The Old Testament in the New is in the Name
The Power of God’s Name: Unfolding Divine Revelation
God’s name is not just a label but a profound act of self-disclosure. It carries within it the unity of the Old and New Testaments, providing a holistic revelation of God’s nature and His relationship with humanity.
God’s self-revelation is not contradictory but progressively unfolds through different relational modes. In the Old Testament, God reveals His transcendence, covenantal relationship with Israel, and justice. In the New Testament, these aspects align with His immanence, love, and self-giving nature as expressed through Jesus. Despite the distinct ways God engages with creation, these modes remain unified in one and the same divine essence.
When we move from Jesus’ ministry back through His Jewish roots, we see how God’s real power unfolds through history. God has always been guiding humanity toward Himself. This guiding power is evident in how God established Israel through David, brought them to glory, and, in the fullness of time, revealed Himself as the Messiah, the Son of David. This reflects a continuity and deepening of God’s plan, from the covenant with David to its fulfillment in Christ, underscoring Jesus’ role as the ultimate King and the embodiment of God in the Davidic line.
Yet, it is the Father who guides all of history—especially Israel’s history—for the sake of Jesus’ own history. Just as Jesus is not merely human but fully God, the Father is no mere god, and the spirit of this history is not simply any spirit but the Holy Spirit. This Trinitarian understanding shows that the God revealed in Jesus is the same God who led Israel in the Old Testament. God’s name, revealed in Hebrew and preserved in the hope of the Messiah, finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, who is called Lord. The Septuagint tradition used for Jesus’ nature in the New Testament shows how His resurrection brings God’s entire plan together, uniting the past, present, and future through the power of His name.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the NAME of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” -Jesus.
As theologian Robert Jenson insightfully puts it, “God is whoever raised Jesus from the dead, having before raised Israel from Egypt.” This captures the continuity of God’s saving work, connecting the God of the Exodus with the God who raised Jesus, affirming the deep unity and relational depth of God’s engagement with the world. Within the framework of the Self-Standing Givenness Ontology (SSGO), see here https://robertdryer.com/comparing-ssgo-with-thomism/ … this relational mode of God in Jesus and the Old Testament is seen as two distinct but inseparable revelations of the same divine essence. It calls us to face the deepest questions by the power of His unified and personal name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
FYI: The quote by Robert Jenson, “God is whoever raised Jesus from the dead, having before raised Israel from Egypt,” can be found in his work Systematic Theology: The Triune God (2001), published by Oxford University Press.
