An edition of The death of Christ
(1902)
The death of Christ
Its place and interpretation in the New Testament.
by James Denney
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The death of Christ
1981, Keats Pub.
in English
- Shepherd illustrated classic ed.
0879832584 9780879832582
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The death of Christ: Its place and interpretation in the New Testament.
1911, Hodder and Stoughton
in English
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The death of Christ: its place and interpretation in the New Testament
1903, A.C. Armstrong
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Book Details
Published in
London, England
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Conception of the New Testament: its unity not artificial, 1
Misused distinctions: historical and dogmatic, biblical and systematic, material and formal, 3
The death of Christ a real subject in the New Testament, 6
Outline of study, 7
CHAPTER I
THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS
The mind of Christ and the mind of the evangelists, 8
The idea that Our Lord's death must have been foreign to His mind when He entered on His work, 8
Relation to this idea of the narratives of His Baptism and Temptation, 9
Significance of the Baptism in particular, 10
The first suggestions of our Lord's death and allusions to it, 16
The taking away of the Bridegroom (Mark ii. 19), and the sign of Jonah (Matt. xii. 40), 17
The express predictions of the Passion: critical questions connected with them,
(Mark viii. 31, Mark ix. 31, Mark x. 32, and parallels) — their historicity, 19
Sense in which Christ's death was necessary:
(a) Inevitable? 21
(b) Indispensable? 21
Relation of these two conceptions in the mind of Jesus, 23
Bearing of Old Testament Scripture on this point, 24
What the unintelligence of the disciples meant, 25
The Ransom saying: 26
Its historical context, 27
Its interpretation —
(a) Hollmann's view criticised, 28
(b) Wendt's " " 29
Clue to the meaning —
(а) In other words of Jesus, 80
(b) In passages of the Old Testament, 81
The meaning of Kopher as the equivalent of [], 82
The Lord's Supper: 33
Views of Spitta and Hollmann criticised, 84
The idea of covenant-blood: relation of sacrifice in general to propitiation, 37
Exodus xxiv. and Jeremiah xxxi. in relation to the words of Jesus, 38
The idea that 'the remission of sins' in Matt. xxvi. 28 is put into a relation to Christ's death which is inconsistent with His teaching as a whole, 41
Propitiation a mode of mediation, 42
CHAPTER II
THE EARLIEST CHRISTIAN PREACHING
Results of last chapter in relation to our Lord's experience in
Gethsemane and on the Cross — not refuted but illustrated, 44
Original attitude of the disciples to the words of Jesus, 47
The Resurrection: the intercourse of the Risen Christ with the disciples according to the New Testament — critical problems, 48
The great commission: 49
Matt, xxviii. 18 ff., Mark xvi. 15 f., Luke xxiv. 47 f., John xx. 21 f.,
Refers either (a) to Baptism, or (b) to Forgiveness, 50
In the New Testament these are inter-related and related to
the death of Jesus, 52
Importance of this for the unity of the New Testament, 52
The opening chapters of Acts:
Critical problems again, 53
Primitive character of the Christology, 54
Prominence of the Resurrection — why? 54
Refutation of the idea that the death of the Messiah is only an offence which the Resurrection enables the disciples to overcome, 55
How the earliest Christian preaching made the death of Christ intelligible.
Its connection (1) with a divine purpose, 57
(2) with the prophecy of the Servant of the Lord, 57
(3) with the forgiveness of sins, 58
The Sacraments in Acts, and their significance in this connection, 59
The First Epistle of St. Peter:
Its 'Pauline' features, 61
A 'witness' to the sufferings of Christ, 62
The important passages:
(1) The salutation, i. 1 f. — the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ — relation to Exodus xxiv., 63
(2) 'Redeemed from a vain conversation,' i. 18 f. — originality of this idea — what it leaves unexplained, 65
(3) 'Who Himself bore our sins,' ii. 20 ff. — mingling of prophecy and testimony — Christ's sufferings exemplary, yet more — what it is to bear sin — sin-bearing and substitution — the purpose of Christ in bearing our sins, 67
(4) 'Who died for sins once, the just for the unjust' — aim of this: to conduct us to God, 72
Imitation of Christ conditioned by the consciousness of redemption, 74
The Second Epistle ascribed to Peter, 76
CHAPTER III
THB EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL
Preliminary considerations affecting the estimate of St Paul's whole treatment of this subject: 77
(1) The assurance with which he preaches a gospel in which Christ's death is fundamental — his 'intolerance' 78
(2) The relation of his doctrine to the common Christian tradition, 79
(3) Alleged development in his teaching, and inferences from such development, 82
(4) 'Experimental' and 'apologetic' elements in it — 'testimony' and 'theology' — 'fact' and 'theory': these distinctions criticised, 85
(5) Connection in St. Paul's mind of Christ's death and resurrection, 87
Relations in which St. Paul defines Christ's death:
(1) To the love of God, 88
(2) To the love of Christ, 89
(3) To the sin of men. Connection of sin and death as He conceived it — death must he interpreted through the conscience — Menegoz on an alleged incoherence of the apostle, 90
The witness of the epistles on these points:
1 Thessalonians v. 10, 'Who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with Him,' 93
1 Corinthians — general references — 'the word of the Cross' — 'bought with a price'— the passages on the Sacraments in ch. x. and ch. xi. — extreme importance of these— Christ our Passover, 94
2 Corinthians — 'the sufferings of Christ' and 'the dying of Jesus' in ch. i. and ch. iv 99
The locus classicus in v. 14 ff. — professedly contains a theory: Christ died our death, 100
Meaning of [] (Reconciliation) in St. Paul — Christ's finished work — necessity for evangelising that there should be such a work, 103
Christ made sin for us: meaning and purpose of this, 105
Religious and ethical, theological and psychological, expressions of the same idea: how they support each other, 107
Galatians — exclusively occupied with this subject —
Christianity asserted as the sum of the effects produced by Christ's death, and by that alone, 107
Rationale of this as St. Paul's experience: how Christ's death is conceived and preached so as to have the power which produces such effects, 109
Conception of Christ 'under the law': what it means,
The law (a) as expressing God's will for men, (b) as expressing God's judgment on men, 111
The last is necessary to explain Gal. iii. 13, and to make it intelligible that Christ's death is a demonstration of love to the sinful, 112
Evasions of this argument:
(1) Only the ceremonial law is in question in Galatians, 113
(2) Only the Jews are in question, 113
(3) Curse is only equivalent to Cross, 114
The ethical passages in Galatians: v. 24 and vi. 14, 116
Romans — the Righteousness of God demonstrated at the Cross, iii. 21 ff., 117
The Righteousness of God includes:
(1) the fact that He is Himself righteous, 118
(2) that He justifies (or holds as righteous) him who believes in Jesus, 118
Jesus Christ set forth in propitiatory power in His blood is the demonstration of this righteousness in both its elements, 119
Attempts to obliterate the distinction:
(1) Those which do not see the problem with which the apostle is dealing, 120
(2) Those which profess to find the key to St. Paul in 2 Isaiah and the Psalms — Ritschl's idea that the righteousness of God always has its correlate in the righteousness of His people, 121
(3) Seeberg's view, that God to be righteous is bound to provide for fellowship between Himself and men, and is pleased to do it in this way, 123
To understand St. Paul, we must discern Law and Necessity in the relation of Christ's death to sin, 126
Manner in which St. Paul deduces all Christianity from Christ set forth in His blood as a propitiation, 127
Criticism of the current idea that he has two doctrines of reconciliation, a 'juridical' and an 'ethicomystical' one: views of Weiss, Ritschl, Holtzmann, 128
True relation of Romans vi. to Romans iii., 130
Faith in Christ Who died includes in it a death:
(1) to sin, 134
(2) to the flesh, 135
(3) to law, 137
Place of the Spirit in St. Paul's teaching in this connection, 138
The Epistles of the Imprisonment — reconciliation extended from man to the universe, 140
Spiritual beings whose fortunes are bound up with those of men: the Scripture support for such an idea, 141
An imaginative expression for the absoluteness of the Christian religion, 143
Reconciliation of men to each other as a fruit of Christ's death, 145
The Pastoral Epistles, 145
CHAPTER IV
THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS
Various affinities of this epistle: primitive Christianity, Paulinism, Alexandrian thought, 148
The most theological writing of the New Testament: its use of [], 150
Relations of Christ's Person and work in it according as we start from:
(а) the Incarnation — Westcott, 151
(b) the Priesthood — Seeberg, 152
Christ's death defined by relation to God and His love: (a) directly, ii. 9, (6) indirectly by allusion (1) to His commission, (2) to His obedience, 154
Christ's death defined by relation to sin (i. 4 and passim): it is everywhere a sacrificial death, 155
Sacrifice in this epistle to be interpreted in connection with Priesthood, 157
Priesthood represents, embodies, -and makes possible a fellowship of God and man, 158
A priest is necessary in religion to deal with sin by way of sacrifice, 158
Ways of interpreting this:
(1) Nature of the relation between Christ's death and sin deduced from the effect on man ascribed to the death — meaning of[]in Hebrews, 159
(2) The effect on man deduced from the conception of Christ's sacrificial death as a finished work, 162
What gives Christ's death its propitiatory power? 164
Examination of ch. ix. 14: 'He offered Himself through eternal spirit,' 165
The author held the common Christian view of the relation of death and sin, 166
Examination of the passage in x. 1-10: 'to do Thy will, O God,' 167
In what sense obedience is the principle of the Atonement, 168
Connection between the work of Christ and man's salvation by it: the relation of the ideas expressed by Substitute and Representative, 169
Place and meaning of faith in this epistle, 173
CHAPTER V
THE JOHANNINE WRITINGS
Critical considerations, 174
I. The Apocalypse:
The doxology in i. 5 f.: what inspires the Christian praise of Christ, 175
The Lamb as it had been slain (v. 6-14), 177
The Blood of the Lamb (vii. 14, xii. 11) — connecting links in thought, 178
The Lamb's Book of Life, 179
THE DEATH OF CHRIST
II. The Gospel:
General representation: redemption through revelation rather than revelation through redemption — current contrasts of St. Paul and St. John criticised, 181
Place of Christ's death in the gospel often underestimated, 182
Examination of explicit references:
(1) i. 29: Behold the Lamb of God, etc., 184
(2) ii. 19: Destroy this Temple, 184
(3) iii. 14, viii. 28, xii. 32: The 'lifting up' of the Son of Man — death as glorifying, 185
(4) vi. 51 f.: ' My flesh for the life of the world/ 186
(5) x. 11 f.: The Good Shepherd, 187
(6) xi. 49: The prophecy of Caiaphas, 187
(7) xii. 24, 27: The corn of wheat, etc., 188
(8) xii. 38: The quotation of Isaiah liii., 188
(9) xv. 13: 'Greater love hath no man than this,' 189
(10) xvii. 19: ' For their sakes I sanctify Myself' 189
(11) xviii.-xix.: The story of the Passion, 189
All this interpreted in relation to the love of God and the necessity of men as sinners liable to die in their sins — comparison with St. Paul, 191
III. The Epistle: comparison and contrast with the Gospel, 195
(1) It defines Christ's death more explicitly by relation to sin, i. 7 ; ii. 1 f. ; iii. 5 ; iv. 10. Criticism of Westcott's interpretation of ' the blood of Christ, 195
(2) Conception of Christ as [] — the correlatives of [] are sacrifice, intercession, and law, 197
(3) Propitiation and the love of God definable only through each other, 199
Place of the Sacraments in the Gospel and First Epistle of St. John— examination of 1 John v. 6 f., 200
Relation of the historical and the spiritual in Christianity generally, 202
The death of Christ in St. John as a victory over Satan, 203
CHAPTER VI
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST IN PREACHING AND IN THEOLOGY
No abstract distinction to be drawn between theology and preaching, 205
Considerations in relation to preaching:
(1) No gospel without Atonement, 206
The sense of debt to Christ in the New Testament, 207
The characteristics of the Atonement must he reflected in the gospel:
(a) Perfection — 'full salvation now' 208
(b) Assurance — Romish and Protestant tendencies, 209
(c) Finality — what justification means, 212
(2) There may be various ways of approaching this central truth of the Christian faith— -our Lord's method with His disciples, 213
Kierkegaard on the sense in which the Father comes before the Son, though no man comes to the Father but through the Son, 216
Relation in Christ of Example and Reconciler — what is our point of contact with Christ? 218
(3) St. Paul's meaning in delivering 'first of all' that Christ died for our sins, 219
(4) Sense of sin in relation to the Atonement (a) as the condition of accepting or understanding it ; (b) as its fruit, 220
(5) The issues of this gospel — life or death, 224
Theological considerations:
(1) The Atonement is the key to the unity and therefore to the inspiration of Scripture. The inspiration of Scripture and its unity are correlative terms, 227
(2) The Atonement is the proper evangelical foundation for a doctrine of the Person of Christ, 230
Harnack's attempt to dispense with Christology — why it is impracticable, 231
(3) The Incarnation not intelligible or credible, except when defined by relation to the Atonement — speculative, ethical, and dogmatic reasons alleged against this — view of Westcott carried to its logical issue by Archdeacon Wilson. Grounds for rejecting this view: 232
(a) It shifts the centre of gravity in the New Testament, 235
(b) It puts metaphysical questions in the place of moral ones, 236
(c) It displaces passion by sentimentalism, 237
(4) The Atonement is the basis for an adequate doctrine of God— sense in which the New Testament teaches that God is love— sin as that which is proof against such love, 237
(5) The Atonement at the foundation of Christian ethics as of Christian life — Law glorified in the Passion and made an irresistible, ethical impulse, 240
CHAPTER VII
THE ATONEMENT AND THE MODERN MIND
Sense in which the Atonement and the Christian religion are equivalent, 243
Sympathy and antipathy of the mind in relation to Christianity, 244
The Atonement historically revealed, 245
The modern mind and 'authority' 246
Simplest expression for the Atonement: its basis in experience, 249
The appeal against it to the Prodigal Son, 251
Characteristics of the modern mind affecting its attitude to atonement, 253
Those induced by the influence of physical and particularly of biological study — some favourable, some the reverse 255
Relation to the consciousness of sin, 257
Those induced by the idealist movement in philosophy — disinclination or inability to take Christ at His own estimate, 259
Those induced by the historical method of study — relativity of all things — no revelation of the eternal in time — this temper within the Church — significance of the Johannine books, 262
Two just requirements of the modern mind:
(1) Everything must he based on experience, 266
(2) Everything in religion must be ethically construed, 267
CHAPTER VIII
SIN AND THE DIVINE REACTION AGAINST IT
The situation to which the Atonement is related: that of sinful men, 269
The relations of God and men are personal, 270
But they are also ethical, i.e. determined by something of universal import — by law, 271
This does not mean that they are 'forensic' or 'legal,' 271
St. Paul's view on this point, 273
The ethical relations of God and man have been disordered by sin, 277
No theory of the origin of sin needed: evolution and a fall universal experiences, 277
The reaction against sin:
(a) in conscience, 278
(b) in nature, 279
Ultimate unity of the natural and the moral order presupposed in the Scripture view of sin and atonement, 280
Many arguments against atonement based on unreal separation of the natural and the moral order, 281
Biblical Doctrine of Sin and Death: its real meaning, 282
Not refuted by insensibility to death, 286
Nor even by the ethical transformation of death into martyrdom, 289
CHAPTER IX
CHRIST AND MAN IN THE ATONEMENT
Possible ideas about sin and forgiveness: -
(1) Forgiveness is impossible, 291
(2) It may be taken for granted, 292
The Christian doctrine: it is mediated through atonement, 293
The divine necessity for the Atonement — Athanasius and Anselm give imperfect expression to it — Paul on the [] in the propitiation, 294
The human necessity for it — regenerative repentance the fruit of the Atonement, 297
Relation of the divine and the human necessity to each other, 299
Definition of Christ's relation to man in the Atonement, 301
The conceptions of substitution and representation, 302
The true relation of these two conceptions, 305
Analogies to Christ's Atonement, and their limits, 307
Sense in which Christ's life is absorbed in His death, 309
Significance of the Resurrection in a true appreciation of the Atonement, 312
Wrong inferences from Col. i. 24: Christ never ceases to be Redeemer, nor believers to be the redeemed, 313
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