WHO IS JESUS?
Names and Titles for Christ
When
we look at a statistical breakdown of where the various titles for Christ are
used in the New Testament, a pattern begins to emerge.
|
Title |
Synoptic Gospels |
Gospel of John |
Acts |
Paul’s Epistles |
|
Son of Man |
72 |
13 |
7 |
0 |
|
Son of God |
14 |
30 |
2 |
4 |
|
Messiah |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
Christ |
37 |
21 |
107 |
243 |
THE SON OF MAN
This
is the Aramaic expression used to describe a man. Ezekiel uses it the most often in this
sense. It is also the title that Jesus
used the most often of Himself.
When
used in the New Testament, it is ALWAYS used of Jesus unless it is a part of a
quote from the Old Testament such as in Hebrews 2:6 that uses
the Aramaic expression.
1. The Background for this Title.
13 I kept
looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
14 And to
Him was given dominion,
Glory and a kingdom,
That all the peoples, nations, and men of every
language
Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14).
This passage takes us to heaven and gives to us a
glimpse of the throne of God. It is in
this setting that we see one who is said to be LIKE the Son of Man. Daniel sees this “man-like” figure who comes before the Ancient of Days. This is in contrast to the beasts who have been pictured earlier in the chapter.
|
Four Preceding Beasts |
Man-Like Figure |
|
They enjoy temporary
dominion. |
He is given eternal
dominion. |
|
They represent four
kingdoms. |
A kingdom is given to him. |
|
Each of these kingdoms is
destroyed. |
His kingdom will never be
destroyed. |
The “Son of Man” is not a title in this passage, but the
description is so powerful that Jesus is able to take it and to use it and to
turn it into a title.
2. Historical Views regarding the Title.
The traditional view concerning this title is that it
emphasizes the humanity of Jesus as He identified Himself with mankind. He calls Himself “Son of man” because He has
become a man and identifies Himself with men.
In more recent times, Reformed scholars have done a
turn-around, seeing the reference to Daniel’s vision and therefore emphasizing
the deity of Jesus. It is said that the
title “Son of man” does not emphasize the “mannishness” of Jesus, but rather
that He is the divine one who was “LIKE a son of man.”
|
Modern Reformed Scholars
emphasize only the deity of Christ |
↔ |
Early Church Fathers emphasized
only the humanity of Jesus. |
Which of these views is correct? It seems to me that the actual answer lies in
the middle. This title gives a measure
of emphasis to BOTH the deity as well as the humanity of Christ.
3. Why did Jesus give such preference to this particular
title? There are several possible
reasons.
a. This was a designation that had already been used in the Old
Testament and therefore contained aspects of His identity that He wished to
communicate.
b. This designation did not contain the nationalistic or
militaristic baggage that might have been attached to other possible
titles. It is possible that Jesus
intentionally avoided the title “Messiah” for exactly this
reasons.
c. The symbolic aspects of this title allowed Jesus to
gradually unfold the various aspects of His person and ministry.
MESSIAH
/ CHRIST
The
terms “Messiah” and “Christ” are each titles that are used of Jesus. They mean the same thing, but in different
languages.
|
Messiah |
Christ |
|
Hebrew |
Greek |
|
Taken from the
Hebrew word meaning, “to anoint.” |
Taken from chrio, “to
anoint.” |
Each
title carries the same idea and speaks of “the anointed one.” As such, it can refer to any anointed person and
is not always a reference to Jesus.
1. Old Testament Background.
The concept of anointing related to three distinct Old
Testament offices. Those holding these
offices were initiated into their position through a process of anointing.
a. Prophets and Kings: Jehu
the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over
b. Priests: Then you
shall take the anointing oil, and pour it on his head and anoint him. (Exodus
29:7).
This anointing pictured the Holy Spirit being poured
out upon the recipient of the anointing.
At the same time, it was understood that these served as pictures of One
who would be known as “the Lord’s anointed” (Psalm 2:2; Isaiah 42:1-4; 61:1;
Daniel 9:26).
2. Usage by Jesus in the Gospel Accounts.
Jesus rarely used the terms “Messiah” or “Christ” as a
self designation. Those times He did so
were normally in private discussions and when someone else introduced the term.
a. Peter’s great confession:
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 And
Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God." 17 And Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are
you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not
reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 16:15-17).
In this case, Jesus accepts and agrees with this use
of the title, even though He is not the one who introduced it. He points out that the only reason that Peter
has come to this conclusion is because it has been revealed from the Father.
b. In giving instructions to His disciples, Jesus speaks of
them as followers of the Christ: For
whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of
Christ, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. (Mark 9:41).
c. When the Samaritan woman spoke of the Messiah, Jesus told
her, “I who speak to you am He.” (John 4:26).
d. Martha calls Jesus the Christ and He accepts the title from
her: She said to Him, "Yes,
Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son
of God, even He who comes into the world." (John 11:27).
e. Jesus questions the Pharisees about the Christ: Now while the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, "What do
you think about the Christ, whose son is He?" They said to Him, "The
son of David." (Matthew 22:41-42).
In this case, Jesus is speaking in public, but He does
not make any pronouncement that He is the Christ. Instead He asks the Pharisees what is their
understanding of whom the Christ will be.
e. Jesus uses the title of Himself as He prays to the Father in
His high priestly prayer: And this is
eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. (John 17:3).
There is only one instance in which Jesus publicly
proclaims Himself to be Messiah and Christ.
It takes place on the night of His betrayal and arrest. As He stands before the high priest, He is
asked directly about His ministry.
Again
the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, "Are You the
Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" 62 And Jesus said, "I am;
and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming
with the clouds of heaven." (Mark 14:61-62).
It was only now when the high priest asked Jesus
point-blank whether or not He was the Christ that He replied in the affirmative. The very fact that the high priest asked this
question in such a manner when Jesus had made no previous public proclamation
that He was the Christ is itself an evidence of His Messiahship. The question was asked, not because He had
made a public claim, but because so many people had seen the prophecies
fulfilled before their eyes that the person and work of Jesus served to
announce His true identity.
3. Usage by the Authors of the Gospels.
Though they show that Jesus did not publicly pronounce
Himself to be Messiah and Christ prior to the trial before the high priest, that does not mean that the authors of the gospel
accounts hesitate to make such a pronouncement.
Very early in each one of the gospels, we find a statement that Jesus is
the Christ.
• The
book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
(Matthew 1:1).
• The
beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1).
• For
today in the city of
• For
the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were
realized through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17).
After these special introductions of Jesus as the
Christ, each of the authors return to a regular using
of “Jesus” as they give a gradual unfolding of Jesus as the Christ. They do this deliberately so that the reader
will be brought to the same conclusion that Jesus is the Christ.
4. Usage in the book of Acts.
Luke uses the term “Christ” regularly in the book of
Acts, often in conjunction with the proper name, “Jesus.” Yet he first introduces the title in that
book as a clear reference to the promised Messiah when he presents Peter’s
sermon on the day of Pentecost and explains the prophecy by David of the resurrection
of “the Christ” (Acts 2:31).
5. Usage in the Epistles.
This is one of the most popular titles for Jesus in
the epistles. The epistle to the Romans
alone uses the title 68 times.
THE
SON OF GOD
1. The Old Testament refers to the Beni-HaElohim,
the “sons of God” to refer both to men (Genesis 6:2-4) as well as to angels
(Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7). In this same way,
Hosea 1:10 speaks of the Israelites as being “sons of the living God.” But at no time is a single individual
specifically given the title, “Son of God” in the unique sense.
On the other hand, the Psalmist speaks of the
decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'Thou art My Son,
Today I have begotten Thee’ (Psalm 2:7).
This is a Messianic Psalm in which we see the Lord’s anointed (2:2), the
Lord’s Son (2:7) and the King (2:6).
2. Usage by Jesus.
Jesus applies the title of “Son of God” to Himself
infrequently and upon several special occasions. One of these was at the Feast of Dedication
in
30 "I and the Father are one." 31 The Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus
answered them, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of
them are you stoning Me?"
33 The
Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You,
but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be
God."
34 Jesus
answered them, "Has it not been written in your Law, 'I
said, you are gods '? 35 If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came
(and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 do you say of Him, whom
the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I
said, 'I am the Son of God '?” (John 10:30-36).
This passage begins with Jesus making what seems to be
an extremely strong statement regarding His divinity: “I and the Father are one.” The strength of this statement is seen in the
immediate reaction of the Jews. They took
up stones again to stone Him (10:31).
Why? He asks the same
question. Jesus answered them, “I
showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” (John 10:32).
Jesus was not ignorant. He knew that His words had incited their
action. He was well aware of the
significance of the statement that He had just made. That is not the question. Rather the question is whether THEY were
truly aware.
They had already seen Him giving sight to a blind man
and hearing to a deaf man. They had
heard how He fed the hungry and gave forgiveness to sinners. Before it is all over, He will raise a man
from the dead. In all of this, He
challenges them to find one thing that He has done wrong.
The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not
stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a
man, make Yourself out to be God.” (John 10:33). They took the
words of Jesus to be blasphemous. They
understood that He had claimed to be God.
For a mere man to make such a claim would indeed be blasphemous. Notice the reaction of Jesus. He does not retract His statement. He does not say, “Oh, you misunderstood Me. I did not mean to
imply such a position for Myself.”
Instead, Jesus appeals to Psalm 82:6. It is a Psalm that calls for justice. In the Old Testament there were judges who
were placed in positions in which they were to rule over
Because of this ministry of representation, these
judges were called “gods” -- Elohim. They received their office by divine
appointment. They were called gods
because they ruled and judged in the place of God.
When Jesus quotes this passage, He is making a point
from the lesser to the greater. Here is
the point. If these judges of
·
If the Old Testament
calls certain men gods...
·
And they were not
really God...
·
Then why are you
screaming “blasphemy”.
·
When the One whom
God sent and sanctified says that He is God...
·
And He is!!!
In essence, Jesus says, “If the Old Testament calls
certain men gods (and they were not), then why are you screaming “blasphemy”
when the one whom God send and sanctified says that He is One with the Father
(and He is)? If I didn’t do the Father’s
work, then don’t believe. But if I DO
the Father’s work, then you know that I am indeed God.”
3. The Only Begotten Son.
This phrase appears several times in the Gospel of
John (1:14; 3:16; 3:18). There is some
debate as to how we are to understand the word monogenes. The prefix mono means “only.” It is the rest of the word that is the
subject of the debate.
• Gennao means “to
give birth” (only-born son).
• Ginomai means “to
be” (only existing son).
It is interesting to note that this same term -- monogenes -- is
used of Abraham’s only son, Isaac in Hebrews 11:17, even though Abraham already
another son in Ishmael. It is for this
reason that some scholars prefer to view this as the “unique son.”
JESUS
AS GOD
In
only one instance is there a clear cut example of Jesus allowing the title
“God” to be used of Himself. That instance is found in John 20:28 where
Thomas sees the resurrected Christ and addresses Him as My Lord and My God. On the other hand, Jesus says a number of
things about Himself that ought only be said about
God.
• He
says that He is Lord of the Sabbath.
• He
claims the power to forgive sins.
• He
accepts worship.
Instances
in which the New Testament specifically states that Jesus is God are also very
rare, though they are not unknown.
|
Text |
Translation |
|
John 1:1 |
The Word was
God |
|
John 20:28 |
Thomas said,
“My Lord and my God.” |
|
Romans 9:5 |
...the Christ
according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. |
|
Titus 2:13 |
Our great God
and Savior, Jesus Christ. |
|
Hebrews 1:8 |
But of the Son
He says, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.” |
|
2 Peter 1:1 |
...the
righteousness of God and our savior, Jesus Christ. |
|
1 John 1:18 |
...the only begotten God, who is in the
bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. |
Why
are there so few instances in which Jesus is specifically described as God in
the New Testament? It is because the
term God is normally used of the Father or of God in general while the term
Lord is normally used of Jesus. Thus the
Bible avoids language that would allow for modalism
in favor of that which points us to the doctrine of the trinity.
THE
LORD
The Greek word kurioV can be translated as a title of respect (“sir”). It is also used in the Septuagint to
translate both Yahweh and Adonai. The New Testament uses this term of Jesus in
both of these senses.
1. An Honorific.
Matthew 8:2 and 20:33 might be examples of such an
honorific. In John 4:11 kurioV is translated “Sir” and is merely a polite address.
2. Equivalent to God.
This is very obviously the case when Jesus quotes
Psalm 110 and asks the Pharisees its meaning in Mark 12:35-37.
|
|
The Lord said... |
To my Lord... |
|
Old Testament |
Yahweh said... |
To my Adonai... |
|
New Testament |
The Kurios
said... |
To my Kurio... |
The
writers of the gospels indicate the John the Baptist is the fulfillment of
Isaiah’s command to make ready the way of the Lord (Luke 3:4). He is preparing the way for the coming of
Jesus.
One
of the earliest Christian creeds is the statement that Jesus is Lord (Romans
10:9; 1 Corinthians 12:3; 2 Corinthians 4:5).
This is obviously more than a mere honorific. It is a creedal statement of the deity of
Christ.
THE
WORD
In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was
in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him
nothing came into being that has come into being. (John 1:1-3).
John
pens his book with one major theme in mind.
He wants to show that Jesus is God.
He presents Jesus as both God and also as the Son of God. What does this mean? What does it mean to be the Son of God? He introduces Jesus at the outset by
describing Him as the pre-existing Word who created all things.
To
the Jews, this term described the Messiah of Israel. The Jews did not necessarily think of the
Messiah as being God in the flesh.
Rather, they thought of Him as being a descendant of David and a king of
By
contrast, the Greeks had a completely different concept of the “son of
God. Their mythology contained stories
of the Greek gods joining with mortals and producing offspring such as Hercules
and Perseus. These
were supermen—half god and half man.
While
each of these concepts has an element of truth within them, they are by
themselves wrong concepts. It is for
this reason that John begins his gospel account with a different and distinct
title for Jesus. He calls Jesus “the
Word.” In this way, he will redefine
what it means to be the Son of God.
This
One known as “the Word” is identified in two different ways. This does not mean that He is two separate
persons, but merely that there are two separate aspects to His being.
|
The Word was God |
The Word became Flesh |
|
"In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
(John 1:1). |
“And the
Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the
only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14). |
It
is evident from this second passage that “the Word” is a reference to Jesus of
Nazareth. He is the One who was not
originally flesh, yet in a moment of time became flesh. It is equally evident from the first passage
that we are meant to regard the man Jesus as being God.
1. The Designation of the Word.
John’s reference to “the Word” brought with it all
sorts of connotations. We can see and understand
these as we become familiar with the religious and philosophical uses of this
term in that day.
a. The Greek concept of the Word.
Plato had
made reference to the Word (Greek: Logos) as that supreme principle of
logic that allowed man to make sense of and to understand his world. As such, the Logos was seen by the Greeks as
an impersonal force.
b. The Hebrew concept of the Word.
In Hebrew,
a “word” can describe both the verbal designation of an object as well as the
moving energy of that object. As such,
the word of God in the Old Testament is able to refer to more than merely the
teachings and proclamations of deity. It
refers to the active power and force of God Himself.
By the word of
the LORD the heavens were made,
And by the
breath of His mouth all their host. (Psalm 33:6).
The word of
the Lord indicated a personification of the manifested power of God. It is interesting to note that the Aramaic Targums (paraphrases of the Scriptures) often used the
Aramaic word Memra (“word”) in the place of
God. For example, the Targums say that Moses led
c. New Testament usage.
Both the Jewish as well as the Greek readers of John’s
gospel are introduced to a new concept.
The Word is not merely an impersonal force. Neither is the Word a mere manifestation of
one of God’s attributes. The Word is a
person.
A word is the verbal expression of a thought. By the same token, Jesus is the visible and
personal expression and manifestation of God.
Yet he is not only a manifestation of God—the dialog presented by Jesus
to His Father in the prayer of John 17 is a conversation between two persons. Jesus makes reference to the relationship He
enjoyed with the Father from all eternity (John 17:24).
2. Implications of the Logos.
The use of this title points to the fact that God has
revealed Himself to us in a way we can understand. It is because of that self-revelation that we
can know truth about God. He is no
longer some faceless unknown Being out in the
cosmos. He is personal and He has
revealed Himself to us in a way we can understand. We can know God. That is a bold statement, but one that is
absolutely true. We can enter into a personal
relationship with the Creator of the universe.
3. The Word in the Beginning.
"In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. (John
1:1-2).
This passage echoes with a resounding reverberation
from the Old Testament. The words, “In
the beginning,” take us back to the creation.
But there is a difference. In the
Old Testament, Genesis begins by placing the emphasis upon God’s work of
creation. Here the emphasis here is not
upon God CREATING, but rather upon His BEING.
|
Genesis
1:1 — In the beginning God created... John
1:1 — In the beginning was... |
Here we read that in the beginning, something already
WAS. When you go back in time as far as
you can possible imagine, before anything else ever exists, God WAS. And yet, it is not God who is the primary
subject of this passage, but One who is known as “the
Word.”
a. The Pre-existent Word.
John 1:1 does NOT say that “in the beginning the Word
came into being.” Instead, it tells us
that at the time of the beginning, the Word ALREADY WAS. The Greek text renders the verb for being as
an imperfect active indicative. The
imperfect tense is used to indicate continuing action in the past. It pictures action in progress. We could translate the passage to say: In
the beginning ALREADY was the Word.
The point is that when you go back to the very beginning of the creation
of all things, the Word was already there.
This same imperfect tense continues to be used four times in the first
two verses of John.
In
the beginning ALREADY WAS the Word, and the Word ALREADY WAS with God, and the
Word ALREADY WAS God. He ALREADY WAS in
the beginning with God.
The Word did not have a beginning. The Word was already in existence at the
beginning and everything else that exists came into
being as a result of the Word.
b. The Word with God.
When John says that the word was with God, this
refers to more than merely a physical proximity. The phrasing describes a plane of equality
and intimacy. We could translate it to
say: the word was face to face with God.
John uses a similar construction in 1 John 2:1 when he describes Jesus
being our advocate WITH the Father.
This is the language of fellowship. That is significant. It means there was fellowship and
communication taking place between the different members of the Godhead BEFORE
the creation. This same true is
described elsewhere in the Scriptures.
And
now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had
with Thee before the world was. (John 17:5).
Father,
I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, in
order that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou didst
love Me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:24).
Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and blameless before Him (Ephesians 1:3-4).
There was existence before the creation and this
existence was personal and not static.
There was no boredom. There was
active relationship. The Father was
active with the Word and with the Holy Spirit.
This is what we call the Trinity.
It is seen in the next verse.
c. The Word as God.
The statement, “And the Word was God,” is
emphatic. Not only was the Word
pre-existent in past eternity with God, but He was God. When we recognize the force of the imperfect
tense, we understand that the Word CONTINUALLY WAS God. There was not a time in history when He
became God. He has always been God. In the beginning He was already God.
4. The Incarnation of the Logos.
And
the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of
the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14).
In verse 1, we identified the Word as being the one
who was in the beginning with God and who, in the beginning, was God. Now we see the Word becoming flesh. The birth of Jesus stands at the very center
of human history. It is the supreme
meeting place of the temporal with the eternal.
It is the place where God and man came together.
The word “became” is the aorist active indicative of ginomai (ginomai), “to become.”
This is in contrast to the description of the Word as it existed in the
beginning. In becoming flesh, the Word
did something He had not previously done.
There is a dramatic difference between the verbs of verse 1 and verse
14.
|
Verse 1 |
Verse 14 |
|
In the beginning WAS the
Word... |
The Word BECAME flesh... |
|
Imperfect tense indicates
continuing action in the past. |
Aorist tense indicates an action
that took place in a point in time. |
|
Language of continuing
existence |
Language of change as the
Word became something that He previously was not |
|
Takes us back to the time
before the creation of mankind |
Tells how men beheld His glory,
full of grace and truth |
The Word took on flesh and, in doing so, brought about
a change that will have eternal repercussions.
The One who became God and man stayed that way. The One who was touched by a band of Galilean
disciples is today worshiped by angels.
Why did the Word take on flesh? It was so that he could dwell among us. The text reads literally, “He TABERNACLED
among us.” In the same way that
people used to have to come to the tabernacle and later to the temple to meet
God, it is now through Jesus that we must come to meet God.
In Old Testament times, God met His people at the
tabernacle. When Moses completed the
construction of the tabernacle, a great cloud moved into it so that the priests
were forced for a time to evacuate. This
was the manifested presence of God.
Later, when Solomon built the temple, the presence of the Lord moved
into the temple and, once again, this was seen by the presence of a great
cloud.
When the temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586
B.C., it was considered to be a great tragedy to the Jews because there was no
place else they could go to experience the presence of God. The temple was eventually rebuilt by Ezra and
Zerubbabel, but we never read that the presence of God returned to the
temple. Malachi, the last of the Old
Testament prophets, promised that a time would come when the Lord would return
to His temple.
"Behold,
I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the
way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple;
and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is
coming," says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 3:1).
Four hundred years passed and still the Jews
waited. When Jesus came, He was the
manifested presence of God. He was the
Word who tabernacled among men. The Spirit of the living God rested upon
Him. But He was not hidden away in a
temple where only a priest could approach Him.
He was among the people. He was
among those who could behold His glory, glory as of the only begotten from
the Father, full of grace and truth.
One of my favorite stories in the Old Testament is
where Moses goes to the Lord and says, “Lord, I want to see your glory.” God says to him, “Moses, you can’t do that, because
to see me is to die. Here is what I will
do. I will have you stand in a cleft of
this rock and I will cover you with My hand and I will
cause My goodness to pass by and then, after I have passed, I will remove My
hand and you will see my afterglow.”
The coming of Jesus is the answer to the prayer of
Moses: “Show me your glory.” For the
disciples saw the glory of Jesus and recognized it for what it was - the glory
of the only begotten from the Father.
There was a single instance where three of those
disciples had a chance to see a glimpse of what Moses saw. It was on the Mount of Transfiguration where,
for a brief moment in time, God took away the veil and they saw the glorified
Christ.
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