Did Jesus see himself as the final messiah and does it really matter?

Abstract

Historical research on the person and life of Jesus of Nazareth undoubtedly has great significance for theology and the Christian faith. One of the specific issues that exegetes and historians who deal with Jesus have been discussing is his self-awareness. The question of who Jesus considered himself to be is of course not entirely resolvable. However, it is possible to derive from a critical reading of the New Testament texts certain directions of thought about what Jesus’ Christology could have been. This article, analysing the results of the Jesus Quest research, attempted to answer the question of whether Jesus saw himself as the final messiah and what significance this has for theology. The first part of the article analyses the view that Jesus did not consider himself to be the final messiah, while the second part analyses the view that he considered himself to be one. The third part will show the theological significance of Jesus’ Christology.
Contribution: Theological reflection on Jesus’ self-awareness is an element of building bridges between the historical approach to the origins of Christianity and systematic theology. These reflections can inspire theological development in the context of the challenge of a critical-historical reading of Scripture. There is considerable scholarship on the self-awareness of the historical Jesus and the roots of belief in Jesus’ messianic nature. This article, however, takes a theological, not merely historical, perspective. It seeks to consider whether and how Jesus’s views about himself might be relevant to Christian theology. The fundamental contribution of these considerations lies in reframing messiahship through praxis rather than title, and in its reflection on the theological implications of Jesus’ mission.