The GREATEST Modern Biblical Theologian?!

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]How has Seraphim Hamilton affected the way you read scripture? Seraphim have affected me a lot.

[00:00:06]I really got to do a separate video on this. Like not In my opinion, not enough people know who Seraphim Hamilton is. I I have been reading and following Seraphim Hamilton. So, for those who don't know, Seraphim Hamilton is an Eastern Orthodox theologian. Um he has he various degrees from various universities. I believe he's currently he um at seminary, which is why he's not as active on his social media as he once was.

[00:00:31]In my mind, he is one of the most brilliant theological minds of the 21st century. Um certainly in the realm of biblical theology. I put him up there with men like James Jordan and Peter Leithart. Um you know, I I think the way he reads scripture just blew me away. So, I I discovered his work back when I was in college. Um in fact, if someone asked me who my favorite theologian is, I I didn't think to mention Seraphim. I'd say he's definitely one of my favorite modern theologians.

[00:01:01]Um he he was writing initially on Tumblr, of all places. I think I read every single Tumblr post he ever made. And I don't think I'm exaggerating. Like I think I actually read everything he ever wrote on Tumblr. To the point where like I understood him so well, I could like anticipate the things he would the way he would answer different questions and stuff like that. Um and I don't even know how you way he does theology.

[00:01:27]Basically, you know, to describe him in broad terms, I mean he does biblical theology the way the writers of the New Testament did biblical theology. Right?

[00:01:36]Which is to read scripture as a unifying whole, to genuinely see Christ in the Old Testament, not just superficially, not just see like they like, "Oh yeah, the New Testament authors, they're like being very creative in their reading Christ in places that actually he really isn't there." Um but to actually see that no, he's really there. Like my my favorite example of this is the story of Joseph. Right, like Seraphim has a brilliant article called like the Messianic Harvest of Joseph where he points out just all these connections between Christ and Joseph that are there's just too many. There's just too many for it to be like coincidental. Like I mean you have He's betrayed by his brothers for pieces of silver. Particularly, he's betrayed by his brother Judah or Judas for pieces of silver. He's thrown into a pit that has no water. Now, something Seraphim is going to do is he's going to look at a detail like that, right? That That just gets passed over like oh yeah, the pit has has no water. Like average people just read that, move on. Seraphim looks at that and he says, "Hold on a minute. What is the biblical theology of water in the book of Genesis?"

[00:02:40]It's a question a lot of people don't even ask. But then you go back to like the Garden of Eden. You have the four rivers of Eden that are flowing out and watering the entire creation. Be like And then you have in Genesis chapter two as well, you have this reference to how no plant of the ground had yet sprouted forth because there was no man to water the ground. So, what is man's task? His task is to take the rivers of Eden, right? And spread them out to the entire world to give life to the entire world.

[00:03:09]And then you go throughout the Genesis narrative, where do men keep meeting their wives? They keep meeting them by wells. Wells of water. Why do they keep meeting their wives by wells? It's because women are the givers of life.

[00:03:21]They bring new life into the world. They are right? And obviously, Eve herself, right? She is constructed and built from the side of Adam. She is a type of the garden itself, right? Adam is supposed to protect his bride the same way he's supposed to protect the garden. And so just as the garden is giving it has this life-giving water flowing out into the creation, Eve herself is going to have this life-giving water that's going to flow out into the creation which is mankind. Just populate mankind. Um and so men keep meeting their wives at wells because they're the givers of life and there's water. And so then you come to the Joseph story, and he's thrown into a pit where there is no water.

[00:03:56]There's no life. So, he's thrown into the pit of death. And then he is raised up outright out of the pit after being betrayed by his brother Judas, being thrown into the pit of death, being betrayed by uh pieces of silver, but he's raised up out of the pit, and he's exalted to reign over the nations at the age of 30. He's exalted to the right hand of Pharaoh as Christ is exalted to the right hand of God, right? And he's given dominion over the nations, and he feeds the nations with bread.

[00:04:25]Right? I mean, you see all of these connections between Christ and Joseph. Um and then, this is I mean, this is unique to Seraphim. Seraphim I think discovered this.

[00:04:36]Um if you're familiar with Gematria, so this is in the the In Hebrew, there are numerical values assigned to um to all of the Hebrew letters.

[00:04:47]Um and if you add up the numerical value of all of Genesis 1, which remember Genesis 1 goes into Genesis 2:3, that's where it ends, because those details those uh chapter divisions were added later.

[00:05:01]Um and you add it all together, the numerical value of all of Genesis 1, the creation story, is 110,601.

[00:05:10]Right? 601 is the 110th prime number.

[00:05:15]So, you have 110,000 plus the 110th prime number. That's all of creation week.

[00:05:20]Joseph, the climatic figure of Genesis, who succeeds where Adam failed, right?

[00:05:25]Remember Adam abused the knowledge of good and evil? Joseph discerns the knowledge of good and evil. He says, "You meant it for evil, God meant it for good." That's the only other time in Genesis the words good and evil are used in close proximity to each other. It's in Joseph. Adam is naked in the garden, Joseph is fully clothed, right? He is And then he's also clearly a type of Christ, right? Joseph dies at the age of 110. He dies at the number associated with the creation week to show that he is the climactic figure of the creation, right? And obviously as a type of Christ this means that Christ himself is the climax of creation.

[00:06:00]Right? The incarnation of the son of God, his betrayal by his brother Judas, right? For pieces of silver, his being thrown down the pit of death, raised up from the pit of death, exalted to reign over the nations, feeding the nations with the Eucharistic bread from heaven, right? During the great famine that is coming over the world. All these things our Lord does as the new Adam, as the pinnacle of creation, right? And that is genuinely and authentically in the Genesis text because what does in Genesis 49 it say, the one of the first one of the like major Messianic prophecies in book of Genesis, right?

[00:06:28]The about the scepter shall rise from Judah. It says that his brother shall bow down before him. The exact same language that's used of Joseph in his dream, that his brother shall bow down before him. So in Genesis itself we know that the Messiah is going to be like Jesus. And then we see Jesus is actually reliving the life of Joseph in his own person. So all of that to say, that is a way of reading scripture. That's just a gives you a little taste of like how Seraphim Hamilton reads scripture. Um and and that is why, you know, and so like being able to take that hermeneutic and then like run with it has been one of the greatest uh gifts to my own intellectual life as well as my spiritual life. Um so I highly recommend everyone check out the work of Seraphim Hamilton. Obviously I don't agree with him on everything, especially related to like historical Catholic Orthodox issues, but in terms of his biblical theology it is second to none in my opinion.

[00:07:20]Um so highly recommend it.