Near Emmaus


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Pre-Existence in the “I have come” sayings

Simon J. Gathercole, in his strongly provocative work The Pre-Existent Son: Recovering the Christologies of Matthew, Mark, and Luke argues, more or less, from the starting point I mentioned yesterday over here.

He starts with Paul, by arguing the likelihood of his influence on the Gospels. He then shows that when one assumes a Christology of divine identity, originally argued by Richard Bauckham in Paul, Hebrews, and Revelation, that many of the actions of Jesus in the synoptics (forgiving sins, controlling nature without calling on God, election of followers, etc…) actually point to Jesus being as sharing in the divine identity of God.

After doing this, he then convincingly shows by extensively arguing that the “I have come” sayings actually denoting pre-existence within the synoptic tradition.

Though I’m not finished with this book, from what I’ve seen so far, he argues his case quite convincingly. I do have some reservations with some of his conclusions. And at times he seems almost like an apologist by trying to grab at different texts to show the probability of his case being true. Even though I suspected this, he seems to be very honest when something doesn’t favor his case.

Our friend, Nick Norelli, has shared with us recordings where Gathercole presents his case in a summarized talk on the case he presents in the book.

You can listen to them at his blog, or you can hear them here.

Gathercole: \”I have come\” part 1.

Gathercole: \”I have come\” part 2.

Gathercole: \”I have come\” part 3.


Peace.

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Does Pauline Christology have implications on how we understand Synoptic Christology?

As I continue work on my directed research project, it’s becoming more and more convincing to me that Christology in the synoptics isn’t exempt from pre-existence and divinity.

The reasons for this are twofold. If we assume the following, then it would be strongly in our favor to assume what I’m proposing to be the case.

1) Paul had great influence when it came to matters of theology on the post 67 A.D. church.

2) If we, along with the grand majority of scholars, assume that passages such as 1 Corinthians 15:47, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Colossians 1:16, Galatians 4:4, 1 Corinthians 10:4, and Philippians 2:6-11 have within them, at least pre-existence (even though divinity is clearly seen).

I think if one accepts both of these as true, then it seems consistent that the Synoptic Gospel tradition, though possibly expressing this in different literary ways (obviously, they’re stories), should contain a high Christology. If Paul did have such a great influence as we assume and there truly is divinity and pre-existence in Paul, I don’t see how it wouldn’t easily follow. This is especially the case of Luke, who was a close partner with Paul (if assuming Acts is reliable).

My questions are the following: 1) Have we allowed the scholarly consensus on Christology determine the Christology we get out of the synoptics? 2) If so, though we can’t read Paul into the synoptics, is it possible we’ve missed something so big as Jesus’ divinity?

EDIT: When I asked if “we’ve missed something so big as Jesus’ divinity”, the we I am referring to is scholarship, not the church. Moreover, I didn’t mean to include myself in this group of scholars, considering I’m not one.