Basil Studer ( Trinity and Incarnation , pp 36-37) points to the use of biblical titles for Jesus among early Christians influenced by Judaism. Among these is the designation of Jesus as “law” or “covenant”: “the Shepherd of Hermas, the Kerygma Petrou and Justin name Christ as law or covenant” and in so doing “they compare him to the Torah, which, according to Jewish interpretation, is not only to be understood as the revelation of the will of God and the communication of salvation, but is also to be attributed real pre-existence. Finally, with reference to Rabbinic exegesis, ‘in the beginning God created’ (Gen 1:1) is referred to Christ by Christian authors. According to his explanation, Theophilus of Antioch strikingly names Christ the ‘beginning.’ In a similar way Justin, Clement of Alexandria and Hippolytus of Rome speak of the Logos as the day or the light in a protological as well as eschatological sense.”
The notion, mooted by (if I recall) NT Wright, that Paul characterizes Jesus as the personification of Torah thus has a patristic provenance.
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