RLGN1302 New Testament History

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RLGN1302New Testament History

• Week Four

2
The Gospels (Continued)

• LUKE
• Very universal in nature
• Written by a Gentile for Gentiles
• Special focus on outcasts
• Women
• Gentiles
• The sick and unclean

3
The Gospels (Continued)

• LUKE (Continued)
• Unique dedication yields insight into Lukes
  research
• Only gospel to give any background about John the
  Baptist
• Father-Zechariah, a priest
• Mother-Elizabeth
• John-a wunderkind, one of several in the
  scriptures

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The Gospels (Continued)

• LUKE (Continued)
• Often makes outcasts the heroes of the story
• The Good Samaritan
• The ten lepers
• The prodigal son
• Gives a variant genealogy of Jesus that goes back
  to Adam
• Birth narrative includes the shepherds and the
  angelic choir

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The Gospels (Continued)

• LUKE (Continued)
• Annunciation to Mary
• Only gospel to give us any information about
  Jesus later childhood
• Simeon and Anna in the Temple
• Going to the Temple at twelve

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The Gospels (Continued)

• LUKE (Continued)
• Presents Jesus as a man of prayer
• 321 516, 18-32 612 918, 28 2239-46
  2324 2430
• Special emphasis on the Holy Spirit
• 135 225 322 418 1113 1210 1212
• Some of the best Greek in the New Testament

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The Gospels (Continued)

• LUKE (Continued)
• Only gospel in which Jesus overtly interprets His
  ministry in terms of Isaiahs Suffering Servant
  (418-19)
• Only gospel in which Jesus extreme suffering in
  Gethsemane is discussed or not (see text note on
  2243-44)

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The Gospels (Continued)

• LUKE (Continued)
• Only gospel in which Jesus prayer of forgiveness
  from the cross is recorded
• Only gospel in which the trialogue among Jesus
  and the two thieves is recorded
• Curious doubling of the Markan tradition of
  angels at the tomb of Jesus

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The Gospels (Continued)

• JOHN
• Often considered the most theologically
  reflective of all the gospels
• More concerned with interpreting Jesus ministry
  than just recording it
• Probably the result of at least three recensions
  (editions) Original body of the gospel, the
  prologue, the epilogue.

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The Gospels (Continued)

• JOHN (Continued)
• Pre-birth prologue
• Distinguishes Jesus from other Greek demi-gods
  (humans with one divine parent from Greek
  mythology, e.g., Hercules or Achilles)
• Employs high Christology that makes clear the
  eternal nature of the second person of the
  godhead and his full status as divine (c.f.,
  Jehovahs Witnesses, A god . . .)

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The Gospels (Continued)

• JOHN (Continued)
• Inaugurated eschatology, as opposed to the remote
  eschatology of the Synoptics
• Compare with C. H. Dodds idea of realized
  eschatology
• Both judgment and eternal life begin now and
  depend on ones reaction to Jesus as Gods Christ
• ????? (Logos) terminology to describe the
  pre-incarnate Jesus
• ????? refers to the self-expression of God,
  that is, what God thinks of Himself

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The Gospels (Continued)

• JOHN (Continued)
• ????? (Logos) (Continued)
• Other groups also used this vocabulary with
  different meanings
• Stoics-????? was reason, the impersonal force
  that guides the universe and against which there
  is no point to struggle. It determines the
  course of all of life and cannot be changed.
  Johns usage affirms the control of the created
  order by the ?????, but insists that the ????? is
  personal and has come precisely to enable
  humanity to change its destiny from one of
  destruction to eternal life

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The Gospels (Continued)

• JOHN (Continued)
• ????? (Logos) (Continued)
• Other Groups (Continued)
• Jews-????? was associated with s?f?a (wisdom)
  which in Proverbs was personified as the agent of
  creation through whom God made the world. Johns
  use of the word shows that while Jesus was the
  agent of creation, He was not Himself a created
  being, but full divine and a member of the
  eternal godhead

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The Gospels (Continued)

• JOHN (Continued)
• ????? (Logos) (Continued)
• Other Groups (Continued)
• Gnostics-This was a religio-philosophical system
  that was very eclectic in nature. It comprised
  of elements from Greek philosophy (esp.
  Platonism), Greek mystery religions, Judaism, and
  Christianity. It taught that God dwelled in the
  realm of pure spirit and had no direct contact
  with the material realm (Platonism).

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The Gospels (Continued)

• JOHN (Continued)
• ????? (Logos) (Continued)
• Other Groups (Continued)
• Gnostics (Continued)-They posited a whole host of
  intermediaries between this spirit god and the
  creator god who was responsible for the world and
  humanity. Humans retained a spark of this divine
  spirit entombed in a material body. Through a
  process of reincarnation, they ascended one level
  at a time back to the spirit realm from which
  their divine spark originated.

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The Gospels (Continued)

• JOHN (Continued)
• ????? (Logos) (Continued)
• Other Groups (Continued)
• Gnostics (Continued)-????? (Logos) was the first
  of the beings below the spirit god. He came to
  reveal secret information that enabled humans to
  skip through the intermediaries and ascend
  directly back to God.

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The Gospels (Continued)

• JOHN (Continued)
• ????? (Logos) (Continued)
• Other Groups (Continued)
• Gnostics (Continued)-Johns use of this
  terminology with reference to Jesus challenges
  the whole Gnostic schema. Jesus is God, not a
  created being, who Himself intervenes and becomes
  fully human to enable sinful humanity to enter
  into right relationship with Himself and have
  eternal life.

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The Gospels (Continued)

• JOHN (Continued)
• Literary characteristics
• Eternal life, rather than kingdom of God
• ????? (mashalim), not parables
• Signs (s?µe?a), not miracles (d??aµe??)
• Irony
• Double meaning words
• ???? (lift up) 314 828 1232, 34
• ????e? (again, from above) 33, 7, 31
• ??d? (to see with the eyes, to perceive) 33

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The Gospels (Continued)

• JOHN (Continued)
• Arranged in seven major discourses of Jesus with
  which signs are associated
• Major themes
• ??ap? (love)
• ?e?e?? (abiding)
• ??ste?e?? (to believe), NEVER p?st?? (faith)

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The Gospels (Continued)

• JOHN (Continued)
• Moves the Temple incident from the end of Jesus
  ministry to the beginning
• This move is theological, rather than historical
• This also changes the event the concretizes
  Jesus opposition and solidifies their commitment
  to His assassination from the cleansing
  incident in the Synoptics to the resuscitation of
  Lazarus.
• This incident becomes the lens through which John
  presents Jesus ministry as a new direction for
  the people of God receives its focus.

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The Gospels (Continued)

• JOHN (Continued)
• John the Baptist
• Presented as mentor of Jesus
• Does not baptize Jesus
• Makes his subordinate role to Jesus very clear
• Points Jesus out to his own disciples
• Designates Jesus as the Lamb of God

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The Gospels (Continued)

• JOHN (Continued)
• Use of e?? e?µ? (I am)
• Seven major I am ????? (mashalim)
• The Bread of Life (635, 48)
• The Light of the World (812 95)
• The door of the Sheep (107, 9)
• The Good Shepherd (1011, 14)
• The Resurrection and the Life (1125)
• The True and Living Way (146)
• The Vine (151-6)

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The Gospels (Continued)

• JOHN (Continued)
• Use of e?? e?µ? (I am) (Continued)
• The Absolute Use (858)
• A number of other scattered uses
• The significance of e?? e?µ? (I am)
• Greek (LXX) translation of the Hebrew name for
  Israels God (????)
• In John, Jesus way of revealing His true nature
  (c.f., Messianic secret)

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The Gospels (Continued)

• JOHN (Continued)
• Difference in Passion Narrative
• Jesus is not taken by force in the Garden
  (181-6)
• Crucified on Preparation Day when lambs were
  slaughtered (Lamb of God)
• Last words are very different from any of the
  Synoptic traditions (1926-30)

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The Gospels (Continued)

• JOHN (Continued)
• Original ending at 2031
• Epilogue (Ch. 21) added later