Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Biblical Theology

12 Primary Ways the New Testament Uses the Old Testament

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bealeThe below list comes from an excellent new handbook:

G. K. Beale. Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament: Exegesis and Interpretation. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2012. xviii + 173 pp.

A 39-page PDF that includes the table of contents is available here.

I was pleasantly surprised how easy this book is to read. I’ve read a lot of Greg Beale’s work (books, articles, reviews), and this book is by far his most readable work I’ve read. His other works tend not to follow the maxim, “Omit needless words,” and his syntax and word choices often seem like they’ve been translated from German into English by a Frenchman (hyperbole alert).

(I just lost my credibility with my fully Reformed friends because they regularly plow through the writings of Puritans and old Presbyterians and don’t understand how I could possibly find Beale difficult to read.)

Chapter 4 lists 12 primary ways the NT uses the OT (pp. 55–93): [Read more…] about 12 Primary Ways the New Testament Uses the Old Testament

Progressive Covenantalism: A Via Media between Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism

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gentry-wellumLast week I finished plowing through this ambitious 848-page book:

Peter J. Gentry and Stephen J. Wellum. Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical-Theological Understanding of the Covenants. Wheaton: Crossway, 2012.

The book argues for a via media between covenant theology and dispensationalism that the authors call progressive covenantalism (similar to new covenant theology).

Wellum and Gentry routinely distinguish their view from each of the two major systems in a distinctive way: [Read more…] about Progressive Covenantalism: A Via Media between Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism

From Typology to Doxology: Paul’s Use of Isaiah and Job in Romans 11:34–35

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typologyThis book just came out:

Andrew David Naselli. From Typology to Doxology: Paul’s Use of Isaiah and Job in Romans 11:34–35. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2012. 201 pp.

It’s available in print (unlike the last one) and will soon be for Kindle.

From the Back Cover

At the end of Romans 11, Paul quotes both Isaiah and Job. As with other New Testament uses of Old Testament texts, this raises several questions. What is the context of these Old Testament passages? How are they used in other Jewish literature? What is Paul’s hermeneutical warrant for using them in Romans 11? What theological use does Paul make of them? How, if at all, does their use in Romans 11 contribute to the broader discussion on the use of the Old Testament in the New? In addressing these questions, this book reveals a remarkable typological connection that climaxes in the doxology of Romans 11:33–36, exalting God’s incomprehensibility, wisdom, mercy, grace, patience, independence, and sovereignty.

(Endorsements from Don Carson, Tom Schreiner, and Bob Yarbrough are listed here.) [Read more…] about From Typology to Doxology: Paul’s Use of Isaiah and Job in Romans 11:34–35

Six Key Theses about Luke’s Theology

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The concluding chapter of this new book lays out six key theses about Luke’s theology:

Darrell L. Bock. A Theology of Luke and Acts: God’s Promised Program, Realized for All Nations. Biblical Theology of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012.

“Although there are many themes,” Bock notes, “six issues within the scholarly conversation are most important” (p. 448–50): [Read more…] about Six Key Theses about Luke’s Theology

God’s Promises

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Colin S. Smith, The Plan (The Gospel Coalition Booklets; Wheaton: Crossway, 2011), pp. 15, 21–22, 29:

The Old Testament is the story of God’s amazing promises. Step back and try to take it in:

  1. God promises to give life to people who will reflect his glory.
  2. God promises to destroy evil and rid the world of its curse.
  3. God promises to bless people from all nations.
  4. God promises to reconcile sinners to himself through a sacrifice for sins.
  5. God promises that his people will live under the blessing of his rule forever.
  6. God promises that all his people will walk in all his ways.
  7. God promises to bring new life from the grave. . . .

Here is the breathtaking sweep of what God promises us in Jesus Christ. Jesus came and lived and died and rose again so that: [Read more…] about God’s Promises

Six Reasons to Preach from the OT

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Sidney Greidanus lists six “reasons for preaching from the Old Testament as well as the New” (Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999], 25–32):

  1. The Old Testament is part of the Christian canon.
  2. The Old Testament discloses the history of redemption leading to Christ.
  3. The Old Testament proclaims truths not found in the New Testament.
  4. The Old Testament helps us to understand the New Testament. [Understatement!]
  5. The Old Testament prevents misunderstanding the New Testament.
  6. The Old Testament provides a fuller understanding of Christ.