Description
The Inspiration, Authority, and Reliability of Scripture contains G. K. Beale’s most significant essays on the Bible’s inspiration, authority, and reliability. Beale both puts forward unique perspectives on “biblical epistemology” and presents a full defense of the idea that biblical writers, under divine inspiration, often spoke more than they consciously knew, yet in ways fully consistent with their intended meaning.
Central to this volume is Beale’s engagement with doubts cast on the Bible reliability, represented especially by Peter Enns’s Inspiration and Incarnation. Beale fully engages these critical challenges, offering a reasonable defense for pastors and scholars like. Other chapters explore other challenges to the Bible’s reliability and coherence, including the unity between Old and New Testaments, the relationship between prophecy and fulfillment, and critical theories about biblical authorship.
Both rigorous and pastoral, The Inspiration, Authority, and Reliability of Scripture demonstrates why the church’s confidence in Scripture as the inspired Word of God remains reasonable and central for faith, theology, and practice today.
Preface
In addition to the various books that I have written on biblical theology, the essays in this volume show some additional areas on this subject on which I have written. As in volume 1, some of the essays are expansions of what has been written in some of my books. Much of my concern in these essays is not merely to discuss some topics concerning the authority of Scripture. I also want to consider the subject of authorial intention by biblical writers, since this has significant bearing on the inspiration of Scripture. Authorial intention also has significance for whether or not there is an organic interpretive and theological development between the testaments. Four of the essays deal with my responses to a published book and essays by Peter Enns, who at the time was a professor of Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary, and, for example, argued that New Testament writers attributed meanings to Old Testament texts which had no connection to the Old Testament authors’ original meaning. —G. K. Beale
Table of Contents
About the Author
Rev. Dr. Gregory K. Beale (PhD, Cambridge) is Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas, and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America. Previously, Dr. Beale held the J. Gresham Machen Chair of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary. A leading voice in biblical theology, he is widely recognized for his work on the New Testament’s use of the Old Testament. His many influential publications include A New Testament Biblical Theology, The Temple and the Church’s Mission, and a landmark commentary on Revelation.
About the Editor
Jacob N. Cerone is a doctoral candidate in New Testament at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and is an in-house editor of the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. He is also editor of several volumes related to early Christianity and New Testament studies.
Endorsements
“As an important part of his academic output, this collection of essays is a worthy testimony to Professor Beale’s creative and prolific contributions to Biblical Studies. Reflecting his deep interest in the relationship between the two Testaments, the exposition of significant themes in Biblical Theology, and the nature of biblical authority, these essays provide a wealth of insight into Beale’s thinking. We might on rare occasions quibble with what he says, but his writings are profoundly helpful in shedding light on complex issues. The publishers are to be congratulated for making these essays easily accessible.”
—T. Desmond Alexander, Senior Research Fellow in Biblical Studies, Union Theological College, Belfast
“This remarkable three-volume collection represents a lifetime of sustained and influential scholarship…. His teaching career and prolific body of published work have impacted the academy, countless students, and the global church. Across these volumes, readers encounter work, written over the span of five decades, that is groundbreaking and rigorous yet readable…. Beale’s arguments are marked by clarity, fairness to opposing views, and a willingness to engage critically yet irenically while remaining deeply Reformed and confessional. Scholars, students, pastors, and serious readers of Scripture will find here a treasury of insight that continues to reward careful study.”
—Christopher A. Beetham, Senior Editor, Biblical Languages, Textbooks, and Reference Tools, Zondervan Academic
“G. K. Beale’s writings are marked by assiduous attention to the text of Scripture, a keen awareness of the close relationship of the OT to the NT, and the climactic significance of the coming of Christ in redemptive history. These attributes are evident in the essays collected here. Beale’s own method and insights have been fruitful for my own reading of Scripture, and I trust they will be for you as well.”
—Brandon D. Crowe, Professor of New Testament, Westminster Theological Seminary
“Greg Beale’s love for the Scriptures and his illuminating exegesis is everywhere to be found in these volumes. Here are found stimulating reflections which demonstrate the coherence of the Scriptures and their fulfillment in that Master Exegete, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Beale has learned well. I encourage you to take up and read and you may find yourself having an Emmaus Road experience, where the Scriptures are opened for you to see their Christological climax.”
—Stephen G Dempster, Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies, Crandall University
“Inspired and discipled by S. Lewis Johnson, Jr. at DTS, Greg Beale has continued to maintain both the aims and high scholarship of Johnson in his life’s work on the use of the Old Testament in the New, biblical theology, and the authority and reliability of the holy Scriptures. Seasoned scholars as well as beginning students will benefit hugely from having all essays assembled in one convenient place as a major resource in biblical studies.”
—Peter J. Gentry, Senior Professor, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
“G. K. Beale is one of the foremost evangelical New Testament scholars in the world, and his work deserves to be widely read. He is known for his love of the Bible, exegetical rigor, and discovery of inner-biblical connections. I’m thrilled that these works are now in one place, so that the church can benefit from a lifetime of scholarship.”
—Benjamin L. Gladd, Executive Director of The Carson Center for Theological Renewal
“These volumes represent Greg Beale’s life-time of serious, insightful, often paradigm-establishing engagement with the Scriptures. As these essays demonstrate, Prof. Beale’s detailed studies of the NT use of the OT carry with them important implications for biblical theology and the unity and authority of the Bible. Indeed, the well-known quality of his work needs no recommendation; my hope is that it will serve to encourage the next generation to carry on this same biblically faithful and serious, exegetical-theological work for the sake of the church.”
—Scott Hafemann, Reader in New Testament (Retired), St Mary’s College, School of Divinity, University of St. Andrews
“Greg Beale’s tireless and erudite work in the field of Biblical Theology has not only illuminated the remarkable links between the OT and NT, but it has demonstrated that there is one divine author that stands behind all of it. I can’t imagine a better gift that a scholar could leave for this generation. And I know his work will bless many generations to come.”
—Michael J. Kruger, Samuel C. Patterson Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity, Reformed Theological Seminary
“Few scholars have done more to further the cause of faithful, scholarly interpretation of Scripture than G. K. Beale. For decades, he has shown a rare combination of patient attention to exegetical detail and a sweeping, integrative biblical-theological vision. I heartily commend this collection of his essays.”
—Sean M. McDonough, Mary French Rockefeller Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
“Over the past decades, Greg Beale’s contribution to Biblical Theology has been immense. His unmatched work on Scripture’s use of Scripture, his rich and robust writing on biblical hermeneutics, his exemplary exegetical work and his soaring exposition of biblical-theological themes have had a massive impact on generations of pastors and scholars. To see the full scope of his work gathered together in these pages is both delightful and hugely impressive. I’m confident that this collection will continue to provide both a solid foundation and enduring stimulus for those who handle the Bible for many years to come.”
—J. Gary Millar, Principal, Queensland Theological College, Brisbane, Australia.
“Recovering the Hebrew Scriptures as the foundation and background for the message and meaning of the New Testament has led to a burst of fruitfulness in biblical studies. Greg Beale was not only one of the pioneers in this movement, but one of its most prolific authors, continually setting forth solid, well-researched, and illuminating contributions. It is joy, therefore, to commend my friend’s work heartily, and with the prayer that this collection of essays will further influence another generation to tear out the page that divides the New Testament from the Hebrew Scriptures.”
—L. Michael Morales, Professor of Biblical Studies, Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
“Two of the most welcome trends in biblical studies in the last fifty years are the growth of interest in the study of the Old Testament in the New Testament and Biblical Theology. Both are vital disciplines for understanding the Bible and reading it faithfully. Greg Beale is a major contributor to these important fields of enquiry. His work is always attentive to the details of the text, filled with insights, and a pleasure to read. It is invaluable to have his many essays available in this handsome three-volume collection.”
—Brian S. Rosner, Director of Research and Senior Lecturer in New Testament at Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia
“Since his Cambridge dissertation on the use of Daniel in Jewish apocalyptic literature and in the Revelation of St. John published in 1984, Greg Beale has continued to write with consistent and astonishing focus on the relationship between Old Testament texts, Jewish texts, and New Testament texts, all the way to his commentary on Colossians and Philemon (2019) and his latest monograph on Union with the Resurrected Christ: Eschatological New Creation and New Testament Biblical Theology (2023). It can indeed be said, with perhaps only a hint of exaggeration, that the interest in the tracing and explaining the use of Old Testament texts by the authors of the New Testament during the past forty years may not have had the same sustained impact on New Testament research without the work of Beale. The essays published in the three volumes of collected essays by G. K. Beale reflect this focus and interest which has assisted several generations of students, professors, and pastors to appreciate the relevance of the Old Testament for the Christian faith.”
—Eckhard J. Schnabel, Mary F. Rockefeller Distinguished Professor of New Testament Emeritus, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
“Greg Beale is one of the most influential evangelical scholars in our generation. The essays contained here represent his ground-breaking work on the use of the Old Testament in the New Testament and his sturdy defense of the authority and truthfulness of the Scriptures. To have all these essays in one place is a gift for both scholarship and the church.”
—Thomas R. Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Greg Beale is both an eminent scholar and a good friend whose work exemplifies the rare combination of creativity, rigor, and doctrinal fidelity. His contributions to understanding the New Testament use of the Old Testament, the defense of the inerrant truth of Scripture, the affirmation of amillennial eschatology, and the development of biblical theology in the tradition of Geerhardus Vos and Meredith Kline have shaped the field of biblical studies in profound ways. These volumes are marked by careful exegesis, theological depth, and an unflinching commitment to the authority of Scripture. They will serve pastors, scholars, and students for generations, providing rich, reliable, and insightful reflections across a wide spectrum of biblical and theological topics.”
—Lane Tipton, Pastor of Trinity Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Easton, PA and Fellow of Biblical and Systematic Theology for Reformed Forum
“Few have done more within recent evangelical scholarship to explore the New Testament’s use of the Old Testament than Greg Beale. Writing from an unswerving commitment to the plenary, verbal inspiration of Scripture, Beale, like the scribe of Matt 13:52, “brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” This collection commendably preserves and makes accessible to this and to future generations the manifold fruits of Beale’s insights into Scripture.”
—Guy Prentiss Waters, James M. Baird, Jr. Professor of New Testament and Academic Dean, Reformed Theological Seminary
