Stand your watch

Long form

Essays

The blog is where I think out loud. This is where I show the work. These are full papers, cited and argued, on the questions underneath everything else I write.

How to read these

The first seven were written in order and they build, so reading them straight through is the way to get the whole argument. The passage studies stand on their own. Every citation is checked. Where the strongest argument against my position deserves an answer I do not have, I say so in the essay rather than hiding it.

  1. Biblical TheologyThe Spine of the New TestamentChrist as Eschatological Fulfillment and the Interpretive Center of the Twenty-Seven BooksThe New Testament is not an anthology of twenty-seven unrelated documents. This paper argues that Christ as eschatological fulfillment is the interpretive spine that holds them together, names the sub-themes that hang off it, and answers the strongest competing candidates: kingdom, glory, covenant, and union with Christ.2,893 words14 min readTurabian, citedRead the essay →
  2. Biblical TheologyThe Kingdom of GodReign, Realm, and the Citizen's Life Between Eden and EternityKingdom language runs from Genesis to Revelation, and most confusion about it comes from collapsing reign into realm. This paper distinguishes the two, traces the kingdom already inaugurated and not yet consummated, and asks what citizenship in it actually requires of a man now.2,134 words11 min readTurabian, citedRead the essay →
  3. HermeneuticsTypology and ShadowsThe Discipline of Reading the Old Testament Toward ChristTypology is either the most fruitful discipline in Old Testament reading or the most abused, and the difference is method. This paper defines a type, separates it from allegory, sets the controls that keep a reader honest, and works through examples where the shadow genuinely resolves in Christ.2,592 words13 min readTurabian, citedRead the essay →
  4. Law and GospelThe Believer and the LawCovenant Transfer, the Fulfillment of Moses, and the Law of ChristIf the Mosaic law was given as a unit and ended as a unit, the obvious question is what now governs a Christian. This paper answers with the law of Christ, works through what carried forward and what did not, and takes seriously the charge that this position collapses into lawlessness.2,529 words13 min readTurabian, citedRead the essay →
  5. Covenant TheologyThe Covenants of ScripturePromise, Law, Kingdom, and the Covenant That Replaced ThemCovenant is the architecture of the Bible, and how the covenants relate decides most other disagreements downstream. This paper walks the biblical covenants in order, argues for genuine discontinuity at Sinai rather than one covenant in successive administrations, and states plainly where the competing systems are strongest.1,997 words10 min readTurabian, citedRead the essay →
  6. EcclesiologyIsrael and the ChurchIncorporation Without Replacement, and the People of God in Romans 9 through 11The relationship between Israel and the church is where covenant systems are tested, and both replacement and two-peoples answers overreach. This paper argues for one people of God in Christ while holding to a future large-scale turning of ethnic Israel, and works through Romans 9 to 11 to get there.2,054 words10 min readTurabian, citedRead the essay →
  7. EschatologyThe FutureEschatology as the Goal of History, and the Shape of Living Toward ItEschatology is not the chapter at the back of the book; it is the doctrine of where history is going, and it silently governs how everything else gets read. This paper argues an amillennial structure with a partial-preterist reading of the judgment texts, concedes the two places that reading is weakest, and asks what any of it changes on a Tuesday.2,556 words13 min readTurabian, citedRead the essay →
  8. New Testament ExegesisThe Spirits in PrisonSuffering, Vindication, and the Reign of Christ in 1 Peter 3:18-22First Peter 3:18-22 is the passage most readers skip, because Christ makes a proclamation to spirits in prison and nobody agrees who they are. This paper works the text closely, argues the proclamation is an announcement of victory over rebel spirits rather than an offer of salvation to anyone, faces the sentence that says baptism now saves you instead of routing around it, and concedes the four places the reading is weakest.3,380 words17 min readTurabian, citedRead the essay →
Essays on Theology — Jacob McCluskey