The Biblical Theology Articles

A revolutionary balancing act (Carl Trueman)
Read Carl Trueman's provocative Themelios editorial on the 'triumph of biblical theology' - has it gone too far and is it generating its own set of problems?

Ontology and Biblical Theology - A Response to Carl Trueman's Editorial: A Revolutionary Balancing Act - (Graeme L.Goldsworthy)
Graeme Goldsworthy responds to Carl Trueman

A Theology of the Gospel: The Gospel as the Starting-Point and Integrating-Point for Biblical and Systematic Theology - (Mike Bird)

Abraham Israel & Church (Paul Williamson)
This article discusses the relationship between the divine promises in the Abraham narrative and the use made by this Old Testament material in the New Testament.

Abraham Reassessed Theologically: The Abraham Narrative and the New Testament Understanding of Justification by Faith (T.D. Alexander)
From a survey of the NT it is apparent that the Abraham narrative in Genesis 11:27-25:11 influenced significantly the thinking of the early church regarding its doctrine of soteriology and the nature of Jesus Christ’s mission to the world...

Adam in the argument of Romans (Jonathan Gibson)

Bible Overview Series
Week 1: The Pattern of the Kingdom and the Perished Kingdom
Week 1: The Pattern of the Kingdom and the Perished Kingdom (handout)
Week 2: The Promised Kingdom & Partial Kingdom (Part 1)
Week 2: The Promised Kingdom & Partial Kingdom (Part 1) (handout)
Week 3: The Promised Kingdom & Partial Kingdom (Part 2)
Week 3: The Promised Kingdom & Partial Kingdom (Part 2) (handout)
Week 4: The Present Kingdom
Week 4: The Present Kingdom (handout)

Biblical Theology: Canon and Plain Sense (J.G. McConville)

Biblical Theology and the Westminster Standards (Richard B. Gaffin Jr.)

Canonical Theology: An Evangelical Appraisal (Carl Henry)
Read Carl Henry's evaluation of the work of Brevard S. Childs ...

Christ's Baptism and Crucifixion: The annointing and enthronement of God's Son - (Ardel Caneday)

Covenant: The beginning of a Biblical idea - (Paul R. Williamson)

Devotional Books on the Old Testament: Some Recommended Reading (Simon Gathercole)
Often it is perplexing trying to read the Old Testament in the hope that it will give strength for the day...

Evangelicals and the Use of the Old Testament in the New (part 1) (Darrell Bock)

For evangelicals, whose distinctive characteristic is their commitment to a high view of Scripture, perhaps no hermeneutical area engenders more discussion than the relationship between the Testaments...

Evangelicals and the Use of the Old Testament in the New (part 2) (Darrell Bock)
In a previous article this writer discussed four schools of approach within evangelicalism with regard to the use of the Old Testament by the New. In the interaction between these schools of thought four tension points will be raised in this article concerning dual authorship, language-referent, the progress of revelation, and the problem of the differing texts used in Old Testament citations by their New Testament fulfillment(s).

Ezra - A New Moses? (Jonathan Gibson)

Glory & Suffering in the Fourth Gospel - A Paradox of Discipleship (Edward Donnelly)
"The apostle John is a writer with a profound and subtle habit of mind. He is fond of irony, of different levels of meaning, of complexity wrapped in simplicity. An especial characteristic of his gospel is the element of paradox, where apparent contradiction resolves itself, upon reflection, into luminous truth. We meet it at the very beginning, where ‘the Word’ who ‘was with God, and… was God… became flesh’"

God, Marriage & Family (Andreas J. Köstenberger) - PDF 250KB

Read an extract from Andreas Köstenberger's new book, God, Marriage, and Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation (Crossway Books, 2004). This extract comprises chapters 2 and 3 of the book (pp. 31–79), dealing with marriage and related issues in the Old and New Testament respectively. God, Marriage, and Family presents a biblical theology of marriage and the family. It also covers abortion, contraception, artificial reproductive technologies, adoption, parenting issues, singleness, homosexuality, divorce and remarriage, and qualifications for church leadership. The extract appears here by permission of Crossway Books, a ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois 60187. For more information on the book please visit: http://www.gnpcb.org/product/1581345801. For a list of Dr. Köstenberger's other publications, see www.biblicalfoundations.org

God with men in the Torah - (James Hamilton)

God with men in the prophets and writings - (James Hamilton)

Have you got the whole story? (Mike Cain)

Hermeneutics and Christ (Graeme Goldsworthy)
Graeme Goldsworthy writes: "In fact, the history of how Christians have read and applied the Bible is most instructive, especially if we take note of what was really happening in the various historical developments. What we find repeatedly is that when people were asking 'What do we think about the Scriptures?' they were really asking 'What do we think about Christ?'. This is because what we think about the incarnate Word of God, Jesus Christ, will run parallel with what we think about the inscripturated Word of God, the Bible."

Interpreting Old Testament Prophetic Literature in Matthew : Double Fulfilment (Craig L. Blomberg)
Craig L. Blomberg writes: "My previous research on Matthew has suggested that a particular OT prophetic text cited by Matthew often points both to and beyond its immediate historic context, without necessarily affirming all that the gospel writer or the individuals he quotes maintains. This phenomenon, which I am provisionally entitling “double fulfillment” emerges particularly prominently in Isaiah. Inasmuch as I know of only one recent study on "Matthew and Isaiah" per se, it seems unlikely that this essay will prove too redundant. ..."

Is the church a house of worship? (Don Carson/Tony Payne)
Transcript of a discussion on worship...

Jumping the gap (Joshua Ng)
Considering the hermeneutical gap.

Bridging the gap (Joshua Ng & Greg Clarke)
Follow up article to Jumping the gap

On answering a fool (Tim Chester)
An introduction to the book of proverbs

On the dangers of Christian shorthand: ‘Word ministry’

Not by Spear or Sword: Reflections on David & Goliath in Biblical Theology (1 Samuel 17)

Preaching & Biblical Theology (Peter Adam)
We can summarize a biblical theology of preaching in these words: God has spoken, It is written, and Preach the word...

Preaching & Biblical Theology (Thomas Schreiner)

Redemption & Resurrection: An exercise in Biblical-Systematic Theology (Richard Gaffin)

Royal Expectations in Genesis to Kings: Their importance for Biblical Theology (T.D Alexander)

Sabbath (Andrew Shead)
A Biblical Theology of Sabbath

Singing the cover versions: Psalms, reinterpretation and Biblical Theology in Acts 1-4 (Jamie Grant)

Song of Songs: A Biblical Theology (Ros Clarke)

Systematic Theology and Biblical Theology (Don Carson)
Examining the interaction between these disciplines

Systematic Theology and Biblical Theology (Richard Gaffin)

The Biblical Theology of Church - (Edmund Clowney)
Download whole article as PDF (714KB)

The Biblical Theology of Prayer - (Edmund Clowney)
Download whole article as PDF (572KB)

The Center of Biblical Theology in Acts: deliverance and damnation display the divine (Jim Hamilton)

The Challenge of Biblical Theology - (Charles Scobie)

The Curse of Law - (Peter Sanlon)

The Distinctive Use of the OT in John's Gospel, with Particular Reference to 1:14-18.(Jonathan Gibson)

The Divine Warrior - New Testament use of an Old Testament Motif - (Tremper Longman III)
Nevertheless, the key element of Holy War is that Yahweh the Divine Warrior led Israel into the battle and won the victory for them. Recognizing that the notion that the activity of Yahweh the Divine Warrior is central to much of the OT, some passages may now be examined which will demonstrate that the same notion is evident in the NT…

The Final Temple - (Edmund Clowney)

The God of Promise: Christian Scripture as Covenantal Revelation - (David Gibson)
In this light, we attempt to do three things in this paper. First, we offer (in outline) a possible biblical theology description of Scripture as a covenant document and, second, we bring this into dialogue with an alternative systematic description of Scripture proposed by Karl Barth. Third, by using the recent work of Vanhoozer, Ward and Horton, we argue that a covenantal description of Scripture both challenges Barth’s formulation and enriches the traditional model. This covenantal conversation aims to bring biblical theology into direct contact with systematic theology to essay a ‘fresh fidelity’ to classical formulations on the nature of Scripture.

The Kingdom of God (Peter Leithart)

The Messianic Music of the Song of Songs - (James Hamilton)

The One Who Does Them Shall Live By Them - (James Hamilton)

The Ontological & Systematic Roots of Biblical Theology - (Graeme Goldsworthy)

The Kingdom of God and the Old Testament (Graeme Goldsworthy)
The theme of the Bible is the kingdom of God. That is where the biblical account both starts and finishes...

The Relevance of the Old Testament - A Seminar (Dave Bish)
Notes from a seminar written for students opening the door to the Old Testament and it's relevance to us

The Sabbath Rest (Joshua Ng)
An article on rest.

The Second Mark of a Healthy Church Member: Biblical Theologian (Thabiti Anyabwile)

The Skull-Crushing Seed - (James Hamilton)

The Structure of Biblical Theology - (Charles Scobie)

The Usefulness of the Cross (Richard Gaffin)

The Virgin will conceive (Jim Hamilton)

Why the Law then? A Biblical Theology of Law in Galatians (Chris Poteet)

Off-site Biblical Theology Articles