What is Biblical Theology?
What is Biblical Theology?
We all want our theology to be Biblical so that what we believe and obey is derived from the Bible. However, that is not typically what we mean when we say “Biblical theology”. Biblical theology is a way of understanding the Scripture that pays specific attention to the unfolding of God’s acts of revelation and redemption. It sees the Bible as one consistent storyline that climaxes in Jesus Christ (Heb. 1:1-2). By using the word “storyline” we mean that God’s acts of redemption are consistent and unfold with greater and greater revelatory detail until the revelation of redemption, His ultimate goal.
As such, when we talk about Biblical theology, we recognize that Scripture is not a hodge-podge of stories; rather, the Bible presents an ongoing and connected series of events making up the one plan and purpose of God. Similarly, poetry and proverbs are not random religious experiences of God’s people jumbled together as a memory for us; rather, they serve in specific ways to complement, flesh out, and further reveal this plan and purpose God that will culminate in Jesus Christ.
Biblical theology is different from systematic theology but in reality they complement each other. At their best both disciplines arise from Scripture and are grounded in proper exegesis of the Biblical text. Systematic theology is concerned with specific topics of Scripture and seeks to examine all that the Bible says on a particular topic. Scripture will be the “data” for systematic theology. Take Christology as an example. The theologian will consider Phil. 2, John 1, and various other passages—to determine what the Scripture teaches about Jesus’ deity, humanity, and the relationship of these two natures and move into further detail.
Biblical theology, on the other hand, is concerned with the organic growth and progress of God’s revelation. For example, looking at the promises of the Messiah, in Biblical theology, one will trace the history of God’s revelation. One might for example start with Genesis 3:15 and trace the promises through the Abrahamic covenant and to the Davidic covenant or how the Messianic Psalms build upon the Davidic covenant, or how the Christology of Hebrews builds upon the concept of covenant.
Biblical Theology in the Church
As a pastor I believe that Christians need the Word of God as a foundation. Believers need a basic understanding of Scripture as well as an understanding of basic systematic theology. Too often today, these disciplines are relegated to academia or practiced in such a way that people falsely perceive them as only relevant to the scholar. If this discipline must return to the church how much more should good Biblical theology be fed to the church today.
Let me suggest some benefits of Biblical theology for the church:
(1) Biblical theology reminds us we are connected to the people of God. There are not two plans of salvation in God’s covenant revelations. The concept that there are two peoples of God (Israel vs. the church) is a sad and gross error. On a practical level, it leaves much of Scripture largely unconnected to God’s people today since the bulk of various sections of Scripture are viewed as primarily for another era (even the Sermon on the Mount has been used in that way by some). When we preach and minister in a way that takes into account the progressive revelation of God we help people see that we are part of the one storyline of God’s unfolding plan.
(2) Biblical theology helps people see the relevance of the Old Testament. In the church today, I find that people are often baffled with what to do with the Old Testament. At best, even the most knowledgeable seem to view it as just a collection of the various activities of God. But Biblical theology gives you the tools to connect the parts of the Bible to understand them as a unified whole. I have found as a pastor when you start to show how the Biblical text flows like a river leading out into the ocean that is Jesus Christ, people begin to see that the text is applicable to them. They stop moralizing from favorite texts and start to listen to how it reveals God. Old Testament events are less and less things relegated to children’s Sunday school flannel graphs (for those of us old enough to have found memories of such things).
(3) Biblical theology adds joy to your ministry and flavor to your preaching. When I was in seminary, it so happened that at the very season when we were studying Jeremiah, I had to make a hospital visit. As I talked with the dear saint in the Lord, my conversation drifted to Jeremiah and God’s command that Jeremiah buy a field occupied by the Babylonian army (Jer. 32). The passage is an assurance of a greater hope to the people of God: God keeps his promises. God cannot break his covenant with David any more than we can stop the sun from rising and setting (Jer. 33:19-26). There was sweetness in the conversation that day as the biblical theology of Jeremiah connected both me and that saint on his death bed to Jesus Christ.
I share this not to brag or advocate Jeremiah should be our “go to” passage for hospital visits but in my experience the deeper my understanding of Biblical theology, the more I see Scripture in living color and with three dimensions. [Let the record also show I am a lover of good systematic theology and by commending the former I am not spurning the latter].
When the preacher is attuned to Biblical theology it makes it easier to illustrate your sermon from other parts of Scripture. One may, for example, be in Genesis on Abraham and your applications and illustration can draw from later points in the Biblical storyline that flow out of the text you are expositing. Similarly, one might be preaching from Galatians 3 and you will find a wealth of illustrations of the “seed” promise flowing through the Old Testament which may flavor your exposition with concrete examples “for those of us on whom the end of the age has come” (1 Cor. 10:11).
Let me encourage you: wherever you are in your Christian walk and in your knowledge of the Scripture to become a student of Biblical theology. Learn not only good Bible study methods (hermeneutics and exegesis) but learn to listen to the unfolding notes of Scripture. In the Scriptures, God plays a melody with notes of harmony along the way. We do not study a symphony by isolating out the first violin and organizing all the notes it plays (1,369 C’s; 1,254 A’s, etc.). We listen to a symphony. We enjoy the flow and our hearts are warmed as the notes unfold and the movement progresses and builds to a great conclusion. So it is with the Scriptures, and while we should pay attention to the parts and system of it, our ultimate goal is to see and hear the glory of God revealed on the face of Jesus Christ—as this great truth has been unfolding along the progress of redemption. That is the value of Biblical theology.
Tim Bertolet is a graduate of Lancaster Bible College and Westminster Theological Seminary. He is an ordained pastor in the Bible Fellowship Church, currently serving as Interim Pastor of Faith Bible Fellowship Church in York, Pa. He is a husband and father of four daughters. You can follow him on Twitter @tim_bertolet.
