1.6 The Transfiguration Flashcards
What does transfiguration mean?
To change in appearance
Who was Moses?
Old Testament Prophet to whom God gave the law (the 10 commandments)
Who was Elijah?
Old Testament Prophet who the Jews expected would return and prepare the way for the Messiah
Who did some people think Elijah could be?
John the Baptist
In Peter’s Confession who did some people think Elijah could be?
Jesus
What does the Transifuration show about the identity of Jesus?
He is the Messiah - Elijah’s appearance believed to show the arrival of the Messiah
The Son of Man - he will suffer; he predicts his death and resurrection (omniscient) which aligns himself with Isaiah’s idea of the suffering servant
Jesus is greater than Moses - when Moses was given the 10 commandments his face glows with God’s glory (Shekhinah) but Jesus himself shines as He is God
—> Moses reflected God’s glory
—> whereas Jesus has God’s glory
Divergent understandings among Christians (Jesus shining, Transfiguration)
See event as unbelievable because the laws of nature are broken
—> liberal Christians say thus even is a metaphor and not to be taken literally
—> Literalist Christian’s believe that everything in the Bible is true
Confusing as Jesus is shown as both human and divine
- Atheist and Humanist perspectives to the Transfiguration (+ Christians responses)
Breaks the law of nature - people don’t glow white and dead people don’t appear to talk to them on mountains
- God created the laws of nature and can break them too
- Jesus is God and so even things which sound unbelievable from a human perspective are not (omnipotent)
- Atheist and Humanist perspectives to the Transfiguration (+ Christian responses)
Disciples were hallucinating
Event didn’t not take place in reality only in their minds
- the text describes the event vividly which suggests the disciples were really hearing and seeing these events on the mountain
- Atheist and Humanist perspectives to the Transfiguration (+ Christian responses)
Might never have been intended to be taken as a literary event, instead a metaphor to show the true identity of Jesus
- although some events in the Bible might be interpreted metaphorically or symbolically this is not one of them
- event really took place
Why is it confusing that Jesus is shown as both human and divine?
Shown in divine glory and bit long after he will be seen crying in the Garden of Gethsemane fearful of death
Others suggest that it is natural that at times he appears human and at other times divine because He is fully God and fully human
