It is a common feature of discussions with some fellow believers to hear them say that the New Testament interprets the Old. This maxim, which is almost a cliché in some circles, is seldom explained. It is usually taken for granted. “Surely,” we are told, “you understand how the NT throws light on passages in the OT?” “Surely you see how NT authors point to fulfillments of OT promises?” Naturally, we are not commending a program of hermeneutics which totally …
Category: Articles
Disingenuousness and the Problem of the Obvious Disingenuousness and “Expansion” Language A Disingenuous God? (1) A Disingenuous God? (2) I said at the end of the last post that we would be thinking about what God thinks of those who enter into covenants and fail to perform the words of those covenants. But I find am going to put that subject off until next time, until I am satisfied that I have driven home my point about the disingenuous god …
Previous Posts: Here, Here, and Here. I’ve mentioned analogies in this series, so let me give one of my own. Suppose someone made you a promise concerning something of great importance to you. This person then went a step further and, to show his intent to make good his promise, entered in to some solemn ritual involving a self-maledictory oath. You could surely trust the promise right? But wait. Suppose you knew that this same individual had made many promises …
More On Plain-Speaking We are looking into the matter of plain-speaking. In theological discourse one strives for precision and tries to avoid ambiguity. However, the language of “expansion” found often on the lips of supercessionists – those who will insist that the OT prophets mean something OTHER than what their actual words convey – is, I believe, calculated to be ambiguous. The theology of replacement (i.e. one designated subject is replaced by another), ethnic Israel is now the church; the …
A Plea For Plain-Speaking I am considering this matter of plain speaking in theological discourse, and have noted my dislike of those views which put something in a such way that it is easy to mistake the intentions. We are used to being given the run-around by the Cults – for they deal in duplicity – but evangelical brothers and sisters can do this sort of thing too. I only wish to issue a plea for plain-speaking. Any “liberal” scholar …
Here are some more older posts which you may have missed (you may well have wanted to miss them, but I’ll put them up here regardless!). Evangelicalism in England (Pt.1) Evangelicalism in England (Pt.2) Evangelicalism in England (Pt.3) A Very Brief History of Covenant Theology (1) A Very Brief History of Covenant Theology (2) The Eschatology of Covenant Theology Review of Triumph of the Lamb by Dennis Johnson Review of Biblical Interpretation Then and Now by David Dockery …
1. One of the things I tell my students at TELOS Institute is that “God means what He says, and so should we!” I mean that we should never give in to the temptation to paper over problems in our theology, still less to pretend certain “problem texts” aren’t there and then talk as if they weren’t there! We must go to work on the texts, not shut them out by spinning theological yarns. We don’t want to be disingenuous with …
The Parameters of Meaning: Introduction The Parameters of Meaning: Rule 1 The Parameters of Meaning: Rule 2 Parameters of Meaning – Rule 3: Avoid importing foreign hermeneutical grids which dictate beforehand how one is going to interpret a passage. This distorts exegesis. This criterion is straightforward. Do not come to the text of Scripture with your mind already made up with a theology which every text must be fitted to. Again, we all tend to do this, so we must …
While in this article I talk about “induction,” “deduction,” and “abduction,” please understand that I use these terms quite carefully. Although not common in the literature, these terms may help the reader of Scripture become more aware of how he is reading and interpreting the text – at least at a basic (though important) level. I should say that these twelve “rules” are designed to identify meanings which can be confidently seen in the wording of the biblical text, …
This is the second in a series of articles on what I call ‘the parameters of meaning.’ The first post, which is a rundown of the Twelve “Rules”, is here. Basically, what I have in mind is that texts can only suffer certain interpretations as viable. As an example of this; If a person says to me that they are a postmillennialist, I am obliged not to interpret them as meaning that they hold that Christ will return and then …
