Deck 16: From Jesus to the Gospels

Question 1

Describe the several points in time that one can say that Christianity "began." Which point in time is most tenable for historians? Why?

Answer 1

Students may choose a number of starting points: Jesus' birth, his baptism, his ministry, his death, his resurrection, or when people began to believe in the resurrection. Students should be sure to deal with the problems inherent in their choice.

Question 2

Jesus seems to have believed that a cosmic figure, the Son of Man, would usher in the Kingdom of God and the day of judgment. How did early Christians come to believe that Jesus was the Son of Man? How do some of the New Testament stories reflect this belief?

Answer 2

Although Jesus apparently did not refer to himself as the Son of Man, once Christians came to believe in the resurrection, Jesus' unique relationship to God, and his position in heaven, they began to equate Jesus with the cosmic Judge. Jesus, according to these Christians, was the Son of Man who would return soon in judgment and usher in the Kingdom of God. As Christians passed on Jesus' teachings, they clarified certain aspects of them: where Jesus spoke about the Son of Man, Christians changed the words to make it clear that Jesus was preaching about himself.

Question 3

Discuss how and why early Christians used passages from the Hebrew Bible to provide evidence of Jesus' true identity. In particular, discuss the "Suffering Servant" motif in the Psalms and in Isaiah.

Answer 3

Since Jesus' earliest followers believed he was the Jewish messiah, they had to find ways to argue their case against general expectations of the messiah. Some Jews thought the messiah would be a king or a priest or a cosmic judge, but none, so far as we know, believed he would suffer and die. Christians, then, had to find evidence in Scripture for their suffering messiah. They turned to Psalms of lament and the Suffering Servant passages in Isaiah to show that Scriptures prophesied that the messiah would be a righteous man who would be rejected and persecuted.

Question 4

The notion of vicarious suffering was invented by Christians after the crucifixion.

Question 5

Jews would likely have understood the term "Son of God" as a reference to the king of Israel.

Question 6

Paul cites the women who found the empty tomb as evidence of the resurrection.

Question 7

Many Jews prior to Christianity expected the messiah to die for their sins and then be resurrected.

Question 8

Most scholars believe the Suffering Servant of Isaiah is a metaphor for the suffering of Israel.

Question 9

According to the textbook, when did Christianity begin?

A) With Jesus' ministry
B) With Jesus' birth
C) When Jesus called his disciples
D) With the belief in Jesus' resurrection

Question 10

In the New Testament, who claims to have seen Jesus alive after his death?

A) Paul
B) Josephus
C) The centurion at the cross
D) Martha

Question 11

The first people to believe in Jesus' resurrection were probably:

A) His closest followers
B) The Jews
C) Paul
D) The demons

Question 12

The Suffering Servant of Isaiah in its original context probably referred to

A) The future Messiah
B) Psalm 22
C) Israel
D) The Maccabean Revolt

Question 13

The earliest Christians used which of the following to explain Jesus' messiahship?

A) The Talmud
B) The New Testament
C) The Antiquities of the Jews
D) Hebrew Scripture

Question 14

Scholars refer to the passages in Isaiah that, according to early Christians, prophesied Jesus' Passion as:

A) The "Songs of the Suffering Servant"
B) The "prophecies about Jesus"
C) The "Passion passages"
D) The "passages about the messiah"

Question 15

The idea of the cosmic figure called the "Son of Man" first appears in:

A) Paul
B) Jesus' teachings
C) The New Testament Gospels
D) The book of Daniel

Question 16

One way early Christians understood Jesus' vicarious suffering was by comparing it to that of:

A) Jewish martyrs
B) Elijah
C) King David
D) Psalms

Question 17

In Jewish circles, the term "messiah" literally meant:

A) The savior
B) A person anointed with oil
C) Jesus
D) A cosmic judge

Question 18

Ancient traditions portrayed all of the following figures as divinized, except:

A) Jesus
B) Julius Caesar
C) Moses
D) Each of these figures were portrayed as divinized in some ancient traditions

Question 19

Scholars have suggested that Christianity is the religion:

A) Of Jesus
B) For Jesus
C) Of John the Baptist
D) About Jesus

Question 20

Paul mentions all of the following except:

A) Jesus' significance for salvation
B) Jesus' death
C) Jesus' resurrection
D) The women who find the tomb

Question 21

Jesus' earliest followers:

A) Rejected Jesus' apocalyptic beliefs
B) Accepted Jesus' apocalyptic beliefs
C) Denied Jesus' bodily resurrection
D) Doubted Jesus' messiahship

Question 22

Jesus' earliest followers believed:

A) Jesus had been raised from the dead for a short period of time.
B) Jesus had not been raised from the dead.
C) A holy man had raised Jesus from the dead.
D) Jesus had been raised from the dead never to die again.

Question 23

According to the

A) Alexander the Great
B) Eleazar
C) Jesus
D) Alcestis

Question 24

After Jesus' resurrection, Christians believed that:

A) He would remain on earth until the Son of Man came.
B) He would wait with Christians in purgatory until the Son of Man came.
C) He had been exalted to heaven.
D) He died again.

Question 25

After Jesus' death, apocalyptic Christians focused on all of the following except:

A) Jesus' relationship with God
B) Jesus' teachings on the Son of Man
C) Jesus' teachings on the Kingdom of God
D) Jesus' teachings on divorce

Question 26

Pagans typically would have understood the term "Son of Man" as referring to:

A) A cosmic judge
B) A human being
C) God
D) A priestly figure

Question 27

Although the crucifixion was a stumbling block for the Jews, it was a foundation stone for:

A) Pagans
B) The Romans
C) The Essenes
D) Christians

Question 28

The account of the Jewish warrior Eleazar, who attacked an elephant believed to be carrying the king of Syria (an enemy of God) and was crushed to death, is given in:

A) First Maccabees
B) Jude
C) Leviticus
D) Second Peter

Question 29

Those who believe that the precise point at which Jesus became the Son of God was at his baptism justify their belief with the passage in some manuscripts of ___________, which states that a voice from heaven announced, "You are my son, today I have begotten you."

A) 1 Thessalonians
B) 4 Maccabees
C) Luke
D) Matthew

Question 30

Ancient Jews would have understood "Son of God" to mean which of the following?

A) Divine human
B) Cosmic Son of Man
C) King of Israel
D) Beautiful human being

Question 31

The "Song of the Suffering Servant" is found in:

A) Mark
B) Isaiah
C) First Maccabees
D) Daniel

Question 32

Jesus' cry, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" is the first line from:

A) Mark's Passion narrative
B) Psalm 22
C) Daniel's Son of Man passage
D) Lamentations

Question 33

Jewish apocalypticists expected a(n) __________ after the evil cosmic powers were destroyed.

A) divine feast
B) resurrection of the dead
C) fiery destruction of the world
D) angelic battle

Question 34

While Jesus was alive, he distinctively addressed God as:

A) Himself
B) Master
C) Father
D) King