What Did Jesus Preach?

Categories: Biblical Studies, New Testament, Religion & Theology
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Had some fun with my Historical Jesus course last night, asking my students (who had just finished reading Mark) to answer the following question: What exactly did Jesus preach?

Eventually, one enterprising student rightly called attention to Mark 1:14–15,

After John had been handed over, Jesus went into Galilee, preaching the gospel [“good news”] of God, saying, “The time has been fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand—repent and believe in the good news!”

Naturally, I asked the next question: “So what is this gospel, this “good news,” that he is preaching?”

Silence.

“So I’m guessing that most of you think of the gospel message as something like this: ‘You’re dirty rotten sinners. But fortunately for you, Jesus died on the cross for your sins and then rose from the dead, so you can be forgiven. Just believe in Jesus and ask him into your heart, and you can have eternal life (in heaven).’ (Nodding.) But that doesn’t make much sense here, does it? It’s kind of hard to envision Jesus walking around at this point preaching, ‘I died on the cross and rose again for your sins,’ isn’t it? So the gospel that Jesus is preaching must be something else, right? And what’s that ‘The time has been fulfilled’ doing there? What time? Why does it need to be fulfilled? And this ‘Kingdom of God’ thing—what’s that? Aren’t these things important, if we’re going to understand what Jesus was all about?”

This is a (perhaps the) fundamental question to ask when reading the gospels, but so many of us just easily gloss over words we think we know. So when many of us read, “Jesus preached the gospel of God,” we unconsciously read the word “gospel,” as though it meant “Jesus died so that our sins could be forgiven,” since that is what we assume “gospel” means. Of course, once we think about it, we’ll realize that reading it that way makes no sense at all in that context. This is part of a critical tearing-down process necessary for anyone wanting to learn to read the Bible well—so much has to be unlearned before anything can be learned at all! The first target are these nice terms that we assume we know.

I suggested to my class that they start looking through the Hebrew Bible, especially the prophets, for terms like “good news,” and try to figure out these other terms in a similar way—after all, Mark seems to assume that the reader will understand these terms, which were already in use long before the gospel writer picked up his pen (or Jesus himself began to preach). It’s a worthwhile assignment for anyone who wants to get a better picture of Jesus.

(On a fairly related note, it’s also worth asking some of the questions J.R. Daniel Kirk has been asking over at Storied Theology, as they’re quite related in my view.)

Tags: Christianity, Evangelicalism, gospel, Historical Jesus, Jesus, New Testament

7 Comments. Leave new

  • […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Daniel Kirk, Jason Staples. Jason Staples said: [Blog] What Did Jesus Preach? http://bit.ly/bfpByu […]

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  • i’m pretty sure jesus preached the virtues of capitalism and a strong military, no?

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  • Jesus preached the “good news” as you stated. But “good news” as referenced in the old testament, in which Jesus himself quoted, refers to “good flesh” Announcing a new flesh, such as a new birth or a baby child or a wedding, was the term in which Jesus was using here. In Hebrew language the word “news” can be translated as “basar”.

    http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/

    basar [H:1320] is the Hebrew word for “flesh,” the skin or
    meat of animals or man; and when used in the phrase “all flesh”
    it means “all mankind.” The verbal root of this word can be
    found in the following passage where it is translated as “proclaim
    the good news.
    ”The spirit of Adonai Yahweh is upon me because
    Yahweh has anointed me to proclaim the good
    news (basar)…Isaiah 61:1

    Jesus came to preach a new birth.

    Reply
  • He did tell them in advance of his impending death. He did tell them the Son of Man was come to seek and to save that which was lost. The parables he told spoke of his yearning to seek and to save that which was lost. Yes, he preached the necessity of a new birth of the water and of the Spirit in John 3:3-5. He preached that whosoever believed on him as the scriptures had said, out of his belly would flow rivers of living water in John 7:38, and in 39 it explains he was speaking of the Spirit that would be poured out on believers. The new birth happened first in Acts 2, and Peter preached the message that applies the gospel made possible by Jesus’ death and resurrection. Repent, and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 2:38). You’ll know you receive it when you speak in other tongues.

    Reply
    • Robbie. Well stated. He preached the Father; He preached Himself; he preached the coming crucifixion as the completion of His mission. The Good News was that the Kingdom was at hand. The time had come. Jesus Christ is divine.

      Reply
  • The Searcher of Truth
    November 26, 2022 3:04 pm

    Im very interested in this topic. Especially when it comes to preaching today! I know God’s love, I have experianced it and my opinion is that everyone is looking for it. Thats the whole point of knowing God- to deeple know His love and His will for you. What do you think, is it enough for begining to speak about Gods love or you have better way ? Maybe different knowledge on preaching….?
    Hoping for answer 🙂

    Reply

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