Moving along in my dabbling in the justification passages in Paul and their relationship to Isaiah 53:11. In Acts 13:38-39, the resurrection of the crucified Jesus in an unstated way effected justification for “everyone who believes.” This parallels what was seen in Isaiah 53:11 where the “Righteous One, my [Yahweh's] servant will justify the many.” Isaiah 53:11 provided the conceptual framework for Paul to articulate justification as he did in Antioch Psidia, resurrection leads to justification. First Timothy 3:16 is another text that I’d likd to look at. Isaiah’s prophecy figures very prominently in Paul’s letter to young Timothy (in this post I am assuming Paul is the author of the letter, Carson and Moo 2005).

Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

THe line in question is ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι, translated by the ESV as “vindicated by the Spirit.” The question here is what does this phrase refer to about Jesus. Is this referring to Jesus being proved right or to be in the right in a pragmatic sense? Or does it carry a more forensic character? This verse is a hymn, possibly pre-Pauline,. that Paul has adapted for his letter to Timothy. Michael Bird notes that it presents a narrative theology beginning with Christ’s incarnation (“He was manifested in the flesh”) and his glorification (“taken up in glory”) and subsequent status of being exaulted before the world (Bird, 54).

It is at this point, in speaking of Christ being “vindicated by the Sprit,” that we must turn to Isaiah 53:11. There the prophet speaks of the servant seeing “the light” after he has suffered. In that text, the seeing light is a statement about the servant, whom Yahweh has killed in the place of covenant-braking Israel by bearing God’s sentence of condemnation, being resurrected by Yahweh. Therefore the verdict of Yahweh that killed the servant in Israel’s place is thus transformed into vindication and resurrection. Often in the OT and Jewish literature, there is a suffering-vindication motiff, especially for Isaiah’s Suffering Servant Songs. Thus Jesus being vindicated, carrying a forensic nuance and meaning, by the Sprit refers to his resurrection.

This fits the context of the hymn. Upon being “vindicated” (ἐδικαιώθη) Jesus was “seen by angels (ὤφθη ἀγγέλοις).” Hence the author of the hymn (whether it be Paul or someone else) sees that upon Jesus’ vindication he was seen, possibly the “angels” could be messengers in reference to the earliest witnesses of the resurrection but I haven’t studied that aspect of ἀγγέλοις. Furthermore, as Luke’s history reflects, after Jesus was vindicated and appeared to many, he was proclaimed and believed upon. The narrative context this hymn provides points Jesus’ resurrection being his vindication from God.

Consider this also from Romans 1:2-6, “2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” This text parallels what we have seen in 1 Timothy 3:16. Upon his resurrection from the dead, Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God in power” according to the Holy Spirit. The NET hyphenates υἱοῦ θεοῦ ἐν δυνάμει, “the Son-of-God-in-power,” to indicate that the resurrection of Jesus was his exaltation and vindication. He is no longer the Son of God who took on the form of a servant and suffered to the point of crucifixion on behalf of his people. He is now the exalted Son of God who rules and reigns over God’s creation, the new creation.

Since Christ is declared to be righteous and vindicated by his resurrection, also obtaining the eschatological life of the age to come–life of the new creation, for someone to become righteous before God, to be vindicated before God’s throne, one must stand with, no in the righteous one. By putting one the righteous one, they put on righteousness. By putting on the one who is vindicated, they put on vindication. In Paul it is union with Christ that is the great act of justification for the believer. To be in Christ is to be in righteous. To be in Christ is to have life. This shall become more clear in posts to come.