Peer-reviewed Articles by Murray Smith
Journal of Biblical Literature, 2022
Many interpreters hold that Jesus’s response to the high priest (Mark 14:62), combining Ps 110:1 ... more Many interpreters hold that Jesus’s response to the high priest (Mark 14:62), combining Ps 110:1 and Dan 7:13, refers to his imminent heavenly enthronement and says nothing of his future return. Many others recognize a reference to Jesus’s parousia but see this solely in the allusion to Dan 7:13 (“coming with the clouds”), rather than in anything drawn from Ps 110. In contrast to these views, we argue that Ps 110 provides a key to understanding Jesus’s eschatological vision in Mark. The psalm envisages a chronological distinction between the enthronement of David’s lord “at the right hand” and his eschatological victory in the world. Mark’s Jesus also, in his response to the high priest, envisages his future career in two distinct stages that mirror those set forth in the psalm: first, his enthronement at God’s “right hand,” and then his final advent from heaven as the glorious Son of Man. This reading is consistent with Jesus’s teaching elsewhere in Mark, which envisages a period of bodily absence before his final return. It is supported by other early Christian texts in which the chronological progression in the psalm provides scriptural warrant for a distinction between Jesus’s present heavenly enthronement and future return.
Haddington House Journal, 2018
The goal of this paper is to lay out the biblical vision for the basic elements of the Church’s g... more The goal of this paper is to lay out the biblical vision for the basic elements of the Church’s government at the level of the particular church, and to argue that the Church’s gospel-centered mission is best served by teams of Shepherds and Servants working together, leading and serving according to God’s design.The argument proceeds in two parts: Part 1 makes a brief argument for recognizing a biblical form of church government; Part 2 examines the evidence for the two-office view.
Books by Murray Smith
J.V. Fesko, The Giver of Life: The Biblical Doctrine of the Holy Spirit and Salvation, ed. J. McClean and M. J. Smith, We Believe: Studies in Reformed Biblical Doctrine (Bellingham: Lexham Academic, 2024).
We Believe is a series of eight major studies of the Christian faith’s primary doctrines as confe... more We Believe is a series of eight major studies of the Christian faith’s primary doctrines as confessed in the Nicene Creed and guided by the Reformed tradition. In each volume, trusted authors engage a major creedal doctrine in light of its biblical-theological foundations and historical development, fleshing out its spiritual, ethical, and missional implications for the church today.
Brandon D. Crowe, The Lord Jesus Christ: The Biblical Doctrine of the Person and Work of Christ, ed. J. McClean and M. J. Smith, We Believe: Studies in Reformed Biblical Doctrine (Bellingham: Lexham Academic, 2023).
We Believe is a series of eight major studies of the Christian faith’s primary doctrines as confe... more We Believe is a series of eight major studies of the Christian faith’s primary doctrines as confessed in the Nicene Creed and guided by the Reformed tradition. In each volume, trusted authors engage a major creedal doctrine in light of its biblical-theological foundations and historical development, fleshing out its spiritual, ethical, and missional implications for the church today.
M.J. Smith (ed)., Effective Eldership: A Handbook for Shepherding God's Church (Stanhope Gardens: Eider Books), 2022.
Jesus, All About Life
A short introduction to Jesus and his significance for under 20s.
Book Chapters by Murray Smith
M.J. Smith, “Anonymous or Apostolic? Receiving the Gospels as Apostolic Testimony to Jesus,” in Does it Matter Who Wrote the Bible? The Pastoral Implications of Pseudonymity and Anonymity in the New Testament, ed. D. B. Capes (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2025), 127–65., 2025
The common testimony of the early church is that the four New Testament Gospels are fundamentally... more The common testimony of the early church is that the four New Testament Gospels are fundamentally apostolic in their origins and character: they present the testimony of the apostles Matthew and John, and the “apostolic men” (apostolici) Mark and Luke (Tertullian, Marc. 4.2; cf. Justin, Dial. 103; Irenaeus, Haer. 3.1.1). The category of “apostolicity,” however, has been largely either overlooked, or denied, in modern Gospels scholarship. My goal in this article, therefore, is to retrieve the category of apostolicity for our reading of the Gospels (Part 1), and to suggest some of its implications for Christian theology, and for the church’s worship, life, and mission (Part 2)
M.J. Smith, “‘Everyone Who Practices Sin is a Slave to Sin’: Sin in the Johannine Literature,” in Ruined Sinners to Reclaim: Human Corruption in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective, ed. D. Gibson and J. Gibson (Wheaton: Crossway, 2024), 381–431.
The chapter examines "sin" in the Gospel, Letters, and Revelation of John in order to construct a... more The chapter examines "sin" in the Gospel, Letters, and Revelation of John in order to construct a Johannine theology of sin, with a view to its implications for the Christian doctrine of sin.
M.J. Smith, "The Theophany of the Resurrected Messiah: The 'Jewish' Christology of Paul's Speeches in Acts," in Paul within Judaism: Perspectives on Paul and Jewish Identity, ed. M. Bird, R. Bühner, J. Frey and B. Rosner, WUNT 507 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023), 235–64.
This paper engages the debate about Paul's "early high Christology" by examining it from a new an... more This paper engages the debate about Paul's "early high Christology" by examining it from a new angle—the Christology of Paul's speeches in Acts. My primary contention is that in the book of Acts, Paul proclaims Jesus not only as the crucified-and-risen Davidic Messiah, but as the one who embodies the very presence of Israel’s God.
Thanks to a grant from the Swiss National Sciences Foundation, the whole book is available for open access here: https://www.mohrsiebeck.com/en/book/paul-within-judaism-9783161624407?no_cache=1
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Peer-reviewed Articles by Murray Smith
Books by Murray Smith
Book Chapters by Murray Smith
Thanks to a grant from the Swiss National Sciences Foundation, the whole book is available for open access here: https://www.mohrsiebeck.com/en/book/paul-within-judaism-9783161624407?no_cache=1