New Testament Christology
The New Testament is reflecting the fulfillment of God’s promises for Israel and for the world through the work of the Messiah. The four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and Paul’s letters talk together about who Jesus is in that history. They have common points of view; however, they have their uniqueness in discussing how and why Jesus embodies God’s promises for us and for the world. Below, I will share my faith through my understanding of these diverse witnesses.
The Four Gospels
Matthew (2:15 NRSV), Mark (1:1), Luke (23: 47) and John (chap 1) all indicate that Jesus is the Son of God. He is the Messiah who is coming to save us as human beings. Furthermore, according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he is the fulfillment of the promises, showing the mercy of God through his deeds of mercy with the sick, poor, and afflicted as He said in his sermon on the Mount. His existence is for the life of human beings.[1] Also, Matthew and Luke tell together the story of the infancy of Jesus, the Christmas story.[2]
However, the four Gospels have different facets of how He embodies the promises of God for us and for the world. Mark tells about the crucifixion and the suffering of Jesus. He doesn’t promise comfort through Jesus’ presence in the community, but he just describes the suffering, his true identity, and that his disciples don’t understand.[3] Matthew expresses Jesus as embodying the laws, a law-giver like Moses, and especially the teacher of the law. He was teaching on the Mount (Matthew: 1-7), in parables, and He gave Christians rules for their community.[4] Then, Luke mentions that Jesus is Spirit and a prophet. He was conceived, baptized, anointed, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to do his ministry to bring liberation (Luke 4:1, 14, 18; Isa. 61:1-2). Finally, John mentions the incarnation of Jesus as He became flesh. John describes Jesus as “Son of God” and “Messiah” in the Synoptics, but he emphasizes about Him as “Lamb of God,” “King of Israel,” and “Son of Man” (John 1: 1-18). Another contrast in the Gospel of John is that Jesus always spoke publicly and directly about himself as the Son of God. Also, He said openly “I am” to introduce who He is.[5]
The Four Gospels and Pauline Letters
Discovering the similarities and the differences in the four Gospels and Paul’s letters gives further understanding of how Jesus embodied the promises of God for us and for the world.
Both the Gospels and Paul’s writings are talking about the suffering of Jesus on the cross, like the curse (Galatians 3:13), death on the cross (Philippians 1:8), and Jesus on the cross (Mark 15:34). Similarly, those writings reveal the promises of mercy of God through the work of Jesus in the humanity, serving human beings in the social dimension with practical acts of mercy, coming alongside of the poor and the suffering people.[6] Also, they both mention together Jesus, who embodied the law in teaching the laws (Matthew), in becoming a curse of the law (Galatians), and the Word which is the law to become flesh (John). Luke and 2 Corinthians 2 talk about how Jesus empowered by the Spirit of God to bring freedom to us. Likewise, John and Philippians say that Jesus became a human being and even less because of his suffering on the cross and his death.
In contrast, only Paul’s letters talk about the substitution, the Messiah who is Christ, justification by faith, liberation, resurrection, transformation, and the judgment of Jesus at the end of this world.[7] The substitution is the result of the obedience of the Messiah. In his death, he is bringing the sins of God’s people in his body and suffering to represent them (Galatians 3:13-14). That is about sacrifice of atonement and curse. Christ is the anointed Messiah and the Lord, exalted after his death. The Messiah accomplished his ministry to the final goal in gathering God’s people by the liberation from the bondage of sin to find the real identity. Pauline letters mention the soteriology[8] that salvation means liberation from Satan, death, sin, and law, which are enslaving powers. The humiliation of Jesus on the cross, the exaltation Christology, exalts him as lord of the world to purchase the slave’s freedom. Through baptism and faith, they are justified (Romans 4:1-11), and they enter into the Messiah. Then, the resurrection opens a beginning of God’s promises for the new creation (Romans 4:13-22), which is the transformation to the new life in Jesus.
Furthermore, Paul’s letter talked about the apocalyptic[9] era that now is the beginning of the end, the Triumph of God as Jesus is raised from the dead and exalted on high to liberate the slave and make a new creation. In this New Creation, there is anthropological[10] unity in Christ where the old world of pairs of opposites is replaced by the new world of unity with the pair of warriors: The Spirit and the Flesh. Then, the apocalyptic antinomies in Galatians about the warfare warfare of the spirit and the flesh in this new creation is won through the apocalypse of his cross.[11]
I believe in Jesus, Son of God and the Messiah, the anointed one, who came to the world to save humanity from all oppressing powers enslaving them, causing sins, and I am part of that.
I praise the Lord that in his death on the cross empowered by the Spirit of God, Jesus liberates me to the bondage of sins through justification, resurrection, and transformation to a new creation. I believe and accept the work of Christ for me.
God’s people are unified in the faith in Jesus, who died on the cross for our salvation, and the old world with pairs of opposites is replaced by this unity in Christ.
God’s mercy has impact in the social dimension to the poor and suffering people.
There is a battle within the Spirit and flesh, a Spirit of Truth versus
Spirit of Falsehood, in the new creation which is won through the resurrection
of Jesus. We have hope in him with faith and the Law is holy, just and good. The
Holy Spirit dwells in me to transform my life as I am God’s children and I grow
more in sharing his suffering and accept[12]
to carry my cross in order to die in myself (self-ambition and desire of the
flesh) to follow Him. My faith in Jesus and my love for Him guide me to open up
to the neighborhoods and the world.
[1] Walter Kasper, Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life (New York: Paulist, 2014), 72.
[2] Ibid., 61-64.
[3] Richard Hays, The Moral Vision of The New Testament (New York, Harper One, 1996), 88.
[4] Louis Malcolm, “Jesus in the Gospel” (Thinking Theologically, Luther Seminary, Minnesota, October 19, 2017).
[5] Ibid.
[6] Walter Kasper, Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life (New York: Paulist, 2014), 55-57.
[7] N.T. Wright, Christology, in Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2009), 102-108.
[8] Gerd Thiessen, “Soteriological Symbolism in the Pauline Writings,” Social Reality and the Early Christians: Theology, Ethics, and the World of the New Testament (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992), 159-186.
[9] J. Louis Martin, “Apocalyptic Antinomies in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians.” New Testament Studies, Vol.31, 3 (1985), 410-424.
[10] Ibid., 415.
[11] Ibid., 421.
[12] Beverly Gaventa, “Which Humans? What Response? A Reflexion on Pauline Theology.” Ex Auditu Vol.30 (2014), 50-64.
