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The Central Message of the New Testament
This book is in good condition. The pages are all there, firmly attached and clean. There is some writing and underlining visible but the is no marking. The binding is solid and tight . The covers are good as is the dust cover as well. The previous owner's signature is inside the front cover.
95 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1966
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About the author
Joachim Jeremias
97 books24 followersJoachim Jeremias was a German Lutheran theologian, scholar of Near Eastern Studies, and professor of New Testament studies.
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July 3, 2021
I just finished "The Central Message of the New Testament, " by Joachim Jeremias.
Post read edit: for a scholar Jeremias is very easy to read. I am now after the rest of his work.
Jeremias is one of those guys who gets heavily footnoted so he must be good. It was from footnotes that I decided to buy him. I bought this from Abebooks so it was sight unseen. I thought it was cool that 1) this is a first edition--1965--hardback, 2) in good condition, 3) was in the philosophy library of Columbia University according to the inside front boards sticker. As a fun fact: you remember back on the 80s (well it was the 80s for me) when preachers began to say that Jesus saying "Abba" was the same as Him saying "daddy?" This guy, this book.
Abba:
Other than that there isnt much to say yet and there is only 90 pages of text.
Only a few pages deal with how God was seen or how He is expressed as Father in ANE texts and in the Old Testament. Jeremias moves into the first century and how the contemporaries of Jesus would have seen God as Father. He records that Qumran only had one fragment which listed God as Father.
"Gods fatherly love is His first and last word, however great the children's guilt may be," p 15.
Interestingly, when God is referred to as Father it is in the communal context rather than individual: God is our, not my, Father. This all sets the stage for a huge "And then Jesus..." who utilized the communal "our Father" and the individual "my Father." Jeremias says that to the first century onlooker this would have made Jesus stick out in a way yet to have been seen. In all His prayers Jesus uses the address of "my Father" (even though He may have "our Father" in the body) with the exception of the cry of dereliction from the cross.
Jeremias states that the early church would have seen one profession of "Abba, Father" as an "utterance brought forth by the Holy Spirit," p 18. Be them Jewish or Gentile "this primitive Christian cry is an echo of Jesus' own praying," p 18.
Jeremias states that when a child were weaned the first things they learned to say were abba and imma (dad and mom). Footnoted is the Babylonian Talmud. Over time it grew so that even teen children and fully grown children would refer or still refer to their abba and imma.
Even with that in mind, Jews never referred to the Father as ABBA since it would be seen as degrading and inappropriate. The only exception to this discretion is the very modern, 18th century, Hasidistic Jews who have no aversion to referring to God in relational or familiar terms.
In dealing with the Lords prayer Jeremias says that the request to "teach us to pray" had to do with the disciples being a different sect or group. The followers of John, the Pharisees and Essens all had "prayers, tokens of their communion," p 28. The token of communion Jesus gave them began by saying Abba isnt just my Abba, He is our Abba. From there the Lords prayer was constructed. Also, Jesus "goes as far as to say that only he who can repeat this childlike Abba shall enter into the Kingdom of God," p 29.
The Sacrificial Death:
Jeremias begins by speaking to the day of atonement and how now the day of atonement is good Friday. Then he goes into Hebrews and 1 Peter to show the contrasting views of what the triumphant Christ did: in Hebrews He ascends to the most holy place for "the many," whereas in 1 Peter he descends into hades to preach the good news to "the many," ("the many" in scripture refers to the godless Jews and Gentiles).
Just some fragments as I go: as Saul, before the Damascus road, he tried to elicit from Christian's "Christ be cursed" after his transformation Paul did the same thing but added two words onto it, "for us." This was revolutionary and would have added to the foolishness of the cross for the Jew.
Jeremias is the first I have read who has approached the slavery theme in atonement theology in the following way: Christ became a slave to redeem slaves. This double slavery motif seems to be missed by many, or I need to read more. If missed why hasn't anyone picked up on this, if I need to read more who writes about it?
His main premise on the atonement here has to do with striking a line from Is. 53 to the death of Christ.
Justification by Faith:
Jeremias really digs in to getting the idea across that we have to see justification external of forensic or legal categories. He bases this off of Deutero-Isiah via the LXX where justification and grace are used side by side and absolutely are used without courtroom speech.
"That God grants His good pleasure to the believer is against every human law," p 56.
It seems his stress on removal of forensic terms is so that we wouldnt see the courtroom "as if" imagery: since we have been justified [gavel slam] God sees us "as if" we were righteous. Hence the forensic limitations. Justification through faith by grace makes a new creation with no "as if" involved.
I dont know much about Jeremias but I would wager he wasnt reformed.
The Revealing Word:
I believe he is dealing with Jn 1:1-18. He opens by showing the other New Testament non Epistles (Mt., Mk., Lk., Acts, Rev.) begins by stating "this is what I'm writing about," or "this is the genealogy of Jesus." And then there was Jn. John opens with a totally different focus. While the rest are getting "Just the facts, Ma'am" John rolls a fat joint and reflects on Genisis (the preceding was all me, not Jeremias).
He states that due to the structure the opening of Jn. was probably an early Christian hymn and John did as Paul did in Ph. 2: he jacked it and made a slight edit here and there.
Jeremias coverage of this section of Jn. is very good. He ends by stating that the Rabbis believed God was silent after He spoke creation into being. The final sentence in the book is very good: "Jesus of Nazareth is the Word--He is the Word with which God has broken His silence," p 90.
Post read edit: for a scholar Jeremias is very easy to read. I am now after the rest of his work.
Jeremias is one of those guys who gets heavily footnoted so he must be good. It was from footnotes that I decided to buy him. I bought this from Abebooks so it was sight unseen. I thought it was cool that 1) this is a first edition--1965--hardback, 2) in good condition, 3) was in the philosophy library of Columbia University according to the inside front boards sticker. As a fun fact: you remember back on the 80s (well it was the 80s for me) when preachers began to say that Jesus saying "Abba" was the same as Him saying "daddy?" This guy, this book.
Abba:
Other than that there isnt much to say yet and there is only 90 pages of text.
Only a few pages deal with how God was seen or how He is expressed as Father in ANE texts and in the Old Testament. Jeremias moves into the first century and how the contemporaries of Jesus would have seen God as Father. He records that Qumran only had one fragment which listed God as Father.
"Gods fatherly love is His first and last word, however great the children's guilt may be," p 15.
Interestingly, when God is referred to as Father it is in the communal context rather than individual: God is our, not my, Father. This all sets the stage for a huge "And then Jesus..." who utilized the communal "our Father" and the individual "my Father." Jeremias says that to the first century onlooker this would have made Jesus stick out in a way yet to have been seen. In all His prayers Jesus uses the address of "my Father" (even though He may have "our Father" in the body) with the exception of the cry of dereliction from the cross.
Jeremias states that the early church would have seen one profession of "Abba, Father" as an "utterance brought forth by the Holy Spirit," p 18. Be them Jewish or Gentile "this primitive Christian cry is an echo of Jesus' own praying," p 18.
Jeremias states that when a child were weaned the first things they learned to say were abba and imma (dad and mom). Footnoted is the Babylonian Talmud. Over time it grew so that even teen children and fully grown children would refer or still refer to their abba and imma.
Even with that in mind, Jews never referred to the Father as ABBA since it would be seen as degrading and inappropriate. The only exception to this discretion is the very modern, 18th century, Hasidistic Jews who have no aversion to referring to God in relational or familiar terms.
In dealing with the Lords prayer Jeremias says that the request to "teach us to pray" had to do with the disciples being a different sect or group. The followers of John, the Pharisees and Essens all had "prayers, tokens of their communion," p 28. The token of communion Jesus gave them began by saying Abba isnt just my Abba, He is our Abba. From there the Lords prayer was constructed. Also, Jesus "goes as far as to say that only he who can repeat this childlike Abba shall enter into the Kingdom of God," p 29.
The Sacrificial Death:
Jeremias begins by speaking to the day of atonement and how now the day of atonement is good Friday. Then he goes into Hebrews and 1 Peter to show the contrasting views of what the triumphant Christ did: in Hebrews He ascends to the most holy place for "the many," whereas in 1 Peter he descends into hades to preach the good news to "the many," ("the many" in scripture refers to the godless Jews and Gentiles).
Just some fragments as I go: as Saul, before the Damascus road, he tried to elicit from Christian's "Christ be cursed" after his transformation Paul did the same thing but added two words onto it, "for us." This was revolutionary and would have added to the foolishness of the cross for the Jew.
Jeremias is the first I have read who has approached the slavery theme in atonement theology in the following way: Christ became a slave to redeem slaves. This double slavery motif seems to be missed by many, or I need to read more. If missed why hasn't anyone picked up on this, if I need to read more who writes about it?
His main premise on the atonement here has to do with striking a line from Is. 53 to the death of Christ.
Justification by Faith:
Jeremias really digs in to getting the idea across that we have to see justification external of forensic or legal categories. He bases this off of Deutero-Isiah via the LXX where justification and grace are used side by side and absolutely are used without courtroom speech.
"That God grants His good pleasure to the believer is against every human law," p 56.
It seems his stress on removal of forensic terms is so that we wouldnt see the courtroom "as if" imagery: since we have been justified [gavel slam] God sees us "as if" we were righteous. Hence the forensic limitations. Justification through faith by grace makes a new creation with no "as if" involved.
I dont know much about Jeremias but I would wager he wasnt reformed.
The Revealing Word:
I believe he is dealing with Jn 1:1-18. He opens by showing the other New Testament non Epistles (Mt., Mk., Lk., Acts, Rev.) begins by stating "this is what I'm writing about," or "this is the genealogy of Jesus." And then there was Jn. John opens with a totally different focus. While the rest are getting "Just the facts, Ma'am" John rolls a fat joint and reflects on Genisis (the preceding was all me, not Jeremias).
He states that due to the structure the opening of Jn. was probably an early Christian hymn and John did as Paul did in Ph. 2: he jacked it and made a slight edit here and there.
Jeremias coverage of this section of Jn. is very good. He ends by stating that the Rabbis believed God was silent after He spoke creation into being. The final sentence in the book is very good: "Jesus of Nazareth is the Word--He is the Word with which God has broken His silence," p 90.
Displaying 1 of 1 review