Exegetically Speaking

Dr. Amy Peeler, Associate Professor of New Testament, has authored You Are My Son: The Family of God in the Epistle to the Hebrews (T&T Clark, 2015) along with articles on a range of NT texts and topics, and her study, Women and the Gender of God (Eerdmans), is forthcoming. Jesus’ identity as a son is highlighted in the figurative comparison with Moses in Heb. 3:1-6, but close attention to the Greek wording appreciates that it is Jesus’ divinity that stands out as the key distinction.

Dr. Nathan Lovell is Senior Lecturer in Old Testament and Director of Research at George Whitefield College in Cape Town, South Africa. Among other things, he has authored The Book of Kings and Exilic Identity: 1 and 2 Kings as a Work of Political Historiography and Sing for Joy. In this episode, he discusses what Solomon asks God for in 1 Kings 3, what God gives him in response, and what Solomon lacked in the end.

Dr. Steven Runge is Professor of Biblical Languages at Grace School of Theology in Houston and Senior Research Associate at the John W. Wevers Institute for Septuagint Studies at Trinity Western University. Among other things, he has authored, Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament: A Practical Introduction for Teaching and Exegesis, and he is General Editor of the Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament. In this episode he helps us notice the linguistic clues in Phil. 2:1-11 leading us to Paul’s main concern: that we should have the mindset that was operative in Christ’s self-giving, self-lowering, obedient service.

Amy Nichole Allan, adjunct Professor of Theology at Trinity Christian College, is working on her Wheaton Graduate School PhD dissertation, “Anthropomorphic and Anthropopathic Depictions of God in Hosea, Amos, Micah, and Zephaniah: Rhetoric, Interpretation, and Theology.” In this episode of Exegetically Speaking, Amy weighs carefully the last thing Job says in response to God’s long speech in chapters 38-41. Is Job 42:6 about ­self-loathing, or a retraction of Job’s words?

Dr. Andrew Abernethy, Associate Professor of Old Testament and Director of the M.A. in Biblical Exegesis in Wheaton Graduate School, has authored Discovering Isaiah: Content, Interpretation, Reception, among other things. He helps us meditate on the rich and allusive Hebrew phraseology of Isaiah’s song in chapter 12, which recalls the salvation song of Exodus 15.

Dr. Jordan Ryan is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College and author of The Role of the Synagogue in the Aims of Jesus, among other things. The Greek word for “church/assembly” (ἐκκλησία, ekklesia) occurs in the Gospels only in Matt. 16:18 and 18:17. Dr. Ryan observes that there were a couple of types of synagogues in the Jewish world, and Matthew might be using the word ἐκκλησία in Matt. 18:17 to demarcate an “association synagogue,” i.e., a Jewish synagogue that was less public and more private, in this case comprised of Jesus followers.

Dr. Doug Penney, Associate Professor of Classical Languages at Wheaton College, has taught Greek and Hebrew at Wheaton for 30 years. English Bible translations have struggled with the question of how to translate the language of a patriarchal Greco-Roman culture into contemporary English when the majority of readers increasingly find that sort of language confusing or unclear. 2 Cor. 6:18 is an instance of Paul making his own adjustment to an Old Testament text to make it explicitly refer to both men and women.