WIXLIB

Old Testament TheologyDr. Paul Housesomeone have this? Somebody have Gerhart Von Rod’s first volume? I’ve been wanting to read it at night,I just can’t get to it. We’ll be grateful for you to say that you have it.Grading: You have a dual problem or several problems with trying to get a grade in two weeks. Onetheory would [13:00] be, okay, you assign stuff that’s due a long time after the course is over. This createsenduring misery for all involved [laughter].The other thing is to have it done beforehand. This is blue-sky dreaming. This is just absolute fantasy forthe average person though DMin students are having to do it now. So that—that leaves the two-weeksegment that we’ve got.yeah, I could assign you a term paper to be due at the end of time, but that pushes [13:30] me into theenduring misery we’ve already discussed. It also gives some implication that you’ll be able to get up tospeed, work with the course, get everything done in two weeks. Thus that, too, seems to be a bitoptimistic.Then there’s also the notion of just having in-class exams, which, of course, then eats up what little timeyou have in class. This leaves my least favorite version of exams, and this is the [14:00] take-home exam.Why do I not like take-home exams? Because I think they work the best students to death, unless there isa page limit.So I will assign you essay questions. You will limit your answers to no more than four to six typed,double-spaced pages per examination. I will probably give you two essays so [14:30] that you will writeshorter answers.Now how do I guarantee that you just stick to the six pages? I will not read the eighth page. I will notread the eighth page. This is the only way I know to keep it fair for everybody involved. So if you say, butI know a lot [laughter]. I know more than the person over there. In fact, and-and some of you [15:00] say,you know I-I-I want to do this for a living. I want to-I want to go into academics.In academic work, you are often given a word limit for your writing. When this manuscript came in, theysaid, “Cut it.” [Laughter] So we cut it. Oftentimes you get – I have had – was asked to write an article.“We would like,” they said “somewhere between five and ten thousand words of your best.” They do notwant anything longer than that. Or a book review. [15:30] It will be 1,500 words or we will not print it,something like that, so brevity does have its place.So I will give you something like probably tomorrow or maybe at the end of the third day since it’s not –it’s-it’s due at, I think, the start of the fourth period – give you essay questions that you will then work on,and it would be to your advantage to review because the exams will in general be [16:00] over whatalmost the – almost totally over what we cover in class. And if you think what will he ask about, myguess will be the topics of the day.When you take the exam, you’re free to use your textbooks and your class notes, though that is not doingyou a specific favor. I will try to ask the questions of which it will require you to use the content of theclass, but also to adapt your own mind.So [16:30] it will not simply be reading back to me my class notes, which I own a set of [laughter], but itwill be enough of it that I would expect you to , to work through it.!6

Old Testament TheologyDr. Paul HouseUsually a take-home examination results in higher class grades. I’m happy with that. I’m not unhappywith that. So there will be three of these, and it will be my goal certainly to turn them back to you in atimely fashion so that you can see.[17:00] When you type these, do use spell check, do use grammar check. I would penalize the sort ofthings that you can have fixed by a computer. One of the things you can’t have fixed by a computer iscontextual errors. You can spell a-a word-a[18:00] word that it is a word and it be in the wrong context.That is forgivable.You [17:30] will have to teach your computer to spell names of some of these people. That, too, the names,are forgivable, but in general, I do not want to fix your prose. I have taught freshman composition. I’dprefer not to do it again this summer.If English is not your first language, you’re probably ahead of some whose is [laughter], but having saidthat, you know, you-you also are free [18:00] to ask a-a colleague about the content of it, not the contentrather, but is this a clear sentence. , so you’re not to copy off someone else’s content, but you are free tosay, is this a complete sentence, that sort of thing.So I will grade these, and if there is a Beeson Divinity School scale of sorts, I will use it. Otherwise, I’ll justwrite the grade on your paper and you will see. Each one of these will be a third of your grade. [18:30] Soconsistency will be a virtue.I-I assume if you’ve paid for 10 classes, unless something takes you away that’s important, you willattend. I will not email you or mail you the test questions. You must be present to win [laughter].The assignments, you see the reading for today, which if there was a day that I figured that we wouldstick pretty close to the textbook, it would be today because I assumed [19:00] that some of you might nothave done that work, but if you have, you will be right up to speed.Then I’ve picked specific thematic emphases in Old Testament theology that are important to biblicaltheology that are usually important to a variety of ministries. So we’ll start with a method of doing OldTestament theology today, then we’ll move [19:30] to the God who creates. The next two days, days threeand four, we will deal with God and the law.You are to do the reading even if I get behind. You’re to do the reading especially if I get behind, becausethat will fill out what we do not cover in class. So your reading is, in my view, is significant, particularlythe biblical readings [background cough].One nice thing [20:00] about having my own book here is that you can fill out what I would have thoughton a variety of subjects through the reading, and we can have more class discussion perhaps.But the next days three and four, God who saves and gives the law and God who is holy, we’re going todeal with issues of-of law and its relationship to the whole of scripture, which is a rather important topicthroughout the Bible and in [20:30] current life.Day five, the God who rules history. Salvation history is one of the key ways – key components of biblicaltheology and it – and how it’s been treated. Days six and seven will constitute Messianic thought in theOld Testament. This, of course, is a-a primary topic [background cough] in the New Testament, inliturgical [21:00] seasons and in-in appreciating teaching of the church.!7

Old Testament TheologyDr. Paul HouseSome people have raised it to the level of being virtually the only Old Testament theological topic theyknow or discuss. I find this to be unfortunate and very unlike the New Testament church. However[chuckles], it is a vital, vital topic.When you hear me saying Messianic theology [21:30] is not all the Old Testament does, do not hear mesay it is not something the Old Testament does. It is a vital part, but it is not all it does. Or even all that theNew Testament seems to indicate that it does.By day eight. we’ll be moving toward the last segment of the Old Testament, the writings, and into anissue that has gotten some attention in a variety of places, that of worship. Some of you are involved inmusic ministry, some [22:00] of you are involved in planning, you know, not only music but other sorts ofworship. Is there a biblical theological approach to worship, day 8.Day nine, particularly a pastoral issue, one that is covered in some detail in the Old Testament and itstheology, God meeting the hurting. Theology of suffering. And finally, some steps toward a whole biblicaltheology [22:30] and hopefully, that will give you bridges to the New Testament that we haven’t gainedalready.In my view, Old Testament theology is a subset of biblical theology, that if you were to do your jobthoroughly, you would study the scriptures until you were thoroughly acquainted with them, so that ifsomeone said give me four creation – give me creation texts that span the Old and New Testament, [23:00]you would be able to do that on demand, which is sort of like being in ministry, because you havelaypeople who think if they ask you that, you can deliver it, as you know.To quote a friend of mine who is a-a Baptist layman, my church, I asked him how many hours – I was ona curriculum committee, and I said, “How many hours of Bible do you think somebody oughta have?”He said, “I don’t know, but they oughta know it backwards and forwards so that if we ask them anybiblical question, they would know the answer.” Why did he think that? [23:30] , that’s what was kind ofexpected in his profession, what he expects of his doctor [clears throat], his lawyer, his dentist and his –particularly his mechanic [laughter].So they kind of expect that of ministers and so you would-you would do that. You would start. And thenyou would do a thorough study of Old Testament theology and New Testament theology and theirconnections, and from that base, you would-you would do your biblical theology and then take that to asystematic [24:00] theology.And then you would integrate all of that into a system of preaching, teaching, writing, whatever yourministry would be. That would be an ideal, and probably what we’re going to do in heaven is get all thatpieced together [laughter].But that’s how I approach Old Testament theology. That is really one of the first stages in a whole biblicaland systematic theology. You will [24:30] not hear me pitting Old Testament theology against NewTestament theology. You will not hear me pitting biblical theology against systematic theology.I know that is done other places. The seminary I attended one of the famous comments by a systematictheologian [sniffles] was it – or a-a New Testament scholar, he said, “It makes me nervous every time I seea systematic theologian with a Greek New Testament” [laughter].I find this sort of combative spirit to be absurd personally. [25:00] If systematic theology is not biblical,eventually at least then there’s a problem, and if there is not organization to biblical theology, well, it’shard to study. So this is my approach.!8

Old Testament TheologyDr. Paul HouseTherefore, though I would like to use some others, on day two we have Carl Henry, which is Volume 6pages 108 to 119, one of his essays in his Volume [25:30] 6 on creation, and then I believe if the otherHenry is day 10, it’s God, Revelation, and Authority, Volume 2. And I’m trying to see if there are anyothers. I think that may be the only two readings [background talking]. I-I may have to to –Woman: [25:47] [inaudible] articles.[25:49] And it’s on creation.Woman: [25:50] Oh, it is. Okay.[25:51] All right.Woman: [25:52] [inaudible].[25:54] Yeah, Volume 6, interestingly enough is-is where creation comes in his discussion.Woman: [26:00] Hmm.[26:01] The nice thing about Henry is each chapter basically is a self-contained essay, and if you’re notcareful, you’ll think that it’s not a systematic approach then, but then if you actually read a wholevolume, you will see how connected it all is.So do that. I’ll be referring to the article that’s for day 10 today. So we’ll start. I have that with me if you –someone needs to take it and Xerox it.So [26:30] these are the assignments you are to-to read each day, the assignment, and if it looks like thebiblical texts are a hodgepodge to you right now, hopefully once we do our methodological discussion,you will see why the biblical assignments are as they are. If it all seems a hodgepodge at the end, eitherI’ve not done a good job or you haven’t paid attention [laughter], one [27:00] or the other.So let’s begin. If there are any other questions – let me see one other thing in my mind. On day three ittells you the first examination, which covers the first three of – three days of class, is due, is due [laughs] –typo – at the beginning of day four. So at least by day three I will give you the exam questions, and thenyou will bring [27:30] them day four.Second exam will be given you at day six, due the next day. I had hoped to be able to do something withthe weekend, but it just doesn’t go that way. I will give you the final examination at the end of day nine,so it’s just three days, three days, three days and the final.So, again, it-it [28:00] – there’ll be a certain rhythm to this. Hopefully, it will be a comfortable rhythm. Ifnot, it’ll be over in two weeks [laughter]. So I’d like for you to to get a Bible, and I want to start with a bitof a personal journey description of it to help [28:30] you understand how I came about the study of-ofOld Testament theology. And I think these are relevant points for us all.Like some of you probably, I-I had Christian parents, and dedicated Christian parents, one of whom iswith the Lord now and has been for nearly 20 years and one who continues on teaching adult Sundayschool for years and years and [29:00] years, who my father committed to-to-to teaching God’s word.So I grew up in a home in which the Bible was important. We attended Baptist church, but my motherhad been Methodist before, and all of her people were Methodist. I’m not sure about all of their localpractices. They did not practice infant baptism. They were not Wesleyans or Free Methodists. The church[29:30] is still there, but I did not know for many years that Methodists practiced infant baptism becausemy mother’s church did not.!9

Old Testament TheologyDr. Paul HouseMother became a Baptist and because at – there were at least denominations represented [backgroundnoise – cough] in the family, there was always strong respect for other traditions. So my dad early onwould ask one question about other denominations: Are they Bible-believing people? He had no use forthe non-Bible-believing [30:00] people, or very little, [30:00] [30:30] except to the extent that he wanted tohelp reform them [laughter], but that’s really where he started.I was called to ministry when I was 12 years old and at that time my dad gave me two bibles: a Scofieldreference Bible, which he always carried, and a New English Bible, which was just come out in ModernLanguage, Modern Language Edition.Since then I’ve – the kind of poles of my theology have been the Anglican church [30:30] and right-wingdispensationalism [laughs] so somewhere-somewhere out there have-have kind of been the boundaries,kind of like this class [laughter][31:00] .So I began reading the Bible and asking questions about it, and even earlier I remember asking my fourthgrade Sunday school teacher how were people saved in the Old Testament? How did they-how did theyget right with God? How were their sins forgiven? And my teacher [31:00] said they kept the TenCommandments.Now, that made sense to me until I read more of the Bible. You know, you read something like Romans 3,“none righteous, no, not one can conclude with Paul’s comment that all of sin and come short of the gloryof God.”And then as I-I read a little bit longer, I realized Paul wasn’t – that wasn’t Paul’s opinion. Romans 3:10and following there’s a whole bunch of quotations from the Old [31:30] Testament itself, so the OldTestament didn’t think that people were saved by teaching the Ten Commandments or its testimonyabout itself was we all went to hell then.Woman: [31:39] -hmm.[31:40] So I came to this first scholarly decision that either my Sunday school teacher was wrong or astraightforward reading of the Bible was meaningless, so I had to choose between my teacher and theBible and-and also I-I said, well, [32:00] I would[32:30] [33:00] [33:30] choose my – choose the Bible.It was also-it was also helped by the fact that about then he defected to the Church of Christ, so you knowit was easy to-to-to write his opinion off [laughter], but at that point, and then you start reading texts likeHebrews 11. What’s it say about the people there. Hebrews 11, anybody know what that chapter is about?Man: [32:22] [inaudible].[32:22] Right [inaudible] [32:22]. And is that-is that a whole bunch of New Testament people there it’stalking about? No. One by one, [32:30] you know, under the theme without faith it’s impossible to pleaseGod, this person pleased God, this person pleased God, this person pleased God.That’s pretty interesting because it includes some pretty odd folks, particularly in the list at the end. , itwas by faith. And then you’d ask questions about the Old Testament and along the way you’d read a textlike, you know, Second Timothy 3, you know this one? Second Timothy 3 when Paul writes [33:00]something like, oh, start with Verse 14, Paul having told them that the evil men are going to proceed andget worse and worse and worse and worse and worse.Says in Verse 14, “You, however, are continuing the things you’ve learned and become convinced of” – Ialways read from the New American Standard for better or for worse – “knowing from whom you have!10

Old Testament TheologyDr. Paul Houselearned them and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings, which [33:30] are able to giveyou the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture that Godbreathed is literal translation and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training inrighteousness.”Now so there’s been a qualitative statement about scripture as God breathed and a statement of“usefulness, profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.” Now, eh,what is striking here is that the [34:00] all scripture he’s talking about is the Old Testament, correct? Andthat what’s – , a teacher said to me – I forget who or I’d give credit – said really, you know what’s-what’sastounding is the-the New Testament church did all of its evangelization, discipleship, church growthand everything from the Old Testament.So I started asking – I remember way back, I started [34:30] asking questions. What if Paul’s right? What ifhe’s right? All scripture is God-breathed, which I came to pretty early and never left. If you want to readmy – understand where I’m coming – for my doc

Old Testament Theology Dr. Paul House Chapter 1 Introduction My name is Paul House. I teach, starting this fall, at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. , I will mainly have – or be chairing our Department [00:30] of Bible Theolo