Josiah Hoi's Blog

The Prophets and Their Perspective by Randall E. Otto. I got into a discussion with Pastor James on the relationship between Ezekiel 40-48 and John 21-22, especially in light of his view on the millennium temple. Why does John pick up the language of Ezekiel’s new temple (trees, river, fruit for the healing of nations, etc.) and apply it to the new heavens/earth/Jerusalem and not the millennial temple? James’ answer relies on the concept of prophetic foreshortening, which is a concept that I haven’t thought about at great length. I did a little reading this week on prophetic foreshortening, and I’m not very comfortable buying it as a hermeneutical tool. Randall Otto points out that the major problem with “prophetic foreshortening” is that it relies on a post-hoc and historical analysis of prophecy rather than a biblical-exegetical analysis. That is, we only label things as “prophetic foreshortening” when we realize that only some of it is is fulfilled. There is no hermeneutical control that derives directly from authorial intent. Nevertheless, there are some passages that still remain poorly explained by anything other than “prophetic foreshortening” such as the ending of Zechariah. Otto’s solution itself is untenable for someone with a high view of Scripture – he follows Barnabas Lindars in suggesting that NT writers ripped OT quotations out of context and applied them to Jesus because they lived in light of the risen Christ. There is much work still to be done in this area.

Why Not Prophetic-Apocalyptic? by George Eldon Ladd. Ladd suggests in this paper that we not view the prophetic genre and apocalyptic genre in Scripture (ex. Matthew 24-25, Revelation) as completely separate things. In particular, biblical examples of prophetic-apocalyptic literature merge the views of the prophets regarding fulfillment in history and the views of the writers of various apocalypses regarding the inbreaking of the kingdom of God. The NT apocalypses, while apocalyptic in form, often demonstrate genuine prophetic characteristics, such as fulfillment in history and ethical encouragement. At the end of the day, prophetic-apocalyptic is a useful term to avoid drawing overly sharp distinctions about the nature of prophecies in the Bible.

The Revelation to John by Stephen S. Smalley. This is a commentary on the Greek text of Revelation that I’ve been reading carefully over the past six months. He is a very careful commentator that wrestles well with the smallest details of the text. Smalley is at his best when he interacts with other commentators, and it’s useful to identify which commentators take unique positions in regards to a certain passage. However, Smalley often takes independent views, such as that Revelation was written pre-AD 70 (but nevertheless interprets it in line with most other idealists/amillennialists). Other anomalous views include his belief in annihilationism in Revelation 14:11. Smalley’s commentary should be read in conjunction with his book on the theology of Revelation, Thunder and Love.

Revelation: A Shorter Commentary by G. K. Beale and David Campbell. Clocking in at over 500 pages, this “shorter” commentary is anything but “short”. Beale’s original commentary on Revelation is over 1300 pages, so in comparison, 500 is short. I read the original commentary a year ago, but had no desire to slug through the 1300 pages again to compile my notes and lessons on Revelation. Anyone that studies Revelation must read something from Beale – he is the heavyweight commentator in this book, and understands the OT quotations/allusions/echoes better than any other writer. The “shorter” commentary is perfect for anyone who doesn’t know Greek, and is replete with pastoral suggestions and reflections at the end of every chapter.

The Mundanity of Excellence by Daniel F. Chambliss. What differentiates the best from everyone else, and how do I get there? Three major takeaways from this paper: 1. Excellence is a qualitative phenomenon, not quantitative. It’s not just doing more of something, it’s doing it differently. 2. Talent is a word that is used to justify the gap between top performers and everyone else. 3. Excellence involves the compilation of many little steps, done in a qualitatively different way, into one result.