Once we’ve detected the Old Testament quotation or allusion and explored the Old Testament background, now we must take a step back and ask the million-dollar question: How is the apostle using the Old Testament? New Testament writers don’t interpret and apply the Old Testament the same way each time. Most contemporary readers assume the apostles only use the Old Testament along an axis of promise and fulfillment. While the apostles certainly read the entire sweep of the Old Testament as anticipating Christ (Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:39), they often use the Old Testament to undergird a moral principle or to make a simple analogy. 

I don’t remember the first time I heard the words “biblical theology.” I do, though, remember the first time hearing a professor trace a theme through the Scriptures and connect it to Christ and the church. I was mesmerized.

I grew up in a dispensational environment, so it wasn’t natural for me to read the Bible as a whole, to read the Old Testament in view of Christ and his work. Perhaps this is why I’m so passionate about reading the two Testaments in concert.

Biblical theology concerns the sweep of God’s plan of redemption from Genesis to Revelation. It studies the plotline of Scripture, taking inventory of its themes and watching how these themes intersect with one another eventually climaxing in Christ and the new creation. In the last three decades, there have been a plethora of books on biblical theology. But as much as I enjoy reading these books and listening to biblical-theological sermons, I don’t come across many resources that instruct the church on how to “do” biblical theology.

Robust biblical theology is always wedded to Scripture, because biblical theology prevents artificial connections that can lead to odd or spurious theological conclusions. Good biblical theology is textual, always rooted in Scripture’s soil. A healthy way—perhaps the best way—to do biblical theology is to follow the lead of the apostles and examine how the apostles wed the Old Testament to their discourse. Once we discover these inner-biblical links, we can organically build on them.

Let’s examine the well-known passage of Luke 2:32 as a case study for doing good biblical theology and discover four important principles.

1. Look for Old Testament quotations and allusions.

The apostles quote the Old Testament about 350 times and allude to it 3,000 to 4,000 times. With all these inner-biblical connections, we should be in the habit of reading the New Testament expectantly. When we consult the cross-references in the margins of our Bible, we discover that Luke 2:29–32 contains a battery of allusions to Isaiah:

Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation [Isa. 40:5; 49:6; 52:10]
that you have prepared [40:3] in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles [42:6; 49:6; 52:10], and for glory to your people Israel.

Here in the hymn, known as the Nunc Dimittis, Simeon extols God and predicts that Jesus is the source of Israel’s “salvation” who will become “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” (Luke 2:32). For our purposes here, we’ll focus solely on Simeon’s allusion to Isaiah 49:6 (cf. 24:47).

2. Examine the Old Testament context.

The second step is a tall task because we must consider the immediate and broad context of the Old Testament quotation or allusion.

Read More