Think Wink.

Lee Shelton at The Contemporary Calvinist posted a link to a John Hagee book in which he claims to have proven that Jesus never claimed to be ὁ Χριστὸς, the Christ, the Messiah (You can read Shelton’s post here).

I don’t know what to say about this. When I first watched the video my jaw hit the floor. I have not read his book and do not know the evidence from the Scriptures he presents. But what do you call his words? Heresy? Blasphemy? It is flatout denying what the gospel writers believed. In his post, Lee Shelton references John 10:24-25 where Jesus told the crowds that he did tell them that he was Christ and they did not believe him; and John 20:30-31 where John says that Jesus’ teaching and deeds were to demonstrated that he is Christ and the Son of God.

There are two other texts that I want to look at from the gospels. First is in Matthew 16:15-17 where Jesus converses privately with his disciples at the conclusion of his Galilean ministry. Matthew writes,

15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

Jesus questions his disciples about who they believe he is in light of what they have witnessed. Peter speaks up for the twelve (eleven if you discount Judas Iscariot) and proclaims Jesus as ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος, the Christ the son of the living God. But Jesus’ response is not to deny that he is the Christ or to rebuke Peter for making such a ridiculous statement that is obviously not true. Rather Jesus pronounces a blessing upon Peter and grounds it in the revelation of the Father, “Blessed (μακάριος ) are you Simon Bar-Jonah because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my father in the heavens!” This isn’t Jesus denying his messiahship but affirming it.

The other text I want to look at is from Mark’s recording of Jesus’ trial before the high priest in Mark 14:61-62. Mark writes,

61 But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” 62 And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

When Jesus refused to answer the allegations against him the high priest asks the crucial question that Mark wants his readers to themselves to ask Jesus, “You are the Christ the son of the Blessed?” Jesus’ answer cannot be more to the point than the one he gave in Mark 14:62, ἐγώ εἰμι, “I AM.” Jesus uses the same phrase that nearly got him stoned in John 8 and that Yahweh used to reveal himself to Moses in Exodus 3:14 LXX. Jesus cannot be any clearer than to say, “Yes I am” to the question “Are you the Christ?” How can a person say that Jesus never claimed to be the Jewish Messiah when it is so clear?

It seems to me from this clip that Hagee has put his allegiance to Israel over Jesus whom Thomas not only agreed with Peter’s confession in Matthew 16:16 but also himself confessed in John 20:28, ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου “My Lord and My God!” He seems to be so caught up in his dispensational eschatology that he is willing to deny who Christ claimed to be. In doing so, Jesus is not the hope of Israel found in Isaiah 53. They are still under the Law of Moses that Paul said in Galatians 3 that Jesus Christ removed the curse that failing to uphold it brought upon mankind. We cannot allow one part of theology to cloud other parts of our theology. We cannot be willing to compromise on who Christ is so that we can maintain our allegiance to Israel.

I will attempt to read this book and try to discern the full extent of what Hagee claims and the evidence he puts forth as proof that Jesus never claimed “in word or in deed” to be the Jewish Messiah. If I can get that read, I will review it.

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