Introduction and Brief Summary
Much attention is paid to the topic of Christ’s resurrection, and many discussions are developed on the idea of the justification of the events that occurred on Friday afternoon and Sunday morning when Christ’s believers and supporters had to deal with a huge amount of agony and required vindication. It is not enough to describe the events when people faced Christ’s resurrection to clarify the value and effects of those changes. It is more important to observe what different theologists and philosophers think of the period when Christ was resurrected as a messiah. Gavin Ortlund creates the article about the rise of Christ in three different forms, a prophet, a priest, and a king. The peculiar feature of the article is the lack of personal interpretations but the attention to the information given in such sources as Hebrews, Psalms, the Book of Zechariah, the Book of Samuel, and other Biblical sources. The goal Ortlund sets in the article are to “extend reflection on the soteriological significance of the resurrection by considering it about Christ’s messianic offices of prophet, priest, and king.”1 As well as many authors, Ortlund admits that salvation is the core of human activities and offers to use a bloody cross and an empty tomb as two signs of the resurrection that is defined as the atoning work of Christ.
Critical Interaction
The chosen article helps to understand that the resurrection is the event that promotes several changes after which Christs becomes more than a son of God. At this point, Christ can perform many functions because he has already passed through such concepts as oblation and intercession. Ortlund introduces Christ as a priest, who has the power of an indestructible life.2 To prove this position, the author uses several sources and underlines several perspectives. The same approach is used by Enns in the attempts to explain systematic theology and its impact on the believers. For example, Erickson suggests that theology, as the discipline that aims at describing the faith of the Christians, could be better understood through the Scriptures which are related to the issues of life.3 Ortlund uses Scriptures and Psalms almost in the same way to support the chosen ideas and explain Christ’s behavior and decisions. The comparison of these two sources proves that the attention to the holy writings is one of the best and most effective ways to investigate the peculiarities of salvation, resurrection, and oblation. Another central issue of the article is the introduction of Christ as the son of God, the son of David, and a king, who raised after his oblation.4 People suffered from a lack of godly leadership and requested a new leader, who could inspire them and take responsibility for their actions. Though a person could hardly comprehend God to his full extent,5 the idea to offer Christ as a new leader and a king seems to be powerful indeed. Finally, Ortlund offers to see Christ as a risen prophet,6 whose form of a life-giving spirit impressed and motivated the believers.
The influence of Ortlund’s article, as well as the theoretical part introduced by Enns, is great. These works explain the reasons why Christ became a part of God’s plan and agreed on oblation and intercession. Besides, the article shows that Christ has to be accepted in three different offices because each of his roles has its mark on people and their faith. Finally, the historical influence of the article should be mentioned. The resurrection and ascension of Christ served as the method to show people how their mistakes, doubts, and betrayals could influence society.
As all theological writing, Ortlund’s article has its strong and weak aspects. On the one hand, the author develops a powerful review of the literature and relies on the Psalms and books by Hebrews or Samuel. Besides, the historical background is properly developed in the article. However, the author seems to be so involved in the explanation of the past and forgets to focus on personal opinion and the evaluation of personal attitudes. The article could be improved in case the author tried to combine past experiences, present ideas, and future expectations to explain the value of Christ’s resurrection for ordinary people.
Conclusion
In general, the article written by Ortlund is an informative and educative work that helps to understand the conditions under which Christ’s resurrection occurred. People were deprived of the possibility to think and investigate the reasons for Christ’s ascension and redemption. Therefore, this article is an attempt to gather all past experiences and knowledge and apply them to the current state of affairs when the believers have to accept the anointing work of Christ and its impact on every person’s life. It is not difficult to read the article and comprehend that people are free to make their own choices the way Jesus did it and deserve the right to be with the Father, who is greater than any other human being on earth.
Bibliography
Enns, Paul. The Moody Handbook of Theology: Revised and Expanded. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014.
Ortlund, Gavin. “Resurrected as Messiah: The Rise Christ as Prophet, Priest, and King.” Journal for the Evangelical Theological Society 54, no. 4 (2011): 749-766
Footnotes
1 Gavin Ortlund, “Resurrected as Messiah: The Rise Christ as Prophet, Priest, and King,” Journal for the Evangelical Theological Society 54, no. 4 (2011): 751.
2 Ibid.
3 Paul Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology: Revised and Expanded (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014): 151.
4 Ortlund, “Resurrected as Messiah,” 756.
5 Enns, The Moody Handbook, 154.
6 Ortlund, “Resurrected as Messiah,” 761.