The contextual Jesus and the covenant as continuous challenges to ethnicity

Abstract

This contribution deals with the themes of the contextual Jesus and the covenant under the heading of the inclusiveness-exclusiveness dilemma. The intention of the emphasis on the contextual Jesus can never be to restrict him to a specific culture. Jesus can only be “at home” in a specific culture if he also, simultaneously, transcends that culture. This transcendence has everything to do with the recognition that there are important features in the contextual Jesus that transcend that specific context as well. In Reformed theology, covenant, prophetism, and kingdom belong together. The covenant does not lead to the striking of a bargain with God in favour of nationalist or ethnical self-interest, but it is “a strategic covenant” aimed at the application of the norms of the kingdom of God. The exclusiveness of the covenant, agreed upon in a specific situation with a selected group, does not exclude but includes so-called “outsiders”. This element of inclusiveness belongs to the very essence of the biblical concept of covenant.