Can You See Too Much Jesus in the Bible?

Why one seminary thinks so and is sending an Old Testament scholar into early retirement.

Throughout history, Christians have affirmed that Jesus is the focus of Scripture. But one Bible scholar is being forced to take early retirement by a conservative seminary for seeing too much Jesus in the Old Testament.

The Old Testament anticipates a Messiah—one who would fulfill the law and redeem Israel—and the New Testament presents Jesus as the fullness of God's revelation. Evangelical scholars agree on that much. But they debate the extent to which the Old Testament—and which of its passages—can be read Christologically.

For example, some believe Psalm 23 describes only the relationship between David and God, while others say the psalm also anticipates Christ's ministry as the Good Shepherd (John 10:11–18). Douglas Green, professor of Old Testament and biblical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary (WTS) in Philadelphia, goes further. He argues that Christ is also the sheep. Read more

I have observed a dangerous tendency in charismatic Anglicans and Episcopalians to allegorize passages of Scripture, which are not Biblical allegories. Biblical allegories come with their own interpretation. There are not many of them in the Bible. What they are doing is reading into these passages of Scripture meanings that come from their own imaginations, not the passage itself and its context. Such context may include the passages preceding or following the passage, the particular writing in which the passage is found, the New Testament or the Old Testament, of which that writing is a part, and the entire canon of the Old and New Testaments. They blatantly disregard what is clearly the intent of the human writer of the passage. They appear to have bought into the post-modern view that a passage has as many meanings as interpreters.