Daniel J. Treier went to be with the Lord on December 22, 2025 after a brief battle with metastatic lung cancer. You can read his obituary here. His memorial service will be at the College Church in Wheaton IL on January 17 at 11:00 am local time. The service will be streamed here.
I met Dan at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary in 1993 when he was about to graduate from Cedarville University. He was out shopping for a seminary, accompanied by his mother. Dan went on to earn his MDiv and ThM in New Testament (directed by Carl Hoch) at GRTS. I remember my last class with Dan in summer school 1995—it was the book of Revelation. I was working out an eclectic progressive dispensational approach to the book on the fly. Dan was my conversation partner while the rest of the students looked on in varying degrees of bewilderment.
Dan earned his PhD at TEDS (directed by Kevin VanHoozer). His dissertation was published in 2006 as Virtue and the Voice of God: Toward Theology as Wisdom. He dedicated his second book, Introducing Theological Interpretation of Scripture (2008), to the faculty of GRTS. The last paragraph of the book (p. 205) speaks of those who work academically with the Bible as pilgrims, not mere spectators:
Theological interpretation of Scripture . . . is an essential practice in the Christian pilgrimage of seeking to know God. It is that pursuit by which we endeavor to know where we are going and to catch a glimpse of what it will be like to arrive at our destination. . . . Because that quest ultimately involves deepening love for God and neighbor, its hermeneutical point of orientation is not simply the church; rather, theological interpretation of Scripture orients the church, in a way that is both profoundly mysterious and very basic, toward seeking God.
Dan wrote or edited several more books, with others in process when he died. In God’s providence, his all-too-brief career exemplified his own quest for wisdom through teaching and writing academic theology for the church in service to the triune God.
There are several tributes to Dan out there in cyberspace, but this one by Carmen Joy Imes (Biola University) stresses Dan’s theological quest for wisdom and his dedication to his students at the Wheaton College Graduate School. Apparently 13 Wheaton PhD grad’s had Dan as their primary advisor, and 6 more were in process when he died.
Dan’s family, church, and students were richly blessed by his faithful life. His GRTS friends in the Dead Theologians Society miss him dearly, but today he is with his Lord Jesus Christ. He knew where he was going, and now he has so much more than a glimpse of what it is like to arrive at his destination.
Dan was 53 when he died, only a month or so after his cancer was first diagnosed. What a shock for his wife Amy and daughter Anna. Pray for them.
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For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.
Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. —1 Corinthians 1:18-30, citing Isaiah 29:14 and Jeremiah 9:23-24, NIV
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Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.
I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. —Colossians 1:24-2:10 NIV
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Heidelberg Catechism (1563, 1978 translation), Question 1:
What is your only comfort in life and in death?
That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death,1 am not my own,2 but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ,3 who with His precious blood4 has fully satisfied for all my sins,5 and redeemed me from all the power of the devil;6 and so preserves me,7 that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head;8 indeed, that all things must work together for my salvation.9 Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life,10 and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him.11
1. Rom 14:7,8.
2. 1 Cor 6:19.
3. 1 Cor 3:23.
4. 1 Pet 1:18,19.
5. 1 John 1:7. 1 John 2:2.
6. 1 John 3:8.
7. John 6:39.
8. Matt 10:29, 30. Luke 21:18.
9. Rom 8:28.
10. 2 Cor 1:21, 22. Eph 1:13,14. Rom 8:16.
11. Rom 8:1.
My deepest condolences to Dr. Dan’s family and friends.