Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Biblical Theology

Is Every Promise “Yes”? Jason DeRouchie on Old Testament Promises and the Christian

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Jason DeRouchie gave an outstanding lecture on February 23 to commemorate his promotion to Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Theology. (He is the first Bethlehem College & Seminary full professor whom our young school has promoted from within the faculty ranks.)

The title of his lecture was “Is Every Promise ‘Yes’? Old Testament Promises and the Christian.” I am not aware of anyone who has thought so carefully about how the people of God under the new covenant can claim promises God made to his people under the old covenant.

Here’s a video of the 80-minute lecture:

DeRouchie shares his outline and slides here.

We plan for the next issue of Themelios (~April 25) to include DeRouchie’s lecture as an article.

Update (4/25/2017): The latest issue of Themelios includes the updated version of DeRouchie’s lecture (web version | PDF).

Progressive Covenantalism: Charting a Course between Dispensational and Covenant Theologies

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WellumThis book just released:

Stephen J. Wellum and Brent E. Parker, eds. Progressive Covenantalism: Charting a Course between Dispensational and Covenant Theologies. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2016.

My endorsement:

These ten essays exegetically and theologically support the argument that Steve Wellum and Peter Gentry present in Kingdom through Covenant (2012). Unlike covenant theology, progressive covenantalism argues that the genealogical principle (a basis for infant baptism) significantly changes across redemptive history. Unlike dispensationalism, progressive covenantalism understands the land not ultimately as Canaan but as a type of the new creation. This book is now required reading for my biblical theology courses.

7-minute interview with Steve Wellum:

Related: Fred Zaspel interviews Steve Wellum about this book.

David Dorsey on the Mosaic Law and the Christian

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David Dorsey wrote a thoughtful JETS article on the Mosaic law and the Christian in 1991:

Dorsey, David A. “The Law of Moses and the Christian: A Compromise.” JETS 34 (1991): 321–34.

Justin Taylor summarizes that essay in Q&A format here.

In 1999 Dorsey wrote another journal article on the Mosaic law and the Christian. This essay is not as well-known, and it was challenging to track down. I’m uploading an unmarked PDF of the essay here with the publisher’s permission:

Dorsey, David A. “The Use of the OT Law in the Christian Life: A Theocentric Approach.” Evangelical Journal 17, no. 1 (1999): 1–18. [Read more…] about David Dorsey on the Mosaic Law and the Christian

Psalm 110 and the Logic of Hebrews: An Interview with Jared Compton

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comptonThis book recently released:

Jared Compton. Psalm 110 and the Logic of Hebrews. Library of New Testament Studies 537. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015.

Jared (@jaredmcompton) entered the PhD program at Trinity one year after I did, and he and our wives became close friends. While we were at Trinity, we both joined CrossWay Community Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and learned so much from Mike Bullmore. After serving as a NT professor at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary for a few years, Jared returned to CrossWay Community Church as one of their pastors.

Both Jared and I wrote our dissertations under Don Carson on the use of the OT in the NT. Jared focused on how Hebrews uses Psalm 110, and now it’s in the prestigious LNTS series. Jared kindly agreed to answer some questions about his new book:

1. What sparked your interest in Hebrews and this topic?

[Read more…] about Psalm 110 and the Logic of Hebrews: An Interview with Jared Compton

The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden

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biggestKevin DeYoung. The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015.

This book targets children ages 5–12. As with Kevin DeYoung’s other publications, he writes clearly, creatively, and soundly. It’s short enough that I read the whole book in one sitting to my three girls (at the time ages 7, 4, and almost 3). They followed it intently. And a few months later my wife read it to the girls in several sittings.

This book isn’t ideal to use to teach children the Bible’s detailed storyline; it’s too brief for that. It makes more sense if you already know the Bible’s basic storyline so you can follow the witty story-telling and fill in the gaps. But what it does, it does very well. No wasted words. Compact. Crisp. Compelling.

Kevin explains the book’s background here.

See also some brief reviews:

  1. Ray Van Neste
  2. Carl Trueman
  3. Doug Wilson

Update (9/1/2016): The book is now available as a 26-minute video. Here’s a preview:

NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible

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nivzsbThe NIV Zondervan Study Bible releases on August 25.

D. A. Carson is the general editor; Desi Alexander, Rick Hess, and Doug Moo are the associate editors; and I served as the assistant editor. I worked on this study Bible full-time for four years and for a fifth year part-time. I managed the project and helped copyedit all of the notes and essays for content and style.

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Update on 12/11/2015. Here is a 38-minute video of a panel that Tom Schreiner moderated about our study Bible. All of the editors (except Desi Alexander) participated in this panel the Evangelical Theological Society on November 19, 2015.

Update on 8/28/2018. Three years later Zondervan is repackaging this resource as the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible.

I briefly explain my role in this video (1:55 min.):

The study Bible has completely fresh content from new contributors. Its audience is as general as the target audience for the NIV itself: the English-speaking world.

As I edited this study Bible, I consulted many other study Bibles. In my view these were the four best study Bibles at the time:

  1. ESV Study Bible (which I warmly recommended in JETS in 2009)
  2. NIV Study Bible (which is remaining in print)
  3. HCSB Study Bible
  4. NLT Study Bible

Now I think that the top two study Bibles available are the ESV Study Bible and the NIV Zondervan Study Bible.

  • They share many of the same strengths that any good study Bible does: the introductions to each book of the Bible explain the broad literary context and relevant historical-cultural context, and the study notes explain individual parts in that larger context.
  • They have complementary strengths: a major strength of the ESV Study Bible is systematic theology, and a major strength of the NIV Zondervan Study Bible is biblical theology. And that’s not surprising since the general editor for the ESV Study Bible is Wayne Grudem and the general editor for the NIV Zondervan Study Bible is Don Carson.

Biblical theology is a main distinctive of the NIV Zondervan Study Bible. In two recent “Ask Pastor John” episodes, Tony Reinke asked Don Carson about this:

  1. What Is Biblical Theology? And Do We Need It? (Episode 644)
  2. Why We Must Understand the Temple in God’s Plan Today (Episode 645)

(Those links include both the audio and transcripts.)

There are five theological disciplines: exegesis, biblical theology, historical theology, systematic theology, and practical theology. I briefly explain them in this short video (2:50 min.):

I try to show how Harry Potter illustrates biblical theology in this 4-minute video:

The notes in the NIV Zondervan Study Bible make biblical-theological connections, and the study Bible concludes with 28 essays on biblical theology:

  1. The Story of the Bible: How the Good News About Jesus Is Central (Timothy Keller)
  2. The Bible and Theology (D. A. Carson)
  3. A Biblical-Theological Overview of the Bible (D. A. Carson)
  4. The Glory of God (James M. Hamilton Jr.)
  5. Creation (Henri Blocher)
  6. Sin (Kevin DeYoung)
  7. Covenant (Paul R. Williamson)
  8. Law (T. D. Alexander)
  9. Temple (T. D. Alexander)
  10. Priest (Dana M. Harris)
  11. Sacrifice (Jay A. Sklar)
  12. Exile and Exodus (Thomas R. Wood)
  13. The Kingdom of God (T. D. Alexander)
  14. Sonship (D. A. Carson)
  15. The City of God (T. D. Alexander)
  16. Prophets and Prophecy (Sam Storms)
  17. Death and Resurrection (Philip S. Johnston)
  18. People of God (Moisés Silva)
  19. Wisdom (Daniel J. Estes)
  20. Holiness (Andrew David Naselli)
  21. Justice (Brian S. Rosner)
  22. Wrath (Christopher W. Morgan)
  23. Love and Grace (Graham A. Cole)
  24. The Gospel (Greg D. Gilbert)
  25. Worship (David G. Peterson)
  26. Mission (Andreas J. Köstenberger)
  27. Shalom (Timothy Keller)
  28. The Consummation (Douglas J. Moo)

In addition to writing the above biblical-theological essay on holiness, I coauthored the notes for three New Testament books:

  1. John (coauthored with Don Carson)
  2. 2 Peter (coauthored with Doug Moo)
  3. Jude (coauthored with Doug Moo)

And I’m grateful that two of my colleagues at Bethlehem College & Seminary contributed God-glorifying, Jesus-exalting notes to the study Bible:

  1. Jason DeRouchie wrote the notes on Zephaniah. (Jason recently drafted a commentary on Zephaniah for Crossway’s ESV Bible Expository Commentary series and is currently finishing a more detailed commentary on Zephaniah for the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament series.)
  2. Brian Tabb wrote the notes on Revelation. (Brian is currently writing a biblical theology of Revelation for Don Carson’s New Studies in Biblical Theology series.)

One more video: This explains the NIV translation and its Committee on Bible Translation (2:05 min.):

Related: Announcing the NIV Zondervan Study Bible