Christology Final

Ryan Hibbs
THEOL 201
Prof. Murphy
16 December 2015
Christology - Final Exam
1.
The gospels of Matthew and Luke were written after Marks gospel, so
they were able to use Marks work, Pauls letters, and Q (unknown common
source) to capture a more illustrative story of Jesus life. Matthew and Luke
start off their books radically different than Mark because they include an
infancy narrative. The infancy narratives details how an Angel names Jesus
and the Virgin Marys immaculate conception of Jesus. These infancy
narratives provide us with the insight that Jesus is divine and had been sent
from God to mankind.
In Matthews gospel begins by detailing the genealogy of Jesus Christ,
which proves he descends from Abraham and is part of the Davidic line. This
helps to prove that he is divine and descended from those in the Old
Testament that had a relationship with God. Matthews gospel continues to
allude to Jesus relationship with God as Matthew provides the details that he
fled to Egypt to escape persecution of being killed by Herrod. This alludes to
the Old Testament and how Moses had to flee for safety of being killed as
well. Matthew is signifying that Jesus is the savior and will provide the word
of God to mankind. Matthew 2:15 continues to allude to the Old Testament
as through a prophet God reveals Out of Egypt I called my son which is

similar to Israel being called out of Egypt in the time of Exodus. This is
another part of Matthews gospel that provides prove that his writings are
aimed toward a Jewish audience. Matthew is detailing the significance of
Jesus and his relationship with God, by providing a reference that would be
well known to the Jewish people. Matthews writings have the most
references to the Old Testament compared to other gospels. Matthew proves
that he was writing to a Jewish audience in Matthew 2:2 Where is the
newborn king of the Jews? Here Matthew is alluding to the fact that Jesus is
the Messiah, or savior of the Jewish people. All of the Jewish readers would
know of the prophecy of how the King of Jews would lead them to freedom.
This also alludes to Old Testament scripture, because Jesus is portrayed as
Moses, someone to lead people to freedom. Matthew helps to prove that
Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testaments prophecy where a figure helps
save the Jews, and that he is the Messiah. Jesus was sent here to deliver us
from evil and connect us with God.
Lukes gospel has a number of similarities to Matthews such as the
infancy narrative and how that provides readers with insight on Jesuss
Immaculate Conception, childhood, and early ministry. Lukes gospel makes
references to Old Testament in order to help relay the importance of Jesus
divinity and ancestry. Luke also decides to reference Jesus genealogy, which
proves that he is in the Davidic line, related to prominent Old Testament
figures. Luke 1:17 He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah.
Elijah was a prominent prophet who focused on reform. This provides a hint
that Jesus will reform the world and focus on providing his ministry to all.
This is another key focus of Lukes gospel, which Jesus is here to provide
salvation to all that follow the word of God. Luke 2:30 for my eyes have
seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples. Luke is
revealing that the Messiah has come to provide the word of God and the
opportunity for eternal life if the follow Gods plan. One of the other reasons
that Lukes gospel helps to prove he is writing to a gentile audience is the
fact that he had to highlight the Circumcision of Jesus in Luke 1:21. If he
intended for Jews to be the audience it would be a commonality that Jesus
was circumcised as its Jewish tradition. All of these help to prove that Luke
was writing this scripture so anyone and all could read it and connect with
Jesus. Lukes gospel helps illustrate that Jesus is providing to all of mankind,
and that all have the power to follow in Jesus ministry and the word of God.
2.
The Christological hymns are such an important part of the Christian
faith, and how its followers believe in Jesus Christ. These hymns help to
provide us with how Jesus was portrayed in the early church. The hymns
represent the law of prayer is the law of belief which means that the
hymns outline what past Christ followers believed about Jesus and his
teachings. These hymns are a door into the past of the Christian church and
allow us to examine the history of it. The three major hymns that help teach
us these histories are Philippians 2, Colossians 1, and John 1. Each of these

represents an important part of Jesus and how we came to worship him
today.
Philippians 2 is a hymn that can be split into 2 parts. The whole of Phil
2 is aimed at revealing the path of Jesus on Earth and his journey to heaven.
The first part of the hymn focuses on his descension and how opened himself
to be vulnerable on Earth. His vulnerability and humility helped to prove
Jesus humanity. In order to descend Jesus had to empty himself and take on
the form of a slave. He humbled himself to the point where he accepted his
death on a cross with no question. The second part of the hymn helps to
represent how Jesus ascended back to his place at Gods right hand. Jesuss
exaltation is represented in the hymn by claiming that the entire world
heaven and on earth and under the earth will confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord. This last part helps to reveal that Jesus is the lord of the cosmos or all
things. Jesus Christ is the lord of the entire universe; he has dominion over
all things.
The next hymn that helps us look at how the early church praised Jesus
is Colossians 1. This hymn provides us with a different look at the divinity of
Jesus Christ. The hymn focuses on Jesus Christ and how he was created in
the image of God, presiding over all things.
Wisdom is represented as
having no boundaries, everywhere, Heaven or on Earth. This strengthens

the argument that wisdom is the invisible God as God is everywhere and
presides over all things. For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell
(Col 1:19), helps to show that Jesus was full of wisdom and helped deliver it
to his community. Wisdom is the fulfillment of Jesus Christ and is all around
us just as Christ is.
The final hymn that helps reveal what the early church thought about
Jesus is John 1. This hymn takes a different stance on the power of Jesus and
what he represented. John is constantly using Word to describe the creative
power of God. This is describing Jesus Christ and his relationship with
wisdom. This hymn describes wisdom as providing life and revealing the
light to mankind. What came to be through him was life, and this life was
the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness and the
darkness has not overcome it (John 1:3) Jesus is represented by wisdom by
illustrating that wisdom provides the opportunity for life and prosperity and
that no evil can overcome wisdom. The hymn ends with describing that the
Word became flesh and we the glory of Gods only son, Jesus. This helps to
illustrate that Jesus is represented as Word and his enfleshment provided
proof of his divinity. In the New Testament, Jesus is wisdom and helps spread
it to all that will hear it. This hymn helps us realize the power of Jesus and
how wisdom represents his power and reach to all.
Works Cited
Senior, Donald, John J. Collins, and Mary Ann Getty-Sullivan. The Catholic
Study Bible: The New American Bible. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2011.
Print.

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Ryan Hibbs

as through a prophet God reveals Out of Egypt I called my son which is

us these histories are Philippians 2, Colossians 1, and John 1. Each of these

having no boundaries, everywhere, Heaven or on Earth. This strengthens

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