Mission in the New Testament

Joshva Raja

Mission in the New TestamentConstruction of Historical Jesus in the four

Gospels – Evangelists/Communities used creative and responsible freedom in retaining and adopting Jesus’ traditions

Listen to the Past in order to speak to the present and future

Gaps and Connections – historical gaps – marginal communities find similarities

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Not Form, Redaction nor social rather critical hermeneutics – Not looking for an Objective statement of reality out there rather interpreted reality

Correspondence between the self definition of early Christians and todays

Self definition of Early Christians lead to self definition of Jesus

Jesus and Israel – Greek and Roman influence – Jewish Proselytes and God fearers – Qumran to evangelize Jews

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Q/LogiaMission statement only to IsraelGentiles Mt 3:9; Mt 12:41Warning to the privileges of Jews –Mt 8:10;

Mt 15:28; Mt 8:11-13; Mt 21:31Gentile Mission is post-Easter discovery –

Jesus himself laid the foundation for Gentile Mission

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Jesus and Universal Mission?F Hahn (Mission in the New Testament) and four

solutions to the question – Was Jesus interested in the mission to Gentiles?

Answer (a) – yes Jesus was full fledged missionary to Gentiles

(b) Jesus did not inaugurate a Gentile mission during his life time but that he did have such a program in mind and after his resurrection, so instructed his disciples

(c)Gentile mission was a product of the early church’s reflection on the universal dimensions of Jesus’ teachings

(d) Jesus’ resurrection convinced the early Christian community that the final age of salvation has dawned.

Missio Jesus Incarnation Model (Salt)Healing Model (Physician)Preaching Model (Stones)Demonstration Model (Water)Transfiguration Model (Light)Resurrection (Wheat)Crusification (Wine)

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…there is only one foundation.

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Early Church and MissionEarly Christians part of Jewish or separate

community? Gentile Christians to be circumcised?

Hebrew or Greek speaking Jewish self-understanding

Between end time and not yet – eschatological self-understanding

Mission replaced by the expectation of the end and mission itself an eschatological event

Pharisees and SynagogueJoshva Raja SOCMS 8

Post Jesus Apostolic model (sent)Martyrdom model (die)Social service model (share)Church model (relate)Letter model (command)Spiritual model (fill)Witness model (live)

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Jesus and Early Church practices Christian mission involves the person of Jesus himself

Early Christian Mission was political, revolutionary and subversive

Inter-alia new relationship between Jews, Gentiles, men and women…

Marana Tha (our Lord come) – Lived in hope and not yet fulfilled – not utopians nor to establish the reign

Martyria witness with the blood of Jesus and followers

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Paul and MissionContext of Paul’s Mission

Wandering preachersGreek Speaking Jewish ChristiansJudaizing Christian MissionariesDivisions and CommunitiesPersecution of Christians

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Mission strategies1. to preach Jesus where not yet preached Rom

15:232. A Sense of Urgency - being in Christ3. Cooperative and Community based mission4. Mission as function of the Church5. Self-confidence and self-consciousness6. A sense of concern to bring people to Christ

– a sense of responsibility to Gentiles – a sense of gratitude and privilege to proclaim

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Paul Missionary paradigmThe church as a new Community (Eph 2:15)Mission to Jews (Rom 9-11)Mission in God’s imminent Triumph Mission and Transformation of SocietyMission in WeaknessMission with aims and goals

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Mission as HermeneuticsParticular to Universal a. temporal from

creation to eschatological –Mission is a movement into a future b. spatial from one place to another place – mission is a movement into new horizons c. people from person to person and from people to people – mission is a movement to new people. (Bauckham)

ExamplesParable of the Seed – Mark 4:26-29 –

Growing from seed to harvest – eschatological

Parable of the Mustard seed – Mark 4:30-33From one to Many – Abraham From Israel to all nations To all by the way of least

Particulars in tension

Antitotalizing Biblical MetanarrativeJ Richard Middleton and B J WalshBiblical Narrative (p88ff) – Christian story

works against totalization!Two main cases are: 1. Radical sensitivity to

suffering that pervades the biblical narrative from the exodus to the cross 2.God’s overarching creational intent that delegitimates any narrow partisan use of the story

Atitotalising Mission of JesusBe Holy as I am holy (Lev 19:2)Be merciful as I am Merciful (Lk 6:36)Jesus says love your enemies (Mt 5:43-44)Jesus declared temple as a den of robbers

(Mt 11:17)Jesus movement as counter movement

culmination at the cross

Reading listRichard Bauckham Bible and Mission: Christian

Witness in a Postmodern World. Cumbria: Paternoster Press. 2003. pp.83-110J Richard Middleton & Brian J W Trugh is

Stranger…pp.85-142.The Bible and Culture Collective (George Aichele

et el) The Postmodern Bible. Yale University Press. 1997.A K M Adam Postmodern Interpretation of the

Bible: A Reader Chalice Press, 2000.David Jobling, Tina Pippin, Ronald Schleifer (ed)

The Postmodern Bible Reader Oxford: Blackwell, 2001.