Jesus and the Holy City: New Testament Perspectives on Jerusalem

by Peter Walker

Overview

What is the biblical significance of Jerusalem? What was Jesus' attitude toward the city and its temple? Did the New Testament writers see Jerusalem as being affected by the coming of Jesus? How should Christians view Jerusalem today?

These are some of the questions raised in this important work, which is the first comprehensive study of New Testament teaching on Jerusalem. The book surveys the various landscapes portrayed by the different New Testament authors and draws these together into an overall biblical theology of Jerusalem, which impinges directly on the way Christians are to understand Jerusalem today. At the center of this theology stands the figure of Jesus, whose life and death in Jerusalem had significant repercussions for the city and for the subsequent New Testament understanding of Jerusalem.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802842879
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	12/10/1996
Pages:	383
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.86(d)

About the Author

Peter Walker, an ordained Anglican minister, was until recently a research fellow at Tyndale House, Cambridge. He has visited the Holy Land on numerous occasions as a lecturer and guide and now teaches New Testament studies at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgements	vii
	Introduction	ix
Part I	Landscapes of Jerusalem
1.	A New Teaching: Mark	1
1.	The Temple	3
a.	The Coming of the Lord	4
b.	The Search for Fruit	4
c.	A Portent of Destruction	5
d.	The Destruction Predicted	7
e.	The Temple's replacement	8
f.	Conclusion	12
2.	The City of Jerusalem	13
a.	Jesus' Mysterious Identity	15
b.	Jerusalem's Prophetic Future	17
c.	Jerusalem after Jesus	20
d.	Conclusion	21
3.	Mark and Jerusalem	22
2.	A New Zion: Matthew	25
1.	The Temple	28
a.	Positive References	28
b.	Negative References	29
c.	Jesus, the Presence of God	30
d.	Conclusion	32
2.	The City of Jerusalem	32
a.	The 'City of the Great King'?	33
b.	Jerusalem's Response to Jesus	33
c.	Consequences and Causes	36
d.	The Resolution	38
3.	Judgement and Restoration	41
a.	The End of the Exile	43
b.	Jesus, the True Israel	45
c.	The Mountain-motif	45
d.	Conclusion	46
4.	Matthew's Reflections: from Hope to Judgement	47
a.	Matthew's Positive Hope	48
b.	Matthew's Own Concern for Jerusalem	50
c.	Judgement: from Conditional to Inevitable	52
d.	Conclusion	53
5.	Matthew's Situation	54
3.	A New Era: Luke-Acts	57
1.	The Temple in Luke-Acts	60
a.	The Temple's Previous Status	61
b.	The Challenge to the Temple: Jesus	61
c.	The Challenge to the Temple: the Apostles, Stephen and Paul	64
d.	Conclusion	68
2.	Jerusalem in Luke's Gospel	69
a.	Jerusalem, the Focus of Opposition	69
b.	The Reasons for Jerusalem's Opposition	70
c.	The City Exposed to Judgement	72
d.	The Reasons for Judgement	74
e.	The Final Oracle	76
f.	Conclusion	79
3.	Jerusalem in the Book of Acts	81
a.	Source, but not Goal	81
b.	A Source of Validation	84
c.	The Place of the Spirit's Work	87
d.	The City of Repeated Rejection	89
e.	The City under Judgement	91
4.	Luke and 'Restoration'	94
5.	Luke's Conclusions	102
6.	Luke's Situation	106
4.	A New Centre: Paul	113
1.	The Land	116
2.	The Temple	119
a.	The New Divine 'Dwelling'	119
b.	The New Nature of Worship	122
c.	The New 'Dividing-line'	124
d.	Conclusion	125
3.	The City of Jerusalem	127
a.	Galatians 4	127
b.	1 Thessalonians 2	132
c.	Romans 11	136
4.	Paul and the Jerusalem Church	144
a.	The 'Collection'	145
b.	Paul's Attitude to the Jerusalem Church	148
5.	Paul in Jerusalem	152
5.	A New Temple: John	161
1.	The Temple	163
a.	Jesus, a New Temple	163
b.	The Future of the Temple	165
c.	Jesus' Subsequent Involvement: Fulfilment and Eclipse	167
d.	The Temple of Believers	170
e.	Conclusion	174
2.	The City of Jerusalem	175
a.	The City's Previous Status	176
b.	The City of his Own People	178
c.	The City of the World	179
d.	The City for the World	183
e.	Conclusion	185
3.	The Land of Palestine	186
a.	The 'Promised Land'	186
b.	The Places of the Incarnation	190
4.	John and Jerusalem	194
a.	Johannine Uncertainties	194
b.	A Response to AD 70?	195
c.	Conclusion	199
6.	A New Calling: Hebrews	201
1.	The Temple	203
a.	Affirmation and Denial	203
b.	Implications for the Jerusalem Temple	205
c.	The Archic Use of [characters not reproducible]	207
d.	The Future of the Jerusalem Temple	208
e.	Conclusion	209
2.	The Land	211
a.	The True 'Rest'	211
b.	The Patriarchs and the 'Promised Land'	211
c.	A New Exodus, a New Moses	212
3.	The City of Jerusalem	213
a.	The 'City with Foundations'	214
b.	The 'Heavenly Jerusalem'	215
c.	'Outside the Camp'	216
d.	Conclusion	221
4.	The Crisis	222
a.	The Audience's Situation	223
b.	Date of Composition	227
c.	Four Further Indications	230
d.	Conclusion	233
7.	A New City: Revelation	235
1.	John and Judaism	238
2.	The Temple	243
a.	Its Previous Status	243
b.	A New Perspective	244
c.	The Final Vision	244
d.	The 'Temple of God'	246
e.	Conclusion	248
3.	The City of Jerusalem	248
a.	The New Jerusalem	248
b.	The Fall of Jerusalem	250
c.	The Millenium	259
d.	Conclusion	262
4.	John's Concerns	263
Part II	Jesus and the Church
8.	A New Direction: Jesus and Jerusalem	269
1.	Jesus the Prophet	272
2.	Jesus the Critic	275
3.	Jesus' Self-understanding	278
a.	Jesus, Zion's True King	279
b.	Jesus and the Temple	281
c.	Jesus, the Agent of 'Restoration'	283
4.	Conclusion	287
9.	A New Theology: New Testament Reverberations	291
1.	Restoration: From Politics to Mission	292
2.	The Temple: From One to Another	297
3.	Jerusalem: From the Earthly to the Heavenly	304
10.	A New Significance: Towards a Biblical Theology	309
	Afterword: Jerusalem in Christian Reflection	319
	Abbreviations	327
	Bibliography	329
	Indexes	351