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Jesus - a murder mystery
Jesus - a murder mystery:
Making sense of the story
03/11/11 09:00
Jesus - a murder mystery is a series of strong theology and thinking for the resurrection of Christ. It is written by Tim Denne from Harbour Vineyard who in his spare time likes to read theology.
Making sense of the story
From the first sermons in Acts by Peter, Stephen and Paul, we can hear a simple message: you don’t have to understand atonement theory to come to faith in Jesus, but you do have to believe that he is alive. God can, and does, forgive on the basis of his authority; he is beholden to no one. And that is fine if that is all there is to the story – just a rescue (getting Israel to the Promised Land; getting us to Heaven). But the message is about more than rescue. From when God first called Abraham, the purpose of choosing a people was so that they would “do righteousness” (do what was right – Gen 18:19): live justly, demonstrate God, bless the world (Gen 12:2-3) and act like a light drawing others to God (Isa 42:6-7).
But they (and we) have to be righteous (in the right) to do righteousness (do what is right).
I believe the theories of atonement are right:
• when Jesus’ death is seen as being required for God to satisfy himself (to be utterly consistent and true to himself – for his name sake);
• To the extent that they portray God’s hatred of sin and his love for us; and
• When they note that the devil is defeated (via death & resurrection)
But they don’t tell the whole story. We get a much fuller picture of why Jesus died by understanding it as Jesus declaring that the story of Israel was being rewritten and coming to completion in him. The exodus from Israel and the coming to the Promised Land is also a picture of our rescue; the kingdom in which we live is, like the wilderness, “already and not yet” (they were with God but had not yet got to their permanent home).
By becoming the Passover meal, Jesus has started the exodus; he has rescued us from Egypt/sin; he is the manna for us to eat in the wilderness; he is the atonement sacrifice which was started in the wilderness for those already rescued as the means by which they could meet with God and deal with their sin; and he is the one who will guide us through to the end - the new Moses.
All of this is wrapped up in Jesus’ death.
Although God has absolute authority to forgive sin, he chose to deal with the problem of sin and death once and for all through Jesus – his death and resurrection – and in a way that is familiar to Israel and faithful to the story. This vindicates those who had lived faithfully to the old covenant and those who join under the new.
If I tried to summarise this, it might look like this:
The God who made the world and everything in it promised Israel that they would show what he was like and be good for that world, drawing others to him. Because of their inevitable failings, and to be faithful to his promises, God sent Jesus, who had always been God, as a person and to be Israel as she was meant to be, to speak and act with authority, and to suffer and die to show: God’s hatred of sin, his faithfulness in doing what was right (righteousness) and his love. Jesus rose from the dead to show that he was Lord (equal with God and fully in control), and as a first step and guarantee of the eventual renewal of the world so that it truly will demonstrate God and give him glory. God chose to use Jesus’ death-resurrection event to deal with sin and its consequences once and for all. We are invited to believe in who Jesus is (the living God) and what he has done, and to be part of the plan to bless the world, starting now.
That’s all for this series, I hope it has helped you in some way.
Will write again soon,
Tim.
Jesus - a murder mystery:
Jesus' Explanations
16/10/11 14:00
Jesus - a murder mystery is a series of strong theology and thinking for the resurrection of Christ. It is written by Tim Denne from Harbour Vineyard who in his spare time likes to read theology.
Jesus’ Explanations
Prior to his death, Jesus gave hints to his disciples about what was about to happen; it reached its climax at the Passover meal they had together – the Last Supper. Mark describes it like this:
While they were eating, he took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them. ‘Take it’ he said. ‘This is my body.’ Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. ‘This is my blood of the covenant’ he said, ‘which is poured out for many. I’m telling you the truth: I won’t ever drink from the fruit of the vine again, until that day – the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. They sang a hymn, and went out to the Mount of Olives. (Mar 14:22-26).
Luke’s version adds words about doing this in remembrance of him.
There is far more to this than immediately meets the eye. Here and elsewhere, Jesus is saying:
- that he is instigating a new Passover centred on him. They were gathered to celebrate the original Passover, as set out in Ex 12:43f. It had been introduced to remember the rescue from Egypt. The implication is that Jesus’ death resulted in a new rescue - from evil;
- as such, he is starting the new exodus – the start of the journey to the new Promised Land, a symbolism that fits well with the “already but not yet” depiction of the kingdom of God. And consistent with this motif, Jesus is thus the new Moses (as promised in Deut 18:15-18), something Jesus has alluded to previously, such as his first miracle (water to wine) having clear echoes of the first plague (water to blood);
- continuing the Exodus theme, he is the new manna (see John 6: 48-51), the bread that gives life;
- he was instigating a New Covenant relationship (sealed in his blood). This new covenant, promised in Jeremiah 31, is the unilateral declaration of forgiveness of sins, coupled with the law being written on hearts and the promise of knowledge of God;
- the sacrificial system was also part of the original covenant and it is clear that Jesus’ death was also being interpreted as a new sacrifice of atonement. But note, this was a sacrifice for people already rescued; it is not what rescue depends on. It is more the means for Israel to deal with its sin, so they can get on with what they are meant to be doing – being a blessing to the world;
- he is also the new temple – the place where God meets his people.
It also appears that he fully integrated his death into the Passover meal, tying his death into the four cups of the Passover seder that remember the four steps of Exodus 6:6-7. Brant Pitre’s brilliant little book, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist describes this well. Luke 22:14-20 describes 2 cups (vv 17 & 20) (which appear to be cups 2 & 3 of the seder); at Gethsemane he talks of wanting to avoid the cup (see Matt 26:39-42), and he avoids drinking (eg Mark 15:23; Matt 27:34) until he finally does on the cross, and then he dies (Mar 15:36-37). If this is correct, Jesus’ death is not only tied up with, and re-expressing the story of Israel’s exodus, but is also tied up with and reinterpreting the celebration of the Exodus.
The way that Jesus’ death is described in Scripture is very different from the abstract world of atonement theory. It is wrapped up in the continuing story of Israel, making it clear that what he is doing is breathing new life into that story. What he was about to do makes absolute sense in that context: God was being faithful to his original covenant, while introducing a new and everlasting covenant that redefined covenant membership, dealt with the sin problem, and enabled God’s people to get on with their job of being the image of God.
I’ll try to bring the ideas together more fully in one more piece.
Next entry: Jesus - a murder mystery: Making sense of the story.
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Theory
06/10/11 13:00
Jesus - a murder mystery is a series of strong theology and thinking for the resurrection of Christ. It is written by Tim Denne from Harbour Vineyard who in his spare time likes to read theology.
Jesus – a Murder Mystery: Theory
Paul’s letters, especially Romans 3 and 5 plus 1 Corinthians 1, and the unknown author’s letter to the Hebrews provides the background to a string of theories of what happened through Jesus’ death. If you want to read more, the late John Stott’s excellent book, The Cross of Christ, summarises this well, and my brief summary is as follows:
- Ransom theory/Satisfying the devil – since the fall, people are under the devil’s influence; the devil has rights that needed to be satisfied. Jesus death satisfied those rights but he was tricked when Jesus rose from the dead
- Satisfying the Law – God has established a law that required death as a result of sin. He must keep the law.
- Satisfying God’s honour and justice - sin dishonours and insults God. God cannot overlook this: it is not proper or possible for God to pass by sin unpunished.
- Satisfying God’s moral order - God is the supreme ruler governing with authority according to a moral order. Sin is an attack on this and there needs to be a supreme example to demonstrate God’s dissatisfaction.
- Moral influence theory – the cross is an act of love and inspires us to love (see eg lyrics to When I Survey the Wondrous Cross)
- God satisfying himself - satisfying God’s law, honour, justice and moral order make sense to the extent that these are seen as part of God’s character with which he has to act consistently. He acts for the sake of his name.
Other terms often used are: penal substitution, which is a combination of emphasis on law and justice; the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) but Jesus takes the sinners place. He bears the penalty that sinners should have borne and thus placates an angry God; and Christus victor – God achieves victory over death, sin and the devil.
Some of these will be very familiar to us from sources such as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in which Aslan does a deal with the Devil (the White Witch) in which he dies to save Edwin’s life but he tricks her through rising from the dead to bring an end to an otherwise endless winter (with no Christmas).
As Stott and others point out, all have some degree of truth in them, but if not worded carefully they can suggest that God is beholden to something outside of himself (the devil, the law), or they can set up Jesus against God, ie God is the angry one and Jesus is the loving one.
God satisfying himself makes a lot of sense and is consistent with Scriptures such as Romans 3:25-26 which explain Jesus’ death as showing God’s righteousness. But rather than make conclusions at this stage, I want to go on to look at how Jesus himself described what he was doing, and he did this most clearly at the Last Supper before his death.
Next entry: Jesus - a murder mystery: Jesus’ Explanations.
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27/09/11 11:00
Jesus - a murder mystery is a series of strong theology and thinking for the resurrection of Christ. It is written by Tim Denne from Harbour Vineyard who in his spare time likes to read theology.
The Living God
The question of why Jesus died has exercised minds for two millennia, and by this I mean the underlying (theological) reasons, not the proximate causes (accusations of blasphemy and/or stirring up rebellion), although they have been controversial. In this series of posts I want to briefly explore the theories (as they are still the source of debate) and look at how Jesus himself explained it in the context of the history of Israel, re-lived through the Passover meal.
My starting point is the way we hear or present the gospel. Gospel itself is a loaded term but let’s leave it be for now. Reading the book of Acts, the main biblical source for evangelistic presentations of the gospel message, I am struck by how very different these messages are from how I am otherwise used to hearing it. Typically we hear some variation on: we are separated from God because of our sins; although deserving of punishment, Jesus died in our place so that we can be reconciled to God.
In Acts, in a series of sermons preached by Peter (2:22-36; 3:12-26; 4:8-12; 5:29-32; 10:34-43), Stephen (7:1-58) and Paul (13:16-41; 17:22-31) it is very different; Jesus is placed into the story of Israel, and what is emphasised is his resurrection. His death is mentioned, but largely as a necessary first step towards resurrection. We hear preached: Jesus died, has risen and as a result has become Lord and Christ (see, eg especially Acts 2:36). These titles are laden with meaning; Lord appears to refer back to Psalms 110 (verse 1 of which is the most cited Old Testament scripture in the New) and implies that Jesus is greater than David and is the one who is now seated at the right hand side of God, ie he is equal with and one with God. Christ means Messiah or the anointed one, the one they believed would come to rescue Israel.
The preachers in Acts set out the clear message that, because he is risen, he is shown to be Lord and can forgive sins, has power to heal, is shown to be judge and is the source of unity for Jews and Gentiles. The message is: you are forgiven because Jesus is Lord; not because Jesus died. You are forgiven because Jesus is judge, and he will forgive those who appeal to him for mercy. The important thing appears to be not that he died but that he is alive. In a similar vein, Paul sets out in a number of places in Acts that the reason that he is imprisoned and on trial is because of his belief in resurrection. Recall also, Jesus’ own actions; he announced forgiveness of sins on the basis of his authority, not on the basis of appeal to his future death.
So have we got our emphasis on Jesus’ death wrong? You get the impression reading the first sermons that maybe we have. Their good news message was Jesus is the living God.
But the story doesn’t finish in Acts, and soon after Jesus’ resurrection Paul is writing and investing theological significance in Jesus’ death. In the next instalment, I will start to dig into some of the theories of what was achieved through his death.