WordPress.com



-74041039487900Religious background to the New Testament:Prophecy regarding the Messiah The word messiah literally means “anointed one”. Jewish kings were anointed with oil, which suggests that the messiah is a sort of Jewish king.The messiah is described in the Old Testament books of prophecy.Immediately before the arrival of the Messiah, there would be a period of war and suffering. The arrival of the messiah would begin the “messianic era”.Find these passages and note down the key point they tell you about the messiah:Isaiah 2:4Isaiah 2:17-18Isaiah 11:6Isaiah 11:12Isaiah 25:8Isaiah 26:19Isaiah 51:11Zechariah 8:23Jeremiah 31:34Amos 9:14-15Ezekiel 36:30Read Matthew 1:1-17. Why would Matthew start his gospel in this way?The Importance of the Line of DavidIsaiah 9:6-7For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and for ever.Isaiah 11:1-2A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him- the spirit of wisdom and understanding.Jeremiah 33:14-15508408259254600“The days are coming” declares the Lord, “when I will fulfil the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. ‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.’”Read Matthew 1:18-2:23What are the similarities with the story of Moses?Why would Matthew want to emphasise these similarities?The Proof Texts in Matthew’s Infancy NarrativeMatt 1:22 “All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet”Read Matthew 1:22-2:23. Find the verses that refer to these prophecies:Old Testament ProphecyReference in MatthewIsaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times”Hosea 11:1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son”Jeremiah 31:15 ““A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”Judges 13:5 “You will … have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines”Matthew uses these texts differently from how they would have been understood before. He is using every bit of scripture he can think of to try to prove that Jesus is the Messiah. He has made the story fit with the prophecies, and has made the prophecies seem to fit the story.By using Jesus’ genealogy, references to Old Testament people and events, and the specific fulfilment passages, Matthew is trying to demonstrate that Jesus’ birth is the climax of God’s long relationship with the Jews.The Suffering ServantIsaiah 53?Who has believed our message????and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?2?He grew up before him like a tender shoot,????and like a root out of dry ground.He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,????nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.3?He was despised and rejected by mankind,????a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.Like one from whom people hide their faces????he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.4?Surely he took up our pain????and bore our suffering,yet we considered him punished by God,????stricken by him, and afflicted.5?But he was pierced for our transgressions,????he was crushed for our iniquities;the punishment that brought us peace was on him,????and by his wounds we are healed.6?We all, like sheep, have gone astray,????each of us has turned to our own way;and the Lord has laid on him????the iniquity of us all.7?He was oppressed and afflicted,????yet he did not open his mouth;he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,????and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,????so he did not open his mouth.8?By oppression and judgment he was taken away.????Yet who of his generation protested?For he was cut off from the land of the living;????for the transgression of my people he was punished.9?He was assigned a grave with the wicked,????and with the rich in his death,though he had done no violence,????nor was any deceit in his mouth.10?Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,????and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,he will see his offspring and prolong his days,????and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.11?After he has suffered,????he will see the light of life and be satisfied;by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,????and he will bear their iniquities.12?Therefore I will give him a portion among the great????and he will divide the spoils with the strong,because he poured out his life unto death,????and was numbered with the transgressors.For he bore the sin of many,????and made intercession for the transgressors.The Messianic SecretIn 1901, a German theologian called Wilhelm Wrede developed a theory which became known as the Messianic Secret.Wrede claimed that Jesus did not think he was the Messiah, and that the gospel writers (especially Mark) sensationalised Jesus and made him into the Messiah.In support of this claim, Wrede points to passages in Mark where Jesus either denies his messianic identity or instructs people to keep his miracle-performing abilities a secret.Find and summarise these passages from Mark:1:343:11-121:42-447:35-369:30-318:29-30Wrede’s theory attempts to account for Jesus’ secrecy in these cases. He also claims that it explains why Jesus was not widely regarded as the Messiah during his lifetime, but only during the first century after his death. The messianic secret helps to explain the “tension between the belief of the early church in Jesus as Messiah and the unmessianic character of Jesus’ ministry” – WredeThis theory became popular in the early 20th Century, but has been widely criticised since. Critics include Hooker who wrote:“to describe the whole ministry of Jesus as ‘unmesssianic’ is to ignore totally the plain evidence of the gospels.” - Hooker“since Jesus was put to death as a messianic pretender, it seems that during his ministry questions about his messiahship were already being asked.” - HookerDid Jesus believe he was the Messiah?Despite Wrede’s examples of Jesus wanting to steer clear of the Messiah title, there are several passages where his position seems either unclear or the very opposite:Matthew 26: 63-64Matthew 16:16-17Mark 14:61-62As you would expect, scholars also have mixed views:Bultmann claims that Jesus never actually identified himself as the Messiah (he has other interpretations of those passages where it seems he does).Miller points out that throughout his ministry, Jesus constantly rejected power (which the title Messiah represents), which is why he didn’t accept the title.It is important to remember that the expectation of most first-century Jews was that the Messiah would be a powerful political and military leader who would lead them into battle to defeat their enemies. And although the scriptures explicitly say that the messiah would be human, increasingly people were expecting a supernatural being.The restoration of the kingdom of Israel and freedom from Roman rule were central to most people’s expectations. So the idea of the Messiah being crucified by the Romans was nonsense to the Jews.In this context, it can be argued that Jesus didn’t want to be associated with the term “Messiah” because of these connotations.Manson & Bruce claim that although Jesus may have believed it, he was wary about using the title because it may detract from the more spiritual kingdom Jesus was bringing. ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download