Journal: Bulletin for Biblical Research
Volume: BBR 17:2 (NA 2007)
Article: Impulses to Mission in Isaiah: An Intertextual Exploration
Author: Elmer A. Martens

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BBR 17:2 (2007) p. 215

Impulses to Mission in Isaiah: An Intertextual Exploration

Elmer A. Martens

Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary

How Israel is to relate to nations is a subject still under discussion in Isaiah studies. One position is that Israel has a mediating but essentially passive role as witness. This essay supports that position but argues that the “mission texts” in Isaiah also call for Israel to take the initiative in sharing God’s good news. The argument is made using the method of innerbiblical interpretation or intertextuality and shows thereby how dominant the mission theme in Isaiah is. Sample texts are taken from each of the three so-called Isaiahs.

Key Words: mission, nations, intertextuality, church; Isa 2, 42, 49, 52, 55, 61

When students select the topic of “Mission in Isaiah,” they amaze me with the abundance of material they discover. The topic has also been worked diligently by scholars. A conventional position is that Isaiah envisions God’s salvation coming to the nations; in that process, Israel has a mediating role. An extreme opposite claim is that “there is not a missionary view in this oracle [Isa 66:18-21] nor, in fact, in any other one from the book of Isaiah.”1 However, missional nuances and emphases emerge—even beyond the conventional position—and the nature of Israel’s role is clarified when these texts are investigated using the method of intertextuality. This article will examine six pertinent Isaiah texts on mission in the context of their precursor and successor texts in order to contribute to missional thinking and praxis. A major result of the investigation, apart from indirectly refuting J. S. Croatto, is that the impulse for aggressive missionizing is stronger than has often been allowed.

The theory behind intertexuality is that texts are rarely de novo. Rather, almost any text is a reuse of other texts. In biblical studies, the method of intertextuality allows, even calls for investigation in two directions.2 If an

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author draws on a precursor text, which is it? and how precisely does that precursor text function in the focus text? Or, one may ask, how has the focus text been used in subsequent writing? B. S. Childs notes, “One of the most important recent insights of interp...

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