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From the beginning, Christian theology has argued that the sacrifices and offerings prescribed in Leviticus were types of Christ. And much of that theology, especially from the Reformed tradition, has argued that these sacrifices and offerings typified a penal-substitutionary death. As one who gladly and gratefully stands in the Reformed tradition, I affirm a penal-substitutionary reading of Levitical sacrifice—and of Christ’s work, in which the promise and pattern of Levitical sacrifice find fulfillment. But I also affirm the need to revise, or at least refine, the standard argument for a penal-substitutionary reading. Our reading of Levitical sacrifice needs close attention to the book’s narrative context. Standard Argument Consider the standard argument. When the offerer appeared before God at the tabernacle and, standing beside the altar, placed a hand on the head of his offering, it represented the imputation of sin. The slaughter of the offering that shortly followed was the essential or definitive act of sacrifice. And when the priest subsequently placed the sacrificial blood on the altar, the blood represented a substitutionary death that made the offerer acceptable. Thus, atonement was made. This argument’s virtues are considerable—the close attention to the text, high regard for canonical context, and deep concern for the church and its mission. But since at least Faustus Socinus in the late 16th century, the exegetical pillars of the standard Reformed reading have been challenged, and that challenge has been somewhat successful. In particular, the Reformed reading of the hand-laying (or hand-leaning) rite is uncertain; it was likely intended to signify some notion of identification between offerer and offering, not a true imputation of sin. There are difficulties, too, with a too-quick and too-exclusive equation of sacrificial blood with death. We must be able to give some account of the clear statement of Leviticus 17:11—that there is life in the blood of the offering, and that blood “makes atonement by the life,” not by symbolizing a substitutionary death. Any case for penal substitutionary atonement in Leviticus has to be able to speak of atonement through the offering’s life, not just its death. When two pillars of the standard argument are weakened, the entire structure begins to wobble. These two pillars of atonement need further support, and the material for that reinforcement is found in Leviticus’s wider narrative context. Levitical Story Essential to a sound reading of Leviticus and its rituals is recognizing the book’s narrative context. As Gordon Wenham reminds us, Leviticus is fundamentally a narrative, and the continuation of a narrative. Rules and regulations may abound in the text, but they’re nevertheless presented as the deliverances of a series of divine speeches within an ongoing narrative. The laws have a setting within Israel’s history. At the time of Leviticus’s writing, Israel is still at Sinai, the site of the fiery theophany; the Lord—holy, mysterious, and majestic—is still instructing them in his covenant; and Moses is still mediating. This setting affects the way we hear the instructions, as it highlights the mediatorial role of Levitical sacrifice and its function of making an approach to God possible. When we see Levitical sacrifice in light of the creation story, its penal-substitutionary element becomes more evident. Of course, the Sinai covenant makes sense only in light of the larger Exodus narrative. And the Exodus narrative leads us back to the call of Abraham, issued in response to sin and its destructive consequences, taking us all the way back to the story of creation. So Leviticus is set not only in the context of the Sinai covenant but also in the much larger context of creation, sin, and redemption. When we see Levitical sacrifice in light of the creation story, its penal-substitutionary element becomes more evident. Commentators often note the relationship between the construction of the tabernacle and that of the cosmos. Both are “built” by the Word of the Lord: the cosmos by divine fiat, the tabernacle by God’s command and Moses’s obedience. And certain features of the tabernacle appear to be symbolic of the garden of Eden—the eastward-facing entrance, the cherubim on the ark and the curtains, and, perhaps most significantly, the presence of God “walking” among his people (Gen. 3:8; Lev. 26:11–12). For these reasons and more, L. Michael Morales concludes that the tabernacle constituted an invitation to return to Eden after Adam’s sin. The sacrifices were the God-ordained means for doing so. Return to God Through Death From this vantage point, we can already see that Levitical sacrifice constituted a ritual return to God. But, significantly, this Levitical return to God ran through death. According to Leviticus 1:3–9, the offerer who has selected a suitable offering and led it to the tent arrives at the tabernacle and passes through the eastward-facing entrance of the grounds. As he does so, he immediately encounters the altar. There, he lays a hand on his offering, slaughters it, and butchers it—all of which highlight the offerer’s personal involvement in the death of his offering. Only then, after this identification and death have taken place, does the offering actually come into contact with something holy. Only after the slaughter do the priests take the animal; only after the slaughter is the offering placed on the altar; only after the placement of the slaughtered animal on the altar is the offering “received” by God and the offerer thereby assured of his acceptance. Only after the death of his offering, then—a death in which the offerer is deeply involved—does the offerer reach his goal of reception into the holiness of God. Only by death can the offerer symbolically return to Eden. Reinforced Pillars In this telling of the Levitical story, the weakened pillars mentioned above are reinforced. Blood is a symbol of life, not death. Yet the blood placed on the altar is that of an offering that, after being identified with its offerer, was put to death. Atonement is made “by the life,” but this life has passed through the death required by the offerer’s sin. Atonement is made ‘by the life,’ but this life has passed through the death required by the offerer’s sin. The hand-leaning rite is better said to signify identity, not imputation. But that identity need not be thought to exclude all thought of imputation. The offering shares in the requirement, created by sin, of passing through death before returning to God. The offerer then shares in the offering’s reception into the holy places. This reveals a strong identity between offerer and offering, an identity that means more than imputation but not necessarily less. These reinforced pillars give us a strengthened account of penal substitution in Levitical ritual, one that has been refined by the challenges that happily send proponents of penal substitution back to the text. The image of the slaughtered lamb may take on a slightly different color in this account. But it still proclaims Christ as our substitute.

“Brain rot” was Oxford’s word of the year in 2024, defined as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.” It’s a favored slang term of Gen Z, who deploy it in a metamodern manner: simultaneously as a self-aware expression of irony (“Yes, we know we’re scrolling ourselves to death”) and as a sincere cry for help (“I know it’s killing me, but I can’t stop. Help!”). Talk of “brain rot” is a sort of defense mechanism or alarm bell amid the addictive vortex of nonnutritive scrolling. We know scrolling is terrible for us—there’s more evidence of this each day—but we do it anyway. Calling it brain rot at least gives us the minor consolation of self-awareness. We know scrolling is terrible for us, but we do it anyway. Calling it brain rot at least gives us the minor consolation of self-awareness. Screens are making us dramatically less conscientious (less adept at self-control and responsibility) and more neurotic. Digital life is leading to poorer mental health, diminished cognitive capacity, spiritual acedia, and existential ennui. But our wink-wink “brain rot” discourse at least signals the virtue of our knowing all these bad things are happening to us. The problem with discourse about the ills of digital life is that we rarely move from discourse to actual change. There’s a technological fatalism at work here—a sense that we’re locked into the scrolling age and simply cannot live otherwise. This a sobering point Antón Barba-Kay makes early in his book A Web of Our Own Making: Almost everyone has serious misgivings about the powers of this new genie we’ve let loose. Almost everyone also knows that those misgivings have done and will do little to slow its development or moderate its expression. . . . Outside a tech-topian, giddy minority, most people I have spoken to about the consequences of digital technology for their lives are at once disaffected and resigned. Just about every conversion thus consists of acknowledging that it is bad and disruptive in some ways, while being really handy and valuable in others. The bottom line remains that, regardless of how depressing or terrific its uses, it is an inescapable fact, so that it doesn’t really matter what we think about it. We can think critically about technology and lament its ills all day. But don’t we want to stop these bad habits? Do we have the will to truly make a change? What can be done to reverse the rot? Five Ways Churches Can Help People Reverse the Rot We’re well aware of the problems. Now what do we do about it? The church is well positioned to offer actionable ideas. Here are five. 1. Normalize phone-free spaces. Many schools now have phone bans in the classroom. Good. Why don’t churches do the same? Make it a habit of giving congregants permission to leave their phones in the car, or at least in their pocket, during worship services. Encourage phone-free Sunday school or small groups. This might mean providing physical Bibles in every seat. Do what you have to do. Make it feasible—and desirable—for church to be at least one dose of radically analog, embodied, non-screen-centric experience each week. And if people get used to it at church, they’ll likely find it easier to put away devices at other moments throughout their week. 2. Model minimal scrolling. For parents, pastors, authors, and influencers who talk frequently about the ills of excessive scrolling—are you practicing what you preach? (I’m speaking to myself here!) More is caught than taught. Don’t just tell digital addicts to change; give them examples of what it looks like. Show them it’s possible to live differently. Pastors, you probably won’t help the Highly Online in your flock by “meeting them where they’re at” on apps and feeds. You’ll more likely help them by living a happily “less online” life. 3. Create plausibility through critical mass. Being tethered to your smartphone is costly. But for many, the perceived costs of not being tethered feel greater. This is why parents struggle to say no to teens begging for a phone. Adolescent peer pressure is potent. If every other kid at school or at church has a phone, it feels cruel and socially alienating to mandate that your kids are the outliers. Don’t just tell digital addicts to change; give them examples of what it looks like. But what if churches fostered a critical mass of families where most kids didn’t have smartphones and social media? What if parents in churches banded together to normalize “dumb phones” in a microcommunity of shared values, guided by the practical advice of books like Clare Morell’s The Tech Exit? Widespread cultural change requires tipping points. The church should lead the way in this particular tipping point. 4. Practice church-wide digital fasts. This might sound daunting, but why not try it? Experiment with different types of digital or media fasts. Perhaps start by challenging your flock to go without some aspect of their smartphone—their most beloved social media app, perhaps—for two or three days. It should be enough of a challenge that it’ll feel painful. Channel that pain toward worship. Each night of the digital fast, gather as a church for embodied fellowship, prayer, and worship. This sort of communal lookaway can illuminate and galvanize, showing people what’s possible when head-down scrolling is replaced with lifted-eyes worship and community. 5. Cultivate a reading culture. To help people wean off screens, we need to encourage alternative habits. This could include more time outside in nature (e.g., organize group hikes or routine neighborhood walks) or community service activities, exercise groups, or fun outings to beaches or ball games. But arguably the greatest screen-alternative habit to promote is reading. Get your people reading books, discussing them, digesting them in community. Reading helps us retrain the cognitive muscles atrophying in the scrolling age. For Christians, the muscles of reading are critical for gleaning the wisdom of God’s Word. Start book clubs. Curate lists of recommended books on various topics. Host authors for Q&A events. Put a library or bookstore in the church foyer. Be a bookish church. Train your folks to become people of the Book.

The new summer 2025 issue of Themelios has 204 pages of editorials, articles, and book reviews. It’s freely available in three formats: (1) PDF, (2) web version, and (3) Logos Bible Software. 1. J. V. Fesko | Editorial: On Scholarship, Swords, and Scalpels There are certainly times when truth must stand in stark antithesis to the lie. In such cases, we must cleave truth from the lie with a sword. If theologians of the early modern period have anything to teach us, it’s that we should probably be prepared to draw our scalpels more often than our swords. In many cases, drawing and using a scalpel calls for wisdom, but we should be mindful of the forces that shape and distort the church’s scholarship and discourse. Rather than always cleaving with a sword, we must instead make careful and deliberate incisions with a scalpel so we can recognize and use the truth no matter where we encounter it. 2. Daniel Strange | Strange Times: On (Not) Considering Theological Training In two previous columns, Strange offered some observations on approaching theological training and then on finishing theological training. This column serves as a prequel on considering theological training—or, more accurately, on not considering theological training. Strange considers and responds to common objections of the cost of training, the communication gap between an older and younger generation, and a conventional “We’ve always done it this way” approach to traditional theological preparation. 3. Kevin DeYoung | Does the American Revision of the Westminster Confession Contradict the Original Version on the Doctrine of the Civil Magistrate? This essay reflects on how Presbyterians changed their views on the civil magistrate in the 16th and 17th centuries. DeYoung’s contention is that Reformed political thought hasn’t been static and, in fact, that American Presbyterianism saw itself as correcting elements of the earlier tradition. 4. Jared Garcia | Was David Overreacting? Analyzing 1 Samuel 25 in Light of the Ancient Hospitality Code Was Nabal’s refusal to give food for 600 people such a terrible wrong that David, in 1 Samuel 25, would have been justified in seeking vengeance by killing Nabal’s entire household? Did David simply overreact? This paper demonstrates that an acquaintance with the hospitality code of the ancient Near East aids in understanding the events in 1 Samuel 25. Part 1 analyzes the ancient hospitality code, examining typical scenes of hospitality along with observations from social anthropologists who study Mediterranean culture. Part 2 exhibits how the hospitality code answers the questions raised from the narrative in 1 Samuel 25. 5. G. K. Beale | Contextualizing the Controversial Instructions in 1 Timothy 2:11–15: A Response to Sandra L. Glahn, Nobody’s Mother This article critically engages Sandra L. Glahn’s book Nobody’s Mother, which attempts to offer further evidence from the ancient Greek world that supports the arguments that Paul’s instructions in 1 Timothy 2:11–15 are temporary restrictions and statements addressed only to a very specific occasion in first-century Ephesus. Beale concludes that Glahn doesn’t convincingly prove her argument and that 1 Timothy 2:11–15 still has ongoing validity for understanding the role of women in the church of the present day. 6. Todd R. Chipman | Fighting to the Finish: Five Roles for Endurance in Revelation This essay is the second of a two-part analysis of John’s use of the articular substantival participle. John uses this grammatical form in various ways across his diverse literary contributions to the New Testament. Revelation uses the articular substantival participle, noting roles humans might embrace or reject: (1) The One Who Reads and Hears God’s Word, (2) The One Who Conquers, (3) The One Who Is Oriented Toward God or the World, (4) The One Who Is Slaughtered for the Testimony of Jesus, and (5) The One Who Thirsts for God. These roles identify the many practical ways that Jesus’s followers demonstrate their allegiance to him, serving as a corrective to fatalism or passivity in the last days. 7. Kenneth J. Stewart | Hardier than Supposed: The Resurgence of Calvinism Across the 20th Century The past quarter century’s upsurge of interest in Calvinism has shown a strong tendency to undervalue movements from the first half of the 20th century. These earlier movements provided resources that undergird what we’ve witnessed in our own lifetimes. These earlier efforts were international, transatlantic, and transdenominational. They weren’t dominated by marginalized groups or isolated individuals on the fringes of Protestantism but included thinkers and writers drawn from both doctrinally comprehensive and self-consciously conservative churches. 8. Joshua M. Sims | The Church as Sacrament of Salvation in Roman Catholic Theology This article examines the Roman Catholic doctrine of the church as “sacrament of salvation” first formally introduced in Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium (1964). Starting with the pre-Vatican II exclusivist position, Sims traces how this doctrine developed from the Church-Incarnation idea, where the church continues Christ’s incarnational presence. The analysis reveals diverse Catholic interpretations ranging from conservative to inclusivist-universalist approaches. Sims concludes with a Reformed theological critique challenging three key aspects of the Roman doctrine: its universalist tendencies, its ontological rather than ethical understanding of salvation, and its diminishment of Christ’s ascension. He advocates instead for a covenantal ecclesiology that maintains clear boundaries and emphasizes Christ’s completed work. 9. Roland Weisbrot | The Role of the Regula Fidei in the Twenty-First-Century Religious Landscape: How the “Rule of Faith” Can Help Address the Existential Issues of the Postmodern Christian Community This article offers a historical-systematic analysis of the role of the rule of faith in establishing and maintaining the Christian metanarrative and orthodox scriptural interpretation. It seeks to answer who is truly following the historic Christian faith in the contemporary postmodern milieu. The modern relevance of the rule is established in light of the work of two 20th-century theologians, Paul M. Blowers and Robert W. Jenson, who respectively posit a narrative and linguistic function for the rule. Therefore, the rule provides insights for contemporary theological questions by supplying a framework of faithful guidelines through which to engage them fruitfully. 10. Gavin Ortlund | Angelic Fall Theodicy in Dialogue with Tolkien, Augustine, and Aquinas This article explores the relationship between Tolkien’s angelology, as reflected in his fictional writings, and classical angelology, particularly as represented by Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. Two aspects of classical angelology are examined: (1) the relation of angels to material creation and (2) the role of stewardship over material creation that God entrusted to angels. Ortlund gives particular attention to Augustine’s discussion of whether the angels “inhabit” or merely direct the stars, as well as to Aquinas’s teaching that all corporeal creatures are ruled by angels. He suggests that classical theological reflection on angels in these areas can resource current articulations of angelic fall theodicy, especially those drawing from Tolkien. Specifically, classical angelology encourages ways of construing the relation of angels and material creation that may blunt the common charge of arbitrariness against the mechanism of angelic fall theodicy. 11. Anthony V. Costello | Philosophical Foundations of a Transgender Worldview: Nominalism, Utilitarianism, and Pragmatism Every social and political phenomenon has some prior, underlying philosophical basis. The phenomenon of transgender ideology is no different. To many, transgenderism seemed to explode on the scene, as if from nothing. But transgenderism isn’t an ideology created ex nihilo. Its radical ideas and aggressive activism are grounded in foundations laid by other philosophical views—three in particular—which have long been taken for granted in Western culture. Recently, Christian philosopher Abigail Favale has identified major shifts in the transgender movement and given a biblical answer to transgenderism’s claims. However, the underlying philosophical foundations of transgender ideology persist. Until these are addressed, we’ll find ourselves confronted by even more radical movements than transgenderism. 12. Jonathan D. Worthington | Empathy and Its Counterfeits: Navigating The Sin of Empathy and a Way Forward In our families, churches, or neighborhoods; in political discussions, situations of accused abuse, or racially charged conversations; in polarizing times, compassion must be wed with relational exegesis, the well-established name for which is empathy. Empathy involves three primary components: understand, resonate, self-differentiate. When we dismiss or silo empathy research in favor of a popular but bastardized form of “empathy,” which Joe Rigney has done in his recent book The Sin of Empathy, a hamstringing of pastoral insight runs rampant. Rigney, swallowing a pop-culture definition of “empathy” against good research practices, has provided a counterfeit to empathy that leaves pastoral counsel about practical and cultural issues mostly impotent. This review article provides sound research on empathy and a helpful perspective on research itself, and therefore a responsible way forward in such polarized times. Featured Book Reviews: Bobby Jamieson, Everything Is Never Enough: Ecclesiastes’ Surprising Path to Resilient Happiness. Reviewed by S. D. Ellison. Claire S. Smith, The Appearing of God Our Savior: A Theology of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. Reviewed by David C. Wright. Michael A. G. Azad Haykin, Revival: Spiritual Awakening in the Reformed Tradition. Reviewed by Ryan Rindels. Kevin Vanhoozer, Mere Christian Hermeneutics: Transfiguring What It Means to Read the Bible Theologically. Reviewed by Oliver van Ruth. Rebecca McLaughlin, No Greater Love: A Biblical Vision of Friendship. Reviewed by Robert S. Smith. Rupert Shortt, The Eclipse of Christianity: And Why It Matters. Reviewed by Nathan Wallace.

CHUCK DEVORE: Newsom: Lies, Damn Lies, And Statistics