Jesus' divinity

  • title used in the early church and the Gospels​

  • in the New Testament, Jesus is identified as God​

  • Paul speaks of Jesus as ‘God’s own Son’​

  • NT says Jesus is God’s ‘only’ Son or ‘own’ Son suggesting a unique relationship or identity​

Jesus’ knowledge of God:

  • the relationship between Jesus and God is mysterious and speculative.

  • Jesus called God ‘abba,’ meaning ‘dad’ or ‘daddy,’ showing intimacy.

  • ancient myths, including greek, roman, and biblical, feature demi-gods from human-divine unions.

  • Jesus is seen as God, not a demi-god; groups like Jehovah’s witnesses are considered outside traditional Christian doctrine.

  • there is debate over whether jesus identified as god.

  • some claim jesus never called himself the son of god.

  • despite the nt's accounts of miraculous events, jesus made no direct claim to divinity.

  • others argue the opposite.

Jesus acknowledging Himself as God:

  • Jesus often called himself "the son of man," especially in mark, the earliest gospel.

  • critics may see this as a claim to humanity, but scholars link it to daniel 7:13-14.

  • in daniel, the son of man has glory, authority, power, and everlasting dominion.

  • theologian william lane craig states this title implies divinity.

  • Jesus' audience understood the divine significance of the term.

  • Jesus used the "i am" sayings to refer to himself.

  • in John 8:58, Jesus claimed divinity by saying, "before abraham was born, i am."

  • this referenced God's words to moses in exodus 3:13-14, asserting equality with God.

  • the jews understood this as blasphemy and attempted to stone Jesus, following leviticus 24:12-16.

  • Jesus received Thomas' worship.

  • in John 20, Thomas declared, "my Lord and my God" after seeing the risen Jesus.

  • instead of rejecting Thomas' worship, Jesus affirmed his belief.

  • Jesus blessed those who believe without seeing, confirming his divinity.

  • the NT reveals Jesus receiving worship on many occasions. each time, Jesus accepted the worship

  • Matt 8:2 notes a healed leper who worshipped Jesus

  • disciples worshipped Jesus after He walked on water

  • healed blind man worshipped Jesus

  • Jesus said that He and the Father are one

  • equally overt assertion of divinity is found in John 10:30, where Jesus declared outright, “I and My Father are one.”

  • listeners accused Him of blasphemy

  • some struggle with the concept of God being more than one person

  • Torah: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord”

  • Hebrew Word for one is ‘eohad’ = compound unity ie reference to union of more than one person

  • Hebrew Word ‘Elohim’ for God is a plural

questions:

  1. Which two events show Jesus as being uniquely close to God. Look up those two passages in which Jesus is identified as God and explain in your own words.

  1. Explain the hypostatic union.

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  1. What were the questions that people had concerning Jesus’ divinity and humanity?

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  1. Explain the impact of the Councils of Nicea and Chalcedon in resolving the questions; include the explanation of the concept of homoousios; use supporting quotes form the Oecumenical Documents of the Faith.

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  1. What are some of the debates about Jesus’ self-knowledge?​

  2. What three kinds of knowledge are suggested that Jesus might have had?​

  1. How does Karl Rahner respond to the question of Jesus’ self-knowledge?​

  2. What are the three ways that Gerald O’ Collins challenges the possibility of answering these questions?​

  3. What is Collin’s overall conclusion?​