The Historical Jesus and the Final Judgment Sayings in Q

Brian Gregg’s study establishes the authenticity of ten of the twelve final judgment sayings in Q, thereby demonstrating that the final judgment was an important component of the message of the historical Jesus. He proceeds to identify the characteristics of the final judgment as propounded by the historical Jesus, comparing them to the characteristics of the final judgment texts of the late Second Temple period. The study not only contributes to our understanding of the historical Jesus, but it also demands that the potential historicity of all of Q’s source material be taken seriously, including those elements often assigned to a secondary redactional layer.