tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13958708.post1290610345607313647..comments2024-03-28T00:08:14.247-07:00Comments on Foster's Theological Reflections: John 17:3 and John BehrEdgar Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280475259670777653noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13958708.post-27174689790623388542015-09-21T16:55:26.743-07:002015-09-21T16:55:26.743-07:00Kaz: Even some who concede that Christ is God'...Kaz: Even some who concede that Christ is God's agent or shaliach want to still depict him as fully God and coequal to the Father in substance. I believe Bauckham contends that Christ cannot legitimately be compared to the exalted figures of 2nd Temple Judaism. It's been a while since I read his work, but I recall him making this kind of observation.<br /><br />David: Thanks for the quote and link. I'll bookmark Behr's online essay. His view of Jn 17:3 is still curious to me. It sounds ambivalent.Edgar Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00280475259670777653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13958708.post-48929697467393739702015-09-20T19:33:05.593-07:002015-09-20T19:33:05.593-07:00Since we are on the subject. I was thinking of Isa...Since we are on the subject. I was thinking of Isaiah 9:6, the expression El Gibbor, mighty God, mighty divine one. Were the Jews to be expecting a second God, mighty divine one?Philip Fletcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06423325210695384048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13958708.post-16648434802104019052015-09-19T10:36:52.829-07:002015-09-19T10:36:52.829-07:00Hi Edgar,
Good post. It had been quite awhile sin...Hi Edgar,<br /><br />Good post. It had been quite awhile since I last read Behr's, <i>The Way to Nicaea</i>, but your post prompted me to pull the book down from the shelf, and reread the portions I had previously highlighted. I found the following on page 63 to be very interesting:<br /><br />"Jesus is all that YHWH himself is, that is, fully divine, yet without actually being YHWH himself, for YHWH is the Father." (Behr repeats this same theme in <a href="http://www.antiochian.org/trinity-scripture-and-greek-fathers" rel="nofollow">THIS ONLINE ESSAY</a>.)<br /><br />Behr's comments reminds of the all too often repeated phrase by so many Evangelicals: 'Jesus is Jehovah'. One could say that this phrase has become an embedded 'tradition' within Evangelicalism; but, it is a 'tradition' without any foundation in the Bible (so much for <i>sola scriptura</i> !!!), or the early Church Fathers.<br /><br /><br />Grace and peace,<br /><br />David<br />David Waltzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17966083488813749052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13958708.post-34652486656758078182015-09-19T04:19:36.103-07:002015-09-19T04:19:36.103-07:00Strange how so few exegetes seem to realize that f...Strange how so few exegetes seem to realize that for one to be *called* God a determinitive guide for establishing that said individual is the one God of Jewish and Christian monotheism. This reminds me of concluding remarks I made in my blog post "On the Problem of Expectation":<br /><br />"...divine titles could be applied to agents of God in pretty much all forms of Jewish literature that existed at the time the New Testament was written. One often finds a strange disconnect in the writings of so many scholars and religious commentators in that while they often discuss the uncontroversial application of divine titles to agents of God in the Bible and in the literature of the period, they fail to recognize that it is precisely because Jesus is God's agent -- his living, breathing power-of-attorney -- that we find divine titles applied to him. Once we recognize (a) the flexible use of such divine titles in the biblical period among monotheistic Jews, and (b) the contexts in which such applications were considered appropriate, then we come to realize something we might not have expected: Not only is it not surprising to find divine titles applied to Jesus in the New Testament, but it in light of his unique status as God's agent par excellence, it would be downright shocking to find that such titles were not applied to him!"<br /><br />~Sean (Kaz)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com