“The resurrection of Jesus is not the central datum of Christianity.” The centra

[Guest guest]

" The resurrection of Jesus is not the central datum of Christianity. "

The central point, from the earliest times, was God's intervention in

history, the coming of his rule.

 

" Although the followers of Jesus who continued his preaching after

his death certainly made Jesus' role a part of that preaching, as we

have outlined, the pattern of their preaching remained the same as it

had been for Jesus: God's rule is coming, and under the rule there

will be salvation for those who have already begun to act accordingly

and to put their trust in God. A new element was added by the idea

that salvation had become possible above all through the death of

Jesus. By this death God had reconciled himself with those who

remained, who had been attached to Jesus and who relied on God for

their salvation. This is in outline the way in which the earliest

Christian preaching developed.

 

Two things require our attention in this development. Firstly, there

was continuity between what Jesus preached about the coming of God's

rule and the preaching of a number of his followers on the same thing

after his death.

 

Secondly, just like the preaching of Jesus, the preaching of the

first of his followers to continue his work after his death was

concerned chiefly with God's actions and not with those of Jesus. In

both cases, it was primarily about theology and not Christology.

Following Jesus, the first Christians taught that God was engaged in

bringing about a turning point in history, in fact that he had

definitely intervened in history by sending a final messenger to

announce that turning point. The central point was God's final act of

intervention in the history of the world. That is theology with far

reaching consequences for ethics. Christology, for Jesus and his

disciples, and for those who took up his preaching after his death,

was subsumed into this theology. Originally the idea of Jesus'

resurrection only had a place within the subsumed theology. It is

true that immediately after Jesus' death all those of his followers

who continued his preaching believed in this resurrection as an

expression of their faith that God had acknowledged the truth of his

last prophet. But it was not a central element in the first Christian

theology. It was important above all (a) as an expression of their

trust that God had sanctioned the work of Jesus on earth; and (b) as

a way of making it easier to imagine the role which Jesus still had

to fulfil as judge and saviour in the coming definitive breakthrough

of God's rule.

 

True, Jesus` followers only continued their theological preaching of

Jesus after his death in a form in which Jesus` unique role as the

messenger sent by God, his death and resurrection were constitutive

elements. They did not revert to the Jewish apocalyptic tradition

without Jesus. What they continued was a theological preaching in

which God was regarded as acting through Jesus` earthly work,

including his death and resurrection. To that extent faith in the

resurrection of Jesus was an integral part of early Christian

theology. And certainly their confidence that Jesus had risen and

been exalted was one of the factors that helped his followers to

continue his theological preaching. Belief in the resurrection and

exaltation of Jesus was a catalyst for the earliest history of the

church; it gave Christians the strength and inspiration to preach and

act. Nevertheless, as Marxsen said, we must stick to the point

that " the resurrection of Jesus is not the central datum of

Christianity " . The central point, from the earliest times, was God's

intervention in history, the coming of his rule…

 

The conviction that Jesus, on the basis of his resurrection, shares

the authority of God has been taken over by Mt from the early church.

The early Christian christological hymns that are preserved in the NT

already testify to this (cf. Eph 1,20-23; Phil 2,6-11; Col 1,15-20; 1

Pet 3,18-22). Jesus` rising from the dead and his elevation to God's

right hand are two sides of one and the same dynamic event (cf. Rom

1.4; 8,34, and others). The resurrection terminology expresses the

event from its starting point, namely death; the elevation motif

looks at the event from its end point, the word of God. For the early

church, the elevation of the Risen Jesus means that he takes part

fully in God's unlimited power of salvation. That is why he is

called " Lord " … In the resurrection event, God not only snatches Jesus

away from the power of death, but moreover He raises him, that is to

say He lets him share in the fullness of His Lordship, in His kingly

authority. That is why the Risen Lord can say: " All authority in

heaven and on earth has been given to me " . His authority knows no

bounds, for it is the power of God Himself. This word of authority

forms the foundation and the presupposition for the following word.

Because Jesus is henceforth " Lord " , clothed with God's authority, he

can command a task that knows no boundaries in time and space (v. 19-

20a). Because all power is given to him, the Risen Jesus can promise

support to his disciples until the end of time. No single human being

can command such a world-wide mission nor promise such an all-abiding

support without grossly overestimating itself. Only the divine

authority of the Risen Lord can legitimise and found something like

that. " …

 

Between Easter and the Parousia, God's Lordship is exercised through

the lordship of Jesus Christ. The universality of God's authority is

fittingly evoked by the four-fold " all " ; all authority, all nations,

all that I have commanded you, all days. The horizon becomes broad.

The moment breaks through all boundaries of time and space. The

disciples need not fear the storms of history that will break over

the church, for the Risen Lord will be present with them, not only

now, but always and in all circumstances, until the eschatological

completion of the world. "

 

Resurrection in the New Testament: Festschrift J. Lambrecht, pages 50-

142

Publisher: Peeters (October 2002)

Language: English, French and German

ISBN-10: 9042912146

ISBN-13: 978-9042912144