Who is Jesus?

Discussion

What was your biggest take away from the Pre-Work this week?

How would you summarize the incarnation?

Why is it important to reflect on the incarnation?

Main Point: The eternal Son of God, in the incarnation, takes upon Himself a human nature. He is the God-man who has come to seek and save His people.

John 1:1–5 ESV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Who is Jesus and why does it matter?

If we get this question wrong, there’s massive collateral damage.

When we ask “Who is Jesus?” we are really asking, “Is this whole thing true?”

Our praise is rooted in who Jesus is.

This factors into how/who we worship.

Precision in theology is critical when it comes to knowing who God is.

“Who Jesus is” is a tier I doctrine.

Christology: “The confession of the hypostatic union—there are two natures in Christ, fully God and fully man, found in one person.”

We cannot diminish the divinity of Jesus in anyway and maintain Christian orthodoxy.

We cannot diminish the humanity of Jesus in anyway.

Why is it important that Jesus Christ is one person with two natures, both divine and human?

There are some severe misunderstandings of who Jesus is.

A good moral teacher.

Many want to celebrate His moral teaching without viewing Him as God.

CS Lewis: “Jesus was either liar, lunatic, or Lord.”

Some are skeptical that Jesus even existed at all.

This exists more online—No serious academic takes this position.

Some believe that Jesus was angelic or a spiritual being.

His physical form was an appearance.

His flesh was a veil/mask to help him blend in.

There are some serious heresies that we need to be aware of:

Gnosticism believes that Jesus’s physical body was a veil.

It was an empty show and deceptive appearance.

He wasn’t truly human.

Arianism taught that Jesus was in the middle between God/man.

Demi-god.

Arius claimed that divinity was uncaused or unoriginated.

These qualities were only reserved for God the Father, while the Son was like the rest of all creation and made from nothing.

He pointed that the Son was made, and not eternally existing or of the same nature with God.

He taught that the dignity of sonship was given to Jesus as a gift instead of it being who He was all along.

This is why St. Nicolas punched him in the face.

Who remembers what “hypostatic union” means?

There are two natures in Christ, fully God and fully man, found in one person.

Precision in this doctrine is critical to understanding Jesus.

His divinity doesn’t absorb His humanity/humanity doesn’t absorb His deity.

He is fully both simultaneously.

Philippians 2:6–7 ESV

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Jesus is divine

His true divine nature was in the form of God.

“The form of God” points to His true divine nature.

But Jesus did not regard His equality with God as something to exploit selfishly, but rather as an opportunity to give.

B. B. Warfield said that “For Christ to exist in the form of God means that He possesses the whole fullness of attributes that make God, God.”

Jesus is human

Paul immediately addresses Jesus’s humanity in v. 7.

Jesus made Himself of no reputation and took the form of a servant.

He didn’t look like the king of glory to everyone.

The Son of God did not strip Himself of the attributes of God, rather He took to Himself a human nature that was weak and mortal.

This is called____? The Incarnation.

Jesus’s diety and humanity make Him the perfect Mediator.

At the heart of Jesus’s work is His obedience “even to death on the cross” (v. 8)

As a man, Jesus serves as the perfect sacrifice to God because mankind owed a debt.

If Jesus is not totally man, He cannot save us from our sins because He can’t pay our debt.

As God, Jesus possesses the righteous purity to be the perfect sacrifice because He was absolutely sinless.

If Jesus is not totally God, He does not have the authority to forgive our sins.

In order for Christianity to work and we be saved from our sins, Jesus must be both Lord and servant/God and man.

The ascension is Jesus’s forgotten act of atonement

We’ll address atonement in depth next week.

The ascension is often overlooked but intensely important regarding our relationship with God.

There is a human being in the presence of God.

Jesus Christ, the firstborn from the dead, is in the presence of God in His glorified humanity.

He did not stop being man when He went to heaven, just as He did not stop being God when He came from heaven.

Right now, there is a human being sitting at the right hand of God praying for us.

Where can this go wrong?

There are some severe misunderstandings of who Jesus is.

A good moral teacher.

Many want to celebrate His moral teaching without viewing Him as God.

CS Lewis: “Jesus was either liar, lunatic, or Lord.”

Some are skeptical that Jesus even existed at all.

This exists more online—No serious academic takes this position.

Some believe that Jesus was angelic or a spiritual being.

His physical form was an appearance.

His flesh was a veil/mask to help him blend in.

There are some serious heresies that we need to be aware of:

Gnosticism believes that Jesus’s physical body was a veil.

It was an empty show and deceptive appearance.

He wasn’t truly human.

Adoptionism denies the deity of Christ.

Jesus was adopted by the Father.

Subordinationism denies the Trinity by saying that the Spirit and the Son are subordinate to the Father in essence.

Arianism taught that Jesus was in the middle between God/man.

Demi-god.

Arius claimed that divinity was uncaused or unoriginated.

These qualities were only reserved for God the Father, while the Son was like the rest of all creation and made from nothing.

He pointed that the Son was made, and not eternally existing or of the same nature with God.

He taught that the dignity of sonship was given to Jesus as a gift instead of it being who He was all along.

This is why St. Nicolas punched him in the face.

Where we’re at today.

We’re at a cycle in church history where we have emphasized Jesus’s humanity at the expense of His deity.

“Jesus is my homeboy.”

In a therapeutic age, we want to know “Jesus is like me” more than we care about His power and identity as God.

We tend to emphasize either the human or the divine nature of Jesus. Which one do you tend to emphasize? What problems might that create in your Christology?

“One of the great tragedies of evangelicalism is that we are more familiar with our brand of Christianity than we are with historic Christianity.” -JT English

Discussion

What is your main takeaway from this session?

How does a deeper understanding of the incarnation and Christology impact your daily relationship with Christ? Give an example.

How does reflecting on Christology give us a deeper assurance of God’s love for us?

Pre-Work 1.28.26

Turn and Tell: With whom can you share something you learned in this session? What do you plan to share with them?

Continue working on the “Story of Scripture” and “Practicing Mission” assignments

Write a paragraph doctrinal statement on what you believe about “Atonement”

Read Matthew 26-27, Mark 14-15, Luke 22-23, John 19, Romans 5.

Read “What Do We Worship?” in Formed for Fellowship (Available PDF in Church Center App).

Take five minutes and pray through Romans 11:33-36. Read it once out loud then use it to shape your prayer.

Next Big Idea question: “Why the cross?”

Story of Scripture

Formation Assignment

“He who tells the best story wins.” - Bobette Buster

The goal of this assignment is for everyone to be able to articulate the story of the Bible in 10-15 minutes, from Genesis to Revelation. This storytelling assignment will highlight the major narrational and doctrinal points that we have covered in the program. We want you to know the story, share the story, and be participants in the story.

Assignment

Each person will prepare a 10-15 minute comprehensive presentation of the story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Throughout the presentation, you will highlight both important events from the Bible (Creation, Fall, Abrahamic Covenant, the Exodus) and important doctrines as they appear (Trinitarianism, imago Dei, total depravity, providence) through the lens of presence, people, place, and purpose.

You are free to practice telling the story in a way that best fits your current context or ministry. For example, practice telling the story as if you were speaking to an unbeliever. If you serve in children’s ministry, practice telling the story as if you were teaching one of the kids in your classroom. Practice as if you were telling the story to a neighbor or co-worker. If you are a parent, practice telling the story as if you were discipling one of your own children.

Goal

The following is a story guide to help you think through the story of Scripture as you prepare your presentation and a rubric to help you include all of the important stories, doctrines, and themes that we study in this program. Make it your own. Do not feel like you need to capture every point in the guide.

Practicing Mission

Formation Assignment

Romans 10:14–15 ESV

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Sharing the gospel can be one of the most intimidating practices of the Christians life. And yet, the Lord has called us to the joy of proclaiming the gospel to people who have not yet believed upon Christ Jesus.

Assignment

During the second half of this program, we ask every participant to explicitly share the gospel with a non-Christian in their life. This could be a friend, co-worker, family member, neighbor, or someone you providentially encounter going about your days.

“Explicitly sharing the gospel” means explaining to them the good news of Christ Jesus and making an appeal to them to repent and place their faith in Him.

To help you track and stay accountable in this process, you will record one prayer and one purposeful interaction with this person each week. Use the Evangelism Journal Form in the Resource section to take notes before and after each interaction. We strongly encourage you to practice presenting the gospel with someone in your group before presenting it to the non-Christian person you hope will come to faith in Jesus. Your regular prayer and preparation with make a difference!