Salvation to the Ends of the Earth: A Biblical Theology of Missions – Andreas J. Kostenberger

Tracing the theme of mission across the entire story of the Bible is a daunting task, yet so helpful for the church to understand God’s heartbeat for his creation. In this 2nd edition, Kostenberger shows how mission is the force behind the movement we see in the Bible, from the very beginning of Genesis 3 to the end of Revelation. Here is a biblical and theological approach to a study of mission in the Bible that is highly beneficial for any student of the Word of God and any Christian desiring to be faithful in their walk with the Lord and their ministry as the church.

There is a lot of ground covered in this book, but it only uses 38 out of the almost 300 pages to talk about the Old Testament and discusses such topics as the Abrahamic covenant, the Servant of the Lord, the Davidic Dynasty, and the story of Exodus as a model of salvation. The majority of the book dives into each New Testament book starting with the Gospel of Matthew. Instead of walking through each book in biblical order, Kostenberger groups the letters which most relate to or share the same themes of each Gospel. In the discussion of Matthew is grouped the letter of James and Hebrews and with Mark’s Gospel is the Petrine epistles and Jude. The section on Luke/Acts covers the Pauline epistles as well and then wraps up looking at John’s Gospel, letters, and Revelation. This was quite helpful to see how many of the letters relate to the gospels and follow much the same themes and patterns. There is also an  appendix that broaches the topic of mission in the second-temple period.

I greatly benefited from this book, not only furthering my grasp on the Bible and its overarching story, but also seeing the heart of God and the Christ-centeredness of the text of Scripture. The conclusion that God’s saving plan is the overarching message of the Bible, that Jesus is at the center of all of it, and that we as the church are meant to continue this mission is the main emphasis of the book, and I highly recommend every Christian learning and growing in their understanding of this overall plan as they seek to the follow Christ in the world.

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