The Old Testament theophany anticipates the way the New Testament presents the revelation or manifestation of who Jesus is. Terms like Glory, Beauty, and Light will surround this manifestation. The divine word is an image of the power and the Glory of the Lord. It connects with places like Zion, but also with people, such as the enthronement of the king or the anointing of a prophet. Two persons, Moses and Elijah, provide significant anticipations of the way the New Testament present who Jesus is. Qualities of holiness, righteousness, justice, and peace predominate in such texts. Such texts evoke a sense of awe, reverence, and mystery. Such texts contain a universalist thrust in that the message and mission of Israel is to witness to the light and Glory of the Lord it has received to the nations.
The Glory of the Lord that surrounds Moses is one theme (Exodus 24:12-18). The Torah presents Moses as the pre-eminent prophet and lawgiver, performing the role of intercessor for the chosen people. No one in the history of Israel enjoyed the company of the divine as directly, regularly, and productively as Moses. Joshua (Yahweh saves) would play the role of assistant and successor. That communication resulted in the covenant between the Lord and Israel, which he received on Mount Sinai. The ancient Near East used tablets of stone for permanent inscriptions. The Torah was for their instruction in the way they were to relate to the Lord, giving the Lord exclusive devotion, and the way they were to relate to their neighbors. The cloud that he enters becomes symbolic of the presence or glory of the Lord. This Glory presents the Lord as immanent while protecting the divine transcendence. The Lord established a covenant Israel through the unique quality of the relationship Moses had with the Lord (Exodus 34:29-35). Mount Sinai has a significant role in that mountains have functioned as loci of divine-human encounters in many of the world’s religions, and they likewise figured prominently in the history of Israel’s religion as well. It was the point from which the revelation of the Lord flowed toward Israel. Moses received two tablets of stone, returning to the people with the skin of his face shining as if emitting rays of light because of his extended conversation with the Lord. His transforming experience with the Lord led him to invite others to come near so he could instruct those who had recently acted in rebellion against the first two of commandments by erecting the golden calf (Exodus 32). Asking such people to draw near to him must not have been easy. It was only after he spoke to them that he placed a veil over his face, it being unclear as to why. Thereafter, his conversation with the Lord would occur in the Tent of Meeting, the tent deriving its name from this encounter with the Lord, from which he would emerge with the veil over his face. Moses is now in ongoing conversation with the Lord. As he continued his conversation with the Lord, he continued clarifying the mission of this people. Getting close to the Glory and Beauty of the Lord will lead to wanting to bring that glory and beauty into the world. The revelation of the divine will is at the center, but Moses is the mediator between the Lord and Israel. His face-to-face encounters with the Divine were unique, as Israel’s religious tradition itself noted: “Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (Exodus 33:11). This unique access to the Divine, involving teaching, radiance, and a mountainous encounter, formed the backdrop for the New Testament’s depiction of the transfiguration Jesus.
The emphasis upon Moses in the Torah shifts to the king in some poetic texts (Psalm 72). The hope for a just rule provided by the king in Israel is not unique. Confucius gave attention to two overarching matters: what makes for good government, and what makes for a morally good individual. His answers were elegant — and compelling — in their simplicity. Good government rules not by physical force but through moral force. The ideal ruler embodies virtue, which one expresses in unfailingly benevolent treatment of the people. In turn, the people voluntarily, even eagerly, choose to follow the ruler. Because government, to be good, requires a good ruler — and good officials — Confucius also characterizes what makes for a good person: someone who possesses a love of learning; strives to achieve benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom; treats others as he would wish to be treated; is trustworthy and loyal as a friend, filial as a son and obedient as a subject; and, reciprocally, is affectionate and caring as a parent or an official.[1] The prayer for such a rule to endure is genuine in that human rule can be a force for good in the world, although too often they are beastly. The people of God in every age and culture rightly long for human rulers to exhibit a love for freedom, justice, and peace. Such qualities hang by a slender thread and will always require vigilance to defend them. The hymn by James Montgomery (1771-1854), “Hail to the Lord’s Anointed,” refers to “greater David’s greater Son,” as he comes to break oppression, set the captive free, and rule in equity. He comes to bring help for those who suffer wrong, such as the poor and needy. Such persons are precious in the sight of the Lord’s anointed. He shall be like a shower upon the fruitful earth of love, joy, and hope. Peace and righteousness will flow. His rule still increases and is without end. “The tide of time shall never his covenant remove, his name shall stand forever, that name to us is love.” In the hymn by Isaac Watts (1674-1748), “Jesus Shall Reign,” the final two verses suggest that blessings abound wherever Jesus reigns, for prisoners lose their chains, the weary find rest, and those who suffer from want find blessing. Every creature is to bring honors to “our King.” The appearance of the Lord at the enthronement of the Davidic king were in images related to Moses and Sinai (Psalm 99). The power of the Lord is such that it causes the peoples to tremble. Since the Lord is great in Zion, the hope is that all the people will exalt the Lord. The divine holiness will lead to establishing justice, fairness, and righteousness. Since no human rule can fulfill all this, we may need to re-think the relationship between the people of God and the political order considering the future lordship of God.[2] The historical experience of Israel holds the grace and judgment of the Lord together. The grace the Lord shows us does not remove the concerns generated from the holiness of the Lord. The Lord takes sin seriously in judging it and in forgiving it.
The manifestation of the voice of the Lord (Psalm 29) evokes images of the power and Glory of the Lord that subdues the enemies of Israel and assures the nation peace. We pause before the mystery of an unbelievable power that can transform the confusing, painful, terrifying stuff of our lives and world into hope, freedom, and peace. We acknowledge our limits and frailty. However, opening ourselves to awe increases tolerance for uncertainty and opens our receptivity to new and unusual ideas that are crucial if we are to make significant changes in our view of the world. Such awe is an experience of vastness and a need for our accommodation to that vastness. Our attention shifts to what is outside us. Such awe opens us to the wisdom we will need in life. For example, awe reminds us of our littleness amid vastness, which can enhance our connectedness to others. Even the awareness of the vastness of the universe can draw attention to the precious quality of local meaning. Such awe or wonderment is the beginning of religion, even as it is the beginning of philosophical reflection (Kant). Awe leads to a sense of the sacredness of life and gratitude for life. God has unrestricted power, creating without a struggle with chaos.[3] As a result, the people of the Lord can look at torrents, earthquakes, cataclysms, convulsions of nature, regardless of their mystery and lawlessness at first sight, as harmonious notes in the song of creation and varied expressions of the love the Lord has for them.[4] The people of God are always in need of strength and peace, given the ambiguities and harshness of this world. Shalom is a peace that passes all understanding. It suggests the inner peace one receives when one experiences unity with the world, even if only for a moment.[5] It suggests that we can pray for the Lord to give us strength in the face of our challenges, and to grant us peace in the middle of our chaos. Israel could look upon its king as the anointed of the Lord whom upon ascending to the throne the Lord looked upon as a son (Psalm 2). Such a relationship hinted that the Lord would demonstrate divine reality by maintaining and strengthening the rule of the Davidic king. Given this special relationship, the expectation was the kings of the nations would recognize what the Lord was doing through the Davidic king. The New Testament will look upon the filial relationship between the Lord and the king and apply it to Jesus especially in his baptism and at the Transfiguration, but also in Acts 13:33, Hebrews 1:5, 5:5.
The Bible begins with God (Genesis 1:1-5). It does not even try to prove, give evidence, or demonstrate its belief in God. God is eternal, while everything we know is temporal, having a beginning and end. The Bible begins with the creative activity of God. God is the source and origin of the material world. God graciously conferred existence on individuals. The beauty of the doctrine of creation is that of a reality distinct from God, one that is not an echo of God, and a reality that God affirms and with whom God desires fellowship. God preserves creation, continues to care for it out of love and goodness toward what God has created. God will bring creation to what Paul declares in I Corinthians 15:28, in which God will be all in all. This creative activity of God occurs within time, as in the symbolic reference to seven days. God takes time seriously. Creation is a testimony to the patience of God, who nourishes growth through time. The result of this creative activity is unambiguously “good.” God takes delight in what God has created. The word God utters creates the universe. The text is not myth or saga, but Priestly doctrine, sacred knowledge preserved and handed down by many generations of priests. The emphasis is that one can declare faith objectively. The atmosphere is one of sober theological reflection rather than awe or reverence. The emphasis is on the activity rather than its temporality. Something like “In the beginning of God creating the heavens and the earth” is the intent. Given the nature of this activity, it does occur at the beginning of time. The theological principle is that the only creative principle resides in God. It affirms only one creative, caring God throughout the cosmos. The divinely ordered world reflects the covenant of grace between God and humanity. The statement affirms that which transcends humanity in unknown heights while affirming the reality of the human realm and the interconnection between them. Unlike the Enuma Elish, the Babylonian account of creation, in which multiple gods war for control of a chaotic universe, Genesis 1 has only one God, namely 'Elohim, the God of Israel. There is no cosmic sea goddess, Tiamat, whom the Lord must vanquish to create the world. There is only God's spirit, hovering like a restless wind made by beating wings over the tehom, a word from the same root as Tiamat's name; only in Genesis, the tehom is merely a deep abyss of swirling water. The Spirit is life-giving, involved directly in creation. God preserves creation from being ungodly or anti-godly. God creates harmony and peace, as creation becomes the theater and instrument of the acts of God, as well as an object of divine joy in which God invites creation to participate. This P account of creation affirms that the God of Israel created the universe and makes it clear that other cultures worshipped as gods were the inanimate objects in nature. The one God creates with a word. God speaks and there is light. God need not manipulate coarse matter physically. God only says, "Let there be …" and there is! God used a set of words to bring order out of chaos and light out of darkness. Such words are not simply describing something. They are “performative utterances,” in the words of J. L. Austin, creating the reality they are describing. Words have always been critical to the creative work of God. In Genesis, this work continued when “God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night” (Genesis 1:5). God created day and night when God called these periods day and night. The creation of day and night - through the activity of creating and separating light from primordial darkness - allows for the basic reckoning of time. Creation is by a free, divine decision and declaration. When creation separates itself from its origin, it does so to its own hurt, for it falls into falsehood and error. To say it was good is to say that it is in accord with the divine purpose. It receives divine approval. The opening chapters of Genesis will question the goodness of the created order, but in this text and at this point, the goodness of creation is an affirmation of faith. Time can commence. The works of God take place during the day and in the light. Light depends upon God for its existence and continuing presence. Light has no power generating from within itself. It derives its dignity and power from God. God grants time for that which God has made. Existing in time, it belongs at the side of God, expressing the affirmation of God and the possibility of God choosing it. God turned toward creation in gracious good pleasure. To have time is to allow finite things to exist in the presence of God. Created things live under the divine Yes, and thus receive divine preservation and shelter.
Certain hymns capture some of the spirit of these few verses. “Morning has broken like the first morning,” wrote Eleanor Farjeon in 1931. Maltbie D. Babcock (1901) wrote, “This is my Father’s world.” For him, “all nature sings, and round me rights, the music of the spheres.” The birds “declare their maker’s praise. Even if “the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.” Therefore, since “this is my Father’s world,” “I rest in the thought,” the Lord “speaks to me everywhere,” and “the Lord is king, let the earth be glad.”
God shines forth from the beauty of Zion, a soft image that suggests the power of attraction (Psalm 50:1-6), but when God comes toward us and is not silent. This would be comforting except for the next phrase, that God comes as a devouring fire. The impression is a miraculous experience, like Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel. A theophany like this is an encounter with the living God that shocks and dazzles Israel. God is the judge of the earth. While Moses received the covenant on Mount Sinai, some prophetic texts envision a unique role for Mount Zion. Prophets (III Isaiah 60:1-6) could look upon Zion as the epicenter of a new world order promised by the God of Israel. The light of the presence of the Lord will bring all nations to Zion, as people find peace and security there. This light is a day of judgment and redemption. The deliverance, healing, restoration, and forgiveness for the chosen people of Israel become a promise to the world. The divine mission of Israel as a chosen people of the Lord points to the nations. The light of the presence of the Lord Israel is for all people. Living amid a weak people and in dark times, the prophet captures a vision of what could become reality. The return of the Jewish people from their exile was a sign of this potential. The image of Arab people bring gold and frankincense to Zion in praise of the Lord is a powerful and suggested the Christian meditation on the visit of the Magi (Matthew 2:1-12).
An important piece of hagiography elevates Elijah as a model of prophetic vocation (II Kings 2:1-12). A story like this suggests his greatness. He receives a surprising honor at the end of his life. The ascension to heaven by Elijah can obscure the somber movement toward death and the loss it means for Elisha. He refuses to let his mentor die alone, even though Elijah clearly wants to do so. He will depart in the same territory as that of the death of Moses. Like Moses, the life of Elijah was a study in contrasts. Both prophets emerged from the desert, and both spoke the truth to power -- Moses to the enslaving Pharaoh, and Elijah to the corrupt King Ahab and his meddling pagan wife Jezebel. Both performed miraculous feats of power. Moses parted the seas, brought water from a rock, and stood in God's presence on top of Mount Sinai. Ravens sustained Elijah in the desert (I Kings 17:1-7), brought a child back from the dead (I Kings 17:17-24) and defeated the prophets of Baal in a winner-take-all contest between deities on Mount Carmel (I Kings 18). Both prophets worked to train their replacements, too, as Moses instructed Joshua, and Elijah, albeit a bit more reluctantly, prepared Elisha to take up his mantle. Yet, the Bible reveals that both Moses and Elijah were flawed leaders and timid prophets as well. When through a burning bush God confronted Moses with the mission of leading the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses, lacking confidence in himself, balked in fear of the Pharaoh. He sometimes let the anxiety of his people get the best of him. Elijah demonstrated a similar bent when he ran for his life in the desert after Jezebel threatened him and hid in a cave until God talked him out of it with a display of divine power (I Kings 19:1-10). The Gospel of Mark quite rightly seeks to show the connection Jesus had with Moses and Elijah in the story of the transfiguration (Mark 9:2-9). Elisha requests the force, energy, and authority of Elijah — the rûah — and receive the recognition and proper equipment as the true successor of Elijah. The Lord has already granted Elisha the gift of the spirit, but only the work in which the younger prophet will engage will prove its giving. To get a sense of that for which Elisha is asking, we would need to review the life of Elijah. He wants at least a portion of the power of the Spirit that he saw in the life of Elijah to be true in his life as well. With the ascension of Elijah in a whirlwind into heaven, we would not usually use such language to describe death. Yet, some people die in a beautiful way. We see it and feel it. Even in death, they witness to the quality of their lives. The ascent of Elijah into heaven is unique in the Hebrew Scriptures. He does not go to the underworld, to Sheol, as did Samuel, but the Lord intervenes and brings him to heaven. [6] This is an act beyond human affairs. While this account may be a challenge to modern common sense, the story strives to place Elijah outside our human sense of reality. He is in the storm, yet between him and Elisha come horses and a chariot of fire. The uniqueness of this hagiographic vision is that at his death he bypasses Sheol and goes immediately to life with God. The Lord verified the life and ministry of Elijah by this act of honor after his death. The parallel of the story of Elijah with the story of Jesus is deep, as one like Elijah precedes him (John the Baptist), people suspect Jesus is prophet like Elijah, the story of the transfiguration includes Elijah, the grief of Elisha approaching the death of Elijah and the grief of the disciples after his death, and the hagiographic vision of Elijah receiving the honor of life with God immediately upon his death with the vision of the risen Lord after his death (I Corinthians 15) that verified the divine source of the ministry of Jesus and through the most dishonorable of acts prior to his death receives the nor of life with God through the life-giving Spirit.
Shifting from Moses and the king, some prophetic texts speak of a prophet-like servant of the Lord. The servant of the Lord (II Isaiah 42:1-9) is clear that the election and covenant the Lord has with Israel is not end but gave Israel a mission. Israel is both sign and witness to the nations. This servant is a partner with the Lord. The weak, dispirited, and humiliated Israel receives a commission to serve the nations. The Lord anoints this servant to bring justice to the nations. For the New Testament, Jesus is like this servant, anointed with the Spirit (Mark 1:10) and Matthew 12:18-21 quotes it to show that the healing ministry of Jesus in bring justice and hope to the gentiles. The aim of Israel becomes that of being sign of the righteous will of God to all humanity. The election of Israel serves the reign of God in the world. The Torah became a blockage to Israel accomplishing the mission of Israel and this prophet saw that mission. The servant will fulfill his task with energy and integrity expressed in speech. This servant will have a gentle strength that will not crush opposition or impose a rule by violence. The way of the world is to crush oppressors and smash political opposition. This servant will have a kinder and gentler approach, contrasting the persuasive power of the Spirit with the coercive power of the world. The servant comes as a gentle gardener and lamp lighter. The way the world works, those who are weak are irresistible opportunities to use. Not to do so is an act of grace. Given the opposition the servant will face, the servant will need faithfulness to bring the mission to its completion. We can admit that this persuasive way is slow. The servant mediates and personifies the covenant between the Lord and the peoples. The activity of this servant means a new phase of history, as the servant plays a new role in the salvation the Lord offers the nations. Those who join this servant in this mission will bear the same qualities and marks as expressed here. Wherever we find ourselves on the cultural-theological-political spectrum, when ideological shots are firing, our calling as the people of God is to be the servant of the Lord. The key is to not take a particular stand but to play a distinctive role. One that is civil and serving. A servant role. A civil servant if you will. There is a better way than waving signs and screaming insults, firing verbal shots at the opposition. God’s servants bring light into darkness and help people see new ways of living together.
In the prophetic vision, redemption for Israel involves Israel's past, present, and future, and not Israel alone. Salvation is a matter of cosmic dimensions (II Isaiah 43:1-7). The exiles remembered the promise to Abraham of land and to Moses of a land flowing with milk and honey. They remembered the promise to King David for his descendants, for the City of Jerusalem, and for the Temple. Such promises stood for 500 plus years. The exile put it all into question. The notion that Israel is the result of the Lord creating it and forming it is an important shift in theological emphasis, encouraging these broken people to trust in the Lord who established a covenant with their ancestors. This redirection from their experience of loss of land, city, temple, and Davidic dynasty to the cosmic scope of the power of the Lord assured them that their covenant relationship would survive exile. The circumstance of exile need not lead to anxiety or fear regarding their future. Anxiety may arise out of our desperate search for fulfillment and happiness. We want a fulfilled and happy life, but anxiety leads us away from its source. Instead of turning in a trusting way to God, we anxiously focus upon self and think that if we can just possess the right finite thing, we will be happy. We turn to lust instead of mature love. We turn to getting others to serve us. We might even give up instead of engaging in creative action. We anxiously seek recognition by others, and we want it any price. Our lives are a gift for which we can legitimately experience gratitude. Anxiety keeps us away from such confidence and gratitude.[7]They have the assurance that the Lord will redeem or recover that which has been lost or alienated from the Lord. This redemption arises out of the relationship that still exists, for they remain precious and a treasured possession. Based upon that relationship, the Lord acts on behalf of Israel. God's gracious acts toward Israel in the past form the basis of the assurance Israel may take in God's continuing to act in Israel's future. They have the assurance that when the waters of chaos surround them, the Lord will be with them. No matter what Israel must endure, the nation will not be alone, but its creator and redeemer will accompany it. The cost of redemption is great. Therefore, God’s people need not fear. The greatest miracle God may provide us is not removal of that which threatens us, such as a physical healing, but the miracle of giving us strength in the face of suffering. A new creation will occur when the people return to the home the Lord promised them.
While the focus of the Old Testament is Israel, it points beyond as Israel is to faithfully witness to the Lord. The New Testament points to Christ as the fulfillment of the hope for a faithful witness who would bring the nations to the God of Israel. While in conversation with the Torah (Moses) and the prophets (Elijah, Suffering Servant), Jesus moves beyond them and becomes Lord. The New Testament will emphasize the universalist thrust of the previous texts, fulfilling the hope contained in them. This event, this Moment, becomes significant for the offer salvation. This moment reveals the unique relationship of the Son to the Father and the life-giving bond the Spirit brings to the life of God and to the follower of Jesus Christ. The manifestation of who Jesus is becomes a signifier for the vocation of those who would follow him in every culture and in every generation. It leads to the experience of awe, reverence, and mystery that is life-changing, symbolized in baptism. The heart of baptism us the decision to identity of oneself with the witness, death, and resurrected life of Jesus. The renewal of our lives in this experience of the beauty and glory of the Lord will give newly discovered freedom in the Spirit. It can give us a new way of seeing the world. We can have assurance as followers of Jesus today that the scripture represents a faithful witness to what the God of Israel has done in revealing the filial relation of Father, Son, and Spirit and the witness followers are to bring to all peoples.
Peter will become among the first to see this significance as he becomes part of the expansion of the ministry of the church (Acts 10:34-43). Although his primary mission was toward the Jewish people, he forms a bridge for the church to reach the Gentile world. Yet, the Spirit must persuade him toward being that bridge. Despite his resistance, he was able to see the new direction toward which the Spirit was leading the church. As a Jew, the insight he received was that the Jew is not above others, for Christ is Lord of all. This affirmation is a theological truth rising out of the experience and faith of the disciples. As Lord of all, the Lord offers forgiveness to all. The past does not need to be a prison that holds us in bondage. We can receive liberation. In our newly found freedom, we become witnesses. This meant that knowledge of the Torah and obedience to it was no longer the path to acceptance with the Lord. The God of Israel is now God of humanity playing no favorites. The general human situation is one in which all people live in the light of life.[8] That God shows no partiality means that nobody has the edge, that all people are equal before God and none are “more equal” than others; nor is there any hint of a “separate but equal” doctrine, rather, the only litmus test that counts is whatever Jesus administers in the human heart. God is not an accepter/respecter of one person or group of people over another and thereby does not show favoritism; God looks beyond outward appearances. Any love we have we have for others has limits. We love the loveable, we love those who love us, and even the love we have can be an effort to control others. Disciples of Jesus Christ are to see people with God’s eyes, and not rank them by our human biases or perceptions, whether religious, ethnic, or otherwise. We are not to exclude them from being worthy of hearing and responding to God’s message and way through Jesus Christ. Paul can offer a similar perspective. The people of God are one in Christ, setting aside human divisions like Jew and Gentile, slave and free, or the even the created difference of male and female (Galatians 3:26-29). Since Christ is all and in all, the people of God cannot allow difference such as Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free to divide them (Colossians 3:11). In terms of missionary approach, he will connect with a gentile audience by referring to Jesus, whom the God of Israel anointed with the Spirit and power, who acted with goodness toward all, and bringing healing and liberation to those he encountered. Jesus of Nazareth was a man for others as he offered sympathy, help, deliverance, mercy, and solidarity with the fate of humanity. He also witnessed to the agonizing death Jesus suffered, using the imagery of Deuteronomy 21:22-23. Yet, the God of Israel raised him on the third day (I Corinthians 15:4, Hosea 6:2, Jonah 2:1) and allowed him to appear as the Risen Christ to those who would be his witnesses. His triumph over death through resurrection becomes a significant bond between Peter as a Jew and his Gentile audience. He commanded them to preach and testify to the nations that Christ is the one to whom all people are accountable in such a way that turning to him in trust or faith will bring forgiveness of our weakness, rebellion, and sin.
The plan of God, a secret or mystery, finds it unveiling in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:1-12). We discover that plan all along, from Abraham, to Moses, to David, to the prophets, to wisdom teachers, was to include all persons within the people of God. The church exists to unveil and embody this mystery so that the plan of God is no longer a mystery. The historical plan of the God of Israel to include Gentiles in salvation is the mystery that Jesus Christ reveals.[9] Gentile shares with Jew in promises contained within the Old Testament. People will hear it and see it in the church. The secret is no longer a secret. The church exists to mediate this great spiritual truth. Paul needed a revelation to see this truth. He was in prison because he proclaimed and lived this truth. Both examples suggest that human beings often resist and oppose the truth. It will take revelation or at least a special insight to see what Paul sees in Christ. This insight is the work of the Spirit. The secret is no longer a secret, but we must still have the eyes to see. The secret is not an abstract truth, but a truth that becomes a transforming moment that influences the course of one’s life. With Paul, we can become humble servants of this message. With Paul, the moment can come when we see ourselves as serving part of a grand divine plan. The wisdom and insight we need derive from Jesus Christ.
The story of the visit of the magi (Matthew 2:1-12) is symbolic of the human journey as a seeker. The magi are in all of us as we seek for fulfillment and meaning. The prevalence of religion in human history is a testimony to the long search that has engaged humanity. Others may be content with home, symbolic here of the ideas and practices with which they grow up. The magi saw signs of something else awaiting them. They have trustworthy character, they follow a sign in the heavens, and they take significant risk to follow their vision. They did have scripture to guide them, so they relied upon what nature taught them. The Bible does not treat such activities as astrology kindly, but Matthew is notable exception. Balaam, a prophet with magical powers from the east, predicted that a star would rise from Jacob (Numbers 24:17), suggesting the formation of this story to Matthew. The light in the heavens is symbolic of the light that has dawned upon humanity in the coming of Jesus. “God is light and in [God] there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). “The Lord is my light and my salvation” (Psalm 27:1a), the fountain of life in whose light we see light (Psalm 36.9). Our favorite passages are full of it: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined” (Isaiah 9:2). The fourth gospel is full of it. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). They are symbolic of the nations, the Gentiles, welcoming Jesus and bringing what they have to Jesus and worshipping him. The strangeness here is that those who reject Jesus, the Jewish people, though they had the witness of scripture, would reject Jesus. They knew scripture, such as Matthew 5, that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem. But they did have the insight to see truly the scripture, for their knowledge of it blinded them to what it was saying. The magi become an example of the hidden neighbor who does good to the people of God, even if they never would consider themselves part of the people of God. [10] They have insight to see what God is doing in bringing to fulfillment the plan of God for the salvation of humanity.
Jesus was one among the many who received the baptism of John (occurring in 28 AD, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:15-17, 21-22, Matthew 3: 13, 16-17). John may have the title, “the Baptist,” precisely because he baptized Jesus, just as Judas had the title, “the traitor.” We can understand the ministry of the Baptist as inviting people to leave “Egypt,” that is, Jerusalem and the corrupt ways of institutional life in Israel and come to the wilderness. The Baptist patterned his ministry after Moses, Elijah, and other prophets. His preaching involved the coming of a successor, for whom he was unworthy to perform the tasks of a lowly and unskilled slave for a master. This coming one with baptize with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5; 8:16 [by negative inference]; 11:16; compare I Corinthians 12:13) and the fire of judgment. This judgment will be like the winnowing process of separating the grain, destined for safe storage, from the chaff, which the Lord will burn in eschatological fire. The point is fearing the possibility of being chaff. The image of fire also points the Christian reader forward to Pentecost in Acts 2, where tongues as of fire accompany the coming of the Spirit. John connects baptism and the forgiveness of sin (Mark 1:4-8), an important connection in the rest of the New Testament.[11] Such a theme is consistent with the prophetic tradition. It also is a difference between John and Jesus, for the latter did not baptize.[12] Repentance involves a turning around, a radical change of direction, involving the heart and will. Repentance involved the whole being of the repentant one. Repentance is the hopeful word of John, pointing out our self-deceiving beliefs that we are good, worthy, deserving of our salvation and reminding us that our lives need turning around. We need to experience the washing in the cleansing waters of baptism as we anticipate the coming of the one mightier than John is. One does not experience enlightenment by simply imagining the light. One must also become conscious of the darkness.[13] Every day is judgment day. Through our deeds and words, our silence and speech, we are writing in the Book of Life.[14] Submitting to baptism was a concrete expression of the act of repentance. Such confession took place before or during baptism. The good news as found in the preaching of John is that forgiveness of sin is already available. Thus, the first step is simple honesty. We sin, we wander, we lie, and we do not know how to save ourselves through our efforts. Repentance is the admission that in our sin we need to receive forgiveness. Yet, the first step has a close relation to the second step, in which we acknowledge that God forgives. The good news begins in Mark as John invites people to receive forgiveness. We can receive the gift of washing, cleansing, and new birth. We can start over, fresh, like a newborn infant. God forgives. Such is the beginning and end of the good news. For all sin, God forgives.
Significantly, however, Jesus does not stay with John in the wilderness. He will return to Galilee. Jesus accepts the announcement of John that a new and imminent act of God will radically change the situation of Israel. He submits in advance to what God is about to do according to it. He accepts the implications of this event for humanity. He stands by this event as the act of God. Readiness for this even can only mean renewal. Renewal means conversion and repentance. Second and third generation Christians wondered why Jesus began his public ministry as if he were a follower of John and they wondered why he would receive the baptism of Jesus at all. The response Matthew has Jesus make, consistent with how he has portrayed the parents of Jesus, is that which any devout Jewish person would make. He is exemplary, obedient, and humble. (Matthew 3:14-15). The voice from heaven proclaims the divine sonship of Jesus. In advance of the Easter event, we have the first proclamation of the reality of Jesus before humanity.[15] Jesus freely submitted to baptism with water. It occurs when he is praying (Luke). He began the fulfillment of His mission as the Son of the Father who had come into the world to reconcile the world to God. He accepted his election and sending as the Son. He would live entirely for God and therefore entirely for humanity. His act of obedience in the water of baptism will be an anticipation of a life of obedience as he enters his public ministry. He will adopt a particular way of life that became a pattern for those who seek to be disciples of Jesus. His baptism connects with him the Father, but it also connects him to the Spirit. The resting of the Spirit upon persons, as in Isaiah 11:1-3, is a feature of prophetic literature. The point is that the living presence of the Holy Spirit will empower the ministry of Jesus. John had promised that the one to come after him would be different, and we see here the first expression of that difference. The baptism is the beginning of the eschatological age, which the theological significance of the Father tearing open the heavens and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. The Spirit grants freedom and a filial relationship with the Father. His baptism fulfills both the royal coronation in which the Davidic King hears the Lord declare him to be upon his coronation the son (Psalm 2:7) and declares him to be the prophetic servant of the Lord in whom the Lord delights and upon whom the Lord has placed the Spirit (II Isaiah 42:1). God chooses an unknown person from a small village in a marginal region. Jesus did not have the right pedigree. Yet, the choice of God occurs apart from recognized human authorities. We have here the impartation of the Spirit and the thought of adoption.[16] Jesus is the elect Son of God.[17]As such, Jesus becomes a model of election as serving humanity for the mission God gave him.[18] The baptism of Jesus in these ways has a unique role in identifying who Jesus is as uniquely the Son of the Father. The heavenly voice validates Jesus as the bearer of divine revelation, both in his teaching and in his person. Yet, this baptism has been foundational for the Christian practice of baptism.
This significant moment in the life of Jesus finds a connection with a significant and life-changing moment in our lives. When we receive baptism, we are publicly uniting ourselves with and standing with Jesus. In that sense, it becomes the basis for the early church to invite new believers to submit to baptism as well. Baptism becomes the first step in the human decision that recognizes the faithfulness of God to the person receiving baptism. The faith of the person will include obedience and uniting personal life with Jesus. In identifying ourselves with Jesus in our baptism we are making a significant step toward identifying who we are. Baptism is a sign that the favor or grace of God rests upon us. Baptism is a form of anointing us for ministry. Baptism is a sign that we have committed ourselves to the reign of God. As the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist stands at the beginning of his public ministry and had implications throughout that ministry, so our baptism stands at the beginning of our vocation to become increasingly a Christian. We identify ourselves with the course of the life of Jesus, as he lived in submission to the will of the Father to the point of death and receiving the gift of eternal life. This includes experiencing the freedom and power that the gift of the Spirit brings to embrace a new life and vocation and enjoying a relationship with the Father as that of a child of the Father. The Holy Spirit is that “mystical” power to which we must open our minds and hearts and to receive. The Spirit is God with us in our experience. We need to allow ourselves to let the Spirit encounter us, address us, and then we need to respond to the address. We need to move in the direction the Spirit bids us. The Spirits bids us into deeper communion with Christ and with others. The Spirit that engages us from the depths of our souls, and is indeed the source of our lives, seeks to shape us into the image of Christ. However, and this is important, if we do not respond to this invitation, it will be a form of grace that the fire of the Spirit consume (destroy?) us.[19] Baptism symbolizes a shift of our sense of identity away from self and toward Christ. God calls Christians into fellowship with the Son, identifying us as children of God. In such ways, the beginning of the ministry of Jesus is not of merely historical interest. It became exemplary, normative, and binding in respect of the form of the beginning of their new life. The beginning of a life of fellowship with him is at issue. We are children of the heavenly Father, and our calling is to live as children of the heavenly Father. Our vocation in life is to learn to live in this world as representatives of our heavenly Father. Since baptism is open to all persons, all of us have a calling from God. However, as we continue the journey, the significant question for us is not so much what happened in the moment of our baptism but what is happening in this moment today. Thus, our baptism symbolizes our identification with a family larger than our biological family, uniting ourselves with a family that has a history and universality that we will slowly appreciate. Our biological family has issues, and so does the family of God, but we learn to be discerning and draw from its well of salvation and its wisdom. We keep learning what it means in our lives to live as part of this family and as united with Christ.
Is conversion a good word to describe the experience of all Christians (Acts 8:14-17). As James D. G. Dunn shows in an important study (Baptism in the Holy Spirit), there is solid evidence to suggest that the early church held that there were at least three essential pieces to what he terms the "conversion-initiation" experience of becoming a follower of Jesus: confession that Jesus is the Messiah, water baptism and receiving the Spirit. There was no single order for these experiences (cf. 9:44-48, where reception of the Spirit is the basis for water baptism), but the absence of any one of them calls into question whether one was part of the community. With the Samaritans' reception of the Holy Spirit, there can be no question that the church had entered a new stage of expansion in fulfillment of Jesus' charge. Further, the work of the Spirit has a close relation to the work of the Son. Here, the laying on of hands imparts the Spirit, which we are to understand in the context of the sending of the Spirit by the Father or the Son.[20] We should note the close connection of this act of laying on of hands, the imparting of the Spirit, and baptism. Thus, the passage is consistent with much of the early Christian testimony of the receiving of the Spirit at baptism.[21] This link of baptism to reception of the Spirit by the laying on of hands is one we expect in Acts.[22] Of course, here is an example of baptism with water that is separate from the reception of the Spirit, which is the norm for baptism in the New Testament.[23] We should note as well that baptism in the name of Jesus includes the Trinitarian formula, for baptism is in the one name, Father, Son, and Spirit.[24]
Baptism raises the question of our personal and communal experience of the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1-7). Baptism acknowledges the work of the Holy Spirit that is already there. At its best, as Martin Luther often noted, baptism is a lifelong process of conversion and nurture that begins at the font and does not end until death. Since baptism is a sign of an experience of new birth and regeneration, they are not identical. In fact, they do not regularly go together. One can receive baptism with water and yet not experience the new birth through the Spirit. This simply means that one may receive the outward sign or ritual but not experience the inward grace.[25] Baptism is not magic in the sense that if you do it, it requires God or the human recipient to act in certain ways. Several disciples of Jesus had received only the baptism of John, yet the Spirit was with them. These disciples did not re-baptism to be part of the early church. They did not need it because through their contact with Jesus they also experienced the work of the Spirit in their lives. The appearance of the risen Lord and Pentecost sealed the work of the Spirit in them. The band of disciples Paul met needed further instruction that included reception of the Holy Spirit. Here is the only account of re-baptism in the New Testament, and it was in the name of Jesus, even if later generations would insist on a Trinitarian formula for baptism. The laying on of hands by Paul embodies the kind of unity that baptism intends to foster among the communion of saints. This is more than symbolic. It is a profound reminder that baptism brings us into contact with the risen Christ, contact with the power of the Holy Spirit, contact with humankind in and beyond the community of faith. The gift of the Spirit distinguished Christian baptism from other forms, especially that of John.[26] Baptism with the Spirit and water baptism held no distinction in the early church. It knew of one baptism, administered with water and normally linked to the gift of the Spirit. Christian baptism outdates this distinguishing feature between it and John.[27] Baptism inaugurates a new reality in the Holy Spirit for all who believe and act in the name of Jesus. The New Testament connects baptism and the new reality in the Holy Spirit. The baptism of Jesus includes the view that the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus. Baptism is genuine, not based upon the name used, but on the power it evokes. Rather than focus upon the spectacular, I want to focus on the quiet ways the Spirit may be at work in the life of persons and communities. The reason is that in our time, people within the Christian community can often focus on the miraculous as evidence of the presence of the Spirit. Such a view assumes a far too narrow understanding of the miraculous. It focuses on the moment. I want to focus on what happens after the moment, which is the rest of our lives. Some of us, if we took the time to reflect, would be surprised at the work the Spirit has accomplished in us over the years. Everyone has gaps and breaks in their lives. Some destructive experience eventually shatters everyone. As the English writer G.K. Chesterton said, "We are all in the same boat, in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty." Many authors have noted the wonderful quote from the end of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms: “The world breaks everyone, then some become strong at the broken places.” "Forget your perfect offering," says the poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen. "There is a crack in everything. That is how the light gets in." The Spirit blows where it will, and daily it blows through our lives, refreshing us, disrupting us, soothing us, prodding us, and pouring out God's love upon us until the Spirit makes us over into the likeness of the Son.
The identity of Jesus is a major theme of the gospel story (Mark 9:2-9, Matthew 17:1-9, Luke 9:28-36). The healing of an epileptic boy becomes a sign of the coming rule of God (Luke 9:34-43). Solomon built the temple upon a mountain. Both Moses (Exodus 24, 34, where the face of Moses shown with dazzling light after a voice from the clouds addressed him) and Elijah (I Kings 18) had received distinctive revelations while upon a mountain. Jesus had an important relation to the tradition of the law and the prophets as well as the unique relationship he has with the Father. The gospel stories occur in the context in which the crowds, the religious leaders, and the disciples have some ambiguity as to the identity of Jesus. As we might expect, brightness is symbolic of divine presence. When three disciples had a vision of Jesus on the mountain, they thought they were doing great honor to him by equating him to Moses and Elijah. Yet, they slowly learned that Jesus was so much more than they imagined. The similarity between the experience of Moses and the transfiguration of Jesus receives an affirmation in II Corinthians 3:7-4:6. The apostle reminds his readers that, after his experience, Moses constantly “veiled” his face, while for Christians the event of the transfiguration of Jesus is only the first showing of the splendor and radiance of the glory of God that the resurrection will bring. The vision blends elements of the resurrection appearance tradition (e.g., the whiteness of his clothes, compare to Mark 16:5) with Old Testament messianic imagery evoking Moses and Elijah. As the heavenly voice proclaims Jesus as Son of the Father, it does so based upon the royal coronation in which the Davidic King hears the Lord declare him to be upon his coronation the son (Psalm 2:7). The use of the title “my Beloved” also may involve the biblical memory of Isaac and the near sacrifice of this son in Genesis 22. The heavenly voice issues the command to the disciples to listen to him. We as readers have someone new to whom to listen other than the Law and the Prophets, even if this new person is in conversation with them. Disciples are to live their lives bound by this obedience. The heavenly voice validates Jesus as the bearer of divine revelation, both in his teaching and in his person. In other words, Jesus is king, Moses represents the Law, and Elijah represents the prophets. God the Father affirms the ministry of the Son. They represent the testimony of all Scripture‑‑both the Law and the Prophets‑‑about Jesus' true messianic identity. Jesus brings to its climax the work of the prophets who have proclaimed the word of the Lord. Jesus fulfills, brings to its desired conclusion, the entire story of Israel, who was to be a light to the nations. God formed the nation of Israel for a purpose. Israel was to be the vehicle of the redemption God wanted to offer the world. Israel was to be a witness among the nations of that longed-for redemption. Israel was to be a model of redemption. Israel existed for the sake of the redemption of the world. Jesus brings the story of Israel to fulfillment. He is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. Yet, such a message of salvation and redemption would not be possible without the ministry of Moses, Elijah, and the ministry of the kings of Israel.[28] In offering to build a temporary shelter, he recognizes the transient nature of the occurrence. We as readers receive a foretaste of the full revelation of the identity of Jesus as the Christ, and the hope for our transformation that such a revelation brings.
I would like to offer an analogy. The analogy carries with it a risk. I do not know how much the reader hungers for beauty. You know when beauty invades your ordinary experience. It captures your attention. If you have not had that experience, I think it is fair to say that you hope it will happen someday. It may happen with the physical or even spiritual beauty of person. It may happen in nature, of course, but it may also happen with a work of art. In that moment, as transitory as it may be, we will express something like the good fortune we have had to be there, in the presence of such beauty. Such beauty calls out to us. It calls us to recognize the true value and worth of another. We may have some thrill to be in the presence of such beauty. We are thankful. Beauty has a way of reaching out, seizing us, and demanding our attention. Such experiences of beauty may well provide a clue to give us a sign or glimpse of what it would be like to allow the beauty of the Lord to reach out, seize us, and demand our attention. If we do, we worship.[29]
Many people have an experience that deepens their connection with God. It clarifies who God is and whom they are in that relationship. Such an experience does not prove that God exists. Such an experience can give some assurance at a deep and profound level, deeply personal, that one has heard taught is true. Such experiences are describable only in metaphor, they are brief, one receives them as a gift, and they impart a knowing that alters what one believes about self and world and therefore alters what one sees. The experience enables them to see the world differently than they had before the experience. It can lead to freedom from conventional anxieties and inhibitions and to compassion as a way of relating to the world (Williams James). Most of a human life does not occur in such high, blissful moments. The doctrine of divine immanence reminds us that God is always everywhere. However, in such clarifying moments, God is right here, in this divine moment. Each moment can have its clarity and meaning. Each moment deserves the weight of our awareness. Each moment has its true and due fulfilment.[30]
The veil over the face of Moses in Exodus 34:29-35, which there was a simple fact, becomes a sign of the unbelieving response of the people to the revelation of God (II Corinthians 3:12-4:2). It meant that ministry of Moses was destined to pass away. Even as the Jewish people read the Torah, they do not understand that God has set aside the Torah to continue the primary mission of bringing good news of salvation to humanity. The turn to the Lord removes the veil. The plan of God is one, beginning in the call of Israel and coming to fruition now in Christ as the representative of Israel. At this point, Christ and the Spirit become united. The Lord is the risen and exalted Jesus who will return as the community waits. The Spirit is the form and power of the divine presence and of the relation of believers to that presence.[31] In the free self-distinction of the Son from the Father, the independent existence of a creation distinct from God has its basis. The basis of its possibility is the free self-distinction of the Son from the Father. Even as the Son moves out of the unity of deity, he remains united with the Father by the Spirit, who is the Spirit of freedom.[32] The Spirit is in close relation to Christian freedom. Apostolic boldness is closely related to this freedom. Where there is this freedom of the Spirit, our reconciliation to God has reached its goal.[33] This freedom of the Spirit, in contrast to the letter in verse 7, rests on the fact that the Spirit bears witness that in Jesus Christ the eschatological consummation of the theme of human life has come already, this being the true subject and final meaning even of the letter of the law itself.[34] Christian freedom is the work of the Holy Spirit in believers. However, this is not just one work of the Spirit among others. The freedom of believers expresses the fact that the Spirit of God works in them in such a way that it rests on their participation in the filial relation of Jesus to the Father.[35] The paradox of this freedom is that the first thing in this life is to obey. We will find something or Someone to whom we give our final allegiance. Where we bend the knee is the ultimate is the ultimate question. We may obey money, sex, conforming to our tribe, or our desires, but we will obey. Yet, we also desire and need freedom. We gain freedom in the Spirit as we learn to walk in faith, hope, and especially love. The more we live into the mission of God in the world, the more we engage the Spirit and allow the Spirit to work in us and through us, the freer we become to realize our true purpose as citizens of the rule of God and people of the new covenant. Thus, removing the veil, beholding the glory or beauty of the Lord, we experience transformation. This is not an ecstatic experience but a transformation within this life and history. There is a daily inner renewal as believers place themselves at God’s disposal. In the act of the glorifying of Jesus as the Son, believers share in the fellowship of the Son with the Father and therefore in the glory of God by which their own lives are changed into imperishable fellowship with the eternal God.[36] The gospel spreads abroad the radiance that shines from Christ and appeals to the conscience, the ability all persons have to discern right from wrong. The word of the apostolic message is Spirit-filled in virtue of its content and for this reason can impart the Spirit.[37] The apostolic message does need a veil in the way Moses needed a veil.
Sometimes, believing is seeing (II Corinthians 4:3-6). For the Christian, the good news is that divine light has shined through Jesus Christ and into our lives. Yet, for many people in the world, for many of our family and neighbors, the gospel has a veil over it. The light faces real opposition. Opposition is the way human life works in that we face obstacles and challenges within ourselves, in our relationships, and by living in this world. Christian life is no different. Christian life has the ambiguity of “already” and “not yet.” Christ has “already” come, showing the light of the gospel, especially in the resurrection. The light has “already” come upon those who believe. However, the fact that so many people do not live according to the light is a sign that we are “not yet” at the end. We are still moving toward it. Thus, while the gospel is open for all to see, not all persons see. The gospel has a veil over it, as did Moses when he placed a veil over his face (Exodus 34:29-35). The beliefs and social structures that reflect the communal nature of human life become a veil that inhibits seeing the light that Christ brings. In addition, the church, by its life together, often distorts its intended purpose to the point of unrecognizability. One may always find justifiable grounds on which to remain aloof from the church. Some who remain aloof do so out of disenchanted longing for the rule of God that they no longer see in the life of the church.[38] The likeness of God in human form found manifestation only in Jesus Christ. It would be well to ponder the Christological hymn of Colossians 1:15-20 at this point. In Christ alone we see our destiny of fellowship with God. In fact, that is the point of the revelation of divine likeness in Christ. Christian theology must read the Old Testament about our creation in divine likeness in the light of such statements in which Paul calls Jesus Christ the image of God, which has in view a closeness to God that goes beyond the divine likeness grounded in creation.[39] Responding to the gospel means continuing the ministry of servanthood rather than lordly domination. The beliefs and ideologies that guide so much of human life, becoming part of the air we breathe and becoming the lens through which we see the world, can become so much part of us that we become blind to what matters most. Many in our age may value a notion of freedom that involves liberation from any external constraints that tradition and authority represent. Such a notion is blind to its real-life application of the authority of the group to which one has identified oneself and becomes blind to the wisdom and insight it might receive from the other. One has exchanged one master for another. The new master does not have the benefit of time-tested truth. Rather, the new master reveals the shallow quality of much of our thinking about that which ultimately concerns us, about social, political, and economic arrangements, and morality of our choices. Yet, Paul, his team, and many followers of Jesus through the centuries, can testify to the genuine joy they find in serving something greater than self. Parents serve their children. Children serve aging parents. The rich serve the poor. The healthy serve the sick. The strong serve the weak. Many people have found their deepest and most joyful experiences in serving. This is a challenging thing for most of us to wrap our minds around because ambition and achievement have carefully schooled us. Ambition is a wonderful thing. We do well to encourage our children to be ambitious, to work hard, and to make a success of themselves. Yet, for the follower of Jesus, the point of life is letting Jesus shine through. This approach to life will require humility. Humility needs to precede, accompany, and follow everything we do. To think of it in a physical way, humility needs to be ahead of us so that we can focus upon it, beside us so that we can lean upon it and behind us so that pride will not sneak behind us and rob us of the joy of humility (Augustine). When the creator spoke light into existence, God showed a commitment to bringing light into our lives through Jesus Christ. The light came to the apostles so that they could bring light to others. The gospel of Jesus is an unveiling. God has removed a barrier between God and humanity in the gospel. Light shines into darkness. God grants access to the divine to those whose rebellion forbade it. What one needs is to lift the veil and allow the light to reach those who are perishing is a new creation, a new age that will free them from the influence of this world-age. Therefore, the God who brought light to the primordial darkness has shined in our hearts. Those whom God enables to understand divine glory clearly at last shines through the human Jesus and his ministry have the veil lifted from their eyes that would obscure the truth of the gospel, and so God saves them from perishing.
Those who are disciples of Jesus today rely upon the integrity and reliability of the apostolic witness. Their witness is that Christ received honor and glory from the God of Israel as the beloved son of the Father, connecting this revelation of who Jesus with the giving of the tablets of stone to Moses on Mount Sinai. Such experience of the apostles confirms the prophetic witness of scripture. The divine message comes in the form of the human word of prophets and apostles. This divine message meets us in the thick of the fog of our own intellectual life. Yet, this divine message is a light that shines in a dark place, not needed explanation because it simply shines. Thus, the Spirit prompts the writers, but the Spirit also guides those who read. The correction for false teaching is to allow the apostolic witness its precedence in the formation of what we believe and how we behave.
Scripture holds a special place for us today because God breathed life into it, and therefore, it becomes life to us, if we are open to receive it. Scripture is “useful” in that it teaches us positive matters we are to believe, as well as reprove and correct our belief and practice. It trains us in righteousness, so that we who belong to God may become proficient for good works.
Of course, we are not to read scripture in a casuistic way, as if it were simply a book of church law. The Pharisees tried that approach. Paul rarely appealed to a line of the Old Testament law, but he did appeal to Jesus, most famously in Philippians 2:5. Jesus provides an example of reading scripture through his elevation of the commandment to love God with heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love the neighbor as oneself. Thus, while the Old Testament and Judaism yet today take the purity and sacrificial laws seriously, the New Testament took the purity laws, the regulations concerning clean and unclean foods, and the entire festival and sacrificial system, and interpreted them as finding their fulfillment in an unexpected way in the suffering servant, Jesus of Nazareth. Another obvious example is that to conclude Jesus was the promised Jewish Messiah required a new reading of the Old Testament. Here are some other examples. Jesus and Paul redefined the people of God, recognizing the overwhelming power of the Roman Empire, and therefore did not lead others to agitate in a military way against the Empire. Jesus encouraged a form of strategic pacifism in this regard. We have Romans 13 as an example of the view of Paul toward the Empire. Even when the Empire became beastly, as we see in the Book of Revelation, the author does not recommend a futile military battle between first century Christians and the Empire. The church in the first century took the practical approach they could not effect large political changes. Yet, recognizing that the people of God must reside within the Empire, both Jesus and Paul commented on how the people of God were to act. Another example is that we have his instructions in the Sermon on the Mount, including reflections on marriage. Matthew 5 is particularly instructive, in that Jesus could say, “You have heard that it was said … but I say to you.” Thus, when Jesus says love your enemies, it should make the Christian look at certain Psalms and certain part of the Old Testament in a separate way than the writer intended. With Paul, we have what scholars call the household rules, such as we find in Colossians and Ephesians, his statements on marriage and divorce in I Corinthians 7, his elevation of love in I Corinthians 13, his ethical directions in Romans 12-15, and his various lists of virtue and vice, notably in Galatians 5. From the Christian view, then, the reader of the Bible has no obligation to treat every word as if each word had the same value, for we read considering Jesus and the New Testament. For those of us who value the Bible, it requires some discipline to learn to read the Old Testament in such a way that it finds genuine fulfillment considering the further revelation Christians believe they have in Jesus Christ.
All of this is simply way of recognizing that the Word of God comes to us today in human words and cultural settings. It means every word of the Bible, understood in its context, may require interpretation from further revelation. Every word does not carry the same weight. It requires a careful reading, a discerning reading, and a humble reading. When we read things we do not like in the Bible, our human inclination is to say the Bible is wrong. However, it just might be that is where God is speaking to us in a challenging way. We might need to listen even more carefully (II Peter 1:16-21)
[1] David Gardner, latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-oct-01-la-oe-gardner-confucius-20101001-story.html.
[2] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 51.
[3]
[4] John Muir, "The fountains and streams of the Yosemite National Park," Atlantic Monthly, vol. LXXXVII, no. 519 (January 1901), 565.
[5] Scott Hoezee, "All Cry Glory!" Calvin Christian Reformed Church Website, August 22, 2004, http://calvincrc.calvin.edu.
[6] Barth, Church Dogmatics III.2 [47.5] 636-7.
[7] Based upon reflections on Wolfhart Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Chapter 8, Section 3.
[8] Barth, Church Dogmatics, IV.3 [71.1], 487.
[9] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume I, 211, 235-36.
[10] Barth (Church Dogmatics, I.2 [18.3], 425)
[11] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 3, 240.
[12] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 3, 240.
[13] Carl Jung
[14] Martin Luther King Jr.
[15] Church Dogmatics IV.2 [64.4] 324.
[16] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 266.
[17] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 306.
[18] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 457.
[19] Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat (Chatto & Windus, 1967), 114.
[20] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 4.
[21] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 267.
[22] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 260.
[23] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 279.
[24] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 301.
[25] John Wesley, "The New Birth."
[26] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 301, Volume 3, 259-60, 279, 340-1, 367.
[27] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 3, 259-60
[28] http://methoblog.com/2017/02/fulfilling-israels-story-for-the-sake-of-the-world-a-lectionary-reflection-on-matthew-171-9-2/
[29] (N. T. Wright, For All God’s Worth: True Worship and the Calling of the Church [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997], p. 7.)
[30] -Thomas Mann, from The Magic Mountain, quoted by Joanne Lynn and Joan Harrold in Handbook for Mortals: Guidance for People Facing Serious Illness (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 16.
[31] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 269.
[32] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 30.
[33] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 437.
[34] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 20.
[35] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 129.
[36] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 11.
[37] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 249-50; Revelation as History (p. 135ff)
[38] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 524-5.
[39] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 176, 208, 215, 219.
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