God the Peacemaker 5
Chapter Five: The faithful Son
Graham Cole’s discussion of Jesus, the faithful Son (the central figure in God’s project) begins differently to earlier chapters of God the Peacemaker. He begins with historical theology: the doctrine of recapitulation by Irenaeus (130-200). Never heard of this? The concept is relatively simple: Jesus recapitulates in His own Person all that Adam should have been and failed to be. At every stage of Jesus’ human development, He was the faithful and obedient Son of God.
What a sharp contrast to both Adam and Israel who failed. As our author states, “Jesus is the faithful Adam and faithful Israel.” Even at the crucifixion scene, Jesus’ enemies scornfully proclaim the truth the Jesus continues to trust in God (Matt 27:43).
Graham Cole highlights numerous other instances in Scriptre where the faithfulness of Jesus is highlighted:
- in Heb 3:1-6 and Heb 12:1-3, Jesus is the faithful Son, the pioneer and perfector of the faith;
- in Revelation, Jesus is the faithful witness; and,
- in Rom 3:22, some commentators (eg. D B Knox, N T Wright) translate the verse as the “faithfulness of Jesus” rather than “faith in Jesus.”
Graham concludes:
“[Jesus] trusted God. He obeyed God. His faith issued in the obedience that is the ground of our righteousness. He did not merely assent to the will of his father, he did it from the heart. Without his perfect righteousness imputed to us we cannot be at one with God.”
There are many encouraging insights in Chapter Five. However the chapter takes a more systematic theological approach and implicitly presupposes a familiarity with various current theological debates. Consequently some readers may not find it as accessible as prior chapters.
In our next post from God the Peacemaker, Graham Cole looks at Jesus’ death and His vindication.