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Title: Dying We Live: A New Enquiry into the Death of Christ in the New Testament by Kenneth Grayston ISBN: 0-19-520789-0 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: November, 1990 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $60.00

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Summary: Basic Material for Theologians of Christianity
Comment: This book is a thorough, clearly written, well organized work of exegesis,
and it is a pleasure to read. Although Professor Grayston interprets Greek
words and phrases throughout, his analysis can be followed easily without
any knowledge of Greek.

From 1 Thessalonians, the earliest New Testament writing, Professor
Grayston derives what he believes to be one of the earliest formulas
relating to the death and resurrection of Christ, borrowed by Paul from the
tradition of the early church. Paul wrote:

"Since we believe that Jesus died and rose,
so also God will bring with him
those who have fallen asleep through Jesus."
(1 Thes. 4:14)

The early formula becomes "Jesus died and rose again," or, in its simplest
form, "He died and rose."

In 1 Corinthians 15 the formula of the tradition is expanded to:

"Christ died, he was buried;
he was raised, he appeared,"

and to this was added the (un-Pauline) phrase "in accordance with the
scriptures" (after "died" and "raised").

So far, the emphasis was on the resurrection, with the death of Christ
mentioned only as a prelude to that. But further along in 1 Thessalonians,
Paul refers to "our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us," (1 Thes. 5:9-10),
thus presenting the death of Christ with a strong theological significance.
This is used to express a common Hellenistic theme: the death of one man
for the benefit of a whole group. The formula "He died for us," expands to

"He died for our sins," and is incorporated into the 1 Corinthians 15
formula above.

From this beginning, Professor Grayston goes on to trace the development
of the formulas in the Pauline epistles and the other books of the NewTestament.
He brings to his exegesis a thorough knowledge of the Septuagint,
and he moves back and forth in the New Testament with utmost facility,
cross referencing passages from book to book.

He concludes that the primary question to ask about any New Testament
statement of the death (and resurrection) of Christ is not what theory of
atonement it supports, but how it affects the community. In turn that
question can be divided, he says, into: How does the statement affect their
worship of God and how does it affect their moral behavior?

Is that really all we should look for? Shouldn't we be more
interested in the actuality behind the various meanings given by the New
Testament writers? Each one looked at the same sequence of events, Jesus'
death and resurrection, and interpreted them in his own way. But none of
them has explained, to the satisfaction of modern man, why a death was
necessary in God's scheme of things for our sins to be forgiven. To call
it a substitute punishment, or a sacrificial death, or a ransom, is merely
to raise additional questions. Why would a good and gracious God require
an innocent man to suffer and die for the forgiveness of others? Why would
he demand a sacrifice? Why a lethal ransom payment?

The professor's response to this is contained in his Introduction:

"For the integrity of Christian doctrine it is essential that
systematic theologians should work out the significance of
[Christ's] death in a comprehensive account of what they propose
for belief today. But my task has been to provide them with
their basic material."

That is, the book was not intended as a theology of the crucifixion,
but rather an undertaking to provide the basic material for today's
theologians to build on. For modern explanations for the death of Christ,
then, readers will have to look elsewhere, but what they find will very
possibly have been influenced by this book.