On the Person and Work of Jesus Christ
1 Peter 3:15 tells us to give an answer (apologetic) to those who question major doctrines – even those that beget abusive charges and have caused divisions. It does not take courage to answer theological questions, but obedience to respond when Biblical knowledge of the topic(s) is available. To answer major doctrinal questions, the following is sufficient:
Basic Knowledge:
First, many “Christian” denominations exist because the leadership does not rightly divide (interpret) the Word of God, and do not obey it if they do. Secondly, God is Spirit (John 4:24). Thus, it was the human body of Jesus – not His Spirit – that was the perfect substitution sacrifice that was acceptable according to Scripture (cf. Exodus 12; John 1:29,36; 1 Corinthians 5:7). Thirdly, the message of the gospel has never changed; it is the obedience to the Words of God regarding salvation. The OT required faith in God’s Word about the coming Redeemer, which contained much information about Him (cf. Luke 24:27). In the NT the gospel about Jesus Christ was explained in detail (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 10:9-10, NT word concordance/word study on “gospel”).
The Deity of Jesus Christ:
Jesus indeed he incarnate God.
John 1:1-3 – In the beginning was the Word [Jesus – cf. vv. 14 & 17], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him [Jesus]; and without him was not anything made that was made.”
John 8:58 – “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” NOTE: This is an outright claim for deity, the consequence being stoned to death, according to the Mosaic Law. This claim of Deity by Jesus is perfectly understood by the Jewish religious leaders by what they do in the following verses.
John 8:59 – “Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”
The same scenario takes place in John 10:29-33: “My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one [e.g. one essence –fully God]. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.”
John 17:1 – “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.”
John 17:5 – “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”
Acts 20:28 – “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God [theoú = deity] which he hath purchased with his [God’s] own blood.
Philippians 2:5-7 – “5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.”
The Son did not become “Jesus” until He became flesh as the incarnate God. This is known as the “hypostatic union.” See ICR article The God-Man for an explanation. Jesus, as the Holy and righteous Son of God, retained all of His Godhood attributes, then as now (cf. Philippians 2:5-8). However, in His past earthly ministry, Jesus limited Himself and conducted His life as the obedient Son. ICR founder, Dr. Henry Morris, has the following notes from The NewDefender’s Study Bible:
Philippians 2:7 – no reputation. That is, He “emptied Himself.” The Greek word is kenoo, and this self-emptying of Christ has been called the “kenosis” doctrine. Certain liberals have suggested that He became human in the sense that He was fallible, possibly even sinful, but such thinking is wrong and dangerous. He not only “came down from heaven,” He was still “in heaven” (John 3:13). He was not sent down from heaven in sinful flesh, but only in “the likeness of sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3). He was “made in the likeness of men” with a miraculously created human body that inherited nothing whatever of Adam’s sinful nature. Even though He exchanged the outward form of God for that of a human slave, He never stopped being “very God of very God,” as the old creed expressed it.
Philippians 2:8 – humbled himself. He not only stooped from the glory of heaven’s throne to become a true human being, yet sinless, but He also became like a bondservant and finally like a guilty criminal, condemned to die, even(!) to die in what has been said to be the most excruciatingly painful death conceivable, that of crucifixion. His obedience all through His life culminated in this ultimate act of obedience (note Hebrews 5:8), and it was all for us!
Col 1:14-20 –
“14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 15 Who [Jesus] is the image [eikon (i-kone'); (literally) a likeness, i.e. (figuratively) representation, resemblance] of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness [of deity or Godhood] dwell; 20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.”
Hebrew 1:8 9 (testimony of the Father about His Son, Jesus) – “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.”
In fact, the reason for condemnation by the Jews was for statements they considered to be blasphemous. We read in Matthew 26:64-65, “Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power [Matt. 25:31], and coming in the clouds of heaven [Matt. 24:30]. Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy.”
In an ICR book entitled The Bible Has the Answers, we read part of an answer to the question, “Isn’t it idolatrous for Christians to worship Jesus as God?”
When people claiming to be Christians regard Jesus as merely a great human teacher and example and then proceed to sing songs of praise to Him and to pray in His name, such a religion is indeed absurd and even blasphemous. If Jesus is only a man, He certainly should not be worshiped. As a matter of fact, if He is merely a man, He does not even deserve to be honored, because He then must have been either a lying deceiver or a crazy fanatic, and thus not even a good man! This conclusion follows inescapably from the fact that He claimed again and again to be God’s only and unique Son, and to have rights and powers which belong only to God.
The Trinity:
It is important to understand that Jesus Christ is the Creator of Genesis 1:1, having equal power with the Father. He is 100% God and 100% human, known as the “hypostatic union.” Jesus said in John 14:9-11,
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves
In the book, Many Infallible Proofs - 2nd Ed, we read the answer to the question, “How can one God be three persons?”
The doctrine of the Trinity—that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are each equally and eternally the one true God—is admittedly difficult to comprehend, and yet is the very foundation of Christian truth. Although skeptics may ridicule it as a mathematical impossibility, it is nevertheless a basic doctrine of Scripture as well as profoundly realistic in both universal experience and in the scientific understanding of the cosmos.
Both Old and New Testaments teach both the Unity and the Trinity of the Godhead. The idea that there is only one God, who created all things, is repeatedly emphasized in such Scriptures as Isaiah 45:18: “For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; . . . I am the Lord; and there is none else.” A New Testament example is James 2:19: “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well; the devils also believe, and tremble.”
The three persons of the Godhead are, at the same time, noted in such Scriptures as Isaiah 48:16: “I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; From the time that it was, there am I; and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me.” The speaker in this verse is obviously God, and yet He says He has been “sent both by the Lord God (that is, the Father) and by His Spirit (that is, the Holy Spirit). The New Testament doctrine of the Trinity is evident in such a verse as John 15:26, where the Lord Jesus said: “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, He shall testify of me.” Then there is the baptismal formula: “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19). One name (God)—yet three names!
That Jesus, as the only-begotten Son of God, actually claimed to be God, equal with the Father, is clear from numerous Scriptures. For example, He said: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8).
Some cults falsely teach that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal divine influence of some kind, but the Bible teaches that He is a real person, just as are the Father and the Son. Jesus said: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will shew you things to come” (John 16:13).
The teaching of the Bible concerning the Trinity might be summarized thus. God is a Tri-unity, with each Person of the Godhead equally and fully and eternally God. Each is necessary, and each is distinct, and yet all are one. The three Persons appear in a logical, causal order. The Father is the unseen, omnipresent Source of all being, revealed in and by the Son, experienced in and by the Holy Spirit. The Son proceeds from the Father, and the Spirit from the Son. With reference to God’s creation, the Father is the Thought behind it, the Son is the Word calling it forth, and the Spirit is the Deed making it a reality. We “see” God and His great salvation in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, then “experience” their reality by faith, through the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit.
Though these relationships seem paradoxical, and to some completely impossible, they are profoundly realistic, and their truth is ingrained deep in man’s nature. Thus, men have always sensed first the truth that God must be “out there,” everywhere present and the First Cause of all things, but they have corrupted this intuitive knowledge of the Father into pantheism and ultimately into naturalism. Similarly, men have always felt the need to “see” God in terms of their own experience and understanding, but this knowledge that God must reveal Himself has been distorted into polytheism and idolatry. Men have thus continually erected “models” of God, sometimes in the form of graven images, sometimes in the form of supposed written descriptions and false scriptures, sometimes even in the form of philosophical systems purporting to represent ultimate reality. Finally, men have always known that they should be able to have communion with their Creator and to experience His presence “within.” But this deep intuition of the Holy Spirit has been corrupted into various forms of false mysticism and fanaticism, and even into spiritism and demonism. Thus, the truth of God’s tri-unity is ingrained in man’s very nature, but he has often distorted it and substituted a false god in its place.
Furthermore, the truth of the triune nature of the Creator is clearly implied by the profoundly triune nature of the Creation. Thus the physical cosmos is clearly a tri-universe of Space, Matter and Time, and each of these is co-extensive with the entire universe. Space is the omnipresent background of all physical reality, Matter (or “Mass-Energy”) is that which is everywhere observed in Space, and Time is the ever-flowing but invisible agent through which we can actually experience the phenomena of Matter and Energy.
Each of these three entities is also itself a tri-unity. Thus, Space is three-dimensional, with each dimension comprising the entire space. Space is measured in terms of one single dimension (e.g., the foot, meter, etc.), but can be seen only in two dimensions and “lived in” in three dimensions. Just as the “reality” or volume of space is obtained by multiplying the three dimensions together, so one might say the mathematics of the Trinity is not 1 plus 1 plus 1 equals 1, but rather 1 times 1 times 1 equals 1.
Similarly Time is a tri-unity of Future, Present and Past time. The Future is the unseen source of Time, becoming visible moment-by-moment in the Present, and then passing into the realm of the “experienced” Past. Each is the whole of Time, yet each is distinct and necessary for the understanding of Time.
Finally, those phenomena and processes which take place in Space, through Time, which men call Matter, also constitute a remarkable tri-unity. Energy is the unseen source, manifesting itself in Motion, and then experienced in a particular process or phenomenon. Everything that “happens” in Space and Time is measured in terms of its particular rate or motion—how much time to move through a unit of space. But the particular Motion is inseparably linked with the particular kind of Energy which caused it on the one hand, and the particular kind of phenomenon which it produces on the other. The tri-unity of Matter thus is that of Energy continually producing and revealing itself in Motion, which is then experienced through associated Phenomena.
The physical universe is thus fundamentally a Trinity of Trinities! 2-2 Everywhere we look we see this universal tri-unity of Cause, Event and Consequence—of Source, Manifestation and Meaning. It is, therefore, not at all mathematically unreasonable, but rather intensely realistic, to believe that the Creator of this Tri-universe is a Triune God.
Notes:
1 Even those “liberal scholars who reject the traditional authorship of the book of Daniel accept its composition at no later than about 300 B.C.
2 See Chapter 3, Question 2.
3 Rivers in the Desert (New York: Farrar, Strauss and Cudahy, 1959), p. 31.
4 Certain alleged scientific errors in the Bible, especially associated with the early chapters of Genesis, are discussed in Chapters 7 and 8.
5 For a more thorough treatment of the many evidences for the truth of Christianity and the plenary inspiration of the Bible, see the author’s textbook on Christian evidences, Many Infallible Proofs (San Diego, Creation-Life Publishers, 1974).
Biblical doctrine would advocate the following attributes of each Person:
- All three Persons are called God.
- “Grace to you and peace from God our Father” (Philippians 1:2)
- “For in Him (Jesus) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9)
- “But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.’” (Acts 5:3; emphasis mine)
- All three Persons are the Creator.
- “But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8)
- “He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” (Colossians 1:15–17)
- “The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” (Job 33:4)
- All three Persons are eternal.
- “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” (Psalm 90:2)
- “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” (Micah 5:2)
- “who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God” (Hebrews 9:14)
There are a number of NT verses that present all three Persons within the context of a Trinity: