The scarlet thread

In contrast to modern liberals (who might see no unifying theme in Scripture) and in partial contrast to modern conservatives (who tend to organize Scripture around concepts such as the covenant or the dispensations which have governed God's dealings with humanity), the church fathers tended to see the scarlet thread, the unifying theme of Scripture, as Christ. Again, this unifying theme places the emphasis in a rather different place than we do. We today start with ourselves and ask how God relates to us. The church fathers started with God, and especially with Christ, and asked how we participate in Christ. This is why virtually all of patristic thought saw theosis - humanity's becoming somehow a participant in the divine life - as the link between God and humanity.

(p. 115, Don Fairbairn, Life in the Trinity)

The Bible is all about ...

David, Goliath and Jesus

Jesus is the greater David, who defeated the enemies of God, even though he was weak.

Jesus is the greater Goliath, who represented not just one nation opposed to God but the whole world and was brutally killed by the power of God.

David, Goliath and me

In Jesus, though weak, I am more than a conqueror over all that seeks to enslave and kill me.

In Jesus my old self is put to death never to rise again.

In Jesus, the true Israel, I find myself on the sidelines watching my hero kill my greatest fear.

PS our church youth group enjoyed this video the other day.

Progressive revelation in Hebrews

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son

Hebrews begins with one of the clearest statements of progressive revelation in the Bible. But by 1:6 the author is quoting from the Song of Moses where the God who saved Israel out of Egypt is identified with the Son (cf. Jude 1:5).

By 2:2-3 the author is arguing, from the lesser to the greater, that if under the old covenant the punishment was severe how much more careful should we be to enter the rest. But then in 4:2 he says that "good news came to us just as to them", so they already had the good news and were looking forward to just the rest that we are promised.

Lots to think about.

The Bible in a sentence

Colin Gunton had a conversation with John Webster "about whether one can say that there is a single leading idea in scripture" and concluded that if there is then "life" has a claim to it (p.x, Colin Gunton, The Christian Faith).

On the flip-side to this, death could also make a claim. In our recent book discussion of Harry Potter we asked whether the real enemy of the series was Voldemort or Death. I thought it was Death! The prominence of life and death in fiction reflects its pervasive presence in reality, which is just what the Bible deals with.

The Bible certainly sees death as the "last enemy to be destroyed" (1 Cor 15:26), and it is there as a threat and then presence from Genesis 2:17 to Revelation 21:8. A novel begins a story in the midst of countless other stories, and ends when that story is over even though the overlapping stories continue. Similarly, other than a bit of scene setting the Bible starts with the appearance of death, and ends when death's story ends. This is despite the eternity of incredible stories on either end. But not only does it frame the narrative of the Bible it stands at the central turning point when the Son of God died our death to bring us life.

Neither death nor life are static realities, but life is creative and death brings things to an end. Both are rich in meaning if understood Biblicaly as deeply relational, in the first instance toward the Trinity (John 6:63; 17:3) but also the whole of Creation.

The Bible has a two-beat rhythm that is initially of life-to-death, but the increasingly dominant rhythm is of death-to-life.

Therefore, if I had to sum up the Bible in a sentence, as one glittering group of people were asked, I would be tempted by JI Packer's "adoption through propitiation" or James Hamilton's "salvation through judgment", but think I'd plump for life through death.

What do you think?

Christ in all the scriptures

For what still sublimer thing can remain hidden in the Scriptures, now that the seals have been broken, the stone rolled from the door of the sepulcher (Matt. 27:66; 28:2), and the supreme mystery brought to light, namely that Christ the Son of God has been made man, that God is three and one, that Christ has suffered for us and is to reign eternally? Are not these things known and sung even in the highways and byways? Take Christ our of the Scriptures, and what will you find left in them?

(p. 110, Martin Luther, Bondage of the Will)

John Calvin picks up the baton and shows how that works out:

He is Isaac, the beloved Son of the Father who was offered as a sacrifice, but nevertheless did not succumb to the power of death.

He is Jacob the watchful shepherd who has such great care for the sheep which he guards.

He is the good and compassionate brother Joseph, who in his glory was not ashamed to acknowledge his brothers, however lowly their condition.

He is the great sacrificer and bishop Melchizedek, who has offered an eternal sacrifice once for all.

He is the sovereign lawgiver Moses, writing His law on the tables of our hearts by His Spirit.

He is the faithful captain and guide Joshua, to lead us to the Promised Land.

He is the victorious and noble king David, bringing by His hand all rebellious power to subjection.

He is the magnificent and triumphant king Solomon, governing His kingdom in peace and prosperity.

He is the strong and powerful Samson, who by His death has overwhelmed all His enemies.

(p. 69, John Calvin, Preface to Olivetan’s New Testament)

Tim Keller said something similar here.

Fulfilled from both sides

[In the Old Covenant, God] wills to be a father to his people, and desires his people to be his children. 'I will be your Father, and you will be my children. I am holy, therefore be you holy. Walk before me and be perfect.' [cf. Lev 26:12; 2 Sam 7:14; Lev 11:44; Gen 17:1]

[In sending his Son] God fulfils the covenant from the side of God, 'I will be your God, your Father', and fulfils the covenant from the side of man, 'I will be your obedient child'. This is the mighty act of the incarnation which is at once the act of God's humiliation and the act of man's exaltation, for he who in such amazing grace descended to make our lost cause his own, ascended in accomplishment of his task, elevating man into union and communion with the life of God.

(pp. 56-57, TF Torrance, The Incarnation)

What God is doing in the Bible according to Tim Saleska

I made some notes on a MP3 lecture by OT lecturer Tim Saleska entitled "Interpreting Scripture in a Systematics Context". He describes the lecture as a few thoughts on what he sees God doing in the Bible. It is always interesting what people choose to highlight and what to miss out in introductory summaries, and I really liked Tim Saleska's selection.

• You can't escape God - God is the 'problem'. Because the Bible clearly presents God as in control of everything, there is nowhere we can go to avoid him.

• Israel is chosen by God - it is Israel's heart that God is interested in. His relationship with Israel is a love story, husband and wife, father and son. But because Israel is unfaithful she needs to disciplined and put to death so that she can have a new heart that beats for God. So it is Israel who gets the resurrection, and the blessing belongs to Israel
• Who gets to be Israel? God decides. Throughout the OT God is choosing some and not others.
• His choice is Christ. In his Baptism, and throughout his life God shows his choice of Jesus as his people in one person. Christ receives all of God's promises to Israel.
• Christ is God's Word to us - so in Christ he speaks to us of his choice of us, our death and resurrection, which makes us his children with Jesus.

Thoughts on finding Christ in the OT

Over on Dave Bish's blog I've been involved in one the monthly discussions about how Christ is revealed in the OT. So often the two 'sides' seem to go round and round and I have often felt that there was more going on beneath the surface than what shows above the water. But I've never really got what.

You could say that one group just doesn't really believe that God is Trinity, or that the other is denying the newness of the incarnation. However I don't believe that is true of either group of regular commenters all of whom I have great respect for.... Which is not to say that we all don't have a great deal to learn.

However, listening to Mike Reeves on MP3 today suddenly things became a lot clearer. Commenting on reading the OT as all being about Christ he comments:

the key issue is I don't always have to talk about the incarnation, which is what we tend to mean when we say Christ. I don't always have to talk about that. When we say "do I have to go to Christ?" the kind of language we are using is using is "do I have to fast-forward through time to the event of the incarnation when Christ became flesh?" No you don't have to do that. But you have to be talking about the true and living God who is Christ. If you are not talking about him you must be talking about another God [...] That doesn't mean that as you are preaching on Hosea 11 you have to go "oh now lets jump into the New Testament". No you don't have to do that at all. But you must be talking about the same person. I suppose that's the key. So I'm not saying you always have to nip into the New Testament. You don't at all. But you must always be proclaiming Christ. You don't always have to be proclaiming the incarnation of Christ.

(34:43-> of this lecture, the whole series here)

I don't think you would find Graeme Goldsworthy saying that (correct me if I'm wrong). It may be Trinitarian hermeneutics but is it Gospel-centred hermeneutics?

Anyhow, although I am struggling to know where I should be, I think I understand enough to make some wild generalisations:

Group 1 is looking for the person

• This group is concerned about finding the second person of the Trinity. They are looking for God the Son. They tend to be thinking vertically about the relationship of God to humanity. They would stress that you cannot know God except as Trinity.

Group 2 is looking for the gospel-event

• This group is concerned about finding the Messiah. They are looking for the promised perfect human (king/priest etc). They will be thinking horizontally about the story of the bible/world. They would stress that you cannot know God apart from the death and resurrection of Christ.

I don't think I need go to the effort of pointing out the dangers on both sides. Doing one and not the other is clearly disastrous.

Abstracting doctrine

As I read systematics I increasingly find that so much that contemporary biblical studies thinks it is 'discovering' in the bible was actually being batted around by systematic theologians a generation before. I'm not sure whether I should find this disturbing or not.

Anyway, a recent example of this was reading TF Torrance criticising the Reformed Catechisms:

None of them really gives us Christian doctrine in its inseparable relation to the whole history of redemption in Israel, to the whole life of the historical Jesus Christ, and to the Baptism of the Spirit at Pentecost and the founding of the Christian Church. Certain great moments of the Heilsgeshichte are singled out, the creation and fall of man, the giving of the Law, the birth of Jesus, His crucifixion and resurrection and ascension, but Christian doctrine cannot be abstracted from the whole course of God's intervention in Israel, and the whole course of teh life work of Christ, without alteration and misunderstanding.

(p.xx, The School of Faith)

I think I need to hear that again and again. I too often go abstract. I can almost hear Tom Wright in my head sometimes when I read Romans these days. He would agree passionately with Torrance's comment written in 1959!

No hero but Christ

So you are doing an overview of the bible. The covenant with Abraham has to be one of the first events you choose to tick off. Perhaps you will start with Genesis 12:1-9 where he is called to the promised land, to be made a great nation, and to be a blessing to the whole world. Would you then carry on to look at verses 10-20?

Session 4 of The World We All Want does go on to look at those verses, and I am now convinced that you should do. Not only do you see the first partial fulfilment of God's promise that 'I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse', but you see the sin of his people, and the overcoming grace of God. Great stuff!

The real unity of the Bible

I love biblical theology. But I do think it has limitations, and it should not be made an end in itself. There is someone more fundamental than a story.

Mark Seifrid gets it:

It is worth reminding ourselves that just as Scripture has not been given to us as a dogmatic outline, neither has it been given to us as a single, unified story. It is a collection of narratives that not only complement one another but also overlap and stand in tension with one another. There are two accounts of creation in Genesis, two accounts of the Davidic monarchy, and four Gospels. The Psalms tell and retell the story of Israel in ways that are sometimes remarkably different from one another. More significant than the variations in perspective, and often lying behind these variations, are the differing ways in which God encounters his people.

[...]

The narrative is held together, not by a "strong historical continuity" as [Tom] Wright claims, but by the love and power of the Creator alone. That brings us finally, and decisively, to the human encounter with the God who, out of unconditioned love, forgives sin, promises salvation and blessing, and in Jesus Christ has brought his promises to fulfillment. In the gospel, God reveals himself to us beyond all other encounters with him as our loving, forgiving, and saving Creator.

(pp.24-25, "The Narrative of Scripture and Justification by Faith: A Fresh Response to N.T. Wright", Concordia Theological Quarterly, Vol 72:1, January 2008)

Why all Christians need to think about Biblical Theology

How can we read the scriptures like Jesus on the road to Emmaus, Peter at Pentecost, and Paul in Romans, when the word Jesus is so small in a Wordle of the bible (from the ESV blog; what is a Wordle?)?

A start may be made by realising that Jesus is in one way or another also 'Lord', 'God', the Word ('said'), 'Israel', the 'people', and 'king'.

Goldsworthy MP3

• "The Necessity and Viability of Biblical Theology" (SBTS, 18 March 2008)

Subjects begging for a book

... although there probably are already books on them. If so please do tell.

1. A Biblical Theology of Christ the prophet

We've all heard plenty on how Christ fulfils the Levitical (and Melchizedek's) priesthood. We know that Christ was great David's greater son, the King of the Jews, and all things will be put under him. Traditionally though there are three offices of Christ; priest, prophet and king. However, how much do you appreciate how Jesus fulfilled OT prophecy. I often hear some vague Barthian notions about Christ as the Word of God, and the ultimate revelation of God is in his death and resurrection, but what about the rich detail, and real connections with the OT? Specifically I have in mind Elisha's ministry which parallels Jesus' to an amazing degree. It seems to me a howling hole in historical Jesus studies, and Christology. Maybe I'm showing my ignorance, but does anyone know of any resources on this as I can't work it out on my own.

2. A study on the relationship of the signs and wonders of the Apostles and Moses

Beginning with Moses highlights a recent book on Signs and Wonders and a look down the contents is sadly unsurprisingly focused only on the NT and contemporary world. A search of occurrences of the phrase in the bible (e.g. in ESV) shows how the phrase was especially applied to the miracles and plagues that Moses performed in Egypt. It seems crazy to me to undertake a study of the miracles of Jesus and especially the Apostles without giving this serious thought. God’s works through Moses brought salvation a people and judgment to another and so demonstrated who was truly God. I can see many parallels with Jesus, the Apostles, the Jews, the Gentiles and sinners (cf. Leithart). Is there also a link here with Elisha, his miracles amongst the gentiles, and his condemnation of a corrupt nation?

As you can see my thoughts are garbled, I need help! But seriously though, this is not just idle speculation or intellectual games we are playing. All these ponderings are centred on Christ and a muffled desire to know him better, and the wish to have a wider vocabulary with which to praise him. Any suggestions are welcome.