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The Christadelphian eJournal of Biblical Interpretation

The Christadelphian Ejournal is an online magazine published quarterly and intended to be a forum for articles written in an analytical style. It is a vehicle for exegetical and expositional articles, it engages in academic biblical studies that originate in other Christian confessions, it defends the Biblical principles summarised in the common Christadelphian statement of faith and subject published articles to peer review and amendment.

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      • Genesis 32 and Jacob’s New Name

      Genesis 32 records the wrestling match and the renaming of Jacob on the borders of the land by the Jabbok River ford.[1]  Our question is: What does the account tell us about the meaning of Jacob’s new name.

      …

      Psalm 110 and the Assumption of the Davidic Throne

      Psalms 2 and 110 are often described as “coronation” psalms. J. Day offers these observations:[1]

      Jehoiada the priest put the crown upon Josiah and gave him the testimony (2 Kgs 11:12). This could be the “decree” of Psa …

      The Therapeutae Religious Sect, Miriam and 1 Corinthians

      Philo describes the Therapeutae in On the Contemplative Life.[1] These were a Jewish studious religious sect (“the disciples of Moses”, On the Contemplative Life, 63-64) found throughout the Roman Empire but mainly in Egypt (On the Contemplative Life, …

      Jacob and Babel

      From his birth Jacob is locked in a struggle for supremacy with his brother Esau, whose heel he grabs. R. Alter observes, “In this instance, the etymology is transparent: Ya’aqob (Jacob) and ‘aqeb (heel). The grabbing of the heel by …

      The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice and Tongues

      The “Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice” are a selection of fragmentary Dead Sea texts that contain songs dedicated to particular Sabbaths in the first quarter of the year; the Songs are for angels to utter in the heavenly tabernacle-sanctuary. The …

      The Name of Cyrus in Isaiah 44:28

      Motyer observes that “many see the detailed prediction of the personal name of Cyrus in 44:28 as a problem”.[1] It is a dividing line between critical and conservative commentators with each side showing equal conviction. Critical scholars insist …

      Fashions in Biblical Scholarship

      Scholarship has fashions. In recent years, “reception history” has been in vogue in NT Studies. This is the study of how a NT was received by the early church after the apostles. A fashion can be discerned by the frequency …

      Marginal Notes on Isa 66:1

      The question posed in Isa 66:1 is “Where is the house that ye build unto me?”. It is a text that is taken to firmly indicate the absence of the temple,[1] and it is used to prove that …

      Marginal Notes on 1 Cor 15:8-10

      The metaphor of “incarnation” is about location – it locates God on earth in a man. The Doctrine of the Trinity asserts that this is the person of God the Son. By way of contrast, the notion of “manifestation” is …

      Issues in Danielic Studies

      Introduction

      The book of Daniel presents exegetes with unique interpretive challenges. In virtually every field “problems” exist, whether they are historical “anomalies”, or problems regarding philology, morphology, semantics or dating. The relatively recent discoveries of the Dead Sea Scrolls and …

      Market Place Oracles

      Introduction

      If a prophet receives the word of the Lord and delivers it in the market place or in the king’s court or to a gathering of his disciples, the character of its oral delivery should be preserved in the …

      Deuteronomistic History in Romans 2 and 3 (Part One)

      Introduction

      Modern Pauline scholarship is in a state of flux between more traditional views and that of the “New Perspective” on Paul.[1] Within this debate Romans 2 and 3 play a crucial role.  N.T. Wright calls Romans 2 …

      The Restoration of Israel

      Introduction

      The subject of the restoration of Israel has been a focus of NT scholarship since the early nineties. This can be seen in writings such as those by N. T. Wright,[1] M. Fuller,[2] M. M. …

      The End of Eschatology

      B. Caird, in The Language and Imagery of the Bible, offers a discussion of the way in which the term “eschatology” has been used in Biblical scholarship up the 1980s.[1] He supplies various definitions which form a useful …

      Gadarene Demoniac

      Demonic Possession

      H. Twelftree reviews demonism in Jewish/Hellenistic Literature and summarizes as follows:

      “In Greek thought the word daimonion was used in a variety of ways: for a deity (Philo Vit. Mos. 1.276), a lesser deity (Plutarch Rom. 51), a …

      Demarcating Prophetic Oracles

      Introduction

      If we define a prophetic oracle “unit” to be any discrete amount of text, we can then define a prophetic oracle to be comprised of one or more such units collected together from the same circumstances of delivery. Such …

      Does Hebrews Presuppose the Pre-existence of the Son?

      This article will examine the interpretation of Heb 1:10-12 and, after dismissing current interpretations, present a new reading. A corollary of the study is that it is shown that the text does not presuppose the pre-existence of the Son.

      Introduction

      …

      The Cyrus Problem in Isaiah 44-45

      The crux interpretum that defines much of the liberal critical approach to Isaiah is the Cyrus prophecy in Isaiah 44-45. Dennis Bratcher sums it up as follows:

      “From such a perspective, the “prediction” of the coming of Cyrus in Isaiah …

      An Ironic Cyrus

      Introduction

      Critical commentators view the mention of Cyrus as proof that Isaiah 40-48 was written by a prophetic hand other than Isaiah of Jerusalem. Conservative scholars, on the other hand, think that Isaiah could have predicted the rise of Cyrus, …

      Danielic Apocalyptic and the Son of Man

      Introduction

      The expression “Son of Man” is employed by Jesus as a self-reference[1], and is explicitly quoted by him during his trial (from Daniel 7:13-14) as a messianic self-designation.[2] Geza Vermes [3] believes that …

      The Title of “The Son of Man” in the Gospels

      Introduction

      In this article I consider the historical approach to Jesus and who he claimed to be by looking at the title ‘Son of Man’ in the Gospels. We adopt the historical method of NT scholars (with its limits) in …

      Marginal Notes on Isaiah 52:11

      “Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.”

      This text is most likely to be interpreted in …

      The Manifestation of the Spirit at Pentecost

      There are three broad positions on the meaning of the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost. Pentecostal scholars like Robert Menzies define the gift solely in terms of an added gift enabling and supporting the missionary work of the church.1 Non-Pentecostal scholars of a broader …

      The Plot of Acts in Acts 1:18

      A common suggestion by commentators is that Acts 1:8 announces the plot of Acts. B. Gaventa offers a variation on this suggestion, “The story that follows conforms so closely to this statement that it serves as something like a table …