Jesus Christ: God Incarnate
2005-02-27
NOTE: A newer version of this post can be found here.
Who is Jesus Christ? Different people have different answers. There are always those documentaries on television that try to explain Jesus as the good teacher or philosopher, or a helper of the poor and needy. Other religious groups believe He was the first creation that merely lived a perfect human life. Muslims believe that He was a prophet in the midst of a long line of prophets, who came as a Warner to a specific group of people at a certain time. However, the Biblical evidence and testimony gives us a much stronger picture of who Jesus is. This article will deal with the issue to make the truth clear, though the article will by no means be exhaustive. Explore for yourself the claims of Jesus Christ and if you have any questions along the way, please send me a message, and I will do my best to answer your questions in a timely manner.
Since there is a lot of information regarding this material, I will try to be least redundant by not discussing the regular arguments for the Deity of Christ. Nonetheless, this is a very difficult and complex subject. Certainly this is one subject that no one could ever completely understand in our finite minds, but from the Scriptures we can know something about how Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, and how important it is to understand this. Also, this issue overlaps with so many other issues that the matter of the Deity of Christ will show up in multiple articles in the future.
Comparing God and Jesus Christ
Is Jesus God in the flesh? Many might say there is no clear evidence that Jesus is God in the flesh. Yet the Scriptures apply attributes to Jesus that only God has. Ryrie notes the following such attributes (Ryrie, 285): Eternality (meaning always existing from eternity past, see John 1:1; 8:58; 17:5); omnipresence (Matthew 18:20; 28:20); omniscience (Matthew 16:21; Luke 6:8; 11:17; John 4:29); omnipotence (Matthew 28:18; Mark 5:11-15; John 11:38-44). God is eternal (Psalm 90:2), omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-8; 1 Kings 8:27), omniscient (Psalm 139:15-16), and omnipotent (Genesis 1:1; Jeremiah 10:12).
Ryrie also notes that Jesus does things that only God can do, such as eternally forgiving of sins (Mark 2:1-12), giving of spiritual life to whom He wished (John 5:21), resurrecting the dead (John 11:43), and passing Judgment (John 5:22, 27; Ryrie, 285). God eternally forgives sins (Jeremiah 31:34), gives spiritual live (Genesis 2:7), resurrects the dead (Psalm 16:10), and passes judgment (Daniel 7:10-14).
Clear and Concise Statements
John 1:1 (perhaps not exactly what you think): “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Many religious groups try to defeat this concise statement by arguing from the Greek text, that the second time the word “God” (theos) is used, there is no definite article, and should read, “the Word was a God.” As Grudem notes, John 1:6, 12, 18 all use the word “God” (theos) without the article, and each time it clearly refers to God (Grudem, 234-235). Such an argument is therefore erroneous and inconsistent. However, the Christian, it seems to me, has been arguing from the wrong end of this verse for all of these years anyway. The first two words of John 1:1 are en arche, or “in the beginning”, which is identical to the first two words of Genesis 1:1 in the Septuagint. Just as God existed before time and space, so did Jesus Christ, and that is what John is conveying by this phraseology.
John 8:58: “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” As mentioned above, this is a concise statement of Jesus” eternality, His existence from eternity past. Before Abraham, who lived 2000 years before Jesus said this statement, Jesus always was... and is. A very complicated statement; there is no loophole of any sort in the Greek text. He transcends time; He always existed, exists now, and always will exist. Also, the “I am” also is reminiscent of the passage in Exodus 3. When Moses asks God what God”s name is, God says, I AM THAT I AM...Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you (Exodus 3:14). This is different from the Tetragrammaton (which is read adonai, sometimes transliterated Jehovah) but this is the first person imperfect, literally “I am.” The Tetragrammaton is the covenantal name of God that we respectfully do not pronounce, and it is in Hebrew a third person imperfect of the verb “to be,” therefore meaning “He is” (the first letter in the Tetragrammaton is a yohd, not an aleph). So Jesus is making no mistake here: He is using the first person as God does in Exodus 3:14, declaring that He is the eternal God revealed to people of Israel. The reaction of the Pharisees also reveals that they understood what Jesus meant, believing that He was blaspheming, as they picked up stones to stone Him (John 8:59).
Matthew 28:19: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” This might not seem like much at first glance, but it is very convincing when looking at the grammar of this sentence. The word “name”, onoma, is singular, and “Father”, “Son”, and “Holy Ghost” are all definite and in the genitive, separated by kai, connecting the singular “name” to all three of these. According to Greek grammar, there can be no mistake. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are all equally God.
Difficult Passages
Some passages might cause difficulty for some. I will try to discuss some of them here. If you struggle with a passage not listed here, send me a message, and I will try and help.
Mark 13:32: “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” If Christ is God, and therefore omniscient, then why does He not know when the day of His return will be? MacArthur references Philippians 2:6-8 that Jesus voluntarily restricted the use of certain divine attributes when He became a Man (MacArthur, 1493). Another scholar has mentioned the use of the idiom ei me, which is usually translated “except.” The word “but” in “but the father” is this idiom. However, the two words when not translated idiomatically would literally be rendered “if not.” In we translated the two words literally, then it seems to be a case of hyperbole; absolutely nobody knows the day or hour of Christ’s return, so do not even bother to guess when! Remember, this was the disciples’ question at the beginning of the Olivet discourse (Mark 13:4). Of course many Christians and many cults have tried to pin a date when Christ would come back, though Christ instructs us here in this passage not to even bother on guessing.
Colossians 1:15 (in speaking of Jesus Christ): “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.” See also Colossians 1:18, “firstborn from the dead”; Revelation 3:14, “the beginning of the creation of God.” Since Christ clearly had already declared Himself to be eternal, in John 8:58; therefore, these verses must be examined in light of this overtly clear evidence. The former half of Colossians 1:15 is an express statement of Jesus Christ being God in the flesh (see 1 Timothy 3:16); even in the immediate context of the passage we must interpret the use of “firstborn” under these circumstances. The firstborn in the ancient world was the son of highest rank, regardless of whether he was born first or not (see MacArthur, 1833). This firstborn is also in regards of who the heir is. For example, Isaac was not the “first born” of Abraham, Ishmael was, but Isaac was the “firstborn.” But the context of the passage is clearly that Jesus is eternal and uncreated. In verse 16, He created all things, and in verse 17, He is before all things and sustains all things (compare with Revelation 4:11, thus this confirms, and denies not, that Jesus is God in the flesh). In the Revelation 3:14 passage, the word “beginning” is the word arche (see discussion under John 1:1, above). Green in his literal translation renders the word “Head.” The fact that Jesus is the Beginning of the Creation is that He is the Beginner of everything (recall Colossians 1:16).
Jesus’ Sinless Life
A number of passages speak of Jesus’ sinless life: 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 1:19; 1 John 2:1. This is contrary to what is known of the human race in the Bible (Romans 3:10ff; 3:23). Adam, who was tempted in Eden by Satan in Genesis 3, fell into sin when he was well provided for in a lush garden. Jesus on the other hand, in Matthew 4 and Luke 4, was also tempted by Satan, but Jesus was at His worst, in the wilderness and without food for over a month, and He did not bow to temptation to satisfy His hunger (see Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13).
Miraculous Life
The four gospels provide ample testimony of Jesus’ miracles. To list them all would take pages. Of course, other prophets of the Bible did miracles, but none did the same quantity and diversity of miracles that Jesus did. Jesus showed that He commanded the elements to change form, as in Cana (John 2:9), had power over storms (Mark 4:39), walked on water (Matthew 14:25), made the blind see (Mark 10:52), made the deaf hear (Mark 7:35), cast out thousands of demons at once (Mark 5:1-13), resurrected the dead (Mark 5:41-42; John 11:44), and walked through people (Luke 4:29-30), and fed thousands of people with a couple of loaves and fish (Luke 9:16-17). Most important of all, He also resurrected Himself from the dead (John 10:18). This only scratches the surface as to what Jesus did.
People Worshipped Jesus
People worshipped Jesus, and Jesus did not rebuke them: Matthew 2:11; 8:2; 9:18; 14:33; 15:25; Luke 24:52; John 9:38; 20:28. In John 20:28, Thomas calls Jesus “my God.” If Thomas was just exclaiming “my Lord and my God” in shock, etc., then he we have bigger problems if we deny his statement as being applied to Christ, because he is using God”s name in vain (cf. Exodus 20:7). Stephen also prayed to Jesus in Acts 7:59 for Him to receive his spirit (cf. John 14:13).
The Centrality of Jesus’ Deity in Salvation
Larry Moyer states, “Deity is so closely tied to the gift of eternal life that to deny the eternality of the gift is in essence to deny the deity of Christ” (Moyer, 80). Paul in his epistle to the Hebrews discusses at length the once-for-all sacrifice that Jesus covered all sins for all time: "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many" (Hebrews 9:28). He also states, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). Referring to the Levitical law in the ancient world where the Jewish nation offered sacrifices a certain way at certain times at a certain place, continuously throughout centuries, Paul’s conclusion was: it did not work. If mere creatures” blood could not cover the sins of humankind, why would God send a mere created man to die for the entire creation? As Paul writes in Romans 3:25, God sent Jesus Christ to be a sacrifice for sin, using the middle voice, which literally means that God put Himself forward as a sacrifice for sin.
All of humankind was so desperately lost in sin, that a mere creature would simply not be effective. God had to do everything. Remember Jesus’ words “I am” in John 8:58: His eternality appeals to the universality of His sacrifice, that upon trusting upon Him alone, our sins of the past, present, and future are eternally forgiven.
Another Major Issue
In the Old Testament, the Tetragrammaton is used as the primary name for God over 5000 times. This name, signified in English translations as LORD (all capital letters), is used to show God’s intimacy with His people, that they might know His name. Every time you read it in the Old Testament, especially for the Jewish person, it is a reminder of God”s loyal love in His covenant with His people. This name is not used once in the New Testament. Even Old Testament quotes in the New Testament do not transcribe the Tetragrammaton: they use the Greek word kurios, which literally means “lord” (for example, Acts 2:21). In the New Testament, intimacy with God by calling on His name is forgotten, which is sort of ironic, considering “whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21, quoting Joel 2:32 that uses the Tetragrammaton or LORD). Now think about the number of times that the name Jesus is used in the New Testament. The New Testament seemingly blasphemes since His name is used so many times and God’s covenantal name is never used. But the validity of the New Testament has been discussed at length as being strikingly accurate in geography, customs, etc., and showing itself to be supernaturally preserved more than any other writing in the ancient world (see the article).
Suppressing the Deity of Jesus Christ does two things: 1) it undermines humankind’s sin, that it is not that bad and an ordinary creature”s blood could cover it all, and 2) it also weakens the effectiveness of the sacrifice of Jesus. If Jesus is not God in the flesh, all of ours sins might not be covered, and we could never know for certain that we are good enough to make it into heaven. Christ”s sacrifice says: trust in Me alone, and your sins are eternally covered!
Islamic Objections
As will be discussed in an article of Islam, the identity of Jesus differs greatly in the Christian and Islamic worldviews. Though Jesus is seemingly unique among the prophets in many ways in the Qur”an, he was just an ordinary apostle or prophet: “The Messiah, son of Marium is but an apostle; apostles before him have indeed passed away; and his mother was a truthful woman; they both used to eat food” (Sura 5:75).
Phrases, such as calling Jesus “the Son of God,” are a major obstacle for the Islamic world for two major reasons. First, the Qur”an speaks a lot about the absurdity and anathema of God taking to Himself a son (for example, see Sura 2:116-117; 4:171; 6:101; 10:68; 17:111; 18:4; 19:88-92; 23:91; and others). Second, is the concept of shirk, which is the concept of assigning partners to God, which is also anathema and an unforgivable sin (Sura 3:150-152; 4:171-172; 5:73; 6:14; and others).
Since there is another article dealing with the Islamic religion and worldview, I will just briefly focus on some of the misunderstandings so that one who might have a Muslim background or a background in religions can understand the Islamic misinterpretations through the years.
First, the meaning of “Son of God” has nothing to do with offspring from a union of two people. Muslims of course believe in the virgin birth of Jesus (3:44-47, 19:16-22). But note that it is said that God (Allah) created Jesus (Isa) in the womb (3:47). The Bible recounts the event in Luke 1:26-40. In verse 35, Gabriel tells Mary that she will conceive of the Holy Spirit, therefore this is a miraculous event directly from God, fulfilling prophecies that were then centuries old (i.e. Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7:14). Take also for instance two words could denote “son” in Arabic. One would be walad, which “denotes a son born of sexual relations” (Geisler and Saleeb, 249). Another would be ibn, which “can be used in a wider figurative or metaphorical sense” (Geisler and Saleeb, 249). Geisler and Saleeb use the example that a traveler could be spoken as a “son of the road.” This latter word ibn, would be the better concept, since Jesus was not the offspring from sexual relations by any way, shape, or form (refer once again to Luke 1:35 and also Matthew 1:18-24).
Ryrie defines the concept of being the Son of God in this way, that “son of" can also denote “of the order of.” For example, he sites the “sons of the prophets" in 1 Kings 20:35 and “sons of the singers” in Nehemiah 12:28. Grudem also notes that the title “Son of God” can designate Israel (Matthew 2:15), or a person who trusts in Christ (John 1:12, Grudem, 547). In the context of Jesus being the unique Son of God, Ryrie notes such a designation is “a strong and clear claim to full Deity” (Ryrie, 285). Jesus, being the eternal Son of God, is equal with God (Matthew 17:5; John 10:30; 14:8-11; 1 Corinthians 15:28; Hebrews 1:1-8).
Consider the verse Colossians 2:9: “For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Surely God, who is “Beneficent and Merciful,” who can do all things (Sura 2:117), having compassion on His people He has created, came to His creation to save them. Surely this speaks volumes of the uniqueness of God.
Philippians 2:6-8: Jesus Christ, “who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
1 Timothy 3:16: “God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
This is not polytheism or idolatry. This is not shirk, because God had no partners in our salvation; He did everything! It would be shirk to say that we had something to do with our own salvation. There is one God, and there is no mistake about that. And that God loved His people so much that He came in the flesh, lived a perfect life, and delivered Himself to death so that He could be a sacrifice that could cover our sins, once and for all. We can be sure of our salvation and going to heaven, because the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was big enough to cover all sins. If we can trust that His sacrifice is that big and far-reaching, we do not have to worry that we might fall short, because we all fall short of God”s standard, if we are truly willing to be honest with ourselves.
For an article dealing with issues of salvation in Islam, go here. If you have any questions on anything I have written, please send me a message. In the meantime, read an article on why we can trust the Bible here.
Sources
Geisler, Norman L. and Saleeb, Abdul. Answering Islam: The Crescent in Light of the Cross. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002.
Green, Jay P., Sr., ed. Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, Third Edition. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996.
Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 2000.
MacArthur, John. The MacArthur Study Bible. Nashville, Word: 1997.
Moyer, R. Larry. Free and Clear: Understanding and Communicating God”s Offer of Eternal Life. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1997.
Ryrie, Charles C. Basic Theology: A Popular Systematic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth. Chicago: Moody, 1999.
Zweitzig, Robert R. Lectures. September 2001-May 2002.