A New Testament Theology

by Craig L. Blomberg

Craig Blomberg has now crowned his distinguished career to date as a careful reader and interpreter of the New Testament by tackling the largest and most difficult of challenges―that of writing a New Testament theology. Blomberg's text draws upon his proven ability to read ancient texts in historical context, his deep knowledge of the various textual traditions that comprise the New Testament, and a sympathetic competency to see the New Testament as a lived text. A New Testament Theology is a major achievement by a seasoned scholar and one that will serve teachers and students alike. Blomberg presents the task as twofold: chronological and synthetic. Blomberg thus plots actors, authors, and books of the New Testament in a reconstructed chronological order, highlighting both the dominant and distinctive themes for each. Examinations of Jesus and the early church come first, followed by those of the early Jewish Christian writings of James and Jude, and then the missionary letters of Paul (treated together). Blomberg then unpacks the contributions of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, followed by the Pastorals (treated as an extension of Lukan thought even though originating in Paul), Hebrews, 1 and 2 Peter, and the Johannine corpus of gospel, epistles, and Revelation. As Jesus’ ministry begins with the proclamation that "the time has come," the recurring, unifying, and synthetic theme of the entire New Testament is, according to Blomberg, the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises, both directly and typologically, explicitly and implicitly. Blomberg’s careful inductive reading demonstrates the Bible’s remarkable cohesion and foundational importance for the contemporary church. While the grand finale of God’s cosmic redemption is still in the future, the determinative events for human well-being have already taken place in Christ. This is the conviction that drives Christian life from generation to generation: the ages have turned, God’s victory is assured, even though there is still much work to be done.

Genres: Theology, New Testament

791 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2018

About the author

Dr. Craig Blomberg joined the faculty of Denver Seminary in 1986. He is currently a distinguished professor of New Testament.

Dr. Blomberg completed his Ph.D. in New Testament, specializing in the parables and the writings of Luke-Acts, at Aberdeen University in Scotland. He received an MA from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a BA from Augustana College. Before joining the faculty of Denver Seminary, he taught at Palm Beach Atlantic College and was a research fellow in Cambridge, England with Tyndale House.

In addition to writing numerous articles in professional journals, multi-author works and dictionaries or encyclopedias, he has authored or edited 20 books, including The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, Interpreting the Parables, commentaries on Matthew, 1 Corinthians and James, Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey, From Pentecost to Patmos: An Introduction to Acts through Revelation, Christians in an Age of Wealth: A Biblical Theology of Stewardship, Neither Poverty nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Possessions, Making Sense of the New Testament: Three Crucial Questions, Preaching the Parables, Contagious Holiness: Jesus' Meals with Sinners, and Handbook of New Testament Exegesis.

Reviews

[Nate Bate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first in several different quick reads of New Testament Theologies. Blomberg's organizing principle of the New Testament is that of fulfillment. I'm not sure I'm totally in agreement with that, but it was an interesting study. That and I skimmed the book. So I can't give a nuanced opinion. I expect at sometime to go back and read it deeper in some portions. There were some portions in the first 200 pages where I felt that Blomberg gave too much attention to the views of critical scholars. On the whole, I appreciated how he handled things. It will be interesting what my thoughts are after I have read several others.

[Derek DeMars · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blomberg is a scholar whose work I’ve really appreciated, particularly his works on the Gospels and his biblical theology of money and possessions. Now he’s added a complete New Testament theology to his already substantial body of work.

While there is no shortage of New Testament theologies out there, Blomberg’s work seeks to contribute to the conversation by focusing on the theme of fulfillment as the central focus of the New Testament. What was promised by God in the Old Testament has found fulfillment in the life, death, resurrection, and reign of Jesus Christ, and the entire New Testament bears witness to this truth in a variety of ways. I think this is a really helpful lens through which to unpack the theologies of the NT authors.

Blomberg gives a very broadly evangelical, mildly conservative perspective. I found him to be quite fair and balanced on the range of topics that inevitably come up in a NT theology. Obviously not everyone will agree with all of his positions, but there are a lot of valuable insights to be gleaned. I especially found his chapters on James and Paul's writings to be standouts. I also liked that while most NT theologies treat 2 Peter and Jude together (due to their obvious similarities), Blomberg examined 1 and 2 Peter side-by-side. (He grouped Jude in with the chapter on James, which came across as a bit of a stretch at first but was an interesting experiment).

A nice bonus to the book is that he spends a lot of time documenting the historical reliability of the NT writings before he goes into analyzing their theology, making this just as valuable a resource for apologetics as it is for biblical theology. I also love the massive bibliography represented in the footnotes — Blomberg did a very impressive amount of research for this, and there were a lot of sources cited that were new and useful to me.

As far as the book's weaknesses, obviously there are always going to be some topics that get shorter treatment (otherwise the book would span volumes). Blomberg doesn't devote much space to subjects like angels, demons, and Satan, arguing that those are not main themes the NT authors dwell on but instead are incidental to the discussion. Still, there are a lot of important background assumptions about spiritual beings that shape the NT authors' worldviews, so I thought they deserved a bit more attention.

All in all, this was a solid NT theology. Nothing game-changing, but it was balanced, readable, and would make an excellent resource even if only for the bibliography/footnotes alone! I would put it toward the top of the more recent NT theologies, above the popular ones by Beale, Schreiner, etc. Recommended.

[Daniel Arter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I read this book as part of a PhD seminar in New Testament Theology at Midwestern Seminary. Also, biblical theology isn’t my primary field of study.

Blomberg utilizes a primarily chronological method to discuss various themes through the NT (though he does include a few sections that deal with Jesus and the early church that appears to lay a foundation for the rest).

Ultimately, Blomberg consider fulfillment to be the underlying principle of the NT.

Worth reading slowly.