Jesus: A Portrait

Chapter 3: Divine and Human

Being Divine (p39)

Billy Graham's parody of John 3:16: "God so loved the world that he sent another prophet"; sending a representative would have cost him nothing; "sending his only son cost the owner of the vineyard everything": dangerously anthropocentric - KC; "By recognising the divine identity of Jesus, Christians are justified in drawing a consoling conclusion: God so valued and cherished us and our world, that the Son of God in person entered this unjust and violent world and let himself become vulnerable, even to the point of dying on a cross": circular - KC (p40). "This divine self-sharing and self-giving make God's love for us truly believable and powerfully effective": circular - KC; sequence: action creation; witness in prophets; presence in Jesus. Worship of Jesus  began early (Philippians 2:10-11) (p41). Accepts Hurtado claims that worship went back much further than Paul; strongest evidence in John; synoptics assign Jesus' divinity to witnesses; kenosis rather than fulfilment; Son of Man (p42).

Being Human (p43)

List of examples of Jesus' humanity (p43). Examples of his imagination as: 1. demotic; 2. agricultural; 3. lacks mother/child husband/wife imagery (p44). Compare the last silence with Isaiah 66:10-13 (p45). No sense of nature or pathos; no "lacrimae rerum" - PVM; little about his own failures and perplexities; little sense of history (does not mention the Exodus &c) (p46). Examples of his imagination: 4. earthy particularity (p47). summary (p48).

The Significance of Jesus' Humanity (p48)

"As one of us he can experience and love us": a fraction sentimental and anthropocentric - KC; can represent us to God; concretely show us how to act, suffer and pray; persuade us that God loves us (p48). We can follow Christ because he shares our human condition; indicates the nature of redemption (p49).

Divine and Human (p49)

4:4 some 10 years before Mark; Romans 1:3-4; Ebionites and Docetists (p49).