Theme | December 2022

Christology for Christmas

Christ is the reason for the season, and during Advent we will turn our attention to more than a dozen biblical and theological reflections on the glory of Christ Incarnate. Christmas is not just a season to give gifts; it is a season to ponder the unfathomable gift of God become man. In this theme, we will put the spotlight on Christ and marvel at the reality of the Incarnation.
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Table of Contents

Concise

O Come Emmanuel, and Ransom Captive Israel: A Christmas Meditation

By Nicholas Piotrowski • Concise Article • December 2
What does the well-known Christmas Carol "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" actually mean? And what would Matthew's gospel say that Christmas is all about?
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Concise

Pastor, Preach Christology At Christmas

By David Schrock • Concise Article • December 5
Should pastors preach the birth narratives in Luke and Matthew every Christmas? What allies stand ready to aid the preacher of God's Word in December?
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Podcast

1.14 Ardel Caneday • Reading • The Word Became Flesh: An Advent Meditation from John’s Prologue

By Ardel Caneday • Podcast Reading • December 5
Like a parent with a child, God stoops and uses our toddler-like language to allow us to understand who He is by way of analogies: He is Father, Shepherd, and Word. Listen to how Dr. Ardel Caneday fleshes out a concept with awe-filled ramifications.
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Longform

The Word Became Flesh: An Advent Meditation from John’s Prologue

By Ardel Caneday • Longform Essay • December 1
Like a parent with a child, God stoops and uses our toddler-like language to allow us to understand who He is by way of analogies: He is Father, Shepherd, and Word. See how Dr. Ardel Caneday fleshes out a concept with awe-filled ramifications.
Read Essay
Concise

Emmanuel (God with Us), Even Now

By K.J. Drake • Concise Article • December 6
There is a glorious truth hiding behind the intimidating theological term "extra Calvinisticum." Find out what this is and why it is so awe-some.
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Concise

What Did Mary Know? Faith to Know the Triune God

By Keith Goad • Concise Article • December 7
Out of nowhere, an angel appears to a girl and tells her that God has a Son, who she will bear, and that this will happen by God's Spirit. How would you respond?
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Concise

Let Us Worship the Divine Priest-King: An Advent Meditation from Hebrews

By Thomas R. Schreiner • Concise Article • December 9
If Hebrews 1 was the only part of the Bible, what would we know about Jesus? That He is extraordinary.
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Concise

Putting Everything Under His Feet:
Structure and Meaning in Hebrews 2:5–9

By Jim Hamilton • Concise Article • December 12
Why was Jesus's incarnation necessary for salvation in the book of Hebrews? And how does Psalm 8 relate to this question?
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Podcast

1.15 Ardel Caneday, David Schrock, Stephen Wellum • Interview • “The Word Became Flesh: An Advent Meditation from John’s Prologue”

By Ardel Caneday, Stephen Wellum, David Schrock • Podcast Interview • December 12
What is divine accommodation, and how does it relate to the prologue to John's gospel? And what does all of this have to do with the incarnation? Listen in to this conversation between Ardel Caneday, David Schrock, and Stephen Wellum as they discuss Ardel's longform piece and its implications.
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Concise

Christ and the Spirit in Christian Theology and Devotion

By Kyle Claunch • Concise Article • December 13
Do we emphasize Jesus so much that we sometimes neglect the Holy Spirit? Why don't we have any holidays that focus on the Spirit's role in salvation?
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Concise

A Chalcedonian Christmas

By Michael Wilkinson • Concise Article • December 16
How do you celebrate Christmas? Would you be willing to consider a new tradition to help slow things down a bit and focus on the moment when the divine Son became a man for us and our salvation?
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Podcast

1.16 P. Andrew Sandlin • Reading • Incarnation Versus Excarnation in Culture and Church

By P. Andrew Sandlin • Podcast Reading • December 19
How has Gnosticism—an ancient idea that we must escape our physical bodies—influenced transgenderism, euthanasia, and 120-pound women beating grown men in martial arts movie scenes? And why the double decker bus? Check out this hard-hitting longform piece by Dr. Andrew Sandlin (read by Kevin M. McClure).
Listen to Podcast
Longform

Incarnation Versus Excarnation in Culture and Church

By P. Andrew Sandlin • Longform Essay • December 19
How has Gnosticism—an ancient idea that we must escape our physical bodies—influenced transgenderism, euthanasia, and 120-pound women beating grown men in martial arts movie scenes? And why the double decker bus? Check out this hard-hitting longform piece from Dr. Andrew Sandlin.
Read Essay
Concise

Let Us Worship God the Son Incarnate: A Christmas Meditation on Philippians 2:5–11

By Alex Tibbott • Concise Article • December 21
How can the unchangeable God bear the vicissitudes of life, take our suffering unto himself, and receive the kiss of death? Only through a human nature.
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Concise

Jesus Understands: How the Sympathy of Christ Sustains the Church

By Trent Hunter • Concise Article • December 22
What is Jesus's disposition towards those who deem themselves to be past all hope? See how the sympathy of Christ is one of the greatest Christmas blessings.
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Concise

O Come, O Come Emmanuel: Echoes of Incarnation in the Old Testament

By Sam Emadi • Concise Article • December 23
Did the incarnation—God taking on human flesh—come from nowhere? Or were there Old Testament pointers that hinted at a human being who was also divine?
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Concise

Christmas, Incarnation, and Particularity

By Brad Green • Concise Article • December 26
Do you have to be of a particular nationality, ethnicity, sex, or marital status to understand something about someone in those same categories? And how does the second member of the Trinity thread this needle on this question of universality versus particularity?
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Podcast

1.17 Stephen Wellum, David Schrock • Interview • “Incarnation Versus Excarnation in Culture and Church”

By Stephen Wellum, David Schrock • Podcast Interview • December 26
How has Gnosticism—an ancient idea that we must escape our physical bodies—influenced transgenderism, euthanasia, and 120-pound women beating grown men in martial arts movie scenes? And what does a double decker bus have to do with it? Listen in to Stephen Wellum and David Schrock as they discuss P. Andrew Sandlin's hard hitting longform essay.
Listen to Podcast
Concise

Give Diamonds, Not Coal: Why Prosopological Exegesis is Not the Gift You Are Looking For

By Michael Carlino • Concise Article • December 28
Prosopological Exegesis capitalizes on ambiguity in certain biblical texts and seeks to put a “face” (Greek; prosopon—thus the terminology) or “person” to these alleged ambiguous speakers behind the writings of the inspired authors. Should Christians use this method to understand the Bible?
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Concise

10 Truths Everyone Must Know about the Incarnation

By Stephen Wellum • Concise Article • December 30
If everyone could know ten things about Christology, what should they be? Dr. Stephen Wellum distills the core truths to one of the most important Christian doctrines.
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Upcoming

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God the Son Incarnate

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Applying All the Scriptures to All of Life

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Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Editor-in-Chief: David Schrock  •  Theological Editors: Stephen Wellum, Ardel Caneday, Brad Green  •  Pastoral Editor: Trent Hunter  •  Managing Editor: Kevin McClure  •  Assistant Editor: Luke Uhl  

Editorial Email: Christisoverall@gmail.com

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