Theology

Robert M. Bowman Jr. and J. Ed Komoszewski, The Incarnate Christ and His Critics: A Biblical Defense

Bowman Jr., Robert M. and J. Ed Komoszewski. The Incarnate Christ and His Critics: A Biblical Defense. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Academic, 2024. 853 pp. Hb. $57.99  Link to Kregel Academic  

Bowman and Komoszewski have previously collaborated on Putting Jesus in His Place (Kregel, 2007). That volume was substantial, yet it is less than half the size of The Incarnate Christ and his Critics. The reason for this expanded book on traditional Christology is a rapid decline in the belief that Jesus is God in both America and the U.K. In their introduction, Bowman and Komoszewski point to Ligonier Ministries surveys as evidence that evangelicals do not understand what the Bible claims about Jesus. For example, while large majorities would affirm the idea of the Trinity, a surprisingly high number would also agree Jesus is the first and greatest of God’s creations.

They use the acronym HANDS as an outline for Christology: Jesus receives honors that are due God; he shares attributes of God; he shares the names of God; he does the deeds that only God does; he is on the seat of God’s eternal throne. Bowman and Komoszewski argue that Jesus claimed these things, and the early church recognized them in their worship of Jesus as God. This stands in contrast to the common academic claim that the historical Jesus never claimed to be God. A significant difference between this and the earlier volume is that Bowman and Komoszewski answer objections to the divinity of Jesus from seven theological schools of thought. This book is, therefore, a significant contribution to apologetics as much as to systematic theology.

Incarnate Christ

In the first introductory chapter, Bowman and Komoszewski List and define the seven critics with which they interact in this book: mysticism, Muslims, progressive Christianity, Unitarians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, and one Pentecostal. The second introduction chapter describes the traditional Christology they defend the book. Although many people think “Jesus is God” is a simple enough definition of what the Bible teaches, this is not enough since Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses would agree. A more precise definition is “the unique, eternal son, guide in nature and status, humbled himself to become a man, Jesus Christ, in order to die on the cross to rise from the dead for the redemption of human beings” (63).

The second introductory chapter defines how Bowman and Komoszewski understand the deity of Christ. They describe this as “traditional Christianity” (63), “biblical monotheism” (67), and “historic Christian faith” (77). Someone defending a traditional doctrine of Christ cannot say “Jesus is God” since Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses would both agree with this. Therefore, Bowman and Komoszewski define what they mean by deity, divine, and God. God is the only proper object of worship, uncreated and eternal, revealed as Yahweh to Israel, the creator who rules over all things. They use these five points as they develop their acronym HANDS. As for defining what they mean when they say deity of Jesus: Jesus is the unique, eternal Son, truly God in nature and status,” yet he is also fully human who died and rose from the dead. The resurrection demonstrates that Jesus was more than a prophet or good teacher. But Jesus is the Son, not the Father: this is a trinitarian view of Christ.

Part one (six chapters) demonstrates that Jesus receives honors due to God. God is the only proper objective worship, yet the gospels describe people worshiping Jesus. In Hebrews 1:6, God himself commands the angels to worship Jesus. Paul says that all creation will worship Jesus Phil 2:10–11. Likewise, Revelation describes all of creation as worshiping Jesus. Bowman and Komoszewski conclude that Jesus is a proper subject for worship. They observe that early Christian worship used the word Maranatha (Rev 22:20–21) and used the name of Jesus in benedictions, doxologies, hymns, and rights, such as baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In addition, prayers are to be offered only to God, yet early Christians prayed to Jesus as God.

In part two (eight chapters), Bowman and Komoszewski show that Jesus shares attributes of God. Rather than a list of attributes of God from systematic theology, Bowman and Komoszewski define what they mean by God in contrast to their critics. They begin with the pre-existence of Christ, including a full chapter on John’s gospel. They answer the critique that Jesus is the first created being (Jehovah’s Witnesses) with significant sections on Colossians: 15 and Revelation 3:14. The section also deals with the sinlessness of Christ, divine knowledge during the incarnation, and the paradox of Jesus is both divine and human. Bowman and Komoszewski argue for a traditional view of the hypostatic union.

Part three (eleven chapters) surveys the names of God Jesus shares. Bowman and Komoszewski begin with the name Jesus and what it means to be “in the name of Jesus.” They observe that people are saved in the name of Jesus, baptized in the name of Jesus, etc. Jesus is called the son of God, although he is not a literal son (contra the critics). Nor is one of the gods, or an angel, such as an archangel or equivalent to Michael. This section includes several chapters focusing on the gospel of John since John describes God as the father and Jesus as the son. Bowman and Komoszewski offer a detailed chapter on translating the phrase “the word was God” John 1:1 which is critically important for Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons. They discuss the translation of the word begotten, or unique son of God, and Thomas’s declaration that Jesus is “my Lord in my God” (John 20:28).

Chapters 25–27 deal specifically with the Lord as a divine name. Does “Lord” in the New Testament imply the same thing as Yahweh in the Old Testament? For example. When Peter fails to walk on the water in Matthew 14:30, he says, “Lord, save me.” Is he calling out to Jesus or Yahweh? Based on illusions from Matthew 14 to Psalm 68, Bowman and Komoszewski conclude that Peter calls out to Jesus as Yahweh. They provided a chart collecting all the verses in which Paul calls Jesus Lord (501). Finally, they discussed the “I am” sayings in the gospel of John. When Jesus begins a phrase with “I am,” does he imply equality with the Old Testament God? For example, John 8:58 key passage. After examining this passage closely, Bowman and Komoszewski conclude that John 8:58 makes the same point as Exodus 3:14 or Isaiah 43:10. Jesus claims to be “the eternal one.” So yes, in John 8:58, Jesus claims to be divine.

In part four (seven chapters), they examine the deeds of Jesus in the Gospels and show that Jesus does the things that only God does. In this section, Bowman and Komoszewski discuss a series of stories in the gospels where Jesus does something that implies that he is divine. For example, Jesus claims to forgive sin (Mark 2:1-12 and parallels). There are several stories where Jesus heals an illness by forgiving their sins. They include two chapters on Jesus as a miracle worker. Miracles are not necessarily proof of divinity since others claim to do miracles, yet they were not God. Bowman and Komoszewski deal with skeptics of miracles in general and critics who claim that the leader church creates the miracles to imply that Jesus is God. Of critical importance for the argument of this book are Jesus’s nature miracles. In these kinds of miracles, Jesus demonstrates that he is the creator. Likewise, by raising people from the dead, Jesus shows that he is the giver of life. In both cases, Bowman and Komoszewski illustrate these points with illusions of the Old Testament, which described God as the creator and giver of life. The final chapter in this section argues that Jesus claimed to be the eschatological judge (see for example, Tucker Ferda, Jesus and His Promised Second Coming). If Jesus claimed that he would return to judge the nations, is this a claim of divinity? The problem is that the Second Temple literature did not consider the Messiah equal to God. The critical text is Daniel 7:14, the son of man receives authority from the Ancient of Days, who appears to be a separate divine person. This chapter provides an excellent transition to the next part of the book.

Finally, in part five (four chapters), Bowman and Komoszewski demonstrate that Jesus is presently on the seat of God’s eternal throne. Jesus is the Lamb of God seated on God’s throne. This section begins with a survey of the trials of Jesus. How could Jesus be executed for blasphemy if he did not claim some form of quality with God? Part of this claim is that he will be seated on the right hand of God. Bowman and Komoszewski discuss what it means to be seated on the right hand of God, with copious Old Testament and Second Temple Jewish texts to illustrate Jesus as a divine Son of Man seated on God’s throne. Bowman and Komoszewski also misunderstand of what “seated at the right hand” means among their critics, especially Mormonism in this case.

In conclusion to the volume, Bowman and Komoszewski review their acronym as “criteria of deity” and make a cumulative argument in favor of the traditional doctrine of Christ. The traditional doctrine of Christ’s divinity is not a biblical construct, citing several New Testament passages (Matt 28:16-20; John 1:1-18; Heb 1:1-13; Phil 2:6-11). Some critics may object that Jesus himself never claimed to be God, and at least three of these four passages come from as late as 40 years after Jesus. Bowman and Komoszewski make a biblical argument that assumes the accuracy of the gospels. Historical Jesus scholars would dismiss the gospel of John as a late theological text rather than an accurate record of what Jesus said and did. In addition, mythicists would dismiss all the evidence because it comes from the Bible.

Conclusion. With thirty-eight chapters and a conclusion, this looks to me like 40 Questions on Christology that got out of hand. Bowman and Komoszewski provide a detailed biblical argument for traditional Christology. Although the book could be considered a contribution to systematic theology, the book goes beyond what appears typically in systematic theologies. They include exegesis of critical texts and a canonical approach supplemented by an awareness of Jewish literature of the Second Temple period. Going further, Bowman and Komoszewski seriously engage with non-traditional views of Christ’s deity (“the cults) and other religious views. There is less response to mythicists critics than I expected, given their growing popularity in American culture.

Bonus: An Interview with Robert M. Bowman Jr. and J. Ed Komoszewski at Kregel Academic’s blog.

NB: Thanks to Kregel for kindly providing me with a review copy of this book. This did not influence my thoughts regarding the work.

Michael Wittmer, Urban Legends of Theology

Wittmer, Michael. Urban Legends of Theology: 40 Common Misconceptions. Brentwood, Tenn.: B&H Academic, 2023. 258 pp. Pb; $19.99.   Link to B&H Academic

Part of B&H Academic’s Urban Legends series, Michael Wittmer takes on forty common misconceptions about Christian theology. Wittmer is a professor of systematic and historical theology and director of the Center for Christian Worldview at Cornerstone University. In addition to Heaven is a Place on Earth (Zondervan, 2004) and Don’t Stop Believing: Why Living Like Jesus Is Not Enough (Zondervan, 2009), he recently published The Bible Explainer: Questions and Answers on Origins, the Old Testament, Jesus, the End Times, and More (Barbour, 2020).

Urban Legends of Theology

The Urban Legends series defines an urban legend as an untrue popular belief in church or culture. Some of these urban legends are more wrong than others. In his introduction, Whitmer observes that some “will damn you to hell” (ix). He points out that even though dismantling myths is fun, replacing the myth with the truth is far better. This is the book’s goal, to clarify popular theological and replace them with accurate theological teaching.

A book like this runs the risk of theological arrogance, or the author comes off looking like a real jerk. Whitmer avoids both extremes. He answers these myths with good-natured humor: the book is fun to read! His goal is to point the readers to the truth. Notice that the truth is defined within a conservative and evangelical framework.

The book covers forty urban legends in four categories (“in theological order”): God and theological method, humanity and sin, Jesus and salvation, and church and last things. He also includes ten mini-myths, slight variations on the theme of the chapter. Unlike other books in this series, Wittmer includes six “suburban legends.” These are updated versions of the classic urban legend covered in the chapter.

The urban legends covered in the book are usually the kind of trite sayings that describe Christian belief used by outsiders. They are often cliches, like “theology puts God in a box” or “faith begins when knowledge ends.” Sometimes these legends seem like “bad Facebook memes from grandma.” Others deal with serious theological errors. For example, everyone has likely heard the common saying defining justification as “just as if I never sinned.” Not only does this little phrase only rhyme in English, but it is also terrible theology!

Perhaps my favorite in the book is entitled “Grandpa went to Heaven and plays outfield with the Angels.” The chapter deals with the perception that humans go to heaven and get to do whatever they like doing on earth for eternity. Although vaguely comforting, they don’t stand up to a biblical description of heaven. Sometimes the urban legend is derived from a classic hymn, such as “I’ll Fly Away,” which appears to teach that we will live forever in heaven. In this chapter, he deals with what scripture says about the new heaven and earth and the consummation of the age. Wittmer concludes the chapter by changing the lyrics of “I’ll Fly Away” to correct this urban legend. Although theologically correct, I can’t imagine this is catching on at the bluegrass festival.

Each chapter begins with a short description of the legendary belief, often illustrated with some popular culture reference. Wittmer then deals with the legend in a section entitled “Unraveling the Belief.” He deals with what is wrong with the commonly assumed belief and what is actually taught in Christian theology. Remember, his goal is to present theological truth rather than simply tear down a trite cliche. These sections are well documented, with footnotes pointing interested readers to additional literature so that they can go deeper. Each chapter concludes with a short section entitled “Application.”  Here we are often treated to Wittmer’s pastoral heart As he attempts to help readers to understand the importance of good theology in living out their Christian life.

Urban Legends of Theology is an entertaining book that presents traditional (conservative) theology as an antidote to popular assumptions about what Christians believe. I’ve often observed that good theology or good exegesis ruins popular preaching. This book might challenge a pastor who has made an emotional point like “Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship,” or “the safest place to be is in the center of God’s will,” or “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” Undoubtedly, everyone has heard sermons (or worse, preached sermons) where these urban legends were met with vigorous amens and nodding heads. But as Wittmer says, it is better to have good theology and pass on these kinds of false (and sometimes dangerous) ideas about Christian theology.

 

Thanks to B&H Academic for kindly providing me with a review copy of this book. This did not influence my thoughts regarding the work.

 

Published on Reading Acts, May 26, 2023

 

The Sixth Seal – Revelation 6:12-17

God Zapping WorldThe sixth seal contains apocalyptic imagery drawn from the whole canon of the prophets. In fact, the sixth seal seems to be a combination of all the stock imagery found in the Old Testament, Second Temple apocalyptic literature, even Greco-Roman imagery of disaster. This does not necessarily mean John used other apocalypses, however. Just as John drew on the Hebrew Bible for this apocalyptic imagery, so too did other Jewish apocalyptic literature.

The apocalyptic elements in the sixth deal (earthquakes, mountains melting, the sun and moon growing dark, etc.) are “stock apocalyptic images.” Just a few examples: Haggai 2:21-22 the Lord will “shake the heavens and the earth.” In Joel 2:10 the earth and sky trembles and the sun, moon and stars no longer shine. In Isaiah 24:18-23 the earth reels like a drunkard and splits apart. Amos 8:9 describes the day of the Lord as “a day of darkness and gloom.” These examples can be easily multiplied in the Hebrew Bible and are found throughout the apocalyptic literature of the Second Temple Period (2 Apoc. Bar. 27; 4 Ezra 4:52-5:13; 6:20-24). For example:

T. Mos. 10:5-6 The sun will not give light. And in darkness the horns of the moon will flee. Yea, they will be broken in pieces. It will be turned wholly into blood. Yea, even the circles of the stars will be thrown into disarray.

Sib. Or. 8.231–238 A lament will rise from all and gnashing of teeth. The light of the sun will be eclipsed and the troupes of stars. He will roll up heaven. The light of the moon will perish. He will elevate ravines, and destroy the heights of hills. No longer will mournful height appear among men. Mountains will be equal to plains, and all the sea will no longer bear voyage. For earth will then be parched with its springs. Bubbling rivers will fail.

Even the Romans considered these types of things to be signs of impending doom. David Aune cites Lactantius’s Epitome 71 (Revelation 2:414, compare to Tacitus, Hist. 1.3.3):

Lactantius Epitome 71 To these plagues will be added also miraculous signs [prodigia] from heaven, that everything may combine to increase human alarm. Comets will frequently be seen. The sun will be darkened with perpetual gloom; the moon will be dyed in blood, nor will it renew its lost light; all the stars will fall, nor will the seasons observe their proper course, for winter and summer will be confounded.

In Rev 6:17, all of the people of the earth who are afflicted by these plagues attempt to hide themselves in the rocks and caves because the “great day of God’s wrath” has come. The reaction is similar to several Old Testament passages, such as Isaiah 2:19-21. But even this reaction is found in other apocalypses. For example:

Sib. Or. 3.601–607 Therefore the Immortal will inflict on all mortals disaster and famine and woes and groans and war and pestilence and lamentable ills, because they were not willing to piously honor the immortal begetter of all men, but honored idols made by hand, revering them, which mortals themselves will cast away, hiding them in clefts of rocks.

What should we make of this parallel material? Is this “revelation or research”? Or, is this like the throne room scene in that John uses the sort of language for the “great and dreadful day of the Lord” that would be expected by Jewish readers (drawn from the Hebrew Bible) and even the Greco-Roman world (drawn from the prodigia)? More difficult, how literal are these stock apocalyptic images? Perhaps John’s point here is to simply describe the standard cosmic catastrophe in terms that everyone in the first century would understand. To say that God is going to judge the world and not use this sort of language would have made little sense to his original readers.

The whole point is to strike terror into the readers because the “great and dreadful day” has come. It is not really necessary to worry over what sorts of natural disasters John is witnessing in his vision, and it is especially not appropriate to declare some modern even “fulfills” this seal. John’s point is that Wrath of the Lamb of God is fearsome indeed!

The Trumpets and the Plagues of Exodus – Revelation 8

Miles DavisHow are the plagues from Exodus used in the book of Revelation?

There are a remarkable number of parallels between this series of judgments and the ten plagues in Exodus.  For example, trumpets are associated with the theophany at Sinai (Exod 19:13-19; 20:18).  The first trumpet judgment is similar to Exodus 9:13-25, hail and fire fell upon the Egyptians.  The third trumpet resembles the plague of the freshwater in Exodus 7:20, except that there the waters turned to blood. The locust in Rev 9:3 is an apocalyptic version of the eighth plague (Exod 10:12-20).

Richard Patterson traced Exodus Motif in the Prophets, showing that the Exodus was a significant source of imagery for the rest of the Old Testament. The reason for this is the common “Divine Warrior” and “Divine Redeemer” themes in the Prophets. In the Exodus events, God fought for this people in order to redeem them out of their slavery. The prophets pick up those twin themes and apply them to their current situation. Israel has persisted in their unbelief and is once again under oppression (the Exile). God will once again fight for them and redeem them from the nations in a New Exodus.

While Patterson’s article does not continue to follow his argument into the Second Temple Period, the New Exodus theme is present in this literature. But plague imagery is not as common in Jewish sources as we might have guessed. In his detailed survey of the imagery of the Exodus in later Jewish writings, David Aune only finds the plagues in an eschatological sense in the Apocalypse of Abraham. There are ten plagues, although they do not track with the original ten plagues or the seven trumpets from Revelation.

Apoc. Abr. 30:3-8  And he said to me, “I will explain to you the things you desired in your heart, for you have sought to know the ten plagues which I prepared against the heathen, and I prepared them beforehand in the passing of the twelve hours on earth. Hear what I tell you, it will be thus. The first: sorrow from much need. The second: fiery conflagrations for the cities. The third: destruction by pestilence among the cattle. The fourth: famine of the world, of their generation. The fifth: among the rulers, destruction by earthquake and the sword. The sixth: increase of hail and snow. The seventh: wild beasts will be their grave. The eighth: pestilence and hunger will change their destruction. The ninth: execution by the sword and flight in distress. The tenth: thunder, voices, and destroying earthquakes.” (Rubinkiewicz, OTP 1:704)

Nevertheless, Revelation seems to be re-using imagery from the Ten Plagues.  Since John is standing on the shoulders of the Hebrew Bible. This is not a surprise. But it is important to at least wonder why it is important that the Exodus Events were chosen as the main backdrop for John’s apocalyptic description in Revelation 8-9. The purpose of the original ten plagues was for God to show his power to Israel. The ten plagues were not “evangelistic,” hoping that the Egyptians would see them and somehow “convert” to being Jewish. The plagues prove to the people of God in Egypt that he is a God who acts on their behalf to redeem them out of their slavery. The children of Abraham need to be convinced that the God of their ancestors is active and that he cares for them.

This may also be the function of the judgments in Revelation.  By the time of the eschatological age, Israel will have been in a state of unbelief for a long time. Like the original Exodus, they certainly need a reminded of the righteous character of their God. Revelation is using the language of the Hebrew Bible, how God has worked in the past, to describe how he will work again in the future.

 

Bibliography: Richard D. Patterson, “Wonders in the Heavens and on the Earth: Apocalyptic Imagery in the Old Testament” JETS 43 (2000): 385-403.

 

Books in Apocalyptic – Revelation 5

Revelation 5 uses the metaphor of heavenly books. This is common in biblical and apocalyptic materials and is a stock image drawn from a courtroom scene. In Dan 7:10, for example, thrones are set in place, and the Ancient of Days takes his place at the head of the court. Once the court was seated, “the books were opened.” Based on the content of these books, the blasphemous “little horn” is thrown into the blazing fire. So what is the content of an “apocalyptic book”?

Revelation 5Sometimes, these books record the names of the redeemed, or conversely, the names of the wicked are “blotted out” of the books. This is probably based on Exodus 32:32–33. In this non-apocalyptic text, the Lord says, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book.” The Psalmist asks God to blot out the names of his oppressors from “the book of the living” (Ps 69:28). Originally, this meant a name carved in stone that would be obliterated if the named person offended the king. Perhaps this was based on a citizenship roll or something of the sort, but the idea is that a text contains the names of those who are part of the kingdom. Isaiah 4:3 says some people have been destined to survive in Jerusalem, “everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem.” In 2 Baruch 24:1, the opened books contain both the righteous deeds of the righteous and the wicked deeds of the wicked. These books are opened after a period of oppression, “When horror seizes the inhabitants of the earth, and they fall into many tribulations, and further, they fall into great torments” (2 Baruch 25:3), after which the messiah comes.

In other apocalyptic contexts, books contain hidden secrets that are sealed up to be revealed at the appropriate time. In Daniel 12:9-10, secrets are sealed up in a book “until the end of time.” In Rev 10:4, John is prepared to write down what the seven thunders say, but he is told to “seal it up” and not write it down. The seven thunders are, therefore, some hidden secret not to be revealed at that time. There are examples of this phenomenon in other apocalyptic books as well. In 1 Enoch, the seer has a great deal more revealed to him that he is permitted to write at that time,.

1 Enoch 81:1-2 Then he said unto me, “Enoch, look at the tablet(s) of heaven; read what is written upon them and understand (each element on them) one by one. So I looked at the tablet(s) of heaven, read all the writing (on them), and came to understand everything. I read that book and all the deeds of humanity and all the children of the flesh upon the earth for all the generations of the world.

In an expansion on the biblical story. Jubilees 32.20–22, at Bethel Jacob is given seven tablets determining everything that would happen to his sons in the future.

Jubilees 32.20–22 And Jacob watched until he went up into heaven. And he saw in a vision of the night, and behold an angel was descending from heaven, and there were seven tablets in his hands. And he gave (them) to Jacob, and he read them, and he knew everything which was written in them, which would happen to him and to his sons during all the ages.”

More commonly, the books contain the sins of the person under judgment. In Jude 4, the judgment against the false teachers was written down (προγράφω) long before they secretly crept into the churches. In the Animal Apocalypse, the names of the good and bad shepherds are carefully recorded in books for future judgment (1 Enoch 89:62; 90:14-22). In 1 Enoch 104:7, sins are investigated and “written down every day.” In Jubilees, 5:13-14 sins are carefully written down, and judgments are “ordained, written, and engraved.”  Describing the judgment awaiting the sins of Lot’s daughters, the writer of Jubilees says:

 Jubilees 16:9 “And behold it is commanded and it is engraved concerning all of his seed in the heavenly tablets so that he will remove them and uproot them and execute their judgment just like the judgment of Sodom and so that he will not leave seed of man for him on the earth in the day of judgment.”

Bringing this back to the throne room in Revelation 5, the scroll functions similarly to the last category in that the opening of the scroll subjects the world to judgment. The final judgment is the coming of the Messiah to set up thrones and render justice (Rev 20:1-6). By taking the Hebrew Bible as the immediate background and tracing the development of a metaphor in the Second Temple Period apocalypses, we are more likely to understand the metaphor as John intended.