NIV Proclamation Bible Sampler

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NIV Thinline Reference BibleCopyright 2011 by ZondervanAll rights reserved

The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV

Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.Used by Permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Proclamation Edition: introductory essays, section introductions and introductions to Bible books copyright Hodder & Stoughton, 2013

Published by ZondervanGrand Rapids, Michigan 49530, USA

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Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4

Editors preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A7

Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A8

What is the Bible?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A15

A Bible overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A20

The historical reliabilit y of the Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A25

Finding t he melodic line of a book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A32

From text to doctrine: the Bible and theology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A37

From text to l ife: applying the Old Testament. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A42

From text to life: applying the New Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A47

From text to sermon: preaching the Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A53

From text to study: small groups and one-to-ones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A58

Biblical interpretation: a short history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A65

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TheOld Testament

G e n e s i s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

E x o d u s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 9Leviticus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Deuteronomy. . . . . . . . . . . 183

Joshua . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Judges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Ruth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

1 Samuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

2 Samuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .319

1 Kings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

2 Kings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3841 Chroni c l e s . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1 6

2 Chronicles . . . . . . . . . . . . 454

E z r a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 9 1Nehemiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504

Esther. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520

Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532

Psalms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570

Proverbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665

Ecclesiastes . . . . . . . . . . . . 700

Song of Songs . . . . . . . . . . . 712

Isaiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722

Jeremiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795

Lamentations . . . . . . . . . . 864Ezekiel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 873

Daniel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 929

Hosea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 948Joel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961

Amos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968

Obadiah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 979

Jonah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 983

Micah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988

Nahum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997

Habakkuk . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1002

Zephaniah . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008

H a g g a i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 0 1 4

Z e c h a r i a h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 0 1 7Malachi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1029

TheNew Testament

Matthew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1037

Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076

Luke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1101

J o h n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 4 1

Acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1171Romans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1210

1 Corinthians. . . . . . . . . . 1228

2 Corinthians. . . . . . . . . . 1245

Galatians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1256

Ephesians . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1263

Philippians . . . . . . . . . . . . 1270

Colossians . . . . . . . . . . . . 1276

1 Thessalonians . . . . . . . 1282

2 Thessalonians . . . . . . . 12871 Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1291

2 Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1297

Titus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1302

Philemon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1306

Hebrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1309

James . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1323

1 Peter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1329

2 Peter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1335

1 John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13402 John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1346

3 John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1349

Jude. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1350

Revelation. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1354

Table of Weights and Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1375

Concordance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1377


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PREFACE

The goal of the New International Version (NIV) is to enable English-speaking people fromaround the world to read and hear Gods eternal Word in their own lang uage. Our work astranslators is motivated by our conviction that the Bible is Gods Word in written form. Webelieve that the Bible contains the divine answer to the deepest needs of humanity, shedsunique light on our path in a dark world and sets forth the way to our eternal well-being.Out of these deep convictions, we have sought to recreate as far as possible the experienceof the original audience blending transparency to the original text with accessibility for

the mil lions of English speakers around the world. We have prioritized accu racy, clarityand literary quality with the goal of creating a translation suitable for public and privatereading, evangelism, teaching, preaching, memorizing and liturgical use. We have alsosought to preserve a measure of continuity with the long tradition of translating the Scrip-tures into English.

The complete NIV Bible was first published in 1978. It was a completely new translationmade by over a hundred scholars working directly from the best available Hebrew, Aramaicand Greek texts. The translators came from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Austra-lia and New Zealand, giving the translation an international scope. They were from manydenominations and churches including Anglican, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Brethren,

Christian Reformed, Church of Christ, Evangelical Covenant, Evangelical Free, Lutheran,Mennonite, Methodist, Nazarene, Presbyterian, Wesleyan and others. This breadth of de-nominational and theological perspective helped to safeguard the translation from sectarianbias. For these reasons, and by the grace of God, the NIV has gained a wide readership in allparts of the English-speaking world.

The work of translating the Bible is never finished. As good as they are, English transla-tions must be regularly updated so that they will continue to communicate accurately themeaning of Gods Word. Updates are needed in order to reflect the latest developments inour understanding of the biblical world and its languages and to keep pace with changes inEnglish usage. Recognizing, then, that the NIV would retain its ability to communicate Gods

Word accurately only if it were regularly updated, the original translators established The

Committee on Bible Translation (CBT). The committee is a self-perpetuating group of bibli-cal scholars charged with keeping abreast of advances in biblical scholarship and changesin English and issuing periodic updates to the NIV. CBT is an independent, self-governingbody and has sole responsibility for the NIV text. The committee mirrors the original groupof translators in its diverse international and denominational makeup and in its unifyingcommitment to the Bible as Gods inspired Word.

In obedience to its mandate, the committee has issued periodic updates to the NIV. Aninitial revision was released in 1984. A more thorough revision process was completed in2005, resulting in the separately published Todays New International Version (TNIV). Theupdated NIV you now have in your hands builds on both the original NIV and the TNIV and

represents the latest effort of the committee to articulate Gods unchanging Word in the waythe original authors might have said it had they been speaking in English to the global Eng-lish-speaking audience today.

The first concern of the translators has continued to be the accuracy of the translationand its faithfulness to the intended meaning of the biblical writers. This has moved the trans-lators to go beyond a formal word-for-word rendering of the original texts. Because thoughtpatterns and syntax differ from language to language, accurate communication of the mean-ing of the biblical authors demands constant regard for varied contextual uses of words andidioms and for frequent modifications in sentence structures.

As an aid to t he reader, sectional headings have been inserted. They are not to be re-garded as part of the biblical text and are not intended for oral reading. It is the committees


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PREFACE | A5

hope that these headings may prove more helpful to the reader than the traditional chapterdivisions, which were introduced long after the Bible was written.

For the Old Testament the standard Hebrew text, the Masoretic Text as published in thelatest edition ofBiblia Hebraica,has been used throughout. The Masoretic Text tradition con-tains marginal notations that offer variant readings. These have sometimes been followedinstead of the text itself. Because such instances involve variants within the Masoretic tradi-tion, they have not been indicated in the textual notes. In a few cases, words in the basic con-sonantal text have been divided differently than in the Masoretic Text. Such cases are usuallyindicated in the textual footnotes. The Dead Sea Scrolls contain biblical texts that representan earlier stage of the transmission of the Hebrew text. They have been consulted, as havebeen the Samaritan Pentateuch and the ancient scribal traditions concerning deliberate tex-tual changes. The translators also consulted the more important early versions the GreekSeptuagint, Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, the Latin Vulgate, the Syriac Peshitta, the

Aramaic Targums and, for the Psalms, the Juxta Hebraicaof Jerome. Readings from theseversions, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the scribal traditions were occasionally followed where the

Masoretic Text seemed doubtful and where accepted principles of textual criticism showedthat one or more of these textual witnesses appeared to provide the correct reading. In rarecases, the committee has emended the Hebrew text where it appears to have become cor-rupted at an even earlier stage of its transmission. These departures from the Masoretic Textare also indicated in the textual footnotes. Sometimes the vowel indicators (which are lateradditions to the basic consonantal text) found in the Masoretic Text did not, in the judgmentof the committee, represent the correct vowels for the original text. Accordingly, some wordshave been read with a different set of vowels. These instances are usually not indicated in thefootnotes.

The Greek text used in translating the New Testament is an eclectic one, based on the

latest editions of the Nestle-Aland/United Bible Societies Greek New Testament. The com-mittee has made its choices among the variant readings in accordance with widely acceptedprinciples of New Testament textual criticism. Footnotes call attention to places where un-certainty remains.

The New Testament authors, writing in Greek, often quote the Old Testament from itsancient Greek version, the Septuagint. This is one reason why some of the Old Testamentquotations in the NIV New Testament are not identical to the corresponding passages in theNIV Old Testament. Such quotations in the New Testament are indicated with the footnote(see Septuagint).

Other footnotes in this version are of several kinds, most of which need no explanation.Those giving alternative translations begin with Or and generally introduce the alternative

with the last word preceding it in the text, except when it is a single-word alternative. Whenpoetry is quoted in a footnote, a slash mark indicates a line division.

It should be noted that references to diseases, minerals, flora and fauna, architecturaldetails, clothing, jewelry, musical instruments and other articles cannot always be identified

wit h precision. Also, linear measurements and measures of capacity can only be approxi-mated (see the Table of Weights and Measures). Although Selah,used mainly in the Psalms, isprobably a musical term, its meaning is uncertain. Since it may interrupt reading and distractthe reader, this word has not been kept in the English text, but every occurrence has beensignaled by a footnote.

One of the main reasons the task of Bible translation is never finished is the change in our

own language, English. Although a basic core of the language remains relatively stable, manydiverse and complex linguistic factors continue to bring about subtle shifts in the meaningsand/or connotations of even old, well-established words and phrases. One of the shifts thatcreates particular challenges to writers and translators alike is the manner in which gender ispresented. The original NIV (1978) was published in a time when a man would naturally beunderstood, in many contexts, to be referring to a person, whether male or female. But mostEnglish speakers today tend to hear a distinctly male connotation in this word. In recognitionof this change in English, this edition of the NIV, along with almost all other recent Englishtranslations, substitutes other expressions when the original text intends to refer genericallyto men and women equally. Thus, for instance, the NIV (1984) rendering of 1 Corinthians 8:3,But the man who loves God is known by God becomes in this edition But whoever loves


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EDITORS PREFACE

The apostle Paul encouraged Timothy to do his best to present [himself] to God as one ap-proved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word oftruth (2 Tim. 2:15). The NIV Proclamation Bible is a resource to help Bible teachers at alllevels do just that, whether that is in a Sunday school, vacation Bible school, a small groupinteractive Bible study, a one-to-one study, a Bible talk at a camp or school, an evangelisticevent, or in the pulpit.

This Bible includes a range of essays on interpreting and applying the Bible, and intro-ductions to each section and book of Scripture with a particular eye on how to handle the

word correctly as we teach and preach from it. Rather than giving a full running commentaryon the whole text, we hope that this carefully chosen additional material will open up themain themes, melodic line and particular challenges of each portion of Scripture, and soprepare people to read and study the unerring word of truth for themselves.

If you have ever wished you could have just a few minutes with an expert at the start ofyour journey into a passage of the Bible, then here is a study resource that provides just that.It will give you a steer, keep you on track, tell you what you should not miss but withoutoverwhelming you. Seasoned evangelical scholars and preachers, men and women fromaround the world who have the experience (and have made the mistakes!), give us the benefitof their wisdom on each section and book of the Bible.

Every Bible book introduction summarizes the main message of the book in a sen-

tence, and shows how the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle fit together to make that big picture.They put forward an outline structure for each book, which may suggest possible sermonor study series you could try (and titles or headings you could borrow). Finally, they notethe most important points to consider when teaching and applying t hat portion of Gods

word. Often t hey w ill demonstrate here how a grasp of the main thrust or melodic line ofa book can help us correctly handle the trickier passages and verses in a way that is mostsatisfying and edifying; at other times they will warn of false trails and potential pitfalls toavoid, or fruitful avenues to explore, as you turn the page and start each fresh adventureinto the God-breathed word yourself. Each also suggests some further reading, i f you wantto pursue things in more detail later (though without endorsing every word in every com-

mentary and book recommended, of course).And when you need to refresh your understanding of what the whole thing is about How do I apply the Old Testament and point people to Christ? Is the history here reliable?

Where does this all f it in Gods plan for the world? How do I turn al l my researches into a talkor an interactive Bible study? there is guidance here too, in the longer opening essays that

will inspire, strengthen and equip us to correctly handle the word that God has spoken.I have really enjoyed assembling what I think is a terrific cast of contributors to make

this Bible teachers dream into a reality with theNIVProclamation Bible. But more than that,I am looking forward to using it regularly to sharpen up my own teaching. I pray it will help

you, too, as we do our best to present ourselves to God as approved and unashamed workers,thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:17).

Lee Gatiss, EDITOR

Director of Church Society, Cambridge, UK, and Adjunct Lecturer inChurch History at Wales Evangelical School of Theology

CONSULTANT EDITORS

Peter Adam(Melbourne)Moore Casement(Belfast)Kerry Gatiss(Cambridge)

David Jackman(London)Gavin Perkins(Sydney)Adrian Reynolds(London)


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CONTRIBUTORS | A9

(IVP, 2010) and Planting for the Gospel: A Hands-on Guide to Church Planting(ChristianFocus, 2011). Daniel. 1 Thessalonians.

Daniel I. Block is the Gunther H. Knoedler Professor of Old Testament at WheatonCollege, Illinois, and has written many books, articles and commentaries particularlyon Ezekiel, Judges, Ruth and Deuteronomy. In recent years he has also lectured andpreached in Russia, England, Denmark, China, Greece, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kenyaand his home country, Canada.Judges. Ruth.

Peter Boltis the Head of New Testament at Moore Theological College, Sydney, Austra-lia. He has written several books and articles on the Gospels, including The Cross froma Distance(IVP, 2004) and Living with the Underworld(Matthias Media, 2007), witha special interest in how these magnificent accounts of Jesus communicate his goodnews to our lost world. Introduction to the Gospels.

Gerald Brayis Research Professor of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School in Birming-ham, Alabama, and Director of Research at the Latimer Trust. He has written and ed-ited many books on history, theology and the Bible, including several volumes in the

Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series, and Galatians, Ephesiansin theReformation Commentary on Scripture series (IVP). Biblical interpretation: a shorthistory.

Seulgi Byunis Lecturer in Old Testament at Oak Hill Theological College. Prior to hismove to the UK, he ministered in a number of churches in the US and taught at GordonCollege, Massachusetts. Genesis. Haggai.

Moore Casementhas been the Director of the Cornhill Training Course in Belfastsince it began in September 2009. He qualified and worked as a solicitor for a number of

years, before being ordained as a minister within the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.1 John. Consultant Editor.

Ros Clarkeis Discipleship and Training Pastor at Castle Church, Stafford and is com-pleting a PhD on the Song of Songs at Highland Theological College. In her spare timeshe is a romantic novelist, a knitter and a lazy gardener. Song of Songs.

Ben Cooperis Minister for Training at Christ Church Fulwood and Course Director ofFulwood Bible Training in Sheffield. He has PhDs in both economics and biblical stud-ies and is the author of Incorporated Servanthood: Commitment and Discipleship in theGospel of Matthew(T&T Clark, 2013),Just Love(Good Book Company, 2005), Paul in 3D:Preaching Paul as Pastor, Story-teller and Sage(Latimer Trust, 2008) and The Ethics ofUsury(Latimer Trust, 2012). Matthew.

Martyn Cowan is a licentiate minister of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Hetrained at Oak Hill Theological College and his doctoral research at the University ofCambridge was on the preaching of the Puritan divine John Owen. At present he teach-

es at the Cornhill Training Course in Belfast. Introduction to the Historical Books.

Paul Darlingtonis the Vicar of Oswestry Holy Trinity in the Church of England, andthe author of Evangelical Ministry in a Non-Evangelical Parish(Church Societ y, 2009).He is also Chairman of the Church Society. Habakkuk.

Sophie de Wittand her husband minister at a multicultural community church inCape Town, South Africa called The Message (Church of England in South Africa).Before that she completed the Cornhill Training Course in London and was a student


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A10 | CONTRIBUTORS

worker at St Helens, Bishopsgate. She is the author of One-to-One: A Discipleship Hand-book (Authentic, 2003) and Compared to Her. . . How to Experience True Contentment(Good Book Company, 2012). 2 Timothy.

Mervyn Eloffis the Rector of St James Church, Kenilworth in Cape Town and an asso-ciate lecturer and former vice principal of George Whitefield College, Cape Town. Heis the founding chairman of the Bible Teachers Network, an organization whose aim isto encourage expository preaching in the South African context. He has written on thetheology of Matthews Gospel.Lamentations.

Bob Fyall is Senior Tutor at Cornhill Scotland and Associate Minister at the TronChurch, Glasgow. He taught Old Testament in Cranmer Hall, Durham, also pastoringa church there. He has written a number of books, including work on Job, Daniel, Ezraand Haggai. He is currently working on the volume on 1 and 2 Kings in the Teach theBible series. 1 and 2 Kings. Jonah.

Simon Gathercoleis Senior Lecturer in New Testament at the University of Cambridge.He has written books and articles on Paul, the Gospels and non-canonical literature,including Where Is Boasting? (Eerdmans, 2002) and The Pre-Existent Son(Eerdmans,2006). He is an elder at Eden Baptist Church, Cambridge. Galatians.

Kerry Gatissstudied modern languages at New College, Oxford and in addition tofreelance German translation work has served on the staff of various Chris tian orga-nizations, including All Souls, Langham Place, and St Helens, Bishopsgate, and as aleader on CYFA Ventures. She is a graduate of The Proclamation Trust Cornhill Train-

ing Course and Oak Hill Theological College in London and regularly leads Bible stud-ies and evangelist ic groups for women. Consultant Editor.

Lee Gatissis Director of Church Society, Adjunct Lecturer in Church History at WalesEvangelical School of Theology and Editor of Theologian(www.theologian.org.uk). Heis the author/editor of many books and articles on theology, biblical interpretation andchurch history and has ministered in several Anglican churches.Ephesians. Editor.

Canon David Gibbis Vicar of St Andrews, Leyland in Lancashire. Hosea.

David Gibsonis a Minister of Trinity Church, Aberdeen and an ordained Elder in theInternational Presbyterian Church. He is co-author of a book on Ecclesiastes entitledDestiny: Learning to Live by Preparing to Die (IVP, 2014).Ecclesiastes.

Jonathan Gibson has a PhD in Hebrew Studies from the University of Cambridge, andis the co-editor of From Heaven He Came and Sought Her: Definite Atonement in Histori-cal, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective(Crossway, 2013).

Liam Goligherholds a doctors degree from Reformed Theological Seminary in Jack-son, Missouri, and is Senior Minister of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. He

has written several books, includingJoseph: The Hidden Hand of God(Christian Focus,2008) and The Fellowship of the King: The Quest for Community and Purpose(ChristianFocus, 2003).Joshua.

Julian Hardymantrained for pastoral ministr y at Cornerstone Church, Nottinghamand Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and has been Senior Pastor of Eden BaptistChurch in Cambridge since 1996. He has written two books: Maximum Life: All for theGlory of Godand Idols: Gods Battle for Our Hearts, both published by IVP. 1 Timothy.


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CONTRIBUTORS | A11

Matthew Harmonis Professor of New Testament Studies at Grace Theological Semi-nary in Indiana. He is the author of She Must and Shall Go Free: Pauls Isaianic Gospelin Galatians(DeGruyter, 2010) and a forthcoming commentary on Philippians in theMentor Series (Christian Focus, 2014). Philippians.

David Helm serves as Lead Pastor of the Hyde Park congregation of Holy Trin-ity Church in Chicago, Illinois. A graduate of Wheaton College and Gordon-ConwellTheological Seminary, David is ordained in the PCA. He is also the Chairman of theCharles Simeon Trust, a ministry devoted to equipping the next generation of Bibleexpositors. 2 Peter.

James Hely Hutchinsonis Director of the Institut Biblique Belgein Brussels, where heteaches Old Testament, Biblical Theology and Biblical Languages, and where he editsLe Maillon. He is the author of several art icles on the book of Psalms. Psalms.

David Jackmanserved as Senior Minister at Above Bar Church, Southampton, wasthe founding director of the Cornhill Training Course on biblical preaching and thePresident of The Proclamation Trust. He has written many books and articles on bibli-cal exposition, including studies of Abraham, Judges, Ruth, Matthew, 1 Corinthians, 1and 2 Thessalonians and Johns epistles, and is still active in preaching and trainingpreachers around the world. From text to life: applying the Old Testament. Isaiah.Consultant Editor.

Karen H. Jobesis the Gerald F. Hawthorne Professor of New Testament Greek and Ex-egesis at Wheaton College, a member of the NIV translation committee and author of

several books and numerous articles on the Greek Old Testament and the New Testa-ment.Esther.

Dirk Jongkind is Research Fellow in New Testament Text and Language at TyndaleHouse, Cambridge and Deputy Senior Tutor of St Edmunds College, Cambridge. Hehas an MA in Old Testament, an MPhil in New Testament and a PhD on the transmis-sion of the Greek text of the New Testament. He is the author of a number of scholarlyarticles and books on the history and social world of the New Testament, and is alsoinvolved in mentoring initiatives of the European Leadership Forum as co-leader of itsTheologians Network. The historical reliability of the Bible.

R.C. Lucaswas the Rector of St Helens, Bishopsgate, London, 1961 98. He establishedThe Proclamation Trust in 1986 and is the author of The Message of Colossians andPhilemon(IVP, 2000), The Message of 2 Peter and Jude, with Chris Green (IVP, 1995),and Teaching John: Unlocking the Gospel of John for the Expositor, with William Philip(Christian Focus, 2008). Mark.

Angus MacLeayis the Rector of St Nicholas, Sevenoaks, having worked for a few yearsas a solicitor before being ordained. He has served in parishes in Manchester, Cumbriaand Sevenoaks. He has also been a Member of the General Synod of the Church of Eng-

land since 1995 and is the author of Teaching 1 Peterand Teaching 1 Timothy (ChristianFocus). 1 Peter.

Leonie Masonhelps to train ministry apprentices and Bible study leaders at St Helens,Bishopsgate, London. She trained for ministry at The Proclamation Trust CornhillTraining Course, and Oak Hill Theological College in London. From text to study:small groups and one-to-ones.


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A12 | CONTRIBUTORS

Mark Meynellwas formerly Senior Associate Minister at All Souls, Langham Place,and is (part-time) European Programme Co-ordinator for Langham Preaching andChaplain to HM Treasury and HMRC. Between 2001 and 2005 he was a Lecturer andthen Acting Principal at Kampala Evangelical School of Theology in Uganda. He is theauthor of a number of books, including The New Testament and Slavery(Latimer Trust,2007). Philemon.

Douglas Moois Wessner Chair for Biblical Studies at Wheaton College and chair of theCommittee on Bible Translation (NIV). He has written several commentaries on NewTestament books as well as an introduction to the New Testament (with D. A. Carson).James.

Justin Moteis Director of the North West Ministry Training Course. He has written ona number of Bible books and has ministered in several Anglican churches.Nahum.

Peter OBrienis Emeritus Faculty Member, and formerly Vice Principal and SeniorResearch Fellow in New Testament at Moore Theological College, Sydney, where hetaught for four decades. He and his family served as missionaries in India for ten years,and he has written commentaries and articles on Pauls letters, as well as on a biblicaltheology of mission. Hebrews.

Mark ODonoghueis minister of Christ Church, Kensington. After six years as a corpo-rate lawyer, Mark obtained a first-class degree from Oak Hill Theological College and

was Cit y Minister of St Helens, Bishopsgate for seven years before moving to serve in achurch in West London. He is the author of numerous articles and is currently writing

a book on work. 2 Thessalonians.

Gavin Perkinsis Course Director of Cornhill Sydney. He is also a Senior Assistant Min-ister at St Thomas Anglican Church, North Sydney. He trained at Moore TheologicalCollege and is currently completing a Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity Evangeli-cal Divinity School in Chicago.John.

David Petersonis an Emeritus Faculty Member at Moore Theological College, Sydney,where he teaches on a part-time basis. He is also a Director of Cornhill Sydney, wherehe teaches preaching and Biblical Theology. He served as Principal of Oak Hill Theo-

logical College, London, from 1996 to 2007. He is the author/editor of many books andarticles on theology, biblical interpretation and worship.Acts.

Richard L. Pratt, Jr., is the President of Third Millennium Ministries (thirdmill.org),having taught at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi and Orlando,Florida for twenty-one years. He served as the General Editor for the NIV Spirit of theReformation Study Bibleand has written many books, including Every Thought Captive(P&R, 1979), He Gave Us Stories(P&R, 1993) and commentaries on 1 and 2 Chroniclesand 1 and 2 Corinthians. 1 and 2 Chronicles.

Adrian Reynoldsis Director of Ministry for The Proclamation Trust and Honorary As-sociate Minister of East London Tabernacle Baptist Church. He is the author of Teach-ing Numbersin the Proclamation Trust Teachingseries. Before working for the Trust, hepastored a Baptist church in Hampshire.Numbers. Consultant Editor.

Vaughan Robertsis the Rector of St Ebbes Church, Oxford and President of The Proc-lamation Trust. He is the author of a number of books, including Turning Points(Au-thentic, 1999),Lifes Big Questions: Six Major Themes Traced Through the Bible (IVP,2004), andBattles Christians Face (Authentic, 2007).A Bible overview.


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A14 | CONTRIBUTORS

Melvin Tinkeris the Vicar of St John Newland, in Hull, England. Melvin read Theol-ogy at Oxford University and trained for ordination at Wycliffe Hall. He has previouslybeen Curate at Wetherby Parish Church, Chaplain to Keele University and Vicar of AllHallows, Cheadle. As well as speaking around the country and abroad, Melvin is theauthor of over fifty published articles dealing with a wide range of subjects relatingto ethics and theology. He is also the author of several books, including Why Do BadThings Happen to Good People?(Christian Focus, 2009), Reclaiming Genesis(Monarch,2010) and Intended for Good The Providence of God(IVP, 2012). Titus.

Jane Tooherlectures in Ministry at Moore Theological College, where she is also theDirector of the Priscilla and Aquila Center (paa.moore.edu.au). Prior to joining the fac-ulty at Moore she was in parish ministry in Sydney and London. 2 and 3 John.

Simon Vibertis Vice Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, where he teaches Homilet-ics and Hermeneutics. He trained for Anglican ministr y at Oak Hil l Theological Col-lege and has an MTh in New Testament from Glasgow University and a DMin fromReformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, Florida. He is the author of various books,including The Diamond Marriage (Christian Focus, 2005) and Lives Jesus Changed(Christian Focus, 2010) as well as Excellence in Preaching:Learning from the Best (IVP,2011). Proverbs.

Tim Wardis Associate Director of The Proclamation Trust Cornhill Training Coursein London, having previously been senior minister of Holy Trinity Church in Hinckley,Leicestershire. He is the author of Word and Supplement: Speech Acts, Biblical Texts,and the Sufficiency of Scripture(Oxford University Press, 2002) and Words of Life: Scrip-

ture as the Living and Active Word of God(IVP, 2009). Finding the melodic line of abook.

Robin Weekes is the Minister of Emmanuel Church, Wimbledon. Prior to this, heserved on the teaching staff of The Proclamation Trust Cornhill Training Course inLondon and was the pastor of Delhi Bible Fellowship South in New Delhi while an as-sociate mission partner of Crosslinks.Leviticus.

Paul Williamsonis a lecturer at Moore Theological College, Sydney, Australia. He pre-viously taught Old Testament and Hebrew at the Irish Baptist College. He has authored

a number of books and articles focusing on the Old Testament and biblical theology,including Sealed with an Oath: Covenant in Gods Unfolding Purpose(IVP, 2007).Joel.

John Woodhousewas Principal of Moore Theological College from 2002 to 2013, wherehe has taught for many years. He served as senior minister in Christ Church, St Ives (inSydney). He has written expository commentaries on 1 Samuel, Colossians and Phi-lemon, and is currently writing further Old Testament volumes for the Preaching theWordseries. 1 and 2 Samuel. Colossians.

Chris Wright is International Ministries Director of Langham Partnership. He has

taught in India and at All Nations Christian College, chaired the Lausanne Theol-ogy Working Group for several years, is an honorary Vice-President of Tearfund, has

written a number of books on t he Old Testament and mission, and serves in All SoulsChurch, Langham Place, London. He is the author of a commentar y on Deuteronomy(Baker, 2012). Deuteronomy.


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A BIBLE OVERVIEW

Vaughan Roberts

Rector of St Ebbes Church, Oxford and President of The Proclamation Trust

The unity of the BibleThe Bible can be an intimidating book for many Christians. They believe that it is Gods

word, but it is longer than any other book they have read and much of it does not immedi-ately appear either relevant to their lives or even particularly Christian. Many may havetried to read it all through, but soon came to a standstill in the detailed laws of Leviticus anddecided to stick from then on only with the New Testament, especially the Gospels, and a

few favorite Old Testament stories. When they do venture into less familiar territory theycan feel lost, struggling to know how it relates to the rest of Scripture. That will only changeif they are convinced not only of the authority of the whole Bible, but also of its unity.

The Bible is certainly a diverse collection of material, containing sixty-six books,written by about forty different human authors, in many different styles, over nearly twothousand years. And yet it is also a unity: one book with one divine author and one su-preme subject. All Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16), with the Holy Spirit ensuringthat everything the human authors wrote was exactly as he wanted. This explains theremarkable coherence of the writings, which all focus on Gods plan to save the worldthrough his Son Jesus Christ. Jesus himself made this claim, saying of the Old Testament,These are the very Scriptures that testify about me (John 5:39) and taking those whotraveled with him to Emmaus on a whistle-stop tour of the Bible: beginning with Mosesand all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerninghimself (Luke 24:27).

The story of the BibleContrary to what many believe, history is not cyclical, going around in repeated circlesand never heading anywhere in particular; it is linear. It had a definite beginning, whenGod created everything, and it will have a conclusion, when Christ returns and intro-duces a perfect new creation. The Bible tells the story of the universe in between thesepoints. It speaks of Gods authority, as the one who is in complete control despite humanrebellion against him, and of his amazing grace in rescuing a people for himself throughChrist. His sovereignty is underlined by the fact that he had determined on this plan ofsalvation even before the creation of the world (Eph. 1:4 5). There are four main stages inthe gospel story the Bible tells: creation, fall, promise and fulfillment.

1. Creation (Genesis 1 2)

The first two chapters of the Bible announce Gods creation of everything out of nothingand give us a picture of the way the world is meant to be. Human beings are, uniquely,made in Gods image and given authority under him over the rest of creation. Adam andEve enjoy perfect relationships with God, one another and the rest of the created order.

Sadly this ideal state does not last for long.

2. Fall (Genesis 3)

Adam and Eve listen to Satans tempting words to them through the mouth of a serpentand rebel against Gods rightful authority. Ever since, their descendants seek to live inde-pendently of him with disastrous results, not just for human beings, but for all creation.

All the originally perfect relationships are fractured. Human beings no longer enjoy theblessing of intimate fellowship with God but are under the curse of his judgment andare banished from his presence. Adam and Eve start squabbling, and the battle of thesexes has begun. The natural world is now experienced not just as a friend, but also as an


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enemy, bearing its fruit only through painful toil (Gen. 3:17). That is where God couldhave left us, but because of his great love, the Bible does not end here.

3. Promise

Gods covenant promises

Even in the darkness of Genesis 3 the light of Gods grace shines as he promises that the off-spring or seed of the woman will one day crush the serpents head so that curse will bereplaced by blessing (Gen. 3:15). Gods grace is seen again when he makes a covenant withNoah that he will preserve his creation and never again destroy it by a f lood (Gen. 9:9 11).

Covenant is one of the most important concepts in the Bible and is found in ournames for the two parts of Scripture: Old and New Testament (testament is another

word for covenant). A covenant is a solemn commitment. God commits himself by mak-ing binding promises. The next time he does this is when he calls Abram to himself andmakes promises to him that will have very far-reaching consequences for his descendantsand the whole world (Gen. 12:1 7). The apostle Paul later refers to these promises as thegospel (Gal. 3:8). The whole of the rest of the Bible flows from this covenant with Abram,as God partially fulfills it in the history of Israel in the Old Testament and then finallyfulf ills it through Christ.

There are three elements to Gods covenant in Genesis 12: nation, land and blessing.He promises that Abram (later known as Abraham) will have many descendants who willbecome a great nation. He will give them the land of Canaan to live in and will both blessthem and also bless all nations through them. God later also makes covenants at the timeof Moses and David. These should not be understood as distinct from his covenant with

Abraham, but rather as extensions of it. All these covenants are part of Gods eternal planto save the world through Jesus and are finally fulfilled in him: For no matter how many

promises God has made, they are Yes in Christ (2 Cor. 1:20).

Old Testament history (Genesis 2 Chronicles)

The history books of the Old Testament describe how God graciously works on behalfof Israel in fulfillment of his covenant promises. The focus of much of Genesis is on thefulfillment of Gods promise that Abraham will have many descendants, as God miracu-lously enables his wife to give birth to a son, ensures the continuance and expansion ofthe family in the next two generations and protects them through Josephs intervention,despite the threat of famine. By the beginning of Exodus, however, the Israelites are op-pressed by the Egyptians and are only rescued because God remembered his covenant

with Abraham (Exod. 2:24). He therefore intervenes to redeem them from slavery andmakes them his very own people. At Mount Sinai he gives them his law so that they mightlive under his rule and enjoy his blessing, as Adam and Eve had done before the fall. Thechief mark of this blessing is the presence of God in their midst in the tabernacle. Oncethey enter the land of Canaan under Joshua it looks as if the three promises to Abraham ofnation, land and blessing have been fulfilled.

There are signs, however, that all is not well. The people continue to disobey theLord, even though he had warned them through Moses before they entered the land thatthey would only enjoy his blessing there if they obeyed him; otherwise they would facehis judgment and be evicted from it (Deut. 28:1 2, 15). Despite their sin, God continuesto bless them and raises up rulers for them, of whom the greatest are David and Solomon.

God makes a remarkable covenant commitment to David that one of his descendants willalso be a son of God, and his throne will be established forever (2 Sam. 7:14, 16). Thispromise is initially fulfilled in the glory days of Solomon, who builds a temple as the focalpoint of Gods presence with his people and enjoys great prosperity. But Solomon turnsfrom the Lord and, straight after his death, Israel declines rapidly through civil war, idola-try and division.

Old Testament prophecy

The kingdom divides after Solomons reign into Israel in the north and Judah in the south.God raises up prophets during this period to speak to his people in both kingdoms. The


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prophets are covenant mediators who apply to the people of their day what God hadpromised in the past. God had made it clear through Moses, as the people were about toenter Canaan, that they would only enjoy his blessing within the covenant if they obeyedhim and that they would otherwise be evicted from the land. In the light of this messagethe prophets warn of Gods coming judgment against their sin. This judgment comes forthe northern kingdom when they are destroyed by the Assyrians. A little over a hundred

years later the people of Judah are also judged by God when they are defeated by the Baby-lonians, who destroy the temple and take them into exile.

While the prophets proclaim judgment on the basis of Gods conditional promisesthrough Moses, they also offer hope for the future because of his unconditional covenant

with Abraham. Ultimately Gods commitment to redeem the world is founded not on theirobedience, but on his grace. The punishment of the exile therefore means discipline, butnot divorce. Despite their sin, God has not abandoned them and will still fulfill his promiseto bless them and, through them, to bless the world. The prophets speak of what God willdo in the future in terms of what he has already done in the past, only next time it will be

better. There will be a new temple that will bring blessing to the whole world (Ezek. 40 48),a new king of Davids line who will reign with justice forever (Isa. 9:6 7), a new exodus that

will bring salvation to Gentiles as well as Israelites (Isa. 49:6) and, in the end, a new creation(Isa. 65:17 18).

Jeremiah even prophesies a new covenant (Jer. 31:31 33). This is in continuity withthe previous covenants, as God is not abandoning the promises he has made in the past.The difference, however, is that under this covenant God will finally deal with the sinthat kept ensuring people could never fully enjoy his blessing under the old covenant.

When this new covenant is inaugurated God will write his law on his peoples hearts andcompletely forgive them. The Old Testament ends with Gods people waiting for the com-

ing of Gods Savior King, the Messiah, through whom all the prophecies will be fulfilled.

Promise Fulfilment

OT NT

4. FulfillmentJesus on earth (the Gospels)

Four hundred years pass after the completion of the Old Testament before Jesus beginshis public ministry by announcing, The time has come . . . The kingdom of God has comenear (Mark 1:15). He demonstrates in his life, teaching and miracles that he is the divineSon of God, the Messiah, who has come to bring salvation as the prophets foretold. He hasthe power to put everything right again and he chooses a surprising way to do it: by dyingin weakness on the cross. Having lived a perfect life, he uniquely does not deserve thecurse of Gods judgment on law-breakers, but he willingly faces it in the place of others. Onthe cross Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us so that

the covenant blessings God promised to Abraham can be received by everyone, whetherJew or Gentile, through faith in him (Gal. 3:13 14). In this way he introduces the new cov-enant, which Jeremiah foretold, by his death (Luke 22:20). He is then raised from the deadand ascends to heaven, where he reigns over the whole creation at the right hand of his Fa-ther, and from where he will return at the end of time to bring judgment and final salvation.

The last days (Acts Revelation)

The Bible calls the time between the first and second comings of Christ the last days(e.g., 2 Tim. 3:1; Jas 5:3). This is the period when the New Testament letters were writ-ten and in which we still live today. It lies in the intersection of two ages: this age andthe age to come (e.g., Matt. 12:32). The kingdom of God is both now and not yet. It


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has come with the appearance of Jesus on earth and through his death and resurrection,but it will only come fully at his return. As believers we already enjoy some of the greatblessings of salvation such as justification, adoption and the presence of the Holy Spiritin our lives, but we also experience much frustration, as our experience of salvation is notcomplete. Our bodies are not yet redeemed (Rom. 8:23) and the sinful nature still dragsus down (Gal. 5:17).

The last days begin on the Day of Pentecost when God sends his Holy Spirit to all whobelieve in Jesus to dwell within them and to equip them for his service (Acts 2). The bookof Acts describes how, in the power of the Spirit, the first Christians proclaim the gospelfrom Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. In this way God will continue to draw people intohis kingdom until Christs return.

The new creation (Revelation 21 22)

There will be a great division at the second coming of Christ. Those who continue to rejecthis rule will be judged, but his people will join him in a perfect new creation. This is not

something we ourselves can establish on earth, but will come down out of heaven fromGod (Rev. 21:2). The unity of the Bible is vividly displayed as its last chapter employs im-agery taken from its second. As in Eden in Genesis 2, there will be a river flowing throughthe new creation with the tree of life beside it (Rev. 22:1 3). The harmony Adam and Eveexperienced in the garden will be restored and Gods people will again enjoy perfect rela-tionships with their Creator and Savior, one another and the material world. Then, at last,all Gods promises will be fulfilled and his people from every nation, tribe, people andlanguage (Rev. 7:9) will praise him eternally for his amazing grace.

Biblical theology

Biblical theology is the name given to an approach to the Bible that stresses its unity andseeks to understand each part in the light of its overarching narrative that focuses, as wehave seen, on Gods gospel plan to redeem the world through Jesus Christ. This approachhas many benefits in biblical teaching and preaching.

Providing a map

Many Christians are familiar with isolated sections of the Bible, but have little idea ofthe framework of the whole book. As a result, they quickly get lost in unfamiliar territoryand feel that large sections are best avoided altogether. A basic grasp of biblical theologythrough a simple Bible overview can make an enormous difference and open up previ-

ously uncharted territory. It can be the equivalent of a map that helps readers find theirbearings in any part of Scripture and enables them to navigate the text more comfortably.

Focusing on the gospel

A great deal of our reading of the Bible tends to be driven by our personal concerns, aswe look for particular messages for ourselves, addressing our own interests. God does, ofcourse, speak into the details of our lives through his word, but if we always begin by look-ing for a personal message we are likely to miss the whole point. The Bible is not, first andforemost, full of little messages for me, but is rather about God and his plan to save the

world through Christ. Each biblical book fits within that plan and contributes to our un-

derstanding of it. We will therefore be helped to get to the heart of its message if we ask whatrole it plays within the unfolding revelation of God and his gospel, and only then considerhow it applies to us. This should help to guard us from the moralism that so quickly rearsits head if we approach a text thinking first about ourselves rather than God. The gospelfocus of the whole Bible should remind us that its message is not, first of all, here are lotsof commands you should obey or people you should copy. It rather begins with God and

what he has graciously done for us before it calls on us to respond with faith and obedience.

Exalting Christ

Christ is the heart of the gospel (Eph. 1:10), so if we focus on it in our reading and teach-ing of the Bible, then we will focus on him. That should be true both in our handling of


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the New Testament and of the Old Testament as well. We know that the prophecies pointto him, but the same is also true of the history books, which prefigure him. Everythingthe Israelites enjoyed as a partial fulfil lment of Gods promises to Abraham is a modelthat points to the greater reality that has come in Christ. For example, he is the templein whom we meet God (John 2:21), the perfect sacrifice through whom we have accessto God, and the perfect priest who offers it (Heb. 9:11 14). He also perfectly fulfills the

wisdom literature as he himself is both the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24) and also the onethrough whom we can become wise (1 Cor. 1:30). The more we see the Bibles presentationof Christ and his gospel in all its rich variety, the more we will be built up as his disciples.

When we see that Christ reveals the Father and brings us to the Father, we will glorify him,through his Spirit, in our grateful worship of the triune God.

FURTHER READINGGraeme Goldsworthy, The Goldsworthy Trilogy(Paternoster, 2000)

Michael Lawrence,Biblical Theolog y in the Life of the Church(Crossway, 2010)Vaughan Roberts, Gods Big Picture(IVP, 2002)


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FROM TEXT TO LIFE:

APPLYING THE OLD TESTAMENT

David Jackman

Past President of The Proclamation Trust, London

What is the value of the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament to the twenty-first-centuryChristian believer? For many Bible readers they seem to be primarily useful backgroundinformation, to familiarize us with the context into which the light of the gospel shone atthe dawn of the Christian era. We need to know the history of the people of Israel, through

their long wait for the promised Messiah to appear, and so for many the Old Testament islittle more than a collection of narratives and prophecies from a very remote and distantworld, both culturally and historically. This makes it essentially a collection of Jewishbooks, for the nation of Israel, of mainly antiquarian interest today. That is certainly howmost Christians would view the Apocrypha, and the Old Testament tends to be treatedin a similar way witness how comparatively litt le of it is read or preached. The pagethat the translators have inserted between the two Testaments, famously described byDr. Alec Motyer as the only uninspired page in your Bible, only serves to emphasizetheir separateness.

Yet Bible-believing Christians affirm the unity of the sixty-six books, because oftheir ultimate divine authorship through the wide variety of human writers. All Scrip-ture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16). Paul goes on to point out to Timothy that this is why itis all useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. That is the

whole Bibles job description for New Testament believers, since Pauls category musthave included the whole Old Testament, which Timothy had been acquainted with fromchildhood (v. 15), as well as the growing corpus of the apostolic writings. Similarly, Peterspeaks of the living and enduring word of God on the basis of Isaiahs declaration thatthe word of the Lord endures forever (1 Pet. 1:23 25).

Our approach to the Old Testament must be rooted, therefore, in the New Testamentsacceptance of its continuing divine authority and the apostolic models and methods of itsinterpretation and application to the Church, the body of Christ. W hen we realize that

the whole Bible is one unified grand revelation of Gods character and purposes in time-space history, we start to acquire the keys to unlock its significance for our contemporarycontext. Our ultimate authority is our Lord Jesus Christ himself, the Word made flesh,and when we study in detail his own total confidence in the authority and relevance ofthe Old Testament Scriptures, interpreted, passed on and later developed by his Spirit-ledapostles, we begin to realize that their contemporary neglect, or mishandling, constitutesa major deprivation of Gods intended gracious provision for his people. The Old Testa-ment is not primarily about the history and geography of Israel and the Ancient Near East;its subject and purpose is the self-revelation of God.

An important passage in the New Testament (2 Pet. 1:16 18) provides us with a tem-

plate for our understanding. In this section, Peter is recalling the event that we call thetransfiguration of Christ, described in Matthew 17:1 8, Mark 9:2 8 and Luke 9:28 36.He defends the apostles against the charge of following cleverly devised stories by re-ferring to this historical event, which he (and James and John) witnessed personally. We

were eyewitnesses of his majesty they saw. And they heard the voice from the Majes-tic Glory, aff irming, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. So there

was a divine event (we saw) accompanied by a divinely given explanation of it (weheard). The event together with the explanation (and both parts are vital) constitutesthe revelation. That is the way the Bible always works. God acts in space-time history andgives to the authors of Scripture the divine explanation of the event, so that their inspired

writing becomes the authoritative account of Gods character and purposes. The Bible


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is firstly Gods book about God, before it is his book about us. He is the hero of all theOld Testament narratives. Christ is the focus and center of all the Scriptures. The Bible isthe divine self-revelation of the only true and living God, with all the implications suchknowledge brings for our life in Gods world. Indeed, we might describe the whole Bibleas God preaching God to us.

Jewish scholars divided the Old Testament Scriptures into three major sections, asrecognized by Jesus when he addressed his disciples after his resurrection and told themthat everything must be fulf illed that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Proph-ets and the Psalms (Luke 24:44). This is the customary threefold division, beginning withthe Pentateuch or Torah (law), the first five books of the Bible, the books of Moses fromGenesis to Deuteronomy.

The Prophets then include what we normally call the narrative or history books(Joshua to 2 Kings), which were known as the former prophets, because the history isrecorded from the divine perspective with the authority of Gods word spoken. The latterprophets are the fifteen books that are divided into the three major prophets (Isaiah, Jer-

emiah and Ezekiel) and the twelve minor prophets (Hosea to Malachi). All the rest of thebooks make up the writings, of which the book of Psalms is the leading and the longestbook, and whose title therefore can also stand as the representative name for the wholesection. So the whole Old Testament is included in Jesus affirmation that they all speak ofhim and he is their fulf illment. Their relevance to every generation is therefore firmly es-tablished by dominical authority. Not surprisingly, the apostles affirm and underline thisteaching. Writing to Christian believers in Rome, Paul states that everything that was

written in the past [the Old Testament] was written to teach us, so that through the endur-ance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope(Rom. 15:4). Again to a predominantly Gentile church, in Corinth, he reviews the history

of Israel in the wilderness and affirms, Now these things occurred as examples to keepus from setting our hearts on evil things as they did (1 Cor. 10:6) and again, These thingshappened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom theculmination of the ages has come (1 Cor. 10:11).

If Christ is the divider of human history and the focus of all the Scriptures, then he isthe essential key to unlock the continuing message and application of the Old Testamentto the contemporary Church, in every generation. Two thousand years after the great-est event in the history of planet earth, we can only rightly read Gods self-revelation inthe Old Testament through the lens that is Christ. It is Martin Luthers famous point that

while we have to read the Bible forward, we can only understand it backward. On ourside of the incarnation, cross and resurrection, the fact of those great events necessarily

transforms our interpretation and application of Old Testament texts. So when the risenLord met up with two of his followers on the road to Emmaus, on Easter Day, beginning

with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scripturesconcerning himself (Luke 24:27). When we realize that the Lord Jesus is the center ofall the antecedent revelation, we are neither committed to a frenetic hunt to find him inevery verse of the Old Testament (Wheres Jesus in this text?), nor to squeeze him in bysome fanciful connections. Rather, we must use the tool to interpret Old Testament Scrip-ture Christianly, or Christologically, which is the question, What difference does it maketo this text that Jesus has come? To extend that a litt le, What do we understand this textto mean in the light of his coming, his ministry, life, death, resurrection and ascension?

That is the sure way to prevent us from being satisfied with a Jewish rabbinical exegesis.This is neither guesswork nor fanciful invention. We have some very strong anddetailed examples in the New Testament epistles of the methodology of the apostolicpreachers and teachers in dealing with the Old Testament from a fulfillment motif. StudyGalatians for the relationship of the law to the freedom of the gospel, or Hebrews for thecontinuity and discontinuity between the covenants in the two Testaments. Both are notonly providing essential interpretations, they also model the methodology that is appli-cable to every part of the Old Testament corpus. However, before we examine that in moredetail, it is worth emphasizing that this principle downgrades a number of popular, butinadequate, models of interpretation and subsequent teaching. For example, it is verycommon to take major figures of the Old Testament and to build up character studies


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that use them as a basis for moralizing homilies. This is especially common in teachingchildren, where the vivid narratives of the Old Testament are told for all their captivatinginterest, only to have a moral tacked onto the end. Boys and girls, we ought to be likeDaniel, or, We ought not to be like Samson. The character then becomes the focus ofthe story and God is sidelined. The classic example elevates David as the little guy whobecomes a giant-killer, with appropriate exhortation to be courageous, as he was, in deal-ing with our giants. But the fact is that God is winning the victory for his people Israelthrough his agent, the Lords anointed, upon whom the Spirit of the Lord has come inpower (1 Sam. 16:13). This then points forward to the great victory of the anointed Son,the Messiah, won for his people over all the hosts of wickedness but that is entirely ig-nored. The focus is all on us, rather than on God, and so the intended message of Scriptureis muted while we search for the one little stone which we may have in our armory todeliver the knock-out blow.

The need to be relevant to life is, of course, hugely important in our application of thebiblical text, but the danger is that this becomes so dominant that we rush into it with-

out any justifiable methodology. This is the it reminds me of . . . school of interpretationwhich, indulged in uncritically, can lead us far away from the intention of the biblical text.Once the text is removed from its biblical context, historically and theologically, it canbe made to mean many different, sometimes contradictory things. The words on theBible page say There is no God (Ps. 14:1), but the context is the fool speaking in his heart.Detach a character from history, psychologize his or her situation, add some moralizing,spiritualizing ideas from the framework of our Christian subcultural norms, and you cango anywhere with an Old Testament narrative, but if the meaning and applications arenot engendered by the text, interpreted in its context, the result will be bereft of spiritualauthority and effectiveness.

So, how can we follow a better way? First, we need to let each part icular text breatheits own particular air. Every intended passage is set within a l iterary context, which re-lates it to what precedes and follows it. That will have an effect on our understanding of itsmeaning. The larger units are themselves part of the context of the whole book, of whichthey form building blocks, so they will relate to the major themes and purposes of thatbook, in its unique individual contribution to the sixty-six. That means paying attentionto the historical context, both of the writer and the events he may be describing. In turn,the whole book fits somewhere into the whole sweep of salvation history, on the timelinethat runs throughout the whole Bible, from creation to the new heavens and new earthof the eternal kingdom. This is the broadest theological context, requiring us to considerboth its antecedent theology and its subsequent fulfil lment motif. Please note that this is

fulfil lment and not replacement, because the redemptive purposes of God are alwaysmoving forward to their ultimate completion as part of the same story, always growingdeeper, richer and more glorious as the plan of salvation unfolds progressively.

In the light of these convictions, we want to begin by studying the details of our pas-sage carefully to establish its meaning. We do this by asking of its first readers, or hearers,What did it mean to them then? This will involve treating the genre, or type of literature,seriously, so that we seek to hear the passage speak in its own authentic voice. Of course,this was almost entirely in Hebrew originally, with only a few passages in Aramaic. But wecan be thankful that we live in a generation when many years of careful textual researchhave served to provide us with a highly accurate and reliable translation of the Hebrew

manuscripts handed down. However, the different genres do have distinctive character-istics and it is helpful to work along with these in order to get the heart of the meaning, tocut with the grain of the wood rather than against it.

In narrative, for example, most stories are told for more engaging purposes thansimple historical record. The facts are presented within an historical framework, whichis designed for a teaching purpose. The most common structure is the presentation of aproblem, with one or more attempts to solve it, usually unsuccessfully, which brings thestory to its climax in the form of a turning point, resolving the issue and leading to certainoutcomes. The turning point usually provides the major teaching point. So, with the storyof Jonah, the unresolved issue that the prophet does not want to obey God and preach toNineveh is not solved by him taking a ship to Tarshish and going below deck to flee from


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the L. This only produces another problem, the violent storm, which is not solved bythe sailors cries to their gods, or their attempts to row to the land, but only when Jonah isthrown overboard in recognition of the sovereignty of the God of heaven who made thesea and the dry land. The sea is calmed. The sailors worship the Lord. But there is a newproblem Jonah is in the sea resolved by Gods provision of a great fish to swallow thereluctant preacher. And so the story proceeds in this pattern, each turning point provid-ing a teaching point about the character and purposes of God. This big picture thinkingsaves us from becoming fixated on minor details, just because they have some resonance

with a New Testament concept.Much of the rest of the Old Testament is written in poetic form, where the two parts

of each verse stand in parallel to one another, the second part relating to the first in elabo-ration, or contrast, or explanation. Many of its effects are produced by plays on words,puns and rhythmic changes, which are not easy to render in English, but annotation canconsiderably deepen our understanding. Of course, it is not always easy for us to catchthe emphasis or tone of voice of the original. However, the more we examine the text in

its context, the more we can be confident that we are not distort ing its intended meaningor significance.

After all this work on text and context, literary and historical, we come to the theo-logical context, which is the continuing spiritual significance of the text to life today. If

we start our application with the question, What is God teaching us about God here?we can be sure that there is an unbroken, rock-solid line of application from God then toGod now. His word endures forever; his nature is unchanging; his faithfulness is timeless.The first application of any Old Testament passage is the eternal character, promises andpurposes of God. Reading this through the lens of Christ, we shall see many ways in whichthe Old Testament teaching is clarified, focused and brought to fruition in the person and

work of the Lord Jesus, full of grace and truth. Another unchanging factor will be thesinful heart and fallen nature of humanity, lost in rebellion against the Creator. The cloth-ing will be different, the cultural expressions hugely varied, but the heart is still deceitfulabove all things and beyond cure (Jer. 17:9) and the applications, of sin in the Old Testa-ment to our contemporary equivalents, will not be difficult to make.

However, there are many points of discontinuity and difference, within the prevail-ing climate of Gods unchanging faithfulness, because Jesus has come. God always dealt

with his people in the context of the covenant that he foreshadowed in his promise thatthe seed of the woman would bruise the serpents head (Gen. 3:15). To Abraham this be-came the promise that God would make of him a great nation, indeed the father of manynations, and that to his descendants he would give the land of Canaan. Fulfilled through

the books of Exodus to Joshua, this became the foundation on which everything else isbuilt in the Bibles story. From this basis comes the constitution of the nation of Israel as aredeemed people. Rescued both from slavery in Egypt and from Gods judgment, throughthe Passover, they are gathered together as one nation under the law of God, given at Si-nai. The sacrificial system, the tabernacle and later the temple, the Davidic monarchy, theexile and return, together with the growing expectation of the coming of the Messiah, areall examples of the faithfulness of God to his covenant and all have their equivalents inthe new covenant, under Christ. Trust and obedience are still the way to live in the enjoy-ment of Gods covenant mercy, but the prophets, priests, kings and wise men of the oldorder have all now found their completion and fulf illment in Christ.

Paul describes the church of believers in Jesus Christ as Lord, both Jew and Gen-tile, as the Israel of God (Gal. 6:16). God entered into an eternal covenant, sealed withthe blood of his Son through his atoning death and activated by his glorious resurrectionthrough the gift of the promised Holy Spirit (Gal. 3:14), with all who repent and believe thegospel. But this covenant needs no sacrificial system, since Christ has once for all madea full and sufficient atonement. It has no temple, since Jesus is in himself the meetingplace between God and man. The promise of land is no longer limited to Canaan, sincethe whole earth is the Lords and his kingdom cannot be contained within one nationsborders. As a universal people in this world from every nation, tribe, people and language,

we are awaiting the return of our Savior King to bring in his everlasting kingdom, withthe consummation of all things. The Old Testament must always be read through these


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lenses, so that we do not become diverted into legalistic righteousness by its ritual, regu-lations and rules actions that were right for Gods people in Old Testament times, butare not right for us today. Rather, we are to enjoy the freedom for which Christ has set usfree and grow in our likeness to him, as the image of God is restored in us through the in-dwelling Holy Spirit. That is our business in living the Christian life in todays challenging

world. The more we read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the wonderful teaching of theOld Testament, the more we shall revel in the glories of Christ to whom it all points. Themore we rejoice in the immeasurable spiritual blessings of the gospel of grace, the more

we shall live out its teaching in our experience as we grow increasingly into the likenessof our great God and Savior.

FURTHER READING

Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture(IVP, 2000)Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament(Eerdmans, 1999)

David Jackman (ed.), Preaching the Living Word(Christian Focus, 1999)William Philip (ed.), The Practical Preacher(Christian Focus, 2002)


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APPLYING THE NEW TESTAMENT

Charlie Skrine

Curate at St Helens, Bishopsgate, London

The goal of all our hard work as Bible teachers is application; we hope and pray to be usedby God in connecting his word to his peoples lives. Many of us, however, feel nervousabout application. We feel stuck somewhere between constant calls for more applica-tion and our worry that we are not sure what the right application is. Often the available

preparation time for our Bible study or talk seems to get used up in understanding trickyissues in the text, and we hope our group can work out the application for us.In part that is because we have picked up the idea that application is the place of

freedom in our Bible work. There are many of us who would never dream of tamperingwith the doctrinal message of a passage, but who are tempted to sit much more loosely tothe text when it comes to application. For some that feels positive here is my chance tobe creative and to say exactly what I think those listening need to hear in their situation.For others it feels much more negative I do not feel equipped to decide what God wantsme to do, let alone make those decisions for other people.

But as we move into thinking about application, nothing has changed. The big aim isstill to let the Bible speak for itself, because if we do that, then we are allowing our God tospeak for himself. The aim is to make the applications that the biblical author would havemade if he had been writing his book to the people we have in front of us. We want, as ineverything else we do with Gods word, not to get in the way of the text, but to help peoplehear Gods voice in the text.

I try and stick to one easy rule (which I call the Roberts Rule after the person whofirst put it this clearly to me):

This passage applies to us in the exact same way it applied to them . . .to the extent to which we stand in the same place as them.

The first half of the Roberts Rule reminds me that I am using any brain power and

creativity God has given me in order to get closer to what God has decided is important,and what God wants people to do; I am not free to make independent decisions about

what I would like the text to be saying. But the second half reminds me that there is sti lla great deal of hard work remaining once I have worked out what God was saying to thefirst readers in their context. We have already thought about the Old Testament (see theprevious essay by David Jackman) where we stand on a different side of the death of Jesusfrom the original readers. But there is still plenty to think about as we come to the NewTestament. We will think, first, about rightly crossing the gap between their situation andours, and then, second, about how to go from the broad aim of a passage to the detailedapplications.

From their situation to oursWe need to take care to correctly handle the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15), and to giveserious thought to the differences between their situation and ours. But we do not needto despair. There will be cultural differences between twenty-first-century Shepton Mal-let and first-century Rome, for example, but they will not be as big as we might think.God has not changed, and human beings are essentially the same throughout time. Allcultures will reflect our human condition as those made in the image of God but ruinedby sin and the fall. We also do not need to be held to ransom by experts, as if there are partsof the New Testament that have been impossible to understand for one thousand eighthundred years, that only the latest discovery can unlock for us. New discoveries may be


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very helpful, but the Bible is a sufficient revelation from God; it contains everything weneed for faith and conduct. That means that even in questions of background and culture,

we should expect the Bible itself to provide us with everything that is essential for under-standing our own culture, and the culture to which any passage was addressed.

I would like to share three helpful ways I have been taught for working at the gapbetween them and us.

1. Going to Corinth

In the diagram below, the dotted line represents the shortcut route to application that Iam often tempted to take, as if I could go directly from what the passage said then to whatit means now. Far better is to travel round both of the solid lines; I need to go from whatGod said to the f irst audience (in Corinth or wherever the book was addressed), and onlythen to what it means for us.

GOD

US(twenty-first-centuryNew York/ Nairobi/

Whitby)

THEM(first-century

Corinth/ Rome/Jerusalem etc.)

Let me give some examples to explain the difference this makes.

(a) If we read 1 Corinthians 13 and come directly to us (dotted line), then all the ap-plication will be about encouraging perfect, loving Christians to be even betterat love. That is a sermon I have preached at a wedding. But if we spend some timereading what the Bible tells us about the situation in Corinth in 1 and 2 Corinthi-ans and in Acts, then a very different picture emerges. Just from 1 Corinthians 12and 14 we can see that they have not loved each other very well at all, particularly

in the area of their different gifts. In fact, 1 Corinthians 13 is a rebuke; they arenot patient or kind; they are envious, boastful and proud (v. 4). The original ap-plications could not have included, Well done for being so loving; keep goingas you are. And as we travel from them to our contemporary situation we willbe looking for ways in which our church groups compete about giftedness orimportance, so that we can apply this passage in our situation in the closest pos-sible way to its intended original application.

(b) Ephesians 2:1 10 was very important to me as I became a Christian. My back-ground was very religious, and I was in danger of thinking my salvation wasfrom myself, by works so that I could boast (my own version of vv. 8 9). I tooka dotted-line route straight to myself, and applied the passage as a rebuke Ishould stop trusting my works, and trust Jesus instead. I praise God that I un-derstood that truth and applied it to myself. But I think that was an example ofGods kindness in using even imperfect Bible-handling for his purposes. Morerecently a colleague has helped me think further about the situation of the Ephe-sians. From the rest of the letter, the material in Acts about opposition to Pauland the strong local feeling about the temple of Artemis (Acts 19) we get a verydifferent impression. It seems that they feel very insecure about their positionand are worried about whether Gods plans will come to anything. The themeof Ephesians 2:1 10 would still be something like, God saved you without youdoing anything, but in that context the aim would be much more like Ephesians


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1:18 19, that you may know . . . his incomparably great power for us who be-lieve. And the applications that come out of the first situation would be far moreabout reassurance that the God who saved you is powerful enough to followthrough on his great plans for you.

In case anyone might mishear me, I do not think it would be wrong to point outto a religious person that their works will not save them from this passage; but I

would prefer to do that from a passage where that fits the authors aim, and nexttime I teach Ephesians 2, I will only make that a secondary application, after Ihave applied with the grain of the situation in Ephesus.

(c) Mark 10:41 45 is a more complicated example. We might agree on a theme sen-tence such as, Jesus came to serve by dying as a ransom, but we need to ask

which of the situations in the passage is the right one to go to, to control ourprimar y applications. In the original sermon by Jesus the situation is made veryclear in verses 35 41. Jesus is speaking to proud, competitive disciples and the

aim is, Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. Butwe also need to think about the situation of the readers of Mark. Mark is the di-vinely inspired author who has selected this part of Jesus teaching in order tohelp his readers. Over three chapters Mark has been teaching proud, competi-tive disciples to serve other Christians, but he has also been building a pictureof disciples who are entirely unable to meet Jesus very demanding standards ofholiness. And in chapter 10 that is crystallized in verses 26 27. They ask, Whothen can be saved? and Jesus replies, With man this is impossible, but not withGod; all things are possible with God. With that background the main applica-tions Mark is intending for his first readers have to do with recognizing that weneed Jesus to die as a ransom for us. We cannot be good enough, but he will do

the impossible for us.

Again, it might be right to make secondar y applications about Christian leadershipto a group who needed to hear that, but I would always start by saying that Marks primarypurpose is to teach us about how the death of Jesus saves us.

2. Not about you, silly

Even if the situation in the passage maps easily onto some people in our twenty-first-cen-tury situation, we might still need to make adjustments before we are applying rightly tothe actual people in our group or congregation. Here are some examples.

(a) Ephesians 5:22 33 is addressed to married people, but the vast majority of thepeople in the Bible study groups I lead are not married. I could do my best toapply as if the passage was, in fact, about unmarried people. Those applica-tions might include, Care for other Christians as much as you care for yourself(v. 28), or, Be reassured that Jesus loves you (v. 25). I have found, however, thatit is far better to take the real primary applications of the passage and think hardabout the extent to which my group stands in the same place as them. The firstaudience would have included unmarried people, not least all the children andthe bereaved. Why do they need to know what Paul says to wives and husbands?These applications include, If you want to marry in the future, look for some-

one you could live like this with, or, If you want to marry in the future, prayand work toward a character that would enable you to live like this, or, If youknow any married people, here is what to pray for them and encourage themin, or even, Here is what to say when someone asks you why Christian marriedcouples are different from everyone else.

(b) 2 Timothy is full of wonderful encouragement to Timothy to persevere in suf-fering for the gospel. But for the vast majority of Christians in our groups andin the first audience when it was written, 2 Timothy is not about you, silly. It isabout a senior pastor-teacher with specific responsibilities to an entire region,in a specific situation just after the arrest of Paul the apostle. That means thatthe exhortations Join . . . . . . in suffering for the gospel (1:8) or Do the work of


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an evangelist (4:5) can only ever be secondary applications to most people. Theprimary applications to congregations of normal Christians include, Encour-age your pastor-teacher in their suffering or evangelism, or, Next time youmove churches, look for a church led by someone with a ministry like the onePaul encourages Timothy to have.

3. Change cultures without changing the meaning

The

Documents

NIV Proclamation Bible Sampler