The Cosmic Person in the New Testament - Part 2

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

In Part 1 of " The Cosmic Person in the New Testament " , we concluded with these

words:

 

" The language of later theology is a typical example of that abstract, logical,

analytical thought which is characteristic of the Western mind as opposed to the

concrete, symbolic, synthetic thought which is characteristic of the Bible and

of all ancient thought. Thus the word " God " in the New Testament, as Karl Rahner

has shown, is never used as an abstract term but normally signifies God the

Father. (cf. the word 'theos' in the New Testament, in Karl Rahner, 'Theological

Investigations. vol.i.) There are, in fact, only six occasions in the whole of

the New Testament where the name of God appears to be given to Jesus, and all of

these are qualified in some way. (P.115) The only absolutely unequivocal

occasion is the saying of Thomas in St John's Gospel, " My Lord and my God " .

(John 20:28) This is an expression of devotion rather than of theology, but it

marks the exact point when the new language began to develop. A little later, at

the beginning of the second century, St Ignatius of Antioch began to use it

quite freely. But in the New Testament as a whole it remains abnormal and is the

result of a gradual development of thought. "

 

Here now, is Part 2.

 

Enjoy,

 

violet

 

 

The Cosmic Person in the New Testament - Part 2

 

(P.115) If we want to see how Jesus was normally conceived by his first

disciples, we cannot do better than to turn to the Acts of the Apostles on the

occasion of Pentecost when St Peter, addressing the people and proclaiming the

message of the Gospel for the first time, declares, " Jesus of Nazareth, a man

attested to you by God ... you crucified, but God raised him up. " Nothing could

be further from the affirmation of Jesus as God, and Peter then goes on to say,

" God has made him Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. " (Acts

2:22,24) This presents the exact terms in which the New Testament speaks of

Jesus. He is a man who was crucified and whom God raised up and it was God who

made him " Lord " and " Christ " . " Lord " and " Christ " , that is, Messiah, are the

terms which are habitually applied to Jesus in the early Church. The word " Lord "

or 'Kyrios' can have many different meanings. It can be simply a title of

respect like the English " Sir " and it can mean master or owner, but in the Old

Testament, when the name 'Adonai' in Hebrew was substituted for the name of

Yahweh out of respect for the Holy Name, this was translated 'Kyrios' in Greek

and so the word " Lord " came to be used normally of God. But there are two points

to be noted here. The first is that the title " Lord " normally signifies not God

in himself, but God as Lord of the world. It always had the sense of power and

authority. The second point is that in the mind of the early Church this

Lordship, or power and authority, was given to Jesus by God. (P.116) Thus Jesus

says at the conclusion of St Matthew's Gospel, " All authority has been given me

in heaven and on earth " . (Matthew 28:18)

 

St Paul habitually uses the same language. He always distinguishes between " God

and Father " and " the Lord Jesus Christ " . He will speak of the " God and Father of

our Lord Jesus Christ " showing how he raised Christ from the dead and " made him

sit at the right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority

and power. " (Ephesians 1:17,20-21) The metaphor of " sitting at the right hand "

signifies, of course, sharing in the divine power and authority, but again this

is something which is given to Jesus by God. Elsewhere St Paul is always careful

to distinguish between God and Christ. Thus he can say, " God was in Christ

reconciling the world to himself " , (2 Corinthians 5:19) which would make no

sense if Christ is simply identified with God. Even more clearly he writes to

the Corinthians, " All things are yours and you are Christ's and Christ is " - not

God but - " of God " . (1 Corinthians 3:23) Finally there is the passage where he

describes the final state of the world: " When all things are subjected to him,

then the Son himself will be subjected to him who put all things under him, that

God may be all in all. " (1 Corinthians 15:28) Clearly here the Son is the Son of

Man, the heavenly man, who having accomplished his work in creation returns to

the Father, the source of all.

 

Even in St John's Gospel, where the word " God " is actually used of Jesus, the

distinction between Jesus and God is clearly affirmed. In the Prologue where it

is said, " In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word

was God " , a subtle distinction is made between the word " God " , with the article

('ho theos') and the word without an article ('theos'). The distinction may seem

fine but it is significant. All through St John's Gospel Jesus constantly

affirms his total dependence on God. Thus he can say, " I can do nothing of my

own authority ... I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. " (John

5:30) (P.117) And again he says, " The Son can do nothing of himself but only

what he sees the Father doing. " (John 5:19) It is striking, moreover, that when

the accusation is made against him that, being a man, he makes himself God, he

replies not by affirming that he is God, but by saying, " Is it not written in

your law, 'I said you are gods'? Do you say then of him whom the Father

consecrated and sent into the world, " you are blaspheming " because I said, 'I am

the Son of God?' " (John 10:34-36) That Jesus believed that he stood in a unique

relation to God as Son to the Father there is no doubt. He can say, " I am in the

Father and the Father in me " (John 14:10) and even " I and the Father are one " ,

(John 10:30), but he could not say, " I am the Father " - that would be the

equivalent of saying " I am God " and that he could never do. Finally, even at the

very end of St. John's Gospel after the resurrection, Jesus affirms the

distinction between himself and God with the utmost clarity saying, " I ascend to

my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. " (John 20:17) Clearly even in

St John's Gospel there is no question of a simple identification of Jesus with

God.

 

When we turn to the earlier Gospels and ask how Jesus was first conceived to

have spoken of himself, we should note that when someone addressed him as " good

master " , he objected saying, " Why do you call me good? There is no one good but

God alone, " (Mark 10:17-18) thus clearly differentiating himself from God.

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith)

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

Pgs. 115-117