image source: http://chipneal.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/an-old-wooden-cross-photographic-print-c12040086.jpeg
Sooner rather than later, any series of essays on the meaning of Christianity has to address the question of who was Jesus?
Christians claim Jesus is the Christ. It should be noted that Christ is a title not that Jesus was his first name and Christ was his last name.
But if Christians claim Jesus is the Christ, everyone else says, Jesus is ... something else.
That something else could be as respectable as a good teacher, a prophet, a miracle worker, a wise man, a great leader, etc. And of course, some will argue, he never existed and if he did, he bears little resemblance to the New Testament Scriptures.
There is evidence in other historical works beyond the writings of the Christian Scriptures that Jesus existed so the view that he did not exist at all is held by very few people. As to the reliability of the New Testament, that is a source of scholarly debate. The situation is that the large number, wide geographical distribution, antiquity and high degree of similarity of the ancient documents that comprise the New Testament is very striking in comparison to any other ancient texts. Additionally, there is no getting around the reality that an entire community of faith grew up around the Jesus described there. This isn't proof but it is suggestive evidence.
When one reads the New Testament, various titles are given to Jesus, the most notable being: Christ, Messiah, Lord, Son of God and Son of Man.
Thus, Christians, of course, proclaim Jesus as the Christ. What does that mean? Christ is the Greek word for "the anointed one." The Hebrew word for "the anointed one" is Messiah. The NT uses Christ much more frequently but the two words refer to the same concept. Quoting directly from the dictionary entries, "It denotes that he was anointed or consecrated to his great redemptive work as Prophet, Priest, and King of his people."
When Christians accept Jesus as the Christ, we are also accepting that human beings need to be redeemed. Not everyone buys the idea that human beings are separated from God and imprisoned in our sins. But if one does, God has provided a solution through Jesus as the Christ.
From what I have heard, one theological debate has been whether the Jewish people of that time, in their anticipation of the Christ, were expecting the Christ to be divine and thus, God? Would that be necessary? Could that mission have been accomplished without the Messiah being divine? I don't know. But the idea that the Messiah, the redeemer, would be God himself is amazingly wonderful to contemplate.
In the NT, Jesus is often referred to as Lord, a title of divinity in some cases. In fairness, in some cases, it might be that the speaker was saying something akin to, "sir" or "your honor" or some other designation of respect short of a statement of divinity. Thus, one has to look at the context of how it is used to decide whether it is an attribution of divinity. Certainly, in the non-Gospel sections of the New Testament, the Lord title, in context, is often a strong statement of divinity.
Son of God is the most obvious title of divinity applied to Jesus. Yet ... in the Gospels ... many people who met Jesus didn't recognize his divinity because he was not a booming voice from the sky though I'm sure when he preached he got at least some people's attention! He wasn't a bright blinding light or a burning bush... rather he was God come in the flesh who dwelt among us as one of us (John 1:14). He was both divine and human.
Son of Man is the title Jesus probably used most often for himself and it is believed Jesus used that title because his Jewish listeners would think of Daniel 7:13-14. Thus, the title, which on its face sounds like a claim to the humanity, has a theological claim to a divine messiah who claims authority and victory in Daniel 7.
Yet, when Jesus used the claim "son of man" it was sometimes in the context of suffering and servanthood (ex. Matthew 20:26-28). Thus, it would seem that Jesus claimed a title that would be recognized by his listeners to have a certain meaning (Daniel 7) and he adds additional meaning to it!
The multifaceted reality of Jesus claims became more striking to me when I was reading about the earthy scene of the disciples eating grain that provoked Jesus' teaching on the Sabbath. In that passage, Jesus claimed his authority as the Son of Man and Lord of the Sabbath to correct misunderstanding about the practice of Sabbath. As mentioned above, the Son of Man is a claim to messiahship. Lord of the Sabbath is a divine claim recalling the institution of Sabbath in Genesis. Jesus claims BOTH titles.
Indeed, the fullness of Jesus identity is a great mystery!
But we have to come back to his mission and the bottom line is this: Jesus, by his life on earth, death on the Cross, resurrection from the dead and future return, has made reconciliation with God possible to those who would trust in Him!
Jesus, the Christ, fully human, fully divine, of two natures yet one person within the one great and gracious God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit has made reconciliation with God possible to those who would trust in Him!
There have been many statements about Jesus and this blog post stands as yet another believer's feeble attempt to give a glimpse of the wonder of who Jesus is. I previously posted a summary of a lecture I heard from Prof. Fred Sanders on the identity of Jesus. As you can see some of what I wrote here was influenced by that presentation.
Looking to history, the most famous "creed" pertaining to the identity of Jesus is the middle portion of the Fourth Century Nicene Creed.
Of the passages in the Bible itself, be sure to read John 1:1-14 and Philippians 2:1-11.
Bask in the wonder of Jesus! Fall down in worship!
No comments:
Post a Comment