Are You the One Who Is to Come?:The Historical Jesus and the Messianic Questions by Michael Bird

Did Jesus claim to be Israel’s Messiah? To most evangelicals the answer would be in the affirmative but most “liberal” scholars deny that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah and that the biblical records declaring him so are early church reflections and are not from the historical Jesus. It’s for this reason that Michael Bird, New Testament tutor at Highland Theological College, has written Are You the One Who Is to Come?:The Historical Jesus and the Messianic Questions in order to affirm that Jesus did in fact claim to be Israel’s Messiah.


Bird is carefully to argue not that Jesus used the title “Messiah” but “that Jesus saw himself in messianic categories, enacting a messianic role or messianic vocation as part of his aim to renew and restore Israel though his various activities” (p.29). Birds seeks to establish his thesis by first reviewing the messianic understanding in the 2nd Temple Judaism (Ch. 2) and refuting major arguments for the denial of Jesus' claim to be a Messiah such as Wrede’s “Messianic Secret” and the early Christians’ “scripturizing of the Jesus tradition” (Ch.3).


Bird spends the next two chapters exploring the messianic question through the Jesus tradition. First, Bird examines certain patterns and themes like “the Son of Man”, “the Anointed One”, kingdom, and “I Have Come” sayings (Ch. 4) then he analyzes the stories leading to Christ’s death, his death, and it’s aftereffects on the early Church. After carefully examination of the relevant texts, Bird makes a masterfully case that Jesus saw himself in messianic categories. Finally, Bird concludes with a final chapter describing the significances of Christ being the Messiah (Ch. 6).


I really appreciate a lot of Bird’s book. I found his review of the relevant texts to be careful and his conclusions to be extremely balanced. I was also excited to see Bird emphasis “the story of Israel”which I believe is the interpretative key in understanding Jesus. He writes “The story of the Messiah can only be understood as part of the story of Israel...Jesus was not a timeless heavenly redeemer imparting esoteric truths to receptive human vessels. The vision of the New Testament authors and of proto-orthodox Christianity is that the day of salvation has been brought to the world through the Messiah of Israel” (pg. 163).


It’s important to note that this is an academic book and some might not be familiar with some of the issues, but those who do or are willing to patiently work through them I highly recommend this book.

Top Books of 2008

1. D.A. Carson's Christ and Culture Revisited

2. James Dunn's The Theology of Paul the Apostle

3. Richard Hay’s The Moral Vision of the New Testament: A Contemporary Introduction of New Testament Ethics

4. Scot Mcknight’s A New Vision for Israel: the Teaching of Jesus in National Context

5. Christopher Wright’s Salvation Belongs to Our God: Celebrating the Bible’s Central Story

6. Richard Bauckham's Jesus and the Eyewitness

7. Tim Keller’s The Reason of God:Belief in an Age of Skepticism

8. N.T. Wright’s The Resurrection of the Son of God

9. Mark A. Noll ‘s The Civil War as a Theological Crisis

10. Kaiser’s, Bock’s, Enns’ Three Views on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology)

Book Recommendation: The Moral Vision of the New Testament

Richard Hay’s The Moral Vision of the New Testament: A Contemporary Introduction of New Testament Ethics is an outstanding and thought-provoking book on New Testament (NT) ethics. Hay’s book consists of four parts reflecting the four heuristic task of pursuing NT ethics:

1) The Descriptive Task - the act of extricating the message of each individual writings of the Bible. Hays executes this task by briefly going over most of the individual books of the NT, noting each of the authors main points and concerns.

2) The Synthetic Task - the act of seeking to integrate the individual writings of the NT. In this section, Hays provides us 3 guidelines in how we should pursue our synthesis of each individual NT text: a) confront the full range of canonical witness b) let the tension stand and c) attend to the literary genre of the texts (pg . 189 – 191). Hays also provides us with three images, which he believes to be central to the biblical story, that will help guide our reflections on NT ethics: a) community b) cross and c) new creation. (pg 196 -200)

3) The Hermeneutical Task - the act of relating what we find in the synthetic task to our particular situation. For this part, Hays examines the concept of authority as it relates to scripture, tradition, reason, and experience (pg. 208-209). Then Hays investigates the hermeneutical strategies in pursuing ethics by five interpreters: Reinhold Niebuhr, Karl Barth, John Howard Yoder, Stanley Hauerwas, and Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza which allows us to see how different people use scripture, tradition, reason and experience in grounding their ethical imperatives.

4) The Pragmatic Task – the act of living out what the Bible’s commands. In this final section, Hays uses his 4 task model of pursuing ethics by seeking to understand the ethical norm for violence in defense of justice (pg 317 – 343), divorce (pg 347- 374), homosexuality (pg 379 – 400), Anti-Judaism and ethic conflicts (pg 407 – 438) and abortion (pg. 444-457)

I found Richard Hay’s book to be very helpful as it allows me to see the difficulties of using the Bible as normative source for ethics but yet it also provides a well reasoned model on how to get past them. I also enjoyed Hay's Christ-like tone throughout his book as it relates to his model and when he addresses hot topics like divorce, abortion, and homosexuality.

(Doug Moo's has a good critically review of Dr. Hay's book)

Book Recommendation: A New Vision for Israel

In Scot McKnight’s book, A New Vision for Israel: the Teaching of Jesus in National Context, he seeks to articulate an understanding of Jesus by integrating him the in context of the redemption of Israel. McKnight sees Jesus as an eschatological prophet, whose mission was to warn Israel of the impending judgment of God (70.A.D.) which would usher in God’s final judgment and consummate his kingdom (pg.12). From this idea, McKnight builds and refines his understanding of Jesus through three major themes: a) the God of Jesus (Ch. 2), b) the kingdom of God (present aspect – Ch. 3 and future aspect Ch.4) and c) the ethics of God (Ch. 5 and 6).

I really enjoyed this book. It’s written clearly and builds a great exegetical case for understanding Jesus and his mission to Israel which I believe is the key in realizing who Jesus was in the gospels.

Book Recommendation: Jeffers' The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era

One of the main problems I have in understanding the New Testament is that I don't know the historical context for these writings very well. So, I was happy to read James S. Jeffers' The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era: Exploring the Back of Early Christianity. Jeffers' book is an easy read that covers a variety of topics in the NT era such as: citizenship, slavery, views of life and death, and religion.

I found this book to be extremely helpful and I would recommend this to anyone, who is like me not too familiar, with the NT era.

Bauckham's Jesus and the Eyewitnesses

Richard Bauckham's Jesus and the Eyewitness is a fascinating book, which argues that the best way to read the Gospels as history is to see them as eyewitness testimony.

In order to establish this point, Bauckham seeks to argue against the popular scholarly belief that the Gospels, as we now have them, was a product of a long process of anonymous transmission by the early church communities, which usually results in the notion of ditching the original testimonies of Jesus and replacing them with their own views of Jesus. Instead of this, Bauckham seeks to ground the writing of Gospels with the testimonies of eyewitnesses therefore bringing it more closely to the form in which the eyewitnesses told their stories about Jesus.

I thought this was a great book and I am sure I will be referring to it for years to come.

Book Recommendation: The Rise of Christianity

Rodney Stark's The Rise of Christianity is a fascinating book that seeks to answer the rapid growth of Christianity through social science.

In general, Stark believes that the rapid growth in Christianity was due to the early Christians establishing and building a strong, loving, and beneficial community in a chaotic and deprived context.

Stark writes:

"...let me suggest here that Christianity revitalized life in Greco-Roman cities by providing new norms new kinds of social relationships able to cope with many urgent urban problems. To cities filled with the homeless and impoverished, Christianity offered charity as well as hope. To cities filled with orphans and widows, Christianity provided a new expanded sense of family. To cities torn by violent ethnic strife, Christianity offered a new basis for social solidarity. And to cities faced epidemics, fires and earthquakes, Christianity offered effective nursing services (pg. 161)".


One of interesting things from this book was Stark's comparison of how the early Christians and pagans dealt with the devastating epidemics (plagues) by which the Christians were willing to loose their lives for their loves one but the pagans weren't. Stark quotes Dionysius, who describes these events (pg.82-83):


"Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains. Many, in nursing and curing others, transfered their death to themselves and died in their stead"


"The heathen behaved in the very opposite way. At first onset of the disease, they pushed the sufferers away and fled from their dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treated unburied corpses as dirt, hoping thereby to avert the spread and contagion of the fatal disease; but do what they might, they found it difficult to escape."


It's important to note that Starks also confirms these general differences from non-Christian sources (Julian and Thucydides) (pg. 83-85).

Book Recommendation: Meet the Rabbis

A while back, Amazon.com recommended that I read Brad Young’s book, Meet the Rabbis: Rabbinic Thought and the Teaching of Jesus, and because I didn’t know anything about the rabbis I decided to save it to my Wishlist. A month ago, I finally bought it and I just finished it on vacation to Punta Cana.

The book is structured into 3 main parts:

1. Introduction to Rabbinic Thought
2. Introduction to Rabbinic Literature
3. Introduction to the Rabbis

And here’s a quick list of things that I found interesting and helpful:

1. That it’s important to understand the rabbis in order to better understand Jesus- (Young parallels rabbinic thought to Jesus' to illuminate some of his thoughts)
2. A good reminder that not all Pharisees are legalistic hypocrites (pg. 7-8)
3. The role of the Sanhedrin and the importance of Torah after 70 C.E. (Ch. 4)
4. The many parallels between Rabbinic and New Testament (Ch.5)
5. The relationship between the Mishnah ,the Talmud (Jerusalem and Babylonian), and Midrash (Tannaitic and Amoraic)
6. An overview of the major rabbinic leaders (Ch.11)

I recommend this book to anyone, who wants to gain a better understand of the rabbis. Also, for a better review check-out Dr. Craig Blomberg’s review.

Book Recommendation: Keller's The Reason of God

Tim Keller’s book The Reason of God:Belief in an Age of Skepticism is one of the finest apologetic Christian books I have ever read. The book is structured into two parts. In the first part (The Leap of Doubt), Keller goes through several topics that challenged the reasonableness for the Christian faith:

1) There Can’t Be Just One True Religion (Chapter 1)

2) How Could a Good God Allow Suffering (Chapter 2)

3) Christianity Is a Straitjacket (Chapter 3)

4) The Church is Responsible for So Much Injustice (Chapter 4)

5) How Can A Loving God Send People to Hell (Chapter 5)

6) Science Has Disproved Christianity (Chapter 6)

7) You Can’t Take the Bible Literally (Chapter 7).

Then in the 2^nd part of the book (The Reasons for Faith), Keller gives positive reasons for Christianity such as the problem of sin (Ch. 10) and the reality of the resurrection (Ch.13).

I really appreciate this book for its clarity and faithfulness in addressing tough questions and in presenting the gospel, while giving a sense of deep humility. This is definitely now my go to book for apologetics.

Hamilton's God's Indwelling Presence

Dr. James Hamilton’s book, God’s Indwelling Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Old and New Testaments, seeks to prove that OT believers were not indwelt with the Holy Spirit unlike NT believers after Christ’s resurrection.

It’s important to note that Dr. Hamilton draws a distinction between regeneration, which he believes the Spirit actively participates in giving life to the hearts of both OT and NT believers and indwelling of the Spirit, which he concludes only occurs in NT believers after the resurrection. Hamilton defines regeneration as “God’s work of granting to humans the ability to hear, understand, believe, obey, and enter the kingdom” (pg. 2) and indwelling as “God’s abiding, positive, covenant presence in believers through the Spirit” (pg.3) which helps maintain faith.

Hamilton’s proposition begs the question of “how OT saints remained faithful to God if they were not indwelt by the Holy Spirit”. Hamilton answers this question by stating that God’s presence in the tabernacle and the temple provides the “sanctifying effect upon them” (pg. 163)

I believe the upshot of this book is that it stresses the dramatic shift in salvation history caused by the death and resurrection of Christ. Where once God's presence and salvation was located in Jerusalem (Temple) but now it's located in God's people by faith in Christ. Hamilton rightly notes this implication in his last chapter entitled "Results and Relevance for Today" (pg. 161-169)

Dr. Hamilton’s book is grounded in convincing exegesis and I found most of my questions against his thesis answered. So if you want to learn more about the Holy Spirit, you should definitely get this book.

Top Books of 2007

1. The Future of Justification: A Response to N.T. Wright - John Piper gives us a great example on how to engage in theological controversy and does a great job in representing and understanding Wright's view on justification.



2. Lord Jesus Christ Devotion of Jesus in Earliest Christianity - Larry Hurtado builds a historical case for the divinity of Christ based on the early church early devotion to him.



3. Shadow of the Temple:Jewish Influences on Early Christianity - Oskar Skarsaune shows that early Christianity was build upon a very Jewish world-view.



4. The Mission of God:Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative - Christopher Wright illustrates that the entire biblical narrative from the OT to the NT is grounded in a missonal God, who aims to bless the nations. A must read!!!



5. Hell Under Fire:Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment - A great defense of the traditional view of hell (eternal punishment) over and against the idea of annihilation from a variety of conservative scholars (Bock, Moo, Beale). I particularly enjoyed Bock's article on the OT thoughts on the afterlife and Sinclair Ferguson's article on how to preach on hell.



6. Paul, Judaism, and the Gentiles, Beyond the New Perspective - Francis Watson gives a great exegetical study of Paul which seems to take seriously it's historical and social context.



7. Fundamentalism and American Culture - George Marsden gives a penetrating historical account of Fundamentalism. A must read in understanding Fundamentalism.



8. Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament - Christopher Wright has written a great book on understanding Jesus in his OT context. Probably my favorite book of the year.



9. Iustitia Dei A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification - Alister McGrath gives a historical account of the doctrine of justification. I learned a lot from this book and especially the notion that the doctrine of justification was pretty diverse throughout history.



10. Jesus, the Tribulation, and the End of Exile: Restoration Eschatology and the Origin of the Atonement - Brant Pitre has written a thought-provoking book on understanding how tribulation, exile, and restoration relate to Jesus.

Volf's The End of Memory

In Miroslav Volf’s book, "The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World”, he teaches us how and for how long we should remember wrongs committed by others.

Volf teaches that we should remember in light of the “Exodus and Passion” narratives, which provides the appropriate framework in understanding God, who provides unconditional grace, affirms justice, and aims for communion and reconciliation. (pg. 121)

As for the question of “how long we should remember wrongs committed against us”, Volf teaches us that during the new heaven and earth we will not remember them after they have been appropriately dealt with and reconciliation between the offended and offender has occurred. It’s important to note the non-remembrance of wrongs during God’s consummated kingdom is a result of our minds being “rapt in the goodness of God and in the goodness of God’s new world”. (pg 214)

Not only has Volf drawn from scripture and other capable thinkers (Luther and Barth) in dealing with this subject but he includes his personal experience of being harshly interrogated as a Yugoslavian soldier thus producing a mature, challenging, and thoughtful book.