Examining the titles of
Christ more frequently used in the New Testament
The
titles of Christ providing a detailed account of the content of Christological
labels: Christ/Messiah, Son of God, Son of man and Lord. Other significant titles
namely God, Don of David and Logos will be also mentioned.
Christ/Messiah
One
of the most important Christological titles is Christ which appears over five
hundred times in the New Testament. Christ (Christos) is the Greek equivalent
to the Hebrew (Mashiach) which means literally ‘the anointed one’. The Old
Testament contains three categories of person who were anointed with oil and
appointed to a specific task: Prophet, Priests and Kings. Kings especially were
considered to be appointed by God and anointing was the public sign of God’s
appointment-the first king of Israel, Saul (1 Sam.9-10). In postexilic Old
Testament text one finds hope for a renewed Davidic monarchy often picture with
grandiose dimension and qualities (Hag.2:20-23; Zech.9:9-10). Thus, the idea of
messiahship was related to the future of Israel, her deliverance from foreign
tyranny and the introduction of a righteous rule.
Jesus
was regarded by some as a political liberator. Several self-appointed ‘Christ’
had the vision of deliverance but Jesus Christ did not want to identify with
those expectation. In fact Jesus never permitted his followers to use the term
Messiah. William Wrede, a nineteenth century of Research into a Gospel
especially Mark called this the ‘Messianic Secret’: rather than encouraging his
followers to spread the good news of the Messiah who had come, Jesus forbade
those he healed 9to tell anyone). Jesus did not want to identify with his
primarily political messianic expectation and wanted to avoid conflict with the
political and religious establishment until the time had come for him to die.
If Jesus regarded as Messiah it was not in terms of political or nationalistic
sense. Moreover, the people expected a victorious Messiah; the crucified Jesus
was a disappointment.
Paul
uses the term by far most frequently than the Gospel writers. Of the 530
occurrence 383 are in Pauline corpus. It suggests that very early the term
became an important part of the vocabulary of Christian faith. Christ is
undoubtedly Paul’s favorite title for Jesus. Close examination of Christos in
Paul’s letters shows that he uses the term almost as a name or part of the name
for Jesus and not characteristically as a title. It appears in the following
formulae; Christ Jesus, Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ and so on. Christos
was not immediately meaningful to ancient Gentiles as a religious term with
this messianic expectation, Paul as a Jews was completely familiar with the
Hebrew/Judaic tradition. In fact, in Romans 9:5, Paul males explicit reference
to ‘The Christ’ not merely a name but a title and often he connects the term
Christ with Jesus crucifixion and resurrection (Rom.5:6-7; I Cor. 15;
Gal.3:13).
In
1 Peter 1:1 the tile Christ is connected with the suffering of Jesus, in
fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesies 2:21; 3:18,etc). This connection
understanding that Jesus crucifixion was a messianic event.
Even
though Jesus fulfilled the hopes of Israel’s Messiah in a way that was not
compatible with the dreams of a majority of the people, he still was and is Israel’s
Messiah.
Son of God
Two
parallel names have become part of Christian theology’s vocabulary namely, Son
of God and Son of Man. Naturally one would assume that the dormer refers to
Jesus divinity and the alter to his humanity. This was, in fact taken for
granted until twentieth century. But more careful exegesis of biblical texts
created ambiguity regarding these two terms, so exegetically both assumptions
are inaccurate.
The
basic meaning of son of God in the Old Testament is ‘belonging to God’ as in the case of the people, of Israel (Exo.
4:22) or King David and His successors (2 Sam.7:14). In both the Old and New
Testament the concept of sonship carries a variety of meaning, including
commissioning to speak to special work, obedience, intimate fellowship,
knowledge, likeness and the receiving of blessings and gifts. The Old Testament
does not speak explicitly of the Messiah or of a specifically messianic figure
as the Son of God.
The
name of Son of God appears 124 times in the New Testament and is found
especially in Paul’s writings and Hebrews. Jesus used the term rarely but
according to the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus did understand himself and his mission
according to the idea of divine sonship and clearly implied that he was the Son
of God. Though Jesus rarely used the term but majority of the scholars think
that some of the sayings come directly from Jesus (Mt.11:27; Mk.12:6; Lk.
10:22).
Examining
the authentic saying of Jesus regarding the ‘Father’ and the ‘Son’ reveals the
following emphasized:
First,
Jesus claimed personal intimacy with the Father. Especially in the ‘abba’ sayings of Jesus (Mk.14:36); this
Aramaic term denotes a warm, close address similar to ‘daddy’.
Second,
the use of ‘Son’ signified obedience to the will of God as evident especially
in Jesus prayer in Gethsemane (Mk. 14:32-42)
Finally,
‘Son’ referred to the uniqueness of his
status. Jesus relation to the Father is Exclusive. Paul makes distinction between
Jesus sonship and our sonship, using different Greek terms; Believers are
adopted and called sons or children (tekna)
but Jesus is the Son (huios).
The
New Testament usage of son is not sexist: it include both sexes (for Feminist
interpretations of Christ).
Son of Man
The
Old Testament term ben adam (‘Son of
Man’, literally ‘Adam’; the Hebrew term refers to both the proper name Adam and
the noun denoting the human person) is used in three contexts. In the books of
Ezekiel, the term appears over hundred times address to Ezekiel. It also used
to emphasized the frail human nature in Psalm 8:4. Christologically, the most
significant usage is that of Daniel 7:13-14, though Rudolf Bultmann doesn’t
agree Daniel 7 with Jesus as same person many Scholars claimed the same.
Son
of Man is used more frequently than any other title refers to Jesus in the
Gospels. Clearly, Son of Man is the preferred self-designation of Jesus. New
Testament scholarship basically agrees that as a Christological title, Son of
man in the Synoptic Gospel is related to the following:
- Jesus’ present authority (Mk.2:10, 28also found in Mt. & Lk.)- Over Sabbath, a holy ordination for the people of God.
- His suffering and resurrection (Mk.8:31; 9:9, 10:33; par in Mt. & Lk.)- Jesus as the Son of man comes to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.
- His Glorious coming (Mk.8:38; 13:26; par in Mt. & Lk.)- ‘in clouds with great power and glory’ being seated on the right hand of God.
Also
Mark 13:26 and 14:62 are clearly reminiscent of Daniel 7:13-14. Mk.9:12 and
10:45 portray the Son of Man as the righteous sufferer of Psalms 22:69 and the
Servant of Yahweh (Is.52:13-53:12) who suffers but is vindicated by God. Also,
when Jesus is identified by Christ (Mk.8:29-30) he responds by speaking of what
‘the Son of Man’ will do (v.31).
In
John Gospel this title is used distinctively. The expression ‘be lifted up’ may
refer to the cross or to Christ exaltation’ (Jn.3:14; 8:28; 12:34) and also
stated that the Son of Man coming down from heaven (3:13) and ascending to
where he formerly was (8:28).
Lord
The
early Christian confession was “Jesus is Lord” (Rom.10:9). The attributes to
Jesus the same name that in the Old Testament was applied to God, kyrios,
“Lord”. The New Testament use of kyrios refer to Jesus. The kyrios has a wide
variety of uses in the New testament era, both in religious and secular
contexts. The mysterious religion especially in the East (Egypt, Syria, Asia
Minor and elsewhere) frequently used the term kyrios or its female equivalent,
kyria to refer to god and goddesses as Iris, Serapis or Osiris. The Roman
Emperor during the time of nero was also called kyrios, with the sense of
divinity. The early church deliberately and polemically ascribed to Jesus title
to challenge the people’s desire to offer worship to an earthly lord. The most explicit
passage in which Jesus applies the tile kyrios to himself is Mark 12:35-37
which is based on Psalm 110:1 “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right
hand.’ Jesus considered himself equal to the Old Testament Lord Yahweh; sitting
at the right hand is the place of highest status and honour.
The
main passage in the Pauline corpus is Phil. 2:10-11, which most scholars
believe is a pre-Pauline hymn. The passage says that as a result of his
obedience to the Father, Christ was granted the title Lord, which implies
equality with God.
Other Titles
God:
The New Testament was written against the backdrop of the strict monotheism of
Israel. Therefore, to call someone other than God was blasphemous. In New
Testament the term God implies to Jesus was John 1:1 where Logos, the word is
named God as Jesus. John 20:28, the confession of Thomas and Hebrew 1:8.
Several indirect functional saying in the New Testament imply Jesus is God. He
is called the Saviour of humanity (Mt. 1:21;Lk. 2:11, Acts 4:12; Heb. 2:10)
Worship is given to jesus (Rom 1:23; 1 Cor.1:2) and Jesus reveals God (John
14:19).
Son of David: When
a Christological title, Son of David points to Jesus as the royal Messiah in
the lines of David, the premiere and foremost king of Israel. In his person and
ministry, Jesus fulfills the promises of God given to the Davidic Dynastic in
the Old testament (2 Sam.7:12-16, etc). Jesus refuse to claim political power
against the popular expectation rather as the Suffering Servant, he laid down
his life and died for his people to gain salvation. In new Testament, Son of
David is used much less frequently, it appears only eleven times and only in
the Synoptics. Matthew uses the title the most, probably because it is
important for Matthew to establish Jesus Davidic lineage (1:1-7)
Logos: This
title is the transliteration of a common Greek word that generally means
‘words’, ‘speech’, ‘story’, ‘principle’, ‘wisdom’. As a Christological title,
it occur only in John, with the main references in the beginning of the gospel
(1:1; 14). These point to the philosophy of Plato, Hellenism and the Old
Testament concept of the ‘word’, (of God; ‘davar’
means not only word but also action); no scholar consensus yet exists. John 1:1
contains an obvious allusion to the beginning of the Old Testament, to the creative
word Yahweh. John says that in the beginning of creation the Logos existed. The
Logos was not only with God but also was God. John 1:14 describes the
incarnation of the Logos and identifies the incarnate Logos as the ‘unique one’
of God (monogenes theos).
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