Preaching the New Testament Again: Faith, Freedom, and Transformation

By Yung Suk Kim

This book combines critical New Testament scholarship with homiletic concerns. Kim unravels complexities of the most prominent themes in the New Testament such as faith, freedom, and transformation, and brings them into dialogue with modern preaching contexts, ranging from personal identity to social justice to global issues. This book invites readers to reinterpret the most familiar themes that have not been thoroughly explored in scholarship and to make an informed choice about what to preach to whom in what context.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Release date: Feb 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781532652523

Yung Suk Kim

Yung Suk Kim is professor of New Testament and early Christianity at Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, Virginia Union University. Kim is the author of numerous books, including How to Read Paul: A Brief Introduction to His Theology, Writings, and World (2021); Christ’s Body in Corinth: The Politics of a Metaphor (2008); and Toward Decentering the New Testament (Cascade, 2018; co-authored with Mitzi J. Smith). He also edited 1–2 Corinthians: Texts @ Contexts (2013).

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Preaching the New Testament Again

Faith, Freedom, and Transformation

Yung Suk Kim

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PREACHING THE NEW TESTAMENT AGAIN

Faith, Freedom, and Transformation

Copyright © 2019 Yung Suk Kim. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Cascade Books

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

Eugene, OR 97401

www.wipfandstock.com

paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-5250-9

hardcover isbn: 978-1-5326-5251-6

ebook isbn: 978-1-5326-0182-8

Cataloging-in-Publication data:

Names: Kim, Yung Suk, author

Title: Preaching the New Testament again : faith, freedom, and transformation / by Yung Suk Kim.

Description: Eugene, OR : Cascade Books, 2019 | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: ISBN 978-1-5326-5250-9 (paperback) | ISBN 978-1-5326-5251-6 (hardcover) | ISBN 978-1-5326-5252-3 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Bible. New Testament—Homiletical use. | Bible. New Testament—Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Classification: LCC BS2392 K4 2019 (print) | LCC BS2392 (ebook)

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Manufactured in the U.S.A.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: Introduction

New Testament for Preaching

Outline of the Book

Chapter 2: Faith

The Concept of Faith

Reading the New Testament as Faith Stories

God’s Faithfulness

Jesus’s Faithfulness

Christian Faithfulness

Summary

Preaching on Faith in Modern Contexts

Chapter 3: Freedom

The Concept of Freedom

Freedom from Enslaving Conditions (Freedom from Something)

Freedom’s Purpose (Freedom for Something)

Freedom’s Basis (Freedom in Someone)

Summary

Preaching on Freedom in Modern Contexts

Chapter 4: Transformation

The Concept of Transformation

Jesus’s Experience of Transformation

The Gospels and Transformation

Paul’s Experience of Transformation

Transformation in the Deutero-Pauline and Pastoral Letters

Summary

Preaching on Transformation in Modern Contexts

Chapter 5: Concluding Remarks

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

I would like to give my special thanks to all my students (and graduates) at Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University, in Richmond, Virginia. They are hard workers at their jobs and study full-time with a mind of complete dedication to the unfolding ministry of God in their communities. Many of them come to school on evenings and weekends. Some of them are seasoned preachers or associate ministers engaging in full-time or part-time ministry. They love to preach and teach the New Testament in their social contexts. They also love the church and people. I have taught them New Testament courses for more than a decade. I also have learned about them and their personal and social contexts. I also like to thank Dean Corey Walker, the faculty, and the staff here at the School of Theology for their support of me.

My special thanks also go to my colleagues and friends who have supported me in various stages of my writing process. Initially, I showed my book idea and draft to Larry Welborn, professor of New Testament at Fordham University, who has been my dear colleague and friend for a long time. He liked it and encouraged me to continue the project. Other colleagues who read part or all of my manuscript are as follows: Daniel Patte, professor emeritus of Religious Studies at Vanderbilt University; James H. Harris, distinguished professor of Pastoral Theology and Homiletics at Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology of Virginia Union University; Michal Newheart, professor emeritus of New Testament at Howard Divinity School; and Robert Wafawanaka, associate professor of Biblical Studies and Old Testament at Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology of Virginia Union University. I am thankful for their feedback and encouraging words.

1

Introduction

I am a New Testament scholar, teaching in a predominantly African American school of theology in a university setting. Most students are enrolled in an MDiv program, and their goal is to become pastors, Christian educators, pastoral caregivers, and social workers. I teach them foundational biblical courses such as Introduction to Biblical Studies and Introduction to the New Testament. My goal is to help them interpret biblical texts confidently and critically. We explore all kinds of meaning possibilities from biblical texts: meaning behind the text; meaning within the text; and meaning in front of the text. For example, they critically reread Ruth and Naomi in the book of Ruth for the first time in their lives. On the one hand, Naomi and Ruth can be read as models of faith or loyalty, as they are faithful to God and to each other. They go through difficult times of suffering and hardship, but they support each other and survive well. On the other hand, Ruth seems not fully accepted by Jews. She never becomes a full Judean, even after delivering a child to Naomi. She seems a model foreigner to the Jewish society. Considering racism and immigration issues in America, students raise questions about Ruth’s decision to follow her mother-in-law. The book of Ruth is a complex story that can be retold and reinterpreted carefully in context. In the New Testament course, we talk about Matthew 15:21–28 (the Canaanite woman and Jesus). In this story, Jesus and his disciples are narrow-minded and are generally unhelpful to a very marginalized Canaanite woman because of their theology of exclusive salvation. Jesus says his mission is for Jews only, as in Matthew 10:5–6: Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.¹ He limits the mission to his people only, as he says in 15:24: I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. More than this, he calls the Canaanite woman dog. Is Jesus mean to her? Students are perplexed about this question because they have never thought about this view of Jesus. Usually, they think Jesus is testing her in a derogatory manner. But I challenge them to rethink it, digging in deeply in view of the Matthean context. The Matthean Jesus was mean to her because he reflects the Matthean community’s struggle to open its mission to the gentiles. It is also possible that the historical Jesus actually said these things to her. But in either or both cases, she was persistent in seeking healing for her daughter. Finally, Jesus accepts her request and praises her faith. What kind of faith is this? What kind of faith does he praise? Was he transformed because of her faith and challenge? Answering these questions will be moments of preaching.

New Testament for Preaching

The New Testament can be studied variously, depending on the reader’s purpose for study.² It can be studied to know the history behind the Gospel communities or to trace back to Jesus to locate his authentic teaching.³ It can be also read as literature that comes with diverse stories about early Christian communities. Namely, four Gospels communicate the significance of Jesus differently depending on their community context. Mark characterizes Jesus as the suffering Son of God because the Markan community is placed in a situation of persecution and needs to recognize the difficulties of discipleship. Matthew depicts Jesus as the Jewish Messiah who fulfills the Scriptures because the Matthean community is primarily a Jewish community. Luke characterizes Jesus as the savior of the world because the Lukan community is a gentile community and aims to preach the gospel to the whole world. John depicts Jesus as the Son of God who testifies to the truth of God because the Johannine community conflicts with the synagogue and needs to continue in Jesus’s teaching. Paul’s letters and other writings in the New Testament also reflect various stories about their communities.⁴

In all these diverse readings, we may find various preaching themes in the New Testament among which faith, freedom, and transformation stand out. Faith in the New Testament is more than what to believe, and the concept of faith covers a diversity of things such as knowledge, conviction, action, and trust. Indeed, God is the most faithful character in the New Testament, and Jesus is faithful to him. All other characters express their faith (or lack of faith) in one way or another. Indeed, faith can be a vehicle for human transformation. Paul Tillich captures this point well: faith is a total and centered act of the personal self, the act of unconditional, infinite and ultimate concern.⁵ Faith involves the whole being of who we are as we contemplate how to live in this hostile world. Faith is more than knowledge about God or Christ and goes beyond the solitary individual salvation of the soul. Faith is that which seeks freedom and transformation, not only for individuals or the community, but for the whole world.

Freedom in the New Testament is more than personal or existential freedom. Usually, what is emphasized is freedom from something; for example, freedom from oppression or evil. But freedom also has to do with freedom for something, as Paul asks his congregations to use their freedom in edifying community. It also has to do with freedom in someone, as he exhorts them to imitate Christ in all their works. We need to explore various aspects of freedom from the New Testament.

Transformation is also a complex term that needs critical exploration in our study of the New Testament. It can be personal, communal transformation because of God and Christ. But we can also think about Christ’s own transformative experience during his ministry. Obviously, Paul is an important source for transformation because he lived a new life after he was called by God. Usually, transformation has been understood in two ways: individual salvation because of repentance, and communal transformation because of social justice. But the concept of transformation goes farther to include Jesus’s and Paul’s experience of transformation, as well as the transformation of various Christian communities. We may also think about the ultimate transformation on the last day, as envisioned by Paul and the Gospel writers.

This book seeks to explore diverse yet divergent aspects of faith, freedom, and transformation entrenched in the New Testament. Indeed, almost every text in the New Testament can be approached from the eyes of faith, freedom, and transformation. For instance, in Jesus’s initial sermon in Mark 1:14–15, we can think of all these themes together: Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’ After John was arrested, Jesus continued his ministry and began to proclaim the good news of God, which is the key to his preaching. This good news is not the gospel of Rome or Jerusalem, but the good news about God; for example, salvation coming from God. God’s good news means that God is faithful and righteous, and that he will therefore save humanity. In Mark 1:15, we see a compact word of his sermon in which he explains the good news of God. In this verse, he preaches that the time (kairos) is fulfilled (perfect tense). This is the proper time that God is working now. People can now live in a new time. Such a time has come and will continue to come. Jesus does not say that the time will be coming in the remote future. This view of Jesus differs from his contemporaries, who emphasize the future completion of God’s time. Jesus goes one step further and explains what such a time looks like, saying, "the kingdom of God [basileia tou theou] has come near." Here again, we see with the use of the perfect tense that God’s rule has come now. Basileia tou theou is a technical term and is often translated as the kingdom of God. An important connotation to consider is this phrase does not refer to a place or time,