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

by David W. Gooding

The wisdom of God is revealed in both Old and New Testaments, but it is impossible to appreciate that wisdom fully if the two are read in isolation. Sometimes the New Testament quotes the Old as authoritative. Sometimes it cancels things that the Old says. At other times it indicates that the Old was a type that illustrates New Testament doctrine. How are we to understand and apply its teaching? Is the New Testament being arbitrary when it tells us how to understand the Old, or do its careful interpretations show us how the Old was meant to be understood? Could it be that the New Testament's many different ways of using some of its passages provide us with guidance for reading, studying and applying the whole of the Old Testament? Drawing upon many years of biblical research and teaching, Professor Gooding addresses these issues 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. ______________________ 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, Tutor in Old Testament, Trinity College, Bristol; Professor Emeritus of Old Testament, University of Gloucester In this exceptionally informative book, Prof. 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, Prof. 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 College, Belfast I anticipate that this book will rapidly become an essential resource for those seeking to understand and enjoy the way in which the New Testament unfolds the meaning of the Old Testament. David Gooding's analysis of texts that are often found difficult is both penetrating and accessible. I have personally found the material contained here extraordinarily helpful. --John C Lennox, Professor of Mathematics, University of Oxford; Fellow in Mathematics and Philosophy of Science, Green Templeton College I carefully read two earlier books in this series, on Luke and Acts, from start to finish. I am doing the same with this book for the same The opportunity to gain deep insights into biblical truth which only a master of the Scriptures could give, and to be devotionally enriched while doing so. This book is particularly important because it clearly and skilfully addresses a key area of biblical interpretation which all sincere students of the Word should develop skills in handling. I am refining some of my views on how I should approach the Old Testament as I read this book, and I am learning, learning, learning. . . --Ajith Fernando, Teaching Director, Youth for Christ; Author

Genres: Theology, Christian

456 pages, Paperback

First published February 25, 2013

About the author

David W. Gooding is Professor Emeritus of Old Testament Greek at Queen's University, Belfast and a member of the Royal Irish Academy. His international teaching ministry is marked by fresh and careful expositions of both testaments. He has published scholarly studies on the Septuagint and Old Testament narratives, as well as expositions of Luke, John 13-17, Acts and Hebrews.

Reviews

[Frank Peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

The books written by David Gooding were recommended to me by John Lennox. Prof. Lennox stated that the teaching of Gooding was significant for his understanding of how to read and understand the Bible. After reading this book, I can understand the recommendation. Reading this book felt like taking a seminary course. In this book, the author discusses different ways that we can read and understand the Old Testament in light of the New. Thus, I recommend the book to any Christian who is interested in learning more from their reading of the bible.

[PJ Wenzel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much good is done in this book - some very helpful tools, and very helpful approaches to scripture. I would have given this 5 stars, but the treatment on the Abrahamic Covenant was just a bit problematic. Gooding boxes himself into the terminology that has led many other scholars down an unhelpful road as well, namely that of labeling the covenant "unconditional" while arguing for God's fulfilling of its conditions - you can't have it both ways. More nuance (or more helpful terminology) is required here. He also mistakenly says there are two covenants (Gen. 15 vs. 17), when good recent exposition has been done to show this simply isn't he case (e.g. Kingdom Through Covenant, Gentry/Wellum et all). It weakened the case he was making.

However, on the whole, I think the book is very helpful for modern Christians who don't really have a clue as to how (or why) to read the Old Testament. Many read it with the eyes of someone only reading for historical facts - not realizing that Jesus, and the rest of the NT authors regarded the OT as "profitable" for more than simply historical filler, even in the New Covenant era.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really, really good book and really necessary. The goal of the book is to explain how the New Testament uses the Old Testament. How do the NT authors come up with references to Christ, and do they take them out of context? How do the authors reference the Old Testament? Do they feel the need to quote it directly? refer to it? make allusions? Do they use allegory? How?

Mr. Gooding addresses all these questions and answers them quite well. His section on allegory is worth the price of the book alone. He lays out rules to use in understanding how we view the Old Testament in light of the New, and they are good rules and all taken from the text itself. I found the book very profitable.

My only criticism is sometimes Mr. Gooding could do a job of making his concepts simpler. I occasionally found myself finishing and then going back and saying, "Now, how did he resolve this? It seemed clear in the middle, but by the time I got to the end, it was a little muddled for me."

Sooner or later, if you're an avid student of Scripture, you're going to wonder how the New Testament writers understood and used the Old Testament. This is the best book I've reading to answer that question.