Cees en Anneke Noordzij — Bibliology
b5 — Putting Your Hand to the Plow
1. Hermeneutical Principle: orthotomeo (2Tim. 2:15)
Noordzij analyzes 2Tim. 2:15 from the original text and rejects the Dutch NBG translation:
“It does not actually say ‘drawing straight furrows.’ The Greek verb is orthotomeo and carries the following meanings: to cut straight, to hold a straight course.” — (b5, section ‘Drawing Straight Furrows’; 2Tim. 2:15)
“The NBG translators wrongly associated it with plowing. Other translations typically read: rightly dividing the word of truth (including the Dutch Staten and Lutheran translations). Several English translations read: rightly divide the word of truth (King James and Green’s Literal Translation), handling aright the word of truth (ASV).” — (b5, section ‘Drawing Straight Furrows’)
“Orthotomeo in the context of handling the word of truth means: applying the truth in the correct and consistent manner.” — (b5, section ‘Drawing Straight Furrows’)
Analytical note: Noordzij uses original-language criticism as a hermeneutical instrument: the NBG translation is explicitly rejected on grounds of an incorrect contextual rendering (“plowing”). This is consistent with b1 (original text norm).
2. Hermeneutics: Spiritual vs. Literal — Relation between Old and New Covenant
Orthotomeo is defined as the hermeneutical distinction between Old and New covenant:
“It means consistently distinguishing between the ‘old’ and the ‘new,’ between the natural and the spiritual, between earthly shadow images and the truth in the Kingdom of heaven.” — (b5, section ‘Drawing Straight Furrows’)
“In the ‘old,’ the Word applied to visible things, to an earthly people with whom God made a covenant to deliver them from Egypt and bring them to a better land. A stone temple was to be built in an earthly Jerusalem, etc. Whoever still thinks this way interprets all prophecies and events in the Bible in terms of earthly, visible, temporary shadow images. Their mindset is still that of the ‘old’ covenant.” — (b5, section ‘Drawing Straight Furrows’)
“But in the ‘new’ covenant, everything applies to spiritual, heavenly realities. And therefore also to a spiritual people. With that people God does ‘new things’ (Isa. 42:9, 48:6). With that people He makes a ‘new’ covenant to deliver them from the true ‘Egypt’ (the ‘fleshly’) and to bring them into a better ‘promised land,’ the kingdom of heaven.” — (b5, section ‘Drawing Straight Furrows’)
Analytical note: Orthotomeo is the meta-theological method: all Scripture interpretation must use the old-new covenant axis as its constitutive criterion. Failing to do so places the interpreter hermeneutically still within the Old Covenant.
3. Hermeneutical Example: The Temple (John 2:19-21)
Noordzij illustrates orthotomeo with Jesus’ temple statement:
“When the Lord said: ‘Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up,’ He was not thinking of a natural temple (as the scribes were). He was thinking of a spiritual temple of God. He was thinking of Himself (John 2:19-21, cf. Col. 2:9). Rightly dividing!” — (b5, section ‘Drawing Straight Furrows’)
“Whoever has entered the kingdom of God and become a citizen of a realm in the heavens applies the word of truth consistently to spiritual realities and sees that these truths concern himself (Phil. 3:20). Paul’s mindset is like that of Christ. He wrote: ‘Set your minds on things above (= spiritual and true), not on earthly things’ (Col. 3:2). And ‘seek the things that are above, where Christ is’ (Col. 3:1).” — (b5, section ‘Drawing Straight Furrows’)
Analytical note: The scribes serve as the negative example: they thought literally-naturalistically. Jesus thought spiritually. Orthotomeo is therefore the mindset of Christ himself.
4. Critique of Literal-Naturalistic Interpretation
Noordzij formulates an explicit critique of literal-naturalistic hermeneutics:
“Moreover, is holding to a literal-natural interpretation of the word truly faith? Is waiting for Jesus’ coming on clouds of water vapour and the rapture of believers in a flash not rather a naïve interpretation of unspiritual teachers?” — (b5, section ‘Drawing Straight Furrows’)
Analytical note: Literal interpretation of eschatological prophecies is characterized as “naïve” and “unspiritual.” This reinforces the anti-literalism principle as a core hermeneutical position.
[TENSION with b1: In b1 Noordzij applies an original-text norm and emphasizes textual precision. In b5, literal interpretation of prophecy is explicitly characterized as a spiritual deficiency. The tension lies in the definition of “literal”: faithfulness to the original text is positive; literal-naturalistic prophetic interpretation is negative.]
5. The Bible as Confirmation Book
“In this way we recognize in the Bible what He has already spoken to us by His Spirit. The Bible is a book in which we can see our life confirmed by the living Word.” — (b5, section ‘Finally’)
Analytical note: This formulation reaffirms the key term from b2/b3 (“confirmation book”): primary revelation comes through the Spirit; the Bible functions as an instrument of recognition and confirmation.
[TENSION with b1: In b1 the Bible functions as a normative standard for doctrine. In b5 the Bible functions primarily as a confirmer of already-received revelation. Scripture authority is pneumatic-confirmatory, not formally-normative.]