The Case for the Deity of Christ

The Case for the Deity of Christ Part III: Mark, Matthew, and Luke-Acts

Outline Intertextuality Defined Christological Intertextuality in the Synoptic Gospels and Acts Summary

Question: • How would Jewish readers, or hearers, of the Canonical Gospels have understood the Gospels’ depictions of Jesus?

Intertextuality • The term intertextuality refers to “the act of embedding one text inside another.”

Intertextuality • “The embedded text might be a faint echo, which barely disturbs the primary text, or a clanging cymbal which demands attention.”—Steve Moyise, “Intertextuality and the Study of the Old Testament in the New Testament,” in The Old Testament in the New Testament: Essays in Honor of J. L. North, ed. Steve Moyise (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000), 14.

Christological Intertextuality • This studies the ways in which the Gospels’ authors utilized Hebrew Bible Scriptures to describe Jesus’s identity.

Synoptic Gospels • This phrase refers to Mark, Matthew, and Luke. • The word synoptic means “seen together.” • Mark, Matthew, and Luke share so much material in common that scholars called them synoptic Gospels.

Mark

Mark 1:2-4 • “As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,‘See, I am sending my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight’…

Mark 1:2-4 • John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

Mark 1:6-7 • “Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey…

Mark 1:6-7 • …He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.”

Malachi 3:1 • “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord (Adon) whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says YHWH of hosts.”

Isaiah 40:3 • “A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of YHWH, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’”

Larry Hurtado Explains: • “Indeed, as Marcus has shown, Mark then presents the subsequent account of Jesus as ‘the way of the Lord.’ Thereby Mark both links Jesus’ appearance and activity with the scriptures of Israel…

Hurtado Continues: • …and also makes a profound statement about Jesus, associating him closely with God (who is ‘the Lord’ originally referred to in Isa. 40:3 and Mal. 3:1).”—Larry W. Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003), 307.

Mark 4:41 • “And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’”

Psalm 107:23-29 “Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the mighty waters; 24 they saw the deeds of the LORD (YHWH), his wondrous works in the deep. 25 For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea….

Psalm 107:23-29 26 They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their calamity; 27 they reeled and staggered like drunkards, and were at their wits’ end….

Psalm 107:23-29 28 Then they cried to the LORD (YHWH) in their trouble, and he brought them out from their distress; 29he made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.”

Mark 4:37-41 “A great furious storm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’

Mark 4:37-41 39He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.40He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’

Mark 4:37-41 41And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’”

“…who stretches out heavens aloneand treads upon the waves of (the) sea...”—Job 9:8

Isaiah 43:10-11 “You are my witnesses, says the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am (ego eimi). Before me no God was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am (ego eimi) God, and besides me there is no savior.”

Isaiah 43:15-16 “I am (ego eimi) the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King, Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters.”

“I Am” (Ego Eimi) The Greek phrase, ego eimi, literally translates into English as “I am.”—Anne H. Groton, From Alpha to Omega: A Beginning Course in Classical Greek. Revised Third Edition (Newburyport, MA: Focus Publishing, 2000), 73.

Mark 6:48-51 “When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea (thalasses). He intended to pass them by…

Mark 6:48-51 …But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a spirit and cried out; 50for they all saw him and were terrified….

Mark 6:48-51 …But immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, I am (ego eimi); do not be afraid.’ 51Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased.”

Jesus identifies Himself as Yahweh by adopting Yahweh’s own way of identifying Himself…saying I am.”

Matthew

Matthew 1:23 • “‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’,which means, ‘God is with us.’”

Duane A. Garrett and Jason S. DeRouchie, A Modern Grammar For Biblical Hebrew (Nashville, Tennessee: B&H Academic, 2009), 95.

Duane A. Garrett and Jason S. DeRouchie, A Modern Grammar For Biblical Hebrew (Nashville, Tennessee: B&H Academic, 2009), 147.

Isaiah 7:14 With Us God

Matthew 1:23 • Matthew translates the Hebrew phrase, “God with us,” for his audience. • Immanuel in Isaiah 7:14 literally translates from the Hebrew as: “God with us.”

Matthew 1:23 • This means that Matthew made an effort to emphasize the name’s meaning for his readers.

Irenaeus (2nd Century C.E.) Writes: • “Carefully, then, has the Holy Ghost pointed out, by what has been said, His birth from a virgin, and His essence, that He is God (for the name Emmanuel indicates this).”—Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.21.4

Matthew 4:8-10 • “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor;…

Matthew 4:8-10 • …and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’…

Matthew 4:8-10 • …Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! for it is written,“Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”

Exodus 34:14 • “For you shall worship no other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

Matthew 2:10-11 • “When they saw the star, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and…

Matthew 2:10-11 • …they knelt down and worshipped him. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”

Matthew 28:8-10 • “So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him.”

Matthew 28:16-17 • “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted.”

Matthew 28:19-20 • “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”

“The Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…” • The Greek word Matthew uses for name is singular. • This implies Matthew espoused the view that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all shared the same name in some sense.

The Case for the Deity of Christ