[aron]

Originally Posted by aron

Contrast this to the reception of the scriptures in the NT writings...

Look at the reception of scripture in Acts 13 by Paul.

14 But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down.

15 And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.

16 Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience.

17 The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it.

18 And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.

19 And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot.

20 And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.

21 And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.

22 And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave their testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

23 Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:

24 When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

25 And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.

26 Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.

27 For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.

28 And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain.

29 And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.

30 But God raised him from the dead:

31 And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.

32 And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,

33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

34 And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.

35 Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:

37 But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.

38 Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:

39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

40 Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets;

41 Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.

42 And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.

43 Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

There are 5 OT scriptures used in this chapter, and I want to focus on the 3 linked together in verses 33, 34, and 35, which I bolded. Paul used Psalm 2, Isaiah 55, and Psalm 16. Now, David was a sinner. An adulterer, a murderer, and a proud man whose pride got him, and Israel, in trouble. Yet where do we see cautionary words to take only certain verses as indicative of God's favor, promise, and blessing, while panning others as merely products of David's vain imagination? No -- rather, usage continually suggests that there's further blessing if the reader would peruse the source text. There's an open invitation to dig further. To me it's quite obviously understood by the usage.

Look at verses 36 and 37. David died and was buried, and his grave remains with us today. But God fulfilled this word in his Son. To me, this is exactly the argument Peter used in Acts 2; Paul also used it here. The "vanity" of David was not the focus of Peter or Paul, but rather the fulfillment in David's promised seed. But WL seemed stumbled, instead, by the vanity of David. Because of what? God's economy? Both Peter and Paul in their scriptural exegeses had no problems looking beyond the "corruption" of David and seeing the incorrupt One who followed. Why did WL's interpretive scheme fail him here?

... if you see problems with God, then the real problem is your own heart..

WL didn't see problems with God, as much as he had problems with God's word. The psalmist wrote, "You [God] have rescued me" and WL said, "No, God didn't rescue him. David rescued himself." O really? Where is our precedent for this interpretation? See WL's footnotes in Psalm 34, for example. David had told Saul, "The God who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this uncircumcised Philistine." So, David violated God's salvation by throwing a stone at Goliath? Who saved David, his sling, or God? Clearly scripture repeatedly shows David's trust, and God subsequently saving and protecting David. But WL overturned this because... I don't know... "God's eternal economy"? The "sure mercies of David" got by-passed because David was... a sinner? I don't know. When Paul and Barnabas told them to "continue in the grace of God" in Acts 13:45, what grace was that, pray tell?

If the ekklesia had functioned as it should, this hash that WL made of the scriptures would have been challenged, I'm pretty sure of that.