332 - God in the New Testament: Preliminary Soundings

God in the New Testament: Preliminary Soundings
By Pheme Perkins

"As it attempts to grapple with the questions raised by religious pluralism and the claim that God is universally: sovereign, source of creation and salvation, theology today requires a thorough exegetical inquiry, into the biblical version of God."

THOUGH there have been a number of books devoted to the concept of God in the Old Testament,¹ the best New Testament scholars have to offer are studies of particular aspects of it speech about God.² New Testament scholars often presume that much of what the New Testament says about God is "conventional" Jewish piety or is to be considered a radical revision of that piety.³ The question of God only emerges in New Testament studies in reconstructions of Jesus' kingdom preaching or in treatments of the development of Christology.

Often theological appropriation of New Testament material follows these lines. Walter Kasper provides a striking example of such a reduction of the New Testament material. He begins with the creed, "God the Father Almighty," acknowledges the critique of "Fatherhood" language in psychoanalytic, feminist, and Marxist circles, and then asserts as normative a "biblical view" of God as Father, which claims to be derived from Jesus' preaching. Jesus' message of the

Pheme Perkins is Professor of New Testament at Boston College. She is widely known for her ethical and theological studies of the New Testament, such as The Gnostic Dialogue (1980), Reading the New Testament (1978), Love Commands in the New Testament,( 1982), and Resurrection,( 1984).

¹ For example, Dale Patrick, The Rendering of God in the Old Testament (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1981); H.W.F. Saggs, The Encounter with the Divine in Mesopotamia and Israel (London: Athlone Press. 1978).
² For example, Robert Hammerton-Kelly, God the Father: Theology and Patriarchy in the Teaching of Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979); Joette M. Bassler, Divine Impartiality: Paul and a Theological Axiom (Chico: Scholars Press, 1982); Halavor Moxnes, Theology in Conflict: Studies in Paul's Understanding of God in Romans (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1980); W. Thusing, Per Christum in Deum: Studien zur Verhaltnis von Christozentrik un Theozentrik in den paulinischen Hauplbriefen (Munster: Aschendorff, 1965).
³ This thesis is stated explicitly. though hardly adequately defended in the presentation, by E. Stauffer, in the article on "theos" in G. Kitte'ls Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.

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Kingdom establishes 'Father' as the name for God and thus brings to fulfillment the Old Testament view of God as Father in covenant traditions and in the prophetic message.⁴

Jürgen Moltmann has insisted that everything the Bible has to say about the world, creation, and God is shaped by the experiences of salvation. The reciprocity of God and world places God in the position of one who is affected by the world. The world is, thus, the counterpart of God's passionate interest. Moltmann attempts to use the link between creation and salvation to argue for a universality inherent in the particular experiences of salvation. This universality comes to explicit expression as the God who redeems the community is clearly seen to be the creator of all things.⁵

As it attempts to grapple with the questions raised by religious pluralism and the claim that God is universally sovereign, source of creation and salvation, theology today requires a thorough exegetical inquiry into the biblical visions of God. The brief reflections that follow can hardly accomplish the task, but they may serve to point out some of the most obvious features of the terrain for needed exploration.

I

Scholars often associate the "uniqueness" of Jesus' vision of God with the claim that Jesus announced the presence of the rule of God (for example, Luke 17:20-21; Mark 3:23-27) as an impending transformation in human affairs. God's rule was neither simply eternally given; nor was Jesus asking his followers to wait for an indefinite apocalyptic future. A. E. Harvey concludes that Jesus expected God to bring about a radical change within a few decades. That change was already beginning in Jesus' own ministry. This consciousness of crisis, he insists, must be viewed along the lines established by the prophetic traditions.⁶

Not all of Jesus' teaching, however, falls into the patterns of apocalyptic or prophetic speech. Much of Jesus' ethical teaching has ties to the wisdom traditions, though it lacks the pessimistic tones of the "unchanging folly" of human behavior so often found there. The experience of new possibilities for human life implied in the preaching of the Kingdom also appears to exercise a transforming effect on the adoption of wisdom material.

Detailed study of Jesus-traditions about God would have to provide an account of the transmission and adaptation of traditions within a complex association of symbols. No one doubts, for example, that the ubiquitous use of "Father" for God, and indeed, the preservation of the Aramaic "Abba" as a prayer form in the churches of the Pauline mission (Gal. 4:6; Rom. 8:15) must ultimately be derived from Jesus'

⁴ W. Kasper. The God of Jesus Christ (New York: Crossroad, 1984), pp. 140-44.
⁵ J. Moltmann, The Trinity and the Kingdom: The Doctrine of God (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1981: pp. 99-103.
⁶ A. E. Harvey, Jesus and the Constraints of History, (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1982), pp. 87-91.

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own prayer. But Harvey cautions against the common apologetic claims that Jewish prayer found God distant. Other charismatic figures in the Jewish tradition are said to have spoken to God on familiar terms. What is striking, he suggests, is that Jesus' followers adopt such a pattern of speech for themselves. Both Jews and pagans would have presumed that only particular persons, those possessed of a special righteousness, wisdom, or relationship of favor with the divine, could speak of God in such a way.⁷

The message about God in the Jesus tradition is not always radically discontinuous with Jewish piety. The extended section of the Sermon on the Mount about anxiety (Matt. 6:25-34; Luke 12:22-32) provides a striking example of how elements of the wisdom tradition, with its focus on God as creator, serve to concretize the experience of God' presence. In the Sermon, this section elaborates on the "bread petition" of the Lord's Prayer. Its persuasive force lies in the appeal to observed experience as an affirmation of God as creator and provider for even the most insignificant parts of creation.⁸

This presentation of God does not rely on signs of impending apocalyptic intervention to reassure the righteous. Nor does it point to the miracle traditions as evidence of God's beneficent activity, though this view is extensively represented in Luke.⁹ But it does invoke some deep-rooted symbols and mythic patterns. Human anxiety is contrasted with the "unconcern" of the animal world. The contrast suggests the stories of human decline from a golden age. The divine gift of clothes recalls Gen. 3:21 and at the same time associates human concern over nakedness with sins entry into God's good creation. Finally, the contrast between nature's beauty and Solomonic splendor draws upon a set topic in ancient aesthetics. Human artistry can never equal the divine artistry found in nature.¹⁰

On the one hand, this striking picture of divine providence and benevolence responds to a deep-seated suspicion of divine providence that was emerging across much of the ancient world. On the other hand, it differs markedly from the abstractness of Hellenistic philosophizing. Here, God's providential, "fatherly," care is intensely personal; not like that of an absolute monarch.¹¹ This vision also departs from images in which God, the divine warrior, uses creation as a weapon to punish unrighteousness (for example, Wisd. 5:15-23). ¹² The Matthean passage affirms God's universal care on a personal scale so that divine goodness can even be treated on analogy with that of human fathers (Matt. 7:11). But the presumption behind this vision is not a romantic "return to

⁷ Harvey, Jesus, pp. 168-69.
⁸ See R. Guelich, The Sermon on the Mount (Waco Word, 1982). pp. 333-40; H. D. Betz, Essays on the Sermon on the Mount (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), p. 108.
⁹ Betz, Essays, p. 95.
¹⁰ Betz, Essays, pp. 109-113.
¹¹ Betz, Essays, pp. 119-20.
¹² See D. Winston, The Wisdom of Solomon (Garden City: Doubleday, 1979), pp. 148-50.

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nature." The presumption is that the disciple is whole-heartedly pursuing righteousness even at considerable personal cost and suffering.¹³

These passages show us an important facet of Jesus' speech about God. He avoids direct mythologizing of divine action as well as typological comparisons of the present with divine actions in the past. Nor do we find bold, direct, statements about God that would require the narrator to claim special knowledge of them"mysteries" of the divine plan. Instead, Jesus' sayings, parables, metaphors, and images evoke convictions about God grounded in concretely observed experiences.¹⁴

II

Major developments in the adaptation of the Jesus traditions to elucidating experiences of God can be found in Luke-Acts. The providential activity of God as Savior dominates Luke's presentation. Humans respond to this divine salvation by rejoicing and praising God. This pattern is firmly established in the Jewish Christian piety of the humble and faithful that informs the infancy narratives. God is the savior who is now acting to deliver the people who have put their hope in God (Luke 46-47). Divine power and ordering providence are evident in the miraculous events surrounding the births of John the Baptist and Jesus. The angel Gabriel informs Mary, "For with God nothing is impossible" (Luke 1:37).

Elsewhere in the Gospel, Luke reaches back to the opening chapters at a number of points. The temple piety there is reflected in the earliest Jerusalem community (Luke 24:53; Acts 2:46) and was no doubt exemplary for Lukes community. At the same time, the joyous announcement of salvation has its counterpoint in the tragic loss when the Jewish people reject the one sent to embody divine salvation, a loss reflected in Jesus prophetic laments over the city of Jerusalem (Luke 13:33-35; 19:41-44; 23:27-33).¹⁵

This "tragedy" is taken up into Luke's presentation of God as one who fixes the times and directs the acts of persons according to a plan of salvation (Luke 7:30; Acts 2:23; 4:28; 13:36; 20:27). This plan fulfills what has been set out in scripture, but it also reflects a universal salvation destined to go beyond Israel to all humanity. Divine action and purpose go beyond the history of a single people. ¹⁶ God often acts through dreams, angels, or prophecies in Acts. Emphasis on a divine plan and providential ordering of history was common in both pagan and

¹³ Betz, Essays p. 122.
¹⁴ See G. Theissen, Biblical Faith: An Evolutionary Approach (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1995), pp. 93-98. Theissen notes that this picture of God as "One who permits everything to continue to exist" raises serious questions about the boundaries between good and evil, friend and foe (p. 92).
¹⁵ See R. C. Tannehill, "Israel in Luke-Acts: A Tragic Story," Journal of Biblical Literature. 104 (1985). pp. 59-85.
¹⁶ J. A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke I-IX, (Garden City: Doubleday, 1981), pp. 179-92, observes that this universal plan of salvation is also represented as taking in all classes and types of person.

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Jewish historiography. Josephus argues that Gods providential care over the world is primarily reflected in punishing vice and rewarding virtue. Miraculous interventions of divine power provide evidence for God's active providence.¹⁷ Luke uses the miracle traditions as clear evidence for faith and for divine punishment of those whose actions challenge Gods purposes (Acts 5: 1-10; 8:21; 21:22-23). ¹⁸

Luke also allies himself with an educated pagan monotheism, which was quite willing to criticize common superstitious behavior that turned human beings into gods (Acts 14:11; 28:6). Such readers would have found Luke's picture of God as a beneficent, universal creator of all things, who enforces order and justice, easily intelligible.¹⁹ The most striking example of adaptation to an educated theism is Acts 17:22-31. The sermon weaves together Old Testament and Hellenistic themes in speaking of God as universal creator, source of all peoples and nations, and the one whom they must seek to know. Even in the appeal to turn to Christianity, we find that mention of Christ is indirect (vv. 30-31). Luke is not claiming that pagan theism can now continue without turning toward God who is proclaimed as savior of all. But he does seem to envisage a universal, natural theism which is the prehistory to Christianity for such a pagan convert.²⁰ A question remains: Has Luke lost something in the adaptation? For all his emphasis on divine beneficence and compassion, the direct intimacy of personal analogy in the Jesus traditions may be lost in the adaptation of "providential theism."²¹

III

Paul's letters are replete with examples of early Christian language about God. Greetings, prayer formulae, thanksgivings, benedictions, and doxologies frame the letters. Paul adapts traditional divine epithets like "God of peace" or "encouragement" to the particular situation of the letter. God is routinely described as "God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" and affirmations about the lordship of Christ naturally lead Paul to affirmations about God. ²² Paul reminds his converts that their faith reflects Gods work in sending the Spirit and calling them into the relationship with God they now enjoy (Gal. 4:4-7, Phil. 1:8-11; I Thess. 1:3; 2:12-13). The faithfulness of God ensures that what God has

¹⁷ See H. W. Attridge, The Interpretation of Biblical History in the Antiquities Judaicae of Flavius Josephus (Missoula: Scholars Press, 1976), pp. 71-107.
¹⁸ See P. J. Achtemeier, "The Lucan Perspective on the Miracles of Jesus: A Preliminary Sketch," Journal of Biblical Literature 94 (1975), pp. 547-62.
¹⁹ See F. G. Downing, "Ethical Pagan Theism and the Speeches in Acts." New Testament Studies 27 (1980/81), pp. 544-63; ibid., "Common Ground with Paganism in Luke and Josephus," New Testament Studies 28 (1982), pp. 546-59.
²⁰ See S G. Wilson, The Gentiles and the Gentile Mission in Luke-Acis (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1973) pp. 196-2 18.
²¹ So Downing, "Pagan Theism." p. 558.
²² See the detailed study of Pauline prayer formulae by G. P. Wiles, Paul's Intercessory Prayers: The Significance of Intercessory Prayer Passages in the Letters of St. Paul (London: Cambridge University, 1974).

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done by calling Gentile churches into being will culminate in their salvation at the judgment (I Thess. 5:9, 23-24).

Romans develops the prayer themes extensively. The opening thanksgiving seeks to establish a personal relationship that will lead to mutual assistance between himself and that community: 1:7-9). Rom. 8 refers to the Spirit's activity on behalf of believers who must await the culmination of their hopes in a new creation. Paul can assure them that they are not separated from the Lord whom God has raised and exalted in heaven (8:15f., 23, 26f., 34). Prayers punctuate the meditation on Israel's rejection of Jesus, the divine "mystery"( 11:33-36). There is no chapter in Romans which does not contain some reference to God's activity in salvation. Moxnes insists that the radical change in the "people of God" that is represented by inclusion of the Gentiles causes anxiety about God. The boundaries of the community established by God are threatened. Paul will insist upon the impartiality of divine judgment against all human wickedness to make his case for the salvation now offered to Jews and Gentiles. He constantly repeats two epithets for God in the context of the argument. God is the one who "justifies the ungodly" and who "gives life to the dead. ²³

Paul consistently sets traditional epithets for God in antitheses that sharpen the contrast between God and humanity. Consequently, humans have no choice but to accept the new community in which God is God of all believers, Jews and Gentiles (3:28-31). God's freedom in establishing such a community shatters the connection between election and the Law that many thought to be affirmed in Scripture. However, to make such a case Paul cannot point to evident expressions of divine providence as Luke does. Instead, he falls back upon the apocalyptic perception of the end-time, divine plan as a "mystery", which is now worked out in the unification of humanity through the gospel.²⁴

Paul also exploits the paradoxical mode of contrasting God's action with humans in situations that are not concerned with the Law and the identity of the people of God. Human wisdom and greatness over against the divine choice of salvation through a wisdom that appears weak and foolish structure the argument in I Cor. 1: 10-2:16. Hans Conzelmann suggests that Paul is explaining the tradition of God's wisdom coming to the world, being rejected by humanity, and returning to heaven.²⁵ According to such a story, there can be no "natural" human access to God or to wisdom. Wisdom can come only to the one who is "taught by the Spirit" (I Cor. 2:13).

Human wisdom cannot judge Gods purposes, or even, those, like the

²³ See Moxnes, Theology in Conflict, pp. 35-47; Bassler, Divine Impartiality, pp. 121-62. Moxnes observes (pp. 28-34) that the discussion about God is not evenly distributed in the letter. When God is mentioned in chs. 5-8, 12-14, it is in the context of salvation available in Christ. In chs. 1-4, 9-11, God is a subject who acts in particular ways to shape and respond to the situation of humanity.
²⁴ Moxnes. Theology in Conflict, pp. 80-93
²⁵ H. Conzelmann, I Corinthians (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1975), pp. 44-69.

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apostles, whose lives embody God's plan. Indeed, only God has access to what is really in human persons (2:11-12; 4:4-5; 14:25).

Paul frequently uses epithets describing God and references to God as judge in ethical exhortation. I Cor. 8:5-6 embodies a formula about the unity of God as creator and origin of all that exists within the context of instruction about eating meat that had been part of a sacrifice to an idol. The Formula affirms that the so-called "gods and lords" attached to the pagan cult are "non-existent," demonic creatures. The description of God as creator, father and source of all has been developed from Platonic and Stoic traditions as they were appropriated by Hellenizing Jews. Their use of such expressions stripped them of pantheistic implications and linked the creative and soteriological aspect of God's action together, since both are mediated by Gods Wisdom. Consequently, Paul easily includes the soteriological role of God and Christ in his use of the formula. ²⁶ God's sovereignty over creation makes all things acceptable as long as God is the one being praised and thanked (I Cor. 10:25-31).

Paul uses the formula to resolve the practical issue without showing any concern to conceptualize further the relationship between God and creation. The point is entirely soteriological. The pagan who has converted to believe in the one God and Lord no longer falls under the constraints of worshipping the "gods and lords" of the idol temples.

The midrashic exposition of the superiority of the new covenant in Christ in II Cor. 3:7-4:6 provides another example of the soteriological use of creation themes in Paul. No one can believe without divine intervention(v. 16). A piece of apocalyptic mythology is invoked in explaining that those who do not believe are blinded "by the god of this age." ²⁷ Appropriation of the wisdom tradition permits speaking of Christ as "image of God." And, the enlightenment that results from accepting the preaching of the gospel is described in phrases that recall Gen. 1:3. God, the source of all light, illumines the hearts of those who believe.

Several motifs from this passage return in Colossians. Christians are delivered from darkness into light (Col. 1: 13). A hymnic passage praises Christ as "image of God," though less because Christ reflects divine splendor than on the philosophical ground that "God is invisible"( 1: 15). Knowledge of the glory of God among the pagans is a "mystery" that has been made known by the apostle( 1:27-2:2). Col. 3: 10 explains what is meant by speaking of the Christian being "transformed into Christ's image" (II Cor. 3:18) as the ethical renewal of the person who has departed from his or her old life in paganism. ²⁸ Clearly, the combination

²⁶ Conzelmann, I Corinthians pp. 142-45; R. A. Horsley,"The Background of the Confessional Formula in I Kor 8:6," Zeitschrift fur Neutestamentliche Wissenschalt 69 (1978),pp.130-35.
²⁷ See V. Furnish.II Corinthians (Garden City: Doubleday. 1984). pp. 203-220.
²⁸ See E. Schweizer, The Letter to the Colossians (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1982). p. 198 n. 55.

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of divine plan as "apocalyptic mystery" with themes of divine creation and the coming of divine wisdom played a significant role in the on-going life of the Pauline communities.

But such developments could also lose their grounding in the concrete questions about the extent of God's salvation and the nature of the new covenant which makes all part of the people of God if they believe. Instead, the mysterious divine sovereignty that is operative even when humans reject its offer of salvation appears to operate in eternally predestining some to salvation and others to condemnation. Already in Ephesians one can find the shift toward emphasizing the "eternity" of God's election (1:4,10,12, 2:2-3,10; 3:9-11 ). ²⁹

IV

The Fourth Gospel opens with a hymnic affirmation of the activity of God's Word in creation and salvation, which also evokes the story of rejected Wisdom. Revelation only comes to those who believe in the Son( 1: 18; 5:3 7; 6:46; 11:40; 14:9 ). ³⁰ Though the world is created through God's Word, humans persist in refusing to accept Gods word. The bitter conflicts between Jesus and "the Jews" over the claim that Jesus as "Son" acts for and reveals the Father (John 5:18-24) perpetuate the drama which the prologue sets in cosmic terms. Johannine Christians claim that none of the patriarchs, nor Moses, "saw God" apart from the revelation in the "Son." The "grace and truth" of the covenant came through Jesus (1:17). Jacob's Bethel vision is of the heavenly, Son of Man (1:51). Moses will stand as Israel's accuser for rejecting Jesus (5:45-47). Abraham rejoiced in "seeing the Son" (8:48-58). In short, not even the tradition reveals God except as "Father" who sends and stands behind everything the "Son" does.

Though John evokes images from Genesis and speaks of God's love for the world in sending the Son to be its salvation (3:16), the dualism of Johannine symbols separates both God and the believer from the "world" imaged as a place of darkness and hostility (John 15:18-24; 17:9).³¹ Faith or "knowledge of God" can only be attributed to divine action in "giving" such persons to the Son (6:45; 10:29). Exegetes continue to debate the question of Johannine sectarianism. Does the exclusive emphasis on mutual love as "the commandment" and the revelation of the Father's relationship to the Son (and the believer; for example, John 14:23; 15: 10; 17:23; I John 4:7-12) draw its power from sectarian isolation?

²⁹ See the discussion of the use of Ephesians in later controversies over predestination in R. Schnackenburg, Der Brief an die Epheser. (Zurich: Bensiger/Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1982), pp. 322-25.
³⁰ E. Haenchen, John I (Philadelphia: Fortress. 1984). p. 102, cautions against seeing the influence of philosophical traditions in the Johannine picture of Gods invisibility mediated by the Son, since John otherwise lacks the language associated with philosophical reflections on the knowability of God.
³¹ See Wayne A. Meeks. "The 'Man from Heaven' in Johannine Sectarianism." Journal of Biblical Literature 91 (1972), pp. 44-72.

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Each of the three direct affirmations about God appears to be a universal affirmation whose universality is put in question by the sharp division between those who "know God" and "remain" within the community, and those outside. "God is Spirit" (John 4:24) could be derived from Hellenistic polemic against anthropomorphic images of the divine. John uses it in a dispute over appropriate worship, no longer in Jerusalem or Samaria, but in relation to Jesus. Johannine Christians also spoke of a special presence of the Spirit within the community (John 7:39; 14:26; 16:14). "God is light" (I John 1:5) evokes the rich light imagery of the gospel, which also carries the negative aspects of rejection (John 1:4,5,9; 3:19; 8:12; 12:35). "God is love" (I John 4:8,16), like "God is light," is situated in a context that applies it to the conduct of Christians (I John 1:6; 4:11). In both instances we find the conduct in question exemplified by the self-offering of Jesus (I John 1:7; 4:10). I John 1:9 links forgiveness of sin through the death of Jesus with two other divine attributes, "Faithful" and "just." These attributes echo Old Testament descriptions of God's fidelity to the covenant, which Johannine tradition holds has its true embodiment in the community of those who believe in Jesus. ³²

The Johannine community links knowledge of God to the quality of love within the believing community. Absence of "love" and absence of "believe in Jesus as revelation of the Father" are spoken of as equivalent. Neither is presented as a human possibility apart from Jesus who is the source of the Spirit (John 7:39); the light of the world (8:12), and the one whose death exemplifies the love of the Father who sent him (I John 3:16, John 3:16-17, 15:13). Thus, the Johannine tradition shows how the figure of Jesus comes to occupy the central place in the Christian perception of God. Universal symbols that might provide links to other religious (and philosophical) traditions are only valid as reflections of the revelation of God in Jesus.

This brief survey hardly does justice to the complexity of the representation of God in the New Testament. It does indicate something of the real diversity between New Testament traditions. It is not sufficient to observe that Gods saving and creative activity are closely associated. In some strata of the Jesus tradition, we find that creation evokes a sense of divine providence which is "close to us" and capable of being grasped through the analogy of human experience. Other traditions have taken quite the opposite tack. Divine and human wisdom are separated by the gulf of human sinfulness, which rejected God's wisdom.

But even the implications drawn from experiences of rejection are hardly identical. Paul and Luke do not read the divine plan of salvation in the same way. One suspects that Luke's "providential theism" steps

³² R. E. Brown, The Epistles of John (Garden City: Doubleday, 1982). pp. 209-10.

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too far back from the concrete dilemma of how God is God of a people which for Paul includes Jew and Gentile on the basis of faith. Is God, after all, "the divine" who has acted for human salvation in Jesus? Or, is God the "God of Abraham" (and "of Moses") who has been shaping a people to live on the basis of faith? And what of the rendering of God as always "unknown" except in the "Son" and the associated rendering of "the world" in the Johannine traditions? Perhaps the sharpest lesson we learn from the Johannine writings is that what "God is Spirit, light, and love" actually say about God is very much a reflection of the boundedness or openness of the community that makes such affirmations.