Friday, September 1, 2023

Blake Ostler, "Acts 7:51-60: Christ as Lord and Son of Man"

  

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