Crazy, huh? Yep, that's right folks. Astonishingly, neither Titus nor any of John's letters ever call Jesus "Lord"! What might that mean?
I guess that this, along with the scant usage in Mark, is evidence for my thesis that there is first-century diversity in imagining Jesus' "exaltedness". It also is still further evidence that the early Greek-speaking (or Aramaic-speaking...) church was not going around proclaiming that Jesus is Yahweh. But let's not get sidetracked by silliness.
By the way, I have just done a major revamp of my 2016 post on Titus and the confusion expounded by many modern translations between the God who authors the salvation plan and the saviour he sends to achieve that plan for us. I have added a lot more clarification and an extra example case. For reference, the text did not read: Jesus Christ our God and Saviour, although I can't deny it does now!
In addition to being "lordless", 3 John does not even mention Jesus or Christ. It's really quite extraordinary. But both 2 John and 3 John are pretty short, only 245 and 219 Greek words respectively.
1 John is 10 times longer than either of these: 2141 Greek words. What might that mean that the author these 2500 words of Christian exhortation fails to express either God or Jesus in terms of KYRIOS? While speaking of Jesus as HO KYRIOS and citing the LXX translation of Yahweh, KYRIOS, was commonplace in some churches, I think we might assume that this was not a de-facto usage. If it were, then why does the author of the epistles write in 1 John in 4:2:
"Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ ..... " IS LORD? No! He writes:
"Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God". Oh, ok.
If you were in a church founded by the writer of these epistles, then you would not necessarily interject every religious sentence with a "Lord"-this or a "Lord"-that. Rather, you might delight in the sense of cleansing light and presence of God through his Son the incarnate Word, and his animating spirit-life, an indwelling truth.
These proto-orthodoxies represented in the diverse expressions of very early Christianity are fascinating both in the historical picture they paint but also the subsequent need to bind them together in the face of even greater theological diversity, A.K.A. heresy. Maybe a case of circling the wagons.
Word counts courtesy of overviewbible.com here.
I guess that this, along with the scant usage in Mark, is evidence for my thesis that there is first-century diversity in imagining Jesus' "exaltedness". It also is still further evidence that the early Greek-speaking (or Aramaic-speaking...) church was not going around proclaiming that Jesus is Yahweh. But let's not get sidetracked by silliness.
Titus
Even mentioning that Jesus was "Lord" didn't figure in the Titus version of good news, but rather that God's saviour and our saviour (see 1:3 and 3:4), Jesus Christ would soon gloriously appear (2:13). If you were hunting for evidence that maybe Titus was not written by Paul himself, the fact the author does not refer to KYRIOS once in 659 Greek words is difficult to explain by the supposed "pastoral" sub-genre alone. 1 Timothy (1591 words) and 2 Timothy share this sub-genre with Titus and contain by my quick count 23 occurrences, including in the classic Paul opening greetings.By the way, I have just done a major revamp of my 2016 post on Titus and the confusion expounded by many modern translations between the God who authors the salvation plan and the saviour he sends to achieve that plan for us. I have added a lot more clarification and an extra example case. For reference, the text did not read: Jesus Christ our God and Saviour, although I can't deny it does now!
1, 2 and 3 John
Along with Titus, 1 John, 2 John and 3 John are also completely silent on "Lord".In addition to being "lordless", 3 John does not even mention Jesus or Christ. It's really quite extraordinary. But both 2 John and 3 John are pretty short, only 245 and 219 Greek words respectively.
1 John is 10 times longer than either of these: 2141 Greek words. What might that mean that the author these 2500 words of Christian exhortation fails to express either God or Jesus in terms of KYRIOS? While speaking of Jesus as HO KYRIOS and citing the LXX translation of Yahweh, KYRIOS, was commonplace in some churches, I think we might assume that this was not a de-facto usage. If it were, then why does the author of the epistles write in 1 John in 4:2:
"Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ ..... " IS LORD? No! He writes:
"Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God". Oh, ok.
If you were in a church founded by the writer of these epistles, then you would not necessarily interject every religious sentence with a "Lord"-this or a "Lord"-that. Rather, you might delight in the sense of cleansing light and presence of God through his Son the incarnate Word, and his animating spirit-life, an indwelling truth.
These proto-orthodoxies represented in the diverse expressions of very early Christianity are fascinating both in the historical picture they paint but also the subsequent need to bind them together in the face of even greater theological diversity, A.K.A. heresy. Maybe a case of circling the wagons.
Word counts courtesy of overviewbible.com here.
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