Introduction
Raymond E. Brown, in his Introduction to the New Testament, claims that "1 Thess has at times been neglected because it does not treat the great Pauline theme of justification by faith apart from works of the Law." I agree that 1 Thess does not treat what has become the standard Protestant/evangelical reading of Paul, but this is strong evidence that the standard reading is defective. I hope to show that 1 Thess is in line with the Gospel Beyond Belief. Therefore, we will get a glimpse as to the relative importance of Jesus' resurrection over against the importance of his crucifixion in early Christianity.
Paul's Summary in 1:9-10
Paul summarizes the Thessalonians state thus: You turned to God from idols, to serve a God living and true, and to wait for his Son from the heavens, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, the one delivering us from the coming wrath." The first thing to notice about this passage is that the relevant descriptions of Jesus are (1) resurrection (not crucifixion) and (2) delivering from coming wrath (we are not told this is done by the crucifixion). The question is how does Jesus deliver us from the coming wrath? The standard interpretation claims that it is the crucifixion that seals the deal. However, if this were the case we would have expected a past tense verb in 1:10 (the one who delivered us from the coming wrath).
The Importance of Resurrection
Also, the rest of the letter speaks against the standard reading. The alternative manner in which Jesus delivers is primarily by raising from the dead and making resurrection possible for his followers. This is perhaps why Paul emphasizes that God is "living" in 1:9 (as opposed to dead idols?).
The first crucial passage is 4:13-18, where we are told that Jesus "died and rose again" (4:14), and this is the foundation for the "hope" (4:13) of future resurrection. I singled out the word "hope" from 4:13 because the very same word is used to describe salvation in 5:8: "and for a helmet the hope of salvation". This is clearly future and so cannot refer to the crucifixion which would have been past tense for Paul.
The second crucial passage is 5:9-10: "For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him." The standard reading would put all the weight of their interpretation on the words "died for us" and so read this passage as one that exalts the crucifixion. However, as Morna Hooker has pointed out, the words "live with him" totally undermine the standard reading. Jesus died, yes, one has to die to rise again, but it is the rising again that is the important factor in this passage. The reason Jesus died is to rise again, so that he can conquer death for those who are slaves to sin/death. The salvation that is obtained is life after death on account of Jesus' resurrection NOT forgiveness of sin on account of Jesus' crucifixion.
Theological Upshot
One is struck by the absence of "forgiveness" in 1 Thessalonians. Sure, forgiveness is taken for granted by Paul, but the salvation goes well beyond the mere verdict of forgiveness.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
The meaning of "Grace"
The concept of "grace" for most evangelicals includes some notion of unmerited or undeserved favor or gift. I want to argue that the Biblical concept of grace (gk: charis; heb: chen) does not necessarily have to be unmerited or undeserved, and viewing it so can lead to misinterpretations.
Genesis 6:8
The Greek of the LXX interprets the Hebrew chen of Genesis 6:8 as charis (grace): "Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." The very next verse (Gen. 6:9) describes Noah as "righteous", "blameless" and that he "walked with God." The point seems to be that the reason Noah found favor with God was that he was righteous, blameless and walked with him. The same logic seems to be involved in Genesis 7:1 where the LORD commands Noah to go into the ark because Noah alone was found to be "righteous".
Evangelical gambit
The evangelical retort would be to claim that Genesis 6:8 precedes 6:9 and so it is the grace that makes Noah righteous. However, there are two major problems with this gambit. First, the fact that Genesis 6:8 precedes 6:9 may only be due to structural concerns. Genesis 6:8 acts as a sort of introductory proclamation that is interrupted with a genealogical comment on Noah in 6:9-10. [In fact, some scholars would say that the rest of chapter 6 (6:9-22) is an interruption and that the story doesn't pick up again until 7:1 where again we are told that Noah was righteous!] Second, and more importantly, there is no indication in the story that Noah was a part of the wickedness that led to the LORD's decision to wipe out humanity. We are never told that Noah was a bad man and that the LORD's choice of him is based solely on the LORD's whim. On the contrary, the statement that the earth was corrupt "in the view of the LORD" (6:11) seems to be purposely contrasting itself with 7:1 where Noah was righteous "in the view of the LORD." Also, the statements about Noah's righteousness are not relativized to after he was made righteous by the LORD's grace but are relativized by "in this age" (6:9 and 7:1); this would be an odd way to put the fact that Noah was a bad man until the LORD's grace made him good. The natural way to read the flood narrative is that Noah was chosen because he walked with the LORD (6:9).
Other uses of "find favor" in Genesis also seem to undermine the fact that grace must be unmerited. In Genesis 33:15, Jacob protests to Esau: "Why should I find such favor in the eyes of my lord." The logic is that Jacob is wondering what he has done to merit Esau's favor, indicating that favor is usually given in response to something merited. This seems to be the case in Genesis 39:4 where Joseph finds favor with Pharaoh but only after we are told that Pharaoah saw that the LORD was with Joseph and that all he did succeeded (39:3).
Luke 2:40
In Luke 2:40 we are told that the grace of of God was upon Jesus. Grace cannot involve something that is unmerited because Jesus is not a sinner. If anything, God's favor is due to Jesus' strength and wisdom, descriptions which immediately precede God's favor.
Theological upshot
We must be careful not to allow a certain theological picture dominate how we think about and interpret Scripture. "Grace" is an important concept in Christianity and it behooves us to be clear what it means in all contexts and uses.
Genesis 6:8
The Greek of the LXX interprets the Hebrew chen of Genesis 6:8 as charis (grace): "Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." The very next verse (Gen. 6:9) describes Noah as "righteous", "blameless" and that he "walked with God." The point seems to be that the reason Noah found favor with God was that he was righteous, blameless and walked with him. The same logic seems to be involved in Genesis 7:1 where the LORD commands Noah to go into the ark because Noah alone was found to be "righteous".
Evangelical gambit
The evangelical retort would be to claim that Genesis 6:8 precedes 6:9 and so it is the grace that makes Noah righteous. However, there are two major problems with this gambit. First, the fact that Genesis 6:8 precedes 6:9 may only be due to structural concerns. Genesis 6:8 acts as a sort of introductory proclamation that is interrupted with a genealogical comment on Noah in 6:9-10. [In fact, some scholars would say that the rest of chapter 6 (6:9-22) is an interruption and that the story doesn't pick up again until 7:1 where again we are told that Noah was righteous!] Second, and more importantly, there is no indication in the story that Noah was a part of the wickedness that led to the LORD's decision to wipe out humanity. We are never told that Noah was a bad man and that the LORD's choice of him is based solely on the LORD's whim. On the contrary, the statement that the earth was corrupt "in the view of the LORD" (6:11) seems to be purposely contrasting itself with 7:1 where Noah was righteous "in the view of the LORD." Also, the statements about Noah's righteousness are not relativized to after he was made righteous by the LORD's grace but are relativized by "in this age" (6:9 and 7:1); this would be an odd way to put the fact that Noah was a bad man until the LORD's grace made him good. The natural way to read the flood narrative is that Noah was chosen because he walked with the LORD (6:9).
Other uses of "find favor" in Genesis also seem to undermine the fact that grace must be unmerited. In Genesis 33:15, Jacob protests to Esau: "Why should I find such favor in the eyes of my lord." The logic is that Jacob is wondering what he has done to merit Esau's favor, indicating that favor is usually given in response to something merited. This seems to be the case in Genesis 39:4 where Joseph finds favor with Pharaoh but only after we are told that Pharaoah saw that the LORD was with Joseph and that all he did succeeded (39:3).
Luke 2:40
In Luke 2:40 we are told that the grace of of God was upon Jesus. Grace cannot involve something that is unmerited because Jesus is not a sinner. If anything, God's favor is due to Jesus' strength and wisdom, descriptions which immediately precede God's favor.
Theological upshot
We must be careful not to allow a certain theological picture dominate how we think about and interpret Scripture. "Grace" is an important concept in Christianity and it behooves us to be clear what it means in all contexts and uses.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
