If you want to gain an awareness of honor-shame in the Bible and what it implies for the gospel, there is nothing more important than understanding this:
There are but two sources of honor—ascribed and achieved.
Both the ascribed and achieved honor or Jesus Christ are elaborately described in Scripture. Why? In order to make the case for his supreme honor; Jesus is worth believing in, following, obeying, and worshiping—as God.
Ascribed honor of Jesus: Consider just a few of the titles given to Jesus in the Bible—Emmanuel, Savior, Son of Man, Son of David, Son of God, King of kings, Lord of lords, Alpha and Omega. These titles conveying his ascribed honor carried tremendous weight in ancient Palestine, both among the Jews and among the Gentile peoples of the Roman Empire.
Achieved honor of Jesus. We see Christ’s achieved honor beautifully declared in Philippians 2:8–11. And in Hebrews 1:1–14 we find an elaborate description of Jesus Christ, incorporating both his ascribed and achieved honor.
Learn about this honor-shame dynamic, “two sources of honor—ascribed and achieved”, in the next in our series of quick videos about honor and shame. Click here to watch the video on Vimeo.
Learn more—free chapter from The Global Gospel on the “two sources of honor”
The free resource available with this post is an excerpt from The Global Gospel—Chapter 2.2: Honor/Shame Dynamic #2: Two Sources of Honor—Ascribed and Achieved. The chapter examines how this dynamic is prominently represented in the Bible. The chapter is four pages long.