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“There Is None Like Me In All the Earth” – The Exodus, the Fame of God’s Name, and the Manifestation of God’s Jealousy through Divine Sovereignty (Matthew Barrett)

In the new issue of Credo Magazine, “The Forgotten God: Divine Attributes We Are Ashamed Of and Why We Shouldn’t Be,” Matthew Barrett has contributed an articled called, “There Is None Like Me In All the Earth: The Exodus, the Fame of God’s Name, and the Manifestation of God’s Jealousy through Divine Sovereignty.”  Matthew Barrett (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is Assistant Professor of Christian Studies at California Baptist University, as well as the founder and executive editor of Credo Magazine. Barrett is also Senior Pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church. He is the author and editor of several books, including Salvation by Grace: The Case for Effectual Calling and Regeneration. Two forthcoming books include, Owen on the Christian Life and God’s Word Alone: The Authority of Scripture. You can read about Barrett’s other publications at matthewmbarrett.com.

Here is the start of Barrett’s article:

Have you ever wondered: What does God’s jealousy have to do with his sovereignty? Admittedly, this is not a question that typically comes to mind. After all, jealousy is a divine attribute few Christians dare to explore, and divine sovereignty tends to be an attribute we prefer be kept surreptitious. What is remarkable, however, is how these two attributes, when placed together, shed eye-opening light upon some of the most complicated and challenging doctrines in Scripture.

In what follows, we will take a journey back to one event in redemptive history—the Exodus—that we might grasp a deeper understanding of how these two attributes relate to one another. Along the way, we will also welcome help from the apostle Paul and allow his letter to the Romans speak insight into our interpretation of the Exodus affair in order to figure out what these two attributes have to do with one another.

However, before we set out on this venture, we must start where any good theologian should start: namely, with a definition or two. …

Read the rest of this article today!


To view the magazine as a PDF click here

Credo April 2015 CoverLooking back on the first half of the twentieth century, H. Richard Niebuhr famously described liberal Christianity’s understanding of the gospel like this: “A God without wrath brought men without sin into a Kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross.” Such a mentality has had its influence and still does today. There are certain Bible stories that you just don’t talk about, not even in church. For many people today, Bible stories having to do with divine wrath, anger, or jealousy are embarrassing. And yet, no matter how uncomfortable they make you feel, it is nearly impossible to get through a book (sometimes a chapter!) of the Bible without coming face to face with these forgotten attributes of God. In a culture that capitalizes on tolerance and love, a focus on divine judgment is considered harsh, even primitive. Gordon Rupp’s words still speak today when he said, “What it means to feel oneself under the Wrath of God is something that modern man can hardly understand.”

Though unpopular to do so, this issue of Credo Magazine aims to make you, the modern reader, feel the weight of these biblical attributes of God. They are forgotten attributes of God, no doubt about it. But our desire is that by the end of this issue you will see just how important these attributes are to the story of redemption and for knowing God in a saving way. As has often been said, it is impossible to relish the grace of God in the cross of Christ unless you first understand the condemnation you sit under as a rebel.

Contributors include Bruce Ware, David Murray, Erik Thoennes, Matthew Barrett, Fred Zaspel, Daniel Hyde, Cornelius Tolsma, Jessalyn Hutto, Michael A.G. Haykin, and many others.

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