Union with the Resurrected Christ: Eschatological New Creation and New Testament Biblical Theology, by G. K. Beale. Baker Academic, 2023, xviii + 558 pages, $49.99.

The work of G. K. Beale needs no introduction. I would venture to say that his is a name that is prominent on many of the bookshelves of readers of Ordained Servant. I certainly have been helped immensely by his detailed and prolific work, especially in the field of New Testament biblical theology and biblical interpretation. His latest book, Union with the Resurrected Christ (URC), continues the work that he began with his A New Testament Biblical Theology (NTBT),[1] an important work in its own right. Beale describes in the preface to URC that this book is a follow-up to A New Testament Biblical Theology, and as such, there is a significant amount of overlap in material. This book is also a development of the first book, with a special eye on the believer's union with the resurrected Christ. It should be stated right at the outset that this book stands on its own; there is a significant amount of new material and a significantly narrower focus to justify it. It is also a hefty book: readers of Beale are already familiar with his prose style which, while dense, does reward detailed and careful reading, and this book is no exception.

The book is divided into two parts. After an introduction setting out the purpose of the book, he begins in part one laying out the theme of the “inaugurated end-time resurrection and new creational kingdom” and its use as a framework for biblical theology. The first chapter consists of a summary of Beale's formulation of the biblical storyline in his NTBT. Beale mentions that this review is crucial because it sets up the theological framework for the remainder of the present work (21). What follows is a review that sets out the storyline through the corpus of Scripture, which will be familiar to readers of NTBT. In chapter 2 Beale turns to the subject matter of the present work and opens the chapter by stating that the core of the storyline presented in chapter 2 is Jesus's resurrection as the new creational kingdom (64). What this is precisely needs a little bit of explanation. In the preface, Beale critiques the usual approach to union with Christ in biblical theology, concentrating on the “in Christ” phrase in Paul and looking at it too generally (xvi). Beale is making the more specific argument that being “in Christ” deals centrally with union with the resurrected Christ as a beginning of the eschatological new creational kingdom. And again, he demonstrates this by proceeding through the corpus of Scripture. One of the things that opened my eyes as I was reading through this chapter is the prevalence of the resurrection theme, even in the Old Testament. Often, I have had the mistaken impression that resurrection in the Old Testament begins and ends with Daniel 12. However, Beale corrects this by showing how the hope of resurrection is prevalent in the Old Testament, especially in the Prophets.

I found these initial two chapters to be the more difficult part of the book. I found myself reading and rereading sections constantly to get the full gist of what he was saying. It was at this point that I thought it might be best to return to the NTBT for a longer explanation, and this did help. Beale's prose is dense to be sure, but I found I struggled more in this first section than in the second section.

The remainder and majority of the book is taken up by Beale's exposition of “the reality and benefits of fulfillment in Christ's life, death, and especially resurrection as the beginning of the eschatological new-creational kingdom.” In the introduction, Beale states “the relationship between Christ's resurrection and believer's union with him in His resurrection can be depicted as a diamond: the diamond represents Christ’s resurrection as the beginning of the end time kingdom and new creation” (2). The different aspects of what Christ's resurrection means are visually represented as a diamond with nineteen facets, and these facets are exposited in the remaining chapters. This part of the book feels more like a reference book; there is not too much development of the relationship among the facets. Each chapter is a fascinating study of these aspects of the resurrection and is done with characteristic exegetical detail. It is in these chapters that Beale works out what the resurrection of Christ fulfills from Christ's side and what it means for believers in union with Christ.

There is not much to dislike about this book, and I would highly recommend it. For the most part the book stands on its own, however, I found it helpful to review A New Testament Biblical Theology at several points. One can also detect hints of Beale's earlier work, especially on the temple.[2] I anticipate returning to the book periodically as a reference book for the aspects of the resurrection, partly because it will be helpful to review these things over and over again, and partly because reading the chapter is a bit like drinking from a firehose, thus making it difficult to retain all the details.

Beale seems quite a bit stronger in dealing with what the resurrection means for Christ than in his applications to believers. He is to be commended for making it clear that these things do apply to believers and the various ways that they do. I simply found some of his application sections a little less clear. His explanations of passages showing what the resurrection means for Christ are remarkable in both clarity and the level of detail. As usual, I find that Beale’s exegesis is both correct and stimulates my own thinking.

It has been noted in other reviews of this book[3] that Beale’s strength is in dealing with the historia salutis, and when dealing with the ordo salutis he struggles a bit. I think that this criticism is valid. I have often found the approach of biblical theologians is one that can often be jarring to those who have been reared on our seminaries’ and denomination’s emphasis on ordo salutis. I say this in the hopes that we can all work toward the balanced approach that we all affirm, a rapprochement that can only serve to strengthen our theology.   

Endnotes

[1] G. K. Beale, A New Testament Biblical Theology (Baker Academic, 2011).

[2] G. K. Beale, The Temple and the Church’s Mission (InterVarsity, 2004).

[3] See especially Harrison Perkins, Heidelblog, August 17, 2023 (link).

David J. Koenig is a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and serves as pastor of Pilgrim Presbyterian Church, Dover, New Hampshire. Ordained Servant Online, May, 2025.