Recovering the Jewish-Messianic Gospel, Part Six

Summarizing where we are now in this investigation of developing Christology within the New Testament, we have seen that for Paul and the original apostles, Jesus was the human Messiah who had died to save humanity from sin and from the powers of evil.  He was resurrected by God and installed as Lord of the nations at God’s right hand. This was in fulfillment of the Jewish prophecies about the Messiah, the son of David, who would rule on the throne of David forever. That was the original gospel preached by the disciples of Jesus after his resurrection.  We find that original gospel in the seven undisputed letters of Paul (Romans, Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians, Philippians and Philemon), in the Synoptic gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke, and in the book of Acts.

As we move to later periods in the first century we see a greater influence of the Jewish wisdom tradition and Greek philosophy on the early Christians understanding of who Jesus was. The Christology of the early church develops from one where Jesus is a human man whom God raised from the dead and installed as King at his resurrection, to one where Jesus is the Divine Logos (wisdom personified) who created the cosmos, and who exclusively mediates the revelation of God to humanity.  The gospel of John, the letter to the Hebrews and the letter to the Colossians reflect these final developments in New Testament Christology. These documents were written toward the latter part of the first century. They were written by a new generation of believers who had embraced more of the concepts of Stoic philosophy. This second generation of believers were predominantly Gentiles, whereas the earliest members of the Christian communities were Jewish.

Now let us look at a problematic passage in one of Paul’s letters.  The passage is Philippians 2:5-11.  Here it is in the New American Standard translation.  It was probably an early hymn of the Christian communities.

^“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

Who, although he existed in the form of God,

Did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

But emptied himself,

Taking the form of a bond-servant,

Being made in the likeness of men.

Being found in appearance as a man,

He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,

Even death on a cross.

For this reason also, God highly exalted him,

And bestowed on him the name which is above every name,

So that at the name of Jesus

Every knee will bow,

Of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

And that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

To the glory of God the Father.”

When we 21^st century Christians read this passage, we tend to read back into it our Trinitarian view that Jesus was a pre-existent being, existing with God at the beginning of the cosmos, before the universe was created.  That’s how we read the phrase “who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.” We think, “...that’s right, Jesus was equal with God the Father because He was always a member of the Trinity, but He was willing to come to earth and become a man, so he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.”  

James D.G. Dunn points out that in this passage, Paul is comparing Christ to Adam (see Christology in the Making, 1989, p. 114-121).  In the first creation, Adam was made in the image of God and he was given dominion over the creation (see Genesis 1:27-28 and 2:15-17).  However Adam ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil when the serpent told his wife that it would make them wise and they would be like God (Genesis 3:4-7).  So Adam and Eve ate of the fruit because they wanted to be like God.  Death was passed down to the human race as a result (see Romans 5:12-14).  

In contrast, Jesus, the last Adam, was part of a new creation. He was also created in the image of God (and through the virgin birth he was sinless).  Paul in another letter calls Jesus the Second Man and the Last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:42-49).  So even though Jesus was created in the form of God, he did not try to become God. This is in stark contrast to Adam. Jesus did not give in to the temptation to use his God-given authority to try to be equal with God.  Jesus passed this test where Adam failed the test.

Where Adam showed pride and a desire to be a god, Jesus demonstrated humility and obedience. In fact not only did Jesus obey God in all things, he obeyed even to the point of death as a criminal on a Roman cross.  For this reason God exalted him (the implication from the context of the passage is that at his creation Jesus was not exalted in this way) and gave him the name Lord, which is the name above all names.  It is also apparent from the grammar here that Jesus did not possess the name "Lord" (Ruler of all) at the beginning of his life.  This title was bestowed on him by God the Father after his humility, obedience and suffering.  If Jesus was truly God at the beginning he would have already been Ruler of all simply by being God. 

Let that sink in....

Therefore this passage can be read with the background of Adam’s story from Genesis 1-3, and in reading it that way it does not suggest that Jesus was God being prior to his becoming human. Dunn notes that, “Philippians 2:6-8 is probably intended to affirm that Christ’s earthly life was an embodiment of grace from beginning to end, of giving away in contrast to the selfish grasping of Adam’s sin, that every choice of any consequence made by Christ was the antithesis of Adam’s” (ibid, 121).

Another difficult passage is 1 Corinthians 8:6, which some scholars believe is the beginnings of a Trinitarian viewpoint in Paul’s writings.  Here is the passage in context (1 Corinthians 8:1-6, again from the NASB).

“Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know;  but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.

“Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords,  yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.”

Here Paul takes the famous Shema, the Jewish affirmation that there is one God, and adds a new line:  there is also one Lord, Jesus Christ.  Paul is combining the Jewish affirmation of one God with the Christian affirmation that Jesus is Lord.  The phrase “from whom are all things” identifies God as the creator. The phrase “by whom are all things” might be taken to indicate that Christ was the agent of creation.  However it could also mean that all things from God flow through Christ to the believers.  This verse does not necessarily teach that Christ was the agent of creation.

Here is a short bibliography of some books that have been very helpful to me in this study:

Dunn, James D.G., Christology in the Making (Grand Rapids: Eerdman's Publishing, 1989).
Dunn, James D.G., Did The First Christians Worship Jesus? The New Testament Evidence     (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010).
Wright, N.T., How God Became King, The Forgotten Story of the Gospels (New York:  HarperCollins, 2012).
Enns, Peter, Inspiration and Incarnation (Grand Rapids:  Baker Academic, 2005).

I hope this series has been helpful to you.  Please ask any questions you may have in the comments.