Continuity and Discontinuity between ”Jesus” and ”Christ”. The possibilities of an Implicit Christology

The article discusses the central issue of the relationship between the “Historical Jesus” and the “Christ of Faith” and especially the question whether there is a continuity between the Jesus of history and later theological views, in Paul, the Gospels, and the creed of the church. Initially, the author traces the origins of the question in enlightenment thought (Reimarus, Lessing) and explains the distinction between a ‘high’ Christology (with Jesus viewed as a divine being) and ‘low’ Christology (with the focus on Jesus as a human being, and between an ‘explicit’ Christology (with claims made by Christological titles) and an ‘implicit Christology’ (in which Jesus’ relevance is indicated without the traditional titles). Then, the author points to the reconsideration of Jesus’ Jewishness and the discovery of the plurality within contemporary Jewish thought, including diverse concepts of ‘messianic’ figures. From there, the issue of Jesus’ Messianism can be reconsidered: Whereas earlier research (Wrede, Bultmann) was inclined to deny that Jesus acted as ‘the Messiah’, since his appearance differed from the widespread view of a political Davidic Messiah, the new insight in the variety of ‘messianic’ ideas can help to understand how Jesus’ contemporaries could view his appearance in the context of messianic hopes, and how he could be accused as a messianic pretender and crucified by the Romans as the ‘king of the Jews’. The very early and consistent use of the title “Christos” in the Pauline epistles and even pre-Pauline formulae provides a strong argument that this ‘title’ (and thus ‘Messianism’) originates in Jesus’ lifetime and in his trial and crucifixion. Although Jesus himself probably did not use the title ‘Christos’, the question must be posed whether his appearance as a miracle worker and preacher of the kingdom, can also be called ‘Christological’. Sayings such as Luke 11:20 (on the ‘finger of God’), or Jesus’ answer to John the Baptist (Luke 7:22-3) confirm that he considered his own works as a sign of the presence of God’s coming kingdom and the reaction of humans as decisive in judgment. Although there was considerable transformation between the preaching of the Historical Jesus and the later confession, the Gospels, especially the Gospel of John, there are lines of continuity and development from Jesus of Nazareth to the Christ of Faith.