Random Thoughts on John

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:03 am By Peter Leithart

Thanks to Chris Morris for provoking these thoughts, or actually sharing them with me: 1) John 4:1-42 appears to be chiastically structured: A. Jesus baptizing, moving into Galilee, 4:1-4 B. Jesus and the woman discuss water, 4:5-15 C. Jesus and the woman discuss marriage, 4:16-18 D. The woman declares Jesus a prophet, 4:19 E. Jesus and the woman discuss worship, 4:20-24 D’. Jesus declares himself Messiah, 4:25-26 C’. The woman reports that Jesus knows her life story, 4:27-30 B’. Jesus... Read more

Berkhof on Justification

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:47 pm By Peter Leithart

Distinctions between inner and outer, between status and being, run through Berkhof’s treatment of justification in his systematic theology. For instance: Justification does not, as some languages imply, “denote a change that is brought about in man” but rather means “to effect an objective relation, the state of righteousness, by a judicial sentence” (p. 511). Do we want to distinguish the being of man from his relation to God in this fashion? “Justification takes place outside of the sinner in... Read more

Paul and the Law

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:05 am By Peter Leithart

Veronica Koperski has a useful (if overly detailed) overview of current debates on Paul and the Law in her 2001 Paulist Press volume, What Are They Saying About Paul and the Law? . Refreshingly, Koperski does not simply review the same old cast of characters, but includes fairly extensive treatments of Reformed NT scholars like Thielman and Silva. She focuses on interpretations of Philippians 3, which also breaks out of the normal routine of concentrating almost exclusive attention on Romans... Read more

Flesh and Achievement in Phil 3

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:41 pm By Peter Leithart

I have little sympathy overall with the work of Heikki Raisanen, but he makes some shrewd comments on Paul’s argument in Philippians 3. As he points out, several of the items on Paul’s list of “fleshly” advantages are things that he has received through no work of achievement of his own, for he had nothing to do with his own circumcision, his membership in Israel or the tribe of Benjamin, his status as a Hebrew of Hebrews. As Raisanen says,... Read more

Translation, 1 Kings 22:1-40

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:51 pm By Peter Leithart

And they dwelt three years. There was not war between ?Aram and between Yisrael. And it was in the third year And came down Yehoshafat king of Yehudah to king of Yisrael. And said the king of Yisrael to his servants, ?Do you know that to us is Ramoth-gile?ad? And we ourselves being silent From taking her from the hand of the king of ?Aram.?E And he said to Yehoshafat, ?Will you walk with me to battle Ramoth-gile?ad??E And said... Read more

Jokes and Unintended Meanings

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:45 pm By Peter Leithart

Another benefit of considering hermeneutical issues through reflection on humor: People can say and do things that are unintentionally funny. On a strict construal of authorial intention as the source and foundation of meaning, this would have to be explained with some kind of Hirschian distinction between “meaning” and “significance,” or perhaps with a distinction between the meaning of a speech act (analyzed as locution + illocution) from the perlocutionary effect of the act. But that is unsatisfactory. Surely, there... Read more

Spirit in 1 Kings 22:21

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

The NASB translates 1 Kings 22:21 as “then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’” But the Hebrew has the definite article with “spirit” (RUACH), and the mentioned in v 23 is explicitly the Spirit of Yahweh. Apparently, it’s THE Spirit that volunteers to be the lying spirit in the mouth of the prophets of Ahab. Ahab’s prophets are inspired, and are inspired by the Spirit of Yahweh, but the words they... Read more

Response to MVP Report

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:03 am By Peter Leithart

I posted this a few weeks ago, but since then my web site has been experiencing technical difficulties and this post disappeared. Apart from a couple of slight stylistic changes, this is the same post. My work is cited several times in the recent Mississippi Valley Presbytery Report on the New Perspective and the Federal Vision. Since that Report has been widely cited and discussed, I suppose some response is in order. I am not responding to all of the... Read more

Eucharistic meditation, April 3

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:38 pm By Peter Leithart

1 Kings 21:9-10: ?Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth at the head of the people; and seat two sons of Belial before him, and let them testify against him, saying, ?You cursed God and the king.?E Then take him out and stone him to death.?E Jezebel?s plot involved proclaiming a fast for Israel, and it was during this religious occasion that Naboth was falsely accused and put to death. In this, as in so much else, Naboth is a type... Read more

Baptismal meditation, April 3

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:47 pm By Peter Leithart

Romans 6: ?Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life . . . Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that... Read more