Calling on the Name of the Lord: A Biblical Theology of Prayer (New Studies in Biblical Theology, vol. 38 | NSBT)

by J. Gary Millar

Publishers:

IVP; Apollos

, 2016

Overview

From this first mention of prayer in the Bible, right through to the end, when the church prays “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20), prayer is intimately linked with the gospel—God’s promised and provided solution to the problem of human rebellion against him and its consequences. After defining prayer simply as “calling on the name of the Lord,” Gary Millar follows the contours of the Bible’s teaching on prayer. His conviction is that even careful readers can often overlook significant material because it is deeply embedded in narrative or poetic passages where the main emphases lie elsewhere. Millar’s initial focus is on how “calling on the name of the Lord” to deliver on his covenantal promises is the foundation for all that the Old Testament says about prayer. Moving to the New Testament, he shows how this is redefined by Jesus himself, and how, after his death and resurrection, the apostles understood “praying in the name of Jesus” to be the equivalent new covenant expression. Throughout the Bible, prayer is to be primarily understood as asking God to deliver on what he has already promised—as Calvin expressed it, “through the gospel our hearts are trained to call on God’s name” (Institutes 3.20.1). This New Studies in Biblical Theology volume concludes his valuable study with an afterword offering pointers to application to the life of the church today.

Contents

Top Highlights

“It is rarely noted that the primary biblical trajectory of prayer is not praise, or lament, or intercession, or meditation on the word of Yahweh. Prayer begins in the Bible as a cry for God to do what he has promised—to deal with the reality of sin by delivering on his covenant promises.” (Page 27)

“It is clear, then, that as the Old Testament unfolds, to ‘call on the name of Yahweh’ is not simply to ‘pray’ in any generic sense. To call on the name of Yahweh is to cry to God to come through on his promises, and specifically to rescue and give life to his covenant people. It is a prayer for salvation, or an expression of the fact that one is relying on God for salvation. To put it anachronistically, ‘calling on the name of Yahweh’ in the Old Testament denotes ‘gospel-shaped prayer’.” (Page 26)

“This means that, theologically speaking, the context of the innovation of 4:26 is one of salvation-historical anticlimax. There is a growing sense that the promise of 3:15 may not be fulfilled immediately. The expected offspring is clearly neither Cain, nor Abel, nor Seth, nor Enosh. It seems that at this point the realization begins to dawn on the Adamic community that the fulfilment of promise may take some time. In context this is the most natural explanation of the fact that Enosh’s birth leads to people ‘calling on the name of Yahweh’.” (Page 22)

“When this phrase is used in the Old Testament, it is asking God to intervene specifically to do one thing—to come through on his promises.¹⁴ In Genesis 12:8 and 13:4 Abram ‘calls on the name of Yahweh’ at key moments in the narrative—modelling a ‘faith response’ to God’s promises and showing that as he moves into the land he does so relying on Yahweh himself to do what he has said.” (Pages 22–23)

Product Details

• Title: Calling on the Name of the Lord: A Biblical Theology of Prayer
• Author: J. Gary Millar
• Series: New Studies in Biblical Theology
• Volume: 38
• Publishers: IVP, Apollos
• Print Publication Date: 2016
• Logos Release Date: 2016
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Prayer › Biblical teaching; Prayer › Christianity
• ISBNs: 9780830826391, 9780830893980, 9781783593958, 0830826394, 0830893989, 1783593954
• Resource ID: LLS:NSBT38
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T01:54:34Z

About J. Gary Millar

J. Gary Millar is principal of Queensland Theological College, Australia. Previously he served as a minister in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. His books include Now Choose Life, Calling on the Name of the Lord, and commentaries on Deuteronomy, Kings, and 2 Corinthians.