What does it mean to say that Jesus was fully human and fully divine?
I would argue that Mark's gospel portrays Jesus as an adult human disciple of John the Baptist whose body was "entered" by the Holy Spirit (in the same way that Mark portrays demons entering and exiting human bodies).
Details:
1) All four gospels describe Jesus as a walking one-man Jerusalem Temple with the presence of God inside (and the ability to forgive sins), but only Mark explicitly sets Jesus as an adult when the Spirit when the presence of God enters His body.
2) Matthew and Luke push back the time of God's entrance into Jesus' body to the ****** conception, while John leaves it ambiguous with the timeless statement that "the logos became flesh and tabernacled among us", (which is a reference to the predecessor of the permanent Temple).
3) All four gospels record the accusation that Jesus was demon-possessed (Mt 12, Mk 3, Lk 11, Jn 8.) .
4) Jesus' first "miracle" in Mark is the healing of the demon-possessed man in the synagogue (which represents the Pharisees). When the demon is removed, the "Son of God" is recognized, and the body cries out with a loud voice. This parallels Mark's portrayal of Jesus' "exorcism" on the cross, where his human body cries out with a loud voice at the departure of the Spirit, and a gentile centurion recognizes that He is the "Son of God".
5) Mark portrays the four demon-possessed healings as symbolic "apocalyptic" symbols of four national opponents of God's people who needed to be judged and healed.
a) the first demon ("unclean spirit") in the synagogue is the Pharisees (Mk 1:23-27)
b) the second is the Roman Legion occupying Jerusalem (Mk 5:1-20)
c) the third are the gentiles that had been condemned in the OT (Mk 7:24-30)
d) the fourth is the next generation of children in Jerusalem, who would be destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD (Mk 9:14-29). (This is why Jesus condemns the "unbelieving generation" and says that the demon can "only be removed by prayer", because eventually God the Father would destroy that generation of children...)
6) This also explains two Biblical phenomena:
a) Mark is the only gospel where Jesus appears to have a "split personality" in which a human Jesus "argues" with the Holy Spirit for certainty that dying on the cross is the will of the Father.
b) Many modern readers have puzzled over Jesus' acting as "The Son" as a distinct personality from "The Father". The gospel explanation for this is that Jesus is a human body that was "filled with the divine presence", just as the bricks and mortar of the Temple were filled with the presence of God (1 Kings 6). What makes Mark special is that the other gospels portray the Spirit as fully in charge of the words and deeds of the body, whereas Mark portrays Jesus as a human soul submitting to the will of the Spirit inhabiting his body.
Mouse or anyone else, comments?
I would argue that Mark's gospel portrays Jesus as an adult human disciple of John the Baptist whose body was "entered" by the Holy Spirit (in the same way that Mark portrays demons entering and exiting human bodies).
Details:
1) All four gospels describe Jesus as a walking one-man Jerusalem Temple with the presence of God inside (and the ability to forgive sins), but only Mark explicitly sets Jesus as an adult when the Spirit when the presence of God enters His body.
2) Matthew and Luke push back the time of God's entrance into Jesus' body to the ****** conception, while John leaves it ambiguous with the timeless statement that "the logos became flesh and tabernacled among us", (which is a reference to the predecessor of the permanent Temple).
3) All four gospels record the accusation that Jesus was demon-possessed (Mt 12, Mk 3, Lk 11, Jn 8.) .
4) Jesus' first "miracle" in Mark is the healing of the demon-possessed man in the synagogue (which represents the Pharisees). When the demon is removed, the "Son of God" is recognized, and the body cries out with a loud voice. This parallels Mark's portrayal of Jesus' "exorcism" on the cross, where his human body cries out with a loud voice at the departure of the Spirit, and a gentile centurion recognizes that He is the "Son of God".
5) Mark portrays the four demon-possessed healings as symbolic "apocalyptic" symbols of four national opponents of God's people who needed to be judged and healed.
a) the first demon ("unclean spirit") in the synagogue is the Pharisees (Mk 1:23-27)
b) the second is the Roman Legion occupying Jerusalem (Mk 5:1-20)
c) the third are the gentiles that had been condemned in the OT (Mk 7:24-30)
d) the fourth is the next generation of children in Jerusalem, who would be destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD (Mk 9:14-29). (This is why Jesus condemns the "unbelieving generation" and says that the demon can "only be removed by prayer", because eventually God the Father would destroy that generation of children...)
6) This also explains two Biblical phenomena:
a) Mark is the only gospel where Jesus appears to have a "split personality" in which a human Jesus "argues" with the Holy Spirit for certainty that dying on the cross is the will of the Father.
b) Many modern readers have puzzled over Jesus' acting as "The Son" as a distinct personality from "The Father". The gospel explanation for this is that Jesus is a human body that was "filled with the divine presence", just as the bricks and mortar of the Temple were filled with the presence of God (1 Kings 6). What makes Mark special is that the other gospels portray the Spirit as fully in charge of the words and deeds of the body, whereas Mark portrays Jesus as a human soul submitting to the will of the Spirit inhabiting his body.
Mouse or anyone else, comments?
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