Redemptive Reversals and the Ironic Overturning of Human Wisdom

A New Testament scholar shows how God has used irony throughout history in order to put his own wisdom and glory on display, using what is weak and foolish to accomplish his purposes.

“But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” 

—Matthew 19:30

The Bible is full of ironic situations in which God overturns the world’s wisdom by doing the opposite of what is expected—people are punished by their own sin, the persecution of the church is the catalyst for its growth, Paul claims to have strength through weakness, and more. In this book, biblical scholar G. K. Beale explores God’s pattern of divine irony in both judgment and salvation, finding its greatest expression in Jesus’s triumph over death through death on a cross. Unpacking this pattern throughout redemptive history, Beale shows us how God often uses what is seemingly weak and foolish to underscore his own strength and power in the lives of his people today.

• Develops the irony of judgment and salvation from the garden of Eden through Israel’s idolatry in the Old Testament to the cross of Christ
• Teaches readers to see how God uses what is weak and foolish in the world’s eyes to magnify his own power and glory
• Part of the Short Studies in Biblical Theology series, which offers readers accessible introductions to major topics in biblical theology

Contributor: Dane Ortlund (Series edited by), Miles V. Van Pelt (Series edited by)

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