{"id":3590,"date":"2021-06-27T19:48:02","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T01:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/integritysyndicate.com\/?p=3590"},"modified":"2023-12-31T07:54:13","modified_gmt":"2023-12-31T14:54:13","slug":"agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/integritysyndicate.com\/agency\/","title":{"rendered":"Biblical Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
In Hebrew thought, the first cause or ultimate cause is not always distinguished from secondary or proximate causes. That is to say, the principal is not always clearly distinguished form the agent (the one commissioned to carry out an act on behalf of another). Sometimes the agent standing for the principal is treated as if he were the principal himself, though this is not literally so. The principal and agent remain two distinct persons. The agent acting and speaking for the principal is the principal by proxy (a person authorized to act for another). <\/p>\n
Tim Kelly describes the concept of agency in detail with numerous examples in both the Old and New Testament in his article Shaliah, The Sent One<\/em><\/a>. In describing the root of this concept he states:<\/p>\n The entire concept of agency is rooted in the word \u201cshalach\u201d (\u05e9\u05c1\u05b8\u05dc\u05b7\u05d7 \u2013 St. 7971) which means \u201cto send\u201d. We\u2019ve talked about this word before in reference to the apostles who were sent out by Yeshua to teach the gospel of the Kingdom. We referred to them as \u201cshaliach\u201d or \u201cshaliah\u201d, and even though the scriptures never use the term \u201csent one\u201d, there are numerous examples of individuals who were \u201csent\u201d by God: Joseph (Gen. 45:7), Moses (Ex. 3:12), Isaiah (Is. 6:8), and Jeremiah (Jer. 1:7) to name a few. The literal meaning of \u201cshalach\u201d is \u201cto send\u201d, or to \u201csend away\u201d, but when used in the context of a person being sent on a mission (like Moses), or with a message (like the prophets), it implies even more, for when you are sent with a purpose, you now become a \u201cshaliah\u201d… we can in some ways equate it to the term \u201cpower of attorney\u201d. In our culture, a person with \u201cpower of attorney\u201d has the authority to make binding legal decisions on behalf of another. (Tim Kelly, Shaliah, The Sent One<\/i><\/a>)<\/p>\n \n<\/p> \n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Again, the Hebrew term for an agent or legal emissary is Shaliach <\/em>which is comparable to the Greek world Apostolos <\/em>and the English word Apostle. An apostle is an agent commissioned by a principal. We read in Hebrews 3:1-2, Jesus is the apostle and high priest of our confession and was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses was also faithful in all God’s house.<\/p>\n Here are a number of references where Jesus is identified as one \u201csent\u201d (a Shaliach<\/em>):<\/p>\n Agent (Hebrew. Shaliach); The main point of the Jewish law of agency is expressed in the dictum, \u201ca person’s agent is regarded as the person himself\u201d (Ned. 72B; Kidd, 41b) Therefore, any act committed by a duly appointed agent is regarded as having been committed by the principal, who therefore bears full responsibility for it. <\/p>\n In a specialized sense when the patriarch as lord of his household deputized his trusted servant as his malak<\/em> (his messenger or angel) the man was endowed with the authority and resources of his lord to represent him fully and transact business in his name. In Semitic thought this messenger-representative was conceived of as being personally \u2014 and in his very words \u2014 the presence of the sender.\u201d<\/p>\n The origin of the apostolic office lies… for example in Mishnah Berakhot 5.5: \u2018a man\u2019s agent is like to himself.\u2019 the nucleus not only of the Jewish designation of shaliach<\/em>, but also of the Christian apostolate as we find it in the NT\u2026the specific Semitic and Jewish concept of representative authority which is implied in the designation of shaliach… St Paul\u2019s letters are the only early document from which a reconstruction of apostolic self-consciousness seems at all possible [i.e.,] God or Christ is speaking through his mouth [1Thess 2.13; 2Cor 5.20; 13.3], like the prophet Jeremiah he is given authority to build up and destroy [2Cor 10.8; 13.10; and Gal 4.14]. Of course, this is reminiscent of [Matt 10.40; Luke 10.16. [In the OT] the Hebrew verb shalach is regularly used for the sending of prophets and the normal rendering of shalach in the Septuagint is apostellein [cp. Mat 23.34ff.]<\/p>\n \u201cJohannine christology appears to have been fashioned from Jewish wisdom ideas and the related concept of the shaliach (lit. \u201cone who is sent\u201d from heaven; shaliach in Hebrew, apostolos in Greek). Shaliach and wisdom ideas were easily exploited by first-century Christians who were trying to explain to themselves and to others who Jesus was and what was the nature of his relationship to God. In the Fourth, Gospel Jesus is presented as the Word that became flesh (Jn 1:1, 14). The function of the Johannine \u201cWord\u201d (logos) approximates that of Wisdom, which in biblical and post-biblical traditions is sometimes personified (Prov 8:1\u20139:6; Sir 24:1\u201334)\u201d<\/p>\n 1<\/sup> Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle <\/strong>and high priest of our confession, 2<\/sup> who was faithful to him who appointed him<\/strong>, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n
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Agent<\/em>, Encyclopedia of the Jewish Religion, R.J.Z Werblowski, G Wigoder, 1986, p. 15.<\/h3>\n
R.A. Johnson, The One and the Many in the Israelite Conception of God<\/em><\/h3>\n
\u201cOrigin & Early History of the Apostolic Office,\u201d T. Korteweg, in The Apostolic Age in Patristic Thought<\/em>, ed. Hilhorst, p 6f.<\/h3>\n
Dictionary of the Later New Testament & Its Developments, eds. Martin, Davids, \u201cChristianity and Judaism: Partings of The Ways\u201d, 3.2. Johannine Christology.<\/h3>\n
Hebrews 3:1-2 (ESV), Jesus the apostle (shaliach)<\/em> and high priest of our confession<\/h3>\n