1.1 Jesus' authority as the Son of God Flashcards
Who gave the title ‘son of God’ to Jesus
New Test + Council of Chalcedon in 451 = Jesus was thought of as both fully God and fully human.
Define Hypostatic Union
The perfect Union of Christ’s humanity and divinity in one individual existence
=Jesus human and god
what did jesus call god?
‘Abba’ (greek for father) and heavenly voice call jesus ‘my son’ but jesus does not use the term ‘son’ himself
=nevertheless, Abba is seen as a sign of respect
Problems if Jesus was Human
E.g Paul wrote that humans have a sinful corrupting nature - so did jesus have this nature
Why did jesus have to be divine
In order for him to save humanity from sin, jesus had to be divine as only God had that redemptive power.
Jesus needed to be God to overcome the evil forces
The problem with jesus being divine
If jesus was God, did jesus really suffer on the cross and actually die from crucifixion? Does this mean his resurrection not real? How can u kill a god?
What did the chuchers say
The chruch of Chalcedon in AD 451 = chrsit has two natures which come together in one person
‘truly God and truly man’
Possible solutions to jesus’ nature?
Theologian Karl Rahner suggest a genuinely human consciousness must have an unknown future
-if jesus had his father’s awareness of all time, he can hardly be called human
Rahner’s solution =onion
= Onions has many layers of skin so maybe esus’ human self awareness was top layer and deeper layers were his divine consciouness
What did Soren Kierkegaard see this dual nature of Christ as? and could be only resolved according to him by?
‘The ultimate paradox’
which could be resolved by
‘a leap of faith’
away from our human understanding and reason and towards true belief in the Christian God.
Why did Gerald O’Collins challenges the possibility of answering these questions?
- understanding the inner experience of jesus’ life is very challenging particularly as he left no writings.
C.S Lewis rejected anyone who accepted jesus as a teacher but not the son of God; quotes..
‘A man who is merely a man and said the sorts of things jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg’’
= u cant expect half of jesus what about the other things born from a virgin, came from dead. U cant pick and choose what u want from jesus
The miracles of Jesus arguably show he was the
son of God and presumably that he thought he was divine. He walked on water, turned water into wine, raised people from the dead.
name the 4 miracles and reference to what part of the bible
- Jesus walking on water Mark 6
- John heals a man born blind John 9
- Jesusu raises Lazarus from the dead John 11
- The transfiguration Matthew 17
What does the Transfiguration Matthew 17 show
Divinity and the fact he chooose the time and when = God is everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
= purpose of this miracle to show how divine he is.( it had not purpose but to show he is God)
‘bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased’ Matthew 17
What day was it on that jesus heals a man born blind John 9
On Sabbath thereby breaking a Jewish law- this shows that jesus was willing to break the rules of the day in order to do the right thing.
The Pharisees investigated and found he was actually blind = but they still rejected = shows these miacles were not accepted by the ppl
