While the legacy of old Princeton theologians remains alive and well in the memory of Presbyterians and Reformed in the twenty-first century, their cousins across the Atlantic have been generally neglected. This is a tragedy, as the pastors and theologians of the Free Church of Scotland could hold their own with their Princeton brethren when it came to the defense of traditional presbyterian orthodoxy. Their ranks include conservative Presbyterians still widely read today: James Buchanan (1804–1870), James Bannerman (1807–1868), George Smeaton (1814–1889) and Patrick Fairbairn (1805–1874).

The last of these was renowned for his work in unpacking a topic much discussed but little understood in twenty-first-century America: prophecy. First published in 1856 as Prophecy: Its Nature, Function, and Interpretation, a second edition of this book was released just under a decade later as The Interpretation of Prophecy. This was the volume republished by Wipf and Stock in 2005, and it ought to be on the shelves of every Christian who cares about the nature and interpretation of prophetic literature.

The structure of the book is straightforward. In the first part, Fairbairn explains the principles that Christians should use in the interpretation of prophecy. In the second part, he applies those principles to specific biblical prophecies, particularly in the books of Daniel and Revelation.

The value of this approach is reminding us that we must be restrained in our interpretation of prophecy by proper biblical principles. “Prophecy,” Fairbairn writes, “is utterly misapplied, when it is taken as a guide-book to details happening in the civil and political sphere of the world’s history” (viii). This rules out most modern readings of biblical prophecy. The Bible cannot function as a daily horoscope. Instead, at its most basic level, prophecy is a message from God, and the prophet was “simply the recipient and bearer of a message from God” (4). In this sense, the predictive element we most often associate with the prophetic word is incidental to the prophets’ role in communicating “the great realities of faith and hope, or the principles of truth and duty” (7). God’s prophets were those who proclaimed the gospel of God to His people. This means the prophetic message is more concerned with faithful existence than future events.

If the prophetic word is about the cultivation of righteousness, it follows most naturally that the proper sphere of prophetic activity is the church. While this may appear intuitive, it actually represents one of Fairbairn’s most trenchant criticisms of dispensationalism. If the proper location of prophecy is the church, if the proper audience of prophecy is believers, then the Old Testament prophecies, whatever issues they may address, cannot be primarily for unbelieving Jews (47). It is “so far from being the case” that the prophecies made to Israel were made to Israel as a nation, that it may be “nearer the truth” to say that the prophecies were never made to Israel as a nation. Instead, they were made to the seed of Abraham, which is consistently defined in the New Testament as believers (48). All the words of encouragement in the Old Testament, all the promises of God, are made to believers. The “child of faith, wherever he is, and in whatever region he resides, has a personal interest in every word of encouragement and hope which has been delivered to the people of God” (51).

That Israel as a nation was not entitled to all the promises of the Old Testament simply because of their physical connection to Abraham enables us to understand the nature of the conditions of prophecy. The prophetic word is always made with the conditions of the covenant in view. If the prophets utter a message of doom and judgment, it is “on the assumption that the people will not repent” (60). The most famous evidence of this in the Old Testament is the case of Nineveh. Jonah goes through the streets of that great city proclaiming that they will be overthrown (Jonah 3:4). Yet, when the time comes, the Lord spares Nineveh because the people repented. The certainty of their overthrow was conditioned on the continuation of their impenitence (61–62). Fairbairn was no open theist; he understood that the purpose and plan of God has been foreordained from the foundation of the world and that this plan is unchangeable. Even so, the Lord executes his plan through means. It is often the case that he brings about the repentance of his elect through the threats and warnings of certain judgment if they continue in their sin and unbelief.

The second part of the book is dedicated to the application of the principles discussed to specific passages of Scripture. Fairbairn treats the prophetic future of the Jews, the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah, and the general course of the future for the church of Christ. In this segment he gives extensive treatment to Daniel (288–307; 342–49) and includes an outline of the Apocalypse (401–42). There are many profound exegetical insights in this section that will repay the time of those who read it. Although he takes what might be called a postmillennial view of these prophecies (though the careful distinction between amillennialism and postmillennialism did not exist at this point in history), those who hold the amillennial position can still find much to benefit them in the interpretation of these passages.

All this brings to the foreground the importance of a proper understanding of prophecy for the church today. The task of the minister of the gospel is to emulate the prophet of old—to speak God’s message to God’s people in order that believers may be comforted, the wayward may be corrected, and those who are living in rebellion against the Lord of the covenant may be brought to repentance and saving faith in Jesus Christ. Every warning, every admonition, every holding forth of the promises of the gospel serves this prophetic purpose. When we believe the prophetic books of the Bible serve simply as our guide to the morning newspaper, we rob the church of the power and conviction this segment of the canon brings. Christians who want to rediscover the power of the prophets, who want to be convicted again, who want to discover afresh the gospel in the prophets, would be well repaid in reading Fairbairn’s work.

©Zach Whetsel. All Rights Reserved.

Patrick Fairbairn, The Interpretation of Prophecy, 2nd ed (Wipf & Stock, 2005).

©Erik Warren O’Dell. All Rights Reserved.

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Post authored by:

• Zach Whetsel

  

  Zach Whetsel is a graduate of Westminster Seminary California, where he earned a Master of Arts in Historical Theology. He currently serves as assistant pastor of Trinitas Presbyterian Church (PCA) and teaches history and current world issues at a local Christian school. He and his wife, Tiffany, live in Washington state with their sons.

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