Mar 18, 2008
Jesus for President: Imperial language vs Gospel Language
To write a little more about Jesus for President, I thought I’d go over one of the points I found quite interesting: the comparison of Gospel terminology with imperial terminology. Most of this I’d read before, but it was nice having it in the easy chart format.
Basilea:
- Imperial: the kingdom (empire) of Caesar
- Gospel: the kingdom of God (what Jesus went around proclaiming). Instead of Caesar at the head, YHWH is at the head.
Gospel:
- Imperial: an important pronouncement (generally something to the effect of an heir being born or a grand battle won)
- Gospel: the good news of Jesus (the Kingdom of God is at hand!)
Son of God:
- Imperial: The popular title of Caesar (and other kings and emperors)
- Gospel: Title given to Jesus (also, the truth in His case…)
Ekklesia:
- Imperial: A town meeting or public assembly (citizenship was bestowed, political concerns discussed, elders appointed, Caesar was worshiped)
- Gospel: What the early church was called
Parousia:
- Imperial: The return of Caesar to visit a town
- Gospel: The second coming of Christ
Savior:
- Imperial: Specific title of Caesar Augustus who “healed the chaos of Rome and brought it into a new golden age”
- Gospel: Another specific title of Jesus
All of the above paraphrased from section two of Jesus for President
There are other terms co-opted by the NT from the political sphere of life as well (these were just my favorites and ones I figured most people would recognize from the Gospel). It’s quite interesting to consider all of this and tends to open up some of the meaning of the NT. Co-opting things in this way isn’t just a private individual thing — it is a direct challenge to the status quo. Especially when considering the large groups Jesus was reaching — they would be able to see the challenge as the Imperial way was a part of life. Our vocab has changed significantly so it kind of falls on deaf ears nowadays, which is disappointing and leads to the privatized (and neutered!) religion that much of American (and western) Christianity seems to be.Just some more food for thought. Hopefully it also provides some context for the recently posted quotes (inasmuch why the early church fathers thought and spoke and wrote the way they did).
