In some versions of Deuteronomy, the Dead Sea Scrolls refer to the sons of God rather than the sons of Israel, probably in reference to angels. The Septuagint reads similarly.[3]:147[4]
In Psalms 89:26–28, David calls God his father. God in turn tells David that he will make David his first-born and highest king of the earth.[5]:45[3]:150
Psalm 2 is thought to be an enthronement text. The rebel nations and the uses of an iron rod are Assyrian motifs. The begetting of the king is an Egyptian one.[5]:26Israel's kings are referred to as the son of the LORD. They are reborn or adopted on the day of their enthroning as the "son of the LORD".[3]:150[7]
Some scholars think that Psalm 110 is an alternative enthronement text. Psalm 110:1 distinguishes the king from the LORD. The LORD asks the king to sit at his right hand.[8][9] Psalm 110:3 may or may not have a reference to the begetting of kings. The exact translation of 110:3 is uncertain. In the traditional Hebrew translations his youth is renewed like the morning dew. In some alternative translations the king is begotten by God like the morning dew or by the morning dew. One possible translation of 110:4 is that the king is told that he is a priest like Melchizedek. Another possibility is to translate Melchizedek not as a name but rather as a title "Righteous King".[10] If a reference is made to Melchizedek this could be linked to pre-Israelite Canaanite belief. The invitation to sit at the right hand of the deity and the king's enemy's being used as footstools are both classic Egyptian motifs, as is the association of the king with the rising sun. Many scholars now think that Israelite beliefs evolved from Canaanite beliefs.[5]:29–33[3]:150 Jews have traditionally believed that Psalm 110 applied only to King David. Being the first Davidic king, he had certain priest-like responsibilities.[11][12][13]
Some believe that these psalms were not meant to apply to a single king, but rather were used during the enthronement ceremony. The fact that the Royal psalms were preserved suggests that the influence of Egyptian and other near eastern cultures on pre-exile religion needs to be taken seriously. Ancient Egyptians used similar language to describe pharaohs. Assyrian and Canaanite influences among others are also noted.[5]:24–38
Samuel
In 2 Samuel 7:13–16, God promises David regarding his offspring that "I will be to him as a father and he will be to me as a son." The promise is one of eternal kingship.[5]:39–44
In Isaiah 9:6, the next king is greeted, similarly to the passages in Psalms. Like Psalm 45:7–8 he is figuratively likened to the supreme king God.[3]:150[14] Isaiah could also be interpreted as the birth of a royal child, Psalm 2 nevertheless leaves the accession scenario as an attractive possibility.[5]:28 The king in 9:6 is thought to have been Hezekiah by Jews and various academic scholars.[5]:28[15]
Jeremiah
In Jeremiah 31:9, God refers to himself as the father of Israel and Ephraim as his first born son. Ephraim in Jeremiah refers collectively to the northern kingdom.[16]:43
Apocrypha
Wisdom
The Book of Wisdom refers to a righteous man as the son of God.[3]:157
Ecclesiasticus
In the Book of Ecclesiasticus 4:10, in the Hebrew text, God calls a person who acts righteously his son. The Greek reads slightly differently; here, he will be "like a son of the Most High".[3]:157–158
Through the centuries, the theological development of the concept of Son of God has interacted with other Christological elements such as pre-existence of Christ, Son of man, the hypostatic union, etc. For instance, in Johannine "Christology from above" which begins with the pre-existence of Christ, Jesus did not become Son of God through the virgin birth, he always was the Son of God.[17] The term "Son of God" is also found as a small fragment along with other Dead Sea Scrolls, numbered as 4Q246.
Early Christians developed various view of how Jesus related to God and what role he played in God's plan for salvation.[18]
By the 2nd century, differences had developed among various Christian groups and to defend the mainstream view in the early Church, Irenaeus introduced the confession: "One Christ only, Jesus the Son of God incarnate for our salvation".[19] By referring to incarnation, this professes Jesus as the pre-existing Logos, i.e. The Word. It also professes him as both Christ and the only-begotten Son of God.[19]
To establish a common ground, the Nicene Creed of 325 began with the profession of the Father Almighty and then states belief:
"...in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of his Father, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father."[20]
Augustine of Hippo wrote at length on the Son of God and its relationship with the Son of man, positioning the two issues in terms of the dual nature of Jesus as both divine and human in terms of the hypostatic union.[21] He wrote:
Christ Jesus, the Son of God, is God and Man: God before all worlds, man in our world.... But since he is the only Son of God, by nature and not by grace, he became also the Son of Man that he might be full of grace as well.[21]
However, unlike Son of God, the proclamation of Jesus as the Son of man has never been an article of faith in Christianity.[22] The interpretation of the use of "the Son of man" and its relationship to Son of God has remained challenging and after 150 years of debate no consensus on the issue has emerged among scholars.[23][24]
Just as in Romans 10:9–13 Paul emphasized the salvific value of "professing by mouth" that Jesus is Lord (Kyrion Iesoun), Augustine emphasized the value of "professing that Jesus is the Son of God" as a path to salvation.[25][26]
For Thomas Aquinas (who also taught the Perfection of Christ), the "'Son of God' is God as known to God".[27] Aquinas emphasized the crucial role of the Son of God in bringing forth all of creation and taught that although humans are created in the image of God they fall short and only the Son of God is truly like God, and hence divine.[27]
Meaning
Of all the Christological titles used in the New Testament, Son of God has had one of the most lasting impacts in Christian history and has become part of the profession of faith by many Christians.[28] In the mainstream Trinitarian context the title implies the divinity of Jesus as part of the Trinity of Father, Son and the Spirit.[28]
The New Testament quotes Psalm 110 extensively as applying to the son of god. A new theological understanding of Psalm 110:1 and 110:4, distinct from that of Judaism, evolved.[29] Jesus himself quotes Psalm 110 in Luke 20:41–44, Matthew 22:41–45 and Mark 12:35–37.[30]:211 The meanings and authenticity of these quotations are debated among modern scholars.[30]:204 Various modern critical scholars reject that David wrote this psalm. In the Masoretic Text many Psalm including this one are explicitly attributed to David. The superscription is "of David a psalm." Some have suggested that this indicates that Psalm 110 was not written by David. The superscription as it stands is ambiguous. However, Jewish tradition ascribes Psalm 110 and indeed all Psalms to king David.[31][32]:314–315 In Christianity David is considered to be a prophet. The New Testament records several psalms as having been spoken through David by the Holy Spirit.[31]Acts 2:29–30 explicitly calls David a prophet.[33] Jesus himself affirms the authorship of this psalm by David in Mark 12:36 and Matthew 22:43.[32]:314–315 In the Christian reading, David the king is presented as having a lord other than the Lord God. The second lord is the Messiah, who is greater than David, because David calls him "my lord".[34]:371–373 In Hebrew, the first "Lord" in Psalm 110 is "Yahweh" (יהוה), while the second is referred to as "adoni" (אדני), (my adon), a form of address that in the Old Testament is used generally for humans but also, in Judges 6:13, for the theophanicAngel of the Lord.[32]:319[35] The Greek-speaking Jewish philosopher Philo, a contemporary of Jesus, identified the Angel of the Lord with his version of the logos distinct from the later Christian logos.[36][37]
It is debated when exactly Christians came to understand Psalm 110 as introducing a distinction of persons in the Godhead and indicating that Jesus was more than a human or angelic messiah, but also a divine entity who was David's lord.[30]:202–205,210–11[38] Hebrews 1:13 again quotes Psalm 110 to prove that the Son is superior to angels.[30]:272[34]:939 Psalm 110 would play a crucial role in the development of the early Christian understanding of the divinity of Jesus. The final reading of Psalm 110:1 incorporated a Preexistent Son of God greater than both David and the angels. The Apostles' Creed and the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed would all included references to Psalm 110:1.[30]:272[39]
He said to me, "You are my son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
Psalm 2 can be seen as referring to a particular king of Judah, but has also been understood to reference the awaited Messiah.[40] In the New Testament, Adam,[41] and, most notably, Jesus Christ[40] References to Psalm 2 in the New Testament are less common than Psalm 110. The passages in Acts, Hebrews and Romans that refer to it give the appearance of being linked with Jesus’ resurrection and/or exaltation. Those in the Gospels associate it with Jesus' baptism and transfiguration. The majority of scholars believe that the earliest Christian use of this Psalm was in relation to his resurrection, suggesting that this was initially thought of as the moment when he became Son, a status that the early Christians later extended back to his earthly life, to the beginning of that earthly life and, later still, to his pre-existence, a view that Aquila Hyung Il Lee questions.[30]:250–251
The terms "sons of God" and "son of God" appear frequently in Jewish literature, and leaders of the people, kings and princes were called "sons of God".[40] What Jesus did with the language of divine sonship was first of all to apply it individually (to himself) and to fill it with a meaning that lifted "Son of God" beyond the level of his being merely a human being made like Adam in the image of God, his being perfectly sensitive to the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1, 14, 18), his bringing God's peace (Luke 2:14; Luke 10:5–6) albeit in his own way (Matt 10:34, Luke 12:51), or even his being God's designated Messiah.[42]
In the New Testament, the title "Son of God" is applied to Jesus on many occasions.[40] It is often used to refer to his divinity, from the beginning of the New Testament narrative when in Luke 1:32–35 the angel Gabriel announces: "the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also the holy thing which is begotten shall be called the Son of God."[40]
The declaration that Jesus is the Son of God is echoed by many sources in the New Testament.[43] On two separate occasions the declarations are by God the Father, when during the Baptism of Jesus and then during the Transfiguration as a voice from Heaven. On several occasions the disciples call Jesus the Son of God and even the Jews scornfully remind Jesus during his crucifixion of his claim to be the Son of God."[40]
However, the concept of God as the father of Jesus, and Jesus as the exclusive divine Son of God is distinct from the concept of God as the Creator and father of all people, as indicated in the Apostles' Creed.[44] The profession begins with expressing belief in the "Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth" and then immediately, but separately, in "Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord", thus expressing both senses of fatherhood within the Creed.[44]
New Testament usage
First page of Mark: "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God", by Sargis Pitsak. 14th century.
The Gospel of Mark begins by calling Jesus the Son of God and reaffirms the title twice when a voice from Heaven calls Jesus: "my Son" in Mark 1:11 and Mark 9:7.[45]
In Matthew 14:33, after Jesus walks on water, the disciples tell Jesus: "You really are the Son of God!"[46] In response to the question by Jesus, "But who do you say that I am?", Peter replied: "You are Christ, the Son of the living God". And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 16:15–17).[47] In Matthew 27:43, while Jesus hangs on the cross, the Judean leaders mock him to ask God help, "for he said, I am the Son of God", referring to the claim of Jesus to be the Son of God.[48]Matthew 27:54 and Mark 15:39 include the exclamation by the Roman commander: "He was surely the Son of God!" after the earthquake following the Crucifixion of Jesus.
In Luke 1:35, in the Annunciation, before the birth of Jesus, the angel tells Mary that her child "shall be called the Son of God". In Luke 4:41 (and Mark 3:11), when Jesus casts out demons, they fall down before him, and declare: "You are the Son of God."
In John 1:34, John the Baptist bears witness that Jesus is the Son of God and in John 11:27 Martha calls him the Messiah and the Son of God. In several passages in the Gospel of John assertions of Jesus being the Son of God are usually also assertions of his unity with the Father, as in John 14:7–9: "If you know me, then you will also know my Father" and "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father".[45]
In John 19:7, the Jews cry out to Pontius Pilate "Crucify him" based on the charge that Jesus "made himself the Son of God." The charge that Jesus had declared himself "Son of God" was essential to the argument of the Jews from a religious perspective, as the charge that he had called himself King of the Jews was important to Pilate from a political perspective, for it meant possible rebellion against Rome.[49]
Towards the end of his Gospel (in John 20:31), John declares that the purpose for writing it was "that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God".[45]
In Acts 9:20, after the Conversion of Paul the Apostle, and following his recovery, "straightway in the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus, that he is the Son of God."
Synoptic Gospels
According to the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus referred to himself obliquely as "the Son" and even more significantly spoke of God as "my Father" (Matt. 11:27 par.; 16:17; Luke 22:29). He not only spoke like "the Son" but also acted like "the Son" in knowing and revealing the truth about God, in changing the divine law, in forgiving sins, in being the one through whom others could become children of God, and in acting with total obedience as the agent for God's final kingdom.[42] This clarifies the charge of blasphemy brought against him at the end (Mark 14:64 par.); he had given the impression of claiming to stand on a par with God. Jesus came across as expressing a unique filial consciousness and as laying claim to a unique filial relationship with the God whom he addressed as "Abba".[50]
Even if historically he never called himself "the only" Son of God (cf. John 1:14, 18; John 3:16, 18), Jesus presented himself as Son and not just as one who was the divinely appointed Messiah (and therefore "son" of God). He made himself out to be more than only someone chosen and anointed as divine representative to fulfil an eschatological role in and for the kingdom. Implicitly, Jesus claimed an essential, "ontological" relationship of sonship towards God which provided the grounds for his functions as revealer, lawgiver, forgiver of sins, and agent of the final kingdom. Those functions (his "doing") depended on his ontological relationship as Son of God (his "being"). Jesus invited his hearers to accept God as a loving, merciful Father. He worked towards mediating to them a new relationship with God, even to the point that they too could use "Abba" when addressing God in prayer. Yet, Jesus' consistent distinction between "my" Father and "your" Father showed that he was not inviting the disciples to share with him an identical relationship of sonship. He was apparently conscious of a qualitative distinction between his sonship and their sonship which was derived from and depended on his. His way of being son was different from theirs.[42]
Gospel of John
In the Gospel of John, Jesus is the eternally pre-existent Son who was sent from heaven into the world by God (e.g., John 3:17; John 4:34; John 5:24–37). He remains conscious of the divine pre-existence he enjoyed with the Father (John 8:23, John 8:38–42). He is one with the father (John 10:30; John 14:7) and loved by the Father (John 3:35; John 5:20; John 10:17; John 17:23–26). The Son has the divine power to give life and to judge (John 5:21–26; John 6:40; John 8:16; John 17:2). Through his death, resurrection, and ascension the Son is glorified by the Father (John 17:1–24), but it is not a glory that is thereby essentially enhanced. His glory not only existed from the time of the incarnation to reveal the Father (John 1:14), but also pre-existed the creation of the world (John 17:5–7–24). Where Paul and the author of Hebrews picture Jesus almost as the elder brother or the first-born of God's new eschatological family (Rom 8:14–29; Heb 2:10–12), John insists even more on the clear qualitative difference between Jesus' sonship and that of others. Being God's "only Son" (John 1:14–1:18; John 3:16–3:18), he enjoys a truly unique and exclusive relationship with the Father.[42]
At least four of these themes go back to the earthly Jesus himself. First, although one has no real evidence for holding that he was humanly aware of his eternal pre-existence as Son, his "Abba-consciousness" revealed an intimate loving relationship with the Father. The full Johannine development of the Father-Son relationship rests on an authentic basis in the Jesus-tradition (Mark 14:36; Matt. 11:25–26; 16:17; Luke 11:2). Second, Jesus not only thought of himself as God's Son, but also spoke of himself as sent by God. Once again, John develops the theme of the Son's mission, which is already present in sayings that at least partly go back to Jesus (Mark 9:37; Matt 15:24; Luke 10:16), especially in 12:6, where it is a question of the sending of a "beloved Son". Third, the Johannine theme of the Son with power to judge in the context of eternal life finds its original historical source in the sayings of Jesus about his power to dispose of things in the kingdom assigned to him by "my Father" (Luke 22:29–30) and about one's relationship to him deciding one's final destiny before God (Luke 12:8–9). Fourth, albeit less insistently, when inviting his audience to accept a new filial relationship with God, Jesus — as previously seen — distinguished his own relationship to God from theirs.[42] The exclusive Johannine language of God's "only Son" has its real source in Jesus' preaching. All in all, Johannine theology fully deploys Jesus' divine sonship, but does so by building up what one already finds in the Synoptic Gospels and what, at least in part, derives from the earthly Jesus himself.[42]
In their own way, John and Paul maintained this distinction. Paul expressed their new relationship with God as taking place through an "adoption" (Gal. 4:5; Rom. 8:15), which makes them "children of God" (Rom. 8:16–17) or, alternatively, "sons of God" (Rom. 8:14; (Rom. 4:6–7). John distinguished between the only Son of God (John 1:14, 18; John 3:16, 18) and all those who through faith can become "children of God" (John 1:12; 11:52; and 1 John 3:1–2,101 John 5:2). Paul and John likewise maintained and developed the correlative of all this, Jesus' stress on the fatherhood of God. Over 100 times John's Gospel names God as "Father". Paul's typical greeting to his correspondents runs as follows: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the/our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:3; 2 Cor 1:2; Gal 1:3; Phil 1:2; 2 Thess 1:2; Philem 3). The greeting names Jesus as "Lord", but the context of "God our Father" implies his sonship.[42]
Paul therefore distinguished between their graced situation as God's adopted children and that of Jesus as Son of God. In understanding the latter's "natural" divine sonship, Paul firstly spoke of God "sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful nature and to deal with sin" (Rom. 8:3). In a similar passage, Paul says that "when the fullness of time had come God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law" (Gal. 4:4). If one examines these three passages in some detail, it raises the question whether Paul thinks of an eternally pre-existent Son coming into the world from his Father in heaven to set humanity free from sin and death (Rom. 8:3, 32) and make it God's adopted children (Gal. 4:4–7). The answer will partly depend, first, on the way one interprets other Pauline passages which do not use the title "Son of God" (2 Cor. 8:9; Phil. 2:6–11). These latter passages present a pre-existent Christ taking the initiative, through his "generosity" in "becoming poor" for us and "assuming the form of a slave".[51] The answer will, second, depend on whether one judges 1 Corinthians 8:6 and Colossians 1:16 to imply that as a pre-existent being the Son was active at creation.[52]1 Corinthians 8:6 without explicitly naming "the Son" as such, runs:
There is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
Calling God "the Father" clearly moves one toward talk of "the Son". In the case of Colossians 1:16, the whole hymn (Col. 1:15–20) does not give Jesus any title. However, he has just been referred to (Col. 1:13) as God's "beloved Son". Third, it should be observed that the language of "sending" (or, for that matter, "coming" with its stress on personal purpose (Mark 10:45 par.; Luke 12:49, 51 par.) by itself does not necessarily imply pre-existence. Otherwise one would have to ascribe pre-existence to John the Baptist, "a man sent from God", who "came to bear witness to the light" (John 1:6–8; cf. Matt. 11:10, 18 par.). In the Old Testament, angelic and human messengers, especially prophets, were "sent" by God, but one should add at once that the prophets sent by God were never called God's sons. It makes a difference that in the cited Pauline passages it was God's Son who was sent. Here being "sent" by God means more than merely receiving a divine commission and includes coming from a heavenly pre-existence and enjoying a divine origin.[42] Fourth, in their context, the three Son of God passages here examined (Rom. 8:3, 32; Gal. 4:4) certainly do not focus on the Son's pre-existence, but on his being sent or given up to free human beings from sin and death, to make them God's adopted children, and to let them live (and pray) with the power of the indwelling Spirit. Nevertheless, the Apostle's soteriology presupposes here a Christology that includes divine pre-existence. It is precisely because Christ is the pre-existent Son who comes from the Father that he can turn human beings into God's adopted sons and daughters.[53]
Jesus' own assertions
When in Matthew 16:15–16, Peter states: "You are Christ, the Son of the living God", Jesus not only accepts the titles, but calls Peter "blessed" because his declaration had been revealed him by "my Father who is in Heaven". According to John Yieh, in this account the evangelist Matthew is unequivocally stating this as the church's view of Jesus.[54]
In the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus in Mark 14:61 when the high priest asked Jesus: "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?" In the next verse, Jesus responded "I am". Jesus' claim here was emphatic enough to make the high priest tear his robe.[55]
In the new Testament Jesus uses the term "my Father" as a direct and unequivocal assertion of his sonship, and a unique relationship with the Father beyond any attribution of titles by others:[48]
In Matthew 11:27 Jesus claims a direct relationship to God the Father: "No one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son", asserting the mutual knowledge he has with the Father.[48]
In John 5:23 he claims that the Son and the Father receive the same type of honor, stating: "so that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father".[48][56]
In John 5:26 he claims to possess life as the Father does: "Just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to his Son the possession of life in himself".[48][57]
In a number of other episodes Jesus claims sonship by referring to the Father, e.g. in Luke 2:49 when he is found in the temple a young Jesus calls the temple "my Father's house", just as he does later in John 2:16 in the Cleansing of the Temple episode.[48] In Matthew 3:17 and Luke 3:22 Jesus allows himself to be called the Son of God by the voice from above, not objecting to the title.[48]
References to "my Father" by Jesus in the New Testament are distinguished in that he never includes other individuals in them and only refers to his Father, however when addressing the disciples he uses your Father, excluding himself from the reference.[58]
New Testament references
In numerous places in the New Testament, Jesus is called the Son of God by various parties.
Humans, including evangelists, calling Jesus "Son of God"
Adoptionism, also called dynamic monarchianism, is an early Christian nontrinitarian theological doctrine, which holds that Jesus was adopted as the Son of God at his baptism, his resurrection, or his ascension. How common adoptionist views were among early Christians is debated, but it appears to have been most popular in the first, second, and third centuries. Some scholars see adoptionism as the belief of the earliest followers of Jesus, based on the epistles of Paul and other early literature. However, adoptionist views sharply declined in prominence in the fourth and fifth centuries, as Church leaders condemned it as a heresy.
Christ, used by Christians as both a name and a title, unambiguously refers to Jesus. It is also used as a title, in the reciprocal use "Christ Jesus", meaning "the Messiah Jesus", and independently as "the Christ". The Pauline epistles, the earliest texts of the New Testament, often refer to Jesus as "Christ Jesus" or "Christ".
In Christianity, Christology, translated from Greek as 'the study of Christ', is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Different denominations have different opinions on questions such as whether Jesus was human, divine, or both, and as a messiah what his role would be in the freeing of the Jewish people from foreign rulers or in the prophesied Kingdom of God, and in the salvation from what would otherwise be the consequences of sin.
The Gospel of Mark is the second of the four canonical gospels and of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to his death, burial, and the discovery of his empty tomb. There is no miraculous birth or doctrine of divine pre-existence, nor, in the original ending, any post-resurrection appearances of Jesus. It portrays Jesus as a teacher, an exorcist, a healer, and a miracle worker. He refers to himself as the Son of Man. He is called the Son of God, but keeps his messianic nature secret; even his disciples fail to understand him. All this is in keeping with Christian interpretation of prophecy, which is believed to foretell the fate of the messiah as suffering servant. The gospel ends, in its original version, with the discovery of the empty tomb, a promise to meet again in Galilee, and an unheeded instruction to spread the good news of the Resurrection of Jesus.
The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people but is rejected by them and how, after his resurrection, he sends the disciples to the gentiles instead. Matthew wishes to emphasize that the Jewish tradition should not be lost in a church that was increasingly becoming gentile. The gospel reflects the struggles and conflicts between the evangelist's community and the other Jews, particularly with its sharp criticism of the scribes and Pharisees with the position that through their rejection of Christ, the Kingdom of God has been taken away from them and given instead to the church.
The virgin birth of Jesus is the Christian doctrine that Jesus was conceived by his mother, Mary, through the power of the Holy Spirit and without sexual intercourse. The narrative appears only in Matthew 1:18–25 and Luke 1:26–38, and the modern scholarly consensus is that it rests on very slender historical foundations. The ancient world had no understanding that male semen and female ovum were both needed to form a fetus; this cultural milieu was conducive to miraculous birth stories, and tales of virgin birth and the impregnation of mortal women by deities were well known in the 1st-century Greco-Roman world and Second Temple Jewish works.
Jesus is called the Son of God in the Bible's New Testament, and in mainstream Christian denominations he is God the Son, the second Person in the Trinity. He is believed to be the Jewish messiah who is prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, which is called the Old Testament in Christianity. Through his crucifixion and subsequent resurrection, God offered humans salvation and eternal life, that Jesus died to atone for sin to make humanity right with God.
Mark 12 is the twelfth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It continues Jesus' teaching in the Temple in Jerusalem, and contains the parable of the Wicked Husbandmen, Jesus' argument with the Pharisees and Herodians over paying taxes to Caesar, and the debate with the Sadducees about the nature of people who will be resurrected at the end of time. It also contains Jesus' greatest commandment, his discussion of the messiah's relationship to King David, condemnation of the teachers of the law, and his praise of a poor widow's offering.
Two names and a variety of titles are used to refer to Jesus in the New Testament. In Christianity, the two names Jesus and Emmanuel that refer to Jesus in the New Testament have salvific attributes. After the crucifixion of Jesus the early Church did not simply repeat his messages, but focused on him, proclaimed him, and tried to understand and explain his message. One element of the process of understanding and proclaiming Jesus was the attribution of titles to him. Some of the titles that were gradually used in the early Church and then appeared in the New Testament were adopted from the Jewish context of the age, while others were selected to refer to, and underscore the message, mission and teachings of Jesus. In time, some of these titles gathered significant Christological significance.
The threefold office of Jesus Christ is a Christian doctrine based upon the teachings of the Old Testament of which Christians hold different views. It was described by Eusebius and more fully developed by John Calvin.
There are a number of episodes in the New Testament in which Jesus was rejected. Jesus is rejected in Judaism as a failed Jewish messiah claimant and a false prophet by all Jewish denominations.
In Christianity, the Confession of Peter refers to an episode in the New Testament in which the Apostle Peter proclaims Jesus to be the Christ. The proclamation is described in the three Synoptic Gospels: Matthew 16:13–20, Mark 8:27–30 and Luke 9:18–21. Depending on which gospel one reads, Peter either says: 'You are the Messiah' or 'the Christ' ; or 'You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God',, or 'God's Messiah' or 'The Christ of God'.
The New Testament frequently cites Jewish scripture to support the claim of the Early Christians that Jesus was the promised Jewish Messiah, but few of these citations are actual predictions in their original context. The majority of these quotations and references are taken from the Book of Isaiah, but they range over the entire corpus of Jewish writings.
Psalm 69 is the 69th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul". It is subtitled: "To the chief musician, upon Shoshannim, a Psalm of David". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint version of the Bible and in the Latin Vulgate, this psalm is Psalm 68. In Latin, it is known as "Salvum me fac Deus". It has 36 verses.
Psalm 2 is the second psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Why do the heathen rage". In Latin, it is known as "Quare fremuerunt gentes". Psalm 2 does not identify its author with a superscription, but Acts 4:24–26 in the New Testament attributes it to David. According to the Talmud, Psalm 2 is a continuation of Psalm 1.
Psalm 22 of the Book of Psalms or My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? is a psalm in the Bible.
Psalm 110 is the 110th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "The LORD said unto my Lord". In Latin, it is known as Dixit Dominus. It is considered both a royal psalm and a messianic psalm. C. S. Rodd associates it with the king's coronation. In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 109.
The Session of Christ or heavenly session is a Christian doctrine stating that Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father in Heaven—the word "session" is an archaic noun meaning "sitting". Although the word formerly meant "the act of sitting down", its meaning is somewhat broader in current English usage, and is used to refer to a sitting for various reasons, such as a teaching session, or a court or council being in session. The New Testament also depicts Jesus as standing and walking in Heaven, but the Session of Christ has special theological significance because of its connection to the role of Christ as King. The Session of Christ is one of the doctrines specifically mentioned in the Apostles' Creed, where "sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty" immediately follows the statement of the Ascension.
Son of man is an expression in the sayings of Jesus in Christian writings, including the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles and the Book of Revelation. The meaning of the expression is controversial. Interpretation of the use of "the Son of man" in the New Testament has remained challenging and after 150 years of debate no consensus on the issue has emerged among scholars.
Hebrews 1 is the first chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The author is anonymous, although the internal reference to "our brother Timothy" causes a traditional attribution to Paul, but this attribution has been disputed since the second century and there is no decisive evidence for the authorship. This chapter contains the introduction ('exordium') about God's final revelation ('word') through his son and how the son is superior to angels.
References
↑ The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion by Maxine Grossman and Adele Berlin (Mar 14, 2011) ISBN0199730040 page 698
↑ A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel Volume III by W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison Jr. (Nov 10, 2000) ISBN page 229
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 For this subsection and the themes treated hereinafter, compare Gerald O'Collins, Christology: A Biblical, Historical, and Systematic Study of Jesus. Oxford:Oxford University Press (2009), pp. 130–140; cf. also J. D. G. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle, Edinburgh: T&T Clark (1998), pp. 224ff.; id., Christology in the Making, London: SCM Press (1989), passim; G.D. Fee, Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson (2007), pp. 508–557; A.C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eedermans (2000), pp. 631–638.
↑ "'But who do you say that I am?' Peter answered him, 'You are Christ, the Son of the living God'. Jesus replied: 'Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah'". (Matthew 16:15–17) in: Who do you say that I am? Essays on Christology by Jack Dean Kingsbury, Mark Allan Powell, David R. Bauer 1999 ISBN0-664-25752-6 page xvi
1 2 Symbols of Jesus: a Christology of symbolic engagement by Robert C. Neville 2002 ISBN0-521-00353-9 page 26
↑ Studies in Early Christology by Martin Hengel 2004 ISBN0-567-04280-4 page 46
↑ Jesus' (human) consciousness of such divine sonship is one thing, whereas such (human) consciousness of divine pre-existence would be quite another thing. Cf. Byrne, loc. cit.
↑ Cf. J.D.G. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle, cit., pp. 224–225, 242–244, 277–278; Fee, Pauline Christology, cit., pp. 508–512, 530–557.
↑ For the implications of Corinthians, cf. A. C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, cit., pp. 631–638.
↑ Other Son of God passages in Paul centre on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus and their (immediate and final) salvific consequences. Cf. int. al., Rom. 5:10, 1 Cor. 1:9, Rom. 8:14–17, Gal. 4:6–7.
↑ One teacher: Jesus' teaching role in Matthew's gospel by John Yueh-Han Yieh 2004 ISBN3-11-018151-7 pages 240–241
↑ Who is Jesus?: an introduction to Christology by Thomas P. Rausch 2003 ISBN978-0-8146-5078-3 pages 132–133
↑ Charles H. H. Scobie The ways of our God: an approach to biblical theology 2003 ISBN0-8028-4950-4 p. 136 "God is "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom 15:6; Eph 1:3), but also the Father of all believers (cf. Bassler 1992: 1054–55). Clearly this derives from the usage and teaching of Jesus himself."
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