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Introduction to Old Testament Theology · Reformed Thinking

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Reformed thinking. Welcome to the deep dive, where
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we take complex fields of knowledge and synthesize the
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structural analysis you need to be truly informed fast.
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For anyone who's ever tried to get a handle on Old Testament
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theology, the task can feel, well, daunting.
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It's so much more than just summarizing thousands of years
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of stories. The real intellectual challenge?
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The thing that trips everyone up is finding the right framework,
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the organizing principle that makes sense of how God revealed
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Himself over all that time. The problem is, if you look at
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the scholarship, there is a complete lack of professional
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consensus on how to even do this study.
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So our mission today is to give you a shortcut through that
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whole methodological fight. We're going to look at the major
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approaches, the dogmatic, the historical critical, all the
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canonical methods, and then we're going to distill the one
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unifying idea that seems to draw the entire Old Testament
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together, the theocratic Kingdom of God.
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We're looking for that master key that unlocks the whole
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biblical library for you. And that search for structure
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really is the core of the problem, isn't it?
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If you just approach the Old Testament topically, you know,
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organizing everything under headings like God, sin,
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salvation, you risk limiting the whole thing.
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That path can turn the study into little more than a
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systematic theology of the Old Testament, which, you know, kind
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of reads the Bible backwards. It detaches its teachings from
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the historical timeline where they were first given.
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To really get what the Old Testament claims to be, we have
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to see it as the unfolding of God's self revelation.
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It has to be driven by the biblical text itself, moving
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through history toward one single final destination.
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And if we can find that destination, that one unifying
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theme, then the entire scriptural record just gains so
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much coherence and clarity. OK, so let's unpack that
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historical path first, because you can't really understand the
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structure without knowing the intellectual battles that were
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fought over it. And it's actually surprising to
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realize that organized biblical theology, I mean, the academic
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discipline of studying progressive revelation, it just
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didn't exist in the Old or New Testament era.
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No, it didn't. The biblical authors were
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recording the revelation. They weren't creating a filing
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system for future scholars. That's a really important
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distinction. Their recognition of this
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progressive structure came on very slowly.
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One of the earliest figures to see it was Arenaeus writing
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around 8130 to 200. He just noticed that God's
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revelation seemed to be unfolding gradually.
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And then later you have Augustine in the 4th and 5th
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centuries, and he gave it a bit more structure.
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He suggested 5 distinct historical periods of divine
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revelation, but these were more historical observations, not a
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dedicated method. Then you get to the Reformation,
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and for all their deep love for Scripture, the Reformers were
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focused almost entirely on issues of salvation, the
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soteriological issues, things like justification by faith, the
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authority of Scripture. They were prioritizing
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systematic doctrine. So even though they read the
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Bible historically, biblical theology has its own science
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separate from systematics. It didn't see much development.
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Then. The modern discipline had to
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wait. The real modern starting point
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is almost always traced to John Philip Gabler in 1787.
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He gave the definition that really kicked things off,
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describing biblical theology as viewing the religious ideas of
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Scripture as an historical fact. And this required, you know, a
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careful separation between the different times, subjects and
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stages in the development of those ideas.
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This was the birth of the critical historical method.
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And this is where we hit the first massive fault line, and
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it's a real problem. Gabler introduces this
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sophisticated method, but he immediately denies the
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supernatural element. He gives us the tools to analyze
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the Bible historically, but then he of divine agency.
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And the consequence of that denial is just massive.
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I mean, by historicizing the text while getting rid of the
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divine author, he basically created a tool for analyzing
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human religious evolution. So the very first published Old
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Testament theology by George Lorenz Bauer in 1796, it
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reflected this. He structured it with familiar
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systematic categories theology, anthropology, the study of man
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and Christology. It was a dogmatic framework
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forced onto history it. Seems like the conservative
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reaction must have been pretty quick.
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It was the first big conservative work to push back
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and reclaim that Messianic thread.
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And the divine element was EW Henkstenburg's Christology of
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the Old Testament that was published between 1829 and 35.
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And that early work really marks the theological fault line that
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we're still dealing with today. Is the text a history of God's
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actions, or is it just a history of human religious thought?
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In the 19th century just poured gasoline on that fire, right?
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It was driven by these huge philosophical shifts from the
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outside. The rise of Darwinian
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evolutionary theories spilled over into everything, including
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theology, and it LED directly to the very influential History of
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religion school. What was the fundamental and
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frankly dangerous assumption they made?
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Well, their core assumption was that the Hebrew faith was not
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unique at all. They took the evolutionary model
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and applied it to religion itself.
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They suggested that the religious ideas you see in
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Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, they all evolved from
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some common primitive source. And so the Old Testament was
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judged purely on its historical development and cultural
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context, completely stripped of its claim to be divine
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revelation. And this method became
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inseparable from the theories of scholars like Julius Welhausen,
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which immediately had this destructive effect of just
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denying the unity of the entire Old Testament.
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Absolutely. Welhausen's theories, you know,
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the documentary Hypothesis. They just reduced the Old
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Testament writings to collections of material edited
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by various, often conflicting authors over huge stretches of
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time, centuries after the events.
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In the view of the history of religion school, the Old
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Testament was really nothing more than Israelite reflections
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of as many different Pagan religions.
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It denied any original textual coherence, any unified
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authorship, or any single divine message.
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That's just theological nihilism.
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So thankfully there's an immediate reaction to that
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extreme humanistic approach, which was the Salvation History
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School, or Heil's Keshikta. The name alone tells you it's a
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pivot back toward God's activity.
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It was a crucial corrective, even if it was flawed.
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Led by figures like JC Cayvon Hoffman, this school reacted
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against that secularization of the text by stressing the
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activity of God in history. They focused on the progressive
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development of salvation, linking the narrative tightly to
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Christ's first coming and the final consummation at his second
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coming. It pulled the focus back to God
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as the main actor in history. That sounds really promising,
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but you said it was flawed. So while they returned to divine
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revelation, what fundamental biblical principle did they fail
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to hold on to? They rejected the doctrine of
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verbal plenary inspiration, and that phrase just means that the
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very words, the full and word by word composition of Scripture,
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were breathed out by God and are therefore authoritative and
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without error. So while they talked about God's
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action and history, they still accepted certain views of higher
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criticism. They allowed human reason to
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dissect the text sources and question its historical claims.
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They were trying to hold this very unstable middle ground.
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And the ground shifts again after World War One, leading to
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the Neo Orthodoxy movement. This was a deep philosophical
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reaction against that scientific optimism and the supposed
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objectivity that the 19th century liberals had believed
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in, the idea that nationalistic evolution could explain
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everything, well, it just lost all credibility.
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It was a crisis of faith and human reason.
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So these new theologies, you see them in scholars like Icefeld
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and Walter Eichrot. They moved away from pure
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scientific humanism and returned to the idea of revelation, those
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often framed in subjective and dialectical terms.
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I felt for example, he followed a lot of the source criticism
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denying God's direct literal action, but he really emphasized
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the subjective nature of the theologians faith encounter with
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the text. So they were serious about the
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Bible as a theological book, but they kept the destructive
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methods of higher criticism. It's like they traded objective
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textual authority for a subjective encounter.
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That is a perfect way to put it. Neo Orthodoxy took the Bible's
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message seriously again, but they still explicitly denied
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verbal plenary inspiration. They would argue that the Bible
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becomes the word of God as you encounter it, rather than being
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the objective, inspired word of God from the moment it was
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written. And this focus on the subjective
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experience meant they still didn't have a clear, unified
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methodology that was rooted in the authority of the text
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itself. This volatility really sets the
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stage for what you call the conservative counterpoint.
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This is where scholars start demanding that we adhere to the
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internal claims of Scripture itself.
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I mean, if the Bible claims to be inspired that our method has
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to reflect that. And the leadership for this was
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so important. It came out of the really robust
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intellectual tradition of Princeton Seminary with giants
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like Gerhardus Voss, who wrote that groundbreaking difficult
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theology, along with William Henry Green and BB Warfield, and
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then later institutions like Westminster Seminary with
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figures like OT Alice and EJ Young.
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They just continued to press the case for a unified covenantal
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and inspired text. And this is where the idea of
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God's covenants, these unconditional promises, really
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emerged as the main framework for conservative structural
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unity in the modern era. Yes, Charles C Ryrie, for
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example. He explicitly centered his work
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on Old Testament unity around the unconditional covenants God
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made with Israel. This covenantal structure
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provides the historical and legal framework that guarantees
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God's plan will succeed, which is so important to the
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premillennial faith perspective. So by the middle of the 20th
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century, the debate was really clear.
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Is the Old Testament structure based on historical analysis,
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subjective encounter, or a covenant all inspired structure?
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So we've established that the whole field of Old Testament
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theology is defined by this methodological chaos.
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Let's just quickly dive into that maze of different
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approaches so you can see why so many scholars have failed to
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find this unifying center we're looking for.
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We can start with the most traditional and maybe the least
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historical approach, the dogmatic didactic method.
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This one just directly borrowed its structure from systematic
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theology. It organizes all the biblical
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material under doctrinal categories like God, man, and
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salvation. That sounds convenient, but
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doesn't that just completely contradict the whole idea of
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studying progressive revelation? It does.
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It absolutely does. George Lorenz Bauer started this
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and RC Denton used it later. He centered the Old Testament on
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the relationship. Yahweh is the God of Israel and
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Israel is the people of Yahweh. And while that's a true
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statement, the dogmatic structure makes a static
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doctrinal slice through dynamic history.
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You risk losing the context and the unfolding plan.
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It's just too tidy. It sacrifices history for
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doctrine. So if the dogmatic method is
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like taking doctrinal snapshots, then the genetic progressive
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method must be more like a movie, a chronological approach
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that follows the narrative. That's right.
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This approach explicitly traces God's self revelation
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sequentially through historical periods, and it centers on the
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critical covenants Noah, Abraham, Moses, and in the end,
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the New Covenant in Christ. Chester K Lehman used this
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method, and he got his structure from Gerhardus Voz.
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Lehman saw the covenants as the most fundamental line of
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cleavage in divine revelation. He used them to define and
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organize all the teaching, and this approach really does honor
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both history and theological structure at the same time.
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OK, now let's talk about the methods designed specifically to
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find a single unifying theme, often called the cross section
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method. Walter Eicraut pioneered this
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back in the 1930s. He was reacting against all the
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fragmentation from source criticism.
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So what was the unifying concept he built his whole theology on?
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For Eichrot, the single center was the covenant, that
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relationship between God and Israel.
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He proposed taking a cross section through the historical
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process. You can imagine slicing through
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a layered timeline, and the covenant relationship is the one
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consistent thread you can see in every single layer.
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From this covenant principle he developed three major thematic
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categories, God and the people, God and the world, and God and
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man. The goal was to reassert the
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unity of the Old Testament against the critics who were
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saying it was just a pile of fragments.
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That's a really powerful image, the covenant as the core reality
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under every historical period. Bolter Kaiser junior also saw
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unity, but he centered his approach on the promise found in
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the Old Testament. Kaiser's method is hugely
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influential, especially in conservative scholarship.
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He centers the entire Old Testament on the promise God
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gave to Abraham in Genesis 12, where God sets apart a people
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through whom blessing will come to the world.
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Kaiser argues that every single writer of the Old Testament was
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consciously contributing to the fulfillment of that promise, and
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he uses textual evidence like the repeated phrase I am the
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Lord your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, or
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similar phrases. He says they appear around 125
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times, linking the entire narrative through this theme of
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divine faithfulness to the promise about Israel and the
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Messiah. But if the covenants are so
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fundamental to that genetic progressive approach, and the
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promise is the central idea for Kaiser, why do we need the
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Kingdom concept? I mean, doesn't the promise
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cover the necessary ground? That is a vital question.
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While the promise is certainly the engine of God's redemptive
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plan, it defines the means, you know, a chosen people and the
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benefits, land and blessing. The Kingdom concept, on the
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other hand, provides the ultimate goal and the
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administrative framework for the promise.
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The Abrahamic promise secures the people and the place.
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The Kingdom defines what they are secured for to be the
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subjects and agents of God's visible rule on earth.
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So the Kingdom provides the governmental context where the
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promise is actually fulfilled. OK, so moving away from that
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covenantal approach, we run into Gerhard von Raad's influential
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diachronic narrative method. This seemed to reject the idea
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of a central theme altogether, focusing just on Israel's
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historical self-expression. Yeah, Von Raad argued that Old
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Testament theology must simply retell Israel's charisma, which
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is their core proclamation or confession of faith in its
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historical context. But, and this is crucial, von
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Rodd saw this as interpretive history.
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What Israel believed happened, not necessarily factual history.
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So he just consented himself with narrating what the Old
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Testament says about its own contents, focusing on the
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various confessions of the people rather than some
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overarching divine purpose. And that led him to conclude
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that the Old Testament has no single inherent central theme.
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That seems like an abdication of the scholars responsibility.
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I mean, if God revealed himself sequentially, there has to be a
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destination. What kind of interpretive chaos
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does that lack of unity create? It leads to fragmentation,
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subjectivity, the very things we're trying to avoid.
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And related to this is the formation of Tradition school
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with Hart Mcgee's as a key figure.
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Geez saw Old Testament theology as an historical process of
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tradition development. He made the really radical claim
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that the New Testament brings the so-called OT to an end,
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suggesting the Old Testament is incomplete or even superseded on
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its own. So if the New Testament ends the
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old, where does geez find any unity at all?
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Well, the unity isn't found in a single theme from God, but in
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the shared tradition process that's common to both
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testaments. The New Testament is seen as the
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goal or culmination of that human driven tradition.
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Peter Stulmacher, who was also part of this school, tried to
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recover a theological center. He argued that the unifying
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point was the gospel of the justification in Christ.
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Now this is a step closer to orthodoxy.
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It recovers the soteriological core.
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But he still frames this within a developmental historical
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tradition model rather than a unified inspired covenantal
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blueprint. The frustration with his
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academic scalemate LED some scholars to try and integrate or
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redefine the whole field. Walter Brueggeman, for instance,
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proposed the thematic dialectical method to resolve
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these conflicts. A dialectical system uses
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tension between opposing ideas, thesis, and antithesis to move
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toward a synthesis. Bruggeman sought to unify the
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Old Testament by finding these essential complementary tensions
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in the text. For example, Paul D Hansen found
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a tension between vision and reality, and Paul Taring used an
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ethical versus aesthetic tension centering on the reality of
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God's presence, says the Core. This method tries to hold
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different genres like historical law and wisdom literature
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together through philosophical tension rather than a binding
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administrative structure. And then we have the significant
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turn championed by Brevard Childs the canonical approach.
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This was a necessary and direct rejection of the historical
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critical methods claimed to be superior.
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Oh, absolutely, Childs called for a new biblical theology that
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definitively abandons the methods that put human reason
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above the text. His fundamental thesis is that
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we must deal with the biblical text in its final form, the
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complete Canon of the New Testament church.
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This approach basically says stop treating the Bible like a
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pile of archaeological fragments that you can dissect forever and
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start reading it as the authoritative completed book
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intended by the divine author and finalized by the church.
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That sounds like a powerful framework for unity, but then
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Gerhard Hassel proposed the Multiplex canonical approach,
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which seems to backtrack by arguing against a single center.
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Why would you reject a single center if you accept the unified
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Canon? He sole agreed with the
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authority of the Canon, but he was afraid that forcing a single
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theme like Covenant or Promise onto the text might diminish the
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richness and diversity of the individual books.
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So his approach calls for summary explanations of the
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final form of the individual writings, allowing their
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different themes and motifs like wisdom, justice, holiness to
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emerge side by side. He suggests sequencing this by
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the historical date of the book's origin while preserving
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the longitudinal themes that come up.
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Essentially, it allows for diversity within that
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acknowledged canonical unity, which makes it harder to
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establish 1 definitive overarching thesis.
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This methodological maze really proves how easy it is to get
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lost. So if our objective is to let
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scripture speak for itself and provide a framework that
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actually guides us, we have to 1st define the non negotiables
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for the study. These are the elements that have
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to be there for any true robust Old Testament theology.
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The 1st and most crucial element, the one that divides
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every methodology we just talked about, is the doctrine of
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inspiration. You just can't conduct a true
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theological examination of the biblical text if the theologian
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assumes they have the authority to sit in judgement on that
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text, using human reason as the ultimate criterion for truth or
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structure or history. That sounds like stating the
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obvious. Yeah, but as we saw with Gabler
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and the historical Critical School, if you deny inspiration,
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the study just stops being about God's revelation.
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Exactly. If we deny the divine
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authorship, that verbal plenary inspiration, then we're and just
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practicing the history of Israelite religion or the
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history of human religious ideas.
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The moment you affirm inspiration, the text claims
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absolute authority and structural unity, and the entire
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theological enterprise just pivots.
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And secondly, this study has to involve careful exegesis of the
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biblical text, applying proper hermeneutical principles, the
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rules of interpretation. And this has to be an inductive
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process. We have to avoid forcing A
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preconceived doctrinal structure onto the text, which is the
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constant temptation for systematic theologians when they
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read the Old Testament. Right.
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We have to let the text speak to us and determine its own
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structure inductively. For example, if we start
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deductively, we might impose the Nicene creeds doctrine of the
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Trinity onto Genesis 1. But if we proceed inductively,
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we allow the revelation about God to emerge gradually.
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We only note what the Genesis text itself reveals about the
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Godhead, and then we connect that revelation progressively
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through the prophets until the New Testament fully clarifies
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the Trinity. We have to let the Old Testament
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reveal its inner structure before we try to systematize it.
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The third necessity, which is really the definition of
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biblical theology, is the premise of progressive
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revelation. Yes, our study has to discover
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how God reveals himself gradually and sequentially over
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the course of history, noting the accumulation and refinement
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of truth. We shouldn't read Leviticus as
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if Deuteronomy had already been written, or the history of the
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kings as if Isaiah had already delivered his prophecies.
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And within that progression, the covenants provide the
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organizational map. They absolutely do.
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The study has to examine the different eras, especially
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through the covenants God made with his mediators, to
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understand how God chose to structure his interaction with
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humanity throughout biblical history.
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The covenants define the boundaries, the conditions and
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the parties involved in these divine administrations.
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And finally, there has to be a discernible unity.
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I mean, if we affirm that the God of the Old and New
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Testaments is 1, then the revelation has to reflect an
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ultimate consummating purpose. It can't just be a series of
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disconnected historical events, even if you view them
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progressively. The whole revelation has to
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converge on a singular divine goal.
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It has to show that all of God's activity throughout all the ages
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is directed toward bringing glory to Himself.
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And this unifying purpose is what we're arguing is most
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accurately and comprehensively defined by the Kingdom concept.
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OK, so we've laid out the chaos and the need for structural
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integrity. Now we pivot to the synthesis
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that many Reform scholars propose, unifying the Old
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Testament around the theme of the Kingdom of God.
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So why is this concept superior to the others we've discussed?
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Well, the primary strength of Kingdom is its sheer
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comprehensive reach and its adaptability across all the
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genres. It's not limited to history or
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prophecy. You can see it from Genesis 1
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through the Law, the prophets, the writings.
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It ties the entire biblical library together in a way that
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promise or Covenant by themselves really can't.
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Let's sharpen that contrast a bit with the other main
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evangelical contender, Kaiser's focus on the Promise.
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Why is the Kingdom a better structural thesis than the
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Promise? The promise of the Abrahamic
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covenant, land, seed and blessing is absolutely vital,
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but it's ultimately a means to an end.
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It defines who the beneficiaries are, Israel and Messiah, and
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what they receive, land and blessing.
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The Kingdom, however, defined as the purpose of receiving the
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land and the function of the chosen seed, the promises are
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all aiming toward establishing a place and a people over whom God
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can righteously rule in a physical, visible
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administration. So the Kingdom is the
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overarching goal, the fully realized administration which
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the promise guarantees. And what about the theme of
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God's design, focusing on deliverance, community
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relationship and the good life? That approach is excellent at
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defining the immediate sociological and spiritual
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results for Israel after the Exodus.
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Forming a godly community is certainly a condition of God's
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rule, but the Kingdom concept encompasses that entire vision
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as a functional system. The godly community and the good
22:30
life are the conditions within the theocratic administration.
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The pursuit of the good life is the consequence of living under
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the rightful king. The goal of all mediatorial rule
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and all covenant progression is the establishment of God's
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sovereign rule on earth. Kingdom provides that larger
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governmental authoritative framework.
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So covenants and promises are the contractual relational
22:52
building blocks, but the Kingdom is the actual occupied sphere of
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government that those blocks construct.
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Exactly. The Kingdom concept provides the
23:00
framework for dispensing the blessings of the Promise and the
23:02
covenants. It's the ultimate divine
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administration. Let's clarify what we mean by
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the theocratic Kingdom in the Old Testament context.
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It's not just God ruling spiritually from heaven, it's
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God dispensing His rule through appointed agents on earth.
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That is the absolutely necessary distinction, mediatorial rule.
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God, who is the absolute Sovereign, chooses to dispense
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His visible theocratic Kingdom through appointed human
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mediators, Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, the prophets who
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revealed His will and administered His authority on
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earth during specific eras. And all these administrations,
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which often failed because of human sin, they inherently point
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toward a future perfect administration.
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Yes, they all anticipate the final, culminating, and perfect
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form of God's theocratic Kingdom, the millennial Kingdom
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that will be governed directly by Jesus Christ.
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That future administration, secured by the unconditional
23:54
covenants, is the destination toward which the entire Old
23:57
Testament progresses, and it provides coherence to the
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failures that we see in every previous era.
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And this definition of Kingdom has to connect back to the
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original divine purpose for man that we find in Genesis.
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It connects perfectly. God's original purpose for man,
24:11
detailed in Genesis 1, was that he was destined to rule over
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creation. As God's vice legend, man was to
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be king of the earth, exercising dominion according to God's
24:21
will. Since the fall, human
24:23
mediatorial rule has been marred by sin, so God has worked
24:27
sequentially to restore humanity as king of the earth, a
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restoration that will only be fully achieved through the
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Messiah's perfect, eternal Kingdom.
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The Kingdom is the divine blueprint for cosmic and human
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order. So the entire Old Testament is
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really a narrative detailing the failure of human vice Regency,
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the securing of a perfect future king, and the means by which a
24:47
people will be prepared to receive that king.
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That is a structural synthesis. The King of Thesis really gains
24:52
weight because it maps so perfectly onto the progressive
24:54
history of Revelation. Let's trace the unfolding of
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this mediatorial rule through the key figures and covenants,
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moving from its establishment to its ultimate prophetic
25:03
definition. We begin with Adam, the first
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mediator. He was given the original
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mandate to rule the earth and subdue it.
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This was the exercise of the theocratic Kingdom rule over
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creation. His task involves obeying God's
25:15
command about the tree and exercising God's delegated
25:19
authority over nature and animal life on earth.
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This was the Kingdom in its pristine, unfallen state.
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And after the fall and the corruption that followed, the
25:27
flood sort of resets the board and the administration changes.
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It focuses less on creation dominion and more on societal
25:34
maintenance. Correct.
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With Noah, the mediatorial rule is established over post flood
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humanity, primarily through the administration of justice.
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The Noaic Covenant instituted capital punishment as an
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explicit recognition of the sanctity of human life and the
25:49
necessary mechanism for maintaining God's rule and order
25:52
in a fallen, dispersed world. This was essential as it
25:55
recognized the divine right to rule through law and consequence
25:58
even before the national theocracy of Israel was
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established. Abraham we shift from that
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general governance over mankind to the calling of a specific
26:06
people through whom God would channel the restoration of His
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rule and provide redemption. Abraham was called as the father
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of a special nation, Israel, through whom God would
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administer his rule over the world.
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The Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12 is the foundational
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document of God's redemptive plan.
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It provides the three unconditional elements, A land,
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the physical sphere of the Kingdom, B posterity, the
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subjects of the Kingdom, and C blessing the spiritual and
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global effects of the Kingdom. This covenant established the
26:36
means by which God would deal with Israel for the dual purpose
26:39
of achieving redemption and administering global blessing.
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And this leads directly to the visible establishment of Israel
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as a functional theocracy under Moses at Sinai.
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Moses's role was the giving of the Law.
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God's will was revealed through the conditional Mosaic Law,
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which functioned as the very constitution of the visible
26:56
theocratic Kingdom. God was the King, Israel the
26:59
subjects, and the law was the governing document.
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The conditional nature meant immediate obedience brought
27:05
blessing, and disobedience brought curses and ultimately
27:08
exile. Through this law, Israel was
27:10
tasked with mediating God's truth and standards of holiness
27:13
to the nations around them. And it is clear from the
27:15
subsequent history that this conditional administration
27:18
failed repeatedly. Israel just could not maintain
27:22
the terms of the Kingdom Constitution.
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That failure demonstrates the need for a different kind of
27:27
role, one secured by an unconditional king and supported
27:30
by a regenerated people. The Mosaic covenant reveals
27:34
man's inability to uphold the terms, and that sets the stage
27:38
for the next great mediatorial covenant.
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While the Mosaic Law provided the conditional Constitution, it
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was David who ushered in the golden age of the visible
27:46
theocracy and provided the promise of the future king who
27:50
would rule unconditionally. David mediated God's rule on
27:52
earth during the peak of the Unified Kingdom era, around
27:55
10:10 to 970 BC. But the eternal significance
27:59
comes entirely from the Davidic covenant recorded in Second
28:02
Samuel 7. And this covenant is arguably
28:04
the most crucial structural document in the Old Testament
28:07
after the Abrahamic promise, because it transitions the
28:09
Kingdom promise from a conditional temporal monarchy to
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an everlasting dynasty. Precisely.
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The Davidic Covenant guaranteed 4 essential unconditional
28:19
elements concerning the future king, a dynasty, a Kingdom, a
28:22
throne, and an everlasting rule. This covenant anticipates the
28:26
Messiah's eternal Kingdom. It guarantees that even when
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temporal kings like Solomon fail, the covenant promise rests
28:33
upon David's greater Son, Jesus Christ, who will inaugurate the
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final, endless and perfect Kingdom.
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This ensures the mediatorial rule will never be terminated.
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It shifts the focus from Israel's present obedience to
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God's future guarantee through the Messiah.
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When the earthly monarchy ultimately failed and the kings
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apostatized, which culminated in the divided kingdoms in exile,
28:56
the prophets were raised up as new mediators, speaking into a
28:58
broken, disintegrating Kingdom. The prophet served a critical
29:02
dual function. First, they were called to
29:04
exhort the people to obey the Mosaic Law and return to God
29:07
within the existing conditional theocratic structure. 2nd, and
29:11
structurally more important for Old Testament theology, they
29:14
provided extensive prophecy concerning the final future form
29:17
of the Kingdom, Messiah's millennial rule.
29:20
They filled in the divine blueprint that the historical
29:22
kings had to face. So let's detail how specific
29:25
prophets contributed to this final vision of the Kingdom.
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Well, Isaiah added crucial messianic detail by clarifying
29:31
that the future Kingdom was dependent on 2 distinct
29:34
messianic appearances. He revealed the suffering
29:37
Messiah in Isaiah 53 as absolutely necessary to secure
29:41
the forgiveness required for the people to participate in the
29:44
Kingdom. Without that satisfaction for
29:46
sin secured through suffering, the righteous future Kingdom
29:50
reign of the victorious Messiah from Isaiah 9 cannot be
29:53
established. He defined the spiritual
29:55
prerequisite for entry. And Jeremiah then addressed the
29:58
reason the conditional Mosaic covenant feels so completely
30:01
human inability. Yes, Jeremiah announced the new
30:04
covenant in chapter 31. This new covenant is entirely
30:08
unconditional and is the structural basis for Israel's
30:11
future blessing. It anticipates Israel as a
30:13
regenerated, spiritually transformed people in the future
30:16
Kingdom. Forgiveness is guaranteed and
30:19
new hearts are promised. This solves the inherent problem
30:22
of the conditional Mosaic Law and guarantees the fulfillment
30:25
of the Abrahamic and Davidic promises.
30:27
It provides the renewed subjects for the future king.
30:30
And Ezekiel then provided specific details of life and
30:33
worship within this restored future Kingdom.
30:36
Ezekiel saw God's glory departing the temple in Israel,
30:40
but he also provided the vision of a detailed, restored worship
30:42
and temple structure in the future Kingdom.
30:45
This emphasizes the return of God's manifest presence, the
30:49
Shekinah glory, which is the absolute definition of the fully
30:52
established theocracy. And finally, Daniel broaden the
30:56
scope beyond Israel to world history, positioning the
30:59
promised Kingdom within the context of Gentile world power.
31:02
Daniel's visions were governmental.
31:04
In Daniel Two, he saw that colossal statue representing a
31:07
succession of Gentile empires which would ultimately be
31:10
crushed by a stone cut without hands, a divine conquering
31:14
Kingdom established by Messiah. Daniel 7 further details this,
31:18
showing 4 great beasts which are earthly kingdoms replaced by the
31:22
Son of Man who was given everlasting dominion.
31:25
Daniel firmly established that the millennial Kingdom is not
31:27
just an isolated Jewish event, but a global eternal dominion
31:31
that destroys and replaces all preceding human political
31:34
structures. The prophets consistently
31:36
provided the clarity that the historical narrative lacked.
31:39
It's clear now, the Kingdom concept provides the thematic
31:43
goal, the ultimate objective, but the covenants provide the
31:46
structural framework, the binding guarantees that God has
31:49
put in place to ensure that goal will be reached despite all the
31:53
human failure. Yes, When we synthesize the key
31:56
unconditional covenants, Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic,
32:00
and New Covenant, they form the structural scaffolding for God's
32:04
plan of redemption and blessing, all of it aimed at the
32:07
establishment of the Kingdom. So how does the Palestinian
32:10
covenant, which is detailed mainly in Deuteronomy 30, fit
32:13
into this overall structure? The Palestinian Covenant
32:16
specifically promises a physical land for Israel's perpetual
32:20
blessing. It's essentially an elaboration
32:23
and a reaffirmation of the land portion of the Abrahamic
32:26
Covenant, and it details the eventual restoration of Israel
32:29
to their geographic sphere after the inevitable dispersion.
32:32
Crucially, it clarifies that this full restoration and
32:35
blessing will ultimately come through the return of Messiah
32:37
and the subsequent national repentance and spiritual
32:39
transformation. It defines the necessary
32:41
geographic boundaries of the future Kingdom.
32:44
And the new covenant from Jeremiah 31 ensures the
32:47
spiritual ability to inherit that land and blessing and
32:49
holiness. Precisely, it ensures the
32:51
blessing will be made possible through a regenerated people who
32:54
are given new hearts, the indwelling spirit, and the
32:57
unconditional forgiveness required to enter into full
33:00
fellowship with the Holy God. This finally fulfills the
33:03
spiritual dimension of the Abrahamic promise and provides
33:07
the righteous subjects needed for the Davidic King.
33:10
So the four unconditional covenants ensure the land
33:12
Palestinian, the seed ruler Davidic and the people Abrahamic
33:16
New Covenant are all secured for the future Kingdom
33:19
administration. When you look across the entire
33:21
Old Testament, all the history, the law, and a prophecy to
33:24
dominant continuing threads just stand out in every era,
33:27
reinforcing the need for that future Kingdom.
33:30
The first thread is the continuing, relentless the sin
33:33
of the human race. Every administration of the
33:35
Kingdom, from Adam's failure to obey a single command, to the
33:39
wickedness of the judges to the apostasy of the kings, was
33:42
marred by human rebellion. This failure proves the
33:45
conditional Mosaic framework was insufficient and that humanity
33:48
cannot achieve its appointed destiny without divine
33:51
intervention. And the second thread, running
33:54
parallel and perpetually overcoming the first, is the
33:57
grace of God to restore errant humanity.
33:59
Yes, God is constantly dealing with Israel, saving, guiding,
34:04
restoring and preserving, Moving her toward a place of spiritual
34:07
blessing so she can fulfill her original mandate to be the agent
34:11
for God to bless the nations. The entire history is the
34:14
struggle between human sin and divine grace, always directed
34:17
toward that final, blessed and perfect administration secured
34:20
by the unconditional Covenants. So if the Kingdom is the
34:23
structure and the covenants are the guarantee, we have to ask
34:26
the final question, what is the ultimate theological aim of this
34:30
entire framework? In the end, the entire
34:32
theological framework aims toward 1 central conclusion, A
34:36
conclusion that is forcefully highlighted by the final
34:38
prophetic book Zechariah, The Holiness of God.
34:42
Zechariah 14 describes the coming Kingdom, and it notes
34:45
that even the bells on the horses will bear the inscription
34:48
holy to the Lord. It's so easy to get caught up in
34:52
the geopolitical mechanics, the land, the dynasty, the
34:55
restoration, and lose sight of the divine objective.
34:58
God's ultimate purpose in wooing sinful people back to fellowship
35:02
with Himself is to bring glory to His name.
35:04
God is holy, and all who enter into fellowship with Him must
35:07
reflect that holy standard, which is achieved only through
35:10
the radical forgiveness secured by the New Covenant.
35:13
The Kingdom is the sphere of God's holiness on earth.
35:16
So the goal is the millennial Kingdom, not just as a political
35:19
establishment of Messiah's rule, but as the theological and
35:22
ethical triumph of God's character.
35:24
Absolutely. The ultimate vision is the day
35:27
when God is worshipped in His Holiness by a regenerated people
35:31
in a restored world. The Kingdom is the visible
35:34
earthly sphere in which God's glory is finally and fully
35:37
manifested on earth, securing His righteous reputation for all
35:41
time. This analysis has been really
35:43
necessary. We saw that the study of Old
35:46
Testament theology is just plagued by methodological
35:48
debates, and they all stem from that foundational question of
35:51
whether we accept or reject scriptures claims to full verbal
35:55
inspiration. But when we honor the biblical
35:57
texts own claims, the clearest structure that supports
36:00
progressive revelation is the mediatorial Kingdom.
36:03
This framework lets you view the Old Testament not as a random
36:06
collection of religious materials or broken traditions,
36:09
but as a deliberate covenant. Lee defined progression of
36:12
revelation defined by the different administrations of
36:15
God's rule through appointed mediators, all guaranteed to
36:18
culminate in Christ's future righteous rule.
36:20
And the covenants define how God secures his promises and
36:24
guarantees the succession of mediators.
36:26
And that's how the full vision is built.
36:28
The true pursuit of Old Testament theology is the
36:31
pursuit of understanding God's administration of his own glory
36:34
through history. And when you see the Davidic
36:36
Covenants guarantee of an everlasting dynasty and throne,
36:39
you're left to consider the implications of that promise for
36:42
our understanding of history today, knowing that despite all
36:45
present failures and current political disorder, that
36:48
righteous rule is absolutely secured and will inevitably
36:51
materialize. That is a profound thought to
36:54
take away.