New Studies in Biblical Theology 34. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2015.
Bound for the Promised Land is a contribution to the evangelical wonder that is D. A. Carson’s series New Studies in Biblical Theology (NSBT) by Oren R. Martin. In this volume, Martin tackles the topic of the Abrahamic covenant and the promised Land of Canaan motif against the fulfillments within the new covenant inaugurated by Jesus Christ. The book is a “substantial revision” (p.11) of the author’s 2013 PhD dissertation completed at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary under the supervision of Bruce Ware. Martin’s dissertation committee was also accompanied by Stephen J. Wellum and Thomas R. Schreiner, two notable scholars—these three reflect the tenacity and thoroughness of Martin’s work, as well as having a strong evangelical edge and high view of Scripture and a biblical theology. Wellum and Schreiner, too, being close to Martin would demonstrate that Bound for the Promised Land will have a healthy balance between covenantal and dispensationalist views, as the three (and, debatably four, to include Ware) are proponents of the Progressive Covenantalism school. With world-renowned D.A. Carson as his editor for the NSBT series, nothing but the most rigid and careful scholarship is to be expected. Following graduation, Martin has served as Professor of Theology at his alma mater, Northland International University, and Boyce College. His other titles include being a contributor to 40 Questions About Biblical Theology (Kregel Academic, 2020) alongside Jason S. DeRouchie and Andrew David Naselli, as well as other introductory works to biblical theology.
Martin’s (hereafter M) general thesis in this work is that the promises of the Land of Canaan to Abraham were, by their nature, not merely symbolic but anticipated further fulfillment, and particularly fulfillment in the new covenant. To reach this goal, M divides the work into ten chapters, with two summaries of Old Testament (OT) and New Testament (NT) ideologies throughout, culminating in the final (tenth) chapter as a summary and for the purpose of theological reflections. The structure of the book follows in the natural teleological timeline of the canon itself. In chapter one the concept-at-large is introduced, along with the methodology of the study, and in chapter two the concept-at-large is expounded upon. In these two chapters M sets up his approach well, as he will (necessarily) dive into other concepts beyond just the idea of land. As he comments, “Recent studies in biblical theology have tried to argue that no one centre or theme exhaustively captures the rich and multifaceted message of Scripture (p.22) and that “This conclusion is often reached because no single centre is broad enough to integrate the multitudinous variety of biblical texts” (p.23). He notes the often-neglected point that “If one centre is chosen, it is possible that other central themes that arise from the text will be ignored” (ibid.) and lays out his purposes for consulting a variety of other themes and typologies such as covenant, Kingdom, Messiah, adoption, and other relevant motifs and literary nuances alongside his primary theme of land. M adds, “By allowing the textual, epochal and canonical horizons and progressive typological connects to illuminate the theme of land, this study will demonstrate how the development of the land promise across the canon provides hermeneutical warrant to see its ultimate fulfillment in the new creation won by Christ”, and adds the poignant comment that “This way of reading Scripture will hopefully help to overcome the impasse of conflicting conclusions concerning the land” (p.27). Ultimately, in his own words, M’s thesis is that “the land is a type of something greater that will come through Abraham’s seed and a Davidic son, who will triumphantly bring God’s new covenant people into a new creation” (p.29).
To come to this point, M takes a pleasant and highly readable, yet meticulously argued and cited, journey through the land of Scripture. In chapter three, M begins, rightfully so, back in Eden, echoing thoughts shared by fellow NSBT authors G.K. Beale (The Temple and the Church’s Mission. NSBT 17.) and L. Michael Morales (Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord? NSBT 37), among others, of Eden serving as a primordial and prototypical Temple, as well as a land. Focusing on Adam, M sees the first man’s commission over the garden, and essentially the world, “is to bring the presence of God to the rest of creation” (p.37). Looking beyond just Eden and to extant kingdom motifs, M homes in on the concept of covenant, which he regards as closely related: “covenant charts a course and serves as a unifying theme for the unfolding kingdom drama” (p.42), points he will focus on more later in the work. M spends a short time (pp.43–46) on the question over a covenant being enacted with Adam, a topic well-known to progressive covenantalist circles, but does helpfully point out that Noah is recast as a new Adam, entering into (the renewed original Adamic?) covenant with God, mimicking Genesis 1–2 and setting up motifs to follow. M argues a similar figure is found not only in Abraham himself, but also in Moses where the promised land becomes materialized more than the Abrahamic point: quoting Dumbrell (Covenant and Creation, 101), “in the promised land, as in Eden, the direct presence of God will be encountered in a way which would parallel the condition of man in Eden” (pp.48–49). These concepts, among others, ought to be closely aligned with land in understanding the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant.
Beginning chapter three on the Abrahamic promises itself, M outlines the event, pointing out some exegetical nuggets along the way. One of which is the passing statement “‘Bless’ (or derivatives) occurs five times in the call of the patriarch (12:1–3), which is the gracious counterbalance to the five curses against fallen creation and humanity (3:14, 17b; 4:11; 8:21; 9:25)” and observes that “the promise of land in God’s plan to redeem humanity from its fallen condition provides an idyllic place from which Adam and Eve had fallen” (p.62). Following a brief but succinct section on the un/conditionality of the covenant (pp.63–70) M looks to the regional / international nature of the geographical nature of the land (pp.71–74), dismissing the illogical idea of redaction with (seemingly) contradicting geographical markers and writing “while the Promised Land was primarily a specific territory, there is sufficient biblical warrant to conclude that it was also something more” (p.73), an argument he will continue. Chapter three ends with the reader walking away with the teleological timeline of Eden–Land–Messiah New Creation deeply engrained in their minds: “although it [the land promise] begins as a localized geographical plot, its rich theological associations and eschatological horizons actually extend beyond the territory itself” (p.75).
In chapter four, M looks at the “Advancing [of] the promise” through the rest of the Torah. He begins by pointing out the narrative beginning of Exodus with Israel existing under the hard oppression of Pharoah in Egypt, resembling life outside Eden, and how the birth of the Exodus character Moses representing the birth of a new people (p.79). M recasts the story with the land promises in Exodus–Deuteronomy in mind, adding the comment that “Land is an inheritance to entire people, which demonstrates that God views Israel as a son. In other words, land possession is connected to sonship” (p.85). In this, M focuses on the idea of “life” and notes that “Truly Yahweh is their life” (p.84), adding in a footnote “This passage [Deut. 30:20] is significant because, as one will see in the NT, particularly the Gospels, Jesus is presented as the resurrection and the life (John 11:25; 14:6; cf. Col. 3:4); also, in him is rest (Matt. 11:28). In other words, the life and rest that are often linked to the land will be linked in later revelation to a person, Jesus Christ” (p.84n36). These comments are explored in greater length in chapters seven and eight, particularly within Paul’s expositions on the Gospel. Chapter five continues in the timeline from Joshua–Kings, with focus on the failure of Israel, but illuminating the future hope in the Davidic king and the centrifugal nature of the land and its accompanying promises (pp.90–93). While Israel had the land, they never fully possessed it, and due to disobedience, were sent into exile—such is the topic of chapter six, with a survey of the exile situation (pp.95–100). M follows the dark exilic narrative with the eschatological hope from the prophets and its emphasis on the Davidic character and coming, eschatological nature of the new, second and greater exodus to come.
Though Israel had eventually returned to the land, it was a disappointing return, marking both a lasting, spiritual bondage (p.103) that the prophets depicted only relieved by the substitutionary Suffering Servant (p.104). Looking at the eschatological nature of the prophets with its universal implications (the including of the nations) and its ontological results (the changing of Israel’s hearts), the land now seems hardly the fulfillment of the exodus’s promises. M spends chapter six primarily developing the well-known ideas around Israel’s eschatological restoration, driving home the reality that what Israel found in the Ezra-Nehemiah period did not match what the prophets recorded. What can be gained from the closing-out of the OT is that, to quote at length, “the promise of the land to the nation of Israel is understood within the broader context of God’s programmatic agenda that begins with Adam, progresses from Abraham to Israel, and culminates in an international community living in a new creation. In other words, the national dimension involving the geographical territory of Israel should be viewed as a transitional stage in the outworking of God’s redemptive plan, a plan that spans from creation to new creation and ultimately includes people from every nation filling the entire earth. This goal seems apparent since Abraham’s multitudinous descendants require a much larger territory than Canaan. Indeed, Abraham’s offspring will inhabit the earth and thus fulfill the Adamic commission. But the history of Israel shows that in order for God’s covenant promises to be fulfilled, a new humanity is necessary; and for a new humanity, a new Adam must come” (p.115). These (OT) concluding thoughts lead M, and his readers, into the NT section of the book.
Chapters seven–nine focus on the theological-land developments in the Gospels, epistles, and Revelation, respectively. Noting comments such as those from Bruce Waltke (An Old Testament Theology, 559) that “The trajectory of the land motif into the New Testament is the most difficult biblical motif to track” and Naim Ateek (Zionism and the Land, 209) of the OT–NT difference in mentions of the land is 1,600+ versus less than 50, respectively, M quotes Gary Millar (“Land”, NDBT, 627) that “the formative influence in biblical theology of the relational ideas associated with land must not be underestimated” (p.117) and points out the necessity for tracking concepts rather than words (a helpful framework for any biblical study, including exegesis, I may add). In M’s view, the inauguration of the Kingdom and people-making is the focus of the NT (p.118) with the focus shifting onto Christ (p.119). He points out that even Matthew’s genealogy, for example, looks back to Genesis 2 and 5, particularly with his use of the term biblos geneseōs (“book of genealogy”), a term found only in the LXX Genesis accounts (p.120). Quoting Wright (The New Testament and the People of God, 385–6), “The genealogy then says to Matthew’s careful reader that the long story of Abraham’s people will come to its fulfillment, its seventh seven, with a new David, who will rescue his people from their exile, that is, ‘save his people from their sins’” (p.122). With exodus as the primary theme and pattern of salvation (p.123) well established, Jesus (perhaps implicitly to most readers) typifies this established expectation (p.124) and that the Gospels refocus the (lingering) land and (permeating) covenant promises to the Kingdom-now-come, in Jesus, Who is the true vine (pp.129–130).
Moving to the epistles, M covers Paul’s view of fulfillment language in light of Gentilic inclusion via Jesus’s coming. Here, Paul (and M) view that the land is connected to the covenant, rightfully so in the OT, but that covenant is, now, connected to the Person Christ (p.134). Looking to Paul’s emphatic claim in Gal. 3:16 that Christ is the promised (-to) Seed of Abraham, themes of inheritance, adoption, life, and, ultimately, land are realized in Christ. To Paul, the Abrahamic promise has come to the whole world in Christ (and originally): Quoting Schreiner (Paul, Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ, 329) “The promise of long life in the land, in Paul’s view, relates to our heavenly inheritance… the promise to live long in the land no longer relates in the same way. The land now becomes the future world that belongs to the people of God, the heavenly Jerusalem (Gal 4:26). The land promised in the Old Testament anticipates and is fulfilled in the eschatological inheritance awaiting the people of God” (p.135n17). In this direction M drives forward, relating the (flexibility-allowing) land promise to Abraham to new creation in Christ, with the land being a downpayment to Israel for this world to come, much like the Spirit (p.137), with themes of inheritance grounding both (seemingly) sides of the spectrum: …inheritance in the Old Testament is inextricably linked to the Abrahamic promises. The constellation of related themes become fused with other theological concepts such as union with Christ, God’s presence and the temple. Thus inheritance language enables Paul to draw upon the overlap that occurs between promise and fulfillment” (p.139), the main NT theme easily discerned by any reader.
Moving to Hebrews, M sees the same “spiritualization,” if you will, of the land, most notable in chapters 11–13 which show Abraham and the patriarchs looking to a spiritual land, being sojourners in the land of Canaan (pp.144–147). This follows, however, a brief yet well-written exposition on this theme within the confines of Davidic kingship, covenant, and Sabbath / rest motifs in Hebrews (pp.140–143). It is here, without the need for any theological gymnastics or dogmatic renditions, that M shows the biblical legitimation for “spiritualizing” the land—we need not develop any type of theological system to come to such a conclusion, as the NT authors did this themselves, with plenty of justification from the OT. Finishing chapter eight with Peter (and an interesting argument for a Gentile Petrine audience in p.148n58, an often debated detail) and his language of believers as exiles looking to a new creation (pp.148–151), M spends chapter nine (the shortest chapter at five pages) detailing how the Book of Revelation envisions a new temple encompassing the whole world, concretizing the land promise as finding its allegorical fulfillment on a universal, spiritual scope (pp.153–157). M concludes the NT concept of land as looking to its telos, original and realized, in Christ (p.159).
Entering his final and concluding chapter, ten, M synthesizes the last nine sections of the book and ties the details together. He primarily sees the land (and its promises) serving as a type of the new creation (p.161). He sees “four plot movements” in God’s story across the OT: the developing account of Genesis 1–11, the Abrahamic covenant and its land promises, the fulfillment of said promises in Israel’s history, and the loss of the land with the accompanying shift in prophecy to universal fulfillment (ibid.). These four trajectories of God’s teleological plan both allow for a “spiritualized” land-promise fulfillment as well as solving conflicts between dispensational and covenantal theologies (p.162). What may serve as a harmonious and solution-providing way forward is embracing M’s observations of the land promises, themselves, looking to “something more” and that God’s fulfilling of His promises to physical Israel (and the Church) need not, necessarily, be seen as accomplished literally (as in the land of Canaan) since He would be fulfilling them via Israel and the Church possessing the whole world. Like many others, M stresses an already-but-not-yet framework in this area. He comments “…although some spiritual aspects [of land fulfillment] are applied to the church, the territorial aspects of God’s promise to the nation of Israel will be fulfilled in the future. In other words, although the antitype is in a real sense of fulfillment of the type, the fulfillment is only a partial one. Therefore the original promises to the nation will still be kept, even if they have partial application to the church” (p.169). M argues we need not conflate or pit-against-each-other literal or typological fulfillments, as they will both find their reality in the eschaton, where all of the world is inherited by all who are in Christ.
M’s views here are a breath of fresh air in many ways, as he presents perhaps the most balanced and logical view of the land promise, and the idea of Israel and the Church as this concept, necessarily, encroaches on it. M sees God’s promises as intensifying in Christ, a very good way of seeing it, also borrowing the term from Peter Enns (“Exodus (Book)”, NDBT, 146–152. Though, M notes he does “not accept many of Enn’s conclusions” in n.31) that “biblical typology is Christotelic” (p.170; emphasis original). Ultimately, M’s view (and an agreeable and sensible one) is that the entire timeline-story of God’s redemptive plan for the world is tied up in various concepts of covenant, adoption, inheritance, kingdom, and eschatological salvation in Christ. The OT’s allowance for an enlarging and world-encompassing view of the original land-grant to Abraham of Canaan coupled with the prophets’ expectation of a new creation find their place in the culmination of God’s telos in Christ in the NT. Theological systems and camps which over-extend either a spiritualized or literal view fail to recognize, as M respectfully and non-confrontationally (the entire book has a very polite and light style to it) argues, that the land promise finds its fulfillment in not just Canaan, but the entire world. Thus, Israel’s literal expected fulfillments and the nations’ all being ingathered in light of (what seems to be an exclusive) fulfillment in Christ are harmonized in this simple and logical conclusion.
In all, Bound for the Promised Land offers an exegetically balanced, theologically rich, and well executed monologue over the relationship between the OT expectations over land and the new creation reality in the NT. M offers to the reader a well-researched and well-reasoned treatment of an, at times, contentious topic. Beyond offering sound conclusions and a typologically and theologically rich harmonization of biblical theology, M provides a solution for various camps on this topic, paving a way forward to see the Abrahamic covenant in light of NT realities. M’s book does not fail to meet the rigorous expectations of NSBT’s high exegetical and theological standards and will certainly be a simple, but thorough, resource for scholars and students alike. Bound for the Promised Land reaches across both aisles with M’s easy-to-read and welcoming writing style, while not sacrificeing scholarly rigor: he provides a thorough bibliography spanning multiple decades and twenty-one pages (pp.173–193) and a wealth of information in his footnotes (see especially the dense material on various Pauline phrases and concepts in pp.132–135), by no means sacrificing thoroughness for accessibility, something many readers are often disappointingly finding in monologues seeking for wider audiences. M covers numerous views, never showing himself out-of-touch with the scholarly conversation(s) and beautifully articulates his points. What the reader may find lacking in M’s work is attention paid to the accompanying types he points out in chapters one and two, but such is (understandably) beyond the scope of his project. Topics like these often overlap with other similar monologues, and even monologues paying mind to close topics (like that of Beale’s and Morales’)—to expect such a wide treatment is, in a way, not to appreciate M’s present goal. M has provided a worthy contribution to the biblical theology of land and is a recommended read for scholar, student, and layman alike.