God in New Testament Theology Quotes

“from Jesus' resurrection onward, "God" in some profound way now includes a glorified human. That, I believe, represents quite a significant alteration!”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“The biblical texts typically taken as reflecting the idea of divine immutability (e.g., Num 23:19; Ps 46:1-3; 102:25-28; Jas 1:17; Heb 13:8) all seem to emphasize what we may call a moral immutability, i.e., divine trustworthiness”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“In Philippians 2:9-11”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“In both of these texts we have illustrations of the basic conviction that Jesus' status in belief and in devotional practice rests upon the actions and authority of "God.”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“Wainwright recognized these difficulties but simply accepted Bousset's claim that Paul came around to an acceptance of Jesus' divine status under the influence of anonymous "Hellenistic Christians" during his sojourn in Damascus and Arabia after his conversion experience.31”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“In sum, it appears that the sort of Jesus-devotion reflected in Paul's letters was shared among Jewish believers in Roman Judea as well as among Paul's churches.”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“It is remarkable that the intense Jesus-devotion reflected in Paul's letters, which constitute our earliest extant Christian writings, is more presupposed than expounded”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“pattern of devotion in which "God" and Jesus feature as distinguishable and yet uniquely linked subjects and recipients of reverence in the setting of corporate worship.”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“In a book published originally in 1962 and curiously often overlooked today, Arthur Wainwright also directly addressed the question. He contended that although the doctrine of the Trinity is not stated formally in the NT there is evidence that "the problem of the Trinity was in the minds of certain New Testament writers, and that they made an attempt to answer it."24 As Wainwright distinguished the terms, a "doctrine" represents an answer to a theological "problem." Wainwright defined "the problem of the Trinity" as prompted "because Christians believed that Jesus was divine," and they expressed this belief "both in the writings of the New Testament and in the worship which was practised by the earliest Christian communities." Because early Christians also dominantly "upheld the Jewish belief in the unity of God, the belief in Christ's divinity raised a serious problem." How could "the Father" and Jesus both be treated as divine "and yet God be one?"25 Granting readily that in the second century C.E. and thereafter Christian efforts to grapple with the problem of the Trinity "became more and more systematized"; he nevertheless insisted, "New Testament writers were aware of the trinitarian problem and made an attempt to answer it," although in the NT texts "it is easier to see the first attempts to clarify the problem than the first attempts to answer it."26 It is, of course, technically a verbal anachronism to use the word Trinity in discussions of NT texts, for the word and the elaboration of the many issues involved appeared in subsequent centuries. But, equally, it would be historically simplistic to disconnect these later developments from the phenomena of NT beliefs and devotional practices that we have analyzed in this book. So, Wainwright was correct in probing the connections and also, in my view, in contending that in NT texts we see earlier evidence that Christians recognized the basics of "the problem" involved. Wainwright was also perceptive in emphasizing the importance of worship practices as evidence of how Jesus had come to complicate (if I may use the term) the question of "God" for believers, already in the first century C.E. The problem of the Trinity was from the beginning closely connected with Christian worship. It was not the concern of the scholar alone, but was a vital issue for the worshipping Christian. . . . The nature of Christian worship influenced the development of Christian thought, and, conversely, the development of thought influenced the nature of worship. Such an interplay of thought and worship helps to explain the emergence of the problem of the Trinity.27 As we have seen (especially in chapter 3), the devotional practices reflected in the NT constitute significant evidence, particularly for taking stock of the place of Jesus”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“Granting that Paul's concern in references to "God," Jesus, and the Spirit was not "ontological (= the nature of their being God), but soteriological (= their role in salvation)—and experiential," Fee nevertheless insists that in a number of Paul's statements about salvation (and the experience of it) "we meet the Trinity in Paul."22”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“Paul's understanding of God was functionally Trinitarian."20 Indeed,”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“of the NT texts as reflecting what we might call a "proto-Trinitarian" outlook?”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“contend that the major factor was the inclusion of Jesus as a distinguishable figure along with "God" in early Christian devotion, producing the question of how to combine this with an exclusivist "monotheistic" stance.”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“efforts to develop and defend his faith were convictions and devotional practices such as those already reflected in the NT.16”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“I have proposed that the devotional pattern reflected already in Paul's letters amounts to a distinctive "mutation" in Jewish monotheistic practice, in which Jesus features in an unprecedented way in worship directed to "God.”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“In Revelation there is still another distinctive emphasis on God as "the one who sits on the throne" in heaven, the all-powerful cosmic ruler (e.g., 1:4; 4:2, 9-10; 5:1, 7, 13; 6:16; 7:10, 15; 19:4; 21:5).”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“Indeed, in Revelation there is also a particularly notable emphasis that proper worship of and allegiance to "God" includes Jesus ("the Lamb") as well, the divinely”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“Furthermore, they portray their experiences of the Spirit as a foretaste and confirmation of eschatological hopes and signs that full redemption is near. This contributes to the excitement that one detects in”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“NT texts discourse about the divine Spirit is shaped by this link with Jesus.”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit" (1 Cor 15:45 NRSV),”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“Fatehi proposed that Paul's link of the Spirit and the risen Jesus should be understood as "a dynamic identification," the Spirit acting to communicate Jesus' presence, power, and glory to believers and Jesus in some real way "actually present and active through the Spirit."44 This seems to me to be a cogent characterization.”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“This connection is such that "the Spirit of the Lord" (3:17) is the means by which Jesus is revealed as glorious to believers and also how Jesus is powerfully present in their lives.”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“Romans 8:9 we have an equally strong statement. Indeed, in two consecutive sentences in this verse, Paul directly refers to the divine Spirit as also "the Spirit of Christ." "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his." In”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying 'Abba, Father!' " (Gal 4:6).36 Not”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he [Jesus] has poured out this that you both see and hear" (Acts 2:32-33 NRSV, emphasis mine).”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“Along with statements in this material that "the Father" will give or send the Spirit-Advocate (14:16, 26), we have other statements that Jesus himself will send the Spirit (15:26; 16:7). In 15:26 there is an interesting link of Jesus and "the Father" in jointly sending forth the Spirit, with Jesus portrayed here as promising the Advocate, "whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father" (NRSV).”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“this authority assigned to Jesus to dispense or send the Spirit is particularly important in reflecting what he calls a "divine christology," Jesus understood as in some real sense participating in the authority and roles of "God.”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“In John 7:37-39, the author explains Jesus' statement about "rivers of living water" as anticipating the reception of the Spirit by believers, which would be made available only after Jesus was "glorified.”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“in 1 Corinthians 12. Here, he refers to them interchangeably as "gifts" (charismata, 12:4), "services" (diakoniai, 12:5), and "activities" (energēmata, 12:6), all of which reflect or represent the operation of "the same Spirit," "the same Lord [Jesus]," and "the same God." In this passage, we have a very interesting triadic link of "God" with Jesus and the Spirit. The most familiar place where Paul does this, however, is likely the sonorous concluding benediction of 2 Corinthians (13:13 NRSV) where he invokes "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit" upon his readers.”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology

“Paul identifies "those who belong to Christ" as summoned and enabled now to live and be guided by the Spirit (Gal 5:24-25).”
― Larry W. Hurtado, God in New Testament Theology