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The Impact of the Old Testament on Colossians

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The writers of the New Testament were saturated in the text and worldview of the Old Testament. So instead of trying to figure things out for ourselves, we’re usually better served by picking up on not only the quotations but also the allusions to the Old Testament.

For example, in this article, G.K. Beale explains three OT allusions in the book of Colossians that are easy to miss.

  1. Col 1:6, 10 – alluding to Gen 1:28
  2. Col 1:9 – alluding to Ex 31:3, 35:31-32
  3. Col 3:16 – alluding to the superscripts of Psalms 67 and 76

Beale doesn’t merely observe these allusions. He also explains how they illuminate Paul’s argument in Colossians.

Check it out!

Paul’s Letter With the Most OT Quotations

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Last week, we saw a sudden bump in traffic to our list of New Testament books that quote the Old Testament, thanks to the game show Jeopardy!

On November 16, the clue to the final round was “Paul’s letter to them is the New Testament epistle with the most Old Testament quotations.” And there was much uproar when the contestant who responded with “Who are the Hebrews” was credited with being correct. So the fact-checkers among the show’s fans have been visiting our site in droves to observe that we’ve actually got Romans at the top of the list.

The biggest online uproar has been over the fact that most contemporary scholars believe Paul didn’t even write Hebrews, despite the King James Bible crediting the book to him. But I think the bigger issue is simply: What counts as a “quotation”? Because Hebrews has more OT references than Romans only if you count allusions (such that you count every reference to Moses, covenant, priest, or sacrifice). But by any measure of clear quotations or explicit citations of an OT text, Romans wins.

The Jeopardy! contestant with the correct answer should have blown out the others but instead lost the game!

Dr. Greg Lanier from Reformed Theological Seminary agrees that this is the more substantive problem with the Jeopardy! clue. His piece at the Gospel Coalition blog explains with much clarity and detail.

Check it out!

What to Do When the New Testament Quotes the Old

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“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.” (Matt 1:23)

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46)

“Not one of his bones will be broken.” (John 19:36)

“You are my Son, today I have begotten you.” (Heb 5:5)

Since the Bible had no verse divisions until the 16th century AD, we ought to consider what this implies about how to read and study the Bible. Ancient readers had no map or reference system to pinpoint particular statements. They could not speak with precision about a textual location such as Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14.

Instead, they referenced Scriptures by broad indicators such as:

  • “…in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush…” (Mark 12:26)
  • “…the scroll of the prophet Isaiah…He found the place where it was written…” (Luke 4:17)
  • “the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah…” (John 12:38)
  • “he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way…” (Heb 4:4)

They did not quote things the way we do. They did not have MLA- or APA-style citations, word-perfect precision, or bibliographical indices.

In fact, most people didn’t read their own copies of the Scripture. Most of what they knew about Scripture came through oral delivery, repetition, and memorization.

So if we read our Bibles only like 21st century students at institutions of higher education, we will not be reading them like 1st century commoners, or even nobility, receiving these remarkable works of literature from the hands of Jesus’ first followers.

What does this mean?

1. NT quotes of the OT are referencing passages, not verses.

Often there’s a verbal connection to the exact verses being quoted. For example, when Peter wants to make a point about being “living stones” (1 Pet 2:5) he grabs a few key statements with the word “stone” in them (1 Pet 2:6-8). But his goal is not to produce sound bytes fitting for a radio interview, or back-cover blurbs promoting a book. He believes the referenced OT passages have something of their own to say, building a theology of God’s stone-construction program, which Peter now interprets and applies for a new audience.

2. Don’t read past the OT quotes.

When a NT author quotes the OT, he believes the OT passage has an argument to make that he now commandeers for his own use. The quotes are not window dressing, with the real argument coming before or after the quote. No, the quotes are a fundamental part of the argument. The quotes contain the premises upon which the conclusion stands. We might misunderstand the conclusion if we haven’t identified the premises (in their original context).

3. Look up the OT quotes and study them in context.

To use the four quotes from the top of this post: “Immanuel” had a fulfillment in Isaiah’s day that illuminates why Jesus’ fulfillment was so much greater, and even unexpected (Isaiah 7-8). Jesus’ feelings of abandonment don’t capture the whole story of what happened on the cross (Psalm 22). Jesus’ death was more about the idea of Passover than it was about checking off a prerequisite prediction about bodily injury (Exodus 12). Christ’s appointment as high priest involved more than a particular pronouncement from on high; it involved lasting victory over the rebellious kings of the earth (Psalm 2).

4. Consider how the NT author employs the OT context and repurposes it for his audience.

Sometimes the NT author applies a timeless principle. Sometimes he makes a theological connection to the person or work of Jesus Christ. Sometimes he sees a shadow that has become reality. Sometimes he identifies a pattern of life meant to be followed.

5. What seems obvious may not be all that obvious.

When Jesus explains the parable of the soils to his disciples, he references Isaiah 6 (Mark 4:11-12). Many quickly conclude that Jesus is laying out a strategy for intentional deception by parable. This seems obvious if we look only at the precise words and statements being quoted. But go back to read Isaiah 6, in the context of Isaiah’s book of prophecy, in the context of all the prophets, and only then does it become apparent that Jesus’ parables are actually meant to remove deception, to make things crystal clear (something which Mark explicitly suggests—Mark 4:21-22). Jesus is not trying to make people blind. He’s trying to expose the fact that they are already blind because they worship blind and deaf idols and refuse to listen to him. They become like what they worship.1 We see in many other places that the parables were far more illuminating than obfuscating (Mark 3:23ff, 7:17-23, 12:12; Luke 12:41, 15:1-3, 18:1, 18:9, 19:11).

Conclusion

Bible study is for everyone, even ordinary people. But that doesn’t make it quick or easy. Let’s do good work so we can understand the meaning these authors intended to communicate to us, especially when the NT uses the OT to make its point.

Additional Resources

Nothing surpasses Beale and Carson’s tome, Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Baker Academic, 2007), which analyzes every NT quotation of and credible allusion to the OT. This reference work shows how important it is to look up OT quotes in their context.

The Hermeneutics of the Biblical Writers (Kregel Academic, 2018). In this book, Abner Chou explains how biblical writers made use of earlier scriptures. Along the way he gives many examples to prove that the quoting authors were concerned with the quotes’ original context, and Chou shows how the quoting authors appropriated that original context for their new purposes.

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1I am indebted to G.K.Beale, We Become What We Worship (IVP Academic, 2009) for these insights about Jesus’ parables and Isaiah 6.

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Outstanding New Testament Book Overviews

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When we want to study a passage of the Bible, we will not get it right unless we have grappled with the main idea of the entire book. And that requires doing our homework to research, as best we can, the author, audience, occasion, and structure of the book. That research is what we call a book overview.

The best method for researching this historical background is to read and re-read the entire book many times in a row. Nothing beats developing your own deep familiarity with the text as a whole.

The second best method is to find articles or commentaries that can stimulate your thinking and highlight things you could never see or grasp on your own. The trick is to find articles that give you more than trivia. Knowing possible dates and theories of authorship and reception are only as helpful as they enable you to grasp the text’s main idea and flow of thought. The trick is to find articles that illuminate the persuasive genius of the authors of Scripture. What arguments were they making, to whom, and to what end?

For this reason, I keep have kept this page bookmarked in my web browser for years. Daniel Wallace is a first-rate New Testament scholar. He specializes in New Testament manuscript tradition and curation, and he understands the persuasive power of these inspired texts.

On that page, you’ll see an article by Dr. Wallace for every book of the New Testament. Each article contains an “introduction, argument, and outline” for the book.

In the “Introduction,” Wallace thoroughly addresses every credible hypothesis for who wrote the book, when he wrote it, how he wrote it, whom he wrote it to, why he wrote it to these people at this time, and what the main theme is. Wallace evaluates the arguments made by various scholars in light of both internal (within the book itself) and external (early church writings about this book) evidence. By the end, Wallace typically reconstructs the situation and circumstances of the book, with a clear view toward how these circumstances shape our understanding of the book.

In the “Argument,” Wallace guides us through the entire book, tracing the train of thought and showing us the transitions from one major section to the next. If the details of Wallace’s evaluation get to be too much for you, this birds’ eye view of the book’s rhetorical strategy is must reading.

In the “Outline,” Wallace attempts to represent the main sections of the book in standard outline form. I usually find Wallace’s outlines to be the least helpful part of his article, as they’re too detailed, almost exclusively observational, and too modern (they look like the outline for a modern academic dissertation instead of that for an ancient piece of literature).

Every time I prepare to study a New Testament book, I read Wallace’s article on that book. I might skip some of the tediousness of the “Introduction,” though I always give full consideration to his proposal of the book’s Occasion, Purpose, and Theme. I savor the “Argument,” as I find the greatest usefulness here. And I scan the “Outline,” but don’t get too hung up with it. I usually find other sources to be more helpful in clarifying a book’s true rhetorical outline.

You, too, might want to bookmark this page as well for the next time you prepare to study a book of the New Testament.

Check it out!

What the New Testament Authors Really Cared About

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A few weeks ago, I reviewed What the Old Testament Authors Really Cared About. This companion volume completes the set. Does it deliver on the bold promise implicit in its title?

Strengths

This volume takes the same format as its partner, giving minimal attention to historical background and focusing its efforts on the theological messages of each New Testament book. It roughly groups the books by author (thus putting Acts together with Luke, and discussing John’s epistles and Revelation along with his gospel) so as to emphasize, as you’d expect, what the authors cared about in writing these books.

The writing is comprehensible. The visuals are attractive and relevant. The biblical text is ever-present. This overview would be a useful text for a Bible overview course for adults or teenagers.

Weaknesses

While there is much to commend this book, I believe it takes the minor weakness of the Old Testament volume and magnifies it.

That is, the contributors often don’t “show their work” very well. While this was the case for only a few of the OT entries, I felt it was the case for a majority of the NT entries. It was more difficult for me to find chapters where I believed the author not only stated his conclusions, but proved them from a literary analysis of the text. The best examples are Huffman on Luke, Kelly on Acts, Guthrie on Hebrews, and Cate on 1 &2 Peter.

I would not say the remaining chapters are in any way bad. They might be great. It just wasn’t clear in many of them whether the key points represented what the NT author really cared about, or whether they more represented what the contributing scholar really cared about.

I don’t find any chapters to be communicating things that are not in the text at all. Instead, they simply present a select number of themes without showing why those themes are any more important than a number of other themes that could be mentioned.

Conclusion

I am grateful to Kregel Academic for sending me a complimentary copy of this volume in exchange for an honest review. I am glad to add it to my library, and I will likely make good use of it with teenagers and adults in my home and church. But I am more enthusiastic about the rich big-picture thought and literary analysis presented in the OT volume than that which I find in this one.

You can check it out at Amazon.

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My Favorite Way to Read the New Testament

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I’m in the thick of my 5th annual Bible romp, and I just hit the New Testament. This year, I decided to read the Old Testament in canonical order (the order they’re found in most Bibles) so I could try out my nice new ESV Reader’s Bible. (I’m loving it; here’s my full review.)

Jordan Klein (2007), Creative Commons

Jordan Klein (2007), Creative Commons

Now that I’m in the New Testament, I couldn’t resist going back to my favorite way to read it. Going straight from Matthew to Revelation is fine, of course. But I love considering the New Testament along four tracks:

  • Track #1: Matthew, Hebrews, James, Jude
  • Track #2: Mark, 1 Peter, 2 Peter
  • Track #3: Luke, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon
  • Track #4: John, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Revelation

There’s nothing magical about these four tracks, but I find them helpful in showcasing and explaining the message of Christ in four specific ways.

  • Track 1 focuses explicitly on how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament and led Jews into the new covenant. Those familiar with the Old Testament tend to love this track.
  • Track 2 focuses on Peter’s eyewitness testimony to scattered Jewish converts to Christianity. Established religious folks often benefit from this track.
  • Track 3 focuses on Paul’s witness to Christ and his ministry to the Gentiles. No-nonsense folks who love to have all the facts tend to love this track.
  • Track 4 focuses on John’s eyewitness testimony to scattered Jews, seeking to persuade them of Jesus’ messiahship and to assure them amid great persecution. Young believers and unbelievers exploring Jesus often benefit from this track.

Since all Scripture is profitable for all men and women, I don’t want to pigeonhole these tracks too narrowly. But noticing some general trends and connections (for example, that Peter was the source for much of Mark’s material) can help us to digest the major threads and to target our ministries in ways similar to the apostles who wrote these books. Also, it helps us to remember there are multiple ways to present Jesus to the world, depending on the type of people we seek to reach.

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The New Testament Uses the Old Testament

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scrollThe apostle Paul provoked an uproar up and down the Roman empire with a simple, two-point message:

  1. The Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead

  2. The Messiah is Jesus

He staked these claims in the soil of Scripture.  Luke tells of his stint in Thessalonica:

And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.’ (Acts 17:2-3, ESV)

The citizens of Berea wouldn’t take it on Paul’s word alone.  They had to see it for themselves:

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica [who ended up attacking both Paul and his message]; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. (Acts 17:11)

Paul wasn’t the only one to use this method of reasoning.  Every apostle used the Old Testament to explain this great message about Jesus, and many of them wrote it down for us in the New Testament.  Some authors were more explicit in their use of the Old Testament than others.  And we can learn much from them about how to read the Old Testament ourselves.

To that end, I’ve compiled a few lists to help launch you into the delightful world of intertestamental hermeneutics (a big phrase that simply means “how the New Testament authors understood the Old Testament”).

These lists won’t give you a complete understanding of the Old Testament and how it speaks of Jesus.  But they will direct you to the passages that most explicitly influenced the apostles’ thinking.  May they help you see Jesus more clearly.

Top 10 OT books quoted in NT

10 OT books never quoted in NT

Top 13 OT chapters quoted in NT

Top 11 OT verses quoted in NT

Top 10 NT books that quote OT passages

10 NT books that don’t quote the OT

Now go, you Berean, and see if these things are so. Check out the Resources page for an exhaustive list of NT quotations of the OT.

Question: What do you think about how the NT authors used the OT?

Four Perspectives on the Message of Christ

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Because the good news about Jesus Christ is for all nations (Gen 12:3, Is 66:18-20, Matt 28:19-20, Acts 11:17-18), the message has some inherent flexibility. It can be delivered in various ways to various people at various times.

Please don’t misunderstand: I’m not saying there are no false gospels (nor that any message = God’s message). I’m merely saying that the true gospel can’t be oversimplified to a single, universal formula. For example, “Jesus is Lord,” “Jesus is the Christ,” “Jesus died for our sins,” and “The Kingdom of God is among you” are all biblical and have their place, and each formula will resonate differently for different people groups (or even different individuals).

I believe that’s why God didn’t give a single portrait of Jesus in the New Testament. To communicate the breadth of his grace to the nations, God gave four Gospels, which provide four lenses through which we can view the work of Christ.

All four perspectives are true. All four are important. Each speaks truth in a slightly different way, though there’s significant overlap between them.

And each Gospel lens triggers further reflection on the person and work of Christ in the epistles.

As you read the New Testament, consider these subdivisions:

Kathryn Decker (2013), Creative Commons

Kathryn Decker (2013), Creative Commons

  1. Matthew: with James, Hebrews, Jude
  2. Mark: with 1 & 2 Peter
  3. Luke: with Acts, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon
  4. John: with 1, 2, & 3 John, Revelation

Perspective #1: By Jews, for Jews

These books show Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament; he’s everything the Jews had been waiting for. These books clarify points of continuity and discontinuity between Old and New Testaments, and they preach the gospel to people familiar with the things of God.

Perspective #2: Peter’s Perspective

Mark was Peter’s close associate (1 Peter 5:13), and many scholars have noted Peter’s hand in Mark’s Gospel. Many episodes read like Peter’s memoirs (such as, Mark 1:36, 14:72). Mark’s Gospel and Peter’s epistles have a strong sense of “doing,” with comparatively little emphasis on “teaching.” These books preach the gospel to people who feel out-of-place in their world and who appreciate knowing just the facts.

Perspective #3: Paul’s Perspective

There’s a strong case for identifying Luke-Acts as a trial brief written to aid Paul’s defense in Roman court. Undoubtedly, Luke was Paul’s close associate and one of his only companions to the end (2 Tim 4:11). Thus, Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, influenced Luke’s Gospel, where Jesus gives more attention to Gentiles and marginalized outsiders than he does in any other Gospel. Luke, Acts, and Paul’s epistles preach the gospel to people working through the implications of God’s grace and his “all nations” mission.

Perspective #4: John’s Perspective

John was a Jew through and through, and he had a remarkable tenderness in relationships (John 13:23-25). His Gospel and epistles assume unfathomably profound associations between Old and New Testaments, while simultaneously simplifying the message with such clarity that anyone can understand it. Son of God. Believe. Know. Love. Come, Lord Jesus. These books preach the gospel to people who need to learn (or re-learn) the basics.

Read, Study, Preach

These four subdivisions don’t represent the only way to read the New Testament; they merely provide a framework I’ve found to be helpful. Each perspective is like a set of tracks for shipping the cargo of the gospel to a different group of people. As you read the New Testament, you may find it helpful to stay on one track for a time, or you may find it helpful to maintain balance in all four.

As you teach and share the gospel with others, you may want to consider which track is most likely to connect with your audience. Are they already familiar with God or not? Do they have basic Bible knowledge or not? Do they feel like a minority or majority in their environment? Are they likely to feel excluded, and so need more coaxing? Or are they more likely to feel included, and so need more confrontation?

And with a more diverse audience, we have a greater need to cycle through all four perspectives.

Question: Which perspective resonates the most with you?

Don’t Miss Jesus in the New Testament

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I once wrote about how to see Jesus in any Bible passage, where I focused on interpreting the Old Testament. I showed how Jesus’ words in Luke 24:46-47 provide a straightforward template through which we can interpret any Old Testament passage.

Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Luke 24:46-47, ESV)

Every passage of Scripture reveals Jesus by explaining at least one of the following truths:

  • Image-Empty TombTruth #1: The Messiah would suffer (die)
  • Truth #2: The Messiah would rise from the dead.
  • Truth #3: We must repent of our sin and be forgiven.
  • Truth #4: This message—that the Messiah’s death and resurrection make forgiveness possible—must be proclaimed to all nations.

I’d like to add a brief word about interpreting the New Testament, because, astonishingly, we can often miss Jesus when we read it. Jesus’ four truths in Luke 24:46-47 apply just as much to the New Testament as to the Old Testament, and we miss the point when we miss the connection. Here are three examples.

1. All four Gospels magnify and climax on Jesus’ death and resurrection; they present Jesus as much more than a role model. Thus, Jesus’ healing miracles often show Jesus “trading places” with sufferers in order to save them (Matt 8:14-17); Jesus is not only an example of social justice but also a savior to the ostracized and the unjust.

2. Much of Acts and many epistles elaborate on how Jesus’ message is for all nations; since Jews and Gentiles were brought together in one body, any person of any gender, race, or class can freely receive Jesus’ forgiveness and unite with his body.

3. Instructional passages—like the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:16-26) or the love chapter (1 Cor 13)—don’t make us into more righteous, more acceptable, people; they show us what happens to people whose sins are forgiven because they have trusted in Christ.

As you interpret, don’t stop until you see Jesus in every passage.

An Exhaustive List of Old Testament Quotations

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quotation-marksEarlier this year, I ran a series of posts analyzing the New Testament’s use of the Old Testament. I listed which Old Testament books and chapters and verses were quoted most often. I listed which New Testament books did the most quoting. I drew these lists from my own exhaustive collection of New Testament quotations of the Old Testament.

Much more analysis could be done, so I’m happy to give you my raw data. This data might help you study overarching principles of interpretation. Or it might help you to see if the Old Testament book you’re studying is quoted anywhere in the New Testament. Perhaps you’ll find even more uses for it.

In both my posts and on the spreadsheet, I’ve tried to be clear about my assumptions and approach. May this data prove useful in your study of God’s Knowable Word.

I’ve created a new Resources page, with this spreadsheet as the first item. Check it out!

What other resources would you find helpful for your Bible study?