Hermeneutics in Practice/The Apostle Paul’s Use Of Old Testament Scripture

The second approach is a proverbial use of the text. Commentators “suggest the Deuteronomic text was already understood proverbially” and not written only for the welfare of animals but as advocating for the rights of humans.[5]  “This is how Rabbis could argue that what is true of oxen is all the more true of men.”[6] Paul, then, accurately applied the Deuteronomic text to make a strong case as such:  If the oxen can eat of its labor, the same principle applies to the welfare of those working in ministry. This second approach is the most convincing as it was part of his intertextual approach commonly practiced. Evidence of this can be seen in his use of Habakkuk 2:4 in Romans 1:17, (“going far deeper than an explicit quotation.”)[7]

Paul….The Master!

References:

[1]  G. K. Beale, Handbook On The New Testament Use Of The Old Testament: Exegesis And Interpretation, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012), 67.

[2]  Richard L. Pratt, Holman New Testament Commentary: 1-2 Corinthians, ed., Max Anders, (B&H Publishing Group, 2000), 138, accessed August 23, 2018, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/lib/liberty/reader.action?docID=673831&query=1+corinthians

[3] Beale, Handbook, 68.

[4]  Pratt, Commentary, 138.

[5]  Beale, Handbook, 68.

[6]  Leon L. Morris, 1 Corinthians, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, Vol.7. InterVarsity Press (2014):8, accessed August 23, 2018, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/lib/liberty/reader.action?docID=2030116&query=1+corinthians

[7]  Steven Moyise, Paul and Scripture: Studying The New Testament Use Of The Old Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010), 111-2.

Written by Dr. Kevin A. Hall