Clothing in the Bible

There’s an enjoyable article by Nancy Guthrie, posted on the Crossway website – ‘10 Things You Should Know about the Garden of Eden’. It’s related to her forthcoming book, Even Better than Eden: Nine Ways the Bible’s Story Changes Everything about Your Story (Wheaton: Crossway, 2018), which looks like it will be a helpful run through of some lesser-worked biblical themes.

Back to the article, her fifth point on Eden is this: ‘Adam and Eve were naked, not yet robed in royal splendor.’

She comments:

‘When we read in Genesis 2 that Adam and Eve were naked in Eden, it may initially seem to us to be a good or neutral thing. But Moses’ original readers would have recognized that something was lacking. These were royal representatives of the great king. And royal representatives in Scripture are always dressed in royal robes (think of Joseph’s coat of many colors, Jonathan’s robe given to David, the robe and ring given to the prodigal son). The report of their nakedness indicated a need for royal clothing which would have been given to them had they faithfully exercised dominion. But instead of being further clothed, Adam and Eve lost the original glory that covered them. This is what made their nakedness before God so unbearable that they sought to cover themselves up with fig leaves.’

From what I understand, this is an unusual interpretation of the nakedness and subsequent clothing of our first parents, but it’s a view I’ve been increasingly persuaded by (largely through reading some of G.K. Beale’s works and and a 2006 Westminster Theological Journal article by William N. Wilder).

This is a reading of Genesis which says that the man and woman’s nakedness in Genesis 2 points to the need for clothing, which (it would be understood) would have been bestowed on them at some point in their fulfilling the role of filling and ruling and subduing to which they were called. It’s a view which recognises that, in an ancient Near Eastern context, clothing indicated an inheritance, a change in status – particularly associated with priests and kings, who were clothed as a sign of their new status of authority.

Adam and Eve, of course, grasp for reward in the wrong way at the wrong time. Then they ineptly try to provide clothing for themselves, but – even in declaring judgment on them – God graciously reclothes them to symbolise their future inheritance as rulers of the earth, a downpayment of a greater clothing to come – but garments of skin rather than garments of light (the Hebrew for ‘skin’ is almost indistinguishable from the word for ‘light’, suggesting to some a pun in the original text).

There’s much that follows in Scripture about the removing of old clothes and the putting on of new clothes – Joseph in Genesis 41, Eliakim in Isaiah 22, Daniel in Daniel 5, Joshua the High Priest in Zechariah 3, where it represents forgiveness of sin, several places in Isaiah (52:1-2; 61:3, 10) where the image describes the restoration of the people from exile. And, once again, all in a cultural context which understood a change from one set of clothes to a more glorious set of clothes as representing a change of relationship and status – which we see so beautifully expressed in Jesus’ parable of the lad who comes back home asking to be one of his father’s servants and is reinstated as a son.

And so we come to several passages in Paul which use the imagery of clothing – Romans 13, 1 Corinthians 15, Galatians 3, Ephesians 4, Colossians 3, and elsewhere too.

In these places, the point seems to be – echoing Genesis – that believers in Jesus have discarded the clothes of the old Adam and have been clothed with the attire of the new Adam. We have ‘put on the new self’, Paul explains in Colossians 3:10, ‘which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator’. As Christians, we are being remade in the image of Christ, restored under Christ’s Lordship to bring glory to Christ in all we do.

But then, having laid out what we might call our positional reality in Christ, our new status, Paul goes on to say in verse 12: ‘Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience’ – putting on those clothes which are appropriate for our new life in Christ.

And what of our final hope? We get a glimpse in Revelation 7:9, 13-17...

‘After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands...

‘Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes – who are they, and where did they come from?”

‘I answered, “Sir, you know.”

‘And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”’

Echoes of Exodus

You know how it is, you wait for ages for one book called Echoes of Exodus to come along, and then two arrive at the same time:

Bryan D. Estelle, Echoes of Exodus: Tracing a Biblical Motif (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2018).

Alastair J. Roberts and Andrew Wilson, Echoes of Exodus: Tracing Themes of Redemption through Scripture (Wheaton: Crossway, 2018).

I wanted to do some study in Exodus during 2018, and will be starting with these, both of which I’m confident, based on previous work of all three writers, will be excellent showcases of evangelical biblical theology.

There is a pdf excerpt of the one by Alastair Roberts and Andrew Wilson here. They also talk about the book in an episode of the podcast ‘Mere Fidelity’ (here), to which they are both regular contributors.

Alastair links to a recent talk of his on Exodus on his blog (here), much of which is summarised in his ‘10 Things You Should Know about the Exodus’.

The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 20, 1 (2016) on Themes in Biblical Theology

The latest issue of the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology is devoted to ‘Themes in Biblical Theology’.

Stephen Wellum writes in the Editorial:

‘Biblical theology as a hermeneutical discipline attempts to exegete texts in their own context and then, in light of the entire canon, to examine the unfolding nature of God’s plan and carefully think through the relationship between before and after in that plan which culminates in Christ. As such, biblical theology provides the basis for understanding how texts in one part of the Bible relate to all other texts so that they will be read correctly, according to God’s intention, which is discovered through human authors but ultimately at the canonical level.’

Individual essays can be accessed from here, or the whole issue can be downloaded as a pdf here.

Stephen J. Wellum

Editorial: Reflections on the Significance of Biblical Theology

Peter J. Gentry

The Significance of Covenants in Biblical Theology

John D. Meade

The Meaning of Circumcision in Israel: A Proposal for a Transfer of Rite from Egypt to Israel

Ardel B. Caneday

Glory Veiled in the Tabernacle of Flesh: Exodus 33-34 in the Gospel of John

Joshua M. Greever

The Nature of the New Covenant: A Case Study in Ephesians 2:11-22

Brent E. Parker

Paedocommunion, Paedobaptism, and Covenant Theology: A Baptist Assessment and Critique

Tony Costa

The Sabbath and Its Relation to Christ and the Church in the New Covenant

Peter J. Gentry

“The Glory of God” – The Character of God’s Being and Way in the World: Some Reflections on a Key Biblical Theology Theme

Book Reviews

The Bible Project on the Image of God

The latest video from The Bible Project, at just over 5 minutes long, is an excellent overview of the ‘image of God’ theme tracked through Scripture as a whole.

It’s available to view on YouTube here.

Check out all the videos from here (click on ‘Videos’ or scroll down to the ‘Videos/Study Guides/Posters’ section) or see them all via YouTube here.

The Bible Project on Leviticus, Romans, Holiness, and Covenants

The Bible Project is continuing to put together a series of helpful short videos, some of which introduce the structure and themes of biblical books, and others of which trace some major themes through the entire Bible.

I’ve just noticed the next Bible book videos have been made available, one on Leviticus, and two covering Romans.

In addition are two others that are new to me in the ‘Themes’ section, one on holiness and one on the covenants.

Check them out from here (click on ‘Videos’ or scroll down to the ‘Videos & Study Guides’ section).

The Bible Project on Genesis 1-11 and Heaven and Earth

This fairly new project looks like it could be excellent.

A small team is aiming to put together a series of short videos introducing the structure and themes of biblical books and tracing some major themes through the entire Bible.

They’re seeking to make these videos and supporting study guides available for free – although they’re asking for donations in order to do so.

Currently available is a video on Genesis 1-11 and another on the theme of heaven and earth in Scripture, lasting about 6 minutes each, and well worth checking out.

Fruitfulness in the Bible

To go with the launch of a new set of resources from LICC, called Fruitfulness on the Frontline, I wrote the following piece for the LICC website (pdf here), essentially trying to offer what amounts to a mini biblical theology of fruitfulness.

If you were asked what the Bible says about fruitfulness, some key passages might well spring to mind. Galatians 5, surely – the fruit of the Spirit? John 15 – vine and branches? Yes, and yes. As it happens, though, we find fruit on the first and last pages of Scripture – in the garden of Eden and the new Jerusalem – and almost everywhere in between. Look more closely, and it becomes clear that God’s desire for fruitfulness is as extensive as the gospel – with what God has done in Christ in bringing men and women back to himself and in setting in motion his plan to restore the whole of creation.

Created for Fruitfulness

So it is that fruitfulness begins with God himself, who creates land with the capacity to produce plants and trees which bear fruit, who blesses animals to be fruitful and multiply, and who calls on human beings created in his image to ‘be fruitful and increase in number’ (Genesis 1:26-28). That original mandate has to do with building families, growing crops and breeding animals – essentially cultivating creation. Yet, such cultivation provides the basis for the organisation of society and includes, by extension, the development of culture and civilisation – building houses, designing clothes, writing poetry, playing chess – as we represent God’s rule over every activity, in relationship with others, reflecting God’s own creative hand.

Sadly, the expectation that Adam and Eve would spread God’s blessing from Eden to the whole world is shattered when they disobey God and are expelled from the garden. What will God do now? But, as Genesis continues, so the promise of fruitfulness is reiterated – to Noah after the flood, and to Abraham and his family, where numerical growth of the people is bound up with God’s covenant with them, for the sake of blessing all nations. Then, after the covenant at Sinai, the promises are linked to the people’s obedience to God in the promised land, as God’s ‘vine’ planted there (Psalm 80:8-11).

Through all this, as we see in Psalm 1 and elsewhere, bearing fruit becomes an archetypal image of righteous living. The righteous, those in covenant relationship with God, who constantly meditate on his law, are like a tree planted by a stream that produces fruit (Psalm 1:3). The tree is well located, well planted, and well watered. Because of that, it thrives, bears fruit in season and does not wither.

Alas, however, the repeated complaint of the prophets is that Israel as a vine or vineyard seems unable to bear fruit. ‘The song of the vineyard’ in Isaiah 5:1-7 is particularly poignant, recording God’s deep sadness that his chosen people who had been planted to bear fruit, ultimately for the blessing of the nations, had produced only sour grapes. The consequence in the Old Testament story is that they suffer judgment and dispersal in exile.

Even so, the language of fruitfulness is picked up again in promises of restoration back to the land, sometimes associated with the giving of God’s Spirit (as in Isaiah 32:15-17). Isaiah 27:1-6, in particular, provides a moving counterpart to 5:1-7, using the same language. In spite of their fruitlessness, God remains lovingly committed to his people, and will assume responsibility for the care of the vine, watching over it, watering it, and protecting it against enemies. This is because he has large-scale plans for his vineyard – nothing less than to ‘fill all the world with fruit’ (27:6)!

Fruitfulness in Christ

Given the rich Old Testament background, it’s perhaps no surprise that Jesus uses images related to fruit and fruitfulness, sowing and harvesting, fig trees and vineyards. Especially evocative is his statement ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener’ (John 15:1). The upshot of Jesus’ declaration and his use of the vine image is that he is now taking up the role God had assigned for Israel. Union with Jesus in the vine means participation in the restored end-time people of God who are called to bear fruit to God’s glory (John 15:8).

Paul too picks up the language of fruit at various points in his letters, where the original mandate of fruitfulness given at creation finds fulfilment in the worldwide transformation of a people – Gentile as well as Jew – a people who bear the fruit of the Spirit as a sign of the new creation. As Paul says in Galatians 5, those who walk by the Spirit (5:16) and are led by the Spirit (5:18), who live by the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit (5:25) are no longer under the authority of the law. Nor are they bound to ‘gratify the desires of the flesh’ (5:16), that way of life marked by alienation from God and each other. Instead, the death and resurrection of Christ and the giving of the Spirit have ushered in a new era – a new creation no less (6:15) – in which the Spirit animates our relationship with God, just as he promised through his prophets.

Then, when writing to the Colossians, expressing thankfulness to God for their faith, love and hope, Paul writes that the gospel is ‘bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world’, just as it has been doing among the Colossians themselves (1:6). And as part of his prayer in 1:9-14, Paul prays that they will be those who are ‘bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God’ (1:10). Those references to ‘bearing fruit’ and ‘growing’ are remarkably similar to the phraseology and thought of Genesis 1:28. Paul appears to be suggesting that the gospel is creating a people who now fulfil the purpose of the creation mandate, a people who are being remade in the image of the Creator (see Colossians 3:9-10). Amazingly, Paul sees God’s originally intended design for humanity finally being completed through the power of the gospel bearing fruit in the lives of men and women!

As we pray and work to see fruit in the spread of the gospel, and as we abide in the vine bearing fruit to the glory of God, and as we seek to walk in step with the Spirit who does his new creation work in and through the church, we look forward to the new Jerusalem where trees will bear fruit for the healing of the nations. Echoing Ezekiel’s vision of the restored temple (Ezekiel 47:1-12), John too sees an Eden-like ‘river of the water of life’ proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Revelation 22:1), with the tree of life on both sides ‘bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month’ (22:3). Where humans were formerly denied access to the tree of life, now John’s vision includes it, describes how it produces fruit every month which renews those who eat it.

The picture John paints – of free access to life and vitality – is hugely significant in a world where people struggle to overcome disease and death. Here the natural order is wonderfully transformed, with God’s promises of restoration finding their ultimate fulfilment in the renewal of the cosmos to be a place where God and people can truly dwell together. Here too, citizens of the new earth are drawn from all nations in fulfilment of the promise to Abraham, itself reflecting the original blessing of fruitfulness on humanity right back at creation. Here, by God’s grace, we will take our place.

Gregory K. Beale on New Testament Biblical Theology

Gregory K. Beale, A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011), 1072pp., ISBN 9780801026973.

This due out next month – a massive and significant work – what Beale is calling a ‘NT biblical theology’.

Here’s the blurb from the publisher:

‘In this comprehensive exposition, a leading New Testament scholar explores the unfolding theological unity of the entire Bible from the vantage point of the New Testament. G.K. Beale, coeditor of the award-winning Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, examines how the New Testament storyline relates to and develops the Old Testament storyline. Beale argues that every major concept of the New Testament is a development of a concept from the Old and is to be understood as a facet of the inauguration of the latter-day new creation and kingdom. Offering extensive interaction between the two testaments, this volume helps readers see the unifying conceptual threads of the Old Testament and how those threads are woven together in Christ. This major work will be valued by students of the New Testament and pastors alike.

A generous excerpt, containing the first two chapters is available here, and another excerpt, containing chapter 3 is available here.

Chris Wright on the Mission of God’s People

The ‘LICC Reader’s Guide to...’ is a series from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, published in LICC’s quarterly magazine EG and made available online via the LICC website. It’s designed to aid individuals and small groups in discussing books that LICC believe are worthy of further study. I contributed two for the most recent edition of EG (December 2010): on Bill Bryson’s At Home (available here) and Chris Wright’s Mission of God’s People (pasted below).

Christopher J.H. Wright, The Mission of God’s People: A Biblical Theology of the Church’s Mission, Biblical Theology for Life (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 301pp., ISBN 9780310291121.

Extract

‘The missional challenge of reaching the ends of the earth with the gospel, so that the whole earth may be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God, faces us still with all its diversity and complexity. The evangelization of the world, in the fullest sense of both the words in that phrase, remains as urgent a priority for the church as it was when Jesus laid it as a mandate on his disciples before his ascension.’

Why Read This Book?

Following previous works which argue that the whole Bible can and ought to be read from the perspective of the mission of God – his redemptive purpose for the whole of creation – this book explores the mission of God’s people. In doing so, it provides an even-handed and warm-hearted worked model of doing ‘biblical theology for life’ (the title of a new a series of volumes from Zondervan which this one kicks off).

About the Book: Overview

‘What does the Bible as a whole in both testaments have to tell us about why the people of God exist and what it is they are supposed to be and do in the world?’ That’s the big question asked in the first part of the book. The second part, the main bulk of the volume, offers a series of answers, outlining the kinds of people we were created to be (caring for God’s creation, walking in God’s way, representing God to the world, etc.) and the specific tasks we are called on to do (bearing witness, proclaiming the gospel, living and working in the public square, etc.). The third part then reflects on the implications for God’s people today.

About the Book: Main Themes

‘The mission of God’s people is carried on in and for the world; it centres on the gospel of God; and it lays a demanding privilege on the church.’ The world, the gospel, and the church frame the book and dominate the discussion, their treatment flowing out of the overarching story of Scripture, demonstrating the significance of biblical theology in handling these themes, and showing mission as the all-encompassing purpose of God to restore creation – which embraces all that his people are called to be and do in the world.

About the Book: Implications

As might be expected from a volume in a ‘Biblical Theology for Life’ series, the book is naturally concerned with the ‘so what?’ question. And the implications are rich and varied, heartening and challenging: serving creation and society; recovering the wholeness of the gospel, ourselves as servants of the gospel, as well as our confidence in the gospel; repenting of our failings, and making disciples – and all to the glory of God.

Questions to Ask While Reading

1. What fresh insights are emerging out of your reading of the book?

2. How is the book expanding your understanding of (a) the gospel, (b) the church, and (c) the world?

Questions to Answer After Reading

1. What would ‘mission’ look like if the church took seriously the concerns of this book?

2. Which chapter, for you, has been (a) the most encouraging, (b) the most challenging, (c) the most contentious?

3. What difference, if any, will your reading of the book make in your own life?

Mark Fackler on Big Ideas of the Bible

Mark Fackler (ed.), Big Ideas of the Bible: 101 Key Theological Concepts Explained in Everyday Language (Uhrichsville: Barbour Publishing, 2010), 240pp., ISBN 9781602606975.

Here’s another helpful book to add to the number currently on offer which do biblical theology by exploring themes across the whole Bible. This one is arranged alphabetically, moving from Adoption to Worship, taking in major biblical themes (e.g., Covenant, God, Salvation) as well as not-so major themes (e.g., Bridegroom, Joy, Renewal) along the way. Illustrated with colour photographs, and with two pages for each entry, this would make a helpful guide for someone just starting out in exploring the Bible, complementing the systematic reading of passages with a sense of the topics which span the whole of Scripture.

Exploring Biblical Themes (5): Covenant

[This is a lightly edited transcript of an LICC podcast segment, first uploaded to the website of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity on 7 July 2010.]

‘I will be your God, and you will be my people’ are words that resonate across the pages of Scripture (see, e.g., Exodus 6:6-8; Leviticus 26:12). They capture in a short-hand formula the essence of the covenant relationship between God and his people.

And when it comes to themes that span the whole Bible, there are none nearly so prominent as covenant. Apart from anything else, its importance is seen in the designation we give to the two parts of the Christian Bible – the Old and New testaments, or covenants.

The word itself occurs over 300 times in English translations of the Bible, as well as being bound up with other significant terms like ‘steadfast love’, and even the covenant name for God himself – Yahweh, the Lord God.

Beyond the use of words, the biblical story itself can be seen as a series of covenants that God makes and renews with his people, binding him and them together. We can see that God administers his kingdom through various covenants, and to trace the covenants is to trace his unfolding rule over, and relationship with, his people.

So significant is the concept that some Christian traditions have held that we must see God in covenant with creation itself, and Adam and Eve – since, even though the word ‘covenant’ itself is not used in the first chapters of Genesis, it is clear that God enters into a special relationship with men and women, giving them designated authority as those created in his image. Some have even suggested that we should understand the members of the godhead – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – as ‘covenanting’ together in saving men and women, working on the assumption that all of God’s actions must be understood from the perspective of covenant.

Even if we decide that’s a step beyond the evidence, there’s no getting away from the fact that covenant is a core theme in Scripture.

The language of ‘covenant’ may seem slightly strange to us today, but it would have communicated powerfully in its original context. In fact, it’s possible to see that many of the biblical covenants are structured in a similar way to treaties made between individuals or between nation-states in the ancient Near East – showing how God speaks and acts in ways his people would understand.

The first mention of the word ‘covenant’ in the Bible is in the account of Noah in Genesis 6:18, which anticipates the promise God makes later with all creatures that ‘never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood’ (Genesis 8:20-9:17). Here’s a covenant which reaffirms God’s original intention for humanity, but which involves not just a nation or people but the earth itself! It’s a lovely reminder that the biblical story is about the whole of God’s world, that God’s goal of redemption will embrace not just one nation, nor even just humanity, but the whole earth.

God’s plan to restore his world is then kicked off in the making of a covenant with Abraham, beginning in Genesis 12, when God promises him descendants and land, and promises to bless all nations through him. God himself guarantees to do this in Genesis 15, and requires the circumcision of males in Genesis 17 as a sign of the covenant. As the story goes on, it becomes clear that the covenant with Abraham is extended to Isaac and then to Jacob, and then to the whole nation in the Sinai covenant.

Sinai doesn’t do away with the Abrahamic covenant, but maintains the relationship between the Lord and Israel, with his people marked out as representing him to the nations. In Exodus 19, God tells them that the whole earth is his, but reminds them they have been singled out to be a kingdom of priests and holy nation, for the blessing of all, in fulfilment of the promise to Abraham (Exodus 19:4-6). As part of that deal, God gives them the law to guide their relationship with him and with each other as they live in the land, in order to show themselves as the special nation God intended them to be – a reminder that with privilege comes responsibility. And, as Deuteronomy tells us, this covenant is renewed in a different context, where a new generation commits themselves to the Mosaic covenant before taking possession of the land.

Then, later on (in 2 Samuel 7:18-29), within the family of Israel, God singles out the king from whom Messiah would come, promising an everlasting line from David. The word ‘covenant’ is not used in 2 Samuel 7, but it is commonly held that the language used in that chapter and elsewhere (such as Psalm 89) shows that a covenant relationship has been formed. The promises made to Abraham become more focused, as the means through which God will bring blessing to the nations is through David’s royal line.

Alas, however, through the whole biblical story, we are confronted with the failure of the people and the failure of the monarchy. The fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham and David would have to be met by a true Son of Abraham and Son of David.

And so it is that God promises through the prophets a new covenant, one that he alone will establish. Jeremiah 31:31-34 is the most well-known passage which speaks of a new covenant, but other passages in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah use covenant language as the people anticipate what God will do beyond exile – looking forward to a new covenant which will remove sin, transform the heart, and restore relationship with God; which will transcend national boundaries and extend to the ends of the earth, to all nations, and ultimately (as promised in Isaiah 65-66) to creation itself.

And then comes Jesus – the goal of the covenantal promises, the one in whom the promises made to Abraham and David find their fulfilment, the one in whom the obligations of the Sinai covenant are fulfilled. If the anticipated end of the covenant is the establishment of the kingdom of God, it is clear from the gospels that this gets bound up with the cross as the means by which God will inaugurate the new covenant – where covenant has to do not just with redemption from Egypt or return from exile, but with release from sin. So, if Jeremiah looked forward to a time when God would remember the sins of the people no more, that new covenant is ratified by the death of Jesus, the one through whom salvation will come to all nations.

It’s no surprise, then, in the rest of the New Testament, that the new covenant people is made up of believing Jews and believing Gentiles, as Paul makes clear – notably in Romans, Galatians, and the central chapters of 2 Corinthians. The covenantal promises are fulfilled in spiritual descendants of Abraham who enjoy relationship with God through faith. The law of God is no longer written on tablets of stone, but written by the Spirit on human hearts. No wonder, then, that the letter to the Hebrews quotes Jeremiah 31 at length (in 8:8-12 and 10:16-17), delighting in the fact that in Jesus God has made a new covenant with his people.

Moreover, we look forward to the final ratification of the covenant in the new heavens and the new earth, as Revelation 21:3 echoes the ancient covenant formula: ‘And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God”.’

Of course, as you can imagine or might well know, there’s a lot of discussion as to whether the Bible describes one covenant extending throughout salvation history, which is renewed at various points, or whether we should see distinctions between the covenants. Indeed, some appear unconditional and some conditional, some unilateral and some bilateral, some permanent and some temporary. Some thinkers distinguish between ‘promise’ covenants (like the ones made with Abraham and David) and ‘law’ covenants (like the one made with Israel at Sinai); some distinguish between covenants for new relationships and covenant renewals for renewed relationships.

But this ongoing discussion only shows just how significant the theme of covenant is, providing lenses for understanding who God is and who his people are.

It has important things to say about God himself, about his love and faithfulness, his promises and initiative. And it says something about the value that God places on us, about our nature and destiny, that we are created to enjoy relationship with him. It reminds us that salvation is the restoration of fellowship with God. It tells us that the church can see itself as God’s covenant-partner, created not just to be in relationship with God but with each other too.

And it has implications for lifestyle and mission, because God still calls his covenant people to live in alignment with his will and character, and to display that to men and women in the whole of our lives, as we walk according to his design for human existence, as we live according to the pattern of the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God.

Further Reading
The following books and chapters of books – written at the different levels indicated – provide opportunities to explore a biblical theology of covenant in more detail.

David L. Baker, Two Testaments, One Bible: The Theological Relationship Between the Old and New Testaments, 3rd edn. (Nottingham: Apollos, 2010), 237-64.
An academic textbook exploring the relationship between the two testaments with, as you might expect, a treatment of ‘covenant’ as one of the themes which provides a framework for understanding the unity of the two testaments.

Andy Croft and Mike Pilavachi, Storylines: Tracing the Threads that Run Through the Bible (Eastbourne: Survivor, 2008), 65-81.
This is one of the best books for those who are new to the study of biblical themes; the pages cited deal with the covenant.

James E. Davison and Sara Covin Juengst, Journey Through the Word: Exploring Biblical Themes (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2003), 10-19.
A brief treatment.

William J. Dumbrell, Covenant and Creation: A Theology of Old Testament Covenants (Exeter: Paternoster, 1984).
An older treatment of the topic, but still significant for the way it connects the different covenants back to God’s purpose for humanity from creation onwards.

Jamie A. Grant & Alistair I. Wilson (eds.), The God of Covenant: Biblical, Theological and Contemporary Perspectives (Leicester: Apollos, 2005).
A collection of papers by scholars on different aspects of the covenant.

Scott J. Hafemann, ‘The Covenant Relationship’, in Scott J. Hafemann and Paul R. House (eds.), Central Themes in Biblical Theology: Mapping Unity in Diversity (Nottingham: Apollos, 2007), 20-65.
A long essay, presenting a strong argument for the view that ‘Scripture testifies to one, constant relationship between God and his people throughout redemptive history that is formalized and embodies in its successive covenants’ (30).

Scott W. Hahn, Kinship by Covenant: A Canonical Approach to the Fulfillment of God’s Saving Promises (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009).
A significant academic work from an evangelical-turned-Roman-Catholic theologian, arguing that the various covenants described in Scripture form a father-son bond (hence the ‘kinship’ of the title) between God and his people.

Carl B. Hoch, Jr., All Things New: The Significance of Newness in Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1995), 75-135.
A chapter-length treatment from a New Testament perspective.

Michael Scott Horton, God of Promise: Introducing Covenant Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006).
Writing from a Reformed tradition which has made much of the biblical covenants, Horton seeks to identify the essential ingredients of ‘covenant theology’.

W. Eugene March, Great Themes of the Bible Volume 1 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2007), 12-22.
A brief overview at an accessible level.

Thomas Edward McComiskey, The Covenants of Promise: A Theology of the Old Testament Covenants (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1985).
Makes a distinction between ‘promise’ covenants (like the one made with Abraham) which are eternally valid, and ‘administrative’ covenants (like the one made at Sinai) which are not.

O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ of the Covenants (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1980).
A classic work, emphasising the unity of the different covenants in Scripture as coming to their fulfilment in Jesus.

Robin Routledge, Old Testament Theology: A Thematic Approach (Nottingham: Apollos, 2008), 159-74, 233-36.
A mid-level treatment from an Old Testament perspective.

H.H. Drake Williams III, Making Sense of the Bible: A Study of 10 Key Themes Traced Through the Scriptures (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2006), 27-47.
Like March (above), Croft and Pilavachi (above), and Davison and Juengst (also above), a brief overview at an accessible level.

Paul R. Williamson, Sealed With an Oath: Covenant in God’s Unfolding Purpose, New Studies in Biblical Theology 23 (Nottingham: Apollos, 2007).
A stimulating treatment of the individual covenants and the covenant theme in Scripture. Williamson’s most distinctive point is to argue that Genesis 15 and 17 are two separate distinct but related covenants with Abraham which take up different aspects of the promises in Genesis 12:1-3 – descendants and land (taken up in Genesis 15) and international blessing (taken up in Genesis 17), the promise of national blessing to Abraham and the promise of international blessing through Abraham. Williamson also contributed the entry on ‘covenant’ in T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner (eds.), New Dictionary of Biblical Theology (Leicester: IVP, 2000), 419-29, which is well worth reading.

Previous Exploring Biblical Themes

• Exploring Biblical Themes (1): Introduction
• Exploring Biblical Themes (2): Creation
• Exploring Biblical Themes (3): Humanity
• Exploring Biblical Themes (4): Sin

Exploring Biblical Themes (4): Sin

[This is a lightly edited transcript of an LICC podcast segment, first uploaded to the website of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity on 1 February 2010.]

In 1973, the American psychiatrist, Karl Menninger, published a book called Whatever Became of Sin? Menninger was voicing a widespread suspicion that the idea of ‘sin’ was slowly evaporating from everyday life. Over a generation later, there’s very little evidence that that trend has reversed.

Interestingly, we’re acutely aware of evil in the world – brutal regimes, harsh dictatorships, extensive famine, social injustices – but there appears to be much less talk about personal morality. We see it mostly in the headlines of the tabloids as the course of the latest celebrity affair is tracked, or we see it in something like the sense of outrage expressed over MPs’ expenses – someone else’s failings, not mine.

But, almost from the very first page, the Bible everywhere assumes the reality of sin, and that it is not only real but also pervasive, affecting every part of life. Men and women whose worldview is formed by Scripture know that something is broken in the universe – us, apart from anything else – so that everything is marred, cracked, damaged, and distorted in some way. So yes, it is seen in the examples of evil we’ve just mentioned. But it’s also seen in the way our bodies get diseased and eventually give way to death. And it’s seen in the way we relate to each other – from the petty squabbles between kids in the playground to the emotional manipulations in the bedroom to the snide innuendoes around the water cooler to the power politics of massive nations.

Beyond all these, most importantly of all, is our relationship with God…

Sin is described in various ways in Scripture – as rebellion, infidelity, disloyalty, ingratitude, getting dirty, wandering, trespass, transgression, failure, and more besides. And the Bible also provides many examples of specific sins. Writing about men and women in Romans 1, Paul says that ‘they have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity’, that ‘they are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice’, that ‘they are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy’ (1:29-31). Like other biblical writers, Paul is aware that sin is seen not just in particular acts, but in our very being, with the whole of life tainted. So, as much as these acts are often directed against fellow human beings, they are fundamentally a mark of our ruptured and rebellious relationship with God.

And sin leads to judgment. At the end of that catalogue of acts in Romans 1, Paul says that ‘although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them’ (1:32). Paul makes it clear several times, not just in Romans 6:23, that ‘the wages of sin is death’.

That’s completely of a piece with the rest of the Bible – whether we immerse ourselves in the stories told in Genesis or Judges or Samuel, or wrestle with the laws in Leviticus, or reflect on the folly of living without God in Proverbs, or listen to the preaching of the prophets, or pray with David, ‘Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge’ (Psalm 51:4).

It’s perhaps seen most clearly of all in Genesis 3, which nicely describes the dynamics of sin, the move from temptation to disobedience to consequences.

We have the crafty serpent who begins by questioning God’s word – ‘Did God really say…?’ (Genesis 3:1) – before contradicting God’s word – ‘You will not surely die’ (3:4). Not only does he remove the threat of judgment, but puts something positive in its place: ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’ (3:5).

It’s not easy to say exactly what is meant by that phrase, ‘knowing good and evil’. The best guess is that it means not merely knowing, but deciding what is good and evil. God made things and pronounced them good. But now, humans make their choice as to what will be good and evil, and so take on themselves the prerogatives of God. They are tempted to be like God, to put themselves in the place where they decide what is good and evil, so that they can follow their own direction rather than God’s direction. Adam and Eve were created to be God’s vice-regents, to exercise rule over creation on God’s behalf. But now they rebel against that commission, asserting their own authority to rule as they see fit.

And there are consequences to that as the passage goes on to show. With their objective guilt before God comes the subjective sense or consequence of guilt – shame (3:7). There is broken relationship with God (3:8-10), and they adopt a victim mentality, trying to duck responsibility for what’s happened (3:11-13).

God curses the serpent (3:14), but not Adam and Eve – although they do suffer the judgment and consequences of sin, including death itself (3:15-19).

Of course, on the whole biblical landscape, their sin was not an isolated act; it carried consequences for the rest of humanity. Romans 5:12-21 shows that Adam has passed on his sin to his posterity, bringing death not just on himself but on the entire human race. Romans 5:19 seems quite clear, where Paul says that ‘through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners’.

We see that even in the stories that follow Genesis 3 – in sibling rivalry, murder, warfare, and the wickedness that leads to the judgment of the flood, the pride of the builders of Babel.

That’s why Christians have said that sin is not merely this or that bad thing we do, which perhaps can be removed by more knowledge or moral effort; rather, it is the whole orientation of human existence. Sinful men and women are hopelessly lost, incapable of doing anything to save themselves. We are ‘enemies’ of God, as Romans 5:8 says, and so grace comes completely from the outside, and is done for us, not by us.

But there is grace!

There is grace from the garden of Eden onwards as God promises that the serpent will be destroyed, as he supplies Adam and Eve with clothes, puts a protective mark on Cain, establishes a covenant with the whole of creation after the flood, begins his plan of salvation with Abraham, liberates his people and provides a system of sacrifices so that he might dwell with them, shows himself determined throughout the history of Israel to keep his promise to bless all nations, a plan which comes to its culmination in Jesus, as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:19, ‘that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them’.

Repentance and faith are necessary, of course, but these too are only possible because of God’s grace. We come to our senses, turn around and make the journey home, to discover the lavishly rich welcome of a loving father, along with the promise of Jesus that there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents (Luke 15).

So, God does not leave humans or the world in sin. He promises to restore them and it, and he acts to restore them and it. And it’s a restoration which extends to the whole of creation. As Paul says in Romans 8:21, ‘the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God’.

Where sin pollutes and distorts and destroys our relationships with God, with others, and with the created world, God will – on the basis of Christ’s work on the cross – make all things new (cf. Revelation 21:5). Meanwhile, we look forward to that new heaven and new earth where there will be ‘no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’ (Revelation 21:4).

Further Reading
Most books on Christian doctrine will contain a chapter or section on the doctrine of sin, and these could be worth checking out. In addition, the following books, written at different levels, will allow those interested to explore a biblical theology of sin in more detail.

G.K. Beale, We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry (Nottingham: Apollos, 2008).
A full and focused study of idolatry in Scripture, arguing that we take on the characteristics of what we worship.

Henri Blocher, Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle, New Studies in Biblical Theology (Leicester: Apollos, 1997).
Densely argued, but a significant work.

James E. Davison and Sara Covin Juengst, Journey Through the Word: Exploring Biblical Themes (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2003), 29-36.
A brief treatment.

John Goldingay, Old Testament Theology Volume 2: Israel’s Faith (Downers Grove: IVP, 2006), 254-349.
A lengthy chapter (under the title of ‘The Nightmare’) in a lengthy book by a significant Old Testament scholar.

Alistair McFadyen, Bound to Sin: Abuse, the Holocaust and the Christian Doctrine of Sin, Cambridge Studies in Christian Doctrine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
An academic work and a demanding read, which takes up the task of showing how a theology of sin can help explain the reality of contemporary society and the self-understanding of Christians in ways that secular analyses of social relationships cannot manage.

Robin Routledge, Old Testament Theology: A Thematic Approach (Nottingham: Apollos, 2008), 147-58.
A mid-level treatment from an Old Testament perspective.

W. Eugene March, Great Themes of the Bible Volume 1 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2007), 34-44.
A brief overview at an accessible level.

Thomas R. Schreiner, New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ (Nottingham: Apollos, 2008), 509-45.
A helpful discussion of what the New Testament says about ‘the problem of sin’.

Mike Starkey, What’s Wrong? Understanding Sin Today (Oxford: Bible Reading Fellowship, 2001).
Probably the best overall introduction to the area; light, but well written and closely argued.

Arthur Glasser on the Story of God’s Mission in the Bible

Arthur F. Glasser with Charles E. Van Engen, Dean S. Gilliland, and Shawn B. Redford, Announcing the Kingdom: The Story of God’s Mission in the Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003), 400pp., ISBN 0801026261.

In a number of places, Chris Wright has helpfully drawn our attention to what he calls the ‘missional basis of the Bible’, the notion that the Bible is missional in that it witnesses to the movement of God towards his creation, that the Bible is missional in that the Bible itself is a product of God’s mission.

But he is not the only one who has drawn attention to the missional dimension of the Bible…

Arthur Glasser traces the theme of the kingdom of God through Scripture and its connection to mission. God’s purpose, he says, has always been to bless humankind, and this purpose is shown through the entire biblical story – showing that mission is not a minor or an isolated theme within the Bible, but is a fundamental, if not the fundamental theme of the Bible. So, he takes a panoramic view of the whole Bible using a missional lens, and he sees the story unfolding in six parts:

• God’s Mission in the Beginning – where God creates humanity and humanity rebels, God judges humanity in the flood, and God calls the patriarchs to be a blessing for all nations.

• God’s Mission through Israel – where God forms a nation, his people, and covenants with them only to have his rule challenged by the kings of Israel.

• God’s Mission among the Nations – where God sends Israel into exile among the nations, setting a stage for the coming of the Messiah, and working through the dispersion of his people.

• God’s Mission through Jesus the Christ – where Jesus inaugurates the kingdom, demonstrates its presence in his ministry, announces it among the nations, proclaims God’s kingdom mission, and anticipates its future coming.

• God’s Mission through the Holy Spirit by the Church – where the Holy Spirit inaugurates the missionary church, Paul preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the apostolic church embodies Christ’s mission.

• God’s Mission Extends to the End of Time – where God’s kingdom extends over the powers, and where it will one day be seen that there is salvation in only one name – Jesus Christ the Lord.

The Scriptures are a missionary book which reveal a missionary God, which shows the church as a missionary community.

And as Glasser reminds us, if we see the story of God’s mission this way, we see the unity of humanity in God’s design, warning us against individualism and nationalism, and racial and cultural superiority.

Moreover, it serves as a reminder that mission is not something we do, or something that others do on our behalf, and helps us see that mission is something we are, wherever we happen to find ourselves as we are called to partner God in the work that he intends to do among the nations.

Exploring Biblical Themes (3): Humanity

[This is a lightly edited transcript of an LICC podcast segment, first uploaded to the website of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity on 2 November 2009.]

‘When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what are mere mortals that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?’

So asks the poet of Psalm 8, reminding us that the quest to discover the significance of human existence didn’t begin with disaffected philosophers in the 1960s, but reaches back through the centuries. So long as humans have been asking questions, it seems, we have asked the question, What does it mean to be human?

And it should come as no surprise that the Bible has something to say about this – not just on its first few pages, but all the way through.

It’s a humbling picture, actually, as we read in Genesis 2:7 that ‘the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being’. That’s a powerful reminder of the connection between us and the ground, that we are – quite literally – ‘earthlings’, designed by God to live in the world he made as living beings, embodied beings, personal beings, relational beings. It also says something about our total dependence on God. And in different places, the Bible has much to say about the stuff of human life – work, marriage, family, sex, suffering, death and the hope for what comes after.

But if there is humility, there is honour too, as we are also told in Genesis 1:26-27 that we are made in the image of God. In this image-saturated world, we ourselves are the images that really count – images made according to the specifications of our Creator.

Of all God’s creation, only humans are singled out as made in the image of God, created to be like God in some sense – but like God in what sense?

It used to be common to think that the image of God meant factors like the ability to think, to reason, or even to speak. And of course, we give thanks that we have the capacity for emotion and imagination, for intellect and communication – like God himself – although it’s not apparent that his ‘image’ should be identified with these things.

What is clear in Genesis is that men and women together constitute the image of God, that humans are made for relationship with each other as well as with God, such that relationship with God and relationship with others is fundamental to true humanity, and we are less than human without it. And this relational aspect is important at a time when there has been a heavy focus on the inward self (the me who knows things) or the fragmentary self (the me who doesn’t really know who I am anymore) rather than the relational self (the me who relates to others).

But even so, we cannot limit what it means to be created in the image of God simply to being made male and female – because it’s clear that animals are also created as male and female. Gender distinction is not limited to humanity, but extends to dolphins and chickens and elephants as well. This doesn’t mean gender is unimportant or incidental. On the contrary, if anything, it makes it even more significant. It shows gender distinction is part of the warp and woof of God’s creation – but not necessarily the most significant point about being made in his image.

More significant is that being made in the image of God has to do with the vocation of men and women to rule creation, to reflect something of God’s own rule. That seems to be clear in Genesis 1:26, where God says, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all creatures that move along the ground’. Humans are charged with the task of ‘dominion’ on behalf of other creatures as God’s representatives or stewards.

And, that’s reinforced in verse 28, which says that ‘God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground”’.

Cultures surrounding Israel told stories of people being made as slaves of the gods, with the language of ‘image’ applied only to kings. In Genesis, however, all human beings are created in the image of God, giving all men and women a status and responsibility not found in other worldviews. The delegation of God’s rule over the world is given not to a king or to a select class of people, but to humanity. All humans are God’s living images on earth, called on to exercise his loving rule.

As the poet of Psalm 8 says, in response to his own question about human beings:

‘You have made them a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned them with glory and honour.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet…’

Which, of course, raises all sorts of questions about how exercise our stewardship appropriately, in a way that involves exploration not exploitation, dominion not dominance.

And although they are now distorted by sin, men and women still bear God’s image, and those tasks of ‘filling’ and ‘subduing’ and ‘ruling’ have not been taken away. In the first place, of course, it refers to the building of families, the growing of crops and breeding of animals, the tending of the garden. Creation requires cultivation.

But such cultivation provides the basis for the organisation of society, and includes by extension the development of culture and civilisation – building houses, designing clothes, writing poetry, playing chess. These are the ‘mundane’ ways in which we exercise our creation mandate, as we represent God’s rule over every type of cultural activity, in relationship with others, and in a way that reflects God’s own nurturing, creative hand.

But then, when we come to the New Testament, whatever we say about humanity now has to take account of Christ, not least because the Word becomes flesh and lives among us, reminding us once again – by the way – of the importance of bodily existence.

Jesus is ‘the image of the invisible God’ (as Paul puts it in Colossians 1:15), the one who exercises complete rule over all aspects of the created world. He is the new Adam (as Paul says elsewhere, in Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15). And in 2 Corinthians 4:4, Paul can speak of ‘the glory of Christ, who is the image of God’, reminding us of Hebrews 1:3, where Jesus is said to be ‘the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being’.

At the very least, Christ as the image of God means he now truly represents God to creation in the way the first humans were called upon to do so. But beyond that it becomes clear that Jesus establishes a new humanity of those who are conformed according to that image, in fulfilment of what God intended from the very beginning.

And there are past, present and future dimensions to this. In Colossians 3:9-10, Paul tells us that we have put off an old mode of humanity, an old self, and ‘have put on the new self’. But the same passage goes on to speak of a continuous aspect to this transformation, as that new self ‘is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator’. We are, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18, ‘being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit’. And this transformation awaits a point in the future when, at the resurrection, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:49, ‘just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man’.

But it’s also apparent in Paul’s letters that this transformation takes place within a network of relationships in the church.

The vision of Ephesians makes clear that what’s at stake is the re-formation of humanity into a new people of God. In 2:1-10, Paul reminds us that when we were dead in trespasses and sins, God made us alive in Christ, and we are saved by grace through faith, brought back into relationship with God. But then, as he goes on in 2:11-22, he tells us that not only is the vertical dimension with God dealt with, so is the horizontal one. Where Jews and Gentiles were once alienated from one another, Christ has broken down that dividing wall and made them into ‘one new humanity’. Formerly, we were enemies of God and alienated from one another; but now, through Christ’s death, we have been made one new person – reconciled to God and to each other.

Then it becomes clear in Ephesians 4:17 onwards (as it does in Colossians too) that this change in status requires a corresponding change in character – that we are to live in a way that matches our calling, putting off our old self and putting on the new self (4:22-24). Those who have been made alive in Christ are now renewed in the likeness of Christ.

So, not only does Jesus bear the image of God in perfect form, but those who are incorporated into Christ are in a process of being restored in God’s image, so that only through Christ are we able to fulfil our destiny as human beings – which means patterning ourselves on Jesus, but doing so together as the body of Christ, looking forward to our complete transformation at the end.

All of which means that the image of God ties together the uniqueness of humanity in creation, the incarnation of Christ, our ongoing formation in the church, and the future resurrection body.

In all this, we begin and end with God himself, like the writer of Psalm 8 does – ‘Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.’

Further Reading

Carl B. Hoch, Jr., All Things New: The Significance of Newness in Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1995), 169-85
A chapter-length mid-level treatment from a New Testament perspective, focusing especially on ‘the ecclesiological structure’ and ‘the ethical structure’ of the new man.

Robin Routledge, Old Testament Theology: A Thematic Approach (Nottingham: Apollos, 2008), 138-47.
A mid-level treatment from an Old Testament perspective.

W. Eugene March, Great Themes of the Bible Volume 1 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2007), 23-33.
A brief overview at an accessible level.

J. Richard Middleton, The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2005).
A full and illuminating discussion of the notion of ‘the image of God’ in Genesis 1 against its ancient Near Eastern background and an exploration of its ethical implications for today.