A Mediator in Matthew: An Analysis of the Son of Man’s Function in the First Gospel
Ebook
Overview
What is a consistent theological meaning of the Son of Man in the Gospel of Matthew? For a suitable response, it is essential to analyze all thirty Son of Man logia in their relative literary contexts and in relationship to the gospel as a whole. Also, to bring out the uniqueness in Matthew’s portrayal of the Son of Man, a comparison with the other Synoptic Gospels aids the investigation. This work argues that the answer lies in the role of the Son of Man in the first Gospel. In Matthew, Jesus the Son of Man functions as mediator of God’s will to his genuine disciples. As the Son of Man journeys through his earthly life climaxing in his death and resurrection, Jesus mediates God’s will through his message and works and by exhibiting active obedience to his Father in the heavens. Jesus’s genuine disciples learn how to emulate the Son of Man’s character and ministry, enabling them to continue it in their future mission. At his parousia, the Son of Man will mediate God’s promised vindication and reward for his genuine disciples who have proven their fidelity to Jesus and God’s will.
“Saunders’s creative and original argument draws the whole set
of Matthean uses of Son of Man, in all their varied contexts, into
a credible coherent whole: as the Son of Man, Jesus reveals the
will of God by teaching, by example, and even by revealing the
future of judgment, vindication, and vindication to which one’s
orientation to the will of God will lead.”
—John Nolland, former Vice-Principal and Academic Dean, Trinity
College Bristol, and Visiting Professor, University of
Bristol
“In recent years students of Matthew have witnessed a relative
dearth of treatments on the important subject of the Son of Man in
this Gospel. Craig Saunders has addressed the lacuna by offering a
fresh and in many ways novel understanding of this theme in
Matthew’s Gospel.”
—David R. Bauer, Ralph Waldo Beeson Professor of Inductive Biblical
Studies, Dean of the School of Biblical Interpretation, Asbury
Theological Seminary
- Title: A Mediator in Matthew: An Analysis of the Son of Man’s Function in the First Gospel
- Authors: Craig D. Saunders, Joel B. Green
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications
- Print Publication Date: 2021
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781532697067, 1532697066
- Resource ID: LLS:9781532697067
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-10-23T08:29:56Z
Craig D. Saunders is Adjunct Professor of Biblical/Theological
Studies and Christian Ministries at Asbury University in Wilmore,
Kentucky. He is an ordained elder in the Free Methodist Church USA
and serves as Pastor of Outreach at Wilmore Free Methodist
Church.