Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Source critics, unable to discern Sensus Plenior, speculate that the authors of the Gospels used oral tradition and other writings to compile their books. Theologians presuppose that they had special miraculous knowledge in order to use the Old Testament in novel ways. As we examine the four gospels together, we will see that their understanding of the sensus plenior increased as time passed. They studied the scriptures just as they instructed us to do:

2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

What order were the gospel written?

Tradition tells us that the order of the writing of the gospels was Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. If this is the case, then we should see evidence in their handling of sensus plenior that indicates more understanding of the hidden prophetic pictures of Christ, and the methods used to discern them.

As the earliest record of the teachings of Peter, the gospel according to Mark displays only the most primitive understanding of sensus plenior.

Peter’s (Mark’s) methods

Tradition tells us that Mark’s gospel records the teachings of Peter. Peter was the first one to preach that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament (Acts 2:14). Therefore, if the apostles studied the scriptures to understand sensus plenior, his teaching would be expected to use the fewest tools for interpreting the scriptures.

The Son of God

He begins his teaching with the first testimony of Jesus that he obtained before Jesus died:

Mt 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Mk 1:1 ¶ The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;

We must ask how he obtained his testimony. There is no record of a ‘special revelation’; no flashing lights, burning bush, or special messenger. We know that he and his brother Andrew studied the scriptures:

John 1:41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.

As Peter observed Jesus and his miracles, he saw the prophecies being fulfilled and concluded that he was the Son of God.

He begins his case that Jesus is the Son of God with the testimony of John the Baptist:

Remez

Peter ties the wilderness of Isaiah’s prophecy with the historical fact of John preaching in the wilderness:

Mk 1: 2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

Matthew had time to learn more and uses riddles to push the beginning of the story to Abraham:

Mt 1:1 ¶ The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

The last few chapters demonstrated Matthew’s use of the new tools and a greater understanding of the sensus plenior. Both Mark and Matthew reference Jesus’s teaching that he was the stone rejected by the builder:

Mt 21:42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?

Mr 12:10 And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner:

But Matthew ties the stone into his genealogy beginning with Abraham in the teaching of John:

Mt 3:9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

John as Elijah

Mark mentions Jesus’s teaching that Elijah must come first, but it is Matthew that adds that the disciples understood that Jesus was speaking of John.

Luke

Luke demonstrates that he understands a deeper meaning of John as Elijah as he sets out to give a more perfect understanding of the scriptures:

Lk 1:3 It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,

4 That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.

Since he was aware of Mark’s and Matthew’s gospels, he adds a deeper understanding. Luke uses drash against the record of Elijah and identifies that John specifically fulfills the prophecy of Eljah:

1Ki 17:1 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

Luke understood the riddle that water represents the word of God. There would be no word of God until Elijah speaks.

There were 400 years of silence where God did not speak to Israel through prophet, priest, king or judge. Zacharias was asked to name a sign from God as an assurance that he would have the son promised to him. Since he did not name a sign, God gave him a sign in the same meaning as the prophecy. Zacharias could not speak until John was born. John, identified by Jesus as the last prophet, was the one to break the silence of God. There was no word until John. Luke has found the meaning of the prophecy that Mark and Matthew could only hint at.

Not only does Luke demonstrate a greater understanding of the hidden prophecies, but he extends the beginning of the story to Adam in his genealogy of Jesus. Mark began with the teaching of John. Matthew pushed the beginning to Abraham, and Luke has pushed it to Adam.

John

So far the methods of Remez and Drash are not difficult for us to accept because theologians use them to a small degree. The use of riddles is a bit more difficult to accept because theologians have only stumbled across instances of them thinking that they are accidents rather than the norm.

John, as the latest author, demonstrates an even deeper understanding and uses new tools to discern riddles. The tools that John uses are very strange to us, but are still common among the Jewish rabbis as they were available to the apostles and Jesus in the first century.

John begins the story before creation.

Jn 1:1 ¶ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

In the beginning was the Word…

Ge 1:1 bereshit bara elohim (In the beginning created God…)

Look at the word for beginning… bereshit. In the word bereshit is the word bara (don’t forget to ignore vowels) In the beginning was the word… Get it? bara is in bereshit.

And the word was with God

bereshit (bara elohim) Since the word bara is next to the word Elohim, we can say the word is with God.

and the word was God bara Elohim

Since bara is in a position to be an adjective for Elohim, the bara is an attribute of Elohim.. The word is God.

The word was the life L’chai-im is a pun for Elohim meaning life.

The word was the light Elo-khoom is a pun for Elohim that means ‘not dark’ or light.

Son of God bar also means son. So John knew the Son of God (bar Elohim) was the Word, the light, the life and God all from the first three words of Genesis 1.

John understood the use of rules and tools which Mark, Matthew and Luke do not demonstrate. He had more time of study before writing his gospel to learn the rules.

The Light

When John first mentions John the Baptist’s testimony, it was a testimony that Jesus was the Light:

Jhn 1:7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

Jhn 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

John is demonstrating an understanding of the metaphoric meaning of the shadows. The light is God’s Holiness, and John the Baptist testifies that Jesus is Holy:

Jhn 1: 27 He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.

29 ¶ The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.

We are permitted to discern Sensus Plenior

There is much more evidence that the apostles ‘studied’ to learn the sensus plenior as successive writers demonstrate more understanding and use more tools, which should be an encouragement to us.

The objection of scholars that we cannot discern sensus plenior shoud be reconsidered.

1. There is no scriptural admonition that we should not seek Christ in the scriptures. In fact we are told that they all speak of him. Those forbidding such ‘study of the scriptures’ might wish to consider if they fall under the same condemnation as the Scribes and Pharisees:

2. Mt 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

3. The apostles encouraged us to ‘study’ and to check their teaching

4. If the apostles had a new teaching, the Jews would not have accepted it, but they showed from the scriptures that their teaching was true. We have their teaching, and we can verify it against the OT.

5. The fact that the apostles learned how to read the sensus plenior better with time, shows us that it was not a special revelation, but a hermeneutic and a method for interpreting the scriptures that we too can learn.