th - The 67 th -Book Book- -Of Of- -The The- -Bible Bible - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The 67 The 67th

th-

• Book

Book-

• Of

Of-

• The

The-

• Bible

Bible Syndrome Syndrome

An examination of a hermeneutical- exegetical plague that has become all too prevalent among New Testament Christians

Definition Definition

By the 67th-book-of-the-Bible syndrome, I mean anything that is elevated to equal status with the 66 books (i.e., the canon) of the Bible. By calling it a “syndrome,” I mean “a set of concurrent things that…form an identifiable pattern.” As it relates to the task before us, I believe that by the time everything is said and…

Definition Definition

done this week, enough evidence will be presented to demonstrate that the “New Perspective on Paul” (hereafter NPP) is nothing more than just another 67th-book-

• f-the-Bible syndrome. But before dealing

specifically with NPP, I want to look at several other 67th-book-of-the-Bible syndromes, as I believe this will help us…

Definition Definition

better focus on the task at hand. My intention in this presentation is to demonstrate how philosophical and theological interpretations can be added to the Bible as if they were a 67th book—a 67th book that is then used as an exegetical grid through which the other 66 books are interpreted.

The Foreknowledge The Foreknowledge-

• Freewill

Freewill Issue Issue

“Exhibit A” is the book on the left. In it, its author, a Seventh-Day Adventist, set forth the idea that God’s knowledge is “constantly increasing.” God, he contended, does not have actual foreknowledge of the future, contingent, freewill choices of men and…

The Foreknowledge The Foreknowledge-

• Freewill

Freewill Issue Issue

• women. Thus, God’s

prophetic utterances were nothing more than predictions based upon His perfect knowledge of the past and infinite knowledge

• f the present, or His
• mnipotence, which He

then uses to make things happen, or a combination…

The Foreknowledge The Foreknowledge-

• Freewill

Freewill Issue Issue

• f all three of these. It was

this book that was being recommended by a contingent of preachers back in the mid-1980s as the definitive answer to the questions associated with the alleged “incompatibility

• f God’s foreknowledge

and man’s freewill.”

Open Theism Open Theism

Back in 1979, Rice’s book was first published under the title The Openness of God: The Relationship of Divine Foreknowledge and Human Free Will. Except for the first chapter, which dealt with what Rice called “The Conventional View of God” (read “classical theism”), every chapter had either “The Open…

Open Theism Open Theism

View” or the “Openness of God” in its title. It should not come as a surprise, then, that Rice is given credit for founding what is today called “Open Theism.” It was Rice’s little book (it contains only 106 pages) that was being recommended and passed around by a coterie of preachers back in the 1980s. This led ultimately to…

Open Theism Open Theism

the Green-Turner Debate that took place in Gospel Anchor magazine from November 1989 to February 1990 under the heading, “A Discussion On The Foreknowledge Of God.” It carried a sub-heading, which was the very proposition that Green affirmed— namely, “The omniscience of God, partic- ularly His foreknowledge, does not…

Open Theism Open Theism

include the contingent free will choices of human beings.” After defining his terms in his first affirmative, Green wasted no time in making his point: “My contention is that where there is absolute foreknowledge of future choices and actions, those who perform said choices and actions are not truly free.”

The Green The Green-

• Turner Debate

Turner Debate

It was my contention during the debate that although God’s foreknowledge is chrono- logically prior to one’s action, one’s action is logically prior to God’s foreknowledge. What this means is that the future, contin- gent, freewill choices of men and women are not settled, determined, or caused by God’s foreknowledge. Instead, God’s…

The Green The Green-

• Turner Debate

Turner Debate

foreknowledge is settled, determined, or caused by the reality of the future actions and events themselves. God, in eternity, seeing/knowing them “ahead of time” does not mean these events will happen because He sees them. Rather, they are going to happen because of the genuine free moral agency of those involved. Thus, God…

The Green The Green-

• Turner Debate

Turner Debate

“seeing” the choices before they happen does not make them happen in any causative sense. But even when all this was pointed out to bro. Green, he continued to ignore it throughout the debate, claiming: “I maintain that the premise: ‘Where there is absolute foreknowledge of future choices and…

The Green The Green-

• Turner Debate

Turner Debate

actions, those who perform said choices and actions are not truly free,’ is a valid and axiomatic statement. Whatever God abso- lutely knows will take place has already been determined. To affirm that God knows the future in all its details is to affirm that there is a future already there to be known. If God knows the future as definitely as…

The Green The Green-

• Turner Debate

Turner Debate

He knows the past, then the future is just as definite as the past.” Not only did Green continue to believe his reasoning was valid, but he continued to insist it was axiomatic as well. To this day, he still does not recognize the fallacy of his

• argument. Presently, he advocates the

“dynamic omniscience” of John E. Sanders,

The Green The Green-

• Turner Debate

Turner Debate

the latest darling of open theism. In Sanders’ highly acclaimed 2007 book, The God Who Risks: A Theology Of Divine Providence, he, along with Rice before him, and even the venerable T.W. Brents of the “Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement,” embrace a temporal God whose magnificent scheme of redemption might have failed,…

The Green The Green-

• Turner Debate

Turner Debate

and if it had, it would be because Jesus had failed to do His Father’s will. This would have entailed Jesus sinning. According to this view, the Father, in sending Jesus to do His bidding, did not know whether He would succeed or not (i.e., the whole plan of salvation was genuinely “at risk”), which is precisely the position advocated by…

The Green The Green-

• Turner Debate

Turner Debate

Green et al. that had brought about the Green-Turner Debate in the first place. It is clear, then, that the philosophical/ theological argument that claims the foreknowledge of God and freewill of man are incompatible (whether one opts for God’s foreknowledge at the expense of man’s freewill, or man’s freewill at the…

The Green The Green-

• Turner Debate

Turner Debate

expense of God’s foreknowledge) is thought by some to be a valid interpretive grid by which they may then interpret any and all Scriptures, particularly those passages which speak of, or in any way relate to, God’s foreknowledge and man’s freewill. It is just this sort of thing I am calling the “67th-book-of-the-Bible syndrome.”

The Humanity The Humanity-

• Deity Of Jesus

Deity Of Jesus Issue Issue

In the 1990s, there arose a brouhaha over the humanity-deity of Jesus. Evidence of this appeared in 1989-90 in the sermons and writings of John C. Welch, a well-known gospel preacher and editor of Faith and Facts magazine. It was his assertion that Jesus of Nazareth was, while on earth, “just a man,” “just an ordinary man like…

The Humanity The Humanity-

• Deity Of Jesus

Deity Of Jesus Issue Issue

you and me.” In a sermon he preached in Louisville, KY on March 13, 1990, which was my first exposure to his doctrine, Welch called “silly” the idea that Jesus was “100% deity and 100% human.” If this were true, he scoffed, it would make Jesus some sort of 200% monstrosity, and there simply is “no such creature.” Although Welch…

The Humanity The Humanity-

• Deity Of Jesus

Deity Of Jesus Issue Issue

arrived at his starting point for a much different reason than most Processians, there is little doubt that it was from Processianism that he got his idea. This is evidenced by Bruce A. Demarest’s critique

• f Process theology: “A fundamental tenet
• f process theology is that the classical two-

nature doctrine of Christ presupposes…

The Humanity The Humanity-

• Deity Of Jesus

Deity Of Jesus Issue Issue

concepts that are out-dated, absurd, and irrelevant to modern minds.” This is seen again in the much acclaimed book Jesus: Divine Messiah, by Robert L. Reymond, who said, “Today, one can find evidence virtually everywhere—on every continent, in both Protestant and Roman Catholic circles—that the theologically ‘in thing’…

The Humanity The Humanity-

• Deity Of Jesus

Deity Of Jesus Issue Issue

is to contend for a Jesus who was only man by nature and for a Bible that is virtually silent regarding the classical incarnational Christology of a two-natured Christ—true God and true man in [the] one person of Jesus [of Nazareth].” Thus, it seems evident that Welch and his partisans had drunk a bit too deeply…

The Humanity The Humanity-

• Deity Of Jesus

Deity Of Jesus Issue Issue

from the Processian well. As a result, they began to use their Jesus-was-a-man, just-a- man, just-an-ordinary-man mantra as the interpretive grid (i.e., the 67th book) by which they re-interpreted, and otherwise explained away, every passage that affirmed Jesus’ deity while here on earth. But when

• ne, for whatever reason—even if it was…

The Humanity The Humanity-

• Deity Of Jesus

Deity Of Jesus Issue Issue

to prove the truth that man does not have to sin, which served as Welch’s motivation, begins to argue that the Divine Logos divested Himself of His Godhood and Divinity and became a man, just a man, just an ordinary man, like the rest of us, he has become, whether he thinks so or not, the prototypical illustration of what…

The Humanity The Humanity-

• Deity Of Jesus

Deity Of Jesus Issue Issue

illegitimate exegesis looks like. That Process theologians love to talk about the “havoc” wreaked by the belief that Jesus of Nazareth was both fully God and fully man at the same time, and that this is precisely the idea that is expressed by some brethren, is something that cannot be successfully

• denied. Thus, when I find myself…

The Humanity The Humanity-

• Deity Of Jesus

Deity Of Jesus Issue Issue

listening to, or reading after, such brethren, and this still occurs, my inclination is to ask, “Will the real Processians among us please stand up and be counted?” In the end, Welch and his cohorts, whether they fully realized it or not, were using the man-made think-sos of Process theology as a 67th book by which they…

The Humanity The Humanity-

• Deity Of Jesus

Deity Of Jesus Issue Issue

reinterpret the other 66 books of the Bible.

The Young The Young-

• Earth/Old

Earth/Old-

• Earth

Earth Creationists Issue Creationists Issue

Physicist Paul C.W. Davies (1946- ), currently Professor of Natural History at Arizona State University, author of over twenty books on science, including The Mind of God and God and the New Physics, writes: “There are religious zealots to this day who declare that we cannot trust our clocks or our senses. They firmly believe…

The Young The Young-

• Earth/Old

Earth/Old-

• Earth

Earth Creationists Issue Creationists Issue

that the universe was created by God just a few thousand years ago, and merely looks

• ld.” Although I do not think of myself as a

religious zealot per se, I must, for con- science sake, plead guilty to Davies’ charge, for when I preach on Genesis 1, I feel com- pelled by the immediate text, and scripture found elsewhere, to speak of six,…

The Young The Young-

• Earth/Old

Earth/Old-

• Earth

Earth Creationists Issue Creationists Issue

consecutive, twenty-four hour days of

• Creation. According to that which is called

“modern science,” such an idea is so deficient as to be totally laughable. Even so, there is no way I can teach, as do my brethren who are old-Earth creationists (OECs), that the Universe and Earth came into existence over a period of billions of…

The Young The Young-

• Earth/Old

Earth/Old-

• Earth

Earth Creationists Issue Creationists Issue

• years. Instead, I believe God created

everything in six, consecutive, twenty-four hour days, somewhere around six- to ten- thousand years ago. This makes me, then, a young-Earth creationist (YEC). Scripturally, this is the only position I can conscient- iously defend. So, if I’m to be called a “religious zealot” because I believe the…

The Young The Young-

• Earth/Old

Earth/Old-

• Earth

Earth Creationists Issue Creationists Issue

Bible to be the infallible, inerrant word of God, and as such, its own best interpreter, then so be it! My OEC brethren counter that the days

• f Creation “could have been” something
• ther than twenty-four hour days, and I

suppose they “could have been,” as the Hebrew word translated “day” (yôm)…

The Young The Young-

• Earth/Old

Earth/Old-

• Earth

Earth Creationists Issue Creationists Issue

does not mean only a twenty-four hour span

• f time. But when one takes into

consideration that in the first thirty-five verses of Genesis 1 we have a number + a day + a sequence of morning and evening, then it seems rather compelling that the Author and Finisher of our faith intended to convey the idea of six, consecutive,…

The Young The Young-

• Earth/Old

Earth/Old-

• Earth

Earth Creationists Issue Creationists Issue

twenty-four hour days. Therefore, when one takes into consideration (1) the six days of Creation, (2) the genealogies and life spans

• f pre-Flood people, combined with (3) the

genealogies given for the post-Flood people, et cetera, it appears we have enough infor- mation to establish a fairly accurate age for the Earth. Although I don’t subscribe to…

The Young The Young-

• Earth/Old

Earth/Old-

• Earth

Earth Creationists Issue Creationists Issue

Ussher’s and Lightfoot’s October 23, 4004 B.C. date for Creation, I don’t believe it to be really all that far off either. If the Earth’s age is somewhere in the range of six- to ten- thousand years old, and this seems to be the most straight-forward reading of the text, then “modern, modern science,” which claims an age of the Universe somewhere…

The Young The Young-

• Earth/Old

Earth/Old-

• Earth

Earth Creationists Issue Creationists Issue

around fifteen-billion years (with an age of four-and-a-half-billion years for the Earth) is clearly at odds with the Bible. It is this “incompatibility” that provided the impetus for the intramural debate that manifested itself among God’s people during the last decade of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first over an…

The Young The Young-

• Earth/Old

Earth/Old-

• Earth

Earth Creationists Issue Creationists Issue

interpretation of science that became yet another example of the 67th-book-of-the- Bible syndrome. Along with others, I was most uncom- fortable hearing my OEC brethren attempt- ing to support their interpretation of the six days of Creation, an interpretation that encompasses many billions of years,…

The Young The Young-

• Earth/Old

Earth/Old-

• Earth

Earth Creationists Issue Creationists Issue

with the argument that such an interpre- tation makes the Bible less offensive to a more-educated, scientifically-oriented

• audience. For example, Hill Roberts, a

Christian and physicist who works in the space industry, is on record as believing the six days of Creation, when understood as consecutive days encompassing 144…

The Young The Young-

• Earth/Old

Earth/Old-

• Earth

Earth Creationists Issue Creationists Issue

hours, are more of an obstacle to genuine faith, particularly to a scientifically sophisticated audience, than is the claim that Jesus rose from the dead. Frankly, and I’ve told him so, I find such an idea not just preposterous, but totally absurd! Although he chafes at my use of such words, bro. Hill continues to adamantly defend his…

The Young The Young-

• Earth/Old

Earth/Old-

• Earth

Earth Creationists Issue Creationists Issue

• contention. His approach strikes me as

being either terribly naive, which I seriously doubt, or a reflection of his resolute allegiance to the idea that one’s interpre- tation of natural revelation is equal to special revelation, a view I believe elevates an interpretation of science and its uniform- itarianist assumptions to the status of…

The Young The Young-

• Earth/Old

Earth/Old-

• Earth

Earth Creationists Issue Creationists Issue

being the 67th book of the Bible, which is a subject I’ve discussed with him on more than one occasion.

The Young The Young-

• Earth/Old

Earth/Old-

• Earth

Earth Creationists Issue Creationists Issue

Truth is, it gets worse— much, much worse! However, I have neither the time nor space to continue exposing this particular 67th-book-of- the-Bible syndrome. If you’re interested in pursuing this further, see a link to an article I…

The Young The Young-

• Earth/Old

Earth/Old-

• Earth

Earth Creationists Issue Creationists Issue

wrote on this subject that includes Hill Roberts’ response and my follow-up reply at the link provided in the handout booklet. You can also consult Understanding Creation, the book pictured at the right that bro. Roberts...

The Young The Young-

• Earth/Old

Earth/Old-

• Earth

Earth Creationists Issue Creationists Issue

co-authored with Mark Whorton that sets forth his OEC position by following the link provided in the handout booklet as well.

The Realized Eschatology Issue The Realized Eschatology Issue

The subject we dealt with at the 2010 Alpharetta Bible Study was the subject of Realized Eschatology (hereafter simply RE), which is the belief that all prophecy was exhausted at the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. According to this view, the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and the end of…

The Realized Eschatology Issue The Realized Eschatology Issue

the world have already happened. It is easy to see, then, why RE is sometimes called “The A.D. 70 Doctrine,” for the pivotal point of history, according to this position, was, and remains, the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. REs, who are also known as “full-” or “hyper-Preterists,” rightly observe that…

The Realized Eschatology Issue The Realized Eschatology Issue

when studying the New Testament material relative to the “coming” of Christ, (1) there are passages which seem to speak of the nearness of the Lord’s coming from a first- century perspective (cf. James 5:8, for example), and (2) there are texts which indicate a “coming” of the Lord in connec- tion with the destruction of Jerusalem in…

The Realized Eschatology Issue The Realized Eschatology Issue

A.D. 70 (like Matthew 24:30, for example). But because of their presuppositions (viz., that A.D. 70 is the pivotal point in history), they wrongly assume that “(1)” and “(2)” above ought to be irrevocably tethered to every other mention of “coming” in the Scriptures, making the Lord’s second [or final] coming something that took place…

The Realized Eschatology Issue The Realized Eschatology Issue

in connection with the destruction of Jerusalem in A. D. 70. They then turn around and argue that because the Scriptures make it clear that the resurrection

• f the dead, the day of judgment, and the

end of the world were all to occur on the day the Lord returns the second (or final) time, they are obligated to “spiritualize,” …

The Realized Eschatology Issue The Realized Eschatology Issue

in one way or another, these happenings, maintaining they took place, in one form or another, in A.D. 70. As a result of such thinking, a whole host of biblical terms which have been traditionally understood to mean one thing are wrested from their immediate context and reinterpreted in

• rder to make the pieces of the RE puzzle
• fit. But, and this is a significant “but,” …

The Realized Eschatology Issue The Realized Eschatology Issue

if there is no pressing necessity to understand the Lord’s final coming as an event that took place in A.D. 70, and there isn’t, then RE is better understood as but another man-made effort to make yet another 67th book the grid through which the other 66 books of the Bible are to be interpreted.

The New The New-

• Perspective

Perspective-

• On

On-

• Paul

Paul Issue Issue

Now that we’ve taken a look at these other 67th-book-of-the-Bible syndromes, it is time to turn our attention to NPP. I was first exposed to it in more than just a casual way back in July of 2012 as a result

• f a Facebook post I had made about

“imputed righteousness.” Even though I reject Calvinism and qualified…

The New The New-

• Perspective

Perspective-

• On

On-

• Paul

Paul Issue Issue

my use of the term in question, which is a perfectly legitimate biblical term (Calvinist definition excluded, of course), I was joined

• n my wall by brethren, most of whom are

the holders of advanced degrees, who quickly set forth the charge that I, along with other brethren, had been wrongly interpreting the writings of Paul by…

The New The New-

• Perspective

Perspective-

• On

On-

• Paul

Paul Issue Issue

viewing them, whether wittingly or unwittingly, through the sixteenth-century lens of reformed theology à la Luther and

• Calvin. No matter what I said, no matter

how I said it, no matter how clear I made it that the imputation of righteousness was a biblical topic and that Calvinists should not be allowed carte blanche in their…

The New The New-

• Perspective

Perspective-

• On

On-

• Paul

Paul Issue Issue

definition of the term, it was hammered home that I had imbibed Luther’s and Calvin’s sixteenth-century theologies and, as a result, was imposing on Paul and Second-Temple Judaism points of view fifteen-hundred years removed from the anthropological, cultural, and theological milieu of the first century. The proposed…

The New The New-

• Perspective

Perspective-

• On

On-

• Paul

Paul Issue Issue

solution being touted by these brethren was something being called the New Perspective

• n Paul. This, then, was my introduction
• ver a year ago to NPP.

According to my Facebook friends who are NPPers, the solution to my misunder- standing of Paul and first-century Judaism was to be found in the work of…

The New The New-

• Perspective

Perspective-

• On

On-

• Paul

Paul Issue Issue

E.P. Sanders who, in 1977, published his “game-changing” book Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion. It was this book, my brethren were telling me, that had swept away forever the way most of us in the Western world had viewed Paul and his Jewish contemporaries for the past…

The New The New-

• Perspective

Perspective-

• On

On-

• Paul

Paul Issue Issue

five-hundred years. And what was this view? According to Thomas R. Schreiner, a Sanders critic, it was that “NT scholars, especially Lutherans, have been guilty of imposing their own struggle with Catholicism onto the Judaism of Paul’s day.” He further elaborated: “The actual soteriology of the Jews, Sanders asserted,…

The New The New-

• Perspective

Perspective-

• On

On-

• Paul

Paul Issue Issue

was not legalistic at all. Instead Palestinian Judaism is better described with the term ‘covenantal nomism.’ The covenant which God enacted with the Jews was based on his grace by which he elected them to be his

• people. God did not demand a certain level
• f works before entering into covenant with

his people.”

The New The New-

• Perspective

Perspective-

• On

On-

• Paul

Paul Issue Issue

Schreiner followed this with: “How does the word ‘nomism’ fit into Sanders’ understanding of Jewish soteriology? Certainly the law was a central feature of Palestinian religion, but, says Sanders, the Jews never understood obedience to the law as a way of earning or meriting salvation [emphasis mine—AT]. The observance…

The New The New-

• Perspective

Perspective-

• On

On-

• Paul

Paul Issue Issue

• f the law was a way of maintaining

salvation once one was inducted into the covenant.” Schreiner concluded his summary of Sanders’ thesis by saying: “The keeping of the law, then, was conceived as a grateful response to God’s covenantal mercy in redeeming his people. Nor should we…

The New The New-

• Perspective

Perspective-

• On

On-

• Paul

Paul Issue Issue

criticize the Jews because of the detailed regulations and prescriptions found in their

• law. Detailed obedience of the law indicates

a heart desire to follow God in every area of

• ne’s life. This is not legalism but heart felt

devotion to God.” In other words, and in Sanders’ own brief but famous summary, “In short, this…

The New The New-

• Perspective

Perspective-

• On

On-

• Paul

Paul Issue Issue

is what Paul finds wrong in Judaism: it is not Christianity.” In his description of Sanders’ position, the immensely popular N.T. Wright, who is himself an NPP proponent and its chief popularizer, wrote: “Judaism in Paul’s day was not, as has regularly been supposed, a religion of legalistic works-righteousness. If we…

The New The New-

• Perspective

Perspective-

• On

On-

• Paul

Paul Issue Issue

imagine that it was, and that Paul was attacking it as if it was, we will do great violence to it and to him.” So then, although Sanders’ spiffy little summary and Wright’s succinctly ominous admonition appear to reflect precisely the position my NPP brethren are presently advancing, and even the views being articulated by some of…

The New The New-

• Perspective

Perspective-

• On

On-

• Paul

Paul Issue Issue

my brethren who have yet to embrace it, it is my thesis that it represents a 67th-book-

• f-the-Bible interpretation that not only

seriously misunderstands Paul and a substantial number of the first-century Jews with whom he interacted, but that it is also blatantly hypocritical, in that it imposes on the Pauline texts the very sort of forced…

The New The New-

• Perspective

Perspective-

• On

On-

• Paul

Paul Issue Issue

interpretation it accuses non-NPPers of doing. Thus, the question before us is this: Have we been blindly imposing on Paul and his contemporaries presuppositions derived from Luther, Calvin, and others? More to the point, have we really been “seeing” what Paul actually wrote about first-century

The New The New-

• Perspective

Perspective-

• On

On-

• Paul

Paul Issue Issue

Judaism, or have we been guilty of fabricating a polemic against the first- century Jews that does not comport with the Scriptures? If the latter, then we must immediately stop and desist, repent of our error, and re-examine afresh the Pauline texts in view of Sanders’ perspective. This is, of course, precisely the action our…

The New The New-

• Perspective

Perspective-

• On

On-

• Paul

Paul Issue Issue

NPP brethren are calling for. Throwing down the gauntlet, they claim that until Sanders’ view of second-temple Judaism (viz., his covenantal nomism) can be successfully refuted, we must be willing to admit that we have not only misunderstood Paul and his Jewish contemporaries, but the very writ of Scripture itself.

Hermeneutics Hermeneutics

One cannot acquaint himself with NPP, and the other sixty-seventh-book-of-the-Bible syndromes we have taken a look at, without being confronted, head on, with the subject

• f Hermeneutics (i.e.., the science of

interpretation) and its indispensable role in the establishment of guidelines for deter- mining the correct interpretation of a text.

Hermeneutics Hermeneutics

Without such guidelines there can be little hope of correctly interpreting a document. It is Hermeneutics, then, that regulates exege- sis, and it is applied exegesis which is the actual process of interpretation. With the right guidelines, the careful exegete seeks to “reveal,” “lead out,” or “lay bare” the exact meaning of a text that the author intended.

Hermeneutics Hermeneutics

So, I’ve said all that to say this: Without a proper hermeneutic, there will be no correct exegesis, and without the correct exegesis, the intent of the author is sure to be “twist[ed],” just as the apostle Peter said the “untaught” and “unstable” would do (cf. 2 Pet 3:16).

Methodologies: the Historical Methodologies: the Historical-

• Critical

Critical

• vs. the Grammatical
• vs. the Grammatical-
• Historical

Historical

Although I do not intend to examine in detail the two methodologies mentioned in the above sub-heading, as this will be the job of Marc Gibson later on today, I believe they must be mentioned here as they direct- ly relate to my contention that NPP is just another 67th-book-of-the-Bible syndrome. In what follows, E.P. Sanders, in a telling…

Methodologies: the Historical Methodologies: the Historical-

• Critical

Critical

• vs. the Grammatical
• vs. the Grammatical-
• Historical

Historical

reflection of his own hermeneutic, wrote: “I am a liberal, modern, secularized Protestant, brought up in a church dominated by low christology and the social gospel. I am proud of the things that that religious tradition stands for. I am not bold enough, however, to suppose that Jesus came to establish it, or that he died for the sake of…

Methodologies: the Historical Methodologies: the Historical-

• Critical

Critical

• vs. the Grammatical
• vs. the Grammatical-
• Historical

Historical

its principles.” Sanders’ “low christology” is reflected in his articulated belief that the “Christ of faith” he learned about growing up in the Methodist Church is clearly not the “Jesus of history” derived from the Historical-Critical, and quite reductionist, methodology he employs—a methodology that reveals a Jesus of which little is…

Methodologies: the Historical Methodologies: the Historical-

• Critical

Critical

• vs. the Grammatical
• vs. the Grammatical-
• Historical

Historical

known, he avers. What, then, is the Historical-Critical method? The “Historical” side of this method reflects a “scientific,” anti-supernaturalist, reductionist worldview. It does not view the Bible as a set of divinely inspired texts, nor a divinely revealed message. Hence, the task the Historical-Critical hermeneutic…

Methodologies: the Historical Methodologies: the Historical-

• Critical

Critical

• vs. the Grammatical
• vs. the Grammatical-
• Historical

Historical

sets for itself is the reconstruction of the historical conditions under which a text was

• created. This, in turn, is used to determine

the author’s intended meaning. To the one who employs this methodology, this, and this alone, is what it means to understand a text historically, and until this is done, interpretation cannot take place.

Methodologies: the Historical Methodologies: the Historical-

• Critical

Critical

• vs. the Grammatical
• vs. the Grammatical-
• Historical

Historical

The other aspect of the Historical- Critical method is the “Critical” side. Again, because the biblical texts are not to be considered divinely inspired, it is consider- ed axiomatic that the truth claims made by a text always be open to refutation. Accord- ingly, there can be no instances of special pleading for the Bible as a divinely…

Methodologies: the Historical Methodologies: the Historical-

• Critical

Critical

• vs. the Grammatical
• vs. the Grammatical-
• Historical

Historical

inspired set of writings, as all texts must be treated exactly alike. Hence, to this way of thinking, the Bible cannot be granted any a priori standing or authority. About such a hermeneutic, and E.P. Sanders’ use of it, Robert L. Thomas had this word of warning: “A word of caution is in order regarding those who have been…

Methodologies: the Historical Methodologies: the Historical-

• Critical

Critical

• vs. the Grammatical
• vs. the Grammatical-
• Historical

Historical

somewhat swayed by the NP[P], those who say they see some value in it, but who have not bought into the system as a whole. Anyone who has embraced even a small aspect of the NP[P] has endorsed the starting point of Sanders’ covenantal nomism which defines the nature of first- century Judaism. That person cannot free…

Methodologies: the Historical Methodologies: the Historical-

• Critical

Critical

• vs. the Grammatical
• vs. the Grammatical-
• Historical

Historical

himself from the system’s degenerative hermeneutical approach, because without Sanders’ covenantal nomism the NP[P] does not exist. A person cannot embrace traditional Grammatical-Historical principles and take even a first step toward the NP[P]. The two approaches to Pauline literature are utterly incompatible.”

Methodologies: the Historical Methodologies: the Historical-

• Critical

Critical

• vs. the Grammatical
• vs. the Grammatical-
• Historical

Historical

It should be obvious to most brethren that the Historical-Critical hermeneutic of Sanders and others is just flat wrong. At the very least, it violates the “Scripture inter- prets Scripture” principle. At its worst, it is the total capitulation to the “scientific,” anti-supernaturalist, reductionist worldview

• f those who devised it. Whether our…

Methodologies: the Historical Methodologies: the Historical-

• Critical

Critical

• vs. the Grammatical
• vs. the Grammatical-
• Historical

Historical

NPP brethren want to admit it or not, they must acknowledge, as Thomas pointed out above, that the very bedrock of NPP is Sanders’ “covenantal nomism,” which as far as I’ve been able to determine, appears to be nothing much more than the subjective think-sos of a liberal, Protestant, “low- christology” unbeliever (yes, I said…

Methodologies: the Historical Methodologies: the Historical-

• Critical

Critical

• vs. the Grammatical
• vs. the Grammatical-
• Historical

Historical

unbeliever”) whose “preunderstanding” was facilitated by an acknowledged hermeneutic that is, at its very core, totally godless. Sanders’ hermeneutic is the very anti- thesis of the Grammatical-Historical herme- neutic, a methodology that has been used by serious students of the Bible down…

Methodologies: the Historical Methodologies: the Historical-

• Critical

Critical

• vs. the Grammatical
• vs. the Grammatical-
• Historical

Historical

through the centuries. Those who employ it believe the Bible is the special, divinely revealed word of God. It is possible, they believe, to discover the true meaning of a given text of Scripture by following the rules of grammar and syntax combined with the literary context and style of the passage and the historical, cultural context of the…

Methodologies: the Historical Methodologies: the Historical-

• Critical

Critical

• vs. the Grammatical
• vs. the Grammatical-
• Historical

Historical

• author. These believe there can be only one

correct interpretation of a text which faithfully expounds what the author intended, and this means that all other interpretations are wrong.

Any Room For Overlap? Any Room For Overlap?

Does this mean that I think everything Sanders and the others have “discovered” is wrong? No, not necessarily. As one can see, there seems to be a historical overlap of the two hermeneutics. I say “seems,” because when we get right down to it, historical evidence, too, must be correctly interpreted. But under the Historical-Critical method,…

Any Room For Overlap? Any Room For Overlap?

the history recorded in the Scriptures carry no a priori weight. In fact, Sanders’ modus

• perandi consisted largely of ignoring the

Scriptures in his quest for “discovering” the “truth” of what first-century Judaism looked

• like. Although the user of the Grammatical-

Historical method is interested in the histor- ical, cultural context of the author, he is…

Any Room For Overlap? Any Room For Overlap?

not willing to do so by ignoring what the Scriptures themselves say about that history. There is, then, an unbridgeable gap between the historical aspect of these two very different methodologies. Nevertheless, whatever NPPers have discovered that is true—and someone needs to prove exactly what this is, especially if…

Any Room For Overlap? Any Room For Overlap?

it will help us to better understand the cultural context of first-century Judaism, and therefore assist us in becoming better exegetes of Paul’s writings—one should have no problem embracing such “truth.” However, when one buys, “lock, stock, and barrel,” into Sanders’ covenantal nomism— which when all is said and done is just his…

Any Room For Overlap? Any Room For Overlap?

fallible interpretation of the “evidence,” evidence which largely ignores what the Scriptures themselves have to say about such history—and then turns around and uses this “evidence” as the interpretive grid by which he “correctly” understands Paul and first-century Judaism, he is engaging, as far as I can see, in just another 67th-book-…

Any Room For Overlap? Any Room For Overlap?

• f-the-Bible syndrome, which in turn serves

as the prolegomena of our study this week. Finally, as we take the time to critically examine NPP, it is my prayer that the things we learn will aid us not just in our under- standing of NPP and the threat it poses to us as a people, but that it will facilitate a better understanding of God’s divinely revealed…

Conclusion Conclusion

word, and thus help us in our continued glorification of the Father’s only begotten Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the One to whom we thankfully extend our enduring gratitude and undying allegiance. Soli Deo gloria!