Category Archives: Stephen Wellum

September 26, 2018 · 12:00 pm

“Our great and glorious Covenant Lord” by Stephen Wellum

“By taking on our humanity, Christ became the first man of the new creation, our great mediator and new covenant head. As this man, Christ reverses the work of the first Adam and forges ahead as the last Adam, our great trailblazer and champion (archégon; Heb. 2:10).

God the Son incarnate is perfectly qualified to meet our every need, especially our need for the forgiveness of sin. According to the storyline of Scripture, only the God-man—the Son incarnate—could mediate the reconciliation of God and man by offering Himself as a sinless, sufficient, substitutionary sacrifice such that God Himself redeems His people as a man (1 Tim. 2:5-6; Hebrews 5-10).

As the divine Son, Christ alone satisfies God’s own judgment upon sinful humanity and demand for perfect righteousness. As the incarnate Son, Christ alone identifies with sinful humanity in His suffering and represents a new humanity as our great and glorious Covenant Lord…

In Jesus, we truly meet God face-to-face; we meet Him, not indwelling or overshadowing human flesh, nor merely associated with it, but in full and wonderful glory.

Although we behold Him as a man, He is much more; He is the Lord, the divine Son who humbles Himself and veils His glory by becoming one with us. It is God the Son Himself who dwells among us to speak, act, live, love, rule, and redeem for our good and His glory.”

—Stephen J. Wellum, God the Son Incarnate: The Doctrine of Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016), 434, 435-436.

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Filed under Christian Theology, Christology, Glory of Christ, Jesus Christ, Puritanical, Quotable Quotes, Stephen Wellum, The Gospel, Union with Christ

Tagged as Christology, Covenant, Glory of Christ, Incarnation, Jesus Christ, salvation, Stephen Wellum, Union with Christ

September 22, 2018 · 12:00 pm

“Only Jesus” by Stephen Wellum

“Given who Jesus is, we must also be led to worship, adoration, faith in Him alone, and a glad and willing submission to His Lordship in every area of our lives. In Jesus Christ, God the Son incarnate, we see the Lord of Glory, who has taken on flesh in order to become our all-sufficient Redeemer.

By sharing our common human nature, the Son of God is now able to do a work that we could never do. In His incarnation and cross work, we see the resolution of God to take upon Himself our guilt and sin in order to reverse the horrible effects of the fall and to satisfy His own righteous requirements, to make this world right, and to inaugurate a new covenant in His blood.

In Jesus Christ, we see the perfectly obedient Son taking the initiative to keep His covenant promises by taking upon himself our human nature, veiling His glory, and winning for us our eternal salvation.

Our Savior and Redeemer is utterly unique. This is why there is no salvation outside of him. He is in a category all by himself in who He is and in what He does.

In fact, because our plight is so desperate, due to sin, the only person who can save us is God’s own dear Son. It is only as the Son incarnate that our Lord can represent us; it is only as the Son incarnate that He can put away our sin, stand in our place, and turn away God’s wrath by bearing our sin.

Only Jesus can satisfy God’s own righteous requirements, because He is one with the Lord as God the Son; only Jesus can do this for us because He is truly a man and can represent us.”

—Stephen J. Wellum, God the Son Incarnate: The Doctrine of Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016), 442-443.

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Filed under Biblical Theology, Christian Theology, Christology, Glory of Christ, Jesus Christ, Puritanical, Quotable Quotes, Stephen Wellum, The Gospel

Tagged as Bible, Biblical Theology, Christology, Crossway, God The Son Incarnate, Jesus Christ, salvation, Stephen Wellum

July 5, 2018 · 12:00 pm

“The Lord of glory” by Stephen Wellum

“The all-glorious Creator—Covenant Lord assumed a full and sinless human nature, such that the eternal Son became a man in order to restore humanity to its vice-regent glory and to inaugurate the new creation, over which the new humanity will rule in righteousness in the age to come.

In this way and by these glorious means, our Lord Jesus Christ becomes our great prophet, priest, and king, the head of the new creation, the Lord of glory, who is worthy of all our worship, adoration, and praise.

In fact, it is only as God the Son incarnate that Jesus can achieve His great work for us. To deny either Christ’s deity or His humanity is to deny the Jesus of the Bible and to rob us of our Redeemer.”

–Stephen Wellum, God the Son Incarnate: The Doctrine of Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016), 240.

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Filed under Bible, Biblical Theology, Christian Theology, Christology, Jesus Christ, Puritanical, Quotable Quotes, Stephen Wellum, The Gospel

Tagged as Bible, Biblical Theology, Christology, Crossway, God The Son Incarnate, Stephen Wellum

May 17, 2018 · 12:00 pm

“Read Scripture as a divine book” by Trent Hunter and Stephen Wellum

“Consider what it means to read Scripture as a divine book— from God to us!

If God wrote every word, sentence, paragraph, chapter and book, then the Bible is unified. The Bible’s sixty-six books really form one book from one Author.

It’s also coherent. If we’re confuses about the meaning of a certain text, we may assume that we’re the ones confused, not God. The Bible coheres with itself and with the world in which its readers live.

It’s complete— the Bible is what God wanted us to have. If it raises questions that it doesn’t completely answer, then that must be on purpose.

And not only is it complete, but it’s also sufficient for what we need.

The Bible is perfect. There’s nothing wrong with it. Every word is good and true.

The Bible is also urgent. If God has spoken to us, then nothing is more important than for us to listen to its message.

All of these truths about Scripture have major implications for how we interpret the Bible.

We should read it with creaturely humility because these words are from our Creator and Lord.

We are to read with expectation. If we look forward to the release of a new novel by a favorite author, how much more should we look forward to reading God’s Word!

We should also read with caution, recognizing that we are inclined to misunderstand what God has written, given our finitude and sinfulness.

That means we should read the Bible patiently to accurately discern what God has said. We cannot assume that what first comes into our minds matches what’s in God’s mind.

We read and we reflect, and once we settle on an interpretation that is faithful to the text and aligned with previous interpretations, we submit to God’s Word.

If we disagree with something the Bible teaches, we assume that our thinking must change, not God’s. We don’t stand over Scripture; we stand under it in submission to God (Isa. 66:1-2).

We are aware of the Bible’s divine authorship, and we are aware of our creaturely position as readers.”

–Trent Hunter and Stephen Wellum, Christ From Beginning to End (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018), 44-45.

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Filed under Bible, Biblical Theology, Christian Theology, Humility, Jesus Christ, Preaching, Puritanical, Quotable Quotes, Reading, Sola Scriptura, Stephen Wellum, The Gospel, Worldview

Tagged as Bible, Biblical Theology, Christ From Beginning to End, Doctrine of Scripture, Humility, Jesus Christ, Reading, Sola Scriptura, Stephen Wellum, Trent Hunter

May 14, 2018 · 12:00 pm

“There is no substitute for reading the Bible” by Stephen Wellum

“There is no substitute for reading the Bible on its own terms to identify the real Christ. The worldview and theology that develops from the structure and storyline of the Scriptures cannot be ignored or altered without losing the ability to see Jesus for who He really is.”

–Stephen Wellum, God the Son Incarnate (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016), 191-192.