Graham Cole’s work is one that provides the reader with a thorough treatment of the biblical material concerning a theology of the incarnation. Each section of material is easily approachable and follows a logical ordering that ensures that the reader will follow in Cole’s sophisticated and pastoral scholarship. In this review, I will begin by addressing the work as a whole and then move to a discussion of some finer details that I found particularly interesting.
The Work
The concluding sentence of Cole’s book provides a good framework that explains Coles methodology in this work: “When systematic theology uses biblical theology to connect text and present in a normative fashion, we are engaged in the theological interpretation of Scripture.” And Cole did just that. He constantly weaves a tapestry of biblical theology, systematic theology, and historical theology. And the work begins with his biblical theology and presuppositions: “This work assumes that God has provided Holy Scripture so that his people are not left in an epistemological black hole from which no epistemic light can escape” (20). And in this high treatment of Scripture, Cole seeks to give the Old Testament a voice—but one that is not completely distinct from the New Testament; after all, in his “concomitance” (33), God is alongside us. And God is alongside us at the beginning, in Eden, in creation; for “The purpose of creation is divine habitation in a cosmic palace-temple” (37).
From here, Cole moves on to discuss God’s preparation for the incarnation in the life of Abraham and his family. In this section readers are previewed to some extraordinarily interesting passages before moving on to the Mosaic story and the ‘embodied’ God. From here, there is a chronological progression to the Judges, former prophets, and latter prophets. All contained a wealth of information which is too exhaustive to include here.
Cole’s next chapter on God’s preparation in Israel’s hope contains a lynchpin in his argument in the book as a whole. In order to state his case, he provides extensive interaction with B.B. Warfield and Ray C. Ortlund Jr. In this interaction, Cole arrives at a guiding hermeneutical question: “is an interpretation demanded by the text in view, or is the interpretation under discussion simply consistent with that text of Scripture?” (82). Here, he is not saying that the Old Testament Scriptures did not speak of Christ, but rather that “We are endeavoring to understand what ancient Israel hoped for before the revelatory light of Christ became available” (89). And he concludes, “for our purposes no expectation of an incarnation is plainly in view in the pages of the Old Testament” (91). From here, he wisely and immediately goes into a discussion on typology. This heavy and meticulous distinction will serve the purpose of the next chapter on the great mystery. Here, Cole argued that the Old Testament scriptures did not have the incarnation in view. It was indeed a mystery in the sense of “revelation that is in some sense ‘there’ in the [Old Testament] scriptures but hidden until the time of God-appointed disclosure” (97).
Next, Cole moves on to his chapter entitled “Cur deus homo” after the prominent work by Anselm of Canterbury. Here, he provides a comprehensive list of the effects of the incarnation, and made the bold and accurate statement, “The Word is the exegete of the invisible Father” (122). He draws together strong implications between the incarnation and the atonement. And this bleeds over into his final chapter on the significance of the incarnation, namely its theological and existential significance. Cole urges theologians with this charge: “We ought not to do Christian theology as through Christ had never come” (144).
Notable Details
I greatly enjoyed Cole’s constant foreshadowing and inductive leading. He was able to match his style with the unfolding biblical narrative, which I thought to be masterful. He also used analogies to explain deep theological concepts (e.g. Bill Cosby on Noah, Elton Trueblood’s “cut-flower civilization”, “listen to the fabric). He was able to connect with the reader. He was also able to connect the biblical and systematic theological teachings and concepts to the realm of historical theology. He had a constant conversation with the church fathers, heavy interaction with John Calvin, extensive use of the creeds (namely the Chalcedonian and Athanasian creeds), allusions to Anselm’s Cur Deus homo?, and an explication of Aquinas on the timing of the incarnation. The excursus were always relevant to the discussion at hand and were on intriguing and difficult topics. Cole always provided a biblically-sound and nuanced perspective.
Perhaps the most intriguing concept that I found in the book was the idea of glorified bodies and the idea of connaturality. I would like to study this concept more and I felt that Cole had this as a subtle through line in his treatment of the incarnation. This ontological transformation is the basis for us being able to see God, and is a natural outworking of a discussion on God’s incarnation in Jesus Christ. He uses relevant scriptures to bolster his position. And so we look back—we look back at Jesus’ incarnation, we look to the history of its ramifications, we look at how it is still working in conjunction with the atonement even to this day, and we look forward to our future hope of glorification with him.
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