Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He Was

21. The confession of the kings and nations is announced by God himself in Isa 52:15. It comprises Isa 53:1-11a. Then God speaks again. The beginning of the confession remains unclear in our Bible translations because it is simply translated “what we have heard,” but in Hebrew the phrase can mean either “what we have said” or “what we have heard.” In light of the context the second translation is more probable.

22. “Gerechter Friede,” 25.

23. Cf. the brief summary of the discussion in Zenger, et al., Einleitung in das Alte Testament, 14–16.

Chapter 12

1. We are in the fortunate position of possessing records of the trial of Justin and his companions before the city prefect Junius Rusticus and of their martyrdom. For an English translation, see E. C. E. Owen, Some Authentic Acts of the Early Martyrs (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1927), 47–52.

2. Cf. Stefan Heid, “Justinos, Märtyrer,” LThK³ 5: 1112–13.

3. Justin, Dialogue with Trypho, 11, 2. Translation from Early Christian Writings, http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/justinmartyr-dialoguetrypho.html.

4. “New lawgiver”: Dial. 14, 3; 18, 3; cf. 12, 2; “new law”: Dial. 11, 4; 12, 3; “eternal law”: Dial. 122, 5. For Tertullian (see De praescriptione haereticorum 13, 4) the “preaching of the new law” by Jesus is even considered the rule of faith.

5. The New Testament does not yet speak of a “new people of God,” but the expression appears already in the Letter of Barnabas and then in many of the Fathers. Cf., e.g., Barn. 7.5; Justin, Dial. 119, 3; Clement of Alexandria, Paidagogos I, 14.5; 58.1; Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. I, 4.2; Augustine, John, 65.1; Zeno of Verona, Tractates II, 14.4. The expression “new people of God” achieved renewed popularity in twentieth-century theology. The documents of Vatican II use it unquestioningly. Cf. Lumen gentium 10.13.26; Nostra aetate 4.

6. We find the pericope with the question about the highest commandment in Mark 12:28-34; Matt 22:34-40; and (in a different context) Luke 10:25-28. In this particular case (because of a number of minor agreements between Matthew and Luke), there is dispute about whether Mark or Matthew contains the oldest tradition. For the sake of simplicity, I will base my analysis on Matthew’s version.

7. Already in the Pentateuch the commandment to worship YHWH alone is the crystallizing core and the focus of meaning for all the law collections. Cf. Gerhard Lohfink, Does God Need the Church? Toward a Theology of the People of God, trans. Linda M. Maloney (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1999), 78–79.

8. For what follows, cf. Norbert Lohfink, “Love: The Ethos of the New Testament: More Sublime Than That of the Old?,” 239–54, in idem, Great Themes from the Old Testament, trans. Ronald Walls (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1982).

9. Cf. the collection of Jewish texts on this subject in Gerd Theissen and Annette Merz, The Historical Jesus: A Comprehensive Guide, trans. John Bowden (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998), 381–87.

10. The parallel in Matthew is 5:38-48, though its antithetical form there is probably secondary.

11. The entire problem is treated in detail in Gerhard Lohfink, Wem gilt die Bergpredigt? Beiträge zu einer christlichen Ethik (Freiburg: Herder, 1988).

12. For the following sections on love and hatred in the Greek and Roman world I am much indebted to Marius Reiser’s essay, “Love of Enemies in the Context of Antiquity,” NTS 47 (2001): 411–27.

13. Mary Whitlock Blundell, Helping Friends and Harming Enemies: A Study in Sophocles and Greek Ethics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 26.

14. Hesiod, Works and Days, ll. 353-54.

15. The extent to which the “Golden Rule” (Luke 6:31) also fits quite naturally in the Lukan context has been demonstrated by Michael Wolter: cf. Wolter, Das Lukasevangelium, HNT 5 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008), 258.

16. Plato, Great Dialogues of Plato, trans. W. H. D. Rouse (New York: Signet Classic, 1999), Meno 71E.

17. Archilochos, Fragment 23, 14 (West) = POxy 2310. Translation in Guy Davenport, Archilochos, Sappho, Alkman: Three Lyric Poets of the Seventh Century B.C. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980), 30.

18. Plato, The Republic I, 332A–336A.

19. Plato, Crito 48E–49E.

20. Seneca, On Benefits, trans. Aubrey Stewart (London: George Bell and Sons, 1905), IV, 26.1; VII, 31.1.