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Jesus according to the New Testament
James D. G. Dunn
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Jesus according to the New Testament
James D. G. Dunn
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New Testament scholar James D. G. Dunn has published his research on Christian origins in numerous commentaries, books, and essays. In this small, straightforward book designed especially for a lay audience, Dunn focuses his fifty-plus years of scholarship on elucidating the New Testament witness to Jesus, from Matthew to Revelation. Dunn's Jesus according to the New Testament constantly points back to the wonder of those first witnesses and greatly enriches our understanding of Jesus.
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Sujet
Theology & ReligionSous-sujet
Biblical StudiesCHAPTER ONE
Jesus according to
Jesus
Can we be confident that we are able to get back to Jesusâs own message and views of himself? John Meier certainly has no doubts on the subjectâand the five volumes of A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus include a clear and fully worked-out answer.1 Perhaps, however, a briefer answer will help focus attention on the key features that enable us to speak with confidence not only of the impact that Jesus made but also of Jesusâs own understanding of what he was about. The obvious way to go about it is to focus on the distinctive features of what the first Christians remembered about Jesus as recorded by the earliest evangelists.2 The following pages explore this in three ways: lessons learned from Jesus, distinctive features of Jesusâs ministry, and Jesusâs own self-understanding.3
Lessons Learned from Jesus
There are quite a number of emphases and priorities that we can say with some confidence the first followers of Jesus attributed to Jesus.
The Love Command
The summation of the love command is recorded by the first three Gospels.4 Since all three agree on the principal features, we need cite only Markâs version:
One of the scribes . . . asked him, âWhich commandment is the first of all?â Jesus answered, âThe first is, âHear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. . . .â The second is this, âYou shall love your neighbor as yourself.â There is no other commandment greater than these.â (Mark 12:28â31)5
The first quotation comes from Deuteronomy 6:5, the fundamental creed of Israel, so it would occasion no surprise to those who first heard and circulated the Jesus tradition. It is the second commandment that would be something of a surprise when first uttered. For it comes from a much less well-known and less-used passage in the Torah: Leviticus 19:18. In early Jewish reflection it is hardly as prominent as the firstâthe third clause in a verse that is part of a sequence regarding personal relationships and obligations. âYou shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORDâ (Lev 19:17â18).
Such esteem for Leviticus 19:18c as the second of the two commandments that sum up the law of God is exceptional. Explicit references to Leviticus 19:18 are lacking in Jewish literature prior to Jesus, and the allusions that exist give it no particular prominenceâthough, subsequently, the opinion is attributed to Rabbi Akiba (early second century CE) that Leviticus 19:18 is âthe greatest general principle in the Torah.â6 Since the prominence given in the earliest history of Christianity to the command to âLove your neighbor as yourselfâ7 is most obviously attributed to the influence of Jesusâs teaching, it is probably not unfair to deduce that the similar emphasis of Akiba attests the same influence. At any rate, the abstraction and exaltation of Leviticus 19:18c as the second of the two greatest commandments can be confidently attributed to Jesus and strongly attests his influence.
Priority of the Poor
This priority is most striking in several Gospel passages. Notable is Jesusâs response to the rich young man, who had observed all the commandments but lacked one thing: âGo, sell what you own, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heavenâ (Mark 10:21 parr.). Similarly his commendation of the poor widow who in giving two copper coins to the treasury had, in Jesusâs perspective, âout of her poverty . . . put in everything she had, all she had to live onâ (Mark 12:42â44 // Luke 21:2â4). In Jesusâs response to the Baptistâs question as to whether he (Jesus) was the fulfillment of (messianic) expectation, the climax in Jesusâs answer is that âthe poor have good news brought to themâ (Matt 11:5 // Luke 7:22). Notable too is the way Luke begins his account of Jesusâs mission, by narrating Jesusâs reading from Isaiah 61 in the Nazareth synagogue: âThe Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poorâ (Luke 4:18). And equally striking is Lukeâs version of the Beatitudesâthe first being âBlessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of Godâ (Luke 6:20; an interesting variation of the version in Matthew: âBlessed are the poor in spiritâ [Matt 5:3]). It should occasion little surprise, then, that for Luke a key feature of the gospel is that it is good news for the poor: that it is the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind who should be invited to a great feast (Luke 14:13, 21); and Zacchaeus demonstrates his readiness for salvation in that he gives half of his goods to the poor (Luke 19:8).
Of course, the priority of the poor is a prominent emphasis within Israelâs own law (e.g., Deut 15:11). But that the particular concern for the poor so prominent among the first Christians is to be attributed to the influence of Jesusâs own emphasis can hardly be doubted. So with the early concern among disciples in the Jerusalem community for the poor widows among their members that resulted in the first formal Christian organization (Acts 6:1â6). The profound concern for the poor displayed by James attests the same concern (Jas 2:2â6). The same impression is given by the fact that in the Jerusalem agreementâthat gentile converts need not be circumcisedâthe only other concern indicated was âthat we remember the poor, which,â Paul adds, âwas actually what I was eager to doâ (Gal 2:10). Similarly there can be little doubt as to why Paul gave such importance to helping the poor among the saints in Jerusalem, making a special collection for them in the churches that he had founded, and was willing to risk his own life to bring the collection to Jerusalem.8 We may be confident, then, that concern for the poor is one of the priorities that the first Christians learned from Jesus.
Sinners Welcome
A particular feature of Jesusâs ministry that caused surprise and shock to his religious contemporaries was his openness to those regarded as unacceptable in religious company. According to the first three Gospels, it was one of the features of Jesusâs conduct that drew criticism from the ârighteous.â Early in his account Mark reports the offense Jesus caused by his readiness to eat âwith sinners and tax collectors.â âWhy does he do this?â complained Pharisees and scribes. To which Jesus famously replied, âThose who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinnersâ (Luke adds â. . . to repentanceâ; Mark 2:16â17 parr.). Matthew and Luke (Q)9 note a similar criticism later: âLook, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!â (Matt 11:19 // Luke 7:34). But it is again Luke who gives particular emphasis to this aspect of Jesusâs conduct. He notes the repeated criticism of Jesus on this point: âThis fellow welcomes sinners and eats with themâ (Luke 15:2). To which Jesus replies with the parables of the shepherdâs lost sheep and the womanâs lost silver coin: that of course the shepherd goes in search of the sheep and the woman for the coin until they find what had been lost (Luke 15:3â10). Luke alone narrates the parable contrasting the prayers of the Pharisee and the tax collector, in which it is the latter who prays, âGod, be merciful to me a sinner,â whose prayer is truly heard (Luke 18:9â14). And it is Luke alone who narrates the episode in which Jesus goes to be a guest with the âchief tax collector,â Zacchaeus, despite the criticism that Zacchaeus was âa sinner.â The episode ends with Jesusâs reassurance that salvation has come to this house, since he (Zacchaeus) also is a son of Abraham (Luke 19:1â10).
It is hardly surprising, then, that Paul could sum up the gospel in terms of the great reversalâof Godâs love for sinners. âGod proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for usâ (Rom 5:8). âFor just as by the one manâs disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one manâs obedience the many will be made righteousâ (Rom 5:19). And it was Paul who pressed the logic of the gospel: that if gentiles are to be classified as âsinners,â then, of course, the gospel is for them too, justification being by faith in Christ and not by doing the works of the law (Gal 2:15â17). It can hardly be doubted that this extension of the gospel, to gentiles as well as Jews, was the direct result of the recognition that the good news that Jesus brought was primarily for sinners.
Openness to Gentiles
Jesusâs commission of his disciples, in effect to join in his ministry, raises the question whether Jesus himself was open to gentiles: âGo nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israelâ (Matt 10:5â6). But Matthew records this as in effect simply a (preliminary) phase in Jesusâs ministry, since he takes more pains to emphasize that Jesus saw the gospel as for gentiles also. It is Matthew alone who provides Isaiah 42:1â4 as one of the Old Testament prophecies that Jesus fulfilled, climaxing in the expectation that âin his [Christâs] name the Gentiles will hopeâ (Matt 12:21). It is Matthew who adds to the account of the healing of the centurionâs servant the prediction of Jesus that âmany will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darknessâ (Matt 8:11â12). And it is Matthew who ends his Gospel with Jesus commissioning the apostles to âGo therefore and make disciples of all nationsâ (Matt 28:19). So we can be confident that Matthew was fully in accord with the early Christian conviction that the gospel was also for gentiles and that this conviction was fully in accord with Jesus and with his preaching and expectation during his earthly ministry.10
Women among His Close Followers
Somewhat oddly Mark concludes his account of Jesusâs crucifixion and death by noting that on the edge of the onlookers were women, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome, who had followed and ministered to him in Galilee, and also âmany other women who had come up with him to Jerusalemâ (Mark 15:40â41).11 The oddity, of course, includes the fact that precisely at this point Jesusâs male disciples seem to have abandoned Jesus altogetherâthough John adds that âthe disciple whom Jesus lovedâ was there with the women (John 19:25â27). Luke and John earlier both tell the touching story of Jesusâs closeness to the sisters Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38â42; John 11). And Matthew and John make special mention of initial resurrection appearances to Mary Magdalene in particular at Jesusâs now empty tomb.12 The fact that none of these appearances are included in what we may regard as the formal list of resurrection appearances drawn on by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3â8 is presumably just a reminder that womenâs testimony was not given as much weight as menâs. It is all the more notable, therefore, that, despite what was regarded as the weaker status of womenâs testimony, Matthew and John nevertheless give prominence to the appearances to Mary Magdalene in particular.
That this testimony would have been regarded as shocking to Jesusâs contemporaries may well have been a factor in ensuring that the testimony was preserved and given expression in the written Gospelsâa reminder that women were an important part of Jesusâs disciple group and played a vital role within it. And should we not see a connection here with the prominence of women among Paulâs coworkers? That the ex-Pharisee, previously committed to the maintenance of Jewish tradition, including the lower status of women, should after his conversion include many women among his close colleagues and âcoworkers,â a little over 20 percent,13 should probably be regarded as an indication of the often unmentioned influence of the tradition of Jesusâs ministry on Paul.
Openness to Children
The key incident recollected by the first three Gospels is Mark 10:13â16 parr. Notable is the fact, recorded by all three evangelists, that when people brought children to Jesus, that he might bless the children, his disciples rebuked them. Jesusâs own indignant response was, âLet the children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongsâ (Mark 10:14). Mark and Luke add Jesusâs saying, âTruly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter itâ (Mark 10:15 // Luke 18:17).14 Given the notable influence of Jesus on the personal relations of his disciples, we should probably detect the influence of Jesus here too in the âhousehold codesâ that appear in the later Pauline letters.15 Such household codes were familiar then, but notable in Paulâs exhortations is the assumption that children and slaves would be fully part of the Christian gathering and could or should be addressed directly. It is hardly straining the evidence to infer that this too attests the continuing influence of Jesusâs mission on his disciples.
Relaxation of Food Laws
This is one of the most remarkable features of Jesusâs mission, not least since it cut so sharply across a traditional Jewish concern for purity. Not surprisingly it is given extensive treatment by Mark and Matthew (Mark 7:1â23 // Matt 15:1â20). It b...