| Who
is Jesus?
Jesus is the central figure of Christianity. He said,
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no
one comes to the Father, but through Me," (John
14:6). Also, Jesus
claimed to be God in flesh. If you compare what God said to Moses in
Exodus 3:14 ("And
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”) with what Jesus said in
John 8:58 (Jesus
said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before
Abraham was born, I am,"), then you quickly see that Jesus was
claiming to be God. In fact, others testified that He was divine as
well:
-
John 20:28,
"Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and my God!'"
-
Col. 2:9,
"For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form."
-
Heb. 1:8,
"But of the Son He says, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever..."
Jesus is the
second person of the Trinity.
He is the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. "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...And the Word became flesh, and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the
Father, full of grace and truth," (John
1:1-2,14).
Because the word was with God and was God and became flesh, we then state
that Jesus has two natures: divine and human. Therefore, Christianity
teaches that Jesus is both God and man at the same time. The reason that
he is God in flesh is because only God can atone for our sins; we can't do
it on our own because we are finite, sinful beings and we cannot please an
infinitely holy God. Jesus had to be a man to be able to die for
humanity. This means that Jesus took our place on the cross; that
is, He took our place and suffered the wrath of God the Father. If
you trust in what Christ has done, then you will be saved from the
righteous judgment of God. More on that next.
God is infinitely holy, sinless, and just. When we sin,
when we do something contrary to God's will, then we have offended God.
Since He is infinite, our offense against Him takes on an infinite quality
-- because of who we have offended: an infinite God. Since no
person can please an infinite God (because we are finite and sinners) then
the only one left to remove our sins is God Himself. Therefore, Jesus is
God in flesh, the one who died on the cross, bore our sin in his body (1
Pet. 2:24), and physically rose from the dead.
Right now, in heaven, Jesus is still in the form of a
man: "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus," (1
Tim. 2:5). Jesus rose from the dead in the same body he died in:
"Jesus answered and said to them, 'Destroy this
temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' 20 The
Jews therefore said, 'It took forty-six years to build this temple, and
will You raise it up in three days?' 21 But He was speaking of
the temple of His body. 22 When therefore He was raised from
the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed
the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had spoken," (John
2:19-21). Also, He retained the wounds of His crucifixion after
He rose from the dead: "Then He said to Thomas,
“Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and
put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing,” (John
20:25). Forty days after His resurrection He ascended into
heaven bodily: "And after He had said these things, He was lifted
up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their
sight," (Acts 1:9).
He will return again from the heavens, and will judge the world and all
people: "This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven,
will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven,"
(Acts 1:11).
Yet, at the same time, He is still divine, "For in Him all the fullness
of Deity dwells in bodily form," (Col.
2:9).
Jesus never did anything wrong. He performed many
miracles such as healing, casting out demons, walking on water, calming a
storm with the command, raising people from the dead, and rising from the
dead himself. Though there have been many great teachers throughout
history, none of them have performed such miracles and claimed to be
divine as Jesus claimed. This is why we can believe Him when He says,
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no
one comes to the Father, but through Me," (John
14:6).
We trust what Jesus said. Therefore...
"Basic Christian Doctrine" by Matthew
Slick,
www.carm.org/basicdoc.htm |