The Goodnews According to Jesus

By Donald Blosser

For about 40 years after the death of Jesus, the early Jesus followers met together for worship and to share their memories about what Jesus said and did.  Their memory of who Jesus was, what he had done.  But their memory was directly affected by the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.  They needed an explanation for the cruci

• Language: English
• Publisher: Donald Blosser Publishing
• Release date: Feb 8, 2024
• ISBN: 9781962730341

Donald Blosser

Don Blosser (PhD St. Andrews University, Scotland is a Mennonite minister who pastured congregations in Freeport, IL, Akron PA, and Goshen, IN. For 23 years he was Professor of New Testament at Goshen College. He has authored: 1) Pastor and Professor: A Public Faith,2; Meeting Jesus: Common People, Uncommon Stories; 3) The Good News According to Jesus,4) Dictionary of the Literature of the Bible (published in China).Don and his wife Carolyn live in Goshen, IN.

Book preview

I. Introduction

The Bible says. . . . was a very common phrase heard in my childhood. It carried a lot of power, because what the Bible says controlled what we believed, how we behaved, and where we went to find ultimate truth. The Bible was God’s word, revealing those things that God wants us to know. We did not discuss what the Bible says, we simply read it, and obeyed it.

In I Corinthians 13:11 Paul writes: "when I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways." Today, even though we are adults, we have a strong tendency to continue reading the Bible in childlike ways.

As I became an adult, my deep appreciation for the Bible grew even stronger. It was not by accident that I dedicated my adult life to the study and teaching of the Bible. As an adult I learned that the Bible was not given to us directly from God, but was written by specific human beings who were not aware that they were writing scripture that would be studied, exegeted, and argued over for thousands of years. I learned that it is important to know who the specific New Testament writer was, what his (they were all male) experience was with Jesus, and what was the original culture in which this person lived. It was also exciting to explore, as carefully as possible, why they wrote and what the message was that they wanted their immediate readers to know. We now accept God’s inspiring presence in these writers but they were not aware of this divine presence with them as they wrote.

It took longer for me to recognize that, as the Biblical writers wrote, God did not give them knowledge that was superior to, or different from, the common knowledge of their day. Moses, Joshua, Isaiah, or Paul, each assumed the earth was flat, because that was the common wisdom of the day. The same would be true for genetics, good medical health care, or demon possession as an explanation for bizarre human social behaviors.

As followers of Jesus who read the Bible as Scripture, we assume that we are reading as mature adults, carefully discerning the Jesus message of salvation through his death on the cross. That is what I was taught as a child, and I accepted it as the only Biblical explanation for the mission and death of Jesus. I was taught that the Bible has one unified message, thus no matter where you read, it is the same story. But as an adult, I began to see things that led me to reread the gospels looking for how Jesus explained his mission, and what he said his followers should do in response. I discovered that even in the four gospels, the writers tell the same story differently, and they do not all have exactly the same explanation for how best to understand the crucifixion of Jesus.

As I prepared for my Jesus and the Gospels class at Goshen College I found seven different metaphors or theological images being used. And each image had a Bible verse to support it.

For example:

I Cor. 15:3      Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. . . (penal redemption)

I Peter 2:21      Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps (Moral Influence)

Romans 5:10      if. ..while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, how much more shall we be saved by his life? (Recapitulation)

Col. 2:15      He disarmed the principalities and powers and made public example of them—triumphing over them by the cross(Christus Victor)

I Peter 1:18      You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors. . .with the precious blood of Christ.(Ransom)

I Peter 2:24      he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross . . .by his wounds you have been healed (Substitionary Atonement)

Mark 1:14-15      Jesus came preaching the good news of God, saying: The time has come, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe this good news (Messianic)

How does one decide which theory is the correct one, or is most biblical if even the biblical writers provide conflicting explanations? Each one, except the Mark 1 Messianic theory, has another person (Peter or Paul) interpreting the mission and death of Jesus. Mark cites words from Jesus to explain his own mission. Should that statement be seen as being closer to how Jesus saw the content of his ministry? But even there, it is Mark who decided to use this statement by Jesus to explain his ministry.

The biblical writers did not have an official, agreed-upon-by-everyone explanation for the death of Jesus. Throughout its history, the church has struggled with this question. How does one determine the exact meaning that should be used to understand this critical question of Christian Faith? Why did Jesus die on the cross?

Dr. Matthew Black was my mentor in graduate school. He insisted that when studying the Bible, we must ask two questions: 1. What does the Bible say? and 2: Why did the writer say it? It is imperative that we understand the experience and the intention of the Biblical writer if we are to correctly read and interpret the scriptures. Each writer had a message and a mission that led them to write. Luke & Matthew each had a specific audience in mind and it was not the same cultural or religious audience, thus they do not always say exactly the same thing. Paul was not just writing general theological principles, he had a specific congregation in mind as he offered his best counsel with the confidence that he had the mind of God as he wrote. (I Cor. 7:40b)

I also learned that the Anabaptists felt it was important to pay special attention to the teachings of Jesus as he lived in Palestine during that first century. I began to see a difference between believing doctrinal facts about Jesus, and being a follower of the teachings of Jesus. How did Jesus explain his own ministry? What instructions did he give his followers?

Jesus began his ministry in response to the preaching of John the Baptist (Matt.3:13-17). He explained his mission in a visit to his hometown synagogue in Nazareth (Lk 4:16-30). Matthew later summarized the basic themes in the Jesus message in what we now call the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-6-7).

It is stated again in how Jesus answered John when John was confused about what Jesus was doing (Matt 11:2-6); and then again near the end of his ministry (Matt. 25:31-46). Jesus gave an active expression to this message in a public demonstration in the temple (Jn 2:13-16, cf Mark 11:11,15-19). Matthew’s gospel closes with instructions by Jesus to his disciples about this mission (Matt. 28:18-20).

These texts should not be treated as verbatim quotes of what Jesus said, but rather as the basic content that the early Christian community remembered and focused on as they met together in worship. It is legitimate to believe these statements give a reasonably appropriate report of things Jesus said and did during his ministry. If Jesus came strictly for the purpose of dying for our sins, there is no reason for him to teach, heal, or challenge people to live by God’s New Way. All he had