Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament

Although some theologians may see the Old Testament as standing in opposition to the New Testament with a much different message, Christopher Wright takes a much different approach as he writes, "The Old Testament tells the story which Jesus completes." (Wright, 2) Christopher Wright does not write his book Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament from a viewpoint that is completely ignorant of academic study; moreover, Wright has a doctorate in Old Testament ethics and was principle of a missionary training school (Intervarsity Press) . Although many people believe that the Old Testament has little to nothing to say about Jesus while these same people concentrate their efforts to understand Jesus instead in the New Testament, Wright instead sees much unity with Christ and the Old Testament as he writes that, "His own whole life was oriented by a deep reflection on the fundamental demands of the law, since he found in it the mind of his Father God." (Wright, 219) Overall, the background of Wright's book is that he had become saddened by the fact that so many people love Jesus but yet Jesus becomes a random mixture of gospel stories combined with contemporary popular views of Jesus (Wright, ix), and for this reason Wright wrote his book to an audience in need of clarification about who Jesus is from a Jewish context.

Brief Summary

Wright indicates that by Matthew announcing Jesus to be a son of Abraham in his genealogy that he is indicating that Jesus, like all the others Jews, had their purpose of existence in the blessing of all people (Wright, 4), and this is because of what God said to Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3 regarding being a blessing to others. Wright than goes on to explain how Jesus being the King of the Jews is a title inherited from the promises to David (Wright, 5), that Jesus is the fulfillment of the future hope of the Jews (Wright, 7), and that Jesus marks a new beginning (Wright, 8). Wright carries these ideas through a long history lesson that describes the problems between the time of Abraham and Jesus, and then he comes to a conclusion that the birth of Jesus brought Matthew's genealogy to an end (Wright, 25) and that the coming of a new age would bring the restoration of Israel and the arrival of the kingdom of God (Wright, 26) through Christ. For Wright the point is that the nations are like the audience that is intended for what God does in Israel (Wright, 46), and for Wright Romans 9-11 thus follows this pattern of the Jewish Messiah being offered to the gentiles through a Jewish history (Wright, 53).

Wright holds to his position of God working in Israel as being so fundamentally important for the nations that he writes about Jesus that, "...Matthew clearly wants us to see him as more than merely Israel's Messiah, but as the fulfillment of God's saving purpose for the nations beyond Israel. And that is a fundamental part of what the Old Testament is all about." (Wright, 60) In order to explain this main theme of what the Old Testament is all about Wright describes what a promise is (See Wright, 65), and then Wright indicates that seeing the Old Testament as a promise thus shows how salvation occurs through God's grace installed through God's own initiative (Wright, 68). For Wright the way that the promise is guaranteed is through a series of covenants that act as contracts between God and man, and they took the form of God's initiative, God's promise, and the human response (Wright, 78-79). For Wright the Old Testament, "had declared the promise which Jesus fulfilled" (Wright, 102) through several different streams of different individual paths that all came together (Wright, 101); moreover, this took the form of Jesus fulfilling the covenants of Noah in Genesis 6:18-21, 8:21-9:17 (Wright, 81), Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3, 15:1-21, 17:1-27 (Wright, 83), Sinai in Exodus 19:3-6, 19:24, Deuteronomy (Wright, 85), and David in 2 Samuel 7, 23:1-7, Psalms 89 and 132 (Wright, 88).

Wright mainly defines the first third of his book to talk about Israel and God's salvation through a process, but his second two thirds focus upon the Old Testament identity of Jesus (Wright, 103), the Old Testament mission of Jesus (Wright, 136), and the Old Testament values of Jesus (Wright, 181). Wright thus argues that the Old Testament provided Jesus with an understanding of his own identity through patterns, pictures, and models (Wright, 135), and thus Jesus knew, as seen in John 4:34, that he was sent from God to do the Father's will (Wright, 136) to bring in the new age (Wright, 147) that would bring "...the law and justice of God to the nations." (Wright, 180) Wright describes the possibility of having simplicity and clarity in the fundamental priorities and values of the law without subscribing to legalism (Wright, 191), and for Wright Jesus would have used this to have a , "...moral orientation to God and the world which he endorsed, sharpened and laid as the foundation for obedient discipleship." (Wright, 252) Overall, the point is that the last two thirds of Wright's book capitalizes on the idea that Jesus learned, practiced, and surpassed in development what the Old Testament taught for others to carry on.

Critical Evaluation

Some may have a difficult time believing that, "it was the Old Testament which helped Jesus to understand Jesus." (Wright, 108) Although the scripture says about Jesus that he grew and was filled with wisdom (Luke 2:40), some people still find Wright's view of this to be very difficult given the fact that Jesus is God (Note John 8:58). Overall, the critical question is, "How can Christ be God, but yet also grow such as in wisdom", and although Wright may not specify, the only way this could happen is by Jesus making his earthly temple less restricted to utilize more of what he already had (this meant that learning was completely different for Jesus than for mankind).

Tubbs writes about Wright's book that it, "...meanders and wanders, taking longer than necessary to make some of its points. In addition, it seems to double-back and reiterate some points already made in previous chapters." (See Tubbs) Although Tubs appears somewhat correct about his assertion of Wright, one must remember that Wright's book is written for a common audience that may not have a lot of exposure to Christian theology. Overall, with such an audience, reiterating the same points in different ways could provide a greater informational impact upon the reader, and this can be noted as Speliopoulos writes that, "...Wright does not gloss over items that might be difficult to understand." (Speliopoulos, 6)

Although Wright may not profess to be a process theologian, his work is nevertheless compatible with a world view that is permeated with process theology. What is intended by this statement is that Wright has a rather extreme view in his upholding of Arminianism, and in this regard the temptation of Jesus Christ (See Wright, 181-187) would have had more of an element of choice, for example, as opposed to what most people would be willing to affirm. The point is that for Wright to have a entire chapter on Jesus learning values, principles, and such from the Old Testament (See Wright, 181-252) what a person could conclude is that Wright makes clear by his type of thinking that if Jesus does not even already have these things (being both God and man), then mankind would have to go through the very same process but only worse in order to complete the work of Christ.

Although Wright's goal may just simply be to give the public a better understanding of Jesus Christ from a solid Old Testament perspective to compete against other works that are more propaganda based, he does not appear to view the sovereignty of Jesus Christ to be complete and fully functional at birth. The problem that could be raised is that unless Christ was running heaven while he was an infant, then he was not in charge of heaven as an infant, but if he was in charge of heaven as an infant, then the duality of Christ might be taught to explain how Jesus could learn on earth as a human and be all powerful and knowing in heaven as God. Overall, the duality of Christ is a ancient heresy that someone might speak on one extreme of Wright's work while others might suggest on the other extreme that Wright may not be advocating the complete coequal coexistent nature of Christ to stand with God the Father (both extremes bring Wright problems).

Kaiser has a similar book as Wright but the difference is that Kaiser focuses on the concept of the Messiah arising more out of prophecy whereas Wright focuses more on the Messiah arising out of a process (like the learning of the Old Testament) that shows the Father teaching the Messiah who and what he is to be through scripture. If a pastor used Wright's book for a small group study, then unlike other similar works it could be used to stimulate good conversation in Christology that could promote individuals gaining unique and differing views regarding the fundamental nature of Christ. Although some people might not look at differing views held among a congregation regarding the fundamental nature of Christ as being a good thing, Wright's book could never the less promote such questions while causing the generation of many unique solutions that may differ from one another.

Conclusion

Wright did a rather adequate job of making Jesus more understandable to the general public from his utilization of an Old Testament perspective. If however Wright intended to do a more adequate job of defending his view of a Messiah that learned from the Old Testament how to be a Messiah, then he may have been best to have taken on explanations in Christology to justify his reasoning that Jesus could both learn and be God. Although Wright's 'leaning Jesus' may appear unorthodox, this idea could be well explained to be true given the correct studies to support it. Overall, the questions that Wright raises with his learning Jesus, if asked seriously, could require a depth of theological research and study paramount to what the early church fathers had to contend with.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kaiser, Walter. The Messiah in the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1995.

Speliopoulos, Elke. Knowing Jesus Through The Old Testament by Christopher J.H. Wright. http://www.scribd.com/doc/24472283/Book-Review-Knowing-Jesus-Through-the-Old-Testament-by-Christopher-Wright (accessed August 1, 2010).

Tubbs, Brian. Jesus and the Old Testament: A Review of Christopher J.H. Wright's Book on Jesus in the OT. http://protestantism.suite101.com/article.cfm/jesus_and_the_old_testament (accessed August 1, 2010).

Wright, Christopher. Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament. Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2002.