son of god reflection essay

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Reflections on the Movie “Son of God”

Here are a few reflections that I have on the film Son of God having seen the movie at the theater this week. This is not a review of any sort, we know the story and how it ends after all, and obviously if we are Christians it is a movie that we should see, if more than anything so that Hollywood makes more movies about faith and the Bible, but I thought that I would write just a few of the themes that struck me as I watched the film, such as God, love, joy, prayer, forgiveness, Mass, and Gospel.

The first thing that I noticed about the movie is that they are following the Gospel of John for the account of the life of Jesus. One thing that this does is to give the story a focus that other movies that have tried to cover all the gospels have not had. But more importantly it uses a narration of the Prologue from the first chapter of John as the introduction to the story as a great panorama of the stories of the Old Testament that are flashing by us on the screen (creation, Noah, Abraham, Moses, King David, etc.). The point is to show us that the story of Jesus does not begin with his birth in Bethlehem, or with the creation story of Adam of Eve, but that “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ,” because he always was, always is, and always will be, not just the Son of God, but God himself. Jesus is not simply a person who lived at a time in history, a great teacher of philosophy, a prophet who spoke great truths, or even a miracle worker. This movie reminds us that Jesus is in fact God!

The first thing that I notice about Jesus in this movie is that they portray Jesus very differently than how many movies portray Jesus. They show Jesus as happy, with an infectious smile and friendly waves to the crowds. He has a serious message certainly, but it is not delivered sadly or ominously, but in a way that is loving and caring. You can see why Jesus would have been so popular and attractive to the people, because Jesus is filled with love and joy. Sure there is the serious resolve and bitter pain of the Passion of course, but even those are shown with the greater idea that the Passion was part of the great love that Christ has for us and that leads to our ultimate joy. Jesus reminds us, as Pope Francis has done with his exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), that the message of the Gospel is one of love and joy. The portrayal of Jesus reminds us that we must be people of love and joy.

Then there is the Last Supper in which Jesus is celebrating the Passover with his disciples. This is always a moving scene because it is the final meal that Jesus shares with his disciples. But what struck me about the scene is that in the movie the action does not stay focused on the Upper Room. Instead the movie switches from the Upper Room, to the Temple, and to Pontius Pilate’s home. What is everyone doing at all three places? They are praying! Jesus (with the disciples) prays to the Heavenly Father, the Jewish leaders pray to God (whom they feel that Jesus has blasphemed), and Pontius Pilate is praying with his wife to the pagan gods. How strange it is for us to witness so much prayer going on! If only God was so busy receiving prayers today! The collage of all of these prayers struck me as so wonderful (even if Pontius Pilate was not praying to the Heavenly Father) because prayer was important to them all. If only we could say the same thing in today’s secular world. This scenes reminds us that we must pray.

Then there is the scene where Peter returns to the disciples after having denying Jesus three times and running off to save himself. When asked why he had run off and abandoned Jesus, Peter becomes downcast and simply says, “I failed Him.” How true this is for each one of us. How often we fail Jesus by the choices we make, the things we do, the things we say, and even the things we think. We fail him. Our faith fails him. But what we must remember is that Jesus forgives us each and every time that we turn back to Him, no matter how many times we fail. We just simply must realize that we have failed him and turn back to him in forgiveness and turn to Him and say, “I have failed you.” Jesus is full of love, mercy, and forgiveness, especially when we have failed Him. This scene reminds us that we must never be afraid to turn to Jesus.

Next, there is the resurrection scene where Mary Magdalene and the disciples return after discovering that Jesus has indeed risen from the dead. They are obviously filled with joy at this happy and momentous occasion, but then Peter has a moment of inspiration and asks for some bread and wine to be brought. He then speaks the same words that Christ spoke at the Last Supper. They celebrate Mass together just as Jesus did at the Last Supper. The movie ties the Mass immediately to Christ so that we get the idea that the Mass is not a simple ritual that developed over a number of years by a hierarchical religion, but is in fact a divine meal instituted by Christ that has been celebrated in perpetuity since the Last Supper. This scene reminds us of the sanctity and importance of the Mass, it is not a simple religious service, but a divine event that connects us in a special way with God.

Finally, the movie concludes, not as the Gospel of John concludes with Jesus meeting the disciples on the road to Emmaus (one of the few downfalls of the movie, because it is an especially powerful encounter that should have been included if following the story from John’s perspective), but with the disciples running off with great excitement to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth (borrowing from the Gospel of Matthew). The sense of mission is important certainly, but the reason why it works especially well (despite my wish for the inclusion of the road to Emmaus story) is because it shows how happy and excited the disciples are to go forth with the message of the Gospel. If we truly believe the Gospel and what it says to us about our future as children of God, then we certainly should be just as happy as the disciples, unable to contain our joy or our excitement for sharing the Gospel with others. We would not only know the words of the Gospel, but we would make them a part of our lives. We would not only know about Jesus contained in the scriptures, but we would have a personal relationship with Christ. This scene reminds us that the Gospel must be a part of who we are.

Son of God is not just a story about a man named Jesus. It is a story about God becoming flesh and dwelling among us, and because of that everything is changed forever.

I Believe in Jesus Christ, His Only Son, Our Lord

The Apostles' Creed I Believe in Jesus Christ His Only Son Our Lord Romans 1:1

If you have your Bible, I'd invite you to turn with me to Romans chapter 1. We’re working our way through the Apostles’ Creed. Previously we were looking at Creation, and the phrase “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” And it was appropriate that we pause and look a little more closely at that doctrine.

I want to make an assertion. It is the doctrine that God is the transcendent Creator that is the doctrine most under assault in our culture today. Now, that may not seem to be the case at first glance. When you look around you, the issues which are cultural bellwether issues seem to have to do more with your view of man, your view of humanity, what theologians would call anthropology. For instance, abortion has to do with the doctrine of man very clearly. Homosexuality and the normalization of it would seem to have to do with the doctrine of man. The definition of the family, male-female role relationships, all of those things have to do with the doctrine of humanity; and if you said they did, you’d be right. But behind the cultural shifts we are seeing in all four of those areas today, and we could more, for instance, in what's being done in the area of bioethics today with regard to cloning and various other experimentation with human beings who are very, very tiny and very, very young — but behind all of those things which do have to do with the doctrine of humanity, is in fact, a shift with regard to the doctrine of God, the transcendent Creator. We could actually see other shifts in the area and elsewhere in that particular area, but it is that doctrine of God, the Transcendent Creator, that is behind all the cultural mega shifts we are seeing.

And we've seen the most amazing mega shifts in the world in the last 30 years. Think of it, 30 years ago in a business a man could have been fired by his superiors had he been discovered to be a homosexual relationship. Perfectly legal. In fact, not only perfectly legal, but it would have been the norm. Thirty years later, were you to do that in a major business, you would be in big trouble. Thirty years, from something being totally culturally unacceptable and illegal, to the reverse of it, being totally unacceptable and illegal. Amazing. That's just an illustration of the mega shifts.

But behind that mega shift is a total assault on the doctrine of God, the transcendent Creator. So, it's perfectly appropriate that Christians pause and think about these central affirmations we make in the Apostles’ Creed, because they impinge upon the way we live our lives day to day in this increasingly hostile culture. In fact, I'd argue that each of the assertions of this Apostles’ Creed, grounded as they are in Scripture, points to very important matters for Christians in the cultural setting in which we find ourselves today. But that's not our topic today.

Our topic is the Lord Jesus Christ. And could you pick a more central issue than the person of our Savior? We’re going to think about the subject of Jesus Himself. The phrase that we are going to look at today says that we believe in Jesus Christ, His, that is God's, only Son our Lord. And this section and this subject is vital because what you think about Jesus Christ will determine what you think about everything else.

Turn with me to Romans 1 and we’ll look at the first seven verses.

“Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of the descendent of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God by the power of the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His names’ sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called his saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Amen. And thus ends this reading of God's holy, inspired and inerrant Word. May He write its eternal truth upon our hearts. Let's pray.

Our Lord and our God, we would ask You that, by Your Holy Spirit, would help us to see wonderful things in Your word. That you would teach us, that we would embrace this truth and live this truth, and that, especially in a time and place in a culture and a society hostile to the unique, universal, and absolute claims of Jesus Christ; you would purchase in us this day, by the work of your spirit, a loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ and an understanding of why it is so important that we hold forth the truth of Jesus only. This we ask in Jesus name. Amen.

Each of the truths in the Apostles’ Creed asserted about Jesus Christ are important for the understanding of why it is that Jesus is the only way of salvation. Now to say that, even in a church in our day and time, gives some people in the pews a little discomfort. To say it in other places, that Jesus is the only way of salvation, gives people positive heartburn. And if you are concerned a little bit about the audacity of that statement, about the forcefulness of that statement, about the completeness and the unqualifiedness of that statement, take comfort. It was just as audacious when it was first uttered as it is today. Remember, the proclamation of Jesus as the only way of salvation, a proclamation which we heard from Peter's own lips in the Scripture reading from Acts 4:12, that audacious statement was made in the context of a dominant pluralist culture.

Rome was the controlling power in the Mediterranean world and Rome was perfectly happy for you to believe in your ‘god’ as long as you did not believe that your ‘god’ was the only God . Rome was quite happy to add Jesus to the pantheon of its gods. There were Roman emperors that did that. But Rome was not prepared to tolerate people who made universal claims–at least, not usually. The Jews got by with it for a while, but the Romans didn't like them. So when the Christians came along and began to make these outlandish claims, it quickly caught the attention of the Romans authorities and the persecutions of early Christians almost always emanated from that very point. Because of total, universal, unconditional, commitment to Jesus Christ, Christians were considered a threat to the stability of the empire. So when you are looked upon as if you just crawled out from under a rock, when you say that Jesus Christ is the only way, join the club. Christians before you had those same looks and worse. At any rate, each phrase of what the Apostles’ Creed says about Jesus really explains to us why it is that Jesus is the only way.

We are not going to look at all those phrases today, but we are going to look at this clause which really has four parts to it: “Jesus, Christ, His only Son, our Lord”–four parts. 1. Jesus–the humanity of Christ. 2. Christ–the Messiahship of Christ. 3. His only Son–the unique, divine, Sonship of Christ. 4. Our Lord–the Lordship of Christ. Those are the four things I want you to see today. The humanity of Christ, the Messiahship of Christ, the unique, divine Sonship of Christ, and the Lordship of Christ. Now, these things are so basic to many of us that it be very easy to skip over them, so let's remember as we study these things that we're studying our Lord, what more appropriate thing would there be to do in the worship of God than to learn about God. What more practical thing could there be in the worship of God than to learn about God, and if we already know these truths about God, to grow deeper in our embrace of these truths about God.

I. Jesus is truly human and fully divine. Paul, over and over, uses the proper name, Jesus , in Romans 1:1-7. He's a bondservant of Christ Jesus. Jesus is born according to the flesh. He's born of a human genealogy and lineal descent. He is Jesus Christ our Lord, Paul says, in verse 4. We are called as Christians, of Jesus Christ, and he pronounces a benediction based upon the blessing of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus is our Lord's proper name. It identifies Him as an historical person, not a pious figment of imagination, and when Paul repeatedly uses the name, Jesus, he is using a name which itself was given by divine revelation. Remember, just as God told John the Baptist's parents to name their son, John, God also told Jesus’ parents to name their son, Jesus, for a specific reason. Because Jesus is just the Greek version of the Hebrew word, Yeshua , which means God saves . He saves His people. So Jesus’ proper name was going to signify His work. Notice, even in Jesus His person and His work are tied together. And anytime someone tries to take apart Jesus’ person and work, watch out, heresy is about to come.

Even His name describing His nature, speaks of His work. The name Jesus reminds us of His full humanity, and Jesus’ humanity can either be denied or misconstrued. When it is denied or misconstrued, trouble comes. Without Jesus’ humanity, He's unable to be our Mediator. But “He is able,” as the author of Hebrews says, “to sympathize with us, because He has experienced life in this flesh.” Without being human, He is unable to obey the Law for us, He is unable to die for us, He is unable to foster our adoption as sons; He has to be one of us to do this. And so a denial of the doctrine of humanity of Christ is a very serious thing.

On the other hand, a denial of the doctrine of the humanity of Christ can be misconstrued. It can be argued, for instance, well, if He's going to be one of us, then He has to be like one of us in every way, and that means He has to sin. So, there have been people from time to time that have argued that Jesus was able to sin, or that He actually sinned. This would be a false understanding of Jesus’ humanity. On the other hand, there are many today, especially in evangelical feminist circles, who say that for Jesus to be truly like us all, He needed to be androgynous. He had to have the qualities of both male and female. And again, this is a misconstrual of the doctrine of humanity.

Jesus was truly human. But there are definitely points of discontinuity between His experience as a human and ours. For instance, He never sinned. But to say that because He never sinned, He's unable to sympathize with us, is not simply to misunderstand Him; it's to misunderstand what it is to be truly human. You see, we've saying long, “That to err is human,” that we've forgotten that to err is not human. To err is fallen. To err is sinful. To err is of the works of the devil. That's is not God's original plan for human. We’re not more human when we sin; we're less human. And Jesus is not less human because He doesn't sin; He's more human. And one day He's going to make you more human than you are now. So Jesus’ humanity is absolutely essential to His work as a Savior, but when we say we believe in Jesus, we don't stop there.

II. Jesus is God's appointed and anointed Savior-King. We go on to say we believe in Jesus Christ. And that's another term that we miss, because for us, the term Christ – which we normally use with Jesus – Christ sounds like His last name. But Christ is not Jesus’ surname. It's a title . It's a very important title. And from that title we learn something about the Messiahship of Jesus. He is the chosen Savior-Mediator. He's not only truly human; He's God's chosen Savior-Mediator for His people. Jesus is God's appointed and anointed Savior-King. You see, Christ , again is the Greek word for the Hebrew word, Messiah . And Messiah means the anointed one . It's not a surname; it's a title. And it means that God anointed Christ as His Savior-King for His people, that Jesus was God's appointed Savior-King, about whom the Old Testament prophesied, and for whom the Jews had long been waiting.

For Paul and for Peter and for the other apostles to announce Jesus as the Christ, was a colossal claim in their own time. It was big for the religious Jews of the time, for they were saying, look, the One about whom our Scriptures have been speaking for hundreds of years is here.” And then to the Roman world it was a colossal claim, because it was an announcement that the Messiah for the whole world had come, the One Way of salvation, and hence Peter's words in Acts 4:12, “There is no other name other heaven whereby one can be saved,” but through Jesus Christ. He is the Messiah. It is a claim, that Jesus the Messiah was unique in His place in history and universal dominion. It's a claim that Jesus fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, and was the One appointed by God as our prophet, priest, and king. And so, to say Jesus Christ, is not to simply name the person of Jesus, but to indicate about Him, through His title, that you believe He is the Messiah. When we say, the Lord Jesus Christ, we're speaking about the Lord whose name was Jesus, who is the Messiah. And so, the phrase Jesus Christ is packed full of significance, and when we stand together and repeat the Creed and say, “I believe in Jesus Christ,” we've already said enough to spend weeks and weeks meditating on, glorying in, and drawing implications from. Our Westminster Larger Catechism says, “Our Mediator was called Christ because He was anointed with the Holy Ghost above measure, and so set apart and fully furnished with all authority and ability to exercise the offices of prophet, priest, and king of His Church in the estate of both His humiliation and exaltation.” And it spends the next several questions fleshing out what that means. But that's only the second thing we are saying about Jesus when we say, “I believe in Jesus Christ.” There's a third thing.

III. Jesus is rightly identified as the eternal Word and Son. We believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son. In other words, when we draw attention in our Confession that Jesus is the only Son, we're drawing attention to the unique, eternal Sonship of the Word. Jesus is rightly identified as the incarnation of the eternal Word and Son, and notice how Paul stretches this in Romans 1:1-7. Just as he uses the human name of Jesus, just as he constantly refers to Jesus as the Christ, the One who was according to the lineage of David, because the Messiah was coming from the line of David, so also he emphasizes His unique Sonship.

Notice that Christ, Paul says, is the subject of the Gospel of God. What is the Gospel of God? Verse 3: it concerns His Son. What does He say about His Son? Well, that God declared His Son to be the Son of God, with power, by the resurrection from the dead. And then, when he gives a divine blessing to the people, he gives it to them not simply from God, not simply from God the Father, but from God the Father and our Lord Jesus the Messiah. In other words, Paul is affirming that Jesus is divine. Jesus is the incarnation of the second person of the Trinity, He is the eternally begotten, the only begotten Son of the Father. And this, among other things, points to the deity of Jesus Christ.

When we say, “I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son,” we are affirming the fullness of the deity of Jesus Christ. And that's absolutely essential. About 1680 years ago, a belief had become widespread in the Christian Church, that had never been widespread before. A very articulate theologian had begun to teach that Jesus was not divine. This teaching was so cleverly put, and had such excellent music put with it to foster it in the churches, that people began to embrace it. There were people literally rioting in the streets of Alexandria, Egypt, chanting a hit Christian song. The lyrics went like this: “There was a time when the Word was not.” In other words, it was an affirmation that Jesus was not the eternal Word of God; that God created Him. He's the first of all created things, but He's not equal with God. He doesn't share the same essence with God. He's not fully divine. The Church was in a turmoil. A council was called, and a great theologian made his mark in arguing against this teaching. He wrote a book, On the Incarnation , and here is the thesis of Athanasius’ book: If Jesus is not fully divine, then you are still in your sins. If Jesus is not truly the unique, the eternal Son of God, coequal with His Father and the Holy spirit, then our salvation is compromised and lost. Because His divinity is necessary for our salvation. How else can He pay for the sins of the world? How can He offer a sacrifice of infinite value if He is less than divine?

Athanasius was right. The deity of Christ is the hinge on which Christianity turns. And that's why our Confession focuses on Jesus Christ in chapter 8, the longest chapter in the Confession up to this point, and says, “The Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance and equal with the Father, did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon Him man's nature with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her substance, so that two, whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion, which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.” That's a mouthful. You could spend a whole term at Seminary studying that one paragraph. You could spend a lifetime studying it, and you’d never see to the bottom of it, yet we sing about it every Christmas. “Who is He in yonder stall, at whose feet the shepherds fall? ‘Tis the King, the Lord of Glory.” That's the One whom we sing about. The One about whom we say, “That the Creator of heaven and earth was contracted to a span, in the incarnation.” Jesus is rightly identified as the eternal Word and son, and it was necessary for Him to do this, for us to be saved, to imbue His labors and His mediation with the limitless value necessary to save us from our sins, to accomplish our everlasting salvation. Don't ever let someone tell you that the doctrine of the divinity of Christ isn't important. Without it, every thing is lost.

The doctrine of the divinity of Christ is so important that the New Testament actually gives multiple way that that very doctrine is confirmed. Let me suggest five ways in which the New Testament confirms the deity of Christ, so that you can check it out for yourself.

The New Testament, on at least nine occasions, directly and explicitly asserts the divinity of Jesus Christ. Second, the New Testament teaches that Jesus is Christ, by ascribing the attributes of God to Jesus. Thirdly, the New Testament argues for the deity of Christ by applying the names of God in the Old Testament, to Jesus Christ. Fourthly, the New Testament shows that Jesus is divine by applying the works and activities that the Old Testament says are only the works and activities of God, to Jesus Christ. Finally, the New Testament shows us that Jesus is God by showing, over and over, that nice Jewish boys who knew that you didn't worship anything that wasn't God, fell down on their faces and worshipped Jesus Christ–John and Peter and Paul, who had been reared on the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me,” and never did it ever enter their minds that they were in the slightest way breaking the first commandment, but rather fulfilling it to its fullness. In all these ways the New Testament makes it clear that Jesus is divine.

IV. Jesus is Lord and Savior. But there's another thing that we are affirming when we say that we believe in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord. We are affirming the Lordship of Christ; Jesus is Master and God. You remember the confession of the disciple, “My Lord and my God.” That is an essential Christian confession. Jesus is Lord and Savior. There are many Christians who would like to think of Jesus as Savior but not as Lord, or who think that first you accept Jesus as Savior and then some other time later on down the line, you accept Him as Lord. That's not how Paul thinks.

Notice how Paul describes himself as “a bondservant of Jesus Christ” in verse 1. Jesus is his Lord. Paul is His slave. But notice, this isn't something just unique to Paul. Don't think, “Oh yea, but Paul was a super Christian. He had accepted Jesus as Savior and then at some point he accepted Him as Lord.” No. Paul says that Jesus Christ is our Lord, not just my Lord, and that the gospel was designed to produce the obedience of faith from the Gentiles so that Jesus our Lord would get glory .

And then, of course, the blessing He pronounces on all the Roman Christians is from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul makes it clear that if Jesus is the divine Messiah King, then it is obvious and necessary that He must be Lord. And denials of that are serious. You see, the fundamental confession of faith for the Christian in the New Testament is not Jesus is Savior , though His name means Jesus saves. The fundamental Christian confession is: Jesus is Lord. Don't believe me? Turn to Romans 10:9. The Apostle Paul is speaking. Now, ask yourself this question as you get ready to read the verse: “On what basis is a man saved?” Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” The confession of the Lordship of Christ is the fundamental Christian confession . This is confirmed by looking at Acts chapter 8. Steadily throughout the New Testament the confession of Jesus as Lord is at the heart of Christianity.

Notice that it is not our practical obedience to the Lordship of Christ that makes us Christians. If that were the case, our salvation would be by works. We are not saved by our obedience to the Lordship of Christ , we are saved to our obedience to the Lordship of Christ . Paul even makes it clear here. You believe on Jesus as Lord. You believe and confess Jesus as Lord and then it leads you to a life of willing submission to the Lord.

But before you can truly say, however, “Our Lord” in the Apostles’ Creed, you have to say “ my Lord” in your heart. May God grant that all of us today would confess Him as “my Lord” and “our Lord” together. Let's pray.

Our God and our Lord, we thank you for your Word and we thank you for this beautiful, short summary statement of essential truths about Jesus Christ that we have meditated upon this day. Grant that the realities contained in Your word about Your Son would be realities to us that we embrace and live out in Jesus' name. Amen.

Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III

Ligon Duncan (MDiv, Covenant Theological Seminary; PhD, University of Edinburgh) is the Chancellor & CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary, the John E. Richards Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, and the President of RTS Jackson. He has authored, co-authored, edited, or contributed to numerous books. You can follow him on Twitter .

Bible & Breakfast

Reflection on who is jesus.

/ 21st July 2020
/ Reflections

In June 2020 Bible and Breakfast explored the topic: Who is Jesus? Below is a short reflection from that meeting.

Who is Jesus?

To some He may be a simple swear word, used when you stub your toe against a wooden table, or an expression of shock when you hear surprising news.

To many He is ‘baby’ Jesus from the nativity story along with three wise men on a holy night, long, long ago.

To Christians He is God and Saviour. He is the one who came in human flesh, who lived a sinless life but died a sinner’s death, all so that you and I could escape punishment and live at peace in God’s family.

I fall into the third category. I have attended church my whole life and was born again nearly 10 years ago. I have listened to countless sermons detailing who Jesus is and what he has done. So, if I’m honest, I was not particularly excited about the topic of the month: Who is Jesus? I felt like I knew the answer already…

And then the pastor spoke. One of the very first things he said was: ‘The extent to which you know who I [Jesus] am is the extent to which you will follow me [Jesus].’ I was immediately convicted of my pride. How arrogant of me to assume that I knew God completely! But if you are honest, you probably have done that too. Have you ever been to church and rolled your eyes because the preacher was speaking from a very familiar passage? Or skim read a devotion because it focused on a well-known text? Fun fact: I used to guess what the topic of the sermon would be at church based on the selected scriptures for the week. Now that is vanity! Some of you may shrug and call it maturity when actually it is pride. It is the belief that there is nothing new to learn.

Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (ESV).

At the very least, this means the word of God is relevant today. At the very most, it is not something to mess around with. When approached with humility it has the power to break, expose and utterly transform you.

So, who is Jesus?

Jesus is the Son of God. ‘Son of God’ is a title given to angels and people to demonstrate their relationship with (or to reflect something of) God. But when applied to Jesus it refers to his eternal existence – it is a bold claim of having the very same nature as God. To have the nature of God is to be God. Matthew 3:17, 16:5, 17:5

It is also a messianic title. The Old Testament had predictions of a Divine Messiah who would redeem God’s people. This same Messiah is also called ‘Mighty God’ – Isaiah 7:14, 9, 61.

Jesus is God and therefore deserves to be worshipped as God. If we were to look at our lives in all honesty, do we truly revere him as God? Have we scoured the scriptures to learn what kind of God he is? His likes and dislikes? What makes him smile? Today is a good day to learn about the heart of God.

Jesus is the Son of Man. There is a prophecy in Daniel 7:13-14 of a Son of Man who is not just a man but is divine. This is crucial because Jesus had to be fully man in order to be a perfect sacrifice for our atonement. Matthew 1:23, 1 Timothy 2:5-7, Philippians 2:5-7.

As a Christian I admit that I do not understand how God is both God and Man but to not understand something does not mean that it is not true. 1 Timothy 3:16.

We read books and watch films about ordinary people who one day become extraordinary superheroes. It’s fun and exciting. But have you considered what it might have been like for God to choose to live as a human being? Everything he did was empowered by God, modelling a dependency you and I are to have on God. Consider reading through the book of Luke to learn more about Jesus, focusing on what He did and how He acted on earth. Trust me, it is incredible.

Jesus is the Christ. Christ means “anointed one.” Jesus is God’s appointed Saviour to bring salvation to the people. John 11:27, Matthew 16:16.

The Jews believed the Messiah or Christ would be a political king who would free them from their Roman oppressors. But Jesus did not come to be simply the King of the Jews, he came so that he could be the King of our hearts. He came to set us free from the oppression of sin. To liberate us through repentance and faith in God.

In my discussion group we realised that too often the church simplifies Jesus in order to make it easier to communicate the gospel. But Jesus is not simple, he is a complex God that blows my mind every single day. Although Christians have a responsibility to share Christ in a way that can be understood, we should never dilute his existence lest people put their faith in a false Christ.

Humble yourself as you read God’s word today. Ask him to open your eyes so that you may gain deeper knowledge of who he is and as a result live bolder and bigger for him. Whenever I read the bible, whenever I read a verse for the thousandth time, there is an opportunity to see Christ afresh. Today, you can see Christ afresh if you are willing.

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People, Places, Ideas, and More

John 1:29-34 reflection: jesus is the son of god.

A reading from the gospel according to John 1:29-34

29 John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. 30 He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’ 31 I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.” 32 John testified further, saying, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him. 33 I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”

Reflection: John 1:29-34

John the Baptist was born with a special mission: to prepare the way of the Messiah, that is, Jesus, the Lamb of God. Although John was not familiar with Jesus as the Messiah yet (see verse 33), the Holy Spirit worked through him and with discernment, he was able to recognize Jesus and to testify that indeed, Jesus is the Son of God.

Aware as he is of his role, John the Baptist points out that Jesus ranks higher than he and that Jesus even existed before him. He also claimed that he is unworthy to untie Jesus’ sandals (John 1:27). In other words, he wants the people to pay attention to Jesus, not him.

This is one great lesson from John the Baptist. When we do our mission, let us always know where we stand. We work in the vineyard to give glory to God, not to get attention for ourselves. Like John, we need to recognize the presence of Jesus in our midst. We can only do this through the grace and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Like John, we need to always tell people to fix their eyes on Jesus, the Lamb of God. Like John, we need to go in the “desert” from time to time in order to refresh our hunger and thirst for the presence of God.

More importantly, let us always be reminded that Jesus is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” starting with our own sins. For indeed we are sinners and we do commit sin from time to time, God’s grace is abundantly available if we remain humble enough to ask for it.

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The Son of God

I will tell of the decree of the LORD:He said to me, “You are my son;today I have begotten you.

I want us to read the Nicene Creed:

The Nicene Creed (A. D. 325; revised at Constantinople in A. D. 381)

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty; Maker of heaven and earth, And of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, Begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God, Begotten, not made, Being of one substance with the Father; By whom all things were made; Who, for us men and for our salvation, Came down from heaven, And was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, And was made man; He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; And the third day he rose again, According to the Scriptures; And ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of the Father; And he shall come again, with glory, To judge the quick and the dead; Whose kingdom shall have no end.

And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life; Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; Who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; Who spake by the prophets. And in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; And I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen .

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, like the Psalmist, You are the son of God in that You are the rightful King of Israel, the One through whom God executes His justice on earth. Thus You are worthy of honor and submission.

Yet You are Son of God in a way that far exceeds anything in Psalm 2. You are far more than the human King. You are the unique Son of God, indeed, the very Word of God made flesh. You share the same essential nature as God the Father even as You share in our nature as well.

How we praise You, Lord Jesus, Son of God!

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Movie Reviews

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Last year, the History Channel aired a mini-series called "The Bible", executive produced by husband and wife Mark Burnett and Roma Downey (who also played Mary, Jesus' mother). The mini-series was nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys and received high audience ratings. "Son of God" is the Jesus section of that mini-series, brought to large screens in the hopes of finding an even wider audience. There has been very little traditional advertising for the film. Burnett and Downey have chosen instead to reach out to church groups for screenings, relying on a grass-roots awareness campaign to get the word out. There has also been a concerted effort to reach out to Jewish groups, in the hopes of avoiding the charges of anti-Semitism Mel Gibson's " The Passion of the Christ " faced. The Jews in power still don't come off great in "Son of God". They seem petty, fearful and small-minded. "Son of God" is explicitly for Christian audiences (I saw it with a church group, who applauded mightily as the credits started to roll), opening with a dreamy voiceover from the Apostle John telling us how God has always been there, as we see images of fighting dinosaurs, Noah's Ark crashing through the waves, and a "Blue Lagoon"-style glimpse of Adam and Eve in the Garden. It's heavy-handed and melodramatic, openly sentimental, and extremely earnest. "Son of God"'s earnest-ness is not necessarily a strike against it; it was made by earnest people who want to spread the word. But it's a tough draught to swallow if you're not in the mood for a sermon.

Unlike Gibson's film, which focused on Jesus' arrest, torture, and death, "Son of God" takes us through Jesus' life from its humble beginnings in the barn, to the gathering of his followers, his march to Jerusalem, and all of the miracles he performed along the way. It's a Greatest Hits montage. Watch Jesus multiply the loaves and fishes and walk on water and raise Lazarus from the dead. When Jesus (played by Portuguese actor Diogo Morgado ), first approaches the fisherman Peter ( Darwin Shaw ), loading up his boat in the dead-calm Sea of Galilee, Jesus smiles knowingly at Peter like he's got a secret. Peter tells him there are no fish out there, and Jesus, smirking, runs his hands through the water and Presto! Peter's net is filled with fish. Jesus' miracles come off as party tricks throughout the film, with the watching crowd breathing "Oooh!" as something incredible happens.

His followers multiply, and so do his critics. He threatens those in power, not only the Jewish high priests (led by Caiaphas, played by Adrian Schiller), but the Romans occupying Jerusalem.

Filmed like a blockbuster epic, with quick cuts, hi-definition photography, a moody insistent score by Lorne Balfe, and some awkward repetitive CGI shots of what is clearly a model of the Temple in Jerusalem, "Son of God" features a pretty bad script, especially when all of the Apostles are talking amongst themselves about Jesus' message and what it all will lead to. "We have to take his message straight to the heart of power," one Apostle helpfully exclaims. Or Pilate, looking on as Jesus is dragged out to be tortured, murmuring, "It's as if he knows that this must happen."

There are a couple of weird details I liked, mostly having to do with casting. Greg Hicks plays Pontius Pilate as a macho guy nervous about his new position as governor, wanting to please his overlords and keep the Jews in line at the same time. We see him strolling around in a see-through nightie, getting massages, fighting gladiators for exercise, and lolling about on chaise longues with his hottie wife, eating grapes. My favorite Pontius Pilate is still David Bowie from Martin Scorsese's " The Last Temptation of Christ ," but this Pilate is pretty entertaining. It is refreshing to see Mary Magdalene ( Amber Rose Revah ) as an accepted part of the Apostle group (although not invited to the Last Supper); her sex not even commented on. Now that's revolutionary! And Fraser Ayres plays Barabbas, the rabble-rouser chosen by the crowd to go free in exchange for Jesus' death, as a scarred and furious precursor of the present-day rugby thug.

The film is most interesting when it focuses on the political machinations of the Roman occupation, and what it meant for the Jews being occupied. The overall problem with "Son of God" (besides the fact that it was already seen, in full, in mini-series form) is that Jesus, smirking throughout, comes off as a cipher. It is the blonde gentle Jesus from the stained glass windows and Sunday School books. It is not a visceral portrayal of a man who spoke about the beauty of the humble and about compassion for the weak and the despised, who stood up for the little guy—all of those humanistic messages that were so revolutionary at the time (and remain so today). His Sermon on the Mount isn't rousing or mind-blowing in "Son of God". It's delivered too casually, too off-handedly for that. It is difficult to believe that that pretty-man in a white dress strolling around smirking ever threatened anyone.

Sheila O'Malley

Sheila O'Malley received a BFA in Theatre from the University of Rhode Island and a Master's in Acting from the Actors Studio MFA Program. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Son of God (2014)

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[EMS] Historical & Theological Reflection on the Son of God Bible Translation

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Bassam Michael Madany

From the beginning of the Christian-Muslim encounter, the main debate centered on these fundamental doctrines: the person and work of Jesus Christ, and the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Some time later, when the irreconcilable differences between the teachings of the Bible and the Qur'an were recognized, the authenticity of the Christian Scriptures became another core issue of controversy. The Qur’an refers to Jesus as the son of Mary who was sent by God to proclaim a specific message to the people of Israel. The details of the birth of Christ, his teachings, and miracles, as recorded in the Qur’an, are apocryphal.

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When you talk about matters of faith with your nonbelieving secular neighbors, what Christian belief do they object to most? Is it the biblical concept of Hell? Your views on the uniqueness of Christ, or the inerrancy of Scripture? For many of your Muslim neighbors, these Christian beliefs are not offensive. Indeed, your Muslim neighbor may mostly agree with you on these points. But most Muslims do find deeply offensive another belief that is central to the Christian faith — the assertion that Jesus Christ is the “Son of God.”

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This essay seeks to understand the use of the title ‘Son of God’ in relation to Jesus of Nazareth, as described in St Mark’s gospel. The essay therefore naturally consists of three major parts: after considering some preliminary questions I shall firstly investigate what the author of Mark meant by the use of such a title; secondly, what Jesus understood by that title; and thirdly, what the readers of the Marcan tradition understood by it. In considering the first part, we shall examine the instances of where the Evangelist uses ‘Son of God’ to describe Jesus, as well as those passages in where this is inferred, and assess what author is trying to mean. The second part shall examine Jesus’ use and understanding of titles generally, and this one in particular. Finally we shall consider how such a term would be understood by those to whom it was first addressed. This follows a classic hermeneutical pattern where the author, the reader and the text is analysed. The essay shall conclude with a brief summary and after all the foregoing analysis, attempt to answer the question ‘what does the title Son of God mean? And how was it understood?’

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The Prodigal Son

In this Year of Mercy, the story of the Prodigal Son has great importance.

Of the three characters in this familiar parable, the focus seems to be on the undisciplined son, with whom we the readers/listeners tend to identify -- and we like the story for its happy ending. We sometimes strain or break our relationship with God and being the recipients of the Father’s loving forgiveness is, indeed, very consoling.

As for the other son, we have contradictory sentiments about his situation. On the one hand, as sinners who repent, we disapprove of his resenting the father’s generosity; on the other hand, because most of us tend to have a good image of ourselves, we sympathize with his lament that the father never threw a party for him.

Regarding the father, we never put ourselves in his shoes. After all, the father in the story is seen as God extending His loving mercy to us sinners.

But there is a way in which we can imitate the father.

This is the Year of Mercy and we are supposed to be merciful as He is merciful, as Pope Francis has been encouraging us. So, this story can challenge us to reflect on whether or not we have gone out of our way to greet those who have offended us and whether or not we can accept them without rehashing all the alleged offenses of the past – and then hold a feast!

Actually, inviting estranged friends and relatives to a family-and-friends gathering, a wedding, or someone’s birthday party or greeting them after church – any feast – is one way to let bygones be bygones in the midst of hugs and laughter

In reality, every day is a day to forgive and welcome someone back into friendship and family – to imitate what the father in the story did and what God does for us all the time.

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Man as the Image of God

Other essays.

The image of a God is a biblical doctrine regarding the nature and purpose of mankind. Genesis 1:27 states that God made man “in his own image,” meaning that the human race was granted a particular likeness to God.

Just as Seth bore the “likeness and image” of his father Adam (Gen. 5:3), God made Adam and Eve to bear his image and likeness. Historical theology has often grounded the image of God in mankind’s superiority over lesser creatures, given man’s higher rationality and spirituality, and especially in human’s capacity to know and worship God. Further reflection notes that as “male and female,” mankind bears God’s image in a community of love. The emphasis in Genesis 1:26 on man’s dominion above the other creatures argues for mankind’s viceregency in accountability to God. New Testament reflection on the divine image highlights that man was made for covenant communion with God in righteousness and holiness. While the Fall has marred the image of God – shattering the righteousness and holiness in which we were first made – God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem mankind and restore the image of God “in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:24).

Central to the Bible’s teaching about mankind is the statement of Genesis 1:27: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him.” Genesis 1:26 recorded God’s will for the human race: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Both “image” and “likeness” speak of resemblance. The word for “image” (Hebrew, tselem ) has the meaning of something that is carved or cut out. “After our likeness” makes much the same point, defining man as like God, though not divine. John Calvin explains that “man resembles him and that in him God’s glory is contemplated, as in a mirror.” 1 The same language is used in Genesis 5:3 when Adam has a son: “he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image.” Just as Seth bore resemblance to his father, so Adam did to God.

The Image of God in Man’s Nature and Relationships

When we ask how man bears God’s image, one historic approach is to cite man’s evident superiority to lesser beings. Some have identified the image in that man walks upright among the beasts. The problem is that God does not possess a body, since “God is spirit” (John 4:24). With our inner faculties in view, another common way to define the image of God is through aspects of the human nature that place us clearly above the animal world. Over the years, writers have identified different facets of the mind and soul that show divine likeness. Augustine proposed that the image of God resides in man’s memory, understanding, and will, seeking in this way mirror God’s Trinitarian personhood. 2 Others speak to man’s self-awareness and personality, which are of a higher order than animals. Man further possesses a sense of conscience and performs moral decision-making. Moreover, man alone among the creatures worships God with spiritual awareness, as Solomon observed: God “has put eternity into man’s heart” (Eccl. 3:11). With the ability of a nature that reflects the divine image comes the responsibility to fulfill our chief end as God’s creatures: “to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” 3 After saying that God made man in his own image, Genesis 1:27 makes a significant addition: “male and female he created them.” This statement grounds the fundamental equality between men and women, who equally bear the image of God. While the Bible notes differences between men and women, and grants covenant headship in the home and church to males, we should never think that this complementarian arrangement results from inferiority on the part of women before God. Most significant, we note that while God made the other creatures male and female, Genesis 1 makes this point only of mankind, indicating that the image of God should be seen not merely individualistically but communally. Just as God himself exists within loving community – Father, Son, and Spirit experiencing eternal and perfect love – mankind bears God’s image in relationships of community and love.

Man as God’s Vicegerent

A direct result of man bearing God’s image is the kingly rule into which mankind is called: “And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth” (Gen. 1:26). Man’s dominion takes the form of a viceregency, meaning that man exercises the authority of another, namely, God the Creator.

As God’s royal servants, man is to rule on the earth in keeping with God’s standards and purposes. Vinoth Ramachandra writes: “All human beings are called to represent God’s kingship through the whole range of human life on earth. And God’s rule is not the rule of a despot, but the loving nurture of a caring parent.” 4 God’s purposes for the earth involve a care that extends his blessing and peace – constituting a call both to nature conservationism and social justice – by upholding the just principles of his law. Man should take God’s goodness and bounty as his example. Bearing God’s image and ruling on God’s behalf, mankind is to do good on the earth.

The Image as Communion with God

Most significant of all, the image of God in man involves our creation for an identity in communion with our Maker. We see this emphasis when the New Testament reflects on Genesis 1:26-27. Colossians 3:10 speaks of the great restoration that has taken place in a Christian’s salvation as the new self “is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” Paul thus indicates that knowing God is intrinsic to man’s creation in God’s image. The animals are unaware of God. They do not seek or worship their Maker. But mankind, Paul says, knows God because God has designed creation to reveal himself to his image-bearers (Rom. 1:19). This key aspect of our humanity explains Jesus’ exclamation that “this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God” (Jn. 17:3).

The biblical idea of knowledge involves more than possessing information, but also communion and fellowship. We see this in the contrasting way that God began dealing with mankind versus his dealing with the animals. In Genesis 1:22, God pronounced his blessing on the fish and birds: “God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply.’” The same blessing is granted to mankind but with a crucial difference. Genesis 1:28 says: “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply.’” The difference is seen in the added words, “And God said to them.” God put his blessing on the fish and birds, but God blessed man by means of personal communication designed to foster a response of faith and love.

A second New Testament passage adds to the image of God the ideas of righteousness and holiness. Paul says in Ephesians 4:24 that believers have been “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” So in addition to knowledge of God, the image of God involves a right standing with God and holiness before him. The point of this righteousness and holiness, like our knowledge of God, is for the sake of an eternal communion in love with our Maker. With this in mind, the Westminster Confession of Faith gives its definition of the imago dei : “God … created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls, endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after His own image.” 5

Genesis 2:7 tells us how God made Adam: “The Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” God made man face-to-face for a covenantal relationship of fellowship, communion, and love. This is seen at the end of the Bible just as in the beginning. As heirs together with Jesus Christ, Christians enter into an inheritance that consists of God’s gift of himself. Revelation 21:3 says: “He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” Revelation 22:4-5 goes further, using imagery taken straight out of Genesis 1: “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads … for the Lord God will be their light.”

This fuller definition of man in God’s image has important implications for a Christian worldview. One of the chief questions that anyone can ask is: “Who am I?” The Bible answers that we are living creatures made by God to bear his own image. The stamp of God is seen in our moral and spiritual nature, in our shared love within community, in our dominion on God’s behalf, and especially in our calling to communion with God in knowledge and righteousness. There is nothing that could grant a greater dignity, along with humility before God – together with a higher sense of calling and privilege – than to realize that we are creatures designed to know and be known by God and to love and be loved by our Maker.

The Image Fallen and Restored

The problem of mankind, however, is that the image of God has been shattered by sin. After Adam and Eve broke God’s covenant, the Lord “drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword … to guard the way to the tree of life” (Gen. 3:24). Man, made as royalty amidst the creatures, became a servant to the earth: “the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken” (Gen. 3:23).

The fall of man raises the question whether the image of God has been lost. The answer is both No and Yes. First, the Bible indicates that fallen man retains the image of God with respect to our value and dignity, which is God’s explanation for forbidding the wrongful taking of human life: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image” (Gen. 9:6). This statement was made after the fall, grounding the sanctity of even sinful human lives. On the other hand, man has lost the vital core of the image of God in the form of righteousness and holiness in relating to him. The result of sin, therefore, has been not the complete loss of the divine image but rather its thorough corruption. Henri Blocher writes:

We must state both that after his revolt mankind remains mankind, and also that mankind has radically changed, that he is but a grisly shadow of himself. Mankind remains the image of God, inviolable and responsible, but has become a contradictory image, one might say a caricature, a witness against himself. 6

A good illustration of the image of God in fallen man is that of an automobile windshield that has shattered. The glass remains there but it is so damaged that it will no longer function properly. Likewise, when mankind fell into sin, we became guilty, alienated from the God we still know, and corrupted in our thoughts and desires. This being the case, the marvelous faculties God has given us now are employed in the service of sin. No longer will we reflect the perfect love of the Trinity in our relationships, but they will be damaged and destroyed by a love of self in the place of love for one another. And though we still know God, we raise the fist of rebellion against him (Rom. 8:7). In short, the image of God has been distorted by total depravity so that our communion with him is lost. We remain creatures designed to know God and respond to him in faith and praise. But now fallen man, bearing God’s image, responds to divine knowledge by cursing his name and rebelling against his grace.

This dire situation after the Fall raises a final question: can the image of God be restored? And if the original, glorious image of God in man can be restored, who will be the one to do it?

The answer to this greatest of all questions is the main subject of the entire Bible, the good news of Jesus Christ, God’s Son. There is hope for us in our sin because of the grace of God which fulfills his original plan for creation. Jesus came not only to restore our original righteousness which was lost through sin but to grant us his own. He fulfilled the law of God on our behalf and then offered his own life as a sacrifice to God’s justice for the forgiveness of our sins. Romans 3:23-25 explains: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”

Christ came not only to remedy our standing with God but also to restore God’s image within us through sanctification. Thus, the language of Genesis 1:27 is echoed in the New Testament teaching that by faith in Jesus we are being “renewed in the spirit of [our] minds … to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:23-24). By the grace of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit whom he sends, we are born again to a God-honoring life, restored in the image of righteousness and holiness. Paul says that by God’s grace “we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2Cor. 3:18). Henri Blocher thus exults: “In Jesus Christ, who is both the Son of God and the Image of God, we are restored to our humanity, as true images of our Creator, and more than images; we become God’s sons in his Son, by the bond of a new covenant.” 7

When Prison and Mental Illness Amount to a Death Sentence

The downward spiral of one inmate, Markus Johnson, shows the larger failures of the nation’s prisons to care for the mentally ill.

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By Glenn Thrush

Photographs by Carlos Javier Ortiz

Glenn Thrush spent more than a year reporting this article, interviewing close to 50 people and reviewing court-obtained body-camera footage and more than 1,500 pages of documents.

Published May 5, 2024 Updated May 7, 2024

Markus Johnson slumped naked against the wall of his cell, skin flecked with pepper spray, his face a mask of puzzlement, exhaustion and resignation. Four men in black tactical gear pinned him, his face to the concrete, to cuff his hands behind his back.

He did not resist. He couldn’t. He was so gravely dehydrated he would be dead by their next shift change.

Listen to this article with reporter commentary

“I didn’t do anything,” Mr. Johnson moaned as they pressed a shield between his shoulders.

It was 1:19 p.m. on Sept. 6, 2019, in the Danville Correctional Center, a medium-security prison a few hours south of Chicago. Mr. Johnson, 21 and serving a short sentence for gun possession, was in the throes of a mental collapse that had gone largely untreated, but hardly unwatched.

He had entered in good health, with hopes of using the time to gain work skills. But for the previous three weeks, Mr. Johnson, who suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, had refused to eat or take his medication. Most dangerous of all, he had stealthily stopped drinking water, hastening the physical collapse that often accompanies full-scale mental crises.

Mr. Johnson’s horrific downward spiral, which has not been previously reported, represents the larger failures of the nation’s prisons to care for the mentally ill. Many seriously ill people receive no treatment . For those who do, the outcome is often determined by the vigilance and commitment of individual supervisors and frontline staff, which vary greatly from system to system, prison to prison, and even shift to shift.

The country’s jails and prisons have become its largest provider of inpatient mental health treatment, with 10 times as many seriously mentally ill people now held behind bars as in hospitals. Estimating the population of incarcerated people with major psychological problems is difficult, but the number is likely 200,000 to 300,000, experts say.

Many of these institutions remain ill-equipped to handle such a task, and the burden often falls on prison staff and health care personnel who struggle with the dual roles of jailer and caregiver in a high-stress, dangerous, often dehumanizing environment.

In 2021, Joshua McLemore , a 29-year-old with schizophrenia held for weeks in an isolation cell in Jackson County, Ind., died of organ failure resulting from a “refusal to eat or drink,” according to an autopsy. In April, New York City agreed to pay $28 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Nicholas Feliciano, a young man with a history of mental illness who suffered severe brain damage after attempting to hang himself on Rikers Island — as correctional officers stood by.

Mr. Johnson’s mother has filed a wrongful-death suit against the state and Wexford Health Sources, a for-profit health care contractor in Illinois prisons. The New York Times reviewed more than 1,500 pages of reports, along with depositions taken from those involved. Together, they reveal a cascade of missteps, missed opportunities, potential breaches of protocol and, at times, lapses in common sense.

A woman wearing a jeans jacket sitting at a table showing photos of a young boy on her cellphone.

Prison officials and Wexford staff took few steps to intervene even after it became clear that Mr. Johnson, who had been hospitalized repeatedly for similar episodes and recovered, had refused to take medication. Most notably, they did not transfer him to a state prison facility that provides more intensive mental health treatment than is available at regular prisons, records show.

The quality of medical care was also questionable, said Mr. Johnson’s lawyers, Sarah Grady and Howard Kaplan, a married legal team in Chicago. Mr. Johnson lost 50 to 60 pounds during three weeks in solitary confinement, but officials did not initiate interventions like intravenous feedings or transfer him to a non-prison hospital.

And they did not take the most basic step — dialing 911 — until it was too late.

There have been many attempts to improve the quality of mental health treatment in jails and prisons by putting care on par with punishment — including a major effort in Chicago . But improvements have proved difficult to enact and harder to sustain, hampered by funding and staffing shortages.

Lawyers representing the state corrections department, Wexford and staff members who worked at Danville declined to comment on Mr. Johnson’s death, citing the unresolved litigation. In their interviews with state police investigators, and in depositions, employees defended their professionalism and adherence to procedure, while citing problems with high staff turnover, difficult work conditions, limited resources and shortcomings of co-workers.

But some expressed a sense of resignation about the fate of Mr. Johnson and others like him.

Prisoners have “much better chances in a hospital, but that’s not their situation,” said a senior member of Wexford’s health care team in a deposition.

“I didn’t put them in prison,” he added. “They are in there for a reason.”

Markus Mison Johnson was born on March 1, 1998, to a mother who believed she was not capable of caring for him.

Days after his birth, he was taken in by Lisa Barker Johnson, a foster mother in her 30s who lived in Zion, Ill., a working-class city halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee. Markus eventually became one of four children she adopted from different families.

The Johnson house is a lively split level, with nieces, nephews, grandchildren and neighbors’ children, family keepsakes, video screens and juice boxes. Ms. Johnson sits at its center on a kitchen chair, chin resting on her hand as children wander over to share their thoughts, or to tug on her T-shirt to ask her to be their bathroom buddy.

From the start, her bond with Markus was particularly powerful, in part because the two looked so much alike, with distinctive dimpled smiles. Many neighbors assumed he was her biological son. The middle name she chose for him was intended to convey that message.

“Mison is short for ‘my son,’” she said standing over his modest footstone grave last summer.

He was happy at home. School was different. His grades were good, but he was intensely shy and was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in elementary school.

That was around the time the bullying began. His sisters were fierce defenders, but they could only do so much. He did the best he could, developing a quick, taunting tongue.

These experiences filled him with a powerful yearning to fit in.

It was not to be.

When he was around 15, he called 911 in a panic, telling the dispatcher he saw two men standing near the small park next to his house threatening to abduct children playing there. The officers who responded found nothing out of the ordinary, and rang the Johnsons’ doorbell.

He later told his mother he had heard a voice telling him to “protect the kids.”

He was hospitalized for the first time at 16, and given medications that stabilized him for stretches of time. But the crises would strike every six months or so, often triggered by his decision to stop taking his medication.

His family became adept at reading signs he was “getting sick.” He would put on his tan Timberlands and a heavy winter coat, no matter the season, and perch on the edge of his bed as if bracing for battle. Sometimes, he would cook his own food, paranoid that someone might poison him.

He graduated six months early, on the dean’s list, but was rudderless, and hanging out with younger boys, often paying their way.

His mother pointed out the perils of buying friendship.

“I don’t care,” he said. “At least I’ll be popular for a minute.”

Zion’s inviting green grid of Bible-named streets belies the reality that it is a rough, unforgiving place to grow up. Family members say Markus wanted desperately to prove he was tough, and emulated his younger, reckless group of friends.

Like many of them, he obtained a pistol. He used it to hold up a convenience store clerk for $425 in January 2017, according to police records. He cut a plea deal for two years of probation, and never explained to his family what had made him do it.

But he kept getting into violent confrontations. In late July 2018, he was arrested in a neighbor’s garage with a handgun he later admitted was his. He was still on probation for the robbery, and his public defender negotiated a plea deal that would send him to state prison until January 2020.

An inpatient mental health system

Around 40 percent of the about 1.8 million people in local, state and federal jails and prison suffer from at least one mental illness, and many of these people have concurrent issues with substance abuse, according to recent Justice Department estimates.

Psychological problems, often exacerbated by drug use, often lead to significant medical problems resulting from a lack of hygiene or access to good health care.

“When you suffer depression in the outside world, it’s hard to concentrate, you have reduced energy, your sleep is disrupted, you have a very gloomy outlook, so you stop taking care of yourself,” said Robert L. Trestman , a Virginia Tech medical school professor who has worked on state prison mental health reforms.

The paradox is that prison is often the only place where sick people have access to even minimal care.

But the harsh work environment, remote location of many prisons, and low pay have led to severe shortages of corrections staff and the unwillingness of doctors, nurses and counselors to work with the incarcerated mentally ill.

In the early 2000s, prisoners’ rights lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit against Illinois claiming “deliberate indifference” to the plight of about 5,000 mentally ill prisoners locked in segregated units and denied treatment and medication.

In 2014, the parties reached a settlement that included minimum staffing mandates, revamped screening protocols, restrictions on the use of solitary confinement and the allocation of about $100 million to double capacity in the system’s specialized mental health units.

Yet within six months of the deal, Pablo Stewart, an independent monitor chosen to oversee its enforcement, declared the system to be in a state of emergency.

Over the years, some significant improvements have been made. But Dr. Stewart’s final report , drafted in 2022, gave the system failing marks for its medication and staffing policies and reliance on solitary confinement “crisis watch” cells.

Ms. Grady, one of Mr. Johnson’s lawyers, cited an additional problem: a lack of coordination between corrections staff and Wexford’s professionals, beyond dutifully filling out dozens of mandated status reports.

“Markus Johnson was basically documented to death,” she said.

‘I’m just trying to keep my head up’

Mr. Johnson was not exactly looking forward to prison. But he saw it as an opportunity to learn a trade so he could start a family when he got out.

On Dec. 18, 2018, he arrived at a processing center in Joliet, where he sat for an intake interview. He was coherent and cooperative, well-groomed and maintained eye contact. He was taking his medication, not suicidal and had a hearty appetite. He was listed as 5 feet 6 inches tall and 256 pounds.

Mr. Johnson described his mood as “go with the flow.”

A few days later, after arriving in Danville, he offered a less settled assessment during a telehealth visit with a Wexford psychiatrist, Dr. Nitin Thapar. Mr. Johnson admitted to being plagued by feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness and “constant uncontrollable worrying” that affected his sleep.

He told Dr. Thapar he had heard voices in the past — but not now — telling him he was a failure, and warning that people were out to get him.

At the time he was incarcerated, the basic options for mentally ill people in Illinois prisons included placement in the general population or transfer to a special residential treatment program at the Dixon Correctional Center, west of Chicago. Mr. Johnson seemed out of immediate danger, so he was assigned to a standard two-man cell in the prison’s general population, with regular mental health counseling and medication.

Things started off well enough. “I’m just trying to keep my head up,” he wrote to his mother. “Every day I learn to be stronger & stronger.”

But his daily phone calls back home hinted at friction with other inmates. And there was not much for him to do after being turned down for a janitorial training program.

Then, in the spring of 2019, his grandmother died, sending him into a deep hole.

Dr. Thapar prescribed a new drug used to treat major depressive disorders. Its most common side effect is weight gain. Mr. Johnson stopped taking it.

On July 4, he told Dr. Thapar matter-of-factly during a telehealth check-in that he was no longer taking any of his medications. “I’ve been feeling normal, I guess,” he said. “I feel like I don’t need the medication anymore.”

Dr. Thapar said he thought that was a mistake, but accepted the decision and removed Mr. Johnson from his regular mental health caseload — instructing him to “reach out” if he needed help, records show.

The pace of calls back home slackened. Mr. Johnson spent more time in bed, and became more surly. At a group-therapy session, he sat stone silent, after showing up late.

By early August, he was telling guards he had stopped eating.

At some point, no one knows when, he had intermittently stopped drinking fluids.

‘I’m having a breakdown’

Then came the crash.

On Aug. 12, Mr. Johnson got into a fight with his older cellmate.

He was taken to a one-man disciplinary cell. A few hours later, Wexford’s on-site mental health counselor, Melanie Easton, was shocked by his disoriented condition. Mr. Johnson stared blankly, then burst into tears when asked if he had “suffered a loss in the previous six months.”

He was so unresponsive to her questions she could not finish the evaluation.

Ms. Easton ordered that he be moved to a 9-foot by 8-foot crisis cell — solitary confinement with enhanced monitoring. At this moment, a supervisor could have ticked the box for “residential treatment” on a form to transfer him to Dixon. That did not happen, according to records and depositions.

Around this time, he asked to be placed back on his medication but nothing seems to have come of it, records show.

By mid-August, he said he was visualizing “people that were not there,” according to case notes. At first, he was acting more aggressively, once flicking water at a guard through a hole in his cell door. But his energy ebbed, and he gradually migrated downward — from standing to bunk to floor.

“I’m having a breakdown,” he confided to a Wexford employee.

At the time, inmates in Illinois were required to declare an official hunger strike before prison officials would initiate protocols, including blood testing or forced feedings. But when a guard asked Mr. Johnson why he would not eat, he said he was “fasting,” as opposed to starving himself, and no action seems to have been taken.

‘Tell me this is OK!’

Lt. Matthew Morrison, one of the few people at Danville to take a personal interest in Mr. Johnson, reported seeing a white rind around his mouth in early September. He told other staff members the cell gave off “a death smell,” according to a deposition.

On Sept. 5, they moved Mr. Johnson to one of six cells adjacent to the prison’s small, bare-bones infirmary. Prison officials finally placed him on the official hunger strike protocol without his consent.

Mr. Morrison, in his deposition, said he was troubled by the inaction of the Wexford staff, and the lack of urgency exhibited by the medical director, Dr. Justin Young.

On Sept. 5, Mr. Morrison approached Dr. Young to express his concerns, and the doctor agreed to order blood and urine tests. But Dr. Young lived in Chicago, and was on site at the prison about four times a week, according to Mr. Kaplan. Friday, Sept. 6, 2019, was not one of those days.

Mr. Morrison arrived at work that morning, expecting to find Mr. Johnson’s testing underway. A Wexford nurse told him Dr. Young believed the tests could wait.

Mr. Morrison, stunned, asked her to call Dr. Young.

“He’s good till Monday,” Dr. Young responded, according to Mr. Morrison.

“Come on, come on, look at this guy! You tell me this is OK!” the officer responded.

Eventually, Justin Duprey, a licensed nurse practitioner and the most senior Wexford employee on duty that day, authorized the test himself.

Mr. Morrison, thinking he had averted a disaster, entered the cell and implored Mr. Johnson into taking the tests. He refused.

So prison officials obtained approval to remove him forcibly from his cell.

‘Oh, my God’

What happened next is documented in video taken from cameras held by officers on the extraction team and obtained by The Times through a court order.

Mr. Johnson is scarcely recognizable as the neatly groomed 21-year-old captured in a cellphone picture a few months earlier. His skin is ashen, eyes fixed on the middle distance. He might be 40. Or 60.

At first, he places his hands forward through the hole in his cell door to be cuffed. This is against procedure, the officers shout. His hands must be in back.

He will not, or cannot, comply. He wanders to the rear of his cell and falls hard. Two blasts of pepper spray barely elicit a reaction. The leader of the tactical team later said he found it unusual and unnerving.

The next video is in the medical unit. A shield is pressed to his chest. He is in agony, begging for them to stop, as two nurses attempt to insert a catheter.

Then they move him, half-conscious and limp, onto a wheelchair for the blood draw.

For the next 20 minutes, the Wexford nurse performing the procedure, Angelica Wachtor, jabs hands and arms to find a vessel that will hold shape. She winces with each puncture, tries to comfort him, and grows increasingly rattled.

“Oh, my God,” she mutters, and asks why help is not on the way.

She did not request assistance or discuss calling 911, records indicate.

“Can you please stop — it’s burning real bad,” Mr. Johnson said.

Soon after, a member of the tactical team reminds Ms. Wachtor to take Mr. Johnson’s vitals before taking him back to his cell. She would later tell Dr. Young she had been unable to able to obtain his blood pressure.

“You good?” one of the team members asks as they are preparing to leave.

“Yeah, I’ll have to be,” she replies in the recording.

Officers lifted him back onto his bunk, leaving him unconscious and naked except for a covering draped over his groin. His expressionless face is visible through the window on the cell door as it closes.

‘Cardiac arrest.’

Mr. Duprey, the nurse practitioner, had been sitting inside his office after corrections staff ordered him to shelter for his own protection, he said. When he emerged, he found Ms. Wachtor sobbing, and after a delay, he was let into the cell. Finding no pulse, Mr. Duprey asked a prison employee to call 911 so Mr. Johnson could be taken to a local emergency room.

The Wexford staff initiated CPR. It did not work.

At 3:38 p.m., the paramedics declared Markus Mison Johnson dead.

Afterward, a senior official at Danville called the Johnson family to say he had died of “cardiac arrest.”

Lisa Johnson pressed for more information, but none was initially forthcoming. She would soon receive a box hastily crammed with his possessions: uneaten snacks, notebooks, an inspirational memoir by a man who had served 20 years at Leavenworth.

Later, Shiping Bao, the coroner who examined his body, determined Mr. Johnson had died of severe dehydration. He told the state police it “was one of the driest bodies he had ever seen.”

For a long time, Ms. Johnson blamed herself. She says that her biggest mistake was assuming that the state, with all its resources, would provide a level of care comparable to what she had been able to provide her son.

She had stopped accepting foster care children while she was raising Markus and his siblings. But as the months dragged on, she decided her once-boisterous house had become oppressively still, and let local agencies know she was available again.

“It is good to have children around,” she said. “It was too quiet around here.”

Read by Glenn Thrush

Audio produced by Jack D’Isidoro .

Glenn Thrush covers the Department of Justice. He joined The Times in 2017 after working for Politico, Newsday, Bloomberg News, The New York Daily News, The Birmingham Post-Herald and City Limits. More about Glenn Thrush

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IMAGES

Son of God Part 4
Son of God DVD Release Date
» Liam Neesons, Though!
God Revealed
Son of God
Son of God

VIDEO

bible verse and short reflection 11th April 2024 #bibleverse #faithincommunity
Рассказы о Святых. Святитель Гу́рий, архиепископ Казанский
Worship Service: Sunday, April 28, 2024
Soul Nomad OST: God's Reflection / Water Mirror of the Gods
Рассказы о Святых. Игнатий Богоносец
My journey with God/ reflection

COMMENTS

Jesus as the Son of God
Colossians 1:15 declares Jesus to be "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.". And Hebrews 1:3 introduces the Son as "the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.". From these verses, we find a strong connection between sonship, image, and glory.
Reflections on the Movie "Son of God"
Posted onMarch 5, 2014by deacondsm. REFLECTION. Here are a few reflections that I have on the film Son of God having seen the movie at the theater this week. This is not a review of any sort, we know the story and how it ends after all, and obviously if we are Christians it is a movie that we should see, if more than anything so that Hollywood ...
Reflection Paper On Son Of God
Reflection Paper On Son Of God. Decent Essays. 1020 Words. 5 Pages. Open Document. The most impactful and visual image is when someone is nailed on to the cross. Yes, here I am talking about the story of Jesus Christ facing the crucifixion. In the movie, Son of God, the crucifixion of Jesus is powerfully illustrated.
Reflections on Son of God, the movie
The Son of God narrative lacks coherence and clumsily advances like a checklist of "the Messiah's greatest hits," as a Washington Post critic put it. Scenes are underdeveloped, but contain enough information to serve as prompts for those familiar with the Gospel accounts. Consider Peter's initial encounter with Jesus.
I Believe in Jesus Christ, His Only Son, Our Lord
Jesus is Lord and Savior. But there's another thing that we are affirming when we say that we believe in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord. We are affirming the Lordship of Christ; Jesus is Master and God. You remember the confession of the disciple, "My Lord and my God.". That is an essential Christian confession.
Reflection Paper On Son Of God
In the dramatic movie, Son of God, the spectator watches the crucifixion of Jesus. The movie focuses on the narration of Jesus Christ from birth, life, sacrificial death, resurrection and the ascension. Hollywood emphasizes the death of the Jesus scene when the Roman soldier flogged Jesus and carried the cross up onto the "skull" to be ...
Passion Of The Christ Essay
Reflection Paper On Son Of God. The most affected and visual image is when someone receives crucifixion on to the cross. Yes, here I am talking about the story of Jesus Christ facing the crucifixion. In the dramatic movie, Son of God, the spectator watches the crucifixion of Jesus. The movie focuses on the narration of Jesus Christ from birth ...
Jesus Is the Christ the Son of God
Jesus, the hated, rejected, crucified criminal, is the Son of God and the long hoped-for Messiah. Verse 20: "And in the synagogue immediately he proclaimed Jesus, saying, 'He is the Son of God.'". And verse 22: "But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ [which ...
Reflection on Who is Jesus?
Jesus is the Son of Man. There is a prophecy in Daniel 7:13-14 of a Son of Man who is not just a man but is divine. This is crucial because Jesus had to be fully man in order to be a perfect sacrifice for our atonement. Matthew 1:23, 1 Timothy 2:5-7, Philippians 2:5-7. As a Christian I admit that I do not understand how God is both God and Man ...
John 1:29-34 Reflection: Jesus is the Son of God
A reading from the gospel according to John 1:29-34. 29 John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. 30 He is the one of whom I said, 'A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.'. 31 I did not know him, but the reason why I came ...
The Son of God
Thus You are worthy of honor and submission. Yet You are Son of God in a way that far exceeds anything in Psalm 2. You are far more than the human King. You are the unique Son of God, indeed, the very Word of God made flesh. You share the same essential nature as God the Father even as You share in our nature as well.
Son of God movie review & film summary (2014)
Unlike Gibson's film, which focused on Jesus' arrest, torture, and death, "Son of God" takes us through Jesus' life from its humble beginnings in the barn, to the gathering of his followers, his march to Jerusalem, and all of the miracles he performed along the way. It's a Greatest Hits montage. Watch Jesus multiply the loaves and fishes and ...
Welcomed into the Family of God: Sonship in the Bible
Even a cursory reading of Scripture shows how the expression son of God can refer to many, many different people. In fact, it stretches beyond people. It can refer to angels in the opening chapters of Job (see Job 1:6). The term son of God can refer to Israel considered collectively. That shows up for the first time in Exodus 4:22-23.
Notes
"Addressing God as 'father' in prayers also makes use of figurative speech" (Kratz, 10). As regards the designated subject of his paper—4Q246—Kratz takes a negative view, believing the "son of God" figure to refer a foreign ruler, such as Antiochus IV, claiming for himself the divine honors (Kratz, 11-27).
Son of God: Reflections on a Tradition
In a closing section, the book considers the implications of these reflections for Christian theology and self-understanding in the twenty-first century, and in particular with what they have to say to the phenomena of saints, sanctity, and sainthood. Keywords: Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God, Roman religion, Lord, saint, sanctity, sainthood ...
Son of God: Reflections on a Tradition
15. I am referring to my friend. David George Haskell 's wonderful book The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature (New York: Penguin, 2012) I believe in God, the Father almighty,creator of heaven and earth.I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord . . .1So begins the Apostles' Creed.
[EMS] Historical & Theological Reflection on the Son of God Bible
Academia.edu is a platform for academics to share research papers. [EMS] Historical & Theological Reflection on the Son of God Bible Translation (PDF) [EMS] Historical & Theological Reflection on the Son of God Bible Translation | 백신종 Daniel Shinjong Baeq - Academia.edu
The Synoptics and the Son of God: Jesus' Teaching in Jerusalem, His
Son of God: Reflections on a Tradition Christopher Bryan. Contents Contents Search in this book. Chapter 12 The Synoptics and the Son of God: Jesus' Teaching in Jerusalem, His Passion, Death, and Resurrection Get access. Christopher Bryan. Christopher Bryan Find on Oxford Academic ...
Jesus Christ, the Son of Man
Here at last, "the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever" (Rev. 11:15). God's kingdom will come in its fulness by the saving work of the Son of Man. Concluding Reflection. Man created in God's image is designed to rule over God's creation as his vice-regent.
The Prodigal Son
The Prodigal Son reflection. In this Year of Mercy, the story of the Prodigal Son has great importance. Of the three characters in this familiar parable, the focus seems to be on the undisciplined son, with whom we the readers/listeners tend to identify -- and we like the story for its happy ending. We sometimes strain or break our relationship with God and being the recipients of the Father ...
Man as the Image of God
Central to the Bible's teaching about mankind is the statement of Genesis 1:27: "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him.". Genesis 1:26 recorded God's will for the human race: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.". Both "image" and "likeness" speak of resemblance. The word for ...
For Markus Johnson, Prison and Mental Illness Equaled a Death Sentence
It was 1:19 p.m. on Sept. 6, 2019, in the Danville Correctional Center, a medium-security prison a few hours south of Chicago. Mr. Johnson, 21 and serving a short sentence for gun possession, was ...
The Synoptics and the Son of God: Jesus' Baptism and Testing
AbstractIn all three synoptic gospels Jesus is declared by God to be "Son of God" at his baptism in terms that link his offering to the Aqedah (or "Binding") of. Skip to Main Content. ... Bryan, Christopher, 'The Synoptics and the Son of God: Jesus' Baptism and Testing', Son of God: Reflections on a Tradition (New York, 2023; online ...
Son of God: Reflections on a Tradition
The Scriptures. The English translation of the Bible here used as a basis is the NRSV, and for the Septuagint it is the NETS, although I have freely made changes to both where either clarity, accuracy or, on occasion, merely decent English, seemed to me to require them.