Scripture and God in Christianity

selves contain many passages which are clearly Messianic. These should be regarded first of all
as the Credo of the believers, and as the theology of the early Church." 368 R. Augstein examines
the implications of this position in the following words: "The Gospels, all four of them, leave no
doubt in their teaching that Jesus knew himself to be the Messiah and , sooner or later actually
said so. What truth can there be in them, if they regard Jesus as the Messiah when he himself
does not..." 369
Ben Witherington, on the other hand, argues that "Close scrutiny shows no unified messianic secret
motif in Mark." 370 Hoskyns and Davey observe that "The Christology lies behind the aphorisms,
not ahead of them; this means that at no point is the literary or historical critic able to detect
in any stratum of the synoptic materiel that a Christological interpretation has been imposed
upon an un-Christological history." 371 P. Stuhlmacher argues, that "The so-called Messianic secret
is not simply ... a post-Easter theological construction, and in general it had nothing to do
with the attempt after easter to hide the fact that Jesus' life had proceeded unmessianically and
beginning at easter had first been put in the light of Messianism. It is a question much more of a
characteristic of the work of Jesus himself." 372 Witherington concludes that " Jesus saw himself
as the Messiah - the Jewish mashiach." 373
Branscomb, after a good discussion of the difficulties involved, concludes: "In view of these
facts it seems reasonable in itself, and in accordance with the evidence, to assume that Jesus, believing
Himself divinely commissioned to proclaim the nearness of the Realm of God and also its
true character, opposed in this work by virtually all the accepted leaders of the day, threatened
with death, yet striving to create a repentant and righteous nation ready for the imminent judgment,
should have felt that He was "the anointed one" whom God had sent for this task." 374 He
further argues that "This seems on the whole the most satisfactory solution. The records have
been so overlaid with later beliefs that proof and absolute certainty are out of question. But without
the assumption that Jesus accepted His disciples' expression of faith in Himself as "the
Anointed One," the story of His last days and of the rise of the Christian movement becomes a
series of unrelated and almost incomprehensible facts." 375
The Son of Man Christology:
Jesus' most favorite and frequently used title, as the evangelists report, is the Son of Man. The
great significance, says Oscar Cullmann, "of this designation is shown by the fact that according
to the Gospels it is the only title Jesus applied to himself." 376 "For the Son of man shall come in
the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his
works." (Matt. 16:27) "Jesus said unto them, the Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of
men: and they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again." (Matt.17:22-23) There
are so many passages in the Gospels (69 times in the first three Gospels only) in which Jesus refers
to himself as the Son of man that there is no need to enumerate them here.
The New Testament scholars differ over the origin, meanings and significance of this title. 377 An
overwhelming majority of biblical scholars look for its origins and significance in the Jewish
apocalyptic literature. H. E. Todt's "The Son of Man in the Synoptic Tradition" is a typical exam-
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