My name is James, but if you are looking for “James Rutherford” online, you will find several thousand of me—among them some notable and some quite infamous. So, I write under the name “J. Alexander Rutherford,” as it is better for first impressions. I founded Teleioteti while studying at Regent College to help God’s people think deeply and faithfully about the God they worship. My hope is that one day, Teleioteti will be a group project, but at this time it is the work of myself, along with the help of several friends. I have received help with many of my book covers, especially from Stephen Joshua Arriola (Prevenient Grace; God’s Kingdom Through His Priest-King; Habakkuk, A Study; Habakkuk: An Exegetical-Theological Commentary; Habakkuk: An Intermediate Reader; The Gift of Knowing, The Gift of Reading – Parts 1 & 2, The Gift of Seeing; The Gift of Purpose) and Matthew Goodman (God’s Gifts for the Christian Life – Part 1). I am the primary editor, contributor, and author of the resources featured here.
As of 2020, I have been studying for a PhD at Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia). My thesis, which will be marked shortly, is title “Rightly Defining the Son of God: An Examination of the Definition of Chalcedon.” Under the supervision of Rev. Dr. Mark Thompson, this thesis explores the intersection of theology, philosophy, and history at the council of Chalcedon (AD 451). Before this, I graduated from Regent College (Vancouver, BC, Canada) in 2018 with a Master of Theology degree (thesis: “God’s Kingdom through His Priest-King”) and a Master of Arts in Theological Studies, majoring in biblical languages. Previously, I graduated from Pacific Life Bible College (Surrey, BC, Canada) with a bachelor’s degree in pastoral leadership.
More important than my studies, I am married to the beautiful Nicole Rutherford and am the father of three wonderful children, Aliyah, Asher (who has gone to be with his Lord), and Adriel. We are privileged to serve at an Anglican church here in Sydney, Riverwood-Punchbowl Anglican Church (RPAC). I am working with the team to see God’s kingdom expand in the suburbs of Punchbowl and Greenacre, where we live. I am also the property manager at RPAC. When not studying or writing, I enjoy cooking for my family and bush walks on Australia’s East Coast.
Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:8-10, ESV)
God has done much in my life to bring me to the place I am now and in the creation of Teleioteti. The theme of my life is weakness and God’s sustaining grace through the many trials He has placed before me. Weakness for me is primarily physical, from epilepsy as a teenager to constant pain and insomnia as an adult. As my weaknesses change from week to week, what remains constant is God’s sustaining grace. I no longer have epilepsy: through what I can only describe as a miraculously providential set of circumstances, I was diagnosed with a brain tumour and operated on for its removal in 2009. It has been almost 14 years since I have had a seizure: it was through this experience, and the recovery that followed, that God brought me to Pacific Life Bible College and towards ministry in His Church. In the years that followed, weakness has accompanied me—now in the form of debilitating wrist and back pain and frequent insomnia—yet God has never failed to sustain me now as He did then, with strength, hope, and joy amidst suffering. With Paul I have been forced to learn—and continue to learn—that God’s grace is sufficient for my weakness and that his power is made perfect in weakness. When I am weak, this is when I am truly strong, for I am not resting in my perceived abilities or personal fortitude but solely in the sustaining grace of the Spirit God has poured out upon me.
I am also happily married, for just almost eight years at the time I am writing this (June, 2023); Nicole is an amazing companion, but I find myself here too beset by weakness. I am by no means sufficient for the role of husband which God has entrusted to me, yet once again I find that His grace is truly sufficient. The same as I seek to lead my children, Aliyah and Adriel.. In light of my weakness, I pray that everything I say and do will be a testimony to my glorious God alone. A testimony that God is solely satisfying, sufficient for my soul; that He is glorious and worthy to be praised; and that He has made the greatest condescension to become a man and die for a wretch like me. To Him be the glory alone forever and ever, amen.
I started Teleioteti as a blog during my years at Pacific Life Bible College. A lot has changed since I began allforthegloryofhiskingdom.wordpress.com—more than just a name. I have grown as a writer and in my knowledge of the Word, so my writing has improved since those days. I have also now published many books. For now, Teleioteti remains the means by which I use the gifts God has entrusted to me to further His kingdom, but I hope that it will one day evolve into a ministry for educating God’s people and training pastors. For now, I seek to produce tightly argued and thoroughly researched print and web resources for the maturing of God’s people. Through Teleioteti I hope to bring to Christ’s people resources that contain the best academic study has achieved—rigorous thinking and argumentation—without the stifling confines of an environment shackled by unbiblical presuppositions concerning what constitutes appropriate interaction with God’s Word and the appropriate ends for such research. I am convinced that Christians must engage the Word of God and the cultures around them with rigorous thinking, yet this thinking must be done in submission to Christ Jesus as our Lord and for His glory alone. This means that His Scriptures must be our primary functional authority and the worldview contained therein must be that by which we interpret and interact with the world around us (see my book, The Gift of Knowing). This implies that rigorous thinking need not be neutral—the Bible, in fact, teaches that such thinking is impossible (Rom. 8:7-8). My vision for Teleioteti is to produce truly Christian resources—grounded firmly in the Scriptures God has breathed out for all our needs (2 Tim. 3:16-17), nourished in the faith that Christians have confessed for millennia (not ignorant of history and the insights of those who have come before us)—for the people of God so that they might know Him better. All the theology presented by Teleioteti is aimed at doxology—praising our wonderful, holy, and righteous God.
Soli deo gloria,
James Rutherford
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