Table Of ContentJesus of Nazareth:
Lord and Christ
Essays on the Historical Jesus
and New Testament Christology
edited by
Joel B. Green and Max Turner
WILLIAM B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING COMPANY
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN
THE PATERNOSTER PRESS
CARLISLE, UK
JESUS OF NAZARETH
Copyright © 1994 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Published jointly 1994 by
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
255 Jefferson Ave. S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503
and by The Paternoster Press
P.O. Box 300, Carlisle, Cumbria, CAJ OQS, UK
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publishers.
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jesus of Nazareth: Lord and Christ: essays on the historical Jesus
and New Testament christology I edited by Joel B. Green and Max Turner.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. xxx-xxx) and indexes.
ISBN 0-8028-3750-6
I. Jesus Christ - Historicity. 2. Bible. N.T. - Criticism, interpretation, etc.
1. Green, Joel B., 1956- . II. Turner, Max, 1947-
BT303.2.J456 1994
232.9'08 - dc20 93-39543
CIP
British Library Cataloguing in Publication·Data
Jesus of Nazareth: Lord and Christ-
Essays on the Historical Jesus and New Testament Christology
1. Green, Joel B. II. Turner, Max
232.908
ISBN 0-85364-560-4
Contents
Preface
Vlll
Contributors
Xl
Abbreviations
Xlll
1. Jesus, the Synoptic Gospels, and Acts
Jesus and the Wild Animals (Mark 1:13):
A Christological Image for an Ecological Age 3
Richard J. Bauckham
The Kingdom of God and Christology in the Gospels 22
George R. Beasley-Murray
Jesus and the Beginnings of the Mission to the Gentiles 37
Eckhard f. Schnabel
Good News to Whom? Jesus and the "Poor"
in the Gospel of Luke 59
Joel B. Green
"Your Faith Has Made You Whole":
The Evangelical Liberation Theology of Jesus 75
Craig L. Blomberg
Jesus the Baptist? 94
Richard T. France
Disciples of Jesus 112
Leon Morris
v
vi JESUS OF NAZARETH
Matthew 1l:19b/Luke 7:35: A Test Case for the Bearing
of Q Christology on the Synoptic Problem 128
D. A. Carson
Structure and Christology in Mark 1:21-45 147
Grant R. Osborne
Jesus of Nazareth: A Magician and a False Prophet .
Who Deceived God's People? 164
Graham N. Stanton
The Son of Man Seated at God's Right Hand and the Debate
over Jesus' "Blasphemy" 181
Darrell L. Bock
Deity-Christology in Mark 14:58 192
E. Earle Ellis
The Essential Physicality of Jesus' Resurrection
according to the New Testament 204
Robert H. Gundry
Jesus Christ, the Reception of the Spirit,
and a Cross-National Community 220
Peder Borgen
Christ-Centered Eschatology in Acts 3:17-26 236
Hans F. Bayer
Imitatio Christi in Acts 251
C. K. Barrett
James's Speech (Acts 15:13-21), Simeon's Hymn (Luke 2:29-32),
and Luke's Sources 263
Rainer Riesner
II. Jesus, Paul, and John
Patterns of Evangelization in P~ul and Jesus:
A Way Forward in the Jesus-Paul Debate? 281
John W. Drane
The Story of Jesus Known to Paul 297
David Wenham
Contents Vll
Christology and Pneumatology in Romans 8:9-11 - and Elsewhere:
Some Reflections on Paul as a Trinitarian 312
Gordon D. Fee
Christ as Bearer of Divine Judgment in Paul's Thought
about the Atonement 332
Stephen H. Travis
Jesus Christ: "Head" of the Church (Colossians and Ephesians) 346
Clinton E. Arnold
The Christological Basis of the Johannine Footwashing 367
Ruth B. Edwards
Territorial Religion, Johannine Christology,
and the Vineyard ofJohn 15 384
Gary M. Burge
The Christology of Revelation 397
tDonald Guthrie
III. New Testament Christology: Wider Issues
The Spirit of Christ and "Divine" Christo logy 413
Max Turner
The Making of Christology - Evolution or Unfolding? 437
James D. G. Dunn
Christology in Luke, Speech-Act Theory, and the Problem
of Dualism in Christology after Kant 453
Anthony C. Thiselton
The Foundational Conviction of New Testament Christology:
The Obedience/Faithfulness/Sonship of Christ 473
Richard N Longenecker
Christo logy: Synchronic or Diachronic? 489
Paul Ellingworth
Index of Ancient Sources 501
Index of Modern Authors 526
Preface
"The problem of the historical Jesus is one of the most important themes in
New Testament scholarship."1 This judgment of 1. Howard Marshall is no less
true today than it was when he wrote I Believe in the Historical Jesus almost two
decades ago. If anything, the validity of his verdict - both for the New Testa
ment academy and for the larger churched and unchurched population - has
been further substantiated. In the intervening period, so~e scholars have taken
an increasingly gloomy attitude toward the possibility of knowing much about
Jesus from the canonical Gospels, while others have begun moving the whole
discussion into fresh areas of creative inquiry, and with new energy. Moreover,
in this last decade of the second millennium, new "biographits" of Jesus are
appearing at an astonishing rate, and that from major and so-called secular
publishing houses. Even if these books include sometimes outlandish claims
about the person of Jesus, they nonetheless bear witness to a renaissance of
general interest in Jesus of Nazareth.
Fueling this interest more often than not is a corresponding preoccupation
with the degree to which our understanding of Jesus influences the shape of
faithful life in the church and in the world today. The biographies just alluded
to, for example, such as those by A. N. Wilson, S. T. Mitchell, and Bishop
Spong,2 are clear in their agenda to rescue Jesus from the church and so present
a Jesus more tolerant, less divine, and more like their authors. That the church
is always in danger of reshaping Jesus in its own image is undeniable, with the
1. I. H. Marshall, I Believe in the Historical Jesus (London: Hodder and Stoughton; Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans; Exeter: Paternoster, 1977) 9.
2. A. N. Wilson, Jesus (New York: W. W. Norton, 1992); S. Mitchell, The Gospel according
to Jesus: A New Translation and Guide to His Essential Teachings for Relievers and Unbelievers (New
York: HarperCollins, 1991); J. S. Spong, Bortl ola Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Birth olJesus (San
Francisco: HarperCollins, 1992). For a review of these and similar works, see J. B. Green, "Jesus in
the Popular Press: Recent Biographies in Review," RADTX Magazine 21 (1993) 24-29; also N. T.
Wright, Who Was Jesus? (London: S.P.C.K; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdrnans, 1992).
viii
Preface ix
consequence that good, historical scholarship, scholarship that allows its own
presuppositions and motives to be challenged by this Jesus, is always needed.
The question addressed by other studies, however, is nuanced in a quite
different direction. Here the issue revolves around the degree to which the
apostolic church, as represented in the pages of the New Testament, was already
reshaping Jesus to support its own agenda. The peril of modernizing Jesus is
not merely a temptation for our own age; it was there for the very first who
proclaimed and worshiped Christ too. In his survey of The Origins of New
Testament Christo]ogy, Marshall clearly articulates the central problem here: "It
has always been a vital question in Christology to discover how far the impact
made by the earthly Jesus and his own understanding of his person can sustain
the weight of the Christological construction put upon them by the early
church."3
Not least because of his unremitting commitment to the faith and life of
the Christian church and his gracious consideration for students of the faith,
Howard Marshall has devoted considerable attention to issues of this sort. Even
while he was becoming known as one of the leading authorities on Luke-Acts,
many of us were being introduced to him through his publications on Jesus
and christology - the aforementioned volumes as well as The Work of Christ,
Last Supper and Lord's Supper, and such essays as those eventually collected in
Jesus the Saviour.4
Long before evangelical biblical scholarship as a whole had begun to reach
the level of maturity that could lend itself to the production of a tome like
Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, for which Professor Marshall played a key
role as Consulting Editor,S many theological students and pastors looked to
him for help in coming to terms with the sometimes arduous tensions between
critical scholarship and faith. When asked repeatedly, Why Scotland for post
graduate work?, one of us OBG) has had a ready answer, To study with a major
New Testament scholar who remained committed to and involved in the local
church: Howard Marshall. Here is a scholar whose writing, lecturing, and
preaching have sought always fully to serve the Christian church, joining "to
gether the two so long divided, knowledge and vital piety." It is illustrative of
Professor Marshall's own sense of vocation and commitment that, when play-
3. I. H. Marshall, The Origins ofN~ Testament Christology, 2d ed. (Downers Grove, Illinois:
InterVarsity, 1990) 13.
4. I. H. Marshall, The Work of Christ, CEP (Exeter: Paternoster; Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Zondervan, 1969); idem, Last Supper and Lord's Supper (Exeter: Paternoster; Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1980); idem, Jesus the Saviour: Studies in New Testament Theology
(London: S.P.C.K.; Downers Grove, IUinois: InterVarsity, 1990).
5. J. B. Green and S. McKnight, eds.; I. H. Marshall, consulting ed., Dictionary ofJ esus and
the Gospels (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity; Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1992). Marshall himself
contributed important christological articles on "Son of Man" (775-81) and "Lamb of God"
(432-34).
x JESUS OF NAZARETH
fully asked whether he experienced the writing of his massive commentary on
the Third Gospel6 as an act of worship, without a moment's hesitation he
answered, "Yes."
It is equally characteristic of him that despite his heavy load of lecturing,
research, writing, editing,? and speaking commitments, Professor Marshall has
not only found time to chair the Tyndale Fellowship New Testament Study
Group, but has also been actively involved both with the student Christian
Union, in its witness to the University, and in the leadership of Crusaders, a
young people's Christian movement. Not many of us can claim their theological
teaching to address such diverse audiences.
The theme for this symposium, "Jesus of Nazareth: Lord and Christ,"
echoes the language of Peter's sermon at Pentecost. There, in Acts 2:22, 36, we
find a proclamation that combines inseparably the historical Jesus and chris
tology. We offer these essays in tribute to one who has always sought to do the
same - Howard Marshall, mentor, colleague, churchman, brother, friend.
JOEL B. GREEN
MAX TURNER
6. I. H. Marshall, TIle Gospel of Luke: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC (Exeter:
Paternoster; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1978) .
. 7:
In addition to editing the important symposium on Nevv Testament Intelpretation: Essays
on Prmclples and Methods (Exeter: Paternoster; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1976),
Professor Marshall replaced Professor F. F. Bruce as editor of Evangelical Quarterly from 1981
onward.
