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2020 Annual Conference Recap
2020 ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN ADAM, IN CHRIST W estminster Seminary California’s 2020 Annual Conference commenced the evening of Friday, January 17, and continued through Saturday afternoon. This year’s conference attracted people to campus from 20 states and 4 countries, with many more friends from around the world viewing live online. Emcee Dr. Ryan Glomsrud and other members of the WSC faculty – President Joel E. Kim, Drs. Michael S. Horton, David VanDrunen, Bryan D. Estelle, S.M. Baugh, and A. Craig Troxel – explored the conference theme, “In Adam, In Christ.” From creation to consummation, the Bible declares the marvelous truth that God is the sovereign ruler of all. In this grand story of God’s providential care over all of his creation, we learn some very important truths about what it means that we were not only created in the image of God, but re-created by Jesus Christ, the Last Adam. This year’s conference explored this theme of God’s love and provision ultimately found in the Last Adam.
Opening the conference, Dr. Horton examined the imago dei in his lecture, “Created in the Image of God.” A crucial part of being God’s image bearers, Horton observed, has to do with something between us and God; that is, a covenantal commission. God gives this commission only to humans through our father
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PRESIDENT JOEL E. KIM
Adam. This reality of being created in the image of God bears importance in our contemporary culture. In a day and age that seeks to discover one’s true identify by focusing on oneself, scripture points us elsewhere. Fallen man’s nature is to focus inward on himself, as we see throughout history. Horton explained, “Plato wants us to find ourselves by looking inside ourselves, but the Bible shows that we find ourselves by looking outside ourselves to Christ.” It is only by looking to our Creator and Savior that we can understand truly
who we are and who we were made to be.
Dr. VanDrunen closed the first day by taking up the topic “Righteousness and Life.” He explained that in order to grasp the meaning of Christ being the Second Adam for God’s people, first we must understand that all of humanity was represented by the first Adam in the covenant of works in the Garden. According to the terms of this covenant, Adam was to obey God in perfect righteousness with the promise of everlasting life if he did so. When our first parents failed to fulfill this covenant, humanity plunged into sin and death. But Jesus, as our Second Adam, won this everlasting life for God’s people through his perfect righteousness in his life and death. Though we deserved death, God gave his people life through Christ. As VanDrunen noted, “The Lord Jesus Christ is the answer to the unease we have to feel as those who have fallen into sin and those whom God holds before us life.”
Saturday’s sessions began with Dr. Estelle’s “The Creation Mandate Through the Bible.” In the opening chapter of
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Attendees singing together at the 2020 Annual Conference
2020 Conference Attendees BY THE NUMBERS
235 total attendees
739
total livestream plays
4countries represented
20 states represented
Genesis, God gave the “creation mandate” as a command to Adam and Eve – to be fruitful, multiply, fill and subdue the earth, and rule over creation. Estelle traced the various ways scripture repeats this mandate throughout the Old and New Testaments. But how does this mandate, to which many refer as the “cultural mandate,” apply to us today? He noted that Jesus was “born of a woman, born under the law, to do two things: ransom us from our sins and adopt us as his children.” As a result, Christ’s kingdom – and our mandate in His Great Commission – is spiritual rather than political, as some have claimed.
Dr. Baugh followed with “Creation Kingship and the World to Come,” which featured an examination of Hebrews 2. He walked listeners through a close read of the text and the importance of punctuation in exploring the nature of the Christian’s role and rule in the new creation through the pioneering role of Jesus Christ as the Last Adam. Baugh explained that Jesus had to become like us, flesh and blood, in order to ransom us. He observed, “Our Lord Jesus has purchased us out of that heritage of death.”
In “Sojourners East of Eden,” Dr. Troxel focused on our identity as a saved sojourner living in the already/not-yet dynamic on this side of glory. Just as the Israelites were sojourners in the land of Egypt, we experience the reality of already being made joint-heirs with Christ while simultaneously not yet fully experiencing our glorified, sinless everlasting life. Troxel discussed how our gratitude for this redemption from sin’s bondage ought to evoke our compassion and empathy for fellow sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, as well as inform the ways in which we reach out to them. Our message to the world is simple, he explained: “Come to Jesus. He is more than sufficient for all that you need.”
President Kim brought the conference to a close with his lecture, “Finding Hope in the Last Adam.” He pointed listeners to 1 Corinthians 15 as a balm for those struggling with life experiences that can leave many feeling hopeless. This passage reveals the peace-inducing hope that comes to those who put their trust in the Last Adam, Jesus Christ. Our comfort comes in knowing that our hope does not depend upon our own works and fidelity. “The resurrection of Christ is the guarantee,” President Kim explained. “It guarantees the resurrection of all who are in Christ Jesus.” In the midst of our trials and temptations, scripture reminds us of the encouraging reality of Jesus’ person and work, and how only he can provide the hope and confidence we desperately need.
In addition to providing a time of deep spiritual nourishment and encouragement from WSC faculty speakers, these annual conferences also provide an opportunity for alumni, friends, and faculty to fellowship together each year. Please plan to join us next January for the 2021 Annual Conference.
FACULTY WRITING
BOOKS
For more faculty books, see the bookstore ad on p. 31 or visit us online at wscal.edu/bookstore.
WITH ALL YOUR HEART
Orienting Your Mind, Desires, and Will Toward Christ by A. Craig Troxel
In our world, we use the word heart to refer to our emotions. But the Bible uses the word heart to refer to the governing center of life. We need to grasp the true meaning of the heart in order to better understand ourselves, our sin, and our need for redemption. As we rediscover the heart as the source of all our thoughts, fears, words, and actions, we will discover principles and practices for orienting our hearts to truly love and obey God with all that we are.
POLITICS AFTER CHRISTENDOM
Political Theology in a Fractured World by David VanDrunen
Politics After Christendom explains what Scripture teaches about political community and about Christians' responsibilities within their own communities. As it pursues this task, Politics After Christendom makes use of several important theological ideas that Christian thinkers have developed over the centuries. These ideas include Augustine's Two-Cities concept, the Reformation Two-Kingdoms category, natural law, and a theology of the biblical covenants.
ARTICLES
bryan d. estelle
“Controlled Chaos: Relevance Theory and Judges 20:29-48,” Westminster Theological Journal, Vol. 82, No. 1 (Spring, 2020).
ryan glomsrud
“Johann Heinrich Heidegger (1633-1698): His Life and Times,” in The Concise Marrow of Christian Theology, trans. Casey Carmichael, ed. R. Scott Clark (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2019). “Barth and Schleiermacher,” in The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Karl Barth, eds. George Hunsinger and Keith L. Johnson (Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2020), vol. 2.
michael horton
“Affirming Moser’s Well-Qualified Totus Christus,” Pro Ecclesia, Vol. 29, No. 1 (February 2020).
joel e. kim
“The Relevance of Dort for Today,” in The Synod of Dort: Historical, Theological, and Experiential Perspectives, eds. Martin Klauber and Joel Beeke (Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, April, 2019).
david vandrunen
“Presbyterians, Philosophy, Natural Theology, and Apologetics,” in The Oxford Handbook of Presbyterianism, ed. Gary Scott Smith and Paul C. Kemeny (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), 457-73. “A Contested Union: Union with Christ and the Justification Debate,” in The Doctrine on Which the Church Stands or Falls: Justification in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective, ed. Matthew Barrett (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2019), 469-503.
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