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Was Jesus a Restorationist, a Reformist, or a Revolutionary?
- Thread starter Sunstone
- Start date
The only Jesus you know the least thing about is a Pauline and post-Pauline construction.
Smoke
Done here.
I think Geza Vermes' view of Jesus as a charismatic Hasid is the most convincing. I don't think he intended to restore or reform Judaism, and he certainly didn't intend to found a new religion.
Buttercup
Veteran Member
It's my thought Jesus came to revolutionize a new pathway to God but his ultimate goal was to restore mankind to God the father.
Words of Christ - The Revolutionary
Division not Peace
I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.
Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "You must change your hearts - for the kingdom of Heaven has arrived."
Jesus rebukes the sabbatarians
Mark 2:23-24 - One day he happened to be going through the cornfields on the Sabbath day. And his disciples, as they made their way along, began to pick the ears of corn. The Pharisees said to him, "Look at that! Why should they do what is forbidden on the Sabbath day?"
Mark 2:25-28 - Then he spoke to them. "Have you never read what David did, when he and his companions were hungry? Haven't you read how he went into the house of God when Abiathar was High Priest, and ate the presentation loaves, which nobody is allowed to eat, except the priests - and gave some of the bread to his companions? The Sabbath," he continued, "was made for man's sake; man was not made for the sake of the Sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is master even of the Sabbath."
John 4:34-38 - Jesus said to them, "My food is doing the will of him who sent me and finishing the work he has given me. Don't you say, 'Four months more and then comes the harvest'? But I tell you to open your eyes and look to the field - they are gleaming white, all ready for the harvest! The reaper is already being rewarded and getting in a harvest for eternal life, so that both sower and reaper may be glad together. For in this harvest the old saying comes true, 'One man sows and another reaps.' I have sent you to reap a harvest for which you never laboured; other men have worked hard and you have reaped the results of their labours."
Words of Christ - The Restorer
John 3: You must understand that God has not sent his Son into the world to pass sentence upon it, but to save it - through him. Any man who believes in him is not judged at all. It is the one who will not believe who stands already condemned, because he will not believe in the character of God's only Son. This is the judgment - that light has entered the world and men have preferred darkness to light because their deeds are evil. Anybody who does wrong hates the light and keeps away from it, for fear his deeds may be exposed. But anybody who is living by the truth will come to the light to make it plain that all he has done has been done through God."
4:13-14 - Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty again. For my gift will become a spring in the man himself, welling up into eternal life."
5:19-29 - Jesus said to them, "I assure you that the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. What the Son does is always modelled on what the Father does, for the Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he does himself, Yes, and he will show him even greater things than these to fill you with wonder. For just as the Father raises the dead and makes them live, so does the Son give life to any man he chooses. The Father is no man's judge: he has put judgment entirely into the Son's hands, so that all men may honour the Son equally with the Father. The man who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him. I solemnly assure you that the man who hears what I have to say and believes in the one who has sent me has eternal life.
Words of Christ - The Revolutionary
Division not Peace
I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.
Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "You must change your hearts - for the kingdom of Heaven has arrived."
Jesus rebukes the sabbatarians
Mark 2:23-24 - One day he happened to be going through the cornfields on the Sabbath day. And his disciples, as they made their way along, began to pick the ears of corn. The Pharisees said to him, "Look at that! Why should they do what is forbidden on the Sabbath day?"
Mark 2:25-28 - Then he spoke to them. "Have you never read what David did, when he and his companions were hungry? Haven't you read how he went into the house of God when Abiathar was High Priest, and ate the presentation loaves, which nobody is allowed to eat, except the priests - and gave some of the bread to his companions? The Sabbath," he continued, "was made for man's sake; man was not made for the sake of the Sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is master even of the Sabbath."
John 4:34-38 - Jesus said to them, "My food is doing the will of him who sent me and finishing the work he has given me. Don't you say, 'Four months more and then comes the harvest'? But I tell you to open your eyes and look to the field - they are gleaming white, all ready for the harvest! The reaper is already being rewarded and getting in a harvest for eternal life, so that both sower and reaper may be glad together. For in this harvest the old saying comes true, 'One man sows and another reaps.' I have sent you to reap a harvest for which you never laboured; other men have worked hard and you have reaped the results of their labours."
Words of Christ - The Restorer
John 3: You must understand that God has not sent his Son into the world to pass sentence upon it, but to save it - through him. Any man who believes in him is not judged at all. It is the one who will not believe who stands already condemned, because he will not believe in the character of God's only Son. This is the judgment - that light has entered the world and men have preferred darkness to light because their deeds are evil. Anybody who does wrong hates the light and keeps away from it, for fear his deeds may be exposed. But anybody who is living by the truth will come to the light to make it plain that all he has done has been done through God."
4:13-14 - Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty again. For my gift will become a spring in the man himself, welling up into eternal life."
5:19-29 - Jesus said to them, "I assure you that the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. What the Son does is always modelled on what the Father does, for the Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he does himself, Yes, and he will show him even greater things than these to fill you with wonder. For just as the Father raises the dead and makes them live, so does the Son give life to any man he chooses. The Father is no man's judge: he has put judgment entirely into the Son's hands, so that all men may honour the Son equally with the Father. The man who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him. I solemnly assure you that the man who hears what I have to say and believes in the one who has sent me has eternal life.
"Was Jesus a restorationist, a reformist, or a revolutionary?"
Jesus was an overexposed pagan myth. YouTube - Christianity is Pagan
Jesus was also attributed with saying some pretty interesting stuff.
Jesus was an overexposed pagan myth. YouTube - Christianity is Pagan
Jesus was also attributed with saying some pretty interesting stuff.
Muffled
Jesus in me
Jesus was revolutionary in the sense that He did away with the old system of relating to God and put in place a new system. The only reference to religion would be that He was replacing the old covenant with a new covenant and that He had every intention of retaining the "Law of Moses." Through Peter an Paul He adjusted how that law would apply to Gentiles.
Maybe, but we're talking about Jesus here.
A
angellous_evangellous
Guest
:biglaugh:
sojourner
Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
I'd frubal myself, if I could. Sometimes I crack myself up...
Scott1
Well-Known Member
I would have to say none of the above..... since Jesus, by his loving obedience to the Father, "unto death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2:8), fulfills the atoning mission (cf. Is 53:10) of the suffering Servant, who will "make many righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities" (Is 53:11; cf. Rom 5:19) does not really fit into any of the three choices you gave...... Jesus was/is the Father's Emissary... and then called upon his disciples to carry on his mission: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." .... so I guess the closest would be a "new religion" but Christ did not see it as anything "radical" in my opinion, but something (being part of the divine life) that was natural to humanity.
Doodlebug02
Active Member
Jesus was something else. He was definitely a revolutionary in some ways but he was also the founder of the Catholic Church.
mcteethinator
Idiosyncratic Muslim
I just chose revolutionary without reading your definitions. it was so he could fulfill the role of Messiah, so he was revolutionary.
cardero
Citizen Mod
The most influential character understanding of Jesus that I have ever come across can be best described in one word, and this was that Jesus was a maverick.
I believe that Jesus did not share an interest in the concept of structured or rigid dogma or had a need for any kind of organized religion.
I believe that Jesus did not share an interest in the concept of structured or rigid dogma or had a need for any kind of organized religion.
Muffled
Jesus in me
Although Jesus did not institute a religion, I would not consider him at enmity with organized religion. There are at least two stories of Jesus attending sabbath services and participating in them. What Jesus finds offensive are those who practice hypocrisy and use organized religion to further their own goals.
Scuba Pete
Le plongeur avec attitude...
Jesus did not come to reform Judaism: it was not in need of reformation.
Jesus did not come to restore Judaism: It had not departed from itself.
Jesus did not come to revolutionize Judaism: this would have destroyed his mission.
Jesus came to complete the prophecies and to fulfill the law. This was to free us from death and to give us a new life of Love. Indeed, this led to restoration, reformation and the subsequent revolution, but his primary mission was to fulfill the entire law with his sacrifice.
Jesus did not come to restore Judaism: It had not departed from itself.
Jesus did not come to revolutionize Judaism: this would have destroyed his mission.
Jesus came to complete the prophecies and to fulfill the law. This was to free us from death and to give us a new life of Love. Indeed, this led to restoration, reformation and the subsequent revolution, but his primary mission was to fulfill the entire law with his sacrifice.