The Gospel of Christ Crucified: A Theology of Suffering before Glory

The Gospel of Christ Crucified offers a biblical reconstruction of the principal elements that make up the apostolic gospel. Assuming a first-century Jewish worldview the apostles understood the death of Jesus primarily in sacrificial terms for the atonement of sins. In this way their presupposed expectations of the future and eternal life remained fundamentally unaltered--the day of the Lord resurrection of the dead and kingdom of God would assuredly come because their Messiah had been vindicated by God. Far from changing spiritualizing or realizing their Jewish hopes the death and resurrection of Jesus amplified them. Moreover the fact that the Holy Spirit was poured out following Jesus ascension confirmed this gospel of Christ crucified.