Dr. Jason S. DeRouchie is the Research Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Theology and Judy Hastings Endowed Chair of Old Testament Studies at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. His new book, Delighting in the Old Testament, comprehensively and pastorally seeks “to help Christians make connections to Christ and practical application to the Christian life from every page of the Old Testament” (p. 1).

The work unfolds into four parts. Part 1 (“Reading Well: How Jesus Helps Christians Interpret the Old Testament”) lays the biblical-theological foundations for an OT Christian hermeneutic, demonstrating that the OT was written for Christians and faith in Christ and Christ’s historical work of salvation supply the necessary light and lens for seeing, understanding, and applying the Old Testament (pp. 16–17).

Part 2 (“Seeing Well: How Jesus’s Bible Testifies about Him”) lays out a multiform approach to a Christian hermeneutic of the OT (p. 72). DeRouchie explains the Bible’s historical-salvation framework in terms of covenantal progression: Adamic/Noahic > Abrahamic > Mosaic > Davidic > New (p. 78). A Christian hermeneutic of the OT should place messianic predictions, typologies, and old covenant (OC) ethics within the appropriate phases of the covenantal progression. DeRouchie concludes part 2 by using Genesis as a case study.

Part 3 (“Hoping Well: How Jesus Secures Every Divine Promise”) takes 2 Corinthians 1:20 and argues that every OT promise for every believer is “Yes” in Christ, addressing popular prosperity appropriations of OT promises and contrasting them with NT uses of the OT. Part 3 concludes with DeRouchie’s “Lens of Christ” diagram, which will be explained below.

Part 4 (“Living Well: How Jesus Makes Moses’s Law matter”) argues that “the Mosaic law does not directly bind the Christian in a legal manner”; on the contrary, Christians “treat the Old Testament laws as profitable and instructive when [they] read them through the lens of Christ” (p. 193). DeRouchie grounds this conclusion using the hermeneutical methods of parts 1–3, using them to interact with the OT roots of Christian Reconstructionism and Christian Nationalism.

Readers may find DeRouchie’s “lens” of Christ most helpful, which visually shows how various OT laws and promises are either maintained, transformed, or annulled in the new covenant (NC). Some promises and laws persist between the OC and NC without change (e.g., adultery), though their required consequences may differ between the covenants; some are transformed (e.g., Sabbath Day); and some are completely annulled (e.g., unclean food). This taxonomy provides a more organic link between the OC’s relation to the NC than the traditional tripartite division (see pp. 213–28) by taking the Mosaic Law in its entirety and demonstrating how Christ’s historical work impacts various OC laws.

Despite the strength of DeRouchie’s “lens of Christ,” he inadvertently grounds his dichotomy of “the law of Christ” and the Mosaic Law with a fallacy. First, DeRouchie writes, “As a written legal code, not one of the 613 stipulations in the Mosaic law-covenant is directly binding on Christians…. Instead, we are bound by the law of Christ (1 Cor 9:20–21; Gal 6:2), which is summarized in the call to love our neighbor” (p. 199). DeRouchie then cites James 1:25; 2:8; and 2:12 as a summary of the law of Christ. James 2:8 records, “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture (γράφη), ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ [Lev. 19:18 LXX], you are doing well.” Immediately following this quotation, DeRouchie writes, “Today, the direct authority for guiding Christians is not Moses’s instructions but Christ’s words through his apostles” (p. 200; cf. p. 227).

James implies that Scripture (γράφη) is the OT and that the Levitical command “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18 LXX, verbatim) is itself “the perfect law,” “the law of liberty,” and “the royal law.” Although Jesus and Paul widely apply Leviticus 19:18 as a summary of the Mosaic Law’s requirements (Matt 19:19; 22:39; Mark 12:31; Rom 13:9; Gal 5:14; Jas 2:8), DeRouchie’s law of Christ / law of Moses dichotomy is not warranted on the basis of this text, because DeRouchie’s very definition of “the law of Christ” is itself a distinct Mosaic law (Lev. 19:18)—one of the 613 Mosaic stipulations. DeRouchie’s conclusion (the Mosaic Law is not binding for Christians) fundamentally denies the premise (Lev 19:18 [Jas 2:8] is the law of Christ).

DeRouchie’s own “lens of Christ” solves the problem because this particular law (Lev 19:18) is better seen as a law maintained without extension (see pp. 208–9)—a universal law applicable to both OC and NC believers, commanded in the Old and enabled in the New. Thus, Leviticus 19:18 seen in James 2:8 is not only a summary of the law of Christ but also of one particular OT law that remains binding for Christians today.

Readers of DeRouchie will immediately perceive a pastor-professor at work. Despite the forceful critique above, DeRouchie’s overall case is compelling, and his fiery love for seeing Christ in the Old Testament is infectious. This reviewer heartily recommends Delighting in the Old Testament: Through Christ and for Christ.