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Biblical theology entails a focus on themes or storylines that run through Scripture. This contrasts with systematic theology, which categorizes each topic or doctrine in Scripture.
For example, if we wanted to trace the theme of the Kingdom of God throughout Scripture, we would find where that theme is first introduced and trace its development through the Bible.
Biblical theology helps us connect the overarching story of Scripture and other themes. Identifying these themes allows us to connect books together. For example, what does Genesis have to do with Psalms or Revelation? Biblical theology can described as the central nervous system of the Bible and makes it easier to see how God works through history and his people.
Michael Morales’s Exodus Old and New: A Biblical Theology of Redemption and G.K Beale’s The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God offer grounded and solid biblical theologies of the themes of redemption and God’s dwelling place throughout Scripture.
Exodus Old and New
Morales begins with the theme of “The Exodus” in Genesis 3. It makes sense that Morales begins his exploration of this topic in Eden because God sends Adam and Eve out of the garden. This is followed by the tower of Babel and the scattering of humanity. Both of these are previews of the exodus and the exile.
There are many exodus stories throughout Scripture, the biggest one is when Moses leads Israel out of Egypt. God’s plan of redemption leads to bringing those exiled people back home. Morales argues that the exodus theme is the main storyline in the Bible.
God delights to deliver us out of Egypt-like and sin-like places. “The Exodus” theme repeats the pattern of oppression, a cry for mercy, a deliverer, and deliverance.
Christ came as the ultimate deliverer – the fulfillment of the former exodus types and the deliverer from sin. The final exodus will be when Christ returns a second time to deliver his people from death.
The Temple and the Church’s Mission
Beale explores how God’s presence fills various spaces – how God dwells with humanity in the Garden of Eden, the Tabernacle in the wilderness, Solomon’s Temple, the Second Temple, through Jesus referring to his own body as a Temple, and finally, Revelation’s portrayal of God dwelling with his people in a sacred space forever. There is no restriction to God’s presence because God dwells in his people through his Spirit.
Beale believes the preceding pictures of dwelling places point to the ever-expanding presence of God. God continues to orchestrate sacred space in a layer of three. The innermost layer was where God’s Spirit dwelt (the Holy of Holies). The middle layer was where they could still access God, although the access was limited. Finally, the outermost layer was for the Gentiles and the wider world.
Only in Christ is God’s presence spread throughout the world, where believers are called temples of the Holy Spirit. We are dwelling places for God.
Beale takes this idea further in Revelation 21:1-3. There are three key ideas within this passage. There is the Tabernacle, the New Jerusalem, and the entire new heavens and earth. The Garden of Eden, Tabernacle, Temple, the Church, and the new heavens and earth are all repeated and visited throughout Scripture and fulfilled at the end of days.
Studying biblical theology is very helpful in connecting ideas in Scripture that might not be connected on a quick read-through. Scripture is very united when one understands biblical theology. Biblical theology requires reading the Bible with an eye for continuous and developing storylines.
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Brittany Proffitt lives in Dallas and is a writer and content manager for So We Speak.