that prompted a real spiritual struggle. Those moments have continued into my ministry as a theologian in the employ of the churches through Southwestern Seminary. On the one hand, I am speaking of the spiritual struggles that occur within a preacher or teacher. These internal conflicts of the heart are very real and very necessary. I have been intimating to you my own struggles. On the other hand, the greater vocational purpose for the preacher concerns his utility as a divine instrument of spiritual growth, which ought to grow out of his own experience as the object of divine grace.

            I am speaking, latterly, of that sense that God has led you to see that this moment in the life of the congregation demands this sermon from His Word be directed gently but unfailingly to address that crisis. These are typically not immediate crises, but long-term communal crises that have reached a watershed and now demand the preacher to surrender His every thought, every word, every desire to the direction of the Holy Spirit as He illumines the Word through this preacher, who remains His unworthy instrument. Such events in my own experience include the peaceful understanding of being compelled by the Spirit, along with the knowledge that there is a God-given rebuke of the adversary, and the draining of every last vestige of strength from the preacher’s personal being. Like Jacob wrestling with the angel, there are times that the preacher or teacher must simply hold on to God and be thrown about like a rag doll, learning to surrender to the divine will, learning to respond faithfully to the God who is living, loving, guiding, and using the unworthy instrument before Him. And God provides a message from His Word through His servant. After such an event, there is elation (God has deigned to speak to me and through me!), awe (I have survived an encounter with the almighty and holy God!), and pain (What He has shown me demands change not only in our people but in me!). There is also the interesting phenomenon that such an encounter can lead me to be exhausted physically.

            But the greatest sense of exhaustion is not physical—it is spiritual. It is the knowledge that, while you know that this is the ideal for the preacher and teacher of God's Word, you have not always met that ideal. And this is where Norm's request is really bothersome to me, personally, for now I must confess. Mea culpa: this is my problem. Yes, I am a systematic theologian in my passion, which is not bad, but I ought to be even more passionate about going with the Lord Jesus Christ (and L. Rutland Scarborough and L. Paige Patterson) after the lost. Being a systematic theologian is a good and necessary thing, but being a preacher, evangelist, and missionary is the better part. Sitting at the feet of Jesus, repeating His words to the lost around me—this is the better part.

            Oh, Lord, forgive me! I am a systematic theologian with misdirected passion, and in this way an unclean heart, and I live amongst a group of seminaries with professors and administrators with unclean hearts. Send your messenger with your coal to cleanse our lips and make us worthy to speak your Word to the lost and dying sinners of this world. Grant us not the idea that proclamation is our secondary role but grant us an eager knowledge that proclamation is our primary role. Lord, help our seminaries and colleges not only to be intentionally biblical and Baptist, and evangelical, all of which we claim, but help us to be evangelistic, too. Perhaps, then, when our hearts are right, we theologians may help the churches and their beloved pastors, our beloved pastors, properly see that all of us need to be more committed to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.

(Originally published at SBC Today, 12 June 2014)