Consummated Kingdom: Kingship and Covenant in the Early Prophets

Assignment:
Write a thematic paper on the nature of kingship as reflected in the Biblical books covered in this course. This paper should be carefully anchored in the Biblical text, including specific citations of Biblical passages. Further, it must represent research of and interacting with secondary sources regarding the nature of kingship in Israel and in the Ancient Near East.

1 Corinthians brings to focus key aspects of Paul’s theology. List five and explain.

Paul’s theology is not a mystery, nor is it hard to find. He implicitly and explicitly reveals it through his letters and his teaching. There are five areas of Paul’s theology that are revealed in 1 Corinthians, his epistemology, cross-centered life, doctrines of the church, hermeneutics and the resurrection.

Paul wishes to know nothing but that which is Jesus Christ and him crucified (2:2). Paul’s source of knowledge or wisdom is not based on the worldly wisdom or the convention of the present evil age. Knowledge is based on nothing more than the Spirit of God (2:10), who has revealed the truth of God to the spiritual man (2:15).

Secondly, Paul taught that the Christian life was a life centered on Jesus Christ and his cross. It is this reason that he sent Timothy to Corinth (4:17), so that they could imitate Timothy who learned from Paul, who learned from Christ what it was to live as a Christian. Paul wants us all to keep our lives fixed on Jesus and that by doing so we will receive praise from God (4:5) and be judged on the merits of Christ and not our own (4:4).

Third, Paul underscores several doctrines of the church including the sacraments but the most clear picture of what the church is and how it should operate comes when he tells the church that they are the body of Christ (12:27). From there Paul outlines the offices of the church, but of most importance is the interconnectedness that is created by the community of Christ to one another and to Christ himself.

Fourth, Paul explains what the gospel is that he preaches. The gospel hermeneutics is explicitly defined, and Paul explains its extreme importance. It is this gospel that will save their lives. This gospel is how the Scriptures are to be read, interpreted and preached that Christ died for our sins, was buried and was raised (15:3-4).

Finally, Paul teaches about the doctrine of the resurrection, not only Christ’s resurrection but the resurrection of the body for all those who are in Christ. The center of Paul’s theology here though rests in the covenantal headship of both Adam and Jesus Christ. Death and sin came through the federal headship of Adam (15:21) and Resurrection and glory come through Jesus Christ (15:22).

What is the goal of exegesis? Outline a basic “process of exegesis.” Outline and exegete Ephesians 2,1-10.

The goal of exegesis is to bring about the deep understanding of a passage. The task of the exegete then is to study the word of God faithfully, truthfully and historically accurate. We cannot hope to teach, explain, understand or apply Scripture to our lives or anyone else’s if we take this task lightly.

Briefly, the basic process of exegesis is first to orient oneself to the passage studying the historical context of the writer, audience and setting of the passage. Once we have an understanding of the historical context of the world surrounding the passage, then we can take a closer look at the big picture of the passage. This would mean understanding how the specific passage fits into the bigger picture of the book, and corpus of Scripture. Now that we have developed a basic meaning of the passage, it is time to employ the resources of commentaries, secondary sources and prayer to fine tune our understanding for teaching and preaching. Prayer is essential throughout the exegetical process because as this is God’s living word, it will only be by his living spirit that we can hope to gain understanding.

Ephesians 2: 1-10 breaks out into a fairly basic outline. Verses 1-3 are about Paul identifying his audience and himself as objects of God’s wrath, in their sin and disobedience. They sought to fulfill the desires of their human flesh over and above anything else. However, verses 4-9 are the turning point for the Ephesians and Paul, as he reveals the love of God and the grace of Jesus has changed these objects of wrath into kings and queens of the promise, seated with him in heaven. Objects of wrath have become objects of grace, love and honor. Finally, verse 10 completes the passage by now looking forward as to what the Ephesians and Paul were saved for. They have looked at who they were, who they are, and now they are understand their purpose. God saved them, so they could glorify him and bless others in the world as his workmanship. They were saved to do the good works that God had prepared for them and accomplished in and through them, in Christ Jesus.

“Paul’s ministry was characterized by immense and continual suffering.” Explain. Why was he willing to endure such suffering?

Paul’s ministry was characterized by immense suffering because he was never concerned about his own safety or well being, but had a singular purpose to proclaim the gospel to everyone he came in contact with. He did not back down from controversy and always stood for truth and Jesus Christ. The gospel was the singular most important thing to Paul, and he knew it was the singular most important thing for people to hear from him. 1 Thessalonians 2:2 reveals that even in the face of opposition, the Paul stood for Christ and was going to proclaim the gospel truth everyone.

A life lived for the well being of others, and for Christ means that your life will bear the mark of the man of sorrows himself. When you entering into Christ, you enter into his suffering and humiliation on the cross. You die to self, but gain so much more in Christ. Paul exemplified this truth in his own life, and when he and Barnabas preached the good news in Lystra and was stoned for it (Acts 14:19). One of the most telling examples though was when Paul healed the slave girl in Acts 16, was beaten and thrown in prison. He brought about grace and freedom and paid the penalty in his own body. More than though, Paul and Silas responded by worshipping God in jail, which lead to the salvation of the jailer. Like Christ, Paul was willing to give up his life for the salvation of others.

The summary passage for Paul is 2 Corinthians 11:23-33. Here Paul recounts all that he has been through for the sake of the gospel, all the pain, suffering, anguish and difficulty. He did it because he is a servant of Christ, and in his weakness is where the Sprit of Christ shown through his life so clearly. In Paul’s suffering, the light of the gospel was clear to those that met him. Likewise, the call to the Christian is a gospel ministry of suffering for the sake of others so that in our weaknesses Christ would be evident and the gospel proclaimed by all who meet us.

Summarize N. T. Wright’s position on justification in Justification

Wright’s primary concern with justification is that it reflects what he believes second temple Judaism believed, which he sees in continuity with the Old Testament. Therefore, Write interprets justification in terms of God’s covenant faithfulness to Abraham and Abraham’s righteousness coming from his membership in the covenant. Justification then becomes another way of defining covenant membership which emphasizes ecclesiology over soteriology.

Wright’s reading of Paul then becomes focused on defining the covenant, membership within it and righteousness established by that membership. Justification is not the focus of salvation however, especially since Wright sees this as being only one way to talk about salvation and not THE way. The basis for his exegesis is found in the way he defines righteousness and covenant in terms he believes to be synchronistic with Paul, the Old Testament and second temple Judaism. Unfortunately, what he ends up with is a works based righteousness, even stating that final judgment is according to our works.

Galatians 5 gives us another picture though of Paul that Wright does not seem to share. Here Paul talks about the freedom Christians have from the law, and especially circumcision as defining salvation or justification as the gospel of Jesus Christ plus works. Paul says however that it is only in Jesus Christ that we have any hope and that the works of the law do not count for anything when we are in Christ. Ultimately, our hope, our justification is found in “faith expressing itself through love” or the love of Jesus Christ making us righteous through his Spirit that gives us faith. In faith, we eagerly wait for the completed work of our salvation in Christ alone.