Holy ones, sons of God, and the transcendent future of the righeous in 1 Enoch and the New Testament

• Published in: Neotestamentica Vol. 17; no. 1; pp. 70 - 82
• Main Author: Decock, P.B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Testament Society of Southern Africa 01-01-1983
• Subjects: 1 Enoch 37-71; 1 Enoch 92-105; Apocalypticism; Christianity; Future glory; Holy ones; New Testament Bible; Sons of God; Sonship; Theology; Transcendence of death
• ISSN: 0254-8356; 0254-8356

In 1 Enoch, or at least in chapters 37-71 and 92-105, God is expected to vindicate his suffering children on the day of judgement. The righteous will be raised to an immortal life, like that of the angels, or will even become angels. The righteous are the wise, to whom God's mysteries have been revealed and who believe in their hidden future. Within this apocalyptic perspective the divine sonship of the righteous is understood in a new way. In 1 Enoch (62:11; 101:1) divine sonship is associated with 1. knowledge of the heavenly mysteries, 2. suffering, 3. vindication beyond death. The Wisdom of Solomon (2:12-20; 5:5) has developed this by associating sonship explicitly 1. with the immortality of the righteous; 2. with the divine sonship of the angels. A similar apocalyptic transformation can be seen in the New Testament. There Son of God is often associated with 1. revelation, 2. knowledge, 3. resurrection/incorruptibility, 4. suffering. This apocalyptic model of divine sonship in the New Testament should be situated in the context of contemporary Judaism, where a similar transformation of the Old Testament understanding of the divine sonship of the chosen people was taking place. We have 10 ask whether the title 'son of God' was not first applied to Jesus in this apocalyptic sense. Through the experience of the resurrection he could have been understood as the Son of God, as the already vindicated head and representative of the community of the wise and righteous sons of God.