Cross Word Puzzles
“But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Luke 5:24 NIV
Authority on earth – I wrote Cross Word Puzzles seven years ago. A lot has changed since then. In the words of David Flusser, “I wrote that when I was stupid.” I don’t mean that my main argument was wrong. I still believe that the death on the cross was not primarily about saving humankind. It was about the cosmic consequences of death. Salvation for human beings was only a small part (important to us, of course) of the greater plan. When John wrote, “For God so loved the world,” he meant us to think cosmically, not anthropologically.
But in those days, I was still vacillating about the Trinity. That means there are sections of the book that either imply or state that Yeshua is God. One of my friends recently pointed this out. He cited my writing from pages 44-45:
If all Yeshua proclaimed was the fact that God forgives, there would have been no argument. The argument presupposes that Yeshua forgives, implying a claim to be equal with God. Furthermore, even if Howard’s variant text is correct, the once-lame man has not followed any of the required protocols for receiving forgiveness. We can’t find a way around the obvious claim of this story. Yeshua forgives, taking on the role of God. And if this is true, then the means of forgiveness granted to the lame man cannot depend on some action yet to occur at Calvary.[1]
What I should have said is this: Look more carefully at the text. Does it say that Yeshua’s declaration about being able to forgive the man of his sins makes him God in the flesh? No, it doesn’t. What it says is that Yeshua has been given the authority on earth to do what God does, that is, to forgive with the expressed divine authority otherwise resident in God alone. Yeshua acts as God’s official agent, and in the first century, agency was clearly understood. If a man was the agent of the Emperor, he was, for all intents and purposes, the Emperor himself. Of course, he wasn’t ontologically the Emperor. He was a separate individual. But his authority was the Emperor’s authority and his acts were the Emperor’s actions. In other words, he has what we would call “full power of attorney.” When my lawyer, Nick, acts under the power of attorney I grant to him, no one actually believes that Nick is Skip. But they certainly know that his actions are the equivalent of my actions. Yeshua acts as the agent of God in the unique capacity of the Messiah. He does things that otherwise only God could do. But that doesn’t make him God.
My point about the man lowered through the roof was about the timing of forgiveness. Those who claim forgiveness could occur only after the death and resurrection have a problem with this story. They might claim that forgiveness after the resurrection was retro-active, thereby including Moses, David, and the rest. But that makes nonsense of this story. When Yeshua forgives this man, it is immediate and instantaneous, as the subsequent healing confirms. So, my point is still valid. What I implied was mistaken. Agency is not ontological equivalence.
There are a few other passages I would rewrite after seven years of added thinking. I hope you can understand that. You’ve discovered that I make mistakes. What did you expect? Perfection?
Topical Index: Trinity, forgiveness, Cross Word Puzzles, authority, agency, Luke 5:24
[1] Skip Moen, Cross Word Puzzles, pp. 44-45.
