Biblical Theology: A Primer
After reading the title, you might be asking “Biblical theology? Shouldn’t our theology be based on the Bible? Isn’t this a redundant topic?” Of course, our theology is based on God’s revealed Word. In fact, all of our theology should be constructed from the Word and the Word alone.
However, Biblical Theology is a specific discipline or study regarding the progressive and unfolding salvific work of God throughout redemptive history. Biblical theology plays a important role in the life of church and her people. It is not something that should be neglected or overlooked.
What is Biblical Theology?
A Straight Line
As mentioned earlier, biblical theology focuses on the progressive and unfolding salvific work of God throughout redemptive history. Geerhardus Vos helpfully pointed out, Biblical theology views theology like a linear line, as compared to doctrinal studies or systematic theology which views it like a whole circle.¹
The former answers questions such as “what is the purpose of God revealing Himself in such manner at this point of redemptive history?” Latter answers questions like “what does the Bible say about [insert topic]?”
A Growing Tree
Biblical theology helps us to understand how God revealed Himself in different parts of redemptive history. This is not to say God reveals a whole set of different revelation at different stages, but it stresses the progressive nature of it. Instead of revealing something “new”, God in a sense further “elaborates” all that He has revealed.
As redemptive history (stages) moves on, we progressively see and understand more about the nature of His salvific work in history and how everything find its fulfillment in Jesus Christ (Lk. 24:46-49). Vos likens God’s progressive revelation to a tree, where it starts with the root, slowly growing the trunk and reaching its fully-grown state as the final fulfillment.²
Redemptive History’s Uniqueness
Of course, we have to keep in mind that different stages within redemptive history has its own uniqueness that is not to be overlooked. We need to first understand what it meant for the readers back then before attempting to see how Christ fulfills all these. By doing so, we will be able to see the richness of who God is and how God deals with His people in that specific stage of redemptive history.
We will also avoid the mistake of misunderstanding the full intention of the passage. Finally, it helps us to better understand how Christ fulfills all that is mentioned in that passage. It will definitely draw a much richer conclusion.
Why Biblical Theology?
Understanding the Important Relations
One of the things that studying biblical theology helps us to understand is the relation between the Old and New Testament. It has been to our disadvantage that many in Malaysian Christians today have no proper understanding of this relation. Many would make statements to the likes of “Old Testament is all about work-based religion compared to the New Testament” or even things like “Old Testament is of no relevance to us today.”
All these spring from the same issue, not understanding the relation between the Old and New Testament, which is also a failure to properly understand those two Testaments. They assume both of them are antithetical and two different stories altogether. So that leads us to the other purpose (and issue).
To Properly Understand Old Testament
Many have made statements such as this: “[insert an Old Testament book] is not relevant to us, so why bother teaching or preaching it?” Sadly, I’ve also heard it from my seminary classmates. We all know from Genesis to Malachi, all we read is the same thing happening over and over again.
So biblical theology helps us to understand the fact that God has never abandoned humans to our own devices after the Fall and that He is actively bringing redemption to crush the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15) through the likes of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the Israelites. We also see that there is something more that needs to be done in order to resolve human’s persistence in their sinfulness.
To Properly Understand New Testament
If we do not have a proper understanding of Old Testament, chances are we will not be able to fully grasp the New Testament and understand the riches of all that God has revealed to us. The New Testament authors did not just “use” the Old Testament to “support” their ideas and theology. Instead, all of it was built upon all that is revealed in the Old Testament.
The Apostle Peter reminds us that all that he proclaimed is something that is confirmed now (1 Pt. 1:16-21). That is to say all that he is preaching is built upon all that the prophets have said! It was not a new idea or something they improvised on.
Looking also at the book Hebrews, we see that the author builds his understanding of Christ’s identity and work from Old Testament. By just looking at chapter 1, we see 7 quotations from the Old Testament!
With good biblical theology, we would be able to properly grasp and understand the Old and New Testament. But without it which result in not properly understanding Old Testament, it will be difficult to appreciate the New Testament in its fullness.
To Know Christ
Lastly, biblical theology helps us to know Christ. Jesus Himself said that all of the Old Testament law and prophets pointed to Him (Lk. 24:46-49). Even as the Gospel is being preached in the book of Acts, we see a constant pattern where the preaching is never divorced from the Old Testament (Ac. 3:18, 8:35, 13:27, 17:2-3, 18:28). They preached in a way that helped us see how Old Testament finds its fulfillment in Christ! In other words, the Gospel is present in the Old Testament as a shadow (Gal. 3:8).
When I say to “know Christ”, it meant to see how Christ is the fulfillment of all the shadows that are in the Old Testament. It is not for us to come out with every conclusion where the answer must be “JESUS!” We are not fitting Jesus into every passage. Rather, we are attempting to understand how Jesus fulfills that specific passage. So biblical theology helps us to grasp and understand how Christ is the substance of all that shadow mentioned in the Old Testament.
Conclusion
There are many more important reasons to study biblical theology and some of are areas like systematic theology and apologetics. But I hope all these would fuel your passion for God and His Word (like literally ALL of His Word).
I hope it will also help you appreciate the love that God has shown towards all of us in Christ’s life, death and resurrection. Because in understanding Old Testament better with biblical theology, our understanding of the New would definitely be enriched.
References:
- Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments (1948; repr., Grand Rapids, MI: Banner of Truth Trust, 2017), 16.
- Ibid, 79
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Hon Sir Neng is currently planting a church named CityLight. He is passionate about theology, apologetics and discipleship. He loves to help people see how theology is more than just head knowledge, but it is applicable in our daily lives.
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