Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-7nlkj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-27T23:24:59.285Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
This chapter is part of a book that is no longer available to purchase from Cambridge Core

5 - The faithfulness of Christ

from Part III - The rewritten narrative

Matthew C. Easter
Get access

Summary

Introduction

In Part 3, we are discussing the way Jesus has rewritten the default human narrative. Through his participation in the human story, his faithfulness in the face of death, and his resurrection, Jesus has written a new story with a new assured conclusion of life rather than death. In this chapter we turn to the faithfulness of Christ, and I will argue that Jesus’ faithfulness is his obedience to the point of self-sacrifice in death. The faithfulness of Christ accomplishes two broad points. Taking our cues from Heb 12:2, the faithful Christ (1) pioneers and (2) perfects faith. What “pioneers” and “perfects” mean will become clearer as we go, but in short, the author of Hebrews depicts Jesus as the faithful one par excellence who successfully finishes the race of faith in the face of death (pioneers) and so secures the assured conclusion of eschatological life for those participating in the same story of faith (perfects).

In the introductory chapter, I offered the four dimensions of faith as (1) Christological, (2) ethical, (3) eschatological, and (4) ecclesiological. In this chapter we will discover the first three dimensions in full force. We will see that faith, as modeled perfectly in Jesus (Christological dimension), is one of endurance to the point of death (ethical dimension) that realizes postmortem life as its assured conclusion (eschatological dimension).

Type
Chapter
Information
Faith and the Faithfulness of Jesus in Hebrews , pp. 132 - 164
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Strathmann, Hermann, “ΜΑΡΤΥΣ, ΚΤΛ,” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament; Vol. IV: Λ–Ν, ed. Kittel, Gerhard (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1967), 504–508Google Scholar
van Henten, Jan Willem and Avemarie, Friedrich, Martyrdom and Noble Death: Selected Texts from Graeco-Roman, Jewish and Christian Antiquity (London: Routledge, 2002), 2Google Scholar
deSilva, David, “The Noble Contest: Honor, Shame, and the Rhetorical Strategy of 4 Maccabees,” JSP 7 (1995), 55Google Scholar
Pfitzner, Victor C., Paul and the Agon Motif: Traditional Athletic Imagery in the Pauline Literature, NovTSup 16 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1967), 57–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scaer, Peter J., The Lukan Passion and the Praiseworthy Death, New Testament Monographs 10 (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2005), 82–84Google Scholar
Nickelsburg, George W. E., Jewish Literature between the Bible and the Mishnah: A Historical and Literary Introduction, 2nd ed. [Minneapolis: Fortress, 2005], 106Google Scholar
Easter, Matthew C., “Let Us Go to Him: The Story of Faith and the Faithfulness of Jesus in Hebrews” (Ph.D. diss., University of Otago, 2011), 232–36
Shepkaru, Shmuel, Jewish Martyrs in the Pagan and Christian Worlds (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 25–32Google Scholar
Anderson, H., “4 Maccabees,” in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Volume 2, ed. Charlesworth, James H. [New York: Doubleday, 1985], 533–34Google Scholar
Williams, , Jesus’ Death as Saving Event [HDR 2. Missoula: Scholars, 1975], 197–202, here 202
Klauck, Hans-Josef, “Hellenistische Rhetorik im Diasporajudentum: Das Exordium des Vierten Makkabäerbuchs (4 Makk 1.1–12),” NTS 35 [1989], 452CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnston, George, “Christ as Archegos,” NTS 27 [1981], 381–85CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croy, N. Clayton, “A Note on Hebrews 12:2,” JBL 114, no. 1 (1995), 117–19Google Scholar
Thiessen, Matthew, “Hebrews 12.5–13, the Wilderness Period, and Israel’s Discipline,” NTS 55 (2009), 378CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, Stanley E., Idioms of the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed. [Sheffield: JSOT, 1994], 103Google Scholar
Horning, Estella B., “Chiasmus, Creedal Structure, and Christology in Hebrews 12:1–2,” BR 23 [1978], 40Google Scholar
Craigie, Peter C., Psalms 1–50, WBC 19 (Waco: Word Books, 1983), 203Google Scholar
Héring, Jean, The Epistle to the Hebrews, trans. Heathcote, A. W. and Allcock, P. J. (London: Epworth, 1970), 40Google Scholar
Maurer, Christian, “‘Erhört wegen der Gottesfurcht’, Hebr 5,7,” in Neues Testament und Geschichte Historisches Geschehen und Deutung im Neuen Testament. Oscar Cullmann zum 70. Geburtstag., eds. Reicke, Bo and Baltensweiler, Heinrich (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1972), 275–84Google Scholar
Attridge, Harold W., “‘Heard Because of His Reverence’ (Heb 5:7),” JBL 98, no. 1 (1979), 91–93Google Scholar
Hofius, Otfried, “The Fourth Servant Song in the New Testament Letters,” in The Suffering Servant: Isaiah 53 in Jewish and Christian Sources, eds. Janowski, Bernd and Stuhlmacher, Peter [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004], 184–85Google Scholar
Swetnam, James, “The Crux at Hebrews 5, 7–8,” Bib 81 [2000], 354Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×