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 PrintableVersion Inspiration and incarnationEvangelicals and the problem of the Old TestamentThe human dimension of ScriptureINSPIRATION AND INCARNATION We are familiar with the doctrine of the incarnation with respect to the person of Jesus Christ: in Jesus the living God became flesh so that we rightly speak of Jesus as both fully God and fully man. Dr. Peter Enns suggests that this provides us with a model for our understanding of Scripture. Scripture is fully divine, it is the Word of God, yet it is also fully human. This much is confessedly unoriginal, but Dr. Enns is concerned that evangelicals have failed to do full justice to the human dimension of Scripture. Valuable information?Dr. Enns asks why the biblical accounts of creation and flood are similar in many respects to those found in other literature from the Ancient Near East. He considers that traditional evangelical responses to this question are often unsatisfactory or even untenable. He argues that the non-biblical literature provides us with valuable information about the culture, preoccupations and world-views of the ancient world into which God revealed himself. God made himself known precisely in forms and language (human forms, human language, human ideas) familiar to the people to whom he spoke and in this way made himself and his purposes known. We should not take offence at the human forms in which God is pleased to reveal the uniqueness of his person and plans. Diversity in ScriptureIn a second major section, Dr. Enns looks at the ‘problem’ of diversity within the Old Testament. He is unhappy with the evangelical tendency to minimise diversity, suggestive of an over-protective attitude towards Scripture and resulting in the flattening and impoverishment of its testimony. The determination to categorise everything neatly and consistently may mean that we miss the dynamic and developing picture of God’s dealings with his people — and of their developing understanding of his purposes. The New deals with the OldIn the last main section, Dr. Enns looks at the way in which the Old Testament is handled by the writers of the New. He recognises that New Testament writers can seem to use Old Testament texts in an inventive manner, which seems to pay insufficient regard to their original context and meaning (e.g. Matthew 2.15 quoting Hosea 11.1, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’). Again, Dr. Enns suggests that evangelicals have either been embarrassed by such behaviour in the New Testament writers or have used their example to justify their own arbitrary use of Old Testament texts. Dr. Enns reviews the culture of first-century Judaism and the ways in which the Old Testament was customarily used in theological debate. He argues that the New Testament writers were fully part of that world and used the Old Testament in the same way as their contemporaries. The forms in which they wrote are not unique to Scripture; the forms are not divine. What is unique however is Jesus Christ, the one in whom all of the purposes and plans of God revealed throughout the Old Testament now find their focus and fulfilment. This is the burden and testimony of the New Testament writers. Peter Enns writes from the robustly evangelical perspective we would expect of one who is associate professor of Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary. His overriding concern is to encourage evangelicals to take the Bible and biblical study more seriously — to read the Bible for what it is rather than trying to force it into a mould of our own construction. He urges us to recognise that our understanding of Scripture is always partial and provisional. Problems to be facedWithin the limits of this brief review, it is difficult for me to do justice to this excellent and thought-provoking book. Dr. Enns has included some useful annotated bibliographies to encourage further study. I could have wished that he had included more representatives from those who have emphasised the character of Scripture as story, but this is a minor criticism. Please do read this book for yourself. It’s a must for pastors and preachers and profitable reading for any who want to be serious about biblical study and understanding. Yet Dr. Enns recognises that not everyone will like what he has written. He raises serious issues about how we are to read and understand Scripture. Some may find this not only challenging but also disturbing. In a final section he therefore pleads that the issues raised should be considered not in a spirit of suspicion, but in a manner that reflects the character of the gospel — that we hear one another out in a spirit of humility, love and patience. It is my hope and prayer that this book will promote the charitable and profitable debate it richly deserves. Peter Misselbrook, © Evangelicals Now - May 2006 |
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