The Pastoral Purpose 91 proclamation of the coming one, who will arrive with the elements of spirit and fire, alludes both to judgment and to purification. The use of the title “coming one” is important in terms of the two-stage Son of Man Christology, since it creates a bridge that links the present role of the suffering Son of Man with the future role as eschatological judge. This is done not only by creating a link between present and future, although this is part of the mechanism employed especially in Q 3,16-17. Rather, in a more sophisticated way Q also collapses the dimension of time, as history revolves around the coming one in Q 7,22. This is achieved by bringing the eschatological horizon into the present. The author of Q achieves this through Jesus’ reply to the Baptist concerning his own fulfilment of the Isaianic activities. As Bock succinctly notes, “[t]he time of eschaton is evidenced in Jesus’ works” (36). This is an extremely important factor in analyzing the way Q formulates its Christology for a liminal and persecuted audience. The earthly ministry of Jesus assures the community that their own sufferings are imitations of those experienced by him as the Son of Man. His future return will be the age of judgment and vindication, when their steadfast confession of Jesus will be rewarded by his confession of the faithful as his own (37). Yet these two aspects are not totally polarized. The fact that the eschatological horizon has broken into the present through the ministry of Jesus, means that there is a foretaste of future blessing in the community’s own present. Thus the Christology of Q is formulated with a strong pastoral concern, which addresses the perceived present persecutions of the Q community. Believers are promised future reversal, along with a partial experience of that eschatological future in their present situation. School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh Paul FOSTER Mound Place, Edinburgh, EH1 2LX, UK SUMMARY It is argued that Q constructs a two-stage Son of Man Christology. The first stage presents a suffering figure whose experiences align with the contemporary situation and liminal experience of the audience of Q. The second stage focuses on the future return of the Son of Man. It is at this point that group members will receive both victory and vindication. However, these two stages are not always maintained as discrete moments. By employing the title “the coming one”, Q at some points collapses this temporal distinction to allow the pastorally comforting message that some of the eschatological rewards can be enjoyed in the contemporary situation of the community. (36) D.L. BOCK, Luke 1:1–9:50 (BECNT; Grand Rapids, MI 1994) 662. (37) The positive aspect of this confession by Jesus on behalf of those who have openly declared their faith is recognized by Valantasis. Commenting on individuals who make such open confession Valantasis notes “Jesus will stand up for them at the last day, giving positive testimony in the eschatological divine court in the presence of angels who surround God’s judgment seat”, R. VALANTASIS, The New Q. A Fresh Translation with Commentary (New York – London 2005) 157.