The Old Testament encompasses two-thirds of the Bible yet it has baffled Christians for centuries. What does ancient Israel’s sacred literature mean for Gentile Christians? In The Problem of the Old Testament, Duane Garrett seeks to answer this question.
Parts One and Two
After posing the problem in part one, Garrett moves to inadequate solutions in part two. He begins with two hermeneutical or interpretive solutions that have been used in Christian history: (1) the Alexandrian solution, which basically means to allegorize or find hidden meaning in the text. For example, in the statement, “Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep” (Song of Songs 4:2), Augustine interprets “teeth” as the church which tears sinners away from sin and error. Obviously, without clear guidelines to follow this type of interpretation is arbitrary and eccentric. (2) The Antiochene solution searches for the plain or straightforward meaning of the text. Garrett is clearly in favor of this approach because it allows the author’s voice to be heard and it employs the author’s intention as a guideline.
The Alexandrian approach dominated the church for about a millennium but with the Reformation, and especially John Calvin, the Antiochene approach was given new life. But even Calvin struggled with messianic prophecies in the Old Testament, such as Isaiah 7:14. While the Antiochene approach is commendable, neither approach fully answers the question, “Can we legitimately claim that the Old Testament is Christian Scripture?”
Following the two interpretive solutions, Garrett explains two inadequate schematic solutions produced by American evangelicalism: (1) covenant theology and (2) dispensationalism. Both schemas have distinct things to say about Israel and the church.
Covenant theology affirms that the church has superseded Israel. Hence, the term supersessionism. This means God has completed his work with Israel and is now working solely with the church. How so? Covenant theology collapses all covenants into two categories: the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. The covenant of works existed for Adam and Eve but then ended with the fall. The covenant of grace encompasses all other covenants, with each successive covenant superseding the previous covenant. Thus, the New Covenant supersedes the Sinai Covenant. According to Garrett, however, the terms “covenant of works” and “covenant of grace” are not derived from Scripture; instead they are imposed on Scripture. Further, by collapsing individual covenants into a general category this framework glosses over the distinctions between the covenants.
Dispensationalism teaches that God has a distinct plan for Israel and another distinct plan for the church. The church is an interruption or parenthesis in God’s plan for Israel. After the church has been raptured, God will resume his plan for Israel. Hence, the Old Testament properly belongs to Israel not the church. This means Old Testament prophecies will be literally fulfilled for Israel. But Garrett says “Ephesians 2:11-22 contradicts the claim that Israel and the church are two separate peoples of God” (127). Christ has broken down the barrier between the two; now the two have become one.
Garrett then moves to inadequate conceptual solutions. In this section he highlights models for Old Testament theology and finds them all deficient because “No model can of itself guide the way toward a solution to the problem of the Old Testament” (158). Thus a hybrid approach is necessary.
Part Three
In part three Garrett presents “A New Approach.” Summing up the previous section, he writes:
Both the supersessionism of covenant theology and the two separate peoples of dispensationalism are wrong. There is one people of God, and it is Israel. Historically and culturally, of course, Old Testament Israel and the Gentile church are distinct entities. Theologically, they mark two different phases of salvation history. Ancient Israel, compared to the other nations, had a unique relationship with God in the Sinai Covenant. This is now obsolete, although “with respect to election, they are loved on account of the patriarchs” (Rom 11:28). Christ built the church (Mt 16:18) as an international body of faithful believers to serve as the agent of worldwide evangelism under the New Covenant. (163)
He continues by explaining that Israel and the church are not two parts of “the people of God” because there is only one people of God. Believing Gentiles enter into Israel.
Near the end of chapter 7, Garrett says,
We don’t need to force Christian theology upon the text, and we don’t need to pump our imaginations for contemporary applications that might make the text useful. A key to meditative, spiritual reading of this text is this: in Christ, we have been grafted into Israel. Their history has become our history, their God has become our God, their Scriptures have become our Scriptures, and their identity and election have become ours as well. . . We recognize ourselves not just by analogy but by family identification—we have been adopted into this people. (174)
One of Garrett’s primary proposals is a new classification system for Old Testament literature. He divides the Old Testament into two collections: (1) Election Literature and (2) Wisdom Literature. Election Literature highlights God’s covenant with Israel. In contrast, Wisdom Literature, consisting of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs, doesn’t even mention Israel or God’s covenant. Hence, “If one is to create a compelling Old Testament theology, one must distinguish Election Literature from Wisdom Literature” (171-2).
The rest of part three focuses on details of Election Literature, such as the covenants and the law. For example, Garrett mentions the uniqueness of Israel’s law as noted in Deuteronomy 4:7-8—it was given to the people of Israel not to a king (223).
Part Four
Part four provides case studies in prophecy using Hosea and Joel. Garrett notes how Israel’s prophets allude to other biblical concepts and events and these allusions may continue into the New Testament. A key idea here is that the biblical authors were not being arbitrary in the way they read previous biblical authors. They were actually reading with the grain of meaning intended by the original authors.
Prior to the appendix, Garrett notes that this is only a prolegomenon or starting point for future work. He lists issues not addressed and which he hopes to engage in future work.
Appendix
Since Garrett makes frequent references to Isaiah 7:14 and how it has been interpreted by church leaders throughout Christian history, the book has a bonus section on this verse. In essence the verse contains ambiguity, which means it can be legitimately understood as providing a near historical fulfillment and a later eschatological fulfillment in Christ.
Reflection
This is an important book. Garrett is engaging with a perplexing problem. The Old Testament was written almost entirely in Hebrew to Israel yet Christians have absorbed it as a part of their sacred literature. This has led to many confusing, wrongheaded, and anti-Semitic approaches.
Weaknesses
- The two inadequate schematic solutions are uniquely American. It would have been nice to hear about non-American schemas, if there are any, as well.
- The section on conceptual weaknesses seemed a bit confusing because several different concepts were engaged.
- In terms of prophecy, Garrett is right to point out a near historical fulfillment and a future fulfillment. However, I think more could have been said about how Christians hold a key to Old Testament interpretation. In other words, the revelation of God in Christ is something Christians bring to the Old Testament and it unavoidably influences the way the Old Testament is handled.
- The topic is complex and simplifying a complex matter can be tricky. At points it sounds like Garrett’s view coincides with supersessionism. For example, his claim that Israel’s unique relationship to God “is now obsolete” may sound like supersessionism to some. More clarity around exactly how Garrett’s view is distinct from other views would be helpful.
Strengths
- The book is organized well, moving from the problem to inadequate solutions to a new solution.
- The strong historical emphasis helps us to identify the major approaches that have been used in Christian history.
- Garrett is refreshingly honest. Unlike many scholars who dance around certain issues, he tells you exactly what he thinks. For instance, he will simply say this person or this idea “is wrong.”
- He is right that we need guidelines or our interpretations will run amok. I remember doing research on Paul’s statements in Galatians 4 about the earthly Jerusalem and the heavenly Jerusalem, which on the surface seem outlandish. After reading Isaiah closely I realized that Paul was actually using Isaiah properly. Isaiah really does have a lot to say about the heavenly Jerusalem. The point is that we should do our best to follow the author’s intent, not imposing ideas on the text but deriving ideas from the text.
- The Alexandrian solution does not help the problem of the Old Testament. It merely bypasses it by fostering imaginative interpretations.
- Garrett rightly points out the sad history of anti-Semitic interpretation that runs through Christian history because leaders didn’t know how to handle the Old Testament as Christian literature. For example, the obscurity in prophetic texts has been blamed on Jews who changed the text. I hope he continues to emphasize this theme in future work because it has the potential to help relations between Jews and Christians.
- Garrett’s classification of Old Testament literature into Election Literature and Wisdom Literature makes sense. It remains to be seen how this helps to solve the problem of the Old Testament, but it is a good foundation on which to build.
- Paul’s metaphor of Christians being grafted into Israel is vital to showing the unity of God’s people. However, in light of Paul’s statements in Romans 9-11, I wonder if the idea of Christians being grafted into Israel should be qualified as being grafted into “believing Israel.”
If you are a Christian trying to understand the Old Testament and how it has been used throughout the centuries, read this book.
After graduating from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, I served as a high school Bible teacher in Asia. I enjoy traveling, writing, and playing the drums. My latest book focuses on Paul’s work as a tentmaker and what it means for today.