Aim of the course. The aim of this course is to prepare the student for future exegesis coursework through an investigation of the backgrounds, origins, circumstances, and character of the New Testament books. In order to advance into deeper engagement with the Word of God, students must establish a foundational understanding of the historical context of the New Testament and the earliest Church as well as a basic familiarity with the issues surrounding the scholarly study of the New Testament, today. At Gordon-Conwell, the course ‘Introduction New Testament’ traditionally seeks to supply this need and so lay the foundation for more detailed engagement with individual New Testament books.

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An Introduction to the New Testament

The present study consists of a comparison of the impact of the Christ-event on the existence of the elect in Colossians and 1 Peter. As such it is a study in the theological anthropology of two significant New Testament texts. The main argument of this thesis is that Colossians and 1 Peter contain distinctive emphases in their understanding of: the σάρξ (“flesh”) of the elect (anthropology), the temporal axis of salvation (eschatology), the extent to which the elect participate in the “heavenly” sphere (cosmology), and the means to live rightly (agency). Because a NT author’s beliefs prior to faith in Christ reflect a particular cognitive environment formed by the author’s historical setting and cultural milieu, setting the author’s views in the context of Early Jewish texts throws fresh light on his thought-world and understanding of the new existence. I argue that many of the features distinguishing Colossians from 1 Peter stem from the possibility that Colossians reflects the thought-world of 4QInstruction and 1 Peter that of the Hodayot.
	The thesis has the following structure. Chapter 1 explains the reasoning for comparing Colossians and 1 Peter by showing their manifold similarities with one another including their respective Christologies which undergird their remarkably similar paraenetical material. The question is raised why, if the epistles end up offering almost identical paraenesis, they have such distinctive theological patterns of thought. Chapter 2 is an overview of scholarship demonstrating that this question has not been adequately answered. This is due partly to an emphasis on the recipient context and to reading each respective author’s theology primarily as a response to the Sitz im Leben of the recipients. The overview will also demonstrate that both authors draw from the HB and EJL to interpret the impact of the Christ-event, but do so with distinctive language, emphases, and metaphors. Chapter 3 will analyze 1 Peter’s understanding of the new existence locating it within the author’s worldview in which suffering is a significant aspect of being God’s ‘end of days’ people. Chapter 4 will explore the Hodayot and demonstrate the manifold ways in which it provides antecedents to ideas identified in 1 Peter. Chapter 5 will analyze the worldview of the author of Colossians and his understanding of the new existence including his emphasis on the elect as possessing the “mystery” of God. Chapter 6 will explore 4QInstruction and demonstrate the manifold ways in which it provides antecedents to ideas identified in Colossians. Chapter 7 will conclude the thesis drawing the threads together and summarizing the distinctive emphases of Colossians and 1 Peter in their respective understandings of the new existence and the means to live rightly.

New existence and righteous living : Colossians and 1 Peter in conversation with 4QInstruction and the Hodayot

FINDING CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT THROUGH THE ARAMAIC MEMRA, SHEKINAH, AND YEQARA OF THE TARGUMS Adam Joseph Howell, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2015 Chair: Dr. Russell T. Fuller This dissertation seeks to find Christ in the Old Testament by examining the targumic passages in which Memra, Shekinah, or Yeqara occur as God’s agent or manifestation. Chapter 1 demonstrates that scholars view the Memra, Shekinah, and Yeqara as agents for God or manifestations of God even though many scholars reject the notion of Christological implications found in the New Testament appropriation of these terms and concepts. Chapter 2 discusses the close connection between the targumic Memra, Shekinah, and Yeqara and the New Testament by citing clear instances where the New Testament authors appropriated targumic terms and concepts to speak of Jesus. By using targumic terms and concepts, the New Testament authors provided an exegetical method for finding Christ in the Old Testament through Targum. Chapter 3 examines the occurrences of Memra, presenting examples of passages that certainly refer to Christ, do not refer to Christ, and probably refer to Christ. In this chapter, the Memra refers to Christ or probably refers to Christ when the Memra functions as God’s agent, carrying out God’s work in the world. Chapter 4 investigates the occurrences of Shekinah and Yeqara, but under the influence of the New Testament, nearly all of the occurrences of Shekinah, and most occurrences of Yeqara refer to Jesus. Shekinah and Yeqara are delineated into categories of occurrences that refer to God’s manifestation and God’s manifestation with agency. Even though most occurrences of Shekinah and Yeqara refer to Christ, some occurrences of Yeqara are a literal translation of the Hebrew and do not refer to Jesus. Chapter 5 concludes the dissertation by tying several themes together to show the consistency and validity of finding Christ in the Old Testament through Aramaic terms and concepts. This dissertation argues that when the Memra, Shekinah, or Yeqara appear as God’s agent(s) or as manifestations of God, one may find Christ in those Old Testament passages. One may find Christ in these passages because the New Testament authors present Jesus as the premier agent and manifestation of God using targumic terms and

Finding Christ in the Old Testament Through the Aramaic Memra, Shekinah, and Yeqara of the Targums

Voices of the Mystics: Early Christian Discourse in the Gospels of John and Thomas and Other Ancient Christian Literature

In this article, the hypothesis of a possible angelomorphic christology, as addressed by the author of Hebrews, is investigated. It is argued that when Jesus was proclaimed as “Son of God”, he was probably identified by some of the early believers as an angel. Evidence of similar angelomorphic views held by certain groups in Jewish and early Christian apocalyptic circles at the time of the composition of Hebrews, is listed. The arguments in Hebrews 1 in particular are investigated against this background. It is concluded that, although no explicit polemic against a viewpoint of Jesus as an angel is found in the text, certain angelomorphic elements were applied to him.

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Addressing an angelomorphic christological myth in Hebrews

In this article I shall discuss a subject which, to my knowledge, has never been considered before – namely, whether Jude 5–7 presents Jesus as the Angel of the Lord. A final solution to the vexed problem of the varia lectio (or variae lectiones) in v. 5 is not of paramount importance in the following pages, for even if it could be agreed that (o) κύρως was the original reading, it would have to be explained why a copyist could feel able to substitute ΊησοṺς for ‘Kyrios’. Some see ‘Jesus’ as the result of a mere ‘transcriptional oversight (―KC being taken for ―IC)’, but text-critical conjectures are to be dismissed if a reading can be given a reasonable meaning, and the same principle would have to apply to an assumed substitution.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/4D476457F64A0D44F67FC4AC8E393A9F/S0028688500022645a.pdf/div-class-title-kyrios-jesus-as-the-angel-of-the-lord-in-jude-5-7-div.pdf

Kyrios Jesus as the Angel of the Lord in Jude 5–7

Ernst Kasemann's theory that the Christ hymn in Col 1. 15–20.is an adapted pre-Christian hymn about the Gnostic Urmensch-Erloser, who had both a cosmological and a soteriological significance, has not fared well. Even with the deletion of the words δι⋯τοu αἴματος τοu σταυροu αύτοu in v. 20, the sentiment persists that the second part of the hymn – which is soteriological – cannot speak of anyone else than Christ. More importantly, evidence for the existence of a Gnostic Urmensch-Erloser is lacking until Mani's time. As a matter of fact, even pre-Manichean Gnosticism, in which we find both various Urmensch figures and redeemers, cannot be proven to antedate Christianity.

Jarl Fossum

Papers

Kyrios Jesus as the Angel of the Lord in Jude 5–7

Colossians 1. 15–18a. in the Light of Jewish Mysticism and Gnosticism*