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The author sets out to help readers think about how God has revealed himself through the pages of the Bible. The book is divided into four parts. Part one deals with the ‘why’ of biblical theology, part two deals with the ‘how’ of biblical theology, part three deals with the ‘what’ and part four with the ‘where’ of biblical theology.

In part one, the author sets out to tell us why it’s important for us to study biblical theology. The main reason is that we have problematic texts in the bible and thus having proper biblical theology will help us in dealing with them. Also, biblical theology helps us make a connection between the Old and the New Testaments through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Biblical theology gives us the bird’s eyes view of the bible as a whole and thus we are able to see the unity of the whole.

In part two, the author starts by highlighting that we can know God because he has made himself known. We can know him through his Son, Jesus Christ who is the truth. This Jesus is in fact the incarnate Word of God, who was with God and was God in the beginning (John 1:1). He is the fulfillment of Old Testament. All that the Old Testament speaks is about him and/or finds its ultimate fulfillment in him. The work of the bible student then is to not to start with the Old Testament and think how Jesus fits in but to start with Jesus and work backwards then work forward. This also implies that the scripture is what is to be studied in order to get the revelation of who God is and what he has done and is doing. The best way to study this scripture is in its literal-historical context and seeing how God’s redemptive work unfolds progressively from Genesis to Revelation. In doing this, there will be a need then to find a central theme that unifies the message of the bible.

In part three, which is the main section of the book, the author focuses on what the content of biblical theology is. He deliberately starts with clarifying what the gospel is- about Jesus Christ who is the first and the last. He then talks about creation- God, by his word, established a perfect creation which he loves and rules. But then the fall happened. Man in lasting after a throne that wasn’t there’s, rebels against God and thus loses the privileges that were his- fellowship with God is cut off, conflict (man – man, man – animal) is heightened, the ground is cursed and man is thrown out of the Garden of Eden. Things don’t remain the same again because we see how immediately and in the generations that follow, death, divisions and wickedness is what characterizes man. Even the most advanced civilization project initiated by man, without God, are in themselves a ‘setting up of self against God.’

But God’s dealings with his people are not all finished. He works so as to deal with the problem of human sin. He does this through covenants- Noah, Abraham, and consequently Isaac, Jacob and his descendants, David and through the new covenant through his Son Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, we see God redeeming his people from slavery in Egypt and bringing them to the Promised Land. God’s people are given a set of laws they are to live by. This is to mark them as distinct from other nations and also to make them a light to other nations. The people of God fail in many ways.

The author also highlights the idea of kingship in the land. God is king of his people. Though the people err by asking for an earthly king, God allows it as it is what he had promised to Abraham and also in line with creation of man to rule over creation. The king was to fear God, obey his commands and not be against his people. The first king, Saul is rejected by God and replaced by David- a man after God’s own heart. God makes a covenant with him that his kingdom will be established forever and that his descendant will always be on the throne. Solomon partly fulfills this, the kingdom prospers but he fails as his heart is led astray from God by the foreign women that he married. The rest of Israel’s kings are disasters save for few like Josiah and Hezekiah.

God’s people are called to live wisely by remembering God’s saving acts and living in light of this. The prophets come on the scene as God’s mouthpiece, mediating between God and the people and calling them back to the covenant way of life. The people don’t heed and are thus taken to exile as an act of God’s judgment. After a period, they return to the land but this is only but a disappointment. At this point, as the author notes, the Old Testament is then an unfinished story giving way to Jesus who is its fulfillment. Jesus then is the new creation who makes new creations of all those joined to him by faith as they look forward to his coming back when he will make a new creation of everything. From the NT moving forward, Jesus has ushered in the kingdom and is drawing in people (the church) from different backgrounds.

Finally, in part four, the author gives two examples of how the study of biblical theology can be applied; a) the question of knowing God’s will and b) the question of life after death.

Methodology

The author uses a redemptive-historical method particularly focusing on the Kingdom of God as the unifying theme of the bible. He shows how this unfolds from creation, to fall, to redemption, to new creation. He highlights the three elements of this kingdom; God as ruler, the people and the created order. In creation, the kingdom is God’s creation where he is the ruler, the people are Adam & Eve and the creation order is the Garden of Eden. The central themes he deals with are creation/generation ex nihilo by the Word of God, God’s sovereignty, order and goodness of creation, image of God in man and responsibility of man. In the fall, there it’s as if things are hanging up in terms of God as ruler, the people and the creation order as everything is interrupted. Temptation, disobedience, judgment and death, broken relationship and God’s grace are the main themes.

When it comes to redemption, the author divides it up to different parts as he continues to trace the kingdom of God. In the story of Noah, God is still ruler, there’s the flood (for kingdom) and the ark is the world (creation order). The mains themes here are covenant, election and division of humans between elect and non-elect. In the story of Abraham, God is ruler, there are Abraham’s descendants as the people and Canaan as the land. The main themes are covenant, descendants of Abraham as God’s people, blessings to the nations and Promised Land. In the story of the exodus (through Moses), the LORD is the ruler, Israel is God’s special people (firstborn son) and Canaan is the land. The main themes are captivity, God’s covenant faithfulness, name of God, signs and wonders, supernatural redemption. With the giving of the law, the main themes are Sonship, law and grace, substitutionary sacrifice, and holiness. With Israel’s wilderness wanderings, the main themes are name of God, God dwelling with his people, Promised Land and Israel’s disobedience. With the people coming into the Promised Land, the main themes are Promise of possession, the Lord’s holy war and Conquest.

The author then looks at kingship particularly with David as the representative. The LORD is ruler. A special focus is on David’s line as the people and on the temple in Jerusalem as the place. Judgeship, kingship, temple, covenant, order, fear of the Lord and regeneration of the mind are the key themes. For the prophets, the LORD is ruler. The people are the faithful remnant and the place is the new temple and Jerusalem. The main themes are redemption, revelation of God in his saving acts and prophetic revelation of kingdom yet to come. In the New Testament believers, the trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is in charge. The people are all who have believed in Jesus (saved by grace through faith). They are in Christ who is the new temple yet they themselves are also temples. The key themes are regeneration and the tension between the two ages (the now and not yet). And finally in the New Creation, the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) rules. The people are God’s people in his presence in the new heaven and earth. The key themes are regeneration of whole creation and Christ’s second coming and consummation.

Comments:

The book is so helpful in bringing out the theme of the Kingdom of God. This is one big theme that the author so clearly follows in tracing the story of the bible. One can see how the bible fits together using kingdom as the main theme. But even before dealing with the issue of what biblical theology is, the author did well in part one in stating first why biblical theology and in part two how biblical theology should be done. The fact that we only know God because he has made himself known by his Son through scripture brings confidence to the authority of God’s word and the need to rely on it in a time when anything else is seen as reliable but God’s Word.

The book is also helpful in the way the author writes with clarity and summarizes the main idea and keeps coming back to them. He charts his path clearly and the reader can easily follow along. This book can thus be read by anyone. The book is Christ-centered rather than being man-centered and thus we are able to see what God is doing even in the midst of passages/stories where we (21^st century readers) would want to jump in and think it’s about us.

There were a number of things that weren’t clear (weakness of the book). First, kingdom is a good category and the author rightly stated how in this kingdom, the elements are God as ruler, the people under his rule and the creation order (world). In walking through the different stages of God’ revelation (creation, fall, redemption, new creation), these elements somehow were vague. For example, looking at Abraham, Moses, David, one cannot tell exactly what the kingdom is. Is it the person? Is it where they live? This could have been clear.

Second, some of the conclusions reached by the author are not helpful in my view. He says “if we can imagine God drawing up the plans for the universe before he created it, and if we could examine these plans, we would not see Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, but Jesus Christ in the gospel” (page 60) which is for me, it is a wild claim. Yes, I agree Jesus is the focal point and is the start and the end. But in saying that if we examine God’s plans we wouldn’t even see Adam and Eve in the garden, one wonders then why God would have to go the ‘pain’ of creating Adam and Eve in the first place! I believe both are important in our understanding of biblical theology and so they are part of God’s plans. He also says “It is important to see that Jesus did not come because the time was fulfilled, but rather he fulfilled the time by coming.” (Page 72). Well, I think it’s both, the time was fulfilled and Jesus fulfilled the time. I believe God worked it in such a way that “at just the right time” Jesus came.

Overall, this is a good book that I recommend to anyone interested in biblical theology whether starting or is already a student of biblical theology