The differences between content and substance in my reading this week and going forward appear to rest on the character, ministry, and activity of the “Son of God” within One Perfect Life, The Complete Story of the Lord Jesus (MacArthur), and the “Son of Man” within The Earthly Career of Jesus, the Christ, A Life in Chronological, Geographical and Social Context (Culver). While there is a significant degree of material overlap between both authors of these books, the beginning and continuing work of Christ and His ministry speaks to His dual nature as both man and God. The emergence and ongoing work of Christ as cast among both books separate around emphasis and highlighted events in history to convey the two distinct natures of Jesus. Both books indirectly draw our attention to the hypostatic union of Christ. That is, at the onset and continuing reach and effect of His ministry, the differences, commonality, and overlap between His divinity and humanity emerge as separately prominent.
Scripture passages assembled in One Perfect Life to guide the reader through Jesus’ ministry between Passover AD 27 and Passover AD 29 provide substantive depth about His supernatural work. The terms “Heals,” “Raises,” “Appoints,” “Calls,” “Explains,” “Cleanses,” “Casts Out” are repeatedly given across numerous historically recorded accounts to demonstrate Christ’s power and authority. More specifically, with God incarnated in Christ, the range and scope of His supernatural work in the lives of people demonstrated that He was who He claimed. To give cause for belief, to inform allies and adversaries alike, and to bring about the work of the Holy Spirit through the belief of God’s elect. To cause spiritual rebirth among those who witness His work and recognize His identity for belief was an effort of divine origin. As He continued healing people, He also raised the dead, removed demons who inhabited people, and calmed the weather. His ongoing coordination with the Holy Spirit in this way altogether performed the work of the triune God to build His Kingdom on Earth as intended many centuries before. People were brought to a path of reconciliation to YHWH through Christ, the Son of God.
In contrast, Culver concentrates on natural events, travels, conversations, teachings, and exhortations of Christ during His early ministry. Of secondary interest and exploration are the supernatural details of Christ’s work. The meta details concerning His Earthly work as a humanity member are highlighted to give a clearer sense and confidence about His natural relatability as Messiah. During the times of trials, hardships, and charged emotions among people at the temple during its cleansing, His conversation with Nicodemus, and confrontations with the Jewish authorities at His home region in Galilee. The upended social and religious conditions were fraught with opposing pressures during the emergence of Jesus’ public ministry.
We are presented with numerous facts and speculations around Jesus’s forming reputation, public life, and notoriety through the narrated gospels. Only these were details about what He did, what He taught, and how He reacted to various circumstances. These were all facts about Him yet not of him or within him to zero in on more closely who He was a man. To communicate His profession and conduct by what He did, we can come to know who he was in a limited way. As compared to preferences, tastes, mannerisms, sense of humor, favored senses, and so forth, that point to the unique person of Jesus as the Son of Man in a more intimate way. Not just by what He did as a man, but by what He was like in essence as well.
Definitions & References
Hypostatic union used in Christological discussions to refer to Christ’s being one hypostasis or person who subsists in two natures. The two natures in Christ are thus naturally united in his person, somewhat analogous to the union of body and soul in an individual human being. This is contrasted with a conjunction or cooperative union of two persons, such as the indwelling of the Logos in the man Jesus, as in Nestorianism.
William Greenough Thayer Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, ed. Alan W. Gomes, 3rd ed. (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Pub., 2003), 956.
Hypostasis is a Greek noun first used by Eastern theologians in the early centuries of church history to refer to the three persons of the Trinity. The Cappadocian fathers, Basil in particular, argued that God is three hypostaseis in one ousia (“essence,” or “substance”). Although helpful, the term also led to confusion. Western theologians described God as one *substantia in three personae, with confusion arising out of the fact that substantia was the Latin equivalent to hypostasis. Technically, hypostasis refers to each of the three concrete and distinct trinitarian persons who share a single divine nature or essence. The hypostatic union, in contrast, is an important christological designation. At the Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451 the church declared the doctrine of the hypostatic union. The doctrine is an attempt to describe the miraculous bringing together of humanity and divinity in the same person, Jesus Christ, such that he is both fully divine and fully human.
Stanley Grenz, David Guretzki, and Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 61–62.
The phrase “son of man” is found 93 times in Ezekiel and refers to the prophet’s humanity (e.g., Ezek 2:1; 3:1; 4:1; 5:1; 6:2; 7:2). Poetic parallelisms in the Old Testament also use “son of man” in this sense, always in the second half of the parallelism (Num 23:19; Job 16:21; 25:6; 35:8; Pss 8:4; 80:17; 146:3; Isa 51:12; 56:2; Jer 49:18, 33; 50:40; 51:43). A divine, apocalyptic figure known as “The Son of Man” appears in 1 Enoch and 4 Ezra. This figure seems to have influenced Jewish expectations of the Messiah before the time of Christ. Because of the uncertain dating of these Jewish texts, scholars have also drawn on linguistic research to help explain the origin and meaning of the phrase. This line of inquiry focuses on the translation of the original Aramaic phrase כִּבַר אֱנָשׁ (kivar enash, “one like a son of man”)—including the Greek equivalent found in the Gospels (ὁ ὑιὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ho huios tou anthrōpou)—and its meaning in the context of Dan 7:13–14.
Leslie T. Hardin and Derek Brown, “Son of Man,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
Jesus’ Use of “Son of Man”
Jesus’ use of “Son of Man” language in the New Testament Gospels draw on Jewish traditions regarding the phrase found in both the Old Testament and apocalyptic literature. In particular, Jesus’ “Son of Man” sayings reflect the connection between the themes of suffering, enthronement, and authority that appear in the narrative of Daniel’s vision. There are four general ways in which Jesus uses “Son of Man” language in the New Testament Gospels: 1) to refer to Himself; 2) to describe His authority and earthly ministry; 3) to anticipate His suffering and death; and 4) to anticipate His future exaltation and glory.
Leslie T. Hardin and Derek Brown, “Son of Man,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
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