One thing to keep in mind about him is that he’s a Baptist. He’s a credobaptist, in particular, which means he strongly disagrees with one thing covenant theology holds about who belongs to the covenant (i.e. children who have not expressed saving faith are in the covenant). That’s one of the biggest sticking points for me, too. I just can’t see how someone can be in the covenant once baptized as a child and then not be in the covenant later if they reject the faith, given the doctrine of perseverance of the saints. And yet Calvinist after Calvinist will say such things. It just baffles me. It seems that a Calvinist ought to say that someone who is never saved was never in the covenant.

Oh, and I have a feeling Tom Schreiner and is also NCT. He’s another Reformed Baptist who used to be closely associated with Piper, but he went on to get a Ph.D. and did his own work, and now he’s contributed more to biblical studies and theology than Piper ever did (although Piper will always be more influential at the popular level, I’d say).

I read his Matthew commentary some years ago but that’s before really thinking about the authors who wrote the commentaries, so I don’t own it. I have to correct that.

Someone once told me (and I’m not sure I believe it) that he’s an amillenialist teaching at an institution that’s premillenial and therefore not allowed to comment on or publish anything on that issue. The person who was claiming this said that he privately told them that he’s sort of premillenial, but I don’t think he’s the type to sign a statement of faith that he doesn’t accept fully and then agree not to publish or comment publicly on the issue he disagrees with Trinity about. But if that person is correct, then there’s another reason he stays away from these issues.

I was listening to him speak one time and it got to the Q&A bit. Someone asked him what he thinks about dispensationalism and the man, God bless him, gave this extremely careful answer which was a careful no answer.

Essentially he said that it wasn’t fair to the audience or dispensationalism to answer the question in a five minute block but he did so in such a way that revealed (to me anyway) real depth in thought.