Chapter # 8 Paragraph # 5 Study # 2
October 4, 2022
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(346)
1901 ASV
28 And they told him, saying, John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but others, One of the prophets.
29 And he asked them, But who say ye that I am? Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.
30 And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.
- I. Jesus' Question Regarding "Who Are The Men Saying That I Am?".
- A. The real question is "Why are the men saying those things?".
- 1. Why would anyone say that Jesus was John the Baptizer?
- a. According to 6:49, there was, in that culture, a strong undercurrent of "belief" in the reality of "phantasms" (i.e., powerful spiritual forces behind unexplained demonstrations of power).
- b. This was also strongly indicated in 3:22 when the "official explanation" for Jesus' remarkable powers was "He is possessed by Beelzebul".
- c. By the number of exorcisms by both Jesus and His disciples, we are made aware that the culture also had a strong link to the "supernatural" as manifested by demon possessions.
- d. Since both Jesus and John were held in high esteem by the large crowds, it was not a very large "leap" to see Jesus as John because John had been so unjustly treated by Herod.
- 1) This "leap", however, does not really answer to reality since Jesus' miraculous ministry overlapped John's rather less impressive ministry by a significant period of time.
- 2) This "leap" would require men to believe that John's "spirit" had been transferred to Jesus in such a way that John was, effectively, "risen from the dead" (6:14 and 16). This would be an extension of the Elijah to Elisha transference of "spirit", given in 2 Kings 2:9 and following in that Elisha got the "spirit", but not by way of a "resurrection".
- e. This attribution of Jesus' identity to "John, risen from the dead" is clearly incapable of dealing with the facts.
- 2. Why would anyone say that Jesus was Elijah?
- a. Elijah had the reputation for significant acts of power.
- b. Elijah was prophesied to come before the Christ and Jesus affirmed that (9:11-12).
- c. Jesus, in fact, said of John that he was, in a sense, the "Elijah" of the First Coming as He answered their question (9:13).
- c. Thus, "He is Elijah" was not as difficult to give credence to as "He is a risen John" would be, but it did not answer to the facts either.
- 3. Why would anyone say that Jesus was "one of the prophets"?
- a. These would be the least ambitious of the answerers: "one of the prophets" lets Jesus be "ok", but nothing more than that.
- b. There are always the "fence riders" who are reluctant to be "pushed" by the observable facts into "taking a side".
- B. But, none of these answers really answer the real question, which is: "Why didn't anyone want to call Jesus the Christ?"
- 1. Partly because they were given "outs" by the confusion of doctrine regarding the characterizations of "The Christ" as they were given in the Old Testament.
- 2. Also, partly because they were yet "in the darkness and the darkness had blinded their eyes".
- 3. But, mostly, because those "outs" were simply excuses to hide the real reason, which was the problem of the disciples in their fixation upon "bread for the body" as more important for "Life" than "Bread for the Spirit/Soul".
