Rudolph Bultmann famously asked, “Is exegesis without presuppositions possible?” Many Biblical scholars since have made clean distinctions between exegesis and eisegesis, sometimes for good reason. Aichele and Phillips (Semenia vols. 69-70) contrast Bultmann’s statement with the discipline of intertextuality: they maintain that the distinction between exegesis/eisegesis is too sharp, incapacitating scholars and ministers who rely on religious texts to express meaning and identify with their authors.
In a sermon on Hebrews 11:5 Thomas Manton (1620-1677) makes a one-to-one correspondence with Enoch’s translation and Christ’s ascension. “In Adam God would give the …

Handing out resumes and shuffling investments have two things in common: uncertainty and Ecclesiastes 11:6. John Trapp (1601 – 1669) noted that the only works guaranteed to succeed in this life are pure acts of mercy and kindness. He’s right. But it can be such a frustrating answer to those who have lost 1/3 of retirement or can’t get even one interview. For those of us asking, “What is God doing?” Trapp’s exposition needs attention. Trapp’s concern here is the contrast between the wonder of uncertainty and the comfort of …

John Trapp’s (1601 – 1669) commentaries were Spurgeon’s personal treasure. As biblical scholarship progresses the minister and serious student continue to benefit greatly from consulting Trapp’s thought, suggestions and devotional contributions.  For years I waited patiently for a set of Trapp. After finally obtaining one, my dad–equally thrilled at my find–asked to borrow it. Now, having waited so long, I’ve finally re-obtained the set and hope to add Trapp to our project on Puritan exegesis.
Ecclesiastes 11:6 has a peculiar phrase not found elsewhere in the OT: “This or that” (hazeh …

There are two possible meanings to Prov. 29:1. Fenner has explored the “reproving man” (e.g. minister, judge) as one who does not walk a strict course “will be destroyed (judged by God) and that without remedy.” While there are as many good reasons as there are proof-texts to support this reading Fenner takes the passive sense: “a man often reproved…”
Fenner explains, first, the passive and active sense of the Hebrew. His examples include Isa. 53:3, Dan. 9:23, Jer. 15:10, and 1 Kgs 2:26. In these examples the person is not …

We have been looking at the exegesis of Puritan William Fenner (1600 – 1640). His method is remarkably straight forward. Fenner takes key passages and develops his message according to the immediate context with occasional support from similar texts. Scripture interprets scripture. We have been comparing his use of the Textus Receptus with the NA27, arguably the standard academic text today (also the LXX & SBH). As our study progresses one thing is clear: Fenner knows his stuff. He is doing more than simply giving doctrinal expositions based on a …

Luther once said, “There is much divinity in pronouns.” William Fenner might say, “There is distinction in adverbs, there is blessing in adjectives.” This is not exactly the stuff that thunders from the pulpit to the awe of millions. But as they used to say, God still resides in the details.
In The Dutie of Communicants, Fenner asks his congregation to examine the state of their hearts before taking the Lord’s Supper. Fenner has made much of the need for meditation and self-reflection on scripture already. Here at the table it …

The great blessing and curse in our time is technology which enables us to work round the clock. Negatively this tends to marginalize time for self-reflection which can tend to depression or create problems in decision making. For Puritans like William Fenner the lack of self-reflection is a deeply rooted spiritual problem that even hinders salvation: it stunts growth in sanctification and loses sight of God’s favor and promises. Last week we saw Peter’s self-reflection melt into repentance and forgiveness. Here we face another difficult passage with grave results.
In The …

Meditation is the first step toward conversion. The depraved heart, says Fenner, does not reflect on original sin or evaluate the true nature of God’s grace. This is the only difference: everyone complains of their guilt and depression but not all go to God for forgiveness. Fenner’s solution for removing guilt and its spiritual paralysis is to aggravate sin by reflecting on its circumstances. It is possible, says Fenner, to realize the full extent and character of sin in ourselves when we examine the circumstances of any given sin. Fenner …

David Steinmitz’s article “The Superiority of Pre-modern Exegesis” has me and Nick Batzig thinking. Was there any valid exegesis prior to 1990? We hope so. We are beginning a series of posts dedicated to a consideration of several members of the Westminster Assembly, with regard to their exegesis of various portions of Scripture. The first Puritan we consider is William Fenner.
In A Sermon for Spirituall Mortification, William Fenner (1600 – 1640) urges his listeners, those interested in participating in Christ’s resurrected life, to sever the inner-motives of sin (Col. 3:5). …

James Grant, over at In Light of the Gospel , has pointed out that 16 years of audio from the National Founder’s Conference are now online. As I looked at the various conference themes this one specifically caught my eye. Beeke has three lectures on the Puritans. Errol Hulse also has several. All you Puritan lovers should enjoy these. I have heard two of these lectures by Beeke at different venues and have found them to be very profitable. Enjoy.

We had the distinct privilege to talk with Rev. Jim O’Brien, pastor of Reedy River PCA and contributor to Feeding on Christ, about the Puritans, their theology and their writings. You can listen to the episode here.
A nice addition to this interview is the Sinclair Ferguson lecture he gave at the dedication of the Puritan Resource Center. You can listen to this lecture here.

David Powlison explores the Puritans and how they can inform our understanding of biblical counseling and the Christian life.

In addition to the Bavinck posts I’ve recently been posting short quotes from William Cowper’s (Bishop of Galloway) commentary Patmos (1623) over at my blog. Cowper’s exposition is very devotional, pastoral, and great for sound bites. Check it out.
Rev. 6:9 “The Altar”
[Christ] must be the altar, because the altar sanctifies the sacrifice. Heb. 9:14, “For he offered himself by his eternal Spirit.”

Here is the link to Timmy Brister’s interveiw with Mark Dever on Richard Sibbes. Dever did his doctoral dissertaion on Sibbes (specifically titled, Richard Sibbes: Puritanism and Calvinism in Late Elizabethan and Early Stuart England). Its interesting that so many of the best theologians in the church today (Mark Dever, Sinclair Ferguson, Derek Thomas, Carl Trueman, Joseph Pipa, etc.) all did their doctoral studies in Puritan history or theology. We have much to learn from the writings of the 17th century Puritans today that the church has not wanted to …

The current edition of Reformation 21’s online magazine is out with two very good articles on the preaching of several Puritans and Luther. Derek Thomas has written a fine article on the preaching of the Puritans that can be found here. And Phil Ryken has written a brief article on Martin Luther’s preaching of the birth narratives that can be found here. Both articles are helpful and both encourage us to go read and reread the works mentioned.