Work and Our Labor in the Lord

James M. Hamilton Jr.

Dane C. Ortlund and Miles V. Van Pelt, series editors

wheaton, illinois

Work and Our Labor in the Lord

Copyright © 2017 by James M. Hamilton Jr.

Published by Crossway

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Pedro Oyarbide

First printing 2017

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked AT are the author’s translation.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-4995-3

ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-4998-4

PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-4996-0

Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-4997-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Hamilton, James M., 1974- author.

Title: Work and our labor in the Lord / James M. Hamilton Jr.

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2017. | Series: Short studies in biblical theology series | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016027439 (print) | LCCN 2016033561 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433549953 (tp) | ISBN 978433549984 (epub) | ISBN 978143349960 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433549977 (mobi)

Subjects: LCSH: Work—Religious aspects—Christianity. | Work—Biblical teaching.

Classification: LCC BT738.5 .H355 2017 (print) | LCC BT738.5 (ebook) | DDC 261.8/5—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016027439

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

For Kameron Slater,

a blessing to all who know him

Contents

Introduction

1 Creation: Work in the Very Good Garden

2 Work after the Fall: Fallen, Futile, Flourishing

3 Redemption: Work Now That Christ Has Risen

4 Restoration: Work in the New Heavens and the New Earth

Conclusion

For Further Reading

General Index

Scripture Index

Introduction

How did the biblical authors view work? To answer this question we need to understand the place of work in biblical theology. Biblical theology, in my view, is the attempt to understand and embrace the interpretive perspective of the biblical authors.1 To attempt to understand the interpretive perspective of the biblical authors is to attempt to understand their worldview. The only access we have to their worldview is what they wrote. Understanding the worldview of the biblical authors requires the ability to see the ways they intended their statements to be read against a wider understanding of the history of redemption, and I am convinced that an evangelical and canonical approach to these issues best positions us to make ...