From all this it is evident that while the title ' Son of God,' which had come to be associated with essentially theocratic ideas, as of the election of Israel by the adojition of grace as sons of God, and of the Messiah as King of Israel, and was there- fore open to misunderstanding and misconstruc- tion, was seldom used by Jesus or His disciples
XAMES AXD TITLES OF CHRIST
xa:\ies axd titles of cheist 223
as a title of our Lord ; the testimony of all the Gospels, and especially of the Fourth, distinctly shows tliat Jesus claimed to be the Son of God in the strictest sense of the term, as essentially and eternally One with God the Father (cf. St. Johns summary of the aim of his Gospel in 20*' ' These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and tliat believing ye might have life through his name '). See also sep. article.
6. The Word or The Logos. Tliis name is peculiar to the Fourth Gospel, and there it occurs only in the Prologue ^Jn V- '■•). Much controversy has arisen as to the probable sources from which the Apostle derived his conception of Christ as the Logos — a controversy the more natural that the term ' the "SVord ' as used by St. John represents the meeting point of Hebrew theology, Hellenic philo- sophy, and the religion of Jesus Christ. To that controversy little reference need here be made. See art. Logos.
The Logos doctrine of St. John may be sum- marized thus. God's revelation of Himself in the historj' of mankind is a complete unity. Creation, Pi'ovidence, and Redemption are parts of the same grand purpose, whose object is the highest well- being of Gods creatures, and especially of man, the head and crown of the creation. In each we have God revealing Himself, and that through a ^lediator. This ^lediator, more or less darkly imagined by mankind from the beginning until these last times, and more or less clearly revealed to God's chosen people in the days of the fathers as the Angel of the Covenant or the Angel of the Presence, is the same in w hom He has now mani- fested Himself, the Christ by whom God has now- spoken to those to whom the promise was given, and who had long been expecting their Messiah, and to all the sons of men, as many as will receive Him. Thus is the Christ, the Redeemer of Israel, the very Word of God, the last, the perfect revelation of the ^Most High, and the Redeemer of the world.
The Prologue of the Gospel is St. John's appeal to the nations, and speaks thus : ' In Christ Jesus, whom we knew, who as a man among men com- panied with us, God has spoken, has manifested Himself to us who beheld His glory, and to all that have welcomed that Word of the Father. In Christ the Word Avas made flesh and dwelt among us. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.' Tlds conception of Christ as the Logos, the same that was in the beginning with God, neces- sarily involves the doctrine of the essential Deity and eternal pre-existence of Christ. But the point which St. John specially brings out by his use of the term is that in Christ God perfectly reveals Himself to man, and gives to all that receive Christ that adoption by which they may become ' children of God" (reKva deov, not vloi, Jn F- ; cf. 1 Jn 3')- Having in the Prologue established this point, St. John makes no further use of the term Logos in his Gospel, where " Son ' or ' Son of God ' takes its place.
7. Son of Man. — This title seems to have been most favoured by our Lord, and occurs with great frequency, especially in the Synoptic Gospels. Two typical instances may be gaven of our Lord's preference for this name. One is found in the Gospel of St. John, where the title least frequently occurs — that of Christ's answer to Nathanael, who had just acknow leilged Him as Son of God. Jesus, accepting Nathanael's confession, replied thus : ' Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig-tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith unto him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter je shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending
and descending upon the Son of Man ' ( Jn 1^- '^). The other is His replj- to the adjuration of the high priest, who asked Him whether He was the Christ the Son of God, in which again, immediately after acknowledging that such was His claun. He spoke of Himself as Son of Man, and that in con- nexion with a prophecy of His appearing on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven (Mt 2Q^-^ Mk I4«i- •^- Lk ±>^~-''-'}. For the origin and history of the title ' Son of Man,' see separate article.