The Time is Fulfilled

To understand the Old Testament themes that were fulfilled in Jesus, we need to understand Old Testament thought. F.F. Bruce reveals the context of the New Testament writers' understanding of the Old Testament by focusing on five themes:

* Jesus's proclamation that "the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand" (Mark 1:15),
* Jesus' statement that the Scriptures "bear witness to me" (John 5:39),
* Paul's teaching that Abraham is the prototype of those who are elected by God (Romans 4:1),
* the relationship of the law and gospel with the law being "a shadow of good things to come" (Hebrews 10:1), and
* "the promise and hope proclaimed by the Old Testament prophets which finds fresh expression in the Revelation, but . . . it is made clear that their fulfillment is bound up with the redemptive achievement of Jesus."

"The Journal of Biblical Literature" says that in The Time Is Fulfilled "a combination of scholarship and spiritual insight makes this book one of those rare events – a scholarly work that will aid devotion"—a comment that could be given of much of Professor Bruce's writings.