The Christ of Scripture
The Christian confession is not simply about who a figure of the past was, what he did and said, but rather who he is; the Christian faith confesses the living Lord: “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and for ever” (Heb 13:8).
The Way to Nicaea, John Behr
The Christ of the canonical Scripture is always seen as the crucified and risen one; it is this one that the Scriptures describe. This is the proclamation, the kerygma. Keep in mind, Behr’s use of the term “Scripture” refers to the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets – the Old Testament.
Whatever oral reports there were of Jesus by those who had contact with Him before the Passion, these were all recontextualized in light of the Passion. The interpretation and understanding runs right through the Cross.
The four canonical Gospels are not attempts to preserve accurate historical records, but are witnesses to and Scriptural interpretations, based upon the kerygma, of this person Jesus Christ.
By the time any books of the New Testament were written, His death and resurrection were witnessed. It cannot be considered that this reality somehow did not influence what was recorded in the Gospels and the letters, and how what was recorded was to be understood. In the same way, we know of His death and resurrection in every approach we take to the Bible – Old and New Testaments.
(This statement sounds silly to me now that I write it out – of course, this is obvious; yet, it never before really struck me regarding its import.)
Christ explained to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, be rejected, killed, and raised again on the third day. When Peter objects, Christ rebukes him in the strongest manner: Get behind me, Satan. The Gospels maintain the centrality of the Passion – the very identity of Christ is intimately connected with the Cross and His resurrection.
…on the basis of faith in the living, crucified, and risen Jesus Christ, the Gospels present the words and deeds of Christ as addressed now to the believers…
At which point, something else that now seems obvious struck me: would we remember Jesus of Nazareth if not for His death…more importantly, His resurrection? Had He stayed in the tomb, would His followers have risked all to continue following Him? (Yes, I know, it couldn’t be any other way, but I hope you understand my point and meaning.)
“Who do you say that I am?” “You are the Christ,” comes the reply. This immediately relates Jesus to the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets – He is the Anointed One, the chosen representative of God – the Messiah. He will lead the people to salvation, just as the earlier “Joshua” led the people into the promised land.
The Jesus of the Gospels heals the sick, raises the dead, gives sight to the blind, feeds the people, calms the waters, forgives sin. Most importantly, He does these things in His own name – prompting the question: what manner of man is this that can do such things?
The Gospels attribute to Jesus what in the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets, belongs to God alone.
But it isn’t merely through these wondrous deeds that He is understood as the anointed One of God – even those deeds that were fulfilment of prophecy. Jesus Himself warned of trusting so-called messiahs and prophets who worked wonders.
Rather, once Jesus is recognized as the Messiah, what distinguishes his Messiahship, as he himself explains, is that he must be crucified to enter his glory, as the prophets have already announced.
Christ was not the nationalist hero version of messiah, not a political messiah. He died the most shameful death imaginable. But it was here that the idea of Messiahship was brought together with the image of the Suffering Servant; revealing the wisdom of God and the folly of the Cross.
Consider the many ways that Jesus Christ is described in the Gospels: He is the Teacher and the Prophet; He brings God’s Word (and later in the book there is a rich discussion on this idea of the Word and the word, the revealer and that which was revealed); He is the Wisdom of God; He is the Savior, bringing us the knowledge of God.
In Him alone is eternal life; He is the Life of those who live in the Light – which He is; He knows how to walk according to the ways of God; He is the Author of Life; the Way, the Truth, and the Life; He is the image of the invisible God; in Him the fullness of the divinity of the glory of God is revealed.
But this is not all. The imagery surrounding the temple and worship is also applied to Him: He is the High Priest, who makes expiation for the sins of the people; yet, He is the One offered, the Lamb of God, sacrificed for our sake. He gave His life as ransom, reconciling all things to God, bringing hostility to an end by the Cross. He is the One mediator between God and man, mediating for us a new covenant.
He is the Good Shepherd, leading His sheep through the door – Christ Himself – to salvation. He is exalted by God as Leader or Prince, the Ruler of the kings of the earth – the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
He accomplishes all these things by voluntarily undergoing death – and conquering death. By becoming a curse, He empties the curse of its power.
All of this, in one person! Is there anyone else in Scripture for which all of these statements apply – practically every Scriptural image possible?
That all the terms and imagery used to describe Christ and his activity are derived from Scripture, emphasizes the point that Christ is from God, from above not below, that he has come down from heaven to do God’s will, that in him is God at work, and in him alone we see God….
He alone has revealed the meaning of Scripture – which, again, is Christ Himself! He is the One seen by Isaiah, the One about whom Moses wrote, and the One who was before Abraham. He is eternal, and was with God from the beginning.
Yet, all of this has meaning only in that it is understood in light of the Passion – whatever Jesus said about Himself, whatever oral reports there were before His death and Resurrection were re-presented in light of His death and Resurrection. The interpretation of Scripture was based on this kerygma, this proclamation: He is the crucified and risen One.
In this light, He can be seen as the Messiah and the Suffering Servant; He is the Son of David and also David’s Lord; He is a son of God, as was Adam, and at the same time He is the Son of God – not merely divine, but as divine as God Himself.
Conclusion
Behr offers that it would be misleading to suggest that this particular interpretation of Christ is screamingly evident from the pages of the New Testament – even this interpretation was forming before there was something that could wholly be identified as a New Testament.
While no particular explanation of the salvific work of Christ has been “canonized” in a creed or definition as being the only or exclusive acceptable model, there is and has been one right way of understanding who and what Jesus Christ is:
…the Son of the Father, the Word of God incarnate, both God and man. This is not simply a Greek philosophical approach to the revelation of God in Christ, but is rather a continuation of what is happening within each of the New Testament texts, the continuing reflection, on the basis of Scripture and the kerygma, about who Christ is, a reflection which has already reached canonical shape, in the canon of truth, by the time the New Testament is recognized as such.
Epilogue
Go back and consider all of the ways Jesus Christ is described, ways that make clear reference to the Scripture – the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets. Consider if you were one of the few who witnessed this in that time and in that place – and reflected on His ministry through the lens of His death and Resurrection?
It is no surprise that the interpretation of Christ which the Church came to hold very early on did not come screaming off of the pages of the New Testament. How could you put into words that which you just saw – something not only unique in history, but infinitely more incomprehensible as anything man has faced?
“What did we just witness?” We have trouble enough answering that question about a simple car accident.