Use Of The Third Person For Self Reference By Jesus And Yahweh

While an individual referring to themselves in the third person may sound unusual, this phenomenon (known as illeism) is consistently and extensively reflected in the direct speech of both Jesus and Yahweh. This in turn raises various questions: why are Jesus and Yahweh presented as speaking in such a manner? Who else employs illeism in the Bible? Does it occur in the Ancient Near Eastern texts, and, if so, who utilises it? And lastly, is there a relationship between the illeism as used by Yahweh, and the illeism as used by Jesus? Elledge addresses an issue in Biblical texts often neglects by scholarship: conducting an extensive survey of the use of illeism in the Bible and the Ancient Near Eastern Texts, and presenting evidence that this phenomenon, as used by Jesus, reflects both royal and divine themes that are apparent across several different religions and cultures. Through Elledge's examinations of illeism in Classical Antiquity, Ancient Near Eastern texts and the Old and New testament, this book provides a fresh perspective on the divine use of the third person, contributing substantial analysis to the on-going discussion of Jesus' divinity and self-understanding.

Scott Brazil examines the frequent practice of applying Old Testament YHWH-texts to Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels. He argues that this YHWH-text phenomenon evidences a high Christology in the primitive church that traces back to Jesus himself. He thus finds in this Synoptic practice a stinging contradiction against the modern critical theory that a high Christology took many decades to develop in the early church and exists only in John among the canonical Gospels. Brazil surveys the Synoptic Gospels in canonical order, exegeting dozens of passages in which OT texts originally referring to YHWH are either clearly or most probably applied to Jesus. He observes the frequency, diversity, and ubiquity of the practice, as well as its wide range of OT source material and its parallel to the NT practice of applying OT messianic texts to Jesus. And from the data he offers several ramifications, including the early deliberate employment of YHWH-texts to Jesus, the likelihood that Jesus is the source of the practice, the high Christology of the Synoptics, and the redemptive-historical metanarrative that Jesus is the divine interpreter and central figure of the Jewish Scriptures. Ultimately, Brazil argues that understanding the prolific application of OT YHWH-texts to Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels cannot be neglected without truncating genuine NT Christology.

Stanley E. Porter provides descriptions of various important topics in Greek linguistics from a Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) perspective; an approach that has been foundational to Porter's long and influential career in the field of New Testament Greek. Deep insights into Porter's understanding of SFL are displayed throughout, based either upon how he positions SFL in relation to other linguistic models, or how he utilizes it to describe topics within Greek and New Testament studies. Porter reflects on his core approach to the Greek New Testament by exploring subjects such as metaphor, rhetoric, cognition, orality and textuality, as well as studies on linguistic schools of thought and traditional grammar.

The God Who Prays is a spiritual reading of Jesus' farewell prayers. Jesus began his upper room discipleship sermon on his knees, washing the disciples' feet, and he ended it with his eyes raised to heaven, consecrating himself and his disciples to the will of the Father. For Jesus the line between communion with his Father and conversation with his disciples is very thin. Dialogue and devotion go hand in hand. His Glory prayer and his Gethsemane prayer, along with his prayers from the cross, transform the disciples from pre-passion inquisitiveness and doubt to post-passion devotion and discipleship. Through answered prayer Jesus shifts the disciples from training mode to mission. His example inspires us to ask how thin the line is between praying and living. Prayer's promised efficaciousness, "whatever you ask," is locked in to our relationship with the triune God. The Father is the source of every good and perfect gift. The Son, in whose name we pray, gives the purpose and the passion for "whatever" we ask. And our Advocate, the Holy Spirit, guides us into all truth. On the eve of the crucifixion Jesus teaches us how to pray.

The expression 'Son of Man', used in the Gospels almost exclusively by Jesus, has been the object of intensive study since the Protestant Reformation, yet scholars have come to no agreement on its origin or meaning. Research in this area has been described as 'a veritable mine field' and 'a can of worms'. Because of the scope and complexity of the literature, no comprehensive survey of the subject has been written in the twentieth century. Delbert Burkett's book fills this need. It provides a comprehensive historical overview of the debate from the patristic period to 1996, and gives an evaluation of that research and a summation of the present state of the question. Burkett concludes that despite nineteen centuries of 'Son of Man' study there is no consensus concerning the meaning or origin of the expression; the debate is therefore a prime example of the limits of New Testament scholarship.

Provides a detailed exegetically based study of Biblical theology, showing the canonical basis for later historical, systematic, and dogmatic theologies.

This volume brings together twenty-two essays on the Gospel and the Epistles of John, published in the period 1980-2014. They are the fruit of a lifelong fascination with the Johannine literature, first with the Gospel, later also with the Epistles. The first twelve chapters concern themes from Johannine literature: translation, theological issues, use and significance of the Old Testament and of Jewish tradition, and introductory questions concerning John's Epistles. The next ten chapters are studies of individual passages from Gospel and Epistles, with a special interest in passages in which interpretation of Scripture figures prominently. Together, the chapters show that a Christology centring on the human being Jesus as the only revealer of God is the heart of Johannine theology, that the Jewish Scriptures are used in John's Gospel to legitimate Jesus as God's revealer, and that this Gospel is a writing that claims to constitute a new Holy Scripture.