Hearing the Old Testament in the New Testament

Trinity Journal, Spring 2007 by Naselli, Andrew David

Stanley E. Porter, ed. Hearing the Old Testament in the New Testament. McMaster New Testament Studies 8. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006.316 pp. $29.00.

This work is a compilation of lectures presented at the 2003 H. H. Bingham Colloquium in New Testament at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, where Stanley E. Porter serves as president, dean, and professor of NT. The contributors updated their articles after the conference, and Andreas J. Kflstenberger added an essay to round out the volume (in addition to his response to the other essays). The book is both scholarly and readable, falling closer to a technical than a popular level. The essays logically divide into four sections.

1. Introductory issues: The reader can learn the thesis and major arguments of each chapter by reading the first and last chapters. Porter introduces the book by summarizing each essay. After surveying methodological issues regarding terminology, hermeneutics, and theology, Dennis L. Stamps focuses on the use of the OT in the NT as a rhetorical device for persuasion. His thesis is that studies on the use of the OT in the NT generally place too much weight on "the influence of Jewish interpretative methods on NT writers," especially since the NT was written "within a clash of cultures, which was primarily between emerging Christian culture and the Hellenistic world" (p. 10). Stamps seems to overstate his case at times (cf. Köstenberger's response, pp. 258-61), but his thesis merits further consideration. R. Timothy McLay discusses issues in textual criticism and the nature of the OT canon while the NT was being written. As a test case, he shows that Heb 1:6 and Odes 2:43 are both related to the Old Greek's longer reading of Deut 32:43, not the MT or 4QDeuW. Köstenberger rightly takes issue with McLay for asserting that there was "no sense of a canon during the early church era" (pp. 261-64).

2. Gospels and Acts: Michael P. Knowles argues that Matthew uses "messianic exegesis" that "is ultimately based on interpretations of Scripture by the Messiah" (p. 69). Although Mark may appear not to use the OT as significantly as the other Gospels, Craig A. Evans defends the original thesis that Mark uses the OT to refute a contemporary heresy, namely, that Vespasian (rather than Jesus) fulfilled OT prophecy. This thesis is questionable in light of the sustained use of the OT in Mark, assumptions about the audience, and the lack of a warrant for making the contemporary Roman context the controlling christological feature (see Köstenberger, pp. 268-71). Stanley Porter examines the use of the OT in two key passages, Luke 4:18-19 and Acts 2:17-35, contending that these passages are programmatic for determining each book's purpose and unifying the LukeActs corpus. Rather than focusing on John's OT quotations or themes, Paul Miller focuses on how John depicts John the Baptist, Abraham, Moses, and Isaiah as first seeing Jesus and then testifying to it. Köstenberger points out several deficiencies in this argument and suggests a reformulated one (pp. 275-84).

3. Letters and Revelation: James W. Aageson considers intertextuality in Paul's four major epistles and examines typology in 1 Corinthians 10. He sees little difference in authority between Paul's interpretation and that of modern readers, claiming that Paul started a conversation that we continue and that he occasionally misread the OT. Köstenberger justifiably rejects this lower view of Scripture (pp. 285-87). Sylvia C. Keesmaat draws thoughtful (but overemphasized) parallels between the Roman Empire and modern globalization in light of Paul's shorter epistles. I agree with Köstenberger that Keesmaat's approach fails to "offer any explanation as to why Paul would use the OT to engage the empire" and is reductionist if one "interprets everything in these letters against the imperial paradigm" (p. 290). Kurt Anders Richardson shows how Job illustrates the message of James' epistle. Köstenberger surveys the use of the OT in the Pastoral and General Epistles as well as Revelation. While acknowledging that it is impossible to do justice to this massive topic in a twenty-five page article, he proceeds to give a first-class overview that is succinct, scholarly, and edifying.

4. Response: Köstenberger concludes the book by summarizing and then responding to each essay (besides his own). Since they occur after Porter's summaries and the articles themselves, Köstenberger's summaries are somewhat redundant, probably reflecting his colloquium manuscript. This forty-page essay is the most valuable one in the volume. It is fair, gracious, and insightful, concluding a book that serves as a significant contribution to the spiraling discussion on the use of the OT in the NT.

Andrew David Naselli

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School