What is the nature of the authority of Scripture, and in what sense does the Old Testament share that authority? As the title indicates, we will be concerned with the authority of the Old Testament in this matter. The place of the Old Testament in the Bible and in the life of the.
The authority of the Bible can of course be discussed in both of the above meanings. The God of the Bible is the Christian's highest authority in every sense of the word. THE AUTHORITY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 'I-HE AUTHORITY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT: THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM.
The authority of the Bible is not so much a problem in theory as in practice. This being the case, what do we mean by the authority of the Old Testament?
THE PROBLEM OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
THE “CLASSICAL” SOLUTIONS
This was the way of the early church fathers generally.61 They were not unaware of the problem felt by Marcion; they sensed that there
We certainly don't need a lecture to convince us that this is not the way to solve the Old Testament problem. And with this understanding of the literal meaning, the Reformers were able to find abundant Christian meaning in the Old Testament. On the reformers' use of the Old Testament, see Luther, Bomkamm, Luther und das Alte Testument; for Calvin, H.
McKenzie, “The Significance of the Old Testament for Christian Faith in Roman Catholicism” in OTCF, pp. His interpretation of Scripture – including the Old Testament – is therefore strongly Christological and goes far beyond a grammatical-historical exegesis of the text. Vischer's principles are set forth in The Witness of the Old Testament to Christ, pp.
Based on these principles, Vischer gives us an interpretation of the Old Testament that is entirely Christological. We should not read the Old Testament so consistently from the side of the New. This typological-chris-I1 Several works can be praised about the use of the Old Testament by the New.
Their appeal to the Old Testament was intuitive rather than exegetical, a reinterpretation of its meaning based on the new understanding of God's purpose that had been given to them. But its understanding of the Old Testament found its most sympathetic expression in the approach. The goal and crown of this development process was thus seen as lying outside the boundaries of the Old Testament, in the New.
Now it is clear that this understanding of the Old Testament influenced the problem of its place in the canon. This is not to say that liberal Christians in general advocated a formal purification of the Old Testament. But on a practical level, the result was much the same: large parts of the Old Testament effectively lost their place in the church's canon.
BIBLICAL THEOLOGY AND THE AUTHORITY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
Parallel to the above development, a great revival of interest in the theological study of the Old Testament took place. THE AUTHORITY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLICAL THEOLOGY AND THE AUTHORITY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. I would prefer the last alternative as more appropriate to the idea of the Old Testament.
THE AUTHORITY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLICAL THEOLOGY AND THE AUTHORITY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. The place of wisdom books in Old Testament theology has always been a problem. THE AUTHORITY OF OLD TESTAMENT BIBLICAL THEOLOGY AND THE AUTHORITY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
The New Testament is in fact a reinterpretation of the Old in the light of Christ. The question of the relationship of revelation (faith) and history in the Old Testament, especially as raised by the work of von Rad (Old Testament Theology), has given rise to a considerable literature, mostly in German, which we cannot attempt to enumerate not. here (see the Bibliography for selections). Van Ruler's view of the Old Testament is in the Calvinist tradition (and so Vriezen, EOTH, p. 214).
One must ask what the New Testament has done with this aspect of Old Testament faith in the light of Christ.
PREACHING FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT
Its original situation is an old situation, in the life of ancient Israel, not at all the situation of the people to whom he is to address. And since the human condition remains essentially unchanged, and since Israel remains in the church, he can do this. He must ask who then spoke this word, and who its addressee, that he may determine how it is rightly heard, and to whom it speaks today.
But although he must interpret the word of the Old Testament in the light of the New, he does not for that reason abandon his text or rush to preach a New Testament message. Instead, he preaches from the Old Testament text itself—this word in its plain meaning—but in light of what its theology has become in Christ. There is no suggestion that their application will always be easy, or that they will automatically solve all problems.
It is my further belief that every Old Testament text, if heard aright, has its word for us today, a word from the Cod claiming us, or a word about ourselves as we stand before that Cod.
THE PRINCIPLES ILLUSTRATED
I must, in one word, interpret the theology of the Commandments in the light of the New Testament revelation. I read nothing in the Old Testament text; but I must read it in the light of the New Testament's confirmations about it. And again, it is necessary to view the text in the light of the prophet's total message and to understand those facets of his theology that find expression in it.
In the case of the two examples just given, the hermeneutical issues are, I believe, relatively clear. That is, we must begin with a grammatical-historical exegesis of the text. This theology, reaffirmed in the cult, was no less than the ideological basis of the existing order in Judah.
It is the theology which we see classically expressed in the oracle of Nathan (2 Sam. 7: 4-1 6) and in certain of the royal hymns. Here, we affirm, is the answer to the nations' desire and the solution to man's B.C. That is not all, because the theology of history has been caught up in Christ and through Christ addresses the church.
This Christ, who is the fulfillment of the promises to David, has also made promises. But the promised fulfillment did not materialize in the pages of the Old Testament; its redemptive history is still incomplete. So it is that the psalm, read in the light of the gospel, speaks a word to our condition.
It may not be the heart of the gospel, but it is a word you desperately need to hear. Whatever may be said about the above illustrations, it is my firm conviction that the Old Testament, properly used, has an indispensable place in the church's preaching and teaching. It is as both testaments are preached and taught in the church that "the whole counsel of God" is heard and people are edified in the knowledge of the faith and empowered for greater obedience.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
The present position in the controversy over the problem of the historical Jesus," ET, LXIX (August.
INDEX TO (Numbers in italic
BIBLE REFERENCES
INDEX OF PERSONS AND SUBJECTS
TWIN BROOKS SERIES