New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ by Thomas R. Schreiner
Essentials in Biblical Theology Series
New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ by Thomas R. Schreiner[1]
Through the centuries, biblical theology has been many things to many people. Johann Philip Gabler (1753–1826), regarded by many as the father of the discipline, saw biblical theology as a means of arriving at an objective form of Christian theology. While systematic or dogmatic theology would always be tainted by the theologian’s prior commitments, biblical theology offered the hope of objectivity through doing historical work in the texts of Scripture followed by the task of stripping the theological material from its historical particulars to find the transcendent truth of Scripture, what Gabler called “pure biblical theology.”[2]
While Gabler’s method held onto reverence for Scripture as the word of God, he was followed by the German liberal tradition of critical scholarship which rejected the authority and trustworthiness of Scripture. This led to the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule (History of Religions School), influenced by F. C. Bauer, D. F. Strauss, and William Wrede, which treated the biblical texts as historical evidence for the evolution of Jewish and Christian religion rather than sacred Scripture. The theological poverty of the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule, especially considering the devastation of the Great War, gave way to Karl Barth (1886–1968) and Neo-orthodoxy. Barth’s influence eventually gave birth to what became the Biblical Theology Movement in the mid-twentieth century, in which scholars like Brevard Childs sought to read the Bible as the word of God in its canonical form while not abandoning the higher critical method’s understanding of the evolutionary development of the texts.
While the Biblical Theology Movement was an improvement over Religionsgeschichtliche Schule, it nevertheless failed to regard the Bible as the authoritative and inerrant word of God itself, not just containing the word of God or recording God’s acts. While certain influential exceptions existed in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries such as Adolf Schlatter and Geerhardus Vos, evangelical biblical theology only began to come of age in the last half of the twentieth century, especially with the release of George Eldon Ladd’s (1974) and Donald Guthrie’s (1981) NT theologies. While evangelical biblical theology itself contains diverse approaches and viewpoints, it has been united around the conviction of biblical authority. This authority cannot be found behind the text in its historical background or evolutionary development, nor in front of the text in its usage by readers in church and synagogue today, but in the words of the text itself—words , which are anchored to the intent of the original author and are inspired by the Spirit of God without error. Because of these presuppositions about Scripture, various evangelical scholars have described biblical theology as a “mediating discipline” between exegesis and systematic theology.[3] Arising out of careful, detailed, and reverent exegesis of particular passages, biblical theology takes up the task of analysis and synthesis. Biblical theology synthesizes the teachings of the biblical authors across the canon, which then becomes the basis for applying theology to Christians today in systematic theology.
Considering this impulse for synthesization, it is quite natural for one of the most respected evangelical exegetes of the NT today to author a NT theology. Before publishing his New Testament Theology in 2008, Thomas R. Schreiner, James Burchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, had authored major commentaries on Romans, 1–2 Peter, and Jude, as well as significant works on the law and perseverance.[4] In his preface, Schreiner acknowledges the danger of attempting to write a NT theology, “It is safer to present one’s conclusions on a single verse than it is to say what the entire NT is about. Perhaps it is saner as well” (11)!
Evangelical authors have taken multiple approaches when writing theologies of the NT. Most scholars, such as Leon Morris, I. Howard Marshall, Frank S. Thielman, and Andreas J. Köstenberger, have largely written synopses of each book with little synthesis of the NT as a whole.[5] Others have been inclined toward organization around the chronological development of the NT, such as Eckhard J. Schnabel.[6] Even other NT theologies, like Donald Guthrie, more closely resemble systematic theologies, being organized around themes or doctrines.[7] Schreiner largely takes this last approach. The sections and chapters of the book organize around themes in a logical progression. Then within this framework, Schreiner examines particular books, authors, and sections of the NT.
Schreiner believes that “NT theology is God-focused, Christ-centered, and Spirit-saturated” (23). The NT is about the Trinitarian God who has chosen to magnify himself in the person and work of Jesus Christ. This work happens “along a salvation-historical timeline” that turns on the axis of promise and fulfillment (23). Thus, Schreiner organizes his project around the theme of promise-fulfillment, dividing the book into four parts: (1) the already-not yet of fulfillment, (2) the God of promise, (3) the experience of promise, and (4) the people and future of promise. In chapters 1–3, Schreiner identifies inaugurated eschatology as the core of the NT message. In the gospels, Jesus inaugurated the kingdom of God, but that kingdom has not yet fully been consummated. “God has begun to fulfill his saving promises in Jesus Christ, yet believers still await the completion of what God has promised” (116). The already-not yet itself motivated the writing of the NT books in order to aid believers as they live in the tension of inaugurated eschatology.
“[T]he centrality of God in Christ is the foundational theme for the narrative unfolded in the NT” (119). Both promise and fulfillment flow forth from the person of God as Father, Son, and Spirit. While Schreiner spends a chapter each on Father (chapter 4) and Spirit (chapter 13), he devotes eight chapters to Christology (chapters 5–12). This uneven distribution should not surprise readers, since Christ reveals the Father to us and the Spirit comes to glorify Christ. Broader NT scholarship has often denied that the NT consistently or systematically teaches the deity of Christ. However, Schreiner has offered a thorough and convictional defense of the NT as the basis of what would later become the Chalcedonian definition, that Christ is one person with two natures, divine and human.
From the God of the Promise, Schreiner turns to the experience of the promise. In chapters 14–16, he reviews the problem of sin, the necessity of faith and obedience, and the relation of the law to the work of Christ. Particularly significant is Schreiner’s defense of the Protestant reading of Paul as teaching justification by faith alone (sola fide) since b. Both Roman Catholicism and, more recently, the New Perspective on Paul have rejected this reading of Paul as an Protestant imposition on the text. Then, iIn chapters 17–19, Schreiner concludes the book with ecclesiology, ethics, and eschatology. In each of these three areas, the truth of inaugurated eschatology governs the NT’s teaching.
Schreiner has built a reputation on simple and clear exegesis. Many NT scholars today seek to utilize historical backgrounds to reinterpret the NT text. Much of NT scholarship can be summarized as advocating that readers cannot trust their eyes. The text does not mean what the reader thinks it means because the reader does not have the obscure historical background available to the scholar. In this pursuit, many scholars have lost sight of the most basic truth about the NT: it consists of words connected grammatically to express thoughts. While historical and cultural backgrounds can be enlightening, the meaning of the NT is not hidden or esoteric. Schreiner examines the words, the grammar, the syntax, and the argument.[8] The text is the basis for theology.
While Schreiner’s approach is simple, it is never simplistic. He is fully aware of the major controversies in the field. Readers will find his writing marked by an even-handed approach in which he generously considers different viewpoints but ultimately chooses the view with the greatest textual warrant. Whether examining the various controversies arising from the New Perspective or the Egalitarian/Complementarian debate, Schreiner proves repeatedly to be a trustworthy guide, even when one decides to disagree with him. For this reason, Schreiner’s New Testament Theology should be received as a starting place for anyone wanting to understand the theology of the NT and for those desiring to go delve deeper into the field of NT studies.
Joshua Caleb Hutchens
Gateway Seminary (April 2026)
TL;DR
Evangelical biblical theology stands apart from its critical predecessors by affirming the Bible’s full authority and serving as a mediating discipline between exegesis and systematic theology.
NT theology is God-focused, Christ-centered, and Spirit-saturated, unfolding along a salvation-historical timeline of promise and fulfillment.
Inaugurated eschatology (the already-not yet) is central to the NT. God’s kingdom promises are fulfilled in Jesus (already inaugurated) but await full consummation (not yet).
Schreiner’s New Testament Theology walks readers through an examination of the God of the promise, the experience of the promise, and the people and future of the promise.
Schreiner excels in his clear, text-grounded exegesis and even-handed engagement with scholarly debates.
[1] Thomas R. Schreiner, New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ (Baker Academic, 2008).
[2] Johann Philipp Gabler, “An Oration on the Proper Distinction between Biblical and Dogmatic Theology and the Specific Objectives of Each,” trans. John Sandys-Wunsch and Laurence Eldredge, Scottish Journal of Theology 33, no. 2 (1980): 133–58.
[3] These are the words of D. A. Carson, but many others have used similar language. See D. A. Carson, “Systematic Theology and Biblical Theology,” in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, eds. T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner, (IVP Academic, 2001), 100.
[4] Thomas R. Schreiner, Romans, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Baker Academic, 1998); 1, 2 Peter, Jude, New American Commentary (B&H Academic, 2003); The Law and Its Fulfillment: A Pauline Theology of Law (Baker Academic, 1993); Schreiner and Ardel B. Caneday, The Race Set Before Us: A Biblical Theology of Perseverance and Assurance (IVP Academic, 2001).
[5] Leon Morris, New Testament Theology (Zondervan, 1986); I. Howard Marshall, New Testament Theology: Many Witnesses, One Gospel (IVP Academic, 2004); Frank S. Theilman, Theology of the New Testament: A Canonical and Synthetic Approach (Zondervan Academic, 2005); Andreas J. Köstenberger, New Testament Theology A Canonical, Thematic, and Ethical Approach (Crossway, Forthcoming 2026).
[6] Eckhard J. Schnabel, New Testament Theology (Baker Academic, 2023).
[7] Donald Guthrie, New Testament Theology (IVP, 1981).
[8] For Schreiner’s exegetical methodology, see Schreiner, Interpreting the Pauline Epistles (Baker Academic, 2011).
