Childs, “Biblical theology is by definition theological reflection on both the Old and New Testament. It assumes that the Christian Bible consists of a theological unity formed by the canonical union of the two testaments” (Childs, Biblical Theology, 55). Geerhardus Vos explains the organic, unfolding nature of the Bible, where revelation is not completed in one exhaustive act, but unfolds in a long series of successive acts. In other words, biblical theology asserts that revelation is an organic process, whereby a line of development is drawn from the OT to the NT, as the former grows into the latter, like a seed grows into a mature tree (Vos, Biblical Theology, 5–18).
6. Wenham, “Canonical,” 348.
7. It is difficult to do better than the following definition: “Grammatical-historical exegesis attempts to uncover the meaning that the text would have had to its original human authors and readers. This involves a consideration of the cultural, social, geographical, linguistic, and historical background to the original situation, the usual significance of the words, phrases, and idioms used, any special circumstances or problems faced by the author or his original hearers, how the passage fits in with what the author says elsewhere, what type or genre of speech/writing this is, the purpose of the book as a whole, how the passage functions literarily in the larger text, and where the original hearers stand in redemptive history” (McCartney and Clayton, Reader, 120).
8. Poythress, “What Does God Say?,” 98.
9. I will address the “of David” superscripts in the Introduction.
10. For a grammatical-historical interpretation of Ps 27, see Fletcher, “Sanctuary,” 97–119.
11. Poythress, “What Does God Say?,” 91.
12. Wilson, Psalms, 487.
13. Augustine contrasts men who seek to do “good” in the “land of the dying” with saints who trust that they will see good in “the land of the living” (Augustine, Expositions 112, §5). Similarly, Jerome’s Letter to Eustochium, written in 404 CE, mentions “the land of the living” when speaking of the eternal destiny of Paula, a devoted Christian convert from Rome, who had recently died (Shaff and Wace, Nicene, §29). On “land of the living” as a reference to the afterlife in Psalms, see Dahood, Psalms, 170.
14. I would encourage the reader to read Ps 27 twice; the first time taking note of the grammatical-historical issues, metaphorical language, parallelism, etc., and then a second time as a witness to Christ’s sufferings and exaltation. This is the kind of interpretive method I will be using throughout this book.
15. McCartney and Clayton, Reader, 26.
16. Schleiermacher, Hermeneutics, 117. Similarly, Alexander Campbell sounds much like Schleiermacher: “The words and sentences of the Bible are to be translated, interpreted, and understood according to the same code of laws and principles of interpretation by which other ancient writings are translated and understood; for, when God spoke to man in his own language, he spoke as one person converses with another—in the fair, stipulated, and well-established meaning of the terms” (Campbell, Christian System, 3).
17. Beale and Carson, Commentary; Beale, Doctrine; Carson and Williamson, It is Written; Fletcher, “Nicodemus,” 111–32; Fletcher, Signs; Gundry, et al., Three Views; Hays and Green, “Use of the Old Testament,” 122–39; Hirsch, Validity; Juel, “Interpreting,” 283–303; Longenecker, Exegesis; McCartney, “New Testament’s Use,” 101–16; Moyise, Evoking; Snodgrass, “Use of the Old Testament,” 209–29.
Abbreviations
ANE Ancient Near East
Aram. Aramaic
BIBD Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary
Eng. English
ESV English Standard Version
Gk. Greek
HB Hebrew Bible
Heb. Hebrew
JPS Jewish Publication Society
Lat. Latin
lit. Literally
LXX Septuagint
MEV Modern English Version
MS(S) Manuscript(s)
MT Masoretic Text
NET New English Translation
NIDB New Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible
NIV New International Version
NLT Lew Living Translation
NT New Testament
OT Old Testament
para. Paragraph
pars. Parallels
pl. Plural
sg. Singular
St. Stanza
trans. translation
Vulg. Vulgate
Introduction
“Reading the OT anew in light of the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection opens both text and reader to new, previously unimagined, possibilities.”—Richard B. Hays
To be frank, I was not taught a healthy view of the OT growing up. I was not taught that the OT was an abiding witness to the gospel, but was a bygone set of rules and regulations and outmoded worship forms. Passages like 2 Tim 3:15–17 were often made to refer to the NT, not the OT:
. . . and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (ESV)
But the OT is what Paul has in mind, and his assumption is that the Scriptures of Israel testify to the salvation of the gospel of Christ. Paul believes that the OT is all that is needed to learn the message of salvation in Jesus Christ, including the righteousness that flows from a relationship with him. Of course, this also applies to the NT today, which states even more explicitly the salvation of Christ. But Timothy lacked the benefit of the completed biblical witness of both testaments in his first-century Jewish context. Nevertheless, what he had in the Jewish Scriptures was enough
