Calling on the Name of The Lord, a biblical theology of prayer
"At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD" (Genesis 4:26 ESV). From this first mention of prayer in the Bible, right through to the end, when the church prays "Come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20), prayer is intimately linked with the gospel—God's promised and provided solution to the problem of human rebellion against him and its consequences. After defining prayer simply as "calling on the name of the Lord," Gary Millar follows the contours of the Bible's teaching on prayer. His conviction is that even careful readers can often overlook significant material because it is deeply embedded in narrative or poetic passages where the main emphases lie elsewhere. Millar's initial focus is on how "calling on the name of the Lord" to deliver on his covenantal promises is the foundation for all that the Old Testament says about prayer. Moving to the New Testament, he shows how this is redefined by Jesus himself, and how, after his death and resurrection, the apostles understood "praying in the name of Jesus" to be the equivalent new covenant expression. Throughout the Bible, prayer is to be primarily understood as asking God to deliver on what he has already promised—as Calvin expressed it, "through the gospel our hearts are trained to call on God's name" (Institutes 3.20.1).
Publisher: IVP
Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9781783593958
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J. Gary Millar is Principal of Queensland Theological College, Australia. Previously he served as a minister in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. He is the author of Now Choose Life (NSBT), coauthor of Saving Eutychus and a contributor to His Mission: Jesus in the Gospel of Luke.
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"The beauty of Millar's work stems from his keen balance of the scholarly with the devotional. While the material is thoroughly researched and academically robust, it is also fairly accessible to the everyday reader. . . . Most importantly, he rightly grounds all biblical prayer in the truth of the gospel. Believers who rely on the faithfulness of God to keep his promises through prayer will undoubtedly recognize and celebrate the heart of God to redeem and restore the whole creation for himself." Josh Branum, Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, Spring 2017