Theological Term of the Week: Pentateuch

Pentateuch

The first five books of the Old Testament, i.e., Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; also called the Torah, the Law, or the Books of Moses.

• From scripture, the theme of the Pentateuch:1

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3 ESV)

• From the Introduction to the Pentateuch in the ESV Study Bible::

The Pentateuch is not simply the beginning of the Bible; it is also the foundation of the Bible. It serves to orient the reader for reading the rest of the biblical story line. It introduces the key promises that show God’s purposes in history and that lay the groundwork for the coming of Christ. Its theological ideas and ethical principles inform the rest of the Bible so that the subsequent books assume its authority and appeal to it as they evaluate people’s deeds and character. These points are illustrated briefly here:

1. Orientation. The beginning of a book sets its tone and gives clues to the author’s perspective. Genesis did this for the ancient world of polytheism by explaining that the world is created and controlled by only one God, not by a crowd of competing gods and goddesses. Similarly it speaks to today’s readers, who often are essentially atheists (whether consciously or unconsciously): it shows them what it means to believe that behind all the phenomena of nature and the laws of science there is an all-powerful, loving God who controls all that happens.

2. Divine purposes. The Pentateuch shows God’s intentions for his creation by describing what the world was like when he first created man and woman in the garden of Eden. Their sin sets back the divine program but does not defeat it, for God later calls Abraham and promises him descendants, land, and most important of all, blessing through his descendants to all the nations. These promises are more fully developed in the later books of the Pentateuch.

3. Theoiogy and ethics. The Pentateuch gives insight into God’s character and his ethical standards. It illustrates both his benevolence and his righteousness. He cares for mankind, creating man in his own image, providing him with food, and protecting human life from violent assault. Yet at the same time he demands moral behavior, from keeping the Sabbath to refusing adultery or theft. Tales of punishment, from the flood (Genesis 6–9) to the golden calf (Exodus 32), demonstrate the danger of disregarding divine standards.

Learn more: 

1. Got Questions: What is the Pentateuch? 
2. Easton Bible Dictionary: Pentateuch 
3. ESV Bible: Introduction to the Pentateuch
4. Crossway: 10 Things You Should Know About the Pentateuch
5. The Gospel Coalition: The Pentateuch

Related terms:

• creation ex nihilo
• exodus, the
• fall (of man)
• flood, the
• tabernacle

 1 According to the introductory notes on the Pentateuch in the ESV Study Bible.

Filed under Scripture

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.

Sunday Hymn: Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners

Jesus! what a friend for sin­ners!
Jesus! Lov­er of my soul;
Friends may fail me, foes as­sail me,
He, my Sav­ior, makes me whole.

Refrain

Hallelujah! what a Sav­ior!
Hallelujah! what a friend!
Saving, help­ing, keep­ing, lov­ing,
He is with me to the end.

Jesus! what a strength in weak­ness!
Let me hide my­self in Him.
Tempted, tried, and some­times fail­ing,
He, my strength, my vic­to­ry wins.

Jesus! what a help in sor­row!
While the bil­lows over me roll,
Even when my heart is break­ing,
He, my com­fort, helps my soul.

Jesus! what a guide and keep­er!
While the tem­pest still is high,
Storms about me, night ov­er­takes me,
He, my pi­lot, hears my cry.

Jesus! I do now re­ceive Him,
[or Je­sus! I do now adore Him]
More than all in Him I find.
He hath grant­ed me for­give­ness,
I am His, and He is mine.

—J. Wil­bur Chap­man

Theological Term of the Week: Old Testament Apocrypha

Old Testament apocrypha

A collection of books included in the Old Testament canon by Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians, but not by Protestants; also called the deuterocanonical books.

• From The Belgic Confession:

Article 6: The Difference Between Canonical and Apocryphal Books

We distinguish between these holy books and the apocryphal ones, which are the third and fourth books of Esdras; the books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Jesus Sirach, Baruch; what was added to the Story of Esther; the Song of the Three Children in the Furnace; the Story of Susannah; the Story of Bell and the Dragon; the Prayer of Manasseh; and the two books of Maccabees.

The church may certainly read these books and learn from them as far as they agree with the canonical books. But they do not have such power and virtue that one could confirm from their testimony any point of faith or of the Christian religion. Much less can they detract from the authority of the other holy books.

• From 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible by Robert Plummer:

Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians (Eastern Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, etc.) have some additional books in their Old Testaments that Protestants do not consider Scripture … . Protestants refer to these books as the Apocrypha, though Roman Catholics call them the deuterocanonical books (literally, the “secondly canonical” books, because they were formally recognized as canonical at a later time—as opposed to the protocanonical, or “firstly canonical,” books). These books were written by Jews in the roughly five-hundred-year period between the Old and New Testaments (430 B.C.—A.D. 40).

Protestants do not consider the Apocrypha as Scripture for a number of reasons. 

1. The Jews who authored the books never accepted them into their canon. This is a weighty argument in that those who wrote and preserved these books put them in a different category from the recognized Hebrew Scriptures. Indeed, comments within the Apocrypha distinguish contemporary writers from the divinely inspired prophets, who had long been silent (1 Macc. 4:41—46; 9:27; 14:40). 
2. The Apocrypha contains clear factual errors and, from the standpoint of Protestants, theological errors (such a praying for the dead, see 2 Macc. 12:43-45).
3. The Roman Catholic Church did not officially recognize the books in the Apocrypha as canonical until the Council of Trent in 1546. In fact, Jerome (A.D. 340-420), the translator of the Vulgate (the official Roman Catholic Latin Bible for more than a millennium), claimed the books of the Apocrypha were edifying for Christians but were “not for the establishing of the authority of the doctrines of the church. At the Council of Trent, Roman Catholics recognized the deuterocanonical books in reaction to Protestant leaders who called for a return to biblical Christianity, stripped of later accretions and distortions. Roman Catholics include the Apocryphal books within their Old Testament canon, sometimes adding whole books and sometimes combining apocryphal portions with books Protestants recognize as canonical (for example, three additions to Daniel—The Prayer of Azariah, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon). These additions and combinations result in a forty-six-book Old Testament canon for Roman Catholics.
4. While there are some debatable allusions to the Apocrypha in the New Testament, New Testament authors nowhere cite the Apocrypha as Scripture (that is, with a formula such as “The Scripture says”). Almost every book in the Old Testament is cited as Scripture.

Learn more: 

1. Got Questions: What are the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonical books?
2. Simply Put: Apocrypha
3. Blue Letter Bible: What Is the Old Testament Apocrypha?
4. Blue Letter Bible: What Are the Contents of the Various Books of the Old Testament Apocrypha?
5. David Briones: What Is the Apocrypha?
6. Stephen Nichols: Should Christians Read the Apocryphal Books?
7. Michael J. Kruger: The Apocrypha

Related terms:

• canon of scripture
• New Testament Apocrypha

Filed under Scripture

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.