The New Creation and the Storyline of Scripture

by Frank Thielman

A Biblical Theology of the New Creation from Genesis to Revelation

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” —Revelation 21:3

The Bible begins with the story of one perfectly good God creating a perfectly good universe. Forming two perfectly good human beings in his own image—Adam and Eve—was the crown jewel of his creative expression. Through humanity’s sin, however, God’s creation fell into a fallen state—yet he promised to bring restoration. In this book, Frank Thielman traces the theme of the new creation through the Bible, beginning in Genesis and ending in Revelation. He shows us that at every turn, God invites his people to be a “kingdom of priests” (Exodus 19:6), exemplifying the new creation to a needy and watching world until the return of Jesus.

Genres: Theology

162 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 9, 2020

Reviews

[Hiram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don’t agree with every conclusion but a good work tracing the storyline of scripture.

[Nancy DeValve · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author takes us through the Bible, showing us how God created a perfect world and will one day return creation to its perfect glory. But for now "he has invited his human creatures to join him in this task {setting the world right} and in the new world it will eventually create. They do this by trusting in and following God's great King, Jesus, and by living in the power of the Holy Spirit. There is no better way to be the human being God created each of us to be."
The book is theology made understandable for all of us.

[Ethan Preston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was unfortunately extremely underwhelmed by this book. In the last few years, I have come to regard the move toward new creation as one of the central themes (if not the central theme!) of Scripture. This was due largely to the influence of G. K. Beale. Thus, I was very excited to begin this book. Sadly, it was merely an overview of the storyline of Scripture with no real new creational flavor. This is not to say that I did not agree with everything that was said, yet I feel in the task of showing the new creation to be a central theme in Scripture, it falls short. For those interested in exploring the theme of new creation in more detail I suggest Beale's "A New Testament Biblical Theology," yet that resource is extremely long and technical. As of now, I know of no solid and accessible introduction to the theme of new creation in the Bible. (I believe Graeme Goldsworthy's "According to Plan" treats new creation as a central theme, but I have not read it yet and therefore cannot speak definitively on its content or quality).