10. The Shape of a Two-Testament Witness
Guidance from 2 Peter on the Relationship between the Testaments
In addition to paying careful attention to the way that narratives like Matthew and epistles like Hebrews utilize the OT, we can also see a kind of textual blueprint for the structure of the Christian canon in strategic NT texts.
These comments are instructive because they are examples of biblical authors thinking in terms of the “big picture” of the Scripture’s witness to God’s work in Christ. Some of the earliest theologians of the early church made use of these hermeneutically significant textual sign-posts as they contemplated the Bible’s message as a whole.
Hearing the Prophets and Apostles
A particularly insightful example of this kind of text occurs in 2 Peter 3. In the final movement of the epistle, Peter notes the exhortation in his previous letter to them (likely 1 Peter) and seeks to “stir up” their minds in sincere understanding by remembering something. For Peter, what is most important for the churches to remember are “the words previously spoken by the holy prophets and the command of our Lord and Savior given through your apostles” (2 Pet 3:2).
Here Peter outlines the shape of Christian revelation as the Prophets, the Christ, and the Apostles. This phrase becomes significant in the reception of the Christian canon as a whole. The “whole counsel of God” involves a two-testament structure of authority centered on the resurrected Christ. The specific wording is vital as well. The teachings of the Lord and Savior come explicitly through the apostles. The depth of this simple statement is profound. The “prophets and apostles” testify to the culmination of God’s revelation about himself and his work in the world. The biblical canon, then, reflects the shape of this dual witness to Jesus, the Christ.
Hearing the preaching of the gospel means considering the words spoken in the ancient and recent past by the prophets and apostles who testified about the plan of God and the identity of Christ.
Seeing the Prophets and Apostles
Interestingly, this focus on divine revelation at the end of the letter matches a similar emphasis in the opening of the letter. In 2 Pet 1:16–21 (after another call to “remember” in 1:12–15!), Peter discusses God’s special revelation of the gospel in light of the transfiguration of Jesus before his death and resurrection.
As Peter insists, the apostles “did not follow cleverly contrived myths” when they proclaimed the “power and coming” of Christ. Rather, they were “eyewitnesses of his majesty” (1:16). Peter then recounts hearing the voice of the Father speaking to Jesus, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased!” (1:17). In this context, Peter stresses the trustworthiness of his eyewitness testimony: “We ourselves heard this voice when it came from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain” (1:18).
Alongside this strong reminder to remember the words of the apostles, Peter urges them to pay close attention to the well-established “prophetic word” which shimmers like “a light shining in a dark place.” This illuminating prophetic word will continue to guide readers: “until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (1:19).
In this context of the reliability of the apostolic preaching and the enduring relevance of the prophetic word, Peter gives one of the strongest statements of the necessity and authority of special revelation in the NT: “Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (1:20–21).
For our purpose, this is another clear association between the word of the prophets and the word of the apostles in the proclamation of the gospel message about Christ.
Fittingly, Peter refers here to the mount of transfiguration (Matt 17:1–13; Mk 9:2–13; Lk 9:28–36), where Jesus had spoken with Moses and Elijah about his approaching “exodus” (Lk 9:31). There Jesus is literally surrounded by the Law and the Prophets in the presence of his apostles. By drawing on this episode, Peter testifies about the testimony that had already been revealed about Jesus as the Christ of the ancient Scriptures. From Peter’s perspective, then, the preaching of the apostles is organically connected to this configuration: The prophetic word is a necessary component of the apostolic preaching.
Reading the Prophets and Apostles
As the NT writings were collected and associated with one another in the first and second centuries, readers and theologians of the early church began using NT texts alongside OT texts. They also began characterizing “the Bible” as a whole in terms that speak to its character as a two-testament witness. An important early example of this is Irenaeus of Lyons, a bishop and theologian of the mid- to late-second century.
Irenaeus works with a concept of the canonical context that is flexible but clearly discernible. Though he is engaging highly speculative and technical discussions in his major work (Against Heresies), Irenaeus also draws on the broad shape of the biblical collection regularly.
For instance, he argues that “the entire Scriptures, the prophets, and the Gospels, can be clearly, unambiguously, and harmoniously understood by all, although all do not believe them” (AH, 2.27.2). Irenaeus concludes Book 2 of Against Heresies by summarizing, “Now, that the preaching of the apostles, the authoritative teaching of the Lord, the announcements of the prophets, the dictated utterances of the apostles, and the ministrations of the law . . . are all in harmony with our statements” and show that “there is but one God, the Maker of all things” (AH, 2.35.4). In the middle of this sentence, Irenaeus includes summary affirmations that these diverse sections of Scripture all “praise one and the same Being, the God and Father of all.”
There are many fascinating and intriguing elements to consider when studying someone like Irenaeus.1 For our purpose here, though, I simply want to point out that he is not only citing individual NT texts alongside OT texts (and in similar ways), but he is also using various phrases and expressions to capture the message of the OT & NT as a complex yet coherent collection of special revelation from the Lord about the gospel. As noted above, one of those key phrases directly draws upon the framework of 2 Peter 3:2 (“the words previously spoken by the holy prophets and the command of our Lord and Savior given through your apostles”).
When Irenaeus characterizes the Scriptures as a whole (“the entire Scriptures”), he shows remarkable sensitivity to the shape of the biblical canon, the notion of theological unity/diversity, the organic relationship between economic development in redemptive history (the prophets, the Lord, and the apostles) and ontological identification (the God of Israel is the Father of Jesus Christ), and the urgency of carefully specifying the proper object of worship across the entire collection of biblical texts.
Concluding Comment
The purpose of these last few posts is to suggest a simple hermeneutical point: The theologically informed exegetical moves that the biblical authors make can teach us some of the best ways to connect the writings of the prophets and the writings of the apostles.
Obviously, making these exegetical observations about the biblical authors’ exegetical observations does not solve all the issues we need to navigate as we consider our approach to reading the Scriptures. However, they do provide a baseline of support for an approach to biblical studies that reads individual biblical texts in light of a broader canonical context.
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