The Cosmic Person in the New Testament - Part 3

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

In Part 2 of " The Cosmic Person in the New Testament " , we concluded

with these words:

 

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.

 

Here now, is Part 3.

 

Enjoy,

 

violet

 

 

The Cosmic Person in the New Testament - Part 3

 

(P.117) We can say with certainty that there are two figures with whom Jesus

chose to identify himself. The first is that of the Son of Man. It seems

absolutely clear that Jesus conceived himself primarily and essentially as the

Son of Man. There has been a lot of debate among scholars about this, but that

in the synoptic tradition Jesus conceived himself as the Son of Man is

unquestionable. It is very revealing that he is practically never referred to as

Son of Man in any other of the writings of the early Church. He himself in the

Gospel always speaks of himself as Son of Man, and after that the title went

out. (P.118) It is almost inconceivable that the Church would have invented this

title and given it to him, only to drop it altogether. The term Son of Man is

the most meaningful of all the titles of Jesus. The only other example in the

New Testament is very soon after Pentecost, when Stephen is martyred and he

says, " Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the

right hand of God. " (Acts 7:56) That is the only time it is used apart from

Jesus' use of it and after that it drops out altogether. It can be said with

certainty, then, that Jesus conceived himself as the Son of Man.

 

What does the term Son of Man mean? First of all it means simply " man " . The

Psalmist, for instance, says, " What is man that thou art mindful of him and the

son of man that thou dost care for him? " (Psalm 8:4) " Son of man " there is

synonymous with " man " . So first of all Jesus presents himself as a man, a man

along with the rest of humankind. Secondly, there is an important passage in the

Book of Daniel where Daniel sees in his vision, " with the clouds of heaven there

came one like a son of man. " (Daniel 7:13) This eschatological Son of Man, a Son

of Man who comes at the end of time, was certainly in Jesus' mind. Before the

crucifixion, at Jesus' trial before the high priest, the high priest asks him,

" Tell us if you are the Christ (the Messiah), the Son of God. " Jesus did not

answer that directly because he did not want the title of Messiah which could so

easily be misunderstood, but he says, " You have said so. But I tell you,

hereafter you will see the Son of Man, seated at the right hand of power and

coming on the clouds of heaven. " (Matthew 26:63-64) In this he is clearly

identifying himself with the Son of Man in the Book of Daniel who comes at the

end of time and receives a kingdom and power and glory, and everything is given

to him by God.

 

So Jesus sees himself as man, as a man among men, and as the one who is to come

at the end and fulfil all things. (P.119) But he also identifies himself with

the suffering servant of Yahweh in the book of Isaiah, that marvellous figure

who is the servant of Yahweh rather than Yahweh himself. It is important to be

clear that Jesus does not identify himself with Yahweh but with the servant of

Yahweh. And that servant of Yahweh is one who suffers on behalf of the world. He

gives his life as a sacrifice for many. The fifty-third chapter of Isaiah which

speaks of the servant of Yahweh is one of the greatest passages in the Old

Testament. Jesus certainly saw himself as the suffering servant, and it seems

clear that no one had ever before brought together this transcendent Son of Man

coming in the clouds of heaven with the suffering servant who gives his life for

the world. So what Jesus did here shows a tremendous insight. Jesus as a man

would have been steeped in the Old Testament and would have come to see himself

imaged in it. He saw himself as both the Son of Man and as the Suffering Servant

of Yahweh and he went obediently to death on the cross because he knew that that

was the will of his Father, for the salvation of the world. But Jesus went

further. He not only saw himself as man, as Son of Man in heaven, but also he

identified himself with all men. He said, " As you did it to one of the least of

these my brethren, you did it to me. " (Matthew 25:40) Clearly he understood

himself as representative man. Similarly, the suffering servant in Isaiah was

representative of Israel. He was apparently an individual but, as we saw in

chapter five, he was also representative man. So Jesus is the representative

man, the brother of all, who identifies himself with all men and in a real sense

represents all men. This leads us to the most interesting question of how the

Son of Man is related to the original primordial Man.

 

It is this theme that I particularly want to develop, because this primordial

man or cosmic person appears also in the Iranian, Chaldean and Egyptian

traditions. (P.120) In other words, these countries surrounding Israel, Persia,

Babylon and Egypt all had this idea of a primordial Man, an archetypal Man, from

whom creation comes. The idea of the cosmic Person is also developed in

Hinduism, Buddhism and in Islam. It is very much a universal concept. It seems

clear that if we see Jesus in that context we have an image which relates him

much more meaningfully to the history of the world and to humanity's

understanding of God. It is very doubtful whether Jesus himself had any

knowledge of these traditions, but I think it is very probable that in his mind

he understood himself as that primordial Man.

 

Significant here are the passages in St. John's Gospel where Jesus uses the

phrase " I am " . " I am " is, of course, the name by which Yahweh revealed himself

to Moses and it has become customary to think that by using this phrase Jesus is

identifying himself with God. The phrase " before Abraham was I am " , (John 8:58),

has certainly been taken to indicate that he must be God. This, I suggest, is

not necessarily so. The primordial man was before Abraham and before all men,

and I think it is probable that Jesus is identifying himself there with this

primordial or heavenly man, who is prior to all creation.

 

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

Christian Faith)

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

Pgs.117-120