The Relevance of 2nd Temple Messianism to 21st Century Church

Curtis posed the question, what does 1 Enoch 48 matter for the church (or something like that)? Here’s my response:

The main reason is that, as those who teach the people of God, we have an obligation to teach as accurately as possible. In the case of Christology and messianism, it is simply not the case, yet it is often supposed, that Jesus shows up amidst relative silence regarding messianic expectation. There is rather a wide array of expectations, some matching, some disparate from, what we find in the gospel material. If we are to have any hope of understanding the Gospels and Jesus contextually, we must wrestle with the messianism of the Second Temple Period.

Following this, studying the Son of Man in the Parables of Enoch offers a helpful corrective to the erroneous teaching begun by the Apostolic Fathers that ‘Son of Man’ is a title that emphasizes Jesus’ humanity. You see this in texts that refer to Jesus as being born of God, born of Mary, the Son of God, the Son of Man (or some such thing). Nothing could be further from the implications of the title ‘Son of Man’ in the Second Temple Period. Instead, at least for those familiar with texts like 1 Enoch 48, the Son of Man was a preexistence divine being who received worship from angels and sat at the right hand of the Lord. Notice that the gospel texts bear more similarity to the Parables than to Dan 7.13-14 where the Son of Man is a metaphor for the Israel’s coming rule (‘one like a son of man’). In the Parables and the Gospels we see a second and third level of interpretation: (2nd) not a metaphor, a character, (3rd) Enoch/Jesus.

So, how does this effect the church? Not much, I guess. Unless, of course, one thinks it important to properly understand how Jesus is in the NT…

One more thing. I know this wasn’t the intent of Curtis’ question (I know this because Curtis and I are more than e-friends; we actually know each other in real life), but sometimes questions like his are posited because of an underlying belief that the academy drains the life from church. All this heady stuff, so the argument goes, is useless if it doesn’t ‘help the church love Jesus more’. I think this is overly simplistic, drawing a false bifurcation between knowledge and love. In addition, it mistakenly assumes that ‘loving Jesus’ is the only purpose that the church serves. I would submit that, if the we don’t teach those in the church about texts like 1 Enoch 48 and their relationship to Jesus, then someone else will. And I, for one, would rather them learn it from their pastor or whoever than from the History Channel or somewhere else. The same goes for textual criticism, redaction criticism, the authenticity of the sayings of Jesus, and so on. Sticking the heads of our parishioners in the ground won’t help them ‘love Jesus more’, neither is it intellectually honest to them.

**N.b. These comments about educating our parishioners on the finer points of biblical criticism apply for those congregations who tend to be more educated in the first place. I’m not sure that they apply accros the board.

Tom Wright on Piper on Justification

Trevin Wax over at Kingdom People released an interview he held with Tom Wright last month that centers on the dispute that Wright has had with Piper over Justification. The debate has, among other things, revolved around (1) whether Christ’s righteousness is ‘imputed’ to the believer, and (2) whether final justification has anything to do with a consideration of human conduct. Wright answers ‘No’ and ‘Yes’. Piper avers ‘Yes’ and ‘No’.

While I’m with Tom on this one, I do think that he has downplayed the fact that Jesus’ faithfulness does in a sense count for those who are ‘in Christ’. I think specifically of Mark 10:45 where Jesus’ death is portrayed as the means by which Israel’s exile is brought to an end on behalf of JESUS’  faithful obedience to the God of Israel. So, while I’m reticent to see Paul teach imputation, I think it is indeed present in Mark 10:45 at least.

Tom’s closing words are vintage Wright: ‘What’s missing is an insistence on Scripture itself rather than tradition . . .’ Go get ’em Tom!

So, if you haven’t done so yet, head over to Kingdom People and give the interview a read.

Biblioblog Top 50

The top 50 bibliobloggers for the month of February have just been announced here. Thanks to Jim West for the heads up! One day I hope to be counted in their fold…

1 Enoch 48 and the Son of Man

Congrats to those who you who realized that text in our inaugural Name that messiah! post was from 1 Enoch 48. The identity of the Son of Man in the Parables of Enoch is a bit hard to nail down. On the level of the narrative itself, though it’s debated, Enoch and the Son of Man seem to be disparate figures. Yet in chapter 71, Enoch is shown that he himself is the Son of Man. Scholars debate whether this is a later addition to the text, and if it is what the scribal motivation might be.

What is most interesting to me about the Parables is their relation to the early Christian writings that identify Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of Man. Both groups are interpreting Daniel, moving from a metaphoric referent to a character referent. But the groups differ on the third level of interpretation (Enoch or Jesus). I suppose this is to be expected. We all want ‘our guy’ to be the Son of Man, don’t we?

Much more could be said about this, but this will do for now. I am quite sick and need to escape my ailments by watching 30 Rock.

IBR Jesus Group Videos

For those who you may not know, ten evangelical scholars from  the IBR (Institute for Biblical Research) have been working on the life of Jesus for about a decade now. There purpose is to do top level research to deliver a report on what they believe are historical defensible accounts of no less than seven events in Jesus’ life. Here are the links to the corresponding videos. I’m not sure that all eight are active yet, but the first two should be. Thanks to Darrell Bock for the notification.

Overview

Peter’s Confession

Jesus Enters Jerusalem

The Temple Controversy

The Last Supper

The Jewish Examination of Jesus

The Crucifixion

The Resurrection of Jesus

Name that messiah!

Okay. Here’s how this works: I’ll give you the ancient quote, and you tell me who this is referring to. *Sound the Jeopardy theme song…*

“At that hour, the Son of Man was given a name, in the presence of the Lord of Spirits: the Before-Time; even before the creation of the sun and the moon, before the creation of the stars, he was given a name in the presence of the Lord of Spirits. He will become a staff for the righteous ones in order that they may lean on him and not fall. He is the light of the gentiles and he will become the hope of those who are sick in their hearts. All those who dwell upon the earth shall fall and worship before him; they shall glorify, bless, and sing the name of the Lord of the Spirits. For this purpose he became the Chosen One; he was concealed in the presence of (the Lord of Spirits) prior to the creation of the world, and for eternity. And he has revealed the wisdom of the Lord of the Spirits to the righteous and the holy ones, for he has preserved the portion of the righteous because they have hated and despised this world of oppression (together with) all its ways of life and its habits in the name of the Lord of the Spirits; and because they will be saved in his name and it is his good pleasure that they have life.”

Stay tuned for the answer…

Tagged by Euangelion!

Thanks to my new efriend, Mike Bird over at Euangelion, this blog has never had so many hits at once! Mike and I met a little over a week ago and we’ve already co-written an article on Pistis Christou in the Church Fathers. It’s been a blast to work with him, and I do hope we get to work together on other projects in the future. He’s whip smart and a gem of a guy as far as I know him. Though I’m still a grad student, he has treated me with the utmost respect, and I’ve felt like his colleague rather his subordinate through the whole process.

BTW – Mike (Bird) has two new books coming out this year that you should check out. See here (page 3) and here (page 26). The first one is an edited volume (along with Preston Sprinkle) on the Pistis Christou debate: The Faith of Jesus Christ: Exegetical, Biblical and Theological Studies. I’ve actually read a preliminary version of this, and I can testify that the PX debate will never be the same. If you care at all about the Bible, the NT, Paul, Jesus, or even Karl Barth (yes, Barth!) then buy this book! The second book is one on the Historical Jesus and the Messianic Question, which I’ve heard will be excellent.

Safari 4

For those who may not already know, Safari 4 (beta) is out. Like most updates from Apple, this one has some substantial improvements. Your home page is set by default to the “Top Sites” feature, which is pretty awesome.

Greek Transcoder

This will literally add days to your life. Depending on the length of the project, you may spend an entire day (or more) manually converting fonts from legacy fonts (e.g. SPIonic) to Unicode (or vice-versa). Greek Transcoder created a set of macros for use with Word that will convert any font to another regardless if its TrueType or Unicode. Like I said, I will literally add days to your life.

New Book Notice: The Deliverance of God by Douglas Campbell

I pre-ordered my copy today (and so should you)! For those who may not know, Douglas Campbell is a top flight scholar over at Duke. His work in Paul is excellent, and, at over 1000 pages, this baby promises not to disappoint.

Here’s the blurb from the publisher:

Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul

In much Pauline interpretation today a significant impasse has been reached. Scholars too often find themselves locked into one of two camps ‘ either Lutheran or New. Douglas Campbell here proposes a new, non-contractual, apocalyptic reading of many of the apostle’s most famous and most troublesome texts.

Campbell holds that the intrusion of an alien, essentially modern, and theologically unhealthy theoretical construct into the interpretation of Paul has disordered the broader interpretation of his thought and created many of the difficulties that scholars now struggle with. It has, in fact, produced an individualistic and contractual construct that shares more with modern political traditions than with either orthodox theology or Paul’s first-century world. In order to counter-act that influence, Campbell argues that it needs to be isolated and brought to the foreground before the interpretation of Paul?s texts begins. New readings free from this intrusive paradigm become possible and surprising new interpretations unfold. The Deliverance of God proves itself a unique and very important work for those looking for an accurate reading of Paul’s words.