Proclaiming the Kingdom

 

Books

Works by Jason DeRouchie

How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament
What the Old Testament Authors Really Cared About

Blog

Follow Jason DeRouchie

Zephaniah: Rejoicing In Hope (Lectures 1 & 2)

The annual Hugh D. Brown Lectures, Irish Bible College, Moira, Northern Ireland, Jan 13, 2022.

Over the past seven years I have given much time toward understanding Zephaniah. You can find some of the fruits of these labors here. Through this season, I’ve come to summarize Zephaniah’s message as being the “Savior God’s invitation to satisfaction.” More specifically, Zephaniah calls the faithful remnant from Judah and beyond “to seek the Lord together to avoid punishment and to wait for the Lord in order to enjoy satisfying salvation.” Recently, I was honored to give the annual Hugh D. Brown lectures at Irish Bible College, and for them I overviewed Zephaniah’s message and lasting relevance so that others may find satisfaction in the Savior God. In this first lecture I overview the setting for the Savior’s invitation (Zeph 1:1-18) and then consider stage 1 of this invitation to satisfaction (2:1-3:7). My goal in the second lecture was twofold: (1) Overview the charge to wait for the Lord (3:8–10) and the promises Zephaniah uses to motivate waiting (3:11–20b). (2) Consider how Christ fulfills Zephaniah’s vision of the Lord’s day and what that means regarding the timing and nature of the realization of Zephaniah’s hopes.

If you desire to understand Zephaniah and you seek to be satisfied in our Savior God, I hope you will enjoy listening to these two lectures. You can download the handout here. The audio and PDF links are below.

  1. Lecture 1 (audio/PDF): DeRouchie, Jason S. “Rejoicing in Hope: Understanding and Applying Zephaniah, Lecture 1: Seek the Lord Together to Avoid Punishment” (Zeph 1:1–3:7).
  2. Lecture 2 (audio/PDF): DeRouchie, Jason S. “Rejoicing in Hope: Understanding and Applying Zephaniah, Lecture 2: Wait for the Lord in Order to Enjoy Satisfying Salvation” (Zeph 3:8–20).

The Biblical Covenants in Salvation History – ETS – 2021

DeRouchie, Jason S. “The Biblical Covenants in Salvation History” (ETS Nov, 2021, Fort Worth, TX).

Understanding how the biblical covenants relate to each other is paramount to knowing how the Bible “fits together.” For this reason, at the 2021 annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society I gave this paper presentation about how the Bible’s storyline progresses through the historical covenants between God and his people. I argue that Jesus fulfills each covenant in different ways. The Adamic-Noahic covenant with creation establishes the crisis and context of global curse and common grace out of which the other covenants clarify God’s solution and saving grace. The Abrahamic covenant forecasts the hope of Christ and new creation through its conditional yet certain kingdom promises of land(s), seed, blessing, and divine presence. The remaining covenants clarify how God fulfilled these promises in two progressive stages. In the Mosaic covenant (stage 1) Abraham’s offspring is a single nation experience blessing and curse, which results in their exile from the promised land. The Davidic covenant recalls the promises of a royal Deliverer and declares the specific line through whom he will rise. Then the new covenant (stage 2) realizes these hopes in an already but-not yet way through the person and perfect obedience of Christ Jesus, whose kingdom work overcomes the curse with universal blessing, makes Abraham the father of many nations to the ends of the earth, and reconciles all things to God through the new creation. A time of question and answer follows the presentation.

Listen to this paper presentation by clicking here. Accompanying this lecture is a handout, and you can also access my paper by clicking here. May God use this paper to help you know how the whole Bible works together to communicate a unified message about Jesus and for his glory.

Greater is He: A Primer on Spiritual Warfare for Kingdom Advance

DeRouchie, Jason S. “Greater is He: A Primer on Spiritual Warfare for Kingdom Advance.” The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 25.2 (2021): 21–55.

Spiritual warfare is one of those topics that Christians are interested in but nevertheless have many questions about. What sort of authority does God have over the powers of darkness? What authority does Jesus give the believer, and how does that relate to the devil’s practices? Can the devil work against both unbelievers and believers, and can believers be demon possessed? Should the church expect to exercise authority over demons like Jesus did during his ministry on earth? And most importantly of all, what does the Bible say about such things? read more…

Understanding and Applying Exodus 19:4–6

DeRouchie, Jason S. “Understanding and Applying Exodus 19:4–6: A Case Study in Exegesis and Theology.” Journal of Biblical and Theological Studies 6.1 (2021): 85–134.

This essay seeks to interpret Exodus 19:4–6 passage within its immediate and broader biblical context, understanding and applying it as the Christian Scripture God intended (Rom 15:4; 1 Cor 10:11; 2 Tim 3:16–17; 1 Pet 1:12). The study also supplies a case study in exegetical and theological inquiry following the twelve steps outlined in my book, How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament. These twelve steps fit within five broader categories and provide the following outline for this article: read more…

Chipman’s SCRIPTURE STORYLINE

Chipman, Todd R. Scripture Storyline: An Invitation to Biblical Theology. Dallas: Fontess, 2020. 

Are you looking for a Bible Reading Plan for the new year? Todd Chipman is my teaching pastor at The Master’s Community Church, and he also serves as Dean of Graduate Studies and Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where I serve. Amid a flurry of new volumes on biblical theology, this new one distinguishes itself in the way it guides people through a year of Bible reading and supplies commentary on almost every chapter of Scripture while seeking to trace the storyline of redemption as it develops from the Old Testament to the New. I wrote the book’s foreword, which includes the following paragraph: read more…

Introduction to the Old Testament and Zephaniah

DeRouchie, Jason S. “Introduction to the Old Testament,” The Gospel Coalition, December 2021, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/introduction-old-testament/

DeRouchie, Jason S. “Zephaniah,” The Gospel Coalition, December 2021, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/commentary/zephaniah/

Around one year ago, the Gospel Coalition published 250 essays overviewing all areas of biblical doctrine with a goal of serving the global church. I wrote two of these: (1) Interpreting Scripture: A General Introduction and (2) the Day of the Lord. You can access these articles here: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/interpreting-scripture-a-general-introduction/ and https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-day-of-the-lord/.

Now, the Gospel Coalition is in the process of publishing a whole Bible commentary, book-by-book with introductory essays. I contributed the article titled “Introduction to the Old Testament” and the mini-commentary on “Zephaniah.” The commentary includes a very matured interpretation of the book in just 10 pages. In the introductory article, I briefly overview five critical issues pertaining to the Old Testament. read more…

How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament: Step 12––Practical Theology

To summarize How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament, this blog journey has supplied twelve steps from exegesis to theology. I categorized each of the twelve under the acronym TOCMA, which stands for Text > Observation > Context > Meaning > Application.

  • Text: “What is the makeup of the passage?”

(1) Genre; (2) Literary Units and Text Hierarchy; (3) Text Criticism; (4) Translation

  • Observation: “How is the passage communicated?”

(5) Clause and Text Grammar; (6) Argument-Tracing; (7) Word and Concept Studies

  • Context: “Where does the passage fit?”

(8) Historical Context; (9) Literary Context

  • Meaning: “What does the passage mean?”

(10) Biblical Theology; (11) Systematic Theology

  • Application: “Why does the passage matter?”

(12) Practical Theology

This is our final installment in this series, and it addresses step 12. Having exegeted the text and grasped God’s intended meaning, you as the interpreter now need to apply it to yourself, the church, and the world, stressing the centrality of Christ and the hope of the gospel. Such is the task of practical theology, by which we seek to live according to the biblical author’s intended effect.

God Gave the Old Testament to Instruct Christians

To apply the OT faithfully, one must have the conviction that God intends us to do so. That is, preachers and teachers must recognize that the OT is Christian Scripture, which God gave long ago to serve saints today.

1. Old Testament Reflections on the Main Audience of Old Testament Instruction

The OT authors consciously wrote their documents for new covenant members. For example, Isaiah noted how his audience was spiritually disabled, unable to grasp the words he proclaimed (Isa 29:9–11; cf. Rom 11:8). Nevertheless, he also envisioned a day when “the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see” (Isa 29:18). Thus, Yahweh told Isaiah, “Inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever” (30:8). In that day, he says, “Your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it’” (30:20–21).

Similarly, Yahweh told Jeremiah to write for God’s restored community. “Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. For behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the LORD, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it” (Jer 30:2–3). Jeremiah needed to write his words in a book because the new covenant members would need them, and it was they that would understand them (cf. 30:24–31:1; cf. 31:33–34).

2. New Testament Reflections on the Main Audience of the Old Testament Instruction

Paul, too, stressed that God gave the OT for new covenant believers. Referring to the statement in Genesis 15:6 that Abram’s faith was “counted to him as righteousness,” Paul asserted that “the words ‘it was counted to him’ were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also” (Rom 4:23). Indeed, “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction” (15:4; cf. 1 Cor 10:11). “All Scripture is … profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16). Peter even explicitly states that God revealed to the OT prophets that their words were principally for us, not them (1 Pet 1:10–12). Therefore, far from being not applicable for believers, the OT is more relevant for Christians today than for most in the old covenant.

General Guidelines for Applying the Old Testament

In his book Old Testament Exegesis, Douglas Stuart offers helpful guidelines for applying biblical texts.[1] Here I develop them, using Exodus 19:4–6 to illustrate the process.

1. The Passage’s Original Revealed Application

a. Identify the application’s audience.

Does the passage target individuals, groups, or institutions? If one can’t differentiate in this way, why not? If the object is individuals, what kind (e.g., believing remnant or faithless rebel, parents or children)? If the object is a group, what kind (e.g., the community of faith, a nation, clergy)?

The second masculine plural “you” throughout Exodus 19:4–6 suggests that the target is every individual within the entire community. God redeemed the nation as a whole, and he called this nation his “son” (Exod 4:22–23).

b. List the application’s external life issues.

Here we consider: With what aspects of life is the passage most concerned? What do we encounter that is similar or related to what the passage addresses? Is the application directed toward matters that are more interpersonal in nature? Is the concern social, economic, spiritual, familial, etc.? Does the passage relate directly to the people’s relationship with God?

In Exodus 19:4–6, we see the personal experience of communal deliverance (v. 4). This deliverance should produce a daily pursuit of God among a geopolitical nation that is distinct from the surrounding nations (v. 5). This pursuit of God should give everyone a sense of life’s purpose (v. 6).

c. Clarify the application’s nature.

Some passages inform the mind, supplying information, whereas others direct the will, giving instruction. Some focus on the root of faith; others address the fruit of action. One passage describes some aspect of God’s love (i.e., inform), while another commands the reader to love God wholeheartedly (i.e., direct). One may clarify the nature of trust (i.e., faith), while another illuminates the nature of deeds. Often these two pairs come in packages so that informing leads to directing and believing leads to obeying. Ask, “Does this passage supply an indicative or an imperative? Does it address more the heart and head or the hands?”

On the surface, Exodus 19:4–6 recalls God’s gracious past redemption and informs Israel of their future responsibility and calling. Implicitly, the text calls the people to godward allegiance for the sake of mediating and displaying God’s glory to the nations. In addition, Exodus 19:4–6 explicitly addresses action and state of being, calling Israel to “hear” and “keep” and “be” (v. 5). Only to the level at which the people desire the promise of being a kingdom of priests and a holy nation and believe the promise-maker can act will they be motivated to heed his voice, keep his covenant, and intentionally seek to live as his treasured possession.

d. Determine the application’s time focus.

Does the passage call for present faith or action? Does it look back to something in the past or ahead to something in the future?

Exodus 19:4–6 called Israel to make an immediate response. And for every future generation in the old covenant, God’s revelation will remain the same. He had set Israel apart to express his worth in the world. Through this single nation, the world would be blessed, and Israel’s lives of surrender would parade God’s upright character until the time when the promised deliverer would overcome the world’s curse with a blessing.

e. Fix the application’s limits.

Does the passage function more as background or support? Is it part of a larger passage that suggests a clearer application than your passage does? Is it one of several passages that all function together to suggest a given application that none of them individually would quite have? Does the passage call for a response that could be misunderstood or taken too far? In what ways does the passage not apply?

Exodus 19:4–6 is perhaps the most foundational synthesis of the revealed purpose of the old covenant within Scripture. It looks back to the Abrahamic covenant promises and anticipates God’s revelation of his person and word at Sinai. It expresses God’s revealed will for Israel, but it does not address the implications of failure.

f. Summary

Exodus 19:4–6 synthesizes the old covenant by addressing the nation of Israel’s redemption and life-calling in relation to the world. It explicitly informs but also implicitly directs, calling for action and motivating this call by the promise of global impact. The words target every community member and address a surrender to Yahweh that impacts every facet of life in every present and future generation.

2. The Passage’s Theological Significance[2]

a. Clarify what the passage tells us about God and his ways.

Theology matters. When applying the OT, it is important to recall what we have learned about Yahweh’s unchanging character, desires, values, concerns, and standards, and what our passage says about his purposes in redemption.

Exodus 19:4–6 portrays Yahweh as one who delivers in order to create people who can in turn display his excellencies. With respect to his character and actions, he is an able warrior God who redeemed Israel from Egypt (v. 4). He is a God who commands, establishes covenants, and treasures some more than others (v. 5). Finally, he is a God who motivates through promises and desires his people to mediate and display his greatness to the world (v. 6)One could make appropriate application from these features, for his work in the new covenant is very analogous (see 1 Pet 2:9).

b. Assess how Christ’s fulfillment of the OT impacts applying the passage.

Some of the questions we can ask here are as follows: Does the passage speak directly to old covenant structures that God transformed in the new? How has the progress of salvation-history influenced how we hear and apply this text? How does the passage anticipate Jesus’s life and work, the church age, or the consummation? Does the text express time-bound or culturally bound elements that no longer relate to us this side of the cross? Does the NT cite or allude to the particular text in a way that clarifies its lasting value for Christians?

Christ’s work fulfills Exodus 19:4–6 in at least three ways: First, the initial exodus typologically anticipated a greater, second exodus that Jesus himself embodies. In Exodus 19:4, Yahweh highlights his defeat of Egypt and his deliverance of Israel from the bonds of slavery. Christ’s death and resurrection initiates for all believers the antitypical exodus, the ultimate redemption to which Israel’s liberation from Egypt only pointed (Luke 9:31; cf. Jer 23:5–8).

Second, Christ fulfilled the charge of this text as the perfect king-priest. Israel’s fleshly, rebellious hearts were hostile to God, making it impossible for them to submit to God’s law or to please him (Deut 9:5–6; 29:4). But where God’s corporate “son” failed to be the kingdom of priests and the holy nation for which Exodus 19:4–6 called, his individual Son Jesus, as Israel’s royal and priestly representative, succeeded. Christ’s perfect life embodied the ideals of righteousness the law requires (Rom 5:18–19; 8:4). Thus, based on Christ’s fulfilling the law, God now charges and empowers the new covenant community to fulfill Christ’s law (Rom 2:26, 29; 13:8–10; 1 Cor 9:21Gal 6:2). This includes applying OT laws in view of how Christ fulfills them (Matt 5:17–19).

Third, Christ perfectly represented the nation of Israel as a holy king-priest, succeeding where they failed and by this magnifying God’s holiness to the world (see esp. Isa 49:1–6). And now, for those of us in him, God has made us “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that [we] may proclaim the excellencies of him who called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet 2:9).

3. The Passage’s Lasting Significance for Today

Consider one chief application that is most central to and flows naturally from the passage. Keeping in mind God’s unchanging nature and his progressive purposes, and reading the passage in the light of Jesus’s new covenant work, what is God calling for in this passage?

With respect to Exodus 19:4–6, perhaps the simplest synthesis of what this passage calls for through Jesus is that the church is to live as a royal priesthood and holy people, proclaiming through our life-witness the worth and majesty of God (1 Pet 2:9). Our unchanging Lord is consistent in what he requires, in what he intends, and in the way he uses promises to motivate obedience. Like the nation of Israel, the church is called to follow the instruction of our chief, new covenant mediator: “Make disciples of all nations, … teaching them to obey all that I have commanded” (Matt 28:20). And as we do, we will display God’s great worth and power.

[1] Douglas Stuart does not include this element, but it is essential for applying the OT faithfully.

[2] Douglas Stuart, Old Testament Exegesis: A Handbook for Students and Pastors, 4th ed. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2009), 25–29.

This article originally appeared at FTC.co.

How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament: Step 10––Biblical Theology

Text (Genre, Literary units and text hierarchy, Text-criticism)
Observation (Clause and text grammarArgument-tracingWord and concept studies)
Context (Historical and Literary context)
Meaning (Biblical and Systematic theology)
Application (Practical theology)

Once you have established your text, made accurate observations, and discerned your passage’s contexts, it is time to determine your text’s meaning. To do this, it is critical to understand biblical theology, the discipline that considers how the whole Bible progresses, integrates, and climaxes in Jesus. Here you ask, “How does my passage connect to the Bible’s overall storyline and point to Christ?”

Four Guiding Presuppositions

The discipline of biblical theology assumes at least four key principles about the Bible:

1. The Bible is the locus of God’s special revelation.

Every line, word, phrase, clause, and paragraph in Scripture is God’s word. No other book is like the Bible, for it alone is God’s special revelation. Therefore, biblical theology is a textual discipline, such that the author’s intent guides the connections we make both backward and forward within every text. Historical context informs and supports the study but never trumps it.

2. The Bible demands that we submit to it and engage it in constructive ways.

We must see God’s word in its final canonical form as our primary and decisive authority in all matters of faith and practice. Furthermore, our interpretation should never deconstruct the biblical text, misinterpret the text, contradict the biblical author’s intentions, or fail to evaluate fairly the claims of the text in accordance with its nature.

3. The Bible is prescriptive.

Because the Bible is God’s word, it has the authority to prescribe a certain lifestyle and worldview for its readers and to confront alternatives. God’s purpose in having us grasp his purposes in salvation history is to move us to worship and surrender to the living God through Christ.

4. The Bible expresses a coherent, unified theology.

God is the ultimate author of Scripture, and he is the ultimate unified and coherent thinker. Thus, we must push to grasp the unified theology of the whole Bible. Every passage contributes in some way to the whole.

Definition and Nature of Biblical Theology

 The whole Bible progresses, integrates, and climaxes in Christ, and every passage contributes in some way to Scripture’s message that God reigns, saves, and satisfies through covenant for his glory in Jesus. Central to determining a passage’s meaning is not only considering what it proclaims but how this message relates to and informs the greater message of Scripture culminating in Christ.

Biblical theology is a way of analyzing and synthesizing what the Bible reveals about God and his relations with the world that makes organic salvation-historical and literary-canonical connections with the whole of Scripture on its own terms, especially with respect to how the Old and New Testaments progress, integrate, and climax in Christ. Let me unpack this extended definition under six headings.

  1. The Task, Part 1: Biblical theology analyzes and synthesizes what the Old and New Testaments reveal about God and his relations with the world.

Biblical theology seeks to interpret the final form of the Christian Bible––to analyze and synthesize God’s special revelation embodied in the Old and New Testaments. That God’s special revelation comes through Old and New Testaments highlights both Scripture’s unity and diversity. The one Bible has two necessary parts, each of which we must read in view of the other. The Old Testament provides foundation for what Jesus fulfills in the New Testament.

  1. The Task, Part 2: Biblical theology makes organic connections with the whole of Scripture on its own terms.

Biblical theology is about making natural, unforced connections within Scripture. In the process, it recognizes growth or progress in a thought or concept and lets the Bible speak in accordance with its own contours, structures, language, and flow.

  1. Salvation-Historical Connections: Biblical theology makes salvation-historical connections with the whole of Scripture on its own terms.

Salvation history is the progressive narrative unfolding of God’s kingdom plan through the various covenants, events, people, and institutions, all climaxing in the person and work of Jesus. Redemptive history moves from creation to the fall to redemption to consummation. It’s the true story of God’s purposes climaxing in Christ that frames all of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. One way to summarize his-story is through the acronym KINGDOM, as represented in the following chart:

Scripture declares the story of God’s glory in Christ. Within this framework, we can make salvation-historical connections in at least five different ways:

  • Thematic developments: We can trace a theme through the story of salvation, noting how it culminates in Christ. Some of the main themes are kingdom, law, temple, people of God, exile and exodus, atonement, holiness, and missions.
  • Covenantal continuity and discontinuity: We should consider how the progress of the biblical covenants maintains, transforms, alters, or escalates various elements in God’s relations with his people and the world.
  • Type and anti-type: Both Old and New Testament authors regularly identify predictive thematic anticipations or types rooted in the progressive development of Scripture’s historical record (e.g., Rom. 5:141 Cor. 10:6, 11Col. 2:16–17). By God’s design, specific persons (e.g., Adam, Moses), events (e.g., creation, exodus), and institutions (e.g., temple, sacrifice) establish patterns that culminate in the life and work of Christ Jesus. These types are prophetic and prospective from their inception, even when interpreters only discover them retrospectively.
  • Promise and fulfillment: We must track specific promises and then identify their partial, progressive, and/or ultimate fulfillment at various stages in salvation history, ever remembering Paul’s declaration that “all the promises of God find their Yes in [Christ]” (2 Cor. 1:20). An example here would be how Micah 5:2 declares that the royal deliver would rise out of Bethlehem, and Matthew declares this fulfilled (Matt. 2:5–6).
  • Use of the Old Testament in the Old and New Testaments: Here, we assess how later biblical writers interpret and/or apply earlier canonical revelation, especially with a view to understanding Christ Jesus.

 

  1. Literary-Canonical Connections: Biblical theology makes organize literary-canonical connections with the whole of Scripture on its own terms.

Biblical theology arises out of the narrative framework of salvation history, but we cannot restrict the discipline to redemptive historical connections because the Bible includes more than the story of God’s glory in Christ. As seen below, Scripture includes groupings of narrative books that frame commentary books. We must consider every passage in light of its placement and role within the canon as a whole, which contains two Testaments, each with corresponding narrative and commentary sections and each with a potentially-corresponding three-part structure. The chart arranges the Old Testament in alignment with the order in Jesus’s Bible (see Luke 24:44) and the New Testament in accordance with the earliest canonical evidence.

Along with final-form composition and structure, literary-canonical connections include the historical details that tie the canon together. Here I refer to information regarding authorship, date, or provenance of a given passage. Where God reveals such information, it is fair and appropriate to use it to consider how books or passages that are united historically address various themes or contribute to our knowledge of a given topic. Because Moses was the substantial author of both Exodus and Leviticus, we can use each book as an interpretive lens for the other. Because Samuel–Kings and Chronicles address similar time-periods from different perspectives, we can compare the two to help clarify the distinctive theology of each corpus.

Finally, literary-canonical connections also include accounting for our passage’s biblical corpus or genre. Studying the teaching in Ecclesiastes should naturally be related to that of Proverbs not only because Solomon is likely the same author but also because both are wisdom books. Similarly, one should interpret Zephaniah in view of its placement in and contribution to both the Book of the Twelve and the Latter Prophets as a whole.

  1. Relationship of the Testaments: Biblical theology wrestles with how the Old and New Testaments progress and integrate.

The relationship of the Testaments is perhaps the biggest question faced in biblical theology. Scripture was not shaped in a day. God produced it over time, progressively disclosing his kingdom purposes climaxing in Christ and pointing ultimately to the consummation. Biblical theology gives significant effort to tracking this progression and to considering how the various covenants and Testaments integrate in God’s overarching kingdom plan.

  1. The Centrality of Christ: Biblical theology wrestles with how the Old and New Testaments climax in Christ.

The ultimate end of biblical theology is Jesus. The salvation history that frames Scripture all points and progresses to Christ, and all fulfillment flows from and through him. All laws, history, laws, prophecy, and promises find their end-times realization in Jesus (Matt 5:17–18Mark 1:15Acts 3:182 Cor. 1:20). Therefore, we can rightly assert that the Old Testament is a messianic document written to instill messianic hope (see Rom. 1:1–3; 3:21; 10:4). Indeed, the apostles recognized that Yahweh foretold by the mouth of all the prophets from Moses forward the tribulation and triumph of the Christ and the subsequent glories (Acts 3:18, 24; 10:431 Peter 1:10–11), and God revealed to those prophets that “they were serving not themselves but you” when they wrote their words (1 Peter 1:12). If we fail to appreciate that the Old Testament is Christian Scripture, we do not approach it like Jesus and his apostles, and we have no basis to call our interpretation “Christian.” 

The Bible’s Frame, Form, Focus, and Fulcrum

Thus far, we have learned something about what the Bible is about, how it is transmitted, why it was given, and around whom it is centered. That is, the Bible has a frame, a form, a focus, and a fulcrum.

  1. The Frame = The Content: What?

The Bible is the revelation of God, who reigns over all and who saves and satisfies all who look to him. In short, Scripture is about his kingdom and how he builds it through covenant for his glory in Christ. We could say that Scripture’s content relates to God’s reign over God’s people in God’s land for God’s glory (Luke 4:43; Acts 1:3; 20:25; 28:23, 31).

  1. The Form = The Means: How?

Throughout salvation history, God has maintained his relationship with the world through a series of covenants. The most dominant of these are the Mosaic (old) covenant and the new covenant in Christ. The old covenant bore a ministry of condemnation and brought forth an age of death; the new covenant bore a ministry of righteousness and brought with it life (2 Cor. 3:9). Moses recognized Israel’s stubbornness and predicted the old covenant’s failure (Deut. 9:6–7; 31:16–18, 27–29). But he also envisioned that God would mercifully overcome the curse with restoration blessing (4:30–31) in what we now know as the new covenant (Jer. 31:31). A prophetic, new covenant mediator would facilitate this era of blessing (Deut. 18:15), which would include God’s transforming the hearts of covenant members in a way that would generate love and obedience (30:6, 8–14). God would curse all his enemies (30:7) and broaden the makeup of his people to include some from the nations (32:21, 43; cf. Gen. 17:4–5). Christ is the mediator of the new covenant (Gen. 22:17–181 Tim. 2:5Heb. 9:15; 12:24), which has superseded the old (Gal. 3:24–25Rom. 10:4), made every promise “Yes” (2 Cor. 1:20), and secured for us every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3) and “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading” (1 Peter 1:4).

  1. The Focus = The Purpose: Why?

The chief goal of all God’s actions is the preservation and display of his glory, and it is to this end that all Scripture points. Because all things are from him, through him, and to him, God’s glory is exalted over all things (Rom. 11:36) and should be the goal of our lives (1 Cor. 10:31).

  1. The Fulcrum = Sphere: Whom?

Jesus Christ is the one to whom all salvation history points, and the one who fulfills all the Old Testament anticipates. The entire Bible centers on this promised messianic Deliverer who secures reconciliation with God for all who believe in him as the divine, crucified, resurrected Messiah. His ministry produces a universal call to repentance and whole-life surrender to him as King.

We can synthesis Scripture’s as God reigns, saves, and satisfies through covenant for his glory in Christ. Put another way, the Bible calls Jews and Gentiles alike to magnify God as the supreme Sovereign, Savior, and Satisfier of the world through Messiah Jesus. The Old Testament provides the foundation for this message; the New Testament fulfills all Old Testament hopes.[1] 

Conclusion

Scripture is self-interpreting, for the God who never changes is the author of it all. To determine the full meaning of a passage, we must always ponder how your passage contributes and relates to the rest of Scripture culminating in Christ. The whole Bible progresses, integrates, and climaxes in Jesus, so we must consider how every passage in the Old Testament relates to this overarching flow and message.

[1]  For two examples of biblical theology at work, see Jason S. DeRouchie, “Why the Third Day?: The Promise of Resurrection in All of Scripture,” Desiring God, 11 June 2019, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/why-the-third-dayJason S. DeRouchie, “God Always Wanted the Whole World: Global Mission from Genesis to Revelation,” Desiring God, 5 December 2019, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/god-always-wanted-the-whole-world.

This article originally appeared at FTC.co.

How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament—Step 11: Systematic Theology

What is Systematic Theology?

Systematic theology is the study of the Bible’s doctrine designed to help us shape a proper worldview. Systematic theology presupposes that the Bible gets reality right, and it assumes Scripture’s overarching unity while affirming the progress of revelation and the development of redemptive history. In Systematic Theology, we seek to answer the question, “What does the whole Bible say about X?”

In the interpretive process, the stage considering Systematic Theology is asking more specifically, “How does our passage theologically cohere with the whole Bible?” Or, “How does our passage contribute to our understanding of certain doctrines?”

read more…

DeRouchie’s Audio & Video Sites

A Podcast on Biblical Theology
with Tom Kelby & Jason DeRouchie

Where DeRouchie serves as Research Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Theology

Where DeRouchie Serves as Content Developer and Global Trainer

See DeRouchie's Academia.edu Site