SERVANT CHRISTOLOGY Sister Marian Francis Cook. C.S.J., A.B. a Thesis Submitt.D to the Facult,. of the Graduate School, Marquett
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SERVANT CHRISTOLOGY IN THE PETRINE AND JOHANNINE WRITINlS b,. Sister Marian Francis Cook. C.S.J., A.B. A Thesis submitt.d to the Facult,. of the Graduate School, Marquette Universit,. in Partial Fulfillment of the Re quirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Milwaukee, Wisconsin Januar;y, 1966 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INl'RODUCTION • • • • • • .. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• •• 1 Chapter I. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE SERVANT CONCEPT . .. .. } Old TestaJllent Late Judaism New Testament II. PETRlNESERVANT CHRISTOLOGY . .. ..... 23 The Acts of the Apostles I Peter II Peter The Gospel of Mark Relation to Total Christology III. JOHANNINE SERVANT CHRIS'roLOOY . .,. ..... 66 The Gospel of John Relation to Total Chl'1stQlogy IV. COMPARISON AND CONCLUSION -. • • • • • • • • • • • • • I! • 97 BIBLIOGRAPHY . .. ." .... ~ . .. ..... 102 lNTRODUCTION The dominant motif in the whole of the New 'l'est$ment revelation is the death and res~rection ot Christ, suffering as the necessary path to glory. Because this is the basic struct~e of Christ's life (Ac 24:~6), it is also the structure of the life of Christians (Rom 6:3~11). The Church of our own day still defines herself in these terms. !?! Ecclesiat the Constitution on the Church from Vatican II, speaks of the pilgrim Church as the body of the Lord who died and rose: " ••• tracing in trial and in oppression the paths he trod, we are associated with his sufferings as the body is with the head. suffering with him, that with him we may be glorified,tI (1)ara. 7) She suffers through a life of service, proclaiming Him who came to serve (Para. 5). This service and suffering are rendered by the Chureh as a whole (Para. 8). as well as. by each individual in the Church (Para. 7, 21, 24, 27. 29t 32, 41, 44). The service and suffering of her head were early explained by the Church in terms of the 8uff'ering servant foretold by Deutero-Isaiah. At four places in Acts (3;13, 26; 4:27, 30) and one in Matthew (12:18) , Christ is given the explicit title tleervant. II Though the title as such never gained popularity, still the theme it represented was definitely influential in molding the Christologioal view of the Scriptural writings. Partioularly is this true of the Petrine and the Johannine traditions. It is with. these two traditions that this study deals • Peter and John are• believed to have possessed quite similar ba.ck- grounds. Both were Jewish, and therefore shared the same rich 0'1' 2 background., Both are believed to have been disciples of John the Baptist, whose influence would have somewhat molded their messianic expectations. Both received trom Christ the same initial, normative understanding of the whole Ohristian mystery--of Himself, His mission among men , their relation to Him. Both also shared the primitive Christologieal thought of the Church. Cons'equently, both Peter and John were heirs of the same under standing of the mission of the suffering servant, such as this, originated in the OT . was altered in latel Judaism, and was given Christo10gical appli,.. cation by Christ and by the early Church. Despite this common background, however, their use of the suffering servant theme is not identical. This study proposes to examine the use each makes of servant Christology. to analyze the divergence which will be apparent, and finally to propose, by way of hypothesis, the central factor which is responsible for 'this divergence. Such a study should yield. not mere juxtaposition of texts, but valuable insight into the meaning and function of Christians in the Church" since it probes the nature and ministry of Christ who is head of that Church. CHAPTER I ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE SERVANT CONCEPT When presenting Christ' s miracles of healing with their accom- panying request for silence, Matthew quotes an Old Testament text which speaks of a servant: "Here is my serva_nt whom I have selected, my beloved, who delights my heart ••• " (Mt 12:18 ff.; Is 42:1 ff.) This usage of the Isaian text indicates that there was some consciousness on the part Or the Church that Christ was fulfilling the mission of the suffering servant. In order to understand the application af the term "servantfl to Christ, it will first be necessary to determine the source of the servant theme in the Old Testament. The Jewish understanding of "servant" in general will first be noted. foll'qwed by an analysis of the unique servant figure presented by Deutero-lsaiah.l Old Testament S'ervants were known to Israel in her profane existence~ II K 8:13 shows a man humbly designating himself as "your servant" in the presence 2 of another. The same term "servant," from the Hebrew~ , is used to L _ 7 IFor an exhaustive, scholarly analysis of the servant concept in both Old and New Testaments, see the work of W. Zimmerli and J. Jeremias, The Servant of God, trans. H. Knight from the article ''Pais Theoull in Kittel's ,Theologtscbes Worterbuch ~um NT ("Studies in Biblical Theology, " No. 2O:!aperville, Illinois:' A.R. A1:Lenson , 1957 )" 2The Greek trana1a~ es ebed as E!!! or doulos. For the distinc tion between these two terms, see Zimmerli, Servant, pp. 35-42. The Vulgate translates with filius or puer. 3 4 describe a slave in the service of the king (I Sam 21:7), a man in politi~ cal submission to another (Josh 9:11), or a man serving God within the precincts of the sanctuary (Josh 9:23) . In each of these instances the term is used to depiot a relationship between persons, with one person belonging to another. Eventually a transformation of that concept took place, as it became associated with Israel's exodus. Through the whole series of historical events related in the Pentateuch, particularly in the book of Exodus , Israel became a nation~~and a nation whose peculdiar status was that of a se"ant~nation i n relation to Yahweh. Through the instrumen- tality of Moses , a small group was called forth from a land of slavery, was prepared and purified by a period of suffering and trial in the desert, was actually created a nation, was given a law by which to live as a. nation, and "then united in intimacy with the God of the exodus by a covenant. Two things must be noted here. The first is the wholly gratui- taus character of the salvific act and of Israel's status resulti ng from that act. Neither the sufferings of the Semitic slaves nor the entreaties of the people in the desert prompted and perfected Israel's salvation; it was God '~ initiative alone. He chose Israel, not because of any worthi- ness on her part, but simply because of His love: "It was not because you are the largest of all nations that the Lord set His heart on you and chose you, for you are ' really the smallest of all nations. It was because the Lord loved you ••• " (Dt 717-8) Israel became a great nation through the act of God. Secondly, the condition under which Israel could become that great nation is significant. At the initial formation of the covenant. t I.rael learned that loving fidelity to Yahweh 's law was required of His 5 people. (Ex 19:4-8) Indeed, it waS f.or this that Israel was called from Egypt. Moses repeated to Pharaoh the command of Yahweh: "Israel is my son, my first-born.. Hence I tell you: Let 'ffJy son SO , that he may serve me. n (Ex 4:23) Only by continual commitment to this service would Israel become and remain the great nation. Hence the notion of service is bound up with the very heart of Israel's relation to Yah..,en.,.-the exodus-covenant. The profane under standiRg of a servant as one person who belongs to another i ,8 now per meated with new significance as it is applied to Israel. This 1srael, her very being and identity constituted in Yahweh's call, is His servant , ideally responding in total and exclusive obedience, relying on His fidelity with unshakable confidence. She is committed in coyenant to His service. As her und.erstanding of this great formative event grew, and as she pondered and experienced her own positio.n as servant nation, Israel came to designate certain figures in her history as Ilservant." Thus when she formulated her Scriptures, she spoke of the great patriarchs as "your servants, Abraham , Isaac and Jacob" (Dt 9:27) . The same title was given to Moses (Ex 14:31), Joshua (Josh 24:29), David (II K 3:18), and various prophets q:V K 9:7) . It lIIight seem that the concept of servant began to shift frolll a corporate notion to an individual 0ne; Powever. the individual was servant only because he was a member of Ierael, the servant nation, H~s significance as an individual was de rived froll! his place in the history of the nation as a whole. Moreo \~ er, 1II0st of the persons whom Israel designates as servant tunqtioned actively in the nation 1 s h1BtoriOa~ formation and development, particularly i n the establishment or renewal of th,e covenant. Hence, HservantH was not a 6 derogatory term but rather a distinctive . titl~ marking the individual as a special possession of Yahweh , somehow instrumental in His dealings with His people. He was se~in g Israel in order that Israel might serve Yahweh. Even though the term "servant" was thus applied to individuals, it still pertained i n a peculiar way to the nation as such. It was her obligation to continue serving her God , to remain faithful to her cov- enan.t with !lim.