Honor-status reversal: Bible and gospel motif

Honor-status reversal: 
Bible and gospel motif
Werner Mischke, D.D. 
Interim President, Mission ONE  
werner@mission1.org

©2018 Mission ONE / Created by Werner Mischke / werner@mission1.org
Chapter 2.10: “Honor-Status  
Reversal as a Motif of the Bible”
Chapter 3.10: “A Gospel Shaped  
by Honor-Status Reversal?”

Honor-status reversal
• in the Old and New Testament
• pictured in Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:8–11)
• for believers (Ephesians 2)

Honor/shame wheel
1. Love of honor
2. Two sources of honor
3. Image of limited good
4. Challenge & riposte
5. Concept of face
6. Body language
7. Patronage
8. Name/kinship/blood
9. Purity
10. Honor-status reversal  
(motif of Scripture)

Honor-status  
reversal in the Old  
and New Testaments

motif:
a distinctive feature  
or dominant idea in  
an artistic or literary
composition

A major motif  
in Scripture

When a person, family or people
have their honor status reversed
End result
is honor
1

When a person, family or people
have their honor status reversed
2End result
is shame

Adam  
& Eve

Abraham

Job
Joseph

Moses

Saul

David
“Now, therefore, thus shall you say to my
servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of
hosts, I took you from the pasture, from
following the sheep, to be prince over
my people Israel, … And I will make for
you a name, like the name of the great
ones of the earth.’” –1 Chronicles 7:7–8

Esther

Prophetic books

“Every valley  
shall be lifted up,
and every
mountain and hill
be made low”
–Isaiah 40:4

“And all the trees of the field
shall know that I am the Lord;  
I bring low the high tree,
and make high the low tree,
dry up the green tree, and make
the dry tree flourish. I am the
Lord; I have spoken, and I will
do it.” –Ezekiel 17:24

What about
the New
Testament?

The theme of … ‘God saves his people
from shame to honor’ continues into
the New Testament. So what emerges
from Scripture is a unified story of the
human family being saved from shame
to honor by the gracious hand of God.”
–Jayson Georges and Mark Baker, Ministering in Honor-Shame Cultures: Biblical
Foundations and Practical Essentials (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2016), 81.

Jesus said…
“So the last will 
be first, and the  
first last.”
–Matthew 20:16

Luke 1–2
• Zechariah and Elizabeth
• Simeon blesses Jesus

Elizabeth says:
“Thus the Lord has done for me
in the days when he looked on
me, to take away my
reproach among people.”
–Luke 1:25
Luke 1: the story of the birth of John the Baptist.  
It is a story of honor-status reversal.

Simeon says of Jesus:
… “Behold, this child is
appointed for the fall and
rising of many in Israel …”
–Luke 2:34
Simeon says that Jesus will have a ministry 
of honor-status reversal.

Apostle Paul
“For you know the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that
though he was rich, yet for
your sake he became poor,
so that you by his poverty
might become rich.”  
–2 Corinthians 8:9

Honor-status  
reversal in the life  
of Jesus Christ

“And being found in human form,  
he humbled himself by becoming
obedient to the point of death,  
even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name that is
above every name, …

so that at the name of Jesus  
every knee should bow,  
in heaven and on earth  
and under the earth,
and every tongue confess  
that Jesus Christ is Lord,  
to the glory of God the Father.”
–Philippians 2:8–11

Humiliation
Exaltation
 
Glory
Incarnation
Earthly 
life
Crucifixion
Resurrection
Ascension
Sitting at  
God’s Right
Hand
Future Reign
Eternal Glory
Diagram from 
ESV Study Bible, 
pg. 2525
Jesus Christ

Humiliation
Exaltation
 
Glory
Incarnation
Earthly 
life
Crucifixion
Resurrection
Ascension
Sitting at  
God’s Right
Hand
Future Reign
Eternal Glory
Jesus Christ

Humiliation
Exaltation
Preincarnate  
Glory
Incarnation
Earthly 
life
Crucifixion
Resurrection
Ascension
Sitting at  
God’s Right
Hand
Future Reign
Eternal Glory
Diagram 
adapted from 
ESV Study Bible, 
p. 2525
Second Coming

Honor-status reversal  
for believers?

Ephesians 2:8–10
“For by grace you have been saved
through faith. And this is not your own
doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of
works, so that no one may boast. For we
are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Famous verses for evangelicals:

Ephesians 2
Eph.2:1–7
Eph. 2:11–22
Salvation 
by grace
through faith
for good works
Eph. 2:8–10
Personal
Social
Two kinds of  
honor-status reversal

© 2018 Mission ONE / Presentation by Werner Mischke / werner@mission1.org
Ephesians 2
SHAME
“And you were dead in the trespasses
and sins in which you once walked,
following the course of this world,
following the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit that is now at work
in the sons of disobedience—among
whom we all once lived in the
passions of our ﬂesh, carrying out
the desires of the body and the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath,
like the rest of mankind.”
(Ephesians 2:1–3 ESV)
}
HONOR
“But God, being rich in mercy,
because of the great love with which
he loved us, even when we were
dead in our trespasses, made us
alive together with Christ—
by grace you have been saved—
and raised us up with him and
seated us with him in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus.”
}Honor-status reversal
in relation to GodPersonal
-vertical
EPHESIANS 2:1–6 
Honor-status reversal  
in relation to God
SHAME
“And you were dead in the
trespasses and sins in which you
once walked, following the course of this
world, following the prince of the power
of the air, the spirit that is now at work in
the sons of disobedience—among
whom we all once lived in the passions
of our flesh, carrying out the desires of
the body and the mind, and were by
nature children of wrath,  
like the rest of mankind.” 
HONOR
“But God, being rich in mercy,  
because of the great love with
which he loved us, even when  
we were dead in our trespasses,
made us alive together with  
Christ—by grace you have been
saved—and raised us up with
him and seated us with him  
in the heavenly places in
Christ Jesus.” 

© 2018 Mission ONE / Presentation by Werner Mischke / werner@mission1.org
SHAME
“Therefore remember that at one time
you Gentiles in the ﬂesh, called
‘the uncircumcision’ by what is called
the circumcision, which is made in the
ﬂesh by hands—remember that you were
at that time separated from Christ,
alienated from the commonwealth of
Israel and strangers to the covenants
of promise, having no hope and
without God in the world.”
}
HONOR
“So then you are no longer
strangers and aliens, but you
are fellow citizens with the
saints and members of the
household of God, built on the
foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Christ Jesus himself
being the cornerstone.”
}Honor-status reversal
in relation to God’s people
EPHESIANS 2:11–22 
Honor-status reversal in
relation to God’s people
Social-
horizontal
HONOR
“So then you are no longer
strangers and aliens, but you
are fellow citizens with the
saints and members of the
household of God, built on the
foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Christ Jesus himself
being the cornerstone.” 
SHAME
“Therefore remember that at one time
you Gentiles in the flesh, called  
‘the uncircumcision’ by what is
called the circumcision, which is
made in the flesh by hands—remember
that you were at that time separated
from Christ, alienated from the
commonwealth of Israel and
strangers to the covenants  
of promise, having no hope and  
without God in the world.” 

Ephesians 2
Honor-statusreversal 
inrelationtoGod
Eph.2:1–7
Honor-status 
reversal in relation  
to God’s people
Eph. 2:11–22
Salvation in Christ is the crux for  
restoring humanity’s honor—
1) Personally, before God, and
2) Socially, through acceptance into  
God’s people, for good works
Personal-vertical realm
Social-horizontal realm
Salvation 
by grace
through faith
for good works
Eph. 2:8–10

Salvation in Christ is the crux  
for restoring humanity’s honor—
1) Personally, before God, and
2) Socially, through acceptance  
into God’s family, for good works

“There is both personal and
corporate sin—and personal
and corporate dimensions
to God’s redemption.”
–Paul Hiebert
Hiebert: “The Gospel in Human Contexts: Changing Perceptions of
Contextualization” in MissionShift: Global Mission Issues in the Third
Millennium, ed. Ed Stetzer and David Hesselgrave (Nashville,  
B&H Publishing, 2010), 99.

“The New Testament celebrates a
[salvation] that has both vertical
and horizontal dimensions.
Personal salvation in the New
Testament is inextricably linked  
to becoming a part of the new
humanity of Ephesians 2:15.”
–Timothy C. Tennent
Tennent: Invitation to World Missions: A Trinitarian Missiology for the
Twenty-First Century (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2010), 62

The Gospel
Honor-status
reversal is part
of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ!

Primary website, blog, resource site  
for all things honor-shame for  
Christian theology and missions: 
HonorShame.com.
Note: HonorShame.com is a ministry  
separate from Mission ONE. 
Great blog on honor-shame,  
theology, missiology: 
JacksonWu.org
Learnmoreabout“Honor,Shame,andtheGospel”
• mission1.org/eguip
• wernermischke.org
• globalgospelbook.org
• thefatherslovebooklet.org
.com
Honor-shame resources from Mission ONE

Honor-status reversal: Bible and gospel motif

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Honor-status reversal: Bible and gospel motif

Similar to Honor-status reversal: Bible and gospel motif (20)

More from Werner Mischke

More from Werner Mischke (9)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Honor-status reversal: Bible and gospel motif