New Testament Hermeneutics and Poetics
Protestant biblical theology requires a rigorous historical as well as grammatical exegetical approach and a disciplined typological method. – J. I. Packer The greatest crisis in the early life of the apostolic church was clearly the challenge to the gospel of free grace represented by the Judaizers, the controversy which necessitated the first ecumenical council at Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-3). Paul’s epistle to the Galatians represents… Read more »
Wounds of the Apostle Paul
“I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” Galatians 6:17 There is a pattern to our sufferings in this life. For Christians, no hurtful wound is merely random or meaningless. It is the goodness of God’s providence that makes our sorrows meaningful, for suffering always precedes glory, as the Savior said of his own wounding (Luke 24:26). Paul encouraged the little, struggling church in… Read more »
Chiastic Structures – The Key to Interpreting the Bible
In order to appreciate the Joseph story as the masterpiece that it is we must introduce you to a concept with which most of you probably are not familiar. Ancient writers and rhetoricians loved to use a literary structure that in modernity has come to be called the “chiasm,” referring to the Greek letter “chi” (our letter X). A chiastic figure of speech is a… Read more »
The Typology of the Gospel
The heart of the Christian gospel is the penal, substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. As we should expect, this most salvific of all doctrines is taught throughout the Scriptures. It is pervasive, stated both propositionally and illustrated through many types and figures. This note considers a few examples of this foundational jurisprudential doctrine that C. S. Lewis so memorably describes as “deeper magic from before… Read more »