Prayer and the Knowledge of God

1. Dr. Hamilton,

   I have read your blog for some time but I have never left a comment. Thanks for the review of Goldsworthy’s book. I am currently reading his book on preaching and it has been a real joy. I was wondering though, as I have read through Goldsworthy and I am starting to understand his approach to biblical theology, when does a person see Christ too often in the Old Testament? Or is our problem that we do not see him enough? Or maybe the answer lies somewhere else? I would be grateful for any insight that you could give.

   Travis McGowen

2. Dr. Hamilton,

   I have read your blog for some time but I have never left a comment. Thanks for the review of Goldsworthy’s book. I am currently reading his book on preaching and it has been a real joy. I was wondering though, as I have read through Goldsworthy and as I am starting to understand his approach to biblical theology, when does a person see Christ too often in the Old Testament? Or is our problem that we do not see him enough? Or maybe the answer lies somewhere else? I would be grateful for any insight that you could give.

   Travis McGowen

3. Jim,
   Thanks for a great review. Goldsworthy’s biblical theology books are one of the best things to come out of Australia since Vegemite!

4. Travis,

   Thanks for your note.

   I think it’s possible to see Jesus in the OT “too much” when we do not see him in a manner that corresponds with the actual development of salvation history and messianic promise.

   I don’t know if this makes sense, but maybe an analogy would be helpful. Let’s say, for instance, you had an inventor who tried a bunch of different contraptions before he finally hit on the right thing that actually worked. If people looking back at his process thought that he knew exactly what he was doing the whole time, this would be inaccurate.

   This analogy doesn’t work precisely because clearly God knows what he’s doing as he inspires the authors of Scripture. But when we look at the disciples’ response to what Jesus understood his messianic mission to be (it is necessary to go to Jerusalem and be crucified), they weren’t expecting what he said was his task. Nor do they see him calm the sea at the end of Mark 4 and say, “Naturally! We knew the messiah would be God incarnate and this is what we expected!” No, they’re dumbfounded. They apparently did not expect this.

   So we have to read the development of the messianism such that it explains what people seem to have expected the messiah to do when Jesus actually came.

   Readings that see Jesus all over the OT, but that don’t make sense of the reactions to Jesus we see in the Gospels, don’t work. I think the Messiah is all over the OT, and I think the developing messianism can be read such that the reactions to Jesus make sense.

   I hope this helps. Have you seen my essay on the Skull Crushing Seed of the Woman? If you go to the “Articles and Essays” page of my blog you’ll find it there.

   I hope to write a book on these issues, and I would appreciate your prayers.

   Blessings!

   JMH

Comments are closed.