The Old and New Testaments appear to offer contradictory evidence as to whether God can be seen. The usual resolution is to defend the New Testament statements that God is invisible, and to somehow accommodate the Old Testament passages. This article brings together sometimes-overlooked data to suggest that such an approach is unhelpful. We do better to allow the Old Testament statements that God can be seen, and to reconsider what the New Testament passages are trying to claim.

Malachi 3:1 is often touted as a key messianic text: YHWH supposedly announces the sending of the Messiah and a preceding messenger, a pattern confidently identified by Jesus himself. Such an interpretation continues to be published by evangelicals in both popular and scholarly works. Closer inspection, however, suggests that this conclusion is not supported by exegesis nor by all conservative interpreters. This can result in uncertainty for evangelical readers and even in the bringing of disrepute upon evangelical conclusions and methodology. This study of a familiar problem surveys the interpretative options of the identities involved, evaluates what can be said with confidence, and demonstrates a defensible christological way forward.

No abstract

It has long been recognized that the imperfect and present tenses can communicate a conative sense. The category is sufficiently established that New Testament commentaries can brusquely identify “a conative imperfect” or “imperfectum de conatu” as if (1) the terminology conveys a uniform meaning and (2) such meaning is established by the verb’s tense. A fresh inspection of the phenomenon suggests neither assumption is accurate. With worked examples we can observe that at least two competing nuances are understood by the label “conative” and that the verb’s tense is far from the determinative factor. Whether in generating claims about the conative sense or in digesting others’ analyses, interpreters need to be alert to the pitfalls associated with this category.

No abstract