Journal: Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry
Volume: JBTM 21:2 (Fall 2024)
Article: How Hard Is It To Discern The Self-Consciousness Of Jesus? Perhaps Moses “The Demon” Of Crete Can Help
Author: Craig A. Evans

How Hard Is It To Discern The Self-Consciousness Of Jesus? Perhaps Moses “The Demon” Of Crete Can Help

Craig A. Evans

Craig Evans serves as John Bisango distinguished professor of Christian Origins at Houston Christian University.

In a thoughtful essay published a decade ago, Ernst Baasland argued for the need of a “Fourth Quest” that focused on Jesus’ “motive and intention.”1 I entirely agree. A year earlier, at the conclusion of a chapter entitled, “The Christology of Jesus,” Dale Allison commented, “We should hold a funeral for the view that Jesus entertained no exalted thoughts about himself.”2 The conclusions reached by these scholars complement one another. Both studies touch on a topic that has been much debated by scholars of the various phases of the quest for Jesus,3 that is, the problem of Jesus’ self-understanding or self-consciousness.4 But things are different now; Jesus research is much more focused on context.5

So, can we or should we pursue Jesus’ motive and intention, as Baasland recommended? And, if we hold a funeral for the dubious proposition that Jesus entertained no exalted thoughts about himself, can we define these exalted thoughts with reasonable assurance that we probably got them right? Perhaps we can.

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We should begin by asking if we have evidence from reasonably reliable sources of historical figures of antiquity who entertained exalted thoughts about themselves and their missions. Perhaps we can even discern what those exalted thoughts were, at least in general terms. The Jewish materials in circulation in the approximate time of Jesus are a good place to begin. In the Qumran Scrolls we hear of eschatological messianic expectations, and in Josephus we hear of certain figures who apparently believed they possess great authority, perhaps from God himself. Perhaps from them we can get an idea of what kind of exalted thoughts Jesus might have entertained.

Pre-70 CE Jewish Expectations Of Exalted Eschatological Figures

The sectarians of Qumran, whose aversion to all things pagan can hardly be overstated, held to remarkably “high” views of messianism. Alluding to Ps 2:2 and 7 Appendix A of the Serek text anticipates a time when God will “beget” (יוליד)6 the Messiah (1QSa 2:11–12). The text is not s...