Preachers who take to heart Linebaugh’s work will have a heightened appreciation for how Scripture functions to norm teaching and practice but also the sweetness of the living water that flows from the pure, clear fountain of Israel.
I read this book with regret. When I served University Lutheran Chapel over twenty-five years ago, I regularly taught a course entitled “Bible Overview.” In this class, I attempted to give a big picture view of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. My regret is I did not have The Well That Washes What It Shows available in those days. Linebaugh’s well-crafted invitation to study the Holy Scriptures would be an excellent centerpiece for an adult Bible study that would provide learners with a coherent, yet concise introduction to the Bible. This little volume goes a long way in remedying biblical illiteracy even among church goers, in our culture largely disconnected from the narrative of the Holy Scriptures.
There is another use of this book, however, that I wish to highlight, which is its value for preachers. Lutheran preachers recognize:
“The distinction between the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and all other writings is preserved, and Holy Scripture alone remains the only judge, rule, and guiding principle, according to which, as the only touchstone, all teachings should and must be recognized and judged, whether they are good or evil, correct or incorrect” (Formula of Concord-Epitome 7, Kolb-Wengert, 487).
Further, “We confess our adherence to the Old and New Testaments, as to the pure, clear fountain of Israel which alone is the one true guiding principle, according to which all teachers and teaching are to be judged and evaluated” (Formula of Concord-Solid Declaration, Concerning the Binding Summary” 3, Kolb-Wengert, 527).
Linebaugh’s book serves to orient preachers to a deeper appreciation for the coherence of the Scriptures, so they may recognize the relationship of individual pericopes to the whole sweep, the panoramic of the biblical story. Preachers who take to heart Linebaugh’s work will have a heightened appreciation for how Scripture functions to norm teaching and practice but also the sweetness of the living water that flows from the pure, clear fountain of Israel.
The Well That Washes What It Shows derives its title from the seventeenth century writer George Herbert’s poem. It contains the line that God’s Word is “the well that washes what it shows” (1). The Scriptures are not simply an ancient sacred book on a table waiting for us to interpret. Rather, God’s Word interprets us. It both shows us who we are and who the Triune God is, and its words wash us of our self-made notions of truth. Because the Scriptures are the Word of God they are living and active, performing what God has promised. They are, in the words of Oswald Bayer, “the breathing space of the Holy Spirit.”
The Scriptures are not simply an ancient sacred book on a table waiting for us to interpret. Rather, God’s Word interprets us.
Linebaugh divides his book into four parts: (1) Old Testament; (2) New Testament; (3) Case Study and Synthesis - Romans; and (4) Ministers of the Word. The author addresses four fundamental questions: What (or who) is the source, the story, the subject, and the shape of Holy Scriptures?
Throughout the volume, Linebaugh is helpfully accenting the fact that the Scripture is not simply informing but forming. The Triune God is acting in and through His speaking: “God unearths deep and real human need, and the God, in the gospel gives Jesus who is, as I Corinthians 1:30 says, ‘the source of your life’ and ‘our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (14).
In Linebaugh’s words the repeating story of all Holy Scripture is: “God is God, and we are not” (15).
Linebaugh is an Anglican (now on the faculty of Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama) who has a good grasp of the distinction of God’s Law from His Gospel. This comes as no surprise as he edited the remarkable volume, God’s Two Words: Law and Gospel in the Lutheran and Reformed Traditions, (Eerdmans, 2018).
Linebaugh devotes a whole chapter to Romans, demonstrating what the Law can and cannot do. “The Law increased the trespass; sin increased; grace increased all the more. Grace is given at the site of sin, but grace, not sin, is most bountiful, more fundamental, and final” (137).
In his treatment of the Old Testament, Linebaugh observes how the writers anticipate the coming Messiah and His Kingdom. There are several striking observations. In treating the pattern of blessing and curse in Deuteronomy, he notes: “There is a promise beyond the pattern, a grace greater than the calculus of blessing and curse” (22).
In commenting on the tower of Babel in Genesis 11, he writes: “The ambition under this architecture is an inversion of the first commandment: ‘I am the Lord your God’ and is contradicted by the Eden-old ‘you will be like God’ (Genesis 3:5)” (23).
Linebaugh’s treatment of the Psalms is firmly grounded in Luther’s Preface to the Psalter as he sees these biblical prayers and hymns reflecting the entire range of human circumstances of suffering and happiness that are encountered in the storms of life and anchoring them all in the firm promise of Christ’s death and resurrection. “The gospel of Jesus Christ is a merciful surprise” (67), breaking the age-old predictable pattern of sin and death. Linebaugh does not disappoint as he commends Luther’s little tract, “A Brief Instruction on What to Look for and Expect in the Gospels.” Both Luther and Linebaugh direct preachers away from the tendency to let “Christ as example” overshadow “Christ as a gift.” Linebaugh recognizes the uniqueness of each of the four gospels but reminds us that, finally, there is only one Gospel, namely the good news of Jesus Christ who forgives sins.
Linebaugh recognizes the uniqueness of each of the four gospels but reminds us that, finally, there is only one Gospel, namely the good news of Jesus Christ who forgives sins.
The fingerprints of Luther and one of Luther’s foremost contemporary interpreters, Oswald Bayer, can be seen on nearly every page of the book. I especially appreciated Linebaugh’s brief but potent exposition of Luther’s triad: Oratio, Meditatio, Tentatio. “The psalms do not press pause on life. Life, rather, pushes the psalmists to honest prayer and urgent study” (164).
Linebaugh never lets us forget that exegesis is not an end in itself but always presses toward the proclamation of crucified and risen Lord Jesus. Biblical studies do more than examine the ancient context of the biblical world. It is not content to be satisfied with an analysis of Hebrew and Greek words and grammar. It aims to speak the mind of God revealed in Christ, articulating His promise to broken sinners. Linebaugh succeeds in doing this. His writing is clear and eloquent, reminding this writer of the poetic prose of the sainted Martin Franzmann’s The Word of the Lord Grows.
I came to read The Well That Washes What It Shows after listening to a sermon that paid little attention to the biblical text and was devoid of the promise of Christ, focusing instead on the need for virtue and character formation. Depleted by that preaching, reading this book was like coming to an oasis in the desert, a well with the water of eternal life. This is a book that preachers need to read for their own refreshment as they are called on to proclaim Christ. I intend to make The Well That Washes What It Shows a required text when I teach my elective, “The Pastor’s Devotional Life” next year.
