What do you think?
Rate this book
Essential Studies in Biblical Theology
God Dwells Among Us: Expanding Eden to the Ends of the Earth
Just like we do today, the writers and chief actors of the Old Testament felt a deep longing for the presence of God. It is symbolized in the temple ruins, and before it the temple itself, and before that the ark of the covenant and the tabernacle that housed it, and before that the Garden of Eden. In response to this longing, God shares his ultimate mission, in which his people play a part: the expansion of Eden, the temple of God's presence, to all peoples throughout the earth. The temple has always been a source of rich scholarship and theological reflection, but what does it mean for the church's ongoing mission in the world? G. K. Beale and Mitchell Kim take temple theology off the bookshelf and bring it to our modern-day life, where the church is instructed and exhorted in its purpose. From Eden to the new Jerusalem, we are God's temple on the earth in our day, the firstfruits of the new creation. God has always desired to dwell among us; now the church must follow its missional call to extend the borders of God's kingdom and take his presence to the ends of the earth.
Preaching's 2014 Best Books for Preachers 2014 Best Missions-Oriented Biblical Study, from Byron Borger, Hearts and Minds Bookstore
Preaching's 2014 Best Books for Preachers 2014 Best Missions-Oriented Biblical Study, from Byron Borger, Hearts and Minds Bookstore
215 pages, Paperback
First published October 16, 2014
184 people are currently reading
1386 people want to read
About the author
Gregory K. Beale
43 books201 followersG. K. Beale (PhD, University of Cambridge) is professor of New Testament and biblical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the coeditor of the Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament and the author of numerous books, including A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 139 reviews
October 12, 2019
Really solid.
January 7, 2015
Christians who love the Bible, should love biblical theology. More than any other discipline, biblical theology has the power to take the student on an exciting journey into the overall meaning of the biblical text. Early on in my study of biblical theology, I was told about the transformative power of one particular book and one particular biblical theme. That book was "The Temple and the Church’s Mission" by G.K. Beale (IVP). Eventually I read through that book and now agree with all the praise that was heaped upon it.
Beale’s work on the temple, showing how that theme is developed from Eden all the way to the New Jerusalem, can be truly transformative. Beale is not the only scholar to uncover this biblical theme, but his book perhaps more than any other, has advanced our understanding of all that is meant by God’s pledge to dwell with man in a visible temple.
The one drawback to Beale’s earlier title was that it was quite difficult to work through. Beale is exhaustive in his treatment of primary and secondary literature. He builds cases for each of the NT allusions he finds to OT passages. He interacts with the second temple Judaistic writings in his effort to understand what the people of the Bible’s day would have thought when they heard various images and themes about the temple. All of that reads more like a theological tome than a helpful and practical book for church use.
Finally, Beale has updated his original book and simplified it. Many thanks are due Mitchell Kim, a pastor who has used Beale’s material and also developed his own on the same theological topic. Together (and with the help of IVP) they have created a readable, shorter version of Beale’s original title, and even advanced beyond that book with more fully developed application of this theme for practical church ministry.
This new work, "God Dwells Among Us: Expanding Eden to the Ends of the Earth" by G.K. Beale and Mitchell Kim (IVP), is going to be my go-to book to give people interested in biblical theology. It applies biblical theology for the church and will be useful for lay teachers, pastors and Bible students everywhere.
"God Dwells Among Us" is well written, clear and concise. It provides numerous applications, and takes the time to show how the interpreters arrive at their conclusions. The book does not directly take on dispensationalism, but does explain certain assumptions which may provide a reason as to why many modern Christians have not seen the full nature of the temple theme as applicable to Church today. This volume also doesn’t tackle all the questions posed in the bigger work. It doesn’t directly deal with Ezekiel’s temple all that much, and it doesn’t major on ancient cosmology as a way of understanding the Eden = Temple image. You will have to get the larger work for those questions.
The book includes a helpful discussion on typology and is much more fully developed, pastorally, than the older work. I appreciate too, that the punchline and the take-home application, are not saved for the end, but over and over throughout the book applications are made to the NT understanding of the OT teaching on the Temple and how this applies to us today.
I highly recommend this book. This is a must read theology book for everyone!
Disclaimer: This book was provided by InterVarsity Press. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a positive review.
Beale’s work on the temple, showing how that theme is developed from Eden all the way to the New Jerusalem, can be truly transformative. Beale is not the only scholar to uncover this biblical theme, but his book perhaps more than any other, has advanced our understanding of all that is meant by God’s pledge to dwell with man in a visible temple.
The one drawback to Beale’s earlier title was that it was quite difficult to work through. Beale is exhaustive in his treatment of primary and secondary literature. He builds cases for each of the NT allusions he finds to OT passages. He interacts with the second temple Judaistic writings in his effort to understand what the people of the Bible’s day would have thought when they heard various images and themes about the temple. All of that reads more like a theological tome than a helpful and practical book for church use.
Finally, Beale has updated his original book and simplified it. Many thanks are due Mitchell Kim, a pastor who has used Beale’s material and also developed his own on the same theological topic. Together (and with the help of IVP) they have created a readable, shorter version of Beale’s original title, and even advanced beyond that book with more fully developed application of this theme for practical church ministry.
This new work, "God Dwells Among Us: Expanding Eden to the Ends of the Earth" by G.K. Beale and Mitchell Kim (IVP), is going to be my go-to book to give people interested in biblical theology. It applies biblical theology for the church and will be useful for lay teachers, pastors and Bible students everywhere.
"God Dwells Among Us" is well written, clear and concise. It provides numerous applications, and takes the time to show how the interpreters arrive at their conclusions. The book does not directly take on dispensationalism, but does explain certain assumptions which may provide a reason as to why many modern Christians have not seen the full nature of the temple theme as applicable to Church today. This volume also doesn’t tackle all the questions posed in the bigger work. It doesn’t directly deal with Ezekiel’s temple all that much, and it doesn’t major on ancient cosmology as a way of understanding the Eden = Temple image. You will have to get the larger work for those questions.
The book includes a helpful discussion on typology and is much more fully developed, pastorally, than the older work. I appreciate too, that the punchline and the take-home application, are not saved for the end, but over and over throughout the book applications are made to the NT understanding of the OT teaching on the Temple and how this applies to us today.
I highly recommend this book. This is a must read theology book for everyone!
Disclaimer: This book was provided by InterVarsity Press. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a positive review.
May 20, 2020
Um estudo maravilhoso sobre o local da presença de Deus em cada uma das etapas da revelação progressiva, do Éden ao novo Éden, e a missão da igreja como consequência.
"Nossa missão como o templo verdadeiro é estender sua morada por toda a terra por meio do nosso testemunho até que esse templo esteja completado" p.98
"Nossa missão como o templo verdadeiro é estender sua morada por toda a terra por meio do nosso testemunho até que esse templo esteja completado" p.98
May 20, 2015
Of the several "interpretive keys" popular in Biblical studies today (covenant, law/gospel, etc.), the concept of temple is one of my favorites. However, this book doesn't handle the topic nearly as well as it could have. It's a mess editorially, for instance. It doesn't help that it is an adaptation of a much longer work by Beale on the same subject. The work is very uneven. At times it reads like a scholarly look; at other times, like a junior-high youth group lesson. For that I blame the co-author, who was brought in ostensibly to "popularize" the earlier book. His applications stick out like a sore thumb.
It's a shame, for the basic outline takes you through the Biblical text quite well. Eden was the original temple, and Adam was supposed to expand that temple as far as possible. Despite the fall, this task was not lost. The patriarchs did what they could to expand that worship in the promised land. The tabernacle picks up many of those Edenic themes, as did Solomon's temple. Despite sin and exile, the prophets speak often of a great temple being rebuilt for the nations. This is to be understood through the person of Jesus, the second Adam, who picks up his work and begins the process of completing what Adam failed to do. He builds a church, the new temple, in which his people are to serve as priests. We look forward to Eden completely expanded in the new heavens and new earth, where the entire universe will be the paradisaical temple/dwelling place of the Lord.
It's a shame, for the basic outline takes you through the Biblical text quite well. Eden was the original temple, and Adam was supposed to expand that temple as far as possible. Despite the fall, this task was not lost. The patriarchs did what they could to expand that worship in the promised land. The tabernacle picks up many of those Edenic themes, as did Solomon's temple. Despite sin and exile, the prophets speak often of a great temple being rebuilt for the nations. This is to be understood through the person of Jesus, the second Adam, who picks up his work and begins the process of completing what Adam failed to do. He builds a church, the new temple, in which his people are to serve as priests. We look forward to Eden completely expanded in the new heavens and new earth, where the entire universe will be the paradisaical temple/dwelling place of the Lord.
October 8, 2019
This is one of my favorite books that I have read. There is a lot of information to take in, but it is helpful. This book helps you understand how glorious the Scriptures are and how one central idea flows throughout the whole Bible, with multiple writers talking about different aspects of the same thing. Being someone that struggles with atheism, the idea of temple theology, has helped me in arguing against myself when I begin battling those thoughts. And the authors do a great job of breaking it down and explaining each aspect of temple theology.
May 15, 2016
Summary: A study of the theology of the Eden-temple of creation as an expression of God's purpose to have a dwelling place with humanity and the development of this theme throughout scripture, under-girding the mission of the church.
Good biblical theology works up from the data of particular books of scripture to develop themes that run through the whole of scripture. It helps us both hear the testimony of particular writers to a particular time, and the harmony of witness through time, and calls us to join the chorus with the worship and service of our lives. This book is good biblical theology that does all of these things.
The book arises from Mitchell Kim's pastoral ministry, particularly a seven week sermon series based on the work of G.K. Beale in The Temple and the Church's Mission in the New Studies in Biblical Theology series. Kim, with Beale's co-authorship, expand this series into a survey of this theme suitable for an adult lay audience. They begin with the idea of the garden of Eden as God's dwelling place with his image-bearers, and his intention that they would expand Eden to fill the whole earth through their offspring. Although the fall of the first couple means this purpose to extend the Eden-temple to the whole earth could not be fulfilled in the way God originally intended, we see this working out in the patriarchs with Noah once again being fruitful and multiplying after the flood, God dispersing the nations at Babel and the promise to Abraham and the response of Abraham and later Jacob in building altars throughout Canaan as types of "sanctuaries" as God begins to make a great nation.
After the deliverance of the nation from slavery in Egypt, God establishes a "tabernacle" in the wilderness, which Kim and Beale call the Eden dwelling place "remixed in the context of sin." There is both the Holy of Holies, and provision for sin by which the people of God may approach and live in God's Holy presence. The tabernacle, and the later temple image the cosmic temple, and the restoration of the temple, the future temple that will fill the earth.
The second Jerusalem temple never fulfills these purposes in itself, which only the coming of Jesus does; the temple that will be destroyed and raised up, signalling the coming of God's new creation extending to the nations. This is accomplished in and through the church, the body of Christ and the temple of his Spirit, extending the new Eden-creation to the ends of the earth, even as it looks for the consummation of this purpose in the return of Jesus, establishing the new heavens and the new earth.
The penultimate chapter asks the telling question, "Why Haven't I Seen This Before?" The authors cite four reasons. One is that very different cosmology of the biblical writers from our naturalistic cosmos disconnected from any spiritual realities. Second is that rarely is the Bible treated as a unity, a canonical whole. We look at particular books but rarely at the witness of the whole (and some who do only emphasize the discontinuities). Third is that we are unfamiliar with the use of typology. Finally, we think of "literal" fulfillment only in physical terms, when in scripture, the "true" temple is the heavenly one of which the earthly temple is only a shadow.
The final chapter returns to the idea of the mission of the church as those through whom the new creation Eden-temple is being extended to the ends of the earth. This is a call to sacrifice, and to ministry empowered by the word of God and prayer. It was here, even as I found myself saying "Amen" to these foundational aspects of the church's life and witness, that I also found myself struggling with the very "spiritual" feel that seemed to ignore how the church's social witness and care for creation also herald the coming Eden-temple of the new creation, portrayed in Revelation as a garden-city.
Aside from this quibble, I appreciated this book as a model of the kind of teaching that can, and I think, ought to be done in the setting of the church that helps people grasp the Big Story of which we are a part, and how we in fact have a part in advancing the plot that is life-affirming and embracing. Such teaching is rich fare that fuels both worship and work in a way that the "fast food" diets of many of our churches cannot sustain, as many of our most vibrant churches are learning.
Good biblical theology works up from the data of particular books of scripture to develop themes that run through the whole of scripture. It helps us both hear the testimony of particular writers to a particular time, and the harmony of witness through time, and calls us to join the chorus with the worship and service of our lives. This book is good biblical theology that does all of these things.
The book arises from Mitchell Kim's pastoral ministry, particularly a seven week sermon series based on the work of G.K. Beale in The Temple and the Church's Mission in the New Studies in Biblical Theology series. Kim, with Beale's co-authorship, expand this series into a survey of this theme suitable for an adult lay audience. They begin with the idea of the garden of Eden as God's dwelling place with his image-bearers, and his intention that they would expand Eden to fill the whole earth through their offspring. Although the fall of the first couple means this purpose to extend the Eden-temple to the whole earth could not be fulfilled in the way God originally intended, we see this working out in the patriarchs with Noah once again being fruitful and multiplying after the flood, God dispersing the nations at Babel and the promise to Abraham and the response of Abraham and later Jacob in building altars throughout Canaan as types of "sanctuaries" as God begins to make a great nation.
After the deliverance of the nation from slavery in Egypt, God establishes a "tabernacle" in the wilderness, which Kim and Beale call the Eden dwelling place "remixed in the context of sin." There is both the Holy of Holies, and provision for sin by which the people of God may approach and live in God's Holy presence. The tabernacle, and the later temple image the cosmic temple, and the restoration of the temple, the future temple that will fill the earth.
The second Jerusalem temple never fulfills these purposes in itself, which only the coming of Jesus does; the temple that will be destroyed and raised up, signalling the coming of God's new creation extending to the nations. This is accomplished in and through the church, the body of Christ and the temple of his Spirit, extending the new Eden-creation to the ends of the earth, even as it looks for the consummation of this purpose in the return of Jesus, establishing the new heavens and the new earth.
The penultimate chapter asks the telling question, "Why Haven't I Seen This Before?" The authors cite four reasons. One is that very different cosmology of the biblical writers from our naturalistic cosmos disconnected from any spiritual realities. Second is that rarely is the Bible treated as a unity, a canonical whole. We look at particular books but rarely at the witness of the whole (and some who do only emphasize the discontinuities). Third is that we are unfamiliar with the use of typology. Finally, we think of "literal" fulfillment only in physical terms, when in scripture, the "true" temple is the heavenly one of which the earthly temple is only a shadow.
The final chapter returns to the idea of the mission of the church as those through whom the new creation Eden-temple is being extended to the ends of the earth. This is a call to sacrifice, and to ministry empowered by the word of God and prayer. It was here, even as I found myself saying "Amen" to these foundational aspects of the church's life and witness, that I also found myself struggling with the very "spiritual" feel that seemed to ignore how the church's social witness and care for creation also herald the coming Eden-temple of the new creation, portrayed in Revelation as a garden-city.
Aside from this quibble, I appreciated this book as a model of the kind of teaching that can, and I think, ought to be done in the setting of the church that helps people grasp the Big Story of which we are a part, and how we in fact have a part in advancing the plot that is life-affirming and embracing. Such teaching is rich fare that fuels both worship and work in a way that the "fast food" diets of many of our churches cannot sustain, as many of our most vibrant churches are learning.
August 15, 2018
The content (essentially Beale's, from a larger work) is good, and this may serve as a decent expansion for someone who's already been introduced to these themes.
However, the book suffers from a few things running backwards.
Backwards from Sermon to Book
It's a challenge simply to read the prose, as the book is largely adapted from Kim's sermons on Beale's longer work. You can tell when a book is rejigged from sermon transcripts - lack of flow, oddly placed application. This suffers hugely from that. It doesn't make the content easily accessible, quite the opposite.
Backwards from Temple to Eden, Rather than Eden to Temple
In spite of the book's subtitle, and beginning in Genesis 1-2, Beale and Kim largely use the temple as their main point of reference, and work back to Eden. This is an easier route to take, as readers are more likely familiar with the details, layout etc. of the temple, but it underserves the theme, and gives the temple a primacy which is strange. We should learn primarily to let the temple remind us of Eden, not vice versa. God did not design Eden to be like a temple; he designed the temple of the be like Eden.
However, the book suffers from a few things running backwards.
Backwards from Sermon to Book
It's a challenge simply to read the prose, as the book is largely adapted from Kim's sermons on Beale's longer work. You can tell when a book is rejigged from sermon transcripts - lack of flow, oddly placed application. This suffers hugely from that. It doesn't make the content easily accessible, quite the opposite.
Backwards from Temple to Eden, Rather than Eden to Temple
In spite of the book's subtitle, and beginning in Genesis 1-2, Beale and Kim largely use the temple as their main point of reference, and work back to Eden. This is an easier route to take, as readers are more likely familiar with the details, layout etc. of the temple, but it underserves the theme, and gives the temple a primacy which is strange. We should learn primarily to let the temple remind us of Eden, not vice versa. God did not design Eden to be like a temple; he designed the temple of the be like Eden.
March 2, 2025
This is an awesome series, but mark this one with the Edward Klink volume as my favorites. In the old battle of the trees versus the forest this one pulls off a coup by taking the trees to construct a grand forest. And oak trees at that.
Strangely enough, I almost thought it might be a dud. I mean where a new author (Mitchell Kim) takes the work of an old author ( G. K. Beale) and makes a new book from the old book just didn’t sound like a winning proposition to me. Why not just get the old book? After reading this work, I’m of a different mind. Either get both books, or get this one, but I’d recommend not getting the old book over the new one.
The old book (The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God) is a masterwork of its kind, but this one reads better…a lot better. Mr. Kim is not just riding the coattails of a seminal work, but he took the vitamin-filled book and made it tasty to the palate. At times, it even had its devotional moments. I learned AND I enjoyed it.
So the theme of Creation, or Eden, as the first Temple is quite familiar to me, but the connections made here were the most compelling I’ve seen. As the book traveled through the Tabernacle and Temple it revealed threads that I had frankly missed. The book reached a profound level for me when it got to Jesus. Especially the statements Jesus made about the Temple were far more packed with meaning that I realized. The final chapter on the New Jerusalem as the Temple was, without hyperbole, thrilling for me.
Only the chapter on Eden’s ministry fell flat for me. The interpretation for Revelation 11 just didn’t seem plausible to me. As with every title in this series, the authors swear by Covenant Theology. I don’t fully subscribe to that viewpoint, but some of these larger concepts transcend our typical divisions. We view from the mountain tops here.
Beale is a genius. Kim has the winsome writing down. Together they made this one is a gem!
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
Strangely enough, I almost thought it might be a dud. I mean where a new author (Mitchell Kim) takes the work of an old author ( G. K. Beale) and makes a new book from the old book just didn’t sound like a winning proposition to me. Why not just get the old book? After reading this work, I’m of a different mind. Either get both books, or get this one, but I’d recommend not getting the old book over the new one.
The old book (The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God) is a masterwork of its kind, but this one reads better…a lot better. Mr. Kim is not just riding the coattails of a seminal work, but he took the vitamin-filled book and made it tasty to the palate. At times, it even had its devotional moments. I learned AND I enjoyed it.
So the theme of Creation, or Eden, as the first Temple is quite familiar to me, but the connections made here were the most compelling I’ve seen. As the book traveled through the Tabernacle and Temple it revealed threads that I had frankly missed. The book reached a profound level for me when it got to Jesus. Especially the statements Jesus made about the Temple were far more packed with meaning that I realized. The final chapter on the New Jerusalem as the Temple was, without hyperbole, thrilling for me.
Only the chapter on Eden’s ministry fell flat for me. The interpretation for Revelation 11 just didn’t seem plausible to me. As with every title in this series, the authors swear by Covenant Theology. I don’t fully subscribe to that viewpoint, but some of these larger concepts transcend our typical divisions. We view from the mountain tops here.
Beale is a genius. Kim has the winsome writing down. Together they made this one is a gem!
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
April 8, 2024
God Dwells Among Us: A Biblical Theology of the Temple by G.K. Beale and Mitchell Kim was such a delightful read.
A beautiful study into the mission of God as developed through a theology of God’s presence through the Tabernacle/Temple/End-time Temple. I thought the practical applications the authors gave were good but lacking at times, and there were a couple of chapters towards the end were their eschatological paradigm really came out, amillennialism, and I didn’t necessarily agree with the overall conclusions in these chapters, but nonetheless, it was still an amazing read.
Highly recommend to every Christian as we seek to be disciples who are on mission, from the conviction that Eden will be extended ‘till the ends of the Earth!
A beautiful study into the mission of God as developed through a theology of God’s presence through the Tabernacle/Temple/End-time Temple. I thought the practical applications the authors gave were good but lacking at times, and there were a couple of chapters towards the end were their eschatological paradigm really came out, amillennialism, and I didn’t necessarily agree with the overall conclusions in these chapters, but nonetheless, it was still an amazing read.
Highly recommend to every Christian as we seek to be disciples who are on mission, from the conviction that Eden will be extended ‘till the ends of the Earth!
February 19, 2025
Utterly convincing. Beale and Kim are exegetical wizards and this book is a masterclass!
If you want to know a biblical theology of God’s presence, as epitomized in the theme of “temple”, look no further.
Be warned though: if you are of the premillennial dispensational perspective (if you don’t know what that is as it relates to the temple, ask ChatGPT), this book would undoubtedly be the kryptonite for any notion you would have of there being some physical temple set up in Israel during a literal millennial reign of Christ
If you want to know a biblical theology of God’s presence, as epitomized in the theme of “temple”, look no further.
Be warned though: if you are of the premillennial dispensational perspective (if you don’t know what that is as it relates to the temple, ask ChatGPT), this book would undoubtedly be the kryptonite for any notion you would have of there being some physical temple set up in Israel during a literal millennial reign of Christ
March 9, 2021
This was a great read and introduction on the tabernacle motif in Scripture. I found it good, and pretty accessible. I must confess, I was a little burned out from deeper books, so my reading suffered from this. It did, however, make me want to dig deeper into this concept, and check out Beale's more thorough work that it's based on in the future.
January 20, 2025
I read this book very quickly for a class. Solid introduction to the topic and very accessible. However, I found myself wishing for more thorough definitions and a bit more practical application.
It’s easy to use familiar language like “worship” and “mission” and tell inspiring stories about giving up one’s life for the Lord on the mission field. You can feel inspired, sure, but still be rude to your neighbor who parks in your parking spot or say hateful things about people with political differences or refuse to share your resources because it’s inconvenient etc. etc.
This book really feels like part one of a two part series and I’m looking forward to our upcoming class discussion!
It’s easy to use familiar language like “worship” and “mission” and tell inspiring stories about giving up one’s life for the Lord on the mission field. You can feel inspired, sure, but still be rude to your neighbor who parks in your parking spot or say hateful things about people with political differences or refuse to share your resources because it’s inconvenient etc. etc.
This book really feels like part one of a two part series and I’m looking forward to our upcoming class discussion!
October 7, 2018
This is the book that convinced me of Amillennialism. The idea of the goal of God through redemption and recreation to bring the temple of God back into the creation blew my mind. So grateful for this book.
September 12, 2020
Fantastic. Listened to the audio book first and then read the paper copy (same year).
September 20, 2021
Excellent. One of those books I wish I could memorise word for word. Will be returning.
August 3, 2022
Summary:A study of the theme of the temple from God’s garden temple in Eden to the New Jerusalem of Revelation, and the role of the people of God, his living temple, in extending the reach of God’s kingdom.
I discovered in logging this book in Goodreads and setting up this post that I read a different edition of this book in 2016 and posted a review of it previously on this blog. I’ve enjoyed the new Essential Studies in Biblical Theology series and have tried to review works in that series and had not realized that this work had been re-issued as part of this series. But it totally fits the series purpose to address broad themes in “the grand story line of the Bible.” The temple is clearly one of these, and building on the work of G. K. Beale, Beale and Mitchell Kim offer a survey of this theme and its practical implications. The book actually grows out of a preaching series by Kim drawing the arc between the Biblical development of this idea and the life of the church.
Rather than recapitulate the material covered in my previous review, since, as far as I can tell, this is basically the same book with a new cover and as part of a series. I will just touch on a few things that stood out to me in this reading of the work. One is that I’ve often thought of the discontinuity between Eden and the rest of history resulting from the fall. This work underscored the purpose of God to dwell among human beings, first materialized in the garden temple of Eden and intended to expand through the rest of creation. The wonder is that the fall, with its very profound impacts, did not thwart God’s intent to dwell deeply with his creatures, as he calls out Abraham, and works through this family to bless all the families of the earth.
I was also impressed with the work done on the pattern of the temple from the outer courts, the holy place, and the holy of holies and how this plays out in tabernacle, temple, and the church. One grasps the deep offense of Jesus when the outer court is turned into a marketplace when this was the place of approach, and as far as the Gentiles could come to pray. Also striking was the idea that for the church, the outer courts, the place of sacrifice is the place of our witness, our μάρτυρα (marturas) the word from which we get martyr. Through the suffering of the church in faithful witness, the nations come to God. Finally, one of the marvels of the new Jerusalem, the new garden-temple is that the outer courts and holy place are no longer. Holy God is amid his people without separations.
Witness is fueled by worship, our prayers, like incense rising, and God’s word like the bread of presence pointing to the one who is our living Bread. All of this flows out of being able to approach the living God through Christ, our great high priest. All of this occurs, no longer in a physical building, but amid a people, and we who are in Christ, are that people, we are that living temple, and in mission, we see that temple expand to encompass the whole creation and all the nations, fulfilling both the mandates of creation and the great commission. The two are really one.
It strikes me that reflecting on this theme of God’s presence among us is great comfort at a time when the American church, particularly white evangelicalism, has been rocked by scandal and apostasy, and many are deserting her. God’s purpose to dwell among his people and to expand that dwelling was not thwarted by the fall, by Israel’s unfaithfulness and exile, nor by the repeated failings of the church. We have failed but God will not fail. One of the encouragements I gain from this work is to face our failures but not wallow them, but rather to look up to the unfailing God who continues to be present and will not fail to build his world-encompassing temple.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.
I discovered in logging this book in Goodreads and setting up this post that I read a different edition of this book in 2016 and posted a review of it previously on this blog. I’ve enjoyed the new Essential Studies in Biblical Theology series and have tried to review works in that series and had not realized that this work had been re-issued as part of this series. But it totally fits the series purpose to address broad themes in “the grand story line of the Bible.” The temple is clearly one of these, and building on the work of G. K. Beale, Beale and Mitchell Kim offer a survey of this theme and its practical implications. The book actually grows out of a preaching series by Kim drawing the arc between the Biblical development of this idea and the life of the church.
Rather than recapitulate the material covered in my previous review, since, as far as I can tell, this is basically the same book with a new cover and as part of a series. I will just touch on a few things that stood out to me in this reading of the work. One is that I’ve often thought of the discontinuity between Eden and the rest of history resulting from the fall. This work underscored the purpose of God to dwell among human beings, first materialized in the garden temple of Eden and intended to expand through the rest of creation. The wonder is that the fall, with its very profound impacts, did not thwart God’s intent to dwell deeply with his creatures, as he calls out Abraham, and works through this family to bless all the families of the earth.
I was also impressed with the work done on the pattern of the temple from the outer courts, the holy place, and the holy of holies and how this plays out in tabernacle, temple, and the church. One grasps the deep offense of Jesus when the outer court is turned into a marketplace when this was the place of approach, and as far as the Gentiles could come to pray. Also striking was the idea that for the church, the outer courts, the place of sacrifice is the place of our witness, our μάρτυρα (marturas) the word from which we get martyr. Through the suffering of the church in faithful witness, the nations come to God. Finally, one of the marvels of the new Jerusalem, the new garden-temple is that the outer courts and holy place are no longer. Holy God is amid his people without separations.
Witness is fueled by worship, our prayers, like incense rising, and God’s word like the bread of presence pointing to the one who is our living Bread. All of this flows out of being able to approach the living God through Christ, our great high priest. All of this occurs, no longer in a physical building, but amid a people, and we who are in Christ, are that people, we are that living temple, and in mission, we see that temple expand to encompass the whole creation and all the nations, fulfilling both the mandates of creation and the great commission. The two are really one.
It strikes me that reflecting on this theme of God’s presence among us is great comfort at a time when the American church, particularly white evangelicalism, has been rocked by scandal and apostasy, and many are deserting her. God’s purpose to dwell among his people and to expand that dwelling was not thwarted by the fall, by Israel’s unfaithfulness and exile, nor by the repeated failings of the church. We have failed but God will not fail. One of the encouragements I gain from this work is to face our failures but not wallow them, but rather to look up to the unfailing God who continues to be present and will not fail to build his world-encompassing temple.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.
February 17, 2025
Solid framework for how the Garden of Eden, originally intended to be cultivated and spread through Adam, was not lost at the Fall, but instead took on a different form that God developed throughout the Scriptures and will one day fully realize at Christ’s return.
After the Garden, God dwelt with His people in the tabernacle and temple. Since these were insufficient, God then tabernacled with us in and through the God-Man, Christ. When Christ ascended, He sent His Spirit to tabernacle within us so that we would be made into living stones in the new temple which is Christ. As royal priests, one day a fully realized and perfected Eden will be inaugurated in the New Heavens and New Earth, bringing God’s perfect plan into completion.
After the Garden, God dwelt with His people in the tabernacle and temple. Since these were insufficient, God then tabernacled with us in and through the God-Man, Christ. When Christ ascended, He sent His Spirit to tabernacle within us so that we would be made into living stones in the new temple which is Christ. As royal priests, one day a fully realized and perfected Eden will be inaugurated in the New Heavens and New Earth, bringing God’s perfect plan into completion.
December 15, 2024
Love when authors distill a longer, difficult work into a readable, quick synopsis. Beale’s “The Temple and the Church’s Mission” is amazing…and so hard to get thru. This felt like a 30,000 view of it that people can actually digest. Loved it!
February 25, 2025
“Worship fuels sacrificial mission.”
February 22, 2023
This book does a great job of evaluating and explaining the common theme in scripture of how proximity to God and impacts both our worship and mission as followers of Christ. I hadn’t really noticed how often this 3 layer temple model is used throughout scripture until this book.
March 13, 2017
This was truly a great book! This book helps us to trace God's redemptive plan for His church from Genesis (Eden) to Revelation (New Heavens/Earth). The connections identified between Christ, the temple and each individual church member was particularly fascinating. This book also helps us to understand the overarching goal of scripture more clearly. Finally, this book helps us to see the the importance and urgency of missions as God works out His eschatological plan to dwell among us. This has easily been my favorite book of 2017. I know the year is young but this book will be hard to beat!
August 6, 2020
This was a very good book going over the imagery and typology of Eden and the temple throughout the old and new testament and showing what the mission of the church is in relation to that. It's based off of sermons based off of Beale's book in the NSBT series called The Temple and the Mission of the Church. I want to read Beale's other book on the subject as it gets into more depth on the subject, but this was an easy an streamlined version of it and showed how the symbols of Eden and the Temple progress through the Bible.
According to the commission to Adam in Genesis, man is to bring Eden out into the world and bring the world into subjection under it. We see this imagery in the tabernacle and the Temple as they point toward Christ being the Second Adam who will be able to accomplish this task. Christ is the new Temple that is being built by his church (1 Cor 3). The church's mission is to spread "Eden" to the four corners of the Earth and when Christ returns he will bring the Holy of Holies down to dwell in and permeate the whole of the world. (Rev 21-22)
This book has really helped me to put a lot of the Eden and Temple images together into a more coherent picture. A lot of this stuff James Jordan points out in Through New Eyes, but he doesn't connect it all together. This book also ended up shaping my eschatology into a more tangible and "visual" future reality. Though Beale is (I'm pretty sure) an amillennial, I found this to be a rather postmillennial book. I actually don't think there is as big a difference between the two as you'd think. Amils focus on the future reality of Christ bringing the Holy of Holies to earth while Postmils focus on the spread of Eden throughout the world.
I also liked how the placed the focus of the mission of the church on worship. To grow the church we need to worship right and defy the world through glorifying God rather than the world. This shouldn't stand in opposition to evangelism, but we need to make sure we've got our homes running right before we try to get the world to come in.
According to the commission to Adam in Genesis, man is to bring Eden out into the world and bring the world into subjection under it. We see this imagery in the tabernacle and the Temple as they point toward Christ being the Second Adam who will be able to accomplish this task. Christ is the new Temple that is being built by his church (1 Cor 3). The church's mission is to spread "Eden" to the four corners of the Earth and when Christ returns he will bring the Holy of Holies down to dwell in and permeate the whole of the world. (Rev 21-22)
This book has really helped me to put a lot of the Eden and Temple images together into a more coherent picture. A lot of this stuff James Jordan points out in Through New Eyes, but he doesn't connect it all together. This book also ended up shaping my eschatology into a more tangible and "visual" future reality. Though Beale is (I'm pretty sure) an amillennial, I found this to be a rather postmillennial book. I actually don't think there is as big a difference between the two as you'd think. Amils focus on the future reality of Christ bringing the Holy of Holies to earth while Postmils focus on the spread of Eden throughout the world.
I also liked how the placed the focus of the mission of the church on worship. To grow the church we need to worship right and defy the world through glorifying God rather than the world. This shouldn't stand in opposition to evangelism, but we need to make sure we've got our homes running right before we try to get the world to come in.
October 8, 2020
From missions to preaching to individual piety to church order, the implications of this book’s arguments are as expansive as they are profound. The authors pull on the threads of the biblical narrative by highlighting the commission of creation in Genesis 1 and 2 and its consequent consummation in Revelation 21-22. In between these book ends, the authors make the case that the created world is a dwelling place for God. Because of our sin and because of Adam’s failure to tend and expand eden according to God’s command, we now only see a muted experience of this dwelling place for God. Yet, Revelation 21-22 gives believers assurance of a restored temple where God and man will dwell together again through Christ’s mediation. The assurance of this truth informs how we live and worship now. Through Christ, we are able to take up the commission given to Adam again as we partake in the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18) and seek to restore right worship of God, by his grace, to the ends of the earth. I do wish Beale and Kim would have given more attention to fleshing out the role of the local church in the New Covenant era. They provide such a rich biblical theology that has many natural application and implication for believers in a local church, but they only passively mention the church's role. Yet, I do recognize you can only fit so-much into a condensed volume like this.
April 8, 2022
There is some rich theology here that is both heady and practical. The assertions, connections, and conclusions were excellent, however I did not love the package they came in. I’m sure the original sermons this book was based on were excellent, but the book felt repetitive, dry, and formulaic (kind of like reading a sermon). The information was scholarly and moving, but the writing was not.
August 16, 2022
If you have the time, skip this and read Beale's magnificent larger work in the NSBT series. If you're pressed for time, this is worth the read, though it lacks a lot of the coherence of Beale's original volume.
October 11, 2022
Beautiful book. Full send.
Wished he would touch more on a BT of vestiture and that he would incorporate general symbolism of the cosmos (trees, clouds, fish, water, animals, etc.).
Wished he would touch more on a BT of vestiture and that he would incorporate general symbolism of the cosmos (trees, clouds, fish, water, animals, etc.).
April 8, 2021
Pretty good. The Edenic temple to the Tabernacle to the Jerusalem Temple to the new covenant people Temple of Christ to the New Heavens and Earth Temple in Revelation 21/22 was a helpful line to draw. The second to last chapter was superfluous and should have been cut out. I liked the attempt to connect the expansion of the temple people of God (Eph 2, 1 Peter 2) throughout the whole world as the driving force for prayer, evangelism, and justice. As with most Biblical Theology, at least at the popular level, there is much conjecture and many speculative connections made. Biblical Theology without the countering force of Systematic Theology (As you would find in more academic works and idealized in the work of Geerhardus Vos) is always dangerous, IMHO.
May 26, 2019
This book wasn’t necessarily what I expected but it was very informative. It starts and ends with a brief focus on missions, spreading God’s word to the ends of the earth. However, the majority of the book takes you from God dwelling in Eden to now when He tabernacles among His people through the work of the church. It is very scriptural founded and takes you through the ways that God intended that Eden, and His presence, not just be contained to a small area but spread to the ends of the Earth that all might now and love Him. You get a close look at all the various ways this has looked over the course of history with the tabernacle, temple, and Christ Himself. If these topics interest you this would definitely be a good book to pick up.
October 23, 2023
Amazing.
I appreciate the simple walk-through-every-era-of-the-Bible approach that books like this take. It makes seeing the larger context of the theme very clear and explores the different ways the theme manifests itself at different points in redemptive history.
I found chapter 11 very helpful in understanding the hermenetical approach to the author’s understanding of Biblical Theology. It also refuted the common objections to such a view, which was enlightening.
Great book, highly recommend it for any Christian.
I appreciate the simple walk-through-every-era-of-the-Bible approach that books like this take. It makes seeing the larger context of the theme very clear and explores the different ways the theme manifests itself at different points in redemptive history.
I found chapter 11 very helpful in understanding the hermenetical approach to the author’s understanding of Biblical Theology. It also refuted the common objections to such a view, which was enlightening.
Great book, highly recommend it for any Christian.
February 11, 2025
Nichts ganzes und nichts halbes. Fürs Predigen ist es zu bibelorientiert und zu lebensfern. Für die Exegese ist es zu konstruiert und unsauber - in einem Vers wird eine Aussage aus Genesis zitiert, gleich im nächsten auf Hesekiel verwiesen und dann auf die Johannesapokalypse. Da ich Beale als Exegeten eig schätze, war ich schon etwas über das Niveau überrascht.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 139 reviews