Jesus’ Fourth Clear Claim to Deity!

from Google Images

The reason Jesus was condemned to die was that he claimed to be the Son of God. To show this, I’ll quote Luke but consider also the pertinent Scriptures in Matthew 26:63-66 and Mark 14:61-64 that record the trial of Jesus:

Luke 22:66-71 KJ2000 And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying, (67) Are you the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, you will not believe: (68) And if I also ask you, you will not answer me, nor let me go. (69) Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God. (70) Then said they all, Are you then the Son of God? And he said unto them, You say that I am. (71) And they said, What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth. (emphasis mine)

 

How Is the Messiah David’s Son?

from Google Images

Jesus had just defeated the scholarly Sadducees in a verbal battle of wits. In doing so, he had caused the Pharisees to rejoice, in that Jesus had shown how the Law points to the resurrection, something the rabbis had heretofore been unable to do. Therefore, perhaps not to appear he supported this group over that of the Sadducees, Jesus asked the disciples of the Pharisees how their teachers (the rabbis / scribes – see Mark 13:35) taught the Messiah was David’s son (Matthew 22:41; Luke 20:41).

 

Winding Down Paul’s Third Missionary Journey

As I mentioned in my previous blog, Paul had intended to collect an offering for the saints at Jerusalem, and, considering the times and the account of Josephus, the offering was most probably for those priests who were denied their tithes by the high priesthood there, particularly guilty was the high priesthood of the house of Annas (Sceva in Acts 19). Notice what Josephus says concerning Ananias (Annas in the Gospels):

 

Stephen’s Gospel Was Preached by Paul

Paul was involved in persecuting the church for perhaps a year or two when Jesus appeared to him on the way to Damascus and called him. It seems that Paul was instrumental in the death of Stephen (Acts 7:58-59), so it is almost like poetic justice that he should be the one who would later preach the same Gospel that got Stephen killed. The Gospel has always been Jesus crucified and risen from the dead, but what made Stephen’s Gospel different from that of Peter was to whom it was preached. Stephen preached that the Temple was not necessary and God blesses others besides the Jews. It was this same Gospel that Paul began to preach and that to the gentiles.