The Death of the Messiah and the Birth of the New Covenant: A (Not So) New Model of the Atonement

by Michael J. Gorman

Publisher:

Cascade

, 2014

Overview

In this groundbreaking book, Michael J. Gorman asks why there is no theory or model of the atonement called the “new-covenant” model. Gorman argues this understanding of the atonement was likely the earliest in the Christian tradition, dating back to Jesus himself. Gorman proposes that most models of the atonement over-emphasize the penultimate purposes of Jesus’ death and the “mechanics” of the atonement, rather than its ultimate purpose: to create a transformed, Spirit-filled people of God. The New Testament’s various atonement metaphors are part of a remarkably coherent picture of Jesus’ death as that which brings about the new covenant (and thus the new community) promised by the prophets, which is also the covenant of peace.

Written for both academics and church leaders, this book will challenge all who read it to rethink and rearticulate the meaning of Christ’s death.

Key Features

• Argues for a new covenant model of the atonement
• Contends that the new covenant model is the earliest in Christian tradition, dating back to Jesus
• Elucidates the primary purpose of the atonement: to create a transformed, Spirit-filled people of God

Contents

Top Highlights

“For most Christians, from professional theologians to lay women and men, the word ‘atonement’ refers to the means by which Jesus’ death on the cross saves us and reconciles us to God. Was that death a punishment? a sacrifice? an example? a victory over powers?” (Page 1)

“Christ’s death effected the new covenant, meaning specifically the creation of a covenant community of forgiven and reconciled disciples, inhabited and empowered by the Spirit to embody a new-covenant spirituality of cruciform loyalty to God and love for others, thereby peaceably participating in the life of God and in God’s forgiving, reconciling, and covenanting mission to the world.” (Page 75)

“Matthew is the only gospel that specifically says that Jesus’ blood is spilled for the forgiveness of sins” (Page 36)

“Elsewhere I have suggested that Paul makes four key theological claims about the Lord’s Supper: it is (1) ‘not a sequence of private meals but an experience of solidarity or fellowship (koinōnia)’ with both Christ and one another; (2) an ‘event of memory,’ meaning not recollection but present appropriation and participation; (3) ‘an act of proclamation—a parabolic sermon’; and (4) a ‘foretaste of the future messianic banquet.’⁷ To these four we may now add the following: the Lord’s Supper for Paul is also (5) a microcosm of the new-covenant life effected by the cross.” (Page 54)

“The appropriate perspective of Christian faith, therefore, is that the new covenant in which it claims to participate is not a replacement covenant but a renewed covenant, even if it has been quite drastically renovated by the reality of a crucified and resurrected Messiah. This renovation is such, in fact, that it can appear that the old has been replaced by the new rather than that the old has become the new for those who believe Jesus to be God’s Messiah. The difference is subtle but significant.” (Page 23)

Michael Gorman in The Death of the Messiah and the Birth of the New Covenant, has accomplished keeping our eyes on what is known: that in the death and resurrection of Jesus, God has formed a new covenant people.

—Scot McKnight, professor of New Testament, Northern Baptist Theological Seminary

This is an essential read and resource for New Testament theology-ethics.

—Willard M. Swartley, professor emeritus of New Testament, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary

. . . a richly textured statement of how the atonement reaches deeply into the scriptural story of God’s mighty acts in order to present the consequences of the cross for the church’s faith, hope, and love.

—Joel B. Green, dean, Fuller Theological Seminary School of Theology

Product Details

• Title: The Death of the Messiah and the Birth of the New Covenant: A (Not So) New Model of the Atonement
• Author: Michael J. Gorman
• Publisher: Cascade
• Print Publication Date: 2014
• Logos Release Date: 2016
• Pages: 292
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Atonement; Jesus Christ › Crucifixion
• ISBNs: 9781620326558, 9780227903766, 9781498205580, 9781630872076, 1620326558, 0227903765, 1498205585, 1630872075
• Resource ID: LLS:DTHMSSHBNWCVNNT
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T19:37:41Z

About Michael J. Gorman

Michael J. Gorman holds the Raymond E. Brown Chair in Biblical Studies and Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary and University, Baltimore, Maryland. A highly regarded New Testament scholar, he has also written Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship and Witness and Elements of Biblical Exegesis: A Basic Guide for Students and Ministers.