THREE VIEWS ON THE NEW TESTAMENT USE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT Books in the Counterpoints Series Church Life Evaluating the Church Growth Movement Exploring the Worship Spectrum Remarriage after Divorce in Today's Church Understanding Four Views on Baptism Understanding Four Views on the Lord's Supper Who Runs the Church? Bible and Theology Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? Five Views on Apologetics Five Views on Law and Gospel Five Views on Sanctification Four Views on Eternal Security Four Views on Hell Four Views on Salvation in a Pluralistic World Four Views on the Book of Revelation How Jewish Is Christianity? Show Them No Mercy Three Views on Creation and Evolution Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond Three Views on the Rapture Two Views on Women in Ministry THREE VIEWS ON THE NEW T E S T A M E NT USE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT Single Meaning, Unified Referents Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. Single Meaning, Multiple Contexts and Referents Darrell L. Bock Fuller Meaning, Single Goal Peter Enns Stanley N. Gundry, series editor COUNTERPOINTS Kenneth Berding, general editor " BIBLE & THEOLOGY " Jonathan Lunde, general editor BZONDERVAN® ZONDERVAN.com/ AUTHORTRACKER follow your favorite authors We want to hear from you. Please send your comments about this book to us in care of [email protected]. Thank you. ZONDERVAN Three Views on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament Copyright © 2008 by Kenneth Berding and Jonathan Lunde Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49550 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Berding, Kenneth. Three views on the New Testament use of the Old Testament: general editors, Kenneth Berding and Jonathan Lunde. p. cm. — (Counterpoints : bible and theology) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN: 978-0-310-27333-2 (softcover) 1. Bible. N.T-Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Bible. O.T.-Relation to the New Testament. 3. Bible. N.T.-Relation to the Old Testament. I. Berding, Kenneth. II. Lunde, Jonathan, 196O- BS2387T49 2008 220.6-dc22 2008032.231 All Scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the /-/o/y Bible, Today's New International Version^*^. TNIV®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Soci ety. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers printed in this book are offered as a resource to you. These are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of Zondervan, nor do we vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means —electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Interior design by Matthew Van Zomeren Printed in the United States of America 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 • 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 I6 15 14 13 12 11 lO 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 CONTENTS An Introduction to Central Questions in the 7 New Testament Use of the Old Testament JONATHAN LUNDE 1. SINGLE MEANING, UNIFIED REFERENTS: 45 Accurate and Authoritative Citations of the Old Testament by the New Testament WALTER C. KAISEK JR. Response to Kaiser 90 DARRELL L BOCK Response to Kaiser 96 PETER ENNS 2. SINGLE MEANING, MULTIPLE CONTEXTS AND REFERENTS: 105 The New Testament's Legitimate, Accurate, and Multifaceted Use of the Old DARRELL L BOCK Response to Bock 152 WALTER C KAISER, JR. Response to Bock 159 PETER ENNS 3. FULLER MEANING, SINGLE GOAL: 167 A Christotelic Approach to the New Testament Use of the Old in Its First-Century Interpretive Environment PETER ENNS Response to Enns 218 WALTER C KAISER, JR. Response to Enns 226 DARRELL L. BOCK An Analysis of Three Views on the 233 New Testament Use of the Old Testament KENNETH BERDING SCRIPTURE INDEX 244 SUBJECT INDEX 250 Editors Stanley N. Gundry is executive vice president of the publishing group at Zondervan. With more than thirty-five years of teaching, pastoring, and publishing experience, he is the author or coauthor of numerous books and a contributor to numerous periodicals. Kenneth Berding (PhD, Westminster Theological Seminary) is associate professor of New Testament at Talbot School of Theology of Biola University He is the author of What Are Spiritual Gifts?: Rethinking the Conventional View (Kregel) and Sing and Learn New Testament Greek (Zondervan). Ken and his family reside in La Mirada, California. Jonathan Lunde (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is associate professor of biblical studies and theology at the Talbot School of Theology of Biola University. He has contributed articles to the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels and the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Jon and his wife, Pamela, have three children and reside in Brea, California. Contributors Walter C. Kaiser Jr. (PhD, Brandeis University) is the Colman M. Mockler distinguished professor of Old Testament and president emeritus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. He has taught at Wheaton College and at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Dr. Kaiser has written numerous books, including Toward an Exegetical Theology: Biblical Exegesis for Preaching and Teaching; ''Exodus'' in the Expositor's Bible Commentary; The Messiah in the Old Testament; and The Promise-Plan of God. Dr. Kaiser and his wife. Marge, currently reside in Cedar Grove, Wisconsin. Darrell L. Bock (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is professor of New Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books including Luke in the NIV Application Commentary series (Zondervan) and Luke (2 volumes) and Acts in the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament series. Dr. Peter E. Enns (PhD, Harvard University) has taught Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia for fourteen years. He is a frequent contributor to journals and encyclopedias, and is the author of several books, including Exodus in the NIV Application Commentary series (Zondervan) and Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament (Baker). AN INTRODUCTION TO CENTRAL QUESTIONS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT USE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT Jonathan Lunde INTRODUCTION "Dad, what am I supposed to do with this?" My family and I had just sat down in my parents' church at a traditional hymn sing and testimony service. When my son Trevor found the hymnal that was placed on his chair, he picked it up, looked it over for a moment, and then whispered his question into my ear. Suddenly, the experiential distance between my son and me be came blatantly obvious. It had not occurred to me until that mo ment that my boys had grown up attending churches where the words to songs were always projected onto suspended screens rather than being arranged in musical score in songbooks stored in racks behind each pew. Thankfully, our sons were familiar with some of the hymns, since we had sung them together dur ing bedtime prayers. But even with this partial familiarity, my wife and I spent the remainder of that service teaching our sons how to find the hymns and then to read them while they were singing. In some ways, my sons' first encounter with a hynmal illus trates the problem that will occupy us in this volume. All of us who are acquainted with the Bible are aware that the NT authors 8 I Three Views on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament frequently appeal to OT passages to make a theological point, to confirm a prophetic fulfillment, or to ground one ethical exhor tation or another. Such basic knowledge might be comparable to my sons' familiarity with the hymns they had learned during their evening prayer times. But when we actually pick up the text and try to make sense of how the NT authors are reading the OT text, we quickly find ourselves asking, "What are we supposed to do with this?" For instance, some of the OT passages that are "fulfilled" in the NT don't look at all like predictions in their original con texts. Others that do look like predictions often appear to have been fulfilled in events that happened or in people who lived far earlier than Jesus. In addition, theological affirmations in the OT are occasionally restated with a new and distinct reference. In sum, the meanings that the NT writers derive from the Scrip tures often appear inconsistent with what their OT counterparts intended. As we encounter these tensions, what we actually are sensing is the interpretive distance that exists between the writers of the NT and us. This realization is sometimes so jarring that we are left with a whole new set of questions regarding the literary sensitivity of the NT authors and the nature of their approach to the OT. Issues of legitimacy and authority begin looming in the corners of our minds. "What are we supposed to do with this?" What complicates things further is that the NT authors seem to take their cues from Jesus' own approach to the Scriptures. In the estimation of countless students of the Bible (including the two editors of this volume), one of the most tantalizing pas sages in the NT is Luke 24:13-35. While accompanying the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, the risen but unrecognized Jesus chastises his traveling companions for not comprehend ing that the prophets had pointed to the necessity of the Mes siah's suffering prior to his entrance into glory (vv. 25-26). Luke then summarizes Jesus' explanation in verse 27: "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." What did Jesus say to them? Which Scriptures did he dis cuss? How did the Scriptures point to the necessity of his death and glorification? What method did he use to move from the Scriptures to himself? While Luke does not preserve for us the Introduction I 9 specifics of Jesus' instruction, it is not unrealistic to assume that the apostolic writers of the NT follow Jesus' lead and that they model for us the kinds of connections that Jesus made on the Emmaus road. It is likely, therefore, that we are encountering Jesus' own hermeneutic when we study many of the OT cita tions and allusions in the NT.^ But when we examine the NT authors' use of the OT closely, rather than sharing the wonder that filled Jesus' companions on that road to Emmaus, it is sometimes difficult to avoid the impression that the NT application of OT texts is arbitrary and forced. For instance, responding to Matthew's method, S. V. Mc- Casland writes: Matthew's use of Isaiah 7:14 to explain the mystery of the birth of Christ ... shows ... how a misinterpreted passage might be just as influential as one correctly understood.... The interpretation of Hosea 11:1 not only illustrates how early Christians found a meaning entirely foreign to the original; it may also show how incidents in the story of Jesus have been inferred from the Old Testament.^ McCasland's comment points to the need to engage this topic at a deeper level than is often the case. There was a time, at least in some Christian circles, when the NT fulfillment of the OT functioned as an unassailable apologetic for the legitimacy of the NT affirmations regarding Jesus. The more one learns about the NT use of the OT, however, the more this line of argumentation needs to be nuanced. That is because the relationship between the Testaments is not as simple and straightforward as it appears at first blush. In truth, this topic can get rather complicated. 1. See R. T. France, Jesus and the Old Testament: His Application of Old Testament Passages to Himself and His Mission (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1971), 172-226, esp. 225-26; C. H. Dodd, According to the Scriptures: The Substructure of New Testament Theology (London: Nisbet, 1952), 109-10. 2. S. V. McCasland, "Matthew Twists the Scriptures,'' in The Right Doctrine from the Wrong Texts: Essays on the Use of the Old Testament in the New, ed. G. K. Beale (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994), 148-49. For ease of reference and accessibility to our readers, I will refer to Beale's anthology for the bibliographical information of ar ticles and book excerpts such as this that appear there, rather than to the sources of their original publication. These will be referenced simply as The Right Doctrine.