THE PREEXISTENT SON

Recovering the Christologies of Matthew, Mark, and Luke

Simon J. Gathercole

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, U.K.

© 2006 Simon J. Gathercole

All rights reserved

Published 2006 by

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

2140 Oak Industrial Drive N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505 /

P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gathercole, Simon J.

The preexistent Son: recovering the christologies of Matthew, Mark, and Luke /

Simon J. Gathercole.

p. cm.

Includes indexes.

ISBN 978-0-8028-2901-6 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Jesus Christ—History of doctrines—Early church, ca. 30-600

2. Bible. N.T. Gospels—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title.

BT198.G35 2006

232′.809015—dc22

2006015825

www.eerdmans.com

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

Part One: Prolegomena

1. Preexistence in Earliest Christianity

Excursus: “Prophetic Dialogue” in Hebrews

2. The Transcendence of Christ in Matthew, Mark, and Luke

Part Two: The Advent and Mission of Jesus

3. The “I Have Come” + Purpose Formula in Matthew, Mark, and Luke

Excursus: Three Red Herrings

4. False Perspectives on the “I Have Come” Sayings

Excursus: “Coming” Language in the Dead Sea Scrolls

5. Use of the “I Have Come” + Purpose Formula by Angels

6. A New Reading of the Synoptic “I Have Come” Sayings

7. The Mission of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels

Part Three: Jesus, the Incarnation of Preexistent Wisdom?

8. A Critique of the Wisdom Christology Hypothesis

9. The Preexistent Christ and the History of Israel (Matthew 23:37)

Excursus: An Incipient Logos Christology in Luke-Acts?

Part Four: The Titles of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, and Luke

10. “Messiah” and “Anatolē” (Luke 1:78)

11. “Lord”

12. “Son of Man”

13. “Son of God”

14. Some Aspects of the Contemporary Theological Debate

Conclusion

Select Bibliography

Index of Authors

Index of Subjects

Index of Ancient Sources

Preface

Writing a second book is in some ways more daunting than doing a Ph.D. In the case of the doctoral thesis, one has an eagle-eyed and more experienced scholar reading the thing and warning you off areas of clear and present danger. After that, no one quite gives your work the same attention again. But since it continues to be a very risky business writing something without trying it out on other people first, there are a number of people I must thank for their patience and advice.

First of all, I should thank my New Testament colleagues in Aberdeen—Francis Watson, Andrew Clarke, Pete Williams, and Howard Marshall. Francis Watson first provoked me to think more deeply about preexistence and alerted me to the work of Robert Jenson, which was the main stimulus for writing this book. In addition, most of the chapters here have been inflicted on our long-suffering weekly New Testament Seminar. I am also grateful to the similar seminars in St. Andrews and Cambridge—the former for its encouragement in the project, the latter for giving me a good ...