Hermeneutics and Homiletics: The Old and New Testaments

Given the overwhelming scope of the independent doctoral course I took in 2011, I spent very little time studying the nature of interpretation and proclamation in the Old and New Testament era. However, I wanted to include it as the first in a series of historical epochs because in the Bible God both reveals himself and reveals how to interpret what he has revealed. That is to say, as we pay careful attention to how later biblical authors interpreted and appropriated the writings of earlier biblical authors, we learn how to read the Bible in a way that is pleasing to God. God himself has provided us with a sketch of God-centered hermeneutics, not by means of a well-defined process but by means of the writings of inspired interpreters. Thus, as we prayerfully approach the Word of God over time, we can discern the difference between issues that are necessary for a right interpretation and application of the will and wisdom of God, and issues that have a modicum of importance but are less than necessary.

Judging primarily from the words and works of Jesus, we see that the most important key to the interpretation of the Bible is Christ himself—not merely the idea of Christ but Christ himself. Indeed, the genesis of the Christocentric hermeneutic is the speech of Jesus who stated as a matter of fact that Abraham had seen his day, and that Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalmists had written of him (John 5:46; 8:56; Luke 24:44). Jesus did not claim that everything written in the Hebrew Scriptures was directly about him, but in pondering what he said we must at least acknowledge that he, as the fulfillment of so many types and prophecies, is indeed the interpretive key to all of Scripture. The whole must be interpreted in light of its beginning and end, and Christ is the Alpha and the Omega (Rev 1:8; 21:6; 22:13). That is, he is the one through whom the Father created and sustains all things, through whom the Father reveals his glory and nature, through whom the Father has spoken and effected salvation for all who embrace Jesus as their all-sufficient Savior (Heb 1:1-4; 9:13-15). Jesus himself is, therefore, the key to rightly understanding the will, wisdom, and ways of God as articulated in the pages of Scripture.

The Apostles, then, as humble and studious followers, took their method of interpretation from Jesus and advanced it into the following generation (see, e.g., Acts 2:1-41; 9:22; 17:3; Hebrews). The Christocentric hermeneutic was neither their invention, nor that of the patristic authors, nor that of modern scholars like Dennis Johnson. It was the invention of Jesus who was and is and always will be the locus of life, revelation, and meaning. In sum, we may say that the basic hermeneutic of Christ and the Apostles was an eschatological typology centered on the person of Christ—not the idea of Christ but of Christ himself. 

Therefore, as we read each passage of Scripture, we should prayerfully consider how each part of the story of God points to or is fulfilled in Christ. Since the person of Christ is the center of hermeneutics and homiletics, it follows that prayer must be a thoroughgoing part of the process of both interpretation and proclamation. For we can only gain eyes to see the presence of Christ on the pages of Scripture and the applications of what we see as we commune with the One who is one with the Father and the fulfillment of all his purposes, promises, and plans.

Growing in Grace by Sharing the Love of Christ

The Apostle Peter drew his second letter to a close with these wise and pastoral words: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18). The word “grow” is an exhortation and a command, and it implies that if we’re to progress in Christ we must play an active role, by the grace of Christ, in building habits that nurture that progress. Therefore, I am offering a series of devotionals this spring and summer on eight essential habits that help us to grow in grace. For today, let’s consider the place of evangelism in the Christian life.

To grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, we must flow with the grace and knowledge of Christ toward others. To be shaped into the image of him who saved us, we must join in his mission to seek and save the lost. We must learn to be rivers rather than reservoirs, for reservoirs stagnate and breed death but rivers thrive and breed life.

One day while Jesus was teaching at the temple complex in Jerusalem, he “stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive…” (John 7:37-39). It’s amazing enough that Jesus, who is God over all, would lavish his grace upon us by giving his life-giving Spirit to us. But it’s nearly incomprehensible that he would then cause his Spirit to flow through us like a river so that others may be blessed as well. As the Lord promised Abraham two millennia earlier, “I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2). He blessed Abraham to be a blessing, and by his amazing grace, he does the same for us.

This is why I say that to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, we must flow with the grace and knowledge of Christ toward others. We must share the love of him who has loved us, so that others might also be enfolded into that love. As we embrace the mission of Christ, we will feast on the joy of Christ and be shaped into his image, from one degree of glory to another.

Therefore, my encouragement to us today is this. First, let us seek and savor Christ every day of our lives. The more we humbly receive from him, the more we will naturally overflow with him. The more we enjoy him, the more we will speak of him, for our lips praise what our hearts ponder. Second, let us pray and plead with Christ on a daily basis for the lost. Let us talk to Christ about people, before we talk to people about Christ. Let us pray with faith and plead with tears that our family, friends, acquaintances, and neighbors would come to know the gracious Author of Life. Finally, let us go with Christ and thus grow in Christ for the glory of his name, the good of others, and the lasting joy of our own souls. Lord Jesus, help us to hear and heed your Word.

Living by Faith: The Faith of Moses, Part 1

Having helped us contemplate the faith of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, the author of Hebrews now turns our attention to Moses, Joshua, and Rahab and gives a fair amount of textual space to their journeys. Over the next several blogs, I’m going to write in the mode of “first-person narrative” and essentially speak as though I am Moses, Joshua, and Rahab. Along the way, I will take some creative and interpretive license, but please know that this is not an attempt to add to the words of the Bible, rather, it’s an attempt to help us better hear, understand, and believe the Bible.

As for Moses, as great as he was, he was just a man, and when he rises amidst the great cloud of witnesses to testify to the faithfulness of God, he might say something like this. “Hello, everyone, my name is Moses and I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you and make his glorious face to shine upon you. It’s an honor for me to stand and say a word or two about the faithfulness of God because he has been very good to me for a very long time. From before I was born to the days of my youth, to the crossing of the Red Sea, to the top of Mount Sinai, to the borders of the Promised Land, to the top of the mountain of transfiguration where I stood in glory with Elijah and Jesus himself, all the way to this present moment: God has been faithful to me and I want to testify to this fact.

“Let me start by telling you about the day that the Lord called me up onto Mount Sinai for the third time. While I eagerly ascended its slopes that day, I must say that it was actually a low point in my life. Israel, after being delivered from Egypt by the grace and power of the Lord, had just sinned a horrible sin against him by worshiping a false idol and calling it by his name. Perhaps that doesn’t seem like such a big deal to you, but what if your spouse had sexual relations with another person and tried to comfort you by saying that they had called that person by your name? How would that make you feel? The sin of Israel was outrageous, Beloved, and in his just wrath, God punished the people for their sin, after which he showed tremendous restraint and poured out unspeakable grace upon them as well. But God’s grace aside, I was grieving over what had transpired.

“However, one day the Lord instructed me to go up onto the mountain because I had asked him if I could see his glory. I had been with the Lord so many times and he had graciously revealed his heart and hand to me in so many ways. You’ve probably read in the Bible that I had the privilege of having a sort of face-to-face relationship with the Lord, and I felt that. I was very grateful for that. But I still had this longing in my heart for something more. I wanted to see him in a more tangible way. I wanted to be able to touch him, even if I didn’t literally touch him. I wanted to behold the God I loved so much, and who had been so faithful to me. What I’m trying to say is that it wasn’t curiosity that motivated me to ask him for this, it was love. And so I said, ‘O Lord, will you please show me your glory?’ And praise be to his holy name, he said, ‘Yes.’ Well, he said, ‘Yes, but I’m only going to show you my back side,’ which I know sounds strange but which I’ll explain in a few moments.

“So there I was up on the mountain, waiting for the Lord to answer my prayer. My heart was beating fast and my breath was a little hurried. I was scared and excited, kind of like the feeling you have when you know you’re about to meet someone very great. And then it happened. I wrote about this in Exodus 34:5-7. The Lord descended upon me in the form of a cloud as he had before and I knew that the cloud was his glory but this time it felt different.

"Lo and behold, as I strained my eyes to see what the Lord might reveal, I noticed that he was actually standing there with me in that sacred place. How can I possibly explain what I felt in that moment? God Almighty who had done such great and marvelous things in my sight was standing with me on the mountain although I could only see his back. At the time I didn’t understand, but later I came to see that I was beholding Jesus in part. I was looking at his form but I wasn’t allowed to see his face, and yet, what I saw took my breath away. I could never explain the feeling I had in that moment, however, I can say that when you finally see your great and gracious Savior face to face, you’ll understand. Believe me, you’ll understand!

“While I stood there gazing on his form, the Lord took me by surprise and spoke in audible words. I had expected to see his glory because he told me that he was going to show me that in part, but I was surprised to hear his voice. Over time, my life came to be shaped by these words, and indeed, the rest of God’s activity in history and all of his revelations in the Bible were shaped by these words.

“As the Lord passed by me, he proclaimed his name and said, ‘The Lord, the Lord [‘Yahweh, Yahweh’ or ‘I Am, I Am’], a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation” (Exodus 34:6-7).

“Oh there are so many things I could say about what God said to me on that day but let me mention just a couple of them. God’s name means, “I Am.” He is God and there is no other. He created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, and he is in perfect control over them forever and ever. It is this God, the only God, who said that he is gracious, merciful, and slow to anger. Oh, of all the things he could have said to me on that particular day, blessed be his holy name! It is this God who said that he is steadfast in love which means that he keeps his covenants. It means that when he makes a promise, he fulfills it no matter what. So when he adds another word and says ‘I am abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,’ he saying that he’s faithful to keep his promises.

“The faithfulness of God is not an abstract attribute of God, rather, it means that when he says something he fulfills it. It means that he does everything he says he will do. And I’m here to testify today that you can take this to the bank: God is indeed steadfast in love and faithful to all his words. I have seen this with my own eyes, over many years of time, and you will see it too if you simply put your trust in him and cling to what he has said.

“You must remember that God spoke these history-shaping words just after the precious people he had redeemed and delivered from Egypt turned their backs on him and committed adultery against him. The people were neither steadfast in love nor faithful. Rather, they worshiped a false god of their own making and called it by the name ‘Yahweh.’ O Beloved, this was an evil act, it was horrid, it was unthinkable, and the Lord was right to pour out a small measure of his anger upon them. But then he forgave them and he called me up on to the mountain and he showed me his glory in some measure and he said, ‘Moses, my precious servant, this is who I am: I am steadfast in love and I am faithful. I am not like the people. I am holy, holy, holy and my word is a solid rock upon which you can build your life because I am a solid rock on which you can build your life. I will never break my covenant because I the Lord am faithful.’ 

“How can I explain what I felt in that moment? I bowed my face to the ground and worshiped our God. I say, I worshiped our God from the depths of my heart. I respected him so profoundly. I admired him. I loved him with a love I had never felt before. I was in awe of him. We did speak about some other things that day but I’ll have to leave that for another time. For now, I want you to know that up on that mountain I savored his words and I thought back on my life and I realized that what he said to me was true for me: God had been faithful to me and he’ll be faithful to you." 

Hermeneutics and Homiletics: Introduction

In the spring of 2011, I took a Doctor of Ministry course at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School entitled, “Hermeneutics and Homiletics,” that is, the science and art of interpreting and preaching the Bible. One of the required course readings was Dennis Johnson’s fine work, Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ from all the Scriptures. Part one of this book, and particularly chapter four, provides an overview of the history of hermeneutics and homiletics which both aided my understanding of the subject and exposed a significant gap in my knowledge.

Specifically, Johnson helped me to see how little I knew about the interpretation and proclamation of the Bible over the last twenty centuries, and how significant a bearing this history has on current issues and debates. Since my Doctor of Ministry concentration was preaching, I thought this gap unacceptable and thus requested an independent reading course which was eventually entitled, “Historical Survey of Hermeneutics and Homiletics.”

I set two objectives for the course. First, I aimed to develop a broad and general understanding of the history of the relationship between hermeneutics and homiletics in the Christian church. By God’s grace, I fulfilled this aim by reading a little over five-thousand pages of primary and secondary material, and by building a basic mental framework which is still in the process of being clarified, strengthened, and built out. Indeed, the course along with my continued studies since then have exposed more gaps in my knowledge than they have filled.

Second, I aimed to gain a basic familiarity with the relevant literature in and about each historical epoch. To some extent I achieved this aim via my reading and a couple of tools I began to develop then and am still working on now, namely, a summary chart of the most influential people in the history of hermeneutics and homiletics along with their primary works and a bibliography that includes the major works on the subject epoch by epoch.

Over the next several weeks, or perhaps even months, I plan to post my summary statements about the seven major epochs in the history of hermeneutics and homiletics, namely, (1) the Old and New Testament era, (2) the early church, (3) the early middle ages, (4) the late middle ages, (5) the Reformation, (6) early modernism, and (7) late modernism and postmodernism. I may also post my bibliography at some point along the way, however, it’s still so incomplete that I’m not sure how helpful it will be to others!

For now, please join me in celebrating the faithfulness of God in guiding his people for several millennia now in the skill and practice of interpreting and proclaiming his Word for the glory of his name, the upbuilding of his people, and the salvation of the nations! And join me in celebrating this eternal promise from the God who speaks: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (I 55:10-11). 

Growing in Grace by Christian Community

The Apostle Peter drew his second letter to a close with these wise and pastoral words: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18). The word “grow” is an exhortation and a command, and it implies that if we’re to progress in Christ we must play an active role, by the grace of Christ, in building habits that nurture that progress. Therefore, I am offering a series of devotionals this spring on eight essential habits that help us to grow in grace. For today, let’s consider the place of Christian community in our walk with Christ.

So far in this series we have considered the place of the Word of God, praising God, praying to God, fasting, and giving in the life of the growing Christian. Today I want to add a simple but very important idea, specifically, that we are designed by Jesus to grow in these and other ways together. Life in Christ is life together. This idea is not hard to understand or see on nearly every page of the New Testament. The difficulty comes in the living.

In the early days of the church, those who believed in Jesus Christ were utterly committed to the worship of Christ, and they were utterly committed to one another. They shared in a host of spiritual blessings together, and they shared in life and even material possessions together. They were neither communists nor communalists, but they did believe that their bond in Christ was the defining bond of life and the way they lived from day to day served as proof of what they believed (see Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-37).

As time went on, serious issues arose within the church that threatened to tear apart the unity they enjoyed in Christ. They, like us, still struggled with sin, and at times they really hurt each other. But the book of Acts boldly testifies that regardless of their internal struggles, the bond they shared remained because the bond they shared was Christ himself. Life together was not easy, but it was possible, and unstoppable, because the devil had to defeat Christ in order to destroy the church. Not likely to happen!

When the Apostles later wrote the New Testament, they gave much counsel regarding life together, including the famous string of one another commands that exhort us fix our eyes on Jesus and press on with one another. Taken together, these commands show us (1) that life together is the desire and command of Christ upon his people, (2) that life together is not easy, but (3) that life together is possible, profitable, and inevitable because it depends on Christ himself who has promised to build, prosper, and protect his church.

Life in Christ is life together. In order to grow in Christ we must do so together. It’s hard at times, but it’s good, and again, the power for pressing on is in Christ himself. So may we commit ourselves anew this day to doing life in Christ with our fellow believers. 

Living by Faith: The Faith of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph

Having led us to briefly contemplate the faith of Abraham and Sarah, the author of Hebrews leads us to consider the next three generations after them in as many verses. And of all the things he could have highlighted in the lives of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, he chose to take us to their moments of death and point out that when they were about to lose their grip on earthly life, they still hoped in God because they were living by faith. Therefore, the blessings and prophecies they spoke were not words of the flesh but the very words of God pouring through them for the glory of his name and the blessing of the nations.

In the interest of time, I’m going to leave you to meditate on Isaac and Jacob on your own, and draw your attention to Joseph who, on his deathbed, prophesied about the Exodus and gave instructions concerning his bones (Hebrews 13:20-22). Now, that might seem like a strange or random thing for the author to focus on here, so let’s look at Genesis 50:22-26 and see exactly what Joseph said to his family and why.

Moses writes, “So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father’s house. Joseph lived 110 years. And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation. The children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were counted as Joseph’s own. And Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land [and how does Joseph know this?] to the land that he swore [or promised] to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.’ Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, ‘God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.’ So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt” (emphasis mine).

Beloved, do you see what’s going on here? Joseph knew and understood and believed the specific words of the oath or the promise God had spoken to his forefathers, and he was speaking on the basis of faith in that promise. He was not concocting his last words. He was not simply trying to be hopeful and positive with his family in his final moments. Rather, Joseph was looking back three generations and expressing simple faith in the faithfulness of God. He was clinging to God’s words because he was clinging to God. He was hoping in the specific and ancient speech of God and, more than that, he was preaching faith to the next several generations. He was spending all the strength he had left to persuade his loved ones to put their faith in God and his promises, even as his forefathers had done. This is what it looks like to live by faith.

And having believed to the very end, Joseph now rises up with Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Jacob and all of creation, and he stretches out his arms and lifts up his voice and pleads with us, “Hope in God, believe in God, trust in his promises, rest in his words. You will find that God is faithful to the end, and like me you will die in joy and hope unless Christ first returns.” Beloved, Joseph’s faith is not about Joseph, rather, it’s about the faithfulness of God, and I pray that we will have ears to hear and hearts to receive his testimony to us today. 

Book Review: “Biblical Preaching” (By Donald R. Sunukjian)

Sunukjian, Donald R. Invitation to Biblical Preaching: Proclaiming Truth with Clarity and Relevance. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2007.

The premise of Donald Sunukjian’s Biblical Preaching is that sermons should be the preacher’s way of saying, “Look at what God is saying to us.” Thus, he argues that the “Bible is God’s voice, spanning the ages. The role of the biblical preacher is to echo that voice in this generation,” which means he is to present the “true and exact meaning of the biblical text…in a manner that is relevant to the contemporary listener” (9-10).

Sunukjian thus divides his book into two parts, the first of which deals with “what God is saying” and the second of which deals with what God is saying “to us.” Part one includes four chapters and covers the basics of biblical exegesis. Sunukjian’s method is not surprising but his insistence on adherence to the meaning of the text is refreshing in this day and age. The heart of his process is that the preacher should articulate, through three separate outlines, the meaning of the passage (what happened), the truth-value of the passage (what happens), and the application of the passage (what is happening). By the time the preacher has articulated these things, he ought to be able to develop a pithy “take-home truth” which both captures the essence of the text and grabs the attention of the hearers.

Part two of the book, then, includes twelve chapters and advances the assertion that good, biblical preaching must offer both relevance and application. Relevance is when the people see how the text connects with their lives and it should therefore occur throughout the sermon; application is when the preacher draws out specific implications of the text for the listener’s lives and it most often happens near the end of the sermon. With this in mind, Sunukjian concludes his work by offering detailed advice on how to develop and deliver sermons which are faithful to the text and relevant to the listeners.

The central strength of Sunukjian’s book is his passion for the primacy of the Word of God in the process of preaching and his equally strong insistence that the task of the preacher is to discover and display how that Word speaks “to us.” I find this emphasis, and order, so refreshing in a day when many preachers are minimizing the Word in favor of entrepreneurial creativity.

Second, I very much appreciated Sunukjian’s explanation of the meaning and importance of relevancy in preaching, and its relationship to application. In a day when the word “relevance” is often used to mean “satisfying consumer desires,” I was pleasantly surprised to hear him present it as helping modern people see how the ancient Word of God relates to their lives today. And to be sure, a sermon that does not do this is not worth preaching or hearing. I do think he could have said a bit more about how this must first take place in the preacher before it develops in the sermon, but alas, one can only say so much in one book.

Finally, while I appreciated many of the things Sunukjian said about the process of developing and delivering sermons, I found his method of outlining to be both cumbersome and impractical. Frankly, I think it’s a bit much for the preacher who must balance praying, studying, teaching, leading, counseling, raising a family, exercising, and so on each week. That said, the convictions that led him to the processes he suggests are worth adopting and somehow integrating into our various processes as preachers.

As for my personal reflections on this book, first, Sunukjian writes in the introduction, “The purpose of the sermon is not to impart knowledge but to influence behavior—not to inform but to transform” (12). This is fairly standard language, and I do get the point, but I would prefer to state this in a slightly different way. Specifically, I would prefer to say that the purpose of preaching is to glorify God and transform lives which is founded upon, but not equal to, a right knowledge of God.

The endgame of preaching is neither the preacher nor the results of his preaching, but the exaltation of the being, will, and ways of God. God himself is the blazing center of preaching and all of the other details revolve around him. This implies that a right knowledge of God really matters and that, in fact, one of the central purposes of every sermon is to impart such knowledge. One can only love God as she ought if she knows God as he is. I completely agree with Sunukjian that a certain kind of emphasis on knowledge only creates Pharisees but this doesn’t mean we should de-emphasize knowledge itself but rather that we should rightly teach the connection between knowledge and love. Where there is no right knowledge there can be no love, or to use his word, there can be no transformation.

In the course of my ministry, I have come across many preachers who have brushed aside sound doctrine in favor of a number of other things and I fear that minimizing the place of right knowledge in the process and goals of preaching lends support to this tragic error. Thus, although it’s clear to me from the whole of his book that Sunukjian values the place of knowledge in the practice of preaching, I think he could be a little more careful with how he states his case.

Second, I was deeply moved by this paragraph: “Biblical preaching is the best thing we can do for our ministries, and it’s the best thing we can do for our own personal lives. To drink deeply of the Word of God, to saturate ourselves with its truths, to have our lives changed by its transforming power, and then to stand before God’s people, proclaiming with joy and confidence, ‘Look at what God is saying to us!’—who could be called to anything greater?” (15) When I read this passage, I was sitting at a table in a retirement home waiting to attend my grandfather-in-law’s funeral. I literally said out loud, “Amen!” I just couldn’t help myself.

Biblical preaching has produced more fruit in my personal life than almost any other thing because my process begins by going to the Word and studying it as deeply as I can, not because I have to write a sermon, but because I so desperately need to be more like Jesus. And as our gracious God uses his Word to shape my life, somehow a sermon is born. And somehow as God speaks “to me,” I come to see how God is speaking “to us.” Oh what a beautiful thing! What a high privilege! It’s literally bringing tears to my eyes as I write.