Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters, Carmen Joy Imes. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2019.

Summary: What the law given at Sinai and the Old Testament has to do with the lives of Christians.

Carmen Joy Imes wants to puncture the myth once for all that the Old Testament is about law and the New about grace. In this book, which begins with Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and provided for in the wilderness, she stresses that the law reflects how those who have been the recipients of such grace may live under such grace, and that the scriptures speak of the joy and delight that God has shown them how they ought live with Him.

A key point in this book is her reading of what she would consider the second commandment, the first being to have no other gods nor images of God. She contends that what we often translate “you shall not take the name of the Lord in vain” is better translated, “you shall not bear the name of Yahweh, your God, in vain.” She considers Israel’s calling to be, as those who worship only Yahweh, to represent well, or bear, God’s name to the nations. The rest of the commands, then, articulate how they do this well.

She then discusses how God ratifies his covenant purpose and provides for their covenant-breaking in the whole system of sacrifices, yet another note of grace. Then she traces how they are prepared to enter the promised land through census, blessing, and marching orders. She then covers all the ways Israel strikes out, from the unbelief surrounding the report of the spies, the compromises with the Gibeonites and other failures under Joshua, and the failures of David’s dynasty. The prophets reveal Israel’s problem, and it is not with the law, but what the law reveals of their hearts. They point to restoration, new hearts on which the law is written.

Enter Jesus, whose name means Yahweh saves. He is one who fulfills the name bearing at which Israel so miserably failed. His whole life as the true Israel, one greater than Moses, revealed in the transfiguration and raised from the dead reveals him as the true name bearer. There is no other name, his name is above all names, and those who are saved by grace bear that name and represent him well as they obey him. And this includes the Gentiles, who together with the Jews are formed into one new people bearing the name, living out the law written on their hearts, reflecting God’s “tattoo” upon them to the nations.

Along the way, Imes includes sidebars with informative background on such things as “How Many Hebrews?”, in which she discusses the question of the numbers given of those in the wilderness. She offers resources for further study, including an appendix of QR codes to relevant videos from The Bible Project. A discussion guide for group study is also provided.

Through a style that includes references to Narnia, personal stories, and word studies, and scholarship, she traces the arc of how God has worked to call out a people who bear His name from Sinai through Jesus to the church. She both demystifies the Old Testament, including matters like the sacrificial system and traces the story arc of all of scripture. She shows the continuity between Sinai and Zion, between Moses and Jesus and what all this means for us.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.