The apostolic nature of God in the Old Testament has been on my mind for sometime. The fact that God sends Himself, on His mission, is the beginning of the practical outworking of the redemption and restoration of all things. I believe the Church often overlooks this important aspect of the missio Dei.
Yes, we are quick to jump to the New Testament and reference the Father sending the Son who sends the 12 then the 72, and then with the coming of the Spirit the filling and sending of all believers. But what about the Old Testament?
We cannot fully understand the apostolic work of the Church until we understand the apostolic nature of God. And the place to begin is “in the beginning.” We are in danger of hijacking Kingdom purposes and neglecting theological foundations when we jump to the New Testament, believing we are getting to the real missionary stuff.
I am presently teaching an Old Testament Survey for Christian Ministry course at Samford. While this class has the regular components of a survey course, it slants toward the practical, specifically, what is God’s mission and how is it lived out in the lives of His people? So, Lord willing, I will be writing more on this topic in the coming days. Until then, I want to point you to two helpful resources:
- “The Old Testament” (pgs 25-53) in Andreas J. Köstenberger and Peter T. O’Brien. Salvation to the Ends of the Earth: A Biblical Theology of Mission.
- Walter C. Kaiser. Mission in the Old Testament: Israel as a Light to the Nations.
There are other (though few in number) good books on the topic of mission in the Old Testament. However, I start by referencing these two resources because they come from evangelical perspectives with a prioritization on global disciple making and reveal different perspectives. Kaiser strongly advocates that Israel had a missionary mandate to “go” while Köstenberger and O’Brien argue such was not as centrifugal as many people would desire.
(A note of irony: Kaiser is an Old Testament scholar and saw more New Testament in mission in the Old Testament. Köstenberger and O’Brien are New Testament scholars and see less.)
Check them out. Share your thoughts and other resources in the Comments Section. I would love to know what you are reading and pondering on this topic.
The Mission of God by Chris Wright was required reading for the PhD seminar on this topic taught by Dr. Köstenberger at SEBTS. Very thorough and thought-provoking.
You are correct, David. That is a very thorough and thought-provoking (and massive) work. I appreciate Wright’s OT scholarship and attempt to connect it with God’s mission. Side note: I recently read his commentary on Lamentations and highly recommend it. Thanks for sharing.
I love “Salvation to the Ends of the Earth.” I also used DuBose’s “God Who Sends” with my project. It is an old resource that helps to show the sending language in the Old Testament. I use his framework and tried to expand it a bit a few years ago here: http://missionalchurchnetwork.com/missional-sending-language/
Good point, Brad. I had not considered this “classic.” Thank you!
We’ve been seeing an enormous interest in the global church for more training on this topic. It seems that more and more people are wanting to study God’s mission in the OT. We use a tool we’ve written called The Storyline Study and it works quite well to give an overview. But I am thrilled to see more references to resources for deeper study.
Thank you for the resource recommendations. I teach a unit on Missions in the OT in my Intro to Missions class. It’s one of my favorites. This is very helpful!
I am encouraged to hear of this interest, Mike. Thank you for sharing.
Dave, you are welcome. I am thankful they are helpful and that you teach this unit in your missions class.
The Mission of God in the OT is one of my favorite things to teach at Taylor Univ. I recommend CJH Wright along with Kaiser. The Perspectives reader has some good chapters. There are some helpful journal articles out there.
Thank you, Jenny, No one has mentioned the Perspectives reader yet. Good point.
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