Tag: interpretation

Mining the Archives: The Advance of God’s Kingdom

~ Bob Hayton ~ 3 Comments

From time to time, I’ll be mining the archives around here. I’m digging up Bob’s best posts from the past. I’m hoping these reruns will still serve my readers.

Today’s post was originally published January 9, 2006.

I have posted here the power point presentations used in a close pastor friend’s recent 10 week series on “The Advance of the Kingdom”. This is really a fantastic presentation focusing on God’s plan in creation and salvation as expressed in the Biblical covenants. It is really a presentation of Covenant Theology 101. The presentation is well done, and you can get the gist of his messages just from the power point slides.

This presentation really encourages us with the glory of God’s salvation and His progressive revelation of the greatness of the gospel. I encourage you to check this out, and see for yourself how Biblical the essence of Covenant Theology really is.

Here are links to the power point files for each of the 10 parts to the presentation.

the-advance-of-the-kingdom

the-kingdom-and-the-covenant

the-covenant-of-creation

the-coveant-of-adam

the-covenant-of-noah

the-covenant-of-abraham

the-covenant-of-moses

the-covenant-of-david

the-covenant-of-christ

conclusion

(Note: these were originally used in conjunction with the Sunday morning sermon, so there is some review in the individual parts. Also, if you don’t have Microsoft PowerPoint, sometimes you at least have PowerPoint viewer, or you can download Open Office.org’s software which can read .ppt files.)

For more on covenant theology and a redemptive-historical interpretation see my review of O. Palmer Robertson’s The Christ of the Covenants, which stands behind many of the ideas in this power point presentation. Also see my “Redemptive Historical” category.

“CrossTalk: Where Life and Scripture Meet” by Michael Emlet

~ Bob Hayton ~ 9 Comments


Author: Michael R. Emlet
Publisher: New Growth Press
Format: softcover
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 212
ISBN: 9781935273127
Stars: 5 of 5

In today’s world, Biblical illiteracy is becoming widespread. Even in America, one will find people without any knowledge of even the most basic Bible stories. The evangelical church doesn’t fare much better, unfortunately. While the average church-goer is familiar with Bible stories and even Bible trivia, they are often unable to connect the Bible’s message to the real, every-day problems life throws their way. As a result, the Bible stays tucked away on a dusty shelf, while the latest self-help book lies half-read on the nightstand.

Michael Emlet addresses this problem head on in his new book, CrossTalk: Where Life and Scripture Meet. The book explains how to understand and apply the Bible to the problems of life. Along the way it deals with questions of nature and interpretation: What is the Bible all about? How do we interpret the Bible? What are the real nature of life’s many problems? How should we understand these real life situations?

The book opens by explaining the concept of ditches and canyons in relation to the Bible. Some passages have a relatively simple connection to our modern day life. The separation from the original world and context of the Bible to today is comparable to a shallow ditch. Other passages seem, in contrast, like canyons. It is hard to visualize any kind of contemporary application from the endless genealogies of 1 Chronicles or the bloody conquest of Canaan. Functionally, this leaves many Christians with an abridged Bible. Ditch passages resonate with us and, “in practical terms, we end up ministering with an embarrassingly thinner but supposedly more relevant Bible” (pg. 16). Of course, the Bible wasn’t given to us in such an abridged manner. In fact, upon closer examination of several passages, Emlet shows how the ditches are actually wider than they seem, and canyons may not be quite so deep.

The next 2 chapters discuss what the Bible is and what it isn’t. For me, this was the best part of the book. Emlet confronts several popular misconceptions of Scripture. The Bible is not primarily a book of Do’s and Don’ts. It is not a book of timeless principles for the problems of life. The Bible is not primarily a casebook of characters to imitate or avoid. It is not primarily a system of doctrines. In all of this, Emlet emphasizes that for too many, the Bible has become Gospel-deficient! “You could talk about how to discipline your child…, draw encouragement from God’s presence as you start a demanding new job…, emulate David’s courage…, and discuss predestination…, without ever referring to the coming of the kingdom in Jesus Christ or encountering him yourself! Shouldn’t the life, death and resurrection of Christ have some practical connection to disciplining children, God’s presence, living with courage, and the doctrine of predestination?” (pg. 37-38). The Bible is a story — “The Story”. It’s chapters include creation, fall, and redemption. It’s main character is Jesus. It is all about Him!

Emlet draws important implications from this understanding of what the Bible is. We should read it back to front and front to back. Using a bigger Bible, results in a richer ministry. God’s mission is central. Our lives should be lived bidirectionally. Interpretation and application should be a community (church) affair.

The next few chapters address the story aspect of life. The bits and pieces of life, which are so easy to diagnose and correct, actually have a “narrative skeleton” on which they hang. These pieces “add up to a cohesive whole”. “Despite (their) diversity… certain patterns can be discerned. Life histories are going somewhere” (pg. 65-66). In light of the True Story, our lives are a combination of competing stories. Focusing too narrowly on individual aspects of one’s life may ignore the larger picture of what God is doing, and where the real battle is.

We are fallen people. But created in God’s image, and redeemed by Christ, we are simultaneously saints, sufferers and sinners. It is important to provide hope to those we minister to. “Ministry to others is much more than correction or reproof. It is also encouragement…, vision-casting, and hope-building” (pg. 95).

The final chapters of the book apply the approach to two case studies. “Tom” and “Natalie” present challenging life situations and varying degrees of understanding Scripture. Michael Emlet models how to apply Scripture carefully from a variety of texts (both ditches and canyons) to their life stories. This fleshes out the book’s message and offers a practical explanation for how this perspective to the Bible and people works out. Emlet takes pains to emphasize that this isn’t an exact science, nor is ministry only to be performed by people who have everything figured out. You will learn and grow, and the more you do, the better able you will be to connect the Bible to life, and the more impact you will have on people’s lives.

The book covers a lot of ground as it seeks to explain how to approach Scripture and how to approach people. Both skills are needed. “In ministry we are reading two ‘texts’ simultaneously, the story of Scripture and the story of the person we serve…. Reading the person without reading the Bible is a recipe for ministry lacking the life-changing power of the Spirit working through his Word.” (pg. 90)

I appreciated the immense practical value of this book. I can’t think of a more important topic for Christians to study. We need to minister to our own selves and speak the Word into the lives of those around us. Readers will find the book laid out in a helpful way, and very easy to read. Discussion questions after each chapter make the book ideal for group studies.

I can’t recommend this book more highly. The “whole Bible” , redemptive-historical approach to Scripture that is explained is life changing. The pattern for personal application of Scripture for use in ministry to others will multiply that change exponentially. You need to get this book!

Michael R. Emlet, practiced as a family physician for twelve years before becoming a counselor and faculty member at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation. His responsibilities for CCEF include counseling, teaching, directing the CCEF Counseling Internship program, writing, and speaking. He is the author of many counseling articles and the booklets, Asperger Syndrome, Angry Children: Understanding and Helping Your Child Regain Control, Help for the Caregiver: Facing the Challenges with Understanding and Strength, and OCD: Freedom for the Obsessive Compulsive. Dr. Emlet received a M.D. From the University of Pennsylvania and a M.Div. From Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, PA. He resides near Philadelphia with his wife and two children..

Disclaimer: this book was provided by the publisher for review. The reviewer was under no obligation to provide a positive review.

This book is available for purchase at the following sites: Westminster Bookstore, Amazon.com, and direct from New Growth Press.

Christianity Today Interviews John Sailhammer re: His Book The Meaning of the Pentateuch (IVP)

~ Bob Hayton

John Sailhammer’s new book The Meaning of the Pentateuch continues to garner publicity. I was blessed with a copy of this important book (thanks IVP), and will be reviewing it in a few months (it’s 610 pages long!!).

Christianity Today‘s Collin Hansen recently interviewed Prof. Sailhammer about his new book. I’ve included the first question and answer below (HT: Justin Taylor). Be sure to read the whole interview.

How do you explain the meaning of the Pentateuch to evangelicals who revere these foundational books but do not see their relevance?

Experience has taught me that we really have to want to understand the meaning of the Pentateuch before we see its relevance for our lives. I’ve been fortunate to have students who have kept me looking for answers about the meaning and relevance of this book. The old theologians used to speak of “the love for Scripture” as a sign of true faith in Christ. They would say, “We should read the Old Testament as if it were written with the blood of Christ.” For them, the Old Testament and the Pentateuch in particular was a Christian book, a book about Christ. For most evangelical Christians today it is a book about archaeology and ancient history.

Here we have to be careful because, to be sure, the Old Testament is about ancient history. But that is not its meaning. Its meaning is Christ. Saying that also calls for a great deal of caution. In my book, I take the view that the whole of the Pentateuch is about Christ, but that doesn’t mean that Christ is in the whole Pentateuch. Finding Christ in the Pentateuch means learning to see him when he is there rather than trying to see when he is not there. I like to tell my students that we don’t need to spiritualize the Old Testament to find Christ, but we do need to read it with spiritual eyes.

I have a good friend who likes to chide me by saying you don’t need “exegesis” to find Christ in the Old Testament. All we need is some “extra Jesus.” I wrote my book in part to show my friend and others like him that serious scholarship leads one to find Christ in the Old Testament because he is really there. The author of the Pentateuch put him there when he wrote the book. I’ve found that if you show someone that Christ is really there in the Pentateuch and the Old Testament, they will come back to see more””not merely because they have come to revere the Pentateuch as a foundational book, but more importantly because they want to see more of Jesus.

The introduction of the book is available online. I recently posted a quote from his introduction (which will make you really want to read the book!). You can pick up a copy of the book at Amazon.com, or support a Christian bookstore with your purchase: Westminster Bookstore or Monergism Books.

Quotes to Note 12: Sailhamer on Interpretating the OT

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

I have been reading through the introduction to John Sailhamer’s new book The Meaning of the Pentateuch: Revelation, Composition and Interpretation (IVP). The introduction is available for free online (click the sample pages link from Westminster’s Bookstore page or see the book’s page on IVP’s site).

Now that I’ve seen the intro, I know I want this book! And I wanted it before I saw John Piper’s high praise for the book.

This section, I thought was quite good and important for those of us who aim to interpret the Old Testament. Enjoy, then download the whole introduction, or better yet get the book (from Westminster Bookstore or Amazon.com).

The goal of a theological study of the Pentateuch is the biblical author’s intent as realized in the work itself. The (human and divine) authors’ intent is the “verbal meaning” of the book. The author’s intent is what his words say as part of the book.

When talking about the meaning of the words of the Pentateuch, one should be careful to distinguish this from the “things” that the words point to in the real world. The Pentateuch is about real historical events, that is, “things that have happened” (res gesta) in the real world. Words are not the things themselves. Words only point to things and tell us about things.

In speaking about historical events (things), one may easily confuse what an author says about these events with the events themselves. As important as history and archaeology are for understanding the “things” that the Bible points to and talks about, they sometimes get in the way of understanding the “words” of Scripture. The Pentateuch may be compared to a Rembrandt painting of real persons or events. We do not understand a Rembrandt painting by taking a photograph of the “thing” that Rembrandt painted and comparing it with the painting itself. That may help us understand the “thing” that Rembrandt painted, his subject matter, but it will not help us understand the painting itself. To understand Rembrandt’s painting, we must look at it and see its colors, shapes and textures. In the same way, to understand the Pentateuch, one must look at its colors, contours and textures. To understand Rembrandt’s painting, one must study the painting itself. To understand the Pentateuch, one must study the Pentateuch itself (pg. 19-20).

“Joshua (NIV Application Commentary)” by Robert Hubbard Jr.

~ Bob Hayton ~ 3 Comments

Author: Robert L Hubbard Jr.
Publisher: Zondervan
Format: Hardcover
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 652
ISBN: 9780310209348
Stars: 5 of 5

The typical Bible student has choices galore when it comes to commentaries on the Bible: big ones, skinny ones; multi-volume sets and single-volume tomes; commentaries by men now dead for hundreds of years, and those by budding scholars. Some commentaries are geared to specific audiences: laymen, preachers, pastors, scholars, teachers. How is one to know which commentaries are best? Don’t worry! There are whole books devoted to helping you choose the right commentary!

I think a good commentary should discuss the particulars of the Bible text at hand. It will answer the tough questions and will bring relevant historical information to bear. It will unfold the setting of the biblical book and in a sense transport you there. The best commentaries don’t leave you there, however. They bring you back to our world equipped with truth from the text. They aim to apply the Biblical text to the questions of today. This is where the NIV Application Commentaries excel, in my estimation.

Joshua isn’t my first sampling of the NIV Application Commentary. I have the 2nd Corinthians volume on my shelf (my collection of commentaries is a motley crew of mismatched rummage sale finds and a few gifts or purchases sprinkled in). But this is the first volume I’ve examined at length.

Robert Hubbard follows the NIV Application Commentary pattern well as he examines Joshua. The book of Joshua is broken down into fifteen or so passages. Each passage is then approached from three different angles in sections that are standard throughout the book and the commentary series. The “original meaning” section, gives a detailed analysis of the passage much like you would find in a typical critical commentary. Word meaning, syntactical relationships, parallels with other literature and other parts of the Bible are explored, etc. The “bridging contexts” section focuses more on themes that bridge the context of the original passage to today’s concerns. It is in a sense a biblical theology section covering the biblical theological themes as found in the given passage. The “contemporary significance” section focuses in on just a few topics and situates them (often by means of illustrations) in the contemporary context in such a way as to make the text’s true significance and meaning come alive.

Let me offer an example of how the three angles work in Joshua. In chapter 12, the “original meaning” section focuses on the listing of the defeated kings. Then “bridging contexts” hones in on Yahweh’s sovereignty as a theme throughout Scripture. “Contemporary significance” , then applies all of this to Christian’s today by focusing on Christ’s kingship. Hubbard includes a liturgical reading (suitable for church use) on the kingship of Christ that is very much in the spirit of the list of defeated kings in Joshua 12.

Before the book turns to the text of Joshua, a fairly in-depth introduction is provided. There Hubbard sets the stage by bringing up key questions modern readers have of Joshua (why all the killing?) and providing an excellent historical background of the book and major interpretive questions surrounding it (when and how was Joshua written?; does archaeology prove the truth of Joshua’s accounts?). I must admit, however, the commentary would have been better with just a few less prefaces. Before the introduction, one is asked to wade through a “series introduction” and a “general editor’s preface (to Joshua in particular)” , and finally the author gets to provide his preface. But this is just a minor quibble.

Throughout Joshua, Hubbard maintained a good balance of discussing scholarly issues and keeping the discussion open to lay readers. He wasn’t afraid to be tentative in some of his own positions, as when discussing the question of archaeological support for the destruction of Jericho, or in discussing the timing of the Exodus.

Hubbard did an excellent job of tracing themes within Joshua, as in comparing the Gibeonite situation with the Ai debacle. He also pointed out several connections with Joshua and the Pentateuch and other OT books (for instance comparing Ezekiel’s description of the renewed land with Joshua’s depiction of the as-yet-unconquered land). Most importantly, he doesn’t hesitate to bring out connections between Joshua and NT thought. He gives an excellent comparison of Joshua’s commission in chapter 1 and Christ’s great commission to the church. Still, at times he doesn’t find connections that could be made, as in his discussion of the herem problem. There he failed to mention obvious parallels with Saul and the command to wipe out the Amalekites and the Psalms that mention “dashing (the children of Israel’s enemies) against the stones” . These parallels call into question his conclusion on the herem debate.

In discussing the book of Joshua, astute readers will wonder what Hubbard’s take on the land question would be. I found his discussion of it to be in line with my covenantal perspective on the issue. He highlights how 11:23 declares officially that the land promise was fulfilled. He also intriguingly explains how Joshua’s depictions of the land intentionally embellished and expanded the picture to be “huge and fabled” . He later quotes Hagner approvingly “Abraham ‘knew that what God ultimately had in store for his people transcended security and prosperity in a parcel of real estate on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean.'” So Hubbard takes the view that the NT views the land typographically, yet he still holds a future for Israel is to be found in Rom. 11 and a future conversion to Christ.

I can’t recommend this book enough. My estimation of the NIV Application Commentary series was enhanced through my study of this particular installment. I learned a lot about Joshua and appreciated how Hubbard navigates the careful reader through some fairly problematic issues all the while maintaining a deep evangelical commitment to a inerrantist, gospel-prizing approach to Scripture.

Disclaimer: this book was provided by the publisher for review. The reviewer was under no obligation to provide a positive review.

This book is available for purchase at the following sites: Westminster Bookstore, Amazon.com, or direct from Zondervan.