Describe and explain how Marks Gospel establishes Jesus identity.

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  1. Describe and explain how Mark’s Gospel establishes Jesus identity.

In Mark’s gospel Jesus identity is explored in many different ways, the most important ones are:

-Son of man

-Son of God

-Messiah/ Christ

-Rabbi (teacher)

The Son of man is mainly used by Christ when he is referring to himself. If Jesus had addressed himself as the Messiah he would have been misunderstood to an even more than he already was.

This title emphasizes Jesus´ humanity, by showing that he has authority. In the Old Testament and another Jewish writings they sometimes translate the “Son of man” as “mortal man”, a “human being” or just “man”. It can also mean someone from heaven.

Son of man can just mean a human being; it can be used to contrast people’s weakness with God’s power.

When Jesus was referring himself as “Son of man”, this probably meant something like “this man here”, or “I”.  He uses all three to refer to himself, however we can link three ways in which mark says Jesus used the title: Jesus has authority, Jesus suffers, dies and rise. However this could be wrong, this is because:  In the Old Testament prophet Daniel had a vision of someone like a son of man, who was given a power by God. Daniel’s example is an example of a type of book called “apocalyptic”. This usually describes God’s victory over evil, judgment, and the end of the world. Daniel was written in the second century BC. Later apocalyptic books said the “son of man” was someone from heaven whom God would send to judge people. However we have two problems with these later apocalyptic books. First we do no know if they thought the son of man was the same as the Messiah or someone else. And second many scholars say that they were written after the time of Jesus. Others disagree. We don’t know.

Son of Man has three basic forms in mark’s gospel: a teacher who has authority; a servant who suffers; and someone who dies and rises. As a role teacher, Mark represents the Son of Man as possessing the ability to forgive sins, and to be the Lord of the . The Son of Man as a servant who must change persecution, suffering, and death is found in Mk. 8:31, 9:12. The son of man as someone that dies and rises is found in Mk. 8:38, 14:26, where the Son of Man comes in glory of the Father and holy angels and will be sitting at the right hand of power. These three characteristics may seem opposed to one another; however, in the gospel, Mark explains that these three characteristics actually come together in the Jesus’ character.

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Another title that marks uses to refer to Jesus is “Son of God”, it is one of the most important titles Mark uses for Jesus. The title “Son of God” mainly means the idea of a king, the Messiah. Son of God has many possible meanings, referring to , or humans or even all mankind. According to most Christian traditions, it refers to the relationship between  and .

 However, this title is not used as much by Mark as the title "Son of Man." In fact, some manuscripts do not include the title Son ...

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