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The Holy Word: The History and Function of the Teachings of Jesus in the Theology and Praxis of the Early Church

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

J. Arthur Baird
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Extract

There is an abundance of evidence to support the thesis that the teachings of Jesus, what the early church called ‘The Holy Word’, functioned as the basis of Christian doctrine and practice from the beginning of the Christian era at least as far as Eusebius. The key to it all seems to have been the sanctity with which these teachings were regarded, treasured and used within the early church. They believed he was the Son of God, and they treated his words accordingly. As the author of 2 Peter summarized it: ‘Remember … the commandments of the Lord and Saviour through your apostles' (3. 2). Clement of Rome echoed the same message: ‘Let us walk in obedience to his hallowed words’ (Epistle 13. 3); and Papias characterized himself as one who ‘took delight in those who recall the commandments given to the faith by the lord’ (HE III, 39. 2–4). The church was the church of the Holy Word; and the NT is the written record of that word as it found expression in the life and thought of the church. So the history of the word, the history of the church and the history of the NT are one and the same history.

Type
Articles
Information
New Testament Studies , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , October 1987 , pp. 585 - 599
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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References

NOTES

[1] Baird, J. Arthur, Audience Criticism and the Historical Jesus (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1973) 126.Google Scholar

[2] H. Riesenfeld points to the Synoptic λόγοι as ‘Holy Words’ with OT authority. He compares them to the words of the rabbis in the Mishnah, and the prophetic discourses in the OT. My work I think supports this insight, but I would say that the λόγοι are more exactly comparable to the God sayings in the OT, that is, to ‘written’ rather than to ‘oral’ tradition. Riesenfeld, H., The Gospel Tradition (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1970) 17–19.Google Scholar

[3] Acts 8. 25; 10. 36 etc. The ‘word of God’ and ‘the word of the Lord’ referring to Jesus, are often hard to distinguish (Acts 13. 10, 48; 15. 36). Regularly (22 times) κύριος occurs with reference to an authoritative body of Christian teaching that is either to be equated with the teachings of Jesus or with the εủαγγέλιον in the larger sense (Acts 12. 24; 13. 12; 28. 31; 1 Cor 14. 37; Eph 4. 171; Col 3. 16; 1 Thess 1. 8 etc.).

[4] Meagher, John C., The Way of the Word: The Beginning and The Establishing of Christian Understanding (New York: Seabury Press, 1975).Google Scholar

[5] Paul's use of the nine most frequent synonyms is as follows: λόγος, 35; λήθεια, 28; πίστις, 100; μνστήριον, 13; κηρύσσω, 17; διδαχή, 4; γνσις, 18; σοϕία, 11; ευαγγέλιον, 52.

[6] 1 Cor 1. 5, ν παντι λόγῳ. The translation, ‘with all speech’, in the RSV is misleading.

[7] RSV obscures the meaning of λόγος by translating it as ‘terms’. I see no sharp distinction between λόγος σοϕίας and λόγος γνώσεως. There seems to be some distinction in Paul's mind, but it is too subtle, and is not consistently used. The words are used interchangeably. They both refer to the intellectual and spiritual content of faith, but with a slight stress on the intellectual.

[8] 2 Cor 5. 19. Again RSV obscures the meaning by translating λόγος as ‘ministry’.

[9] Cf. Buber, Martin, Two Types of Faith (New York: Harper & Brothers).Google Scholar

[10] Meagher, John expresses this very well when he says that to have the Spirit is to have the mind of Christ. Op. cit. 21Google Scholar. The problem is that he does not seem to see this other more rational-theological side to Paul's understanding of the ‘mind of Christ’.

[11] Cf. 1 Tim 1. 15 which parallels Luke 5. 32; John 12. 47. Cf. also 1 Tim 4. 61; 6. 3.

[12] Meagher, John calls this ‘the principle of kairological coherence’, op. cit. p. 191.Google Scholar Cf. Baird, J. A., The Justice of God in the Teaching of Jesus (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1963) 97.Google Scholar

[13] Hennecke, Edgar, Wilhelm Schneemelcher, New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1963) 29.Google Scholar John Meagher puts it well: ‘Jesus as the One is the fundamental conditioning determinant of kairology, and is the common denominator of early Christian literature as well as the essence of the early Christian kerygma. The kerygma was derived by the application of the early disciples' sense of coherence and appropriateness to the conviction that Jesus is the one within the framework of their recognition and recollections on the one hand, and the resources of pie-Christian kairology on the other. The key facts and interpretations thus discerned become the core of the Gospel.’ Op. cit. 192, 193. Cf. Baird, J. A., Rediscovering the Power of the Gospel: Jesus' Theology of the Kingdom (Wooster, OH: Iona Press, 1982).Google Scholar