A Basic Look at Christology, the Humanity and Deity of Jesus Christ

Secularists and other religions will claim the man of Christ.  They will celebrate in the examples He gave us, but only focus on His humanity.  These people will speak of Him in the same context as Gandhi, Mohammad, Buddha, and consider Him a great teacher, maybe even a prophet.  However, these same people will then deny the deity of Christ.  As C.S. Lewis explained;

Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.  You can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher.  He has not left that open to us.  He did not intend to.[1]

Who therefore is Christ and what is important about Christology?

            In the New Testament there is ample evidence of Christ’s humanity.  The Apostle John in his first epistle addresses how he, and other witnesses, had “heard, seen, beheld, and handled the Word of Life”.[2] Peter speaks about Christ’s resurrection in his first epistle (1 Peter 1:3, 17-21).  In his second epistle, Peter stresses the fact that he and the others did not “follow cleverly devised tales…but were eyewitnesses”.[3]  The Gospels also give proof of the humanity of Christ.  Two of the four Gospels give an account of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem and all four gospels give an account of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.  Even the Old Testament addresses the need for Christ to come in the flesh (Gen. 3:15; Deut. 18:15-18, Isaiah 53).  The deity of Christ is probably the most problematic for most secularists and theologians.  Muslims and Jehovah Witnesses will claim that Jesus never claimed deity, and the Jehovah Witnesses have gone to great lengths to try to remove all claims of deity from their particular translation.  However, if one is willing to look at the “I Am” statements in the Gospel of John they will see Christ’s deity.  In the New World translation the major I am statements are left intact, an example: “Martha said to him: ‘I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her: ‘I am the resurrection and the life…”.[4] 

            Other key Scriptures are the “I AM” statements in John (John 4:26; 6:20, 35, 41, 48, 51; 8:12, 18, 28, 58; 10:7, 11; 11:25; 13:19; 14:6; 15:1; 18:5)  These are just some of many Scriptures that support the deity of Christ.

            Even in the Old Testament we see the deity of Christ.  Dr. Outland speaks about four scriptures that also identify the deity of Christ in the Old Testament. 

            Psalm 45 rejoices in one who is both royal groom and eternal Ruler.  Psalm 110 esteems the son of David who also towers over David as God’s final answer to worldwide human rebellion.  Isaiah 9 celebrates the birth of a child who, as our divine warrior and endless benefactor, will advance David’s kingdom successfully and infinitely. Daniel 7 reveals heaven’s decree of worldwide, eternal authority conferred on a celestial being who stands forth also as a man.[5]

            People who argue that Jesus could not be both fully-God and fully-man miss some key aspects of Christology.  Christ was “tempted in every manner as we are” yet also claimed the “ability to forgive sins” something only “God could do”.  Christ had omniscience as we see when he addresses Nathaniel, yet chose at times to restrict His knowledge in the situation of the woman suffering from a blood disease.  Christ could be fully-God and fully-man because He did not “empty Himself” of His deity, but simply of His glory.  The Hypostatic Union is basically “the deity and humanity of Christ exist without confusion, without change, without division, without separation”[6].

In Romans 7 the Apostle Paul explains the purpose of Christ becoming incarnate to save humanity.  Because sin entered into the world by a man, it was necessary for righteousness to also enter into the world through one man.[7]  This man had to be perfect, “tempted in every area as we are yet without sin”[8].    The writer of Hebrews goes on to explain that the “shedding of blood is necessary for the forgiveness”[9] of sins.  Jesus’ incarnation was necessary so that the payment of sin could be paid to satisfy the Law.

When one overemphasizes the deity of Christ it can devalue His sacrifice on the cross, and the fact that He “emptied Himself” for the sake of mankind.  To deny the deity of Christ brings into question the very character of Christ, and removes the possibility of Him being a good teacher.  When we overemphasize the humanity of Christ it disallows salvation from being accessible, and all people are therefore condemned.  To deny the humanity of Christ also denies the possibility of salvation to all people because there is no payment that has satisfied the demands of the Law.

Through Church history there have been several challenges to Christology.  As one evaluates these claims it appears there are two fronts of attack.  Dr. Buswell presents a chart where he demonstrates these attack fronts.[10]  The first front actually came from those who denied the humanity of Christ and would include the Docetists, Apollinarians, and Eutychians.  One simply needs to look at Philippians 2:5-11 and John 1:1-18.  The second front, which is the more common today, is the attack on Christ’s deity.  This doctrine was supported by the Ebionites, Arians, and Eutychians.  Christ clearly claimed deity in numerous incidents through the “I AM” statements in the Gospel of John.  A clear example is in John 8:48-59.

In my own personal life the humanity of Jesus is very important.  Even though He was fully God, still He spent great amounts of time in prayer.  He was about His Father’s business, and gives me an example of what I need to follow in bringing people the gospel of Jesus Christ.  As long as the LORD allows me, my desire is to be following after the example of Jesus. 

Bibliography

Buswell, J. Oliver. "The Person of Christ, His Deity and His Humanity." In Soteriology and Eschatology, 46. Vol. 2 of A Systematic Theology of the Christian Religion. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1973.

Hall, J.H., ed. "Council of Chalcedon." In Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. 2nd ed, edited by Walter A. Elwell, 218.-19. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001.

Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity: A Revised and Enlarged Edition, with a New Introduction, of the Three Books, the Case for Christianity, Christian Behaviour, and Beyond Personality. Macmillan paperbacks ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1952.

Morgan, Christopher W., and Robert A. Peterson, eds. "The Deity of Christ and the Old Testament." In The Deity of Christ, 58. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2011.

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[1] C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: MacMillian Publishing Company, 1952), 56.

[2] 1 John 1:1 (New American Standard Bible)

[3] 2 Peter 1:16 (New American Standard Bible)

[4] John 11:24-25 (New World Translation)

[5] Raymond Outland, “The Deity of Christ and the Old Testament,” in The Deity of Christ, ed. Christopher W. Morgan and Robert A. Peterson (Wheaton: Crossway, 2011), 58-59

[6] J. H. Hall, “Council of Chalcedon,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. Walter A. Elwell (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House Company, 2001), 219

[7] Romans 5:12-19 (NASB)

[8] Hebrews 4:15 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

[9] Hebrews 9:15 (HCSB)

[10] J. Oliver Bushwell, A Systematic Theology of the Christian Religion Vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1973), 46

A Review of “Why Men Hate Going to Church”

It is Sunday morning Jane has the children dressed and ready to go.  She also is ready to head out for morning worship, but where is John? He decided to take the day and go fishing, why? This is the premise of the most recent book that I have read, “Why Men Hate Going to Church” by David Murrow.  I will admit that when I first got this book I was hoping to find something that I could actually tear apart, and write a strong critique of a book that I didn’t really feel was worth reading.  Oh boy was I ever wrong!  Although I may not agree with all that the author writes about, this book was certainly worth reading.

            On this particular book there is a variety of reviews.   Some people rate it an average book because the author was able to string two sentences together, mind you if that was all a book had I would give it a 1.  Others rise up and praise this book as the newest and best thing to hit men.  I’m probably somewhere in the middle.  So let me tell you why.

            Having been raised in the Church I have noticed that a lot of what David Murrow talks about is true.  There are so many ministries in many local bodies of Christ, but who runs those ministries? Quite frankly, it is the women.  Now I want it known that I’m not saying this is necessarily a bad thing, but I do have to ask, “Where are the men?”  This is probably a better understanding of this book then some have given it credit.

            As I said, when I first saw this book listed as a book I could review I immediately looked at a group of reviews, and the formulated my opinion of the book off of that.   Now here I am a week later, and I was at Church watching some of the behaviors of the men in the congregation.  Some have said this book doesn’t present the gospel, which is true, but again that was not the purpose of this book.  The purpose of this book was to find out why Christian men aren’t being the fishers of men that God called them to be. 

            David takes the time to address what he calls a vicious circle that has been impacting the Church since the pre-Victorian era.  By and large Churches will start with a decent percentage of men as well as women, and then slowly the men begin to drift away.  What happens is a Church begins meeting, and then building a building, but then the work left to do is leading a ministry like Children’s Church, or Sunday school, or Bible Study.  As these ministries begin to get established in the Church the women begin to rise up and volunteer to lead this ministry or to lead that ministry.  As more and more women rise to the leadership positions the priorities change as women are more emotional based (again not a bad thing) then men are, and so more and more women are attracted to get their spiritual high, and men are left wondering what has happened.  This is part of the cycle that Mr. Murrow speaks about in this book.

            Now David is not beating up any of these ministries.  His focus is instead on how men and women interact differently, and therefore these ministries which have their purpose lose their priority and men are shut off, and begin to leave the ministry work to the women, only exacerbating the situation that had lead to them being shut off.  In fact David spends the last eleven chapters speaking about how Churches can reengage their men.

            From a personal stand point, this book has made me begin to watch and observe.  Right now our Church is the middle of a building campaign, and so there is a lot for the men to be involved with and participants in at this time.  In fact just last week the men were asked to help get some of the wall trimming placed around the gym/sanctuary floor.  This was a great opportunity for some of us to rise up and help our body of believers.  However, will the men stay engaged?

            Over the past year at least the men’s ministry of our Church has taken off in a way which I couldn’t believe.  As I said earlier, I was raised in Church since the age of 8 and this is the first Men’s ministry that I’ve seen so strong in the Church.  In fact I often brag about how our Men’s Ministry is closer knit, than I’ve witnessed through my wife, than the Women’s Ministry of the Church.  This book has made me ask, “Will it last?”  In this book I think David Murrow does a great job showing how men relate shoulder to shoulder.  I think this book is a tool that every Pastor, Elder Board, Servant Leader, and layman would benefit from.  I think this book is a book that every wife will benefit from as she sees how dragging her husband to church will not make him the spiritual leader that she needs.

            Now that I have offered praise of this book, there is a least one thought that did still bugs me about it; I think some of the comments that David makes are just plain wrong.  I am a man who enjoys dressing up for Church on Sunday morning.  Very seldom will I attend church in anything less than slacks, a nice dress shirt, and a tie.  I find it frustrating that David Murrow seems to imply that the only men truly satisfied with Church are the more feminine.  I was an athlete in high school, and in fact I’m still very competitive, almost to a fault.  I think this concept that a man cannot be both an athlete and an academic is disrespectful and untrue. 

            Every person who professes faith in Jesus Christ should engage in regular time of worship both corporately as well as personally.  I think every believer should have regular times where they dig into the WORD of God, and learn and grow from the author and finisher of our faith Jesus Christ, through the working of the Holy Spirit.  I also believe that just because the Church has been feminized is no excuse for a man to not attend.  He is called to be the spiritual leader of his family, not the Church, and even if there are problems, a man still needs to be regularly engaged in the Scriptures.  All this being said I still give this book 4 out of 5.  I believe every believer, male and female, can benefit from this book.  

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Booksneeze as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

A Tool of Offense and Defense “The Deity of Christ” A Book Review

In 1 Peter the Apostle Peter gives us all a very important command; “but honor the Messiah as Lord in your hearts.  Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. (1 Peter 3:15, Holman Christian Standard Bible, HCSB)” Unfortunately for the Church today fewer and fewer people are willing to stand up for the hope that is in them as born-again believers.  Over the past several years we have seen many well founded denominations chose to move away from the doctrines from which they were founded, and chose to blaze for themselves a new path of “tolerance and love” while turning away from the only source of true love, Jesus Christ.

            Those who profess faith in Jesus Christ are often challenged by those who do not to defend the faith.  Many do not have the knowledge, experience, or tools to do this.  This is where “Theology in Community” comes into play.  This is a series of books that began with “Suffering and the Goodness of God” in 2008, then “The Glory of God” in 2010.  This year they released their third addition “The Deity of Christ” which is what this review will be on today.

            “The Deity of Christ” is edited by Christopher W. Morgan and Robert A. Peterson with contributions from 7 others.  In this book they address 10 common topics of challenge to the deity of Christ; as it is viewed today, in the Old Testament, Synoptic Gospels, John’s Gospel, Church History, World Religions, Missions, and others.  Having come from a background as a Pastor’s son, I did not spend too much time on the Biblical aspects of Christ’s Deity because that is something I feel like I am well grounded in.  However, some of the other chapters were very informative.

            I have had this book now for probably three months, which is longer than the publisher likes normally without a review, but this book was so in depth that I could not just read it once.  This is a book I had to read and mull over numerous times.  I believe every follower of Christ should invest in a book like this and use it for the tool that it is.  Although this tool is very in depth, and written by scholars, there is no doubt that these men took time to make this a book every believer could read.  For a volume that only has 255 pages actually in the chapters, the amount of information contained in this book is remarkable.

            Chapter 7, which is “The Deity of Christ in Church History” by Dr. Gerald Bray was one of the chapters I spent a lot of time in.  I am not as knowledgeable as others on the founding fathers, so reading this chapter was actually of great interest and great value to me.  One point I found interesting was the fact that many so-called scholars instead of looking at the facts presented from the actual Word of God dismiss them as evidence because the Gospels show Christ as 100% God and 100% Man.  Another excellent point made by Dr. Bray was the fact that although there are some miracles in each of the Gospel accounts, that is not the full focus of any of the Gospels, showing that so convinced were the authors of Christ’s deity that they did not feel the need to build up any of the miracles to a point of sole focus.

            Although Pastor Appreciation Month is over, this is a book I would recommend as a gift to any pastor, or any other serious student of the WORD of God.  With all the technical writing, and the re-reads I still rate this book a 5 out of 5.  There is no doubt that we are in a time where we will have to continue to defend our faith in Jesus Christ and the Trinity, and this tool of offense or defense is worth having.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Crossway as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Run of my Life

“It is not enough to take steps which may someday lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

            This last weekend, Oct. 14-16, was the Men’s Retreat for Magnolia Bible Church.  It was a great time of fun and fellowship with my fellow brothers in Christ.  We had two men profess faith in Christ on Saturday night, which is always a cause for celebration.  We had a speaker who spoke about men rising up and being the leaders we need to be for our families, our neighborhood, our Church, and our community.  He actually worded it that we need to be the Pastors of our streets. 

            Originally, I was going to be spending the weekend up at University of Texas Dallas for the Texas Leadership Conference for Phi Theta Kappa, the two year college International Honor Society.  Upon finding out that our men’s retreat was going to be on the same weekend, I almost decided to forgo the men’s retreat.  This was not God’s plan for me, and almost as immediately as I contemplated not going to the retreat, I was convicted and decided to instead forgo the Leadership conference.

            The truth of the matter is that there has been a whole lot of sin and junk going on in my life over the past month or two.  Although there were many days in which I was still able to kind of demonstrate a good Christian walk, there were many days when I was not even faking it well.  In fact about three to four weeks ago I chose to again satisfy my love for sin instead of my love for my Savior.  This has lead to a lot of tension, of course, between my wife, children, and I.  In fact it was enough to have the Elders of our Church decide that indeed it was for my best interest that for the time being I not partake in any roles that resemble leadership in the Church. 

            On Saturday night I was talking to the head of our men’s ministry, just letting him know how much I appreciate his heart and willingness in leading the men of our Church.  I was not intending to speak to him for any length of time, but he felt the need to talk with me.  This is something I greatly appreciate about Rickey.

            Rickey is a great man of God, and also nice and blunt, which is something I both appreciate and need.  As we were talking Rickey again challenged me with some things to think about.  Being raised by a Pastor, as I was, I am very knowledgeable in things of the Scriptures.  In each of the sessions of study I took notes, and in the last three sessions our speaker had us break up into groups to debrief from the previous one.  Since I had notes I ended up leading the small group I participated in, in the sense of refreshing from our previous session.  Rickey told me that every time he sees me sharing the knowledge I have been blessed with he just thinks, “What a waste”.  I have all of this head knowledge and it hasn’t made any difference in my spiritual walk.  He again challenged me that I have to be credible if I’m going to be of any benefit to the Men’s Ministry, and he reiterated that the men’s ministry needs people like me.  He told me, “Paul, you are going to be heartbroken if you are sitting on the sidelines as you see this ministry take off, I know that.” You know what? He is right.

            Rickey is an older man, and in great physical shape.  He regularly works out, and in fact was going running with a couple of the other men the next morning.  I use to enjoy running, although I haven’t been in quite some time, really probably since my junior year of High School.  I decided to go running with these men the next morning. 

            The title of this post is the Run of my life, so now let me tell you why I chose this title.  As I joined the men that Sunday morning I started off on a pretty nice, steady pace, and was in fact ahead of two of the men whom I was running with, and maintaining an even distance with the third.  However, this lasted for only about four to five hundred meters, and all of a sudden I’m breathing heavily, and need to, in fact, just slow to a walk for a brief period of time to catch my breath.  I was then able to run for probably another three to four hundred meters before I again had to slow to a walk, and then another two hundred meters before I finished off…walking. 

            During one of the times of running I also hit a pothole in the asphalt, and almost got tripped up, however I was able to maintain my balance, but it did cause a little pain in my ankle that I rolled.  Throughout the run and definitely in that moment, I almost fell, I had a revelation.  This run was a picture of my Spiritual walk.

            Like many people who profess faith, I started off with a fire and a passion that could not be quenched.  This was a race I was running with all the energy and strength I could muster.  As the days and weeks rolled by and now years, life happened.  This of course has often lead me to a point of either walking in my spiritual life, or quite frankly, standing still.  I remember shortly after my wife and I got married we again were returning to a point of passion and fire, again running the race set before us.  This led me to create Biblically Born Again Ministries, and work alongside my dear brother, Dave Jenkins, and help with Servants of Grace, and participate with Lynn Davenport in Alpha and Omega. 

            Then life happened.  Sin crept into my life, or I simply chose to quit running, and then I saw these things I was so passionate about, for a time, simply fade away and disappear.  In 2008 it got to a point where I even denied my faith.  Why would I do such a foolish thing? The answer is quite simple.  I again loved my sin more then I loved my Savior.  I thought I wanted what I wanted regardless of how bad it was for me and my family.  This of course also led me to step down from working alongside Dave Jenkins.

            In the middle to end of 2008 I again returned to a passion and began my study of 1 John.  Although there have still been sin struggles throughout my study of 1 John, for the most part I was again running the race.  My relationship with my Savior was the focus of my drive and my family has benefitted from that.  It even got to the point where I again could serve in the capacity of teaching the two and three year olds at Church.

            Well, now I slowed back down to a walk, but by the grace of God, He has placed people in my life who are not going to let me get away with falling out of the race.  What is also equally important is I’m not going to let myself be satisfied with that which I know brings no joy or happiness to life.  Yes, I chose my sin over my Savior, over my family, and over myself, but I am not going to be satisfied walking in this race.  The LORD has done so many great things in my life, and the goal of my life should be to glorify Him! 

            
           As I think of the quote I began this blog with I see something I never thought about.  I have not looked at each step as a goal to glorify my Savior.  I have looked at each step of my spiritual run as a step that benefits me, and that is not what this race is about.  Today, I’m sharing with you all the run of my life in the hope that you will see that your life is a run as well.  Are you going to run the race for Christ so you can hear, “Well done my good and faithful servant”? Or are you running the race for yourself? I tell you now that if you aren’t trying to glorify Christ, you may feel happy for a time, but the run you are on will only lead to destruction and heartache.  Believe me, I know!