The Shadow Explains
Due to some confusion apparently on my last post, I'm going to quote Pink in full here. My mother said that she misunderstood it as well, I apologize for giving the wrong impression.
"The name by which God's Son is here called is that of His humiliation. "Jesus" is not a title; "Saviour" is an entirely different word in the Greek. "Jesus" was His human name, as Man, here on earth. It was as "Jesus of Nazareth" that His enemies ever referred to Him. But not so His own people: to the apostles He said, "Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am" (John 13:13). Only once in the four gospels do we ever find any of His own speaking of Him as "Jesus of Nazareth" (Luke 24:19). and that was when their faith had completely given way. It was the language of unbelief! That He is referred to in the narratival form in the Gospels as "Jesus" is to emphasis His humilation.
When we come to Acts, which treats of His exaltation, we read there, "God hath made this name Jesus . . . . both Lord and Christ" (2:36). So in the Epistles: God has "given Him a name which is above every name," and that name is "Lord" (Phil. 2:9, 10). Thus, it is either as "Christ" which IS a title, or as the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is commonly referred to in the Epistles: read carefully 1 Cor. 1:3-10 for example. It is thus that His people should delight to own Him. To address the Lord of glory in prayer simply as "Jesus," or to speak of Him to others thus, breathes an unholy familiarity, a vulgar cheapness, an irreverence which is hightly reprehensible.
After the four Gospels the Lord Christ is never referred to in the N.T. simply as "Jesus" save for the purpose of historical identification (Acts 1:11, e.g.), or to stress the humiliation through which He passed, or when His enemies are speaking of Him. Here in Heb. 2:9 "Jesus" rather than "the Lord Jesus" is used to emphasise His humiliation: it was the One who had passed through such unparalleled shame and ignominy that had been "crowned with glory and honour." May Divine grace enable both writer and reader to entertain such exalted views of this same Jesus that we may ever heed the exhortation of 1 Peter 3:15: "But sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord" (R.V.)."
posted by Shadow @ 7:38 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Shadow,
Thanks for posting this quote.
It does seem to be an interesting observation Pink makes that people who call Jesus "Jesus of Nazareth" are people who don't know who Jesus is or are experiencing some doubts. It seems that by using that name, they deny that God the Father is Jesus' father and imply that Joseph is Jesus's father. They seem to be denying that Jesus was actually born in Bethlehem, which was a requirement for the Messiah. Either they are ignorant or in some degree of rebellion. Those are some things that might be drawn out of Pink's arguement, I guess.
I suppose if one lives in a place where Spanish is spoken freely, one should be careful about speaking about Jesus. He could be the welder down the street, like one of the neighbors I knew in San Antonio. However, the context of the conversation is probably a better indicator of which Jesus is being referred to in casual talk, a neighbor or the Son of God. Also, the context is also a better indicator of a person's heart concerning a respectful attitude or the lack thereof. A person could refer to Jesus of Nazareth not realizing the connection between that name and the lack of faith mentioned earlier. Of course, it makes sense now that if you know the connection, you might want to avoid using the name for your own edification or to avoid confusion in other people's minds.
This is a rambling comment. I hope it makes some sense.
-Arwen
Yes, thank you for the comment, I plan to speak about it a little more later. But it has also made me more aware as I read especially. The Westminster Confession for example does say "Lord Jesus" or something like that rather than plain "Jesus." Like I said, I'm going to try to say more later. It has been very good for me just to examine it though.
Post a Comment
<< Home