Paul was a redemptive-historical preacher of the highest order. His theology was founded not on timeless or idealistic truths, but concrete historical events in accordance with their order, progression, and organic character. This is demonstrated, for one, in Romans 4.

In order to support his previous argument about the righteousness of God being manifest in the cross of Christ apart from the Law (3:21ff.), Paul makes a redemptive-historical downshift behind Moses to the time of Abraham in order to demonstrate that Abraham was counted righteous historically prior to his law-obedience of circumcision; therefore, his later circumcision did not obtain for him righteousness, but sacramentally sealed the righteousness he already possessed by faith (4:9-11a). The purpose of this was to make him the father of all who believe, whether circumcised or uncircumcised (4:11b-12). In other words, the historical timing of Abraham being first justified and then circumcised had a vital and determining effect on the nature of the community of faith, making room from its conception for all people who believe, whether Jew or Gentile.

This also determined the way in which the promise to Abraham and his offspring—that he would be heir of the world (κοσμος, v. 13), ultimately an eschatological kingdom reality (cf. 8:17)—would be fulfilled. The promise was given to Abraham when he possessed righteousness through faith and not through the law. This is significant because the promise was not given to Abraham in the abstract, but within a redemptive-historical context in which death had already entered the κοσμος Abraham was to inherit and was reigning over it (5:12-14).[1]

Here is the major point: the Law could not effect that which only God himself could effect. The Law was powerless to bring life from the dead, to effect resurrection—whether typologically or eschatologically. The promise, therefore, would have to rest entirely on grace, not meticulous law-keeping (4:16). It is not the adherents of the Law who are the heirs, but those who share in the faith of Abraham, a faith that believes in the God “who gives life to the dead” (v. 17), a faith that hopes against hope (v. 18).

The redemptive-historical situation Abraham found himself in when he was given the promise of inheriting the κοσμος ruled by death means that the fulfillment of this promise will require the overthrowing of death’s reign by resurrection. This draws us back to the prologue (1:3-4) in which the pattern of death to life (i.e., resurrection) was typologically seen in King David and eschatologically fulfilled in Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul now sees another earlier typological fulfillment of the promise in Abraham when the Lord brings life from his body, “which was as good as dead,” and “the deadness of Sarah’s womb” (4:19). It was not Abraham’s doing that would bring forth life—such would be impossible for him as one residing under death’s influence—but believing in God alone who could do it. This episode in Abraham’s life demonstrates typologically that the promise rests on grace, that is, God doing what he had promised apart from the contributive works of those for whom he is doing it. Notice what Paul writes with his emphasis on faith and God bringing forth life from the dead:

… in the presence of the God in whom [Abraham] believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead [νεκρόω] (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the deadness [νέκρωσις] of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness (4:17-22)

The problem is that Abraham eventually closed his eyes and entered the grave, as did his child of promise, Isaac, and all of his descendants after him, including all the Levitical priests and Davidic kings.[2] Therefore, the bringing forth of life from the as-good-as-dead body of Abraham typified what God would accomplish in his greater offspring in whom the promise would be fulfilled on an eschatological level, namely, Jesus Christ.

It is important to recognize also that the kingly elements we noted of Adam as the vice-gerent of the Lord in Genesis 1-3 and of Christ as David’s greater Son in Romans 1:3-4 are not absent from Abraham and his offspring. Abraham himself is promised in connection with inheriting the nations that kings will come from him (Gen. 17:6, 16). This promise is repeated to Jacob (Gen. 35:11) and Israel as a nation is designated a kingdom of priests (Exod. 19:6). On this basis, we can say that the resurrection life of Abraham was one of reigning over the κοσμος—the κοσμος God created (1:20) and judges (3:6) and which is accountable to him (3:19). In other words, Abraham was not to inherit the κοσμος in isolation from God, but so as to share in God’s rule over it. God does not relinquish possession of the κοσμος, nor transfer it from himself to Abraham, but brings Abraham to share in his rule over it by grace. The eschatological king that would come from the loins of Abraham would go beyond returning to the protological situation of Adam sharing in God’s reign; he would propel it to the eschatological heights of an everlasting inheritance beyond the possibility of Sin and Death ever again entering. In short, the inheritance obtained in the resurrection of Christ is not to be thought of apart from God who both promises it, accomplishes it, and consummates it in communion with his people by grace alone.

Romans 1:3-4 proclaims that the king who was to come from Abraham has indeed come in the person of Jesus Christ our Lord. Having been enthroned over the eschatological kingdom, he administers his kingdom along with his inheritance (8:12-17) by means of his Gospel Word and Spirit. This gospel is his kingdom power in which the righteousness of God is manifest apart from the Law. And as was the case with Abraham, so it is to be received by faith as the power of God for salvation, so that “the righteous shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17). The declaration in Scripture of Abraham’s possession of righteousness through faith, therefore, was “not written for his sake alone, but for ours also” (4:24). Paul continues, “It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (4:25). In this way, the kingdom life of those united to Christ by the Spirit through faith rests entirely on grace alone, on God doing what he promised he would do in bringing life from the dead.

[1] This is significantly different from Adam’s pre-redemptive historical context when the promise of life had been originally given in the covenant of works. It would be through Adam’s disobedience that death would begin to reign over the world.

[2] The same problem of death is true of the Davidic kings who are promised an everlasting throne and eternal kingdom (2 Sam. 7:16) and the Levitical priesthood as the book of Hebrews makes apparent (Heb. 7:23). This is because they all existed in the mode of the flesh, which was subject to death. Eschatological fulfillment required the attainment of incorruptible life in the power of the Spirit, as “Jesus Christ our Lord” obtained (Rom. 1:3-4).

Matthew opens his gospel account with these words: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (1:1). We find the same wording in Genesis 2:4 (LXX), “The book of the genealogy of heaven and earth,” and 5:1 (LXX), “The book of the genealogy of Adam.” These are the only two places in the entire Old Testament where the phrase “the book of the genealogy” (Gk. Βίβλος γενέσεως) occurs. This suggests an intentional allusion by Matthew.[1]

Continuity and Recapitulation

Why does Matthew make this allusion? Two reasons can be given.

First, Matthew demonstrates continuity: the promised line called out and separated by God earlier in redemptive-history and through which the eschatological blessing for the cosmos would be realized culminates in the person of Jesus Christ. As Matthew points out, Jesus is the “son of Abraham.” Herman Ridderbos notes, “The birth of Jesus Christ was the culmination of the great ancestral line of sacred history.”[2]

Second, Matthew demonstrates recapitulation: something similar to what took place in Genesis is now occurring, namely the birth of Jesus Christ as the beginning of a new creation. The historical events of Genesis are repeating themselves on a higher plane with his birth. G.K. Beale observes,

Matthew is narrating the record of the new age, the new creation, launched by the coming, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And, since Matthew is narrating a genealogy of Jesus, it is likely that the Gen. 5:1 reference is uppermost in mind, and that Jesus is being painted with the genealogical brush of Adam. And just as Adam created others “in his own likeness, according to his image” (Gen. 5:3), so would Christ.[3]

It is interesting also to point out that just as the Spirit was present at the first creation hovering over the waters (Gen. 1:2), so in the Genesis-like genealogical opening of Matthew’s gospel the Spirit is present again: “[Mary] was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 1:18). This further illumines Matthew’s opening intention of showing Jesus to be the new Adam, the beginning of the promised new creation.

The Seed and Redemptive-History

Both reasons stated above—continuity and recapitulation—need to be maintained. In the redemptive-historical period of Genesis, the revelation of God was in seed form and the idea of a new creation was not yet apparent. This was so much the case that Eve believed her merely human son Cain might be the one promised who would crush the head of the serpent—a bit of triumphant optimism may be found in her naming of him (Gen. 4:1). Of course she was mistaken, for Cain will go on to murder his brother Abel, manifesting his dark position in the great divide between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:15).

As the revelation of God organically blossoms through the course of redemptive-history, it becomes more evident and explicit, especially during the time of the prophets, that the promised seed of the woman will bring about a new creation (e.g., Isa. 65:17-25). Furthermore, there are super-human, even divine claims that are made about this seed (e.g., Dan. 7). While still the seed of Abraham (and later specified as the kingly seed of David), something about this seed would surpass even Abraham and David themselves (Ps. 110:1; cf. Matt. 22:41-46). All of this is confirmed in the birth of Jesus Christ: fully man and of the line of Abraham and David, but also fully God and the eternally begotten Son of God.

There is therefore not a mere one-to-one correspondence between the Βίβλος γενέσεως (“the book of the genealogy”) of Matthew and Genesis, as if nothing developed between the writing of the two books. Matthew demonstrates continuity and fulfillment by tapping into the redemptive-historical family tree that Jesus is not only a member of, but the consummate member of, that is, the very seed of the woman who was promised to one day crush the head of the serpent. The person and work of Jesus are rooted in the creation account, for he comes as the second and last Adam (Rom. 5:12-21; 1 Cor. 15:42-49), the son of David, the son of Abraham, to bring about God’s eschatological kingdom and unleash his cosmic blessing for the whole creation.

While this blessing was initially to spread by the obedience of the first Adam, according to the dominion mandate given to him in the garden (Gen. 1:28), now it will spread as Jesus, the last Adam, continues his work through his Holy Spirit-empowered church, commissioned to make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:18-20).[4]

This began to be fulfilled in the early church as the word of truth, the gospel, went forth. Paul observes in Colossians 1:6 that “in the whole world [the gospel] is bearing fruit and increasing [αὐξάνεσθε].” This is an allusion to Genesis 1:28 (LXX), “Be fruitful [αὐξάνεσθε] and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it…” [5] Like Matthew, Paul sees the original dominion mandate that the first Adam failed at when he distrusted God’s word and submitted himself to the serpent, now today being fulfilled by the exalted King Jesus as his church goes out to make disciples of all nations.

The Opening and Closing of Matthew’s Gospel

This points brings together Matthew’s entire gospel. We’ve been focusing on his opening words, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham (1:1). But now we can see how his closing words reveal that Jesus’ incarnation, life, death and resurrection have unleashed the covenant promises of God made to Abraham and David, that he is, in fact, the consummate member of this family tree. To David God promised that he would establish the throne of his son’s kingdom forever (2 Sam. 7:13). To Abraham God promised that all the nations of the earth would be blessed in him (Gen. 12:2-3). And so we read,

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

The birth of Jesus Christ—the son of Abraham, the son of David—is the dawning of a new age. He has begun to realize the eschatological goal of creation and will one day bring it to consummation when he comes again in the glory of his eternal kingdom.

[1] For further discussion on Βίβλος γενέσεως in Matthew 1 see D.A. Carson, “Matthew,” in Matthew & Mark, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, eds. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, Revised Edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 86-90.

[2]Herman Ridderbos, Matthew, Bible Student’s Commentary, trans. Ray Togtman (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987), 16.

[3] G. K. Beale, A New Testament Biblical Theology, 389; see also pp. 566ff; cf. Jonathan T. Pennington, “Heaven, Earth, and a New Genesis: Theological Cosmology in Matthew,” in Cosmology and New Testament Theology, ed. Jonathan T. Pennington and Sean M. McDonough, LNTS 355 (London: T&T Clark, 2008), 39-40.

[4] Note Luke, in his two volume work (Luke-Acts), does not say Jesus finished his work with his ascension, but that his work recorded in the gospel account was only the beginning! (cf. Acts 1:1)

[5] For an insightful discussion on this and further argumentation for the allusion see G.K. Beale, The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God, New Studies in Biblical Theology (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004), 263-68.

In Episode 39 we discuss Righteous Lot, the nephew of Abraham.

Your hosts, Rob and Bob, consider another portion of Genesis. This one dealing with the biblical character of Lot. Is Lot meant to be used as an example of how not to live your life He lived in the wrong place, he didn’t raise his children right, and his wife leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. But, listening ears want to know, was Lot really such a bad guy? How many people today live like Lot? Can Lot in some way be used as an example to inspire us?

We will discuss these and other questions today on Theology Simply Profound.

Theology Simply Profound is a podcast of Westminster Presbyterian Church, an Orthodox Presbyterian Church, serving the western suburbs of Chicago, where God powerfully speaks through his means of grace.

Music credit: pamelayork.com. “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”

Participants: Rob McKenzie, Robert Tarullo

In episode 28, your hosts Rob and Bob, along with special guest Melodie McKenzie, discuss the Abrahamic Covenant.

Who is Abram? Or is it Abraham? Why is he so important in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testament? Why did God choose Abraham? What is the Abrahamic Covenant? And what is Genesis 15 all about? What’s a self-maledictory oath? And just what is the Christian Hokey-Pokey? You find out on this episode with a special song by Rob and Melodie! (wait for it…around the 40:20 mark)

We’ll discuss these and other related questions in this episode of Theology Simply Profound.

Theology Simply Profound is a podcast of Westminster Presbyterian Church, an Orthodox Presbyterian Church, serving the western suburbs of Chicago, where God powerfully speaks through his means of grace.

Music credit: pamelayork.com. Thank you, Pamela York, for the use of your beautiful jazzy rendition of “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” We encourage our listeners to check out her website and consider purchasing some of her music

Participants: Rob McKenzie, Robert Tarullo