NIV Expositers Commentary on MT.2:15 quotation of Hos. 11:1

The OT quotation almost certainly comes from Hos 11:1, which refers to Israel’s exodus from Egypt. In what sense can Matthew mean that Jesus’ return to the land of Israel “fulfilled” this text? Four observations clarify the issue.

(1) Jesus is often presented in the NT as the antitype of Israel, or better, the typological recapitulation of Israel. For example, Jesus’ temptation after forty days of fasting recapitulated the forty years’ trial of Israel (see comments on 4:1-11). Pharaoh had to let Israel go because Israel was the Lord’s son (Ex 4:22-23). Thus it is only fitting that Jesus also come out of Egypt as God’s Son, for already by this time he has been presented as the messianic “son of David” and, by the virginal conception, the Son of God (see also 3:17).

(2) The verb “to fulfill” (GK G4444) has broader significance than mere one-to-one prediction (see comments on 5:17). Not only in Matthew but elsewhere in the NT, the history and laws of the OT are perceived to have prophetic significance. Hebrews, for example, argues that the laws regarding the tabernacle and the sacrificial system were from the beginning designed to point toward the only Sacrifice that could really remove sin and toward the only Priest who could serve once and for all as the effective Mediator between God and humankind. “Fulfillment” must be understood against the background of such interlocking themes and their typological connections.

(3) It follows, therefore, that the NT writers do not think they are reading back into the OT things that are not already there germinally. Regarding v. 15, Hos 11 pictures God’s love for Israel. Although God threatens judgment and disaster, yet because he is God and not a man (11:9), he looks to a time when in compassion he will roar like a lion and his children will return to him (11:10-11). In short Hosea himself looks forward to a saving visitation by the Lord. The “son” language is part of this messianic matrix; insofar as that matrix points to Jesus the Messiah and insofar as Israel’s history looks forward to one who sums it up, in that sense Hos 11:1 looks forward to Jesus the Messiah. The NT writers insist that the OT can be rightly interpreted only if the entire revelation is kept in perspective as it is historically unfolded (e.g., Gal 3:6-14).

(4) If this interpretation of Mt 2:15 is correct, it follows that for Matthew Jesus himself is the locus of true Israel. This does not necessarily mean that God has no further purpose for racial Israel; but it does mean that the position of God’s people in the Messianic Age is determined by reference to Jesus, not race.

Thoughts on Historical Criticism and Fundamentalism and Inconsequential theology/ethics from Resident Aliens

From Resident Aliens:

Historical Criticism and Fundamentalism- two sides of the same coin: 

"Tragically, many of us are trying to preach without scripture and to interpret scripture without the church. Fundamentalist biblical interpretation and higher criticism of the Bible are often two sides of the same coin. The fundamentalist interpreter has roots in the Scottish Common Sense school of philosophy (fundamentalism is such a modernist heresy), which asserted that propositions are accessible to any thinking, rational person. Any rational person ought to be able to see the common sense of the assertion that God created the heavens and the earth. A Christian preacher merely has to assert these propositions, which, because they are true, are understandable to anybody with common sense.
This historical-critical method denies the fundamentalist claim. Scripture, higher-criticism asserts, is the result of a long historical process. One must therefore apply sophisticated rules and tools of historical analysis to a given biblical text, because one cannot understand the text without understanding its true context. Presumably, anybody who applies the correct historical tools will be able to understand the text.
Both the fundamentalist and the higher critic assume that it is possible to understand the biblical text without training, without moral transformation, without the confession and forgiveness that come about within the church. Unconsciously, both means of interpretation try to make everyone religious (that is, able to understand and appropriate scripture) without everyone's being a member of the community for which the Bible is scripture. Perhaps the recent enthusiasm for so-called inductive preaching- preaching that attempts to communicate the gospel indirectly, inductively through stories rather than through logical, deductive reasoning- is an attempt to understand scripture without being in the church. Inductive preaching presents the gospel in a way that enables everyone to "make up his or her own mind." But we suspect that scripture wonders if we have a mind worth making up! Minds worth making up are those with critical intelligence, minds trained to judge the true from the false on the basis of something more substantial than their own, personal subjectivism." (pg.163-164)

Theology and Ethics:

"Not that we are much better off in our seminary courses in theology and ethics. There we are introduced to assorted theories of moral rationality and justification. We debate whether or not a deontological or a teleological ethic is to be preferred; or what is the correct understanding of love and justice. Christian ethics and theology are reduced to intellectual dilemmas, schemes of typology rather than an account of how the church practically discusses what it ought to be. The situation is aggravated as contemporary theologians and ethicists write for other theologians and ethicists rather than for those in ministry. Which helps explain why those in ministry read fewer and fewer books on theology and ethics. It also explains why he have the new discipline of "practical theology," which is supposed to translate academic theology into something usable. Theology, to be Christian, is by definition practical. Either it serves the formation of the church or it is trivial and inconsequential. Preachers are the acid test of theology that would be Christian. Alas, too much theology today seems to have as its goal the convincing of preachers that they are too dumb to understand real theology. Before preachers buy into that assumption, we would like preachers to ask themselves if the problem lies with theologies which have become inconsequential."  (Pg.164-165)

Biblicalstudies.org

Found a new resource today. biblicalstudies.org.

It has a listing of major books, articles, commentaries and other stuff that is categorized for each book of the bible as well as bigger categories like OT, NT or biblical theology. Some of them are links to free pdf's. Below is their purpose:

Purpose

To make high quality theological material available throughout the world, thus providing Bible teachers and pastors with the resources they need to spread the Gospel in their countries. This is achieved by:

• Digitising and uploading in co-operation with authors and publishers, rare and out-of-print theology books and articles. Over 20,000 articles are now available for free download here or via the subject menus on the left hand side of the page.
• Providing detailed bibliographies for Seminary level students and ministers.
• Providing a single cross-linked resource made up of five websites collectively known as "Theology on the Web". Click here to read more. You should also be aware of the disclaimer here.

Quote from Noll on "Christian Thinking about the World"

Mark Noll on christians thinking about the world from his book "Scandal of the Evangelical Mind" (pg.130) 

"For Christian thinking about the world, the key question is what happens to a community when it tries to work out a Christian orientation to, say, the conundrums of modern nuclear physics, to the complexities of health care reform, to the meaning of traditional legal principles for a pluralistic society, to the interpretation of classic texts, to efforts at evaluating Communism in the twentieth century, to the issue of how music reinforces or subverts traditional morality, to the debate over which books should be assigned as the literary canon- that is, to the whole range of modern questions in which it is absolutely essential to exercise sensitivity concerning the interpreter's stance over against the data being interpreted, criticism about the way pre-commitments influence conclusion, and critical awareness of the symbiotic connections between methods and results. If that community's habits of mind concerning those things to which the community pays most diligent attention and accords highest authority- that is, to the Bible and Christian theology- are defined by naive and uncritical assumptions about the way to study or think about anything, so will its efforts to promote Christian thinking about the world be marked by naivete and an absence of rigorous criticism."

Dr. Constable' bible study notes (sonic light)

On the resources page is the link to dr. constable's bible study notes; but it's such a good resource that I wanted to throw it out on the normal blog posts as well. I was just using it to look at his notes on the gospel of Luke and as I was flipping through around 300 pg's of notes on Luke I was astounded and just wanted to let more people know about this great resource.

Dr. Constable is a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS), which is known for it's theological bent towards dispensationalism, and I believe this will show in some of his notes on Daniel and Revelation.

Bible Q and A website

I have been reading the book of Job devotionally recently and as I am in the last few chapters now I was curious about how to read and interpret the figure of Elihu. Is elihu to be thrown in the same group as Job's friends or is he to viewed as a mouthpiece of God, a messenger preparing the way of the Lord. Confused by this, after finishing my quiet times I did what most 21st century biblical readers have done in their time....I googled my question. Upon doing so I found this great website: a biblical hermeneutics q and a website.

I didnt get a chance to flip through it in detail, but it helped me think through Elihu (gave reason for both sides) and flipping through some of the pages allowed me to see that there was quite a bit of other good questions and answers, I would recommend that it is worth taking a look.

NT Wright on new book "Paul and the Faithfulness of God"

I have really enjoyed N.T Wright's writings in the past few years, and have even launched myself into his huge "christian origins and the question of God" series. Thus far, I have only read things by Wright concerning Jesus, the gospels and the resurrection. I have yet to read anything he has had to say concerning Paul. I have heard people I respect and listen too say that "his work on Jesus is amazing but his stuff on Paul you should stay away from." I believe the controversy of Wright and Paul is mainly concerning his views of justification, a view that gained popular light in the evangelical world when it went in a back and forth tussle with Piper a few years back. Anyways, because of the controversy I have always stood afar from his thoughts on Paul, but with his new book out I decided I would listen to this lecture about the book and justification. It's worth the listening too!

A history of fundamentalism and evangelicalism

I read this great blog by Justin Taylor today about 10 key events of fundamentalism and evangelicalism in the 21st century. It is enlightening to see the history of the discussions that I still going on today, to see the roots of questions like "inherency and evolution..." and the liberal vs conservative divide that has gone back over the past hundred years (and certainly it could be traced back even before that).
It is well worth the read for all young people like me who have grown up hearing the questions but maybe not fully appreciated the history of the discussion they are involved in.

Luther's Commentary on Galatians

Going through Galatians in SBS today. Found Luther's commentary on Galatians online at several different sources....here is one of the easier ones to access, don't even need to download. Though if you would like it on PDF or kindle version, that is easy to find online as well.


just go to the following link luther on galatians and then click on the book of galatians and it will give you luther's comments chapter by chapter

Bible Study Resource: ISBE online

I just found this website which has the whole ISB encyclopedia online: http://www.internationalstandardbible.com/.
I knew this was used on some other sites, but there is just something nice about having it's own site. I like the ISBE and use it from time to time as a basic Bible encyclopedia, I prefer to read the new "IVP Dictionaries" but those aren't free online right now :)

hopefully this could be a good resource for some people!

Weekly Talk- The Bible in Modern Society

I have not posted a weekly talk for a few weeks, because I was teaching Isaiah in SBS and then playing catchup the week after, but during that time I did listen to This talk on Q Ideas about what is the role the Bible should play in our modern society. It really is a mixed discussion going through several topics. My favorite part about it is probably the people involved in the talk: Tim Keller, Brian Mclaren, Allister Mcgrath and a catholic priest from NY city. It is a diverse group and it's worth the 40 minutes just to see these guys interact, but they also have some good stuff to say about the modern usage of the Bible.

F.F. Bruce on a Holistic Pauline Theology

I am teaching a bible study on Ephesians, and for part of my preparation I am reading through a commentary on Ephesians by F.F. Bruce. It is written for the laymen who is serious about studying the bible, and I really enjoy it's simple and straightforward introduction and explanation of Ephesians. I really enjoyed one paragraph and wanted to quote it in full:

"In many protestant circles it has been customary to look upon the doctrine of justification by faith as the be-all and end-all of Paul's teaching. Justification by faith is certainly fundamental to all of his thinking, and it comes readily to the surface no matter what subject he is dealing with. Even in Ephesians it is uncompromisingly affirmed: 'by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, that no man should glory' (Eph. 2:8). It was inevitable and salutary in the Reformation age that the attention of Christians should be directed afresh to the ground on which men and women are accepted as righteous by God. But it is a pity when Paulinism is identified so exclusively with the emphasis of Galatians and Romans that the corporate and cosmic insights of Colossians and Ephesians are overlooked, or felt to be un-Pauline. True Paulinism has room for both, and our Christian thinking must similarly make room for both if it is not to become lop-sided and defective." (pg.15)

Bruce goes on to explain how Ephesians and Colossians are connected thematically around the "cosmic christ" and the implications of Christ's supremacy on the nature of the Church. I had never quite connected these two books together to see how they pair together theologically, and really enjoyed seeing him weave some strands between the two. And he really does not force these connections or pull them from a hat, but just points out what is there. The connections make most sense when we consider that both were written when Paul was in prison in Rome and that both were carried by Tychicus. After Paul wrestled with the "collosian heresy" and asserted the cosmic, supreme and divine nature of Jesus in the book of Collosians, he further explored and meditated on Christ and his church in the book of Ephesians....and the result of these two books is a strong theological strand that should not be overlooked.

Hermeneutics of the Open Ear

I read a good blog yesterday from a link on the gospel coalitions website (http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2013/09/a-hermeneutics-of-the-open-ear)

I really enjoyed the below quoted lines and I feel like they capture what I want my students in our Bible School to come away with:

"We shouldn’t idealize premodern interpretation of Scripture. We’ve learned a lot about ancient languages, history, and culture over the past few centuries, and that new information has immeasurably deepened our understanding of the Bible. Yet, as more and more theologians have discovered, patristic and medieval commentators knew things that we have forgotten, much to our detriment. 

They knew that biblical hermeneutics was a hermeneutics of the open ear. They trained themselves to be attuned to every inflection of God’s voice, to ponder the slightest twist of phrase, to hear every reverberation and overtone of Scripture’s music. A single verse of the Psalms could lead Augustine through the prophets to the gospels and epistles, with a side tour of the Song of Songs along the way."

Reflections on Genesis

Just got done with teaching Genesis in our SBS here in Taiwan.
After several months of study, reading through about 6 different books and over 100 pages of notes (thanks Mccall for the hook-up!)....here are a few of the major things I personally have taken away from this amazing book, in no particular order....

1. God's desire to bless those who follow him
The noun and verb for "bless" shows up 88 times throughout Genesis. And it is safe to say that one of the things that connects every story, genealogy and section of Genesis is the theme of God sovereignly bringing about his promise to bless a nation that blesses all nations. Embedded into his covenant with Abraham is a desire to restore the "goodness" he saw in creation and in man. What God commanded Adam to do he now promises to do himself through Abraham's nation. Fruitfulness, blessing, abundance, goodness...delight...these are things God longs to restore to this fallen creation. The lesson of Abraham waiting 20 some years to have Isaac is proof that God's blessing often comes in different ways then we imagine...and the lesson of Sodom and Gomorrah gives a balance to God's desire for goodness enter the world, showing that sometimes the means of doing that is judging total corruption.

2. God's Providence
Genesis offers up many stories of God sovereignly intervening in history to bring about his promise. Whether it is through judging the earth but saving noah, saving Abraham's wife from foreign kings, protecting Hagar and Ishmael or bringing about the promise he gave to Jacob in unusual circumstances (through the trickery and deceitfulness of Jacob). The story of Joseph captures God's providential actions perfectly. In one part of Genesis it is very clear that Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery (37:27-28), however when Joseph looks back on this story he makes a crazy statement: "I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivers. So it was not you who sent me here, but God" (45:4-8). Joseph summarizes this in the last chapter of the book and states to his brothers "you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive" (50:20). This amazes me...God is sovereignly working, even through the malicious wills of Joseph's brothers, to bring about a plan that will save many. This summarizes the story of Joseph but it also summarizes all the stories of the Bible. The Bible is the history of God's plan to bring life to many; and he sovereignly does this through both the wicked and the righteous.

A simple example of what the bible teaches about God's providence is found in the Lord's prayer, when Jesus teaches his disciples to pray "Give us our daily bread". Jesus is not ignorant that patterns of nature (rain, seed, harvest..) and plans of man (the farmer, the baker and the person who buys the bread) are involved in the simple action of "getting daily bread"...but the reality is God is behind and over both the patterns of nature and the plans of man. That God sovereignly uses the rain, seed, harvest, farmer, baker and buyer to bring bread. God is providentially involved in the affairs of everyday life! His sovereignty and providence ranges from the redemptive plan to bring life to many and to the daily task of putting bread on the table.

3. God's sovereignty and resolve to bring blessing to the nations should create bold believers
Looking at the above truths from the book of Genesis, God's promises/blessings and God's sovereignty, the natural reaction to me is to want to live boldly for God. If I really believe that the God of all the universe has promised blessing to all the nations and is sovereignly working to bring about a plan that will create life for many...then I should be boldly walking in participation with God to bring about this plan. I want to be a part of God's plan to bring life to many, and if God can uses Joseph's greedy and murderous brothers to accomplish this plan...this surely he is able to use a disciple of Christ! Knowing God's sovereignty does not excuse Man's responsibility, it should ignite us to join our wills to God's will. To give our life, time, money, dreams, family, ministries... to be consumed and wrapped up in God's will and plan to bring life to many.

Another part of Genesis which enforces this challenge to live as bold believers is the creation story of Man. God creates man in his image to be fruitful and to have dominion over the earth. God created man to have influence, a good influence. The truth of the Gospel is not just about "learning to do a few good things"- it is about learning to be human. The image of the invisible God, Jesus, teaches us cracked images how to live as we are meant to live. And now we who are in christ, the new humanity-the new adam-the new creations- should be living as Adam was meant to live...people who are bearing fruit and bringing good to the places they live in. Whether this is through preaching the gospel and seeing salvations of souls and regeneration of life or its through spending time with an old widow and clothing the naked....I really believe we would be missing out on life as it was meant to be live if we did not boldly walk with God in his plan to bring life to many!

Genesis 3:15- Jesus?!

Read this blog article today, on Genesis 3:15, and it just so happened to be the day of my first Genesis lecture. I went through chapter 3 in class today, but i did not feel like bringing up the discussion of is this verse messianic prophecy or not. However this is my personal conclusion that I came to as studying:

" Though this has traditionally and often been looked at as Messianic prophecy. The language is describing to a "plural" seed and not a singular seed- in it’s initial context it describes a constant battle or opposition between the offspring of Eve and the offspring of the Serpent. This is played out in the contrast between cain and able, cain and seth, noah and wicked generation. The theme of offspring and chosen and promised offspring is constant throughout the whole book. It is very clear that Jesus does come and offer relief to this long spread tension of the two offsprings, however to say that this is what Moses was predicting is a stretch "

In conclusion, I think it would be better to refer to Gen.3:15 not as prophecy but as the beginning of an Old Testament theme that is resolved and fulfilled in Christ. 

An Evening of Eschatology

We have been going through revelation this week in our bible school, and I have enjoyed refreshing myself in this extremely confusing as well as encouraging book! As we went through the final chapters of the book today and talked about the millennium and the major views on the millennium I was reminded of a clip I watched a while back on John Piper's website entitled "An Evening of Eschatalogy". John Piper acts as the moderator and talks with prominent pastors who all hold differing views of the end times. It is a great example of respectful dialogue among different opinions, and it is a great resource to help one think through this whole topic. (warning: it is two hours long, but even Piper's writeup on the different views is worth the read)

Jesus through the Lens of Revelation

Jesus through the Lens of Revelation:

The very first sentence of revelation is "The revelation of Jesus Christ". I don't know exactly if this is referring to the revelation of Christ himself...or the revelation Christ gives John...but either way it is a great way to open a book which really has the boldest and most dramatic "revelations or unveiling" of what our resurrected LORD looks like. I was comforted reading through some of these and hope you will be too...they are not all extensive...just the ones from the first 5 chapters (so you could keep going on and looking for yourself). It reminded me of Rom. 15:21: "Those who have been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand". I pray that me, my friends and all the nations will come to see and understand Jesus more and more as he is pictured in the revelation given to John! 

“Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings on earth...him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to God and Father” (1:5-7)

“One like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. HIs eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.” (1:13-16)

“I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” (1:17-18)

“him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lamp stands” (2:1)

“the first and the last, who died and came to life” (2:8)

“him who has the sharp two-edged sword” (2:12)

“the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze” (2:18)

“him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars” (3:1)

“the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens” (3:7)

“the Amen, the faithful and true witness the beginning of God’s creation” (3:14)

“the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” (5:5)

“the lamb who was slain” (5:12)

Thoughts on 1 John 1:1-4 and a lengthy quote from T.F. Torrance on the Incarnation

Grounded in Christ

In lecture today we were reading 1 John and I read the intro (1:1-4) in a way I never had before. I realized that it is one continual long flowing sentence that carries on four different declarations of “who or what” Christ is. The grammatical things that point out the continual and “declaratory” nature of this intro are: the continues use of “which”-it’s used 6 times and in the gk. it is the very first word that shows up on the text of 1 John; the verb of “proclaim” in vs.3 and 4 and the fact that a period does not show up until the end of verse 3! What these boring grammatical details show us is that John begins his epistle with a long continuos proclamation of “who or what Jesus is”. These points are underlined or highlighted in the verses below:

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.” 

In summary, John Begins his epistle with proclaiming that Jesus is:

1. From the beginning
2. What John Heard
3. What John Saw
4. What John looked upon and touched, the word of life; 
5. The manifest life which was made manifest to us
6. What John has seen and heard.

This is what John was proclaiming-that the eternal word of life existing from the beginning was manifested in a way people could see, touch and hear. The eternal infinite entered time and space, the metaphysical entered the physical, God came to man. This whole topic has been summed up in the important theological term: INCARNATION. And all study of incarnational theology should find 1 John 1:1-4 an extremely relevant text. 

An important theologian of the 19th century who is known for his “incarnational” thinking is T.F. Torrance he expounds in a beautiful way about this teaching of incarnation in his book "Space Time and Incarnation", a lengthy and thought-provoking passage of that book is quoted in full below:

“If God is merely impassible He has not made room for Himself in our agonied existence, and if He is merely immutable He has neither place nor time for frail evanescent creatures in His unchanging existence.  But the God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ as sharing our lot is the God who is really free to make Himself poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich, the God invariant in love but not impassible, constant in faithfulness but not immutable. 

This relation established between God and man in Jesus Christ constitutes Him as the place in all space and time where God meets with man in the actualities of his human existence, and man meets with God and knows Him in His own divine Being. That is the place where the vertical and horizontal dimensionalities intersect, the place where human being is opened out to a transcendent ground in God and where the infinite Being of God penetrates into our existence and creates room for Himself within the horizontal dimensions of finite being in space and time. It is penetration of the horizontal [creation] by the vertical [Incarnation] that gives man his true place, for it relates his place in space and time to its ultimate ontological ground so that it is not submerged in the endless relativities of what is merely horizontal.

Without this vertical relation to God man has no authentic place on earth, no meaning and no purpose, but with this vertical relation to God his place is given meaning and purpose. For that reason it is defined and established as place on earth without being shut in on itself solely within its horizontal dimensionality.  Unless the eternal breaks into the temporal and the boundless being of God breaks into the spatial existence of man and takes up dwelling within it, the vertical dimension vanishes out of man's life and becomes quite strange to him -- and man loses his place under the sun.”

T.F. Torrance

Space, Time, and Incarnation, p. 75-6