Jesus and Judaism

JESUS AND
JUDAISM
by

E. P. SANDERS
Dean Ireland's Professor
ofExegesis ofHoly Scripture
University of Oxford
Professor of Religious Studies (Part-Time)
McMaster University

FORTRESS PRESS

PHILADELPHIA

Copyright 1 9 8 5 by E . P. Sanders
First Fortress Press edition 1 9 8 5
All rights reserved. N o part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo
copying, recording or otherwise, without the prior per
mission of the publisher, Fortress Press.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Sanders, E . P.
Jesus and Judaism.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index
i . J e s u s ChristAttitude towards Judaism.
I. Title.
BT590.J8S26
1985
232.9
84-48806
ISBN 0-8006-0743-0

1415184

Printed in the United Kingdom

1-743

For Laura

CONTENTS

Preface

xi

Abbreviations

xiii

INTRODUCTION
The problem
Method of proceeding
The securest evidence
The sayings
A good hypothesis
State of the question
PART ONE

i
3
13
18
23

T H E R E S T O R A T I O N OF I S R A E L

JESUS AND THE TEMPLE

The 'cleansing' of the temple
The sayings about the destruction of the temple

61
61
71

NEW T E M P L E A N D R E S T O R A T I O N IN J E W I S H
LITERATURE

77

O T H E R I N D I C A T I O N S OF R E S T O R A T I O N
ESCHATOLOGY
From John the Baptist to Paul
The twelve tribes
The twelve disciples
Repentance
Judgment
Conclusion
PART

TWO

91
91
95
98
106
113
116

THE KINGDOM

THE SAYINGS
The kingdom as eschatological reality
Present and future: the problem of the sayings material

123
123
129

viii

CONTENTS

The problem of diverse meanings

Conclusion

141
150

MIRACLES AND CROWDS

Miracles, teaching and crowds in the Gospels
Motive
Miracles, proclamation and crowds
Magic
Conclusion

157
158
160
164
165
170

THE SINNERS
The sinners, the wicked, the poor and the 'amme ha-arets
Terminology
The 'amme ha-arets and salvation
Jesus and the sinners
Table-fellowship
Conclusion

174
176
177
188
200
208
209

THE GENTILES
Jewish views of Gentiles
Jesus and the Gentiles

212
213
218

THE KINGDOM: CONCLUSION

The facts and the sayings: all Israel or a little
The nature of the kingdom
Jesus as religious type
PART THREE

10

flock

222
222
228
237

CONFLICT AND DEATH

T H E LAW
General considerations
The temple and the law
Let the dead bury the dead
The sinners
Divorce
Other antitheses and related sayings
Sabbath, handwashing and food
Conclusion

245
245
251
252
255
256
260
264
267

OPPOSITION AND OPPONENTS

Opposition
Persecution
Opponents
Conclusion

270
270
281
287
293

ix
11

CONTENTS

T H E D E A T H OF J E S U S
The firm facts
The cause of the execution
The triumphal entry
The betrayal
The role of Jewish leaders
Conclusion

294
294
296
306
309
309
317

CONCLUSION
Results
Certainties, possiblities and speculations
Meaning
The connecting link
The setting in Judiasm: the New Testament and Jewish
restoration eschatology

319
3 9
321
327
334

Bibliography

341

Notes

355

335

Index ofpassages

4 4

Index of names

43

Index of subjects

43 7

PREFACE

This book was begun during 1 9 7 5 - 7 6 with the support of a Senior

Research Scholarship from the Killam Program of the Canada Council.
For various reasons completion was delayed. I was finally able to rewrite
it entirely during 1982, thanks to the support of a Leave Fellowship and a
Research Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada. During this period I was also Visiting Fellow
Commoner at Trinity College, Cambridge. I am grateful to the officers of
the Killam Program for their great patience and understanding and to the
officers of the S S H R C for giving me a final chance to complete the work.
T o the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge, I owe an
enormous debt for the privilege of being one of their company for even a
short time. T h e generosity and hospitality of the College, both the Fellows
and the Staff, never ceased to evoke surprise and appreciation.
One of the Fellows of the College, and my sponsor while there, was the
Right Reverend D r John A. T . Robinson. His recent death has deprived
many of us of a dear friend and the Church of a far-sighted spokesman.
M y dearest memories of 1 9 8 2 are the evenings spent in his rooms,
discussing my work and his. A memorial on his work as New Testament
scholar and theologian would be out of place here. Appreciations and
tributes have been and will be offered by many more qualified than I. Here
I can say only that my life and work were greatly enhanced by him.
The final typing of the book has been done with the aid of a grant from
McMaster University. Its completion marks a time of transition in my long
and happy tenure there, and I wish to say a more general word of thanks
to the administrative officers, both past and present, who have served
during the last seventeen years. I think that no university can have been
more fortunate in its choice of so many administrators over so many years.
I am especially indebted to Alvin A. L e e , now the President of the
University, who has been my administrative superior in one office or
another since 1 9 7 1 . He has throughout actively and forcefully supported
both my own research and that of my colleagues in the area of Judaism and

xii

PREFACE

Christianity in the Graeco-Roman World. We would all have accomplished

less without him.
Chapter 6 is an appreciably revised and somewhat expanded form of an
article which appeared as 'Jesus and the Sinners' in jfSNT 1 9 , 1 9 8 3 , pp.
5 - 3 6 . Parts of the article are reproduced here with the kind permission of
Dr Bruce Chilton. I am grateful to those who responded to the article;
their comments have aided me in revising it.
I have discussed the book, in whole and in parts, with numerous people,
usually to my great benefit - and sometimes, I fear, to their consternation.
Several institutions have provided the opportunity to lecture on the subject
of the book. I am grateful to them all. I must single out for special thanks
two of my colleagues, Albert Baumgarten and Ben F . Meyer, who have
been regularly available to exchange ideas and thrash out problems.
Phyllis DeRosa Koetting performed her customary magic with the
typescript, the bibliography and the indexes. T h e requirement to read the
proof and paginate the index, however, came at a very awkward time, and
I am grateful to Jean Cunningham of S C M Press for assistance above and
beyond the call of duty, and to Margaret Pamment of the University of
Bristol for unselfishly giving assistance at very short notice.
T h e years during which the work was in progress or on the shelf have
been challenging and often trying ones, both professionally and personally.
Numerous friends and colleagues, including the ones just named, have
helped see me through. T h e unflagging support and friendship of four
other men have also been vital on both levels. They are my teachers, David
Daube, W. D . Davies, W. R. Farmer and Louis Martyn. I owe them more
than I can say, and I can only hope that I can do for someone else what
they have so unfailingly done for me. But the most important person during
this - and any other - period, whose cheerful acceptance, steady affection
and buoyant good spirits have always been an inspiration, is my daughter.
T h e book is dedicated to her with love and gratitude.

ABBREVIATIONS

AGAJU
AJ
ANRW
Ap.
ATANT
BETL
Bibl
BZNW
CBQ_
CBQMS
ET
ETL
ExpT
HNT
HTR
HUCA

m
Interpr
JBL
JBLMS
JfE
3JS
JfSJf
JSNT
JSOT

Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des

Urchristentums, Leiden
Josephus, Antiquitatesjudaicae
AufstiegundNiedergangderrdmischen Welt, ed. H. Temporini and W. Haase, Berlin and New York
Josephus, Contra Apionem
Abhandlungen zur Theologie des Alten und Neuen
Testaments, Zurich
Bibleotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium, Louvain
Biblica, Rome
Josephus, DeBelloJfudaico
Beiheft zur Zeitschriftfur die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft,
Giessen, Berlin
Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Washington, D . C .
Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series, Wash
ington, D . C .
English translation
Ephemerides TheologicaeLovanienses, Louvain
Expository Times, Edinburgh
Handbuch zum Neuen Testament, Tubingen
Harvard Theological Review, Cambridge, Mass.
Hebrew Union College Annual, Cincinnati
Israel Exploration Journal, Jerusalem
Interpretation, Richmond, Va.
Journal of Biblical Literature, Philadelphia, Missoula,
Mont., et al.
Journal of Biblical Literature Monograph Series
Jewish Encyclopaedia, 12 vols., New York 1 9 0 1 - 0 6
Journal of Jewish Studies, London
Journalfor the Study of Judaism, Leiden
Journalfor the Study ofthe New Testament, Sheffield
Journalfor the Study ofthe Old Testament, Sheffield

xiv

JSOTSuppl
JSS
JTS
LCL
Legat.
NovT
NovTSuppl
n.s.
NTS
PGM
R
SANT
SBLDS
SBT
Sib.Or.
SJT
SNTSMS
SNTU
SUNT
TDNT

TLZ
TU
WMANT
WUNT
ZAW
ZNW
ZTK

ABBREVIATIONS

Supplements toJournal ofOld Testament Studies, Sheffield

Journal of Semitic Studies, Manchester
Journal ofTheological Studies, Oxford
Loeb Classical Library, London and New York
Philo, Legatio ad Gaium
Novum Testamentum, Leiden
Supplements to Novum Testamentum, Leiden
new series
New Testament Studies, Cambridge
Papyri Graecae Magicae, ed. K . Preisendanz, 3 vols.,
Dresden 1 9 2 8 - 4 2
Revue de Qumran, Paris
Studien zum Alten und Neuen Testament, Munich
Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series, Phila
delphia, Missoula, Mont., et al.
Studies in Biblical Theology, London and Naperville, 111.
Sibylline Oracles
Scottish Journal of Theology
Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series,
Cambridge
Studien zum Neuen Testament und seiner Umwelt,
Freistadt
Studien zur Umwelt des Neuen Testaments, Gottingen
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. G . Kittel
and G . Friedrich, E T ed. G . Bromiley, Grand Rapids
1964-76
Theologische Literaturzeitung, Leipzig
Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, Leipzig, Berlin
Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen
Testament, Neukirchen
Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testa
ment, Tubingen
Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, Giessen,
Berlin
Zeitschrift fur die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die
Kundedes Urchristentums, Giessen, Berlin
Zeitschriftfur Theologie undKirche, Tubingen

INTRODUCTION

T h e Problem
It is the purpose of the present work to take up two related questions with
regard to Jesus: his intention and his relationship to his contemporaries in
Judaism. These questions immediately involve us in two others: the reason
for his death (did his intention involve an opposition to Judaism which led
to death?) and the motivating force behind the rise of Christianity (did the
split between the Christian movement and Judaism originate in opposition
duringjesus' lifetime?). These are questions on which there are numerous
viewpoints, and gathered about which are enormous bodies of scholarly
literature, so that it is with some trepidation that one advances another
essay in an attempt to answer them.
There are some general aspects of the study of these and related
problems in contemporary research which call for special note. First, to
one who early imbibed the theological position that research into problems
concerning the historical Jesus was and should be dead (since faith should
not seek security in historical data), the persuasiveness and vitality of much
that is being written today is impressive. There are numerous fresh
attempts to give a general account of Jesus' teaching and activity, and
several focus on just the problems which were mentioned in the first
paragraph. One thinks, for example, of Paul Winter's work on the trial of
J e s u s and the extensive debate triggered by his hypothesis, of such
detailed studies as Martin Hengel's Nachfolge und Charisma, of Joachim
Jeremias's volume on the Proclamation of Jesus, of the essay by Eduard
Schweizer in bis Jesus, of C. H. Dodd's brilliantly written The Founder of
Christianity* of the works of Vermes and Bowker, which are especially
addressed to the question of Jesus and Judaism, of Meyer's The Aims of
Jesus, and of Harvey's recent Jesus and the Constraints ofHistory. What
is characteristic of many of these works is that, despite the recognition of
how difficult it is to be certain of the historical reliability of any individual
pericope, the authors seem confident of the ability to present a reasonably
1

11

10

12

INTRODUCTION

13

accurate sketch of what Jesus taught and how he behaved. One finds, for
example, in the works of Jeremias, Dodd, Vermes and Meyer, new, or at
least freshly stated, overall descriptions of Jesus which are coherent, which
are based on material in the Gospels, and which intend to answer historical
questions on historical grounds. T h e dominant view today seems to be
that we can know pretty well what Jesus was out to accomplish, that we
can know a lot about what he said, and that those two things make sense
within the world of first-century Judaism.
A second aspect of the current situation is that such questions about
Jesus as those contemplated here are being asked without special reference
to the debate on the relationship between knowledge about the historical
Jesus and Christian faith. It was that theological problem which actually
lay behind Ernst Kasemann's decision to reopen the question of the
historical J e s u s , and his defence of his position was thoroughly theo
logical. Only incidentally did he make historical assertions about J e s u s ;
the real interest on the part of Kasemann and those who debated with him
was whether or not one ought to make such statements. Thus Kasemann
was ready to give a quick description of the relationship between Jesus and
Judaism, but this comes in the context of a very long essay on the proper
theological position about the historical Jesus, and there is neither here
nor elsewhere any very thorough attempt to ground the accuracy of the
point of conflict. It is quite otherwise in the books referred to in the second
paragraph. In these and other works it is either assumed or argued (usually
assumed) that it is worthwhile to know and to state clearly whatever can
be known about Jesus, and great effort is expended in establishing what
can be known. T h e present work is written very much in the latter vein.
T o speak personally for a moment, I am interested in the debate about the
significance of the historical Jesus for theology in the way one is interested
in something that he once found fascinating. T h e present work is written
without that question in mind, however, and those who wish an essay on
that topic may put this book down and proceed farther along the shelf.
14

15

16

17

18

19

T h e last general comment about the present state of research is this: it

seems that real progress has recently been made on the two questions with
which we are concerned. This is not the result of a rapid increase in
knowledge, but rather of a shift of attitude. It used to be almost a taboo
question in many circles to ask what Jesus was up to. That must have
seemed a Roman Catholic question, for the very question might seem to
imply that he had in mind a programme which included the continuation
of the church. Recent scholars seem less fearful on this point. Secondly,
the question of Jesus' relation to Judaism has all too often been locked in
20

21

INTRODUCTION

later religious controversy and apologetics: either Jesus has been depicted
as standing completely superior to the contemporary Judaism (which is
viewed as a decline from the prophetic period), or he has been claimed
by Jewish scholars as one of their own, with the development of Christianity
being described as a Pauline innovation. It has proved difficult to do
justice to the question posed by Joseph Klausner: how was it that Jesus
lived totally within Judaism, and yet was the origin of a movement that
separated from Judaism, since ex nihilo nihil fit, nothing comes from
nothing, or, more idiomatically, where there is smoke there is fire.
Nevertheless, many fairly recent studies have attempted to do justice even
to this problem, without lapsing either into polemics or apologetics.
In saying that progress has been made, I do not mean to imply that the
works listed above are necessarily complementary or lead to the same
conclusions. T h e progress consists, rather, in the way in which serious
and important historical questions have been put about Jesus and the way
in which the material of the Gospels and, to some extent, of Jewish
literature, has been put to good use, despite some uncertainties about final
answers to questions of authenticity and reliability. T h e method which is
being followed more and more, and the one which it seems necessary to
follow in writing about Jesus, is to construct hypotheses which, on the one
hand, do rest on material generally considered reliable without, on the
other hand, being totally dependent on the authenticity of any given
pericope. Hypothetical reconstructions which are based on (but which
may not be strictly exegetical treatments of) material considered reliable
are subject to criticism on one of two grounds. One may criticize the
selection of material or the suppositions which are made in putting it
together. I wish now to lay out as clearly as possible the way in which the
material will be handled and the suppositions which lie behind the
reconstruction which follows.
22

23

24

25

26

27

M e t h o d of Proceeding
The securest evidence
No one will dispute the principle that, given the conglomeration of evidence
about Jesus and the early church which one finds in the Gospels, one
should begin with what is relatively secure and work out to more uncertain
points. But finding agreement about the ground rules by which what is
relatively secure can be identified is very difficult. One of the reasons for

INTRODUCTION

this is, I believe, that most studies of Jesus focus on Jesus as a teacher or
preacher - at any rate, primarily a messenger - and thus move immediately
to try to establish the centre of his message. One may start with what
comes first in the Gospels (repentance in view of the coming of the
kingdom), with what strikes one as most characteristic (such as the call of
sinners), with the sayings material which seems to have been least subject
to alteration (often held to be the parables), or with the sayings which
could not conceivably have been created in the early church ('Jesus said
to him, "Why do you call me good?" ', Mark 1 0 . 1 8 ) ; but in any case one
starts with a core of sayings material and proceeds to a depiction of Jesus'
message and, sometimes, his intention and the cause of the conflict with
Judaism.
There are two considerations which make us look elsewhere for the
most secure and the best evidence if we wish to understand Jesus. T h e
first is simply that scholars have not and, in my judgment, will not agree
on the authenticity of the sayings material, either in whole or in part. There
are a few sayings on which there is wide consensus, but hardly enough to
allow a full depiction of Jesus. We return to the question of criteria for
establishing authenticity in the next subsection, and we shall take up some
of the principal sayings in ch. 4.
Secondly, when the study of Jesus is equated with the study of his
sayings, there is the unspoken assumption that what he really was, was a
teacher. He is then either a clear, straightforward teacher whose parables
make his message about God and the kingdom plain, or, as in some recent
studies, a difficult, riddling teacher, whose meaning is not and was not
altogether clear, or even one who intended to be ambiguous. Whatever
sort of teacher he is held to have been, i t difficult to move from 'Jesus
the teacher' to 'Jesus, a J e w who was crucified, who was the leader of a
group which survived his death, which in turn was persecuted, and which
formed a messianic sect which was finally successful'. It is difficult to make
his teaching offensive enough to lead to execution or sectarian enough to
lead to the formation of a group which eventually separated from the main
body ofJudaism. This is not to say that scholars have not tried to find links
between Jesus' teaching, his death, and the rise of the Christian movement;
but only that the links are difficult to establish. Further, the most common
ones (e.g., he directly opposed Moses and this aroused opposition) are, at
best, dubious. These matters, again, will be explored more fully later,
especially in the section on 'the state of the question', and I have to be
content here only to say that the various proposed connections between
1

i c

INTRODUCTION

'Jesus the teacher' and the conclusion and aftermath of his career are not
fully satisfactory.
We see, then, that the enormous labour which for generations has been
expended on the investigation of the teaching material in the Gospels has
not yielded a convincing historical depiction ofJesus - one which sets him
firmly in Jewish history, which explains his execution, and which explains
why his followers formed a persecuted messianic sect. What is needed is
more secure evidence, evidence on which everyone can agree and which
at least points towards an explanation of these historical puzzles. Such
evidence, if it is produced, could then be supplemented in various ways;
but the first goal of this study is to seek and establish that evidence. I think
that it exists. There are facts about Jesus, his career, and its consequences
which are very firm and which do point towards solutions of historical
questions; and the present study is based primarily on facts about Jesus
and only secondarily on a study of some of the sayings material.
Fuchs some years ago proposed placing first Jesus' behaviour and using
that as a framework for the sayings. T h e concrete behaviour which he
had in mind was Jesus' association with sinners, which correlates with the
sayings which call sinners and promise them the kingdom. In common
with many modern interpreters, I shall later argue that such behaviour
and sayings were characteristic of Jesus and become important for
understanding him and his relationship to his contemporaries. T o under
stand the importance ofJesus' calling sinners to be with him, however, we
must understand rather a lot about who the sinners were and about what
Jesus meant by the kingdom, which in turn requires the very understanding
of Jesus and Judaism which we are trying to illuminate. T h e discussion
which proceeds from Jesus' asociation with sinners, to understanding his
intention in calling them, to making inferences about his relationship to
Judaism (made up of the sinners and the righteous alike) is a fruitful one;
but it turns out not to be a good starting-point. Not only does Jesus'
association with sinners depend on other important points which must
first be clarified before its significance can be seen, but also (as I shall
argue in ch. 6) the most common understanding of it is incorrect. It is a
fact which must be explained and correlated with Jesus' message; but the
meaning is sufficiently in doubt that it does not provide the best point of
entry for our study.
3

Recently two scholars have pointed to the existence of facts about Jesus,
and they use them in different ways to derive a full picture of him. Morton
Smith has pointed out that' . . . the external framework of Jesus' life the what, when, and where - is reasonably certain'. He notes another
5

INTRODUCTION

important fact: 'Whatever else Jesus may or may not have done, he
unquestionably started the process that became Christianity.' Anthony
Harvey similarly comments that 'the evidence for at least the main facts
of the life and death ofJesus is as abundant, circumstantial and consistent
as is the case with any other figure of ancient history.' Harvey mentions
as beyond reasonable doubt the following facts:
6

that Jesus was known in both Galilee and Jerusalem; that he was a teacher;
that he carried out cures ofvarious illnesses, particularly demon-possession,
and that these were widely regarded as miraculous; that he was involved in
controversy with fellow Jews over questions of the law of Moses: and that
he was cruicified in the governorship of Pontius Pilate.
8

These two scholars come to different views about Jesus, though agreeing
on the whole about these facts. Smith argues that the first and surest fact
about Jesus is that he was a miracle worker, and he is confident that in
Jesus' own ministry it was healing which attracted the crowds to whom he
preached. T h e crowds began to think of him as the Messiah. T h e
expectations thus aroused, if they affected enough people, might lead the
authorities to fear him (p. 1 6 ; cf. 4 3 f ) . Thus Smith can trace a reasonable
line of development from 'miracle worker' to 'messianic pretender' to the
crucifixion. He also argues that the title 'son of G o d ' arose because of
Jesus' miracles (pp. 8 0 - 8 3 ; 1 0 1 - 3 ; cf. 1 4 ) . Finally, he points out that a lot
of teachers and some prophets were known in Israel, but that there was
no tendency to make them miracle workers. It is comprehensible, however,
that one first known for the latter activity became known for the others:
'the rest of the tradition about Jesus can be understood if we begin with
the miracles, but the miracles cannot be understood if we begin with a
purely didactic tradition' (p. 1 6 ; cf. 1 2 9 ) .
T h e teaching attributed to Jesus does not figure prominently in Smith's
treatment, although he does drop the tantalizing hint that Jesus' being a
'magician' correlates with the statement that he preached the gospel to the
poor (p. 2 4 ) . It appears that Smith, were he to treat the teaching material
in more detail, would consider some to have come from Jesus and to have
been widely known because of his fame as a magician, some to have been
attributed to him on the principle that famous names attract famous
sayings.
T h e guild of New Testament scholars has not paid Smith's latest work
the attention which it deserves, despite the fact that in it Smith offers to
us another deposit of material from his unrivalled treasury of learning.
T h e title 'magician' may be a hindrance, as may Smith's habit of tweaking
9

INTRODUCTION

the noses of the pious. We should not, however, allow ourselves to be so

easily deflected from considering the work for what it is: a serious effort
to explain historically some of the principal puzzles aboutJesus, specifically
why he attracted attention, why he was executed, and why he was
subsequently deified. I earlier indicated that regarding Jesus as essentially
a teacher does not answer these and related questions. T h e point will, I
think, be clearly seen if one compares two recent books on Jesus as teacher,
those by Scott and Breech, with the work of Smith. Both of these are
based on the assumption that the bedrock material about Jesus consists of
a small core of sayings and parables. In these works, Jesus appears as an
enigmatic symbol-maker (Scott) or parable-weaver (Breech), offering
things which, though mysterious then, are seen, when finally puzzled out
twenty centuries later, to be striking in manner but not especially in matter.
T h e Jesus of those works, I think, could not have been an important
historical figure. I think that it is fair to say that he is not regarded as such
in these two works. Breech is explicit:'. . . there is absolutely no basis for
assuming that Jesus shared the cosmological, mythological, or religious
ideas of his contemporaries', and on this reading there would have been
no reason for them to have paid attention to him one way or the other.
Scott similarly argues that, for Jesus, 'kingdom' was a symbol to the
exclusion of concept. He does not explicitly say that Jesus did not speak
the same language as his contemporaries, but it seems to follow. A Jesus
who was only a teacher, but as teacher did not even communicate striking
ideas to his audience, surely was a person of little consequence.
10

11

12

These books are, to be sure, extreme and one-sided, and others who
have seen Jesus as primarily a teacher have depicted his teaching as relevant
to his contemporaries and have even tried to find in his teaching such
offensive matter that he was executed. T h e success of these efforts will
be considered later. But when one shifts from extreme books about Jesus
as teacher to Smith's extreme and one-sided account of him as magician,
one whiffs not only fresh air, but also the earnest sweat which comes from
the effort to explain history.
I have said that Smith's book is one-sided, and it will be helpful to give
an instance. In commenting on the Lord's prayer, he recognizes that' "thy
kingdom come" [Matt. 6.10] has no clear magical parallel', since it derives
'from Jewish eschatological thought' (p. 1 3 2 ) . Yet he considers that the
frequent repetition of the names of gods in the Greek Magical Papyri may
illuminate the preceding line, 'hallowed be thy name' (Matt. 6.9). It would
be better to look to Jewish hopes for restoration if we wish parallels to the
line about sanctifying the name. In a much earlier work, in fact, Smith
13

INTRODUCTION

cited a line from the Kaddish as parallel to the line in Matthew: 'Let thy
great name be magnified and hallowed.' T h e new evidence now adduced
from the PGM might lead us to examine in a wider context the phrases
about magnifying, glorifying and sanctifying the name of God; but it is
surely one-sided - as Smith doubtless would grant - to cite only the PGM.
This leads us to the consideration which counts against simply adopting
Smith's procedure and beginning the investigation of facts about Jesus
with miracles. We should bear in mind the general context of Jesus' life
and work and start with a fact about Jesus which corresponds best to that
context. T h e reasoning is this: Jesus lived in a mixed culture, and elements
of his life and work may be illuminated by drawing on information from
here and there in the ancient world. I intend here to include the
magical papyri. But we know the principal context of Jesus' work: Jewish
eschatology. As I shall argue later, the line from John the Baptist to Paul
and the other early apostles is the line ofJewish eschatology, and it would
be misleading to move the centre of our investigation off that line.
I take it that Smith has struck a blow for redressing the balance in the
study of Jesus; that is, for moving us away from the almost exclusive
concentration on him as a teacher. Further, building on the undoubted
fact that Jesus was known as a miracle worker, he has brought forward
evidence for showing that, in this activity, Jesus followed some of the
standard practices of magicians. Third, he has made a substantial contribu
tion to methodology. We should study the facts about Jesus and try to
understand their significance in his context. I depart from Smith because
I think that there are other facts which fit Jesus unmistakably into a context
other than that of magic.
Harvey also constructs his book by setting known activities ofJesus into
their context, which in turn sets definite limits to their significance. Thus
the title, Jesus and the Constraints of History. His procedure may be
exemplified by quoting him on the question ofJesus as teacher.
14

. . . we shall find that those bare biographical statements, which are

established with a high degree of historical certainty but which seem at first
to convey little information that is of interest to the theologian, take on
considerable significance. The statement, for example, that Jesus was a
teacher, when set in the context of the constraints which bore upon any
teacher of his time and culture and of the relatively small number of options
which was open to anyone who wished to give a new lead in religious
understanding while remaining intelligible to the majority of his hearers such a statement is capable of yielding a surprising amount of information
about the kind of person Jesus must have been and the kind of achievement

INTRODUCTION

at which he aimed; and this information is of great relevance to the ultimate

question of Christology: who and what was Jesus?
15

I shall confess to the reader that, when I read those words, I thought that
Harvey had succeeded in publishing first a book on which I had been
engaged, off and on, for almost ten years. That turned out not to be the
case, and I now recall the moment in order to indicate how appropriate to
the problem of how to describe Jesus his procedure is. It will turn out that
we do not employ precisely the same list of facts, that we assess the range
of possible meanings within Judaism quite differently, and that - as is
always the case - we disagree about individual pericopes. Further, as the
quoted paragraph makes clear, Harvey is concerned to press his discussion
towards the problem of christology, and he spends considerable effort on
the question how a modern can make sense of ancient thinking. 1 prescind
from both topics.
T h e phrase 'must have been', which occurs in the quotation from
Harvey, and similar phrases, are extremely common in his book. This
indicates the degree to which he is obliged to write what we may call
'aprioristic' history: if Jesus did X , it must have meant Y . T h e present
work is by no means without that sort of argument, although I do not use
it as heavily as does Harvey. Such arguments are not necessarily bad ones.
Their value depends on several factors, of which we may name the two
most important: how sure we are of the possible range of meanings of any
given action or saying; how many lines of evidence converge towards the
same meaning.
T h e method which one sees articulated by Smith and Harvey, and
which I am attempting to clarify and to pursue systematically, is not in fact
new. It has often been followed here and there, though with relatively little
or no conscious reflection. We may exemplify the method and its problems
by citing an instance (one which is returned to below) from Ernst
Kasemann's essay which formally reopened the quest for the historical
Jesus. He stated that the first, second and fourth antitheses of the Sermon
on the Mount are authentic, and he drew the conclusion that Jesus thereby
either cut himself off from Judaism 'or else he brings the Messianic Torah
and is therefore the Messiah'. T h e conclusion about the two possible
meanings of the sayings about not being angry, not lusting, and not
swearing is based on a prior assumption: normal Judaism could not tolerate
such sayings. Here the prior assumption is based on a misunderstanding
ofJewish law and the permissible bounds of individual disagreement. For
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INTRODUCTION

the present I mention only one point: it is not against the law to be more
strict and rigorous than the law requires.
I hope that both the method and its pitfalls are clear. In principle it is
possible to argue from facts to meaning or significance. Further, this sort
of argument is necessary if one is to answer significant questions about
Jesus. What is hard is to develop such arguments successfully and
convincingly: to avoid too much circularity, to start at the right point, to
get the facts straight, and to assess correctly their possible significance in
their original context.
There is, as is usual in dealing with historical questions, no opening
which does not involve one in a circle of interpretation, that is, which does
not depend on points which in turn require us to understand others.
Historians always work in this kind of circle, moving from evidence to
tentative conclusions, then back to the evidence with renewed insight, and
so on. In discussing Smith's book, I have already mentioned a circle of
interpretation which I have followed and which will be presented fully
below: enough evidence points towards Jewish eschatology as the general
framework of Jesus' ministry that we may examine the particulars in the
light of that framework. One must be careful to enter the circle at the right
point, that is, to choose the best starting place. This, in turn, is a point
which is secure historically and whose meaning can be established with
some degree of independence from the rest of the evidence. One must
also, of course, avoid circular arguments, the basing of two points each on
the other. These occur with surprising frequency, and we shall see an
important one in discussing Matt. 1 2 . 2 8 / / L u k e 1 1 . 2 0 . They result not so
much from deficiencies in knowledge of logic as from lack of attention to
what is and is not bedrock in the tradition. Conclusions about Jesus are
based on passages, especially sayings, whose authenticity and meaning
depend on a context which is, in turn, provided by the conclusion. Thus
the conclusion that Jesus thought that in his exorcisms the kingdom was
shown to be or was made present depends on Matt. 12.28 and par. T h e
verse is known to be both authentic and meaningful because it reflects
Jesus' feeling of eschatological power. But Jesus' feeling of eschatological
power is known to us only through conclusions and arguments based on
Matt. 12.28 and one or two other sayings (see ch. 4).
T h e simplest way to avoid these and other problems of argumentation
is to found the study on bedrock, and especially to begin at the right point.
Once a beginning is made, a context is set which will influence the
interpretation of subsequent evidence.
We start by determining the evidence which is most secure. There are

INTRODUCTION

II

several facts about Jesus' career and its aftermath which can be known
beyond doubt. Any interpretation of Jesus should be able to account for
these. T h e almost indisputable facts, listed more or less in chronological
order, are these:
19

1. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.

2. Jesus was a Galilean who preached and healed.
3. Jesus called disciples and spoke of there being twelve.
4. Jesus confined his activity to Israel.
5 Jesus engaged in a controversy about the temple.
6. Jesus was crucified outside Jerusalem by the Roman authorities.
7. After his death Jesus' followers continued as an identifiable
movement.
8. At least some Jews persecuted at least parts of the new movement
(Gal. 1 . 1 3 , 2 2 ; Phil. 3.6), and it appears that this persecution endured
at least to a time near the end of Paul's career (II Cor. 1 1 . 2 4 ; Gal.
5 . 1 1 ; 6 . 1 2 ; cf. Matt. 23.34; 1 0 . 1 7 ) .
In the course of the present work I have tried several starting points,
working them out either mentally or on paper, in an effort to find the one
which is most satisfactory. T h e aim is always to move from the evidence
which is most secure and least ambiguous to more uncertain evidence. If
we knew enough about any of the eight points it would serve as an adequate
beginning point. If we knew, for example, whether or not there was a
direct connection between the Roman execution of Jesus and the Jewish
persecution of some of his followers, many of the puzzles about early
Christianity and its relationship to Judaism would be solved. If we knew
enough about the reported trials and the motives for the execution of Jesus,
we would have a firm clue to start the unravelling of the interrelated themes
which are under discussion here. But on the one point our information
is non-existent, on the other uncertain and unreliable. A sound answer to
the question of the cause of Jesus' death requires us to solve a lot of other
problems, and the fact of his execution cannot be the starting point for our
study. Similarly, if we could definitely establish whether or not there was
an intrinsic connection between the preaching of Jesus and the subsequent
formation of his disciples into a group with its own distinctive identity, we
could safely begin our study there. Yet this question remains one of the
most debated points in the study of Christian origins. I have chosen to
begin with the temple controversy, about which our information is a little
better and which offers almost as good an entry for the study of Jesus'
intention and his relationship to his contemporaries as would a truly eye20

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12

21

witness account of the trial. T h e temple controversy can also be isolated

to some degree from other questions. It thus gives a point of entry for the
study of Jesus' career and historical setting, and it will also open the way
to re-examine the question of'Jesus and the Kingdom'.
A special word should be said about the use of facts after Jesus' death
to shed light on his intention and his relationship to Judaism. In the AngloSaxon world it has often been argued, usually in response to liberal
German Protestant discussions of Jesus, that something about Jesus could
be inferred from, in fact was necessitated by, the faith which sprang up
among his disciples. T o quote from Robert Morgan's criticism of this
response, the argument has been that 'the phenomenon of Christianity
necessarily demands more than a liberal Protestant Jesus to explain it.'
In somewhat the same vein, John Knox wrote that 'if we could not trust
any of the sayings or any of the deeds, we could still trust the impression
of the sayer and the doer, which the Gospels convey.' Knox's position is
not the same as the English tradition from Rawlinson to Moule, but for
the immediate point they may be considered together. What has been at
stake in the English discussion is, as Morgan's essays show, incarnational
christology: while historical research itself can portray only an historical
Jesus, and cannot be the basis for Christian faith, some historical descrip
tions ofJesus will be more congruent with the doctrine of the incarnation
than others. Knox's argument was directed to the church: the reader
who is a Christian can know what Jesus really was by examining the early
church, in which the impact of his life and work was embedded.
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25

I do not wish to challenge or confirm the positions of (for example)

Lightfoot and K n o x . 1 shall, however, sometimes attempt to infer causes
from results. I shall attempt, among other things, to see what can be known
about Jesus by studying what happened after his death. When pursuing
this line of enquiry, I shall have in mind only the historical sequence
already described, the one which terminates in the persecution of the early
Christian movement by some within Judaism, not the one which results in
the confession ofJohn 20.28. T h e question is simply whether or not Jesus
did or said anything which pushed his followers in the direction of forming
a sect, a group within Judaism which could be identified and subjected to
punishment. In advance I do not consider it likely that the link between
Jesus and the consolidation and persecution of his followers lies in a
common view of his person. Paul gives only one motive for persecution: the
question of circumcision, and thus, by extrapolation, the question of the
law. 1 do not wish to try to settle this issue here, but only to point out that
there is a difference between my effort to link causes and results and
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13

that which has been most common in Anglo-Saxon scholarship. In the

subsection on 'a good hypothesis' I shall describe more fully my view of
how to infer causes from result.
The sayings
Although the sayings material has just been assigned a relatively secondary
role, especially considering the dominance which it has generally enjoyed,
it remains important in this study. A full examination of the reliability and
authenticity of the sayings material is beyond the bounds of the present
work, but I shall explain in brief form the general stance towards the
sayings material which is taken here.
I belong to the school which holds that a saying attributed to Jesus can
seldom be proved beyond doubt to be entirely authentic or entirely nonauthentic, but that each saying must be tested by appropriate criteria and
assigned (tentatively) to an author - either to Jesus or to an anonymous
representative of some stratum in the early church. This appears to be a
neutral stance, placing the burden of proof equally on those who would
assign a saying to Jesus and those who would assign it to the church. If
one were writing a history of the synoptic sayings material, such a position
probably would be neutral. When one writes about Jesus, however, this
attitude has the effect of shifting the burden of proof to the shoulders of
those who affirm the authenticity of a saying or group of sayings. I find
that I am not neutrally canvassing the material, assigning it as best I can
to an appropriate place. I am looking for information about Jesus, and
looking with a somewhat sceptical eye; I want to be convinced that a given
saying is at least probably by Jesus before employing it.
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T h e question of where the burden of proof falls, which has been so

often discussed, is in fact very simple: it falls on the one who argues a
case. Were this a book about Matthew, I would need to show that the
material which I use represents Matthew, not, for example, a preMatthaean redactor. Since the book is about Jesus, I must bear the burden
of proof and show that the material which I use probably provides accurate
knowledge about Jesus.
We should be able to obtain general agreement on this way of stating
the question of the burden of proof. Important disagreements about the
reliability of the Gospels will, however, remain. Different scholars have
different overall views of the Gospel material, and these will markedly
affect their judgments about the number of instances in which one may
successfully argue that a passage is authentic. I stand, as I have indicated,
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14

on the sceptical side, and I should here lay out briefly my judgments about
the nature of the material.
i . One of the principal arguments of the form critics - namely, that we
have the material as it was handed down by the church, and that it has
been adapted for use by the church - is to be maintained. T h e most
vigorous attempt to provide an alternative to form criticism is that of Birger
Gerhardsson, who for years has argued for a fundamentally different
evaluation of the synoptic material. Gerhardsson has now been joined by
others, and we should pause to consider the possibility of revising the
most common overall view of the material.
I shall not rehearse the history of Gerhardsson's original statement,
the criticisms directed against it, and his reponse. This discussion will
be restricted to his latest statement, which I find often convincing, at least
with regard to how we view the origin and history of the material in the
Gospels, even though it does not decisively change my position with regard
to authenticity.
Of principal importance are two points: outside the Gospels we do not
find a substantial body of traditions about Jesus; inside the Gospels we
have full texts, not just essential points. When these two points are
combined, they effectively refute the basic form-critical position that much
of the material was created in 'typical situations' to serve diverse needs of
the church. We have, rather, parenesis without Jesus-material, as in
James, and much Jesus-material which would serve parenesis (especially
in Matthew), but no evidence that the need for ethical exhortation led to
the creation of material about Jesus. Gerhardsson notes that in such
activities as exhortation and apologetic the church needed primarily points,
not necessarily the reading of full texts. He seeks a special activity in the
life of the church which accounts for the preservation of texts which
contain sayings ofJesus, and he finds it by considering the dual transmission
of the Hebrew Scriptures. There was a free transmission, one which often
altered Scripture appreciably, and which is represented in the haggada of
the midrashim and in the targums. There were also activities in which
the precise text was maintained: worship, study, and the professional
preservation and transmission of the written text. Since the material
about Jesus exists in full texts, he proposes that it - or at least some of it was kept and preserved in a way analogous to that of the Hebrew
Scripture.
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There are two clear instances in which we can be certain that, from the
very earliest time, the church preserved texts: the saying on divorce (I Cor.
7.iof.; Matt. 5.3 i f ; Matt. 19.9; Mark i o . n f : Luke 1 6 . 1 8 ) and the words

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15
43

of institution (I Cor. 1 1 . 2 3 - 2 6 ; Matt. 26.26-29 and parr.). Itis noteworthy

that even here we do not find the concern for precise wording which
Gerhardsson several times proposes as having characterized the preserv
ation of the material about J e s u s . Not only does the wording vary from
version to version, but there are also substantial variations. Did Jesus say
of the cup, 'this is my blood' (Matthew and Mark) or 'this is the new
covenant in my blood' (Paul and Luke)? Did he forbid women to leave
their husbands (Paul and Mark), or did he mention only men (Matthew
and Luke)?
Gerhardsson repeatedly says that the church changed the material: it
deleted, added, altered and occasionally created Jesus-material. But once
that is granted, and is seen to be true even in the two texts which we know
to have existed very early, it seems that the analogy with the text of the
Hebrew Scriptures should be dropped. I am persuaded by Gerhardsson
that the Gospel material was not created and transmitted in the ways
proposed by the form critics - i.e., separately according to function in
diverse activities of the early church, such as teaching and debate. But
we still do not have an analogy from the ancient world which will explain
how it was handled. Gerhardsson effectively refutes form criticism's view
of how the church's creativity was exercised (in typical activities which
gave rise to certain forms), but we do not have a persuasive alternative,
and the creativity itself is not to be denied. T h e most certain point is the
one with which we began, and which Gerhardsson grants: the material
was subject to all sorts of alteration, and we have it as it was transmitted
by the church.
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2. T h e form-critical tests which were used to establish the earlier

form of tradition, which have often been used in attempts to establish
authenticity, are unreliable. I have in mind principally Semitisms, brevity
and details. Sayings in general do not tend to become either more or less
'Semitic', longer or shorter, or more or less detailed.
3. We know very little of the practices and interests of the early church
(apart from the Pauline mission) before the Gospels were written. In a
few instances there is indisputable evidence that a saying has been altered
or perhaps created after the death ofJ e s u s , but we can give nothing like
a catalogue of the kinds of changes that may have been introduced.
When these three points are taken together we must conclude that the
material was subject to change and may have changed, but that we do not
know just how it changed. It is not the case that I am decisively convinced
that Jesus did not say the bulk of the things attributed to him in the synoptic
Gospels, but rather that I regard the material as having been subject to
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INTRODUCTION

change in ways that cannot be precisely assessed. Thus the sayings material
alone does not offer us enough firm ground to explore successfully the
problems which we have set ourselves.
T h e weaknesses of form criticism should not lead us to the view that
the alternative is to accept the general reliability of the tradition except
when it can be disproved. T h e form critics were right in thinking that the
material changed; they were wrong in thinking that they knew how it
changed. Dibelius and Bultmann, for example, thought that the material
tended to depart from its original, 'pure' form. T h e observations that
'pure' forms may be only scholarly reconstructions, and that in any case
we do not know that material tends to become increasingly mixed or
'impure', mean that we do not have the rather optimistic confidence ofform
criticism that reconstructions of the original text can be achieved. When
one tries to reconstruct the life and message ofJesus, this situation, as we
have already said, shifts the burden of proof from the shoulders of those
who doubt authenticity to the shoulders of those who affirm it. This is not
to say that the burden cannot be borne in individual cases, but only to say
that it must be borne.
T h e principal test which scholars have recently used for assessing
authenticity is the test of double 'dissimilarity', and to that test we now
turn.
T h e test is this: material which can be accounted for neither as traditional
Jewish material nor as later church material can be safely attributed to
Jesus. There are well-known difficulties in applying the test. We know
first-century Judaism very imperfectly, and knowledge about the interests
of the church between 70 and 100 CE (when the Gospels were completed)
is slender indeed. Nevertheless, the test can occasionally be successfully
applied, and it is used below in the discussion of Matt. 8.2 if. / / L u k e 9.59f.
Yet a problem remains. T h e test rules out too much. We should assume
that part of what Jesus said and did became constitutive of Christian
preaching, so that the elimination of all Christian motifs would result in
the elimination of material which also tells us something about Jesus.
Similarly, we should be prepared to assume a broad ground of positive
relationships between Jesus and his contemporaries in Judaism. Another
way of stating this problem with the test of double dissimilarity is to observe
that it provides too little material to allow a satisfactory reconstruction of
the life and teaching ofJesus. T h e material which remains after the test is
applied is biased towards uniqueness.
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Secondly, the remaining material does not interpret itself or necessarily

answer historical questions. It must still be placed in a meaningful context,

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17

and that context is not automatically provided by summarizing sayings

which are atypical, as far as we know, of both Judaism and the Christian
church.
We have earlier agreed that, in dealing with Jesus, one has to begin with
relatively secure evidence. That is not to say, however, that a summary of
the most nearly certain sayings of Jesus will provide a-satisfactory depiction
of his career. If our assumption is true that Jesus also said things which
were in agreement with the contemporary Judaism or with the views of the
later church, a summary of the sayings which pass the test of double
dissimilarity would be inadequate for a meaningful presentation of his
teaching.
T h e inadequacy remains even if the list of sayings which are held to be
authentic is expanded by employing other criteria, such as attestation in
more than one source or attestation in more than one form. N o matter
what criteria for testing the sayings are used, scholars still need to move
beyond the sayings themselves to a broader context than a summary of
their contents if they are to address historical questions about J e s u s .
Since historical reconstruction requires that data be fitted into a context,
the establishment of a secure context, or framework of interpretation,
becomes crucial. There are basically three kinds of information which
provide help in this endeavour: such facts about Jesus as those outlined
above (p. 1 1 , nos. 1 - 6 ) ; knowledge about the outcome of his life and
teaching (cf. nos. 7 and 8); knowledge of first-century Judaism.
Different scholars have tried to correlate sayings and other information
in various ways. I have already indicated that in the present work emphasis
will be placed on unassailable facts about Jesus, their possible significance
in his own time, and the outcome of his life and work. Once the context is
established and integrated with sayings which are very probably authentic,
it will be possible to draw in other material in the synoptics.
One of the points of emphasis, the one which justifies the tide of
the book, is on the third source of information, first-century Judaism.
'Everything which enlarges our knowledge o f Palestinian Judaism, which
is Jesus' environment, 'indirecdy extends our knowledge of the historical
Jesus himself.' Judaism will not, however, be the subject of an independent
account. Rather, keeping to the oudine sketched above of facts about
Jesus' life and work, we shall attempt to draw special attention to the
significance of Jesus' deeds and words in first-century Jewish Palestine. I
have previously attempted an account of some features ofJewish thought
in the period 200 BCE to 200 CE, and some elements of that account will
be presupposed. Thus I take it for granted that no body of Jewish leaders
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INTRODUCTION

would have taken offence at the proclamation of God's willingness to

forgive repentant sinners. T h e forgiveness of repentant sinners is a major
motif in virtually all the Jewish material which is still available from the
period. Such general theological points will not be again demonstrated in
detail. On the other hand, it will be necessary to explore more fully some
aspects of Jewish practice and belief, especially about the temple cult.
Here I shall be in quest not of a common-denominator 'pattern of religion'
which underlay all sorts of Judaism over a prolonged period but of evidence
about individual points which can be definitely dated before 70.
Our study will lead to a hypothesis, and a hypothesis is derived not only
from the available information, but also from prior suppositions about
what a hypothesis could and should look like. In order that these supposi
tions should be clear, a few words will be said about them.
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A good hypothesis
In the first place, a good hypothesis with regard to Jesus' intention and his
relationship to Judaism should meet Klausner's test: it should situate Jesus
believably in Judaism and yet explain why the movement initiated by him
eventually broke with Judaism. That a hypothesis should meet both these
expectations will not be conceded on all sides, and a few comments should
be made about each point.
Earlier generations of scholars sometimes made Jesus so unique (and
Judaism so inferior) that the reader is now forced to wonder how it could
be that Jesus grew up on Jewish soil. Thus Bousset, for example, while
conceding some formal similarities between Jesus and his contemporaries
(e.g., the use of parables), denied any similarity at all on essentials. 'In the
one case we have mere exposition of the Scriptures, in the other a living
piety.There the parables are designed to illustrate the distorted ideas of a
dead learning... . Here the parable was handled by one whose whole soul
was s e t . . . upon the real.' Although many of Bousset's basic views about
Judaism are still unhesitatingly repeated by New Testament scholars,
the crudity of his description ofJudaism has pretty well disappeared, and
with it the stark contrast between Jesus, who represents everything good,
pure and enlightened, and Judaism, which represents everything distorted,
hypocritical and misleading. There is still an appreciable drive on the part
of New Testament scholars to depict Jesus as transcending the bounds of
Judaism (which in this context is always considered a good thing to do),
but the inclination to have Jesus so superior to his contemporaries that he
is deprived of a living context in Judaism seems to have been overcome by
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better judgment and better historical understanding. There is today

virtually unanimous consent to the first of Klausner's propositions: Jesus
lived as a J e w . T h e question which remains is how to determine
what Jesus' relationship to his contemporaries was, and there is wider
disagreement on how to answer that question, as we shall see in the next
section. T h e precise delineation of Jesus' attitude towards and relations
with his contemporaries is one of the major concerns of scholarship on
Jesus and occupies a prominent place in the present work.
T h e second half of Klausner's position - that something in Jesus' own
activity should have prepared in some way for the eventual split of
Christianity from Judaism - is more controversial and may be argued
against in a variety of ways. It has been held by many that this was not the
case, but that only the resurrection experiences account for the existence
of the Christian movement at all. That the resurrection experiences of
the disciples provided the motivating force behind the proclamation of
Jesus as the Christ and as Lord, and much of its content, is not in dispute.
T h e question is whether the resurrection is the sole explanation of the
Christian movement, or whether there is also a more than accidental
connection between Jesus' own work and the emergence of the Christian
church. This is not a question which can be answered in advance.
Klausner's argument that there must have been such a connection on the
grounds that ex nihilo nihil fit is not necessarily convincing as a formal
argument; for those who find no connection between the intention of Jesus
and the emergence of Christianity do not argue that something developed
out of nothing. They argue, rather, that the resurrection called the disciples
back together and allowed them to see the ministry ofJesus in a new light,
so that they could appeal to it even though nothing in what Jesus said or
did had prepared them in advance to constitute a special group. There is
nothing formally impossible about such a hypothesis, and certainly a
connection should not be forced if there is not good evidence for one.
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T h e fullest argument against attributing to Jesus an intention which had

results is that of Henry J . Cadbury in The Peril of Modernizing Jesus. He
described the modern view as being that 'the person's aim is to be deduced
from his recorded words and actions. These words and actions were
motivated by his aim. They were chosen with a view to their effectiveness
towards the end that was conceived' (pp. i 2 o f ) . In Jesus' day, however,
'to plot a career de novo would occur to almost nobody' (p. 1 2 3 ) . He
suggested 'an unreflective vagabondage' as having characterized Jesus
(p. 1 2 5 ) . Cadbury's argument was directed against both Schweitzer's
consistent eschatology (pp. i27f.) and the view of Jesus as a social or
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political reformer (pp. 1 2 8 - 3 0 ) . It is 'too easy', warned Cadbury, 'to arrive

at a man's purpose by seeing what he accomplished' (p. 1 3 7 ) . He explicitly
noted the argument that where there is smoke there is fire, but urged that
'the ratio of smoke and fire varies enormously, and the smoke often is
misleading as to the exact location of the fire' (p. 40). In place of the
modern view that the 'fire' which produced the smoke must have been
Jesus' own intention, Cadbury offered another:
What I wish to propose is that Jesus probably had no definite, unified,
conscious purpose, that an absence of such a program is a priori likely and
that it suits well the historical evidence (p. 1 4 1 ) .
Cadbury's warning against imposing modern categories and ways of
thought on the ancient world is salutary, but in this case not convincing.
Consciously intended programmes were not as alien to the ancient world
as he suggests, nor need we look far to find instances. T w o of the
sectarian or semi-sectarian groups in the Judaism of Jesus' day had such
programmes: the haberim and the Essenes. T h e former wanted to sanctify
the entirety of life, to make common life as holy as the temple, filled with
the presence of G o d . To this end they agreed to handle, sell and eat food
in virtually the same state of purity as that which the Bible prescribes for
the priests who serve in the temple. T h e Essenes (as known from the Dead
Sea Scrolls) sought a purified, 'true' Israel (although the term is not
altogether accurate), one composed of people dedicated to keeping 'the
covenant of Moses' as it was interpreted by the sect's leaders. To achieve
this end they went to extreme steps, such as requiring the communal
pooling of possessions and limiting intercourse with strangers very strictly.
After his crucifixion Jesus' followers constituted a sect or a semi-sectarian
group within Judaism. There is every reason to attribute to them the same
degree of intentionality which we can attribute to the haberim and the Dead
Sea community. Their programme, as it emerges for example in Paul's
letters, was clear and straightforward, and it determined their activities.
They intended to prepare Israel and, secondarily, the 'full number' of the
Gentiles for the return ofthe L o r d . To this end they organized missions,
divided responsibility (Gal. 2 . 6 - 1 0 ) , and even held a conference to make
sure that their various endeavours converged on the common goal (Gal.
66

67

68

69

2.lf.).
Thus the question is not whether or not ancients in general and ancient
Jews in particular formulated aims and shaped their actions so as to
accomplish them. They did so. T h e question is whether or not Jesus'

INTRODUCTION

21

intention can be inferred from the results. Can we, for example, draw a
line from Jesus' intention to that of his followers after his death?
I have thus far urged that the historian should examine the question and
probe for evidence. It is not a question which should be dismissed as
inappropriate to the ancient world or as theologically inappropriate (it is
often feared that too much history will damage faith). We should not, of
course, coerce the evidence.
In our endeavour, however, we must give strict attention to one of
Cadbury's admonitions. It is his comment about smoke and fire. They do
not always precisely correspond. It is true that the early church came to
believe that Jesus was a transcendent being, that God sent him to save the
world, that he would soon return in glory, and that all who believed in him
would be saved. Historians should attempt to account for the origin and
development of these and other beliefs, but it would be foolhardy - or
worse - to rush to the conclusion that the historical Jesus must have
corresponded to such beliefs. It seems intrinsically likely that beliefs about
Jesus' relation to God and his imminent return depend very heavily on the
resurrection appearances. It was surely such an appearance that convinced
Paul that Jesus had not died in vain (Gal. 2 . 2 1 ) and that he would return
from heaven (I Thess. 4.16) - beliefs which Paul held without benefit of
having known Jesus. In the realm of dogmatic belief we have a lot of smoke
- a lot of firm beliefs - but we must be very cautious about describing the
fire which produced it.
It is otherwise, however, when we ask about other matters, such as the
disciples' existence as a sect and their living out of the conviction that the
last days were upon them. We can explain Paul's conviction that the Lord
would return from heaven and that the resurrection would not be of a
physical body (I Cor. 1 5 . 4 4 - 5 0 ) by the resurrection appearance. It is more
difficult to attribute to the same cause the general eschatological framework
in which he lived and worked.
It is true that the eschatological framework within which the early
Christian church stood need not have been given entirely by Jesus;
something could have come from the general environment. It is my
intention here only to point out that in some instances it is more reasonable
to infer causes from results - fire from smoke - than it is in others.
Cadbury said that, on his reading, the evidence suits a purposeless Jesus
better than it does a programme-orientated Jesus. Here we come to the
crunch. I shall say in advance of the detailed argument that, on my reading,
the evidence points towards Jesus' having had a definite programme.
T h e only way to avoid circularity in this area is the exercise of caution

INTRODUCTION

22

and the use of converging lines of argument. Cadbury's a priori assumption

that ancients on the whole did not have conscious programmes might be
seen as informing his reading of the evidence about Jesus. M y contrary
assumption might lead me to find intention where there is none. T h e
reader will have to judge how good the evidence is. M y own perception is
that my prior assumption that Jesus may well have had an intention which
resulted in corresponding consequences has led me to look for evidence,
but not to create or force it. Further, I propose that a hypothesis which
does offer a reasonable and well-grounded connection between Jesus and
the Christian movement is better than one which offers no connection,
but which appeals, finally, to accident and to the resurrection experiences
to explain why Jesus' mission did not end with his death. This also urges
that one seek evidence. T h e reader, again, will have to judge its value.
A second aspect of a good hypothesis about Jesus' intention and his
relationship with his contemporaries is that it should offer a connection
between his activity and his death. Again, this is not absolutely clear in
advance. It could be the case, and the case has often been well argued,
that Jesus was put to death more or less accidentally; he and his followers
created a disturbance which the Roman authorities incorrectly took as
indicating the possibility of insurrection, and Jesus did not die over a
conflict with his contemporaries which was paramount in his own life and
teaching. This is also possible, but again it seems preferable to posit a
connection between what he did and said and the reason for his execution.
T o put these two points together and as baldly as possible: it is
conceivable that Jesus taught one thing, that he was killed for something
else, and that the disciples, after the resurrection, made of his life and
death still something else, so that there is no causal thread between his
life, his death and the Christian movement. This is possible, but it is not
satisfying historically. Further, I think - and this is far more important
than a priori suppositions - that the evidence shows that there was a causal
connection: that there is substantial coherence between what Jesus had in
mind, how he saw his relationship to his nation and his people's religion,
the reason for his death, and the beginning of the Christian movement. It
is the intention of the present work to explore that evidence. We should
first, however, give some review of scholarly opinions on these points so
that the issues will be sharply focused.
70

71

72

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23

State of the question

T h e purposes of this review of the state of the question are very limited. I
do not wish to summarize every opinion, but only to situate the present
work in recent New Testament scholarship. For this reason the discussion
will be limited to general works which give a more or less comprehensive
view of Jesus and will not include special studies of particular points. Some
of the latter will be taken up in subsequent chapters. Further, I do not
intend to offer a point-by-point evaluation of the views summarized. T h e
subsequent chapters will reveal where I agree or disagree with the several
points and positions which are considered here. T h e purpose, rather, is
to see what are some of the main lines of research and to achieve a view
of how some major New Testament scholars see the questions of the
intention ofJesus and his relationship to his contemporaries.
It was Albert Schweitzer who most sharply posed the hypothesis that
Jesus had some intention which went beyond the reformation of crass,
materialistic and nationalistic ideas about the kingdom of God. His wellknown argument will not be repeated in any detail. It was, in brief, that
Jesus expected the kingdom to come in a literal sense within a few months,
that he saw himself as its messenger, that he structured his activity to
anticipate its arrival, and that, when it did not arrive on schedule, he took
upon himself the sufferings which he supposed the kingdom required in
an attempt to force its appearance. Jesus stood firmly anchored in the
Judaism of his time, being dominated by an 'eschatological dogma' which
was thoroughly Jewish, and differing from his contemporaries not with
regard to theology and ideas about God, but only because of his conception
of his own role in the scheme of things.
T h e reaction to Schweitzer was so intense that the force and validity of
his positive points seem to have been missed (in distinction from his
analysis of everybody else, which was widely appreciated). What is wrong
with Schweitzer's reconstruction is immediately clear: he used the material
in the Gospels too arbitrarily, his hypothesis does not arise naturally from
the study of the texts but seems to be imposed upon them, and the dogma
which he ascribes to Jesus may not in fact even be thoroughly grounded
in the contemporary Jewish expectation. T h e expectation of sufferings
before the Messiah comes, for example, which is absolutely crucial to
Schweitzer's hypothesis, may not precede the two wars with Rome, and
numerous other elements of his eschatological scheme may be queried.
His work has the great merit, however, of attempting to find an inner
connection between the intention of Jesus, his death, and the church's
1

24

INTRODUCTION
6

subsequent expectation of the parousia. These are attempts which it

would be profitable to pursue, even if Schweitzer's hypothesized inner
connection is found unconvincing.
T h e merit of Schweitzer's attempt to ground Jesus in Judaism and to
find a thread which ties together his intention, his death and the early
church can in part be seen by contrast with more or less contemporary
works which made no such attempt. It is instructive in this regard to re
read Bousset's books on Jesus and Judaism. If Schweitzer's particular
hypothesis is unconvincing and finally incredible, Bousset's is unbelievable
in quite a different way. He offers, by contrast, not a dogmatic hypothesis
arbitrarily imposed on the Gospels, but a fairy tale. Many elements of the
fairy tale have been repeated, and for that reason a brief examination is
useful. T h e aspect of Bousset's work which gives it its 'fairy tale' quality
has been mentioned in the preceding section: Jesus was so different from
and superior to Judaism in every way that it is hardly believable that he
was born and reared a Jew. One is immediately struck by Bousset's utter
disdain for what he understood Judaism to be, a disdain which is all the
more disconcerting when one realizes that Bousset's work on Judaism is
still considered a standard text:
7

Everything turned upon the letter of the law and its exegesis. The merely
legal and ceremonial side, with its mass of ordinances, occupied by far the
largest space in it. Much that was good and useful for religion and morals
was no doubt let fall by the way, but only by the way - it could not be enjoyed
to the full. Trained acumen, a system of explaining separate passages of
Scripture by the most artificial rules, idle, fantastic combinations, devices
of greater or less ingenuity, punning interpretations and burlesque anecdotes
- these were the characteristics of the rabbinic discourses (pp. 37Q.
Jesus was completely different:
But with him the Scriptures and the law were never an end in themselves,
but only a means to an end; his business was, not to expound the Scriptures,
but to lead men to the living God. Whatever he could make use of for that
purpose he took from the Scriptures; whatever was useless simply glanced
aside from his largeness of soul and his devotion to the real (pp. 38f.)
Here, then, lay the difference. The message he brought was a living reality,
not a clinging to the skirts of a vanished world . . . (p. 29).
His desire was to teach, not to ask riddles or to make ingenious puns and
witticisms in order to arouse a superficial interest (p. 41).
In the one case we have mere exposition of the Scriptures, in the other a

INTRODUCTION

25

living piety. There the parables are designed to illustrate the distorted ideas
of a dead learning, and therefore often - though by no means always themselves become distorted and artificial. Here the parable was handled
by one whose whole soul was set, clearly and simply and with nothing to
impede its vision, upon the real (p. 44).
On the one hand was the artificiality of a hair-splitting and barren erudition,
on the other the fresh directness of the layman and the son of the people;
here was the product of long generations ofmisrepresentation and distortion,
there was simplicity, plainness, and freedom; here a clinging to the petty
and the insignificant, a burrowing in the dust, there a constant dwelling
upon the essential and a great inward sense of reality; here the refinement
of casuistry, formula- and phrase-mongering, there the straightforwardness,
severity, and pitilessness of the preacher of repentance; here a language
which was scarcely to be understood, there the inborn power of the mighty
orator; here the letter of the law and there the living God. It was like the
meeting of water and fire. This close corporation of the professionally
learned could never forgive the simple outsider for making a greater effect
than they, and for the fact that the people listened to him. Between these
two there must have been mortal enmity from the outset. And on the other
hand, Jesus' love of truth and feeling for reality, offended by such caricatures
of true piety, broke through all the limits of forbearance, self-restraint,
and consideration, and allowed the passionate wrath of his soul to pour
forth far and wide (pp. 67-69).
10

Since the point has been made elsewhere, I shall simply report here as
a matter of fact that the person to whom the Rabbis' language was
incomprehensible was Bousset, and he understood Rabbinic religion as
little as he did their language. It is clear simply from the tone of these
passages that Bousset's contrast is dictated primarily by theology and has
little to do with historical description.
What that theology was has been described by Moore: many Christian
scholars, having lost confidence in the creeds, sought the distinctiveness
and superiority of Christianity in a contrast of Jesus with Judaism; and
they thus found it necessary to paint Judaism as black as possible. Thus
the fairy tale quality of Bousset's description: Jesus is completely different
and unique. T h e contrast is like fire and water. There could only have
been implacable hatred from the outset.
On other levels, however, Bousset did not so entirely lose touch with
the probabilities of historical reality. In addition to the basic antipathy
between Jesus and Judaism which we have just cited, he described the
conflict in other terms. Jesus, argued Bousset, agreed with his Pharisaic
11

12

13

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INTRODUCTION

contemporaries with regard to the authority of the Torah in principle.

Because of his intention not to expound Scripture, but to lead people to
the living God, however, he could, 'if only half-consciously', break the
scriptural limits. Bousset continues, 'But just as he saw authority in the
Scriptures, so he submitted with equal earnestness and humility to the
laws of God as he read them in nature and in the life of man.' As we shall
see, this view ofJesus' attitude towards the law becomes important in later
discussion.
A second concrete point of opposition besides Jesus' willingness to
break the law (though only half-consciously) is the definition of the
kingdom. For Judaism, the kingdom was always the kingdom of Israel.
Jesus, by emphasizing ofGod, made a fundamental change, one which broke
with Jewish nationalism (pp. 86-98). Again, however, the fundamental
opposition was more implicit than explicit: 'With the idea of the kingdom
of God the universalism of the Gospel is already present in embryo' (p.
94). 'And while with sure though gentle hand he released religion from its
ancient forms, he nevertheless created no new forms, nothing material to
place between G o d and His disciples' (p. 1 0 8 ) .
Despite the severity of these points of opposition - the implacable hatred
between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees because of their fundamental
religious antipathy, Jesus' implicit abrogation of the law, and his embryonic
universalizing of religion - Jesus' death did not, in Bousset's view, result
from any or all of them. Bousset notes that the scribes and Pharisees are
replaced in Jerusalem by the high priests and others as Jesus' opponents
(p. 16), and he argues that the cause of Jesus' death was his messianic
claim, which threatened the Jerusalem hierarchy rather than the scribes
and Pharisees (p. 1 7 ) . Thus the content of the disputes on matters of
religious significance did not actually influence the outcome of Jesus'
career. T h e thread which Schweitzer sought is not present. As historical
explanation, Bousset's work fails at every point. It presents no believable
point of opposition betweenjesus and otherJewish teachers, the opposition
which is described depends on a regrettable denigration and perversely
misleading description of Judaism, and the opposition in any case had
nothing to do with subsequent events. T h e occasion of Jesus' trial and
death is stated baldly, without any attempt to explain why a messianic claim
should have led to death.
14

15

16

I believe that the best way to explain Bultmann's book on J e s u s is to

say that he was Bousset's student and that he fully registered the impact
of some of Schweitzer's points (in addition to the standard and correct
observation that worked primarily with existentialist categories). Bultmann

INTRODUCTION

27

and Dodd offered the maj or responses to Schweitzer's theory of'thorough

going eschatology', Dodd proposing 'realized eschatology' and Bultmann
existential eschatology (the kingdom is wholly future, but it determines the
present; its chief characteristic is that it demands decision; see pp.
5 i f ) . Bultmann, however, unlike Dodd, did not mention Schweitzer as
someone whose views should be taken seriously. Despite this, the counter
to Schweitzer is explicit. Jesus was not an apocalypticist (p. 39), and Jesus'
ethics are not interim ethics (pp. 1 2 7 - 2 9 ) . T h e definition of the kingdom
of God takes into account the future definition insisted on by Weiss and
Schweitzer, while taking away the concrete meaning. T h e claim that the
kingdom is coming is always present in the word, confronts every
individual through all generations in his own historicity, and always
demands a decision. This makes creative theological use of the work of
Weiss and Schweitzer, and Bultmann's ability to deal in a creative way
with the future prediction that the kingdom was coming is one of his chief
contributions to the history of New Testament theology. This is intended
as genuine but limited praise. For it is clear that Bultmann's interpretation
deprives the proclamation of the kingdom of the only meaning it could
have had in Jesus' own lifetime. Once it becomes timeless truth (even if
always occurring in 'true history' in Bultmann's terms), it has been pulled
out of its concrete historical setting.
17

18

19

20

21

22

23

Schweitzer's principal insight - that one should seek an inner connection

between the teaching of Jesus and his death - is not discussed by Bultmann,
but it is by implication denied, and denied in a way that bears a marked
resemblance to Bousset's position. As in the case of Bousset's book, a
great deal of Bultmann's book consists of specifying differences between
the teaching of Jesus and the rest ofJudaism, and like Bousset Bultmann
finds no intrinsic connection between the contrast ofJesus' teaching with
that of Judaism and the cause ofJesus' death. T h e movement initiated by
Jesus, the entry to Jerusalem, and his death can be explained only if Jesus
'spoke as a Messianic prophet' (p. 1 2 4 ) . (Bultmann, unlike Bousset,
hesitates to say that Jesus claimed the title 'Messiah'. ) Thus the detailed
analysis of the teaching of Jesus and its contrast with Judaism do not
explain the historical circumstances leading to his death and the rise of
Christianity. Further, there is still no explanation of why speaking as a
messianic prophet should result in death.
Some of the points at which Bultmann finds Jesus to differ from Judaism
echo Bousset. Thus, in Bultmann's view, the law was not explicitly
combated, for ifJesus had opposed the law the attitude of the early church
could not be explained (pp. 6 2 f ) . Jesus differed only in how he interpreted
24

25

28

INTRODUCTION

the law (p. 64). It turns out, however, that against his own intention (and
apparendy without knowing it!) Jesus actually attacked the law: 'In such
polemic [as Mark 7 . 9 - 1 3 ] Jesus apparendy intends to attack merely a
particular scribal interpretation of the Old Testament. Actually he opposes
not only a whole group of Old Testament laws, but the Old Testament
itself as formal legal authority' (p. 76). This is almost precisely Bousset's
view. On the question of the nationalism or universalism of the kingdom,
Bultmann's view is more nuanced than Bousset's. Bultmann does find that
nationalistic exclusivism is broken by Jesus ('belonging to the Jewish race
does not constitute a right to a share in the Kingdom', p. 45), but
universalism is equally renounced.
The Kingdom is an eschatological miracle, and those destined for it are not
destined because of their humanity but because they are called of God. T o
begin with, the Jewish people are called, and the connection of the Kingdom
with the Jewish people demonstrates most clearly how far from universalistic
is the thought of the Kingdom, how utterly every human claim on God
disappears; for the calling of the nation depends wholly on God's choosing.
On the other hand, a nationalistic misinterpretation is avoided, since the
call to repentance is directed to the chosen people, and this call rejects every
claim of the individual based on the fact that he belongs to this people (pp.
6f).
4

This is a great deal more sophisticated than Bousset, but it is still

noteworthy that Bultmann holds the view that Jesus abrogated the law
without intending to do so and that he overcame Jewish nationalism in
principle.
It should be emphasized that, despite the structural similarity with
Bousset's Jesus, Bultmann's actual contrast of the teaching of Jesus with
that of Judaism has a completely different tone. T h e rest of Judaism is still
presented as a religion which has failed, with which Jesus, can properly be
contrasted, but the scornful, disdainful phraseology has disappeared.
Further, Bultmann presents Jesus as addressing the problems posed within
Judaism (and as offering successful answers in contrast to the rest of
Judaism), which gives his work much more a feeling of reality than
Bousset's. We may consider the discussion of God as distant and remote
as an example. T h e idea that God is both remote and near, he writes, is
basic to Judaism: God is God of the world and supramundane, but the
world is dependent on God (pp. i 3 7 f ) - It is a Jewish idea, and a good one,
that the two ideas of God should be held in unity, but this was never
achieved in Judaism apart from Jesus. ' T h e thought of the God of the
26

INTRODUCTION

29

future stands with one-sided emphasis and definite colouring so in the

foreground that it is often not clear how this God can also be the Lord of
the present' (p. 1 4 1 ) . By the end of the page it has been concluded that
God is not God of the present in Judaism and 'the whole idea of God is
hence endangered'. In swift strokes Bultmann maps out how this future
emphasis further leads to the calculation of merit for the future judgment.
One's deeds are directed not by God in the present, but they become
works which aim towards achieving future righteousness (p. 146). In the
teaching of Jesus, on the other hand, 'the remote and the near God are
one' (p. 1 5 1 ) . T h e possibility of Judaism was not realized there, but only
in Jesus. And so it goes for point after point.
Perhaps it need hardly be said that Bultmann's description of Judaism
and his contrast of Jesus with it do not rest on a fresh study of Judaism.
He in fact seems to have known of 'late Judaism' only what he read in
Bousset and Billerbeck, and his description of God as remote from man,
no longer God of the present, is simply a sophisticated version of what can
be read in numerous treatments of Judaism in Christian scholarship. It
has been repeatedly shown that the view cannot actually be supported
from the surviving literature. Our immediate aim, however, is not to
debate the accuracy of Bultmann's description ofJudaism, but to see how
he proceeded. T h e description of the contrast between Jesus and the rest
of Judaism centres (as with Bousset) on teaching: on theological content.
Jesus differs by being superior. T h e way in which the superiority is worked
out is different, the philosophical categories are different, and the treatment
has more of a realistic ring. Jesus is not totally removed from Judaism, he
is seen rather as having brought to fulfilment what it could not. Despite
these differences from Bousset, the fundamental agreement with Bousset
is clear: it is Jesus' teaching which differs by being superior; the superiority,
while constituting a contrast with Judaism, is not what led to Jesus' death.
27

28

29

When Giinther Bornkamm's book on Jesus was published, it created

something of a sensation, since he made a few more statements about the
history of Jesus than had Bultmann. As Morgan has pointed out, he had
no more historical evidence than had Bultmann, nor a different way of
establishing it. He was, rather, less hostile to incarnational theology and
more inclined to see Jesus as the Word, rather than just the bearer of it.
On the points under review, however, he remained very close to
Bultmann, though introducing some modifications. He found, in the first
place, a basic difference between Jesus and his contemporaries which has
to do with the authority of Jesus and his making the kingdom of God
immediately real to his hearers:
30

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INTRODUCTION

What is essential is the indissoluble connection between what has been said
here [scil, about Jesus' authority] and Jesus' message about the reality of
God, his kingdom and his will. This alone lends to Jesus' history and person
the character of unmediated presence, gives the force of an actual event to
his preaching, and makes his words and deeds so incomparably compelling.
T o make the reality of God present: this is the essential mystery of Jesus.
This making-present of the reality of God signifies the end of the world in
which it takes place. This is why the scribes and Pharisees rebel, because
they see Jesus' teaching as a revolutionary attack upon law and tradition.
This is why the demons cry out, because they sense an inroad upon their
sphere of power 'before the time' (Mt. viii.29). This is why his own people
think him mad (Mk. iii.21). But this is also why the people marvel and the
saved praise God (p. 62).
It seems readily apparent that this is more postfactum theological evaluation
than historical description. T h e implied contrast with Jesus' contempora
ries is that for them God was not present. That contrast is still based on
no study of Judaism to see whether or not God was perceived to be present;
one is rather reading here a theological assessment of the significance of
Jesus for Christians. It is noteworthy that the contrast implied by
Bornkamm is the same as that proposed by Bousset, although the language
is both temperate and less blunt: Jesus is a living reality in contrast to the
Jewish teachers immersed in dead erudition, for whom God was not
present. We have seen the same contrast in other terms in Bultmann.
Discussing Matt. 10.5f. and 8.1 if. (both of which he apparently takes
to be genuine), Bornkamm comes to Bultmann's position on the question
ofJesus and Jewish nationalism:
31

. . . Jesus has by no means substituted the idea of a kingdom of God

embracing all men for the hope of the coming of the kingdom of God to
Israel alone. But it is no less clear that through Jesus' words and attitude
the illusion of the inalienable, as it were, legal rights of Israel and its fathers
is attacked at the root and shaken to pieces (p. 78).
Bornkamm differs from his teacher, however, in his analysis of Jesus'
attitude towards the law: 'Significant above all. . . is the open conflict with
the law which causes the mounting antagonism of the Pharisees and
scribes' (p. 97). He considers first the Sabbath law, but concludes that
here Jesus opposed only 'that Sabbath casuistry developed in Judaism to
the greatest degree of pedantry', but not the Torah itself (p. 97). T h e
Torah is directly opposed on two points: the laws of cleanness (accepting
the authenticity of Mark 7 . 1 4 - 2 3 ) , although even here Bornkamm says
that Jesus may not have seen this controversy as an attack on the law; and

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31

the law on divorce. On these two points Jesus reveals his unrivalled
authority over the law. Jesus' intention, however, was not to 'abolish the
scriptures and the law, and to replace them by his own message'. Rather,
'they are and remain the proclamation of God's will. For Jesus, however,
the will of God is present in such immediate fashion that the letter of the
law may be gauged by it' (pp. ggf.). Yet it soon turns out that Jesus did,
apparendy against his own intention, in fact abolish the law:
He liberates the will of God from its petrifaction in tables of stone, and
reaches for the heart of man which seeks seclusion and safety behind the
stronghold of observance of the law. He detaches the law of God from the
'traditions of men' and sets it free, and makes man in a new sense a captive
- man who deludes himself that his life is in order under the existing regime
(p. 105).
T o the degree that this is considered by Bornkamm to be a historical
statement, and not further Christian theological reflection on the signifi
cance of Jesus, it seems to mean that Jesus countered the authority of the
Mosaic law in principle.
Bornkamm follows the line taken by Bousset and Bultmann in not
connecting the theological disagreements betweenjesus and his contempo
raries immediately with Jesus' death. He does offer, however, a somewhat
fuller account of how Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and his conflict with the
authorities there led to his death. ' T h e reason why Jesus sets out with his
disciples on his journey to Jerusalem cannot be doubted. It was to deliver
the message of the coming kingdom of God in Jerusalem also . . . ' (p.
154). T h e entry may or may not have been intended by Jesus as strictly
messianic. But in any case Jesus claimed that the kingdom of God 'is
dawning in his word, and that the final decision will turn upon himself
(p. 158). T h e cleansing of the temple was not just a purification of polluting
practice; rather, Jesus 'cleanses the sanctuary for the approaching kingdom
of G o d ' (pp. i 5 8 f ) . T h e entry and the cleansing provoked the Jewish
authorities in Jerusalem (p. 159), and it is probable that they turned him
over to Pilate as a political suspect (p. 164).
We have now come to a formulation of the situation which is very
common. T h e essential elements are these: Jesus opposed the law on one
or two points, and therefore in principle, by appealing to the immediate
will of God, even if he himself did not intend to oppose the law as such or
fully see the implications of his own words and deeds; Jesus did not
universalize the idea of the kingdom explicitly, although he implicitly
abrogated Israel's national hopes; he differed theologically from his

32

INTRODUCTION

contemporaries and was their superior, but this had no immediate bearing
on his death; he went to Jerusalem to force the issue there, to present there
the claim that the kingdom was coming and to challenge the hierarchy to
decide for his message or against it; he alarmed the hierarchy by his claims
and was put to death at their behest.
Implicit in this is the view that Jesus did not intend anything else: he
did not have in mind establishing a community to carry on after his death;
he did not think he could force the coming of the kingdom of God; he had
no intention of reforming Judaism. He was a messenger primarily, but in
a way that made him more than a mere messenger, for the response to him
and his message was crucial. In Bornkamm's words, 'the final decision will
turn upon himself (p. 158).
T h e main features of this position can be seen before Bornkamm,
in Dibelius's book on J e s u s . In Galilee, Jesus' work constituted an
eschatological and messianic movement (p. 6 1 ) . He went to Jerusalem to
demand a decision (p. 63), and the cleansing of the temple represents his
effort to force a decision as to his cause (p. 1 2 7 ) . Dibelius differs from the
Bousset/Bultmann school, however, in arguing that Jesus did intend to
leave a community behind, 'one devoted to the Messianic expectation, as
a witness and pledge of a personal attachment to him' (p. 100). T h e
primary evidence here is the Last Supper. This is not, however, a point
on which Dibelius dwells. He still see Jesus' basic intention to be to
announce the kingdom of God. But the announcement is more than bare
announcement: 'Jesus himself, in his own person, in his words and deeds,
is the decisive sign of the Kingdom' (p. 1 0 1 ) .
In one sense, in Dibelius's view, Jesus remained within the 'frame of
the traditional religion': he addressed only his own people (p. 107). Despite
this, he broke fundamentally with the law. Jesus demands, 'under certain
circumstances, even the renunciation of duties'.
32

Here one sees most clearly the difference from the legal religion: the
whole Jewish system of commandments and prohibitions with its absolute
jurisdiction comes in question, since God himself is entering into the world
with absolute majesty, absolute justice and holiness (p. 1 1 4 ) .
Dibelius cites the Sabbath commandment as an example of a law which
'must be broken if God requires it'. He sees the statement about leaving
the dead to bury the dead (Matt. 8.22) as evidence that not even filial duty
should restrain one who hears the call of the kingdom (p. 1 1 4 ) . Dibelius
puts the matter most clearly a few pages later:
The center ofJesus' message, the announcement of the Kingdom of God,

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33

could readily be combined with the Jewish hope. The radicalism of

this announcement, however, the exclusive insistence that 'one thing is
necessary,' devalued the claim of all other duties, including the ritual, the
legal, and the nationalistic. And Jesus gave expression to this devaluation in
his own life: he broke the Sabbath when he felt that God bade him act; he
excused his disciples.. . f r o m . . . fasting; and the burning national question
whether one had really to pay the poll tax to the foreign power of occupation
. . . he answered in the affirmative, but he viewed it as a secular concern
and pointed his questioners to the essential duty, 'Give to God what belongs
to him' (p. 124).
In this way he ran into conflict with the Jewish teachers, since they laid
burdens on people and were 'silent about the essential things' (p. 1 2 5 ,
citing Matt. 23.23 as reliably describing other Jewish teachers). Dibelius
saw more clearly than the other scholars whom we have thus far considered
how all this must have looked to Jesus' contemporaries: ' T h e devaluation
of those duties through the principle that "one thing is necessary" must
have appeared to them as threatening to undermine and ruin the whole
system of piety' (p. 1 2 5 ) . He does not, however, explain why this must
have been the case.
There was another point of opposition: Jesus did not share the general
hope for the restoration of the nation's splendour. Dibelius cites Matt.
25.25, Luke 1 4 . 1 8 , Matt n . i 6 f , and Mark 1 2 . 1 - 9 as evidence that Jesus
knew that Israel would waste its inheritance and reject the kingdom (pp.
I2 f.)The most fundamental point of opposition, however, had to do with
Jesus' assertion of his own authority against the Torah.
5

The law with its precepts could have become for men the occasion for
recognizing the absolute will of God. But men have defrauded themselves
of this opportunity by their expansion of the precepts into a legal system. As
a result, Jesus was now obliged to announce what must obtain in the
Kingdom of God, viz. the pure will of God. . . . He spoke as one who
possessed authority and power, and not like their scribes (Matt. 7.29) - but
in the eyes of the Jews that could be viewed only as heresy. For the voices
of the prophets were now silent, and no one had the right to announce the
will of God on his own account (p. 126).
Jesus's self-claim was, in fact, that he would be Messiah (p. 95); this was
construed to mean that he was a pretender to the throne, and for this he
was crucified (p. 102). Thus there is in Dibelius's view more coherence
between what Jesus intended, what he taught, and the reason for his death
than we found in the works of Bousset, Bultmann and Bornkamm: the

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34

central point is Jesus' self-claim, which puts him into opposition both to
the law and to the temple hierarchy, and which leads to his death by being
understood as being a claim to the throne.
Before we consider a selection of the most recent general treatments of
Jesus, we should pay some attention to the essays of Kasemann and Fuchs.
Although not full treatments of Jesus, these are significant contributions
to the recent discussion. Chronologically both Kasemann's and Fuchs's
principal essays on Jesus come after Dibelius and before Bornkamm; but
Bornkamm, though differing in some ways from Bultmann, is truer to his
views than either Kasemann or Fuchs. We should further note that it is to
Bultmann's position that Kasemann and Fuchs are replying, not to the
intervening work of Dibelius and others.
Kasemann, in opening a new era in the discussion of Jesus, began his
brief summary with the assertion that Jesus claimed 'an authority which
rivals and challenges that of Moses'. He continued: 'But anyone who
claims an authority rivalling and challenging Moses has ipsofacto set himself
above Moses.' T h e basis for the assertion is the unquestioned authenticity
of the first, second and fourth antitheses of the Sermon on the Mount.
Kasemann immediately draws the conclusion: 'For the J e w who does what
is done here has cut himself off from the community ofJudaism - or else
he brings the Messianic Torah and is therefore the Messiah' (p. 37). Here
Kasemann sets out a proposition that will become more and more prevalent:
that Jesus intentionally set himself above Moses, and that doing so
constitutes an implicit messianic claim. Kasemann proceeds to cite Jesus'
attitude towards the Sabbath and ceremonial purity as instances in which
the Torah is 'shattered' (p. 38). Breaching the laws of ceremonial purity,
which permits association with sinners, is especially significant; for by
making the breach Jesus removed 'the distinction (which is fundamental
to the whole of ancient thought) between the temenos, the realm of the
sacred, and the secular' (p. 39). Jesus was thus apparently the first modern
man. In Kasemann's view Jesus' attitude towards the law caused his death,
shook the foundations ofJudaism, and, most profoundly, 'cuts the ground
from under the feet of the ancient world-view with its antithesis of sacred
and profane and its demonology' (p. 4 1 ) . Perhaps one might remark that
this is rather a lot to base on the somewhat dubious authenticity of Mark
715.
T h e contrast between Jesus and contemporary teachers is the standard
one which appears also in Bousset and Bultmann: Jesus demanded
'intelligent love' in opposition 'to the demand of the rabbinate for blind
obedience' (p. 42).
33

34

35

INTRODUCTION

35

Jesus' intention was the proclamation that the day of the kingdom had
dawned 'and of how God was come near to man in grace and demand' (p.
45). Jesus apparently had no other concrete plan; and, as we indicated, he
died for opposing the authority of Moses, although Kasemann in his sketch
does not indicate how his death came about historically.
F u c h s agreed with Kasemann that the legal challenges to the Torah
(Sabbath-breaking and the like) go back to Jesus' own situation, but he
did not regard this as the central point ofJesus' intention or as the central
point of opposition (pp. 2 5 f ) . For Fuchs, the central point is Jesus' own
decision to suffer. I must confess that the argument is not altogether clear
to me, but it is apparendy that suffering is necessary if there is to be new
life (resurrection). T h e decision to suffer Fuchs finds proved in two other
acts ofJesus (arguing that Jesus' behaviour is the context for his teaching,
rather than vice versa, p. 2 1 ) : he drew sinners to himselP and he formed
a community in the midst of a perverse world. It is not the case, however,
that suffering is the accidental result of association with sinners and
forming a community: rather, the goal is suffering.
36

38

God loses no one. Hence resurrection takes the place of death. Apart from
resurrection the suffering of faith would be poindess (cf. also I Cor. 15).
On the other hand resurrection would be no real goal, were it not preceded
by suffering; for resurrection is both grace and faithfulness (cf. also Matt.
6.1-8). Therefore, when Jesus directs the sinner beyond death to the God
of grace he knows he must suffer. Precisely because Jesus himself assumes
the standpoint of God's grace, he assumes also for himself the standpoint
of suffering. His threats and calls ofwoe, and also the severity of his demand,
all stem from his stringent will to suffer. For in all this Jesus opposed his
adversaries, even though he was fully aware of the violent death of the
Baptist (p. 26).
As he trenchandy puts it a few sentences earlier: 'The secret turning-point
of truth is really still death (cf. Mark 8.35).' T h e connections between
points remain difficult, and it is perhaps not surprising that the one point
which many have taken from Fuchs is the observation that Jesus' behaviour
is more reliably accessible than his sayings and should serve to interpret
them. T h e view that Jesus' will was to suffer, because beyond suffering
lies grace, has not become a major point in interpreting Jesus, despite its
force as a theological proposition.
In the view of W. G . Kiimmel, Jesus' principal intention was to call
Israel to repentance in view of the approaching end (p. 36). T h e calling of
the twelve makes visible 'his claim to be calling the entire twelve-tribe
nation to repentance', and they in no way represent a sect, nor did they
39

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INTRODUCTION

possess a community consciousness (pp. 37Q. T h e idea of repentance

itself is well known to Judaism, being 'one of the basic views of Judaism
in Jesus' time'. But Jesus' call, by changing the emphasis, is fundamentally
different from what is found in Judaism:
. . .Jesus ventures to proclaim that God takes pleasure, not in the righteous
man who boasts before God of his being righteous, but in the sinner who
is conscious of his lost condition (Luke 1 8 . 9 - 1 4 ) . And therein Jesus
fundamentally distinguishes himself from contemporary Judaism, which
strongly emphasizes God's readiness to forgive and man's being directed
to God's forgiveness, it is true, but always added; 'If this is granted to those
who transgress his will, how much more to those who do his will' (Bab.
Talmud, Makkoth 24b) (p. 43).
In addition to this basic difference of theological orientation, Kummel
cites as points of opposition Jesus' willingness to 'set aside the written law
as well as the rules of the scribes' (p. 5 1 ) and his transcending the
limitations of Jewish nationalism (p. 56). T h e principal examples of setting
aside the law are the transgression of the Sabbath (Mark 2 . 2 3 - 2 8 and
parr.; p. 5 1 ) , the abolishing of the distinction between clean and unclean
(Mark 7 . 1 5 ; p. 52), the abolishing of divorce (Mark 1 0 . 2 - 9 ; p. 52),
and the antitheses of the Sermon on the Mount (pp. 5 2 f ) . Kummel
subsequendy cites Luke i 6 . i 6 / / M a t t . 1 1 . 1 2 as indicating that Jesus
'clearly affirms that with his coming the time of the law and the prophets
is ended' (p. 66).
Kummel somewhat curiously finds the transcending of nationalism in
the coupling of the two love commandments: 'This coordination of them
by Jesus unmistakably has the intention of naming all that man has to do
in the sight of God', apparendy neglecting Jesus' citation elsewhere of
other commandments (Matt. I9.i7f. and parr.). Kummel continues:
41

The response to the encounter with God in Jesus and to the promise of the
kingdom of God can only be love for God which is actualized in love for
one's neighbor. If love for one's neighbor grows out of the encounter with
God's love and is inseparable from love of God, then such love for one's
neighbor knows no limits: Jesus explicitly abolishes both cultic and national
limitations on love (Mark 3.iff. par.; Luke io.29ff.) (pp. 5 5 f ) .
Here the parable of the Good Samaritan is taken as indicating the abolition
of the national limitation on love, while the healing of a man on the Sabbath
indicates the abolition of a cultic (!) limitation on love. This is somewhat
confusing, not only because the Sabbath commandment is not cultic, but
because it is not clear whether or not a distinctive point is being made.

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37

T h e question of nationalism usually has to do with soteriology: what are

the restrictions, if any, on who will be admitted to the kingdom. Kummel
here addresses the question of to whom one should show love, and there
is an implied contrast with Judaism. But Kummel cites no material to show
that Jews traditionally understood that love should be shown only to
members of their own race.
We have already seen that, in KiimmePs view, Jesus' abrogation of the
law was based on his own self-claim: he brings the law and the prophets
to an end (Kummel, p. 66). Similarly, Jesus' death receives a christological
interpretation: it has more to do with what Jesus thought of himself
than with concrete opposition on the part of his Jewish and/or Roman
contemporaries. After arguing that Jesus identified himself with the future
'man' (pp. 76-84), and further predicted his own sufferings as 'part of his
divine commission' (p. 90), Kummel explains his death as follows:
Thus Jesus was so keenly conscious of being in the service of God as the
one to bring in the dawning kingdom of God that he entered upon the way
to death imposed upon him by God and therein completed his mission. In
this being delivered up to sinful men which was imposed upon him, and
from which Jesus did not shrink, the love of God which in Jesus seeks out
the sinner and encounters rejection comes to consummation and fulfillment.
Even though Jesus very probably did not give any more specific interpretation
of his death, still in the willingly accepted reality of his death a divine action
appears, which the Christians later had to make comprehensible. And even
if Jesus did not speak directly about his being raised by God - in any case
we have no certain early witness for this - still he undoubtedly regarded his
death as the transition to the coming which he anticipated as 'the Man' from
God, and thus confronted the Christians with the task of interpreting his
person, his work, and his dying in the light of the experience of his
resurrection, which at the time of the last supper still lay in the obscurity of
the future. But this all says that the incorporation by earliest Christianity of
Jesus' death and resurrection in the understanding of Jesus' person was
sketched by Jesus in the interpretation of his death, and was not first inserted
by the first community as something utterly strange and unexpected for the
understanding ofJesus (pp. 94f).
Despite his efforts to head off this objection, KummePs view seems most
naturally to be understood as a retrojection of Christian theology back into
the mind of Jesus. Here we have not really a historical explanation of the
causes which led to Jesus' death, but a theological interpretation of the
value of his death ('the love of God . . . comes to consummation . . . '; 'a
divine action appears').
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38

Kiimmel sees Jesus' activity and death as being basically shaped by his
own self-conception, and in this sense he is closer to Schweitzer than most
subsequent writers: what really matters is what was going on in Jesus' own
mind; his own dogmatic view determines what he should do, even to the
point of determining that he should die. Kummel differs completely from
Schweitzer, however, in arguing that the dogmatic intent behind Jesus'
deeds corresponds precisely to Christian interpretation. On this point
Schweitzer saw only a negative connection: Christian theology, faced with
the delay of the parousia, had to Hellenize the expectation of an imminent
eschaton into belief in immortality. For Kummel, on the other hand, the
delay was anticipated by Jesus himself.
Eduard Schweizer, while agreeing with Kummel (and many others)
on the points of theological contrast between Jesus and Judaism, is much
less specific about what Jesus had in mind. He is, if anything, even more
extreme that Bultmann and Bornkamm in viewing Jesus as one who had
no intention beyond the proclamation of repentance, forgiveness and the
presence of God. T h e twelve, writes Schweizer, were called to be with
Jesus (p. 4 1 , quoting Mark 3 . 1 4 ) , and it is hard to be more specific than
that. Just what they did is not known. One can say that they are neither a
remnant nor a gathering of a religious elite. Jesus, rather, sought all Israel.
In fact, he was prepared to go even beyond the bounds of Israel in his call
(p. 42, citing Mark. 7 . 1 5 , 29; Matt. 8.1 i f ) . Thus Schweizer easily accepts
the view that Jesus contradicted Jewish exclusivism. Besides this, however,
Jesus' intention is defined only negatively. Schweizer makes it a main point
that Jesus fitted no preconceived pattern, had no programme that met the
desires of any group, and cannot be defined by one of the usual categories
of Jewish expectation (pp. 4 2 f ) . All who hoped in him for the fulfilment
of their own plans were disappointed (p. 43). Positively, he can say that
Jesus' purpose was to give faith (p. 45), but it is a little difficult to know
what the specific content of the faith was.
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44

T h e negative points are clearer. Jesus set himself solidly against the
essentials of Judaism. T h e principal point is the customary contrast
between Jesus' personal authority and the law: 'It is clear . . . that Jesus
spoke to tax collectors, who were excluded from the people of God . . . ,
summoning them to fellowship at his table and thus to fellowship with
God; in other words, he offered forgiveness as though he stood in the
place of G o d ' (p. 14). He personally had the authority to offer the kingdom,
and the Torah is abrogated by the antitheses (p. 14). Schweizer cites as
further instances in which Jesus abrogated the law the saying on divorce,
transgression of the Sabbath (which he considers to be beyond doubt),

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39

and ritual purity (p. 32). T h e best summary statement of Jesus' distinction
from and opposition to his contemporaries is this:
They [his contemporaries] would have understood and tolerated an ascetic
who wrote off this world for the sake of the future kingdom of God. They
would have understood and tolerated an apocalypticist.. . . They would
have understood and tolerated a Pharisee who urgendy summoned people
to accept the kingdom of God here and now in obedience to the law, for the
sake of participating in the future kingdom of God. They would have
understood . . . a realist or sceptic who . . . [declared] himself an agnostic
with respect to any future expectations. But they could not understand a
man who claimed that the kingdom of God came upon men in what he
himself said and did, but nevertheless with incomprehensible caution
refused to perform decisive miracles; healed individuals, but refused to put
an end to the misery of leprosy or blindness; spoke of destroying the old
temple and building a new one, but did not even boycott the Jerusalem cult
like the Qumran s e c t . . . ; who above all spoke of the impotence of those
who can only kill the body, but refused to drive the Romans from the
country; who left all these matters to God knowing that God would one day
honor the promises and commitments now made by Jesus (p. 26).
Thus the principal difficulty with Jesus was his complete non-conformity
and his refusal to do anything decisive, but rather only to call for faith and
leave the rest to God.
It was not, however, this puzzling non-conformity which led to Jesus'
death, nor his opposition to the Torah, but his assuming the role of God
by forgiving sinners:
With an assurance that must have struck his hearers as unexampled, he
equates God's merciful conduct with his own conduct towards the tax
collectors. Who but Jesus could venture to describe such incredible and
absolutely unexpected conduct on the part of the father towards his windbag
of a son? Who but Jesus would have the authority to assume the role of God
himself in his parable and proclaim a celebration on behalf of the sinner
who has been restored to fellowship with God? Those who nailed him to
the cross because they found blasphemy in his parables - which proclaimed
such scandalous conduct on the part of God - understood his parables
better than those who saw in them nothing but the obvious message, which
should be self-evident to all, of the fatherhood and kindness of God, meant
to replace superstitious belief in a God of wrath.
But Jesus identifies himself so with the cause of God that he dies for the
truth of his parables (pp. 28f).
We see here the same lack of concern with reasonable historical explanation

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INTRODUCTION

which often marks discussions of Jesus' death. He died, in short, for the
gospel. But how did it happen? Who were those Jews who opposed the
offer of grace to sinners? Where is there any indication that the parables
were understood as blasphemy? Which Jews denied the fatherhood and
mercy of God and held superstitious beliefs about his wrath? Where is the
evidence that there is a connection between Jesus' parabolic teaching, the
accusation of blasphemy, and the crucifixion? One marvels at the sentence
which begins 'those who nailed him to the cross because they found
blasphemy in his parables': were the Romans offended by the 'blasphemy'
of the offer of grace to sinners? There is here an apparent loss of touch
with historical reality.
There are, to be sure, unstated views about the connection of events
which, when made explicit, show that Schweizer's view is quite coherent,
even if historically dubious. T h e line of argument would go something like
this: In his parables Jesus proclaimed the forgiveness of sinners. Since
forgiveness is the prerogative of God, he both intended and was understood
to mean that he set himself in God's place. This constitutes blasphemy.
T h e Jewish trial is on the charge of blasphemy. T h e Roman trial was
actually held at the instigation of the Jewish leaders, so that Jesus was de
facto, if not de jure, executed for blasphemy. Thus Jesus' intention, his
teaching and his death cohere. One may recall for the sake of contrast
Bousset's view, shared by many scholars, that the opposition which led to
Jesus' death was not necessarily connected to an opposition to Judaism
which is reflected in his teaching.
T o the degree that a trend has thus far become visible, it is this: there
seems to have developed a greater willingness to see Jesus as consciously
setting himself against the law and the other essentials of Judaism. T h e
explanation of his doing so is not a matter on which there is a consensus.
Everyone agrees that he did so in the name of the will of God, but there
is no agreement on the question of whether or not he had anything in mind
other than the bare assertion that in particular cases he could discern that
the will of God required the direct disobedience of the law. In the next
studies to be reviewed, we see more emphasis on a positive intention in
the sense of a plan or programme lying behind Jesus' opposition to
particulars of the law.
We may cite first Moule's brief treatment of the question in his The
Birth of the New Testament.^ After commenting on the Christian instinct
to argue for continuity with Israel, he points out that there also emerged
an awareness of difference and newness. He continues,

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41

There was no desire (unless it was in a radical type of thought - possibly

that of the martyr Stephen) to break away or to start a new religion. It was
only that the character of Christian experience and the centre of gravity in
Christian teaching were so different that, sooner or later, they had to be
acknowledged. And the seeds of this revolutionary differentiation were
sown by Jesus, even if his explicit teaching did not formulate it. His ministry
was marked by an attitude to those religious authorities with whom he came
into collision, and a manifestation of his own personal authority, which were
entirely unacceptable to them. They evidently sought authority in tradition
or written documents rather than in the personal encounter, the dialogue,
between the living God and man. . . . In a word, those with whom Jesus
collided were 'authoritarian', not 'prophetic'. Jesus himself, by contrast,
reached out a hand - so far as he reached backwards at all and was not
altogether forward-looking, new, and different - not to the authoritarian
scribes' religion of the post-prophetic period but to the mighty prophets of
Israel. . . . All this is only another way of saying that the ministry of Jesus
pointed to such a new covenant as is described in Jer. xxxi - a relation
between God and man not of propositional statement..., but of personal
obedience. . . . And one more way of expressing this is to say that the
community which Jesus formed round himself was the community of the
new age: it was Israel, indeed, but it was the Israel of the latter days; and in
committing their loyalty to Jesus, the Twelve and others with them were
constituted in that sense a new community (pp. 52-54).
He continues by noting that the term 'new Israel' does not occur.
Nevertheless, 'God's Israel, true Israel, was so radically different from what
counted as Israel in the contemporary world, that there is an undeniable
sense in which it is "new" ' (p. 54).
In one respect, and in only one, Moule's position is somewhat reminis
cent of Bousset's. Moule sees Jesus as different from his contemporaries:
he is either new, or else he harks back to the Old Testament. T h e important
point, however, is the introduction of the notion of the 'new Israel'. Moule
sees Jesus as intending the beginning of a community which, while still
being called 'Israel', is not constituted according to its acceptance of the
Mosaic covenant. Moule claims much more than that Jesus countered the
law on some particulars and thus in principle abrogated it. T h e substantial
abrogation, rather, in Moule's view, was Jesus' intention.
This general position was worked out in more detail by Dodd in his
last published work. Dodd first puts Jesus' intention very tentatively.
Discussing ethics, he states that Jesus' purpose was to bring about an
'awakening of conscience'. 'If we ask what overt result Jesus may have
hoped for, the answer is not easy, because he issued no program of religious
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42

or political reform, any more than he laid down precise regulations for
individual behaviour. He disclaimed any intention to reform the existing
system' (p. 86). Dodd works out a more definite statement of Jesus'
intention, however, beginning the argument with a discussion ofJohn the
Baptist. John, according to Dodd, clearly meant that being an Israelite 'is
no passport to membership of the true people of God'. John looked for a
creative act of God to bring the 'new "Israel" out of the existing system'.
He immediately points out: 'it is unlikely that Jesus was less radical' (pp.
8 f.).
Jesus' view was that Israel was doomed. T h e nation faced not only a
political crisis but a spiritual one. 'In terms of the existing situation, the
present Jewish establishment is doomed; the true people of God will
emerge from its ruins' (p. 89). Jesus' prediction of the destruction of the
temple indicates the situation as he saw it:
7

The temple stands for a way of religion and a community embodying it.
The manifest disintegration of the existing system is to be preliminary to
the appearance of a new way of religion and a new community to embody
it. And yet, it is the same temple, first destroyed, that is to be rebuilt. The
new community is still Israel; there is continuity through the discontinuity.
It is not a matter of replacement but of resurrection (p. 90).
Thus Dodd reaches his first proposition about the intention ofJesus: 'His
aim was to constitute a community worthy of the name of a people of God,
a divine commonwealth, through individual response to God coming in his
kingdom' (ibid.). T h e disciples are both recruiting agents and foundation
members (p. 9 1 ) . Those who hear Jesus' call to repentance are members
'of the Israel-to-be' (p. 92). T h e conclusion, it is to be noted, is completely
non-eschatological. T h e change does not take place at the eschaton, but
within normal history. In 'the company of the followers of Jesus . . . the
people of God was to die in order to live again' (p. 96).
Jesus' death was the direct result of this activity. As the founder of the
Israel-to-be, he at least functioned as Messiah. T h e charge on which he
was executed, of claiming to be 'king of the Jews', is simply the way in
which the Jewish leaders put the matter to the Romans. T h e actual charge
was that he claimed to be Messiah. As such he not only 'set himself to
constitute the new Israel under his own leadership' but he also 'nominated
its foundation members, and admitted them into the new "covenant", and
he laid down its new law. That was his mission' (p. 102).
Jesus went to Jerusalem to force a decisive response there with regard
to his mission (p. 1 3 9 ; cf. p. 144). T h e response, as we have already seen,
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43

was a charge that led to his death. We should, however, give a fuller
account of the conflict between Jesus and his contemporaries as Dodd
depicts it. T h e conflict which resulted in his death was preceded by a
period of growing opposition (p. 69). T h e terms in which Dodd puts the
points of conflict are quite striking: he had 'a certain impatience with
minutiae of religious etiquette' (e.g., tithing, p. 70); he 'sat loose to other
current rules of discipline' (e.g., Sabbath observance, p. 7 1 , to attack which
was 'to blur the national image', p. 72). Accepting the authenticity of Mark
7 . 1 5 , Dodd sees Jesus as abrogating the laws of clean and unclean (pp.
7 3 f ) . T h e point at issue was this: Jesus feared that current practice resulted
in 'such an emphasis on the overt act that the inner disposition was
forgotten' (p.73). Jesus' conviction was that 'with the coming of the
kingdom of God a new era in relations between God and man had set in.
Morality might now draw directly from fresh springs. T h e whole apparatus
of traditional regulations lost its importance.' Somewhat curiously, in view
of his firm view of Jesus' intention, Dodd then remarks that Jesus did not
intend to wage a campaign against the law, but that it was his opponents
who 'rightly divined that his teaching threatened the integrity of Judaism
as a system in which religion and national solidarity were inseparable'.
'This was the secret of the fatal breach' (p. 77, agreeing with Klausner).
But, continues Dodd, the fear from the Jewish side was deeper even than
the threat posed to Jewish nationalism, although that was a hot issue in the
current climate. T h e clinching charge was blasphemy.
The charge of blasphemy expresses not so much a rational judgment as a
passionate, almost instinctive, revulsion of feeling against what seems to be
a violation of sanctities. There must have been something about the way in
which Jesus spoke and acted which provoked this kind of revulsion in minds
conditioned by background, training and habit. It was this, over and above
reasoned objections to certain features of his teaching, that drove the
Pharisees into an unnatural (and strictly temporary) alliance with the worldly
hierarchy, whose motives for pursuing Jesus to death were quite other (pp.
8f).
7

Thus Dodd bridges the gap which we first observed in Bousset's view:
Jesus is depicted as opposing the scribes and Pharisees on points of law,
but it is the Jerusalem hierarchy which hands him over for death for
threatening the temple. T h e gap is bridged by the theory of an alliance.
Jesus' conflict with the Jerusalem hierarchy is presented in usual, though
sharply put, terms. Jesus said that the 'new temple should be for all
nations'. They saw it otherwise, and further saw challenged here the

INTRODUCTION

44

authority of the law of Moses (not, it should be noted, just their own
authority) (pp. i48f). T h e doom of the present establishment is presented
in the parable of the vineyard, which 'reads almost like a declaration of
war' (p. 149). T h e priests got the point and launched a counter-attack.
There were two charges: blasphemy, which was designed to discredit him
among his compatriots, and the claim of kingship, which was designed to
get the Romans to execute him (pp. is8f). Thus Dodd again bridges an
old difficulty, that of the relationship of the trials before the Jewish and
the Roman authorities.
Dodd offers a thorough and complete hypothesis: he accounts for major
aspects of Jesus' activity (the calling of the twelve); the conflict described
is based on the sayings and controversies attributed to Jesus; the various
conflicts and opponents (the Pharisees, the priests and the Romans) are
accounted for; Jesus is seen as having a concrete mission; the mission is
one which has a setting in the life of Judaism; the mission and the opposition
it aroused led to Jesus' death. Dodd does not make much of the statements
concerning Jesus' association with tax-collectors and sinners, and he
continues his rejection of eschatological views on the part of Jesus.
Precisely these two points become main themes in the work of Jeremias,
who presents what is in many ways the most complete hypothesis since
Schweitzer's with regard to the intention of Jesus, his relationship to
Judaism, and the conflict that led to his death.
With regard to the proclamation of the kingdom, Jesus' preaching,
according to Jeremias, is distinctive in only two respects. One is that the
kingdom is present in the ministry of Jesus (pp. 100-08, the other is that
it is for the 'poor' or the 'sinners' (p. 108). Precisely who these are will be
a major point of discussion later, and Jeremias's views will be considered
more thoroughly then. We note here only that they are primarily identified
as the 'amme ha-arets, whom Jeremias understands to be non-Pharisees
(p. 1 1 2 ) . It is the second point of distinction in Jesus' message that is
offensive. 'One example of the difference between Jesus and the Judaism
of his time would be his message of God's love for sinners; this was so
offensive to the majority of his contemporaries that it cannot be derived
from the thinking current in his environment' (p. 2; cf. p. 109). More fully:
48

The good news was a slap in the face to all the religious feelings of the time.
The supreme religious duty for contemporary Judaism was to keep away
from sinners. Table-fellowship in Qumran was open only to the pure, to
the full members. For the Pharisee, 'dealings with sinners put at risk the
purity of the righteous and his membership within the realm of the holy and
the divine'. 'A Pharisee does not dwell with them (the 'amme ha-arets) as
49

INTRODUCTION

45
50

a guest, nor does he entertain one of them at home in his garments' . . . .

Certainly, Judaism knew that God was merciful and could forgive. But his
help was for the righteous; judgment was the destiny of the sinner. Even
the sinner could be saved, but only when he had proved the earnestness of
his repentance by making good and altering his way of life. Then, and only
then, did the Pharisee see him as the object of the love of God. First he had
to become a righteous man.
For Jesus, the love of the Father was directed even towards the despised
and lost children. That he called them, and not the righteous (Mark 2.17),
was apparently the dissolution of all ethics. . . . Thus the stumbling block
arose from the good news - and not primarily from Jesus' call to repentance
(Matt. 1 1 . 6 par.) (pp. n 8 f ) .
For all the errors which I believe there to be in Jeremias's description of
Judaism, it must be granted that he has put his finger on a vital point. He
sees that Judaism believed thoroughly in the efficacy of repentance, so that
there is nothing distinctive about saying that God accepts repentant sinners: if
they are repentant they are not sinners. Jesus proclaimed God's love to
sinners before they repented. Jeremias regards this as both unique and
offensive. We shall have occasion later to examine the issue in detail.
Jeremias makes Jesus' call more radical yet: the implication of Jesus'
wording is that only the 'poor' or the 'sinners' are called (p. 1 2 1 ) .
Jeremias finds further points of opposition between Jesus and his Jewish
contemporaries besides the basic one just oudined. Jesus opposed the
priests for profiteering from the temple service, and this was the immediate
cause of his death (p. 145). He opposed the scribes for saying and not
doing (pp. i 4 5 f ) . He opposed the Pharisees most strenuously of all: 'All
the charges against the Pharisees are connected with their claim to
represent the true Israel and the community of the time of salvation,
through strict fulfilment of the commandments and works of superero
gation' (p. 146). Injeremias's view, Jesus criticized the Pharisees especially
for not taking sin seriously. They trivialized it by casuistry and by the
idea of merit. By casuistry Jeremias means that the specification and
categorization of sins shows that it was not seen as rebellion against God.
Merit implies the idea of storing up good deeds to compensate for bad at
the judgment. If sins can be compensated for, they are not very serious
(pp. i 4 7 f ) . Jeremias subsequendy returns to Jesus' opposition to what he
believes to be the remnant theology of the Pharisees and the Essenes:
'Again and again in the first three Gospels it is said how offensive,
provocative and disturbing was Jesus' rejection of Pharisaic and Essene
special claims to be realizing the holy remnant' (p. 1 7 7 ) .
51

52

INTRODUCTION

While it is not the intention here to debate points, I must note that I
disagree entirely with all of Jeremias's points in the last paragraph. I do
not think that the Pharisees - or even the Essenes - claimed to be the
remnant. Jeremias misunderstands the force of the categorization of sin
and simply ignores all the Rabbinic passages which deal with rejection of
a commandment as implying rejection of the redemption from Egypt (in
Jeremias's terms, as implying rebellion against G o d ) . On the question of
merit, he shares a widespread but erroneous view. It is hard to believe
that Jesus opposed the Pharisees for views which, as far as we know, they
did not hold. Further, there is a marked incongruence in Jeremias's
argument. He sees the Pharisees as being criticized for claiming to be the
only true Israel, while maintaining that Jesus identified the 'poor' or the
'sinners' as the only true Israel. He then argues that this identification is
evidence of the 'boundlessness and unconditional character ofgrace' in Jesus'
preaching (p. 1 7 7 ) . It would seem that his own position would require him
to argue that Jesus simply turned society on its head. One exclusivist
remnant group, just because composed of previous rebels and outcasts, is
not necessarily superior to another, just because composed of these who
earnesdy tried to obey the conditions of the covenant.
With regard to the law, Jeremias takes the more or less standard position
that Jesus abolished individual points of the Mosaic code (divorce, the
antitheses of Matt. 5 . 3 3 - 3 7 and 5.38-42; p. 207). Yet Matt. 5 . 1 7 shows
that 'Jesus is not concerned with destroying the law but with filling it to its
full eschatological measure'. Jesus did not oppose the cult, although he
did predict its demise (pp. 2 0 7 f ) . T h e oral Torah was rejected entirely
(Jeremias puts here the Sabbath disputes and purity; Jesus did not challenge
the dietary laws; pp. 2 0 8 - 1 0 ) .
53

54

55

Thus it was Jesus himself who shook the foundations of the ancient people
of God. His criticism of the Torah, coupled with his announcement of the
end of^the cult; his rejection of the Halakah and his claim to announce the
final will of God, were the decisive occasion for the action of the leaders of
the people against him, finally brought into action by the cleansing of the
Temple. They took Jesus to be a false prophet. . . . This accusation brought
him to the cross (p. 2 1 1 ) .
As did Dodd, Jeremias finds Jesus' actions and sayings to be based on 'a
particular programme' which he had in mind. T h e first evidence for this
is the call of the twelve (p. 234). T h e number twelve represents not just
the twelve tribes of the historical Israel; it means, rather, that Jesus intends
to establish 'the eschatological people of G o d ' which would ultimately

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47

include Gentiles (p. 235). Jesus' programme to establish the people of

God is based on his view of salvation history:
First, God's promise must be fulfilled and Israel must be offered salvation.
First, the servant of God must pour out his blood for the many, before the
hour of the Gentiles comes. It lies beyond the passion, and the help that
Jesus grants to Gentiles in individual instances belongs in the series of
anticipations of the complete fulfilment (p. 247).
Jesus' view of salvation history, then, also involves his own suffering.
Everywhere we find the explanation of this suffering to be the representation
of the many (Mark 10.45; 4- 4) by Jesus. The only answer to the question
how it could be possible that Jesus attributed such unlimited atoning power
to his death must be that he died as the servant of God, whose suffering
and death is described in Isa. 53. It is innocent (v. 9), voluntary (v. 10)
suffering, patiently borne (v.7), willed by God (w. 6, 10) and therefore
atoning for others (w. 4Q (p. 299).
l

Thus Jeremias finds not only external factors which led to Jesus' death
(his opposition to Judaism on crucial points), but also a dogmatic factor in
Jesus' own mind. His death is a necessary part of Heilsgeschichte.
Before considering the views of two important Jewish scholars, we
shall conclude this summary of Christian scholarship by presenting the
conclusions of two works which have focused on three of the major
questions under consideration - the intention of Jesus, his relationship
with his contemporaries and the cause of his death.
Ben Meyer's desription of The Aims ofJesus is the richest and best
nuanced one that I know, and it will be necessary to return to his recent
book in discussing points along the way and in the conclusion. Many of
Meyer's suppositions and intentions are harmonious with those presented
earlier in this work: a survey of the teaching of Jesus is not 'history in
the proper sense'; 'history is reconstruction through hypothesis and
verification' (p. 19). Jesus should be related to the history of Israel,
especially of the post-Maccabean period, and also to early Christianity (p.
222).
Jesus' intention, as described by Meyer, was to prepare Israel for what
God had prepared:
What had he prepared for Israel and the nations? For Israel, climactic and
definitive restoration; for the nations, participation in the salvation of
Israel. . . . Present by operation but future in its fulness, the reign of God
was being mediated by its proclaimer. . . . Jesus' message, summons,

INTRODUCTION

promise was specially directed to an unexpected combination of groups and

classes within Israel: the simple, the afflicted, and the outcasts (p. 1 7 1 ) .
This description, like any other about Jesus, is not unique, but the
argument is striking. Meyer begins with John the Baptist and proceeds to
discuss Jesus' public teaching, his public actions, and his private teaching,
arguing that all converge towards the same conclusion. Meyer pointedly
puts emphasis on the traditions most often denied authenticity, those
concerning Jesus in discourse with his disciples alone, but they are taken
to explain Jesus' intention rather than to prove its main oudines, and they
come into play after the main points have been established on other
grounds: 'the esoteric traditions provide the fully differentiated context in
which to set the whole of his career' (p. 2 2 1 ) . What is learned from them
is this:
Synoptic data individually and in the mass thus bring us to two ascertain
ments: Jesus understood his immediate messianic task to be the division of
Israel between faith and unfaith; and he understood his messianic destiny
(formally, enthronement and rule) to be scheduled for fulfilment only as the
outcome and reversal of repudiation, suffering, and death (p. 216).
In an important chapter Meyer sets the career of Jesus in the context of
Israel and offers reflections on the relationship between Jesus' own view
and what actually emerged. Jesus relates positively to a long Israelite and
Jewish history in looking for restoration, although his view of restoration
is not to be precisely identified with that of one of the prophets or any one
of the parties and sects. In other respects, however, Jesus was in direct
and bitter conflict with the Zealots (Mark 1 2 . 1 7 and parr.), he hit at the
heart of Pharisaic Torah piety (tradition, the Sabbath, ritual observances),
and in the view of the Sadducees he virtually broke with the covenant (the
temple) (pp. 2 3 5 - 9 ) . Collectively the conflicts led to his death, the last one
being the one for which he paid with his life (pp. 2 3 5 , 238).
Meyer's view of Jesus' career also gains confirmation from early
Christian self-understanding.
From the start this was an essentially ecclesial self-understanding. Its first
categories - the community of the outpoured Spirit, the Zion of the last
days, the remnant of Israel, the restored qdhdl of the desert - corresponded
in substance and sometimes in striking detail to what we take to have been
Jesus' goal (p. 239).
Further, a substantial part of the church's understanding of Jesus
conformed to his understanding of his own role. It saw him as withstanding

INTRODUCTION

49

the test in the wilderness and being transformed, thus providing the
representation of the 'new Israel' which the church saw itself as typifying.
Jesus himself had thought Israel would be restored in connection with his
suffering and vindication (pp. 24of.).
Although John Bowker does not offer a general account of the life and
teaching of Jesus, his book on Jesus and the Pharisees should also be
considered here, since it is addressed to two of our principal questions:
Jesus' relationship to his contemporaries and the connection between that
and his death. Bowker's view in part depends on his analysis of the use of
the ttrmspharisaioi andperushim injosephus, Mark and Rabbinic literature.
His argument is basically this: that there was a general drive on the part
of the hakamic movement to achieve purity, that the drive towards purity
was taken to an extreme point by some, and that their extremism caused
them finally to be separatists from the main movement. Thus he accounts
for the alteration from J osephus's pharisaioi - a party actively involved in
life in Jerusalem - to thtperushim of such passages as Sotah 22b - ascetic
extremists criticized by the Talmud. He finds the transition to be faithfully
reflected in Mark. T h e pharisaioi there sometimes represent the position
of the hakamim (the question about divorce, plucking grain on the Sabbath)
(pp. 3 8 f ) , while at other times Mark's pharisaoi adopt extremist positions
(Mark 2 . 1 6 ; 2 . 1 8 ; 3.iff.; 7 . i f f ; p. 38). Further, Mark accurately reflects
the historical situation ofJesus, for already then the extremists (perushim)
were separated from the hakamim. For this reason they do not appear at
the trial, since they by their extremism have dissociated themselves from
the governing authorities (p. 42). Bowker proposes, however, that the
extremists may have 'alerted others in authority to the dangers implicit in
Jesus' position' (ibid.).
Besides crossing swords with these extremists, Jesus offended the
essentials ofJudaism on the question of authority (p. 42). He
appeared to be claiming that. . . the relation of God to a human situation
is possible even where no attempt at all is being made to accept and
implement what God has commanded in Torah: sin can apparendy be
forgiven by a word (Mk. i i . 1 - 1 2 ) . Jesus did not necessarily deny the
observance of Torah (note the preceding incident, Mk. i.40-4), but he
certainly resisted the view that its observance is an indispensable and prior
condition of the action of God; faith is, if anything, the prior condition (p.
43)Even this opposition, however, would not have been a cause of crucifixion,
'particularly ifJesus had kept [his views] to himself (p. 45).

INTRODUCTION

50

There were many unorthodox teachers and sects around at the time, but
scarcely any record survives of their having been crucified, and even then
it may not have been for their teaching, or sectarian beliefs, alone. The
difference, in Jesus' case, lies in the fact that he did not keep his claims or
teachings to himself, and that they were, in fact, deeply threatening, not
simply to the principles of the Hakamim, or to the authority of the Temple,
but to the basic structure ofJewish life as a response to God's gift of Torah
to his people. . . . He clearly believed that the relationship could obtain,
even when the details of the covenant, as specified in Torah, were not being
kept; . . . (p. 45).
Bowker proposes that the actual offence of Jesus was that he was a
'rebellious elder' (p. 46). T h e immediate charge had to do with a threat to
the temple (p. 49), but Jesus proved himself a rebellious elder, not by
saying 'I am', 'but in the fact that he said nothing. Silence was the offence,
because it was a contempt of court which made him, in effect, a rebel
against it' (p. 50). Bowker admits that this last proposal is hypothetical and
lacks direct evidence (p. 5 1 ) .
Bowker's history of the terms pharisaioi and perushim is itself not
convincing. He offers no dating criteria for the Rabbinic passages, but it
seems likely that the negative use (extremist) developed no earlier than
the second century. There is certainly no reason for retrojecting the
negative sense of Sotah 22b (extremist ascetic) into the period before 70,
when it seems undoubted that the term 'Pharisee' referred to a member
of a major party within Judaism. In Rabbinic literature, all the uses of
perushim which definitely refer to the period before 70 refer to the party
known as the Pharisees, while all the references to the perushim which
refer to a group of the second century or later refer to ascetics or
extremists. (I leave aside passages in Rabbinic literature which equate
perushim and qedoshim, since in them the terms do not refer to any group
at all, but define a characteristic of any good Jew: he should be separate
from the things which God commanded one should be separate from: sin
and defilement, not other people. )
Bowker's principal hypothesis with regard to Jesus' opposition to the
Torah as the presupposition of the covenantal relationship, however, does
not actually depend on his discussion of the pharisaioi and the perushim.
Here we see one more instance in which a New Testament scholar is
willing to see a basic opposition on the part ofJesus to what is essential to
Judaism, and the terms in which Bowker states it are appropriate. T h e law
and the cultus were considered by Judaism to be the response to the God
who redeemed Israel and offered the covenantal promises, and keeping
56

57

58

INTRODUCTION

them became the condition for remaining in the covenant.

them would be as revolutionary as Bowker suggests.

51
59

Rejecting

If there is increasing willingness on the part of Christian scholars to see

Jesus as deliberately opposing the authority of the law (rather than
unconsciously subverting it in principle), Jewish scholars have maintained
with remarkable consistency that he did not consciously set himself against
the Torah of Moses. Klausner, for example, argued that Jesus often
stood on the side of the Pharisees. T h e Gospels now retain only a few
evidences of this (e.g. Mark 1 2 . 2 8 - 3 4 ) , but they were influenced by the
subsequent struggle between Judaism and Christianity. Such agreements
must in fact have been numerous (pp. 3 i 9 f ) . T h e criticisms of Matt. 23
Klausner regards as in part unjustified, while granting that in part they
could refer to a few (p. 3 2 1 ) . He regards the chapter as authentic and sees
in it the beginning of opposition of Jesus: 'Jesus, however, by his gener
alizations and abuse, provoked the indignation of the Pharisees and their
followers' (p. 322). Klausner grants that Pharisaism did have one defect
which merited criticism: it gave almost equal significance to the com
mandments between human and God (often incorrecdy called 'cultic' or
'ceremonial') and those between human and human ('ethical') (pp. 21 sf).
It is noteworthy that Klausner, in accord with the general religious spirit
of the times, regards this as a bad thing: what counts are ethics and interior
religious disposition. Emphasis on forms and ceremonies is bad. T h e value
judgment is the same as Bousset's, for example, although Klausner
correcdy states the balance: 'almost as much importance' in contrast
to Bousset's view that 'ceremonial' laws virtually drove out the others.
60

61

62

At any rate, this fault on the part of Pharisaism became the real point
of opposition from Jesus' side, just as his unfair criticisms triggered
opposition from the Pharisees' side (p. 220). There were other points of
disagreement: Jesus emphasized the near approach of the Messiah and
the kingdom more than did the Pharisaic teachers; the method of teaching
differed in emphasis, the Pharisees relying on interpreting the Torah and
using parables only by the way, Jesus centring his teaching on parables
and relying on Scripture only slighdy; Jesus gave equal importance to his
teaching and to miracles, while the Pharisees gave less emphasis to miracles
than to teaching (p. 255). Jesus' choice of associates would prove offensive
to the Pharisees, since he himself was a Pharisee, as would the fact that he
and his disciples did not fast (p. 274). There is a hint towards abolishing
the ceremonial laws, but it is so slight that even the disciples did not get it
(as the later behaviour of Peter and James proves) (p. 275). In general,

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INTRODUCTION

Jesus remained 'steadfast to the old Torah: till his dying day he continued
to observe the ceremonial laws like a true Pharisaic J e w ' (p. 275). On all
these points of conflict, then, there is no open breach between Jesus and
the Pharisees (p. 276).
Jesus' principal offence in the Pharisees' view was healing the man with
the withered hand (p. 278). This led the Pharisees to turn the people
against Jesus (p. 279). He offended the scribes on the question of
handwashing (p. 288). It is the statement with regard to clean and uncjean
food, however (accepting Mark 7 . 1 7 - 2 3 as authentic), by allowing what
Moses expressly forbade, which completed the breach between Jesus and
the Pharisees (p. 2 9 1 ) . But even so, he was not criminally guilty in the eyes
of the Pharisees. T h e challenge to the temple comes closer to being the
cause of his death:
The Pharisees, hitherto Jesus' main opponents, cease now to play a
prominent part; their place is taken by the Sadducees and the priestly class
whom Jesus had irritated by the 'cleansing of the Temple' and by his reply
concerning the Law of Moses and the resurrection of the dead. The
Pharisees objected to Jesus' behaviour - his disparagement of many
ceremonial laws, his contempt of the words of the 'sages' and his consorting
with publicans and ignorant folk and doubtful women. They considered his
miracles sorcery and his messianic claims effrontery. Yet for all that, he was
one of themselves: his convinced belief in the Day of Judgment and the
resurrection of the dead, the messianic age and the kingdom of heaven, was
a distinctively Pharisaic belief; he taught nothing which, by the rules of the
Pharisees, rendered him criminally guilty (p. 335).
Thus Klausner's view may again be compared with Bousset's: Jesus
offended the Pharisees, but that did not lead to his death. But in Klausner's
view, it was not even the challenge to the temple and the hierarchy which
really led to his death. T h e real reason for his execution was this: the
hierarchy knew that Pilate would use any excuse to 'demonstrate the power
of Rome' by inflicting punishment on the Jews. T h e Jerusalem leaders,
though irritated and angered by Jesus' behaviour in the temple, were
primarily removing a cause of offence to Rome - for Jesus and his followers
were potentially offensive to Rome - in arranging for him to be executed

(P. 348).
Although Jesus did not set aside the ceremonial law, he so devalued it
that this became the point on which Paul broke with Judaism (Klausner
regards Paul as the fons et origo of the break):
63

Ex nihilo nihil fit: had not Jesus' teaching contained a kernel of opposition

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53

to Judaism, Paul could never in thenameofjesus have set aside the ceremonial
laws, and broken through the barriers of national Judaism. There can be
no doubt that in Jesus Paul found justifying support (p. 369).
Klausner does not explain how Paul, but not James and Peter, could have
found support for the abrogation of the law in Jesus' words and deeds, but
his position is similar to that of Bultmann and others, who have held that
Jesus abrogated the law in principle and without intending to do so.
Klausner goes one step further by tracing a line from Jesus' attitude to
Paul. T h e opposition to Judaism in Jesus' teaching, primarily directed
against the ceremonial law, had further implications. Since Judaism is not
only a religion but a way of life (p. 3 7 1 ) , Jesus' attitude implies a denial of
Judaism itself. Although Jesus' attitude is only an extreme example of what
can be found in the Jewish tradition, the exaggeration of Judaism becomes,
in effect, non-Judaism (p. 376).
Klausner attempts to explain Jesus' behaviour by finding a setting in
Judaism for him. In Galilee, explains Klausner, there were no Pharisees
or Sadducees, but only Zealots on the one hand and the 'meek' on the
other. T h e latter 'abandoned interest in temporal things to dream of a
future life, a life based on the ethics of the prophets and the messianic
idea'. Jesus was one of these (p. 1 7 3 ) . His intention was simply to implant
his messianic ideas in Israel and to hasten the end by calling for repentance
and good works (p. 368). In agreement again with the temper of the times,
Klausner writes that Jesus abolished the political aspects of messianism
and made it 'purely mystical and ethical' (p. 202; cf. pp. 2 2 7 f , 236). One
may again compare Bousset's view that Jesus abolished all outward forms
in favour of true interiority. Thus, in Klausner's view, the priests who saw
Jesus as a potential threat were alarmed not by any real political movement,
but only by their knowledge of Pilate's extreme reaction to any disturbance
at all.
T h e general line followed by Geza Vermes, while beingbetter informed
both by modern critical study of the New Testament and also by a
real care in dating Jewish materials, is in important respects similar to
Klausner's. Jesus was a Galilean charismatic, of a type known from Jewish
literature (p. 42). As did they, he healed and taught, and he shared with
them a lack of interest in legal and ritual affairs (p. 77). As a Galilean, he
could have been 'guilty' in the eyes of the Jerusalemites of'the charge of
religious impropriety levelled at the Galileans in general' (p. 55). Under
this head Vermes lists his consorting with publicans and whores, his
disregard for the regulations concerning levitical purity and tithing, and
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INTRODUCTION

even the conflict in the temple: 'He was more concerned to keep business
dealings out of the precincts of the sanctuary than with the' quality of
sacrificial victims or the type of currency used for Temple donations' (pp.
5 5 f ) . These points would naturally lead to conflict with the Pharisees, 'not
because they were obsessed with trivialities, but because for them the
trivial was an essential part of the life of holiness, every small detail of
which was meant to be invested with religious significance' (p. 56). There
was inevitably conflict between the charismatics, such as Jesus, and the
Pharisees. T h e points just mentioned ('refusal to conform in matters of
behaviour and religious observance', p. 80) are less important than a more
fundamental clash: 'the threat posed by the unrestrained authority of the
charismatic to the upholders of the established religious order'. T h e
conflict on this point can be seen not only with regard to Jesus but also in
the stories concerning other charismatics, specifically Honi and Hanina
(p. 80). Vermes puts the point of hostility this way: ' T h e charismatics'
informal familiarity with God and confidence in the efficacy of their words
was also deeply disliked by those whose authority derived from established
channels' (p. 8 1 ) .
Apart from the conflicts just mentioned, there are no points of opposition
between Jesus and the Pharisees. T h e healing of the man with a withered
hand on the Sabbath does not constitute a breach of Sabbath observance,
since the healing was done without work, but only by a word (p. 25).
Mark's presentation of Jesus as opposing Jewish dietary laws is his own
interpretation. ' T h e one apparent doctrinal conflict between Jesus and
Judaism is due to a deliberate twist given to a probably genuine saying of
Jesus by the redactor of the Greek Mark' (p. 29). Jesus did have a serious
dispute with the Sadducees on the question of the resurrection, but here
as in other places he agrees with the Pharisees (p. 3 5). There is no evidence
for 'an active and organized participation on the part of the Pharisees in
the planning and achievement ofJesus' downfall' (p. 36). On the contrary,
he was put to death by the political establishment (p. 36). Even though he
was not a Zealot, he was executed as one, perhaps because he was from
Galilee (p. 50). T h e fullest explanation ofJesus' death is this:
Taking into consideration the spirit of first-century A.D. Palestine, with its
eschatological, political and revolutionary ferment, it is quite conceivable
that Jesus' denial of Messianic aspirations failed to be accepted by his
friends as well as his foes. His Galilean partisans continud to hope, even
after the crushing blow of his death on the cross, that sooner or later he
would reveal himself and 'restore the kingdom of Israel'. Moreover, his
Jerusalem prosecutors were bound to suspect that this Galilean, whose

INTRODUCTION

55

popular impact was now spreading in Judea itself, was impelled by motives
of subversion (p. 154).
Thus Vermes argues that Jesus did not set himself in opposition to the
Torah in principle, nor even in any important particular, although his
behaviour and attitudes may have been offensive to Pharisaism. In any
case, he was executed not on account of this opposition, but because he
was mistaken to be a political revolutionary.
T h e situation seems to be this: those who presumably know the most
about Judaism, and about the law in particular - Jewish scholars - do
not find any substantial points of disagreement between Jesus and his
contemporaries, and certainly not any which would lead to death.
Christian scholars, on the other hand, seem to have become increasingly
convinced that there was a fundamental opposition between Jesus and
Judaism and that the opposition was intentional on Jesus' part. It is difficult
to know precisely what has led to the greater willingness on the part of
Christian scholars to hold this view. It does not seem to be based on fresh
information about Judaism and the tolerable limits of dissent. It may stem,
rather, from the motive which we mentioned earlier: a hypothesis is on a
priori grounds superior if it draws a line of connection between Jesus'
teaching and activity, his death, and the rise of Christianity. There are
really just two possible lines of connection, and both have appeared in this
survey. One is Jesus' self-consciousness. If he made a strong personal
claim which was sufficient to lead to his execution, that fact would help
account for several elements of his teaching, his death and the rise of
Christianity. T h e difficulty here is finding a sufficiendy strong personal
claim to account for execution, especially as long as one stays within the
confines of traditional terminological studies. T h e claim to be Messiah, if
Jesus made it, would not seem to be an indictable offence (unless construed,
as some have suggested, as a challenge to Rome). T h e claim to be the Son
of man, or to know that he was coming, is not blasphemy. Stauffer, to be
sure (followed by Schoeps), finds in Jesus' words a claim of divinity which
might be construed as blasphemy, but the evidence cannot be considered
persuasive.
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Thus most scholars who wish to find the thread to which we have
referred have turned to Jesus' attitude towards the law. If he opposed the
validity of the Mosaic code, his doing so would account for his meeting
opposition during his public ministry, it might well account for an
opposition to the death (although this is not the charge in the trial accounts),
and it would account for a new sect which broke with Judaism. T h e trouble

INTRODUCTION

56

with this thread is that the aposdes in Jerusalem apparendy did not know
that the Torah had been abrogated: that was the contribution of Paul and
possibly other aposdes to the Gentiles. In Paul's case, the issue was argued
on the ground that faith in Christ, not keeping the Torah, is the basis of
salvation and that Gentiles must be admitted on equal footing with Jews
(Rom. 3 . 2 8 - 3 0 ; 4 . 2 4 ^ 1 0 . 4 - 1 7 ; 1 1 . 2 0 - 2 3 and elsewhere). Paul does not
seem to be able to refer to Jesus' attitude to the law for support (contrary
to Klausner).
T h e fact that the early disciples did not know that Jesus had opposed
the law has led some to suggest that he did so only implicidy, without
knowing, or fully knowing, that he was doing so. It is hard to know
what this amounts to as an historical explanation. It does not explain
Christianity's subsequent break with Judaism. If neither Jesus nor the
early aposdes knew that he implicidy opposed the law, there would be no
chain of transmission which would permit Jesus' words and deeds to
influence Paul and the ultimate outcome. T h e implication would become
clear only after the outcome had been achieved. T h e break would not be
based on any intention on the part of Jesus, although, after the break had
been made, support from Jesus' lifetime might be found for it. At any rate,
implicit rejection seems to explain nothing; neither Paul's rejection nor
the Jerusalem aposdes' maintenance of the law.
Further, and more important, it is intrinsically unlikely that Jesus could
have opposed the law in principle but without knowing what he was doing.
If, for example, he did say that the dietary laws should not be observed,
he could not have seen this as a dismissal of what is irrelevant to true
religion. T h e explanation that Jesus did not know what he was doing,
though repeated in the twentieth century, is essentially a nineteenthcentury explanation, being determined by the view that Jesus' intention was
to purge Judaism of crass materialism and externalities. T h e understanding
was that Jesus intended to oppose only a few externalities, but that since
these are part of the Mosaic code, which is one, he actually opposed the
law itself. What must be recognized is that Jesus could not possibly have
seen things in the way this proposal requires. It is unrealistic to regard
Jesus as a modern man or as someone who did not know the standard
Jewish view that the law is unitary. And even if he (an untutored Galilean)
could have been ignorant of this, the error would have been quickly pointed
out by his adversaries. For the principle on which the law rests is perfectly clear:
God gave the Torah to Israel by the hand of Moses; obedience to the Torah is the
condition for retaining the covenant promises; intentional and unrepenting
disobedience implies rejection of the law, rejection of the covenant for which it is
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INTRODUCTION

57

the condition, and rejection of the God who gave the law and the covenant. This
is an understanding which is so uniform in the literature which survives
from the approximate period that Jesus and his followers could not
possibly have been ignorant of it. Thus we must reject the hypothesis that
Jesus opposed the law but did not know that he was doing so. Either he
opposed the law and intended something by it, or he did not oppose it. (It
remains possible that he accepted it but still debated points within its
framework, even to the point of using one scriptural passage against
another. This device was well known to the Rabbis, for example. We
shall see below that most of the reputed disputes about the law are not
outside the bounds ofJewish debate.)
We said earlier that many scholars are prepared to find a thread between
Jesus' intention and his death and the subsequent rise of the church. There
are difficulties with all the main proposals: (i) the thread is his selfassertion (the evidence is weak); (2) the thread is implicit abrogation of
the law (no evident chain of transmission); (3) the thread is explicit
abrogation of part of the law, which leads to rejection of all (those who
know the law best see no crucial break).
This situation seems to make it easy to return to another large option:
there was no link between the content of Jesus' teaching in Galilee and
the cause of his death in Jerusalem: Jesus opposed the scribes and Pharisees
during his teaching activity (whether basically or only marginally), but he
was killed either because the Romans (perhaps on the advice of the
Jerusalem leaders) took him to be a Zealot or because he offended and
threatened the Jewish hierarchy by his challenge to the temple. We have
thus far said that this theory, in its turn, suffers from an a priori difficulty:
it would be preferable to find a thread from Jesus' intention to his death
to the church. We may now observe that, in addition to this deficiency,
there are even graver objections. It presupposes that Jesus' activity in the
temple had no intrinsic connection with the teaching. This presupposition
rests on the same misapprehension which we pointed out in connection
with the theory that Jesus did not know that he opposed the law: that he
did not know that interrupting the temple arrangements could be seen
only as a direct affront not merely to the priests' authority, but to Moses,
and thus to God, who commanded the daily performance of the sacrifices.
T h e view that Jesus went about Galilee healing, calling for repentance,
and rousing the ire of the Pharisees, and that he then went to Jerusalem
and interfered with the temple, rousing the ire of the priests, but that there
is no connection between the two, supposes that Jesus acted with a lack of
coherence that is almost incredible. Could it be that Jesus encouraged his
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INTRODUCTION

disciples to think that something was to come of his ministry, that he was
inconveniendy killed along the way for reasons unconnected with his
teaching, but that the cause which seemed lost was rescued by the
resurrection? What is wrong with this possibility is that it supposes that
Jesus intended something different when he 'cleansed' the temple from
what he intended to achieve by his teaching. Or, alternatively, it supposes
that Jesus intended throughout to abolish external inessentials in the name
of true religion, without intending direcdy to oppose the law of Moses.
We have already seen the improbability of the second alternative. T h e first
is equally unlikely, for it equally requires us to believe that Jesus did not
really know what he was doing or what the significance of his actions was.
How could it be that something as serious as interfering with the temple
sacrifices could have been seen by him as something different from his
teaching and as unconnected with his calling disciples? How could it be
that his activity in Jerusalem alarmed a quite different set of opponents,
and for different reasons, from those whom he met in Galilee? One would
have to think that Jesus quite literally did not know what he was doing. He
called disciples simply to be with him, he taught simply to promote
repentance, he interfered with temple practice because of a dislike of
business dealings in the temple area, he was executed as a rebel or rabble
rouser; and the disciples, who expected nothing in particular to come of his
ministry, were galvanized into unity and activity solely by the resurrection
experiences: it is possible, but it is not likely.
That the problem we have posed is not susceptible of a rock-hard
answer which absolutely excludes all others is shown not only by the
difficulties which can be brought against any hypothesis, but also by the
very large number of hypotheses. It is almost a foregone conclusion that a
fresh attempt to unravel the problem - or rather set of problems - which
we have posed will not come up with a totally new answer. There are no
totally new answers (except for fictional constructions) to be offered. We
shall, however, investigate the most pertinent points in an effort to come
up with the best answer. One is looking for a hypothesis which explains
more (not everything), which gives a good account (not the only one) of
what happened, which fits Jesus realistically into his environment, and
which has in view cause and effect. T h e strategy to be followed was
described in preceding sections, and we turn now to the point of departure,
the temple controversy.

PART ONE

T H E RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

1
J E S U S AND T H E T E M P L E

Having named Jesus' activity in the temple as the surest starting point for
our investigation, I must hasten to say that the question of Jesus and the
temple brings with it the amount of uncertainty which is usual in the study
of the Gospels. There is neither firm agreement about the unity and
integrity of the basic passages concerning the 'cleansing of the temple'
(Mark 1 1 . 1 5 - 1 9 and parr.), nor is there absolute certainty of the authen
ticity of either or both of the sayings about the destruction of the temple
(Mark 1 3 . 2 and parr.; Matt. 2 6 . 6 i / / M a r k 14.58. ) Despite all this, it is
overwhelmingly probable that Jesus did something in the temple and said
something about its destruction. T h e accusation that Jesus threatened
the temple is reflected in three other passages: the crucifixion scene (Matt.
27.39f.//Mark 1 5 . 2 9 ^ ; Stephen's speech (Acts 6 . i 3 f ) ; and, with postEaster interpretation, in John 2 . 1 8 - 2 2 . T h e conflict over the temple seems
deeply implanted in the tradition, and that there was such a conflict would
seem to be indisputable.
1

The 'cleansing' of the temple (Mark 1 1 . 1 5 - 1 9 and parallels)

The older understanding of the event, and the one which still predominates,
is that it was just what the tide of the pericope in modern synopses says:
the cleansing of the temple. This implies a prior profanation or
contamination, and the profanation has been readily found in the conduct
ing of trade in or around the temple precincts. T o many this is selfevidendy a debasing of true religion, and Jesus was intending to purify
the temple so that it should better fulfil its purpose. Thus, for example,
Edersheim was of the view that 'the whole of this traffic - moneychanging, selling of doves, and market for sheep and oxen - was in
itself, and from its attendant circumstances, a terrible desecration'. It is
6

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T H E RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

noteworthy that Abrahams, in disagreeing with Edersheim, nevertheless

accepted his major premises: what is external is bad, and Jesus was right
to attack it. Edersheim accepted the charge of corruption ('den of
thieves', Mark 1 1 . 1 7 ) as being necessarily a part of any trading. Abra
hams countered with the observation that while some individual abuses
might have occurred, a general charge would be unjustified. Yet he
himself also wrote that he approved of Jesus' attack on 'externalism'.
'When Jesus overturned the money-changers and ejected the sellers of
doves from the Temple he did a service to Judaism.' This is a strange
position for one to adopt who argued that buying and selling were
necessary for the continuation of the temple sacrifices. It shows the
pervasiveness of the view that Jesus opposed externals in the name of
true religious interiority.
This same view, though now expressed differendy, is seen in more
recent exegetical remarks. After rejecting (correcdy, in my view) what
he identifies as the two principal recent interpretations of the 'cleansing'
- that it expresses the opposition of the early church to the temple
cultus and that it represents 'the present power of the raised [Christ]
in the confession of the post-Easter community' - Roloff gives his own
interpretation: the action was 'a prophetic sign which intended to bring
about the repentance and return of Israel in the last days'. 'He charged
Judaism with its own recognition of the holiness of the temple as the
place of the presence of God and demonstrated that its practice stood
in contradiction to that holiness.^ , Jesus' action constituted a 'require
ment of the absolute maintenance of the holiness of the existing
temple'. There was, it seems from this remark, an interior holiness
which was being besmirched or obscured by the actual conduct of the
temple's affairs.
Other recent scholars, without explicidy expressing the view that
religion must be devoid of crass materialism, also understand Jesus'
action as being a 'cleansing' of defiling trade. Thus Jeremias proposed
that the 'cleansing' was directed against the priesdy class because 'They
misuse their c a l l i n g . . . by carrying on business to make profit.' Similarly
Aulen remarked that ' T o transform the court of the temple to a market
place - and for their own profit - was a violation of the law concerning the
holiness of the temple . . , ' We may also cite Trocme's view: the action
was 'in defence of the honour of G o d ' , which the trade apparendy called
into question. Harvey speaks of'the abuse of Jewish institutions' which
Jesus attacked and characterizes the action as a prophetic one which
represents 'the divine judgment on a particular use which was being made
8

10

11

12

13

14

15

1 6

17

18

19

20

21

JESUS AND THE TEMPLE

63

22

of the temple'. That 'use' was trading, and Harvey writes that Jesus had
good grounds for thinking that trade should not have been taking place in
the temple precincts.
Such comments as these are doubdess intended to distinguish the
temple ordained by God - which Jesus did not attack - from the Jewish
'abuse' of the divine institution - which Jesus did attack. T h e way in
which the distinction is made, however, implies that it is just the trade
itself - the changing of money, the purchase of sacrifices, and probably
also the charge for their inspection - which is the focus of the action.
The assumption seems to be that Jesus made, and wanted his contempo
raries to accept, a distinction between this sort of'practice' and the 'real
purpose' of the temple. This seems to owe more to the nineteenth-century
view that what is external is bad than to a first-century Jewish view. Those
who write about Jesus' desire to return the temple to its 'original', 'true'
purpose, the 'pure' worship of G o d , seem to forget that the 4irincipal
function of any temple is to serve as a place for sacrifice, and that sacrifices
require the supply of suitable animals. This had always been true of the
temple in Jerusalem. In the time of Jesus, the temple had long been the
only place in Israel at which sacrifices could be offered, and this means
that suitable animals and birds must have been in supply at the temple
site. There was not an 'original' time when worship at the temple had been
'pure' from the business which the requirement of unblemished sacrifices
creates. Further, no one remembered a time when pilgrims, carrying
various coinages, had not come. In the view ofjesus and his contemporaries,
the requirement to sacrifice must always have involved the supply of
sacrificial animals, their inspection, and the changing of money. Thus one
may wonder what scholars have in mind who talk about Jesus' desire to
stop this 'particular use' of the temple. Just what would be left of the
service if the supposedly corrupting externalism of sacrifices, and the trade
necessary to them, were purged? Here as often as we see a failure to think
concretely and a preference for vague religious abstractions.
In order to solidify the present point, and to gain perspective on the
possible range of meanings of Jesus' action in the temple, we should lay
out more thoroughly the common view of the temple, the sacrifices, the
changing of money, and the sale of birds. T h e common view was that the
temple was where sacrifices to God were offered, and that these sacrifices
were not only appropriate but necessary. Josephus, in commenting on the
strategic importance of fortified places in the city, gives clear expression
to this view:
23

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25

T H E R E S T O R A T I O N OF ISRAEL

Whoever was master of these [fortified places] had the whole nation in his
power, for sacrifices could not be made without (controlling) these places,
and it was impossible for any of the Jews to forgo offering these, for they
would rather give up their lives than the worship which they are accustomed
to offer God (4Jf. XV.248).
T h e importance of sacrifice emerges in another way in Josephus, in his
account of the beginning of the revolt. One Eleazar persuaded the priests
who were then serving 'to accept no gift or sacrifice from a foreigner'.
Josephus continues:
This action laid the foundation of the war with the Romans; for the sacrifices
offered on behalf of that nation and the emperor were in consequence
rejected. The chief priests and the notables earnestly besought them not to
abandon the customary offering for their rulers, but the priests remained
obdurate (ff? 11.409.0.
Everyone agreed that sacrifices were integral to the function of the temple.
They were essential to the religion ofJudaism, and withholding sacrifices
for the Romans was the final sign that a true revolt, rather than just another
round of rock-throwing, was at hand. T h e notion that the temple should
serve some function other than sacrifice would seem to be extremely
remote from the thinking of a first-century Jew.
But could the sacrifices continue without the changing of money and
the selling of birds? It is hard to see how. T h e money changers were
probably those who changed the money in the possession of pilgrims into
the coinage acceptable by the temple in payment of the half-shekel tax
levied on all J e w s . T h e word 'levied' itself requires interpretation, for
payment of the tax was voluntary, being enforced only by moral suasion.
Yet we know that Jews from all parts of the Diaspora paid it out of loyalty
to the Jerusalem temple. T h e desire of the authorities to receive the
money in a standard coinage which did not have on it the image of an
emperor or king is reasonable, and no one ever seems to have protested
this. T h e money changers naturally charged a fee for changing money,
but they can hardly have been expected to secure enough Tyrian coinage
to meet the demands of worshippers and to supply their services for free.
T h e buyers and sellers were similarly required for the maintenance of the
temple service, and they provided a convenient service for pilgrims. If a
Galilean, for example, wished or was required to present a dove as a
sacrifice, it was more convenient to sell the dove in Galilee and buy one
in Jerusalem which was certified as unblemished than to carry the dove
from Galilee to the temple. A charge was made injerusal^
26

27

28

29

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JESUS AND THE TEMPLE

65

but this was doubtless to be preferred to the alternative: bringing one's

own dove from Galilee and running the risk of having it found blemished
after the trip. T h e charge for inspection would be made in any case. T h e
most important point to recognize here is that the requirement to present
an unblemished dove as a sacrifice for certain impurities or transgressions
was a requirement given by God to Israel through Moses? T h e business
arrangements around the temple were necessary if the commandments were
to be obeyed. An attack on what is necessary is not an attack on 'present
practice'.
If these were the circumstances, was there anything at all about the
temple which could give rise to attacks on 'present practice' as distinct
from the temple service itself? As it happens, we know of attacks which
rest on a distinction between 'practice' and 'ideal' and which have in view
the purity of the temple. Will these help us fit Jesus into the mould of a
religious reformer, bent on cleansing the temple? It seems not. T h e attacks
otherwise known rest on charges about which the Gospels are silent: the
suitability of the priests for their office. Such charges appear already in
the biblical period. Thus in Malachi 3 the 'messenger of the covenant'
will 'purify the sons of Levi' until they present 'right offerings'. This may
have been taken in an eschatological sense subsequendy, but the thrust of
the chapter itself is that the Levites were impure (3.3) and that all Israel
was robbing God by withholding part of the tithes ( 3 . 6 - 1 0 ) . They should
mend their ways or face destruction.
Such accusations continue in the later period. In the days of the
Hasmoneans, there were objections to their combining the offices of priest
and king and against their 'usurping' the high priesthood. T h e author [s]
of the Psalms of Solomon also objected to the contemporary priests
because they served the temple in a state of immorality and impurity. They
are accused of committing adultery, robbing the sanctuary, and offering
sacrifice when impure because of having come into contact with menstrual
blood (8.9-14). God duly punished them (the Hasmonean priests) by
sending the Romans ( 8 . 1 5 - 1 9 ) . T h e Dead Sea Sectarians accused the
'Wicked Priest' of committing abominable deeds and defiling the temple
(iQpHab i 2 . 8 f ) . He also 'robbed the Poor of their possessions' (ibid.
1 2 . 1 0 ; cf. 9.5), but this apparendy refers to his actions as king, as is clear
in 8 . 8 - 1 1 (cf. 1 1 . 4 - 7 ) . Similar accusations are seen in the Covenant of
Damascus:
1

32

33

Also they convey uncleanness to the sanctuary, inasmuch as they do not

keep separate according to the Law, but lie with her that sees 'the blood of

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RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

her flux\ And they marry each man the daughter of his brother and the
daughter of his sister. . . . (CD 5.6-8; cf. 4.18).
The charge of impurity in part reflects such halakic disputes as the duration
of a woman's impurity following her menstrual period, and there were
other halakic disputes. Thus the Dead Sea Sect would have followed a
different calendar from that used in Jerusalem, with the result that all the
sacrifices were, from their point of view, on the wrong day (see again
iQpHab 1 1 . 7 ) . We should also suppose that the Pharisees quarelled
with the Sadducean practice because of halakic disagreements.
Criticism of anyone who handles money or goods is easy and obvious so much so that the priests of the second temple are still assumed to have
been dishonest. Many New Testament scholars quite readily suppose
that such concerns lay behind Jesus' demonstration.
If Jesus were a religious reformer, however, bent on correcting 'abuse'
and 'present practice', we should hear charges of immorality, dishonesty
and corruption directed against the priests But such charges are absent
from the Gospels (except for Mark 1 1 . 1 7 ) , and that is not the thrust of the
action in the temple. On the contrary, the attack was against the trade
which is necessary for sacrifices no matter who are the priests and without
mention of the halakot which they follow. Thus far, it appears that Jesus'
demonstration was against what all would have seen as necessary to the
sacrificial system, rather than against present practice.
If the saying in Mark 1 1 . 1 7 and parr, were Jesus' own comment on why
he 'cleansed' the temple, however, we would have to accept that it was
indeed trade and sacrifice which bothered him, possibly because dishonesty
was involved. In that verse the conflated quotation from Isa. 56.7 and
Jer. 7 . 1 1 says that the temple should be a house of prayer (Mark has 'for
all the Gentiles'), while 'you' have made it a den of robbers. T h e saying,
however, is quite correcdy rejected by most scholars as an addition.
Roloff regards v. 1 7 as an addition because of the introductory 'and he
taught them and said'. A. E . Harvey has recendy proposed that the
quotations in Mark 1 1 . 1 7 cannot represent a saying of Jesus. 'House of
prayer for all the Gentiles' 'could hardly be extracted from the Hebrew
version which Jesus would have used.' He adds that 'robbers' cave' is
inappropriate, since 'robber' always means raidet, never swindler. That
these and other scholars who reject v. 1 7 nevertheless think that Jesus
opposed present practice, not the temple itself, shows how deeply
embedded is the view that Jesus opposed corrupting externalism. They
34

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36

37

39

40

41

42

JESUS AND THE TEMPLE

must take it that the mere fact of buying and selling, without any charge
of thievery, was seen byjesus as in contradiction to the purity of the temple.
If one overlooked the 'thievery' part of Mark 1 1 . 1 7 and focused on the
'house of prayer' part, one could argue that Jesus was against sacrifice
itself. This view has occasionally been championed, and it could be
supported by citing the quotation of Hos. 6.6 in Matt. 9 . 1 3 and 1 2 . 7 , 'I
want mercy and not sacrifice.' As Davies points out in correcdy dismissing
this view, 'Matt. 5 : 2 3 - 2 4 and Acts 2:46 become inexplicable on such a
view of J e s u s . ' We have here the same problem which we shall meet in
discussing Jesus' view of the law. If he actually explicidy opposed one of
the main institutions of Judaism, he kept it secret from his disciples.
There is one last possibility for seeing Jesus as bent on purification and
reform: he wanted the trade moved entirely outside the temple precincts.
If any trade was conducted inside the temple precincts, it was conducted
in the court of the Gentiles. We shall immediately consider the question
of whether or not it was precisely the Gentiles for whom Jesus was
concerned, and we now limit our attention to the fact that the court of the
Gentiles was within the temple precincts. Did Jesus differ from his
contemporaries simply by wishing to extend the holy area to the outermost
court? T o my knowledge, no one has proposed this precise interpretation,
although one might do so. Such a view could have been suggested by the
last sentence of Zech. i 4 . 2 o f :
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46

And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, 'Holy to
the Lord'. And the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls before
the altar; and every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be sacred to the Lord
of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the
flesh of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the
house of the Lord ofhosts on that day.
In a context in which all the cooking utensils in Jerusalem are to be ritually
pure, so that they can be used in preparing sacrificed meat, there will be
no traders in the house; the entire area will be purified.
It is very unlikely that we have here the motive behind Jesus' action.
One passage, Mark 7 . 1 - 5 and par., depicts Jesus' followers as not accepting
an extension to lay people of the biblical purity laws which govern the
priests. I doubt the authenticity of this dispute, but in any case there is
certainly no evidence for attributing to Jesus a concern to extend the purity
code in the way hoped by Zechariah.
This leads us to see once more that the notion behind the discussion of
'purity' in New Testament scholarship is a modern one. New Testament

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T H E R E S T O R A T I O N OF ISRAEL

scholars who write about Jesus' concern for the purity of the temple seem
to have in mind a familiar Protestant idea: 'pure' worship consists in the
Word, and all external rites should be purged. In first-century Judaism,
however, a concern to extend purity would almost certainly have involved
extending the rites, such as washing, connected with it. I think that we
should drop the discussion of Jesus' action as one concerned with purifying
the worship of G o d .
I shall shordy propose an alternative explanation, and one which seems
to fit better into the probable oudook of Palestinian Jews of Jesus' day.
We should first of all note that other views have been advanced. Principally
to be noted are Brandon's view that Jesus' action was part of a carefully
planned attempt to take the leadership of the country by arms and Davies'
view that what was at stake was the status of Gentiles. On the latter view
the key is given by the fact that trade was conducted in the court of the
Gentiles. Since that was the area that was cleansed, Jesus must have been
'concerned with the right of, and the hopes of Judaism for, the Gentiles
as with the Temple itself. Both of these views rest on reconstructions of
Jesus' activity which are informed by numerous points of evidence, and it
would be out of place to discuss them fully in this chapter. Brandon's view,
in fact, will get no full airing at all, since I consider that it has been
sufficiendy refuted; it cannot in any case be said to have influenced many.
Jesus' attitude towards the Gentiles, on the other hand, will be discussed
in more detail in ch. 7. Meanwhile, it will have to suffice to say that Jesus
does not seem to have made a definite gesture in favour of including
Gentiles in the kingdom, although he may well have envisaged their
inclusion at the eschaton. T h e evidence to be discussed below will show
Jesus not to have been directly concerned with the Gentiles. In light of this,
the place of the trade, and consequendy of Jesus' action, should be seen
as coincidental and not determinative for the meaning of the event. Any
public action must have been performed in a place in which activities
related to the temple were carried out and to which Jesus had access. In
order to derive the meaning of the event direcdy from the place where it
was carried out (presumably the court of the Gentiles), or from the
particular activity which was attacked (the trade necessary as a preliminary
to sacrifice), we would have to think that Jesus selected the place and the
activity from among several available. This, however, seems not to have
been the case. Jesus might have gained access to the Priests' Court, and
thus to a place more direcdy connected with the preparation of sacrifices,
had he pretended to have a sin- or guilt-offering to present; but apart from
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48

49

50

51

52

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JESUS AND THE TEMPLE

the employment of such a ruse there would seem to be nothing other than
the trade in the court of the Gentiles which he could have attacked.
T h e proposal that Jesus' action was in favour of the Gentiles, however,
has the merit of understanding it as symbolic, a point to which we shall
return.
There is one other frequendy met scholarly assertion about the signifi
cance of Jesus' action at the temple which should be noted. It is generally
thought that Jesus' action would have been primarily resented by the
temple hierarchy, those who had a vested interest in the profit derived
from the sale of bird-offerings and the exchange of money. Thus,
for example, Trautmann argues that Jesus objected to the Sadducean
priesthood for combining politics and economics with the temple and also
opposed their theology of atonement by means of sacrifice and the cult as if other Jews did not believe in atonement through sacrifice. We have
seen that a distinction has often been made between Jesus' attack on the
law, which is believed to have been directed against the Pharisees and
scribes, and his attack on the temple trade, directed against the priests and
the Sadducees. This distinction, which is often made sharply, is quite
misleading. T h e law was generally revered, while the temple was the focus
of religious hope and devotion throughout Judaism. I earlier pointed out
that there is no indication that Jesus' action was directed only against some
particular practice. Now we must note that it would not have been offensive
to only one group. More than just the priests thought that the sacrifices
were ordained by God and atoned for sins. We shall return to this point
later in this chapter and also in ch. 1 0 , when assessing Jesus' opponents
and the points of opposition.
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56

Thus far we have seen reason to doubt many of the prevalent views
about the event in the temple area: that the action was that of a religious
reformer, bent on 'purifying' current practice; that the locale, the court of
the Gentiles, indicates that the action primarily had to do with opening
the worship of the temple to non-Jews; that the action was, and was
perceived to be, primarily against the temple officers and the Sadducean
party.
There is another frequendy met interpretation, however, which I
regard as entirely correct. Jesus' action is to be regarded as a symbolic
demonstration. T h e question, of course, is what the action symbolized.
We have already considered and rejected the principal proposal, that it
symbolized the inclusion of Gentiles.
Let us first consider how the action must have looked to others. Jesus
did not actually bring all buying and selling to a halt. As Hengel has pointed
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70

out, any real effort to stop the trade necessary to the temple service would
have required an army, and there is no evidence of a substantial martial
conflict. It is reasonable to think that Jesus (and conceivably some of his
followers, although none are mentioned) overturned some tables as a
demonstrative action. It would appear that the action was not substantial
enough even to interfere with the daily routine; for if it had been he would
surely have been arrested on the spot. Thus those who saw it, and those
who heard about it, would have known that it was a gesture intended to
make a point rather than to have a concrete result; that is, they would have
seen the action as symbolic.
T h e discussion of whether or not Jesus suceeded in interrupting the
actual functioning of the temple points us in the right direction for
seeing what the action symbolized but did not accomplish: it symbolized
destruction. That is one of the most obvious meanings of the action of
overturning itself. Some have seen this, but the force and obviousness of
the point are obscured as long as we continue to think that Jesus was
demonstrating against the Sadducees for profiting and in favour of
purifying the temple of externalism. Had Jesus wished to make a gesture
symbolizing purity, he doubdess could have done so. T h e pouring out of
water comes immediately to mind. T h e turning over of even one table
points towards destruction.
Professor Moule has proposed to me that overturning one or more
tables is not an entirely self-evident symbol of destruction. He quite
correcdy points to the broken pot of Jer. 1 9 . 1 0 . Would breaking something
not have been a better symbol? Perhaps so. I must leave to others the
assessment of'overturning' as a self-evident symbol of destruction, though
it appears to me to be quite an obvious one. M y view, however, depends
in part on further considerations.
Let us continue by pursuing the question of how the action would have
been understood by others. T h e import to those who saw or heard of it
was almost surely, at least in part, that Jesus was attacking the temple
service which was commanded by God. Not just priests would have been
offended, but all those who believed that the temple was the place at which
Israel and individual Israelites had been commanded to offer sacrifice, to
make atonement for their sins. Further, it is hard to imagine how Jesus
himself could have seen it if not in these terms. We should suppose that
Jesus knew what he was doing: like others, he regarded the sacrifices as
commanded by God, he knew that they required a certain amount of trade,
and he knew that making a gesture towards disrupting the trade represented
an attack on the divinely ordained sacrifices. Thus I take it that the action
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JESUS AND THE TEMPLE

71

at the very least symbolized an attack, and note that 'attack' is not far from
'destruction'.
But what does this mean? On what conceivable grounds could Jesus
have undertaken to attack - and symbolize the destruction of - what was
ordained by God? T h e obvious answer is that destruction, in turn, looks
towards restoration. This will be better seen when we consider the
sayings about the destruction of the temple, which complement and help
us understand the action.
60

61

The sayings about the destruction of the temple

The first form in which the reader of the Gospels meets a saying about
the destruction of the temple is in the form of a simple prediction, with no
implication of a threat:
As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples exclaimed, 'Look, Master,
what huge stones! What fine buildings!'Jesus said to him, 'You see these
great buildings. Not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown
down.' (Mark 13.if.)
T o this prediction all three synoptists append the 'litde apocalypse'. It is
likely that the saying was originally independent of this entire context (both
the introduction, which, as Bultmann observed, seems designed to elicit
the saying, and the attached apocalypse), but it would seem likely that
Jesus said something of the sort and applied it to the temple. For one thing,
other traditions contain the charge that he threatened the temple. One of
these is the trial scene:
62

And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, 'We heard
him say, " I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three
days I will build another, not made with hands." ' (Mark 1 4 . 5 7 ^
At last two [false witnesses] came forward and said, 'This fellow said, " I
am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days." ' (Matt.
26.6of.)
The reports of what was said at the trial scene are notoriously difficult to
verify. In fact, it may even be wondered whether or not the entire 'trial'
before the high priest and others is largely fictional. Even if the entire
scene were composed after Easter, however, it would still seem likely that
this specific accusation is based on an accurate memory of the principal
point on which Jesus offended many of his contemporaries. One can
imagine a subsequent Christian penning de novo the scene in which Jesus
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T H E R E S T O R A T I O N OF ISRAEL

is charged with blasphemy for claiming to be the Son of God (Mark

1 4 . 6 1 - 6 4 ) , but it is hard to imagine a purely fictional origin for the
accusation that he threatened to destroy the temple. For one thing, it leads
nowhere. According to the evangelists, the testimony of the witnesses as
to what Jesus said did not agree, and the charge was apparendy dropped.
For another, the implication of physical insurrection which the charge
seems to contain would scarcely have been something that a Christian
author would spontaneously have thought of. Luke drops the charge from
the trial scene, and Matthew and Mark characterize it as false. Mark's
contrast 'made with hands', 'not made with hands' may also be an attempt
to water down this implication.
Most striking, however, is the reappearance of the charge in other
traditions. In the crucifixion scene both Matthew (27.40) and Mark (15.29)
(but again not Luke) depict the crowd as calling Jesus 'the one who would
destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days'. According to Acts 6.14
the charge against Stephen was that he said - even after Jesus' death and
resurrection - that 'this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place' (the
temple). If we could be absolutely sure of the historicity of this charge
against Stephen, it would be clear that Jesus had spoken so firmly that
Christians continued to expect the imminent destruction of the temple. It
is noteworthy that the author of Acts says that the charge against Stephen
was brought by false witnesses (Acts 6 . 1 3 ) . This is further evidence of
early Christian reluctance to admit the accusation, and it helps confirm
that Jesus actually said something which was taken as a threat.
Finally, we should quote John 2 . 1 8 - 2 2 :
64

The Jews then said to him, 'What sign have you to show us for doing this?'
Jesus answered them, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it
up.' The Jews then said 'It has taken forty-six years to build this temple,
and will you raise it up in three days?' But he spoke of the temple of his
body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered
that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word which
Jesus had spoken.
In John's account, this exchange immediately follows the 'cleansing' of the
temple. This passage is especially striking. We see here the characteristic
Johannine device of having Jesus say something which his interlocutors
understand on one level, which gives the evangelist the opportunity of
explaining the true meaning, which resides on another level. For our
purposes, however, the statement of John 2 . 1 9 shows how deeply
embedded in the tradition was the threat of destroying and the promise of

JESUS AND THE TEMPLE

73

rebuilding the temple. It was so firmly fixed that it was not dropped, but
rather interpreted. John, it is to be noted, does drop the threat, 'I will
destroy', in favour of the second person statement which implies a
condition, '[If] you destroy'. T h e change is necessary for the evangelist's
explanation that the temple is Jesus' body. Jesus could not have said that
he would destroy his own body. It is reasonable to see the change in
subject as John's and to suppose that John had the tradition contained in
Mark 14.58, Matt. 26.61, Mark 1 5 . 2 9 , Matt. 27.40, and Acts 6.14: Jesus
threatened the destruction of the temple (and perhaps predicted its
rebuilding after three days).
We seem here to be in touch with a very firm historical tradition, but
there is still uncertainty about precisely what it is. Did Jesus predict the
destruction of the temple (Mark 1 3 . if. and parr.) or threaten it (Mark 14.58
and elsewhere)? Did he mention destruction and rebuilding, or only the
former? T h e christological use of the prediction that it would be rebuilt
after three days is evident, but even so Jesus may have predicted just that,
for the application to the resurrection is not always explicit (e.g. Mark
15.29 and par.). If Jesus either threatened or predicted the destruction of
the temple and its rebuilding after three days, that is, if the saying in any
of its forms is even approximately authentic, his meaning would be
luminously clear: he predicted the imminent appearance of the judgment
and the new age.
The saying and the deed would then correspond. Both point towards
the destruction of the present order and the appearance of the new. We
should probably think that his expectation was that a new temple would
be given by God from heaven, an expectation which is not otherwise
unknown during the period, even if it may not have been universal. In
this case the characterization of the temple as 'made without hands' could
be original, rather than a spiritualizing interpretation. But if (following
Mark 1 3 . i f ; Acts 6.14) there was no prediction of a rebuilding, the
meaning would be only slightly less concrete. Jesus either threatened or
predicted that God would put an end to the present temple: that is, that
the end was at hand. If he said 'I will destroy', he saw himself as God's
agent.
We have thus far not attempted to determine the original form of the
saying, nor is it likely that this can be done with certainty. Some possibilities,
however, can be excluded. We should first observe that the existence of
the threat form ('I will destroy', Mark 14.58; implied by Mark 15.29 and
Acts 6.14, and probably by John 2.19) makes it virtually incredible that the
entire saying could be a vaticinium ex eventu, a 'prophecy' after the event.
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T H E RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

After the temple was in fact destroyed by the Romans in the year 70, the
Christians would not have composed a threat by Jesus that he would
destroy it, nor would they have turned an existing prophecy that the temple
would be destroyed into such a threat. If we had only the prediction, we
could believe it to be a vaticinium, though perhaps not a very likely one,
but we cannot explain the origin of the double form in this way. One would
then have to suppose that the prediction was composed after it was fulfilled
in 70, that an evangelist or someone in the pre-Gospel tradition creatively
turned the prediction into a threat and made it the object of a charge
before the high priest which failed for lack of agreement in the testimony,
that one of Luke's sources for the early chapters of Acts independendy
arrived at the same charge (for Luke can scarcely have composed it, having
twice dropped it in the Gospel), and that the fourth evangelist found the
threat form of the saying to be so well known that it had to be taken account
of. All of this, especially the change from a prediction based on facts to a
threat which became the object of a charge, strains the imagination too
much. It is better to believe that Jesus said something which lies behind
the traditions. But did he predict a military disaster? It is not inconceivable
that as a sagacious man he saw where zealotism would lead the nation
one generation later, but there is no reason to think that this sort of
commonplace observation (if you fellows keep up your trouble-making, it
is bound to lead to disaster) lies behind the double tradition of prediction
and threat as we have it. Even if we push the prediction back to Jesus, it is
still unlikely that the threat form derived from a simple prediction of
disaster. It seems far better to suppose that Jesus either threatened the
destruction of the temple, with himself playing a role, or predicted its
destruction in such terms that the prediction could be construed as a
threat, than that he made a general prediction that foreign arms would
some day take Jerusalem and destroy the temple. It is hard to know how
such a prediction could have led to the traditions in the Gospels and Acts.
68

IfJesus did not predict the conquest of the temple by foreign arms, and
if he himself was not planning armed insurrection, then it follows that he
must have either predicted or threatened the destruction of the temple by
God. In this case there would still be the question, though it probably
cannot be resolved, of his own role in the destruction. Mark 1 3 . if. and
parr, give him no role, while the other passages, including John 2.i8f. by
inference, do. Even if he said 'I will destroy', however, he could only have
meant that he would act as God's agent and do so in the context of the
arrival of the eschaton.
Finally, we can note that whatever Jesus said became public in some

JESUS AND THE TEMPLE

75

way or other. Mark has the prediction of destruction made to one disciple
( 1 3 . i ) , while Matthew has 'his disciples' (24.1). Luke gives the saying a
wider setting (21.5). Here as elsewhere we must suppose that the settings
are secondary. T h e public nature of the statement is implied by its being
used in charges against Jesus and Stephen.
Thus we conclude that Jesus publicly predicted or threatened the
destruction of the temple, that the statement was shaped by his expectation
of the arrival of the eschaton, that he probably also expected a new temple
to be given by God from heaven, and that he made a demonstration which
prophetically symbolized the coming event.
Roloff took the 'cleansing' of the temple and the prediction of its
destruction to be 'obviously contradictory' to each other in a way suitable
to the words and deeds of a prophet. Jesus both saw the temple as the place
of God's presence which should be purified for present use and predicted
its destruction. Others have interpreted the action as 'cleansing' and have
then allowed this meaning to submerge the force of the saying about
destruction. Thus Bornkamm wrote that the temple 'cleansing' is 'more
than an act of reform to restore the temple service to its original (sic!)
purity'. Jesus was also 'cleansing the sanctuary for the approaching
kingdom of G o d ' . Here the threat to destroy is dropped and thus the
radical connection with eschatology.
On the hypothesis presented here the action and the saying form a unity.
Jesus predicted (or threatened) the destruction of the temple and carried
out an action symbolic of its destruction by demonstrating against the
performance of the sacrifices. He did not wish to purify the temple, either
of dishonest trading or of trading in contrast to 'pure' worship. Nor was
he opposed to the temple sacrifices which God commanded to Israel. He
intended, rather, to indicate that the end was at hand and that the temple
would be destroyed, so that the new and perfect temple might arise.
Our hypothesis receives partial confirmation from the embarrassment
of Matthew and Mark about the threat to destroy and the embarrassment
of all three synoptists about the action in the temple. Matthew and Mark
explain that the threat to destroy was testified to only by false witnesses
(Matt. 26.59^ Mark 1 4 . 5 6 ^ ; and all three synoptists, by use of the
quotation about a 'den of robbers', make it appear that Jesus was quite
reasonably protesting against dishonesty (Mark 1 1 . 1 7 and parr.). They
attempt to make the action relatively innocuous, and they deny the force
of the saying - while reporting both. Despite their efforts, we should take
both the action and the saying at full value. We see immediately behind
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the surface of the Gospels that Jesus threatened (or predicted) the
destruction of the temple and that he acted to demonstrate it.
Our interpretation has the additional advantage of making sense of the
acceptance of temple worship by the early aposdes (Acts 2.46; 3 . 1 ; 2 1 . 2 6 ) .
They did not think that Jesus had considered it impure, but only that the
days of the present temple were numbered.
The only question which remains outstanding at this point is whether
or not Jesus' contemporaries would have clearly understood the prophetic
symbolism. I have previously urged that pious Jews, not just the supposedly
profiteering priesdy class, would have been offended at the action in the
temple. This follows both from intrinsic probability and from the sequel
- J e s u s was put to death, apparendy with the approval of many in Jerusalem.
But would the crowd have understood without ambiguity that Jesus
intended to symbolize the impending eschatological act of God? We recall
here the question of whether or not the meaning of the symbolic action
was self-evident. T o this question no certain answer can be given. T h e
chapter which immediately follows argues that there was current in some
circles the expectation of the destruction and rebuilding of the temple.
Thus it is at least reasonable that the intent of Jesus' action was clear to
his contemporaries. Even if he was understood, however, the action and
saying were still highly offensive. Jesus still attacked the functioning
temple, where the sins of Israel were atoned, and the crowd could simply
have disbelieved his eschatological prediction or resented his personal
self-assertion. T o attempt a real answer to the question posed in this
paragraph, however, would be to press hypothetical reconstruction too far.
In the subsequent chapters supporting evidence for the interpretation of
Jesus' word and deed will be presented. I doubt that we can ever securely
know how well Jesus was understood by how many of his contemporaries.
72

Our discussion of the temple starts two lines of enquiry which must be
pursued: to what degree Jesus is to be fitted into Jewish views of the end
of the age and the restoration of Israel, and what was Jesus' stance towards
other institutions, groups and realities within Judaism. T h e two prongs of
our enquiry have been often studied and, furthermore, are interrelated. It
has often been proposed, for example, that he opposed the Pharisaic
interpretation of the law and even 'abrogated' the law in principle in the
name of the coming kingdom of God. For the present, however, we shall
follow each path separately, beginning with other evidence that bears on
the question of Jesus' relationship to the hope for restoration. We must
first, however, turn to Jewish literature to see what the ramifications of an
expectation of a new temple might be expected to be.

2
NEW T E M P L E AND R E S T O R A T I O N IN
JEWISH L I T E R A T U R E

I have proposed that the best explanation of Jesus' demonstrative action

in the temple and his saying against the temple (whether a prediction or a
threat) is to be found in his eschatological expectation. T h e kingdom was
at hand, and one of the things which that meant was that the old temple
would be replaced by a new. This explanation of Jesus' word and deed
could be countered if the proposed meaning were to have no context in
contemporary Judaism; that is, if there were currendy no expectation that
the eschaton would bring a new temple. On the other hand, evidence that
a connection between eschaton and temple was current would serve to
buttress the position which has just been proposed.
In 1969 and 1970 two major investigations of the place of the temple in
Judaism were published. Lloyd Gaston's work No Stone on Another direcdy
focused on the connection between temple and eschaton in Jewish thought.
His position, if sustained, would mean that the eschatological significance
which I have thus far proposed for Jesus' action in the temple area would
not have been perceived.
1

We find no background in Jewish apocalyptic before 70 A.D. for the statement

'I will destroy this temple and in three days I will build it.' The future
salvation was couched in terms of the new Jerusalem, even if the temple
should occasionally be presupposed as a part of this (Tobit, Jubilees),
(p. 1 1 9 )
Gaston grants that the occasional expectation of a new temple might
reasonably imply the destruction of the old one (p. 1 1 2 ) , but argues
that it is significant that destruction and rebuilding are never explicidy
connected (p. 1 1 9 ) . T h e discussions in Jewish literature of cleansing and
purifying the temple, on the other hand, do not have a setting in

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T H E RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

eschatological expectation, but stem 'more from historical profanations'

(p. 1 1 9 ) . He sorts the evidence out like this:
While there is evidence that some groups expected a new temple in the age
to come, this idea is not nearly as important as that of the new Zion, and
such an expectation is never connected with the idea of the destruction of
the old temple. And while other groups were so opposed to the Jerusalem
temple as to hope for its destruction, this opposition is motivated by the
concept of a cult without sacrifices, and there is no question of rebuilding
the temple, (p. 162)
Approximately the opposite case was argued by R . J . McKelvey in The New
Temple. He pointed out, quite correcdy, that in the Bible 'Zion' was
sometimes equated with Jerusalem or used in place of 'Jerusalem' (Isa.
i.26f; more clearly 60.14). At other times the word 'Zion' is virtually
equated with the temple (Jer. 50.28; 5 i . i o f ) . Thus it could be said that
God dwells in Zion (Isa. 8.18; J e r . 8.19 and elsewhere). In Isa. 40-66,
according to McKelvey, there is only one explicit reference to the
rebuilding of the temple (Isa. 44.28), although other passages imply it
(56.5, 7; 60.7; 66.20; 60.13) (p. 1 1 nn. 1 , 2). One could add that the last
passage cited explicidy refers to the physical improvement of the temple.
His more general case, however, is this: 'The descriptions of the New
Zion presuppose a new temple, for no good Israelite could think of one
without the other' (p. 1 1 n. 2).
McKelvey's statement reflects the natural assumption. 'NewJerusalem'
implies 'New Temple', and this can be seen in part by the use of'Zion' to
refer either explicidy to the temple or more generally to Jerusalem. But
even if this is granted, especially in interpreting the expectations of
prophets of the exilic period, the problems raised by Gaston must be
carefully considered. While a temple stood and was in use was there still
a general expectation of a new and more glorious temple? Did those who
opposed the Jerusalem temple or its priesthood expect a new temple?
Answers to these questions should throw light on one of the questions
of the previous chapter: whether or not a prophetic gesture implying
destruction would be understood to demonstrate the expectation of a new
temple.
T h e hopes expressed by the prophets before the building of the second
temple are not in dispute. It will be useful, however, in abbreviated form
to set out some of the key passages which are often pointed to as providing
the terms and the framework of Jewish eschatological expectation in the
first century.
2

N E W T E M P L E A N D RESTORATION IN J E W I S H L I T E R A T U R E

79

Isa. 49.5f.: God will restore 'Jacob' or 'the tribes of Jacob' through his
servant, and his salvation will reach the end of the earth.
Isa. 5 6 . 1 - 8 : God will gather 'the outcasts of Israel' (nidhe Yisra'el; tous
diesparmenous) and, in addition, foreigners who accept him and who keep
the sabbath and the covenant. Even they can make sacrifices on the altar,
'for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples' ('ammim;
ethne).
Isa. 60.3-7: Nations (goyim; ethne) will come to Israel's light; her sons and
daughters shall come, as will 'the wealth of the nations'. Sacrifices will be
brought, 'and I will glorify my glorious house'.
Isa. 6 0 . 1 0 - 1 4 : Foreigners will rebuild the walls of Jerusalem; Israel will
receive 'the wealth of the nations'; Gentiles who do not submit will be
destroyed. The temple will be beautified.
Isa. 66.18-24: God will gather 'all nations and tongues'; further, he will
send survivors to declare his glory 'among the nations' (goyim, ethne)', the
Jews dispersed among the nations will be brought 'as an offering to the
Lord', and some will become priests and Levites. God will make a new
heaven and new earth, which will remain, as will 'your descendants and
your name'.
Micah 4: In the latter days 'the mountain of the house of the Lord' will be
made the highest mountain, where many nations will come to learn the law,
the word of the Lord. God will assemble the lame, who will be the remnant.
Israel will defeat opposing nations 'and shall devote their gain to the Lord,
their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth'.
These passages reflect the overlapping of themes which also are attested
separately: the rebuilding of the temple (also Isa. 44.28; Ezek. 40-43); the
restoration of dispersed Israel (Ezek. 34, 3 7 , under the leadership of
'David'; 4 7 . 1 3 - 4 8 . 2 9 , the division of the land among the twelve tribes);
the submission of the Gentiles (cf. Isa. 54.3; 60.16; 6 1 . 6 , and often).
These passages and others have often been gathered and studied, and
the influence of several of them on the early Christian movement is
well known. T h e present question is this: does the complex of themes
represented above constitute a known and identifiable unity in the postbiblical period?
That question has often been answered in the affirmative. Nickelsburg
puts it this way:
3

The destruction ofJerusalem and the Exile meant the disruption of life and
the breaking up of institutions whose original form was never fully restored.

8o

THE

RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

Much of post-biblical Jewish theology and literature was influenced and

sometimes governed by a hope for such a restoration: a return of the
dispersed; the appearance of a Davidic heir to throw off the shackles of
foreign domination and restore Israel's sovereignty; the gathering of one
people around a new and glorified Temple.
4

It is important to note the phrase 'was never fully restored'. It is all the
more true that the more grandiose visions of Isaiah, Micah and Ezekiel
were not realized. 'Jacob' (the twelve tribes) was not brought together
again. T h e restoration of Jerusalem did not cause the walls to be built with
jewels; the wealth of nations and kings did not pour in to adorn Jerusalem
and the temple; the Davidic boundaries were not, until the Hasmoneans,
recovered; and then not for long. Phrases such as 'new heavens and new
earth' (Isa. 66.22), coupled with the degree to which reality fell short of
more modest predictions, could easily lead to the view that those prophecies
were about a still more distant time. It would be comprehensible as a firstcentury view that the time would yet come when the dispersed of Israel
would be restored, when a Davidic king would arise, when Jerusalem
would be rebuilt, when the temple would be beautified, and when the
nations would submit to Israel's God.
But reasonableness is not proof. Gaston, we have seen, has objected to
the 'new temple' part of this composite description of what Jews might
reasonably be expected to have hoped for, and in any case the question of
whether or not one feature of restoration implies another requires careful
consideration. We shall begin by surveying the relevant passages from
Jewish literature during the period of the second temple, that is, excluding
material from after 70 C E .
The full complex of themes mentioned above (except for the Davidic
king) is visible in Tobit. T h e date of the work is uncertain, but it must be
after Nehemiah and is probably before the Maccabean revolt. In Tobit's
prayer of rejoicing at the conclusion of the story, he predicts that although
God will afflict Israel, he will 'gather us from all the nations among whom
[we] have been scattered' (Tob. 1 3 . 5 ) . 'Many nations (ethne) will come
from afar . . . bearing gifts in their hands' ( 1 3 . 1 1 [13]). Jerusalem will be
rebuilt with precious stones and metals ( 1 3 . 1 6 - 1 8 ; cf. Isa. 54.1 i f ) . T h e
author takes account of the discrepancy between the prophetic predictions
which he repeats and the reality of the second temple:
. . . they will rebuild the house of God, though it will not be like the former
one until the times of the age are completed. After this they will return from
the places of their captivity, and will rebuild Jerusalem in splendor. And the

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house of God will be rebuilt there with a glorious building for all generations
for ever, just as the prophets said of it (14.5).
This prediction is followed by the statement that 'all the Gentiles will turn
to fear the Lord G o d . . .' ( 1 4 . 6 f ) . Thus in at least this instance the Isaianic
prophecies, which the rebuilding of the temple under Nehemiah did not
fulfil, were applied to the end-time.
In the preface to his abbreviation of Jason of Cyrene's history of the
Maccabean revolt and the purification of the temple, the epitomizer also
reveals a feeling that the restoration has not been completed. Jeremiah, he
writes, hid the tent, the ark, and the altar of incense and predicted that
' T h e place shall be unknown until God gathers his people together again
and shows his mercy' (II Mace. 2.7).
T h e vision in I Enoch 2 4 - 2 5 is primarily concerned with the tree of life,
but significandy it is said that the tree will be transplanted 'to the holy
place, to the temple of the Lord, the Eternal King' (I En. 25.5). T h e
temple is presumably the throne of God, where he will sit 'when he shall
come down to visit the earth with goodness' (25.3). Charles remarks that
'we cannot tell whether the author intended here the New Jerusalem' of
90.2()or not. 'It is, at all events, a Jerusalem cleansed from all impurity,
and that is probably all that the author meant.'
More to the point, although challenged by Gaston, are portions of I En.
89-90. We first read that the offerings were polluted:
5

They reared up that tower.. . ; and they began again to place a table before
the tower, but all the bread on it was polluted and not pure (89.73).
T h e result is that the temple was taken away and replaced:
And I stood up to see till they folded up that old house; and carried off all
the pillars, and all the beams and ornaments of the house were at the same
time folded up with it, and they carried it o f f . . . . And I saw till the Lord
of the sheep brought a new house greater and loftier than that first, and set
it in the place of the first. . .: and its pillars were new, and its ornaments
were new and larger than those of the first . . . , and all the sheep were
within it (90.28f.).
In 90.30 the sheep not taken away, as well as the 'beasts' and the 'birds',
then do homage to 'those sheep'; i.e., the Gentiles obey the faithful of
Israel. Here Gaston argues that, since the 'new house' is large enough to
contain all the sheep, it must be Jerusalem, not just the temple. That is
plausible. T h e vision in fact does not distinguish city from temple, but
seems to refer to both. T h e pillars and ornaments more naturally refer to
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the temple than to the city. Further, the earlier mention of pollution
of sacrifices (89.73) indicates that temple concerns are present. This
encourages the inference that a new temple would be included in the new
city.
In the Apocalypse of Weeks there is a direct reference to an eternal
temple: In the eighth week 'there shall be built the royal Temple of the
Great One in His glorious splendour, for all generations forever' (I. En.
9 1 . 1 3 ) . T h e eighth week belongs to the end-time, and thus here we have
a clear reference to the building of an eschatological temple.
Jub. 1 . 1 5 - 1 7 predicts that Israel will turn to God with heart, soul and
strength. He will gather them from among the Gentiles. 'And I will build
My sanctuary in their midst, and I will dwell with them . . .'. Later in the
same chapter God instructs the angel of the presence: 'Write for Moses
from the beginning of creation till M y sanctuary has been built among
them for all eternity.' God will prove himself to be father of all the children
of Jacob (thus implying the restoration of the twelve tribes) (1.28), and he
will dwell with Israel 'throughout eternity' (1.26).
T h e Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs can be used with less
confidence than other works counted among the Pseudepigrapha, but for
the sake of completeness we shall quote one passage, T . Benj. 9.2.
According to it, despite sin
7

the temple of God shall be in your portion, and the last (temple) shall be
more glorious than the first. And the twelve tribes shall be gathered there,
and all the Gentiles, until the Most High shall send forth His salvation in
the visitation of an only-begotten prophet.
In the Psalms of Solomon 1 7 several of the prophetic themes appear. T h e
king, the son of David (17.23) will purge Jerusalem of the Gentiles (17.25).
He will gather 'a holy people', and 'he shall judge the tribes of the people
that has been sanctified by the Lord his G o d ' (17.28). This apparendy
refers to the regathering of a purified, refined Israel. T h e Gentiles will
serve him, and 'he shall glorify the Lord in a place to be seen of all the
earth' ( 1 7 . 3 2 ) . This apparendy refers to an exalted Mount Zion and to the
temple. T h e Gentiles shall come 'to see his glory, bringing as gifts her
sons who had fainted' (17.34). Here the regathering of the dispersed is
clearly meant.
T h e interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls with regard to the issue of
temple and eschaton is crucial to Gaston's case, for here we have a
community to which cultic terminology and concepts were highly
important, which was led by priests, and in which the members saw

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themselves as living in the last days. Gaston argues that there is no clear
indication that the anticipated sacrifices will be offered in the Jerusalem
temple. T h e document which seems most clearly to indicate that the sect's
priests will offer sacrifices in the temple is i Q M , the War Scroll. Here
Gaston grants that sacrifices are mentioned, but points out that Jerusalem
is not. He argues as follows:
The War Scroll is no exception to the general rejection of the Jerusalem
temple. Even if the last battles occur before Jerusalem (I, 3; III, 1 1 ; XII, 17)
and people leave Jerusalem to join the camps (VII, 4), there is no indication
that the sacrifices mentioned will be offered in the Jerusalem temple. On
the contrary, as the camp was organized according to the pattern of the holy
wars of pre-Davidic Israel, the assumption is that sacrifices will be offered
on the battlefield.
9

T h e argument is not persuasive. As Gaston notes, the general regulations

for how to conduct a batde presuppose that the sect occupies Jerusalem.
Thus i Q M 7.4: 'No young boy and no woman shall enter their
encampments when they go forth from Jerusalem to go to battle, until their
return.' T h e sectarians, then, leave Jerusalem only for the explicit purpose
of fighting. When the priests go forth to join the batde formation, they are
instructed to wear special garments for war, garments which they may not
bring into the sanctuary (ha-miqdash) ( i Q M 7.10). Since the priests leave
Jerusalem and go onto the field of battle wearing garments which cannot
be brought into the sanctuary, Gaston's proposal, that the sanctuary is on
the battlefield, seems excluded. T h e only sound construction of i Q M
7 . 4 - 1 o is that the sanctuary is in Jerusalem. Having come to this conclusion
with regard to column 7, it is then easy to accept the reference to sacrifices
in i Q M 2.5f. as referring to real sacrifices offered at the temple, not to
the sacred meal, as Gaston proposes. T h e text refers to the rotating
courses of priests ( i Q M 2 . 1 - 4 ) , who offer whole burnt offerings ('olot),
animal sacrifices (zebakm) and the fragrant incense offering on the 'table
of glory' (2.5f). It is more than precarious to suppose that the 'table' is the
table of the common meal rather than the Jerusalem altar. Even when,
in 1 Q S 9.5, prayer is compared to a fragrant (nihoah; cf. i Q M 2.5) offering,
during the period of exile when literal sacrifices cannot be made, the terms
for the whole burnt offering and the animal sacrifice are reserved for those
literal sacrifices ( i Q S 9.4). T h e discussion of the meal, on the other hand,
does not use sacrificial terminology ( i Q S 6.2-5). Thus from every point
of view it seems best to accept the commonly received explanation early
enunciated by Yadin: at the time of the final war, the sect would occupy
10

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T H E RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

the temple and re-establish the sacrifices according to its own laws. It was
only during the exile that prayer and the like substituted. Gaston's general
view, that once the community and prayer were seen as substituting for
the temple and sacrifices (so i QS), interest in the physical temple waned,
is not upheld by i Q M .
Gaston does, however, have a valid objection to taking 4Qflor. 1 . 1 - 1 3
as containing a certain reference to the expectation that God would build
a new physical temple at the eschaton. T h e phrase miqdash adam (1.6) is,
as Flusser noted, difficult, and the possibility that it means 'sanctuary
among mankind' cannot be decisively excluded. T h e other option,
however, and in some ways the simplest one, remains: to follow Gaston
and see in this entire passage the identification of the sanctuary with the
community. Thus Vermes' translation of 1.6f: 'He has commanded that
a Sanctuary of men be built for Himself, that there they may send up, like
the smoke of incense, the works of the Law.' It is evident here that the
works of the law substitute for sacrifices, and this equation may determine
the meaning of the entire passage. In any case, I consider the interpretation
of 4Qflor. in this regard to be too precarious to build on.
There is a further passage from the Dead Sea Scrolls which Gaston
failed to note, from the commentary on Ps. 3 7 . I give it in Vermes'
translation:
12

13

14

15

16

Interpreted, this [Ps. 37.2 i f ] concerns the congregation of the Poor, who
[shall possess] the portion of a l l . . . . They shall possess the High Mountain
of Israel [for ever], and shall enjoy [everlasting] delights in His Sanctuary
[qodsho], [But those who] shall be cut off, they are the violent [of the nations
and] the wicked of Israel; they shall be cut off and blotted out for ever
(4QpPs373.11).
The context is clearly the eschaton: described here are the redemption
and reward of the sectarians and the final destruction of all their enemies.
At the eschaton, then, the sectarians will possess Mount Zion and enjoy
the luxuries of the temple. In this passage, as in i Q M , a new temple is not
specified, and there may here be a divergence of view from Jubilees, Tobit
and the Temple Scroll (to be cited below). It is more likely, however, that
the author simply does not bother to say that at the time of judgment the
Lord will renew the earth, Jerusalem and the temple for the righteous,
who will inhabit them for a thousand generations (for 'a thousand
generations', see 4QPPS37 3 . 1 ) .
The Temple Scroll now adds another important piece of evidence that
indicates that at least some expected a new temple to be built by God at

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the eschaton. For the present purpose we do not need to come to a decision
as to whether or not the Scroll is a sectarian document in the narrow sense,
as distinct from being a valued work kept in the sectarian library. T h e
pertinent facts can be quickly sketched. T h e Temple Scroll deals in great
detail with the conduct of worship in an idealized temple, the temple which
should exist in Jerusalem. Thus Herman Lichtenberger describes it:
There is a real temple described in the Temple Scroll. The priests perform
real sacrifices. We find minute details for these sacrifices, regardless of
whether they are daily sacrifices or special sacrifices for festival days. The
ritual for the Day of Atonement is described in detail. In comparison with
the Pentateuch, the rituals here are more elaborate. New festival days have
been added together with their respective sacrifices.
17

T h e striking point, however, is that this idealized temple, run the way God
always intended the temple to be operated, is itself not the final temple.
God is described as speaking in the first person:
I shall sanctify my sanctuary with my glory: I shall cause my glory to dwell
upon it until the Day of Blessing, [at which time] I myself shall create
[ ebra ] my sanctuary, establishing it for myself for ever, like the covenant
which I made with Jacob at Beth-El (1 iQTemple 2 9 . 8 - 1 0 ) .
18

19

T h e passage just quoted, besides being one more bit of evidence for the
expectation of a new temple at the eschaton, helps to demonstrate the
naturalness of the connection between expecting a new temple and
supposing that the old one will be destroyed. Gaston made rather a lot of
the fact that even the unquestionable new temple passages did not explicidy
mention the destruction of the old: thus the saying attributed to Jesus he
regarded as without context. T h e passage from the Temple Scroll does
not contain the word 'destruction'; but, by limiting the time during which
God's glory will abide on the temple - 'until the Day of Blessing' - ,
distincdy implies it. T h e connection between 'new temple' and 'destruction
of the old', like the proposed connection between 'new Jerusalem' and
'new (or renewed) temple', was perhaps too obvious to require explicit
statement.
Our last evidence, though slight, is important. It is from the Greek
Diaspora. T h e Sibylline Oracles contain references to a new temple and
to other aspects of Israel's restoration. In 3.294 the seer states that 'the
temple shall be again as it was before'. In the eschatological section we
read that 'all the sons of the great God shall live quietly around the temple',
and that this will lead the Gentiles to worship God (3.702-20). In 3 . 7 7 2 - 4
the offerings of the Gentiles are described. In 5 . 4 1 4 - 3 3 a 'blessed man'
20

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from heaven destroys the wicked, rebuilds Jerusalem so that it is 'more

radiant than the stars and the sun and the moon', and makes a temple
which is many furlongs in size and which has a giant tower 'touching the
very clouds and seen of all'. Then 'east and west' hymn forth the glory
of God.
Philo, despite his allegorizing, maintained the traditional hope for the
restoration of Israel, as is clear in Depraemiis etpoenis 9 4 - 7 ; 1 6 2 - 7 2 . He
depicts the return of the Israelites captive in the dispersion ( i 6 4 f ) , once
they, instructed by chastisement, repent and turn to virtue (163). He
predicts that 'the cities which but now lay in ruins will be cities once more'
and that 'all the prosperity of their fathers and ancestors will seem a tiny
fragment, so lavish will be the abundant riches in their possession' (168).
There is no mention of the temple, although it does not seem far-fetched
to think that the rebuilding of the cities will include Jerusalem and that
Jerusalem includes the temple.
As the last sentence indicates, I think that McKelvey should be followed
when he proposes that the expectation of a new Jerusalem implies a new
temple. One further bit of evidence may be cited. There is a detailed
description of the new Jerusalem in Rev. 2 1 . 9 - 2 2 . 5 . Most noteworthy for
our purpose is 2 1 . 2 2 : 'And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the
Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.' This is clearly a polemic against
the normal expectation of Judaism. Just as the people in Asia Minor who
call themselves Jews and attend the synagogue are not, in the view of the
author of the Apocalypse, true Jews (2.9), so the real new Jerusalem unlike the one of Jewish expectation - will have no temple. This section
of the Apocalypse contains a fairly traditional end-time expectation. T h e
Gentile kings will make pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Rev. 2 1 . 2 4 ) . I this
context the author's statement about the temple seems to indicate a desire
to counter the natural assumption that 'new Jerusalem' means 'new
temple', and to do so on the basis of Christian theology: the place of
atonement for the sins of Israel is not needed.
This rapid survey of passages does not lead to the conclusion that all
Jews everywhere, when thinking of the future hope of Israel, put foremost
the building of a new temple. Further, when the temple is explicitly
mentioned, it is not depicted in a uniform manner. T o be more precise,
sometimes it is not depicted at all (II Mace. 2.7; Jub. 1 . 1 7 , 2 7 ; 1 1 QTemple
2 9 . 8 - 1 0 ) , and sometimes it appears that the present second temple is in
mind (I En. 25.5; II Mace. 2.7). Sometimes the new temple is modesdy
expected only to be larger and grander than the present temple (Tob. 1 4 . 5 ,
'glorious'; I En. 90,28f, 'greater and loftier'; T . Benj. 9.2, 'more glorious
21

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than the first'), in which case it will be built by human hands (see T o b .
14.5); but sometimes the extravagant language of Micah 4 and Isa. 2 is
recalled (Ps. Sol. 1 7 . 3 2 ; Sib.Or. 5.425). In some instances it is definitely
said or clearly implied that God will build or provide a new temple (I En.
90.28f,;Jub. 1 . 1 7 ; 1 1 QTemple 2 9 . 8 - 1 8 ) , and in Sib.Or. 5.425 the builder
is a 'blessed man from heaven'. Thus we can speak of neither a universal
expectation nor of a clear and consistent one.
We have had before us two questions: (1) whether or not a complex of
prophetic themes (the gathering of dispersed Israel, the rebuilding of the
temple, and the entry of the Gentiles) continued in the post-biblical period;
(2) whether or not a word and gesture indicating the destruction of the
temple would imply the expectation of renewal. T h e first question will be
discussed more fully in the next chapter, but here it may be noted that all
the main themes of prophetic expectation continued, though they do not
constitute a fixed and unvarying complex. Eschatological expectation is
not generally clear and consistent, and there certainly is not any one
combination of various hopes which constitutes a set theology. T h e hope
that seems to have been most often repeated was that of the restoration of
the people of Israel. Even so there is by no means uniformity. Some had
the original twelve tribes explicidy in mind, while others spoke more
generally. Nevertheless, the restoration of Israel is a major theme. At the
other extreme the Davidic king is mentioned infrequendy. We return to
both points below. Here we must note that the temple (whether new,
improved, or only restored 'as it was before'; whether built by God or by
human hands) is, in the extant literature, somewhat less prominent than
restored Israel, appreciably more prominent than the Davidic king.
Thus our answer to the second question must be cautious. Gaston
goes too far in arguing that a statement predicting the destruction and
rebuilding of the temple would have no context in Judaism before 70.
There is enough evidence of the expectation of a new (or renewed) temple
to make such a prediction - that is, one which included rebuilding entirely comprehensible. We shall consider the 'destroy' part of the saying
immediately below. Here we should pay heed to both the fragmentary
character of the remaining material and also to the various circles in which
- even while the second temple was standing - future hopes included a
new or restored temple. There is little to be said about the accident of
survival. I am told that newspaper editors assume that, for every letter to
the editor expressing a given opinion, a certain number of others also hold
it. We do not know the multiple which should be applied to surviving
references to a given theme or idea, but we should assume that each
23

24

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T H E R E S T O R A T I O N OF ISRAEL
25

expression of a view represents numerous people who held it. More

important is the fact that the theme of a new temple appears in several
different places. Tobit shows that, before the Hasmonean conquest, there
was a realization that the predictions of the prophets were not actually
fulfilled by the construction of a second temple. Jubilees, Enoch and the
Dead Sea Scrolls show that apocalyptic or eschatological writers might
think of God as building a new temple at the end of days. It is important
to observe that this expectation was not one of the ideas peculiar to the
Qumran community; rather, it is one which they shared with other circles.
It is relevant here to note that the War Scroll had a pre-sectarian form.
T h e Sibylline Oracles (and possibly Philo) show that the hope for a new
temple existed in the Greek Diaspora. T h e idea of a new Jerusalem with
a new temple coming down out of heaven was common enough to require
being denied by the author of Revelation. We must assume then, that an
explicit statement about the temple would have been understood very well.
At least that is true if the statement referred to both destruction and
rebuilding. We have seen above that the threat (or prediction) of destruction
almost certainly goes back to Jesus. T h e prediction of rebuilding is subject
to some doubt because it may be understood as John interpreted it, as
referring to the resurrection. T h e connection with the resurrection is not
always explicit, however, and it would go beyond the evidence definitely
to attribute the 'I will rebuild' statement to the post-Easter church. On
balance, I would rank that part of the statement as 'probable'. Even without
the 'rebuild' part of the saying, however, it is plausible that a threat of
destruction would have been understood by many of Jesus' contemporaries
as meaning that the end was at hand and thus that redemption was near.
It is, to be sure, unusual for the weight to be put on destruction. I En.
90.28f. says that 'the old house' was carried off and a new one brought,
but the Temple Scroll and Jubilees mention God's building a new temple
without saying that the old one will be destroyed. If Jesus said only 'I will
destroy' (or by implication ' G o d will destroy'), the emphasis would be odd
but the statement would nevertheless be comprehensible. Perhaps, like a
later Jesus, he would have been regarded as merely a crier of doom; but
the connection between disaster, God's chastisement, and the subsequent
redemption of a remnant was so firmly fixed in Judaism that we should
assume that even a bare statement of destruction would not be altogether
misunderstood.
26

27

28

In fact, as we shall see, Jesus himself had provided a context in which

the destruction of the temple can be understood as a meaningful part of
God's redemptive action. But even on the most astringent view of the

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evidence, accepting only the bare statement of destruction, we can think

with some confidence that Jesus would have been understood as saying
that the final hour had come.
But what of the prophetic action of overturning the tables? How would
it have been understood? Since the 'cleansing' interpretation of the action
has been so predominant - it goes back to the synoptics, where 'den of
robbers', etc. is already added as an interpretative comment - we should
give further attention to it. If Jesus' action were understood as a symbol of
cleansing, he would probably have been seen as favouring a reform of the
priesthood. Gaston has correcdy observed that in Jewish literature the
theme of cleansing the temple is not an eschatological one, but refers to
actual historical profanations. These are to be corrected by changing or
reforming the priesthood, not by awaiting the end. Even in Qumran, where
the end was expected and the priesthood was accused of immorality and
impurity, the two are not connected. Pollution of the sanctuary is not cited
as a sign of the end. In the Testament of Moses there are numerous
complaints about the iniquity of the priests. In this case the resolution of
iniquity is neither punishment by enemies nor the separation of the pious.
At the end of the work, at least in its present form, Israel is exalted to the
heaven. But even though impure sacrifices were part of the problem
which required a radical solution (the dispersion of the twelve tribes was
another major problem), they are not said to be an eschatological sign.
Thus Gaston is correct to object to a causal connection between the
impurity of the temple, its need of cleansing, and the eschaton.
29

30

I earlier argued that the saying about the temple and the action should
be taken together, and that both point towards 'eschaton', not 'purity'.
The point may now be broadened. A prophetic gesture, in order to be fully
understood, needs some sort of setting, preferably verbal interpretation.
Once we deny to Jesus the saying in Mark 1 1 . 1 7 and parr., we have no saying attributed to him which indicates dissatisfaction with the current
priesthood. T h e evangelists provide us with none of the traditional charges
of sexual immorality and halakic impurity. Nor is there any indication that
Jesus favoured the replacement of the present priests with others. A
preference for another line (as in Qumran), or a charge of sexual immorality
and impurity (Psalms of Solomon, Qumran) would place Jesus' action in
a setting in Judaism which would help us interpret it. It is in some ways
surprising that no such saying is attributed to Jesus. A criticism of the
priesthood - but not of the religion itself - would have fitted Jesus into a
well-known type, and depicting him as urging the cleansing of worship
would probably have been much more comfortable for his followers than

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preserving the more radical saying about destruction. This depiction is

partially, but only partially achieved by the addition of the saying 'house
of prayer', 'den of thieves'. Much more could have been accomplished
along this line. This observation serves to highlight the fact that there is
no clue that the symbolic action in the temple should be put in the setting
of criticism of the priests and the Levites, or of their conduct of the temple.
If on other grounds we thought that Jesus was in favour of a programme
of religious reform, or that he sided with a party in opposition to the current
priesthood, we might make out a case for understanding the gesture as
symbolizing cleansing. But in fact on other grounds we can see that Jesus'
work fits into eschatological expectation, not reform. Thus there is no
context for understanding the symbolic action as 'cleansing'. Contem
porary Judaism would not expect 'cleansing' from an eschatological
prophet or teacher; and nothing which is reliably attributed to Jesus points
towards cleansing.
On the other hand we have from Jesus a saying about the destruction
of the temple, and the gesture itself - overturning tables - points naturally
towards destruction. Further, the prediction of destruction is well situated
in contemporary Jewish eschatological expectation; and we do best to
understand both the saying and the action in this context.
We now turn direcdy to the other themes which appear in the literature
which looks forward to the restoration of Israel.
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3
OTHER INDICATIONS OF
RESTORATION ESCHATOLOGY

From John the Baptist to Paul

T w o of the things which are most securely known about Jesus are the
beginning and the outcome of his career, and these are also two illuminating
facts. Jesus began his public work, as far as we have any information at all
about it, in close connection with John the Baptist, probably as a disciple.
Following his death and resurrection there was a movement which hailed
him as Messiah, which spawned a Gentile mission, and which was - at
least some times in some places - subject to 'persecution'.
T h e rise of the church has often been seen as being in distinction from,
in fact in opposition to the intention ofJesus: Jesus proclaimed the coming
of the kingdom, but it was the church that arrived. For the moment, we
fix on only the point at which the church and John the Baptist, one pointing
backward and the other forward, tell us the same thing about the life and
work of Jesus: they were set in a framework of Jewish eschatological
expectation.
T h e reason for regarding Jesus as having been closely connected with
John, perhaps dependent on him at the outset, has been often given: T h e
Gospels and Acts strive to put John in a self-assigned subordinate role to
Jesus; and the effort is so pronounced that it leads one to suppose that the
opposite was the case, that Jesus began as a follower of the Baptist. T h e
depiction in the Gospels should not, however, be so completely reversed
that all connection is denied (as Enslin proposes), but should rather be
seen as an admission of an ineradicable connection. T h e Christian need
to relegate John to a subordinate place is seen most clearly in the Fourth
Gospel (especially John 1.20, 'He confessed, he did not deny, but
confessed, " I am not the Christ" '; 1.34,' " I have seen and borne witness
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RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

that this [Jesus] is the Son of God" '53.30, * "he must increase, but I must
decrease" ') and Acts ( 1 8 . 2 4 - 2 6 , the baptism of John is inferior). In one
respect, however, the Gospel of John points more clearly than do the
synoptics to Jesus' actual discipleship under John. John has Jesus draw his
first disciples from the ranks of the Baptist's followers (John 1 . 3 5 - 4 0 ) . In
John 3 . 2 2 - 2 4 and 4 . 1 - 3 Jesus is depicted as carrying out a mission which,
while independent of that of the Baptist's, is similar in nature and near in
locale.
That John himself was an eschatological prophet of repentance is clearly
implied in Josephus's account. Further, the depiction of John and his
message in the Gospels agrees with Josephus's view: the preaching in the
desert; the dress, which recalled Elijah; the message of repentance in
preparation for the coming judgment. These features correcdy pass
unquestioned in New Testament scholarship.
The Gospels emphasize differences between John the Baptist and Jesus.
They are presented as in some ways polar opposites. John was an
ascetic (predicted in advance, Luke 1 . 1 5 ; cf. Mark 1.6 and parr.; Matt.
n . i 8 / / L u k e 7.33), and his mission was to separate the wheat from the
chaff (Matt. 3 . 1 2 / y L u k e 3 . 1 7 ) . He and his disciples fasted, while Jesus
and his disciples did not (Mark 2.i8f. and parr.). Jesus was known as 'a
wine-bibber and a glutton' (Matt. 1 1 . 1 9 and par.), and his mission was to
include sinners (ibid.). While it is possible that these contrasts have become
schematized, there is no particular argument to be brought against any of
them, and they probably point to remembered differences between the
two men who stood in close agreement on the main task. There is in any
case no reason to doubt the depiction of John as an eschatological
preacher.
For our purposes it is not necessary to try to decide what recognition,
if any, John accorded Jesus. It is more important, for the task of
understanding Jesus, to discover how he saw his own work in relation to
that of John. Matthew and Luke provide us with material designed to
answer that question. Regrettably, it answers it too well. T h e prophets and
the law held good until John the Baptist, who was in fact Elijah (Matt.
1 1 . 1 3 f ) . John here is given his customary role as the precursor of Jesus.
More likely to be authentic is Matt. 1 1 . 1 1 / / L u k e 7.28: N o one born of
woman is greater than John; but 'the least in the kingdom' is greater than
he. As O'Neill points out, 'Jesus is not contrasting all begotten of women,
with John at their head, and some other group of men, the least of whom
is greater than John; he is contrasting the present state of the greatest of
men with the future state of the least in the coming Kingdom.' Later
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Christians could have understood the saying to mean that the least member
of the church is greater than the greatest non-member, but O'Neill's
interpretation gives a plausible interpretation for the meaning of the saying
in Jesus' own lifetime. God's kingdom, which will transform the state of
things, is at hand. If John the Baptist was great, all the greater will be those
who share in the fullness of the kingdom. It follows that Jesus saw his own
work as being the proclamation of the kingdom, which, it would appear,
he regarded as the next and final step in God's plan of redemption. If Jesus
considered John to be the greatest human in history, he probably thought
that he himself was engaged in the final act of history (not necessarily that
he himself was of a different order).
Of primary importance for our enquiry are the simple facts that Jesus
started his public career in close relationship to John the Baptist and that
the Baptist was an eschatological prophet who called Israel to repent in
view of the coming kingdom. If it is true that Matt. 1 1 . 1 1 gives Jesus'
estimate ofJohn, then we may conclude that he saw his own work as being
of final significance.
T h e letters of Paul provide abundant evidence that Jewish eschatological
expectation stands at the conclusion as well as at the beginning of Jesus'
career. There is, first of all, the expectation that the end of all things was
near. This can hardly be Paul's peculiar contribution to Christian selfunderstanding. It seems to be shared by the entirety of the early Christian
movement, and Paul characterizes as 'the word of the Lord' the promise
that those who are still alive when the Lord returns will not precede those
who have already died (I Thess. 4 . 1 5 ) .
But Paul's understanding of his own role in the final stage of history,
which emerges especially in Romans, allows us to be more specific about
what the expectation was. Paul describes himself as engaged in the mission
to the Gentiles. He is an apostle of the last days, preparing 'the offering
of the Gentiles' so that it may be acceptable (Rom. 1 5 . 1 6 ) . Further, he is
taking up a collection, which, besides being intended to relieve the poor,
was probably understood symbolically as representing the tribute from the
Gentiles. T h e expected scheme, however, has gone awry. Israel is not
established and victorious. By and large, in fact, Israel has rejected Jesus
as Messiah. Paul thus must revise the scheme: first the Gentiles will come
in, and then, as a result of the Gentile mission, Israel will be saved (Rom.
1 1 . 1 3 - 1 6 ; n . 2 6 f . ['thus']; n . 3 o f . ) . T h e revision of the scheme proves its
existence and establishes beyond question the eschatological setting of the
work of the aposdes.
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more far-reaching ways. Gentiles, he held, were on equal footing with

Jews. More radically yet, he argued that Jews must themselves join the
messianic movement. Even they were not members simply by being
obedient to the law. But we may leave aside Paul's peculiar contributions
to Christian self-understanding and focus on the presupposition: the
Messiah has come; the whole people of God, J e w and Gentile alike, is
being gathered; the end is at hand.
Before Paul the new movement already stood out as distinct within
Judaism. It was identifiable and subject to 'persecution' (a subject to which
we shall have to return). Further, it had already started a Gentile mission.
Just as we may doubt the view of the author of Acts that Paul was primarily
aposde to the Jews of the dispersion, so we may doubt that it was Peter
who first admitted Gentiles to the new movement (Acts 1 0 ) . But it is
certain that the other Jerusalem aposdes approved of their admission.
Peter visited a mixed church in Antioch (Gal. 2 . 1 1 - 1 4 ) , and that church
had apparendy been founded before Paul's conversion. Peter, James and
John did not immediately draw the same conclusions as did Paul about
the conditions on which Gentiles should be admitted - without requiring
circumcision and the rest of the law - and the lack of precision in the
prophetic predictions on this point left room for disagreement. It may be,
as Munck proposed, that they thought that Gentiles would be admitted
only after Israel had been established and thus had not thought about the
matter at all. But the success of Paul and other missionaries to the
Gentiles (e.g., to Rome) certainly pushed the matter to the attention of
the 'pillars' in Jerusalem. And, according to Paul, they explicidy agreed
that Gentiles could be admitted to the eschatological people of God
without formal acceptance of the law (Gal. 2.6, 'they added nothing'), thus
endorsing what Paul, and probably others before him, had been doing.
11

12

13

Peter's withdrawal at Antioch (Gal. 2 . 1 2 ) probably tells us all we need

to know about his position. He approved of the Gentile mission and was
willing to eat with Gentiles who had entered the messianic movement; but
there were limits to his own participation with them, since he could not
afford to have his aposdeship to the Jews fall into disrepute.
Thus Peter and the others in Jerusalem saw the Gentile mission as
appropriate, though they themselves did not actively engage in it. In case
there were any doubt about it, this puts Peter, James and John squarely in
the context of Jewish eschatological expectation. T h e movement which
they countenanced (Gal. 2.9) did not require full conversion to Judaism.
It thus did not fall within the context of normal efforts towards proselytism.
Its admission of the Gentiles, therefore, is to be seen as a natural result of
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eschatological expectation, according to which Gentiles would turn to the

God of Israel. We should also recall the urgency with which Paul (and,
presumably, the other missionaries) worked. His concern was to 'complete'
the full 'circle' of the Gentile world, so that before the end 'the complete
number' of Gentiles would have been admitted (Rom. 1 5 . 1 9 , 'complete
the gospel' 'in a circle'; 1 1 . 2 5 , 'complete number of the Gentiles'; 1 3 . 1 i f ,
nearness of the end).
This leads us to one more important inference. A teacher and healer
who is executed and believed by his followers to have been raised does
not, simply on the basis of those facts, account for the rise of a movement
which in a very short period of time starts the activity which characterizes
the last act of an eschatological drama, the introduction of Gentiles. T h e
first disciples must have been living already in the world of eschatological
hope if they so readily countenanced the Gentile mission. Peter and the
others, then, must already have been led to see Jesus' ministry as a key
event in the fulfilment of the prophecies of the restoration of Israel and
the submission of the whole world to the God of Israel. This leads us from
the frame ofJesus' ministry direcdy to his own career.
16

The twelve tribes

Having noted the beginning of Jesus' ministry in adherence to the
movement of John the Baptist (a movement which had as its aim the
purifying of Israel in view of the coming judgment) and the outcome of
his career (especially the mission to the Gentiles), it is natural to ask about
Jesus' own stance on the restoration of Israel and the admission of the
Gentiles. We defer the question of the Gentiles to a later chapter, and
consider here the restoration of Israel.
We said above that the motif of the restoration of Israel figures
more prominendy in Jewish literature than that of the restoration or
reconstruction of the temple. It will be helpful to give fuller consideration
to the theme, paying particular attention to two points: the relationship
between the expectation of the restoration of all Israel and the survival of
a remnant; the degree to which there was a definite expectation of the
reassembly of'the twelve tribes', as distinct from more general hopes for
the freedom ofJews from foreign dominion (whether in the diaspora or in
the land).
T h e remnant theme is a large one, and simply to quote all the relevant
biblical passages would noticeably enlarge the size of the present work.
It is perhaps most prominent in such passages as Amos 3 . 1 2 : the Lord will
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punish Israel for iniquity and will save only a remnant. Those who are to
be saved are often described as the people who are 'humble and lowly',
while the proud and mighty are destroyed (Zeph. 3 . 1 1 - 1 3 ) . T h e remnant,
however, can still constitute all Israel: 'I will surely gather all of you, O
Jacob, I will gather the remnant of Israel; I will set them together like sheep
in a fold' (Micah 2 . 1 2 ) ; God will 'assemble the outcasts of Israel, and
gather the dispersed ofJudah from the four corners of the earth', specifying
the area embraced by Assyria, Ethiopia, and the Aegean coast (Isa. 1 1 . 1 1 f.).
The references in Micah to 'Jacob' and in Isaiah to both 'Israel' and 'Judah'
point to the fact that all twelve tribes are in mind.
In the post-biblical literature the theme of a threatened punishment
which will leave only a remnant recedes. Remnant terminology, especially
various terms designating the survivors as 'poor' and 'lowly', is often
retained; but the emphasis is on reassembly, freedom from oppression and
foreign dominion, punishment of the Gentiles and the like, not on the
further winnowing of Israel. T h e same tendency is seen in the liturgy of
the synagogue. Some have proposed that remnant theology remained
strong, and that all the parties and sects of Jesus' day saw themselves as
the remnant, the 'true Israel'. But it is a striking fact that, in the surviving
literature, no group applies either tide to itself during its own historical
existence. Even those who thought that they were the only true followers
of Moses, or the only ones who knew the correct interpretation of the
covenant and its laws, nevertheless did not think of God's reducing Israel
to coincide with their group, but rather of the reassembly of Israel under
the covenant righdy understood.
Before citing evidence I shall offer another generalization. Although
there are numerous references to the reassembly or gathering of Israel
which are very general, the expectation of the restoration of the twelve
tribes is frequent and widespread.
Many of the passages which illustrate the hope for restoration have been
listed in ch. 2, and I add here a supplementary collection which bears on
the points just discussed.
Baruch 4-5: Israel has been chastised by being given over to her enemies.
What lies ahead is the punishment and subjugation of the nations. Israel
will be regathered 'from east and west' (4.37; 5.5).
Ben Sira 36: T h e author calls on God to crush and destroy Israel's
enemies, to 'gather all the tribes of Jacob', and to 'give them their
inheritance, as at the beginning' (quotations from 3 6 . 1 1 ) .
Ben Sira 4 8 . 1 0 : Elijah is ready to 'restore the tribes of Jacob'.
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II Mace, i .27f.: Jonathan prays to God to 'gather our scattered people', to

'set free those who are slaves among the Gentile', to 'look upon those who
are rejected and despised', and to 'afflict those who oppress and are
insolent'.
II Mace. 2 . 1 8 : 'We have hope in God that he will soon gather us from
everywhere under heaven into his holy place.'
Ps. Sol. 1 1 deals exclusively with the gathering of Israel from east, west
and north, as well as 'from the isles afar off. This shows that God has had
pity on Israel.
Ps. Sol. 1 7 . 2 8 - 3 1 : God will gather 'a holy people' and 'divide them
according to their tribes upon the land'.
Ps. Sol. 1 7 . 5 0 : 'Blessed be they that shall be in those days, in that they
shall see the good fortune of Israel which God shall bring to pass in the
gathering together of the tribes.' Cf. 8.34: gather the dispersed.
T.Mos: T h e twelve tribes are explicidy in mind in the early sections (see
3.4; 4.9). In the resolution of the work as it now stands, however,only
'Israel' is mentioned without further specification (10.7, punishment of
Gentiles and happiness of Israel).
i Q M : T h e twelve tribes will be represented in the temple service (2.2Q;
all the tribes will supply troops (2.7O; the army is marshalled by tribes
( 3 . 1 3 ; 5 . 1 ) . It is noteworthy that the conquering Israelites are called 'the
poor' (ebyonim, 1 1 . 1 3 ; 1 3 . 1 3 ^ .
1 1 QTemple 1 8 . 1 4 - 1 6 : Twelve loaves of wheat bread are offered by the
heads of the tribes. Cf. 57.5fi: a thousand from each tribe, thus twelve
thousand.
T h e expectation that all twelve tribes will be assembled is continued in
the post-70 period: see T . Sanh. 1 3 . 1 0 (R. Eliezer) and Rev. 2 1 . 1 2 .
In general terms it may be said that 'Jewish eschatology' and 'the
restoration of Israel' are almost synonomous. T h e idea that Israel will need
to be purged of sinners is common enough in the post-biblical literature
(e.g. Ps. Sol. 17.26), and even where it is not expressed it can hardly be
ruled out. Will God save those who reject him? But the overwhelming
emphasis is on the reassembly and redemption of Israel, not on its further
reduction to a remnant. T h e Dead Sea Scrolls are, to be sure, notable for
their hard line. In i Q M the final war (in which all twelve tribes will be
represented) is against both the Gentiles and the 'wicked of the covenant'
( 1 Q M 1.2). T h e general thrust of the commentary on Habakkuk seems to
be that the 'breakers of the covenant' (iQpHab. 2.6) will be destroyed.
Much of the text is damaged, but the hatred of the 'Wicked Priest' and
the 'Spouter of Lies' is so intense that it seems to require the assumption

T H E RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

that the author or authors of the Scroll looked forward to the final
destruction of their Jewish enemies. This seems to be predicted, for
example, in 1 0 . 3 - 5 ^ - 9 " 3 - I light of this it is probably best to take
8 . 1 - 3 to refer to the salvation of some Jerusalemites ('those who do the
Torah in the House of Judah'), who will be saved even when Jerusalem
('the House of Judgment') is destroyed, because of their loyalty to the
Teacher of Righteousness.
Even in the Scrolls the hard line is not uniform. i Q S a 1 . 1 - 3 looks
forward to the entry of other Israelites into the covenant in the last days,
and one interpretation of iQpHab. 5 . 3 - 6 would mean that the suffering
of wicked Israelites, if in their distress they keep the commandments,
would atone.
We should finally note that in the Scrolls nothing is said about the
Jewish Diaspora, which generally figures large in the hopes for the
end-time restoration. T h e sectarian consciousness is here as elsewhere
determinative. Yet even the Scrolls maintain the motif of 'the twelve'.
Thus we see all the more that in the first century Jewish hopes for the
future would have included the restoration of the twelve tribes of Israel.
It is, as is widely acknowledged, against this background that we are
to understand the motif of the twelve disciples in the Gospels. If not,
every text which looks forward to the vindication of Israel explicidy men
tions the number twelve, it is nevertheless true that the expectation
of the reassembly of Israel was so widespread, and the memory of the
twelve tribes remained so acute, that 'twelve' would necessarily mean 'resto
ration \
a n <

I O

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25

The twelve disciples

The earliest evidence for the tradition that there was a special group of
Jesus' followers called 'the twelve' is I Cor. 1 5 . 5 , 'he appeared to Cephas,
then to the twelve'. This is generally taken to mean that he appeared to
Cephas alone, then to the twelve as a group (including Cephas). A few
manuscripts correct the reading to 'eleven', doubdess with an eye on the
tradition of Judas's death, but it is precisely this which confirms the
reading 'twelve'. Scribes who were perfectly well aware of that tradition
would not have corrected 'eleven' to 'twelve', thus the notion of 'twelve'
is a fixed part of a pre-Pauline tradition. T h e second bit of firm evidence
is Matt. 19.28, 'you yourselves will be seated upon twelve thrones judging
the twelve tribes of Israel'.
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T h e reasoning which allows us to consider the saying about 'the twelve'

in Matt. 19.28 to go back to Jesus himself is the same as that which permits
a clear judgment on the reading of I Cor. 1 5 . 5 : it is unlikely that, after the
betrayal by Judas, the church would have had Jesus include him as one of
those who would sit on a throne judging Israel. If the betrayal is a historical
fact, it is unlikely that the church would have moved from 'betrayal by a
disciple' (a fact) to 'appearance to the twelve' (I Cor. 1 5 . 5 ) , to 'betrayal by
one of the twelve' (all four Gospels and Acts), and then to the creation of
a saying by Jesus which 'enthrones' the betrayer. Thus we see that, after
the story of Judas's betrayal became fixed, the number twelve would not
have been introduced in Matt. 19.28, just as the church would not have
invented the appearance to the twelve (I Cor. 15.5).
But is it not possible that the number twelve and the betrayal by one of
them are both inventions, with the tradition of the twelve being created
first? One could, with Vielhauer, argue thus: There was no circle of twelve
around Jesus. A disciple did betray him. T h e church, living out of
eschatological expectation, first fixed the number twelve for the disciples
(I Cor. 1 5 . 5 ) and subsequendy, from another theological motive, created
the legend of the betrayal.
As is the case with most speculative hypotheses, such a view as this
cannot be disproved. One can look only for probability, and in this case
the cogency of the hypothesis depends on the strength of the theological
motive for the creation of the legend of betrayal by one of the twelve. T h e
betrayal argues decisively in favour of the authenticity of the twelve unless
the betrayal itself is inauthentic. Vielhauer proposed that the church's
creation of the legend of the betrayal was based on Ps. 4 1 . 9 (Heb. 4 1 . 1 0 ;
L X X 40.10), which mentions betrayal by a table-companion. This verse
is alluded to in Mark 1 4 . 1 8 . It is true that 'the church', in general, was
interested in finding connections between Jesus' passion and biblical
'prophecies' and may well have created some traditions about the former
in order to increase the number of echoes of Scripture. Yet this particular
case is a very weak one. ' T h e church', as represented by Matthew
(26.20-25) and Luke ( 2 2 . 2 1 - 2 3 ) , who do not have the tag from the Psalm,
does not seem to have been very interested in the connection. It is
especially striking that Matthew, who best represents the tendency to create
agreements between Jesus' life and teaching and the Bible, does not call
attention to this one. Mark, in fact, does not call attention to it, and we
cannot even speak of an actual quotation. Nevertheless, the theme of the
passage as a whole (Mark 1 4 . 1 7 - 2 1 and parr.) may reasonably be held to
emphasize, in accord with the Psalm, that it is a table-companion who
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betrays Jesus. But even if this be granted, it is still difficult to see that the
concern to connect 'eating' and 'betrayal' in accord with the Psalm could
have led to the assertion that one of the twelve, rather than some slighdy
more remote follower, betrayed Jesus. Vielhauer's proposal requires us to
think that the presence of'twelve' at the final meal (Mark 1 4 . 1 7 and parr.)
is an invention, as is the betrayal by one of them. This double invention
was, however, an embarrassment for the church, and it seems unlikely.
Further, Vielhauer's view does not really account for the saying in Matt.
19.28. He regards it as inauthentic, but does not say why the church would
have invented a saying which supposes the continuing existence of the
twelve. One would have to find a third theological motive to account for
the creation of this saying, and none seems to be forthcoming.
T h e embarrassment was handled differendy by the evangelists. T h e
later Christians had to explain that Jesus knew all along, or at least in
advance, that Judas would betray him (Matt. 26.25; John 6.64, 7 1 and
frequendy in John). Matthew also restricts the resurrection appearance
to eleven disciples (28.16), while Luke attributes Judas' membership in
'the twelve' to the necessity to fulfil Scripture (Acts 1 . 1 6 - 2 0 ) . Judas's
action is conformed to prophecy in Matt. 2 6 . 1 5 (quoting Zech. 1 1 . 1 2 ) ,
and the reminiscence of Psalm 41 in Mark 1 4 . 1 8 probably shows the same
tendency: a fact is 'explained' by quoting Scripture, not invented on the
basis of it. It is probably also embarrassment about the betrayal which led
Luke to omit the word 'twelve' before 'thrones' in his parallel to Matt.
19.28 ('you will be seated upon thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel',
Luke 22.30). Goguel regarded this reading as rendering Matt. 19.28
dubious, and thus as constituting an objection to the use of the 'twelve
tribes' saying to support the early tradition of'the twelve', but it is better
to attribute it to Luke's editorial work. He and Matthew handle the
embarrassment caused by Judas's defection differendy, Matthew attri
buting foreknowledge to Jesus and restricting the number of those who
saw the resurrection, Luke simply deleting the damaging part of the one
saying which presupposes the continuation of the twelve around Jesus.
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31

Thus the simplest and most probable explanation of the traditions about
the twelve and Judas is that the church was faced with two facts: the
existence of the twelve as a group (I Cor. 1 5 . 5 ; Matt. 19.28) and the
betrayal by one of them. T h e rest of the references to Judas, including the
echo of Psalm 4 1 in Mark 1 4 . 1 7 - 2 1 , are readily explained as attempts to
accommodate these two facts and to deal with the embarrassment caused
by the defection ofJudas. Just as we should not suppose that the church's
attribution of an inferior role to John the Baptist indicates that there was

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IOI

no connection at all between the Baptist and Jesus, so we should not

suppose that the theological/biblical explanations of Judas's betrayal mean
that there was no betrayal by one of the twelve.
Although I have included the existence of the twelve among the (almost)
indisputable facts about Jesus, his career and its aftermath, it must be
granted that it is the weakest item in the list. We have thus far not dealt
with the fact which most raises doubt about Jesus' call of the twelve: the
lists of names are not identical (Matt. 1 0 . 2 - 4 ; Mark 3 . 1 6 - 1 9 ; Luke
6 . 1 4 - 1 6 ; Acts 1 . 1 3 ) . This immediately raises the question ofwhether or
not there were twelve identifiable special disciples. We should immediately
note, however, that the slight variations in the lists are not readily explicable
as a later creation. Why should the church invent the number twelve and
then produce lists of names which disagree? T h e disagreements (it is
noteworthy that they appear at the end of the lists) seem to point rather to
the fact that the conception of the twelve was more firmly anchored than
the remembrance of precisely who they were. As Gaston and Meye have
pointed out, the disagreement about the names of some of the minor
figures counts for, rather than against, the existence of a group, said to
number twelve, during Jesus' ministry.
We should here recall that Paul, quoting established tradition, used the
number twelve when, if the betrayal is historical, there could not have been
twelve. Vielhauer took the reference to twelve in I Cor. 1 5 . 5 and the story
of the betrayal by one of the twelve to be flady contradictory. He sought
the solution, as we have seen, in a complicated theory of Christian
inventiveness: the church created 'twelve' in the list of resurrection
appearances and then the legend of betrayal by one of them. He was
doubdess correct in seeing behind the number in I Cor. 1 5 an important
symbol. It is likely, however, that the symbol was important to Jesus and
did not first come into being after the resurrection. T h e variations in the
names point in the same direction. It was Jesus who spoke of there being
'twelve', and the church subsequendy tried to list them.
We encounter here historicity of a curious kind: the historicity of a
symbol. In the earliest period (evidenced by I Cor. 15.5) noses were not
counted. That it was some time before they started being counted is clear
from the lists of names. 'Twelve' is a fixed number pointing to a group,
and it was precisely the number which was remembered, whether or not
it was stricdy applicable, and even though it created several difficulties.
'The twelve' went by that tide whether or not there were twelve of them.
The use of a symbolic number by Jesus himself saves all the evidence.
Both of the difficulties which we have considered - the apparent contradic32

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tion between I Cor. 1 5 . 5 and the betrayal, and the variations in the lists of
names - are explained if Jesus himself used 'twelve' symbolically. T h e
number was not a subsequent creation, nor was the betrayal by one who,
on any count, was one of the inner circle. T h e church followed Jesus in
speaking of 'twelve' even when there could not have been twelve (I Cor.
1 5 . 5 ) . One branch of it preserved a saying which predicted a future for
the twelve (Matt. 19.28). It tried to tidy up the number in various ways
(the change from 'twelve' to 'eleven' in some mss. of I Cor. 1 5 . 5 ; the lists
of names; most elaborately Luke's story of the election of a new twelfth
member, Acts 1 . 2 1 - 2 6 ) , and it sought ways of avoiding the embarrassment
which the betrayal created (it was predicted by Jesus; it was to fulfil
Scripture; cf. also Luke's omission of'twelve' in 22.30). All this shows the
church struggling to accommodate a number which was ineradicable.
It seems to me quite reasonable to think that Jesus used the number
'twelve' symbolically, without anyone then, any more than later, being able
to count precisely twelve. Symbolic numbers have to be thought up by
someone, and they may or may not rest on precise enumeration (cf. Matt.
1 . 1 - 1 7 ) . It seems to me more likely that Jesus employed the number than
that the church first invented it and then had all sorts of difficulty with it,
including naming the twelve. T h e twelve disciples are in one way like the
seven hills of Rome: they are a little hard to find, although the idea is very
old. In the case of the seven hills we cannot say that the founders of Rome
created the idea, since the foundation of Rome was presumably not a
single historical event; and if it were it would in any case be lost in the
mists of time and legend. It is here that Jesus and the twelve are unlike
Rome and its seven hills. T h e group around Jesus is not that remote, and
their conviction that the kingdom was at hand and that the eschatological
drama was unfolding is quite tangible. They got the general idea from
somewhere, and the specification of'the twelve' seems to go to the same
source: Jesus.
T h e reason for dwelling on a point which is generally accepted is
twofold. There is, first, the need to establish this and the other few facts
on which our study is based 'beyond reasonable doubt'. Second, there is
a need to question all the evidence, because of a growing tendency to
accept the historicity of material which was once regarded as open to
question, a tendency which has developed without firm warrant. I pointed
out in the Introduction the growing confidence of scholarly assertions
about Jesus, and perhaps it is time to remind ourselves that the confidence
rests on neither new evidence nor new methods of establishing authenticity.
T h e severe scepticism of the 1920s and 1930s has passed, but this is not

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justification for considering things which fifty or so years ago were held to
be in doubt now to be among the firm results of scholarship.
T h e tradition of the twelve, to repeat, is the least firm of the facts on
which this study rests. Yet even here we can say that the number indicates
a concept which is very old and which probably goes back to Jesus. Other
information about the disciples - their call, their prior histories, a precise
list of names (if there ever was, even during Jesus' lifetime, an invariable
group of twelve) and their activity as followers of Jesus - cannot, in my
view, be recovered. Almost everyone says that they did not represent a
closed community, a point which shows that the arguments of early
scholars, such as Goguel and Guignebert, which were mosdy directed
against the idea of an apostolate, were not altogether ineffective. It goes
beyond our evidence to say that among the twelve were to be found
representatives of the various movements in Judaism (strict Pharisees,
'zealots', tax collectors, Hellenistic Galileans and the like). We do not
know what activities they performed. T h e aposdes subsequendy both
preached and performed 'wonders', but that cannot be said with certainty
of the disciples in Jesus' lifetime. In particular, apart from what we learn
from the symbolic nature of the number twelve, we do not know Jesus'
purpose in calling them. Mark 3 . 1 4 says that it was for them 'to be with
him', and that has recendy been taken to be a plain statement of fact. But
Mark cannot have known what was in Jesus' mind. T h e call of the early
disciples, so forcefully presented in the synoptics (Matt. 4 . i 8 - 2 2 / / M a r k
1 . 1 6 - 2 0 ; Luke 5 . 1 - 1 1 ) , is intended for the edification of the church and
gives us no knowledge about how Jesus gathered about himself a small
group of followers, at least some of whom turned out to be devoted to him
after his death.
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39

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T h e question of what Jesus had in mind in gathering a special group of

twelve shows once more the difficulty of recovering historical information
on the basis of precise exegesis of individual passages in the synoptic
Gospels. I have just indicated that I regard Matt. 19.28 as on the whole
authentic. If it is authentic, it confirms the view that Jesus looked for the
restoration of Israel. We would also learn that restoration includes
judgment. But what if it is not authentic? Trautmann discusses the text
and the Lucan parallel at length and finally offers a reconstructed saying
(p. 196), which, however, she does not trace back to Jesus (pp. 1 9 7 - 9 ) . She
argues as follows: (1) T h e formation of the twelve by Jesus for the purpose
of judging their own people at the eschaton would have been, in view of
Jesus' own efforts on behalf of Israel, 'a contradiction in itself. (2) Further,
one must deny that the circle ofJesus' followers was limited to the twelve,
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which is what the saying in Matt. 19.28 presupposes (p. 199). Trautmann
thinks, however, that the sending of the twelve to Israel (Matt. 10) is
historical (pp. 200-25), and she argues for the authenticity of Matt. 10.6,
'go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel', which, she urges, could derive
neither from contemporary Judaism nor from the early church (pp.
T h e 'lost sheep' stand for all Israel, and thus Jesus' calling and sending of
the twelve symbolizes God's will to include all Israel in the eschatological
kingdom (p. 228).
Trautmann's arguments about Matt. 10.6 and 19.28 seem to me not to
hold good. I do not know why the judgment of Israel is excluded by Jesus'
own efforts on behalf of Israel. Salvation of'all' and punishment of some
are not mutually exclusive, nor are redemption and judgment (see Ps. Sol.
I 7 . 2 8 f ) . I also do not see that the saying about the twelve judging the
twelve tribes presupposes that Jesus had only twelve followers, any more
than would a tradition that he sent out twelve. On the other hand, there is
good reason to doubt the authenticity of Matt. 10.6. I shall argue below
that the basic theme of Jesus' mission to the 'sinners' ('the lost sheep') is
authentic, but that not all passages which repeat that theme go back to
Jesus. T o name an obvious example, the inclusion of tax collectors and
sinners in Luke 1 5 . 1 is editorial. Trautmann's argument from double
dissimilarity points only to the authenticity of the theme of the inclusion
of 'the lost sheep', not to the historicity of the mission of the twelve to
them. It would not have pushed Christian creativity very hard to attribute
to the disciples the goal assigned to Jesus.
Thus we disagree completely on how to evaluate Matt. 19.28 and 10.6.
Further, I doubt that the theme of the 'sinners' and the 'lost sheep' points
necessarily to the inclusion of all Israel. Nevertheless, we agree that the
twelve symbolize the inclusion of all Israel in the coming (Trautmann,
'inbreaking') kingdom. T h e fact is that the number twelve itself, apart from
the details of any individual saying, points to 'all Israel'.^// we have to know is
the fact that Jesus thought of, and taught his followers to think of, there
being 'twelve'. We do not have to know that the same individuals were
always meant, nor even that the followers ofJesus at any given time could
name the twelve. We do not have to know that he sent twelve on a special
mission, nor even that he said that the twelve would one day judge the
twelve tribes. T h e more we know, the more precise our understanding
will be, but we can see that Jesus fitted his own work into Jewish
eschatological expectation if we know only that he thought of there being
twelve around him.
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It would, however, be helpful to know more, and we should consider

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two further arguments which attempt to specify more particularly the role
of the twelve in Jesus' work and thought. O'Neill has argued that Jesus
gave them authority, and Jeremias that he sent them out with the
admonition not to work. In both cases, as is quite correct, evidence from
Paul is important in the argument. O'Neill understands II Cor. 2 . 1 0 as
stating that Paul can forgive 'in the person of Christ' (enprosopdi Christou),
and he relates this to the saying about 'binding and loosing' in Matt.
1 6 . 1 9 . He also points to I Cor. 9 . 1 2 - 1 5 and Gal. 1 . 1 7 f ; 2 . 2 . T h e former
passage discusses the 'rights' or 'authority' (exousid) of the aposdes, the
latter indicates that even Paul granted to Peter a kind of primacy. These
points correlate with Matt. 1 6 . 1 9 d 1 8 . 1 8 , and together they support
the view that Jesus himself gave the twelve authority.
Jeremias combines I Cor. 9 . 1 4 ('the Lord commanded that those who
proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel') with Matt.
6 . 2 5 - 3 3 (do not be anxious about what you eat and drink) to conclude that
the disciples were sent out with the prohibition to do no work but to bear
the message (cf. Matt. 1 0 . 1 0 ) .
It is beyond doubt, as Gal. 1 - 2 ; I Cor. 9.5; and I Cor. 1 5 . 5 show, that
Peter occupied a prominent place in the early Christian movement.
Precisely what this tells us about Jesus' view of Peter is rendered a bit
difficult because of the role of James, both in I Cor. 1 5 and in Gal. 2. It
appears that, if Jesus gave Peter 'authority', he did not do so in such an
unambiguous way that it could not be shared with James. T h e brothers of
the Lord also complicate the question of the right not to work, since Paul
assigns them the same privilege as the aposdes (I Cor. 9.5). T h e brothers
of the Lord are emphatically excluded from Jesus' own followers in the
Gospel accounts (Mark 3 . 3 1 - 3 5 ; cf. 6.3). Further, the privileged people
in Paul's view are, besides the brothers of the Lord, the aposdes, not the
twelve. T h e twelve, apparendy with Peter at their head, are distinguished
from the aposdes, possibly with James at their head, in I Cor. 1 5 . 5 , 7 . Gal.
1 . 1 9 also puts James among the aposdes, and Paul apparendy considered
Barnabas as an aposde (I Cor. 9.6). It is possible, though not certain, that
Andronicus and Junia count as aposdes (Rom. 1 6 . 7 ) . In short, the
evidence from Paul opens up numerous lines of inquiry, but does not deal
with 'the twelve', or with Jesus' followers more generally, in such a way as
to allow us to enlarge on our few fixed points. It may well be that Jesus
gave the twelve authority and told them that they need work only for the
gospel, and that in Paul we see these rights being extended beyond the
original circle, to include other apostles and the brothers of the Lord; but
here we move beyond reasonable certainty to 'it may be'.
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Thus I must conclude that we do not have completely firm evidence

which would allow us to say more about what Jesus thought of the twelve
and their task. What seems virtually certain is that the conception of 'the
twelve' goes back to Jesus himself (though his closest companions at any
given moment may not have consisted precisely of twelve men). His use
of the conception 'twelve' points towards his understanding of his own
mission. He was engaged in a task which would include the restoration of
Israel.

Repentance
One of the themes of passages in Jewish literature which look forward to
the restoration of Israel is the need for repentance, and the same theme
appears often in connection with the inclusion of the Gentiles. Classical
Hebrew has no word which is translated 'repent', 'repentance'. T h e
prophets frequendy called for errant Israel to 'return' (shub), and the verb
occurs frequendy in the great text on individual repentance, Ezek. 3 3 . 7 - 2 0
(translated in the L X X as apostrepho). I shall not attempt here a history of the
development of the noun teshubah, 'repentance', which became standard in
Rabbinic Hebrew, nor of the verb and noun metanoed and metanoia, which
are so common in the New Testament. Nor shall we consider the use of
'turn' and 'repent' for the correction of intra-covenantal sins. Our purpose
instead is to note the way in which the concept of repentance is frequendy
tied to the restoration of Israel and the entry of the Gentiles.
In Isa. 44, which concludes with the prediction of the rebuilding of
Jerusalem and the temple, God assures Israel that he will not forget them
(44.21):
51

I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud,

and your sins like mist;
return to me, for I have redeemed you (Isa. 44.22).
Similar is Isa. 55. After the promise to make with Israel 'an everlasting
covenant' (55.3), Israel is urged to 'return':
Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon (55.7).
In Baruch 2.3 2f, looking forward to the restoration of Israel, the author
predicts that 'they will remember my name, and will turn from (apostrepho)

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their stubborness and their wicked deeds'. Then God will 'bring them
again into the land . . . ' (2.34). In 4.28 the author urges Israel to 'return
(epistrepho) with tenfold zeal to seek him'. Similarly in Tobit I 3 . 5 f we
read: 'If you turn (epistrepho) to him with all your heart and with all your
soul . . . then he will turn to you.' T h e passage concludes with the
prediction of the glorious rebuilding of Jerusalem ( i 3 . i 6 f ) . In Ps. Sol.
1 8 . 4 - 7 God's chastisement produces the return (apostrepho) of Israel, and
God then cleanses them 'against the day of mercy and blessing'. In Jubilees
the redemption of Israel from Gentile captivity is to be preceded by their
turning to the Lord:
And after this they will turn to Me from amongst the Gentiles with all their
heart and with all their soul and with all their strength, and I will gather
them from amongst all the Gentiles. . . . (1.15).
And after this they will turn to Me in all uprightness and with all (their)
heart. . . , and I will circumcise the foreskin of their heart and the foreskin
of the heart of their seed, and I will create in them a holy spirit, and I will
cleanse them so that they shall not turn away from Me from that day unto
eternity (1.23).
T h e motif is repeated in the eschatological section, ch. 2 3 :
And in those days the children shall begin to study the law,
And to seek the commandments,
And to return to the path of righteousness (23.26).
In the Dead Sea Scrolls, 'turn' is used for conversion to the sect:
The group was called, among other things, 'those who turned from (repented
of) iniquity', and the covenant was a 'covenant of repentance' (CD 19.16).
As the psalmist puts it, 'There is hope for those who turn from transgression
and for those who abandon sin' ( i Q H 6.6).
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Finally, we may note that in Philo repentance immediately precedes the

restoration of dispersed Israel. Those who have gone astray, writes Philo,
will be punished. If, however, they accept punishment as chastisement
from God, and 'reproach themselves for going thus astray, and make a full
confession and acknowledgement of all their sin', they will be restored.
For even though they dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth, in slavery to
those who led them away captive, one signal, as it were, one day will bring
liberty to all. This conversion [metabole] in a body to virtue will strike awe
into their masters, who will set them free . . . (DePraemiis 162-5).
Terminology which indicates repentance also appears in connection with

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the Gentiles. According to J e r . 3 . 1 7 ^ , when 'all nations shall gather' to

Jerusalem, 'they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart'.
'Turn to me and be saved' the Second Isaiah cries to the Gentiles on
behalf of God (Isa. 45.22). T h e author of the Jewish Sibylline Oracles
depicts the Gentiles as crying, 'Come, let us all fall upon the earth and
supplicate the Eternal King . . . . Let us make procession to His Temple'
(Sib. O r . . i 6 f ) .
It cannot be said that there is anything like a strict correlation between
the language of repentance and either the assembly of Israel or the entry
of the Gentiles. Not only does repentance have a much wider range (being
used for the individual correction of transgression), but also many of the
predictions of end-time salvation focus on God's action rather than the
human attitude which accompanies it. Thus in J e r . 3 3 . 7 f , where God
predicts the restoration of the fortunes of Judah and Israel, the accent is
on T : ' I will restore . . . I will rebuild . . . I will cleanse them from all the
guilt of their sin . . . '. Ps. Sol. 1 7 puts the emphasis on the action of the
Davidic King: 'He shall not suffer unrighteousness to lodge any more in
their midst' (17.29). We thus cannot say of repentance, as we said of the
twelve, that the theme itself signals the redemption of the end-time. On
the other hand, it would be very surprising for a herald of the eschaton not
to invoke the mighty theme of the nation's need to turn to God. If this
were combined with the prediction of God's coming to cleanse, purify,
and heal, both sides of the repentance/cleansing scheme would be present.
An individual's message might emphasize one more than the other; but it
is also fair to say that one implies the other.
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General books and articles about Jesus or Jesus' teaching generally

posit as a major and distinctive aspect his message of repentance and
forgiveness. An appreciable amount of the evidence comes from his
reputation for consorting with 'tax-collectors and sinners'. This topic and
certain allied ones we leave aside for the present; they will be returned to
in the next part, on Jesus' conception of the kingdom. We may remark
here that, if repentance characterized Jesus' message, it would not have
distinguished it from others. There is no theme which is more common
in Jewish literature, and repentance is also a major element in some
presentations of the early Christian message. What is of interest at the
moment is the observation, which may be surprising, that there is very
little evidence which connects Jesus directly with the motif of collective,
national repentance in view of the eschaton.
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This is, of course, the major theme in what the Gospels narrate about
John the Baptist. Matt. 3.2 depicts him as saying, 'Repent; for the kingdom

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of heaven is near', and in the material which is approximately parallel

(Mark i . 4 / / L u k e 3.3), he is said to have proclaimed a baptism of
repentance unto forgiveness of sins. Those who came out to hear him
were baptized 'confessing their sins' (Matt. 3.6/VMark 1.5). In the most
substantial body of sayings material attributed to him, he is said to have
urged his hearers to bring forth 'fruit worthy of repentance' (Matt.
3 . 8 / / L u k e 3.8). There is an apparendy editorial addition in Matt. 3 . 1 1
which reiterates that his baptism was 'unto repentance'. In Acts 13.24 the
author attributes to Paul the statement that John 'preached a baptism of
repentance to all the people of Israel', and a similar statement is attributed
to Paul in Acts 19.4.
Thus it seems that virtually everything which the early church remem
bered about John had to do with repentance and forgiveness. This
picture, we noted above, is confirmed by Josephus (47- XVIII. 1 1 6 - 1 9 ) .
From the Gospels we also learn that the motive for the call to repentance
was that 'the kingdom is near' and that 'already the axe is laid to the root
of the tree' (Matt. 3 . i o / / L u k e 3.9).
The material attributed to Jesus which connects repentance to the
nearness of the kingdom is, relatively speaking, slight. There is, of course,
the summary statement in Matt. 4 . i 7 / / M a r k 1 . 1 5 that Jesus preached
repentance in view of the nearness of the kingdom. This, however, seems
to be misleading as a pointer to the thrust of Jesus' message. There are
otherwise only three substantial passages in which Jesus is depicted as
calling for repentance on a wide scale: the woes against Chorazin, Bethsaida
and Capernaum (Matt. n . 2 i - 2 4 / / L u k e 1 0 . 1 3 - 1 5 ) ; the favourable
comparison of Nineveh, which repented at the preaching of Jonah,
with 'this generation', which has not repented (Matt. i 2 . 3 8 ~ 4 2 / / L u k e
1 1 . 2 9 - 3 2 ) ; and Luke 1 3 . 1 - 5 ('unless you repent you will all likewise
perish').
The parables about God's seeking the lost (Luke 1 5 . 3 - 6 ; i 5 . 8 f ) , once
the Lucan conclusions are removed (Luke 1 5 . 7 , 1 0 ) , are seen to be focused
not on repentance, but on God's action. Another Lucan saying, that one
should forgive one's brother who repents (Luke 17.30, is not evidence of
a call for the return of Israel. T h e other sayings about repentance appear
either to be editorial (the summary in Mark 6.12; Luke's addition 'unto
repentance' in 5.32); or they otherwise give signs of lateness (Luke 16.30:
'If someone goes to them from the dead they will repent'; Luke 24.47,
which is attributed to the risen Lord). It should be added that the early
speeches in Acts emphasize repentance (Acts 2.38; 3 . 1 9 ) . T h e second
passage is connected to the expected parousia.
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In line with our general principle of not having this treatment depend
on balancing the arguments for and against the authenticity of sayings, I
do not want to spend much space on assessing the reliability of the three
principal passages which call for general repentance. It is worth noting,
however, that not one of them looks very sturdy. Bultmann quite correcdy
considered together Matt. 1 1 . 2 1 - 2 4 (woes on the Galilean cities) and
Matt. 12.4if. (this generation and the Ninevites). He observed that in both
cases Gentiles are contrasted with unrepentant Israel, that both have the
same structure, and that in both there is 'a refrain-like repetition of the
reproach'. His conclusion was in agreement with that of Fridrichsen: 'the
impression is given that both passages have been constructed according
to "a scheme of early Christian polemic".' Luke 1 3 . 1 - 5 he dismissed
even more quickly: it shows dependence on Josephus, AJf XVIII.87.
Others have found authentic bits in these passages, and the saying about
Jonah has produced a good deal of debate; but the uncertainty that hangs
over the saying is well expressed by Perrin:
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What did this [the sign of Jonah] mean in the teaching of Jesus? The answer
to this question is simply that we do not know, because we do not
know what Jesus and his contemporaries would have understood by the
phrase . . .
6 3

The result of all this is that there is not a single solid piece of information
about Jesus that indicates that he was what Matthew and Mark, at the
outset of their Gospels, depict him as being: one who called for general
repentance in view 0/the coming kingdom. Even Jeremias, who regards all
three passages as authentic in whole or in part, regards Luke 1 3 . 1 - 5 as
the only passage which indicates that Jesus preached the same message as
John the Baptist. Schlosser, on the other hand, is of the view that only
Mark 1 . 1 5 explicidy connects repentance and the coming kingdom.
Scholars often, to be sure, claim that the call to repentance was central
to Jesus' message. Riches states that 'at the heart of Jesus' ministry and
preaching lie his sayings about the Kingdom and repentance'. He adds
that 'such a message sets him clearly in the ranks of those who sought a
renewal and restoration of Judaism'. He is certainly correct that the
expectation of restoration would typically be coupled with a call to
repentance. T h e problem comes in asserting that the connection is made
in the teaching of Jesus. Riches' footnote to the statement about repentance
indicates that he is aware of the problem, for he can refer only to statements
about 'watchfulness'. Further, his subsequent summary of sayings which
fit 'all the known prophetic types' does not have a section on 'repentance',
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which should have struck him as odd if Jesus' message in fact had at its
core a call to repentance.
We can see the situation even more clearly by considering the list of
passages cited by Charlesworth as showing the 'permeating plea for
repentance that is preserved in many of Jesus' parables'. He refers to the
Sheep and the Goats (Matt. 2 5 . 3 1 - 4 6 ) ; the Lost Sheep (Matt. 18.12f. and
par.); the Sower (Matt. 1 3 . 1 - 9 and parr.); the Unrighteous Steward (Luke
1 6 . 1 - 1 3 ) ; and the Great Supper (Matt. 2 2 . 1 - 1 4 ) . This is an interesting
list, and it serves nicely to show that 'repentance', particularly a call for
national repentance, with which we are here concerned, must be read into
the message of Jesus. Matt. i8.i2f. does have to do with repentance, but
apparendy individual repentance. T h e other passages do not mention the
subject. Matt. 2 5 . 3 1 - 4 6 is focused on the admission of the Gentiles (see
25.32) and can hardly be authentic. In any case, repentance is not
mentioned, but rather good deeds. There is no repentance in Matt. 1 3 . 1 - 9
or Luke 1 6 . 1 - 1 3 . Matt. 2 2 . 1 - 1 4 , far from being a call to repentance,
threatens destruction of the wicked. Charlesworth, in the course of his
article, argues that the apocalypticists threatened destruction rather than
called for repentance, and that the theme of repentance distinguishes Jesus
from them. Here we have, however, destruction but not a call to
repentance in a parable attributed to Jesus.
Other scholars take the theme of the separation of the righteous from
the wicked in sayings of Jesus to constitute a call for repentance. Thus
Conzelmann refers to the parables of the Tares and the Fishnets, both
parables of separation, as showing that Jesus preached repentance. It
could be argued that the distinction of the righteous from the wicked,
coupled with a threat of the destruction of the latter, implies a demand for
repentance, and it may well do so. In this case, however, the same
implication should be found in the apocalyptic passages to which Charles
worth refers. T h e situation is this: there is not a significant body of reliable
sayings material which explicitly attributes to Jesus a call for national
repentance. If sayings about the separation of the righteous and the wicked
and the destruction of the latter imply such a call, they would serve to fit
Jesus into the mould of eschatological preachers.
Sayings concerning forgiveness have, as might be expected, little
eschatological thrust. T h e disciples are to pray for forgiveness (Matt. 6.12,
i 4 / / M a r k 1 i . 2 5 / / L u k e 1 1 . 4 ) . It is emphasized that Jesus has the power
to announce the forgiveness of an individual's sins and thus to heal him
(Matt. 9 . 2 - 6 / / M a r k 2 . 3 - 1 i / / L u k e 5 . 1 8 - 2 4 ) . Blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit will not be forgiven (according to Matthew, either in this age or in
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the one to come [Matt. i 2 . 3 i f . / / M a r k 3 . 2 8 f . / / L u k e 1 2 . 1 0 . ] ) . Matt.

i 8 . 2 i f . / / L u k e 17.3f., as already noted, has to do with one individual's
forgiving another. Luke 7.47-49 concerns the individual forgiveness of
the woman who anoints Jesus. According to Luke 23.34 Jesus prays for
the forgiveness of his executioners. Mark 4 . 1 2 ('unless they turn and be
forgiven') is too enigmatic to be helpful. T h e story of the father with two
sons (Luke 1 5 . 1 1 - 3 2 ) , though it lacks the words, is clearly a story of
repentance and forgiveness; and it makes the same point as the related
parables in Luke 1 5 . 3 - 1 0 : there is more joy over a repentant sinner than
over the righteous who have no need of repentance. Luke also emphasizes
the efficacy of the repentance of the unrighteous in the parable of the
Pharisee and the tax-collector (Luke 1 8 . 9 - 1 4 ) .
One saying which would be very important, if we could have confidence
in its reliability, is Matt. 26.28, 'the blood of the covenant poured out for
many for forgiveness of sins'. If authentic, the passage could mean that at
his last meal, after which he would not eat or drink again until the kingdom
arrived, Jesus looked for wholesale repentance and forgiveness. T h e
phrase, 'for forgiveness of sins', however, is missing in all the parallels
(including I Cor. 1 1 . 2 3 - 2 5 ) , and it is best taken as an editorial addition.
Without doing an analysis to sort out authentic traditions from additions,
we may nevertheless observe that national forgiveness is even less in view
than national repentance. We do not have the equivalent material to what
we find, for example, in Baruch 2 and Tobit 1 3 (cited above): if Israel will
turn to God, he will restore their fortunes.
I am not arguing that Jesus did not 'believe in' repentance and turning
to God. I presume that, as a good Jew, he did so. T h e theme of the
inclusion of the lost (ch. 6 below) points to his deep belief in reconciliation
between sinners and God. I am not, in short, proposing that Jesus
suffered from some deficiency in his commitment to cherished religious
abstractions. We are now considering Jesus against the backdrop of
standard Jewish expectations and hopes for restoration. In this connection
I am arguing (1) that there is no firm tradition which shows that he issued
a call for national repentance in view of the coming end, as did John the
Baptist; (2) that 'forgiveness' in the message ofJesus does not take on the
tone of eschatological restoration; (3) but that, if Jesus had called for
national repentance, or if he had promised national forgiveness, he would
fit quite comfortably into the category of a prophet ofJewish restoration.
There is a surprising element in the material which we have just briefly
surveyed. T h e gathering of the twelve, the start under John the Baptist,
the post-resurrection activity of the aposdes, and the action in and saying

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about the temple clearly point to the well-known eschatological expectation

that God would renew his worship, save those who turned to him, and
reassemble Israel. One would have expected, accompanying these clear
signs, an emphatic call to all Israel to repent in view of the coming end
and the explicit promise that God's forgiving mercy would be extended in
saving and restoring his people. But the emphatic call and the explicit
promise are missing. New Testament scholars have not, I think, sufficiendy
registered surprise over this situation. Most, in fact, would deny that it
exists. But there it is. T h e great themes of national repentance and God's
forgiveness, shown in restoring his repentant people, are prominent in all
the literature which looks towards Jewish restoration. Jesus fits somehow
into that view of God, the world and his people; but his message curiously
lacks emphasis on one of the most important themes in the overall scheme.
T h e evangelists, in fact, seem to have felt the lack of emphasis as a
deficiency. They add sayings about the need to repent (Mark 6 . 1 2 ; Luke
5 . 3 2 ; especially Matt. 4.17/VMark 1. i4f). Luke also, we have noted, links
the need for repentance with the parousia in Acts 3 . 1 9 . Thus the relative
lack of material cannot be attributed to the evangelists' reluctance to
include it. On the contrary, they felt it necessary to remedy the paucity of
sayings. Jesus must have called on Israel to repent (Mark i . i 4 f ) , and he
must have told his disciples to preach the same gospel (Mark 6 . 1 2 ) ; and so
the sayings were added. We should, however, take it to be a fact that a call
to all Israel to repent did not figure prominendy in Jesus' message.

Judgment

We saw above, in discussing the theme of the reassembly of the twelve

tribes, that in the post-biblical literature there is not the same emphasis
on the sifting or winnowing of Israel which one sees in some of the biblical
prophets. That is not to say, however, that the themes of judgment and
punishment for transgression recede. What recedes is the theme that Israel
as a nation needs the sort of punishment which leads to the survival of a
faithful remnant. T h e belief in judgment and punishment, which was
intimately tied to the view that God is just, remained undiminished. Belief
in the punishment or destruction of the wicked, and just retribution against
even the righteous for their transgressions, is so common that it is almost
unnecessary to give examples. I offer three, however, the first two from
different sections of I Enoch, the third from the Psalms of Solomon. They
illustrate the continuing belief in the judgment of both groups and
individuals.
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I En. 25.3f.: God's 'true judgment' condemns the 'accursed', while the
righteous bless God 'for the mercy in accordance with which He has
assigned them (their lot)'.
I En. 90.26: At the judgment the blinded sheep are 'judged and found
guilty and cast into [the] fiery abyss'.
Ps. Sol. 9.9^: 'He that doeth righteousness layeth up life for himself with
the Lord;/And he that doeth wrongly forfeits his life to destruction/For
the judgment of the Lord are (given) in righteousness to (every) man and
(his) house.
The synoptic Gospels attribute to Jesus a rich variety of sayings and
parables which threaten or imply judgment and punishment. Riches has
recendy proposed that Jesus deleted the standard theme of vengeance in
his teaching about the kingdom, but that statement, to be maintained,
requires the deleting of a great number of passages. Bultmann lists fourteen
sayings about judgment, and he adds that other sayings can be 'classed as
Warnings', the first of which is the saying that the first shall be last and
the last first (Matt. 19.30; Mark 1 0 . 3 1 ; Luke i 3 . o ) .
Some of the threats or sayings implying damnation are seen to be
Christianized, such as Mark 8 . 3 8 / / L u k e 9.26: T h e Son of man will be
ashamed ofwhoever is ashamed of'me and my words'. T h e Christianization
seems to point to an earlier form, and there is another version of the saying
in Matt. i o . 3 2 f . / / L u k e 1 2 . 8 f , where Jesus is depicted as saying that the
one who denies him will be denied by him (Luke, by the Son of man). One
may, to be sure, doubt the authenticity of this form as well, and in fact
most of the sayings given by Bultmann in this section may be queried on
some ground or other. I previously proposed that the woes against the
Galilean cities (Matt. 1 1 . 1 2 - 2 4 / y L u k e 1 0 . 1 3 - 1 5 ) reflect the Gentile
mission, as does the saying about this generation and the Ninevites (Matt.
i 2 . 4 i f . / / L u k e n . 3 i f ) . T h e other sayings against 'this generation' of
Israel probably also mirror the Jewish rejection of the gospel (Matt.
3 - 3 4 ~ 3 6 / / L u k e 1 1 . 4 9 - 5 1 ; cf. Luke 2 3 . 2 8 - 3 1 ; Luke i 3 . 2 8 / / M a t t . 8.12).
Schlosser has recendy canvassed the material on judgment, and he has
concluded that at least two sayings are genuine: Mark 9 4 7 / / M a t t . 18.9
(better to enter with one eye than to be cast into Gehenna with both); Luke
i 2 . 5 / / M a t t . 10.28 (fear the one able to cast you into Gehenna).
Scholars give higher marks to the parables. There is one parable of
destruction, Luke 1 3 . 6 - 9 , on cutting down the barren fig tree. Other
parables imply destruction by affirming selection: the parable of the Tares
(Matt. 1 3 . 2 4 - 3 0 ) ; the parable of the Drag-net (Matt. 1 3 . 4 7 - 5 0 ) . One
supposes that the final verse of the second parable (furnace of fire, weeping
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and gnashing of teeth) is Matthew's contribution, since the phrases appear

predominandy in Matthean material (Matt. 8 . 1 2 ; 1 3 . 4 2 ; 2 2 . 1 3 ; 2 4 . 5 1 ;
25.30; also Luke 13.28); but there is no reason to reject the parables as
such.
I have already argued that Matt. 19.28, which assigns the judgment of
Israel to the disciples, is authentic. That there was a very early expectation
that Jesus' followers would participate in the judgment receives confirm
ation from I Cor. 6.2: ' D o you not know that the saints will judge the
world?' While Matt. 19.28 indicates that Jesus expected a judgment,
however, it does not point to a message to Israel along those lines. It is not
a call to Israel, but a communication to the disciples about their role, and
it should be considered in the context of such passages as the Dispute
about Greatness (Matt. 1 8 . 1 - 5 and parr.; cf. Matt. 20.20-28 and par.), as
bearing on Jesus' expectation and that of his disciples (see ch. 8). It
appears that the disciples expected judgment of others, selection of some
and rejection of the rest, and even distinction by rank among themselves.
Jesus' teaching may have included all these aspects. What is surprising is
that the evidence for a message about the coming judgment of Israel is so
slight.
Thus our evidence is this: Jesus was not opposed to the idea of judgment.
He expected there to be a selection, which implies a judgment. He did
not, however, address a message to Israel to the effect that at the end there
would be a great assize at which Israel would be vindicated and the nations
rebuked and destroyed; and it seems that he did not make thematic the
message that Israel should repent and mend their ways so as to escape
punishment at the judgment.
We noted above that the parables of selection may reasonably be taken
as implying a call to repentance, but that there is no explicit evidence that
Jesus was a preacher of national repentance. Our discussion of judgment
points in the same direction. If the two parables of selection constitute the
only public teaching or proclamation about judgment which goes back to
Jesus (which may be the case), there is a clear implication that hearers can
act in such a way as to be among the select group - i.e., repent. But there
is equally clearly the implication that the selection will be of individuals.
It is conceivable that the person who directed such parables to hearers as
individuals could also, on other occasions, have fixed his view on the direct
action of God, who alone is able to bring about wholesale redemption.
The twelve tribes - that is, the Israel of standard expectation - cannot be
assembled by waiting for individual commitment, but it is perfecdy
possible for Jesus to have talked about both individual change and group
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redemption. T h e problem is that we do not find teaching material or

proclamation which calls on all Israel to repent and which looks for the
redemption of the Jewish people. As a corollary to this, we now observe
that there is no explicit teaching material about a judgment which would
weed out the unworthy from Israel.
We shall return to the question of Jesus and the Jewish people in the
conclusion to this chapter and at other points in our study. Here I note
that the authentic sayings which imply judgment raise questions about
Jesus as a prophet of the eschatological restoration of Israel, the same
question which is raised by the study of repentance. We find, as we would
expect, the theme of judgment, but we do not find teaching or proclamation
which depicts or predicts the impending judgment of the nation of Israel.
We would have expected such a message to accompany the expectation
that Israel would be restored.

Conclusion

We have been enquiring about the degree to which Jesus' work can
be seen as pointing towards Jewish restoration. That the question of
'restoration' was in the air is indicated by the appearance of the verb
'restore' in the Gospels: 'Elijah must first restore all things' (Matt.
1 7 . 1 1 / / M a r k 9 . 1 2 ; cf. Mai. 3.24 [ E T 4.5]). T h e full phrase is in Acts 1.6,
'Will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?' T h e exchange in
Matthew and Mark relates Jesus positively to the hope for restoration, by
identifying John with Elijah, while the question in Acts is turned aside by
the risen Lord, and the general implication is negative: the kingdom will
not be 'restored' to Israel according to the flesh. Modern scholarship has
also seen Jesus' work in both ways.
That Jesus intended to restore Israel in some sense has been often said
(e.g. by Caird), just as it has been said that 'not a word does he say either
to confirm or renew the national hopes of his people' (Bornkamm). Can
the issue be decided? I think that the study of three of our themes thus far
(the temple, the context between John and Paul, and the twelve) settles
the matter in broad terms: Jesus intended Jewish restoration. One must
still ask in what sense he did so. Nuance, as always, is less certain than the
broad picture. Most scholars will agree that Jesus did not have in view
military victory and political autonomy along the lines of Ps. Sol. 1 7 . It at
first appears that, when he denies that Jesus was concerned with 'the
national hopes' of his people, Bornkamm means to deny only this sort of
national hope. T h e emphasis in his discussion does seem to fall there,
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and one must observe that it is inadequate to define the national hope in
terms of a Davidic Messiah, which is one of the least frequent themes in
Jewish literature. Bornkamm, however, proceeds to argue that at least
implicit in Jesus' parables is a form of universalism, and in this context he
cites the saying from Matt. 8 . 1 1 about many coming from east and west.
Thus he apparendy wishes substantially to deny that Jesus intended
anything that could fall under the term 'Jewish restoration'. We shall have
occasion to consider the saying in Matt. 8 . 1 1 later, but here it should be
noted that, if it is authentic and refers to Gentiles, it need not push Jesus'
message beyond the framework of Jewish restoration. T h e hope of
restoration generally included the theme of the inclusion of Gentiles.
It is not surprising that Caird sees Jesus as intending the restoration of
Israel and Bornkamm does not, for the former emphasized such facts as
Jesus' baptism by John and the call of the twelve, while the latter followed
the majority procedure of focusing on Jesus' teaching. T h e large oudine,
which includes the principal facts about Jesus' career and its aftermath,
points towards his being a prophet of the restoration of all Israel; but the
sayings material does not fit entirely comfortably into that scheme. T h e
teaching attributed to Jesus is markedly individualistic, as we have seen in
discussing repentance. If one takes the right selection from it, one can
say with Breech that there is no reason for thinking that Jesus shared any
of the religious ideas of his contemporaries. Bornkamm takes a larger
selection, but sees nothing to convince him that Jesus looked for national
restoration.
It was, in fact, precisely when we turned to sayings material that the
picture of Jesus as one who would restore Israel began to blur: it appears
that he did not, at least as a major theme, call for national repentance. We
must doubt the authenticity of most of the passages that depict him as
doing so, either because they conform his message to that of John the
Baptist (e.g. Mark 1 . 1 5 and par.), or because the condemnation of Israel
and praise of Gentiles makes one suspect the activity of the later church
(Matt. 1 1 . 2 1 - 2 4 ; i 2 . 4 i f ) . We have also seen that sayings about judgment
(except for Matt. 19.28) do not have a national scope.
Part of this argument is reminiscent of that of Ernst Bammel, who
pressed it much further. On the basis of a source analysis of the sayings
material, he proposed that one should doubt the eschatological thrust of
Jesus' message. T h e theme of the nearness of the kingdom was imported,
he argued, from the preaching ofJohn the Baptist. Bammel's analysis of
the sayings about the kingdom deserves careful consideration, but the facts
keep us from accepting his far-reaching conclusion.
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I would reply similarly to the arguments of C . E . B . Cranfield about

eschatology in the New Testament. He proposes that passages which
indicate that the end is near did not mean 'in a few years or decades', but
more generally that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus mark the
beginning of the end-time, which might last for an extended period.
Here I would first disagree about the interpretation of the principal
passages in Paul, which seem to mean 'in our lifetime' (e.g. I Thess.
4.i6f). In the present context, however, I must urge that the facts about
Jesus, his predecessor and the Christian movement indicate that he himself
expected the kingdom to come in the near future. In ch. 8 I shall argue
that Jesus and his disciples even expected to play a role in the kingdom,
obviously in the very near future.
Barry Crawford has recendy stated the matter precisely: the sayings
often regarded as establishing Jesus' expectation that the kingdom would
arrive in the near future may not go back to him, though other evidence
may establish that he held this v i e w 1 think that we have such evidence
in hand.
T h e situation with regard to Jesus' hope for the restoration of Israel is
comparable. Here the importance of deciding on the right method is
clearly seen. We know with a good deal of certainty that Jesus was baptized
by John, thought of there being 'twelve' with him, acted against the temple,
and predicted or threatened its destruction. That his followers worked
within the framework ofJewish eschatological expectation is indisputable.
We must doubt that a major aspect of his preaching was a call for national
repentance, but we must also be less certain about his preaching than
about these five facts. What we know with almost complete assurance on the basis of facts - is thatjfesus is to be positively connected with the hope
for Jewish restoration. T h e fact - as it now becomes in our study - must set
the framework and the limits of our understanding of him. Whatever
else we say about him, whatever modifications are necessary, the basic
framework of his ministry must be respected. Despite the observation that
the teaching and preaching material may not be just what we would expect
of a prophet of restoration, and despite the reluctance of many scholars to
identify Jesus with Jewish hopes for restoration, the facts compel us to fit
him into that context.
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T h e reluctance to think that Jesus hoped for the restoration of Israel

has often been connected with the view that such a hope is narrow and
unworthy. Jesus is frequendy depicted as breaking out of the confines of
the national religion, which obviously must include his being opposed to
nationalism itself. It is easy to show that Jesus did not look for a political

OTHER INDICATIONS OF RESTORATION ESCHATOLOGY

II9

and military restoration, and this can be used as an argument against his
having thought in terms of national restoration of any sort. I do not wish
to enter into a debate on the merits ofJewish nationalism, although I shall
offer the remark that, for the most part, the literature in which hopes for
restoration are expressed focuses on the action of God and puts foremost
the need of repentance and righteousness. Our concern must be only to
describe as precisely as the evidence allows the view which is to be
attributed to Jesus. I have argued that the themes of national repentance,
forgiveness and judgment are largely absent from the sayings material. I
do not, however, take it that this proves that Jesus opposed Jewish
nationalism. There are, on the contrary, clear and undeniable indications
that he expected the restoration of Israel; temple and twelve are national
symbols. In this context it is noteworthy that his message largely omits the
typical means for the achievement of restoration. That Jesus did not think
that national restoration would be achieved by arms is not especially
surprising. What is surprising is that, while looking for the restoration of
Israel, he did not follow the majority and urge the traditional means
towards that end: repentance and a return to observance of the law.
We have not yet achieved precision and nuance in understanding just
how Jesus thought of restoration and what it would involve, but we have
begun to see that his thinking differed from that ofJohn the Baptist. It is
now time to turn more fully to the teaching material.
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4
THE SAYINGS

When broaching a topic which cannot be conveniently handled, scholars

often indicate their own coming difficulties by saying that it is one of the
'most difficult' and 'most discussed' problems of scholarship. T h e present
author is no exception, and I have used that formula more than once. We
are now at a point where the apology is fully justified. There are several
main problems: What is the basic conception of the kingdom in the
message ofJesus? If that can be setded, what else can one say? What is its
range of meaning? When is it to come, or if it has already come, in what
sense? What is the relationship between Jesus and the kingdom which he
proclaimed? In theory, the answers to these questions require one to have
at hand a reliable solution to the source problem, a complete form-critical
analysis of most of the pericopes in the synoptics, and a set of criteria to
establish the authenticity of the sayings material. As I have pointed out
before, it is partly the degree of uncertainty in all these regards that has
led me to seek an alternative way of describing Jesus' intention and
his relationship to his contemporaries. Nevertheless, we must now pay
attention to the sayings material - although the attention which will be
paid to it will not be that most common in New Testament scholarship.
After a short prologue, I shall offer an example to illustrate the reasons for
which the questions have proved hard to answer, and then proceed to a
more substantial consideration of the problems involved in the study of
'Jesus and the kingdom'.

The kingdom as eschatological reality

As every student who has taken an introductory course in New Testament

knows, Johannes Weiss 'discovered' that the kingdom of God in the
message ofJesus was eschatological: it is a supernatural event which Jesus

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1

expected to occur in the immediate future. Albert Schweitzer lent force

to this discovery principally by a brilliant account of nineteenth-century,
largely German New Testament scholarship, showing that each person's
view of the message of Jesus was determined by his own predilections and
philosophical stance and, most of all, by the horizons of the modern worldview. T h e distinctiveness of the first-century Jewish world-view then
sprang to life with marvellous clarity: that world-view was eschatological
(or apocalyptic), and Jesus obviously shared it.
Schweitzer's own reconstruction of the ministry of Jesus was, among
other things, highly arbitrary, and it is easily dismissed. Further, Schweitzer
was not a scholar of Jewish literature, and he largely depended on
collections and studies which were easily accessible - that is, in German
- at the time he wrote. Some of the misconceptions of his treatment of
Jesus arose from his falsely attributing 'dogmas' to first-century Judaism.
T h e most obvious example is one which is a keystone of his argument:
suffering must precede the coming kingdom. It is difficult to find that view
in material which can be dated before 1 3 5 CE.
Glasson has offered a more complete criticism of Schweitzer's view: his
eschatological scheme did not exist at all. Glasson focuses on one of
Schweitzer's main themes, that a heavenly figure (the 'Son of man') would
come and that the kingdom would involve the end of the present world.
2

Messianic beliefs become more and more diversified, and there is nothing
resembling the scheme put forward with such definiteness by the
Schweitzer/Bultmann school. When a Messiah is mentioned he is of the
warrior type. There is no transcendent figure descending in glory to conduct
the last judgment.
6

Glasson's statement is quite true. T h e picture of the Son of man coming

to judge, and the like, is derived from the synoptic Gospels. We have
observed earlier that a Messiah is not common in material which reflects
eschatological expectation. Yet there was eschatological expectation: the
hope that God would vindicate and restore Israel. Since the motifs which
cluster around that great theme vary (son of David, new temple, admission
of the Gentiles), we might speak of various restoration theolog^. It seems
to correspond better to the evidence, however, to think of a common
(presumably not universal) hope for the restoration of Israel which could
embrace a variety of themes. We might particularly note Glasson's
argument against the expectation of an otherworldly kingdom. That is an
aspect of Jewish eschatological hope which is by no means always made
clear. Even in literature which has an otherworldly solution to the problem
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of Israel's subjection, as does the Testament of Moses, it can be argued

that the transcendent aspect is only a figure for a worldly victory. We shall
return to the question of Jesus' own expectation in this regard, and we
shall find the same problem of interpretation. For now, however, it must
be emphasized that in Judaism there was widespread hope for future,
decisive change - whether of an earthly or an otherworldly character. As
we have seen in our study thus far, Jesus shared that hope. T h e framework
of his career is eschatological, and we have already seen firm evidence that
he himself looked for the restoration of Israel.
Glasson's article is praiseworthy because he responds to Schweitzer's
view in a scholarly way, on the basis of historical research, rather than by
evading the obvious by the semantic device of denying that by 'kingdom'
Jesus meant 'kingdom'. Further, Glasson is correct about the particular
points on which he focuses. Yet the general point, that Jesus expected a
kingdom and that his expectation can be understood in the context of the
expectations and hopes of his contemporaries, still stands. Weiss and
Schweitzer hit upon something, even if they got some of the details wrong,
and Schweitzer in particular forced into the limelight a real problem.
Before taking up the principal responses to Schweitzer, we should note
a recent development in works on the kingdom, the assertion that it is a
symbol rather than a concept or idea. Later in this chapter we shall turn
often to two works by Norman Perrin which nicely represent mainline,
consensus scholarship. Here, however, we should note the different stance
which he took in one of his last works, Jfesus and the Language of the Kingdom,
1976. He argued that it is not 'legitimate to think of Jesus' use of Kingdom
of God in terms of "present" and "future" at all'. T h e reason for the
'illegitimacy' of this distinction is that 'kingdom of God' is not a conception,
but a symbol, consciously employed by Jesus 'because of its evocative
power'. Jesus intended by using it to challenge his 'hearers to take the
ancient myth [of the kingdom] with renewed seriousness, and to begin to
anticipate the manifestation of the reality of which it speaks in the concrete
actuality of their experience'.
9

10

11

12

Bernard Scott wishes to take this view further and criticizes Perrin only
for not completely denying conceptual content to the word 'kingdom'. It
is a symbol to the exclusion of concept. Jesus 'experienced Kingdom',
but the experience could not be expressed in discursive speech. He
employed 'kingdom' as a symbol to express his experience.
T o no small degree both Perrin and Scott regard it as an 'insight' that
'kingdom' is a symbol rather than a concept, and the case is simply asserted
more than it is argued. There are, however, arguments. We have just
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noted one, that Jesus did not (add: as far as we know) define 'kingdom' in
discursive speech. T h e second is that the meaning of'kingdom', if it were
a concept, could not have been self-evident (as Schweitzer, for example,
assumed), since the term could have meant different things to Jesus'
audience. This point is buttressed by the observation that scholars have
difficulty retrieving a self-evident meaning of the word.
These observations are at least partly accurate, but they do not constitute
persuasive arguments. Both statements could be made about 'kingdom' in
Paul's letters. He did not define 'kingdom' in discursive speech, and it
presumably had an appreciable range of meaning for his audience. T h e
meaning of the term in Paul's letters is not especially difficult, but
nevertheless a certain vagueness is observable if one asks just when it
appears and what its nature is or will be. It is future, as the verb 'will
inherit' indicates (I Cor. 6-9f; 1 5 . 5 0 ; Gal. 5 . 2 1 ) . Further, 'flesh and blood'
will not inherit it (I Cor. 15.50), and it will be handed over by Christ to
God (I Cor. 15.24). Thus it is also otherworldly. On the other hand, I Cor.
4.20 shows that it is present: 'For the kingdom of God does not consist in
talk but in power.' From this we could conclude that the 'kingdom' is
present wherever and whenever God's power is active. This gives a vaguer
definition than is implied by 'kingdom' in I Cor. 1 5 , where it is a future
reality which will exist after the total elimination of hostile forces. Thus
we see that 'kingdom' can only with some difficulty be given a precise
definition even in material which is much easier to handle than that of the
synoptic Gospels. We should not, however, conclude from this that the
word had no conceptual content.
17

It is my own view that we can know the meaning of 'kingdom' in the

teaching of Jesus with something close to the same degree of certainty as
is possible with Paul. That is, we can know in general what is meant,
although we can be sure neither of every nuance nor of the full range of
meaning. T h e scholarly disagreements to which Scott appeals, in fact,
have to do precisely with nuance and range. We should all agree that
'kingdom' is a concept with a known core of meaning: the reign of God,
the 'sphere' (whether geographical, temporal or spiritual) where God
exercises his power. If the kingdom 'comes', the result which is asked in
the Lord's prayer, the opposition to God is eliminated. For Paul, this will
be a cosmic event: Christ will hand over the kingdom and God will be all
in all (I Cor. 1 5 . 2 4 - 2 8 ) . Thus Paul expected a real future event, an event
which could be called 'the kingdom', but he neither defined the term in
discursive speech, nor did he always use it in the same way. Just as the lack
of explicit definition and the variety of meaning do not lead to the
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127

conclusion that, in Paul's usage, 'kingdom' is a conceptionless symbol,

they should not do so in the case of Jesus. We have, in any case, already
gathered enough evidence to know that Jesus had ideas. Presumably some
of them contributed meaning to one of the chief words in his vocabulary.
We do not have in the teaching of Jesus anything quite as explicit as I
Cor. 1 5 . 2 4 - 2 8 , 50 - which we would not have if the Corinthians had not
had a problem with the resurrection. T h e closest approximation in the
Gospels is the reply to the Sadducees (Mark 1 2 . 1 8 - 2 7 d parr.). We
cannot simply use this passage to give more precise definition to Jesus'
conception of the kingdom, since we do not know that it is authentic. Our
constant worries about authenticity, however, also do not constitute
evidence that Jesus had no conception of the kingdom. On the contrary, I
propose that we know perfectly well what he meant in general terms: the ruling
power of God. This part of our study will seek to demonstrate that, but will
primarily be concerned with probing for nuance, range and precision.
From a different stating point, James Breech reaches conclusions which
are in part complementary to the view that 'kingdom' in the teaching of
Jesus did not express a concept.
a n

Judging from the core sayings and parables, there is absolutely no basis for
assuming that Jesus shared the cosmological, mythological, or religious
ideas of his contemporaries. The core sayings and parables are absolutely
silent about such concepts as heaven and hell, resurrection of the dead, the
end of the world, the last judgment, angels, and the like. Thus we cannot
approach Jesus as a 'historical p e r s o n a g e ' . . . .
Breech continues by stating that the sayings and parables do not point to
history as the locus of activity, that the parables 'do not teach or illustrate
ideas', and that neither sayings nor parables 'reflect any relationship with
either traditional Jewish canons of conduct (the Law) nor of GraecoRoman ideals of man or the moral personality'. T h e dislike of common
first-century Jewish hope and thought, which marks much of New
Testament scholarship in a more disguised way, could hardly be more
clearly expressed.
I doubt that many will be persuaded by Breech's aggressive ahistoricism,
but I shall neverthless raise a few points which count against his view. This
will also lead to further criticism of Scott and the late Perrin, and finally
back to our more general problem, the use of the sayings material.
First, we should note that the list of elements which, in Breech's analysis,
the sayings material does not contain is entirely dependent on the passages
which are assigned 'core' status. A large number of sayings, at least some
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of which I regard as authentic, do have history as their locus. We have

already discussed the saying about the judgment of the twelve tribes (Matt.
19.28), and we shall have occasion to consider the saying about drinking
wine in the kingdom (Mark 14.25 and parr.). Different scholars will have
their own lists, but I doubt that many will completely exclude such common
ideas as that God acts in history. Secondly, Breech - here sharing what I
regard as a common failing - derives information only from sayings and
parables. Thirdly, the fact that parables do not refer to history is not
surprising. Parables are not historical analogies, nor (replying here to
Scott) are they discursive speech. Their failure to be what they are not
does not prove much of anything - certainly not that Jesus had no
conception of the kingdom, nor that he had no ideas in common with his
contemporaries. Were we to read through all the Tannaitic parables, and
apply the reasoning of Scott and Breech, we would conclude that the
Rabbis of the Tannaitic period had no interest in present or future history,
though a litde in Heilsgeschichte\ that they were not concerned with purity;
that they cared not a whit for precise definition and application of the law;
but that they had experiences of God's grace which they could not express
directly. Any genre of speech or literature imposes certain limitations, and
for that reason one should not limit one's information about people or
groups to what can be learned from one genre, if that can be avoided. We
should not look for legal detail in prayer, nor for personal piety in law
codes. Generations of New Testament scholars have been misled about
Rabbinic religion, in no small part because they took the Mishnah, a
document largely occupied with legal detail, to be the religion of the Rabbis.
T h e blatant methodological error of equating a piece of literature with a
world-view also governs the latest description of the thought-world of the
Mishnaic Rabbis, that of Jacob Neusner. Neusner's work is influenced
in part by structuralism, as is Scott's. Users of the method should remember
that it is deliberately ahistorical, and that historical results cannot be
immediately attained by structural analysis of a given body of literature,
especially when it is dominated by one genre. One must hope that the
recent healthy interest in literary criticism, which mostly centres on the
parables, will not mislead New Testament scholars into thinking that the
parables and some closely allied sayings, and nothing else, provide us with
Jesus' 'world'.
20

T h e fourth point is addressed equally to the views of Perrin, Scott and

Breech. It is our standard point that we should look at the results. It is
perfecdy apparent that Jesus' followers ended up with ideas about God
and the kingdom. T o suppose that their ideas were based on a total

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misunderstanding is to recreate in modern form the Marcan apologetic

theme of the incomprehension of the disciples. T h e Pauline letters show
us that the apostles and brothers of the Lord (I Cor. 9.5) were acting as
leaders of a Jewish eschatological movement. Unless the entire scheme which is a complete scheme, including a Messiah and extending to the
final act, the inclusion of the Gentiles - was imparted via the resurrection
appearances, where did it come from? One must doubt that the resurrection
appearances implanted that many ideas in the minds of the disciples.
Presumably they were already thinking along those lines while they were
following Jesus. Breech and Scott seem to think thatjesus fooled everybody
and was totally enigmatic. There is every reason to think that he was
partially enigmatic, but it is extremely unlikely that the disciples completely
misunderstood. It is best to continue to suppose that Jesus, like other
people, had ideas and that those ideas had some relationship to firstcentury Judaism.
I do not doubt that those who find the teaching attributed to Jesus in
the synoptics to be rich, nuanced, subtle, challenging and evocative are
finding something which is really there. Further, in view of the apparent
inability of early Christians to create such material, I do not doubt that
the teaching of Jesus contained some or all of these attributes. In short I
do not doubt that he was a great and challenging teacher. T h e insight that
Jesus was an evocative teacher helps to explain his following, and we shall
presendy attempt to assess the significance of that. For the present we
focus on the sayings material with a view to understanding the questions
with which we began: Jesus' relationship to his contemporaries, his
intention, the causes of his death, and his role as originator of what became
a distinct movement within Judaism. Admiration for sayings which are
profound and multivalenced, correspondingly, will play a minor role. Our
interest must be fixed on what Jesus said, thought and did which bore on
the hopes of his people and which had results. This means that we should
stay with the kingdom as an idea with identifiable content.
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Present andfuture: the problem ofthe sayings material

In protesting against the views thatJesus' teaching reflects a conceptionless,

symbolic use of 'kingdom', or was unrelated to the thinking of his
contemporaries, I do not wish to argue that information of historical
importance about him is easily and certainly to be derived from a study of
the sayings material. On the contrary, the difficulty of that material is
one of the reasons for the strategy of the present study. If ahistorical
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methods of studying the sayings reflect frustration at the difficulty of

deriving clear and unambiguous meaning, one may well sympathize.
We can exemplify the problems involved in using the sayings material
and also press ahead with the question of the eschatological character of
Jesus' message by returning to one aspect of the theme of the kingdom
which was brought to the fore by Weiss and Schweitzer and which has
continued to dominate most discussions: the question of the coming or
the time of the kingdom.
Here as elsewhere Schweitzer had a perfecdy clear position: the
kingdom would be a cataclysmic event, one which Jesus first expected in
his own lifetime. It would coincide with the harvest. His disciples were
to go out and suffer, (suffering being the pre-condition of the arrival of
the kingdom), and the kingdom would come with Jesus as its Viceroy.
T h e disciples went forth, but they did not suffer, and the kingdom did not
come. Jesus took the matter of suffering into his own hands, thinking
thereby to force God to bring in the kingdom. He died, but dying saw
that his expectation was to be disappointed: 'My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me?'
T w o of the most notable works of the two most notable scholars of
twentieth-century New Testament research are attempts to respond
to Schweitzer. T h e response is acknowledged in the case of Dodd,
unacknowledged but nevertheless perfectly apparent in the case of
Bultmann. At first it appears that Bultmann accepted Schweitzer's basic
definition: 'There can be no doubt that Jesus like his contemporaries
expected a tremendous eschatological drama.' Further, it was the stan
dard drama of Jewish expectation: 'He took for granted as did his
contemporaries that the Kingdom of God was to come for the benefit of the
Jewish peopled But one does not read much further before discovering
that this has been conceded on one level only to be retracted on another,
the level of meaning: ' T h e coming of the Kingdom of God is therefore
not really an event in the course of time, which is due to occur sometime
and toward which man can either take a definite attitude or hold himself
neutral.' We shall not digress from the problem of understanding Jesus
to the problem of understanding Bultmann, a task which itself has created
an appreciable body of literature. It is evident, however, that in terms of
common speech the first and third statements quoted above are, z/they
refer to Jesus, simply self-contradictory. IfJesus 'like his contemporaries'
expected an eschatological drama, then it would have been 'an event in
the course of time' which he expected.
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Dodd's approach was very different. His response to Schweitzer was

not hermeneutical and semantic, but exegetical:
34

This declaration that the Kingdom of God has already come necessarily
dislocates the whole eschatological scheme in which its expected coming
closes the long vista of the future. The eschaton has moved from the future
to the present, from the sphere of expectation into that ofrealized experience.
It is therefore unsafe to assume that the content of the idea, T h e Kingdom
of God,' as Jesus meant it, may be filled in from the speculations of
Apocalyptic writers. They were referring to something in the future, which
could be conceived only in terms of fantasy. He was speaking of that which,
in one aspect at least, was an object of experience.
35

T h e point of rehearsing this history, which is well known to most of the

readers of the present work and is in any case already sketched in part in
the Introduction, is to come to the following point: readers of Dodd almost
universally agreed that he had a point, but overplayed it. Ever since,
scholars have been trying to discover how to strike the balance between
Weiss and Schweitzer on the one hand and Dodd on the other. This, in
turn, has thrown the problem into the hands of the exegetes, who have
thought that the balance could be struck if only it were possible to decide
on the authenticity of each saying, the original wording of it (i.e., the
underlying Aramaic), and its original setting and connotation. Kummel
put the matter precisely:
36

This great divergence between the conceptions proves that not only the
exegesis of several ambiguous passages is disputed, but that the sum total
of the original evidence for Jesus' eschatological message is appraised
entirely differently, and that therefore a correct decision can be obtained
only by examining the complete record ofJesus' preaching.
37

This view, that a sufficiendy careful exegesis of the sayings material will
lead to 'a correct decision', has led many a New Testament scholar into a
quagmire from which he has never emerged. T h e quagmire is produced
by treating the synoptic Gospels as if they were the letters of Paul (or the
work of any single author writing in his own language): as if by sufficiendy
careful attention to what they say one can discover with precision and
nuance what Jesus thought. This is, of course, in theory possible. If one
could hit on the passages which report accurately what Jesus said, if one
could rediscover the setting in which he said it (one of the first rules of
exegesis is that meaning depends on context), and if one could then
correlate sayings on a given topic with others on the same topic but in a
somewhat different context, one could presumably discover what Jesus

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basically thought on that subject and what nuances there were to his
thought. That is a great goal, and the theoretical possibility of achieving it
by studying the sayings material leads to ever more involved exegetical
efforts, and often to over-exegesis: hammering away at a saying in the
hope that it will tell us more about Jesus than can reasonably be expected
from a small piece of evidence.
T h e real situation should be faced more frankly. We can seldom recover
original context, and thus understanding of the nuance and range of a
conception is very difficult to achieve. It will help if we make an analogy
(or rather contrast) between 'Jesus and the kingdom' and 'Paul and the
law'. In the case of Paul, we know what law he was talking about, we have
statements about it in different contexts which are subject to fairly
successful reconstruction (e.g. the polemical situation of Galatians and
the parenetic situation of Rom. 1 3 ) , and it is possible to determine his
fundamental stance and variations on it which derive from changed
contexts. That is, of course, just what scholars have tried to do with 'Jesus
and the kingdom'. We start off on good ground: we know basically what
'kingdom' he was talking about. But then the contrasts set in. It is as if an
author or authors had written a composite work called 'the Gospel of Paul'
and set into diverse new settings such passages as Rom. 2 . 1 3 ; Gal. 2 . 1 6 ;
Rom. 3 . 2 1 ; Rom. 8.4; II Cor. 3.6; then added some more sayings of their
own; made the material available for use in preaching and teaching; and
finally translated it into another language where it underwent still further
adaptation and alteration. If Paul's letters had been treated in such a way,
what chance would we have of understanding his view(s) of the law? Do
we have a better chance of understanding Jesus' view of the kingdom if all
our information must come from sayings} It will prove to be hard enough to
establish the main lines, and nuance and precision will remain elusive.
Just establishing the main thrust ofJesus' message about the kingdom will
require the separation of sayings which have an authentic kernel from
those which are entirely later products - a by no means certain enterprise.
Nuance will depend on reconstructing both the authentic bits of the sayings
material and the original contexts. T h e chances of making enough correct
reconstructions to give both precision and nuance to Jesus' conception of
the kingdom are, to understate the case, very slight. Worse, if anyone were
to accomplish it, the rest of us would not know it.
Although the difficulty and uncertainty of reconstruction may have led
some to pursue ahistorical means of studying the Gospels, others have
insisted that exegesis must be done more carefully. Thus Martin Hengel
has argued that 'progress in Synoptic research to a great extent depends

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on . . . detailed analysis of small units', which is exemplified by his own

treatment of Matt. 8 . 2 i f . / / L u k e 9.59f. Every passage must be studied
individually, employing 'redaction and form criticism, plus Religionsgeschichte\ It is hard to argue with Hengel's view, in light of the dazzling
success of its application. I think that Hengel's book is a masterpiece,
possibly the best single treatment of a synoptic pericope ever done. He
sheds real light on how we should understand Jesus, and his conclusions
are convincing. Why, then, do I remain sceptical about learning about
Jesus by the precise exegesis of passage after passage? Hengel's remarkable
success, unfortunately, does not show that the method will continue to pay
off as one goes through the synoptics. Hengel picked the right passage.
Others have not been and, in my view, will not be explored with even
approximately equal results. T h e history of scholarship since Bultmann's
History of the Synoptic Tradition seems to prove that to be the case. Passage
after passage has been subjected to detailed analysis, but knowledge about
Jesus does not move swiftly forward. T h e effort has not been entirely
futile; or, put another way, it has been necessary to examine each passage
in order to see what can and cannot be known. I regard most of the
exegetical efforts of the last decades as proving a negative: analysis of the
sayings material does not succeed in giving us a picture of Jesus which is
convincing and which answers historically important questions.
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For an example, we may turn to one of the most-discussed passages in

the synoptics, Matt. i 2 . 2 8 / / L u k e 1 1 . 2 0 . This is a verse which has for
years loomed large in the discussion ofJesus and the kingdom. Matthew's
wording is this: 'If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then the kingdom
of God has come (ephthasen) upon you.' Luke's version is identical, except
that it reads 'by the finger of G o d ' instead of 'by the Spirit of God'.
Dodd seized vigorously on ephthasen, and argued that it means that 'the
"Eschatological" Kingdom of God is proclaimed as a present fact', and
he extended this same understanding to engiken ('has drawn near') in Mark
1 . 1 5 . Bultmann read the same verses and concluded that the kingdom is
like the dawn which is breaking but has not arrived, or is like a train coming
into the station which has not arrived at the platform. Perrin read the
verse and pronounced quite confidendy that it shows that Jesus thought
that his exorcisms were a 'manifestation of the kingdom of God in the
present'. He went further: the verse shows that 'the experience of the
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individual has become the arena ofthe eschatological conflict'.

It is of course true, and must be immediately said, that each scholar

thought that he had corroborating evidence for his interpretation. But
even granting this, we must note that Matt. i 2 . 2 8 / / L u k e 1 1 . 2 0 is the

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44

linchpin of the argument. Yet there are problems. T h e passage itself,

'the Beelzebub Controversy', is both complex and unusual. One may
read numerous attempts to analyse it. The saying in Matt. 12.28 itself
presents a puzzle, one which is often overlooked: has the kingdom of God
'come upon'Jesus' opponents and not upon those whom he healed? We
stay, however, with the common view of the verse: (1) it is a detached
saying which has come into the tradition without a context; (2) it is
authentic; (3) it shows that Jesus thought that the presence of the kingdom
was attested to by his exorcisms. Why are these things so? (1) It is detached
because, if it went originally with the preceding verse ('If I cast out demons
by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?'), the meaning would
be 'that the Jewish exorcists would also prove by their actions that the
Kingdom of God had come', and Jesus could not conceivably have
thought that of the work of'Jewish exorcists'. (2) It is authentic because
'it is full of that feeling of eschatological power which must have character
ized the activity of J e s u s ' . (3) It means that the kingdom is present because
ephthasen undoubtedly means 'has come'.
I must confess that I do not find all this convincing and that I can imagine
other possibilities. Even if we accept without debate the authenticity of the
verse, we may still doubt that the prevailing opinion about its meaning is
absolutely secure. In the first place, it seems to me obviously dubious to
lean so heavily on the meaning of the verb ephthasen. How can we know
that the Greek verb accurately captures not only something which Jesus
said but also the nuance which he intended to convey? Clearly we cannot.
If, however, we must decide its precise meaning, we shall discover that it
frequendy means 'came' in the sense of'the coming was determined', not
'the coming was accomplished'. When the author of the Testament of
Abraham wrote that the 'cup of death' came (ephthasen) to Abraham (T.Ab.
A 1.3), the patriarch still had more than nineteen chapters to live.
Secondly, I do not know in advance (that is, unless this verse tells me
so) that Jesus held the view that the casting out of demons was the
expression of the appearance of the kingdom of God and that only the
possessor of the end-time Spirit could do it: or perhaps that only his doing
it really counted. T h e arguments for isolation, authenticity and significance
are in part circular. They depend on a conclusion about how Jesus saw the
relationship between his exorcisms and the eschaton, but the conclusion
depends to no small degree on the saying in question. In part, however,
the position attributed to Jesus - that his exorcisms were signs of the
kingdom - is based on the view that the Messiah (or his herald) was
expected in Judaism to overcome the demonic world and to demonstrate
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this victory miraculously by exorcisms. If this were so, the probability

that Jesus and others saw his exorcisms in that light would be enhanced.
But in fact that view is hard to find. T h e evidence usually cited is T . M o s .
1 0 . 1 and T.Levi 1 8 , only the second of which says just that; and this
hardly counts as evidence for a view common in Judaism. One suspects
that the true source of scholarly belief in this supposed Jewish eschatolo
gical view is Matt. 1 2 . 2 8 - considered in isolation from 1 2 . 2 7 . T h e
entire argument about the isolation and significance of this verse for
understanding Jesus' view of his work, it appears to me, depends more on
circular reasoning than on anything else.
Thirdly, it is not difficult to find evidence which leads one to attribute
to Jesus another view of his exorcisms. Perhaps he thought that other
people could cast out demons and that his doing it was no more proof of
an alliance with Satan than was the same activity in the case of others.
That is, after all, the major point made in Matt. 12.27f. as the passage now
stands. What forces w . 27 and 28 apart except the presupposition that
Jesus musthave been conscious of unique power and couldnothzve ascribed
the same power to others? On this point, in fact, we have the curious
double tradition about other exorcists, one passage saying that those not
against Jesus are for him (Mark 9 . 3 8 - 4 i / / L u k e 9 4 9 Q , the other that
those not with Jesus are against him (Matt. i 2 . 3 o / / L u k e 1 1 . 2 3 ) . If either
of those sayings is authentic and originally referred to other exorcists, we
have evidence in addition to Matt. i 2 . 2 7 / / L u k e 1 1 . 1 9 that Jesus did not
consider his own exorcisms as unique. Further, the Marcan form (9.38-41)
supports holding Matt. 12.27 and 28 together, for it positively allies other
exorcists with Jesus.
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If, then, we fixed our attention not on Matt. i 2 . 2 8 / / L u k e 1 1 . 2 0 in

isolation, but on Matt. i 2 . 2 7 f . / / L u k e n . i g f i , and on Mark
9 . 3 8 - 4 i / / L u k e 9 4 9 f , we would come to a view appreciably different
from that of Bultmann, Perrin and numerous others: namely, that Jesus
attached the same significance to his own exorcisms and those of others.
Can we be sure beyond reasonable doubt that one interpretation is true
and the other false?
One will immediately say that there is other evidence that Jesus attached
special significance to his ministry. That I shall by no means contest. But
does the special emphasis fall on his ability to exorcize demons? Can his
conception of the arrival of the kingdom be determined with nuance on
the basis of Matt. i 2 . 2 8 / / L u k e 1 1 . 2 0 ? Those things do not seem to me in
the least clear.
Let me repeat the decisions that scholars have to come to in order to

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derive from Matt. 12.28 information which allows them meaningfully to

explain Jesus' understanding of the kingdom. One must first decide on
the setting of the verse. In its transmitted setting, for the reason given by
Kummel, it is relatively innocuous. Once it is made an isolated saying, it
must be argued that it is authentic. When that is decided, it must be
supposed that in it Jesus intended to offer his own decisive interpretation of
his exorcisms. Then one must presume that the wording has been carefully
maintained in Aramaic, precisely translated, and carefully transmitted in
Greek. Finally one must decide on the nuance of the principal verb: does
it mean 'proleptically' present? virtually on top of us? fully arrived in all its
force and glory? These exercises then must be repeated simply dozens of
times and the results correlated before one can pronounce on the full
meaning of'kingdom of God' in the message of Jesus. And at the end, to
repeat, no one will know whether or not all the decisions were right ones
and all the synthesizing judgments sound.
I have deliberately picked on the strongest case in the arsenal of those
who explain Jesus by interpreting the sayings in order to show the severe
limitations of the method. There probably is no other verse in the Gospels
about which there is so much unanimity. I do not hold the deep conviction
that the common opinion is wrong. But I do not think that we shall actually
move towards 'assured results' along the path which I have briefly traced.
We shall return in the next chapter to the question of exorcism and other
miracles. Here I wish to push further the point about what cannot be
securely known about the kingdom of God in the teaching of Jesus.
We may profitably dwell for a moment on one of the other passages
which supports the view that the kingdom is already present in Jesus'
words and deeds: Jesus' response to the question of the Baptist, Matt.
1 1 . 2 - 6 / / L u k e 7 . 1 8 - 2 3 . As has been often observed, the passage presents
difficulties. Bultmann regarded the principal part of Jesus' reply, Matt.
ii-Sf. ('the blind receive their sight . . . ' ) , to have been an originally
independent element. 'In all probability the Baptist's question is a
community product and belongs to those passages in which the Baptist is
called as a witness to the Messiahship of J e s u s . ' T h e point of the core
saying ('the blind see', etc.) 'is intended simply to take the colours of
(Second) Isaiah and use them to paint a picture of the final blessedness
which Jesus believes is now beginning, without any need to relate particular
statements with particular events that have already happened.' Bultmann
did, however, regard the saying in Matt. 1 1 . 5 f . as authentic. Dunn's
discussion makes it clear that the pericope is difficult to accept as an
account of an interchange between John and Jesus, but he concludes by
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accepting it and offers a setting for it: it would have occurred 'as soon as
the note of imminence characteristic of John's preaching was supplanted
by or at least supplemented by the note of fulfilment characteristic of Jesus'
preaching'. But where does one hear that note of fulfilment which is
'characteristic' of Jesus' preaching? In Matt. 12.28 and 1 i.$f. And how do
we know that that note is characteristic? In Bultmann's words, already
referred to above in connection with Matt. 12.28: 'It is full of that feeling
of eschatological power which must have characterized the activity of
J e s u s . ' When we recall the chain of assumptions and arguments (some
circular) which were required to single out Matt. 12.28 as Jesus' decisive
interpretation of his activity, especially the isolation of Matt. 12.28 from
1 2 . 2 7 d the efforts to find the precise nuance of phthanein - as if Jesus
used the word - , it may begin to appear that scholars have become too
confident about making 'fulfilment' and 'presence' the decisive and
controlling characteristics of Jesus' message.
One of the principal things which is at stake in the labour expended on
Matt. 12.28 and n . 5 f (and a few other passages which can be called in
as support) is the distinctiveness of Jesus over against otherJewish prophets
and exorcists, especially John the Baptist. In order to maintain that the
kingdom was 'somehow' present in Jesus' words and deeds, especially in
the exorcisms, and that these supposedly eschatological miracles set Jesus
apart from others, the case has to be made, implicidy or explicidy, that
Jesus was unique. Occasionally, I assume by an unfortunate choice of
words, someone will seem to suggest that miracles were signs of the
kingdom and that, since Jesus performed them, he brought the kingdom.
We must assume that Jesus was not the only miracle worker of his day,
and I think that no one will seriously champion the view that he was.
Recendy Harvey has presented the argument that Jesus was unique in the
kind of miracles which he performed, and that just these indicated the
arrival of the time foretold by the prophets. This is an interesting proposal,
but I think that it will not carry the day; it is returned to in the next chapter.
Usually weight falls on the uniqueness of Jesus' self-consciousness or claim.
'Nowhere does John refer to any casting out of demons (as Jesus does), as
a token that "the kingdom of God is upon you".' 'There was something
wholly distinctive, indeed unique about this consciousness of power'
(referring to Matt. 1 2 . 2 8 / / L u k e 1 1 . 2 0 ) . 'John believed that the end-time
was at hand; Jesus believed that the shift in the aeons had already taken
place' (referring to the two passages we have considered and one or two
others). According to Trautmann, nowhere in ancient Judaism does one
find that a human act of exorcism brings about the inbreaking of the
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eschaton in the present world, that in a human deed God's kingdom breaks
through.
Thus we see that, in order to derive meaningful information about Jesus
from such passages as Matt. 1 2 . 2 8 , scholars must suppose not only that
they can reconstruct precisely what Jesus said and precisely what he meant
by it, but also that they can eliminate the possibility that anyone else held
such views. This enormously increases the dubiousness of the method,
which already requires hypothesis upon hypothesis. How can one argue
historically that a certain attitude or conception is unique? A sober estimate
in accord with the normal canons of the writing of history can go no farther
than 'otherwise unattested'. But can 'otherwise unattested' on such a point
as self-claim become decisive for understanding Jesus? We have virtually
no evidence about what other first-century Jewish healers and preachers
thought about the significance of their own work. We do have, of course,
some information about John the Baptist, but it can hardly be thought that
we know the full range of what he thought and said. Can we be sure
that neither Theudas (Josephus, AJf X X . 9 7 - 9 ) nor the Egyptian (47
X X . 1 6 8 - 7 2 ; BJf I I . 2 6 1 - 3 ) thought that the kingdom was breaking in with
him as God's viceroy? I do not think that we can. In fact, it seems to me
likely that such prophets thought that God was at work in them and would
bring in his kingdom through them. T o refer again to Trautmann's
statement that nowhere else in Judaism, except in the Gospels, do we find
that God's kingdom 'breaks through' in a human deed, we must say not
only that our knowledge is severely limited, but also that it is entirely likely
that the Jewish 'sign prophets' thought precisely that. If one wishes to
say that other prophets who might have thought that were wrong, and that
in Jesus God's kingdom really did break through - and this often seems to
be the intention - then we have to note that the discussion no longer has
to do with history, but with theological evaluation.
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If the case is pressed that Jesus must have been unique because, among
Jewish healers and preachers, only he left disciples who formed a major
religious body (a point which will be returned to later), we must still admit
that we cannot know that it was Jesus' consciousness that the kingdom was
present in his words and deeds that accounts for the survival of Christianity.
It is a fact that Christianity was uniquely successful, but that does not tell
us what it was that made it so.
It will be helpful here to give a lengthy quotation from Kummel, in
which he applies Matt. 1 1 . 5 f . to the questions of the meaning of Jesus'
proclamation and its definitive characteristics. In it he indicates that we
know the answers to questions which I think are unresolved.

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So Jesus' reply to the Baptist's question claims that the acts and the message
are to be regarded as a proof of the beginning of the Kingdom of God, and
it sees this beginning taking place exclusively in Jesus and his activity. It is
shown once more that the proclamation of the good news of the future
coming of the Kingdom of God, which was Jesus' task, receives its particular
and decisive character through the fact that the person of Jesus by his actions
brings about already now what is expected from the eschatological future;
thus the real meaning of the eschatological preaching lies just in this, that
it points to the actual presence of him who will bring about salvation in the
last days. Again attention has been turned away from the How and
When of God's eschatological coming to the present messenger of this
eschatological consummation.
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The case that is being proposed here is that we cannot, by analysing the
sayings material, really know that such passages as those which we have
been considering reveal 'the particular and decisive character' of Jesus'
preaching of the kingdom, nor that 'the real meaning of the eschatological
preaching' is that the one who will bring salvation in the last days is already
present. We do not know, or at least not yet, what was 'expected from the
eschatological future', which Kummel here takes to be the things specified
in Matt. 1 1 . 2 - 6 . This last matter is deferred to the next chapter.
I am not arguing that Jesus did not attach special significance to his own
ministry, nor that Matt. 1 2 . 2 8 ; 1 1 . 2 - 6 and the related passages can be
proved to be inauthentic. I am not even arguing that we can know that
Jesus did not think that in his words and deeds the kingdom was breaking
through. T h e first concern is to assess the evidence, to distinguish what is
beyond doubt from what is probable, and what is probable from what is
possible. It follows from this that I do not wish to urge a negative case for example, that Jesus did not see his miracles as signs of the kingdom
- , since a negative can seldom be proved. What I propose is that we do
not know things which we are often said to know. I would arrange
conclusions about the material which has been discussed thus far as
follows:
It is beyond doubt that Jesus proclaimed the kingdom. We know this
not from analysing any one saying or group of sayings, but from noting the
ubiquity of the theme 'kingdom'. We should especially note that (as we
shall specify later in this chapter) the word 'kingdom' is applied to a large
range of conceptions in the sayings material attributed to Jesus. Often the
ideas are not novel, though the use of the word 'kingdom' may be.
Expressions to the effect that the kingdom is near constitute such an
instance. That 'the day', or 'the end', is near would not be an unusual
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saying. T h e material attributed to Jesus stands out from contemporary

Jewish and subsequent Christian usage in part because of the word
'kingdom' itself. It stretches credibility too much to imagine that the
prominence of the term was invented, and the presence of the theme
'kingdom' is to be given the highest rating: beyond doubt.
It is also beyond doubt that Jesus attached special significance to his
own career and saw it as intimately connected to the kingdom of God.
This is seen from the demonstration against the temple and the call of the
twelve. We need add to those two facts only the bare fact of the theme
'kingdom' in order to draw our conclusion.
It is possible - no more - that Jesus saw the kingdom as 'breaking in'
with his own words and deeds.
It is conceivable - weaker than possible - that the wording of Matt.
i 2 . 2 8 / / L u k e n . 2 o a n d M a t t . 1 1 . 5 f. gives us his own precise interpretation
of his work.
Of recent years this last point has been promoted to the status of one of
the assured results of scholarship, and scholars have repeated again and
again that Jesus thought that his exorcisms showed that the kingdom of
God was present (Matt. 1 2 . 2 8 ) , as did his healings and preaching in
general (Matt. 1 1 . 2 - 6 ) . T o conclude this discussion I shall here summarize
the reasons for which I think it necessary to demote this view to only
'conceivable'. T h e third and fourth reasons, however, will not be fully
presented until we have looked at more material about the kingdom.
1. T h e principal sayings which support the view that the kingdom was
present in Jesus' work are not absolutely firm, either with regard to their
original context or their precise wording - both of which are essential to
the arguments based on them. It would, in fact, be impossible for us to
know the precise wording of anything said byJesus with sufficient assurance
to place on it the weight which scholars lately have put on ephthasen in
Matt. 12.28/VLuke 1 1 . 2 0 .
2. Even if we were to assume that Jesus held the view which we have
been considering, we could not say that such a view was distinctively
characteristic of him, since we do not know everything that John the Baptist
thought about his own mission, and nothing about what other prophets
before the first revolt thought about theirs. T h e fact that Theudas and the
Egyptian thought that they could produce mighty signs (the parting of the
river and the collapse of the walls of Jerusalem), however, indicates that
they attributed considerable importance to their own roles in the divine
scheme.
3. It is easily possible to offer a hypothesis in which other aspects of
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Jesus' work and words are seen as 'central' and 'determinative' and in
which the motif of the present dawning of the kingdom plays a subsidiary
role. (For this hypothesis, see the conclusion to this chapter and ch. 8.)
4. T h e outcome of Jesus' career does not lend much support to seeing
Matt. 12.28 and related passages as central to his own understanding of
the kingdom and his role in it. (See below, p. 1 5 2 no. 2.)

The problem ofdiverse meanings

In making the analogy between 'Paul and the law' and 'Jesus and the
kingdom', there was the clear implication that the sayings about the
kingdom which are attributed to Jesus are not all of a piece. That of course
is the case, and it is what would be expected if he said very much about
it. There are various ways of categorizing the 'kingdom' sayings. T h e
following sixfold one seems most helpful:
1. 'Kingdom' in the sense of'covenant', a usage which is well known
from Jewish literature. I put this first partly because it generally plays
little role in discussions ofJesus' distinctive meaning, and partly because
I once erred by relegating this use of 'kingdom' to a footnote. This
meaning should be rescued from relative obscurity. A good example of
the usage from Rabbinic literature is this:
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R.Joshua b. Karha said: Why does the section Hear, 0 Israel (Deut. 6.4-9)
precede [the section] And it shall come to pass if ye shall hearken [diligently to
my commandments]} - so that a man may first take upon him the yoke of
the kingdom of heaven and afterward take upon him the yoke of the
commandments (Berakoth 2.2).
In other passages Israel is said to have accepted the 'kingdom of G o d ' at
Mount Sinai. Here 'covenant' could be used in place of'kingdom' were
it not for the Rabbinic tendency to restrict 'covenant' (berith) to mean
'circumcision'; that is, the covenant with Abraham. 'Accept the kingdom'
may refer either to a daily renewal of commitment to God's covenant with
Israel (as it does when one says the Shema), or to the fresh commitment
which one makes at the point of entry into the covenantal community.
There are also Rabbinic parables in which God is king, and in which his
kingly role is that of the maker and maintainer of the covenant with Israel.
Although the phrasing is different, this meaning of'kingdom' seems to be
the one which is uppermost in the Gospel material which has to do with
entering the kingdom. T h e parallel is not exact. T h e Gospel passages stress
the individual's attainment of eternal life, while the Rabbinic passages are
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focused on commitment to the God who has redeemed and who will save
Israel. But there is a general sense in which the sayings about 'entering
the kingdom' are illuminated by the Rabbinic use of'kingdom': there is a
stipulation of commitment and obedience on the human side and the
promise or implication of saving mercy on God's side. Some of the more
interesting examples are these:
Matt. 7 . 2 1 : 'Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord, " will enter
into the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father in
heaven.' T h e next verse speaks of'that day' and thus ties in this usage with
the eschaton.
Matt. i 8 . 3 / / M a r k i o . i 5 / / L u k e 1 8 . 1 7 : 'Unless you turn and become
as children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.'
Matt. 19.23/VMark 10.23/VLuke 18.24: It is hard for the rich (or those
who have possessions) to enter the kingdom of heaven.
2. Closely related to this there is the thought of the kingdom as still to
be fully established: 'Thy kingdom come!' (Matt. 6.10), a usage which has
well-known parallels in Jewish literature.
3. T h e kingdom will come as an otherworldly, unexpected event in
which the righteous will be separated from the wicked. This differs from
the preceding category because of the dramatic imagery which is employed.
One of the major expressions of this view is found in material which is
largely but not entirely peculiar to Matthew and in which the distinctive
phrases are 'the consummation of the age' and 'angels'. An example is
found in the Matthaean 'Interpretation of the Parable of the Tares': 'thus
will be the consummation of the age: the Son of man will send forth his
angels and they will gather all skandala and all those who do evil, and cast
them into the furnace of fire' (Matt. 1 3 . 4 0 - 4 2 ) . No one, I think, will
maintain the authenticity of this pericope, but the language occurs
elsewhere, among other places in one of the parables which immediately
follow in Matthew (from which it may have come into the 'Interpretation'):
'The kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea . . . . Thus it will be
in the consummation of the age: the angels will come and separate the evil
from the righteous' (Matt. 1 3 . 4 7 - 5 0 ) . T h e language also occurs in the
'little apocalypse', although the most precise verbal parallels are again with
the Matthaean version: 'When will be . . . the consummation of the age?'
(Matt. 2 4 . 3 / / M a r k i 3 4 / / L u k e 2 1 . 7 ) . T h e Son of man will appear (Matt.
24-3o//Mark i 3 . 2 6 / / L u k e 2 1 . 2 7 ) ,
d
will
d his angels with a
great trumpet and they will gather up his elect from the four winds . . . '
(Matt. 2 4 . 3 1 / / M a r k 1 3 . 2 7 ) . There are two further Matthaean repetitions
of two parts of this language: 'When the Son of man comes in his glory,
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and all his angels with him, then he will sit upon the throne of his glory'
(Matt. 2 5 . 3 1 ) ; 'Behold I am with you all days until the consummation of
the age' (Matt. 28.20). And, finally, there is a triple tradition passage within
an apparendy composite pericope:
Matt. 1 6 . 2 7

Luke 9.26
Whoever is ashamed of me and my
words, the Son of man will be
ashamed of, when he comes in his
glory and that of his Father and the
holy angels.

The Son of man is about to come in

the glory of his Father with his angels,
and then he will repay to each
according to his deeds.

Mark 8.38
Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful
generation, also the Son of man will be ashamed of him when he comes in
the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Of these slightly varying forms, the Matthaean seems earliest. T h e

evangelist Matthew would have had no reason to omit 'ashamed of me and
my words' (cf. Matt. 1 0 . 2 2 , 'for my name's sake'), and the Marcan
accusation of 'this generation' is similar to the criticism of Matt.
1 2 . 3 9 - 4 1 / / L u k e 1 i.29f., a criticism which Matthew repeats in 1 2 . 4 5 .
This category of sayings material has been presented at some length for
several reasons. In the first place, the general tendency of recent scholarship
has been to give it little weight in depictions of Jesus. This can be done by
simply not mentioning it, or by denying its authenticity, or (most frequently)
by subsuming it under the general category of'future expectation', which
is then defined in less lurid colours. It is not my intention to argue that
it must be given prominence (as will shortly be explained), but I fear that
it has receded in importance not so much because it has been proved to
have played a small role in Jesus' message as because of scholarly
preference for less dramatic material.
The second point of interest is its special, and in fact peculiar relationship
to the Gospel of Matthew. It has a place of prominence there, and the
wording of the passages is more harmonious in that Gospel than in the
others, but we cannot suppose that it was all composed by the evangelist
Matthew. T o sort through this body of material properly, one would have
to solve the synoptic problem and also do a redactional study of Matthew.
Let me instead sketch a conceivable (and I think not unlikely) scenario.
The evangelist Matthew penned Matt. 28.20. That verse picks up the
phrase 'consummation of the age' and shifts it off safely into the indefinite
future. An intermediate redactor or author is responsible for the 'Interpret
ation of the Parable of the Tares'. T h e same person could have written
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the judgment scene in Matt. 25. T h e evangelist Matthew, however (in this
scenario), is not the author of these two passages. His mind, rather, is fixed
on an extended mission and the individual entry of followers of Christ 'into
the kingdom of heaven'. In any case, the Gospel of Matthew has picked
up an unusual amount of the material connected by the themes 'Son of
man coming to judge', 'angels', and 'consummation of the age'. It may be
that we see here the interest of an intermediate redactor.
Our third observation, and the one of most importance for the present
study, is that the general theme of a heavenly figure who comes with angels
is very early and quite possibly goes back to Jesus. T h e earliest evidence
is I Thess. 4 . 1 5 - 1 7 . Paul writes that it is 'a word of the Lord' that
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We who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not
precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend
from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the
sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then
we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air . . . .
16

17

It is not clear that the 'word of the Lord' includes w . 1 6 and 1 7 , but the
conclusion in v. 1 8 , 'comfort one another with these words', makes it
probable. In any case, the similarities between this passage and the synoptic
depictions of the Son of man coming with angels, accompanied by the
sound of a trumpet, while some are still alive (Matt. 24.3of. and parr.;
Matt. i6.27f. and parr.), are so close that it is difficult to avoid the
conclusion that both reflect a tradition which, before Paul, was already
attributed to J e s u s . T h e similarities between Paul and Matthew are most
striking, for only Matthew has a trumpet (24.31). But even without this
phrase the relationships are close.
T h e verses in Paul are regarded by many scholars as among the 'words
of the Lord' which were spoken through a prophet by the risen Lord: i.e.,
as not authentic. This hypothesis I regard as possible but not provable
one way or the other. I take it, however, that the saying is at least prePauline.
T h e second best evidence is Matt. 16.27, which was quoted above with
the Marcan and Lucan parallels. T h e saying virtually never gets discussed,
since mechanical observance of the two-source hypothesis makes it
secondary to Mark 8.38, which itself has evidendy been Christianized.
It is, however, only the part of Mark 8.38 which Matthew does not have
which shows the influence of Christian redactional activity. T h e saying in
Matthew, as I observed above, has neither the implied equation between
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Jesus and the Son of man which marks Luke and Mark, nor the theme of
'being ashamed' of the Son of man ( = Jesus). Matthew was fully in
agreement with Mark and Luke that those who denied the Son of man =
Jesus would be denied by him in heaven (see Matt. 1 0 . 2 2 , 32), but he has
here a different saying, one focused entirely on the coming of the Son of
man and one which closely agrees with I Thess. 4 . 1 6 . It is more likely that
Matthew is following another tradition than that, reading the saying which
we have in Mark 8.38, he rejected it and composed his own.
The third bit of evidence is the other principal saying regarding the
coming of the Son of man, Matt. 24.3of.//Mark 1 3 . 2 6 ^ This saying
is ordinarily dismissed, the only debate being whether it is a Jewish
eschatological tradition which has found its way into the synoptics or a
Christian creation.
Thus I Thess. 4 . 1 6 is generally assigned to a Christian prophet, Matt.
16.27 to the evangelist Matthew, and Mark 1 3 . 2 6 ^ to a non-Christian
source or a Christian prophet. It seems to correspond better to the evidence
to see this as a triply attested saying, one which goes back at least to a prePauline 'prophet' and quite possibly back to Jesus. I shall not attempt to
reconstruct the saying, but we may note the following parallels:
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/ Thess. 4 . 1 5 - 1 7
we who are left alive/
Lord descends, archangel
cries, trumpet sounds/
with them on the clouds

Matt. 1 6 . 2 7 /
Son of man comes with
angels/
Some will not taste
death

Matt. 2 4 . 3 0 /
Son of man comes on
clouds with angels
and sound of trumpet

It is conceivable that Jesus did not think in these terms, but that the
expectation originated very early in the church and has been preserved in
various ways. Ordinarily, however, this kind of attestation counts in favour
of authenticity.
This is one of those instances in which agreement between synoptic
sayings material and early Christian belief supports, rather than argues
against, the Gospel material: the principle of dissimilarity here does not
work. Paul's expectation of the coming of the Lord (see also I Cor. 1 5 . 2 3 )
is not his own creation, but was doubdess held in common with other
Christians. T h e early teachers and apostles changed the expectation of
the Son of man coming with his angels to the return of the Lord, just as in
the synoptic tradition they identified the Son of man with Jesus; but the
general expectation probably goes back to Jesus.
It seems, then, that the tradition contained in this group of passages is
old, and very possibly authentic, at least in general terms. Here as elsewhere
I do not feel confident of our ability to assign certain phrases to Jesus,
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some to the Gospel writers, and some to intermediate redactors; but it

would be rash to deny to Jesus this complex of ideas (a cataclysmic end in
which a heavenly figure sends angels to separate the just from the unjust).
The reader will have observed that in this instance I have not been able
to resist offering my own assessment of authenticity. T h e argument in
favour of an authentic saying which connects a heavenly figure with angels
and probably with judgment, and which lies behind I Thess. 4.16f.; Matt.
16.27; and Matt. 243oand parr., seems quite strong, though it has been
overlooked. Nevertheless, I must note that the most general point - that
Jesus expected a future cosmic event and a future judgment - can be
affirmed by those who do not regard these three passages as worth
discussing. Perrin, for example, dismissed these passages, but argued for
the general point. That Jesus expected the 'apocalyptic Son of man' he
took to be shown by other passages, such as Matt. 24.27 par.; 24.37, 39
par.; 24.44 par., while the theme of judgment is confirmed by the parables
of the Tares and the Fishnet (Matt. 1 3 . 2 4 - 3 0 ; i 3 4 7 f . ) . Some, to be
sure, deny the authenticity of all the Son of man sayings, and many will
doubt the parable of the Tares. In general, however, this category of
kingdom sayings seems at least as secure as any other.
4. T h e kingdom will involve a decisive future event which will result in
a recognizable social order involving Jesus' disciples and presumablyjesus
himself.
There are here only a few passages to be listed: the prediction of a new
temple (see ch. 1 above); the twelve disciples as the judges of the tribes of
Israel (Matt. 19.28/VLuke 22.28-30) (ch. 3); the question of who would
sit at Jesus' right hand in the kingdom (Matt. 20.20-28/VMark 1 0 . 3 5 - 4 5 ;
cf. Matt. 1 8 . 1 and parr.); the saying to Peter (Matt. i 6 . i 8 f ) ; the saying
about drinking wine in the kingdom (Mark 14.25 and parr.).
Again, in a test of authenticity not many would give high marks to much
of this material (the most notable exception being Mark 14.25); or at least
would not place emphasis on it in assessing Jesus' view of the kingdom. I
shall shordy return to the question of emphasis. With regard to authenticity,
I think that something can be said in favour of even the passages most
frequendy doubted. If one doubts that Jesus said that he would build his
church on the Rock, Peter (Matt. 1 6 . 1 8 f ) , one must still grant that someone
gave Simon the name 'Kepha' (in Greek Tetros'). T h e significant point
is that, when the name passed into Greek, sometimes the Aramaic was
retained (several times in Galatians and I Corinthians), but often the word
was translated rather than transliterated, thus putting the emphasis on the
meaning, 'Rock', as in Gal. 2.7f. and throughout the rest of the New
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Testament (in John 1.42 the Aramaic is used and translated). It does not
seem in the least unlikely that the 'someone' was Jesus; and if Jesus called
Simon 'Rock', he must have meant that he was the Rock of something,
even if not of 'the church'. His later position as the leader among the
former followers of Jesus (I Cor. 1 5 . 5 ) , whose authority was rivalled only
by James, the Lord's brother (Gal. i . i 8 f ; 2.9), probably reflects the fact
that he was singled out by Jesus.
T h e passage about James and John also raises interesting questions.
Mark i o . 3 8 f , which apparendy refers to their martyrdom, is often taken
to have been written after the event.
T h e tradition of their joint
martyrdom, however, is not reliable; and that of John's is uncertain.
Mark io.38f. and par., which has James and John say that they will drink
the cup which Jesus drinks, may be a vaticinium ex eventu, though one
wishes that one knew more about the event of John's martyrdom. T h e
request to sit at Jesus' right and left hand, which he says he cannot grant
(Mark 1 0 . 3 7 , 4 )> however, is difficult to explain in this way. We know
from Galatians that, at the time of Paul's second trip to Jerusalem, John
occupied a position of prominence in the early Jerusalem church (Gal.
2.9). Paul saw neither of the brothers at the time of his first trip (Gal.
1 . 1 9 ) . T h e request to be elevated by Jesus does not reflect the fact that
John lived to be a 'pillar' of the church in Jerusalem while James did not.
T h e saying also does not reflect another fact of early Christian history,
one just mentioned: Peter's early position as leader. It is hard to imagine
a circle which would create a question and answer about first and second
place, but which simply ignored Peter's rank. Thus we cannot easily
assume that the passage was written after the fact.
There are other indications of authenticity. As Taylor noted, Jesus'
saying that it did not fall to him to assign places in the kingdom agrees
with the saying in Mark 1 3 . 3 2 , that he knows neither the day nor the hour,
which many hold to be authentic. Finally, we note that the exchange is
a bit discreditable to James and John, which would count against its
composition in the church. It seems to me quite probable that the two
disciples made the request to sit at Jesus' side in the kingdom (Mark, 'in
your glory'), and that it was turned aside by Jesus.
T h e passage which has attracted most attention is Mark 1 4 . 2 5 , which
has a very close parallel in Matt. 26.69 and a less precise parallel in Luke
2 2 . 1 8 . We have been fairly consistendy citing Perrin as representing
mainline scholarship on the sayings about the kingdom, and so we should
note that he regarded the saying as inauthentic, attributing it to the 'risen
L o r d ' . Schlosser observes, however, that most scholars have viewed the
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saying about not drinking from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom
comes as authentic, the only problems being the precise wording and, of
course, the meaning. Does it indicate thatJesus thought that the disciples
would constitute a group which would survive his death and endure until
the eschaton, or that the kingdom would arrive immediately, with no
interval? Is the kingdom this-worldly or otherworldly? We find here the
uncertainty which generally characterizes discussions which attempt to
specify the precise meaning of the sayings material.
I am content to conclude that we have a group of sayings of possible (in
some cases probable) authenticity which, at face value, imply a social order.
One may say, to be sure, that such sayings are necessarily figurative and
tell us nothing about Jesus' view of the kingdom, except in the most abstract
terms. Thus Perrin:
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The imagery of the Messianic Banquet. . . teaches that it [the kingdom]

will mean a perfect participation in the ultimate blessings of God; and the
imagery of the New Temple . . . which . . . is a regular apocalyptic symbol
for the final blessed state, describes the community of the redeemed as
enjoying a perfect sacral relationship with G o d .
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It is perhaps noteworthy that Perrin could not avoid the word 'community',
even while proposing that we learn nothing this definite from sayings of
the sort being considered here.
5. There are sayings which imply or seem to imply that the kingdom is
present in the words and deeds of Jesus. We have already discussed the
two most important passages, Matt. i 2 . 2 8 / / L u k e 1 1 . 2 0 and Matt. 1 i - 5 f
Some include in this category Matt. 1 1 . 1 1 / / L u k e 7.28 (the least in the
kingdom is greater than John the Baptist); Luke i7.2of. (the reign of God
is among or within you); and the summary in Mark i.i4f. and parr.
Dodd considered that Luke io.23f. and n / j i f . (blessed are your eyes; a
greater than Solomon is here) also pointed to the presence of the
kingdom. Miiller considers Luke 1 0 . 1 8 (I saw Satan fall) to be a key
passage in this category.
By no means all these passages are to the point. T h e saying about John
the Baptist does not seem to imply that the kingdom is present, but rather
that it is future. When the kingdom comes, the least in it will be greater
than the greatest figure in this age. Those who urge that the saying
implies that the kingdom is present do not explain just where that leaves
the Baptist. Does Jesus claim that the least of his followers is greater
than John? That the least person who 'opens himself to the kingdom' is
greater than John? Surely John was 'open to the kingdom'. We gain a
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better meaning if we suppose that Jesus contrasts the least in the future
kingdom with the greatest in the present age.
T w o of the passages cited by Dodd (Luke i o . 2 3 f and 1 1 . 3 if.) affirm
only that Jesus' ministry is important. T h e claim that 'greater than Solomon
is here' is strikingly ambitious; but these passages do not say precisely
that the kingdom is present, but rather that something of unparalleled
importance is underway. They do not allow us to define what 'unparalleled
importance' means. It could, as far as I see, mean that Jesus' ministry is
of unparalleled importance because it constitutes the last hour before the
coming kingdom.
Of the various passages which are held to show that the kingdom, in
Jesus' view, was present, Luke 1 7 . 2 1 is the one which actually says so. As
it presendy stands, it is a reply to a question discussed elsewhere - just
when will the kingdom come and how will one know? In the passage on
the day of the Son of man, which immediately follows in Luke, there is
the warning not to heed those who will say 'he is here' or 'he is there'
(Luke i 7 . 2 3 / / M a t t . 24.26). T h e latter passage continues to the effect that
the Son of man will come from heaven with cosmic signs. In Luke 1 7 . 2 1 a ,
in contrast, Jesus says that people will not say that the kingdom is 'here'
or 'there', because it is 'in your midst' or 'within you' ( 1 7 . 2 1 b ) . T h e
contrast between 'they will not say' (v. 2 1 a ) and 'they will say' (v. 23 a)
indicates that the saying in v. 2 1 , and possibly that in v. 22, has been added
to the passage on the day of the Son of man. Schlosser proposes that the
saying in v. 2 1 b should be detached not only from the passage which
follows, but also from 2 1 a . He would connect it direcdy with v. 20b: ' T h e
kingdom of God does not come with observation, (for) behold! it is in your
midst.'
We have here a standard difficulty. In order to make sense of a saying
we must detach it from its context, delete part of it, and reconstruct a
hypothetical original. T h e results of this sort of work can never rate higher
than 'possible'. Thus we can conclude only that Jesus may have said that
the coming of the kingdom will not be a visible event, since it is present.
T h e real difficulty is what sort of weight to give this possible saying in
an overall reconstruction ofJesus' thought. If we stress the negative thrust
of v. 20b - 'not with observation' - we might conclude that Jesus thought
that nothing concrete would happen in the future. This, however, flies in
the face of so much evidence that we must hesitate. Can we draw from a
possible saying a far-reaching conclusion which contradicts hard evidence?
I think not. It is methodologically wrong to build very much on the possible
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saying in Luke i 7 . 2 o f , and at most we should take it to mean that Jesus

may have thought that the kingdom was 'in some sense' present.
6. There is a large amount of material which describes the character of
the kingdom or of the king, God. Most of the parables fit here in some
way or another. In many of them, as is well known, there is a 'reversal of
values'. Labourers who work a short period of time are rewarded as
much as those who work all day (Matt. 2 0 . 1 - 1 6 ) ; repentant sinners are
more highly regarded than those who are always righteous (Luke 1 5 . 3 - 7 ;
1 5 . 8 - 1 0 ; 1 5 . 1 1 - 3 2 ) . This material is the best known and has most
frequendy been studied, and, further, we shall return to aspects of it in a
subsequent section. Here it is necessary only to recall its existence.
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Conclusion

There are basically two ways of responding to the diverse sorts of sayings
about the kingdom; either to focus on one type to the complete or virtually
complete exclusion of the others, or to attempt a harmony among them.
Of recent years most scholars have followed the second path. Norman
Perrin's work on The Kingdom of God, which has been so often referred to
in this discussion, argued forcefully in favour of a harmony and more or
less epitomizes efforts towards a harmonization. No group of sayings is
ruled out entirely, and the problem is how to hold them in balance (in his
terms, 'tension'). In the latter pages of the book Perrin simplifies the
problem by speaking of only two motifs: the kingdom as present and as
future. T h e difficulty caused by the diversity of expression, imagery, and,
indeed, conception among the sayings generally classified as 'future'
disappears behind the general category. One does not see immediately,
for example, how my categories 3 (future cataclysmic event) and 4 (a
recognizable social order) fit together. In the former the judgment is
accomplished by the angels of the Son of man, in the latter by the twelve
disciples; and, in general, the conceptualizations are different. But even
after having somewhat simplified the task, Perrin still comes down on one
side. Here is the key sentence: ' S o the tension between present and futujre
is a tension, above all, within human experience, and this is most evident
in the Lord's prayer.' Here 'present' wins out because, by putting the
tension within human experience, the kingdom as an actual future event
becomes of litde moment.
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115

116

We should note that it is not at all difficult to reconcile the general idea
of'present' with that of'future'. What is difficult is to regard the same thing
as both present and future. G . B . Caird very neatly cuts through a lot of

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turgid and agonizing attempts to maintain 'present' and 'future' at the

same time, or to decide between them:
The debate between those who hold that Jesus declared the kingdom of
God to have arrived and those who hold that he declared it to be imminent
is reducible to its simplest terms when we recognise that the parties to the
debate have differently identified the referent. If Jesus was referring to the
final vindication of God's purposes in the reign of justice and peace, where
the righteous are to banquet with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Matt. 8 . 1 1 ;
Luke 13.28-29), it is mere nonsense even to suggest that this was present
on earth when Caiaphas was High Priest and Pilate Governor of Judaea.
On the other hand, if Jesus was referring to the redemptive sovereignty of
God let loose into the world for the destruction of Satan and all his works
(Matt. 12.28; Luke 11.20), it makes nonsense of the whole record of his
ministry to argue that for him this lay still in the future.
117

Thus there is no difficulty at all about having 'kingdom' in some sense

present and in another sense future. What is a surprise is to have the
same word used over such a wide range of meanings as is the case in the
synoptic Gospels.
We gain perspective by again considering Paul on the question of
'present' and 'future'. It is well known that he regarded Christians as
already experiencing something and as still awaiting something. He could
write that Christians were 'justified' (Rom. 5 . 1 ) ; that they were a 'new
creation' (II Cor. 5 . 1 7 ) ; that they were 'being changed' (II Cor. 3.18) and
'being renewed' (II Cor. 4.16). 'Salvation' itself, however, he put in the
future (Rom. 5.gf; 1 0 . 1 3 ; and often). This presents no difficulty, partly
because in some places, for example Rom. 8, he distinguished perfecdy
clearly between the present state and the future and described the former
as one of awaiting fulfilment and consummation. Thus Rom. 8.23: 'We
. . . , who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for
adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.'
There are, however, passages in which Paul puts in the future what he
elsewhere puts in the past. Thus 'righteousness' (usually represented by
the passive verb, 'being justified' or 'righteoused'), which is ordinarily past,
is sometimes future (Rom. 2 . 1 3 ; Gal. 5.5). T h e same is true of'sonship'
(compare Rom. 8.23, future, with Gal. 4.6, present), and, as we noted
earlier, of'kingdom' (compare I Cor. 1 5 . 5 0 , future, with Rom. 1 4 . 1 7 ,
present). What if Paul had had no terms which he consistently used for
the present existence of the Christian (e.g., Spirit) and for the future state
(salvation)? What if he had always used 'righteousness', 'sonship' and
'kingdom', varying their reference between present and future? We could
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still figure out his basic thought - the Christian possesses the first fruits
while awaiting consummation - because we have his letters. We would be
unable, however, to give a single meaning to either 'kingdom', 'righteous
ness' or 'sonship'.
I suspect that this is part of the problem with the sayings of Jesus. He
used the word 'kingdom' an overwhelming number of times in comparison
with other terms, and it was forced to carry a very wide range of meaning.
We have no sayings which allow us to come to the clarity which we can
achieve with Paul, thanks to our having such passages as Rom. 8.23.
'Future' and 'present' in the teaching of Jesus have constituted a worrisome
problem because we cannot say clearly what is present - nor even precisely
what he thought of as future, whether a new order or a cosmic cataclysm.
He may well have thought that 'the kingdom' in the sense of 'the power
of G o d ' was at work in the world, but that the time would come when all
opposing power would be eliminated, and the kingdom of God in a
somewhat different sense would 'come' - be ushered in. T h e surviving
sayings material does not allow us to offer this as being definitely J i s u s '
view, but it seems the most probable supposition.
If, however, we have to choose between 'present' and 'future' as
emphases in Jesus' message, we must, on the basis of present evidence,
put the emphasis on the kingdom as immediately future. T h e evidence
is this: (1) A future emphasis corresponds to Jesus' early association with
John the Baptist. (2) T h e behaviour of the aposdes indicates that they
expected a dramatic event in the near future. Paul, to be sure, thought of
the kingdom as present, but this depends on his doctrine of the Spirit and
his sacramental/mystical theology of being 'in Christ', not (as far as we
can tell) on knowledge of Jesus' own view. It appears that what the followers
ofJesus learned from him was that the kingdom was at hand. Others than
Paul experienced the presence of Christ (see Matt. 18.20; 28.20), and
doubdess devout members of the Christian movement felt themselves to
be in the presence of God - as did other devout Jews. But this in no way
indicates that they learned from Jesus that the kingdom of God was
fully present in his words and deeds. T h e Christian movement was
differentiated from the rest of Judaism by the conviction that the Lord
would soon return, and this is to be seen as a transformation of Jesus' view
that the kingdom of God was near. (See further ch. 8). This fact, more
than any other single one, shows where the emphasis lay in Jesus' own
message. (3) T h e prediction of the destruction of the temple shows that a
future event was expected. (4) T h e expectation of the arrival of the kingdom
is well grounded in the Judaism ofJesus' day.
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It is also true that, in addition to the saying about the temple, there are
numerous sayings which point to a future act of God; but study of the
sayings material does not, by itself, determine Jesus' own emphasis. T h e
temple saying stands out because it points to a concrete future event, and
it also correlates with a prophetic action. But the determining evidence is
not analysis of the sayings material, which, as I have argued throughout,
leads to no more than possibility.
We are not yet in a position to attempt to describe what sort of event
Jesus expected. This effort will be made in ch. 8. Some elements, however,
are clear. Jesus looked for the imminent direct intervention of God in
history, the elimination of evil and evildoers, the building of a new and
glorious temple, and the reassembly of Israel with himself and his disciples
as leading figures in it. This list partially harmonizes our categories 3 and
4 (cataclysmic ending and new order); but the harmony is not perfect, for
there is still a conflict on the judgment. Category 3 , as we noted above,
has judgment (or selection) take place at the time of the coming of the
heavenly figure and the angels (Matt. 16.27 end; 24.31 and par.). Matt.
19.28, which goes in category 4, assigns judgment to the disciples. We
cannot know that one person could not have said both, since apparent
contradiction of this sort not infrequendy marks the statements of people
who think in images. T h e pictures called up by Matt. 24.31 on the one
hand and 19.28 on the other are quite different, and they serve to show
that seeking a harmony does not lead to logical consistency. There is no
reason, however, to reject completely one or the other.
Jesus also thought that the power of God was present. Just how fully it
was present, in his view, depends on sayings such as Matt. 1 2 . 2 8 and
1 i-Sf., which were discussed at such length early in this chapter. We can,
however, on the basis of more secure evidence, say some things about
what Jesus thought about the present power of God. T h e demonstration
in the temple shows that he thought that the power of God was active in
him: he was God's spokesman, God's agent. T h e temple demonstration
goes a long way towards proving what many people have argued on the
basis of shakier evidence, such as Jesus' view of his exorcisms. Many of
the sayings which some have seen as pointing to the presence of the
kingdom actually point to Jesus' view of his own importance: 'greater than
Solomon is here', 'blessed are the eyes which see what you see' (Luke
io.23f; n . 3 2 f ) .
Thus there is no doubt that Jesus thought of the present as an important
moment - apparendy the most important moment of all time. This does
not allow us, however, to shift the emphasis of his view of the kingdom from

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'future' to 'present'. T h e two were, we must assume, linked. But if Jesus

truly expected God to act decisively in the future, we must also assume
that this expectation dominated and controlled his activity and message
and that the future event is what primarily defines Jesus' view of 'the
kingdom'. T h e future, climatic action of God must be more important
than the present manifestation of his power.
Just as we cannot yet say precisely what Jesus thought would happen in
the future, so also we cannot say just what he thought was taking place in
the present. Our study of sayings confirms general points - Jesus looked
for a future event and saw his own work as important - but does not
precisely define them. It does, however, offer some possibilities and
exclude others. Possibly the future event will involve a cosmic drama,
possibly a social order. Excluded seems to be the existentialist view that
'future' and 'present' in Jesus' message refer to tension within individual,
present human experience.
I think that there are two explanations of the fact that so many scholars
emphasize the presence of the kingdom in the teaching of Jesus, while
acknowledging that he thought of it as a future reality. One is simply
theological. In that way the message of Jesus is made more relevant, and
the problem of his mistake about the immediate future is muted.
The
second explanation is that people wish to emphasize whatever is regarded
as distinctive. It is thought to be the notion of the presence of the kingdom
which sets Jesus apart fromJewish eschatology, including first and foremost
John the Baptist. In order to make Jesus' message truly distinctive,
however, he must be said not only to have proclaimed that the kingdom
was 'in some sense' present, but to have proclaimed that it was present in
something approaching the power of the end-time itself; for the idea that
God reigns in the present is by no means distinctive. Simply to say that
God is king (in the present tense) would be a Jewish commonplace. O'Neill
puts the common view quite accurately:
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Judaism confessed that God was King of all men, whether or not they
acknowledged him to be such; many Jews believed the time would come
when all men would be openly under his sovereignty, when the Kingdom
of the world would become the Kingdom of our Lord . . . .
1 2 3

Dodd saw this clearly: 'AnyJewish teacher might have said, "If you repent
and pledge yourself to the observance of Torah, then you have taken upon
yourselves the Kingdom of G o d . " ' He continued,
Butjesus says, 'If I, by the finger of God, cast out demons, then the Kingdom
of God has come upon you.' Something has happened, which has not

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155

happened before, and which means that the sovereign power of God has
come into effective operation. It is not a matter of having God for your King
in the sense that you obey His commandments: it is a matter of being
confronted with the power of God at work in the world.
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125

He concludes, 'It [the kingdom] is not merely imminent; it is here.'

This puts us back where we started. Will Matt. i 2 . 2 8 / / L u k e 1 1 . 2 0
(supplemented by Matt. 1 i.sf; Luke i7.2of. and a few other verses) bear
this much weight? That is, will they allow us, with Dodd, to shift the
emphasis to the present; to say that Jesus thought that the kingdom was
present in some extraordinary sense, in its full end-time power, and to find
in this conception what distinguishes Jesus from all others? I do not think
so. T h e passages are just not clear enough to allow us to think that Jesus
claimed that the kingdom which was present was the same as the kingdom
which he expected to come, nor can they overcome the firm evidence that
he expected a future kingdom. It is better to distinguish the referents of
the word 'kingdom'.
We can put this another way. Dodd, in common with many subsequent
scholars, emphasized both the boldness of Jesus' claim and the uniqueness
of his conception of the kingdom. In this view, not only did Jesus claim
that God was active in his own work, but he asserted an idea which is
striking and distinctive: that what was generally thought to be future had
become fully present. It is this second point about which, I think, we
cannot be sure. It is beyond doubt that he thought that the 'kingdom',
whether present or coming or both, was intimately tied to himself and his
work. He knew, he claimed, whom God would include in the kingdom
and who would take leading places in it. What seems to me dubious is the
scholarly view that Jesus was also distinctive because he defined 'kingdom'
in a curious way and considered the same thing to be both present and
future.
In broad terms, there is not much dispute about what Jesus thought. He
thought that the kingdom would come in the near future and that God was
at work in a special way in his own ministry. We can classify these two
statements as 'beyond reasonable doubt'. Yet we could doubdess say the
same things of John the Baptist, and probably of Theudas and the Egyptian.
It is entirely understandable that scholars seek for nuances and emphases
which will set Jesus apart. T h e results of his work stand apart - even
though the followers of John the Baptist did, at least for a time, continue
loyal to him - , and the normal expectation is that Jesus himself should
have been unique in his proclamation and view, as he was in his effect.

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Thus far, we are all agreed. I hesitate to follow the majority, and to see
Jesus' sense or idea of the presence of the kingdom as what distinguished
him, because the sayings which are appealed to cannot carry the burden
which is put on them. They do not allow us to determine the relative
weight of 'the kingdom would come in the near future' and ' G o d was at
work in his own ministry'. Nor do they enable us to say with certainty what
was the precise meaning in Jesus' own mind of'at work in a special way in
his own ministry'.
This is almost necessarily the case. T h e nature of the sayings material
will not allow us to be certain about the precise nuance which Jesus wished
to give such a large concept as 'the kingdom of God'. We can see that
'kingdom' has a range of meanings in the synoptics, but we cannot see just
how much emphasis should be placed on each meaning. We never have
absolute certainty of authenticity, and we probably have the original context
of any given saying seldom, if ever. Facts allow us to be fairly sure that
Jesus looked for a future kingdom. But to some degree conclusions about
nuance and emphasis still rest on analysis of sayings, and since this analysis
will always be tentative, some things about Jesus' view of the kingdom can
never be known with certainty.
As we proceed to the study of other material, we must bear in mind the
most secure conclusions: Jesus expected the kingdom in the near future,
he awaited the rebuilding of the temple, he called 'twelve' to symbolize
the restoration of Israel, and his disciples thought about the kingdom
concretely enough to ask about their place in it. Thus we cannot shift the
normal expectations ofJewish restoration theology to the periphery.

5
MIRACLES AND CROWDS

In this and the following chapter we extend the study of 'kingdom' by

considering the miracles and the recipients of Jesus' ministry, who,
according to the Gospels, were 'the crowds', the possessed, the ill and
handicapped, and the sinners. There is agreement on the basic facts: Jesus
performed miracles, drew crowds and promised the kingdom to sinners.
It is a natural assumption that miracles and the inclusion of sinners are
intimately tied to Jesus' conception of the kingdom and of his own mission.
Thus far most scholars will agree. When, however, we explore the question
of just how to relate miracles and proclamation to sinners to each other
and to Jesus' conception of the kingdom and his own task, we find
commonly held opinions which should be queried. These opinions have
served to explain the meaning in Jesus' career of the miracles and the offer
of the kingdom to sinners, and they have done so with such success that
they have prevented further exploratory efforts. T h e opinions are these:
1. Exorcisms \yere generally regarded as a sign of the kingdom. They
are thus to be subsumed under the proclamation of the kingdom as signs
of it.
2. Forgiveness of sinners was also regarded in Judaism as one of the
promises of the eschaton. Therefore Jesus' offer of salvation to sinners
had basically the same meaning to his audience as the exorcisms: the
kingdom is present.
3. Jesus himself saw his exorcisms and healings as a manifestation of
the presence, or at least imminence, of the kingdom.
4. Jesus was primarily a teacher and preacher. Crowds flocked to him
to hear his word, and he also healed some among them.
Of these, I regard the first two as simply erroneous. T h e first point, that
exorcisms would generally have been taken to indicate the presence of the
kingdom, we discussed above. T h e question of the repentance and
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forgiveness of sinners will be considered in the next chapter. T h e third

view, that Jesus himself saw his work as demonstrating the inbreaking of
the kingdom, is possible but not provable. Proof would depend on such
sayings as Matt. 1 2 . 2 8 / / L u k e 1 1 . 2 0 and Matt. 1 1 . 5 f , which we discussed
in the previous chapter. That Jesus thought that his own work was
intimately connected with the arrival of the kingdom should not be
contested; but the precise view that he saw the proof of the presence of the
kingdom in his exorcisms and table fellowship with sinners is not certain.
T h e fourth assumption - that Jesus was first and foremost a teacher is seldom explicidy stated. One discerns it simply by reading books about
Jesus. T h e assumption itself I regard as uncertain and in need of
examination. Our present tasks are to explore the interrelationships among
miracles, teaching and crowds, and to examine the possible significance
of the miracles for our understanding of Jesus. We shall have before us
four questions:
1. Can we learn anything from the fact of miracles about what Jesus
thought of himself and how his followers regarded him? I have rejected
the sayings in Matt. 1 1 -5f. and 12.28 as providing certain information, but
can a more general study of the miracles cast light on this question?
2. Can we learn something of importance for understanding the outcome
ofJesus' career?
3. How was Jesus seen by others, those not his followers?
4. Does Jesus fall into a general social and religious type? This involves
a consideration of the relationship between teaching and performing
miracles.
4

Miracles, teaching and crowds in the Gospels

T h e natural assumption, to repeat, is that there probably was an interrela

tionship among preaching, healing, and the crowds. One readily assumes,
that is, that Jesus saw himself as having a mission to people, and that it
involved both preaching and healing. It is true that this is not self-evident
on the basis of simply reading the Gospels; in the passages in which crowds
are present, proclamation and miracle do not always appear together. But
it is intrinsically improbable that, in a short period of time, and in the
confines of a small geographical area, Jesus sometimes drew crowds by
healing and sometimes by preaching.
T h e evangelists do not make much of an effort to explain the crowds;
they are on the whole taken to be always present, and Jesus has occasionally
to escape the press of people. A consideration of the first chapters of Mark
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is instructive in this connection. Jesus preached in the synagogue ( 1 . 2 1 ) ,

and while there he exorcized a demon ( 1 . 2 3 - 2 6 ) . T h e exorcism led the
onlookers to comment on his teaching first and then on his ability to exorcize
( 1 . 2 7 ) . Then the result is given: 'And at once his fame spread everywhere
through all the surrounding region of Galilee' (1.28). We next meet the
crowds ('the whole city') apparendy accompanying those who bring to him
the sick and the possessed ( i . 3 2 f ) . In a lonely place, however, Jesus
confided to Simon that he wished to go to another city to preach; that,
apparendy, was his mission ( 1 . 3 5 - 3 9 ) . Despite this intention, he healed a
leper (1.40), and his fame spread again, with the result that he could not
even enter a city, but had to stay in the country. T h e crowds, however,
pursued him even there (1.45). He was finally able to go back to Capernaum,
and many gathered, so many as to block the door. He preached to them,
and despite the press of people the friends of a paralytic managed to get
the afflicted man to Jesus, who healed him ( 2 . 1 - 5 ) . After that, at least in
this section of the narrative, the crowds are assumed to be present except
when Jesus withdraws ( 2 . 1 3 ; 3.7; 4 . 1 ) . In 39f this press of people is
attributed to his fame as a healer.
It is not to be supposed that Mark or any of the other evangelists knew
the actual interconnections among Jesus' fame, his intention, his healing
and his preaching. Nor could we suppose that they would have cared about
cause and effect in the modern sense of the term (a point to which we shall
eventually return). Further, it can by no means be assumed that even a
modern reporter, had there been one, would have been able to describe
all that we want to know. Did Jesus, with what he regarded as a divinely
inspired message already in mind, deliberately set out to attempt cures in
the hope of attracting crowds so that he could then preach to them? Did
he discover more or less by accident that he could heal and, as a
development from that, come to think that he had a special message to
deliver? Even if those questions had been posed direcdy to him, could he
have given a single, clear and unambiguous answer? Putting the matter in
this way will make it evident that there is a level to which we cannot
penetrate.
I do not mean that we can never recover cause and effect, nor even
intention. At a later chronological point in Jesus' career (some aspects of
which we have already discussed), things begin to get clearer. Observable
events begin to accumulate in such a way as to allow reasonable inference
as to their cause or causes. But some things about the beginning of Jesus'
public career can never be known.
The Gospels, in this respect as in most others, were not written to
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answer our questions. They cannot tell us what was in Jesus' own mind as
he began his career, nor precisely what hopes and expectations he aroused
among the people of Galilee. We thus far have no more than our opening
assumption, that Jesus saw himself as having a mission with regard to the
kingdom of God, and that he employed both deeds and words. T h e Gospel
accounts about Jesus' activities among 'the crowds' do not tell us even this
in so many words. Do they contain other evidence which will allow us to
press further?

Motive

If we could determine Jesus' motive in healing, we would be on the way

to understanding just what he considered his task to be. But the answer to
the question of motive is by no means self-evident, once one drops the
idea that exorcisms necessarily implied to Jesus' audience the presence of
the reign of God, and that in performing them Jesus was, in effect,
proclaiming that presence. T w o other answers come immediately to mind:
he healed for reasons of compassion or in order to authenticate himself
and his mission. What evidence is there? There are, of course, editorial
explanations, especially in Mark. It is almost amusing to see scholars
seriously pondering the verb 'he was moved with compassion' (Mark 1.41
and elsewhere) as possibly offering the motive for healing. I would not
wish to deny that Jesus was a compassionate man, but the editorial
introduction to healing stories will hardly supply us with useful information
about Jesus' own view of what he did.
T h e question of using miracles for authentication is more complicated,
and it will be necessary to introduce some comparative material before we
can properly address it. We note now simply that Jesus is reported to have
refused a sign to opponents who asked for one (Matt. 1 6 . 1 - 4 and par.;
Matt. i2.38f. and par.), and to have offered his miracles as signs to the
Baptist (Matt. 1 1 . 2 - 1 1 and par.). We leave this matter for the present, and
turn to two recent attempts to explain the significance of miracles for
understanding Jesus, and especially his intention and 'type'.
Harvey has recently made a truly interesting proposal for understanding
Jesus' view of the significance of his miracles. He observes that the stories
of exorcism occupy a prominent place among the miracles. That agrees
with other stories (the temptation) and several sayings which represent
'Jesus as engaged, and victorious, in a contest with the devil'. Exorcisms,
however, may - and in Jesus' case did - give rise to the charge that the
exorcist 'had more knowledge and experience of the world of evil spirits
8

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CROWDS

than would be possible for anyone who did not himself dabble dangerously
in the black arts'. Harvey continues,
11

Jesus evidently opted for a type of miraculous healing which was bound to
be dangerously ambiguous; but, at least according to the records, he carried
it out with the absolute minimum of those technical procedures which would
most surely have aroused suspicion about his true credentials and motives.
12

His next principal point is that there is considerable congruence between

miracles attributed to Jesus (those for which he 'opted') and those predicted
in Isa. 35.5f. Matthew, he observes, in one of his summaries (Matt. 1 5 . 3 1 )
'makes the connection explicit'. He proceeds:
Such cures were not merely unprecedented; they were characteristic of the
new age which, as we have seen, was expected one way or another by the
majority of the contemporaries of Jesus. To use the jargon of New Testament
scholarship, they were eschatological miracles.
13

His conclusion is that Jesus' healings (not exorcisms) conform in general

to the prophecies in Isaiah about the new age, while the exorcisms (which
would not be expected on the basis of Isaiah) point to the relief which
Jesus' contemporaries would have expected when the new age arrives.
Demonic possession was not part of Isaiah's world-view, but in firstcentury Judaism it was perceived to be part of the human predicament.
Thus both the cures and the exorcisms point in the same direction: the
new age.
Harvey grants that not all the miracles fall into one pattern, but his
argument is that Jesus 'opted' to perform primarily those miracles which,
to his contemporaries, would hold out the promise of a new age. With
regard to Jesus' healing 'those ailments which we call congenital', Harvey
remarks: 'If a prophet were to inspire genuine hope of a new age in store
for mankind, he must offer an assurance that this intolerable constraint
on human dignity and freedom would, in God's good time, be removed.'
And by his exorcisms, as well as by the sayings 'in which he proclaimed
his superiority' to the demonic powers,
14

15

16

Jesus seemed to demonstrate the possibility of final victory over this demonic
constraint. Indeed we may say that such was the sense of enslavement to
the spirit-world felt by so many of his contemporaries that Jesus could
hardly have been acknowledged as their saviour had he not seemed to have
struck a decisive blow against this redoubtable enemy.
17

T h e argument that Jesus consciously performed cures which, while

'completely without precedent in [his] own culture', were modelled on
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Isa. 3 5 . sf., is complementary to his later argument that Jesus' career was
in important respects modelled on Isa. 6 1 . 1 .
Harvey's argument deserves careful evaluation. His claim for the
uniqueness of Jesus' miracles is different from the claim that we earlier
considered, which was that Jesus had a unique consciousness of eschatolog
ical power. Harvey's claim of uniqueness is subject to empirical testing
- at least in theory. T h e recording angel has not left us a list of all the
miracles ever done in Palestine. At any rate, this is Harvey's fullest
statement:
1 9

20

. . . most of the miracles performed by Jesus consisted on the one hand of

cures of the blind, the lame, the deaf and the dumb (cures which had
virtually no precedent in his culture) and on the other hand of exorcisms
(which laid him open to the charge of sorcery).
21

This is a careful statement. Josephus claims that Jews were especially

adept at exorcism, and Harvey brackets that off as being not unique but
dangerous (though if Jews were famous for it, how dangerous could it be?).
And it is true that reports from Judaism of recent cures of the blind and
others similarly afflicted are hard to find. One wonders why Harvey did
not discuss the Elisha cycle, where there are stories of cures which parallel
those attributed to Jesus, such as the cure of a leper (II Kings 5 . 1 - 1 4 ; cf.
Mark 1.40-45 and parr.) and the raising of a dead child (II Kings 4 . 3 2 - 3 7 ;
cf. Mark 5 . 2 1 - 4 3 and parr.). These may be excluded because they are
remote in time, but they nevertheless reduce the uniqueness of the miracles
attributed to Jesus.
But does the claim for uniqueness, even leaving the Elisha stories aside,
count for much in providing the clue to Jesus' own intention? Such cures,
as Smith has made abundantly clear, were common enough in the
Mediterranean, and it seems to be a very tenuous argument to suppose
that Palestine was so isolated that the scantiness of attestation of such
miracles in Palestinian Jewish literature prior to Jesus means that Jesus
and his contemporaries saw such healings as unique.
Part of Harvey's claim for the uniqueness of Jesus, not contained in the
quotation just given, is that foreknowledge, common stock-in-trade of
magicians, is not attributed to Jesus. One must assume that he rules out
as inauthentic a lot of passages. But even so the denial is in error, unless
he intends to make so fine a distinction as to make the point worthless.
He defines foreknowledge as based on 'a close observation of present
phenomena'. This, one supposes, suffices to exclude the prediction about
the colt tied (Mark 1 1 . 2 - 6 ) , the attribution to Jesus of knowledge of distant
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events (e.g. Mark 7.29), Jesus' ability to read minds (Mark 1 0 . 3 3 - 3 5 ) , and
other forms of preternatural knowledge (which side of the boat the fish
were, Luke 5.4-7; the coin in the fish's mouth, Matt. 1 7 . 2 7 ) . Here
Harvey should grant Smith's case: the Gospels ascribe to Jesus some of
the traits of a magician.
But the greatest difficulty with Harvey's argument is that he considers
the selection of miracles to reflect Jesus' intention: 'what was his motive
and intention in choosing this singular range of options?' - as if Jesus
had at his disposal any number of miracles that he could perform and
selected just those which pointed to the coming new age, either because
they coincided with Isa. 3 5 , or because they responded to contemporary
hopes. It seems much more likely that Jesus performed those miracles
which came to hand. Once one grants that Jesus healed, the prominence
of cures of the lame, the dumb and the blind is not surprising. Those
diseases respond to faith-healing, and they are quite frequent in pagan
sources. One cannot say that they absolutely predominate in the stelae
found at Epidauros, but they are certainly common enough. And, further,
they are not overwhelmingly predominant in the Gospels. There one finds
nature miracles, the raising of the dead, mind reading, and other things
which, as Harvey grants, do not fit the list in Isa. 3 5 . 5 ^
Harvey's attempt to draw inferences from the miracles about Jesus'
intention, his own view of his mission, is the most sustained and reasonable
one that I know. He does not, for example, fall into the common error of
supposing that in Judaism exorcisms would necessarily imply eschaton a supposition which has kept scholars from looking much further in
assessing their significance. Nor does Harvey try to make his case, as have
so many, by hammering away at Matt. 12.28 and 1 i-5f. in the hope that
one or two verses would reveal what Jesus thought of himself. His argument
is a great deal subder and also better than that. Nevertheless, the argument
fails to carry conviction. T h e miracles will not tell us what Jesus had in
mind. I hasten to add that I do not think that the search for enlightenment
from Jewish eschatological expectation is poindess - on the contrary!
Harvey's careful argument and its failure, however, help to persuade me
that Isa. 35 is not much help. Jesus' miracles are too diverse to allow us to
put much weight on the partial correspondence between them and that
prophecy. And I continue to bear in mind that subsequent Jewish literature
does not indicate that Jews habitually looked for miracles as a sign of the
coming end. Our quest for the significance of the miracles in Jesus' own
view still finds no certain answer.
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Miracles, proclamation and crowds

Can we, however, determine the relative importance of miracles and

proclamation in the general view of Jesus? If we have to arrange them in
order, then the obviousness of Morton Smith's case, it seems to me, will
win out. T h e miracles attracted the crowds, to whom Jesus proclaimed the
good news of salvation for 'sinners'. I do not want to be understood to
be saying that Jesus was not a compelling speaker or that his message
would not have attracted hearers. But if it is true that large crowds
surrounded him in Galilee, it was probably more because of his ability
to heal and exorcize than anything else. One could argue as follows: Jesus
thought that he had a special role to play in the kingdom whose imminence
John had proclaimed; he then decided to cast his own activity according
to a group of Isaianic prophecies; he did so by healing the kinds of illness
mentioned in Isa. 35.5f. and by proclaiming the message of Isa. 6 1 . i f .
This view (which follows from Harvey's discussion) is not impossible. T h e
more natural one seems to be that Jesus found that he could heal; that he
thus attracted crowds and special followers; that he complemented his
healing of the needy in Galilee by promising the kingdom to the poor and
the outcasts. T h e influence of Isaiah need not be excluded from this
picture, but it would be, at least at the outset, more coincidental than
determinative.
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34

T h e principal significance of Smith's argument about miracles, crowds

and preaching, however, is not chronological. His observations serve
principally to clarify our understanding. He puts it this way: 'The rest of
the tradition about Jesus can be understood if we begin with the miracles,
but the miracles cannot be understood if we begin with a purely didactic
tradition.' One can move from miracles to crowds to teaching to tumult to
death much more easily than from a teacher of law to a miracle worker to a
prophet whose passion for sanctity irritated the authorities in Jerusalem.
Teachers of the law were not, in this period, made over into miracle workers.
Neither were the authors of apocalyptic prophecies; we have a dozen, and
their authors are wholly anonymous. But a miracle worker could easily come
to be thought a prophet and an authority on the law.
35

We spent some time in the Introduction dwelling on the lack, in much of

New Testament scholarship, of sustained attempts to show a relationship
between what is usually regarded as Jesus' main activity and the conse
quences. He is often held to have been primarily a teacher of the law who
debated with the Pharisees, and his execution as a trouble-maker is not

MIRACLES AND CROWDS

I6

intrinsically connected to the main thrust of his career and his message.
One of the merits of Smith's case is that he makes a positive connection
between what he regards as Jesus' principal activity (miracles) and the
consequences (crowds, tumult and death).

Magic

But Smith's view of the role of miracles in Jesus' career is more farreaching. We best understand Jesus, he argues, by thinking of him as a
magician. Part of the evidence is a list of parallels between Jesus' miracles
and those of pagan magicians, Apollonius of Tyana in particular. More
important, numerous parallels between the Gospel accounts and the Greek
Magical Papyri are cited, and these include whole stories, types of miracles
and formulae. Naturally not every parallel is equally close, but Smith has
offered us a kind of Strack-Billerbeck to the miracle stories, with the PGM
taking the place of the Talmud and Midrash. This material, to give one
of Smith's striking points, may explain the use of the tide 'Son of God' for
Jesus, which occurs, among other places, in stories of exorcisms. He
proposes that 'Son of God' (or 'son of god'; following Smith, I have a hard
time knowing when to use capitals) means simply 'god'. With regard
to the story of the baptism and Jesus' reception of the Spirit (Matt.
3 . i 3 - i 7 / / M a r k 1 . 9 - 1 i / / L u k e 3-2if.), he argues that it is really a story of
Jesus' deification. But this is only the beginning:
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. . . the gospel story still has to be explained: It tells of a man made a god
by a rite of purification followed by the opening of the heavens and the
coming of the spirit. Where do we find such stories? In the magical papyri.
40

The first of several passages which are cited is this one, in which a magician
is speaking:
'Open to me, heaven! . . . Let me see the bark of Phre descending and
ascending . . . for I am Geb, heir of the gods; I make intercession before
Phre my Father. . . .
The quotation continues and more, some closer to the baptismal story in
the Gospel, are to follow.
Smith points out that the Gospels themselves contain evidence that
Jesus was a magician. There is the Beelzebub story, in which Jesus is
reported to answer the charge that he casts out demons by the prince of
demons. We have discussed this passage before, and now I should state
that I find the fact that Jesus was charged with the practice of magic a more
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telling one than part of the reported answer, Matt. i 2 . 2 8 / / L u k e 1 1 . 2 0 , to

which New Testament scholars have attached so much weight. I am not
sure, that is, that Matt. 12.28 shows that Jesus thought that the kingdom
was breaking in with his exorcisms, although that may be the case. But
that Jesus was charged with the practice of magic seems indisputable. Why
answer a charge that was not levelled? We see a similar charge in John
8.48.
T h e most striking Gospel account, in my view, is Mark's version of the
story, Mark 3 . 2 0 - 3 0 . Mark does not have a parallel to Matt. 12.28, and
his story ends with what appears to be another version of a defence against
the charge of healing with the aid of a demon.
'Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is
guilty of an eternal sin' - for they had said, 'He has an unclean spirit.'
(3- 9 -)
2

T h e nature of the charge against Jesus is even clearer in Mark's

introduction:
Then he went home; and the crowd came together again, so that they could
not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for
people were saying, 'He is beside himself (3.190-21)
Smith comments:
From this it seems that Jesus' exorcisms were accompanied by abnormal
behaviour on his part. Magicians who want to make demons obey often
scream their spells, gesticulate, and match the mad in fury.
43

Smith's precise explanation is not the only one available, and the verse
might be taken to indicate that Jesus was a visionary or one given to
trances. But the report that Jesus was regarded as 'beside himself or as
one who 'had lost his senses' (so Bauer) points to something that is not
explained by the depiction of Jesus as a teller of parables and a teacher
who entered into legal debate with the Pharisees.
Smith offers an entire theory to account for the Jesus of the Gospels and for subsequent points in Christian development. His fame as a
magician led the crowds to think of him as Messiah and made him a threat
to the authorities. And he perceptively comments, though he does not
elaborate on the point, that his healings correspond to the sayings which
promise salvation to the p o o r . 1 do not propose here to offer a point-bypoint critique of Smith's work. I am in the course, in fact, of developing a
different hypothesis. And, as we observed many pages back, the only way
to proceed in the search for the historical Jesus is to offer hypotheses based
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167

on the evidence and to evaluate them in light of how satisfactorily they

account for the material in the Gospels, while also makingjesus a believable
figure in first-century Palestine and the founder of a movement which
eventuated in the church. Here I shall only comment on the hypothesis
as such that it ought not to be dismissed out of hand because it is
unpalatable and extreme. It does not proceed from some unsupported first
assumption as do many total hypotheses. It deals seriously with the
evidence, there are no blatant instances of leaping to grand conclusions
from a slender base, and it introduces a wealth of material to fit Jesus into
the world of antiquity - or into an aspect of it. There are, naturally,
explanations which are not self-evident on the basis of simply reading the
Gospels; the explanation of Mark 3 . 1 9 0 - 2 1 is such a case. But Smith's
explanation of that passage is plausible once one has found grounds to
start looking for vestiges of magic.
Nor should Smith's hypothesis be dismissed because the parallel
material is too remote from first-century Palestine. Philostratus's life of
Apollonius was written well after Apollonius's death, but there is no reason
to think that it was entirely based on a third-century rather than a firstcentury point of view. A similar comment would apply to the magical
papyri. Geographical distance does not mean that the parallels are
necessarily inapplicable. We have all learned by now that Palestine was
not an island. I earlier compared Smith's parallels to those of Billerbeck,
which scholars have used for decades. I do not know that one is more
remote than the other. Further, I have appreciably more confidence in
Smith's reading of the PGM than in Billerbeck's interpretation of Rabbinic
religion.
It may help us to get some perspective on Smith's view of Jesus'
miracles by considering a recent discussion by Ramsay MacMullen about
conversion. MacMullen describes what it took in the ancient world shortly
after the period of the Gospels (he deals with approximately the period
1 0 0 - 3 0 0 ) to convince someone to change his mind about a god, to
'convert'.
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50

Converts sought reality, they sought truth, and the definition of what they
sought can be seen in what produced a change in their allegiance. There
are plenty of explicit descriptions of the moment.
51

After giving examples, some pagan, some Christian, he continues:

Their point in common was of the simplest: announcement of supernatural
powers new in the world it would be quite irrational to credit, without proof

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of their efficacy before one's own eyes. That was what produced converts.
Nothing else is attested. . . .
True divinity . . . will prove itself by its wide or long-lasting impact on the
human scene. Therein lies a further test by which mere magicians and
manipulators of minor, dark spirits can be distinguished . . . . And still
further: the divine is beneficent.. . . Finally: the divine has no needs, or
different needs, compared with humankind. Its working can be judged, and
its prophets known apart from frauds, through their superiority to material
things. Asceticism will mark them. . . .
T o credit the divinity behind a name newly presented to one, a person had
to discover the qualities generally thought to belong to a god. Of course.
Those qualities were: a constitution and substance somehow different and
above material nature; the ability to do things humans could not do; and the
applying of this ability in ways helpful and desirable to worshippers, indeed,
helpful to everyone.
52

I have presented verbatim so much of MacMullen's discussion because

his definitions are so succinct and are useful in evaluating Smith's
proposals, and consequendy in attaining a clearer view of what people in
the first century might have made of Jesus. We note at first that he does
not fit very well any of the roles in MacMullen's brief discussion of new
gods and conversion to them. As a god, Jesus fails MacMullen's test. He
did not, during his lifetime, have wide impact, and he had human needs.
He lacked asceticism, one of the marks of a prophet. MacMullen's
statement appears to imply that magicians not only used evil spirits, but
did so for evil ends; the divine, by contrast, is beneficent. In this case,
based on present knowledge, Jesus would be disqualified as a magician.
Granted that they are not discussing precisely the same subject,
nevertheless Smith and MacMullen differ on two points: the definitions
of a god and of a magician. In Smith's view, but not in MacMullen's, a
magician could be called a god. Smith's evidence is from the magical
papyri, while MacMullen is discussing publicly proclaimed deities. Thus
the difference is in the audience and the scope of the word 'god'. In
MacMullen's terms, a magician has human needs and relatively restricted
impact, and so could not be a god. Smith shows, however, that a magician
could privately or in the circle of his disciples or fellow-magicians say that
he was a god. He notes that Jesus is generally called 'Son of G o d ' in
connection with the miracles, and he proposes that the connection is
causal.
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for the origin of the title 'Son of God'. We should ask, however, whether
miracles could have evoked that tide from a Jewish audience. Even if in
pagan circles magic could lead to the tide 'son of god', could it do so in
Jewish Galilee? We do not know how stricdy and thoroughly monotheistic
the ordinary people of Galilee were. In Smith's view, many Galileans were
recent, forced converts, and their conversion may have been only skindeep. But even if, following Freyne, we assume that they were loyal Jews
of long standing, we still cannot know that for them monotheism excluded
use of the phrase 'Son of God', or 'son of god', for one who had
extraordinary power. We should recall that even such a self-conscious and
sophisticated monotheist as Philo could point out that Moses, like God,
was called 'god and king of the nation' (Moses 1.158; Philo has biblical
support: see Exod. 4 . 1 6 ; 7 . 1 ) . Philo is perhaps further from the Galilean
peasantry than are the Greek magical papyri, and neither gives direct
evidence about possible meanings of'god' among Galilean peasants. T h e
present point must remain general: we cannot know that even in Jewish
circles a person could not be called 'god'. Smith's proposal remains as a
possibility.
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T h e second question - whether or not a magician could do good deeds

and still be a magician - is an interesting one, since it raises the question
of what deeds prove about the doer. We shall return immediately to this
as a general question. With regard to the strict definition of a magician,
however, it would seem that Smith is correct. T h e implication of the
Beelzebub controversy, as it now stands in the Gospels, is that Jesus was
accused of employing an evil spirit to perform exorcisms and was himself
therefore allied with evil. This seems to mean that, although he did good
deeds, he could be accused of not being a good person - in effect, of being
a magician. We must assume that this made sense to the evangelists and
their readers, and thus that Jesus, while doing good deeds, could have
been thought of as a magician.
Just as we earlier observed that Smith's argument cannot be brushed
aside as relying on evidence too remote from first-century Palestine, we
must now observe that MacMullen's observations about gods and miracles
in the ancient world do not lead to the dismissal of Smith's view. As I
proposed above, his hypothesis as a whole is unsatisfactory because it
leaves largely out of account the persuasive evidence which makes us look
to Jewish eschatology as defining the general contours of Jesus' career.
That his miracles exemplify some of the traits of magic need not be denied.
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Conclusion

We have dealt principally with two recent attempts to make the fact of
miracles provide a definition of who Jesus was, or at least of what sort of
figure he was. Harvey, with others, has proposed that the miracles were
eschatological and agree with other evidence that Jesus saw himself as
being a, or the, end-time figure. Smith has proposed that Jesus' miracles
bear some of the marks of magic and that Jesus was a magician who moved
upward to holy man and god on the strength of his ability to work wonders.
There have been other proposals, for example that of Vermes, that Jesus
fits the type of a Galilean charismatic such as Honi. It is my own judgment
that we learn nothing this definite from the fact of the miracles.
T h e problem is indicated by the Beelzebub controversy. We see there
that miracles would indicate different things to different people, depending
on their point of view. Even ifJesus, in performing miracles, sometimes
employed some of the devices of a magician (e.g., imitating the madness
he was trying to heal), and thus may be said to have practised 'magic',
we cannot, from that possibility, conclude that he was a magician. T h e
Essenes, Josephus informs us, were adept at magical practice (BJf II. 159),
but we do not understand them adequately by calling them 'magicians'.
Nor do we understand Jesus by calling him 'a magician'. There is too
much evidence in hand which inclines us to call him an eschatological
prophet to permit us to dismiss it and to allow our tide for his 'type' to be
determined only by his miracles.
We are in part here debating two closely related questions, one of
emphasis, the other of what categories provide helpful labels. I shall reserve
full comments on Jesus' religious and social 'type' for ch. 8, and here make
only preliminary remarks. Smith and I - and more or less everyone else think that Jesus claimed to be a spokesman for God and performed what
were viewed as miracles. T h e questions are whether we should (1)
emphasize the miracles and (2) derive from them the basic label for Jesus.
I propose that Smith presses beyond what is helpful in categorizing Jesus
as 'a magician'. 'Prophet', at least thus far, is probably to be regarded as
the better term. T h e importance of this distinction will be seen immediately
below.
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But the miracles themselves, as I have more than once observed, do not
push us further towards the view that Jesus was an eschatological prophet.
There is nothing about miracles which would trigger, in the first-century
Jewish world, the expectation that the end was at hand.
That is not to say, however, that an eschatological prophet - or, for that

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CROWDS

matter, any prophet - would not be asked for a 'sign'. Quite the contrary.
Anyone who made a claim to have inside knowledge about God's intention
would probably be asked for a sign, just as would be the proclaimer of a
new god. Here the evidence of Josephus is clear. In retelling the story
of Moses, he follows the Bible fairly closely, but the treatment of 'signs'
seems to reflect his own view as well. Moses accepted God's word as God's
word because it was accompanied by such great signs (47 II.275), and he
employed signs to attempt to persuade Pharaoh. T h e signs were rejected
by Pharaoh as 'juggleries and magic' (II.284), which shows that miracles
cannot be self-authenticating. But Moses persevered and attempted,
though without success, to persuade Pharaoh by still greater signs that it
was 'from no witchcraft. . . , but from God's providence and power', that
his signs proceeded (II. 286). At a period contemporary with Josephus we
note that Theudas promised to part the river Jordan, that unnamed people
promised marvels and signs to those who followed them into the desert,
and that the Egyptian claimed that the walls of Jerusalem would collapse
at his command. We cannot be sure just what these people claimed to
be. According to Josephus, Theudas and the Egyptian claimed to be
prophets, and that will do as a general designation. Their promised signs
were doubdess intended to prove that they were who they said, and that God
truly acted through them. T h e signs promised by Theudas and the Egyptian,
which recalled the Exodus and the conquest, were almost certainly
intended to be eschatological signs. T h e deeds promised were proferred
as signs of the kingdom, not because miracles themselves point to the
eschaton, but because of the events which they recalled. Whether Theudas
and the Egyptian thought that the kingdom was future, or was 'breaking
in' in their deeds, we have no way of knowing. But generically, these signs,
like others, were intended to prove that the doer of them spoke the truth
and acted with power given by God. It is also clear that not everyone
believed. Signs and wonders, whether performed or only promised, do not
necessarily convince all and sundry that the person who performs them
speaks and acts for God.
Josephus clearly signals his own view of Theudas (informed by hindsight)
by calling him a goes, a magician or deceiver (47 X X . 9 7 ) . T h e tide is
intended pejoratively. Theudas considered himself a prophet; Josephus
called him a magician. Had Theudas's sign worked, had the Romans been
put to rout, or had something approaching 'the kingdom' arrived, Josephus
doubdess would have found another title. Similarly Philostratus termed
Apollonius a 'sage' and defended him against the charge that he was a
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'sorcerer' (magos) (Life ofApollonius 1.2). T h e terms distinguish point of

view more than activity.
We can now see the situation in the Gospels clearly. Jesus, we read, was
asked for a sign, and we may be reasonably sure that the report is accurate.
According to Matt. 1 2 . 3 8 - 4 2 and par.; Mark 8.1 if. and par., he refused.
Matt. 1 1 . 2 - 6 , however, depicts John the Baptist as asking if Jesus is 'the
one to come', and in his reply Jesus is said to offer signs. I share the general
opinion that the pericope as such does not describe an actual event, but it
does show the naturalness of appealing to signs for authentication. But
whether or not Jesus offered his miracles as signs that he spoke for God,
they convinced some that he did so, and they considered him a special
figure in God's plan. They also probably asked just who he was (cf. Matt.
1 1 . 3 ; Mark 8.27 and parr.), and they gave him favourable tides (Mark
8.28f. and parr.), probably even 'Son of God' (Mark 3 . 1 1 and elsewhere).
Others were unpersuaded. They very likely called Jesus a 'magician' or
'deceiver'.
In any case, the miracles by themselves do not suffice to tell us what was
Jesus' religious 'type'. I am inclined to put him closer to Theudas than to
Honi or to the magicians of the PGM
but that is because there is other
evidence which leads us to think of Jesus as an eschatological prophet, not
because the miracles make him one. Miracles were sufficiendy common,
sufficiendy diverse, and sufficiendy scattered among holy men, messianic
pretenders, magicians and temples that we cannot draw firm inferences
from them in order to explain what social type Jesus fits best or what his
intention really was.
While the miracles themselves do not dictate their own meaning, it is
entirely reasonable to assume that Jesus' following, and perhaps Jesus
himself, saw them as evidencing his status as true spokesman for God,
since that sort of inference was common in the Mediterranean. We cannot
say that Jesus proferred his miracles to his audience as bearing this
significance - even though it is reasonable that he saw them in this way because of the tradition that he refused to give a sign. According to the
Gospels, the miracles show thatJesus spoke and acted with divine authority,
and some saw it that way, though others doubted. They depict Jesus
himself as not appealing to the miracles as establishing his authority except
in replying to John. It turns out that we cannot go much behind their view
of the matter. T h e miracles constitute a fact about Jesus' career, but they
do not tell as much as could have been desired.
61

At the beginning of the chapter we posed four questions which should

be considered in studying the miracles and what they tell us about Jesus,

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his intention, and the significance of his career. Let us now offer summary
answers:
1 . We do not learn with certainty whatJesus thought of himself, although
it is reasonable to think that he, as well as his followers, saw his miracles
as testifying to his being a true messenger from or agent of God.
2. The miracles, as Smith proposed, doubdess contributed gready to
his ability to gather crowds, and they thus help explain why he was executed.
It was not just that his words, abstracdy considered, were challenging to
the authorities, but that he attracted attention and commotion.
3. 'Outsiders' probably regarded Jesus as a charlatan, a magician.
4. Jesus cannot be considered simply a teacher. The miracles do not
require us to think that he was an eschatological prophet, but they are
compatible with that view.
We earlier noted Smith's proposal that Jesus' miracles correspond to
his proclamation to the 'poor'. There is no explicit connection made in
the literature, but the Gospels lead us to see his followers as being
religiously the 'sinners' and socially the lame, halt and blind: that is, as
being on the fringes of society for one reason or another. This leads us to
the question ofJesus and the 'sinners'.
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The one distinctive note which we may be certain marked Jesus' teaching
about the kingdom is that it would include the 'sinners'. Even if we grant
that Jesus may have held the view that the kingdom was breaking in with
his own words and deeds (Matt. 1 1 . 2 - 6 ; 12.28), we must also note that
such a view is very difficult to find in the didactic material which is
attributed to him. Thus the opening sentence: the promise of salvation to
sinners is the undeniably distinctive characteristic of Jesus' message.
Everyone agrees that this is at least one of the characteristic traits, but we
may nevertheless ask how such happy concord is reached. There are three
considerations. (1) The material which conveys that message is large in
extent. (2) It reaches us in many diverse forms - parables, other sayings,
flat declarations of purpose, reports of Jesus' activity, and reported
accusations against him. (3) A high tolerance for sinners was not a
characteristic of the early church, as far as we can know it. The description
of Jesus' group as 'sinners' probably originated, as Jeremias and others
have suggested, as an accusation. That Jesus' group was said to consist
of (or at least include) sinners has the same probability of authenticity as
has the accusation that he exorcized by a demon. This is one of the
instances in which the usual criteria for authenticity really work.
1

Of the material which conveys the promise of salvation to sinners, I,

with others, would single out 'flat declarations of purpose' as having the
slightest claim to authenticity. Jesus may have said 'I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners' (Mark 2 . 1 7 ) and 'I was sent only to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel' (Matt. 1 5 . 2 4 ; the same restriction is laid on the
disciples in 10.6), but all the 'I came' and 'I was sent' passages are under
the suspicion of being creations of the later church. If these statements
are such, however, it would appear that the church expanded an authentic
motif.
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Passages about the 'sinners' show us again how tenuous it is to rely on

the authenticity of any individual saying. What I am proposing is this: (1)
The church would not have created the description of Jesus' proclamation
as being directed towards 'sinners'. (2) Nevertheless some of the summary
statements (especially Matt. 9.1 i - i 3 / / M a r k 2.i6f.//Luke 5 . 3 0 - 3 2 , Jesus
came to call sinners, not the righteous) were probably created in the early
church. Here as elsewhere we can rely on general probability more than
on the analysis of any individual passage. It is unlikely that the church
created from nothing the charge that Jesus associated with sinners; but
once that charge was fixed in the tradition, it would appear that further
sayings could be generated. The saying in Mark 2.i6f. and parr, seems to
have an apologetic thrust, since it partially protects the righteous: they are
all right, yet Jesus' special mission was to call sinners. Luke heightens the
apologia by adding 'unto repentance' (Luke 5.32). It is also quite possible
that the first statement, 'that he eats with sinners and tax collectors' (Mark
2.16a), is an addition. Matthew and Luke elsewhere have no objection to
incorporating that description. Similarly Luke 15.if. (as we shall see
below) is almost certainly an editorial creation; and I would regard the
parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 1 8 . 9 - 1 4 ) , with its
heavy accent on breast-beating and repentance, as a Lucan (or pre-Lucan)
creation. The story of Zacchaeus, who in public promised restoration of
all that he had unfairly gained, is also peculiar to Luke (Luke 1 9 . 1 - 1 0 ) .
One may also note as dubious Luke's conclusion to the parable of the Lost
Sheep (joy over one sinner who repents, Luke 15.7), which is an edifying
remark not present in the Matthaean parallel (Matt. 1 8 . 1 0 - 1 4 ) . Luke
concludes the parable of the Lost Coin in the same way (Luke 1 5 . 1 0 ) .
We shall return to the question of repentance, noting here only that Luke
was concerned to emphasize that the disreputable people with whom Jesus
associated were moved to repentance and reformation. At any rate we see
that the theme of Jesus' concern for the 'sinners', once it was embedded
in the synoptic tradition, could be expanded, especially if a moral could
be attached.
The authentic material, which we shall discuss shortly, will turn out to
be slight in comparison to the elaborations and enhancements of the
theme. The distinctiveness and importance of the topic, however, as well
as the difficulty of giving it a meaningful setting, require an extended
treatment. The question becomes what we can learn from the fact that
Jesus was accused of associating with 'tax collectors and sinners'. The
answer to this question is, I think, harder to discover than is usually thought
5

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to be the case, and we shall have to spend some time evaluating the
predominant view.

The sinners, the wicked, the poor and the 'amme ha-arets
Jeremias presents under the heading 'the poor' the position that several
terms in the Gospels are synonymous; more precisely, that they refer to
the same group. He proposes that the reader of the Gospels sees this
group from two perspectives, that of Jesus' opponents and that of Jesus
himself. The former called his followers 'tax collectors and sinners' or
'sinners', as well as other derogatory names - 'the little ones' (Mark 9.42
and elsewhere) or 'the simple ones' (Matt. 1 1 . 2 5 ) . About the terminology
for Jesus' group as seen by his enemies (here tacidy assumed to be the
Pharisees), Jeremias says this:
10

Summing up, then, we can now say thatjesus' following consisted predomin
antly of the disreputable, the 'amme ha- 'ares, the uneducated, the ignorant,
whose religious ignorance and moral behaviour stood in the way of their
access to salvation, according to the convictions of the time.
11

From Jesus' own point of view, this group was called 'the poor' (a wellknown term to mean 'our group, presendy out of power', the biblical
background of which Jeremias concisely presents). The term occurs in
Matt. 11.5/VLuke 7.22; Luke 4.18; 6.20. An alternate phrase is 'those
who labour and are heavy laden' (Matt. 1 1 . 2 8 ) .
Jeremias's position, then, is that Jesus' opponents could call his followers
either 'sinners' or 'amme ha-arets (or words equivalent to it) with no clear
distinction of meaning. This position I believe to be incorrect, though
many accept the equation of the 'poor', the 'litde ones', the 'sinners' and
the common people. There are, in fact, several views about Jesus, the
sinners, the 'amme ha-arets and the Pharisees which are widely held, but
which I think can be shown to be completely wrong. Principal discussion
of the Pharisees as Jesus' opponents will occupy us in ch. 1 0 , but we may
here lay out the complex of interrelated views which dominate New
Testament scholarship and begin to evaluate the evidence. The views are
these: (1) That 'Pharisees', 'haberim', and 'Rabbis' are more or less
equivalent terms. (2) That in Jesus' day the Pharisees ( = the haberim)
controlled Judaism. (3) That the term 'sinners' includes the ordinary
people, those called 'amme ha-arets in Rabbinic literature. (4) That the
leaders ofJudaism (believed to be the Pharisees) successfully made these
people feel excluded. (5) That Jesus' uniqueness consists in part in his
12

13

14

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177

offering forgiveness to repentant sinners ( = common people). (6) That

Jesus offended the Pharisees by associating with the common people and
offering them forgiveness. The association, in the form of table-fellowship,
is held to have transgressed the Pharisaic purity code. (7) That Jesus'
behaviour was so offensive as to account, in no small part, for his execution.
The discussion which immediately follows will focus on the first, third,
fourth, fifth and sixth points, but aspects of the second and seventh will
also be considered. The discussion will be a bit involved, and I have
resorted to an enumeration scheme to keep the points straight. We shall
begin with terminological points (under 1 ) and proceed to the common
people and salvation (under 2). Finally, we shall offer a new proposal about
the significance of Jesus' inclusion of the 'sinners' (under 3). Since most
discussions of the sinners and the 'amme ha-arets rely on Rabbinic literature
to define Pharisaic opinions, our discussion will include the Rabbis. I shall,
however, try to distinguish the situation before 70 from that after 70.

1. Terminology
1 . 1 . The sinners. Many scholars have recognized that the inclusion of the
common people under the term 'sinners' is not correct, but it still seems
that the erroneous view is popular enough, and is contained in sufficiendy
important books, to require one more refutation. There should be no
confusion about the basic meaning of the term 'sinners' in the Gospels.
The word in English versions of the Bible translates the Greek word
hamartoloi. Behind hamartoloi stands, almost beyond question, the Hebrew
word reshaHm (or the Aramaic equivalent). The Semitic languages have
other words which are used in parallel with reshaHm, but it is the dominant
term. Resha Hm is virtually a technical term. It is best translated 'the wicked',
and it refers to those who sinned wilfully and heinously and who did not
repent. It is often said that the wicked were 'professional sinners', and
Jeremias has collected lists of such from here and there in Rabbinic
literature. Certainly the term would include professional sinners, such
as usurers, who in their daily business transgressed Lev. 2 5 . 3 6 - 3 8 :
15

16

17

Take no interest from him [your brother who becomes poor] or increase,
but fear your God; that your brother may live beside you. You shall not lend
him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. I am the Lord
your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt to give you the
land of Canaan, and to be your God.
The clear implication of the passage is that those who renounce the

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commandment not to charge interest also renounce the Lord God, who
brought them out of theland of Egypt: they renounce the covenant. These
are, in later Jewish terminology, 'the wicked'. The Rabbis understood the
implication very well, and Rabbinic literature spells it out, dealing with
this and other similarly weighted injunctions in detail. There is every
reason to think that this understanding of the 'wicked' prevailed also before
7 0 . How can one read the biblical passage and not see the point? Those
who fear God do not charge interest; those who charge interest do not
fear God.
Jeremias, in making a basically correct point, follows the late Rabbinic
homiletical exaggeration in making all sorts of trades the equivalent of
usury. These lists and similar ones have an observable tendency to
lengthen, and we should not follow Jeremias to the bottom line of the
latest list; but the general point is correct.
The wicked need not be involved in a profession which requires
renunciation of the God who redeemed Israel. There are other ways of
renouncing the covenant. The apocryphal story about Elisha b. Abuya
makes the point perfecdy well. He rode his horse in front of the temple
site on the Day of Atonement when it fell on a Sabbath.
Thus we know in general terms who the wicked were, and we can readily
understand why 'tax collectors' and 'sinners' go together in several passages
in the Gospels: they were all traitors. Tax collectors, more precisely, were
quislings, collaborating with Rome. The wicked equally betrayed the God
who redeemed Israel and gave them his law. There was no neat distinction
between 'religious' and 'political' betrayal infirst-centuryJudaism.
There are two principal passages in the Gospels in which Jesus is said
to have been criticized for eating with the tax collectors and the wicked.
One is a triple tradition passage, usually called 'The Call of Levi' (Matt.
9 . 9 - i 3 / / M a r k 2 . i 3 - i 7 / / L u k e 5 . 2 7 - 3 2 ) . Jesus calls a tax collector to
follow him, and he does so. They enter a house to eat and are joined by
other 'tax collectors and sinners'. The Pharisees, ever on the look-out for
Jesus' table companions, since they are constandy concerned with the
question of with whom Jesus eats, ask the disciples why Jesus eats with tax
collectors and sinners. This serves to introduce the statement which we
earlier mentioned, 'I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.' The story
as such is obviously unrealistic. We can hardly imagine the Pharisees as
policing Galilee to see whether or not an otherwise upright man ate with
sinners. But the charge, I think, is authentic, and we shall eventually come
back to it.
18

19

20

21

22

The second story is more realistic. The passage in Matthew ( 1 1 . 1 6 - 1 9 )

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is set in a context of accusations against 'this generation'. Jesus complains

that they rejected John, and now they reject him. They call him 'a glutton
and a wine-bibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners' (Matt. 1 1 . 1 9 ; cf.
Luke 7.34). This has the ring of authenticity. Jesus is in something like
despair: nothing works, neither John's asceticism and austerity, nor his
own different tactic.
But we do not need to try to prove that the passage is a verbatim account.
As we said above, the general charge that Jesus associated with tax
collectors and sinners is very likely one that was actually levelled against
him, even though none of our accounts may be verbatim reports. Thus
here I can happily join the consensus and agree that Jesus associated with
the wicked and was criticized for it.
The wicked (more precisely, the lost) appear prominendy in three
consecutive parables in Luke, and these parables, if authentic, indicate
Jesus' view of them. The parables are the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and
the Prodigal Son (Luke 1 5 . 1 - 3 2 ) . I do not wish to allegorize the
parables, but it is hard not to see the Lost Coin and the Lost Sheep as
corresponding to the tax collectors and sinners that Jesus associated with.
If we can make this equation, then we can note that they are called 'the
lost' (Luke 1 5 . 4 , 6, 9, 32), and the prodigal son characterizes himself as
one who has 'sinned' (Luke 1 5 . 1 8 ) . Luke's setting in 1 5 . if. (tax collectors
and sinners were near Jesus, and the Pharisees and scribes said that Jesus
eats with sinners) is of course his own contribution, as are the concluding
summaries to the first two parables ('more joy in heaven over one sinner
who repents', Luke 1 5 . 7 , io). But Luke seems to have been on the right
track. Jesus was concerned with 'the lost'.
Thus, to conclude this sub-section: Jesus saw his mission as being to
'the lost' and the 'sinners': that is, to the wicked. He was doubdess also
concerned with the poor, the meek and the downtrodden, and in all
probability he had a following among them. But the charge against him was
not that he loved the 'amme ha-arets, the common people. If there was a
conflict, it was about the status of the wicked. It is a mistake to think that
the Pharisees were upset because he ministered to the ordinarily pious
common people and the economically impoverished. T o drive this point
home, we should now turn to the relationship - or lack thereof - between
the wicked and the common people.
1.2. The wicked and the 'amme ha-arets. The problem with Jeremias's
position is that the term 'the wicked' (in Greek, 'sinners') - which is used
with complete consistency in the Gospels and in Jewish literature from
Ben Sira to the close of the Mishnah, a period of 400 years - does not
23

2 4

25

26

27

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include the 'amme ha-arets. Rabbinic literature is the only source to which
one may look for traces of Pharisaic attitudes towards the ordinary people.
I maintain that there is absolutely no passage in the entirety of that literature
- which is large enough to contain some element of virtually every known
attitude and emotion - which in any way supports the assertion that the
scrupulous and learned regarded the ordinary people as 'the wicked', those
who flagrandy and persistendy disobeyed the law. Earlier Jewish literature
generally uses the term 'wicked' and the like for the powerful who oppress
the 'pious'. In short, I know of no passage in Jewish literature which
indicates that any group which can reasonably be connected with the
Pharisees considered the common people as beyond the pale.
There is one passage in the New Testament which attributes to the
Pharisees the view that 'this crowd, who do not know the law, are accursed'
(John 7.49). Further, the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican may be
read as attributing to the Pharisees the view that all others are 'extortioners,
unjust, adulterers' and the like (Luke 1 8 . 9 - 1 4 ) . (The note on the latter
passage in the New Oxford Annotated Bible describes these faults as being
ritual failures. This indicates very well how deeply committed New
Testament scholarship is to the view that the Pharisees were interested
only in ritual and trivia.) Neither passage can be regarded as actually
indicating the views of Pharisaism before 7 0 , and the second may reflect
nothing other than Luke's anti-Pharisaism. At a maximum, they might
be taken as reflecting one side of the hostility between the learned and the
unlearned which sometimes appears in Rabbinic literature. It is not
unreasonable to think that both before and after 70 there was some
hostility between the learned and the scrupulous (the haberim, scribes and
Pharisees), on the one hand, and the common people on the other. But
we must remember that feelings of hostility and despite do not add up to
a fixed view on the part of the Pharisees or the haberim that those less
learned and scrupulous were cut off from access to salvation, as many
would have it. We shall later note the significance of the fact that the
hostility was mutual.
28

29

30

31

32

In Rabbinic literature the term 'am ha-arets is used in two contexts: they
are contrasted with the haberim and with the hakamin.
1.3. The 'amme ha-arets are contrasted with the haberim, the 'associates'.
These took upon themselves the obligation to observe some of the priesdy
laws of purity (e.g. Demai 2.3; T . Demai 2.2). The relationship between
accepting special laws of purity and undertaking to be 'trustworthy' in
tithing is difficult to sort out, but it would appear that originally these were
two separate obligations. In any case we concern ourselves here only with
33

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the matter of purity. It is usually said that the motive of the haberim was to
treat the world like a temple, the sanctuary where God dwells. This is
the most likely general explanation, though it is to be noted that they
accepted for themselves a lower standard of purity than that which
governed priests (e.g. Demai 2.3). This and other considerations have led
Solomon Spiro to conclude that, prior to 70, the haberim played a distinctive
role in the socio-economic order: 'The haberim . . . were expected to
observe those laws of ritual purity which are associated with heave offerings
andtithesbecause they were occupied with these two essential agricultural
contributions to the religious state. They collected them.'
This does not mean that we should surrender the view that they took
upon themselves special obligations out of piety. Others who undertook
special obligations probably did so from pious motives, at least in part.
The ancient equivalents of modern morticians, for example, undertook a
special task which required impurity; and since care of the dead was a
religious obligation, we should assume for them the attitude of offering
service to God. Similarly with the haberim who accepted a high standard
of purity: as Neusner and others have proposed, doubdess they did see
themselves as living in a sanctified universe.
34

35

36

I have neither the need nor the competence to sort out, on the basis of
the complicated evidence in the Mishnah and Tosefta, the history of
groups which accepted special obligations of purity and tithing. It is
generally granted on all hands, and it should be accepted, that before 70
there were haberim - lay people who maintained themselves in a relatively
high state of ritual purity. What is important to note is that such groups
were small, voluntary associations which accepted special rules for special
reasons. They may have thought that others should be like them. There
is absolutely no reason, however, for supposing that such people - whether
before or after 70 - thought of themselves as 'the righteous' and of the
rest of Israel - the 'amme ha-arets - as 'the wicked'. The supposition so
often held by New Testament scholars, that the haberim considered all
others to be 'cut off from God, Israel and salvation, is totally without
foundation.
Finkelstein put the matter with complete clarity:
The 'am ha-arez did not accept the Hasidean norm requiring even profane
food to be kept pure so far as possible and to be consumed only in a state
of purity. The Hasideans themselves admitted that these norms were not
'biblical' in the usual sense of the term; but regarding the world as a Temple
they insisted that all normal life should be in a state of purity.. . . [The

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person violating this view] might not be a haber, but neither was he a
transgressor.
37

The common people were not irreligious. They presumably kept most of
the law most of the time, observed the festivals, and paid heed to 'some of
the more serious purity regulations'. It was only the special purity laws
of the haberim which they did not observe. We should pause to consider
those which they probably did observe - or were generally expected to
observe.
1.3. i. Biblical purity laws. Purity laws are strange to most of us in the
West, and confusion seems to setde like a cloud around the heads of New
Testament scholars who discuss Jewish purity laws. Some clarification
may be useful. There are biblical laws concerning purity which all who
counted themselves as at all observant would have kept. Most purity laws,
however, are not prohibitions; they do not require people to avoid impurity.
They regulate, rather, what must be done after contracting impurity in
order to enter the temple. Josephus put it very well: in several instances the
law prescribes purification 'in view of the sacrifices': 'after a funeral, after
childbirth, after conjugal union, and many others' (Ap. II.198; cf. H . i 0 3 f ;
Bjf V.227). Purity is related to the temple and the sacrifices, and impurity
does not limit ordinary associations, except for very short periods of time
38

39

(K7HI.26if).
As Josephus indicated, the most pervasive laws concerning purity are
corpse uncleanness (Num. 19), menstruation, intercourse and childbirth
(Lev. 1 2 . 1 - 8 ; 1 5 . 1 6 - 2 4 ) . Care for the dead was and is considered a firm
religious duty, and contracting corpse-uncleanness was therefore required
in a family in which there was a death. Childbirth and intercourse are
good, and menstruation is natural. T h e impurity which is incurred by
childbirth, until it is removed, prevents a woman from touching 'any
hallowed thing' (that is, something intended for use in the temple) and
from entering the temple itself (Lev. 12.4). Luke describes Mary and
Joseph (depicted as good 'amme ha-arets) as observing the purity laws
regarding childbirth (Luke 2.22f, 39). In such matters the rule is that
people who have contracted impurity should not defile the temple (Lev.
1 5 . 3 1 ) . Similarly the warning about corpse-uncleanness is not to defile
'the tabernacle' (Num. 1 9 . 1 3 ) . Most people had corpse-uncleanness a lot
of the time; and, since the rite of purity requires the ashes of the red heifer,
purification has been impossible since shortly after the destruction of the
temple. There is nothing wrong with such people; they are only forbidden
by biblical law to enter the temple area. People in a state of impurity

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183

according to these and similar laws - the laws which were presumably
accepted by all - were not sinners, nor had they done anything which made
them inappropriate companions for 'table fellowship'.
There are also prohibitions related to purity, such as those against eating
or touching certain unclean creatures (Lev. 1 1 ; cf. AJf HI.259f). These
convey impurity which is removed by washing and the setting of the sun
(see e.g. Lev. 1 1 . 2 8 ) . There are a few prohibitions which involve the
transgressor in sins, such as the eating of certain fats or blood. For
these, the penalty is 'cutting off (Lev. 7 . 2 2 - 2 7 ) . In the later Rabbinic
interpretation, 'cutting off puts the transgression stricdy between human
and God, and it is atoned for by repentance. The same penalty is
prescribed for those who, while impure, eat sacrificial food (Lev. 7.2of).
This discussion has by no means dealt with all aspects of the purity laws,
but I shall attempt some generalizations. (1) Most impurities do not result
from the transgression of a prohibition, although a few do. Purification in
either case is necessary before entering the temple or otherwise contacting
something holy, and it is accomplished by washing and the setting of the
sun (or, in the case of corpse-uncleanness, a more complicated variant of
the procedure: Num. 1 9 . 1 - 1 3 ) . In neither case is the impure person a
sinner. A substantial sin is committed only if someone while impure eats
holy food or enters the temple. (2) A few purity transgressions, such as
eating blood, are in and of themselves sins; that is, they require atonement.
(3) Contact between an impure person and a pure person is not ordinarily
considered a sin, although such contacts may have been avoided to keep
impurity from spreading and ultimately touching something connected
with the temple. In one important instance contact with an impure person
involves both parties in a sin: sexual intercourse with a menstruant. The
Bible (Lev. 20.18) specified 'cutting off as the punishment, while the
Rabbis required a sin-offering (Niddah 2.2). (4) But, as a general rule,
those who became impure, either because they should do so (e.g. to care
for the dead and bear children), or because they touched something
forbidden (e.g. vermin), did not, as long as they lived their ordinary lives,
sin. Normal human relations were not substantially affected. Recourse to
the immersion pool (see just below), and waiting for the sun to set, cleansed
most impurities.
40

41

' It should be emphasized that observation of the biblical purity laws was
not a special concern of the Pharisees. Westerholm, who in general
understands the topic of purity very well, nevertheless has some curious
statements. He writes that 'in O.T. times, it was clearly the priests'
responsibility to define the areas of clean and unclean, and to teach the

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observance of these distinctions to the people', while 'in the N . T . period,

Pharisees observed distinctions in this area drawn by scribes'. We should
first note that the prescriptions for cleansing before entering the temple
could not be enforced by anyone, but lay on each person's conscience. But
since the biblical laws principally have to do with the temple, it was still in
Jesus' day the priests' responsibility to teach them. There is no reason
to believe that they had surrendered this prerogative to the Pharisees, or
to secular scribes who taught them to Pharisees.
T h e biblical laws seem to have been widely observed. Westerholm calls
attention to the passage in Josephus which describes resistance in the days
of Herod Antipas to settiing in Tiberias, which overlay a burial ground
(47XVIII.3 6-3 8). Living in such an area would make one always impure.
We may now also point to the numerous ritual baths {miqvaot) which
archaeology has brought to light in houses in Jerusalem during the
Herodian period. There were also miqvaot to the south and west of the
temple area. With one exception (to my knowledge) these are not equipped
with a pipe connecting the bath water to a cistern containing rain or spring
water, which is virtually required in cities by later Rabbinic rule, and
probably also by the Pharisees. We know that at least some of those most
zealous for the law and Israel built such miqvaot before 7 0 . T h e houses
in west Jerusalem, a prosperous area of the city, may have been occupied
by priests or others who worked for or in the temple. We may attribute the
number of miqvaot pardy to prosperity, and perhaps also partly to respect
for Jerusalem as a holy city: observance of ritual purity may have been
higher there than elsewhere. But we see in any case that it was widely
observed, and observed by people of different classes and halakic orienta
tions. T h e well-to-do inhabitants of West Jerusalem, probably Sadducees
if anything, did not observe it because the Pharisees and scribes demanded
it, but because the Bible does.
42

43

44

45

46

47

48

One should ask what was the situation of a person who disregarded the
purity laws and did not use the immersion pool, but remained perpetually
impure. Here it would be reasonable to equate being impure with being a
'sinner' in the sense of 'wicked', for such a person would have taken the
position that the biblical laws need not be observed. All the laws of purity
and impurity are to be voluntarily observed. If, for example, a husband
and wife agreed not to observe the prohibition of intercourse during
menstruation, no one would ever know unless they announced the fact. If
the woman never used the immersion pool, however, her neighbours
would note that she was not observant (unless she could afford a private
pool). Not intending to be observant is precisely what makes one 'wicked';

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but the wickedness comes not from impurity as such, but from the attitude
that the commandments of the Bible need not be heeded.
Thus these biblical purity laws, which most people seem to have
observed, did not lead to a fixed view that the common people were sinners.
1.3.2. Handwashing. Handwashing is an entirely different matter. It
appears from the Gospels that some lay Jews (either in Jesus' day or later)
washed their hands before eating (Mark 7.2f. and par.). One assumes that
these were the haberim, who might see this as a way of pursuing their
programme: of living life as in the temple. What we do not know about the
practice of handwashing, however, exceeds what we do know. We do not
know, for example, that the priests washed their hands before eating. It is
not a biblical requirement, though it appears in the Mishnah. According
to Yoma 3.2 a priest in the temple must wash his hands and feet after
urinating, and Zabim 5 . 1 2 lists the hands as rendering heave-offering
invalid. In Yadaim 2.2 handwashing is also connected with eating heaveoffering. In these and other cases purification by handwashing is not
argued, but presupposed, and this may incline one to the view that the
practice was older than the Rabbis who discuss it. Even so, however, we
cannot say that the priests in the temple followed what later Rabbinic law
regards as obvious, although they may have done so.
The origin and development of the rules about handwashing by the laity
are even more obscure. The Mishnah itself says that unwashed hands
do not defile common food (Parah 1 1 . 5 ) . Further, according to the same
mishnah, a person impure 'according to the words of the Scribes' but not
according to the law (the category with which we are dealing), could,
without immersion, enter the temple without being guilty. That is, he was
not truly impure. The authors of the Mishnah took handwashing seriously:
in various tractates they gave elaborate details about when it is to be done,
how it is to be done, the effect of doing it, what happens if one hand is
washed and the other not, and so on. But they knew that it was not an area
in which one who did not follow their rules was guilty of a sin. We do not
know the precise chain of tradition from those who practised handwashing
in Jesus' day (I assume that some did) to the Mishnah. Perhaps in the days
of Jesus some were more rabid on the subject. We have no reason, however,
to think that it was an area of serious controversy.
49

Having granted that we do not know the actual history of handwashing

either by the priests or the laity, I shall propose a probable understanding
of it. Many Jews in the time ofJesus thought that priests should wash their
hands before eating heave-offering. The priests may or may not actually
have done so, and all my proposal requires is a lay perception that they did

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or should. Some laypeople undertook to be 'trustworthy' purveyors of food

to the priests, and in this connection they washed their hands before
handling heave-offering. They also, perhaps motivated by the desire to
live as did priests in the temple, adopted the practice of eating even
common food in a state of purity. This involved, among other things,
washing their hands. These were - my proposal continues - the haberim.
Although there are some uncertainties about the history of the rules on
handwashing, some things are clear. It is not a biblical purity law ( 1 . 2 . 1 ) ,
but a practice which, in Jesus' day, was probably developing among certain
groups. It is best, at least for the present purpose, to presume that those
who practised it were haberim, to whom can be attributed concern for
special purity rules. Mark says that 'the J e w s ' washed their hands before
eating (7.3), but in Jesus' day it would have been a small number of them.
T h e Rabbis eventually made handwashing 'normative', and it is worth
noting that it is one of the very few practices of ritual purity which have
continued. But before 70 the common people did not accept the practice.
That is so by definition: had they done so they would have met one of the
requirements of the haberim. But their failure to be haberim in this way, as
in others, did not make them sinners. That is true even if we were to
assume that the laws of the Mishnah governed the haberim in Jesus' time.
1 . 3 . 3 . Purity: Conclusion. T h e reason for making these simple observa
tions is that, as I said above, confusion seems to surround the subject.
Thus Braun takes Mark 7.6-9 (on handwashing) to be an instance in
which Jesus castigated 'specific abuses in the Jewish practice of his time'.
Braun, we must assume, did not know the religious motive behind the
programme of the haberim (to sanctify daily life), and characterizes it as
'abuse'. But the particular point here is that he regards the handwashing
code as a Jewish practice, when in fact it\was limited to a small group.
Similarly Aulen, summarizing recent New Testament scholarship, writes
that Jesus' view was that prescriptions in the law of Moses, 'for example
those concerning the Sabbath and purity', must give way when they come
into conflict with the love commandment. But handwashing is the only
purity issue discussed in the synoptics, and it is not a prescription of'the
law of Moses'. Prescriptions in the law which deal with purity cannot, in
any case, be held to conflict with the commandment to love one's
neighbour, since they do not affect inter-personal relationships.
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51

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54

T o reiterate: the purity laws which governed everybody did not affect
: 'table-fellowship', but principally access to the temple. Incurring impurity
by the biblical code usually did not make a person a 'sinner'. Failure to

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abide by the special laws of the haberim, which did govern eating, only
made one a non-haber, that is, an 'am ha-arets.
Thus when scholars focus on purity as constituting the issue behind the
criticism that Jesus ate with 'sinners', what they are saying, sometimes
without knowing it, is that the haberim accused Jesus of eating with the
'amme ha-arets, not that Jesus associated with those who transgressed the
biblical law. Making purity and table-fellowship the focal points of debate
trivializes the charge against Jesus. It*becomes a dispute between the
haberim and the 'amme ha-arets, and Jesus strikes a blow against the minutiae
of the former. One then misses the point of the charge: that Jesus was
accused of associating with, and offering the kingdom to those who by the
normal standards of Judaism were wicked. They were doubdess also impure,
but it was not impurity as such which made them wicked, nor can Jesus'
inclusion of them be construed as defiance primarily of the laws of ritual
purity.
1.3.4. Haberim and Pharisees. Before 70, the haberim were almost certainly
a very small group, and it is dubious that haberim and Pharisees were
identical. The case for identity can be made if one assumes a direct
equation between the Pharisees and the Rabbis; for the Rabbis certainly
thought that the laity (or at least some of them) should eat food in a state
of semi-priesdy purity. But the equation of 'Pharisees' and 'Rabbis' is
itself precarious. And, once we turn to Rabbinic literature, we find further
complications. One Rabbi proposed that no haber should touch a corpse
(the haber should become in this way too like a priest). If all Rabbis were
haberim, and if the opinion that haberim should not touch a corpse were to
carry the day (it did not), then who would tend the dead? Neither the
Rabbis, nor their wives, nor anyone who followed their rules. Thus it is
doubtful that even all the Rabbis were haberim. Before 70, there was
probably an appreciable overlap between Pharisees and haberim-, and after
70 the Rabbis accepted the main point of the haberim. But these connections
do not amount to an equation.
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56

People who have learned who the Pharisees were by reading Jeremias,
supposedly a reliable authority, will find these terminological distinctions
puzzling. That is because Jeremias, obviously thinking that all Pharisees
were haberim and all haberim Pharisees, simply wrote the word 'Pharisees'
when he was discussing a text which contains the word haberim. Thus, for
example, he wrote that 'A Pharisee does not dwell with them [the 'amme
ha-arets] as a guest' as his translation of Demai 2.3 ; but 'Pharisee' does
not appear in the text: it reads haber. When one adds the assumption (which
was long held, and which Jeremias shared with many) that the Rabbis
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3

perfectly represented the Pharisees, the use of 'Pharisee' for 'haber in

translating Rabbinic texts resulted in the simple equation of haber, Pharisee
and Rabbi which we noted above, and naturally gave the impression - in
fact seemed to prove conclusively - that Pharisaism in the period before
70 was defined by insistence that the laity observe the priesdy laws
governing handling and eating food. But that is just what we do not know.
All that we hear about Pharisaism from people who were actually Pharisees
before 70 is that the party was defined by its zeal for the knowledge of the
law, belief in the resurrection, and acceptance of the tradition of the
elders. Did the tradition of the elders insist that lay people act like priests?
Not that we know of. It is noteworthy that Josephus makes a point of the
fact that the Essenes would not eat other people's food (Bjf I I . i 4 3 f ) , but
says nothing about the Pharisees' observing special food laws which set
them off from other Jews.
Neusner in recent years has argued in favour of the view formulated by
Jeremias and others - that the Pharisees were a small purity sect - , but
his analysis of the Rabbinic texts is unpersuasive and is made especially
dubious by the evidence from Josephus.
Josephus's descriptions of the Pharisees, as we shall see later in this
chapter and also in ch. 1 1 are suspect in one regard: the great influence
which he attributes to them in the Antiquities. But he would have had no
reason for concealing their peculiar food and purity laws, had such laws
defined them. He appears to have found ascetic and rigidly scrupulous
practice attractive, as did many, and he gives numerous such details about
the Essenes, covering not only food but sex (e.g. Bjf I I . i 6 o f ) . He
unvaryingly characterizes the Pharisees as 'exact' with regard to the law,
and there is every reason to think that the Pharisees tried to have their
views of the law carry the day. He exaggerates only their success. They do
not emerge from his pages as a 'small, retiring group of purity-observers',
and it is probably wrong to stress too much the dominance of the haberim
among them. In Josephus, the Pharisees are lay interpreters of the law.
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1.4. The 'amme ha-arets and the hakamim, the learned, are also contrasted
in Rabbinic literature (Horayoth 3.8). In this context the meaning is
'uneducated', that is, by the Rabbinic standard.
2. The 'amme ha-arets and salvation
Now we come to the important point, which justifies the terminological
discussion. Jeremias wrote that the 'amme ha-arets (hereafter, now that the
terminological clarification is complete, the common people) were, in the

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accepted view of their day, excluded from salvation. That this is incorrect
might be seen simply from the preceding terminological discussion: since
the term 'wicked' did not include the common people, and since the latter
are to be characterized simply as neither haberim nor hakamim, it should
follow that no one thought that the common people were excluded from
salvation. Here, however, we must not only clear out some terminological
underbrush, but fell a large tree; for we are up against a dearly cherished
view: the Pharisees, who dominated Judaism, excluded everyone but them
selves from salvation, and Jesus let the common people in. Gustaf Aulen,
who in theory knew that 'the sinners' were not the same as 'the common
people', nevertheless accepted the view which is expressed by Jeremias:
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Table fellowship with 'sinners' was not a simple breach of etiquette on the
part of the individual, it was clear defiance ofboth the regulations concerning
purity and the ordinances which prescribed the penance required of such
violators of the law for restoration into the religious and social community.
63

In this passage Aulen, having said that the 'sinners' were not the common
people, describes 'the sinners' as not obeying the 'regulations concerning
purity' which govern 'table-fellowship' - that is, whether he knew it or not,
as being common people. Further, he evidendy thought that those who
were impure had transgressed the law, were required to do penance, and
were not fit associates for others. All these suppositions are wrong. We
have seen that impurity may be incurred by obeying the law as well as by
certain sorts of disobedience, that acts of penance are not required for
most forms of impurity, and that association with others is not forbidden.
The statement that the sinners needed to repent in order to be restored
to the community is correct with regard to the wicked, but not with regard
to those who were only impure. Aulen followed standard definitions and
ran the two together. He also saw Jesus' offence as being that he ate with
the impure and that this offended the Pharisees. By putting the emphasis
on purity and eating, he in effect agrees with Jeremias's view that the issue
was between a small purity group - called by Jeremias, Aulen and others
'Pharisees' - and Jesus, who favoured including those who did not accept
special purity regulations, that is, the common people.
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Since this position is here under attack, I should explain why I have
quoted a distinguished bishop and theologian who, in his nineties, wrote
a remarkably good book about recent research on the life of Jesus. It is
precisely because he was not a professional New Testament scholar and
certainly not one who claimed expertise in pre-70 Judaism. On such a
point as this he could do nothing other than repeat the opinion prevailing

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among supposed experts. It is not difficult to compile a very long list of

New Testament scholars who hold or have held the view just quoted from
Aulen's book. But the fact that Aulen wrote that sentence shows more
clearly than any such list how common are the opinions which we listed at
the beginning of the chapter. In Aulen's discussion we see virtually the
entire package of erroneous views on the significance of Jesus' going to
the sinners. Since he thought that the issue had to do with eating with the
impure and that the opponents were the Pharisees, we see two equations:
(i) Those who had special laws governing eating were 'Pharisees';
therefore 'Pharisees' were haberim. (2) T h e people with whom this special
group would not eat were 'sinners'; therefore the common people were
sinners and outcasts. (See above, pp.i76f. nos. 1 and 3.) Since Aulen
thought that the impure were outside the community, he must have thought
(3) that the 'Pharisees' controlled Judaism and could make those with
whom they disagreed feel excluded (nos. 2 and 4 above). (4) He saw Jesus'
association with the impure as offending the Pharisees (no. 6 above). This
is all incorrect.
Our understanding of the situation will be better if we consider the
common people under the two headings which characterize them: lack of
education and non-observance of special purity laws.
2 . 1 . The uneducated and salvation. I shall take first the question of the
uneducated. Did the sages (before or after 70, though we have opinions
only from Rabbinic literature) consider the uneducated to be necessarily
condemned sinners? It has been often said that the unlearned must have
been considered sinners, since they could not understand, much less do
the law. Thus Nolan speaks of the 'laws and customs' as being 'so
complicated that the uneducated were quite incapable of understanding
what was expected of them'.
We may ask, first, if that was the Rabbinic view. It was not. T h e Rabbis
had a strong sense of diminished responsibility. T h e common people were
not expected by the learned to know and do everything which they (the
learned) did. T h e light sins of the learned count as the heavy sins of the
unlearned; and the heavy sins of the unlearned as the light sins of the
learned.
Secondly, we may observe that Josephus deals with the question
explicidy and elaborately, and argues that Jews were different from others
because they knew their own laws. Others employ 'professional legal
experts'. 'But, should anyone of our nation be questioned about the laws,
he would repeat them all more readily than his own name' (Ap. H . i 7 7 f ) .
Josephus, throughout this section, engages in obvious and easily compre65

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hensible exaggeration. In the same section he exaggerates Jewish loyalty

to the law (see ch. 9 n. 4). In these and related cases, however, the
exaggeration seems to rest on common observations which would ring true
to Gentile readers: the Jews really did stand out in Graeco-Roman culture
because of their knowledge and observance of the law. On such a point
we cannot assume that Josephus speaks for the sages, but he probably
represents common opinion.
Thirdly, we should apply common sense. It will help us to get rid of
nonsense. Jewish law, as I have written elsewhere, looks hard to modern
Christians, not to ancient J e w s . And, besides, we can look around. Is it
true today that the uneducated cannot observe the law? Is there a high
correlation between the uneducated and those who break the traffic code
(a very detailed bit of law)? Or those who are guilty of tax frauds (the
modern equivalent in complexity to the laws of purity, except that the
latter, in comparison, are quite simple)?
It may help us, in evaluating the claim that the Pharisees viewed the
uneducated as excluded from Israel, and thus from salvation, to put the
matter in human terms; and to do so we may take the case of J o in Dickens'
Bleak House. J o is not only completely illiterate, he also has what we would
now call a very low IQ. But he knows enough to attend an inquest and to
be prepared to answer questions (though the coroner disdains to put them).
He knows that he must 'move on' when told by a constable to do so. He
even knows that it is appropriate (though not required by law) to tend a
lonely and derelict graveyard. He perseveres through a short life without
committing a crime. Ah, someone will say, J o only avoided transgressing
the negative commandments; he could not have known, let alone obeyed,
the positive commandments. Which ones? He had no mother or father to
honour, but he was completely loyal to the few people who were even
passingly kind to him. He very likely observed 'the Sabbath' (that is, in
Victorian England, Sunday) by necessity. His 'job', sweeping a corner,
would not have paid on Sunday. Had income tax forms been invented,
he would not have had to fill them out. In Rabbinic terms, he would not
have been a haber and would not have needed to know their purity code.
Where are those Pharisees who would look at a first-century equivalent of
Dickens'Jo and say, 'You are an accursed sinner; and those who associate
with you are outside the religious and social community'? Had belonging
to such a religion as Judaism, which is alleged to inculcate unremitting
severity, deprived the Pharisees of all semblance of humanity? Will those
who earnesdy believe that to have been the case please produce one scrap
of evidence?
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2.2. Non-haberim in Rabbinic literature.

2.2. i. The non-haberim and salvation in Rabbinic literature. Nor can it be
said that those who did not observe the priesdy purity laws were considered
beyond the reach of God's mercy. After 70 the Rabbis certainly did not
think that. Rabbinic statements on the 'amme ha-arets explicidy include
them among those who have a share in the world to come.
2.2.2. Non-haberim, sin and atonement in Rabbinic literature. There is a
simple test to determine whether or not the post-70 Rabbis considered
the 'amme ha-arets condemned sinners: Did they appoint means of
atonement for them? They did not. Reading the Mishnah makes it clear
that the Rabbis did not think that failing to observe the purity code of the
haberim was a sin. Thus (despite Aulen's statement above) there is no
penance for the kind of impurity which separates haber from 'am ha-arets.
2.2.3. Social exclusion in Rabbinic literature. By quoting such a passage as
Demai 2.3 ( a haber may not be the guest of an 'am ha-arets, nor receive
him as a guest in his own raiment), Jeremias gives the impression of a rigid
exclusivism. In Aulen's words, the ritually impure are outside the 'religious
and social community'. Certainly social and business intercourse were
restricted by the haberim. But the exclusion was not complete: note the
exception to the rule in the Mishnah just quoted: A haber may serve as host
to an 'am ha-arets if the latter changes his garment. In Demai 2.2 R. Judah
offered the opinion that one who is trustworthy in tithes may be the guest
of an 'am ha-arets. Other aspects of the Mishnah's tithing and purity laws
envisage various forms of contact. Demai 4.2, for example, has further
rules for eating with an 'am ha-arets, and Makshirin 6.3 allows certain
purchases of food from an 'am ha-arets. Certainly there were restrictions
(even assuming that all the Mishnah's rules were obeyed), but the usual
depiction of complete avoidance is exaggerated.
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2.3. Exclusion from the social and religious community before 70. Before 70
we have no literary evidence for the attitude of the haberim towards other
Jews, but we can setde the question without it. In the first place, the
Rabbinic discussions of the haberim make it clear that they took upon
themselves a special vow which they did not expect others to take. They
were more scrupulous than others, but they did not exclude them from
anything but certain of their own activities - certainly not from the religious
and social life ofJudaism.
Secondly, we can draw a strong inference from the fact that neither the
haberim nor the Pharisees withdrew from Jerusalem. As long as they lived
there and continued to worship at the temple, they clearly did not think
that other people were 'cut off. If they had come to the view that the

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common people were not truly in Israel, they would have had to reach the
same conclusion about the priests; for the priests accepted the standard
of piety of the 'amme ha-arets (see below). Further, the surviving attacks
on the priests (e.g. Ps. Sol. 8) show that they were subject to criticism from
the especially strict and scrupulous. The Dead Sea Sect - in contrast to
the haberim, the Pharisees and later the Rabbis - did consider everyone
else to be outside the body of the truly elect. They applied this to the
common people, to the Pharisees and to the priests. The other groups of
superior piety - by whatever name they go - , by staying in Jerusalem and
accepting the common worship, show that they did not consider the less
strict to be outside the covenant.
There is, thirdly, a decisive argument against the view that the haberim
(equated, in the scholarly discussion of the point, with the Pharisees)
excluded the common people from the social and religious community.
They did not control it. Saying that lay people who transgressed the priestly
purity code were considered outside 'the religious and social community'
is nonsense, just as is saying that it was 'the conviction of the time' that
the 'amme ha-arets did not have access to salvation. The notion that the
haberim or Pharisees could, in Jesus' day, effectively exclude others from
the religious community attributes to them a power which they did not
have and seems to rest on a retrojection of the kind of dominance which
Rabbis in orthodox communities eventually came to possess. We should
recall that in the Rabbinic passages which express hostility between the
learned and the common people the hostility is mutual. The common
people thought that they were right, and there is no reason to think that,
when they were in the vast majority, they felt excluded and were therefore
awaiting a prophet to admit them to the kingdom. If they had considered
themselves cut off from salvation for not washing their hands before eating,
they could have started washing them. We should remember that, before
70, the 'amme ha-arets were primary members of 'normative Judaism',
along with the priesthood. According to the dominant 'conviction of the
time', that of the common people and the priesthood, the former were
worthy members of Israel. Both groups doubdess thought that, as long as
people participated in the worship of the temple, repented on the Day of
Atonement, and did the other things prescribed in the Bible for the
correction of sin and the removal of impurity, they were fully members of
the social and religious community.
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T o return to our illustration from Bleak House above: The coroner who
refuses to hear Jo testify may reasonably be said to have held him to be a
non-citizen, one unworthy to take his place in civilized society, despite his

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desire to do so. Let us say that there were, in Judaism before 70, some
haberim who held this attitude towards the common people. Did they
occupy places in Jewish society analogous to that of the coroner in Dickens'
novel? Could the haberim have effectively excluded the common people
from the religious and social life of Judaism? It appears not. If any
one group had that power, it would have been the priesthood. Their
responsibilities included 'general supervision, the trial of cases of litigation,
and the punishment of condemned persons'.
We should briefly consider the probable attitude towards the common
people of those who actually ran the 'religious community' (that is, the
national religion). If a man had transgressed a law which required a
sacrifice, and brought that sacrifice, the priest would not ask him if he,
though a lay person, observed the priestly purity code. He would ask him
if he repented. When the sacrifice was accepted (as it would be, if
accompanied with a prayer of repentance), the person who brought it
would hardly feel outside the religious community just because some petty
and legalistic group of haberim, crouched in their conventicle, having tablefellowship with one another, would not eat with him. Why would he want
them to? The mind boggles. He may have resented their self-assigned
superiority, but would have had no discernible reason for feeling excluded
from Judaism. Another modern analogy may be helpful. An eighteenthcentury Anglican, in communion with the church, would not, on leaving
the church, have felt excluded from the religious and social community
just because the Methodists, in their small conventicles, thought that,
instead of taking sugar in his tea, he should have given the money to the
poor. He might have resented the Methodists' superior righteousness, but
enough eighteenth-century English literature survives to show that nonMethodists did not feel excluded.
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Yet it may be argued that the Pharisees controlled public opinion and
could thus effectively exclude those who disagreed with them from the
religious life ofJudaism. Those who think that the Pharisees were haberim
may thus persist in thinking that the common people were outcasts. This
requires us to pause for a moment to consider the power of the Pharisees.
2 . 3 . 1 . The role of the Pharisees in Judaism before 70. We must now pay
attention to one of the basic assumptions of those who hold the view which
is here under attack, or some variant of it: the Pharisees governed Judaism.
This view is an important one, and it informs discussions not only of'Jesus
and the sinners', but also of 'Jesus and the law' and 'the cause of his
death'. Common views about the Pharisees (here including some already
mentioned and some yet to be discussed) are these: that the Pharisees

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attacked Jesus for association with those who transgressed their purity
laws; that these people were considered by them to be 'sinners'; that the
debates on the law also brought Jesus into conflict with its guardians, the
Pharisees; and that Jesus' challenge to the Pharisees on these two counts
(purity and the sinners; the law) was a major factor in bringing him to the
cross. We shall have to come back to aspects of this view in several
connections. Here I wish to comment on the basic supposition which gives
this view, or collection of views, apparent explanatory power: before 70
the Pharisees dominated Judaism. We read of the 'ruling Pharisaic piety'
and that they were the 'leaders' of Judaism and a 'new ruling class'.
When Jeremias wrote that it was 'the conviction of the time' that the
common people were excluded from salvation, he obviously meant that it
was the conviction of the Pharisees, who are thus implicidy understood as
controlling 'Judaism'. That was not, I have argued, the Pharisaic opinion.
But in any case they could not dictate 'convictions'. I have just offered an
alternative - that the priests 'controlled'Judaism, to the extent that anyone
did, and (following Morton Smith) that 'normative Judaism' consisted of
whatever the priests and the masses found religiously adequate, which in
most cases was simply the biblical law. One aspect of this debate, Jewish
self-government and the role of the Pharisees in the Sanhedrin, becomes
much more pressing when we turn to the question of Jesus' execution, and
I shall take it up then. We should here take account of the view, especially
as put forward by Jeremias, that the Pharisees controlled the religious
opinions ofthe masses. On that supposition rests the view that the Pharisees
could effectively exclude those who did not follow their rules.
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From ancient sources scholars who hold this view can cite Josephus.
He calls the Pharisees the leading party in Bjf II. 1 6 2 , and they are given
an even more dominant role in AJf XIII. 298: they have the 'support of the
masses'. According to AJf XVIII. 1 2 - 1 5 , everyone followed the Pharisees'
views on prayer and worship, while47XIII.288 says that 'even when they
speak against a king or high priest, they immediately gain credence'. Their
small number (Josephus, AJf XVII.42, fixes it at 6,000) can be discounted
as not reflecting their popular support - Josephus himself implies.
We must, however, doubt that Pharisees controlled the view of the
masses in the way stated in AJf XVIII. 1 2 - 1 5 ^ XIII.288, 298. Morton
Smith, followed by Shaye Cohen, has correcdy pointed out that this view
of the Pharisees in the Antiquities is determined by Josephus' desire to
enhance the reputation of the party which, in the nineties, had become
predominant and which he wished to support. The Pharisees do not play
a prominent role in the War, nor in Josephus's accounts of particular
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events, as we shall show below (ch. 1 1 ) . Cohen puts the case strongly:
Josephus's 'Pharisaism is of the most dubious variety, and he did not
discover it until the nineties of our era. In the sixties he was a Jerusalem
priest and, in all likelihood, not a Pharisee.' It is not necessary to accept
this proposal, though it seems to me quite possible, to see that in his later
works Josephus exaggerates the role of the Pharisees and that before 70
they 'had no real hold either on the government or on the masses of the
people.'
The opposite view, which was argued for by Jeremias and has been
explicidy or implicidy accepted by many, is that 'as a whole the people
looked to the Pharisees, in their voluntary commitment to works of
supererogation, as models of piety, and as embodiments of the ideal life
which the scribes, these men of divine and secret knowledge, had set
before them'. The Pharisees, argued Jeremias, were 'the people's party'.
'Their much-respected piety and their social leanings towards suppressing
differences of class, gained them the people's support and assured them,
step by step, of the victory.'
This view, which a critical reading ofJosephus throws into question, is
difficult to maintain for a second reason - it conflicts with the exclusivism
and hatred of the masses which Jeremias also attributes to the Pharisees.
The latter, according to Jeremias, side by side with championing the
common people, despised and excluded them. They introduced a 'caste
distinction', and some of the masses showed 'evidence of an intense desire
to throw off the yoke of a contempt based on religious superiority'. It was
these to whom Jesus appealed, and Jesus literally put his life in jeopardy
by calling them to repentance.
I submit that this both contradicts the evidence and does not make
sense. Jeremias needs to make the Pharisees an extremely narrow and
bigoted group in order to make an innocuous action - associating with
common people - offensive. He needs to make the Pharisees influential
with the masses in order to give them a major role in Jesus' execution. I
think that neither point is correct, but that in any case one cannot have it
both ways. The path by which this position was reached is worth pointing
out, since Jeremias is representative of a general line of scholarship, and
others need to avoid the same sequence of suppositions. Jeremias first
assumed that the Pharisees were haberim - a small group focused on purity.
He then assumed that the haberim = Pharisees wanted to impose their
view on all Israel. Both points, as we saw above, are improbable. There
was then added to this the common Christian denigration of'late Judaism':
it was based on merit-seeking legalism and led to Heilsegoismus and angstliche
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Religiositdt. Finally, Jeremias switched to Josephus's exaggerations of

Pharisaical dominance for the view that they controlled Judaism. Thus he
reached a false construction, based on dubious assumptions and an even
more dubious conflation of them: the Pharisees were bigots who both
wanted and were able to exclude those who did not follow their laws, and
to have a man who accepted the common people executed.
There is a third and fatal objection to the view that the Pharisees
dominated the religious life of Judaism: when one forgets theological
abstractions (the masses loved their commitment to works of supererog
ation) and thinks concretely, one sees that the Pharisees did not dominate
any of the centres ofJewish religious life.
They did not, in the first place, control access to or the service of the
temple. Even Rabbinic literature, which goes further than Josephus in
assigning the Pharisees religious dominance, shows how little they affected
this, the primary focus of Jewish religious life. According to Rabbinic
literature, the debates between the Pharisees and the Sadducees about the
temple had to do with such things as whether or not the incense which
was taken into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement was to be lit
before or after entry (see Yoma 19b; cf. Parah 3.7). Whether or not the
'amme ha-arets could offer sacrifices is not an issue. The special laws of
the haberim (even assuming that the Pharisees as such held to them) have
nothing to do with access to or worship in the temple, but rather concentrate
on secular life. We must assume that the Pharisees never proposed that
temple worship was invalid or that those who participated in it were
nevertheless cut off from Judaism. The Rabbinic tractates on the Day of
Atonement and other passages on the efficacy of sacrifice, which probably
reflect views commonly held before 70, point in the opposite direction:
the sacrificial service was accepted. Thus we have no reason to think that
the Pharisees engaged in even theological polemic against the temple
service as such.
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When one asks about actual physical control, the possibility of Pharisaic
influence disappears entirely. I referred above to the non-Rabbinic, and
thus arguably non-Pharisaic construction of the miqvaot outside the temple
walls. They help us think concretely, as do the great gates and broad steps
by which the people entered the temple, which are now visible on its south
side. One must contrast the great concourse ofpeople entering and leaving,
supervised only by the dozens of Levites and priests, with the relatively
few learned and scrupulous men who made up the Pharisaic party, most
of whom earned their living outside the temple area, to see the lack of
reality which has dominated discussions of the religion of Judaism. There
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were vastly more temple 'employees' - priests, Levites, other guards,

treasurers, musicians and servants - than there were Pharisees; and,
later, thousands would demonstrate their loyalty to the high priest and the
official government of the temple by dying for them (BJ I V . 3 1 3 ) . T h e
Pharisees controlled nothing about the temple. It was run by the priests
and used by the people.
Similarly, we hear nothing about the exclusion of the 'amme ha-arets
from worship in the synagogues. It may in fact be doubted that the
Pharisees played a large enough role in Galilee during Jesus' career to
affect synagogue worship one way or the other. But even if they did, we
have no reason to think that they controlled the synagogues and excluded
the common people from worship and learning. I do not wish either to
deny or minimize the importance of the lay interpreters of the Bible, who
by Jesus' time had attained appreciable influence. These are usually called
91
'scribes' by scholars, thoughjosephus called them 'Pharisees' (Bjf 11.162).
One must certainly grant them some influence. T h e present points are:
(1) that they did not control the institutions of Judaism, and certainly not
the Galilean synagogues; (2) that nothing presendy known about either
the Pharisees or the haberim indicates that they aimed at the exclusion of
the common people from worship or study.
It is frequendy said that temple and synagogue were the two foci of
Jewish religious life. There was, however, a third: the home. T h e normally
pious common people doubdess kept Passover, Sukkoth and other festivals,
and we should presume that they saw themselves as participating fully in
the national religion.
Thus we must conclude that the Pharisees neither did nor could exclude
non-Pharisees from the social and religious life of Judaism.
2.4. Conclusion: Jesus, the Pharisees and the common people. Many scholars,
not just Jeremias, observing that in the Gospels there are passages which
mention the 'poor', presumably the ordinary people of Galilee, and others
which contain the word 'sinners', slide them together. They then combine
two other facts - that the haberim had special purity rules and separated
themselves in certain ways from the common people, and that all observant
Jews, not just the Pharisees, considered the wicked to be 'cut off - to
make it appear that the powers of the Jewish hierarchy (believed, in this
construction, to be the Pharisees) considered the common people to be cut
off on the grounds of impurity and ignorance. Jesus then becomes the
champion of plain folk against an intolerant bunch of bigots.
I believe this view to be incorrect in all its parts. I have argued that
associating with sinners - the actual charge against Jesus - has nothing to
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do with associating with the common people, though I presume that Jesus
did associate with them and was one of them. His appeal to sinners and
outcasts, however, cannot be understood as an appeal to the common
people. Secondly, it is incorrect to make purity the issue between Jesus
and his critics. Thirdly, the point of offence could not have been that he
included ordinary people in the kingdom. The Pharisees - at least those
who were haberim - may have held aloof from the ordinary people, but they
did not control the religious life ofJudaism in such a way as to make nonPharisees feel excluded and grateful for the offer to join the kingdom of
God. All the evidence, further, is against the assumption that the Pharisees
would feel hostile to including ordinary people in the kingdom.
One of the regrettable aspects of the view which has been widely
accepted is that it has prevented exploration of what it would have meant
to offer the kingdom to the wicked. It debases and falsifies Judaism, and it
trivializes Jesus, to understand the issue of 'Jesus and the sinners' as if it
were 'Jesus and the common people versus the narrow, bigoted but
dominant Pharisees'. We must understand the conflict on some other
basis.
Before turning to the question of what the actual significance of Jesus'
proclamation to the sinners was, I wish to make one last observation in aid
of the effort to eliminate from scholarship the view that Jesus was criticized
for association with the common people. The notion that the learned and
scrupulous considered the less learned and scrupulous to be sinners
beyond redemption, and that the former made the latter feel excluded, is
actually determined by religious propaganda. This view does not offer a
serious historical explanation of afirst-centuryconflict. Doubdess without
knowing it, its proponents have been carrying on theological polemic: we
have love, mercy, repentance, forgiveness, and even simple decency on
our side, and that is why our religion is superior to its parent. This,
however, is not historical thinking: it focuses on religious abstractions and
it floats into the realm of unreality. Scholars who have written, write, and
will write in that way lack historical imagination. They cannot imagine the
crowded streets of Jerusalem, the villages of Galilee, the farms in the valley
of Jezreel. If they did, they would know that no small group of super-pious,
super-educated bigots (in case there were actually such a group) could in
any way effectively exclude from religious and social life those who did
not meet their standards; much less would such a group have any reason
for taking umbrage at a wandering Galilean healer and preacher who
associated with the common people, nor would they be able to coax or
coerce the Roman government into killing him.

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3. Jesus and the sinners

But, if the significance of Jesus' proclamation to the wicked is not
that he promised membership in the kingdom of God to the common
people, who were excluded by the iniquitous Pharisees, what is the
point? Why do the 'sinners' loom so large in the Gospels? I think that
absolute clarity is not possible, although we can narrow the options. It
will be helpful here to turn to Norman Perrin as representing consensus
scholarship.,
3 . 1 . Was the offence forgiveness? Perrin, unlike his teacher Jeremias, did
not confuse the ordinary Jews who sinned with 'the sinners'. His own
proposals, however, about how to understand Jesus' inclusion of the
sinners are at least equally off-target. Thus he states that the Jews longed
for ultimate, end-time forgiveness, not being able to receive it within the
daily framework of Judaism. The Day of Atonement, other rituals, and
works of supererogation, he assures us, 'were of limited effectiveness'.
'So, God himself must ultimately forgive sin . . . \ It is noteworthy that
Perrin leaves repentance, which is crucial to the Jewish conception of
atonement, out of his list. Besides, one may ask, who, in the normal Jewish
view, forgives sins on the Day of Atonement? There is no justification, in
a supposedly historical description of Jewish views, for Perrin's separation
of the Day of Atonement and other sacrificial occasions from what 'God
himself does. Put in the terms used earlier, I doubt very much that ordinary
Jews, who brought sacrifices for occasional sins and prayed and fasted on
the Day of Atonement, felt the need of some further, eschatological
forgiveness. We may reasonably think that many would expect the coming
of the end to be signalled by large-scale repentance (above, ch. 3 section 4),
and Perrin may have misunderstood this as meaning that people generally
thought that true forgiveness could be attained only at the eschaton.
But whatever the source of his confusion, his view has no basis whatever.
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He continues by attaching even more significance to what he regards as

Jesus' novel view that sinners could be forgiven. The real 'sinners', he
states, were equivalent to Gentiles. But then he shows again his lack of
understanding of normal Jewish theology:' Such Jews were widely regarded
as beyond hope ofpenitence or forgiveness. . .'. Jesus offered forgiveness
to them, and thus 'confronted'Judaism with 'a crisis' (p. 97).
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Here was a situation in which the reality of God and his love was being
revealed in a new and decisive way, and in which, therefore, the joys of the
salvation time were suddenly available to those who had longed for them
for so long and so earnestly (ibid.).

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Jesus' promise of forgiveness to such people gave 'very grave offence . . .

to his contemporaries' (p. 102). His disputes about the law were not
especially offensive, and the cleansing of the temple will not explain his
execution (ibid.). He was killed, rather, because he offered sinners
forgiveness.
To have become such an outcast [as were the tax collectors] himself would
have been much less of an outrage than to welcome those people back into
the community in the name of the ultimate hope of that community. Intense
conviction, indeed, is necessary to explain such an act on the part of Jesus,
and such an act on the part of Jesus is necessary, we would claim, to make
sense of the fact of the cross (p. 103).
Perrin's statement of the case that Jesus offended his contemporaries by
offering forgiveness to sinners is extreme, but I have presented it at such
length because it is a clear statement of a widely held view. It was grace that
offended the Pharisees, who were committed to merit and unremitting
punishment for transgression. Perrin here echoes Jeremias, who wrote
that Jesus took an 'unparalleled risk' when he struck against the Pharisees
by calling sinners to repentance, 'and this act brought him to the cross'.
Riches' view is equally clear-cut. He tries to answer the question 'why
Jesus believed so strongly in the mercy and forgiveness of God when many
contemporaries held such widely differing views', and he depicts Jesus'
commitment to a kingdom of love, mercy and grace as leading to 'deep
resistance' on the part of the leaders ofJudaism.
Two of the leading members of the 'new quest' maintained the
connection between Jesus' favouring grace and his being executed. Thus
Kasemann:
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the hate of the Jewish religious leaders goes back to Jesus' attitude to the
Law and to his understanding of grace and the fellowship with sinners
which derives from it, so that activity and fate can, historically speaking,
hardly remain unconnected.
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According to Fuchs, the men of Jerusalem killed Jesus because 'they could
not tolerate his claim to assert through his own conduct that God's will
was a gracious will'.
Finally, we note that the view is embedded in the standard New
Testament reference works. Behm, in writing on 'repentance', bitterly
protests Montefiore's saying that Jesus did not go beyond the Rabbis.
Jesus, Behm assures us, was in fact in 'mortal conflict with the Pharisees'
on this point.
We see in such proposals the laudable desire to find links between Jesus'
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teaching and activity, on the one hand, and his death, on the other. Further,
we see the desire to give Jesus a setting in first-century Jewish Palestine
and to derive from that context information for understanding his career.
Regrettably, it all goes astray because of three interrelated factors: the
persistent refusal to do research into Jewish views; the preference for
deriving 'historical' information from another source (theological commit
ment); and the deep-rooted Christian desire to have Jesus die for the
truth of the gospel: for his belief in grace.
The link between Jesus' gospel and his death is made in various ways.
Sometimes the causal chain runs from eating with sinners, to opposition
by the Pharisees, to crucifixion, while others make this point by fixing
on the parables instead of the act of eating. In the parables Jesus proclaimed
grace to sinners and thereby offended the righteous. 'Jesus goes to the
cross because he clings to the word of grace.' It was those against whom
Jesus told the parables who killed him: 'He dies for the truth of his
parables.' The position is basically this: We (the Christians, or the true
Christians) believe in grace and forgiveness. Those religious qualities
characterize Christianity, and thus could not have been present in the
religion from which Christianity came. Otherwise, why the split? But the
Jews, or at least their leaders, the Pharisees, did not believe in repentance
and forgiveness. They not only would not extend forgiveness to their own
errant sheep, they would kill anyone who proposed to do so.
The position is so incredible that I wish it were necessary only to state
it in order to demonstrate its ridiculousness. But thousands believe it, and
I shall try to show what is wrong with it. Let us focus first on the novelty of
an offer of forgiveness. The tax collectors and sinners, Perrin assures us,
'responded in glad acceptance' to Jesus' saying that they would be
forgiven. But was this news? Did they not know that if they renounced
those aspects of their lives which were an affront to God's law, they would
have been accepted with open arms? Is it a serious proposal that tax
collectors and the wicked longed for forgiveness, but could not find it
within ordinary Judaism? That they thought that only in the messianic
age could they find forgiveness, and thus responded to Jesus 'in glad
acceptance'? Perrin, citing only irrelevant evidence, asserts that the
'sinners' 'were widely regarded as beyond hope of penitence or forgive
ness', and thus he denies one of the things about Judaism which everyone
should know: there was a universal view that forgiveness is always available
to those who return to the way of the Lord.
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103

104

105

106

107

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Secondly, he presents an extraordinary picture of the tax collectors and

sinners: they wanted forgiveness but did not know how to obtain it. I think

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that a quick chat with any religious leader - that is, a priest - would have
clarified the issue: God always accepts repentant sinners who turn to his
way.
Thirdly, it is inaccurate to say that Jesus welcomed people 'back into
the community'. Jesus did not control access to the temple. We must
continue to try to think realistically. It is quite possible (in fact, as will soon
appear, quite likely) that Jesus admitted the wicked into his community
without making the normal demand of restitution and commitment to the
law. That might give his followers a sense of community; but it is not
accurate to say that 'he welcomed those people [the sinners] back into the
community'. They all would have known perfecdy well what to do if they
wished to be considered members of the covenant in good standing.
Fourthly, we should remember that Jesus himself was not primarily a
preacher of repentance. We earlier observed that there is scant material
which depicts Jesus as calling Israel to repent. The parables about God's
seeking the lost (Luke 1 5 . 3 - 6 ; i5-8f.), once the Lucan conclusions are
removed (Luke 1 5 . 7 , 10), are seen to be focused not on repentance but
on God's action. The latter may imply the former, but it is difficult to
show that Jesus was a spokesman for a return of the sinners to the
community. The story of Zacchaeus (Luke 1 9 . 1 - 9 ) brings home the
curiosity of the reported charge that Jesus ate with tax collectors and
sinners and promised them a place in the kingdom. This story was, as I
proposed above, created by Luke (or possibly a pre-Lucan writer) to
emphasize repentance and reform. It emphasizes these qualities so
effectively that their scarcity elsewhere becomes striking. Jesus doubdess
believed in reconciliation between the wicked and God, but the absence
of passages which call for repentance and restitution shows at least that
he did not aim at restoring the wicked to the community. If Jesus, by eating
with tax collectors, led them to repent, repay those whom they had robbed,
and leave off practising their profession, he would have been a national
hero.
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This leads us to the fifth and most decisive point. No one would have
been offended ifJesus converted quislings. The case with other 'sinners'
is similar. Let us take the case of a professional sinner, an usurer. If such
a person were led by Jesus to repay the interest which he had accepted,
and to turn to a life in accord with the law, who would have objected?
Those who needed to borrow money, for example farmers who borrowed
each year against the next harvest, would be inconvenienced if their
accustomed usurer quit his profession. But presumably there would be
someone from whom to borrow, and the defection of one usurer from the

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money market would not seriously affect the economy. Those who were
zealous for the law, such as the Pharisees, would rejoice. The notion that
the conversion of sinners was offensive to the Pharisees is, when thought
about concretely, ridiculous.
3.2. The offence. As I said earlier, it is hard to establish with certainty
what was offensive about Jesus' behaviour. This has not been problematic
to scholars as long as they could think that the offer offorgiveness to repentant
sinners was unique and would have been offensive to the leaders of Judaism.
Jesus proclaimed that the wicked who repented would share in the
kingdom, and the Pharisees were led thereby to a fatal enmity. But once
we see (1) that everybody^ (except the Romans) would have favoured the
conversion of tax collectors and other traitors to the God of Israel and (2)
that Jesus' message in any case was not primarily orientated around a call
to repentance, the significance of the charge that Jesus was a friend of tax
collectors and the wicked becomes difficult to determine. The success of
the explanation that conversion was offensive, however, has kept other
proposals from being brought forward, and we do not have a rich array of
alternative possibilities.
There is one other which should be mentioned. The controversy has
sometimes been held to be that Jesus offered forgiveness (inclusion in the
kingdom) before requiring reformation, and for this reason he could be
accused of being a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Had they already
reformed, they would not have Jjeen sinners. That is one of the ways in
which Jeremias stated the casej Judaism offers forgiveness only to those
who are righteous. They had first to become righteous to be forgiven.
Jesus' offer in advance is sometimes called unconditionalforgiveness., But
what precisely does this mean? The intended contrast is, of course, with
Judaism, where conditional forgiveness was offered. Quite apart from the
fact that Jeremias has caricatured Judaism by dividing up chronologically
reformation of life and forgiveness, we must still press the question: are
we dealing with a significant contrast? We should, once more, think
concretely. If the result of Jesus' eating with a tax collector was that the
tax collector, like Zacchaeus, made restitution and changed his way of
life (we recall that Jeremias accepts the story), Jesus' proclamation of
forgiveness was not unconditional^ The condition of its effectiveness was
obviously the conversion. I submit that the distinction proposed is too
small to create much of a dispute. For clarity, I shall repeat the proposed
distinction. It is this: Jesus said, God forgives you, and now you should
repent and mend your ways; everyone else said, God forgives you if you
will repent and mend your ways.
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Modern theologians find here a significant difference, and perhaps

righdy so. It is a profound insight that the gift should precede the demand,
and putting the two clearly in that sequence is satisfying theologically. It
can also be effective in human relations. But is it a matter of offence? How
large would this theological distinction have loomed in the first century?
For, it must be emphasized, we can be discussing only a theological
distinction. Jesus did not tell sinners that, before purifying themselves,
and without bringing a sacrifice and a prayer of repentance, they could
enter the temple. Urging and acting on this view would certainly have been
fatal. But I cannot see that the same could be said for Jesus' symbolic
action of eating with sinners. He may have intended to symbolize thereby
the priority of grace to repentance, but in the eyes of pious outsiders he
would simply have been joining the ranks of the ungodly. They might
regret it, but they would not have killed him for it. In their effort to have
Jesus die for the truth of the gospel, modern scholars who find here the
crucial point of offence go even beyond the evangelists in creating plots
by the Pharisees.
I doubt that tax collectors and usurers walked round Galilee in such a
state of anxiety about forgiveness that the distinction between 'if you
repent' and 'assuming that you subsequendy repent' was a burning issue.
Likewise I doubt that the formulation attributed to Jesus ('assuming that
you subsequendy repent') would have offended anybody. I can well imagine
that saying to a tax collector that he would enter the kingdom ahead of the
righteous (Matt.21.31) would have been irritating to the latter; but not
that the righteous would have conceived a deadly enmity for Jesus for
putting grace before repentance - if his aim was in fact reformation. We must
look elsewhere.
We may gain a clue to the meaning of the theme of the sinners by
considering further repentance and forgiveness. It is an interesting and
somewhat curious fact that most scholars who write about these themes
in the Gospels do not say just what they have in mind. Jeremias's view is
clear: he accepts the story of Zacchaeus. But Perrin, for example, wrote
page after page on repentance and forgiveness without ever saying whether
or not repentance, in Jesus' view, required restitution. Westerholm has
an interestingly ambiguous paragraph: Jesus' view was that all were on the
same footing; all needed to repent. Some
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. . . seized gratefully the chance to enter in. For others, however, the
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their claim to be righteous, they refused to enter a kingdom . . . where

'sinners' and 'righteous' sat together at a table spread by God.
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Westerholm's depiction of the banquet seems to imply that the sinners

admitted by Jesus remained sinners, but he does not spell this out. On the
contrary, he, like others, writes about their repentance. We see here a
typical lack of clarity about the meaning of 'sinners', 'repentance' and
'forgiveness'. If the sinners had repented, they would not have been
sinners.
Let me say clearly what 'repentance' would normally have involved.
By ordinary Jewish standards offences against fellow humans required
restitution as well as repentance (see e.g. Lev. 6 . 1 - 5 [Heb. 5.20-^6];
Num. 5 . 5 - 7 ; cf. Baba Kamma 9.6 and Baba Metzia 4.8 for the Rabbinic
interpretation). Other offences were atoned for by repentance alone.
While the temple stood - that is, in Jesus' time - repentance would be
demonstrated by a sacrifice (see the same passage in Leviticus).
My proposal is this: it may have been just these requirements that Jesus
did not make of his hearers. He may have offered them inclusion in the
kingdom not only while they were still sinners but also without requiring
repentance as normally understood, and therefore he could have been
accused of being a friend of people who indefinitely remained sinners.
Here at last we see the full implication of the repeated observation that
Jesus did not issue a call for repentance and that it was Luke who
emphasized the reform of the wicked who accepted him.
Some support for this view comes from considering, again, the relation
ship between John the Baptist and Jesus. It appears that John's message
was distinguished from Jesus' on the question of repentance and the
sinners (Matt. 2 1 . 3 2 ; n . i 8 f ) . One might argue that the distinction
between them was that John called for national repentance while Jesus
sought individuals who were lost, but that both equally hoped for conversion
and righteousness. But this is not likely. We must remember that it was
an accusation against Jesus that he associated with sinners, while John came
in the way of righteousness. This points to a more fundamental difference
than those of tactics and audience. John, the preacher of repentance, was
not accused on the grounds that Jesus was. It appears that John was the
spokesman for repentance and righteousness ordinarily understood. Jesus,
equally convinced that the end was at hand, proclaimed the inclusion ofthe
wicked who heeded him.
There are three further passages which point in this direction: the Call
of Levi//Matthew (Matt. 9 . g - i 3 / / M a r k 2 . i 3 ~ i 7 / / L u k e 5 . 2 7 - 3 2 ) ; the
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Question about Fasting (Matt. 9.14-17/VMark 2 . i 8 - 2 2 / / L u k e 5 . 3 3 - 3 9 ) ;

and the story of the would-be follower who wished to bury his father (Matt.
8.2if.//Luke 9-59f). The last passage will be discussed more fully later,
and here I shall only indicate that it puts following Jesus above obeying
the fifth commandment. The authenticity of the other two passages is less
certain, but each seems to rest on a reliable kernel. Jesus probably did
have a tax collector among his followers - even though later his name was
not securely remembered - and it is probably this fact which gave
immediate substance to the charge that he ate with tax collectors. The
Gospel tradition subsequendy expanded this point ('many tax collectors
and sinners', Mark 2 . 1 5 and parr.), but we can safely assume that there
was at least one. It is noteworthy that this one is not said to have repented,
repaid those whom he had robbed, and assumed a life conformable to the
law. What he did was 'follow'Jesus.
The Question about Fasting makes basically the same point: some of
the traditional practices of Judaism may be foregone by those who follow
Jesus. The saying that the 'sons of the bridechamber do not fast while the
bridegroom is with them' (Mark 2 . 1 9 and parr.), were it to be given general
application, would be the clearest indication in the Gospels that Jesus put
'following' him above observing the law; for at least the fast of the Day of
Atonement (Lev. 16.29)
emphatically observed. The passage in its
present form seems to have in view some lesser fast or fasts not observed
by everyone and not commanded in the Torah. We regrettably cannot
recover the original application of the saying, but it harmonizes well in the
present context.
The only passage which might count against the view proposed here is
Mark 1.44 and parr., where Jesus tells the cleansed leper to show himself
to the priest and to make the required offering. This curious passage which in any case does not deal with a transgression - actually highlights
the lack of any such statement to the tax collectors and other sinners who
accepted him. Even in the Lucan story of Zacchaeus the tax collector was
not required by Jesus to make restitution, and no sacrifice is mentioned.
I propose, then, that the novelty and offence ofJesus' message was that
the wicked who heeded him would be included in the kingdom even
though they did not repent as it was universally understood - that is, even
though they did not make restitution, sacrifice, and turn to obedience to
the law. Jesus offered companionship to the wicked of Israel as a sign that
God would save them, and he did not make his association dependent on
their conversion to the law. He may very well have thought that they had
no time to create new lives for themselves, but that if they accepted his
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message they would be saved. If Jesus added to this such statements as

that the tax collectors and prostitutes would enter the kingdom before the
righteous (Matt. 2 1 . 3 1 ) , the offence would be increased. The implied selfclaim, to know whom God would include and not, and the equally implied
downgrading of the normal machinery of righteousness, would push Jesus'
stance close to, or over, the border which separates individual charisma
from impiety.
I realize that my proposal will not be a popular one. Surely Jesus desired
the conversion of sinners. But if that were all he sought, what was
controversial about him?
Speculative as this proposal is, I consider it much more likely than the
popular one: Jesus called sinners to repentance; and therefore mainline
Judaism, being opposed to repentance and forgiveness, sought to kill him.
But before we can conclude our discussion of Jesus and those who
would be included in the kingdom, there is one last topic to be considered.
Table-fellowship
'Table-fellowship' has loomed large in recent discussion of Jesus. His
eating with tax collectors and sinners has, probably correcdy, been seen
as a proieptie indication that they would be included in the kingdom: the
meal looks forward to the 'messianic banquet^(when many would come
from east and west and dine with the patriarchs (Matt. 8 . 1 1 ) . Several
parables tell us that the kingdom is like a banquet, to which many are
called. And, most tellingly, before his death Jesus looked forward to
drinking the fruit of the vine in the kingdom of God (Mark 14.25/VMatt.
26.29//Luke 2 2 . 1 8 ) .
Thus it would appear that Jesus' eating with 'tax collectors and sinners'
promised, as clearly as words, that they would inherit the kingdom; and
thus it is likely that Jesus saw his eating with tax collectors and sinners as
promising membership in the coming kingdom. But did it work out that
way? Did Jesus' table-fellowship with sinners help prepare the way for the
church which, instead of the kingdom, followed his ministry? There is an
obvious drawback to this proposal. Those who had table-fellowship with
Jesus did not, with the exception of Peter and John, become major figures
in the church. One need mention only James (the Lord's brother), Paul
and Barnabas to make the point clear.lt would be nice to think that Jesus
bound his companions to him in such a way that they could do no other
than carry on his work after his death.^ But in fact at least three of the
principal leaders of the early Christian movement were not disciples - and
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many of the disciples drop from view. And, as we observed at the outset,
'sinners' are hard to find in the early church. It would appear that the force
which welded together the early Christian movement was not Jesus' tablefellowship with tax collectors and sinners.
Conclusion
One prevalent view of the significance ofJesus' appeal to sinners is wrong
on all counts. The view is that Jesus was criticized by the Pharisees for
breaking their purity code by eating with common people and for offering
them forgiveness, and that the common people responded with joy to his
readmission of them to Judaism, from which their ritual impurity had cut
them off. This is against all the evidence:ji) The term 'wicked' or 'sinners'
does not include the common people. Neither the haberim nor the Pharisees
considered the ordinary people to be condemned sinners. (2) Jesus' going
to the wicked did not have primarily to do with his willingness to break
purity laws. Most forms of impurity do not result from sin, nor is wickedness
primarily a state of impurity - though it is also that. (3) In any case Jesus'
eating with the sinners probably did not involve him in a dispute with a
super-scrupulous group (whether called haberim or Pharisees). (4) Even if
it had, it would not have thrown him into conflict with the leading powers
in Judaism. The haberim, even if the same as the Pharisees, did not control
Judaism. Neither the common people nor the priests accepted the special
rules of the haberim. Had Jesus opposed them, he would simply have sided
with the majority and with commonly accepted practice. (5) It is incorrect
to say that the issue was readmission to Judaism. (6) The offence was not
that Jesus favoured repentance and forgiveness.
Even if the prevalent view is modified by recognizing that the sinners of
the Gospels cannot be simply the common people, it still will not stand.
Some scholars who know that 'sinners' are not 'amme ha-arets nevertheless
maintain that Jesus offended the Pharisees by eating with sinners and that
the offence had to do with the transgression of ritual purity. This in effect
makes the dispute the sectarian one between the haberim and the 'amme
ha-arets. No gain in understanding is made by recognizing that sinners are
not common people if the dispute is still understood as having to do with
eating, purity and the Pharisees. Those who hold this view are, without
knowing it, simply embracing the identification of'sinners' and 'amme haarets, while in theory rejecting it.
I have proposed that there is no evidence that the significance ofJesus'
eating with sinners has to do primarily with purity, nor any that the ground

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of offence was his transgression of the purity code. New Testament

scholars with remarkable consistency put the offence just there. Purity
laws are considered trivial and externalistic, and Jesus is thus made to
oppose Jewish trivialization of religion. But from the point of view of
Judaism, everyone, except the priests, often lived in a state of ritual
impurity, which was removed only for entry to the temple or (in the case
of the menstruant) for intercourse. The haberim handled and ate food in
ritual purity, but they did not think that failure to do so was a sin. Laity
who were not themselves haberim forfeited the right to eat with haberim (in
case they wished to do so), and the rules of the haberim imposed certain
restrictions on trade. Injesus' day, however, the economy was not governed
by the haberim, and we do not know whether or not their self-imposed
rules were damaging to the common people. Thus I do not doubt that
Jesus ate with people who were ritually impure, both by the standards of
the priesthood and those of the haberim. But we cannot find, in the question
of ritual purity, the source of a conflict with Jewish leaders.
It seems to be the case, rather, that Jesus offered the truly wicked those beyond the pale and outside the common religion by virtue of their
implicit or explicit rejection of the commandments of the God of Israel admission to his group (and, he claimed the kingdom) //they accepted
him. Putting the matter this way explains the connection between tax
collectors and sinners in the Gospels (complete outsiders), attributes to
Jesus a distinctive view of his own mission and the nature of the kingdom,
and offers an explanation of what in Jesus' message was offensive to normal
piety - not just to trivial, externalistic super-piety.
Our study of the 'sinners' has highlighted some problems, one or two
of which had already appeared.
1 . What is the significance of the relative paucity of the theme that Israel
should repent? (See also ch. 3 above.). T o this I have proposed a partial
answer: Jesus did not call sinners to repent as normally understood, which
involved restitution and/or sacrifice, but rather to accept his message,
which promised them the kingdom. This would have been offensive to
normal piety.
2. If Jesus regarded the sinners who accepted him as candidates for
membership in the kingdom, even though they did not reform their lives
according to the law, should we attribute to him a sectarian purpose? We
noted in chs. 3 and 4 that the sayings material is individual in tone. Should
we add together the individualism of the sayings, the lack of a call to Israel
to repent, and the promise to sinners, and then conclude that Jesus, after
all, was not a prophet of national eschatological salvation?
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3. Did Jesus' stance on the sinners throw him into conflict with his
contemporaries about the law? We turn direcdy to this question in ch. 9.
4. How are we to understand Jesus' call of sinners in light of the fact
that the church seems not to have continued the practice of admitting
them?
These problems and others will be addressed in subsequent chapters.
First, however, we have to consider one last question under the topic of
'the kingdom': Jesus and the Gentiles.

7
THE GENTILES

We saw above that one of the surest proofs that Jesus' career is to be seen
within the general context ofJewish eschatological expectation is that the
movement which he initiated spawned a Gentile mission. The question
of his own attitude towards the inclusion of the Gentiles in the kingdom
naturally arises in a study which has identified him with the hope for the
restoration of Israel. The topic has received appreciable attention, and
we may most conveniendy begin our discussion by considering two books
which deal with it, one a classic focused on the Gentiles and the other a
recent work on Jesus and Judaism.
In his monograph devoted to Jesus and the Gentiles (Jesus' Promise to
the Nations) Joachim Jeremias argued that Jesus limited his own mission
(and that of his disciples during his lifetime) to Israel (Matt. io.5f), but
that he predicted the proclamation 'to all the world' at the end: not by
human missionaries, but by God's angel (Mark i4.9//Matt. 2 6 . 1 3 ; Matt.
24.i4//Mark 1 3 . i o ) . He took Matt. 8 . n f . / / L u k e i3.28f. to show that
Israel (at least the present generation) would be excluded from the
kingdom, while Gentiles would enter. Jesus was in accord with the biblical
view of the ingathering of the Gentiles at the last hour and opposed to
contemporary Judaism, which almost universally took a negative view
towards the Gentiles. Finally, he argued, the purpose ofJesus' proclam
ation and death - that is, his own intention - was to provide for the
incorporation of the Gentiles.
Recendy John Riches, apparendy independendy of Jeremias's book, has
put forward a similar case. Judaism in the time of Jesus uniformly regarded
God as one who would destroy all those who were impure and disobedient,
and that includes the Gentiles. Jesus deleted the note of vengeance and
destruction from the idea of the kingdom and thus 'transformed'Judaism
by introducing the idea of God as 'a loving and forgiving father rather than
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. . . a God who will have dealings only with the pure and the righteous and
who will exact retribution from the impure and the wicked'. Such a God
is God of both Jews and Gentiles. The idea of a universal God of love is
completely opposed to the views of Jesus' contemporaries. Riches even
finds here the point of conflict between Jesus and others: they resisted the
idea of a God of love.
We shall now evaluate these positions, beginning with a discussion of
the Gentiles in Jewish literature.
12

13

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Jewish views of Gentiles

Riches' generalizations about Jewish views are aided by his failure to
discuss texts, except a few from the Dead Sea Scrolls, which, one supposes,
he takes to represent universal Jewish thinking. Jeremias, on the other
hand, gives long lists of passages in building the biblical picture of
the pilgrimage of the nations and the depiction of 'late Judaism' as
'uncompromisingly severe'. Jeremias's conscientiousness in listing
passages, in fact, puts his own view in jeopardy. In his summary on pp.
4of, he states that the view of late Judaism towards Gentiles was thoroughly
negative. On p. 6 1 , however,, he notes the 'constandy recurring theme' of
the entry of the Gentiles in post-biblical literature. As he remarks on
the same page, this leaves only Rabbinic literature to represent the
'uncompromisingly severe' attitude of'late Judaism'. Thus, as happens so
often, it is the Rabbis - whose views, as I shall show, are misrepresented
- who constitute the regrettable religion which serves as a foil for
Christianity, and it is the Rabbis who are usually in mind when the
summary phrase 'late Judaism' is used. It is obvious that neither Jeremias
nor Riches provides us with a reliable summary of the evidence from
Judaism, and I shall offer my own.
A full study ofJewish attitudes towards Gentiles from the inside would
have to take account of the shifting political fortunes of Judaism in a
predominandy Gentile world and also of differences among different
groups at the same time. Such a study will not be attempted here. We
should note, however, that reading the Bible (accepting Jeremias's point
that it should not be read through the eyes of modern critics) does not
produce such a uniformly favourable view as he asserts and that attitudes
towards Gentiles in post-biblical literature are much more variegated than
either Jeremias or Riches allows.
There are at least six discernible (although often overlapping) predic
tions about the Gentiles in the end-time within the biblical prophets, all
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of which are repeated somewhere or other in later Jewish literature. It is

perhaps worth noting that four of these occur in Second Isaiah. The lists
are not intended to be exhaustive:
1. The wealth of the Gentiles will flow into Jerusalem: Isa. 4 5 . 1 4 ; cf.
Isa. 6 0 . 5 - 1 6 ; 6 1 . 6 ; Micah 4 . 1 3 ; Zeph. 2.9; Tobit 1 3 . 1 1 ; i Q M I2.i3f.
2. The kings of the Gentiles will bow down, and the Gentile nations
will serve Israel: Isa. 49.23; cf. 4 5 . 1 4 , 23; Micah 7 . 1 7 (lick the dust); I En.
90.30; i Q M I2.i3f. (quoting Isa. 49.23).
3. Israel will be a light to the nations; her salvation will go forth to the
ends of the earth: Isa. 49.6; cf. Isa. 5 1 . 4 ; Isa. 2.2f; Micah 4 . 1 . It accords
with this that the Gentiles may be added to Israel and thus be saved: Isa.
56.6-8; Zech. 2 . 1 1 ; 8.20-23; Isa. 45.22; Tobit i4.6f; I En. 9 0 . 3 0 - 3 3 .
Here we should include also the one passage which predicts a mission to
the Gentiles, Isa. 6 6 . 1 9 .
4. The Gentiles will be destroyed. Their cities will be desolate and will
be occupied by Israel: Isa. 54.3; cf. Ben Sira 36.7, 9; I En. 9 1 . 9 ; Baruch
18

I 2

1 0

4 - 2 5 , 3 1 . 3 5 ; iQM - 5. As a supplement to the theme of destruction we may add predictions

of vengeance and the defeat of the Gentiles: Micah 5 . 1 0 - 1 5 ; Zeph. 2.1 of;
T.Mos. 10.7; Jub. 23.30; Ps. Sol. 1 7 . 2 5 - 2 7 .
6. Foreigners will survive but will not dwell with Israel: Joel 3 . 1 7 ; Ps.
Sol. 1 7 . 3 1 .
This sort of list naturally obscures nuances and complexities. Some of
the complexities will be noted by observing that the same or closely related
passages from the same book occur in more than one category. Isa. 45.22f.
promises salvation to all who turn to God and adds that 'to me every knee
shall bow', which sounds very much like submission. Zeph. 3.8 (which is
not listed above) combines the threat to judge and destroy the nations with
the promise to convert them. For an instance of complex or, better,
multivalenced attitudes, one may cite Sib.Or. 3.489-808, which deals
successively with the historical vicissitudes of empires, with the messianic
era, and with the final consummation. There are dire predictions of the
destruction of Gentiles because of their idolatry and sexual immorality
(e.g. 3.5 i 7 f ; 669-72; 7 6 1 ) , coupled with the hope that many will turn to
God, worship him, and share Israel's salvation (3.616: 'to God the Great
King, the Eternal, they shall bend the white knee'; 7 1 6 - 1 8 : 'Come, let us
all fall upon the earth and supplicate the Eternal King . . . . Let us make
procession to his Temple'; 7 5 2 f : 'from every land they shall bring
frankincense and gifts to the house of the great God').
Our purpose, however, is not to try to explain complexities and

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ambiguities in the attitudes of individual authors towards the Gentiles, but

to undermine the uniformity and clarity of Jeremias's presentation. He
took our category 3 above to be 'what Jesus read in his Bible'. But the
Bible contains Micah 5 as well as Micah 4, and there are also harsh
statements in Second Isaiah. Some of the passages which Jeremias listed
as indicating the salvation of the Gentiles in fact refer to their military
defeat and subjugation. And Jesus would also have read predictions of
their destruction.
Jeremias's selection of passages and restatement of what they say serve
a definite end: the Bible promised the salvation of the Gentiles. 'Late
Judaism' (that is, the Rabbis), on the other hand, picked up the few,
minor statements in the Bible which predicted their destruction and was
overwhelmingly negative towards the Gentiles. Jesus, who predicted the
salvation of the Gentiles and the destruction ofJews, 'was not influenced
by late Jewish exegesis, but by the Old Testament itself.
But the above lists also show that in post-biblical literature Jewish
attitudes towards Gentiles are not all negative. This would also be true if
we were to extend our survey, as Jeremias purported to do, to post-70
literature. He wrote this: 'The exclusively nationalistic conception of the
Messianic age which envisaged the destruction of the Gentiles had
completely prevailed after the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 7 0 . ' Part
of the evidence is the saying attributed to R. Eliezer the Great that there
are no righteous Gentiles. But the point of the Rabbinic passage is to
pair that saying with the opposite one by R.Joshua, to the effect that there
are righteous Gentiles who will share in the world to come. Jeremias's
misrepresentation of Rabbinic views proceeds beyond citing only half of
a passage: he cites no favourable sayings about the Gentiles from Rabbinic
literature, when in fact they predominate.
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23

24

Despite this effort to rectify the balance, it should be noted that, just as
the theme of the deserved punishment of Israel recedes in post-biblical
literature, that of the punishment of the Gentiles increases. As Israel's
punishment at the hands of the nations stretched on, there doubdess
seemed less reason for God's spokesmen to say that Israel's sins required
punishment. Correspondingly, the Gentiles, as various foreign powers
continued to hold Israel in subjugation, were continuously visible as the
enemies of God's people. Thus the caricatures presented by Jeremias and
Riches (and others), while they are hardly models ofscholarly thoroughness
and balance, do not come simply out of thin air. First-century Jewish
Palestine was not a good nursery for the development of Helleno- or
Romano-philism. And after the horrors of the first revolt, R. Joshua's
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saying that there are righteous Gentiles must have taken some moral
courage.
But what, one may ask, has the question of general attitude to do with
eschatological expectation? A Jew need not have been an admirer of
Gentiles in the present in order to think that at the end, when Israel would
be restored and victorious, Gentiles would repent and turn to God. This
points to another, in some ways more serious distortion in Jeremias's
description of late Judaism as represented by Rabbinic literature. None of
the Rabbinic discussions about 'the righteous of the nations of the world'
has to do with whether or not they will turn and be saved in the day of the
Lord, which is the topic of Jeremias's book and of this chapter. It is well
known that, presumably because ofthe two revolts, early Rabbinic literature
is silent about the triumph of the God of Israel in the last days. The
Rabbinic discussions such as T.Sanh. 1 3 . 2 have to do with whether or
not, in the ordinary course of affairs, it is possible for Gentiles who do not
become proselytes to be righteous. In this connection, apparendy at a later
date, arises discussion of the Noachian commandments. The Rabbinic
view on that topic is that God does not expect the Gentiles to obey the full
law. The question then becomes whether or not any obey enough of
those parts of the law for which they can reasonably be held accountable
to deserve to be called 'righteous'. The prevailing attitude, as I have
indicated, is that it is possible. Jeremias cited a minority opinion (that of
R. Eliezer) on this topic as representing the view of 'late Judaism' on the
salvation of the Gentiles. Citing the exceptions to the rule on a different
subject hardly suffices to determine common Jewish opinion.
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31

It is, however, difficult to establish what the view of any given group in
Jesus' day would have been. Were we to have to infer the views of the
Pharisees from Rabbinic literature, I would guess that they would have
hoped for the conversion of Gentiles. If, after 70, they were prepared to
grant that some are righteous day by day, why would they not, before 70,
have thought that, at the time of Israel's vindication, many Gentiles would
turn to the true God?
If we ask for direct evidence, we encounter the well-known scarcity of
Palestinian Jewish literature for the period between the conquest of
Pompey and the destruction of Jerusalem. Josephus and the Dead Sea
Scrolls are not very helpful for the present topic - whether or not Jews
who expected eschatological victory, could, during a time of actual
subjugation, envisage the conversion of their oppressors. Josephus is not
helpful because he has too many axes to grind. One is that Jews, except
for a fanatical fringe, were loyal to Rome when monotheism and its

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32

corollaries were not in question. Another is that only a few, all quickly
dispatched by Rome's firm hand, looked for redemption. Thus one cannot
find out from him what followers of the Egyptian and other 'sign prophets'
thought about Gentile conversion. The Qumran covenanters, though
free to write what they thought, must be regarded as atypical. They thought
that all who did not align themselves with their covenant, under their
leaders, would be destroyed. One reads in the Dead Sea Scrolls as little
about the reassembly of the Jewish diaspora as about the conversion of
Gentiles. Yet the expectation that the diaspora would be gathered is the
most stable and consistent point in Jewish eschatological expectation. We
must regard the Scrolls' narrow soteriology as unrepresentative.
Just above I called it a guess that Pharisees would have thought that, at
the end, many Gentiles would turn to the God of Israel. The guess was
based on the fact that after 70 many Rabbis were prepared to think that
some Gentiles were righteous in the course of ordinary life. We do,
however, have one bit of first-hand evidence. There is one person whom
we can know to have been a Pharisee who expresses himself about the
Gentiles and the eschaton: Paul. During his career as aposde to the
Gentiles in preparation for the coming end, he evidendy thought that they
could turn to the God of Israel and be saved. Yet we see in Paul's own
usage a strong disparagement of Gentiles: they are 'sinners' (Gal. 2 . 1 5 ) ,
and they notoriously commit all kinds of sexual transgression (Rom.
1 . 1 8 - 3 2 ; I Thess. 4.5). It seems likely that Paul represented a common
view in thinking that Gentiles in their day-to-day life were sinners, but
that at the end many of them would turn to God from idols (I Thess. 1.9)
and conform their behaviour to the normal requirements of the law (Rom.
1 3 . 8 - 1 0 ) . We can see the same combination of views in Sib.Or. 3,
discussed above. Paul also thought, of course, that Gentiles should not
accept those parts of the law which distinguish Jew from Greek, especially
circumcision, if doing so was understood as necessary for membership in
the people of God. This last view distinguished him from others. Very
likely the general expectation of Gentile conversion at the end was
common.
33

A similar attitude towards the Gentiles appears in another one of the

very few passages which come from the period before 70 and which deal
with the eschaton and with Gentiles: Ps. Sol. 1 7 . The emphasis is on the
defeat of the nations that trample down Jerusalem (17.25), the gathering
of the tribes and the punishment of sinners within Judaism ( 1 7 . 2 8 0 , the
exclusion of Gentiles from the land ( 1 7 . 3 1 ) , and their submission (17.32).
The psalmist also says, however, that Jerusalem, apparendy especially the

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temple, will be made glorious 'so that nations shall come from the ends of
the earth to see his [God's] glory, bringing as gifts her sons who had
fainted, and to see the glory of the Lord' (17.340. The theme of the
acknowledgment of the God of Israel and of worship at the temple is not
far from the conversion and pilgrimage (with inferior status, expressed or
implied) that we find, for example, in Second Isaiah. Thus even in this
psalm, which so emphasizes Israel's triumph over the Gentiles and
separation from them, room is left for them to turn and worship - or at
least admire - the one God.
The purpose of this exercise, which I repeat is a long way from the full
study which the subject deserves, has thus far been to show that the stark
good-bad-good pattern which informs the work of Jeremias, Riches, and
many others will not hold as historical description. It is a pattern which
springs from and serves theological interests: the biblical religion, at least
in the great prophets, was good; late Judaism was a bad religion; Jesus
reformed late Judaism, in part by harking back to the prophetic tradition.
On the question of attitudes towards the Gentiles (assuming that favourable
attitudes mark a good religion!), I have argued that the good-bad contrast
in the history of Judaism rests on a distortion and over-simplification of
the evidence. The evidence does not permit a precise account of the views
of Jesus' contemporaries about Gentile conversion at the end-time. It
would be very surprising, however, if that hope had generally been
abandoned in favour of a view like that at Qumran. It seems far more likely
that most Jews who thought about the matter one way or the other would
have expected many Gentiles to turn to the Lord when his glory was
revealed.
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Jesus and the Gentiles

35

The pertinent synoptic passages are well known. They are the two forms
of the banquet parable (Matt. 2 2 . 1 - 1 0 ; Luke 1 4 . 1 6 - 2 4 ) , in which the
'highways and hedges' of Luke 14.23 and the 'thoroughfares' and 'streets'
of Matt. 22.9f. may not unreasonably be taken as referring to Gentile
lands; Matt. 8.1 if.//Luke i3.28f. (many will come from east and west and
the sons of the kingdom will be cast out); Matt. 1 0 . 1 8 (in being punished
the disciples will bear testimony before the Gentiles); Mark. 1 3 . io//Matt.
24.14 (the gospel must be preached to all the Gentiles); Mark 14.9 (the
gospel will be preached in the whole world). Against these passages, which
point towards the inclusion of the Gentiles and even a mission to them,
are generally set those in which Jesus is said to limit his activity or that of

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the disciples to Israel: Matt. 1 0 . 5 , 23 (which seems not even to allow time
for a Gentile mission); Matt. 1 5 . 2 1 - 2 8 (the healing of the Canaanite
woman's daughter, where Jesus is reported to have said 'I was sent only to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel'); Matt. 8 . 5 - 1 3 (another healing at
long distance). The last two passages, by their reticence, count against
Jesus having seen himself as having a mission to Gentiles. The evangelists
all favoured the Gentile mission, but the tradition about Jesus had to be
stretched in order to have him come into contact with Gentiles at all. Here
Jeremias's conclusion seems well founded:
If we leave out of account quotations, summaries, and allegorical interpreta
tions of parables, we find that Matthew yields the same result as Mark and
Luke: the only solid evidence for Jesus' activity among the Gentiles consists
of the accounts of the two cases of healing at a distance (Matt. 8 . 5 - 1 3 and
parallel; Mark 7.24-30 and parallel), alongside of which the story of the
Gadarene demoniac may perhaps be placed. That is all.
36

This is one of the numerous instances in which the policy of relying more
on general considerations than on the painstaking and always tentative
assessment of the authenticity of one or more sayings will stand us in good
stead. The assumption that Jesus' attitude can be recovered by applying
various criteria to the sayings material has, as is to be expected, led to very
different results in assessing his attitude towards the Gentiles. Jeremias's
view was briefly recounted at the beginning of the chapter: Jesus limited
his own activity to Israel, but predicted the inclusion of Gentiles to the
exclusion of the present generation ofJews. Bosch, investigating the same
passages, accepted as authentic Mark 13.9b, 1 0 ; Matt. 1 0 . 1 8 ; 2 4 . 1 4 ; Luke
2 i . i 2 f . and, following Beasley-Murray, offered a reconstructed logion,
based on those passages, as a saying ofJesus:
37

They will hand you over to sanhedrins,

And you will be beaten in synagogues,
And you will stand before governors and kings
For [my name's] sake
[It will be] as a testimony to you.
And [it will be testified] before the Gentiles.
First it is necessary for the gospel to be preached
[Before the coming] of the end.
One could imagine still other combinations of the potentially authentic
bits in the passages cited above. One of them I regard as not unlikely: In
Matt. 8.1 if. it could readily be argued that the note about the sons being
cast into outer darkness is Matthaean and that only the 'many will come

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38

from east and west' part is authentic. If Matt. 8 . 1 2 is dropped, 8 . 1 1 itself

need not refer to Gentiles, but could refer to the Jewish dispersion, as do
similar sayings in Isa. 4 9 . 1 2 ; 43.5; P s . 1 0 7 . 1 - 3 ( L X X 1 0 6 . 1 - 3 ) ; Baruch
5.5; Ps. Sol. 1 1 . 3 - 7 . Thus, for example, Baruch 5.5:
Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height
and look toward the east,
and see your children gathered
from west and east. . . .
If Matt. 8 . 1 1 were held not to refer to the ingathering of the Gentiles, it
seems to me that the arguments in favour of Mark 1 3 . 1 0 and similar
passages (the gospel must be preached to the Gentiles before the end
comes), already very dubious, would simply collapse.
It would be equally possible to argue that all the synoptic references to
the mission to the Gentiles, or even the statements of their eventual
inclusion, come from after the time that the Gentile mission was started;
while the restriction of the mission of the disciples to Israel (Matt, io.sf,
23) comes from a section of the Palestinian church which itself opposed
the Gentile mission.
In either of these two cases, both of which seem to be at least as probable
as the reconstructions ofJeremias, Bosch and others, the result would be
that there are substantially no authentic materials on the subject at issue.
There would be left only the references to the banquet guests, the meaning
of which is vague, and the healings at long distance, which, besides being
possibly tendentious (Jesus must have had some favourable relationship
with Gentiles), do not tell us anything about his view of the entry of
Gentiles into the kingdom at the eschaton.
What, at the end of it all, can we know} Pretty well what we knew at the
outset, the information which can be inferred from the post-resurrection
activity of the disciples, and especially from Galatians. The leaders among
Jesus' own followers (Peter and John, plus James the Lord's brother)
were conducting a mission to prepare Israel for the coming of the
kingdom. They were not engaged in the Gentile mission,but they
regarded it as an entirely appropriate activity. As far as we can see from
Galatians, as I have pointed out before, no Christian group objected to
the Gentile mission; they disagreed only as to its terms and conditions.
Matt. 10.5f. could conceivably show that there was a hard-line group not
mentioned in Galatians, one which positively opposed a Gentile mission.
But the overwhelming impression is that Jesus started a movement which
came to see the Gentile mission as a logical extension of itself
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Saying that it came to this view means that Jesus did not consciously
'delete' from his disciples' expectation the uniform view of contemporary
Judaism that all Gentiles would be destroyed, which is what Riches
has proposed. Had that been the uniform expectation, and had Jesus
consciously 'transformed' it, the early disciples would probably have had
a clearer view about what to do about the mission to the Gentiles. They
seem to reflect what is more likely to have been the common Jewish view:
in the last days the Gentiles can be admitted to the kingdom on some
condition or other. Enthusiasm for their admission would have varied from
person to person, as did the view of what admission requirements should
be imposed. We understand the debates in early Christianity best if we
attribute to Jesus no explicit viewpoint at all. T o understand the controversy
which is reflected in Galatians, we actually need to have before us only the
biblical and post-biblical passages on the entry of the Gentiles. Most of
the early Christians, it appears, followed what I believe to be the majority
of Jews in thinking that, at the end, some Gentiles would be admitted to
the people of God. They disagreed precisely where the biblical and other
passages become vague - whether or not such Gentiles should become
proselytes. We need not think that Jesus imparted to his disciples any
view at all about the Gentiles and the kingdom.
42

I have left out of discussion in this section one of the traditional topics
which comes up in trying to assess Jesus' attitudes towards the Gentiles:
the cleansing of the court of the Gentiles and the saying attributed to him
in Mark 1 1 . 1 7 , 'a house of prayer for all the Gentiles.' 1 argued in ch. 1
that 'cleansing' is not the correct interpretation ofJesus' demonstration in
the temple; and in any case the quotation of Isa. 56.7 in Mark 1 1 . 1 7 is not
likely to be an authentic saying. The simple fact that the action may have
taken place in the court of the Gentiles does not seem to bear the weight
that some have put on it.
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Thefacts and the sayings: all Israel or a littleflock

Most of the things which we know about Jesus with virtually complete
certainty fit him rather neatly into the category of a prophet of Jewish
restoration, (i) He began his career as a follower ofJohn the Baptist, who
called on all Israel to repent in preparation for the coming judgment. (2)
His call of twelve disciples points to the hope for the restoration of the
twelve tribes. (3) His expectation that the temple would be destroyed and
rebuilt corresponds to a known, if not universal, expectation about the
restoration of Israel. (4) After his death and resurrection the disciples
worked within a framework of Jewish restoration expectation. Thus our
list of facts, including the behaviour of the early Christians, points towards
an 'orthodox' eschatological movement whose peculiar characteristic is
that it continued, flourished, and even followed out the natural momentum
of a realized Jewish eschatological movement by admitting Gentiles.
Yet the sayings material, viewed as a whole, is not what we would expect
of a prophet ofJewish restoration. It is not focused on the nation oif Israel.
Jesus is not depicted (except in the opening summaries in the synoptics)
as calling all Israel to repent, there is no teaching material about the
reassembled twelve tribes (Matt. 19.28 cannot be considered 'teaching'),
and in the material which can reasonably be considered authentic there is
no prediction of a general judgment cast in terms of groups (leaving Matt.
25 out of account as inauthentic). The sayings material is markedly
individual in tone, and when collective terms are used they do not imply
'all Israel': 'litde flock', the 'poor', and the 'sinners'.
The absence of terminology which points to 'all Israel' is so striking that
one might suppose that Jesus had a sectarian interest. Did he think that
only the sinners who accepted him would be in the kingdom? What about
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those normally counted as righteous? The ambiguity of Jeremias's position

is instructive and indicates the existence of a problem. He proposed that
Jesus intended to include only his followers, the 'poor', in the kingdom,
to the exclusion of the scribes and Pharisees. He then curiously argued
that this shows that Jesus did not intend to found an exclusivist sect, but
to call all Israel. It points, rather, to a discrepancy between the intention
to summon all Israel, which firm evidence leads us to attribute to Jesus,
and the thrust of much of the sayings material, in which there might be
found a sectarian implication. I do not suppose that Jesus intended to
found a real sect, complete with its own interpretation of the covenant and
the law. I intend, rather, to indicate that the problem which we first noticed
in discussing 'repentance' is a substantial one.
I do not think that I am making too much of the absence of expected
themes. The call to repent and the threat of a general judgment were
prominent in John's message, and they were very likely part of early
Christian preaching. The evangelists were not adverse to them. The
thinness of the material which attributes these motifs to Jesus must be
accounted for, and that thinness has sometimes been seen as noteworthy
by other scholars. Further, Martin Hengel, treading a different path,
reached a similar point. He argued that Jesus called only select individuals
to follow him, though he wanted a message directed to all Israel. The
individualism of Jesus' call to follow him, he pointed out, 'eliminates any
interpretation of Jesus as a "popular messianic leader" like Judas the
Galilean or Theudas' (p. 59). On the other hand, the instituting of the
twelve 'points to [his] openness for all Israel', and it shows that he did not
intend to found 'a community of the "holy remnant" sealed off from the
outside world' (p. 60; cf. p. 68). That is, there is evidence which points to
an ambition which includes all Israel, but other evidence which indicates
that he did not appeal direcdy for their support, as did others. I add to
Hengel's point that Jesus differed from John the Baptist as well as from
Judas and Theudas: he did not call for public repentance.
3

The discrepancy between two sets of data may be seen also if we contrast
Jesus' execution with his teaching. Jesus was executed by the Romans as
would-be king, that is, as a messianic pretender (see below, ch. 1 1 ) . Not
only the Romans, but probably also the 'crowds' and the disciples so saw
him. Yet if all we had were his parables and related sayings, we would not
expect this to have been the result of his career. Nothing about his teaching
is adequate to account for his execution on the grounds of implied
insurrection. The characterization of the kingdom as including a 'reversal
of values' and his inclusion of the sinners might have been offensive to
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some of the pious, but they do not explain the Roman execution. The call
to follow him at great cost and to love one's neighbour does not lead us to
see him as a threat to the established order. The forced efforts of some to
find in Jesus' teaching the cause of his death show the point. Some have
had to make the promise of forgiveness lead to his execution, and Riches
has recendy proposed that the conflict was over love, mercy and grace.
Hengel proposed a solution for our problem. Jesus, he argued, did not
call all to follow him, but he did expect all to repent (Charismatic Leader, p.
6 1 ; cf. p. 62). It was the mission of the disciples to convey that message
to 'all Israel'. It was they who 'proclaimed the message of repentance or
of the immediate proximity of the rule of God' (p. 73). Hengel is aware
that in the passages which portray the mission of the disciples later
materials have been 'fused almost indissolubly.. . with the inherited older
traditions' (p. 74), but he regards the mission as actually having taken
place. He poses a challenge to others:
7

That Jesus did send forth the disciples can hardly be doubted in principle,
even if it is no longer possible to reconstruct the circumstances in detail.
Anyone who considers the tradition of a Mission to be unhistorical in
principle must adequately explain why it was that Jesus called individuals
to follow him in such an incomparably rigorous way although he did not
wish to found either a royal 'messianic' household or the esoteric nucleus
of a community (p. 74).
Hengel's point is well made. If we are to attribute a purpose to Jesus in
calling disciples, we must be able to say what it was. It is reasonable to say
that he wanted them to complement his work by addressing a wider
audience. There is, however, a consideration which makes us hesitate for
a moment. Hengel later argues that the disciples themselves did not fully
understand Jesus' mission. They read it, 'as did the mass of his Galilean
audience, in terms of traditional Jewish national messianic hopes'. He
continues,
It is therefore entirely possible that because the disciples were caught up in
apocalyptic and national notions, the service he had in mind for them as
their specific personal vocation, was as a whole ineffective (p. 79).
We shall presendy return to the question of the disciples' misunder
standing, and I shall propose an alternative to Hengel's view; but for the
present we may enquire where we are led by the theory that almost
everyone - the Romans, the crowds and the disciples - misunderstood
Jesus' intention. If it was a misunderstanding which led to the crucifixion,
the implication is that Jesus' intention was innocuous. And so it was, in

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Hengel's view. Jesus proclaimed repentance and the nearness of God (p.
73). The masses, followed by the Romans, 'could not understand anyone
proclaiming charismatically the nearness of the Rule of God without at
least hidden political goals' (p. 59), and on the basis of that misunder
standing Jesus was killed. Only the Sadducees, Hengel acutely remarks,
did not misunderstand. They 'subsequendy promoted the persecution
under Herod Agrippa I and still later saw to the execution of James, the
Lord's brother' (p. 40), and the charges against James were similar 'to
those with which they had promoted the trial of Jesus sofne thirty years
earlier' (p. 42).
There are obviously difficulties with this view. How could the Sadducees
have understood what the disciples did not? This difficulty in Hengel's
view points to a difficulty in the evidence. The sayings and parables about
the kingdom, as they are usually evaluated, do not lead to the results./The
teaching material is taken to represent Jesus' view (which was innocuous),
while the results reflect others' assessment of him (a threat). Thus the
theory of misunderstanding. Hengel is too good an historian, however, not
to see that other facts show that the same or a similar result continued even
when a military threat was clearly not feared. The disciples, at least some
of them, were persecuted, at least some of the time - but not by the
Romans. James the brother of the Lord was finally executed - but not by
the Romans. The Romans (in the person of Albinus) were angered by the
execution of James, and Agrippa II thought it expedient to depose the high
priest who had it carried out. Thus Hengel finds a link from Jesus'
execution to that of James in the attitude of the Sadducees, and he must
accept that they did not misunderstand Jesus, but nevertheless opposed
him and his followers after him. I think that he is right on both points. But
his correct perception about the Sadducees (or the Jerusalem aristocracy:
we do not know that they were all Sadducees) makes one wonder about
the theory of misunderstanding on the part of the disciples and the Romans.
9

Further, the clarity of Hengel's argument reveals another problem. If

Jesus taught one thing about the kingdom, but was understood by even
his disciples as meaning something else, it follows that he could not
communicate effectively, or else had too litde time to do so (too little time:
Hengel, pp. 79f). Yet the ideas, as Hengel sketches them, would not take
long to convey. The theory of misunderstanding leads us to ask ourselves
whether or not Jesus did in fact have a clear conception of his goal and a
plan for attaining it. In the Introduction I pardy supposed and partly argued
that it is reasonable to think of him as having a plan, an intention
which links his principal activities and the outcome. If the theory of
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misunderstanding is correct, it follows that he could not have had a plan

which was complete at the level of strategy. He had no effective way of
clarifying for the masses his convictions about the kingdom, and his effort
to do so by employing the disciples (still following Hengel) failed.
With or without the theory of misunderstanding, however, we must
doubt the effectiveness of Jesus' tactics if he intended to be widely
accepted. He was able to arouse the interest of the masses and to attract a
following, and he was certainly capable of binding his close followers to
him in a dedicated way (though even they stopped short of following him
to the death). He had a message which he was convinced was of importance
for all Israel, but no effective way of making it persuasive. If he sent out
disciples to supplement his own activity, he seems not even to have
conveyed to them clearly what, if anything, distinguished his message from
that of others (see the next subsection). And if he did not send them, he
calculated even less how to make the impact which he apparendy desired.
We often read that Jesus 'shook the foundations' of Judaism. It is clear,
however, that Judaism was not very severely shaken, although Jesus was
probably an irritating presence, as were his followers after his death. There
was, however, at the time of his execution, no rounding up of the disciples,
nor was it necessary to suppress crowds of rioters. It is likely that, during
his lifetime, Jesus made a smaller impact than had John the Baptist.
Often people who see themselves as acting for God do not worry much
about numbers or about realistic strategy. Paul and Peter appear to have
divided up the world into the circumcised (to be won by Peter and his
colleagues) and the uncircumcised (to be won by Paul and his) without
counting noses. When he wrote Romans Paul considered the work of the
Gentile mission to be almost over, though he had not been to North Africa.
Peter's mission to Jews likewise did not include Egypt. Scholars still debate
who was supposed to win the Jews even in Paul's geographical area, and
there may well have been lack of clarity on the point. There is, in all this,
a lack of calculation which is reminiscent ofJesus. All these people (Jesus,
Paul, Peter, James and others) had plans, but the means which they could
bring forward for their accomplishment were not commensurate with the
task. They doubtless left part of the work to God.
11

12

13

14

I propose, then, that part of the solution to our puzzle is that Jesus may
not have had a completely worked out plan which would convey his hope
and expectation to 'all Israel', even though he saw his work as bearing on
the fate of Israel as a people.
It must be emphasized that the discrepancy between the data which
point to 'all Israel' and those which point to a 'little flock' goes back to

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Jesus himself. He it was who called twelve disciples and who looked for
God to destroy the old temple and bring a new one. His kingdom was
surely intended, therefore, to include all Israel. Yet it was also he who,
accompanied by a few followers, led the life of an itinerant healer and
preacher, who concentrated on the outcasts to the virtual exclusion of the
rest, and who did not follow John in encouraging a display of mass
repentance. He may not have had a clear programme for,making a bridge
between 'the litde flock', the special recipients of his message, on the one
hand, and 'all Israel', on the other. He communicated the significance of
his message for all Israel well enough, however, for at least some to see
him as constituting a threat to peace and public order. And at the end of
his career he made two symbolic gestures for all who could to read: he
entered Jerusalem on an ass (see ch. 1 1 below), and he overturned the
tables of the money-changers in the temple.
There is one other proposal which may stand as a partial explanation of
how the many and the few were related in Jesus' view. We return to the
fact that he started under John and that John made a clearly public display
of the need of repentance in view of the coming judgment. It may well be
that, in Jesus' view, he did not himself have to do it all. Although we all
know that we should not follow the Gospels and relegate John to the status
of an intentional forerunner ofjesus, we often fail to explore the possibilities
inherent in Jesus' positive relationship to John. He may have seen himself
as supplementing and thus completing John's work. John had called on
Israel to repent and had warned of a coming general judgment, but too
few had responded. Jesus then set out to promise inclusion to the most
obvious outsiders. It is not that he did not 'believe in' repentance and a
general judgment, but that he left the basic proclamation of them to his
great predecessor. This suggestion gains some support from the Parable
of the Banquet (Matt. 2 2 . 1 - 1 0 ; Luke 1 4 . 1 5 - 2 4 ) : those first called - we
add, 'by John' - did not come in, and so others were invited.
This part of our answer to the puzzle is obviously speculative, but it
seems to be required by facts which are virtually certain: (1) Jesus followed
John and saw his own work in relation to John's. (2) John proclaimed the
coming judgment and the need for repentance. (3) In general Jesus stood
firmly in the tradition of Jewish restoration eschatology. (4) After his death
Jesus' followers worked within the same framework. (5) Jesus himself,
however, did not stress the two aspects of restoration eschatology which
formed the heart of John's message. (6) His special mission was to promise
inclusion in the coming kingdom to the outsiders, the wicked, if they
heeded his call.

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If these six statements are true, it seems reasonable to suppose that

Jesus thought of someone else, John, as having called all Israel to repent.

The nature of the kingdom

Before we return to the issue of the misunderstanding of Jesus, we must
resolve a difficult question: Just what did he expect to happen? What sort
of kingdom did he look for, and what did his hearers understand him to
be promising?
Hengel, as we noted above, has made one difference between Jesus and
other would-be leaders of Israel completely clear. Jesus did not, as did
Theudas and the Egyptian, expect all Israel tofollow him. This difference,
however, may be one only of style and tactics. Was the kingdom itself
different? There is an initial clue that it may have been. In the case of
Theudas and the Egyptian, the Romans attacked the followers. This
points to the probability that the Roman rulers did not understand Jesus
and his followers to have posed the sort of threat which a later generation
saw in the activities of Theudas and the Egyptian.
The question of just what Jesus expected is hard to answer, for obvious
reasons. Here, if anywhere, the crucifixion and the resurrection would
have influenced the expectations of Christians after Jesus' death, and
consequendy may have affected the evidence. We must, however, assess
it as best we can.
Paul gives it as 'a word of the Lord' 'that we who are alive, who are left
until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen
asleep.' He continues:
15

16

17

18

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command,
with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And
the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall
be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air;
and so we shall always be with the Lord (I Thess. 4 . 1 5 - 1 7 ) .
The modification of the hope which he had first imparted to the Thessalonians consists in including those who have died. It apparendy is not a new
point to say that the redemption would take place 'in the air'. The cosmic
and spiritual nature of the expectation is also clear in I Cor. 1 5 . 2 0 - 2 8 .
Further, on this point there is no indication that Paul's expectation was
different from that of the Jerusalem aposdes. His belief that, when the
offering of the Gentiles would be complete (Rom. 1 5 . 1 6 ; 1 1 . 2 5 ) , th
Redeemer would come (Rom. 1 i..25f.), is not his innovative contribution
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to Christian thought. What marked off his position as distinctive was the
insistence that the Gentiles need not become proselytes to Judaism. He,
Peter, James, John, and even the 'false brethren' (Gal. 2.4) agreed that the
Gentile mission was part of the unfolding messianic drama, and they
doubdess also agreed on the nature of the kingdom. Paul was not preaching
a kingdom to be consummated 'in the air' while Peter and the others were
awaiting a political victory. And they all thought that Jesus was the Christ.
Paul's evidence is the best on this point because he can hardly be
suspected, as can the Gospels, of having disguised the Christian expect
ation in order to keep the real intentions of the movement secret from the
Roman government. His letters were not intended to be read outside the
circle of initiates. We find in Rom. 1 1 and 1 5 , as in I Cor. 15 and I Thess.
4, what he really expected to happen.
There is, of course, supporting evidence from the Gospels. The
prophecy of I Thess. 4 . 1 5 - 1 7 is paralleled closely in Matt. 24-3i//Mark
1 3 . 2 7 : the Son of man will send his angels, with the sound of a trumpet
(Matthew only), and they will gather up the elect from the four winds. As
I argued above, this is quite possibly a genuine saying ofJesus which Paul
already knew. But even if it is not, it represents the common primitive
Christian expectation. The saying of Jesus at the Last Supper points in
the same direction. Doubdess with the prospect of death already before
him, Jesus said that he would drink wine again 'in the kingdom' (Matt.
26.29//Mark 14.25/yLuke 22.18) - apparendy not the present world
order. And Paul thought that the Eucharist was a meal held until Jesus'
return (I Cor. 1 1 . 2 5 ) - obviously not with arms.
There is other evidence which points to the expectation of an other
worldly kingdom in a different sense: one on an earth renewed by God's
hand. Most telling is the expectation of a new temple. Whether or not
Mark's phrase 'without hands' (14.58) is authentic, the idea would have
to be supplied. Jesus and his disciples did not envisage a new temple built
by stonemasons, but they probably also did not expect a new temple 'in
the air'. The idea of a new temple points towards an expectation of a
kingdom on earth in which there are analogies to present life. We note
also in this connection other evidence of an expected social order. The
twelve disciples would judge the twelve tribes (Matt. 19.28), and it was
possible to discuss who would be at Jesus' left hand and right (Matt.
2 0 . 2 i / / M a r k 10.37),
U as who was greatest in the kingdom (Matt.
i 8 . i / / M a r k 9.34//Luke 9.46; cf. Matt. 1 1 . 1 i / / L u k e 7.28).
a s

w e

The expectation of the re-establishment of the twelve tribes also points

to the same kind of otherworldliness. That Israel will be restored is not

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the view of a realistic political and military strategist. The theory that the
British are the lost ten tribes had not yet been invented, and the hope that
the tribes could be reassembled shows that a miracle was expected.
Conceivably one could vaguely connect the actual Jewish dispersion with
the vanished tribes, but it is far more likely that the expectation that Israel
would be restored points to the hope for a fundamental renewal, a new
creation accomplished by God.
We should add here, finally, Jesus' prohibition of divorce (I Cor. 7. iof;
Matt. 5 - 3 i f and par.; Matt. 1 9 . 1 - 9 and par.). The sayingwillbe discussed
in ch. 9, and there I shall propose that it is authentic and may reflect the
eschatological view that the end is like the beginning. In any case it points
to a new order which is analogous to the present one (there is marriage),
but not just like it (there is no divorce). This probably reflects the
expectation of a real change in the world, and is not just a strict 'interim
ethic'. The church quickly found the rule difficult and impracticable, as
is shown by Paul's further discussion ofwhen divorce is and is not advisable
(I Cor. 7 . 1 2 - 1 6 ) and the incredulous remark of the disciples in Matt.
1 9 . 1 0 and the reply: one must be given the ability to keep the commandment
(that is, not to remarry) (v. 1 1 ) . It is conceivable that the commandment
was intended by Jesus to apply to the present order and to be kept by
means of earnest endeavour assisted by grace. It seems more likely that he
expected a changed state.
Paul's view, that the kingdom would be 'in the air', can readily
be explained as resulting from the crucifixion and resurrection, which
required it if hope in Jesus' victory was to be maintained. It seems quite
likely that the exclusive concentration on the redemption as taking place
in another sphere, not on this world at all, may indeed be the result of the
resurrection experiences. The hope for a renewal of the created order,
however, is not readily to be explained in the same way. It is not at all
difficult to think that, before the crucifixion, Jesus' disciples expected his
kingdom to be on a renewed earth, in a transformed situation, and that
the hope was shifted from 'renewed world situation' to 'in the air' by the
resurrection.
We return now to the question of the misunderstanding ofJesus. A few
may have taken him to have been promising political deliverance from
Rome. The defection of Judas may have stemmed from disappointment
when it became evident that no such victory was in the offing, and there
may have been other defections. Another nine of 'the twelve' are hard to
trace. Possibly they remained in Jerusalem (were some of them the 'false
brethren' of Gal. 2.4?), or possibly they conducted missions elsewhere.
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Possibly some defected. Here we enter into pure speculation. I am not,

however, persuaded that in general Jesus' disciples misunderstood him as
predicting the sort of kingdom which the Zealots subsequendy looked for.
It is hard to imagine that many of those who followed Jesus around Galilee,
saw and tried to imitate his miracles, heard him speak about the wicked
and the poor, and counted his followers, first expected military victory and
then lost heart when it became apparent that there would not be even a
guerilla attack, only to come forth with a drastically revised expectation
after the resurrection appearances. We must remember that the disciples
almost immediately started a movement which (1) was identifiable as a
separate entity within Judaism; (2) regarded Jesus as the Messiah; (3)
expected him to establish a kingdom on a different plane from those of
this world. We must also bear in mind (4) the apolitical nature of Jesus'
work as healer and preacher. It would be hard to account for these facts if the
original expectation were fundamentally different from thepost-Easter one. People
who had followed Jesus because they were attracted to his pleasant ideas
about love and grace, but who had never expected anything but revised
self-understanding, would have had no reason, after the crucifixion and
resurrection, to call him 'Messiah' or to form a movement with a definite
programme.
The point may be pressed further. It is now virtually universally
recognized that there is not a shred of evidence which would allow us to
think that Jesus had military/political ambitions, and (5) the same applies
to the disciples. As I just proposed, they knew, in wandering around
Galilee, that an army was not being created, and their expectation after
the resurrection was not that Jesus would return leading a heavenly army,
a host of angels. The expected something, but not a conquest. Thus, except
for the especially dense, their expectation throughout must have been for a
miraculous event which would so transform the world that arms would not be
needed in the new kingdom. Finally, we note (6) that the disciples were not
rounded up and executed, which indicates that no one regarded Jesus'
movement as posing an actual military threat. Thus some form of'otherworldliness'
must be attributed to Jesus and his disciples even before the crucifixion, and it
would appear that neither the Jerusalem aristocracy nor the Romans understood
Jesus hope differently.
I think, then, that we must grant an element of continuity between what
Jesus expected and what the disciples expected after the crucifixion and
resurrection. It appears that the latter originally expected something which
was transformed by the resurrection appearances, but which was not as
completely different as is often thought. The resurrection did not change
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political, military and nationalistic hopes (based on misunderstanding) into

spiritual, heavenly ones, but otherworldly-earthly hopes into otherworldlyheavenly. What the disciples originally expected, I propose, was a kingdom
which did not involve a military revolt, but which was a good deal more
concrete than either a collection of nice thoughts about grace and
forgiveness, or a message about God's love for sinners and his being near.
The evidence points to the conclusion that Jesus and his followers
expected a renewal reminiscent of some aspects of the War Scroll and the
Temple Scroll from Qumran. It is a renewal which includes known social
elements and institutions, but one which cannot be achieved without a
direct intervention of God which actually changes things. The War Scroll,
for example, supposes that the army will be divided according to the twelve
tribes. The Temple Scroll looks forward to a time when the temple not
only will be run correcdy, but also will differ physically from the one built
by Herod. The similarities cannot be pushed much further. Jesus did not
expect an eschatological war, nor did his disciples. More generally, these
two scrolls describe the future with a wealth of detail which is nowhere
attributed to Jesus. Jesus' expectation, though it did not remain entirely in
the realm of religious abstractions, as is often thought, was nevertheless
not nearly so concrete and explicit as the expectation of the authors of
these two scrolls.
Thus the kingdom expected by Jesus is not quite that expected by Paul
- in the air, and not of flesh and blood - , but not that of an actual
insurrectionist either. It is like the present world - it has a king, leaders, a
temple, and twelve tribes - but it is not just a rearrangement of the present
world. God must step in and provide a new temple, the restored people of
Israel, and presumably a renewed social order, one in which 'sinners' will
have a place.
The proposed solution has numerous advantages, some of which have
already been indicated.
1. It does not force us to think that Jesus failed entirely to communicate
his own vision of the future. Most people understood it well enough.
2. We can hold together the facts that Jesus was executed by the Romans,
that his followers were not pursued and killed, and that subsequently they
did not expect a legion of heavenly warriors. The expectation of an
otherworldly kingdom explains all these points. It may not be immediately
evident that it explains the crucifixion; and so, although I here transgress
on the subject of later chapters, I shall say something about that point.
John the Baptist, we recall, was executed, as was, years later, James, the
Lord's brother. Neither can be thought to have posed a threat as a leader

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of an army. Neither was killed by the Romans, but we nevertheless see

that religious spokesmen could pose a threat without drawing a sword.
The Romans did, however, kill other prophets who, 'under the pretence
of divine inspiration', fomented changes (Z?7 II. 25 gf.). Stirring up people's
hopes and dreams could result in death.
3. We can understand better how the disciples could so readily shift
their hopes to awaiting the return of the Lord from heaven. If they had
always expected an eschatological miracle, it is easy to understand the role
of the resurrection appearances in the creation of Christian belief in a
heavenly kingdom.
4. The present proposal saves evidence which ordinarily plays little role
in explaining the message of Jesus and the rise of the Christian movement,
but which is hard to explain as having been created after Jesus' death, (a)
There is, first of all, the material about the temple. I think that Jesus
expected a new temple, and the present explanation takes that fully into
account. But even if one continues to think thatJesus 'cleansed' the temple,
he presumably did so for a purpose. It is often said that he did so in order
to prepare it for the coming kingdom, but then the fact is dropped and
plays no role in defining what sort of kingdom Jesus expected. It is best to
think that he expected one in which a temple, whether new or cleansed,
would be useful, (b) The passages about the role of the disciples in the
kingdom are also taken account of. I argued extensively above in favour of
the authenticity of Matt. 19.28 (the twelve judging the twelve tribes) and
less extensively, but nevertheless with conviction, for the request by James
and John to sit at either side of Jesus in the kingdom (Mark 10.37 d
par.). Neither passage is likely to have been created. The passage about
James and John can hardly have arisen after Peter gained the ascendency
which we see in Paul's letters, and that, in turn, goes back to the ministry
of Jesus. Further, it is likely that Jesus himself was the one who named
Simon 'Rock', which we might take to be the second part of his reply to
the request of James and John. There is every reason to think, then, that
there was discussion about who would hold what place in the kingdom.
These passages about the disciples traditionally, however, play no role
when Jesus' conception of the kingdom is discussed. I think that they
should be taken seriously as indicating what Jesus' disciples thought, and
I then note that such discussions go back to the lifetime of Jesus and
that the disciples did not misunderstand their master entirely, (c) The
expectation of the reassembly of the twelve tribes becomes a true expect
ation, not just a vague symbolic reminiscence of Israel's history, (d) The
prohibition of divorce and remarriage also assumes a place in an overall
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21

a n

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world-view. It can be understood not as interim ethic nor as an ideal goal

which will never be reached, but as a serious decree for a new age and a
new order.
5. Finally, we can comprehend why it was that the disciples thought of
Jesus as Messiah. It has often been observed that a crucified man who
becomes a heavenly redeemer does not easily qualify for the tide. On the
hypothesis proposed here, the disciples already thought ofJesus as 'king'
- or, better, as viceroy under the true king, God. If Jesus taught his
disciples that there would be a kingdom and that they would have a role in
it, he certainly, at least by implication, gave himself a role also. 'Messiah'
will do perfecdy well for the person who is superior to the judges of Israel,
even if he was not a warrior. As long as they expected him to return and
establish 'his' kingdom (Matt. 2 0 . 2 1 ) , the disciples could think ofJesus as
Messiah.
Once we accept that Jesus was not misunderstood, a different light is
shed on the question of how his view of the kingdom differed from that of
others. It may not have differed very much. The notion of an eschatological
miracle is by no means unknown in the literature. I have already pointed
to parallels at Qumran, and elsewhere one can see that there was an
expectation of a new heaven and a new earth. Such a view is implied, for
example, whenever the temple is depicted in terms which surpass the
ordinary. Prophetic or oracular exaggeration cannot be ruled out in such
cases, but it is also easy to move from verbal exaggeration to grandiose
conception.
Theudas as well as others unnamed expected an eschatological miracle.
Unfortunately we do not know what they expected next. In the case of the
Egyptian, who apparendy created a more serious disturbance than did the
others, we can make a good guess. He probably promised a miracle and
expected it to be followed by a military- defeat of the Romans. (This
assumes that there is some truth to each of Josephus's two accounts.)
But the others, to whom Josephus attributes no military action in either
the Antiquities or the War, may have expected only a miracle and not have
thought that a mighty sign would cause all Israel to gather behind them to
defeat the Romans. They may have thought that God would continue to
intervene miraculously and that he would bring back into being the twelve
tribes of Israel and create his own glorious temple. Perhaps they expected
a new heaven and a new earth, in which there would be no hunger or
sorrow, and in which people would study war no more. The possibilities
could go on and on.
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25

The point is that Jesus was not the only one who read the great prophets,

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and we cannot know that his conception of the kingdom was more spiritual
than that of others, or that he assigned a higher place to love of God and
neighbour. Here as elsewhere we do best not to base our view ofJesus on
the assumption that he believed in religious abstractions which others
denied.
We can, however, see a distinction in Jesus' style. He did not make grand
gestures or promise grand events which were designed to convince all.
There are prophetic and symbolic actions, but they are not miracles, and the
miracles were not putforward as substantiating his claim.
We can go further. He deliberately demonstrated, by riding on an ass,
that the claim to a special role in God's kingdom was being made by one
who was 'meek and lowly'. It is Matthew, of course, who has looked up
the passage and quoted the words 'humble and riding on an ass' (Matt.
2 1 . 5 , quoting Zech. 9.9), but the action speaks for itself. Jesus saw himself
as one who was a servant of all (Matt. 20.28a//Mark 10.45a), not their
glorious leader in a triumphal march through parted waters.
We earlier observed that, if Jesus was misunderstood, that would be
evidence that he did not have a clearly thought-out strategy for getting his
message across. Now it appears, however, that he was not all that much
misunderstood. His self-assertion is appreciably different from that of
Theudas or the Egyptian, but the view that God would bring in the
kingdom miraculously was the same. This gives us a better way of
understanding that Jesus did not have a plan which included practical
strategy. He did not need one, since he looked to God for the vindication
of his message and his claim. When he decided to go to Jerusalem and to
offer symbolic gestures to indicate what was to come (the replacement of
the temple) and his own role in it (a king, but one who rides on an ass), it
is unlikely that he realistically thought that the leaders and aristocrats
would be convinced that the kingdom was at hand and that he was God's
last envoy before the end. He performed the prophetic actions, and they
were understood, but even they do not count as beingpart of an orchestrated
effort to convince. He doubdess knew that their minds were hardened.
Thus we see that Jesus had a plan, including the device of an effective
means of communication, but that he did not have a long-range policy
which would win the Jerusalemites over to his conviction. It is in this sense
that we can say that he did not have a programme which could bridge the
gap between those who accepted him (some of the poor and outcast of
Galilee) and the leaders in Jerusalem.
26

I have, at last, been led to lay emphasis on one group of sayings about
the kingdom, those which depict the coming kingdom as having aspects

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of a social order. If the only evidence about Jesus were a collection of

sayings - and many scholars write about him as if this were the case - we
would not necessarily be led to make this group of sayings determinative
(see the end of ch. 4). We have been pushed to do so by the need to explain
history and to account for facts. After Jesus' death the disciples formed a
group which had concrete expectations and which was not just an assembly
of people committed to the same abstractions. Jesus doubdess believed in
love, mercy and grace, and so did the disciples, but those beliefs would
not lead to their becoming an identifiable group within Judaism. Further,
we must account for the fact that Jesus was executed but that his disciples
were not. Their ideas about the kingdom, though concrete, were not
expected to be realized by force of arms.
Still further: two of our basic facts themselves imply an otherworldly
kingdom with analogies to the present order: The demonstration against
and saying about the temple, which point to a new - or, at a minimum,
purified and renewed - temple; the calling of twelve disciples, which
prefigures the re-establishment of twelve tribes.
It remains the case, however, that we still have no grounds for ruling
out in principle any of the other groups of sayings about the kingdom.
Those which we have thrust into prominence in this chapter might seem
to exclude those which predict a cosmic cataclysm, since both include
sayings about the judgment, and it is not reasonable to think that the
judgment could, in Jesus' view, be carried out both by angels at the coming
of the Son of man (Matt. 24.31 and elsewhere) and by the twelve disciples
seated on twelve thrones (Matt. 19.28). The principle of coherence might
seem to require us to deny the authenticity of the saying about angels and
the Son of man. The problem is that we cannot know just how hard to
press the principle of coherence. In mentioning this point earlier, I
observed that people who think and talk in pictures may use apparendy
self-contradictory ones, and that observation still stands.
27

All the other groups of sayings blend happily enough with our conclusion
about Jesus and the kingdom. Those sayings and parables which speak of
or imply a reversal of values cohere with the expectation that Jesus and his
followers would take leading places in the kingdom and that it would
include 'sinners'. Those which speak of the kingdom as present, or which
use it as a word to mean 'covenant relation with God', offer little difficulty
for any particular hypothesis, and certainly not for the one argued for here.
One need realize only that 'kingdom' does not always carry precisely the
same meaning. The kingdom in the full eschatological sense could not be
present, nor could it be entirely entered into by individuals, but the

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meaning of the word can be stretched so that one can talk of the kingdom,
in the sense of God's power, as present and as extended to individuals in
the present.
We have, in fact, explained the hardest group of sayings, and those
which were least likely to be created or to be supplemented by similar
ones. That, to repeat, is one of the virtues of our proposal. After Peter
became recognized as the foremost of the former disciples, and especially
after the disciples began to die, sayings about which of them would occupy
which place in the kingdom are unlikely to have come into being. Jesus
may have turned such questions aside by saying that he could not assign
places (Matt. 20.23 and par.), or he may have pointed to the children as
typifying members of the kingdom (Matt. 18.2-5 and parr.) - or such
answers may be a later rebuke, designed to turn the ambition of the
disciples into stories with a moral pointing to the virtue of humility. But
whether the answers are authentic or not, the question probably was really
posed.
The proposal that Jesus had in mind an otherworldly-earthly kingdom
does not involve the denial that he expected there to be a resurrection. I
see no way of coming to a hard decision about the authenticity of a debate
on the resurrection (Mark 1 2 . 1 8 - 2 7 and parr.), but we should accept that
Jesus 'believed in' resurrection. It is often emphasized that the Pharisees
did so, but we should probably turn the phrasing around: everyone did,
except the Sadducees. Those who care for system can quite readily put
'new order' or 'messianic age' chronologically before 'resurrection'. Some
Rabbis eventually made such an arrangement, and one can see a two-stage
eschatology in the Temple Scroll. Jesus and his followers could readily
have done the same. There is no firm evidence that they did so, nor need
we suppose that they did. Many people have combined a belief in personal
and individual immortality with belief in a general resurrection, without
sitting down and working out just how the two are related. Possibly Jesus
thought of 'the kingdom' in two ways and never brought the two into a
systematic relationship. I see no evidence, however, which allows us to
move beyond possibility.
28

29

Jesus as religious type

We should now draw together those points of our discussion which bear
on the question of what sort of figure Jesus was. This can be done very
briefly, for here I think that Hengel's case is persuasive. Hengel compares
Jesus to leaders of'prophetic-charismatic movements of an eschatological

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stamp' (CharismaticLeader, pp. 2of.), and he settles on the term 'eschatolog

ical charismatic' as best givingjesus' type (e.g. pp. 44, 48, 63, 68). It does
not lie outside the scope of such a person to teach, and Hengel points to
Josephus's description ofjudas the Galilean as asophistes (pp. 23O. Besides
Judas, the others who are closest to Jesus, and whose names we have, are
Theudas and the Egyptian (pp. 20-24), who have been so often mentioned
in this chapter. There were still others, unnamed by Josephus. Hengel
explores other possibilities, chiefly that of Rabbi (pp. 4 2 - 5 0 ) , with largely
negative results.
Jesus, however, he argues, is not to be understood entirely within the
limits of the type. He is best described by the category 'eschatological
charismatic', though he goes 'far beyond anything that can be adduced as
prophetic prototypes or parallels from the field of the Old Testament and
from the New Testament period' (p. 68). Hengel is apparendy ready to
follow Fuchs in speaking of Jesus as standing in God's stead (ibid.), and
he adds:
He shatters the power of the evil one, invites sinners to the messianic
banquet, makes the claim that his message of the nearness of salvation and
of God's judgment is binding without reserve on all Israel, including the
Holy City and The Temple (ibid.).
This claim was unique. It was an 'unique, underivable claim to authority,
grounded in God himself (p. 69).
Quite certainly Jesus was not a 'teacher' comparable with the later rabbinical
experts in the Law, and he was a great deal more than a prophet.
Even within the characterization we have preferred, of an 'eschatological
charismatic', he remains in the last resort incommensurable, and so basically
confounds every attempt to fit him into the categories suggested by the
phenomenology or sociology of religion (ibid.).
We may recall here Morton Smith's view. He agrees that Jesus conforms
to a general type represented by Judas the Galilean and Theudas. The
former was 'a legal teacher who started a resistance movement against
Roman control', and 'comparison with him places Jesus in the category of
revolutionists and/or messiahs'. Theudas, on the other hand, was a goes,
a 'magician' or 'deceiver'. 'Comparison with him reflects Jesus' reputation'
as miracle worker. Smith, while affirming that in some ways Jesus
was connected to would-be political messiahs, sees him primarily as a
magician. Smith's observations, however, are in need of refinement.
Theudas, according to Josephus, called himself a prophet, and that presum
ably was how his followers saw him. Josephus called him a goes in the sense
30

31

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of 'deceiver' (Ajf XX.97). Whether he worked any miracles we do not

know. Jesus was apparendy seen by his opponents as both a 'deceiver' and
a 'magician', but he was crucified as would-be 'king'. 'Magician' does not
do justice to the implicit claim to be spokesman for God, and thus a
'prophet'; and the comparison with Theudas also points towards consid
ering him a prophet, and a prophet of a certain kind: that called by Hengel
an 'eschatological charismatic'.
This is not a novel conclusion. Many scholars have agreed that, of
various roles which we can identify, Jesus best fits that of 'prophet'. It is
also generally recognized that Jesus' repute as a miracle worker must be
taken into account in defining him. Thus not infrequendy one will read
that he combined styles or types.
We have, then, fairly wide agreement on a general category, but it is a
category which contains people who differed from one another in substan
tial ways. I shall offer a list, emphasizing factors which distinguish one
from another.
1 . John the Baptist may be considered a prophet. From what we know
of him, he had a message with one basic thrust: to repent in view of the
coming judgment. He had disciples, but they were not viewed as potential
insurgents. He seems to have confined his work to a remote area near the
Jordan. (In addition to the Gospels, see AJf XVIII. 1 1 6 - 1 9 . )
2. Judas the Galilean and his successors were true insurgents. Judas
taught, but he did not perform miracles or promise a great eschatological
sign. ( S e e J p i I . 1 1 8 , 433.)
3. Theudas (and the unnamed others) offered a miracle which recalled
the exodus. We do not know that any of them had previously performed
miracles, nor that any expected an armed uprising. Josephus's account in
the War seems fb show that they probably did not, for there he does
attribute a military attack to the Egyptian. (See Bjf II.258-60; AJf XX.gjf.,
167Q
4. The Egyptian wanted to overthrow the Roman garrison and establish
himself as king (Bjf I I . 2 6 1 - 6 3 ) . There was probably the promise of an
eschatological miracle, and it is this point which Josephus fixes on in the
Antiquities (AJf XX. 1 6 9 - 7 2 ) .
5. Jesus, unlike any of the others - as far as we know - , gained fame
from miracles. As Smith points out, the taunt against him that he saved
others but could not save himself reflects this. Further, like Judas, he
was a teacher. Unlike the Egyptian, but like John, Theudas and the
unnamed others, he did not expect armed revolt. He differs from Theudas
and the others, however, in not promising an eschatological miracle. As I
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pointed out before, the symbolic gestures pointing to the eschaton were
not miracles. Further, he may not have sought a mass following at all, and
thus would be unlike all the others. We shall examine the question of
numbers more closely in ch. n , and here it is necessary only to recall
Hengel's point that he did not call all Israel to follow him.
And so, among the main representatives of a very broad type, Jesus can
be distinguished. I do not doubt that in the ways just indicated he was
unique; in some way or other everyone is unique. I do not know, however,
that he was unique because he claimed more authority than did Theudas
and Judas (so Hengel, p. 69), just as I do not know that he went beyond
them in hoping for a kingdom in which outcasts received God's love. Their
followers came from somewhere, and probably not from aristocratic
circles. Quite likely they were not all pious - and perhaps some were
sinners. They were at least 'poor'. 'Renewal movements' (Theissen's
term) appeal to outsiders. How much authority Theudas and the Egyptian
claimed we cannot know, but we do know that some of their followers,
unlike Jesus', paid for their devotion with their lives. The oft-repeated
claim that Jesus 'put himself in the place of God' is overdone. He is often
said to have done so in forgiving sins; but we must note that he only
pronounced forgiveness, which is not the prerogative of God, but of the
priesthood. I do not know of any other instance in which it can reasonably
be said that Jesus put himself in God's place. In short, I must doubt many
of the claims for Jesus' uniqueness.
35

36

37

I do not wish to minimize Jesus' self-claim. Obviously it was great

indeed. He claimed to know that the kingdom was at hand and to be in a
position to say who would be in it. He even knew that he and his disciples
would be main figures in it, though he apparendy declined to designate
precise places. It is by no means unlikely that he thought of himself as
viceroy-to-be. But I worry a bit about the word 'unique'. Others also
thought that they spoke for God and were appointed direcdy by him to
lead his people into the kingdom.
What is unique is the result. But, again, we cannot know that the
result springs from the uniqueness of the historical Jesus. Without the
resurrection, would his disciples have endured longer than did John the
Baptist's? We can only guess, but I would guess not.

In parts of this conclusion to the study of the kingdom, we have had to get
ahead of our story, and the question of the execution has had to figure in
the discussion. It is now time to return to the proper sequence, and to take

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up points where there may have been opposition and the groups from
which it may have come.

PART THREE

CONFLICT AND DEATH

9
THE LAW

General considerations
The question of'Jesus and the law' is twofold. One must inquire whether
or not Jesus took an attitude towards the law which was in any way negative.
f he did so, was it one of the factors which helps to explain his crucifixion
and the rise of the Christian movement? The answers are not self-evident.
As A. E. Harvey has recently pointed out, people generally do not have an
attitude, much less a negative one, towards the law as such. Does this apply
to first-century Jews? We can see that at least some Jews, during crisis
periods especially, had to adopt a general attitude towards the law. In the
early stage of the Maccabean revolt the leaders had to decide not to obey
the Sabbath law if doing so meant losing batdes and men. During the
persecutions which followed the second revolt against Rome, the Rabbis
specified that only three laws need be maintained if keeping the law would
lead to execution. Paul and the other leaders of the Christian movement,
in a quite different kind of crisis, had to think about the status of the law.
Josephus tells us that Jews were generally loyal to the law, and selfconsciousness about observing it would be sharpened by the intermixture
of cultures. Jews in the diaspora must have been conscious of being
different from Gentiles, but the situation in Roman-governed Palestine
could hardly have been different - as, again, is seen in Josephus's accounts
of hostility and strife between Jews and their overlords.
T

There is thus some reason to think that Jews in general in the first
century may have been more conscious of living under 'a law' than are
most moderns, who tend to think only about particular laws. Besides, it
may be urged, Jesus, no less than Paul, saw himself as living at a time of
crisis, with the eschaton near at hand. Thus the circumstances were right
for a consideration of the law as law.

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Perhaps most readers will think that general considerations such as

these are not needed. There are several passages in the Gospels in which
Jesus is depicted as being challenged about the law, and such conflicts
would have necessarily pressed him to consider what he thought about it.
Of recent years many New Testament scholars have shown themselves
willing to accept these passages more or less at face value, and they have
concluded that Jesus explicidy and consciously opposed the law. Kummel,
further, has argued from Jesus' execution to the probability that he
offended some of the leaders of Judaism by openly opposing the law. The
fact that the trial narratives do not mention Sabbath, food and the like
need not be taken as conclusive; and the argument may be pressed that
general hostility towards Jesus needs to be accounted for, and that the
passages describing debate on the law help to do so. Still others, without
taking this precise line, see Jesus as having been consciously and deliber
ately anti-Torah in sweeping terms.
Yet, as we saw in the Introduction, a major line of New Testament
research has held that Jesus did not take a negative attitude towards the
law. Bultmann and others have granted that some historicity attaches to at
least some of the passages in the Gospels which show a conflict. They
have argued, however, that, though he opposed the law on some points
and thus now can be seen to have opposed it in principle, he was unaware
of having taken such a stance. This is, in effect, the view that he had no
attitude towards the law other than that of the normally observant Jew: it
represents the will of God.
This view results from trying to hold together two types of evidence.
One I have just mentioned, the pericopes which show Jesus in conflict
with others about the law. The other is the difficulty about the law in the
early Christian movement. We move here into the question of whether or
not Jesus' own attitude towards the law helps account for the results. As
usual, we find ourselves thinking backwards, from the result to its cause.
The result was not a clear position which held that the law could readily
be set aside; therefore, the argument runs, Jesus could not have taken an
unambiguously negative stance towards the law in general, nor towards
the parts later debated, such as the food laws. It seems to me that this
argument is fatal to the view that Jesus openly and blatandy opposed the
law. The theory of explicit opposition may make hostility towards Jesus
easier to account for, but it makes the controversies in the early church
incomprehensible. We must still consider, however, the position that,
although Jesus opposed parts of the law, he did not intend to oppose it in
principle.
5

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THE LAW

A recent thesis has argued in favour of such a position. Banks proposes

that Jesus took up no attitude towards the law, but simply bypassed
('surpassed') it. He regards Jesus as having adopted a position which was
not in conscious relation to the law one way or another, although opposition
to the law was latentin his position. One of his formulations is noteworthy:
'Jesus neither moves out from the Law in making his own demands nor
relates those requirements back to it.' The first clause seems to be a
useful generalization and a true one. Jesus was not, as far as we can tell
from the surviving material, a midrashist. He did not develop his own
statements as exegetical comments on the Torah. I am not, however,
persuaded of the accuracy of the second clause, that Jesus did not relate
his own requirements back to the law. This point requires testing.
It must be asked of those who propose such views how it could be that
Jesus opposed aspects of the Mosaic legislation but did not take up a
negative stance towards the law as such. The view that the law is unitary
- it was all given by God to Israel, and all parts are thus equally binding was so common in Judaism that Jesus must have known it and, moreover,
daily encountered others who accepted it as obvious and who would have
brought home to him the implications of his actions. It is thus hard to see
that Jesus could have opposed aspects of the law without seeing the
implications for the law as a whole.
There is a line of defence. One can argue that he opposed individual
laws but not the law as such if one can show that he made a conscious
distinction within the law. A recent thesis by Westerholm, which is valuable
in several ways, shows how this sort of argument can be developed.
Westerholm discusses Jesus' attitude towards 'scribal authority', which
turns out to include most of the things generally covered under the heading
of 'Jesus and the law'. The learned of Israel thought of Scripture as
essentially containing statutes, while Jesus did not. Westerholm deduces
from the divorce pericope, for example, that Jesus' view was that 'scripture
is not statute; the will of God may be sought in what scripture reveals of
his purposes; divorce is opposed to that will.' Although I shall disagree
with aspects of Westerholm's view, I think there is a fair bit of truth to this
formulation. Just as I above agreed with Banks that Jesus was not a
midrashist, I can here agree with Westerholm that he was not a halakic
midrashist. His occupation was not taking up scriptural statutes and
interpreting them (the partial exception is, again, the pericope on divorce).
9

10

11

12

13

14

16

What I have called a 'line of defence' involves an appreciable shift in

position. A view such as Westerholm's allows one to cope with the antiTorah evidence of the Gospels and the fact that the disciples did not know

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that Jesus had broken with the law. It does not, however, require him to
be unconscious of the implications of de facto transgression or opposition.
On the contrary, it attributes to him a distinct and well-thought-out
position which distinguishes truth from error, or profound meaning from
superficial observance, within the law itself. Thus when Westerholm
proposes that Jesus did not agree with the position of the Torah on divorce,
he does not mean that Jesus opposed the law but was not conscious of the
implication. In Westerholm's view, Jesus deliberately challenged the
authority of the law as it was understood, as containing statutes.
Many others have proposed that Jesus made a distinction between the
ceremonial or ritual law, which he opposed or held to be superficial and
unnecessary, and the moral law, which reflects the will of God.
It should be emphasized that this sort of defence is necessary if one is
to maintain that Jesus broke the law on certain points and even debated
about it, but did not oppose the law itself. It can hardly be maintained that
he did not know at all what he was doing, and so it must be held that he
knew and had thought it out. This line of defence, however, is difficult to
maintain. There are two points to consider.
The first is that we cannot find, in the Judaism of Jesus' day, any
precedent for making the sort of distinction within the law which is
attributed to him. From Philo we learn that some Jews allegorized parts
of the law and did not keep it all literally. Later, in Rabbinic Judaism, we
can observe that some aspects of the law were interpreted away, though
not by allegory. One may reasonably attribute this practice to the Pharisees
and others of Jesus' day. The clearest example is the deletion of one part
of the law with which the Rabbis strenuously disagreed, the statement that
those who take the name of the Lord in vain cannot be acquitted (Exod.
20.7; Deut. 5 . 1 1 ) . It appears that different Rabbis got around that part
of the law in different ways, but not by explicidy saying that 'the law here
is wrong'. Citing one passage against another in order to justify ignoring
or disbelieving an unpalatable part of the Torah is also known. The Rabbis
did not agree with another major aspect of the ten commandments: that
God visits 'the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and
the fourth generation' (Exod. 20.5). Against that view they could appeal
to Ezekiel (Ezek. 1 8 . 1 - 2 0 ) .
17

18

19

20

21

These interpretations, even though the result is to oppose the obvious

meaning of a scriptural law, were not considered by those who practised
them to be denials of the law, nor to call into question its adequacy. The
Pharisaic/Rabbinic concept of'oral law' shows that they wanted to assert
that the law given to Moses was adequate in all respects - even when they

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were in fact adding to it, deleting from it, and otherwise altering it. Similarly
in 1QS a distinction is made between the 'hidden things' in the law, which
are known only to the sect, and the rest ( i Q S 5.1 i f ) . Entrants to the
community pledge to keep 'every commandment of the Law of Moses in
accordance with all that has been revealed of it to the sons of Zadok' (1 QS
4.8f). Thus the sect's special rules were formally considered to be in 'the
law of Moses', though from our point of view they are additions and
modifications.
Did Jesus change or avoid the law by interpretation? Individual cases
will be discussed below, but here it may be noted that, apart from the
pericope on divorce, the material in the synoptics is not readily amenable
to this interpretation.
The frequent proposal that Jesus opposed the cultic aspects of the law
recalls the Rabbinic distinction between 'commandments which govern
relations among humans' (mitsvot ben adam le-adam) and 'commandments
which govern relations between humans and God' (mitsvot ben adam leMaqom). This is not the same as the distinction between ritual and moral
aspects of the law - which is, in fact, anachronistic - but in any case the
distinction was not made for the purpose of relegating some part of the
law to a secondary place. The Rabbis used this distinction to specify what
should be done to atone for transgression. Transgression of command
ments governing relations among humans requires compensation as well
as repentance to God.
Thus we know of various ways in which people could avoid the obvious
meaning of the law without, however, admitting that they opposed it.
Further, we see that some could make distinctions within the law. What
is lacking from ancient Judaism is a parallel to the attitude attributed to
Jesus: that he saw himself as sovereign over the law and as being able to
decide that parts of it need not be obeyed.
The unparalleled character of this view does not, to be sure, trouble a
great many scholars. On the contrary! Here can be seen a novel point and
one that distinguishes Jesus from others. He was conscious of unparalleled
sovereignty, and rightly so.
There is, however, a second difficulty. We must face, again, the evidence
from early Christianity. The parts of the law which are most prominent in
the Gospels are Sabbath and food, and those who hold the view that Jesus
himself distinguished aspects of the law which need not be observed from
the rest of it, or from the will of God reflected in it, must put these two
parts of the law in the group which he was willing to break. Yet these are
two of the three major points of law in Paul's letters (the third being
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CONFLICT AND DEATH

circumcision). If Jesus had declared all foods clean, why did Paul and
Peter disagree over Jews eating with Gentiles (Gal. 2 . 1 1 - 1 6 ) ? Or, put in
terms of Acts rather than Galatians, why did it take a thrice-repeated
revelation to convince Peter (or, rather, to leave him puzzled and on the
way to conviction) (Acts 10.9-17)? And if Jesus consciously transgressed
the Sabbath, allowed his disciples to do so, and justified such action in
public debate, how could Paul's Christian opponents in Galatia urge that
the Sabbath be kept (Gal. 4.10)?
The discussion thus far has followed a chain of questions, proposals,
and counter-arguments. I shall recapitulate: (1) Did Jesus have an attitude
towards the law? (2) If he did, was it negative, and did it help lead to his
death and the rise of the Christian movement? (3) Some have answered
yes. (4) Others have argued that he had no clear and unambiguously
negative stance, but that he opposed the law in some specific details. (5)
This view comes about by combining pericopes in the synoptics which
describe conflicts with the fact that early Christianity did not easily dismiss
the law. (6) The early Christian debates about the law show that one cannot
maintain position 3 above - that Jesus took an unambiguously negative
stance towards it. (7) Against position 4, one may urge that he could not
have opposed the law in detail without seeing the implications. (8) In
defence it is argued that he himself distinguished parts of the law which
could be disregarded from the parts which must be kept, or from the will
of God itself. (9) Against this it may be urged that such a distinction is
unprecedented. (10) Proponents of position 8 accept Jesus' uniqueness.
( 1 1 ) But against position 8 it may nevertheless be urged that his followers
did not know that he had 'abrogated' just those parts of the law which are
most prominent in the synoptics and which constitute the details which he
is held to have set aside.
The history of the early church poses difficulties for any view which
holds that Jesus opposed the law. The question then becomes how firm
are the passages which depict him in opposition to it.
The question is not so much whether or not we can find a record of
some defacto disobedience of the obvious meaning of the Scripture - which
in and of itself would be only moderately interesting - but whether or not
there is evidence that Jesus consciously challenged the adequacy of the Mosaic
dispensation.

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The temple and the law

It is one of the curiosities of research on the question of Jesus and Judaism
that Jesus' sayings and actions with regard to the temple are often separated
from his attitude towards the law. We have seen above that some regard
Jesus as having opposed not only the law but also the cult, while numerous
others propose that Jesus changed opponents in Jerusalem: from the
Pharisees, whom he offended by not observing the law (at least as they
understood it), to the priests, whom he offended by threatening their
revenue. As Schurmann puts it, Jesus opposed the legal interpretation
of the Pharisees and the cultic piety of the Sadducees. We shall return
to Jesus' opponents, but here it may be remarked that it was surely not the
case that only the Pharisees were interested in maintaining the law, nor
that only the Sadducees were interested in the temple. But we let this
point pass for the present, and concentrate on the view of many scholars
that Jesus' attitude towards the law can be separated from his attitude
towards the temple.
This understanding, or misunderstanding, is seen in an extreme form
in Banks' recent investigation of Jesus and the law. He mentions the temple
only in passing, and even then it is only Mark 1 1 . 1 6 (passing through the
temple area while carrying vessels) that is in view. He later concludes
that Jesus' remarks on this score show only that he did not affirm oral
tradition. It seems not to have occurred to Banks, as it has not occurred
to numerous others, that Jesus' attitude towards the temple cannot be
dissociated from his attitude towards the Torah, nor can his attitude
towards law be studied without dealing with the traditions on the temple;
for the temple rites were based on the Torah. It is hard to conceive that Jesus
could have had fundamentally different attitudes towards the temple and
towards other points of the Mosaic legislation.
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26

27

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29

If it be true that Jesus' action against the temple informs us about his
view of the entire Mosaic dispensation, we have the possibility of reaching
at least a partial conclusion. It would seem that Jesus did not regard it as
inviolate. I have previously argued that the action and the saying are
eschatological, that is, they point to the end of the old order and the coming
of the new, and we see that, in this conviction, Jesus could strike a physical
blow at the existing temple sacrifices. As we have seen in chs. 1 and 8,
the gesture cannot be taken as simply negative. It is probable that the
prediction that the temple would be rebuilt (Matt. 26.6i//Mark 14.58) is
authentic. But even if it is not, we should connect the apparendy negative
action and saying with Jesus' positive view of the coming new age. We thus
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252

cannot say that the passages about the temple show that he opposed the
law. They demonstrate, however, his view that the current dispensation is not
final.

Let the dead bury the dead

It was, as far as I have noted, Schlatter who first observed how the
commandment to a would-be disciple to 'Let the dead bury their dead'
would have sounded to Jewish ears: a wanton act of blatant transgression
('ein schlechthin schdndender FreveF). Wilder also noted that the saying
violates not only filial duty but the fifth commandment (honour of father
and mother). He draws from the violation, however, only the conclusion
that Jesus felt his 'errand' to be urgent. The saying should not be
generalized in its application. Despite the relative neglect of the pericope,
I regard it as being the most revealing passage in the synoptics fpr
penetrating to Jesus' view of the law, next only to the conflict over the
temple. Among recent scholars, it is primarily Martin Hengel who has
seen the force of the saying, at least as far as its negative implications go,
and what follows will be seen to be in close agreement with his position.
We should begin by briefly sketching the most pertinent points concerning
form and authenticity.
In Matthew (8.2 if.) the passage is the second of two concerning those
who would follow Jesus, in Luke ( 9 . 5 9 ^ the second of three. The
arrangement is presumably the result of collecting and redactional activity,
but there is widespread agreement on the authenticity of the passage. It
is also generally agreed, correctly it seems to me, that the introduction in
Luke is the more original, while Matthew has the original ending. The
passage would thus read as follows:
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35

Jesus said to another: 'Follow me.' He said: 'Let me first go and bury my
father.' But Jesus said to him: 'Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their
dead.'
36

This is one instance in which the 'criteria of dissimilarity' stand us in good

stead. As Schlatter's remark makes clear, the saying is not conceivable
as coming from any part of Judaism known to us. Further, it is not
comprehensible as a creation of the early community. Hengel has also
shown that there are no true parallels to the saying 'Let the dead bury their
dead' in the Graeco-Roman world. It counters not only the Mosaic
legislation as it was understood throughout Judaism, but also normal
and common Graeco-Roman piety. There is one final remark about
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THE LAW
40

authenticity: the saying presupposes the question. It would not be

imaginable that the request to go and bury one's father first was created
as a frame for the saying to let the dead bury their dead.
But what does the exchange mean? It will be useful to dwell for a
moment on the severity of the requirement to honour one's parents by
burying them. The obligation to bury dead relatives is first indicated in
Gen. 2 3 . 3 f , Abraham's request for a burial place for Sarah, and common
Jewish interpretation understood it to be implied by the fifth command
ment. The seriousness of the obligation to care for dead relatives is most
clearly seen in Berakoth 3 . 1 , where it is said to override even the obligation
to recite the Shema and wear phylacteries. Similarly in Tobit, Tobias
protests against marrying a woman who had lost seven husbands on her
wedding night, on the ground that if he, Tobias, were killed by the demon
who jealously guarded the woman, the tragedy would also bring his parents
to the grave, and 'they have no other son to bury them' (Tobit 6 . 1 3 - 1 5 ) .
Here the obligation to bury one's parents is the ground for backing out of
a betrothal. It thus becomes clear that the requirement to care for dead
relatives, especially parents, was held very stricdy among Jews at the time
of Jesus. In addition to the obligation to bury one's parents, the general
obligation to care for the dead was very strong. According to later Rabbinic
opinion, even the High Priest and a Nazirite, ordinarily forbidden to
contract corpse-uncleanness, should do so in the case of a neglected
corpse (Nazir 7 . 1 ) .
c

The saying 'Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their dead' has a
double impact, and a double impact which has not, as we noted above,
been widely recognized. The positive thrust - a call to discipleship which
is urgent and which overrides other responsibilities - has been generally
appreciated. Dibelius, for example, commented that it is 'not as if Jesus'
message forbade the fulfilling of the obligations of filial reverence, but
because the decision for the Kingdom of God cannot be postponed'.
Similarly Schweizer interpreted the passage to mean that 'discipleship
excludes all other ties'. What is striking about this sort of interpretation
is the lack of realization of what the negative implication of the passage is:
Dibelius has it apply only against the 'obligations of filial reverence',
without noting that the obligation was imposed by God in the Torah, and
Schweizer against 'other ties', again without noting that the duty is one
commanded by God. Disobedience of the requirement to care for one's
dead parents is actually disobedience to God.
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42

Banks, while noting the strictness of the requirement to bury dead

relatives in Judaism, has nevertheless proposed a different meaning for

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254

the passage from the one suggested here: 'It is far more likely that, as in
the surrounding pericopes, it is the priority of discipleship over domestic
responsibilities that is at stake rather than an issue relating to oral ,or
written Law and that the reply of Jesus is a purely proverbial one with no
actual referent(s) in view.' Both halves of this proposal are unlikely,
though on different grounds. We have already noted that Banks' general
position with regard to Jesus and the law is that he did not specifically
relate to it one way or another; he surpassed it but never direcdy countered
it. In the present case Banks supposes that Jesus had in mind the positive
call for discipleship but did not see it as being opposed to Torah obedience.
What is unlikely about this view with regard to the particular case, as with
regard to Jesus' attitude towards the law in general, is that it is simply hard
to believe that anyfirst-centuryJew who dealt with matters covered by the
Torah would not have consciously realized that he was either accepting it
as binding or rejecting it. It is hard to believe that Jesus saw the requirement
to bury dead parents as only a 'domestic responsibility' and did not know
that it was a commandment from God. With regard to the second half of
Banks' proposal, that the saying is proverbial without any direct referent
to a real case, one must rather follow Hengel: the attitude indicated is so
shocking, not only in Judaism, but in the entire Graeco-Roman world,
that the saying 'Let the dead bury their dead' could hardly be a general
proverb. This would require the question concerning the would-be
disciple's father to be a later creation to particularize the proverb, but it is
extremely unlikely that the later church would have created a setting which
made Jesus sound so impious. The only realistic reading of the passage is
to consider both the question and the answer as authentic. This means
that they apply to a real situation: the man's father is actually dead, and
Jesus actually requires that the man follow him rather than bury his
father. Any other reading requires that the saying be either proverbial or
metaphorical, and we have seen these to be unlikely possibilities.
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44

In chs. 6 and 8 we noted the positive thrust - the requirement to follow

Jesus at all costs. What is important here is to see the force of the
negative thrust: Jesus consciously requires disobedience of a commandment
understood by all Jews to have been given by God. Should this be
generalized, or should we take it to be a rare, perhaps unrepeated instance
in which Jesus put the call to follow him above even the law? That must
depend on the assessment of other evidence. It is probable that Jesus did
not expect all who heeded his message to follow him (see ch. 8), in which
case the urgent requirement of this passage may not reflect a consistent and
general view of the relative value of his own work and of the law. Even after

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we have fully registered the shocking character of the demand, we must

still hesitate before drawing far-ranging conclusions as to Jesus' attitude
towards the law.
We should briefly mention here another passage about a wouldbe disciple, the rich man of Matt. 19.16-30/VMark 1 0 . 1 7 - 3 1 / / L u k e
1 8 . 1 8 - 3 0 (he is young in Matt. 19.22 and a ruler in Luke 1 8 . 1 8 ) . He is
told, in addition to observing the law, to sell all that he has and to follow
Jesus. It is tempting to combine the two stories and conclude that the
requirement laid on would-be disciples was to surrender whatever was
precious to them, which would lead to the inference that it is not the law
as such which is at stake in Matt. 8.2if. One might also say that, in both
stories, the law is held not to be adequate. This may point us in the right
direction, although we can by no means be sure that the story of the rich
man is authentic.
A modest conclusion about the pericope on burying the dead is in order.
At least once Jesus was willing to say that following him superseded the
requirements of piety and the Torah. This may show that Jesus was
prepared, if necessary, to challenge the adequacy of the Mosaic
dispensation.
The sinners
We should return to our proposal about Jesus' view of the inclusion of the
'tax collectors and sinners'. If what I earlier suggested is true - that he
thought that accepting him would ensure them a place in the kingdom
even if they did not repent and make restitution according to the normal
requirements of the law - then he obviously called into question the
adequacy of the law. This would not have been precisely opposing it, but
rather acting on the premise that it need not be applied to those who
followed him. Here would be a point of real offence, not just to the
Pharisees, but to all who thought that the wicked should repent and make
restitution. The case of the wicked would then be roughly parallel to the
case of the would-be disciple who wanted to bury his father, but it would
have been blatant and publicly obvious. If Jesus' public following included
notorious sinners who had not repented and made restitution, and ifJesus
publicly proclaimed that they would precede the righteous in the kingdom
- even those righteous who had been persuaded by John to repent - then
public indignation may well have been pronounced.

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CONFLICT AND DEATH

Divorce
The historicity ofJesus' prohibiting divorce is confirmed by Paul's giving
it as a commandment, not from himself but from the Lord, that neither
the wife should divorce the husband nor the husband the wife. He adds
that in case a wife does divorce, she should remain single or be reconciled
to her husband (I Cor. 7. iof). Paul proceeds to give his own divorce rules,
which are not based on the view that remarriage constitutes adultery, but
rather deal with whether or not believers should divorce unbelieving
spouses (I Cor. 7 . 1 2 - 1 4 ) . Finally, he urges believing spouses not to oppose
a divorce sought by an unbelieving partner (7.15).
All the synoptic passages on divorce (Matt. 5 . 3 i f ; Luke 1 6 . 1 8 ; Matt.
i9.3~9//Mark 1 0 . 2 - 1 2 ) , while there are interesting differences among
them, are determined by the view that divorce leads to adultery.
Naturally a great deal of exegetical work has been done on these
passages. One of the principal problems has been whether or not
Matthew's allowing of divorce in case adultery had already been committed
goes back to Jesus. A second is raised by the fact that Mark, Luke and
Paul deal with a woman's divorcing her husband as well as a man's
divorcing his wife, while Matthew does not. The third principal problem
is that neither Paul nor Luke attributes to Jesus scriptural warrant for his
view, while Matthew and Mark do (Matt. i 9 4 - 6 / / M a r k 1 0 . 6 - 8 ) . The
argument is based on Gen. 1.27 and 2.24: 'he made them male and
female'; 'the two shall become one flesh'.
There are obviously many other issues which may be discussed: the
form-critical analysis of the passages; the examination of Rabbinic views
on divorce; and of course the earliest form of the prohibition. There is
also the interesting question of why Paul, having prohibited divorce in the
name of the Lord, proceeds to discuss when it is and is not appropriate.
But our needs are limited to two points:
1. In forbidding divorce Jesus did not directly defy the Mosaic law. It is
a general principle that greater stringency than the law requires is not
illegal. The haberim and the Essenes, to name two obvious groups, took on
themselves stringent requirements not in the Mosaic law, and they
doubtless did so on religious grounds. Those of the haberim are obvious:
they intended 'to elevate everyday Jewish life as a whole, and in its minute
details, to the sphere of cultic worship'.
We can put this matter another way. It is not the case in Jewish law that
everything not forbidden is required. Moses did not command divorce, he
permitted it; and to prohibit what he permitted is by no means the same
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as to permit what he prohibited. Westerholm, who employs this passage

in his argument that Jesus did not deal with the law as statute, does not
adequately explain what is and is not a statute in the Mosaic law. Since
the point seems to be often misunderstood we should briefly consider it.
In Deut. 2 4 . 1 - 4 there is a clear statute: a man may not remarry a wife
whom he had divorced if she subsequendy was married to somebody else.
This applies even if her second spouse died. There is also an implied
ordinance: a man who divorces a wife should write her a bill of divorce.
Divorce itself is not a statute: it is neither forbidden nor required, In the
New Testament passages, Jesus forbids divorce. He cannot be said here
to be refusing to deal with the law as statute. In fact, it would seem that he
introduces a statute where there was none: he forbids divorce. This
makes two other statutes poindess (those requiring a legal bill and
prohibiting certain remarriages), but only by the standard legal device of
excluding the situation in which they were relevant.
Westerholm, to be sure, principally wants to argue that Jesus was not
interested in halakic definitions, and one may certainly agree. In this
particular case, we do not need to debate further whether or not he
intended his view to be interpreted by his followers as a statute. It is enough
that we see that he does not say anything which would lead to disobedience
of the law, and he cannot be said to be opposing it.
2. The long form of the tradition about divorce, which includes the
appeal to Gen. 1.27 and 2.24 (Matt. 19.3~c)//Mark 1 0 . 2 - 1 2 ) , or something
very like it, represents Jesus' original saying. It is likely on intrinsic grounds
that Jesus gave a religious reason for his limitation. Further, a similar
passage in the Covenant of Damascus (or the Zadokite Document) is so
closely related to our passage that it becomes overwhelmingly probable
that Jesus' original ruling cited Scripture. The passage in C D is worth
examining in some detail.
The author's presentation is a little confused, and there are also some
uncertainties of punctuation. The author first says that Israel is ensnared
in three 'nets of Belial' which are set up as 'three kinds of righteousness'.
The first is sexual immorality, the second wealth, and the third making
the temple impure (CD 4 . 1 4 - 1 8 ) . The general point is that in three areas
laws ('righteousness') are followed which are in fact wrong ('nets of Belial').
The profanation of the temple is caused because the priests (apparently)
'lie with a woman who sees her menstrual blood' (5-6f). This is a standard
charge against the priesthood, known also from the Psalms of Solomon
and Rabbinic literature (Ps. Sol. 8 . 1 3 ; Niddah 4.2), and it probably reflects
a halakic dispute on the time which must elapse before a woman is
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28
5

50

considered pure. The point apparendy is that the Sadducean interpret

ation of the law ('a kind of righteousness') is wrong.
The author eventually, after a good deal of other material, gets around
to wealth, the second 'net', although the word 'net' does not recur: the
members of the covenant (that is, the Covenant of Damascus) 'shall keep
away from the unclean riches of wickedness acquired by vow or anathema
51
or from the Temple treasure' (6.i5f.). One will here, of course, recall
Mark 7.n//Matt.i5.5. By a legal device, money vowed to God can be
kept for one's own uses.
The author has much more to say about the first 'net', sexual immorality.
Israel (more precisely, 'the builders of the wall', identified as those who
'follow after Precept') is ensnared bishtayim bizenut (4.20). It is difficult to
know just how to construe this phrase and the words following it. Vermes
translates 'shall be caught in fornication twice by taking a second wife. . .'.
Lohse has 'They are caught in two ways: in fornication, that they take two
wives. . .'. Rabin reads 'caught in two kinds of fornication: (first) to take
two women. . .'. It seems best to follow Rabin and read 'in two kinds of
sexual immorality', and also to follow him in introducing at that point a
colon. In this case a second charge of sexual immorality can be found in
5.8-11, which illogically comes after the charge of priesdy impurity
(5.6f). The second kind of sexual immorality in this understanding is that
Moses forbade a man to marry his mother's sister, while the forbidden
degrees should be extended to prohibit analogous marriages between
uncle and niece (5.8-11).
Now for the immediately relevant parallel, which is the first of the two
types of sexual immorality: It is immoral for men to take two wives in their
- the men's - lifetimes. 'The foundation of creation is "male and female
he created them'" (4.21). The author has further arguments, and the issue
seems to have been important: (1) 'Those who entered the Ark went in
two by two.' (2) Deut. 1 7 . 1 7 forbids the king to multiply wives - although
David is excused, since he could not have read Deuteronomy, which had
been sealed up (5.1-6).
The prevailing interpretation of the passage in C D and also of the
synoptic pericope on divorce is well stated by Dungan: The argument of
both the Zadokite Document and Jesus is based on
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the expectation of the imminent return of the Time of Creation, the

primordial age of perfection soon to manifest itself through God's direct
intervention. Indeed, the time is felt to be so close at hand as to provide a
basis for opposition to the polluted legal traditions of men . . . . This
particular point of similarity between the Damascus Document and Jesus'

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appeal to the age of Creation establishes the thoroughly apocalyptic horizon

of Jesus' answer.
54

I have presented the argument of the Zadokite Document in such detail

because it is important not to rush to a conclusion. Dungan, for example,
does not cite the further biblical arguments in C D . The Zadokite author's
argument in this entire section is by no means dominated by eschatological
expectation and the view that Endzeit should equal Urzeit. Although we
know from the Temple Scroll that at least some at Qumran expected a
new temple, our particular author is not concerned about that. He is
concerned about profanation of the present temple and about whether or
not money vowed to the temple is turned to private use. In the case of his
position against taking two wives he has three scriptural arguments, and
only one of them is an appeal to the order of creation. The eschatological
key does not open every door.
When we return to the argument attributed to Jesus (Matt. 1 9 . 3 - 9 and
par.), we note that there are two scriptural arguments, one of which is an
appeal to the order of creation. The other is based on another principle:
'the two become one flesh', and this one, furthermore, is elaborated: 'so
that there are no longer two but one' (Matt. 19.8/yMark 10.8). This line
of argument is followed by Paul in his discussion of employing a prostitute:
'Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one
body with her? For, as it is written, "The two shall become one flesh'" (I
Cor. 6.16).
Jesus, Paul, and the author of the Covenant of Damascus all shared the
view that they lived in the last days (for the view of C D , see 4.4). But
eschatology does not necessarily explain everything. Paul's statement about
divorce and marriage are based on eschatology: see I Cor. 7 . 2 4 - 3 1 . But
his statement about prostitution, where he quotes Gen. 2.24 (I Cor. 6.16),
does not seem to depend on eschatology.
I am not attempting to prove definitively that Jesus' prohibition of
divorce did not flow from his view that at the end there would be a reversion
to the time before the fall. It may have done so, and the fact that both C D
and the synoptic pericope put Gen. 1.27firstmay point in that direction.
But I do not think that we can be sure. The saying on divorce does not
prove that Jesus' world-view was determined by eschatological exception.
On other grounds I think that he saw himself as a prophet of the coming
reign of God, and it is reasonable to interpret the saying on divorce as
springing immediately from his eschatological expectation, but I do not
think that we can tie the two together with absolute certainty.

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CONFLICT AND DEATH

Anyone who accepted Jesus' prohibition of divorce would not thereby

become a transgressor of the law, and in that sense Jesus' saying is not
against the law. Yet we do see here the view that the Mosaic dispensation
is not adequate. The prohibition shows that Jesus expected there to be a
better order. That this was based on the view that the new age would
duplicate in some ways the original creation is possible but not certain.
Yet the implied expectation of a new and better order is itself eschatological.

Other antitheses and related sayings

In Matthew the saying on divorce, besides appearing in the long form in
1 9 . 3 - 9 , appears as one of the antitheses (Matt. 5 . 2 1 - 4 7 ; the divorce saying
is 5 . 3 i f ) . It has been common to identify some of the antitheses as
authentic and to take them as showing that Jesus intentionally broke with
the law. The opposite case has also been made out. They are not
infrequendy combined with Matt. 5 . 1 7 ("I have come not to destroy but to
fulfil') to show that Jesus radicalized rather than abrogated the law.
Of these two tacks, it is the second which catches the spirit of the
antitheses, whether one isolates two or three or takes them in their present
context. We should repeat here what was said in discussing the pericope
on divorce: it is not against the law to be stricter than the law requires.
Only those who think that it is can readily harmonize the antitheses with
the view that Jesus opposed aspects of the l a w . 1 shall leap ahead to a
passage not yet considered to make the point. Let us assume that Mark
7 . 1 5 is authentic, that Jesus actually said that not what goes into a person,
but what comes out, produces defilement. The simplest meaning of the
saying would be that unclean food does not defile, and consequently that,
in the opinion of the speaker, it may be eaten. That would permit what
Moses forbade and would be direcdy against the law. If, however, Jesus
said 'not only what goes in defiles, but even more, what comes out', the
law would be maintained and radicalized, but not opposed. One would
assume that the speaker was pointing to a different type of impurity from
that forbidden by the dietary code, but not that the validity of the law was
being denied. The antitheses, except for the saying on divorce, are 'not
only . . . but also' sayings. They affirm the law, but press beyond it. If
authentic they would be further indications that Jesus did not oppose the
Mosaic code, but did find it to be inadequate.
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There are, however, doubts about their authenticity. The principal

problem is that they are part of a general depiction ofJesus which must be
doubted. There is a layer of material, primarily in Matthew, which presents

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us with a Jesus who defines his own position vis a vis the Pharisees, but
not by including those whom the Pharisees exclude. His distinction is that
he calls his followers to be more righteous than the Pharisees by the same
standard. T h e Pharisees have the right idea, but they do not follow it well
enough or far enough. We see this Jesus in Matt. 5 . 1 7 - 2 0 , 4 3 - 8 ; 6 . 1 - 8 ,
1 6 - 1 8 ; 1 8 . 1 5 - 1 8 ; 2 3 . 5 - 7 , 2 3 - 6 . This Jesus is one who proclaimed a
super-righteousness of both outer and inner perfection (5.48), who said
that not one bit of the law could be relaxed (5.19), and who urged his
disciples to be more righteous than the Pharisees (5.20).
T h e Jesus of this material approves of external 'minutiae', such as fasting
and tithing, but objects to Pharisaic obviousness. His followers are to do
the same things, but with a better appearance, not making a show (Matt.
6 . 1 - 8 , 1 6 - 1 8 ; 2 3 . 5 f ) . Thisjesus, in short, requires super-strict observance
of every particular of the law - and then some. He calls outsiders 'Gentiles
and tax collectors' (ethnikoi, ethnikos: Matt. 5.47; 6.7; 1 8 . 1 7 ; 'tax collectors'
used pejoratively: Matt. 5.46; 1 8 . 1 7 ) . This, I think, is not the historical
Jesus, who was a friend of tax collectors and sinners and who did not make
entrance into the kingdom dependent on being better at Pharisaism than
the Pharisees themselves. Further, the evidence from the early church
counts strongly against accepting the Jesus of Matt. 5 . 1 7 - 2 0 (and related
material) as the historical Jesus. We have previously observed (and we
shall have to observe again) that explicit anti-law statements are hard to
accept in view of the conflicts over the law after Jesus' death. But the same
argument applies to explicitly pro-law statements. If Jesus was really on record
as saying that absolutely all the law must be kept, Paul could hardly have
persuaded James and Peter to sanction his mission.
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There are two sorts of reply that can be made by those who wish to
maintain the authenticity of this material. One is to argue that Jesus said
some of the things attributed to him in these sections, but that they did
not originally mean what they now appear to mean. Thus 5.48 ('be perfect')
and 5.17 (I came to fulfil the law) in their present context mean 'be perfecdy
observant of the higher as well as of the lower law'; but they can be
abstracted from it and defined to mean 'bring the law to eschatological
fulfilment', which might conceivably include breaking or altering some of
it. Or one might separate 5.17 from its sequel in 5.18f. (every bit of every
single law) and combine it with Mark 2 . 1 7 (I came to call sinners), which
conceivably could yield the meaning that Jesus saw his mission to sinners
as being fulfilment of the law (interpreting one 'I came' saying by another).
Such exercises can never be proved to be wrong, but we cannot build on
them.
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Matt. 5 . 1 7 reminds us again of how little we can know of the nuances

of Jesus' teaching and of how little can be proved by combining sayings
from here and there. Jesus may have said something like Matt. 5 . 1 7 . He
surely thought of himself as fulfilling God's plan and thus, in a sense, the
law and the prophets. The problem is that, unless we know in advance
what the saying must have meant in order to be judged authentic, we
cannot use it. And if we know that in advance, we do not need it. This
saying, like any other, must be set in a framework of evidence which makes
sense of it and which also makes sense in the general depiction of Jesus.
In its present setting 5 . 1 7 points to a strict legalism which no one will
attribute to Jesus. Can the saying be preserved by creating for it a new
setting or combining it with other sayings? It is my own judgment that we
cannot be confident of reconstructed settings which provide new meanings.
I shall offer, once more, an analogy with 'Paul and the law'. The reader of
Galatians is perhaps surprised to find Paul saying, in Rom. 3 . 3 1 , that he
'uphold[s] the law'. Since we have the two letters, however, the apparent
contradiction can be explained, first of all by noting context. In Romans
Paul is in part reacting to a charge of antinomianism (3.8), which he is at
pains to correct (cf. also 6 . 1 , 1 5 ) . Thus we can understand that he himself
did not intend his negative statements about 'righteousness by the law' to
mean the wholesale abandonment of the law and that he wished to rectify
the balance. Thus far, I think, all will agree. Precisely how all Paul's
statements about the law can be held together, however, is a question
which produces a torrent of different answers - even though we have the
letters. What chance, then, do we have with a saying such as Matt. 5.17?
None, I think. If Jesus did say that, or something like it, we will never know
it. We cannot, as things stand, use the statement as a pillar of our
reconstruction of Jesus and Judaism. If we had original sayings by Jesus
on the law in their original context, we could possibly provide a nuanced
understanding of how he saw his work in relation to the Mosaic dispen
sation. But, I fear, we shall never be able to obtain such material.
The same argument applies to the antitheses. Can they successfully be
lifted out of their present context? Matt. 5 . 1 7 - 2 0 , 48; 6 . 1 - 8 , 1 6 - 1 8 point
strongly in the direction of a super-legal Jesus, and the antitheses ( 5 . 2 1 - 4 7 )
fit well in that context. If they are removed, however, they could be read
as pointing to a different kind of righteousness, one of the heart and mind
instead of just the deed. They might then mean not 'do all the law to its
most minute detail and more', but 'real fulfilment of the law resides in the
heart'. Such an interpretation would not put the antitheses in direct
contradiction to the dominant picture of Jesus, who did not found his

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ministry on requiring super-strict obedience to the law. The problem,

again, is that such reconstructions must be based on prior knowledge and
can only supplement it - and do so hypothetically at that.
There is another way of harmonizing the Jesus of Matt. 5 , 6 and 23 with
the one who accepted sinners. It may be proposed that he made the
moral requirements more stringent, but relaxed the external ones. The
relaxation of external requirements allowed him to associate with the
wicked, while he demanded that his followers observe the highest of moral
standards. The first problem with this proposal is that the Jesus of much
of Matt. 5, 6 and 23 is not depicted as relaxing the external requirements.
His disciples are still to tithe mint, dill and cummin (23.23) and to fast
(6.1618). The followers of the other Jesus did not fast during his lifetime
(Mark 2 . 1 8 - 2 2 and parr.), and his credentials could be questioned because
he did not keep the ascetic discipline which fasting represents ('a winebibber and a glutton', Matt. 1 1 . 1 9 and par.). As long as one remains in the
realm of theory, it is perhaps possible to combine a piety of superior
stringency with the view that certain religious practices can be relaxed.
But when it comes to the same issue, and when the issue is a matter of
practice, as is fasting, the combination is not possible.
The second objection to this harmony is that the 'heroes' of much of
the Gospel tradition, the tax collectors, are treated as outsiders in Matt.
546.
Since negatives are so difficult to prove, I do not wish to argue that we
can know that Jesus said none of the things attributed to him in the sections
under consideration. I am inclined to reject the entire section, Matt.
5 . 1 7 - 6 . 1 8 , except for the prayer ( 6 . 9 - 1 3 ) . Even the saying on divorce is
probably preserved in a form closer to the original in Matt. 1 9 . 3 - 9 . If,
however, some or all of the antitheses were regarded as authentic, we
would learn in somewhat more detail what we have already learned: that
Jesus did not oppose the Mosaic law, but held it in some ways to be neither
adequate nor final.
To summarize the results of our discussion of the statements in the
Sermon on the Mount which bear on the law: Except for the pericope on
divorce, they are of dubious authenticity. Even if some of them are
authentic, they do not help us much in our present endeavour. They will
still be controlled by facts and one's reconstruction of cause and effect.
Unless we are prepared to think that Jesus fell foul of the authorities for
being too strict about the law and that the 'false brethren' (Gal. 2.4) were
following Jesus in insisting that the law had to be completely fulfilled, we
must conclude that they had no immediate result. If they are true or even
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partially true, then they would of course mean that Jesus did not reject the
Jewish law. But that, surely, would not in any case be a serious proposal.
His whole work, and that of his disciples, is set, as we have frequendy
repeated, in the frame of Jewish eschatology. We do not need Matt. 5 . 1 7
to persuade us that Jesus did not dismiss the Scriptures of his people.
Sabbath, handwashing and food
I shall deal with these points of law, about which Jesus is depicted as
coming into direct conflict with the Pharisees, with extreme economy.
Some scholars have found in Jesus' supposed violation of the laws of
Sabbath and food the clue to the conflict which resulted in his death (as,
in fact, is proposed by Mark 3-6). More, though finding here no fatal
conflict, have seen these points of law as defining Jesus' conflict with his
contemporaries. Opinions range from this extreme all the way to another:
there is no violation of the law at all, or none worth much attention. In
this case, one of the extremes must be judged to be correct: the second
one.
I shall not discuss each pericope in detail, and consequendy shall make
relatively little reference to the special exegetical treatments of them. A
fair range of opinions has been given in the Introduction. The position
which is taken here can be supported, I think, largely on the grounds of
general observations.
Before dealing with the passages, we should make the preliminary
observation that the issues of food and Sabbath would loom much larger
in churches which contained Gentiles than they would in pre-Christian
Judaism. In a Jewish environment, observance of the Sabbath and the
consumption of kosher food are largely matters of routine. That food
and Sabbath were issues in the Gentile churches is shown by the letters
of Paul, where they are the only two items other than circumcision which
require special treatment (Gal. 2 . 1 1 - 1 4 ; 4 . 1 0 ; Rom. 1 4 . 1 - 6 ) . Thus it is
very probable that the issues of food and Sabbath are so prominent in the
Gospels because of the importance which they assumed in the church.
That is not to say, of course, that it can be proved that Jesus never debated
such issues. This is another negative which cannot be proved. But that
they defined his relationship to his contemporaries is most unlikely.
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We must then note that this means that debates with the Pharisees
recede in importance. I am one of a growing number of scholars who doubt
that there were any substantial points of opposition between Jesus and the
Pharisees (that is, with the Pharisees in particular, as distinct from the rest

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of Jewish Palestine). Again, a negative cannot be proved. But all the scenes
of debate between Jesus and the Pharisees have more than a slight air of
artificiality. We consider this question further in the next chapter.
Bultmann and many others have pointed out the unrealistic ('imagi
nary') character of the scenes. Just how incredible many of them are,
however, seems not to be realized by many. Harvey, for example, seriously
discusses the story narrated in Mark 2 . 2 3 - 2 6 as representing a real event
in which Jesus transgressed the law by allowing his disciples to pluck grain
on the Sabbath. Similarly he seems to think that Pharisees really did go
to Galilee in order to inspect Jesus' disciples' hands (Mark 7.2). In the
latter case, and also in discussing Mark 2 . 1 8 , Harvey does not note that it
is not Jesus who is said to have been accused, but his disciples. In taking
the stories at face value he also seems to deny what he had just accepted
as an 'assured result' of form criticism, namely, that the conflict stories
were composed in the light of debates between Christianity and Judaism.
The extraordinarily unrealistic settings of many of the conflict stories
should be realized: Pharisees did not organize themselves into groups to
spend their Sabbaths in Galilean cornfields in the hope of catching
someone transgressing (Mark 2 . 2 3 f ) , nor is it credible that scribes and
Pharisees made a special trip to Galilee from Jerusalem to inspect Jesus'
disciples' hands (Mark 7 . i f ) . Surely stories such as these should not be
read as describing actual debates between Jesus and others.
It may be argued, to be sure, that 'where there is smoke there is fire';
that is, that the accounts of disputes do not describe debates between Jesus
and the Pharisees, but that they preserve the memory that Jesus fell into
conflict with the Pharisees on the law. On the face of it, this is a
reasonable, but unprovable proposal. I think that further consideration of
the evidence, however, will lead to the conclusion that there was no
substantial conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees with regard to Sabbath,
food, and purity laws.
Even if we accept all the stories as depicting things that really happened
(though with artificially contrived introductions), it must still be noted that
there is no actual transgression of the law on the part of Jesus. In the
passage on handwashing (Matt. 15.1-20/VMark 7 . 1 - 2 3 ) it is the disciples
who are accused. I have been at pains previously to point out that
'handwashing' is not a biblical requirement for the laity. While the haberim
undertook to observe special purity rules, there is no evidence that they
thought that those who did not do so were sinners, and there would
certainly be no reason to single out Jesus' disciples for criticism. Jesus and
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his disciples were obviously not haberim, but that put them in the vast
majority.
The handwashing dispute, at least in Mark, slides into a discourse on
food, which is quite a different matter in Jewish law. The artificiality of
the connection is evident. Thus, after the dispute on handwashing, Mark
introduces what is clearly a second topic: 'And again calling the crowd he
said to them' (Mark 7.14). Which crowd? The one always around Jesus'
door? In any case, the topic changes to 'what defiles', and the general point
of Jesus' discourse is that a person is defiled not by what goes into his
mouth, but by what comes out. Mark (not Matthew) applies this explicidy
to the food laws (7.19). Even so, there is no indication that Jesus and his
disciples did not eat kosher food, although the importance of Mark's
comment for churches which included Gentiles is obvious.
The saying in Mark 7 . 1 5 ('not what goes in defiles . . .') is often taken
as the most secure bit ofthe whole passage, and it is sometimes understood
to be a reply to a question like that of Mark 7.5, which concerns
handwashing. That, however, can hardly be the case. 'What goes in' must
surely be the food itself - nothing else goes in and comes out - , and the
statement does not respond to the question of whether or not Jesus'
disciples should become haberim, laypeople who accept special purity rules.
The point of the saying, in fact, is so clear that the positions of the 'false
brethren', Peter and James become impossible to understand if the saying
be considered authentic.
It is very likely that the entirety of the pericope on plucking grain on the
Sabbath (Matt. i 2 . i - 8 / / M a r k 2 . 2 3 - 2 8 / / L u k e 6.1-5) * creation of the
church. Bultmann long ago observed that the disciples (that is, the church)
are criticized, not Jesus, and the passage represents a Christian response
to Jewish criticism. If there is a historical kernel, I do not see how it can
be recovered, except possibly for the concluding sayings (on which more
below).
The stories of healing on the Sabbath (the Man with the Withered
Hand, Matt. i 2 . 9 - i 4 / / M a r k 3.i-6//Luke 6.6-11; the Woman with a
Spirit of Infirmity, Luke 1 3 . 1 0 - 1 7 ; the Healing of a Woman with Dropsy,
Luke 14.1-6) also reveal no instance in which Jesus transgressed the
Sabbath law. The matter is quite simple: no work was performed. If
Jesus had had to remove a rock which was crushing a man's hand, there
would have been a legal principle at issue: was the man's life in danger, or
could the work have waited for the sun to set? But the laying on of hands
(Luke 1 3 . 1 3 ) is not work, and no physical action of any kind is reported
in the other stories.
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It is not impossible that authentic sayings of Jesus have been incorporated

in one or more of the stories which we have considered. This has often
been proposed for Mark 7 . 1 5 , but as the saying now stands it can hardly
be authentic. As we noted, it must refer to food, and it probably never had
any setting outside the church's rejection of the food laws. It is different,
however, with the saying that the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath (Matt.
i2.8//Mark 2.28//Luke 6.5). The saying is used in the Gospels to justify
transgression of the Sabbath, but if it is older than its current setting it
could not have been intended this way originally. The church took some
while to come to the position that the Sabbath need not be kept, and it is
hard to think that Jesus explicidy said so. I have no new proposal as to
what the saying may originally have meant. The Son of man saying, of
course, introduces us into one of the most uncertain aspects of the study
of the Gospels, and one which, as far as I can tell, we do not need to
enter.
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Conclusion
We have found one instance in which Jesus, in effect, demanded transgres
sion of the law: the demand to the man whose father had died. Otherwise
the material in the Gospels reveals no transgression by Jesus. And, with
the one exception, following him did not entail transgression on the part
of his followers. On the other hand, there is clear evidence that he did not
consider the Mosaic dispensation to be final or absolutely binding. He
spoke of and demonstrated the destruction of the old temple and the
coming of the new, he admitted sinners to the kingdom without requiring
the lawful signs of repentance, and he issued at least one law for a new
order: the prohibition of divorce.
Thus one can understand why scholars speak of Jesus' 'sovereign
freedom' over the law. He apparendy did not think that it could be freely
transgressed, but rather that it was not final.
This attitude almost certainly sprang from his conviction that the new
age was at hand. The saying about the temple is completely unambiguous,
and we best explain the other points as well by appealing to Jesus'
expectation of the eschaton. The prohibition of divorce, as we saw, need
not have been based entirely on the view that Endzeit equals Urzeit, but in
any case it points to a new order. The kingdom into which the sinners
were admitted is, of course, the coming kingdom. It was Jesus' sense of
living at the turn of the ages which allowed him to think that the Mosaic
law was not final and absolute.

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The disciples did not gain the impression that the Mosaic dispensation
was valueless and had already passed away. I think that we can rely on Acts
as showing that they felt that the temple was a fit place of worship (e.g.
Acts 3.1; 2 1 . 2 3 - 2 6 ) . They may have thought that it was doomed, but not
that it was impure or had already been superseded.
We have again and again returned to the fact that nothing which Jesus
said or did which bore on the law led his disciples after his death to
disregard it. This great fact, which overrides all others, sets a definite limit
to what can be said about Jesus and the law. I wish, however, to call
attention to a curious aspect of the fact. Even when we know or have good
reason to believe that we have a saying which touches on the law and which
goes back to Jesus, we can also tell that the saying did not entirely determine
early Christian behaviour and attitude. The saying on divorce is secure
and is attested to by Paul - who quotes it, attributes it to the Lord, and
proceeds to give his own rules independendy. These neither spring from
nor totally agree with the saying attributed to 'the Lord' (I Cor. 7 . 1 0 - 1 6 ) .
The saying to let the dead bury the dead seems to have had no repercussion
at all. It is unlike anything known from early Christianity, and this helps
support its authenticity; but it also means that it was without influence.
The Jesus of Matt. i 5 4 / / M a r k 7 . 1 0 and of Matt. 1 9 . 1 9 and parr, repeats
the commandment to honour father and mother as if it is to be accepted
without reservation. If one or other of these sayings, as well as Matt. 8.2 if,
is authentic, we would have to conclude that one nuances the other: Even
though in Matt. 8.2if. Jesus says something which seems clearly to imply
disregard of the commandment, his acceptance of it elsewhere shows that
this was not his intention. In any case, the disciples did not take the saying
in Matt. 8.2if. and par. as permission to disobey the law.
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Should we follow this line and conclude that, after all, Jesus may have
opposed the law direcdy in other instances? That possibly he did intend
to oppose Sabbath, food and other 'ceremonial' laws, but that the disciples
did not get it? I do not think so. These are matters of concrete behaviour
which the disciples could not have missed. If we were to suppose that, as
in the case of divorce, there were clear traditions about these matters, but
that they were disregarded by the aposdes, we could not explain why Paul
does not even appeal to them. He at least quotes a version of the saying
on divorce, even though he does not regard it as a binding precept, and
we cannot suppose that he would have failed to refer to traditions about
the Sabbath and food which supported his own case.
It is only the action and saying against the temple which had ascertainable
results: probably the crucifixion as well as Stephen's speech. We gather,

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however, that the action was not construed to mean, and probably did not
mean, that Jesus objected to the sacrifices instituted by God. Stephen
appears to have taken a more negative stance than did Jesus. Jesus himself
looked to a new age, and therefore he viewed the institutions of this age
as not final, and in that sense not adequate. He was not, however, a
reformer. We find no criticism of the law which would allow us to speak
of his opposing or rejecting it.

10
OPPOSITION AND OPPONENTS

Opposition
The implications of what has been argued thus far about Jesus, the sinners,
the law and the temple for understanding the opposition to him should be
reasonably clear, but I shall briefly lay them out.
Jesus did come into fundamental conflict with 'Judaism'; that is, with
views, opinions and convictions which were probably shared by most. He
made a threatening gesture, and added a threatening statement, against
the temple. He was doubdess seen as having attacked it. In this case not
just the priests, but most Jews, probably even those only marginally
observant, would have been deeply offended. If we read Josephus and
Philo, we surely cannot think that a thrust against the temple would have
been offensive only to the priesdy hierarchy. A true threat to the temple
would raise the spectre of a world-wide revolt. A minor gesture would
generate strong hostility. An attack on Parliament would not be resented
only by Members, nor an attack on the White House only by the President
and his Cabinet. The temple was the pride and joy ofJewry, both at home
and abroad. Lots ofpeople criticized the priesthood. They, like politicians
today, were fair game. High priests in particular would come and go and
would be replaced by secular rulers. Many were unworthy of the office.
Even so, merely donning the robes gave them prestige and authority in the
eyes of others. Further, many of the priests were worthy. Josephus has a
lengthy panegyric on Ananus, the high priest at the time of the revolt (Bjf
1 V . 3 1 8 - 2 5 ) . The thousands who died defending him and the temple
against the Zealots and Idumeans testify to the devotion inspired by the
cult (1V.313). Josephus also tells us of priests who preferred to die rather
than to forsake their sacred duties (Bjf 1 . 1 4 8 ) .
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some of the priests, normal reverence for the temple was not affected. On
the contrary, criticism of priesdy practice 'is itself a sign that the Temple
matters'. The temple was ordained by God, and any threat against it
would have been deeply offensive.
Secondly, Jesus claimed to be spokesman for God. The priests were the
official spokesmen, but there was considerable readiness on the part of the
people to credit others. Scholars sometimes say that prophecy was regarded
as having ceased in Israel, but quite evidently that was not the case. John
the Baptist preceded Jesus, and other spokesmen followed him. They
were all prophets, or claimed to be, and they all had followings. Jesus'
claim to be spokesman for God was not, like the attack on the temple,
generally offensive. The official spokesmen - in effect the Jerusalem
aristocrats - cannot have been pleased by the claims of others. Yet they evidendy did not have the policy of repressing this sort of dissent. There were,
for one thing, lay interpreters of the scripture who challenged the priesdy
prerogative (see Bjf I . n o ) . These stayed safely in Jerusalem, survived
all kinds of tumult, and eventually emerged as the leaders of Judaism.
Further, the history of the deaths of other prophets does not indicate
that the priests systematically had them eliminated. None was executed
as the result of a trial at which the chief priests may have played a part.
5

A central aspect ofJesus' message, however, was probably more widely

offensive: the claim that sinners would be in the kingdom. Jesus apparendy
did not require them to make restitution and to indicate their repentance
by offering sacrifice. If he did not do so, he was probably seen as having
challenged the adequacy of the Mosaic covenant, not because there was
some part which he explicidy opposed, but because he thought that its
requirements could be waived for those who accepted him. This means,
secondly, that he displayed an egocentricity which must have struck many
of his contemporaries as impious. Thirdly, anyone even normally pious
might have been offended at his saying that tax collectors and harlots
would precede the righteous in the kingdom (Matt. 2 1 . 3 1 ) .
We must reserve the discussion of how these points of opposition led
to his execution, and we should now review other issues which many think
represent opposition to Jesus.
Aulen has a useful summary of four areas of conflict:
1. Violation of the law, not only the Pharisaic interpretation, but the
law itself.
2. 'The driving out of evil spirits by Beelzebul.'
3. 'His association and table fellowship with ostracized people, "sinners
and publicans".'
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4. 'His blasphemy in claiming to bestow the forgiveness of sins,

something reserved to God alone.'
To Aulen's list we should add:
5. Jesus attacked Jewish or Pharisaical legalism and this roused opposi
tion to him.
We take the points in turn.
1. In common with several scholars, but against the mainstream, I find
no definite violation of the law. This has been a topic which has been more
than usually subject to fads among scholars. Within the fairly recent past,
as we noted in the Introduction, Christian scholars seem to have become
progressively more confident that Jesus openly defied the law. This
view is especially associated with the 'New Quest'. Thus, for example,
Kasemann understands Mark 7 . 1 5 as decisive: Jesus overthrows ancient
religion. Bornkamm makes 'open conflict with the law' the key point
which led to the hostility of the scribes and Pharisees. Bornkamm has to
retract his 'open conflict with the law' statement by a clever piece of
writing, and he concludes that Jesus gauged the law by the Scripture itself,
which contains the will of God. If it be true that Jesus criticized the law
on the basis of the law (the one clear example is the issue of divorce), then
he showed himself to be a good Jewish teacher. Citing Scripture was the
acknowledged way to emend statements in Scripture or to alter practice.
This is not a device that Jesus invented. As I have indicated already, I think
that most of the 'conflict with the law' passages are later creations. But
even if they be taken at face value, they reveal no open transgression.
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2. That Jesus was accused of driving out evil spirits by the help of his
own familiar spirit (Beelzebul) seems to be true. We do not know enough
about Jewish healers in first-century Palestine to be able to assess how
serious this matter was. There is no evidence that the Jewish leaders
regularly sought the death penalty of those whose healings and other
miracles were suspect. Thus, while we can agree that Jesus was accused
of black magic, we cannot make this accusation pivotal. It does not reappear
in the passion narratives.
3. Jesus' association with 'tax-collectors and sinners' seems to have been
offensive. The only problem here is understanding wherein the offence
lay. Despite Jeremias, Perrin and others, the offer of forgiveness to repentant
sinners could not conceivably have been offensive. As I wrote above,
anyone who convinced tax-collectors to repent, repay those whom they
had defrauded, and thereafter live blameless lives would have been a hero.
It is simply inconceivable that Jewish leaders would have been offended if
people repented, and this is a cliche which should be dropped from
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Christian scholarship. Jesus' position on the sinners does seem to have been
genuinely offensive, however, for reasons which are sketched immediately
above. It should only be added that he might have been dismissed as a
crank for holding so eccentric a view, except for his following, which made
him a public figure.
4. That Jesus put himself in the place of God by forgiving sins has often
been repeated. It goes without saying that ifJesus claimed to have divine
authority to forgive he would have been considered egocentric and impious.
But I cannot find the passages in which he claims to take God's place in
forgiving sins. If Jesus actually said to a paralytic, 'My son, your sins are
forgiven' (Mark 2.5; cf. Luke 7.470, he was presumably speaking for God
(note the passive), not claiming to be God. The reaction which Mark
attributes to the scribes does not correspond to the saying attributed to
Jesus. The scribes are said to ask, 'Who can forgive sins but God alone?'
(Mark 2.7), and this question appears to have misled some scholars into
reading the passage in light of it. They accept it as a strict account of
Pharisaic opinion. Thus, for example, Dupont-Sommer observes that the
members of the Dead Sea community thought that exorcists and others
could forgive sin, and he states that they here disagreed with the Pharisees,
who gave God alone that power. The evidence for the Pharisaic view is
the verse in Mark. But the Pharisees, to repeat a point already made, did
not leave Jerusalem and continued to believe in the sacrificial system, in
which the priests speak for God. We have no reason to think that the
Pharisees thought that the priests could not announce forgiveness on
God's behalf. For, it should be emphasized, that is what Jesus is depicted
as doing. The saying attributed to him - even assuming its authenticity does not mean that he forgives sins. He merely announces that they are
forgiven.
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Some scholars, in attempting to make this deeply offensive, go to the

extreme of saying that in Judaism 'no one had the right to announce the
will of God on his own account'. But that is not true. T o speak for God
was not forbidden, and it certainly was not considered blasphemy. No
prophet - by definition a spokesman for God - was, as far as our knowledge
goes, accused of blasphemy. A prophet might b^ considered wrong in
interpreting God's will, but making the effort was not blasphemous. The
priests also represented God in more ways than just in the temple service.
According to Josephus, commenting on the role and position of the high
priest: 'any who disobey him will pay the penalty as for impiety towards
God Himself (Ap. II. 194). If Jesus claimed to know whose sins were
forgiven, he might have been seen as arrogating to himself the prerogative
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274

of the priesthood. He would have been seen in any case as claiming to be

spokesman for God, and that would have been resisted by those who were
not convinced. It goes too far, however, to say that Jesus, in claiming to
speak for God, was guilty of blasphemy.
5. There is a remarkably persistent tendency in Christian scholarship
to fix on 'externalism' and 'legalism' as lying at the root ofJesus' difficulty
with his contemporaries. The same conflict, of course, is posited in the
study of'Paul and Judaism' and 'Christianity and Judaism' as well. C . K.
Barrett states the view very succincdy: Although Jesus was executed by
Pilate, the important opposition was between Jesus and his contemporaries
in J u d a i s m . ' . . . It was the question whether grace or legalism represented
the truth about God, whether true and final dominion belonged to the
Torah or to the Son of man.' Here the Son of man apparendy represents
grace, the Torah legalism. Barrett attaches a footnote:
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19

It is not suggested that Judaism is intrinsically legalistic, still less that

Christian thought has never been corrupted by legalism. But there certainly
was a marked legalistic development in first-century Judaism which went
far beyond mere faithfulness to Torah, and it was against this that Jesus
(and Paul) reacted, and on this issue that conflict arose.
20

I take one more example. John Reumann writes that 'what Karl Barth
called [Jesus'] "attack of grace" mobilized the defenders of Jewish law
against him.' Further: whatjesus opposed were 'legalism and pettifogging
rules and practices'. Curiously he supports this by citing Matt. 5 . 2 1 - 6 . 1 8
and 2 3 . 1 - 3 6 , just those sections of Matthew where Jesus is portrayed as
preaching a super-piety which is even more rigorous than that of the
scribes and Pharisees. The requirement to anoint one's head while fasting
(Matt. 6 . 1 6 ~ i 8) sounds uncommonly like a pettifogging rule.
In the study ofJesus externalism and legalism are usually seen as being
at issue in three connections: the temple, the sinners and the law. We read
that Jesus wanted to cleanse the temple of corrupt practice and restore
'pure' worship, that he associated with sinners in spite of their being
ritually impure, and that he opposed the Pharisees on the law because by
casuistry they used it to their own advantage or incorrecdy (!) read it as
consisting of statutes. In the chapters on each point I have argued that
what was at stake was something other than externalism or legalism. The
demonstration against the temple was not based on a preference for
worship which had no external rites; the primary fault of the 'sinners' was
not that they were ritually impure, and saying that they would be included
in the kingdom was offensive because they were blatant transgressors, not
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275

because they failed to wash their hands before eating; there is no substantial
conflict over the law, and what discussions there are do not focus on
legalism.
The view that Jesus criticized externalism and legalism, best exemplified
by the purity code (the pettifogging practice par excellence), generally is
accompanied by the view that his main opponents were the Pharisees.
We shall discuss opponents more fully later in this chapter, but something
should be said here. Even if externalism and legalism were at issue, that
would not mean that the basic conflict was with the Pharisees. Judaism
requires some external acts (e.g. circumcision) and forbids others (e.g. the
eating of certain meats). Others, while not wrong in themselves (e.g.
contact with the dead or with menstrual blood), produce impurity which,
in turn, is removed by an external act. The Pharisees did not invent these
laws, nor were they the public guardians of them. Most are not enforceable,
but in any case the official keepers of the law were the priests. Josephus
sometimes exaggerates the degree to which the priests could enforce the
law, but the exaggeration nevertheless shows that it was their responsi
bility. As I wrote above, we err in thinking that only the Pharisees were
concerned to keep the law. That they were especially zealous for the law
cannot be contested, but Josephus tells us that the Sadducees also
observed the law. We also saw above that the laws of purity were widely
observed. External observance, I think, was not at issue between Jesus
and his contemporaries. But if it had been, it would have brought him into
conflict with the public (most of whom kept many of the external laws) and
with the responsible officials, the priests, not only with the Pharisees.
The idea that Jesus and Paul opposed Jewish legalism is both widely
and deeply held, and it will not be corrected by only summarizing the
exegetical results of previous chapters. Numerous opinions aboutJudaism,
Paul and Jesus interlock in such a way as to offer a coherent picture of a
continuing strife between grace and legalism. Decades of scholarship
stand behind this view, and it is perceived to rest on evidence. In broad
terms the view contains these elements:
1. At least one strand of Judaism, Pharisaism, has been shown by the
study of Rabbinic material to have been dominated by legalism.
2. Paul attacked Judaism for being legalistic.
3. Jesus fell into conflict with the Pharisees over legalism and exter
nalism. He opposed their self-righteous reliance on their own merit
and offended them by offering grace and forgiveness to sinners. He
opposed their legalistic interpretation of the law as statute and saw
the Torah as revealing the naked will of God.
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DEATH

4. Points 2 and 3 support 1 .

5. Christianity is different from Judaism, and at its heart lies reliance
on grace and rejection of legalism.
This section of the chapter actually need do no more than summarize
my comments on point 3, but it is clear that for a response to be effective
one must be able to reply to the other points as well. I shall attempt to do
so briefly.
1 . A reading ofJewish material which is more or less contemporary with
Jesus (that is, give or take 200 years) does not reveal the legalistic,
externalistic Judaism which Jesus and Paul are believed to have criticized.
I say no more about this here, having written enough about it elsewhere.
2. After the publication of Paul and Palestinian Judaism, one scholar told
me that he accepted the demonstration that legalism does not characterize
Rabbinic literature. But why, he asked, if the Pharisees were as good as I
implied, did Paul criticize them so? The answer is that he did not. But
others have urged on me the position that Judaism must have been legalistic
because Paul criticized it under the heading 'righteousness by works of
law', which means legalism. But that is not the meaning of that debate.
Paul first uses that phrase in the midst of debate with other Jewish
Christians, not Judaism, and if refers to the problem of whether or not
Gentile converts to Christianity must become Jewish. He opposed the
position that people must be Jewish to belong to the people of God. His
opponents thought that circumcision, Sabbath observance and following
the dietary code were required conditions for membership in God's people
- not that enough good works merit salvation. Paul's counter argument,
when pressed further, especially in Romans, does finally touch Judaism.
When it does so, it implies a rejection of the election of Israel, a rejection
which is occasionally made explicit. Thus we do not learn from Paul that
Judaism was legalistic, but that it was based on the election, the same thing
that we learn from studying Jewish literature.
32

3. But it may be different in the case of Jesus. Here we have Matt. 2 3 ,

and if the accusations in that chapter go back to Jesus, he accused the
scribes and Pharisees of hypocrisy and legalism - the preference of trivia
to matters of more substance (still not, however, of seeking salvation by
compiling merit). The refrain of'scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites' and
the saying in 23.23 show that somebody accused the Pharisees of hypocrisy
and legalism, but it was not, I think, Jesus. With regard to these sayings,
as with almost all others, complete agreement will never be achieved. But
here the negative argument seems quite strong. As I argued in the
preceding chapter, the Jesus of Matt. 2 3 . 5 - 7 , 2 3 - 2 6 is not the historical

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OPPOSITION A N D OPPONENTS

Jesus. He is one who objects to the Pharisees because they are not righteous
enough, and he favours a higher righteousness according to the law, while
not denying any of the law, even its minutiae (see also Matt. 5 . 1 7 - 2 0 ,
4 3 - 8 ; 6 . 1 - 8 , 1 6 - 1 8 ) . Further, the charges of Matt. 23 are related to the
use of'tax collector' to mean 'outsider', which I take not to be an authentic
saying of Jesus. The criticism of the Pharisees for making a show in the
synagogues (23.5f.) is related both thematically and terminologically to
the criticism of hypocrites on the same ground in 6.2, 5 . These latter
passages, in turn, are only one side of a single coin, and the other side has
on it Matt. 546f. The followers of Christ are urged in 546f. to be superior
to the Gentiles and the tax collectors and in 6 . 1 - 8 to be superior to the
hypocrites. We can be certain that Jesus did not use 'tax collector' as it is
used in Matt. 5.46, and this counts against the authenticity of the passages
on the hypocrites ( 6 . 1 - 4 , 58, 1 6 - 1 8 ) , and consequendy against the
authenticity of the charges against the Pharisees in Matt. 23. As I argued
in ch. 6, Jesus promised the tax collectors and sinners admission to the
kingdom without requiring strict obedience of the law. The church, as a
social institution gready concerned with behaviour, emphasized their
reform (especially Luke); and at least one section of it, that represented
by these groups of material in Matthew, urged the disciples of Christ to
obey the letter of the law in all particulars, and to go beyond the strict
requirement of the law in various ways. In doing so, this section of the
church had to insist that, despite the policy of strict observance, it was still
distinctive, it was not just Pharisaic Judaism. This, it appears, is the Sitz
im Leben of the criticisms of Pharisees in Matt. 2 3 .
Thus exegesis of the material convinces me that in the case ofJesus, as
in the case of Paul, the criticism of contemporary Jewish faith and practice
was not directed against some gross and obvious fault which riddled the
entire structure and made it an easy mark for anyone who believed in love,
mercy and grace.
But can it be that, although Pharisa/sm was a decent enough movement,
and Judaism a decent enough religion, Jesus accused some Pharisees of
hypocrisy and offended some by offering grace to sinners? In every religion,
one may urge, there are legalistic, externalistic bigots. Jesus may have
opposed these and been killed at their instigation. Not infrequently
legalistic bigots head up religions.
The first answer is to repeat our observations about Matt. 23. But the
one who proposes that at least some Pharisees were legalists, and that
Jesus opposed them, can point out that other material in the synoptics
attacks self-righteousness. There is the Lucan parable of the Pharisee and
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CONFLICT AND DEATH

the Tax Collector (Luke 1 8 . 9 - 1 4 ) and the Lucan passage on the Pharisees
who justify themselves before men (16. i4f.). The hypothetical interlocutor
might also follow Jeremias in interpreting the parables, and he would then
take many of them as being attacks on the Pharisees for being opposed to
repentance and forgiveness.
One can continue to reply exegetically, which would require a demon
stration of Luke's special form of anti-Judaism and of the way in which
Jeremias simply accepted Luke's settings of the parables. One soon
realizes, however, that there is more to the question of Pharisaic legalism
and Jesus' supposed attack on it than exegesis. Exegesis here runs against
an enormous but mosdy submerged rock: the assumption that, in discussing
Jesus or Paul, we are discussing what is religiously true. This assumption
has as its corollaries the further assumptions that they must have favoured
whatever is religiously true and opposed what is false and deplorable in
religion. The sin of self-righteousness on the part of the religious is well
known. Religious truth, in all times and places, must therefore oppose
self-righteousness, i.e. legalism. Jesus (and Paul) spoke religious truth.
Therefore they must have opposed legalistic self-righteousness. And, if
they opposed it, someone must have been guilty of it. Christian scholars
who think this way are unanimous in nominating the Pharisees for the
role.
One sees what is really going on in this sort of writing when one reads
that Jesus 'meant the end of Judaism', 'destroyed Pharisaism', 'shattered
the law', and 'put an end to legalism'. One must ask what sort of statements
these are. Though they appear in the midst of supposedly historical and
exegetical accounts, it is clear that they are neither history nor exegesis.
Judaism, Pharisaism, the law and even legalism live on (though one should
deprecate the implied equations). Such statements are comprehended
when we add an understood phrase: 'for us who believe in him'; that is,
Jesus destroyed the law and legalism for confessing Christians, and we are
reading nothing other than confessions of faith disguised as historical
descriptions. Once we see the confessional context, the situation becomes
quite clear. The Christian gospel is defined as renouncing achievement,
it is assumed that Jesus must have proclaimed that gospel, and so theology
provides historical information: Jesus attacked legalism. It is then a short
and all-too-familiar step to equating Judaism, or at least Pharisaism, with
legalism.
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42

Though theology provides most of this sort of'information' about Jesus,

scholars naturally tend to justify this way of thinking by appealing to
passages. They will fasten on to such a passage as Luke 1 8 . 9 - 1 4 and make

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OPPOSITION A N D OPPONENTS

it determinative for the issue 'Jesus and Judaism', and they will turn a
redactional setting, Luke 1 5 . 2 (he told parables of forgiveness against the
Pharisees and scribes), into the issue which led to Jesus' crucifixion. A
reasonable assessment of cause and effect is surrendered in favour of
having the issue ofJesus' life and death hinge on what is now perceived to
be religiously true, and in fact of primary importance in religious life - a
renunciation of achievement and a surrender to grace.
Christians who are not scholars are often more forthright. I have
occasionally complained about the singing of anti-Jewish songs in church,
or the expression of denigrating comments in sermons, to be told that by
'Jews' and 'Pharisees' one should understand not those people, but
religious people in general and many of today's church members in
particular. The clergy need Jesus to have opposed Pharisaic self-righteousness so that they can preach against that sin as manifested not historically
in the Jews, but in their own parishioners.
Here, I think, we have the explanation of why scholars, when faced by
overwhelming evidence which shows that Pharisaism and Judaism were
not as such legalistic, fall back on the argument that some individuals must
have been legalistic. They can then still maintain that the opposition
between Jesus and his compatriots had to do with their (all too human)
reliance on legalism and his devotion to grace. Jesus' message then
becomes immediately relevant in today's churches.
I shall reply at the same level, that of religious significance. I think that
such a view trivializes Jesus and, when it is extended to cover Paul and the
early church, trivializes the eventual Christian divorce from Judaism. If all
that was at stake was what scholars often call the 'abuse' of Jewish
institutions on the part of a few, not much was at stake. We would be
dealing only with a particular instance of a universal situation: people often
do not live up to their ideals, and they are sometimes criticized for the
failure.
Further, it is unlikely that a major step in religious history - more
accurately, in world history - was taken because of a dispute over
religious abstractions. Most important disagreements, even though they are
sometimes couched in abstract terms, are about specific points. Paul and
his opponents in Galatia did not disagree about 'faith' and 'works' abstracdy
conceived, though some of the terminological argument might make it
appear as if they did, but only about particulars. All parties to the dispute
favoured trusting in God and doing good deeds. The question was what
deeds must be done to maintain membership in the people of God. It was
more particular yet: must Gentiles do the deeds which separate Jew from
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46

Gentile in order to inherit the blessing of Abraham? We face an analogous

situation with Jesus. He did not disagree with his contemporaries over
whether or not God is gracious and forgiving. All could cheerfully have
sat down and drawn up a list of religious abstractions on which they agreed:
love, mercy, charity, justice and the like. They would also have agreed on
many particulars: the God of Israel is the one God of the world; he has
been active in the history of Israel; he speaks through prophets. T o this
day Jews and Christians can agree on these and other points (replying to
no. 5 on p. 276 above). WTiere did Jesus and his contemporaries disagree?
On specifics. (1) IfJesus was of the view that accepting his message meant
that one need not repent and make restitution according to the law, the
conflict was not over the abstract value of grace versus works, but over the
concrete manifestation of grace and the precise condition attached to its
offer: Not whether or not God would be merciful and forgiving, but to
whom and on what condition: to sinners on the condition of their accepting
Jesus and his message? or to those who indicate their intention to remain
within the covenant by doing what the law requires? (2) Was Jesus being
a spokesman for God, or impious, when he threateningly predicted the
destruction of the temple?
Perhaps I will be permitted one more analogy between Paul and Jesus:
both were arguing uphill. Paul thought that circumcision was not necessary
for membership in the people of God. His argument, against the obvious
meaning of Gen. 1 7 , is a desperate one, and his commentators frequendy
apologize for aspects of it (especially Gal. 3.16).
Jesus' case - briefly put, that he was God's spokesman, knew what his
next major action in Israel's history would be, and could specify who would
be in the kingdom - put him equally obviously against any reasonable
interpretation of the scripture. If we give full weight to Jesus' extraordinary
statements about the kingdom and about the role of his disciples - and
thus, by implication, about himself - we have no trouble seeing that his
claims were truly offensive. We do not need the hypocritical bigots of
Matt. 23 to stand as his unworthy opposition. He had real opposition, and
there is no reason to doubt the motives of his opponents.
I have drifted from the broad consideration of what sort of issues
important battles are fought over, back to the exegesis of the texts and the
particular issues which brought Jesus into conflict with others who spoke
for God and the nation. That is as it should be. First and last my viewpoint
is shaped by exegesis and historical analysis. I am inclined to look for basic
disagreement, beginning even with Jesus, as the source of the JewishChristian split; but I would not insist on it if the evidence pointed to a
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251

shallow, trivial disagreement, such as the accusation that some Pharisees

were hypocrites. But exegesis indicates that there were specific issues at
stake between Jesus and the Jewish hierarchy, and that the specific issues
revolved around a basic question: who spoke for God? T h e hypothesis
offered here satisfies everything that I can require of a reconstruction: it
takes account of what is in the primary material; it posits a basic disagree
ment as the occasion of a momentous moment in history; it offers a
religious debate fought over specific issues, not abstractions; it traces a
causal connection from early events to later ones.
Did Jesus oppose self-righteousness at all? I think that he had his mind
on other things than the interior religious attitudes of the righteous. T h e
parables are about God, who seeks and saves sinners^ not primarily about
elder sons, who resent them. His message in general was about God and
the kingdom, and it was not a critique of problems which develop within
a religious community, such as self-righteousness. T o say that we have no
material against self-righteousness which goes back to Jesus, however,
one would have to show that Luke 1 5 . 2 5-3 2 (the second half of the Parable
of the Prodigal Son); Luke i 6 . i 4 f ; and Luke 1 8 . 9 - 1 4 are inauthentic. I
harbour doubts about all these passages, but I do not wish to undertake
a decisive argument. I am content to say that Jesus did not focus on the
interior attitudes of the righteous and that the opposition to him did not
spring from his criticism of self-righteousness. Those who need texts on
which to base criticism of religious hypocrisy and self-righteousness still
have them. Matt. 6 . 1 - 8 , i 6 - i 8 ; 2 3 ; L u k e 1 5 . 2 ; 1 5 . 2 5 - 3 2 ; 1 8 . 9 - 1 4 ; i6.i4f.
are still in the canon. They do not, however, serve to explain Jesus' conflict
with Judaism.
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Persecution
One of the facts on which the study is based is that Jesus' disciples, after
his death and resurrection, formed a group which was identifiable and
which was persecuted, at least some of the time in some places. Does the
persecution of the early Christian movement shed light on the opposition
to Jesus?
T h e earliest and best evidence about persecution comes from Paul, but
it points to 'circumcision' as the cause of punishment; that is, to the Torah free Gentile mission. Thus in Gal. 5 . 1 1 he asks why, if he is still preaching
circumcision, he is still persecuted. His opponents, he charges, preach
circumcision 'in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of
Christ' (Gal. 6.12). T h e issue is the admission of Gentiles to the new
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CONFLICT AND DEATH

movement without requiring them to become proselytes. It is noteworthy

that at Paul's time the apostles in Jerusalem were not being persecuted.
Both his letters and Acts depict him as visiting them with no difficulty.
They are also not engaged in the admission of Gentiles without requiring
circumcision, since he has to justify his mission to them (Gal. 2 . 1 - 1 0 ) .
This fits with the rest of the evidence from Paul's letters: persecution has
to do with not requiring circumcision. The Jerusalem aposdes did not
admit uncircumcised Gentiles, and they were not being persecuted.
There obviously was persecution before Paul started his own mission.
He himself conducted some of it (Gal. 1 . 1 3 , 23; Phil. 3.6; I Cor. 15.9),
and he refers to persecution of the movement in Judea in I Thess. 2 . 1 4 - 1 6 .
But here again the question of the Gentiles appears: the Jews 'killed both
the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and
oppose all men by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they may be
saved'. It is, to be sure, possible that, in the final clause, Paul speaks only
of the reason for which he was given difficulty, while the persecution of
the churches in Judea had a different cause. But if so, we cannot recover
it from Paul's letters. His punishment at the hands of his compatriots (II
Cor. 1 1 . 2 4 ) seems to have resulted from his mission to the Gentiles, and
it is probable that his own activity as persecutor was directed against
missionaries who preceded him in admitting Gentiles. Antioch, we must
remember, was a mixed church and was not founded by Paul.
Persecution of the early Christian movement on the grounds that some
of them admitted Gentiles to 'the Israel of God' without requiring
circumcision does not explain the opposition to Jesus. It is worth remarking,
however, that in two respects there is material agreement between Paul
and Jesus on this point. There is, first, the agreement on the plan of God
and the task which this imposes, to which we pointed many pages back.
Both Jesus and Paul (and Jesus' other followers) thought that the end was
at hand, and they therefore constituted a Jewish eschatological movement.
Paul (and other missionaries to the Gentiles) were simply carrying out the
last expectation of Jewish eschatology. Thus the issue that led to Paul's
being punished (II Cor. 1 1 . 2 4 ) direcdy stems from Jesus' eschatological
expectation, even though Jesus himself appears not to have dealt substanti
ally with the question of Gentile membership in the kingdom.
There is material agreement of a different sort between Paul and Jesus
when we look at the content of their respective messages. Jesus proclaimed
that the wicked (at least those who accepted him) would be included in
the kingdom. His message apparendy did not require them to make
restitution and repentance in accordance with the law. Paul thought that
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Gentile sinners (Gal. 2 . 1 5 ) would be saved if they accepted Christ, even

though they did not become members of the people of God in the way
required by the law. Paul does not appeal to Jesus' activity as justification
for his own stance. It is very likely that he did not know about it. There is
a puzzle with regard to Jesus' view of the sinners: we do not know just how
he expected them to live after their acceptance of his message. It is
impossible to find the 'tax collectors and sinners' in early Christianity. In
a church dominated by James, the brother of Jesus, they probably
disappeared or became blameless according to the law. Paul had a good
deal to say about how his Gentile sinners should live once they are admitted
'apart from the law': they are to be blameless and to keep the whole law (I
Thess. 3 . 1 3 ; 5.23; Phil. 1 . 1 0 ; Gal. 5 . 1 4 ; Rom. 1 3 . 8 - 1 0 ) . Thus Paul and
Jesus took the same stance on admission, and they faced the same question
with regard to behaviour. We can be sure of how Paul, but not Jesus,
answered the question of behaviour (though Paul's own converts were
sometimes puzzled). We cannot say, however, that the agreement on
admission stems from Paul's following the teaching of Jesus. In fact, we
see that persecution of the early Christians did not result from their
repeating the peculiarity of his message, that God would include the
wicked of Israel in the kingdom, though that may have been irritating to
his contemporaries.
This issue has been introduced here because of its connection with
persecution. Both Paul and Jesus were persecuted for their activity. There
is even material agreement on the activity. But Paul was not persecuted
simply because he followed Jesus. He was persecuted because of the way
in which he carried out the next stage of the eschatological drama, the
admission of Gentiles.
If Paul was not persecuted simply because he followed Jesus, were
others? It has sometimes been held that persecution was directed against
the preaching of faith in Jesus, a condemned criminal, as Messiah. Thus
the persecution is held to have resulted from Christian faith itself. If
persecution were simply the result of faith in the cross of Christ, it would
tell us nothing about the reason for opposition to Jesus. There must be,
however, appreciable doubt about this as a ground of persecution. If it
were, it should follow that Christianity was persecuted and hounded
wherever there were enough Jews to give the followers of Christ a hard
time. Yet, to repeat, it is clear from Paul's letters that the leadingjerusalem
aposdes were not persecuted, at least during his career, even though they
believed that Jesus was the Messiah. Their relative immunity indicates
that it was not belief in the cross of Christ which differentiated those
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persecuted from those not. Yet there is evidence of persecution apart from
the issue of'circumcision'. Can we determine its cause? We shall briefly
rehearse the accounts in Acts and Josephus.
According to Acts 4 . 5 - 2 2 Peter and John were arrested by the Jewish
leaders (specifically by the chief priest and other members of the highpriesdy family, 4.6) on the ground of healing a man 'by the name ofJesus
Christ of Nazareth' (4.10). They were charged 'not to speak or teach at
all in the name ofJesus' (4.18). According to 5 . 1 7 - 4 2 , the high priest and
his colleagues (that is, Luke tells us, Sadducees) arrested the aposdes.
After an escape and another arrest, they were beaten by the order of the
Sanhedrin and 'charged not to speak in the name of Jesus' (5.40). Stephen
was charged for speaking against the temple and the law (6.13). His speech
(7.2-53) indicates that the charge was at least partly justified, and he was
stoned (7.57-60). Finally, we learn that Herod Agrippa I killed James, the
son of Zebedee, and, finding that it pleased 'the Jews', also arrested Peter

(12.1-3).
There is one concrete piece of information about persecution in
Josephus. When there was no procurator in Jerusalem, the high priest had
James, the brother of Jesus, executed. This was clearly against Roman
policy, and the highpriestwas subsequendy deposed (steAJf X X 1 9 9 - 2 0 3 ) .
We can accept without argument the reason given for Stephen's death:
he spoke against the temple, and consequently against the law, which
establishes it. In the other cases, however, we cannot be sure what the
complaint was. The early Christians saw themselves as being persecuted
'for the sake of Christ', or 'for his name's sake'. The problem is that we
cannot be sure just what it was that the other side, those inflicting the
punishment, found offensive. The early Christians saw all their deeds as
being done 'for the sake of his name'. In his name they prophesied, cast
out demons and performed other miracles (Matt. 7.22; Luke 1 0 . 1 7 ; Mark
9.38f.//Luke 9.49; Acts 4.10); in his name they accepted children, gave a
cup of water to the thirsty, and gathered together (Matt. i8.5//Mark
9.37//Luke 9.48; Mark 9.41; Matt. 18.20). For his sake, or for his name's
sake, they left house and family (Matt. 19.29/VMark 10.29). And so
naturally it was for his name's sake that they were hated (Matt. 1 0 . 2 2 ;
Matt. 24.9//Mark 13.13/VLuke 2 1 . 1 7 ) and tried and flogged (Matt. 1 0 . 1 8 ;
Mark i 3 . g / / L u k e 2 1 . 1 3 ; Acts 5 4 o f ) . From their point of view they were
following their master and doing what God commanded them (Acts 5.29),
and they were being persecuted simply for that; i.e., 'for his name's sake'.
That does not, however, tell us how the Jewish leadership saw the matter.
Three things are clear. One is that the persecution in Jerusalem stopped

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after a while, to flare up one more time, when James the brother of the
Lord was killed. The arrest of Paul, on his last trip to Jerusalem (Acts
2 1 . 2 8 ) , is the exception which proves the rule. Paul, according to this
passage, was accused of opposing the law and the temple, the same charge
which was brought against Stephen. Other members of the Christian
movement were not bothered.
The second clear point is that the harassment of the Christians was at
the instigation of the Jewish leadership. Throughout Acts the emphasis is
on the chief priests and the Sadducees (Acts 4-5f; 5 . 1 7 ; 7 . 1 ) . A Pharisee
is once said to speak in favour of leniency (5.34-c)). The Sanhedrin is
named several times (Acts 4 . 1 5 ; 5 . 2 1 , 27, 34, 4 1 ; 6.12, 1 5 ) ; but, as we
shall see in the next chapter, Luke shares our ignorance about its
composition. The one actor who remains involved throughout is the high
priest. The enmity of the chief priesthood is clear also in Josephus's story
about the execution of James. Further, it is evident in all this that the
Romans were not involved. The passages in the synoptics sometimes
mention Gentiles and their rulers (Matt. 1 0 . 1 8 ; Mark 13.9; Luke 2 1 . 1 2 ) ;
but, at least in Judea, the Romans played no role in the persecution of the
movement after the death of Jesus. The evidence fromjosephus confirms
the view of Acts. The results point in the same direction: had the Romans
wished to eliminate all the leaders of the new movement, Peter, John and
James could not have remained active in Jerusalem.
That the latter were not substantially molested is the third point of
clarity. Acts here, perhaps against the will of the author, who wishes to
present a general picture of survival despite persecution, confirms the
information from Paul. Peter and John, according to Acts, were arrested
(4.3), and 'the aposdes' were arrested and even flogged (5.40). But even
at a time of supposed 'violent persecution' the aposdes were excepted and
did not have to scatter (8.1). How are we to explain sporadic persecution
byJewish leaders which left the principal apostles free to go about their task?
It appears that in the case of Stephen and Paul, Luke had accurate
information. In his other accounts of punishment and interrogation, the
Christians are not charged with speaking against the law and the temple,
and such charges would have been hard to make out. The conflict between
Peter and Paul at Antioch shows that James, at least, was careful not to
allow the movement to be accused of having non-observant leaders (Gal.
2 . 1 1 - 1 4 ) . James was subsequently accused by the high priest of breaking
the law, but those who were strict with regard to the law took offence (AJf
X X . 2 0 o f ) , which probably shows that the charge was trumped up. In all
probability a reasonable charge of being against the law could not have
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been levelled at the Jerusalem aposdes, and Luke's silence on the motive
for punishment probably indicates ignorance. All he knew about the
persecution was the Christian perspective: it was for the sake ofJesus. He
did not know just wherein the offence lay from the perspective of
the Jewish leaders. We can of course speculate. The proposal earlier
mentioned, that the offence lay in proclaiming a condemned criminal as
Messiah, is a speculation. As a specific charge it is not, as I pointed out,
entirely convincing, since it does not explain the sporadic nature of the
persecution. I do not have another speculation which will explain
everything, but I shall offer an explanation of a general sort. The Christians
may have been right in seeing their persecution as being for the sake of
Christ: that is, they may have been persecuted simply because of their
continuing loyalty to a leader who was, in the eyes of the Jewish leaders,
discredited and who had been objectionable. Stephen carried on Jesus'
attack against the temple and was killed. The others did not themselves
do anything which merited death or which could be put to the Romans as
grounds for execution. The Jewish leaders were not in a position to carry
out a thorough and systematic persecution of the followers of Jesus. There
was an early burst of persecution which is probably echoed in different
ways by Paul (I Thess. 2 . 1 5 , they drove us out) and Matthew and Mark
(the disciples went to Galilee). The leaders of the new movement, however,
soon established themselves in Jerusalem, amidst some lingering hostility:
James was finally executed when the coast was clear. But mass execution
could not be justified to the Romans, and the Christian leaders who did
not themselves break the law or speak against the temple were allowed to
continue their work unmolested.
57

This brief account of the persecution of the Christian movement does,

finally, pay off for understanding the causes of Jesus' death. It supports
the Gospels in their depiction of the Jewish leaders, expecially the chief
priests, as being the ones who pressed for his execution. If the primary
conflict had been between Jesus and the Romans, Jesus and the Pharisees,
or Jesus and the crowds, we could not explain subsequent events. (See the
next chapter.) The enduring hostility was that of the chief priests against
the followers ofJesus, and that supports the view that they were the prime
movers in the death ofJesus.
This is not overturned by the fact that Paul, a Pharisee, was one of the
persecutors of the Christian movement. The Pharisees were not an
opposition party, required to present an alternative to government policy
at every point. They had their own programme for inculcating a life of
piety and learning among the laity. They seem not to have disputed the

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priests' role as the official leaders and spokesmen of Judaism, as we shall

see in the next chapter. If the chief priests were against Jesus and his
followers, many loyal Jews, including Pharisees zealous for the law, may
well have followed their lead. If Paul in fact persecuted only Jewish
Christians who admitted Gentiles without requiring observance of the
law, he was striking against something which threatened Jewish identity,
not just the principles of Pharisaism or Sadduceanism. His own position
on the Gentiles, when he became an aposde of Christ, struck at the
doctrine of the election, which was common to all groups of Jews, and
thus led to his being repeatedly punished. The study of persecution does
not point us in the direction of seeing either Jesus or his followers as being
opposed to aspects of party platforms, but as threatening values and
commitments common in Judaism. We must now, however, take further
the question of the identity ofJesus' opponents.
58

Opponents
We now return to the points of opposition which we oudined at the
beginning of this chapter and ask who would have taken offence.
One issue would have led to opposition from many: the action and
saying against the temple. No matter how positively the action was meant,
it must have struck numerous people as impious. The prediction or threat
of destruction would hardly have improved matters. In order to see the
offence, we need not suppose either that Jesus was misunderstood or that
his word and deed created any real apprehension for the physical safety of
the sacred place. Only those who believed that he really knew what God
was about to do and that he spoke for God could have heard him predict
or threaten the destruction of the temple without a feeling of dismay at
least. Such words incite emotions of various kinds, even though all and
sundry could see that he was not able actually to demolish the temple. If
he excited feelings of alarm in the populace, we can understand with no
difficulty why steps were taken against him. But even if he attracted
relatively little notice, it is still easy to see why he may have been regarded
as a potential threat to peace and order. We cannot say precisely how broad
the opposition to him was, because we do not know in general what public
impact he had (see further below), but threatening the temple must have
offended many.
His self-claim to be spokesman for God - in effect, to be a prophet may have met with some public approval (at least until the temple incident),
but it can hardly have endeared him to the normal leaders ofJudaism, the

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59

chief priests and the 'powerful' among the laity. Presumably such people
looked upon demagogues and would-be demagogues with distrust, and
they doubdess did so for the standard reasons: a combination of selfinterest and sincere disagreement. Josephus's stories about prophets, to
which we have so often referred, show that demagogues could be dan
gerous. The Jewish leaders could reasonably oppose a charismatic leader
even without fearing for the security of their own positions. They might
wish only to save their people from direct action by the Romans. (John
1 1 . 5 0 gives this reasoning perfecdy.) In the general category of'charismatic
leaders', Jesus obviously was considerably less of a threat than the Egyptian
was to be, but anyone who claimed to speak for God and who attracted a
following would alarm those who wanted to maintain the somewhat
precarious status quo with Rome. The leadership would be alarmed even
if they did not suspect the principal figure of secredy raising an army and
having a store of arms. Talk of a 'kingdom' might excite a crowd, and mass
excitement could be dangerous. The execution ofJohn the Baptist makes
the point admirably. He posed no military threat, but he did stimulate
popular excitement. That was enough.
Jesus' message to sinners presumably further discredited him in the
eyes of the normally pious. If his hearers understood him to be challenging
the adequacy of the law, the offence may have been general. The inclusion
of sinners in the kingdom, though it denies the value of obedience to the
law, is also more theoretical than the gesture against the temple, and by
itself probably would not have been fatally offensive. It may be that because
of the theological significance of this point we are ready to credit it with
too much importance as an issue between Jesus and others. I think that it
is safe to say that the pious would have been irritated at having a selfproclaimed spokesman for God say that they would be preceded in the
kingdom by gross sinners: irritated but not threatened. They would not,
after all, suppose that Jesus actually knew. The proclamation to sinners
also, however, highlights his self-claim. It appears that Jesus did not go to
the extreme of saying that only those who followed him would be in the
kingdom, but he nevertheless proclaimed not only that he spoke for God,
but that God would reverse the present order. Those now ranked last
would be first. If in the name of God he had proclaimed only a standard
message (e.g., that the wicked should repent, make restitution, and live a
life conformable to the law) the offence of his self-claim would probably
have been reduced.
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Thus we can name as Jesus' probable opponents the pious, the leaders
and the populace. It is frequently said that Jesus earned the opposition of

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62

all groups. My proposal differs from that formulation in two ways. In the
first place, I do not propose that we pair up issues with opponents: Jesus
offended the Pharisees by disputing the oral law, the Sadducees by
attacking the temple, and so on. This pairing results from an oversimplifi
cation of both the parties and the issues, and it obscures the historical
situation. We should presume that many Sadducees as well as Pharisees
were pious and would have resented being told that the wicked would
precede them in the kingdom. 'The pious', in fact, presumably included
people who did not think of themselves as 'belonging' to a 'party'. Most
people could not be identified with a party, and surely some of these
'independents' were pious. In any case there is no reason to limit 'the
pious' to the Pharisees.
Secondly, we must be prepared to see a degree of popular rejection of
Jesus, especially after the incident in the temple, and possibly more
generally from the populace of Jerusalem. 'The crowds' in the Gospels
and Acts serve the convenience of the narrators. One day they hail Jesus,
another demand his execution, and another protect Peter and the others
from being severely persecuted. We cannot know, from these reports,
how to gauge their reaction to Jesus. I suggested above that Jesus may have
had a smaller public impact than John the Baptist, and certainly smaller
than a temporarily successful demagogue like the Egyptian. This is the
impression which one gains from reading Josephus, although certainty
cannot be attained, thanks to the corruption of his passage on Jesus. The
impression is confirmed, however, by the fact that Jesus' disciples were
not executed. Further, there is the intrinsic probability that anyone who
spoke or acted against the temple in any way would have provoked the
Jerusalemites.
Thus I do not think it to be the case that Jesus was someone who gained
truly massive support from the populace and who was executed because
he posed a real threat to the Jerusalem leaders. On the other hand, we
cannot say that all Jerusalem was against him. He doubdess had a following
of Galileans, but we do not know enough to be able to say that the populace
of Jerusalem opposed him because he was a Galilean. We cannot, then,
say that the issue was either 'the masses versus the leaders', nor 'the
Galileans versus the Jerusalemites'. Jesus seems to have offended many
from various walks of life.
When, however, one asks whether or not it is possible to single out some
opponents as more important than others, the answer is affirmative. The
last subsections pointed clearly to the priestly aristocracy as the prime
movers behind Jesus' execution. This identification is confirmed by several
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strands of evidence, of which the last will be discussed in the next chapter:
(i) The Gospels themselves, despite making the Pharisees the primary
enemies during most of Jesus' career, depict the Jewish leadership in
Jerusalem as being actually responsible for his death. (2) The persecution
of Jesus' followers after his death, such as it was, came from this circle.
(3) The chief priests were the intermediaries between the Jewish people
and the Romans. They were thus in a position to represent him to the
Romans as dangerous.
Many scholars, even while saying that Jesus offended many parties and
groups and granting that it was the attack on the temple which immediately
led to his death, nevertheless make the Pharisees his prime opponents.
The Pharisees, as we noted above, tend to crop up in scholarly discussions
along with the position that a main issue in Jesus' life and death was a
conflict between 'grace' and 'legalism'. The Pharisees, along with legalism,
occur in three contexts: purity, the law and the sinners. A collection of
common views, which I have more than once sketched and argued against,
would go like this: Jesus opposed the Pharisees by going to the sinners,
who were excluded by their purity laws from life in Judaism; he also fell
foul of them with regard to other points of the law; they were the true
leaders ofJudaism; basic to the conflict was Jesus' view of grace and their
view of justification by works; a conflict with the Pharisees helps account
for Jesus' execution.
In part those who hold such views are simply following the Gospels
themselves, who have the Pharisees (sometimes accompanied by scribes)
appear when Jesus or his disciples do something on the Sabbath (e.g. Mark
2.23-3.6), or when the disciples eat without washing their hands (Mark
7). Luke also has Jesus tell the parables about the lost against the Pharisees
and scribes (Luke 15.2). In part scholarly agreement with these depictions
in the Gospels rests on the complex of views which we discussed above
when considering 'legalism' as an issue between Jesus and others.
The desire to make a theology of grace versus legalism the issue
which led to Jesus' death, and to have the Pharisees bear the principal
responsibility, sometimes leads to self-contradiction. I have cited above
Jeremias's view that it was declaring the forgiveness of sinners which was
at issue between Jesus and the Pharisees and that Jesus' view led to his
death. In other places Jeremias more reasonably adopted the position
that Jesus came into conflict with all groups. And, of course, he knew
that he was executed by the Romans on a political charge. Similarly
Reumann finds the chief issue to be legalism or grace, and he quotes
apparendy with approval an extraordinary statement by Ethelbert Stauffer
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on what would have happened if Jesus had fallen into the hands of the
Qumran sect:' "They would have murdered him as ruthlessly as did the
Pharisees." ' But Reumann, like Jeremias, finds opposition with all
parties, and he too knows that the Pharisees did not murder Jesus.
But leaving such exaggerations of the role of the Pharisees aside, can
we determine whether or not they constituted a significant element in the
opposition to Jesus? Our discussions of the sinners, the law, purity and
legalism all point towards finding little contact, either hostile or cordial,
between Jesus and the Pharisees. The reader will have learned that I think
that each of the common generalizations just above is wrong. The Pharisees
did not dominate Judaism. If Jesus disagreed with them over laws of purity
which were peculiar to them, he would have been only one more 'am haarets among many. He seems not to have committed any substantial breach
of the law. But, if he did, there is no reason to think that only the Pharisees
would have been offended. Thus I find no substantial conflict between
Jesus and the Pharisees.
It is noteworthy that several recent works have sharply diminished or
even eliminated the role of the Pharisees as substantial opponents of
Jesus. The arguments are in large part exegetical and simply draw further
conclusions from the earlier form-critical insights about the imaginary
settings of the conflict pericopes. The trend to reduce the role of the
Pharisees can be seen even among those who are not sceptical as I am
about the historicity of the debates about the Sabbath and food.
Harvey, for example, who accepts such passages as Mark 2 . 2 3 - 2 6 ; 7.2;
and 2.18 as representing actual debates with opponents, nevertheless sees
that controversies with the Pharisees were magnified by the early church.
He proposes that there were fewer points of contact and less sharp
disagreement between the Pharisees and Jesus than the Gospels suggest.
Baumbach has expressed some doubts about the Pharisees as Jesus'
opponents, and Schurmann has proposed that we should not think that
Jesus was in opposition to any particular group within the Judaism of his
time.
Some press further. Berger, in a detailed and often convincing study of
the history of the traditions in which Jesus is depicted as interpreting or
debating the law, makes some telling observations about the Gospels'
characterizing Jesus' opponents as Pharisees. In a series of pericopes, he
proposes, the oldest tradition is a contrast-logion. In the following list the
basic logion is placed in brackets: Mark 2 . 1 6 - 1 7 ( 7 ) ; 2 . 1 8 - 2 0 (19);
2 . 2 3 - 2 8 (27); 3 . 1 - 4 (4b); 7 . 1 - 2 3 (15); 1 0 . 1 - 1 2 (9); 1 2 . 1 3 - 1 7 (17). These
pericopes, he argues, stem from Christian tradition and have been made
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'biographical' by placing 'Jesus' and 'the Pharisees' in opposition. Apart

from these pericopes 'the Pharisees' appear in Mark only i n 8 . n , i 5 ; 9 . n .
Berger regards the Jesus/Pharisees opposition as a schematizing of
opposition between the early Christian community and their Jewish
opponents. 'The Pharisees are, apparendy, opponents of the early liberal
community practice, projected back into the life ofJesus.'
Cook is also cautious about identifying Jesus' opponents as Pharisees
and correcdy points out that the evangelists may not have had a clear idea
of who constituted the various groups.
Hultgren, in a detailed form-critical study of the conflict pericopes,
argues that the earliest stage of the conflict stories which are now in Mark
2.1-3.6 and parallels probably did not contain references to scribes and
Pharisees. Mark 3.6 is an addition by a pre-Marcan compiler which has
led to the identification of the Pharisees as the opponents for the whole
collection. Mark 3.6, in fact, caused difficulty for the final evangelist,
who felt compelled to reintroduce the Pharisees in 1 2 . 1 3 , where they do
not fit.
Morton Smith, arguing less as a form-critic and more as a historian,
calls into question the authenticity of most of the passages which depict
Jesus as in debate with the Pharisees. The term 'Pharisees', he proposes,
reflects the disputes between church and synagogue in the 80s. He makes
a more telling point: 'There is strong evidence that there were practically
no Pharisees in Galilee duringjesus' lifetime.'
Of these scholars Harvey, the least extreme, is also the least convincing.
As I pointed out in the chapter on the law, he misses the basic form-critical
observation that in two of the passages which he accepts, Mark 2 . 2 3 - 2 8
and Mark 7.1 ff., it is not Jesus who is criticized, but the disciples, apparently
standing in for the early church. He basically falls back on the theory
that 'where there is smoke there is fire': 'It is hardly conceivable that the
whole picture of an on-going controversy between Jesus and the sages of
his time is fictional.'
It is, I think, quite conceivable. Several of us conceive it. On the other
hand the 'where there is smoke there is fire' view cannot be positively
disproved. I shall be contented here to reiterate the view to which I have
come: we know of no substantial dispute about the law, nor of any substantial
conflict with the Pharisees.
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293

Conclusion
Jesus offended many of his contemporaries at two points: his attack on the
temple and his message concerning the sinners. On both points he could
be said to be challenging the adequacy of the Mosaic dispensation, and
both are large-scale, sweeping and blatant. His presuming to speak for
God was certainly approved by those who became convinced that he did
so, and it was probably not generally offensive. It may have become so,
however, when the spokesman for God turned on the temple. He pressed
this, the most offensive point, in Jerusalem at Passover time, so that it
could not be overlooked. We add to these considerations only that he had
a noticeable following, and we need look no further to understand why he
was executed.
At this level of offence, we do not need to find a group which opposed
Jesus and which aroused the Romans to execute him. At another level,
however, a reasonable inference about the instigators of his death may be
made. He was executed by the Romans, and if Jews had anything to do
with it - that is, if he were not executed simply because he caused public
disturbance - the instigators of his death would have been those with
access to Pilate. Chief among these were the leaders of the priesthood.
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THE DEATH OF JESUS

Thefirmfacts
We should begin our study with two firm facts before us: Jesus was
executed by the Romans as would-be 'king of the Jews', and his disciples
subsequendy formed a messianic movement which was not based on the
hope of military victory.
The difficulty of explaining how to hold these two facts together is the
fundamental problem involved in attempting to understand the death of
Jesus. The problem of his execution is neady put by Harvey:
2

We are apparently faced with a contradiction. On the one hand, the events
and legal procedures leading up to Jesus' death can be established with
reasonable certainty as implications of the bare statement that he was
crucified; and the charge upon which he was crucified is given by a report
which, again, seems highly reliable: King of the Jews. On the other hand, it
seems incredible that the person condemned on this charge was Jesus of
Nazareth.
3

The reason the facts seem incredible is that everything we know about
Jesus indicates that he sought no secular kingship. Harvey argues that
'The royal pretender must have attracted sufficient support to be capable
of offering a real threat to the Roman government'; i.e., to be executed as
would-be king he must have had an army.
But this statement of wherein the problem lies is not complete. It is
crucial to remember that theMisciples formed a messianic group, one which
claimed Jesus as Messiah and expected his return, and one which was
steadfasdy apolitical Thus not only was Jesus executed as would-be king even
though he had no secular ambitions, his disciples also combined the same two
points: Jesus was Messiah, but his kingdom was 'not of this world . ?
In explaining Jesus' death, we must simply accept these facts. The last
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statement quoted from Harvey must be questioned, as I argued above.

Jesus' execution as 'king' does not show that he had an army, nor that the
Romans thought he had. We can understand it simply by knowing that he
spoke of a kingdom and stirred the hopes of the people. His miracles
also produced excitement, and excitement carries its own dangers. The
explanation of Jesus' death must follow what at first appears to be a very
narrow path between the fact that he was executed as 'king' and the fact
that neither he nor his disciples were perceived to constitute any real threat
to Rome: they were not rounded up and executed. I think in fact that the
path is not all that narrow. A man who spoke of a kingdom, spoke against
the temple, and had a following was one marked for execution; but no one
need have regarded him as a military leader.
Dogmatic positions have obscured the obviousness of the explanation.
Winter and many others, because of fixed views of what a 'messiah' must
be like, have not seen the force of the most obvious facts. Thus Winter
wrote that, since Jesus lived on as Christos, at least some of his followers
must have pursued political ends, since 'the word denotes a worldly ruler'.
But Christianity is living proof that it need not do so.
In general terms, our task is already accomplished. Jesus and his
followers thought of there being a kingdom in which Jesus was the leader,
and he was executed as 'king of the Jews', while his disciples went free.
This shows that the Romans regarded him as dangerous at one level but
not at another: dangerous as one who excited the hopes and dreams of the
Jews, but not as an actual leader of an insurgent group.
But, as always, we need to see how much more can be known. Can this
general picture be made clearer and sharper? In particular, what role did
Jewish leaders and opponents play?
As we saw in the previous chapter, the real conflict was between Jesus
and his contemporaries in Judaism. The Romans did not act entirely on
their own initiative. We could know this to be the case without accepting
as authentic a single one of the conflict stories in the Gospels. Here, as so
often, the facts speak for themselves. The disciples continued as an
apolitical group which was persecuted, at least sporadically, by the Jewish
leadership and which was tolerated, perhaps even protected, by the Roman
government. This points to an original conflict between Jesus and the
Jewish leaders, and we shall now investigate what can be known about how
that led to his death.
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AND DEATH

The cause of the execution

It should be noted that, once one turns to an internal conflict within
Judaism as the principal cause of Jesus' death, it is incorrect to make a_
rigid distinction between 'religious' and 'political' reasons. The question,
is whether the primary conflict was with the Romans or with other Jews.
I have used the term 'apolitical' to means 'not involving a plan to liberate
and restore Israel by defeating the Romans and establishing an autonomous
government'. If Jesus claimed that those who followed him, even though
sinners by the standard of the law, would be first in the kingdom, and
demonstrated the nearness of a new order by his gesture against the
temple, he would have been seen as presenting a challenge to the rest of
Judaism in a way that cannot be called just 'religious' or 'political'. If he
claimed, in effect, that he, rather than the acknowledged leaders of Israel,
spoke for God, he challenged the leadership in all respects. A blow against
the temple, even if a physically minor one, was a blow against the basic
religio-political entity: Israel.
We have examined above in some detail the reports in the Gospels about
opponents and points of opposition. Our task now is simply to focus on
those which the Gospels direcdy claim to have played a role in Jesus'
execution.
In Matthew and Mark a plot to put Jesus to death starts after the healing
of the man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. Mark names the plotters
as the Pharisees and the Herodians, Matthew simply as the Pharisees
(Matt. 12.14/VMark 3.6). According to all three synoptic Gospels the
Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen inspired plots against Jesus.
Matthew names the chief priests and the Pharisees, and Luke the scribes
and the chief priests (Matt. 2i.45f.//Luke 20.19). Mark does not name
the plotters at this point ( 1 2 . 1 2 ) , and for a subject for the verb 'they sought'
in 1 2 . 1 2 we have to go back to 1 1 . 2 7 : chief priests, scribes and elders.
Plots, unspecified as to cause, continue in Matthew ( 2 2 . 1 5 ; 26.3-5). Mark,
but not Matthew, says that the chief priests and scribes planned Jesus'
death after the temple event (Mark 1 1 . 1 8 ) . According to Luke the chief
priests, scribes and 'principal men' tried to destroy Jesus while he was
teaching in the temple (Luke 19.47), but we are not told precisely why. In
John the plot to kill Jesus originates with the chief priests and the Pharisees
after the resurrection of Lazarus (John 1 1 . 4 5 - 5 3 ) .
Most to the point, Matthew and Mark, and to some degree Luke, but
not John, offer a trial scene in which a serious religious charge is said to
have been sustained: blasphemy (Matt. 26.57~75//Mark 1 4 . 5 3 - 7 2 ; the
8

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word 'blasphemy' is in Matt. 26.65/VMark 14.64). In Luke's account

(22.71) the word 'blasphemy' may be avoided simply in order to eliminate
the explicit statement that Jesus was found guilty of irreligion.
There are well-known difficulties with accepting this scene as accurately
revealing the actual point of dispute:
1. It is prepared for only by the 'Triumphal Entry', which presents its
own problems (see below). There is nothingin the public teaching attributed
to Jesus in the synoptic Gospels to explain the reported question of the
High Priest: 'Are you the Christ, the Son of God?' (Mark, 'Son of the
Blessed') (Matt. 26.63/VMark 1 4 . 6 1 ) .
2. The Gospels are surprisingly reluctant to have Jesus admit to the
supposed charge, though doubdess all the evangelists believed that he was
the Christ and also the Son of God. Matthew has Jesus answer: 'Soyou
say. But on the other hand iplen) I say, "From now you will see the Son of
man . . ." ' (Matt. 26.64). Luke separates the tides 'Christ' and 'Son of
God' and presents them as two separate questions. In reply to the.question
of whether he is the Christ, Luke has Jesus answer evasively and refer to
the Son of man. In reply to the question whether he is Son of God Luke's
Jesus responds, 'You say that I am' (Luke 22.67-70). Only Mark attributes
to Jesus an unequivocal 'yes' to the question of whether he claims to be
the Son of God (Mark 14.62). It is striking that John, who earlier had
written that 'the Jews' sought to kill Jesus because he 'called God his own
Father, making himself equal with. God' (John 5.18), nevertheless includes
no such charge in his story of Jesus' appearances before Annas and
Caiaphas (Johni8.i9, 24). It is of course possible that all the evangelists,
not just Luke, wanted to protect Jesus from being guilty of the supposed
charge, even though they all believed that he was the Son of God. It is
more likely, however, that the charge of blasphemy was not firmly rooted
in the tradition.
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13

14

15

16

3 / T h e exchanges between the high priest and Jesus in the synoptic

accounts, especially in Matthew and Mark, do not carry conviction/We
are first told that a charge was brought which was almost certainly true,
that of speaking against the temple; but the Gospels indicate that Jesus
was not convicted of that charge. 'Mark explicitly states that those who
testified to Jesus' threat against the temple did not agree (Mark 14.59).
Matthew implies that all the witnesses were false witnesses (Matt. 26.59),'
but he simply runs the charge that Jesus threatened the temple into the
question of the high priest, and it receives no explicit counter. ^The issue
which in Matthew and Mark is said to lead to the charge of blasphemy,
Jesus' being Christ (Messiah) and Son of God, is not compelling. For one

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thing, the combination of the two appellations looks more like a Christian
one than a Jewish one: outside the Christian movement there is no evidence
for the combination of'Messiah' and 'Son of God'. Further, as is widely
recognized, neither phrase points towards blasphemy.*VVe need not accept
the Rabbinic definition of blasphemy (pronouncing the ^explicit name:
Sanh. 7.5) in order to rule out 'Messiah' and 'Son of God' as blasphemous
claims. Subsequent would-be Messiahs were not charged with blasphemy,
and 'son of God' might mean almost anything. All Israelites can be said
to be 'sons of God' (see e.g. Rom. 9.4), and it is only the subsequent
Christian claim that Jesus himself was divine that clearly constitutes
blasphemy. '
It seems to me quite conceivable that speaking and acting against the
temple could have been considered blasphemous, but according to the
Gospels that charge did not lead to the sentence of blasphemy. Thus there
is a charge which might constitute blasphemy but which is said to
lead nowhere, and a combination of tides which is both unlikely and
unblasphemous which is said to have resulted in the sentence 'blasphemy'.
The trial scene is unlikely on all counts.
4. It is hard, though not impossible, to imagine a chain of trans
mission which would have passed on the exchanges of the supposed
trial.
5. It is hard to believe that a formal court actually convened on the first
night of Passover, as Matthew and Mark have it. Luke, we should note,
states that Jesus was taken to the Sanhedrin only after daybreak (Luke
22.66). John does not depict a trial before the Sanhedrin at all.
6. It is even harder to believe that Matthew and Mark are correct in
depicting two trials, one in the night and one the next morning. It has
longbeen noted thatthe night trial (Matt. 26.57-75//Mark 1 4 . 5 3 - 7 2 ) looks
like an expansion of the short report to the effect that there was a trial in
Matt. 27. i//Mark 1 5 . 1 .
7. The Gospels are all influenced by the desire to incriminate the Jews
and exculpate the Romans. The insistence of the crowd that Jesus be
killed, despite Pilate's considering him innocent (Matt. 27.15-26/yMark
1 5 . 6 - 1 5 / y L u k e 2 3 . 1 8 - 2 3 ; cf. John 18.38), shows this clearly enough.^The
elaborate Jewish trial scenes in the synoptic Gospels also tend to shift
responsibility to Judaism in an official way and help serve the same
purpose.
These difficulties with the trial scene are not new ones. Some, to be
sure, still defend the scene as being an authentic portrayal. Many more
scholars recognize that the earliest Christians knew only the general course
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of events (ajewish interrogation, the handing over to Pilate, the crucifixion),

but not the details. Yet many of these carry on doing word-for-word
exegesis of statements which cannot be direct quotations. Thus, for
example, Reumann concludes that details which go beyond the summary
of Mark 1 5 . 1 are difficult to recover, but he immediately states that 'the
trial was marked by the appearance of false witnesses (Mark 1 4 . 5 5 - 5 6 ) ' .
He later expresses uncertainty about how 'the exact question' of Matt.
26.63//Mark 14.61/yLuke 22.67, 7
worded. Similarly Harvey
correcdy grants that the evangelists had only a bare oudine of facts. He
considers a meeting of the Sanhedrin, but not necessarily a trial, to be an
unquestionable fact. Later he states that Jesus' supposed answer to the
high priest is 'manifesdy unhistoricaP. Subsequendy, however, he offers
it as a fact that Jesus was arraigned on a charge of blasphemy and that the
blasphemy consisted of his using the term 'son of God' in answering a
charge of blasphemy. ^ do not see how, having said that the evangelists
knew only a bare oudine of facts and that Jesus' answer to the question 'Are
you the Christ?' is unhistorical, he can then offer a detailed interpretation of
the other half ofJesus' reported answer to the high priest.
All we need do is to accept the obvious, that we do not have detailed
knowledge of what happened when the high priest and possibly others
questioned Jesus. We cannot know even that 'the Sanhedrin' met. Further,
I doubt that the earliest followers of Jesus knew. They were not privy to
the membership list; if people hurried into the high priest's house at night
there was no one to identify them and tick their names off. I do not doubt
that Jesus was arrested on the orders of the high priest and interrogated.
But we cannot know much more. Scholars will continue to dissect the
accounts of the 'trial', but I fear that our knowledge will not be gready
advanced.
I am not proposing that the evangelists have deliberately deceived us. It
seems quite clear that they did not know why Jesus was executed from the
point of view of the Jewish leaders. We shall see, in fact, that they were
ignorant even about the composition of a Jewish court. New Testament
scholars all tell themselves, one another and their students that the Gospel
writers were not historians in the modern sense, but we do not apply this
fact rigorously enough. One of the aspects of a course of events on which
ancient writers in general are weakest is cause and effect. Thus when the
empire flourished, Roman historians would say that it was because the
emperor was virtuous and just. Ramsey MacMullen put it this way:
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2 3

24

Vegetius and Jerome, discussing matters that seem to require the drawing

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of parallels to their own times from the 200s A.D., go back instead to the
200s B.C. They are not ignorant. They have their books. History is spread
out before their eyes, but they see only events and personsfloatingloose in
atimelesspast, without caused links between them - a gallery of isolated
portraits and anecdotes made classical by remoteness.
25

He continues, 'It had always been thus.'

I think that this describes our Gospel writers very well. Luke, who made
most of being an accurate historian, is most easily shown to have shared
the failings of his contemporaries. All one has to do is examine him on the
census and on Theudas and Judas the Galilean. Quirinius, Theudas,
Judas, a census - all are floating around back there somewhere, and Luke
puts them in his story. But he does not really know how, or whether, they
fit. Why should it be otherwise when it comes to the motives of the Jewish
leadership, details such as the composition of the Sanhedrin, and the
events which actually caused Jesus' d^athi And in fact, as we see from the
conflicting evidence and the unpersuasive accounts, it is not otherwise.
It will of course be urged that the passion narrative originates from a
time very close to the events. This is doubdess true, but proximity in time
does not necessarily give the authors of it any insight into cause and effect
and the inner workings of events. There is a general impression of a
confused night, and this is probably accurate (as I shall argue below). That
anyone, even someone close to the scene, knew precisely who did what is unlikely.
That the internal motives of the actors were known by those on whom the
evangelists drew seems impossible.
The unlikeliness of the charge of blasphemy has led some to search the
trial scene and Jewish law for evidence of a formal charge on which Jesus
was convicted at the supposed Sanhedrin trial. Those who follow this
course hold that there was a formal trial and a conviction under Jewish
law, as the synoptic Gospels have it, but that the charge was not 'blasphemy'.
Bowker has proposed that Jesus was convicted of being 'a rebellious
elder', and others have proposed 'false prophet' or 'deceiver' (mesit). It
seems to me, however, that once we grant that we do not know what went
on inside - that is, when we admit that the long trial scene of Matthew and
Mark is not historical - then we must also grant that we do not know (1)
if there was a trial; (2) if the whole Sanhedrin actually convened; (3) if
there was a formal charge; (4) if there was a formal conviction under Jewish
law. There are a lot of possibilities. I earlier said that the attack on the
temple could be considered blasphemy. I presume that it could also be
considered the act of a 'rebellious elder', and that the prediction of the
temple's destruction could be the words of a 'false prophet'. But the truth
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is that we do not know the answers to any of the questions just itemized.
We share the ignorance of the evangelists. If, as seems highly probable,
they were wrong about Jesus' being convicted by a formal Jewish court for
blasphemy, we can hardly prove, on the basis of their accounts, that some
other charge was sustained. Other sources can hardly put us closer to the
events. The best that we can hope to achieve is a general view of cause
and effect, based on incidents which surely preceded the execution (the
action of the temple being the most important) and the outcome (the
continuation ofJesus' disciples as an identifiable group within Judaism).
Other 'religious' grounds for seeking Jesus' death have already been
dealt with. Despite the great popularity of the view, it is not reasonable to
think that Jesus was killed because he believed in mercy and forgiveness.
Debates on the law - if there were any - are too insubstantial to have led
to a fatal enmity. Jesus' stance towards the wicked might have been
irritating, but it does not linger in the Gospels as having had anything to
do with his death.
The last point, however, deserves additional comment. If it be true that
Jesus said that those who followed him, but did not repent and make
restitution according to the law, would be included in the kingdom, he
challenged the adequacy of the law of Moses. The priests (as we shall
see) were the administrators of the law, and also those who were authorized
to say whether or not atonement had been made or purity achieved. If
Jesus pronounced forgiveness of sins (Mark 2 . 9 - 1 2 ) , he might also have
been arrogating to himself the prerogatives of the priesthood. I do not
want to argue, however, that the priests actually felt threatened by this
Galilean upstart and sought his death - at least not for these reasons. As I
pointed out above, the priests did not systematically have executed all who
claimed to speak for God, nor did the Romans oblige them by killing
everyone who irritated them.
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31

32

33

Thus we still must seek the immediate cause ofJesus' death, one which
did not publicly and obviously implicate him and his followers as rebels
against Rome, but one which could be presented to the Procurator as
meriting death.
The one point that will not go awayjsjthe attack (both by word and
deed) against the temple. The threat to destroy the temple is swept under
the rug by Matthew and Mark in the trial scene, and Luke omits it. It crops
up, however, later (Matt. 2 7 4 o / / M a r k 1 5 . 2 9 ; cf. Acts 6.14). Mark links
the decisive plot to kill Jesus to the action (not the saying) (Mark 1 1 . 1 8 ) .
There is no reason to suppose that he here had access to the thinking of
the Jewish leaders, but this time (unlike Mark 3.6), he seems to have hit it

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right. As we shall see more fully below, the temple scene is the last public
event in Jesus' life: he lived long enough for it, but not much longer. In
this case it seems entirely reasonable to argue post hoc ergo propter hoc/
This means that we should make a connection between the threat of
destruction and the gesture against the temple (as I argued extensively in
ch. 4 above). The connection is not made in the Gospels. According to
Mark Jesus' enemies plot against him because of the prophetic action, and
he is accused because of the verbal threat, but the two are not connected.
Mark, in fact, understood the action in the way followed by modern
scholars: it was a cleansing to prepare the temple for the worship of the
Gentiles (Mark 1 1 . 1 7 ) . We should make an inference as to the inner
connection of events and cause and effect which the evangelists had neither
the ability nor the interest to make. Jesus probably did not do one thing in
the temple and say another about it during the same brief period without
there being some interconnection. We can also see that the action and the
threat (or prediction) were both offensive. Even if Jesus understood himself
to be cleansing the temple for the Gentiles - which I do not for a moment
believe - the action would certainly have been seen as hostile. When the action
and the saying came to the attention of the Jewish leaders, they surely saw
them both as arrogant and wicked.
We shall return later to the dramatis personae. Here it should be repeated
that both the word and deed would have been offensive to most J e w s / T h e
gesture, even if it did not raise much tumult, could readily have led the
Romans to think that Jesus was a threat to public order/in particular the
physical demonstration against the temple by one who had a noticeable
following looms as so obvious an occasion for the execution that we need
look no further.
The phrases 'physical demonstration' and 'noticeable following' consti
tute important points. S i m p l y speaking against the temple - prophesying
its destruction - would lead to punishment and at least the threat of death.
We see this earlier in Israel's history in J e r . 26, where Jeremiah is threat
ened with death for predicting the destruction of the temple and the city.'
Later, just before the outbreak of the first revolt, there is a story of another
solitary woe-sayer: A man named Jesus went through the streets crying.
A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds; a
voice against Jerusalem and the sanctuary, a voice against all the people.
He was 'chastised' by some of the leading citizens of Jerusalem and
scourged to the bone by the Romans, but was finally released to continue
his cry of w o e .

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one of the holy things in the temple, and he was obviously regarded as a
more or less harmless, though irritating, eccentric. We do not have to add
much to such stories to set the conditions for execution: a physical action,
even though very minor, and a noticeable following.
We cannot say just how noticeable a following had to be in order to
provoke the secular ruler to act without urging. Herod the Tetrarch,
according to Josephus, acted quickly to execute John because his preaching
excited the populace - we do not know how many of them. It appears
that the 'sign prophets' 'were not insignificant cranks with one or two
followers'. Josephus says that Theudas persuaded 'the majority of the
crowd' (47 XX.97). According to Acts 5.3 6 the number was four hundred.
The unnamed sign prophets were followed by 'the crowd' or 'many' (47
X X . i 6 7 f ) . The Egyptian led either 'the populace' (47 X X . 169) or thirty
thousand men (Bjf II.261) or four thousand (Acts 2 1 . 3 8 ) .
Putting down the Egyptian, it appears, required a pitched battle.
Josephus (BJ II.263) specifies the use of hoplites, armoured infantry. Pilate
used both cavalry and hoplites against the Samaritans. Some were killed in
the batde, and he later executed several of the leaders (47 XVIII. 85-89).
Theudas and the others may have been suppressed by something closer
to police action, and for Theudas Josephus specifies a squadron of cavalry
(/IjfXX.gS).
There is probably a rough correlation between numbers and
the outcome. Solitary prophets might escape with only flogging, those with
thousands of followers would lead not only themselves but their followers
into batde and death. (Though the wily Egyptian escaped.) I think that we
can take the stories in Josephus as giving approximate parameters within
which we can understand the execution of Jesus. He, like John the Baptist,
falls in between the solitary woe-sayer and the Egyptian. The leader is
executed but not the followers. There were enough followers, however,
to make it expedient to kill Jesus, rather than simply flog him as a nuisance
and release him.
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36

These observations about numbers are in general supported by evidence

from the New Testament. The general impression given by the Gospels
is that Jesus had a small band of actual followers. We recall the point that
he did not call all Israel to follow him, but only a select few, and that his
message was generally individualistic and was not couched in the terms of
national repentance and restoration which might have attracted a large
following of people who expected dramatic results (ch. 8).' We recall,
further, that John the Baptist appears to have attracted greater public
attention and that he was killed by Herod the Tetrarch without priesdy
urging. One piece of information points to an appreciable number of

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followers of Jesus, Paul's mention of five hundred who saw the resurrected
Lord (I Cor. 1 5 . 6 ) . The ancients cannot be relied on to give accurate
estimates of a crowd. Paul's figure is as good as we can do. We can take it
that 'the whole crowd' did not actually hail Jesus as king or marvel at his
teaching, nor did the whole populace of Jerusalem subsequendy support
Peter and the others (see Matt. 21.8; Mark 1 1 . 1 8 ; Acts 5.26). It is probably
not true that the popular support for Jesus was so great that the priests and
Romans were afraid to act against him (e.g. Mark 1 2 . 1 2 ) . The evidence
points the other way: if support had been this massive, more than just Jesus
would have fallen. I am not accusing the Christian authors of being either
uninformed or dishonest. They report according to the conventions of the
day. It is also not true that an actual majority of the people followed
Theudas, and Josephus's other references to 'the populace' and 'the
crowd' are just as accurate as are the references in the Gospels and Acts.
In defence of the ancient authors, we can observe that the science of
estimating crowds is very recent indeed, is still partially unreliable, and in
part depends on aerial photography.
The discussion of numbers leads me to emphasize again a point made
earlier: no one misunderstood the threat posed by Jesus. Neither the
priests nor the Romans thought that a crowd of even five hundred could
actually seize control. They would have acted against the leader to prevent
widespread excitement, but the leaders of Judaism did not feeLthat the
foundations of their position were being shaken. We can make the present
proposal more precise yet by noting those of Smith and Trocme. Smith
proposed that it was primarily the number of people who, attracted by the
miracles, though of Jesus as Messiah which led to his execution. Trocme
suggested that Jesus became a public figure only by his action against the
temple. The truth seems to lie in between. It was not just the numbers,
since a large enough following would have triggered a Roman response
without urging from the priesthood/Nor was it just the minor disturbance
in the temple. It was the combination of a physical action with a noticeable
following which accounts for and led immediately to Jesus' death/The
Jewish leaders could then reasonably and persuasively propose to Pilate
that Jesus should be executed. Pilate agreed/it is probable that the Jewish
leaders did not see Jesus' followers as posing any threat once their leader
was removed. But if they did, they failed to persuade Pilate/
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38

It may be objected that too many chapters intervene between the gesture
against the temple and the execution for the former to be the sufficient
cause of the latter. But we do not know that the sizeable blocks of material
between the events have been put in the right place. Jeremias, among

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others, has proposed that we 'bracket out' Mark 1 2 and 1 3 and parr., and
this seems a reasonable proposal. Many have seen the Question about
Authority as originally following immediately on the temple account, and
that could be correct. There is no particular reason, however, to think
that the Parable of the Vineyard (Mark 1 2 . 1 - 1 2 and parr.), the further
disputes with the Pharisees and Sadducees (Mark 1 2 . 1 3 - 3 4 ) , the question
about David's son (Mark 1 2 . 3 5-40), the story of the Widow's Mite (Mark
1 2 . 4 1 - 4 4 ) , or the 'little apocalypse' (Mark 1 3 and parr.) represent teaching
and controversy which actually took place between the events narrated in
Mark 1 1 and Mark 1 4 . We know so little about the relationship between
events and the arrangement of material in the Gospels that the material
now found between the gesture against the temple and the 'trial' should
not prevent us from seeing the temple conflict as the last thing which
happened before Jesus' execution, and probably as its immediate cause.
I do not wish to argue that it was only Jesus' action and saying against
the temple which offended many of his contemporaries. We have earlier
seen that Jesus' presumption to speak for God would have been resented.
Even the solitary woe-sayer was resented. Further, Jesus had attracted
enough of a following as a healer to be accused of healing by means of an
evil spirit. These matters may well have made the Jewish leaders wary and
suspicious of him. Also, if the Jerusalem leaders thought that Jesus would
attract the hostile attention of Rome, they would have been quick to single
him out as an undesirable troublemaker. John attributes to Caiaphas the
saying that 'it is expedient that one man should die for the people, and that
the whole nation should not perish' (John 1 1 . 5 0 ) . John has in mind Jesus'
saving death, but the saying itself doubdess catches the spirit of the Jewish
leadership. We should also recall that at Passover the Romans took special
preparations to suppress any trouble. Many factors - Jesus' extraordinary
self-claim; the gathering he attracted; the nervousness on the part of
Jewish leaders not to give the Romans occasion for punishment of the
people generally; the Romans' own anxiety about prophets and about
crowds at feasts - doubtless help account for the fact that Jesus was
crucified. But he was not crucified until after he had time to make a demonstration
against the temple, and that appears to have been the last thing which he did
(except for his last meal with the disciples) before he was executed. The
gun may already have been cocked, but it was the temple demonstration
which pulled the trigger.
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42

Even if this be granted, there are important questions unresolved: why

was Jesus executed as king} Can the precise role of the Jewish leaders be

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decided? Though we have touched on both questions, they require further

study, and we take them in turn.
The triumphal entry
The Gospels offer us an event prior to the temple action which, were it
the unvarnished truth, could well have led to Jesus' execution: the entry
into Jerusalem. The claim to be king is explicit only in Matthew and John,
who quote Zech. 9.9 (Matt. 2 i . 4 f ; John 1 2 . 1 5 ) and say that the crowds
cried not only 'Hosanna', but also 'Son of David' (Matt. 2 1 . 9 ) or 'King of
Israel' (John 1 2 . 1 3 ) . But Mark and Luke also portray Jesus as riding on
an ass, and plenty of those in Jerusalem would have remembered the
prophetic passage, especially if Jesus' followers cried 'Blessed be he who
comes in the name of the Lord' (Matt. 21.9/VMark n . 9 / / L u k e 1 9 . 3 8 ;
quoting Ps. 1 1 8 . 2 6 [ L X X 1 1 7 . 2 6 ] ) . Is the story true? Perhaps it is. Jesus
was executed as one who claimed to be 'king of the Jews'. The entry and
the execution fit each other precisely.
But, as always, there is a problem. The Gospels also put several days
between the entry and the execution, during which time Jesus is said to
have come and gone without people hailing him as king. If the entry was
what we are told it was, why did it take so long for the Romans to execute
Jesus? Why were the disciples not rounded up and killed? And why do the
Gospels have the Jewish leadership play any role at all? The Romans
were not slow to act when sedition threatened, nor, were this a large
demonstration, would they have needed a Jewish 'trial' in order to urge
them on. Perhaps the event took place but was a small occurrence which
went unnoticed. Perhaps only a few disciples unostentatiously dropped
their garments in front of the ass (cf. Matt. 2 i . 8 / / M a r k n . 8 / / L u k e
19.36), while only a few quiedy murmured 'Hosanna'.
I regard the passage as being one of the most puzzling in the Gospels.
If it happened at all, surely the disciples were in on the secret and knew
that Jesus was claiming to be king. We have seen previously that they very
likely did have this understanding, and also that they knew that he was to
be a special kind of king. The expectation of a new world order (whether
'in the air' or in a new Jerusalem), in which Jesus and his disciples would
be the chief figures, but which would not be established by human might,
seems to me the best explanation of the puzzling passage about the
'triumphal' entry. Jesus and his close followers understood that he was
entering as 'king', but there was no large public hue and cry about it. It
fits into Jesus' last symbolic acts: he entered as 'king', demonstrated the
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destruction of the present temple, and had a meal with his disciples which
symbolized the coming 'banquet'.
The reader will notice that I did not put the Triumphal Entry and the
passages about the otherworldly kingdom in the list of things which are
unquestionable. In terms of probability, I regard all this as approximately
on the same level as the suggestion, several times repeated, that Jesus
promised membership in the kingdom to the wicked who followed him
but who did not repent and return to the Mosaic law. Let me lay things
out in what I regard as the order of probability:
1. Jesus taught about the kingdom (unquestionable).
2. He depicted the kingdom in metaphorical terms, including that of a
banquet (almost beyond the shadow of doubt).*
3. His disciples never expected the kingdom to be a political one,
brought about by the aid of arms, but rather to depend on the future
act of God (almost beyond the shadow of doubt).
4. The coming kingdom was symbolized by three gestures, only one of
them publicly dramatic:
a. the temple (certain)
b. the supper (almost equally certain)
c. the entry (probable).
5. Jesus gave himself and his disciples a role in the kingdom. His
own role was obviously superior to theirs, and his role could
be summarized as 'king' (almost certain). This may have led to
discussions of him as 'Messiah' in his lifetime (possible), but in any
case this is the tide which was given him after the resurrection
(certain).
The question of Jesus' self-claim has, to understate the case, vexed
scholars - it seems to me unduly. Jesus taught about the kingdom; he was
executed as would-be king; and his disciples, after his death, expected him
to return to establish the kingdom. These points are indisputable. Almost
equally indisputable is the fact that the disciples thought that they would
have some role in the kingdom. We should, I think, accept the obvious:
Jesus taught his disciples that he himself would play the principal role in
the kingdom.
45

46

There are, it appears, two reasons for hesitating about Jesus' self-claim.
One is that there are only two instances in the Gospels in which Jesus
accepts the tide 'Messiah' (the trial, Mark i 4 . 6 i f ; Peter^XLonfession,
Mark 8.29f. and parr.), and'both are dubious historically. The other is
that the tide 'Messiah' was used by the early church, and the criterion of
dissimilarity therefore excludes it from the ministry of Jesus. I do not
47/

48

308

CONFLICT AND DEATH

think it worthwhile to quibble very much about terms. Let us grant that
Jesus did not call himself'Messiah'. We must still take into account the
indisputable or almost indisputable facts oudined above^These focus on
'king' rather than 'Messiah', but they explain why 'Messiah' was ever
thought to be an appropriate tide. If Jesus said to the disciples only 'there
will be a kingdom', 'you will have a role in it', and 'I will share the banquet
of the new kingdom with you', the disciples would naturally have been as
willing as the Romans to think that he considered himself'king', and they
would equally naturally have found the tide 'Messiah' an appropriate one.
The point which remains unsolved is just how Jesus conceived his own
role. I must confess that I have no answer to the question of precisely how
Jesus saw the relationship between himself, the Son of man, and the
Father. In some passages it is Jesus' kingdom, in others God's > in others,
apparendy, the Son of man's. Thus Matt. 19.28 mentions 'the new age,
when the Son of man comes on the throne of his glory', while the parallel,
Luke 2 2 . 2 8 - 3 0 , refers to Jesus' kingdom. In the saying about drinking
wine again in the kingdom (Matt. 26.29/VMark 14.25/VLuke 2 2 . 1 8 ) , all
three Gospels refer to the kingdom of God (Matthew, 'in the kingdom of
my father'). In the story of the request by the two sons of Zebedee (or their
mother), both Matthew and Mark refer to Jesus' kingdom (Mark, 'glory')
(Matt. 2 0 . 2 i / / M a r k 1 0 . 3 7 ) . The Parousia passage (Matt. 24.30/yMark
I 3 . 2 6 / / L u k e 2 1 . 2 7 ) refers to the Son of man (so also Matt. 16.27 and
parr.). I presume that, since they were Jews, Jesus' disciples, when they
discussed Jesus' kingdom, meant by it 'the kingdom of God with Jesus as
his viceroy'. But beyond that I cannot see clearly. I do not consider any
combination impossible. It is conceivable that Jesus spoke in different
ways: referring to the kingdom of God; or to the messianic feast with
himself at the head; or to God's sending the Son of man to see to the
establishment of the kingdom, still with Jesus at the head of it; or to his
own identity with the Son of man. It is of course the Son of man who
makes things difficult. I have no hope of solving a problem which has
defeated so many.
49

To conclude: the entry was probably deliberately managed by Jesus to

symbolize the coming kingdom and his own role in i t . 1 account for the
fact that Jesus was not executed until after the demonstration against the
temple by proposing that it was an intentionally symbolic action, performed
because Jesus regarded it to be true (he would be king, but a humble one)
and for the sake of the disciples, but that it did not attract large public
attention/
50

T H E DEATH OF JESUS

309

The betrayal
The explanation of the execution of Jesus as king still lacks, however, one
important ingredient. We have seen that Jesus' demonstration against the
temple (when added to other contributing causes) will account for his
execution, and we have seen that he and his disciples very probably thought
of him privately as 'king', presumably in the sense of 'viceroy'. But how
are the two points related? Schweitzer long ago pointed the way: what
Judas betrayed (a point on which the Gospels are unhelpful) was that Jesus
and his small band thought of him as 'king'. It will remain possible that,
at the Entry, someone shouted 'son of David' or 'king' loudly enough to
attract attention, and also that what Judas betrayed was simply where Jesus
was; but the more obvious explanation is that Judas conveyed Jesus'
pretension to the chief priests (Matt. 26.i4//Mark i 4 . i o / / L u k e 22.4).'It
was the final weapon they needed: a specific charge to present to Pilate,
more certain to have fatal effect than the general charge 'troublemaker'.
51

The role of Jewish leaders

In ch. 1 0 we saw that the role of the Pharisees as Jesus' opponents has at
least been gready exaggerated in the early chapters of the synoptics and
that dieprincipal actors against Jesus were the chief priests/lt now remains
to examine the explicit statements in the Passion Narratives.
As is well known, the Pharisees as such largely disappear from the last
chapters of the Gospels. Their last appearance in Mark is in the passage
on Tribute to Caesar (Mark 1 2 . 1 3 ) . Matthew names them there (Matt.
22.15) d ^
th adversaries in two of the subsequent passages: the
Great Commandment (Matt. 22.34; cf. Mark 1 2 . 2 8 : 'one of the scribes');
David's Son (Matt. 2 2 . 4 1 ; there are no adversaries in Mark and Luke). In
Matthew the Pharisees also join the chief priests in petitioning Pilate to
guard the tomb (Matt. 27.62). Their last appearance in Luke is 19.39,
passage peculiar to Luke in which the Pharisees are said to tell Jesus that
he should rebuke his disciples for hailing him when he entered Jerusalem.
According to John 18.3 Judas procured 'a band of soldiers and some
officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees' in order to arrest Jesus.
The Pharisees otherwise play no role in the trial and execution.
a n

s oa s

52

Scribes appear at various points in the last chapters of the synoptics (a

chart is given below). If the general opinion that scribes were on the whole
Pharisees be followed, it could be maintained that the synoptic Gospels

CONFLICT AND DEATH

3io

assign the Pharisees a role in the events leading immediately to J e s u s '

death.
T h e chief priests, however, play the prime role in all the Gospels.

53

This

is very likely historically accurate. But just as we previously doubted that

the evangelists knew the cause of J e s u s ' death, so we should also doubt
that they had precise knowledge of who did what. Except for the consistent
portrayal of the chief priests as the principal Jewish leaders, the Gospels
present a shifting picture of J e s u s ' enemies. T h e following chart will help
make the point clear:

54

Matthew

Mark

Luke

21.15

11.18

19-47

After the Temple Scene

chief priests and scribes
were indignant

chief priests and scribes

sought to destroy him
because of influence on
the multitude

chief priests and scribes

and principal men sought
to destroy him but could
not because of his
popularity

12.12

2i.45f.

20.19

After the Parable of the Wicked Husbandman

The chief priests and
Pharisees sought to seize
him

'they' (apparently chief

priests, scribes and
elders: see Mark 1 1 . 2 7 )
sought to seize him

26. f.

1 4 . if.

Two days before Passover

chief priests and elders
with Caiaphas planned to
kill him by stealth but
hesitated to do so during
the feast for fear of tumult

Two days before Passover

chief priests and scribes
sought to kill him by
stealth to avoid public
tumult

the scribes and chief

priests sought to seize
him
2 2 . if.
Near Passover
chief priests and scribes
sought to kill him because
they feared the people

26.14-16

i4.iof

22.3-6

Judas arranges for

betrayal with chief priests

Judas arranges for

betrayal with chief priests

Judas arranges for

betrayal with chief priests
and captains

26.47

Judas aids arrest by a

crowd from chief priests
and elders

1443

22.47

Judas aids arrest by crowd

from chief priests and
scribes and elders

Judas aids arrest by crowd

26.57

14.53

Jesus led before Caiaphas

and high priest, where the
elders and scribes
assembled

Jesus led before the high

priest, where the chief
priests, elders and scribes
assembled

22.54

Jesus led to high priest's

house

THE DEATH OF JESUS

Matthew
26.59

chief priests and the

Sanhedrin sought false
testimony
26.60-66

the night 'trial'

27.if.
when morning came, all
the chief priests and the
elders took counsel
against Jesus,

311
Luke

Mark
14.55

chief priests and

Sanhedrin sought
testimony
14.56-64

the night 'trial'

22.66

15.1

in the morning the chief

priests, with the elders
and the scribes, and the
whole Sanhedrin took
counsel,

when day came, the

elders, both chief priests
and scribes, led him to the
Sanhedrin
22.67-71

the 'trial'
23.1

and they delivered him to

Pilate

and they delivered him to

Pilate

the whole company arose

and brought him before
Pilate

A study of the chart will show that there is considerable variation in the
descriptions of the chief actors in the drama. We may note, for example,
that a comparison of Matt. 26.57 with 26.59 and of Mark 14.53 with 4 - 5 5
indicates that 'the Sanhedrin' was composed of the 'elders and scribes',
while the chief priests are named separately/On the other hand, Mark
1 5 . 1 seems to distinguish the 'whole Sanhedrin' from the chief priests,
the elders and the scribes at the time of the morning trial. Matthew
mentions only the chief priests and the elders at the morning trial, but not
the Sanhedrin (Matt. 2 7 . i f ) . Luke's view is that the elders, consisting of
the chief priests and the scribes, led Jesus to the Sanhedrin (22.66),
apparendy composed of others (though possibly here a place).
I

In John it is the raising of Lazarus which leads the chief priests and the
Pharisees to gather the Sanhedrin and consider the advisability of putting
Jesus to death ( n . 4 7 ) / H e is arrested by soldiers and officers from the
chief priests and the Pharisees ( 1 8 . 3 ; 1 8 . 1 2 ) , who take him to Annas (18.3).
There are vague questions and innocuous answers ( 1 8 . 1 9 - 2 3 ) , and then
he is taken before Caiaphas (18.24). He is turned over to the Romans to
be executed as an evildoer (18.30).
It seems to be a fair inference that the evangelists did not know who was
who, at least not precisely. T h e high priest and the chief priests stand out,
but the precise relationships among the leading priests, the elders, the
scribes and the Sanhedrin are not clear.

CONFLICT AND DEATH

312

It is not, however, only the Gospels which are muddy on this point. The
evidence from Josephus about Jewish self-government is also unclear.
There is, to be sure, a scholarly consensus: There was a body of Jewish
leaders who constituted the Sanhedrin, which in turn played an appreciable
role in government and which saw to the administration of Jewish law.
From the time of Salome Alexandra 'the constitution of the Sanhedrin
represented a compromise between the nobility on the one hand - lay and
priesdy - and Pharisaic learning on the other.' Although the chief priests
'often stand alone as the leading personalities in the Sanhedrin', the
scribes 'exercised a considerable influence' in it. They were mosdy
Pharisees. Thus the Sadducees (most of the chief priests) and the
Pharisees (the scribes) sat together on the court. Some scholars insist that
the Pharisees came increasingly to dominate the Sanhedrin and that the
Sadducees yielded to them on many matters, including those affecting the
temple. Others regard the importance of the Pharisees as still under
debate.
55

56

57

58

59

60

This general consensus rests on a harmonization of Josephus, the

Gospels and the Talmud. Josephus describes the predominance of the
Pharisees under Queen Salome Alexandra (78-68 BCE), the Gospels place
the scribes in the Sanhedrin, and some passages in Josephus's Antiquities
and in the Talmud ascribe dominance to the Pharisees. 1 think that the
evidence is a good deal murkier than the scholarly consensus implies. It
lies beyond the scope of this study to attempt a full analysis of the evidence,
but it will be worth a few pages to present some of the complexities in
order the better to evaluate the Gospel accounts of Jesus' trial. We shall
examine a few key points in Josephus with regard to the Sanhedrin and
the role of the Pharisees.
61

1 . There are two accounts of the position of the Pharisees during the
reign of Salome Alexandra: BJ 1 . 1 1 0 - 1 4 and AJf XIII.408-18. They are
in very close agreement. Alexandra essentially turned domestic policy over
to the Pharisees, who were known for their observance of the national
religion and their exact interpretation of the law. They could recall exiles
and banish their enemies. They killed some, including one Diogenes. The
leading citizens (hoi dokountes, Bjf I.i 1 4 ; hoi dynatoi AJf X I I I . 4 1 1 ) turned
to Aristobulus for protection.
y

I do not know why these passages are interpreted as meaning that the
Pharisees became a majority of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin is not
mentioned, nor is any other assembly, such as a boule, council/Further,
the Pharisees are said to have been given full authority: they became
absolute rulers, both acting on their own and dictating to Alexandra
62

T H E DEATH OF JESUS

313

(e.g. Bjf 1.112).'Their opponents, the leading citizens, were dispersed

throughout the countryside after Aristobulus's intercession, but not killed
or imprisoned (Z$T.ii4;47XIII.4i7f.). It is evident that these opponents
did not simply assume a minority position in a governing body. Indeed the
picture drawn by Josephus seems to exclude the existence of a governing
body. The dominance of the Pharisees seems to have come to an abrupt
halt with the death of the Queen. They are not given a role in government
in Josephus's accounts of subsequent rulers. It is precarious to see the
reign of Salome Alexandra as a time from whence the Pharisees assumed
a permanent place in the Sanhedrin.
2. The trial of Herod the Great is also in both the War (Bjf I . 2 0 8 - 1 1 )
and the Antiquities (A/f XIV. 1 6 5 - 8 4 ) , but this time they are not in close
agreement. In the War Josephus says that many at court, that is, around
the king, Hyrcanus II (en tois basileiois) urged him to take steps against
Herod. They wanted Herod to appear 'in court' (epi diken) if in fact he was
still subject to the laws of the country. Herod went to Jerusalem with an
escort of moderate strength. Sextus Caesar ordered Hyrcanus to acquit
Herod, and, 'being inclined to take that course on other grounds', he did
so. There is no Sanhedrin, but rather counsellors around the king; there
is no court appearance; there is no formal trial, though there is an acquittal.
According to the Antiquities the 'principal Jews' (hoiprotoi ton Ioudaion)
became alarmed at Herod's power and ambition (AJf XIV. 165). They
urged Hyrcanus to take steps. Sextus, as in the War, is said to have
ordered Hyrcanus to acquit Herod (XIV. 170). Then the account becomes
confused. We are first told that Herod appeared before the Sanhedrin
with his troops and that no one dared speak except Samaias (according to
another passage a Pharisee) (XIV. 1 7 i f . ) . Hyrcanus perceived that the
Sanhedrin was about to order Herod's execution, and he postponed the
trial (XIV.177). He secredy advised Herod to, flee (XIV. 1 7 7 ^ . According
to XIV. 1 8 2 , however, Herod's friends urged him to remember his acquittal.
63

It seems to me probable that the Sanhedrin, which plays a major role

throughout the account in the Antiquities, has been added in order to
conform the situation to subsequent Jewish law. AJf XIV. 1 8 2 contains a
reminiscence of the account in the War, which has Herod acquitted - but
not by the Sanhedrin.
3. The execution of Hyrcanus II also raises questions about the
Sanhedrin. In Bjf I.434 Josephus simply says that Herod put him to death.
In AJf XV. 1 6 5 - 7 8 he offers two versions of the execution. According to
the first, a letter to Hyrcanus from the Arab king, Malchus, came into
Herod's hands. It promised aid to Hyrcanus. Herod showed 'the letters'

3H

CONFLICT AND DEATH

to the Sanhedrin and had Hyrcanus executed (XV.i72f.). According to

the second version Herod trumped up a charge that Hyrcanus had accepted
a bribe from Malchus and had him strangled. Josephus notes, in support
of this second story, that Hyrcanus was eighty-one years old and not likely
to have been engaged in an intrigue to overthrow Herod (XV. 1 7 8 ) . The
first story, which cloaks the action as a legal one approved by the Sanhedrin,
Josephus derived from Herod's Memoirs (XV. 1 7 4 ) .
4. In the Life, Josephus assigns the Sanhedrin a role in directing the
war. He depicts himself as writing to the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem for
instructions while he is commanding troops in Galilee (Vita 62). We may
compare Vita 28, where he says that 'the principal men ofJerusalem' sent
him and two other priests on a mission.
In the War, however, the Sanhedrin plays no role in government. We
hear, rather, of various leading groups and of a council, boule. The standard
answer to this problem is that the terms are synonymous, and they may
well be. Yet even so, in the War the boule does not seem to bear the
responsibility that is assigned to the Sanhedrin in some passages in the
Antiquities, in the Life and in Rabbinic literature. In order to grasp how, in
a time of crisis, 'Jewish self-government' actually worked, it will be helpful
to summarize Josephus's description of the last events before the outbreak
of the war. I do not wish to claim that the execution ofJesus was a time of
equal crisis, but I do think that the sections to be summarized below
indicate how Jewish leadership functioned under Roman rule - especially
when there seemed to be, or actually was, need for haste.
Florus, seeking vengeance against some who insulted him, called
together the chief priests, as well as the powerful (dynatoi) and the best known
ofthecity. He demanded that they find those who were guilty (Bjf I I . 3 0 i f ) .
The leaders pointed out the impossibility of the task and urged Florus not
to press the matter (II.302-304). He ordered the soldiers to sack the
market. A massacre followed, during which Jews of even equestrian rank
were scourged before Florus's tribunal and crucified (II.305-308). In the
tumult of the next day, the powerful, with the chief priests, tried to prevail
on the crowd not to provoke the Procurator (II.316). Florus sent for the
chief priests and the best known men and told them that, to demonstrate their
obedience, the people had to go along the road to meet arriving Roman
troops (II.318). The chief priests urged this action on 'the multitude' in the
temple (II.320). Thfe priests temporarily carried the crowd, but the
Romans, in response to further outcries against Florus, started another
massacre (H.322-29). After the rebels seized the porticoes, Florus
64

T H E DEATH OF JESUS

315

sent for the chief priests and the council {boule), and told them that he intended
to quit the city, but would leave them whatever garrison they desired. In
reply, they undertook to maintainperfect order and to prevent any revolution,
provided that he left them a single cohort.... (II.33if.)
It is noteworthy that, although the chief priests and other leaders figured
in the tumult as the intermediaries between the Romans and the Jerusalem
ites, the boule appears when Florus is going to do something official: leave
a garrison in the control of the responsible Jewish body. Massacres,
flogging and execution could take place without the involvement of the
boule. But just before quitting the city, Florus summoned them.
From the safety of Caesarea, Florus wrote to the governor, Cestius; and
the rulers (hoi archontes) of Jerusalem also wrote, putting the blame on
Florus (II.333). Cestius now took a direct hand. His emissaries met King
Agrippa, who was just returning from Alexandria, at Jamnia. The Jewish
leaders - the chief priests, the powerful and the council - also went to Jamnia
to seek the king's help (II.33337).
The story continues, and later we hear about the chief priests and the best
known men trying to persuade xht priests who were in charge of the offerings
not to stop the sacrifices for the Roman rulers (II.410). The priests were
not persuaded, and the powerful gathered with the chief priests and the best
known of the Pharisees to consider the situation (II.411). In subsequent
action the chief priests continue to be mentioned as those who sought
accommodation with Rome (II.422).
The impression is overwhelming that the chief priests took the lead
in mediating between the Romans and the populace: 'they were held
responsible by the Romans, they asserted their authority and prestige in
seeking accommodation, and they undertook to speak to the Romans on
behalf of the nation/There was a council, but it seems to have met formally
only once during the events under Florus. When things reached a
disastrous stage, and only then, did the priests assemble 'the best-known
Pharisees' to help consider the matter.
5. In the Antiquities there are several passages which claim that the
Pharisees controlled the masses and played a major role in Jewish affairs
at times other than the reign of Salome Alexandra. We earlier discussed
these in considering the question of whether the Pharisees controlled the
opinions of the populace. We must now ask if they show, as Josephus
intends them to do, that the Pharisees were leaders in the government of
Israel. We recall that many New Testament scholars regard the Pharisees

3i6

CONFLICT

AND DEATH

65

as having held real power. It turns out, however, that Josephus's

statements to this effect are not convincing.
In.47XIII.288, discussing the reign of Hyrcanus I, Josephus states that
the Pharisees were heeded even when they spoke against the king or a high
priest. As Marcus notes, the statement is anachronistic: it requires a time
when the two offices were separated. We read subsequendy that the same
Hyrcanus left the Pharisees and joined the Sadducees, that the Pharisees
had the support of the masses, and that Hyrcanus had a lengthy and
peaceful rule C47XIII.296-300). It is not clear that all these statements
hang together. If everyone heeded the Pharisees, why did Hyrcanus join
the Sadducees, and why was his reign so peaceful? InAJXVIII. 1 7 Josephus
states that whenever a Sadducee assumes some office he submits 'to the
[views] of the Pharisees', since 'otherwise the masses would not tolerate
them'. This view is reflected also in the Babylonian Talmud; but Josephus
gives us no explicit example, and the claim of Pharisaic dominance seems
to be contradicted by the facts. As Smith puts it, 'the influence of the
Pharisees with the people, which Josephus reports, is not demonstrated
by the history he records'. The Hasmoneans (with the exception of
Salome Alexandra), the Herods, and the Sadducean high priests seem to
have followed their own views. Thus, for example, Josephus writes that
the high priest Ananus followed the school of the Sadducees (AJ XX. 199).
Ananus is the high priest who convened the Sanhedrin and had James
executed. When King Agrippa learned of it, he deposed Ananus {AJ
X X . 1 9 7 - 2 0 3 ) . The real situation is clear: the Pharisees did not dictate
policy. The secular ruler held power, and under him the high priest; and
they ruled according to their own views, with or without the approval of
the Pharisees.
In other summary statements Josephus attributes administration of the
laws to the priesthood: The priests exercised 'a strict superintendence of
the Law and the pursuits of everyday life; for the appointed duties of the
priests included general supervision, the trial of cases of litigation, and the
punishment of condemned persons' (Ap. II. 187). Near the end of the
Antiquities Josephus writes that after the deaths of Herod and Archelaus
'the constitution became an aristocracy, and the high priests were entrusted
with the leadership of the nation' {AJ XX. 2 5 1 ) . This seems to accord with
the facts, and the passages which say that the Pharisees governed the
nation de facto because of their popularity with the masses are probably to
be taken as reflecting the subsequent dominance of the Rabbis, whose
prestige Josephus, in the Antiquities, was eager to uphold. talk, despite
66

67

68

69

70

71

T H E DEATH OF JESUS

317

his reliance on Rabbinic literature in describing the Sanhedrin, neady

summarizes the actual situation: After Pompey's conquest
Political independence was then abolished, although the High Priest was
authorised to serve as prostates tou etfhjnou, head of the people, on behalf of
the Roman government. This authority included judicial autonomy, but not
the power to strike coins; this power and the royal crown were given to
Herod. After the death of Herod limited autonomy was restored to the High
Priest, who acted in political matters and perhaps also in matters of capital
offences, under the supervision of the Roman provincial governor or of the
king enthroned by the Romans.
72

I do not wish to insist on any given reconstruction of who held what

influence during the period that Pontius Pilate was Procurator. We should,
however, be aware that 'trials' and judgments need not have proceeded in
the orderly fashion depicted in Mishnah Sanhedrin. There is nothing
intrinsically improbable about the account in John, according to which
Jesus was interrogated by Annas and Caiaphas, but not 'tried' before the
Sanhedrin (John 1 8 . 1 9 - 2 8 ) . The accounts in Josephus of the way in
which the Romans related to Jewish leaders show that it is by no means
impossible that, in such a matter as this, the Romans would have dealt
entirely with the chiefpriests. They constitute the one group which remains
constant in all the Gospels, and they also emerge from the pages of
Josephus as the natural Jewish leaders and those who had the ear of the
Roman rulers. It is also clear from Josephus that whoever was in power
- whether a Hasmonean, a Herod or a Roman Procurator - could execute
or free whom he wished without a formal trial. It is entirely possible that
Hyrcanus freed Herod and that Herod executed Hyrcanus without the
benefit of a trial by a court. It is certain that Florus carried out executions
on a large scale with no trial, except possibly one before his own tribunal,
conducted by himself. The confusion in the Gospels about the events
which immediately led to Jesus' execution may well point to the fact that
there was no orderly procedure which was noted and remembered.
73

74

Conclusion
We should return to our standard attempt to distinguish what is certain
from what is not. First, we recall the surest facts: Jesus was executed by
the Romans; his disciples were not rounded up and executed. In addition,
it is highly probable that he was executed for sedition or treason, as wouldbe king. As we pointed out in discussing the Triumphal Entry, if he had
been publicly hailed as king, he would probably have been killed earlier

3i8

CONFLICT AND DEATH

than he was, and those who proclaimed him would probably have fallen
also. Any interpretation of Jesus' death must hold together his own
execution as would-be 'king of the Jews' and the survival of his disciples
as an apolitical messianic group which was not rooted out and eliminated.
The Gospels offer a way of holding the two together: Jesus was tried and
convicted by Jewish authorities for blasphemy (Matthew and Mark) or he
was turned over to Pilate by the chief priests as an evildoer according to
Jewish law (John 18.30; cf. 19.7). We must, I think, accept the view of the
Gospels, at least in general terms. He was executed by Pilate at the behest
of the Jewish leadership, including at least the chief priests. Had the public
tumult been so great that the Romans executed him without being urged,
they almost certainly would have killed many of his followers as well.
I think that we cannot know that he was formally convicted of a crime
under Jewish law. The vaguer account of John seems better to correspond
with the way things actually worked. There could have been a hearing
before a group which represented others than the chief priests, but I think
that we cannot know that to be the case. The situation seems to require
only the involvement of the priests, but we cannot definitely exclude
the participation of other leaders. The Pharisees cannot be decisively
eliminated from participating because it remains possible (though not
necessary) that there was a hearing by the Sanhedrin and that scribes were
present. We should recall, however, that it is difficult to find any substantial
conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees. In any case, the immediate
occasion ofJesus' death was the temple scene, which doubdess persuaded
the leaders of Judaism that this Galilean, perhaps already an irritating
presence, should not be allowed to create further trouble.
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Results
Jesus saw himself as God's last messenger before the establishment of the
kingdom. He looked for a new order, created by a mighty act of God. In
the new order the twelve tribes would be reassembled, there would be a
new temple, force of arms would not be needed, divorce would be neither
necessary nor permitted, outcasts - even the wicked - would have a place,
and Jesus and his disciples - the poor, meek and lowly - would have the
leading role. He had devoted followers who accepted his expectation,
made it their own, and remained committed to a transformation of it after
his death and resurrection. Further, he had a following among the masses.
They were attracted both by his healings and by his message, which
promised them a prominent place in the kingdom. Some, impressed by
his message and power, saw him as a great figure from Israel's past, some,
possibly, as 'son of God'.
Jesus and his followers were not strange and unique in their expectation
of a new age, nor in thinking that it would come without arms. They were
not unique because they held out its promise especially to the outcasts.
Jesus' promise to the wicked is distinctive and characteristic of his message,
but other charismatic leaders also appealed to 'the poor'. New ages by
definition must alter the present. Why offer the kingdom to those who are
already running it? They have had their reward. Sociologically and
psychologically Jesus and his movement are quite comprehensible.
In fact, we cannot say that a single one of the things known about Jesus
is unique: neither his miracles, non-violence, eschatological hope or
promise to the outcasts. He was not unique because he saw his own mission
as of crucial importance, nor because he believed in the grace of God.
The combination can doubtless be called 'unique', but that shows that he
was an individual and not a two-dimensional representative of a type. His
teaching may have been uniquely profound, perceptive and creative.
Certainly the parables attributed to Jesus constitute a corpus which is
better than that attributed to anyone else. The problem here as elsewhere

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CONCLUSION

is that we do not have enough comparative material to allow an absolute

judgment. Judas the Galilean, for example, was known as a teacher, and
he had a following; but we do not know what he taught or how he taught
it. Further, we do not know that all the parables attributed to Jesus were
actually told by him. There may have been great tellers of parables in the
early Christian movement.
We cannot even say that Jesus was an uniquely good and great man. I
agree with John Knox that the church's memory can guarantee his 'personal
moral stature', but I also agree with him that critical history will not produce
a figure of sufficient moral greatness to satisfy those who have felt their
lives to be ennobled and uplifted by him. History, in fact, has grave
difficulty with the category 'unique'. Adequate comparative information
is never available to permit such judgments as 'uniquely good', 'uniquely
compassionate' and the like. It is, rather, a fault of New Testament
scholarship that so many do not see that the use of such words as 'unique'
and 'unprecedented' shows that they have shifted their perspective from
that of critical history and exegesis to that of faith. We can accept without
argument Jesus' greatness as a man, but we must stop well short of
explaining his impact by appeal to absolutely unique personal qualities.
1

What is unquestionably unique about Jesus is the result of his life and
work. They culminated in the resurrection and the foundation of a
movement which endured. I have no special explanation or rationalization
of the resurrection experiences of the disciples. Their vividness and
importance are best seen in the letters of Paul. They are, to my knowledge,
unique in their effect. There was a report that Apollonius of Tyana appeared
after his death (Philostratus, Life of Apollonius VIII.31), and we must
remember that the claim of resurrection was not unique. But one does not
receive from the pages of Philostratus the impression of burning conviction
that, in Apollonius, God spoke and acted decisively. Philostratus, of course,
was not Jewish, and thus not prepared to think of a single action of God
which revealed his will and intention. We must suppose thatjesus' disciples
were prepared to receive such a revelation - though not in the form it took.
We have every reason to think thatjesus had led them to expect a dramatic
event which would establish the kingdom. The death and resurrection
required them to adjust their expectation, but did not create a new one
out of nothing.
That is as far as I can go in looking for an explanation of the one thing
which sets Christianity apart from other 'renewal movements'. The
disciples were prepared for something. What they received inspired them
and empowered them. It is the what that is unique.

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Certainties, possibilities and speculations

We need to consider how certain each element in this depiction of Jesus
is, but first I want to recall the strategy and aim of the study. We seem to
have reached an impasse in New Testament studies, in which work on
Jesus can never be pronounced much more than 'interesting': occasionally
provocative, challenging or even illuminating, but usually only 'interesting'.
I have attempted to make at least a small hole in the barrier, and to rest
the main themes of the study on unassailable data. The full reconstruction,
to be sure, involves inference, surmise and conjecture. I hope that these
aspects will be at least 'interesting', but for the main themes themselves I
have greater ambition: general conviction.
The study has been based on the view that knowledge about Jesus can
be stratified, according to its degree of certainty, along the following scale:
beyond reasonable doubt (or 'certain'), highly probable, probable, possible,
conceivable, unprovable, incredible. The things best known about Jesus
are certain facts about him, his career and its aftermath. Chronologically
these range from his baptism by John to Paul's view that he was aposde to
the Gentiles in the messianic era, and they embrace Jesus' call of disciples,
the fact that he healed and preached, his 'attack' on the temple, his
execution by the Romans, and the continuation of his disciples as a group
which was identifiable, which expected the kingdom to come (but not with
arms), and which was persecuted by some within Israel, though not by
Rome.
These facts yield certain knowledge about Jesus of a general character.
They allow us to understand him as a figure in religious history. They
show that he fits into the general framework of Jewish restoration escha
tology, and they identify him as the founder of a group which adhered to
the expectations of that theology.
When we return to the first paragraph, in which the kingdom which
Jesus expected was characterized, we see that not all the elements in the
list are equally certain, and it is quite possible to add to it. The least certain
point is thatjesus gave himself a role in the kingdom. The Gospels show
him as remarkably reluctant to say who he was, and the proposal that he
considered himself'king' or 'viceroy' rests on inference. The inference is
a strong one: he gave his disciples a role, and a teacher is greater than his
disciples; further, the disciples immediately gave him a tide, 'Messiah',
which is compatible with a claim to rulership. The execution of Jesus as
would-be 'king of the Jews' shows us that others thought that he had
claimed to be king. A second line of inference, therefore, is this: despite
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CONCLUSION

his reluctance to give himself a title, the Jewish aristocrats and the Romans
understood him very well. What he claimed for himself was tantamount to
claiming kingship. The only direct statement, however, is the symbolic
gesture of entering Jerusalem on an ass - and some, quite reasonably, have
worries about the authenticity of that story. The hard evidence is this: he
talked about a kingdom; his disciples expected to have a role in it; they
considered him their leader; he was crucified for claiming to be king.
Everything else in the list of characteristics is as solidly established as
historical information of this sort can be. The temple, the twelve, the
wicked, prohibition of divorce - all are firm.
It is sometimes possible to press beyond this general portrayal ofJesus.
We can know the main themes of his particular message with assurance.
They are summarized by the words 'kingdom' and 'the wicked'. How he
differed from others who shared his general perspective can be known
with only slighdy less certainty. The paucity of material which attributes
to him aspects of common belief - the coming of a great judgment for
which repentance is the preparation - is especially striking. The explanation
of the lack of prominence of expected themes is 'hypothetical' in the sense
of 'speculative'. I proposed that these themes were largely bypassed by
Jesus because he understood that John had taken care of that part of the
overall task. Yet even though it is speculative and rests on no direct
evidence, this proposal too is supported by inference from facts: Jesus
started under John, he generally falls into the same overall perspective,
and he did not emphasize the two main themes of John's message. One
could, to be sure, infer from this that he omitted them because he came
to disbelieve in them, but that seems much less likely. He continued to
believe in a judgment (though he did not teach about it), and he certainly
believed in reconciliation between sinner and God.
4

Other things intimately connected with main themes cannot be known

with security. The chief one is just what he expected the sinners who
accepted him to do. They are invisible in Acts and Paul's letters (where
there are Gentile 'sinners', but not Jewish ones). Thatjesus came to call
the wicked was transformed into the belief that he died to save sinners from
sin and to make them upright. We must here pause to note the strong
emphasis in the early Christian material which points to correction of
behaviour. We have seen repeatedly that Luke emphasizes repentance and
reform in his Gospel, and the same theme is prominent in Acts. Matthew
has a lot of material stressing perfection of way: virtually all of the Sermon
on the Mount (see e.g. 5.20), ch. 23 (e.g. 23.3), and his collection of
material about church order and individual behaviour ( 1 8 . 1 - 2 2 ) . Paul

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repeatedly urged his converts to be blameless and to act correcdy: Rom.

6.2; I Cor. 6 . 9 - 1 1 ; Gal. 5 . 1 6 - 2 4 ; I Thess. 3 . 1 3 ; 5.23; I Cor. 1.8; Phil.
2.15f.
Thus we can know what the early church made ofJesus' call to sinners:
the former sinners should behave uprighdy, in fact their behaviour should
exceed the normal requirements of Judaism. Did Jesus think the same?
There is no good evidence, once we attribute most of the Sermon on the
Mount to Matthew or a pre-Matthaean author or editor. It is possible
that Jesus imposed a higher righteousness on those who accepted him,
though without requiring them to observe the machinery of righteousness
according to the law. It seems somewhat more likely that, in view of the
eschaton, he simply did not deal in detail with their behaviour, and thus
could truly be criticized for including the wicked in his 'kingdom'. I
consider this 'probable'.
What survived after Jesus' death and resurrection was a movement
which followed more-or-less traditional Jewish expectations about the
end. The end was at hand, or was in the process of being realized, and it
was time to turn to the Lord and his law. It was therefore also time to start
admitting Gentiles - on some conditions or other. The most distinctive
aspect of Jesus' own message - the admission of sinners without requiring
formal restoration of status within the covenant - seems to have been
dropped. We must assume that the church in Jerusalem, apparendy
dominated by James and influenced by people whom Paul called 'false
brethren' (Gal. 2.4), was no more enthusiastic about counting among its
membership the wicked of Israel than it was about admitting Gentiles
while they were still 'sinners', that is, non-observers of the law. We must
also recall, however, that what we know most securely about Jesus are
precisely those facts which fit him most comfortably into the category of a
prophet of Jewish restoration: his start under John, his call of the twelve,
his expectation that the temple would be destroyed and rebuilt (or at least
renewed). Thus most of the securely attestedfacts about Jesus' career also agree
closely with what happened afterwards, and what enduredfrom his work is what
his message hadin common withJewish restoration eschatology: the expectation that
Israel would be restored. The inclusion of Gentiles is a natural consequence of
Jewish restoration, and this also may have been prepared for by Jesus (if
Matt. 8.11 is authentic and originally referred to Gentiles). Jesus was
survived by an 'orthodox'Jewish messianic movement, one which expected
an imminent end; one which was scrupulous about the law; and one which
was pushed towards another stance on the law only by the pressures of the
Gentile mission and the efforts of a few creative and remarkable aposdes
5

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CONCLUSION

and other leaders (Paul, the Hellenists, the founders of the church at
Antioch). The early church was not just a continuation of Jesus' own work.
It lacked 'fellowship' with sinners. It appears that at least this one important
nuance of Jesus' message, and a point at which he went beyond John the
Baptist, was taken over only in a modified form: they should repent and
adapt their lives to the requirements of the law. This provision, however,
was seldom successfully enforced on Gentile converts, and it was one form
of the Gentile mission which finally separated the Christian movement
from the law.
The positive relationship between Jesus and the movement which
succeeded him can be clearly seen if one examines Bultmann's admirable
list of eight points which show that the early Christian movement consid
ered itself 'the Congregation of the end of days'. The list omits the
admission of the Gentiles, which I regard as one of the most important
facts, but is otherwise convincing. He points to such features as the
'twelve', the communal eschatological meal, and the mission to Israel. I
would put these features of the early movement back into the lifetime of
Jesus. They constitute the historical connection between Jesus and the
movement which succeeded him, and these points of connection are also
some of the surest things which we know about him.
Jesus doubdess thought and stood for things which we cannot attribute
to him with certainty. The reader may well be surprised that I have said
so little about two important topics: tides and how Jesus though of his
death, once it became apparent to him that he would be executed. I have
proposed as a strong inference that Jesus thought of himself as 'king'
(whether or not he direcdy used the tide), but beyond that everything gets
murky. Did he identify himself with the suffering servant? Did he ever
call himself'Messiah'? What are we to make of the enigmatic Son of man?
I have no answers for any of these questions. I think that the Last Supper
scene indicates thatjesus did not despair of thinking, even when he saw
that he was to die, that the kingdom which he had expected would come.
He would drink with his followers from the fruit of the vine (Mark 14.25
and parr.). The Christian interpretation ofJesus' death as atoning was so
immediate and thorough that one could argue that even here Jesus
prepared his followers. On the other hand, the idea that a martyr's death
is beneficial for others and that his cause will be vindicated is attested in
Judaism and is an obvious explanatory device. It is not necessary to assume
that Jesus indicated to his followers that they should think in this way.
Once he died, it probably seemed entirely natural to attribute benefit to
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325

his death and to look for vindication. We shall return, however, to the
question ofJesus' view of his own death.
The things which we do not know should not keep us from seeing and
appreciating what we do know. We do know thatjesus gave the lead to his
followers - whether direcdy or only implicidy - to think of him as singled
out by God for a special task, in fact for the most special task. He may have
given himself no tide at all, but tides are surely less important than the
substantive realities to which they point.
There are numerous other things which Jesus may have thought, though
now we can call them only 'possible' or 'conceivable'. One sees this
especially in the survey of meanings of the word 'kingdom'. We cannot
definitively deny any of the basic usages to Jesus. He may well have thought
that the kingdom would be heralded by the appearance of the Son of man
on clouds, accompanied by angels; that the individuals who heeded him
were being admitted one by one to the kingdom; that the kingdom was
present in his words and deeds. Scholars who attribute one or more of
these views to Jesus can be criticized only if they elevate to the principal
role a point which is not much better than 'possible'. This often happens
inadvertendy. Someone will start pursuing a point and end by writing a
book about it, without ever referring it back to the more secure general
oudine ofJesus' career.
We see this not only when we look at books about 'kingdom', but also
when we consider 'Jesus and the law'. Here the great fact is that Jesus'
followers did not know that he had direcdy opposed the law, and in
particular they did not know him to have opposed the laws governing
Sabbath, food and purity. Sabbath and food, which are prominent in the
Gospels, are two of the three issues which figure in Paul's letters. In Rom.
1 4 , for example, we see clearly that neither the Roman Christians nor Paul
had a tradition from Jesus which clarified the proper stance towards the
law on these points. Thus we learn a negative with virtually complete
certainty: Jesus did not explicidy oppose these parts of the law, nor did he
'abrogate' the law in general. No study of the synoptic conflict pericopes
can ever establish their 'authenticity' if that is taken to involve 'proving'
Jesus' explicit opposition to the law. The great fact of Christian behaviour
proves otherwise. Opposition to Sabbath, food and purity do not belong
to the bedrock of the tradition.
I have several times given various lists of things that are certain and
those which are less so. Afinallist entails repetition, but it may nevertheless
be helpful.

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CONCLUSION

I. Certain or virtually certain:

1. Jesus shared the world-view that I have called 'Jewish restoration
eschatology'. The key facts are his start under John the Baptist, the call of
the twelve, his expectation of a new (or at least renewed) temple, and the
eschatological setting of the work of the aposdes (Gal. 1.2; Rom. 1 1 . 1 1 - 1 3 ,
25-32; 15.15-19).
2. He preached the kingdom of God.
3. He promised the kingdom to the wicked.
4. He did not explicidy oppose the law, particularly not laws relating to
Sabbath and food.
5. Neither he nor his disciples thought that the kingdom would be
established by force of arms. They looked for an eschatological miracle.
II. Highly probable:
1. The kingdom which he expected would have some analogies with
this world: leaders, the twelve tribes, a functioning temple.
2. Jesus' disciples thought of him as 'king', and he accepted the role,
either implicidy or explicidy.
III. Probable:
1. He thought that the wicked who accepted his message would share
in the kingdom even though they did not do the things customary in
Judaism for the atonement of sin.
2. He did not emphasize the national character ofthe kingdom, including
judgment by groups and a call for mass repentance, because that had been
the task ofJohn the Baptist, whose work he accepted
3. Jesus spoke about the kingdom in different contexts, and he did not
always use the word with precisely the same meaning.
IV. Possible:
1. He may have spoken about the kingdom in the visionary manner of
the 'little apocalypse' (Mark 1 3 and parr.), or as a present reality into which
individuals enter one by one - or both.
V. Conceivable:
1. He may have thought that the kingdom, in all its power and might,
was present in his words and deeds.
2. He may have given his own death martyrological significance.
3. He may have identified himself with a cosmic Son of man and
conceived his attaining kingship in that way.
VI. Incredible:
1. He was one of the rare Jews of his day who believed in love, mercy,
grace, repentance and the forgiveness of sin.

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327

2. Jews in general, and Pharisees in particular, would kill people who

believed in such things.
3. As a result of his work, Jewish confidence in election was 'shaken to
pieces', Judaism was 'shaken to its foundations', and Judaism as a religion
was destroyed.
10

Meaning
Some readers will jusdy wonder how the Jesus who has been described
here is relevant to Christian faith and practice. That is a theological
problem into which I am not going to venture, at least not here. If my
portrayal ofJesus be found convincing, there will be plenty of time to sort
out its meaning for contemporary Christianity. Christianity has received
a lot of blows in its history - the worst one was that the end did not come
in the first generation - and has survived. The discovery thatjesus was a
visionary who was mistaken about the immediately future course of events
has been made before. One immediately thinks of Albert Schweitzer's
Jesus.
11

Mine differs from his. His Jesus was principally the one of Matt. 1 0 : he
expected the end, the end would be a cosmic cataclysm, and suffering
must precede it. Schweitzer reasoned like a historian: there must be
something which explains the sequence of events. His portrait of Jesus did
that in a way that New Testament scholarship has been reluctant to admit.
I think that mine does too. The description offered here has an additional
advantage: it is based on an analysis of the evidence which can be separated
from the theory that there must be a connecting link from one event to
another. Both proposals, however, raise the question of what Jesus really
meant; and it will be helpful, in evaluating the view advanced here, to recall
the objections to Schweitzer and to compare our procedures.
Schweitzer was argued against principally in two ways: exegesis and
true meaning. Dodd examined the sayings material, particularly the verbs
'is near' and 'has come' (Mark 1 . 1 5 ; Matt. 12.28), and concluded that
Jesus had never actually said 'the kingdom is an imminent future reality',
but had said that 'the kingdom is here'. Thus he took 'realized eschatology'
to be bedrock. Dodd had a second line of attack. He granted thatjesus
spoke in the terms of apocalyptic eschatology, but proposed that he had
not really meant that one age would succeed another, but rather employed
the language to describe a higher reality: the language sounds temporal
and horizontal, but in fact it must be understood as spiritual and vertical.
12

13

Bultmann held thatjesus had said and thought that the kingdom would

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CONCLUSION

come as a future event, but that the words have another, 'true' meaning:
the kingdom is always future and always determines the present. He
accepted Schweitzer's Jesus, but proposed for him a different significance
and meaning.
How would the present proposal fare were it to be attacked in these two
ways? T o respond to this, I shall have to lay out Schweitzer's proposal.
He began with the assumption that there was a well-formulated and
universally held system ofJewish eschatology, one which included, among
other things, a cosmic Son of man and the requirement of sufferings
before the end. He attributed to Jesus this eschatological dogma (p. 350),
and then showed that the dogma makes sense of a series of passages:
1. The parables about sowing and harvesting: the end will come at
14

15

harvest time; John the Baptist sowed the seed which grows of itself (pp.
355-7).
2. The Mission Charge in Matthew 1 0 : the passage is entirely authentic
and must go at this spot chronologically. It shows thatjesus sent out the
twelve expecting them to suffer, and that he expected the Son of man to
come before they completed going to all the cities of Israel (pp. 358-64).
3. The Return of the Disciples and Jesus' decision to escape the crowds
(Mark 6-3of., 45): Jesus' expectation was not fulfilled, and he withdrew,
apparendy to consider his next move (p. 364).
4. The Predictions of the Passion (Mark 8 . 3 1 - 3 3 and elsewhere): Jesus
decided to suffer himself and thus force the eschaton (pp. 370, 3 8 7 - 9 ) .
5. The Transfiguration (Mark 9.2-8): Jesus' identity as Son of man and
Messiah was revealed to the three leading disciples (pp. 3 8 2 - 6 ) .
6. The Confession at Caesarea Philippi (Mark 8.27-30): the secret is
revealed to the other disciples (pp. 3 8 6 f ) .
7. The Betrayal (Mark 1 4 . 1 of): Judas reveals the secret ofJesus' selfclaim to the chief priests (pp. 393, 396).
8. The High Priest's Question (Mark 1 4 . 6 1 ) : the high priest was in
possession of the secret, and this led to Jesus' condemnation (p. 397).
As has been clear throughout this work, I think that Schweitzer was
right to look for an 'inner connection' whichtiesJesus' activity to his death
and links his own expectation to that of his followers. Further, it is entirely
reasonable to seek the inner connection in Jewish eschatology. The
particular eschatology which Schweitzer posited did not, we now know,
exist as a set system, and perhaps not at all. But here I wish principally
to remark on the pillar passages in Schweitzer's theory. Few of them have
much to be said on their behalf apart from the eschatological dogma which
Schweitzer thought up. The predictions of the suffering of the disciples
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329

and of Jesus' own martyrdom are usually, and I think correcdy, taken as
'prophecies' after the events. The Confession at Caesarea Philippi is often
doubted on the same ground. Doubts about the historicity of the trial, and
especially about the high priest's question, were oudined in ch. 1 1 . In
short, the passages which are foundational in Schweitzer's theory are,
apart from the theory, dubious. It has generally appeared to scholars, as it
does to me, that Schweitzer's theory was imposed on the texts and does
not arise from them naturally.
I think that the same objections cannot be brought against my view. The
foundational passages are not subject to the same degree of doubt, and
the essential ones are indisputable. It is really true, for example, thatjesus
was executed by the Romans and that the disciples were not, either then
or for the next thirty years or so. From this the conclusion seems inescapable
that no one thought of Jesus as an insurgent. A comparison of Jesus'
followers - their number and lack of armour - with the temple and its
guards, let alone the Roman troops, would show immediately thatjesus
and his group could not take the temple, and certainly not destroy it so
that not one stone was left on another. There were thousands of guards,
a vast number of priests and Levites, and the stones are enormous. One
has been calculated to weigh 80 tons. No one could think that the wandering
charismatic posed an actual threat to the Jewish government (centred
around the high priest), and certainly not to the Roman Empire. y<tfJesus
talked about a kingdom. It must then follow that he talked about another
kind of kingdom, not one that depended on force of arms.
17

Up to this point, I think, everyone must agree. This is the sort of general
characterization of Jesus which I regard as certain. Hereafter disagreements
can start. Some will insist thatjesus looked for an inner, spiritual kingdom
existing within the normal world, entered by individuals who undertake to
live by the Golden Rule. Others will still prefer Schweitzer's cosmic
cataclysm. And so forth. It is impossible, however, to suppose that he did
not really mean 'kingdom' when he used the term. If he meant it only
symbolically (it represents the call to submit oneself to God), then we
would have to conclude that he completely deceived his disciples, who
continued to expect a kingdom. The view thatjesus was entirely deceptive
and misled his disciples into false hopes, while spinning parables which
can be unravelled only by twentieth-century literary analysis, must be
rejected.
The general framework of Jesus' career, restoration eschatology, also
rests on more or less undisputed facts. Virtually no one now doubts that
Jesus got his start under John the Baptist, and Paul's letters prove that the

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330

movement which succeeded him was carrying out the work suitable to the
eschatological period: first the winning of Israel, and then of the Gentiles
(to the Jew first, and also to the Greek: Rom. 1 . 1 6 and elsewhere; the
scheme is reversed in Rom. 1 1 , but that is Paul's own contribution). T o
pull Jesus entirely out of this framework would be an act of historical
violence.
Jesus, of course, made his own particular contributions to Jewish
restoration eschatology. I have repeatedly discussed these, and I classify
none of them as more than 'highly probable'. Here, too, debate can be
joined.
Thus I propose that the fundamental elements of my portrayal, unlike
Schweitzer's, can stand entirely on their own, apart from my particular
reconstruction. Once seen as established, they point inescapably to the
description of Jesus as connected with hope for the restoration of Israel.
This general depiction is not imposed on the texts, but arises naturally
from them.
What can be challenged, of course, is the meaning. One can grant that
Jesus said the things which I propose he said, that he did the things which
I propose he did, and that the early Christians held the views which I have
attributed to them, but still deny that the overall portrait is true. This will
be done - in fact has already been done - by arguing that the words, deeds
and other facts do not mean what I propose. They are not to be taken, as
I have taken them, at face value. Rather, they mean something else.
Perhaps in the temple scene Jesus meant to offer a symbol in favour of a
non-sacrificial and purely inward worship of God; perhaps the prediction
of the destruction of the temple was only a figurative way of saying that
the old religion would be destroyed and would be succeeded by 'a new
way of religion and a new community to embody it'. Perhaps in going to
the sinners he meant that even the most desolate and lost human souls
could make peace with God if they realized that they had no merit but
must accept grace as a gift. Perhaps he prohibited divorce to show the
folly of striving to achieve the law, or perhaps the requirement is only a
cipher for the absoluteness of God's claim. Perhaps, in short, Jesus
intended to establish modern liberal Protestantism.
It is amazing that so many New Testament scholars write books about
Jesus in which they discover that he agrees with their own version of
Christianity. After Schweitzer's devastating expose ofprevious scholarship
on just this point, one would think that people would be more sensitive to
the issue. But it is seldom raised. We can best get at it by considering the
18

19

20

21

22

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331

view, to which I have several times referred, thatjesus died 'for the truth
of the gospel'.
The 'gospel' for which he died varies from author to author. We can
distinguish broad major groups. A large number think that he died because
he believed that God mercifully saves sinners. Jesus believed in grace, he
opposed the Pharisees for being legalistic and believing in merit and
supererogation, and this conflict was a major cause of his execution.
Some find 'the gospel' in another part of the faith formula of Rom.
3 . 2 1 - 2 6 : he died as a sacrifice 'for many', in the belief that life comes only
through suffering and death.
A third group have Jesus die for his own christology, either because of
his claim to special status (e.g. Messiah), or more generally because he set
himself at least by implication above Moses, or because he saw himself as
the Suffering Servant.
Many have held, in short, that he died for the Doctrine of Justification
by Grace alone without Works of Law, or for the Doctrine of the
Atonement, or for some form of a Doctrine of the Person of Christ. It is
possible to combine some or all of these variants of'the gospel'. Jeremias,
for example, proposed all three, while Dodd favoured the second and
third.
Of-these lines, the first should be simply dismissed. I spent appreciable
space criticizing the view that Jesus was killed because he believed in
grace. That one is manufactured out of whole cloth, but it seems to be the
most common. It seems to arise from the following sequence: first
Christianity is defined as consisting of a set of religious abstractions (rather
than as a community with its own history or as one which is faithful to
credal formulations); then those abstractions are denied to its parent; then
this supposed theological disagreement is retrojected into the life ofJesus
and made the pivot on which the story turns. The view thatjesus died
for grace thus ends with sheer invention about what would constitute an
issue in first-centuryJudaism. It is, therefore, not surprising that Kasemann
can combine it with the view thatjesus opposed the entirety of the ancient
world-view. This line is basically opposed to seeing Jesus as a firstcentury Jew, who thought like others, spoke their language, was concerned
about things which concerned them, and got into trouble over first-century
issues. It is thus bad history. Though I am no theologian I suspect that
it is bad theology.
23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

The second view, that Jesus intended by his death to accomplish his
mission, raises as a preliminary question what he thought of his death once
he knew that it was inevitable. Here I regard one of the answers as

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'conceivable', and perhaps it should be moved up to 'possible'. That is the

view that Jesus, when he knew that he was going to die, saw his death as
that of a martyr who would be vindicated. The question is, to put it mildly,
complicated; and I can best refer the reader to two admirable treatments
by C . K . Barrett, who has, I think, done the best job possible in sorting
most of it out. My own trial runs at re-examining the evidence do not
encourage me to think that publishing them will bring any improvement
in understanding. More briefly, I can embrace Moule's view: 'Such
evidence as we have suggests thatjesus . . . did not seek death; he did not
go up to Jerusalem in order to die; but he did pursue, with inflexible
devotion, a way of truth that inevitably led him to death, and he did not
seek to escape.' One may add the natural conclusion that he saw himself
as dying in a good cause, as the agent of God, and thus thought that God
would save the cause. Mark 1 4 . 2 5 (he would drink the wine again in the
kingdom) may show that he thought that God would restore him at the
time of the kingdom, which is a reasonable view for one who believes in
bodily resurrection. It could also mean, however, that even that late he
hoped for the divine intervention which would establish the kingdom
before he died.
31

32

Some wish to press further and propose that Jesus intended to die,
either because of the general theological principle that life requires death;
or because he saw death imposed upon him by the love of God 'which
seeks out the sinner', though without defining to himself how that love
would use his death; or, most fully, because he conceived in advance the
doctrine of the atonement. In its fullest form, that of Jeremias, this last
variant of the view requires the conflation of an extraordinary number of
passages, the most prominent being the Predictions of the Passion, Mark
10.45 ( g i his life as a ransom for many), and Mark 14.24 ('poured out
for many'). Aspects ofJeremias's view, for example thatjesus identified
himself with the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, have been disproved, but
there are general objections to the whole line of thought that has Jesus
intending to die for others, rather than just accepting his death and trusting
that God would redeem the situation and vindicate him.
33

34

35

t 0

y e

36

37

The first and most obvious objection is that all the sayings which
attribute to Jesus the will to die correspond so closely with what happened,
and with early Christian doctrine, that the case for their creation by the
early church is overwhelmingly strong. The criterion of dissimilarity is by
no means infallible, but here it must come into play. One might as well
attribute to Jesus the doctrine of the Trinity or of the Incarnation.
Further, a historian must be uncomfortable with an explanation which

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333

leaves other actors in the drama out of account. When pushed to its limit,
this view means thatjesus determined in his own mind to be killed and to
have his death understood as sacrificial for others, and it must then imply
that he pulled this off by provoking the authorities. It is not historically
impossible thatjesus was weird, and I realize that my own interpretation
of his views may make twentieth-century people look at him askance. But
the view that he plotted his own redemptive death makes him strange in
any century and thrusts the entire drama into his peculiar inner psyche.
The other things that we know about him make him a reasonable firstcentury visionary. We should be guided by them.
The third view, thatjesus died for his self-claim, is a serious historical
possibility. I regard it, in fact, as true in part. There is abundant evidence
pointing to self-assertion, which was probably considered by others to be
egoism and impiety. These words show why this view can respond to the
interests of a historian: it attributes to Jesus a view which would be offensive
to others. The first two do not. Thefirstposition simply has him espouse
things about as controversial as motherhood, while the second attributes
to him a theology which others would find incomprehensible, but destruc
tive of nothing but himself.
But self-claim, to repeat, is different. It places him in the now familiar
world also inhabited by Judas, Theudas and the Egyptian. The last two,
to be sure, followed him chronologically, but they show that leaders who
favoured God, the poor and Israel could arise and that they would be
killed. They were not killed simply for their self-claim, simply for saying
'I know a secret about God and I accept followers even though they may
not be scrupulous about the law, provided only that they are sufficiendy
loyal to me.' They had to do something to be killed, but so did Jesus. Selfclaim is, however, a factor in Jesus' death, although we cannot be absolutely
sure that the self-claim was explicit. It was at least implicit.
38

39

40

Thus scholars who propose thatjesus died for the truth of'the gospel',
or to establish their version of Christianity, may or may not be on the right
track. Christianity, in assigning Jesus a high role, was apparendy being
true to him. As long as we stay just with this point, and do not press
towards further christological development (atoning death) or the religious
abstractions of Reformation rhetoric (justification by faith), we are on safe
historical ground.
The relationships between history and theology are very complex, and
I shall make no poor effort to delve into a vast and difficult subject here. I
have been engaged for some years in the effort to free history and exegesis
from the control of theology; that is, from being obligated to come to

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CONCLUSION

certain conclusions which are pre-determined by theological commitment,

and one sees this effort being continued here. This is a very simple task,
but I regard it as essential for a more complex enterprise. Iaim to be only
a historian and an exegete. But, since I have criticized so many for having
their 'history' and 'exegesis' dictated by theology, the reader may well
wonder how well 'my' Jesus squares with my theological heritage. I can
explain simply: I am a liberal, modern, secularized Protestant, brought up
in a church dominated by low christology and the social gospel. I am proud
of the things that that religious tradition stands for. I am not bold enough,
however, to suppose thatjesus came to establish it, or that he died for the
sake of its principles.

The connecting link

There is one vital point, however, at which the results of this study
correspond to my own expectations. We went in search of a thread which
connects Jesus' own intention, his death and the rise of the movement.
We found first a general context which embraces both Jesus and the
movement which succeeded him: hope for the restoration of Israel.
Second, we found a specific chain of conceptions and events which allows
us to understand historically how things came about. Jesus claimed that
the end was at hand, that God was about to establish his kingdom, that
those who responded to him would be included, and (at least by implication)
that he would reign. In pointing to the change of eras, he made a symbolic
gesture by overturning tables in the temple area. This is the crucial act
which led to his execution, though there were contributing causes.
His disciples, after the death and resurrection, continued to expect the
restoration of Israel and the inauguration of the new age, and they continued
to see Jesus as occupying first place in the kingdom. Also, as we saw in ch.
8, they continued to look for an otherworldly kingdom which would be
established by an eschatological miracle, although its locale may have
shifted from this world to the heavenly one. The person of Jesus himself
was also progressively interpreted: he was no longer seen just as 'Messiah'
or 'Viceroy', but as Lord. Some who were attracted to the movement began
to win Gentiles to it. The work of the early aposdes, which is so well
reflected in Paul's letters, fits entirely into known expectations about the
restoration of Israel.
Thus I think that the connecting links are really there. Further, they
seem so obvious that it is hard to understand why so many have thought
that there is no causal chain from Jesus' own view of his mission and the

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335

kingdom to his death and then to the church. I must realize, however, that
there is a strong tradition of denying causal connections and that some
will think that it is I who have spun the thread which stitches together the
pieces. Historians should be self-suspecting. I have tried to be so, but I
cannot see that there is any other construction which can be given to the
most obvious facts aboutJesus, his career and the events which immediately
followed it.

The setting in Judaism:

the New Testament and Jewish restoration eschatology

We have also situated Jesus believably in first-century Judaism. Many who

have made this effort have accomplished the task by creating strange myths
about Judaism. Some of these myths are supported by quoting passages
from the New Testament itself. It is now often said that we must read the
New Testament as a source for first-century Judaism, and that is true;
but we must exercise the normal caution of historians.
I shall return to statements in the New Testament which should not be
taken as evidence for first-century Judaism, but first I shall dwell on 'Jewish
restoration eschatology', which is evidenced both from the New Testament
and from non-Christian Jewish literature. A review of chs. 1-3 will show
that the same main themes - the redemption of Israel (whether politically
or in a new world), a new or renewed temple, repentance, judgment,
admission of the Gentiles - crop up in numerous places in Jewish literature
and in the New Testament. All the main themes do not always appear
together. When some are absent they may be presupposed or implied, they
may be denied explicidy or implicidy, or they may have been displaced by
something else. In Paul, for example, we see first and foremost the
admission of the Gentiles (all his extant letters except Philemon) and the
interconnection between Jewish salvation and Gentile salvation (Rom. 1 1 ) .
Repentance plays a small role, because (I think) it has been displaced by
death to sin. The theme of the new temple, as in 1 QS, has been transformed
and the language transferred to the people of God. It is noteworthy that
this happens in two groups which are cut off from the actual temple. The
presence of the main elements of Jewish restoration eschatology in the
Gospels has been the subject of most of the book.
41

Thus the existence of 'Jewish restoration eschatology' is supported by

the New Testament, and Jesus fits believably into that world-view.
The hope for restoration presupposes God's loyalty to the covenant
with Israel and, in most of the expressions of it which are still available,
the expectation that Israel would show its loyalty to God by obeying his

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CONCLUSION

law. That is, the theology includes what I have elsewhere called 'covenantal
nomism', but extends to embrace a further element: restoration. These
three component parts are found very widely injewish literature: chronolo
gically from Ben Sira to the Rabbinic material (where, however, future
expectation is expressed relatively seldom, though it is prominent in the
liturgy), and geographically from Alexandria around the Mediterranean
to Asia Minor. We may again refer most readily to Paul. He reflects the
common view that God is faithful to his covenant promises in Rom. 9.4;
1 1 . 2 9 ; th hope for the redemption of Israel is implied throughout Rom.
1 1 in particular and is precisely enunciated in 1 1 . 2 6 . Despite his polemic
against the law (rather, against the imposition of parts of it on the Gentiles),
we see the common expectation that loyalty to God includes obeying his
law: Gal. 5.14; I Cor. 7 . 1 9 ; Rom. 1 3 . 8 - 1 0 . The common expectation that
Jews obey the law is clear in Rom. 9 . 3 0 - 1 0 . 3 . In none of this do I intend
to discus Paul's particular views and characteristic theology, but only the
reflection of common opinion.
We can likewise see that Jesus accepted 'covenantal nomism'. His
mission was to Israel in the name of the God of Israel. He thus evidendy
accepted his people's special status, that is, the election and the covenant.
I think that it is equally clear that he accepted obedience to the law as the
norm. He did not stress or dwell on the 'nomism' part of the scheme. He
was not a legal teacher, discussing how to obey the law, how to know when
one has satisfactorily obeyed it, and the like. The one law which he
discussed concretely is the divorce code, which he short-cut by prohibiting
divorce. I doubt the reported debates about the fine points of Sabbath
observance. But if he did engage in such debates, it simply proves the
present case. T o debate details of Sabbath observance presupposes a
general acceptance of the law. The final proof that he accepted the law is
the fact that there is only one instance in which following him required
transgression of it (Matt. 8.2 if. and par.). If he had truly opposed the law,
we would know it from the history of early Christianity. His eschatological
expectation did lead him to think that the Mosaic law was neither absolute
nor final. In the new age which was about to dawn, God would go beyond
the law: he would admit the wicked. But, in general, it appears thatjesus
lived a life of normal obedience.
42

I continue to regard 'covenantal nomism' as the common denominator

which underlay all sorts and varieties of Judaism. Few spent their time
proclaiming those two points as a system. Some were principally engaged
in discussing the hows and whys of obedience - while praying in the
synagogues for God to honour his covenantal promises. Some spent their

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337

lives piously conducting the work necessary for sacrifices - sacrifices which
are required in the law and which were regarded as a necessary part of
Israel's responsibility under the covenant. Some fixed on God's promises
and wrote and talked about how they would be kept - that is, they looked
for the redemption of Israel. Jesus fits here. Since he did not spend his
time discussing the covenant historically (why God chose Israel, why he
brought them out of Egypt, and the like), nor discussing the fine points of
obedience, but rather preparing his followers and hearers for the coming
redemption, I have managed to write virtually an entire book without the
phrase 'covenantal nomism'. Now at last it comes in, but only to show in
one more way thatjesus fits into his milieu.
I now return to the ways in which the New Testament should not be
used in describing the Judaism of Jesus' day. Many passages in the New
Testament, followed by many New Testament scholars, make it appear
thatjesus fits into his context by contrast rather than by agreement: he is
to be understood as the antithesis of Judaism, or of its supposedly dominant
form, Pharisaism. I recall from ch. 1 0 the statements to the effect that
Jesus 'destroyed Pharisaism', 'put an end to Judaism', or 'shattered the
law'. T o the slight degree that these are intended as historical statements,
they could only mean that he was opposed to Pharisaism, Judaism or the
law. Our present task is not to appeal once more for realistic and scholarly
evaluations, but to point out the character of the New Testament passages
which are called in support of such views. They are polemical.
43

We must, to understand them, pay attention to the standard themes of

polemic and what they mean. They ordinarily indicate disagreement and
are not truly descriptive. I offer some examples.
i. Paul says that Peter acted hypocritically and did not preserve the truth
of the gospel (Gal. 2 . i 3 f ) . We should not allow this obviously polemical
passage to persuade us that Peter was untrue to the gospel and hypocritical.
Let us reverse the situation in Antioch. Let us suppose that Peter first
would eat only with Jews and then, when Paul sent a message, changed
and began to eat with Gentiles. Paul would not have called him a hypocrite,
but would have applauded his aligning his behaviour with the gospel.
James might then have called him a hypocrite for letting the side down
and laying the movement open to the charge of not being upright. If he
professed belief in the God of Israel, why not also believe in the importance
of the separation of the elect? Why damage his credentials among Jews
who might be won?
So, what was Peter really? He was a man torn between two commitments.
We understand nothing about him by calling him a hypocrite. We learn

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something about him and the movement by seeing the conflict in which
he was caught - and which also had Paul in its vice. It is Paul who
enunciated the principle of living like a Jew to win Jews and living like a
Gentile to win Gentiles (I Cor. 9.2of). T o criticize Peter because he could
not do both simultaneously shows that he did not, in the heat of the
moment, put himself in the shoes of the fisherman.
2. Along the same lines, we should suppose that the false brethren (Gal.
2.4) also acted on principle, that those who preached circumcision had
motives other than escaping persecution (Gal. 6 . 1 2 ) , and that nobody
preached Christ while Paul was in prison simply to harass him (Phil. 1 . 1 5 ) .
Paul repeatedly attributes bad motives to others. He was engaged in
polemic, and polemic usually involves questioning the other's hidden
motives. It tells us nothing about what the intentions of the others were
from their point of view. The historian must do the best he can to
reconstruct them, and that should not involve credulously repeating
polemic.
3. Two or three times I have referred to charges that the priests served
in the temple when impure because of contact with menstrual blood. We
find the charge in the Damascus Document and in the Psalms of Solomon,
and it is reflected in Rabbinic literature. What does it mean? If such a
charge against the priests were attributed to Jesus, I do not doubt that
many New Testament scholars would report it as a fact that the priests
regularly had intercourse while their wives were menstruating. But the
accusation must rest on disagreement with regard to legal interpretation.
Obviously various pious groups wanted to extend the period during which
a woman is considered impure. The priests followed biblical law. It is not
the case that the pious who made the accusations had private knowledge
about the priests' habits in their bedrooms.
I have just said that New Testament scholars are often credulous about
statements in the New Testament. We have seen this in different contexts,
including many which are not polemical. It is really true, some hold, that
Jesus looked around sharply and that his bowels were moved with
compassion. Naturally the same credulity extends to polemics, and thus
Matt. 23.23 can become a flat statement of fact which describes Pharisees:
they were interested only in trivia and neglected matters of religious
substance. Not surprisingly, polemical statements composed by redactors
are taken as factual: it is really true that the parable of Luke 1 8 . 1 0 - 1 4 was
told against 'some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and
despised others' (18.9), and thus we learn what Pharisees were like
(Pharisees: 1 8 . i o ) . Similarly many would have us believe that scribes
44

45

46

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339

and Pharisees really did grumble against Jesus for receiving sinners (Luke
1 5 . i f . The Gospels also contain editorial remarks about the private
motives which animated those who wanted Jesus executed: they wanted
to entrap him (Mark 1 2 . 1 3 ) ; in his heart Jesus knew their hypocrisy ( 1 2 . 1 5 ) .
With regard to the editorial comments, many of which have to do with
motive, it must be realized that the evangelists did not know and could not
know. But none of these examples of polemic can be taken as descriptive.
What the historian should do in dealing with motive is to make reasonable
assumptions. Motives are usually mixed. People in charge generally think
that they are right and should be in charge. They want, of course, their
own comfort and authority. But we should not assign to whole groups of
people in the ancient world bad motives: The priests intended to oppress
and rob the poor; they were usurpers of power; they were not truly devoted
to serving God. The Pharisees were motivated by belief in merit and
despite of others; they sought the chief place and praise from men; they
were avaricious and vain. More reasonable assumptions are that the priests
saw their work in the temple as true service of God and that the
Pharisees genuinely thought that they knew how to interpret the Scripture.
Presumably they also all wanted to come out on top, and they would have
taken reasonable action to ensure that.
When we examine more closely the polemic against the Pharisees, we
see that a lot of it has to do with motive. They do this or that 'in order to
make a show'. 1 do not think thatjesus said that, but whether he did or
not, it tells us - and can in the nature of the case tell us - nothing about
their actual motives.
The setting of Jesus' work within Judaism, therefore, is not to be
understood as one of polar opposition between a man of good will and
men of bad intent. It is not reasonable historical explanation to say that
Jesus believed in a whole list of non-controversial and pleasant abstractions
(love, mercy and grace) and that his opponents denied them. It is not
reasonable to say that he sought the will of God and that they intended
only to play with Scripture to turn it to their own advantage. Let us give
them all equally good motives - remembering that motives are usually
mixed - and then find a setting and reasonable cause of conflict.
We have, I think, done this. Jesus does not 'fit' into Judaism as its moral
and spiritual antithesis (as some polemical passages have led some to
think). There was, rather, a firm context of agreement, and within
that context there was conflict. Many people were dissatisfied with the
accommodation with Rome, and this dissatisfaction - doubdess mixed
with other frustrations - led to what Theissen has apdy called 'renewal
47

48

49

50

51

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340
52

movements'. These took various forms, and there is no single and unified
'type', but Jesus fits into this general context. He differed from others in
ways that I have repeatedly emphasized, in part because, it seems, he relied
on the work of his great predecessor, John the Baptist. John's proclamation
of repentance in view of impending judgment was partly successful. Many
repented, and hopes for the kingdom were aroused. But the kingdom did
not come. Jesus pushed ahead by initiating the gospel that the wicked
would be included in the kingdom, a message which was accompanied by
healings and exorcisms. The great symbolic acts of his life show that he
stayed within the general framework of Jewish restoration eschatology,
though they also show his self-claim and his offence to normal Jewish
piety: he called 'twelve' (with himself as their head); he dramatically
pointed to the coming of a new or renewed temple; and perhaps he rode
into Jerusalem on an ass. Finally, he symbolized the coming kingdom in a
banquet shared with the 'twelve'.
He went to his death. His followers, by carrying through the logic of his
own position in a transformed situation, created a movement which would
grow and continue to alter in ways unforeseeable in Jesus' own time, but
in progressive steps, each one explicable in its own historical context.

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5

'Die Symbolhandlungenjesu als eschatologische Erfiillungszeichen', ibid.,

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353

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phia 1962).
2

NOTES

INTRODUCTION
The Problem
1. 'Relationship to his contemporaries in Judaism' is the correct way to phrase the
matter, but I shall sometimes use the abbreviation Jesus and Judaism'. The short
phrase is not intended to cast doubt on the fact thatjesus was thoroughly Jewish.
2. These questions have lately received more attention than they did for some
decades after the rise of form criticism. They are explicitly posed, for example, by C.
K. Barrett in Jesus and the Gospel Tradition, 1967.
3. Paul Winter, On the Trial ofjesus, 1 9 6 1 ; rev. ed. (ed. T. A. Burkill and G. Vermes),
1974. Page numbers refer to the revised edition.
4. See, for example, Ernst Bammel (ed.), The Trial ofjesus: Cambridge Studies in
Honour of C. F. D. Moule, 1970; D. Catchpole, The Trial ofjesus, 1 9 7 1 .
5. Martin Hengel, Nachfolge und Charisma, 1968; E T The Charismatic Leader and his
Followers, 1 9 8 1 .
6. Joachim Jeremias, New Testament Theology I: The Proclamation ofjesus, E T 1 9 7 1 .
7. Eduard Schweizer, Jesus, E T 1 9 7 1 , esp. pp. 1 3 - 5 1 .
8. C. H. Dodd, The Founder of Christianity, 1970.
9. G. Vermes, Jesus the Jew, 1973.
10. J . Bowker, Jesus and the Pharisees, 1973.
1 1 . B. F. Meyer, The Aims ofjesus, 1979.
1 2 . A. E. Harvey, Jesus andthe Constraints of History, 1982.
1 3 . See, for example, Dodd, Founder, p. 36.
14. On the shift towards confidence thatJesus' ministry can be accurately described,
see also Gustaf Aulen, Jesus in Contemporary Historical Research, E T 1976, pp. viii, 3;
H. Schiirmann, 'Zur aktuellen Situation der Leben-Jesu-Forschung', Geist undLeben
46, 1973, PP- 3 0 0 - 1 0 , here p. 300.
1 5 . On the problem see recently W. G. Kummel, Theology ofthe New Testament, E T
1974, pp. 24-7; L . Keck,y4 Future'fortheHistoricalJesus, 1 9 7 1 ; H. Zahrnt, The Historical
Jesus, E T 1963, chs. 1 - 7 , esp. pp. 1 4 , 1 0 9 .
16. E . Kasemann, T h e Problem of the Historial Jesus' (1953), Essays on New
Testament Themes, E T 1964, pp. 1 5 - 4 7 . Cf. Keck (Future, p. 20) on the motive for the
new quest. Note James M. Robinson's chapter on the theological legitimacy of a quest
for the historical Jesus \nA New Quest of the HistoricalJesus, 1959, ch. 4. The question
of 'legitimacy' continues to be raised by at least some who wish to seek historical
information. Note J . Roloff s defence of the 'legitimacy' of finding historical material
in the Gospels: Das Kerygma und der irdischeJesus, 1969, e.g. p. 74.
17. E . Kasemann, 'Blind Alleys in the "Jesus of History" Controversy', New
Testament Questions of Today, E T 1969, pp. 2 3 - 6 5 .

356

NOTES TO PAGES

2-g

1 8 . Ibid., pp. 5 1 , 5 6 .
19. Ibid., p. 5 1 : 'The hate of the Jewish leaders goes back to Jesus' attitude to the
Law and to his understanding of grace and the fellowship with sinners which derives
from it. . . .'
20. See for example the remarks on Bornkamm, below, p. 29.
2 1 . Cadbury argued against attributing to Jesus a programme, but for different
reasons. His position is discussed below.
2 2 . E.g. by Bousset, whose view is described in the next section.
2 3 . On the depiction of the Judaism of Jesus' day as a debasement of the older
Israelite religion, see E. P. Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism, 1 9 7 7 , pp. 4i9f.; K.
Koch, The Rediscovery of Apocalyptic, E T 1 9 7 2 , p. 3 7 .
24. See e.g. J . Klausner, From Jesus to Paul, E T 1 9 4 3 , pp. 4, 4 4 1 , 5i4f., 5 8 2 ; cf. H.
Conzelmann, 'Current Problems in Pauline Research', Interpr 22, 1 9 6 8 , p. 1 7 2 .
2 5 . J . Klausner, Jesus of Nazareth. His Times, His Life and His Teaching, E T 1 9 2 5 , p.
369-

26. A good example is G. B. Caird, Jesus and the Jewish Nation, 1 9 6 5 .

27. Cf. Kummel, Theology, p. 26.
Method of proceeding
1. The almost exclusive concentration on Jesus as a teacher will be familiar to most
readers. For two recent examples, see Bernard Brandon Scott, Jesus, Symbol-Maker for
the Kingdom, 1 9 8 3 (see esp. p. 1 5 3 ) ; James Breech, The Silence of Jesus. The Authentic
Voice of the Historical Man, 1 9 8 3 . Some exceptions to the rule will be discussed below.
2. See the works of Scott and Breech, just cited.
3. E. Fuchs, 'The Quest of the Historicaljesus' (1956), Studies of the Historical Jesus,
E T 1 9 6 4 , pp. 2if.
4. See Graham Stanton, Jesus of Nazareth in New Testament Preaching, S N T S M S
2 7 , 1 9 7 4 , pp. 1 3 7 - 5 2 ; cf. p. 1 7 5 .

5. M. Smith, Jesus the Magician, 1 9 7 8 , p. 1 7 .

6. Ibid., p. 5 .
7. Harvey, Constraints, pp. 5f.
8. Ibid., p. 6.
9. Smith, Magician, pp. 1 1 , 1 4 .
10. Scott, Symbol-Maker, Breech, Silence.
1 1 . Breech, Silence, p. 2 1 8 .
1 2 . Scott, Symbol-Maker, p. 1 1 . Scott, however, is aware of the problem. He
comments (pp. i65f.) that any interpretation must make sense of the execution. He
proposes that Jesus 'burlesques and pokes fun; his images are daring and at times
scandalously inappropriate . . . . The healing power of his images was what was
terrifying to his opponents and therefore they perceived him as demonic' (p. 166). We
can safely say that he does not, in fact, explain opposition and execution.
1 3 . See, for example, the comments on Eduard Schweizer, below, pp. 39f.
14. Morton Smith, Tannaitic Parallels to the Gospels, J B L M S 6, 1 9 5 1 , p. 1 3 6 . Cf.
further parallels to lines in the Lord's prayer cited by Smith on p. 1 3 7 .
1 5 . Harvey, Constraints, p. 7.
16. Harvey's list of facts is given on his p. 6, quoted just above. My list is given
immediately below. I do not regard conflict about the law as being on the same plane
of certainty as crucifixion by the Romans. See further below, ch. 9. Elsewhere in his
book, Harvey counts additional things as indisputable facts, such as the accusation that

NOTES TO PAGES

9-14

357

Jesus committed blasphemy. It is 'one of the most securely attested facts about him'
(p. 1 7 1 ) . Elsewhere, however, he shows that he knows that in fact we cannot be sure
of this charge. See pp. 3 if.
1 7 . See especially his ch. 4, e.g., pp. 6 7 , 7 1 - 7 , and ch. 5.
1 8 . Ernst Kasemann, 'The Problem of the Historical Jesus', p. 3 7 .
1 9 . I do not regard any items in the following as dubious, but some may. Those on
which the present interpretation hinges are discussed and justified in the chapters
which follow. There are other facts about Jesus about which I have no doubts (e.g. that
he had a brother named James) but which are not relevant to the present discussion.
20. The very fact that the execution was by the Romans seems to have been
determinative for several scholars, such as Winter and Brandon, whose views are
discussed below. N. A. Dahl argued that the starting point for the study of the life of
Jesus is his death, specifically his death as king of the Jews. See The Crucified Messiah
and Other Essays, 1 9 7 4 , pp. 1 0 - 3 6 , 6 8 , 7 2 - 4 .
2 1 . Also in favour of beginning with the temple controversy is R. Pesch, 'Der
Anspruch Jesu', Orientierung 3 5 , 1 9 7 1 .
2 2 . Robert Morgan, 'NonAngli sedAngeli: Some Anglican Reactions to German
Gospel Criticism', New Studies in Theology I (ed. Stephen Sykes and Derek Holmes),
1 9 8 0 , pp. 1 - 3 0 , here pp. 7, i4f. Cf. 'Giinther Bornkamm in England', Kirche. Festschrift
fur Giinther Bornkamm zum 7 5 . Geburtstag (ed. Dieter Luhrmann and Georg Strecker),
1980, pp. 4 9 1 - 5 0 6 , esp. p. 499.

2 3 . John Knox, Jesus, Lord and Christ, 1 9 5 8 , p. 1 1 5 . On Knox's position, see E. P.

Sanders, 'New Testament Studies Today', Colloquy on New Testament Studies (ed.
Bruce C. Corley), 1 9 8 3 , pp. 1 1 - 2 8 , here pp. 1 1 - 1 4 , 20.
24. 'From Rawlinson to Moule': see Morgan, 'NonAnglf, pp. i4f.
2 5 . Morgan, 'Giinther Bornkamm', pp. 5 0 0 - 2 .
26. On J . B. Lightfoot, see Morgan, 'NonAngW, p. 4.
27. See especially Gal. 5 . 1 ; 6 . 1 2 ; cf. I. Thess. 2 . 1 6 . See E. P. Sanders, Paul, the
Law, and the Jewish People, 1 9 8 3 , pp. 1 9 0 - 9 2 ; pp. 204f. n. 7 7 .
28. There is now available a rich and illuminating body of literature on the criteria
for assessing authenticity. I have found the following to be the most useful: M. D.
Hooker, 'Christology and Methodology', NTS 1 7 , 1 9 7 0 - 7 1 , pp. 4 8 0 - 7 ; 'On Using the
Wrong Tool', Theology]^, 1972,pp. 5 7 0 - 8 i ; R . S.Barbour, Traditio-Historical Criticism
of the Gospels (Studies in Creative Criticism 4), 1 9 7 2 ; F. G. Downing, The Church and
Jesus, S B T I I 1 0 , 1 9 6 8 , esp. ch. VI; D. G. A. Calvert, 'An Examination of the Criteria
for Distinguishing the Authentic Words of Jesus', NTS 1 8 , 1 9 7 1 - 7 2 , pp. 2 0 9 - 1 9 ;
David L. Mealand, 'The Dissimilarity Test', SJT31,1978,
pp. 4 1 - 5 0 .
29. The clearest statement of the position is by Hooker, 'Christology and Metho
dology', pp. 4 8 4 - 7 ; cf. Barbour, Traditio-Historical Criticism, p. 1 1 .
30. The word 'authenticity' is used as a convenient short term. An 'authentic' saying
is one which we have good reason to believe is as close to something thatjesus said as
we can hope for.
3 1 . So Hooker, 'Christology and Methodology', p. 4 8 5 .
3 2 . Cf. Downing, The Church and Jesus, pp. io8f.; Hooker, 'Christology and
Methodology', p. 480.
3 3 . Especially Rainer Riesner, Jesus als Lehrer. Eine Untersuchungzum Ursprungder
Evangelien-Uberlieferung, W U N T 2 7 , 1 9 8 1 . See Gerhardsson's review in TLZ 108,
1 9 8 3 , cols. 5 0 0 - 3 . While generally appreciative, Gerhardsson thinks that Riesner has
gone too far in affirming the reliability of the synoptic tradition.
3 4 . B. Gerhardsson, Memory and Manuscript: Oral Tradition and Written Transmission

358

NOTES TO PAGES 1 4 - 1 6

in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity, E T 1 9 6 1 , 1964. Note his nuanced and
convenient restatement in The Origins of the Gospel Traditions, E T 1 9 7 9 .
3 5 . In addition to Morton Smith's well-known review ('A Comparison of Early
Christianity and Early Rabbinic Traditions',^/, 8 2 , 1 9 6 3 , pp. 1 6 9 - 7 6 ) , see the more
sympathetic assessments by W. D. Davies (The Setting of the Sermon on theMount, 1964,
pp. 4 6 4 - 8 0 ) ; Downing (The Church and Jesus, pp. 1 0 5 - 9 ) , ^ E. P. Sanders (The
Tendencies of the Synoptic Tradition, 1969, pp. 2 9 4 - 6 ) .
36. B. Gerhardsson, Tradition and Transmission in Early Christianity, 1964.
3 7 . B. Gerhardsson, 'Der Weg der Evagelientradition', Das Evangelium und die
Evangelien. Vortrage vom Tubingen Symposium 1 9 8 2 (WUNT 28; ed. P. Stuhlmacher),
Tubingen 1 9 8 3 , pp. 7 9 - 1 0 2 .
3 8 . Ibid., pp. 80, 87.
3 9 . Ibid., p. 8 3 .
40. Ibid., p. 87.
4 1 . Ibid., pp. 87f.
42. Ibid., p. 9 3 . In this essay Gerhardsson still does not say how much of the material
he has in mind. On p. 93 he writes that the church needed 'Jesus-traditions' - with
neither an article nor a modifying adjective - in the same way as it needed scriptural
texts. On p. 1 0 , however, he writes of the sayings material (excluding the parables) that
its archaic character is best explained by the hypothesis that, from the time before
Easter, it was transmitted with precise wording and with little re-working.
4 3 . Gerhardsson's examples (ibid., p. 80) are I Cor. 1 1 . 2 3 - 2 5 ; Acts 2 0 . 3 5 ; I Cor.
a n

15.3-8.

44. Ibid., pp. 94f.

4 5 . Ibid., pp. 82, 8 3 , 89, 100, 1 0 2 .
46. Cf. Stanton, Jesus of Nazareth, esp. pp. 1 7 2 - 7 . Stanton is also dissatisfied with
form criticism's attribution of material to diverse settings, and he proposes that
historical remembrances about Jesus were included in missionary preaching. See also
the admirable treatment of this and other matters of synoptic research by E. Earle Ellis,
'Gospels Criticism. A Perspective on the State of the Art', Das Evangelium und die
Evangelien (n. 3 7 ) , pp. 2 7 - 5 4 .
47. Sanders, Tendencies. Of the supposed tendencies, the one which has remained
in use, despite numerous criticisms, is that of decreasing Semitism. See, for example,
Neil J . McEleney, 'Authenticating Criteria and Mark 7 : 1 - 2 3 ' , CBQ34, 1 9 7 2 , pp.
4 3 1 - 6 0 . On p. 4 3 7 he cites and agrees with my view of Semitisms (that they do not
help establish authenticity), but he uses them on pp. 4 3 8 - 4 0 .
48. This point is now frequently made. The most thorough presentation is Downing's in The Church and Jesus.
49. E.g. the present form of the passion predictions.
50. Cf. Downing, The Church and Jesus, pp. io8f.
5 1 . Cf. Gerhardsson, 'Der Weg der Evangelientradition', p. 98.
5 2 . Sanders, Tendencies, pp. 1 4 - 2 1 , i46f. n. 3 .
5 3 . The difficulties in using the sayings material are given in more detail at the
beginning of ch. 4. For other discussions of the limitations of form-criticism, see Erhart
Guttgemanns, Candid Questions concerning Gospel Form Criticism, E T 1 9 7 9 ; Werner
Kelber, The Oral and the Written Gospel, 1 9 8 3 , ch. 1 .
54. Thefirstformulation of the test, as far as I know, is R. Bultmann's in discussing
parables (Gleichnisse) and related materials: Die Geschichte der synoptischen Tradition,
1967, p. 2 2 2 ; The History of the Synoptic Tradition, E T 1 9 6 3 , p. 205. It has been widely
used and often discussed. See, for example, N. Perrin, Rediscovering the Teaching of
Jesus, 1 9 6 7 , pp. 3 9 - 4 3 (it is 'the basis for all contemporary attempts to reconstruct the
teaching of Jesus'). For a rigid application of one-half of what became of the double
test, see P. W. Schmiedel, 'Gospels', Encyclopaedia Biblica II, 1 9 0 1 , cols. 1 7 6 5 - 1 8 9 6 ,
7

NOTES TO PAGES l6-22

359

esp. 1 8 8 1 - 3 : five passages could not have been invented by the post-resurrection
church.
5 5 . Some would shift the outside dates for the composition of the Gospels earlier,
for example to 66 and 90. The present point, which is that they were written during a
'tunnel' period, about which we have little knowledge, is not affected. I must with some
regret leave aside the proposals of John A. T . Robinson (Redating the New Testament,
1 9 7 6 ) to press the dates of composition earlier yet. His analysis of the weakness of
some of the traditional arguments, while usually penetrating, does not lead to the
radical revision which he proposes.
56. On multiple attestation, see Calvert, 'An Examination of the Criteria'; Barbour,
Traditio-Historical Criticism, pp. 3f.
5 7 . Cf. Barbour, Traditio-Historical Criticism, p. 1 8 : if one starts with individual
sayings it is necessary, after testing each one, to try to work it 'into an overall hypothesis'.
See also Meyer,^/w5. p. 1 9 . Bruce Chilton puts the point sharply: 'It may be questioned
whether or not the application of a priori criteria to data constitutes historical knowledge
at all' {God in Strength. Jesus'Announcement of the Kingdom, 1 9 7 9 , p. 20; cf. p. 288).
5 8 . N. A. Dahl, 'The Problem of the Historical Jesus' (1962), The Crucified Messiah,
1 9 7 4 , pp. 4 8 - 8 9 , here pp. 68f.
5 9. Paul and Palestinian Judaism.
60. Ibid., pp. 1 5 7 , 2 3 2 , 2 7 5 - 8 , 3 8 9 , 3 9 7 f . Contrast J . Jeremias, Proclamation ofjesus,
p. 2: the idea of God's love for sinners was 'so offensive to the majority of his
contemporaries that it cannot be derived from the thinking current in his environment'.
6 1 . W. Bousset, Jesus, E T (ed. W. D. Morrison) 1 9 1 1 , p. 44.
62. See Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 3 3 - 5 9 .
6 3 . There are a few exceptions. See the discussion above of Breech, Silence.
64. See, for example, R. Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament I, E T 1 9 5 4 , pp.
42f.; H. Conzelmann,^ Outline of the Theology of the New Testament, E T 1969, p. 3 2 :
the church 'was assembled as a community through the appearance of the risen
one . . .'.
65. H.J. Cadbury, The Peril of Modernizing Jesus, 1 9 3 7 , reissued 1 9 6 2 .
66. It is often difficult to distinguish the haberim from the Pharisees. I discuss the
problem below, in ch. 6. Here I assume that the Dead Sea Scrolls represent the views
of at least some Essenes.
67. See Emil Schiirer, ed. Geza Vermes and others, The History of the Jewish People
in the Age ofjesus Christ (revised ET), vol. II, 1 9 7 9 , p. 3 8 8 , n. 1 6 , citing especially the
work ofJacob Neusner.
68. Paul and PalestinianJudaism, pp. 2 4 4 - 7 ; Robert Huebsch, The Understanding and
Significance of the 'Remnant in Qumran Literature, PhD thesis, 1 9 8 1 .
69. Israel and secondarily the Gentiles: note 'to the Jew first and also the Greek',
Rom. 1 . 1 6 and elsewhere; full number of the Gentiles: Rom. 1 1 . 2 5 ; imminent return
of the Lord: I Thess. 4.i6f.; cf. I Cor. 1 5 . 2 3 ; Phil. 3-2of.
70. Cf. Smith, Magician, p. 5; similarly Mealand, 'The Dissimilarity Test', pp. 44f.
In favour of a connection between Jesus' teaching, his death, and the church can now
be cited several scholars. See, for example, Catchpole, The Trial ofjesus, pp. 1 0 7 - 1 2 ,
1

271.

7 1 . So also N. A. Dahl, 'The Problem of the Historical Jesus', pp. 7 2 - 4 .

7 2 . Bousset, Bultmann, Klausner, Winter and Vermes, all discussed below, have
presented this view or some variation of it.

360

NOTES TO PAGES 23-25

State of the Question

1. Readers who wish to read other recent reviews of research on Jesus may see N.
Dahl, 'The Problem of the Historical Jesus', pp. 5 0 - 6 3 ; Aulen, Jesus in Contemporary
Historical Research; Meyer, Aims, pp. 2 5 - 5 4 .
2. For the view thatjesus reformed crass opinions see A. Schweitzer, The Quest of
the Historical Jesus, E T 1 9 1 0 , i 9 5 6 , pp. i96f. (Strauss), p. 203 (Holtzmann), p. 205
(Weisse, Holtzmann, Schenkel and Weizsacker), p. 2 1 5 (Hase) and elsewhere.
3. Schweitzer, Quest, ch. 1 9 .
4. Ibid.,pp.37if.,387f.
5. See Glasson's criticism, below, ch. 4.
6. Schweitzer, Quest, p. 2 5 7 : 'On which of the two presuppositions, the assumption
that His life was completely dominated by eschatology, or the assumption that He
repudiated it, do we find it easiest to understand the connexion of events in the life of
Jesus, His fate, and the emergence of the expectation of the Parousia in the community
of His disciples?' Cf. pp. 3 5 0 , 3 9 5 .
7. Cf. A. Schweitzer, Paul and His Interpreters, E T 1 9 1 2 , reissued 1 9 5 0 , p. ix: 'The
teaching ofjesus does not in any of its aspects go outside the Jewish world of thought
. . . , but represents a deeply ethical and perfected version of the contemporary
apocalyptic'
8. These are principally two: W. Bousset, Jesu Predigt in ihrem Gegensatz zum
Judentum, 1 8 9 2 , and Jesus. We shall quote from the latter book, which repeats Bousset's
views in a convenient form. On the earlier work, see Schweitzer, Quest, pp. 2 4 2 - 5 0 ;
G. F. Moore, 'Christian Writers on Judaism', HTR 1 4 , 1 9 2 1 , pp. 2 4 1 - 3 .
9. On W. Bousset, Die Religion desjudentums im spathellenistischen Zeitalter (ed. H.
Gressmann), 1926 (reissued 1966) as a standard text, see Paul and Palestinian Judaism,
PP- 55f10. Here Bousset has this footnote: 'It is to be assumed that from the average here
considered an exception must be made in favour of a few celebrated and really pious
rabbis, such as Hillel, Gamaliel, and some others.' The same view of the Rabbis and
the same contrast with Jesus are seen in Kittel, Jesus und die Rabbinen, 1 9 1 4 , pp. 9f.
1 1 . Most recently, see E. E. Urbach, The Sages, E T 1 9 7 5 , p. 6.
1 2 . Since I have now twice offered a lengthy criticism of aspects of Bousset's work,
and since I regard him as an important scholar, a more general evaluation should be
made. I regard his programme of research, as indicated for example in Kyrios Christos
( 1 9 1 3 ) , E T 1 9 7 0 , and his separate volumes on Gnosticism and Judaism, as admirable
and worthy of emulation. Many of his insights and analyses are provocative and helpful
and may still be read with profit. Further, his view of Judaism, especially Rabbinic
Judaism, was in no way remarkable. It was not, in fact, his own, but was largely
derivative. The view ofJudaism cannot be simply regarded as a period piece and passed
over, however, for two reasons: (1) the use of a denigrating view ofJudaism to set off
Christianity as superior, which is so clear in Bousset, has continued; (2) his depiction
of Palestinian Judaism is still cited as authoritative and 'standard' (n. 9 above).
1 3 . Moore, 'Christian Writers', pp. 242f. Recently, note the remark of Keck, Future,
p. 1 2 2 : In some presentations, 'Jesus increases "in stature and wisdom and in favor
with God and man" in direct proportion to the extent to which his contemporaries
decrease - that is, they are invariably portrayed as narrow-minded legalists (Pharisees),
fanatical nationalists (Zealots), sophisticated sceptics (Sadducees), esoteric sectarians
(Essenes), and persons devoid of religious sensitivities altogether ('Am ha-arez). When
Jesus is played off against such a milieu, his appeal is purchased too cheaply. The error
3

NOTES TO PAGES 25-34

361

of the old liberal lives ofjesus lay precisely here - they lionized Jesus by playing him
off against both Christian theology and the Judaism of which he was a part in order to
present an appealing hero of liberal religion and ethics. As we saw in the previous
chapter, the same error is made by Fuchs and Bornkamm; Jesus "brings God to
speech" in a culture existentially devoid of God/
The best recent description of Judaism as seen in New Testament scholarship is
that of K. Hoheisel, Z)of antikeJudentum in christlicher Sicht, 1 9 7 8 .
1 4 . Bousset,^*/*, pp. 38f. The emphasis is mine.
1 5 . Cf. Sanday, The Life of Christ in Recent Research, 1 9 0 7 , p. 44: Steinmann 'shows
an almost nervous dread of anything in the least degree external in religion. The
tendency is common in Germany . . \
1 6 . Originally published in 1 9 2 6 . Page references are to the Scribners' paperback
ed. of the E T (R. Bultmann, Jesus and the Word, 1 9 5 8 ) .
1 7 . C. H. Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom, 1 9 3 5 ; rev. ed., 1 9 6 1 .
1 8 . See Dodd's 'Preface' to Parables.
1 9 . Note Bultmann's passing reference to Schweitzer's history of research, with no
mention of Schweitzer's own view, in Jesus and the Word, pp. 8f.
20. Johannes Vftiss, Jesus 'Proclamation ofthe Kingdom of God (1892), E T 1 9 7 1 .
2 1 . 'The coming of the Kingdom of God is therefore not really an event in the
course of time . . . ' . Jesus and the Word, p. 5 1 .
2 2 . Ibid., p. 2 1 8 .
2 3 . Ibid., p. 1 3 1 ; cf. p. 5 2 .
24. When Bultmann raises the question of the relation between Jesus' teaching on
the law and the demand of God, on the one hand, and his eschatological message, on
the other, it is not to offer a connection between teaching and death, but to explain the
unity of eschatology and ethics. See Jesus and the Word, pp. 1 2 iff.
2 5 . See Bultmann, p. 9; Bousset, Jkws, p. 1 7 .
26. For Bultmann's view of the failure of Judaism to fulfil its own promise, and
Jesus' success, see, e.g., pp. 7 2 - 9 .
2 7 . Not only in Jesus and the Word, but also in Theology of the New Testament (V ol. I,
ch. 1) and Primitive Christianity in Its Contemporary Setting, E T 1 9 5 6 (p. 7 1 ) , Jesus is
placed within Judaism. As is well known, this was a controversial step, and Bultmann
was criticized for it: he did not make Jesus a Christian, but a Jew! It was indeed bold
in the context in which Bultmann wrote, and his havingjesus deal with the potentialities
of Judaism might have opened the way for a more positive evaluation ofJudaism. But
for Bultmann, Jesus seems to have been the only Jew to seize Judaism's positive
potentialities, and the rest of Judaism remained mired in legalism, in which even
repentance was a deed of works-righteousness (Primitive Christianity, p. 7 1 ) . Thus,
from my point of view, he did not succeed in breaking with the prevailing stereotype
of Judaism.
28. For discussion of the pros and cons, see Paul and PalestinianJudaism, pp. 2 1 2 - 1 5 .
29. Giinther Bornkamm, Jesus of Nazareth, E T i960.
30. Morgan, 'NonAngtf, p. 2 2 ; 'Giinther Bornkamm', p. 494.
3 1 . See n. 1 3 above.
3 2 . M . Dibelius, Jesus ( 1 9 3 9 ) , E T 1 9 4 9 .
3 3 . Principally to be noted from this period, although omitted from this survey, is
M. Goguel, La Vie de Jesus, 1 9 3 2 . (The E T appeared in 1 9 3 3 . )
3 4 . 'The Problem of the Historical Jesus', pp. 3 7 - 4 5 .
3 5 . Cf. Bomszt, Jesus, pp. 1 3 9 - 4 3 ('freedom based on moral conviction' versus 'the
legal and casuistic world of the Pharisees'); B u l t m a n n , a n d the Word, pp. 68, 76f.
r

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NOTES TO PAGES 35-50

36. 'The Quest of the Historical Jesus', pp. 1 1 - 3 1 .

3 7 . Fuchs elsewhere ('Jesus and Faith' [ 1 9 5 8 ] , E T , Studies of the Historical Jesus,
1964, p. 6 1 ) characterizes the association with sinners, in Jewjsh eyes, as 'blasphemy
and treachery to Israel'.
3 8 . Cf. ibid., p. 6 2 : 'Thus the words of the Lord's Supper which are a later
ecclesiastical formulation, and also the prophecies of suffering which are similarly a
later formulation, both express Jesus' self-understanding.'
39. See N. Perrin, The Kingdom of God in the Teaching ofjesus, 1 9 6 3 , pp. 109, 1 2 6 ;
Robinson, A New Quest oj*the HistoricalJesus, pp. 1 4 - 1 6 , 1 1 3 - 1 5 (on p. 1 1 4 , however,
Fuch's statement ofJesus' intention to suffer is discussed); Keck, Future, pp. 3of.
40. In his Theology ofthe New Testament, Kiimmel's most distinctive view is thatjesus
himself anticipated a short lapse of time between his death and return. See his earlier
Promise and Fulfilment, E T , S B T 2 3 , 1 9 5 7 , and pp. 8 5 - 9 0 of his Theology. This point
is not dealt with in the present survey.
4 1 . Kiimmel's statement thatjesus, in combining the two love commandments,
intended to say a 11 that one should do may also be criticized as ignoring the context of such
statements injudaism. When Hillel said thatthe 'love thy neighbour' commandment was
'the whole Torah', there was no intention to imply that the rest of the Torah should
be ignored. See Shabbath 3 1 a .
4 2 . Kummel does not intend to account for how it was thatjesus, being non-violent
and apolitical, was crucified as a 'political pretender', although he takes it that this is
why he was executed, at least from the Roman point of view. See pp. 85f. But whatever
the Romans thought they were doing, Kummel intends to describe why Jesus died
from his own point of view.
4 3 . A. Schweitzer, The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle, E T 1 9 3 1 , reissued 1 9 5 3 , pp.
334-39-

44. Schweizer, Jesus.

45. C. F. D. Moule, The Birth of the New
Testament, 1981.
46. Dodd, Founder.
47. Thus Dodd maintains the position on the coming of the kingdom for which he
argued in Parables: it is 'realized' and not future.
48. Jeremias, The Proclamation of Jesus.
49. The quotation is from O. Betz, What Do We Know aboutJesus}, E T 1 9 6 8 , p. 74.
50. Demai 2 . 3 . The Mishnah does not actually mention 'a Pharisee', but 'a haber*,
'associate'. Jeremias habitually but incorrectly equates the two. See Paul and Palestinian
Judaism, pp. 1 5 2 - 5 7 ; below, ch. 6.
5 1 . See Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 1 5 2 - 5 5, and immediately below.
5 2 . Below, ch. 6 at nn. 1 0 3 , 1 0 4 .
5 3 . See Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 25of. and n. 3 5 .
54. On sin as rebellion in Rabbinic Judaism, see 'Denial of God' in the index to
Paul and Palestinian Judaism. Jeremias always discusses the Pharisees on the basis of
Rabbinic literature, so that my discussion of sin in the view of the Rabbis is an
appropriate response to his view of sin in Pharisaism.
5 5. Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 1 8 3 - 9 8 .
56. See Paul and Palestinian Judaism, p. 61 n. 1 2 ; p. 1 5 3 n. 3 4 .
5 7 . Ibid.
58. See Bowker, Jesus and the Pharisees, pp. I3f.; Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp.
i53f. The point is that perushim is used exegetically, almost lexicographically, in
Rabbinic literature, especially Sifra, to define what qedoshim means: to be holy means
to be separate. Thus where Lev. 1 1 . 4 4 says, 'be holy (qedoshim). . . you shall not defile
3

NOTES TO PAGES

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363

yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls', Sifra comments that 'holy' means
'separate' (perushim), i.e., do not touch swarming things that crawl; they confer ritual
impurity. This is just sound exegesis. The exegesis probably comes from the school of
R. Akiba in the second century, and there is no reason to see here a proof of sectarian
self-definition by the Pharisaic party before 70. Jeremias, for example, takes such
passages to mean that the perushim = Pharisees understood themselves to be the only
holy people of God: Jerusalem in the Time ofjesus, E T 1969, pp. 2 4 7 , 249, following
Baeck. Bowker's interpretation is more to the point: 'All Jews must be perushim in
order to be Jews' (p. 1 4 ) . Here perushim does not mean the pre-70 Pharisees. There
is no reason, however, to follow Bowker in supposing that separateness is a special key
for understanding what he calls the hakamic movement. One might better stay with the
word ts-d-q for this purpose, for it is far more frequent in Rabbinic literature, it occurs
very frequently in other post-biblical literature (the Dead Sea Scrolls are a partial
exception, but even so ts-d-q is more common than p-r-sh), and it too is urged as
characteristic behaviour ofJews: 'Be tsaddiq as I am tsaddiq' (Sifre Deut. 49).
59. Bowker, p. 4 5 , quoted above. Ch. I of Paul and Palestinian Judaism is devoted to
demonstrating that this is the correct understanding of the relationship between the
Torah and the covenant in Rabbinic literature.
60. For a thorough canvassing of Jewish scholarship on Jesus, especially on the trial
scenes, see Catchpole, The Trial ofjesus. There is a valuable collection of essays in
Jewish Expressions on Jesus. An Anthology (ed. Trude Weiss-Rosmarin), 1 9 7 7 .
6 1 . Klausner,Jesus ofNazareth.
62. These include the commandments concerning idolatry and the Sabbath, which
can hardly be covered by the trivializing term 'ceremonial'.
63. See Klausner, From Jesus to Paul, pp. 4 4 1 , 5 2 8 - 3 6 , 5 8 0 - 9 0 .
64. G. Vermes, Jesus the Jew.
65. So also Solomon Zeitlin, 'Jesus and the Pharisees', repr. in Weiss-Rosmarin,
ed., Jewish Expressions, pp. 1 4 8 - 5 6 ( = The Rise and Fall of the Second Judaean State I,
1962); Ben Zion Bokser, 'Jesus: Jew or Christian?', Jewish Expressions, pp. 2 0 1 - 2 9 ( =
Judaism and the Christian Predicament [ed. B. Z. Bokser], 1967); A. Finkel, The Pharisees
and the Teacher ofNazareth, 1964. See also Helmut Merkel, 'Jesus im Widerstreit',
Glaube und Gesellschaft. Festschrift fur W. F. Kasch, 1 9 8 1 , pp. 2 0 7 - 1 7 . Merkel disputes
the view of P. Lapide, who has frequently argued thatjesus did not break the law, and
concludes thatjesus in fact directly contradicted Moses on the questions of Sabbath,
purity and divorce. Both are simply repeating positions which we have sketched already.
66. E. Stauffer, Jtfws and His Story, E T i960, pp. 1 4 9 - 5 9 . Cf. H.-J. Schoeps, Paul:
The Theology ofthe Apostle in the Light of Jewish Religious History, E T 1 9 6 1 , pp. 1 6 0 - 6 2 .
67. Above, p. 3 4 , on Kasemann.
68. Paul and Palestinian Judaism, chs. I-III.
69. See the discussion of how the clear intent of Exod. 20.7 is avoided by different
Rabbis in Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 159f.
1. J E S U S A N D T H E T E M P L E
1. Bultmann (History, p. 36): Mark 1 1 . 1 5 , i8f. come from the editor; v. 1 7 is an
added saying which has replaced another, which may be preserved in John 2 . 1 6 . One
may conjecture that 1 1 . 2 7 - 3 3 followed 1 1 . 1 6 immediately, though probably not as
part of the same unit. Roloff (Der irdische Jesus, p. 93): the oldest form of the narrative
was Mark 1 i.i5f., 18a, 2 8 - 3 3 . Vincent Taylor (The Gospel According to St Mark, 1 9 5 9 ,
p. 4 6 1 ) : the original unit is 1 1 . 1 5 0 - 1 7 . Mark added w. 1 5 a , i8f. Boismard (Synopse

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N O T E S T O P A G E 6l

des quatre Evangiles en Franqais II: Commentaire, 1 9 7 2 , pp. 3 3 4 - 6 ) : Mark 1 1 . 2 7 - 3 3

originally followed the 'cleansing' scene. Verses i7f., 1 9 are later insertions. The
casting out of the vendors ( 1 1 . 1 5 ) was originally followed by a saying better preserved
in John 2 . 1 6 b . Note also GoguePs view, n. 4 below.
It should be noted that Mark 1 1 . 1 6 , absent from both Matthew and Luke, plays
little role in these analyses. It is my own view that this sort of general prohibition (see
I. Abrahams, Studies in Pharisaism and the Gospels 1 , 1 9 1 7 , reissued 1 9 6 7 , pp. 84f.) does
not accord well with overthrowing tables and the like and is probably a later addition,
even though it usually passes unquestioned. It may also be doubted that the admonition
is appropriate to the temple at Jerusalem, in view of the placement of the gates. In any
case, it plays no role in our analysis.
2. For a list of scholars regarding Mark 1 3 . 2 as inauthentic (because a weakened
form of 1 4 . 5 8 , which was embarrassing), see G. R. Beasley-Murray,y4 Commentary on
Mark Thirteen, 1 9 5 7 , p. 2 3 . The passage is often accepted as authentic, however, it
being noted that in fact the temple was destroyed by fire (see Taylor, St Mark, p. 5 0 1 ) .
Lloyd Gaston (No Stone on Another, 1 9 7 0 , pp. I2f., 65, 2 4 4 , 4 2 4 Q has correctly noted
that only the redactional framework of Mark 1 3 . 2 and parallels mentions the temple,
and he proposes that the prophecy of destruction is found in its original form in Luke
19.44, where it refers to the destruction of Jerusalem. He gives (p. 65 n. 1) a bibliography
of scholars who combine Mark 1 3 . 2 with 1 4 . 5 8 and 1 5 . 2 9 and consider thatjesus did
predict or threaten the destruction of the temple - the view taken here. Gaston's view
is discussed further in n. 5 and in the next chapter.
3 . For both views, that Mark 1 4 . 5 8 is authentic and that it is inauthentic, see Taylor,
St Mark, p. 566. Taylor regards the passage as authentic.
4. M . Goguel, Jesus and the Origins of Christianity, vol. I, The Life ofjesus, pp.
4 1 2 - 1 5 , argued that the act and the saying do not form a unity (cf. n. 1 ) , but he proposed
that the saying against the profanation of the temple was authentic and that the act of
overthrowing the tables was unhistorical and had been created on the basis of the
saying. Scholarship has not, however, followed GoguePs proposal. The action against
the buyers and sellers and the frequent accusation thatjesus threatened to destroy the
temple are mutually supportive.
5< See the survey of opinions by W. D. Davies, The Gospel and the Land. Early
Christianity and Jewish Territorial Doctrine, 1 9 7 4 , pp. 3 4 9 - 5 2 , nn. 45 and 46.
We should note in addition the intriguing proposals of Lloyd Gaston in No Stone on
Another. He considers that the origin of the threat to destroy the temple is actually to
be found in Stephen's position and does not come from Jesus. Jewish opponents of
Christianity picked up Stephen's threat and employed it against the Christian move
ment. Mark 1 4 . 5 8 and 1 5 . 2 9 (and parallels) are then considered to be a defence against
Jewish accusations. He believes that the accusation that Jesus threatened to destroy
the temple is no more historical than the accusation thatjesus committed blasphemy
by claiming to be Son of God (Mark 1 4 . 6 1 - 6 4 and parallels); that is, both accusations
are later Jewish accusations against the church (pp. 6 5 - 9 ) . The two halves of Mark
1 4 . 5 8 and 1 5 . 2 9 (the threat to destroy and the promise to rebuild) are to be taken
separately. The threat to destroy goes back only to Stephen (p. 1 6 1 ) , while the promise
to rebuild the 'temple' goes back to Jesus but refers to the founding of the eschatological
community as the 'temple of God' (pp. 226f., 2 4 1 , 2 4 3 ) . It was only the opponents of
Christianity who combined the two traditions, and they appear together in the Gospels
because it was necessary to answer the charge (pp. i45f., 1 6 2 ) . Gaston considers it
conceivable that 'a saying against the temple was important in Jesus' condemnation'
(p. 68), but is more impressed by the absence of the charge in Luke and John (p. 68 n.

NOTES TO PAGES 61-62

365

4). Jesus' own attitude towards the temple as a place of cult was one of indifference
(pp. 1 0 2 , 24of.). I shall argue that the threat of destruction appears in too many strata
and coheres too well with the 'cleansing' of the temple to be denied to Jesus, and I
follow the majority of scholars in taking the multiple attestation to indicate authenticity.
It should be noted that Gaston finds no background in contemporary Jewish thought
for the expectation of the destruction and renewal of the temple, and this buttresses
his view that the threat is inauthentic. We shall see in the next chapter that the threat
and implied renewal do have a setting in Jewish thought.
6. There is some debate about what took place within the temple precincts and what
was relegated to the area outside. According to J . Klausner (Jesus ofNazareth, p. 3 1 4 ) ,
the Pharisees would have permitted no selling or money-changing in the temple,
although the Sadducees, then in charge, may have permitted the use of the outer court.
See also Abrahams, Studies, pp. 86f.: commercial money-changers would not have
been allowed in the temple precincts, but those who turned the profits over to the
temple would have been permitted inside for one week, from 2 5 Adar to 1 Nisan. The
buying and selling of sacrificial victims ordinarily took place outside. We cannot settle
the question of precise location, but we may assume that trade was allowed only in the
court of the Gentiles - if anywhere in the temple confines. To the degree to which the
view that there was never any exchange of money in the temple precincts rests on
Berakoth 9.5 (and parallels), it may now be dismissed. Jeremias has better explained
that mishnah as applying to visitors to the temple area (tourists and the like), who are
prohibited from carrying money, not to those who came to offer sacrifice. See J . Jeremias,
'Zwei Miszellen: 1 . Antik-Jiidische Miinzdeutungen. 2. Zur Geschichtlichkeit der
Tempelreinigung', NTS 2 3 , 1 9 7 7 , pp. 179ft
7. Edersheim, The Life and Times ofjesus the Messiah 1 , 1 9 3 6 , p. 3 7 0 .
8. Ibid.: 'Most improper transactions were carried on, to the taking undue advantage
of the poor people.'
9. Abrahams, Studies I, p. 87.
10. Ibid., p. 88.
1 1 . Ibid., p. 84.
1 2 . Cf. Klausner, Jesus ofNazareth, p. 3 1 4 : the money-changing was necessary (he
compares the sale of candles by Christians), 'though such behaviour arouses indignation
in the truly devout'.
1 3 . Roloff, Der irdische Jesus, p. 89, citing H. Braun, Spdtjudisch-haretischer und
fruhchristlicherRadikalismus U, 1 9 5 7 , p. 1 2 .
1 4 . Roloff, p. 89, citing A. Suhl, Die Funktion der alttestamentlichen Zitate und
Anspielungen imMarkusevangelium, 1 9 6 5 ^ . 1 4 3 .
1 5 . Roloff, p. 9 5 .
1 6 . Ibid., p. 96.
1 7 . Roloff,p. 97. One may note here Bousset's view (Jesus, pp. 105 f.): Jesus attached
no value to any outward forms. In exerting himself'for the holiness and purity of the
Temple service' he still did not give it any true value. The action just shows his dislike
of'pseudo-holiness and hypocrisy'. Roloff agrees on what Jesus did: purify the service;
but he assigns real value to it in Jesus' eyes.
1 8 . Jeremias, Proclamation ofjesus, p. 1 4 5 . It should be noted that Jeremias accepts
Mark 1 1 . 1 7 as authentic, and thus his critical view corresponds to the motive which
he attributes to Jesus.
19. Aulen, Jesus, p. 7 7 .
20. E. Tvocm,Jesus as seen by his Contemporaries, E T 1 9 7 3 , p. 1 1 8 . Again, compare
Davies' analysis of divergent views, The Gospel and the Land, p. 3 4 9 n. 4 5 , item 2.

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N O T E S T O PAGES 62-66

2 1 . Harvey, Constraints, p. 1 5 .
2 2 . Ibid., p. 1 3 1 .
2 3 . Ibid., p. 1 2 9 .
24. Note die argument by Robert Banks (Jesus and the Lam in the Synoptic Tradition,
1 9 7 5 , p. 208) that an inner/outer distinction is anachronistic (discussing Matt. 5 . 1 7 ) .
2 5 . Most explicitly, Bornkamm speaks of the action as 'more than an act of reform
to restore the temple service to its original purity' {Jesus ofNazareth, pp. i58f.), which
means that it was also that.
26. I believe the best treatment of the particular point at hand to be that of Abrahams,
Studies I, pp. 8 2 - 9 . For a general account of the priesthood and the temple service, see
Emil Schurer, ed. Vermes, The History of the Jewish People in the Age ofjesus Christ II,
PP- 2 3 7 - 3 0 8 .

27. On the 'Tyrian' coinage accepted by the temple, see Abrahams, p. 8 3 , where
there are references to further literature. See also Bekhoroth 8.7 on the requirement
of'Tyrian' coins.
Here and elsewhere I take the Rabbinic discussions of the temple, the trade, the
temple tax, and sacrifices to be somewhat idealized but basically to reflect common
thought and practice before 70. Most of the Rabbinic statements about these matters
are not peculiarly Pharisaic, and many are confirmed by Josephus and the New
Testament. See the discussion of the views ofJacob Neusner and J . N. Epstein in Paul
and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 63 f.
28. See Matt. 1 7 . 2 4 - 7 ; Shekalim 1.3 (on taking pledges from those who have not
paid).
29. That the temple tax was paid follows from the fact that the Romans, after the
fall of the temple, assigned the payment to the capital. According to Josephus (BJ
VII.218), this resulted in a levy on all Jews, no matter where resident. See further
Thackeray's notes in the Loeb edition of Josephus. For Rabbinic theory about how the
tax was collected, see Shekalim 1 . 3 and 2 . 1 .
30. See Shekalim 1.6.
3 1 . Hirsch ('Sacrifice',^ 1 0 , p. 6 1 7 ) summarized the uses of the pigeon and
turtledove in sacrifices thus: they 'served for burnt offerings and sin-offerings in cases
of lustrations. They were allowed as private holocausts, and were accepted as sinofferings from the poorer people and as purification-offerings . . .' So Josephus, AJ
III.230. Thus numerous unblemished birds were required.
3 2 . Ps. Sol. 1 7 . 6 - 8 . See Adolf Buchler, Types of Jewish-Palestinian Piety from 7 0
B . C . E . to 7 0 C . E . , 1 9 2 2 , pp.

I7O-4.

3 3 . T.Mos 6 . 1 ; Buchler, ibid.

34. C D 5.7; Ps. Sol. 8 . 1 3 ; cf. Niddah 4.2. See Paul and Palestinian Judaism, p. 404.
3 5 . For the criticism of the cult on the grounds of different halakah, see Yigael
Yadin, The Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness, 1 9 6 2 , pp.
i 8f.
9

36. Yoma 19b; Paul and Palestinian Judaism, p. 1 5 1 .

3 7 . Nahman Avigad, commenting on a discovery of what he believes to have been
a workshop which supplied incense and the like to the temple, describes the owner as
having 'usurped' the privilege for his own gain. Such information does not come from
archaeology, but from applying a generalization to a particular person. The priests in
general, he writes 'abused their position . . . through nepotism and oppression'
(DiscoveringJerusalem, 1 9 8 3 , pp. i3of.).
38. Gaston (No Stone on Another, p. 85) gives a bibliography of those who see Jesus
as a religious reformer and appropriately comments: 'In contrast to the manner in

NOTES TO PAGES

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367

which the Essenes would have cleansed the temple, beginning with the High Priest
and continuing with a reform of the whole cult, Jesus cannot be seen here as a religious
reformer, cleansing the temple of abuses.'
3 9 . We noted above (n. 18) that Jeremias, for example, accepts Mark 1 1 . 1 7 as giving
Jesus' motive. Cf. also Albert Nolan, Jesus before Christianity, 1 9 8 0 , p. 1 0 2 : the issue
was only the 'abuse of money and trade'. Nolan continues by stating that there is
evidence for fraud and theft, citing Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time ofjesus, pp. 33ft
Those pages, however, contain no such evidence, nor do I know of any.
40. See above, n. 1 ; further the Erganzungshefi to Bultmann's Geschichte, ed. G.
Theissen and Philipp Vielhauer, i 9 7 i , p. 29. The authenticity of Mark 1 1 . 1 7 is
doubted also by Georg Klinzing, Die Umdeuteung des Kultus in derQumrangemeinde und
im Neuen Testament, 1 9 7 1 , p. 209. Note also the view of Maria Trautmann, Zeichenhafie
Handlungenjesu, 1980. She never doubts that 'cleansing' is the right term, though she
argues persuasively against the authenticity of Mark 1 1 . 1 7 (pp. 8 7 - 9 0 ) .
4 1 . Roloff, Der irdische Jesus, p. 93.
4 2 . Harvey, Constraints, p. 1 3 2 and notes.
4 3 . For references, see W. D. Davies, The Gospel and the Land, p. 3 4 9 n. 45 item 1.
See especially the sensitive treatment by Moule, Birth, pp. 2 1 - 5 .
44. Davies, loc. cit.
4 5 . For the sake of argument, we presently accept the view that the trade, or part
of it, was conducted in the court of the Gentiles. See n. 6 above and Davies' defence
of this location, The Gospel and the Land, pp. 3 5 of.
46. Compare, however, the argument ofJ . D. M. Derrett, 'The Zeal of thy House
and the Cleansing of the Temple', Downside Review 9 5 , 1 9 7 7 , pp. 7 9 - 9 4 . He proposes
that the casting out of merchants is something to which the prophets looked forward,
citing Zech. 1 4 . 2 1 and other passages which do not appear to be directly relevant.
47. One could conceivably think that Jesus wanted to purify the temple, but
simultaneously to redefine purity in such a way as to eliminate the standard distinction
between sacred and profane. The redefinition would involve purging externals
(sacrifice) in favour of internals (prayer). One may think, for example, of Kasemann's
view that this is what Jesus did in Mark 7 . 1 5 : it is not food which makes impure, but
what comes out of the heart (see the Introduction, p. 34). I have not noted that anyone
explicitly argues this case with regard to the temple, but the widespread discussion of
Jesus' action in the temple as cleansing or purifying the service may rest on such a view.
I would regard such a proposal, were it to be made, as being too improbable to discuss.
Cf. the comment on the inner/outer distinction in the next note.
48. I am not arguing that no Jew of Jesus' day could have made the inner/outer
distinction which is often attributed to him. On the contrary, Philo's writings contain
this sort of distinction, and it may also be seen in Rom. 2.28f. It is more than slightly
difficult, however, tofindthis kind of distinction in literature of Palestinian provenance.
Most to the point, I know of no clear example in the synoptic Gospels.
49. S. G. F. Brandon, Jesus and the Zealots, 1 9 6 7 . See Davies, The Gospel and the
Land, pp. 349ft n. 45 item 4.
50. Davies, The Gospel and the Land, pp. 350ft n. 46. So also Dodd, Founder, p. 1 4 7 ;
Pesch, 'Der Anspruch Jesu', p. 5 6 . According to the latter, the key passage is the
quotation of Isa. 56.7 in Mark 1 1 . 1 7 , but we have already seen that the verse is most
probably a later addition.
5 1 . Trade in the court of the Gentiles: see above, nn. 6 and 4 5 .
5 2. Davies, The Gospel and the Land, p. 3 5 1 .
5 3 . See especially Hengel, Was Jesus a Revolutionist?, E T 1 9 7 1 .
4

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N O T E S TO PAGES 68-73

54. Gaston (No Stone on Another, p. 87) has strongly objected to drawing far-reaching
conclusions from the possibility that the 'cleansing' took place in the court of the
Gentiles.
5 5 . Trautmann, ZeichenhafteHandlungen, pp. 1 2 0 - 2 2 .
56. Examples are given throughout the section on the 'State of the Question' in the
Introduction. Recently see Jeremias, Proclamation, p. 1 4 5 ; Meyer, Aims, p. 2 3 8 ; H. W.
Bzrtsch., Jesus. Prophet undMessias aus Galilda, 1 9 7 0 , p. 48; Boismard, Synopse II, p.
408: it was the sacerdotal caste which became exasperated at seeing Jesus pose as a
religious reformer with regard to cultic practice.
5 7. Thus, for example, Roloff, Der irdischeJesus, p. 95; Brandon,^ss and the Zealots,
p. 3 3 8 ; cf. Meyer, Aims, p. 1 7 0 : 'Jesus' act was symbol-charged'; Gaston, No Stone on
Another, p. 86: the action was symbolic.
5 8 . Hengel, Was Jesus a Revolutionist?, pp. i6f. Cf. Dodd, Founder, pp. 144ft 'The
force which effected it was simply the personal authority which made itself felt when
Jesus confronted the crowd.'
59. See the next note.
^
60. In favour of this interpretation of the action, see for example R. J . McKelvey,
The New Temple. The Church in the New Testament, 1969, p. 66 ('it points to the coming
of the kingdom of God'); pp. 71ft ('The new age would have its temple . . .'); James
D. G. Dunn, Unity and Diversity in the New Testament, 1 9 7 7 , p. 3 2 4 (Jesus' disciples
understood the action as pointing towards 'eschatological renewal centred on Mount
Zion and on an eschatologically renewed or rebuilt temple'); Trautmann, Zeichenhafte
Handlungen, pp. 1 2 4 , 126ft, 1 2 9 , 386. On p. 1 3 0 she argues that the action was not
'prophetic', since there was no appeal to the Lord, which I take to be a distinction
without much of a difference. Trautmann's position is interesting, since she holds that
Jesus intended to purify the temple of present corrupting practice, but yet manages to
see that the action points towards a new temple. The real force of the event stands out
even more sharply when it is not confused with another, competing interpretation.
6 1 . Note the setting ofJer. 1 9 . 1 0 in a lengthy spoken prediction of destruction.
62. Bultmann, History, p. 3 6 .
63. See ch. 1 1 below.
64. The principal alternative for understanding Mark's meaning has been well
argued by Donald Juel, Messiah and Temple: The Trial ofjesus in the Gospel of Mark,
1 9 7 7 . His chief conclusion is that the author of Mark had in mind the Christian
community as the temple not made with hands (see, for example, pp. 168ft). See also
Dodd, Founder, pp. 89ft; Klinzing, Umdeutung, pp. 202ft (with bibliography). Klinzing
(p. 204) also argues that the phrases 'made with hands' and 'not made with hands',
absent from Matthew, are secondary additions.
65. Cf. Gaston, No Stone on Another, p. 7 1 .
66. Thus Bultmann: a saying about the temple goes back to Jesus, but we must
remain uncertain about the form (History, pp. 120ft; Erganzungsheft, pp. 46ft, with
bibliography). In the Erganzungsheft he corrected his earlier view that the saying has a
mythological basis and correctly placed it in the framework of Jewish apocalyptic (in
the sense of eschatology). Dieter Liihrmann's discussion of the sayings is quite
instructive. He points out that Mark regarded the threat of Mark 1 4 . 5 8 as inauthentic,
but accepted the prediction of 1 3 . 2 . One can be certain that there was a saying and
suspect that the version in 1 4 . 5 8 is closer to the original. See Liihrmann, 'Markus
14.5 5 - 6 4 . Christologie und Zerstorung des Tempels im Markusevangelium', NTS 2 7 ,
1 9 8 1 , pp. 4 5 7 - 7 4 , here 4 6 6 - 9 .

67. See the ne_xt chapter.

NOTES T O PAGES 74-84

369

68. Gaston (No Stone on Another, p. 4 5 ) cites a true vaticinium ex eventu on the
destruction of Jerusalem from Lactantius, Divine Institutions IV.21. It is much more
explicit and detailed than anything in the Gospels.
69. Der irdische Jesus, p. 97; cf. Meyer, Aims, p. 1 7 0 .
70. Bornkamm, Jesus ofNazareth, pp. 158ft
7 1 . The view thatjesus expected a new, end-time temple is by no means unique,
although, as I have indicated, it is often mixed - I think uncomfortably - with the
interpretation of the action as cleansing (e.g. Trautmann and others, cited in n. 60;
Roloff and Meyer, cited in n. 69). For the view thatjesus expected a new temple, see
recently Klinzing, Umdeutung, p. 2 0 5 (citing further literature); Meyer, Aims, pp.
1 6 8 - 7 0 ; 1 8 1 - 5 ; 197ft

7 2 . Harvey (Constraints, pp. 133ft) proposes that the action was not immediately
understood, but that it would have been at least seen as a claim to authority.
2. N E W T E M P L E A N D R E S T O R A T I O N IN J E W I S H L I T E R A T U R E
1. Lloyd Gaston, No Stone on Another, 1 9 7 0 ; R. J . McKelvey, The New Temple, 1969.
The standard older works on Judaism, such as those by Billerbeck, Bousset and Volz,
have treatments of the theme (lacking, of course, the important evidence of the Dead
Sea Scrolls), but Gaston has adequately taken account of them. The most important
recent works which deal with aspects of thought about the temple, though not so
specifically with temple and eschaton as do Gaston and McKelvey, are these: Gartner,
The Temple and the Community in Qumran and the New Testament, 1 9 6 5 ; Klinzing, Die
Umdeutung des Kultus in derQumrangemeinde und im Neuen Testament, K)7r,]ue\,Messiah
and Temple, 1 9 7 7 .
2. Claus Westermann (Isaiah 4 0 - 6 6 , E T 1969, p. 296) dates Trito-Isaiah (chs.
5 6 - 6 6 ) around 5 3 0 B C E . The temple was dedicated in 5 1 5 .
3 . See McKelvey, New Temple, pp. 1 2 - 1 7 . Joachim Jeremias brought these and
similar passages to prominence in New Testament studies (Jesus 'Promise to the Nations,
ET

1958).

4. George N\cke\sb\ir%, Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah, 1 9 8 1 , p.
18.

5. Charles, I Enoch, p. 5 3 .
6. Gaston, No Stone on Another, p. 1 1 4 .
7. See M . de Jonge, Studies on the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, 1 9 7 5 , p. 189:
'The very fact that Jewish traditions were taken over by Christian groups with or
without alterations, and that Jewish documents were used for and adapted to Christian
purposes makes it wellnigh impossible to distinguish exactly between Jewish and
Christian elements in the Testaments.'
8. There is no conflict between the view that the sect substitutes for the temple
(iQS) and the expectation of a future temple, as some propose (e.g. Klinzing,
Umdeutung, pp. 8 9 - 9 3 ) . See Joseph Baumgarten, Review of Yadin, The Temple Scroll,
JBL 97, 1 9 7 8 , p. 5 8 9 .
9. Gaston, No Stone on Another, p. 1 2 6 .
10-. Ibid.
1 1 . Ibid.
1 2 . Yadin, The Scroll of the War, pp. 1 9 8 - 2 0 1 .
1 3 . Gaston, p. 1 6 2 ; see the summary quotation above, p. 78.
1 4 . See Gaston, ibid., pp. 127ft;
There is a careful consideration of the
difficulties of the passage from 4Qflor. in Klinzing, Umdeutung, pp. 8 0 - 8 7 . Klinzing

370

NOTES TO PAGES

84-91

favours the view that the passage refers to the future temple to be built by God. Cf.
Juel, Messiah and Temple, pp. 1 7 2 - 7 9 ; McKelvey, New Temple, p. 5 1 .
1 5 . David Flusser, T w o Notes on the Midrash on 2 Sam. vii', IEJg,1959,
p. 1 0 2
n. 1 1 .
1 6 . Gaston, No Stone on Another, pp. 127ft, 164.
1 7 . Quoted from a paper read in June, 1 9 7 8 , at Brown University. I am grateful to
Dr Lichtenberger for sending a copy of the typescript.
1 8 . The word 'ad, 'until', is smeared in the fragments, but Yadin seems sufficiently
certain of the reading that he does not bracket it.
1 9 . Yigael Yadin, Megillat ha-Miqdash II, 1 9 7 7 , pp. 91 f.
20. In the outline of world history which this oracle contains, the reference in
Sib.Or. 3 . 2 9 4 is to the building of the second temple after the Exile. We nevertheless
see how natural was the connection between restoration and new temple. On this
section of the Sibylline Oracles, see John Collins, Between Athens and Jerusalem, 1 9 8 3 ,
pp. 6 6 - 8 .
2 1 . For'seenofalP,cf.Ps.Sol. i7-32;Isa.2.2;Micah4.i ('highest ofthe mountains').
2 2 . See the comments on the Testament (Assumption) of Moses below.
2 3 . I do not take up here the standard question of whether the Messiah would be
expected to build the new temple. Here there is really no evidence which can be firmly
dated to the time ofjesus or shortly before. See Gaston, pp. 1 4 7 - 5 4 , and now the very
careful and nuanced work ofJuel, Messiah and Temple, ch. 9. Cf. also Dieter Liihrmann,
'Markus 1 4 . 5 5 - 6 4 ' , p. 465.
24. Klinzing (Umdeutung, pp. 86f.), who thinks that the expectation of a new temple
was very widespread in Judaism, may overstate the case, just as Gaston seems to
understate it. There is a similar overstatement in G. Baumbach,^s#s von Nazareth im
Lichte der judischen Gruppenbildung, 1 9 7 1 , pp. 65ft
2 5 . Cf. Ramsay MacMullen, Paganism in the Roman Empire, 1 9 8 1 , p. 1 4 .
26. Claus-Hunno Hunzinger, 'Fragmente einer alteren Fassung des Buches
Milhama aus Hohle 4 von Qumran', ZA W69,1957, pp. 1 3 1 - 5 1 .
27. I transgress here the rule of not citing evidence from after 70 C E . In fact some
of the post-70 Jewish apocalypses do not explicitly mention the temple (4 Ezra;
Apocalypse of Abraham), and it is not unreasonable to see Revelation countering a
general and continuing expectation of a new temple rather than explicitly post-70
hopes.
28. Josephus, Bjf V I . 3 0 0 - 3 0 5 , on Jesus son of Ananias.
29. Gaston, No Stone on Another, p. 1 1 9 .
30. For 'iniquity of the priests', see T.Mos. 5 . 3 . This reference is apparently to the
pre-Maccabean priests. Hasmonean priests are referred to in 6.1 (they also work
iniquity). The exaltation of Israel is in 10.9. Nickelsburg (Jewish Literature, pp. 1 8 , 2 1 3 )
points out that chs. 6 and 7 have been added to an earlier work.
3 1 . An interpretation which combines cleansing and reform with restoration would
fit perfectly well into the overall depiction of Jesus which will be offered here. Thus
Meyer, Aims, p. 1 7 0 ; cf. p. 1 9 8 . But I think in fact that the evidence for reform is quite
weak.
3. O T H E R I N D I C A T I O N S O F R E S T O R A T I O N E S C H A T O L O G Y
1. Thatjesus was baptized by John is now virtually unquestioned. See, for example,
Bultmann, History, p. 2 4 7 , answering Eduard Meyer's more sceptical view. Ch.
Guignebert, who was prepared to be sceptical about more things than is customary

NOTES TO PAGES

91-93

371

today (usually with just cause; he had a clear eye for what he called the hagiographical
aspects of the Gospels), had some doubts, but concluded that the church's evident
embarrassment about the baptism renders it on the whole probable {Jesus, E T 1 9 3 5 ,
pp. 1 4 7 , 1 5 7 ) . For the view that the paths ofJohn and Jesus never crossed, see Morton
Scott Enslin, Christian Beginnings: Parts I and II, 1 9 3 8 , reissued 1 9 5 6 , p. 1 5 1 ; John
and Jesus', ZNW66,1975,
pp. 1 - 1 8 .
2. Cf. James D. G. Dunn Jesus and the Spirit, 1 9 7 5 , p. 42: 'To set a non-apocalyptic
Jesus between an apocalyptic John the Baptist on the one hand and an apocalyptic
primitive Christian community on the other, is to strain the "criterion of dissimilarity"
beyond breaking point.'Jack T . Sanders (Ethics in the New Testament, 1 9 7 5 , p. 5) points
out that the strongest proof thatjesus expected an imminent end is his endorsement
ofJohn the Baptist, Matt. 1 1 . 7 - 1 ia, 1 6 - 1 9 d P 3 . For a hypothetical reconstruction of a source behind the Fourth Gospel's
portrayal of Jesus' continuation with the Baptist, see Gogud, Jesus, pp. 2 6 9 - 7 5 . He
took his study to show thatjesus worked for a while 'on lines similar to those of the
Baptist' and that the two separated after a disagreement.
4. Josephus,y47 XVIII. 1 1 6 - 1 1 9 . According to Josephus, John's baptism was not for
the eradication of sins, but required prior cleansing by right behaviour. The need for
repentance is in any case clear. That John was an eschatological prophet is less clear
in Josephus, who here as elsewhere probably downplays eschatological features.
Nevertheless, he writes that Herod had him executed because he feared that trouble
would result. Baptism and piety do not account for that reaction, and a message of
national redemption is thus made probable.
5. The evangelists call attention to Isa. 40.3 (Mark 1.3 and parr.). On the desert as
a place for the restoration of Israel's true worship, see Hos. 2 . 1 4 - 2 0 (Heb. 2 . 1 6 - 2 2 ) ;
cf. 1 2 . 9 ( 1 0 ) . On John's dress (Matt. 3.4), see II Kings 1.8: Elijah on his return is
recognized by his clothing. (The clothing could be worn by false prophets: Zech. 1 3 . 4 )
Goguel (Jesus, p. 276) called the expectation that Elijah would precede the Messiah
'widespread'. He cited as primary evidence Ben Sira 48.iof., where, however, there is
no Messiah. Mai. 4.5 appears not to have been very influential, and this aspect of
'Jewish messianic dogma' is less well attested than even the expectation of a Davidic
king, which itself cannot be called 'widespread'. But whether or not the expectation
was widespread, the conscious recollection of Elijah is clear enough in the Gospel
accounts. See on this Hengel, Charismatic Leader, p. 3 6 n. 7 1 .
6. Among recent works on Jesus which aim at a more detailed account of the Baptist,
one may consult Jeremias, Proclamation, pp. 4 3 - 9 , and especially the careful and critical
account in Meyer, Aims, pp. 1 1 5 - 2 2 . There is also, of course, a body of literature
which focuses on the Baptist himself. See for example Walter Wink, John the Baptist
in the Gospel Tradition, 1968. Most of Wink's work deals with the evangelists' use of
the traditions about John, but he sees clearly that the theological use of the Baptist
depends on a 'historical fact, that through John's mediation Jesus perceived the
nearness of the kingdom and his own relation to its coming' (p. 1 1 3 , emphasis removed).
7. There is an interesting, though not entirely convincing argument in favour of
such recognition in J . C. O'Neill, Messiah. Six Lectures on the Ministry ofjesus, 1980,
pp. 2 - 8 .
8. O'Neill, Messiah, pp. iof.
9. On Jesus' frequent use of arguments a fortiori (qal vahomar), see Cadbury, The
Peril of Modernizing Jesus, pp. 5 8 - 6 3 .
10. This is present over the whole chronological range of Paul's letters. His view of
the end, and of the probability that he would live to see it, may have changed somewhat,
a n

ar

372

N O T E S T O P A G E S 93~99

but the expectation that it was near did not. See I Thess. 4 . 1 5 - 1 7 (we who are left); I
Cor. 1 5 . 5 1 f t ('we shall not all sleep'); I Cor. 7.29 and Rom. 1 3 . 1 1 f t (both to the effect
that the end was near). See also II Cor. 4 . 1 4 ; II Cor. 5 . 1 - 1 0 ; Phil. 1 . 1 9 - 2 6 .
1 1 . Sanders, Paul, the Law and the Jewish People, pp. 1 7 1 - 7 9 .
1 2 . Ibid., pp. 1 7 9 - 9 0 .
1 3 . Johannes Munck, Paul and the Salvation of Mankind, E T 1 9 5 9 , pp. 119ft
1 4 . The motive behind Peter's withdrawal is hypothetical, but it is the most
reasonable one that can be advanced. See Paul, the Law and the Jewish People, pp. 1 9 ;
50 n. 1 3 (further literature).
1 5 . We cannot be certain that Peter never baptized a Gentile, just as we cannot be
certain that Paul never baptized a Jew. The intention here is to describe the main lines
of apostolic endeavour. Peter was basically an apostle to the circumcision (Gal. 2.9).
His position on the Gentiles was 'moderate'. Paul distinctly separates him from those
who wished to require circumcision of the Gentiles. Further, Peter visited Gentile
churches, not only in Antioch, but apparently elsewhere (I Cor. 1 . 1 2 ; perhaps also

9-5)1 6 . See above, p. 79. Proposals that the expectation of the conversion of Gentiles
had greatly declined are discussed below, ch. 7.
1 7 . Above, p. 8 7 . T . F. Glasson, who is generally sceptical about eschatology as
dominating the period, nevertheless correctly notes that all the Jewish literature of the
period includes 'the national hope': 'What is Apocalyptic', NTS 2 7 , 1980, p. 100.
1 8 . See Huebsch, The Understanding and Significance of the 'Remnant' in Qumran
Literature.
^
19. The end of punishment - which has been more than enough - is proclaimed in
Isa. 40.2; but this turned out to be premature. See, for example, Dan. 9. There is no
effort here to fix a point at which the theme of a remnant which survives Israel's welldeserved punishment disappears. I intend only to point to a general tendency in the
later period.
20. See J . Heinemann, Prayer in the Talmud. Forms and Patterns, E T 1 9 7 7 , pp. 35ft
2 1 . Especially Jeremias, Proclamation, p. 48; 'Der Gedanke des "Heiligen Restes"
im Spatjudentum und in der Verkiindigung Jesu' (1949), now in Abba, 1966. Note
Meyer's caution on the Pharisees: Aims, p. 2 3 4 .
2 2 . Thus iQH 6.7ft: 'Thou wilt raise up . . . a remnant'. i Q M 13.8ft; 14.8ft are
best taken as referring to the eschatological period. See Huebsch, The Understanding
and Significance ofthe Remnant' in Qumran Literature', Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp.
250ft and n. 3 5 .

2 3 . See the discussion on the Dead Sea Scrolls immediately below.

24. From the biblical passages in ch. 2 , note for example Isa. 49.6 ('the tribes of
Jacob') and 56.8 ('the dispersed' without specifying the tribes).
2 5 . For various interpretations, see Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 253ft
26. Note also I Cor. 9.5, where Cephas is named alongside the apostles and the
brothers of the Lord. He receives separate mention, but is one of the apostles. See C.
K. Barrett, 'Cephas and Corinth', Essays on Paul, 1 9 8 2 , pp. 30ft
2 7 . Matt. 2 7 . 3 - 1 0 ; Acts 1.18ft The stories are legendary; but, as I shall argue below,
the betrayal and defection are historical. See below on the church's embarrassment
about Judas's inclusion in the twelve.
28. See Phillip Vielhauer, 'Gottesreich und Menschensohn in der Verkiindigung
Jesu', Festschrift fur Gunther Dehn, 1 9 5 7 , pp. 6 2 - 4 . For the criticism of Vielhauer's
position, cf. Robert Meye, Jesus and the Twelve, 1968, pp. 206ft
29. See Vielhauer, 'Gottesreich und Menschensohn', p. 63.

N O T E S T O P A G E S IOO-I06

373

30. Cf. Jeremias, Proclamation, p. 2 3 4 .

3 1 . Gogud,jfesus, pp. 340ft Jeremias (Proclamation, p. 2 3 2 n. 3) proposes that Luke
has simply abbreviated the saying.
3 2 . For discussions of more scholarly positions about the twelve, see Meye, Jesus
and the Twelve, pp. 1 9 2 - 2 0 9 ; Trautmann, Zeichenhafte Handlungen, p. 1 6 8 and notes;
Dunn, Spirit, p. 2 5 . A vast majority of scholars is in favour of the basic historicity of
the twelve as Jesus' chosen followers.
3 3 . In these lists Matthew and Mark have a Thaddeus and Luke and Acts a Judas,
son ofJames. John gives no list of names, though he does call the disciples 'the twelve'
(John 6.67; 20.24). In John 1 . 4 0 - 5 1 we find the names Andrew, Simon (Peter), Philip
and Nathanael. The last name is not in the other lists. In John 20.24 Thomas is called
one of the twelve.
3 4 . Cf. Gaston, No Stone on Another, p. 4 1 7 : 'the very fact that the various lists in
the gospels do not completely agree is a sign of the institution of the Twelve not by the
church but by Jesus'; so also Meye, Jesus and the Twelve, pp. 200ft
3 5 . It may well be that, as John 1 . 2 5 - 4 0 has it, some of Jesus' disciples were
originally disciples of John the Baptist. Cf. Raymond Brown, The Gospel According to
John, 1 9 6 6 , p. 7 7 .
3 6 . E.g. Kummel, Theology, pp. 37ft; Bornkamm, Jesus ofNazareth, p. 1 5 0 ; Dunn,
Spirit, p. 8 1 .
3 7 . Especially Guignebert, Jesus, pp. 2 1 9 - 2 3 ; cf. Goguel, Jesus, pp. 340ft
3 8 . H. Schiirmann, 'Symbolhandlungen Jesus als eschatologische Erfullungszeichen', Das Geheimnis Jesu. Versuche zur Jesusfrage, 1 9 7 2 , p. 89; Pesch, 'Anspruch',
p. 68.
39.

Cf. II Cor. 1 2 . 1 2 ; Acts 3 . 5 - 7 .

40. As does Trocme, Jesus, pp. 37ft

4 1 . Schweizer, Jesus, p. 4 1 . Schweizer here as elsewhere turns the lack of evidence
for a more ambitious programme into an argument thatjesus had nothing in particular
in mind (cf. pp. 42ft).
4 2 . Cf. Goguel, Jesus, p. 3 3 5 ; Guignebert, 7^ws,pp. 217ft
4 3 . Trautmann, Zeichenhafte Handlungen, pp. 1 9 0 - 9 9 . Further page references are
given in the text.
44. Cf. Moule, Birth, p. 54: 'The very number twelve bears witness to the Israelconsciousness ofjesus.' See also H. Schiirmann, 'DerJiingerkeisJesu als Zeichen fiir
Israel', Das Geheimnis Jesu, 1 9 7 2 , pp. 1 2 6 - 5 3 ; 'Die Symbolhandlungen Jesu als
eschatologische Erfiillungszeichen', esp. pp. 89ft
4 5 . O'Neill, Messiah, pp. 9 0 - 3 .
46. Jeremias, Proclamation, p. 2 3 6 .
47. O'Neill, p. 90, citing also Matt. 1 8 . 1 8 ('bind and loose') and John 20.23.
48. Ibid., p. 92.
49. Jeremias, loc. cit.
50. On 'apostle' in Paul, see the fine survey by K. H. Rengstorf, 'cnTooToXos',
TDNTl, pp. 4 0 7 - 4 7 .
5 1 . One can see the beginnings of the later terminology by comparing the Hebrew
and Greek in Jer. 8.6 and Ben Sira 4 8 . 1 5 . There is further information on the history
of the terms in J . Behm, 'ixeTavoew, ixeTavoia in Hellenistic Jewish Literature' and
'Conversion in Rabbinic Literature', TDNTTV, pp. 9 8 9 - 9 9 . The classical treatment
of repentance in Rabbinic literature, however, remains that of G. F. Moore, Judaism
in the First Centuries of the Christian Era: The Age of the Tannaim, 3 vols., 1 9 2 7 - 3 0 ; see
the index s.v. Repentance. A collection of passages from a wider range of material will

374

NOTES TO PAGES

IO6-II3

be found under the same index heading under Paul and Palestinian Judaism. See also
the passages from the post-biblical period cited by Jacques Schlosser, Le regne deDieu
dans les dits deJesus, 1 9 8 0 , 1 , pp. 1 0 1 - 3 .
5 2 . See C D 4.2; 6.4f.; 8 . 1 6 ; 2 0 . 1 7 ; iQS 1 0 . 2 0 ; iQH 2.9; 1 4 . 2 4 ; cf. 4 Q P P S 3 7 3 . 1 .

5 3 . Paul and Palestinian Judaism, p. 2 7 0 .

54. See below, ch. 4 n. 44; ch. 6 section 3 . 1 .
5 5 . See, for example, Perrin, Rediscovering, pp. 9 0 - 1 0 2 ; H. Brawn, Jesus ofNazareth:
The Man and his Time, E T 1 9 7 9 , pp. 4 4 - 5 2 ; Jeremias, New Testament Theology I, pp.
1 5 2 - 5 8 ; Hans Conzelmann, Jesus, E T 1 9 7 3 , pp. 1 9 , 7 8 ; James Charlesworth, 'The^
Historical Jesus in Light of Writings Contemporaneous with Him',
ANRWII.25.1,
1 9 8 2 , pp. 4 5 1 - 7 6 .

56. It is major in Luke-Acts, substantial in Hebrews, peripheral in Paul and absent

from John.
5 7 . As in the first section of this chapter, I here leave aside studies which try to
distinguish original material about John from later accretions. See, for example,
Bultmann, History, pp. 2 4 5 - 4 7 (he suspects a Christian addition, for example, in the
reference to Isa. 40).
58. Bultmann (History, p. 3 4 1 ) , correctly in my view, considered this summary to
show 'the influence of die terminology used in Christian missionary preaching'. So
also Joachim Rhode (Rediscovering the Teaching of the Evangelists, E T 1 9 6 8 , p. 124); 'The
words in Mark 1 . 1 4 , 1 5 are in fact the beginning of the preaching of the Risen One in
the evangelist's view and not a beginning of the preaching of the historical Jesus.'
Jeremias (Proclamation, p. 42) pointed out that 'until quite recently' Matt. 4 . 1 7 'has
continually misled scholars into thinking thatjesus made his appearance with a call to
repentance.' Herbert Braun, however, considers that the community, in formulating
Matt. 4 . 1 7 , 'correctly caught the meaning of Jesus' message' (Braun, Jesus, p. 40).
Other scholars who take Mark 1.14ft as a reliable summary of the teaching ofjesus
include Charlesworth, 'The Historical Jesus', pp. 458ft and notes, where there is
extensive bibliography; Schlosser, Regne, I, p. 1 0 5 (in Mark 1.14ft th authentic
fragments are 'the kingdom is near' and 'repent').
59. I shall return to Luke's role in attributing sayings about repentance to Jesus, pp.
1 7 5 , 2 0 3 , 206, 2 7 7 below. For the present it is not necessary to debate authenticity,
except to note the Lucan conclusions in 1 5 . 7 , 1 0 .
60. Bultmann, History, pp. 112ft, quoting A. Fridrichsen, Le Probleme du Miracle,
1 9 3 5 , p. 4 9 . 1 do not find the structural argument very persuasive, but the anti-Jewish
polemic seems clear enough.
6 1 . Bultmann, History, pp. 54ft
62. See e.g. Jeremias, New Testament Theology I, pp. 1 3 5 , 1 5 6 .
63. Perrin, Rediscovering, p. 1 9 4 . He regarded the refusal of a sign and the reference
to 'the sign ofJonah' to be authentic, but problematic as to meaning.
64. Jeremias, Proclamation, pp. 156ft
65. Schlosser, Regne I, p. 1 0 3 . He thinks that these two points are authentic
fragments (p. 105.).
66. John K\chzs, Jesus and the Transformation of Judaism, 1 9 8 0 , p. 87.
67. Ibid., pp. 8 7 - 9 0 .
68. Charlesworth, 'The Historical Jesus', p. 4 7 2 .
69. Ibid.
70. Conzelmann, Jesus, p. 7 8 .
7 1 . Numerous passages from a wide range ofJewish literature are collected in Paul
and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 1 1 7 - 2 5 ; 35U 3 5 2 ; 3 5 5 - 8 ; 360; 366ft; 3 9 1 - 4 e

NOTES TO PAGES I I 4 - 1 2 4

375

7 2 . Riches, Jesus and the Transformation of Judaism, pp. 9 9 - 1 0 6 , 1 6 8 .

7 3 . Bultmann, History, pp. 1 1 1 1 8 .
74. Schlosser, Regne, pp. 632ft
7 5 . They are accepted, for example, by Conzelmann, above, n. 69.
76. Caird, Jesus and the Jewish Nation, p. 1 6 ; Meyer, Aims, passim, e.g., p. 2 2 3 ;
Dunn, Spirit, p. 8 1 .
77. Bornkamm, Jesus ofNazareth, p. 66.
78. Davies (The Gospel and the Land, pp. 3 3 6 - 5 4 ) seeks a nuance between Caird and
Bornkamm: Jesus was concerned not with the nation of Israel, but with the People of
God (p. 349).
79. Bornkamm, Jesus ofNazareth, p. 66.
80. Ibid., pp. 77ft
8 1 . Caird accepts as authentic material about which I am dubious, such as the
mission to the cities of Israel (Luke 1 0 . 1 - 1 2 ; he regards the number seventy [or
seventy-two] as Lucan), and the woes against the Galilean cities (Luke 1 0 . 1 3 - 1 5 ) . He
would not, I think, grant the distinction between facts, which point to the theme of'all
Israel', and the sayings, which are individualistic. The saying of woe on the Galilean
cities he takes to show that Jesus looked for 'a corporate rather than an individual
response'. See G. B. Caird, Saint Luke, 1 9 6 3 , pp. 1 4 2 - 4 4 .
82. Martin Hengel (The Charismatic Leader and His Followers, p. 59) points to a
similar problem. Jesus called only select individuals to follow him. He was thus not a
' "popular messianic leader" '. Hengel thinks thatjesus'message was one of repentance
(p. 6 1 ) , but he nevertheless sees the same general problem ('all Israel or individualism)
which we have found. I return to Hengel's solution in ch. 8.
8 3 . Breech, Silence, p. 2 1 8 .
84. Ernst Bammel, 'Erwagungen zur Eschatologie Jesu', Studia Evangelica 3 , 1 9 6 4 ,
esp. pp. 8ft, 1 8 . Accepted by W. Schenk, 'Gefangenschaft und Tod des Taufers', NTS
29, 1 9 8 3 , pp. 455ft

85. C. E. B. Cranfield, 'Thoughts on New Testament Eschatology',

SJT35,1982,

PP- 4 9 7 " 5 1 2 .

86. Barry S. Crawford, 'Near Expectation in the Sayings ofjesus', JBL

101, 1982,

pp. 2 2 5 - 4 4 .

87. Freyne has shown that the revolutionary atmosphere in Galilee has been greatly
exaggerated. This renders even less surprising the fact thatjesus thought of restoration
without recourse to arms. See Sean Freyne, Galileefrom Alexander the Great to Hadrian:
3 2 3 B . C . E . to 1 3 5 C . E . , 1980, pp. 2 0 8 - 5 5 .
4. T H E S A Y I N G S
1. Johannes Weiss,^5#$ 'Proclamation ofthe Kingdom of God (1892), E T 1 9 7 1 .
2. Schweizer, Quest.
3. Schweizer used the word 'eschatology'; but, because of the long-standing
definition of apocalyptic literature as including an urgent expectation of the end,
'apocalyptic' and 'eschatological' have often been used more or less interchangeably.
See for example Kummel, Promise and Fulfilment, pp. 88ft ('the question arises whether
Jesus' eschatological message must not be simplyfittedinto this latejewish apocalyptic');
though Kummel goes ahead to say that Jesus rejected many of the features of
apocalyptic. In recent years a concern has arisen to define terms more carefully, and
definitions have been offered for 'apocalyptic' and 'apocalypse' which do not necessarily
include urgent expectation of the end. See J . J . Collins (ed.), Apocalypse: The Morphology

376

NOTES TO PAGES 1 2 4 - 1 3 0

ofa Genre, 1 9 7 9 ; J . Carmignac, 'Qu'est-ce que l'apocalyptique? Son emploi a Qumran',

RQ10,1979,
pp. 3 - 3 3 ; Christopher Rowland, The Open Heaven, 1 9 8 2 ; E. P. Sanders,
'The Genre of the Palestinian Jewish Apocalypses', Apocalypticism in the Mediterranean
World and the Near East (ed. D. Hellholm), 1 9 8 3 . Here as elsewhere in this work I use
'eschatology' to refer to the expectation of an imminent end to the current order.
4. Cf. T . Francis Glasson, 'Schweitzer's Influence - Blessing or Bane?',.JT5 n.s.
28, 1 9 7 7 , pp. 2 8 9 - 3 0 2 , here 296. Schweitzer did not make his limitations clear in his
discussion of Jewish apocalyptic literature and Jewish eschatology inQuest, pp. 3 6 7 - 7 0 .
In the Preface to The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle, however, his need to rely on experts
(he names Gerhard Kittel and Karl Rengstorf) is expressed.
5. Schweitzer, Quest, pp. 371ft; cf. p. 3 6 2 .
6. Glasson, 'Schweitzer's Influence', p. 299.
7. I share the doubts of Glasson and others about the date of the Similitudes of
Enoch, where the Son of man does figure as judge. See Paul and Palestinian Judaism,
pp. 347ft But even if this section is pre-Christian, we still could not say that the
expectation of a heavenly figure coming to judge humanity was widespread in firstcentury Judaism.
8. Glasson admits the ubiquity of'the national hope', 'What is Apocalyptic?', p. 100.
9. Glasson ('Schweitzer's influence', p. 299) cites T . W. Manson, Servant Messiah,
1953, P-32.
1 0 . As do, in various ways, Bultmann, Breech and Scott, all to be cited below.
1 1 . Perrin, Jesus and the Language of the Kingdom, p. 40.
1 2 . Ibid., p. 4 3 , referring to Luke 1 1 . 2 0 .
1 3 . Scott, Symbol-Maker, pp. 10ft
1 4 . Ibid., e.g. pp. 1 2 , 29.
1 5 . Ibid., pp. 11ft Scott's point, if I follow it, is thatjesus did not define 'kingdom'
in discursive speech (which is true, as far as our limited knowledge goes), but further
that, as a symbol, it cannot be so defined. To some degree this is based on the nature
of parables, a point which will be discussed more fully just below.
1 6 . Scott, Symbol-Maker, pp. 9 - 1 1 ; cf. Perrin, Language, pp. 2ft
1 7 . Scott, Symbol-Maker, p. 1 1 .
1 8 . This is the core meaning which Bruce D. Chilton assigns the word in the
synoptic Gospels and the Targum to Isaiah: God in Strength. Jesus 'Announcement of the
Kingdom, 1 9 7 9 , pp. 89, 2 8 5 , 287. His phrases are 'God's self-revelation' and 'God
come in strength'.
19. James Breech, Silence, pp. 218ft
20. See my 'Puzzling Out Rabbinic Judaism', Approaches to Ancient Judaism II (ed.
William Scott Green), 1980, pp. 6 5 - 7 9 , P - PP- 6 9 - 7 5 . The best critical assessment
of Neusner's overall programme is that of Hyam Maccoby, 'Jacob Neusner's Mishnah',
Midstream 3 0 , 1 9 8 4 , pp. 2 4 - 3 2 . For the present point see esp. p. 26.
2 1 . See especially Breech, Silence, pp. 1 - 5 .
2 2 . Cf. Chilton, God in Strength, p. 1 5 : 'We should avoid exegeting "the kingdom
of God" from a perspective which would have been esoteric to Jesus' hearers.'
2 3 . See Jacques Schlosser, Regne, pp. 4 2 - 7 .
24. Here and elsewhere I use 'sayings material' as a general term to include sayings
proper (logia), parables, other forms of teaching, and proclamation. Bruce Chilton has
correctly objected to the use of'teaching' to cover all sayings, including proclamation:
God in Strength, p. 2 1 .
2 5 . Schweitzer, Quest, pp. 357ft
26. Ibid., pp. 360ft
2 7 . Ibid., pp. 3 6 5 - 7 .
es

NOTES TO PAGES 1 3 O - 1 3 4

377

28. Ibid., pp. 37of.

29. See above, pp. 26f. and notes.
30. Jesus and the Word, p. 3 8 .
3 1 . Ibid., p. 4 3 .
3 2 . Ibid., pp. 5if.
3 3 . See, for example, Perrin, Kingdom, pp. 1 1 5 - 1 7 .
3 4 . The passages in mind are Matt. 1 2 . 2 8 ; Mark 1.14ft; Luke io.23f.;Luke 1 1 . 3 if.;
Matt. 1 1 . 2 - 1 1 .
3 5 . Dodd, Parables, p. 3 4 .
3 6 . See Perrin, Kingdom, p. 7 3 .
3 7 . Kummel, Promise and Fulfilment, p. 1 6 .
3 8 . Hengel, The Charismatic Leader, p. 3 n. 1 .
3 9 . Ibid., p. 3 .
40. Dodd, Parables, pp. 28ft For the development of Dodd's interpretation, see
Perrin, Kingdom, pp. 5 8 - 6 1 .
4 1 . I owe the images to Perrin, Kingdom, p. 1 1 4 . Note also Bultmann, History, p.
14: 'has drawn nigh'.
4 2 . Perrin, Kingdom, p. 76.
4 3 . Ibid., p. 1 7 1 . See also p. 199.
44. See above, n. 3 4 , for the passages on which Dodd relied. Perrin (Kingdom, pp.
7 4 - 6 ) gives a much longer list. Some are extraordinarily off the mark. It is not true, for
example, that forgiveness was reserved for the messianic period (p. 7 5 ; see above, ch.
3 at n. 54), and this point excludes several of Perrin's passages. It would be in some
ways a useful exercise to go through Perrin's list of passages which he claimed to prove
thatjesus regarded the kingdom as present and to show how few of them actually lead
to that view. It would deflect us from the present purpose, however, and would be
tedious for most readers. Perhaps it will suffice to say that the whole stack of cards
would collapse if Matt. 1 2 . 2 8 and 11.5ft were withdrawn. For that reason, and also
because I want only to exemplify the problems of the sayings material, I limit the
discussion to those two passages.
Schlosser (Regne, p. 675) notes that the chief passage in favour of the kingdom as
present is Luke 1 1 . 2 0 (which he regards as the more original form), but he discusses
three other passages: Mark 1 . 1 5 ; Luke 7.28//Matt. 1 1 . 1 1 ; Luke i7.2of. (pp. 8 9 - 2 4 3 ) .
Ulrich Muller ('Vision und Botschaft', ZTK74,1977,
pp. 4 1 6 - 4 8 ) cites as the pertinent
passages Luke 1 1 . 2 0 ; io.23f.; 1 0 . 1 8 ; Mark 2.19a, and focuses his article on Luke
10.18.

4 5 . It is, for example, one of the few passages in which Matthew rather than Mark
is the 'middle term', and it is generally considered a 'Mark-Qoverlap' (see Sanders,
'The Overlaps of Mark and Qand the Synoptic Problem', NTS 1 9 , 1 9 7 3 , pp. 4 5 3 - 6 5 ) .
It is nevertheless difficult to see the passage as resulting from the mechanical copying
of alternate verses from Mark and Q, which the Mark-Qoverlap theory must assume.
For a convincing analysis of the structure of the passage as it stands in Matthew, see
Lamar Cope, Matthew: A Scribe Trained for the Kingdom of Heaven, CBQMS 5 , 1 9 7 6 ,
PP- 3 7 - 4 0 , 46f.

46. In addition to the works cited in the previous note, see, for example, Arland
Hultgren, Jesus and His Adversaries, 1 9 7 9 , p. 1 0 5 ; B. C. Butler, The Originality of St
Matthew, 1 9 5 1 , pp. 8 - 1 2 .
47. O'Neill, Messiah, p. 1 5 : Whatever 'ephthasen upon you' means, it cannot be 'that
the Kingdom itself has come, because no one would expect the decision of men who
deny God's workings in the world to bring in his Kingdom, much less to be his Kingdom.

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N O T E S TO PAGES 1 3 4 - 1 3 5

The words "the Kingdom of God" must therefore stand for something like "the
judgment of God which he will pronounce when his Kingdom comes". The saying as
a whole means, "If you are wrong about my exorcisms and if I am casting out demons
by the finger of God, then you have pronounced against yourselves the judgment God
will pronounce when he comes openly to reign".'
48. See recently Schlosser, Regne, pp. 1 3 0 , 1 3 4 - 9 . See also Perrin, Bultmann and
others cited below.
49. Kummel, Promise and Fulfilment, pp. iosf. So also Bultmann, History, p. 1 4 .
50. Bultmann, History, p. 1 6 2 .
5 1 . Perrin, Kingdom, p. 87.
5 2 . In addition to Dodd and Perrin, cited above, see David Bosch, DieHeidenmission
in der Zukunftsschau Jesu, 1 9 5 9 , p. 47: 'The use of phthanein in Matt. 1 2 . 2 8 par. in
oppostion to engizein in Mark 1 . 1 5 par. can be no accident.' According to Bosch, it
proves Jesus' conception of the presence of the kingdom in his exorcisms. Kummel
(Promise and Fulfilment, pp. io6f.) in a similar way bases part of his argument on the
distinction between the verbs in Mark 1 . 1 5 and Matt. 1 2 . 2 8 . Cf. the attempt by
Schlosser (Regne, p. 1 3 7 ) to determine the precise meaning of ephthasen. All this I take
to be gross over-exegesis. Perhaps one can lean in this way on a turn of phrase or a
single word in Paul's letters, but not in the synoptics.
5 3 . O'Neill, Messiah, pp. 17ft The same problem with the meaning of the verb is to
be seen in the commentaries to I Thess. 2 . 1 6 .
54. Thus Bosch, Heidenmission, p. 49: 'Late Judaism expected the cessation of the
rule of the demonic powers at the beginning of the future messianic period.' He
concludes by stating that what for Jews remained in the future 'broke in' in Jesus'
behaviour, deeds and preaching. Bosch cites other scholars holding the view. Cf. John
Reumann,
in the Church s Gospels, 1968, pp. i53f.; Perrin, Kingdom, p. 166; Ernst
Bammel, "John Did no Miracle", Miracles. Cambridge Studies in their Philosophy and
History, ed. C. F. D. Moule, 1 9 6 5 , pp. 1 8 8 - 9 1 ; Howard Clark Kee, Miracle in the Early
Christian World, 1 9 8 3 , p. 1 5 5 : 'The miracles . . . are accomplished through [God's]
agents, whose exorcisms are seen as signs of the impending defeat of the God-opposing
powers.'
5 5 . T.Mos. 1 0 . 1 : 'And then His kingdom shall appear throughout all His creation,
And then Satan shall be no more, And sorrow shall depart with him.' T.Levi 1 8 . 1 2 :
'And Beliar shall be bound by him, And he shall give power to His children to tread
upon the evil spirits.'
56. That at the eschaton God would destroy evil was of course universally held. But
I see no evidence that the sign of the coming kingdom was generally thought to be
exorcism; for one thing, there were too many exorcists. Kee (loc. cit., n. 54) draws his
conclusion after running through some passages in Jewish literature, none of which
leads to it. The only 'signs and wonders' which he can cite as evidence of the coming
kingdom are not exorcisms (which Kee claims them to be, p. 1 5 5 ) , but the miraculous
deliverances of Daniel (Kee, p. 1 5 4 ) . The exorcisms (e.g. in the Prayer of Nabonidus)
have nothing to do with the arrival of the kingdom. Kee's actually citing passages makes
it evident that the conclusion about exorcisms and the kingdom is independent of the
evidence from Jewish sources.
5 7 . It is noteworthy that M.-E. Boismard, not usually reluctant to divide passages
into component parts, leaves Matt. 1 2 . 2 7 l ^ together: Synopse II, pp. 127ft
58. Perhaps needless to say, neither point is by any means sure, but I do not regard
the saying in Matt. 1 2 . 3 0 and par. as being much less probable than that in Matt. 1 2 . 2 7
and par.
a n (

NOTES TO PAGES 1 3 6 - 1 4 1

379

59. This passage is not infrequently seen as decisive for Jesus' conception of his
own ministry, as well as offering support for the view that he believed the kingdom to
be 'breaking in' in his words and deeds. See Dunn, Spirit, pp. 53ft, where there are
further references. Harvey, (Constraints, pp. 141ft) has offered the suggestive proposal
that Jesus' depiction of his ministry in terms of Isa. 61 (which is reflected in Matt.
1 1 . 2 - 6 ) explains the application to him of thetitle'Messiah'.
60. Bultmann, History, p. 23.
6 1 . Ibid.
62. Ibid., p. 126.
63. Dunn, Spirit, pp. 55-60; the quotation is from p. 59 and is italicized in the
original.
64. Bultmann, History, p. 162.
65. See, for example, Kummel, Promise and Fulfilment, p. 88; Dunn, Spirit, p. 49,
64; John Reumann, Jesus, pp. 153ft
66. It is a standard embarrassment for scholars to try to say just how the kingdom
was 'breaking in' with Jesus' words and deeds. One may note Bornkamm's efforts:
'This mystery is nothing but the hidden dawn of the kingdom of God itself amidst a
world which to human eyes gives no sign of it'; 'God's kingdom comes in concealment,
indeed even in spite of failure' (Jesus ofNazareth, pp. 71ft). Cf. also Kummel, Promise
and Fulfilment, p. 1 1 1 , quoted below. Perrin recognized the difficulty of saying 'in some
sense' (Kingdom, pp. 42ft).
67. Reumann, Jesus, p. 154: 'It is nowhere recorded that John the Baptist worked
miracles, which were signs of the kingdom.'
68. Reumann, ibid.
69. Dunn, Spirit, p. 47.
70. Ibid., p. 64.
7 1 . Trautmann, Zeichenhafte Handlungen, p. 265. I assume that she means that
nowhere else does one find such a claim. The statement may, on the other hand, be
simply a confession of faith.
72. P. W. Barnett, 'The Jewish Sign Prophets - A . D . 40-70 - Their Intentions and
Origin', NTS 27, 1 9 8 1 , pp. 679-97.
73. See, for example, Bornkamm, Jesus ofNazareth, p. 62, quoted above, p. 30.
74. Kummel, Promise and Fulfilment, p. 1 1 1 .
75. See Jeremias, Proclamation, p. 32. He does not, however, distinguish between
novelty of terminology and novelty of conception.
76. See recently Schlosser, Regne, pp. 674ft
77. Above, p. 1 3 2 .
78. Cf. G. B. Caird, The Language and Imagery of the Bible, 1980, p. 1 1 . Bruce Chilton
has proposed that the range of meanings of'kingdom' in the sayings attributed to Jesus
has a partial parallel in some of the Targums, particularly Targum Jonathan to Isaiah.
See God in Strength, esp. pp. 283-6; The Glory of Israel, 1983, pp. 7 7 - 8 1 .
79. The first two categories especially follow Dodd's arrangement (Parables, pp.
2 1 - 8 ) . Chilton (God in Strength, pp. 1 1 - 1 8 ) has a helpful discussion of categorization.
80. Perrin (Kingdom, p. 25) attributes the identification of this meaning of'kingdom'
to Dalman (The Words ofjesus, E T 1902, pp. 9 6 - 1 0 1 ) .
8 1 . See, for example, Perrin's criticism of Dalman and Manson, Kingdom, pp. 25-7;
95 ('the true background to the teaching of Jesus here is the apocalyptic rather than
the rabbinical literature').
82. In giving an account of how it can be that the idea of the covenant is prominent
in Rabbinic literature, although the word itself is not, I put the most important

38o

NOTES TO PAGES I 4 I - I 4 6

observation in the least important place. The observation is that other words substitute
for 'covenant'. See Paul and Palestinian Judaism, p. 4 2 1 and notes.
83. E.g. Sifra Ahare Motpereq 1 3 . 3 (to Lev. 18.if.).
84. E.g. Mekilta Bahodesh 5 (Lauterbach II, pp. 229ft); Mekilta Bahodesh 6
(Lauterbach II, pp. 238ft). The parables are quoted in Paul and Palestinian Judaism, p.
86.

85. See, for example, Dodd, Parables, pp. 2 2 - 4 .

86. David Catchpole ('John the Baptist, Jesus and the Parable of the Tares', SJT
3 1 , 1 9 7 8 , pp. 5 5 7 - 7 0 ) argues that Matt. 1 3 . 4 7 - 8 is authentic. Verse 49, which contains
the phrase 'consummation of the age', is to be considered an addition. The theme of
'gathering together' in 1 3 . 4 7 is judged authentic, and Catchpole points here to an
overlap with the message ofJohn (p. 560, citing Matt. 1 3 . 3 0 ; 3 . i 2 / / L u k e 3 . 1 7 ) .
87. The customary explanation that Matthew, in copying Mark, 'sharpened' the
reference to the Son of man (Perrin, Kingdom, p. 139) is extraordinarily weak. If
Matthew has here copied Mark, he has deleted a saying requiring commitment to Jesus
and his words. This is simply another instance in which unwavering allegiance to the
two-source hypothesis goes awry.
88. The problem of future expectation is often posed in terms of the difficulty for
modern Christians caused by the fact thatjesus expected an imminent end. See, for
example, Herbert Brawn, Jesus ofNazareth, pp. 3 6 - 4 3 ; Harvey, Constraints, ch. 4. Perrin
grants that 'Jesus did expect a future eschatological event in which the Son of Man
would exercise his function as Judge' (Kingdom, p. 1 3 9 ) , but this form of the future
expectation plays very little role in his general discussions of the kingdom as future
(see pp. 8 3 , 1 4 7 ) .
89. See Matt. 5.20; 7 . 2 1 ; 1 9 . 2 3 ; 2 3 . 1 3 ; 2 5 . 2 1 , 23; cf.'enter into life', 18.8; 1 9 . 1 7 .
See the illuminating study by Margaret Pamment, 'The Kingdom of Heaven according
to the First Gospel', NTS 27, 1 9 8 1 , pp. 2 1 1 - 3 2 , esp. 2 1 2 - 1 6 . 1 do not mean to assert
with confidence that the first evangelist created all these sayings, but only that they
reflect a prominent motif in the Gospel, one doubtless close to his own interest. For
Matthew's emphasis on 'discipleship', see Benno Przybylski, Righteousness in Matthew
and his World of Thought, 1980, pp. 1 0 8 - 1 2 .
90. Contrast Ulrich B. Miiller, 'Zur Rezeption Gesetzeskritischer Jesusiiberlieferung im friihen Christentum', NTS 2 7 , 1 9 8 1 , p. 1 5 8 : I Thess. 4 . 1 5 has no
recognizable synoptic parallel.
9 1 . For the category, see Bultmann, History, pp. 127ft, referring to Gunkel and von
Soden. For the attribution of I Thess. 4.15ft to Christian prophecy, see, for example,
Hans Conzelmann, Theology, p. 38. This attribution is doubted by David Hill, New
Testament Prophecy, 1 9 7 9 , pp. 1 3 0 , 1 6 6 . Eugene Boring, however, takes the passage as
a prime example of a revelation from 'the risen Lord', though still pre-Pauline. See
Sayings of the Risen Jesus, 1 9 8 2 , pp. 34, 7 5 .
92. See, for example, Perrin, Rediscovering, p. 186: Mark 8.38 is secondary to Luke
1 2 . 8 . Similarly Boring, Sayings of theRisen Jesus, pp. 1 6 5 - 7 , 1 8 3 : Mark 8.38 is secondary
to Matt. io.32//Luke 1 2 . 8 . Matt. 1 6 . 2 7 g unmentioned.
93. See Perrin, Rediscovering, p. 1 7 4 . Schlosser (Regne, p. 3 6 2 n. 1 3 0 ; p. 368 n. 187)
dismisses the saying even more quickly. See recently Boring, Sayings of the Risen Jesus,
pp. 1 8 6 - 9 5 : it is a Christian prophecy.
94. Michael Goulder has noted the correspondence between Paul and Matthew,
but he considers Matthew's phrase about the trumpet to have been added under
Pauline influence. SeeMidrash and Lection in Matthew, 1 9 7 4 , p. 166.
95. Perrin, Kingdom, p. 187ft
e s

146-157

NOTES TO PAGES

381

96. E.g. Vielhauer, 'Gottesreich und Menschensohn'.

97. Cf. Perrin, Kingdom, p. 140; Dunn, Spirit, p. 4 2 .
98. In both cases the word 'kingdom' occurs only in Matthew. In the passage about
James and John, Mark has 'in your glory' ( 1 0 . 3 7 ) where Matthew has 'in your kingdom'
(20.21). I take this not to be a substantial difference.
99. Cf. the discussion by Meyer {Aims, pp. 1 9 3 - 7 ) , who offers a more precise
meaning than I would be prepared to do: the ekklesia would embrace all Israel, which
would be the temple built on the rock - those who, like Peter, recognize Jesus as
Messiah. For the common interpretation of the saying as arising from the community,
see e.g. Klinzing, Umdeutung, pp. 2 0 5 - 7 : it refers to the community as temple, but
does not go back to Jesus.
100. Bultmann, History, p. 24: 'a manifest vaticinium ex eventu\
1 0 1 . See the summary by Vincent Taylor, The Gospel According to St Mark, p. 4 4 2 .
James was executed by Agrippa I (Acts 1 2 . 2 ) .
1 0 2 . Ibid., p. 439; cf. pp. 522ft
1 0 3 . Perrin, Rediscovering, p. 3 8.
104. Schlosser (Regne, pp. 3 7 3 - 4 1 7 ) has a clear and full treatment of problems and
solutions. The statement that most scholars accept the authenticity of the saying is on
p. 389. Schlosser agrees (p. 398). Cf. Dunn, Spirit, p. 36.
1 0 5 . Perrin, Kingdom, pp. 188ft He here includes Mark 1 4 . 2 5 , although apparently
he later came to regard it as inauthentic (n. 1 0 3 ) .
106. See Schlosser, Regne. pp. 8 9 - 2 4 3 .
1 0 7 . See Dodd, Parables, pp. 2 8 - 3 3 , P - P- 3
108. U. Miiller, 'Vision und Botschaft'.
109. O'Neill, Messiah, pp. 10ft, quoting also A. H. McNeile, The GospelAccording to
St Matthew, 1 9 1 5 , p. 1 5 4 .
1 1 0 . See, for example, Schlosser, Regne, pp. 166ft
i n . 'Opens himself to the kingdom': ibid., p. 1 6 7 .
1 1 2 . Schlosser, Regne, pp. 187ft
1 1 3 . In Rediscovering, p. 8 3 . Perrin gives a classification of the parables, and in
Kingdom, p. 8 3 , a list of'reversal' passages. In both cases I would organize the material
somewhat differently and retitle some of the categories. It is a task which, however, for
the present purpose does not need to be attempted.
1 1 4 . Cf. Kummel, Promise and Fulfilment, pp. 1 5 ft
1 1 5 . Perrin, Kingdom, p. 1 5 9 .
1 1 6 . Ibid., p. 199.
1 1 7 . G. B. Caird, The Language and Imagery of the Bible, p. 1 2 .
1 1 8 . Cf. Chilton, above, n. 78.
1 1 9 . For doubts on this, see above, ch. 3 n. 83.
1 2 0 . Cf. Crawford, 'Near Expectation in the Sayings ofJesus', p. 2 2 6 n. 5.
1 2 1 . Cf. Kummel, Promise and Fulfilment, pp. 1 4 4 - 4 6 .
1 2 2 . Schlosser, Regne, p. 1 6 6 , citing numerous others. See above, pp. 1 3 7 - 9 .
1 2 3 . O'NeiM, Messiah, p. 1 4 .
1 2 4 . Dodd, Parables, p. 29.
1 2 5 . Ibid., p. 3 3 .
es

5. M I R A C L E S A N D C R O W D S
1. Above, pp. 134ft and nn. 54, 56 and 67 to ch. 4.
2. E.g. Perrin, Rediscovering, p. 9 1 . See further below, ch. 6, section 3 . 1 .

382

NOTES TO PAGES 1 5 7 - 1 6 I

3. Above, pp. 134ft and esp. n. 5 6 .

4. Most scholars who deal with the quest for the historical Jesus concentrate on the
teaching material, thus tacitly assuming that Jesus was principally a teacher. One
sometimesfindsa direct statement, such as Martin Hengel's: 'The preaching of Jesus,
through which alone we can gain a truly reliable picture of his purpose and work . . .'
(Review of S. G. F. Brandon, Jesus and the Zealots, in JSS 1 4 , 1969, pp. 2 3 1 - 4 0 , here
236.)

Birger Gerhardsson has most explicitly attempted to explain Jesus by analogy

with Rabbinic teachers. See Gerhardsson, Memory and Manuscript. Of recent years
Gerhardsson's view is gaining ground in some circles, most strikingly in Tubingen.
See recently Rainer Riesner, Jesus als Lehrer. See further above, pp. 1 4 - 1 6 .
5. Smith (Magician) remarks that 'the miracle stories in the synoptics are not usually
connected with Jesus' teaching, and when they are, the connections are usually
secondary. Evidently the traditions were originally separate; this suggests that the
activities were' (p. 8 3 ) . See also p. 1 1 5 : 'We should not expect the teaching that the
gospels attribute to Jesus to be so consistently connected with magic as were
the miracles.' Without attempting a statistical analysis, I shall offer the following
generalization: the bodies of actual teaching material, most of which are in Matthew
and Luke, are not said to have been given in connection with miracles. But the reports
which summarize the activities often put them together. The reports are presumably
the evangelists' own summaries. The large bodies of teaching material seem to have
been transmitted separately from miracle stories. It is my judgment that both the
separation of the substantive materials and the summarizing connections are the result
of redactional activity in the transmission of the material. Thus I fall back on intrinsic
probability: miracles, teaching and crowds went together in Jesus' career.
6. There is a punctuation problem in Mark 1 . 2 7 . The RSV translates: 'What is this?
A new teaching! With authority he commands even the unclean spirits. . . .' The
Nestle/Aland text reads thus: 'What is this? A new teaching with authority. And he
commands the unclean spirits. . . .' Grammatically the Nestle/Aland punctuation is
the more natural. Luke 4.36 reads 'What is this word, that with authority and power
he commands the unclean spirits . . . ? ' - a reading which removes any possibility of
connecting 'authority' with 'teaching'.
7. See below, on the reasons for Jesus' death, pp. 299ft
8. Harvey (Constraints, pp. 1 1 1 - 1 3 ) lists compassion and 'acquiring fame, popularity
and authority' as the two principal possibilities, both of which he rejects. There is a
very careful assessment of the use of miracles to authenticate a message in Guignebert,
Jesus, pp. 1 8 9 - 9 2 . His conclusion is that all religions can appeal to approximately the
same sort of miracles, and that miracles of themselves thus do not 'possess an objectivity
capable of convincing . . . the unbeliever' (p. 1 9 1 ) .
9. An extreme example is that of Albert Nolan, Jesus Before Christianity, p. 28: 'The
English word "compassion" is far too weak to express the emotion that moved Jesus.
The Greek verb splagchnizomai. . .'. But even Harvey seriously considers this editorial
description as possibly giving Jesus' motive (Constraints, p. 1 1 1 ) . He rejects compassion
as Jesus' motive because the evangelists themselves do not present it as primary, thus
apparently assuming that they knew.
10. Harvey, Constraints, pp. 1 1 4 .
1 1 . Ibid., p. 1 0 8 .
1 2 . Ibid., p. 109.
1 3 . Ibid., p. 1 1 3 . Cf. earlier, Kummel, Promise and Fulfilment, p. 1 1 1 .
14. Harvey, Constraints, pp. 1 1 6 - 1 8 .

NOTES TO PAGES 1 6 1 - 1 6 7

383

1 5 . Ibid., p. 1 1 6
1 6 . Ibid., p. 1 1 7 .
1 7 . Ibid., p. 1 1 8 .
1 8 . Ibid., p. 1 1 5 .
1 9 . Ibid., pp. 141ft
20. Jesus' unique consciousness: above, p. 1 3 7 .
2 1 . Harvey, p. 1 1 1 . By p. 1 1 5 Virtually no precedent' has become 'completely
without precedent'.
2 2 . Josephus,AJfVIII.46.
2 3 . Smith, Magician, p. 109 and the notes on p. 1 9 5 .
24. On the very point as regards magic, see Smith, Magician, pp. 68f.
2 5 . Harvey,pp. 105ft
26. E.g. the predictions of the passion, the prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem,
and the prediction of betrayal by Judas and denial by Peter.
27. These and other examples can be found in Smith, Magician, p. 1 9 9 , notes to p.
1 1 6 ; see also p. 1 1 7 .
28. It may be that Harvey did not read Smith, whose book is not referred to. He
sometimes seems, however, to have Smith's book in mind (e.g. Harvey, pp. io8f.).
29. Harvey, p. 1 1 1 . Note also 'opted' (p. 109), 'options' (p. 108). But note also his
reservation, p. 1 0 5 .
30. We are probably in touch here with the undeclared theological agenda of the
book.
3 1 . Harvey (p. 1 1 1 ) mentions this possibility, but connects it with the question of
whether or not Jesus healed simply on compassionate grounds - which he also, quite
correctly, denies. But the two need not go together.
3 2 . See E . J . and L. Edelstein, Asclepius, 2 vols., 1 9 4 5 .
3 3 . Smith, Magician, pp. 9, 1 1 , 23ft Cf. Hengel, Charismatic Leader, p. 66: the
miracles awakened 'at least as much attention and enthusiasm as his preaching'.
3 4 . On the crowds: Smith, p. 2 3 .
3 5 . Smith,Magician, p. 1 6 .
3 6 . For terms and meanings, see Smith,Magician, pp. 6 8 - 8 0 .
3 7 . Ibid., pp. 8 4 - 9 3 . The parallels have been often discussed. Smith's particular
contribution is to describe how 'outsiders' viewed Apollonius and to compare that with
the 'outsiders'' view ofjesus.
3 8 . Ibid., primarily pp. 9 6 - 1 3 9 and notes.
3 9 . The prominent example in the Gospels is the story of the Gadarene demoniac
and the swine, Mark 5 . 1 - 2 0 and parr. See also Mark 3 . 1 1 . For 'Son of God' in
connection with another type of miracle, see Matt. 1 4 . 3 3 . On 'Son of God' as a title,
see Smith, pp. ioof.
40. Smith, p. 1 0 1 .
4 1 . Ibid., pp. 1 0 2 - 4 .
4 2 . Ibid., pp. 3 1 - 6 .
4 3 . Smith, p. 3 2 .
44. See Hengel, Charismatic Leader, p. 64.
4 5 . Bauer, Lexicon, p. 2 7 6 .
46. Cf. Hengel, Charismatic Leader, pp. 6 4 - 6 .
47. Smith,Magician, pp. i6f., 1 0 , 3 8 - 4 4 .
48. Ibid., p. 24.
49. Above, pp. 1 6 - 2 2 .

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N O T E S TO P A G E S 1 6 7 - 1 7 5

50. Ramsay MacMullen, Paganism in the Roman Empire. On p. xii he sets the 'spans
of time and space' in such a way as to excludefirst-centuryPalestine - barely.
5 1 . Ibid., p. 95.
5 2 . Ibid., pp. 96ft
5 3 . Smith (Magician, pp. 1 - 6 ) raises the problem of suppressed evidence, but
obviously nothing can be said about unreported deeds. As far as we know, all ofJesus'
miracles were good.
54. Smith, Magician, pp. 1 0 1 - 3 .
5 5 . Ibid., pp. 8 1 - 4 .
56. Ibid., p. 68.
5 7 . Freyne (Galilee, pp. 4 3 - 5 ) cogently argues the case against Schiirer's widely
accepted view.
58. Above, pp. 7ft See immediately below on Theudas.
59. Vermes, jfesus the Jew, pp. 6 9 - 8 0 .
60. Cf. Markham J . Geller, 'Jesus' Theurgic Powers: Parallels in the Talmud and
Incantation Bowls', JJS 28, 1 9 7 7 , p. 146: 'These similarities between Jesus' words
and conventional exorcisms, however, do not prove a priori thatjesus was an exorcist
rather than a holy man or charismatic, as Vermes has characterized him. Much depends
upon the point of view of the ancient sources.'
6 1 . Cf. David L . Tiede, The Charismatic Figure as Miracle Worker, 1 9 7 2 , p. 263:
'Cautious clarifications about what is or is not "magical" were not characteristic of the
society that authenticated its charismatic heroes as divine on the basis of their
miraculous performances.' Harold Remus has now shown that the terms for miracles
in Christian literature do not distinguish the deeds attributed to Jesus and others from
pagan miracles: 'The distinctions pagans and Christians draw between miracle claims
lie in the eyes of the beholders' (Harold Remus, 'Does Terminology Distinguish Early
Christian from Pagan Miracles?', J#> 1 0 1 , 1 9 8 2 , pp. 5 3 1 - 5 1 , quotation from p. 550).
62. See MacMullen's discussion above.
63. See Otto Betz, 'Das Problem des Wunders bei Flavius Josephus im Vergleich
zum Wunderproblembei den Rabbinen und
im]oh2mnese\2mgelium\JosephuS"Studien
(ed. O. Betz, K. Haacker, and M. Hengel), 1 9 7 4 , pp. 2 3 - 4 4 , esp. 2 5 - 3 4 .
64. Theudas: AJXX.97-9;
unnamed people: AJXX. 168; BJII.259; the Egyptian:
4 7 XX. 1 6 8 - 7 2 ; BJ I I . 2 6 1 - 6 3 .

65. I follow here the account of the Egyptian in the Antiquities. For the partial
conflict with the story in the War, see below, p. 2 3 4 and n. 2 5 .
66. On goes, see Smith, Magician, p. 20.
67. Smith (Magician, p. 20) says thatjesus fits the religious and social type ofJudas
and Theudas, but putting Judas here seems to confuse the issue. See below, pp.
237-40.

68. Smith, Magician, pp. 23ft

6. T H E S I N N E R S
1. See Stanton, Jesus ofNazareth in New Testament Preaching, p. 1 4 6 .
2. Jeremias, Proclamation, pp. 1 0 9 - 1 1 .
3 . See, for example, Peter Fiedler, Jesus und die Sunder, 1 9 7 6 , p. 2 7 1 .
4. See Cadbury, The Peril of Modernizing Jesus, pp. 1 3 5 - 4 5 ; Hultgren,^$ws and His
Adversaries, pp. 1 0 9 - 1 1 (with bibliography). Some favour authenticity, e.g. Trautmann,
Zeichenhafte Handlungen, p. 1 5 7 .
5. Cf. Hultgren, Jesus and His Adversaries, pp. 1 0 9 - 1 1 ; Fiedler, Jesus und die Sunder,

385

NOTES TO PAGES I75-I76

p. 2 7 1 ; H. K. McArthur, 'Basic Issues: A Survey of Recent Gospel Research', Interpr

1 8 , 1 9 6 4 , p. 4 8 .
6. Cf. Fiedler, Jesus und die Sunder, pp. 2 2 8 - 3 3 >' 7
7. Fiedler (ibid., pp. 1 2 9 - 3 5 , 2 7 1 ) , correctly in my view, regards the story as a
secondary construction.
8. Perrin {Rediscovering, p. 99) regards Matthew's version as nearer the original.
Jeremias accepted Luke's setting here and elsewhere. This plays a substantial role in
incorrectly identifying Jesus' opponents: below, ch. 1 0 at nn. 3 8 - 4 0 .
9. That Luke 1 5 . 7 and 1 5 . 1 0 are editorial additions is generally agreed. See, for
example, Perrin, ibid., p. 1 0 1 .
1 o. For what follows, see Jeremias, Proclamation, pp. 1 0 8 - 1 3 .
1 1 . Ibid., p. 1 1 2 .
1 2 . Ibid., pp. 1 1 2 f .
1 3 . E.g. Nolan, Jesus before Christianity, p. 2 1 .
1 4 . It would require a small dissertation to sort out the views of New Testament
scholarship on the relationship of the sinners and the 'amme ha-arets. The older
generation generally accepted the equation without discrimination. Thus, for example,
Bousset, Jesus, p. 65: the 'sinners' were 'those who had refused in any way to fall in
with the forms of the ruling Pharisaic piety'. Many more recent scholars also accept
the simple equation: thus Hultgren, ^sws and his Adversaries, p. 1 1 1 : the 'sinners' are
the 'amme ha-arets of M. Demai 2 . 3 . On p. 98 n. 93 he gives a long bibliography. R.
Pesch ('Anspruch', pp. 5 6 , 6 7 , 69) also seems to make a flat equation between the
'sinners' and the 'amme ha-arets in the Pharisaic view. Jesus accepted them and thus
overcame Jewish Heilsegoismus, Selbstgerechtigkeit, dngstliche Religiositdt, etc. (pp. 67ft).
Nolan (Jesus before Christianity, p. 22), following Jeremias, also informs us that the
'poor' and those of'low class' were considered sinners by the Pharisees.
Jeremias's view shows that he was caught in a difficult position. When he simply
defined the 'sinners' in the Jewish view, he did it accurately enough: they were deliberate
and unrepentant transgressors of the law, not simply those who did not follow the
purity code of the haberim (the 'amme ha-arets). See, for example, his Parables ofjesus,
rev. E T , 1 9 6 3 , p. 1 3 2 . But when he came to write his theology of Jesus' preaching
(Proclamation), he had to go against his own knowledge, and equate the 'amme ha-arets
with the 'sinners', partly to put all those with whom Jesus was especially concerned
under one heading ('the poor'), and partly - at least so it appears - to magnify the
supposed opposition between Jesus and the Pharisees: if the Pharisees considered the
common people (the 'amme ha-arets) sinners, and ifJesus favoured the inclusion of the
common people in the kingdom, the enmity was obvious. Jeremias seems to have
reasoned like this: the Pharisees and the haberim were identical; the haberim would not
eat with the 'amme ha-arets; Jesus ate with them; therefore he offended Pharisaic purity
regulations. This is all wrong, as the succeeding discussion will, I hope, show.
Scholars could have learned decades ago that there is no connection in Jewish
materials between the common people, the 'amme ha-arets, and those called 'sinners'.
See e.g. Klausner, Jesus ofNazareth, p. 2 7 6 ; L . Finkelstein, The Pharisees I I , 1 9 6 2 ,
pp. 7 5 4 - 6 1 ; Abrahams, Studies in Pharisaism and the Gospels I, ch. 7, 'Publicans and
Sinners'.
Finally, it should be pointed out that some scholars who have in theory learned that
the 'amme ha-arets were not 'sinners' still do not get the point, since they continue to
think that those who transgressed the purity code of the haberim were considered
'sinners' (see below). In fact, failing to keep the priestly purity code is precisely what
defines an 'am ha-arets - not a sinner.
1 5 . See e.g. Stephen Westerholm, Jesus and Scribal Authority, 1 9 7 8 , pp. 69ft See
2

386

N O T E S TO PAGES 1 7 7 - 1 8 ?

further the discussion in Fiedler, Jesus und die Sunder, pp. 1 4 0 - 4 4 .

16. I have given the terminological information in Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp.
142ft; 2 0 3 (n. 1 1 9 : the wicked do not accept the Torah); 3 4 2 - 5 ; 3 5 1 - 5 ; 357ft; 3 6 1 ;

3 9 9 - 4 0 5 ; 4 1 4 . See also, 'Jesus: from the Semitic Point of View', The Cambridge History
of Judaism, forthcoming.
1 7 . Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time ofjesus, ch. 1 4 .
18. See Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 9 2 - 4 .
19. See Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 243ft, 5 7 > 7 (Dead Sea Scrolls), 3 5 1 (I
Enoch 8 3 - 9 0 ) , 3 9 1 , 3 9 9 - 4 0 6 (Psalms of Solomon).
20. N. 1 7 above.
2 1 . See Paul and Palestinian Judaism, p. 149.
2 2 . PHagigah 77b (2.1).
2 3 . Cf. Hultgren, Jesus and his Adversaries, pp. 1 0 9 - 1 1 .
24. Even these parables, usually regarded as sacrosanct, may be questioned. For
the sake of the present argument, however, I do not press the doubts. On the dubious
character of Luke 1 5 . 2 5 - 3 2 , see Jack T . Sanders, Tradition and Redaction in Luke
XV. 1 1 - 3 2 ' , NTS 1 5 , 1969, pp. 4 3 3 - 3 8 . For the view that the entire parable is Lucan,
see L. Schottroff, 'Das Gleichnis vom verlorenen Sohn', ZTK 68, 1 9 7 1 , pp. 2 7 - 5 2 .
2 5 . See the caution in Perrin, Rediscovering, p. 97.
26. See above n. 9; below, ch. 10 at nn. 3 8 - 4 0 .
27. Nolan (Jesus before Christianity, pp. 96-8) proposes that the Pharisees oppressed
the poor and thatjesus attacked them for this. The Gospels do not, however,fitsimple
socio-economic theories. The 'wicked' - tax collectors and usurers - were not
necessarily impoverished!
28. See the Index to Paul and Palestinian Judaism, s.v. 'The wicked'.
29. I have proposed before that the view that the Pharisees considered the 'amme
ha-arets cut off from Israel is without foundation (Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 1 4 9 ,
1 5 2 - 7 ) . No one has challenged the proposal; but, on the other hand, it does not seem
to have been accepted.
30. Jeremias (Proclamation, p. 1 1 9 ) seems to accept John 7.49 as evidence of the
view of Pharisaism before 70. In Jerusalem in the Time ofjesus (p. 266 n. 7 1 ) he relies
on both John 7.49 and Luke 1 8 . 9 - 1 4 .
3 1 . On the anti-Pharisaic polemic of Luke, see Jack T . Sanders, 'Tradition and
Redaction in Luke XV. 1 1 - 3 2 ' , esp. p. 438; 'The Parable of the Pounds and Lucan
Anti-Semitism', Theological Studies 42, 1 9 8 1 , pp. 6 6 0 - 6 8 . Sanders now has in hand a
more detailed study of anti-Judaism (including anti-Pharisaism) in Luke.
3 2 . E.g. Pesahim 49b.
3 3 . See recently Solomon J . Spiro, 'Who was the Haber} A New Approach to an
Ancient Institution', JSJ 1 1 , 1980, pp. 1 8 6 - 2 1 6 , esp. pp. 1 8 7 - 9 ; cf. p. 2 1 1 .
34. Jacob Neusner, The Idea of Purity in Ancient Judaism, 1 9 7 3 , pp. 65ft See also
Vermes and others, eds., The History of the Jewish People in the Age ofjesus Christ II, p.
388 n. 1 6 . Neusner speaks of'the Pharisees', which raises a problem: see 1.2.4 below.
3 5 . Spiro, 'Who was the HaberV, p. 208.
36. I am indebted for this point to Hyam Maccoby.
3 7 . Finkelstein, The Pharisees II, p. 7 5 7 .
3 8. M. Smith, 'Palestinian Judaism in the First Century', Israel: Its Role in Civilization
(ed. M. Davis), 1 9 5 6 , pp. 7 4 - 8 1 ( = Essays in Greco-Roman andRelatedTalmudicLiterature
[ed. Henry A. Fischel], 1 9 7 7 , pp. 1 9 0 - 7 ) , here pp. 73ft ( = 189ft). Cf. Westerholm,
Jesus and Scribal Authority, p. 65. Cf. Josephus, Ap. II. 1 7 5 - 8 .
39. The biblical purity laws are summarized by Neusner, The Idea of Purity, ch. 1 . 1
2

NOTES TO PAGES 1 8 2 - 1 8 6

387

shall not discuss the fascinating question of what conception(s) of reality lay behind
these laws, but only the question of when impurity involves sin. We enter this discussion
under the chapter heading 'The Sinners'. On the use of the language of impurity for
moral wickedness, see especially Adolf Buchler, Studies in Sin and Atonement in the
Rabbinic Literature of the First Century, 1 9 2 9 , repr. 1 9 6 7 , pp. 2 1 2 - 6 9 (*h Bible),
2 7 0 - 3 7 4 (post-biblical literature). This subject is also left out of account here, though
there are short summaries in Paul and Palestinian Judaism, see the index, s.v. 'purity'.
40. See the quotation from Finkelstein just above. See also Adolf Buchler, Types of
Jewish-Palestinian Pietyfrom 70 B . C . E . to 70 c . E . , 1 9 2 2 , repr. 1 9 6 8 , p. 1 4 3 : 'The common
mistaken assumption of modern Christian historians of rabbinic Judaism that the
contraction of a levitical defilement implied a sin, is totally foreign to rabbinic law,
especially with reference to Temple times. Not even if the high-priest accidentally
contracted the gravest defilement from a human corpse, did he incur the slightest sin,
unless he, in his defiled state, entered the Temple or handled holy things.'
4 1 . Paul and Palestinian Judaism, p. 1 7 9 .
4 2 . Westerholm, y^ws and Scribal Authority, p. 62. Dr Westerholm now informs me
that he intended to say that the scribes taught additional purity laws.
4 3 . On the priests' responsibility in general, seeAp II. 1 8 7 , below, at n. 7 5 .
44. Westerholm,^w5 and Scribal Authority, p. 66.
4 5 . For the miqvaot in the houses, including one with the connecting pipe, see
Avigad, Discovering Jerusalem, pp. 1 3 9 , 1 4 2 . Those outside the temple area may be
inspected, though technical evaluation is difficult. Their existence is noted by Benjamin
Mazar, 'Herodian Jerusalem in the Light of the Excavations South and South-West
of the Temple Mount', IEJ 28, 1 9 7 8 , p. 2 3 6 .
46. Mikwaoth 6 . 1 , 7ft; cf. 3 . 2 .
47. See Yigael Yadin, Masada. Herod's Fortress and the Zealots 'Last Stand, 1 9 6 6 , pp.
e

i66f.

48. Note Avigad's slight surprise: Even though the inhabitants of the western hill
were probably Sadducees, 'there is no specific archaeological evidence here to indicate
any laxity' . . . 'On the contrary, the finds indicate that the laws of ritual purity were
kept' (p. 83). He seems to have been influenced by a common view, generally accepted
by Christian scholars, that only the Pharisees were concerned about the law, especially
laws of purity. Similarly Yadin (loc. cit.) states that the construction of the miqveh at
Masada shows that the defenders were 'devout Jews'. But so were many of those in
Jerusalem who constructed their miqvaot differently. We should not equate devotion
and piety with agreement with Rabbinic law.
49. See Westerholm, j M 5 and ScribalAuthority, p. 66 and notes; Paul and Palestinian
Judaism, p. 1 5 4 n. 40. To the literature cited there should be added Ch. Albeck, The
Six Orders of the Mishnah, Tohorot, 1 9 5 9 , pp. 6 0 5 - 7 ; and the E T of Alon: Gedalyahu
Alon, Jews, Judaism and the Classical World, E T 1 9 7 7 , esp. pp. 2 1 9 - 2 3 . The problem
of the extension of handwashing to the laity has been fully aired, though not resolved,
by Buchler and those who have attempted - not, in my judgment, entirely successfully
- to refute him. He dated the general extension to the laity ca. 100 C E . It is reasonable
to think that the extension of some laws of purity coincided with the elimination of
others, when the temple was destroyed.
50. Cf. Spiro, 'Who was the Haber?'
5 1 . The talmudists who have debated the extension of the handwashing code to the
laity (see n. 49) have not, as far as I have noted, come to terms with a basic problem:
why te^washing? My colleague Al Baumgarten remarked to me that the biblical view
is 'all or nothing': a person who is unclean should be immersed and wait for the sun to

388

NOTES TO PAGES 186-188

set (see the previous subsection). Buchler pointed out that the simple washing of hands
does not remove true levitical (biblical) impurity (Adolf Buchler, 'The Law of
Purification in Mark vii. 1 - 2 3 ' , ExpT 2 1 , 1 9 0 9 - 1 0 , p. 40), and he therefore proposed
that 'handwashing' was not the issue in the Gospels, but 'defilement' (by biblical law)
of hands which touched priestly food. For someone to reply, as does Alon, that Judith
1 1 . 1 3 indicates that lay hands could render priestly food impure, and that therefore 'it
follows that the washing of the hands for holy things was practised before the time of
Hillel and Shammai', (Alon, loc. cit., p. 2 2 2 n. 85) is to miss the point. Lay hands may
well have been considered defiled and not to be cleansed simply by washing. Scholars
themselves shift from the biblical purity laws to the scribal ones; we should not be too
hard on Mark for not knowing the difference. But I dare say that Jesus and his
contemporaries did. In any case, the questions of priestly and lay handwashing, as far
as I can see, await solution. They are irrelevant, however, for our present problem. Sin
is in no case involved.
5 2 . Braun, Jesus ofNazareth, p. 5 3 .
5 3 . G. Aulen, Jesus, p. 49.
54. They would of course affect relations with Gentiles (as Gal. 2 . 1 1 - 1 4 shows).
This, however, is not the problem in the material about Jesus.
5 5 . Westerholm, who clearly perceives that the wicked are not the 'amme ha-arets,
nevertheless writes that 'In taking his message to the most notorious sinners, Jesus
indicated that the matter of ritual purity was at best a very subordinate consideration'
(Jesus and Scribal Authority, p. 7 1 ) .
56. M. Demai 2.3: R. Judah.
5 7 . Jeremias, Proclamation, p. 1 1 8 .
58. Paul: Gal. 1 . 1 4 ; Phil. 3.6; cf. Acts 23.6; Josephus: 5711.162. (Cohen, however,
has doubts about Josephus's Pharisaism; see below at n. 8 1 . )
59. For a brief statement, see Jacob Neusner, From Politics to Piety, 1 9 7 3 , esp. pp.
80, 8 3 . He argues that the Pharisees, after Hillel, were essentially haberim - a small,
pacifist party concerned with purity. He regards this as having been proved by his study
of Rabbinic material (TheRabbinic Traditions about the Pharisees before 7 0 , 3 vols., 1 9 7 1 ) .
The Pharisaic laws which survive, he argues, primarily have to do with the internal
governance of a purity sect. Agricultural laws are a secondary element, but these too
affect 'table-fellowship' (vol. Ill, p. 288). The third group consists of temple rules; but
they are not numerous, since the Pharisees did not control the cult (pp. 288, 290). His
argument rests, however, on an analysis of traditions assigned to individuals or to
houses. Thus the summary does not reflect the numerous anonymous laws which
probably represent common belief and practice, including large bodies of law on civil
matters, worship, feasts, and the temple cult. Neusner is prepared to grant that the
Pharisees and others shared a large area of common ground (pp. 287ft), but this is
curiously deleted from his definition of Pharisaism as a purity sect. Individual
anonymous pericopes dealing with non-purity matters can seldom be shown to be
earlier than 7 0 (or, in fact, be closely dated at all), but one should not convert this
difficulty into a denial that the Pharisees before 70 were substantially concerned with
these topics. If the ground common to all parties - the existence of which Neusner is
prepared to grant in general - is added to the definition of Pharisaism, it will be seen
that the Mishnah too points towards defining the Pharisees as what Josephus says they
were - lay experts in the law - not just as a purity sect.
Neusner notes the problem which Josephus causes for his view in Rabbinic Traditions
III, pp. 2 3 9 - 4 4 , and he attempted to meet it in 'Josephus's Pharisees. A Complete
Repertoire', Formative Judaism. Third Series, 1 9 8 3 , pp. 6 1 - 8 2 (first published 1 9 7 2 ) .

NOTES TO PAGES 1 8 8 - 1 9 4

389

Here he proposes that in Josephus's War the Pharisees as a party play no role in politics
after about 5 0 B C E ('with the advent of Herod and Hillel'). His discussion, however,
leaves out of account too many passages in the War, and it is not persuasive. Thus his
statement on p. 269, that the War would lead one to think that the Essenes were the
most important sect, is contradicted by BJ II. 1 6 2 . His view that the Pharisaic party
played no role after Herod is contradicted by BJ I I . 4 1 1 , where it plays a small role at
the time of the revolt (ch. 1 1 below). Throughout Josephus, the Pharisees are a party
and they are always interpreters of the law. The only question is their relative influence
at any given time (see also below, 2 . 3 . 1 ) , not the nature of the party. See now D. R.
Schwartz, Josephus and Nicolaus on the P h a r i s e e s ' , J 5 7 1 4 , 1 9 8 3 , pp. 1 5 7 - 7 1 .
In any case the argument which will be presented here and in ch. 10 will stand. If
the Pharisees in the time ofjesus were a small sect, dominated by a concern for applying
the priestly purity code to the laity, they would not have been able - even if they had
wanted - to exclude others from the practice of religion in their own way; and the more
exclusivist they were, the fewer would have been their followers. Thus, the closer one
puts the Pharisees to the haberim, the less significance attaches to any possible conflict
between Jesus and the Pharisees.
60. The quotation is from Maccoby, 'Neusner's Mishnah', p. 29. For the Pharisees
as exact and accurate interpreters of the law acording to Josephus and other sources,
see A. I. Baumgarten, 'The Name of the Pharisees', JBL 1 0 2 / 3 , 1 9 8 3 , pp. 4 1 1 - 2 8 .
Ellis Rivkin has strongly insisted on this definition of the Pharisees and denies their
equation with the haberim. See 'Defining the Pharisees: The Tannaitic Sources',
HUCA 4 0 - 4 1 , 1 9 6 9 - 7 1 , pp. 2 3 4 - 8 ; A Hidden Revolution, 1 9 7 8 .
The new edition of Schiirer continues the flat equation of Pharisees and haberim,
quoting the Rabbinic passages on the haberim and the 'amme ha-arets. Rivkin's articles
appear in the bibliography, but his detailed argument that the Tannaitic sources much less Josephus - do not equate the Pharisees and the haberim is not discussed.
See Schiirer, ed. Geza Vermes and others, The History of the Jewish People II, p. 398.
6 1 . Above, n. 1 1 .
62. Aulen, Jesus, p. 59.
63. Ibid., p. 60.
64. Aulen makes it clear that he identifies those offended as the Pharisees: ibid.,
pp. 6 1 - 6 .
65. Jeremias, Proclamation, p. 1 1 2 : the ignorance of the 'amme ha-arets 'stood in the
way of their access to salvation.'
66. Nolan, Jesus before Christianity, p. 2 2 . Earlier see Rudolf Bultmann, Primitive
Christianity, E T 1 9 5 6 , p. 66.
67. Baba Metzia 3 3 b (R. Judah b. Ilai).
68. Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 1 1 of.
69. On the bleakness of a nineteenth-century Sunday - and consequently its
unremunerativeness - , see Dickens, Little Dorrit, ch. 3 .
70. Baba Metzia 3 3 b ; see further Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 1 5 2 - 7 .
7 1 . Above, n. 63.
7 2 . As by Jeremias, Proclamation, p. 1 1 7 .
7 3 . Above, n. 3 2 .
74. 'Down to the fall of the Temple, the normative Judaism of Palestine is that
compromise of which the three principal elements are the pentateuch, the Temple,
and the 'amme ha'arez, the ordinary Jews who were not members of any sect': Morton
Smith, 'The Dead Sea Sect in Relation 10 Ancient Judaism', NTS 7 , 1 9 6 0 - 6 1 , p. 3 5 6 .
7 5 . Josephus,^/>. II. 1 8 7 ; see generally 1 8 4 - 9 8 . See further M. Stern, 'Aspects of

390

N O T E S TO P A G E S 194-2OO

Jewish Society: The Priesthood and other Classes', The Jewish People in the First Century
II (ed. S. Safrai and M. Stern), pp. 5 6 1 - 6 3 0 , esp. 5 8 0 - 9 6 , 6 0 0 - 1 2 ; Schiirer/Vermes
The History of the Jewish People II, pp. 1 9 6 - 2 3 6 . We return to the relative positions of
the priests and the Pharisees in chs. 1 0 and 1 1 below.
76. The phrase is Bousset's, Jesus, p. 65, but the view is common.
7 7 . Jan Lambrecht, Jesus and the Law', ETL 5 3 , 1 9 7 7 , p. 79.
78. Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time ofjesus, p. 267. In an extreme extension of
Jeremias's view, Farmer writes that the Pharisees 'were recognized by the Romans as
legal authorities whose power over the people in the cities and towns of Galilee was
their best hope for maintaining social stability in the area' (Jesus and the Gospel, 1 9 8 2 ,
P- 3 0 ) .
79. The statement on p. 1 1 2 ofProclamation is clarified on p. 1 1 8 : the main religious
duty of Judaism was separation from sinners, naming the Pharisees and the Essenes as
representing Judaism'. Since the Essenes did not govern Judaism on this point, that
leaves only the Pharisees.
80. See Morton Smith, 'Palestinian Judaism'. See also Shaye Cohen, Josephus in
Galilee and Rome, 1 9 7 9 , pp. 1 4 0 , 237ft, 2 4 1 .
8 1 . Cohen, ibid., pp. 223ft So also Neusner, Josephus's Pharisees', p. 69.
82. Smith, 'PalestinianJudaism', p. 81 ( = p. 1 9 7 ) .
8 3 . Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus, p. 267.
84. Ibid., p. 266.
8 5. See Michael J . Cook, Jesus and the Pharisees',^Wrtf/ of Ecumenical Studies 1 5 ,
1 9 7 8 , p. 4 4 5 .
86. Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time ofjesus, p. 267.
87. See Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 1 5 7 - 6 8 .
88. See Schiirer/Vermes, The History ofthe Jewish People II, p. 284.
89. See the interesting calculations of numbers in Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of
Jesus, pry. 1 9 8 - 2 1 3 .
90. Smith ('PalestinianJudaism in the First Century') has proposed that the Galilean
synagogues were not dominated by the Pharisees. 'There is strong evidence that there
were practically no Pharisees in Galilee during Jesus' lifetime' (Magician, p. 1 5 7 ) . So
also Cohenjosephus in Galilee and Rome,p. 226: 'The Pharisaic movement was centered
in Jerusalem and did not become influential in Galilee until after the Bar Kokhba
revolt.' Martin Hengel also offers a caution on this point: 'we must avoid overestimating
the influence of Pharisaic scholars before 7 0 A.D. in Galilee' (Charismatic Leader, p.
5 5 ; cf. p. 45 n. 26). Contrast Farmer, n. 7 8 above.
9 1 . Lay teachers called 'scribes': e.g. Schiirer/Vermes, The History of the Jewish
People II, pp. 238ft The relationship between 'scribes' and 'Pharisees' is often discussed.
See ch. 9 n. 1 5 . My own judgment is that it is more reasonable to equate Pharisees
and scribes than Pharisees and haberim.
9 2. Perrin, Rediscovering, pp. 91 - 4 .
93. Ibid., p. 9 1 .
94. Ibid., pp. 93ft The equation of 'sinners' and 'Gentiles' is not quite correct,
although it may be true that most Gentiles were regarded by most Jews as 'sinners'
(see e.g. Gal. 2 . 1 5 ) . But an apostate Jew, no matter how heinous his sin and how
unrepentant his attitude, was still a Jew. See on this Larry Schiffman, 'At the
Crossroads: Tannaitic Perspectives on the Jewish-Christian Schism', Jewish and
Christian Self-Definition II: Aspects of Judaism in the Graeco-Roman Period, 1 9 8 1 , pp.
115-56.

95. Perrin, p. 94.

NOTES TO PAGES 201-207

391

96. Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus, p. 267.

97. Riches,^ss and the Transformation of Judaism, pp. 9 9 , 1 0 8 .
98. Kasemann, 'Blind Alleys in the "Jesus of History" Controversy', p. 5 1 .
99. Fuchs, 'The Quest of the Historical Jesus', p. 2 1 .
100. J . Behm, 'fieTavoeoo, fxeTavoia', TDNTIW, p. 1002.
1 0 1 . For these two points, see Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 3 6 , 5 7 , 2 2 6 .
1 0 2 . See for example W. R. Farmer, 'An Historical Essay on the Humanity ofjesus
Christ', Christian History and Interpretation (ed. W. R. Farmer and others), 1 9 6 7 , p.
103.

1 0 3 . Funk, Language, Hermeneutic, and Word of God, pp. 17ft

104. E. Schweizer, Jesus, p. 29. For this general view see also Schlosser, Regne, p.
683.

1 0 5 . Perrin, Rediscovering, p. 97.

106. See also Perrin, Kingdom, p. 7 5 . Repentance not exclusive to end-time: ch. 3
at n. 5 4 above.
1 0 7 . Perrin's 'evidence' is Tohoroth 7.6, which says that a tax collector defiles a
house into which he enters (Perrin, Rediscovering, p. 94). I cannot understand why he
thought that this meant that the tax collector could not repent.
108. In Rabbinic literature the classic statement on repentance is attributed to R.
Simeon (probably b. Yohai): even the completely wicked person who repents at the
end will be saved (T. Kiddushin i.isf.). One passage does not prove a view to be
universal, and I cite it to illustrate a view which can be shown to be universal - at least
as being virtually universal in all the surviving Jewish literature of the period 200 B C E
to 200 C E . There are minor exceptions to the rule in iQS. One may see the various
sections on 'atonement' in each of the first three chapter* of Paul and Palestinian
Judaism.
109. So Perrin, Rediscovering, p. 1 0 3 .
1 1 0 . Above, p. 109. This point is well made by Aulen, Jesus, p. 66.
i n . Above, at n. 7. Cf. R. Bultmann, History, p. 34: the passage is 'manifestly
imaginary, an extended version of Mark 2 . 1 4 which, combined with w. 1 5 - 1 7 , gave
rise to this story'. Fiedler (Jesus und die Sunder, p. 1 3 5 ) argues that the story is so
strongly marked by Lucan language and theology that one need not look for a prior
story which has been reworked. Jeremias (Proclamation, p. 1 5 6 ) treats all the details of
the story as factual.
1 1 2 . Jeremias, Proclamation, p. 1 1 9 . So also Aulen, Jesus, pp. 66, 7 1 .
1 1 3 . Ibid., p. 1 7 7 . See recently W. R. Farmer,^ss and the Gospel,p. 4 1 ; Trautmann,
Zeichenhafte Handlungen, p. 1 6 2 ; Aulen, Jesus, p. 89.
1 1 4 . Perrin, Rediscovering, pp. 9 0 - 1 0 8 .
1 1 5 . Westerholm, Jesus and ScribalAuthority, p. 1 3 2 .
1 1 6 . For the Rabbinic rule, see Sifra Ahare Mot pereq 8.if. Further passages in
Paul and Palestinian Judaism, p. 1 7 9 and notes. Transgression of the Sabbath, for
example, ordinarily required a sin-offering (Sanhedrin 7.8; Shabbath 7 . 1 ) .
1 1 7 . I am happy to note that this was seen by Aulen, Jesus, p. 66: 'One could not
find a sign of. . . penance among the sinners with whom Jesus associated.' Basically,
however, he accepted the theory that it was the sequence of forgiveness and repentance
which was offensive (pp. 66, 7 1 ) .
1 1 8 . I agree with Bultmann (History, pp. 28, 56ft) that the passages depicting the
call of the disciples are 'ideal scenes': they condense 'into one symbolic moment what
was in actuality a process' (p. 5 7 ) . But I still think it likely that at least one tax collector
was among Jesus' followers. Pesch has argued that the story of the banquet to which

392

N O T E S TO PAGES 2 0 7 - 2 1 3

many tax collectors and sinners came (Mark 2 . 1 5 - 1 7 ) is basically authentic ('Das
Zollnergastmahl [Mk 2 , 1 5 - 1 7 ] ' , Melanges Bibliques en hommage au R. P. Beda Rigaux
[ed. A. Deschamps and others], 1 9 7 0 , pp. 6 3 - 8 7 ) . The case is admirably argued, but
it is a classic example of the careful and meticulous analysis of passages which, I fear,
will never tell us much about Jesus. The general charge seems reliable, but I remain
unpersuaded that several tax collectors gathered in one place in Galilee for a dinner
which Jesus attended. Such an event, if it occurred, would tell us more about the
density of tax collectors in Galilee than it would about Jesus.
1 1 9 . This interpretation takes the saying of Mark 2 . 1 9 to be an original saying,
although the setting for it has been invented. See again Bultmann, History, pp. i8f.
1 2 0 . Moule (Birth, p. 24) sees that it is a question whether or not Jesus approved of
sacrifice.
1 2 1 . Jeremias, Proclamation, pp. 115ft; Perrin, Rediscovering, pp. 107ft; Hengel,
Charismatic Leader, p. 67; Trautmann, Zeichenhafte Handlungen, pp. 1 6 1 ft From
Trautmann's discussion, it would appear that 'eating' always meant 'eschaton'. We
must exercise due caution. Table-fellowship, unlike 'the twelve', does not necessarily
refer to the kingdom. If we could not correlate the action of eating with sayings which
promise 'the lost' inclusion in the coming kingdom, and with the sayings and parables
which connect 'banquet' with 'kingdom', we would be on less certain ground. The
saying about the fruit of the vine (Mark 1 4 . 2 5 and parallels) alone would establish the
eschatological significance of the meal could it be shown unquestionably to be genuine.
I take it to be authentic, but cannot show it to be so, beyond appealing to coherence
with the depiction ofjesus which is being offered.
1 2 2 . So Perrin, Rediscovering, p. 1 0 7 .
7. T H E G E N T I L E S
1. See ch. 3 section 1 , 'From John the Baptist to Paul'.
2. See the brief review in Ferdinand Hahn, Mission in the New Testament, E T 1 9 6 5 ,
pp. 2 6 - 4 1 .

3 . Jeremias, Jesus' Prom ise to the Nations, E T 1 9 5 8 .

4. Cf. Caird, jfesus and the Jewish Nation, p. 1 4 . Jesus thought that the Gentiles would
be added in the last days, but not 'by any gradual process of making individual converts
to Judaism'.
5. Jeremias, pp. 1 9 - 2 4 , 2 5 - 3 9 , 5*-

6. Ibid., pp. 5 7 - 6 0 .
7. Ibid. pp. 40ft See further just below.
8. Ibid., p. 7 3 .
9. John Riches, Jesus and the Tranformation of Judaism.
10. See ibid., pp. 69, 76, 9 5 , 9 9 , 1 0 7 .
1 1 . Ibid., pp. 1 oof. Riches speaks of Jesus' 'stripping' the word kingdom 'of its
existing associations' (scil, those of vengeance) (p. 100) and of his 'deleting' 'conven
tional associations' (p. 1 0 1 ) . Jeremias had claimed thatjesus 'rejects the nationalistic
sentiment of hate' (p. 42) and 'detaches the nationalistic idea of revenge from the hope
of redemption' (p. 43). How Riches' view differs from that of his unacknowledged
predecessor is not clear.
1 2 . Riches, p. 1 3 5 .
1 3 . Ibid., p. 100.
1 4 . Ibid., pp. 99, 1 0 5 - 8 . One would not expect to read in a recent and supposedly
scholarly book that the difference between (in effect) Christianity and Judaism is that

NOTES TO PAGES 2 1 3 - 2 1 7

393

one is a religion of love and the other of hate and vengeance. Unfortunately, there is
precedent; see above, pp. 2 0 0 - 2 0 2 . One notes with regret that Jeremias wanted to
affirm the same stark dichotomy and that he resorted to an extravagant rewriting of
Luke 4.22 in order to accomplish it. The RSV quite reasonably, in view of the context,
translates the verse this way: 'And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious
words which proceeded out of his mouth... . \ This is Jeremias's rendering {Jesus'
Promise to the Nations, p. 45): ' "They protested with one voice and were furious,
because he (only) spoke about (God's year of) mercy (and omitted the words about the
Messianic vengeance)." ' In the passage in Luke, anger is not mentioned until v. 2 8 ,
and then it concerns a different issue.
1 5 . See e.g. the discussions of the Rabbis and Qumran, Riches, pp. 9 4 - 7 . When
he writes of the Rabbis that in their view God 'will not tolerate the presence of that
which is ungodly, impure, polluted' (p. 95), one immediately thinks of the saying that
'Beloved is Israel, for even though they are unclean the Shekinah is among them', a
statement that occurs in the midst of fairly elaborate prescriptions for purity (Sifre
Num. 1). Riches appears to have learned from Neusner that the Rabbis were concerned
with purity and to have drawn his own conclusions from that fact, ignoring theirs.
1 6 . Jeremias, Jesus 'Promise to the Nations, p. 40.
1 7 . Ibid., p. 1 3 .
1 8 . Jeremias's statement that the movement is always 'centripetal' {Jesus'Promise to
the Nations, p. 60), seems to overlook Isa. 6 6 . 1 9 . Hahn (Mission, p. 20) correctly points
out, however, that here the witnesses are Gentiles themselves.
1 9 . Jeremias, p. 5 7 .
20. Jeremias (ibid., p. 58) read Isa. 6 0 . 1 1 as saying that the Gentiles, led by their
kings, stream towards Jerusalem. The passage in fact refers to the bringing of foreign
tribute (or booty) 'with their kings led: that is, in captivity. The entire section Isa.
6 0 . 5 - 1 6 is about subjugation and tribute - or, failing them, destruction.
2 1 . Jeremias, p. 62, accepted by David Bosch, Heidenmission, p. 29.
2 2 . Jeremias, Jesus' Promise to the Nations, pp. 6if. On his difficulty about 'late
Judaism', given even his own evidence, see above.
2 3 . T . Sanh. 1 3 . 2 .
24. See B. W.Helfgott, The Doctrine of Election in Tannaitic Literature 1 9 5 4 , esp. pp.
140ft; M. Kadushin, The Rabbinic Mind, ^ 9 6 5 , esp. p. 28; PaulandPalestinian Judaism,
pp. 2 0 7 - 1 1 .

2 5 . Above, pp. 96ft

26. The view is still repeated, however, in Ps. Sol. 1 7 . 6 .
2 7 . Cf. Jeremias, Jesus 'Promise to the Nations, p. 40.
28. The importance of the question is often overlooked. Hahn (Mission), for
example, generally sees that eschatological expectation is crucial to the New Testament
idea of mission, but his chapter on 'Old Testament and Jewish Presuppositions' deals
more with non-eschatological proselytism and general attitude.
29. See Jacob Neusner, Messiah in Context, forthcoming.
30. Sanh. 26a-b.
3 1 . The Rabbis appear to have had a well-developed concept of diminished
responsibility: the ignorant are also treated more leniently than scholars (Baba Metzia

33b).
3 2 . The most elaborate instance is connected with Caligula's desire to have his
statue placed in the temple, BJ II. 1 8 4 - 2 0 3 . For Josephus's desire to present a picture
of a loyal majority, while narrating uprising after uprising, see e.g. BJ 11.72ft Cf. also

394

NOTES TO PAGES 2 1 7 - 2 2 1

II.236-40; 2 4 4 ; 2 9 4 - 3 0 0 . On Josephus's 'axes', see Morton Smith, 'Palestinian

Judaism'.
3 3 . See the helpful survey by Barnett, 'The Jewish Sign Prophets'.
34. Thus Riches, Transformation, p. 86: 'the relatively impoverished state of the
religious traditions which Jesus inherited'.
3 5 . See, for example, Bosch, Heidenmission, who competently canvasses opinion on
the passages. On the banquet parables and Matt. 8.1 if., see pp. 1 2 4 - 3 1 ; on Matt.
1 5 . 2 1 - 2 8 and 1 0 . 5 - 1 6 , pp. 8 4 - 6 ; on Mark 1 3 . 1 0 , pp. 1 4 4 - 7 1 .

3 6 . Jeremias, Jesus' Prom ise to the Nations, p. 29.

3 7 . Bosch, Heidenmission, p. 1 5 8 ; G. R. Beasley-Murray,^sws and the Future, 1 9 5 4 ,
P. 2 5 3 3 8 . Matt. 8.nf.//Luke i3.28f. is generally considered authentic, and Matthew's
form the earlier of the two. See, for example, Hahn, Mission, pp. 34ft But Matt. 8 . 1 2
is more than a little dubious: 'sons of the kingdom' for Jews occurs elsewhere only in
Matt. 1 3 . 3 8 , and the same use of'kingdom' appears in 2 1 . 4 3 (the kingdom taken away
from you, the Jews), both passages unique to Matthew. 'Outer darkness' occurs in the
synoptics elsewhere at Matt. 2 2 . 1 3 and 2 5 . 3 0 . 'Wailing and gnashing of teeth', besides
appearing in the parallel in Luke 1 3 . 2 8 , occurs only in Matt. 1 3 . 4 2 , 50; 2 2 . 1 3 ; 2 4 . 5 1 ;
2 5 . 3 0 . Thus all of Matt. 8 . 1 2 is Matthaean, though the verse is partially paralleled in
Luke. Schlosser accepts the Lucan form, and thus keeps the entire saying (Regne, pp.
607, 614ft). While, on the whole, I want this study to be independent of the synoptic
problem, this is one of the numerous points where it is obviously better not to insist on
the total independence of Matthew and Luke. Here Luke has a Matthaean phrase.
There has been a recent debate between Michael Goulder and Christopher Tuckett
as to whether or not Luke shows knowledge of Matthaean phrases and order, but our
passage is not discussed. See Goulder, 'On putting Qto the test', NTS 24, 1 9 7 8 , pp.
2 1 8 - 3 4 ; Tuckett, 'On the Relationship between Matthew and Luke', NTS 30, 1984,
pp. 1 3 0 - 4 2 . On various grounds I think it better to grant that Luke knew Matthew,
though I continue to think that the relationships among the synoptics are complex
rather than simple. See 'The Argument from Order and the Relationship between
Matthew and Luke', NTS 1 5 , 1969, pp. 2 4 9 - 6 1 ; 'The Overlaps of Mark and Qand
the Synoptic Problem', NTS 1 9 , 1 9 7 2 , pp. 4 5 3 - 6 5 .
39. The phrase 'they to the circumcised' in Gal. 2 . 1 0 appears to include James as
well as Peter and John.
40. Cf. Reumann, Jesus, pp. 306ft: 'While the historian today cannot be as sure as
he might wish about what Jesus thought [about the future], he can be certain about
what his disciples did. They formed a church, a community or fellowship of those who
held that God had been at work in Jesus of Nazareth. . . .' More to the point, they
carried on his task of preparing Israel for the eschaton.
4 1 . Cf. J . W. Drane, Paul: Libertine or Legalist, 1 9 7 5 , p. 74.
4 2 . Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People, pp. 18ft
4 3 . See, for example, Pesch, 'Anspruch', pp. 5 3 - 6 , 68; Hahn, Mission, pp. 3 6 - 8 .
There is a thorough discussion in W. D. Davies, The Gospel and the Land, n. 46 on pp.
3 5 0 - 5 2 . Davies is dubious about the saying but takes the cleansing of the Gentile court
to be significant.

NOTES TO PAGES 222-234

395

8. T H E K I N G D O M : C O N C L U S I O N
1. As well as the passages which condemn 'this generation' or which speak of Jewish
condemnation and Gentile salvation: Matt. 1 1 . 2 0 - 4 d P ; Matt. 12.41ft and par.
Above, pp. 109ft
2. See the conclusion to ch. 6.
3 . Jeremias, Proclamation, pp. 116ft, 1 7 7 . Trautmann also notes the existence of the
problem. She proposes that it is wrong to think thatjesus would exclude the righteous.
Rather he regarded all Jews as sinners and invited tax collectors as an extreme example
of all Israel (Trautmann, Zeichenhafte Handlungen, pp. 1 6 2 - 4 ) . I cannot discover an
adequate foundation for the view that the wicked represent all Israel.
4. E.g. Jeremias and Schlosser, above, ch. 3 nn. 58, 74.
5. Hengel, Charismatic Leader, pp. 5 9 - 6 2 .
6. Hengel, ibid., pp. 3 9 , 4 2 . The question of whether or not he was misunderstood
is taken up below.
7. Above, pp. 2 0 0 - 2 0 2 .
8. Hengel takes the call to repent for granted as being the heart ofJesus' message.
9. 47XX.203. We return to the persecution of the Christian movement in ch. 10.
10. See above, on Cadbury, pp. 1 9 - 2 1 .
1 1 . E.g. Hengel, Charismatic Leader, p. 40; Jeremias, Proclamation, p. 2 1 1 .
1 2 . Theissen's appraisal is apt: 'as a renewal movement within Judaism, the Jesus
movement was a failure' (Gerd Theissen, The First Followers ofjesus. A Sociological
Analysis of the Earliest Christianity [= Sociology of Early Palestinian Christianity] E T 1 9 7 8 ,
p. 1 1 2 .
1 3 . Because of Christian editorial activity, we cannot tell what role, if any, Jesus
played in Josephus's description of the period. It is evident, however, that John the
Baptist had considerable influence (AJ XVIII. 1 1 8 ) , and this cannot be said ofjesus.
14. See on all this Paul, the Law and the Jewish People, pp. 1 8 7 - 9 0 .
1 5 . Hengel, Charismatic Leader, pp. 5 9 , 6 2 .
16. Josephus,^/XX.98ft: Roman cavalry killed many of Theudas' followers and
decapitated Theudas. 47 XX. 171ft: 'a large force of cavalry and infantry' attacked the
followers of the Egyptian, killed 400 and took 200 prisoners. The Egyptian himself
escaped. There is a significantly different account in #711.261-63. See below at n. 2 5 ,
and ch. 1 1 .
1 7 . This point, to which we shall return, has recently been emphasized by J . P. M.
Sweet, 'The Zealots and Jesus', ^sws and the Politics of His Day (ed. E. Bammel and C.
F. D. Moule), 1984, pp. 64. See also Bo Reicke, Judaeo-Christianity and the Jewish
Establishment, A . D . 3 3 - 6 6 ' , ibid., p. 1 4 6 .
1 8 . See the discussion in Schlosser, Regne, pp. 6 2 4 - 4 1 . Schlosser favours the view
thatjesus thought of the kingdom as transcendent. See also H. Flender, DieBotschaft
Jesu von der Herrschaft Gottes, 1 9 6 8 , whose view is closer to the one taken here.
19. Theissen (First Followers, p. 9) proposes that they became wandering charis
matics. Theissen even extends this to Peter, and proposes that he gave up his family
and lived in the wilderness (p. 1 1 ) . Paul's letters show that Peter was often in Jerusalem,
and when he travelled he took his wife, as did others (I Cor. 9.5).
20. See Sweet, 'The Zealots and Jesus', p. 5.
2 1 . E.g. Bornkamm, Jesus ofNazareth, p. 1 5 9 .
2 2 . Above, pp. 9 8 - 1 0 0 and 1 4 9 .
2 3 . E.g. Ps. Sol. 1 7 . 3 2 ; above, ch. 2.
a n

ar

396

NOTES TO PAGES 234-246

24. Theudas expected to part the Jordan: AJfXX.g'j. For unnamed others, see BJ
I I . 2 5 8 - 6 o ; 4 / X X . i 6 7 f . Cf. Jonathan in Cyrene, 5 7 V I I . 4 3 7 - 4 1 .
2 5 . AJfXX. 1 7 0 : The Egyptian predicted that the walls of Jerusalem would tumble
down. Bjf I I . 2 6 1 - 3 : he tried to breach them by force.
26. I take the event as historical. See below, ch. 1 1 .
27. For the view thatjesus had no programme in mind, see above, pp. 3 2 , 3 8 .
28. See Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 1 5 1 n. 1 9 ; 294 n. 1 5 6 ; 3 5 4 n. 1 8 ; 3 8 8 n.
4-

29. A discussion of a messianic period which precedes resurrection is a standard

part of handbooks on Jewish eschatology. See e.g. Paul Volz, Die Eschatologie der
judischen Gemeinde, 1 9 3 4 , pp. 226ft For the Temple Scroll, see above pp. 84ft
30. Smith, Magician, p. 20.
3 1 . Ibid., pp. 1 4 2 - 5 .
3 2 . Jesus saw himself as a prophet and as a charismatic, a worker of miracles: Dunn,
Spirit, pp. 3 5 , 5 2 , 7 1 , 8 2 - 4 . For emphasis on Jesus as charismatic wonder-worker, see
Vermes, Jfesus the Jew, pp. 5 8 - 8 2 . Gerhardsson correctly notes that a prophet has a lot
in common with a teacher ('Der Weg der Evangelientradition , p. 92); cf. Riesner, Jesus
als Lehrer, pp. 2 7 6 - 9 8 . Harvey (Constraints, pp. 8 4 - 6 ) is sceptical of the analogy with
Theudas and others (and he accepts Josephus's description of their motives, p. 85).
Harvey settles for a description ofjesus as one who combined styles (p. 9 1 ) .
3 3 . Theissen (First Followers, pp. 6 0 - 2 ) distinguishes types of'renewal movements'.
Jesus is categorized along with Theudas, the Egyptian, and others, as leader of a
'prophetic movement'. Judas, on the other hand, led a 'resistance movement'. Cf.
Barnett's category, 'sign prophet'.
3 4 . Smith,Magician, p. 1 4 2 . The reference is to Mark 1 5 . 3 0 and parr.
3 5 . 4 ? X X . i 6 8 ; cf. 5 ? VII.438. See Theissen, First Followers, p. 3 6 .
3 6 . See below, ch. ion. 1 4 .
3 7 . Ernst Fuchs ('The Quest of the Historical Jesus', pp. 21ft) proposed that, in
accepting sinners, Jesus put himself in God's place. The most that can be said, however,
is that he presumed to speak for God.
,

9. T H E L A W
1. Harvey, Constraints, p. 36ft
2. Josephus, AJ X I I . 2 7 4 - 7 6 ; I Mace. 2 . 2 9 - 4 1 .
3 . PSanh. 2 ib; see G. F. Moore, Judaism I, pp. 466ft
4. See the long section^. II. 1 7 5 - 2 8 6 , especially II. 1 7 8 , 1 8 4 , 2 1 8 - 2 1 , 2 3 2 - 3 5 ,
277ft This of course is idealized and exaggerated. Thus, e.g., the statement that Jews
have no desire to emulate the customs of others, II.261. Nevertheless, the argument
depends on the fact that the Jews were famous for their loyalty to the law and the
tenacity with which it was kept. The idealized picture is based on the reality of general
observance. Philo also indicates that Jews were known as distinctive, and that their
distinctiveness was keeping the law: e.g. Legat. 1 1 7 . This is, finally, proved by pagan
criticism of them for keeping the law. See the brief summary, with bibliography, in
Paul, the Law and the Jewish People, pp. 1 0 2 , 1 1 7 n. 2 7 . Compare the comments above,
ch. 6 at n. 3 9 , on the evidence that the purity laws were generally observed. See further
ch. 1 0 n. 1 .
5. Above, pp. 30ft, 36ft, 5 1 .
6. W. G. Kummel, 'Aussere und innere Reinheit des Menschen bei Jesus', Das
Wort und die Worter, 1 9 7 3 , p. 3 5 .

N O T E S TO PAGES 246-251

397

7. Recently see Jan Lambrecht, Jesus and the Law', pp. 7 6 - 8 .

8. Bultmann, Jesus and the Word, p. 63: 'This much is evident, that the idea that
Jesus had attacked the authority of the Law was wholly unknown to the Christian
community.'
9. Banks, Jesus and the Law, p. 2 4 2 .
10. Ibid., pp. 1 7 2 , 203, 250.
1 1 . Ibid., p. 2 4 2 . 1 agree with many of Banks' strictures on the same page against
the extremes of interpreting Jesus as having 'radicalized' or 'abrogated' the law.
1 2 . I use 'midrash' here in its Rabbinic meaning: commentary on Scripture.
1 3 . J . M . Baumgarten, review of Yadin, The Temple Scroll, J B L 97, 1 9 7 8 , p. 586.
Naturally different groups found different parts ofthe Scriptures more or less expressive
of their self-understanding and consequently quoted them more or less frequently;
but there is no exception to the attitude towards the law as unitary and given by God
to be found in Jewish literature from around the time ofjesus. This is true even though
some may have allegorized its literal meaning away.
1 4 . Westerholm, Jesus and Scribal Authority.
1 5 . I do not here take up the question of the adequacy of Westerholm's discussion
of the scribes and Pharisees (Westerholm, pp. 2 6 - 3 9 ) . On the difficulty of using New
Testament passages to distinguish 'scribe' from 'Pharisee' I am inclined to agree with
M. Cook, Mark's Treatment of the Jewish Leaders, 1 9 7 8 , pp. 8 1 - 9 7 .
1 6 . Westerholm, p. 1 2 3 .
1 7 . I shall show below that the saying on divorce does not in fact directly challenge
the law.
1 8 . See, for example, Dunn, Spirit, p. 4 3 , naming 'Sabbath and ceremonial Law';
Braun, Jesus ofNazareth, pp. 5 3 - 6 4 .
19. Philo, Migr. 89.
20. See T. Yomha-Kippurim4(5].5; Mek. Bahodesh7 (Lauterbach II,pp. 2 4 9 - 5 1 ) ,
and parallels (Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 1 5 8 - 6 0 ) .
2 1 . Mek. of R. Simeon b. Yohai to Exod. 20.5.
2 2 . See Paul and Palestinian Judaism, p. 1 7 9 and the literature cited there.
2 3 . Sifra Ahare Mot pereq 8 . 1 : 'For transgressions which are between man and
God the Day of Atonement atones, but for those between man and man the Day of
Atonement does not atone until he compensates his fellow.' Cf. Sifre Zuta to Num.
6.26.

24. See e.g. Dunn (Spirit, p. 4 3 ) , who speaks ofJesus' 'sovereign freedom. . . with
regard to sabbath and ceremonial law'. For 'sovereign freedom', a cliche of scholarship,
see also, for example, Kasemann, 'The Problem of the Historical Jesus', p. 40.
2 5 . An exception is Aulen (Jesus, p. 7 7 ) .
26. Above, pp. 26f. and often. Cf. Jeremias, Proclamation, p. 1 4 5 : three different
opponents and three different points of opposition.
2 7 . H. Schiirmann, 'Wie hat Jesus seinen tod bestanden and verstanden?', Orientierung an Jesus (ed. P. Hoffmann and others), 1 9 7 3 , p. 3 3 6 .
28. Banks, Jesus and the Law, pp. 99ft
29. Ibid., p. 2 3 8 .
30. I hope that above, in the chapter on the temple, I dealt sufficiently thoroughly
with the view that it was only the abuse of the temple, by using it to produce private
gain, thatjesus protested. For the sake of completeness, I repeat the point here. The
den of robbers' saying is probably not original in the pericope. Further, the threat or
prediction of the temple's destruction has nothing to do with 'abuse' of it. It is the
temple that will be destroyed, not greedy money-changers.

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NOTES TO PAGES 252-257

3 1 . A. Schlatter, Der Evangelist Matthaus, p. 288.

3 2 . A. Wilder, Eschatology and Ethics in the Teaching ofjesus, p. 1 7 3 . Cf. Perrin,
Rediscovering, p. 1 4 4 .
3 3 . Hengel, Charismatic Leader, pp. 3 - 1 5 . Cf. also Harvey, Constraints, pp. 5 9 - 6 1 .
It is a weakness in the theses of Banks and Westerholm not to have seen the significance
of the passage, especially after it had been pointed out by Hengel.
3 4 . See Perrin and Hengel, cited in the preceding two notes. Bultmann (History, p.
105) regarded at least the saying ofjesus to be authentic. We shall later see that the
saying cannot be detached from the question.
3 5 . Cf. T . W. Manson, The Teaching ofjesus. Studies in its Form and Content, 1963,
p. 1 2 2 ; Perrin,Rediscovering, p. 1 4 4 ; Hengel, CharismaticLeader, pp. 3 - 5 , where further
literature is cited.
3 6 . Hengel (ibid., p. 4) regards the original introduction as having been, 'Another
said, "Let me first go . . .".' The difference is not a substantial one for understanding
the passage. O'Neill (Messiah, pp. 85ft) argues that characterizing those left behind as
(spiritually) dead generalizes the saying to make all those who do not follow Jesus
'dead', while originally the saying applied to only one person. He reconstructs it thus:
'Leave the dead, you must come and proclaim the Kingdom of God.' The point is well
made. All we really need is the phrase 'Leave the dead' in order to grasp the
offensiveness of the saying.
3 7 . On both points see also Hengel, Charismatic Leader, pp. 8 - 1 5 .
3 8 . Ibid.
3 9 . Hengel, Charismatic Leader, p. 1 2 : 'refusal of burial had always been considered
among the Greeks and Jews as an unheard of act of impiety and as the severest of
punishments for criminals.'
40. Hengel, Charismatic Leader, p. 5 .
4 1 . Dibelius, Jesus, p. 5 9 . Cf. Wilder, above, n. 3 2 .
4 2 . E. Schweizer, Lordship and Discipleship, p. 26.
4 3 . Banks, Jesus and the Law, p. 97.
44. Banks here (p. 9 7 n. 3 ) cites Bultmann (History, p. 1 0 5 ) in his support, but
Bultmann's position seems to be different. On p. 105 Bultmann includes Luke 9.60a
among sayings which 'contain something characteristic, new, reaching out beyond
popular wisdom and piety and yet are in no sense scribal or rabbinic nor yet Jewish
apocalyptic'. He concludes, 'So here if anywhere we can find what is characteristic of
the preaching ofjesus.' It is hard to see how this supports the view that the saying is
'purely proverbial' (Banks, p. 97). On p. 1 1 9 of his History Bultmann classifies Matt.
8.22 as 'prophetic'.
4 5 . See recendy David Dungan, The Sayings ofjesus in the Churches of Paul, 1 9 7 1 ,
part II; Klaus Berger, Die Gesetzesauslegung Jesu, 1 9 7 2 , pp. 5 3 6 - 7 5 ; Hultgren, Jesus
and his Adversaries, pp. 12of.
46. Paul carefully distinguishes the woman's act from the man's, showing that he,
at least, knew Jewish law. She 'separates from' her husband, he 'sends away' his wife
(I Cor. 7 . 1 of.).
47. Schiirer, ed. Vermes, The History of the Jewish People II, p. 464 n. 1 .
48. Westerholmfirstwrites that the Pharisees, who took the biblical commandments
to be statutes, 'could not but conclude that the references to divorce in such legal texts
as Deut. 2 4 . 1 meant that it was a legitimate option' (Jesus and Scribal Authority, pp.
122ft). That is, of course, the case. But he later says that in this one case Jesus dealt
with a biblical regulation 'which, at least in the Pharisaic view, prescribed (or proscribed)
certain actions' (p. 1 2 2 ) . But divorce is neither prescribed orproscribed, only remarriage
2

NOTES TO PAGES 257-264

399

to one's original wife who had, after divorce, married again. Jesus does not mention
this at all, and thus here too he does not deal with a biblical prescription or proscription.
For the incorrect view that Jesus abolishes a Mosaic regulation, see e.g. Jeremias,
Proclamation, p. 207.
49. Despite Westerholm, ibid., p. 1 2 2 .
50. Or Hasmonean: the two are not identical, and the precise identification of the
priests who are being criticized depends on the date of CD, which we need not try to
determine in detail.
5 1 . Translation by Vermes.
5 2 . For the editions being quoted, see the Bibliography.
5 3 . See Dungan, Sayings ofjesus, p. 1 1 6 .
54. Ibid., p. 1 1 7 .
5 5. The antitheses commonly identified as authentic are thefirst,second and fourth,
on murder, adultery and swearing. For the view that these, in effect, deny the law or
the authority of Moses, see e.g. Kasemann, 'The Problem of the Historical Jesus', pp.
37ft ('shattering the letter of the law'); Kummel, Theology, p. 5 2 ; see the Bibliography
in Banks, Jesus and the Law, p. 1 8 4 n. 1 .
56. Especially W. D. Davies, 'Matthew 5 : 1 7 , 1 8 ' , Christian Origins and Judaism,
1 9 6 2 , p. 44. Davies joins others in denying the authenticity of the other antitheses, and
argues that actual denial of the law is limited to the third, fifth and sixth ones (ibid.).
See n. 5 8 below.
57. E.g. Kasemann, n. 5 5 above.
5 8 . This is true not only of the first, second and fourth antitheses, but also of the
third (divorce) and fifth. Thus Davies's view of the inauthentic antitheses - that they
oppose the law - needs minor correction (n. 56). The sixth antithesis does not quote
a law, and I leave it aside.
59. Strict observance of the two-source hypothesis prevents one from seeing the
coherence and significance of this material, since Matt. 5 . 4 3 - 8 is paralleled in Luke
(and, by the hypothesis, is therefore from Q); 23.6ft is in both Mark and Luke (and is
therefore held to be from Mark), and 2 3 . 2 3 - 6 is paralleled in Luke (and is therefore
also from Q). As I remarked in the Introduction, one needs a complete and convincing
solution of the source problem and also a full history of each pericope. It is my own
view that we must be prepared to accept a complicated solution of the source problem,
one which allows some cross-influence among versions ofall three Gospels. Meanwhile,
I shall have to rest the case on the internal coherence of this material and also the
distinctiveness of its viewpoint. It seems to me to be as clear a 'block' as the controversy
stories or the apocalyptic sections. The material is not, however, the composition of
the evangelist Matthew, who favoured Gentiles (e.g. 2 8 . 1 9 ) ,
retained the
tradition that Jesus associated with tax collectors. For the distinctive position of this
block of material on these points, see Matt. 1 8 . 1 5 - 1 7 ; 5.46ft; 6.7.
60. For the interpretation of 5 . 1 7 (without 5.48) to mean 'bring to eschatological
completion and to transform' (and thus to alter), see Meyer, Aims, pp. 1 4 7 - 5 Davies
understood 5 . 1 7 to mean 'fulfil by radicalizing' ('Matt. 5 : 1 7 , 1 8 ' , p. 45).
6 1 . See the discussion in Theissen, First Followers, pp. 78ft He is discussing the
Jesus movement', however, and not necessarily Jesus himself.
62. Cf. Theissen, ibid., p. 79: External relaxation and internal tightening as an
interpretation 'fails when the same norms are both intensified and relaxed'.
6 3 . Kummel, 'Aussere und innere Reinheit'; Kasemann, 'The Problem of the
Historical Jesus', p. 40.
64. See 'State of the Question'. See also the summary by Aulen, Jesus, p. 49.
a n a <

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N O T E S TO P A G E S 264-266

65. We may recall that Jewish scholars in particular find no substantial breach of
the law by Jesus. See above, p. 5 5 .
66. An exception might be Tiberias, which in Jesus' day was newly founded. We
noted before (p. 1 8 4 ) that settlement there was resisted by many, since it involved
perpetual corpse-uncleanness. According to Josephus it was settled by 'a promiscuous
rabble' (47XVIII.37), and it may well be that food and Sabbath laws were not regularly
observed. But Jesus seems to have had no contact with the city.
67. Bultmann, History, p. 3 9 .
68. Harvey, Constraints, pp. 38ft
69. Ibid., p. 50.
70. Ibid.
7 1 . For the phrase 'assured result' see Harvey, ibid., p. 49 n. 69. He explains that
some aspects of Jesus' behaviour are so 'constantly and consistently attested in the
gospel narratives that they can confidently be used as evidence that Jesus, though
sharing a number of the beliefs and assumptions of Pharisaism, cannot have been
received as a teacher within the Pharisaic tradition' (pp. 49f.). He continues by saying
that Jesus was 'frequently accused of not maintaining the standards of religious
behaviour' which the Pharisees would have expected (p. 50), citing Mark 2 . 1 8 (fasting)
and 7.2 (handwashing) as evidence. This line of argument is very weak: (1) No one has
proposed thatjesus was a Pharisaic teacher, and Harvey here sets up a proposal which
he can easily demolish; (2) 'constantly', 'consistently' and 'frequently' are not accurate
descriptions of the evidence. Fasting and handwashing each occurs only once.
7 2 . See e.g. Schiirmann, 'Wie hat Jesus seinen Tod bestanden und verstanden?',
P- 3 3 6 .
7 3 . On the passage, see the fine survey by Lambrecht, Jesus and the Law'.
74. Lambrecht (Jesus and the Law', p. 25) points out that 'in the editor's mind the
whole of these twenty-two verses form a thematic unity'. I take it that this shows that
the evangelist himself did not know the distinction between the handwashing code and
the dietary law.
7 5 . Cf. Harvey, Constraints, pp. 39ft
76. See e.g. Westerholm, Jesus and Scribal Authority, pp. 9 8 - 1 0 1 . Berger (Die
Gesetzesauslegungjesu, pp. 476ft, 507) argues that even the earliest part of the passage,
Mark 7 . 1 5 , is not authentic. It comes from Hellenistic Judaism and is comprehensible
as a debate within Judaism.
7 7 . Mark 7 . 1 5 answers the question of Mark 7.5: Lambrecht, Jesus and the Law',
pp. 56ft; cf. p. 3 0 n. 1 3 .

78. For the emphasis that Mark 7 . 1 5 must refer to food, see Heikki Raisanen, 'Zur
Herkunft von Markus 7, 1 5 ' , Logia. Les Paroles de Jesus - The Sayings ofjesus (ed. J .
DeLobel), 1 9 8 2 , p. 4 7 8 ; Jesus and the Food Laws: Reflections on Mark 7 . 1 5 ' ,
1 6 , 1 9 8 2 , pp. 8 1ft;Lambrecht, Jesus and the Law', p. 7 5 .
79. This has been often noted. See especially Raisanen's two articles in n. 7 8 .
Lambrecht (Jesus and the Law', pp. 77ft) raises the point, but reaches the conclusion
of many: Jesus opposed the law but himself did not know so. This requires, I think,
the addition that the disciples were equally dense.
80. Bultmann, History, p. 1 6 .
8 1 . So also Hultgren, Jesus and his Adversaries, pp. 1 1 1 - 1 5 .
82. So also Harvey, Constraints, pp. 37ft
8 3 . Cf. Vermes, Jesus the Jew, p. 2 5 . Westerholm (Jesus and Scribal Authority, p. 95)
comments that 'it seems reasonable to assume that Pharisees would oppose such action
[healing] where life was not in danger', and this is possible, even though the kinds of

N O T E S T O P A G E S 266-27O

401

healing attributed to Jesus in the synoptic Gospels are not forbidden in the Mishnah.
Pesch ('Anspruch', p. 68) has also argued thatjesus in Mark 3 . 1 - 6 contravenes the
Sabbath law either of the Bible or of the Pharisees. But in view of later Rabbinic law
it would seem that, even if we take the stories of healing on the Sabbath at face value,
no substantial transgression was involved.
84. There is an interesting analysis of Mark 3 . 1 - 6 in Barrett, Jesus and the Gospel
Tradition, p. 63. He proposes that the debate 'moves on to different ground' from the
'conventional dispute about what is and what is not permitted on the sabbath': 'there
is an egoism that is inconsistent with good Jewish piety'.
85. I leave aside here the question of fasting, which is not even presented as being
a matter of law; Jesus is asked why his disciples do not fast when the disciples ofJohn
and the Pharisees fast, and he gives an answer which appeals to the presence of the
bridegroom (Mark 2 . 1 8 - 2 2 and parr.). Fasting on the Day of Atonement was prescribed
by law (Lev. 16.29), d doubtless other fasts were observed (see Zech 7 . 3 ; 8 . 1 9 : fast
days become festivals). The Gospel controversy seems not to be about the Day of
Atonement. It may well be an authentic memory thatjesus and his disciples did not
fast. Certainly at least one part of the early church did (Matt. 6 . 1 6 - 1 8 ) , presumably
the same part which thought that they should observe the law better than did the
Pharisees. Thatjesus and his followers did not fast is also indicated in Matt. 1 i.i8f.
and par. Still, however, it is not a question of law.
86. So also, for example, Raisanen, 'Zur Herkunft von Markus 7 , 1 5 ' , p. 4 7 7 .
87. It may be that we should explain this striking saying as an instance in which
Jesus claims authority to suspend the law, without implying that a precedent is thereby
set or that the law is 'abrogated'. For the category, see B. S.Jackson, Jesus et Moi'se:
le statut du prophete a l'egard de la Loi', Revue historique de droitfrancais et etranger 59,
a n

1 9 8 1 , pp. 3 4 1 - 6 0 .

10. O P P O S I T I O N A N D O P P O N E N T S
1. Jews were prepared to fight and die rather than see the temple defiled. The
outstanding instance is the threat by Gaius (Caligula) to have his statue set up in the
temple. Josephus attributes to 'tens of thousands of Jews' a speech urging their own
death rather than the carrying out of Gaius's intention (4/XVIII.262). Philo's evidence
is even more dramatic, for he threatens an empire-wide uprising if such an event were
to take place. See Legat. 1 5 9 : 'Everyone everywhere, even if he was not naturally well
disposed to the Jews, was afraid to engage in destroying any of our institutions'; 1 9 2 :
'So be it, we will die and be no more, for the truly glorious death, met in defence of
laws, might be called life'; 194: the threat by Gaius is against 'the corporate body of
the Jews'; 2 1 2 : all Jews are marked by zeal for the temple; 2 1 3 - 1 5 : Jews are very
numerous, too numerous to be contained in a single country, and they pose a danger
if outraged;finallyPhilo piously threatens: 'Heaven forbid indeed that the Jews in every
quarter should come by common agreement to the defence. The result would be
something too stupendous to be combated.'
Loyalty and devotion to the temple is a special aspect of loyalty and devotion to the
law, but the imposing and beautiful temple, to which tens of thousands paid taxes,
especially excited loyalty. For the devotion inspired by the temple service, see the Letter
of Aristeas 9 2 - 9 : anyone 'will be filled with astonishment . . . at the thought of the
sanctity which is attached to each detail of the service'; cf. Josephus's loving and
exaggerated description of the first temple,
V I I I . 6 3 - 1 2 9 , which surely reflects the
grandeur of Herod's temple.

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N O T E S TO PAGES 270-275

2. 'Abroad' is proved by the payment of the temple tax by Jews 'wherever resident'
(BJ VII.218); so also Philo, Legal. 1 5 6 .
3 . The Qumran sectarians obviously thought that the Jerusalem priesthood was
invalid. For other criticism, see e.g. Ps. Sol. 8 . 1 3 ; cf. 1.8; 2.3; T.Mos. 7.
4. Herod locked up and controlled the high priest's robe. Its custody was restored
to the priests by Vitellius with the permission of Tiberius himself. After the death of
Herod Agrippa I there was a dispute about it. All this shows the immense prestige
which the high priest had by virtue of his office, without respect to his character and
qualifications. For the robe, see/(7XV.403-8; XVIII.90-95.
5. William Horbury, 'New Wine in Old Wine-Skins: IX. The Temple', ExpTS6,
1 9 7 4 - 7 5 , P- 3 8 .

6. In favour of the theory that prophecy was thought to have ceased, see Jeremias,
Proclamation, pp. 8 0 - 8 2 ; Reumann, Jesus, p. 220. See the nuanced discussions in
Ragnar Leivestad, 'Das Dogma von der prophetenlosen Zeit', NTS 1 9 , 1 9 7 3 , pp.
2 8 8 - 9 9 ; Peter Schafer, Die Vorstellung vom heiligen Geist in der rabbinischen Literatur,
1 9 7 2 , pp. 8 9 - 1 1 5 ; 1 1 6 - 3 4 , 4 3 - 6 ; Dunn, Spirit, p. 3 8 2 n. 8 1 .
7. John: Matt. 1 4 . 3 - 1 2 and par.; Theudas: AJXX-97f.
8. Barrett (Jesus and the Gospel Tradition, pp. 6 2 - 4 ) correctly speaks of 'an egoism
that is inconsistent with good Jewish piety'.
9. Aulen, Jesus, p. 5 5 . Cf. the list in Jeremias, Proclamation, p. 2 1 1 .
10. Kasemann, 'The Problem of the Historical Jesus', p. 39.
1 1 . Bornkamm, J^SMS ofNazareth, p. 97.
1 2 . Ibid., pp. 9 9 - 1 0 0 .
1 3 . It is in John: 8.48.
14. See e.g. Bornkamm, Jesus ofNazareth, p. 8 1 ; Harvey, Constraints, p. 1 7 1 ; cf.
Jeremias, Proclamation, p. 1 1 8 n. 1; Schweizer, Jesus, p. 1 4 .
1 5 . Jeremias,Proclamation, p. 1 1 4 .
1 6 . Cf. A. Dupont-Sommer, The Essene Writings from Qumran, E T 1 9 6 1 , p. 3 2 5 ,
discussing the Prayer of Nabonidus.
1 7 . Cf. 'No one had the right': Dibelius, Jesus, p. 1 2 6 . Against this sort of view
Vermes (Jesus the Jew, p. 68) correctly comments that there is nothing unique about
'your sins are forgiven'.
1 8 . As does, for example, Harvey, Constraints, pp. i7of.
1 9 . Barrett, Jesus and the Gospel Tradition, p. 67.
20. Ibid.
2 1 . Reumann, Jtfsws, p. 2 5 3 .
2 2 . Ibid., p. 1 5 2 .
2 3 . Ibid., p. 1 7 2 .
24. Those who regard the passage as authentic will be constrained to defend it
against the accusation of being pettifogging, and they may say that its author intended
to encourage the right attitude in fasting. Will the same defence be allowed others in
Judaism who passed rules?
2 5 . For an explicit example see Jeremias, Proclamation, p. 1 1 8 . Later he states that
Jesus opposed the Pharisees for their belief in merit, works of supererogation, casuistry
and the like (Proclamation, pp. 1 4 5 - 5 1 ) .
26. Ap. I I . 1 8 5 - 7 , 194; cf. 1 7 8 : difficult to escape punishment. On the other hand
Josephus recognizes another point, that the laws are unenforceable and were kept
voluntarily:^/). II.218, 220.
27. Above, pp. i83f. and n. 48 (p. 3 8 7 ) , p. 2 5 1 .
28. Josephus consistently says that the Pharisees were 'strict' or 'exact' with regard
to the law, even though his description of them in some other respects, especially their
relative importance, changed. For their being 'strict', see A. I. Baumgarten, 'The Name
of the Pharisees', JBL 1 0 2 , 1 9 8 3 , pp. 413ft
J

NOTES TO PAGES 275-278

403

29. That is, the written law:47XIII.297; XVIII. 1 8 .

30. Above, p. 1 8 4 .
3 1 . Compare my remarks on the false academic security which the use of Billerbeck
as 'Rabbinic literature' has long provided: Paul and Palestinian Judaism, p. 4 2 .
3 2. For the last point, see Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 5 5 1 f.; Paul, the Law and
the Jewish People, pp. 47, 63 n. 1 4 2 . 1 5 4 - 6 0 .
3 3 . Some of these charges are in parallels in Luke. A charge of ostentation is made
against the scribes (not the Pharisees) in Mark i2.38f. See above, pp. 261 and n. 59.
34. David Garland {The Intention of Matthew 2 3 , 1 9 7 9 , p. 1 2 1 ) argues that the term
'hypocrites' in Matt. 6.2, 5 , 1 6 does not refer to Pharisees. As the material now stands
in Matthew, however, the connection between ch. 6 and ch. 23 can hardly be denied.
See W. D. Davies, The Setting of the Sermon on the Mount, 1964, pp. 291ft
3 5 . For the admonition to perfection or 'blamelessness', cf. I Thess. 3 . 1 3 ; 5 . 2 3 .
36. Many regard Matt. 2 3 as reflecting Matthew's situation, not Jesus'. See, e.g.
Cope, Matthew, p. 1 2 6 . Theissen (First Followers, pp. 18ft) gives an interesting
explanation of the setting of this material: in settled communities rather than in the
teaching of wandering charismatics. In general, a lot of Theissen's book on the Jesus
movement' is based on this and related material, which I have treated as coming from
only one segment of the church, not necessarily from the Jesus movement as a whole.
3 7 . Cook (Jesus and the Pharisees', p. 454) argued against saying thatjesus attacked
only some Pharisees ('the hypocritical dregs which even the loftiest of religious
movements seems somehow to attract'), pointing out that the Gospels denounce all
Pharisees.
3 8 . Jeremias, Parables, e.g. pp. 3 8 - 4 0 , 1 3 2 - 5 . Cf. above, ch. 6, n. 8. The influence
of Jeremias's view that the parables attack the Pharisees may be seen, for example, in
Robert Funk, Language, Hermeneutic, and Word of God, pp. 1 4 - 1 8 , 1 9 7 f t ; Aulen, Jesus,
pp. 6 6 - 7 4 ; Farmer, 'An Historical Essay on the Humanity ofjesus Christ', p. 1 1 6
(accepting Luke 1 5 . 1 , the Pharisees grumbled)\ Jesus and the Gospel, pp. 3 6 - 4 1 . Funk,
however, writes that 'the Pharisees' is meant metaphorically (p. 1 9 7 n. 1 3 ) , and he
points out that, when the audience changes, Christians can be understood as the targets
(pp. 178ft). I gather, however, that he means thatjesus directed the parables against
Pharisees and other self-righteous people. On generalizing from 'self-righteous
Pharisees' to 'self-righteous Christians', see immediately below.
39. Above, ch. 6, n. 3 1 .
40. See Jeremias, Parables, pp. 124ft, 1 3 5 - He claimed that Luke's directing the
parables against the Pharisees is authentic, since the tendency (seen in Matthew) was
to direct them to disciples (p. 1 2 4 n. 4 1 ) . He apparently did not consider that Luke
had a motive too. Eliminating Matthew's setting does not prove Luke's to be authentic.
The argument is naive and simplistic.
4 1 . This is seen especially clearly when interpreters slip into the confessional first
person while offering supposedly historical and exegetical comments on the text. Such
an interpreter has obligated himself to believe what hefindsin the text, and consequently
he is liable to find in the text what he believes. For an example see Conzelmann,
Theology, pp. 118ft: 'The demand for penitence [on the part ofjesus] discloses to me
that I am not what I should be', etc. With such an attitude, could a truly critical
investigation take place? Could the place of repentance injesus' message be questioned?
For another example,see n. 44 below. In Paul, the Law and the Jewish People, pp. 1 5 5 - 7 ,
I quoted an example of the confessional first person from Kasemann and discussed its
implications. We take up the implied confessional first person just below.
4 2 . It is a historically defensible statement to say Jesus attacked the law' (though I

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N O T E S TO PAGES 278-285

believe it to be incorrect); but to say that Jesus abrogated the law' is a confession of
faith, with the confessional 'for us* removed. The same applies to 'shattered',
'destroyed', 'put an end to', and the like. For examples see Leonhard Goppeh, Jesus,
Paul and Judaism, E T 1964, p. 5 9 (Jesus was 'the ruination of Pharisaic legalism'), p.
61 (he 'exploded the idea of the Sabbath law'), p. 63 his attitude to the law 'meant the
end ofJudaism'), p. 69 (Jesus' calling sinners 'was the end of Pharisaism'). Goppelt is
an extreme case of a fairly widespread tendency.
4 3 . Luke 15.if. gives the original setting of the parables which follow: Jeremias,
Parables, pp. 1 2 4 , 1 3 2 . Belief in forgiveness led to Jesus' death; Jeremias, Jerusalem in
the Time ofjesus, p. 267.
44. For the view that belief in grace led to Jesus' death, see above, ch. 6, pp.
2 0 0 - 2 0 2 . Thatjesus called for the renunciation of achievement, see Bultmann, Jesus
and the Word, p. 1 2 9 . See especially Conzelmann, Theology, p. 1 2 2 : 'From this starting
point (God and the kingdom of God), it is quite clear that there can be no claim on God,
that man cannot rely on merit. For it is by grace that / am what / am.' Italics mine. Here
we have together the view thatjesus called for true religion (renunciation of one's own
claim) and the identification of the author with that position. Conzelmann had
previously said that when he (T) truly realizes the command to turn the other cheek,
'I shall not need any more research work' (p. 1 2 1 ) . That is honest, but one notes that
critical distance has already been forfeited, and thus the ability to conclude anything
about Jesus which does not square with 'my' theology.
4 5 . Scholars sometimes reveal this motive. Note, for example, this explanation by
Robert Funk. After writing that 'the Pharisees are incensed because he goes in and
eats with sinners', he explains: 'The Pharisees are those who insist on interpreting the
word of grace rather than letting themselves be interpreted by it' (Language, Hermeneutic,
and Word of God, pp. i6f., emphasis removed). See further the application to Christians
and others, ibid., pp. 1 8 1 ; Aulen, Jesus, p. 7 2 .
46. Paul, the Law and the Jewish People, pp. 1 5 8f.
47. For the Rabbinic elaboration of'conditional on intention', see PaulandPalestinian
Judaism,pp. 9 2 - 5 , 1 8 0 , 2 3 4 .
48. See above, p. 1 7 5 ; ch. 6 n. 24.
49. See the fuller discussion in Paul, the Law and the Jewish People, pp. 1 9 0 - 2 .
50. On the Jerusalem aposdes and Acts, see immediately below.
5 1 . Despite Acts 1 0 .
5 2 . Ch. 3 section 1 .
5 3 . See e.g. Arland Hultgren, 'Paul's Pre-Christian Persecutions of the Church:
Their Purpose, Locale, and Nature', JBL 9 5 , 1 9 7 6 , pp. 9 7 - 1 1 1 , here pp. 9 7 - 1 0 4 .
54. I leave aside here the execution of James the brother of John (Acts 1 2 . 1 - 3 ) ,
which was apparently connected very loosely, if at all, with the persecution by Jewish
authorities.
5 5 . An interesting note in Josephus's account may indicate that the Pharisees also
opposed the execution of James. Josephus writes that 'those who were strict (akribeis)
about the law' were offended (AJ X X . 2 0 1 ) . The term akribeis and its cognates, as
Baumgarten has pointed out, are regularly used to describe the Pharisees: 'The Name
of the Pharisees', pp. 413ft, esp. n. 9.
56. Cf. Hengel, review of Brandon,^sws and the Zealots, JSS14,1969,
p. 2 3 7 : until
Nero Rome left the Christians alone. On the continuing animosity of the chief priests,
see also Hengel above, p. 2 2 5 . One may wonder who were the 'governors and kings'
of Mark 1 3 . 9 and parr. We know of one king, Agrippa I (Acts 1 2 . 1 ) . 'Governors' may
have been involved in the punishment of Paul and others (II Cor. 1 1 . 2 5 ) .

N O T E S TO PAGES 286-292

405

5 7 . Morton Smith noted that the real reason for the persecution of Paul was that
he transgressed the law, not that he preached a crucified Messiah. He also, however,
attributed libertinism to Jesus and the Christian movement generally, and he accounted
for the sporadic nature of the persecution of the early church by proposing that they
all accepted the principle of I Cor. 9.19ft: occasional conformity to the law when
conformity was expedient. I would disagree with Smith about the Jerusalem Christians.
James and the 'false brethren* seem to have been conscientious about observing the
law. That is, they observed it because they believed in it, not because it was expedient.
Their observance had the happy consequence of allowing them to avoid persecution.
For Smith's argument, see 'The Reason for the Persecution of Paul and the Obscurity
of Acts', Studies in Mysticism and Religion presented to Gershom G. Scholem (ed. E . E .
Urbach and others), 1 9 6 7 , pp. 2 6 1 - 8 .
58. Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 5 5 1 ft
59. On the 'powerful', see ch. 1 1 .
60. So Sweet, 'The Zealots and Jesus', p. 5.
6 1 . Following Hengel: above, pp. 224, 2 2 8 . This is against the view of T . W.
Manson, The Teaching ofjesus, pp. 205 ft
62. See e.g. Jeremias, Proclamation, pp. 1 4 5 - 5 \ Reumzrm, Jesus,p. 259; Baumbach,
Jesus, pp. 96ft
63. E.g. Mark 1 1 . 8 ; 1 5 . 1 3 ; Acts 4 . 2 1 .
64. Above, p. 226; cf. 239ft
65. 47XVIII.63f.
66. On hostility to Galileans, especially charismatics, see Vermes, Jesus the Jew, pp.
1

80ft

67. For recent discussions of the relationship between scribes and Pharisees, see
Westerholm, Jesus andScribal'Authority, pp. 2 6 - 3 8 ; C o o k ^ ^ ' s Treatment of the Jewish
Leaders, pp. 8 1 - 9 7 . In ch. 6 we discussed the view that the Pharisees were haberim and
Josephus's view that they were lay teachers of the law. For the present discussion we
do not need to reach a decision on precisely how they are to be defined.
68. Jeremias, Jerusalem at the Time ofjesus, p. 267. Above, ch. 6 n. 96.
69. Above, n. 62.
70. Reumann, Jesus, p. 1 5 , citing Ethelbert Stauffer, Jesus and the Wilderness
Community at Qumran, E T 1964, p. 2 1 .
7 1 . Above, n. 62.
7 2 . Winter was an early proponent of the view that there was little opposition
between Jesus and the Pharisees. See On the Trial ofjesus, pp. 1 7 4 - 6 , 1 8 6 .
7 3 . Harvey, Constraints, p. 49.
74. Baumbach, Jesus, p. 95.
7 5 . Schiirmann, 'Wie hat Jesus seinen Tod bestanden und verstanden?', p. 3 3 6 .
76. Berger, Das Gesetzesauslegungjesu, pp. 5 7 6 - 8 . He thinks that the schematization
shows that within the Jewish Hellenistic communities there were rigorist groups which
either were called Pharisees or which could be identified with the Palestinian Pharisees
(P.

578).

7 7 . Michael Cook, Jesus and the Pharisees', p. 4 5 3 ; Mark's Treatment of the Jewish
Leaders, pp. 5 , 79ft (with bibliography for and against identifying Jesus' principal
opponents as Pharisees). On the evangelists' ignorance of the identity of the opponents,
cf. A. F . J . Klijn, 'Scribes, Pharisees, Highpriests and Elders in the New Testament',
NovT$, 1 9 5 9 , p. 265.
78. Hultgren, Jesus and His Adversaries, p. 1 5 9 .
79. Ibid., p. 1 5 3 .

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N O T E S TO PAGES 292-297

80. Smith, Magician, pp. 1 5 3 - 5 7 . The quotation is from p. 1 5 7 . See above, p. 1 9 8

and n. 90.
8 1 . Harvey, Constraints, pp. 49ft
82. Ibid., p. 5 1 .
8 3 . On the predominence of the priests in the Sanhedrin and generally in the
government ofJudaism, see M. Stern, 'Aspects ofJewish Society: The Priesthood and
other Classes', esp. pp. 5 8 0 , 6 0 3 ; Schiirer, ed. Vermes, The History of the Jewish People
II, pp. 1 9 9 - 2 3 6 , esp. p. 2 2 8 .

11. THE DEATH OFJESUS

1. A fair part of the Introduction is devoted to scholarly positions on the death of
Jesus. There is an admirable summary of views on how to strike the balance between
Jewish and Roman involvement in R. E. Brown, The GospelAccording to John XIII-XXI,
1 9 7 0 , pp. 792ft See also the summary in W. D. Davies and E. P. Sanders, Jesus: From
the Semitic Point of View', Cambridge History of Judaism III, forthcoming. There is also
a well-balanced treatment of problems and proposed solutions in G. Sloyan, Jesus on
Trial, 1 9 7 3 .
2. Thatjesus was executed as 'king' is generally accepted, but see especially the
detailed argument in Winter, On the Trial ofjesus, ch. 1 2 ; Nils Dahl, 'The Crucified
Messiah', The Crucified Messiah and other Essays, pp. 1 0 - 3 6 .
3 . A. E. Harvey, Jesus on Trial. A Study in the Fourth Gospel, 1 9 7 6 , p. 3 .
4. Ibid., p. 2.
5. Ibid., p. 3 .
6. Above, pp. 232ft
7. Winter, On the Trial ofjesus, p. 63.
8. For the distinction, see, for example, W. R. Wilson, The Execution ofjesus, 1 9 7 0 ,
esp. pp. 9 7 , 1 0 1 - 3 , 1 2 5 f t : the temple authorities soughtJesus' life, but for non-religious
motives. His action against the temple led to the fear of public disturbance.
9. See, for example, Brown, JohnXIII-XXI, pp. 799ft
1 0 . As Dodd (Founder, p. 77) stressed, in Judaism 'national solidarity and religion
were inseparable'.
1 1 . Dodd (Founder, pp. 1 4 9 - 5 1 ) seems to give this parable a role in the fatal conflict.
1 2 . On Luke's deletion of both the word 'blasphemy' and the charge of threatening
the temple, see J . M . Creed, The Gospel According to St Luke, i960, p. 276; Hans
Conzelmann, The Theology of St Luke, E T i960, pp. 8 3 - 7 . There has been considerable
debate, which cannot be rehearsed here, as to the possibility of Luke's having had an
independent source for the Passion Narrative. I take it that Luke's concern to protect
the Christian movement from the charge of irreligion is so marked, especially in Acts,
that, at least on this point, we do not need to seek a separate source. For Luke's concern
to present Christianity as the true and non-threatening form of Judaism, see B. S.
Easton, 'The Purpose of Acts', Early Christianity: The Purpose of Acts and other Papers,
1 9 5 4 , pp. 42ft In favour of an independent tradition for the Passion Narrative, see J .
A. Bailey, The Traditions Common to Luke and John, 1 9 6 3 , pp. 3 2 - 6 3 ; David Catchpole,
'The Problem of the Historicity of the Sanhedrin Trial', The Trial ofjesus, (ed. E.
Bammel), 1 9 7 0 , pp. 4 7 - 6 5 , here p. 54.
1 3 . On a part ofJesus' private teaching which may have been revealed by Judas, see
below, p. 309.
1 4 . David Catchpole ('The Answer ofjesus to Caiaphas (Matt, xxvi.64)', NTS 1 7 ,
1 9 7 1 , pp. 2 1 3 - 2 6 ) argues that the phrases in Matthew and Luke are 'affirmative in

N O T E S T O P A G E S 297-3OO

407

content, and reluctant or circumlocutory in formulation' (p. 226). Vincent Taylor (The
Gospel According to St Mark, p. 569) regarded 'you say that I am', a variant reading in
some mss. at Mark 1 4 . 6 2 , as original. If this view were accepted, the trial scenes would
contain no assertion thatjesus regarded himself as Messiah or Son of God.
1 5 . Harvey (Jesus on Trial) proposes that the entire Gospel is constructed as a 'trial',
in which the charge of claiming to be equal to God is made and answered.
1 6 . A. Strobel (DieStunde der Wahrheit, 1980, p. 6) states, citing Billerbeck and one
additional Rabbinic text, that the basis of the sentence by the Sanhedrin (he assumes
there was a sentence) must have been publicly proclaimed and thus that the charge of
blasphemy must be authentic. The Rabbinic materials, however, manifestly idealize
judicial procedure. If one thinks that Jesus' 'trial' was conducted according to the later
Rabbinic rules, then one would have to conclude that it was not conducted at all. The
court of the Mishnah is a fantasy one, lacking, among other aspects of reality, a high
priest at its head. According to Mishnah Sanhedrin, the court cannot meet at night,
witnesses must have cautioned the offender before he committed the crime, and a
second trial held the next day would be necessary to pass a capital sentence. We shall
see below, in considering some passages from Josephus, how trials and executions
actually took place.
1 7 . Cf. Brown, John XIII-XXI, p. 7 9 7 .
1 8 . See Bultmann, History, pp. 2 6 9 - 7 1 ; Martin Dibelius, From Tradition to Gospel,
E T 1 9 3 4 , p. 1 8 2 ; Boismard, Synopse des quatre Evangiles II, p. 409; Creed, St Luke, p.
276; Winter, On the Trial ofjesus, ch. 3 ; SXoyzn, Jesus on Trial, p. 63; Br"own, John XIIIXXI, p. 796; cf. the summary in J . R. Donohue,y4r You the Christ?, 1 9 7 3 , pp. 1 2 - 3 0 ,
esp. p. 29 n. 1; pp. 238ft

19. William Horbury ('The Passion Narratives and Historical Criticism', Theology,
7 5 , 1 9 7 2 , pp. 5 8 - 7 1 ) cautions against taking the tendency to incriminate the Jews and
exonerate the Romans as having completely controlled the tradition of Jesus' death.
Cf. also C. F. D. Moule, 'Some observations on TendenzkritiV, Jesus and the Politics of
His Day (ed. Bammel and Moule), 1984, pp. 9 1 - 1 0 0 .
20. The outstanding example of a thorough-going defence of the historicity of the
Marcan account remains the encyclopedic study of Josef Blinzler, The Trial ofjesus,
E T of 2nd ed., 1 9 5 9 . Cf. now Strobel, Die Stunde der Wahrheit. Catchpole defends the
basic historicity of the Sanhedrin trial, but follows Luke's order and eliminates the
night trial. He also considers the contents of Luke's account to be more primitive than
those of Mark's. See 'The Problem of the Historicity of the Sanhedrin Trial'; The Trial
ofjesus, p. 2 7 1 .
2 1 . Horbury ('The Passion Narratives and Historical Criticism', p. 69), for example,
reasonably suggests that the evangelists possessed 'a common tradition thatjesus was
questioned and charged by the Jewish authorities', but arranged it within different
frameworks.
2 2 . Reumann, Jesus, pp. 64ft
2 3 . Ibid., p. 266.
24. Harvey, Constraints, pp. 3 2 , 1 3 6 , 1 7 0 f t
2 5 . Ramsay MacMullen, Roman Government's Response to Crisis AD. 2 3 5 - 3 3 7 ,
1 9 7 6 , p. 2 5 . Cf. Elias Bickerman, 'La Chaine de la tradition pharisienne', Studies in
Jewish and Christian History II, 1980, pp. 2 5 7 - 6 9 , esp. 2 5 7 - 9 .
26. On the census (Luke 2 . 1 ) , see recently Joseph Fitzmyer, The GospelAccording to
Luke I-IX, 1 9 8 1 , p. 400 ('a vague recollection' of censuses which took place under
Augustus Caesar - none corresponding to the sort described in Luke). The reference
to Theudas and Judas (Acts 5.36ft) is even 'vaguer': their order is reversed, and

408

N O T E S TO P A G E S 3OO-307

Theudas, who is said to have preceded Jesus, actually lived later. See Josephus, AJ
XX.97-99.

2 7 . So also Luhrmann, 'Markus 1 4 . 5 5 - 6 4 ' , pp. 464ft

2 8. John Bowker, Jesus and the Pharisees, pp. 3 8 - 5 2.
29. See recendy Strobel, Stunde der Wahrheit, pp. 8 0 - 9 2 . Harvey (Constraints, p. 59)
correcdy points out that 'deceiver', like 'false prophet', rests on the judgment that one
who claims to speak the truth does not. This is a perfecdy applicable category, and it
is no surprise that it surfaces in later Jewish-Christian debate (see the passages in
Strobel). What is lacking is any reason for thinking that it was a formal charge sustained
by the Sanhedrin. The Talmudic passages which treat Jesus as a deceiver also say that
he was hanged. Is the conviction as deceiver more likely than execution by hanging?
30. Hengel (CharismaticLeader, p. 42) proposes thatjesus was executed as a false
prophet, and (following Jeremias) he cites evidence outside the trial scene: the scenes
of mockery (Mark 1 4 . 6 5 and parr.; 1 5 . 2 9 - 3 2 and par.; 1 5 . 1 6 - 2 0 and par.; Luke 2 3 . 1 1 ) .
These, he says, travesty 'the charge of which he has been accused'. Yet it should be
noted that not only is prophesying mocked, but also healing and claiming to be king.
This evidence is not adequate to prove that there was a formal charge thatjesus was a
false prophet.
3 1 . Above, pp. 2 0 0 - 2 0 8 .
3 2 . Above, p. 2 7 1 .
3 3 . Not the prerogative of God: above, pp. 273ft
3 4 . Josephus,i?7VI.300-309, quotation from 3 0 1 in Thackeray's translation (LCL).
35. Josephus^yXYlH- ^^.
3 6 . Smith, 'Palestinian Judaism', p. 7 2 ( = 1 8 8 ) .
3 7. Smith, Magician, pp. 16ft, 3 8 - 4 4 .
3 8 . Etienne Trocme, 'L'expulsion des marchands du temple', NTS 1 5 , 1 9 6 8 , pp.
1 - 2 2 , esp. 2 0 - 2 .
3 9 . Jeremias,Proclamation, p. 1 4 5 . 1 1 . 1 .
40. Above, ch. 1 n. 1 .
4 1 . For the last point, see especially YAzusntv, Jesus ofNazareth, pp. 3 4 5 - 8 . For the
list of contributing causes, cf. Smith, Magician, pp. 3 8 - 4 4 .
4 2 . Josephus, BJ II.224. H mentions all feasts as times of special preparation by
the Romans.
4 3 . Just as this chapter was on its way to the typist, I was able to see an article by
David Catchpole arguing that the event is not historical at all. ('The "Triumphal"
Entry\ Jesus and the Politics of His Day [ed. Bammel and Moule], pp. 3 1 9 - 3 4 , esp. 3 3 0 ) .
I have left the section as it already was, but would now emphasize even more the
tentative nature of any conclusions based on the story of the entry.
44. For the difficulty of seeing the passage as showing anything about the public
reception ofjesus, see Etienne Trocme, Jesus as Seen by His Contemporaries, pp. 6 3 ,
in.
4 5 . Cf. Barrett, Jesus and the Gospel Tradition, p. 2 3 .
46. Many scholars have accepted the obvious. See, for example, Dibelius, Jesus, pp.
9 5 , 1 0 2 ; Dunn, Unity and Diversity, p. 4 1 ; W. Beilner, Christus und die Pharisder, 1 9 5 9 ,
pp. 2 3 8 - 4 7 (accepting the title 'Messiah'); Smith, Magician, pp. 16ft, 1 9 . The list
could go on and on.
47. Cf. recently Harvey, Constraints, p. 1 3 6 ; Barrett, Jesus and the Gospel Tradition,
P- 2 3 .
48. There is a third reason: Those who do not think thatjesus had in mind an actual
1 1

409

NOTES TO PAGES 3 0 7 - 3 1 2

event (thus, for example, Bultmann) naturally are uneasy at the thought that he
attributed to himself a role in it!
49. This is a long-standing problem. I repeat here my earlier proposal (p. 2 3 4 ) : A
teacher who comes into conflict with the Pharisees over the law and who offends the
priests by striking at their revenue (the main-line depiction ofjesus), but who appears
in visions after his death, does not seem to deserve the title 'Messiah'. But once we
grant that the kingdom which Jesus had in mind was actually expected, the problem
seems to vanish. For the problem and an interesting answer (thatjesus pointed to Isa.
4 2 . 1 , where the word occurs), see Harvey, Constraints, ch. 6, esp. pp. 1 3 7 - 4 3 .
50. Cf. McKelvey, The New Temple, p. 6 1 : 'an acted parable of the coming kingdom
of God'.
5 1 . Schweitzer, Quest, p. 3 9 6 .
5 2 . For a summary of protests against seeing the Pharisees as involved in the death
ofjesus, see Beilner, Christus und die Pharisder, pp. 2 3 5 - 7 . And see especially Winter,
On the Trial ofjesus, pp. 1 7 4 - 6 .
5 3 . Cf. Winter, On the Trial ofjesus, p. 1 4 7 .
54. There are very helpful charts of events, placed in parallel columns, in Reumann,
Jesus, pp.59, 68.
5 5 . For the following I draw on Schurer/Vermes, The History ofthe Jewish People in
the Age ofjesus ChristII, pp. 1 9 9 - 2 3 6 ; S. Safrai, Jewish Self-Government , The Jewish
People in the First Century I, 1 9 7 4 , pp. 3 7 7 - 9 9 ; Ze'ev W. Falk, Introduction to Jewish
Law of the Second Commonwealth I, 1 9 7 2 , pp. 5 4 - 8 . All scholars note that the
Sanhedrin played varying roles at varying times. See e.g. Safrai, p. 3 8 2 ; Falk, p. 5 6 ;
Schurer/Vermes, pp. 2 1 8 - 2 3 (the question of the Sanhedrin's competence under the
Romans).
56. Schurer/Vermes, p. 204; cf. Falk, pp. 54ft; Safrai, pp. 384ft
5 7 . Schurer/Vermes, p. 2 1 3 . Cf. Safrai, p. 384: towards the end of the period of
the second temple, 'the pre-eminence of the high priesthood declined, but it was quite
considerable even during the last days of the Temple.' Falk (pp. 55ft) depicts the
presidency of the Sanhedrin as changing from a member of the priesthood to a Pharisee
when a matter of halaka was discussed; cf. Safrai, pp. 388ft
5 8 . Schurer/Vermes, p. 2 1 3 ; Safrai, p. 3 8 4 .
59. Safrai, p. 3 8 6 .
60. Schiirer/Vermes, p. 2 1 3 .
6 1 . Of the three treatments being used here, Falk is most dependent on Rabbinic
evidence and least discriminating in conflating it with Josephus, Schurer/Vermes the
least dependent on the Rabbinic accounts and the most discriminating in use of the
sources. As far as I know, despite the large body of literature on the Sanhedrin, there
is no work which meticulously distinguishes source from source, including the various
works of Josephus from one another. Adolf Buchler, noting the divergence which
actually occurs from source to source, and apparently supposing that each source was
correct, developed a theory of multiple courts: Buchler, Das Synedrion in Jerusalem,
1 9 0 2 . (See Schurer/Vermes, pp. 207ft) While I do not find his argument convincing,
his general position has been favoured by others, such as Mantel and Rivkin (for
bibliography, see Schurer/Vermes, p. 207 n. 26). In any case, he put his finger on a
problem which, I think, has not been satisfactorily resolved. William W. Buehler (The
Pre-Herodian Civil War and Social Debate. Jewish Society in the Period76-40 B.C. and the
Social Factors Contributing to the Rise of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, 1 9 7 4 ) offers an
interesting and sometimes revealing study of various terms for the Jewish leaders in
,

410

NOTES TO PAGES 3 1 2 - 3 1 8

Josephus, but ends by ignoring the War in favour of the Antiquities. Thus his conclusion
about the dynatoi (powerful) in Josephus (p. 74) ignores his own word study of the War,
PP- 4 3 - 7 62. Safrai, p. 384; cf. Buehler, Civil War, p. 47. Falk (p. 54) is closer to Josephus
when he says that the Sadducean priests were excluded from the Sanhedrin.
6 3 . Samaias a Pharisee: AJ X V . 3 7 0 . 1 am indebted to the notes by Ralph Marcus
in the L C L edition ofJosephus, vol. VII, pp. 504ft
64. Schurer/Vermes, pp. 206ft; Safrai, pp. 3 8 1 , 389. For the general assumption
that boule = Sanhedrin, see Elias Bickerman, 'La Charte seleucide de Jerusalem',
Studies II, pp. 4 4 - 8 5 , esp. pp. 4 6 - 9 .
65. See above, ch. 6, pp. 1 9 3 - 8 ; cf. 1 8 4 , 199.
66. Ralph Marcus, ed., Josephus (LCL) VII, p. 3 7 3 .
67. See Safrai, p. 3 8 6 n. 3 .
68. Smith, 'PalestinianJudaism', p. 7 7 = 1 9 3 .
69. This passage, like all those which bear direcdy onfiguresknown from the New
Testament, is gready debated. See Strobel, Stunde der Wahrheit, pp. 3 3 1 - 6 .
70. For a story from an earlier date which makes the same point, see BJ I.550:
Herod convened a public assembly, charged Tiro and others, and had his opponents
beaten to death on the spot.
7 1 . Smith, 'Palestinian Judaism'; cf. above, pp. 188; 195ft Shaye Cohen (Josephus
in Galilee and Rome) has shown that Josephus's motives were more complicated than
this, but I still regard the present point as essentially correct: the Pharisees are elevated
in the Antiquities in order to support their successors, the Rabbis. Cohen has shown
that Josephus was concerned to deny any official representative of Judaism (or those
whom he depicts as such) - whether Agrippa, the priesthoood, or one of the three
'philosophies' - had any active role in the revolt (pp. 1 5 4 , 240ft). The present point,
however, still stands: with regard to de facto control, the chief priests predominated.
The motive which Cohen has identified might have inclined Josephus to depict the
Pharisees as joining the chief priests in trying to halt the disaffection of the populace,
but in fact he assigns them virtually no role at all. The depiction of the Pharisees in the
Antiquities, on the other hand, as the party which led Judaism on all points, clashes with
his own history, as well as with his other summaries assigning governance to the priests.
7 2 . Falk, p. 4 8 , describing 'the political framework'. For the traditional character
of government under the leadership of the high priest, seev47XIV.4i.
7 3 . Harvey (Constraints, p. 42) states that the 'handing over' ofjesus to the Romans
must have been the result of a Sanhedrin trial. I see no grounds at all for making that
a requirement.
The 'legality' of the trial as depicted in the synoptics, its relationship to Jewish
jurisprudence and the competence of the Sanhedrin to deliver a death sentence are
matters of vigorous debate. For bibliography and discussion, see Winter, On the Trial
ofjesus, chs. 3 and 7 - 9 ; Catchpole, 'The Problem of the Historicity of the Sanhedrin
Trial'. Brown summarizes correctly that 'we simply do not know enough about the
customs of the Sanhedrin in Jesus' time' to be certain that what is described in the
synoptics could have happened. Brown himself clearly doubts the Matthew/Mark
account of two trials (Brown, John XIII-XXI, p. 797). I think we can go further: Jesus
could have been put forward for execution by the chief priests alone if they could give
Pilate adequate cause to have it carried out.
74. On the term 'chief priests', see Schurer/Vermes, pp. 2 3 3 - 3 6 .
7 5 . Harvey, for example, considers 'blasphemy' to be securely attested (Constraints,

NOTES TO PAGES 3 1 8 - 3 2 9

411

p. 1 7 1 ) , but this contrasts with his own caution elsewhere (see ch. 2 and p. 1 3 6 ) . The
only 'securely attested' charge is 'king'.
76. See above, n. 5 2 and ch. 1 0 .

CONCLUSION
1. John Knox, The Church and the Reality of Christ, 1 9 6 2 , pp. 5 3 - 5 .
2. For some uses of'unique', see above, pp. 137ft, 238ft Kasemann, for example,
speaks ofJesus' 'unparalleled and sovereign freedom over the law'. ('The Problem of
the Historical Jesus', p. 38). It is conceivable thatjesus felt that he could dispose of
the law as he wished (sovereign), but unlikely that he was the only person who ever
thought so (unparalleled), and in any case not provable historically. James Dunn in
more than one case discusses 'uniqueness'. He proposes that Jesus' consciousness of
spiritual power was 'unique', but that one cannot with certainty say the same of his
'sense of sonship' (Jesus and the Spirit, pp. 3 7 , 47). But in fact, no evidence can be
brought to bear which permits discussion of the topic at all.
3. See C. F. D. Moule, The Phenomenon oftheNew Testament, 1 9 6 7 , p. 69.
4. See ch. 3 , the subsection on 'judgment'.
5. On parts of the Sermon on the Mount, see above, pp. 2 6 0 - 6 4 , 276ft Goulder's
more thoroughgoing proposal of Matthaean authorship {Midrash and Lection in
Matthew, pp. 2 5 0 - 6 9 ) is not entirely convincing (I doubt the lectionary theory), but
many of his tests of Matthaean authorship do lead to persuasive results. See, for
example, 'the anticipatory epexegetic prohibition[s]' on pp. 79ft
6. Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament I, pp. 3 7 - 4 2 .
7. Pro: Jeremias; contra: Barrett; see below.
8. I shall still decline to discuss the title 'Son of man', though I incline to the view
of Hooker and Moule: there was no set view of the Son of man as a heavenly figure
coming on clouds, and there is no reason why Jesus could not have used the phrase for
himself in another, or in various meanings. Moule, for example, proposes that he used
it, but not as atitle;it was a symbol which pointed to suffering and vindication. See C.
F. D. Moule, The Origin of Christology, 1 9 7 7 , pp. 1 1 - 2 2 ; Morna Hooker, The Son of
Man in Mark, 1 9 6 7 , pp. 1 8 2 - 9 .
In general, the question oftitlesshould be de-emphasized. None of the terms which
we think of as 'titles' had a single meaning in Jesus' day, and in any case he probably
did not think 'of himself in terms of titles at all' (Dunn, Jesus and the Spirit, p. 1 5 ; cf.
pp. 39ft; see also Harvey, Constraints, pp. 82; 1 6 3 ; 141ft; 1 4 5 - 7 .
9. S ee e.g. Barrett, Jesus and the Gospel Tradition, pp. 4 2 - 5 .
10. Confidence in election 'shaken to pieces', Bornkamm,^.MS ofNazareth, p. 78;
Jesus shattered 'the letter of the law', Kasemann, 'The Problem of the Historical Jesus',
p. 3 8 ; he 'shatters' the framework of Jewish piety, ibid.; foundations shaken, above, ch.
8 n. 1 1 ; Judaism destroyed, above, p. 2 7 8 and n. 4 2 .
1 1 . See Meyer, Aims, pp. 2 4 2 - 9 .
1 2 . Dodd, Parables, pp. 2 9 , 3 7 .
1 3 . Ibid., pp. 83ft, 1 5 9 , 1 6 7 .
14. Bultmann, Jesus and the Word, pp. 5 1 ft
1 5 . Schweitzer,Quest, pp. 3 4 8 , 3 6 2 f t
1 6 . See 'Introduction: State of the Question', at nn. 4 and 5; ch. 4 at nn. 4 - 7 .
1 7 . At this point one should read Josephus's description of the attack by the Zealots
and Idumeans against the high priest and his guards {BJ I V . 3 0 0 - 1 8 ) . Josephus says

412

NOTES TO PAGES 329-332

that it left 8,500 dead. Even allowing for exaggeration, one can see that the temple,
even without Roman support, was strongly defended.
1 8 . E.g. Bornkamm, Jesus of Nazareth, p. 1 5 8 .
19. Dodd, Founder, pp. 89ft
20. E.g. No\a\\, Jesus Before Christianity, p. 39; Jeremias, Proclamation, p. 1 1 9 .
2 1 . Conzelmann (Theology, p. 1 1 8 ) attributes this view to E . Thurneysen, Die
Bergpredigt, 1 9 6 3 ; but I have been unable to see the work.
2 2 . Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament I, pp. 1 3 , 2 1 . Bultmann's view, or so it
appears to me, is the modern version of the classical Protestant view that the extreme
requirements attributed to Jesus were not actually to be prescribed for society (or for
special groups within society), but rather point to justification by faith alone. Bultmann's
formulation is thatjesus did not intend these demands to be fulfilled as requirements,
but only to bring people face to face with God, who simultaneously saves (apart from
works) and demands the whole self. In either case we are asked to believe thatjesus
did not concretely mean what he said. See the remarks about his misleading the
disciples, p. 1 2 9 .
2 3 . Above, pp. 2 0 0 - 2 0 2 ; 2 7 4 - 8 1 ; 29of.

24. See immediately below.

2 5 . The view thatjesus claimed, either direcdy or in effect, to be Messiah, is quite
common, as is the view that he set himself above Moses. Examples will be seen
throughout the section on 'The State of the Question' and in ch. 9. In the view of
others he identified himself in some other way, for example as the Son of man (Kummel,
Theology, pp. 7 7 - 8 5 ; cf. n. 8 above). For the view thatjesus died as the Suffering
Servant, see Jeremias, Proclamation, p. 299. See further just below.
26. Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time ofjesus, p. 267: he was executed for his call to
repentance; Proclamation, pp. 2 7 6 - 9 9 : as Suffering Servant he died to atone 'for many'.
2 7 . Dodd, Founder, p. 109: he died as a self-sacrifice for others; pp. 9 9 - 1 1 3 : he
fused the ideas of Messiah and Suffering Servant and applied them to himself, using
the phrase 'Son of man'. For the view thatjesus made a skilful combination of scriptural
views and tides, see Dodd, According to the Scriptures, 1 9 5 2 , pp. 1 0 3 , i09f.
28. On the non-credal definition of Christianity, and the effect of this on the
Christian description of Judaism, see G. F. Moore, 'Christian Writers', pp. 242ft;
above, 'State of the Question' at n. 1 3 .
29. Kasemann, 'Blind Alleys in the "Jesus of History" Controversy', p. 5 1 : Jesus
was hated because of his belief in grace; 'The Problem of the Historical Jesus', p. 39:
he removes the distinction, 'which is fundamental to the whole of ancient thought',
between the 'realm of the sacred, and the secular'.. . .
30. Resistance to the view thatjesus was afirst-centuryJew is common, though it
is often accompanied by reassurances that he was one in some respects. Note
Kasemann's ambivalence: 'He cannot be integrated into the background of the Jewish
piety of his time. Certainly he was a Jew and made the assumptions ofJewish piety, but
at the same time he shatters this framework with his claim' ('The Problem of the
Historical Jesus', p. 38).
3 1 . C. K. Barrett, 'The Background of Mark 10:45', New Testament Essays. Studies
in Memory of Thomas Walter Manson (ed. A. J . B. Higgins), 1 9 5 9 , pp. 1 - 1 $ ; Jesus and
the Gospel Tradition, pp. 3 5 - 6 7 . Barrett emphasizes the vicarious nature of the suffering
of martyrs, but I would lay equal stress on the view that their cause was vindicated.
The Maccabean martyrs were eulogized in works written after the revolt had been won.
3 2 . Moule, The Origin of Christology, p. 109.
3 3 . Fuchs, 'The Quest of the Historical Jesus', p. 26.

NOTES TO PAGES 332-340

413

3 4 . Kummel, Theology, pp. 94ft

3 5 . Dodd, Founder, p. 109; Jeremias, Proclamation, p. 299.
3 6 . Jeremias, Proclamation, pp. 2 7 6 - 9 9 .
3 7 . By Barrett: n. 3 1 .
3 8 . Naturally people who make this sort of proposal about Jesus' death do not follow
out the natural implication. Dodd, for example, who most explicidy states thatjesus
'voluntarily [took] a course which [led] to his death' (Founder, p. 109), also attributed
his execution to other causes and argued that Jesus was convicted of blasphemy (p.
1 5 8 ) . Similarly Schweitzer argued thatjesus deliberately planned to die, not to atone
for others, but to force God to bring in the eschaton (Quest, pp. 37of.). Yet he puts the
matter in a way that contradicts this: Jesus died because Peter and Judas broke the
commandment 'not to tell' (p. 396). What I am indicating here is the logical implication
of the view thatjesus intended to die.
3 9 . As does Schweitzer's.
40. 'Self-claim', or something similar, not 'awareness of status', is the appropriate
phrase in historical work. 'Awareness of status' implies a theological judgment: God
agrees with Jesus' self-claim. For the phrase, see Jeremias, Proclamation, p. 2 5 0 . It is
emphasized and made thematic in William Horbury's otherwise useful review of Geza
Vermes* Jesus the Jew: Theology 7 7 , 1 9 7 4 , pp. 2 2 7 - 3 2 .
4 1 . The observation is not entirely new. Schweitzer long ago said that it is selfevident that 'Mark, Matthew, and Paul are the best sources for the Jewish eschatology
of the time ofJesus' (Quest, p. 368).
4 2 . Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 422ft
4 3 . See below, on motive.
44. Above, pp. 65ft
4 5 . Nolan, Jesus before Christianity, p. 28; Taylor, The Gospel According to St Mark,
pp. 222ft (on Mark 3 . 5 ) . Taylor grants that the verb 'look around' is Marcan, but sees
it as a primitive feature eliminated by the other Gospels.
46. Jeremias, Parables, p. 1 3 9 : the parable was addressed 'to "those who trusted in
themselves (instead of in God)" . . . i.e. to the Pharisees'.
4 7 . Jeremias, Parables, p. 1 2 4 . Cf. Farmer's remarks on the 'grumblers' in Matt.
2 0 . 1 1 : 'An historical essay on the humanity ofjesus Christ', p. 1 1 5 .
48. Ch. 1 n. 3 7 ; ch. 6 n. 4 8 .
49. Above, p. 2 7 0 . Besides these examples of devotion to death, we must also
remember that the priests had the ability to sway the people (above, pp. 314ft), which
shows that they had not lost all moral credibility.
50. I offer a modern analogy. Athletes are said to strive for excellence and scholars
for knowledge and insight. In fact, a certain amount of hubris accompanies these efforts,
as it accompanies all public professions. Further, both groups strive to maximise their
earnings and comfort. Some members of each group can even be said to be dominated
by pride, arrogance and greed. This mixture of motives, however, does not negate the
positive generalizations. We should not start saying that athletes and scholars are
hypocrites who profess high ideals but seek only their own gain. We must assume that
these observations apply, mutatis mutandis, to such groups of ancients as priests and
Pharisees.
5 1 . Matt. 2 3 . 5 ; cf. the charge against the hypocrites (doubtless Pharisees in
Matthew's redaction) in Matt. 6.
5 2. Theissen, The First Followers ofjesus.

I N D E X OF P A S S A G E S
BIBLE

Deuteronomy

Genesis
1.27

256, 257,

2.24

256, 257,

5.1-6
5.11
6.4-9
17.17
24.1
24.1-4

259

259
17

280

23-3f-

253

4.16

169

7.1

169

20.5

248

20.7

248, 363

1.8
4.32-37
5.1-14

206
183
183
183
183
36211.58
182
182
182
182
207, 4 1 0
85

20.18

183

25.36-38

177

Numbers
206
182
183
182

371
162
162

n.

Psalms

Leviticus

5.5-7
19
19.1-13
19.13

n.

69

16.29

44.22
44.28
45.14

106
78, 79
214

45.22
45.22f.

108, 2 1 4
214

45.23

214

49-5f

79

49.6
49.12
49.23
51.4

214, 372
24
220
214
214

53
54.3
5 4 . 1 if.
55-3
55.7

47
79, 2 1 4
80
106
106

// Kings

Exodus

6.1-5
7.2of.
7.22-27
11
11.28
11.44
12.1-8
12.4
15.16-24
15.31

258
248
4
258
398
257

n.

37.2if.
41
.
41.9
107.1-3
118.26

84
100
99
220
306

Isaiah
I.26f.
2
2.2
2.2f.
8.18
1 1 . 1 if.
f

355 40
40.2
40.3
40-66
42.1
43.5
44.21

78
87
370
214
78

n.

21

96
l 6 l

> 2,
163, 164
3 7 4 n. 5 7
3 7 2 n. 1 9
3 7 1 n. 5
78
409 n. 49
220
106

n.

56.1-8

79

56.5
56.6-8
56.7

60.7
60.10-14
60.11

78
214
66, 7 8 , 2 2 1
3 6 7 n. 5 0
3 7 2 n. 2 4
79
2 1 4 , 3 9 3 n.
20
78
79
3 9 3 n. 20

60.13
60.14
60.16
61
61.1
61.if.
61.6

78
78
79
3 7 9 n. 5 9
162
164
79, 2 1 4

56.8
60.3-7
60.5-16

INDEX OF PASSAGES
66.18-24
66.19
66.20
66.22
Jeremiah
3-i7f.
7.11
8.6
8.19
19.10

79
2 i , 3 9 3 n.
18
78
80
4

26

108
66
3 7 7 n. 5 1
78
7 0 , 3 6 8 n.
61
307

31
33.7f.
50.28
5i.iof.

4i
108
78
78

Ezekiel
18.1-20
33.7-20
34
37
40-43

248
106
79
79
79

47.13-48.
29

79

Daniel
9

3 7 2 n. 1 9

Hosea
2.14-20
(16-22)
6.6
1 2 . 9 (10)

3 7 1 n. 5
67
3 7 1 n. 5

Joel
3-17

214

Amos
3.12

95

Micah
2.12
4
4.1
4.13
5

96
79, 87, 2 1 5
2 1 4 , 3 7 0 n.
21
214
215

415
5.10-15
7.17

214
214

Zephaniah
2.9
2.iof.
3.8
3.11-13

214
214
214
96

Zechariah
2.11
7.3
8.19
8.20-23
9.9
11.12
134
I4.20f.
14.21

214
4 0 1 n. 8 5
4 0 1 n. 8 5
214
235, 306
100
3 7 i n. 5
67
3 6 7 n. 4 6

Malachi
3
4.5

65
1 1 6 , 3 7 1 n.
5

SYNOPTIC GOSPELS
Passages in the synoptic Gospels which have parallels are indexed under either
Matthew or Mark, often under both. Luke has been indexed less completely. In all
cases the index to the parallel passage(s) should be checked.
Matthew
1.1-17
3.2
34
3.6//Mark 1 . 5
3.8//Luke 3 . 8
3-io//Luke 3 . 9
3.11
3.i2//Luke 3 . 1 7

102
108
3 7 i n. 5
109
109
109
109
9 2 , 3 8 0 n.
86

3.i3-i7//Mark 1 . 9 - 1 1 / /
Luke 3.2if.
165
4-i7//Mark i.i f.
109,113,
3 7 4 n. 5 8
4

4.i8-22//Mark 1.16-20
5
5.17

103
263
6 , 260,
26if., 2 6 4 ,
3 6 6 n. 2 4 ,
399 - 6
2 6 1 , 262, 277
263
261
261
261, 322,
3 8 6 n. 89
260, 262
274
4

5.17-20
5.17-6.18
5.i8f.
5.19
5.20
5.21-47
5.21-6.18

416

INDEX OF PASSAGES

Matthew (cont.)
5-23f5.3if. and par.
5-33-37
5.38-42
5.43-48
5.46
546f.
547
5.48
6
6 . 1 - 4 , 5-8
6.1-8
6.2, 5
6.7
6.9
6.9-13
6.10
6.i2//Luke 1 1 . 4
6.i4//Mark 1 1 . 2 5
6.16
6.16-18

6.25-33
7.21
7.22
7.29
8.5-13
8.11
8.1 if. and par.

8.12
8.2if.//Luke 9-59f.

7
1 4 , 230,
256-9, 260
46
46
2 6 1 , 277,
399 n. 59
2 6 1 , 263
277, 399 n.
59
261
2 6 1 , 262,
399 n. 60
263, 4 1 3 n.
5i
277
35, 261,
277, 281
277, 403 n.
34
261, 399 n.
59
7
263
7, 1 4 2
in
1

403 n. 34
2 6 1 , 262,
263, 274,
277, 2 8 1 ,
401 n. 85
105
142, 380 n.
89
284
33
219
117, 151,
208, 323
30, 38, 2 1 2 ,
2 1 8 , 2I9f.,
394 nn. 3 5 ,
38
1 1 5 , 394 n.
38
16,133,
207, 2 5 2 - 5 ,
268, 336

Matthew (cont.)
8.22

3 2 , 398 n.
44

8.29
30
9.2-6 and parr.
111
9.9-13//Mark 2 . 1 3 - 1 7 / /
Luke 5.27-32
1 7 8 , 206
9 . n - i 3 / / M a r k 2.i6f.//
Luke 5.30-32
175
9.13
67
9.14-17//Mark 2.18-2 2 / /
Luke 5.33-39
207
10
104, 3 2 7 ,
328
10.2-4
IOI
10.5
219
10.5f.
30, 2 1 2 , 220
10.5-16
394 n. 35
10.6
104, 1 7 4
10.10
105
10.17
11
10.18
218, 219,
284, 285
10.22
143, 1 4 5 ,
284
10.23
2 1 9 , 220
io.32//Luke 12.8
145, 380 n.
92
io.32f.//Luke 12.8f.
114
11.2-6//Luke 7.18-23
136f.,
139-41,
172, 174,
379 n. 59
1 1 . 2 - 1 1 and par.
160, 377 n.
34
11.3
172
n . 5 / / L u k e 7.22
176
n.5f.
136-7, 138,
140, 148,
153, 155,
158, 1 6 3 ,
377 n. 44
1 1 . 6 and par.
45
11.7-na, 16-19
d
par.
3 7 1 n. 2
1 1 . 1 1 / / L u k e 7.28
92f., 148,
229, 377 n.
44
11.12
36
n.i3f.
92
a n

INDEX OF PASSAGES
Matthew (cont.)
n.i6f.
11.16-19
n.i8//Luke 7.33
1 1 . 1 8 f . and par.
1 1 . 1 9 and par.
1 1 . 2 0 - 2 4 d par.
n.2i-24//Luke
10.13-15
a n

11.25
11.28
i2.i-8//Mark2.23-28//
Luke 6 . 1 - 5
12.7
i2.8//Mark .28//
Luke 6.5
12.914//Mark 3.1 - 6 / /
Luke 6 . 6 - 1 1
12.14
1 2 . 2 7 and par.
i2.27f.//Luke n.i9f.

33
78f.
92
2 0 6 , 4 0 1 n.

i2.3o//Luke 1 1 . 2 3
1 2 . 3 i f . and parr.
I2.38f. and par.
12.38-42/yLuke
11.29-32
1 2 . 3 9 - 4 1 / / L u k e n.29f.
I2.4if.//Luke n.3if.

12.45
1 3 . 1 - 9 and parr.
13.24-30
13.30
I3-38
13.40-42

Matthew (cont.)
!3-42

1 1 5 , 3 9 4 n.

85
92, 263
3 9 5 n. 1
109, no,
114, 1 1 7
176
176
266
67

i2.28//Luke 1 1 . 2 0

417

267
266
9
3 7 8 n. 5 8
i34~5, *37,
3 7 8 n. 5 7
10,133-6,
137-8,
I39-4I,
148, 1 5 1 ,
153, 155,
158, 163,
166, 1 7 4 ,
327, 3 7 7
nn. 3 4 , 4 4 ,
3 7 8 n. 5 2
3 5 , 3 7 8 n.

58
112
160
109, 1 7 2
143
110,114,
1 1 7 , 3 9 5 n.
1
143
in
1 1 4 , 146
3 8 0 n. 86
3 9 4 n. 3 8
142

38

I347f-

1 4 6 , 3 8 0 n.
86

3 47-50
1349
13.50
1 4 . 3 - 1 2 and par.
4-33
i5.i-2o//Mark 7 . 1 - 2 3
i5.4//Mark 7 . 1 0
5.21-28
J

15. 24
15.31
1 6 . 1 - 4 and par.
i6.i8f.
16.19
i6.2 //Mark8. 8//
Luke 9.26
7

114, 4
3 8 0 n. 86
3 9 4 n. 3 8
4 0 2 n. 7
3 8 3 n. 3 9
265-6
268
2 1 9 , 3 9 4 n.
35
174
161
160
146
5
I

i6.27f. and parr.

17.11//Mark 9.12
17.24-27
17.27
i8.i//Mark9.37//
Luke 9.46
1 8 . 1 - 5 and parr.
18.1-22
1 8 . 2 - 5 and parr.
i8.3//Mark 1 0 . 1 5 / /
Luke 1 8 . 1 7
i8.5//Mark9.3 //
Luke 9.48
18.8
18.10-14
i 8 . i 2 f . and par.
18.15-17
18.15-18
18.18

143-6, 153,
3 0 8 , 3 8 0 n.
92
144-5
116
3 6 6 n. 2 8
163
146, 229
115
322
237
I

18.20
i8.2if.//Luke 1 7 . 3 ^
1 9 . 1 - 9 and par.
i9.3~9//Mark 1 0 . 2 - 1 2
i9.8//Mark 1 0 . 8
19.9
19.10

284
3 8 0 n. 89
175
in
3 9 9 n. 5 9
261
1 0 5 , 3 7 3 n.
47
1 5 2 , 284
112
230
256-9, 283
259
14
230

INDEX OF PASSAGES

4i8

Matthew (cont.)
19.n
230
i9.i6-3o//Mark
10.17-31//Luke
18.18-30
255
19.17
3 8 0 n. 89
1 9 . 1 7 ^ and parr.
36
1 9 . 1 9 and parr.
268
i9.23//Mark 10.2 3//Luke
18.24
1 4 2 , 3 8 0 n.
89
1 9 . 2 8 and par.
98-102,
i03f., 1 1 5 ,
117, 128,

i9.29//Mark 1 0 . 2 9
19.30
20.1-16
20.11
2 0 . 2 0 - 2 8 and par.
20.20-28//Mark
io.35-45
20.2i//Mark 1 0 . 3 7
20.23 and par.
20.28a//Mark 1 0 . 4 5 a
2 1 . 1 - 9 and parr.
2i.4f.
2i-5
2i.8//Markn.8//
Luke 1 9 . 3 6
2i.9//Mark 1 1 . 9 / /
Luke 1 9 . 3 8
21.9
2i.i5//Mark 1 1 . 1 8 / /
Luke 1 9 . 4 7
21.31
21.32
21-43
2i.45f.//Luke 20.19
2i.45f.//Mark 1 2 . 1 2 / /
Luke 2 0 . 1 9
22.1-10
22.1-14
2 2 . gf.
22.13

146,
222,
233,
284
114
150
413
115

153,
229,
236,308

n. 4 7

146
229, 2 3 3 ^ ,
308, 3 8 1
237
235
3o6f.
306
235

Matthew (cont.)
22.15
22.34
22.41
23

23.3
23.5
23.5 .
23.5-7
23.6f.
23.13
23.23
f

23.23-26
23.34
23-34-36//Luke
11.49-51
24.3//Mark 1 3 . 4 / /
Luke 2 1 . 7
24.9//Mark 1 3 . 1 3 / /
Luke 2 1 . 1 7
24.i4//Mark 1 3 . 1 0
2 4 . 2 6 and par.
2 4 . 2 7 and par.
24.3o//Mark 1 3 . 2 6 / /
Luke 2 1 . 2 7
24.3of. and parr.
24.3 i//Mark 1 3 . 2 7

304, 306
306
306
310
205, 208,
271
206
3 9 4 n. 3 8
296
310
218, 227
in
218
1 1 5 , 3 9 4 n.
38

- 2 4 . 3 7 , 3 9 and par.
24.44 d P 24.51
a n

ar

25
25.21, 23
25.25
25.30
25.31
25.31-46
25.32
26.3-5
26.4f.//Mark 1 4 . if.//
Luke 22.if.
26.i4//Mark 1 4 . 1 0 / /
Luke 2 2 . 4

296, 309
309
309
51,263,
2 7 4 , 276f.,
280, 3 2 2 ,
403 n. 3 6
322
4 1 3 n. 5 1
261, 277
261, 276
3 9 9 n. 5 9
3 8 0 n. 89
3 3 , 263,
276, 3 3 8
261, 276,
3 9 9 n- 5 9
11
114
142
284
212, 219
149
146
2

!4 > 308
144-6
142, 153,
229, 2 3 6
146
146
115,39411.
38
144, 222
3 8 0 n. 89
33
1 1 5 , 3 9 4 n.
38
143
in
in
296
310
309

INDEX OF PASSAGES
Matthew (cont.)
26.i4-i6//Mark
\\.\oi.//
Luke 2 2 . 3 - 6
310
26.15
100
26.20-25
99
26.25
2 6 . 2 6 - 2 9 and parr.
15
2 6 . 2 8 and parr.
112
1

26.29

14.25
26.47//Mark i 4 4 3 / / L u k e
22.47
310
26.57/VMark i 4 . 5 3 / / L u k e
22.54
310
26.57
3
26.57-75//Mark
14.53-72
296-301
26.59/VMark 1 4 . 5 5
297, 3 1 1
26.59f.//Mark 14.561^.
75
26.6of.//Mark 14.571^.
71-76
26.60-66//
Mark 1 4 . 5 6 - 6 4
311
26.6i//Mark 1 4 . 5 8
61, 251
26.63//Mark i 4 . 6 i / / L u k e
22.67, 70
297, 299
26.64
297
26.65//Mark 1 4 . 6 4 / /
Luke 2 2 . 7 1
297
27.i//Mark 1 5 . 1
298
2 .if.//Marki5.if.//
Luke 2 2 . 6 6
311
27.3-10
3 7 2 n. 2 7
27.15-26//
Mark 1 5 . 6 - 1 5 / / L u k e
23.18-23
298
27.39f.//Mark 15.291^
61
274o//Mark 15.29
72,73, 301
27.62
309
28.16
100
28.19
3 9 9 n. 5 9
28.20
143, 152
Mark
1.3 and parr.
3 7 1 n. 5
i.4//Luke3.3
109
1.5 and par.
109
1.6 and par.
92
1 . 9 - 1 1 and parr.
'165
i.i4f.
1 1 3 , 148,
3 7 4 n. 5 8 ,
3 7 7 n. 3 4
7

1.28
i.32f.

109, no,
117, 133,
3 2 7 , 3 7 7 n.
44, 3 7 8 n.
52
103
159
159
1 5 9 , 3 8 2 n.
6
159
159

1-35-39
1.40
1.40-44
1 4 0 - 4 5 and parr.
1.41
1.44 and parr.
1-45
2.1-5
2.1-12
2.1-3.6
2 . 3 - 1 1 and parr.
2-5
2.7
2.9-12

159
159
49
162
160
207
159
159
49
292
111
273
273
301

2.13
2.13-17
2.14
2 . 1 5 and parr.
2.15-17

159
1 7 8 , 206
3 9 1 n. i n
207
3 9 1 n. i n ,
3 9 2 n. 1 1 8
49
175
291
175

See Mark

Mark (cont.)
1.15

419

1 . 1 6 - 2 0 and par.
1.21
1.23-26
1.27

2.16
2.16a
2.i6f.
2.i6f. and parr.
2.17

45, !74, 261

2.18

49, 2 6 5 ,
2 9 1 , 400 n.

2.i8f. and parr.

2.18-20(19)
2 . 1 8 - 2 2 and parr.
2.19
2 . 1 9 and parr.
2.19a
2.23f.
2.23-26

7i
92
291
207, 263,
401 n. 85
3 9 2 n. 1 1 9
207
3 7 7 n. 4 4
265
265, 291

420

INDEX OF PASSAGES

Mark (cont.)

Mark (cont.)
2 . 2 3 - 2 8 and parr.
2 . 2 3 - 2 8 (27)
2.23-3.6
2.28 and par.
3.iff. and par.
3 . 1 - 4 (4b)
3 . 1 - 6 and parr.

36, 266,
292
291
290
267
3 6 , 49
291
2 6 6 , 4 0 1 nn.
8 3 , 84

3.5

4 1 3 n. 4 5

3.6 and par.

264, 292,

3-7

159

296, 3 0 1
3-9f3.11
3-14
3.16-19
3.190-21
3.20-30
3.21
3.28f. and par.
3.29^
3.31-35
4-1
4.12
5.1-20
5 . 2 1 - 4 3 and parr.
6.3
6.12
6.3of., 4 5
7
7.if.
7.iff7-1-5
7 . 1 - 2 3 and par.
7 . 1 - 2 3 (i5)
7.2
7.2f. and par.
7-3
7.5
7.6-9
7 . 1 0 and par.
7.11//Matt. 1 5 . 5
7.14
7.15

59

1 7 2 , 3 8 3 n.
39
38, 103
101
i66f.
166
30
112
166
5
159
112
3 8 3 n. 3 9
162
105
109, 1 1 3
328
290
265
49, 292
67
265f.
291
265, 291,
400 n. 7 1
185
186
2 6 6 , 400 n.
77
186
268
258
266
34, 36, 38,
260, 2 6 6 ,
I

267, 2 7 2 ,
3 6 7 n. 4 7 ,
400 nn. 7 6 ,
7.17-23
7.19
7.24-30
7-29
8.1 if. and par.
8.11, 15
8.27 and parr.
8.27-30
8.28f. and parr.
8.29f. and parr.
8.31-33
8.35
8.38//Luke 9.26
9.2-8
9.11
9 . 1 2 and par.
9.34 and parr.
9 . 3 7 and parr.
9-38f.//Luke 9.49
9.38-4i//Luke 949f.
9.41
9-42
947//Matt. 18.9
1 0 . 1 - 1 2 (9)
10.2-9
1 0 . 2 - 1 2 and par.
io.nf.
1 0 . 1 5 and parr.
1 0 . 1 7 - 3 1 and parr.
10.18
1 0 . 2 3 and parr.
10.29
P 10.31
10.33-35
10.35-45
P 10.37
10.37 <* P -

77, 78
52
266
219
38, 163
172
292
172
328
172
307
328
35
114, 143,
3 8 0 n. 9 2
328
292
116
229
284
284
135
284

io-38f.

175
114
291
36
256-9
14
142
255
4
142
284
114
163
i i 5 , 146
147
2 2 9 , 233f.,
308, 3 8 1
147

1045
1 0 . 4 5 a and par.

47, 3 3 2
235

11
11.2-6
1 1 . 8 and parr.

305
162
304, 306

a n a <

ar

an

ar

ar

INDEX OF PASSAGES
Mark (cont.)
11.8
1 1 . 9 and parr.
1 1 . 1 5 , i8f.
1 1 . 1 5 a , i8f.
n.i5f.
11.150-17
1 1 . 1 5 - 1 9 and parr.
11.16
1 1 . 1 7 and parr.

1 1 . 1 7 L , 19
1 1 . 1 8 and parr.
11.18a
11.25
11.27
11.27-33
11.28-33
1 2 and parr.
12.1-9
1 2 . 1 - 1 2 and parr.
1 2 . 1 2 and parr.
12.13
1 2 . 1 3 - 1 7 (17)
12.13-34
12.15
1 2 . 1 7 and parr.
1 2 . 1 8 - 2 7 and parr.
i4.9//Matt. 2 6 . 1 3
1 4 . 1 of. and parr.
12.28
12.28-34
12.35-40
i2.38f.
12.41-44
1 3 and parr.
13.if. and parr.
13.2

1 3 . 4 and parr.
13.9/yLuke 2 1 . 1 3

421

Mark (cont.)
40511.63
306
3 6 3 n. 1
3 6 3 n.i
3 6 3 n. 1
3 6 3 n. 1
61-71
2 5 1 , 3 6 3 n.
1
6 2 , 66f., 7 5 ,
89, 2 2 1 ,
3 0 7 , 3 6 3 n.
1, 3 6 5 n. 1 8 ,
3 6 7 nn. 3 9 ,
40, 5 0
3 6 4 n. 1
296, 3 0 1 ,
304, 3 1 0
3 6 3 n. 1
in
296, 3 1 0
3 6 3 n. 1
3 6 3 n. 1
305
33
305
296, 304,
310
292, 309,
339
291
305
339
48
127, 237
212, 218
310, 328
309
51
305
4 0 3 n. 3 3
305
305, 326
71-76
61,36411.
2, 3 6 8 n.
66
142
284

13.9
13.9b, 10
1 3 . 1 0 and par.

2 8 5 , 4 0 4 n.
56
219
212, 218,
2 2 0 , 3 9 4 n.

1 3 . 1 3 and par.
1 3 . 2 6 and par.
1 3 . 2 7 and par.
13.32
14
14.if. and parr.
1 4 . 1 0 and parr.
i4.iof.
1 4 . 1 7 and parr.
1 4 . 1 7 - 2 1 and parr.
14.18
14.24
1 4 . 2 5 and parr.

1 4 . 4 3 and parr.
1 4 . 5 3 and parr.
1 4 . 5 3 - 7 2 and par.
1 4 . 5 5 and par.
i4-55f1 4 . 5 6 ^ and par.
1 4 . 5 6 - 6 4 and par.
i4.57f.//Matt. 26.6of.
1 4 . 5 8 and par.
14.58

14-59
1 4 . 6 1 and parr.
i4.6if.
14.61-64
14.62

35
284
142, 308
142
i 7
305
310
309
328
100
99, 1 0 0
99, 1 0 0
47, 3 3 2
128, 146,
147, 208,
229, 308,
324, 3 3 2 ,
3 8 1 n. 1 0 5 ,
3 9 2 n. 1 2 1
310
310, 3 1 1
296-301
3 "
299
75
311
71-76
61, 251
2 2 9 , 3 6 4 nn.
2, 3 , 5 , 3 6 8
n. 66
297
297, 299,
328
307
7 2 , 3 6 4 n. 5
4

2 9 7 , 4 0 7 n.

1 4 . 6 4 and parr.
1 4 . 6 5 and parr.
1 5 . 1 and par.

14
297
408 n. 3 0
298, 299,
3ii

1 5 . 6 - 1 5 and parr.

298

15.13

4 0 5 n. 6 3

422
Mark (cont.)
1 5 . 1 6 - 2 0 and par.
1 5 . 2 9 and par.
1 5 . 2 9 ^ and par.
1 5 . 2 9 - 3 2 and par.
1 5 . 3 0 and parr.
Luke
1.15
2.1
2.22f., 3 9
4.18
4-22
4-3
5.1-11
5-4-7
5.7, 1 0
5-32
6.14-16
6.20
7-34
7-47^747-49
9.60a
10.1-12
10.13-15
10.17
10.18
io.23f.

I0.29ff.
n.3if.
n.32f.
i2.5//Matt. 1 0 . 2 8
12.8
13.1-5
13.6-9
13.10-17
13.13
i3.28//Matt. 8 . 1 2
i3.28f.
13.30
14.1-6
14.15-24
14.16-24

INDEX OF PASSAGES

408 n. 3 0
72, 73, 301,
3 6 4 nn. 2, 5
61
408 n. 3 0
3 9 6 n. 3 4

92
4 0 7 n. 2 6
182
176
3 9 3 n. 1 4
3 8 2 n. 6
103
163
109
109, 1 1 3 ,
175
101
176
179
273
112
3 9 8 n. 4 4
3 7 5 n. 8 1
3 7 5 n. 8 1
284
1 4 8 , 3 7 7 n.
44
148, 149,
1 5 3 , 3 7 7 nn.
34, 44
36
148, 149,
3 7 7 n. 3 4
153
114
3 8 0 n. 9 2
109, n o
114
266
266
114, 115
151
114
266
227
218

Luke (cont.)
H.18
14.23
15.1
15.if.

33
218
1 0 4 , 4 0 3 n.
38
175, 179,
3 3 9 , 404 n.

15.1-32
15.2
15.3-6
15.3-7
15.3-10
154, 6
15.7

i5-8f.
15.8-10
J
J

5-9
5.io

43
179
279, 2 8 1 ,
290
109, 203
150
112
179
175, 179,
2 0 3 , 3 7 4 n.
59, 3 8 5 n. 9
109, 203
150
179
175, 179,

15-11-32
15.18
15.25-32

2 0 3 , 3 7 4 n.
59, 3 8 5 n. 9
1 1 2 , 150
179
2 8 1 , 3 8 6 n.

15.32
16.1-13
i6.i4f.
i6.i6//Matt. 1 1 . 1 2
16.18
16.30
i7.3f.
17.20b
i7-2of.

24
179
in
278, 281
36
14
109
109
149
148, 150,

17.21
17.22
i7.23//Matt.24,26
17.23a
18.9
18.9-14

18.10-14
19.1-9

1 5 5 , 3 7 7 n.
44
149
149
149
149
338
36,112,
175, 180,
278, '281,
3 8 6 n. 3 0
338
203

INDEX OF PASSAGES
Luke (cont.)
19.1-10
19.39
1944
19.47
21.12
2I.I2f.

175
309
364 n. 2
296
285
219

22.18

See

22.21-23

14-25
99

John
1.20
1-25-40
i-34
1.35-40

91
373 - 35
9i
92

1-40-51
1.42
2.16
2.i8f.
2.18-22

373 n . 3 3
147
363 n. 1
74
6 1 , 72

2.19
3.22-24
3.30
4-1-3
5.18
6.64
6.67
6.71
7.49

73
92
92
92
297
100
373 n. 33
100
180, 385 n.
30
166, 402 n.
13
296
3ii
288,305
36
306
309,3n
311
297
311
317
297,311
3n,3i8
298
318
373 n. 47
373 n. 33

8.48
11.42-53
n-47
11.50
12.13
12.15
18.3
18.12
18.19
18.19-23
18.19-28
18.24
18.30
18.38
19.7
20.23
20.24

Mark

Acts
1.6
1.13
1.16-20
i.i8f.
1.21-26
2.38
2.46
3.1
3-5-7
3.19
4-3
45f.
4.5-22
4.6
4.10
4-15
4.18
4.21
5.17
5.17-42
5-21
5.26
5-27
5.29
5-34
5.34-39
5-36
5.36f.
5.40
54of.
5-41
6.12
6.136.i3f.
6.14
6.15
7.1

423

Luke (cont.)
22.28-30
22.30
22.66
22.67-70
23-1
23.11
23.28-31
23.34
24.47

116
101
100
372 n. 27
102
109
67, 76
76, 268
373 n. 39
109, 1 1 3
285
285
284
284
284
285
284
405 n. 63
285
284
285
304
285
284
285
285
303
407 n. 26
284, 285
284
285
285
72, 284
61
72, 73, 301
285
285

308
100, 102
298, 3 1 1
297, 3 1 1
3
408 n. 30
114
112
109
1 1

7.2-53
7.57-60
8.1
10
10.9-17
12.1
12.1-3
13.24
18.24-26
19.4
20.35
21.23-26
21.26
21.28
21.38
23.6
Romans
1-16
1.18-32
2.13
2.28f.
3.8
3.21
3.21-26
3.28-30
3.31
.2 f.
4

5-i
5. f.
9

6.1
6.2
6.15
8
8.4

284
284
285
94, 404 n.
5i
250
404 n. 56
284, 404 n.
54
109
92
109
358 n. 43
268
76
285
303
388 n. 58
330, 359 n.
69
217
132, 151
367 n. 48
262
132
331
56
262
56
151
151
262
323
262
151
132

424

INDEX OF PASSAGES

Romans (cont.)

8.23
94
9.30-10.3
10.4-17
10.13
11

9.5

isif.
298, 3 3 6
336
56
151
229,330,

n.25f.
11.25-32
11.26
n.26f.
11.29
n.30f.

3 3 5 , 336
326
93
56
9 5 , 3 5 9 n.
69
228
326
336
93
336
93

13
13.8-10

!3
2 1 7 , 283,

n.n-13
11.13-16
11.20-23
n-25

14
14.1-6

336
95,37211.
10
325
264

14-17
15
15.16
15.19
16.7

151
229, 3 2 6
93, 228
95
105

i3.nf.

I Corinthians
1.8
323
1.12
3 7 2 n. 1 5
4.20
126
6.2
115
6-9f.
126
6.9-11
323
6.16
259
7.iof.
14, 230,

7.10-16
7.12-14
7.12-16
715
719
7.24-31
7.29

2 5 6 , 3 9 8 n.
46
268
256
230
256
336
259
3 7 2 n. 1 0

9.6
9.12-15
9.14
9.i9f.
9-2of.
11.23-25
11.23-26
11.25
15
15-3-8
15.5
15-6
15.7
15.9
15.20-28
15.23
15.24
I5.24-28
15.44-50

105, 129,
3 7 2 nn. 1 5 ,
26, 3 9 5 n.
19
105
105
105
4 0 5 n. 5 7
338
1 1 2 , 3 5 8 n.
43
15
229
3 5 , 105,
126, 229
3 5 8 n. 4 3
98-102,
105, 147
304
105
282
228
1 4 5 , 3 5 9 n.
69
126
I26f.
21

15.50

126, 127,

i5.5if.

151
3 7 2 n. 1 0

77 Corinthians
2.10
105
3.6
3.18
4.14
4.16
5.1-10

132
151
3 7 2 n. 1 0
151
3 7 2 n. 1 0

5-17

151

11.24
11.25
12.12
Galatians
1-2
1.2
1.13
1.14
i.i7f.
1.18f.

1 1 , 282
4 4 - 56
3 7 3 n. 3 9
n

1.19
1.22
1.23
2
2. if.
2.1-10
2.2
2.4

2.6
2.6-10
2-7f.
2.9
2.10
2.11-14

2 8 5 , 3 8 8 n.
2.11-16
2.12
2-i3f.
2.15
2.16
2.21
3.16
4.6
4.10
5.1
5-5
5.11
5.14
5.16-24
5.21
6.12

54
250
94
337
2 1 7 , 283,
3 9 0 n. 9 4
132
21
280
151
250, 264
3 5 7 n. 2 7
151
1 1 , 281
283, 336
323
126
1 1 , 281,
3 3 8 , 3 5 7 n.
27

Philippians
1.10
i-i5
1.19-26
2.i5 3.6
f

105
326
1 1 , 282
3 8 8 n. 5 8
105
147

105, 147
11
282
105
20
282
105
229, 230,
263, 3 2 3 ,
338
94
20
146
94, 1 4 7 , 3 7 2
n. 1 5
3 9 4 n. 3 9
94,264,

3.2of.

283
338
3 7 2 n. 1 0
323
11,282,388
n. 5 8
3 5 9 n. 69

I Thessalonians
1.9
217

INDEX OF PASSAGES

I Thessalonians (cont.)

4-i5

2.14-16
2.15
2.16

4.15-17

3.13
4
4-5

282
286
3 5 7 n. 2 7 ,
3 7 8 n. 5 3
283, 3 2 3 ,
403 n. 3 5
229
217

4.16
4.i6f.

9 3 , 3 8 0 nn.
90, 9 1
144-6, 228,
2 2 9 , 3 7 2 n.
10
21
1 1 8 , 146,
3 5 9 n. 69,
3 7 5 n. 86

425
4.18
5.23

144
283, 3 2 3 ,
403 n. 3 5

Revelation
2.9
21.9-22.5
21.12
21.22
21.24

86
86
97
86
86

RABBINIC L I T E R A T U R E
MISHNAH

Berakoth

Parah

Yoma

2.2

141

3.1

253

9.5

3 6 5 n. 6

3-2

185

Nazir
7-i

253

Demai
2.2
2.3

4.2

192
i8of., 1 8 7 ,
1 9 2 , 3 6 2 n.
50, 3 8 5 n.
1 4 , 3 8 8 n.
56

206

Baba Metzia
4.8

Tohoroth
7.6

3.2
6.i,7f.

2.2
4.2

Sanhedrin
7.1

3 9 1 n. 1 1 6

7-5
7.8

298
3 9 1 n. 1 1 6

Horayoth

1.3

3 6 6 nn. 2 8 ,

1.6
2.1

29
3 6 6 n. 3 0
3 6 6 n. 29

3.8

188

Bekhoroth
8.7

3 8 7 n. 4 6
3 8 7 n. 4 6

183
2 5 7 , 3 6 6 n.
34

Makshirin
6.3

Shekalim

3 9 1 n. 1 0 7

Niddah
206

192

Shahhath

197
185

Mikwaoth

BabaKamma
9.6

3-7
11.5

3 6 6 n. 2 7

192

Zabim
5.12

185

Yadaim
2.2

185

TOSEFTA

T. Demai
2.2

T. Yom ha-Kippurim
4l5l-5

T. Sanhedrin

T. Kiddushin
180

3 9 7 n. 20

i.i5f.

3 9 1 n. 1 0 8

13.2

2 1 6 , 3 9 3 n.

13.10

23
97

426

INDEX OF PASSAGES
MEKILTA

Mekilta Bah odesh

Mekilta of R. Simeon b. Yohai

5
6

3 8 0 n. 8 4
3 8 0 n. 8 4

3 9 7 n. 2 0

to Exod. 2 0 . 5

3 9 7 n. 2 1

SIFRE

SIFRA

Shemini
pereq 1 2 . 3 (to Lev. 1 1 . 4 4 )

3 6 3 n. 5 8

AhareMot
pereq 8.1
pereq 8.if.

3 9 7 n. 2 3
3 9 1 n. 1 1 6

pereq 1 3 . 3 (to Lev. 1 8 . i f . )

3 8 0 n. 83

Numbers 1

3 9 3 n. 1 5

Deuteronomy 4 9

36311. 5 8

SIFRE Z U T A
to Num. 6 . 2 6

3 9 7 n. 2 3

BABYLONIAN T A L M U D

Shabbath
31a

Sanhedrin

Yoma
3 6 2 n. 4 1

19b

1 9 7 , 3 6 6 n.

26a-b

3 9 3 n. 3 0

36

Pesahim
49b

3 8 6 n. 3 2

Makkoth

Sotah
22b

24b

36

49, 50

Baba Metzia
33b

3 8 9 n. 7 0 ,
3 9 3 n. 3 1

PALESTINIAN TALMUD

PSanhedrin

PHagigah
77.b (2.1)

3 8 6 n. 2 2

21b

3 9 6 n. 3

DEAD SEA SCROLLS

iQS (Manual of Discipline)

1QH (the Hymns)

2.2f.

97

4.8f.
5 . 1 if.

249
249

2. f.
2.7f.

83
97

6.2-5
94
9.5
10.20

83
83
83
3 7 4 n. 5 2

2.9
6.6
6.7f.
14.24

3.H

83
97
97
83
83
83
97

iQSa (the Messianic Rule)

1.1-3

98

3 7 4 n. 5 2
107
3 7 2 n. 2 2
3 7 4 n. 5 2

iQM (the War Scroll)

1.2
1.3
2.1-4

97
83
83

3-i3
5-i
74
7.4-10
7.10
13

INDEX OF PASSAGES
12.10
I2.i3f.
12.17
13.8?.

214
214
83
3 7 2 n. 2 2

i2.8f.
12.10

65
65

i3-i3fi4.8f.

97
3 7 2 n. 2 2

(Commentary on Ps. 3 7 J
3.1
84, 3 7 4 n.
52

iQpHab
(Habakkuk Commentary)
2.6
97
5-3-6
98
8.1-3
98
8.8-11
65
9-5
65
10.3-5
98
10.9-13
98
11.4-7
65
11.7
66

3.11

84

iQflor.
1.113
84
1.6
84
i.6f.
84
1 iQTemple
18.14-16
97
29.8-10
8 5 , 86
29.8-18
87

427
57-5f-

97

CD (Covenant of Damascus)
4.2
3 7 4 n. 5 2
44
259
4.14-18
257
4.18
66
4.20
258
4.21
258
5.6f.
257, 258
5.6-8
66
5.7
3 6 6 n. 3 4
5.8-11
258
6. f.
3 7 4 n. 5 2
6.i f.
258
8.16
3 7 4 n. 5 2
19.16
107
20.17
3 7 4 n. 5 2
4

APOCRYPHA AND PSEUDEPIGRAPHA

Letter of Arts teas
92-9
4 0 1 n. 1
Baruch
2
2.3 2f.
2.34
4-5
4.25
4.28
4-31,35
437
5.5

112
106
107
96
214
107
214
96
96, 2 2 0

Ben Sira
36
36.7, 9
36.11
48.10
48.iof.
48.15

96
214
96
96
3 7 1 n. 5
3 7 3 n. 5 1

I Enoch
24-25
25.3
25.3^
25.5

81
81
114
8 1 , 86

83-90
89-90
89.73
90.26
90.28f.
90.29
90.30
90.30-33
91.9
91.13

3 8 6 n. 1 9
81
8 1 , 82
114
8 1 , 86, 8 7
81
81, 214
214
214
82

Jubilees
1.15
1.15-17
1.17
1.23
1.26
1.27
1.28
23.26
23.30

107
82
86, 8 7
107
82
86
82
107
214

Judith
11.13

38811.51

I Maccabees
2.29-41

3 9 6 n. 2

II Maccabees
i.27f.
97
2.7
8 1 , 86
2.18
97
Psalms of Solomon
1.8
4 0 2 n. 3
2.3
4 0 2 n. 3
8
8.9-19
8.13

193
65
2 5 7 , 3 6 6 n.
3 4 , 4 0 2 n. 3

8.34
9.9f.
11
11.3-7
17

97
114
97
220
82, 108,
116, 217
3 9 3 n. 2 6
3 6 6 n. 3 2
82
82, 2 1 7
214
97
82
104, 2 1 7
97

17.6
17.6-8
17.23
17.25
17.25-27
17.26
17.28
i7.28f.
17.28-31

428

INDEX OF PASSAGES

17.29
17.31
17.32

17.34
i7-34f.
17-50
18.4-7

io8
214, 217
82, 87, 2 1 7 ,
3 7 0 n. 2 1 ,
3 9 5 n. 2 3
82
218
97
7
I

3.669-72
3.702-20
3.716f.
3.716-18
3752f.
3.761
3.772-4
5.414-33
5425

6.1

214
85
108
214
214
214
85
85f.
87

7
10.1
10.7
10.9
Tobit

Testament of Abraham
Sibylline Oracles

(recension A)

3
3.294

1-3

3.489-808
3-5i7f3.616

217
8 5 , 3 7 0 n.
20
214
214
214

3 6 6 n. 3 3 ,
3 7 0 n. 3 0
4 0 2 n. 3
1 3 5 , 3 7 8 n.
55
97, 2 1 4
3 7 0 n. 3 0

134

Testament of Moses
34
97
4-9
97
5.3
3 7 0 n. 3 0

6.13-15
13
13.5
i3.5f.
13.11(13)
I3.i6f.
13.16-18
14.5
14.6f.

253
112
80
107
80,214
107
80
8of., 86, 87
81, 214

TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS

Testament of Levi
18
18.12

135
3 7 8 n. 5 5

Testament of Benjamin
9.2

8 2 , 86f.

OTHER ANCIENT AUTHORS

JOSEPHUS
Antiquitates jfudaicae
II 2 7 5
171
II 2 8 4
171
II 2 8 6
171
HI 2 3 0
3 6 6 n. 3 1
III 2 5 9 ^
183
HI 26if.
182
VIII 4 6
3 8 3 n. 2 2
VIII 6 3 - 1 2 9 4 0 1 n. 1
XII 2 7 4 - 6
3 9 6 n. 2
XIII 2 8 8
195, 3 1 6
XIII
296-300 3 1 6
XIII 2 9 7
4 0 3 n. 2 9
XIII 2 9 8
195
XIII 4 0 8 - 1 8 3 1 2
XIII411
312
XIII i 7 f .
4

XIV 4 1

313
4 1 0 n. 7 2

XIV 1 6 5

313

XIV 1 6 5 - 8 4 3 1 3
xrv 1 7 0 3 1 3
XIV i i f .
313
XIV 1 7 7
313
XIV 1 7 7 ^ 3 1 3
XIV 1 8 2
313
XV 1 6 5 - 7 8 3 1 3
XV i 2 f .
314
XV 1 7 4
314
XV 1 7 8
314
XV 2 4 8
64
XV 3 7 0
4 1 0 n.
XV 4 0 3 - 8
4 0 2 n.
XVII 4 2
195
XVIII 1 2 - 1 5 1 9 5
XVIII 1 7
316
XVIII 1 8
4 0 3 n.
XVIII 3 7
400 n.
XVIII 63f.
4 0 5 n.

XVIII 8 5 - 9 3 0 3
XVIII 87
no
XVIII 9 0 - 9 5 4 0 2 n. 4
XVIII

116-19

XVIII 1 1 8
XVIII 2 6 2
XX 97

I 0

9 > *84,

239> 3 7 i n.
4, 408 n. 3 5
3 9 5 n. 1 3
4 0 1 n. 1
1 7 1 , 239,
3 0 3 , 3 9 6 n.
24

63
4

X X 97f.
XX 9 7 - 9 9

29
66
65

X X 98
X X 98f.

2 3 9 , 4 0 2 n.
7
1 3 8 , 3 8 4 n.
64, 408 n.
26
303
3 9 5 n. 1 6

INDEX OF PASSAGES

X X i6jf.
XX
XX

XX
XX
XX
XX

XX
XX
XX

XX
XX
XX

239, 303,

3 9 6 n. 2 4
168
3 8 4 n. 64,
3 9 6 n. 3 5
168-72 138, 239,
3 8 4 n. 64
169
303
170
3 9 6 n. 2 5
i7if.
3 9 5 n. 1 6
197-203316
199
316
1 9 9 - 2 0 3 284
20of.
285
201
404 n. 5 5
203
3 9 5 n. 9
251
316

Bellum jfudaicum
I no
271
I 110-14
I 112
I 114
I 148
I 208-11

312
313
312, 313
270
313

I 434
I 550
II 72f.
II 1 1 8

313
4 1 0 n. 7 0
3 9 3 n. 3 2
239
188
170
188
195, 198,
3 8 8 n. 5 8 ,
3 8 9 n. 59
3 9 3 n. 3 2
408 n. 4 2
3 9 4 n. 3 2
3 9 4 n. 3 2
2 3 9 , 3 9 6 n.

II i43f.
II 1 5 9
II i6of.
II 1 6 2

II 1 8 4 - 2 0 3
II 2 2 4
II 2 3 6 - 4 0
II 2 4 4
II 2 5 8 - 6 0

II 2 5 9
II 259f.
II 2 6 1
II 2 6 1 - 3

24
3 8 4 n. 64
233
303
138, 239,
3 8 4 n. 64,

II 2 6 3
II
II
II
II

294-300
3oif.
302-4
305-8
II 3
II 3 1 8

II 3

3 9 5 n. 1 6 ,
3 9 6 n. 2 5
303
3 9 4 n. 3 2
314
314
314
3i4
314

II 3 2 2 - 9

3i4
314

II 33ifII 3 3 3
II 3 3 3 - 7
II 4 0 9 ^

3i5
3i5
3i5
64

II 4 1 0

315
II 4 1 1
315,38911.
59
II 4 2 2
315
II 4 3 3
358
IV 3 0 0 - 1 8
4 1 1 n. 1 7
IV 3 1 3
198, 270
rv 3 1 8 - 2 5
270
V 227
182
VI 3 0 0 - 3 0 5 3 7 0 n. 28
VI 3 0 0 - 3 0 9 408 n. 3 4
VII 2 1 8
3 6 6 n. 2 9 ,
4 0 2 n. 2
VII437-41
39611.24
VII 4 3 8
3 9 6 n. 3 5

429

II 1 9 4
II 1 9 8
II 2 1 8
II 2 1 8 - 2 1
II 2 3 2 - 5
II 2 6 1
II 277f.

2 7 3 , 4 0 2 n.
26
182
4 0 2 n. 2 6
3 9 6 n. 4
3 9 6 n. 4
3 9 6 n. 4
3 9 6 n. 4

Vita
28
62

314
314

PHILO

Legatio ad Gaium
117
156
159
192
194
212
213-15

396
402
401
401
401
401
401

n.
n.
n.
n.
n.
n.
n.

4
2
1
1
1
1
1

De migratione Abrahame
89

3 9 7 n. 1 9

Moses
I 158

169

De praemiis et poenis
Contra Apionem
II io3f.
II 1 7 5 - 8
II 1 7 5 - 2 8 6
II 1 7 7 ^
II 1 7 8

II 1 8 4
II 1 8 4 - 9 8
II 1 8 5 - 7
II 1 8 7

94-7
162-5
162-72
i64f.

86
107
86
86

182
3 8 6 n. 3 8
3 9 6 n. 4
190
3 9 6 n. 4,
4 0 2 n. 26
3 9 6 n. 4
3 8 9 n. 7 5
4 0 2 n. 2 6
3 1 6 , 3 8 7 n.

Life of Apollonius

43> 3 8 9 n.
75

Divine Institutions
IV 2 1
3 6 9 n. 68

PHILOSTRATUS
I 2

VIII 3 1

i7if.

320

LACTANTIUS

INDEX OF NAMES
Abraham, 1 4 1 , 1 5 1 , 2 5 3 , 2 8 0
Abrahams, I., 6 2 , 3 6 4 n.i, 3 6 5 nn.6, 9,
10, 1 1 , 3661111.26, 2 7 , 3 8 5 n.14
Agrippa I, II, See Herod
R. Akiba, 3 6 3 n.58
Aland, K., 3 8 2 n.6
Albeck, Ch., 3 8 7 n.49
Albinus, 2 2 5
Alon, G., 3 8 7 n.49, 3 8 8 n.51
Ananus, son of Ananus, 2 7 0 , 3 1 6
Andrew, 3 7 3 n.33
Andronicus, 1 0 5
Annas (Ananus the elder), 2 9 7 , 3 1 1 ,
317
Apollonius of Tyana, 1 6 5 , 1 6 7 , 1 7 1 f t ,
3 2 0 , 3 8 3 n.37
Archelaus, 3 1 6
Aristobulus II, 312ft
Aulen, G., 6 2 , 1 8 6 , 189ft, 9 , 7 ,
3 5 5 n.14, 3 6 0 n.i, 3 6 5 n.19,
3 8 8 n.53, 3 8 9 nn.62, 6 3 , 64,
3 9 1 n n . n o , 1 1 2 , 1 1 3 , 1 1 7 , 4 0 2 n.9,
4 0 3 ^ 3 8 , 404 n.45
Avigad, N., 3 6 6 n.37, 3 $ 7 nn.45, 4
J

Baeck, L . , 3 6 3 n.58
Bailey, J . A., 406 n.i2
Bammel, E . , 1 1 7 , 3 5 5 n.4, 3 7 5 n.84
Banks, R., 2 4 7 , 2 5 1 , 253ft, 3&6 n.24,
3 9 7 nn.9, 1 0 , 1 1 , 2 8 , 2 9 , 3 9 8 nn.33,
4 3 , 44, 399 n-55
Barbour, R. S., 3 5 7 nn.28, 2 9 ,
3 5 9 nn.56, 5 7
Barnabas, 1 0 5 , 208
Barnett, P. W., 3 7 9 n.72, 3 9 4 n.33,
3 9 6 n.33
Barrett, C. K., 2 7 4 , 3 3 2 , 3 3 5 n.2,
3 7 2 n.26, 401 n.84, 4
nn.8, 1 9 ,
20, 408 nn.45, 4 7 , 4 1 1 nn.7, 9,
4i2n. i, 413 -37
Barth, K., 2 7 4
0 2

Bartsche, H. W., 3 6 8 n.56

Bauer, W., 1 6 6 , 3 8 3 n.45
Baumbach, G., 2 9 1 , 3 7 0 n.24,
405 nn.62, 7 4
Baumgarten, A. I., 3 8 7 n.51, 3 8 9 n.6o,
402n.28, 404n.55
Baumgarten, J . M., 3 6 9 n.8, 3 9 7 n.13
Beasley-Murray, G. R., 2 1 9 , 3 6 4 n.2,
3 9 4 n.37
Behm, J . , 2 0 1 , 3 7 3 n.51, 3 9 1 n.ioo
Beilner, W., 408 n.46, 409 n.52
Berger, K., 291ft, 3 9 8 n.45, 400 n.76,
405 n.76
Betz, O., 3 6 2 n.49, 3 8 4 n.63
Bickerman, E . , 4 0 7 n.25, 4 1 0 n.64
Billerbeck, P., 2 9 , 1 6 5 , 1 6 7 , 3 6 9 n.i,
403 n.31, 407 n.i6
Blinzler, J . , 4 0 7 n.20
Boismard, M.-E., 3 6 3 n.i, 3 6 8 n.56,
378^57, 407^18
Bokser, B. Z . , 3 6 3 n.65
Boring, E . , 3 8 0 nn.91, 9 2 , 93
Bornkamm, G., 2 9 - 3 4 , 3 8 , 7 5 , 116ft,
2 7 2 , 3 5 6 n . 2 0 , 3 5 7 1 1 . 2 2 , 3 6 1 nn.13,
29, 366 n.25, 3 6 9 n.70, 3 7 3 n.36,
3 7 5 nn.77, 7 8 , 7 9 , 80, 3 7 9 nn.66,
7 3 , 3 9 5 n.21, 4 0 2 n n . 1 1 , 1 2 , 1 4 ,
4 1 1 n.io, 4 1 2 n.18
Bosch, D., 2 1 9 - 2 0 , 3 7 8 nn.52, 5 4 ,
3 9 3 n.2i, 3 9 4 n n . 3 5 , 3 7
Bousset, W., 1 8 , 2 4 - 3 4 , 4 0 - 4 1 , 4 3 ,
5 1 - 3 , 3 5 6 n . 2 2 , 3 5 9 nn.6i, 7 2 ,
3 6 o n n . 8 , 9, 1 0 , 1 2 , 3 6 1 nn.14, 2 5 ,
3 5 , 3 6 5 n.17, 369 n.i, 3 8 5 n.14,
3 9 0 n.76
Bowker, J . , 1 , 4 9 - 5 1 , 3 0 0 , 3 5 5 n.io,
3 6 2 n.58, 369 n.59, 408 n.28
Brandon, S. G. F., 68, 3 5 7 n.20,
3 6 7 n.49, 3 6 8 n.57, 3 8 2 n.4
Braun, H., 1 8 6 , 3 6 5 n.13, 3 7 4 nn.55,
58, 8 o n . 8 8 , 3 8 8 n.46, 3 9 7 n.18
3

INDEX OF NAMES
Breech, J . , 7, 1 1 7 , 1 2 7 - 2 9 , 3 5 6 1 1 1 1 . 1 ,
2, 1 0 , 1 1 , 3 5 9 ^ . 6 3 , 3 7 5 n.83,
3 7 6 nn.io, 1 9 , 2 1
Brown, R. E . , 3 7 3 n.35, 406 nn.i, 9,
407nn.i7, 18, 4 1 0 ^ 7 3
Buchler, A., 3 6 6 nn.32, 3 3 , 3 8 7 nn.39,
40, 49, 409 n.61
Buehler, W. W., 409 n.61, 4 1 0 n.62
Bultmann, R., 1 6 , 2 6 - 3 4 , 3 8 , 5 3 , 7 1 ,
no, 1 1 4 , 124, 130, 1 3 3 , 1 3 5 - 7 ,
246, 265f., 3 2 4 , 3 2 7 ^ , 3 5 8 n.54,
3 5 9 nn.64, 7 2 , 3 6 1 nn.16, 1 9 , 2 1 ,
2 2 , 2 3 , 2 4 , 2 5 , 2 6 , 2 7 , 3 5 , 3 6 3 n.i,
3 6 7 n.40, 3 6 8 nn.62, 66, 3 7 0 n.i,
3 7 4 n n . 5 7 , 5 8 , 60, 6 1 , 3 7 5 n.73,
3 7 6 n.io, 3 7 7 nn.30, 3 1 , 3 2 , 4 1 ,
3 7 8 nn.48, 49, 5 0 , 3 7 9 nn.6o, 6 1 ,
6 2 , 64, 3 8 0 ^ 9 1 , 3 8 1 n.ioo,
3 8 9 n.66, 3 9 1 n n . n 1 , 1 1 8 ,
3 9 2 n.i 1 9 , 3 9 7 n.8, 3 9 8 nn.34, 44,
400 nn.67, 80, 404 n.44, 407 n.i8,
409 n.48, 4 1 1 nn.6, 1 4 , 4 1 2 n.22
Butler, B. C., 3 7 7 n.46
Cadbury, H. J . , 1 9 - 2 2 , 3 5 6 ^ 2 1 ,
3 5 9 n.65, 3 7 1 n.9, 3 8 4 n.4,
3 9 5 n.io
Caiaphas, 1 5 1 , 2 9 7 , 3 0 5 , 3iof., 3 1 7
Caird, G. B., 116ft, i5of., 3 5 6 n . 2 6 ,
3 7 5 nn.76, 7 8 , 8 1 , 3 7 9 n.78,
3 8 1 n.i 1 7 , 3 9 2 n.4
Caligula (Gaius), 3 9 3 n.32, 4 0 1 n.i
Calvert, D. G. A., 3 5 7 n.28, 3 5 9 n.56
Carmignac, J . , 3 7 5 n.3
Catchpole, D., 3 5 5 n.4, 3 5 9 n.70,
3 6 3 n.6o, 3 8 0 n.86, 406 nn.12, 1 4 ,
407 n.20, 408 n.43, 4 1 0 n.73
Cephas, See Peter
Cestius, 3 1 5
Charles, R. H., 8 1 , 3 6 9 n.5
Charlesworth, J . , i n , 3 7 4 nn.55, 5 8 ,
68, 69
Chilton, B., 3 5 9 n.57, 3 7 6 n n . i 8 , 2 2 ,
24 3 7 9 nn.78, 7 9 , 3 8 1 n.i 1 8
Cohen, S., 1 9 5 ^ , 3 8 8 n.58, 3 9 0 nn.8o,
8 1 , 90, 4 1 0 n.71
Collins, J . , 3 7 0 n.20, 3 7 5 n.3
Conzelmann, H., i n , 3 5 6 n.24,
3 5 9 ^ 6 4 , 3 7 4 nn.55, 7 , 3 7 5 n.75>
3 8 0 ^ 9 1 , 403 n.41, 4 0 4 0 . 4 4 ,

431

406 n.12, 4 1 2 n.21

Cook, M. J . , 2 9 2 , 3 9 0 n.85, 3 9 7 n . 1 5 ,
403 n.37, 405 nn.67, 7 7
Cope, L . , 3 7 7 n.45, 4 0 3 n.36
Cranfield, C. E. B., 1 1 8 , 3 7 5 n.85
Crawford, B. S., 1 1 7 - 1 8 , 3 7 5 n.86,
3 8 1 n.120
Creed, J . M., 406 n.12, 407 n.i8
Dahl, N. A., 3 5 7 n.20, 3 5 9 nn.58, 7 1 ,
3 6 0 n.i, 406 n.2
Dalman, G., 3 7 9 nn.8o, 8 1
Daniel, 3 7 8 n.56
Davies, W. D., 67ft, 3 5 8 n.35, 3 6 4 n.5,
3 6 5 n.20, 3 6 7 nn.43, 44, 4 5 , 49, 5 0 ,
5 2 , 3 7 5 n.78, 3 9 4 n.43, 3 9 9 nn.56,
58, 60, 403 n.34, 406 n.i
de Jonge, M., 3 6 9 n.7
Derrett, J . D. M., 3 6 7 n.46
Dibelius, M., 1 6 , 3 2 - 4 , 2 5 3 , 3 6 1 n.32,
3 9 8 n.41, 4 0 2 n.i7, 407 n.i8,
408 n.46
Dickens, C , 1 9 1 , 1 9 3 - 9 4 , 3 8 9 ^ 6 9
Diogenes, 3 1 2
Dodd, C. H., 1 - 2 , 2 7 , 4 1 - 4 , 4 6 , 1 3 1 ,
1 3 3 , 1 4 8 - 4 9 , 154ft, 3 2 7 , 3 3 1 ,
3 5 5 nn.8, 1 3 , 3 6 1 nn.17, 1 8 ,
3 6 2 nn.46, 4 7 , 3 6 7 n.50, 3 6 8 nn.58,
64, 3 7 7 nn.35, 40, 44, 3 7 8 n.52,
3 7 9 ^ 7 9 , 3 8 0 n.85, 3 8 1 nn.107,
1 2 4 , 1 2 5 , 4 o 6 n n . i o , 1 1 , 4 1 1 nn.12,
1 3 , 4 1 2 nn.19, 2 7 , 4 1 3 nn.35, 3 8
Donohue, J . R., 407 n.i8
Downing, F. G., 3 5 7 nn.28, 3 2 ,
3 5 8 nn.35, 4 8 , 5 0
Drane, J . W., 3 9 4 n.41
Dungan, D., 2 5 8 - 5 9 , 3 9 8 n.45,
3 9 9 nn.53, 5 4
Dunn, J . D. G., 136ft, 3 6 8 n.6o,
3 7 1 n.2, 3 7 3 nn.32, 3 6 , 3 7 5 n.76,
3 7 9 nn.59, 6 3 , 6 5 , 69, 7 0 ,
3 8 1 nn.97, 1 0 4 , 3 9 6 n.32, 3 9 7 nn.18,
24, 4 0 2 n.6, 408 n.46, 4 1 1 nn.2, 8
Dupont-Sommer, A., 2 7 3 , 4 0 2 n.i6
Easton, B. S., 406 n.12
Edelstein, E . J . , 3 8 3 n.32
Edelstein, L . 3 8 3 n.32
Edersheim, A., 6 1 ft, 3 6 5 nn.7, 8
Eleazar, 64

INDEX OF NAMES

432

R. Eliezer (the Great), 9 7 , 215ft

Elijah, 9 2 , 96, 1 1 6 , 3 7 1 n.5
Elisha, 1 6 2
Elisha b. Abuya, 1 7 8
Ellis, E. E . , 3 5 8 n.46
Enslin, M . S., 9 1 , 3 7 1 n.i
Epstein, J . N., 3 6 6 n.27
Ezekiel, 80, 2 4 8
Falk, Ze'ev, 316ft, 409 nn.55, 5 6 , 5 7 ,
6 1 , 4 1 0 nn.62, 7 2
Farmer, W. R., 3 9 0 nn.72, 90,
3 9 1 nn.102, 1 1 3 , 4 0 3 n.38,
4 1 3 n-47
Fiedler, P., 3 8 4 nn.3, 5 , 3 8 5 nn.6, 7,
3 8 6 n . i 5 , 391 n.in
Finkel, A., 3 6 3 n.65
Finkelstein, L . , 181ft, 3 8 5 n.14,
3 8 6 n.37, 3 8 7 0 4 0
Fitzmyer, J . , 4 0 7 n.26
Flender, H , 3 9 5 n.i8
Florus, 3 1 4 - 1 5 , 3 7
Flusser, D., 84, 3 7 0 n.i5
Freyne, S., 1 6 9 , 3 7 5 n.87, 3 8 4 0 . 5 7
Friedrichsen, A., n o , 3 7 4 ^ 6 0
Fuchs, E . , 5, 34ft, 2 0 1 , 2 3 8 , 3 5 6 n.3,
3 6 1 n.13, 3 6 on.36, 3 7 , 3 8 , 3 9 ,
3 9 1 n.99, 3 9 6 n.37, 4 1 2 n.33
Funk, R , 3 9 1 n.103, 4 0 3 n.38,
404 0.45
J

Gartner, B., 3 6 9 n.i

Gamaliel, 3 6 0 n.io
Garland, D., 4 0 3 n.34
Gaston, L . , 77ft, 8 0 - 8 5 , 8 7 , 89, 1 0 1 ,
3 6 4 nn.2, 5 , 3 6 6 n.38, 3 6 8 nn.54,
5 7 , 6 5 , 3 6 9 0 1 1 . 6 8 , 1 , 6, 9, 1 0 , 1 1 ,
1 3 , 14, 3 7 o n n . i 6 , 23, 24, 29,
3 7 3 0.34
Geller, M. J . , 3 8 4 n.6o
Gerhardsson, B., 14ft, 3 5 7 nn.33, 3 4 ,
3 5 8 nn.36, 3 7 , 3 8 , 3 9 , 40, 4 1 , 4 2 ,
4 3 , 44, 4 5 , 5 i , 3 8 2 n.4
Glasson, T . F., 124ft, 3 6 0 n.5,
3 7 2 n.17, 3 7 6 n n . 4 , 6, 7, 8, 9
Goguel, M., 1 0 0 , 1 0 3 , 3 6 1 n.33,
3 6 4 n n . i , 4, 3 7 1 nn.3, 5, 3 7 3 on.31,
37, 42
Goppelt, L . , 4 0 4 n.42
Goulder, M. 3 8 0 n.94, 3 9 4 n.38,

4 1 1 n.5
Guttgemanns, E . , 3 5 8 n.53
Guignebert, Ch., 1 0 3 , 3 7 0 n.i,
3 7 3 on.37, 4 2 , 3 8 2 n.8
Gunkel, H., 3 8 0 n.91
Hahn, F., 3 9 2 n.2, 3 9 3 nn.18, 2 8 ,
3 9 4 nn.38, 4 3
Hanina, 5 4
Harvey, A. E., 1 , 6, 8ft, 62ft, 66, 1 3 7 ,
1 6 0 - 6 4 , 1 7 0 , 2 4 5 , 2 6 5 , 291ft, 294ft,
299, 3 5 5 o . i 2 , 3 5 6 n n . 7 , 8, 1 5 , 1 6 ,
3 5 7 n.17, 3 6 6 n n . 2 i , 2 2 , 2 3 ,
3 6 7 n.42, 3 6 9 n.72, 3 7 9 n.59,
3 8 o n . 8 8 , 3 8 2 nn.8, 9, 1 0 , 1 1 , 1 2 ,
1 3 , H , 3 8 3 on.15, 1 6 , 1 7 , 1 8 , 1 9 , 2 1 ,
2 5 , 2 8 , 2 9 , 3 1 , 3 9 6 nn.32, 1 ,
3 9 8 n.33, 400 nn.68, 69, 7 0 , 7 1 , 7 5 ,
82, 4 0 2 n n . i 4 , 1 8 , 4 0 5 0 . 7 3 ,
406 nn.81, 8 2 , 3 , 4, 5, 4 0 7 nn.15,
24, 408 nn.29, 4 7 , 409 n.49,
4 i o n n . 7 3 , 7 5 , 4 1 1 n.8
Heinemann, J . , 3 7 2 n.20
Helfgott, B. W., 3 9 3 n.24
Hengel, M., 1 , 69ft, 132ft, 2 2 3 - 6 , 2 2 8 ,
2 3 7 - 4 0 , 2 5 2 , 2 5 4 , 3 5 5 n.5,
3 6 7 0 . 5 3 , 3 6 8 n.58, 3 7 1 n.5,
3 7 5 n.82, 3 7 7 nn.38, 3 9 , 3 8 2 n.4,
3 8 3 nn.33, 4 4 , 4 6 , 3 9 0 n.90,
3 9 2 n . i 2 i , 3 9 5 nn.5, 6, 8, 1 1 , 1 5 ,
3 9 8 nn.33, 3 4 , 3 5 , 3 6 , 3 7 , 3 8 , 3 9 , 40,
404 n.56, 405 n.61, 408 n.30
Herod (the Great), 2 3 2 , 3 1 3 f t , 3 1 7 ,
3 8 9 n.59, 4 0 i n.i, 402 n.4,
4 1 0 n.70
Herod Agrippa I, 2 2 5 , 2 8 4 , 3 8 1 n . 1 0 1 ,
402 n.4, 404 n.56
Herod Agrippa II, 2 2 5 , 3 1 5 f t , 4 1 0 n.71
Herod Antipas (the Tetrarch), 1 8 4 ,
3 0 3 , 3 7 1 n.4
Hill, D., 3 8 0 n.91
Hillel, 3 6 0 n.io, 3 6 2 n.41, 3 8 8 nn.51,
59
Hirsch, E.,366 n.31
Hoheisel, K., 3 6 1 n.13
Honi, 5 4 , 1 7 0 , 1 7 2
Hooker, M. D., 3 5 7 nn.28, 2 9 , 3 1 , 3 2 ,
4 1 1 n.8
Horbury, W., 4 0 2 n.5, 407 nn.19, 2 1 ,
4 1 3 n.40

INDEX OF NAMES
Huebsch, R., 3 5 9 n.68, 3 7 2 nn.18, 2 2
Hultgren, A., 2 9 2 , 3 7 7 n.46, 3 8 4 nn.4,
5, 3 8 5 n.14, 3 8 6 n . 2 3 , 3 9 8 n.45,
4 0 o n . 8 i , 4 c . 4 n . 5 3 , 405 nn.78, 7 9
Hunzinger, C . - H , 3 7 0 n.26
Hyrcanus I, 3 1 6
Hyrcanus II, 3 1 3 ^ , 3 1 7
Isaac, 1 5 1
Isaiah, 80, 96, 1 6 1 , 1 6 4 , 3 3 2
Jackson, B. S., 4 0 1 n.87
Jacob, 7 9 - 8 0 , 8 2 , 8 5 , 96, 1 5 1
James, brother ofjesus, 5 1 , 5 3 , 94, 1 0 5 ,
1 4 7 , 2 0 8 , 2 2 0 , 225ft, 2 2 9 , 232ft,
266, 2 8 3 - 6 , 3 1 6 , 3 2 3 , 3 3 7 , 3 5 7 n.19,
3 9 4 ^ 3 9 , 4 0 4 0 . 5 5 , 405 n.57
James, son of Zebedee, 1 4 7 , 2 3 3 , 2 8 4 ,
3 8 1 nn.98, 1 0 1 , 4 0 4 ^ 5 4
Jason of Cyrene, 8 1
Jeremiah, 8 1 , 3 0 2
Jeremias, J . , 1 - 2 , 4 4 - 7 , 6 2 , 1 0 5 , n o ,
1 7 6 - 8 , 1 8 7 , 1 9 2 , 1 9 5 - 8 , 2 0 1 , 204ft,
212ft, 215ft, 2 1 8 - 2 0 , 2 2 3 , 2 7 2 , 2 7 8 ,
290ft, 304ft, 3 3 1 f t , 3 5 6 n.6,
3 5 9 n.6o, 3 6 2 nn.48, 5 0 , 5 4 ,
3 6 3 n.58, 3 6 5 nn.6, 1 8 , 3 6 7 n.39,
3 6 8 n.56, 3 6 9 ^ 3 , 3 7 1 n.6,
3 7 2 n.21, 3 7 3 nn.30, 3 1 , 4 6 , 49,
3 7 4 nn.55, 5 8 , 6 2 , 64, 3 7 9 n.75,
3 8 4 n.2, 3 8 5 nn.8, 1 0 , 1 1 , 1 2 , 1 4 ,
3 8 6 nn.17, 3 0 , 3 8 8 n.57, 3 8 9 nn.65,
7 2 , 3 9 0 nn.78, 7 9 , 8 3 , 84, 86, 89,
3 9 1 nn.96, i n , 1 1 2 , 1 1 3 ,
3 9 2 n n . 1 2 1 , 3 , 5, 6, 7, 8, 1 1 ,
3 9 3 nn.14, 1 6 , 1 7 , 1 8 , 1 9 , 20, 2 1 , 2 2 ,
2 7 , 3 9 4 n.36, 3 9 5 nn.3, 4, n ,
3 9 7 n.26, 3 9 9 n.48, 4 0 2 nn.6, 9, 1 4 ,
1 5 , 2 5 , 4 0 3 nn.38, 40, 404 n.43,
405 nn.62, 6 8 , 408 nn.30, 3 9 ,
4 1 1 n.7, 4 1 2 nn.20, 2 5 , 26,
4 1 3 nn.35, 3 6 , 40, 46, 4 7
Jerome, 2 9 9 - 3 0 0
John the Baptist, 8, 1 1 , 3 5 , 4 2 , 4 8 ,
9 1 - 3 , 9 5 , 100ft, 1 0 8 - 1 0 , 1 1 2 ,
1 1 6 - 1 9 , 1 3 6 - 4 0 , 1 4 8 , 1 5 2 , 154ft,
1 6 0 , 1 6 4 , 1 7 2 , 1 7 9 , 206, 222ft,
2 2 6 - 8 , 232ft, 239ft, 2 5 5 , 2 7 1 , 2 8 9 ,
3 0 3 , 3 2 1 - 4 , 3 2 6 , 328ft, 3 4 0 ,
3 7 1 nn.i, 2, 3 , 4, 5, 6, 3 7 3 n.35,

433

3 7 4 n.57, 3 7 9 n.67, 3 8 0 n.86,

3 8 1 n . 9 8 , 3 9 5 n.13, 4 0 1 n.85,
402 n.7
John (disciple/aposde), 94, 1 4 7 , 2 0 8 ,
2 2 0 , 2 2 9 , 2 3 3 , 284ft, 3 9 4 n.39
Jonah, n o
Joseph (father ofjesus), 1 8 2
R.Joshua (b. Hananah), 215ft
R. Joshua b. Karha, 1 4 1
R. Judah (b. Ilai), 1 9 2 , 3 8 8 n.56,
3 8 9 n.67
Judas (disciple), 9 8 - 1 0 1 , 2 3 0 , 309ft,
3 2 8 , 3 7 2 n.27, 3 8 3 n.26, 406 n.13,
4 1 3 n.38
Judas the Galilean, 2 2 3 , 2 3 8 - 4 0 , 3 0 0 ,
3 2 0 , 3 3 3 , 3 8 4 n.67, 3 9 n.33,
407 n.26
Judas (son of James), 3 7 3 n.33
Juel, D., 3 6 8 n.64, 3 6 9 n.i, 3 7 0 nn.14,
23
Junia, 1 0 5
6

Kadushin, M. 3 9 3 n.24
Kasemann, E . , 2, 9, 34ft, 2 0 1 , 2 7 2 , 3 3 1 ,
3 5 5 nn.16, 1 7 , 3 5 6 n n . i 8 , 1 9 ,
3 5 7 n.i8, 3 6 1 n.34, 3 6 3 n.67,
3 6 7 ^ 4 7 , 3 9 1 n.98, 3 9 7 n.24,
3 9 9 nn.55, 5 7 , 6 3 , 4 0 2 n.io,
403 n.41, 4 1 1 nn.2, 1 0 , 4 1 2 nn.29,
30
Keck, L . , 3 5 5 nn.15, 1 6 , 3 6 0 n.13,
3 6 2 n.39
Kee, H. C , 3 7 8 nn.54, 5 6
Kelber, W., 3 5 8 n.53
Kittel, G., 3 6 0 n.io, 3 7 6 n.4
Klausner, J . , 3 , 18ft, 4 3 , 5 1 - 3 , 5 6 ,
3 5 6 n n . 2 4 , 2 5 , 3 5 9 n.72, 3 6 3 nn.61,
6 3 , 3 6 5 nn.6, 1 2 , 3 8 5 n.14, 408 n.41
Klijn, A. F. J . , 4 0 5 n.77
Klinzing, G., 3 6 7 n.40, 3 6 8 n.64,
3 6 9 n n . 7 i , 1 , 8, 1 4 , 3 7 0 n.24,
3 8 1 n.99
Knox, J . , 1 2 , 3 2 0 , 3 5 7 n.23, 4 1 1 m.i
Koch, K., 3 5 6 n.23
Kummel, W. G., 3 5 - 8 , 1 3 1 , 1 3 6 , 138ft,
246, 3 5 5 n.15, 3 5 6 n.27, 3 6 2 nn.40,
4 1 , 4 2 , 3 7 3 n.36, 3 7 5 n.3, 3 7 7 n.37,
3 7 8 nn.49, 5 2 , 3 7 9 nn.65, 66, 7 4 ,
3 8 i n n . i i 4 , 1 2 1 , 3 8 2 n.13, 3 9 6 n.6,
399 nn.55, 3 , 4 1 2 n.25, 4 1 3 n.34

434

INDEX OF NAMES

Lambrecht, J . , 3 9 0 n.77, 3 9 7 n.7,

400 nn.73, 7 4 , 7 7 , 7 8 , 7 9
Lapide, P., 3 6 3 n.65
Lazarus, 2 9 6 , 3 1 1
Leivestad, R., 4 0 2 n.6
Lichtenberger, H., 8 5 , 3 7 0 n.17
Lightfoot, J . B., 1 2 , 3 5 7 n.26
Lohse, E . , 2 5 8
Luhrmann, D., 3 6 8 n.66, 3 7 0 n.23,
408 n.27
Maccoby, H., 3 7 6 n.20, 3 8 6 n.36,
3 8 9 n.6o
MacMullen, R., 1 6 7 - 9 , 299ft,
3 7 0 n.25, 3 8 4 0 ^ 5 0 , 5 1 , 5 2 , 6 2 ,
407 n.25
Malchus, 3 i3f.
Manson, T . W., 3 7 6 n.9, 3 7 9 n.81,
3 9 8 n.35, 4 0 5 0 . 6 1
Mantel, H., 409 n.61
Marcus, R., 3 1 6 , 4 i o n n . 6 3 , 66
Mary (mother ofjesus), 1 8 2
Mazar, B., 3 8 7 n.45
McArthur, H. K., 3 8 5 n.5
McEleney, N. J . , 3 5 8 n.47
McKelvey, R. J . , 7 8 , 86, 3 6 8 n.6o,
3 6 9 n n . i , 3 , 3 7 0 ^ 1 4 , 409 n.50
McNeile, A. H., 3 8 1 n.109
Mealand, D. L . , 3 5 7 n.28, 3 5 9 n.70
Merkel, H., 3 6 3 n.65
Meye, R., 1 0 1 , 3 7 2 n.28, 3 7 3 nn.32, 3 4
Meyer, B. F., if., 47ft, 3 5 5 n.n,
3 5 9 n.57, 3 6 0 n.i, 3 6 8 nn.56, 5 7 ,
3 6 9 n n . 6 9 , 7 1 , 3 7 0 0 . 3 1 , 3 7 1 n.6,
3 7 2 n.2i, 3 7 5 .76, 3 8 1 n.99,
3 9 9 n.60, 4 1 1 n.n
Meyer, E . , 3 7 0 n.i
Micah, 80, 96
Montefiore, C. G., 2 0 1
Moore, G. F., 2 5 , 3 6 0 nn.8, 1 3 ,
3 7 3 0 . 5 1 , 3 9 6 n.3, 4 1 2 n.28
Morgan, R., 1 2 , 29, 3 5 7 nn.22, 2 4 , 2 5 ,
26, 3 6 1 n.30
Moses, 4, 3 4 - 6 , 5 2 , 56ft, 6 5 , 8 2 , 9 6 ,
1 6 9 , 1 7 1 , 2 4 8 , 2 5 6 - 8 , 260, 3 3 1 ,
3 6 3 n.65, 3 9 9 n . 5 5 , 4 1 2 n.25
Moule, C. F. D., 1 2 , 40ft, 7 0 , 3 3 2 ,
3 5 7 0.24, 3 6 2 n.45, 3 6 7 0 . 4 3 ,
3 7 3 n.44, 3 9 2 ^ 1 2 0 , 4 0 7 0 . 1 9 ,
4 1 1 nn.3, 8, 4 1 2 n.32

Miiller, U., 1 4 8 , 3 7 7 n.44, 3 8 0 n.90,

3 8 1 n.108
Munck, J . , 94, 3 7 2 n.13
Nathanael, 3 7 3 n.33
Nehemiah, 8of.
Nero, 404 n.56
Nestle, E . , 3 8 2 n.6
Neusner,]., 1 2 8 , 1 8 1 , 1 8 8 , 3 5 9 n.67,
3 6 6 n.27, 3 7 6 n.20, 3 8 6 nn.34, 3 9 ,
3 8 8 n.59, 3 9 o n . 8 i , 3 9 3 nn.15, 29
Nickelsburg, G., 7 9 - 8 0 , 3 6 9 n.4,
3 7 0.30
Nolan, A., 190, 3 6 7 n.39, 3 8 2 n.9,
3 8 5 nn.13, 1 4 , 3 8 6 n.27, 3 8 9 n.66,
4 1 2 n.20, 4 1 3 n.45
O'Neill, J . C , 92ft, 1 0 5 , 1 5 4 , 3 7 1 nn.7,
8, 3 7 3 nn.45, 4 7 , 4 8 , 3 7 7 n.47,
3 7 8 0 . 5 3 , 3 8 1 nn.109, 1 2 3 , 3 9 8 n.36

Pamment, M., 3 8 0 n.89

Paul, 1 if., 1 5 , 2of., 52ft, 5 6 , 9 1 , 9 3 - 5 ,
1 0 1 , 1 0 5 , 1 0 9 , 1 1 6 , 126ft, 1 3 if.,
1 4 1 , 144ft, 1 4 7 , 1 5 1 f t , 208, 2 1 7 , 2 2 6 ,
2 2 8 - 3 0 , 232ft, 2 4 6 , 249ft, 2 5 6 , 2 5 9 ,
261ft, 2 6 4 , 2 6 8 , 2 7 4 - 8 3 , 2 8 5 - 7 , 3 0 4 ,
3 2 0 - 2 5 , 329ft, 3 3 4 - 8 , 3 7 1 n.io,
3 7 2 0 . 1 5 , 3 7 3 n.50, 3 7 4 0 . 5 6 ,
3 7 8 ^ 5 2 , 3 8 8 n.58, 3 9 5 n.19,
3 9 8 n.46, 404 n.56, 405 n.57,
4 1 3 n.41
Perrin, N., n o , 1 2 5 , 127ft, 3 3 , * 3 5 ,
146-8, 150, 200-203, 205, 2 7 2 ,
3 5 8 n.54, 3 6 2 n.39, 3 7 4 on.55, 6 3 ,
3 7 6 n n . 1 1 , 1 2 , 1 6 , 3 7 7 nn.33, 3 6 ,
40, 4 1 , 4 2 , 4 3 , 44, 3 7 8 nn.48, 5 1 , 5 2 ,
54, 3 7 9 nn.66, 80, 8 1 , 3 8 0 nn.87,
88, 9 2 , 9 3 , 9 5 , 3 8 1 nn.97, 1 0 3 , 1 0 5 ,
1 1 3 , 1 1 5 , 1 1 6 , 2 , 3 8 5 nn.8, 9,
3 8 6 n.25, 3 9 on.92, 9 3 , 94, 9 5 ,
3 9 1 nn.105, 1 0 6 , 1 0 7 , 1 1 4 ,
3 9 2 nn.i2i, 1 2 2 , 3 9 8 nn.32, 3 4 , 3 5
Pesch, R., 3 5 7 n.21, 3 6 7 n.50,
3 7 3 0.38, 3 8 5 0.14, 3 9 i 0 . 1 1 8 ,
3 9 4 n.43, 4 0 1 n.83
Peter (Simon), 5 1 , 5 3 , 94ft, 98, 1 0 5 ,
146ft, 1 5 9 , 208, 2 2 0 , 2 2 6 , 2 2 9 , 2 3 3 ,
2 3 7 , 2 5 0 , 2 6 1 , 2 6 6 , 284ft, 2 8 9 , 3 0 4 ,
3 0 7 , 337**-, 3 7 2 nn.14, 1 5 , 2 6 ,
J

INDEX OF NAMES
3 7 3 n-33, 3 8 1 n.99, 3 8 3 n.26,
3 9 4 n.39, 3 9 5 ^ . 1 9 , 4 1 3 0 . 3 8
Philip, 3 7 3 n.33
Philo, 86, 8 8 , 1 0 7 , 1 6 9 , 248, 2 7 0 ,
3 6 7 ^ 4 8 , 3 9 6 n.4, 4 0 1 n.i
Philostratus, 1 6 7 , i 7 i f . , 3 2 0
Pontius Pilate, 6, 3 1 , 52f., 1 5 1 , 2 7 4 ,
2 9 3 , 298ft, 3 0 3 , 304, 3 0 9 , 3 1 1 , 317ft
Przybylski, B., 3 8 0 n.89
Rabin, Ch., 2 5 8
Raisanen, H., 400 nn.78, 7 9 , 401 n.86
Rawlinson, A. E. J . , 1 2 , 3 5 7 n.24
Reicke, B., 3 9 5 n . 1 7
Remus, H., 3 8 4 n.61
Rengstorf, K. H., 3 7 3 n.50, 3 7 6 n.4
Reumann, J . , 2 7 4 , 290ft, 299, 3 7 8 n.54,
3 7 9 nn.65, 6 7 , 68, 4 0 2 nn.6, 2 1 , 2 2 ,
2 3 , 4 0 5 nn.62, 7 0 , 407 nn.22, 2 3 ,
409 n.54
Riches, J . , noft, 1 1 4 , 2 0 1 , 212ft, 2 1 5 ,
2 1 8 , 2 2 1 , 224, 374nn.66, 67,
n

1n

2n n

3 7 5 - 7 2 , 3 9 -97> 3 9 - 9 > 1 0 ,
1 1 , 1 2 , 1 3 , 1 4 , 3 9 3 n.15, 3 9 4 n.34
Riesner, R., 3 5 7 n.33, 3 8 2 n.4,
3 9 6 n.32
Rivkin, E . , 3 8 9 n.54, 409 n.61
Robinson, J . M., 3 5 5 n.i6
Robinson, J . A. T., 3 5 9 n.55, 3 6 2 n.39
Rohde, J . , 3 7 4 n.58
Roloff, J . , 6 2 , 66, 7 5 , 3 5 5 n.16,
3 6 3 n.i, 3 6 5 nn.13, 1 4 , 1 5 , 1 6 , 1 7 ,
3 6 7 n.41, 3 6 8 n.57, 369 nn.69, 7 1
Rowland, C , 3 7 6 n.3
Safrai, S., 409 nn.55, 5 6 , 5 7 , 5 8 , 5 9 ,
4 1 0 nn.62, 64, 67
Salome Alexandra, 3 1 2 f t , 315ft
Sanday, W., 3 6 1 n . 1 5
Sanders, E . P., 3 5 6 n.23, 3 5 7 nn.23,
2 7 , 3 5 8 nn.35, 4 7 , 5 2 , 3 5 9 nn.59,
60, 6 2 , 68, 360 n.9, 3 6 1 n.28,
3 6 2 nn.50, 5 1 , 5 3 , 5 4 , 5 5 , 5 6 , 5 7 ,
5 8 , 3 6 3 nn.59, 68, 69, 3 6 6 nn.27,
3 4 , 3 6 , 3 7 2 nn.n, 1 2 , 1 4 , 2 2 , 2 5 ,
3 7 4 n n . 5 i , 5 3 , 7 1 , 3 7 6 nn.3, 7, 20,
3 7 7 n.45, 3 7 9 n.82, 3 8 0 n.84,
3 8 6 n n . i 6 , 18, 19, 2 1 , 28, 29,
3 8 7 nn.40, 4 1 , 4 9 , 3 8 9 nn.68, 7 0 ,
3 9 o n . 8 7 , 3 9 1 nn.101, 1 0 8 , 1 1 6 ,

435

3 9 3 n.24, 3 9 4 nn.38, 4 2 , 3 9 5 n.14,

3 9 6 nn.28, 4, 3 9 7 nn.20, 2 2 ,
403 nn.31, 3 2 , 4 1 , 404 nn.46, 4 7 , 4 9 ,
405 n.58, 406 n.i, 4 1 3 n.42
Sanders, J . T., 3 7 1 n.2, 3 8 6 nn.24, 3 1
Sarah, 2 5 3
Schafer, P., 4 0 2 n.6
Schenk, W., 3 7 5 n.84
Schiffman, L . , 3 9 0 n.94
Schlatter, A., 2 5 2 , 3 9 8 n.31
Schlosser, J . , n o , 1 1 4 , 147ft,
3 7 4 n n . 5 i , 5 8 , 6 5 , 3 7 5 n.74,
3 7 6 n.23, 3 7 7 n.44, 3 7 8 nn.48, 5 2 ,
3 7 9 n.76, 3 8 0 ^ 9 3 , 3 8 1 nn.104,
106, n o , i n , 1 1 2 , 1 2 2 , 3 9 1 n.104,
3 9 5 nn.4, 1 8
Schmiedel, P. W., 3 5 8 n.54
Schoeps, H.-J., 5 5 , 3 6 3 n.66
Schottroff, L . , 3 8 6 n.24
Schiirer, E . , 3 5 9 n.67, 3^6 n.26,
3 8 4 n.57, 3 8 9 n.6o, 3 9 0 nn.75, 8 8 ,
398 n.47, 406 n.83, 409 nn.55, 5 6 ,
5 7 , 5 8 , 60, 6 1 , 4 i o n n . 6 4 , 7 4
Schiirmann, H., 2 5 1 , 2 9 1 , 3 5 5 n.14,
3 7 3 nn.38, 4 4 , 3 9 7 n.27, 400 n.72,
405 n.75
Schwartz, D. R., 3 8 9 n.59
Schweizer, A., 1 9 , 23ft, 26ft, 3 8 , 44,
1 2 4 - 6 , 130ft, 3 0 9 , 3 2 7 - 3 0 ,
360 nn.2, 3 , 4, 6, 7, 8, 3 6 1 n.19,
3 6 2 n.43, 3 7 5 nn.2, 3 , 3 7 6 nn.4, 5 ,
2 5 , 2 6 , 2 7 , 3 7 7 n.28, 409 n.51,
4 1 1 n.15, 4 3 nn.38, 3 9 , 4 1
Schweizer, E . , 1 , 3 8 , 4 0 , 2 5 3 , 3 5 5 n.7,
3 5 6 n.13, 3 6 2 n.44, 3 7 3 n.41,
3 9 1 n.104, 3 9 8 n.42, 4 0 2 n.14
Scott, B. B., 7, 1 2 5 - 9 , 3 5 6 nn.i, 2 , 1 0 ,
12, 376nn.io, 1 3 , 14, 15, 16, 17
Sextus Caesar, 3 1 3
Shammai, 3 8 8 n.51
R. Simeon (b. Yohai), 3 9 1 n.108
Sloyan, G., 406 n.i, 4 0 7 n.i8
Smith, M., 5 - 1 0 , 1 6 2 - 7 0 , 1 7 3 , 1 9 5 ,
238ft, 292, 3 0 4 , 3 1 6 , 3 5 6 nn.5, 6, 9,
1 4 , 3 5 8 n.35, 3 5 9 n.70, 3 8 2 n.5,
3 8 3 nn.23, 2 4 , 2 7 , 2 8 , 3 3 , 3 4 , 3 5 ,
3 6 , 3 7 , 3 8 , 39, 40, 4 1 , 4 2 , 4 3 , 4 7 ,
48, 3 8 4 nn.53, 5 4 , 5 5 , 5 6 , 66, 6 7 ,
68, 386 n.38, 389 n.74, 390 nn.8o,
82, 90, 394 n.32, 3 9 6 nn.30, 3 1 , 3 4 ,
J

436

INDEX OF NAMES

405 n.57> 406 n.8o, 408 nn.36, 3 7 ,

4 1 , 46, 4 1 0 nn.68, 7 1
Solomon, i48f., 1 5 3
Spiro, S. J . , 1 8 1 , 3 8 6 nn.33, 3 5 ,

Trocme, E., 6 2 , 3 0 4 , 3 6 5 n.20,

3 7 3 n.40, 408 nn.38, 4 4
Tuckett, C , 3 9 4 n.38

3 8 7 n.50
Stanton, G. N., 3 5 6 n.4, 3 5 8 ^ . 4 6 ,
3 8 4 n.i
Stauffer, E . , 5 5 , 290L, 3 ^ 3 n.66,
405 n.70

Urbach, E . E., 3 6 0 n.n

Stephen, 4 1 , 6 1 , 7 2 , 7 5 , 268f., 2 8 4 - 6 ,
3 6 4 n-5
Stern, M., 3 8 9 n.75, 406 n.83
Strack, H., 1 6 5
Strobel, A., 407 nn.16, 2 o 408 n.29,
4 1 0 n.69
Suhl, A., 3 6 5 n.14
Sweet, J . P. M., 3 9 5 nn.17, 20,
405 n.6o
>

Taylor, V., 1 4 7 , 3 6 3 n.i, 3 6 4 ^ . 2 , 3 ,

3 8 1 nn.101, 1 0 2 , 407 n.14,
4 i 3 n.45
Thackeray, H. St J . , 3 6 6 ^ . 2 9 , 408 n.34
Thaddeus, 3 7 3 n.33
Theissen, G., 2 4 0 , 339f., 3 6 7 n.40,
3 9 5 nn.12, 1 9 , 3 9 6 nn.33, 3 5 ,
399 nn.61, 6 2 , 403 n.36, 4 1 3 n.52
Theudas, 1 3 8 , 1 4 0 , 1 5 5 , i 7 i f . , 2 2 3 ,
2 2 8 , 234f., 2 3 8 - 4 0 , 3 0 0 , 303f., 3 3 3 ,
3 8 4 nn.58, 64, 6 7 , 3 9 5 n.16,
3 9 6 nn.24, 3 2 , 3 3 , 4 0 2 n.7, 407 n.26
Thomas, 3 7 3 n.33
Thurneysen, E . , 4 1 2 n.21
Tiede, D. L . , 3 8 4 n.61
Tobias, 2 5 3
Trautmann, M., 69, i03f., i37f.,
3 6 7 n.40, 3 6 8 nn.55, 60, 3 6 9 n . 7 1 ,
3 7 3 nn.32, 4 3 , 3 7 9 - 7 i > 3 8 4 n.4,
3 9 1 n . 1 1 3 , 3 9 2 ^ 1 2 1 , 3 9 5 n.3
n

Vegetius, 299ft
Vermes, G., if., 5 3 - 5 , 84, 1 7 0 , 2 5 8 ,
3 5 5 n.9, 3 5 9 nn.67, 7 2 , 3 6 3 n.64,
3 8 4 nn.59, 60, 3 8 6 n.34, 3 8 9 n.6o,
390 nn.75, 88, 9 1 , 3 9 6 n.32,
3 9 8 n.47, 3 9 9 n.51, 400 n.83,
402 n.17, 405 n.66, 406 n.83,
409 nn.55, 5 6 , 5 7 , 5 8 , 60, 6 1 ,
4 i o n n . 6 4 , 7 4 , 4 1 3 n.40
Vielhauer, P., 9 9 - 1 0 1 , 3 6 7 n.40,
3 7 2 nn.28, 2 9 , 3 8 1 n.96
Volz, P., 3 6 9 n.i, 3 9 6 ^ 2 9
Weiss, J . , 2 7 , 1 2 3 - 5 , 130ft, 3 6 1 n.20,
3 7 5 n.i
Westerholm, S., 183ft, 5 f t , 4 7 ^ ,
5 7 , 3 8 5 n . 1 5 , 3 8 6 n.38, 3 8 7 nn.42,
44, 49, 3 8 8 n.55, 3 9 1 n.i 1 5 ,
3 9 7 nn.14, 1 5 , ! 6 , 3 9 8 nn.33, 4 8 ,
399 n.49, 400 nn.76, 8 3 , 405 n.67
Westermann, C., 3 6 9 n.2
Wilder, A., 3 5 2 , 3 9 8 nn.32, 4 1
Wilson, W. R , 406 n.8
Wink, W., 3 7 1 n.6
Winter, P., 1 , 2 9 5 , 3 5 5 n.3, 3 5 7 n.20,
3 5 9 n.72, 405 n.72, 406 nn.2, 7,
407 n.18, 4 0 9 n n . 5 2 , 5 3 , 4 1 0 n.73
2

Yadin, Y. 8 3 , 3 6 6 n.35, 3 6 9 nn.8, 1 2 ,

3 7 o n n . i 8 , 1 9 , 3 8 7 nn.47, 48
Zacchaeus, 1 7 5 , 2 0 3 - 5 , 2 0 7
Zahrnt, H., 3 5 5 n.15
Zeitlin, S., 3 6 3 n.65

INDEX OF SUBJECTS
Abstractions, religious, 2 3 2 , 2 3 5 , 2 3 6 , 3 3 9 ; not cause of Jewish-Christian split,
279ft

'Amme ha-arets, 44, ch. 6.

Antitheses, 9ft, 2 6 0 - 4 & - 5 5 > 5 6 , 58(399); see also Sermon on the Mount
Apocalypticism, connection with eschatology, 375ft n.3
Atonement, as determining what constitutes sin, 1 8 3 , 1 8 9 , 1 9 2
Attributes of deities, 167ft
Authenticity, selected arguments pro and con, 66 & notes, 73ft, 9 8 - 1 0 0 , 1 0 9 &
n n

n-58(374)> 109ft, 4 4 - 6 , 1 4 6 - 8 , 276ft, 3 6 4 n.5

Authors, ancient, characteristics of, 299ft, 3 3 f Betrayal by Judas, 9 9 - 1 0 1 , 3 0 9

Blasphemy, charged against Jesus, 3 9 , 40, 43ft, 5 5 , 7 2 , 2 9 6 - 8 , 300, 3 0 1 , 410ft n.75;
whether committed by forgiving sins, 2 7 2 - 4
Boule (council) 3 1 2 , 314ft
Causal connection from Jesus to results, 4ft, 6, 7, 1 9 - 2 2 , 23ft, 2 7 , 31ft, 40, 4 2 , 4 4 ,
48, 57ft, 1 2 9 , 164ft, 1 6 6 , 201ft, 3 0 2 , 334ft, 3 5 6 n.12
0 2

Cause and effect, lack of concern with, 1 5 9 , 299ft, 3 ; occasionally recoverable,

1 5 9 ; see also Evangelists
Causes inferred from results (argument of 'smoke and fire'), 3 , 12ft, 20ft, 67, 128ft,
1 3 8 , 1 4 1 , 146ft, 1 5 5 , 220ft, 2 6 5 , 292; a case contra, 2 1 1 ; see also Dissimilarity;
Disciples' behaviour and beliefs
Charismatics, Jewish, 53ft, 1 7 0 , 2 3 7 - 4 0 , 288, 3 1 9
Christian expectation, common, 228ft; see also Eschatology
Christian movement, orthodox eschatological movement, 323ft; where different from
rest of Judaism, 1 5 2 , 3 2 4
Church, tendencies of, when transmitting and creating tradition, 15ft, 7 2 , 7 4 , 99,
104, 174ft; added to tradition about sinners, 1 7 4 - 6 ; embarrassed by Jesus'
connection to John the Baptist, 370ft n.i; by betrayal, 99ft, 1 0 2 ; by request of
James and John, 1 4 7 ; see also Evangelists
Compassion, as Jesus' motive for healing, 160 & ^ 9 ( 3 8 2 )
Confessions of faith in scholarly literature, 1 3 8 , 278ft & nn.41, 4 2 , 44(403f.) 379n.
7 1 ; see also Theological commitment
Context, needed for meaning, 16ft, 131ft, 2 6 2
Conversion, 167ft
Covenant, implied in use of'kingdom', 141ft; broken by sinners, 1 7 8 ; 'amme haarets within, 1 9 3 ; common knowledge of how to be in, 2 0 3
Covenantal nomism, 3 3 5 - 7
Crowds (or 'the masses'), 1 5 7 , 1 5 8 - 6 0 , 2 2 4 - 6 , 287ft, 2 8 9 , 2 9 8 , 3 0 2 , 303ft, 3 1 9 ;

attracted by miracles, 1 6 4 , 1 7 3 ; as estimated by ancient authors, 3 0 4

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

438

Day of atonement, 200, 207

Death, see Jesus' death
Disciples' behaviour and beliefs as pointing to Jesus' own view, 76, 102, 1 1 5 , 128ft,
145, 1 5 2 , 2 1 2 , 220ft, 2 3 1 - 4 , 246-8, 249ft, 6i> 266, 267-9, 37> 329; see also
Causes inferred from results; next entry
Disciples, no military or political ambition, 231ft, 294ft, 3 1 8 ; original expectation,
232ft; not executed, 226, 228, 2 3 1 , 236, 240, 289, 295, 317ft, 329; protected
by Rome, 295; ignorant of reasons for Jesus' execution, 299ft
Dispensation (or covenant), Mosaic, 252, 255, 260, 269, 2 7 1 , 293, 3 0 1
Dissimilarity, criterion of, 16ft, 1 4 5 , 174, 252ft, 307, 3 3 2
Divorce, prohibition of, 230, 256-60 & n.48(398ft), 272; points to new order, 233ft,
260
2

Elders, 310ft
End, nearness of, in Paul, 93 & n.io(37ift), 245, 259; common Christian view,
9 3 - 5 , 1 0 2 , 145; Jesus' view, 117ft and notes (375), 145, 245, 259; see also
Eschatology
Entry into Jerusalem, 3 1 , 306-9, 3 1 7
Ephthasen, meaning of, 134 & nn.47, 52, 53(377 -)> 136, 140
Eschatology, Jewish, 23, 77-90, 95-8, 106-8, 113ft; widespread, 124ft; influenced
view of Gentiles, 2 1 6 & ^28(393)
Eschatology, as context for Jesus, 8, 2 1 , 90, 9 1 - 5 & ^ 2 ( 3 7 1 ) , 1 5 2 , 169, 2 1 2 , 264;
context of early Christian movement, 94ft, 1 1 8 , 129, 264; predates Jesus' death,
95, 129, 2 3 0 - 2 , 320, 324
Eschatology, Jesus', in Christian scholarship, 23, 27; Jesus' own, 75 & ^ 7 1 ( 3 6 9 ) ,
77, 1 2 5 , 1 5 2 - 5 , 232 (including disciples), 235, 306, 320, 329, 334; determined
view of law, 267-9; f other prophets, 234ft;
l End; Jewish restoration
theology; Israel, restoration of
Essenes (Dead Sea sect), 20, 45ft, 193, 256
Evangelists, embarrassed by temple scene and saying, 75, 3 0 1 ; embarrassed by
betrayal, 99ft, 102; added sayings about repentance, 109, 1 1 3 ; eft 223; reluctant
to have Jesus claim Messiahship (except Mark), 297; desired to incriminate
Jews and exculpate Romans, 298 & n.i9(407); favoured Gentile mission, 2 1 9 ;
lacked knowledge of Jesus' motives and aspects of career, 159ft; f cause and
effect, 299ft, 3 > 3 > f motives of Jewish leaders, 299ft, 339; of 'who did
what' and 'who was who', 300, 3 1 1 ; of Jesus' opponents, 405 n.77; wrote
according to conventions of day, 304; see also Church, tendencies of; individual
listings.
Execution, cause of, 1 7 7 , 195, 293, 294ft, 296-306; specific cause of, 301ft, 304ft,
309; not accounted for by teaching, 223ft, 5 J reason proposed here, 232ft;
general grounds ascertainable, 3 0 1 ; agents of, 196ft, 199, 293; whether
explained by issue of law, 245; carried out by Rome, 294, 3 1 7 ; evangelists'
ignorance of reasons for, 299ft; events leading up to (evangelists' views),
296-309
Exegesis of sayings, difficulty of, 129, 1 3 1 - 3 , 148ft; see also Sayings
Exorcisms, whether or not proof of presence of kingdom, 134ft & - 5 4 > 56(378),
137ft & ^67(379), 140, 1 5 3 , 157ft, 6 o , 161ft, 163, 166; as giving rise to claim
of divinity, 165 & ^ 3 9 ( 3 8 3 ) , 168; use of imitation in, 166; possible cause of
conflict, 271ft; see also Miracles
External acts, required in Judaism, 275
f

s e e

0 I

s o

0 2

2 2

nn

INDEX OF SUBJECTS
Externalism, 62f., 66, 2 1 0 , 274ft;

s o

439

Inner/outer distinction

Facts about Jesus, needed, 5; previously proposed, 5ft, 8ft, 3 5 6 n.16; proposed here,
n ; miracles fact but uninformative, 1 7 2 ; association with sinners fact but
problematic 1 7 5 ; point to eschatological framework, 112ft, 2 2 2 ; to hope for
restoration of Israel, 1 1 6 - 1 9 , 2 2 2 ; to Jesus' expectation of future kingdom,
1 5 6 , 232ft, 2 3 6 , to Jesus' reliance on John the Baptist, 227ft;
otherworldly
kingdom, 2 9 5 ; degrees of probability, lists: 8 8 , 1 3 9 - 4 1 , 155ft, 3 0 7 , 326ft
Fasting, 2 0 7 , 2 6 3 , 4 0 1 n.84
Followers, Jesus', 2 7 3 , 3 0 2 - 4 , 3 0 5 ; see also Disciples
Following Jesus, 2 0 7 , 2 2 3 , 2 2 4 , 2 2 8 , 2 5 4 , 2 8 8 , 3 0 3
Food laws, 2 4 6 , 260, 2 6 4 - 7 , 2 9 1
Forgiveness, whether or not sign of eschaton, 1 5 7 ; whether available only at esch
aton, 200ft; Jesus' belief in, whether cause of opposition and execution, 2 0 0 - 2 ,
t 0

2 2 4 , 272ft, 278ft & nn.43, 44, 45(404). 9 0 , 3 0 1

Forgiveness, offered by Jesus (scholars' views), 3 8 - 4 0 , 4 5 , 176ft, 2 0 0 - 4 , 2 7 2 - 4 ,

3 0 1 ; in Jesus' preaching, inf.; see also Judaism, views common in
Form criticism, 1 4 - 1 6
Foundations shaken, Judaism at end, 3 0 , 3 4 , 4 6 , 2 2 6 , 2 7 8 & n.42(403f.)
Genre, a single, does not give world view, 1 2 8 .
Gentiles, Jesus' attitude towards, 68ft, i n , 2 1 8 - 2 1 ; attitude of Judaism towards,
7 9 - 8 2 , 85ft, 107ft,

I J

7 > 3 9 -94> 2 1 3 - 1 8 ; at eschaton, 2 1 7 - 1 8 & ^ 2 8 ( 3 9 3 ) ;

said to be negative, 2 1 5 ; Christian mission to, 9 1 , 9 3 - 5 , 2 1 2 , 2 2 0 , 2 2 2 ; points

towards eschatological expectation, 9 3 - 5 , 323ft, 3 3 4 ; opposition of some to,
2 2 0 ; Paul's attitude towards, 2 1 7 ; see also Eschatology
Gentiles, court of the, 67 & ^ 4 5 ( 3 6 7 ) , 68ft, 2 2 1 , 3 6 5 n.6.
Gift and demand, 204ft
Haberim, 2 0 , ch. 6, 2 5 6 , 265ft
Hakamin, 188ft
Handwashing, 185ft & nn.49, 5 1 ( 3 8 7 ) , 265ft, 2 9 0

Hypocrisy, 276ft, 337ft; see also Pharisees

Hypotheses, necessity of, 3 , 1 8 - 2 2 , 4 7 , 5 8 , 7 6 (limits of), 166ft, 3 5 9 n.57
Idolatry, 2 1 4
Inner/outer distinction, 63 & n.24(366), 68 & nn.47, 4 8 ( 3 6 7 ) ; see also Externalism
Impurity and sin, 182ft & nn.39, 4o(386ft), 184ft, 186ft, 1 9 2 , 209; said to result in

destruction according to Judaism, 212ft & n.i5(393); see also Purity

Israel, restoration of, 4 7 - 9 , 7 0 & n.6o(368), 7 6 , 80, 8 2 , 86, 8 7 , 9 5 - 8 , n o , 2 1 7 ; in
Jesus' view, 9 5 , 1 1 6 - 1 9 , 5 3 > 2 2 3 , 2 2 6 ; see also Eschatology
Jesus:
J

Intention, 1 9 - 2 2 , 2 3 , 3 2 , 35ft, 3 8 , 40-49> 5 3 , *59> 1 6 3 , 1 7 2 , 2 1 2 , 2 2 3 , 2 2 5 ,

226, 2 3 5

Whether preacher of repentance, 1 0 8 - 1 2 , 2 0 3 , 2 0 6 - 8 , 2 1 0 , 2 2 3 , 2 2 7 , 2 2 4 &

n.8( 95)
3

Jesus as religious type, 1 7 0 - 3 , 2 3 7 - 4 0

As prophet of restoration, 1 1 0 - 1 9 , 1 7 0 - 3 , 2 2 2 , 2 3 7 - 4 0 & ^ 3 2 ( 3 9 6 ) , 2 8 7 ; does

not entirely fit, 112ft, 1 1 7 , 1 1 9 , 2 8 8

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

440

As would-be king, 2 3 9 , 294ft, 36ft, 3 1 7 f t , 410ft n.75; meek and lowly, 2 3 5 ,

308, 3 1 9 ; see also Messiah
As religious reformer, 66 & n.38(366ft), 6 7 , 69, 89ft, 2 0 5 , 212ft, 2 1 8 , 3 6 8 n.56

As teacher, 4, 7, 8, 1 1 7 , 1 5 8 & 11.4(382), 1 6 6 , 1 7 3 , 2 3 8 , 3 1 9

As requiring superior righteousness, 2 6 0 - 4 , 74ft> 7 7 > 3 3
As magician, 6 - 8 , 165ft; suspected of being, 160ft, 238ft
As sectarian leader, 2 1 0 , 222ft; as calling 'all Israel', 2 2 2 - 8
Not midrashist, 2 4 7 ; not giver of halakah, 2 4 7 , 2 5 7
2

As unique, 137ft,
n.2(4ii)

4 0 , i55>

i6if. & 1 1 . 2 1 ( 3 8 3 ) , 176ft, 2 4 0 , 2 5 0 , 319ft &

As putting self in God's place, 3 9 , 2 4 0 & ^ 3 7 ( 3 9 6 ) , 2 7 2 - 4

Personal moral stature, 3 2 0
J

Relation to John the Baptist, 9 1 - 3 , 1 1 9 , 137ft, 5 > 5 4 > 79> 6 ,

2 2

2 2

3,

7ft,

289, 3 4 0 ; compared to, 2 2 6 , 2 3 9 , 3 0 3 , 3 2 2

And Judaism, points at issue between, 270ft, 280ft, 296, 3 0 5
Message of, novelty and offence, 207ft,
> 7 3 ^8
As arrogating to self prerogative of priesthood, 273ft & - 1 7 ( 4 0 2 ) , 3 0 1
And military victory, 68, 1 1 9 & notes ( 3 7 5 ) , 2 2 9 , 2 3 1 , 294ft, 3 0 1
2 I 0

I -

Self-claim, 3 3 , 3 4 , 4 2 , 5 5 , 5 7 , 137ft, i 5 3 ~ 5 > o 8 , 2 3 5 , 2 4 0 , 2 7 1 , 2 7 4 , 280ft,

287, 288, 296, 3 0 5 , 3 0 6 - 8 , 309, 3 1 9 , 3 4 0 ; leads to death, 3 3 3

View of own role in kingdom, 2 3 4 , 307ft, 3 1 9 , 321ft, 324ft
J

View of own work, 9 3 , 1 3 5 , 1 3 6 , 139ft, 49> 5 3 - 5 > ^ 8 , i73> *79> ^ , 8 o ,

3 1 9 , 3 7 9 n.59

See also End; Eschatology; Execution; Forgiveness; Israel, restoration of;

Kingdom; Law
Jesus' death, theological interpretation of ('for the gospel'), 37ft, 40, 4 7 , 202, 205,
324ft, 3 3 0 - 4

Jesus, contrasted with Judaism, scholarly views of, 24ft & n. 1 3 ( 3 6 0 ) , 2 8 - 3 0 &
^ 2 7 ( 3 6 1 ) , 39ft, 4 1 , 44ft, 3 3 7

Jewish restoration theology, ch. 2, 9 5 - 8 , 1 0 6 - 8 , 1 1 3 - 1 5 , 1 5 6 , 3 4 0 ; agreement of

church with, 323ft
Jewish self-government, 3 1 2 - 1 7 & nn.57, 6i(409ft), 3 2 9
John, Gospel of, trial scene in, 3 1 7 , 3 1 8 ; John the Baptist in, 91ft
Josephus, exaggerates role of Pharisees, 1 8 8 & n.59(388ft), 1 9 5 - 7 , 315ft &
n.7i(4io); accepted by scholars, 1 9 5 & nn.78, 79(390); depicts most Jews as
loyal to Rome, 216ft & n.32(393ft), 4 1 0 n.71; downplays hope for redemption,
2 1 7 ; role of the Sanhedrin in, 3 1 2 - 1 5 ; role of priests in, 3 1 5 - 1 7 , 4 1 0 n.71;
whether Pharisee or not, 1 9 6
Judaism, end of, see Foundations, shaken
Judaism, normative, 1 9 3 & ^ 7 4 ( 3 8 9 ) , 1 9 5 ; denigrating view of, 3 , 18ft, 2 5 , 1 9 9 ,
2 1 8 ; limits of tolerance in, 9ft, 5 5
Judaism, views common in:
Value of temple and sacrifices, 63ft, 1 9 7 & ^ 2 7 ( 3 6 6 ) , 69, 7 6 , 8 2 - 5 , 86
Obedience to law, 69, 190ft, 1 9 5 , 2 4 5 & ^ 4 ( 3 9 6 ) , 2 6 4 & n.66(40o)

God as king, 1 5 4
Hope for restoration, 80, 95 & n.i7(372), 97ft
Punishment (judgment) and redemption, 88, 9 5 - 8 , 1 0 7 , 1 1 3 f t & - 7 ( 3 7 4 )
God acts in history, 1 2 8 (shared by Jesus)
'Amme ha-arets worthy members, 193ft
Observance of festivals and fasting on Day of Atonement, 1 9 8
n

INDEX OF SUBJECTS
Wicked 'cut off, 1 9 8
Hope for conversion of Gentiles, 217ft,
See also Eschatalogy; Repentance; Temple
Judgment, in preaching of Jesus, 1 1 4 - 1 6 , 2 2 2
2

441

Kingdom:
General meaning clear, 1 2 6 - 9 & ^ 1 8 ( 3 7 6 ) , 1 3 2 , 1 5 5 ; range of meanings,
139ft, 1 4 1 - 5 6 & ^ 7 8 ( 3 7 9 ) , 3 2 5

As symbol, 1 2 5 - 9
As covenant, 1 4 1 f t , 236ft
As future cataclysmic event, 1 2 3 - 5 , 3 i 4 ~ 6 , 228ft, 2 3 6
I

As transformation of the present state, 9 3 , 1 4 6 - 8 , 2 2 9 - 3 7 , 306ft

As present, 4 2 , 4 4 , 4 7 , 1 3 1 , 1 4 8 - 5 0 , 1 5 8 ; problem of present and future,
1 2 9 - 3 1 , 1 5 0 - 6 ; arguments based on Matt. 1 2 . 2 8 and related passages,
1 3 3 - 7 . 1 4 8 , 3 7 7 n.44

As banquet, 208, 3 0 7
Otherworldly, expected by disciples, 2 3 0 - 2 , 294, 306ft
In Paul, 126ft, 228ft, 2 3 0 , 2 3 2

Last Supper, 3 0 7 , 3 2 4
Law, 9ft; understanding of in Judaism, 56ft; generally known by Jews, 190ft; difficulty
of following, 1 9 1 ; distinctions within, 2 4 8 , 2 6 3 ; oral, 248; Jesus and, 2 6 , 27ft,
30ft, 3 2 , 3 4 , 3 6 , 38ft, 4 0 , 4 1 , 43ft, 4 6 , 5 0 - 3 , 54ft, 5 5 - 8 , 186ft, 1 8 9 , 194ft, 2 0 1 ,

207, 2 1 1 ; ch. 9; 271ft, 288, 2 9 1 ; Jesus' view on did not lead to disobedience,
2

260, 2 6 3 , 2 6 7 - 9 , 7 > 3 5 > 3 3 6

Legalism, 2 7 2 ; whether issue which led to conflict and death, 2 7 4 - 8 1 , 290ft

Love of neighbour, 1 8 6 , 2 3 5
Luke, Gospel of, avoids threat to temple, 7 2 , 7 4 ; emphasizes repentance and
reformation, 1 0 9 & ^ 5 9 ( 3 7 4 ) , 1 1 2 , 1 1 3 , 1 7 5 , 1 7 9 , 2 0 3 & n.i 1 1 ( 3 9 1 ) , 2 0 6 ,

2 7 7 , 3 2 2 ; anti-Judaism in, 2 7 8 ; anti-Pharisaism in, 1 8 0 & n.31(386), 2 7 8 ,

290; shares failings of contemporary historians, 3 0 0 & n.26(407ft); protects
Christianity from charge of irreligion, 406 n.12; passion narrative in, 406 n.12,
407 n.20

Luke (author of Acts), limits of knowledge, 2 8 5

Mark, Gospel of, crowds in, 158ft; motive for healing in, 160; understanding of
temple incident, 3 0 2 ; church as temple in, 3 6 8 n.64; lack f knowledge of
Jewish law in, 3 8 8 n.51, 400 n.74; secondary material in, 3 6 4 n.i, 3 6 8 n.64
Matthew, Gospel of, parenesis in, 1 4 ; 'weeping and gnashing of teeth' in, 114ft,
219ft, 3 9 4 n.38; 'enter the kingdom' in, 141ft, 1 4 4 & ^ 8 9 ( 3 8 0 ) ; kingdom as
cosmic event in, 1 4 2 - 4 ; concern to find scriptural references for Jesus' life,
99, 1 6 1 , 2 3 5 , 306; pro-law layer in, 260ft, 276ft; perfection of way in, 3 2 2 ,
favoured Gentile mission, 3 9 9 n.59; relation to Paul, 3 8 0 n.94; Pharisees as
hypocrites in, 4 0 3 n.34; 4*3 n.51
Messiah, whether or not expected, 80, 8 2 , 8 7 , 1 1 7 ; in Ps. Sol., 1 0 8
Messiah, Jesus as, 2 2 9 , 2 3 4 , 294ft, 2 9 7 - 9 , 307ft, 3 2 1 , 409 n.49 (
regarded as)
Minutiae, 2 6 1 , 2 6 2 ; recommended by Matthew's Jesus, 2 7 4
Miqveh[aoth] (Immersion pool[s]), 1 8 3 , 1 8 4 & n.45(387), 3 8 7 n.48, 1 9 7
Miracle, eschatological, expected by Theudas and others, 234ft, 2 3 9 ; not promised
w n v

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

442

by Jesus, 2 3 9 ; his miracles not eschatological signs, 2 3 5 , 240; his hope for, in
the future, 1 5 3 ; shared by disciples, 2 3 2 , 2 3 5 , 306, 3 2 0 , 3 2 9
Miracles, ch. 5; relation to teaching, 1 5 8 - 6 0 & n.5(382), 1 6 4 , 1 6 6 ; drew crowds,
1 6 4 , 1 7 3 , 3 1 9 ; authentication by, 1 6 0 & ^ 8 ( 3 8 2 ) , 1 7 0 - 2 ; see also Exorcisms
Monotheism, how strictly observed, 1 6 9
Nationalism, Jewish, 2 6 , 28, 3 0 , 3 3 , 36ft, 3 8 , 2 1 5 ; Jesus' attitude towards, 1 1 6 - 1 9 ,
222

Palestine, Jewish, not isolated, 1 6 2 , 1 6 7

Parables, Jeremias' interpretation of, 278F100 S E T T I N G S O F I N A T T A N D U K E 278 &
n.4o(403), 3 8 5 n.8; in Luke, 1 0 9 , 1 7 9 , 2 0 3 , 2 7 9 & ^ 4 3 ( 4 0 4 ) (as yielding
historical information on opposition to Jesus); of repentance, 1 7 9 & ^ 2 4 ( 3 8 6 ) ;
against self-righteousness, whether authentic or not, 2 8 1 , 3 2 0 ; are about God,
not self-righteousness, 109, 2 0 3 , 2 8 1 ; of repentance, 1 7 9 & ^ 2 4 ( 3 8 6 ) ; Lucan,
277f.

Parables, Jesus dies for, 202, 2 7 9 & n.43(404)

Passion narrative, 2 9 6 - 3 0 1
Paul and Judaism, 275ft
Paul and the law, 1 3 2 , 2 6 2
Persecution of Christian movement, 9 1 , 9 4 , 2 2 5 , 2 8 1 - 7 , 290; does not explain
opposition to Jesus, 2 8 2 ; helps identify chief opponents, 286ft
Pharisees:
Identity of, 49ft & n.58(362ft), 1 7 6 , 187ft & nn.59, 6o(388ft), 1 9 0 , 1 9 3 , 1 9 4 ,

196ft, 2 7 1 ; defined by scholars on basis of misinformation in Gospels, 2 7 3 ,

eft 3 8 5 n.8
Attitude to common people, 1 8 0 & ^ 3 0 ( 3 8 6 ) , 1 9 9
Not only ones concerned with biblical purity laws, 183ft, 7 5
Nor with observance of law, 3 8 7 n.48, 2 5 1
Attitude towards temple, 192ft, 1 9 7 , 2 7 3
Attitude towards Gentiles, 216ft
Belief in resurrection, 2 3 7
Attitude towards law, 398ft n.48, 2 7 5 & ^ 2 8 ( 4 0 2 )
2

Influence of, 1 8 8 - 9 0 , 1 9 3 , 1 9 4 - 8 & nn.78, 79(390), 209, 3 1 2 - 1 7 ; exaggerated

by Josephus, 195ft
Josephus)
Denigrating view of, 1 8 0 , 1 9 1 , 2 0 2
Believed to be deficient in religious abstractions, 2 7 8
Jesus as better than, 260ft; see also Jesus as requiring superior righteousness
J

As Jesus' opponents, 25ft, 3 3 , 4 3 , 4 4 - 6 , 4 8 , 5 1 f t , 54ft, 5 7 , 69, 189ft,

94^
2 0 1 , 2 0 4 , 2 0 9 , 264ft & n.71 (400), 400ft n.83, 7 > 7 5 > 8 9 , 2 9 0 - 2 , 2 9 6 ,
309-11, 318
2

Jesus' supposed criticism of, 2 7 6 - 8

Whether or not in Galilee, 5 3 , 1 9 8 & ^ 9 0 ( 3 9 0 ) , 2 9 2
Polemic, 3 3 7 - 9
'Powerful', the, 288, 314ft
Present and future in Paul, 1 5 1
Priests, priesthood, 65ft, 69, 8 3 , 183ft, 9 7 > 4 > accepted 'amme ha-arets, 1 9 3 ;
authority and influence, 193ft, 9 5 ~ 8 , 7 0 & ^ 4 ( 4 0 1ft);official spokesmen for
God, 2 7 1 , 273ft; enforcers of law, 2 7 5 , 3 0 1 , 316ft; criticisms of, see Temple,
priests and cult
I

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

443

Chief priests (including high priest), 2 8 8 , 289, 2 9 3 & n.83 (406); Jewish leaders,
3 1 0 - 1 2 & n.57(409), 3 1 4 - 1 8 & ^ 7 1 ( 4 1 0 ) ; enemies of Jesus and his move
ment, 2 8 5 - 7 , 8 7 f . , 2 8 9 ^ , 2 9 3
Prophecy, said to have ceased, 2 7 1 & n.6(402)
Prophets, other, not executed by priests, 2 7 1 , 3 0 1 ; but by Romans, 2 3 3
Prophets, Christian, as producing sayings, 1 4 4 & n.91(380), 1 4 7
Purity in Judaism, 1 7 7 , 1 8 2 - 5 , 2 7 5 ; and haberim, 1 8 0 - 2 ; and Pharisees, i87f. &
- 5 9 ( 3 8 8 f . ) , 2 7 5 ; perceived as trivial, 2 1 0 , 2 7 4 ^ ; whether or not point of
conflict, 1 9 8 ^ , 209f., 2 7 4 ^ , 29of.; largely unenforceable, 2 7 5 & n.26(402); see
also Impurity; Temple; Priests
Purity, whether or not Jesus concerned for, 6 1 - 3 , 67f. & ^ 4 7 ( 3 6 7 ) , 7 0 , 7 5
2

Rabbis, considered to represent Pharisaism, 1 7 6 , 1 8 7 ^ , 3 1 6 ; represent the deplor

able 'late Judaism', 2 1 3
Remnant theology, 95f., 1 1 3 , 2 1 5
Repentance, forgiveness and mercy:
In Judaism, 1 8 , 3 6 ; a major and common theme, 1 0 6 - 8 , 1 1 8 , 202f.; proposed
as missing from Judaism, 39f., 44f., 2 0 0 - 2 , 2i2f. & n.i4(392f.), 3 5 9 n.6o,
3 6 1 n.27; or from Pharisaism, 2 7 8 ; terminology for, 106 & n.5i(373f.)
Jesus' belief in, held to be offensive, 2 0 0 - 4 , 8 , 2 7 7 - 8 0 & nn; not cause of
Jewish-Christian split, 2 7 9 ^ ; shared by Jesus and others, 2 3 6
Believed to be reserved for the eschaton, 200, 2 0 2
Whether requiring restitution and obedience, 205f.
In preaching of John the Baptist, 9 2 & nn.4, 5 , 6 ( 3 7 1 ) , io8f.
Common in Judaism and Christianity, 108 & n.56(374)
Required for atonement, 1 9 4 ; evidenced by sacrifice, 2 7 1 , see also Forgiveness;
Judaism, views common in
Resurrection, belief in Jesus', 2 1 , 3 2 0 , affects evidence re: kingdom, 2 2 8 , 2 3 0 ,
23if.; degree to which it led to Christian movement, 1 9 , 2 2 , 240; Jesus' own
belief in, 2 3 7
'Reversal of values', 1 5 0 , 2 2 3 , 2 8 8
2

0 1

Sabbath, 1 9 1 & ^ 6 9 ( 3 8 9 ) , 2 4 5 , 2 5 0 , 2 6 4 - 7 , 4
- 8 3 > 29of.
Sacrifice, evidence of repentance, 2 7 1 ; Jesus and, 2 0 7 & n. 1 2 0 ( 3 9 2 ) , 269, 2 7 1
Sadducees, 4 8 , 5 2 , 5 3 , 5 4 , 69f., 1 2 7 , 1 9 7 , 2 2 5 , 2 3 7 , 289, 3 1 2 , 3 1 6 ; observed law,
1 8 4 , 3 8 7 n.48, 2 5 1 , 2 7 5 ; many pious, 2 8 9
Sanhedrin, 2 9 8 ^ 300, 3 1 1 , 3 1 2 & ^ 5 7 ( 4 0 9 ) , 3 1 3 , 3 1 4 , 3 1 7 , 4 0 7 n.16
Sayings, authenticity of, 1 3 - 1 8 & notes; use of, i03f., ch. 4, esp. 1 4 8 , 1 4 9 , 1 5 3 ,
2 1 9 , 2 3 6 ; individualism of, 1 1 7 , 2 1 0 , 222f., 3 0 3
Scribes, 1 8 4 , 1 9 8 & ^ 9 1 ( 3 9 0 ) , 2 4 7 , 2 7 3 , 2 7 6 , 2 9 0 & ^ 6 7 ( 4 0 5 ) , 2 9 2 , 309^, 3 1 2
Self-contradiction, 2 3 6
Sermon on the Mount, 3 2 3
Sexual immorality, 2 1 4 , 2 5 8
Sign prophets, 1 3 8 , 1 4 0 , 1 7 1 , 2 1 7 , 2 8 3 , 3 0 3
Similitudes of Enoch, 3 7 6 n.7
Sinners, 3 5 , 3 9 , 44f., 4 6 , 1 0 4 , 1 0 8 , 1 4 7 , ch. 6, 2 3 2 , 2 4 0 , 2 5 5 , 2 6 3 , 2 6 5 , 2 7 1 - 3 ,
2 7 4 , 2 8 3 , 2 8 8 , 29of., 2 9 6 , 3 0 1 , 3 1 9 ; not literally 'poor', 1 7 9 & ^ 2 7 ( 3 8 6 ) ;
whether or not required by Jesus to convert to law, 2 0 5 - 8 & n.i 1 7 ( 3 9 1 ) , 3 0 7 ,
322f.; admission of, not continued by church, 1 7 4 , 209, 2 1 1 , 3 2 3 ; whether or
not Jesus' mission limited to, 22f.; definition of, 3 8 5 ^ n.14

444

INDEX O F SUBJECTS

'Smoke and fire', see Causes inferred

Son of man, 1 2 4 , 1 4 2 - 6 , 1 5 0 , 3 2 4
Suffering as messianic dogma, 1 2 4 , 1 3 0 ; Jesus' will to suffer, 3 5 , 4 7 , 49, 3 2 8 , 3 3 2
Symbolic (or prophetic) gestures and signs, 6 2 , 69f., 7 5 . , 89, 1 0 i f . , 2 3 5 , 240, 3o6f.,
308
Synagogues, 1 9 8 & ^ 9 0 ( 3 9 0 )
Synoptic problem, synoptic relationships, 1 4 3 & 11.87(380), i44f., 3 7 7 n.45, 3 9 4
n.38, 3 9 9 n.59
Table-fellowship, 1 5 8 , i86f., 1 8 9 ^ , 2 0 5 , 2o8f. & n . 1 2 ^ 3 9 2 ) , 2 7 1 - 3
Tax collector(s), 1 7 8 , 2 0 2 , 2 0 3 , 204, 2 0 5 , 207f. & n . n 8 ( 3 9 i f . ) , 2 6 3 , 2 7 1 , 2 7 2 , 2 7 7 ,
399 n.59
Temple:
And cult, common Jewish view of, 6 3 - 5 , 1 9 7 ; revered, 27of. & n. 1 ( 4 0 1 ) ; and
purity, 1 8 2 , 1 8 4 , 1 8 5 ; and law, 2 5 i f .
Control of, i97f.; 'employees' of, 1 9 8 ; access to, 2 0 3 , 2 0 5 , 2 0 7
Incident in ('cleansing'), 3 1 , 5 2 , 5 4 , 5 7 , 6 1 - 7 1 ; 7of., 89, 90, 2 0 1 , 2 3 3 , 27of.,
274, 2 8 8 , 2 9 6 , 2 9 8 , 3 0 0 , 3 0 i f . , 3 0 7 ; what symbolized, 7of., 89f.; points
towards eschaton, 2 5 1
Sayings about, 7 1 - 6 , 1 4 6 , i52f., 27of., 3 0 i f , 3 6 4 ^ n.5
New, in Jesus' expectation, 7 3 , 7 5 , 7 7 , 1 5 3 , 1 4 5 , 2 2 7 , 2 2 9 , 2 3 3 ; disciples
continued to hope for, 2 6 8
Temple, priests and cult, criticisms of, 65f. & nn.35, 3 7 ( 3 6 6 ) , 8if., 89, 1 9 3 ,
2 5 7 , 27of. & ^ 3 ( 4 0 1 )
Tax, p.64 & nn.27, 29(366)
Theological commitment and polemic as source of historical assertions, 1 9 9 , 2 0 2 ,
2 1 8 , 2 7 8 ; see also Confessions of faith
Theological significance of Jesus for Christianity, not at issue here, 2 , 9
Tithing, 1 8 0
Trial scenes, 7 1 , 2 9 6 - 3 0 1 & n.20(407); procedure^ 299, 4 0 7 nn.16, 2 1 ; legality of,
4 1 0 n.73
Truth, religious, attributed to Jesus and Paul, 2 7 8
Twelve, The, Jesus' purpose in calling, 3 8 , 46f., 1 0 3 , 2 7 7 ; role of, 4 2 , 1 0 3 , iosf.,
224, 2 2 6 ; as fact, ioof.; as symbol, i o i f . , 1 0 4 , 1 4 6 , 1 5 6 ; lists of names, 1 0 1 &
^ 3 3 ( 3 7 3 ) ; as judges, 1 5 0 ; post-resurrection activity, 23of. & n. 1 9 ( 3 9 5 )
Twelve Tribes, The, 8 2 , 9 5 - 8 ; in Jesus' expectation, 1 0 4 , 1 1 5 , 1 1 8 , 1 5 6 , 229f.,
233
Understanding of Jesus, 7 6 , 7 8 , 88f., i28f., 2 2 4 , 2 3 0 - 4 , 2 3 5 , 3 0 4 , 3 2 2 , 3 2 9
Uneducated, The, 1 9 0 - 2
Usurers, i77f., 2 0 3 , 205
Vengeance, 2i2f.
Zealots, 4 8 , 5 3 , 2 3 1