Saturday, December 21, 2019

Timo Eskola on Acts 7:55-56 and the Enthronement of Jesus



But being full of the Holy Spirit, he [Stephen] gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." (Acts 7:55-56 NASB)

Many critics (desperately, to be blunt) argue that, when Acts 7:55-56 speaks of Jesus being on the "right hand" of God the Father, such is a metaphor. In Lynn Wilder vs. Latter-day Saint (and Biblical) Theology on Divine Embodiment I refuted this. Indeed, in light of the use of Psa 110:1 (LXX: 109:1) and Dan 7:13 in the passage, and the fact that Luke is presenting a historical narrative and reporting what Stephen saw in a vision of heaven, such a reading is eisegetical, and the Latter-day Saint interpretation is sound.

On Acts 7:55-56 and the enthronement of Jesus, Finnish scholar Timo Eskola wrote:

In verse 55 the writer explains the throne vision that he is going to present next in the story. “But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” his should be considered one of the most important statements in the Christology of Acts. In this sentence Luke explains the relationship between Jesus’ eschatological teachings and the exaltation Christology of the early Church. The vision apparently makes the identification between Jesus and Son of Man possible.

Luke parallels the two main sentences in a way that cannot be misunderstood (Acts 7:55-56):

“I see . . .
the Son of Man
standing at the right hand of God”
“(he) saw . . .
Jesus
standing at the right hand of God”

In his gospel Luke has naturally prepared the way for such an identification. For example in the prediction of Jesus’ suffering (Luke 9:22) the resurrection of the Son of Man has been foretold, the reference being Ps. 110:1. In the eschatological speeches the parousia of the Son of Man is naturally described as a future event (21:27). In these narratives, however, enthronement is not the issue.

Another interesting detail in the Lukan gospel tradition is Jesus’ debate with the scribes over the Son of David. This is a story where the key is a word-play on Psalm 110. With a riddle concerning the son of David Jesus questioned the traditional Jewish concept of political messianism (Luke 21:40-44; and par., especially Mark 12:35-37). In Jewish eschatology the Davidic messiah was expected to be an ideal king who would restore the Davidic dynasty and destroy its enemies. The riddle was based on Psalm 110 where the Davidide is raised on the throne of glory: “The Lord says to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool’.” (110:1). The dynamic of the word-play is based on the word ‘Lord’. “David thus calls him Lord; so how can he be his son?” (Luke 20:44; cf. Mark 12:37). The point of Jesus’ speech is evident. The messiah cannot be merely a political earthly king. He must be a heavenly ruler who shall also be David’s Lord, not his son and subordinate. Therefore, in this story too the Son of Man is actually identified with the son of David.

Finally in the Gospel of Luke there is a bridge that reaches up to the speech of Stephen in the Acts. When Jesus is brought before the council for a trial, his provocative answer to the chief priests summarizes his eschatological proclamation (Luke 22:69). “But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God” (Fitzmyer, Acts, 392). This is an enthronement statement par excellence. The Son of Man is enthroned “at the right hand” of God. For Luke, the awaited enthronement is even nearer (“from now on”) than for Mark, who probably did not alter the traditional narration (“You will see the Son of Man seated . . . “, Mark 14:62).

For Luke, and apparently for his tradition as well, the enthronement of the Son of Man takes place at the resurrection. This fact essentially alters the traditional scholarly view of futurist eschatology. The same concept of exaltation has already appeared to be the basic line of thought in several speeches of the Acts. In Acts 2, naturally, Jesus has been made the Lord and Messiah in the resurrection. In Acts 3 the reign of this Messiah is described. He “must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration” (Acts 3:20-21). For Luke, the time of the “Church” is the time of Christ’s reign.

Therefore, in Stephen’s speech too the basic structure of early exaltation Christology may be detected. As the new Moses the exalted Jesus is the leader of Israel, a heavenly king. He is a universal ruler who has been enthroned on the throne of Glory in his resurrection. As an enthroned leader Christ is simultaneously the promised Davidide. Even though such identification of different types may seem odd, we must note that early Jewish Christian thought did not make scholarly distinctions between such definitions. Such Christology appears to be associative. The writers freely combined suitable elements of tradition, whenever it helped to reach the goal. For Luke and evidently for several other early writers before him, the promised Davidide was actually the Danielic Son of Man, who was expected to have a unique status in heaven. (Timo Eskola, Messiah and the Throne: Jewish Merkabah Mysticism and Early Christian Exaltation Discourse [Studies in Jewish and Christian Literature; Dallas: Fontes Press, 2019], 179-81)