THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CENTRALITY OF THE CRUCIFIXION IN A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF MISSION PRESENTED TO DR. HOWARD OWENS

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1 THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CENTRALITY OF THE CRUCIFIXION IN A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF MISSION PRESENTED TO DR. HOWARD OWENS ICST 5213C: BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF MISSIONS BY TREVOR RAY SLONE MANHATTAN, KS AUGUST 7, 2012

2 Crucifixion was something that had been done for many, many years for various reasons in the ancient world. There was even a king in the ancient world that is said to have crucified eight hundred Pharisees at once to show his disdain for their religion. 1 The English word cross comes from the Latin word crux, 2 and the terms crucify, crucified, and crucifying appear a total of 51 times in the NIV translation of the New Testament, thirty-eight of these occurrences being found in the gospels. 3 So it would seem that, considering the fact that the crucifixion of Jesus only takes up a small portion of the gospels, it is nevertheless mentioned enough times to indicate that it is significant simply by word count. These terms actually show up twelve times in chapter 19 of John s gospel alone. 4 There are also certain passages in the New Testament, such as 1 Corinthians 2:2 and Galatians 6:14 that make it abundantly clear that the crucifixion of Christ is vital to the Christian message. Therefore, the primary purpose of this paper is to discuss the importance of the centrality of the crucifixion in a proper biblical theology of mission, for the goal of Christians is to reach the world with the gospel and make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:18-20), and if the crucifixion is such an important part of the Christian message, then it seems only fitting that Christians properly understand the need to make it an integral and principal part of their preaching and teaching as they bring the gospel to the various ends of the earth. So, the first thing that will be discoursed in this paper will be a brief survey of a few major Old Testament passages that contain prophecies about the crucifixion, followed by a quick look at some passages from Paul s epistles that stress the importance of preaching the crucifixion, followed then by a brief discussion regarding why exactly the crucifixion is in fact so central and vital to the Christian mission and message. This paper will then end with some concluding 1 My New Testament Survey course teacher in undergraduate school told us this during class one day. 2 Kevin Green, Zondervan All-In-One Bible Reference Guide (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), Edward W. Goodrick and John R. Kohlenberger III, The Strongest NIV Exhaustive Concordance (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), Ibid.

3 remarks, including a recap of what has been discussed herein and also a few comments about what can be done to utilize this information more effectively in future evangelistic endeavors. Old Testament Prophecies About the Crucifixion According to The Popular Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy, Zechariah 12:10 contains a prophecy regarding the crucifixion of Jesus. 5 The part of the verse that seems to most adequately fit the situation of the crucifixion is, and they will look at Me whom they pierced (HCSB). It is not hard to see here how this passage is referring to the crucifixion, for Acts 2:23 indicates that they put Jesus to death by nailing Him to a cross, which would necessitate piercing his body. Also, according to the Charts of Apologetics and Christian Evidences, Isaiah 53:12 contains a prophecy that Jesus will be crucified with criminals. 6 This verse indicates that the Christ will be counted among the rebels (HCSB). Now, it is true that Jesus was crucified with two criminals (Luke 23:32-43), but is this really a prophecy about Jesus being crucified? It does not seem to be, for it says nothing about anything related directly to crucifixion. It does contain prophecy regarding specific details about the way Jesus was crucified, but again it seems as though to call this passage a prophecy of the crucifixion specifically is too much of a stretch, and so this claim must be rejected. The last Old Testament passage that is going to be discussed in this section that contains a prophecy regarding the crucifixion of Jesus is Isaiah 53:5. This passage indicates that the Christ will be pierced for our transgressions (NIV). It has already been shown above that Jesus was nailed to the cross, which is a clear indication that he was crucified. This piercing, like that of 5 Ed Hindson, Jesus Christ, in The Popular Book of Bible Prophecy, eds. Tim Lahaye and Ed Hindson (Eugene: Harvest House Publishers, 2004), H. Wayne House and Joseph M. Holden, Charts of Apologetics and Christian Evidences (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006), chart 50.

4 Zechariah 12:10, is most likely referring to the piercing of Jesus hands and feet during the crucifixion. It is imperative to know and remember that prophecies are important regarding the crucifixion because they are further indications that the crucifixion was part of God s divine plan for the Messiah. Many critics of Christianity, including Muslim and Liberal scholars, reject the doctrine of salvation through the cross on moral grounds. 7 They seem to think that there is no way that God would condone such a horrible act as crucifixion of an innocent man. However, Jesus was in complete control of His own destiny, 8 for after all, Jesus is God (John 1:1) and so in a certain sense it was His own plan to have Himself crucified, 9 which means that He most certainly did condone it. There will be further discussion of the purpose of the crucifixion, including an additional reference to Isaiah 53:5, below. Paul and the Centrality of the Crucifixion There are several passages in Paul s epistles that make it very clear that Christ s crucifixion was central to his missionary cause, and so that it should be central for the mission message of all Christians today as well. In 1 Corinthians 1:13 Paul asks the question, Was Paul crucified for you (NIV)? In this context Paul is trying to get the members of the Corinthian church to realize and understand that they should not be taking sides and creating factions within the church, because it is Christ and Him alone who was crucified for the world, and therefore He alone should be the one that Christians group themselves with within the church when it comes to who they give allegiance to. 7 Norman L. Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1999), Mark L. Strauss, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Luke (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), I am not here attempting to equate the Father with the Son, but ultimately the Trinity is only one God.

5 Also, in 1 Corinthians 1:23 Paul says that We preach Christ Crucified (NIV). Paul is here making it known that preaching Christ without the crucifixion is meaningless. It will be discussed below why this is the case, but for now just see and know that this is the case. The next two passages to be discussed here show the absolute centrality of the crucifixion in Paul s preaching and his message. 1 Corinthians 2:2 says, For I have determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified (HCSB), and Galatians 6:14 says, But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world (HCSB). In the first of these passages, 1 Corinthians 2:2, Paul states that there is ultimately nothing more important to know for him than Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It was simply not enough, as far as Paul was concerned, for him to go about his missionary efforts, briefly mentioning the cross whenever it felt convenient. It was not Paul s intention to try and comfort people by avoiding such a gruesome topic and instead discussing the kind of things that so many people preach about today, such as forgiveness of sins, salvation from damnation, help in times of trouble, comfort when one is hurting, or love for those that feel unloved. It is true that all of these things are a part of the Christian message, and it is true that Jesus Christ offers such things to those that honestly and earnestly seek Him, but, as Paul was keenly aware, these things are not the most important aspect of the Christian memorandum. No, it was Christ and Him crucified that led Paul to stretch his mind and his body to its limits, to be willing to go to prison time and time again, to travel from place to place, being homeless and working with his own hands even though he was once a wealthy Pharisee who might have even had servants of his own prior to becoming a Christian. This should make everyone who reads Paul s letters acutely aware of the prominence and eminence of preaching, teaching, knowing, and pondering Christ and His crucifixion, especially

6 when one is sharing the gospel with others, for if this was so critical a point for Paul, should it not be just as critical for Christians today? This is very important to for the purpose of this paper, as it shows the vastness of value that the crucifixion of Christ carries with regard to the Christian mission message. In this second passage here, from Galatians, Paul makes another very similar statement, this time indicating that he has no intentions of being proud of or bragging about anything other than the cross of Christ. Why is this so? Paul says here that because Christ was crucified, and since Paul is in Christ as a believer, the world has been crucified to him and so the only thing that is now worthy of his time and attention on the most fundamental of levels is the cross of Christ, which is the essence of where salvation comes from. These passages from Paul s letters show that the crucifixion of Christ was absolutely essential to the message that Paul wished to convey to those that he came into contact with. It was not merely something that Paul thought about from time to time, but rather it was what Paul strove to consume himself with day and night. But why was this so? Why was Paul so infatuated with such a proposition as that the Christ, the Anointed One of God sent to earth to save His people from eternal destruction, had been brutally beaten and then experienced the most horrendous of punishments imaginable, even as the spotless Lamb that He was? Why was this concept constantly and consistently on the front burner of Paul s theology and discourse with his fellow man? This is what will now be discussed for the remainder of this paper, followed finally by some brief concluding remarks. Why the Crucifixion of Christ is Central to a Proper Biblical Theology of Mission

7 Elmer Towns refers to the crucifixion of Jesus as the most significant event in human history. 10 Why is this so? Why is the death of this man born in Bethlehem so imperative to the Christian mission and a proper portrayal of the Christian message? In Romans 3:25 Paul points out that God presented him [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement (NIV). The cross provides a potent symbol of the sacrifice that Jesus made to save humanity from sin the doctrine that lies at the heart of Christian belief. 11 This idea that Jesus dying on the cross was a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the world can be seen in Isaiah 53:5, where Isaiah wrote that the Messiah would be pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities (NIV). John alluded to this in chapter 3 verse 16 of his gospel when he said that God gave His Son so that the world could have eternal life by believing in Him. This term gave insinuates that God renounced or handed over His Son. These are typical synonymous phrases and terms with the term gave. How did God hand over His Son? In Revelation 13:8 the apostle John mentions that the Lamb, Jesus, was slain from the foundation of the world. All of this, along with the prophecies discussed above, points to the reality that Jesus being crucified was part of God s plan to save the human race from the very beginning. But what does the human race need to be saved from? Bernard Ramm mentions that We do not know how to imagine, comprehend, measure, or conceptualize the divine reaction to sin until we know the divine remedy to sin, namely, that the Son of God had to go the way of the cross to solve the problem posed by our sin. 12 So, as Ramm points out here, sin is the problem that man needs to be saved from, but Ramm also remarks that humans cannot grasp how much God hates sin until they see and understand that God had His Son crucified to atone for sin. This 10 Elmer Towns, The Gospel of John: Believe and Live (Chattanooga: Scofield Ministries, 2002), Philip Wilkinson, Religions: Visual Reference Guides (New York: Metro Books, 2010), Bernard Ramm, Offense to Reason: A Theology of Sin (Vancouver: Regent College Publishing, 2000), 38.

8 expresses the magnitude of sin, for crucifixion was essentially the most brutal death that someone could die in ancient times. Although some people in ancient times used crucifixion fairly laxly, to prove a point regarding the kind of people that they did and did not like (like the king mentioned in the introduction), for the most part in the ancient world crucifixion was reserved for the most treacherous of criminals and crimes. Sure today blasphemy is not generally looked at as a serious sin, but in ancient times, to the Jews there was no higher crime that anyone could commit. This is how significant all sin is in the eyes of God. He literally had His Son put to death in the most horrendous way possible so that man, through repentance, faith, and confession, could be cleansed of his sin and saved from sin and an eternity in Hell. What does all of this have to do with a proper biblical theology of mission? Well, if man must be saved from his sin, and if man cannot properly understand the gravity of sin without also understanding and knowing about the crucifixion of Jesus, then it would certainly seem as though proper evangelism would include a discussion of the crucifixion. Not just the fact of the crucifixion, but also the purpose of the crucifixion. It must be made known to those whom Christians preach to that without the crucifixion there can be no salvation from sin, because that was the predetermined way that God decided Christ would die before the beginning of time, so if there is no crucifixion then there is no messianic death; and if there is no messianic death then there is no atonement for sin. Also, if Christ has not been crucified, then He cannot be resurrected, and if Christ has not been raised, then in the words of the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:14-19, our faith is futile, the Christian message is worthless, and there is no hope for anyone to be saved from their sins! This is why it is categorically crucial that Christians preach Christ and Him crucified whenever they are sharing the gospel with others, and also why they must focus on understanding the reality and the theology behind the atonement, as well as

9 sin, redemption, and everything else that has anything to do with Christian theology, for it all ties in to the crucifixion one way or another. Conclusion In conclusion, this paper has established that there are several Old Testament passages that allude to or contain prophecies about the crucifixion of Christ. It has also been shown that Paul thought that it was absolutely vital to his Christian walk and message that he focus primarily on Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and that everything else was at best secondary to him, and at worst completely and utterly worthless. Finally, why the crucifixion is so important to a proper theology of mission was discussed. I have known that the crucifixion is central to the Christian message for some time now, as that is why I have 1 Cor. 2:2 tattooed onto my right arm. I plan on taking the information in this paper to heart though in my future evangelistic endeavors. Everyone wants to talk about how Jesus can save people from pain, suffering, and sin, but no one seems to want to emphasize, or even discuss the crucifixion, other than on Easter Sunday, or so it seems. I plan on continuing to make a consistent and conscious effort to stress the importance of not only knowing about the crucifixion and the purpose of it, but also how it fits into and is unequivocally central to the mission message that Jesus commanded us to go out into the world and preach as we make disciples of all nations. I also plan on making it a point to try and help other Christians become more fully aware of the necessity of stressing the crucifixion of Christ, both in their own private walks with God and as they go out and share their faith with others. After all, we serve a risen Christ! What could be more glorious than sharing with the world that our God, the one and only True God, has not just been crucified, but has beaten death, and He did it so that we could all have a chance to spend eternity in His presence in the age to come? I certainly can t think of anything more stupendous than that! Can you?

10 Bibliography Geisler, Norman L. Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, Goodrick, Edward W., and John R. Kohlenberger III. The Strongest NIV Exhaustive Concordance. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, Green, Kevin. Zondervan All-In-One Bible Reference Guide. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, Hindson, Ed. Jesus Christ. in The Popular Book of Bible Prophecy. eds. Tim Lahaye and Ed Hindson. Eugene: Harvest House Publishers, 2004, House, H. Wayne, and Joseph M. Holden. Charts of Apologetics and Christian Evidences. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, Ramm, Bernard. Offense to Reason: A Theology of Sin. Vancouver: Regent College Publishing, Strauss, Mark L. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Luke. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, Towns, Elmer. The Gospel of John: Believe and Live. Chattanooga: Scofield Ministries, Wilkinson, Philip. Religions: Visual Reference Guides. New York: Metro Books, 2010.

THE GRAMMATICAL-HISTORICAL METHOD OF BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION PRESENTED TO DR. WAYNE LAYTON BIBL 5723A: BIBLICAL HERMENEUTICS TREVOR RAY SLONE

THE GRAMMATICAL-HISTORICAL METHOD OF BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION PRESENTED TO DR. WAYNE LAYTON BIBL 5723A: BIBLICAL HERMENEUTICS BY TREVOR RAY SLONE MANHATTAN, KS AUGUST 30, 2012 There has always been a battle