Bone-box of the rich and famous |
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The contrast between the two men could not have been more striking. Caiaphas, the high priest, was among the rich and famous, arguably the most powerful Jew alive in A.D. 30. He had married into the high priest's family and now was himself high priest for a year by Roman appointment. With a PhD-level rabbinic education, Caiaphas was urbane and sophisticated.
His counterpart was said to be a craftsman from a hick town in the Galilee who some three years before had quit his job to take up preaching. He had no powerful connections; his popularity might be as fleeting as that of any of the other messianic pretenders succeeding each other year by year. Yet his miracles did arrest one's attention, and this latest one was outstanding. He had raised a man from the dead in a suburb of Jerusalem where it could be witnessed by many from the Holy City--respected men whose testimony could not easily be set aside. Caiaphas must have watched the hand-wringing of the council members with some amusement. It was perfectly clear to him what must be done. When he had Caiaphas' words ended all debate and set the course of official Jewry regarding the Nazarene. He must become the nation's sacrificial lamb. Caiaphas apparently never knew how prophetic his analysis was. Jesus truly was the sacrificial Lamb whose death was the atoning sacrifice (hilasmos), benefiting not only His nation, but the entire world (1 John 2:2). In 1992 archaeologists announced they had discovered the ossuary (bone box) of the family of Caiaphas. This ornately carved, stone container is the only remaining memorial to the man most responsible for putting Jesus on the cross. His wealth is dissipated, his influence gone, his name all but forgotten. He could easily have been the model of the Nazarene's word-sculpture of a man who gained the whole world and lost his soul. |
| —Steve Singleton DeeperStudy.com |
Want to go deeper?Besides 1 John 2:2, the only other place in the New Testament hilasmos occurs is in 1 John 4:10. In both of these verses, we learn the death of Christ is "concerning our sins." See also the related noun hilastērion ("means by which sins are forgiven"), which occurs in Romans 3:25 and Hebrews 9:5. The verb form, hilaskomai, occurs in Luke 18:13 and Hebrew 2:17. Study these verses, asking yourself whether they refer to propitiation (averting God's wrath) or expiation (purifying from sin). Competent scholars line up on each side.
Leon Morris. The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross Deserving a place of honor among the modern classics of biblical scholarship, this book provides detailed discussions of such terms as "redeem," "covenant," "propitiate," "reconcile," and "justify"--concepts that remain central to the Christian faith today. Respected scholar Leon Morris examines these themes against the background of relevant Old Testament passages, taking into account the light shed on the meanings of these words in the everyday language New Testament times by recent manuscript discoveries and comparing apostolic terminology to that used in rabbinical Judaism. His careful background research provides a lucid and rewarding study of the source of Christian theology: the death of Christ and the primitive church's understanding of its significance. Recommended for online reading: A. A. Hodge. "Orthodox Doctrine as to the Nature of the Atonement," chapter 13 in his book, The Atonement (1867). |
enough of the hand-wringing and the shoulder-shrugging, he probably raised his hand, demanding and receiving instant silence. "You know nothing at all!" he said. "You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish" (John 11:49-50).
