Jeremiah 17:9 and the Theological Disciplines

In the book Desperately Wicked: Philosophy, Christianity, and the Human Heart, author Patrick Downey opens with the verse from Jeremiah 17:9: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (KJV)  Here I will examine this verse from several of the theological disciplines.

Systematic Theology (ST) - Until the early 20th century, Systematic Theology (aka, Dogmatic Theology) was known as the queen of the sciences. Setting aside the objections to that definition, I do believe ST is, at least, the queen of the theological disciplines because it encompasses all of the aspects of the others that I will list.  ST asks, 'What does the Bible as a whole teach on a subject?'

Concerning the subject of the condition of the human heart we may point to this verse in Jeremiah, Gensis 6:5 ("The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." ), and John 3:19 ("And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.")

ST must be careful not to simply prooftext, which leads to taking verses out of context. If ST is done correctly, then it takes into account the surrounding verses. ST also takes into account not only explicit teaching, but implicit teaching as well. For example, the word "Trinity" is not the Bible, but there is overwhelming evidence for the doctrine, mostly implicitly.

Biblical Theology (BT) - This would ask of Jer. 17:9, Where does this verse fall out in the unfolding of the history of redemption? How has wickedness in the human heart been addressed by God among his people and in the world? Not only Jeremiah's preaching, but his writing down of the word of God was part of that redemptive history. So in a way the writing of these words was part of the solution God was doing to bring his redemption to bear upon the people of Jeremiah's time and beyond.

Exegetical Theology (ET) - would examine the surrounding context of verses, chapter, section, book, and even extend to the Canon (though this would lead, naturally into BT and ST, as they are interrelated). The original language, in this case Hebrew, would be examined with questions asked about sentence structure, syntax, grammar, voice, etc.

Is the verse best translated as the King James has it, or the New International Version, or the English Standard Version? What is needed in order to bring out the author's meaning more clearly? At this point we are also establishing the category of linguistics. Drawing out the meaing of the passage(s) is the the purpose of exegesis. But as we can see it does not operate independently.

Literary criticism would ask questions such as,

Who are the characters? Who is speaking? What is the plot? What is the author's intention in writing this?  As for the speaker we may answer that it is Jeremiah or the Narrator, as they could be one in the same person or different people.

Historical Theology - This discipline would ask, How has this verse been used through the history of the church in its preaching and teaching? Was it applied well to its situation at that time? What did other church theologians say about the text? How has the teaching of Jer. 17:9 affected how we understand it today?

Practical or Pastoral Theology - This discipline asks, How do we preach this text, especially in light of Christ's coming? How do we applying this to the life of our congregation(s)? Is it appropriate to use at this time? Is there a right way or wrong way to use this verse? Is the preaching of this text bringing about the change in life the Lord desires?

Biblical Studies - This could fall under several places, but for the most part can stand as a separate category. This discipline examines the background context of the text's time period. For Jer. 17:9 it is the social, cultural, and political context of the Ancient Near East (ANE) that includes Israel and Babylon. Local customs and the science of archeology come into play. If Jeremiah (or any other prophet for that matter) uses a metaphor in his preaching, to know the background of a word or phrase could assist in broadening our understanding of what he is saying.

There is a host of other disciplines that factor in:

Hermeneutics - How do we interpret this verse? Was it only meant for the people of that time period or does it carry any meaning for us today? What factors affect how we interpret the text?

Apologetics - How is Jer. 17:9 used to persuade people to know the truth of the gospel? How do we use this verse in our defense of the faith? This affects how we approach unbelievers and an unbelieving culture.

Philosophy - How woud this verse affect how we interact with other philosophies, ancient and modern? How do other philosophies challenge Jeremiah's view? (an apologetics question) Have other philosophers actually spoken to the human condition in such a way that reflects accurately Jeremiah's statement?

I have written a fairly extensive treatment for just one verse in the Bible. Obviously the interrelatedness of these disciplines is clear to see and the complexity we find means we cannot take the Bible lightly. To do so simply shows the truth of Jer. 17:9. Praise God for his grace!

Lord of all to Thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise!