Who is Jesus? Four Biblical Titles

(Thursday, March 25, 2010, 3:44 AM)

Transfiguration of Jesus, among Elijah and Moses

Who is Jesus? This is not, and never was, an easy question to answer, not even for Christian believers. Most heresies in the first three centuries of Christianity are Christological, that is "different opinions" (the literal meaning of the Greek word hairesis, whence heresy, is "choice") from the "Catholic orthodoxy" that was gradually consolidating in the meantime.

Let's try to say something unquestionably biblical about Jesus.

Messiah

Although Jesus was reluctant to apply to himself the title of Messiah, the awaited "Anointed King" who would establish (or rather re-establish) God's Kingdom on earth, and only revealed it, secretly, to the inner circle of the Twelve Apostles (Mat 16:13-20), at the twofold trial by the Jewish Sanhedrin and by the Roman Governor, he was NOT evasive, but openly admitted his Messiahship both in front of the High Priest Joseph Caiaphas (Mat 26:63-64) and of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate (John 18:37). 

Son of Man

The most frequent expression by which Jesus refers to himself is "son of man"(found 84 verses containing the phrase son of man in the Gospels, Matthew - John;  see @ ESV). Some modern scholars try to play this expression down, and affirm that it is, in Greek, a translation from a rhetoric idiomatic Hebrew ...bar enosh or ben adam), which would simply mean "man". But this is hardly reconcilable with the passage already mentioned, Jesus reply to the High Priest Joseph Caiaphas:

Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Mat 26:64)

Jesus is clearly referring to Ps 110:1 and to a figure that is "like a son of man", BUT is MORE that human, in fact a heavenly figure, the mysterious "Son of man" of Dan 7:13.

Son of God

This is another expression used in the Gospels to refer to Jesus (although not as frequent as "son of man": found 25 verses containing the phrase son of god in the Gospels Matthew - John; see @ ESV). Again, here, some modern scholars try to play this expression down, by saying that it is a "honorific title", which can be found in the OT and that, there, it applies to kings, priests and even judges. At a superficial reading, Jesus himself seems to agree with this interpretation:

₃₅ If those people to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’ (and the scripture cannot be broken), ₃₆ do you say about the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? (John 10:35-36)

But the Nativity Accounts, both in Matthew and Luke, add to this expression, "Son of God", a very specific meaning:

₁₈ Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ₂₃ “Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.” (Matthew 1:18, 23; cp. Isaiah 7:14; 8:8)

₃₀ So the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God! ₃₁ Listen: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.  ₃₂ He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. ₃₃ He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:30-33)

In conclusion, we can say that the expression "Son of God", far from being a mere honorific title, represents Jesus as God's Son in a "quasi-biological" way, through the miracle of the virgin conception by God's Holy Spirit, from the  Virgin Mary.

Word of God

If the expression "Son of God", far from being a mere honorific title, may still represent Jesus as man only, in spite of his being directly connected with God via the miracle of the virgin conception/birth, the Prologue to the Gospel of John (John 1:1-18) presents to us Jesus as more than connected with God: it is crystal clear that the Prologue of John speaks of God's Eternal Logos, and of Jesus as the Incarnation of God's Logos: 

The Prologue to the Gospel

₁ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was [fully] God.

₁₄ Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory – the glory of the one and only [son], full of grace and truth, who came from the Father. (John 1:1,14)