Tracing the story of redemption through the Old Testament, Clowney explores the ways in which Christ was foreshadowed and revealed. Because God’s purpose and plan have been eternally set, the Old Testament points to Christ just as much (albeit differently) than the New Testament. Clowney avoids over-reaching to find Christ in any or every passage, but skillfully shows where the Messiah is to be found in the Bible’s first 39 books. A solid work, easily recommended.

The Bible has a story line. It traces an unfolding drama. The story follows the history of Israel, but it does not begin there, nor does it contain what you would expect in a national history. The narrative does not pay tribute to Israel. Rather, it regularly condemns Israel and justifies God’s severest judgments. The story is God’s story. It describes His work to rescue rebels from their folly, guilt, and ruin. And in His rescue operation, God always takes the initiative. [11]

Faith wins when it knows that all is lost, and clings to God alone. [73]

The jealous love of marital devotion is given by God Himself as a pattern of the love of His covenant. Marital faithfulness would, of course, strengthen family life in Israel when God’s commandment was obeyed. Yet that command always pointed beyond itself to the faithful love of God for His people, and His call for their jealous devotion in return. [104]

The salvation that is ours in Christ is not just a restoration to innocence, with the debt of sin cancelled. Far less is it a second chance to earn our own salvation by having our slate wiped clean. What we receive in Christ is His righteousness; we are adopted into the perfect sonship of the second Adam and the true Israel. [105]

God showed Israel their own helplessness in order that they might find Him to be their help in every distress. [117]

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In this series of lectures (first given in 1956), Clowney discusses the nature of preaching and the place that biblical theology has in it. Seeing the Bible as a cohesive whole, telling not many stories but one overarching narrative, he argues, is critical to a proper exposition and proclamation of the gospel. Although firmly sound, Clowney’s work here is unfortunately dry, bordering on tedious at times. It’s worth reading, but knowledge derived will not come easily.

Nothing is so essential for the preacher as that he should grasp, and be grasped by, the truth. Gaining a deeper insight into the meaning and the structure of God’s revealed Word equips the man of God anew for every good work. [10]

The Old Testament pattern of objective revelation and authoritative teaching is fulfilled but not destroyed in the coming of Christ. No suppression or sublimation of verbal revelation is involved in the work of the Messiah. In Jesus Christ, the word is not an uninterrupted act or a bare event but a person: One who acts, to be sure, but who also speaks. [50]

Christ’s promise that He will be with the church to the end of the age in the discharge of its task plainly shows that the work cannot be limited to the apostles. The gospel message as it is defined in the New Testament is a missionary message which concerns the whole world. He who does not see the need of proclaiming it does not understand it. [69]

Each event of redemption, each portion of God’s revelation, makes its distinctive contribution to the whole. When we choose a text from Scripture, we do not arbitrarily impose a unity upon the Word of God. We discover the unity that is already present. That unity is already articulated into larger and larger unities in the organic interrelationships of Scripture. [92]

Diligent Bible reading is essential. No scholarly technique can be substituted for knowledge of the Bible. The New Testament writers commonly assume in their readers a knowledge of the Old Testament beyond that possessed by many of today’s ministers. The points of connection that illuminate the structure of biblical theology may be brought to light by the exhaustive research of the scholar, but they are often evident on the surface to the Christian who knows his Bible. [112] 

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