SAET Blog

Gospel Posts

  • September 6, 2011 by Jason Hood

    Paul the Suffering Servant

    In my forthcoming book I note that Paul sees himself as a “Suffering Servant” (Isaiah) after the model of Jesus. In Romans 15:21 Paul quotes from Isaiah’s Fourth Servant Song, the famous “Song of the Suffering Servant” (Isaiah 52:13-53:12) and applies it to his own ministry. Luke presents him in the same way in Acts, which is one of the many reasons we have for believing that the author of Luke-Acts really was one of Paul’s co-workers.

    He is a servant, suffering for Jews and for Gentiles.

    These observations aren’t uniquely mine, of course. I recently dipped into a new commentary on 1 Corinthians and was pleased to see Brian Rosner and Roy Ciampa make the same case, but apply it to Paul’s mission. Relying on Hafemann and others, they discuss the role of suffering at the heart of Paul’s identity and mission. Because of his self-conception as a “suffering servant” as described in Isaiah, Paul can tie his ministry to the good news of the breaking in of God’s kingdom as promised in that same OT book:

    Paul in his own person takes on the prophetic role of Israel—he is the light to the nations, the bringer of salvation.

    Paul’s task of proclamation, therefore, is not the mere rehearsal of past facts. God is bringing to pass, through Paul, the eschatological fulfillment of salvation history. Just as the new eschatological age has already dawned with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, so it is currently breaking in to the old age through the preaching of Jesus Christ.

    Paul’s message is not idle chatter or some good news ideas; it is apocalyptic power (1 Cor. 4:20). As Paul proclaims and lives out ‘Christ crucified,’ all the structures of human existence are transformed, human pride is judged, and salvation comes to those who believe (1 Cor 7:17-25; cf. 1 Thes 1:5)….Paul sees himself as not only proclaiming but also actively bringing about, the new age of God’s direct rule over the cosmos in both judgment and salvation.

    The First Letter to the Corinthians (Pillar NTC; Eerdmans, 2010) p. 12

    Categories: General | Gospel | Isaiah | Jason Hood | Paul

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  • February 22, 2011 by Jason Hood

    Into All Truth (John 16:13)? (NT Tidbit #3)

    “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” (John 16:13)

    As mysterious as this phrase sounds, and as often as these words have led to speculation on what exactly Jesus meant, John Levison (Filled with the Spirit) points out that John’s Gospel gives us an explanation. In the context of John 16, Jesus is talking about his death: its circumstances, its meaning, its results and what will follow. The disciples are in distress, do not yet have the Spirit to help them process and believe, and therefore simply can’t hear what Jesus wants to tell them about his mission (16:12). Grasping the truth will require the Spirit.

    Elsewhere in John we get clues from John as to how this process worked. When Jesus says in ch. 2, “Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” everyone assumes he is speaking of Herod’s Temple. But John notes that “he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.” (2:19-22).

    And again, when Jesus enters Jerusalem in fulfillment of Zechariah’s words, “His disicples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, they then remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him” (12:16).

    This is the heart of the Spirit’s mission, then. Not “all truth” as in economics and physiology and the rest, but “all truth,” an understanding of the work that Jesus himself was about to perform. The Holy Spirit “will teach you and remind you of everything that I have said to you” (14:26). As Levison summarizes, “The focus of the paraclete’s vocation is not to predict but to recollect . . . . The holy spirit, in brief, will teach by reminding.” (402)

    Categories: General | Gospel | Jason Hood

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  • December 19, 2010 by Jason Hood

    Big Gospel, Big Music

    (1) Big Gospel:  I really appreciated this post by Tullian on the size and centrality of the gospel.  (Short version:  it’s huge.)  As Darrell Bock says when talking about his new book, “I think the church gets what it pays for when it treats the gospel as a momentary transaction.”  I’m going to be reviewing this book for TGC and may say more on the topic later.

    Tullian picks up some nice comments from Keller, who elsewhere offers creation, cross, and crown as “three biblical perspectives” on the gospel.  These two pastors are offering potent, mainstream Reformed thinking here.  I’ve ceased to be surprise when I meet young pastors who aren’t well-trained who admit how little they emphasize (say) the resurrection, in favor of talking about the cross and justification repeatedly.

    (2)  My friend Caleb Sigler has a nice song you can listen to for free, out in advance of his new album.  Very nice singer-songwriter pop, way above K-Love grade.

    Categories: General | Gospel | Jason Hood

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