A rich vein of biblical scholarship that enjoys delving into the legacy of the Church can be found in study Bibles from reputable publishers, and in commentaries such as The International Bible Commentary (1998) and the New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990).
Consider Romans 9:1-5. The final sentence is an important one as we seek clarity as to how the early Church grew in understanding of the width and length, height and depth, of the nature of the one who was man but not a human being, who had dwelt among them. Paul says with a swelling exultation:
I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying, as my conscience bears witness for me through the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unending anguish in my heart. I would even be willing to be accursed, cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren who are my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites who have the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the Law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, came the Christ, God forever, who is over all. Amen.
Speaking of Christ’s origins and his relationship with the Father arising from the last sentence in the reading, the Jerusalem Bible comments:
Both the context and the internal development of the sentence imply that this doxology is addressed to Christ. Paul rarely gives Jesus the title ‘God’, though cf. Titus 2:13, or addresses a doxology to him, cf. Hebrews 13:21, but this is because he usually keeps this title for the Father cf. Romans 15:6 etc., and considers the divine persons not so much with an abstract appreciation of their nature as with a concrete appreciation of their functions in the process of salvation. Moreover, he has always in mind the historical Christ in his concrete reality as God made man cf. Philippians 2:5+; Colossians 1:15+. For this reason he presents Christ, 1 Corinthians 3:23; 11:3, as subordinated to the Father, not only in the work of creation, 1 Corinthians 8:6, but also in that of eschatological renewal, 1 Corinthians 15:27f; cf. Romans 16:27 etc..
Nevertheless, the title ‘Lord’, Kyrios, received by Christ at his resurrection, is the title given by the Septuagint [the Greek translation of the Old Testament] to Yahweh in the Old Testament, Romans 10:9, 13; 1 Corinthians 2:16. For Paul, Jesus is essentially ‘the Son of God’, Romans 1:3-4, 9; 5:10; 8:29; 1 Corintinans 1:9;15:28; 2 Corinthians 1:19; Galatians 1:16; 2:20; 4:4-6; Ephesians 4:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; cf Hebrews 4:14, etc. his ‘own Son’, Romans 8:3, 32, ‘the son of his love’, Colossians 1:13, who belongs to the sphere of the divine by right, the sphere from which he came, 1 Corinthians 15:47, being sent by God, Romans 8:3; Galatians 4:4. The title ‘Son of God’ became his in a new way with the resurrection, Romans 1:4+; cf. Hebrews 1:5; 5:5, , but it was not then he received it since he pre-existed not only as prefigured in the Old Testament, 1 Corinthians 10:4, but ontologically, 2 Philippians 2:6; cf. 2 Corinthians 8:9. He is the Wisdom, 1 Corinthians 1:24, 30, and the Image, 2 Corinthians 4:4, by which and in which all things were created Colossians 1:15-17; cf. Hebrews 1:3; 1 Corinthians 8:6, and have been re-created, Romans 8:29; cf. Colossians 3:10; 1:18-20, because into his own person is gathered the fullness of the godhead and of the universe, Colossians 2:9+. In him God has devised the whole plan of salvation, Ephesians 1:3f, and he, no less than the Father, is its accomplishment (cf. Romans 11:36; 1 Corinthians 8:6 and Colossians 1:16-20). The Father raises to life and judges, so does the Son raise to life (cf. Romans 1:4+; 8:11+ and Philippians 3:21) and judge (cf. Romans 2:16 and 1 Corinthians 4:5; Romans 14:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:10). In short, he is one of the three Persons enumerated in the Trinitarian formulae, 2 Corinthians 13:13+.
The importance of scholarship in support of the truth has been witnessed by the Church's investment of resources, especially its human talent. In the case of the text above, scholars can tell us that it is less likely that Paul intended his final words to be: “came the Christ. God who is over all be praised. Amen." All is well as long as scholars seek the truth, rather than playing rhetorical games to impress their academic peers. It's clear there is a delight in the exercise of form criticism but little interest in taking a critical stance to that particular form of critically studying a text of significance.
One reviewer of Bart Ehrman's works has this to say:
This is just one example of Ehrman’s practice of either: (1) inaccurately conveying what the Bible says; (2) accurately conveying what the Bible says, then declaring it’s wrong; (3) arguing the text really doesn’t say what Christians believe it says (why does that matter if what it really says is also wrong?); and (4) citing Scripture in support of his contentions, even though he regularly dismisses Scripture’s validity.
Another who finds modern reductionist text criticism a barren exterprise offers this thought:
Put simply, the skepticism of Bultmann, Borg, Crossan and Ehrman is out of date. New discoveries have pushed scholarship beyond their fanciful theories and dubious conclusions. The new wave of New Testament scholars readily accept the positive findings of a century’s worth of research, but in the spirit of true scholarship, they have also learned how to be critical of the critics.
That alternative modus operandi in biblical scholarship is laid out here, describing a new wave of studies that seek the truth in all its dimensions. Go here for one source of balanced scholarship.
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