Challenges of Theological Interpretation in the Gospels

I recently posted on a quote from Timothy Wiarda on how to find theological themes in the Gospels. Wiarda goes on to address three concerns that some interpreters have about this exercise. (1) “Some fear that the formative power of these narratives will be compromised.” The idea seems to be that there is the potential that the power inherent in the story itself will be tempered by reducing it to a theological principle. (2) Some wonder whether one can properly draw theological principles for the post Easter church from pre-Easter historical descriptions. (3) Some have concerns at a theoretical level, namely that, “Theological concepts, which express universal principles in propositional form, belong to one order of discourse, while the concrete, history-rooted narratives of Scripture belong to another. How would you address these concerns?

Timothy Wiarda's new book Interpreting Gospel Narratives: Scenes, People, and Theology (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2010), 85–6, 88–9.

Talbert on the Jerusalem Decree in Acts 15

Charles Talbert makes some interesting points concerning Luke's view of the Law based on the Jerusalem decree in Acts. Rather than try to summarize his argument, I have included it in toto.

"The Jerusalem decree raises questions about Luke’s view of the law. Two observations focus the issues: (1) no specific appeal is made to the law as the basis for the four prohibitions of 15:20, 29; (2) not all, but only selected portions, of Leviticus 17–18 are used. Why? The larger context within which an answer must be sought is decisive. Multiple groups in middle Judaism were all laying claim to the Scriptures of ancient Israel. Each group read the same Scriptures in a different way. Two examples suffice. (a) Rabbinic Judaism's prioritizing of the covenants was very different from that of Paul. Whereas for the Pharisaic tradition the Mosaic covenant is central and the Abrahamic covenant is understood eschatologically, for Paul the new covenant is central and is appealed to in connection with the covenant with Abraham. The Mosaic covenant is transcended. These two stances would give radically different readings of the same Scriptures. (b) At Qumran, Scripture is understood both as legal prescriptions and as prophetic promise. It is this community's belief that the prophetic promises are being fulfilled in the life of their group. The Pharisaic tradition regarded Scripture primarily legally and as only incidentally prophetic. Prophetic fulfillment is a future hope. Messianists saw the Scriptures primarily as prophetic oracles that were being fulfilled in the salvation history that runs from John the Baptist through Jesus to the church. These differing perspectives would inevitably yield widely disparate readings of the common Scriptures at the same time that all groups would hold to the formal authority of the same Scriptures. The question is how does the author of Acts read them?

"It is clear that Luke reads the Scriptures as prophecies that are being fulfilled in Jesus and his followers. There is a new covenant in place (Luke 22:20; Acts 2). Soteriological benefits flow from the exalted Christ, not from the law (Luke 24:46–47; Acts 5:31; 10:43; 13:38–39). As a result, the repentance demanded of Israel and of Gentiles alike has to do with one's response to Jesus as Messiah (Luke 12:8-9; Acts 3:22-23). The ethnic dimensions of the law are still appropriate (Acts 21:20), though not demanded (Acts 10:28, 48), for ethnic Jews. They, moreover, have no soteriological benefits even for Jews (Acts 15:11). The only ethnic aspects of the law applicable to Gentiles are certain of those designed to facilitate social interchange between ethnic Jews and Gentiles who live among them (Lev 17–18; Acts 15:20, 29). These have no soteriological benefits for the Gentiles who observe them (Acts 15:11). Their observance by Gentile Messianists is not because of the authority of the law. It is rather because these customs are the minimalist concession that communal spirit demands to enable ethnic Jews and Gentiles, all of whom have become believers in Jesus the Messiah, to live together in unity. They are chosen not because they are a direct obligation of the law but because they are what is likely to be a source of controversy between Jewish and Gentile Messianists living together (Blomberg, 53–80; Seifrid, 39–57)."

Charles H. Talbert, Reading Acts: A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, rev. ed. (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 2005), 135.

I am inclined to agree with Talbert. Talbert's point is even stronger for me because I do not see the prohibitions as originating in Leviticus 17-18 (see my article "A Reexamination of the Prohibitions in Acts 15," Bibliotheca Sacra 161 [2004]: 449-68).

Mounce on Biblical Languages as a Spiritual Discipline

See this post on studying biblical languages as a spiritual discipline.

Entrusted With the Gospel

One area in the New Testament corpus that often gets short shrift are the Pastoral Epistles. So I was delighted to receive a copy of Entrusted with the Gospel: Paul’s Theology of the Pastoral Epistles from B&H Academic. I hope to post excerpts from some of the essays in this volume shortly. But for now, here is the publisher’s description

Description of the Book:

After a lengthy period during which scholars paid relatively little attention to the Pastoral Epistles, a spate of studies has suddenly appeared in print. However, except for a small number of commentaries, critical scholars have by and large neglected evangelical scholarship on these letters. To fill in this gap, this volume offers a collection of important essays written by evangelicals on 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. The book aims to inform readers of the history of scholarship on these letters and examine thoroughly Paul’s theology in the Pastoral Epistles.Contributors include several scholars who have done previous advanced work on these letters: I. Howard Marshall (University of Aberdeen, Scotland; Recent Study in the Pastoral Epistles), Andreas Köstenberger (Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary[SEBTS]; Hermeneutical and Exegetical Challenges), Terry L. Wilder (B&H Publishing Group; Authorship), F. Alan Tomlinson (Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary [MBTS]; Purpose/Stewardship), Greg Couser (Cedarville University; Doctrine of God), Daniel L. Akin (SEBTS; Christology), Ray van Neste (Union University; Cohesion and Structure of the PE), B. Paul Wolfe (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Use of Scripture), Ben Merkle (SEBTS; Ecclesiology), George Wieland (Carey Baptist College, New Zealand; Soteriology), Thor Madsen (MBTS; Ethics), and Chiao Ek Ho (East Asia School of Theology, Singapore; Missiology).

The chapters:

1. Andreas Köstenberger – “Hermeneutical and Exegetical Challenges in Interpreting the Pastoral Epistles”
2. Terry Wilder – “Pseudonymity, the New Testament, and the Pastoral Epistles”
3. E. Alan Tomlinson – “The Purpose and Stewardship Theme within the Pastoral Epistles”
4. Ray Van Neste – “Cohesion and Structure in the Pastoral Epistles”
5. Greg Couser – “The Sovereign Savior of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus”
6. Daniel Akin – “The Mystery of Godliness Is Great: Christology in the Pastoral Epistles”
7. George Wieland – “The Function of Salvation in the Letters to Timothy and Titus”
8. Benjamin L. Merkle – “Ecclesiology in the Pastoral Epistles”
9. B. Paul Wolfe – “The Sagacious Use of Scripture”
10. Thor Madsen II – “The Ethics of the Pastoral Epistles”
11. Chiao Ek Ho – “Mission in the Pastoral Epistles”
12. I. Howard Marshall – “The Pastoral Epistles in Recent Study”

Free Audio - E. M. Bounds: Man of Prayer

ChristianAudio.com is offering free audio downloads until May 31 of of E. M. Bounds: Man of Prayer by Lyle Dorsett. Go here and use coupon code MAYPRAY.

Piper on Whether Pastors Should Get Ph.Ds

Barnes on "the Law of Moses" in Acts 21:20

Sometimes in our propensity to only use recent commentaries we can miss helpful insights from older works. I was reminded of this recently as I was working through material Luke’s presentation of the Mosaic Law in the Book of Acts. Albert Barnes (1798–1870) observed the following in his comments on Acts 21:20 regarding the reference to the Law of Moses.

"They still observe the Law of Moses. The reference here is to the law respecting circumcision, sacrifices, distinctions of meats and days, festivals, etc. It may seem remarkable that they should still continue to observe those rites, since it was the manifest design of Christianity to abolish them. But we are to remember: (1) That those rites had been appointed by God, and that they were trained to their observance. (2) That the apostles conformed to them while they remained at Jerusalem, and did not deem it best to set themselves violently against them, Acts 3:1; Luke 24:53. (3) That the question about their observance had never been agitated at Jerusalem. It was only among the Gentile converts that the question had risen, and there it must arise, for if they were to be observed, they must have been imposed upon them by authority. (4) The decision of the council (Acts 15) related only to the Gentile converts. It did not touch the question whether those rites were to be observed by the Jewish converts. (5) It was to be presumed that as the Christian religion became better understood-that as its large, free, and catholic nature became more and more developed, the special institutions of Moses would be laid aside of course, without agitation and without tumult. Had the question been agitated at Jerusalem, it would have excited tenfold opposition to Christianity, and would have rent the Christian church into factions, and greatly retarded the advance of the Christian doctrine. We are to remember also: (6) That, in the arrangement of Divine Providence, the time was drawing near which was to destroy the temple, the city, and the nation, which was to put an end to sacrifices, and effectually to close forever the observance of the Mosaic rites. As this destruction was so near, and as it would be so effectual an an argument against the observance of the Mosaic rites, the Great Head of the church did not suffer the question of their obligation to be needlessly agitated among the disciples at Jerusalem."

Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Acts of the Apostles, Designed for Bible Classes and Sunday School (New York: Harper & Bros, 1869), 290.

An Appraisal of New Testament Studies

Paul Wolfe, one of my former professors, has written a nice article ("Appraising New Testament Studies," Southwestern Journal of Theology 52 [2009], 74–82) summarizing and evaluating some recent trends in New Testament studies. Wolfe focuses on four areas of New Testament interpretation.

A present preoccupation – Anti-imperial interpretation (e.g., R. Horsley)

A new paradigm for old evidence – the New Perspective on Paul (e.g., E. P. Sanders, J. D. G. Dunn, N. T. Wright)

A restatement of old assumptions – a general rather than specific audience for the Gospels (R. Bauckham)

A Rereading of the New Testament – Theological interpretation (e.g., B. Childs, D. Treier, M. Bockmuehl)

Wolfe also offers the following observations concerning the future of these developments.

“It generally takes at least a generation, and often longer, for a new development to get enough traction to affect a broad range of interpreters and then begin showing up in subsequent works. The New Perspective on Paul is already deeply entrenched in one form or another and will likely be a development with significant pedigree. The abandonment of the search for the historical audiences or communities of the Gospels is likely too much to ask of main stream scholarship. Evangelicals and lay readers already approach the Gospels with little concern for such a search, so Bauckham’s thesis is not so much of a development as a sophisticated foundation for an approach already widely in place. Unfortunately it will continue to be ignored by most of main-stream scholarship. It is too early to tell if the current trend of anti-Imperial readings of the NT will have much of a legacy. I doubt so, for such readings are under the spell of the current secular political climate, which the readings themselves may not outlast. Theological reading of the NT is gaining significant traction and looks to be a major development with staying power. It, too, is already widely practiced.”

Finding Theological Themes in Gospel Narratives

"Analyzing a Gospel narrative’s plot and the way it presents characters shows us what a story is primarily about. This in turn points us toward the subject area in which we should expect its principal theological message to lie. A narrative’s theological themes generally correspond to its story themes, as these are revealed through its plot and character portrayal."

Timothy Wiarda, Interpreting Gospel Narratives: Scenes, People, and Theology (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2010), 61.

The Pentateuch and Pipes

I am still slowly making my way through John Sailhamer's The Meaning of the Pentateuch. Here is some food for thought from his fourth chapter entitled "Finding the Big Idea in the Final Composition of the Text" (p. 149).

"I have argues that when speaking of the meaning of the ‘words’ (verba) of the Pentateuch, we should be careful to distinguish between the author’s meaning and the ‘things’ to which his words point, which as such have a meaning of their own. The Pentateuch is about real events, and its words point (literally or figuratively) to things in real life. One must keep in mind that the author’s words are not the things themselves. The words only point to those things. You cannot smoke the word pipe. The thing to which that word points, however, you can smoke.

"To illustrate a similar point, the Belgium artist Rent Magritte painted a realistic picture of a pipe. A caption on the painting reads, ‘This is not a pipe.’ Magritte’s point, of course, was that the pipe was a painting of a pipe and not the pipe itself.

When the Bible describes ‘things’ in the outside world, like pipes, it does so with words. The biblical authors did not draw pictures. They ‘wrote’ pictures using words, much like an artist uses paint and brush strokes. Each word is an author’s brush stroke. The Pentateuch is thus much like a verbal painting of historical events. Its words point to real events, and they tell us about those events. To experience the events, all we need to do is read the Bible. It is the next thing to being there. It is the closest we have to being there. To experience the biblical events as the author intended, one must keep a close eye on the author’s words. We would miss his point if we tried to find out about these events apart from his words.”

The Centrality of Acts 15

“Acts 15 is central to Luke’s story because it addresses the crucial question at the heart of the expansion of the church from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth: Will the Jerusalem church sanction unhindered outreach to the Gentiles? Paul and Barnabas had extended the frontiers of the church from Antioch to Cyprus and the province of Galatia (Acts 13–14). For continued growth, cultural questions had to be faced. Must new converts first become Jews, embracing a foreign lifestyle, and thereby blunt the force of the gospel? Or could converts remain culturally Gentiles, in full and unfettered contact with family and friends? The fate of the expansion of the church and its character lay in the balance as the church debated the question. The passage thus addresses whether the early impetus to the ends of the earth would be fulfilled or whether it would be checked. Luke’s primary purpose is to underscore the fact that the Jerusalem church embraced the Gentile mission, a decision that enabled the church to continue growing to the ends of the earth. In the process Luke prioritizes mission over cultural constraints.”

David K. Strong, “The Jerusalem Council: Some Implications for Contextualization,” in Mission in Acts: Ancient Narratives in Contemporary Context, American Society of Missiology Series 34, ed. Robert L. Gallagher and Paul Hertig (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2004), 197.

Bibliotheca Sacra 31-40

Rob Bradshaw at BiblicalStudies.org.uk continues to scan and post past volumes of Bibliotheca Sacra, the theological journal of Dallas Theological Seminary, online. Volumes 31-40 are now available. See here.

Lessons from Isaiah the Preacher

See this post on lessons from Isaiah the preacher.

Lessons from Isaiah the Preacher

See this post on lessons from Isaiah the preacher.

Mounce on the Biblical Languages in Life and Ministry

See Bill Mounce's post on the biblical languages in life and ministry here.

The Importance of Key Figures at the Jerusalem Council

One reason that I believe that the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 was such a significant event both literarily in Acts and historically in the early church is the presence of key figures, notably Peter and James and Paul and Barnabas. The former pair represents the Jewish mission and the Jerusalem church and the latter pair represents the Gentile mission outside of Jerusalem and Judea. The significance of Peter and James is noted by H. C. Kee who states:

“The author of Acts highlights the importance of the question [whether Gentile converts need to keep the Mosaic Law] by locating the discussion and resultant decrees within the context of the apostolic council in Jerusalem. The authority of the decisions reach by the council is emphasized by the fact that the two pronouncements are uttered by the leader of the original group of disciples, who was also the pioneer on outreach to the Gentiles – that is Peter – and then confirmed and specified by the new leader of the Jerusalem-based apostles – that is James.”

Howard Clark Kee, To Every Nation under Heaven: The Acts of the Apostles, New Testament in Context, ed. Howard Clark Kee and J. Andrew Overman (Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International, 1997), 180.

Journal for the Study of the New Testament 32:4‏

Articles (links are to abstracts):

Going Hungry for a Purpose: On Gos. Thom. 69.2 and a Neglected Parallel in Origen
Stephan Witetschek
Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2010;32 379-393

Seeing God ‘in a riddle’ or ‘face to face’: An Analysis of 1 Corinthians 13.12
Harm W. Hollander
Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2010;32 395-403

Paul and the Law: What he Does not Say
Brian S. Rosner
Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2010;32 405-419

Susannah Heschel’s The Aryan Jesus: A Response
Peter Head
Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2010;32 421-430

Susannah Heschel’s Aryan Grundmann
Robert Morgan
Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2010;32 431-494

The Value of a Theology Degree

According to this Yahoo article, theology degrees are the third worst paying degrees. We come in just ahead of elementary education and social work. Of course Yahoo's article only addresses compensation in this age and not the age to come.

Biblical Archaeology Flash Cards

Stephen Smuts has noted that there are 67 flashcards available from Quizlet on Biblical Archaeology here.

Gospel-Centered Preaching

Trevin Wax has some interesting thoughts on what gospel-centered preaching is and is not.

Academic Papers by John Huehnergard

Those interested in Semitic languages might be interested to know that sixty-seven academic papers authored by John Huehnergard are available here.

HT: Charles Halton

Michael Reeves on Adam and Eve

Michael Reeve has a good post drawn from his book Should Christians Embrace Evolution? on the issue of the historicity of Adam and Eve. Read it here.

Christian Book Buying

Tim Challies has an interesting post detailing a recent survey that he conducted on the book buying inclinations of the readers of his blog. Read it here.

Why Jerusalem for the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15?

"Since the positions taken on these two issues by Judean Messianists run counter to the experience of Paul, Barnabas, and the church at Antioch (11:19–30), the matter needs to be settled in Jerusalem. The assumption is that Jerusalem has the authority to decide the issue. Why Jerusalem? Whereas for ancient Greeks Delphi was the center of the world, for Jews Jerusalem was (Ezek 5:5; 38:12; Jubilees 8:19; 1 Enoch 26:1; Rev 20:8–9; b Sanhedrin 37a). To it Jews came on pilgrimage; to it they sent offerings. From it letters went out to the Diaspora to give guidance (2 Macc 1:1–10a; 1:l0b–2:18). Acts notes the links between Jerusalem and the developing mission (8:14–15; 9:27; 9:32–11:18; 11:22–29; 12:25; 15:4). The Twelve are tied to Jerusalem (8:1). It is, therefore, the center of the true tradition of the Messianists."

Charles H. Talbert, Reading Acts: A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, rev. ed. (Macon, GA: Smith & Helwys, 2005), 129.

Five Questions with Dr. Timothy Wiarda

Dr. Timothy Wiarda graciously agreed to answer five questions about his new book Interpreting Gospel Narratives (see this post). Dr. Wiarda is professor of New Testament Studies at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, California. Prior to that he taught for fifteen years at Singapore Bible College and has also been a tentmaker in Algeria and pastor of a church for international workers in the Arab country of Oman. He holds degrees from Wheaton College (B.A., M.A.) and London School of Theology (Ph.D.).

Question: How did Interpreting Gospel Narratives come about?

I became interested in the way Gospel narratives work while doing doctoral research on Peter in the Gospels, and also through teaching courses on the Gospels. I wanted to put together in an organized way some of what I was seeing in Gospel narratives.

Question: Why did you write Interpreting Gospel Narratives?

I was hoping to help interpreters better understand and appreciate the richness of the Gospel’s narrative material.

Question: What is the main thesis of the book?

The book has several mini-theses. These include that Gospel writers take pains to portray individual characters in meaningful ways, that narrative design and theological purpose work together in Gospel narratives, and that the Holy Spirit bears testimony to Christ in and through the intended messages of the Gospel writers.

Question: Who do you think should read this book?

I have two audiences in mind; first, those who preach and teach the Gospels, but then also scholars who continue to investigate the nature and meaning of the narrative material in the Gospels.

Question: What do you hope to accomplish through this book?

I hope to raise awareness of some neglected or underappreciated aspects of the Gospels.