Affirming the Resurrection of the Incarnate Christ

Description

The first letter of John is commonly understood to contain no reference to Jesus’ resurrection. Matthew D. Jensen argues that, far from this being absent from the theology of 1 John, the opening verses contain a key reference to the resurrection which undergirds the rest of the text, and is bolstered by other explicit references to the resurrection. The book goes on to suggest that the author and the readers of this epistle understand themselves to be the authentic Israel from which faithless Jews had apostatised when they denied that Jesus was ‘the Christ’ and left the community. Jensen’s interpretation calls for a new understanding of the historical context in which 1 John was written, particularly the question of Jesus’ identity from the perspective of his fellow Jews. An innovative and provocative study, of interest to scholars and advanced students of New Testament studies, Johannine theology, and Jewish history. Acknowledgements page viii Introduction 1 PART I A READING METHOD 5 1. Methods of reading 1 John 7 2. Circles and tangents: a reading strategy 29 PART II A READING OF 1 JOHN 45 3. The resurrected incarnate Christ: 1 John 1:1–5 47 4. The claimants: 1 John 1:6–2:11 73 5. The historical situation: 1 John 2:15–27 104 6. The audience: 1 John 2:28–3:24 136 7. The confession: 1 John 4:1–6 146 8. The resurrection of the crucii ed Jesus: 1 John 4:7–5:21 171 Conclusion 193 Appendix: the structure of 1 John 196 Bibliography 198 Index of subjects 210 Index of modern authors 213 Index of ancient sources 216