John's Use of the Old Testament in Revelation

by Gregory K. Beale

This Book Explores the variety of ways John contextually uses the Old Testament in the Apocalypse. The introduction surveys and evaluates recent studies, which have been divided over the issue of whether or not John uses the Old Testament with sensitivity to its original literary context (Beale, Fekkes and Bauckham argue in the affirmative, while Ruiz and Moyise contend that this was not John's focus and see implications for 'reader-response criticism'). The remainder of the book looks at various ways in which John uses the Old Testament and argues that there is a reciprocal interpretative relationship between the Old Testament and the Apocalypse.

Genres: Theology

443 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

G. K. Beale (PhD, University of Cambridge) is professor of New Testament and biblical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the coeditor of the Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament and the author of numerous books, including A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New.

Reviews

[Micah Sharp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was way beyond me. The last two chapters (6 & 7) were well worth the read alone however (and frankly to most, including myself, those would be the only chapters I would recommend). The first several chapters drop you into the middle of a decades long debate over John’s use of OT in which a dozen or so works of scholarship from Beale and others is referred back to. Unless you’ve been following this debate (which I certainly have not!) these chapters are a real struggle. I hesitate to lower my rating based merely off of enjoyment of a book if that book accomplishes its goals well enough, but I think for these chapters I give the book a 4 rather than a 5. They were such a slog. For a briefer, more popular level, and wider ranging version of the argument present in these chapters, I highly recommend Beale’s essays in Themelios and those which he references (all of which are free online).

As above, chapters 6 and 7 were excellent. Chapter 6 proposes that the solecisms in Revelation are intentional markers for OT references. I love this idea. Any time someone presents a thesis that opposes the absurd assumption in critical scholarship that the Biblical authors were stupid I am 100% on board. They wrote some of the greatest works of literature in history after all. Chapter 7 deftly makes use of OT references to argue for an Amillennial view (or Beale’s preferred term, Inaugurated Millennial). While the points he raises have not swayed me too much towards his position, they are well argued and have somewhat unsettled my historic premil view. One incredible one point he raised was the disclusion of any reference to the earth during in 20:1-7. I had noticed a while ago that Israel is never mentioned in the passage but not earth. Fascinating.

I am slightly uncomfortable with his suggestion of a spiritual resurrection in heaven as the vindication of the saints during the millennium rather than what I head heard previously (or thought of) the amil view of a spiritual resurrection while believers were still alive in the earth, ie conversion. While he does go on later to make explicit reference to a physical resurrection of all at the end of the age, the idea of a spiritual resurrection in heaven seems dangerously close to slipping to some dualist, gnostic notion of spiritualism.
The only other critique l have to offer is that Beale is occasionally weak on his OT exegesis. Particularly when he connects the faithful witness texts in Revelation to Isaiah he fails to connect Isaiah back to Exodus 34 which seems obvious from an OT perspective. He frequently draws on the direct references in Revelation from OT but fails to recognize the whole matrix of OT texts that that his singular text relies upon. One place that he seems to fall especially short in this regard is his almost complete failure to refer to Genesis.

Overall, an excellent study but difficult at times for a non-expert.

[Jeff Ragan · Rating 3 out of 5]

John's Use of the Old Testament in Revelation is a somewhat technical look at Beale's unique and thoughtful understanding on the theology of Revelation as supported by the Apostle John's use of the Old Testament. It was very helpful to my understanding of Revelation. Beale is open and charitable to conflicting views and presents them fully and graciously. Overall, I recommend the book to those interested in understanding the plethora of paradigms in Revelation interpretation.