New Testament Essentials

Father, Son, Spirit and Kingdom

Robbie F. Castleman

• Publisher: IVP Bible Studies
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780830810529
• eBook ISBN: 9780830896486
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

"I was introduced to the gospel of Jesus Christ as a college student. The Jesus of the New Testament overwhelmed me, and by God?s grace Jesus still does," writes professor Robbie Castleman, author of New Testament Essentials. Her love of Jesus and Scripture is evident in this study, which seeks to answer the question Jesus? disciples posed: "What kind of man is this?" (Matthew 8:27). New Testament Essentials introduces us to the New Testament in three parts: The revelation of God in Jesus Christ, the indwelling of God in the church by the Holy Spirit and the present and coming kingdom of God. In each of the twelve studies the author helps us to hear Scripture in its own historical and cultural context before guiding us to apply it to our own context.Jesus? life, teachings and works were thoroughly grounded in the Hebrew Scriptures. And so each session includes a special feature called "Connecting to the Old Testament." Through this you will begin to discover the links between the two testaments and gain a fuller sense of our unfolding salvation history.Following a format similar to the other volumes of the Essentials series, each of the 12 sessions includes the following elements:

• A memory verse
• A Bible study
• A reading
• A life application section
• "Connecting to the Old Testament" feature

Designed to work well on your own, with a partner or in a small group, New Testament Essentials offers a comprehensive overview that will enrich your knowledge and deepen your faith.

Part One

The Revelation of God in Jesus Christ

1 / Jesus, the Messiah

Looking Ahead

MEMORY VERSE: Mark 8:34-35

BIBLE STUDY: Mark 8:27–9:8

READING: Learning to Recognize the New Testament Jesus

Messianic expectations in Second Temple Judaism (the time from the postexilic rebuilding that began with Haggai in 520 B.C. to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70) centered on a new leader to deliver Israel from its occupying enemy, the Roman Empire. They were not expecting a Galilean rabbi who stood on a hilltop and said, “Love your enemies.” Consider this as you read through this study’s text.

Bible Study Guide

After reading Mark 8:27–9:8, spend some time reflecting on it with the following questions in mind before looking at the reading.

1. How did Jesus initiate this conversation with his disciples concerning his identity and central mission?
2. Peter focuses on Jesus’ identity as the “Christ,” the Greek term for the Jewish Messiah, the “anointed one.” What do you think Peter’s expectations were of the Christ as the anointed Messiah of Israel?
3. Summarize what Jesus indicates as his own messianic expectations (v. 31).
   How might this description account for Peter’s rebuke (v. 32)?
4. Notice that this rebuke in Mark’s Gospel is not explained in any detail. Compare Mark 8:32 with Matthew 16:22, which includes a bit more of Peter’s objection. How would you summarize Peter’s central concern?
5. How does Jesus’ reaction to Peter indicate the significant differences between the messianic expectations of Peter and Jesus’ own?
   How does the teaching of Jesus that follows (Mark 8:34–9:1) address the contrast between Jesus’ mission and expectations of Israel for their Messiah?
6. How do Jesus’ description of his mission and the expectation of those who follow Jesus as God’s anointed one contrast with that of Satan and his expectations and desires?
   How is this dynamic still a problem and a temptation for those who consider themselves Jesus’ disciples today?
7. In all three Synoptic Gospels the transfiguration of Jesus follows this challenging teaching of Jesus near Caesarea Philippi. How might the transfiguration experience have been particularly helpful and meaningful for Peter after Jesus’ stern reaction to the disciple’s rebuke and the challenging teaching that followed?
8. What is Peter’s initial response to the transfiguration?
   How does the declaration of God the Father (Mark 9:7) continue answering the question Jesus asked in Mark 8:27?
   How might the experience of seeing the transfiguration of Jesus help the disciples adjust their expectations of his mission in the light of his teaching and his identity?
9. In the light of this Scripture study, how might disciples and congregations today still struggle with the person and message of the New Testament Jesus?

Reading: Learning to Recognize the New Testament Jesus

The narrative account of Jesus and his disciples as they journey near the area of Caesarea Philippi is the centerpiece of the Synoptic Gospels. The story’s placement within the Synoptic Gospels is right in the middle of each account, and this reflects the pivotal importance of how the first followers of Jesus struggled to come to terms with Jesus’ identity and mission. The word synoptic means “with one eye” and indicates how Matthew, Mark and Luke follow the same narrative sequence of events in the life of Jesus, with approximately the first half of each of these Gospels devoted to Jesus’ public ministry in Galilee. The second half of the Synoptic Gospels is devoted to the last week of Jesus’ earthly life and ministry in and around Jerusalem in Judea. If you were to sit down and read each of the Synoptic Gospels in one sitting you would notice that nearly all the miracles of Jesus occur before this episode near Caesarea Philippi. This also indicates how the narrative account of Jesus’ teaching at Caesarea Philippi is pivotal if one is to understand who Jesus is and what he came to do.

The city of Caesarea Philippi was located about twenty-five miles north of the Sea of Galilee near one of the headwaters for the Jordan River. Herod the Great had been designated the ruler of this region originally by Caesar Augustus in 20 B.C., and upon Herod’s death his son Philip was willed the districts of Iturea and Trachonitis (see Luke 3:1), which included the Paneas, the site of Caesarea Philippi and its surroundings. The term Paneas designates the ancient history of the place, which included a cave in a nearby mountain that had been dedicated to Pan, the Greek god of nature. The population of the area was predominantly non-Jewish. In addition to its lingering paganism, Jewish presence in Paneas was minimized for historical reasons. It was in Caesarea Philippi that the infamous Seleucid general Antiochus IV was victorious over Egypt in the second century B.C. and gained control of all of Palestine with disastrous results. Antiochus IV persecuted the Jews of Palestine, approved of the desecration of the temple in Jerusalem, and intentionally slaughtered Jews on the sabbath when they would not defend themselves in an attempt to keep sabbath law. However, it is in this area known for its long-standing paganism and the persecution of Jews that Jesus is first proclaimed the Messiah!

As surprising as the site of this proclamation is, it is entirely fitting that Jesus initiates a discussion of his identity and mission in a place known for false gods, fa­natic bigotry, violence and the oppression of God’s people. Jesus’ question (Mark 8:27) prompts the typical response. The mention of Elijah, John the Baptist and one of the prophets (v. 28) is an echo of Mark 6:14-16 when others speculated on Jesus’ unusual authority and works of wonder, which were well known among the common population at the time. But Jesus presses the question further when he asks for the disciples’ own opinion of his identity (Mark 8:29). Peter’s reply on behalf of the Twelve is the first time in Mark’s Gospel that someone besides demons or God declares that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed One of Israel.

Jesus then proceeds to radically re­define what it means to be the Messiah (vv. 30-31) and the disciples and their spokesperson, Peter, find Jesus’ redefinition unrecognizable in the light of their own expectations for Israel’s Messiah. Palestinian Jews of the first century expected a Messiah to be more like a Maccabee! It was the Maccabees, just a few generations before, who opposed the Seleucids, the ruling military power in Palestine after the death of Alexander the Great, by organizing a guerrilla army that proved triumphant and resulted in 103 years of Jewish independence for Israel. This independence ended in 63 B.C. when the Roman Empire conquered Palestine. First-century Jews were looking for the son of David, the seed of Jesse, the promised Messiah, to be a warrior king who would deliver Jerusalem from the Gentiles and reestablish and protect an everlasting kingdom for God’s own people. Jesus’ disciples were looking for a Messiah who conquered their enemies, but instead Jesus stands on a hillside and talks about loving one’s enemies. And here in Caesarea Philippi Jesus talks about the Messiah as the “Son of Man” (v. 31) who must suffer, be rejected by the very people most disciples would esteem above all others, and die. No wonder Peter takes “the Messiah” aside and begins to rebuke Jesus for such unmessianic ideas!

It’s interesting to note that when Jesus, in return, rebukes Peter and calls him “Satan” (a Hebrew word meaning “adver­sary”) he is actually looking at the disciples, not directly at Peter (v. 33). All the disciples were upset, not just Peter. Can you imagine the troubled look on their faces? The anger? The disappointment? The confusion? Jesus’ description of his messianic work was completely unimaginable and untenable. How could such weakness possibly provide the power needed to conquer Israel’s enemies? How could such foolishness possibly outwit Roman rulers? And how can the most horrendous and shameful means of torture, Roman crucifixion, ever lead to the glorious triumph of God’s everlasting kingdom?

When Jesus calls the crowd to join the bewildered disciples (v. 34) the redefinition of his messiahship becomes the explicit description of discipleship for all those who would continue to follow him. This dying to self was a hard call to hear and heed on that day near Caesarea Philippi. And Jesus’ demand for discipleship is still so in every “adulterous and sinful generation” (v. 38). The Jesus of the New Testament still says “Get behind me, Satan!” to every want-to-be-follower of Jesus who wants the Christian life to be one of ease, empowerment or a nice shortcut to “the good life” (of course with God’s glory as a part of the mix!). This episode on the way to Caesarea Philippi should be hard for us to read today. Like the ending of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5–7, it is meant to be hard to hear. And like the disciples then, we need encouragement to hold on to and trust that what Jesus says really is the way of salvation and hope and the eternal triumph of God’s Messiah and his kingdom.

In all three Synoptic Gospels the account of Jesus’ transfiguration follows the devastating unveiling of Jesus as a very unexpected Messiah. Jesus let the disciples struggle with his teaching and their journey as disciples for nearly a week (Mark 9:2), and then three of his disciples got a glimpse that Jesus just might know what he’s talking about and that it just might work! These disciples needed to see Jesus glorified in the transfiguration (vv. 2-3), and to note his supremacy in relationship to Moses and Elijah, the historical embodiment of both the law and the prophets (v. 4). And these key disciples needed to hear God’s answer to Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” The divine and definitive proclamation, “This is my Son” (v. 7), brought a new dimension to the Messiah that was as unexpected as Jesus’ redefinition. The Son of Man was also the Son of God! The transfiguration appropriately ends with the disciples seeing no one but Jesus and the divine admonition still ringing in their ears, “Listen to him!” (v. 7).

Reading Study Guide

1. Write a paragraph that summarizes your understanding of Jesus’ identity and mission. Share this paragraph with a friend and ask what is clear or unclear about your summary.
2. Note the placement of the Caesarea Philippi episode in the Gospel of Mark. Count how many miracles of Jesus occur before this journey and how many after the episode. How might this distinction enhance the central point Jesus is making clear to his followers?
3. What is a place you are familiar with today that holds similar cultural dynamics (a place known for false gods, fanatic bigotry, violence and the oppression of God’s people) to the area of Caesarea Philippi?
   How and why can such a place tempt someone to change or temper his or her witness to Jesus?
4. How are expectations of Jesus today often as wrongly conceived as the messianic expectations of the Jews in the first century?
5. What can you do in your home and congregation to keep Jesus’ demands of discipleship clear and uncompromising, full of both grace and truth?
6. Like Peter, how have you experienced disappointment in God during times of suffering or struggle?
   When have you wanted Jesus to do or say or be something different in times of challenging difficulty?
7. What does it mean for disciples to “deny themselves and take up their cross and follow,” to “lose their life for [Jesus] and for the gospel” in order to save it?
   What example from your own experience of discipleship might help someone else understand both the gift and the demand of Jesus?
8. How has God encouraged you after a time of struggle and disappointment?
   Like Peter during the transfiguration of Jesus, how are both the suffering and glorification of Jesus helpful in regaining hope after hard times?

Connecting to the Old Testament

Jesus, in both his suffering and exaltation, is known as “the son of David.” This relationship is more than a recognition that Jesus is a descendent of David in the lineage of Judah (Romans 1:3; Revelation 3:7; 5:5; 22:16), but is also intended to highlight Jesus’ willingness to suffer, like David, with the marginalized (1 Samuel 22:1-2; 24:1-12; 26:5-24). Jesus’ life is an echo of David’s long-suffering with and forgiveness for those who opposed him (2 Samuel 9; 16:5-14; 19:18-23), as well as David’s capacity for extending to others the grace and mercy he had received from God throughout his life. Followers of Jesus recognize the power of self-emptying grace: forgiven people forgive. And this is always accompanied by a willingness to suffer for the sake of Christ Jesus. David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14) and is remembered for this in Acts 13:22. David himself, near the time of his death, looks back on his own calling and, at the same time, anticipates the reign of his “son” when he reflects,

When one rules over people in righteousness,

when he rules in the fear of God,

he is like the light of morning at sunrise

on a cloudless morning,

like the brightness after rain

that brings grass from the earth. (2 Samuel 23:3-4)

The Ancient Story and Our Story

It is still essential when we encounter the Jesus of the New Testament that disciples today fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) and listen to what he has to say. Even when it’s not what we expect to hear. Who is the New Testament Jesus? How would you describe the Jesus of the New Testament to a new friend unfamiliar with the Christian faith? What would you emphasize? What might you be tempted to minimize or downplay?

Paul declares in 2 Corinthians 2:17 that those who share Christ with others “are not peddlers of God’s word like so many; but in Christ we speak as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God and standing in his presence” (NRSV). This admonition has several important ideas when we are asked the question concerning the identity of Jesus, “Who do you say I am?” (Mark 8:29).

First, neither Jesus nor the Christian faith is something t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part One: The Revelation of God in Jesus Christ
• Part Two: The Indwelling of God in the Church by the Holy Spirit
• Part Three: The Present and Coming Kingdom of God
• About the Author
• More Titles from InterVarsity Press