English Literature 1

Question of Identity

The text is written in the fourth chapter of Matthew when Jesus was led up by Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devils. He fasted forty days and nights, and afterwards he was famished. The temper came and said to him that if he is the Son of God then he should command these stones to become loaves of bread (Thompson, 2006). In return Jesus answered it is not only bread which is important to live but every word that comes from the mouth of God. After this reply Devil took him to the holy city and places him the pinnacle of the temple and said if he is the Son of God then he should prove it by throwing himself down as it is written that God will command his angles on his hands so that their foot don’t dash against stone.

Identity is again the focus of the Temper in the scene of Jesus’ temptation. Here Jesus wants to remain dependent on God He knows who he is. Might it be at that a part of being human is being aware that we are insufficient. We humans carry an emptiness that we will always be restless to fill. Today we might imagine that hole to be shaped just like a new car, or computer, or better house, or the perfect spouse. But after laboring and sacrificing and obtaining these things, the emptiness remains. Blaise Pascal once described this essential condition of humanity as having a “God shaped hole,” and this is what Jesus demonstrates. There is no filling of that gap, no permanent erasing that hole, except in and through our relationship with God. Or, as Augustine said, we humans are always restless until we rest in God.

The full picture is to be Christian is to accept that we are, finally, created for relationship with God and with each other. Charles Fillmore describes “worship” as “the effort of man to sustain a right mental attitude towards God. Perhaps the goal of the life of faith is that God’s grace is enough for us. Perhaps faith only make us enough courageous to sail through the sea of life and flourish where hardship is a part and parcel of Life. This narrative just reflects the conflict of interpretation of the church, Jesus, and in broader aspect to God.

Question of Interpretation

When it comes to making claims what the Bible means, sometimes we hear comments from Christians or non-christian like the following: “Well, that’s just your interpretation.” The Bible can be made to say anything one wants, no one can really understand the Bible. It is full of contradiction that Interpretation depends on ones thinking, understanding and ability. The Bible is found to be both a human book and the divine book by some interpreters. There is certain implication of this for biblical interpretations. First is that human authors had specific historical audience, context and purpose. These authors used their own language, writing methods, style of writing and literary form of writing. The divine author ship of the Bible. gives it its unity and the ultimate source of all interpretations is from God.

When we try to understand how the Bible should be read politically then the issue arises of which politics should determined of the reading of the reader. This means the interpretation is evitable at the service of the political parties of earthly cities (Ferda, 2019). Also, when we say that interpretation is political means that it shares an ongoing, discerning conversation about the end towards which life must tend if it is to be truly human. This means the interpretation must be rooted in some vision of that which ultimately constitutes “The Good”. Thus, it cannot be neutral, but always serves some interest, some vision of “The Good”. Speaking theologically, politics is about seeking the to order human life according to the will of God. The greatest good that our tradition teaches us is Gods glory.

The politics is, theologically, rooted in a vision of God and Gods will connects it to faith understood above all as a way of seeing. Paul Johns draws these two strands together in saying that christian faith is a way of saying that enables a person and corporate act of imagination. With this we discover the necessity of the transformation and cultivation of the spirit for the interpretation to be faithful (Asumang, 2009). This is a great question asked in the narrative that how we see and understand faithfulness. Jesus said his disciples that it requires purity of its heart.

In the Matthean seen; Jesus bring the Gods favorite child is challenged to act in accord with political visions of the early city. Jesus refuses it. Luther identifies Jesus ad a “Theologian of the cross” in the 21st thesis of the Heidelberg disputation. The theology of the crosses about correct knowledge and interpretation to which God sees as way of salvation is in humility and weakness. Let’s dwell on the famous “Theology of cross” was formulated in 1518 by Luther. The Luther understanding of divine love, as a oppose to human love along with his theologia crucis. He distinguishes the theolog of the cross from the theology of glory. He had to do with a human attempt to comprehend God and get right with God. While Jesus admitted our complete ability to know and please God with our own fleshy efforts. It is at the cross that the true revelation of God is found, and their every bit of human is shattered.

Because that is the only way to get right with God. It does away with all pretenses of human greatness, wisdom and ability. It equalizes us all as lost sinners who can only look to Christ on the cross for any hope. There can be these two alternatives when it comes to salvation and right standing of Gods. Luther rejected the theological position current at the time which he saw as those who glory in themselves, their own effort, human reason, and own achievement, even if combined with God’s grace. He offered instead a position that bring glory to God alone, showing fallen mankind, their utter hopelessness apart from Christ and the cross. As Eric meataxes writes new brand-new biography of Luther (Viking, 2017), “at some point, we come to an end and our stuck. It is at this point that we must stand and wait for Gods revelation to come to us. God must condescend to speak to us.

In the humility, Jesus understand his situation and the will of God, and respond as he does. Thus, his interpretation of the good is alone is trustworthy. Learning is a spiritual task, so is also political, one of the learning to see and to interpret with site as clear as Jesus’s hear in the wilderness stark relief and to interpret God, our self, indeed and reality, accordingly. So if we truly desire to see politically and spiritually God, we should live ever more fully by being drawn by God into the life.

References

Asumang, A. (2009). " And the Angels Waited on Him"(Mark 1: 13): hospitality and discipleship in Mark's Gospel. Conspectus: The Journal of the South African Theological Seminary, 8(09), 1-25.

Ferda, T. S. (2019). God of the Nations: Daniel, Satan, and the Temptation of Jesus in Luke. Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, 110(1), 1-20.

Thompson, P. E. (2006). Matthew 4: 1–11. Interpretation, 60(1), 72-74.

Remember, at the center of any academic work, lies clarity and evidence. Should you need further assistance, do look up to our English Literature Assignment Help

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