In his exegesis of Colossians 3:10, John Davenant follows much of the patristic and medieval tradition in asserting that the image of God is located in the mind. Building on Paul’s teachings here and elsewhere, however, he argues that this imperfect image is not coextensive with the true image of God in humanity, which awaits…

As Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531) unpacks the tension between the present and future anthropologies set forth by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, some aspects of his theological anthropology emerge. Zwingli clearly differentiates between the body and the soul, recognizing that while the two elements are meant to be united, they will be separated between the time…

In his interpretation of Romans 1:19, Martin Bucer (1491-1551) argues that Paul’s theological anthropology teaches the notio Dei, the idea that God “possesses power over all things and is the highest good.” Distinct from the knowledge of God, which is made known through Christ, the notio Dei is a natural recognition of God imprinted on…

As part of our continued partnership with IVP Academic and the Reformation Commentary on Scripture series, we’re pleased to publish this interview with Reformation scholar Herman J. Selderhuis. He was the editor of both volumes on the Psalms in the series, and we are grateful to him for allowing us to wrap up our series…

Wolfgang Musculus’s (1497-1563) Christological interpretation of Psalm 114 demonstrates an interesting interpretive strategy. As the psalmist appropriates the exodus as a story of God’s deliverance within his own context, Musculus extends this hermeneutic and adopts the exodus as an illustration of God’s ultimate act of redemption through Christ. God’s People Always Have an Exit “When…

As with most Reformation commentators, Philipp Melanchthon (1497-1560) finds Psalm 110 to be a prophesy about Christ’s eschatological kingdom. In his interpretation, he draws an interesting doctrinal inference, noting that Christ’s succession of David is different than earthly succession, pointing to the eternality of his roles as king and priest, which draw attention to his…

While our Reformation commentators readily found Christological meaning in the Psalms, whether typologically or more immediately, considerable care was nevertheless taken to understand the historical context of the text as well. In his interpretation of Psalm 98, English pastor and theologian John Downame (1571-1652) demonstrates this concern, as he sets forth both the historical and…

Messianic expectation is a central aspect of Jewish eschatology, and throughout Jewish history, Psalm 95 has been seen as looking toward the reign of the coming king. It is not surprising, then, that Christian interpreters of the sixteenth century read these texts as clear references to Christ. Konrad Pellikan (1478-1556) argues here in reference to…

Reformed commentators tend to find Christ in the Psalms typologically, and that approach to the text is demonstrated in John Calvin’s (1509-1564) interpretation of Psalm 41:9. While Christ applied this text to Judas, Calvin finds a broader correspondence between David and Christ. David’s words concerning his own situation, Calvin argues, are representative of Christ, and…

While Catholic and Lutheran commentators tend to find Christ more immediately in the Psalms, Reformed commentators generally prefer to use the language of typology. We can see this in Wolfgang Musculus’s (1497-1563) exegesis of Psalm 21. Reading this royal psalm, he argues that the text looks beyond its historical context and that through the lens…

When modern interpreters imagine the literal sense of Scripture, they tend to conceive it in terms of the historical, grammatical, and literary elements of the text. For sixteenth-century commentators, however, to observe this narrow definition would be to sever the letter of Scripture from the Spirit, its divine author. While Cardinal Cajetan’s (1469-1534) interpretation of…

For Martin Luther (1483-1546), as for most exegetes of the sixteenth century, the significance of the Psalms extends far beyond the historical events that occasioned their writing. While modern exegetes quibble over the extent of their prophetic meaning, in his preface to the Psalms, Luther shows no such hesitation. The Psalter, he states, is in…