There is no necessary contradiction between these two hypotheses; and we must not Introduce here a factitious " either — or." What It behooves us to do is simply to inquire how the matter lay in Mark's mind; what the real significance of the Messiahship he at- tributed to Jesus, and represented Jesus as claiming for Himself, Is; and whether he posits for Jesus and represents Him as asserting for Himself something more than a human personality.
36 The Designations of Our Lord
We cannot have failed to note in reviewing the designations appHed In the course of Mark's narrative Jesus' Person to our Lord, a tendency of them all Enhances His when applied to Him to grow in rich- Designations j^ggg q£ content. The term ' Lord ' Is merely an honorific address, equivalent to our ' Sir ' : but when applied to Jesus It seems to expand in significance until it ends by implying supreme authority. The term * Messiah ' is a mere term of office and might be ap- plied to anyone solemnly set apart for a service: but when applied to Jesus It takes on fuller and fuller significance until It ends by assimilating Him to the Divine Being Himself. He who simply reads over Mark's narrative, noting the designations he applies to our Lord, accordingly, will not be able to doubt that Mark conceived of Jesus not merely as officially the representative of God but as Himself a superhuman person, or that Mark means to present Jesus as Him- self so conceiving of His nature and personality. The evidence of this Is very copious, but also often rather subtle; and, in endeavoring to collect and appreciate it, we might as well commence with some of the plain- est items, although this method involves a somewhat unordered presentation of It.
Let us look, then, first at that remarkable passage (13^^) in which Jesus acknowledges ignorance of the Jesus a time of His (second) coming.^ Here, Superangelic in the very act of admitting limitations Person ^^ pjj^ knowledge, in themselves aston- ishing. He yet asserts for Himself not merely a super-
^ On account of this profession of ignorance, Prof. Schmiedel {Encyc. Biblica, 1881) gives this passage a place among those nine "absolutely credible passages " which he calls " the foundation pillars for a truly
Mark's Conception of Our Lord 37
human but even a superangelic rank In the scale of being.
In any possible Interpretation of the passage, He separates Himself from the " angels in heaven " (note the enhancing definition of locality, carrying with it the sense of the exaltation of these angels above all that is earthly) as belonging to a different class from them, and that a superior class. To Jesus as He is reported, and presumably to Mark reporting Him, we see, Jesus " the Son " stands as definitely and as incomparably above the category of angels, the high- est of God's creatures, as to the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, whose argument may be taken as a commentary upon this passage (Heb i"* 2^). Nor is this passage singular In Mark in exalting Jesus in dig- nity and authority above the angels. Already In the account of the temptation at the opening of His min- istry we find the angels signalized as ministering to Him (i^^), and elsewhere they appear as His subor- dinates swelling His train (8^^) or His servants obey- ing His behests (13^^ "He shall send the angels"). Clearly, therefore, to Mark Jesus is not merely a superhuman but a superangelic personality: and the question at once obtrudes Itself whether a superangelic person is not by that very fact removed from the category of creatures.
scientific life of Jesus." If so, a " truly scientific life of Jesus " must allow that He asserted for Himself a superangelic, that is, a more than creaturely dignity of person. Others, just for this reason, would deny the words to Jesus (e.g. Martineau, Seat of Authority in Religion, 590; N. Schmidt, The Prophet of Nazareth, 147, 231 note), and even Dalman is not superior to the temptation arbitrarily to apportion them partly to Jesus and partly to His followers {Words, p. 194). But all this is purely subjective criticism.
38 The Designations of Our Lord
A similar implication, as has already been pointed
out, is embedded in the title ' Son of Man,' which
Jesus Mark represents as our Lord's stated