According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible

by Graeme Goldsworthy

Book Overview

Concise, pithy chapters with dozens of charts, highlighted summaries and study questions make Graeme Goldsworthy's introductory text enormously useful for understanding how the Bible fits together as the unfolding story of God's plan for salvation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0830826963
• ISBN13: 9780830826964
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: IVP Academic
• Length: 251 Pages
• Weight: 0.87 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

According to Plan: The Unfolding Revalation Of God In The Bible

This book was purchased as a text book for a class. It is packed with insight into the why, how, what, and where of Biblical Theology. It is not an easy read because of the depth of knowledge it contains.

All Engaged And Employed In Order To Secure One End

'Jesus not only saves us, He also informs our minds of the nature of the truth. We cannot separate the saving and revealing work of Christ.' p 48 Strongly akin to BB Warfield's apologetic in seeking grounds for the Christian faith in 'right reason', Graeme Goldsworthy develops hermeneutical pre-suppositions beneficial to Biblical Theology as a discipline. Yet the influence of the indomitable Geerhardus Vos is the distinctive design of this book, which as an independent work is of similar character. 'Because biblical history is inseparable from revelation it stretches beyond the limits of secular history in both directions.' p 75 This work is altogether helpful to all those interested in Biblical Theology as it marks well the watershed era of biblical truth prevalent in the distinctive battles of old Princeton, which may help us re-consider and re-evaluate the manifold errors advocated in altered doctrines of Scripture. 'We must remember that the revealing acts of God never appear separated from His verbal communications of truth.' Geerhardus Vos, Redemptive History & Biblical Interpretation, ed Richard B Gaffin Jr p 9 Bolstering the ideas that revelation and redemption have a divine origin, Goldsworthy retains his fidelity to Scripture by appropriating the history of God's associations with His creation in terms of progressive disclosure according to the secret counsel of His will, and yet, according to plan. 'God in fact reserves His greatest revelation until the point of fulfillment. Jesus does not simply fulfill the promises; rather, He is the final and fullest revelation of what the promises are really about. This means that the form and the content of the fulfillment exceeds by far the form and the content of the promises themselves. The very act of fulfilling the OT promises is itself the most important revelation of all.' p 65 This focus by Goldsworthy on how, why, where and what Biblical Theology is, comes to its fullest expression in the historical life of Christ, as the Holy Spirit solemnly attests to: 'Every word of the NT comes from the Holy Spirit's testimony to Jesus.' pg 50 And, again, 'Our only knowledge of Christ comes from the Scriptures, and they give a united testimony to Him. Christ is proclaimed as the one who reveals God to us; He is the Word of God. God has ensured that the Bible gives an infallible testimony to Christ.' p 47 Goldsworthy enlists a valuable visual aid to discuss the different views of progressive revelation. The differences could quiet easily be overstated, but once the reader has dwelt on the relationship of the OT to the New, much light is shed on the topic. In similar vein, he distinguishes between the suppositions of secular humanism, theistic humanism and Christian theism in chapter 4. Through his appeal to presuppositions that have been historically identified with believing Christian scholarship, Goldsworthy precludes critical scholarship which has sought to divest the Bible of its divine

The Best Introduction to Biblical Theology Available

I just finished reading According to Plan by Graeme Goldsworthy. This is the book I've been waiting for since my graduation from seminary. One of the more revolutionary topics which I was taught in seminary is called Biblical Theology also known as the study of Redemptive History. I still have fond memories of wading through Vos's classic on the subject, Biblical Theology. A study of Biblical Theology opened my eyes to the consistent covenantal work of redemption accomplished by God through history. It was like reading the Bible for the first time as I saw type and antitype, promise and fulfillment, redemption accomplished and applied. The only difficulty is that Vos's Biblical Theology is thick reading. It is certainly not something you just toss at someone and say, "Enjoy!" There should be a warning on the inside cover that reads, "Read only under the supervision of someone trained in Theology." Thus my dilemma, I wanted those under my pastoral care to understand Biblical theology but I did not have a helpful, lay-level teaching tool. That is why I am so grateful for Goldsworthy's work. I have heard for a few years now that Goldsworthy had taken up Vos's mantle, publishing a number of very helpful books written around the theme of the Kingdom of God, found together under the title Goldswothy Trilogy: (Gospel and Kingdom, Gospel and Wisdom, Gospel and Revelation). I just had yet to read any of them. This book, According to Plan, by Goldsworthy's own admission, is intended to be a primer for his other works. Goldsworthy accomplishes two goals in this book. First, he presents an overview of the study of Biblical Theology with special emphasis on Scripture's central theme: the person and work of Jesus Christ. Second, he takes a tour de force through Scripture tracing the movement of God's covenant founded Kingdom from Creation through Abraham and David, culminating in Jesus Christ and the New Testament church. You might think after considering the depth and breadth of these two goals that this book would read like a masters level dissertation. But therein lies the genius of this book: deep, solid theology packaged to be understood and digested easily by those without a seminary education. Each chapter is short enough to read in short stints. Not only are there summaries at the end of each chapter but there are also short summary sentences after each subpoint in each chapter. Goldsworthy adds numerous diagrams to help illustrate his points and spends the last two chapters giving examples of how one might do Biblical theology. Someone went to a great deal of trouble to make this book incredibly easy to read. That work does not go unrewarded given that Biblical Theology is such an important but often confusing topic. Someone with previous theological education will find this book to be a great refresher course on the basics of redemptive history. But it does not just rehash Vos's Biblical Theology. Goldsworthy has done some excellent scholarly wo

Excellent Book

For anyone interested to know how the 66 books of the Bible fit together to point towards salvation in Christ, this is a great tool to use.

Excellent!

Written from the conviction that "learning to grasp the unity of the Bible . . . is necessary for a right understanding of the meaning of any individual text" (p. 7), this introductory-level biblical theology is an excellent survey of the history of God's mighty redemptive acts as recorded in the unfolding narrative of Scripture. Goldsworthy's stated aim is to (1) introduce his readers to an integrated theology of the Bible (2) written with a full acceptance of the full inspiration and authority of Scripture as God's Word, (3) for ordinary Christians. His work is a success. The book is divided into four parts, answering the questions "why?", "how?", "what?" and "where?" about biblical theology. Part one is a single chapter which answers the "why?" question by raising several questions (about interpretation of problem passages, the relevance of the Old Testament to today, and whether there is a unifying theme to the Bible)which make biblical theology so necessary for believers. Part two, the most academic part of the book (and the part most likely to intimidate Goldsworthy's intended audience of lay-people), answers the "what?" question in six chapters which introduce the foundational presuppositions which form the basis for the author's biblical-theological method. Biblical theology is compared to other forms of theology (systematic, historical, exegetical, pastoral) (chapter two), Christian theism is contrasted with secular humanism and theistic humanism (chapter three), and the nature of Scripture as God's divine-human word of revelation to man, which is focused on Christ as redeemer, is thoroughly addressed (chapters four - seven). Chapter five is especially helpful in fleshing out a distinctively Christian (Christ-centered) approach to Scripture, understanding that the Bible contains "progressive, redemptive revelation." "It is revelation because in it God makes himself known. It is redemptive because God reveals himself in the act of redeeming us. It is progressive because God makes himself and his purposes known by stages until the full light is revealed in Jesus Christ" (p. 57). This portion of the book should be read at some point, although some readers may prefer to skip ahead to part three and revisit part two later. Part three is much more accessible as the author now answers the "what?" question in eighteen short chapters. These chapters cover the entire sweep of Scripture by highlighting the key epochs and events in the biblical story-line (e.g. creation, the fall, first promises of redemption (with Noah), the call of Abraham, the exodus of Israel from Egypt, the giving of the law, the wilderness temptation, the conquest of Canaan, the beginning of the monarcy, the exile of Israel into Babylon, the prophetic promises, the coming of Christ, the out-pouring of the Spirit, and the future consummation), all the while connecting the dots with biblical-theological themes of creation/new-creation, covenant/promise, kingdom, and regener