Why Does it Matter If Jesus is God?

Transcription

1 Why Does it Matter If Jesus is God? Hindus say that Jesus was another reincarnation of Vishnu. Buddhists say Jesus was a wise man. Muslims call Him a prophet. Jehovah s Witnesses say He was the son of God, but only equivalent to the angels and certainly not God. Yet, Christians claim that Jesus was in fact God. How can Christians assert such a prodigious statement? And why does it really matter one way or another, anyway? First of all, we need to quantify the immensity of the claim that Christianity is making. The concept that Jesus is in fact God is not just part of the religious doctrine, but in fact, foundational to the entire concept of Christianity. If Jesus is not God, then Christianity is no different from any other religion. More on that in a moment, but it is important to note why such a discussion is important as we begin to delve into why it is adamantly upheld in the Christian religion. So, its importance is significant, but how can such a claim be made, especially when it is counter to all other religious beliefs about Jesus? If other religions state that Jesus is not God, then who says He is? First of all, Jesus claims to be God. In the Bible, we read where Jesus, Himself asserts His divinity. In John 14:9, Jesus answered: Don t you know Me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, Show us the Father? And in Revelation 1:1,8 and 22:6,12-13,16, it is written: The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John, I [Jesus] am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. The angel said to me [John], These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent His angel to show His servants the things that must soon take place. Look, I [Jesus] am coming soon!... I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. I, Jesus, have sent My angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David. Not only do we believe these verses, as well as other scriptural references point to Jesus declaring His equality with God, but the people of Jesus s time believed He meant the same thing, as well: Mark 2:5-7 When Jesus saw their [the paralyzed man s friends ] faith, He said to the paralyzed man, Son, your sins are forgiven. Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, Why does this fellow talk like that? He s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone? John 8:23-25, But He [Jesus] continued, You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the One I claim to be, that I am He, you will indeed die in your sins. Who are you? they asked. Just what I have been telling you from the beginning, Jesus replied. Very truly I tell you, Jesus answered, before Abraham was

2 born, I am! At this, they picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus hid Himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. [Jesus s reply of I am is in reference to Exodus 3:14, when God declares His name: God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you. ] John 10:30-33 [Jesus said] I and the Father are one. Again His Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus said to them, I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone Me? We are not stoning you for any good work, they replied, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines blasphemy as the act of claiming the attributes of diety. As you can see, these statements of Jesus were considered just such claims. Christ s assertions of equality with God were one of the things that angered the Jewish leaders so much that they wanted to kill Him. Jesus s followers, too, believed Him to be God. Thomas, one of Christ s twelve closest disciples, declares his belief in Jesus s diety in John 20:28-29: Thomas said to Him, My Lord and my God! Then Jesus told him, Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Not only did Thomas call Jesus God, but Jesus did not rebuke him for it. Instead, Christ confirmed Thomas s understanding of who Jesus was. John another close disciple of Jesus, one of His three closest followers, states the same type of claim. John 1:18 states, No one has ever seen God, but God the one and only Begotten Son [Jesus], who is Himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made Him known. In addition to Christ s pre-crucifixion followers, Paul, who met the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus and became a zealous witness for Him (Acts 9:1-19, Acts 13:9, Acts 22:2-16), wrote in Philippians 2:5-7, Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to cling to; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. It is important to note that the term cling to means that one must have that thing first or else they do not have to ability to choose whether to cling to it or not. Therefore, Jesus, being in the very nature God decided to give up that likeness in order to take on the nature of a human. Paul further asserts Christ s divinity in Titus 2:11-14: For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say No to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good. The author of Hebrews also testifies to Christ s divinity. In Hebrews 1:3,8,10, it states, The Son [Jesus] is the radiance of God s glory and the exact representation of his being. about the Son He [God] says, Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever. He [God] also says, In the beginning, Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. Now, the scriptures here in Hebrews are partly in reference to the Old Testament verses of Psalm 102:24-25, where the New Testament term

3 Lord is translated there as God. Hebrews also distinguishes this as referring to the Son, which is inarguably a name given solely to Jesus. So, following the logical conclusion of these thoughts, Son = Lord = God ; therefore, the name Son or Jesus, is also undeniably considered interchangeable with God. This can only be true if Jesus was, in fact, God. As we can see from the Hebrews scriptures above, God the Father, Himself, also claims that Jesus is God. Further Biblical sources, that are comprised of words spoken either directly by God or of messages delivered on behalf of God s decree also back up Jesus s claim to be God incarnate. Isaiah 9:6-7 fortells, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David s throne. [The fulfillment of this prophesy can be seen in Luke 1:31-33: You [Mary, a virgin] will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father [ancestor] David, and He will reign over Jacob s descendants forever; His kingdom will never end. ] An additional reference to Christ s birth, which also declares Him to be God, can be found in Isaiah 7:14: the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel, which means God with us. [Matthew 1:20-23 an angel of the Lord appeared to him [Joseph] in a dream and said, Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means God with us ). ] Then God said, Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness (Genesis 1:26). So, who is this us and our? We find in the scripture that this reference to those present at creation include, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. [We will, for the sake of continuity in this paper, refer only to God and Jesus when we speak of this plurality, however, personal study will reveal the inclusion of God s Spirit, also known as the Holy Spirit, as being present as well.] If they made man in God s image and referred to that image as our s, then they must all consider themselves God. To better understand this connection, we need to take a look at three key verses: Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth ; John 1:3 - All things were made by Him [the Word]; and without Him nothing was made that has been made ; Colossians 1:16 - For by Him [Christ- the image of the invisible God -Colossians 1:15] all things were created: all things were created by Him and for Him." All three scriptures state that ALL things were created by one being, however, each verse gives that Creator a different name. If ALL was created, then it could not have been partially done by one being, and partially done by another. Therefore, although each reference gives the Creator a different name, each name must, by the laws of deduction, refer to the one and same being; God = Word = Christ. In fact, John 1:1 verifies this hypothesis by stating that In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:14, goes on to explain that, The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and

4 only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. This Son, as we have shown before, is Jesus Christ. Logically, then, as we reasoned out by similar means earlier, Jesus Christ must be God. Based on our findings, it does seem that Jesus is in fact God. However, why does this even matter? What if, despite all this research, I still do not believe that Jesus is God? What if He isn t; what then? Well, scripture tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8,16 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. ) Also, the Bible explains that God is allpowerful and capable of anything [Job 42:1-2 Then Job replied to the LORD: I know that You can do all things; no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. ; Jeremiah 32:17 Ah, Sovereign LORD, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for You. ; Mark 10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God. (Also, Matthew 19:26 and Luke 18:27)] Jesus tells us that Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one s life for one s friends. I have called you friends (John 15:13,15). 1 John 3:1,16 says, See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!... This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If God can do anything, then He can certainly come to earth in the form of a man to redeem His lost children, His friends, from their sins. And if He is fully love, then according to His own definition of love, He would do this. And, in fact, if Jesus is God, then as we can see in the above verse that is exactly what God did. Yet, if Jesus was not God, then that would mean that God does not truly love us as much as He says. In fact, He would actually be hypocritical in requiring us to lay down our lives as a symbol of love to Him and others, yet He would be requiring something of us that He was not willing to do Himself. He could do it, but He would be choosing not to, so how then could He say He really loved us, or was in fact truly love? Say, for argument sake, that Jesus was in fact not God, but instead His son similar in image, but not one and the same. Would the sacrifice on the cross then truly be God giving His best for mankind? It would be like me saying that I will accept a job. The company is hiring me expecting me to give my best, but on my first day of work, I send my child in my place. Maybe I send my smartest, most well behaved child. That is great, but am I giving MY best? No, I am giving the best of my child. What about when God asks me to give my best to Him. If I make sure my kids read their Bible, say their prayers, do God s will in their lives, but I just sit back and enforce their behavior and never do any of that myself, am I giving my best to God? Now, think about if I was asked to give my life. If I, instead, let my child be killed in my place, would that say I am loving, or just, or sacrificial? No, it would say I was selfish, cowardly, and untrustworthy, among other things. So, if we say that God is love, and we say that God can do anything, yet we say He did not come to earth in the form of Jesus as He, Himself, says He did, then we are calling God either a liar, a hypocrite, not all-powerful, or unloving, at the least. [On a side note, Titus 1:2 assures us, saying, God, who does not lie, and Hebrews 6:18 further claims that it is impossible for God to lie.] These negative

5 descriptions would certainly not make God worthy of praise or worship. In addition, they would make Him the same as all pagan gods in the past. A God who did not give His life for mankind would be highly disappointing, as well. Hebrews 2:18 explains that Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted. This scripture is in reference to Jesus in human form. If Jesus is not God, then that means God does not fully understand our plight. How then, can we pray to a God that does not know what we are going through, since He did not experience it Himself? How can we love a God who does not fully love us? How can we love others if we are not shown what true love is then? In light of all these things, I must conclude that Jesus is in fact, God a claim that makes both a daily and eternal difference!