Firstly, the Jews would not be able to accept that Jesus is God even if He overtly states it. Because in OT times, as the prophet Isaiah prophesied about the coming of the Messiah and the Servant of the Lord, together with the similar prophecies by other prophets, the Jews never thought that this was pointing to God Himself. To them, God is so holy and highly exalted that they did not even dare to call God by His name. They were waiting for the special anointed one – the Christ, who came from Davidic line – the Messiah, to redeem them. But Christ and Messiah to their mind would still be a human being sent by God.
Secondly, Jesus chose not to overtly state himself as God because this will mess up people’s understanding of the trinity function. Jews would not be able to grasp the trinity concept in their monotheistic belief. Until the event of death and resurrection which proved God’s confirmation on the divinity of Jesus, and later with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the apostles could then reflect upon what Jesus had taught and hence grasp the concept of what later Christians called the “trinity”—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in one God. To our understanding now, the trinity is equal in essence but hold different functions. On the other hand, not to forget that by adding human attributes into His divine attributes, Jesus was temporary in functional subordinate to the Father. He genuinely took upon himself the limitations of humanity and hence unable to disclose certain heavenly matters in replying to His disciples, especially in relates to His second coming.
Thirdly, Jesus came to fulfill the messianic task – to reveal about God, to preach about the kingdom of God and to die a redemptive death. As this is His purpose, He might not want to confuse the believers due to the timing factor. Jesus is ministering in full obedience to the Father, thus He adheres to Father’s plan to which time is a crucial factor. But through His claims on His prerogatives, numerous statements and actions, Jesus did in many times imply that He has the same divine nature and authority as God, which was important to Christian faith.
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Hi Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteJust wondering, the Jews believed in monotheism and to introduce another person claiming to be God would then be a blasphemy. Your statement was that Jesus did not overtly state His divinity because it would mess up their understanding of the trinity would suggest that they had already had an understanding of the trinity. In fact, wouldn't it be better that He taught about the trinity? But Jesus did not as He did not mention anything about the Holy Spirit being God. Peter did associate the Holy Spirit with being God but not Jesus. Would then your reason be valid?
Sorry, but I don't understand the "timing factor" and how it would believe the believers. What would they be confused about? Would you mind elaborating a little?
Sorry for not understanding. LOL! Peace!
Hi Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteApplying to the time that Jesus was born and lived in, based on my observation, the Jews were so conservative about their tradition and hundreds of law which were to be carried out everyday. Contextually, Jesus humanly knew this very well that He chose not to reveal Himself as “God” or use the explicit word God to refer to Himself. He could have known that since he was raised in the Jewish culture and environment, and I believe He knew that once he verbally proclaimed his divinity overtly, He would have been stoned to death.
Just like what Bryan is wondering, I also wonder about your “timing factor”. Was it referring to the time that Jesus would proclaim his divinity explicitly? If so, when was that? Or are you talking about the time that Jesus would do something else?
Hi Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteActually i find it a little hard to see how it would mess up the Jews understanding of the Trinity. i think it can't right? Because during Jesus time the concept and doctrine of trinity doesn't even exist, it was later discovered and define by the church. How can something that doesn't exist be messed up at that time? maybe i got all this timing thing wrongly, pls feel free to correct me...:>
Also just another thought that i have: If the concept of trinity is meant to be grasped eventually, wouldn't the concept of Trinity be more easily defined if Jesus had stated it overtly?
Dear Bryan, Sophin and Jason,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your questions that assisted me to think deeper of my statements made. I will answer your questions in one go because they are related.
During Jesus’ time the Palestinian Jews had no clear concept of the trinity. God is Yahweh (although they have different titles associated to the One God), and the Spirit is being mentioned numerous times. But there is no obvious mentioning of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thus having the strong monotheist belief among them, they will not be able to grasp the meaning of Trinity – the three Persons in One Godhead. If Jesus overtly said He is the divine God the Son besides God the Father, the ordinary Jews (besides those religious leaders who had already closed their ears) might either think He is crazy; or is blasphemy; or glorify Him incorrectly and too early.
# Scenario 1: If people think He is crazy or blasphemy, nobody will listen to Him. He might not have any faithful followers who would listen to Him and expand His work after His death, and/or persecuted too early as blasphemer.
# Scenario 2: If people worship Him too early and incorrectly, they might be just asking for miracles and earthly victory but forsaking His message on the heavenly kingdom and His mission to die a redemptive death.
We know that Jesus came in human form to suffer and die for human sins so that in resurrection He brought eternal salvation to those who believe in Him as God the Son and His work that serves as the atoning sacrifice once and for all. I agreed with Wolfhart Pannenberg in the sense that only in Christ’s resurrection that people could see His divine sonship and teachings as affirmed by God the Father. And with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit from the day of Pentecost, the triune God became a reality to the believers, and hence understood by the apostles.
The sequence of these events is the timing factor I meant. In Jesus’ farewell speech found in John 16:12-14, Jesus says, "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” Truly, God has His perfect timing in revealing the divinity of Jesus.
Hope this clarifies to certain extent. Thank you :>!
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ReplyDeleteI'm not a bible school student, please forgive me if my sharing doesn't make sense to you :P
ReplyDeleteTo me, the act of Jesus of calling God as His Father was already a statement of His divinity on earth, overtly. One example is in Matt 26:63-64. So...I don't really understand why this question is being asked. Maybe the meaning of 'overt' here refers to something more obvious/intensive or supernatural?
If I take the question as asking: Why didn't Jesus FOCUS on telling people that He is their Messiah? My answer will be - because that's not God's intention for His coming people (Christians). Divinity is the Life itself, not statements from the mouth. Jesus' Life, was Itself the statement of His divinity. God gives us Salvation is not so that we can stick a tag on ourselves with 'Christian' wording; It is so that we are saved from our 'self' and proceed to divinity by living out the Life of Christ - a life that won't try hard to tell people who he is; for people will know to whom he belongs as he lives divinely unto God.
It takes Faith, to refrain from justifying yourself and trust that God with His own timing will vindicate for you. I believe this is Christian Faith, the Faith of Christ.
Dear Shelly,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your sincere opinion. I agreed with you that believing in the divinity of Jesus takes faith. And it is the actual living of a true follower of Christ that will demonstrate the identity of “Christian.”
It is the fact that during Jesus’ lifetime on earth, Jesus didn’t overtly proclaim Himself as “I am God.” But He identified Himself as equal with God the Father in judging the creation, in giving life, in forgiving sins and so forth. The terms “Son of God” and “Son of Man” carried a deeper sense in their connotations. We have to refer to the OT to find out more.
As I mentioned earlier and you have agreed part of it, one of the reasons that Jesus did not overtly state His divinity is because only God the Father can vindicate Jesus’ divinity after His death and resurrection. It is God’s timing that Jesus had submitted to and this serves as a good lesson for us Christians too in our daily walk with Him.
Thank you for dropping by and may you continue to contribute to the intellectual field of Christian faith. By its nature, faith seeks understanding. It is not a blind faith that we hold on to, God gives us a reasoning mind to understand and to submit to His will. Of course, nothing can compare to His infinite wisdom!
Owing to their strict monotheism, it took some time before people recognized Jesus to be God. Even the disciples did not recognize Jesus to be God in the flesh until after the resurrection. When the disciples came to recognize that Jesus is the Messiah, it was the militant conquest of Rome and establishment of God’s kingdom on earth that seems to be foremost in their minds. That the Messiah should die seems impossible, let alone to rise from the dead. Hence when Jesus does the things that only God can do, and says the things that only God can say, the disciples face a dilemma…
ReplyDeleteBravo! I agreed exactly with you, mum Dorcas. Knowing the weakness of human--lack of faith, Jesus had been in many times encouraged the disciples to have faith in Him, from seeing what He did, and listening to what he said. As I am reading the gospel of John currently for daily devotions, I always find myself caught in amazement of the sayings of Jesus. It is easy to say that Jesus is God-man while on earth, but to really believe in that truth, I need to give up some part of human rational. The infinite truth is beyond our human mind. But we shall always pursue to break that limit of understanding. Thanks!
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