The distinction is often made or assumed in New Testament studies that while Jesus is God in John, he is human in the synoptics. To a large degree, the primary thrust of the present dissertation is to call such a view into question, particularly with regard to the Gospels of Matthew and John. The proposal in the present dissertation is that Matthew and John are christologically comparable in three ways. First, they both present Jesus as closely resembling God's great agents from the Jewish literature by the first century AD: Wisdom, Moses and exalted angel-like figures. These great agents were indeed exalted figures of ancient times. Nevertheless, they were not understood by Judaism in the main as divine agents, i.e., independent beings with a divine nature. Second, both gospels portray Jesus as having a divine nature. This is seen through Jesus being the person Wisdom; having the ultimate authority which surpasses the Law; and being identified as 'I Am' and [Special characters omitted]. Third, the first and second comparisons are inter-locked contextually or thematically, with the result that Jesus is portrayed as a divine agent. In conclusion, the presentation of Jesus in Matthew and John is substantially the same with regard to these three comparisons. Both gospels reveal Jesus to be a divine agent. What John reveals explicitly, Matthew does more implicitly.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:592578 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Hingle, Norwood Noel |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk/R?func=search-advanced-go&find_code1=WSN&request1=AAIU538924 |
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