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The Riches of Divine Wisdom: The New Testament’s Use of the Old Testament

Publisher:
, 2013
ISBN: 9781874584209
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Overview

Drawing upon many years of biblical research and teaching, Professor Gooding addresses the interactions of the Old and New Testaments by expounding key New Testament passages that use the Old Testament. First he examines the importance of the general relationship of the two testaments. He then considers five major thought categories of the New Testament’s interpretation that encompass the many insights that it employs as tools for harvesting the wealth of the Old. Finally he formulates guidelines for interpreting Old Testament narrative and illustrates them from three familiar passages. Taken together these insights provide invaluable help for appreciating the richness of God’s multifaceted wisdom, which has come down to us as the revenue of all the ages.

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Top Highlights

“The gospel did not first take root in history when Christ entered our world. The gospel was rooted in history centuries before he was born. For it is an integral part of the Christian gospel that God spent centuries preparing the way for the coming of Christ, by repeatedly giving advance notices of his coming through a succession of prophets, specifying the method and place of his birth, the message he would proclaim, and the atonement he would make for human sin—and by having these notices, promises and descriptions actually written down in what Christians now call books of the Old Testament.” (Page 19)

“It was thus not enacted until over four hundred years after Abraham, let alone the antediluvians! Abraham never lived under it; and the covenant God made with Abraham and his seed, guaranteeing to them inheritance of the land, was legally a completely different kind of covenant from that at Sinai (see pp. 155–60). So much is that so, that the New Testament protests that it would be illegal to take the conditions imposed by the old covenant and read them back into God’s covenant with Abraham (Gal 3:15–18).” (Page 2)

“Nor is it a philosophy constructed by rational reflection on the universe around us and on our human experience within it.” (Page 18)

“The Old Testament had said that the Messiah would come to Jerusalem as Zion’s King, lowly and riding on an ass (Zech 9:9). It had also predicted that the Son of Man would come with the clouds of heaven (Dan 7:11–14). Now common sense might have concluded that ‘coming lowly on a donkey’ and ‘coming with the clouds of heaven’ could hardly be descriptions of one and the same coming. But nowhere did the Old Testament explicitly say that there would be two comings of the Messiah. It was Christ himself who interpreted the Old Testament to this effect.” (Page 91)

The Riches of Divine Wisdom is a tour de force. Many Christians fail to take the Old Testament seriously. Others find the New Testament’s use of the Old problematic. In this work Professor Gooding offers sane guidance to both groups with eloquence and clarity. He shows how the New Testament itself instructs us in interpreting the Old. Teachers, preachers and all serious Bible students will find it an invaluable resource.

—Gordon J. Wenham, professor emeritus of Old Testament, University of Gloucester

In this exceptionally informative book, Professor David Gooding addresses with outstanding clarity the challenging task of explaining how New Testament writers draw on the Old Testament. As a highly-gifted, experienced Bible-teacher and academic scholar, he has produced a profoundly helpful, and yet remarkably accessible, guide to this complex topic. Fully focused on using Scripture to interpret Scripture, Professor Gooding skilfully enables the diligent reader to see with greater clarity the ‘riches of divine wisdom.’ For anyone interested in understanding better the unity of the Bible, this book is essential reading.

—T. Desmond Alexander, senior lecturer in biblical studies, Union Theological Seminary

I would not use the word lightly, but this really is ‘vintage Gooding.’ All the great characteristics are here: his very special ability to discern the literary structure of books and passages, his love of the Bible as the Word of God, his ability to express each nugget of truth with conciseness, clarity and helpfulness. If you do not have time to read this whole book, then don’t open it. You will be gripped from page one, as I was. And I certainly would not have wished to miss a single sentence or page. Gooding subtitles his book ‘The New Testament’s Use of the Old Testament’ but in fact has given us a comprehensive (and highly readable) account of the basic principles of biblical interpretation

—Alec Motyer, former principal, Trinity College, Bristol

David Gooding (1925–2019) was Professor Emeritus of Old Testament Greek at Queen’s University, Belfast and a Member of the Royal Irish Academy. He taught the Bible internationally and lectured on its relevance to philosophy and world religions. He published scholarly studies on the Septuagint and Old Testament narratives, as well as expositions of Luke, John 13–17, Acts, Hebrews and the New Testament’s Use of the Old Testament. His expositions of Scripture are enhanced by what F. F. Bruce once called David Gooding’s ‘rare combination of gifts: spiritual insight, classical learning and literary appreciation’.

Reviews

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  1. Frank H

    Frank H

    11/18/2023

    I bought this because it had great reviews on Amazon. I'm not the least bit disappointed. It's very well written and easy to follow. The connections that it makes between old and new testament have strengthened my faith.
    Reply

$16.95