What is Biblical Theology?

• Systematic theology: The systematic categorizing of the Bible’s teaching on various topics (i.e. “What is sin?”).

• Historical theology: Traces the development of biblical doctrine throughout the history of the church (i.e. “What did the church fathers think about Christ?”).

• Practical theology: The practical outworking of theological study (i.e. “how does this doctrine apply to my life today?”).

• Biblical theology: Traces the development of doctrine across the span of biblical history.

*Biblical theology follows the storyline of the Bible from beginning to end.

What is the Bible’s storyline?

• Creation

• Fall

• Redemption (promised in the OT; fulfilled in the NT)

• Consummation

James Hamilton: “Biblical theology is the interpretive perspective of the biblical authors.”

1 Corinthians 11:1, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.”

*We should learn to interpret Scripture like Jesus and Paul did.

“Biblical theology [is] the interpretive perspective reflected in the way the biblical authors have presented their understanding of earlier Scripture, redemptive history, and the events they are describing, recounting, celebrating, or addressing in narratives, poems, proverbs, letters, and apocalypses” (James Hamilton, What is Biblical Theology?). Related to our study of “context”: Biblical theology is viewing any passage or text in light of the broader context of the biblical storyline.” “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” (Michael Lawrence, Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church, 15).

Types of Biblical Theology

1. Biblical theology of individual books: In this approach you “work carefully with

particular book or corpus to make sure you understand what God is saying through that corpus at that time in history with their words, vocabulary, and so on before you ask what contributions they make to the entire canon” (D.A. Carson, “What is Biblical Theology? And Why Do We Need It?).

Biblical theology of the Psalms:

A. The Psalter is composed of Five Books which reflects the five books of the Law (the Torah) and recounts the story of Israel in five stages:

A. Book 1 (Psalms 1-41): Largely set during the reign of David

B. Book 2 (Psalms 42-72): David and Solomon (last Psalm is by Solomon)

C. Book 3 (Psalms 73-89): Covers the sons of David, culminating in exile (Ps. 89)

D. Book 4 (Psalms 90-106): Starts with Psalm 90 by Moses to remind God’s people that they need to get back to Torah in order to be restored; these Psalms reassure them that God reigns (93:1; 97:1; 99:1; etc.)

E. Book 5 (Psalms 107-150): This book looks ahead to the time of restoration when God will reign over His people (e.g. Ps. 110; “Psalms of Ascent,” 120-134).

2. Biblical theology of themes or concepts: In this approach you identify a theme and trace its development and progress throughout the Bible.

• Example: Genesis 3:15– “And I [God] will put enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Promise announced: Enmity (war) between believers and unbelievers; God’s people will be “wounded,” but their enemies will be “crushed.” Ultimately, an offspring of the woman would destroy the devil, getting wounded in the process.

Promise anticipated (in the OT): • Tension between the two lines:

• Abel & Cain • Isaac & Ishmael • Jacob & Esau • The people of Israel vs. the other nations

• Crushing/smashing of Israel’s enemies: • Judges: Sisera (an enemy king) has his head crushed by a tent peg,

• Deborah sings, “Then [Jael] struck Sisera, she smashed his head; and she shattered and pierced his temple.”

• Kings of Israel: • Saul: As the anointed king, his first task was to fight against a king named “Nahash” (whose name

means “serpent”) in 1 Samuel 11. • David: Fought against a giant (Goliath) who was covered with scale-armor (like a snake) and went on

to strike his “head” with a stone, cut of his “head,” and displayed his “head” in Jerusalem (1 Sam. 17:5, 46, 48-49, 51, 54).

• Solomon: After being selected by David as king, he is opposed by his brother Adonijah who was offering up sacrifices “by the stone of Zoheleth” (which literally means “the stone of slithering, or the stone of the serpent.”

• Esther (during the exile): God’s people are opposed by a wicked man named Haman. When Haman plotted to destroy all of God’s people, Esther intervened and ended up saving God’s people. Haman, “the enemy of the Jews” (3:6, 10; 7:6; 8:1; 9:10, 24) winds up getting his “head” hanged from gallows.

The promise accomplished (in the NT)

Jesus came to defeat the devil and his work by dying on the cross. His “heel” was bruised, so to speak, on the cross but He ended up smashing “the head” of the devil.

1 John 3:8, “For this purpose the Son of God appeared: to destroy the works of the devil.”

See also Revelation 12 (Parable of history: Jesus defeats the “dragon” and rescues God’s people from his power).

3. Biblical theology of typology: In this approach you connect one person or event with a later person or event that resembles it in a greater way.

The word “typology” comes from the Greek word tupos which is translated “pattern” or “type.”

Romans 5:14, “[Adam] was a type (tupos) of the one who was to come…”

*Adam foreshadowed (pointed forward to) a later and greater Adam, Jesus Christ.

Two features of a type:

1. Correlation (similarities between an OT event or person and a NT event or person.

2. Escalation (the anti-type is greater in significance than the original).

4. Biblical theology of NT use of the OT: In this approach you look for quotations or allusions to earlier Scripture in a passage.

Example: Philippians 1:19, “For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance…”

*This is an example of what Richard Hays calls “an intertextual echo” of Job 13:16 (LXX): “This will turn out for my deliverance…”

To encourage himself, Paul puts himself in the place of Job:

• Both men are “prisoners” (Paul literally– Phil. 1:17; Job metaphorically– Job 13:27)

• Both men are surrounded by “adversaries” (Paul– those who persecute him, Job– his three “friends”).

• Both men were seeking deliverance from God.

Conclusion (and resources for further study) *Biblical theology is an attempt to read every passage in light of the WHOLE biblical storyline. It is reading EVERY passage with the BIG STORY in mind.

Resources:

1. The Big Picture Story Bible by David Helm

2. What is Biblical Theology? by James Hamilton

3. The God Who is There by D.A. Carson

4. Understanding Biblical Theology: A Comparison of Theory and Practice by Edward Klink and Darian Lockett

5. D.A. Carson’s lecture, “Introduction to Biblical Theology” (http://resources.thegospelcoalition.org/library/introduction-to-biblical-theology).