Kevin DeYoung's Blog, page 45

Can that be Right? The Use of Old Testament Prophesy in the New Testament

It’s Christmas season and that means renewed attention on Messianic prophecy. Ah, the familiar sounds of “a virgin shall give birth,” “the government shall be upon his shoulders,” and good ole “Bethlehem Ephrathah.” It makes a churchgoer feel all warm and cuddly inside.

And frankly, a bit confused.

If we’re honest, the way the New Testament uses the Old Testament seems a little far-fetched. I mean, we can see, just like the scribes did, that Micah 5:2 is a foretelling of the Messiah’s birth in Bethlehem (Matt. 2:1-6), but was Hosea really making a prediction about the Christ just because he happened to mention “Egypt” (Hos. 11:1) and Jesus’ family fled to Egypt (Matt. 2:15)? If we interpreted Scripture like Matthew does, we’d be chased out of our pulpits and small groups, right?

The New Testament’s use of the Old Testament is a complicated subject. Even evangelical scholars don’t agree on all the particulars of the best approach (see for example this book and D.A. Carson’s review). Still, there are several principles, clarifications, and reminders that can help us make sense of the Apostles’ seemingly willy-nilly use of the Old Testament.

(For the most part, the following points were gleaned from Doug Moo’s chapter “The Problem of Sensus Plenior” in Hermeneutics, Authority, and Canon [edited by D.A. Carson and John Woodbridge]. Jared Compton makes many of the same points in his fine Themelios piece “Shared Intentions? Reflections on Inspiration and Interpretation in Light of Scripture’s Dual Authorship.”)

1. Keep in mind the NT’s purpose in referencing the OT. We often think every time the OT is referenced it must mean the NT author is trying to exegete the OT passage. But there is no rule of inerrancy which says the NT author must always be attempting to give the correct interpretation of a given passage. The NT author may not be attempting an interpretation at all. If someone asks me, “How is the editing work going” and I say, “It’s tedious–line upon line, precept upon precept” this doesn’t mean I’m trying to exegete Isaiah 28:10. I’m simply employing the familiar language of a familiar passage.

2. Along these lines, remember the NT often uses the OT simply as a vehicle of expression. The NT writers were hugely familiar with the OT. It’s no wonder they employed its vocabulary. In the same way, Westerners might use a line from Shakespeare or the Bible because it is familiar, but without intending to explain its context or original meaning.

3. The NT may press home the significance of a passage without trying to explain its original meaning. For example, Moo points to Paul’s use of Deuteronomy 25:4 (“You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain”) in 1 Corinthians 9:9. Critics argue that Paul is taking the Law of Moses out of context by saying this passage is about paying ministers. But surely Paul is justified in pulling a fair inference out of the passage and applying it to his own context.

4. We must allow for a broader view of “fulfillment” language. A lot of trouble could be avoided if we understood that the use of plēroō (fulfilled) does not have to mean “and so this verse predicted that Jesus would do or say this thing that just happened.” As Moo says, “The word is used in the New Testament to indicate the broad redemptive-historical relationship of the new, climactic revelation of God in Christ to the preparatory, incomplete revelation to and through Israel” (191). In other words, “fulfilled” does not mean the OT text in question is a direct prophecy. Consequently, Jesus flight to Egypt can fulfill Hosea 11:1, not because Hosea ever intended to predict a Messianic trip down south, but because Jesus is God’s greater Son who is the embodiment of a new Israel. Jesus is on an Exodus journey of his own. Hosea did not predict the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt, nor does Matthew suggest the prophet meant to do so. But Matthew does see that the story of Israel’s exodus, alluded to in Hosea, is brought to its full redemptive-historical revelation in Christ.

5. Similarly, some OT passages are fulfilled typologically. This is different than allegory. And allegory looks for meaning behind the text where typology finds a developed meaning that is rooted in the text (see Moo 195). Jesus’ passion can be seen as a fulfillment of David’s heart cry in Psalm 22 not because David thought he was predicting the death of the Messiah, but because David, as the king and as the promised progenitor of the Messiah, was a type of Christ whose cries anticipated the final dereliction of David’s greater son.

6. OT prophecy is full of examples where there is a near and far fulfillment. Isaiah 40, for example, was a word of comfort about the return from Babylon, but later we see it also was a word about John the Baptist who would prepare the way for the Messiah (Mark 1:2-3). Much of the prophetic witness implicitly anticipates a future, fuller, often eschatological fulfillment. Isaiah may not have known that his words about the virgin were Messianic, but this does not mean he’d be surprised to know they were. Israel was always waiting for the everlasting kingdom and the final Deliverer. I think the prophets understood that what they foretold (and forth-told) was for their day, but it could be for the future as well.

Two Other Questions

Of course, the foregoing principles raise two thorny questions:

1) Did the OT authors say more than they knew? That is, is there a meaning in some OT texts that we know by the NT but would have been unknown to the authors? Excellent scholars like Walter Kaiser have argued strenuously that there can be no double meanings or fuller meanings in the OT text. While Kaiser is certainly right to insist that many problem passages can be “solved” by paying careful attention to the original context and the theological background, I agree with Moo and others who argue, “There are places where the New Testament attributes to Old Testament text more meaning than it can be legitimately inferred the human author was aware of” (201).

Does this mean we are doomed to “hermeneutical nihilism?” I don’t think so. First, every interpretation of Scripture must be constrained by Scripture. Many scholars now argue for “a canonical approach” to understanding the NT use of the OT. The Bible is a literary whole. In some sense, the OT is an incomplete, unfinished book. But once the whole is complete, we are able to make better sense of earlier parts and see things that the authors at an “unfinished” time may have missed. Second, we must remember that none of this undermines authorial intent. The NT authors did not find meanings in the OT the original authors never intended. Perhaps the human authors were unaware of the fullness of their words, but do not forget there is also a Divine author. Under the inspiration of the Spirit, the NT writers were able to understand the authorial intent that may not have been fully known to the OT human authors. The NT does not find a meaning that isn’t there, only (and on occasion) a meaning that was not obvious to one half of the writing team.

2) The second question raised by this discussion is whether we can imitate the hermeneutic employed at times by the NT writers. With Moo, I would give a firm “that depends.” On the one hand, we do not have the Spirit’s inspiration to know the mind of God in the same way. So we should be extremely cautious about finding “fuller” meanings in the text. On the other hand, we should read the Bible with same theologically informed, salvation-historical, whole canon approach that we see employed in the NT use of the OT (Moo 206, 210).

Lessons Learned

One of the practical lessons from all this is that we should avoid a simplistic approach to OT-NT fulfillment. Sometimes with good apologetic and evangelistic motives we will point to all the OT prophecies about Christ and then run down a list of all the NT fulfillments. There is truth here, but if we set things up as “here’s the prediction; here’s the prediction come true” we are bound to confuse people. We may even cause people to doubt the prophetic witness rather than trust it. All the prophecies cited in the NT are true and truly fulfilled, but it’s all a bit more complicated (and actually more glorious) than we sometimes let on.

The other lesson is that we need not be embarrassed to use a strong theological lens on top of our appropriate grammatical-historical lens. This is not an invitation to allegory or a reason to search for hidden spiritual meanings like Super Mario finds his mushrooms. But it does mean we should, like the NT writers did, read the Bible across the whole Bible. We should see Jesus in all of Scripture. We should read the end in the light of the beginning and the beginning in view of the end. Above all, we can celebrate that Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of all that was imperfectly prefigured in the OT. This alone will make a fuller, deeper, richer Christmas story.

Monday Morning Humor

I hope this guy enjoyed his money, his scooter, and his fireplace. He earned ‘em.

2015 Magnify Conference Now Available

The six sessions from the 2015 Magnify Conference are now available on both the Magnify site and on our church’s webpage. I was especially helped by the conversation Ligon and I had on Friday evening. The last ten minutes (starting at 46:00) were deeply moving as Ligon talked about the Lord’s work to sanctify him over the past several years.

All six sessions can be accessed at the links above.

Session 1 (Duncan) – Work Because God Is at Work Within You (Philippians 2:12-13)

Session 2 (DeYoung, Duncan) – A Conversation Between Kevin DeYoung and Ligon Duncan

Session 3 (Duncan) – Kill or Die (Romans 8:12-13)

Session 4 (DeYoung) – Sanctification Struggles: What We All Agree On, and What We May Not Agree On

Session 5 (Duncan) – The Marrow, Marshall, and Murray Oh My! How Reformed Theology Has Wrestled with Sanctificaiton

Session 6 (DeYoung, Duncan) – Question and Answer

You may also want to check out Ligon’s Sunday morning message from 1 Peter 1:3-5, Born Again to Hope.

A Modest Proposal: Don’t Tell Everyone about Every Shooting

I have a modest proposal for our networks and news shows and the rest of our 24 hour media: don’t tell everyone about every shooting.

Seriously.

Make a pact to hold your peace. Be rogue and go silent. Decide ahead of time to treat the next story as a non-story. We don’t need to know every bad thing that happens everywhere.

Local reporters, local stations, local pundits—go ahead and report on local news. If a shooting happens down the street, we should know about it. We may need to take precautions. We may have friends in the neighborhood. Our lives may be directly affected. But why turn every local tragedy into a national nightmare?

This isn’t about indifference to suffering or refusing to hear about other people’s problems. This is about putting sanity ahead of selling advertisements. It’s is about journalists prizing accuracy over urgency. It’s about media outlets having enough self-restraint to realize a ratings explosion isn’t worth the price of panic and misinformation. We don’t have to stop the world yet again to let another killer have his day. I’m not saying we cease trying to find solutions to widespread societal problems. But it’s usually difficult to tell what those solutions are in the moment. The grief and sadness are obvious, the sensationalism and posturing don’t have to be.

No one considers it insensitive that we don’t hear about every car accident or every cancer case or everyone who falls off of something—even though Americans are more likely to die by each of these means than by mass shootings. It’s not making light of horribly bad news to point out that nothing whips the media (and then the rest of us) into a frenzy like horrible things happening in the world. Scandals, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, floods, abductions, shootings—we are bombarded by bad news every day. Must we hear all of it?

Telling everyone everything about every shooting is a bad idea for at least two reasons. First, because it unnecessarily alarms people. And second, because it unnecessarily encourages copycat behavior.

As to the first, we face an enormously greater risk of being killed on the highway in a car than being shot by a madman in the mall or in a movie theater. Let’s not inspire fear where it is not warranted.

As to the second, why make the worst people in this country the most well known? I’m not surprised that a deranged and evil person ready to end his life would want to make a big splash doing it. Why not get some revenge? Why not be the star in your own reality television show? Big time headlines, no earthly consequences.

I suppose it’s impossible, on this side of the social media revolution, to completely quarantine information. But I bet we could do more than we think. Do you remember the last time you saw a streaker flash his nasty business across the field at a sporting event? I don’t, because the broadcasts don’t show them anymore. They look the other way. They don’t dignify the wacko with 3.5 seconds of fame. I don’t know, maybe crazies jump on the field all the time and we just don’t see it anymore. But I doubt it. Some smart person realized at some point that if a streaker streaks in the woods and no one is there to see it, the streaking is a lot less fun.

Couldn’t we try the same thing with shootings? Why not simply look the other way—not in the local circle of care, but on the national level of political pandemonium? Call the police. Stay out of harm’s way. Let friends and family and pastors and neighbors weep with those who weep. When all is said and done and all the facts are in, look at the big picture and try to make a difference. But no more fear for those who should not be afraid. And no more fame for those who deserve none.

Discouragement in Ministry

Guest Blogger: Jason Helopoulos

Anyone who has labored in ministry for any period of time knows that a consistent companion accompanies ministry. This companion raises its head for moments, days, months, and even years. It can threaten our joy, steal our delight, and hinder our zeal. What is this all-too-familiar companion? Discouragement. After conducting an informal survey with a few dozen pastors and lay-people over the past few months, the following are the top five reasons given for discouragement in ministry along with a few encouragements about how to battle through these struggles.

Hidden Nature of the Work:  Ministry is an odd endeavor. We minister the Word, pray, counsel, disciple, evangelize, teach, and preach, but seldom do these efforts produce immediate and concrete “results” that prove our labor was beneficial and effectual. We labor in the spiritual realm. Evidence of our labors is often impossible to see, which can be discouraging.

Encouragement: We must remind ourselves that we can’t rely on what we see or don’t see as evidence of an hour, day, or even month well spent in ministry: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood” (Eph. 6:12). Though the invisible nature of ministry can be discouraging at times, it also serves as one of the most encouraging aspects of gospel ministry. We never quite know what the Lord is doing or has done. A conversation we thought meaningless leads an individual to conversion; a poor sermon shakes a sinner from their stupor; weeks of agonizing and apparently ineffective prayer leads to an answer months later. God calls us to spiritual work, and we don’t always see what is happening. We must remember that our calling is simply to be faithful in what he has called us to and to use the means he has appointed. He does the rest.

Pride: Pride is an enemy of ministry and a harbinger of discouragement. We forget the call of our Lord, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:26). The problem most of us encounter in ministry is not that we are too theocentric, christocentric, or even anthropocentric, but that we are too “mecentric.” We fail to remember that ministry is not about me or even my local church, but about Him and His glory (1 Cor. 10:31). Pride can lead us to be discouraged in ministry because we expected God to do more through us and even for us.

Encouragement: I once heard another pastor say something that resonated with my own experience in this realm. He said, “When I came to saving faith, I thought, ‘Lord, do great things through me for the sake of the Kingdom.’ After graduating from seminary, I thought, ‘Lord do great things through me in my denomination.’ After a few years in ministry, I thought, ‘Lord do great things through me in the local church.’ Now, after a few more years of ministry, I think, ‘Lord, just help me to finish the race!'” With the cross before our eyes, everything becomes clear. Humility is one of the great weapons we can employ against discouragement.

Inappropriate Expectations: Discouragement sets in because we expected something different or something more from our ministry labors. The slowness of growth in sanctification astounds us. Surely our church, children, or even own lives should have progressed further. We expected more fruit and longer lasting fruit. Demoralization sets in.

Encouragement: Sometimes the great work the Lord is about is not the work He is doing through us, but the work He is doing in us. Don’t miss it! Unmet expectations themselves can be a sign of His working in us. It puts us in the posture of limping, humility, and dependence. This doesn’t always feel like God’s grace to us, but anything that leads us to our knees and looking up to Him is grace, indeed!

Betrayal: One of the hardest experiences in ministry is betrayal by those you have loved, ministered to, and sacrificed for. It can depress your soul, distance your heart, and destroy your resolve. May it never be!

Encouragement: Our Lord Jesus knew betrayal greater than any we shall experience. Matthew states gravely, “Then all the disciples left him and fled” (Matt. 26:56). Matthew goes on to detail Peter’s famous denials. Paul writes about Demas, his friend and companion, betraying him for love of the world (2 Tim. 4:10). Betrayal will come in ministry. The world and sin exercise a strong pull, and some of the people we love the most will disappoint us the most. We should be prepared for it. However, we also want to continually be shocked by it. Otherwise, cynicism can set in and it has no place in our ministries. Be shocked, but not devastated. Let the wounds given to us by those within the church, lead us to fall more in love with the church rather than out of love with her.

Conflict: Maybe the greatest discouragement in ministry stems from the regular conflict which seems to attend it. We are sinners ministering to sinners; that is always ready ground for conflict. Some conflicts will be warranted and others will seem silly and petty, but they all take their toll.

Encouragement: Like betrayal, conflict will come. As Peter said, “do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12). If you are embroiled in conflict, you are in good company and the Lord’s grace and peace is sufficient. Fight the temptation to become jaded. Embrace conflicts as an opportunity to show forth the love and grace of your Savior and the gospel we proclaim. Quickly dismiss the petty conflicts and refuse them the authority to keep you up at night. When false things are said about you, remind yourself that the humble man need not take any offense at the accusations or ridicule of others, because he knows he is far worse. And if false things have been said, you rest because the Lord is your judge and He knows the truth (1 Cor. 4:4).

Other Encouragements

Finally, I would like to offer a few other encouragements to fight discouragement in ministry. (1) Read biographies of the saints who have come before us. There is great encouragement in learning about their lives, ministries, and perseverance in the Lord. (2) Read letters and diaries from previous ages. As an example, I am currently reading the letters of George Whitefield and John Newton. Their heartfelt struggles and prayers have lifted my soul and directed my eyes heavenward in profound ways. (3) Find friends like Philemon, who “refresh” your soul (Phil. 1:7) and surround yourself with them. (4) Attend to the means of grace. Don’t be so busy about ministry that you miss being ministered to. Sit under the Word preached, come to the Lord’s Table, steal away moments to pray. (5) Continually look for glimmers of encouragement in your ministry. I often remind myself and others that we miss what the Lord is doing because too often we are looking for something grand and magnificent, when he has provided a steady stream of encouragement with little glimmers of His working effectually through and in us. It robs our soul of delight and joy to miss these glimmers of encouragement.

Ministry is hard work, but it is glorious work. Something every Christian is given the responsibility and privilege of enjoying. Let’s not allow discouragement to steal the delight from us.

Monday Morning Humor

Stuffed With Gratitude

John Piper explains how gratitude crowds out nastiness and the smallness of your heart:

Gratitude is such a great and wonderful think in Scripture that I feel constrained to end this chapter with a tribute. There are ways that gratitude helps brings about obedience to Christ. One way is that the spirit of gratitude is simply incompatible with some sinful attitudes. I think this is why Paul wrote, “There must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks” (Ephesians 5:4). Gratitude is a humble, happy response to the good will of someone who has done or tried to do you a favor. This humility and happiness cannot coexist in the heart with coarse, ugly, mean attitudes. Therefore the cultivation of a thankful heart leaves little room for such sins. (Future Grace, 48)

An Ancient Prayer of Thanksgiving

From the Didache, Chapter 10 (late 1st or early 2nd century):

We give you thanks, Holy Father,

for your holy name, which you have caused to dwell in our hearts,

and for the knowledge and faith and immortality that you have made known to us through Jesus your servant;

to you be the glory forever.

You, almighty Master, created all things for your name’s sake,

and gave food and drink to humans to enjoy, so that they might give you thanks;

but to us you have graciously given spiritual food and drink,

and eternal life through your servant.

Above all we give thanks to you because you are mighty;

to you be the glory forever.

Remember your church, Lord,

to deliver is from all evil and to make it perfect in your love;

and from the four winds gather the church that has been sanctified into your kingdom,

which you have prepared for it;

for yours is the power and the glory forever.

May grace come, and may this world pass away.

Hosanna to the God of David.

If anyone is holy, let him come;

if anyone is not, let him repent.

Maranatha! Amen.

But Where Are the Nine?

Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising god with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?” (Luke 17:15-17)

Everyone reading this blog has reason to give praise to God. The question is whether we will go on our thankless way like the rest of the former lepers, or turn around and fall at Jesus’ feet like the Samaritan. Are you part of the one or one of the nine?

I find it easy to ask God for things. I find it relatively easy to confess sin, perhaps because I have so much of it and feel guilty for it. It is harder for me to give thanks, not because I think I’m too proud to say thank you, but because I don’t have my eyes open to see all that God has done and is doing.

All of us, I imagine, got sick in the past year. And almost all of us got better. Have we given thanks? If we are getting sicker, maybe even approaching death, have we given thanks for the grace to make it this far and for the grace that will lead us home?

There is so much God has done for us: jobs, paid our bills, paying our bills at church, safe travel, safe surgeries, miraculous provision for little babies over the past year. We’ve had good test results, open doors, and unexpected blessings. Have we thanked God?

Did you sleep last night? Did your kids? Will you eat tomorrow? Have you seen people recently converted? Are their relationships in the process of being healed? Did you sell your house or get married or finish school? Have you enjoyed the encouragement and support of the church? Have you enjoyed laughter and sympathy with friends? We’ve known guilt. We’ve received grace. Will we live out gratitude?

We aren’t all blessed in the same ways. But we all have been blessed in innumerable ways. Some return to Jesus with praise. Others do not. Which prompts Jesus to say two things: “Your faith has made you well” and “Where are the nine?”

Doctrine Matters: Eternal Life Depends Upon It

Christianity is much more than getting your doctrine right.

But it is not less.

You can have right doctrine and not be a Christian. You can know all sorts of true things about Jesus and not be saved. The Devil is not unaware of who Jesus really is. The first beings in the Gospels to recognize the true identify of Christ are the demons. You can know true things and not be a Christian.

But you cannot be a Christian without knowing true things.

Some doctrines are absolutely essential. You can know some truths and still be lost, but there are some truths, without which, you will not be found. What we believe about Jesus is one of those truths.

Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. (1 John 2:24-25)

If you are interested in abiding with Jesus and abiding with the Father, you will care about the truth abiding in you. We will not know God unless we know the truth. Which is another way of saying: You do not get to heaven without theology. The promise of 1 John is that if the truth abides in you, you abide in God and you will receive what is promised to you: namely, eternal life.

So if you care about eternity–if you care about your friends, your children, your parents who do not know Jesus–you will care to tell them and to plead with them about Christ. Because if they do not know the Son–no matter how “spiritual” they are and non matter how nice they are and no matter how many positive things they say about God, all the good things they say about God or how nice they are–they do not know the Father.

Let us not send people into the world with merely a vague notion that Jesus saves without teaching them particulars about the Jesus who does save. Jesus is a Savior for every kind of person, but not every kind of Jesus saves.

Do you know Jesus Christ? Do you know this man, this God-Man, this Son, this Savior, this King, this Christ? Will you get to know this Jesus and never budge from him—the one we find in the word, the one abiding in you by the Holy Spirit, the one you received when you became a Christian? It is not an exaggeration to say that heaven hangs in the balance. Your eternal happiness depends upon it.