Landmarks in the History of Early ChristianityLake, Kirsopp
History
Landmarks in the History of Early Christianity
Lake, Kirsopp
Church history -- Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600
The opinion which the disciples held of Jesus now became part of their
preaching in a manner which had not been the case during his lifetime.
To distinguish its nature and development requires a somewhat critical
investigation of the meaning and history of the titles first used in
speaking of Jesus. The chief of these are Messiah, Son of Man, Son of
God, and Servant. That which in the end was the most important of
all--Lord--was probably not used until a little later.
Messiah is really an adjective which, translated literally, means
"anointed," or in Greek _christos_, but whereas to say that a man was
anointed has no more meaning in Greek than it has in English, it had in
Hebrew the clear and universally understood meaning of "consecrated" or
"appointed by God." It was applied in the Old Testament to the
high-priest, and it is habitually used in this sense in the Mishna. It
was also used of Saul, of David, and of some of the other kings, but
always with some defining phrase attached to it, generally speaking
"the anointed of Jehovah." Without definition it is not found until
the Christian period. There is no reason to suppose that at the
beginning of the first century it was used exclusively to describe the
hope of the Jews that a {48} prince of the house of David would restore
their fallen fortunes, though in the later Jewish literature it was
used in this way.[3]
Thus if we try to construct the impression which the early Christians
made on the Jews of Jerusalem by claiming that Jesus was anointed by
God, we are obliged to say that the phrase itself only implied his
divine appointment; it did not by itself indicate definitely the
function to which he was appointed. But the way in which it was used
must have suggested two special functions--that of the Davidic prince
alluded to above, and that of the supernatural representative of God
who would judge the world at the last day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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