SITUATIONAL HERMENEUTICS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT’S USE OF THE OLD By William Boyd Dissertation for PhD in Theology and Apologetics Liberty University LIBERTY UNIVERSITY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY DISSERTAION APPROVAL SHEET __________________________ GRADE ______________________________ ADVISOR: Dr. Leo Percer ______________________________ READER: Dr. Gary Yates ______________________________ READER: Dr. Chad Thornhill ABSTRACT SITUATIONAL HERMENEUTICS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT’S USE OF THE OLD William H. Boyd, Liberty University Baptist Theological Seminary, 2018 Advisor: Dr. Leo Percer The New Testament’s use of the Old Testament presents some unique hermeneutical challenges. New Testament authors utilize Old Testament texts in ways that do not seem to strictly adhere to modern interpretive methods, and they seem to exhibit multiple hermeneutical methods in their usage of scripture. This study seeks to explore the relationship between these various ways of interpreting scripture, and to propose a consistent way of evaluating the hermeneutical validity of varying usages which can apply to the New Testament’s use of the Old as well as to modern interpretation of the Bible. It begins by discussing the problem under consideration and laying out a methodology which involves comparing two instances of New Testament usage which utilize the same Old Testament text in differing ways. This study then explores two such texts, Romans 9:7 and Hebrews 11:18, which both use the same Old Testament text, Genesis 21:12. It proposes speech act theory as a framework for furnishing a method of consistently evaluating the usage of scripture in multiple situational contexts. This study discusses speech acts as they appear in Romans 9:7, Hebrews 11:18, and Genesis 21:12. Using these texts as examples, it then demonstrates how speech act theory can effectively account for situational factors which render varying interpretations hermeneutically valid within their respective situational contexts. Finally, this study proposes the concept of a situational hermeneutic as a way to broadly account for the variety of ways in which the New Testament uses the Old, and it examines how a situational hermeneutic might be applied to modern usage of scripture. Table of Contents CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 The Problem .................................................................................................................................... 4 Significance ...................................................................................................................................... 9 Clarifications ................................................................................................................................... 11 Methodology .................................................................................................................................. 17 Limitations of This Study ................................................................................................................. 20 Survey of Literature ........................................................................................................................ 22 Structure ........................................................................................................................................ 37 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 39 CHAPTER TWO: CONTEXT AND HERMENEUTICAL ISSUES IN GENESIS 21:12 / ROMANS 9:7 AND HEBREWS 11:18 ..................................................................................................................... 40 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 40 Genesis 21:12 ................................................................................................................................. 41 Romans 9:7 ..................................................................................................................................... 47 Hebrews 11:18 ................................................................................................................................ 60 Hermeneutical Differences Between Romans 9:7 and Hebrews 11:18 ............................................. 72 Hermeneutical Issues Arising from the Differences in use of Genesis 21:12 between Romans 9:7 and Hebrews 11:18 ................................................................................................................................ 76 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 78 CHAPTER THREE: SPEECH ACTS IN GENESIS 21:12 / ROMANS 9:7 AND HEBREWS 11:18 ......... 79 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 79 Speech Act Theory .......................................................................................................................... 80 Speech Act Theory and Biblical Interpretation ................................................................................ 86 Speech Act Theory and New Testament Use of the Old Testament ................................................. 92 Multiple Layers of Speech Act in Genesis 21:12 ............................................................................... 97 Speech Acts in Genesis 21:12 ........................................................................................................ 106 Speech Acts in Romans 9:7 ............................................................................................................ 108 Speech Acts in Hebrews 11:18 ....................................................................................................... 110 Differences Between Speech Acts in Romans 9:7 and Hebrews 11:18 ............................................ 111 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 112 CHAPTER FOUR: SPEECH ACTS AND HERMENEUTICAL JUSTIFICATION IN ROMANS 9:7 AND HEBREWS 11:18 ................................................................................................................... 113 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 113 Intertextuality .............................................................................................................................. 114 A Speech Act Approach to Hermeneutical Justification ................................................................. 120 Hermeneutical Justification in Romans 9:7 .................................................................................... 128 Speech Acts and Hermeneutical Justification in Romans 9:7 ......................................................... 135 Hermeneutical Justification in Hebrews 11:18 ............................................................................... 140 Speech Acts and Hermeneutical Justification in Hebrews 11:18 .................................................... 143 Romans 9:7 and Hebrews 11:18 Differently Justified in Situational Context .................................. 146 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 150 CHAPTER FIVE: A SITUATIONAL HERMENEUTIC .................................................................... 152 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 152 Evidence from the Texts ................................................................................................................ 153 Hermeneutics of Hebrews 11:18 in Contrast to Romans 9:7 .......................................................... 162 Situational Hermeneutic ............................................................................................................... 171 The Role of Theology in a Situational Hermeneutic ....................................................................... 179 Can Modern Readers Use a Situational Hermeneutic? ................................................................... 188 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 192 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................... 195 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Introduction Even among those who can agree upon the centrality of Scripture to the lives of followers of Christ, upon its inerrancy, authority, and its status as the very word of God, there remain nuances of understanding with regard to how Scripture is to be interpreted. The whole field of hermeneutics is devoted to this question. However, simply asserting that the Bible is inerrant or that one holds to a literal interpretation is rarely sufficient to account for one’s interpretation of the wide range of biblical materials.