The Journal of Inductive Biblical Studies 8, 2 (2022)

The latest issue of the Journal of Inductive Biblical Studies is available online, with the below articles and their abstracts (where available). Individual essays are available from here, and the journal is available in its entirety as a pdf here.

Fredrick J. Long

From the Editors

Daniel Harris

The Slaughtered Lamb Shepherds with a Rod of Iron: The Use of Psalm 2:9 in Revelation

With Revelation as the book of the New Testament that refers most frequently to Ps 2, and with Ps 2 as the Psalm to which Revelation alludes most often, John repeatedly invites hearers and readers to give attention to his usage of the second Psalm as a tool for conveying his apocalyptic understanding of the role and identity of the Messiah. Recognition of John’s recurrent utilization of the verb from the LXX of Ps 2:9 (“to shepherd”) rather than the Hebrew (“to break”) forms a verbal thread through which John subverts militaristic expectations of a messiah who conquers through violence by the shocking identification of the victorious Messiah as the slaughtered lamb. This essay explores this verbal thread in detail, including considerations of its implications for understanding the nature of God’s wrath and the importance of clarity on Revelation’s portrayal of Christ’s messianic character for the ongoing spiritual formation of Christians.

W. Creighton Marlowe

Ten Commandments or Prohibitions? Numbering the Ten Words

Exodus 34:28 established, ostensibly, that Moses recorded “Ten Words” (known as the Ten Commandments) revealed by Yahweh. What is in question is not how to number but how to name these Ten. Since Origen, different sets of ten commands have been proposed. Opposing Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant traditions exist. Logical, theological, and linguistic arguments have been offered as justifications for how to best divide the texts (Exod 20:3–17 and Deut 5:7–21) into two distinct commands and eight prohibitions. Most variations center on how to combine or split the several directives contained at the beginning and end, which respectively focus on idolatry and coveting. No consensus has been reached, although one list has become popular. Jewish exegesis includes a proposal for only nine. Some interpreters have proposed more than ten commands (12-14). Is a new approach possible? This article suggests there are ten clear prohibitions that leave aside the positive commands to keep Sabbath and honor parents. The proposal is made that these two could be seen as adjunctive to the prohibitions that precede, so do not function technically as two of the Ten negations intended.

Shishou Chen

Paul’s Eschatological Joy in Philippians in Its Jewish Background

Jewish literature regarding eschatology is one of the backgrounds for Paul’s eschatological joy in Philippians. While the OT emphasizes the future joy of a national eschatology, and the Pseudepigrapha develops the moral element, Paul presents a unique triangular concept of eschatological joy between him, the Philippians, and God, emphasizing the communal aspect within believers. His focus shifts from national and moral joy in the Jewish literature to Christ/mission-centered joy. In his already-not-yet eschatological framework, Paul smoothly connects the present joy with the future joy, which is a sharp distinction in the OT, stressing that joy is possible and obligatory for the present, even during suffering.

G. Richard Boyd

A Journey with Inductive Bible Study: From Ignorance to Practitioner

Alan J. Meenan

A Tribute to WILLIAM J. ABRAHAM (1947-2021)

Jason E. Vickers

A Good Steward: William J. “Billy” Abraham (1947-2021)—A Tribute delivered at Asbury Theological Seminary, October 15, 2021

The World Evangelical Alliance on the Ten Commandments

Thomas K. Johnson and William S. Barker (eds.), The Decalogue Project: Disciples from Six Continents Engage God’s Ten Commandments, World of Theology Series Volume 24 (Bonn: Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft Culture and Science Publ., 2022).

‘The latest book in the World Evangelical Alliance’s (WEA) World of Theology (WoT) series invited contributors from six different continents to apply the Ten Commandments to contemporary issues facing society in their unique context. Co-edited by Prof. Thomas K. Johnson and Prof. William S. Barker, the book was a collaborative project between the WEA and the World Reformed Fellowship.’

The book is available for free download as a PDF here.

Ethics in Brief Volume 22, No. 2 (2017)

The latest issue of Ethics in Brief, published by The Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics, is now available online:

Mark Glanville, ‘Ancient Laws for New Challenges: The Ten Commandments as a Critique of Inequality’, Ethics in Brief 22, 2 (2017).

Here is the summary:

‘This article argues that the Ten Commandments summoned ancient Israel to live as a community of mutual care where every person could flourish, especially the most vulnerable. Interpreting the Ten Commandments in their narrative context of oppression in Egypt and the exodus event and also in its relation to the law corpora of the Pentateuch clarifies that this text functions as a critique of Egypt’s oppressive economic regime and thereby of any economic practice that privileges wealth and consolidated power. Giving allegiance to Yahweh must include living in the ethical trajectory of exodus, through which Yahweh has birthed the community.’

Word for the Week: Whole Life, Whole Bible (11/50) – Covenant Commitment

‘Word for the Week: Whole Life, Whole Bible’, from London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, is a series of fifty emails designed to look at the main milestones of the biblical story, seeking to show how whole-life discipleship is woven through Scripture as a whole, from beginning to end. Here is the eleventh of the fifty emails, written this week by Margaret Killingray.

Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.
Exodus 19:3-6

Three months out of Egypt, this rag bag collection of ex-slaves in the desert of Sinai faced the awesome point in their history when the Lord began the process of forming a nation, fulfilling the promise he had made to Abraham and making a covenant with his people that resounds through the Bible. ‘You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people’, Peter told the scattered churches of East Asia (1 Peter 2:9).

This moment of life-changing commitment, like marriage or adult baptism, involved preparation, formal promises before kin and community, and the knowledge that breaking the promises would have far-reaching consequences. So the people of Israel washed, refrained from sex, and the Lord came to them with thunder, lightning and thick cloud.

Then he said, ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me’ – the beginning of the Ten Commandments. Commandments that restore to them all that slavery in Egypt had damaged and destroyed – freedom from pagan gods, freedom to work with dignity and take time off, freedom to maintain proper family relationships, freedom to construct a framework of law and order, freedom to own houses and livestock and honour others’ ownership. Commandments addressed in the singular to individuals in community – each one having the responsibility to maintain the conditions for all to flourish. Commandments that are the walk of the redeemed, not the means of redemption.

But the calling to be a priestly kingdom, a holy nation, was a calling to be actively righteous, demonstrating the character of God to the world. The whole world is his and his people were to be a light to the nations, serving only him. Yet none of the people standing before the mountain in Sinai would enter the land promised to them; they would fail and the rest of the Bible shows how much failure there would be, until God sent his son to be the Saviour of the world, beginning a new covenant.

The calling to be a priestly kingdom, a holy nation, was a calling to be actively righteous, demonstrating God’s character to the world.

Margaret Killingray

For further reflection and action:

1. Read Hebrews 12:18-29 for a further reflection on the crucial significance of Sinai and for the glory the new covenant.

2. Reflect on your covenant commitments to spouse, children, family, fellow Christians and, perhaps, repair some of the cracks.

3. The Ten Commandments have a pretty bad reputation in today’s society, although few can remember more than one or two. All about ‘don’ts’, they say. Reflect on their positive encouragement to create societies of mutual support and flourishing.