Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament
By Christopher Wright

            The role of Jesus in the New Testament can hardly be disputed.  He is the foundation, the source, and the completion of salvation into the Church for all who would believe.  A question that is often ignored, though, is how does Jesus relate to the Old Testament.  Is there a relation between Jesus and the Old Testament?  If so, then what factors are involved in that relationship?  Is knowledge of the Old Testament essential for understanding Jesus, or can one get by without it?  Christopher Wright attempts to answer these questions and to bring out the substance of the relationship between Jesus and the Old Testament in his book Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament.

Summary

            Wright's purpose in writing this book was to inform his readers, specifically non-scholars, of the importance of valuing the Old Testament when attempting to understand Jesus, and of valuing Jesus when attempting to understand the Old Testament (x).  The author accomplishes this goal in the first chapter by drawing out the relationship between Jesus and the storyline of the Old Testament.  He begins this section by sketching a cultural picture of Jesus as an authentic Jewish man who was the end of the royal genealogy found in Matt 1:1-17.  As a member of this genealogy, Jesus was found to be of the royal line of David, which when combined with the promise to Abraham to bless the nations through his seed, shows the birth of Jesus to be not only of importance for the nation of Israel, but of universal significance as well.  He was the end of the genealogy, but also the beginning of the kingdom of God.  The author's purpose of valuing the Old Testament is then accomplished by investing examination into the Old Testament to understand better the basis for Jesus' claim to the role of Messiah, as well as valuing Jesus when interpreting the Old Testament.  This latter value does not mean that a pre-Christ interpretation of the text is discarded in favor of a Christ-overshadowed interpretation; rather, the life and work of Christ add gradations to the original interpretation that could not have been understood until His coming (28).

            Wright then moves from the basis of valuing Jesus in the Old Testament to the need for a proper lens with which to appreciate His value.  The author accomplishes this task  by focusing on the importance of the uniqueness of the story of Israel for the salvation of the world.  Only through this particular lens could one rightly understand the universal aspect of salvation in Christ.  This aspect of Jesus' universal ministry is brought out even more in Wright's second chapter when discussing the relationship between Jesus and the promise.  God's initial promise to Abraham was that, "In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Gen 12:3).  The whole of the story of Israel from that point is specific in its relation to the nation, but it is also general in that it speaks of the plan of God in bringing about the blessing of the world.  This promise is given in the form of covenants at different times and situations in the Old Testament.  Wright divides the covenants into three sections of elucidation: scope, substance, and response.  He concludes that the point of all of these covenants is to show God's desire to bless, and He accomplishes this desire in Jesus (101).

            Wright's third chapter discusses the Old Testament identity of Jesus in light of God's pronouncement at His baptism, "This is my Son, whom I love, the one in whom I delight" (Matt 3:17).  Wright also explores the purpose of typology in the Old Testament and its validity in seeking an Old Testament understanding of Jesus' identity.  This discussion feeds back into the former discussion of Jesus as Son in that many places in the Old Testament refer to Israel as a nation as Son.  Wright attempts to show that the nation was a type of the individual, thus allowing some meaning of the former's relationship to inform the latter's.  

            Wright then focuses a chapter on the mission of Jesus found in the Old Testament.  He gives some attention to what the Jewish expectation of Messiah at the time of Jesus, but focuses much of the chapter on a biblical theology of certain names or titles given to Jesus, such as the Messiah, the Son of Man, and the Servant of the LORD.  This last title has far reaching effects into understanding the universal aspect of Jesus' mission.  Wright goes through the suffering Servant passages in Isaiah and shows the universality of the consequence that the Servant would have on the world.  The author then uses this mission of Jesus to inform the mission of God's present day people, that mission of reaching the world as servants, to the Jew first, then to the Gentile.

            Finally, Wright has a chapter on the value system of Jesus with regards to the Old Testament.  In this section, the author brings out the idea that Jesus has taken on the identity of the nation of Israel, as well as that of the Davidic king and of the Servant of the LORD.  This assumption of roles brings with it a moral responsibility (182).  Wright applies this gained knowledge to Jesus' life during His time in the wilderness, where He depends greatly on His relationship to the Father, to His understanding and fulfilling of the Law, and to His relationship to the prophets.

Strengths

            Wright does an excellent job in presenting an articulate, well thought out proposal for better understanding Jesus and the Old Testament in light of one another.  The main manner in which he accomplishes his goal is through his consistent motivation to do biblical theology, as opposed to systematic theology.  He constantly takes thoughts from the text itself and unpacks them so that, according to the rule of faith, the reader better understands the original text in light of other texts speaking to the same issues.  This process is clearly seen in his portrayal of Jesus as the Servant of the LORD.  He focuses on Mark 10:45 and Jesus' proclamation that He came to serve and give His life (154).  This statement would have surely, if not immediately, then at least after His passion, brought about images from the Old Testament Servant passages, where the Servant of the LORD is given up for the many, national and international.  This Old Testament focus in the life of Jesus is also shown in the Gospels in Luke 22:37, where Jesus quotes from one of the Servant songs.  Wright is correct in concluding that one cannot disjoint Jesus or His words from the Old Testament context to which He was referring.  It is possible to understand Jesus rightly in these texts without the use of the Old Testament referents, but one cannot understand Him fully without them.  Thus, it is of highest importance to seek a Biblically theological understanding of Jesus if we are to rightly comprehend Him in person and work.

            Another strength of Wright's book is his fortitude to take a stand for typology.  He admits that many scholars today do not support the use of types for understanding the Old or New Testaments, but he concludes that they are there whether one wants them or not (111).  Wright is careful, though, to define an appropriate use of types by giving six statements on the proper use of them, ranging from stating what types are not, to stating what their uses are and are not (111-15).  He sums up his section on types by concluding that typology "is a way of understanding Christ and the various events and experiences surrounding him in the New Testament by analogy or correspondence with the historical realties of the Old Testament seen as patterns or models" (116).  He gives as the main support for the use of types the "consistency of God in salvation-history" (116).  Wright is careful to guard against the overemphasis of types in the Old Testament.  One must not cut and paste the significance of a post-Christ understanding of the text onto the pre-Christ text, thus obliterating any meaning it may have had.  "Typology is a way of helping us understand Jesus in the light of the Old Testament.  It is not the exclusive way to understand the full meaning of the Old Testament itself" (116).

            A final strength of Wright's book is that in it he takes a firm stand against potentially devastating hermeneutics, not only in an overly-strong typological reading of the Old Testament, as guarded against by the six statements in his section on typology, but also in an overly-separate reading of the Old Testament apart from the New Testament found in classical and revised dispensationalism.  In his discussion on the promises of the Old Testament and their relationship to Jesus, Wright clearly brings out the idea that if the fulfillment of a promise must correspond exactly to the expectation of the promise, as according to early forms of dispensationalism, then Christ could not be the fulfillment to the Messianic hope found in the prophets of the Old Testament, at least not until the consummation of all things.  Wright brings out the importance of fulfillment not being based on the expectation of the Jewish people, but on the statements of Jesus as to what His mission and fulfillment would be (137).  Wright concludes that there is a difference between promise and prediction.  A prediction is devoid of relationship and will be carried out as stated because there can be no relational change because of the nature of the non-relationship (65).  A promise, though, is based on a relationship, and can undergo different levels of fulfillment based on that relationship (64).  Wright gives an example of a boy being promised a horse for transportation by his father, but then, after the invention of the motor, receiving a motor-vehicle (71).  The classical or revised dispensationalist would see this gift as a non-fulfillment of the promise.  Wright argues, though, that, "The promise was made in terms understood at the time.  It was fulfilled in the light of new historical events" (71).  In the same way, certain promises of the covenants in the Old Testament were given new levels when Jesus was raised to the right hand of God to have all things under His feet.  This occurrence was a new historical event, thus giving a new understanding to the promises based on the relationship between God and His people.

Weaknesses

            Though there are many great gleanings to be found in this book, there is one major weakness that sometimes overshadows the strengths.  It seems that in Wright's attempt to do a Biblical theology, he gave up the essential to write systematically.  By this statement it is not meant that he should have written a systematic theology; rather, the lack of systematization is shown in that the flow of Wright's argument not being clear from his writing.  It seems at certain points that he chose to write on topics that are of interest and great importance, but that he also saw no coherence between them.  This observation is most greatly seen in the connection between the chapters.  Whereas most writers either conclude a chapter by leading into the next one, or begin the latter by drawing from the former, Wright simply starts the new chapter without stating how it is related to the thesis of the book or to the surrounding chapters.  The relation amongst the chapters can be assumed after completion of the book, but at first reading, it is quite difficult to trace the path the author wishes the reader to take.

Conclusion

            Overall, Wright has written an excellent book, full of information regarding a better understanding Jesus in light of the Old Testament context.  He is thorough in his explanation of the assertions made, as well as enlightening on certain aspects of interpretation, such as typology and promise-fulfillment.  Though care should be taken to rightly understand the relationship between each section and the thesis of the book, Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament demonstrates an admirable understanding of the relationship between the Old and New Testaments, especially with regards to the significance of Jesus and His relationship to His historical environment.

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