Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§16.2 How Did Jesus See His Own Role?
tradition which might have given foothold or stimulus to what certainly appears
to be a substantial development of one form or another.
Here as before it is wise to set the context in which any such language used
of or by Jesus would have been heard.
a. The First-Century 'Context of Meaning'
It is important to grasp at once that, in contrast to later Christian usage, 'son of
God' was not such an exclusive title or distinctive designation in the thinking of
the time. The usage has been reviewed frequently in the last three decades of the
twentieth century so that no more than a brief summary is necessary here. 10
Within the wider circles of Hellenistic culture 'son of God' was used of
legendary heroes like Dionysus and Heracles, of oriental, especially Egyptian,
rulers, and of famous philosophers like Pythagoras and Plato; in Stoic philosophy
Zeus was popularly thought of as the father of all men. 1 ' Within Jewish tradition
the term had been used collectively for Israel 12 or in the plural for angels/
the heavenly council 13 or the king. 14 The Qumran scrolls have made clear that
the expected royal Messiah was also thought of as God's son. 15 Equally interest-
10. E.g. P. W. von Martitz, G. Fohrer, E. Schweizer, and E. Lohse, huios, TDNT 8.335-
62; Vermes, Jesus the Jew 194-200; M. Hengel, The Son of God: The Origin of Christology and
the History of Jewish-Hellenistic Religion (London: SCM, 1976) 21-56; J. Fossum, 'Son of
God', ABD 6.128-33. Fuller detail also in my Christology 14-16.
11. Details in von Martitz, TDNT 8.336-40; Hengel, Son of God 24; Fossum, ABD
6.132-33.
12. Exod. 4.22; Jer. 31.9, 20; Hos. 11.1; see also, e.g., Deut. 14.1; 32.6, 18; Isa. 43.6; Jer.
3.4, 19; Hos. 1.10; Wis. 9.7; 18.13; Jub. 1.24-25; Pss. Sol. 17.27.
13. Gen. 6.2, 4; Deut. 32.8; Job 1.6-12; 2.1-6; 38.7; Pss. 29.1; 89.6; Dan. 3.25; cf. 1 En.
13.8; 106.5.
14. 2 Sam. 7.14; 1 Chron. 17.13; 22.10; Pss. 2.7; 89.26-27. See further Fohrer, TDNT
8.347-53; Fossum, ABD 6.128-29.
15. IQSa (lQ28b) 2.11-12 ('when [God] begets the Messiah'); 4Q174 (4QFlor) 1.10-12
(2 Sam. 7.12-14 refers to 'the "branch of David" who will arise with the Interpreter of the
law'). C. A. Evans, 'A Note on the "First-Born Son" of 4Q369', DSD 2 (1995) 185-201, thinks
the 'first-born son' of 4Q369 1 2.6 is a Davidic and messianic figure. On 4Q246 ('He will be
called son of God, and they will call him son of the Most High') see the discussion in Collins,
Scepter and Star 154-64; J. D. G. Dunn, '"Son of God" as "Son of Man" in the Dead Sea
Scrolls? A Response to John Collins on 4Q246', in S. E. Porter and C. A. Evans, eds., The
Scrolls and the Scriptures: Qumran Fifty Years After (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1997)
198-210 (with further bibliography). See also 1 En. 105.2; 4 Ezra 7.28-29; 13.32, 37, 52; 14.9.
The Qumran evidence should have killed stone dead the old view that 'son of God' was not a
messianic title in Second Temple Judaism (e.g., W. Bousset, Kyrios Christos [1913; ET Nashville:
Abingdon, 1970] 93; Kümmel, Promise 83); even so Fuller was only willing to conclude
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