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New Bible Dictionary
Here is how the New Bible Dictionary (art. R. T. France) handles it. I've trimmed it down to comply with copyright law.
Quote:
JESUS CHRIST, LIFE AND TEACHING OF. A general article on the life and teaching of Jesus can touch only briefly on individual incidents and issues. Full use should therefore be made of the numerous references (at the end of sections and by asterisks in the text) to articles on specific points.
I. Sources
a. Non-Christian sources
Very few early references to Jesus with any claim to be independent of Christian sources have survived. [snip]
b. Christian sources
1. Outside the NT there are numerous accounts of the life and teaching of Jesus in early Christian writings [snip]
2. Thus in practice we are almost entirely restricted to the four canonical Gospels for evidence about Jesus. The rest of the NT contributes only a few isolated sayings and traditions (e.g. Acts 20:35; 1 Cor. 11:23–25).
The reliability of the Gospels as historical sources is hotly debated. [snip]
Bibliography. F. F. Bruce, Jesus and Christian Origins outside the New Testament, 1974. On b. 2: G. E. Ladd, The New Testament and Criticism, 1967; G. N. Stanton, Jesus of Nazareth in New Testament Preaching, 1974; R. T. France in C. Brown (ed.), History, Criticism and Faith, 1977.
II. Setting
a. Time
Jesus was born shortly before the death of *Herod the Great in 4 bc (Mt. 2:1, 13–15); the exact date cannot be determined[snip]
b. Place
Practically the whole of Jesus’ public ministry took place within Palestine.[snip]
c. Historical situation
1. Palestine had been under Roman rule for some 60 years when Jesus was born. [snip]
2. The varying Jewish reactions to this situation may be seen in the attitudes of the ‘parties’ which had by this time emerged within Judaism. The priestly *Sadducees, who with the lay ‘elders’ exercised the effective leadership of the Jews under Roman rule (*Sanhedrin) seem to have been more concerned with the maintenance of the status quo [snip]
3. *Galilee, Jesus’ home province, stood to some extent apart from the Jewish heartland of Judaea. [snip]
4. The languages of Palestine in the 1st century ad are a complex problem. [snip]
Bibliography. F. F. Bruce, New Testament History, 1969, chs. 1–9; P. E. Hughes, ‘The Languages spoken by Jesus’, in R. N. Longenecker and M. C. Tenney (eds.), New Dimensions in New Testament Study, 1974, pp. 127–143; G. Vermes, Jesus the Jew, 1973, ch. 2 (on Galilee).
III. Birth and childhood
The details of the birth of Jesus are recorded only in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, [snip]
IV. The beginning of public ministry
a. John the Baptist
The occasion of Jesus’ emergence from obscurity was the mission of *John the Baptist, a Judaean relative of Jesus who had grown up as an ascetic in the Judaean desert, [snip]
b. The baptism of Jesus
Jesus’ baptism by John was the event which most clearly inaugurated his mission. Why Jesus chose to submit to a baptism whose explicit significance was of repentance with a view to the forgiveness of sin has been much debated. [snip]
Whatever Jesus’ own intention, his baptism in fact led to a decisive revelation of his future role (Mk. 1:10f.). [snip]
c. The temptation of Jesus
The ‘temptation’ (Mt. 4:1–11; Lk. 4:1–13), which followed quickly, was essentially an exploration of what it meant to be ‘Son of God’, as he had just been proclaimed at his baptism. ‘If you are the Son of God … ‘ is the theme of the challenges, and a study of Jesus’ replies to them shows that their focus was not primarily on the way his mission should be accomplished, but on his own relationship with God. [snip]
Bibliography. G. H. P. Thompson, JTS n.s. 11, 1960, pp. 1–12; J. A. T. Robinson, Twelve New Testament Studies, 1962, pp. 53–60; R. T. France, Jesus and the Old Testament, 1971, pp. 50ff.
d. The move to Galilee
Jesus’ public ministry now began, apparently at first in the Jordan valley with a focus on baptism parallel to that of John (Jn. 3:22f.; 4:1f.). Jesus appeared to many as a second Baptist, and a certain amount of rivalry soon arose between the two groups of disciples, though John refused to countenance this (Jn. 3:26–30). But this style of activity was soon brought to an end both by Jesus’ increasing popularity coming to the notice of the authorities, and especially by the arrest of John the Baptist by Antipas, partly, as the Gospels record, due to his criticism of Antipas’ marriage, but also, according to Josephus, on suspicion of arousing political unrest, a charge which could easily affect the parallel ministry of Jesus. In this situation Jesus withdrew into his own region of Galilee, and his style of ministry changed to an itinerant preaching and healing mission. We do not hear of him baptizing again. (See II. b for the geographical location of the ministry.)
V. Features of Jesus’ public ministry
a. Life-style
Despite Jesus’ ‘middle-class’ background (above, III), his chosen style of life from this point was one of no financial security. [snip]
b. Disciples
Like other Jewish teachers, Jesus gathered a group of *disciples. [snip]
To be a disciple involved an unreserved and exclusive commitment to Jesus. [snip]
c. Social attitudes
One of the most persistent objections to Jesus on the part of the Jewish establishment was his habit of keeping doubtful company, [snip]
This unwillingness to be restricted by conventional social barriers is seen also in his relations with rich and poor. [snip]
In all this Jesus’ concern was with the real needs of those he met, physical and spiritual, and in meeting those needs he cared little if conventions and taboos were overridden.
Bibliography. M. Hengel, Property and Riches in the Early Church, 1974; R. T. France, EQ 51, 1979, pp. 3ff.
d. Disputes about the law
Debates with the Jewish religious leaders, especially the *scribes and *Pharisees, take up a good part of the Gospel narratives.[snip]
Central was the issue of authority. [snip]
The issues are seen most clearly in the debate on defilement (Mk. 7:1–23), [snip]
The series of six ‘antitheses’ in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5:21–48) [snip]
e. Miracles
Christian and non-Christian sources attest that Jesus was known to his contemporaries as a worker of *miracles. [snip]
Healing and exorcism were an accepted part of the activity of godly men within 1st-century Judaism, but nothing approaching the intensity of Jesus’ healing ministry is recorded of any contemporary figure (*Health, .). [snip]
Jesus’ other (‘nature’) miracles are comparatively few,[snip]
The miracles, then, are not the proof of Jesus’ divine nature, though they imply it. They are an inevitable part of a total ministry of deliverance and of the conquest of evil.
f. Political stance
The charge on which Jesus was finally condemned was of political sedition (Lk. 23:2): [snip]
Some modern writers (especially S. G. F. Brandon, Jesus and the Zealots, 1967) have tried to show that Jesus’ intentions were in fact political, [snip]
Bibliography. M. Hengel, Victory over Violence, 1973; J. H. Yoder, The Politics of Jesus, 1972; A. Richardson, The Political Christ, 1973; M. Langley, ‘Jesus and Revolution’, NIDNTT 3, pp. 967–981.
g. Jesus’ authority
The Gospels tell us that the dominant impression of Jesus’ ministry was that of authority. [snip]
VI. The close of the ministry
a. The last week in Jerusalem
Jesus’ last visit to Jerusalem was deliberately undertaken with the knowledge that it would lead to the final confrontation with the authorities, culminating in his own death (Lk. 13:33; 18:31–33). It was made at *Passover time, when Jerusalem would be crowded with pilgrims, and when the themes of death and redemption were in mind. Certain incidents are of special importance.
1. The entry. Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem was deliberately dramatic. Instead of arriving unnoticed among the thousands of other pilgrims, he staged a conspicuous ride into the city on a donkey, while his disciples and other pilgrims greeted him with shouts of *’Hosanna’ (Mk. 11:1–10). It was a visible allusion to Zc. 9:9–10, the prophecy of the king coming to Jerusalem on a donkey. Its intention was clearly to make a Messianic claim, and it was so interpreted by the crowds, who would include many of his former supporters from Galilee. The prophecy is of a king of peace, but many probably interpreted the gesture in a more militantly nationalistic sense.
2. Cleansing the Temple. One of Jesus’ first acts on arrival was equally deliberately symbolic. He threw out from the Temple precincts the traders in sacrificial animals and in the special Temple coinage, whose market was officially established there at Passover time by the priestly authorities (Mk. 11:15–18). This action not only expressed his repudiation of the current religious leadership and their attitude to worship. It also inevitably called to mind passages such as Mal. 3:1–4 and Zc. 14:21, and thus further reinforced his Messianic claim. (It should be noticed, incidentally, that the object of Jesus’ ‘violence’ was not the Roman government, but the Jewish authorities; this was not an expression of nationalistic militancy.)
3. Debates. The week was marked by a continuing dialogue with the religious authorities. Several specific debates are recorded, covering the source of Jesus’ authority (Mk. 11:27–33), his attitude to Roman taxation (Mk. 12:13–17), the question of resurrection of the dead (Mk. 12:18–27), the greatest commandment (Mk. 12:28–34) and the status of the Messiah as ‘son of David’ (Mk. 12:35–37). Such debates were held in public, as Jesus was teaching in the Temple precincts, and their object was to elicit from him either blasphemous or politically damaging statements which could be used against him. Jesus avoided incriminating answers, but none the less succeeded in imparting some important teaching. He went further to make clear his repudiation of the current leadership in Israel, in his parable of the tenants in the vineyard (Mk. 12:1–12), and in his continuing polemic against the scribes and Pharisees in particular (especially Mt. 23). He also predicted in more detail the coming destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple (Mk. 13).
4. The Last Supper. This ‘farewell meal’ was also a pre-arranged (Mk. 14:13–16) and deliberate act. It was in some sense a *Passover meal, though possibly held a day before the official celebration, in the knowledge that the next evening would be too late. (See *Lord’s Supper, I. a for details of the date.) At the meal Jesus gave some vital last instructions to his closest disciples in view of his imminent departure, and also revealed that he was to be betrayed by one of their number (though without apparently identifying the traitor explicitly, except perhaps to John, Jn. 13:23–26). But the focus of the meal was the symbolic sharing of bread and wine which he gave as tokens that his coming death was to be for the benefit of his disciples (and beyond them of ‘many’). This symbolic act (performed in the context of the Passover celebration of redemption) was the clearest statement Jesus ever made of the redemptive purpose of his death, and it has fittingly become, as he himself directed, the focus of worship among his followers. (See further *Lord’s Supper, . b for the significance of the words used on this occasion.) It finally put an end to any doubts his disciples may have had of his commitment to death, as the will of the Father for him.
b. Trial and death
Jesus was arrested quietly at night on the slopes of the Mount of *Olives. [snip]
Bibliography. J. Blinzler, The Trial of Jesus, 1960; A. N. Sherwin-White, Roman Society and Roman Law in the NT, 1963; P. Winter, On the Trial of Jesus, 1961; E. Bammel (ed.), The Trial of Jesus, 1970; D. R. Catchpole, The Trial of Jesus, 1971.
c. Resurrection and ascension
That Jesus’ tomb was found to be empty on the Sunday morning following his crucifixion is asserted in different ways by all four Gospels, and cannot be seriously disputed on historical grounds. [snip]
On these grounds, Christians have concluded that Jesus rose bodily from the tomb,[snip]
Bibliography. E. M. B. Green, Man Alive!, 1967; E. L. Bode, The First Easter Morning, 1970; J. N. D. Anderson, A Lawyer among the Theologians, 1973, chs. 3–4.
VII. The teaching of Jesus
The teaching of Jesus is not easily set out in systematic form; it was not delivered as an ordered treatise, but in a wide variety of real-life situations and encounters. In an article of this nature we can only pick out certain key themes and emphases of his teaching, concentrating on those which were most distinctive and unexpected in the environment of 1st-century Judaism.
a. Forms of teaching
Formally, Jesus’ teaching has much in common with the methods traditionally employed by Jewish teachers. [snip]
It is a characteristic of Jesus’ teaching that it was not delivered in an academic lecture-type setting. [snip]
Particularly characteristic of Jesus’ teaching are epigrams,[snip]
Jesus based his teaching firmly on the OT. [snip]
He used the OT in every aspect of his teaching.[snip]
Sometimes he simply quotes clear OT predictions as finding their fulfilment in him.[snip]
Bibliography. R. T. France, Jesus and the Old Testament, 1971; J. W. Wenham, Christ and the Bible, 1973.
c. The time of fulfillment
Jesus’ first recorded words in his Galilean ministry are a concise statement of the basic presupposition of all his teaching:[snip]
The coming of Jesus thus introduces, according to his own teaching, a new era.[snip]
Thus Jesus gives no sanction to a search for the fulfilment of prophecy in world events unrelated to his ministry. He himself is the focus of fulfilment, and that fulfilment has already arrived in his coming.
This emphasis is summed up in his announcement at the Last Supper of a ‘new *covenant‘ (Lk. 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25). The covenant made with Israel at Sinai (Ex. 24, etc.) is now, as Jeremiah had predicted (Je. 31:31–34), replaced by a new covenant, established by the sacrificial death of Jesus. A new era has begun.
d. The kingdom of God
This idea of present fulfilment and of a new age comes out particularly in the teaching of Jesus about the *kingdom of God, one of his central themes.[snip]
At the same time, there is an important sense in which the kingdom is still future, when it will ‘come with power’ (Mk. 9:1; cf. Mt. 6:10; Lk. 19:11; 22:18); [snip]
Bibliography. G. E. Ladd, Jesus and the Kingdom, 1966 (rev. ed., The Presence of the Future, 1973).
e. God the Father
To enter the kingdom of God, then, is essentially to accept God’s rule.[snip]
g. The mission of Jesus
We have seen that Jesus regarded himself as playing the central role in bringing in the kingdom of God. It was in his ministry that the hopes of the OT were to find their fulfilment. In other words, he was the *Messiah.
Yet Jesus hardly ever claimed to be Messiah, using that term[snip]
h. The people of God
It is often asserted that Jesus did not intend to found a church.[snip]
Bibliography. J. Jeremias, Jesus’ Promise to the Nations, 1958; G. B. Caird, Jesus and the Jewish Nation, 1965; C. H. Dodd, The Founder of Christianity, 1970, ch. 5; R. T. France, TynB 26, 1975, pp. 53–78.
i. The future
Jesus looked for a future ‘coming of the kingdom’ (see above, d). But precisely how and when he expected it to come is not systematically spelt out, and a number of different interpretations are possible. The following stages in this consummation seem, however, to be clearly taught.
1. Jesus several times predicted that after his suffering he would receive the power and dominion of the ‘son of man’ of Dn. 7:13f. (see above, g). When this vindication is expected is not always clear, but in Mt. 28:18, after the resurrection, he claimed that it was already accomplished. Mk. 14:62 also seems to envisage an imminent vindication, which his judges will themselves witness.
2. One future event which is clearly and repeatedly predicted by Jesus is the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple (Mk. 13:2 and the following discourse; Lk. 21:20ff.; cf. also Mt. 23:37–39; Lk. 23:28–31). This is presented as the inevitable result of the Jewish rejection of God’s final appeal (Lk. 13:34f.; 19:41–44; cf. Mt. 22:7), and it will come upon that generation (Mt. 23:36; Mk. 13:30). It is likely that some of Jesus’ sayings about the ‘coming of the Son of man’ (again echoing Dn. 7:13f.) relate at least in part to this event rather than to his second coming, particularly as they too envisage a fulfilment within the living generation (Mk. 8:38–9:1; Mt. 10:23; Mk. 13:26, 30). This act of judgment would then be a further manifestation of his vindication. It is not agreed how much of the *Olivet Discourse refers to the question about the destruction of the Temple with which it opens and how much to a more ultimate future, but certainly fate of Jerusalem holds a prominent place in Jesus’ expectations for the future, and is viewed in relation to his own ministry.
3. A further application of Dn. 7:13f. is to the final judgment (Mt. 25:31–34; cf. Mt. 19:28). Most fully portrayed in Mt. 25:31ff., this ‘day of judgment’ is mentioned frequently in Jesus’ teaching, applying both to individuals and to communities or nations (e.g. Mt. 10:15, 32f.; 11:22–24; 12:36, 41f.). In this final judgment too Jesus plays a central role.
4. Jesus also predicted his own second coming, or parousia (the term occurs in the Gospels only in Mt. 24:3, 27, 37, 39), sometimes called the ‘day of the Son of man’. It will be as unmistakable and as universally visible as a flash of lightning (Lk. 17:24). It will be sudden and quite unexpected (Mt. 24:37–44; Lk. 17:26–35), demanding constant readiness (Mt. 24:42–51; 25:1–13). Its date cannot be calculated; indeed Jesus himself disclaimed any knowledge of when it would be (Mk. 13:32).
These four aspects of Jesus’ teaching about the future merge into one another, so that it is not always possible to be sure which is referred to. In general, while 1 represents a constant state of affairs from the resurrection on, 2 relates to a specific future event expected within the generation, and 3 and 4 are two aspects of the final consummation when the kingdom is fully established; but all are related to Jesus’ continuing role as the vindicated and enthroned ‘Son of man’. Exegetical disagreement over the reference of specific passages should not be allowed to obscure this over-all pattern in Jesus’ vision of the coming of the kingdom of God. Such an understanding of his teaching gives no support to the allegation that Jesus expected the end of the world in the very near future; and it ensures that his call for constant readiness is as binding on us today as on those who first heard him. (*Eschatology.)
General Bibliography. In addition to the works listed under individual sections above, the following more general works on the life and teaching of Jesus are of value. Older works are listed only where they have a special contribution to make.A. Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, 2 vols., 1883 and subsequent eds. (valuable for Jewish background); J. Klausner, Jesus of Nazareth, 1929 (a Jewish study); T. W. Manson, The Teaching of Jesus2, 1935; V. Taylor, The Life and Ministry of Jesus, 1954; H. E. W. Turner, Jesus, Master and Lord2, 1954; G. Bornkamm, Jesus of Nazareth, 1960; E. Stauffer, Jesus and His Story, 1960; J. Jeremias, The Parables of Jesus2, 1963; C. K. Barrett, Jesus and the Gospel Tradition, 1967; D. Guthrie, A Shorter Life of Christ, 1970; C. H. Dodd, The Founder of Christianity, 1970; J. Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971; E. Schweizer, Jesus, 1971; H. Conzelmann, Jesus, 1973 (a translation of the article in RGG3); A. M. Hunter, The Work and Words of Jesus2, 1973; E. Trocmé, Jesus and His Contemporaries, 1933; G. Vermes, Jesus the Jew, 1973; F. F. Bruce, Jesus and Christian Origins outside the New Testament, 1974; G. E. Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament, 1974, part 1; G. N. Stanton, Jesus of Nazareth in New Testament Preaching, 1974; R. T. France, The Man They Crucified: a Portrait of Jesus, 1975.
Wood, D. R. W., Wood, D. R. W., & Marshall, I. H. 1996, c1982, c1962. New Bible Dictionary. Includes index. (electronic ed. of 3rd ed.) . InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove
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What goes wrong in this treatment? What goes right?
kind regards,
Peter Kirby
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12-07-2006, 11:25 PM
