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Podcast Throwback: What is Partitive Exegesis?

, , · August 22, 2023

How can we hold our systematic theology in one hand and take seriously the exegetical task in the other? How do we interpret scripture in light of Christ’s two natures? Throughout the Great Tradition, biblical scholars and theologians alike have turned to partitive exegesis as an essential tool in the interpretive task. In light of the two natures of Christ, partitive exegesis assists biblical interpreters with discerning the different registers in which the scriptures speak of Christ, whether in reference to his human or divine nature, yet without dividing the person. Partitive exegesis is not forced on the text but springs from the text, and keeps the interpreter from trinitarian and Christological missteps that threaten the Christian faith.

In this episode, Matthew Barrett talks with Bobby Jamieson and Tyler Wittman on the principles of partitive exegesis while also providing practical examples from the scriptures that explain how to use this exegetical strategy.

Bobby Jamieson

Bobby Jamieson is an associate pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. He is the author, most recently, of The Paradox of Sonship: Christology in the Epistle to the Hebrews (IVP Academic, 2021) and The Path to Being a Pastor: A Guide for the Aspiring (Crossway, 2021).

Matthew Barrett

Matthew Barrett is the editor-in-chief of Credo Magazine, director of the Center for Classical Theology, and host of the Credo podcast. He is professor of Christian theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the author of several books, including Simply Trinity, which won the Christianity Today Book of the Year Award in Theology/Ethics. His new book is called The Reformation as Renewal: Retrieving the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. He is currently writing a Systematic Theology with Baker Academic.

Tyler Wittman

Tyler Wittman is assistant professor of theology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of God and Creation in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas and Karl Barth (Cambridge, 2018) and has recently co-authored Biblical Reasoning: Christological and Trinitarian Rules for Exegesis (Baker Academic, 2022) with Bobby Jamieson.

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