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| Concerning the Question of Jesus in Cæsarea, Who Do Men Say that I Am? Different Conceptions of Jesus. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
9. Concerning the
Question of Jesus in Cæsarea, Who Do Men Say that I Am?
Different Conceptions of Jesus.
“Now when Jesus came into the parts of
Cæsarea Philippi, He asked His disciples.”5605 Jesus inquires of the disciples,
“Who do men say that I am,” that we may learn from the
answer of the Apostles the different conceptions then held among the
Jews in regard to our Saviour; and perhaps also that the disciples of
Jesus might learn to be interested in knowing what is said by men about
them;5606 because that will be an advantage to them
who do it, by cutting off in every way occasions of evil if anything
evil is spoken of, and by increasing the incitements to good, if
anything good is spoken of. Only, observe how, on account of the
different movements of opinion among the Jews about Jesus, some, under
the influence of unsound theories, said that He was John the Baptist,
like Herod the tetrarch who said to his servants, “This is John
the Baptist, he is risen from the dead, and therefore do the powers
work in him;”5607 but others that He
who was now called Jesus was Elijah, either having been born a second
time, or living from that time in the flesh, and appearing at the
present time. But those who said that Jesus was Jeremiah, and not
that Jeremiah was a type of the Christ, were perhaps influenced by what
is said in the beginning of Jeremiah about Christ, which was not
fulfilled in the prophet at that time, but was beginning to be
fulfilled in Jesus, whom “God set up over nations and kingdoms to
root up, and to break down, and to destroy, and to build up, and to
transplant,”5608 having made Him to
be a prophet to the Gentiles to whom He proclaimed the word.
Moreover also those who said, “that he was a certain one of the
prophets,”5609 conceived this
opinion concerning Him because of those things which had been said in
the prophets as unto them, but which had not been fulfilled in their
case. But also the Jews, as worthy of the veil which was upon
their heart, held false opinions concerning Jesus; while Peter as not a
disciple “of flesh and blood,”5610
but as one fit to receive the revelation of the Father in heaven,
confessed that He was the Christ. The saying of Peter to the
Saviour, “Thou art the Christ,” when the Jews did not know
that He was Christ, was indeed a great thing, but greater that he knew
Him not only to be Christ, but also “the Son of the living
God,”5611 who had also said
through the prophets, “I live,”5612
and “They have forsaken Me the spring of living
water;”5613 —and He is
life also, as from the Father the spring of life, who said, “I am
the Life;”5614 and consider
carefully, whether, as the spring of the river is not the same thing as
the river, the spring of life is not the same as life. And these
things we have added because to the saying, “Thou art the Christ,
the Son of God,” was subjoined the word
“living;”5615 for it was
necessary to set forth something noteworthy in regard to that which is
said about God and the Father of all things as living, both in relation
to His absolute life, and in relation to those things which participate
in it. But since we said that they were under the influence of
unsound opinions who declared that Jesus was John the Baptist, or any
one of those named, in saying this let us prove that if they had fallen
in with Jesus as He was going away to John for baptism, or with John
when he was baptizing Jesus, or if they had heard it from any one, they
would not have said that Jesus was John. But also if they had
understood the opinions under the influence of which Jesus said,
“If ye are willing to receive it, this is Elijah which is to
come,”5616 and had heard what
was said, as men having ears, some would not have said that He was
Elijah. And if those who said that He was Jeremiah had perceived
that the most of the prophets took upon themselves certain features
that were symbolical of Him, they would not have said that He was
Jeremiah; and in like manner the others would not have said that He was
one of the prophets.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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