Derek Thomas

Dr. Derek Thomas is the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, MS. He is also associate minister at First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, SC.  

  • Snakes and Ladders by Derek Thomas

    FROM TABLETALK | March 2007

    Poor Jacob! You have to feel sorry for him even though he’s a most disagreeable character! A “self-willed mother’s boy,” with opportunistic instincts that enabled him to outsmart friends and foes alike in a ruthless bid at …Read More

  • The Lamb of God by Derek Thomas

    FROM TABLETALK | December 2006

    “And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son” (Gen. 22:13). Like an old-fashioned grammar text, the Bible is a book in which many of the answers to questions …Read More

  • Praying with the Patriarchs by Derek Thomas

    FROM TABLETALK | October 2006

    Does God take risks? The question is not as silly as it sounds, and in present-day discussions regarding what is called “open theism,” it is the pertinent question to ask. But let’s ask the question again, from a different …Read More

  • Voices of Temptation by Derek Thomas

    FROM TABLETALK | September 2006

    The birth of Ishmael, son of Abram and Hagar, is a tale that in some sense at least should never have been. From it emerges a familial and ethnic strife that lasts to this very day. It is a tale …Read More

  • Our Great Reward by Derek Thomas

    FROM TABLETALK | August 2006

    In June 2006 in this section we commented on the way in which the story of redemption focuses on Abraham’s “seed” as the line by which the Messiah will come to save God’s people from their sins (Gen …Read More

  • Wily Jacob by Derek Thomas

    FROM TABLETALK | February 2007

    Sell me your birthright now,” Jacob demanded of his twin brother, Esau (Gen. 25:31). Thus begins the sorry tale of Abraham’s grandson. From the start, Jacob challenges us to dislike him: a self-willed, pampered child with ruthless skills …Read More

  • Nothing but the Blood by Derek Thomas

    FROM TABLETALK | July 2006

    The story of Melchizedek (Gen. 14:17-24) is both curious and unexpected. It is a story of immense significance in the development of the story of redemption. Abram is faced with a stark choice the consequences of which will reverberate …Read More

  • Limping Home to God by Derek Thomas

    FROM TABLETALK | April 2007

    Poor Jacob! You have to love him even though he’s such a disagreeable fellow! A cheat from birth, Jacob has lived up to his name and now finds himself away from home, fearing the wrath of his twin-brother …Read More

  • Finding God in the Dark by Derek Thomas

    FROM TABLETALK | August 2007

    Four times in Genesis 39 we read that God was with Joseph (39:2–3, 21, 23). The statements form a set of pillars at either end of the story of Joseph’s initial experience of Egypt. On the one …Read More

  • The People, Place, and Presence of God by Derek Thomas

    FROM TABLETALK | June 2006

    There is a sense in which the whole of the Old Testament is simply the outworking of the promise in Genesis 3:15 — that the seed of the serpent will be at enmity with the seed of the woman and …Read More

  • The Undoing of Babel by Derek Thomas

    FROM TABLETALK | May 2006

    “Man’s nature,” Calvin wrote in the Institutes of the Christian Religion, “is a perpetual factory of idols” (1.11.8). Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in the Babel episode (Gen. 11:1–9). Babylon becomes in time …Read More

  • A Mother in Israel by Derek Thomas

    FROM TABLETALK | June 2007

    Jacob, the wily one, after ten or fifteen years, finally returns to Bethel. God has been at work in his life, drawing the wayward patriarch to himself. It has been a difficult journey. It invariably is so when our …Read More

  • The Covenant Keeper by Derek Thomas

    FROM TABLETALK | April 2006

    Two important words emerge in the story of Noah that will echo throughout the pages of Scripture: grace (Gen. 6:8, ESV has “favor”) and covenant (v. 18). In a context where the sinfulness of man is said to be …Read More

  • Favor in God’s Eyes by Derek Thomas

    FROM TABLETALK | March 2006

    “Nondum considerasti, quanti ponderis sit peccatum!” wrote Anselm in his famous work on the incarnation, Cur Deus Homo. Translated, it means: “You have not considered how weighty sin is!” Low views of sin breed tepid views of the Gospel — views …Read More

  • Growing Up and Growing Down by Derek Thomas

    FROM TABLETALK | May 2007

    “Grow up!” Some of us can recall with a measure of embarrassment being told these words following an incident in which we displayed less than mature behavior. Jacob is growing up, and it has been a long and painful …Read More