Jesus' words create what they say. They create reality and enact it. His word is a creative word, as in Genesis, so that when he speaks things happen. Jesus' preaching declares and enacts the new creation that comes through the presence of his flesh - the flesh of the Creator - coming to his creation to make all things new. Jesus announces this by means of the Old Testament where he now interprets texts christologically and sees those texts becoming reality by means of his voice that brings this new reality into existence. What shocked the people of Nazareth, and people in synagogues throughout Galilee, is that this preaching was unlike anything they had ever heard before. His preaching was authoritative and declared that from now on everything would be different... In the very preaching of Jesus' emissaries, the kingdom of God has already become a present reality and the kingdom of Satan is firmly defeated. In their proclamation, the presence of Christ to redeem a lost and dying world ensures that Christ's kingdom will triumph because "the one who hears you hears me" ([Luke] 10:16). Hearing the Word through Jesus' disciples is the same as hearing the Word from Jesus himself. The one who does not hear rejects the Word. This entails a rejection of the person of the messenger, a rejection of his bodily presence. Jesus will be rejected in his body in crucifixion just as the people of Nazareth dragged his body to the precipice of the hill in order to kill him...
—Arthur A. Just, Jr., symposium paper, The Voice of Jesus: "He Interpreted to Them in all the Scriptures the Things Concerning Himself"

Gloria Patri

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

About this site

Dawning Realm proclaims the good news of the kingdom as confessed at Caesarea Philippi, Nicaea, and Augsburg.
† This cross symbol, when appearing to the left of a topic, designates a category in Theology of the Cross, a directory of Lutheran articles.
Last modified: April 11, 2008 7:43 AM
Author information. David Bickel confesses the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, the Augsburg Confession, and the other documents of the Book of Concord because they faithfully summarize the sacred writings of the prophets and apostles. As a layman, he lacks the call needed to publicly teach in the church. | personal web page

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Copyright © 2001-2008 by David R. Bickel. No part of this web page may be displayed on the Internet, copied to another web page, or transferred electronically. Permission is hereby granted to print and distribute, for non-commercial purposes, hard copies (paper copies) of the content of this page without changes. Any other copying or distribution requires prior written consent.
Background art. The Christ Pantocrator photo taken by Michael Wilson ("Xerones") is displayed according to its Creative Comments license.
Scripture translations to English. Copyright information