SS - Who is Christ
Notes
Transcript
Questions:
"If someone asked you, 'Who is Jesus?' how would you answer in one sentence?"
"Why do you think it matters whether or not Jesus is both truly God and truly man?"
"What are some common misconceptions people have about Jesus today?"
"If someone said, 'Jesus was just a good moral teacher, not God,' how would you respond?"
In the person of Jesus, God enters into our world
Grudem - Infinite God came to live in finite world
God and man became one person
Think about the person of Jesus
Born of a carpenter, not of wealth, status, prestige
Born 1400 years before the printing press
1800 years before the telephone
2000 years before computers, the internet, smartphones
Yet changed the history of the world.
If you ask chat gpt who his the most famous person to ever live it will tell you Jesus
Recognition
Cultural impact
Split time in two
Ethics
Laws
Art
Philosophy
Regardless of what you think about Jesus, you cannot deny the fact that there is something remarkable about this man
Fully vs Truly
Council of Chalcedon
Heresies
Monophysite
One Nature
Jesus only had one nature
Nestorian
He had two natures which meant he had two personalties
Vera homo Vera Deus
Vera - Truth
Two natures are perfectly united with…
No mixture
No confusion
Separation
Division
Truly Man
Jesus was Tru and completely man
He was
Conceived in the womb of his mother
Abortion side note
Born of human mother by ordinary means
Body
Luke 2:40 “And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.”
Luke 2:52 “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”
Wearied from a journey
John 4:6 “Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.”
Matthew 4:2 “And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.”
John 19:28 “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.””
Jesus rose from the dead in a physical, human body
Luke 24:39 “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.””
“jesus didn't rise physically”
Mind
Luke 2:52 “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”
Mark 13:32 ““But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
His human nature didn’t know
Hebrews 5:7–8 “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”
Emotions
Matthew 8:10 “When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.”
John 11:34–35 “And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.”
Hebrews 5:7- “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.”
Matthew 26:38 “Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.””
Jesus was like us in every respect except one
He was without sin
John 15:10 “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
1 Peter 2:22 “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.”
Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
Q: Could Jesus have sinned?
Impeccability of Christ
He Never sinned
He was tempted
God can not be tempted with sin
Jesus is God
NOT CONTRADICTION
Reasoning
If Jesus was only human, but born of woman, he would have been free from sin but ABLE to sin
Adam & Eve were able to sin
Jesus human nature never existed apart from union with divine nature
Although there were things that he experienced from human nature alone, a moral act would involve his whole person
If he would have sinned, it would have involved his divine nature and he would cease to be God, impossible
If actually possible, no
People only saw him as man
He needed to be truly human
Representative obedience
Adam as first representative
Romans 5:19 “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”
Jesus’s obedience would have been meaningless for us
Substitutionary Sacrifice
Hebrews 2:17 “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.”
If he wasn’t human, his death would have been meaningless for us
Humanity (and deity) was necessary to be our mediator
1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”
He can sympathize with our weaknesses & understands our struggles with temptation
Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
Hebrews 2:18 “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
Fulfill original purpose of man ruling over creation
Hebrews 2:8 “putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.”
Ephesians 1:22 “And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,”
Revelation 3:21 “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.”
Example & Pattern in life
1 John 2:6 “whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”
1 John 3:2–3 “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
Pattern for redeemed bodies
1 Corinthians 15:42–44 “So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”
1 Corinthians 15:49 “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.”
Colossians 1:18 “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.”
Truly God
Born of a woman
Conceived by Holy Spirit
Matthew 1:18 “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.”
Not of our first representative Adam
Angel alludes to this in Luke 1:35 “And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”
The Trinity in ch 3 Jesus clearly is fully God
Colossians 2:9 “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,”
Luke 2:11 “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
“Lord” - Septuagint Lord for God
John 8:57–58 “So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.””
Exodus 3:14 “God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ””
John 8:59 “So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.”
They knew exactly what he was doing
Jesus says Revelation 22:13 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.””
God the father says
Revelation 1:8 ““I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.””
Isaiah says he is king who reigns forever
Isaiah 9:7 “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”
Paul says Jesus is worthy of worship
Philippians 2:9–11 “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.”
Jesus divinity is the reason God the father says
Hebrews 1:6 “And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.””
Kurios is used of Jesus
Used in septuagine 6814 times to refer to Yahweh
Luke 2:11 “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Christ - Messiah
Lord - God
If Jesus wasn’t truly God
He couldn’t have borne the full penalty for sin for the whole world
If he didn't bear the full penalty for sin for the whole world as a sinless man, there would be no valid payment
Jesus was truly man and truly God at the same time
God robed himself in flesh to save us
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