Intro to Who is Jesus? and The Colossians Hymn
Notes
Transcript
Nicene Creed
Nicene Creed
We believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made;
of the same essence as the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,
and was made human.
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered and was buried.
The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again with glory
to judge the living and the dead.
His kingdom will never end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life.
He proceeds from the Father and the Son,
and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.
He spoke through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look forward to the resurrection of the dead,
and to life in the world to come. Amen.
Historic Creeds and Confessions Nicene Creed
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.
We believe these things to be true and historical. It is not a myth nor is it fictionalized.
Who Others Think Jesus is?
Who Others Think Jesus is?
Heresy:
From the 2022 state of theology survey, done by Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway:
43% of professed evangelicals agreed that Jesus was a good teacher but was not God.
In the same survey 70% of Evangelicals (711) said that Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God. (Audible gasp.)
Yesterday, even I saw that Reverend Doctor Caleb J Lines (NO IDEA WHO THAT IS - or where he got his doctorate from) posted “I respect Jesus too much to believe he’s God.” He clearly doesn’t deserve the title of doctor. That’s like the bare minimum for Christianity.
There are an increasing number of people claiming that Jesus never existed. They state that there is no evidence.
The interesting thing is that they do this by categorically ignoring of all of the evidence that Jesus existed.
The Bible is evidence. But they said no it isn’t because it is a religious text and thus not reliable. (NOT A GOOD ARGUMENT.)
Another common objection is that skeptics will claim that Christians are committing the Spider-man fallacy.
This one is fun. The argument is that appealing to archeological evidence in the Bible and saying “Oh! this place exists and it is mentioned in the Bible.” as evidence for the existence of Jesus, or the trustworthiness of the Bible - is the same as if someone in 2000 years finds a spider-man comic and finds evidence for brooklyn and begins to believe that Spider-man was real.
That assumes that people in the year 4000 are dumber than we are today. As no one today believes that Spider-man is real.
It also assumes a very sloppy analysis of literature and genre. We understand that the Odyssey, written in 8th century BC is fiction. The Iliad, while there is some debate, most people understand it as being a fictional telling of events that may have occurred. We don’t have
Thus that ignores the historical record of demonstrating Christians for 2000 years have believed in Jesus.
Which if that’s the case so you can refer to Josephus. They respond by saying Josephus is a forgery (the part that’s subject to being a forgery isn’t what refers to Jesus.) But Tacitus also mentions Jesus.
However, even Jesus’ disciples were confused on who he is…
Who do you say that I am?
Who do you say that I am?
27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”
28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”
29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”
Misunderstanding Jesus is nothing new.
What is even more interesting is what happens next…
31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.
32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
We celebrate Peter’s incredible confession of Jesus as the Christ - but in the text we see that Peter doesn’t yet fully understand all of who Jesus is.
Tom Petty… great musician, terrible theologian.
“No one gets Christ more wrong than the Christians.” Well he’s wrong…
But also what he states is important - we cannot afford to get Jesus wrong.
For the remainder of our time today, I am going to speak of the book of Colossians. However, I’m really only going to address a few verses.
Colossians
Colossians
But to give a little context:
Paul wrote Colossians. Around 61-62AD from Rome. One of the prison epistles. Likely written around the same time as Ephesians, Philippians, and Philemon.
To correct heresy. They believed in an insufficient Jesus. An insufficient Jesus doesn’t save. It matters what we believe about Jesus.
For example:
If we reject the divinity of Jesus - then Jesus isn’t able to offer himself as a perfect sacrifice.
If we reject the humanity of Jesus - then Jesus isn’t able to be our substitute.
So first I’m going to read what is known as the Colossian hymn - and then I am going to go back and address each verse.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16 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.
17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18 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.
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Poetic structure.
2 strophes and a refrain.
He is the… the first born of … for by him… v. 15, v. 18
Divided by AND HE IS… AND HE IS… in v. 17 and 18.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
Image of the invisible God - everyone who has seen Jesus has seen God.
Hebrews 1:2-3 helps us to understand this a little bit more.
2 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.
3 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,
Theologian, Anthony Hoekema writes this “though God is invisible, in Christ the invisible God becomes visible; one who looks at Christ is actually looking at God.”
The firstborn - a statement of status not a statement of genesis.
(GREAT LINE - DEFINE IT.)
This refers to Jesus being the highest and greatest - not to Jesus being created. He has all the rights and privileges of the heir to the throne - the firstborn son of the king.
Jesus was begotten not made.
16 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.
Jesus could not have been created… if he was this would not be true.
“He’s got the whole world in his hands.”
He is holding all of it together. He keeps the sun burning and the earth in orbit.
Jesus as Creator
17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
He’s got the whole world in his hands.
18 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.
The beginning… alpha and omega.
Firstborn from the dead… Jesus rose from the dead.
What about Lazarus? Or Jairus’ daughter?
Jesus’ resurrection was the first of its kind. The first resurrection that conquers death. The first resurrection that does not end in the grave again - Jesus is alive forever more. Lazarus died again.
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
ALL THE FULLNESS.
DWELLING
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.
16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
not a demi god. not partially divine.
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Paul shows that Jesus’ role as redeemer and creator are inextricable - they cannot be separated. The one who created it all came to earth to redeem it.