Jesus
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93. Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola, Jesus Manifesto (see intro., n. 1).
94. Eph. 3:9 NASB.
95. Rev. 13:8.
96. Col. 1:20.
97. Acts 10:40.
98. Rom. 16:25–27 NIV.
99. C. S. Lewis discusses this cogently in Mere Christianity, 157ff. So does Erich Sauer in his The Dawn of World Redemption: A Survey of the History of Salvation in the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 15–22.
100. Col. 1:15–18.
101. Eph. 1:10.
102. Col. 1:16.
103. John 20:28.
104. T. Austin-Sparks, Words of Wisdom and Revelation (Corinna, ME: Three Brothers, 2000), 6.
105. John 1:1–3.
106. John 1:14; see also 1 John 1:1.
107. Jer. 10:12; 51:15.
108. Ps. 33:6 ESV.
109. 1 Cor. 1:24.
110. The “Word” in the First Testament was especially God’s message (the Law and the Prophets). See Craig Keener, The Gospel of John: A Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic/Peabody: Hendrickson, 2003), 341–63 (esp. 361) and 405–26 (esp. 419–23).
111. Robert Jenson draws much on the theology of Karl Barth. He has authored Alpha and Omega: A Study in the Theology of Karl Barth (New York: Nelson, 1963); God After God: The God of the Past and the God of the Future, Seen in the Work of Karl Barth (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1969); The Knowledge of Things Hoped For: The Sense of Theological Discourse (New York: Oxford University Press, 1969); and Systematic Theology (2 volumes) (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997–1999), among other volumes.
112. A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York: HarperOne, 1961), 39.
113. The word firstborn in this text has to do with rank, primacy, and heirship. Some translations say “the firstborn before creation.”
114. Heb. 1:2.
115. Col. 1:16–17.
Chapter 2: Christ in Creation: The Macro Version
1. Michael Horton, The Gospel Commission (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2011), Kindle ed., 25. Horton is summarizing Christopher J. H. Wright’s idea from The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Academic, 2006).
2. Heb. 1:1–2 NIV.
3. Matt. 12:34.
4. John 1:1.
5. Frank’s book From Eternity to Here (see chap. 1, n. 59) traces the themes contained from Genesis 1–2 to Revelation 21–22.
6. John 1:3. See also 1 Corinthians 8:6; Hebrews 1:2.
7. Heb. 11:3.
8. 2 Cor. 4:4–6.
9. NIV.
10. 1 Cor. 1:24.
11. Col. 2:9.
12. Ps. 19:1–5 NIV.
13. Heb. 1:3. See also Colossians 1:15.
14. For a comparison of the same wording in John 1 and Genesis 1, see From Eternity to Here, 116ff.
15. John 1:23.
16. John 1:32.
17. Karl Rahner, Foundations of Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Idea of Christianity (New York: Seabury, 1978), 213.
18. Isa. 57:20.
19. Gen. 1:3.
20. 1 Peter 1:23; James 1:18.
21. John 1:4–9ff.; Luke 1:79; 2:32.
22. John 1:4–5.
23. John 1:9. See also John 8:12; 9:15; 12:46; Revelation 21:23.
24. John 3:5–6; 1 Peter 1:23; James 1:18.
25. Gen. 1:2.
26. Gen. 1:3; John 1:4–5.
27. 2 Cor. 4:6.
28. Col. 1:13; John 3:3ff; 1 Cor. 2:9–16.
29. 2 Peter 3:6.
30. 1 Peter 1:20–21.
31. Rom. 6:6.
32. Gen. 8:11; John 14:17; 2 Cor. 5:17.
33. Luke 12:51; John 7:43.
34. Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20; Col. 2:20.
35. Col. 3:8–9; Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:5.
36. John 8:23; James 1:17; 3:15, 17; Col. 3:1–2.
37. Acts 2:38–40.
38. Rom. 6:4; 1 Peter 3:21.
39. Gal. 5:24; 6:14.
40. Heb. 4:12.
41. Rom. 6:6ff.; 2 Cor. 6:17ff.
42. Matt. 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; Luke 24:46; Acts 10:40; 1 Cor. 15:4. According to Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1998), the third-day motif “reaches its sacral climax in the third-day resurrection of Jesus” (864).
43. Hos. 6:1–2.
44. Ex. 14:21ff.
45. 1 Cor. 10:1–2.
46. Ex. 14:30; Rev. 20:13; Matt. 8:32; Mark 11:23.
47. Rom. 6:3–4; Col. 2:12.
48. Rev. 21:1, 4.
49. Gen. 1:11.
50. John 12:23–24 NIV.
51. John 15:1; 6:57.
52. 1 Kings 4:33.
53. See John 12:24. Barley is the first to come up during the spring harvest.
54. Rom. 7:4 NIV.
55. See chapter 19 of Frank Viola’s From Eternity to Here for details.
56. Ps. 104:15.
57. Col. 2:12; 3:1; Rom. 6:4–5; Eph. 2:5.
58. Luke 1:78; John 8:12; Ps. 19:4–6; Col. 2:9.
59. Mal. 4:2.
60. Luke 1:78 NIV.
61. Rev. 22:16 NIV; see also 2 Peter 1:19.
62. John 15:5.
63. Ps. 89:36–37; Matt. 5:14–15; John 12:36; Eph. 5:8.
64. Phil. 2:15; Dan. 12:3; Rev. 1:20.
65. Eph. 2:6.
66. Eph. 1:20–22.
67. Matt. 13:43.
68. Song 6:10 NIV.
69. John 17:22–24.
70. Isa. 60:19–20.
71. 2 Cor. 6:14 NIV.
72. Rev. 21:25; 22:5.
73. Gen. 1:14 NIV.
74. Col. 2:16–17 NIV.
75. God destroyed all life on earth in Noah’s day by salt water (Gen. 6–8), except the eight who lived in the ark.
76. Dan. 7:1–12; Rev. 13:1.
77. John 11:26; 1 Cor. 15:55–57.
78. See “Tertullian on Necessity of Baptism,” http://www.piney.com /Tertullian-Baptism.xhtml.
79. Phil. 3:20; Eph. 2:6.
80. John 17:16.
81. Isa. 40:31.
82. Luke 13:34.
83. Mark 1:10; see also Gen. 8.
84. 2 Cor. 3:17; Rom. 8:9–11.
85. John 14:16–18.
86. 1 Cor. 15:47.
87. John 16:33; 1 John 5:4.
88. John 1:29, 36; 1 Cor. 5:7.
89. Rev. 5:5.
90. Heb. 9:13.
91. Eph. 5:2; Heb. 7–10.
92. 1 John 3:2.
93. Phil. 3:21.
94. 1 Cor. 15:20–58.
95. NLT. Other translations say that Adam was “a type, a prototype, a figure, a pattern, an image” of the One who was to come, meaning Jesus. In Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15, Paul compared and contrasted Jesus with Adam.
96. For an insightful treatment on Jesus as the true human, see Stanley Grenz’s Theology for the Community of God, chaps. 10 and 11 (see chap. 1, n. 25).
97. Karl Barth, The Doctrine of Creation, vol. 3, pt. 2, of his Church Dogmatics, trans. G. W. Bromiley (London: T. & T. Clark, 2004), 3.
98. John 14:9.
99. Gen. 1:28.
100. 1 John 1:3; Acts 10:38.
101. Luke 10:19.
102. 2 Tim. 4:1; Jude 14–15.
103. 2 Tim. 2:12; 1 Cor. 6:3.
104. 1 Cor. 15:45.
105. 1 Cor. 15:25.
106. Rev. 5:10.
107. Wright, Simply Jesus, 4 (see intro., n. 6).
108. Heb. 6:5.
109. Phil. 2:10.
110. 2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 11:15; 22:5.
111. Rev. 21–22.
112. Rev. 21:9.
113. 1 Cor. 15:28. See also Ephesians 1:10.
114. N. T. Wright, Scripture and the Authority of God: How to Read the Bible Today, rev. and expanded ed. (New York: HarperOne, 2011), 160.
115. Heb. 4:9–10.
116. John 19:30.
117. Col. 2:17.
118. Isa. 11:7–9; Hab. 2:14.
119. Psalm 104 retells the creation story in poetic lang
uage, and Psalm 8 rehearses the creation of humanity.
120. Donald Joy, professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, says, “It is clear that Adam in Genesis 1 and in Genesis 5 includes both the male and the female: ’They’ are Adam” (Donald Joy, Bonding: Relationships in the Image of God [Nappanee, IN: Evangel Publishing, 1999], 21). In chapter 2 of the same book, Joy goes into detail on how Eve’s formation foreshadows the formation of the church. A. B. Simpson echoes these thoughts, saying, “Man was created male and female. This does not mean, as it would seem at first from the language, that he created the male and the female at the same time, but He created male and female in one person. The woman was included in the man physically and psychically, and afterwards was taken out of the man and constituted in her own individuality” (A. B. Simpson, The Christ in the Bible Commentary, Book 1 [Camp Hill, PA: WingSpread Publishers, 2009], 25). Also C. H. Mackintosh: “Eve received all her blessings in Adam: in him, too, she got her dignity. Though not yet called into actual existence, she was, in the purpose of God, looked at as part of the man” (C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Book of Genesis [New York: Loizeaux, 1880], 12). A similar view prevails in later Jewish (Tannaitic) tradition (Midrash Rabbah Gen. 8:1).
121. See E. W. Bullinger, Number in Scripture (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1967), p. 196ff.
122. 2 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 3:20.
123. Gen. 17:12; Col. 2:11; Rom. 2:29.
124. Ex. 22:29–30.
125. 1 Sam. 17:12.
126. The Epistle of Barnabas is one of the earliest Christian documents to state that Jesus was raised from the dead on the eighth day.
127. Wright, The Scriptures and the Authority of God, 161. Revelation 1:10 uses the phrase “the Lord’s Day.” Some of the first-century churches met on the first day of the week, i.e., the eighth day (1 Cor. 16:2; Acts 20:7). Wright points out that Hebrews 3:7–4:11 is really an exposition of Psalm 95:7–11, which speaks of Joshua leading God’s people into the promised land of rest.
128. 1 Cor. 15:45; Rom. 5:14.
129. Eph. 5:25–32.
130. Eve doesn’t make her appearance until Genesis 2, after creation has ended. In Genesis 1:27 and 5:2, the implication is that the female was created inside the male at the time that Adam was created. Later, God “split the Adam” and took the woman out of the man. But before that, “they” were Adam.
131. Viola, From Eternity to Here, 30–31.
132. John 19:5.
133. We give credit to N. T. Wright for this insight. This statement also parallels the words, “Behold your King!” in John 19:14, which echoes 1 Samuel 12:13 and Zechariah 9:9, quoted in John 12:15.
134. John 19:30.
135. John 20.
136. John 20:15. The garden also seems to have connections to Jesus as the true vine in John 15.
137. John 20:22.
138. 1 Cor. 15:45.
139. John 20:1, 19 NLT.
140. Eph. 1:4.
141. In the Second Testament, the death of God’s own is referred to as sleep—John 11:11; Acts 7:60; 1 Corinthians 15:6, 18, 20, 51; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–15. Furthermore, death as “sleep” was a common idiom. It appears widely on ancient tomb inscriptions, both Greek and Jewish, and elsewhere, including in earlier Greek mythology.
142. John 19:34. This brings John’s water motif—e.g., John 2:6; 3:5; 4:1–30; 7:37–39—to a climax. It has symbolic import in John’s gospel. Jesus’ death on the cross glorified Him so that He gave the Spirit (John 20:22). We give credit to Craig Keener for this insight.
143. Ex. 17:6.
144. 1 Cor. 10:4.
145. Eph. 5:26; John 17:17; 1 John 5:6–8.
146. F. F. Bruce, Jesus, Lord & Savior (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1986), 207.
147. Col. 1:26; see also Eph. 5:32.
148. Col. 1:27; 2:2.
149. Eph. 3:3–9.
150. Eph. 5:29–32.
151. Num. 3:7–8.
152. Gen. 3:8.
153. Deut. 23:14; 2 Sam. 7:6.
154. Isa. 51:3.
155. Ezek. 28:13.
156. Gen 2:8; 3:24.
157. Ex. 27:9–18; Num. 2:1–34; Ezek. 40:6.
158. Ezek. 28:13–16.
159. Ex. 15:17; 2 Chron. 3:1; see also Rev. 21:10.
160. Gen. 2:9.
161. Ps. 27:4; 96:6.
162. 1 Kings 6:14–18, 29, 32; 7:18–26, 42.
163. Ex. 26:31–34.
164. Gen. 3:24; Ex. 25:10–22.
165. 1 Sam. 4:4; 2 Kings 19:15; 1 Chron. 13:6; Ps. 80:1.
166. 2 Chron. 3:6; 1 Chron. 29:4; 1 Kings 6:20–22; 5:17; 7:9–10.
167. Some translations have bdellium, or aromatic resin. However, some scholars believe the reference in Genesis 2:12 is to pearl. The margin note in the New International Version has “pearls.” Either way, bdellium is a resin that hardens like a pearl.
168. 1 Chron. 29:2; Gen. 2:12.
169. Ex. 30:11–16; Zech. 11:12–13; 1 Peter 1:18–20.
170. Gen. 2:12.
171. Rev. 21:21.
172. See the Book of Jubilees 3:27; 4:23–25; 8:19; Midrash Rabbah Genesis 21:8; The Testament of Levi 18:6–10; 1 Enoch 24–27.
173. For more details on the parallels between the garden and the temple, see Beale, The Temple and the Church’s Mission (see intro., n. 78).
174. Compare the seven days of Genesis 1 with Exodus 25:1; 30:11, 17, 22, 34; 31:1, 12.
175. 1 Kings 6:38.
176. 1 Kings 8:2.
177. Compare Genesis 1:31; 2:2–3 with Exodus 39:32, 43; 40:33.
178. Ps. 132:7–8, 13–14; 1 Chron. 28:2; Isa. 66:1.
179. Ps. 78:69. This thought is echoed by Josephus (Antiquitates Judaicae 3:180ff; 3:123) and Philo (De Vita Mosis 2:71–145), among other early Jewish writers. Other scholars who have pointed out the parallels between the temple and creation include John Walton, Michael Fishbane, and G. K. Beale.
180. John 15:1; John 6:57.
181. John 7:38.
182. Col. 1:15; 3:11; Gal. 6:15.
183. Watchman Nee, A Table in the Wilderness: Daily Meditations (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1978), January 26; words in all caps appear in original.
184. Ezek. 40–43.
185. Rev. 21:16.
186. Among other things, gold represents the divine nature of God ( Job 22:25). For the significance of each element from a spiritual perspective, see From Eternity to Here by Frank Viola, chap. 20.
187. 2 Cor. 4:7; Rom. 9:21.
188. John 15:5; John 6:57; Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:4.
189. Rev. 21–22.
190. 1 Cor. 3:16–17; Eph. 2:19–22; 1 Peter 2:5.
191. Wright, Simply Jesus, 148.
192. John 5:46. See also Hebrews 10:7.
193. For a full discussion, see the first volume of Augustine’s The Literal Meaning of Genesis, trans. John Hammond Taylor, Ancient Christian Writers, 41, (New York: Newman Press, 1982).
Chapter 3: Christ in Creation: The Micro Version
1. From a Sonnet by Michelangelo, as quoted by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Michel Angelo,” in Emerson’s Complete Works (Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press, 1993), 12: 132.
2. Jesus as “Morning Star” is found in Revelation 22:16.
3. Isa. 9:2, 6 NASB.
4. “Dirt as matter out of place” is the famous line of anthropologist Mary Douglas. See her Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (London: Routledge, 2002), 44–50.
5. Eccl. 3:20.
6. Maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised that the soil contains friendly bacteria that affect the brain in a similar way to antidepressants. UK scientists were the first to discover that bacteria commonly found in soil activated brain cells to produce the chemical serotonin, which acts as an antidepressant. Low levels of serotonin are linked with a number of disorders, including aggression, anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), bipolar disorder, irritable bowel syndrome, and fibromyalgia. The lead author of the study, Dr. Chris Lowry from Bristol University, suggests that their
research “leaves us wondering if we shouldn’t all be spending more time playing in the dirt.” It also makes one wonder if this isn’t one reason why many pregnant women crave clay and dirt. For the research, see C. A. Lowry et al., “Identification of an Immune-Responsive Mesolimbocortical Serotonergic System: Potential Role in Regulation of Emotional Behaviour,” Neuroscience 146 (May 11, 2007): 756–72.
7. Gen. 2:7; see also 2 Tim. 3:16.
8. See G. K. Beale’s magisterial The Temple and the Church’s Mission (see intro., n. 78).
9. Gen. 2:15.
10. Lancelot Andrewes, Easter Sermon 1620, “Sermons of the Resurrection” (Full text of “Works”), http://archive.org/stream/worksninetysix03andruoft/worksninetysix03andruoft_djvu.txt.
11. To “conserve” and “conceive” the earth are gentler translations of the Genesis 1:28 command to “have dominion over” and “subdue” the earth.
12. See Revelation 11:18. For more on this, see Leonard Sweet, The Jesus Prescription for a Healthy Life (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), 159–60.
13. E. Y. Harburg, Fred Saidy, and Burton Lane, Finian’s Rainbow: A Musical Satire (New York: Random House, 1947), 117. Of course, this is a pun on Cole Porter’s song of twelve years earlier, “Begin the Beguine.”
14. Sub-creation and being a sub-creator were favorite themes of J. R. R. Tolkien’s. See, for example, his “On Fairy-Stories,” in his Poems and Stories (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994), 133, 146.
15. Isa. 43:19; 2 Cor. 5:17.
16. Gen. 2:9.
17. Ibid.
18. Paul Evdokimov, The Art of the Icon: A Theology of Beauty (Redondo Beach, CA: Oakwood Publications, 1990), 299.