These
pages provides notes for anyone, Christian or non-Christian, who wishes
to look up for themselves what the Bible teaches about the person of
God as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This page considers
God in the form of Jesus, His Son.
Contents:
1.
His Pre-Existence
1.1
Messianic Hope
1.2
The Plurality of God
1.3
Jesus' Own Words
1.4
New Testament Testimony
2.
Divine and Human
2.1
Heresies & the Importance of this Doctrine
2.2
The Divinity of Christ
2.3
The Humanity of Christ
2.4
The Nature of the Union
3.
Facets of Sonship
3.1
Subordination of Son to Father
3.2
Areas of Subordination
3.3
Attributes and Natures of the Son
4.
The Work of the Cross
4.1
The Centrality of the Cross
4.2
Substitution
4.3
Propitiation
4.4
Reconciliation
4.5
Redemption
5.
His Position Today
6. The Names of Jesus (in John's Gospel)
7.
His Future
Comment:
The
subject of the Lord Jesus Christ is so vast that we could go on for
ever and ever considering who he is and what he has done. Therefore
all we have done is to pick out some facets of this subject
being very much aware that there is much we have left out.
1.
His Pre-Existence
1.1
Messianic Hope
Throughout
the Old Testament there is evidence, first of all, that the coming
of Jesus was not a last minute thought from God, but was the clear
pre-planning of God.
The
Jews expected One to come who would be:
-
A prophet like Moses Deut 18:18
- A
ruling conqueror (Balaam's prophecy) Num 24:17-19
- A
shepherd Ezek 34:23
- A
prince Ezek 37:25
- A
ruler from Judah Gen 49:10
-
Seed of David with everlasting kingdom 2 Sam 7:12-
- Bringing
the presence of God with him Isa 7:14
-
A ruler Isa 9:6-7
- A
Son of man coming with the clouds to rule Dan
7:13,14
- God's
servant Isa 42:1-/49:1-/50:4-/52:13-
In
the OT the Jews saw the coming One as a compilation of:
-
Son of David
-
A great ruler
-
A prophetic messiah
- A
priestly messiah
- A
son of man
- A
suffering servant
1.2
The Plurality of God
In
the Old Testament there are little clues that lead us to be the belief
that Jesus already existed with His Father, before he manifested himself
on earth in human form:
-
Gen 1: 26 "Let us make man in our likeness"
-
Prov 8:22-31 Wisdom personified
1.3
Jesus' Own Words
- Jn
3:13 the One who came from heaven, the Son of Man
- Jn
6:33,38,46,50,51,58 Jesus speaks as coming from heaven
1.4
New Testament Testimony
-
Jn 1:1,14 The Word. ..was God. ..made manifest
-
Eph 1:3,4 Before the foundation of the world
-
Col 1:16 by him all things were created
-
Col 1:17 He is before all things
2.
Divine and Human
2.1
Heresies and the Importance of this Doctrine:
- In
the 4th century AD - Arianism
- This
said that Christ is not really one with the Father, Christ had a
substance similar to but not same as Father -in other words, Christ
is different from the Father
- In
the 4th century AD - Apollinaris
- This
produced the Kenosis Theory (Gk "keno-o" = emptied himself
) i.e. Christ was God, then laid aside his divine attributes when
he became man and took them up again when he ascended.
From
just these two illustrations, and history furnishes many more, we
can see that many have struggled with the concept of the divinity
and humanity of Christ and have arrived at non-Biblical conclusions.
2.2
The Divinity of Christ
a)
In OT prophetically - Isa 9:6 "a
child is born....his name shall be
called....Mighty God"
b)
In the NT:
- Jn
1:1 The word was God
- Jesus
himself inferred it again and again e.g. Jn 5:18
- Col
2:9 "For in Christ all the fullness of
the Deity lives in bodily form"
- Phil
2: 6 "Who, being in the very nature God.
.."
- Heb
4:15 without sin, only possible in deity!
2.3
The Humanity of Christ
-
Jn 8: 40 "You seek to kill me, a man
who told you…”
-
Lk 24: 39 "Touch me and see; a ghost
does not. ."
-
Heb 2:14 “Since the children have flesh and
blood, he too shared in their humanity"
2.4
The Nature of the Union
a)
It was Complete:
- The
meal offering (Lev 2) illustrates it: fine floor (humanity) perfectly
blended with olive oil (Holy Spirit) to become one cake.
- Note
they are still distinct materials but perfectly blended
b)
It was Permanent :
- When
Jesus ascended, deity took a body with him
- Acts
1:9 The whole person ascended
- Rev
1:13 From heaven comes the revelation of a son of man
- Heb
2:5-9 Son of man now crowned with glory
3.
Facets of Sonship
3.1
Subordination of Son to Father
The
Bible shows Jesus as one of the personalities of the Godhead, but
it always shows him as subordinate to the Father: Phil 2:8 ".
..being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something
to be grasped."
3.2
Areas of Subordination :
- Jesus
only acted following the Father - Jn 5:19
- Jesus
acts by command of his Father - Jn 10:18
- Jesus
only does the Father's will - Heb 10:7
- Jesus
is working to hand his kingdom over to his Father - 1 Cor 15:24
- Jesus'
head is God -1 Cor 11:3
- Jesus
intercedes to the Father - Heb 7:25 11 Jn 2:1
- Man's
ultimate goal is the Father, not Christ - Jn 14:6
3.
3 Attributes and Natures of the Son
a)
Attributes:
Attributes
are essential characteristics that make something what it is and not
something else.
The
attributes of God we considered in the study on "God" being
Omniscience, Omnipresence, Omnipotence, Transcendence (being apart
from the Universe), Unchangability, Immortality, Infinity, Holiness,
Wisdom, Love.
b)
Nature:
A
person's nature is the essence of what they are. We speak of human
nature or divine nature. The divine nature is Spirit with the attributes
noted above. Human nature is flesh + soul.
c
) The Word made Flesh:
When
Christ became flesh there was the UNITING OF TWO NATURES, i.e. the
divine and the human. Neither nature became less but became ONE person.
Similarly the two sets of attributes mix but remain the same.
Thus
human nature was seen: Jesus wearied (Jn 4:6), needed to sleep (Mk
4:38), needed strengthening (Lk 22:43,44), hungered (Mt 4:2), thirsted
(Jn 19:28), was limited in knowledge (Mt 24:36), was limited in location.
But
divine nature is also there BUT LITTLE USED OR EXPRESSED.
See
Mt 18:20 / Mk 2:5-7 etc.
The
divine attributes were there through the Divine Spirit in Jesus and
so he never ceased to be God. The importance of this is seen in the
next Part of the study.
4.
The Work of the Cross
4.1
The Centrality of the Cross
-
1 Cor 2:2 "I resolved to nothing.....except
Jesus Christ and him crucified"
-
1 Pet 3:18 "For Christ died for
sins"
-
Rev 13:8 "The Lamb that was slain from
the creation of the world"
4.2
Substitution
Christ
was sinless so did not die for his own sin, but was God's substitute
for you and me who DO deserve death.
- Rom
8: 3 - in the likeness of sinful men - to be a sin offering
- 2
Cor 5:21 - God made him sin who had no sin, so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God
4.3
Propitiation
=
to appease, to atone, to make up for.
-
Rom 3:25
- God
presented him
- as
a sacrifice of atonement
- to
demonstrate his justice
-
Sin MUST be punished by a Holy God
-
Your sin MUST be punished by the Holy God
-
Your sin WAS punished in Jesus on the Cross
-
Justice has been seen to be done
4.4
Reconciliation
- Rom
5:10
- God
is reconciled to man {we were his enemies)
- God
had been affronted by our sin
- now
that sin has been dealt with
-
God is now free to come to us
- 2
Cor 5:19,20
- we
are reconciled to God
- the
way is now open
- we
may now come back to God
4.5
Redemption
-
Acts 20:28
- bought
with Jesus' blood (also 1 Cor 6:20)
- we
therefore belong to him
- Mt
20:28
- Jesus
ransomed us from Satan's dominion
- we
have been set free from sin & death
5.
His Position Today
•
Rom 8:34 - at God's right hand
•
Heb 2:8,9 - crowned with glory
•
1 Cor 15:25 - reigning
•
Eph 1:22 - all things under his feet
•
1 Pet 3:22 - all authorities in submission to him
•
Isa 9:7 - his rule increasing
6.
The Names of Jesus (in John's Gospel)
In
the Fourth Gospel, John reveals Jesus to us in ways that were perhaps
not yet understood by the Synoptic writers. He picks up and uses Jesus'
teaching about himself using particular picture language phrases. Some
of the phrases have Old Testament origins, others don't. The following
are some examples of this.
For
simple daily Bible reading studies in John's Gospel click
here.
To
use Robertson's Word Pictures click
here.
Ref.
|
Name
|
Significance
|
1:1,14
|
The
Word |
A
word is an expression of someone. Jesus is God's expression of Himself.
|
1:29,36
|
Lamb
of God |
A
spotless lamb was at the heart of O.T. sacrifice e.g. Ex 12:1-13
as the means of deliverance from the Destroyer who brings God's
judgement. Jesus is thus the one who is the means of delivering
us from God's judgement. See also Rev 5:6
|
1:17,41
|
The
Christ (Messiah) |
i.e.
the anointed one, the one sent by God with a purpose to fulfil the
many O.T. prophecies about him.
|
3:16-18
|
The
Son |
The
relationship between Jesus and God the Father is clear and distinct
in this gospel. Note the “only” Son. In this sense Jesus alone comes
out of the Father (see the Athanasian Creed ). Jesus is clearly
acclaimed by John – Jn 1:34, 49, 11:27
|
3:29
|
The
Bridegroom |
Revealed
as such by John the Baptist. The picture is of one who has wooed
and won his bride by his love. The picture of the church as the
bride is made clear in Rev 19:7,8
|
6:27
|
Son
of Man |
This
was arguably Jesus' favourite reference to himself. It had O.T.
links from Dan 7:13 where a human messiah figure is clearly indicated.
The emphasis is on his humanity—but by the way Jesus used it, it
was also a claim to divinity. Other useful uses of this tem in John
(worth study) are:
1:51
/ 3:13 ,14 / 6:27 / 6:53 / 6:62 / 8:28 / 12:23 / 12:34 / 13:31
In
Daniel the figure is clearly one who has been given final judgement
and who will come in the clouds with glory
|
6:35
|
(I
AM) Bread of life |
Bread
is the basic food of life and so Jesus is declaring himself to be
the one who both imparts and sustains spiritual and eternal life.
|
8:12
|
(I
AM) Light of the world |
Light
reveals and shows the way. When a light is turned on the darkness
goes and we can see everything around us clearly. Jesus claims to
be the one who brings revelation that shows reality, who makes sense
of the world, who brings us out of spiritual darkness.
|
10:7,9
|
(I
AM) Gate (door) for the sheep |
A
gate was the way in for the sheep into the sheepfold. Jesus is the
only way into God's Kingdom.
|
10:11
|
(I
AM) The good shepherd |
In
the O.T. God had been the Shepherd – Ezek 34:11,12 but He also spoke
about the Messiah as a shepherd – Ezek 34:23 & Micah 5:2-5.
Zech 13:7 indicated that the Messiah shepherd would be struck down
and the flock scattered.
|
11:25
|
(I
AM) The resurrection and the life |
Resurrection
means being raised from the dead. The Biblical picture is that Christians
have been raised from spiritual death (Rom 6:4,11) and this through
Jesus. When we are ‘born again' (Jn 3:3) is it Jesus' Spirit (the
Holy Spirit) bringing life to us. The life we then lead is a life
in the Spirit (Gal 5:16 ,25) – Jesus in us.
|
14:6
|
(I
AM) The way, the truth, and the life
|
Jesus
is the way, the path, the road – He in us leads us through life.
He is truth, real. He alone is totally real. He leads us from unreality
into reality. Reality? As God has made things – as they are. Life
– see above.
|
15:1,5
|
(I
AM) The true vine |
In
the O.T. the people of God were seen to be the Vine (Psa 80:8 &
Ezek 17:6). Jesus thus claims to be the real origin of the people
of God and all who follow him are simply branches of him. Life flowing
through him thus flows into the branches. The branches bear fruit
(grapes) which is to become a blessing for the world (wine). |
|
|
|
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