explaining biblical theology: god’s glory in … biblical... · explaining biblical theology:...

EXPLAINING BIBLICAL THEOLOGY:

GOD’S GLORY IN SALVATION THROUGH JUDGMENT

Timothy George begins his book, Amazing Grace, with the question, “If you

were asked to sum up the entire message of the Bible in just one word, which word would

you choose?”1 Theologians have answered this question with words such as kingdom,

covenant, grace, law, holiness, love, redemption and Jesus, to name a few.2 For decades,

biblical theologians have had a lengthy and lively discussion regarding the central focus

and unifying thread driving the biblical storyline.3 In 2010, James Hamilton added his

voice to the conversation suggesting the Bibles central theme is, “God’s glory in

salvation through judgment.”4 This resource will explain biblical theology and explore

implications for leaders based on Hamilton’s central theme of Scripture.

What is Biblical Theology?

James Hamilton defines biblical theology as that which “seeks to understand

the Bible in its own terms, in its own chronology, as reflected in its canonical form. One

1 Timothy George, Amazing Grace: God’s Pursuit, Our Response, 2

nd ed. (Wheaton, IL:

Crossway, 2011), 15.

2 See Central Themes in Biblical Theology: Mapping Unity in Diversity, Eds. Scott J. Hafeman

& Paul R. House (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007). Also see Horizons in Biblical Theology

(HBT). A resource devoted to providing the latest research on biblical theology with over 25 volumes to

date. D.A. Carson is the editor of a helpful series entitled New Studies in Biblical Theology.

3 For an evangelical overview see Chapter 4 by Graeme Goldsworthy in Christ-Centered

Biblical Theology and a liberal overview see Chapter 2 by James Mead in Biblical Theology.

4 James M. Hamilton Jr., God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment: A Biblical Theology

(Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010).

2

of the key tasks of biblical theology is to trace the connections between themes and show

the relationships between them.”5 Hamilton continues, “The great challenge in biblical

theology is to hold together everything the Bible says so that nothing is nullified, negated,

or neglected.”6 This is a helpful approach to biblical theology as we want the Bible to

speak for itself and avoid imposing our own view on the Bible. There are many themes

that run cover-to-cover throughout the Bible, but do not sufficiently summarize every

book of the Bible and all its parts into one unifying whole.

The grandfather of biblical theology, Geerhardus Vos, defines biblical

theology as “that branch of exegetical theology which deals with the process of the self-

revelation of God deposited in the Bible.”7 According to Vos, biblical theology focuses

on the divine activity of God as it unfolds through history as recorded in the sixty-six

books of the Bible. Vos’ definition helps us understand one of the principles of biblical

theology; it is historical and moves from seed to tree.

D.A. Carson states that biblical theology “seeks to uncover and articulate the

unity of all the biblical texts taken together, resorting primarily to the categories of those

texts themselves.”8 Biblical theology attempts to explain the meaning of the story in the

terms of the story itself. James Mead defines biblical theology as that which “seeks to

identify and understand the Bible’s theological message, that is, what the Bible says

5 Ibid., 45.

6 Ibid., 47.

7 Vern Poythress, “Kinds of Biblical Theology,” Westminster Journal of Theology 70 (2008):

130.

8 D.A. Carson, “Systematic Theology and Biblical Theology,” in New Dictionary of Biblical

Theology (Downers Grove, MI: Intervarsity Press, 2000), 100.

3

about God and God’s relation to all creation, especially to mankind.”9 Mead’s definition

suggests that biblical theology explores what the Bible says about God and how it says

these things. Steve Wellum suggests that biblical theology, “not only provides the basis

for understanding how texts in one part of Scripture relate to all other texts, but it also

serves as the basis and underpinning for all theologizing.”10

These various definitions of

biblical theology provide a helpful starting point and general guidelines to assess views

and evaluate interpretations.

Issues in Biblical Theology

James Mead believes there are two major issues related to the topic of biblical

theology. These are issues that church leaders must address in order to faithfully preach

the word and shepherd God’s flock. The two issues are (1) The relationship of the Old

and New Testaments and (2) The debate over the legitimate subject matter of biblical

theology.11

Relationship of the Old and New Testaments

The relationship between the two testaments is perhaps “the” pressing issue of

biblical theology.12

It is an important subject because it deals with the doctrine of

Scripture and the person and work of Jesus Christ. In a post-modern, science-driven,

9 James K. Mead, Biblical Theology: Issues, Methods, and Themes (Louisville, KY:

Westminster John Knox Press, 2007), 241.

10

Stephen J. Wellum, “Editorial: Preaching and Teaching the Whole Counsel of God,” The

Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 10 (2006): 2-3.

11

Mead, Biblical Theology, 244-245.

12

Ibid., 244.

4

highly-skeptical age it is doubtful that a coherent and accurate understanding of the

nature of Scripture and how to interpret it can long be sustained where there is not at the

same time a grasp of unity of Scripture and its overall storyline of creation, fall,

redemption, and completion in Christ.13

If the Bible was a random collection of books with limited connection to one

another, there could be no central storyline. The Bible would be reduced to a library of

historical documents describing the religious experiences of ancient people while

providing moral instruction for future generations. What a person believes about the

interconnectedness of individual parts of the Bible to the whole reveals, and likely

influences, their view of the inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of the Bible. The

relationship between the testaments is not as minor issue as D.A. Carson notes,

Biblical theology forms an organic whole. This means not only that one can

approach any part of the subject by beginning at any other point of the subject

(though some vantage points are certainly more helpful than others), but that to

treat some element of biblical theology as if it existed in splendid isolation

seriously distorts the whole picture.14

The Bible is much more than an “anthology of religious writings put together by the

religious communities of Israel and the church.”15

Scripture is a unified, God-given

revelation. Biblical theology assumes the unity of Scripture as a divine inspiration.

Biblical theology attempts to make sense of the Bible as a whole not just as an

individual collection of books.16

Michael Lawrence captures this thought when he says,

13 D.A. Carson & Andrew David Naselli, Collected Writings on Scripture (Wheaton, IL:

Crossway, 2010), 19.

14

Ibid., 19

15

Peter J. Gentry & Steven J. Wellam, Kingdom Through Covenant: A Biblical-Theological

Understanding of the Covenants (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 31.

5

“Biblical theology is about reading the Bible, not as if it’s sixty-six separate books, but a

single book with a single plot – God’s glory displayed through Jesus Christ.”17

Despite

the diversity of Scripture, biblical theology works to discover the unity of the Bible and

the central theme that ties all things together.18

The Old and New Testaments are one story with Jesus at the center. The New

Testament interpretation of the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth makes no sense if

there is no substance to the historical claims of the Old Testament.19

The teaching of the

Old Testament points to Christ and the teaching of Christ is grounded in the Old

Testament. Graeme Goldsworthy refers to this as “progressive, redemptive revelation”

and states,

Jesus Christ is the goal of the Old Testament and provides its true meaning. Any

understanding of, and commentary on, the Old Testament that does not show up

this fact is at best incomplete and at worst un-Christian.20

The overwhelming testimony of the New Testament is that Jesus fulfills the Old

Testament, which is another way of saying that the Old Testament is about Jesus.21

Christ

interprets the entire Bible. What went before Christ in the Old Testament, as well as what

comes after him, finds its meaning in him.

16

Michael Lawrence, Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church: A Guide for Ministry

(Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 37.

17

Ibid., 15.

18

Ibid., 15.

19

Graeme Goldsworthy, According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible

(Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1991), 52.

20

Ibid., 57; 88.

21

Ibid., 53.

6

One of the clear implications of biblical theology is that the Bible is best

understood as a single historical narrative describing God and his interactions with man.

The story begins at the beginning of time and ends at the end of history. This conviction

requires a person to believe the Old Testament is a story without an ending.

Four major world religions recognize the Old Testament is incomplete on its

own. Judaism eagerly waits for the promised Messiah of the Old Testament, rejecting

Christ as its fulfillment and the teachings of the New Testament. Islam believes the Bible

is corrupt and sees Ishmael, not Isaac, as the central character through which the storyline

of the Bible develops. Islam rejects Jesus Christ as Lord and embraces the prophet

Mohammad’s alternate ending to the story. Mormons claims to accept the Old and New

Testament, but sees God’s revelation contained in the Bible as incomplete. Thus, the

book of Mormon was added to the end of the New Testament in attempts to complete the

story of the Bible. Christianity believes the Bible is God’s full and final revelation; a self-

contained story of redemption history focusing on the person and work of Jesus Christ.

These four views lead to a second implication of biblical theology; worldview.

Ultimately, humans are looking for meaning and purpose in life and want to know how

they fit into the story. The Bible declares what the main events of reality are and tells us

to read ourselves in light of that story.22

All humans ask questions that biblical theology

answers such as, “What is my purpose?” “What went wrong with the world?” And,

“What happens after death?” When a person embraces the wrong story it provides the

wrong answers and leads a person to live in the wrong way. Thus, it is critical for pastors

to correctly understand and communicate the big picture, or metanarrative, of the Bible.

22 Lawrence, Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church, 31.

7

The central theme of the Bible explains everything in life and provides Christians with a

framework by which to live.

Central Theme of the Bible

The second matter of dispute is whether there is a single theme that can

function as an organizing principle that does justice to both the unity and the great

diversity of Scripture.23

Charles Scobie who wrote a monumental biblical theology

called, The Ways of Our God, states “If finding one central theme for the Old Testament

and for the New Testament poses difficulties, this is even more the case in relation to one

theme which could serve as an organizing principle for a Biblical Theology.”24

Graeme

Goldsworthy addresses this problem in biblical theology, “The problem for a biblical

theology…is what principle of unity can be focused on to show up the essential

relationships of all parts of the Bible.”25

Naturally, this leads us to ask and answer what is

the central theme of the Bible?

Centered on God’s Glory

The central theme of the Bible, according to James Hamilton, is God’s glory in

salvation through judgment. Hamilton states, “if we will listen carefully to the Bible, it

will proclaim to us the glory of God.”26

This is the ultimate aim of Scripture to which all

23 Graeme Goldsworthy, Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and

Principles (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2012), 94.

24

Charles H.H. Scobie, The Ways of God: An Approach to Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids,

MI: Eerdmans, 2003), 169.

25

Goldsworthy, According to Plan, 77.

26

Hamilton Jr., God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment, 40.

8

other biblical themes support. Peter Gentry, author of Kingdom Through Covenant, does

not agree with Hamilton. Gentry states

Hamilton correctly emphasizes the unity of the biblical texts and claims a centre

for biblical theology, i.e., that the idea or theme of “salvation through judgment”

is the theme which unites the entirety of Scripture and that the parts or individual

texts of Scripture cannot be understood without reference to it. We agree with the

former but we do not agree with the latter. We do not deny that “salvation through

judgment is a theme of Scripture, even a major one, but we will not defend the

assertion that it is the theme to the neglect of other themes (italics his).27

James Hamilton differentiates between “subordinate ends” and “ultimate ends”

as it relates to biblical theology.28

Hamilton states, “When we examine the explanations

the Bible gives for why God does what he does, we find clearly stated subordinate and

ultimate ends.”29

All that is spoken of in the Bible as the ultimate end of God’s works is

God’s own glory. Thus, according to Hamilton, Biblical covenants are subordinate to the

ultimate end of God’s glory.

Hamilton is not the only scholar to believe God’s glory through salvation in

judgment is the center of biblical theology. Tom Schreiner holds a similar view, and

states in his book New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ, “God works out

his saving plan so that he would be magnified in Christ, so that his name would be

honored.”30

John Piper believes that “God’s greatest love is God, that God’s supreme

goal is his glory, and that God’s ultimate purpose in both creation and re-creation is his

27 Gentry & Wellam, Kingdom Through Covenant, 10.

28

Hamilton Jr., God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment, 48-49.

29

Ibid., 48.

30

Thomas R. Schreiner, New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ (Grand Rapids,

MI: Baker Academic, 2008), 14.

9

worship and fame.”31

Even practitioners have begun to see this theme as the Bibles

center. Senior Pastor Michael Lawrence states, “The Bible is a single story with God as

its author, its primary actor, its center and the climax of this story is the glory of God is

salvation through judgment.”32

One of the most respected biblical theologians, Graeme

Goldsworthy agrees, “Throughout the Bible salvation and judgment are inseparable and

complementary aspects of the action of God in bringing in his kingdom.”33

God’s covenant promises point to his divine plan to rescue a people for the

praise of his glory. “There is one God and one plan to solve one problem with one

solution.”34

In Genesis 2:17 God promised sin would bring death. God promised to save

the woman and her seed through the sacrificial system as an atoning substitute for their

sin. Throughout scripture, there’s a promise to judge and a promise to save, but to fulfill

these promises God established a pattern of death for sin unless a substitute is offered.35

Eventually, that is fulfilled in Jesus Christ as explained in Hebrews 9.

Since one of the main threads of Scripture is redemption; its easy and

erroneous to believe the center or point of the story is the people being redeemed. That

would be misreading the story. The focal point isn’t humanity. “At its most fundamental

31 John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions, 2

nd ed., revised &

expanded (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2003), 17.

32

Lawrence, Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church, 37.

33


34


35

Ibid., 72.

10

level, the subject of biblical theology is the Bible’s understanding of God’s character and

purposes.”36

The center and point of the story is God and his glory.

Structured by Covenants

The Bible is structured by covenants between God and his chosen people. This

is the conviction of Peter Gentry and Steven Wellam in their massive book Kingdom

through Covenant. They state, “We are not asserting that the covenants are the centre of

biblical theology. Instead, we assert that the covenants form the backbone of the

metanarrative of Scripture and thus it is essential to ‘put them together’ correctly in order

to discern accurately the ‘whole counsel of God.’”37

Graeme Goldsworthy agrees. He

states, “We are justified in referring to the first covenant statement [in Genesis] as a

covenant of salvation,…the first reference to covenant, then, involves God’s commitment

to save Noah and his family from destruction.”38

Covenants are a means of

communicating or structuring the central theme of scripture; God’s glory in salvation

through judgment.

God uses covenants to reveal himself as the great King and to teach his people

they are his vice-regents with covenant stipulations. A covenant is a claim to total

allegiance, loyalty and it is generational. When Israel entered into a covenant with God,

they did so for generations to come. Covenants are not simply contracts or promises, but

relationships under authority with obligations and rewards. One author describes a

covenant with God in the following way:

36 Scott J. Hafeman & Paul House, Central Themes in Biblical Theology: Mapping Unity in

Diversity (Grand Rapids, MI: Intervarsity Press, 2007), 20.

37

Gentry & Wellam, Kingdom Through Covenant, 21.

38


11

The terms and benefits of the relationship are spelled out, and so are the

consequences if the relationship is broken. But what is perhaps most significant

about biblical covenants is that when God enters into a covenant, he must

condescend to initiate it, he sets the terms, he provides the benefits, and he

executes the judgment when the covenant is broken.39

There are seven major covenants of the Bible. (1) The covenant of creation

with Adam in Genesis 2:15-17, (2) The covenant of redemption implied in Genesis 3:15,

(3) The Noahic covenant made with Noah in Genesis 9:8-17, (4) The Abrahamic

covenant of Genesis 15:1-21, (5) The Mosaic covenant in Exodus 20-25, (6) The Davidic

covenant in 2 Samuel 7, and (7) The New covenant promised in Jeremiah 31:27-34 and

Ezekiel 36:24-28 that is fulfilled through Jesus.40

About a King and His Kingdom

To understand biblical theology correctly means we place our lives under the

Lordship of the King. When we understand that the central character of the story of the

Bible is King Jesus we recognize that the story exercises authority over us. The Bible is

about a King who is worthy of all glory, a kingdom that only can be entered through

salvation, and the King’s relationship with his people expressed in covenant promises.

The coming of the kingdom of God is significant as it is the central theme of

Jesus’ message.41

“The fact that Jesus announces the kingdom without explaining what

he means by it suggests that he spoke of an already existing idea in the minds of the

Jews.”42

Jesus speaks about how near the kingdom is and describes what it means for the

39 Lawrence, Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church, 31-32.

40

Ibid., 59-60.

41


42

Ibid., 73.

12

kingdom to come and emphasizes the subject as one of the most prominent of the gospel

narratives and of the New Testament as a whole.

The Content and Structure of Biblical Theology

The theme of the Bible is God’s glory in salvation through judgment,

structured by covenants, about a King and his kingdom. Without a firm grasp of the big

picture of the Bible individuals will sound like James Mead and believe there is great

“difficulty of organizing the content of the Bible’s theology.”43

Despite the lack of

consensus about the central focus of Scripture, it is safe to say that it is ultimately Christ-

focused and redemption-driven.

How we define biblical theology and develop our practice will largely depend

on the doctrinal assumptions we make about the Bible.44

These become the filter and

framework through which we interpret the Bible. Thus, having correct doctrine through

solid hermeneutics is critical to biblical theology. An inaccurate reading of the Bible

leads to an inaccurate understanding of God and his commands. It is absolutely critical

that we read and interpret the Bible correctly. This leads to the next discussion of

implications for church leaders.

Implications for Church Leaders

Mark Dever believes that sound biblical theology is an essential mark of every

healthy church.45

Michael Lawrence states, “the most important tool we need in ministry,

43 Mead, Biblical Theology, 169.

44

Goldsworthy, Christ-Centered Biblical Theology, 38.

45

Mark Dever, What is a Healthy Church? (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2007), 70.

13

is biblical theology…it’s vital to your work as a pastor or church leader. It shapes your

preaching, your counseling, your evangelizing, your ability to engage wisely with

culture.46

Everything in the life and ministry of the local church is affected by a proper

use of biblical theology.47

A correct biblical theology affects ones philosophy of

leadership and is critical for fruitful and faithful church oversight. This section will

explore three implications of biblical theology for leadership in the church. (1) An

accurate biblical theology informs an accurate anthropology. (2) It leads to truthfulness in

preaching and teaching. (3) Correct biblical theology leads to a sound interpretation of

the Bible.

Accurate Anthropology

How one approaches all these leadership issues depends largely on ones

anthropology. If that anthropology is divorced from the storyline of scripture ones

response to counseling needs or the poor will be very different from one that directly

flows from a basic biblical understanding of what human beings are, what their problem

is, and how the Bible responds to those problems.

A biblical anthropology begins with humans beings created in God’s image to

rule over the earth and worship him ultimately for his glory. This image was distorted in

the fall so that humans freely worship the creature rather than the creator. Human beings

favorite creature to worship is himself. Thus, the Bible doesn’t define anthropology in

terms of behavior, but by whom a person worships. Humanity’s problem is idolatry,


47

Ibid., 199.

14

disordered worship. This is the message of Romans 1; leading to the consequences of

blindness, death, slavery to sin, and the wrath of God.48

Good church leadership begins with good biblical anthropology. Correct

biblical anthropology sees people as the Bible describes them. Unregenerate individuals

are rebellious and enemies of God. They are under the condemnation of God and await

future judgment. The Bible states that God not only hates the sin, but also the sinner.49

Unregenerate individuals are in desperate need of the gospel and God’s saving grace.

Regenerate individuals are adopted sons of God, heirs to the throne, who

receive all the benefits and blessings of being in the family of God. Even though a

regenerate person’s position is secure in Christ and God sees that person as pure and

spotless, the sinful nature still remains. Jesus Christ is the true Son of God, and it is his

exact image that the Christian is conformed into through the work of the Spirit. The

Christian is commanded to be holy as God is holy and is in the process of being

sanctified. One day Christ will return and the Christian will see him as he truly is and will

fully be made into his image.

A basic biblical understanding of what human beings are, what their problem

is, and how the Bible responds to this problem will equip a leader to properly handle

counseling situations, value missions, and minister to children. Counseling informed by

biblical theology is not satisfied with merely fixing behavior.50

It is not satisfied because

it knows this is not the root problem, nor will it work. Rather, biblical counseling aims at

48 See Ephesians 2:1-3.

49

See Psalm 5:5


15

the heart, the place of worship. The pastor who is serious about biblical theology is not

content with behavior change. Real change occurs through the gospel as one repents,

believes, and places faith in God.

Biblical theology also informs missionary endeavors. Then need for missions

is a reminder that there is a sin problem in the world. Just as God sent Christ into the

world to make his redeeming presence known so he sends the church to be a redeeming

presence to others around the world. A biblical theology of missions includes God’s call

to be separate from the world in order to display the holiness of God so as not to conform

to the world. The church is given a mission to make disciples by baptizing and teaching

obedience to God’s commands. The church is a witness to Jesus Christ and proclaims the

gospel message of salvation and judgment.

Biblical theology informs ministry to children. Children are not born as blank

slates or morally neutral. Rather, the Bible teaches that children are born fallen beings.

Their primary problem is not disobedience, but an unregenerate heart. From an early age

children need to hear the gospel. Children should be taught the truths and big picture of

the Bible in accordance with age rather than a reductionistic form of moralistic teachings.

Graeme Goldsworthy asks, “How do I tell a Bible story?” He answers his question by

stating, “Biblical theology is a means of looking at one particular event in relation to the

total picture.”51

A helpful children’s teacher will show a child the relationship of all the

parts of the Old Testament to the person and work of Jesus Christ. Biblical theology gives

51 Goldsworthy, According to Plan, 21.

16

the teacher a “bird’s-eye view” to correctly interpret and communicate the meaning of a

text.52

Truthful Preaching and Teaching

Biblical theology is one of the safeguards that prevent pastors from interpreting

individual verses to mean whatever they want them to mean. When preaching and

teaching the pastor should consider how the biblical-theological themes of the text relates

to the ultimate revelation of Jesus Christ, his saving work, and his promised kingdom.

Once pastors identify the key themes or threads that are running through our particular

text, and once they are clear where in redemptive history a text falls, then they are in a

position to trace the theme through the entire Bible.53

The result is that pastors can preach

on a text, “not as if it is a pearl on a string, unrelated to the rest of Scripture, but as it

really is, one section of an entire tapestry that is inextricably and organically connected to

the whole.”54

A solid biblical theology helps prevent pastors from moralizing the Old

Testament, while at the same time giving the proper meaning and weight to every

passage of Scripture. It encourages pastors to look at what God has done in the past and

connect that to what God is doing in the future. It provides pastors with a worldview to

make sense of current events in light of God’s grander story. And most importantly, it

focuses every passage within the grand storyline of the Bible, the story of God’s actions

to redeem a people for himself, through the judgment of his Son, to the praise of his own

glory.

52 Ibid., 23.

53


54

Ibid., 181.

17

Sound Interpretation of the Bible

Christian leaders want to know their faith and commitment to Christ are

soundly based. What should a Christian leader believe and why? How should a Christian

leader live and why?55

How can so many well-intentioned Christian leaders have so many

different interpretations of the Bible? If the Bible can be interpreted soundly then it can

be understood correctly.

Paul uses the word “sound” a number of times in the pastoral letters to

Timothy. It means “reliable,” “accurate,” or “faithful.”56

“Biblically sound theology,

then, is theology that is faithful to the teaching on the entire Bible. It reliably and

accurately interprets the parts in terms of the whole.”57

Paul says that “sound doctrine” is doctrine that “conforms to the…gospel” and

opposes ungodliness and sin (1 Tim. 1:10-11).

Paul contrasts “false doctrines” with “the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus

Christ and…godly teaching” (1 Tim. 6:3).

Paul exhorts Timothy, “What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound

teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 1:13).

Paul warns Timothy, “the time will come when men will not put up with sound

doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great

numbers of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Tim. 4:3).

How can a Christian leader know the original intent of a biblical author? A

correct biblical theology helps a leader to properly interpret the Bible. Biblical theology

55 Goldsworthy, According to Plan, 18.

56

Dever, What is a Healthy Church?, 70.

57

Ibid., 70.

18

prevents a leader from attaching their own meaning to a text, a meaning they want or

believe based on their own context. Mark Dever provides the following example:

What do you think these italicized words mean: “But we know that when he

appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2)…these

words point to how, at the end of time, the church will purely reflect God’s loving

and holy character apart from the distorting influence of sin. Yet if you were in a

Mormon tabernacle, you would hear that the words “we will be like him” mean

we will all become gods! What’s the difference between these two

interpretations? One is informed by the theology of the whole Bible; the other is

not.58

The big picture of the Bible is necessary so a leader and his followers can

understand its individual parts. Those who do not see a text pointing toward Christ make

the fatal mistake of teaching its content divorced from the whole of biblical context.

Teaching becomes moralistic in nature and is reduced to a list of do’s and don’ts.

“Biblical theology is essential for hermeneutics. The sound interpretation of the Bible

presupposes some kind of biblical-theological understanding.”59

Conclusion

Biblical theology is primarily for the church and to be done in the church. The

primary audience of theology is Christians gathered in the local assembly. The church

must not abandon thinking hard about biblical theology as this is the nerve that gives rich

and profound life to the community and living out the gospel. Michael Lawrence states,

“Without theological vision, a vision that wrestles with what it means to be God’s people,

in God’s world, under God’s rule, the church inevitably loses both its identity as God’s

58 Ibid., 69.

59


19

possession and its purpose as the people and place where God’s glory is displayed in the

gospel and God’s praise is declared.”60

A biblical theology that captures the unity and diversity of Scripture is

essential for an accurate anthropology, truthfulness in preaching and teaching, and a

sound interpretation of the Bible. James Hamilton’s biblical theology of God’s glory in

salvation through judgment is faithful to Scripture and ripe with leadership implications.


20

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Carson, D.A. “Systematic Theology and Biblical Theology,” in New Dictionary of

Biblical Theology, Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2000.

Carson, D.A. & Naselli, Andrew David. Collected Writings on Scripture, Wheaton:

Crossway, 2010.

Dever, Mark. What is a Healthy Church? Wheaton: Crossway, 2007.

Gentry, Peter J. & Wellam, Steven J., Kingdom Through Covenant: A Biblical-

Theological Understanding of the Covenants, Wheaton: Crossway, 2012.

George, Timothy. Amazing Grace: God’s Pursuit, Our Response, 2nd

ed. Wheaton:

Crossway, 2011.

Goldsworthy, Graeme. According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible,

Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 1991.

_________, Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and

Principles, Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2012.

Hafeman, Scott J. & House, Paul R. Central Themes in Biblical Theology: Mapping

Unity in Diversity, eds., Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007.

Hamilton Jr., James M. God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment: A Biblical

Theology, Wheaton: Crossway, 2010.

Lawrence, Michael. Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church: A Guide for Ministry,

Wheaton: Crossway, 2010.

Mead, James K. Biblical Theology: Issues, Methods, and Themes, Louisville:

Westminster John Knox Press, 2007.

Piper, John. Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions, 2nd

ed., Grand

Rapids: Baker, 2003.

Poythress, Vern. “Kinds of Biblical Theology,” Westminster Journal of Theology 70

(2008): 130.

21

Schreiner, Thomas R. New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ, Grand

Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008.

Scobie, Charles H.H. The Ways of God: An Approach to Biblical Theology, Grand

Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003.

Wellum, Stephen J. “Editorial: Preaching and Teaching the Whole Counsel of God,” The

Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 10 (2006): 2-3.

explaining biblical theology: god’s glory in … biblical... · explaining biblical theology:...

Documents