Reviews
The Temple and the Church's Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God by G. K. Beale
sonofwilliam_reads's review
5.0
2020 reads: 45/52
Rating: 5 stars
Wow. This is a tour de force. Anyone attempting to write a biblical theology these days simply does so under the shadow of G. K. Beale. This +400pg biblical theology presents this thesis: "the Old Testament tabernacle and temple were symbolically designed to point to the cosmic eschatological reality that God's tabernacling presence, formerly limited to the holy of holies, was to be extended throughout the whole earth." (25) Now, perhaps this seems insignificant, a tangent to the biblical story. Beale however shows how such a concept runs right throughout the biblical canon and is central to God's purposes.
Key points to Beale's argument are:
1) The Garden of Eden was the first archetypal temple in which the first man worshipped God. By definition of God's rule over the earth, Adam and Eve were commissioned to extend the geographical boundaries of the Garden (i.e., extend God's covenant lordship).
2) The ancient notion that the Old Testament temple was a microcosm of the entire heaven and earth, meaning that it pointed forward to a huge worldwide sanctuary in which God's presence would dwell in every part of the cosmos (sound familiar?).
3) Israel was to fulfil this same Adamic commission by extending God's presence from the holy of holies to the ends of the earth.
4) Since the OT temple represented the creation, when the NT speaks of Jesus as the temple we are to understand the inauguration of the new creation. His resurrection, then, becomes the first great act of new creation.
5) Jesus' followers carry the same description of the 'temple of God' because they are corporately represented by the resurrected Lord of the new creation. As such, it is now the task given to the church to expand the ruling presence of God through the preaching of the gospel. Such a rule is extended when sinners repent and receive the Holy Spirit. Beale writes: to see Christ and the church as the true end-time temple is neither an allegorical spiritualization of the OT temple nor of prophecies of an eschatological temple, but is an identification of the temple's real meaning…Christ is the meaning for which the temple existed." (374-75)
This is just a small re-telling that does not do justice to Beale's research, exegesis and theological reflection which is simply astounding. As you may infer, there are many many implications from such a proposal. This work is, at least initially, very dense in sections, but I must say, toward the end, it was well worth it. My only critique is that the title is actually a little misleading. Beale spends very little time addressing the church's mission. All his heavy lifting is spent defending and constructing the argument that Jesus and the church are the end-time meaning of what the temple anticipated. The book is already long but perhaps more reflection on how the church ought to go about its mission could have been included. All that is to say, this is a beast of a book and is necessary reading.
Rating: 5 stars
Wow. This is a tour de force. Anyone attempting to write a biblical theology these days simply does so under the shadow of G. K. Beale. This +400pg biblical theology presents this thesis: "the Old Testament tabernacle and temple were symbolically designed to point to the cosmic eschatological reality that God's tabernacling presence, formerly limited to the holy of holies, was to be extended throughout the whole earth." (25) Now, perhaps this seems insignificant, a tangent to the biblical story. Beale however shows how such a concept runs right throughout the biblical canon and is central to God's purposes.
Key points to Beale's argument are:
1) The Garden of Eden was the first archetypal temple in which the first man worshipped God. By definition of God's rule over the earth, Adam and Eve were commissioned to extend the geographical boundaries of the Garden (i.e., extend God's covenant lordship).
2) The ancient notion that the Old Testament temple was a microcosm of the entire heaven and earth, meaning that it pointed forward to a huge worldwide sanctuary in which God's presence would dwell in every part of the cosmos (sound familiar?).
3) Israel was to fulfil this same Adamic commission by extending God's presence from the holy of holies to the ends of the earth.
4) Since the OT temple represented the creation, when the NT speaks of Jesus as the temple we are to understand the inauguration of the new creation. His resurrection, then, becomes the first great act of new creation.
5) Jesus' followers carry the same description of the 'temple of God' because they are corporately represented by the resurrected Lord of the new creation. As such, it is now the task given to the church to expand the ruling presence of God through the preaching of the gospel. Such a rule is extended when sinners repent and receive the Holy Spirit. Beale writes: to see Christ and the church as the true end-time temple is neither an allegorical spiritualization of the OT temple nor of prophecies of an eschatological temple, but is an identification of the temple's real meaning…Christ is the meaning for which the temple existed." (374-75)
This is just a small re-telling that does not do justice to Beale's research, exegesis and theological reflection which is simply astounding. As you may infer, there are many many implications from such a proposal. This work is, at least initially, very dense in sections, but I must say, toward the end, it was well worth it. My only critique is that the title is actually a little misleading. Beale spends very little time addressing the church's mission. All his heavy lifting is spent defending and constructing the argument that Jesus and the church are the end-time meaning of what the temple anticipated. The book is already long but perhaps more reflection on how the church ought to go about its mission could have been included. All that is to say, this is a beast of a book and is necessary reading.
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