BT/E #4

Collecting Data


If we read a text and ask questions of it, we will likely find answers to these questions in the text or itself. These textual answers are the most important data to collect. Some answers will be found in secondary literature. These answers are important but not as important as the textual ones. Let's look at John 3 again to understand what I mean...

I noted before that it would be problematic to read John 3.3 and simply make an association based on a theological concept, partly because this is not a cautious (or even humble) approach to the text - to assume that we understand it without engaging in "conversation" with it. The other issue here is that an association that comes from a theological concept is an answer to a question that comes from a secondary source. (e.g. What is "being born again" all about? It's about the theological concept known as regeneration.) But this can short-circuit the process of collecting and analyzing the textual data. Instead, the "conversation" might go...

John 3.3 “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

So, what does being born again mean? The answer is in the text. Notice that Nicodemus doesn't question why it is necessary. He questions how it could happen. The answer that Jesus gives about the way in which being born again is to occur is not an answer to the question, "what is being born again?" Nicodemus seems to understand what this would imply - a change in origin of birth (the spirit not the parents) would imply a different parentage, a different lineage. This is what seems to amaze Nicodemus at the end of the conversation - that Jesus is seriously asserting that a change or parentage needs to occur by a work of the Spirit of God. But to suggest that a spiritual change of paternity would need to take place would be to accuse someone of being other than a child of God (a Jew would have found this implication outrageous).

This is some of the textual data. This data does not disprove any notions of the theological concept of regeneration. This data has merely been allowed to speak for itself. The collection of this data and other data like it can provide a bigger picture of Biblical Theology, and that will be the topic of the next discussion.