Status: Available
Book Description
What difference does Adam make? The answer, to many Christians today, is “not much.”
Adam, we are told, is a mythological figure who can safely be abandoned without compromising the authority and infallibility of Scripture. After all, is holding on to a historical Adam more important than downplaying Genesis 1-3 enough to mediate the gospel to our secular culture?
The Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology joins with historic Christianity in saying that yes, it is. Adam is not only necessary to our Christian faith and witness, but he makes a world of difference to our understanding of God, mankind, the Bible—and even the gospel itself.
The following contributors examine what the truth of Adam means about the truth of Scripture as a whole, how he shows us what it means to bear God’s image, and what an understanding of Adam teaches us about Christ.
Derek W. H. Thomas—The Bible’s First Word
Joel R. Beeke—The Case for Adam
Kevin DeYoung—Two Views of the Human Person
Liam Goligher—Adam, Lord of the Garden
Richard D. Phillips—The Bible and Evolution
Richard D. Phillips—God’s Design for Gender, Marriage and Sex
Derek W. H. Thomas—Differing Views on the Days of Creation
Joel R. Beeke—Christ, the Second Adam
Richard D. Phillips—From God’s Garden to God’s City
Carl R. Trueman—Original Sin and Modern Theology
Learn what difference the historical Adam makes to us today, as followers of the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dr. Richard D. Phillips
About the Author
Richard D. Phillips is the senior minister of Second Presbyterian Church of Greenville, South Carolina. He is a council member of The Gospel Coalition, chairman of the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology, and coeditor of the Reformed Expository Commentary series.
Book Details
Publication Date: 2015
Publisher: P&R Publishing
Pages: 212
Library patrons who have read this book are invited to share their comments, reviews, questions or criticisms for discussion in the comments below this post.
Mid-Cities Presbyterian Church Library 
The Tabernacle, the Ark and the Mercy Seat (Exodus 25:1-22)
Verses 8-9 are significant because they highlight the two main attributes of the tabernacle. The word “sanctuary” means “holy place” and refers to God’s holiness and transcendence, whereas the word “tabernacle” means “dwelling place” and refers to God’s immanence. Immanence means being within the limits of possible experience or knowledge. God was camping out with his people. Certainly this reminds us of our Lord who tabernacled among us (John 1:14) yet was transcendent in holiness. One class member rightly pointed out that our sin stands between God’s transcendence and his immanence.
The remainder of this section describes the design of the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat (atonement cover). The ark also speaks of God’s transcendence and immanence. In verse 22 God tells Moses that he will meet with him there, between the two cherubim. Thus God will be immanent. But in Numbers 4 God instructs that the ark is to be touched or seen by no one except the high priest on the annual Day of Atonement. God is transcendent.
The significance of the ark and mercy seat were detailed in regard to the glory of God dwelling between the cherubim. The cherubim were positioned to be looking down on the top of the mercy seat under which were the tablets of the testimony representing Israel’s failures to keep the law. But on the Day of Atonement the high priest poured blood on the mercy seat signifying God’s atonement for the sin of his people by the blood of a substitute, our Lord.—Chuck Cain
Listen to “The Tabernacle, the Ark and the Mercy Seat” (Exodus 25:1-22) at mcopc.org.
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