The Son’s Special Relation to the Father
The Son’s Special Relation to the Father
One passage in “Q” (Matt 11:25-27//Lk 10:21-22) attributes to Jesus a relationship with the Father that sounds almost like what we read in the Gospel of John.73 This is especially true in the particular saying in Matt 11:27//Lk 10:22: “My Father has delegated everything to me, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son — and to whom-ever the Son wishes to reveal him.” Such a claim about the exclusivity of divine knowledge involving Jesus resembles contemporary claims about divine wisdom (e.g., Wisd 9:17).
By employing here a term frequently used for passing on tradition74 the Gospels might contrast Jesus’ revelation, which is directly from the Father, with the traditions that sages received from earlier sages. Although this is not a claim to omniscience (as we noted with regard to Mk 13:32),75 it claims a position of special authority and relationship with the Father. The Father has given Jesus the sole prerogative to reveal him, so that anyone who approaches God a different way will not find him. Some scholars object that this passage sounds too much like something the Gospel of John would say (e.g., Jn 1:18; 14:6). Others respond, however, that if Jesus never spoke in terms like these, it would be more difficult to explain where Johannine tradition derived its picture of Jesus.76
Some scholars have objected that this exalted Q picture of Jesus and the language used to describe it is gnostic or Greek, hence not from Jesus himself. But the gnostic interpretation falters severely on the phrase “no one knows the Son but the Father” — a claim that denies the very heart of much gnosticism as we know it.77 Moreover, further investigations have shown that the passage is thoroughly Palestinian Jewish, representing the sort of blend of mystic and apocalyptic thought that clustered around discussions of Israel, divine Wisdom and the law.78 As Jeremias already pointed out several decades ago, “Language, style and structure . . . clearly assign the saying to a Semitic-speaking milieu.”79 Not all scholars are certain that the saying is authentic,80 but most today will agree that it is clearly not hellenistic.81
But not even all scholars who suspect that the saying originated with Jesus agree on its sense; some suggest Jesus indicates his relationship with God merely by means of analogy with a natural family: “only a father and son really know each other.”82 The analogy interpretation falters on the inadequacy of the image, however: men were in fact generally closer to their wives and friends than to their fathers.83 Jesus’ prayers addressing God as Father and the use of “Son” as a title for Jesus in the indisputably authentic saying in Mk 13:32 also suggest that Jesus here refers to himself as God’s unique son.84 Although other images85 may also be at work, many scholars believe Jesus describes himself here especially in the language of divine Wisdom.86 Witherington notes that
The claim of exclusivity of mutual knowledge of Father and son should be compared to the claims that state only Wisdom knows God and vice versa (cf. Job 28:1-27; Sir. 1:6, 8; Bar. 3:15-32; Prov. 8:12; Wis. 7:25ff.; 8:3-8; 9:4, 9, 11). The middle two clauses suggest that Jesus sees his relationship to the Father in the light of wisdom ideas, and he may see himself as Wisdom incarnate here.87
Jesus claimed to be not merely one sage or prophet among many, but the supreme end-time revealer of God’s character and purpose.