Christology in the Gospels
(This an excerpt of the article entitled Introduction to the Gospels, by Christopher McMahon, PhD, comes from Saint Mary’s Press® College Study Bible [Winona, MN: 2006], pages 1405–1409.)
As one reads through the Scriptures, it is apparent that images of God and understandings of how God works in the world have developed over the course of time. For the earliest Christians, all of whom were Jewish, the experience of Jesus both confirmed their prior experience of God but also challenged it. In the first century, Jewish men recited the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:4–9 (which begins “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!”). While the Shema was an affirmation of Israel’s fidelity to Yahweh and not primarily a statement of monotheism, the prayer certainly illustrates that the declaration “Jesus is God” (i.e., Yahweh) would have been a difficult statement for early Jews. The fullest articulation of the Son’s divinity, though powerfully implied in Jesus’ own activity and broadly alluded to in the New Testament, awaited theological developments that did not take place until the fourth century (the Council of Nicaea). However, it is within the pages of the New Testament that we begin to see the early Christians wrestle to find the precise language to articulate Jesus’ relationship to God—a relationship made powerfully evident in the disciples’ own experience of the Resurrection and the conversion it engendered within them. Their lives had been changed radically. They shifted from fleeing naked in the face of persecution (see Mark 14:50–52) to offering bold witness in the face of death for the sake of Christ—to whom the earliest Christians “sang songs as to a god” (Pliny, Letters, 10.96).
As the earliest Christians struggled to find the language to express the relationship between Jesus and God, they employed and reinterpreted biblical imagery and vocabulary to express their convictions about Jesus. Some of this vocabulary took the form of Christological titles (i.e., statements that were used to express faith in Jesus) or categories (i.e., a stock figure or image), including the following: Lord. The Greek word kurios has a wide range of meanings, from “sir” (John 4:11) to Yahweh—the name of God—in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (the Septuagint). At the close of the Old Testament period the divine name “Yahweh” was never pronounced (except by the high priest on the Day of Atonement). Instead the word Adonai (the Hebrew equivalent of “Lord”) was pronounced. The title “Lord” was used to evoke the name of Israel’s God, but it could function in other ways as well: (1) it was a way of referring to the glorified risen Christ, particularly with reference to Psalm 110:2; (2) it expressed the fact that this figure was due the same worship and honor as Yahweh (Philippians 2:11); and (3) it expressed Jesus’ dominion over all of creation. Messiah and Christ. The Aramaic word messiah simply means “anointed one”; it is translated into Greek as christos. It was customary in the ancient world to anoint people when they assumed important new positions in the community (i.e., king, priest, prophet). The title gradually became more associated with the king of Judah, though not exclusively. Following the Babylonian Exile (586–539 BC) it began to be used in conjunction with Israel’s hope of future restoration and deliverance, particularly the deliverance of Israel from Gentile oppression. Yet, it is clear from the New Testament itself that Jesus subverted the political expectations many had associated with the term messiah. It is perhaps the novelty, or the scandal, of calling the crucified Jesus Messiah that made it difficult for so many to respond to his disciples’ proclamation of faith. Son of God. In the Old Testament the title “Son of God” is (1) a title given to angels (see Job 1:6); (2) a collective title for the people of Israel (see Exodus 4:22; Hosea 11:1); and (3) a title of adoption for the king (see Psalms 2:7). The dominant view in the Old Testament is that a “Son of God” was someone who had received a God-given task. In the prologue of John’s Gospel (see John 1:1–18) and in John 3:16, Jesus is also called “the Father’s only Son” (monogenēs), emphasizing the uniqueness of his relationship with the Father and signaling a fuller understanding of Jesus’ sonship as ontological—Jesus’ very nature is the same as that of the Father. In Mark 1:11 the word son is used to translate the Hebrew word for “servant” and thus provides a link between “Son of God” and another popular category for understanding Jesus, that is, that of “servant of God” in the servant songs found in Isaiah. Son of Man. In Daniel 7:13, the “Son of Man” or “one like a Son of Man” (i.e., one who looks like a human being) is part of the heavenly court and helps to bring about the subjugation of the world and inaugurates the salvation of Israel (see also two Jewish apocalyptic works written around the time of Jesus, Enoch 46:1–4; 48:2–10; and 2 Esdras, chapter 13). The phrase, “Son of Man,” appears to be Jesus’ preferred self-designation since it is found in no early creedal formulae and only on his lips in the New Testament. Although this phrase is also used in Ezekiel when Yahweh addresses the prophet (3:17), in this context it simply differentiates the mortal prophet from the immortal and transcendent God (Yahweh) for whom he speaks. These titles and categories, however, are not the only way the New Testament, and the Gospels in particular, express the religious significance of Jesus. The authors of the Gospels have selected specific narrative moments to express their convictions about Jesus. The late Raymond Brown called these literary scenes “Christological moments.” They are scenes taken from the life and ministry of Jesus that become the means by which New Testament authors give expression to their convictions about Jesus—convictions informed by the experience of the Resurrection. One of the clearest examples of a Christological moment can be found in the opening chapters of two Gospel accounts—Matthew and Luke—where one finds two very different stories about the birth of Jesus. While some basic details of these stories may have some root in stage 1 (see above), neither of these stories are historical accounts of Jesus’ birth; rather, they offer portraits of Jesus as Davidic king (Matthew) and lowly, but universal, savior (Luke). Other examples of Christological moments include the Virginal Conception, Jesus’ Baptism, and the Transfiguration scenes. Each of these Christological moments clearly and artfully point to the conviction of the early Church that in Jesus no less than God was present, bringing about the redemption of the world distorted by sin. Some readers may get mired in the question: “Did this event really happen?” However, the purpose of the Gospel accounts is to proclaim what God has done in Jesus. |
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