The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (205 page)
Read The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown Online
Authors: Andreas J. Köstenberger,Charles L Quarles
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
The convictions that there is one God, that Jesus is the Messiah and the exalted Lord, and that the Christian community has been entrusted with the proclamation of the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ, can be found in the following partial listing of NT writings, which is provided in Table 21.1 in the general chronological order of composition.
Perhaps the best summary of the gospel is found in Acts 10:36: “He sent the message to the sons of Israel, proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all.” Jesus is Christ and Lord, and his followers proclaim the gospel: “They continued teaching and proclaiming the good news that the Messiah is Jesus” (Acts 5:42). This gospel was also proclaimed by Paul (Acts 17:2—3). The expression “the Lord Jesus Christ” likewise sums up the unified Christian conviction of faith.
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The joint foundation of faith of the first Christians comprised several further convictions—not just belief in the one God, in Jesus as Messiah and Lord, and in the gospel of forgiveness of sins in Christ. As examples, we may cite the expectation of Jesus' return
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and the love commandment, especially in Paul and John, but it also occurs in Peter. The first Christians were also united in the understanding that the NT church was the new messianic community, in continuity with OT Israel.
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Paul's statement that speaks of a sevenfold unity should also be cited: “One body and one Spirit,…one hope…; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all” (Eph
4:4—6).
Table 21.1: Major Unifying Themes in NT Theology
| The One God | Jesus as Messiah & Lord | Gospel, Message, the Faith |
| 1. James: | ||
| Jas 1:1, 5,13 ,20 ;2:5, 19 | Jas 2:1 | Jas 1:27 |
| 2. Paul: | ||
| Gal 1:1, 10,13 , 20,24; etc. | Gal 1:3; 3:26; 6:14 | Gal 1:7–9, 23; 2:1, 5, 7, etc. |
| 1 Thess 2:2,8–9;2 Thess 1:5 | 1 Thess 1:1, 3; 5:9, 23, 28 | 1 Thess 1:5; 2:2,4 ,8 ,9 ; 3:2; 2 Thess 1:8;2: 14; 3:1 |
| 1 Cor 4:20;6:9–10; 8:6;15:50; 2 Cor 5:21; 11:7 | 1 Cor 2:2; 8:6 | 1 Cor 1:17–18; 2:4; 4:15; 9:12, 14, 16,23; 15:1–4; 2 Cor 2:12; 4:3,4 ; 5:19; 8:18; 9:13; 10 :14; 11:4, 7 |
| Rom 1:1, 18, 23;3:5, 7, 21–23;5 2; 10:3;14:17; 15:7, 16 | Rom 1:1–4; 5:1, 11; 6:23 | Rom 1:1,2 ,9 ,16–17; 2:16; 10:15–17;15:16, 19, 20; 16:25 |
| Eph 1:3–6; Phil1:2, 3; 3:9; Col1:1, 3, 6, 9,10 ;4:11 | Eph 1:10; 2:20; 4:15; 5:23; Col 2:6; Phlm 1 | Eph 1:13; 3:6; 4:5; 6:15,19 ; Phil 1:5, 7,12, 16, 18, 25,27 ; 2:22; 4:3, 15; Col 1:5, 23; 2:5, 7; Phlm 6, 13 |
| 1 Tim 1:1, 4, 11,17; 2:3, 5; 3: 5,15 ; 4:3–5; etc, | 1 Tim 1:12, 15; 2 Tim 1:10 | 1 Tim 1:2, 11; 2:7; 4:1,6 ; 6:10, 12, 21;2 Tim 1:8,10 ,13–14; 2:8 ; 3:8; 4:7;Titus 1:9 |
| 3. Synoptics and Acts: | ||
| Mark 1:14–15;12:26, 29, 32 | Mark 1:1; 8:29; 12:35–37 | Mark 1:1,14–15; 8:35; 10:29; 13:10;14:9 |
| Matt 15:31;22:32, 37 | Matt 1:1; 16:16; 22:41–46 | Matt 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; 26:13; 28:20 |
| Luke 1:68; 20:37 Acts 1:3; 3:13; 7:32, 55; 8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:24; 28:23, 31 | Luke 2:11; 9:20; 20:41–44 Acts 2:36; 5:42; 9:22; 17: 2–3; 18:28 | Luke 4:18, 43; 7:22; 8:1; 9:6; 16:16; 20:1; Acts 2:41; 5:20, 42; 8:4,12 , 25, 35, 40; 10:36; 11:20; 15:7, 35; 17:11, 18; 20:24 |
| 4. Hebrews: | ||
| Heb 1:1–3, 5–6, 13; etc. | Heb 3:6; 13:8 | Heb 2:3; 4:2,6, 14; 12:2 |
| 5. Peter: | ||
| 1 Pet 4:14, 17 | 1 Pet 1:1–3, 11; 3:15 | 1 Pet 1:12, 25; 2:8; 4:17; 5:9; 2 Pet 1:1 |
| 2 Pet 1:1 | 2 Pet 1:1, 16 | 2 Pet 1:1 |
| 6. Jude: | ||
| Jude 1,4 , 21, 25 | Jude 1,4 | Jude 3, 20 |
| 7. John: | ||
| John 1:1–2,6 , 12, 18, 36, 51; etc. | John 1:17, 41, 45; 11:27; 20:31; 1 John 2:22; 5:1 | John 12:38; 17:20; 1 John 5:4 |
| Rev 12:10; 15:8; 19:1; 21:11, 23 | Rev 1:1–2, 5 | Rev 10:7; 14:6 |
The diversity and unity of the NT coexist as joint characteristics of the NT and do not constitute a problem—in the sense of unsolvable tensions or contradictions—but present the reader with the rich legacy of the faith of the first Christians, in which various perspectives of the same Jesus Christ and of the same gospel mutually complemented one another. Paul's reference to the “whole plan of God” (Acts 20:27) seems to presuppose a unified perspective.
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Wenham talked about a “concern for the working out of an orthodoxy (and orthopraxis) defined by the person and teaching of Jesus” and an organic development that can be likened to a tree whose branches have a common origin and are part of a common entity.
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Betz noted that the successful mission of the first Christians would not have been possible without the fundamental unity of the Christian faith.
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One also thinks of the readiness to martyrdom, in which regard Pliny, for example, never portrayed the Christians he interrogated as a divided or diversified group.
The first Christians, and here especially Paul and John, concurred that Jesus is the Godsent Christ and the exalted Lord. On the basis of this conviction and the resulting gospel message, Paul, John, and other NT authors developed their own theologies depending on a variety of circumstances: the respective requirements of ministry, their own faith experience, and numerous other cultural, historical, missionary factors. Thus the NT shows that the first Christians were from the start united in their belief that Jesus was and is the Messiah. This is indicated already in the earliest apostolic tradition.
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Only gradually were these fundamental convictions applied to various situations and further relevant theological conclusions drawn. W. Bauer believed there was a movement from diversity to unity, but the first Christians actually developed from unity to diversity.
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G. B. Caird puts it well:
The question we must ask is not whether these books all say the same thing, but whether they all bear witness to the same Jesus and through him to the many splendoured wisdom of the one God. If we are persuaded that the second Moses, the son of Man, the friend of sinners, the incarnate
logos
, the firstborn of all creation, the Apostle and High Priest of our calling, the Chief Shepherd, and the Lamb opening the scroll are the same person in whom the one God has achieved and is achieving his mighty work, we shall neither attempt to press all our witnesses into a single mould nor captiously complain that one seems at some points deficient in comparison with another. What we shall do is rejoice that God has seen fit to establish His gospel at the mouth of so many independent witnesses. The music of the New Testament choir is not written to be sung in unison.
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The one God, Jesus Christ, and the gospel—these are the major pillars of NT theology.
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It remains the task of the interpreter to exegete individual passages in the respective NT writings and to relate diverse motifs in different NT documents to one another.
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Yet this may take place in the confidence that the NT is not a disparate collection of ill-fitting parts, which together result in nothing more than a cacophony of voices but a well-composed symphony in which different elements combine to a harmonious work that echoes into all the world to the glory of God and the edification of those individuals who respond to the divine revelation, not with skepticism, but in faith.
STUDY QUESTIONS
- To what does “unity and diversity in the NT” refer?
- How would you briefly explain the relationship among the Gospels, the book of Acts, the Letters, and the book of Revelation?
- Why do many scholars think that the Synoptic Gospels and John's Gospel stand in irreconcilable conflict?
- Why do the Synoptics and John complement instead of conflict with each other?
- Why should interpreters undertake caution in dichotomizing Jesus' and Paul's teachings and theology?
- Why did F. C. Baur argue that Luke's presentation of Paul in the book of Acts is incompatible with the way the apostle portrayed himself in his Letters?
- What are some reasons the Paul of Acts and the Paul of the Letters differ?
- What are some of Paul's alleged developments of thought?
- Concerning these alleged developments, what are two examples that suggest a considerable degree of Pauline coherence and unity?
- What are three major points of integration that provide cohesion to the theology of the NT?
- What further convictions did these three points of integration produce among the first Christians?
- Why do the diversity and the unity that are present in the NT not produce unsolvable tensions or contradictions?
FOR FURTHER STUDY
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Hermeneutics, Authority,and Canon.
Edited by D. A. Carson and J. D. Woodbridge. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986.
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Unity and Diversity in New Testament Theology.
Edited by R. Guelich. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978.
____________. “Is the Paul of Acts the Real Paul?”
Bulletin of the John Rylands Library
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___________. “The Gospel for All Nations.” Pages 201—19 in
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___________.
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Edited by L. D. Hurst and N. T. Wright. Oxford: Clarendon, 1987.
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