Homiletics: "Biblical Interpretation Then and Now" (David Dockery)

David Dockery. Biblical Interpretation Then and Now: Contemporary Hermeneutics in the Light of the Early Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1992). 

In this introductory work, David Dockery offers a synthesis of the hermeneutical methods of the early church from Jesus to Augustine, from the first century to the fifth century. His concern is not so much to assess the relative accuracy of patristic interpretations in light of Scripture, nor to summarize the content of their thought, but to unearth the principles and methods that patristic exegetes utilized in order to interpret the Scriptures. 

Accordingly, although he references numerous leading lights from the early church, he focuses his attention on the representative works of Justin, Irenaeus, Origen, Chrysostom, Augustine, and Theodoret. He then seeks to relate his synthesis to contemporary hermeneutics, a feature that he considers somewhat unique to his work. 

While the synthesis is accurate, well-balanced, and helpful, Dockery’s application of it to contemporary hermeneutics is brief and therefore fairly superficial. Nevertheless, the work of scholars and pastors alike will benefit from this book. 

Exegesis: Some Thoughts on Revelation 1:3

"Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near." 

Revelation 1:3 

Since Revelation has been granted by the Father to Jesus Christ, and through him to an angel, the Apostle John, and the church around the world (1:1-2), the one who reads it aloud is blessed. To be blessed (μακάριος, makarios) is to experience a joy in God that is not subject to the ebb and flow of life in this world. To takes John’s book in hand, gather the people of God, and read it aloud to them will cause the one so doing to experience this kind of joy because in the reading he will become part of the process of revealing God’s truth to God’s people. And, of course, the reason John highlighted the one who reads it “aloud” is that this was the typical way of presenting the Word of God to the gathered people of God in the first century. 

Notice that John introduces the word “prophecy” here (προφητεία, prophēteia), meaning an authoritative word from God either applied to a current situation or with regard to a future situation or both. In this case, the word is appropriate, for this revelation has to do with things “that must soon take place” and with things that have already taken place. And while the word here for “soon” (τάχος, tachos) means “without delay, at once, speedily” (Analytical Lexicon, Friberg), the things to follow may stretch out over centuries or millennia of time because God’s sense of timing is not the same as ours. 

In addition to the one who reads the prophecy aloud, those who hear it read will likewise enter into the joy of God, assuming that they keep what is written, for they  will gain insight into the things of God, the meaning of their present circumstances, and the certainty of his purposes and plans in the world. The word here for “keep” (τηρέω, tēreō) means to guard or protect something, and thus to “keep” the prophecy of God is value it, protect it, and obey it. In addition to what I have mentioned, John says that those who keep the revelation will be blessed, “for the time is near.” Again, this doesn't necessarily mean that the end of all things is moments or days away, but it does mean that we are in the final stage of the present age and that God will soon bring the current order of things to its appointed end. Therefore, those who keep the words of Revelation will be blessed, for they will be welcomed into the eternal joy of their Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

The Doctrine of Revelation: General Revelation

God exists, God created, God created human beings in his image, and he reveals himself to them in two primary ways: general revelation and specific revelation. This week I want to say a few things about general revelation, and then next week I say a few things about specific revelation. 

When we speak of general revelation, we're referring to the fact that God reveals himself through creation (see Psalms 14:1, 19:1-6, 33:6; Acts 14:17, 17:22-31; Romans 1:18-23). Historically, theologians have included in this category the physical universe and everything in it, the flow and details of human history, and human personality (since we are made in the image of God). To put it succinctly, all things exist to display and magnify the being, power, and beauty of God. 

The Scholastics of the middle ages, and most notably Thomas Aquinas, referred to this type of revelation as “natural theology” to distinguish it from “special or revelatory theology” which I’ll say more about in a moment. 

General revelation is indeed an “unveiling of God” and yet it is limited because it gives us few specific details about God. All of creation screams that God exists but it says almost nothing about precisely who he is and what he’s like. It says almost nothing about his names, his character, his purposes, his will, his ways, and so forth. And furthermore, even where creation is clear (e.g., about the power of God), we in our sinful nature are prone to distort what it plainly displays. 

Because of this, there arose quite a lot of debate, especially in the sixteenth century, about whether or not it is proper to refer to creation as a revelation of God at all. I won’t go into the details of the debate, but suffice it to say that in the end the theologians of that era concluded that creation is indeed an unveiling of God but that it’s insufficient and open to much misinterpretation because of human sinfulness. 

This leads us to the second type of revelation, specific revelation, which I'll touch on next week. For now, consider the words of Psalm 19:1-6 and reflect on how all creation declares the glory of God. 

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat” (English Standard Version).

Homiletics: "Puritan Preaching in England: A Study of Past and Present" (John Brown)

John Brown. Puritan Preaching in England: A Study of Past and Present (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2001 [1900]). 

John Brown's Puritan Preaching in England is a compilation of nine lectures on the subject that were delivered at the Yale Divinity School in October, 1899. It is thus of limited use in some respects, and yet presents a lively and edifying account of the subject matter. 

Brown defines "Puritan" in a broad sense as those who have given more emphasis to the Scriptures in their life and preaching than to their various ecclesiastical traditions. Defined as such, he was compelled to begin his series of lectures with a consideration of the pre-protestant preachers Charles the Great, the “Preaching Friars,” and John Wycliffe, each of whom, to some extent, made Protestantism and Puritanism possible. He then considers the ministries of such leading lights as John Colet and the reformation preachers, the Cambridge Puritans, Thomas Goodwin, John Bunyan, and Richard Baxter, concluding with a treatment of the then contemporary ministries of Thomas Binney, Charles Spurgeon, R. W. Dale, and Alexander Maclaren. 

The common thread that weaves through this array of preachers and  ministries is that they possessed a fervor of devotion to God and a closeness of fellowship with him that was centered on the reading, study, memorization, and meditation upon Scripture. This lively attachment to God and his Word produced preaching ministries that were faithful to the Scriptures, instructive for the people of God, and full of the zeal that makes the Scriptures come alive. Indeed, the heart of Puritan preaching is the Word of God come alive in the midst of the people of God. Brown concludes that this heart, rather than the particular manner of preparation and delivery, should characterize the modern pulpit as well. 

Exegesis: Some Thoughts on Revelation 1:1a

"The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place." 

Revelation 1:1a, ESV 

The word here for "revelation" (ἀποκάλυψις, apokalupsis) means "to cause something to be fully known," and thus it refers to an uncovering, a disclosing, or a revealing (Analytical Lexicon, Friberg). In the NT, the word is used “only of disclosure implicitly linked with a divine plan, purpose, or action” (see Rom 2:5; 8:19; 1 Cor 14:6; Eph 1:17) and it is “explicitly associated with Jesus...with a focus on recipients” (see Luke 2:29-32; Rom 16:25-27; A Greek-English Lexicon, Danker). 

Therefore, it is neither unusual nor surprising that John calls his book "the revelation of Jesus Christ," a phrase which has three distinct and interrelated meanings. First, the revelation John is about to unfold belongs to Jesus Christ, for it was given to him by the Father. Second, the revelation John is about to unfold was communicated to him by Jesus, even if through his chosen angel (1:1b). Third, the revelation John is about to unfold is ultimately Jesus himself. Of course, more than his being and glory are made visible in these sacred pages, but all that is revealed is ultimately centered on him. 

Accordingly, Revelation is essentially a capstone of biblical theology, for it draws on and brings to crescendo much, if not all, of what's already been revealed by the Father about the Son from Genesis to Jude. As Daniel Akin notes, “In 404 verses, with 285 Old Testament citations and as many as 550 Old Testament allusions, we discover not a closed book but an open book” (Christ-Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in Revelation, 4). That is, Revelation is intimately and intricately interwoven with the entirely of the divine, specific revelation of Christ, and thus, in order to properly interpret it, we must learn to look backward more than forward. In other words, the certain revelation of Genesis to Jude is a better interpretive guide to Revelation than the uncertain circumstances and events of present and future history. 

The Doctrine of Revelation: What is the Bible?

What is the Bible? While we could answer this question in any number of ways, let's simply get to the heart of the matter and say that it is a revelation of the being, glory, and purposes of God for the exaltation of his name and the instruction of peoples and persons. 

The word "revelation" means to unveil or uncover something, and again, God himself is primarily what's unveiled in the pages of the Bible. This unveiling is necessary because, on the one hand, God is very great and beyond our natural and exceedingly limited capacity to understand, and on the other hand, we are sinful and therefore woefully incapable of seeing what we would otherwise be able to see of God (for example, see Isaiah 40:6-31). 

Accordingly, God has made himself known to human beings in two distinct and interrelated ways which we call general revelation and specific revelation. By general revelation we mean the unveiling of God in creation, the natural order, and the ebb and flow of history. By specific revelation we mean the Bible in sixty-six books and two parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament. 

Over the next two weeks (on Saturdays), I'll say more about the nature and implications of general and specific revelation, but for now let me encourage you to take some time and contemplate the following three things

• The greatness of the being and glory of God 
• The sinfulness of the human heart and human societies 
• The desperate need we have for the general and specific revelation of God if we're to understand the nature of life, self, society, and God himself. 

Homiletics: "Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present" (by Gerald Bray)

Gerald Bray. Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1996. 

Biblical Interpretation has become something of a classic work for those whose labor is teaching and preaching the Bible in the context of a local church. In it, Gerald Bray presents a thorough summary of the history of hermeneutics from pre-Christian to modern times. He is guided by the conviction that the local church is the proper place for the reading, study, and application of the Scriptures rather than the academy, while acknowledging that the ongoing ministry of the church needs to be informed by the thoroughgoing scholarship of those who love and serve Christ in academic circles. 

This book is therefore both academically respectable and broadly accessible to pastors, leaders, and members of local churches. Bray commences his work with a treatment of various issues proper to hermeneutics throughout the ages (divine revelation, the nature of the canon, the relationship of the text to the life of the church, and tensions inherent in the interpretation of the Bible). He then surveys the history of biblical interpretation in three parts: from ancient times to the dawn of critical study, from the dawn of critical study to the entrenchment of the historical-critical method, and various late-twentieth-century alternatives to that method. He concludes by outlining what he thinks will be the immediate future of biblical interpretation and thus briefly touches on issues of linguistics, text criticism, the historicity of the Bible, and the growing global dominance of the English language in biblical and theological studies. 

Each major chapter is organized into several sections: an outline of the period or subject, a summary of the major figures relevant to that period, concepts and issues relevant to that period, the major hermeneutical methods utilized in that period, and an explication of one or more biblical texts that most influenced or characterized that period. 

Bray’s work follows well established lines and is therefore not novel, but it is a most-helpful summary of the history and complexities of biblical interpretation and I highly recommend it to all who are interested in the faithful interpretation and proclamation of the Word of God.