--G. Campell Morgan
Monday, May 13, 2013
Reading Revelation
There is no book in the Bible to which I turn more eagerly in hours of depression than to this, with all its mystery, all the details which I do not understand. I go back to it, to the throne, to the Lamb as it has been slain, and my puzzled mind and my troubled heart feeling the healing virtue; and I hear the song, and I am ready for another day's fighting, for I know that Jesus shall reign.
Johnny Cash--"When the Man Comes Around"
We're going over the book of Revelation (not Revelations!) in my Bible class. One of the students mentioned Johnny Cash's song "When the Man Comes Around" for its use of imagery and language drawn from this book. Here's the video with lyrics following. Also I found someone who had put together a nice summary list of the biblical allusions.
Lyrics:
"And I heard as it were the noise of thunder
One of the four beasts saying come and see and I saw
And behold a white horse"
(Revelation 6:1-2)
There's a man going around taking names
And he decides who to free and who to blame
Everybody won't be treated quite the same
There will be a golden ladder reaching down
When the man comes around
The hairs on your arm will stand up
At the terror in each sip and each sup
Will you partake of that last offered cup
Or disappear into the potter's ground
When the man comes around?
Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers
One hundred million angels singing
Multitudes are marching to a big kettledrum
Voices calling and voices crying
Some are born and some are dying
It's Alpha and Omega's kingdom come
And the whirlwind is in the thorn trees
The virgins are all trimming their wicks
The whirlwind is in the thorn trees
It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks
Until Armageddon, no shalam, no shalom
Then the father hen will call his chickens home
The wise man will bow down before the thorn
And at his feet they will cast the golden crowns
When the man comes around
Whoever is unjust let him be unjust still
Whoever is righteous let him be righteous still
Whoever is filthy let him be filthy still
Listen to the words long written down
When the man comes around
Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers
One hundred million angels singing
Multitudes are marching to a big kettledrum
Voices calling and voices crying
Some are born and some are dying
It's Alpha and Omega's kingdom come
And the whirlwind is in the thorn trees
The virgins are all trimming their wicks
The whirlwind is in the thorn trees
It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks
In measured hundred weight and penny pound
When the man comes around
"And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts
And I looked and behold, a pale horse
And his name that sat on him was Death
And Hell followed with him."
(Revelations 6:7-8)
Biblical Allusions:
The phrase "There's a man going around taking names" also
refers to the song of that name popularized by folk singer Lead Belly.
A spoken portion from Revelation 6:1-2 describes the coming of the Four
Horsemen of the Apocalypse, each heralded by one of the "four beasts"
first mentioned in Revelation 4:6-9.
The chorus says that these events will be accompanied by trumpets,
pipers, and "one hundred million angels singing". The voice of the
Lord in Revelation is said to be the sound of a loud trumpet. (Revelation 1:10;
4:1; and 8:13) Revelation 5:11 states that John saw that there are millions of
angels in Heaven.
The line "There'll be a golden ladder reaching down."
references to Jacob's dream of a ladder or stairwell (Jacob's ladder) from
earth to heaven and God's subsequent blessing of Jacob in Genesis 28:12.
"Or disappear into the potter's ground" is a reference to the
field that was purchased with the money Judas Iscariot received for betraying
Jesus as recorded in Matthew 27:3-10. The field was purchased by the chief
priests "as a burial place for strangers" (New American Standard).
"It's Alpha and Omega's kingdom come" is a reference to the
book of Revelation. God refers to himself as "the Alpha and the
Omega" in Revelation (1:8; 21:6; 22:13). Alpha and Omega are the first and
last letters of the Greek alphabet, hence God is, "the First and the
Last,the Beginning and the End."
The lines "Whoever is unjust, let him be unjust still. Whoever is
righteous, let him be righteous still. Whoever is filthy, let him be filthy
still." is another reference to the book of Revelation (22:11).
The chorus also repeats the point that "the whirlwind is in the
thorn tree". This reference is explained in Cash's 1997 autobiography with
Patrick Carr, "Cash" (HarperCollins). He writes that Queen Elizabeth
II (whose coronation Cash witnessed while he was serving as a US Airman)
appeared to him in a dream and said "Johnny Cash, you're a thorn bush in a
whirlwind". Cash later found the same reference in the Book of Job, and
was inspired to write thirty-three verses of what would become "The Man
Comes Around".
In the line, "Till Armageddon, no Shalam, no Shalom,"
Armageddon refers to the climactic battle between good and evil in Revelation
16:16. Shalom means "peace" in Hebrew.
"The father hen will call his chickens home" is a reference to
a lament Jesus spoke regarding Jerusalem as recorded in Luke 13:34.
One line says "The virgins are all trimming their wicks." This
refers to a parable told by Jesus in Matthew 25:7. The women who were
"trimming their wicks" were ready for Jesus' return.
The line "It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks" is
from Acts 9:5. The apostle Paul also refers to the time when he was knocked to
the ground by a voice from heaven in Acts 26:14. It reads, "And when we
were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in
the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to
kick against the pricks." Saul had been hunting and killing Christians and
was now being called to reform by Jesus.
Friday, May 3, 2013
Conspiracy Theory Thinking: Connecting the Wrong Dots in the Wrong Ways
I came across this video over at Michael Heiser's blog UFO Religions and thought it was great!
Heiser has some very apt comments as well:
Heiser has some very apt comments as well:
The value of the video should be obvious. Every fact presented in it is indeed a fact from the movie. And every connection drawn is “reasonable” in the context of the narrative created. But the conclusions are absolutely wrong. This is precisely how so much conspiratorial thinking works … and fails horribly. Conspiracy is all about narrative interpretation, not “facts”. Once one part of the narrative fails, the whole thing crumbles. The beauty of the video is that the viewer already knows the narrative is wrong, but can see how that bogus narrative is created using nothing but factual data.
In short, it’s not about the data dots; it’s about how the dots are connected — and that usually (nearly always) happens in the theater of the imagination when it comes to conspiracy theory.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Historical Adam Bibliography
Last Summer I gave a lecture on the historicity of Adam in light of recent controversies among evangelicals. Below is the bibliography (as well as more items that I've been adding since that time). I strongly recommend the articles by Anderson, Caneday (my favorite!), and Moreland.
My lecture notes can be found HERE.
A few other blog posts on the issue of the historicity of Adam:
"The Search for the Historical Adam"
Adam and the Epistemic Status of Scripture
J. P. Moreland on Adam and Eve: What Consequences for Denying Their Historicity?
*Note: Sorry for some of the formatting issues and that the web addresses below are not links from this page. You can always cut and paste the address.
My lecture notes can be found HERE.
A few other blog posts on the issue of the historicity of Adam:
"The Search for the Historical Adam"
Adam and the Epistemic Status of Scripture
J. P. Moreland on Adam and Eve: What Consequences for Denying Their Historicity?
*Note: Sorry for some of the formatting issues and that the web addresses below are not links from this page. You can always cut and paste the address.
Historical Adam: Bibliography
Anderson, James N. “I Love Jesus and I Accept Evolution” (a
review of Denis Lamoureux’s
book by the same title) Analogical Thoughts (June 7, 2010).
Anderson, James N. “Objections? We’ve Adam!” Analogical Thoughts (September 22,
2009).
Anderson, James N. “Scripture or Science” Analogical Thoughts (October 8, 2009)
Anderson, James N. “Was Adam a Real Historical Individual?” Analogical Thoughts
(September 21, 2009).
Barlow, Jonathan. “Yes, Virginia, God Did Make Fossils (At
Least Once)” Barlow Farms blog
(November, 12, 2011).
Belcher, Richard, Jr. “Did Adam and Eve Really Exist?: A
Review” Reformation21 (Feb.
2012).
Belcher, Richard, Jr. “Reply to Collins’ Reply” Reformation21 (Feb. 29, 2012).
Bruggink, Paul. “A Survey of Views on the Historicity of
Adam and Eve” Near Emmaus blog
(June 5, 2012).
Byl, John. “Evolution and the Fall” Bylogos (November 20, 2009).
Byl, John. “Science, History, and the Bible” Bylogos (March 16, 2012).
Byl, John. “The Demolition of Adam” Bylogos (July 27, 2011).
Byl, John. “The Evolution of Calvin College” Bylogos (October 11, 2010).
Caneday, Ardel. “The Language of God and Adam’s Genesis
& Historicity in Paul’s Gospel”
SBJT
15.1 (2011), pp. 26-59.
Carson, D. A. “Adam in the Epistles of Paul” In the Beginning… A Symposium on the Bible
and
Creation
edited by N. M. de S. Cameron (The Biblical Creation Society, 1980).
Collins, C. John. “Adam and Eve as Historical People, Why It
Matters” Perspectives on Science
and Christian Faith, vol. 62, no. 3,
(September, 2010), pp. 147-165.
Collins, C. John. Did
Adam and Eve Really Exist? Who
They Were and Why You Should Care
(Crossway,
2011).
Collins, C. John. “The Case for Adam and Eve: Our
Conversation with C. John Collins” By
Faith
(April, 2012).
Collins, C. John. “Replies to Reviews of Did Adam and Ever Really Exist?” Journal of Creation
Theology
and Science, vol. 2, 2012.
Collins, C. John. “Reply to Richard Belcher, ‘Did Adam and
Eve Really Exist?: A Review”
Reformation21 (Feb.
28, 2012).
Collins, C. John. “Review of Peter Enns The Evolution of Adam” The
Gospel Coalition (April,
2012)
Cosner, Lita.
“A Response to Timothy Keller’s ‘Creation, Evolution and Christian
Laypeople” Creation Ministries International (September 9, 2010).
Cosner, Lita.
“Christ as the Last Adam: Paul’s Use of the Creation Narrative in 1
Corinthians” Journal of Creation 23 (3) 2009, pp. 70-75.
Crowe, Donald. “Review: ‘The Evolution of Adam’ by Peter
Enns” The Aquila Report blog
(May 18, 2012).
Day, Allan J., “Adam, Anthropology and the Genesis Record:
Taking Genesis Seriously”
Science and Christian
Belief 10 (1998), pp. 115-143.
Doran, N. A. and S. S. McRoberts. “Adam’s Paradise Lost” (review of C. John Collins’ Did
Adam
and Eve Really Exist?) Journal of
Creation Theology and Science, vol. 2, 2012.
Enns, Peter. The
Evolution of Adam: What the Bible Does and Doesn’t Say About Human
Origins
(Brazos Press, 2012).
Enns, Peter. “Spinning Our Wheels: A Response to a Review of
‘The Evolution of Adam’
(with apologies to those with a 500
word, 1.6 minute internet attention span)” (August 4, 2012). *Response to Hans Madueme’s review.
Enns, Peter. “Still In the Weeds on Human Origins: A Review
of C. John Collins Did Adam
and Eve Really Exist?” Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought
(December,
2011).
Estelle, Bryan. “Preachers in Lab Coats and Scientists in
Geneva Gowns” Ordained Servant
Online
(no date).
Estelle, Bryan D. “Should We Still Believe in a Historical
Adam?” New Horizons (March,
2012): pp. 9, 20.
Gaffin, Richard B. “’All Mankind, Descending From Him…’?” New Horizons (March, 2012):
pp. 3-5.
Hagerty, Barbara Bradley. “Evangelicals Question the
Existence of Adam and Eve” NPR blog
(August 9, 2011).
Ham, Ken. “The Enns Justifies the Means? A Review of the New
Book by Dr. Peter Enns, The
Evolution of Adam” (January 19, 2012).
Harlow, Daniel C.
“After Adam: Reading Genesis in an Age of Evolutionary Science”
Perspectives
on Science and Christian Faith, vol. 62, no. 3, (September, 2010), pp.
179-195.
Heiser, Michael. “Genesis 1-3 At Face Value—Is It Compatible
With Recent Genome
Research?” Naked Bible blog (July 26, 2012).
Heiser, Michael. “The Evolution of Adam: Additional
Thoughts” Naked Bible Blog (June 2,
2012).
Hoekema, Anthony A. Created
in God’s Image (Eerdmans/Paternoster, 1986)—especially
pages 112-117 (“Was Adam a
Historical Person?”)
Kaiser, Walter. “The First Three Chapters of
Genesis and Their Relationship to Science”
EFCA Mid-Winter Pastor‘s Conference; Jan 19-21, 2011.
Kidner, Derek. Genesis:
An Introduction and Commentary (IVP, 1967), pp. 26-31.
Keister, Adrian. “A Critique of ‘Creation, Evolution, and
Christian Laypeople’ by Tim Keller”
Green
Baggins blog (Jan. 17, 2012).
Keller, Tim. “Creation, Evolution, and Christian Laypeople”
LifeWay Research, “Poll: Pastors Oppose Evolution, Split on
Earth’s Age” LifeWay (Jan. 9,
2012).
Lloyd, S. J. “Asking the Right Questions” (a review of C.
John Collins’ Did Adam and Eve
Really Exist?) Journal of Creation Theology and Science, vol. 2, 2012.
Lubenow, Marvin, L. Bones
of Contention: A Creationist Assessment of Human Fossils (Baker,
1992), chapter 20 “Adam and the
Evangelical”. Note: the second
edition of this work (2004) does not contain this discussion.
Lubenow, Marvin L. “Pre-Adamites, Sin, Death and the Human
Fossils” CEN Tech. J., vol.
12,
no. 2, 1998, pp. 222-232.
Luskin, Carey. “Human Origins and Intelligent Design”
(2004).
Madueme, Hans. “Some Reflections on Enns and The Evolution
of Adam: A Review Essay”
Themelios
vol. 37, no. 2 (July 2012).
McGrath, Gavin Basil. “Soteriology: Adam and the Fall” Perspectives on Science and Christian
Faith, vol. 49, no. 4 (1997), pp.
252-263.
McKetterick, A. J. “C. John Collins’ Did Adam and Eve Really Exist?” Journal
of Creation
Theology
and Science, vol. 2, 2012.
Millard, A. R. “A New Babylonian ‘Genesis Story’” Tyndale Bulletin 18 (1967), pp. 3-18.
Miller, Rachel.
“The Evolution of Adam: Moses, Paul, and Enns—Just Men of Their Time” A
Daughter of the Reformation blog,
(Feb. 12, 2012).
Miller, Rachel. “Supernatural Creation
of Man: Dr. Belcher addresses the historicity of Adam
and critiques
Dr. Jack Collins’ “mere-Adam-and-Eve-ism” Daughter of the Reformation
Blog, (March 21, 2012).
Moreland, J. P. “Conceptual Problems and the Scientific
Status of Creation Science”
Perspectives
on Science & Christian Faith vol. 46, no. 1 (March 1994), pp.
2-13.
Moreland, J. P. “The Rationality of Belief in Inerrancy” Trinity Journal NS (1986), pp. 75-86.
Murphy, George L. “Roads to Paradise and Perdition: Christ,
Evolution, and Original Sin”
Perspectives
on Science and Christian Faith, vol. 58,
no. 2 (June 2006), pp. 109-118.
Murray, David P. “Quest for Historical Adam” The Reformed Baptist Trumpet 2.1
(Jan-Mar
2011): pp. 3-12.
Niehaus, Jeffrey, J. Ancient
Near Eastern Themes in Biblical Theology (Kregel, 2008).
Ostling, Richard N. “The Search for the Historical Adam” Christianity Today (June, 2011):
pp. 23-27.
Oswalt, John N. The
Bible Among the Myths: Unique Revelation or Just Ancient Literature
(Zondervan, 2009).
Presbyterian Church in America. Creation Study Committee Report to the 28th General
Assembly,
June 21, 2000.
Poythress, Vern S. “Adam Versus Claims From Genetics” Westminster Theological Journal 75
(2013), pp. 65-82.
Poythress, Vern S. “Evaluating the Claims of Scientists” New Horizons (March, 2012): pp.
6-8.
Reeves, Mike. “Adam and Eve” Should Christians Embrace Evolution? Edited by Norman C.
Nevin (InterVarsity Press, 2009).
Schaeffer, Francis. Genesis
in Space and Time (1972) in The
Complete Works of Francis A.
Schaeffer:
volume 2 (Crossway Books, 1982).
Schaeffer, Francis. No
Final Conflict (1975) in The Complete
Works of Francis A.
Schaeffer:
volume 2 (Crossway Books, 1982).
Schneider, John R. “Recent Genetic Science and Christian
Theology on Human Origins: An
‘Aesthetic Supralapsarianism’” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, vol. 62,
no. 3, (September, 2010), pp.
196-212.
Smith, Henry B. Jr.
“Cosmic and Universal Death From Adam’s Fall: An Exegesis of Romans
8:19-23a” Journal of Creation 21 (1) 2007, pp. 75-85.
Smith, James K. A. “What Galileo’s Telescope Can’t See” Christianity Today (on-line) posted
September 28, 2012.
Smith, James K. A. “Whose Bible? Which Adam? A review of
Peter Enns The Evolution of
Adam”
The Colossian Forum (April 24, 2012).
Strimple, Robert B. “Was Adam An Historical Person? And What Difference Does It Make?”
Thompson, Mark D. “The Missionary Apostle and Modern Systematic
Affirmation” in The
Gospel to
the Nations: Perspectives on Paul’s Mission edited by Peter Bolt and Mark D.
Thompson (IVP, 2000).
Trueman, Carl. “Doctrinal Atomism and Theological Adamism” Reformation21 (January 18,
2013).
Weeks, Noel. “Problems in Interpreting Genesis: Part 1” Creation 2 (3), (June 1979), pp. 27-
32.
Wood, Todd. “Collin’s Adam and Eve as Historical People” Todd’s Blog (Nov. 16, 2010).
Wood, Todd. “Harlow’s After Adam” Todd’s Blog (Nov. 18, 2010).
Wood, Todd. “Schneider’s Aesthetic Supralapsarianism” Todd’s Blog (Nov. 19, 2010).
Wood, Todd. “Venema’s Genesis and the Genome” Todd’s Blog (Nov. 17, 2010).
Wood, Todd. “Who Were Adam and Eve? Scientific Reflections on Collins’ Did Adam and
Eve Really Exist?” Journal of Creation Theology and Science
vol. 2, 2012.
Yeo, John J. “Recent Challenges to the Doctrine of Inerrancy:
Peter Enns and ‘Myth’ in
Genesis 1” (January 23, 2012).
Young, Davis A. “The Antiquity and the Unity of the Human
Race Revisited” Christian
Scholar's Review XXIV:4, 380-396 (May, 1995).
Friday, April 19, 2013
The Apostle Paul as the Isaianic Servant: Paul’s Use of Isaiah 49:6 in Acts 13:47
In
Acts 13:47 Paul and Barnabas cite Isaiah 49:6 as justification for their
“turning to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46) in response to Jewish opposition to
their gospel message. This use of
Isaiah 49 provides an interesting look into Luke and Paul’s understanding of
the Isaianic Servant.[1]
In
looking at Acts 13:47 there are only a few minor differences from Luke’s
version and the wording found in Isaiah 49:6 in the MT.[2] Other than this Luke’s use of the
Isaiah passage is fairly straightforward and consistent.
Isaiah
49:6 is part of the second Servant Song (Isa. 49:1-6).[3] The crucial and controversial issue in
this set of Servant Songs regards the identity of the Servant. As has often been noted this Servant
seems to oscillate between an individual and a corporate group.[4] In particular, Isaiah 49 contains this
tension. On the one hand, Isaiah
49:3 appears to equate the Servant with the nation Israel: “You are my Servant,
Israel.” On the other hand, this
passage speaks of the Servant as ministering to the nation of Israel in 49:6:
“It is too small a thing that you should be my Servant to raise up the tribes
of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel.”
In whatever manner this Servant is to be understood, it is obvious that there
is a ministry to both Israel and the nations; salvation is to come to the ends
of earth (Isa. 49:6).
The
New Testament repeatedly applies elements of the Servant Songs to Jesus.[5] Luke, in particular, links the Isaianic
Servant with Jesus in a few significant ways. First, Luke is the only Gospel writer to explicitly link the
famous passage of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53 with Jesus (Luke 22:37
quoting from Isaiah 53:12). This
leads R. T. France to comment, “There is no doubt, then, that for Luke the
mission of the Servant in Isaiah 53 is a blueprint for that of Jesus; the
Servant is Jesus.”[6] Second, in his narration of the episode
with the Ethiopian eunuch the particular passage being read by the eunuch is
Isaiah 53:7-8. It is clear that
for Luke this is a reference to Jesus (Acts 8:32-35). Third, of even more relevance, for purposes of this
discussion, is Luke’s recording of Simeon’s statement about the infant Jesus in
which the use of Isaiah 49:6 is clear.
Luke 2:29-32 reads:
Now
Lord, you are releasing your bond-servant to depart in peace, according to your
word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the
presence of all peoples, a light of
revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.
All
of this combines to demonstrate that Luke is clearly identifying the Servant of
Isaiah with Jesus.
In
light of Luke’s understanding of the Servant as identified with Jesus it is
somewhat surprising to see a reference to one of the Servant Songs (49:6) being
used of Paul and Barnabas as it is in Acts 13:47. Acts 13 is significant in that this narrates the beginning
of the first missionary journey of Paul and contains Paul’s first major sermon
delivered in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch. This address is delivered to a Jewish audience and is
replete with quotations and allusions to the Jewish Scriptures. When there is a hostile response on the
part of the Jews Paul and Barnabas state their intentions to “turn to the
Gentiles” (Acts 13:46). In so
doing they quote Isaiah 49:6 for justification of such a move:
For
so the Lord has commanded us,
I have placed you as a light for the
Gentiles,
that
you may bring salvation to the end of the earth. (Acts
13:49)
Paul
is clearly seeing himself and his ministry as aligned with the Isaianic
Servant. This understanding is
layered with meaning. The Servant
was no doubt understood by many of Paul’s Jewish contemporaries in a corporate
sense, namely as a renewed Israel. Paul’s usage in response to Jewish
rejection of the gospel creates a subtle irony in which Paul and Barnabas are
now seen to be playing the part of faithful Israel. Robert W. Wall aptly comments:
The
word entellomai is a term of vocation
(see 1:2), and Isaiah’s original sense of it, carried over to Acts, is of
faithful Israel’s purpose in the world.
While Paul appeals to Isaiah to justify his mission to the Gentiles, he does
so ironically since he personifies the missionary identity of repentant Israel.[7]
Paul
and Barnabas are presenting themselves as the true Israel and those who reject
the gospel of Jesus as outside the scope of God’s people. This is further demonstrated by Paul
and Barnabas “shaking off the dust of their feet” against the Jews of Pisidian
Antioch who rejected their message (Acts 13:51). This action is charged with significance as I. Howard
Marshall notes:
It
was customary for Jews to shake of the
dust of a pagan town from their feet
when they return to their own land, as a symbol of cleansing themselves from
the impurity of sinners who did worship God. For Jews to do this to their fellow Jews was tantamount to
regarding the latter as pagan Gentiles.
The Christians were demonstrating in a particularly vigorous manner that
Jews who rejected the gospel and drove out the missionaries were no longer
truly part of Israel but were no better than unbelievers.[8]
Paul
and Barnabas are, thus, seen to be aligning themselves with the Servant as corporately
understood as faithful Israel.
Their vocation as ministers of the gospel of Jesus marks them out as the
true Israel—the true Servant.
Since
the Servant imagery is understood by the early Christians to be fulfilled in
Jesus, Paul and Barnabas are also aligning themselves with Jesus and his
mission by their use of Isaiah 49:6.
The
early Christians saw the fulfillment of the prophecy [Isaiah 49:6] in Jesus, …but
the present passage asserts that the mission of the Servant is also the task of
the followers of Jesus. Thus the
task of Israel, which she failed to carry out, has passed to Jesus and then to
his people as the new Israel; it is the task of bringing the light of
revelation and salvation to all the peoples of the world.[9]
Paul
and Barnabas see themselves as embodying the mission of Jesus Christ—the
Servant. His task of bringing
light to the Gentiles has become their task. They see themselves under divine obligation (“so the Lord
has commanded us”) to fulfill this directive.
It
is interesting at this point to ask a couple of related questions: (1) Where
did Paul and Barnabas learn to read Isaiah in this way? (2) When were they “commanded” by the
Lord to bring salvation to the end of the earth? The answer may be found in the appearance of the risen Jesus
to Paul. The importance of this
event can be seen in the fact that Luke narrates this episode on three
different occasions in the book of Acts.
In
Paul’s third recitation of his experience of meeting Jesus on the Damascus road
Luke has Paul narrate the event with these words:
And
when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the
Hebrew dialect, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the
goads.” And I said, “Who are you,
Lord?” And the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for
this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness
not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things which I will
appear to you; rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to
whom I am sending you, to open their eyes
so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan
to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among
those who have been sanctified by faith in me.” (Acts 26:14-18—emphasis added on v. 18)
In
verse 18 there is a clear allusion to Isaiah 42:7 which is a reference to the
work of the Servant (Isaiah 42:1).
In Isaiah 42:6 this Servant is “appointed” to the dual task of being “a
covenant to the people, as a light to the nations” which is also echoed in Acts
26:16-17. As has been recognized,
both Isaiah 42 and 49 have had a profound impact upon the thinking and
theologizing of Paul.[10] What is of interest here is that it is
the risen Jesus who is utilizing the language of the Isaianic Servant and
applying it to Paul. In this experience
of the risen Christ Paul is “appointed” by Christ to this ministry of the
Servant. This Christophany to Paul
radically reorients his theology.
For example, G. K. Beale argues that Paul’s understanding of
“reconciliation” finds its genesis in this appearance of Jesus to Paul. He writes:
This
Isaiah text which speaks of the commission Yahweh gave to the Servant to
restore exiled Israel is now applied by the risen Christ to Paul’s apostolic
commission. Consequently, if this
part of the Acts narrative represents early Pauline tradition, it is plausible
to suggest that this commission from Christ provided the foundation and spark
for the development of Paul’s subsequent understanding and explanation of
reconciliation as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s and the Old Testament’s restoration
promises.[11]
In
the same way that this functions for Paul’s doctrine of reconciliation so it
may be the case that this appearance also, more generally, sets about a
hermeneutical revolution for Paul.
In speaking to Paul with such evocative language with its clear
allusions to the Servant of Isaiah Paul is being taught how to read the
Scriptures with a new set of “Christocentric” eyes. Both the identity of Jesus and his eschatological import are
stunningly revealed to Paul. Not
only is there a radical change in perspective regarding Jesus, there is also recognition
on the part of Paul of his new relationship and role in light of the risen
Messiah, Jesus. G. K. Beale helpfully
articulates this idea:
It
may seem unusual that Paul would apply to himself a prophecy which the early
Christian community would likely have applied to Christ…The rationale for these
dual identifications lies probably in the conception of corporate
representation already found in the Old Testament, which may well lie behind the
Pauline expression of “the Christ who speaks in me” (2 Cor. 13:3; cf. 2:14-17;
12:9, 19). And it is this same
idea of corporate representation which allows Paul in his own mind to
understand how the very context of the Isaiah 49 Servant could apply to himself
without distorting the way in which he thought it may have been intended
originally. Furthermore, in that
he was continuing the mission of Jesus, the Servant, he could easily apply this
Servant prophecy to himself.[12]
In
this Damascus road experience Jesus reveals to Paul an interpretative key which
will open up the Jewish Scriptures to a new orientation centered around Jesus
Christ and his work unto the nations.
This is similar to what Luke records the risen Jesus doing for his
original disciples after his resurrection. In Luke 24:44-48 Jesus “opens their minds to understand the
Scriptures.” This teaching moment
centers on seeing how all the previous Scriptures—“the law of Moses and the
prophets and the Psalms”—are fulfilled in Jesus (cf. Luke 24:25-27). In light of this revelation and
Christ’s resurrection there is a corresponding task given to the disciples to
proclaim “repentance for forgiveness…to
all the nations” (Luke 24:47).
In Christopher J. H. Wright’s understanding, the disciples are taught to
read and understand the Scriptures messianically
and missionally.[13]
This is also what Paul experiences in his encounter with the risen Lord on the
way to Damascus. The results are
the same, as Wright notes:
Paul,
though he was not present for the Old Testament hermeneutics lecture on the day
of resurrection, clearly found that his encounter with the risen Jesus and his
recognition of Jesus as Messiah and Lord radically transformed his (Paul’s) own
way of reading his Scriptures. His
hermeneutic now had the same double focus.[14]
Paul
is able to apply the words regarding the Servant of Isaiah 49 to himself
because he has been taught to do so by Jesus himself. In his encounter with the risen Christ Paul comes away with
both a new understanding of Jesus as the Messiah and a new role to fulfill
among the Gentiles. Paul’s
transformative encounter with Jesus opens up an understanding of both the
identity of the Servant of Isaiah and the identification of the eschatological
time in which Paul lives—a time to go to the Gentiles and bring the light of
the gospel of the glory of Christ.
Furthermore, there is a renewed relationship between the individual and
corporate dimensions of the Servant.
In Isaiah the corporate dimension is obviously the nation of Israel and
the possibility of an individual manifestation of the Servant is merely
latent. In the New Testament the
writers clearly see Jesus as the individual Servant but there is also a
corresponding corporate manifestation of the Servant by Paul and others who
have taken up the mission of Jesus.
[1]
The relationship between Luke and
Paul’s theology is complex. It has
often been argued that Luke particularly manifests his theological commitments
in the many speeches in Acts.
Sometimes it is argued that this Lukan theological perspective is not
the same as Paul’s. Without
entering into the larger area of Lukan and Pauline theological consistency it
should be noted that Luke’s narration of the comment by Paul citing Isaiah 49:6
is thoroughly Pauline. As Douglas
Oss states regarding Paul’s use of Isaiah as reflected in Acts: “The use of
Isaiah in Paul’s speeches in Acts is noteworthy also. It appears that Luke has preserved the Pauline tradition
accurately, if the use of Isaiah in his speeches is any indication.” Douglas A. Oss, “A Note on Paul’s Use of
Isaiah,” BBR 2 (1992): 107.
[2]
The LXX, however, reads slightly different in that there are a few additions
(in italics): “Behold, I have given
you for a covenant of the nation, for
a light to the Gentiles, so that you may be for salvation to the end of the
earth.” I. H. Marshall states:
“The addition of ‘for a covenant of the nation’ (eis diatheken genous) is not found in any Hebrew version and
appears to be simply a case of assimilation to Isa. 42:6.” G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson Commentary on the New Testament Use of the
Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007), 588.
[11]
G. K. Beale, “The Old Testament
Background of Reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5-7 and Its Bearing on the
Literary Problem of 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1,” in The Right Doctrine from the Wrong Texts?: Essays on the Use of the Old
Testament in the New (ed. G. K. Beale; Grand Rapids, MI.: Baker, 1994),
246; repr. from NTS 35 (1989).
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