prophet has appeared among us!" said some. Others exclaimed. "God has come to help his
people!"
Murray J. Harris, in 1992, published a rather technical but, nonetheless, informative work
in which he explored the number of times within the New Testamet where theos (God) is used to
referred to Jesus
15
His focus was principally on John 1 and 20:28, Acts 20:28, Romans 9:5, Titus
2:13, Hebrews 1:8-9, 2 Peter 1:1, and I John 5:20) with an allusion to Psalm 45:7-8, and
references to other texts. A discussion of Murrays work is side-stepped here but is mentioned
with the intent to show that Jesus just cannot be dealt with through an investigation of a past
event having a long lingering legacy. Despite Ben Witherington, Jr., IIIs work, here is one who
is more than prophet or seer
16
or even "sage;"
17
and these descriptions do not say anything as to
who Jesus is. In His own time, no one could agree as to who He is. The gospels record: "Savior,
The Christ," "Son of God," "Son of man, "Emmanuel," "Prophet," "Son of David."
To quote Dibelius again, "scientific work and Christian faith can be combined in the
same indiviual; otherwise this book would not have been written. But this individual has to see to
it that certainties achieved through his faith are not mistaken by him for the findings of
science."
18
By "science" Dibelius means historical inquiry. We can learn what, when, and how
about Jesus but it is only through revelation received by faith that we can ever know who He is
and know the why of the impact that he continues to have century after century. This writer
wants to call up Dibelius again to make the case even stronger.
The importance which such knowledge of the historical reality has even for
faith was stressed long ago by the Evangelist Luke when, in dedicating his
book to Theophilus, he gave as his purpose in writing it, "That you may
15
Murray J. Harris, Jesus as God: The New Testament Use of Theos in Reference to Jesus (Grand
Rapids, MI: Baker, 1992).
16
Ben Witherington, Jr., III, Jesus the Seer: The Progress of Prophecy (Peabody, MA:
Hendrickson, 1999).
17
Ben Witherington, Jr., III, Jesus the Sage: The Pilgrimage of Wisdom (Minneapolis, MN:
Fortress, 1994).
18
Dibelius, Op.Cit., p. 11.