Hermeneutics

Three Steps to Help You Read And Understand the Bible

April 2, 2018 by wagraham 4 Comments

Most of us read the Bible like this: a few times a week, we pick up the Bible and find a verse or three and read it. Then we put the Bible down, and we are done. At other times, we only read the Bible on Sunday morning when it appears on the projector screen behind the pastor.

But if our Bible reading looks like reading short snippets of passages or only reading during a Sunday sermon, then we are missing out on a key way that we can grow in our faith and come to know God. So here are three steps to help you read and understand the Bible. [Read more…] about Three Steps to Help You Read And Understand the Bible

Allegory and Allegorical Interpretation

January 1, 2018 by wagraham 2 Comments

Allegorical interpretations of the Bible have been rightly downplayed since the Reformation. The idea that all of Scripture says one thing but that you can derive a deeper spiritual meaning may come from a place of piety. But often times allegorical interpretation clouds the meaning of the Bible. And it’s unnecessary to understand spiritual truth because the historical meaning of the Bible is spiritual.

But, while we rightly downplay allegorical interpretation, let’s not shy away from reading passages in the Bible which are allegorical.

There is a difference between an allegorical interpretation (the way you read the Bible) and the genre of allegory. [Read more…] about Allegory and Allegorical Interpretation

How Old Is the World?

February 10, 2017 by wagraham 3 Comments

In the mid to late twentieth century, Christians sought to establish the young earth creationist (YEC) view against what they perceived as an unbiblical intrusion of modern science. Evangelical Christians galvanized many around YEC, but in recent times YEC’s influence has begun to wane: “For some time now,” Tim Challies wrote, “the weight of conviction within the Evangelical world has swung toward views that demand an old earth.”

The Age of the Earth in Academics

The doctrine of YEC has today become a third-tier doctrine while 50 years it might been a second or maybe even a first-tier doctrine for certain groups. Evidence of this is the recent debate at Trinity International University. The title of the event was Genesis and the Age of the Earth and Drs. Albert Mohler (YEC) and John Collins (Old Age Creationist / OEC) discussed the issue.

Mohler opened his talk by clarifying how the age of the earth is not a central issue to the faith (watch the talk here). He objected to the term “debate” in that setting because he felt the issue did not merit winning an argument at all costs. Mohler was simply discussing an important issue among friends. There seems to be widespread agreement that the age of the earth is tertiary or non-central point of doctrine among Christians. The impulse to press the doctrine of YEC in the 1950s-1980s has become gentle hum, with Answers in Genesis being an exception to the rule.

Review: Paul and Gender by Cynthia Westfall

February 9, 2017 by wagraham 1 Comment

Westfall, Cynthia. Paul and Gender: Reclaiming the Apostle’s Vision for Men and Women in Christ. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2016. Pp. xix +347. ISBN 9780801097942. $32.99 USD [Softcover]. Source for Book Cover.

Cynthia Westfall’s work Paul and Gender will likely become the standard evangelical work on Paul’s understanding of gender in the Bible. Westfall thoroughly exegetes the key biblical texts and avoids writing a book merely on women’s issues or on controversial biblical passages on women in the church.

Pastors and biblical students should read Paul and Gender to understand the contemporary discussion on the topic. Complementarian readers should especially invest time in reading Westfall because she presents a well-argued and biblical rationale for an egalitarian reading of Paul. Westfall’s monograph is not without its negatives, and Westfall’s arguments for an egalitarian Paul run into numerous problems. [Read more…] about Review: Paul and Gender by Cynthia Westfall

The Twofold Intent of Messianic Psalms

February 7, 2017 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Roland De Vaux, the former director of École Biblique, speaks about the double-intent of messianic psalms. De Vaux, a thorough-going historical researcher, argues that the messianic psalms speak of every king in the Davidic line and ultimately to the ideal king who was to come:

“It has been maintained that Ps 2, 72, and 110 were at first royal psalms, and were modified after the Exile in a Messianic sense; but it is very hard to say what the revisions were. It is more reasonable to suppose that these psalms, like Nathan’s prophecy and other texts referring to royal Messianism, had a twofold meaning from the moment of their composition: every king of the Davidic line is a figure and a shadow of the ideal king of the future. In fact, none of these kings attained this ideal, but at the moment of enthronement, at each renewal of the Davidic covenant, the same hope was expressed in the belief that one day it would be fulfilled. All these texts, then, are Messianic, for they contain a prophecy and a hope of salvation, which an individual chosen by God will bring to fulfilment” (De Vaux, 1961: 110)

Intertextuality And Its Problems

January 5, 2017 by wagraham 1 Comment

Intertextuality has become something of a buzz word in Christian academic literature. But the term probably will or perhaps has begun to influence church leaders through commentaries and through the popular(ish) writings of Richard Hays.

As many in Biblical Studies describe it, an intertextual connection refers to how a later biblical text cites an earlier biblical text. For Example, Hebrews 1:5 cites Psalm 2:7: “You are my Son, / today I have begotten you.” Hebrews 1:5’s citation is an intertext because Hebrews 1:5 cites the Old Testament (Psalm 2:7), which was written before Hebrews. The way that I have explained intertextuality here relies on the notion that a later author has intentionally cited an earlier author for a specific purpose.

The problem is that intertextuality means something entirely different than how Biblical Studies uses it. The problem is not merely an issue of misusing of the term intertextuality. The misuse inserts a serious confusion into the practice of understanding how later biblical passages cite earlier biblical passages. Consider the following four problems. [Read more…] about Intertextuality And Its Problems