Psalm 110, 1 and new testament Christology : a suggested interpretation

Abstract

In 1993 the present writer published an article in the journal Biblica in which he observed that Jesus on the cross died as man, not as God, and that this seemed to be a supposition underlying the account of the crucifixion by the author of the Fourth GospeV According to this 1993 article the author of the Fourth Gospel presents Jesus on the cross as "handing on the Spirit" (primary meaning ofthe phrase) at the moment in which, as man, he dies (secondary meaning of the phrase). The supposition, implied in the primary meaning when placed in the context of the secondary meaning, is that as God Jesus did not die. The present article will use these observations as a starting point for examining the use of Ps 110,1 in selected New Testament texts, and will conclude with the suggestion that Ps 110,1, when placed in the context of certain contrasting psalms, implies that Jesus as God did not die.