The Christology of the Gospels

Christological titles

Christ / Messiah (Χριστός; “Anointed”)
1. Synoptics: Peter’s confession (Mk 8:29; Mt 16:16; Lk 9:20) immediately followed by Jesus reframing his messiahship in terms of suffering (Mk 8:31–10:45).
2. John: “Messiah” (Jn 1:41; 4:25; 7:41-42), combined “the Christ, the Son of God” (Jn 11:27; 20:31).
Son of Man
1. Main views:
  1. It is an Aramaic idiom for self-reference (“this human”).
  2. It is an eschatological self-designation based on Daniel 7:13-14 (“one like a son of man”) as well as royal references in the Psalms (8:4; 80:17; 144:3).
2. Synoptics: Three clusters:
  1. Authority on earth (forgive sins, rule over Sabbath)
  2. Suffering/death
  3. Vindication at parousia
3. John: Less frequent; when present, tied to exaltation/glorification (e.g., Jn 3:13-15; 12:23-34).
Son of God
1. Semantic range: Royal son (2 Sam 7:14; Ps 2:7; Heb 1:5), God’s servant (Mt 12:18 / Isa 42:1), and unique filial relation to the Father (Jn 5:17-18).
2. Divine sonship revealed at baptism/transfiguration
3. Tested/contested in ministry
4. Exorcisms imply sovereign authority.
5. John: Filial language is pervasive; the Son uniquely reveals the Father, shares divine prerogatives (life-giving, judgment), and bears the divine Name (e.g., “I AM” sayings).
Lord (Κύριος)
1. Usage: From respectful address to a theologically weighty identifier that overlaps with YHWH-texts applied to Jesus (e.g., Mk 1:3 quoting Isa 40:3).
2. John: “Lord and God” confession (20:28) crowns the narrative.
Son of David
1. Meaning: Royal lineage and messianic credentials; prominent in Matthew (genealogy; fulfillment formulas) and in healing/exorcism scenes where crowds acclaim messianic mercy (e.g., Lk 7:16: “Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!’ and ‘God has visited his people!’”).
Prophet / Teacher / Rabbi
1. “Prophet” –
  1. Mt 13:57 / Mk 6:4 / Lk 4:24 / Jn 4:44: “Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.’
  2. Mt 21:11: “And the crowds said, ‘This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.’”
  3. Lk 7:16: “Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!’”
  4. Lk 24:19: “Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people.”
  5. Jn 6:14: “When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, ‘This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!’”
2. “Teacher” – Mt (10x), Mk (12x), Lk (15x), Jn (8x)
3. “Rabbi” – Mt (2x), Mk (4x); Jn (8x)
4. Prophetic identity: New Moses/Elijah motifs (Mt; Lk), Spirit-anointed prophet to the poor (Lk 4:16-30).
5. Teacher/Rabbi: Authority in instruction (Sermon on the Mount; parables); not merely didactic but identity-revealing (he speaks with God’s own authority).
Logos
1. John 1:1-18: Preexistence, agency in creation, and full deity alongside distinction from the Father; the Word becomes flesh.
Only Begotten (μονογενής)
1. John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18 (cp. 1 Jn 4:9)
2. Eternal generation.

Broader approaches to Gospel Christology

Narrative Christology
1. Method: Read each Gospel as a coherent story; identity emerges through plot, setting, characterization, point of view, and readerly cues.
2. Devices:
  1. Narrator privilege (e.g., Mk 1:1; Jn 1:1-18) frontloads identity.
  2. Showing: Jesus’ mighty deeds that only God can do, dominion over nature, authority over demons, and teaching with authority – all reveal his identity indirectly.
  3. Misunderstanding and recognition: Disciples begin with misunderstanding, but move to breakthrough confessions (e.g., Caesarea Philippi; centurion; Thomas).
  4. Conflict with opponents: high priest and Pilate ask him who he is; resurrection vindicates claims.
Divine Identity Christology
1. What Jesus does signals who he is
  1. Forgiving sins
  2. Redefining Sabbath/Temple
  3. Authority over creation
  4. Accepting worship
2. These are activities associated with Israel’s God and thus carry “divine-identity” implications.
Typology
1. Fulfillment: Use of Israel’s Scriptures (citations, allusions, typology) to construe Jesus within God’s purposes (e.g., Emmanuel, Israel, Shepherd, Temple).
2. Isaianic Servant: Especially in passion (e.g., “ransom,” “poured out,” suffering for “many”), threading the atonement logic into messiahship
3. The Gospels “thicken” identity by clustering multiple scriptural roles around Jesus.
4. Wisdom: Jesus embodies divine Wisdom’s presence and call (Sermon; Mt 11:19, 25-30).
5. Temple: He acts as the locus of God’s presence/authority (Temple action; “greater than the temple,” Mt 12:6; Jn 2).
6. Torah: He gives definitive interpretation, enacting end-time covenant renewal.
Agency and Sending (John)
1. Jewish agency model: The shaliach is sent with the full authority of the sender.
2. The Son is the Father’s uniquely authorized agent explains unity of will, revelation, and judgment.

Two inter-connected debates

“Early high” vs. “developmental” Christology
1. Early high: Divine identity is already present in the earliest strata (Mark’s opening, applied YHWH-texts, worship practices).
2. Developmental: Christology develops progressively, moving from functional agency (Synoptics) toward ontological claims (John).
“Ontological” vs. “functional” Christology
1. The Gospels apply OT YHWH-texts to Jesus.
2. But what should we take from this? Two main views:
3. Ontological: Jesus shares in the unique divine identity (creator, sovereign, worthy of worship).
4. Functional agency: Jesus is God’s uniquely authorized agent who performs God’s work.
Early High Christology Scholars:
1. Larry Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ
2. Larry Hurtado, How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God?
3. Martin Hengel, The Son of God
4. Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel
5. Irons in The Son of God: Three Views of the Identity of Jesus (by Irons, Dixon, and Smith)

The Deity of Christ

The “HANDS” Argument
See Robert Bowman Jr. and Ed Komoszewski, The Incarnate Christ and His Critics (Kregel, 2024).
Jesus shares the Honors due only to God (Matt 4:10; Rev 19:10)
1. Jesus as object of worship (Dan 7:14; Rev 5:8, 14)
  1. Magi worshipped him (Mt 2:2, 11)
  2. Disciples worshipped him (Matt 14:33; 28:9, 17; Lk 24:52)
2. Worship of Jesus commanded by God (Phil 2:10-11 [cp. Isa 45:21-23]; Heb 1:6)
3. Honor equal to the Father’s (John 5:23)
4. Doxologies: “Christ, to whom be the glory forever” (2 Tim 4:18; Heb 13:21; 1 Pet 4:11; 2 Pet 3:18; Rev 1:6)

Jesus shares the incommunicable Attributes of God
1. Aseity (John 5:26; Col 1:17; Heb 1:11-12)
2. Omnipotence (Dan 7:14; Matt 28:18; 1 Cor 15:27; Eph 1:20-22; Phil 3:21; 1 Pet 3:22)
3. Omniscience (Mk 8:31; Lk 21:20-24; John 13:11, 21-29)
  1. Knows thoughts of men
  2. Knows his coming passion
  3. Preparation for the Passover
4. Omnipresence (Eph 4:10)
5. Existing in the form of God, equality with God (Phil 2:6)
6. Preexistence
  1. More explicit in John (Jn 1:1-3; 17:5)
  2. But Synoptics also hint at it
    1. Mk 1:34; 3:11; 5:7: Recognition by demons
    2. Mk 1:38: “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came forth.”
Jesus shares the Names of God
1. “God” (8x: John 1:1, 18; 20:28; Rom 9:5; Tit 2:13 & 2 Pet 1:1; Heb 1:8; 1 John 5:20)
2. “Lord” (Acts 2:36; Rom 10:13; Phil 2:9-11; Rev 19:16)
3. “Savior” (Isa 43:11; 45:21; Hos 13:4 → Lk 2:11; John 4:42; Acts 5:31; Phil 3:20; 2 Tim 1:10; Tit 1:4; 2:13; 3:6)
4. “I AM” (Ex 3:14; Isa 43:10-11; 48:12 → John 4:26; 6:20; 8:24, 28, 58; 13:19; 18:5-8)
5. “The First and the Last” (Isa 44:6 → Rev 22:13)
Jesus shares in the Deeds that only God does
1. Creation (John 1:1-3; 1 Cor 8:6; Col 1:16; Heb 1:2)
2. Giving law/commandments (Matt 5:17-48; 7:28-29; 28:20; John 13:34; 14:15; 15:12)
3. Granting forgiveness (Matt 9:1-8; Lk 7:48-49; Acts 5:31; Col 3:13)
4. Giving life (Deut 32:39 → John 1:4; 5:21; 10:10; etc.; 1 Cor 15:45)
5. Raising the dead (John 6:40, 54; 11:25: “I am the resurrection and the life”)
  1. Jairus’s daughter (Mt 9:18–26 / Mk 5:21–43 / Lk 8:40–56)
  2. Widow’s son at Nain (Lk 7:11–17)
  3. Lazarus (Jn 11:38-44)
6. Sending the Spirit (John 15:26; Acts 2:33; Rom 8:9)
7. Final judgment (John 5:22; Acts 10:42; 17:31; Rom 14:9-10; 2 Cor 5:10)
Jesus shares the Seat of God’s throne
1. Psalm 110:1: “The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’”
2. Psalm 110:1 quoted or alluded to 22x in NT: Heb 1:3; 8:1; Rev 3:21; 5:6; etc. Jesus himself: Mt 22:42-45 (Mk 12:35-37 / Lk 20:41-44): Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, 44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’? 45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”
Passages that seemingly run counter
1. Son’s apparent subordination to Father
2. Matthew 24:36: “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”
3. John 5:19: “The Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.”
4. John 6:38: “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (cp. Matt 26:39: “Not as I will, but as you will”).
5. John 14:28: “The Father is greater than I.”
6. Heb 5:8: “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”
7. The answer:
  1. Not eternal subordination
  2. In every case, Son as incarnate

The Humanity of Christ

Humble circumstances of his birth
1. Conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary
2. Born through Mary’s birth canal
3. Had a bloody umbilical cord
4. Wrapped in cloths and put in a manger with domestic animals
5. Went through childhood and puberty
6. He had to learn and be obedient to his parents
7. Become an adult man
Hungry
1. Matthew 4:2 — “And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.”
2. Mark 11:12 — “On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.”
Thirsty
1. John 4:7 — “A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink.’”
2. John 19:28 — On the cross: “Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’”
Weary / Tired
1. John 4:6 — “Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well.”
Asleep
1. Matthew 8:24 — “And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.”
2. Mark 4:38 — “… asleep on the cushion.”
Sorrowful / Troubled
1. John 11:35 — “Jesus wept.”
2. Matthew 26:37–38 — “He began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.’”
3. Luke 22:44 — “And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
Crucified—real suffering, not apparent.
1. Nails pierced his body; his side opened by the soldier’s spear.
2. Blood and water flowed out—true bodily death.
He was buried–to show that he really died
After rising, he was with disciples forty days
1. Speaking, eating with them.
2. Luke 24:39-43: “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them.

Two Natures in One Person

Chalcedonian Definition (AD 451): “Following, then, the holy fathers, we all unanimously teach that our Lord Jesus Christ is to us one and the same Son, perfect in Godhead, perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man; of a rational soul and body; coessential with the Father according to the Godhead, co-essential with us according to the manhood; like us in all things, sin apart; before the ages begotten of the Father as to the Godhead, but in the last days, for us and for our salvation (born) of Mary the Virgin Theotokos as to the manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only-begotten; acknowledged in two natures unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the difference of the natures being in no way removed because of the union, but rather the properties of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one person.”
The four adverbs
1. Against Eutyches (fusion of natures)
  1. Unconfusedly: The divine and human are not mixed together into some third thing.
  2. Unchangeably: Neither nature is changed into the other (the divinity does not become humanity, nor the humanity divinity).
  3. These adverbs protect the distinction of natures.
2. Against Nestorius (division of persons)
  1. Indivisibly: Christ is not divided into two persons (“two Sons”).
  2. Inseparably: The two natures are inseparably and permanently united in the one person.
  3. These adverbs protect the unity of Christ’s person.

The Necessity of Christ’s Two Natures: A Synthesis of the Reformed Confessions

The Necessity That Christ Be True Man
1. To Satisfy Divine Justice: God’s justice requires that the same nature which sinned must also make satisfaction for sin (Heidelberg Catechism Q.16).
2. To Offer True Obedience and Suffering in Our Nature: He must obey the law and suffer in the flesh as man (Westminster Larger Catechism Q.39).
3. To Die for Us in the Weakness of His Flesh: As true man, he was able to die and thus bear the penalty of sin on our behalf (Belgic Confession Article 19).
4. To Be a Sympathetic Mediator: He shares in our infirmities, intercedes for us in our nature, and secures our adoption and bold access to God (WLC 39).
The Necessity That Christ Be True God
1. To Bear the Infinite Weight of Divine Wrath: Only divine power could sustain human nature under the infinite burden of God’s wrath (HC 17; WLC 38).
2. To Give Infinite Worth to His Obedience and Suffering: His divine nature imparts infinite value and efficacy to his atoning work (WLC 38).
3. To Conquer Death and Bring Life: As true God, he overcame death by his divine power and restores righteousness and life to us (BC 19; HC 17).
4. To Secure the Efficacy of His Mediation: He must be God to satisfy divine justice fully, to purchase a people, give them His Spirit, and bring them to everlasting salvation (WLC 38).
The Necessity That Christ Be Both God and Man in One Person
1. To Reconcile God and Man: Only one who is both can stand as Mediator between God and man (WLC 40).
2. To Unite the Works of Both Natures in One Saving Person: The works of each nature are accepted by God for us as the acts of the one Mediator (WLC 40).
3. To Secure Our Resurrection: Our salvation and resurrection depend on the real union of divine and human in the one person of Christ (BC 19).

Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of God”

Narrators (evangelists) highlight this compound title at key moments
1. Mk 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2. Mt 16:16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
3. Mt 26:63 / Mk 14:61 But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God” (Mk: *“*the Son of the Blessed”).
4. Jn 11:27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
5. Jn 20:31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
The Angel Gabriel to Mary
1. Lk 1:32, 35 – “He will be called the Son of the Most High … The child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God” (cp. Mt 1:20-23).
The Father: “This is my beloved Son”
1. Mt 3:17 / Mk 1:11 / Lk 3:22 – baptism of Jesus
2. Mt 17:5 / Mk 9:7 / Lk 9:35 – transfiguration of Jesus
Satan and Demons recognize him as the Son of God
1. Mt 4:3, 6 / Lk 4:3, 9 – Satan: “If you are the Son of God…” (2x)
2. Mk 3:11 / Lk 4:41: the demons: “You are the Son of God!” (cp. Mk 1:34: “they knew him”)
3. Mt 8:29 / Mk 5:7 / Lk 8:28 – Gadarene/Gerasene demoniac(s): “Jesus, Son of the Most High God.”
Jesus teaches the disciples that he is the Son of God
1. Mt 10:32-33 – “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”
2. Mt 11:25-27 / Lk 10:21-22 – “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
3. Mt 16:17 – “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”
4. Mt 16:27 / Mk 8:38 / Lk 9:26 – “For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father …”
5. Mt 18:10, 14 – “In heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven … It is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that …”
6. Mt 18:19 – “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.”
7. Mt 20:23 – “… to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”
8. Mt 24:36 / Mk 13:32 – “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”
9. Mt 25:24 – “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom …”
10. Lk 22:29 – “As my Father assigned to me a kingdom …”
11. Mt 26:39, 42 / Mk 14:36 / Lk 22:42 – “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass …” (Mark has “Abba, Father”)
12. Mt 26:53 – “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?”
13. Mt 28:19 – “… in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
14. Lk 24:49 – “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you.”
Jesus implies his sonship in public, but is more direct at the very end
1. Lk 2:49 – The boy Jesus: “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
2. Mt 7:21 – “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
3. Mt 12:50 – “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
4. Mt 21:37-38 / Mk 12:6-7 / Lk 20:13-14 – implied in the Parable of the Wicked Tenants: “Finally [the vineyard owner] sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’”
5. Mt 22:2 – implied in the Parable of the Wedding Feast: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.”
6. Mt 26:63-64 / Mk 14:61-62 / Lk 22:70 – in response to the high priest’s question, Jesus affirms, “I am.”
7. Lk 23:34, 46 – “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do … Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
8. Jn 5:17-18: “… he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.” (cp. Jn 10:29-33; 19:7).
Unbelieving men who knew of his claim to be Son of God
1. Mt 26:63-64 / Mk 14:61-62 / Lk 22:70 – the high priest’s skeptical question, “Are you the Son of God?”
2. Mt 27:40, 43 / Lk 23:35 – Mockers: “If you are the Son of God…” / “He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
Believing men confess him to be the Son of God
1. Mt 14:33 – the disciples: “Truly you are the Son of God.”
2. Mt 16:16 / [Mk 8:29] / [Lk 9:20] – Peter’s confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (implied in Mk: “You are the Christ,” and Lk: “The Christ of God”).
3. Mt 27:54 / Mk 15:39 / [Lk 23:47] – the centurion: “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Lk: “… was innocent!”).

What compound title “Messiah, Son of God” means

It signifies that the divine Son of God became a man and lived out that sonship in human form as the anointed bearer of the kingdom (two natures in one person)
Key narrative moments revealing his identity as the bearer of the Kgdm
1. Healing the sick
2. Power over demons
3. Authoritative teaching
4. Feeding the multitudes
5. Cleansing the temple
6. Obediently offering himself as sacrifice
7. Raised from the dead as living Lord
Westminster Confession VIII: Of Christ the Mediator:
1. “The Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance and equal with the Father, did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon him man’s nature, with all the essential properties, and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin; being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her substance. So that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion. Which person is very God, and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.”
2. “The Lord Jesus, in his human nature thus united to the divine, was sanctified, and anointed with the Holy Spirit, above measure, having in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; in whom it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell; to the end that, being holy, harmless, undefiled, and full of grace and truth, he might be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of a mediator, and surety.”

Distinctive christological emphases of each Gospel

Mark
1. “Jesus Christ, Son of God” (1:1); authority over demons/disease/nature; Messianic secrecy reorients expectations; passion as royal enthronement (crown of thorns, acclamation, “king of the Jews”); climactic confessions (8:29; 15:39).
2. Son of Man qualifies and defines the kind of messiah he is: authority, suffering, vindication.
Matthew
1. Fulfillment Christology: Jesus as Emmanuel, Son of David/Abraham; scriptural fulfillment; new Moses; wisdom teacher who fulfills Torah and embodies Israel’s story.
2. Ecclesiology: The Davidic king, with all authority (28:18-20), fashions and forms the new people of God (“my church”).
Luke
1. Spirit-anointed Prophet-Lord: Programmatic Nazareth sermon; concern for the poor, outcasts, table fellowship; “Savior/ Lord” titles in infancy narratives.
2. Continuity into Acts: Exaltation to God’s right hand confirms messiahship; Jesus’s identity is preached within Israel’s Scriptures to the nations.
John
1. Preexistent Logos, only begotten Son, shared divine prerogatives, “I am” sayings, exclusive agency/revelation of the Father.
2. Glory through the cross: Crucifixion as exaltation; Thomas’s climactic confession: “My Lord and my God.”
The four Gospels’ presentations of the identity of Jesus are complementary
1. Mark (suffering Son of Man; royal enthronement through the cross)
2. Matthew (Emmanuel/fulfillment; Son of David),
3. Luke (Spirit-anointed Prophet-Lord, universal Savior),
4. John (preexistent Son/Logos, revelation of the Father, glory through the cross).