Who is Kirk E. Miller?

Kirk E. Miller (MDiv, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is editor of digital content at Logos where he edits and writes for  Word by Word and hosts What in the Word?. He is a former pastor and church planter with a combined fifteen years of pastoral experience.

Formal Education

• Master of Divinity (M.Div.) from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL (Winter 2015).
• B.A. in Pastoral Studies, minor in Biblical Greek from Maranatha Baptist University, Watertown, WI (Spring 2012).

Select Experience

• Author, speaker, and contributor for various Christian organizations, publications, and websites.
• Editor of Digital Content at Logos Bible Software (April 2024–present). Producing Biblical-theological content for its online platforms.
• Pastor/Elder at CrossWay Community Church, Milwaukee, WI (March 2018–December 2023).
• New Journey (Safe Harbor) program Advocate at the Milwaukee Rescue Mission, Milwaukee, WI (March 2018–October 2018). Teaching, preaching, and counseling men in residency-based recovery program.
• Church-Planting Elder/Pastor at South City Church, Milwaukee, WI (April 2016–March 2018).
• Youth Minister and Pastoral Intern at Lake Drive Baptist Church, Milwaukee, WI (January 2009–March 2016).
• Theological Assistant Reference Librarian at Rolfing Memorial Library at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL (August 2012–December 2015).
• Counselor, speaker, and teacher at Lake Lundgren Bible Camp, Pembine, WI (Summers of 2008–2012).

Theological Interests

My three primary interests are:

• Biblical theology, redemptive history, and their implications for hermeneutics (Biblical interpretation);
• Applied ecclesiology (church practice) and philosophy of ministry;
• And matters of public theology, such as Christian social, cultural, and political engagement.

Some of my other interests include:

• Soteriology (the doctrine of salvation) and the doctrines of grace (Calvinism);
• The relationship between God’s sovereignty and the human will;
• Pauline studies and theology;
• Resurrection and inaugurated eschatology;
• Expository methodology and preaching Christ from all of scripture;
• Liturgical theology and corporate worship practice;
• Ecclesiology (the doctrine of the church) and polity (church government and organization);
• Sacramental theology (a theology of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper);
• Denominational differences;
• Historical theology, especially the Patristics, Reformed, and Baptist traditions;
• The state and condition of contemporary evangelicalism;
• Political theology (thinking theologically about politics, government, and the social order);
• Ethnicity and racial justice;
• The theology and the ethics of non-violence;
• Epistemology and Christian apologetics;
• The relationship between psychology and the Christian worldview;
• Spiritual and pastoral abuse;
• And issues regarding gender and sexuality.

Theological Positions

• I am catholic and orthodox. I ascribe to the universally and historically held Christian beliefs.
• I am Trinitarian. I believe in the one true Christian God who exists co-equally and co-eternally in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• I am Protestant. I am committed to the central tenets of the Reformation, namely, the 5 solas: Scripture alone; by grace alone; through faith alone; in Christ alone; to the glory of God alone.
• I am an evangelical. I identify with the historic and global evangelical movement, one that seeks to recover, maintain, and spread the Biblical Gospel.
• I adhere to verbal, plenary inspiration and inerrancy. I believe that the Bible is the very word of God without error.
• I ascribe to grammatical-historical, redemptive-historical, literarily sensitive method of interpretation. I believe a proper and distinctively Christian reading of scripture attends to the meaning of texts in their original literary, cultural, and historical contexts while also giving due attention to the broader theological movements in scripture to which particular texts contribute.
• I adhere to penal substitution. I believe that, among other things, Jesus died in the place of sinners, bearing God’s wrath in their place.
• I am a Calvinist. I hold to a Reformed understanding of the doctrine of salvation, i.e., that man is incapable of contributing to his salvation and that salvation is by God’s sovereign grace from first to last—planned, accomplished, and applied.
• I am covenantal (non-dispensational). I believe God’s saving purposes expressed throughout the Old Testament, particularly through his dealings with Israel, are fulfilled by Jesus in the Church, the unified community of Jew and Gentile.`
• I hold to realized eschatology and amillennialism. I believe that God’s promised kingdom is alreadyrealized in part now through the reigning Christ, and will be fully realized upon Christ’s return when he comes to raise the dead, judge humanity, and usher in the new creation.
• My political theology is Baptist, upholding religious liberty and separation of church and state (disestablishmentarianism). I have influences from Neo-Calvinism — a tradition that stresses institutional distinctions and specificty (e.g., church and state), yet maintains the universality of God’s rule and redemption over all aspects of his creation — and some Anabaptist-like postures regarding expectations of the church as a counter-cultural, suffering people.
• I am Baptist. I adhere to a congregationally-based, plurality-of-elders led, and deacon-served church government. I also adhere to a historic, Reformed Baptist understanding and practice of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
• I am complementarian. I believe God designed two, distinct, complementary genders and, as such, he’s assigned certain leadership roles and functions in the church and home to men.
• I adhere to a traditional sexual ethic, that marriage is between a man and a woman, and that God’s design for sexuality is faithfulness within marriage and chastity outside it.
• I am a non-charismatic. My understanding of the nature and use of the spiritual gifts, as well as the sufficiency of scripture, are at odds with contemporary charismatic practices.

Confessional Subscription

As a Christian, I subscribe to the following ecumenical creeds:

• The Apostles’ Creed
• The Nicene Creed (381)
• The Chalcedonian Definition (451)
• The Athanasian Creed

And as a confessional Particular Baptist, I offer general subscription to the following historic documents:

• The First London Baptist Confession (1646)
• The Somerset Confession (1656)
• The Second London Baptist Confession (1689)
• The New Hampshire Confession (1833)
• The Canons of Dort (1619)
• An Orthodox Catechism (1680)
• The Baptist Catechism (1693)

In addition, I subscribe to the following contemporary conservative evangelical statements:

• The Lausanne Covenant (1974)
• The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (1978)
• The Danvers Statement (1987)
• The Nashville Statement (2017)

Contact Kirk E. Miller

Contact me for writing or speaking engagements or with questions about this website.