the price of a big yard

Our yard ("garden" for our British friends) is probably our favourite part of our house. It's really four separate sections - our quiet front yard, our multi-purpose side yard, our back play yard, and our recreation yard behind the garage - each of which is at least as big as an average yard for a new home in Calgary. And that's not even including the third fort on the back side of the house, or the branch-and-cuttings collection section at the back, or the area outside our hedges by the roads. Our house may be cramped at times, but our yard certainly is not.

So what's the price of having a big yard?

• Trimming the hedges: 3 hours
• Preparing the lawn for mowing: Half an hour
• Mowing the lawn: 75 minutes
• Playing "Manly Cup" hockey on the side yard, or watching the kids swim in the blow-up pool in the back yard, or having a family wiener roast in the rec yard: Priceless...

finishing up and heading out

It's the time of year when a lot of things are finishing up for the summer break: school, dance, soccer, piano, and so on. We've also managed to head out for a few short family trips over the past few weeks: to Lethbridge, to the Calgary Zoo, to our church campout. Here are a few pics of our recent finishings up and headings out.

latest review of biblical literature

The latest New Testament-related reviews at RBL include the following items of interest:

Eve-Marie Becker and Peter Pilhofer, eds. Biographie und Persönlichkeit des Paulus.
Reviewed by Günter Röhser

April D. DeConick. Recovering the Original Gospel of Thomas: A History of the Gospel and Its Growth.
Reviewed by Eric Noffke

Simcha Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino. The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History.
Reviewed by Jonathan Reed

James D. Tabor. The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity.
Reviewed by Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte

warning: some material may be inappropriate for readers under 18

That's the rating I received for my blog:

Don't worry, Mom - it's simply based on counts of words like "death," "dead," and "kill" (the three that were the death of me), without any regard to context. I guess my morbid fascination with the resurrection of the dead in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 for my doctoral dissertation is what killed my chances of a PG rating. Check out Loren Rosson's blog to see how other biblioblogs fared.

carson on the gospel

Don Carson's presentation at the recent Gospel Coalition conference, "What is the Gospel?," is now available online in audio and video formats. You can also see a written summary of his presentation on Justin Taylor's blog. It's interesting to see both the points of overlap and the differences in emphasis between Carson's presentation and my recent series.

what is the gospel? some concluding reflections (3)

For the series outline, click here.

Third, the contemporary context must continue to shape the expression of the gospel. This is just as critical as canon and Christ, for it keeps our gospel witness from becoming irrelevant. The gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and risen is God's ultimate prophetic word - it is no coincidence that the Jewish prophetic phrases "word of God" and "word of the Lord" were taken over by the earliest Christians almost exclusively for the gospel message. As God's ultimate prophetic word, the gospel confronts the evil powers of this present age and the evil power within each one of us. All sin, all evil - idolatry, injustice, oppression, enslavement, hatred, murder, lust, adultery, greed, covetousness - all this and more is condemned on the cross, a divine condemnation sealed by the resurrection. The ruthless dictator who oppresses his people and murders his enemies, the greedy executive who plunders the earth and exploits his third world workers, the angry father who beats his wife and abuses his kids, the pious church-goer who teaches Sunday school and practises pornography - all stand condemned in the shadow of the cross, and all can kneel cleansed in the blood of the cross and the glory of the empty tomb.

But the prophetic gospel of Jesus Christ not only confronts the anti-gospels in us and in our world. It also confronts the gospels all around us that are based on the "good news" values of this age that bombard us from all sides: personal fulfillment and prosperity, religious formalism or informalism, collective nationalism, political and social activism, and so on. The gospel of the crucified and risen Jesus prophetically engages these gospels of our world, critiquing them always, embracing them sometimes, but never being fully identified with any of these values and systems. Like the gospel of imperial Rome, these gospels of our world reflect the perceived needs of humanity. People still desire peace and security; they long for personal fulfillment and physical wellbeing; they are drawn to the stability and human connectedness that ancient tradition evokes, while also drawn to the dynamism and vitality of spiritual experience; they want to be a part of something larger, more significant than themselves; they want to make a positive impact on the lives of others. These perceived needs, reflections of the gospels of our age, are good in themselves, reflections of God's own desires for humanity and creation. But our world's gospels are ultimately no gospels at all: at best, they meet those needs for a time, in a limited way; at worst, they fulfill nothing of which they promise. But as these perceived needs are reflections of God's own desires, they find their ultimate fulfilment in God's own gospel. Peace, fullness, assurance, reconciliation, freedom - these are gospel words, and must be re-claimed for the true gospel.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed good news: in Christ, particularly through his death and resurrection, God has come to set the world right, delivering humanity and all his creation from sin and all its consequences, and re-establishing his sovereignty among humanity and all his creation. This is good news for the whole person, for the whole community of faith, for the whole of human life and history, for the whole of humanity and creation. We must recapture the full canonical narrative of this gospel, we must reclaim the Christ-centred heart of this gospel, and we must recover the contextual expression of this gospel, in continuity with the Apostles. Then we can truly call ourselves "evangelical," people of the "evangel," the "good news" of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

what is the gospel? some concluding reflections (2)

For the series outline, click here.

Second, the person and work of Christ must continue to shape the heart of the gospel. There is simply no gospel without Jesus, no "good news" without his death and resurrection. Any articulation of the gospel that displaces Jesus and his death and resurrection from the centre is no gospel at all. But this must not be equated with any particular interpretation of who Jesus is and what his death and resurrection mean. As we have seen, the Apostles provided a spectrum of interpretations of Jesus, his death, and his resurrection, a range of perspectives on precisely how God's action in Christ connected with the biblical narrative of redemption. And no Apostle emphasized the entire spectrum. The language of justification is entirely absent from John's writings, yet who would say that John's gospel vision is inadequate? Christ as simultaneously priest and sacrifice is prominent in Hebrews yet absent in Paul, yet who will dare accuse Paul of an insufficient presentation of the gospel? Likewise, we must be careful in our theological disputes about atonement theories, justification, and the like not to unduly restrict acceptable theological interpretations even of the central elements of the gospel.

Nevertheless, while there was an acceptable diversity among the Apostolic interpretations of Jesus, there were limits to what the Apostles considered legitimate in understanding and presenting Christ and his work. Essentially, any expression of the gospel which devalued the universal salvation and sovereignty of Christ, effectively displacing Christ and his work from the centre of the gospel, got roundly condemned by the Apostles. This was true for those gospel presentations which claimed Christ's work as limited in scope to a certain segment of people, such as only those who observe the Torah (Galatians) or only those who have particular spiritual experiences (1 Corinthians). And this was true for those gospel presentations which denied Christ’s sovereignty over all things generally (Colossians) or over the follower of Christ specifically (Jude). Jesus is Lord of all and Saviour for all, exercising full sovereignty and bringing full deliverance - or he is not Lord and Saviour at all. Thus, this Christ-focused shaping of the heart of the gospel keeps our gospel witness from becoming too narrow, allowing only a particular theological interpretation, or too broad, denying the exclusive sufficiency and sovereignty of Christ.

This Christ-focused shaping of the heart of the gospel also keeps our gospel witness from becoming too bland, even "un-Christian." Phrases like "social gospel," "gospel of liberation," or even "green gospel" should be redundant for Christians, made mandatory by the resurrection of the crucified Jesus. The gospel brings about justice in society, it results in the liberation of the oppressed, it involves the redemption of sin-tarnished creation - or it is not the gospel. However, while the gospel necessitates the enacting of reversal in the world - feeding the hungry, freeing the slaves, healing the sick - it only does so as the gospel of Christ crucified and risen. For it is precisely because the shamefully crucified Christ was divinely vindicated in resurrection that the followers of Christ must bring this resurrection reversal to the marginalized and oppressed, to all creation. But without the foundation of the gospel of Christ crucified and risen such actions in themselves are devoid of the power of the gospel.

Next: what is the gospel? some concluding reflections (3)

what is the gospel? some concluding reflections (1)

For the series outline, click here.

If we wish to take seriously the gospel of the Apostles in any current articulation of the gospel - and if we do not wish to do this, can we make any legitimate claim to present the Christian gospel? - and if my account of the Apostolic gospel is at all near the mark, then these features we have just sketched - canon, Christ, and context, in continuity with the Apostolic gospel witness - must continue to be the driving forces for any understanding and expression of the gospel in any age, in any culture.

First, the biblical canon must continue to shape the content of the gospel. This is the witness of the Scriptures themselves. The "gospel creed" of 1 Corinthians 15 states that Jesus' death for sins and resurrection on the third day were "according to the Scriptures." The pre-eminent self-witness of Scripture describes its very purpose as making one "wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim 3:15-17). And hear the words of the Johannine Jesus to the Bible scholars of the day: "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life" (John 5:39-40). All this is to say that the Scriptures are essential to a proper understanding of the gospel - but that they themselves are not the gospel proper. The written Word of God (inspired Scripture) is a witness to the spoken Word of God (the gospel of Jesus Christ) and the living Word of God (Jesus Christ himself), and it is in him that all the facets of salvation find their source. Any present or future gospel witness of the Spirit in the Church must grow organically from the gospel witness of the Spirit in Scripture, and this unified (though not uniform) witness must ultimately point beyond itself to the person and work of Christ.

This canonical shaping of the content of the gospel is crucial, for it keeps our gospel witness from becoming too narrow. Any articulation of the gospel must take into account not just Romans or John 3:16, but also the expectations of the biblical prophets, Jesus' "gospel of the kingdom" in the Synoptics, the Apostles' kerygma in Acts, and more. And when the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection is set within the entire biblical narrative of redemption, some current misconceptions of the gospel are exposed as inadequate. The gospel is not merely about me and my personal salvation, nor is it primarily about deliverance from hellish torment and entrance into heavenly bliss, nor is it only a "spiritual" matter without any "physical" implications, nor is it simply for the unsaved while the saved can move onto deeper truths of the faith. To restrict the gospel in these ways is to restrict the purposes of God, even to diminish the glory of God. Rather, the gospel is good news for the whole person, for the whole community of faith, for the whole of human life and history, for the whole of humanity and creation. Sin has affected the whole person, the whole of humanity, the whole creation, and so if the work of God in Christ does not affect the whole person, the whole of humanity, the whole creation - then God has failed to bring salvation from sin. Thus, to believe in and live out the gospel demands that we focus not only on individual relationships with God but also on relationships with one another and corporately with God, not only on future blessings but also on present realities, not only on the salvation and cultivation of the soul but also on the deliverance and redemption of the body and of creation, not only on the proclamation of the gospel for unbelievers but also on the saturation of the gospel in the deep thinking and daily living of believers.

Next: what is the gospel? some concluding reflections (2)

what is the gospel? a summary

For the series outline, click here.

These three stories - deriving from the Jewish Scriptures, the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the propaganda of the Roman Empire - converged to shape the Apostles' understanding and expression of the gospel. But these three stories did not all shape the Apostolic gospel in the same way, nor to the same degree. One could say that for the Apostles the Scriptures provided the content of the gospel, the expectation of what the "good news" should entail: the coming of God, the universal reign of God, the deliverance and restoration of the people of God and God's creation. Jesus and his death and resurrection provided the agent and the means by which the gospel has been achieved in fulfillment of this Scriptural expectation: in Jesus - in his life and career, and supremely through his crucifixion and resurrection - God has arrived on the scene, the sovereignty of God has been re-claimed, and the deliverance and restoration of creation and humanity has begun and will be fulfilled. And the Roman imperial propaganda provided a foil for the gospel, a significant part of the context in which the gospel was to be proclaimed and lived out: the gospel of God in Jesus confronts any counter-claims to universal salvation and sovereignty, subverting the values of this age with the values of the now-present coming age, calling the evil powers of the world to account and its people to repent.

Thus, the Apostolic gospel, the "good news," is that in Jesus, and particularly in his death and resurrection, God has arrived, delivering humanity and all his creation from sin and all its consequences, and re-establishing his sovereignty among humanity and all his creation. Or, in a nutshell, the Apostolic gospel, the "good news," is that God has acted in Christ to make right everything that is wrong in the world. The poor are rich! The hungry are fed! The grieving rejoice! The blind see, the deaf hear, the dumb speak, the lame walk! The prisoners are set free! The last are first! The wicked are righteous! The dead live! Hallelujah! Hosanna! Maranatha!

Next: what is the gospel? some concluding reflections (1)

what is the gospel? the roman imperial propaganda

For the series outline, click here.

Less than five years before the birth of Jesus, the following message was inscribed in stone in prominent places throughout the Roman province of Asia Minor, giving reasons in support of an official change in the calendar system:

Since Providence, which has ordered all things and is deeply interested in our life, has set in most perfect order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit humankind, sending him as a saviour, both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war and arrange all things, and since he, Caesar, by his appearance [excelled even our anticipations], surpassing all previous benefactors, and not even leaving to posterity any hope of surpassing what he has done, and since the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good news (euangelia) for the world that came by reason of him. . . .

This is only one prominent example of the sort of official imperial propaganda one encountered in the first century. The Roman Emperors, particularly those judged after the fact to be good for the Empire, were described according to a standard "gospel narrative." Their birth was foretold by heavenly signs, their accession was marked by providential portents, their accomplishments were acts of the divine genius, their royal visits were as the arrival of the gods, and their death was their full entrance into deity. All of these were potential elements of "good news" insofar as they contributed to the greatest of Roman goals: peace and security for the many, bringing ease and comfort for the few. Of course, this perpetual pursuit of peace and continual quest for comfort could only happen on the backs of the conquered, the enslaved, the oppressed, the over-taxed, the impoverished, the shamed, the crucified. This was the gospel of the spin doctors from Rome: peace through conquest, security through oppression, salvation through crucifixion - for the glory of Rome and its Lord and Saviour, Caesar.

The language of this Roman imperial propaganda was prominent enough to make early Christian ignorance of it quite unlikely. On the contrary, the first followers of Jesus knew very well what they were doing when they described Jesus as Messianic King, Lord, and Son of God; they were well aware of the implications of recounting his birth, life, and especially his Roman crucifixion and vindicating resurrection as "good news" of divine salvation and universal sovereignty. But what was the accession of another human Emperor, or the temporary peace of a troubled region, compared with the coming of the one true Lord and Saviour to set the world right, bringing eternal peace and lasting deliverance from oppression, evil, and even death?

And so, the first followers of Jesus clashed with those who tolerated or embraced Rome's gospel vision. The Jerusalem Apostles clashed with the Jewish religious elite who aligned themselves with Rome's power, believing that in doing so they could maintain the status quo and set the stage for the kingdom of God. The Apostle to the Gentiles clashed with local civic rulers in the non-Jewish world, those who professed absolute loyalty to Caesar as Lord and who could thus not tolerate any other royal claim. The gospel of Jesus thus subverted the gospel of Rome, proclaiming the paradoxical foolishness that true divine sovereignty and salvation has been supremely manifested in the shameful crucifixion of an itinerant Galilean prophet at the hands of Rome and the ruling elite. The cross was thus an act of divine irony, in which Jesus submitted himself to the gospel of Rome and so brought about the gospel of God; the resurrection was thus an act of divine reversal, in which Jesus enacted the gospel of God and so condemned the gospel of Rome.

Next: what is the gospel? a summary

what is the gospel? the death and resurrection of jesus

For the series outline, click here.

Approximately twenty-five years after the death of Jesus, the Apostle Paul wrote these words:

I want to remind you of the gospel I preached (to euangelion ho euengalisamen) to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached (euengalisamen) to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. . . . Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed. (1 Cor 15:1-5, 11)

For Christians, this is arguably the most important passage in all the writings of Scripture. Paul uses formal tradition transmission language here ("received . . . passed on"; paredoka . . . parelabon) to highlight the four point statement (the "that" clauses) as traditional material which pre-dates Paul himself. Paul thus received this "gospel creed" from others before him, probably Peter or another Apostle within a few years of Jesus, which makes this the earliest witness to the gospel of the Apostles we possess. Furthermore, this gospel message focused on Jesus, his death and resurrection, is described as the most foundational and unifying element of Christian faith. It is "of first importance" (en protois), and it is through persevering faith in this message that salvation is effected (15:2). And in his concluding statement Paul indicates that this traditional, essential gospel message centred on Jesus' death and resurrection is that which is consistently preached by all the eyewitnesses and apostles listed in the resurrection witness list (15:11).

This foundational and central gospel message is focused on three basic elements: Jesus, his death, and his resurrection. As one would expect with such a consistently preached message across all Apostolic witnesses, these three elements are those which appear regularly in the New Testament as the heart of the Apostles' teaching. From confessional summaries attributed to the earthly Jesus in the Gospels, to those attributed to the exalted Jesus in Revelation, and those attributed to the Apostles everywhere in between, these three elements - Jesus, his, death, and his resurrection - are front and centre:

[Jesus] said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise." (Mark 9:31; cf. 8:31; 10:33-34; chs. 14-16)

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:14-16)

[Jesus] was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. . . . Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:23-24, 36; cf. 10:39-43)

Brothers, children of Abraham, and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people. We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. (Acts 13:26-33)

We believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (Rom 4:24-25)

If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved; for it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. (Rom 10:9-10)

Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. (Heb 9:28)

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit. (1 Pet 3:18)

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)

Then [Jesus] placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades." (Rev 1:17-18)

Examples of such confessional or otherwise foundational statements in the New Testament focused on Jesus, his death, and his resurrection, could be multiplied many times over.

These three elements of the gospel were interpreted variously by the first followers of Jesus, but not without some underlying consistency - beginning with Jesus' resurrection from the dead. Jesus' resurrection was the divine vindication of the claim that he is the Christ, the promised Messianic King, and the divine declaration that he is Son of God and sovereign Lord. His resurrection signalled that his life, career, and death had divine significance, that Jesus was the spotlight of God's activity in human history. Jesus' death, then, was not the shameful crucifixion of a condemned criminal, but the divinely ordained demonstration of God's love and faithfulness. His death was "for our sins," a salvific act variously interpreted: as the perfect sin offering in atonement for the guilt and estrangement of sin; as the unblemished Passover lamb in redemption from the slavery and oppression of sin; as the requisite sacrifice in ratification of a new covenant relationship apart from sin; as the ideal exemplar of one who selflessly gave up his life for the good of others; as the paradoxical victor who submitted to sin's darkest weapon and thus defeated sin and death. These and many other Apostolic interpretations flowed from their reflection on the death and resurrection of Jesus in light of the Scriptures, and from their reflection on the Scriptures in light of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The emphasis on these elements of the gospel - particularly Jesus’ crucifixion - creates the enigma of the gospel, even the scandal and foolishness of the gospel, for the first followers of Jesus were well aware of Isaiah's victorious "good news" language. Isaiah's "good news" was that the faithful God has come to his unfaithful people, redeeming them from exile, delivering them from oppression, re-establishing his rightful reign among his people and the nations. But the earliest Christians were adamant that this did not happen through military power or political manoeuvring, or even through religious purity according to the Torah, the commonly expected means of God's coming and deliverance for the Jewish people. The Messiah, the promised Son of David, God's anointed King, has indeed come to establish God's kingdom, to bring about God's saving sovereignty for Israel and the nations - but this has happened through the shameful crucifixion of a Galilean Jewish prophet and miracle-worker, divinely vindicated by his resurrection from the dead. This resurrection reversal was thus at the heart of the gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of Christ crucified and risen: salvation through suffering, power through weakness, victory through surrender, vindication through condemnation, and life through death - a gospel vision entirely compatible with Isaiah's gospel drama of God's suffering servant, but utterly incompatible with the gospel narrative of the prevailing world powers.

Next: what is the gospel? the roman imperial propaganda

latest journal for the study of the new testament

The latest issue of JSNT is online for subscribers: 1 July 2007, Volume 29, No. 5. This is the annual book review issue, 165 pages of reviews related to the New Testament.

what is the gospel? the jewish scriptures

For the series outline, click here.

In order to answer the contemporary question - the present tense question of "What is the gospel?" - we must first answer a historical question, which also happens to be a biblical theological question: What did the first followers of Jesus believe the gospel to be? In line with several recent studies on the language and shape of the gospel in the New Testament (e.g. Stanton 2004), I would suggest that the earliest Christians found their understanding and expression of the gospel at the convergence of three stories, stories deriving from three distinct sources: the Jewish Scriptures, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and - surprisingly, at first glance - the propaganda of the Roman Empire.

The word "gospel" comes to modern English from the Old English "godspell," a translation of the Latin evangelium, a word borrowed from the Greek euangelion. All these terms convey the idea of "good news" or "good message." For the earliest Christians, all devout Jews, this language of "good news" had particular connotations arising from the Jewish Scriptures, with the second half of the book of Isaiah apparently providing a crucial lens through which the rest of the Scriptures were read.

This section of Isaiah, regardless of historical questions of authorship, was written for the exiled people of Israel scattered across Mesopotamia. These prophetic oracles were given to shape the worldview of the exiles, to create for them a new symbolic universe, to provide a fresh founding narrative for the people of God. Thus, in this section of Isaiah one finds all the foundational stories of Israel - creation, fall, election, slavery, exodus, covenant, land - all retold for the exiles of Israel, as if these captives were retracing the footsteps of their forefathers in their own experience of exile and return. Like their first forefather Adam, Israel has sinned against God, stripping God of his due glory in their idolatry and injustice. But the faithful God, the one and only creator, is about to do something new, to re-create his people, the new children of Abraham, for his glory. He has chosen a new servant, a new Moses, to lead them out of slavery in exile. This servant, paradoxically, is Israel itself and yet not-Israel - Israel embodied, perhaps - bringing about this new exodus to a new paradise through his self-giving suffering and death in anticipation of divine vindication. For this new people of God in this new creation there will be a new covenant, a fresh start in their relationship with God, enabled by the Spirit of God to do his will for his glory.

In the midst of this epic drama of re-lived redemption, we find the language of "good news" in some prominent places. In the opening act God gives his messenger this charge:

You who bring good news (LXX euangelizomenos) to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news (euangelizomenos) to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, "Here is your God!" See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. (Isa 40:9-11)

This "good news," at its core, is a simple message: God is coming to his people. In spite of his apparent unfaithfulness, and in spite of their actual unfaithfulness, God has not abandoned his people.

As this re-lived drama unfolds, the new Moses is introduced, God's servant, Israel embodied. This servant will accomplish God's purposes for his people and even for the nations, restoring Israel from captivity and exile and bringing the light of God's salvation to the ends of the earth (42:1-9; 49:1-7). This motif is then expanded with the language of "good news":

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news (euangelizomenou), who proclaim peace, who bring good news (euangelizomenos), who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the Lord returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes. Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. (Isa 52:7-10)

Here again, the "good news" is that God is coming to his people, but this is expanded in two crucial and integrally related ways: God comes to establish his supreme rule, and this means deliverance for his people. Thus, the light which the servant is to bring to Israel and the nations is that God's saving sovereignty has arrived. However, immediately following this declaration is an utterly astounding revelation: God will accomplish his saving sovereignty on earth, not through the power and might of the servant, but through the servant's obedient suffering and death (52:13-53:12). The servant, Israel embodied, will suffer and die for the sins of Israel, and through this act of the self-giving servant God will come to his people, revealing his salvation and re-asserting his sovereignty.

The goal of this re-lived drama of redemption is God's new work: the new people of God in the new creation living under a new covenant. In this Spirit-filled life, the accursed effects of sin and disobedience are reversed: the exiled captives are released, the oppressed poor are cared for, the longsuffering mourners are comforted. There are few passages in these latter oracles of Isaiah that state this as profoundly as this final "good news" passage:

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news (euangelisasthai) to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion - to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour. (Isa 61:1-3)

Thus, these oracles of Isaiah draw on the foundational stories of the Jewish Scriptures to create an ornate tapestry of "good news": through the obedience and suffering of God's servant, Israel embodied, the faithful God will come to his unfaithful, exiled, and oppressed people, bringing new-covenant and new-creation deliverance to them and to the nations, and establishing his rightful sovereign rule over all his creation. This rich drama of re-lived redemption for God's exiled people resonated with many subsequent readers of Isaiah (cf. e.g. Pss. Sol. 11:1; 1QH 18.14-15), but none as deeply as the first followers of Jesus, who saw this gospel story re-lived yet again in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

Next: what is the gospel? the death and resurrection of jesus

ancient virtual reality sites

There was news recently of two websites offering "virtual reality" explorations of ancient Rome and Qumran. These can be added to the list of sites I noted a couple of years ago which offer various types of visualization experiences; here's an updated list (and undoubtedly there are others out there):

• www.VirtualQumran.com
• The Jerusalem Archaeological Park
• The Corinth Computer Project
• Capitolium.org
• The CVRLab at UCLA
• RomeReborn1.0
• The Virtual World Project

what is the gospel?

This series explores the background, origin, nature, and significance of the Christian gospel:

• the jewish scriptures
• the death and resurrection of jesus
• the roman imperial propaganda
• a summary
• some concluding reflections (1)
• some concluding reflections (2)
• some concluding reflections (3)

Note: This series is also available as a single PDF document here.

upcoming summer series

Summer seems to be the best time for me to do some serial blogging, and I've got some ideas brewing for some summer series flowing out of of my doctoral research. Over the next few weeks, be sure to watch for series such as "What is the Gospel?," "Earliest Christian Prophecy," and "Tracing the Early Jesus Tradition: A Proposal."

mike keenan to coach the flames

Well, the speculation over the past 24 hours or so has proved true: Mike Keenan has been hired as the head coach of the Calgary Flames. I'm not a huge Keenan fan--he knows the game as well as anyone, but he doesn't always connect positively with all his players--but I'm willing to be won over. If he fits in, it could be just what the Flames need to get to the next level. But if he doesn't...

latest expository times

The latest issue of the Expository Times is online for subscribers with abstracts for all: July 2007, Volume 118, No. 10. A new Christian apocrypha series continues with blogger April Deconick on "The Gospel of Thomas."

latest review in biblical literature

The latest New Testament-related reviews in RBL include the following items of interest:

Robert Jewett. Romans: A Commentary.
Reviewed by James D. G. Dunn and Friedrich W. Horn

Nicola Wendebourg. Der Tag des Herrn: Zur Gerichtserwartung im Neuen Testament auf ihrem alttestamentlichen und frühjüdischen Hintergrund.
Reviewed by Markus Oehler

jesus, gospel, scripture, and canadian invasion of the u.s.

Where else would one find this combination of topics except in my sidebar? I've put a few of my own picks there from my blogging over the past couple of years, and I'm highlighting this now because of a couple of factors: 1) most of my readers use a blog reader to access my blog so they don't see the links on the blog itself; and 2) I'm not doing much original blogging these days as I'm working on revisions for my dissertation. Here they are:

• event and interpretation in the gospel
• the making of a dissertation: the 'word of the lord' in 1 thess 4:15
• the gospel as resurrection reversal
• where did paul get his authority and teachings?
• unity in diversity on matters of dispute
• biblical studies carnival xi
• justification
• galatians and acts
• making a home for the gospel
• odd words on jesus and scripture
• an introduction to 1 thessalonians
• the historicity of jesus
• a letter to a fundamentalist
• my favourite new testament scholars
• what makes for a great sport?
• meeting god in a crowded room: reflections on reading scripture
• thoughts on inerrancy
• canadian plans to invade the u.s.!
• how many scholars to change a christmas bulb?
• my wishlist of manuscript finds
• on appeals to consensus
  

latest expository times

The latest issue of the Expository Times is online for subscribers with abstracts for all: June 2007, Volume 118, No. 9. (I'm not sure what's happened, but it looks like their online issue numbers have jumped from 7 to 9, missing the May issue.)

anaheim wins the cup

Congratulations to the Anaheim Ducks for winning the Stanley Cup last night. They prevailed four games to one over the Ottawa Senators in what turned out to be a rather disappointing series. That now makes three straight Canadian-based teams to lose out in the Stanley Cup finals (maybe God is telling us something up here...?). Funny thing, though: I thought going into this year's finals that Ottawa had the best chance of these three Canadian teams, having a much deeper team than either the Oilers or the Flames did, and having had an easier travel schedule and some rest in the previous playoff rounds.

Now it's on to next year. Go, Flames, Go!

complete bach bliss

Due to the generosity of an anonymous donor, I now own the complete works of J. S. Bach. I am currently listening to some violin sonatas as I work, and maybe I'll throw in some trio sonatas a little later. Or wait, maybe some keyboard music, or perhaps some of his organ works. And there's all that vocal music...

Ah, heaven is surely very much like this!

it is written

I have just finished writing up my dissertation. Now I just have a couple of sections that need some radical revision, and then the whole thing needs a thorough review as to the nitty-gritty details of style, referencing, and so on. All this means I'm on target for final submission sometime in June.

The end is near! Well, the inauguration of the doctoral eschaton, I suppose, since there is that little matter of the final judgment yet to come...

latest biblical studies carnival

The latest Carnival has been posted by Danny Zacharias over at Deinde: Biblical Studies Carnival 18. Be sure to check out what you missed in biblical studies blogging in the month of May.

rick brannan biblioblogger of the month

Rick Brannan, author of Ricoblog and PastoralEpistles.com, is the latest blogger highlighted at Biblioblogs.com: Blogger of the Month for June 2007.

latest new testament studies

The latest issue of the journal New Testament Studies is online: Volume 53 - Issue 03 - July 2007. Articles include Walter Wilson on "A Third Form of Righteousness: The Theme and Contribution of Matthew 6.19-7.12 in the Sermon on the Mount," Karl Schmidt on "Abkehr von der Rückkehr: Aufbau und Theologie der Apostelgeschichte im Kontext des lukanischen Diasporaverständnisses," and Ian Scott on "Common Ground? The Role of Galatians 2.16 in Paul's Argument." Be sure to check the link for a whole lot more.