Did Jesus Think He Was God? - Nazareth to Nicaea (Episode 7)
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- Опубліковано 2 лис 2024
- The Nazareth to Nicaea vodcast discusses the historical Jesus, the Christ of Faith, and everything in between. We look at the many texts and traditions, the stories and artifacts, the heroes and heretics of the christological controversies. We cover the debates, the doubts, and the dissenters about all things related to Jesus and the early church.
This episode examines the topic of “Did Jesus Think He Was God?” with specific focus on:
• Reasons for doubting Jesus believed in his own divinity
• Jesus as harbinger and centerpiece of the kingdom of God
• Jesus granting the forgiveness of sins
• Jesus’s sense of unmediated divine authority
• Jesus as God’s wisdom, greater than the temple & adversary of Satan
• Jesus and God’s throne
• Does Theology need Jesus to believe in his own divinity?
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Otherwise keep up with me on:
Twitter: @mbird12
Blog: michaelfbird.substack.com
Recommended Reading
Michael F. Bird, How God Became Jesus: The Real Origins of Belief in Jesus’ Divine Nature (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014).
Sigurd Grindheim, God’s Equal: What Can We Know of Jesus’ Self-Understanding (London: T&T Clark, 2011).
Brant Pitre, The Case for Jesus: The Biblical and Historical Evidence for Christ (New York: Image, 2016).
Ben Witherington, The Christology of Jesus (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1997).
N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (COQG 2; London: SPCK, 1996).
Images
Christ before Caiaphas - Wikimedia Commons
Hagia Sophia Jesus - Wikimedia Commons
Christ as Pantocrator - Wikimedia Commons
Radoslav on Saint John - Wikimedia Commons
Christ Teaching in the Temple - Wikimedia Commons
Resurrected Jesus - Wikimedia Commons
Ben Witheringon Book - From Fortress Press
#Jesus #Christology #HistoricalJesus
Title image by Ben Clements
Fantastic presentation. Instructive and challenging and illuminating. You have a great talent for seeing the forest for the trees. I can also recommend Allison's book 'Constructing Jesus' for a soundly historical presentation of what the historian can say about Jesus which turns out to be quite a lot.
Thank you Michael. I found this enriched my understanding of the question. I especially liked the bit about the paralytic.
Thank you Mike. I really like what you pointed out in Mark 10:18. Like what you said, if anything that passage enhances Jesus' claims even more since he tells the rich young ruler, he lacks one part in following the law and even if this completes his obedience, he still needs to follow Jesus.
Thanks, this was great ❤️
I think key to Jesus’ view of his role is his reading of Dan 7:13 which is the ως reading in the OG of the LXX. That means rather than a MT reading of coming on the clouds to (εως) the Ancient of Days, as is recorded in the MT and reflected in Theodotian’s translation, he saw himself AS the Ancient of Days coming on the clouds with his attendants in judgment. He is as you said God’s plenipotentiary, his representative. Matt 16:27 supports this reading of Dan 7:13.
There is a 3rd century document (Papyrus 967 discovered in 1931) that is not hexaplaric which attests to the ως reading in the OG.
"What greater thing is there, than that God should become Man?"
-St John of Damascus
Who is man to define what makes God great? I.e., to quote The Dude, “That’s just like your opinion, man.”
@@jm505 I would say that man don't necessarily define but rather encounters the greatness of God & then wrestles with the task of the defining part as we endeavor to get it right.
John explicitly said why he wrote his gospel: 20:30 _Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book._
31: But these are written that you may believe that *Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God,* and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Had John wanted to inform people that Jesus was god, this was the place to say so.
Also, John 17:3 clearly says only the Father is truly god.
John also says in John 20:17: Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to *my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.*’”
There's no evidence in the Bible that Jesus thought himself god, and clear evidence against it.
The Bible nowhere says only God can forgive sins. It says the Jews were of the opinion that only God can forgive sins. There's a difference. When Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother if his brother sins agains him, Jesus didn't tell Peter only God can forgive sins.
He knew he was God. The Mount of Transfiguration. Mark 9:2-8 and Matthew 17:1-8