By reading Scripture on its own terms, as a progressive revelation that is unveiling God’s eternal plan centered in Christ, Goldsworthy offers us a proper “theological” interpretation of Scripture that recovers God’s Word for the church, and allows us to apply it rightly to our lives. What is needed for the present hour is sound and faithful biblical and theological exposition, which this book magnificently and impressively provides. 

The Bible is a large book that consists of many topics and themes, diverse kinds of literature, and spans centuries. Yet, the Bible, despite its diversity and being written by numerous authors and addressing various subjects, is a unified metanarrative whose central message is about what our triune God planned in eternity, executed in time, to glorify himself by the redemption of his people, the judgment of sin, and making all things new in our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 11:33–36; Eph. 1:9–10; Col. 1:15–20). From the opening verses of Genesis to the closing vision of Revelation, the Bible’s main message is first about the triune God before it’s about us, and then secondarily about how he has graciously chosen to share himself with us which results in the praise of his glorious name, sovereign grace, and our eternal good (Eph. 2:1–10).

However, to understand and comprehend the Bible’s central message, Scripture cannot be read in a piecemeal way, as if we can isolate one text from another. Instead, we must approach and interpret Scripture according to what Scripture is, or better, Scripture must be read it on its own terms, which minimally requires us to affirm three truths about Scripture.

Three Necessary Truths About Scripture

First, Scripture is God’s Word written through the agency of human authors unfolding God’s eternal, comprehensive plan (2 Tim. 3:15–17; 2 Pet. 1:20–21). Given this truth, despite Scripture’s diversity of content, there is an overall unity and coherence to it precisely because it is God’s Word. Furthermore, since Scripture is God’s Word given through human authors, we cannot know what God is saying to us apart from the writing(s) and intention of the human authors. What Scripture says, God says. And given that God has spoken through multiple authors over time, this requires a careful intertextual and canonical reading in order to understand God’s full revelation of himself. As a progressive revelation, Scripture does not come to us all at once. Instead, as God’s plan unfolds, especially his redemptive plan, more revelation is given and later revelation, building on the earlier, results in more clarity and understanding from the perspective of the later authors. As more revelation is given, God’s unfolding “mystery” is unveiled, and we discover how the individual parts fit with the whole. Even more significantly, we discover who is central to that plan, namely our Lord Jesus Christ, and how we fit in that plan as his people.

Second, Scripture is God’s Word written over time, hence the idea of progressive revelation, which is the unfolding of God’s plan in redemptive history. Revelation, alongside redemption, occurs progressively, largely demarcated by the biblical covenants located within the larger categories of creation, fall, redemption, and the dawning of the new creation in Christ. Thus, to understand the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27), we must carefully trace out God’s unfolding plan as unveiled over time and specifically through the biblical covenants. This is why our exegesis of specific texts and entire books must result in a “biblical theology” that is concerned to read Scripture and “put together” the entire canon in terms of its redemptive historical unfolding. Scripture consists of many literary forms that require careful interpretation, but what unites the biblical books is God’s unfolding plan, starting in Genesis and creation, accounting for the fall, unpacking God’s redemptive promises through the covenants, and culminating with Christ’s coming and inauguration of the new creation by the ratification of a new covenant.

Third, Scripture is God’s Word centered in Christ Jesus. Although some think this statement is controversial, it is simply true to what Scripture teaches. As the New Testament opens, Jesus is presented as the fulfillment of God’s saving promises from the Old Testament (Matt. 1:1–17; Luke 1–3). All that has preceded Christ has in promise, type, and covenantal unfolding anticipated his coming. In fact, our Lord himself unambiguously teaches us this truth. In a magnificent statement, Jesus claims that he is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, meaning that the entire Old Testament not only pointed to him but that its continuing and abiding authority must be understood in light of his person and work (Matt. 5:17–20). By this claim, Jesus views himself as the eschatological goal of the Old Testament; the one the Old Testament pointed forward to and in whom all God’s plans and promises are realized.

But Jesus’ statement in Matthew 5 is not a one-off. In Matthew 11, as he teaches us about his relation to John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets, Jesus views himself as the focal point and center of all of history, the one who fulfills all of God’s plans and purposes in himself. The same truth is taught in Luke 24. As Jesus comes alongside to comfort two downcast disciples, he does so by going back to the Old Testament and rehearsing how the Law, Prophets, and Psalms properly spoke of him and anticipated the events occurring in his life, death, and resurrection (Luke 24:13–35, 44). Instead, of a crucified Messiah being something strange, it’s precisely what the Old Testament taught and anticipated. As Jesus unpacked Scripture, he powerfully explained how the Old Testament, properly interpreted, is about him, and that despite Scripture’s diversity, the entire Bible finds its center in Christ.

The author of Hebrews teaches us this same point in his opening thesis statement that governs his entire book. “In the past,” the author reminds his readers, “God spoke to our forefathers by the prophets” and he did so “at many times and in various ways.” God’s Word is given over time, and it points forward to something more to come.

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