Acts 7:51-60: Christ as Lord and Son
of Man
The imagery of the king enthroned at the right hand of God in
Psalm 110 also appeared very early in the Christian experience of visions of
the resurrected Christ. Stephen angered the Jews to whom he preached by
declaring the coming of the “Righteous One,” (the KJV has “Just one,” του δικαιου, tou dikaiou, = צדדיק, tsedek)
probably alluding to Melchizedek, or malchi tzedek, the king of
righteousness to whom Jesus is implicitly compared (Acts 7:52). Such a connection
appears even more likely in the context of allusion not the royal Psalm 110
where Christ is enthroned as king or melek. Christ thus becomes the just
king or melek tsedek. Stephen said that the Jews had unjustly murdered
Jesus, the “Righteous Ones” whom the prophets had testified would come. The acclamation
of the king as Lord by “my Lord” in Psalm 110 culminated in a declaration that
the king is also a priest after the order of the king of peace, Melchizedek: “The
Lord hath sworn and will not repent, Thou art a priest after the order of
Melchizedek” (Ps. 110:4). Luke records words attributed to Stephen that so outraged
the Jews that they took up stones:
55. But he,
filled with the holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of
God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
56. and he said, “Behold I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at
the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:55-56, NAB).
Those present would have heard an allusion comparing Christ
to Melchizedek and also to the Son of Man figure—both as a second deity in
heaven given power and authority by the Most High God. Whether the Jews
generally were aware of the exalted view of Melchizedek as God’s chief agent
and even “god” at Qumran is uncertain, but such a comparison would explain
their reaction to Stephen’s message—they cried that he had committed blasphemy warranting
stoning. The Jews were “merely” angered at Stephen’s claim that they had
murdered Jesus; but his claim to see Jesus standing as the Son of Man at the
right hand of God outraged them to that they “covered their ears” and picked up
stones to kill him on the spot. They clearly regarded Stephen’s claim as blasphemy.
However, Jesus does not sit on a throne but “stands” at the right of God, thus
indicating that he is both distinct from and subordinate to God. He is God’s
royal vizier. As Stephen approached death, Luke (who was not present) says that
he exclaimed; “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59, alluding to Psalm 31:6).
This statement is significant, not only because Stephen again uses the term “Lord
Jesus,” but because he remits his soul to Jesus and not to the one God by quoting
a Psalm that originally referred to Yahweh.
The fact that the epithet “Lord” used for God was also used
for Christ indicates that Jesus Christ was seen as sharing in the divine
qualities and name of God. In Larry Hurtado’s terms, the use of the kyrios-title,
“Lord,” indicates that Jesus had been made to share in the divine glory and
transcendence as the chief agent of God. The fact that Jesus is enthroned as
the right hand of God shows that he is second in divine authority only to God.
In the culture of honor and shame, to sit at the right hand of the patron meant
that a great honor was bestowed. When his notion is joined with the grant of
the title “Lord” and the inheritance, the message is clear: Jesus has been
given the highest honor possible by being given the name and everting that the benefactor
has to give by honoring him as his own son and heir. Adela Collins summarized well
the significance of Psalm 110:
The regal
connotations of the epithet are clear in the Synoptic passage that portrays
Jesus asking, “How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David?
David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, declared, ‘The Lord said to my
Lord, Sit at my right hand. . . .” The implied interpretation is that the
speaker in Psalm 110:1, David, refers to the God as “Lord” and then to the
Messiah also as “Lord.” The Messiah is thus the final and definitive king who
is superior even to the ideal king of the past, David. The realm of messianic
Lord is all creation, not just the land of Israel. (Adela Yarbro Collins, “The
Worship of Jesus and the Imperial Cult,” 239)
This same view of Christ as God’s chief agent and vizier is
succinctly stated in one of the earliest Christian documents (about 50 A.D.), 1
Thessalonians 1:9-10, which states that one of Paul’s Gentile converts had
turned from idols to worship “and to await his son from heaven, whom he raised from
the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.” As Larry Hurtado
noted, this “last statement presents Jesus in a role strikingly similar to the Melchizedek
of 11QMelchizedek, who likewise functions as the divinely appointed deliverer
of the elect, God’s chief agent and vizier of eschatological redemption.” (Larry
Hurtado, One God, One Lord, 95-96)
Blake T. Ostler, Exploring Mormon Thought: Of Gods and
Gods (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2008), 130-32