Wyatt Graham

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Theology

Song of Songs 1:5-8: The Bride Sings, the Lover Answers

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One of the most helpful kinds of Biblical commentary are biblical paraphrases. If you read New Living Translation or other similar translations, then you are really reading an interpretive paraphrase of the Bible. The paraphraser makes explicit his or her interpretation of the text. But this is really a commentary. It makes interpretive decisions for you. 

For my devotional study of the Scripture, I will be writing paraphrases of the Bible that accord with my interpretation of the Bible. My goal is to sharpen my understanding of God’s word and help people to understand what the Bible says. Yet I am only providing a paraphrase. Read the Bible for yourself and see if my paraphrase matches the context and meaning of the passage that I translate. 

I continue this series with Song of Songs 1:5-7! [Read more…] about Song of Songs 1:5-8: The Bride Sings, the Lover Answers

Song of Songs 1:1-4: The Greatest of Songs

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One of the most helpful kinds of Biblical commentary are biblical paraphrases. If you read New Living Translation or other similar translations, then you are really reading an interpretive paraphrase of the Bible. The paraphraser makes explicit his or her interpretation of the text. But this is really a commentary. It makes interpretive decisions for you. 

For my devotional study of the Scripture, I will be writing paraphrases of the Bible that accord with my interpretation of the Bible. My goal is to sharpen my understanding of God’s word and help people to understand what the Bible says. Yet I am only providing a paraphrase. Read the Bible for yourself and see if my paraphrase matches the context and meaning of the passage that I translate. 

I continue this series with Song of Songs 1:1-4! [Read more…] about Song of Songs 1:1-4: The Greatest of Songs

Why I Stopped Talking about The Immanent and Economic Trinity

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One of the most common ways of talking of the Trinity is to speak of the immanent Trinity and the economic Trinity. The former refers to how God is in himself apart from his works in history. The immanent Trinity describes the relationship that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have with each other. The latter term refers to how the Trinity works in history. So the Father sends the Son into the world to save the world.

The idea is sound. We can think of God in eternity and of God in history. But I fear using the phrases “immanent Trinity” and “economic Trinity” fails to helpfully describe the Trinity for a number of reasons.

In Fred Sanders’ excellent book (see the review), The Triune God, he details the origin of this distinction (which is very recent!) and some of the problems with these terms. I’d love to recount my summary of his argument here because, to my mind, the way we talk about God is a big deal. We don’t want describe God in ways that are not true; and we want to know God in truth. Because when crisis comes, we need to turn to the true God, not the God that we have wrongly fashioned in our minds.

I propose that we should avoid the language of  the immanent Trinity and Economic Trinity and, instead, use the language of God’s theologia (being) and oikonomia (work in history). The second term, oikonomia, is the word “economic” but it means something a pinch different than what the phrase the economic Trinity conveys. I’ll explain more at the end of the article.

So here are three reasons to ditch the language of the immanent Trinity and Economic Trinity. [Read more…] about Why I Stopped Talking about The Immanent and Economic Trinity

John 1:1-18 – A Paraphrase

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One of the most helpful kinds of Biblical commentary are biblical paraphrases. If you read New Living Translation or other similar translations, then you are really reading an interpretive paraphrase of the Bible. The paraphraser makes explicit his or her interpretation of the text. But this is really a commentary. It makes interpretive decisions for you. 

For my devotional study of the Scripture, I will be writing paraphrases of the Bible that accord with my interpretation of the Bible. My goal is to sharpen my understanding of God’s word and help people to understand what the Bible says. Yet I am only providing a paraphrase. Read the Bible for yourself and see if my paraphrase matches the context and meaning of the passage that I translate. 

I start this series with John’s Gospel. Leave a comment and tell me what you think! 

The Christian Creation Account: A Retelling of Genesis 1

In the beginning was the Word,
and the word was with God.
And God was the Word.
He was in the beginning with God. (vv. 1-2)

Everything came into being
through him, and,
apart from him,
not one thing came into being. (v. 3)

In him
is life,
and this life is
the light of humanity. (v. 4)

And the light shines
in the darkness,
and the darkness
does not overtake the light (v. 5). [Read more…] about John 1:1-18 – A Paraphrase

Song of Songs Article at TGC Canada

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I recently wrote an article for TGC Canada called, “Three Ways We Misread Song of Songs.”

Here is my conclusion: “Let’s not misread the Song of Songs by reading too much sex into it or by being wary of the sexual content that is in it! And let’s also realize that there is more to the book than simply romance. It is a book that gives insight into a great mystery: Christ’s love for his people, the Church.”

Make sure to read the article before you judge my conclusion! I am not engaging in allegorical interpretation.

Hilary of Poitiers on The Gospel in the Psalter

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“One must without any doubt understand the words of psalms to shed light on the preaching on Gospel preaching: no matter who the person was by which the Spirit prophetically spoke, everything must be related to the understanding of the arrival, incarnation, passion, and reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the glory and to the power of our resurrection”