SSBT Redemptive Reversals and the Ironic Overturning of Human Wisdom

The Bible is full of ironic situations in which God overturns the world’s wisdom by doing the opposite of what is expected. In this new volume from respected New Testament scholar G. K. Beale, readers will see how God’s pattern of divine irony is exhibited in both judgment and salvation, finding its greatest expression in Jesus’s triumph over death through death on a cross. God has designed redemptive history to unfold in a way that challenges human wisdom in order to put his own wisdom and glory on display, using what is seemingly weak and foolish to show his power in the lives of his people today.

208 pages

“The apostle Paul said that the gospel was foolishness to the Greeks and a stumbling block to the Jews. The gospel is just as scandalous and surprising today—or to use Greg Beale’s term, ironic. To encounter that irony is to stumble into strong evidence of the gospel’s divinity. Beale does a masterful job of directing us to a powerful internal testimony the Scripture gives of its truthfulness. Furthermore, Redemptive Reversals is overflowing with anecdotal illustrations, pastoral cautions, cultural connections, and practical applications. It’s a refreshing, unique, and important book all serious Bible students should have in their library.”
J. D. Greear, President, Southern Baptist Convention; author, Not God Enough; Pastor, The Summit Church, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina

“Greg Beale is one of the most perceptive and fascinating New Testament scholars of our day. He reads texts in their historical context, but he also illustrates how particular verses and passages fit into the larger storyline of the Scriptures. In this wonderfully accessible volume, Beale helps us to see that God often works in ways that we would not expect and uses unlikely and ironic means to accomplish his purposes. We see from Beale’s work that God is sovereignly working out his purposes and his will and that we can trust him with our lives.”
Thomas R. Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“An extraordinary book. It lays out a deeply biblical understanding of how God has reversed sin in Christ and how he judges sin in the world, sometimes in surprising ways. With its acute insights and unique perspective, it is a very helpful study.”
David F. Wells, Senior Distinguished Research Professor of Theology, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

“This book opened my eyes to look for the consistent way that God works ironically throughout the Bible—the way he punishes sinners by means of their own sin, makes life possible through his own death, shows his strength through our weakness, and exalts those who are humbled.”
Nancy Guthrie, author, Even Better than Eden: Nine Ways the Bible’s Story Changes Everything about Your Story

Table of Contents:

Preface: A Most Unlikely Revival

Introduction

1. God Judges People by Their Own Sin
2. People Resemble the Idols That They Worship
3. The Irony of Salvation
4. The Christian Life: Power Is Perfected in the Powerless
5. Faith in Unseen Realities Contradicts Trust in Superficial Appearances
6. The Irony of Eschatology

Conclusion