It's essential to the Gospel, but we rarely talk about it. The good news of Jesus includes his life, death, resurrection, and future return--but what about his ascension? Though often neglected or misunderstood, the ascension is integral to the gospel. In The Ascension of Christ, Patrick Schreiner argues that Jesus' work would be incomplete without his ascent to God's right hand. Not only a key moment in the Gospel story, Jesus' ascension was necessary for his present ministry in and through the church. Schreiner argues that Jesus' residence in heaven marks a turning point in his three-fold offices of prophet, priest, and king. As prophet, Jesus builds the church and its witness. As priest, he intercedes before the Father. As king, he rules over all. A full appreciation of the ascension is essential for understanding the Bible, Christian doctrine, and Christ's ongoing work in the world.

Most scholars understand that the Day of Atonement ritual of Leviticus 16 provides the main template for understanding Jesus's death and exaltation in the argument of Hebrews. This study suggests that the perspective of Hebrews is much wider than that, conceiving of the ascension as the inauguration of Jesus' office as "Son" at the "right hand of God." The title "Son" is the fulfillment of the promises made to David (2 Sam 7:12-15), which are claimed for Jesus explicitly in Heb 1:5 and 13. This connection to the Davidic covenantal traditions brings closer the theology of Hebrews and the theology of other New Testament documents, which opens new vistas for understanding early Christianity.

Introduction to an important doctrine Ascended Priest, King and man

Building on the form-critical assessment of the Lukan ascension story (LK 24:50-53; Acts 1:1-12) as a rapture story, and motivated by the consideration that the 'monotheistic principle' almost inevitably must have led to a reestimate of the meaning and function of rapture in comparison with heathen rapture stories (immortalisation and deification!), the present study seeks to investigate the Lukan ascension story in the light of the first-century Jewish rapture traditions (Enoch, Elijah, Moses, Baruch, Ezra, etc.). The author argues that first-century Judaism provides a more plausible horizon of understanding for the ascension story than the Graeco-Roman rapture tradition, and that Luke develops his 'rapture christology' not as a reinterpretation of the primitive exaltation kerygma (G. Lohfink), but as a response to the eschatological question, i.e. the delay of the parousia, so as to secure the unity of salvation history.

This groundbreaking commentary is the first to provide a detailed social and rhetorical analysis of the book of Acts. At the same time it gives detailed attention to major theological and historical issues.

In conversation with historical and systematic theology, Macaskill argues that the union between God and his people is consistently represented by the New Testament authors as covenantal, with the participation of believers in the life of God specifically mediated by Jesus, the covenant Messiah.