Faith Fundamentals: Doctrine of Christ

Introduction

There is arguably nothing more important to the Christian faith than Jesus Christ. The identity, and events of the life of Jesus of Nazareth are central to who we are and and who we worship. It’s almost impossible to fit even a basic understanding of the Lord Jesus into an hour. At the end of his Gospel, John says, ‘I suppose if everything were to be written about Jesus, it would fill up every book in the world.’ This particular doctrine will span several weeks. Here is the outline of how I want to approach this doctrine

Identity of Christ

Death and Resurrection of Christ

Ascension of Christ

Identity of Christ

What we believe about the identity of Jesus Christ can be summed up as follows: we believe that He is 100% God and 100% human. Any teaching that that takes away from either of those is false. Beyond just being false, they cause some serious theological problems in other areas, particularly salvation.

Today we will look at

The claims of Jesus himself

The claims of others about Jesus

Testimony of miracles and nature

But first...

There have been many false teachings, called heresies, about the nature and identity of Christ. The two most prominent that I want to quickly review are:

Gnosticism

Arianism

Heresies of Christ: Gnosticism

The central belief of gnosticism was that ‘spirit’ is good and ‘matter’ is evil. Applying this to God means that: God is spirit and therefore good, but the world and universe is composed of matter and therefore is evil. Good cannot produce evil.

Gnostics therefore formulated that the ‘true’ God created lesser gods until one of them was ‘far enough’ away that it was able to create the known universe. This far ‘lesser’ god was Jesus.

Gnostics taught that in order to ‘know’ (Greek word for knowledge is ‘gnosis’) the ‘true’ God, you had to start with Jesus and work your way backwards.

This theology fundamentally reduced Christ’s deity to something ‘lesser’ than anything other than the True God. John’s Gospel (and letters) in particular fought this particular heresy.

Similar Gnostic thought sometimes also reduced Jesus’ humanity. If ‘matter’ is evil, then the reasoning went: Jesus as a ‘god’ could not possibly have a real human body - it was either just an appearance, or something different altogether.

Heresies of Christ: Arianism

The other dominant heresy about Christ came from a man named Arius. Arius was much more straightforward: Jesus is a deity/holy person, and He is even the ‘Son of God’ but He is not equal to the Father. Neither the Father nor the Son or equal to the Holy Spirit either. It completely went against the Trinity.

To Arius, Christ was the highest created being, and had the closest relationship with God possible....but He himself was not ‘true God from true God’.

Because marketing is everything, Arius came up with a popular slogan to promote this concept: ‘There was a time when the Son was not!’

Arianism became extremely popular - in fact at one point probably half the church believed it! But one man dared to oppose it: St. Athanasius. C.S. Lewis famously said, ‘It was Athanasius against the world.’

Athanasius didn’t live to see the victory of orthodoxy (right teaching) over Arianism, but the war was ultimately won because of him.

The Arians hated him so much that they tried constantly to assassinate him and he was sent into exile at least 5 different times.

The Claims of Jesus

Simply put, Jesus claimed to be divine time and time again - and in particular He claimed to be the true God.

Every ‘I AM’ statement in the Gospels by Jesus are all a direct claim to equality with God. In John’s Gospel this is especially emphasized with the seven ‘I AM’ statements:

John 6:35 “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

John 8:12 “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.””

John 10:7 “So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.”

John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,”

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 15:1 ““I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.”

Bonus Statements: John 8:58 “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”” John 18:4-5 “Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.”

Throughout His ministry, He consistently claimed to be the ‘Son of Man’ which was a direct allusion to Daniel 7. In Daniel 7, the ‘Son of Man’ is brought before the ‘Ancient of Days’ and given all authority and the kingdom. This was the exact reason why they decided to kill him at his trial.

Luke 22:69-70 “But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?” And he said to them, “You say that I am.””

Matthew 26:63-65 “But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy.”

Mark 14:61-62 “But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.””

A further allusion to Daniel 7 is found in Matthew 28:18 “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

Jesus forgave sins, something that the religious leaders (rightly) said that ‘Only God can forgive sins.’ Since they did not believe they thought he was committing blasphemy.

Luke 5:20-21 “And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?””

Luke 7:48-50 “And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.””

In Revelation, we see Jesus in his ‘godly’ appearance as described by John. He also makes this claim: Revelation 1:17-18 “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

Claims of other about Jesus

The Scriptures are filled with various testimonies of who the authors believed Jesus to be: God in the flesh.

John 1:1-2 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”

John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John 1:18 “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

John the Baptist gives testimony:

Matthew 3:11 ““I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Even the prophecy ‘about’ John the Baptist gives us an insight into Christ’s identity:

Mark 1:1-3 “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’ ””

The ‘voice of one crying in the wilderness’ is John the Baptist. He’s ‘preparing the way of the Lord’ which is Jesus.

A personal favorite: the Gadarene Demoniac.

Luke 8:38-39 “The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.”

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record Peter’s ‘Great Confession’

Matthew 16:16 “Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.””

At his death the Roman Centurion declared in Mark 15:39 “And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!””

Beyond the Gospels, the rest of the New Testament is filled with clear indications of who the writers believed Jesus to be:

Hebrews 1:1-3 “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

2 Corinthians 4:4 “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

Colossians 1:15-20 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

Revelation 19:11-16 “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”

John also makes it clear on multiple occasions that the people believed Jesus was claiming equality with God.

John 10:31-33 “The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.””

John 5:18 “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”

It’s worth noting here that Scripture also makes it abundantly clear that Jesus was equally human:

Jesus was born.

Jesus was a child.

Jesus wept.

Jesus ate and drank.

Jesus slept.

Jesus bled.

Jesus died.

Jesus rose from the dead.

Philippians 2:5-11 “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Hebrews 2:14-18 “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

Testimonies of Miracles and Nature

It should not be overlooked how important it was that Jesus’ miracles verified his identity. The Gospels showcase his miracles over pretty much every aspect of creation.

He healed the sick, and particularly the deaf, blind, and mute. When John the Baptist started having doubts he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, ‘Are you the one?’ and this was Jesus’ response:

Luke 7:21-23 “In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.””

2. Jesus has complete authority and command over all demons and he regularly cast them out. The demons themselves often testified to his identity - something he usually shut them up about.

A. Luke 8:27-28 “When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.””

3. Jesus had full power and authority over nature itself:

A. Calmed storms (Mark 4:39-41 “And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”” )

B. Walked on water (Matthew 14:32-33 “And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”” )

C. Multiplied a small amount of food to thousands on multiple occasions.

4. Jesus demonstrated complete authority and mastery over even death itself. He brought the dead back to life, but ultimately defeated death through his resurrection (Romans 1:4 “and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,” )

5. Nature itself declared was effected at his death and resurrection.

A. Matthew 27:45 “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.”

B. Matthew 27:51-53 “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”

C. Matthew 28:2 “And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.”

D. When Jesus was entering Jerusalem before His death, the people worshipped him. Notice his response to the rebukes of the leaders. Luke 19:39-40 “And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.””

6. The miracles were important witnesses to Jesus’ identity. He pointed this out the leaders who argued with him in John 10:37-38 “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.””

Conclusion

All of these witnesses come together in the story of Jesus walking on water.

He demonstrated authority over nature (walking on water).

He matched what the Spirit of God did in Genesis 1 (hovered above the waters)

He ‘intended to pass them by’, which is what God did with Moses in Exodus 33.

When they said, ‘It’s a ghost!’ Jesus claimed to be I AM when he responded, ‘Do not fear, I AM.’

The disciples testified to him through worship.

Scripture makes it abundantly clear that Jesus Christ is our Lord, Savior, and Great and Mighty God who took on flesh, died for our sins, rose from the dead, and now rules the universe that He created. This is the good news of the incarnation!