Over a month ago, I wrote a post answering the question “Why was Jesus Baptized?” where I argued that no answer has been truly satisfying, there were two paradigms that are very helpful to me. The first paradigm, argued for in the first post, was the “tri-perspectival” paradigm where I said that the entire baptism event (baptism, Spirit descending, and the voice of God) should be held as a unity integrating ideas such as identification, anointing, and pronouncement. Please see the first post for an actual treatment of this view. In this post, I’m going to look at the Biblical-Theological view. I also want to restate that I don’t think this is an either/or issue, but that both paradigms shed led on the baptism event. Nor do I think these are the only valid paradigms. Jesus’ baptism can be found in Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, and Luke 3:21-22.
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I’ve been thinking recently on Jesus’ baptism. If John’s baptism was one that represented repentance and cleansing, why would the sinless Jesus have to receive such a baptism? I have never been fully satisfied with any one answer, and I don’t think we ever will be. With that in mind, I’m going to try and look at his baptism through two different paradigms. By doing this, I’m not saying the issue is either/or… but both/and. In other words, we shouldn’t use one paradigm to the exclusion of the other, but that both can be utilized in understanding what is going on in Jesus’ baptism. Also, by giving two paradigms, I’m not saying that these are the only two ways of looking at the issue- there maybe be several, maybe even many, others- but I am just focusing on the two that have come to my mind recently in thinking through the issue. Jesus’ baptism can be found in Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, and Luke 3:21-22.
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Immanuel in our Place: Seeing Christ in Israel’s Worship
Tremper Longman III
Paperback: 228 pages
Publisher: P & R Publishing (August 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0875526519
ISBN-13: 978-0875526515
Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
amazon.com

After Jesus had risen from the dead, he met two of his disciples as they were walking on the Emmaus Road. He told them that all of the Scriptures, the Old Testament, pointed to Him as their fulfillment. Since then, Christians have debated exactly to what extent the Old Testament points to Jesus- is it every word? Every part? Certain parts? And in what way? In the book, “Immanuel in our Place: Seeing Christ in Israel’s Worship,” Tremper Longman III seeks to give us an answer to that question– at least in regards to the Israelites’ practices of worship.

The book is part of the “The Gospel According to the Old Testament” series, and is an excellent addition, both to the series and to the Christian’s library. Longman’s writing is theologically penetrating, yet very clear and accessible, and often doxological. He handles the text with great insight, all while keeping a broad audience in view. The book is broken into four units:
Part One: Sacred Space
Part Two: Sacred Acts
Part Three: Sacred People
Part Four: Sacred Time
This review will look at the book according to these units, and not necessarily by chapter.
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One of the most defining moments in Israel’s history is the Exodus. In this event, God himself takes his chosen people out of the bondage of slavery under the Egyptians and pushes forward the next phase of his redemptive program by turning them into a nation. Within this defining event is yet another highly cherished event to the Israelites, as Moses goes up onto Mount Sinai and meet with God. It is here that he receives God’s law, the ten commandments, and the blueprints of the tabernacle that they are to build. The tabernacle is central, literally and spiritually, to Jewish life in the Exodus as it stands in the middle of the camp, symbolizing God’s special presence.
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A while back, I wrote a post entitled Redeeming Twitter for the Kingdom. I began with the statement that Christians should engage culture, with the mindset of redeeming aspects of the culture for God’s kingdom. My thoughts about cultural engagement were stirred again today by a remark by Daniel Montgomery, teaching pastor of Sojourn Community Church, in his sermon on Genesis 3 today. In a passing comment, Daniel spoke of the effect of Adam and Eve’s giving in to the serpent’s temptation as being transformational of the culture of Genesis 1 and 2. Namely, the culture of Adam and Eve living in communion with and love for God, along with Adam’s calling to cultivate the garden for the glory of God, all came crashing down with the first sin. In it’s place came a culture of alienation and fear of God, judgment, and shame.

It is in the story of the fall that we see cultural engagement. God is in the business of redeeming culture, as we will see, and that thread is woven throughout Scripture. Now, before anyone says anything, I am not claiming that this is a major tenet of belief on par with the Gospel. The main idea of the narrative is personal fall into sin, judgment, and the promise of redemption. But as Paul says in the Christ hymn of Colossians 1, God is working through Christ to reconcile all things to himself, and certainly culture is part of all things. There is a general movement in Scripture from the garden to a city, from Genesis to Revelation, where the original culture of the garden is again a reality. In fact, it is even better, because there will be no chance of this new culture being subverted.
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We Become What We Worship
G.K. Beale
Paperback: 341 pages
Publisher: IVP Academic (November 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 083082877X
ISBN-13: 978-0830828777
Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
Amazon.com
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I was reading in my text for my introduction to Old Testament I class tonight, and I ran across this great quote:

“Since the covenant is the instrument used by God to effect self-revelation, the Old Testament often appears to be a history of the covenant, or of aspects of it, more than a history of Israel. So Genesis 15-20 is a history of the establishment of the Abrahamic covenant. Exodus-Deuteronomy is a history of the establishment of the Mosaic covenant at Sinai. Joshua is a record of God’s faithfulness to the covenant, while Judges is a record of Israel’s unfaithfulness to the covenant. The books of Samuel and Kings are a history of the covenant of kingship (the Davidic covenant). It is the covenant as God’s plan that is more in focus than the people who are involved generation after generation.”

To this I would add that the prophetic writings (the nevi’im) can be seen as a call back to covenant faithfulness, as well as pointing to the covenant which was to come in Jesus Christ. This perspective of the OT leads me to wonder- what do the wisdom books show us on covenantal history?

The Ouroboros is a mythological creature, usually portrayed as a snake or a dragon. What’s particularly interesting about this creature is that it is depicted as always eating its tail, forming a circle, and stands for many things including cyclicality, fertility, and unity. It has been used in many religions and cultures throughout time including the Aztecs, Egyptians, Hinduism, and others.  The idea is that the serpent is eternally eating itself, without beginning or ending.  It is completely circular, giving rise to itself.

The debate between systematic and biblical theology has had many great thinkers on both sides throughout the years. Both sides generally portraying itself as the superior way of looking at theology and doctrine.  Systematic theology is an attempt to “systematize” what the Bible teaches on specific topics, while biblical theology is the attempt to find out what the Bible teaches through the progressive revelation of Himself to people.  In other words, systematic theology looks to define theological ideas through collecting everything the Bible says about a specific topic, say the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Biblical theology, on the other hand, reads the Bible as a narrative which “seeks to understand a certain passage in the Bible in light of all of the biblical history leading up to it and later biblical references to that passage.”
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