Amos was indeed a prophet; he simply did not presume to call himself a prophet.
We find a similar tendency in Jesus. What he says about himself tended to be indirect and allusive. For this reason, scholars speak of an “implicit Christology,” in which Jesus’ exalted identity is implied, not declared, and so must be inferred from actions and sayings. For example, Jesus frequently refers to himself as “Son of Man.” This epithet reflects Aramaic idiom and apart from any special context simply means a man, a mere mortal. Yet every time Jesus uses this idiom, it is definite: the son of man. In fact, if the text is translated literally, it could be rendered the son of the man (Greek: ho huios tou anthropou). The appearance of this self-reference in the definite form every time leads interpreters to wonder if a specific son of man figure or passage of Scripture was in the mind of Jesus. Because the Son of Man is sometimes linked with “clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62) or “glorious throne” (Matt 19:28), many scholars suspect that Jesus was alluding to the mysterious heavenly figure of Daniel 7 who approaches God and receives authority and kingdom.10 If so, then this is a very powerful example of implicit Christology (and in a couple of cases it becomes a rather explicit Christology).
Let’s pursue the Son of Man self-reference a little further. On one occasion, Jesus tells a man that his sins are forgiven. When some of the scholars who are present object, saying that only God can forgive sins, Jesus replies, “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” and proves it by healing the man—on the spot and in front of everyone (Mark 2:10). Most readers and hearers of this story will assume that Jesus has acted with divine authority by forgiving someone’s sin (and not merely, as a priest might, declaring that God has forgiven the man’s sin). But there’s more. The odd qualifying phrase, “on earth,” appears because the Son of Man obtained divine authority from God in heaven (Dan 7:9–14) and now on earth he exercises that authority. So although Jesus makes no explicit claim to divinity or to exalted status, his claim that he possesses the authority to forgive sin implies divine authority or authorization. Moreover, to claim to be the Son of Man who has this authority on earth clearly implies that Jesus understands himself as the heavenly Son of Man figure who stands before God described in Daniel’s vision (and this is why Son of Man is capitalized).
In another context, Jesus is accused of being in league with Beelzebul (Mark 3 = Matt 12 = Luke 11), which is another name for Satan. This accusation is leveled against Jesus because of his remarkable success in healing and exorcism. What I find quite amazing is the comparison Jesus makes between himself and Satan, who is described in a parable as a “strong man”: “But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man; then indeed he may plunder his house” (Mark 3:27). Here Jesus has implied that he has bound the strong man, that is, Satan. In doing this, Jesus is now able to cast out Satan and thus set free people under Satan’s control. The claim is quite astonishing, for the power of Satan rivals that of God’s most powerful angels (see Dan 10:13).
The debate between Jesus and his critics also appears in a longer, fuller context in Matthew 12, where some Jewish scholars request a sign from Jesus (Matt 12:38). Jesus tells them that the only sign they will be given will be the sign of Jonah (Matt 12:39). Reference to Jonah leads Jesus to declare,
“The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.” (Matt 12:41–42)
What Jesus implies by these comparisons is quite remarkable. He claims that his preaching is such that one must conclude that “something greater than Jonah is here” and that his wisdom, which includes the power to heal and cast out evil spirits, is such that one must conclude “something greater than Solomon is here.” Jonah’s preaching and his call to repentance saved Nineveh, a great city, from certain destruction. Yet, the preaching of Jesus is much greater, in that it has the power to save a much greater number. The wisdom of Solomon was such that the Queen of the South travelled a great distance to hear it. Yet, the wisdom of Jesus is much greater. Remember, the prophetic power of Jonah and the wisdom of Solomon were themselves divine empowerments. What is present in Jesus is even greater. These claims may only be implicit, but they are highly suggestive of an exalted self-understanding.
The reactions of people to what they see or sense in the presence of Jesus sometimes imply an exalted status. When Jesus heals the paralyzed man, people “were all amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We never saw anything like this!’” (Mark 2:12). When the disciples witness the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain, they are frightened, and Peter wants to build shelters to commemorate the event (Mark 9:5). His reaction strongly implies that he has witnessed a divine event. Even more dramatic is Peter’s reaction to the catch of fish. He cries out to Jesus, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8). The entire scene is in some ways reminiscent of the reaction of Isaiah the prophet when he suddenly comes into the presence of God: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isa 6:5; cf. v. 7, “Behold…your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven”).
The Explicit Claims of Jesus
In the fourth Gospel (the Gospel of John) Jesus makes a number of rather exalted claims: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (14:9), “Before Abraham was, I am” (8:58), just to cite three clear examples. The explicit Christology is made quite clear at the outset, when the author of this Gospel states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God” (1:1) and “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (1:14).
Because the fourth Gospel is so different from the Synoptic Gospels and its Christology is often explicit (in contrast to the implicit Christology typical of the Synoptics), many scholars are not sure what to make of it. Some think that this work is highly confessional and symbolic and that what it says of Jesus, therefore, is not historical or biographical in the conventional sense. Of course, not everyone agrees with this perspective. Some maintain that the historical Jesus is portrayed in this Gospel and that it is in fact based on eyewitness testimony.11
Whatever position one takes with respect to the fourth Gospel, the Synoptic Gospels also bear witness to a high Christology that, taken with the implicit materials previously briefly considered, suggest that Jesus held a rather exalted self-understanding. The first indication of this is Jesus’ frequent “I have come” statements. These statements are not in reference to arriving at a particular village, but rather refer to entering the human sphere. Indeed, this is the very language used of angels who exit heaven and enter the mundane world, in order to deliver a message or otherwise accomplish some task. Let’s look at some examples.
The angel of the Lord warns Balaam, “I have come forth to withstand you” (Num 22:32, with emphasis added here and following). The angel Gabriel says to Daniel, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you wisdom and understanding. At the beginning of your supplications a word went forth, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly beloved” (Daniel 9:22–23). Another angel says to Daniel, “I have come because of your words” (10:12), “I have come to reveal to you what will happen” (10:14) and “I have come to reveal the truth to you” (11:2, in the Greek version, not the Hebrew). In an apocryphal work, the angel Raziel says to Adam, “I have come to make known to you pure words and great wisdom” (Soda Raza, or Book of Noah). In another apocryphal work, the angel Michael says to Jeremiah, “I have come to redeem this people” (Jeremiah Apocryphon 35, Coptic version), or “I have come to you today to save your people” (ibid., Arabic version). The angel Uriel says to Ezra, “I have come to show you these things” (4 Ezra 6:30) and “Rise, Ezra, and listen to the words which I have come to speak to you”
