1410763129
Trade Paperback
108 pages
Jan 2004
Author House

Review  |   Author Bio  |  Read an Excerpt

Excerpt:

CHAPTER ONE

Foundational Issues: The Problem of Biblical Interpretation

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him,
a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth. (2 Tim. 2:15)[1]

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters,
for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. (Jas. 3:1)

 

One of the problems with much Christian teaching today is the absence of a general framework for interpreting the Bible.  Far too many Christian teachers and writers try to explain and apply passages from the Bible without providing an interpretive framework, despite the fact that a proper framework for interpretation is foundational to responsible, biblical teaching.[2]  Before Wilkinson’s claims in Jabez can be profitably examined, then, we need to take a brief look at the issue of biblical interpretation.  By identifying Wilkinson’s mistaken interpretive approach as the basis for much of his reasoning, it will be better understood why he reaches so many erroneous conclusions.  After all, if the source is contaminated, then whatever comes from that source will likewise be tainted.

To survey even the most basic issues involved in the interpretation of texts is far beyond the scope of this short book.  Attempting to summarize the multitude of approaches to biblical interpretation seems similarly futile.  Instead, then, we will merely sketch Wilkinson’s approach to interpreting the Bible and contrast it with what is sometimes called the “salvation history” method of biblical interpretation.

At the outset, it should be acknowledged that Wilkinson never sets forth any rules for interpreting the Bible.  Our description of Wilkinson’s interpretive method is thus based on statements he makes in Jabez that assume or imply that method.  We have sketched this manner of reading the Bible below.

To coin a phrase at this point, Wilkinson’s method of interpreting the Bible can be referred to as a “personal-practical application” approach (hereafter referred to as PPA).  On this view, the Bible is thought to be a practical guide for daily living that can be mined for nuggets of wisdom.  These bits of wisdom might concern things such as how to know God’s will, experiencing God’s best for one’s life, the application of spiritual principles in solving life difficulties, and unleashing personal potential for success.  This is not to say that Wilkinson wouldn’t acknowledge other uses for the Bible, but for him it seems to function primarily as a personal resource for receiving God’s abundant blessings through the work of Christian ministry.  The PPA approach appears to guide Wilkinson’s use of the Bible as he lays down his strategy for spiritual success in the pages of Jabez.[3]

For example, Wilkinson tells the reader, “I want to show you just how dramatically each of Jabez’s requests can release something miraculous in your life.”[4]  Elsewhere he says:

If Jabez had worked on Wall Street, he might have prayed, “Lord, increase the value of my investment portfolios.”  When I talk to presidents of companies, I often talk to them about this particular mind-set.  When Christian executives ask me,  “Is it right for me to ask God for more business?” my response is, “Absolutely!”  If you’re doing your business God’s way, it’s not only right to ask for more, but He is waiting for you to ask.[5]

Near the end of the book, Wilkinson challenges the reader to:

...make the Jabez prayer for blessing part of the daily fabric of your life.  To do that, I encourage you to follow unwaveringly the plan outlined here for the next thirty days.  By the end of that time, you’ll be noticing significant changes in your life, and the prayer will be on its way to becoming a treasured, lifelong habit.[6]

Similar examples could be cited at length, but the fact that Wilkinson endorses the PPA approach should be evident.[7]

In contrast to the PPA approach stands what was referred to above as the “salvation history” method of biblical interpretation (hereafter referred to as SH).  Much has been written about this approach to interpreting the Bible,[8] but in a nutshell it can be described as follows.  While not denying or downplaying the many practical elements of biblical teaching, the SH approach views the Bible chiefly as a record of God’s redeeming activity culminating in Jesus Christ.[9]  On this view, the Bible’s main story line explains how God’s plan of salvation unfolded over time.[10]  This plan came to fruition in the life, death, and resurrection of Israel’s promised Messiah.[11]  The central themes of God’s creation of the world, humankind’s fall into sin, the salvation from sin provided by God in Jesus, God’s faithfulness to His people, and the cross of Christ are seen as the key to interpreting the whole Bible.  This is thought to be true despite the fact that some portions of the Bible seem only weakly related to these themes.[12]  Again, the SH view does not deny that the Bible contains practical advice, nor does it assert that ordinary matters of daily living are unimportant or inconsequential.  Rather, this position asserts that principles for truly spiritual living should stem from a proper understanding of God and His intentions for His followers, as those intentions are revealed in the person of Jesus Christ and testified to in the Bible.  With this in mind, it is then understood that God does not set His agenda on the basis of our perceived needs, spiritual experiences, religious traditions, or cultural values.  Yet it appears to us that Wilkinson determines God’s design for people largely on the basis of things like individual experiences, personal testimonies, and prevailing societal norms.

For example, Wilkinson asks: “How do I know that [the prayer of Jabez] will significantly impact you?  Because of my experience and the testimony of hundreds of others around the world with whom I’ve shared these principles.”[13]  Elsewhere, speaking of the rapid growth of the World Teach Bible faculty that he is helping to develop, Wilkinson asserts:

Just by looking at what is happening, I can assure you that God still answers those who have a loyal heart and pray the Jabez prayer...One national missions leader told me that World Teach has had the fastest launch of any Christian ministry in history.  Humanly speaking, this kind of growth is unexplainable...I don’t know what you call that, but I have always called it the miracle of Jabez.[14]

Though it involves some biblical components, Wilkinson’s approach to discerning God’s will is of great concern to us.  It is troubling because it threatens the unique authority of the Bible and the Bible’s central role in the lives of Christians.  The nature of the Bible’s authority has been hotly debated during the history of Christianity precisely because so much is at stake in this issue.[15]  However unintentional it may be, Wilkinson’s manner of ascertaining God’s will for the distribution of His blessings contradicts the Bible’s teaching that it alone serves as a reliable guide for understanding the will of God for His creatures.[16] 

The flaws in Wilkinson’s method of interpreting the Bible can be seen in the way he handles the genealogy wherein Jabez’s petition to God is found.  From Wilkinson’s perspective, this genealogy is virtually dispensable.  Wilkinson does mention that Jabez’s prayer is contained within this Old Testament family tree,[17] but he fails to grasp the genealogy’s fundamental purpose—tracing the lineage of faithful Jews that would eventually result in the birth of Israel’s Messiah.[18]  Wilkinson thus overlooks the religious context of Jabez’s prayer.  His next move, then, though entirely without warrant, is at least consistent with his interpretive approach.  Wilkinson proceeds to lift Jabez’s prayer out of its context and transplants it into our present place in the history of salvation.  As a result, he both misinterprets and misapplies it.

Wilkinson misinterprets this passage because he mistakenly believes that Jabez is concerned, on a purely individual level, with how he can enhance his ability to serve God by means of an expanded territory and protection from evil.[19]  If one recognizes Jabez’s place in the course of salvation history, however, his prayer will be viewed much differently.  In that case, it will be understood that Jabez did not make his request of God as a grab for greater personal influence.  Rather, Jabez petitioned God out of a desire to see the Old Testament promise of a Messiah come to fruition through resources provided by God and means ordained by God.[20]  The resources were more real estate and safety from bodily harm, and the means was the continuation of the lineage that would result in the birth of Israel’s Savior.[21]  As will become clear, this insight is critical to a proper understanding of the significance of Jabez’s prayer for Christians today.

Furthermore, Wilkinson misapplies Jabez’s prayer because he doesn’t see that God’s gracious response in 1 Chronicles 4:10 is to a particular person at a particular point in salvation history in a particular land—a land that was bound up with God’s promises to the Jews.[22]  Previously, God had promised the patriarch Abraham and his descendants occupation of a specified area of land as part of His plan to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.[23]  At the time in Israel’s history when Jabez lived, this promise was still in the process of being fulfilled.  It was very sensible, then, for Jabez, a man whose offspring would carry on the heritage of raising devout and obedient children, thereby paving the way for the birth of Israel’s Messiah, to ask God for more land and for the protection needed to obtain and manage that land.[24]  In light of the changes that have taken place with the passing of the Old Testament and the establishment of the New Testament, however, this request makes little sense for modern Christians.[25]

For Wilkinson, Jabez’s petition and its results function as a standard of God’s response to prayer requests without regard to time or place.[26]  Yet it was just shown that such an application of Jabez’s prayer is unwarranted.  Many passages in the Old Testament that describe God’s dealings with His people at a particular time and place, such as the prayer of Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4, are not to be understood as operative for present-day Christians.  From the standpoint of proper biblical interpretation, it is naive to think that an Old Testament teaching can simply be plucked out of its context in the course of salvation history and plopped down in the historically, culturally, and religiously removed setting of present-day North American Christianity.  This lack of regard for context when interpreting the Bible fuels Wilkinson’s erroneous manner of understanding and applying the prayer of Jabez.