It can never be emphasised enough that in this respect Jesus’ messiahship was completely in line with the popular conception. The tragedy of his life is not to be accounted for by the incompatibility of his notion of messiahship and the general expectation, so that only conflicts could ensue which must bring about his death. This conception first appears in the Fourth Gospel. The historical Jesus laid claim to messiahship only from the moment of the Resurrection. This view of Jesus’ messianic disclosures in the early Synoptic tradition is absolutely required by the conception of the primitive Church. The primitive Church assumes that Jesus’ messianic consciousness was futuristic when he talked to the Disciples and even when he gave answer to the High Priest. Even Peter’s discourse in the Acts dates his messiahship from the moment of the Resurrection. Until then he was Jesus of Nazareth. Only, the provisional condition of sitting on the right hand of God takes the place of the coming upon the clouds of heaven. “Jesus the Nazarene, a man approved of God unto you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you (Acts 2:22), him did God raise up (Acts 2:32) and hath made him both Lord and [pg 211] Messiah, this Jesus whom ye crucified” (Acts 2:36). This testimony to the primitive conception of Jesus’ messiahship is of itself so weighty that it would put to silence the whole Synoptical tradition if that were of a different tenor. How is it conceivable that the Disciples proclaimed that Jesus had entered upon his messianic existence through the Resurrection, if already upon earth he had spoken of his messiahship as a dignity then actually possessed? As a matter of fact the early Synoptic tradition and the view of the primitive Church agree together completely. Both affirm with one voice that Jesus’ messianic consciousness was futuristic. If we had not this witness, the knowledge of Jesus’ historical character and personality would be forever closed to us. For after his death all sorts of presumptions arose to obscure the consciousness of the futuristic character of his messiahship. His resurrection as Messiah coincided with the general Resurrection which should usher in the messianic age—such was the perspective of the Disciples before his death. After his death his resurrection as Messiah constituted a fact for itself. Jesus was the Messiah _before_ the messianic age! That is the fateful shifting [pg 212] of the perspective. Therein lies the tragical element—but the magnificent as well—in the whole phenomenon of Christianity.