1. Introduction to Biblical Interpretation Lecture 15
Maritime Christian College
Scott Jacobsen, Instructor

2. Special Notes on Progressivism and Christianity

3. Problem
As we read the Bible as 21st century Westerners, we come to face two problems. Both of these are problems of apologetics, which is not a key component to this course, but should be discussed briefly.

4. Problem 1
How do we read and interpret supernatural and historical events in the Bible?
Creation
Acts of God
Predictive prophecy
Miracles

5. Problem 2
How do we read and understand the hard passages, especially of the OT, that speak of God’s wrath and the destruction of the nations? In theology, this subject is known as theodicy.
Genocide
Harsh law
Judgement of innocents

6. Problem 1: Supernatural Events in the Bible. Why this is a problem?
The modern mind, conditioned as it is by several centuries of science, does not readily accept the reality, or possibility, of supernatural events.

7. Problem 1: Supernatural Events in the Bible. Why this is a problem?
The assumption of modern science is that supernatural events do not occur. This leads to several assumptions when considering the Bible
What is not scientifically explainable (even in a yet-to-be discovered sense) is not “real”.

8. Problem 1: Supernatural Events in the Bible. Why this is a problem?
Supernatural events recorded in Scripture are not historical, but are human interpretations of natural events.
The Bible is a human book, ascribing to God the religious feelings and aspirations of its human writers.

9. Why is this a problem (continued)
Specific Biblical Implications
There is no special creation.
Humans evolved from lower life forms; Adam and Eve are mythological figures

10. Why is this a problem (continued)
All human institutions are a product of evolution, and therefore the family, the covenant people of the Old Testament, and monotheism is all a product of evolution.
Predictive prophecy is an impossibility, therefore Biblical predictions are the products of later redactors.

11. Scope Modernist and post-modernist
Modernist (older liberal): “This is what the (humanly written) text says, and it says nothing else. Author’s (whomever that may be) intent matters.

12. Scope
Post-modern interpretation: “The reader determines the meaning of the text. The authorial intent is irrelevant.”
(1) textual meaning is determined by the reader; (2) textual meaning is determined by its usefulness to the reader; and (3) textual meaning is determined by its usefulness to the reader in the context of communal consensus
Dane C. Ortlund, “Truthfulness in Usefulness: Stanley Fish and American Literary Pragmatism,” Themelios 33, no. 1 (2008): 30.

13. Scope Both of these positions make anti-supernatural assumptions.
Reflect a prejudice against the possibility of the supernatural (assumed, not proven).
Anti-Scriptural biases.

14. Major influences of modernism and post-modernism
19th and 20th century liberalism
Darwin —Creation without God
Reductionism: Man as animal
Marx —Economics without God
Reductionism: Man as economic being

15. Major influences of modernism and post-modernism
Nietzsche —Death of God, Death of Philosophy
Reductionism: Nihilism
Freud —Soul without God
Reductionism: Man as repressed

16. An oversimplified Contrast
Biblical Authority and Modern Scientific Authority

17. God acts outside of human knowledge and natural processes.
Biblical Authority
Scientific Authority
What may be known truly, is what may be known scientifically: hypothesis, observation, replication
God acts outside of human knowledge and natural processes.

18. The universe came into being by natural causes.
Biblical Authority
Scientific Authority
God created the universe (all that is) ex nihlo, and facts are facts because they are created as God made them. God is not subject to laws of nature, reason, or logic.
The universe came into being by natural causes.
God:
May have started these processes (Deism), but does not act in nature.

19. Does not exist. Only matter, time, and energy exist.
Biblical Authority
Scientific Authority
God created the universe (all that is) ex nihlo, and facts are facts because they are created as God made them. God is not subject to laws of nature, reason, or logic.
God:
Is part of nature (pantheism, panentheism, process theology, open theism).
Does not exist. Only matter, time, and energy exist.

20. May have started these processes (Deism), but does not act in nature.
Biblical Authority
Scientific Authority
God created the universe (all that is) ex nihlo, and facts are facts because they are created as God made them. God is not subject to laws of nature, reason, or logic.
God:
May have started these processes (Deism), but does not act in nature.

21. Does not exist. Only matter, time, and energy exist.
Biblical Authority
Scientific Authority
God created the universe (all that is) ex nihlo, and facts are facts because they are created as God made them. God is not subject to laws of nature, reason, or logic.
God:
Is part of nature (pantheism, panentheism, process theology, open theism).
Does not exist. Only matter, time, and energy exist.

22. All acts of God are His activities as Creator. Implications
Biblical Authority
Scientific Authority
Implications
All acts of God are His activities as Creator.
Implications
If a purported supernatural event cannot be scientifically verified (through experimentation and replication in a laboratory), it is by definition false.

23. Acts of God are only apparent, not real.
Biblical Authority
Scientific Authority
Implications
Miracles and other supernatural events may be impossible, but actually do happen in space and time; i.e., they are historical.
Implications
Acts of God are only apparent, not real.
Records of miracles and other supernatural events are un-historical, written by the imaginations of ancients who were experiencing events beyond their comprehension.

24. Biblical Authority
Scientific Authority
Implications for Authority Supernatural events and miracles validate the message, so that the message is received as authoritative (to be heeded and obeyed).
Implications for Authority Authority for truth and fact rest in the mind of the human community, more precisely, the scientific community.

25. Biblical Authority
Scientific Authority
Implications for Life The best life is determined by the Bible, and this includes both the private individual and the larger society.
Implications for Life Humanity is responsible for deciding the best life, determined by “scientific” disciplines as sociology, psychology, etc.

26. Biblical Authority
Scientific Authority
The Bible The Bible is God’s Word, and therefore His will for all people. It must be interpreted, but is not irrelevant.
The Bible The Bible is a thoroughly human book. It is a record of human feelings about God..

27. Biblical Authority
Scientific Authority
The Bible The Bible is God’s Word, and therefore His will for all people. It must be interpreted, but is not irrelevant.
The Bible It may be inspiring, but it is not a unique Word from God. It must be judged as any book, and may be discarded as humans grow in their scientific knowledge.

28. Vocabulary Review

29. Canon, Canonicity
The original meaning of the term canon can be traced to the ancient Greeks, who used it in a literal sense: a kanon was a rod, ruler, staff, or measuring rod. The Greek word kanon is probably a derivative of the Hebrew kaneh (reed), an Old Testament term meaning measuring rod (Ezek. 40:3; p :16). This literal concept provided the basis for a later extended use of the word kanon, meaning “standard,” “norm.” Even in pre-Christian Greek, the word kanon bore a non-literal meaning, as it does in the New Testament. In 2 Corinthians 10:13–16 it bears the sense of “sphere of action or influence.” Galatians 6:16 comes closest to the final theological significance of the word, as Paul says “Those who will walk by this rule [kanon], peace and mercy be upon them.”
Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible, Rev. and expanded. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1986), 202–204.

30. Chiasm, chiasmus, chiastic
chiasm — A literary structure where parallel elements correspond in an inverted order (i.e., A-B-C-Cʹ-Bʹ-Aʹ).
Based upon the Greek letter, “chi,”or O.
Douglas Mangum, The Lexham Glossary of Theology (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).

31. A Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. (5b)
B Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous; (6,7a)
C Be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. (7b)
D This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, (8a)
D′ But you shall meditate on it day and night, (8b)
C′ So that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. (8c)
B′ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, (9a)
A′ For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. (9b)
(Joshua 1:5b-9)

32. A Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. (5b)
B Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous; (6,7a)
C Be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. (7b)
D This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, (8a)
D′ But you shall meditate on it day and night, (8b)
C′ So that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. (8c)
B′ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, (9a)
A′ For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. (9b)
(Joshua 1:5b-9)

33. chronicles A written history Name of two OT books
Chronicler: name of unknown author of the Books of Chronicles
Chronicles of Gad (1 Chronicles 29:29)
Chronicles of Iddo the Seer (2 Chronicles 9:29;12:15; 13:22)
Chronicles of Jehu (2 Chronicles 20:34; 32:32)

34. discourse
DISCOURSE, DIRECT The quotation of another’s speech. Often performs special functions in addition to quoting speech. The form of the phrase that introduces the quoted speech may signal additional information about the status of the quote in regard to the larger narrative. It is distinct from indirect discourse, where another’s speech is reported but not quoted
Nathan M. White, “Discourse, Direct,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

35. Drama, Theatre Old Testament Ezekiel 4–5 Ezekiel 12 Isaiah 20:1–6
Acts 21:11
Jeremiah 13:1–7
Jeremiah 17:19–27
Jeremiah 17:19
Jeremiah 17:27
Jeremiah 32:1–25
Jeremiah 51:59–64
New Testament Theatrical Images
1 Corinthians 4:9
Acts 19
Hebrews 10:33
1 Corinthians 15:33
2 Peter 1:5
Books Written in Theatrical Style
Job
Mark
Revelation

36. Epistemology
That part of philosophy concerned with the theory of knowledge, its nature, limits and validity.
Francis A. Schaeffer, The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer: A Christian Worldview, vol. 1 (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1982), 200.

37. epistle
Gk. epistolē and Lat. epistula represent a letter of any kind: originally simply a written communication between persons apart, whether personal and private or official. In this sense epistles are a part of the heritage of all literate peoples, and examples are to be found in the OT (2 Sa. 11; 1 Ki. 21; 2 Ki. 5; 10; 20; 2 Ch. 30; 32; Ezr. 4–5; 7; Ne. 2; 6; Est. 1; 3; 8–9; Is. 37; 39; Je. 29) and in the Greek papyri from Egypt.
J. H. Harrop, “Epistle,” ed. D. R. W. Wood et al., New Bible Dictionary (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 330.

38. exegesis
(“drawing out”): the attempt to determine the meaning of a text intended by the author(s) and warranted to be understood by the original audience.
Bruce K. Waltke, James M. Houston, and Erika Moore, The Psalms as Christian Worship: A Historical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010), 576.

39. Exposition/Expository
exposition. n. Biblical interpretation, with an emphasis on contemporary relevance and application.
Matthew S. DeMoss, Pocket Dictionary for the Study of New Testament Greek (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 54.

40. Genealogy
GENEALOGY An account of the ancestry of an individual or group or of the descendants of an individual.
Martin A. Shields, “Genealogy,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

41. General Epistles Aka “Catholic Epistles”:
A number of New Testament letters which, unlike the Pauline letters addressed to individual churches, were written to a wider and more general (Gk. katholikós) readership.
Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), 196.

42. genre
A classification of literary composition characterized by particular elements of form and content.
Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), 410.

43. genre
Psalms: hymn or song of praise (e.g., Pss. 8, 29, 145–150); enthronement psalm (47, 96–99); lament (6, 12–14, 60, 88); wisdom psalm (37, 73). Narrative: chronicle, list, saga, novelette. Wisdom literature: proverb, saying, instruction, disputation.

44. genre Prophetic: oracle, judgment speech.
Gospels: discourse, parable, miracle story, and narrative.
New Testament: epistle, doxology, and apocalypse.
Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), 410.

45. gospel
GOSPEL GENRE Adapted from the Old English “godspel,” means “good news.” Found primarily in the New Testament to describe the message, preaching, or story of Jesus Christ. Indicates the four canonical Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In contemporary scholarship, designates a literary genre.
Zachary G. Smith, “Gospel Genre,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).