Introduction
Jesus Christ is the person who has fascinated and influenced the history of mankind more than anyone else. He is the most important historical figure that has ever lived. He has transformed and continues to transform history and all those who trust in him. No reasonable person can remain indifferent to him. Every time we write a letter it bears a date which counts the years since his birth.
Since the beginning of time man has had an inner yearning for God and has reached out to him, often groping in the dark. He is often unaware that God has already stooped down in search of man, shared his condition and plight. God has become man, that man is Jesus Christ who has clothed himself with our humanity so that we may be clothed in his divinity: "put on the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 13:14) and in Galatians 3:27 "for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ". We are journeying towards the yearning of our heart, towards the end of our inner struggle and restlessness, towards he who is the self-revelation of God. The Christian faith has its roots in this divine encounter.
Jesus, a Historical Figure
Nobody, nowadays doubts that Jesus Christ is a real historical figure. Historical events concerning the life and death of Christ were known and well documented by historians of the first century AD. From various historical sources we have proof of the life and death of Christ from Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, Luciano Samos, Josephus, Suetonius, Tertullian, Mara bar Serapion, Justin Martyr, the Talmudic writings. Thus the historicity of Christ is beyond all doubt.
The most complete and reliable source of information concerning the person of Christ and what he did is to be found in the Word of God, the Bible where those who followed him have recorded their experience. Those who do not know the Scriptures cannot possibly know Jesus Christ; "ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ", wrote St Jerome in his Commentary on Isaiah.
God stoops down
After creating man God stoops down to become one with him.
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. (Psalm 113:7, 8)
In the person of Jesus Christ God comes down to encounter man in his need. Jesus Christ is the only man who has ever claimed to be God, and to have convinced a large part humanity of the truth of his assertion. Moses, Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius none of these ever asserted as much. In this lies the essential difference between Christianity and other religions of the world.
Let us examine what the Christian Scriptures say about Jesus Christ. Jesus once asked his disciples the fundamental question regarding his identity. When he came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, 'Who do people say the Son of man is?'" . They answered: "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." (Matthew 16:13-14).
However, Jesus was much more than a prophet. God did reveal himself through the words of the prophets who prophesied his arrival. However, now, with Jesus, we have the perfect image and revelation of God and only God can be the perfect reflection and revelation of God. No man on earth could be the perfect image of God. Jesus then asked his disciples who they thought he was and it was Peter who spoke on behalf of all. Peter gave the following answer: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus, in no uncertain terms, declared that Peter's answer was inspired by God himself: "Simon son of Jonah, you are a blessed man! Because it was no human agency that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven."" (Matthew 16:16-17)
Jesus was the Son of God, not a mere prophet. Notice also the two phrases or titles contained in these sentences, "Son of man" and "Son of God". Jesus was both the son of man and son of God. Here we have the dual nature of Jesus: divine and human. As the Son of man he has the essence of humanity, as the Son of God he has the essence of the divinity.
Jesus, the image of God
Colossians 2:15 says that Jesus is the "image" of the invisible God.
He [Jesus] is the image of the unseen God, the first-born of all creation, for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible, thrones, ruling forces, sovereignties, powers - all things were created through him and for him. He exists before all things and in him all things hold together, and he is the Head of the Body, that is, the Church. He is the Beginning, the first-born from the dead, so that he should be supreme in every way. (Colossians 2:15-18)
"Image of the unseen God". No man or prophet can ever say he is the "image" of God. Jesus was not a mere man or prophet. An image is not a mere resemblance, with only some features in common but not others. If I take a photo of a person and then show it to the person concerned I can legitimately say "that's you". It not only shows a certain resemblance but it is the person. This does not mean that that the piece of paper or a set of pixels bearing the image is flesh and blood! It is an image. When a person looks in a mirror he can legitimately say: "that is me", not only a resemblance, although the mirror is a piece of glass and not flesh and blood. It's an image.
In these verses, Colossians 2:15-18, a clear distinction is being made between being "born" and being "created". The two concepts cannot be confused. Someone who is born issues from the same nature and essence of the person who gives birth. The Son of God (Jesus) is born of God, not created by God and therefore he has the same nature and essence of God and is clearly distinguished from the whole of creation in these verses. The creed says
"I believe in one God, the Father almighty, ... I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, ... begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father".
The word "firstborn" has another, more significant meaning that goes beyond the person born first in chronological order. It implies "pre-eminence", "importance", "lord", this is made clear from the words "supreme in every way" (Colossians 2:15-18). Jesus is the Lord of creation because, as the verses say it was he who created all. He created everything, he is the creator: he brought all creation into existence:
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3).
He is clearly not part of creation but is above creation, he is the Son of God, not the creation of God, he is Lord of all creation and "all" means "all" not as Jehovah's witnesses claim "all [other] things" (NW Translation).
This identity of Jesus as the "image" of God explains why he could truly say: "anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9) and even more boldly: "I am in the Father and the Father is in me" (John 14:10). Notice the word "in". This central truth of Christianity was unambiguously proclaimed by Jesus and is unambiguously proclaimed by all true Christians. Jesus was not only a prophet but the Son of God. Jesus was "in" the Father and the Father was "in" him, there could be no greater expression of oneness. Jesus is "one" with the Father, of the same essence as the Father, he is "God from God", of one essence and being with the Father, distinct and yet one. Here is the whole text and context of the above passage:
If you know me, you will know my Father too. From this moment you know him and have seen him. Philip said, 'Lord, show us the Father and then we shall be satisfied.' Jesus said to him, 'Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? 'Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father, so how can you say, "Show us the Father"? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? What I say to you I do not speak of my own accord: it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his works. You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe it on the evidence of these works. (John 14:7-11)
John begins his Gospel with this radical, revolutionary outburst affirming the essential identity of Jesus Christ:
In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. ... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1-3, 14)
There could be no more attention grabbing beginning to John's Christian message to mankind. The Word, Jesus Christ, already existed in the beginning (of time), he was with God before the beginning of time, he was God before the beginning of time, eternally begotten of the Father. Jesus is God become man ("The Word became flesh, he lived among us"). The reality of these words is the essence of the Christian belief, the indispensable foundation of Christian faith. Each man is free to believe it or not, but no man is free to meddle with it, water it down or attempt to explain it away.
The reality of these words resound clearly throughout the Scriptures. We could quote many more examples where it is said that Jesus is God in the flesh but let this last one suffice. When Jesus appeared to unbelieving Thomas after the resurrection Jesus he said:
Then he spoke to Thomas, 'Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving any more but believe.' Thomas replied, 'My Lord and my God!' Jesus said to him: You believe because you can see me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. (John 20:27-29)
This is the confession of all Christians: Jesus is Lord, God, and this cannot be the reality or profession of faith of any man unless it is first revealed by the Father through his Holy Spirit: "nobody is able to say, 'Jesus is Lord' except in the Holy Spirit". (1 Corinthians 12:3). Would you like Jesus to be your Lord and your God also? This is the fundamental issue.
Tune your spirit to the Spirit of the Lord, be on the same wavelength and this will be revealed to you, too. You, too, will proclaim that Jesus is your Lord, your God as Thomas did and you will be blessed as Thomas was.
“I and the Father are one”. This perfect union of Jesus with the Father has important implications for our lives. In baptism the Holy Spirit of God regenerates our spirit, “what is born of the flesh is flesh, what is born of the Spirit is spirit”. We are born from above and incorporated into Christ. In and through Christ we are reconciled to the Father and allowed to partake in that vital union, a family re-union. We partake in the very nature of God (2 Peter 1:4). We acquire a new identity of sons and daughters of God and we enter into that same network of relationships that animates the Godhead. Jesus stoops down to take on our humanity to elevate it to his divinity. He transforms our humanity into his divine likeness. This is the life and strength of the Christian, his new identity.
Conclusion
Christians do not believe in a system of philosophy but in the reality of Jesus Christ, true God and true man in whom the fullness of the divinity dwells and who rose from the dead and is still with us working around us, in us and for us:
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. (Colossians 2:8-10)
Anyone who wants to become a Christian needs to accept who Jesus really is. No one can know who he is by his own efforts, by his own intellectual ability. It must be revealed by the Holy Spirit of God as Jesus said to Peter "flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 16:17). If you open up your mind and your heart, your soul and your spirit God will reveal this truth to you too in the same way that it was revealed to Peter. You cannot arrive at this by your intellect alone. It is the Holy Spirit that will reveal to your spirit this truth: "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Romans 8:16). If we want to come to the truth, to experience the truth, our spirit must be in tune with the Holy Spirit of God, this is the only channel that God has chosen. The Holy Spirit reveals Christ, Christ brings us to the Father. The whole of the triune Godhead is involved in our salvation. Are you prepared to accept that or throw it away? The choice is yours, no one else's.
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Introduction to the Christian Faith - Index
Introduction to the Christian Faith. Who is Jesus Part 2
© R W
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