The Cross of the Son of God

by Martin Hengel

Publisher:

SCM Press

, 1986

Overview

Christology developed more in the period from the crucifixion of Jesus to the writing of Paul’s letter to the Philippians than in the following seven centuries combined. This volume conveniently collects together three related short studies by Martin Hengel: The Son of God, Crucifixion and The Atonement. Together they form an important introduction to a crucial period in the development of Christian belief.

Contents

Top Highlights

“This break was explained in terms of the revolutionary insight that the death of the Messiah Jesus on Golgotha had brought about once and for all—note the significance of the ἅπαξ or ἐφάπαξ in such different texts as Rom. 6:10; 1 Peter 3:18 and Heb. 7:27; 9:12, etc.—universal atonement for all guilt.” (Page 235)

“It is also striking that in almost all his statements about the Son of God, Paul uses the title when he is speaking of the close bond between Jesus Christ and God, that is, of his function as the mediator of salvation between God and man.” (Page 10)

“The Messiah of Israel could never ever at the same time be the one who according to the words of the Torah was accursed by God. It was perhaps for this very reason that the leaders of the people and their clientèle had pressed for the execution of Jesus by crucifixion.¹⁴ This was the most obvious way to refute his messianic claim.” (Page 231)

“It is the crucifixion that distinguishes the new message from the mythologies of all other peoples.” (Page 93)

“It was taken for granted that God would grant victory to the Messiah; the message of his death on the cross, however, was a scandal. For in the light of all our present knowledge, the suffering and dying Messiah was not yet a familiar traditional figure in the Judaism of the first century ad. The figure of the suffering Messiah from the tribe of Ephraim only appears in the rabbinic Haggadah from about the middle of the second century ad, as a result of the catastrophes of ad 70, 115–116 and 132–135. For a Jewish audience, the confession ‘the Messiah died …’ must have been an unprecedented novelty, indeed a scandal which—at least in the light of our present knowledge of extant sources—contradicted the prevailing popular messianic expectation.” (Page 228)

Product Details

• Title: The Cross of the Son of God
• Author: Martin Hengel
• Publisher: SCM Press
• Print Publication Date: 1986
• Logos Release Date: 2015
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Jesus Christ › History of doctrines--Early church, ca. 30-600; Son of God › History of doctrines; Jesus Christ › Crucifixion
• ISBN: 033401963
• Resource ID: LLS:SCMCROSSSONGOD
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T02:52:56Z

About Martin Hengel

Martin Hengel (1926–2009) was emeritus professor of New Testament and early Judaism at the University of Tübingen. He specialized in early Christianity and the origins of Christianity. 

Hengel began studying theology in 1947 in Tübingen before moving to the University of Heidelberg in 1949. He eventually earned his Ph.D. in 1959 from the University of Tübingen.

Hengel’s works include Studies in Early Christology, Crucifixion: In the Ancient World and the Folly of the Message of the Cross, and The Septuagint as Christian Scripture: Its Prehistory and the Problem of its Canon.