Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Prophetic events


One of the issues in the current debate over "Christotelism" is whether grammatico-historical exegesis rules out typology. Many scholars claim that apostolic exegesis violates grammatico-historical exegesis inasmuch as NT authors don't understand OT texts or events in the same way OT authors understood them. They are superimposing a different meaning onto the original. Supplanting the original sense. 

There is, however, considerable evidence that OT writers understood some OT persons, places, and events typologically. This isn't just a matter of how NT authors understand the OT, but how OT authors understand the OT. A typological interpretation of the OT is not unique to NT writers. In the OT itself, we already have typological motifs, viz. new Eden, new Exile, new Exodus, new David. This views certain events as paradigmatic events with subsequent counterparts. 

Far from violating grammatico-historical exegesis, it is consistent with the grammatico-historical method to make allowance for how OT authors understood OT history. Indeed, it would contradict the grammatico-historical method if NT commentators failed to take their cue from how OT authors understood OT history. 

Of course, one reason many scholars reject typology is because they operate with a secular outlook. They don't believe in a God who prearranges history so that OT persons, places, and events have this symbolic, forward-leaning significance. That's why they regard typological interpretation as fanciful. Their underlying objection is metaphysical rather than hermeneutical. They deny the teleological nature of OT history. They don't think persons, places, or events can be prophetic. 

1 comment:

  1. The whole post was helpful Steve, but the last paragraph is, in my estimation, the crux of the issue with Enns and co. They long ago, whether self-consciously or not, lost faith in the God who rules history. Consequently, their blinkered hermeneutic, which gestures toward a Christian understanding of the OT, is simply an inconsistent expression of a pagan metaphysic.

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