A Backstage Pass to the New Testament
New Tribe Bali, May-June 2023
telfordwork.net/lectures/backstage.html
(from my course introducing the New Testament, at telfordwork.net/classes/nt) (YouTube playlist)
- I. Introduction
What is the Bible? Ta biblia means 'the books.'
How to read a collection of books? Some analogies.
Let the Bible's witnesses do their witnessing.
- II. The Gospel of Mark
Neglected because overshadowed by Matthew, who breaks Mark's action with five teaching blocks.
Thesis: Jesus is the Messiah, and the Son of God (1:1). But who and what is he? A bewildering surprise.
Structure: often seen in three parts (see thebibleproject.com video and poster).
- Key 'tells': Jesus' baptism (1:11), transfiguration (9:7), and crucifixion (15:39).
Source: Peter, at Rome? Aramaic phrases used and translated.
- Act I: Introducing Jesus the Messiah and Son of God (1:1-8:21)
- Exercise: In groups, read Mark's introduction. What's the tone? What do you notice?
Sometimes clumsy prose; but clever and brilliant.
A parable of a sower 'explains' what is happening (4:1-20).
Parables reveal, but also conceal.
Literary sandwiches ('intercalations') offer puzzles for readers to solve.
Double and triple events (two feedings, 6 and 8) demonstrate failures to understand (8:11-20, cf. Matthew 13;51-52) and more opportunities to try.
- Act II: Listen to him! (8:22-10:52)
- Is Jesus tilling our poor soil and re-sowing it?
A ‘triple triple’ [graphic] transitions the reader from the events in Act I to those in Act III:
Jesus heals blindness in steps: 8:22-26
Jesus predicts his passion; disciples misunderstand; he teaches the way of the cross: 8:31-38, 9:30-35, 10:32-45
Jesus heals blindness: 10:46-52
The Twelve are agents of ministry (6:7-12), not just beneficiaries (us too). But just how ready are they?
- Act III: The Suffering Son of God (11:1-16:8)
- Exercise: In groups, examine a 'sandwich' in 11:12-25.
A parable of a vineyard 'explains' what is happening (12:1-12).
Apocalyptic discourse reveals the moment's significance (13).
"I am" (14:62): Watch this take off in John's Gospel!
Group exercise: How does irony operate in the way Mark uses 'king of Jews' language in chapter 15?
Group exercise: Examine Mark's crucifixion scene. Note what's there, and what's not! Resist the urge to harmonize!
Mark's shocking resurrection scene (16:1-8).
- Mark's Gospel strategy of showing not saying begs theological questions:
- Why is it so hard to perceive Jesus? (noetic effects of sin)
How do the cross and resurrection function as means of ‘ransom’ and ‘covenent’? (atonement)
Why were Jesus' family, neighbors, and even disciples so incompetent? (sin, depravity)
Who exactly is Jesus as King, Messiah, Son of God, and Son of Man? (christology)
Those intercalations: What is old and what is new?
What's being set aside, renewed, and birthed? (eschatology)
What exactly are the status of his opponents: Satan, demons, religious, and political authorities? (world, culture, mission)
What are the Kingdom's ethics of service to all? They're obvious but undeveloped here (ethics).
- These questions aren't just for us to answer and move on.
- We have to keep going back to Galilee (16:7) to see him afresh.
They remain with us so the word grows in us, we know not how (4:27).
- If you're new to Mark’s Gospel or these questions, try Tim Keller's Jesus the King.
- III. The Gospel of John
Anonymous; familiar with Judea and set there. By the beloved disciple (13:23, 21:20-23), perhaps the Apostle John, son of Zebedee (Ignatius, Polycarp, Irenaeus)? Lazarus (11:3, 11:36)? Another John, 'the elder' (cf. 1-3 John) or 'the prophet' (Rev)? A ghost writer (21:24)?
Written at Ephesus? Damascus? Who knows.
- The audience have been expelled from synagogues (John 9), yet Hebrew terms are translated (1:38, 1:41-42, 9:7).
- Is John answering the questions that Mark's Gospel begs?
- John's narrative structure aligns with Mark's.
But John uses it in strikingly different ways.
Some of Mark's phrases (and Matthew's, 11:29) take on lives of their own in John: 'Son of God', 'I am', 'light', etc.
Exercise: In groups, compare John's prologue (1:1-18) with Mark's introduction. What is John amplifying?
Let's compare Mark 1:2-11 and 8:27-30 with John the Baptist in 1:1-42. Is this Gospel a 'backstage Mark'?
Almost everything here is presented to suggest and reveal deeper significance,
finally discerned in the light of Jesus' resurrection (2:17-22, 12:16, 14:25, 20:9).
This spawns a whole style of theology, different from Mark's, Matthew's, and Luke's narrative theologies.
- Organization: 'Book of Signs' and 'Book of Glory'; Bible Project video poster.
- The Bible Project video details John's narrative flow and many significant points.
Events often happen earlier than in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John loves spoilers that rush the sequence. Adjustments result (Lazarus). (Ancient history could use sequence differently than moderns do.)
- Prologue (1:1-18, cf. Mark 1:1-3)
Beginning (1:19-51, cf. Mark 1:4-20)
"Book of Signs" (2-12):
- Signs drive growing conflict between two camps (2:1-12:36, cf. Mark 1:21-14:9): 'what sign?'
Exercise: In groups, compare John's temple clearing scene with Mark's, including its location in its Gospel.
It happens right after the wedding at Cana, so water : temple :: wine : Jesus' body.
Exercise: Look for irony in the combination of John 3 and 4.
Jesus unbelieves (2:23-24): He rebukes requests, then grants them on his terms (2:4-7, 4:46-50, etc.).
Raising Lazarus (11:1-44) forces enemies to act (11:45-57); chapter 12 concludes this section summarizing and interpreting the situation.
- "Book of Glory" (13-20):
- Inside: The upper room (13:1-17:26, cf. Mark 14:12-42): direct apostolic teaching.
Outside: The passion (18:1-19:42, cf. Mark 14:43-15:47): the Son lifted up.
Exercise: In groups, compare John 19's crucifixion scene with Mark 15's.
Resurrection (20:1-31, cf. Mark's original ending, 16:1-8, and extended synoptic endings): recognition.
Is Thomas' confession of faith ("my Lord and my God," cf. Domitian) the climax? That would fit 20:30-31.
- Epilogue (21:1-25 [cf. Mark's longer ending, 16:19-20?])
- John's penetrating Gospel hammers major themes:
1. Revelation of Jesus' incarnate identity and the challenge to recognize him (6:30: Sign? What sign?!).
- Life with Jesus is remaining in him, discovering and learning the meaning of events in our relationship, and sharing.
John trains in Christian theological method.
Jesus is the Lord, making/knowing the rules but also creating and including us so we can learn them too.
John (20:30-31) and understanding readers share what they have learned, so we'll trust in his name for eternal life.
Remain and we'll eventually get it. Refuse, resist, or give up (and many will) and we won't.
This isn't works, but embodied faith.
Readers are (with Jesus) in on the double-meanings the characters aren’t, even when (like Caiaphas) they ironically and unknowingly make correct moves.
- 2. Signs in John are symbols that communicate the new presence of light and life in the world.
- In comparison, Mark's signs are actions that bring favor, confusion, rejection, and eventually understanding.
(Matthew's are circumstantial events that tend to fulfill specific scriptural promises, and
Luke's are wonders that confirm Christ’s royal authority and fulfill scripture more generally.)
- 3. Intensifying, contrasting responses of belief and unbelief.
- Conflicts escalate. Divine confirmation intensifies, hardening human unbelief (especially among the 'religious') while growing trust among persistent followers. This is John's account of life on Christ's way.
- 4.
Christ's decisive and glorious crucifixion. In the garden, on trial, and on the cross, Jesus ...
- conquers (18:1-16): the ruler of this world cast out (12:31? Jesus slaughtered with lambs (19:29-36).
dismisses his disciples rather than being deserted (18:7-8, cf. Mark 14:34-52),
judges his judges, for the power over his life is his (cf. 10:18),
reigns (18:33-19:30; the seventh sign?),
and is already glorified ("lifted up", 3:14) on the cross (12:31-33, 13:31, 17:1-5).
- 5. Eternal life for those who remain (cf. "going back" in Mark) and are transformed with the Spirit's assistance (14-16),
- with judgment upon those who do not believe (3:9-19).
Jesus' resurrection appearances are recognition scenes (20:16, cf. 10:3-5).
Disciples face the same challenge as ever to believe rather than disbelieve (20:27):
first the beloved disciple (20:1-10), then Mary Magdalene (20:11-18), the disciples (20:19-23), and Thomas (20:24-29).
- Are John's differences with the Synoptics troubling? vexing? engaging?
- Paul and His Letters: The Gospel Fleshed Out
Are Paul’s letters one element of nasi campur, or a set?
- Both, like Pixar films. A clip needs contexts.
- Pro tips:
- A letter's chapter 1 is often an overview (Rom 1).
Paul likes an 'indicative-imperative' approach (Col 1-2 then 3-4, Eph 1-3 then 4-6, Rom 1-11 then 12-15, etc.) that refutes both legalism and license.
The back stage (historical/cultural contexts, personalities, etc.) serves the front-stage (the texts themselves).
My goal: teach you to catch Paul's voice, so you can read these powerfully out loud,
conveying the life of these relationships, the people, the Kingdom, and its gospel.
- Who is Paul to you?
- Just an instructor/authority?
Paul is multifaceted. He relates in a huge number of ways.
So we can relate to Paul on multiple levels.
Pay attention to how a letter demonstrates relationships.
And Paul is an open book, really living out his relationships in ways that challenge our cultures and have reshaped them.
(Let Christ open your book through him!)
The collection displays Paul the …- apostle (Rom 1:1, 1 Cor 9:1-2, Gal 1:1, Titus 1:1),
testifier (Rom 1:9, 9:1, 1 Cor 15:7, Gal 1:11-24, 1 Thess 2, 2 Cor 12),
cross-cultural missionary (1 Cor 9:19-23, Eph 3:6-13)
influencer (1 Thess 1:6, 2 Thess 3:7-9, 1 Cor 11:1, Philemon)
penitent (1 Cor 15:8-10, 1 Tim 1:13-17; cf. 2 Cor 12:11, Phil 3:6)
rabbi (Gal 4:21-31 using Isa 54:1, Gen 16:5, 17:16-19, 18:10-14, 21:1-2, 21:9-10, Deut 33:2; and just about everywhere else he has Jewish readers)
Bible interpreter (Ps 68:18 in Eph 4, Deut 30:12-13 in Rom 10; 1 Cor 10)
visionary (Rom 1-15, Eph, Phil [slides])
sufferer (Col 1:24-29, 2 Cor 4:7-12, 11:23-12:10)
mentoring, strict, concerned parent/'mama bear' (Phil 2:19-30, 1 Cor 4, 2 Cor 3:1-3, 11:2, 1+2 Tim 1:2, Gal 5:1-15)
church-planter (Acts 13, 1 Cor 3:5-13)
networker (Rom 16, 2 Tim 4:9-22)
practical apocalypticist (1 Thess 4, 2 Thess 2, 1 Cor 10:11 [slide])
practical mystic (1 Cor 14, Gal 5:13-6:2)
warrior (1-2 Cor [slides], Eph 6:10-20)
mentor (1-2 Timothy, Titus)
internationalist (Rom 9-11+15:22-28, 1 Cor 7-8)
world-maker (Rom 15:23; so Tom Holland).
- Paul overflows our later categories:
- Paul the apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd, teacher (Eph 4), and more;
Paul the authority, example, servant,
administrator, networker, struggler;
Paul the Catholic, Protestant, and charismatic.
- Why is Paul compelling?
- His life, vision (confession), mission, and legacy cohere powerfully.
So grace has extended Jesus' own powerful integrity into Paul's formerly disintegrated life.
Are we willing to let the Holy Spirit restructure us and our relations as thoroughly?
