Category: Biblical Studies

Dr. William Combs on the Beginnings of KJV-Onlyism

~ Bob Hayton

Dr. William Combs, of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, recently posted a series of short blog posts on the origins of the KJV-Only movement (the belief that the King James Version of the Bible is the only acceptable English Bible).  I have greatly appreciated Combs’ other articles on the KJV questio, and found this series beneficial as well.

Here are links to his posts if you’re interested, as well as to his longer articles on the subject:

I should also mention, that I do try to maintain a group blog and resource site on the issue myself.  KJVOnlyDebate.com includes links to resources on this issue, and several blog posts (although lately, I haven’t found as much time to keep it continually updated).

“Invitation to Biblical Interpretation” by Andreas J. Kostenberger and Richard D. Patterson

~ Bob Hayton ~ 6 Comments

Book Details:
  • Authors: Andreas J. Köstenberger and Richard D. Patterson
  • Category: Hermeneutics / Theology
  • Publisher: Kregel (2011)
  • Format: hardcover
  • Page Count: 896
  • ISBN#: 9780825430473
  • List Price: $46.99
  • Rating: Must Read

Review:
I have handled my fair share of textbooks over the years. I’ve also used a variety of Bible commentaries, Bible dictionaries, theology resources and biblical study tools. But I have never come across a more comprehensive and accessible resource for handling the Word of God than Invitation to Biblical Interpretation: Exploring the Hermeneutical Triad of History, Literature, and Theology by Andreas J. Köstenberger and Richard D. Patterson. This new 900 page book has truly set a new standard when it comes to Christian academic resources. In its thoroughness and detail, usability and accessibility, scholarship and piety, this work is simply unmatched. And I am not alone in this assessment, the book’s opening 13 pages contain no less than 39 endorsements from a wide range of leading evangelical scholars. And the fact that this is a hermeneutics textbook makes such widespread acclaim all the more surprising.

While the book is designed for the classroom, I read through the book from the standpoint of an educated layman looking for a resource on interpreting Scripture. This book proved to be more than just a resource tool, it is a virtual stand-alone hermeneutics course in and of itself, with a limitless supply of suggested books and articles for additional reading and self-study.

The book unfolds Köstenberger and Patterson’s “hermeneutical triad” as an overarching approach to interpretation. This triad consists of history (archaeology, culture, manners and customs, and other historical matters), literature (canon, genres, linguistics), and theology (biblical theology). But before getting into the heart of the book, the authors reveal their philosophical approach to interpreting Scripture, which I find incredibly helpful:

[W]e don’t start with words; we start with the canon. For example, this is also how we would interpret, say, a play by Shakespeare. We don’t just analyze the words in a given sentence; we first try to learn more about Shakespeare, his background, the time in which he wrote, surveying his major works, and so on, before finally settling on a particular play. Even then we might read a good summary before eventually delving in and starting to read the play. When we encounter a given word with which we are unfamiliar, we would not stop reading, because we are more concerned about following the general flow than identifying individual word meanings. Thus we don’t start with analyzing the details of the biblical text (word study); we start with the whole (canon).

What is more, we also don’t start out pretending the Bible is just like any other book, because we don’t believe it is. Rather, our purpose here is not to study just any form of human communication; our purpose is to study the Bible–the inerrant, inspired Word of God…. Ultimately, this is God’s canon, conveyed in the genres intended by God, and communication of God’s discourses using God’s words (without of course denying human instrumentality , style and authorship). Thus, we don’t introduce the notion of the Bible being “special” at some point later in the interpretive process (as if it were immaterial to the early stages of general hermeneutics) but put it front and center in the organization of the book. (pg. 25-26)

I hold that both of these points are incredibly important. We have to encounter God’s Word from a big picture approach that pays attention to authorial intent, but we also have to recognize the Divine Author behind the text.

After explaining their method, the authors more right into focusing on each element of the triad. A brief overview of the history of hermeneutics is given and then the matters of history, archaeology and the historical context of the times of the Bible are discussed at a fairly high level, but with many particular examples. This is helpfully fleshed out in a “sample exegesis” section which concludes most chapters. The research into how the Canaanites viewed the god Baal (the god of storms) helps us appreciate what is at stake when Elijah announces that Yahweh has suspended all rain (and all storms).

After discussing the role that history plays, the authors then devote the lion’s share of the work to the discussion of literature. The canon, its development and current shape, is explored as to how that should shape our interpretation, and a brief theology of the OT and the NT are sketched. The minor prophets offer an example where both the message of the books themselves need to be understood as well as their particular literary arrangement as “the book of the twelve”. I really appreciated this emphasis on canonical interpretation, which the authors define as: “a faithful effort to hear the way in which God addresses his people in and through the text of Scripture as it testifies to God in Christ” but it is not so much a method as “a practice of theological reading” (pg. 157).

The discussion of Genre covers OT historical narrative, poetry and wisdom literature, prophecy, NT historical narrative, parables, epistles and apocalyptic literature. Some genres are covered more in depth than others, with epistles and prophecy perhaps getting pride of place. The discussions give numerous examples and flesh out the why and how in an extremely clear and careful manner. Wise cautions and helpful insights abound. No real theological biases are detectable except perhaps a bias against full preterism. The authors don’t rush to make judgement calls on how everyone must read prophecy or view Revelation, either. At times I felt they must be historic premil, yet they stressed the symbolic nature of Revelation, as per its genre. The discussions take care to root themselves as much as possible in analysis of the biblical text rather than forcing foreign genre considerations onto textual data. I found the discussion of parables extremely helpful and balanced, not advocating a rigid “one-point” approach to parables yet not aiming for a no-holds-barred allegorical free-for-all, either.

The discussion on analyzing the language of literature was extraordinarily helpful. The authors emphasize looking at how the larger sections of the text relate to one another (discourse analysis) rather than just doing word studies. They give a helpful overview of some technical points of Hebrew and Greek (as well as English) grammar, and even point out occasional problems with the lexical approach of even such classic works as Kittel’s TDNT, and stress the role of context and semantic range in determining meaning. They also include a helpful section covering 12 exegetical fallacies with plenty of examples to illustrate the discussion. They also discuss figurative language and how we can recognize and interpret it.

The book then shows how to put everything together. The third tier of the triad, theology actually begins this process by stressing that we make our theological connections based on the text, which is the essence of biblical theology. After discussing the nature and method of biblical theology, the book closes with an exceedingly helpful chapter that offers a method for preaching through the various genres and applying the message of the text to the lives of people today. This chapter includes a discussion of Bible software tools and commentaries and other resources, but spends the bulk of the time discussing how to preach through all the various genres that were discussed earlier in the book. Cautions, challenges, methods, and sample outlines make this section especially practical and useful in the context of a daily ministry. An appendix is also included that has a short list of the best commentaries to get on each book of the Bible as well as other important resources to have handy.

My biggest critique of the book would be that it doesn’t go on to cover in detail absolutely everything I would want it to! But that is hardly fair, and it would make for a more unmanageable and unwieldy tool. I do have one bit of criticism, however. I would have liked to see the “how to” section at the end, with the example of how to preach through the genres more clearly called out from the sections covering the genre. For example, the section covering Proverbs in the chapter on Wisdom literature doesn’t deal with some of the pastoral concerns such as whether proverbs apply universally to all situations or not. Yet this concern is addressed in the how to section in the last chapter. I think a clearer link would have served those of us who will use the book more as a reference work than a seminary text book. My only additional quibble is that the assignments and bibliography from the previous chapter blend right in with the introductory objectives and outline for the next chapter. The formatting of the book just seems a bit odd in that regard.

Mentioning the bibliographies leads me to one more positive feature of the book. Each chapter has a selected bibliography for additional reading, and then in the footnotes, specific articles or books are called out that will be pertinent to the topic at hand. The footnotes and bibliography are usually helpful and accessible, rather than merely technical and scholarly.

As the book closes, the authors warn their readers against just putting this book on the shelf and ignoring this material. Instead the reader is encouraged that this book can “serve as a point of departure for a lifetime of studying and preaching or teaching the Bible” (pg. 727). I would most heartily concur. This book deserves pride of place on the shelf of anyone studying, preaching or teaching the Bible. Even where one may have a different theological bent or a disagreement with the authors, the book still will prove useful.

Invitation to Biblical Interpretation truly is a must-read, need-to-get book. It is evangelical scholarship at its best, and cannot be ignored. If you are not employing the techniques and practices put forth in this book, you owe it to yourself, at the very least, to read it and justify why you are not. This book can’t do the hard work of faithful exegesis for you, but it can set you in the right direction and prevent you from stumbling at all the wrong places. You really need to get this book!

Author Info:
Andreas J. Köstenberger (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is Senior Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology and Director of PhD Studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.  He is also editor of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society.

Richard D. Patterson (PhD, University of California, Los Angeles) is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Liberty University.

Where to Buy:
  • Westminster Bookstore
  • Christianbook.com
  • Amazon.com
  • Kregel Publications

Disclaimer:
This book was provided by Kregel Publications for review. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.

Gregory Beale on the Temple, Living Water and the Holy Spirit in John’s Gospel

~ Bob Hayton ~ 4 Comments

Yesterday I was reminded again of the connection between the “living water” that is referred to in John 4 and John 7 and the prophesied end-times Temple.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus is the Word who “became flesh and dwelt among us” (1:14).  “Dwelt” is literally “tabernacled” among us.  Jesus is the true Tabernacle.  Then in chapter 2, Jesus’ body is the true Temple (see 2:18-22).

Gregory Beale’s work on tracing out the Temple theme throughout Scripture highlights how John continues to allude to Jesus’ identity as the true Temple by means of the “living water” motif.  I’ll quote from two of Beale’s books here.  I’ve read the first one, and am currently reading through the second one.  After giving the quotes I’ll make a few more comments.  I think you’ll agree that this insight is profound and really quite helpful in seeing the significance of Jesus’ claims in John 4 and John 7.

Temple imagery may also be expressed when Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well that he is the source of “living water” which will “spring up to eternal life” for those drinking from him (John 4:10-14).  Just as water had its source in the first sanctuary in Eden and flowed down and became a life-giving element, likewise Ezekiel, alluding to the Garden of Eden, prophesied that the same thing would be the case with the end-time temple to be built in this new Jerusalem (Ezek. 47:1-12): “Then he brought me back to the door of the house [the holy of holies]; and behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east” (v. 1); “so everything will live where the river goes” (v. 9b; so also v. 12).  Joel 3:18 (“a spring will go out from the house of the LORD”) and Zechariah 14:8 (“living waters will flow out of Jerusalem”) prophesy the same reality.  John’s Apocalypse sees the consummate future fulfillment of Ezekiel’s, Joel’s and Zechariah’s prophecies and restoration of an escalated Eden, in which “a river of the water of life, clear as crystal”, comes “from the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Rev. 22:1), who just a few verses earlier have been identified as the “sanctuary” (Rev. 21:22).

In light of this background and of the discussion so far about Jesus as the new temple in John’s Gospel, Jesus’ offer of “living water” to the Samaritan woman should be viewed as another reference to him being the beginning form of the true temple from which true life in God’s presence proceeds.  John 7:37-39 confirms this connection.  Teaching in the temple on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus says, “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.’  But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive, for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

In verse 38 Jesus alludes to the prophecy of water flowing from the temple in Ezekiel, Joel and Zechariah.  The “innermost being” from which “flow rivers of living water” is Jesus himself as the new “holy of holies” and not the one who believes in Jesus.  This is apparent, first, from recalling that the Old Testament prophecies identify the source of the water to be from the innermost part of the temple (i.e., the holy of holies) where Yahweh’s presence had dwelt in the past and would dwell again in the latter-day temple.  Jesus was that presence on earth.  Secondly, John 7:39 interprets the “living water” to be the Spirit poured out at Pentecost by Jesus himself to all those who would believe in him (see Acts 2:32-38).

[G.K. Beale, The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2004), pg. 196-197]

In his latest book, Beale develops this a bit further and shows how Jesus’ statement about true worship in John 4:21-24 also ties in with his “living water” discussion.

…Jesus is saying that the place for true worship now and in the future is no longer in one location, such as Jerusalem, but rather is extended.  But to where is it extended?  True worship is any place where the end-time Spirit is or where worship in the sphere of that Spirit takes place: the time has come and will continue when true worshipers will worship the Father in the sphere of the promised Spirit and end-time truth that has come in Christ (4:23; so also 4:24).  Thus, to worship “in spirit and truth” is not a reference to “truly sincere” worshipers or worshipers who are “sincere in their spirit about the truth” …but is a reference to the Spirit, who has come in fulfillment of OT promises….  Here God’s presence in Israel’s localized temple is viewed as foreshadowing God’s tabernacling presence in Jesus now and his people later, after his resurrection and the sending of the Spirit….

The notion in John 4:23-24 of the expanding geography of the place of the true temple and of true worship in the inaugurated new age is likely a continuation of the earlier narrative about the “living water” from Zech. 14 and is part of the anticipation of John 7:37-39, and thus its roots are in the idea of the expanding temple and its holiness prophesied in Zech. 14 and Ezek. 47, as well as elsewhere in the OT.  Specifically, God’s special revelatory presnece in the form of the Spirit will no longer be located in the holy of holies of Israel’s temple but instead will break out of its architectural shackeles in the eschaton and spread throughout the earth.  The true temple and true place of worship and true worshipers can be found wherever the extending form of God’s holy of holies presence in the Spirit goes and among whoever is included in its sphere.  Consequently, wherever a true believer is, there also is the Spirit, as John 7:37-39 affirms.

[G.K. Beale, A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2011), pg. 134-135]

Personally, seeing that Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, and we have the indwelling Spirit, I don’t see a problem with seeing the river of life flowing from the innermost being of believers – but ultimately the source is Jesus Christ.  Also, even if you don’t take “worship in the Spirit” as referring to the Holy Spirit, the ideas of the extension of the temple and that wherever true believers are there is true worship, still hold.  Also I should stress that Beale is not saying there is no future and greater fulfillment of these prophecies, but that Jesus’ coming has ushered in this age of the unfolding of the prophecy of all these end-times events.  The end-times Temple is in the process of being built and we believers are “living stones” being built on top of the Living Stone – the true Cornerstone – Jesus Christ (see 2 Pet. 2:4-5, 7).

I hope this adds to the richness of these passages for you.  It certainly does for me.  Seeing how these OT passages stand behind Jesus’ offer of living water and our experience of the Holy Spirit and the special presence of God in Christ — all this leads to greater worship and wonder and praise.  We should aim to keep our bodies holy and our churches (a corporate Temple) holy and we should realize how many spiritual blessings we truly have.

Furthermore, this river of life has trees on either side, according to Ezekiel, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.  These trees do not wither – a direct allusion to Jeremiah 17:7-8 (and also to Psalm 1:2-3).  Our lives are to bring healing to the nations and to withstand the heat of the world and its troubles.  The Spirit cleanses and renews us and allows our lives to be a healing influence on this world as we live out and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

More Info on the Discovery of the 1st Century MSS Fragment of Mark

~ Bob Hayton

Recently, Dr. Dan Wallace made news about the discovery of what is possibly the earliest NT MSS fragment ever found. I gave details on the find here.

Well, Dr. Wallace was recently interviewed by Hugh Hewitt on his radio show about the discovery and gave additional details. We now know the MSS contains part of one papyrus leaf, written on both sides. From the sound of it, it is most of one leaf so several verses but not much more. It was also found in Egypt — all seven of these MSS finds were found there. Dr. Wallace will also be on of the authors of the book that will publish all seven papyri fragments in early 2013.

Wallace continues to consider this a truly monumental manuscript find, as the following snippet from the full interview makes clear:

HH: Wow. Now in terms of, for the lay audience, Professor Daniel Wallace, the significance of this work when it appears, how would you grade it, with an A being a Dead Sea Scroll sort of significance, and you know, flunking, it just doesn’t matter?

DW: I would grade it at least an A, maybe an A+.

HH: And will the rest of the scholarly world agree with you on that assessment, do you think?

DW: I think that when they understand the ramifications of the entire nature of this manuscript that I’m not at liberty to mention, yes. They’re going to understand. At least those that will accept that date. Since the manuscript doesn’t have a date stamp on it, it says it was done this year, there are always going to be dissenters. But to do the work of paleography takes thousands and thousands of hours of research to do one.

I’m not sure the discovery will prove to be the equal of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but I’m cautiously optimistic that it will prove to be very consequential.

I also got an update from Matthew Hamilton who I quoted in my earlier post on this. From his information and that of Wallace from this interview, the following looks to be the list of the 7 manuscripts. Many of these would be the earliest textual witness we have of that Biblical book, if the dates hold true.

  1. 2nd century homily (sermon) on Hebrews 11
  2. 2nd century frg. with I Corinthians 8-10
  3. 2nd century frg. with Matthew
  4. 2nd century frg. with Romans 9-10
  5. 2nd century frg. from Hebrews, one side contains 9:19-22
  6. 2nd century frg. with Luke
  7. 1st century frg. [part of one leaf] with Mark

For more details read the entire transcript of the Hewitt – Wallace interview, and keep an eye on the Evangelical Textual Criticism blog.

Earliest NT Manuscript Discovered???

~ Bob Hayton ~ 1 Comment

Over on my team blog, KJVOnlyDebate.com, my friend Damien Garofalo shared the news of the possible discovery of a 1st Century NT manuscript of the Gospel of Mark. There isn’t much information on this as of yet, but here’s what I know so far.

Dr. Daniel Wallace spilled the beans in a recent debate with Bart Ehrman that there has now been discovered a papyrus fragment of Mark that has been dated to the 1st Century. This would make the manuscript earlier than P52, a manuscript fragment of the Gospel of John dated to A.D. 125. The publication of the new manuscript fragment, and any additional details about its discovery, will not be available until next year, unfortunately. There are indications, however, that the fragment appears to be part of the Green collection, which claims to include “one of the world’s largest holdings of unpublished biblical and classical papyri.” More details on that collection, here.

At Sheffield Biblical Studies blog, I found the following tidbit with more details about the new discoveries.

From what I’ve been able to glean there are now in the Green Collection 7 unpublished NT papyri:

  1. 2nd century frg. with Hebrews 1
  2. 2nd century frg. with I Corinthians 8-10
  3. 2nd century frg. with Matthew
  4. 2nd century frg. with Romans 8-9
  5. 2nd century frg. with part of a Pauline Epistle, from what I know it is from Hebrews
  6. 2nd century frg. with Luke
  7. 1st century frg. with Mark

As for where these manuscripts have been found, there is no official word, but the following tidbit about the director of the Green collection may have the answer:

Carroll also developed a method to extract writings reused in the infrastructure of mummy coverings while preserving the decorative external features. This groundbreaking research has uncovered some of the earliest-known ancient Greek writings.

I was able to learn that the technical term for this is cartonnage (papyrii and other linens and fabric that was molded into funeral masks for Egyptian mummies). So the assumption is that most of these fragments may have been found through Carroll’s innovative method of extracting papyrii from cartonnage. And as Matthew Hamilton mentioned over in the comments at Evangelical Textual Criticism blog, this could have important ramifications for the ability to date the papyrii with precision.

…if other NT papyri in the Green Collection were recovered from cartonnage, then perhaps also the fragment of Mark. Unlike papyri like P52, a papyrus fragment found in cartonnage has at least 2 elements of context:

Firstly the other papyri in the cartonnage may indicate a date range – if they all appear to be 2nd century then a 1st century date for a NT frg. would be odd, and conversely, if they all appear to be 1st century then a 2nd century date for a NT frg. would be odd. But if they come from a wide range then the context is much weaker

Secondly, if the cartonnage is dated by style or other features to the late 1st century then any of the papyri that make up the cartonnage MUST predate the late 1st century.

Unfortunately Daniel Wallace’s information does not make it clear if the fragment of Mark was from cartonnage like the fragment of Romans, or if it was a loose fragment.

We will have to wait for more information on this, but even if these fragments are quite small, they still (if the early dates hold) stand as added testimony to the authenticity of the New Testament.

I should note in passing, that with the size of the fragment, it is almost surely not going to contain profound new insight of lasting text-critical value. The dream-scenario that Paul Maier writes about in The Constantine Codex of a textual discovery that forever settles the question of Mark’s ending, remains fiction, for now.

See my recent update which corrects some of the details speculated on in this post.