Customer Reviews

Jesus Revealed: Know Him Better to Love Him Better

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Today's growing interest in all things spiritual has resulted in all kinds of books about Jesus--many of which are simply wrong. This book corrects errors, not so much by attacking them specifically as by carefully showing the reader the many dimensions of who this amazing person Jesus is. The topic is deep and the author is a brilliant scholar so one should expect to be dazzled. You will, but in the end I found it is the subject--Jesus--who dazzles most brightly.

Dr. Mark Roberts has systematically set out who Jesus is, presenting the best scholarship in this well-footnoted book. And he does this in a way that interlaces serious theological insights with captivatingly folksy illustrations--a conversation with his little daughter reveals deep theological truths. We are lead through detailed aspects of the many-faceted Jesus, yet the teaching is easy to follow.

But the Jesus the author presents is not found solely in facts. Rather, as the title suggests, Mark provides information so you can know someone who will capture your heart and your mind. And challenge you to a life radically different from today's culture, one in harmony with God's plan for a more abundant life.

Other than the New Testament, I can't recommend a better read today by which to know Jesus better.

Considering this book was written by a guy who got his undergrad B.A. in philosophy and religion at Harvard and a Phd. in New Testament at Harvard, you'd think that this would be a liberal perspective on Jesus. However, this is a very inspiring look at Jesus, his claims, and his purpose through the eyes of an evangelical preacher and scholar. In addition to some profound points, he also brings out the simple points that we often overlook, and he does so in a fresh manner. While this isn't a ground-breaking account of Jesus, it is a much needed one for those of us who want to understand the Jesus who lives today and not just the "historical" Jesus.

I learned of Mark D. Roberts when reading his response to Christopher Hitchens' screed against God. It prompted me to want to read more from Dr. Roberts, and I started with this. It is a humble book that examines Jesus' roles in our lives: as rabbi, prophet, the Holy One of God, the Son of Man, the Messiah, the Savior, the Lord, the son of God, the word of God and the Light of the World. Each role is discussed thoroughly, yet in a tone that is as conversational as your favorite pastor. It should inspire Christians to know Jesus more, and love Him more deeply.

This was the first book I had read by Mark Roberts PhD and I was impressed by both his erudition and clear writing style. It is different from other scholarly NT works by the likes of Bauckham, Wright, Witherington, Evans and so on in that it does not deal with the arguments concerning the "Historical Jesus" but focuses on the Biblical Jesus: who he was, and why he lived and died. Roberts does a very good job of explaining how difficult it must have been for the Jews to understand Jesus and his mission. "Jesus entered the synagogues and taught from the Law and the Prophets, but in doing so he forced his contemporaries to completely rethink what it meant for someone to be a teacher of God's truth ... his unexpected approach threatened the reigning paradigm of normal Jewish pedagogy ... Jesus' refusal to link the kingdom of God with violent revolution must have frustrated and confused those who placed their hopes in him. He seemed oddly tolerant of their enemy ... Rather than exemplifying the common Jewish notion of holiness, Jesus was turning holiness inside out ... Jesus simply did not do what the Anointed One was expected to do. In fact, he actually seemed to go out of his way to do what the Anointed One was not supposed to do, namely, die at the hands of the enemy. Thus for Jews to acknowledge Jesus as Messiah, they had to completely reconfigure many of their fundamental expectations of God and his work."

Roberts also shows why our own paradigm may get in the way of fully understanding Jesus: "We must avoid the tendency to resolve the tension in Jesus' model of holiness in a way that panders to our personal preferences, favoring either moral relativism or legalistic separatism ... Logic and analogy take us only so far. In the end we are left with the revealed truth that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself through the death of Jesus. His death counts for us because God determined that it would." Roberts then extrapolates the problems we may have in fitting Jesus into our paradigms into a statement about God: "If there really is a God who lives outside of our imaginations, then it's rather audacious of us to define God's nature on the basis of what we're comfortable with ... if God has actually bothered to reveal himself through something other than our personal inclinations, it's rather foolish to try to invent God from scratch. Wouldn't it be better to pay attention to God's self-revelation in history, in Scripture, and, most of all, in Jesus? In the final analysis, I wouldn't want to trust my life to the pint-sized God of my own creation. Though the idea of revelation might insult my self-centeredness, it actually relieves me of an impossibly heavy burden - the need to invent God and get it right."

Roberts remains true to Scripture at all times in this humbly-written book that is readable and enjoyable while also highly enlightening.

Enjoyed reading the way of life during Jesus' time that sometimes we don't take into account. For someone not raised in the church and a newcomer to Jesus, I would recommend it.