Dr. Long’s Greek Think: Jesus and the Formation of His Exegetical Community
By Dr. Fredrick J. Long
With the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation November 2017, I’d like to share some thoughts on what was at stake then and now: Sola Scriptura––“Scripture Alone” is the sufficient authoritative source of our knowledge of God in Christ and of the salvation offered to humanity called to be restored into God’s image to walk like Christ in love and good works empowered by the Holy Spirit. I begin my New Testament (NT) Introduction courses by asking students a question: What was the most important thing that Jesus did after his resurrection and before his ascension to prepare them for the ongoing life and ministry of the church? Then, I discuss with them where in the NT this “in between” period of Jesus is recorded. The following are the locations:
Matthew 28:1–15 Resurrection of Jesus and Reports
Matthew 28:16–20 Great Commission
Mark 16:1–8 Two Marys and Salome at the Tomb
Luke 24:1–12 The Resurrection of Jesus
Luke 24:13–35 The Walk to Emmaus
Luke 24:36–49 Jesus Appears to his disciples
Luke 24:50–53 The Ascension of Jesus
John 20–21 Resurrection Appearances
Acts 1:1–8 Prologue, Appearance, and Commission
Acts 1:9–11 Ascension and Angels
1 Cor 15:1–8 Christ’s Death and Resurrection according to the Scriptures and the witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection
How would you answer this question? There are many good answers: Jesus provided signs and proof of his resurrection to those who would be His witnesses; He promised His followers the Holy Spirit and breathed the Spirit onto them; He broke bread with the disciples; He reinstated Peter (“Do you love me?”) and urged him to feed the sheep; He issued the Great Commission. Although these are all important, for the resurrected Jesus during this “in between time” there is something that we too often fail to see. In fact, my students hardly ever consider it. Here we must consider carefully two post-resurrection episodes in Luke 24. The first occurs on the Emmaus Road. When appearing to Cleopas and his companion and conversing with them for a time (because their eyes were not opened to recognize Him, by divine will apparently), Jesus became shocked at their lack of understanding and called them “foolish.” They remained in the dark about what had happened to Him, i.e., His death and the reported “resurrection” appearances. So, Luke records, “He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” that “it was necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory” (24:25–27). I think, importantly, Jesus did all of this while they were not recognizing Him. Why? Because this state of puzzlement allowed them to take in all that Jesus had to teach them in an optimal way. So impactful was Jesus’s teaching that when their eyes were eventually opened to recognize him right when Jesus blessed and broke bread (yes, a truly sacramental moment! 24:30–31), they each exclaimed to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us as He was talking to us on the road, as He explained the Scriptures to us?!” (24:32).
The second passage is found only a few verses later when Jesus eventually reveals himself to the other disciples behind closed doors. After Jesus shows his wounds, calms their fears, and eats a piece of fish, Luke records what He says and does next in 24:44–49:
“These are my words which I spoke to you while still being with you that all things that are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and He said to them, “Thus it has been written that the Christ would suffer and be raised from the dead ones on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins for all the nations would be proclaimed in my name; beginning from Jerusalem, you yourselves are witnesses of these things. And behold I myself am sending the promise of my Father upon you. Moreover, you yourselves must stay in the city until you are clothed from on high with power!”
Stress is given to opening “their” minds since this modifier in Greek is placed before what it modifies (the default position is afterwards). When Jesus refers to the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, it is likely that He had in mind the Hebrew Canon that consisted of the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings (of which Psalms was the first book).
When these two episodes are placed together, I would maintain that the most important thing that Jesus accomplished in this “in between” time was that He “opened” the minds of His disciples to understand the Scriptures. How did Jesus do this? Well, by explaining to His disciples that what had befallen Him as the Christ crucified and resurrected as well as the ongoing proclamation of repentance for the forgiveness of sins for all the Nations was fulfilling written Scripture. This is quite an amazing statement. So, the ongoing proclamation as seen in the Book of Acts fulfills what God revealed in Scripture about His Messiah. Jesus wanted them and us to understand that as we spread the Gospel of scriptural holiness in love and faithfulness to our God and Creator in Jesus to the Nations that we are fulfilling Scripture. To the extent that we the body of Christ continue this mission, we are fulfilling Scripture too.
As Luke continued his narrative of the early church in the Book of Acts, he shows how the Spirit-filled followers of Christ are thoroughly grounded in Scripture. In fact, it is almost as if Luke wanted to show how the early believers are, what I would call, “a Spirit-empowered, exegetical community” that embody and proclaim Jesus as revealed in Scripture even as they are fulfilling Scripture. For example, when replacing Judas, Peter invoked and combined Psalm 65:25 and 109:8 (reflecting the Jewish exegetical rule of gezerah shawah “equivalence of expressions”) to explain the need to choose someone to take Judas’s “place.” At Pentecost Peter explains the Spirit’s coming by relating the event to Joel 2 (Acts 2:16–21). As the sermon continues Peter infuses his address with Psalms 16, 110, and 132 explaining their Messianic implications (Acts 2:22–36). In his second sermon in Acts 3:12–26, Peter appeals to the scriptural covenants of Abraham and Moses as well as quotes and explains Deut 18:15, 18 and Gen 22:18 in light of Jesus. Similarly, Stephen in Acts 7 summarizes Scripture throughout his sermon before being martyred. Paul also in his sermon at the Jewish synagogue in Acts 13 discusses the meaning of several passages of Scripture while showing that God raised up Jesus according to the Scriptures. The Bereans carefully examined the Scripture proclaimed to them (17:11). We could cite many more examples from the Book of Acts to show how the earliest believers grounded their proclamation and teaching about Jesus and his resurrection in Scripture, including even Paul before the Athenians at the Areopagus (he probably had in mind Gen 1–3; Deut 4:7; Jer 23:23–24; Isa 42:5 at different points).
We too have an opportunity today to be Spirit-empowered, exegetical communities turning the spotlight brightly onto Jesus and Scripture. Let’s celebrate the Reformation by affirming Sola Scriptura for the ongoing life and ministry of God’s people.
On the topic of Scripture in the New Testament, I have produced three more Greek Matters videos available: Acts 24, 2 Tim 3:16–17, Part 1, and 2 Tim 3:16–17, Part 2. Finally, to learn more about how to study the New Testament, consider working through my recently published book for laity, pastors, and those training to be teachers called In Step with God’s Word: Interpreting the New Testament with God’s People (Wilmore: GlossaHouse, 2017). Asburians can enjoy a 20% discount from the Glossahouse Online Store by entering ASBURY at checkout.
If I were going to communicate with a large group of people I think I would change my title to make it a little more “plain language”, something John Wesley talked about.
Hi, Wade, I agree about the “Dr. Long’s Greek Think” part–I didn’t add that. In what I submitted, my title for this piece was simply “Jesus and the Formation of His Exegetical Community”–would this alone have been simple enough? Were you able to read the entire article, or did the title stop you? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the article. Also, I remember reading John Wesley’s sermons for the first time, and I realized they were not simple at all, but somewhat complex, rich, and deeply indebted to Scripture throughout.