From: "George Athas" <gathas AT globalfreeway.com.au>
To: "Biblical Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: Proof Texts
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 09:19:15 +1100
John,
The NT writers do not seem to be finding proof-texts in the sense that I
think you are
advocating. They seem to be employing typology. For example, Matthew's Gospel
uses the
"out of Egypt" text as a precedent or "type" for Jesus rather than saying
that it was
originally and totally about Jesus. The Gospel writers were out to proof text
Jesus by
seeing how he fit the mould of the ancient scriptural precedents set in the
Hebrew Bible.
Thus, they see Jesus as "fulfilling" the precedents (ie, fitting the mould),
rather than
"making" the precedents. The Hebrew Bible gives the types, and Jesus is the
anti-type.
Best regards,
Dr GEORGE ATHAS
(Sydney, Australia)
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