5 Questions for Sam Emadi

August 1, 2022 Tom Creedy

Sam Emadi's recently published NSBT volume focuses on the Joseph story in biblical theology. We asked him a few questions about the project and his ministry.

1)      Who are you and how did you end up writing From Prisoner to Prince?

My name is Sam Emadi. I grew up in a faithful, Christian home where I was surrounded by the gospel. Through the regular witness of my parents and the ordinary means of grace in the local church, I understand myself to have been converted sometime in early childhood.

Growing up in public schools in Utah, most of my friends were Mormon. Their efforts to proselytize me in Middle School and High School drove me to investigate Scripture more deeply. Those evangelistic encounters and apologetic studies eventually gave rise to my love for biblical studies.

That interest in biblical studies ultimately took me to the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary so I could study with Tom Schreiner, Peter Gentry, and Jim Hamilton. I graduated from SBTS with an MDiv in 2012 and with a PhD in 2016. Since that time I’ve had the privilege of serving as the senior editor at 9Marks and since 2021, I’ve served as the Senior Pastor of Hunsinger Lane Baptist Church in Louisville, KY.

From Prisoner to Prince is an edited version of my doctoral dissertation written between 2014–2016. My interest in the Joseph story emerged as I entered my doctoral program. As I was reading Genesis in my daily devotions I was struck by Genesis 37–50’s literary artistry and Esther-like quality (chapters 37–45 rarely mention God). Furthermore, as I asked myself “how would I preach this section of Genesis?” I discovered I had more questions than answers.

This project was ultimately birthed out of my own desire to understand Joseph in canonical context so that I could know how to preach it in a way that authentically integrates with the climax of Israel’s story in Jesus Christ.

2)      You balance both serious scholarship and readability in your book – does that come naturally, or is it something you’ve had to work on?

I’m certainly glad that’s your assessment of my writing! If my work does represent sound scholarship and readability then a few factors stand behind those traits.

First, I’ve had wonderful mentors who have modeled serious scholarship and readability in their own works—particularly my doctoral supervisor Jim Hamilton [Author of NSBT 32, With the Clouds of Heaven - ed.] and my friend and mentor Jonathan Leeman [author of Political Church - ed.]. Also few things have helped my writing more than learning from my friend Jack Brannen, an amazing and ruthlessly honest editor.

Second, as the senior pastor of Hunsinger Lane Baptist Church in Louisville, KY I have the privilege of manuscripting and preaching an expositional sermon nearly every week. In each sermon, I labor to make meaningful, academically-informed biblical exposition accessible and understandable.

Finally, my writing and research method is a little chaotic but it basically involves a lot of trial and error, writing and re-writing, feedback from others, and then more re-writing.

3)      How do you think Joseph’s story can inform preaching, teaching and pastoral work in churches?

In terms of the church’s teaching and preaching, the Joseph story provides pastors with a profound opportunity to teach Christians how to read the Old Testament in canonical context and with the grain of redemptive history. As I explain in the book, one thing that makes Joseph so interesting is the fact that he takes up such an enormous amount of space in the book of Genesis but is rarely mentioned in the rest of the Old Testament. If biblical theology involves embracing the interpretive perspective of the biblical authors, then what do we make of Joseph since he is rarely commented on by later authors in either the Old or New Testaments?

Scripture may not contain much explicit commentary on the Joseph story but it does allude to it, even as the Joseph story itself alludes to and develops earlier stories in Genesis. The Joseph story, therefore, can teach us to read Scripture carefully and patiently, seeing how it often connects to broader biblical theological themes subtly and suggestively. Moses, by allusive language, clearly develops in the Joseph story themes that began as early as the Adamic covenant and have recurred throughout the Noahic and Abrahamic covenants as well. Joseph resolves so many of the plot points and biblical theological expectations of Genesis, but he does so in a way that anticipates a greater fulfillment to come.

As for pastoral work in the churches, the story of Joseph provides many opportunities for shepherding. Let me briefly mention two. First, it points the church to our Lord’s sufferings and thereby teaches us the shape of Christian discipleship. As I’ve written elsewhere, Joseph’s story is the story of the whole Bible. It’s the story of glory through suffering, exaltation through humiliation. It’s the story of the cross and the crown. These things were true in the life of our Lord and are thus true in the lives of his people.

Second, the Joseph story teaches us to trust God, particularly in the midst of profound personal suffering. Genesis 45 and Genesis 50:20 are two places that Reformed folks like myself often turn to as evidence for Scripture’s affirmation of compatibilism—the fact that God’s absolute sovereignty doesn’t in any way diminish human responsibility. But these glorious affirmations of God’s absolute sovereignty aren’t mere theological abstractions. In the Joseph story, God’s providence serves God’s promises. The reason Moses highlights God’s sovereignty in Joseph’s story is to remind his readers that God can fulfill his covenant promises even when it seems like the odds are impossibly stacked against him. More than that it shows readers that God’s sovereignty fulfills his promises in the most unlikely way—through a rejected, royal, beloved, humiliated-then-exalted son.

4)      What did writing this book/studying the life of Joseph teach you about Jesus?

As I argue in the book, Moses intends for his readers to see Joseph’s life as typological—pointing forward to the messianic king from Judah’s line (Gen. 49:8). As such, Joseph’s story taught me a great deal about how the Old Testament witnessed to Jesus’ death and resurrection (1 Cor 15:3-4). I also learned how Jesus himself employed the language of the Joseph story not only to summarize the history of Israel but to project himself as an anti-typical Joseph, the fulfillment of the pattern of a father’s beloved son rejected by his own brothers (Matt. 21:38; Mark 12:7).

5)      What’s next for you, and how can IVP readers be praying for you?

I have a few writing projects I’m eager to attend to soon. In the immediate future, I’m focusing on preaching through Mark’s gospel for Hunsinger Lane Baptist Church. You can pray that I would be a faithful expositor of God’s word and that our congregation would grow in maturity and spiritual health.